22 Transcript: Choose Joy (with Stacy Myers)
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J: You're listening to the Vibrant Happy Women podcast, episode number 22.
S: Love takes work and you have to choose to love someone and it's something that you just have to choose to do. And joy and happiness is the same way, you have to choose that that is something that you're going to do and not expect it to just fall in your lap.
Intro: Welcome to the Vibrant Happy Women podcast, stories of vibrant women living happy lives. And now, your host, Jen Riday.
J: Hey there, Jen Riday here, and this is the Vibrant Happy Women podcast. So I had the fun and pleasure this week of introducing the Vibrant Happy Living membership community to all of you. If you're craving calm and clarity or want more peace and patience with your kids home this summer or needing rejuvenation and more ‘me time’, this is the place for you. You can check it out by going to vibranthappyliving.com. Last week's episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Theresa Lode about the mind-body connection with chronic pain. If you haven't listened to that, go back and do so; it's a great episode. For today's episode, I had the privilege of chatting with Stacy Myers from Humorous Homemaking. Stacy is a stay-at-home mom of 4 kids and she believes that home management shouldn't be dull or stressful, instead Stacy tackles it with humor and fun and she has some great tips for us in this episode about coping with piles of laundry and keeping that manageable, how to plan meals and more. In fact, Stacy even gave us a free printable meal planning guide that you can get at the end of the episode when I'll be sharing a link for that. Finally, Stacy also talks in this episode about a former problem she had with chronic under-eating and body image and how finding people to hold her accountable, including her husband and a friend, made all the difference in overcoming that problem. So this episode is chock-full of fun, you're going to love it, and we'll go ahead and get started.
Hello, Vibrant Happy Women, welcome to today's episode. I'm interviewing Stacy Meyers and she is the mastermind behind Humorous Homemaking and the author of ‘Crock On! A Semi-Whole Foods Slow Cooker Cookbook’ and ‘Keep Crockin': A Poorganic Slow Cooker Cookbook’; did you get that humor right there? I love it.
[Laughter]
J: She is a stay-at-home mom and is a homeschooling mom to her 4 kids. Home management can become boring, mundane, and stressful if you let it, but Stacy believes that managing a home shouldn't be dull and that we can do so without losing our ever loving minds. Welcome, Stacy.
S: Well, thank you, I'm glad to be here.
J: Oh yeah, I'm so glad to have you. I've followed you on Periscope for a while now and I think you're hilarious so I'm so happy to have you on the show.
S: Well, thank you for asking me, I love Periscope; it's my jam.
J: Awesome. And if someone wanted to find you on Periscope while we're talking about that, how would they do that?
S: I am at Humor Homemaking because Humorous Homemaking was apparently too long so I'm at Humor Homemaking over on Periscope and Twitter.
J: Okay, so… and for those of you who don't know what Periscope is, it's essentially a live video streaming platform. So Stacy makes these amazing 15 to 20 minute videos most days and you can find her, again, at Humor Homemaking. So we'd love to start out our show with a favorite quote, Stacy, do you have one for us today?
S: Yes, I do. I think I would like to share our family… our family has a, what we call our family verse, our family Bible verse, and it's kind of the basis for what we do online. And my husband is a financial coach and so our family bible verse is, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth one another hath fulfilled the law.” So we believe in living debt-free.
J: And so that's part of your… kind of your message there a Humorous Homemaking?
S: Yes, loving one another and living debt-free, but basically loving one another is one of my biggest messages.
J: Awesome. Well, Stacy, we will transition into your low point. We like to hear about women's low points because then we realize we're not alone in our struggles. And I'm sure you have a struggle, at least one, that you can share with us today.
S: Yes, I… well, I've been thinking about this, the one that I seem to talk about the most that hits home with most women is my struggle with body image and weight.
J: Mm.
S: So that's the one that I tend to talk about the most when I talk about struggles.
J: Okay.
S: So I have… well, self-diagnosed because, you know, WebMD, everybody can self-diagnose these days.
