February Goal Wrap Up

If you want to read my original post about my goals for February, check it out here.

Overall, not too shabby.
I could use some work though.

mental health// tell myself every morning that I am beautiful.
I started the month by doing this, but I definitely started to slack off. 
However, after going to my therapy appointment this month, we got on the topic of when I look better, I'll feel better. 
So I've been putting some more effort into my appearance lately, which has made me definitely start to feel better, which was kind of the purpose of this goal, correct?
Halfsies!

physical health & weight// go to the dentist.
Yep. Sure did. 
It was terrifying.
Read about it here.

Also, I have to go back over Spring Break.

relationships// send Shelbie something for her birthday
I sent her a personalized birthday card. :)

faith// No Facebook February

Yes ma'am (or sir). I've been off of Facebook all month.
The only exception is that it popped up once when I clicked "Log on with Facebook" from another website.

I didn't click on anything though. I just know how many notifications I have.

money// have all bills caught up
Yesssssss! This is seriously the greatest thing ever. I did it.

project pinterest// project to be determined

Yep. I ended up making something for Daniel for Valentine's Day.
I wrote about it here.


savings goal// $87

Done.

High Five Friday

Another week over!

Let's be honest, I really don't know how to work my way into posting these.

No fancy introduction, etc.

So let's get right to it.

#1 - Daniel's Baptism

One of the most exciting/important days of this week (and year, if we're being perfectly honest) was Sunday morning. 

On Sunday morning, my husband and I became members of our church that we've been going to since we got married in June.

To be received as members into our church, they performed what they call a "Remember your baptism" for me (I was baptized into the faith May 11, 2008) and Daniel was baptized for the first time!

Perhaps one of the best parts of this situation was that Daniel's parents, sister, and my brother came to Des Moines to go to church with us.

None of these people regularly go to church. A few of them are Christian (I don't want to point out who is and isn't, because that's not necessarily important.)

It was exciting to have them come up here and go with us.

It was crazy having that many people stay with us at our apartment though.

#2 - Grey's Date

One of my absolute favorite TV shows is Grey's Anatomy. 

Coincidentally, it's also one of Meghan's favorites.

How do we deal with this?

We watch the episodes online at the same time and text back and forth throughout the entire thing.

Yes, that's a thing.

So on Tuesday night Meghan had the night off and I'm always off by 6, so we sat down on our respective couches and watched/texted our hearts out.

#3 - February is over

I guess truthfully I don't know if I should be excited about this fact or not.

But, whether I like it or not, February is almost over.

Which means that it's almost March.

Which means it's almost Spring Break!

I only have this full week coming up and then a 4 day school week before break.

Bring it on.

#4 - I'm working both days this weekend

While this fact in and of itself is an awful thing and I really don't WANT to work both days this weekend when I've already worked both days, working brings money.

For a while my hours at my weekend job were getting cut pretty severely. 

This weekend I have 14 hours.

Again, this kind of blows.

But that's over $100 extra that I wouldn't have otherwise. 

Yay!

#5 - FINALLY getting my car fixed

I'm awful.

My oil life has been at 0% and my light has been on for an obnoxiously long time.

(Think, before Christmas)

I just keep putting off getting my oil changed and my car inspected.

It's always "I don't have enough money." or "When am I going to take it in?", etc.

Today. Today is when.

Daniel brought me to work today so he could bring my car and take it in.

Plus, I have a $20 gift certificate that expires tomorrow.

So we got that done. Yay!

More from the Mr.

As promised,

1// If you could write a book, what topic would you write about and why?
If I could write a book...
How to survive your first years out of high school.
(I told him that was lame and he should write about having his heart attacks when he was younger, but then he argued with me about how he wasn't going to write a book anyway.)

2// What is one thing on your bucket list, or one thing that you’d like to do or accomplish in your lifetime?
I'd like to go in the ocean. To conquer my fear of the ocean.
And possibly heights I guess.
Throw me out of an airplane into the ocean, conquer two at once.

3// If you could look out your window and only see one view for the rest of your life, what would you want to see?
A forest. 

4// Imagine you’re opening a shop.  What are you selling? 
I'm selling dreams.
(He got the look...)
Well maybe, hates.

5// If you could have 50lbs of anything other than money, what would it be?

Gold.
(He's now purposely answering in one word sentences because I've given him a hard time about it this whole time.)

