The Little Things

Happy Friday everyone! And what a day it is! Well, despite the heat here in Orange County...

The Little Things is going to be a weekly feature here at Hobby Hopping Housewife! 

It all started back when I was in high school (some odd amount of years ago) when I was trying to find out what made me happy. I bought a little red moleskin notebook and every time I something made me happy, I wrote it down. Sounds kind of silly, but any time I was feeling down,  just opened the notebook and tried to think of something else to jot down. It turned out to be awesome! Especially when I was in those kind of funks where I couldn't think of anything to make me feel better. I'd just browse on through it, and it'd cheer me up!

What seems like forever ago, I wanted to make it into a book, that was my goal. But who wants to buy a book about things that make someone else happy?? Shortly after telling this to my then boyfriend (now husband), my notebook went missing! But then, not long after I thought it to be missing, it appeared where I thought I had left it. I didn't think much of it other than that I thought I was going crazy!

Then, to my surprise, Jus comes home and says, "I've got something for you." Whaaaaaat (the computer wanted to correct this as whaleboat. whattheheck.)? He had taken my notebook and made it into a little hardcover book for me! With pictures and everything! 

He's always been the sweetest. 

Needless to say, ever since he made that book for me, I didn't write in my journal again. Not intentionally, just didn't happen. So I came across it the other day and got to thinking, I should really get back into doing that.

So here we are. Friday. And I'm going to get that list going again! I love lists, so this will be a lot of fun for me! I'll post a couple pictures next week of my notebook and the book Jus made for me.

Got distracted for a sec (not that you'd know that...). I got caught up looking at my notebook and just started grinning away! A lot of those things, are still important and still make me smile.

Soooooo without further adieu, The Little Things list!

-Collecting old cameras

-Carmex (I can't go anywhere without it!)

- Saturday morning breakfast with my husband

-Not knowing what time it is

-My Falcon

side note: I guess I should only do a certain amount every Friday, let's say 20. That's not too much is it?

-When Jus leaves me the comics to read (yes, I am an adult)

Should be numbering these or bulleting them?

7. Ice tea!

8. Tattoos!

9. All things crafts (though I may eventually break this down to individual things.. for another time)

10. When Justin kisses me goodnight. "Good night sweetheart..." "Goodnight baby."

11. The Office. (We are currently watching all the seasons again!)

12. Getting an interview and then getting a call offering me the job the same day! (okay, that's actually a really big thing, but they just called me and I'm so excited!)

13. Sticking my hand out the window of the car

14. Netflix/netflixing (the act of watching an entire season of a show in one sitting, also a totally valid excuse for avoiding social obligations. Buy it on a tshirt here, I know I need to)

15. Photoshoots

16. Fake eyelashes

17. Mismatched socks

18. Wallets

19. Jewelry

and 20. A freshly made bed, perfect for napping!

What's on your list??

Have a great three day weekend everyone! I know I will!

Let Go, Let God

That's something I've been struggling with lately. Letting go and just letting God handle it. 

That for even as much as I've seen God do in the past couple years or heck, even months, is not enough for me to just let God take control.

I'm stuck in a rut, where in the mornings I choose to watch tv or do crafts instead of my morning devotionals. I don't even remember when I started doing that. I love spending time with God in the morning, it's a great way to start my day off and get centered with Him. But I just haven't been.

And we all have points like this. And we all have excuses. Mine just may be different than yours as a whole, but I think it just comes down to is we get distracted with the world around us. Drama, money, kids, parents, work... Or are distracting ourselves from what's really bothering us. Drama, money, kids, parents, work...You name your excuse.

I feel guilty too, in the morning and right before I go to bed. Every morning I know I should be spending time with Him, and then I don't. And then I pray, "Lord, help me. Help me get back into Your word." And then I go about doing crafts and blogging. And then I'm like, "Praise You God for giving me these hands to do these wonderful things." But I'm not doing them for Him. I'm not doing it to glorify God. I'm making it my distraction. 

I've come to the realization that I'm purposefully distracting myself from the things that are really bothering me. I'm afraid God is going to tell me to let it go. Umm. Let it go? But (insert pronoun here) hurt me! Forgive them? Uhhh, (insert pronoun here) hurt me. And God's like, remember how I forgave you? 

Honestly, I think that's why I haven't been spending time with Him. He's going to tell me to forgive the person who hurt me (even if they continue to hurt me, just to keep on forgiving, and to turn the other cheek no less!), and I, because I'm human, don't want to let that go.