[Laughter]
S: I am a chronic under-eater and I used to have… I'd used to over exercise and under eat and try to control my weight that way, and it took over my life and it was something that affected, not only myself, but relationships with friends and family and it was just not a happy place to be; I'm a control freak.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: So that it has been a struggle that I have overcome in probably the last 4… 3 to 4 years, but it's not something anybody that has ever dealt with something like that, it's not something that ever really goes away.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: It's always lurking and so it takes constant thought and work to keep it… to keep it down; you got to hit that thing with a bat and keep it… keep it in place.
J: Keep it down (Laughs). So you said chronic under eating.
S: Yes.
J: But you didn't use the word anorexia, how do you differentiate those?
S: Because I would eat enough, but I've always made sure… because it went together with my over-exercising.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: I'd made sure that I did not eat more than I would exercise, if that makes sense.
J: Okay.
S: So if I ate something I didn't feel like I should have eaten, I would obsessively exercise until I felt like I had worked that off.
J: Okay.
S: And I lost a huge amount of weight until I looked pretty sickly. So, yeah, and then I got pregnant, and so things change once you get pregnant. (Laughs)
J: Yeah, yeah. How old is your oldest child?
S: Mm, she is 7.
J: Okay.
S: So that was… that was… well, I have a few… a few areas or points on my map of life that I can look at and see where realized… well, when I had my daughter, I realized I couldn't continue to live that way because I didn't want her to see that.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: But then even realizing that and trying to do better, you will still have points in your life where you can fall back down into the… if you've ever been in that type of pit, it's easy to fall back down into it again later because you're… you know you're prone to that. And so I have fallen off my… you know, falling back down in there where I don't like to be a couple times thereafter, but that was where I started my upward rise was when I realized I didn't want her to see me that way or to grow up having a negative body image.
J: Mm-hmm. And… and was there anything in particular that made you realize you had a problem and that you wanted to change?
S: Why, yes, there was (Laughs). I used to keep a notebook beside my bed in my night time… in my drawer of my nightstand and every day I would weigh and I would write down my weight to a 10th of a point and I kept that hidden from my husband, and he was looking for something one day and found it. So that was… that was good because then, he knew and I was able to have someone to keep me accountable and that talk it out and then realize that that was not the way that I really wanted to live.
J: So I'm… I’m sitting here thinking, “What steps helped you to continue to go forward?” and then, in contrast, “What kinds of situations make you want to fall back into that pit?”
S: I think that, for most people, anytime (I mean, it can be any situations, not just eating) you come to a point when you just realize that you're done, I'm just… I'm done. And so, for me, it was that point with a child, but then I have fallen back down into it, if… it’s like 1 time I fell back down into it because my friends were doing this new trendy diet, I started doing it too. And because I have tendencies for control freak… control freak-ism.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: That's a… that’s a word.
J: Oh yeah, it's a good one. (Laughs)
S: I started that same diet with them and then I saw myself going down to the same place. And then when I got to my very 100% done and I haven't gone back in, like I said, 4 years was… I ate some raisins. My husband was out of town and I had a huge bowl of raisins. And on this specific diet, you were not supposed to eat raisins, period, and so I had a panic attack because I ate those raisins in a moment of, “I'm hungry, I just want something to eat.” And that was when I know, “This is crazy, I'm done; this is the end.”
J: Right, right.
S: So… because anybody that has a panic attack over eating a bowl of raisins, they need some serious… some serious help there.
J: (Laughs). Yeah. And so what helps you to keep going forward and to stay on that really… in that really positive place?
S: Accountability, 100%, because I know that because I am… I don't really… I don't even like to say this, but I’ll… I'm… I have people, you know, that follow the blog and, you know, follow me on Periscope and Instagram, I feel like I need to be the example that… I need to be an example. And so knowing that other people are looking to me and my children are looking to me, that is a huge motivator to me to stay out of that mess.
