Monthly Mayhem: The Greenwood's Tenth Month

Ten months, guys. TEN MONTHS. We are only two, count them.... one... two... months away from one whole year! That is beyond crazy to me. 

We don't have  a whole lot to share this month. Things have been going well for us and we couldn't be more grateful. 

The main thing that happened this March was that we finally received our sectional! And its a beauty. Oddly enough, it was actually cheaper for us to buy it at a discount store online and have it delivered than it was to buy it at outlet stores here. Besides, once we saw this one our hearts were kind of set on it. 

Obviously, this big hunk of furniture required a new set up! I love it, even though it makes our living room feel a little smaller, its more sectioned off now so our mini "office" area is actually separate from our living room. I don't have pictures of that but you should be able to catch my drift. 


We also bought and set up a Patio set for our screened in porch! :) That may or may not have actually happened in February and I forgot to tell you. But yes! Pictures soon. One of the chair legs was broken and we have to get a replacement. When that happens you can be sure there will be pictures! 

March was super stormy. Though luckily, just with the weather and not with our personal lives! But seriously, snow after the official first day of Spring? No thank you! Though, knock on wood, I think the weather has finally decided that its spring. Hooray! 


Other than that...

I've been continuing to work on my knitting. (Keep your eye out for a post soon!) 

John's been really taking the "Let Your Husband Play Video Games" seriously and playing League of Legends quite a bit... somehow it's relaxing? 

We continued to have swell jobs. 

and... we've both been hitting the books. Today is actually John's midterms! Good luck to him! I don't have any midterms this session (lucky me, I know!).


I promise to get better at these.... and take more pictures! Perhaps a monthly collage? 

Also, let me know what you would like to see in future posts, not just Monthly Mayhems! I'd like to post more than just "The Perfect Music For..." and "High Five for Fridays" on a regular basis as those are kind of fillers. But they are just so much fun! My goal is to make this an enjoyable experience for you and me, and to consistently improve! I'd love your feedback. 

Monthly Mayhem: The Greenwood's Seventh Month!

Hello all! 

I know this is a little late but hey, better late than never. 

Here's to the month of December being over! 

It wasn't a bad one per-sey but I personally just did a lot of silly things that were totally preventable had I been paying attention. 

Alas, we had some great times in December.

-We were out of school

-We decorated for Christmas

-We made Christmas cookies to share

- We found a really great show called The Breakout Kings on Netflix

-We got to see both of our families for Christmas

- We got a bunch of great Christmas presents (thanks, everyone!)

-But the biggest thing that happened, we got a kitty cat named Winter Beckett! She is the cutest little thing ever and we are so happy to have her! She is a European Burmese. 

View other Monthly Mayhem's here.

Mrs. Greenwood

Columbia Couponer: Coupon Organization

As a newlywed, I have come to notice the fierce need for coupons.

I tried out an app called ibotta which pays you for the things you buy but... I didn't really like it. I mean, you had to get specific brands which ended up costing about the same amount you would save if you went with a cheaper brand... with the stuff we needed that they offered, anyway.

My problem up until now was 1. No Printer and 2. No Sunday Paper.

Now, we have both! Horray!

I thought that I would take you along my journey as I learn to be a fierce couponer! 

This morning, I cut out a bunch of clippings from the Sunday insert of the newspaper and I realized... I have no idea how to sort these!

So, naturally, I looked up some ideas on pinterest and I found one that really appealed to me. 

It was a Coupon Database/Envelope system which I will link here.

Essentially, its a system where you use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of your coupons. He created different categories and even a formula so that when you enter the expiration date of the coupon, it will tell you which week it is. Why is that important? Well, because that is how you set up your envelopes!

Have an envelope for each week, and then when that week is over, you can just toss the envelope. Easy-Peasy! 

This really appealed to me because I love Excel spreadsheets. I just feel so efficient and organized when I use them! And because I didn't want a humongous binder (yet), and I didn't want to have to by a mini accordion style folder. Here is what mine looks like:

The only problem that I came into was that the free download of the excel spreadsheet (can you say time saver?!) was made in 2012 so the "formula" for the automatic filling in of the weeks stopped in early February of 2014.  So, I manually filled in February through June, and I'll do more later. But that's not really a big deal, just time consuming. 

I think eventually, I may want a more sophisticated system like this from Handmade By Hilani:

But for now, I think this is going to work well for me. It will just require a little bit more planning on my part before I go to the store since I don't have room for a ton of envelopes in my purse. (My purse is tiny, but I love it.). 

Soon, I'll also be starting a knitting journey series! Can't wait ;) 

Monthly Mayhem: The Greenwood's Six Month!

Hello lovely people!

I'm am so excited that I can officially say that John and I have been married now for SIX MONTHS! That's crazy! And I grow more and more in love with him everyday (even if he drives me crazy sometimes ;) ) 

- Convinced John to watch Sherlock and we both love it! Why are there only six episodes?! We need more!!!

- I am no longer a stay at home Wifey! I was able to snag a job at a book distributor! Woohoo! That was definitely a blessing.

- We may or may not have gotten a super awesome deal on a tv. (Gotta love open box specials!!)

- We made it through midterms!

- I started learning how to knit, thanks to my good friend Biz.

- We saw Catching Fire the day it came out. See my review here.

- We registered for classes next semester and figured out how long it will take for us to graduate! (I should be able to graduate by summer 2015! :) ) 

- We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house! (Our first Thanksgiving together and our first Thanksgiving in the new house!)

- John totally kicked butt at Beyond Balderdash! 

