I'll never understand...

My daughter who lives in Hawaii called me today while she was driving to school. We are separated by a 5 hour time zone difference so I don't normally hear from her in the middle of the day like that - I was a little surprised when she called. She started telling me how she had just heard about a news story that has upset her so much she can't get it out of her mind and she doesn't know if she'll be able to quit thinking about it all day.

An 18-yr-old man raped a 5-month old baby girl. I can't even begin to put my emotions into words. If you want to read more about it, go here.

Subservient Chicken

Have you ever seen this website? It's hosted by Burger King and is really quite funny! If you have some "free" time on your hands - go check it out.
http://www.subservientchicken.com

Toon-ful Tuesday

Jesus is our reliable basket. We can put all of our faith and love in Him. We can trust Him with our life, our cares, and our future.

Road Trip

So today I am in Ocala, FL writing from a hotel room. I'm waiting on my best friend to finish up a meeting she's at and then we'll be heading back home. Throughout the year, she has to attend city council meetings for various counties all over FL and she'd rather drive than fly and take the chance of her flights getting delayed or cancelled. I will often go with her just to keep her company or to help her drive. We have a great time talking in the car and catching up. We attend church together but our lives are so busy these days we might go a couple of weeks without talking to each other.

My friend has 2 daughters who will be 20 and 18 this year. They are a beautiful family. Her husband is the worship pastor at our church. Greg & I and the two of them used to do a lot together until November 2006 when they adopted a newborn baby boy - now their life is chaotic! LOL It's such a sweet story though.

They had tried to adopt in 2001 (I think that was the year?) and my friend went to the doctor to begin hormone treatments which would allow her to nurse her new baby boy. When the doctor ran bloodwork they discovered she had stage 4 ovarian cancer and they operated that week. What followed next was a year of chemo, radiation and sickness for my friend. She was told she had 6 months to live. She is still here - 7 years later - thriving, beautiful and healthy and they were able to adopt another gift from God 15 months ago.

Flowers

I love flowers. Not just roses but colorful, vibrant flowers. I used to get flowers a lot when Greg and I were dating. I know...I know... I hear jokes from comedians and others all the time about how once you get married the flowers stop coming. I've never understood that though. Perhaps it's because if Greg gave me flowers now as much as he used to then I wouldn't appreciate them?

He surprised me with a white rose last Saturday. It opened up so beautiful and has remained that way for over a week now. I look at it every day and am amazed at how long it has retained it's beauty!

Breakfast Pizza

Yesterday morning I made a Breakfast Pizza. It was FABULOUS!! I got the recipe from a friend when we all went on the Marriage Retreat back in February. She made it for us when we were staying in the chalet together. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it yourself.
1 pkg McCormick sausage flavor country gravy mix
Jimmy Dean Regular Sausage - this is the roll of sausage (I didn't use JD - I bought what was on sale! LOL)
pizza crust - premade, non-refrigerated kind (I will probably make my own crust next time)
1 8-oz pkg fiesta style shredded cheese

For one pizza - Brown half of the tube of sausage and remove from pan. If you want to make two pizzas (which I do because it tastes great leftover!) use the whole tube of sausage.

Mix gravy together in pan with sausage drippings and following the directions on the back of package. Rub a little olive oil on pizza crust, then spread the gravy on the crust, spread the sausage over the gravy and top with cheese. Bake at 375 degrees until cheese is melted and crust is light brown.

Meet the Church

Yesterday was our monthly Meet the Church day. I love these community projects we do every month! Dakota and I do this together and sometimes Greg will join us.

What is Meet the Church?

Our church, along with 4-6 other churches in our city, have been instrumental in getting this community missions-minded project going over the last year and a half. On the 3rd Sunday of every month we (all the churches involved) join together as one church and go out into the community to different project sites set up all around town and we spend the afternoon showing the love of Jesus to those in our community. We
don't go representing any one church in particular but as the body of Jesus Christ working together. That's the BEST part!!

Some of these projects include:

• a homeless ministry where we set up a shower trailer behind a local restaurant that is closed on Sundays but the owner has graciously offered their parking lot for us to use. The team that's working that project cooks a meal for the people, provides showers for them and a change of clothes (clothes that have been donated and socks and underwear that have been purchased), and 2-3 hairdressers set up to wash and cut hair and shave/trim beards. While the homeless men, women and children (yes, even children) are eating - volunteers talk to them about the love of Jesus and have began forming relationships with some of these people.
• visiting sick children at the Children's Hospital and praying with them and/or the family.
• visiting Hospice centers and praying with those that are dying or the family members of those that are close to dying.
• water/canned drink giveaway at Wal-mart or coffee/hot chocolate in the wintertime
• $5.00 gas card giveaway at Wal-mart
• cleaning elderly people's homes or yards
• cleaning up old cemetaries in run-down areas
  
• block parties in low income, crime-ridden areas - this has been such a success and has opened many doors! We started out by setting up a carnival type atmosphere in the playground area with a loud music, bounce house, kids games, face paint, coloring sheets, etc and we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs to feed the people. After several months of doing this and building relationships with the people in the neighborhoods and helping a few of them with some other immediate needs (not necessarily financial - but physical, manual labor type needs) we were able to preach the gospel from the stage. There have been many that have been saved through this process!
  

I worked at a block party yesterday where a new church from a neighboring town came and joined us. They wanted to check it out to see what this whole Meet the Church thing was all about because they kept hearing good things about it. They were excited to see how everyone worked together and the response from the residents. We couldn't have asked for better weather yesterday either!! It was fabulous!!

These pictures are actually from a Block Party we did back in October - I didn't take any pictures of yesterday's block party. (I had taken hundreds of pictures all morning of our Children's Easter Celebration party and I was tired of taking pictures LOL)
My pastor praying with one of the residents.