J: Good for you; that's great. Well, so many of our listeners might be struggling with something they're trying to overcome, it might not be an eating issue, but what advice would you give to someone trying to overcome a struggle?
S: I would say you need to find someone… Crystal at Money Saving Mom calls them truth tellers, but you need to find someone in your life, whether it's your spouse or your mom or a friend, who can keep you accountable. And that might even be… I mean, with these days with social media or whatever, sometimes if you put out there that you are… that you need help or that you're starting something, you have that accountability because you've said it publicly. But mostly, for me, it's because I have a good support system with my husband and my friend, Karen, and I just… if you are prone to any type of disorder or bad place, if you don't have someone to keep you accountable, it's easier to fall back…
J: Mm-hmm.
S: … into that hole where you were.
J: Right, right. Tell us more about how you live a vibrant and happy life.
S: Well, honestly, it's a choice.
J: Mm.
S: Being happy, living a happy, vibrant… a happy life is a choice that you make every day whenever you wake up. And we've all been around people who have their… wake up with their panties in a wad, and so if you wake up and you have a bad mindset, then it's going to control your whole day. But joy is something that you have to choose; #choose joy.
J: (Laughs)
S: It is… I mean, you… you choose. And you have been around people who are in really bad situations or have had something bad happen to them, but yet they're still filled with, you know, joy, that's, you know, the Lord. But then there are other people who may be in the same situation who have not chosen joy, who have chosen bitterness.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: So it's 100% saying, “I choose joy, no matter… no matter what.”
J: Mm-hmm, choose joy; #choose joy, that's great.
S: Yes.
J: (Laughs). And #don't have your panties in a wad. (Laughs)
S: That’s… that’s true
J: Yeah.
S: It’s hard to have a good day if that’s happening.
J: (Laughs). So tell us more about Humors Homemaking and, you know, some of the fun you have with that.
S: (Laughs). Oh, that's funny; I'm a hot mess. So…
J: (Laughs)
S: … I enjoy making people laugh and I also enjoy speaking to other women. And so I believe that there is a lack of homemaking skills these days with people my age and younger who were not taught to do basic home skills like our mothers and grandmothers were raised to do. And so I enjoy teaching women in a humorous manner to be able to take care of their homes. And we… I mean, we're all going to mess up so the point is that, when we're doing our best and we do mess up… mess up, to just laugh and, you know, start over again, instead of, like I said, having panties in a wad.
J: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So on Humors Homemaking, you teach home making skills and you also talked about living debt-free.
S: Yes. Well, we talk about home management and so there's a whole bunch of different areas with home management. You've got family stuff, managing your family, scheduling school, all sorts of things like that. And then we talk about managing finances, getting those in order, budgets, staying out of debt. My husband is the mastermind behind that, he does help me write on the blog when it comes to that type of thing. And we talk about food because, hello, food is like 50% or more home management.
J: Yeah.
S: I feel like all I do… I’m in the kitchen like 75% of my life.
J: (Laughs)
S: And then fundamentals, things like, you know, laundry, grocery shopping; ah, well, it falls under food too, see?
J: Right there, yeah; it's true, isn't it?
S: Yeah, yeah, food is life, man.
J: So when you first started your blog, how did you get your first followers?
S: I started out as… well, I started out teaching couponing workshops. I do not coupon any longer, but I used to coupon a lot. I was taught by my mother and so I had a couple friends asked me to teach them how to do it and then I had a couple churches ask me, and it just started turning… it morphed and I started teaching almost every single week in large workshops in our tri-state area. And people wanted a place to go to find me or find more information after workshops and so we set up the website, which was actually Stacy Makes Sense. And then in January of this year, we changed over to Humorous Homemaking.
J: Aha.
S: But I've been… I have been blogging for 6 years so that's how it started and it's just morphed into a general homemaking, home management blog versus just about money.
J: Oh, perfect. So what's your favorite post that you've shared, if you can narrow it down?
S: Oh, that's like saying, “What's your favorite child?”
J: (Laughs)
S: I don’t… “Who's your favorite child?”
