House Tour

Here are a few pictures of our (somewhat) organized home.  I am glad that I took these pictures yesterday when we had great winter sunlight.

 When we purchased our home nine years ago, we had an outdated kitchen from the 1960's. My husband renovated the entire kitchen himself while I was pregnant with our first daughter. I love the granite counter tops. The granite we chose actually cost LESS than it would have been to purchase laminate. It was a close out on this one particular color granite.

 The nightstand was free, my friend was throwing it out! The lamp was a dollar at a thrift store. It was an ugly gold that I spray painted. And the comforter was a recent purchase from the Goodwill. I needed a little yellow to cheer things up a bit. My husband is not a floral kind of guy, so I am surprised he does not mind my shabby chic addition!

 Our bedroom set was mine before my husband and I got married. We had not planned on keeping it this long, but not having to make a major purchase like a bedroom set is nice.

 My mother-in-law was going to throw this desk out, so I took it, painted purple and added the flower knobs to it. The chair was a chippy blue purchased from my favorite local antique store and I sanded it and painted it to match.

 This is the family room which we try to keep neutral. The coffee table is well loved by my daughters' art work that seems to make it onto the table more than their papers.

 My oldest daughter loves purple and loves butterflies, so I cut out a butterfly from some vintage sheet music that I had and painted the vintage frame purple.

I found this cute little pink end table at a thrift shop and did not have to do anything to it.

My oldest daughter still has her crib that is now her full size bed. I would have preferred white, but we chose this set before we knew we were having a girl.

Thanks for taking a tour of my home! I will be adding pictures of my youngest daughter's room this week!

Broken

The vintage colorful blankets felt so warm as I snuggled underneath. Outside the temperature was -2 and felt like -20. Many schools canceled classes for the day, but not mine. Reluctantly, I climbed out of bed, barefoot on the hardwood floors. "Momma" my oldest daughter called from her room. The tooth fairy had visited again for the second time in less than a week. My youngest daughter still slept, snuggled under her quilt.

I dressed in my many layers and headed out into the dark, cold January morning to my school. Ahead of me the day awaited, filled with students, questions, emails and papers to correct. My school day finally arrived, and it was time to return home, feeling a little broken.

Time to switch gears, family mode. Two smiling little girls, a pile of laundry and a dinner to cook awaits, feeling a little broken.

As a family, we have made the decision that for us, simple living involves as few activities outside the home was possible. Our two activities involve our church and dance. We do not want to rush from activity to activity but rather slow down and enjoy one another.

We are a household where both parents work out of the home, not by choice so we choose to slow down in other ways.

Life is chaotic and sometimes broken. "But the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit."

Simple Eating involves One Word

Part of my journey of Simple Living includes Clean Eating. I know that eating processed foods is not healthy, yet teaching all day and having to come home and cook for my family seemed so much easier to open a can or a box. Now I am making better choices and it really s simple. Clean eating involves eating foods that have only one ingredient. SIMPLE.

Salads. Fruit. Eggs. Yogurt. Almond milk. Salsa. Granola. Oatmeal.

Whether it is wanting to lose weight, ridding your body of toxins, or  avoiding cancer or other diseases, Living a healthier and simpler lifestyle is one step away. The benefits are endless.  Part of my purging and decluttering is cleaning my food pantry of processed foods.

Our grandmothers had the right idea with home cooked meals, not fast paced easy to reach options. These are the values I want to pass on to my own girls.

Tonight's dinner was salad and eggs. Now it is off to read Notes from a Blue Bike

Less is More

"By letting go it all gets done." ~Lao Tzu

Two weeks purging "stuff" and sometimes with that comes letting go of the emotional ties and baggage. Many bags and several trips later, they do not even notice these things are gone. "For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world." 1Timothy 6:7.  Each day I take a small step towards living a simpler life. Making my family rich in all the things that are important to us, spending more quality time together and less time worrying about material things.

What have you done today to slow down and live a simpler life? Many dream of a bigger home with more things, I dream f a smaller home with fewer things.

Less IS more.

A Fresh Start

It has been a long time since I last blogged. Recently I have found a renewed purpose to living a frugal life. The dictionary states "careful about spending money or using things when you don't need to" and "simple and plain". This is EXACTLY what I intended for this blog to be about when I started it. Over the last few weeks I have made a commitment to living a simpler life.

The first step is to DECLUTTER. It can be overwhelming, but it feels amazing. I have brought almost 25 bags to donate and to my local consignment shop and I still have only begun.

1. MY CLOSET: Since I teach I need to have a variety of shirts. I mostly wear black pants so bottoms are easy. I started by pulling everything out of my drawers and closet. I was not too strict, but I wanted to make sure nothing was left in a pile on the chair in my room. If it didn't fit back in, I pared down and tossed it. (I will go back again in a few weeks and pair down.) I buy all of my clothes from consignment and second hand stores.

2. TOYS: If my girls have not used the toy since last Christmas, I packed it up and donated it. Simple enough,

3. BOOKS, DVDS and CDS: I went through my own and my girls and pared down the obvious choices. ( I did not go through any of my husbands items)

4. Fridge: I cleaned out my fridge and freezer. Wiped it down and wiped all containers before going back in the fridge. I love how everything is neatly stacked.

5. Bathroom: I have not done the bathroom closet yet.

My goal for this year is simple living. Many dream of a bigger home and more stuff.  My dream is of a smaller home and less stuff.

I want more time to spend with my family, doing things I enjoy like reading and cooking healthy foods for my family.

I hope you will join me this year on my journey.

Why I do what I do

Today officially starts summer vacation for me! Another school year teaching Spanish has come and gone! I wish I were Super mom and could do it all: work full time, raise two girls AND maintain a blog!

But for now, I am going to enjoy my summer with my girls, and keeping up with reading and blogging. I read so many of your blogs, and I know so much about many of you awesome ladies, yet I feel it is one-sided because I don't have time to maintain my blog and this really bothers me.

The last few months at school have been particularly difficult. I teach in a Christian (a.k.a private) school where the number of students is vital to keeping the school alive. A number of students have left, many for financial reasons, but it makes all of us wonder why we do what we do.

I know that Christ has always been a part of my life, ever since I can remember. My life has always had Him at the center of it, whether it was at school, Vacation Bible school or making so many decisions in my life.  He has always been there.

Since turning 40 last November, I feel like I have to evaluate the direction my life is taking. And one very important part that is different from before is how HE fits into my girls' lives. I wonder, do other moms think about this? Especially my students' moms. I certainly hope so.

I will leave you with a quote that I am planning to make into a wall hanging for both of my girls' rooms: YOU ARE LOVED.

xo, Kerri

Classy Crafts Club and Shop til You Drop

Tomorrow night, Thursday December 6th, is the grand opening of Just Imagine That Place with a Shop til You Drop to get all of your holiday shopping done! It is located in Cohassett, MA and it is from 5-9 p.m. There will be several vendors selling bath salts, dishcloths, scarves, jewelry and plenty of gifts for stocking stuffers, teachers and that special someone on your list!

And then Friday, December 7th is the first meeting of the Classy Crafts Club which is being held at Just Imagine That Place. The club will meet once a month for ladies who like ot socialize and get their craft on! If you ar interested in joining us, we will be meeting from 7-9 p.m. and you can email me for more info or find us on Facebook! The cost is $25 and it includes all supplies. This month we are making coffee cozies, fingerless gloves and leg warmers from recycled wool sweaters.

Hope to see you there!