Welcome back to another great week at Happiness is Homemade Link Party!
We’re your party for all things Easter, Spring, home decor, sweet treats, dinner recipes, and much more. Come on in, check out your hosts, and link-up as well!
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It wasn’t until my 29th birthday that I realized I hated the way my body looked. That winter morning, I spent an hour struggling to get dressed. It took me less than a minute to choose the khakis, and then 45 minutes trying to find a cardigan and top that would hide my arms, stomach, neck, and anything else I felt was unsavory to the eyes of the world.
After an exhaustive search, I realized I didn’t own that the perfect top nor magical camouflage sweater. Turns out, there is no such thing.
Then while sitting at my kitchen island, waiting for my husband to return home and take me out to my obligatory birthday dinner, I caught a reflection of myself in the window. While others in my neighborhood looked adorable in their plaid, knee boots, and tights, there I was, looking like I was waiting for others to not notice how much of the abdominal snow beast I believed myself to be.
So there’s something you should know about my husband- he’s always late. So the longer I sat waiting for my husband the hotter I became. I pushing the sleeves of my cardigan up to my elbows for some relief, and as I moved my arms, I noticed something. Even though I was wearing a stifling hot cardigan to cover up my arm fat, I could still see my bat wings jiggle inside the fabric. My neck was still visible. As way my stomach. No matter what I did, it was all still there.
Since becoming a big girl in my teens, I’ve tried to cover my body with everything from baggy clothes to shapewear, even the beforementioned plus-size cardigan trick. But it was in that moment that I realized my cardigan hijinks weren’t fooling anyone. My jiggly bits might be covered in fabric, but every time I moved my arms and stomach were waving a cleverly acted Austin Powers “hello!” homage right along side them. I was trying to hide something that is impossible to conceal. And, my cardigan-come-comfort-blanket was making me hot and uncomfortable. So right there in my kitchen, I cried. I cried for comfort. I cried because I was drowning in fabric. I cried because I hated the way I looked.
I would like to say that in that very moment I stripped off my cardigan and liberated myself from the chains of self-hatred and suburban soccer mom mediocrity, but it wasn’t that easy. Even though I considered going back to my closet and slipping on an LBD and letting my arms flap in the wind like a flesh-toned flag, I still had my stomach to consider. After all, I had been hiding my body away since the 7th grade! My tangled web of body image issues needed to be unraveled slowly. I mean, would the world truly be ready for all my arm jelly? Worse still, was I prepared to show my stretch marks, fat rolls, and neck fat in all their glory?
Over time, I’ve realized that no matter how many cardigans and shapewear I bought, the truth remains: You can’t hide the fat. I’m a big girl with big arms and stretch marks. I can waste an hour each day trying to shield the world from the horror of my arms, or I can just learn to love my body instead.
It took me about a year to get comfy with sleeveless clothes, and a year longer to start my path to better health. But now, two years later and 61 pounds lighter, I feel pretty liberated. I no longer ruin beautiful dresses with intrusive shawls. I throw on cardigans only when cold. I wear tank tops to workout. I love wearing flowy tops. I even enjoy seeing my reflection in the mirror — a huge accomplishment for me.
So you may ask, what are my best tips for living your plus size body, just as you are? Well, I’ve got two tips for you:
Step 1: Get Aware. Stop believing the old lies you have been subconsciously telling yourself about how your body is not special enough, amazing enough, or precious enough to warrant your utmost attention and care right now. If you are telling yourself, “Perhaps someday when it looks better or thinner, and then I will take better care of my body,” you’re telling yourself an alternative fact. The time to love and care for your body is today.
Step 2: Learn to dress for your frame. Learning to find your personal sense of style as a plus size woman is essential. Consider wearing single colors from top to toes. Invest in statement jewelry. Get the right fit of your clothes, you want items that are neither too loose or too tight on your body frame. Scale your clothing to your body size; wear wider belts, bigger prints, and carry equal size handbags totes. Opt for v-neck shirts. Wear chunkier heels. Avoid shoes with ankle straps as they will cut across and visually shorten you. And most importantly, don’t avoid flowy, brightly colored fabrics. You can pull off beautiful, funky, seasonal pieces too!