J: Or your most popular post.
S: My most popular post of all time is ‘100 days of Crock-Pot meals without any processed foods added’, so no cream of anything or no Velveeta or no boxed mixes or anything like that; that's my most popular post of all time.
J: Oh, as soon as you said that title, I know I’m going to click on that, go find that as soon as we're done. (Laughs)
S: Yeah, all you have to do is go to Pinterest and type in ‘100 days of Crock…’ it'll come right up, but that's my most popular. I have a homemade ant bait recipe that's also very popular, I have a KitchenAid bread that's very popular, and a couple opinion articles that are popular. One, ‘Food is not your god’ when I kind of speak out a little bit against, you know, the same problem that I've had; trying to control your life with food. So…
J: Oh.
S: Those are my popular posts.
J: That’s great, great. So if you had to narrow all the tips down, what would be the top 3 homemaking tips that you feel like make your life easier and that would help women?
S: Okay, number 1, do laundry every day.
J: Hmm.
S: A lot of people let laundry pile up and laundry can quickly morph into this 3-headed monster the takes over your life.
J: (Laughs)
S: But I find that, if I do at least 1 load of laundry a day, I can stay on top of it. And I started at night before I go to sleep, and then as soon as I get up in the morning, it either goes out on the line or it goes into the dryer; so that is a huge help for me. Number 2 is, meal planning will save your behind. So make sure that meal planning is a priority for you because it helps you keep your budget in check.
J: Right. And… and would you… do you have a menu that you repeat over and over? Do you kind of mix it up?
S: I mix it up all the time because I love trying new recipes. I do have a fam… a folder where I keep all of our favorites that I rotate, that I make it pretty regularly. But I like to throw in probably 3 or 4 new things every week just because I joy cooking so much.
J: Nice.
S: But I have an awesome folder over on Pinterest and on Humorous Homemaking over there that's called ‘Tried it, loved it’. It's at the top of my boards and it's got over 200 pins and stuff that I've tried from Pinterest that turned out really well. Because, you know, sometimes you get a hold of them recipes on Pinterest and you're like, “This is like dog food.” But, you know… so I have that whole board; this is actually yummy foods.
J: So you have 4 little kids, ages 7 on down, when is the best time of day for you to cook?
S: Whenever I can.
[Laughter]
S: I just grab minutes here and there when I can. I like if I can prep some things in the morning before we start home school, I do that, or if I can… you know, if they're doing independent work, then I can do some then, but I like to do my cooking in the afternoon when to of mine are down for a nap.
J: Oh yeah, that's perfect. Okay.
S: Oh, and I… my third tip, my third tip…
J: Mm.
S: … is adapt. It took me so long as a wife and a mother and a homemaker to realize that changing things in your routine doesn't make you a failure, it just means that you need to adapt for your current season. So a routine or something that you're doing in the summer when you're not necessarily homeschooling, if you have to change it up again in the fall, you haven't failed, you haven't done something wrong, you're learning to adapt and that is key. It's especially key for me and knowing that the same thing is not going to work maybe even 6 months. So just because you have to change things up in your home and how you manage things, doesn't make you fickle or a failure, it just means that you're adapting like a chameleon.
J: Right, right. And they say insanity… the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, so…
S: I've been there.
J: You're more sane than the rest… than everyone else, right?
S: Well, I believe that… that is the first person who's ever called me sane. Thank you, I think…
J: Aww, you’re welcome.
S: … I’ll put this down on my calendar.
J: (Laughs). Well, so let's talk about a few of your favorite things.
S: Okay.
J: Hmm, what's your favorite personal habit that contributes to your success?
S: Getting up early. I'm an introvert, actually what… I think some people call it, ambivert, is how you say, ambi…? I can… I'm an introvert who can be an extrovert if I have to.
J: Oh, okay.
