Five on Friday - Art Caddy, Turmeric Update for Inflammation, New Ed Sheeran Album, and More

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Happy Friday, y’all!  We have another busy weekend on deck!  But first, some favorites!  I have some great stuff for you today, so settle in, friends!

O N E – Art Caddy

As you know, I’m currently working my way through reading the entire Bible from start to finish.  While I’m reading, I’m also spending time taking notes, highlighting, and doodling in the columns of the Bible, so I’m using these pens, these highlighters, and colored pencils for all of it.  Since I’m working in my Bible nearly every day, it’s silly to keep putting everything up every day only to pull it back out the next day, so I’ve been leaving it out on my desk.  Well, leaving everything out on my desk every day was killing me because the desk just looks too cluttered (and clutter makes me mentally and physically yucky), so I decided to find something to wrangle all of the utensils.

Originally, I was going to purchase this set of acrylic pen cups because I knew they’d look great on the desk.  However, right before I was about to hit purchase, Amazon recommended this little acrylic caddy, and I couldn’t grab it fast enough!  It is absolutely perfect.  It has six sections, so I’m able to organize all of the different items I use – warm-toned colored pencils, cool-toned colored pencils, neutral-toned colored pencils, Bible highlighters, Bible pens, and then one section for the regular pens, highlighter, and pencil I use in my Bible Recap book.

The best part, though?  Now if I want to do my Bible study at the kitchen table or outside, all I have to do is grab my Bible, my book, and this caddy!  If I’d used the pen cups or left them loose on the desk, it would have been impossible to transport them anywhere.  Now they’re totally mobile!

The caddy is excellent quality, and I love that it rotates 360 degrees.  This ended up being the answer to a pain point, and I love it when I find things to make life a little easier and a little less cluttered.

This caddy would also be great for kids’ art supplies, makeup, pantry snacks, and so many more things!

Here's the before and after:

Before: sloppy, sloppy

After: Nice and tidy!  And I love that I can store the caddy away from my desk, too!

T W O – Turmeric Update

I have officially been taking this turmeric for three weeks now, and y’all, when I tell you that it has made a HUGE difference in my life, I mean it.  Back in July, I visited my primary care physician for my annual checkup where she did the standard bloodwork.  My bloodwork came back showing that I have super high inflammation in my body.

I honestly didn’t need bloodwork to tell me that because I’ve always had issues with inflammation.  My feet, toes, and ankles have been swelling nearly every day for a decade.  My c-section scar is always super puffy and swollen (and it’s been nine years).  My fingers swell so badly when I run or workout (or just get hot in general) that I can barely twist the rings on my finger, and my hands HURT after a run.  Like, really bad.  And there’s no way I’d be able to take my rings off after a run.  My fingers are that swollen.  I also get lots of headaches on the right side of my head, and I have a lot of pain in general, especially in my SI joint and my sacrum since they were damaged during childbirth.  My SI joint has been bothering me so much since early summer that I was planning on getting another steroid shot but then I had to delay it because I got vertigo.

Y’all.  After about four days of taking this turmeric, I started seeing a drastic difference in everything.  No more foot and ankle swelling.  No more c-section scar puffiness.  No more swollen fingers during my runs.  No more pain in my fingers after my runs.  As I said, I could barely twist my wedding rings on my finger after a run, and now I can actually slide them right off immediately following a run.  My SI joint pain has stopped COMPLETELY, and I haven’t had a headache since I started taking it.

I cannot believe the difference this turmeric has made in the inflammation in my body.  I truly can’t.  My quality of life has been so much better since I started taking this, and I am so grateful that my therapist suggested that I start taking it.  (She uses it for her knee pain and she just raves about it.)

I’ve been doing lots of research on inflammation, and it is truly one of the worst things that you can have as it can have a negative effect on pretty much everything in the body.  It can also be a root cause of anxiety, some cancers, pain in the body, and so. many. other. things.  I am honestly shocked at the difference in my whole body since starting taking this supplement. 

