About Me

Hi, my name is Angela and welcome to my blog. This is a place where I write about my life in an honest and open way.

I am 36 years old, single, and a Christian. God gave me a heart to work with children and so I spend my day teaching kindergarten. It is my fourth year teaching and although it is hard I love it. I currently go to a college for my BA in Elementary Education which keeps me busy. Between work and school there is not much time left but I enjoy serving and helping others, watching netflix, or reading a good book.


Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Hoarders

Have you seen that show. Every episode takes two hoarders and tries to clean up their house in two days. Some houses are disgusting and others are just very messy or very very messy.

...

When I was a kid I knew my house was messy. I had been to other people's houses and ours wasn't the same. I have always considered my parents pack rats and my grandparents were too. I noticed as I was getting older I wasn't just messy I too was a pack rat. I thought when I bought my own house I would be better. Everything would have a spot and would look nice like how other people lived but over time things would get messy. Often times I wouldn't know what to do with the mess and so I would stick it in a box and put the box in a closet. When I was living in my condo every 6 months or so I would go through boxes sorting things for trash and donations. I would save some things thinking I may need them later but later came and I never used them so it was time to get rid of them. I have whittled down what I own this way over time.

Two years ago when I had to move out of my condo back into my dad's house. I was not ready and very hesitant so packing did not get done in time. So again a lot of things just got shoved in boxes to be sorted and figured out later. My room has a walk in closet though I have never used it as such. I took all my boxes and stuff and filled my closet with it. As you have seen over the last two years it has not gotten any better. I have done well maintaining my mess, cleaning if it got too bad. But finally I reached my breaking point. I realized what a mess my living area had become and I couldn't do it anymore. I spent a good week or so cleaning and then I couldn't do it anymore. Most of my closet was still in my living room but I needed a break. For the last week I haven't touched it. Then this weekend to help motivate myself, plus I had nothing better to watch, I started watching Hoarders.

Although some homes I could not relate to others I felt a connection to. I could see how things just started how my messes start but they just never stopped themselves. Seeing these people trying to clean everything up and struggle so much it was emotionally draining because I could see it just getting out of hand. It did help my motivation of cleaning things. And so here I am on the other side of the weekend feeling much better with a clean home. There are still a few things like finish my laundry and take my donations somewhere but most of everything is taken care of.

So to follow up my before pictures a few posts ago below are a few after photo's.





I also have a bunch of stuff that I need to put in a storage room. Currently it lives in my living room instead of my closet now.

I am still trying to decide about the storage shed. The Lifetime shed that runs at $1000 is great, it has a 10 year warranty and plenty of room. It also seems very heavy duty to protect against the elements. However for $500 I can get a shed about half as big by Rubbermaid. It just doesn't seem as heavy duty and I worry that it may get destroyed in the elements, though it does have decent reviews some saying it can take the weather just fine. Of course the $500 one is much more affordable and I will be able to get it sooner than the other one.

I think the most exciting thing is using my walk in closet as an actual closet. Though I need to find more hangers because after I do my laundry I will have lots more stuff to hang. I may have gotten rid of them and wonder if I may have to get new, not that they are too expensive.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

My Goal

This evening there was a JJ Heller Concert. The ticket was $15 so not too expensive. I love JJ Heller, I have several of her cd's and have been to one of her concerts and loved it. But when I took a moment and thought about it I realized that it is not toward my current goal. I want to fly in Aug to see my sister. Not only the cost of the ticket but the time missing work will add up. So I think hey that is $15 closer to my goal and I can go home and listen to a cd instead.

I watched a couple episodes of Hoarders and one of the professionals they brought in likes to ask the people what they want to accomplish so that when they go through stuff they can determine if it is contributing toward that goal. Normally I don't think this way so I assume it must be the show that was getting in my head.

On another note toward that same goal I went to an AMC yesterday. Those seats have always been tight. So I pulled out my measuring tape stashed in my purse and measured. The seat is 18 1/2" wide. And although yes I could sit there I was really pushing against the sides and no one would want to sit next to me on a plane for 3 hours. So I have started to try and watch what I eat a little better. I need to start exercising as well, haven't started yet but everything in time. Not that I have a lot of it.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Iowa/Illinois

My sister is moving in 14 days. I am hoping to fly out to see her for a week in Aug. One of my biggest concerns about flying is the size of the seat. So the question is:

I need to fit in a size 17 1/2" airplane seat and a seat that is 19 1/2" is tight. If my widest point is 59" how many inches do I need to loose?

