What I've Learned at 40

I recently turned 40 years old. FORTY. I was in college when my mom turned 40 and she seemed so. old. How am I already 40???

My mom and Mike threw me a surprise party, complete with fly-ins from 3 of my bridesmaids (from Houston, northern California and Wichita) and another friend from KC. It was such a great way to celebrate this milestone!

I can honestly say that I am able to look back over the past 40 years with no regrets. I love my husband, my kids, our home, our traditions, and the life we have created. 

I have discovered that it will never be perfect, whatever "it" is. I have learned to be content in...my marriage, my body, my patience level, my relationships, my communication, homeschooling, my drive to achieve...I will never arrive. I am forever a work in progress. 

At 40, there's no need for a facade. I am a positive, optimistic person, but I will be the first to admit when things get tough. What you see is what you get...I don't have the energy for manipulation, games or drama.

I am comfortable in my own skin. I've come to realize that this may be as good as I'm ever going to look! It's incredibly freeing. 

I appreciate the personality God has given me. I have discovered my strengths and I accept my weaknesses. 

At 40, I don't feel the need to "fix" myself. I stay up too late, I wait too long to leave the house for appointments, I don't take hints well, and I care too much about screwing up my children. I make mistakes, I forget to return phone calls, I respond to texts in my head, but most people who know me know my heart and that my intention is never to hurt or offend anyone.

I have learned to be more flexible and less rigid. Yet I understand that I work better with structure, deadlines, and goals. I have dozens of alarms on my phone so I don't forget what needs to be done. I like to feel a sense of accomplishment before I can fully relax, so I've learned to "eat the frog" early in the day.

At 40, I have learned the value of creating space in my life. That taking time to recharge is not selfish. That asking for help is not weakness. 

I know my priorities and boundaries. I no longer feel guilty telling people "no" because it often allows me to say "yes" to something more important. 

I strive to give others grace, assuming they are just doing the best they can with what they've been given. I hope others will assume the same of me.

At 40, nothing is more important than honesty and integrity. My values are unshakable. My faith is my foundation.

I feel older, but wiser. My body is aging, but I am healthy. I'm not as exciting as I once was, but definitely still crack myself up! I have immeasurably more than I need or deserve...I pray that I don't ever take these things for granted.

I am so very grateful for all I have. For who I am. For all that is ahead for me. 

#82 - Do something crazy with my hair (well, crazy for ME)

It took me a while, but I finally decided to do something fun and different with my hair. I tried last year, but when I told my friend, she asked if I was going through a midlife crisis. It made me feel like I was trying to be younger than I am.

But during my most recent hair appointment, I finally pulled the trigger. My hair stylist (who originally tried to talk me out of it) said that I would be disappointed if I just did a strip underneath because you wouldn't be able to see if. So she took a HUGE chunk and colored it bright red for Christmas. I LOVED how it turned out!!!  I might even have her recolor it red for Valentine's Day, then phase back to my normal hair. 

So, at 39 years old and only a few weeks left until the 1001st day, #82 is crossed off of my 101 Goals in 1001 Days list. What's funny is that it's such a big deal for straight-laced me, but hardly anyone has noticed it. I've probably only had 4 people say anything unless I brought it up!  Go figure.

10 Days, 1 Showing

I can hardly believe January is almost over. It's been all about getting the house ready to sell and now that it's on the market…we wait. We've only had one walk-through in the first 10 days our house has been for sale. I'm feeling slightly impatient, yet wondering how this month has already slipped away.

January, week 1: 

Project "Put Christmas Behind Us and Fix Everything Possible with our House" was in full swing. Paint was touched up, the pool pump was fixed, the sprinkler leak was fixed, the leaky kitchen faucet was replaced, I continued decluttering and selling everything that's not nailed down. 

We got rid of so much of the kids' stuff, their friends started asking what to do when they came over. The answer was quickly discovered: girls play school and color, boys play football. Who needs toys?

