Ikea, Bluebonnets and News

So in the attempt to clean and organise my house, I have found the utmost respect and thankfulness for none other than IKEA! You walk in, surrounded by what your house "could" look like, and you think, "Hey! I can do this. A few boxes here, a few containers there... POW! A clean house!" Well, Yes. Yes, you Can! But really, that's a lot of money!

Since I was desperate for some organization, and IKEA is a cheaper alternative to The Container Store and World Market, I gave in, a little. I bought some baskets and containers for the pantry, went to Hobby Lobby and got tags, and got started.

After hours of cleaning up our kitchen, gutting our pantry, (finding bugs in a cabinet... YUCK!) and putting it all back together, I now have a clean pantry AND room for my dishes and cups! I had previously squeezed all my dishes, cups and glasses in one, two-door cabinet. Any time you took anything out of the cabinet, stuff would fall out. NOW! Oh Yeah! I have so much space it looks empty!

The best part of it all.... I barely threw anything out! All I threw out was the expired stuff (and the box of expired breading that bugs had decided was tasty... eww....it was tucked in the top back of the food cabinet. NEVER AGAIN!)

So anyways... here is what my pantry looks like now!

Yes, it's a super small pantry. But it actually fits everything and we still have space. The trick? Organization!!!!

I'm so excited that our house seems to be coming together! It gives me time to do other things... like my photography and... oh yeah I forgot to pick the dogs up... later. I'll do it later....

Speaking of photography. I got to take Abby to bluebonnets today. And as usual, nothing is ever simple with me... hence the name of the blog. ;)

So I've been looking for bluebonnets for a while, since in Texas it's that time of year. I look around and didn't really see many areas that had nice thick patches of bluebonnets. A friend of mine wanted to go to Brenham, TX, but that's a day trip... But one day when I was having lunch with my husband, I drove past a really nice patch. Catch: It's on the side of the highway at an intersection with parking only on one corner which happens to be opposite the bluebonnets.

See I told you!

So, here I am, daughter and camera in tow. Crossing essentially 2 highways to get the these darn flowers. Then, as I'm walking through the tall grass, my friends voice pops in my head. She had recently heard that rattlesnakes like to live around bluebonnets! So as I'm carrying a 2 yr old, who wants nothing more than to run into the highway, and my camera, I'm freaking out looking at the ground before every step to make sure there are no snakes!

But after all this ruckus, we made it to the flowers, took some photos and then headed back across the highways. Here are some of what we got.

Now for the news. So I've written previously about infertility. So it turns out that I may have more than I thought. I will find out more on Tuesday, but I will be having some surgeries coming up to remove part of one ovary, which has a cyst. I also have a progesterone deficiency. So basically, not fun.

I've been praying so much lately that God would just let me be pregnant so that I can put off all these surgeries. I kept feeling a voice saying "I've got this" and "God can do anything." So I kept thinking that I could be pregnant. I kept thinking it was the only way everything would be ok. Well, I'm not pregnant. And I will be going to see a doctor about the surgeries on Tuesday.

For now, I don't know how everything will be ok. I'm scared to death about the possibilities. I thought I would be going to the hospital to have a baby by now, not going in to get stuff taken out. And I definitely didn't think that I would be grieving the possibilities of not being able to have any more children.

It's tough seeing, what seems like, everyone around me getting pregnant. Hosting showers and hospital visits are coming up, and I want to be happy for everyone, but I can't help being sad. I know I'll put on a happy face, throw the showers, drive miles and miles to go visit newborns, and aww at pictures of their little faces. I'll do all these things for friends and family, and I'll truly be happy for them. At the same time though, I'll be having surgeries, meeting with doctors, and crying a lot.

If you are reading this, please pray for me and my family. Please pray that God show us what to do and that he give us peace in the coming times.

Thanks for reading!

Keep life unforgettable!

-Cyndy

Restore, Re-Love and Recycle

My husband and I are, well look at the title of the blog. Something always happens. Whether we are just having crazy times, or we need a little sprucing up for our relationship.Let me first tell you that my love language is affirmations.

So anyways, I was watching "Parental Guidance" while getting my nails done with my mom. From what I saw, it's hilarious. One thing I though was interesting though, was the kids had this thing that for every "put down" they had to give 3 "put ups". So I decided to give this a shot with my husband. You know what? It worked!! I can't tell you the improvements already.

At first it was a joke, but now we take it seriously. It makes us think before we say something mean, and it makes us realize if we have said something hurtful. Plus, there's the fact that it makes us constantly thankful for each other and makes us realize what we have.

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On a different note, one of my best friends had a girl's night recently where we started the night by her displaying all the things she was giving away to charity. She told us to go through it and pick what we wanted, the rest she would give to our church's charity.

I kept thinking what a great idea this was! Well apparently it's a common idea. It's a new type of "Upcycling" that is sweeping our culture.

And I LOVE the idea.

So I went home and started cleaning. We've been thinking of selling our house in the near future, so I need to get the house uncluttered. This "Upcycling" gave me the push I needed. I started going through my house, bagging and boxing everything we didn't need, didn't use and didn't like. Oh my! I had no idea how much junk I had!

So here are some rules that I've come up with to help de-clutter:
-If you have more than one, pick your favorite, bag the rest
-If you haven't worn/used it in more than a year, bag it
-If you hate it, but are keeping it because someone gave it to you, unless it's something your grandma made and she asks about it, bag it
-Don't know what it is? Bag it

One thing I will say, is get your hubby in on the cleaning, because this will cause a lot of grief if you toss all their stuff. Trust me, been there, learned that!

So now you have either one ginormous bag, or lots of little bags. Now it's time to have your friends over. I've seen a lot of instances where the host will invite others to bring their stuff too.

Send out the E-Vite! Make an event on Facebook! Invite everyone!

There is only one rule: What goes out NEVER comes back!

Have fun!