Speaking of beautiful, funky, seasonal pieces, I want to mention one of my favorite new capsule wardrobe finds for this Spring season, the Babydoll Tunic from Cents of Style. Check out how I styled it below, as well as my style tips and inspiration for this plus size look!
How I styled it:
While being styled means you want to appear as if you’ve barely tried, but this doesn’t give us the liberty to live our lives in clandestine sweat ensembles! You know, the warmer the weather the more effortless and chic the look should be.
The easiest way to pull off effortless style is this:
When you wear a dressier top, such as the Babydoll Tunic from Cents of Style, pair it with something super casual and dressed down. A little uptown. A little boho. It’s as simple as that! The juxtaposition of pairing the casual with the formal always looks effortlessly chic. And that ladies, is what will make you look fabulous every single time!
So with that in mind, I paired a the Babydoll Tunic from Cents of Style with distressed Capri jeans and sandals. It’s super easy to dress this way. Just remember opposites always attract!
Why I selected this gorgeous babydoll tunic shirt:
Flowy tunics speak femininity to me. It just so soft and flirty. But while many of us tend to look at femininity in a way of being soft itself, I associate it with strength, bravery, and power. At least now, I do. Beautiful pieces such as this help me to think of myself as a powerful, passionate woman. In this stage in my life, I want to not only embraced my femininity but to acknowledge that I’m thriving in the skin I’m in. I’ve arrived!
Shopping this look:
Shop the Cents of Style Babydoll Tunic (also available in a keyhole variety) this Spring! These awesome tunics are available in fitting sizes 0 – 18, are available in fun, warm, seasonal shades that look amazing on a variety of body types, capsules, and styles!
Use the code:
Use the code is TOPSTORY and it will make each tunic only $19.95 + FREE SHIPPING. Please note, the code is valid 3/24 – 3/26 only.
So, everyone, I have to ask, with Summer right around the corner will you begin the journey of learning to accept, respect, and love your current body 100%, right now, extra weight and all? Will you embrace your inner diva and let those perfect just-as-you-are frames come out to sparkle this season? And will you indulge yourself this weekend with a little something from Cents of Style? I hope so.
Happy shopping,
Disclosure: I am being compensated for sharing this information. Opinions remain my own.
We’ve all been there. Whether you own or rent your home, I’m sure that you’ve dealt with plumbing problems, including those pesky clogged, gunky drains. As a homeowner, I’ve had to deal with my share of pipe problems. Costly and high inconvenient plumbing problems. Which is why I’m excited to announce that I’ve been chosen as a Roto-Rooter ambassador!
I am by no means any sort of plumbing expert, but I’m always on the hunt to find new ways to maintain my home’s plumbing, which is why I am excited about learning ways to take care of my home through this new ambassadorship.
While I’m sure you already know Roto-Rooter’s reputation for being the #1 company for their in-home plumbing services, however, did you also know that they offer a line of consumer products that you can use at home? This means that instead of calling someone out to the house, I can do some of the jobs myself. Including unclogging drains. While I’m simply a homeowner and not a professional, I still want products that I can depend on to provide the fastest performance while remaining safer for all of my home’s pipes and plumbing.
What’s truly awesome about the Roto -Rooter’s Clog Remover products is that they are able to clear clogs 50% faster than other national brands. As they are also formulated with a patented gel formula that penetrates deeply to the clog’s source.
What’s even better? With all Roto-Rooter products, it works — or its free. You heard that right. Roto-Rooter is so confident in their products that they offer consumers a satisfaction guarantee on their entire line of consumer products. Plus, if the clog persists and you need professional help, just give the bottle to a Roto-Rooter services technician and receive 10% off of your service call. How awesome is that? Be sure to visit rotorooter-products.com/our-guarantee.html for more details on Roto-Rooter’s consumer products satisfaction guarantee.
And for these reasons and more, I am so excited to tell you that I have partnered up this year with Roto-Rooter as an ambassador! So the next time you have a clog or need to maintain your septic tank, be sure to visit your favorite grocery and mass retailer to pick up Roto-Rooter products. Products that will have your plumbing in tip-top fast!