S: So I have to get up early in the morning before even my husband wakes up because I thrive on a long time. So if I can get up in the morning and have quiet time alone where I do my devotions, and I like to letter, so I'll letter and then I check my email and I have my first cup of coffee and I get to do that all in quiet, then that sets the tone for the rest of my… and that's my happy place; that's my happy place.
J: Hmm, recharging.
S: Yes.
J: How early do you get up?
S: Well, I get up at 5:00, and I know that sounds strange to most people, but it's… it's quiet… it's so… it's wonderful.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: And the getting up, it's just worth it to me; so 5 o'clock for me.
J: I hear you; 5 o'clock is my hour as well.
S: Oh, well, way to go!
J: Yeah, yeah. Let's start a club, #5 o'clock. (Laughs)
S: There's actually a book (have you read it?) called ‘The 5 A.M. Miracle’. Did you see what (unclear) Crystal…
J: I haven't read that.
S: Ah, yeah.
J: Okay.
S: It's a really popular book called ‘The 5 A.M. Miracle’, yeah.
J: Okay, I'll check it out. Share your favorite easy meal that you like to eat regularly.
S: Ah, this is hard because I like to cook, but I'm really… I have a Crock… a Crock-Pot (well, I do you have a Crock-Pot) I have a Crock-Pot cookbook, but I have a couple pressure cookers and I really like my pressure cookers. There's a recipe in one of my pressure cooker cookbooks for a Cheeseburger Mac, but there's recipes all over Pinterest for Cheeseburger Mac. But I have this strange love and obsession with Cheeseburger Mac for whatever reason.
J: (Laughs)
S: It's just… it's the ultimate comfort food to me to sit down. Oh, if I had some right now, I'd be eating it when we got done.
J: Ooh, yeah.
S: But, yeah, Cheeseburger Mac just… it does it for me, baby.
J: So is that recipe on your blog?
S: No, it's in a cookbook called ‘Great Food Fast’, I believe; It's a pressure cooker cookbook on Amazon. So if you went to Amazon and typed in ‘pressure cooker cookbook’, it'll be one of the first ones to come up. ‘Great Food Fast’, I think is what it's called.
J: So you mentioned some pressure cookers, do you have an Instant Pot?
S: No, I do not. So you have this thing where I have 2 Crock-Pots so I feel like I can't justify buying an Insta Pot… Instant Pot. And I also have… I'm always afraid when I buy stuff like that that it will break.
J: Hmm.
S: So I'm more likely to go with a manual stovetop pressure cooker because it's going to last for a long time.
J: That's smart, that's smart.
S: And, you know, I'm weird; I swim upstream.
J: Well, speaking of kitchen items, what's your favorite kitchen gadget?
S: That would probably be my Zojirushi bread machine, Jen.
J: Wow.
S: Like I'm playing jeopardy.
J: (Laughs)
S: What is a Zojirushi bread machine?
J: Yeah, I want to know.
S: It's like the Cadillac of bread machines.
J: Ah.
S: And I used the basic dough recipe from the bread bakers and that is available online, and I just sock it in there… it's glorious. I just… I mean, I just throw everything in that pan and I come back later and there's like this magical dough that comes out and greets me and says, “Hello, baby.” It's… yes, I love it.
J: So… so it makes the dough or does it make the full loaf of bread too?
S: It makes… it will make the full loaf of bread, but I usually pull it out and because I use it for everything like pizza dough and rolls and whatever. But I like… it makes this gigantic loaf of white bread of giants and I don't think it looks pretty. And I have this issue with pretty food, I like my food to look pretty.
J: Ah.
S: So I have to pull my dog out and I put it in to smaller 8-inch loaf pans and bake it in the oven. But it does everything for me except that, and that part's easy.
J: Ah good, that sounds… I want to come eat at your house actually. (Laughs)
S: I would love… let me tell you, feeding people is my love language; I love to feed people.
J: Ah.
S: It just fills up my cup…
J: Oh, good for you!
S: … with coffee.
J: (Laughs). And cooking, for me, is a cup drainer; isn't that interesting? So…
S: Well, it sounds… yes, it sounds like we need to be neighbors.