- We stood in line at Best Buy on Thanksgiving night to get a super awesome deal on a printer, and while we were there we got an awesome deal on a desktop computer! It was hectic but we made the employee's day by being happy and positive!

In line outside Best Buy! 

- We did some more Black Friday shopping the next day.

- Had a very nice time relaxing and getting to spend time together

Can't wait for next month. I'm most excited about putting up our Christmas tree and giving John his Christmas presents! :)

P.S. I really need to start taking more pictures. I'm thinking a picture collage to showcase each month sounds like a great idea :) 

Monthly Mayhem: The Greenwood's Fifth Month!

Hello all!

I know I am a tad late on getting this up but hey, better late than never, right? 

So, without further ado...

So, we have officially made it past the 5 month mark! Woo! 

So, what's been happening in the month of October? It was a crazy month!

~ We continued going to school

~We enjoyed October's General Conference 

~We packed, and packed and packed

~We enjoyed some quiet time with the return of some of our favorite shows

~I had an emotional breakdown during the Cory Monteith/Finn Tribute episode of Glee.

~We MOVED into our very own house!!!!!!

~Decided not to move cable over to our new house

~Had some issues getting internet services transferred to our new house... 

~We unpacked, and unpacked and unpacked

~ We made quite an extensive Black Friday shopping list! (yikes!)

~ My temporary work position ended (sadface)

~We got internet back! Yay!

~ I started looking for new job

~We dressed up for a Halloween party at our church

~ We handed out candy to trick-or-treater's

So, its been quite a busy month! But here's to many more wonderful months together. We may drive each other crazy sometimes but, in the end, we love each other more than anything, and that's what counts. 

I can't wait to see what month 6 brings! It being our first 6 month mark in November, we should celebrate, right? ;) 

Now, I have a question for you! Do you like these posts in list form or story form better? Leave your answers in the comments below!

High Five for Friday 1.0

Hello All!

I know its been awhile... I may even have missed a Monthly Mayhem, my apologies!

But, I am getting back on track! 

As a was looking through my blogroll  and I came across one of my friends weekly posts, "High Five for Friday" which originally came from this blog. 

I think its a pretty flipping awesome idea. 

Basically, on Fridays, you round up 5 great things about your week.

I think this is a great way to stay grateful and positive throughout the week. 

So, without further ado, here is this weeks High Five for Friday

1. We closed on our home! It is very cute and a lovely starter home for John and I. Expect more pictures and decor type posts coming up in your near future!

2.  Finding out I got a 4.0 my first evening campus session at Columbia College!

3.  Talks with mi madre.

4. Catching up on all of our shows with my hubby. 

5. This is kind of cheating because it technically hasn't happened yet but, my best girl friend is coming up to help us move tomorrow and I'm very excited!

Monthly Mayhem: The Greenwood's Third Month

Hello there!

It is the last Thursday of the month... can you guess what that means?

Yep! Our monthly update!

This month was fairly non-stressful... until the last two weeks that is!

On August 19th, John and I both started our evening classes at Columbia College. It's only two classes but, they are about 2-2.5 hours each, 2 nights a week. (We even have a class together!)

That plus a 40 hour work week makes for some tired Greenwoods.

And then, John received some news from the company that we work for...

his department has to go through additional training/testing so that they can continue to receive bonuses.

This basically means that he gets to study and take a webinar at work, study at home, and go to school.

Fun stuff right?

There is one positive thing about it though: He is temporarily in my building! 

I know that it wouldn't really work in the long run, but since it is only for two weeks, I like that he can pop up and see me for a moment or two. It brightens my day!

Our plans to get a house by mid-October are going very well! I don't want to go to much into it though because I don't want to jinx it! 

We've been kind of boring lately because we've been so busy with school and work...

or just too tired to do much of anything else.

It's not that we're anti-social, we promise!

The People Pleasing Monster

This is going to sound incredibly simplistic but, do what is right for you/your relationship. 

Why am I saying this? Well, I've recently had some married/divorced friends tell me 'You shouldn't feel that way yet' or 'Your doing that already?.' I know that they are half kidding/mean well but, its really been eating away at me. I know I'm being sensitive but, this is my marriage, not yours. 

Its really gotten me thinking... 

John and I need to do the things that are right for us, when they are right for us. We can listen to other people's advice and take it into consideration but ultimately, it is what we feel is best (after careful consideration and prayer, of course).

And of course, most of us know that. But, its the actual doing it part that's hard (at least for me, not so much for my husband). I've spent my whole life doing what other people told me was the right thing [Note: That did keep me out of trouble, and I am incredibly grateful that I listened to my parents guidance growing up] that I don't have a lot of experience in completely defying what other people advise me to do because I feel something else is right. I'm not sure if I'm making any sense to anybody but myself.

I guess what it ultimately comes down to is my intense desire to please people. I'm a people please-er and honestly, I need to get over that. Not that there is anything wrong with being a people please-er or wanting to please but, for me, it can sometimes inhibit the things that I really want to do or that I know is right. Ultimately for me, I need to please God. That should be my main goal. And I can't let my people pleasing tendencies get in the way of that. I've got to stick to my guns, so to speak, and not feel so bad when I do. 

So, that's my goal. Its going to take a little while but that's okay. I have to take it day by day.

I have a lot of self-improvement to do.

Thats life. 

We should always be striving to be better, to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. 

If your still with me, thanks for reading, and I hope you pulled a little advice from this. 

From those of you skimming, my advice is: 

Do what is right for you and your relationship.

Don't let your people pleasing ways get in the way of God's will for you.

Strive to be better each day.