Also worth noting, over the course of the next year, I’m excited to introduce you to even more of the products and services Roto-Rooter has to offer as well as some at-home plumbing fixes. Stay tuned for next my next post in this series where I will share with you several easy at-home plumbing fixes that you can do for yourself!
So, everyone, how do you currently deal with all your weekend warrior and DIY plumbing emergencies at home? I’d love to hear about them below!
Here’s to all things plumb,
Disclosure: These tips on how to reduce waste at home are part of a sponsored conversation with Tom’s of Maine. All opinions are my own.
Did you know that according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average person in the United generates 4.3 pounds of waste per day? This is 2.6 pounds more than most produced back in 1960 and 1.5 more pounds generated than a mere decade ago.
So you may wonder, where does all of this trash go? Approximately 55% of the 220 million tons of waste generated each year in the United States ends up in one of the over 3,500 landfills. With the growing amount of trash filling up our landfills, learning how to live a more sustainable lifestyle is paramount for green living in our communities.
In my own home, we are a zero-waste family. We start the ball rolling by decluttering our home and eliminating excess purchases from our home, life, and business. We also began to phasing our plastics and single-use products for more sustainable options, including glass, metal, and bamboo products. We refuse single use items at grocery stores and when dining out as well. We also upcycle products, compost, and for all other items, we recycle, or as it’s more properly known, downcycle, just about everything else we can. Particularly through curbside recycling.
While we make every effort to recycle most items we purchase, there is always a myriad of items that my community recycling center will not accept. This is especially true for common plastic household items including used and broken toys, which as most parents can attest, always seem to accumulate before your eyes, making toys one of the harder items to declutter on an occurring basis at home.
While it’s easy to assume that toys are not a great environmental blight, consider this: Only 4% of the world’s children live in the US, but Americans buy and throw away 40% percent of the world’s toys each year. So even if you opt for more sustainable toys, purchase second-hand versions, and pass down the toys you do purchase to others there will probably still be a great deal of currently broken toys in your home that need proper recycling.
Currently, Tom’s of Maine is partnering with the recycling experts at TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, to offer the #LessWasteChallenge toy recycling program, a program which allows families to recycle toys and keep additional plastics out of landfills, all for free!
When I was asked to join the Toms of Maine to offer the #LessWasteChallenge toy recycling program, a program which allows families to recycle toys and keep additional plastics out of landfills, all for free! So when I was asked to join the Toms of Maine #LessWasteChallenge, I jumped at the chance as Tom’s of Maine is a company with more than 45 years developing natural personal care products with a focus on natural, responsible and sustainable practices, while giving 10% of its profits back to helping people and the planet. Products that I buy for my own family at home since beginning our zero-waste lifestyle.
Families can send in their broken toys directly to TerraCycle by following four simple steps:
- Visit Tom’s of Maine Challenge Site.
- Enter contact information to receive a free UPS shipping label via email, printed at home.
- Fill an old box with up to ten pounds of broken toys.
- Attach the free shipping label to the box and drop it off at any UPS location nationally.
- Collected broken toys are broken down, turned into new consumer goods or donated to charity.
Beyond toys, families can also help their communities and the environment by taking the #LessWasteChallenge pledge, which asks families to reduce their household waste by one pound per week and lead healthier, more zero-waste lives at home. To date, American families have pledged to keep more than 200,000 pounds out of landfills since 2016 as over 8,590 participating locations nationwide.
Moreover, Tom’s of Maine has a goal of zero waste to landfills by 2020 at its manufacturing facility in Maine. It’s a lofty goal and I applaud their efforts! And like Tom’s of Maine, I encourage you to get involved, get your children involved, by recycling your used and broken toys at home as part of the #LessWasteChallenge, and to take the pledge as well!
Here’s to reducing our waste at home, one toy at a time,
Happy Monday, everyone! This week is starting off to another sunny, windy, and wonderful start here in Dixie. This past weekend has been very eventful for us as a family. From minor plumbing issues to having to purchase yet another dishwasher, this past weekend was anything but boring. Thankfully, with the start of each new week’s, there’s the pleasant certainty of a well planned, money-saving meal plan. A plan I am ever so grateful to have!
