Housewife Life: Time Zone Craziness

One thing I did not anticipate in all of this travel was being so messed up by the time zone changes.

Two weeks ago, we were in Destin, which was on Central time zone, but since it was vacation, we stayed up late and got up late. Last week, I was in Las Vegas, which is two hours behind my home time zone, but because of vacation, it did not affect us in any way...until we came home.

We are in bed by 10 every night if we are at home. During the week, we get up at 5. On weekends, we sleep until we feel like getting up. After two weeks of travel, we could not go to bed until 11:30 at the earliest...which had us sleeping until after 9 AM...which perpetuated the cycle.

Sigh. The problems of a traveler.

To make matters even more crazy, as soon as I started to readjust to my home time zone, I left again and am currently in Eastern time, which is one hour ahead of Central. Going to bed last night was SO HARD.

But I know that tonight will be easier...I hope anyway...

What's in my Carry-On?

I find it so interesting to see what other people consider necessary to pack in their carry-on when they are flying, so I wanted to share my list with you.

When I fly, my carry-ons are a laptop backpack and a Travelon underseater roller bag.

In my backpack, I pack my laptop and the things I anticipate needing to be able to reach on the flight or before the flight.

In my Travelon bag, I pack things I must have when I arrive at my location if my checked bag does not arrive with me.

My Backpack
1. My liquids bag (deodorant, difficult to replace makeup items, a small bottle of lotion, a Tide pen, chapstick and eye drops)
2. A gallon sized bag with my in-flight entertainment and snacks (my tablet, my Kindle, headphones, snacks, mints)
3. My wallet
4. My phone
5. Appropriate chargers
6. An empty water bottle to fill on the other side of security
7. Sunglasses

My Travelon Bag
1. A change of clothes, including bra and underwear (and PJs if there is room)
2. Flatiron and Hairbrush
3. Glasses
4. My journal and devotional
5. Sandals (so I can change into them before I get on the plane)
6. Swimsuit, if necessary
7. Jewelry Roll

My suitcase is an American Tourister carry-on size with spinner wheels.

What do you pack in your carry-on? Do you check luggage? Share in the comments!

Weekly Menu

Happy Friday!

I can't believe summer is over...but I am ready for chili recipes and cozy sweaters!

Click here for a downloadable printable of this week's menu!

Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken from Skinny Ms.
Drunken Noodles from Pickled Plum
Chicken Broccoli Pasta Salad from Belly Full

Housewife Life: Baby Foot

A few weeks ago, I was watching some Insta-stories and Landyn from Living with Landyn was talking about Baby Foot. As someone whose feet are always dry, cracked, and generally gross, I was intrigued. Since her dermatologist suggested it or gave her the ok to try it (I'm not sure which), I decided to give it a go. What could it hurt?

So, two weeks ago, I soaked my feet for 15 minutes and put the booties on and settled down for a little over two hours to let the booties do their magic.

Days 1-5
My feet were super dry, but absolutely no flaking and I was certain it wasn't going to work for me. I was really sad!

Day 7
I took a bath and whoa. My feet basically started peeling off. It was too gross to photograph, but it lasted until Day 12.

Day 12-15
Most of the peeling had completed. My feet aren't model perfect, but I had pretty low expectations, so I am going to say that I am amazed at how well the product worked. At this point, the sides of my feet and my toes were still flaking, but I just gave them a good soak and scrub with a wash rag to aid the flaking.

Day 16
After some lotion, my feet looked great!!! I have never felt so confident about my feet!

The Take-Away
This product has changed my life. I will absolutely be using it again. I will say that the box warns that it won't completely work on very callused feet, and I agree because I still have a couple of trouble spots, but I hope that with a second use in a couple of months I will be passed the worst of my cracked heels phase!

Have you tried Baby Foot? Are you skeptical about it like I was? Share below!

Update: Flourish August 2018 8-30

August has been a fantastic month!!!

A bathroom remodel, two trips, all of the memories. It has been amazing! 

Here is where I am on my 18 for 2018...

In Progress
1. Write Daily
2. Learn German
3. Use a Daily Gratitude Journal
4. Use a Daily One-Sentence Journal
5. Make a go of my blog
7. Daily Devotional
8. Read 60 Books (I just finished number 34)
12. Send regular updates to family and friends
15. Work out 2-3 times a week
16. Remodel Bathroom (Due to my travel schedule, the bathroom is still in progress. We just need to paint, do some finishing work and put up the finishing touches like hooks and the towel ring.)