6// Time to brag on your girl…tell us one thing that makes you proud of your girlfriend/fiance/wife!
(He's trying to figure out how to do this in one word just to irritate me.)
Achievements.
(What does that even mean?)
I don't know. What are achievements? Things that you've achieved....
Um, the thing I'm most proud of would have to be through all the struggles of college and stuff, she still juggled multiple jobs and graduated after student teaching and working all of those jobs.
She for the most part kept her head on her shoulders and held herself together.
(Finally a longer sentence! Haha.)

Blogger Men Tell All

I'll be posting my second Guy Behind the Blog when the link-up goes live on Thursday,
But I also found this link-up which involves the guys and I'm pretty excited about it.

Daniel's a huge part of my life, so it's only fair that if I want to share my life in this blog, I share him too!


1. What is your favorite winter hobby?
Jigsaw Puzzles.
Disclaimer: We've been together 9 1/2 years and I've never seen him do a puzzle.

"I love puzzles. It gets my concentration set on one thing for a long, long time."

2. Did you do anything special for your blogger on February 14th?

My what? My blogger? I didn't know I was supposed to.
Oh wait, that was Valentine's Day.
Not really. I got her a book and that's about it. 

We also went out to dinner...He's neglecting that.

3. What’s your favorite kind of candy?
Probably would have to say gummy bears.
(I then gave him crap for giving me such short answers and got this - semi sarcastically)
When I was younger, I used to really be into Snickers. But now that I'm older, I've really taken a liking to the gummier kind of candy.

4. Which Rom-Com would you choose to watch while you snuggle up with your Valentine?
What classifies as romantic comedy?
(Movies that are funny and have love.)
Oh. Um... Definitely Maybe? I don't know. I can't think of any romantic comedies off the top of my head.
(I then point out our DVD shelf...)
I don't know!
(I let him give up.)

5. Who, in your opinion, is the best US president ever?
JFK.
(He then didn't explain anything until I prompted him.)
He had a lot of plans that were just never able to happen because he died. But he was a great president while in office.

February's Bookshelf

Books I Finished Reading in February: 

(Click on the title to read my book review)

  

  

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Firebird - Dana Rose Bailey

Flowers in the Attic - V.C. Andrews

Grade A Stupid - A.J. Lape

Freedom Writers Diary - Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell

Favorite: 

I absolutely LOVED this book.

Part of it may be because I'm a teacher and I (not so) secretly wish I could be as effective as Ms. Gruwell, but there's also the fact that this story in itself is inspirational.

It reminds us that everyone has a voice - rich, poor, white, black, or anywhere in between.

Least Favorite:

I tried. I really did. But I could NOT get into this book at all.

Most Interesting:

The author of this book used a lot of wonderful imagery and an interesting subject matter.

Book I Thought I'd Like, But Didn't: 

I always heard this book was a classic. Everyone loves it.

I didn't.

Book I Didn't Think I'd Like, But Did: 

I'm not one for fantasy usually, so a book about a girl who grows wings is not in my normal zone.

However, this author was fantastic about using details that made me want to keep reading.

I actually really enjoyed this book.

Book I Wish Was A Movie: 

This book would make a super twisted movie.

I also recently found out that it actually IS a movie.

Now I must see it.

There's a chance this book could be a really good movie.

Character I Related to Most: 

Jean Louise (Scout) Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird

Scout is a young girl who is living during the Great Depression.

She is very curious about why the world is the way it is.

Her father is a lawyer representing a black man, which was pretty much unheard of back then.

She sees the violence and the racism going on in her town and she is upset by it.

Freedom Writers Diary//Book Review

The Freedom Writers Diary

by: The Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell

4.5/5 stars

I loved this book so very much. Part of that may be because I am a teacher and I (not so) secretly wish that I was as affective as Ms. Gruwell.

Another part of this is just the fact that it's so very inspiring.

It shows us that everyone has a voice, whether you're black, white, rich, poor, Asian, Mexican, boy, girl, etc. 

This book is a collection of letters from Ms. Gruwell herself, as well as a bunch of her Freedom Writer students. 

I like that it shows us different points of view from students with different paths in life.

The only problem I had with this was that some of it didn't seem totally realistic.

Although I know these are supposed to be real letters.

It's just hard to imagine that every single one of those students turned their life around that drastically.

By the end of the book, all these students who were at risk of dropping out now LOVE reading, love school, and want to go to college. 

While that's great, it's hard to believe her specific teaching style reached every single one of her students.

Anyway, great book.