J: That's right, that's right. There's got to be something that drains your cup that probably fills mine. (Laughs)
S: I'm sure there is. Do you scrapbook?
J: No.
S: Oh, okay, well, that's not it then.
J: (Laughs)
S: Do you sew?
J: No.
S: Oh, that’s not it either.
J: (Laughs). Well, we'll e-mail back and forth and figure it out; maybe I'll post it on the show notes.
S: Yeah.
J: So what's a favorite book that you'd recommend and why?
S: Okay, well, anybody who knows me knows what's getting ready to come up here and that would be ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying’ by Marie Kondo.
J: Uh-huh.
S: And I talked about it literally all the time. And if you've watched me, you know this. I mean, I talk about it even when I'm in the… doing a bread scope, I'll talk about it. It literally changed everything about this house. It started me to de-clutter the entire house and then we decided that we weren't in such a hurry to move so we decided to do remodel the whole house.
J: Uh-huh.
S: And, it's… it's… have you read it?
J: No, but I've read summaries of it. (Laughs)
S: Girl, a summary doesn't count. That's like saying you're in the CliffsNotes.
J: So… so tell me, I'm already a big de-clutterer just by nature, I was born that way. Like, in kindergarten, I would de-clutter; like that's not normal.
S: Oh…
J: So do you think the book would help me even though I have that trait already?
S: Yes. Do you know why?
J: Why?
S: Because Marie Kondo says she was the exact same way.
J: (Laughs)
S: And… but this new way that she didn't ever figure out the real reason behind the need to de-clutter until she was older, so yes, I think you would love it. It's… it's…
J: Uh-huh.
S: I had read a lot of things about de-cluttering before that book, but none really hit home for me until I read that and it was like a light bulb just clicked for me.
J: Uh-huh. So… so what is the… the reason behind that need to de-clutter? Give me a foreshadowing of the book.
S: That you should be surrounding yourself with your home and your… your entire life with things that bring you joy. And that the things that you have in your life that are taking up space that aren't bringing you joy, you just need to dispose of them and get rid of them.
J: Okay. So… so you got rid of a bunch of stuff.
S: I even KonMari-ed the bushes outside of our house because they did not bring me joy and we dug those puppies up. So, you know, nothing escapes KonMari.
J: (Laughs). Well, so I have the thought of doing this process, but the thought of all the work of finding what brings me joy seems miserable. (Laughs)
S: Well, I will not lie, it took me about 6 months. And at first, it…
J: Okay.
S: At first, you're like, “This is hard,” but after you get the hang of it, you're like, “Oh my goodness, this is awesome,” and it's like you can't stop yourself, it's like a caffeine grip. And, yeah, read it.
J: Okay, I will.
S: Yeah.
J: And one more question…
S: Okay.
J: … since you seem to really know this book. So you… you're de-cluttering…
S: Mm-hmm.
J: … and then then you run out of stuff, like you suddenly… I would have very few clothes to wear, for example.
S: Yeah, I had that problem.
J: But then with the debt-free living, then you have to suddenly… you know, you can't really go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, so how did you handle that part?
S: Well, I also have this other obsession called thredUP; have you heard of it?
J: Yes.
S: Okay. You can shop consignment clothes from your house; hello! I love technology… well, not really, but I love… well, I love online shopping because I don't have to leave my house, because the idea of going to the thrift store with 4 young children is enough to make me want a lobotomy.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: But if I can sit at my computer and, you know, da-da-da, size, medium shirt, “Oh, look, this is great,” put it in my cart, delivered to my door, “Yes, thank you, ma'am.”
J: Oh, okay, perfect.
S: Yes. There are lots of things I love, can you not tell?
J: Yes, you are an amazing homemaker and I love all these tips; this is great.
S: thredUP is where it's at; and they have kids clothes too.
J: Okay, I'll check it out. Yeah, and it's time to go school shopping so, perfect. Stacy, what's the best advice you've ever received?
