Stacie's Place

Since December is practically here and Thanksgiving is over, I'm going to stop holding myself back from posting about anything Christmas related.  I love love love this song by JamestheMormon. He's come out with a lot of great songs lately and I'm loving it all! Enjoy this version of Angels We Have Heard On High. Also, I want to talk to you guys about the #LightTheWorld campaign going on - well, soon! It starts tomorrow! Learn more here and let me know what you are going to do to participate. There's a handy calendar with ideas you can do every day and I'll be documenting each day 1 thing I do to help light the world.

How is November almost over?! Just like that! First full month actually living in CA. My thoughts...hmm...it was okay but nothing exciting. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing good to Instagram, Tweet or Snap about. This makes me really sad. I have to create my own fun because there are not really any events to go to, food trucks, friends, etc. I did have a Pinterest party in October that turned out pretty good and I am planning on doing another one in December. I miss things so much. Just things! Local/community/nearby events, a dollar theater that is close, concerts, good Christmas lights, shopping (as always) etc etc.  We'll see how month 2 goes in this town. Glad to be planning on seeing family for Christmas. Can't wait.

It's nice to get back from a trip/vacation and not have to go straight to work. I mean, I did work but not an 8 hr job that I have to get up, get dressed and drive in to work. Poor Tony did have to get up and go in to work but me not having to do that meant I could unpack our bags, do laundry and get settled back in after that long drive home and being gone for 4 days. Don't get me wrong, I do miss working a full time job and am working a little bit right now as well as trying to do things to supplement my income. We can both live okay on Tony's one income but we want to do so much stuff with the house and some of it is more expensive to do (new windows, pouring cement, etc) that if I can get a job it will not take us as long to save for some of these projects as it would just on one income. We'll see what happens! I know my January has 3 trips and I'm not sure it's the best time to start a job with Christmas coming but it will be interesting to see what happen...

The drive to and from Idaho to Ridgecrest is pretty in some parts but mostly very boring and long. Its crazy that we drive through Nevada and Oregon to get to Boise. 4 states in one day! Plus the drive is double the time it took to get from SLC to Boise. Oye! Despite that, the trip was so worth it and we are thinking we will try to get to Boise again, for Christmas. The drive will probably be more sketchy and we'll have to put chains on but I hope we can make it in one piece. Tony has 10 days off between Christmas and New Years. We are planning some fun stuff!

It was amazing to me that I was able to stay up really late and get up early and keep going and going like the energizer bunny without a single sip of an energy drink. Say what?! I only drink energy drinks on roadtrips but not this one and not for shopping either. I'm not sure what happened to me but when I did sleep, it was a good sleep. I'm so grateful Tony and I were healthy and well while we were on vacation and that we didn't get sick or catch a cold. It's a real drag when that happens! Saturday morning started out with going to a craft fair my sister was set up at with her wood creations. I went with my mother in law and we also stopped in at another Dollar Tree (looking for certain Christmas lights) and to a cell phone place to find her a phone. I got to do family pictures and Thanksgiving dinner with Tony's family in the afternoon and hang out with my sister in the evening. We went to Target, Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Tree. We were going to do crafts b...

Oh gosh, I dont know how this thing works I guess - am I allowed to schedule posts or do I have to actually get on and post each and every day? Now its the 29th and I am back dating to the 25th. It's hard to blog when you are traveling and have a different daily schedule. I'll talk to you all about my Black Friday shopping! Are you a BF shopper? I have been for years and years. It all began when one BF my mom got me and my sister up and we went to JoAnn's at 6am. My sister and I kept things going and I remember going to JCP to stand in line and get a little snow globe for being one of the first 50 people in line or whatever the deal was. When I was an LDS missionary in Portland, missing Black Friday was the worst! I was so upset/bummed/sad, especially because we got the ads in the mail and I'd look and see what the best deals were yet was not allowed to go buy anything. P-Day never fell on Black Friday ;-) When I moved back to CA, my family moved to ID a month later an...

Did you know there are 63 minutes of commercials in a football game on TV? Insane! I didn't get to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade :( but I got to spend time with Tony's mom and sister going through Black Friday ads and getting our want/need lists ready. Not sure what time we will start shopping but stores seem to be opening at 4pm this year - on Thanksgiving! I hope to score some good online deals as well. I already have with some websites (thanks to Utah Sweet Savings! ) Grabbing a Go Girl energy drink and getting this party started in a couple hours. Wheeee!

