Time Management

 

As the end of the semester approaches it is really hard to manage time in order to get everything done! I have been on a roller coaster of emotions the last week. There have been days where I have been stressed to the max and there have been days where I am the happiest girl in the world and I feel like everything is going to work out. Then the next day I will be back to stressing out and feeling like I won’t have enough time to get everything done. 

The work load has increased since all of the final essays and group projects are due at the end of the semester. This year I have also had the most group essays than I’ve ever had. It’s difficult to delegate the work to all of the group members and it is also not easy to trust others to get the work done on time. However, it builds good teamwork skills but it does come with some annoyance. 

Other than school work I have also been trying to balance my recreation time, too. It has definitely been a challenge to get work done this weekend with all of this gorgeous weather! However, today my roommates and I did homework outside and were actually very productive! I love being able to mix activities and get the best out of both ways! 

Hopefully the next couple weeks go by smoothly and everything gets done efficiently! We are all off to a good start, so that helps. In the mean time, I am still going to try to save time to see people for the last time and do things that I love outside of school. 

When There is an End There is a New Beginning

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” – Helen Keller 

This is one of my favorite quotes. I have it hanging on my wall in my room to remind me everyday that there are times when we have to let go and move on. It also reminds me that even though it is sad to see something end, there will be more opportunities to come. This quote has currently been extremely relevant to my life. As graduation approaches it is hard to find a balance between what we are going to miss and what we are excited to come. A couple months ago I was stressed out because I didn’t have a clue what I was doing after graduation and it scary to not have a guarantee where I was headed. However, I kept my head up and told myself that everything will work out, I just had to be patient (which is not easy for me).

Now everything has worked out. I have a house with my two best friends who I’ve been roommates with previously and I landed a job! I worked hard and made it through the stress of things. Now I just have to focus on final tests and projects! It’s definitely still bitter sweet to end a chapter in your life and begin a new one, but there are a lot more opportunities that await and many more people to meet and of course, there are more doors to be opened! 🙂

Falling into Place

As I mentioned in my previous blog my friends and I found a house and signed a lease for May 2013 to April 2014. It felt good to finally get a start on the new chapter in our lives! We have been searching for a place for about a couple weeks and since we got a late start on looking for places we weren’t sure what we were going to be able to find. However, we finally found a place that we all loved! It’s a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, and my favorite part is the back yard! It has a quaint back yard that is fenced in and it comes with a fire pit! It’s a gorgeous house and all the bedrooms have a walk-in closet! It was exactly what we had been looking for! We randomly found it posted on the Marshall trader and that day we called the landlord and toured it. We looked at another house right after looking at the one we chose but we knew it was the one. About an hour later the relater called us and informed us that he had three calls since we left from people interested in looking at the place. He asked if we wanted it for sure and about a half hour later, after talking it over with our families, we made the decision to take it!  

Aside from being a place that we all loved, it was an even greater choice because we have one of the most amazing landlords! He treats others like family and he definitely feels like a grandpa to us already! We went to sign the lease at his place and he and his wife had made supper for us! We were so surprised and grateful that we were able to get a landlord like him! It really hit home when he told us that this Friday is his birthday and he asked God for one thing and that was for someone to rent his place that he could actually trust and feel good about the tenants renting the place. After hearing him say we were his birthday gift we knew this was the right decision. We know this is going to be a great year and look forward to our living arrangements! Especially being able to decorate our house! 🙂 

Pallet Table – Craft Project #1

 

 

This week my friends Tiffany, Chelsey and I finally found a house and signed our lease for the next year! It was very exciting and we couldn’t be more eager to start decorating it! It is going to feel great to finally be able to decorate something of our own and make it cozy. I love decorating and craft ideas and ever since we signed the lease we have done almost nothing but talk about how we were going to decorate the house! 

This week we went crazy with ideas and actually completed a project! I had a palled from my dad back home and we painted it and screwed wheels on it in order to make ourselves a coffee table. It looks amazing and it was actually fun to make, too! The picture above isn’t the one we made, but it is where we got the idea from. I couldn’t upload a picture of it since I lost my camera cord somewhere in the mess of packing things. 

However, the project took a few hours including waiting for the paint to dry. We applied two coats of white paint and we bought the wheels at the local Habitat for Humanity. It wasn’t too difficult to create and it was also a very inexpensive project! There will definitely be more from here on out! 