This week’s menu again reflects our need to eat down our food stockpile. As we are having to consume everything we have on-hand first, though we did purchase several items food and home consumables, each of which garnered us back online app rebates, which will give us groceries and products that can help us in the weeks to come for our family of three as part of a minimalist meal plan.
While I’m sure most of my readers will already know what a minimalist meal plan consists of, here’s a recap of the five categories I use to help me create minimalist meal planning for the past three weeks for those looking to create such a plan for their families at home:
Consistency: The goal of minimalist meal planning is to consistently prepare and present my family with home cooked, healthy meals each day this month.
Cost: Posted meal plans are based on seasonal sales cycles with attention paid to both frugality and minimalist efficiency. This week’s menu reflects our budget of $160.00 monthly for a family of three.
Power Consumption: I wanted to plan meals that do not require vast amounts of energy zapping stove-top and range preparation. A little food for thought: did you know that it costs an average of 18-24 cents an hour to run a gas range, 24-30 cents an hour for an electric range, 16-20 cents an hour for a microwave oven, a mere 3-5 cents an hour to run a toaster oven or convection top. With this in mind, I will be gearing this month’s meal planning to encompass dishes that utilize minimalist power consumption standards. Meals this month will utilize my toaster oven and convection stove top for all my baking and needs.
Streamlining: I was a little apprehensive about whether or not my family will be turned off of the idea of food simplicity. I quickly realized that my family loves whatever I cook them, and with this, in mind, extreme food plan simplicity will give me an extra hour each day to devote to spending time with my family and not in my kitchen. In order to streamline my meal plans, to have a true minimalist food strategy I am going to assign each day of the week with a single meal.
Travel: I wanted meals that could be planned monthly in advanced and shopped for locally (I live in a small town with limited mass shopping or chain retailer options) either weekly or monthly, depending on need. As I shop in reverse, buying groceries on rock bottom pricing and then shop from my pantry, this keeps weekly food costs low.
Here’s what I purchased this week:
Sam’s Club:
- 2 10-lb. bags of Nature’s Path Organic Black Beans, $2.81 (regularly $9.98 each)
- Driscoll’s 2-pound Strawberry tub, $2.51 (After $2.00 instant savings)
- Total: $8.31
- Saved: $16.16
Winn-Dixie:
- Tazo Organic Chai Tea, $3.81 ($1.00 rebate from checkout51)
- Tazo Earl Grey Tea, on clearance, $1.81 (regularly priced $3.81)
- Winn-Dixie Brand Espresso, clearance priced, $0.89 (regularly priced $3.38)
- Total: $5.51 after rebates
- Total Saved: $5.49
Walmart:
- Bradford Pear, $0.69 (submitted for 20% Saving Star Rebate)
- Organic Kale bunch, $0.98 each (submitted for $0.25 iBotta rebate)
- Seventh Generation Dishwasher tabs, 24-count, $4.98
- Submitted for $0.25 iBotta any receipt rebate)
- Total: $6.01 after rebates
- Total Saved: $0.65
Weekly total: $19.81
Weekly Total Saved: $22.31
- To create your own minimalist meal plan, think about which dinners are your family’s favorites that don’t take too much effort to prepare.
- Consider which do you prefer to cook?
- Think comfort meals. Think simple and keep it basic.
- When creating your meal calendar this week assign one meal to each day of the week, taking into account school, work, and activity schedules. Leave your least busy days for meals that take the most amount of time to prepare.
- Leave one day open each week for creativity in the kitchen, for ethnic, slow-cooked, heavy on the ingredient, new to you from Pinterest meals for weekends or Tuesday and Thursdays when poser usage rates nationally tend to be 20-30% lower on average. Focus on energy, your own and your household power usage as well!
- Themes can be your best friend in minimalist cooking plans. Think Meatless Monday’s, Meatball Monday’s, Taco Tuesdays, Tofu Tuesday’s, Stirfry Wednesday’s, and Slow-Cooker Sunday’s!