If you've seen the movie, I recommend the book.

I also need to re-watch the movie now that I've read this.

I now want to read Erin Gruwell's other books she's written.

I believe there's one that she wrote with more of a teacher's point of view, which I'd like to read.

Massacre in my Mouth

It's been a while since I've actually had a panic attack. I guess going to the dentist brings out the best in me.

That's what I would have tweeted yesterday morning if I were still using Twitter at the moment.

I HATE the dentist. It is TERRIFYING to me. 

I was sweating.
I felt sick.
Classic panic attack symptoms.
It was great I tell you.

However, I'm now a little older (okay it's been 5 years since the last time) so I'm trying to be responsible about this stuff so I forced myself to go.

Having a semi panic attack on my way to the dentist office was just the start.

There were MANNEQUINS in the waiting room.
Weird, yes. But people deal, right?
Fun fact: I'm actually unreasonably terrified of mannequins.

(WHAT IS THIS?! WHY IS THIS A THING?! WHY IS IT ON THE INTERNET?!

I will probably have nightmares from looking this up but I had to prove my point!)

Think I'm joking? One time a couple years ago, I accidentally bumped into one and cried. Panicked so hard I almost passed out.
I know it's weird, but they scare me.

I can't go in an Old Navy...

Anyway, there's mannequins there and they were dressed up like secret agents and old people, which was even scarier.
(I later learned the agents were actually supposed to be the Blues Brothers)

When they called me back with them, I got a tour of the place.
It was actually pretty nice.
Until I turned a corner and there was a collection of stuff that included a freaking spider (not live).

Now I'm freaking out and they haven't even started on my teeth!

They cleaned my teeth which took just about forever (it's been five years, remember?) and I made an appointment to fix my cavities.

I'm proud of myself for going and all that but I'm still kinda traumatized.

This very well could have been titled - That Time I Went To The Dentist and Almost Had a Heart Attack.

(It also very well could have been written better if I wrote it right after it happened while I was still recovering, but I still had to get my thoughts out there. That's what counts, right?)

High Five Friday

Another week, another Friday!

Linking up with the lovely ladies for High Five Friday again.
I'm also extremely honored to be their featured blogger this week.
(You love me, you really, really love me. :) ....)


1. I have a "day off" today.
And by "day off", I mean I don't have school today. I'll be working at the day care instead. We had conferences on Wednesday and Thursday this week, which means I was stuck at school until 8 pm both days. Because of that, I got today off and got to go to the daycare instead. :)

2. Daniel is getting baptized on Sunday!
When we were dating, Daniel had a belief in a higher power, but nothing much past that. Even when we were engaged, he felt something was there but was very skeptical. Once I was saved, I started taking to him more and more, and he eventually started to understand and ask the right questions. Since then, he's been saved and we are both becoming members of our church. To do that, Daniel is getting baptized. I'm so happy for him!

3. Because of that, my in-laws are coming over on Saturday (church is at 8:30 am so they're staying the night).
We are going to have his parents and his sister here on Saturday. It's kind of a scary thought, but it's also exciting because it means I get to be a grown up and have people over. Weird!

4. Last week I finally bought the Anxiety and Phobia Workbook that my therapist told me I should get.
Looking at it gives me anxiety. It is HUGE! But, flipping through it, I'm fascinated. I have a psychology minor, so things like that are really intriguing for me. I'm actually kind of excited to work through it and see what I can learn. Hopefully I can apply some of these strategies.

5. On Monday Daniel and I are touring a new apartment complex.
It's bigger than where we are, looks nicer, and is in a different town. Still a suburb and very close to work and stuff, but a bit of a change. We're pretty excited.

Flowers in the Attic//Book Review

Flowers in the Attic

V.C. Andrews

4 out of 5 stars

My goodness --

I knew this book was going to be twisted, but I wasn't thinking this big.

I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away.

There are a lot of BIG surprises in this story.

But alright,

It starts off with a family and the father dies.

The mother has been dis-inherited from her rich parents, but she promises her 4 small children that she can find a way to get all that money back and make their lives work again.

Here's the catch:

Her father can NOT know about her children or she will never be added back into the will and get the money.

To make sure this doesn't happen, the children are locked in an upper bedroom with nowhere to go but that room and the attic.

They're told they will only be there for one night.

But one night turns into two, which turns into weeks, which turns into months, which turns into "as soon as your grandfather dies".

Meanwhile the children are locked in this attic for years, dealing with growing up with nobody to talk to, nowhere to vent their feelings, etc.

