Taking a chance

5.) Talk about a time you took a chance.

I don't know if I can honestly say I'm a "risk taker" and that I like to take chances on a day to day basis. I would like to describe myself as fearless yet I'm an over thinker and I don't think the two can belong parallel.

Right before Kyle and I got married I had this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach but I couldn't pin point what it was. As time went on it started to hint at my job. I had gone to college for two years when taking on one of my dads barbecue restaurants fell in my lap. I embraced this opportunity and more often than not I loved my job. As overwhelming as it could sometimes be I found happiness in what I was doing, helping carrying out my dads dream. After several months of that nagging feeling digging deeper in the pit of my stomach I realized just that, it's my dads dream not mine.

I mentioned the idea of changing careers to Kyle in which he responded by telling me that he would support me in whatever decision I made. I just couldn't bring myself to do it though. Leaving the barbecue world didn't just mean I wouldn't be smelling like pork everyday it meant I would be giving up the opportunity to one day own it. The thought of losing that opportunity weighed heavy on me. It could mean a huge sacrifice for my future children, owning a restaurant would have been a nice monetary cushion for them in which I could provide more.

As weeks went by I slowly started realizing that maybe I wasn't so happy with my job. It was the same routines everyday, other than caterings I literally did the same thing every.single.day. Being in charge of a whole crew started to feel like being a babysitter to a bunch of rowdy toddlers, not to say I didn't absolutely love my crew because seriously they were the best of the best, but it started to just become repetitive. The customers started getting on my nerves, believe it or not this didn't happen frequently for me, and somedays I would swear that if one more person complained about our bottled water being $1 I would absolutely lose my cool.

I still couldn't take the chance on throwing my future away.

I started feeling guilty because everyday I would come home in a bad mood which, to say the least, was not fair to Kyle.

Finally after all the signs God threw my way the chance finally came to leave the barbecue world, kind of, behind me. Our lease was coming up and my dad started talking about renewing it. Mind you that my particular store on my side of town was not in the best location which at times was very unfortunate. I had already made my mind up that I was going to be making a career change but I couldn't find the words to tell my dad. I literally would start to sweat bullets even thinking about the conversation.

Finally one morning he brought up renewing the lease and I completely word vomited. I knew this was my chance to tell him and if not now then it would be never. So I told him if he renewed I would no longer be there to run it. He looked at me completely confused and asked why and then that's when I explained it to him. Previously when I imagined this conversation I visualized darts being thrown at me, instead he told me he completely supported my decision and that he understood I had to do what was best for my family. I may have had to pick my jaw up off the floor, just saying.

Needless to say my dad ended up closing that location. After a vigorous job search in the banking world Kyle and I decided it would be best for me to be a SAHW and focus on myself and maintaining our home. I now work two days a week, two hours a day just to help out my dad by pulling the meat and marinating it. Though it's not my top choice waking up at 4:30 AM for two hours of work I'm happy with where I am at and wouldn't take back the decision if I could.

I took a chance and if there was ever a chance worth taking, this was it.

xoxo Haley

House refresh

The past two days I have been hard at it around the house. For months the ugly red door and shutters have been getting on my nerves. It wasn't just that it was red but it was that it was more orangy-red and it was hideous. At first the color wasn't bad when we bought the house but overtime the evening sun did it's damage to make it unbearable. It's kind of hard to see in the above picture which was a picture taken for the house listing.


Our brick has hints of black so there was never a large debate on what color to paint because I immediately knew I wanted to emphasize on the black. I also knew it would give such a refreshing look.





I am beyond happy with the way it turned out. The previous home owners painted the shutters without removing them from the house making the removal process 10x harder than it should have been. They painted over the screws and the screws were stripped out so we ended up having to remove half of the screws with pliers.


Once everything was dry I cringed at the thought of putting the old brassy hardware back on the door. I had Kyle just put the dead bolt on long enough for me to run to Lowes to grab new door hardware which ended up in me replacing all of the exterior door knobs.


I am so happy with how everything turned out and even more happy that now my Fourth of July wreath stands out. You'll get to see it in a later post!
xoxo Haley

Pretty little addiction

It's been a rainy summer day over here with dark clouds and heart jumping thunder. I completely went balls to the walls last week with house chores so today I just relaxed. What? A dark house, frightened dogs, and the sound of rain on the windows is the perfect equation for snuggling up on the couch and catching up with a few guilty pleasures.


Who wouldn't want to snuggle up with that little fur ball? It takes a lot for me to really get "into" a tv show. I have my regular obsessions like reruns of Smallville and drooling over Jax in Sons of Anarchy but really I would've never even got into those if it weren't for Kyle. A couple months ago we started a free trial, which is now a monthly billing, of Netflix. After posting on Facebook asking for a suggestion on what series to start I randomly chose one from the multiple suggestions thinking it would be a one hit wonder and not suck me in. I am almost ashamed to even admit it...


