When you name what matters, the decision is made much simpler!
So last week our toaster oven went out & since we purposefully choose not to have a microwave…we use our toaster oven a lot!
So I asked for recommendations and then headed online and to the store looking. There are TONS to choose from and in every price range. However, as I was literally figuring out how to scale the shelves at Target to look at the store samples (on a top shelf…really!) I realized what mattered most to me about our toaster oven. (Thank you to The Lazy Genius Podcast for helping me have these simple tools to go through life now!)
What matters to me is that our toaster oven has a pull-out tray that goes in the bottom to catch the crumbs & other things that drip into the bottom. That pull-out tray makes it MUCH easier to clean the bottom & keeps the toaster oven looking better and working better for longer!
So once I figured out what mattered most to me, I could easily cast aside those that do not have that and crazily that seems to be the vast majority! So I ended up going with the newest version of the same Black & Decker Toaster Oven.
So next time you’re needing to decide on something…name what matters most to you and see how that helps!
You can TOTALLY CHANGE the emotions & atmosphere with this! With today being the first day of school, I had a strong memory moment as I was filling my kitchen diffuser this morning. It wasn’t a first day of school, but it was my first week of using Young Living oils in our house & I knew very little but I was going to use these oils! I had put Joy (it’s a blend) in my diffuser that’s in the kitchen & I was doing all the things for breakfast & getting 2 girls ready to go to school.
One of those girls had been in a perpetually HORRIBLE mood for months and it affected the entire house. BUT THAT MORNING she was in a good mood and seemingly back to her regular self and not in that mood. My husband was the one that took her to school and there wasn’t any crying and frustration in the car about going to school, instead she jumped out and willingly went in. We were amazed & chalked it up to happenstance…UNTIL
Later that day I had a text from a friend that got an oils kit the same day I did. She has all boys & commented that the day before she was so adamant they have a great day on their family outing that she put Joy blend on all of them and herself. She said they were bouncing off the walls & so silly she was wondering if you could take some of the oil off them. She said that Joy oil works but don’t use too much or they go crazy! (She had used TONS…we quickly learned it’s super concentrated, so it doesn’t take much.)
That’s when I had an AHA that my daughter’s good mood might not have been happenstance, but all because of the few drops of that Joy oil I had in the diffuser in the kitchen that she was around just during the time she ate breakfast & put her lunch together! Without telling what I had learned, and not quite believing an essential oil could do that, I put that Joy blend in my kitchen diffuser (it was my only diffuser at the time) the next morning and was shocked, amazed, thankful to have the very same response…a girl that was in a good mood & happy to go to school.
Did I always have to diffuse Joy from then on, No! I honestly don’t remember if I started applying that oil on her. However, I do remember that that’s when I realized how powerful these Young Living oils were and that I was ALWAYS going to have that diffuser going when I was home and if that Joy blend can do that…what can all these other oils do? Putting 6-8 drops of these YL essential oils into a diffuser seems like such an extra thing to do, but instead it was foundational in changing the emotional, physical & respiratory health of our family 10+ years ago.
Could you and your family benefit from that change? I 100% know you could! I would love to help you get started if you aren’t a YL customer & have a savings code for you to get an extra 10% off. Just comment below or message me to get it. Remind me also to tell you how you can get another diffuser for FREE!
I love knowing people’s recommendations & things they love and got the idea to share multiple ones from Kendra Adachi at the Lazy Genius. She does so each season, so I’m sure I’ll have more come a few months from now but here's my current ones...
Banana Oatmeal Bars – These are made with totally clean ingredients and THEY ARE SO GOOD!! I only go a few days from when I run out to making the next batch. I keep them on the counter for a day or two and then move to the fridge where they stay for a week at least (if they last that long!) They work great for breakfast, snacks, etc. Here’s the recipe – https://dishingouthealth.com/banana-peanut-butter-oat-protein-bars/#recipe
Celia (our college girl) being home from France! I love that she had that opportunity, but I just am so glad that she’s home! An extra bonus is that she in Jonesboro all summer working at the JCC Pro Shop and pet-sitting.
Siete BBQ Chips – As I continue to learn about what’s good and not for my body, I am being intentional about not eating foods with Seed Oils in them. Well I LOVE chips but they have seed oils in all the main ones. So I have been working to find others that are without seed oils. There are several brands, but I’m loving the Siete BBQ ones…SO spicy & yummy.
Crocheted Dish Cleaner – Several months ago I bought a couple of crocheted dish cleaners and I LOVE THEM!!! They are made of synthetic string and look brand new still. I just throw them in the washer to clean them. I need to learn to crochet so I can make them…although they are holding up wonderfully!
Reading – I have loved reading for years, but it is giving me even more joy these days! I realized a few days after I had Victoria (crazy that was 24 years ago this month) that I HAD to read even just for 5 minutes everyday to feel like myself. I read LOTS more than 5 minutes a day now and still have a crazy long To Be Read list.
Amazing Race seasons – Mark, Celia & I love this show & have watched ALL the seasons except the last one. Our rule is we have to watch together, so we just finished the next to last season a couple of weeks ago (thankfully it has many of the elements from the first seasons back so it’s much more competitive) and we have one more season to watch. I highly recommend this show! It will expand your travel list & possibly help make you a bit more brave.
