Friday Letters



Today I'm writing some letters...

Dear Parents/Caregivers/Chaperones... Please watch your children when you are out. I have no problem telling your kids to "watch out, knock it off, or to stop it" and neither should you.

Dear Pageant Moms (on Toddlers & Tiaras)... I understand that you feel the need to live vicariously through your children, but get a grip! Spray tanning your 3-5 year old is not ok and neither is making your young child look like they are an adult. It's weird, but I still find you entertaining.

Dear People With Poor Grammar... "You did good" is not grammatically correct. Good is supposed to be used as an adjective to describe something (i.e. good job). Well is the word you are looking for. You're welcome.

Dear Lazy People in the Laundry Room... Please get your clothes out of the washer or dryer within 5-10 minutes of the load being done. I don't want to touch your clothes, but I will. I am not as patient as my husband and I will not drive to another building because you are too lazy to come get your clothes.

That is all :)

Ways to Tell if You're a Stay at Home Wife

You can tell if you're a stay at home wife if...

You get super excited thinking about all of the laundry, dishes, and cleaning you got done (and it's a weekday).

You actually have time to make yourself real meals during the day and make a real dinner too.

You call your husband/mom/friends less often because of stress and more because you feel awesome.

You realize that being at home and getting everything done makes you feel awesome every day.

The laundry is done and your husband didn't have to do it.

The bed has been made multiple times during the week just so that it looks pretty.

Changing into nice clothes to stay around the house is an option.

Grocery shopping is not considered a chore.

Running errands make you happy.

Figuring out new ways to save money excites you.



Putting Yourself Out There

Let's be real. I'm not shy. Never have been, never will be. I like to talk and get to know people. Sure, there are moments where I don't feel up to it, but most of the time I'm pretty outgoing.

I started my business last summer with sewing clutch purses and quilted cosmetic bags/wristlets. It was fun and I really wanted to promote my business. I decided that what I should do was to carry one of them with me and when someone noticed the bag, I would let them know that I made it. This usually got them interested and I left giving them my business card!

With staying at home and transitioning into making more baby-related things it's been a little more difficult to do this. Sure, I can talk about it and show pictures on my iPhone, but it's not the same as having the item there and someone really being able to see it.

Today I was in the laundry room, putting in a load of laundry, and there was another woman in there with me. Of course, I decided to start chatting her up and happened to mention that I make my own laundry soap. She seemed intrigued with it and asked how I made it. By the time we left the laundry room she asked if she could stop by tonight to see it and possibly buy some!

My husband always seems so appalled at how well I get myself out there and how positively people respond. He says that if he tried to do the same thing, he would look super awkward and would make people feel weird and it's so true! Haha!

Of course, there are always times where someone does not respond as well as you would hope, but that's ok (they usually make for some funny stories later on).

Do any of you put yourselves out there?



So What! Wednesday

Of course I'm linking up with Shannon again because it's what we do.

This week I'm saying SO WHAT if...

• I love Toddlers & Tiaras. The people on there are a hot mess and make me laugh at all of their shennanigans.
• My husband and I eat turkey burgers on the regular. Seriously, it's a couple of times per week, but we love them.
• I quit my gym membership. It cost a LOT of money and I wasn't going anyways. Plus, I have access to a "gym" at my complex so I was really wasting money to begin with.
• My apartment looks like a tornado hit. I've been organizing and sewing a lot and sometimes that means things get messier before they get cleaner.
• I get a bit offended when people comment about our new situation. No, I wasn't planning on quitting my job and staying at home, but it works and we're happy.
• If I love the weather right now. I'm a California girl so living on the East Coast with many cold days does not fly with me.

What are you saying So What! to this week?

Sometimes and Always #3

I'm linking up again with Megan again this week!

Sometimes... I want to go crazy on rude people.

Always... I try to hold it in and not cause a scene.

Sometimes... I try to get all of the errands done during the week.

Always... there seems to be something that my husband needs to help with on the weekend.

Sometimes... I try to save money by doing the "cheap" thing.

Always... I regret it and realize that it costs more to fix it than if I would have gone with the more expensive thing first.

Proof:

I call this "embrace the ugly". Do not get your hair done at a beauty salon. I was going for blonde highlights and dark blonde low-lights. They talked me into "copper" and assured me it wouldn't be red. Ha, riiiight.

Sometimes... I get a little energetic and do random things.

Always... He says he still loves me, but it's a little much.

Sometimes... I can't believe that we're married!

Always... I love being married and wouldn't change it for anything!

Why yes, I do have a job!

It's officially been a little over a month since I started staying at home and I still love it! To me, being a stay-at-home wife is not just eating bon-bons and watching Netflix all day.

It's about organizing, running errands, cooking, cleaning, and sewing for my business.

I have been busier staying at home than when I was teaching four different English classes. When I tell my husband my schedule, he says it exhausts him just hearing about it. Ha! His schedule exhausts me. He has the 1.5 hour commute each way to work every day and he clocks in over 8 hours each day!

Since being at home, I've definitely had mixed reactions from friends and family. Some think it's great and see how happy I am now. Others think that I'm making a huge mistake and should "get a job."

I realize that in 2012 it's more uncommon for the wife to stay at home and look after her husband and the household, but staying at home is a job! It's rewarding and I work hard. I have days where I get more done than others, but the beauty is that I have all day to get things done so if I'm not feeling it one minute, I can go back and take care of it later.

Today's agenda includes: washing and changing the sheets, dishes, running to the post office, putting clothes away, sewing, making dinner, and general pick up of the apartment. It might not sound like a lot to some people, but once you start doing it, you realize how much you actually do!

Basically, we all have jobs. Some work at home while others work out of the home, but everyone does something that contributes to their family and that should be recognized and not devalued.

Saving Money Saturdays #1



Saving Money Saturdays (via)

 Since I love saving money, I figured that I should try to do a weekly post on ways to save money!

This week I'm going to talk laundry. We know that I make my own

 laundry soap and love the fact that I can customize it depending on what scents we like and how scented we like our clothes. But, this post isn't about washing our clothes, it's about drying our clothes!

My husband and I grew up on different coasts. I was born and raised in California and he was born and raised in Maryland. To say that the way we grew up was a bit different would be an understatement. At my house, we always used a washer and dryer for our clothes. At his house, they used a washer and line dried their clothes in the laundry room.

I have to admit, I was taken back at first. I mean, who does that? I really thought that was for people who lived on a farm or the Amish. No, really I did. So when they let me do laundry at their house for free I had to change from using the dryer to line drying my clothes.

Line drying worked well there. Of course we use the dryer for towels and unmentionables, but other than that we hung them up on the line.

Once my husband and I got married, our laundry privileges were taken away and we started doing laundry at our apartment complex. The washers are small and it costs about $2.95 per load to wash and dry and we do about three loads of laundry a week. That comes to $460.20 per year just for the facility cost! Ouch.

Since we live in an apartment and don't have a good spot to hang an actual line, my husband found drying rack at Joann Fabrics while I was looking at fabric. It was compact and with a 40% off coupon it came to $18. It was easy to assemble and fits perfectly in our living room off to the side.

As you can see, it holds a good amount of clothes (30 pieces) and can be out of the way so the clothes can dry.

Right now we have a fan on it to get it started for a couple of hours, but when the weather is nice tomorrow we will keep the windows open so it will dry faster.

We are hoping to do this with all of our clothes throughout the week by spacing out our loads since it will take 2-3 days to dry before we can put the clothes away. If this works out, we can save $140.40 per year! {Based on drying only one load per week in the dryer for towels and personal items}

Line drying might not be for everyone, but it's defintely worth trying out!