Tune in next time for the next project! 🙂

Apple Pie in an Apple

After a long week I decided to get back into the kitchen! I have never been a huge fan of apple pie, but this seemed like a fun idea and I had to try it! It also helps that I have friends who love apple pie, so I didn’t make them for nothing. It was fun and messy, but they turned out really well! I got the idea from my Grandma and next time I make it I’m going to try to make a day of it and go visit her. Not only is this a delicious dessert/snack, but it also makes for great bonding time! At first I didn’t know how this was going to turn out since I had to carve the inside of the apples. I thought for sure I was going to break the apple and waste a bunch… but it turned out to be okay! The first apple I carved out was a little rough but I was able to use it! I even made the pie crust, which turned out pretty good for my first time making it from scratch! My mom couldn’t believe I actually made something from scratch, but I did it! The whole thing turned out great! It was delicious and got my mind of off this crazy winter-like Spring we are having right now.  

The ingredients and directions to make it involve:

5-6 Granny Smith apples (make sure they can stand on their own) 
1 tbsp. cinnamon 
1/4 cup sugar 
1 tbsp. brown sugar 
pie crust (homemade or pre-made)

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375°F

Cut off the top of 4 apples off and discard. Remove the inside of each apple with a spoon or melon baller very carefully, as to not puncture the peel.

*If you’re a skilled interior apple excavator, salvage as much as you can so you can use it for the next step. However, if you’re not very skilled at saving that much then you can throw the interior apples away and chop up additional apples for filling. This part took me a little while to get good at. 

Remove skin from remaining apple(s) and slice very thinly. These apple pieces will give you the additional filling needed to fill the four apples you are baking.

Mix sliced apples with sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. If you prefer more or less cinnamon make adjustments as desired. Same goes for the sugar.

Scoop sliced apples into hollow apples.

Roll out pie crust and slice into 1/4 inch strips. You can also add a strip of pastry inside the top of the apple almost like a liner to add a little more texture/sweetness to the pie.

Cover the top of the apple in a lattice pattern with pie crust strips.

Place apples in an 8×8 pan. Add just enough water to the cover the bottom of the pan.

Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and sliced apples are soft. 

Happy baking! 🙂

Snow Day in April

 

 

It’s not everyday that you can say you’re having a snow day in April unless you’re from the Midwest. I have lived in Minnesota my entire life, so I am used to some pretty strange weather patterns, but this is probably the most ridiculous weather I’ve ever experienced. I remember some terrible winters in the past, but it was acceptable because it was literally during the winter season. However, it’s technically Spring now and this should not be happening. I wouldn’t mind if we had a day of light snow and then the next day is was moderately warm and maybe raining a little to melt the snow right away, but this snowy and icy weather over 3-4 days is crazy!

Now, I’m not trying to complain about the weather being inconvenient or annoying, I’m just saying I can’t believe it’s snowing this much! On the bright side, other than having classes canceled and can now officially say that I have made a snow angel in April! I remember the stories from my grandparents about how they had to walk 5 miles to school in the snow, well I bet they’ve never done that in April! Although, their walking 5 miles story is probably stretching the truth just a bit, at least mine is for sure true! I think a story like this definitely fits into the category of stories to share with kids and grandkids down the road!

 

In the mean time, I’ll be bundling up with rest of my fellow Minnesotans for a little bit longer… and my parents will be without power for a few days since they got mostly ice and it took down all of the power lines. After hearing about that and seeing pictures my mom sent me the snow didn’t seem too bad up here! Hopefully we’ll have the real Spring soon, but by this rate we’ll probably just skip Spring weather all-together and go right into Summer. That would be fine with me as long as we have warm weather soon and I can see the green grass!

Managing Stress

We all have those days, or weeks, that just don’t work out the way we want them to. Just when you think nothing else can go wrong… it does. On top of feeling stressed about the way things are going in your life and trying to juggle everything on your own, you have people telling you that “everything is going to be okay”. I say that to my friends and family members when they are stressed, too. However, sometimes you just need to let it out and just have someone by your side to listen. For me, hearing that everything is going to work out helps in some situations, but sometimes it just makes me feel worse.

This week was definitely one of the most stressful I’ve had in a while and it all started on Monday. I found out on Monday that my living situation for this summer was no longer going to work out. I don’t want to give too many details away for the sake of others involved, but I can tell you that it was a lot of girl drama that I am not used to dealing with. It was very stressful and caused a lot of hurt feelings for myself and my close friend. After talking it out and trying to find a solution to the problem we finally decided on something we all agreed on.

