Books I Read in April

Hey Guys! As you know, one of my goals for April was to read 3 books. I did meet that goal (barely, I finished my third yesterday!) Today I wanted to tell you the three books I read and what I thought about them. If you love reading and don't already have an account, I highly suggest checking out GoodReads. If you would like to follow me, you can do so by clicking here. Now on to the books!!

The first book I read this month was Candace Cameron Bure's book called Reshaping it All. This book is all about turning to God to help you overcome food addiction and to motivate you to eat better and stay physically active. I loved this book! She uses scripture to prove her points. You also get to learn more about her and her struggles with food, as well as about her family. This book really helped me to make some changes in my eating habits and to allow God to come along on the journey with me. It is amazing how you forget that God needs to be a part of this too! He should be a part of everything, but reading a book like this will remind you and help you to make the right choices using Him to help guide you through it! I gave this book 5 stars. I absolutely loved it.

The second book I read was Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman. I am not going to say I hated this book, but I really disliked it. This book is the reason it took me so long to get through all three books. It took me FOREVER to read it. This book is all about using scripture and raising your children in a Godly way. Now, I will say that there were a few good points and some things that I could learn from it. But, for the most part, I just wasn't feeling the book. From reading other reviews on it (I try to only read them after I have finished the book) I am not the only one who felt that way. I am not really sure what it was about the book that put me off, I just really didn't enjoy it. I gave this book 2 stars.

And the third book I read was Pursuit of Proverbs 31. This book was written by Amy Bayliss. This was another book that I thoroughly enjoyed. This book is all about being a better wife, mom and woman by using the Bible and scripture. I loved the stories and examples that she used. She backed everything up with the perfect scripture. This would be a perfect book to use as a group Bible study, but it is also perfect all on it's own. I really recommend this book. I gave it 5 stars.

So there you have it! Did you read any books this past month? What did you read and what did you think about it? Don't forget to friend me on GoodReads!

2014 Goals: April Update

Hey Guys! Welcome back to another goal update! Don't forget to leave a comment below telling me what your goals are and how you are doing on reaching them!



Spiritual

• Read the whole Bible: This is still so important to me and my most favorite part of the day. I am staying consistent.  
• Pray more with Matthew: We are still trying to get more consistent about praying before meals, but doing well.

Mental

• Journal: I still have yet to start journaling again. I am still having a hard time with writing 
• Read more: I am definitely reading more!! 

Physical

• Heal: I am improving so much in therapy. I have been able to start doing larger movements with my arm. I am also getting to the point where I can hold heavier things in my arm.
• Eat Healthier: I am doing better with this. I allow myself chances to indulge a bit, but not too much. And it is working! I am losing weight.  

Family

• Get Matthew in School: I still have yet to do much for this.
• Spend more quality time with my boys: We are really enjoying the time that we get to spend together. We have been taking time to take walks together in my time off and do things that we all enjoy.

Work

• Be more consistent: I have still been pretty consistent with the blog (though I did miss two days this month!). I am still not consistent with the channel yet.
• Build my blog/channel: I have been gaining more views lately. I am really wanting to get consistent readers and commenters that I can communicate with.

April Goals

• Read at least 3 books in the month of April: This is posting just shy of the end of the month, but by the end of the month I will have read three books. I am close to being done now.
• Stay caught up on Bible reading, being no more than two days behind at a time: I did really well with this!
• Get a lot of wedding stuff taken care of: We accomplished a lot of wedding things including making the card box, ordering our mothers gifts, making the banner, etc.
• Join more blog hops: I did not do well with this. I still stayed only on my one blog hop that I do almost weekly.

May Goals

• Cut back on purchasing makeup
• Read three books
• Stick to my budget
• Continue adding to our food stock pile

I am starting to reach and hold all of my goals for the year which is really exciting! I also did really well this month on reaching my monthly goals! How did you do this month?

2014 Goals: March Update

Hey Guys! Welcome back to another goal update post! This month I am adding in something new. At the end of the post, I will post specific goals for the following month. I hope you guys enjoy! If you want to read my original goals post and all the update that I have posted before, click here!

