Learning to Breathe, Pt. 2

It is hard to believe it is February already, but it also feels like the holidays happened lightyears ago. Sometimes it seems like life moves so quickly that it is hard to take time to breathe.

As I write this, it is snowing and not expected to stop until tomorrow. It would be super easy to say that I am going to enjoy this time and snuggle under a blanket and watch movies, but I have stuff to get done at home. I could easily justify my snuggly movie watching as taking time to breathe. But my house is a wreck and it is hard to "breathe" when I have laundry piled up, dishes to wash and snow to shovel.

Balancing my home responsibilities and my need to breathe is going to be difficult. Unfortunately, that is a struggle that will never go away. So that now becomes my bite-size focus for this month.

I can focus on where I am at the moment by taking care of what God has entrusted to me. I have been truly blessed by the home I have, but how I can take time to breathe when I am not doing my best at taking care of it.

Today, I will learn the balance of what I want to do with what I need to do. Because I can tell you now, cleaning is not what I want to do! :)

Reflections on Love

Reflections On Renew

Snapshots Into My Life

What I am seeing through my lens this week - NYC Edition.

Last week I traveled to NYC for work. Instead of working from home like I normally do, I was flying for my Monday morning commute. Unfortunately, my commute was not smooth sailing - delayed flights, missed connections, luggage at the wrong airport. It was quite the trip.

I participated in 2 days of department meetings outside of the office. The building where they took place was across from Radio City Music Hall.

Since there were several out-of-towners, we walked through Times Square to get to dinner. And I walked by the studios of my beloved GMA.

This was the view from my co-worker's hotel room. My view wasn't as nice. I literally looked right into the office building next door.

On Friday morning, I walked to the 911 Memorial. It is quite unimaginable to think what happened in that space. Quite sobering.

Friday's commute home was much smoother. My flights were on time and my luggage arrived at the right airport. I was very excited to get home and sleep in my own bed!

Reflections on Renew

Snapshots Into My Life

What I am seeing through my lens this week.

I forgot to add this picture last week. My mom graciously brought me a Shorty's chopped salad and soup. I LOVE this salad! It was a good way to end the week.

It was really cold last week. Thankfully, the temps have started to rise a bit. It isn't a good sign when 20 degrees feels warm.

I am proud Ohio State Buckeyes fan! This was a fun little treat to have during the game. True confession - I couldn't stay awake to see the whole thing.

Yes, that is an entire stick of butter on my pot roast. You must try this Mississippi Pot Roast! It is so yummy and super easy!

I went to the gym 3 times this week - twice bright and early in the morning. It has been good to start getting active!

One Mess At A Time - The Pantry

I wish I had a before picture of my pantry. It was a disaster. To be honest, I thought my little pantry was not nearly enough space for the things that I had. It is about 18 inches wide, but it is really deep. The depth was making it quite easy for things to disappear into the back, never to be seen again.

So, like any good organization project, the first step is clearing everything out. In mind, I had already designated this top area to be my extra stock of whatever is in the below section.

This is the main section of the pantry. It is a decent size, but not huge by any means.

The top row became "can goods central". Everything is lined up and I can see what I have. Whatever extra that didn't fit, went up to the top cabinet.

Nice and high and out of the way. A good place for things that I might not need right away.

The farther I got into my project, the more space I had. It is amazing what happens when you throw things out and put things away in an orderly fashion.

One thing I was desperately needing was a place to put my onions and potatoes. They were hanging out on the counter and were really starting to annoy me. On a shopping to trip to Costco, I came across these nice baskets. I didn't think I was going to have space to stack them, but I had enough clearance. But they also fit nicely if I wasn't able to stack them. I was so happy about this find.

This project ended up being bigger than I had originally thought because I rearranged some other cabinets to better organize my kitchen. That included my baking center, which gained some more space. I will share that soon.