Christmas is Coming!

One holiday down one more to go! It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house. We've got the tree up and little decorations starting to pop up around the living room. Since our space is limited I am trying to keep it simple. However, that isn't going to prevent me from decking the halls. I am finding the easiest way to decorate when you have limited space is to us little things like tiny ornaments that you can stick between things to add a touch décor (see picture below). I am also trying to take advantage of wall space. If you are able to try hang stuff it makes it easy because you can use any blank space you have then put something festive but simple. Don't over crowd your space and make it look cluttered though. Ry-bear and I are hoping to finish our Christmas decorating this week so I will put up more pictures when we have it all done but here are a few of what we've accomplished so far. What are your Christmas decorating tricks for small spaces? Feel free to leave pictures in the comments with your holiday décor!

See the little Christmas balls? I am going to add some lights or garland to the bottom half as well since it is so vacant looking.

Tape looks kind of ugly but I used what I had on hand :P lol

You can do this over ANY window. I have a second curtain rod I put it on but you can do it without the curtain rod as well. Just tape it over the window sill where you can't see it.

 The Christmas tree and finished product (well on that half the room anyway). More pictures to come say tuned.

Navigating the holidays

     The holidays! so much excitement, so much fun, so much anxiety, so much stress. Holidays are amazing, however, when it comes to holidays with in laws it can go from thrilling to terrifying in point five seconds. You've got the wife's parents, the husbands parents, and all the siblings of each family trying to coordinate so most of the family members in each respective family is present. It can be a delicate balancing act when you are newly wed to figure out how the holidays should work. You want to start your own holiday traditions but you still want to keep extended family involved as well. How on earth do you make it all work? Every family is different. Depending on how far away you live from family, how big the family is, and how much both sides like or dislike one another there are a few options for sorting out the holiday season. If you are fortunate enough to have both sides of the family actually enjoy spending time together then use it to your advantage. Alternate between parents houses with both sides being invited. Or have the holidays at your house and have each side come there instead. If your families don't exactly get along or live to far away to make that work the best idea is to alternate. One year with your family, one year with his. Simple!

     The real question though is when do you start letting yourself have the holidays at your house? When is the "right time" to stop going to the in laws or the parents and start your own holiday traditions? The thing is there really is no "right time." It all depends on your personal family dynamics. If you have a fairly flexible family the easiest solution is to set up alternation (yes I know I've used that word like 12 times already). You can do this with both sides. If you have several siblings and you all want the holidays at your house roll dice, draw straws, pick a number between 1and 10 and take turns each year hosting the holidays. Or take turns with the holidays. Easter at sibling 1, Thanksgiving at sibling 2, Christmas at parents, etc.

     Understand that it is okay to say no. You are allowed to tell your mother-in-law, your parents, your sister etc. that you won't be coming to "insert holiday here." Yes they may get grumpy about it but guess what they will get over it. Honestly most of them will probably understand. You're allowed to say you're not coming so you can have thanksgiving at your own house, or if you have kids with you children. You are not some evil person for wanting to start holiday traditions at your own home. I am a big family gatherings person so for me I want to have every member of the family I can find included. However, I also want to start traditions in my own home, especially once I have kids. This means that at some point in the future I will have to either ask the extended family to come to my house or tell them that we will come by for a visit but we won't be able to stay long. As a newly wed wife you want to show off your holiday flare and start kindling family traditions that your kids will carry on with them into their future. Spending time with family is always important but you are allowed to have your little family unit. We currently live with my in-laws (separate area connected by the garage). I personally enjoy it because it keeps the family close while giving us a little space to have as "ours." Yes of course it makes certain things difficult to navigate but overall I thoroughly enjoy it. I am not saying I don't look forward to having my own home someday when we are in the position to make it happen, but until then I actually really love living with them. Honestly when I think about moving I get really sad because they have become such an integrated part of our lives. Anyway I digress. Point is navigating the holidays can be daunting depending on if you have a hyper-controlling family/in-laws or if you just aren't sure how to maneuver around all the family members. It is really just important to remember to breath and ultimately enjoy the holidays. Even if it isn't working out quite how you imagined it would or should. Enjoy time with family and make the most out of it. Talk to your husband about what you both want to do for the holiday season and work together to make it happen. If all else falls, eat some pie, drink some eggnog, laugh a lot and breath because their is always next year!  

