Saying Goodbye

Some people claim that saying goodbye is tough. I say it depends.
If you're saying goodbye to a life of loneliness, degradation, and abuse, then it's actually rather easy in many ways.

I mean, the weeks, the days, the moments leading up to actually walking out and saying goodbye aren't easy. They might be the hardest and most scary of any moments you've ever faced. But once you break that boundary, step over that thresh hold--once you turn that fantasy of freedom into a reality--well, that's so much easier than you'd expected. You find your wings and soar free from your sad little cage.

A few weeks ago, I found myself pregnant, poor, homeless, and absolutely unsure of what tomorrow would bring, in any way. I'd finally left a repressive and abusive situation. And I was happier than I've been in a long time. I felt richer than all those around me; I felt on top of the world.

The fallout is a bit difficult--handling bills, canceling leases, paperwork--but it's not bad. Everything is GOOD. Life is GOOD. You choose the "goggles" you see life through.

I'm safe now, and I'm so incredibly grateful to be where I am, with the people I am with. I haven't looked back at my old life and missed it; I'm happy and grateful to be out of that situation.

There are so many wise sayings out there...One that I try to live my life by is "Never focus on what could have been." Focus on what you have now, and all the good you can get from it. There is no "what could have been;" there is only what is and what you will make of/with it.

In addition to working on a divorce, I am also expecting. (The countdown posts were counting down to the announcement.)
Right now, I just want myself and my child to be safe. Currently, we are. I pray that we will remain so for the rest of our lives.

As such, the Creative Housewife Chronicles is at it's end. This goodbye is a bit difficult. But I am now going to be writing a different blog--"The Creative Single Mom Chronicles."
I may not be a housewife any more, but I am still a creative woman who is full of and loves life.

This is not an end; it is a beginning. Thank you for participating in this journey through this chapter of my life. That chapter is now closed, and I'm ready to move onto bigger and better things.
I hope that my new journey will inspire others, particularly those going through challenging times.

Two Sides

Note: In case you're a sensitive viewer, a rude word for backside is used three times in this clip.


Passion is a coin: It has two sides. Real passion in a relationship means that sometimes you're ready to die in one another's arms, and sometimes you just want to kill one another. ;)

I was watching New Girl (because my other TV shows are out of season, and New Girl is on Netflix) and I just found this moment too good not to blog about. This is such an illustration of a couple--the passionate couple--on the flip side. And the ridiculousness of this argument is really not so far from the truth.
(My husband and I once got into a 45 minute to an hour long fight about chocolate, in which we both got really worked up. I was still sulking the next day!)


(Sorry the clip quality is so horrible; it's the only version of it I could find. Just suffer through it--it's less than 2 minutes long!)

Though I'm not an expert and haven't achieved perfect balance, I think the key thing about passion is remembering that it's a fire. That burning flame gives warmth, energy, and excitement to your life--but it can also burn you. You have to figure out how to walk by the fire to receive maximum warmth, without singing off your eyebrows.

My Favorite Things...

My bathroom has been an inhuman disaster-warning zone for months now. I recently started to organize and clean it, and decided I needed some kind of organizers for my cosmetics and personal hygiene products.

I don't have so much counter space, so what I thought I really needed was something I could hang on the wall. However, I couldn't think of anything, so I instead decided to look for a small plastic set of drawers for organizing stuff like office supplies. At least it would keep the clutter all in one contained place!

On a whim, I walked through one of the bathroom aisles on my way to the aisle with organizers and plastic buckets with snap-on lids.
I spotted some of those "shower caddies"--the ones you hang up in your shower to hold your shampoo, soap, etc. I managed to get one for $7-something (a little more than $8 after taxes) at Target, and it is now my Bathroom Buddy. I LOVE it.

I popped off the suction cups (originally, I tried to hang it on my bathroom mirror using the suction cups, but all the stuff I wanted to put on was too heavy and they wouldn't hold), and hung it with a few nails.
I made sure to put it at a height that was convenient for me, and now I can stand at my sink and easily grab whatever I need.

In addition to being out-of-the-way and tidy-looking, it has freed up soooooo much counter space. And I can even use my medicine cabinet to actually store medicine now!
I now actually enjoy getting ready for the day in my bathroom (or ready for bed).

The lack of clutter rocks: It's so refreshing and relaxing. (It also helped that I made myself a special make-up station, and got my cosmetics out of my bathroom.)

Counter space! 

The rest of my counter space.

