Life Changes Right Before Your Eyes

In one year, my life went from one way to another. My last name, address, drivers license, friends, and even my schedule changed. It was the day I married my soul mate when my life changed. I recommend marriage to everyone because it's a beautiful thing to share your entire life with someone you are in love with. The little things that change don't really matter. I realized it was finally time I learn to cook. It took a while getting used to sleeping somewhere new. I had to learn to manage money and not blow it all. To a girl who loves to shop, this was the hardest. I got used to the fact that I wasn't going to keep the many friends I had in the past few years. It's good for married people with the same goals and aspirations to hang out with other married couples who had the same idea of life in mind.

Marriage is all about giving and putting the other person before yourself. I know it's God's way because it teaches someone a lot about love and sacrifice. It makes you a better person and teaches you to care deeply for someone other than yourself. Appreciation is very important because that simple "thank you" can make someone keep going with a smile on their face and feel it's worth it. When you learn to pray for someone else daily, God loves that. I have learned that in order for a marriage to be happy and everlasting, both spouses must be willing to meet in the middle and love like God intended us to love each other.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

My favorite things about marriage are all amazing. I have a caretaker who will always provide a great life for me. I love being able to sleep next to him every night. I have a best friend forever. He listens to me ramble and talk about everything. I get kisses every day and told I'm beautiful. (most women forget if they're not told) I love worshiping with him when we go to church together. I love that I can tell him anything. When I am upset, he is always there to hold me. I love getting hugs from him all day. It's just the best feeling knowing someone will always care for you. I have a hot husband to always see everyday. I don't talk about sex a lot, but I'm very happy I'm married. ;)

Our one year anniversary is coming up in two weeks and I am so happy it's been a year already. I can remember exactly a year ago how much Wedding planning I was doing and how excited I was. I was so nervous on my wedding day because I thought I would fall in my heels walking up to my husband to say "I do". I felt like a princess in my beautiful white dress. My whole family was there and the flowers were so pretty. It will be the day I cherish forever. Now it's been almost a year and I still love him as much as I did as year ago, but more. I've grown to know him more and fall more in love with him. When you get married, your life will change, but it will become more amazing than it ever was!

Homemade Oatmeal and Honey Soap

This past Sunday I was able to learn how to make soap from my Mom. She has always made soap the past few years and I have never been around to watch how it's made. I wanted to make some for Christmas gifts for my family. Homemade gifts are the best! Who doesn't need soap?

The soap that we made is homemade and even vegan. There were lots of oils and butters used in it along with oatmeal. We did cold process. This soap is oatmeal and honey and smells just amazing. It was like a science experiment and taught me a lot. It was exciting because I got to see the outcome of all the hard work. The best part was cutting the soap. Next time I see a bar of homemade soap I'll know truly how much work went into making it. I can't wait to do another soap adventure!

Living On A Budget

It's very difficult and challenging to live on a tight budget. Getting married and moving out for the first time has really taught me a lot about money. With all the freedom comes a lot of responsibilities of becoming an adult and a wife. I realized it cost way more than people advertise it to live on your own without parents paying for everything. It would be great if school taught one to write a check because I didn't know how to write one for the longest time. I also didn't know a lot of life skills that I do now.

Credit was something else I had to learn how to get because that was something else high school failed to teach me or inform me about. I went from no credit at all to now a score of 700 because I took the steps to get started with the help of my husband. Budgeting is about disciplining yourself with money. It's all about dividing needs and wants. Living paycheck to paycheck is something else that takes patience. It teaches one something, but also puts a hardship on a person.

It's when one learns how many things one can make instead of buying it already made at the store is when a celebration comes. I had to learn how to make meal plans. That saved me a ton of money because before I made them I bought tons of  expensive frozen meals that never filled us up. Just because money is tight doesn't mean a family has to eat mac and cheese, ramen noodles, or even hamburger helper every night. I cook all of my meals and eat out as little as I can. When you learn to make everything fresh, it isn't as expensive and much better for you. Avoid the frozen aisles and stick strictly to the meat and produce aisle. We are very thankful because my family lives a few miles away and invites us over for dinner often. Potlucks are the best!

