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  • Book Review: Counterfeit Kingdom

    As I’ve been taking a long commute to and from work, I decided to start listening to audio books and I decided to start with a book by Holly Pivec and Doug Geievett called Counterfeit Kingdom. As a Christian, I frequently watch YouTube videos regarding Christianity and Christian culture. So when channels I watch often like Fighting for the Faith and Alisa Childers began recommending this book, I added it to my reading list.

    As a quick explanation, this book is a summary of the apparent beliefs of a movement within Christian circles called the New Apostolic Reformation. One of the main things in this movement is a belief that there are current-day apostles rather than just the past apostles that are described in scripture. This book explains this and other beliefs in this movement in detail.

    A strange additional detail about this movement is that most of the churches that are in this movement deny being in this movement. This appears to be the heart of why this book was written, in order to show the unbiblical part of these beliefs, because many who wouldn’t normally be influenced by this movement have been influenced by this movement.

    Even as someone who isn’t an expert in religion or Christianity specifically, I’ve noticed these beliefs in my local churches. One of the ways I see this myself is through the jargon or buzzwords that are used in the movement. Because our culture is so centered on hashtags, trending, and buzzwords, we all are easily able to adopt words like this even if it means something slightly different than what we think it means. An example phrase is “prayer declarations.” Many in the NAR movement just talk about prayer but in teachings from the pastors of the movement, they only talk about prayer declarations, which is to say that in prayer, the person is declaring to receive what they are “praying” for. The scriptural view of prayer is of a humble request of God, not a declaration that God must give or will give what the person is “asking” for.

    A cultural example of a hashtag or trending phrase becoming popular or viral but it wasn’t understood by a large part of the population was “Netflix and chill.” This phrase is still used jokingly out of what its original meaning was, which was a code teenagers were using for sexual activity in order to hide it. But it still went viral because it was popular and people heard it often online so it caught traction. I think because we start to hear the phrases or buzzwords like “prayer declarations” on the radio like on KLOVE or in teaching videos online, they sound Christian in their use, they gain traction. They sound good but they don’t actually mean the same thing.

    I could say more about how much I agree with the thoughts of this book, but I will end here. I highly recommend this book to Christians not as a blaming book or a pointing fingers book, but as a helpful tool for true discernment. Being able to understand false teachings and discern them from biblical teachings is taught in scripture in the New Testament as being an important skill for the Christian to have. (Acts, 1 Timothy, Titus, and Jude contain some of these examples.)

  • How the Simplified Planner has helped me organize my life

    Over the past few weeks, I have been off work because I left my most recent retail job suddenly and have been awaiting the start of my new job. In that time, I have been focused on my home, my health, and working on my Codecademy courses and it has been amazing. This was a much-needed rest and reset time and during this time, I have also worked to find tools that will help me to maintain my helpful routines even when I start to work again. The main tool that I have now and I’m looking forward to using in the coming weeks of managing work and home life is the Simplified Planner.

    I had first heard of the Simplified Planner about 5 years ago when I had first started paying attention to the planner community on YouTube and Instagram. At that time, I thought about trying the planner but I didn’t want a daily planner that had a shared weekend page because I worked a variable schedule. During Covid from 2020 to 2022, I worked from home and didn’t use hardly any planners except for my Plum Paper planner that I used as a pregnancy and baby journal.

    Now I am starting a job with a consistent schedule and I’m having to manage life with my toddler as well and the idea that Simplified as a company puts forth sounded appealing to me as a relatively new mom who works and is the primary household manager. The idea of simplifying or living a simplified life sounds so good to me! So for that reason, I decided to take advantage of the sale that Simplified has on their 2023 annual daily planners to give it a shot. And I am so glad I did!

    2023 Simplified Planner in Butterfly Garden

    The Simplified Planner’s layout is a basic planner layout with the weekdays having a page-per-day and the weekend is on one page. Half of the daily page has an hourly timeline from 6am to 9pm and the other half is a to do list and the bottom quarter of the page is blank for notes. This layout is perfect because I can make regular to do’s and timed to do’s because I don’t have a lot of appointments. So I use the timeline for loose time-blocking. The planner also has monthly calendars which allow for planning in advance, at least that’s how I use it.

    2023 Simplified Planner daily page

    I have enjoyed this planner so much!

    2023 Simplified Planner weekend page

    Not only does the company make these gorgeous planners, but they also provide tips that are so helpful. For me, the tips and life ideas help immensely after going through the major life change of having a baby and admittedly losing myself going back to work after only 8 weeks postpartum.