We made it to Nampa, ID for Thanksgiving after 12 hours of driving (11 with the time change I guess). It was pretty uneventful, luckily we saw no jumping deer or car accidents or snow. I can't imagine spending Thanksgiving anywhere else but with family. So grateful to have made it even though I miss the lots shorter drive from SLC! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Is anyone else feeling really tired right now? It's almost 10pm and I am so happy to say I got a lot done today. Especially in the afternoon. Here's what went down.. - got the mail - got 2 loads of laundry done and hung everything up to dry - flattened at least 15 moving boxes - vacuumed some of the rooms in the house - worked on the she-shed for a bit - cleaned up the backyard - started spray painting our screen door and getting it ready to install - took a bunch of pictures of clothes to sell online, got them posted too - did the dishes. Twice. - cleaned up around the birds cage. - put things away that needed to be - finished putting my shoe shelf together - got some work for my job done - got Snapchat updated with the latest happenings with the house - made that sign for my dad on my Cricut (not cut, just designed) - cleaned up the inside of the fridge - organized the snack crate for our trip to Idaho This is why I am so tired now may...

There's a really neat conference I got the opportunity to volunteer at earlier this year in Salt Lake City called the Everything Food Conference.It was the first time this conference had been put on and I thought the creators of it did an amazing job. There were classes, hands on experiences, vendors/booths, giveaways and motivational/keynote speakers. It was really interesting and fun and I'm not even the type of person who likes to cook and bake. When the day was over, I was so super glad I had attended! It was a multi-day conference but I had only been able to volunteer for one day because I had work. Now they are doing a fun Black Friday deal this week - here's what you need to know! 1 person will score their ticket for 75% off - no coupon code needed! The next 3 tickets sold will be 60% off, etc etc. Let me know if you think you'll go or if you have any questions.

I honestly can't believe it's the 20th of the month already. In just a few days we'll be driving to Idaho for Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping. I cant wait! The drive will most likely be a bummer but hopefully we will have enough audiobooks and snacks and energy drinks. I so wish my sister in SLC was coming but she has to work on Black Friday and it doesnt look like they will make it. Checking on the weather and it looks like some places might have snow. Ugh. EVERY time we buy chains cords, and put them in my car, they break. And they do damage to my tires, or have in the past. I dread them. We put them on correctly so I'm really not sure what happens. We don't drive too fast. I wish my car would take chains maybe...those seem better.  Time to start packing and getting stuff done and gathered together to take to Idaho. On the list... 1. Find all my warm/winter clothes + boots 2. Figure out a way to get a table I bought in UT, to ID so I can bring it...

Happy Saturday everyone! Friday was not as productive as I would have liked. I need to ban turning on the TV during the day, esp when it is nice out! I forgot Tony didnt have to go to work  and so we hung out all day and kind of bummed around the house. Chillaxed. While that's fun, and we really dont take the opportunity to do it often, it's not productive! We don't get much done when this kind of thing happens.  Luckily today was better. We started out the day with driving all over town to garage sales. In Utah, I used a garage sale app that links to Craigslist and it was perfect for finding sales in the areas we were in. I looked on the app here and there were tons in Bakersfield but NONE listed for RC. So plan B, look on Facebook at the yardsale pages. There were a few listed but not many. Plan C, just drive and look for signs. That worked a little bit but we were kind of scattered and all over the place. Plan D! Check Swapsheet - it's now an app - but also a pu...

We're still busy working on lots of house projects. So far our current ones for this weekend are to try and track down a headboard for a queen size bed, buy the screws/bolts we need to put the twin beds together (of course we have misplaced the hardware to put the beds together when we took them apart in UT), get the front screen door prepped and ready to install (which means fix a piece of metal on it that is sticking up and spray paint the whole thing black again...there's some rust..), and wipe down the walls I am going to be painting in the she-shed so I can go buy the paint and start that project on Monday. I hope to have it painted and done by the time we leave for Thanksgiving.  Are you working on any house projects?

Life is so different living in the middle of nowhere. I knew it would be but reality is still harsh. We have to plan differently when we go out, when it's a place farther that we want to go. We can't just drive 1 to 2 hours to do 1 thing. We have to plan to do other things in the area to make the drive worth it. Examples...in Salt Lake we loved to go to movie screenings. Any movie theater was 30 min away or less and it was easy to go for a date night. However, here in CA...any movie screening we want to go to so far is 100+ miles away. So we could make a whole day trip out of it but if we dont get there early enough and don't get a seat, then the drive is pointless. But if we are going to make a whole day out of it and do other things in the area as well, not as bad. Snapchat Spectacles are still something I'm after. I am kicking myself hard for not getting them on Day 1 when they were at Venice Beach. I guess I wasn't really paying attention to the actual launc...

