Are you difficult to work with??

I have been thinking about this a lot lately...

 A.) am I a difficult person to work with and 

B.) why are some people so difficult to work with. 

And in this thought process, I feel like God really revealed something to me. And you might totally disagree, but I feel like this is one of those things that could change my whole way of thinking when it comes to this sort of thing. I realized that, really if I were to get honest, people or myself really aren't difficult to work with. It's really all about my thought process (or the person I'm working with if they were to think that about me). People are perceived to be "difficult" to work with because they aren't doing what I want or how I want it done. 

Notice the word I?? 

It's a control issue. 

And it's really not fair. 

You may just be a 3rd party looking in at someone being frustrated with another person, two difficult people not getting along, right??  And now I'm getting frustrated. 

Because why?  

Because now TWO people aren't acting the way I think they should. 

It's all a choice...you just go with the flow or you try and control everything. Simple as that. 

So next time I, or you, think "wow, this person is really difficult to work with!", I will try and re-examine the situation. Am I putting my own expectation on the situation?  Am I wishing I could control it more?  Am I going to get cranky and frustrated or lovingly make some positive suggestions?  

I think if we could just put our own unfair expectations and desires to control, we could all get along much better in this little time we have together. 

Just some thoughts swirling around in my head this week. 

DIY spice organization

I have been wanting to better organize all my spices for a while now and last week I finally decided to do it!

All my spices are in containers and when I pull out the containers all I can see are the tops of the jars. So I was having to pick up each jar to see what was in it. With the exception of one brand, none of them have the contents on the lids, so it was a pain. Especially if I was in a hurry to find something last minute to add while I was cooking. Some of the spices are in small jars and were stacked on top of each other, which made more of a pain.  I also really wanted to eliminate plastic jars and have everything stored in glass. Some spices were already in glass, so I wanted to be able to continue using them. And finally, I had some duplicate spices and I wanted to combine those into one. 

So. 

Now I just need a plan of attack. I started buying a few glass jars here and there at Target that I liked and that gave me the idea of just copying the Target jars and putting a chalkboard label on top. A few days later I just decided I would spray paint all the lids with chalk paint and forego the label on top. And so that is what I did!!

Plastic and metal lids were painted with 3-4 light coats of spray paint. 

I didn't want the old labels on the jars anymore either, so I emptied the contents out into a bowl, pealed the paper off, then soaked the jar for a few minutes in very hot water. After soaking, the labels were very easy to scrape off with my fingernail and/or a pampered chef stone scraper. I did have a few that were more difficult and I just scrubbed them several times with glass cleaner until all the residue was off!

I then used a funnel and added all the spices back into the jar and once the paint was dry on the lid, replaced the chalkboard painted lid. 

I wrote the contents on the top of each lid with a white sharpie paint pen and that was it! 

Here you can see I'm in the middle of the process, some have green lids, some have black...now they are all black and easy to write on. 

Don't work on too many at a time...you don't want to mix things up and forget what is what.  I also wanted to try and keep the spices in the same lids and bottles they were originally in. I did 5 or so at a time and everything went smoothly!

I do need to make some labels for the front of the bottles and I will be working on that later this week...I will post the finished product soon!

This was a very easy and inexpensive project that anyone can do!

Happy Monday!! 8)

Roasted Salsa Verde chicken

I thought I would share an easy crockpot recipe with you this morning!  

This was probably one of the easiest recipes I've made in a while!  And it was a hit with the family...including Bryson!

I thought I had pinned this, but can't find it to share the link...good thing I wrote it down!

1 1/2 lbs chicken tenders

1/4 tsp garlic powder (or fresh!)

1/8 tsp oregano

1/8 tsp cumin 

Salt to taste

16 oz jar of Archer Farms salsa verde 

(Use any salsa verde you like!)

Season chicken with all seasoning and place in bottom of crockpot. (I didn't measure the seasoning, i just added what I thought looked good). Cover with the entire jar of salsa verde. Cook high for two hours (I did on low for 4-5 hrs). 

Remove chicken and shred. Remove 2/3 cup of the liquid left in the crockpot and discard (or keep if you like). Add chicken back to the crockpot. Season to taste. 

I made tacos with whole wheat tortillas, fresh from our grocery store bakery, some black beans and seasoned brown rice.  You can add all sorts of good things to this...onions, cilantro, avocado, lime, etc. 

This is the first time I made this and I would probably marinate it overnight for more flavor. This recipe is not spicy at all, so if you want a little spice, just add it in there. 

Sorry for no completed photos...we were starving last night!  

Enjoy!!

I always intend to...

But then I don't!

Blog, that is!

So...I just thought it was time to put all these thoughts down, no matter how random they are...