    2023 Simplified Planner monthly pages

    In the front of the planner are what are called the Simplified prep work pages which are meant to orient you into the new year. I did this at the beginning of April but it was the fresh start that I so desperately needed. These prep pages were developed by the founder of Simplified, Emily Ley, and from the stories she has shared, she GETS IT when it comes to working-mom life overwhelm. I won’t share photos of the prep work because I wrote and highlighted all over my prep work pages but they are all about Simplified’s Process of Simplifying, how to use the planner, preparing for the new year, ideas for new routines, the Simplicity Challenge, (which is also shared on Simplified’s social media) and your yearly bucket list.

    When I say that I desperately needed this fresh start, I mean it. This prep work was so refreshing for me as a mom of a 16-month old who is struggling hard with postpartum depression. It makes you think about how to improve but it doesn’t push you hard into the whole “hustle” “make it work” “just do it” kind of culture that many goal-oriented planners tend to push you into.

    I know that this company is also 15 years old so I’m way late to the party, but I had to share how much this planner and process have helped me out of the figurative drowning that I was struggling through. The company also publishes a podcast which I tend to watch on YouTube and that has also helped me because the whole thing is just positive and so filled with light. Emily has also published books, which once I have read them I can share more thoughts about them. I started reading A Simplified Life on Kindle but it has questions that I really want to dig into so I ordered the physical copy on the Simplified website that I’m waiting anxiously for. Even reading chapters 1-5 has continued to help me in my struggles so I look forward to being able to use it as a reference and a workbook.

    I know I’m not alone as well because the company has a Facebook group for the Simplified community which is amazing. I honestly just want to thank the Simplified team and Emily for everything they do because it helped me SO much.

    (This post is not sponsored. Links are not affiliated links. This post is all my own opinions and inspired by my experiences. Photos are my own. The products mentioned belong to their own company/trademark.)

  • Plastic Free Deodorant

    One of my goals this year is to reduce the packaging and plastic packaging that I end up buying when buying household products. One of the products that I have to buy regularly is deodorant and it almost always comes in a proprietarily shaped plastic container. This lead me to search the internet for plastic-free deodorant and of course, the first one to come up is the deodorant from the brand Native.

    Native three pack of deodorant

    Native is a brand that comes up frequently when one is searching for deodorant and body wash but they also have lotions and toothpastes. Currently, it appears that soap and deodorant are their only plastic-free or low-plastic product options.

    Reviews of their deodorants seem to be fairly good but I will have to put them to the test compared to other aluminum-free deodorants that I’ve tried. I hope to have a good review of the deodorants soon!

    (This post is not paid or an ad)

  • Whole Food, Plant-Based

    I started an interesting journey at the beginning of December. I had a doctor’s appointment and it was suggested for my health that I look into a whole-foods, plant-based diet. Knowing me, I immediately went all-in since I tend to be very all-or-nothing about things like this. I had done a similar personal change of diet about three years ago but it was difficult because my husband has no interest in the same diet, so I was making two of everything, one plant-based and one animal-based. Again, with how I am, I have a very hard time not being completely committed to something like this, so this time upon getting the recommendation, I am also heavily researching veganism from the ethical point of view. There is a lot of it that resonates with me but because my husband has no interest and I am the person who makes the household meals (including his animal-based meals) I hesitate to say that I am vegan. I would like to be vegan otherwise. For that reason, I will say that I am plant-based.
    Some of my favorite resources this past month include the Forks Over Knives website and recipe app, the documentaries Forks Over Knives, Game Changers, and Food Choices, as well as numerous YouTube channels including Cheap Lazy Vegan, Sweet Potato Soul, and Avant-garde Vegan. There are many other YouTube channels as well.
    As I continue to go into this journey ethically, I am planning to make many changes in what I am purchasing and using, especially with regards to clothing, makeup, and essential care items like shampoo and toothpaste since these are things I have never thought about before but now I can’t really unsee it without going into some sort of denial. This also makes me step back and really think about the kind of fashion business I would like to work for or with because of the environmental impact that clothing businesses have on the planet.
    As this continues, I plan to share more of my favorite new cruelty-free products and how I’ve made the transition in some of these areas. Full disclosure: in some areas, I haven’t started the transition because I am going to finish using what I have before I begin purchasing new items because I believe it would be more of a waste environmentally to simply throw out what I have now to buy something new.
    Please let me know if there’s anything in particular you would like me to answer about this transition process. Also let me know if you have any tips if you’ve already made the transition to a vegan lifestyle. I would love to hear your tips!

