Today I Am...

Today I am...

Reading: a few books: Looking for Alaska (didn't realize it was sad and my heart is broken!), Dissolving Illusions, and A Feast for Crows. I've been reading A Feast for Crows for a long time, but I keep taking breaks for other books. I don't know why I can't just finish the Game of Throne series already. I'm on goodreads if you wanna be frannnds. My goal for the year is 30 books and I've already finished 10 (with two more almost done) so I have high hopes to complete my goal.

Sipping: on jasmine green tea. So much sweeter tasting than regular green tea, but without being actually sweet!

Anticipating: getting wood floors. We'll be fixing our foundation in the next year or two which may requiring raising the house a bit, so we're just doing laminate floors for now to not risk messing hardwood floors up. We're getting dark five inch planks and I'm wayyyyy excited. The carpet in the living room is just so gross! It won't match the laminate that's already in the rest of the house, but oh well. 

Listening: to audiobooks! I have a 20 minute drive to and from work, and I figured that would be a good way to pass the time. I am a visual learner so audiobooks are really difficult in the beginning, but once I'm able to get a grasp of what the book is about and the main characters, I'm good. Meaning the first hour of the book I'm just thinking, "This is so dumb. I don't understand any of this. WHO are they talking about? WHAT'S GOING ON??" But I keep persevering and I've been enjoying them. So far this year I've listened to The Messenger (ugh, as a Giver lover I had high hopes but this book was just terrible!), Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs (geared towards a generation 10 years older than me - not bad on audio but I would've stopped reading the book) and Rogue Lawyer (I love John Grisham, so it didn't disappoint). I'm about halfway through The Lost Gate and it is so enjoyable. I've also been listening to The Slow Home and The Minimalists podcasts. 

Baking: a lot, actually! I've made some tasty gluten free biscuits and gravy (following the recipe on the side of the Bob's Redmill 1:1 replacement flour mix) and cornbread muffins - I don't include the butter and bake it for 20 minutes in 12 greased muffin tins then eat with honey butter. We've made the bread in our cast iron many times until we tried muffins, and they're just easier to keep moist and store. We went out to breakfast the other morning for the first time ever in town, maybe? Not many gluten free options here. I got blue corn pancakes that were AMAZING, so I had to make some yellow corn pancakes using this recipe. Vince and I agreed that these were a delicious pancake being so light and fluffy, and by far my favorite pancake recipe now. To make it gluten free, I used the above-mentioned flour replacement.

Post theme found on Camp Patton and kept alive by SK Bell.

Be satisfied.

I'm writing this post kind of as a reminder to myself, as well and to remind others: WE DO NOT NEED BIG HOUSES AND FANCY THINGS. Sorry to 'shout' it, but it needs to be shouted from the rooftops.

When Vince and I decided we were going to try for a baby in the near future, the first thing I told him was to not let me say our house was too small and that we needed a bigger one. Our apartment is considered tiny by most people, roughly 500 square feet (I just measured with my tape measure) but it's enough space if we don't have a lot of junk. I am queen of keeping useless stuff around in hopes that I'll fix it or use it for some purpose later, but most of the time it just takes up space. Fortunately, I've started to lose that awful trait and have been giving away or throwing away stuff like crazy.

We have one small bathroom, one small bedroom that barely fits our queen size bed (oh how we long for a king...it wouldn't even be able to fit in the room), a kitchen, a living room, and a small entryway type thing. That's it. We don't have linen closets or a laundry room or even a washing machine/dryer for that matter, but we have high ceilings, beautiful wood floors, and windows galore.

Vince called me a few weeks ago to let me know that a friend of ours is moving out of the house they're renting that we love and suggested we think about moving into it. My first reaction was, 'No, we can't afford it.' But then I though more about it after and thought, 'Oh, well it wouldn't be that big of a deal for me to work more hours. Then we'd have two bedrooms, a washer and dryer, a yard to ourselves for Roxi, a beautiful back porch, a guest room/nursery. It would be great!' I started convincing myself that life would be good and I wouldn't hate doing laundry so much and just think of all the space to put things! We'd be broke, but so happy! And that's what stopped my thoughts: I am happy right now. 

We are able to afford our lives now which makes me not stressed about money. I've started loving our house more than ever because I'm painting and decorating and making it amazing and homey. I'm happy. So what if our future baby sleeps in a makeshift bedroom or I have to wash my face in the kitchen sink because the bathroom sink is so old that is has separate hot/cold water taps and the hot water is hot? It's different, but it's not bad. And even if I weren't happy, would a bigger house that takes more time to clean really make me happier? I think not. I would also need to work more which would take away time from schoolwork, future baby, dog time and husband time.

So this is a reminder to those of you who think that they always need more: Ask yourself if that new thing, whether it's a house, car or anything, would really make you happier. Could you make what you currently have more desirable to you or work better? Get creative.

I have a few example of what I've done with my house that I hope to post about soon. (But let's be honest...it'll probably be in another five years.)