About

Hey friends!

My name is Esther and I am so happy you stopped by today.   Let me tell you a little about myself.

I grew up in a home with two working parents.  My mom did not stay home with us.  She was a nurse that worked odd hours for the majority of my childhood, sometimes working through the night time hours while we slept.  Even though she worked these odd hours, I never felt like she wasn’t present. 

In fact, she somehow always managed to have a home cooked meal on the table, sew handmade Halloween costumes for us, bake, host and entertain parties for our family and friends and keep our bathrooms squeaky clean.  I had no idea how she did it at the time!

I appreciate her selfless hard work so much more now than ever as I look back and wonder how she managed to do it all.

I was a young wife and mother who thought hamburger helper was a miracle sent from above to give me an option for every night of the week.  They had so many flavors! Oh!  And have you ever heard of shake and bake? … Honey hush!  I also had no idea how to really get my home in order and have it function properly.. and actually keep it that way.   I was constantly overwhelmed and felt like everyone had it together EXCEPT for me.  I was embarrassed to tell anyone that these things which I felt seemed so small to someone else, felt impossible to handle for me.

I basically went from living in a home where everything was provided for me, to before I knew it, having 3 babies rely on me for everything.  My husband was just as clueless as I was (sorry babe) and couldn’t really help me, even though he definitely tried.  We were a pair of completely clueless rookies trying to make it through one day at a time.  This was pre-Pinterest/Instagram/Blogs …….  I wish I had the valuable info then that you can find today.

Did I mention we decided to start a painting company during this time?  Yes, we were a young, naive couple with little babies relying on us for survival with a ton of bills living paycheck to paycheck.  Why not sprinkle a little more mess to the stress?  Right?

Since we had no money, we decided that I would be the office personnel for the company.   I had to figure out on my own what worked and didn’t work.  I remember running into my bedroom closet to hide from my kids so I could answer phone calls and sound somewhat professional when I spoke to customers. *I still do that to be honest.

Figuring it out:

It was super hard in those early days to figure out how to be productive throughout the day.  My day would come to an end and I would look around and think to myself how disappointed I was in myself and how much I didn’t get accomplished that day.  I didn’t know then that I was slowly learning how to manage my time better to be more productive.

Over the years, I have learned helpful tips and tricks and found valuable resources to help me streamline my home life much more.  Whether that is organizing, decorating, learning how to diy, or manage my time more efficiently while doing these things.  

Our recent Journey:

Over the past 10 years, we have steadily climbed that ladder to bigger and better.  You know that one, right?  The one that you feel like you have to climb in order to be “successful”.  That ladder to the bigger house with the better cars to help us drive over that bigger mountain of debt?  My husband and I had this wake up call about a few years ago and when we took a glimpse at our future, we didn’t really like what we saw.  We didn’t want to stress about everything that came with that “better life”.  So, we took our future into our own hands and downsized.  We are currently on a journey to slowing down and doing more of the things that truly matter to us while spending more time with the people we love.  We have gained so much by simply living with less.

I have gotten so many comments from friends who have felt the same way, so I know I must not be alone.  If this sounds like something you have thought about or may be going through as well,  I hope you will stick around and hang out with me.

We can do this together, everyday.  One day at a time.

So give yourself A TON of grace.  You’ve got this! 

– Esther