Yes, Pretty Little Liars. One show. That is all it took for me to become completely obsessed and finish a whole season in just a matter of days. After realizing my fix could only last so long without running out of episodes I put on the brakes. Here I am all caught up, as of today. I may start going into convulsions having to wait a full week between episodes. I may even have a panic attack when this season is over and I have to wait for the next season to come out.

As I'm writing this post on my front porch I notice the woman across the street has four inch, give or take, wedges on that she clearly cannot walk in. Random, but who am it to judge...I just confessed to having an unhealthy addiction to a teen drama television series.

What's your guilty pleasure in terms of a television show?
xoxo Haley

Repurposed Chandelier

Yesterday morning I had to get a move on things cause Koby had an appointment with the groomers on the other side of town. Unlike most appointments it was only an appointment for Koby, not Sophie, because with his poodle blood comes poodle maintenance.


I'm pretty sure he's smiling here. His ears were a little messed up from the air vents blowing on him but he was definitely feeling sassy.

Since I was on that side of town I decided to stop by Habitat for Humanity's Restore. If you have a H4H in your town but not a H4H Restore seriously contact them and ask them to put one in your town. If enough interest is shown they may do it! It's like a Goodwill (thrift store) but it's more for house stuff. When people remodel homes or have excess tile, carpeting, etc it all comes here. Anyways since I'm not getting paid to brag about their amazingness and I could go on and on about my love for this place, I'll move on to the subject at hand.



I've been trying to tone down my thrifting lately because I've been needing to have a garage sale of stuff I no longer use/need/want and I want to clean out not pile up. So though I passed up some incredibly cheap floating shelves I did, however, purchase a hideous gold chandelier. Which I seriously need to get better about taking before and after pictures.


I first removed the glass sconces and removed the light bulb attachment so I could have more room for soil. I then placed the sconces back and added a pinch of dirt.




I then added a shake or two of Osmocote, which you can purchase online, Walmart, or Lowes. I swear by this stuff because it feeds your plants for 4 months and it always makes plants grow wonderfully.

I then planted my asparagus ferns and finished them off with soil. Lowes had actually put a ton of their ferns on clearance for only $1.00 making this project, not including soil or food, only $15.00!! I am so happy with the way it turned out.

Have you repurposed something for your garden?
xoxo Haley

Unmade bed

Somewhere I read an article on simple ways to love your home and on the list was make your bed. Yes, just a simple making of the bed should help you to love your home more. Confession: I've never been a bed maker. I'll give you a moment to pick your jaw up from the floor. Growing up if I kept my room tidy that was enough to appease my mom. Considering it rarely was as a child my mom spent all her energy making me clean my room that there wasn't any of her left to nag get me to make my bed. Oh the childhood struggles.





Sophie wanted her and her toy to be in the picture. She's a natural.
I will say that I do love my bedroom when the bed is made. It just looks cleaner and also allows me to open the window blinds. The first day Kyle came home to a made up bed he walked into the bedroom and asked, "what happened in here?" And after last night I know that I should always try to make it to bed first or atleast pull the covers down for him.





When I came to bed last night, maybe 15-30 minutes after Kyle, I walked in to this. He had shoved all the pillows to my side and didn't even roll down the decorative comforter. (we don't actually sleep under the decorative comforter, there's a quilt underneath) You can hardly see him or how Koby is slightly peeping his head out of the pillows. So my lesson has been learned: unmake the bed before the hubs takes the duty upon himself. I'll admit, I bursted out laughing and woke sleeping beauty up.











I've also come to the conclusion that I may be the only one who likes for the bed to be made.
xoxo Haley

Broken limb

I'm pretty sure it's safe to say I live in soggyville right now. The rain has been nonstop! Though I'm happy it's keeping my grass ultra green and my plants watered free of charge I can't exactly play in the yard in this mess!

The clouds are rolling in at record speed, by my count anyway, and what was a cheerful sky this morning is now depressingly dark.






Apparently last night got a little more rougher than I thought. I came outside to a broken limb this morning.












My neighbor is clearly awesome and she clearly gets my humor. So as I'm sitting on my front porch admiring my super awkward tree and watching the rain fall I look over and catch my schnauzer, Sophie, giving me the most serious look as if she's trying to tell me, "mom! it's raining come hold me and snuggles."





So now I must go console her!

xoxo Haley

Gardening Sunday

Coconut oil shave update: it's day three and I hardly even have a stubble! So not only did it give a great shave it gave a lasting one as well!

I could shout from the rooftops on how amazing my Sunday has been so far! It's been a couple months since Kyle and I have had a peaceful and relaxing Sunday together. We started our morning with a cup of coffee on the front porch and chatted as we waved at the early bird walkers. We then headed out to breakfast at the buffet and then went to Lowes which is my new favorite place! We picked up some caster wheels for one of the recent DIY projects I have going along with some sandpaper and bird netting. Being my first time for tackling a garden I didn't know birds stole strawberries and tomatoes so I had to put a quick end to their garden heist by covering my plants in bird netting:






You can hardly tell the netting is there in the picture. This morning Kyle trimmed our crepe myrtle so I just snagged some of his clippings to hold up the net so the birds couldn't just pop their little heads through!