Emotions are NOT sinful

Oh my gosh I am so excited! Thanksgiving is right around the corner! My humble little abode is finally coming together. My husband and I spent several hours last night going through stuff. We are putting up the shelves in the closet today and I am going to finish up the laundry and other little knickknack items to finish off the house. Yes I know it seems like a small accomplishment for some but for me it is a big deal. If you have difficulty keep up with house work and cooking and "normal" wife chores than I am sure you can relate. For me it is not just an accomplishment to have a clean house but it finally lets me be able to prove to my mother in law I am not a complete failure as a housewife. For those following the house buying drama everything is currently at a stand still. As happy as I am that Thanksgiving is coming around the bend I am also starting to get anxiety about how fast time is going. If you have been following me for a while you may remember me saying that my husband and I are facing some very life altering events. As it gets closer to discovering the conclusion of that event I get more and more anxious about. It will never cease to amaze me how the devil can worm his way in at every opportunity. If you find yourself in similar life altering or even just minor life changing situations it is always important to remember that God is in control. It can be so easy to forget when we get so wrapped up in anxiety and worry. I suffer from sever anxiety  to begin with so that already doesn't help. Iit doesn't take much to get me worked up and into a panic attack. Because of that I know that the devil is constantly pounding on that door to try and get into my head and make me lose focus on God and His plan. As Christian's especially it can be difficult because we feel like we are bad people if we get anxious about something. Like how can we say we are strong good Christians when we are worried about events of life. Here is the thing though, having anxiety is not a sin. Being worried or scared is not a sin. Emotions are not sinful. What we do and how we respond to those emotions are what create an either sinful or godly response. You see harboring that fear, anxiety and worry and letting it over take us is what makes anxiety sinful. But when we cast our cares upon the Lord, that's when we take those emotions and use them as a way to glorify God by trusting Him. That is when those emotions get turned into a godly example. I know some people think that if you are worried about anything then you clearly aren't following God. But Jesus had anxiety and fear when facing the cross. What He did with those emotions though is what is important. He cast those fears and emotions on the Father. He trusted that even though He was scared and wanted for this burden to pass He ultimately wanted the Lord's will to be done. Trusting God doesn't mean everything will work out as we want. It does mean that everything will work out to God's glory and that is the real reason we are here on this earth. If anxiety is overtaking you don't feel guilty or sinful for having emotions. Take those emotions and show the devil that even at your worst point you will glorify God. Trust the Lord to see you through and everything will turn out for the glory of God.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

Eternal Life isn't Free

So while reading a post on a blog that I follow (Club31women.com) I saw something that made me stop and think. It was the phrase, "The free gift of eternal life." If you are a Christian or someone who knows a Christian, you have no doubt heard this statement once if not several times before. The Christian faith always talks and focuses on the "free" gift of eternal life. Now before everyone gets all upset and starts a riot about "How dare you try to tell people that you have to pay for your salvation," or "You're clearly not a real Christian or you wouldn't say that." Listen first to what I have to say. I am NOT saying that salvation is something that can be bought or earned. I am NOT saying that salvation isn't offered to anyone and everyone that chooses to accept Christ as Savior and King. I AM saying that it isn't free. If it were free we would all be saved because everyone loves free stuff. Look around...we are not all saved. We live in a sinful and fallen world. We live daily struggling to focus on God and shun the devil. Even the most devout Christians fall sometimes. This place we live in really demonstrates that salvation isn't free. Now lets talk about why.

The key reason is simple. Eternal life costs...well, your life. When you choose to accept salvation you choose to give up your sinful life and selfish desires to follow God. You chose to say no to the devil and no to what you may want. The death penalty was paid! However, eternal life isn't something that you just say, "Yes I accept Jesus as my Savior" and then you can do whatever you want because you are "covered." Accepting salvation means striving daily to follow God. It means that when you screw up it is okay as long as you repent and keep trying. It means that you might not get to see that movie, or go to that place, or do that thing because you have chosen to live your life for God. Free means you have to do nothing. And yes I understand where the statement comes from because you don't have to do anything for salvation to be offered. You don't have to earn it, or be a good person, or do x, y or z to be eligible for Salvation. ANYONE can have it because the offer is free to everyone. However, once you have accepted that offer you are choosing to say I give up my sinfulness to follow God. I give up my selfish desires to be more like Christ. The offer is free but eternal life isn't. You have to be willing to change how you live your life. Just because someone says, "I accept Jesus" that doesn't make them a Christian, that doesn't make them saved. They are saved when they demonstrate they want to live for God and change their heart to reflect what they have said. When they take what they say and turn it into action. Salvation isn't lip service, it is actual service. 

