Physical Signs

Work can be a number one stressor.  Especially if the burden falls upon one person as they are the sole provider.  Your body sends out signs telling you that enough is enough and it is time to address those issues.

Your body could be throwing out signs left and right trying to warn you of the harm that work stress is causing you.  These signs include headaches, upset stomach, hormonal imbalances (especially in women), depression, and migraines.  I kept going to work and prior to work I would be fine until I had been there for an hour (seriously just an hour) and I already felt a headache starting.  I didn’t put two and two together at first, but then I had other signs.  I had only been with this job two months and from the get-go I could tell the hormonal changes affecting my body.

Negative Outlook

When your at work are you the debbie-downer?  Nothing that happens at work is satisfying?   The stress that your work is causing could be affecting your outlook on life and your time at work.  You use to have the normal work day blues has now turned in to a daily black cloud when you are there.  I can say I basically went to work, expected that something would go wrong at least a few times during that day in terms of screw ups, and then I go home. Hours later, start the whole process all over again.  That is really taxing on the body and mind

Lack of Performance and Focus

Has your work quality suffered?  Do you just not care how your work turns out?  That could be the pessimistic, and uninterested mind-set you have taken on due to the stress.  When you are stressed your lack of focus and disconnect to your work and quality of work is no longer important.

Social Interactions Start to Suffer

Has your frustration and irritability follow you home?  It is likely that your relationships with those in your household are suffering.  You start to withdraw your self from interacting because you may be suffering with depression and snapping quickly, thus causing problems with those closest to you.

Most people have stressful days at work.  It is inevitable, but if those days stretch out to weeks or months then you should rethink your situation.  It may not be as simple as just quit because well it would be nice if we could just pack up and go the minute we hate something.  To bad that thing call responsibilities exist, but you can try and release some on these work stressors.

Try exercising, or pick up a hobby to help you reset your mind after a horrid day at work.  Yoga, or meditation could reset your body and soul and possibly get you in a better mind set to get you out of your funk.  If that doesn’t work, may really evaluating your situation and getting out of that work atmosphere might be the best solution.  While I don’t advise to just up and leave without a plan.  It might be best to move out and look for a different company.  They may appreciate at you more and in turn your work productivity and mental health will be in a good place.

I am going through the exact thing right now, and let me tell you it is not easy.  I do no I rather have a health mind and body then suffer just to get that paycheck.

 

Orange Witch Hat Ornament 24″ Wreath by Pier 1 Imports

Halloween is just around the corner.  If you have already decorated your house it is time to get a moving.  Check out this Orange Witch Hat & Ornament 24″ Wreath by Pier 1 Imports.  It is a perfect touch to your door when your little treaters come to visit.

Source: Orange Witch Hat & Ornament 24″ Wreath by Pier 1 Imports

 

Greetings Everyone,

I have been so addicted to Goodwill after an impromptu visit a few weeks back.  I went there and received that wonder accent piece that I flipped.  I have been going back to scope out any addition furniture accents.

I am so not opposed to second hand clothes by any means.  I do have my limits.  I don’t think I would buy used shoes just because I am leary about other peoples feet.  I love love love online shopping.  TBH I rarely go to the store anymore unless I have to.  I always thought well I want a cheap deal but not have to go to the store.  That is when I came across Thredup.

It has a lot of name brands for cheap, and they have returns on more things.  I have found so many good deals.  I couldn’t even tell you how much I have spent, but if your like me I hate spending money on shipping.  I don’t know why it irks me so much.  They have good discounts like 15% or 10%, but still I rather get free shipping.

So I thought about it and was like I am sure I can find just as good of clothes at my local Goodwill as I could online.  I’ve been addicted.  I’m sure my boyfriend loves all the clothes I have.  I will have to purge some on my clothes and donate them to Goodwill.

I will have to post all the cute things that I found or even make a video of all the cute clothes I got for $23.00.

 

Xoxo,

Melissa

Check out my instagram page @aubperymarket

 

 

 

DIY Addiction-Flippin Furniture

Good morning fellow Diyers,

I started some new projects.  I flipped a few wood accent tables and I thought I’d show you my finished pieces.

