Episode 21: 10 Things I'm Loving Right Now

Hey guys! Welcome back to the Elevate Motherhood Podcast. Thank you so much for being here! Today’s episode is something new I haven’t done before. But I always LOVE when the podcasts that I listen to do this type of episode so, I thought I would do one too! So, here it is! 10 Things I’m Loving Right Now. Some of these are THINGS, some of these are not things. Hopefully it will be interesting to you.  

Before we start, I want to let you guys know officially that something new and fun is headed to Elevate Motherhood! I have been working super hard on something for a long time and it’s almost ready to share! The first people who get to know this fun surprise will be the people on my email list! So if you want to join my email list and receive an email as soon as I can announce the big news, head to courtneylundeen.com/email and I will include that link in the show notes for this episode!

So! Here we go for this episode! 10 things I’m loving right now!

#1: The Defined Dish Cookbook

The first one I have mentioned on my Instagram several times but I don’t thiiiink I’ve mentioned it on the podcast. My favorite cookbook! So the disclaimer here is I am not a big chef. My husband is actually the chef in the family, loves cooking, is super good at cooking, so it was kind of an adjustment to my expectations when we got married but we got into a great rhythm where I would like do the grocery shopping, make sure we had all the staples, but he would actually DO most of the cooking. I don’t exactly know how to explain it I was sort of in charge of cooking but he would sweep in and DO the cooking. Just mentioning this in case anyone else is at the beginning of their marriage or even several years into their marriage, but maybe something is like not fully aligned with their expectations. But something hopefully you have learned from me on this podcast is just to seek out the times you can let something be easy and get out of your own way? Subscribing to rules that aren’t really rules. That was one of those times for me. Once I figured out what worked for US and how we could best support each other in that area, it just felt easy! And so good!  So ANYWAY. Now my husband is in dental school full time and I’ve been all the sudden year 7 of marriage trying to do more of the cooking! We try to eat pretty clean which is sometimes actually harder for me because a lot of times healthy meals don’t really have recipes, they are just like meats and veggies that people who are good at cooking just know what to do with these ingredients without a recipe. And I’m not really one of those people. So enter the Defined Dish Cookbook. I’m telling you this is THE COOKBOOK that I use 99% of the time. I mentioned this on the decision fatigue episode. The internet is great for a lot of things but for me, and cooking meals, the internet has too many options. I just look in this one cookbook or use recipes my friends have sent me.  And I have posted about the Defined Dish Cookbook on Instagram and SO many of you responded and also said you love it!! That made me feel so happy! The author? Chef? Is Alex Snodgrass and I feel like she just nails the perfect combination of easy and healthy and delicious. It is step by step detailed enough for someone like me without really a natural knack for cooking to follow and it always turns out great! After mentioning it on Instagram several of you told me to get her newer cookbook too (The Comfortable Kitchen) and I did and I’ve only made 2 things in it so far but we are 2 for 2 on loving this new one also! So if you’re in the market for a go-to cookbook, definitely check her out!

#2: Organic Sheets

Number 2 on this list of things I’m loving right now is a specific set of organic sheets I got for Christmas LAST year. So we have had them a year and a half. And I literally always think- these are the best sheets. I have admitted to you guys that I am an over-researcher and I just like really think too much about every little thing. But I really wanted organic sheets that are soft and comfortable and didn’t cost a million dollars and I found them! And since I’ve had them this long and still think they are great I figured they are worth telling you guys about!

They are called Bampure Bamboo Sheets. And it says 100% organic certified bamboo, oeko-tex approved. They are $100 on amazon at the time I’m recording this and there is also an automatic 20% off coupon on Amazon that you can just click to apply and I’ve seen that coupon a few times so hopefully whenever YOU’RE listening to it you’ll get that deal too! There’s a few colors, they are deep enough for our mattress which isn’t necessarily a DEEP mattress but I have had some sheets that didn’t seem deep enough. And there is also a large elastic that goes under each corner of the bed to hold the sheets down and it works better than other ones I’ve tried too! So that’s literally all I know about sheets can’t think of anything else to say about sheets but if you’re in the market for organic sheets hopefully you’ll like these too! I’ll link them in the show notes!

#3: Fruit of the Spirit Song 

Number 3 on the list of things I’m loving right now is the Fruit of the Spirit song by Uncle Charlie. My kids and I have been listening to this song on their Spotify playlist forever now and we all love it! It is kind of a funny song, it says like the fruit of the spirit’s not a coconut, lemon, stuff like that. My kids laugh at it. But mainly it has really helped us learn the fruit of the spirit! I will admit there were times I could not recite the fruit of the spirit and literally because of this song I will never NOT know the fruit of the spirit ever again. I think this song is imprinted in my brain because my kids have listened to it so much! They learned this song at their mother’s day out school that they go to. So anyway. If you have Spotify I know it’s there and otherwise I’m sure you can find it online – the Fruit of the Spirit by Uncle Charlie.

