-
4 New Tips & Tricks I Learned from My First Out-of-State Decluttering & Organizing Job in Seattle This Week
If a client reached out and asked for decluttering and organizing help from two states away, you’d assume it would be virtual, right? Nope. Cue the airplane… she wanted my hands-on help, so I booked my first out-of-state job! With only a few weeks to spare, we discussed details and decided on a three-day window. I had a graduation up there anyway, so we split a flight and I bounced from a fun vacation to a fun job. Win squared! I had never decluttered and organized so intensely for three days in a row before, especially clocking 11 hours a day. It worked out great, but was eye-opening for sure. …
-
Morning Has Broken Me: Why Early Peace & Quiet Usually Wins the Daily Struggle Over Sleeping In
As a kid in church, I always liked the tune of the old Christian song, “Morning has Broken,” but I never understood the lyrics. I broke a glass, my sister broke a bone, and a huge earthquake broke three jars of our jam. But how does the morning break? Now that I’m the size of an adult, I realize it’s more tied to breaking through something, like a surface or a barrier. The sun silently initiates “go-time” and morning has commenced. A light has risen. Something fresh. A new beauty. Psalm 5:3 says, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you and watch…
-
3 Things I Learned About Myself While Saving Money in Vegas Last Week
When your husband signs you up for a free four-night, five-day trip in exchange for listening to a two-hour timeshare presentation, you pack your bags and go. If that sounds like a cringy-but-totally-worth-it trip, read on to see how we also saved tons of money on food and Ubers. But if you timidly opened this because you’re slightly horrified that two Christians even went to Las Vegas, this post is probably not for you. Feel free to close it, judge us quietly, and move on with your day. Haha. Just because it’s called the City of Sin doesn’t mean it’s a sin to go there. On the other hand, my…
-
Firstborn Groom: The Failures & Successes of Organizing Our Son’s Wedding
The blur of our past few months was topped off with the most incredible wedding celebration between our son, Micah, and his new bride, Hannah. But before we could all walk down the aisle, the amount of mind-boggling details had to be put into motion. For a Type-A mom, a take-charge dad, and their firstborn son you’d think that would be fairly easy. Not so much. Here are a few things that went well, and a few things we’d do differently. 5 Months Out – They’re engaged! Take pics, call family and friends. Seems like an easy task, but the order in which you tell people makes a difference. A…
-
Chronic Disappointment: 5 Ways Our Family Has Dealt with a Year of Long Covid Pain
This week marked one year. Also known as Long Haulers, this title is for people who still experience symptoms more than 4-12 weeks after being diagnosed with Covid-19. If we’d known our teenage son would go this far past three months of being sick, I’m pretty sure we would’ve bought stock in heat packs, ice packs, melatonin, back scratchers, electrolytes, muscle rub, and baby aspirin. Here are the five things we’ve done in order to deal with the never-ending pain and frustration. 1. Tests, Drugs, Pain Killers I gave western medicine a chance at the beginning for two reasons. One, to make sure our son Brock didn’t have anything life-threatening…
-
Heart Attack vs. Acid Reflux: How Our Trip to the ER Taught Us the Difference and How To Be Prepared
After an hour and a half of sleep last Tuesday, I awoke to a gnarly feeling across my whole chest that grabbed both shoulders, clenched my ticker and wouldn’t let go. If that’s too manly of a description for ya, here’s a more feminine version: I felt a smidge of pressure around my décolleté with a petit side of warm fuzzies gently pushing on my heart. Any-way… the point is I couldn’t sleep. Back, side, front, other side—didn’t matter. I couldn’t get comfortable and the pain intensified so I finally got up. Within minutes I stood in our family room staring at my phone arguing with myself about whether or…
-
5 Ways to Untangle Your Tinsel: Tackling Christmas Without Tackling Your Family
Ever found yourself stressed and annoyed at just the thought of getting ready for Christmas? I know—it can happen to anyone. Our culture tells us we can do it all but fails to equip us with the tools to get there. So when I catch myself thinking, “This year is going to be so much better than last!” I know high expectations are looming. Here are a few things I’ve started doing that help make this season a tad less hectic. Disclaimer: The way I created this list was by struggling with all five of these things. So don’t you dare think I have these mastered or even managed. I…
-
My 4-Day Frustrating Forced Phone Fast: What I Learned in the Silence of Being Unplugged
Day: Saturday morning Location: Apple store Issue: Stripes on screen I stood on the curb at the quaint mall, 20 minutes before they opened, fifth in line. I hid my irritation around the nearby strangers, but inside I felt my nerves starting to get on each other. It’s fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s just stripes. A few stripes are fine. It’ll be fine, right? Oh my gosh—what if it’s not fine? “Hi. How can I help you?” I turned my phone in the man’s direction. “I have an issue.” “Ohhh, yes.” He tried to hide his best-guess diagnosis, but I knew he knew. My issue consisted of irregular…
-
Leaves Turning 80: New Season, Old Skin, and an Organized Dental Office
My before-and-after title works better if you’re a Wheel of Fortune fan, I know. Lucky for me, my dad is a lifer. I grew up with the sound of an audience clapping and the tick, tick, ticking wheel coming from my parents’ room… Every. Single. Week night. The memory sits permanently nestled in my hippocampus with no plans of vacating the premises. Like, ever. Faithful as a sunset, the 7:00 show always caused a tug in my soul. Do homework or solve a puzzle with my dad? I didn’t love the show, per se, but the before-and-after category always sucked me in. See what I’m doing here? Turning leaves, Vanna…
-
Baby Steps, Bob: How to Replace the Overwhelming Thing with the Next Thing
If you’ve seen one of my favorite movies, What About Bob, you know taking baby steps (literally) is what got Bob Wiley out of his own head. Repeating the words “baby steps” also got him on a bus, through a sliding door, and on a boat… all things that previously terrified him. Similarly, if you’ve read Bob Goff’s books or listened to his podcast, you know he loves the word ambition. Always challenging people, he does a great job of encouraging his audience to figure out what they want and go for it. Sounds effortless coming from a man who already possesses ambition… and a bank account to back up…