My hair mousse and deordorant were in here too,
but I just ran out.

It's the simple things in life, right? ;)

Art Class #4

For this class, I had the boy and his sister again, along with the other little girl (ages 5,7, and 9).
The melted wax project I'd originally had an idea for didn't really turn out how I'd hoped. Instead, I went with a project that was inspired by one I found on the Sharpie blog website.
Their project used ceramic tiles, Sharpies, and rubbing alcohol.
Since I didn't have any ceramic tiles, and I was unable to find any before my class, I instead used Elmer's poster board. Because it's so thick and has a smooth, shiny finish, it worked well for our purposes.
(I did find that regular markers worked better than Sharpies on the poster board; the Sharpies don't seem to blur and smudge as well as regular marker.)

The kids got to take their clay projects from the last class home also; I gave them all the option of gluing more lentils onto their sculptures, but they were eager to move on to the new project.

For this project, I gave each of the kids a square of poster board. I had them use the markers to scribble designs, patterns--whatever they wanted--onto the poster board. They were very excited, because I'd explained to them before hand how the project worked and what the end result was.
The girls had fun using lots of colors all over theirs in scribble-designs. The boy decided to experiment with squares in different colors. I really encouraged this. I love for the kids to experiment and see what happens, which is exactly what they were doing. They also really enjoyed not having to worry about being too precise.

As each child finished, I took their boards and dripped the rubbing alcohol onto the marker designs. This was also fun for the kids, because they got to watch the ink swirl together. They also got to complain about the smell of the alcohol--which gave us something to talk and laugh about!










After putting a decent amount of alcohol on the board, I then tilted it around a bit so that the ink would run together better.

"Squares" experiment by the 7 yr. old boy 

It took the boards maybe 5-10 minutes to dry, during which time the kids decided to practice drawing pictures of people.

After the boards were dry, I invited the children to add to them with Sharpies and glitter glue. I told them they could draw a picture, write their names and make a sign for their bedrooms--whatever they wanted.

It was a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoyed it. It was also nice to hear how some concepts I've been emphasizing with the kids are really making an impact.
I've been trying to emphasize with them how one of the beauties of art is that there is no wrong way to do art, and that each person has his/her own unique style. During this class, the kids said things amongst themselves such as "I think they will all look good and have good styles!" "We have good styles." "If you got ten people to each draw a person, you couldn't really say one is better than the other, because they'd all be different and different styles."
I love hearing the kids think on a concept and expound upon it. 

 

Handiwork of the 5 yr.old; a flower that's being rained on,
with little fairies above it. Very creative!

Anyway, now I have to come up with a project for next week! It will be a bittersweet class, because I'm sure I will miss my little creative kinderlings! 
My husband, who loves that I do this little "class," is really pushing for me to continue with more. 
Maybe I will! ;) 

In...

Printable Shopping List v.1.0

The other day, I had a ton of stuff to get from the store, and was getting a ride to the store with someone. Since I wanted to make sure I could get everything and also not have the person driving be frustrated with me for taking too long, I tried categorizing my shopping list.

While I still missed a few things and ended up going back and forth, it was a lot better and easier. Thus, I decided to try making a printable categorized list.
The idea is that you can go to each aisle/section of the store and get everything you need from there all at once, without having to loop back and forth across the store, or without forgetting something and being too tired (or short on time) to go back for it.
Just fill in what you need under the appropriate category. Simple!

This version is not the best, so I'm already working on an improved (and smaller) printable version. In the meantime, enjoy!

Shopping List (<---click here)

Fat Free, Quick and Easy Breakfast Scramble

My husband just got home from a 20+ hour trip on multiple buses from out of state. Upon getting home, he was--of course--hungry. So, I whipped this up for him. It only took me around 10-15 minutes to prepare. So easy!

This recipe is fat free, meat and dairy free, and contains protein.

• Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage [fat-free, vegan, and has 7g of protein per serving!]
• Multi-colored peppers (I used four small ones; quantity depends on your preference)
• Egg whites
• Cooking spray

Spray a skillet with cooking spray. Cut up desired amount of soy sausage, leaving the pieces somewhat chunky, and put them in the skillet. Turn burner onto medium-low heat. 

While the sausage is beginning to brown, wash and chop the peppers into short strips. Add them to the skillet. At this point, I think I turned the burner up to about medium heat, so that the peppers would saute quickly, and the sausage would brown faster. 

