The one about the hoarder.

Ok, ok... Maybe hoarder would be an extreme term for me.  Maybe pack rat or sentimental fool would fit a little better:)  Whatever you want to call it I tend to have a problem getting rid of things..  It started pretty young because I can find the silliest little things in my jewelry box that I am sure I was given (or found) before I was even a teenager.  Or actually jewelry boxes..Anybody else seem to get a lot of jewelry boxes from aunts as gifts when they were younger??

More recently I do have a somewhat valid reason for holding onto things.  I can't speak for that younger Gracia..  Who knows what she was thinking..  A few years ago one of my best friends passed away in a car accident.  I had a very hard time dealing with her death and soon anything I had of hers was more precious to me than any treasure in the world.  If something even so much reminded me of her I could not get rid of it.  She had drawn me this picture once and I remember it well because we were in my old room at my parents house and I had joked with her that the pattern it made looked like a drawing of a woman's reproductive system (hey I'm weird don't judge).  Well I had that drawing for a very long time but after I married A and was moving out of my apartment I threw it away.  I was so angry with myself after she died.  How could I have thrown something SHE had given me away??  Didn't that mean I didn't care enough for her??  How could I do such a thing?  Looking back I realize that is silly.  Yes she made me that drawing but that drawing wasn't her and throwing away the drawing did not mean I didn't value her.  However grief can make you irrational.

Since losing her I would say my "hoarding" has gotten worse.  I did not realize this however until our recent move from Savannah Georgia back to small town Iowa.  We moved from our home we had lived in for three years.  Up until we had moved into that home we had moved once a year since graduating.  So when we got our shipment of house hold goods to our new home here we had a TON of stuff I had forgotten we even owned.  Sure I could probably give you some sentimental reason for every item but the fact I had forgotten them in the first place tells me something..  It tells me I don't need them.. 

So recently my sister-in-law was telling me about a book she was reading that was written by a minimalist.  She even wrote a blog post about the book so if you want to learn more about the book check out her blog http://www.twosteppinmomma.blogspot.com/.  Well I'm not sure I will read the book because I don't have much desire to be a minimalist but reading her blog and her telling me a bit about the book did help me decide to go through and get rid of some things.  My biggest motivator being that I am not a very organized person.  So I figured if I have less stuff that means less need for organization right???  Well I hope that is the case.  So today I made a goal for myself.  We have six rooms in this house so I decided to get rid of ten things for each room.  So I went through each room and grabbed things that for some reason I had held onto that I knew I no longer needed.  I think I actually ended up getting rid of a lot more than 60 things so yay!  Go me!  I even got rid of my old photography binder from high school which really surprised the husband!   I did pull out the pictures though:)  I decided to call it quits on the decluttering for now.  We will have a garage sale in the spring and I will do another look through of everything when that happens but for now I feel like I made some really good progress.

One of the things I had to keep was this old bottle of beer from my 18th birthday:)  I just couldn't part with it quite yet..  So yes this beer is ten years old..

So tell me are you a pack rat??  Is there anything silly you just can't seem to part with such as my old bottle of beer??

The one about Norwex.

I just recently (last week) signed up to be a Norwex consultant! I also just started using the products as well and can honestly say I love them!  I wouldn't have become a consultant if I hadn't really liked or believed in the products.

Maybe I should explain what Norwex is now that I have told you I sell it..  That sounds logical:)

Norwex has many different products but their main focus is eliminating the use of chemicals in your home by using just high quality microfiber products with only water to clean your home! You also greatly reduce the amount of cleaning products in your home by using Norwex. There is my "sales pitch" ha or I guess their sales pitch.  That is a pretty simple description in my opinion.  They also have different health and beauty products such as make up remover cloths, tooth brushes, face creams and body washes.  To see all of the awesome natural products go ahead and visit my new website www.GraciaAbrahamsen.norwex.biz.  You can also place orders there.  Or if you would rather host a party of your own and get some FREE stuff email me and we can schedule a party!  The host rewards are great you get so many free items it is crazy!  Also if you book in November I am throwing in my own little treat that you will get the same day of your party!  Email me atgracia.abrahamsen@gmail.com.