Week 2:

I headed to Charlotte, NC for a Tastefully Simple Leadership Conference. My first time speaking in front of the whole group from the big stage! 

Southwest lost my luggage for two days, but I managed to have the foresight to bring my speaking dress and some toiletries in my carry on bag. 

It was so cold. So. Cold. 12 degrees cold. Five days of cold.

Week 3: 

Once I returned home, we had the house cleaned, had pictures professionally taken and it officially went onto the MLS and a million other websites. Every day since, we've been keeping the inside model-home ready, which is absolutely exhausting when there are 4-5 people spending this much time in a space. We do a lot of life between these walls from 6am-10pm each day. 

I crammed in 4 Tastefully Simple parties in 3 days, then 4 parties in another 4 days. My available "work" weekends in January were slim.

I tried to start packing boxes, but every time I'd go to pack something we "won't need for a few months" I decided to either sell it or throw it away. Including all but a short stack of pictures out of more than 25 photo albums that I've been carrying around my entire life. I kept every picture I ever took from 1987-2002, until I went digital. That's a lotta pictures. And a lotta boxes. And I don't even know most of those people anymore.

Week 4: 

I'm heading out of town once again. This time, Mike's taking a couple days off work and taking the kids to the Arizona Science Center and to the "NFL Experience", since the Super Bowl is in town this weekend. 

I was scheduled to have Lasik on my eyes (FINALLY!!!) but had to postpone when I was asked to fly to Tastefully Simple HQ to work on a training project. I've never been to our HQ and I'm SO EXCITED to go! Too bad it's cold there, too. Very cold. My Phoenix blood can't handle a "real" winter  anymore. I'm used to sunshine and short sleeves and mountains and hiking in January. But all that will change soon!

I'm prepared for February and March to start getting a little nuts. We dropped the price of the house today and we're hoping for more activity. Praying that the house sells soon so I can stop being neurotic about keeping it perfect. Then we'll start the task of finding a new house in Dallas and packing up everything here. 

In the meantime…we wait. We can't do much until the house sells, so we're enjoying the last days, weeks, and months that we have here in Phoenix. Squeezing every little bit out of this great city.

Feeling...Blah

This week has been a very blah week for me. I've been feeling overwhelmed with unpacking from our California trip, doing mountains of laundry, Cub Scouts and football starting up again, Bible studies starting up again, taking Kaylin to tumbling, taking Jason to the doctor for a cough which turned into a referral to an allergist (another appointment?!?!), dentist appointments for me and Ryan, and not to mention that I'd like to workout, shower and sleep and...oh yeah! I'm supposed to fit in educating three children. 

Before all of this began on Tuesday, I committed to a 90 Day Challenge from Bikini Body Mommy. Believe me, friends...I need it! After a calorie-laden vacation and an exercise-free summer because of my stupid cast, I'm more than ready to get my body back. Unfortunately, "my body" has never been a bikini body, but I want MY body back none-the-less.

The first steps to begin the challenge were to weigh and measure myself, then (*gulp*) take "before" pictures in a bikini. 

Folks, I haven't squeezed into a bikini in nearly a decade. Why would I? The only person who sees my belly is Mike and he doesn't care if it's tan or not! But I did it. Reluctantly, and mostly because this BBM chick Brianna was very bossy and told me (er, um, everyone) "don't skip this step!" So I did it. 

And I was instantly depressed. Not depressed, just...disheartened. Well-designed clothes cover up all of the imperfections that a bikini puts on display. Even though I see myself naked every day after showers and while getting dressed, the reality finally hit me. It looked like someone dressed me up in a fat suit. 

As the week progressed with doctor appointments, putting our house back together after our trip, shuttling kids to meetings, practices and birthday parties...I have felt quite overwhelmed. I gave myself a break by calling in helpers to clean my house yesterday, so at least we're not living in filth, but this week has still taken a lot out of me. 