Why do we want to feel hurt? Isn't that just the most ridiculous thing? I'm just going to harbor up these nasty feelings about said person and how they hurt me until I'm sick in the stomach and all that's left to do is cry. I'm just going to continue to feel hurt because they wronged me! Really? That just makes no sense. That for some reason, rather than asking God to help me to forgive so He can forgive me, to help me let go of the hurt I feel because Jesus will give me rest, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Rather than saying Jesus take my broken heart and heal it, because You are the Almighty and if You can feed five thousand from a few loaves and a fish and still have leftovers, You can make this heart feel whole. Rather than saying Jesus, You got this.

I'm like, naw... I'm good, thanks. Please don't help me Jesus. I just want to be sad.

I'm really tired of hurting and feeling sad and trying to distract myself from the real issues at hand. 

Jesus help me to forgive. Heal me. Make me feel whole. And forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.

Can I get an amen? 

Amen.

Take it easy,

Piggly Wiggly Bear/Other Married Couples

Justin doesn't like the fact that I talk about him "so much" in my blog. Well, soooorry that I want to talk about the love of my life sometimes!

That's something I've learned since I've become a wife, it's hard not to talk about your husband/best friend/confidant/the person you go to bed with every night/the person you wake up to every morning. (Did you guys say "slash" as you read that? I always do...) Your husband is the person you spend more time with than anyone else, so to not ever say anything about him would be weird.

BUT, there is a fine line between talking about your husband when it relates/someone asks and when all you can do(both men and women are notorious for this) is talk about is your spouse! Like, you get married and all of a sudden you lose all social skills and have nothing else to talk about anymore. What the heck! Okay, I get it (kinda), you get married and you're excited and you want everyone to know how happy you and your spouse are, but seriously, not every is as "fortunate" as you, but also, no one cares that you call your husband piggly wiggly bear and he calls you his little luv-a-roni (okay, Justin has called me this on occasion when I make pasta, just to be silly)! Its so annoying!

Or going out with other married couples! And they are all over each other (not in a sexual way, though sometimes, you all know exactly what I'm talking about)! Umm hello! There's other people in the room!

I take pride in the fact that Justin and I are not like that. We are able to be in separate rooms from each other and not get anxiety. Oh and we don't have to do everything together all time. Now mind you, I very much enjoy his company, I like when he's at least in the same general vicinity as me... but I don't have to go to his band practice and he doesn't have to go to that baby shower. And I have more to talk about than him! ( I could talk about my husband for daaaaays if I wanted to, but how inappropriate is that?)

I also like that when we are together, we can show everyone that we love each other but without being crazy. We both have our own personalities and opinions. And that's fine, that's NORMAL. In Mark 10:8 it says that after getting married, "... the two will become one flesh." But that doesn't mean I can't do my own thing/have my own hobbies/friends. What's important is that we come together and make decisions together and on OUR relationship with God/OUR life issues/how WE want to raise OUR family/finances...etc. Those choices are nobody's but our own.

See also: people talking about their pregnancy/how their baby is "the cutest most beautiful baby in the world don't you agree?"

*NEWS FLASH* If your baby is white, I think it's pretty safe to say it looked like an alien when it came out. Exceptions: any other ethnicity.

Someday when we have kids, I'm sure I'll think my baby is absolutely beautiful, because giving birth to life is such an amazing and beautiful blessing! But he's still gonna look like an alien hahaha.

So what do you guys think? I'm not the only one who despises stupid pet names and way too much PDA, am I? What about newborn caucasian babies? Have you guys seen the movie Babies? The white baby looks like an alien compared to the other babies!

Anyways, enough of this rant. Let me know what you think about all this.


Take it easy everyone!

Trendy God

I would like you all to go and check out my friend Shannon's blog, Trendy God. She is amazing in that she's devoted her blog to encouraging you in the Word and to keeping God a priority in your daily lives. She gives you a quick note and scripture and then follows it with a question to help you get thinking. Today her topic is School Daze as we all (well a lot of us..) are going back to school/work and how it's about glorifying God and doing His work. 

Thanks Shannon for the awesome daily encouragement!

Take care!

Blog Names,Tattoos and Sick Husbands

Okay guys! Here it is! The new tattoo! I love love looooove it. My husband did such an awesome job! Sew perfect! Hahaha. Get it??

Anywaaaaays, after much deliberation between some friends and myself, I finally settled on a blog name! Hobby Hopping Housewife! So cute! I also want to thank Megan, she references hobby hopping in her wonderful blog. Thanks Megan!