It started when i found a great piece at Goodwill for 1.99.  I decided at that point what do I need.  After many blog readings I needed a good staple piece in my start to flipping furniture.  So I went out and purchased myself a cheap orbital random sander.  (Seems to be the sander of choice for many flippers.) But I wanted to know why.  So after reading articles about the different sanders I understood why.  A random orbital sander gives an even sand and because it is random it won’t give you swirl marks.

Goodwill table

I painted the base with Folkart Paint in Sheepskin and then I broke put the bad boy sander.  I sanded the top to get out the minor scratches and the stain that was already on there.

I put two stains.  First I applied varathane in Kona semi gloss and after I applied that i wiped any excess off and quickly applied varathane in weathered gray.  I was going for a rustic dark top.

I added a polyurethane coating to the whole piece to seal and prevent chipping and staining.

This was the final product.

Rustic Accent Table

Thanks for reading.  Please comment below.

Xoxo,

Mel

 

Desperately Seeking Advice:First Time Home Buyer

Good afternoon Everyone,

I would love advice.  I am a first time home buyer.  I’ve rent for 5 + years now and I am so hesitant to take the huge leap into ownership.

To be honest, I’m not thrilled to stay in the midwest.  Considering my boyfriend is a state employee and well we have no budget, but he doesn’t want to leave the state just yet.

So I am obsessively scouring Trulia, Realtor, and Zillow and they all the same.  Not helpful.  I wish they would list all available homes in the area of interest, but that would just be too good to be true.

My biggest fear is the goal once we move into a house I will be a stay at home mom.  That scares me.  I’ve been working since I was 16 and haven’t any breaks.  Trust me I am not scared of not working because I’ll miss it, but because what if we can afford it.  I don’t come debt free.  Plus, I do like to shop.  Not crazy, but enough.

I’ve previously been in touch with a mortgage company to see what I have to do to prepare.  I don’t want to be uneducated about the process and I am currently in the dark about it.

Please, help.  If you have any advice on what to do, what not to do that would be great.  I’d appreciate any advice I can get. Or if you could give me advice on working mommy’s turned stay at home.  How did you feel, do you regret?

Xoxo,

Mel

Mod Podge as Photo Transfer Medium

Good afternoon Everyone,

Finally, some warm consistent weather.  About time here in the windy city.  I’ve been on this vintage kick.  I am obsessed with French country, metal distressed tin, greenery, and wood decor.

Lately I have been working on a few projects related to that.  I am currently working on coasters and mod podge.  I am truly in love with mod podge, which I had heard about before and never really knew what it was.  When I thought of mod podge I would think of newspaper strips and a model of some type.  Don’t ask me why.

Now that i have gotten my hands on it.  WOOHOOO!!  It truly has so many different purposes: Sealer, transfer, and glue.

My project that I started yesterday was coasters.  I bought these inexpensive Travertine tiles from home depot.  Super cute, easy to paint, and the pack only cost me about $4.50.

I printed out images that I found on Google using a inkjet printer.  I made sure that I did an advanced search in case I decided to sell these I wouldn’t be breaking any licensing laws.  To do this you go to the advance search, and then change the usage rights to free to use, share, even commercially.  If you are just using for personal use, I am sure any image is fine.

I am going to be selling mine on etsy.  My first tiles I feel were fails.  Let me tell you what I feel I went wrong.  I brushed the mod podge onto the tile and a light amount of the front of the photo.  I placed the picture (photo face down onto the tile) white paper should be facing up.

I let sit for several hours giving it enough time to cure.  Best bet is to let sit for 24 hours.  Two places I feel I went wrong: 1. I didn’t put enough mod podge on the tile. 2. When it’s time to rub the paper off I didn’t soak in water long enough.

Once you let it cure you run the tile under water or soak in water. What I found worked is let it run under water and start rubbing off paper after a couple minutes.  This will help from the image peeling off.

I used travertine tiles because I liked the vintage textured look that I was going for, but it also hash even spots that made the image peel.  Honestly, I feel it gives it character.

This is what it looks like when you start rubbing in circles to remove the paper.  After you remove all the paper add a layer of matte or gloss mod podge to seal.  I will add mod podge dishwasher to help waterproof the coaster.

If you’d like a video tutorial please let me know! Any comments or questions are encouraged.

