If the world was ending...

What a bizarre time we are living in now. There's been some days this last week that we've driven around just to take a ride. It's like living in a ghost town in some places.
I want to go to the movies. I want to go bowling. I want to go to Target for crying out loud. 

Out of boredom we even signed up for Doordash just to make some extra money. I mean why not right? We aren't doing anything else might as well make some extra money. 

If you read my old post over the summer "Freedom"

you will see that we have been following the Dave Ramsey program. We were doing it based off of the baby steps that can be found on Pinterest and listening to his podcast. Well, thankfully Dave Ramsey is now offering Financial Peace University as a two week FREE trial on his website. We've been binge watching all of the videos. It's gotten us fired up for the future. It's got great information on how to avoid making stupid financial decisions. Which we have in the past for sure. 

I know this might sound boring to some people or hard to do. But I've heard so many stories of people paying off thousands of dollars in debt. Paying off their houses in just a matter of years!

That's insane to me! Even single parents are doing it. We weren't in that bad of a hole thankfully. But we've managed to get through the first 4 Baby Steps in 8 months. 

It's worth it! You're stuck at home anyway! Might as well make a plan for the future once this craziness is over and we can go back to normal.

Georgia House Tour Part 1

I realize the title of this post might have you confused. But previously I did promise you a belated home tour post from our Georgia house. I frantically cleaned and took pictures before we moved. I like to do that for our own memories anyway. It was definitely not completed to my standards. I took way too much time being indecisive. I have stuck to my plan to not do that in the new house. More on the new house to come soon. But for now this is part 1 of our Georgia house tour. 

I'm not really sure what to call my style. I'm very eclectic. I combine my taste for boho, vintage, and flea market style. I love classic neutral colors with a pop of color. If you have ideas on what kind of style we can call that or if there's already a name for it let me know. 

The living room was a mixture of new, thrifted, and DIY projects. 

My newer pieces I purchased during our time in Georgia were the TV stand which was from Wayfair. We had a corner TV stand that I got from the Salvation Army back in Massachusetts. It didn't work for this space and was very big so we had sell that. 

This lovely china cabinet I bought from a huge thrift store in Charlotte, NC. I paid a whopping $65 for it. A steal in my opinion seeing how most of these pieces at thrift stores come already redone and are selling for over $300. Not in my price range at all. 

All my lovely old hardback books were bought fom the local library. With the exception of some I got from my grandparents like this very special copy of "Little Women".

My DIY project for my hanging planters. {Spoiler Alert} They aren't real plants. Click the link for how to do this project.

This mirror was another thrift store find in Alabama. Some mixed knick knacks from Target Dollar Spot and Hobby Lobby. As well as another original DIY project my lace vases that have been going strong for almost 10 years now! That's saying something with how many times we move. 

Another cool story about this old Army trunk. It's actually my hubby's Grandpas World War 2 army trunk. When I first got it almost 10 years ago I had no idea what to do with it and it sat in the basement. Until someone said it needed to be displayed a few years later. It has been ever since. I love it. I love having a piece of our family history forever.

My take on an art display above the couch. Those red ones actually had roosters on them from Hobby lobby and I painted over it with chalk paint. I don't hate it now but I don't exactly love it either. I see more mickey mouse ears. It definitely needed something that I had intentions of doing but never got around to it. Not it is serving a different purpose in this new house. We shall see as time goes on here if it will get reinvented.

My music room/office space. Which was actually the formal dining room designated space. As you can see I have a huge upright piano that is a beast. We got it for free in Massachusetts and it is a must wherever we go now. It will not get sold or left behind. Even more now since I have written songs on it and Ri has learned piano on it. It's also the last piano my dad ever used. It's a permanent fixture in my house. Combined with more finds from Salvation Army and family heirlooms the end table, and desk.

I do miss this house. It felt homey, cozy and creative. I'm still working on making the new house feel the same way. I hope you enjoyed part one of my Georgia House tour. 

Stay safe, Stay home!

The thief of joy

Have you ever had a mid-life crisis? What actually constitutes a mid-life crisis. Am I too young for that at 33 years old? Maybe it's not an actual mid-life crisis, or even a crisis. Maybe it's a early life awakening. Yeah! I think that's what we will call it for argument sake. It could very well be the fact that we are starting a new decade now. I feel like major changes and decisions need to be made.

 In my previous post I mentioned a lot about self-care and taking the toxic poison out of my life. Negative thoughts, people, bad habits etc. Anything that can be a trigger in taking me down. I spent a couple decades falling into same patterns. 2020 was the perfect way for a fresh start. I'm getting too old for that stuff anyway. I recently found new podcasts that help a lot with that motivation and the constant self reflection. In an episode on Rachel Cruz's podcast she brought on a specialist that said when you have negative thoughts you actually are damaging your brain. I never even thought about that. Mind blown am I right? That was just the confirmation I needed to kick my butt into high gear. 

I'm 33 years old. Yes that's me closer to 40 then I was before. Have I learned much from my twenties or even in the last 3 years of my thirties. I feel like I have in some aspects of my life. In others not so much. Those sneaky little demons always creep up. So much I wrote a song about it that may very well be coming out soon so be on the lookout for that. 

I thought I would be at a different place in my life then I am, maybe just internally. I have to remind myself constantly of the things that I have accomplished. Where I am after the tumultuous roads I was taken down. I forget that that's inspiring to others. If it wasn't me I probably would be inspired. Why are we so self critical of ourselves? The grass isn't always greener on the other side. We are always wanting what someone else has because it makes us feel bad about what God has given us. I even heard about it in church this week. God's constantly saying "stay in your lane". God has something specific for your life. God has given you a set of gifts and tools and a purpose and only YOU can fulfill that. Comparison is the killer of dreams and the enemies biggest tool. Because he is a tool. HA! Just keeping it light. 

Bottom line here is I have to do the right things for my soul. If that means unfollowing people on social media if they trigger bad feelings for me. Detach myself from unhealthy relationships/friendships. Run after the positive things. Healing, my passions, bettering my marriage, my relationship with my kids, our home life. Focus on my creative outlets. At the end of the day I am a creative person. I know in my soul what I was put on this earth for. To what capacity I'm not sure. But you bet your great aunt sally that I will be chasing it. I know that God has given me these gifts (sometimes it feels like a curse i.e deep feelings, empathetic) for a reason. I will use them! 

On a side note: There's nothing wrong with having other passions and do them too. I'm working on that too because I'm a planner. I know the music industry is finicky so having my other passions on the back burner is a smart thing to do. 

I know this is the longest blog post I've written in awhile. It may have been only for my benefit. But I hope you can take something from this. Figure out your dreams and chase the heck out of it. It will feed your soul. Remember someone else's success does not take away from your own. 

In other news. Here's another winter outfit before spring comes. (I'm so behind)