A Very Lucky Girl

After much procrastination, I finally christened my kitchen repertoire with a venture into the world of crockpot cooking. I cook nearly every week night after a long day at work and I've been fascinated with the idea of coming home to a meal that has cooked ITSELF during the day and is ready to eat when I walk into the door. Before investing in a crockpot of my own, I borrowed Shari's to see what I thought of the size. That was nearly a month ago. That sucker sat on a shelf taunting me with every passing day.  I'll admit, I was intimidated by the crockpot. I'm familiar with pots and pans and cookie sheets, but crockpots are a total mystery. It's size alone was enough to send me scurrying for a frozen pizza instead of prepping for a warm meal. In addition to the size of the instrument, crockpot recipes tend to be very ingredient heavy. I'm not an ingredient grocery shopper. I grocery shop once a month (or once every two months if I can get away with it) and buy ...

Not having homework is probably one of the weirdest feelings I have ever experienced. When I was school I felt that free time came at a cost, so it never actually felt free. More often than not I would wind up feeling guilty that I was not doing something for school, because there was always a paper to write or studying to be done. Free time rarely seemed to exist. But now a whole new world of legitimate stretches of unfilled time lies before me and I am still figuring out what exactly to do with it. I really hate sitting and doing nothing and I like to feel productive. I might need a regular hobby, but until then let me elaborate on what I've been doing outside of my work weeks so far. Although I am not a big TV watcher, I can binge watch Netflix television episodes with ease. And even though I own the entire Friends collection on DVD, the addition of the seasons to Netflix makes the transition between episodes so much smoother. Yes, next. Yes, I am still watching ...

I saw a pin on Pinterest about a year or so ago about a woman who saved five dollar bills in a jar for a year. Every single fiver she received in change or whatever, she saved. Never spent. She ended up with enough money to take a luxurious vacation, just from the fives she saved instead of spending. I decided to take a cue from her in November. I started saving every five from my Fuzzy's tip money, every five I was given in change from a cashier. I've saved at least six hundred dollars this way. Sometimes I get frustrated when I pay with a twenty dollar bill and receive multiple fives in change. But then...that money is still going to be doing something good for me. Just not immediately. The principle of delayed gratification is important to me.  Every five that has touched my hands in the past 8-9 months has gone straight to savings.  A Very Lucky Girl is a saving addict and proud of this self-instilled habit. 

For the past week I've been on a Pinterest project kick. I may or may not have spent $50 at Hobby Lobby....included in those purchases were 3 bottles of paint, 11 paintbrushes, a gallon container of jewels, 9 packages of beads, and an American flag bandana. #'mericaya'll.  I had been longing to inscribe Proverbs 31:25 on something to hang on my wall in the dorms at OU. "She is clothed in strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future." Sometimes I need a reminder to laugh; the future isn't only my responsibility. It's ultimately not up to me. I scrolled through my Pinterest boards looking for inspiration but didn't find anything I wanted to copy. So I made up my own project.  Materials: Canvas : I used a really big one. I'm not so great at the measuring thing. Paint : I went with brown because I wanted it to have a wooden air. Beads : I chose a pale pink in two different sizes because I wanted a more textured look. Jewels (opti...

I go through phases of addictiveness to Pinterest. I'm currently in an "on" phase, partially because it's one more thing I can do on my phone while I nanny, and partially because I have a little bit more free time for arts and crafts projects. Or, at least, I tell myself I do.  I have 18 boards. And within those boards are far too many pins to count. T.S.M. This is my catch-all board. A miscellaneous category, if you will. It contains workout pins, Alpha Delta Pi paraphernalia, and random projects that I mean to get around to completing. Eventually.  For the Love of All Words. The board of quotes. Any phrase that I relate to gets re-pinned. My current favorite is a Proverb, "She is clothed in strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." I am in the process of crafting a wall ornament with those words to inspire me to be that woman.  CLICK. I'm not a photographer. But if I ever suddenly get really talented, or more likely, ...