#4: iPhone Shared Calendar

Number 4 thing I’m loving right now is the shared calendar! I have mentioned this in episode 7 use your phone to streamline your life. My husband an I geek out about how much we love this shared calendar. When we are around other couples who don’t use one or don’t know what we are talking about we are like REALLY? HOW? YOU NEED TO GET ONE! It just helps us so much to stay on the same page!! Basically its just on our iPhone’s main calendar, that’s our calendar we use for everything. And when either one of us add something to our shared calendar, it’s updated in real time and both of can always see the same calendar. You can also have non-shared calendars if you already use your calendar for work or whatever, you can just add another calendar to that app and you can choose to view multiple calendars at the same time or you can deselect one or whatever. We have a secondary shared calendar with my husband’s school schedule, I don’t normally have that one selected to view but every once in a while if I’m wondering like when does he get out of class on Tuesdays, I can just look at that calendar. We also have a shared calendar with my mother in law because she helps us with our kids often and once we ask her and she agrees to watch them at a particular time we put it on the calendar so we can all know we confirmed that date and time. Anyway, it is just so helpful! You know when you’re trying to make plans and I feel like before we had the shared calendar we were just like okay let me ask my husband or wife before making plans because we never really remembered what was going on all the time and now we can just like see if a date is available or not. We still ask each other like to be polite and stay on the same page and everything but it is just a huge head-start to always be able to see what’s on our calendar! So, try it if you haven’t yet! I do walk through more details on episode 7 so check that out if you need more guidance on how to do it!

 #5: Kids Sports

The 5^th thing I’m loving right now is my kids being in sports. I just really really love motherhood as you guys know by now and I honestly thought as a mom I’d be more in the camp of don’t be too busy just stay home and let them play outside. And I really AM in that camp, but my kids are doing some sports now and we all really love it. Way more than I thought I would. My kids aren’t in school full time yet so maybe that’s why I still feel like we have PLENTY of time at home and are home A LOT. And we love being home. But we also are really enjoying sports! My son is playing soccer right now and I have met some really amazing moms who are my friends now and that in itself has been one of my biggest unexpected blessings. I really cherish these mom friends and it’s really all because I signed my kid up for soccer. There have been other siblings we have gotten to know as friends for my daughter too, and it has really just been a positive experience! My daughter is doing dance and gymnastics right now which sounds like a lot for a 2 year old but the gymnastics is while my son is at school because he goes to school more days than her so it doesn’t even tie up any of our family evening time. And her dance happens right after school so it’s before dinner too. So it’s not like we are giving up more than 1 evening a week to kids sports which I recognize is a blessing to be able to do these things during the day with her. I really do think it has taught my kids to be brave, try new things, be physically active, be social, so many positives. So anyway, if anyone is like me and was kind of scared to dip into kids sports, I just want to say, maybe you will really enjoy it. My family growing up was really into our sports and that’s where we met a lot of our own friends and family friends so I’ll speak from even as the kid, it’s fun! It’s probably like anything in life, it is what you make it, but hopefully you can do something your kid enjoys and keep it fun and hopefully the whole family will think it’s fun. You never know where you’ll run into some unexpected blessings! So I’m just thankful right now for mine! In the form of kids sports!

#6: Safer Home Indoor Fly Trap

Number 6th thing I’m loving right now is called a Safer Home Bug catcher. It seems kind of weird to talk about bugs on the podcast and I really don't like it already. BUT this product is so good so hear me out. I saw an Instagram ad for it and they told me to go to Home Depot to get it and it must have been a really convincing ad because I didn’t even check amazon like I do 50x per day I literally drove to Home Depot!! I never even go to that store! I have found it on amazon now so you guys don’t have to go to home depot!!! Unless you want to of course. But this thing plugs into an electrical outlet and it’s a little sticky piece of paper and a little blue LED light and it attracts and kills bugs like flies and fruit flies and moths and all of those bugs we don’t want flying around our homes! I love that it’s chemical free and even if a kid touched it I don’t think it would hurt them because it's just sticky but not like going to make their hand stuck to it or anything. And it just plugs into an outlet. I have mine in a kitchen outlet where my kids can’t really reach it anyway. But it works surprisingly really really well! We love to leave our door open because my kids play outside a lot and I just do not want bugs flying around my house!  So anyway I’m sorry if you are a bug lover I know this is kind of a downer thing but it has really been great for my home! I have had mine for probably at least 6 months and it is still going strong!

#7: Primal Kitchen Ketchup

The 7^th thing I’m loving right now is Primal Kitchen brand ketchup. I am really in the habit of reading ingredients as I grocery shop and I just haven’t found a ketchup that compares to this one. It has absolutely NO added sugar and no high fructose corn syrup, which those are things I really try to avoid, and this ketchup tastes so good. It is really the only kind we have bought for a few years now. I know it is a few dollars more. The hard thing about this list is that some of these things I’m loving right now are THINGS. And THINGS cost money, and everyone has different opinions on how they want to spend their money. So if you’re looking for the cheapest ketchup this isn’t it. But if you are able to spend a couple extra dollars and want the best ingredients in my opinion- this is it. You can buy it at Target it comes in a glass bottle or we also buy it directly from their website because you can get a bigger plastic squeeze bottle and the price is a little better! 