Xoxo,

Mel

Winter ONEderland Party

So after many views through Pinterest for a theme for my one year old’s birthday party I thought Winter Onederland would be clever and cute.  I wanted something to go with the winter scenery and she is turning one so a nice play on words.

I wanted to design on a dime, since her birthday is shortly after Christmas and finances are always tight right after.  Many of the decorations I did on my own.  Making paper snowflakes, banner out of cardstock, etc.  Other ideas I had were inexpensive such as her tutu, the highchair banner, and made and frosted my own cupcakes.

I found out that I am not creative at all when it comes to frosting cupcakes.  I practice with the fancy tips and I am just too heavy handed.  Although, my boyfriend did a great job for his first time.  So I designated him cupcake froster, which he wasn’t thrilled about.

 This is a picture of the decorations.  I hung streamers from the ceiling. Super easy to do.  The birthday banner was made from cardstock, thick glitter gold wrapping paper, yarn, and tiny clothes pins.  Balloons I ordered from Party City and Amazon.  Apparently Party City removes there inventory asap.  So when I went there on January 10th, all their winter and New Year’s snowflake balloons were already gone.  Note: Party City does not have most of the balloons they show online.

I would say with food and decorations the party cost approximately between $100-125.

 This was Aubrey’s smash cake.  Which she never smashed because she was afraid to touch it, probably because of all the people watching her.  I had my friend make the cake.   If you can see she is wearing the tutu that I made her.  Super easy to make!!

Love to hear comments or ask me questions.

XOXO

Mel

Baby’s First Fever

The dreaded first cough.  Maybe it was just one cough.  Maybe it’s nothing.  You come back from work and snots running down from the nostrils.  Nope it’s not nothing.  Your baby has a full-fledged cold.

It is every mom’s panic when their baby has their first fever.  All these thoughts go through you on all the possibilities of complications.  This wasn’t her first cold, but was her first fever.  It started this past Friday with coughing and as the day progressed she got worse.  She had a runny nose, phlegmy cough, and she felt warm.  I gave her Tylenol to help because at that time her temperature is 99.8.  Which at 11 months old they say not to worry.  Yeah okay.

She wasn’t real fussy or anything, but she did want to sleep with me.  Which I am adamant about keeping a pretty consistent sleep regiment.  She isn’t a great napper but for the most part lays down about 7:00 and sleeps through the whole night with one bottle during. Back to topic..

She didn’t want to lay down in her own bed so I caved and let her sleep in mine.  Plus because she was so warm I wanted to be able to keep an eye on it.  When she woke up for a nap  she seemed to be a little better.

It was the holiday weekend so my pediatrician was not in.  I wasn’t too concerned and after reading online I knew there wasn’t much I could do for a cold besides humidifier and put her in steam-filled bathroom.   It is just so hard to heard your baby coughing and it sounds like they could choke.

On Tuesday when the pediatrician opened up I just called on the off chance that just maybe I could give her some kind of decongestant.  Plus, she was wheezing and I didn’t know if that could be cause for concern.  I didn’t want it to turn into something worse like pneumonia (again I am sure I am over-reacting), but I rather air on the side of caution then have a lot of what if’s.

They asked if I thought she had an ear infection, which I didn’t.  Although she did keep touching her ear before she got sick.  I told the nurse, “Well how do I know if she is just touching her ear, or if it bothers her?”  She isn’t acting fussy, and considering she was under the weather she was actually pretty happy and energetic.  They recommended I bring her in anyway just to take a peek.

Now what I have since learned is that your baby loves to share.  They hand you their toys, they want to share their food, and most of all they love giving you their germs.  Now my baby doesn’t usually give me tons of kisses.  But best believe the minute she was sick she was trying to kiss me.  At the time all her coughing and snots didn’t matter because I just wanted to comfort her.  And then I caught it, her cold.

Turns out she didn’t have an ear infection and her lungs sounded fine.  The advice was just about the same as what I read online.  Thank you Google.

This won’t be her last cold or her last fever, and it is not even over yet.  But, I made it through this one fairly sane.  Please comment below!

http://www.babycenter.com/0_fever-in-babies-7-things-you-might-not-know_10373598.bc

XOXO,

Mel

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