All I can figure is a lot. How am I going to fit in the seat of a plane by August?! I am too fat to go see my sister and nephews. :(

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Embarrassing Admission

This is totally embarrassing but I feel like I need to share. When I start loosing control of my life and working to much and coming home to tired to do anything the thing that always falls apart is my house. I blame part of it on my parents and the home I grew up in being cluttered but I am an adult and I should be able to change my behavior. But this was one of the major indications I needed a vacation because my home was a mess, I knew it but I didn't really care. But now that I am back I look at it and am slightly disgusted that I live this way. It isn't clean and really quite sad that I would live this way.

I have decided to post pictures. Just a few to let you see just what I am talking about. Maybe you don't know what I am talking about but maybe you do this sometimes too. I have a couple friends who have one room that is always a cluttery mess and it works because they can always just close the door. The problem is that I don't have a spare room for this and really at this point it has spread into all of my rooms.

I could go on but I want to keep this relatively short because I figure it is better to do then to simply blog about doing. So below are pics of the three room in the house that are considered mine.

Living Room:


Bathroom:


Bedroom:



So I apologize to my roommates who have had to see this mess from across the house. I promise I will try to do better starting now. :)

Monday, May 9, 2011

Prescott Trip

I have been in need of a vacation for awhile and so this weekend everything seemed to work out and I was able to drive up north to Prescott.

On Saturday I babysat for my sister until 5:30 pm. I stopped by Wendy's for dinner and then got on the I 17 and headed north.



Through Priceline.com I booked a room with their Negotiator option. I have done this in the past and it works out great. I get a great hotel and a great price. I got to the hotel at 7:30 pm and went to check in.

When I book through the negotiator you don't really know anything about your room. So, like I usually do, I asked if I could have a single instead of a double. It was then the clerk let me know I had a King Suite. A suite?! No way, for that price? But I wasn't going to argue. The room was amazing! It had a separate living room, which I didn't really use. But the bathroom was great; it had a huge sink area and a giant whirlpool tub.


One thing I love to do is unpack my stuff. Put everything away; hang things up, put things in drawers, unpack my hair, nail, and other cosmetic stuff. Next I went out to a store to get munchies, soda, and flowers. I like to put fresh flowers in my room, it really helps spruce up and make me feel fancier.

Saturday night I took a nice long bath and finished a book I was reading. Then went to sleep.

Sunday morning I woke up at 6am. My body is just so used to waking up early. It took awhile but I finally got back to sleep and woke up around 9 am. I got dressed and went out for breakfast. I headed to an Ihop and outside there was a line. I couldn't believe how crowded it was. Not until I walked in did I realize it was Mother's day, of course it was busy. It took about 20 min to get seated but I just popped in my earbuds and listened to a sermon my church podcasts through itunes. The eggs were a little cold but the stuffed french toast was amazing!

So far I had only been in Prescott Valley and so I headed over to downtown Prescott to look at their shops. When I got there I found out they had a art festival.

It is the 100 year anniversary of Arizona and a copper plated motorcycle is touring around the state and this weekend it was in Prescott.

I had a lot of fun walking around. I ended up buying a bar of coconut soap, a pair of ladybug earrings, and a pretty pink bracelet. I went back to the hotel to relax. I got in my bathing suit, grabbed a couple magazines and went outside to relax.


It was so nice outside maybe 80 degrees with a slight breeze. I spent about an hour outside before deciding I should probably get up. I then headed over the pool and jumped in the jacuzzi to relax.

I gave myself a manicure and pedicure while watching the first Narnia movie. I then got dressed up to do a little more shopping.


The shopping went well. I have been needing to look at closet organizing things and was able to do that at Bed Bath & Beyond. Then I found a new pair of sunglasses at Claire's for great price. But by the time I got back to my car I realized that there was something really wrong. I had noticed that my legs started to get read and hurt while I was walking around but by the time I got back to my car I was really in pain and started to feel nausous. I went right to Target and looked for aloe vera gel. I couldn't find any, it was so frustrating and then finally I found some Burt's Bees After Sun Soother. I couldn't help it I sat right on the ground and started rubbing it on my legs.

I had been planning on going out to eat but my legs hurt so bad I went right back to the hotel. I took a oatmeal bath and a cool shower but it was like the sunburn was getting worse. The hotel had room service but it was pretty expensive so I really tried to get dressed and go out but the pain was too much so I ordered room service. Honestly I had never ordered room service before so it was kind of exciting though not really, I prefer to go out to eat then eat while sitting on bed I will sleep on a little later. But hey now I have done it and can say I have had room service. I finished watching the first Narnia, watched the second, and then the third as well. I was pretty frustrated that the hotel didn't have an option to watch new movies but I just used the free wifi and rented/downloaded it from itunes instead. I didn't get to sleep till late but hey that is what vacation is for right?