Even though we agreed on something I still wasn’t excited for summer anymore, because I would be moving back home until I found a job. There isn’t anything wrong with moving home, but I live in the country and everyone I know doesn’t live in our hometown anymore. So, when I thought I could live in Marshall (my college town) I was pretty excited and felt good about the upcoming months. However, when all of that came crashing down it just seemed like nothing was going to work out and be good.

On top of that, the rest of week seemed to go down hill day by day. However, I made it to Friday and after researching some ways to manage stress levels I have been trying out a few things and I have my positive outlook on life back again! I looked at the ways that I had always dealt with stress and decided it was time to find some news ways to cope with it. I found a link explaining stress management strategies and how to deal with stress in a healthier way. The link is listed below:

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm

I am getting things done and although it’s only been a couple days I feel happier now that the week is done and I can start a new one! I am getting everything done one step at a time and I know that everything will fall into place in due time. The important thing is keeping a positive attitude. 🙂

The Next Chapter

Lately, I have been faced with a lot of difficult decisions regarding my future. It’s scary, exciting, and nerve-racking all at the same time. I am graduating this May and it’s still very surreal. It’s hard to let go of the past and accept that I’m going into the real world in a short amount of time. Part of me is ready for a new adventure, but then there is another part of me that is still holding onto the past and doesn’t want to head into the next chapter of my life quite yet. 

Throughout the past few weeks, I have come to realize that it is a very stressful transition heading out of school and going into the real world. I have had a couple plans including job options and living situations, but recently I have run into a few obstacles regarding living situations. However, I am very grateful for my close friends and family who have supported me and comforted me through the last few weeks as I try to figure out my life. 

I know in the end that everything will work out in the end, but it’s hard to keep a positive attitude when things are tough. In the mean time, I’m keeping my head up! 

Easter 2013

 

This year, I was able to celebrate Easter with my best friend and her family on Saturday and then my family on Easter Sunday. My friend Heather and I were friends all through high school. We currently attend college in different towns and we are 4 hours apart. We grew up just a few miles away from each other, so when we went to college it was definitely a weird adjustment to make. However, we are the type of friends who call each other’s families our “second family”. We are always there for each other and no matter how much time passes before we see each other next it doesn’t feel like any time has gone by. We pick up like it was yesterday. 

Anyway, this weekend Heather’s family did their traditional Easter egg hunt. Heather’s mom hid over 300 Easter eggs! This is a bonus us country kids have, because we have the ! Participants included Heather’s uncle, dad, brother, Heather’s boyfriend Brandon, and I. At the end of the hunt, Heather and I were the only ones who counted our eggs. Heather ended up finding 108 and I found 82. There’s probably some eggs still out there in their yard since Heather’s mom didn’t count how many eggs she hid. Therefore, there is no way that we would know if we found them all. I guess we’ll just have to find them next year! 🙂

Happy Easter everyone! 🙂

Family Traditions

Every holiday or gathering my family meets up and everyone is in charge of bringing a salad or dessert. The host and hostess of the holiday event is in charge of making the main course, but other family members pitch in and help. As far as the desserts go, my mom is known for making Snicker Salad. Like my mom, I am not an avid baker or cook. Thus, Snicker Salad is the perfect thing to make. I have helped my mom make it throughout the years and it just sort of evolved into a tradition. Nowadays, everyone knows what we are going to bring to the holiday party. 

The tradition has been unintentionally been passed down to me. In high school, and now through college, I have established myself as the one who brings the Snicker Salad. I have brought it to potlucks, various school events, and work holiday parties. I love making it because it’s easy, quick, and I can’t mess it up! 

My mom and I use a pretty basic recipe to make it. Our recipe includes: 

6 full-size snicker bars 

5 granny apples

2 small (or 1 large) containers of cool-whip

2 small (or 1 large) boxes of instant vanilla pudding

*Note: It’s very important to get instant pudding! 

I love those small traditions that have sentimental value. It doesn’t matter what you’re making or doing; all that matters is who you are making the memories with. I look forward to making snicker salad for a long time and eventually making it with my own kids someday and sharing the memories that I made with my mom.

Happy tradition-making bloggers! 🙂