    (I am sharing my new experiences as I change my own lifestyle. I am not telling anyone else how they should or shouldn’t live their own life. All links in the post above are for convenience for the reader only and are not sponsored.)

  • One of My Favorite Resources: AllSides

    After I had watched the documentary “The Social Dilemma,” I have been off of social media and permanently deleted my profiles from Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. After a couple of days of the quiet of not hearing all the opinions and news from my social media newsfeeds, I began to search for other sources of news. Through my research of the people in the documentary, I went to the website for the Center for Humane Technology and on the “Take Control” page, I found different news sources that allow you to have more control on the news you see. The main resource that the page highlighted for this use is AllSides, which is a balanced news source that filters multiple articles for many of the same stories based on user feedback to say which “side” the news headline and article comes from. Some are labeled as being from the Left, the Right and the Center. This allows you to understand the writer’s bias, since many if not all writers and news organizations have a particular bias. For example, my local newspaper has even announced its chosen presidential candidate that it endorses and the reasoning why. This leads me to compare its news stories to those of other writers to see what is common between them and what is different. In using this system, I hope to view news stories with a clear mind and to understand what is actually happening rather than what each side claims about the other. I know that they do this because it’s their job to make their own side look good but I find it confusing. I also don’t want to just find news stories that I agree with but basically want to cross-examine as many stories as I can.

    (No sponsors, the links are provided above for convenience.)

  • Show Review: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

    As any Gilmore Girls fan may know, Netflix just released an exclusive four-part season 8 of the series as a revival. I spent the last day watching them, and I have some thoughts to share. There will be spoilers down in this post, so if you haven’t seen the episodes yet, make sure to watch them before reading this.

    I want to start with Rory’s story part, as I can appreciate the struggle that she is facing in her career. She’s 32 and doesn’t have a full-time job or even a steady gig in journalism or writing even though she has a degree from Yale. She isn’t getting the job she had always dreamed of, just as she didn’t go to the school she had always dreamed of in the original series. This is a very relatable story path for those of us in that sort of age range. I can relate to having studied for a job, and then when the opportunity comes, I can’t sell myself to the potential employers, as she needed to do and failed for the website Sandee Says. This is a struggle of many in my age group and even those older than myself, and I truly appreciate that they wrote this as her story, rather than as the successful journalist everyone thought she would become.

    I also liked her relationship with Logan. It’s very true to both of their characters that they primarily meet in secret. I could never picture them getting married and having a family as Rory’s grandparents dreamed. Logan is also exceptionally kind to her, as only he could be as a lover. I can’t help but imagine him being like his father as a husband, so I enjoyed the impression of him that we were left with after the Life and Death Brigade reunion in the 4th episode.

    Lorelai’s story is simple but takes a turn as only Lorelai can do when she feels scared about what’s coming or not coming. We all knew that she and Luke had to get married, but of course, it couldn’t have been a linear path. This path also goes through her relationship with her mother, Emily, since her mother is the one trying to convey to her that getting married is different from just being together. This story through Lorelai’s relationship with her parents is a wonderful resolution. We see her and her mother struggling through therapy, which doesn’t do much for their relationship by itself but helps them begin to open up to one another. We also see Lorelai beginning to open up about her relationship with her late father and even sharing that with her mother.

    Emily is also facing her own struggle of self-searching and she is grieving the loss of her husband Richard. She is feeling her mortality but also learning who she is now that she has lost her other half. Before his death, her job was to manage her household to the approval and appreciation of her husband. Now she is figuring out how life will look for her as she is on her own. She even has a lively household since she unknowingly invited the maid and her family to live with her. We see a much warmer side to Emily, and it makes me happy to know that she is living outside of her sterilized, white-washed, wealthy community. I will admit that her volunteer job at the whale museum was a little weird, but I think it fit her character.

    Overall, this season is beautiful. We saw many of the familiar faces from before, even if it was only briefly. I can’t think of anyone that was missed from before. It was funny to see some of the actors back in Stars Hollow since some of them have grown in their career past the role they had played in this iconic series, but it was nice to see them back in those old roles. It felt like coming back home to the little world we had come to love in the town, and I couldn’t be happier with the resolution we were given. However, there is one part at the end that leaves me believing that we may hear more from our favorite town in Connecticut. I will leave you to discover what the infamous “last four words” are when you watch it for yourself.

    (opinions are my own, not sponsored, image from fanpop.com)