Spiritual

• Read the whole Bible:I am enjoying this so much. It is one of my favorite parts of the day. I don't read daily, but I am keeping pretty much on track.
• Pray more with Matthew: We are still doing well with this. Trying to get more consistent about praying before meals.

Mental

• Journal: I still have yet to start journaling again. I really hope to get this started in April.
• Read more: I have been reading a lot more! In March I read the entire Divergent Trilogy.

Physical

• Heal: I have started physical therapy on my arm and it is definitely improving. I am so excited!
• Eat Healthier: I have definitely been doing my best to eat healthier. I am not totally focused on eating healthy 100% of the time, but it is definitely better than before.

Family

• Get Matthew in School: I still have yet to do much for this.
• Spend more quality time with my boys: We have all been spending good quality time together and are making it our top goal to really enjoy time doing things together.

Work

• Be more consistent: I have been really consistent as far as blog posts go. I have been posting Monday-Friday for weeks now. The next thing I need to gain consistency in is the youtube channel.
• Build my blog/channel: I have been gaining more views lately. I am really wanting to get consistent readers and commenters that I can communicate with.

April Goals

• Read at least 3 books in the month of April.
• Stay caught up on Bible reading, being no more than two days behind at a time.
• Get a lot of wedding stuff taken care of.
• Join more blog hops

I really feel like I am doing a lot better on reaching my goals. How are you doing on your goals? And do you have specific goals for the month of April? Thanks so much for reading!!

Tuesday Randoms: March 18, 2014

Hey Guys! Just wanted to share some Tuesday Randoms with you!!!! Hope you enjoy!

• I used a new nail polish yesterday and I am really not happy with it. It is already rubbing off on the tips :( If you want to see the color I used, you can check out my instagram.
• I have been horribly obsessed with Reese's lately. Seriously. It's bad.
• I have decided that my physical therapist is trying to kill me. Ok not seriously, but he did make me cry today.
• I have gotten more movement out of my arm and I am so ridiculously excited!
• Been thinking about adding monthly goals to my yearly goal updates. What do you think about that?
• If you missed it, we posted the Fiance Tag on the YouTube channel! Go check it out!
• I have decided to start watching Grey's Anatomy from the beginning again. I just love this show.
• I have the greatest fiancé ever because he bought me tickets to see Divergent this weekend! SO EXCITED!
• Feeling super excited that I got the entire weekend off this week. AND I get next Saturday off too!
• We are going to take Matthew to see the dinosaur exhibit at our local zoo next Saturday.
• I am almost half way through Allegiant. I am seriously obsessed with this trilogy.
• Watched Catching Fire the other night. It was so good. I am planning on reading The Hunger Games trilogy soon.

Healthy Eating: New Favorite Breakfast

Hey Guys! As you know, I have been working on my goal of eating slightly healthier. Last week when I was looking at some blogs on What I Ate Wednesday, I came across Kelly Runs for Food. On it, she had scrambled eggs with spinach. I don't know why I had never thought of that! I have been trying to think of a way to get more veggies in my diet, but wasn't sure how, especially at breakfast time. This was a perfect idea! So today, I want to share with you my new favorite (and very simple) healthier breakfast.

What you will need for this recipe is: Fresh spinach, two eggs, a slice of Velveeta (totally optional, but you know I can't resist cheese!) and some salsa.

The first step is to take a handful of spinach and cook it down in your skillet. You can do this on a medium heat. It doesn't take very long for the spinach to wilt down, so make sure you keep an eye on it.

While the spinach is wilting, you can cube up your cheese and mix it in with your eggs. You can mix your eggs up however you like. I just scramble mine up with a touch of water. Once the spinach is wilted, just add your eggs to the skillet and cook like you would normal scrambled eggs. I like my eggs cooked all the way when I am doing scrambled eggs.

After they are cooked to the consistency that you like, add 3-4 tablespoons of salsa. At this point I usually turn the heat up a little bit. This way, the cheese gets nice a golden brown on the bottom and it adds a ton of flavor.

