A Little Country Heart in the City

What a crazy life it has been since December when I last wrote! School came crashing from all sides and demanding my attention so I had turn all my focus on school work and on keeping my sanity. ;) Finally the moment that all college students love has come...Summer Break! I had summer classes that JUST finished and I am happy to report that I passed all the classes. I have so much to share and I am wanting to put sometime in on this blog on my relaxing summer break to catch you up on the exciting times of my life. =) First, I wanted to post about my splendid project that I embarked on this week that was accomplished in an afternoon. I know aren't those the best?! The ones that take a minuscule amount of time yet looks like you took a great amount of time and effort. =) I discovered this grand idea on Pinterest and so I just had to try it! My sister had told me that I had two tomato plants waiting for me at home, so there really wasn't a better time then the present to get crafty....and so the adventure began...

A little color to brighten your day.

To begin I bought a plastic tub, took it home, drilled (1/2") holes in the base of it and then proceeded to pick up small rocks to place along the bottom of the tub. The lid of the tub acts as the base of the tub. It is like the water catcher of a potting pot. =P

Then I went to my trusty Walmart and purchased potting mix and a small shovel. It was quite the exhilarating feeling that I had as I carried that large bag outside to my truck.....yes the country girl has dirt. :D

Supplies

 

 

After the rocks were carefully arranged, I poured in dirt till the tub was half full, placed the two tomato plants in the tub and covered them with more potting mix "dirt".

 

 

 

I felt like a true gardener with my lovely tomato plants sitting in the tub! Yes you can take the girl out of the country but you sure can't take the country out of the girl. We've just got to have those garden fresh tomatoes! :D

 

 

The totally finished product!



Photo-a-Day Challange

Day 5: Holiday Movie

 

FROZEN my new all time favorite movie for the seasons next to It's a Wonderful Life.



December Photo-a-day Challange

   So I've decided to take a photo-a-day challenge that I randomly discovered on Pinterest to spice up the month of December. I will probably change a few around as I may find it easier to get a picture on another day then the one specified. I was going to upload the first three pictures until I discovered that over Thanksgiving break I had forgotten my power cord at home and am now patiently waiting for it to arrive. Thankfully my roommate is kind and is lending me the usage of her laptop for my use and so here I sit after a full day of clinical to share my pictures and happy moments with the world. That is actually a very fascinating thought. =)

 Day 1: Your View Today

 

Day 2: Shopping

It's serious business to get a Christmas tree and very hard to agree on one. =)

 

Day Three: The Color Red

 

Day Four: Joyous

 

 

I decided to put the term joyous into doing something crazy like convincing your roommate to wear Santa hats while shopping for a Christmas tree in Hobby just for the fun of making memories.

    I will do my utmost to keep the pictures up to date amidst finishing the last weeks of school. It will be amazing to have a grand and amazing Christmas break.
     

       ~Laura Arminta

Keeping Tradition Alive

      Growing up, Thanksgiving was by far my favorite holiday and the one thing that I always remember doing was what we called the Thankful Tree. Mom would draw a tree on poster board and we would cut out leaves out of construction paper and every day through the month of November we would write things we were thankful on the leaves. As time progressed the tree began to grow full of various colors and of the many things that we are thankful for in this life be them big or small. I am thankful for my mom starting this tradition as it taught me that life is full of blessings that we often forget as we go through our daily life.

       As this Thanksgiving approached I decide to carry on the tradition at my apartment but in a larger scale. My roommate and I decided that a large section of wall needed some color besides a pale color of white and so my creative juices began to flow as I searched Pinterest for any sort of idea. As I saw the  various fall ideas I came up with the idea of recreating the Thankful Tree out of poster board and cutting the leaves out of patterned cardstock, kind of like a quilt. I collected all the needed articles which included black poster board, patterned cardstock, scissors, tape and blue tack. It was a little more tricky then I thought to draw out the shape of the tree and branches but after about an hour I was successful in creating something that resembled a tree. My roommate helped me out by giving suggestions and holding it up against the wall so that I could get a good idea of what I needed to trim.



     As the month has passed the tree has grown with many thanks and has helped to remind me that there are so many things to be thankful for that we often forget or take advantage of. I am thankful for my mom starting this tradition and that I got the opportunity to continue it and to introduce my friends to it.

              ~Laura Arminta



Laundry, College Style

    I like to document random moments in my life that are just random sometimes. I had to get some scrubs for my new job and so I figured that I should wash them since sometimes new scrub tops can be somewhat of a nuisance. So I did the best thing I could think of, doing it the good 'ol fashioned way! I gathered my supplies....