All the while, I've been feeling really down on myself. With every decision of what to eat throughout the day, I'm reminded of how uncomfortable I am in my own skin. So I turn around and remind Mike so he can join in on the emotional battering of my spirit. 

But he hasn't taken the bait. In fact, for some strange reason, he has been wearing these rose-colored "I think you look great, honey, you need to stop being so hard on yourself," glasses for months and months and months. His unconditional love and encouragement has been the only thing keeping me sane.

I'm going to stick to this Bikini Body Mommy's workouts (since mine clearly haven't been doing a darn thing all month) to see if I can regain some of my muscle tone and shape again. My body responds really well to exercise and rebels when I become lazy. And I have become lazy.

If things go as planned over the next 90 days, I will show you the horrendous "before" bikini pictures (because I know the human nature in you is dying to see my imperfections in gory detail) with the smokin' hot "after" bikini picture right next to it.

So I've officially put it out there...I'm doing this. I'm reducing my portion sizes, I'm increasing my weight training, and I have every intention of adding jogging into my cardio routine. No more pity parties! It's time to attack this issue head-on.

Let's do this thing!

(BTW...if you want to follow along with the BBM's 90 Day Challenge, "like" her page on Facebook to see her daily workouts and encouraging tips along the way. And no, I'm not getting a kickback for endorsing this girl. She has nearly 56K followers...I'm quite sure she doesn't care about my referrals!)

Annoying One-Handed Activities

Kaylin picked me out a green cast...it matches absolutely nothing in my closet!

I have never been quite so jealous of people with two working hands than since I broke my wrist.  Now that I have a harder cast, you'd think my free fingers would be more helpful, but they're still very sore with limited mobility. I can't use my thumb at all because the nerves are directly connected to the area I injured. It's awesome. Basically, the tiny sausages fingers on my cast-hand are utterly useless.

Below is just a short list of tasks that are much more difficult (not impossible, but definitely more challenging) to do without the assistance of a non-dominant hand.

It is no longer easy for me to...

- Type

- Zip zippers or fasten buttons 

- Put on deodorant

- Properly wash my hands

- Blow my nose

- Ring out a wash cloth 

- Clasp a bra 

- Pull my hair back 

- Hang a shirt back on the hanger when I change my mind about what I'm wearing 

- Take out the contact in my right eye because my nose is in the way 

- Put the cap back on the toothpaste

- Clap when my oldest son gets baptized 

- Tie my youngest son's shoes 

- Curl my daughters hair
- Braid my daughters hair
- Pull my daughters hair into a pony tail

- Hold a book to read (ironically, now that I have time) 

- Turn sharp corners quickly in my vehicle
- Make a 20 point turn when people park too close to me in a parallel spot

- Wash dishes by hand
- Fold towels
- Fold PJs
- Fold laundry of any kind

- Chop vegetables for my salad

- Cut up meat for my kids

- Lift a large package of anything into my cart at Costco 

- Fill produce bags without the contents rolling out 

- Put a twist tie on said produce bag 

- Shave my good-arm armpit 

- Pop a zit (I haven't had to do that yet but that thought occurred to me today)
- Put on a Band Aid

- Change my sons sheet after he wets the bed 

- Open jars, bottles, or things without a flip-cap top
- Open packages of any kind

- Close storage bags and containers

- Change the toilet paper roll

- Gather dinner ingredients in my arms in one trip like Rachel Ray 

I'm considering becoming a hippie. Bra-less, no-frills hair, no shaving my pits, lack of deodorant, skirts and dresses all the time...now if I could just learn how to play the acoustic guitar one-handed, I'd lead us all in a few 60s tunes.

Don't get me wrong - I am grateful my right wrist wasn't affected. I can write, drive, flip pancakes, and wipe my own bum without assistance. I'm trying to find positives in the little things!

I'll begin writing more uplifting posts soon, but for now, I'm enjoying wallowing in self-pity. Feel free to laugh at my inabilities...someday, I'm sure I'll join you.