So at the current moment, my husband is "deathly" sick. Poor guy, I feel for him. Being sick is terrible! And he's so awesome because he is still going to work in the morning. What a trooper! But what makes it funny is that he says, "I'm so sick I'm going to diiiiiiie. Make me feel better! Don't you want me to live?!" What's with men and being overdramatic when they're sick? I'm never that way! I'm pretty much just mopey and ya know, sick. Somehow he's super sick and still finds time to not just be overdramatic, but also funny. What a jerk though, he'll be better in a couple days, whereas me, it would last at least a week!

Any other women out there notice the same things of their husbands? Any funny stories you'd like to share??

I just roll my eyes every time. Hahha.

Take care!

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Chore Time!

And thinking about:

-tattoos! I think I’m getting another one later this evening! Woo! Post on that one later!

-wanting to take a new self picture (see also: selfie)

-how I wrote today's to do list in extremely sloppy writing

{which brings me to:      

          -how it’s driving me nuts

          -how looking at it stresses me out

          -and how I just need to rewrite it (for the umpteenth time)}

-my identity as blogger

      -I think just pretty much all things: crafts, life, photography…?

-being away from Justin too long makes me irritable and pretty stupid emotional

-how almost every movie/book/person portrays marriage/relationships as fighting is normal

*NEWS FLASH* It’s not normal, nor is it even the slightest bit healthy.

-how I can’t wait to honestly get back to work!

-working with special needs kids is fun and rewarding! Can’t wait for this school year’s funny stories!

-future blog topics (I think all the aforementioned things I will probably divulge more into at later times)

                

Gotta start making some dinner now!

Later gator!

Now that I'm thinking about it, dinner can wait. Nap first!

Life Is Cray

Crazy.

 Life is craZy.

Stupid husband. He jokes about the lame things people say like, "that's so cray." He mocks them by repeating what they say, but he says it so much that it becomes part of his lingo. But because he says it so much, it also becomes part of mine. We say it jokingly, but we still say it. Ughh, we're lame too.

I hate sitting at the doctors office and waiting. All I can think about are things I can/should be doing right at this moment but can't, because I'm stupid waiting. Oh well. I should look at it as break time. Especially because its giving me the chance to write this blog.

So why is life cray you may ask? Drama. Drama drama drama drama. I hate drama. I try not to make it and I sure as hell try not be around it. I know, we all say that and still it happens. 

But what happens when you're in a place filled with drama and you can't get away?! And some how, by the efforts of someone else, your words get twisted and things just blow up and get out of control! And you're just doing the best you can to keep the peace and pick up the dominoes as they fall.

Here's what I did:

- I meditated on Mark 6:34. Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

I meditated and then meditated some more.

- I prayed for patience. A lot.

- I apologized for any possible miscommunications. 

- I was even more friendly than usual. Well, I sure tried to be anyways.

- I walked away when I couldn't handle a situation. People say that to walk away shows extreme cowardice. But really, I think just the opposite. It really shows strength. To walk away from a situation before it gets out of control, a situation where you may be thinking hurtful things and might possibly say them and to walk away and not say those things, is strength. I don't want to say things out of hate or angry. I want to them out of love and when I can't, I walk away. A lot harder than it sounds.

- and when I finally got home from what felt like the longest day of my life, I cried. A lot. And then cried a little more.

- and then I thanked and praised God. For a lot of things. For Him, for the patience and strength he'd given me throughout the day, the opportunity to shine His light through my kindness, my husband who held me while I cried, and for the kindness and good things throughout the day that I may not have seen then, but realized when I got home, and then cried a little more. Mostly for His grace.

I sure tell ya though. I'm not perfect. And I'm certainly not trying to portray myself as so. Because honestly, I used the f word a lot. Though mostly to myself and a lot of the time I made the f sound in its place or effin instead and though in the company of people who were sharing in my discomfort. I also did not give someone a validation card.

But hey, we've all got stuff to work on right? And now I know what those things are.

Take care,

What Is A Blog Anyway?

Well, whatever it is, I'm pretty terrible at it!

In hopes of becoming better and/or writing it more frequently, I've made it a lot cuter and not just limited to my photography stuff (which we all know I wasn't doing that anyway!)

Sooo, here it goes! My blog is now going to consist of my latest photography shoots, hobby obsessions, my life in general and me trying to learn how to blog!

As for anything else today, I would just like to thank God for giving me able hands to do this fun kind of stuff <3

Lata gatas!

Oh! And you can subscribe by email! I promise I won't litter your inbox full of stuff.