Crazy things happen.

That's all I can say for you.

Even though I knew certain things were going to happen, there were other things that I had no idea would happen.

By the end I wanted to throw the book against the wall.

My. Goodness.

I'll definitely be reading the second one eventually, but I have a lot more books to read soon!

Lent

As you may (or may not) know, depending on your own person beliefs, today is Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday symbolizes the first day of what Western Christianity celebrates as Lent.

Now, I'm sure that I won't be able to give an explanation of Lent great justice, so intend, I'm going to just paste in a copy of an e-mail I received from my church which will explain it.

_________________________________________________________________________________

What is Lent and why does it last forty days?

Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring." The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.

Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.

Sundays in Lent are not counted in the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter" and the reverent spirit of Lent is tempered with joyful anticipation of the Resurrection.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Wa-la. There you are. 

A much better put together explanation than I could have ever come up with.

In fact, I didn't even know the part about Sundays not being involved.

We learn something new every day!

Now, why am I writing about Lent? Other than it's starting today...

Here's why.

I want to share my thoughts on it, as well as tell you what my plan is for Lent and for the self-examination and reflection.

I'm hoping sharing will help to keep me accountable.

You can do that for me, right?

This year, I'm choosing to give something up for Lent. 

I'm choosing to do so because I'm hoping that by giving this up, I will have more time to dedicate to my relationship with God.

I'm hoping to have more time to read the word, read devotional books, pray, meditate on scripture, etc.

So what is it that I'm planning on giving up to allow this to happen?

Social Media

Yep. Social media.

I'm currently 18 days into a "No Facebook February" and I'm kind of liking the change.

I'm going to continue doing this and expand it to other social media.

No Facebook.

No Twitter.

No Instagram.

No   Linkedin (Which I hardly use anyway).

No Snapchat.

No Tumblr.

No Timehop.

I will be deleting all of these applications off of my phone from now until the day after Easter.

Instead of wasting all of my time on these apps, I'm going to spend more time with God.

I plan to:

Read a couple Christian books (perhaps my new one from my hubby?)

Spend more time in the scriptures, reading and meditation on the word

Pray more

This means that instead of these apps, I'll be using these other ones a whole lot more:

Bible

Kindle (I have some Christian books on there)

Instapray

PS. If you haven't heard of Instapray, I recommend it.

It's semi-like other social media like Instagram and Twitter where you can post things and repost things, but they are prayers.

I like it, but I don't spend enough time on it.

The only social media I will continue to use is YouTube and Pinterest.

I do not use these apps very much to begin with and I don't really use them for social purposes.

I watch videos on YouTube occasionally and I have to use Pinterest coming up in March for crafts for school.

That's the only time I'm on Pinterest anyway, looking up crafts and bulletin boards for work.

I don't actually scroll through them anymore.

But yep, there's my plan!

Praying that this goes well and I can devote a lot more time to things that actually matter.

Are you doing anything for Lent?

Project Pinterest #2

Welcome to the second month of Project Pinterest!

If you missed the original post of what this Project Pinterest is all about, you can read the original post: here

Here are the guidelines for the link-up:

Link-Up Guidelines

1. Follow your fun hosts Jayme and Meghan.

2. Open up your Pinterest and find something fun to make/do!

(You can pick any category - food, DIY, etc. Your options are unlimited!)

3. Blog about your experience.

4. Link-up the THIRD Tuesday of each month. Please link-up to your specific post, not your homepage.

5. Put the button somewhere on your post so more friends can join!

You don't HAVE to comment on a certain number of other blogs,

but it would definitely make things a lot more fun if you did!

Each month we will both pick three of our personal favorites to "spotlight" in the next post.

We look forward to building community with you through participating in this link-up, as well as finally get something accomplished off of our Pinterest boards!

Last Month's Spotlight

Lora over at Heart of Life linked up with us last month and had a spectacular looking recipe for Cannoli Dip!

I really wanted to try this (but unfortunately have not....yet).

Just look at that! It looks so yummy!

If you want to read her post about how this came about, you can find it here. 

Project Pinterest #2

Valentine's Gift for the man in your life.

I suppose this could be used for any sort of holiday for the man in your life, but I used it for Valentine's Day.

This was pretty simple (which is good because I got paid on Thursday and gave him his gift on Friday).

I just went to the gas station, loaded up with goodies, and put it together.

Is this cheating?

Probably.