Yesterday I had my own Norwex launch party to kick off becoming a consultant.  My norwex leader came all the way from Cedar Rapids to host and share our products with my close friends and family.  I supplied some snacks (and sangria..  can't forget the sangria) and she did the rest!  She put on a great show (It will take me a lot of practice to get to that point I'm sure) and everyone seemed to really like the products which I figured they would.  She also had several fun games we played and she even gave out FREE stuff!!  I mean really who doesn't like free stuff??  I love free stuff:)

My favorite product so far would be the mop system.  I don't have a large area of flooring but its decent and I have T baby and O baby who both make quite the collection of crumbs and spills for me to clean up.  As soon as I got the mop system I took it out of the box and used it..  Easy to put together and easy to use.  I used the dry mop pad first and swept up the kitchen and then after running the wet mop pad under just water applied it to the mop base and quickly mopped my kitchen!  So easy!  I also went to town with the enviro cloth on my counters, T baby's table (which was disgusting from all her food), my ottoman, and my own (dirty) table!  It would have seemed as if I had never cleaned them before with how much stuff I got off of them in no time:)  So yes I can most definitely say this stuff cuts down on cleaning time as well!  So yay!  Less time spent cleaning and less money spent on chemicals and paper towels that will just get thrown away.

I haven't used many products yet (my list of wants is huge though) so I will also share the product I am looking forward to trying the most right now.  I think the winner would be the cleaning paste..  It is an environmentally friendly paste that you can use to clean, polish, and protect chrome, stainless steel, aluminum, porcelain and other surfaces.  You just use the Enviro Cloth damp with the paste and it looks like it has some pretty awesome cleaning power.  I will be getting that in my next shipment and I am pretty excited to try it.  I will try to share reviews of different products as I try them or if you look through the products and there is something you want me to try and review let me know in the comments section and I will get it ordered (unless I have already ordered it) and review it here for you!  

The one with the introduction.

Hello, my name is Gracia which is pronounced Grayshuh..  I am not a fan of introductions so I will try to keep this short.  I am a 28 year old stay at home mom to two beautiful babies I will call T Baby and O Baby.  T Baby is my little girl who is just a little over 2 1/2 years old and O baby is my little boy who will be 8 months old tomorrow (wow his first year is flying by).  I decided to stay at home when my daughter was born so going on almost three years now.  Before children I worked as an LPN in a nursing home and I absolutely loved my job!

My husband (who we shall call A which is technically his name haha)  and I both grew up in Iowa.  We met in highschool and have been together for over nine years now and married for six of those years .  We moved to GA shortly after getting married because he joined the army.  So we spent five whole years in Savannah Georgia!  Now after five years in Georgia (six years for A with training) we are back in small town Iowa and we couldn't be happier!  Ok ok we are dreading the winter just a bit;)  We were lucky to find a cute little home to rent here and are trying to settle in.  Did I mention our little home is in the country??  Well it is! It is surrounded by beautiful corn fields (it is Iowa after all) and we have even come home to deer in our yard and A even saw a fox one morning!  There will be more stories of our adventure in the country later I am sure..  I already have one to share in the near future about a spider that is sure to get some laughs:)

I have decided to start this blog to share my different thoughts on many different things in my life.  I love being a mom it is my favorite thing in the world!  My children make me laugh and smile so much even when things are hard.  I'm not a perfect mother and I wont pretend to be one.  My kids (well toddler mostly) sometimes eats McDonalds and sometimes watches way too much Tinkerbell or The Little Mermaid.   I love the idea of natural and sustainable living but I'm also realistic in my personal goals so we just kind of go with the flow of what works for our family.  I love photography and I think I'm pretty good at it but my big fancy camera sometimes sits on the shelf a little too long:).  I used to love to write as well so I am hoping that comes back to me now.  I love funny things and I think I can be pretty funny..   I often tell A I am the funniest person he knows and he agrees with me so I must be right!

Alright well I am going to stop here because I don't want too ramble:)  Maybe I already have haha..  Also O Baby is starting to get hungry so I better go take care of him!

Oh and if anyone caught on by the title of my post yes I am a huge fan of the show Friends!