First batch of stuff...

Last Saturday was Record Store Day and I went to BG to go to my favorite record store ever Finders Records to get some exclusives, see my old coworkers, eat Qdoba, get the best cookies in the world (S'mores from The Cookie Jar) and also to sell back my first batch of stuff. To my surprise I got over $100 for this stuff in cash and store credit!! That was awesome! It was a great day, followed by an amhazing Palm Sunday!!

However...the rest of this week...not so great. The move is not going well at all- literally it is not "going" at all right now. I spent all of last night loading up the first batch of stuff after arguments and debates from the rest of the family of how I should do it, only to get over there and learn I cannot unload anything. So there was a waste of 4 hours of my time. I was so upset I refused to unload my car when I got home, so I am traveling today with all of my clothes in the back seat. I calmed down once I got away from my family, put on Mary Poppins and actually accomplished some things...but I am now not looking forward to this move AT ALL.

The good thing about this weekend that will hopefully keep me from running away and becoming a deadhead like Lindsey Weir- it is EASTER!! Passover event tonight, Good Friday service tomorrow, Jenah comes into town Saturday, and then Easter Sunday where I will relax all day and eat awesomeness. (All those sound even better when you factor in that I will be escaping my family and their poorly planed move as well!)

Here is hoping that everyone has an amazing Easter weekend- not because of candy or family but because they experience Jesus and the sacrifice He made followed by the victory He achieved! HAPPY EASTER!!

Nice Dress...

 Before my blind double date...it did not go well.

My "new" boots that I am in love with for this never ending winter. 

St. Patrick's Day at work!

Me and Jessie going to breakfast day 4, before she left to go back to school.

PROGRESSIVE DINNER!! WHAT WHAT!!

So there are some of my pictures from the first month! (I really only wore yellow three times but they are all pictured above...so I am not yellow crazy...if there was a color I wore the most besides black it would be Purple!!

Yes I am wearing purple tights too! FTK!

Stripped Clean

Stripped Clean is the name of the study we are doing in youth group right now. It is a pretty cool book for teens, very interactive (we got to burn stuff) available from group.com. Anyway, it is about getting rid of all the stuff that keeps us from the cross. 

 I have a lot of stuff. You know what I realized this weekend: I am addicted to stuff. Other words for addicted: absorbed, attached, dependent, devoted, disposed, fanatic, given over to, habituated, obsessed. Wow, stuff is not the thing that I want to be dependent on, obsessed with, or given over to. But you know when they show you cautionary tales as a kid of what will happen if you make a certain choice? I saw my cautionary tale this weekend and I am determined to not let that be me. The tale you ask? My dad. We are moving in the next few weeks and because I am my father's daughter I start taking over because lets face it- out of everyone in my family who is more qualified to plan and run this move than me? I have moved every year for the last 7 years...sometimes twice a year, and that last one went like clockwork! (Trust me I have references)

Anyway, so I start planning where we will put garage sale stuff, when me and my mom will move the kitchen, and what we are getting rid of. WHAT!?! GET RID OF STUFF!?! Milka-Wha? (that was for you Kim) My mom in now on the "urge to purge" train but my dad is NOT. Why would we get rid of our older rocking chair that no one uses and we have no place for since our new rocking chair is going to the new house?? Why would we sell a floor to ceiling wine shelf that came with the house when we do not drink wine and have a new wine cooler going in?? Not take the bookcase! Even though we have a full wall of built in book shelves we can't leave that!! This last one is where he completely SHUT DOWN and stopped talking after my brother and I repeatedly pointed out how pointless it was to keep. It was like a scene from television where I thought to myself "how could anyone really act like this!?" Could I have been nicer and backed off at their first resistance last week- yes. But also I think this situation needs some tough love. We as a family have a huge problem. It would only take one closed storage facility to get our own Hoarders two hour special.

I do NOT want to be like this. Unable to function when my stuff, useless and unnecessary, is threatened. I do not want to over value my things, so that I can only part with them for the price I paid. Instead I want to see any money I can get from the things I am purging as an added bonus. I do not want to be a constant accumulator with stashes of stuff everywhere. I want to have what I need, and a few other indulgences and that is all. I also do not want the stuff I do end up keeping in the move to be in control of me, but rather me in control of it- gladly willing to part with it when I need to. 

Living in an environment where I am constantly the odd one out, the weirdo, and the crazy one has been difficult, but seeing what has taken place these last few months has only made it easier to swim up stream. I am so much better than I used to be, but I have a long way to go before I am stripped clean...down to just me and the cross.

 ***I cannot explain why this post is in all caps, or a different font...I have tried to fix it like 30 times.***

Tired...

Tired. That is what I am. Tired. This month had been a long exhausting month and I just want to sleep until Easter. I am tired of trying to come up with work appropriate and warm outfits for work around my dress, I am tired of my families never ending stream of crazy, tired of doctors and how much they cost, tired of research with nothing to show for it, and I am just physically exhausted. I am also tried of being bored, and writing this post.

Something to end on a fun note.


~Angela

A couple observations:

Observation 1: I have way more than I need. Take this dress for example. I bought this dress about 4 years ago. It was on sale and so I bought 2 dresses made from the same material (one brown, one black) because they were comfortable and I would get so much use out of them. I wore the brown one thrice now all within the last year and the first time I wore the black was Ash Wednesday (had to take the tag off and everything). Did I really need them?

I also am wearing a lot of things in my closet that do not get a lot of attention or have never been worn before. The best part is I like some of these outfits more than my "go to" ones. It makes me realize how I do not need all the stuff I have and when it comes to clothes (something I am always lusting after) I have more than enough. Just think what I could do with my entire wardrobe by getting a little creative? Have less clothes but better and more fun outfits? Even though my mom would hate it, sounds great to me.

We are moving soon so the challenge I made for myself a few months ago, to cut my overall accumulation of stuff in half, will be put to the test. I said it out loud and even told a few friends- which I immediately regretted. But now with my one dress, it seems not only doable but necessary.

Observation 2: People are not very observant. Most people are thinking about them, or what other people think about them.

This is something I realized a while ago, has been taught in my classes, I have heard talks on it but still surprises me how true it is. Latest example is my dress. I have been wearing the same dress for 14 days now and I do not think my dad has noticed and the people I see every day at work have said nothing. My mom has noticed because I told her I was doing it- she thought I was crazy- and she hates most of my outfits. (I have a surprise for her-pictures will be coming)

At church I was used as an example and people kept coming up to me saying they had not noticed. However the person most surprised- my brother. Saw him everyday. Mentioned stuff around him. Had him take pictures of my outfits, which he had no clue why. Yes he is a guy, but still it is funny. We are always focus on ourselves, which makes sense because it is our default setting but I hope I would notice.


~Angela