My favorite summer dresses – Several years ago I got two dresses at Gearhead (they aren’t made anymore) that are made out of a material similar to parachutes. THEY ARE WONDERFUL!! They look as good as the day I got them and I LOVE wearing them! I would buy 5 more if they still made them so I could wear them 7 days a week.
Scrub brush cleaner – I shared this graphic I believe a few weeks ago, but it’s in the comments below if you want to see it again. I got one of those scrub brushes that has a spot for dish soap in the handle, except I put a concoction to clean my bathroom sinks, showers & tubs! It’s made it so much easier to get those hard to reach places & you know I’m all about cleaning with Thieves and not having cleaning headaches! I’ve got to get another brush to keep in the kitchen for that sink.
1.0 readers for small writing in Insta Stories – Well a few weeks ago I got some 1.0 readers to read the small print in Insta stories and it’s been so nice! I have been so fortunate to have such great vision these last 10 years thanks to Frankincense!! Readers haven’t been needed at all & thankfully my eyes are seeing better without them because I’m not having to strain for those few times I put on my readers for that small print.
This is by no means all the things I love, but what have been extra wonderful these last few weeks/months! I'd love to hear any you have to share.
How often do we see people’s lives like the muffins in the pan shown in the picture? Everything looks exactly like it’s supposed to and possibly even perfect to our eyes. We see muffins (insert anything) that are perfectly brown, with blueberries sticking out occasionally that look like they are bursting with flavor with the promise of yumminess when you bite into them?
Our minds continue to weave a tale of what those perfect muffins and blueberries mean for that person and how our “muffins and blueberries” don’t remotely resemble that. How are they always so together and everything works perfectly for them when not for me? You know the stories your mind tells you when you see what others are posting or sharing about.
Well now I want you to look at the second picture…the one of the muffins once they are out of the pan. They are a jumbled mess! They don’t remotely resemble the muffins in the first picture as they were in the pan…instead there are blueberries missing, crumbs everywhere and possibly only one muffin that didn’t totally come apart when taken out of the pan.
How many times is that part of a person’s life not shown or we don’t see it? We just see that first picture and jump to all kinds of conclusions. When in fact, they are just showing one part of their life before their “muffins and blueberries” are lifted from the pan.
So the next time you see something in someone’s life that looks perfect and your life is feeling anything but…remember the muffins and blueberries!
Plus one very important thing to remember….
These muffins will taste the same as they did when they looked perfect!
There are probably even more lessons to be learned from this but that’s what stood out to me as I scraped them out of the pan…that I had spent time greasing!!
One of my favorite podcasts is The Lazy Genius Podcast with Kendra Adachi. Listening to her podcast over the last 15 months or so has helped me “lazy genius” several things in my/our life that has made things easier. She has several Lazy Genius principles (so helpful), but one of the most popular ones is Decide Once.
It’s a great rule in that your brain makes the decision ONE TIME and then you never have to mess with it again. Recently I listened to her share a number of her family’s Decide Once decisions and so I wanted to share some of ours.
1. Wednesday evening’s dinner is Trader Joe’s Turkey Burgers & chips/guac one week and Pizza Chef pepperoni pizza the alternating week. Then it repeats…all year long.
2. Every time I travel to Nashville I go to Newk’s the day before & get a Pimento Cheese sandwich and bbq chips from Grab & Go. That’s the only time I let myself get that guilty pleasure meal. There isn’t an easy place (nor desirable) to stop to get food that doesn’t take forever between here and Nashville, so that takes care of the problem and gets me there as fast as possible!
3. At the beginning of every month I choose the essential oil that I’m going to diffuse all month long in the living room diffuser. That way I don’t have to keep a stash of oils in there, but my diffuser runs everyday like I want it to. Only the one oil I’m diffusing has to be in there.
4. Tuesday is laundry day for clothes. Towels are done on an as-needed basis, but all clothes that need to be washed better be in that hamper Tuesday morning or it’s going to be a week before they get washed. The only time that changes is for vacation. This also means that everything is going to be folded and put away on Tuesday as well. Don't ask about ironing...I don't do that.
5. I love to send what I call “Happy Mail” to my active customers. I had already set the goal of sending at least one time to every customer this year, not just my personally enrolled. In the past I’ve sent whatever has my eye at the time, but at the beginning of this year I decided what I was going to send and that’s what everyone is getting this year. It’s made it SO simple & I’m not confused on what each person got.
Now there are obviously times when a Decide Once thing has run its course or a season in life has changed when that’s not needed anymore. One example of this is…for about 3 years our family ate Sunday lunch at the same place every week. You could find us there if we were in town and eating lunch out, which was most every week. Did some family members complain and tire of that after a while? Yes. However, it cured the “where are we going to eat” question after church each week and the complaints and tears that followed. It was a GREAT Decide Once decision even before I knew about the principle.
So, do you have some Decide Once decisions you all follow in your home or are you going to put some into practice? I would love to hear either way!