This is really good with just a slice of toast and some fruit. This day I had it with one cinnamon waffle and a banana. But whatever you like to eat this with, it is DELICIOUS!

Please let me know if you try this recipe! What is your current favorite breakfast?

2014 Goals: February Update

Hey Guys! I am back with another goals update! If you want to check out my original 2014 goals post you can do that here. Don't worry, if you love First Impression Friday, it will be back next week!


Spiritual

• Read the whole Bible: I have gotten and kept mostly caught up with this. I did have a week where I didn't read as much as I should, but I am definitely staying decently caught up. I am really enjoying reading the Bible.
• Pray more with Matthew: We have been making it a point to pray at night and before meals. I think he is really enjoying it. We have also started reading the Bible with him.

Mental

• Journal: I still have yet to start journaling again. I am having a really hard time with writing right now.  
• Read more: I have started reading more. I am about to start reading Divergent! 

Physical

• Heal: I am allowing myself to heal. I am doing my best to not use my arm. It was a big set back when I found out that I am not even allowed to do physical therapy until the middle of March. I am still doing good though.
• Eat Healthier: I am definitely doing better with this. I have been craving fruit like crazy! I am trying to fix better more well rounded meals for the family. I am also going back to eating my healthier soups.

Family

• Get Matthew in School: I still have yet to do much for this. I still need to call the school board. I did find out that financially I do meet the requirements to get him into the voluntary pre-k though.
• Spend more quality time with my boys: I have really enjoyed the time that I have gotten to spend with the boys. I am really sad that I have had to go back to work and am missing out on some time with them. I need to make sure that I still ask for the time I need to be with them.

Work

• Be more consistent: I feel like I have been doing really well. I have been posting daily for the last few weeks!
• Build my blog/channel: My view count has definitely been going up! I am so excited!

So overall, I did a lot better this month! I am so excited to be accomplishing some of these goals. This is all stuff that is really important to me. How are you doing on your goals? Let me know in the comments!

Book Review: Divergent

Hey Guys! Today I wanted to talk to you about a book that I became OBSESSED with. I have wanted to see the movie Divergent (it comes out in March) since I first started hearing about it. Mostly because it has Shailene Woodley in it, but also because it looked like it was going to be action filled and really entertaining.

I decided a few weeks ago that I should probably read the book first. In my experience, reading the book before watching the movie has always helped me understand parts that the movie left out, but that are kind of relevant. Sometimes, this makes the movie seem not as good in comparison, but I feel like this won't be the case with Divergent.




I bought Divergent on Amazon for my Kindle. It was $4.99, which is a great deal. I bought it on Friday and immediately started reading it. I only read it at work (except for Monday when I read it because I was so excited to see what happens) and finished it in four days (remember only reading a few hours a day, but I could have sat and read it all in one sitting).

Divergent was written by Veronica Roth and is similar to The Hunger Games. It is set in the future in Chicago, at which point the city is divided into five different factions. At 16, the characters have to decide which faction they want to become a part of and go through initiation. The book follows Beatrice, or Tris, as she goes through her initiation. If you want to read more about the plot of the book, you can do so here.

I loved this book. I can't even think of one bad thing about this book. There is action and romance. It is written so well that you can easily picture everything that is happening. It is just a very well written book. I love Tris and really related with her character in several ways. It was easy to put myself into the book and feel what was going on. Veronica is an amazing writer and I cannot wait to start reading Insurgent which is the second book in the trilogy.

If you enjoyed The Hunger Games, I definitely suggest you try this trilogy! I haven't read The Hunger Games but I absolutely loved Divergent. If you like action books, then this is the book for you! I really recommend it!

Have you read Divergent? If so what did you think of it? Are you planning on seeing the movie? Let me know what you think in the comments below!!

Healthy Eating: Foods I Want to Cut Back On

Hey Guys!

One of my goals for 2014 was to start eating healthier. While I was down from my surgery, I did not stick to this goal at all! I was eating whatever sounded good (which wasn't very much) whenever I wanted to. One of my biggest problems was nighttime snacking! I get hungry right before bed, and I am supposed to eat a small snack before bed to help eliminate low blood sugars over night. The problem was I was eating a TON before bed.

