Three Personality Traits...

Here we are, doing another day of the blog challenge!

Today is about three personality traits that I am PROUD of! 

Let's begin, shall we?

Which ones best describe you?!

1}  I am, and always have been, proud to be an extremely open-minded, equal-opportunity, sees-the-best-in-people kind of person! This is my number one favorite thing about myself! It always will be. This is probably why arrogance, ignorance, hatred, racism and sexism all rank at the top of my pet-peeves list {even though I did not mention some of them in an earlier post, I try not to talk about them too much, as to not get myself all worked up}!

2}  I consider myself to be an extremely clean, and organized person. Although, since      there is an exception to every rule, my floors fall flat on my O.C.D. radar! But other than that, everything has to be in its place, or I go crazy! I am proud of this fact, because this means that I do not live in filth! Even at the lowest moments of life, I cannot stand living in a mess!!

3}  I {would like to} think that I am fairly money-conscience. Bills and life-stuff aside, I do not compulsively shop, and it is not very often that I splurge on something for myself. Occasionally, yes. Because I truly believe that you have to. But overall, no. My husband and I take our pennies into account at all times. While it may not appear this way to most, we do. I am proud of this fact, because we honestly and truly appreciate what we have, and do not take any of it for granted. We are able to decipher what we truly cannot live without, and which things we need. And the best part? We do not owe monetary favors to anyone, besides the bank for our home and car! And as for the struggle that we go through because of this, it makes it worth it.

Of course there are other traits that I do love about myself {funny, loyal, loving, etc,..} but these are the top three in my book!

What are the three things about yourself that you are most proud of? I'd love to hear them!

 

My Guilty Pleasure

Well, I'm not sure I know where to begin with day four of the blog challenge!

It's all about guilty pleasures...

I feel like I may have a few guilty pleasures...does my one and only vice count as a guilty pleasure? Because if it does, than it would be coffee. {Yeah, I'm predictable. I know!}

Otherwise, I might be able to provide a short {ish} list!

• Packing the girlies up in the car, and driving around aimlessly. For no other reason than the fact that I like to drive, and sometimes we just need to get out! = a waste of gas!
• Browsing and purchasing new music when I know I shouldn't! = a waste of a budget!
• Eating junk food for no apparent reason and gaining more weight! = a waste of self-preservation! 
• Watching cheesy shows on T.V. or Netflix! = a waste of brain power!
• Just being flat-out, all around lazy! = a waste of a day!

So yeah, I suppose I have a few. Not my proudest moments, but we all know we have them!

What are yours?!

Earliest Childhood Memory...

Day four of the blog challenge is entitled 'My Earliest Childhood Memory'.

Honestly, this is tough for me...I have a ton of childhood memories.  Who doesn't?!

But which one is the earliest? 

Well, I remember a lot of stuff from elementary school, like my teachers and class mates. And early Christmases where my Papa would dress up as Santa Claus, and I would sit on his lap and open presents. 

I remember playing outside and building forts in the bushes! I would climb trees, ride my bike everywhere, and take my helmet off as soon as I went around the corner because I didn't think it was "cool" - SO NOT COOL! I also remember watching Saturday Morning cartoons, because they were such a treat! I remember the fashions and the trends, the most popular music, and walking to school by myself! My how times have changed!

I remember walking around my grandparents neighborhood knocking door-to-door to see if they had kids I could play with, and sure enough! I made quite a few memorable friends! My absolute oldest, and one of my dearest friends I met this way! There were some boys across the street who I became quick friends with, and a funny story: they convinced me to sell jolly rancher candies at school to make a profit...I totally did! HA!

I remember making up games with friends, and thinking that the future was so far away I that I never thought it would actually come...little did I know!

Those were some of the best days...playing with the neighborhood kids, sleeping over, being downright silly. I miss that. Being a kid. There was no stress. Just laughter, fun and friends! Ah, the good ol' days...

I also remember getting my first pet. A cat my Mom named Quest, because it was apparently a quest to find her, but whom I had name simply: Kitty. Which turned into Kitty-Witty. She was The. Best. Cat. Ever! No joke! She lived for 15 long years, and passed away when I was in high school.

I remember when each of my cousins were born, since I am the oldest of the grandchildren.

I remember spending a lot of summers at our families cabin, which was always one of my favorite places! 

Over all, like I said, there are a lot of memories! However, I really don't think that I could choose just one to ever write about!

My "Go-To Meal"

While this is not part of the blog challenge, I saw a recent blog post about this, and thought I would share my take on it. 

 

Do you have a favorite Go-To meal you always make when you don't feel like thinking of something to cook? Well I certainly do! And here it is, in all it's glory with no particular name to be called by!

 

Let's begin with the ingredients: wholegrain Farfalle {bowtie} pasta, pine nuts, asparagus, and my personal favorite - apple chicken sausage.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we have to add-to-it ingredients {as I like to call them!}:

garlic salt, seasoned pepper, REAL shredded parmesan cheese, and extra virgin olive oil.

Ok, so after I wash everything, and get the water boiling, I pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees {to bake my asparagus}. While the oven is pre-heating I prepare the asparagus for cooking as follows - drizzle it with olive oil, sprinkle garlic sale and seasoned pepper to taste, then sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. 

 

Next I cut up the sausage, and start to saute it.

While that is cooking, I finally add the noodles to the water, and put the asparagus into the oven. I bake it for 10 minutes total, at 400 degrees. 

By the time the noodles have finished boiling, the sausage and the asparagus have both just about been fulled cooked as well.

After I drain and wash the noodles, I add olive oil to the pot and put the noodles back in. I stir them up and add garlic salt to taste. Then I add the seasoned pepper to taste, and some pine nuts. After that is stirred, I add the sausage and mix it all together. 