Guess what you guys! I just got signed up to work with  Zaycon Fresh and I want to take a moment to fill you in on who they are in case you have never heard of them before. Zaycon sells fresh, never been frozen c hicken pork and beef at affordable prices. We love and having been getting their chicken for the past five years or so and I'm looking forward to trying more of their meats. My  husband is the cook in the house and he has been in charge of canning or freezing in food saver ba gs, all the chicken w hen we get it. It comes in 40 lb boxes and lasts us for a year or more when we order since it's just the two of us. I love knowing that the meat is not pumped full of preservatives a nd we pick it up as fresh as it gets vs going to a grocery store and not knowing for sure how long the chicken has been sitting there. With Zay con , it's farm to truck to me to my table. So easy! I'm excite d to soon be sharing some pictures and maybe recipes too on t...

Some of my days are super productive and others are not. Today, is one of those not as productive as Monday type of days. I'm not sure what happened! I woke up and the house was freezing, I wandered to the computer to get some things done and the next thing I knew, it was noon and Tony was home and I was still in my PJs. Yikes! The afternoon went a bit better because I got dressed and moved some more things around to where they belong. Took a few pictures of clothes and items to sell online and overall it was just a chill relaxed day. Maybe I needed that? Here's to hoping the rest of my week gets busier. I can't handle all the slowness going on right now, especially with my social life. I miss my Utah life!

There was good progress made today around the house! The mornings are so very cold - I can't wait until we can replace some of our windows - and it makes me want to stay in my bed under the covers where it is warm. But today I made myself get up at 8 and I am happy to say I got a ton accomplished.  You might be wondering what I did to keep busy all day? Well, here's a little bit in case you missed it on Snapchat! Did all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, organized and put away clean dishes in the dishwasher, started laundry and did a few loads throughout the day, took boxes out of the garage to the she-shed, emptied at least 10 boxes and flattened them, kept going through clothes in the middle bedroom, hung more stuff on hangers and put it away, took pictures of a few things to sell but need to do more of that, vacuumed, got the trash bin put away, got the mail, hung up a fall wreath, rolled out our big rug in the family room, took things in the house out to the she-shed...

Since we have lived in CA, we have not taken the chance to go to the beach yet. Until yesterday. We decided to go to Santa Monica, I don't remember why but it was a good choice. The weather was perfect, the morning was not too crowded, we had good food to eat and saw lots of interesting things as we walked around downtown a little bit. Parking was a bit crazy to find - hard to find! 2 or 3 hours on the meters or $15 at least to park in a garage. We finally just parked right at the parking lot on the beach and it was only $8 for all day. We stayed until the sun went down to make it worth it. The afternoon was spent in our Tommy Bahama chairs just relaxing in the sun, people watching and listening to the ocean. We have a southern CA Entertainment Book I bought earlier in the year, thinking I'd be in CA by mid-summer. Since that didn't happen, we have had to wait to use it. Of course there are no deals for RC. Luckily the deals expire in Dec instead of Nov 2nd like they h...

I dont know why I let electronics ruin my life when they don't work right, but I do. Heck, I do social media as a job and for my personal life and I can't afford to have things go down and not work right. It is so very upsetting to me when I can't document the things I do and keep track of the places I go. Sorry if you don't understand. #sorrynotsorry I have tried twice to buy Galaxy S6 phones on eBay. Never had a problem buying a used phone before. They had no problems besides some minor scuffing and to me, a case solves that problem. However, with the first phone (which was such a good deal at $199!), the camera did not work right. It was fuzzy, not sharp, and had a water ripple effect on the screen from time to time and I could not take a picture until that went away. I sent that phone back and tried again. Spent a little more, asked the seller if the camera was good, he said yes. I get the phone and the camera is blurry again. Plus the home button did not w...

So today I thought I'd tell you guys about a new opportunity I signed up for at the UT State Fair (of all places!) in September. It's with Mojilife which is a newer company so you may have never heard of them before. But that's okay! They specialize in a fragrance and essential oil device that uses air distribution. This means that there is no wax, water, flame or heat! Crazy, right? It's completely mess free and safe for kids and pets.  It has a sleek design and works well to make your home smell awesome.   Look how cute it is! It comes in white or black plus there are sleeves you can buy to decorate it a little more. Another idea I have done is to cut vinyl with my Cricut to decorate around the outside. I'll have to post some pictures of that!   There are lots of really good scents - the one that turned me on to everything and actually stopping at the booth to talk to the ladies there was called Summertime Serenade. My summer favorite! The sc...