S: Well, I talk about Crystal Paine a lot from Money Saving Mom because I'm a groupie.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: And I would have to say the best advice I ever received was one of her quotes where she says… and this is all about joy, are you ready?
J: Mm-hmm.
S: “Your response is your responsibility.”
J: Ooh.
S: I know, that's mind-blowing, but I think about it every day because it's true; you choose joy and you choose your response. So no one else is in charge of your response, only you. And I'm trying to teach it to my kids as well, but they're going to see a model through me, but my response to somebody who dumps their smoothie all over the kitchen floor is my responsibility and nobody else's.
J: That's right; ooh, but that's tough.
S: I know, for real.
J: That's a good one; awesome. Well, Stacy, now the final question; if you had to create a 3 to 5 part formula of actions that maximize your happiness, what would you include?
S: I would say that staying home and being with my people; my people being my family.
J: Mm-hmm.
S: That is… that is my recipe for happiness. Because being home, I think, is highly overlooked because people are so busy and their calendars are so full and they're run into this and that sport and this and that function, instead of staying home and cooking and eating meals with their family and playing out in the yard and being at home with my people.
J: Yeah.
S: Try it… try it sometime.
J: Oh, I love the same; being at home is the best.
S: It's happiness.
J: Yeah, not rushing so much, right.
S: Home is where the coffee is.
J: (Laughs). Right, right. Well, so listen… I wanted to tell our listeners that they can find links to everything we've been chatting about in today's episode by going to jenriday.com/22. And now, Stacy, we are so glad you could be on the show, but before we go, I'd love for you to give our listeners a parting challenge.
S: Okay. Well, I just have to say the first part of this podcast was really heavy and it's not my personality to talk about heavy things really often, so I was really happy to come to the end of this podcast and we talked about fun stuff that makes me excited.
J: (Laughs)
S: So if anybody at the first of this was like, “Dude, that girl, she's a real Debbie Downer,” I'm really not a Debbie Downer, I'm a fun girl. Wait, what was the question?
J: (Laughs). That's good, thanks for letting us know about that. And the question was a parting challenge for the listeners before we say goodbye.
S: I would say choose joy; # choose joy. It's kind of like these people, they say, “Well, I'm sorry I don't love you anymore,” and I always roll my eyes at that because that's ridiculous.
J: (Laughs)
S: Love takes work and you have to choose to love someone, and it's something that you just have to choose to do. And joy and happiness is the same way; you have to choose that that is something that you're going to do and not expect it to just fall in your lap, it… that's not how it works. If you're looking for a 3 step easy formula of how to make joy fall on your lap, there is no such thing.
J: Right.
S: You have to get up off your bottom and go out and choose it.
J: Right, right. Well, that's great advice. Thank you so much for being on the show. And, again, I'll remind our listeners that they can find links to all the books and amazing ideas and your blog by going to jenriday.com/22. And, Stacy, thank you so much for being on the show.
S: Well, thank you for asking me, Jen.
J: Yeah, it’s been great. And, again, remind our listeners where they can find you online.
S: You can find me at humoroushomemaking.com or I'm also Humorous Homemaking on Instagram and @Humor Homemaking on Twitter and Periscope.
J: Perfect, thanks so much, Stacy.
I had such a fun time talking with Stacy; she is a light and the joy. And as I mentioned in the beginning, Stacy does have a free printable meal planning guide for us. And rather than spell the whole URL out (it's a little bit long), you can go find it at jenriday.com/22, scrolling down to the resources section on that page. Be sure to join me next time when I talk with Barbara Bradley Hagerty who used to cover law and religion for NPR for 19 years and who now is a New York Times bestselling author of a couple of books, the most recent being ‘Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife’. Barbara and I discuss what it means to consider midlife an opportunity to change everything, rather than the downhill slide. It's a really interesting topic and I can't wait to share it with you. Talk to you soon, take care.
Outro: Thanks for listening to the Vibrant Happy Women podcast at www.jenriday.com.