 

#43 - Find an amazing hair stylist who can do my hair the way Kristi did

(we interrupt this week of a wallowing, one-handed pity party for an exciting announcement)

6/25/13 - today (that's not a duck face, that's me looking sultry)

Finding a great hair person is not easy. In a city the size of Phoenix, you'd think I'd have tons of options, but not many "great" stylists charge an affordable price anymore.

A while back, I weaseled my way in to get a cut from my pastor's daughter. She was very inexpensive and very popular, meaning she was booked 8 weeks out and wasn't taking new clients. But I saw the results of her work and begged, and she saw the mop on my head and agreed to help me. 

She didn't have time to take on another color client, so I began coloring my hair dark. Myself. It was fine some days, ugly and ashy others.

2/20/09

Eventually, I got sick of it. And instead of watching in horror as I turned my locks orange while going back to blonde on my own, she slowly highlighted it back to blonde for me.

4/15/09 - the first highlights in the six month process

We had a great thing going, Kristi and me. Then she moved far, far away. I had Mike take a picture of my last cut from her, so I could remember what my hair "used to look like".

2/11/11

I tried a couple new stylists, but to no avail. One did great color, but I didn't love the cut, the other did great cuts but took three hours for an full appointment and was 20 minutes away. And I didn't love the color.

3/13/13

Today, I went back to another new girl for the second time. Before celebrating that I found someone new, I wanted to make sure the first cut/color success wasn't a fluke.

during...

...after

It doesn't appear to be a fluke. So I can cross #43 off my list of 101 in 1001 list. Yay!

Before and After - My 20 Minute Makeover

Last week, my bloggy friend (Emily at Practical Paleo) posted a link to a gal who gives beautiful makeovers. The before and after pictures were amazing! I found myself daydreaming about what my "after" pictures would look like if this gal got her hands on my face.

You see, I don't get dolled up very often. Why would I? We spend most of our days at home and when we do leave the house, we are quickly running to the grocery store, the library or the gym. And I'm not one of those people who wears jewelry and makeup to the gym.

I put on makeup when Mike takes me on a date or when I have a Tastefully Simple party, but for the most part, I look like this:

Hot, right? I did not ugly myself up for that picture. It was taken by Kaylin on Sunday after I was done showering before church. I didn't wash my hair (I only wash it every few days. Don't judge!) and it was looking a little greasy. Instead of pulling it back into a pony tail, I decided to curl the ends. And put on foundation. And make sure my eye make up didn't look like Jason put it on me.

This was the result:

Seriously? These pictures were literally taken 20 minutes apart in the exact same spot in my bedroom. I changed my shirt (as I tend to do several times before leaving the house) but other than the quick hair and make up...WOW. I had no idea I should put myself together more often.

I've been a stay at home mom for nearly nine years. It takes me a loooong time to go through my makeup because I rarely wear it. And when I do decide to throw on make up, it's usually just on my eyes. I'm realizing that foundation makes a huge difference in the skin tone of my face.

No wonder my kids say, "Mommy, you look beautiful!" when I'm walking out the door for a party.  They're used to staring at the "before" picture all the time! Now if I could only figure out how to do the dramatic smokey-eye technique, I could really look like a rock star!

Weekend Getaway (...kind of...)

Thanks to Tastefully Simple, I earned one of the fun incentive trips for Mike and I this year. The 2012 destination was Cancun, Mexico. This year? Beautiful, sunny Phoenix, Arizona!!! (ooh...ahhh...)

The consultants who left their backyards full of snow in Minnesota were thrilled with this vacation spot., but I was slightly underwhelmed. At least we didn't have to waste a day on each end traveling! The resort was so close, Mike didn't even take Thursday off of work.

On the first day, my mom and the kids joined me at the resort's water park. It was fun having them around, but I was glad to see them go at the end of the day, knowing that we had a full weekend of grown up time!!!