There have been many, many articles floating around the last several months on Facebook regarding motherhood and the way women tend to compare themselves and/or criticize one another, etc.  The list could go on and on about how judgemental and cruel we can be to one another as mothers. And maybe (probably) not verbally or directly to them...but usually in a more passively aggressive, gossipy, snarky jealous Facebook/Instagram/Twitterish kind of way. 

Or, in my opinion, the worst of them all, you just bash yourself in your own mind. Tell yourself how terrible you are, how so-and-so is so much better or they think they are so much better...yada-yada-yada. 

It's a brutal thing we do to one another or ourselves. 

I know for me, I can beat myself up for getting pregnant at 21, not finishing college, not going out and getting a fancy career making lots of money...or 

not waking up early and making myself beautiful before the sun comes up and then cooking a homemade, from scratch, breakfast every day for my family before they leave for school and work...or

maybe even scolding myself for not greeting each child at the door (or the bus stop) when they return from school with freshly baked cookies in hand. Or writing a special note and sticking it in their backpack or lunch box. 

I think about doing these. Sometimes I want to do some of these things, but I don't.  But then I think...where did I get all of these ideas anyway?  From my friends?  From TV?  My husband and kids don't ask me to do these things...although I'm sure they would enjoy the latter two! :)

I don't really know where I'm going with this...but I do know that I just want to be pleasing to God first and foremost. I want to live my life Biblically...pleasing to Him!  I do the things I do (crafting, decorating, organizing) because I love to do them. They make my heart happy and it is relaxing to me. Not because I want to show off or make someone jealous or compare or whatever. That is how God made ME. He didn't make ME to sit at a desk all day. He didn't give ME the desire in my heart to get up at 5 in the morning, roll my hair and paint my face up and cook biscuits and gravy from scratch, with all organic, gluten-free products that I produced myself (I don't even know if that's possible!). He didn't give ME the ability to do a million things that would be so cool to do...and that is awesome. He made me ME!  (ETA:  not criticizing if you do this...just saying its not MY thing or how God made ME!)

I have been so hard on myself for so many years and am just now realizing how to love myself... Learning to believe it when someone pays me a compliment has been one of the most healing things I've ever experienced. To not see a picture of myself and pick it apart, but to just look at it and see a beautiful person...it's freeing!  

But it's a daily choice...and some days I fall back into that rut.  It's not easy to break old habits...not easy at all!!!

God has opened my eyes to a lot the last few months and I'm excited...and sometimes fearful and resistant...but I'm enjoying the freeing moments that are happening when I relinquish control. 

This week, for the first time ever, I will start working on putting down on paper my "moral inventory". I'm praying this is another step in the direction of freeing myself from the bondage I've thrown myself in to because of past hurts in my life.  

I know God wants me to be free and to fully enjoy this life he has given me!

Growing pains...

The last 9 months have been a whirlwind!  Sometimes not the greatest, but we made it. 

Living in a hotel while starting the first day in a new school for my kiddos and me starting a new job on the same day. And then Derek going out of town the following 3 days...rough. And I was scared, but we made it. 

Then moving into an apartment for 5 months while our house was being built. 4 people, a dog, 2 bedrooms... and smoking neighbors...that argued and cursed at each other loudly and slammed lots of doors. Again, not fun...but we made it. 

And even though that was NOT an ideal situation, mostly for my children (the loud cursing), it bonded our little family and God provided for us greatly during that time. 

Somewhere in the middle of there we had an offer on our Borger house that subsequently fell through. Rough. 

Then the time came for us to close on our new house, YAY!!!, and 3 days before closing we find out..."oh yeah, you're approved...as long as you pay off one of your cars...cause we aren't counting Ember's income b/c she hasn't worked in 6 years. See you at closing!"

Rough...scary...ROUGH!

Ultimately, everything worked out...closed and moved into the new house with the car payed off. 

And then 2 weeks ago we finally sold out Borger house. 

Why, might you ask, do I tell you all of this?  First and foremost...NOT to complain!  I mean, would I have chosen, given the option, to have things go easier or more smoothly?  Maybe. But I've learned that it's not a punishment. I've learned that I can't have true growth without pain. 

Growing pains. 

And I've realized over the last few weeks that that is exactly what is going on. I'm being pulled and stretched. Yanked out of my comfort zone. And even though I know the outcome will be so sweet...I'm finding myself fighting it. 

*sigh*

I decided to google growing pains and see what the ole www had to say and a few things stuck out to me...one being that the pain can wake you in the middle of the night...crying out in pain. And that it happens, usually, around the ages where you're going from a toddler, to...well, not a toddler. Or the stage where you're hormones start going crazy and you're about to get out of that awkward tween stage to a full-fledge teenager!  Are you following me?

But the thing that stood out to me the most was this...

      "But those with growing pains respond differently — they feel better when they're held, massaged, and cuddled."

Just what I needed to read.  Fighting these growing pains or isolating myself to deal with them is not the answer. 

Amazing what a few moments alone with my Father can do.