- Adjusting two meals a week to meatless options can help lower your grocery budgets by a quarter each month. This month we will be trying to expand Meatless Monday’s to also be Meatless Thursday’s as well.
- This month breakfast, snacks, and lunches will be standardized. We will be having sandwiches for lunch, cereal, and smoothies for breakfast. And yes you could do without snacks and increase lunch and breakfast portions, but I find smaller meals several times a day work better for my health, and so that’s how we will be rolling.
So what does this leave me with? My monthly minimalist meal plan will consist of default meals streamlined around items already on hand that requires less than a half hour to prepare, and cost under $5.00 per meal to create. Also worth noting, before I venture out to the market I first shop from my pantry and cabinets, only add weekly sales that are 60% or more below cost, and then create easy meals. With this in mind, you’ll find my menu for this week below.
Monday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Kale, walnut, and Greek vinegarette salad.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Taco Tuesday.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Wednesday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Chicken, carrot, broccoli quinoa bake, with Crystal Light lemonade.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Bakes Zucchini, Greek yogurt, and quinoa gyros, with Crystal light lemonade.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Friday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Meatball hoagies, side salad with Greek Yogurt dressing, and Crystal Light.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Saturday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snacks: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Chicken mole, served with steamed rice, corn, and Crystal Light.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Sunday
Breakfast: Cereal with almond milk and strawberries.
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sliders, with Crystal light lemonade.
Snack: Grapes and String Cheese.
Dinner: Crockpot cheddar, chicken, and broccoli rice, with green beans and Crystal Light lemonade.
Dessert: Greek yogurt, granola, and blueberries.
Cost of food shopped from pantry and freezer: $26.45
So that’s all, everyone! I’m hoping that this streamlined plan will leave me feeling anything but restricted. With my family eating well and meal planning becoming more automated, I’m thinking of bringing back Family Game Nights! Incorporating minimalism into my weekly meal planning will help me be a few steps closer to realizing my minimalist dream. That said, if this streamlined plan doesn’t work for my family this month I can always change my plan again!
I’m ready to take back an extra hour from my day, each and every day this month. I’m ready to devote more time to creative endeavors, taking advantage of work opportunities, spending time with my family, and not slaving over a hot stove.
So, that’s what we will be having this week. I’d love to hear what’s on your menu as well!
Here’s to Monday meal plans,
If you are anything like me, then you probably have an inordinate amount of yummy, savory, delicious leftover Saint Patrick’s Day corned beef brisket in your fridge. So with all things corned beef fresh on the mind, I wanted to share with you all my recipe for Reuben-Style Corned Beef Casserole. This recipe features corned beef leftovers, rye bread, sauerkraut, and loads of swiss cheese! This recipe is part deli classic and savory delight. A recipe sure to be one of your new family favorites.
I love to serve this dish after Saint Patrick’s Day alongside a simple salad. It’s so good and so warming during the later days of Winter each year. This will be a recipe you’ll want to keep on-hand as you could easily substitute a myriad of meat options and exchange Russian dressing for your dressing choice as well, making this meal truly customizable. So here’s how to make Reuben-Style Corned Beef Casserole:
Reuben-Style Corned Beef Casserole
2017-03-18 13:05:16
Serves 6
A delicious take on the deli classic, the Reuben, served up casserole style!
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
40 min
Total Time
50 min
Ingredients
- 6 slices rye bread, cubed
- 1 (16 ounce) can sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
- 1 lb deli sliced corned beef, cut into strips
- 3/4 cup Russian salad dressing; French or Thousand Island Dressing can be substituted.
- 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Cube rye bread.
- Spread bread cubes in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- Spread sauerkraut evenly over the bread cubes, then layer beef strips over sauerkraut.
- Pour dressing over the entire casserole.
- Spray aluminum foil with cooking spray, then take the foil and cover your baking dish; the foil that has been sprayed should be placed sprayed side down.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove pan from oven.
- Remove foil and top with cheese, then return the casserole to the oven to brown for an additional 10 minutes.
Notes
- Quick tip: This casserole also freezes well for up to six months. Enjoy!
The LadyPrefers2Save https://theladyprefers2save.com/
Enjoy,