Since I was one of the TWO locals, many of my TS friends asked me to be their liquor lady. I reminded them that Phoenix is very dry and ended up with 16 cases of water and lots of soda in the back of my vehicle. I had the only low-rider mini-van in all of metro Phoenix. It was so packed full of boxes of beer, bottles of wine and other liquid goodies, that Mike had to take our suitcase to work with him because it wouldn't fit. 

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to hang out with my California friend, Stefanie.  Our husbands have become friends and we all get along like peas and carrots. Our Mikes have been renamed Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper. They look like they're filming The Hanger IV when they walk around together.

We ate a lot this weekend...

I tried being good, but everyone was in "vacation mode" 

By the end of the trip, I was back to craving dessert. This mountain of chocolate was heavenly!

Soft Pretzel Provolone Fondue, anyone? It was so filling we didn't even end up ordering lunch afterward. Best appetizer I've ever had, bar none.

We hit the world-famous Pizzeria Bianco at an odd time so we wouldn't have to wait 2-3 hours for a table. Oprah has been, but Mike and I have not. How wrong is that?

Aunt Chilada's has a great happy hour and was right across from our resort. Too bad Mike didn't catch on that I was no longer eating healthy - he grabbed himself some nachos from the bar and brought me back a carrot and a piece of broccoli. Is that a hint...???

On Saturday, my mom brought the kids back up to enjoy the lazy river and the waterslide.

My brave Jason went down the HUGE twisty slide and begged for more!

Kaylin loved playing with Stefanie's baby girl.

...and Jason found his future wife. He adored her! I think he needs a baby sister...

As much as we enjoyed our couples time, it was fun having a mini vacation with the kids. Many other people brought their families and the kids had a blast getting to see us while we were supposed to be "away".

Back to reality for us. We eased into homeschooling today and my body is SCREAMING at me for the horrendous workout I put it through this morning. Detoxing off sugar and flour has been a challenge today, but we'll all be back to normal before we know it. Long live weekend getaways!!!

The next trip I'm trying to earn is Puerto Vallarta. And to think...we never used to have the money to travel, now Tastefully Simple sends us all over the continent for free! I love my job.

Annoyed

This is me lately. I can't think of how long it's been going on, but this weekend, I just felt this overwhelming sense of being annoyed. With everyone in my house. All the time. 

I lacked joy. I lacked peace. I lacked grace.

I don't know what my problem was and I was so frustrated with myself earlier today that I was almost in tears over it. I've had a quick trigger, have been easily pissy and have taken an insane amount of time to calm down about the stupidest little things.

Can we just clear up something real quick? No, I'm not on my period and NO, I'm not pregnant. Those would be easy answers, but the timing is way off. 

But it does feel very hormonal in the fact that I feel completely helpless to these intensely negative feelings. 

I was over-evaluating myself today and trying to figure out why I'm craving control over everything. Maybe because I feel so OUT of control about certain things, that I'm desperately grasping for false control over others...?  This could be why I've been ripping apart my house room by room and reorganizing. Or why my expectations of Mike and the kids have been so specific and unrealistic. Or why I've been so manic about fixing my issue with my body image.

On Saturday night, Mike and I discussed the kids a bit on our date night. It seems like they're arguing their way out of everything these days, or at least trying to, and I needed it to stop. Immediately. We came up with a plan. (shocker, right?)

We decided to tie first-time obedience for all three kids to their screen time. All of the kids have become quite addicted to playing on my iPhone or iPad in the past couple of months, so figuring out their "currency" was easy. We're hoping to break them of their habit of arguing before doing things that they're asked and we also added that they'd lose screen time if they are bossy to their siblings. (this is more Kaylin's issue than the arguing, but Ryan and Jason struggle with it, too.)

I'm hoping this will lessen some of the squabbles that happen throughout the day, minimizing the gentle boil of my temper that seems ready to explode without notice. But in the meantime, I have GOT TO work on my attitude. Because seriously, this is not cool and I'm over it.

