My House is a Mess But so What

My house is a mess, but so what.

Ok I have to admit, I have been trying to get my house under control since we moved in (6 years ago). Don’t judge me, I have always had the mindset that I needed to keep stuff because I never know when I might need it again. Recently I have begun to adopt the mindset that I need to clean house and simplify in order to make room for my blessings. I was on a roll until I had to clean out my work office. My plan was to clean and organize the garage to make room for the stuff that I have to move out, but it has been so dang ole hot (we topped 115 in early July) that I have been unable todo as planned. So my quick fix was to go to store and buy a bunch of containers to stack in the garage until we move into a bigger house. I am even considering, really considering getting a “She Shed,” so that I can corral my workspace and actually get stuff out of the house and garage.

Well I am happy to report that I am taking baby steps, but steps indeed. When I was packing and moving out of my work office, I made the decision to leave behind things I absolutely did not need. A microwave, toaster, Keurig, mini fridge and a few fixtures would be a blessing for the next occupant. It felt so good to let go of the stuff. Of course when I excitedly told my hubby, he was like we could have used that stuff for the yard sale. He is totally an enabler. Believe me, we have enough stuff in that garage to hold numerous garage sales.

Things I have accomplished:

• Organized my closet and put away all the clean laundry I had
• Began degreasing the stove
• Sorted through my books and pulled out ones that I could donate- even had my daughter go drop them off at goodwill
• Deep cleaned the living room, although you would never know it looking at the mess right now
• Set up an area in a corner for me to film videos

And…..

That’s about it

Now here are things I want to accomplish:

• Re-clean living room - move containers to garage
• Purge and organize my kitchen cubards- wipe them down as well
• Finish degreasing the stovetop
• Purge, organize and inventory the pantry

My Filming Area 😢

So I bet you are wondering what my timeline is. Well lets just say, if all goes well and we have the yard sale, then this will be done by the end of the week.

Wish me luck!

Living My Life Like It's Golden

So I recently joined a book club and for the month of July we are reading "Girl Wash Your Face" by Rachel

Hollis. After I finished the first chapter, I an ah a moment. Ok stay with me while I break this down. Those that know me understand that I always have some type of project going on. It could be a craft project, skin care classes or even selling insurance. Add to that, working a full time job as an assistant principal of a high school and then being a basketball/baseball/cheer mom. Sometimes I stress over what people may think of me because I’m always changing things up. I have been asked over and over again, “how do you handle all that stuff?” My response “I don’t know, I just do it.” So it dawned on me that is not the truth, there is so much more to my process. Ok back to my ah ha moment. I’m a teacher by trade and I truly believe, just naturally. I was put on this earth to teach people things but what? How about teaching people about me. Wait what? I can teach people how I do the things I do and still breathe. I can teach them about my lifestyle. And so this Lifestyle Blog was born.

So what exactly is a lifestyle blog? I look at it like this… it’s a record of the things I do in my life that I share with friends (and strangers) with the hope the lessons I learn will help others and keep them from making the same mistakes. So welcome to my blog, its so nice to meet you; virtually. Let’s begin by telling you who they heck I am.

My name is Charne’ M. Tunson and I live in an amazing town in the valley of Los Angeles. I am married to my college sweetheart- who says you don’t get anything out of college- and have three amazing children. Well technically Chloe just turned 18 and is considered an adult, but believe me that girl is all child. Shanel is the middle child and is 16 years old. And my son Shawn Christian is the youngest. I call him My Mercedes because when he becomes a professional athlete, he is going to buy his momma a Mercedes Benz but I digress. My hubby Shawn Paul and I have been married for 18 years (come this August) and if you have done the math you realize that Chloe was born before we were married. Now don’t get me wrong, we didn’t get married because I had a child, we just sped up the process. I will save that for another blog post. Let’s see what else do you need to know about me. Oh yea I mentioned earlier that I was an assistant principal at a high school. Last year made my sixth year as an assistant principal. My first two years I was at a middle school and oh lord, I have tons to share about that experience.

So now that I am at crossroad in my life, I have decided that I will no longer do things just to please other people, but I will do things to please me. This means that my blog will be about all the different things that I enjoy, obsess over and are willing to try. Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you enjoy this journey.

Connecting with your Teenage Daughter

So let me just start by saying I never imagined raising two teenage girls would be so hard. Some days I'm like, "ooh I can't wait for you to move out {insert eye roll here}. Now mind you my girls are 15 and 17 and are no way ready to be self sufficient but man- sometimes it just gets like that.
Ok I'm thinking the Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde first moved into my home during 7th grade. And it literally happened overnight. Now mind you I spent two years as an Assistant Principal at a middle school so I thought I would have a good handle on my middle schoolers. Umm negative!!!! It was so funny at how well I handled other people's children but when it came to mine, I was just a hotttt mess🔥🔥🔥. I remember one evening it was the honor award ceremony for one of the girls and I

Chloe and Shanel on Prom Day

thought it would be a good gesture to bring her a bouquet of flowers; after all I had seen plenty of other parents to it. Well let's just say my feeling were left wide open because when she acted embarrassed about the flowers and would not even take them out my hand I about lost it😥😥😥. And then no sooner than 20 minutes later she had no quormes about asking me to buy something for her 😡👹. Are you kidding me.
So fast forward to now and I can say I have pretty much learned to roll all that drama off my back. Literally my girls can be ready to go at blows and I'll just walk by in my calm voice and say "cut it out" and go on about my business. Hey no use in me raising my blood pressure hollering and screaming- then they will be calling me the crazy lady😜. There was a time when I would come home from work and go straight into my room and close the door (just like they do) except I was the parent and needed to be running the household. So what has changed? Me🙋🏽, I have changed and as a result so has the attitudes and behaviors of my girls. Now don't get me wrong, we still have shouting matches here and there- but it doesn't last very long and I am usually not involved.