#8: Food delivery- Instacart 

The next thing, number 8 on my list is food delivery and Instacart. It’s funny how much I’ve talked about food here and sometimes even on Instagram I have thought that before. But I think BECAUSE food isn’t in my natural talent wheelhouse, when I find something that works I just feel so happy about that. Okay so I want to convince you for a second that your time is valuable. If you work, or if someone in your family works, if you earn money with your time, your time is valuable. And even if not, your time with your family is valuable, all of that. Time is the resource which is always just flying by. Saving time is a convenience, a luxury. If you can do anything to save yourself time, that is amazing, you are lucky, you are blessed. If you drive yourself instead of walking, you are paying for the convenience of getting there faster. If you go to a restaurant and pay someone else to make your food, you are paying for that convenience of not having to make that food yourself. SO before you write off grocery delivery as a convenience for only super fancy people, hear me out. Divide the price of the service by how many times per year you go to the grocery store. It will probably be a couple of dollars. Would you want to save that amount of dollars each time for someone else to bring you your groceries? Yes, you do tip, yes there are sometimes service fees, and yes SOME but not all grocery stores have different prices online than in stores. But I would encourage you to just do the math and decide for yourself if it’s worth it before you write it off. Grocery delivery for me also saves me the money spent on impulse buys when I’m at the stores. If you’re not there and you don’t see that cute throw pillow at Target, you don’t buy it. You don’t see those snacks when you’re hungry and walking through the isles, you don’t buy it. I also can look at my pantry AS I’m making my list so I don’t get to the store and buy another package of almond flour because I can’t remember if we had any or not, I know yes or no whether I need to buy each ingredient on my list. Some stores like Target it’s free drive-up online ordering even if you don’t have Instacart or Shipt you can buy groceries online and then drive up and they will bring them to your car for FREE. Also on Instacart I get random discounts pretty regularly. Sometimes it’ll be $20 off your next Costco order. Or something huge like that. I obviously can’t guarantee that will happen for you but I do want to say grocery delivery has been a huge blessing! And totally worth the price. Also, you could ask for the yearly membership for your birthday or Christmas or something like that too if you just can’t justify the price. Instacart was a Christmas present to me last year and now I’m so sold that even if it wasn’t a gift I would still pay for the yearly membership. You can also think of it as paying for a personal assistant, but you’re only paying them one time a week or however often you get groceries, and you’re only paying them to get your groceries. But what a blessing! If you can afford to swing it, consider yourself so blessed and just really be thankful for the convenience of it. If you are really considering it because of this episode, I’d love for you to use my referral code, you I think $30 off, and I get $10 off once when you make your first order! So that would just be kind if you used my code I’d be so thankful! Here's my code for $30 off: CLUNDEEN1F21EC 

#9: Paper Books

The 9th thing I’m loving right now is real, paper-in-my-hand books. I am SUCH a fan of online library books. I have talked about it on the podcast before. If you haven’t heard me say it, get the Libby app, join your local library, and enjoy ebooks and audiobooks for FREE! It’s amazing. But I have this bad habit of reading really fast and starting and stopping books pretty frequently. And sometimes I can’t even remember which book I read or where I learned something. It’s like I have 50 tabs open in my mind at all times and 10 of them are in the form of an audiobook. So this year for 2023 I have tried to read more real paper books, and I really love it! It does help me focus on one thing at a time and better remember the things I’ve read. So. This is a 2 part 10^th thing I guess, audio/ebooks and paper books.

#10 Public Library

The 10^th thing is very related to the 9^th thing, but #10 thing I’m loving right now is the local public library. And this one is related to my kids. It’s been like one week of summer so far for us and I’m just looking for ideas for activities for us this summer and this one was such a hit! At our library, there were toys like a play kitchen and dinosaurs, coloring table, little kid computers with headphones and games, it was actually fun WHILE we were at the library. But also the taking books home part is so fun too! I have always loved reading to my kids but we eventually get tired of the same books or I felt like I was spending a lot of money buying books, and you guys know me by now knowing I don’t keep every book we have ever bought so it was just a lot of money spent and books being donated. Which is great, but, the library has been such a perfect solution! There was a sign in our library that said “1,000 books before kindergarten challenge” and I signed my kids up and they got a little page with numbers to cross off every time they read a book and they were so excited to come home and read so many books and cross off the numbers to complete the challenge. The librarian said for every 100 books they get a big sticker to put on a separate page and once you get 10 stickers which would be 1,000 books you get a little tote bag or something. The challenge part of it has been so fun for us already and I love having such a larger variety of books to read to my kids and it’s all completely free! So, I hope this encourages you to go to your local library!

And that’s all I’ve got this week for you guys!!! Thanks always for listening!

Before we go I’d love to say a little prayer and blessing for you guys.

Dear Lord, Thank you for every single person listening. Thank you for their intention to be a good mom, to reflect YOU to their families and children and communities. Please surround them with favor, give them supernatural joy and patience as they raise their precious children. Give us wisdom, and help us keep our priorities straight. Let all we do be for your glory, Amen.

Thank you so much for being here friends. Until next time, let’s Elevate Motherhood!

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