So today I wanted to discuss some of the foods that I really want to cut back on. I consume a lot of this stuff and I really need to lighten the amount that I am eating. I want to talk to you about the top 4 things that I really want to cut back on in my diet.

1. Processed snacks- I eat a lot of these. Seriously. I can eat a whole container of Lays Stax in one day. These are so bad for you. They are high in calories and carbs. Not to mention they are a processed snack. Another thing that I eat as a snack a lot is cold hot dogs. This is a huge problem. I have cut back on this and only eat hot dogs in meals (I need to cut back on how many meals have them as well).

2. Chocolate- I eat way too much chocolate. Now, I can't eliminate chocolate from my diet all together. I firmly believe in allowing yourself a treat that you enjoy. The problem is how much of that treat. To combat my chocolate desire, my plan is to eat a little bit of chocolate (say 2 cookies or 1 Reese cup) with some fruit. This will keep my chocolate craving at bay and still help me feel like I am eating enough sweets. Another plan is to allow myself a bowl of Special K Chocolate cereal with almond milk if I am craving chocolate at night.

3. Fast Food- This is seriously some of the worst stuff you can put in your body! We have been eating fast food so much lately and it just has to stop. I want to start cutting back to once or twice a week. And then from there I want to go back to once a month.

4. Diet Coke- I hate that I am eliminating this. :) Seriously, I enjoy my diet coke. The problem is that it is really bad for you body. I am planning on going back to having one diet coke a day, but only if I consume my daily amount of water first.

Ok, so those are the things I want to cut back on in my diet. What kind of things are you wanting to eliminate or cut back on from yours? Any tips on how to I can cut back and what I can eat to replace any of these?

2014 Goals: January Update

Hey Guys! I have decided to do a monthly update to let you know how I am doing on my 2014 goals! I am just going to list out the goals again and tell you how it is coming. :) If you want to read my original goals and their descriptions then you can check that out here. Let's get started!

Spiritual

• Read the whole Bible: I am not doing so hot in this one. You would think with me being home every day that it would be easier on me. But I am failing. I have only read January 1st devotional read and the month is over! That is so pathetic! I do plan on sitting down one day and reading to try to catch myself up. The goal for me wasn't necessarily to read every single day, just to read the whole Bible in the year. So we will see if I can catch up and get better.
• Pray more with Matthew: This is another one I am failing at. I really need to start carving out the time in the morning before we eat breakfast to say a prayer and really help him understand how important it is.

Mental

• Journal: Ok, maybe I am just failing on these goals all together. I haven't been able to journal because I haven't been able to physically write. I do plan on doing better this month though because I will finally be able to start using my arm again.
• Read more: Uhg, I am a failure. haha. This is another goal that I have not even slightly accomplished. I am picking up my book right now.

Physical

• Heal: I am healing, and I am trying to allow myself to heal. I don't feel that I have been over doing it. I do feel like I am healing, and we are a month in now! I start physical therapy this week, so it is time to start strengthening now!
• Eat Healthier: I have been trying to start eating every meal once again. I did slack a bit when I first had surgery, but I have been doing much better at eating all three meals and a snack. I do need to start laying off of the fast food and the junk food though!

Family

• Get Matthew in School: This isn't something I can really do too much with right now. I do plan on calling and getting the information that I need so that I can start getting everything together for May. I plan on calling this week! 
• Spend more quality time with my boys: I feel like we haven't been able to spend a lot of time doing things so far, but we have spent a lot of time together and that makes me super happy!

Work

• Be more consistent: Umm...fail. I slacked off quite a bit, but I did pick it up last week and type up a post for every single week day. I am currently coming up with a schedule that I feel will really work for me.
• Build my blog/channel: So far I have hit 20 likes on my FB page. And I have had a couple of my posts pinned on Pinterest! Both were really exciting for me and huge for my blog. My main focus lately has been building the blog. I plan on focusing more on the channel in a couple months.