(It's not real meat, so you don't have to worry about it cooking all the way through. You just have to warm it up, and brown it.) 

Periodically stir the mixture around. Make sure both sides of the sausage pieces are browning. 

Meanwhile, separate the egg whites and yolks. (Or just use the pre-packaged egg whites. I didn't have any, so I separated them myself.) 

(In the bowl I separated the whites into, I added some pepper. I also added some more pepper to the skillet once I put the eggs in.) 

I personally waited for the sausage to brown a bit more before adding the egg whites, but it's all about your personal preference. 

Once the sausage has browned to desirability, add some more cooking spray to the skillet. Then add in the egg whites. Stir/flip mixture, to keep the egg from burning. 

Once the egg is cooked, you're ready to go! Voila--a healthy, light, quick, and easy meal!

Handy Tip #7

I've often found myself with bananas that ripen to the point of having totally brown peels--not bad yet, but likely not going to last another day or two. On a hunch, I once tried freezing them (I like to use over-ripe bananas for banana bread, but I don't always have the time and ingredients to do it right away). It was fantastic: The bananas froze well, then I thawed them and mashed them to make the banana bread. It was great.

So, if you have over-ripe bananas that aren't going to last much longer before they go from super-ripe to bad, throw them in the freezer--peel and all. You don't have to prep them in any way.
When you're ready to make the bread, take them out and thaw them. They are easy to peel.

I actually put mine in my toaster oven to get them to thaw faster. The bananas got mushy, though, and did not entirely maintain their original shape--so if you thaw them in the oven or microwave, make sure you put them in or on something. Don't just throw a frozen banana on the oven rack! (I never actually did this, but I can deduce the result. ;) )

You can also thaw mashed bananas in a baggie, to use for later.

Photo source: http://www.finecooking.com/item/5694/bananas

In...

Art Class #3

If you read my last post about my Going Green in Art project, you'll know that it didn't go over so well with the age group I was working with. So, instead of doing the pt.2 as planned, I moved on to the lentils project.

Originally, I was going to have the kids do some kind of mural with lentils. But my mother pointed out that I'd been doing a lot of that kind of thing already, and--when I told her about how the last class went over--she suggested I just give them clay to work with.
I decided to do the lentil project using clay--and it was a big hit.

I was supposed to have three kids today--a 9 year-old girl, a 7 year-old boy, and a 5 year-old girl. However, the boy (whose sister is the 9 year-old) got swapped out for another girl.
(I didn't know before hand, but I'm pretty laid back, so it was okay. The girl is also 11, which is higher than the age cut off I'd originally set in place.)

Considering the age span, this was a great project. All three of them were really into it, and really excited about it.
(I'm not sure if the success of this class had anything to do with the class being all girls--like, if the girls were more comfortable together. I'm pretty much positive that boys would enjoy this too--mainly, it's the personality of the kid and whether or not (s)he's creative that matters, more than the gender.)

I had out two plates of orange and green lentils. I like to give the kids room to express themselves, as I've said before, so I gave them each a chunk of clay and told them to make whatever they wanted.
I told them they could stick the lentils on the wet clay, wait for it to dry and then glue them, not use lentils at all, etc. In general, I try to encourage each child to make the project her own.

The girls loved working with the clay, and were also fascinated with the lentils.

Lentils pressed in; some still fell off anyway.
Example I made the night before. Was a turtle, but his
still-drying legs broke off. Whoops. 

I personally have found so far that the lentils tend to fall out of the clay as it begins to dry, unless they are pushed in really deeply, or kneaded in before being sculpted. The clay projects are staying with me to dry until next week, at which point I told the girls they can glue on any that fall off.

Kneaded in. Not my preference. 

The 5 year-old asked multiple times for more clay, and ended up making a lot of little projects (in large part because she was less focused on details, being 5). A few times, I had to encourage her to try making something else because she'd finished before our class was over, but she didn't need much prompting and she didn't seem to get bored. The girls and I also talked about various things, and that helped keep everyone entertained.

This project was so easy. I used a tub of Crayola air-dry clay I bought at Target for around $5, and some lentils (I used some my mom had gotten already at the Farmer's Market). The finished sculptures were placed on different paper plates that they can dry on (and I can move around easily).

I was and still am incredibly pleased and impressed with the creativity the girls showed, as displayed below.
This was probably my favorite class so far!

Love this!!

The one I worked on while the girls were working. ;)
Think I'm going to try gluing the lentils on after it dries this time.