A Little Touch of Fall

So fun fact not only has Thanksgiving become such an under celebrated holiday that you can barely find a store with any thanksgiving stuff in it, now when you do find a store everything is already on sale! I am both happy and disturbed at this. Happy cause hello I just got stuff even cheaper but disturbed because how can it be such a glanced over holiday! I mean I get that it is football season but I should at least be able to find something other than paper plates with turkey on them. On to the fun stuff! So I have finally started redoing my living room. I stayed up a few nights ago to clean the room and move some stuff around so I can have room for the Christmas tree. In an effort to start a tradition I will be putting the Christmas tree up November 25th. Yes I am that person. But first lets focus on Thanksgiving! I am so excited for this holiday and I am hoping I can get the house in order so maybe I can start forming some form of holiday tradition. If you are wondering why I am behind in my decorating and house organizing it is because we were supposed to be in our house by early to mid November. Unfortunately, we have hit some snags in the property we bought, mainly the people who sold it to us didn't disclose that you couldn't put septic on it due to an easement for the water treatment plant across the street. So our housing endeavors have been put on hold which is why I am determined to make the space I have work and make it functional. Moving on! First things first I got new curtains. Not expensive because hello budget! but I have been wanting something different for a while so I finally spent the $20 to get curtains. I took the curtains I had in my bedroom and put them in the living area...it already looks so much better. I also moved the 5 gallon fish tank which really opened up the door way space...granted a tree is going there soon but hey we do what we have to do for Christmas right! Now as of right now I am still in the designing portion of the decorating phase. I am thinking of moving my recliner into the bedroom and putting the desk in the living room. However, as of right now I think I am keeping everything as is. So now I can start decorating for the holiday season. The easiest way to decorate for the holidays without breaking the budget is to keep it simple. I went to Hobby Lobby last night and purchased a Thanksgiving cross (it is so cute), a box of 13 glittery pumpkins (I like glitter), a bag of fabric leaves,, and a thing of ribbon. All of it WAY over priced of course because it is hobby lobby BUT EVERYTHING was half off so I got it all for just under $25...Still expensive but since I didn't have anything it was necessary. Now I can just start adding to what I already have each year.

So below are pictures of my simple yet still budget friendly purchases and some before and afters of the living room.

First up what I got!

 

 

                                        

 

Before (I will admit I did clean up before I took pictures)

After! Like I said SIMPLE but still decorative ^_^

Before (The 5 gallon fish tank used to sit on the other side of the TV)

After! (Love little glitter pumpkins, I want to get some foliage as well still)

 Before

After!

The ribbon I haven't used yet because I wanted to do a bow for the door but I forgot I don't know how to make a bow. Point is no this isn't the most over the top perfectly decorated home that just screams I love the holidays. However, for the space, time and budget I currently have it lets me have a little taste of fall décor. That's as far as I have gotten so far but there will be more décor and cleaning organizing tips to come so stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe and follow me to get these little things right in you inbox!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping Up with Life

I had it down! I grew up basically running a house. My parents though loving were not particularly involved so raising the kids and running the house fell on me and my sister. My older sister got main charge of our little sister and cooking and I got charge of our little brother and cleaning. It worked pretty well. She was a fabulous cook and loved it and I was really good at cleaning. I figured when I got married the only thing I would really have to "work on" would be my cooking abilities cause I am so not a fabulous cook. Oh my gosh was I ever wrong. I still don't completely understand how I could go from the queen of clean to barely making it but it happened!

Long story short I went from a 4,000 sq. ft. home, no job other than housework and taking care of the kids, and lots of time on my hands to a 600sq. ft. home, full time job and student, and practically no time on my hands. So yeah big difference. Although I am far from having it all together, here are a few things that are helping me keep up with life.

Routine

As I mentioned before I love planning. I often plan but don't implement though. One without the other is pointless. So first things first set up a general broad plan of what you want to for the day or week depending on how advanced of a planner you are or want to be. You can narrow your schedule more but start with broad concepts. It will make it less overwhelming. Then set a general time frame to complete said items. Again when you are starting go broad before being more exact. Once you get used to doing things in the general time frame it will be less difficult to set a more structured routine later. It's like teaching kids to clean up. Start by teaching them to just put their toys away and then you can start teaching them to organize them later.