While Kyle has been playing in the garage, reorganizing and moving stuff around, I decided I would finish up some of my planting. I still have to get a pot for my tomatoes but then I think I will call it quits for this year and maintain what I have. I decided to plant everything in containers instead of the ground this year because it's my first go with gardening. I wanted to see what I liked to plant, where in my yard they did the best, and if I would even consider doing them again next year before I went digging up the grass that my husband has worked so hard for.

This years garden list:
Cucumbers
Chives
Tomatoes
Strawberries
Mint
Parsley
Oregano
Thyme
Rosemary
Basil
Stevia

I can't wait to get an herb grinder so I can make my own stevia sugar substitute! Also I finally get to use my rosemary for the first time tonight. We are having rosemary ranch chicken tenders, which I will post the recipe later depending on how they turn out!

xoxo Haley

Miracle mixture

There's nothing better than spending your Friday cleaning house! ...just kidding. There's plenty I would like to be doing but let's face it, as a queen procrastinator it's the end of the week and I've yet to do anything around the house. Housewife fail. This whole week has been off balance due to the holiday weekend. Now I'm stuck here looking at the mess I've gotten myself into and shrugging my shoulders.

I would like to go ahead and brag a little about my accomplishments though. It's not even 11:00am and I've already folded two loads of laundry, have a third in the dryer and a forth in the washer. I've unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded it with the pile of dishes in the sink that has accumulated over my lazy week. I've also cleaned my toilet that was long overdue and thanks to Pinterest and all it's goodness my toilet now sparkles!






I'm sure you've seen it a million times. Even if you haven't searched for cleaning remedies on Pinterest you will come by a pin revolving around the miracle cleaner. The Dawn soap + vinegar remedy. And that pin is just one of many you can come by! Last week I decided to give it a go. If some many people are pinning and praising the power couple then it must be something, right? Oh most definitely. First I mixed the combo in a spray bottle and I decided to go around the house testing out the different theories that I had come by.

vinyl siding cleaner: I sprayed the mixture on and didn't even let sit and just wiped with a plain ol rag. It immediately removed the last two years of dirt build up and the color of my siding was instantly restored! I only tried it on one spot so when I do the whole house I'll provide before and after photos.

shower: if there's one place I had to pick in the house that I HATE cleaning most the shower takes the bait by a long shot. I've always hated it. Soap scum and I are not friends, we are enemies and the whole task at hand makes me want to sit in the floor and pout like a toddler who just got told "no" to cookies. Oh friend! Not anymore. Obviously I still do not take delight in cleaning the shower but this has made it a lot easier! I've seen several ways to do it. Steam up the shower, spray on, let sit, wipe clean. Spray and wipe, which I could only assume that this is for a shower that is kept clean daily. And also to put the mixture in a dish wand that can dispense it as you please and scrub scrub scrub. I personally combined a couple of methods. I sprayed the mixture and let sit for 10-15 minutes. I then took the dish wand and scrubbed. I use the term 'scrub' lightly here because there wasn't a vigorous amount of scrubbing that had to take place. I was SHOCKED at how easy my shower became clean! Now I just leave the dish wand in the shower so when it needs a little spot cleaning it's readily available! Best part: it's cheap and it requires minimal cleaning products.

toilet: well this is simple. I just sprayed it on and let it sit long enough for me to go down the hall to the other bathroom to retrieve my toilet bowl brush. I returned and pretty much just did a quick go around the bowl and wahlah! Sparkly. I did however spray the lid, seat, and the awkward spot between the lid and the tank and just wiped it down with a rag.

I love that the dawn soap and vinegar doesnt have a harsh cleaning chemical smell. I don't have to feel like I'm going to get cancer from inhaling the fumes because there aren't any! That my friend is a breath of fresh air! There's lots more uses for the miracle mixture but I haven't tried them out yet.

Now, off to try to do something about this house!




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Project: Organize

Am I the only one? Whenever I have a ton of stuff to do I instantly freeze, have an almost-anxiety attack, and want to go take a nap.

Kyle and I have lived in our house for two years now and it's no where near the organization level that I want it to be. I constantly feel like my house is a garbage dump when in all reality it's just cluttered. When moving in we were instantly given many hand-me-downs (which I'm very grateful for!). Then not even a year later we get married and got even more junk lovely gifts. Still grateful. Hey, I know someone feels me here! So over the course of time I've accumulated hand-me-downs, wedding gifts, and of course goodwill decor that I ended up flipping or turning into a DIY project. So where is all of it now? Well after moving it room to room, thinking that maybe I would find a good fit or spot for it, it has grown into a mountain-metaphorically speaking- that now takes over what was once upon a time a guest room/future nursery and also what was once my mancave craft cave. My goal this summer is to completely organize my entire house from top to bottom. Therefore I will have to put together a yard sale to at least try to get some sort of profit and then the rest is adios to goodwill!

I'm tired of living in a crammed space when really it's not the space itself it's what is taking up all the space! Now that I'm a stay at home wife this bothers me more than ever. Hopefully I will remember to document my progress and be able to post before & afters!


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