 

 

a bucket, laundry detergent, fabric softener and rubber gloves so you don't dry out your hands from the detergent and softener.

 

     I put some detergent in the bucket and filled with warm water and washed one scrub at a time by hand and rung them out for the next bath; I make it sound like a lot of scrubs but in reality there are only two. =)

 

 

      Then I emptied the soap bath and put in a little softener and added warm/cool water and mixed it together and then again rinsed/washed the tops in that water mixture and rung them out again for the next and final bath.

 



     The final bath is the rinse stage. I emptied the softener bath and put cool water in the bucket, rinsed one top in it, emptied the water and rinsed the last top. Then I rung out each top as best I could and took them to the dryer...

 

  
      Isn't it a cool?! It is a portable one. I try to be efficient you know.

   Have a marvelous day ya'll! Hope you got a laugh out of the randomly documented moment.

                   ~Laura Arminta

 



A Gift Given with Purpose

      I seem to have a knack of getting so caught up in life that I forget that I have a blog. After I got back from Romania I went right back into working two jobs as a baker and a CNA. I was also getting paperwork turned into a college.....Which I am excited to tell you that I am once again a full-time student in an actual program. I know, pretty crazy. After three years I finally am in the program for something. I an in a Radiology Tech program and at the start of October I'll be able to take x-rays of the chest and abdomen when I get to my clinical sight. I am pretty stoked about but try to control the excitement so that I can focus for tests and exams. When they said that being in a program is much like having a full-time job they weren't kidding. But God is good and He has brought me here so He gives me the strength to keep pressing on an learning. Some people ask me is this is my career and I tell that I really hope not, its simply a side job as one day I hope to be a full-time wife and mother-that is my hearts desire, but until then I'm using my time to get something useful that I'll be able to use and am enjoying learning about it....even the physics aspect of it.
      I must add to my fellow single ladies just because your single does not mean that you should walk around twiddling your thumbs waiting for your prince to come galloping into your life, do something! Get involved in your community, get a degree like me for a backup incase he was to ever get hurt and you needed to get an income to help your family, get involved in missions, invest your time as a single person into others. Being single is a gift, though when all your friends are getting married or announcing their pregnancies you start to wonder about this gift that you still have and you feel slightly left out; just remember that God has you at that place for a purpose so get up and get moving to find out what it is. It is so exciting to see what God will do when you are willing to do that. Who knows what He'll bring into your life, the people you'll meet or the adventures that you'll go on. Everyday is an adventure of some sort. So ladies use this gift to allow God to mold you more into who He wants you to be, more like Him.
        I really felt that I should write that even though it was a tangent from what I was actually going to blog about. It's been on my mind though as I get older and am in the stage where like everyone is getting married, or in a relationship, or having a baby and it's so easy to get discontent and maybe even upset about it. But knowing that God has a purpose for me and for where I am now it makes me excited to see what the next day brings. As I like to tell people when you give God the steering wheel remember, He doesn't have an earthly license so He does not follow the earthly rules He follows HIs own. So basically He takes people on some pretty crazy rides that they never thought possible simply because they gave Him control. I speak for myself, I would have never seen myself where I am now but giving God the steering wheel and continually giving it back is the best thing that I have ever done.
      Some random food for thought. I'll have to put another post up about college laundry. =) I sometimes have these moments where I go on random tangents about something that has been on my mind.
     
            ~Laura Arminta

Midwest meets the East.

We were finally together again on the east coast. The majority of them had never ever seen the ocean nor had they had they ever been out that far in the US. The itinerary included seeing Washington D.C., Gettysburg, and lots of driving and camping on the way. But, one of the exciting thing was getting to see our brother again since about six months when we picked him up from AIT training. So here are some pictures and random notes of my thoughts while touring these great historical pictures.

There were some pretty crazy expressions when family members got a taste of the ocean and realized that it was not the same dirty lake water that we were so familiar with.

   Arlington. The changing of the Guard causes patriotism to surge through the American heart with honor and respect for those that have served. The many perfectly lined gravestones are a solemn reminder of the price that Freedom does truly cost.

 

The Washington D.C. Mall. One looks around and sees so many truths written upon the walls of the monuments and wonders how lawmakers can sit close by and yet be so blind by what this country truly is, a country built upon the Christian faith and principles.







 

   Going through the pictures brings back so many memories. Where has your family gone and what memories have you made? I'll get some Gettysburg pictures up on another post. Till then have a marvelous day!

      ~Laura Arminta