Maybe I should take up heavy drinking to take the edge off? :) 

Okay, rant over. I'm going to bed where I can't say or do anything negative to anybody. I'm hoping to wake up on the RIGHT side of the bed tomorrow. For once. (*sigh*) 

July Goal Update {no t.v. for a month}

It's hard to believe that we're in the second half of 2012. Does it make me sound old to say, "Where has the time gone...?"

I have been doing pretty well on my 12 monthly goals for 2012 and am particularly proud of this month's goal. For July, I intended to, "Keep the t.v. off for all but 2 hours per week." I fully expected that the 2 hours would be Mike and I watching 30 minutes of t.v. a few nights a week or sitting down to watch a movie on the weekends. I checked this goal out with him before committing it to paper, and he agreed, but wasn't nearly as pumped up about it as I was.

As it turns out, I've had many more moments of "weakness" in the past 11 days than he has. There have been nights that I've said, "Want to see what we've missed on the DVR?" and he's replied, "Nah, let's go to bed early," or "That's okay...I have some stuff I need to do on the computer."

Not "unwinding" every night in front of the t.v. has gifted me with several hours of "extra" time this month. No one is more surprised than I am that I had gotten into the habit of flipping on the t.v. each night to zone out. I've had more time to meal plan so our afternoons aren't rushed, more time to tidy up the house and start our mornings fresh, more time to organize our new school room, more time to plan our next day's school activities, more time to implement ideas I've found on Pinterest, and, as of last night, I've finally found time to start scrapbooking again. (I am almost two years behind, but was able to bust out five layouts last night)

The biggest surprise is that I'm not necessarily going to bed earlier (because I'm filling the time with other things) but I'm waking up much, much more rested in the mornings. I'm not as groggy and there have been several times that I've woken up way too early and my body simply didn't need to fall back to sleep. Today was the earliest by far: My eyes popped open at 5:15 (I went to bed at 11:00 last night) and I couldn't drift back to sleep for the life of me! So I sit here now, someone who needs a minimum of eight solid hours a night, wide awake with only six hours of shut eye. And this is not the first time this has happened this month. Coincidence? I'm thinking not.

And how are the kids doing? Incredible. Once I told the big kids that the t.v. was staying off for a month, they haven't asked to watch it even one time. The "two hours per week" that the t.v. has been on has all been shows for Jason. Every other day or so, I'll need him to be captivated so I can focus on helping the big kids with schoolwork, uninterrupted. But even he's become bored with the t.v. I had Ryan put a show on for him yesterday and he didn't last 10 minutes before meandering back into the school room and pulling out some books so he could be part of the action.

Every time I do a "no t.v. challenge" like this I am amazed and relieved at the results. The kids play together more nicely, their creativity flourishes, their attitudes improve, and now that I've jumped on board (for the first time), my productivity is through the roof. Mike has been going to the gym more consistently. My house is less cluttered, our school day is smoother and I am ending my days in front of a quiet book instead of a blaring t.v. Last weekend, Mike and I even dusted off our Scrabble game.

If you've never intentionally turned off the t.v. for a period of time in your house, I highly recommend trying it. If you can't get your spouse on board, just start with you and the kids and take it one day at a time. The first day might be tough, but if you stick with it and help the kids expand their imaginations, you will likely find yourself as thrilled as I am.

So who's with me? Are you willing to give it a try?

Analyzing my Neuroses

photo credit

Everyone has their issues, right?  Well, one of mine is that I feel calmer when my kitchen is clean. If I can see the counters and the top of the table, if there are no toys to trip over or crumbs crunching under my bare feet, I will actually catch myself physically exhaling.  A sigh of relief, so it seems.

This has been bothering me recently. Why do I care so much about a clean kitchen?

Then it occurred to me: if we're in between meals or are going out for dinner, a messy kitchen doesn't bother me as much. But if I can't find a clean/clear workspace to prepare a snack or fix lunch, I feel my chest tightening and my pulse quicken.  It's weird, I know, but it's how I function.