Updated
10. Adopt. We have decided to start by fostering and submitted an inquiry to the state.

Complete
6. Become a Travel Agent!
9. Buy a Shed!
11. Create my perfect planner!

13. Travel to a New Place!

14. Complete 2 Whole30s/100 Days to Destin!

Still to come...
17. New Bedroom Carpeting
18. New Kitchen Flooring

In Progress
3. Do Something New Every Month
5. Purge and Organize Entire House
7. Meditate Daily
14. Celebrate Small Holidays
16. Be Better at Sending Birthday Cards
17. File Monthly
18. Wash Car
22. Go to the Zoo Monthly
23. Gallery Wall in Hallway (Almost Complete)
24. Mask Thursdays
25. Go to 4 Major Concerts/Plays and 2 Community Plays
28. Text a friend everyday
29. Maintain Whole30 Lifestyle
31. Take More Baths
32. Weekly Power Hours
33. Organize Recipes
34. Digital Declutter
36. Visit Florence Three Times

Complete
1. Buy a Purse
6. Have Septic Take Serviced
8. Have Dryer Vent Cleaned
9. New Living Room Curtains
12. Take Chris to visit Owen
15. Update Dish Rags
20. New Mattresses
26. Go to a Dermatologist

Still to Come
2. Remodel Office
4. Volunteer Twice a Month
10 Girl's Weekend with E
11. Girls Weekend with T & G
13. Decorate Front Area
19. Update Bath Mats
21. Go to Frist 6 Times
27. Colonoscopy (Scheduled!!!)
30. Get more Involved at Women's Club
35. Plan a Weekend Getaway with Chris 

What will September bring?

We will be finishing the bathroom and gallery wall, I will be traveling to Akron with my mother-in-law and I will be working on growing my travel agent business.

How is your year going? Have you made any changes to make your life easier or better? Share below!

Kitchen Tip: Try a Potato Ricer

I love real mashed potatoes, but I hate, hate, HATE lumps in my mashed potatoes. Then, a few months ago, I learned about a potato ricer!

Ok, this thing is amazing. You cook your potatoes, push them through the ricer and then use the hand mixer to add your ingredients of choice (we use chicken stock because I try to eat dairy free). The potato ricer makes the potatoes smooth and fluffy. It was a revelation!

Have you used a potato ricer? Share in the comments below!

Motivational Monday: There is Good in Every Day

I get it. There are days that just are not good. In fact, they kind of blow.

But those kind of days are the days that make every other day seem just a little bit better...and they tend to make for the best stories...

Can you remember a bad day from a while ago?

Here is one of mine...

I was pretty new to my job and I had this big big day. I was the person that organized the conference spaces we rented out and we had rented them all out. Every last one. We had about 250 extra people in our building with all kinds of catering orders.

I woke up with a migraine, but took some of my expensive medicine and thought "If I can make it past lunch, I can probably either squeeze in a nap during my lunch break or I can go home". Let me just spoil this story now and say there was no lunch break and I worked about ten hours instead of the six or seven I had scheduled.

So, we started the day. And everything that could go wrong did and everything that could get complicated did.

Our receptionist was amazing at triage with my clients, but most things she couldn't handle for them and she would send me. At one point that day, she had a list so long that she called my boss to jump in and then my boss had to call another one of her employees in.

We kind of collided in the hall at one point working on the same problem and then just worked as a team from that point forward.

I remember getting called to reception because one of the groups needed a space for a makeup artist. It was a group of accountants. I was sure I was being Punk'd.

By the end of the day, all three of us were slouched in the lobby chairs (that had been pushed aside for an unscheduled photo shoot), utterly exhausted, my head still throbbing and we all started laughing. It had been such a bad day that it moved on to ridiculous.

When I look back at that day, I remember the end of it. Because even though the nine hours that led up to that moment blew, that moment made up for it and still does.

Just because a day is bad, doesn't mean there isn't something good in that day. You may have to really look hard for that something good, but it is there...I promise.

Tell me about one of your bad days! What was the good in that day?