Alright, so my month has been a pretty big fail in the goals department. But in all fairness, I did have a pretty major surgery on my dominant arm. I am starting to kick it up a notch now that I am starting to recover. Don't forget to check back at the beginning of March to see how I am doing.

Organized: Our Junk Drawer

Hey Guys!

Today I wanted to share with you a quick organizing project that I tackled. As with most homes, we have a junk drawer. Ours is in our kitchen. It was driving me CRAZY so I decided to make our junk drawer look a little less junky.

 

 

This was our junk drawer before. As you can tell everything was just mixed together. I couldn't find anything when I was looking for it. My first step was taking everything out of the rawer, sort it all into categories and throw away all of the trash. Next I wiped out the inside of the drawer. Then on to the fun part, containers!

 

 

I didn't want to spend a lot of money on this, so I went to my favorite store ever: Dollar Tree. I spent $5 on some lime green containers. I didn't even use all of them for this project. Once I laid them all out, I put my sorted items into the containers that fit them best. Once that was done, I fit the containers in the drawer the way they fit the best.

 

 

My categories were: Extra kitchen utensils, random tools, nails/screws, office, random. batteries, candles and lighters. Of course you can use whatever categories you need. The last step is to enjoy your work. :)

 

 

Do you have a junk drawer in your house? If so, is it organized or more organized chaos? What was your last organizing project? Let me know what you think!!

Top 5 Thursday: Books I Want to Read in 2014

Hey Guys! I just want to warn you up front that if there are typos, I am doing this one handed and on pain medicine. :) Anyways, in my 2014 goals, I said I wanted to read more. This lead to me wanting to tell you the books that I most want to read this year.



I have been wanting to read this book for so long. I love being a mama to a little boy and am excited to read other stories on it.


I don't know why but I love Tori Spelling. I have already read Uncharted Territori because I got it on a good deal. I need to read this one next.


This book by Portia de Rossi has been on my list for a while. It is so interesting to me to read stories about other people's struggles and rises.


I watch the tv show Sister Wives a lot and am so intrigued by their lifestyle. I want to read this book to get an even bigger look into and understanding of their lives.


I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding the Duggar family, but I love them. They raise the most respectful children. I also watch their tv show and I want to get a closer look into their lives.


If you can't tell, I love books based on real people's lives. What kind of books do you like to read? What books are on your list to read in 2014?

2014 Goals

Hey Guys! I cannot believe that it is 2014! I feel like I just rang in 2013! Today I am going to tell you about my goals for this year. I decided to break it down into categories. I try to keep my goals pretty simple just because I want them to be easy to obtain but also be rewarding.

Spiritual

• Read the whole Bible: This is a goal that I have made for myself so many years before, but I have never accomplished it. I have a daily devotional Bible to read. I can't guarantee that I will read it every single day, but I do want to read the whole thing.
• Pray more with Matthew: I want to get into the habit of spending more time praying with Matthew. I really want to help him understand prayer and the power of prayer.

Mental

• Journal: I have several journals that I write in. This year I want to be more consistent in my journaling.
• Read more: I love reading but I don't seem to spend enough time doing it! I want to read at least 12 books this year! That is one a month but I don't necessarily have to read one book a month. Just 12 over all.

Physical

• Heal: One of my most important goals this year (or at least for the beginning of the year) is to focus on healing from my surgery. And to strengthen my right arm.
• Eat Healthier: JP and I did so well for a while with eating healthier and cutting out fast food. And then I started getting sick for a bit and we stopped doing it. So it is really important to me that we all start eating a lot better.

Family

• Get Matthew in School: I really want to get Matthew registered and in Pre-K this year!
• Spend more quality time with my boys: I feel like my work has kept me from spending a lot of time with my guys that I would like to spend with them. I want to make them my #1 priority.

Work

• Be more consistent: I want to be more consistent with my blogs and videos this year.
• Build my blog/channel: It is a huge goal to really build up my blog and channel this year. I want to reach more viewers and get better content.

There you have them! Do you make goals at the beginning of the year? How often do you actually keep them? Let me know in the comments below! Happy new year everyone! I hope 2014 brings you lots of joy and happiness!