The next morning although some of the red had faded I could barely walk. I had only burned the tops of my legs and the pain when I walk is like the bone is in pain. For some reason it feels better when I am sitting or moving but if I stand still then the pain is excruciating. I couldn't just stay in bed all day so out I went.

I packed up everything and for breakfast went to Ihop again. It was a lot less crowded. This time I enjoyed warm eggs and some regular french toast.


Instead of heading straight home I decided to go see my dad. He lives in Pine which is about 100 miles east of Prescott. So 100 miles out of my way but it was I nice drive and I hadn't been to his property for a long time so I was happy to get to see it. He rents shops to several people so below are a few photo's of the property.


Overall it was an amazing trip. Getting sunburned definitely changed some of my plans but I was flexible and just took it in stride. I am so happy I was able to get away and feel re-energized to get back to work tomorrow.



I Love Roadtrips!!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Organization

When my life is crazy the one thing that falls through the cracks is keeping things clean. My car, my living room, my bedroom are just a mess. And then when I am at home I always feel bad that it is mess and that I am not cleaning it. Right now I want to work on it but I feel like I don't know where to start. I can put away some stuff but some things don't really have a home. Or the home they had is now being used by something else. When I get right down to it I just don't have enough room. Like the Christmas boxes that were at my condo but there is no point in taking them back I over now have no home and are in the living room. I also have 7 boxes full of my Winnie the Pooh collection items. I am at a point that I would be willing to sell them but really the only place would be on eBay and right now the same type of stuff is not selling at all on eBay. Because of course who buys nik naks in a down economy. But each box has hundreds of dollars worth of stuff in it so I want to keep it till I can sell it or display it. 

So I have determined I need a storage shed. In my back yard there are two but they are both full of a mess. Plus they are both so old they are falling apart and rusting so not a place to keep anything I want to use ever again. I have been looking at buying one but they are pretty expensive. I saw one buy the Lifetime brand that was 10 x 8 ft and it was about $800 but then you have to buy shelves if you want them. Home Depot has a different brand that runs about $200 cheaper but I know that Lifetime makes great quality products so it might be worth it to get the more expensive. Not that I have the money right now. I am trying to pay my debt down and then I need a new car and now I really want a shed. That is how life goes, one thing after another

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Vacation Attempt Two

As I write this I can't remember if I told you about my first attempt for my birthday. I stayed in town, worked till 5:30 sat night and had to be at church at 8am sun. There were cute boys roaming the hallways but the jacuzzi didn't work. It was nice but I am finding myself again in need to get away. I was debating about a couple options but the woman I nanny for gave me Monday and tuesday off and I knew I could get mon off at work. Next I had to decide where. I want somewhere close so I was choosing between Prescott or sedona. I like them both but was leaning toward Sedona. That is until I saw the prices of hotels! I can not believe how pricey the hotels are. In Prescott the have a motel 8 for $80 a night, that is crazy! Sedona was even more pricey so after a lot of though and priceline attempts I am staying in Prescott; well Prescott Valley.

The best deals I was finding were on priceline. They have a name your price option which I found really very difficult. See you choose the area and the star level you want and then name your price. But in any given star rating the prices range $20-$50. So let's say the hotels are $100 - $150 well I want a good deal but if I say $80 then maybe I am saving $20 or maybe $70. I may be willing to pay $100 a night for the $150 room but I could put in $100 and get the $100 room. And of course you are then locked in. They won't even tell you if you get it unless you agree to pay and give the cc. Well I think I tried about a dozen different offers but one was accepted and let me tell you that wasn't easy either because if you just want to change the dollar amount you have to re-do everything.

Anyways I am staying at the Wyndam Garden Suites. I got a $145 room for $80 so not too bad. Especially be ause on the star rating range I was the highest; I thought I would get a cheaper hotel.

I am going up sat night and will come back down mon. I was really trying to find a buy two night get the third free deal but couldn't find one. I need to still call the church and tell them I won't be there... Oh I just realized I am missing nursery. Oh well they can figure it out. I also want to call my sister. I babysit for my sister till 6:30 but sometimes she comes home early. It is an houra and a half drive to the hotel so I would love it if she was home by 5 so I could get there before 7. Of course earlier would be nice but I could totally use the money she pays me and for that she needs to get some hours in. So that means three calls and not just two. Oh well I think I will call the church people tonight and just leave a message and then I don't mind calling my sis.

I do need to figure out what is stressing me out so much and cut it out because I can't afford to take vacations. I think I know a couple things and I am working on solutions but I don't think I want to mention them right now. Well I am supposed to be working so that is it for now. Just wanted to update you a little.