I know, I know, it’s easy to be skeptical about this kind of stuff.  Believe me, I was, too.  So let me show you a little before and after…

This first picture was taken at 7:36 PM on September 6… two days before I started taking the turmeric.  This is what my feet, toes, and ankles look like every single day at the end of the day… and sometimes even at the beginning of the day.  So much swelling.  It literally looks like somebody took my ankle and blew it up like a rubber glove.  The skin is all smooth because it’s stretched so tight, and you can’t even see my ankle bone.  This has been my life nearly every single day for years.

This second picture was taken at 5:21 PM on September 21, almost two weeks after I started taking the turmeric.  I’m wearing the same jeans, the same shoes, and I’d had a similar day to the day I’d had when I snapped the picture above.  But look at the difference.  No swelling.  No smooth, tight skin.  And you can see my ankle bone.  It’s an actual normal-looking foot.

Can you even believe it?!

Here’s a little side-by-side so you can really see the difference.

This supplement has truly been a Godsend for me, and in addition to helping reduce inflammation, it has tons of other benefits without any negative side effects.  So, if you have high inflammation in your body, issues with swelling, pain with old injuries, headaches, or just any other random pain in general, I cannot recommend starting turmeric enough!  I only take one capsule every morning after breakfast and that’s it.  It’s super affordable, and worth every single penny.  I will probably be taking this for the rest of my life.

And if you’re still not convinced, check out this DM I received from a reader when I posted about it the first time…

Magic, indeed!

 

T H R E E – Ed Sheeran’s New Album

Ed Sheeran released a new album today, Autumn Variations, and even though I haven’t listened to it as I’m typing this, I just know it’s going to be a favorite!  I have been following him since the beginning of his career, long before most people even knew who he was, and I just love every single thing he does.  I still can’t believe he’s already giving us new music since he just put out an album back in May.  Lucky us!  You know what I’ll be listening to for the foreseeable future!

 

F O U R – Cruel Summer

Y’ALL!!!!  Where oh where have I been?  I cannot believe I didn’t watch this sooner.  I’m so glad that Dara told me she thought I’d like it because she was so right.  Brian and I just finished season one this week, and I absolutely LOVED IT.  The show is so well-written and the concept of sharing the events of the same days over three different years in each episode is so unique… it was so exciting seeing how each character got from one point in the first year to a completely different point in the third year.  The writers and producers did a great job of making everything come together seamlessly in the end.  I was riveted the entire season, and just when I thought I had something figured out, I would find out that I was so wrong.  And y’all, no spoilers, but the last 30 seconds of that last episode of season one – OMG.  I was SHOOK.  Totally did not see that coming.

B and I just started season two this week thinking it would be a continuation of season one, but it turns out, this is one of those shows that has an entirely new cast for each season.  So now we’re about to be taken on a totally different journey with a similar concept – following the same people on the same days over three different years of their lives.  Everyone looks so happy in year one, but in year three they’re all hot messes, and I can’t wait to see what happens to make them change so drastically.  I’m already riveted after episode one.

If you’re looking for something suspenseful and just plain good, do check it out!  We’re watching it on Hulu.  And I’m sure hoping they renew it for a third season!

 

F I V E – Gluten Free Noodles

I’ve mentioned recently that I’m trying to cut back on gluten, and while I love the health benefits it should provide, I do not love the price tag of all of the gluten free options.  It would be nice if we had a Trader Joe’s since they have numerous GF options without the hefty price tag, but we don’t, so I’m stuck getting mine from Publix and Walmart.

I found these Barilla gluten free noodles at Walmart, and they were only about $0.80 more than a standard box of pasta.  While that’s still a good chunk of change, it definitely beats some of the price tags on the other GF items.

These were really good, and we all ended up liking them.  The kids didn’t complain which was a win, because they don’t usually like change.  My only complaint was that the noodles broke up a bit, but I think that’s because I cooked them a little too long.  I’m going to try again next time and cut back on the cooking time, and then I think they’ll be perfect. 

So, if you’re looking for a great GF noodle option that won’t break the bank, these are great!

Friday Funnies

On the Blog This Week

 On Anxiety and Going Through a Difficult Season

Our Week – The One with All the Homecoming Festivities and Momma's Birthday

 A Simple Way to Make Food Fun and Festive for Halloween

Happy Friday, y’all!

*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.