Author: Cami Grace

Currently – December Edition

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So here we are in December.  Usually things are crazy around the holidays, but thankfully things seem to be slowing down a bit…well, sort of.  We are getting settled into our cozy little house and we have been shopping away for Christmas (although, I’m worried our Christmas presents for extended family are going to be late *cringing face*). We also got our Christmas tree and decorations up, and might I add, we are severely lacking in the decoration department.  Definitely need to work on fixing that. ;)

Friday night was also my company’s Christmas party at Northern Quest Resort & Casino.  Let me tell you, our company knows how to throw a party! (even though I’m the one that does half the planning, they provide the funding for it, so it’s awesome).  It was full of fun door prizes, food, cocktails, and lots and lots of dancing.  Definitely the ingredients for a fun night. :)

Anyway, with December in full swing, here are my currently’s.

Currently Watching

Arrow.  We are taking a small break from Bones and trying to catch up on Arrow.  We dropped off somewhere around Season 2, so it’s been fun catching up.  I’m sure our break from Bones won’t last long though.

Also, I’ve been having fun watching all the random Christmas movies that are popping up all over the place on TV, love it! :)

Currently Reading

“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling, and  “A Woman’s Walk with God – Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit” by Elizabeth George.  I’ve been able to spend a little more time reading, but I need to wait on reading “Better than Before” by Gretchen Rubin.  It was taking far too long to read 3 books at the same time.  I seem to be handling 2 books okay, but it’s obviously still taking me longer to read than it would if I would just stick with one.

Currently Making/Baking

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread!  I made this on Monday and it’s pretty yummy!  Thankfully we had friends over to help us eat it.  It’s far too dangerous to leave that whole loaf for just 2 people, haha.  You can find the recipe here.

You would think this is common sense, but make sure you have all the ingredients before you start.  I thought for sure I had baking soda, but aparently not.  There’s nothing more frustrating than having to run to the store in the middle of mixing half the ingredients together…seriously.

Current Obsession

Kathryn Morgan’s YouTube channel. :)  I’m enjoying her Vlogmas series.  It’s kinda fun to watch while I’m making dinner or doing the dishes, even if it’s just watching some of her old videos.  She also has some fun makeup tutorials and I love, love, love her ballet barre workouts and exercises.  You can view both of her channels here and here.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a wonderful December!  Be warm and stay safe out there!  :)

Deep Cleaning for the Holidays – And a Free Printable!

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As I mention in a previous post (here), we just recently moved, so between getting our apartment ready for the inspection and with the  holiday season in full swing, there has been A LOT of cleaning going on!  So, in honor of the holidays and because I love lists and can’t live without them, I wanted to share my deep cleaning list with you.  I’m also including a link to a more detailed deep cleaning list that includes just about everything.

First, my Apartment Deep Cleaning List.  This is my go-to list for every time we have moved out of an apartment. This list has not failed me and I’ve been able to get our deposit back every time.

Apt Deep Cleaning List

You can download and print the Apartment Deep Cleaning List here.

**Side note: one thing that is not on the list is the laundry room.  Basically, I sprayed down the washer/dryer with windex wiped it clean, made sure to wipe out the insides as well, then wiped down the walls and shelving, and cleaned the floor.

For the Home

I haven’t made a full deep cleaning list for the home yet, but if you’re looking for something more detailed and includes just about everything, here is a link to a great website that has a list you can download.

The nice thing about these long lists is that you can cross off items that don’t apply to you and it makes you feel like you’r already accomplishing something before you even start.  :)

Cleaning Products

Here is a small list of cleaning products I like to use.  I don’t have links, but if you really want links, just let me know in the comments below.

  1. Clorox or Lysol Wipes – these are antibacterial and can be used on multiple surfaces.  The best part is that you can just throw them away when you’re done.
  2. Dawn Dish Soap – I use Dawn and water for a multi-purpose cleaner as well, especially for wiping down walls, counters, cupboards, you name it.  It goes a long way!
  3. Windex – I also use this to wipe down our washer and dryer, it makes it look squeeky clean!
  4.  Comet – I use this on the sinks and tub.  Soft Scrub also works.
  5. Lysol Toilet Cleaner – works great
  6. Sponge, rags, toothbrush – the toothbrush really helps you get in the crevices and nooks and cranny’s.

Well, my dears, that all I have for now.  I hope someone can find these lists useful.  Happy Cleaning!

Post Thanksgiving Thankfulness

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Thanksgiving is the one holiday that seems to change for us.  With family being spread out all over the country and with our schedules being a little tricky to work around, we never seem to know what we’re going to do, but something always works out and we’ve been blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with family and/or friends.

This year I slept in, spent some quality time with God reading my Bible and in prayer, talked on the phone with my parents in Chicago, and sister in L.A., then we did some more unpacking and organizing (for those of you who don’t know, we just moved into a new house!), then we headed over to my brother’s house to spend the afternoon/evening with him and his little family.  It was definitely a great way to celebrate the holiday.

With thanksgiving in mind I am grateful to God for so much.  Here is just a list of a few things I’m thankful for.