Section and Time

Don't try to do everything at once. Section of areas in your home to work on and then set aside a specific amount of time to do it. Take 15-30min dedicated time, then take a break and come back to it if you're not done. Once these areas are clean you'll only need 5 to 10min to keep them that way! (Need motivation tips scroll down to my "Hair up means deep clean!" post)

Breath

It's okay if you don't have the cleanest most perfect house. It's okay if you pick up fast food every now and again because you burned dinner or you just didn't have time to make a perfect meal. It's okay to breath. You don't have to have it all together. You don't have to be perfect. You are not a failure if you're not. Take a moment, breath, give it to God, keep trying. It gets better. It is alright to take a break and take time for yourself. You don't have to rush around and perfect everything. Breath.

Trust God

This kind of goes along with the other one but seriously. The world isn't going to end, the house won't burn down because the kids toys are out or the laundry isn't quite finished. Give it to God. Trust Him to help you and get you through it. Rely on Him to give you the strength, motivation and time. We work for Him and everything we do should be to His glory. We can glorify Him much better by not stressing over the little mishaps in life and just serving Him.

Blessings to all,

~V

Happy November ^_^

Happy November! I am so excited for the holidays. Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday followed just barely underneath it with Christmas. I love thanksgiving because it is the one holiday that to me hasn’t been ruined by retail marketing (obviously considering it just gets skipped over 90% of the time). Seriously though I love Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie and turkey, hot coco, cold weather (or barely cooler if you live in texas), families gathering together to eat and talk and enjoy each other’s company, football! I am one of those, go all out decorate and host a party kind of people. I remember when I was little thinking about all the things I would do during the holidays when I got married. Although my plans didn’t quite work out as I planned (His family isn’t big into holidays and mine is out of the picture) I am still looking forward to when we are finally in our own place and I can really get into the holiday season. My project for the next few weeks is going to be to get our little house all decked out for the holiday season. However, I am working on a baby budget (I’m talking infancy here) and a small space with way to much clutter. If this sounds like you then stay tuned for how to plan for the holidays on a tight budget and limited space. To give you a better idea of what kind of space I am working with we have aprox. 600sq. ft. and it is two mirrored bedroom/bathrooms connected by a hallway with a door leading to the back yard in one of them. So we’ve basically turned one of the bedrooms into our living room (the one with the door to the outside) and it’s connecting bathroom is our “kitchen.” We use the hallway as an extension of kitchen which then leads into our master bedroom. So basically a one bedroom/bathroom house. Honestly I have no complaints! It is a lovely little setup. The only noticeable shortcoming is lack of a kitchen but we make it work.

 Anyway, if you would like to join me in my decluttering/decorating extravaganza then stay tuned. As for now if you are joining me on this adventure then lets start with a room. I am starting with my living room because the only way I am getting a Christmas tree in there is if I move a LOT of stuff around.

First, pick a section of your home to start with and make a plan. Start with the obvious simple stuff, pick up the trash and if there is clutter that shouldn’t be there move it. If it has a home, put it away. If not then pick an area (preferably the last place you plan to deal with) and turn it into your “pile.” This is where all the stuff that you don’t know what to do with will go…we will return to this towards the end of our adventure.

After all the obvious trash and clutter is gone next you need to start deciding what to keep and what needs to go away. Get a bin or box and some wrapping paper (if you have breakable stuff) and start going through your room and deciding if stuff needs to stay or go. Once this is done there will be a lot more space for holiday decorations.

 Now I don’t know about you but I have three MAJOR obstacles in my living room that need to be moved. I have a five gallon and ten gallon fish tank and a recliner in the corner where my tree went last year. Obviously these items can’t just be “stored” until later. So I am going to have to do some serious reworking to make stuff fit…or get one of those “night stand” Christmas trees (that is so not happening). So if you have any major obstacles identify them now so you can start redecorating to accommodate those items.

If you have followed me this far then you are well on your way to decorating and decluttering your home on a budget. With work, some family drama, school and finals week only a month away it promises to be a busy next few months. Life goals is to have Thanksgiving decorations up by Nov. 1^st but since I have clearly missed that deadline I am going to try to get everything done by the 15^th. Subscribe and follow me to get these décor tips sent straight to your email. Leave a comment with your ideas for decorating on a budget or send me an email for questions or suggestions (vintagegirl112212@gmail.com) I will try to answer as many as I can. Stay tuned, and pictures are coming soon!