But February really got away from me this year.

I promise March will be better.

What do you think?!

I walked into the apartment and handed it to him saying "I love you BEER-y much!"

:)

This lovely gift included:

6-pack of Budweiser

4 beef sticks

3 scratch off tickets

2 packages of sunflower seeds

Sour patch gum

skittles

red bull

Dove dark chocolate bar

He LOVED it.

Side note:

He got me Sadie Robertson's book for Valentine's Day.

I'm pretty excited!

Anyway, grab the button, get to Pinterest, and link up with us!

<center> <a href="http://simplyalwaysforever.blogspot.com/2015/01/project-pinterest-1.html"><img src= https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjar1UMuw2GwPf866IP7JuYW18vwRCbny6sMgfJ-7CuCWCwkyBp4nLN8UEBPq4y2GMzv1ZM2amX8f_K_MV60ZNO8QI08H2rl5jimwvMI9H-oQ7b_rITRsSzbeefHXxVeyo2lw-ZoD8n-yo/s1600/Project+Pinterest.jpg" border="0"/></a></center>

Firebird//Book Review

Firebird

by: Dana Rose Bailey

3.5/5 stars

Let me start off by saying this author is clearly pretty darn good.

This book is not something I'd ever dream that I'd actually read. 

It's just....totally far off different.

I'm not a science fiction/fantasy reader.

I don't know why I picked this book up to begin with.

Wait, yes I do... It was free.

Anyway, as I said this is science fiction/fantasy.

(It's fantasy. I just don't read sci-fi much either.)

What makes this book fantasy?

Spoiler alert: (Though not really, because Goodreads says it too.) The main character, Grace, grows WINGS!

Yeah, I know. Weird right?

Totally a bummer thing to happen to a senior in high school too. Yikes.

One day a strange looking plant is delivered to Grace's father, but she keeps the plant for herself because she is just so captivated by it. 

The next day while she's at school, her house burns down and they can't find her father.

So Grace and her sister Amy move in with the Greens, a wealthy family much different than the one they're used to. 

Grace hates their son Wesley, who started a nickname for her when they were younger and would constantly make fun of her.

She also is worried that he's trying to get in the way of her and a boy named Justin.

Nope, it's not going to be Wesley. 

It's going to be the WINGS YOU JUST GREW!

Haha, yeah. I saw it coming, but it still surprised me when it happened.

But, I kept reading.

You get to read all about how she learns to adjust to her wings, how she keeps it a secret from everyone, and what the wings might mean about her past and her future.

It was actually pretty interesting, I'll admit it.

I don't want to say too much more because I don't want to give anything away.

But, there you have it.

Firebird.

Get it?

Golden Vlog - February

Wow you guys,

This thumbnail is kind of terrifying. 

Also, this finally uploaded.

After TWO WHOLE DAYS!

Note to self: Start like a week early next time.

Anyway, here it is...

My Golden Vlog for the month of February.

Enjoy.

Don't forget to join Meghan and I on Tuesday for another Project Pinterest!

High Five Friday

Wow. It's hard to believe it's already Friday again!

I really feel like I just posted one of these like two days ago.

1. We got our federal tax return back yesterday and we are officially caught up with our bills for the first time in over a year.
Seriously, I can almost hear the heavens opening up. I'm so happy.
We also got to put some extra towards our debt, so that was good.

2. One of my best friends got engaged! Yayyyyyyyy. This happened tonight and of course I got a text right away. :)
Daniel and I are the only ones of our friends (not that we have a lot) who are married and this couple is the first to even be engaged. We've been waiting for this! lol

3. We had our Valentine's date a couple days early to avoid the masses on Saturday.
Daniel took me to Outback and it was DELICIOUS.
I also had a drink that is legitimately my favorite drink I've ever had now.

4. My grandfather gets to go into the hospital next week.
Now, I know that's like a "What? How is that good news?!" but in a weird way, it is.
We've been waiting for actually months now for his blood levels to be at a good point for him to go in. They're going to get him started on a heart medication (he has a-fib) but he needs to stay for 3 days for observation. Once that's all cleared up, they can get back to fighting the cancer. Prayers are appreciated.

5. My Golden Vlog finally uploaded to Youtube.
Note to self: If I use my phone and want to upload...start a few days early.
I wanted this posted yesterday but my video just finished about 10 minutes ago and I started uploading yesterday at 2:00. No, my internet wasn't on that WHOLE time but still!!!
So that will be posted in the next day or two.