I've been fighting this little problem of mine for years, but have decided to just embrace it and work around it. For instance, I make sure the kitchen is picked up before we head upstairs at night.  That way, I'm not faced with a mountain of chores while we're racing to get Mike out the door for work in the morning.  Accepting little changes like that (no matter how tired I am at night) has made it so much easier to just move on with my life instead of trying to "fix" myself in this area. I have bigger fish to fry...this is quirk that won't seem to disappear, so I'm not focusing on it as a weakness anymore.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Home Sweet Home

I returned on Sunday from my third trip in less than six weeks.  Can I just say that I am SO glad to be staying home for a while?

(Well, that is until we go away again for my hard-earned, all-inclusive trip to a Cancun resort in April, compliments of Tastefully Simple.)

I've traveled more in the last 12 months than I have in the last eight years combined. San Francisco, the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Kansas City, San Antonio, the Mexican Riviera, then Anaheim again last weekend. Whew!  It's hard being me...!!!  ;)

The convention this weekend was a major high point. I used to think that the idea of public pats on the back or on-stage recognition was a little vain and arrogant. I now see the error of my judgmental ways! I was awarded for having the most new recruits for my region and was recognized as being #2 in sales, regionally. My head is currently the size of my bedroom! I could get used to this type of high. But don't worry...I'm quickly being reminded that I'm not a superstar in the regular world. No red carpet for me at the grocery store, no cheers and applause when I walk downstairs for breakfast in the morning. Just boring ol' me in my regular little life.  Which I love, by the way.

Another fun announcement is that I'm featured in our new catalog, which comes out March 1st. That will make for an awkward moment in my upcoming parties over the next six months!  "Oh, and look at page 11.  Who's that girl with the big blonde head?" Would you like your catalog autographed?  Because I can make that happen.

I really am enjoying this little business of mine. I've fought direct sales for so long, but having food tasting parties is more fun than work. 

And who would have thought that I was the type of person that was motivated by carrots being dangled in front of my face? Work hard and earn a free Cancun trip...okay! Continue to work hard and go to the Leadership Conference in San Antonio for free...okay!  The current incentive that I'm working toward seems significantly beyond my reach, but I'm going for it anyway. The trip is to Quebec City (Canada) and not only hinges on my personal sales and recruitment, but also developing leaders on my team. Thankfully, I only need a few new girls on my team for the recruitment quota, but I'm going to have to kick my parties into high gear to meet the sales requirement. I like that part of the incentive is dependent on my team's success. It's so fun to see them succeed and I can potentially be rewarded for helping reach their goals. Something I was doing anyway!

I've never enjoyed "working" so much in my life. I'm just so glad I agreed to join Tastefully Simple last year that I'm oozing with excitement right now. I don't know if I ever shared this on my blog, but Mike was the one who encouraged me to start this journey. This was completely the result of me submitting to my husband; I enjoyed things just as they were. But, as it turns out, Tastefully Simple filled a hole in my life that I didn't realize I had. 

A year ago, I thought I was too busy to start a business. I also thought I was too busy to homeschool. Unfortunately for you, I do spend less time blogging, but I also spend less time watching t.v., chatting on the phone to friends and wasting my day away on Facebook. It turns out that if something's a priority, you rearrange your day to make it work!

I really do love my business. I love that I have the flexibility to work how much I want, when I want. I love that I'm not stuck in the Christian mommy bubble that I've been limited to for so many years. I love that our products give people more time with their families and keep them away from the dreadful drive thru. I love the friendships I've made. I love the girls on my team. I love that people love Tastefully Simple parties. I love that the income I'm making gives us more choices in our home. I love that Mike is no longer stressed about our finances. I love that my only roles in life are no longer limited to "wife" and "mom".  I love. my. job.

This is not a sales pitch, by the way, I'm genuinely being sincere. I'm not going anywhere with this random rant, so I guess I'll stop now. :)