Serve it up, put some parmesan cheese on top, and....

VOILA! A simple, easy and quick dinner! From prep time to finish, this only take about 30 minutes to cook! Now that's what I'm talking about!

Finished Product!

So, what is your Go-To meal?!

Meaning of my Business Name

So day three is entitled Meaning of my Business name. 

Well, I do not own my own business. BUT...I can describe to you the meaning behind the company I am a consultant for!

Rewind back to this past Fall. I realized that I had the opportunity to make a few extra bucks by simply showing off a few items! I paid my $99 start up fee, received my kit in a few short weeks, and hit the ground running. By the time the New Year rolled around, I had more than doubled what I paid to start! YAY!

So what is this company I am speaking of? It is called Thirty-One Gifts. 

The business was founded 10 years ago, in a women's basement out of Ohio. Within the past 5 years or so, it has trickled over to the West coast, and has definitely made a name for itself!

 

The founder's name is Cindy Monroe, and now she is one of the most successful Direct Selling business owners to date! Thirty-One is a faith-based company, which believes in Celebrating, Encouraging and Rewarding the working woman. And this company truly does just that! With an incredible amount of support and endless potential for personal growth, this company is just scratching the surface!

 

She named her company Thirty-One, based off of Proverbs 31...

 

Another huge reason I love this company, is that they have a line of product called Thirty-One Gives:

"Our Mission 

We believe in Her – women and girls. We embrace Her inner beauty and celebrate Her natural gifts. It's our mission to celebrate and empower Her, helping to strengthen Her belief in herself, strengthen Her family, and to lead a purposeful, thriving life. We do this through Home Office partnerships, Consultant giving, product donations and exclusive Gives products. We believe that by empowering Her, we strengthen families and communities and change lives."

 So to say the least, I am proud to be a part of this company! 

If you are wanting more information on the company, click HERE!

20 Facts About Me

OK folks, day two of the 31 day blog challenge: 20 facts all about ME!

{Not quite sure how interesting this will be, but here we go...}

Well, at least for now...

1. I have been a Stay-At-Home-Mom for almost four years now! Geez, that went by fast! 
2. I may, or may not, have a slight case of O.C.D. when it comes to organizing. While there are aspects of my life where you cannot always tell, I most definitely have a place for everything, and everything in it's place!
3. My youngest daughter is almost 9 months old, and almost crawling, but I do not have a child-proof home! Shame on me? Maybe.
4. I have very expensive taste. Do I indulge in it? HECK NO! As my husband would tell you: I have a wine drinkers taste on a beer drinkers budget. 
5. In conjunction with the above statement; almost everything I own {except for my children!} is used! Yup. I am not kidding. But you know what? I kinda like it that way...Everything has already been broken in, and has the kinks worked out by the time it makes it way to me!
6. One of my favorite Summer activities is to go Garage Sale-ing!
7. I honestly cannot handle doing arts & crafts! In fact, I kinda hate 'em...
8. I love, love, LOVE the sun! But don't like the heat that comes with it. Kind of strange, right? Well, I am a heat-wimp! Guess you could call me your typical Washingtonian! 
9. I am embarrassed about this one, but I suppose I can make it interesting for you: I have never mowed a lawn in my life. Nope. Not once. Moving on...
10. Out of the {very} few states that I have traveled to, Montana has always been, and will always be, my favorite. In fact, if you asked me to move there right now, I would pack up in a heartbeat! 
11. I am a little bit of a history nerd when it comes anything having to do with Lewis and Clark. That part of history has always fascinated me. Even as a child. Which is probable why I love MT so much! 
12. I have traveled to Paris, France and Madrid, Spain! For this, I will always be forever grateful to my incredible Mother for making that possible for me in high school!! A chance of a lifetime! 
13. I do NOT like loose sheets on my bed! I cannot stand having them wrap around my legs and my feet...it confines me! Therefore, I never have them on my bed. Just a fitted sheet and a comforter. I must say, it makes making the bed a LOT easier!
14. As much as I would love to have a dog, besides the financial responsibility of them, I selfishly do not want to go through the heartbreak of loosing a pet.
15. I have found that the easiest way for me to loose weight, is to give birth to a child!! Each time my daughters were born, I automatically dropped 2 dress sizes!           Haha! How ironic is that?!!
16. I do not have a defining "style". I am not a girly-girl by any means, but I am not quite a tom boy either...maybe a little in between? Or maybe you could just call it the "Lazy-Mom" style?!
17. My biggest pet peeves: 1) being sticky! 2) being too cold 3) drivers who do not use their blinkers 4) ignorance, and/or close-mindedness 
18. This may not be news to some, but I am a caffeine fanatic! And no, I do not mean pop, {I don't drink pop} I mean coffee!! 
19. I do not deep clean my wood floors as often as I supposed I should. My reasoning? My six-year-old! The second I get them clean, they are literally dirty again. So why bother? Only when there is planned company coming, of course!!
20. My middle name is after the first half of my grandmother's name: Lindsi Jo {as in JoAnn}. And my oldest daughter's middle name is after my deceased Papa: Emma Ray {as in Raymond}.

I am not sure how intriguing that was to you, but if you stuck around to read it all, I Thank You! And I will be back shortly with installment number three of the blog challenge...

LATER!

31 Day Blog Challenge

The Summer is upon us!

Which for me, as well as many others, means that my family and I will be busy little bees for a while...oh, but who am I kidding? We are always busy! 

So with that said, I am going to try to do this blog challenge that I found on Pinterest!

Granted, I will most likely not be writing for 31 days straight in a row, but I will at least have my posts follow the themes in order when I do write!

 THIS IS MY INTRODUCTION to the 31 Day Blog Challenge!

Anyone feel like joining me?!