When we go to the movies (not often), we go to our local theater on Tuesdays because it's discount day. It's only $5 per person instead of $9. We grab water, hot dogs, and candy at Target and bring them in my purse. I have a coupon app for retail stores I use when I buy clothes or other things. It's called Snip Snap on the iTunes App Store. My favorite stores that run great deals are JCP, Kohls, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels. One can always find at least a 15 percent off coupon used at the register. Just make sure there is a barcode or code they can get. Buying items on sale (if you need them) is a great way to stash some cash back. We have recently got a Sams membership and that will save lots of money if you buy only what's needed.  I bought 8 pounds of chicken breast for $12 and was very happy about my savings. I found the deal below at the Dollar General today, I've been needing these items for quite some time. They were each originally $10 each, but today they were on sale for $5.

Living on a budget teaches one to find good deals, cook meals at home, and be extremely appreciative of others.

Homemade Banana Bread

Today, I made Homemade Banana Bread. It was very easy! I found a very simple recipe on the internet and decided to give it a go. I've actually never baked anything that wasn't pre-made in a box, so I was very excited to try this. I have been known to mess up a cake in the past and was only around to lick the bowl. This is a great recipe for beginners. I found that smashing the bananas with my hands instead of a fork worked a lot faster. Of course, my hands were completely clean while doing so. I used organic bananas in my bread and it tasted heavenly. This banana bread will make the house smell like Thanksgiving morning at grandma's house. 

Ingredients:

2-3 ripe bananas 
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of flour

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350 F and butter a 4x8 inch loaf pan
In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth. Stir the melted butter into the bananas.

Mix the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, flour, and vanilla extract.

Pour the batter in the loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Close up of the cooked banana bread. 

Life as a Prison Guard's Wife

It's usually nearly 7 PM when my husband comes home from work. He is usually dragging tail looking exhausted as ever while throwing his uniform by the washer. He is a happy camper after he eats, showers, and has been home for a little bit to wind down. The conversations are a lot different from the average joe when I ask my husband how his day went at work. I hear a lot of things like, "I almost got stabbed."or "An inmate hung himself today."

My husband has one of the hardest jobs out there. Prison guards should be paid a lot more than what they receive. He works 13 hours on his feet. He faces the scum of the earth daily. My job is to be there for him and help take care of him when he gets home after getting gassed or in a fight. He sometimes will come home wearing someone else's blood because of a fight. There is almost always a bad riot that happens that puts the prison on lock-down for a while. Prisoners make shanks all the time and are always attempting to stab a prison guard. My husband says he feels all kinds of negative vibes walking throughout the prison. It's an uneasy feeling knowing how dangerous and terrifying his job is and what all goes on there daily. Sometimes, I feel the need to throw some olive oil on him and rebuke anything just in case when he walks in the door.

How can somebody walk among a hundred and fifty convicted felons unarmed and feel completely normal? It's hard enough for me to sit in front of the TV while watching Breaking Bad. I couldn't even imagine doing anything close to what he does because my job is a nanny. We both are babysitters, except he babysits grown men that have murdered citizens. How does one person control that many inmates on a normal daily basis? The answer is firm, fair, and consistent. Installing fear in them is also another way. It takes a lot of mental strength out of my husband. One thing that prison guards have to do is leave work at work because if not, it will affect the home life. 

As a wife, when he walks in the door, I always make sure to greet him with a kiss, smile, and food on the table because most likely he went all day with eating next to nothing. At the end of the day, I always thank my husband for everything he does for me. Also, I count my blessings that he comes home safe and not attacked or severely injured by an inmate.  

Homemade Laundry Detergent

My husband and I made homemade laundry detergent. The recipe is very simple and easy to make. It smells better than laundry detergent one would buy from the grocery store and it's completely natural. This recipe is very inexpensive to make. All one must need is a blender and

A cheese grater. It takes less than five minutes to make.

The recipe calls for: 

1 cup of borax

1 cup of washing soda

1 cup of powder oxy clean

1/2 a bar of zote laundry soap. 

God Is Always At Work

What has God done in your life lately? "Nothing" some will simply say. God is always at work in our lives. We can't always see that because as humans we are so involved in ourselves instead of seeing the big picture. God could try to show one something, but one is too worried or simply distracted by other things. Sometimes, God will shake someone's life up to get their attention. He created us and he knows what we need. He also knows what we can and can't handle. He blesses people abundantly all the time, but when something good happens to a person the person thanks themself instead of God. Our testimonies could save someone else because everyone goes through something awful and struggles with certain things. He created us and loves us more than anything. :) May there be peace within each soul who is struggling to believe God doesn't do anything because he does. He can move a mountain! He can take away pain, restore peace and joy, heal sickness, anything you name it. If one's life is awful, all they have to do is change it. Call on Jesus and he will show up. 

"May you be blessed by The Lord, who made heaven and earth." Psalms 115:15 NLT.