Oh, and a bonus. I have all weekend off work to just hang out and relax.
THIS NEVER HAPPENS!
That's all folks.

To Kill A Mockingbird//Book Review

I don't know if this is necessarily the most effective way of posting book reviews.
However, if I saved them all for one post at the end of the month, you'd be reading for forever!
If anyone knows of a better way, I'm certainly open to suggestions.

For now, I present yet another book I finished this week...

To Kill A Mockingbird

by: Harper Lee

5/5 stars

This book is arguably one of my favorite books of all time.

Now, if you know me at all, you know I don't take this honor lightly. 

I love SO MANY different books that I can't possibly pick a favorite.

But if I had to, this would definitely be in my top 10. 

Probably top 5.

Top 3?

Anyway, I originally read To Kill A Mockingbird in my sophomore year of high school. (I loved it then too)

I was recently moved to re-read this story because my 8th graders were going to be reading it for class.

I still remembered a lot of the original story, but not as much of the feelings (which I also understand better now because, believe it or not, I'm more grown up)

If you haven't read To Kill A Mockingbird, spoiler alert, it has absolutely nothing to do with Mockingbirds.

Which honestly, I love when authors do stuff like that. Making titles that have nothing to do with the story.

Maybe that's why I was such a big fan of groups like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco.

Back on track!

To Kill A Mockingbird is told through the eyes of young Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. 

She's a feisty little tomboy who is growing up with the influence of her older brother "Jem" and her lawyer father Atticus.

She's growing up during a time in United States history where blacks were still being treated unfairly by whites. 

Because of this, there is some language in the story. Yes, the "N-word" is used, but it's not overpowering.

Without this word, the story wouldn't make sense. It was the time period.

Her father ends up in a case where he must defend a black man for a pretty big crime.

The story is about Scout as she deals with the town not knowing how to respond to the verdict of the case, as well as the fact that Atticus would defend a black man in the first place.

It's a fantastic book. I love it. (Obviously)

Also, in recent news, Harper Lee has said she has written another book (so far this is her only book in print) that features Scout as an adult, coming back to her old town and revisiting her thoughts and emotions of that time.

I, for one, am THRILLED. 

Apparently this book was actually written BEFORE To Kill A Mockingbird, but the people reading it were so in love with Scout that they wanted a story from when she was younger.

If you want more information about this upcoming book, you can read about it here. 

contentment//

con·tent¹

kənˈtent/

adjective

1. 1.

   in a state of peaceful happiness.

   "he seemed more content, less bitter"

   synonyms:

   contented, satisfied, pleased, gratified, fulfilled, happy, cheerful, glad;More

Thanks Google! I owe you one.

For me, learning to be content is a very difficult process.

I feel like I'm always stressing about something, worrying what's going to happen next, being angry at something that happened previously.

It's so hard to sit down, be in the moment, and be content.

In fact, that's something I'm working on in therapy.

However, at the times where I can convince myself to be there and be content, it's a fantastic feeling.

I love the feeling of not being overly happy, but not being sad.

Just being aware.

Being there.

Experiencing what is happening at that moment.

And feeling good about it.

I think the place I get this feeling the most is at church, usually our small group.

I just love being there. It gives me this feeling that is hard to explain.

I think that feeling is contentment. (Again, hard for me to even recognize at this point.)

Another thing that's difficult, but worthwhile, is learning to be content with where your life is.

Sure, my husband doesn't have a job (and hasn't for a year now), but y'know what? I don't care.

Does it make me HAPPY that he doesn't have a job? HA! No.

Does it make me SAD? Honestly, not really. Sure, it's a bummer. But I'm not torn up about it.

I'm busy all the time. I work three jobs. Let's just be honest. It's a lot.

Am I HAPPY that I have to do this? No. I'd be happy with two jobs, but three is overkill.

Am I SAD that I have to do this? Again, not really. Of course there's the occasional "This is killing me. I need to quit. Why do I have to do this?" but overall? I don't mind all that much. 

I'm fairly content.

Being content is something I'm definitely working on. 

It's difficult.

It's a feeling that comes and goes.

But, I'm working on it and I think it's well worth it to take a few minutes every day to just relax, let your stresses go, and be content.

Again, THRILLED to be linking up with the Peony Project for this link-up. 

The Peony Project is a community for women who love Jesus, love blogging, and are looking for a common space to share ideas, encourage one another, and make real, honest friendships with one another.