  1. God and his unconditional love, faithfulness, mercy, grace, and forgiveness
  2. My husband
  3. Fresh beginnings daily
  4. A new home for our little family (huge blessing)
  5. Kahlua, our lab, and the goof ball that she is
  6. A small yard for Kahlua to be able to run around in
  7. Our kitty, even though she has given us a ton of grief, she’s still my little baby
  8. That I was born into a Godly family
  9. For deep, meaningful friendships
  10. God’s constant provision
  11. the blessing of my job
  12. for my husband’s job
  13. Turkey’s being 50% off the day after Thanksgiving (woohoo!!)
  14. Food – I love food
  15. Health
  16. Safety and protection
  17. For our cute little car that has been reliable ever since we bought it about 7 years ago
  18. For the people that inspire me
  19. For awesome technology to be able to stay in touch with long distance family (yay Skype!)
  20. For rest and relaxation
  21. Books and blankets – and how well they go together (along with hot chocolate)
  22. Electricity – being without makes you appreciate it sooo much more
  23. For the things we get to look forward to (Christmas, a new year, vacation…)
  24. Laughter
  25. For this blog – it’s been a fun little journey on here, but I’m also thankful for blogs in general, because it’s fun being able to look into other people’s lives and receive inspiration and encouragement.  So thanks to you guys out there too! :)

I hope and pray you all will continue the rest of the year with many blessings and continue to give thanks through it all.

Much love xoxo

Storm Recap

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The exciting news of the week was definitely the storm we had this past Tuesday, so here’s what happened.

The Storm

We had a huge wind storm this week that ripped down power lines, toppled trees, and caused huge amounts of damage.  You can view a few photos of the aftermath here.

The Drive Home

My typical 25-30 minute drive home took me a little over an hour, and that’s after leaving work 2 hours early.  I decided to avoid the freeway since my car has a hard enough time with 35 mph wind gusts, let alone 35 mph sustained winds with 60-70 mph wind gusts.  Power was out at half the stoplights I came to, which meant it was now a 4 way stop at major intersections with multiple lanes.

After about 40 minutes I came to another major intersection, also without power, and decided to take a detour.  I was going to jump on the freeway, but when a huge gust of wind started shaking my car, I changed my mind.  Thankfully, I knew another way home, and the way I was going was taking me to an area that still had power.

As I continued on my way the wind was picking up even more and trees were bending over, practically in half.  I made it allll the way down to the road when I notice the truck in front me suddenly swerved into the other lane. Directly in front of me was a tree laying across the road.  I followed the truck in front of me (glad I was following at a safe distance) and drove over the top of tree.  For about 5 blissful minutes my car filled with the scent of pine.  As I was thoroughly enjoying the scent of Christmas, reality soon kicked in and suddenly all the lights along street went out.  Thankfully the stoplights flickered but decided to stay on for the remaining 5 minutes of my commute.

Home

Our apartment was dark and cold, but I was so thankful to be home and safe as the storm grew even more strong.  I called my mom to let her know I made it home ok and then waited for my husband to get up (he works graveyard, so he sleeps during the day).  It just completely amazes me that he can seriously sleep through anything, even a hurricane, apparently, haha.

Once he was up I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and pulled out our board games.  It was fun but we were definitely getting cold and couldn’t concentrate after a while.  Since Mikey still had to go to work later that night we decided to find somewhere we could get something hot to eat and went to my brother’s house, which amazingly enough, only lost power for 2 hours.

After 24 hours our power finally came back on (24 hours in the middle on November is miserable – but that’s nothing compared to the people who are still without power 5 days later and counting).  I’m thankful to be safe and have a home that was unharmed.  Unfortunately there were many who were not so lucky.

As for my pets?  the storm didn’t even phase them.  I think living on the Oregon coast for so long had them pretty well prepared.  While my dog Kahlua lounged on the couch staring out the window, my cat was on the floor in front of the window trying to chase the leaves that were blowing on and off our balcony.

The End

So that was the excitement for the week.  This weekend has been busy with packing, packing, and more packing.  Today is our last and final day for packing and tomorrow we move into our little house!

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend.  Happy Sunday!

Currently – November Edition

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November 2

Oooh boy.  So this month is rather crazy (I know, I say that every month!).  It turns out we’re moving from our apartment into a house – Yay!  We are going to be renting a 3 bedroom house and we couldn’t be more excited about it.  It’s honestly been difficult to think of much else.  I  mean talk about nuts, it looks like we will be moving the week of Thanksgiving.  So while everyone will be thinking of their Turkey dinner and making sure the house is ready for guests, we will be living out of boxes and deep cleaning our apartment.  But hey, we’re THANKFUL we get to live in a house!  :)

So with that bit of exciting news, I’ll jump right in to my November currently’s.

Currently Watching

“Bones”.  Oooh my goodness, Mikey and I have been binge watching it and I have fallen completely in love with this show all over again.  We’ve been watching it so much that I’ve even had dreams of Booth, Bones, and Cam telling me how to do my job…um, yeah.  I’m not sure what we’re going to do with ourselves when we’re all caught up.

Currently Reading

“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling,  “A Woman’s Walk with God – Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit” by Elizabeth George, and “Better than Before” by Gretchen Rubin.  Yes, this is the same list as last month.  Needless to say, I haven’t done much reading this month.

Currently Making/Baking

Apple Crisp!  The original plan was to make Apple Butter, but Mikey and I were craving something sweet, so we spontaneously made apple crisp instead.  It was delicious!

We’re also still working on eating our leftover Halloween candy.  Last year we ended up running out of candy and we felt completely horrible when the knocks came and we had absolutely nothing left.  This year we definitely weren’t going to make that mistake again, so we got 2 extra bags.  So naturally we got zero trick-or-treaters!  Not-a-single-one.  So we’ve had the candy all to ourselves…darn.  Honestly, in the back of my mind I was wondering if this would happen, so I specifically got everything chocolate just in case.  ;)

Current Obsession

I guess I would have to say Amazon.  Thanks to our vacation coming up in February (haha, guess who’s counting down the days?) and getting ready for our move, I have been visiting Amazon almost daily to look for things to add to my wish list, both for the house and for our vacation.  Our budget won’t allow for us to get many things, but it’s nice to dream anyway. :)

Anyway, I hope you all are having a wonderful November!