Dakota was in charge of the snowcone machine.


I coordinated this project. Once I got everybody situated I handled the drinks.


The kids love to have their faces painted!

Really need to get out...

I've been doing spring cleaning the last two weeks. I have to do it slowly. Take one small project at a time. Dust gives me a migraine so I can't handle too much dusting at one time. Lifting and sorting for more than a couple hours at a time will cause my back to ache for days. So I've stretched it out over the last 2 weeks. I'm still not done! Dakota has been helping me - he is a big help when he WANTS to be.

Because we've been doing this cleaning we haven't left the house except for church and one day two weeks ago when we went bowling with the homeschool group. I realized this last night when I decided I just had to get out. I was like a caged animal. Greg worked late. He has worked late everyday this week and he worked unusually late for a Friday night so when he finally arrived home I gathered my stuff and told him I was going grocery shopping. He looked at me surprised because I was going on a Friday night and asked me why I couldn't go tomorrow. But he doesn't understand....he leaves everyday to go to work and is gone all day so I realize he is ready to come home and rest. I needed to get out, anywhere! LOL

As I was preparing to go, Dakota started begging to go with me. At first I told him no because I didn't want him to rush me or bug me to buy this or that (not to mention the fact, he had a friend spending the night and I didn't want to be ganged up on in the grocery store.) I left without him - but as I drove away I experienced the sweet rush of escape....freedom....I could go anywhere I wanted....and my son's sad face came into mind. Crud!! I realized he is just like me and is just needing to be free for a little while also so I called him and told him to get ready because I was coming back to get him.

We drove up to Sonic and had banana splits and ice cream before we went grocery shopping. I was glad I ended up taking them with me because by the time I got home it was 10:30 pm and Greg was asleep and I had a lot of groceries to unload! The boys helped me!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh......It felt so good to get out for a little while.

Fibromyalgia with Hypermobility Syndrome

Back in the fall I posted that I was being tested for Lupus. After going through several rounds of varying blood tests and x-rays I was finally told in February that I have Fibromyalgia with Hypermobility Syndrome...the latter part is a big fancy word for being double-jointed.

I found out (much to my surprise!) from my rheumatologist that it's really not normal to be able to do some of the things that I can do. The funny thing is that this condition is hereditary which would explain why it seemed very normal to me because my mom and my three oldest children can all do the same things I can do, so we thought "everybody" was double-jointed.

I'm very thankful I don't have lupus! I am having to build up my muscles in my arms more because that's where the majority of my pain has been. With the exercises I've been doing and making sure I get plenty of rest I've been doing much better this last month.

Freebies for Friday

Healthful Life Purina Cat Chow

Doggie Delightz

Glad Forceflex Trash Bags (Walmart sample)

$31 P&G Coupon Book

Health & Beauty
Curel Life's Stages moisturizer

Cetaphil DailyAdvance Ultra Hydrating lotion

Escada Moon Sparkle fragrance

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power-Clear Srub

Always

OneTouch UltraMini Meter (for those with diabetes)

Maybelline Mineral Power Foundation

Magazines
Krylon 101 Scrapbooking Ideas (booklet by mail)

HP free instructor-led online classes (digital scrapbooking, photography, software, etc.)

Free magazine subscriptions at lowpricesubs (Family Fun, Wondertime and others)

HOME magazine subscription (from RewardsGold for completing survey)

Hallmark magazine subscription (from RewardsGold for completing survey) OR
Hallmark Magazine subscription (from Free Biz Mags)

Today's Diet & Nutrition magazine subscription (from Mercury Magazines)

Getting to Know: Breaking a Stubborn Habit book

AARP is giving away free retirement publications and free Marigold and money plant seeds.
To request them, go here. They are about halfway down the page under the heading "Making Your Retirement Savings Grow: Free Seeds"

For Men: FREE GIFT

Wow, how awesome is this! For those of you who have purchased the Gillette Fusion Phenom razor from CVS this last month in their GREAT deal they had (and if you haven't taken advantage of it - shame on you!) then now there is an even GREATER deal to add to this. Go here and follow the directions to receive a FREE toiletry bag and hand towel.

Grocery Shopping

How do you shop for groceries? Do you shop once a month, every two weeks, or do you make several weekly runs to the store only when you need certain items?

I used to like to shop every two weeks when my husband got paid. Now I try to shop weekly on a Wednesday or Thursday AFTER the new grocery store sales ads have come out and before the stores get real crowded before the weekend. Sometimes if I am out on Monday mornings I will pop into stores to see if they've reduced their meats from the weekend - you can generally catch some great sales on Monday mornings - but Monday is often my day to catch up on computer work/bookwork from the weekend so it's not often I'm out doing errands anymore.

I discontinued our newspaper subscription several months ago when I realized we could read all the news online for free and since we are trying to cut corners everywhere this would be a great place to start. At first I missed things like my grocery circulars and coupons, etc but I quickly found out that by going to my favorite store's website and signing up with them they now email me their weekly ad! We do still purchase the Sunday paper from the newstand because I can get my coupons and it's nice to have that big thick Sunday paper to lay around and read on our lazy Sunday afternoons after church - when I don't even think about turning on the computer!

Okay, so I like to shop at Winn-Dixie. I get my Winn-Dixie ad emailed to me and I click on the ad and it opens up in my browser. I quickly flip through it and add items to "my basket". (I can look through my coupons I have on hand either while I am making my list or check my list against my coupons after I have printed it out - I look at my coupons so much I have a pretty good idea of what coupons I have and what I don't have.)

When I'm done with that I can review my list or go ahead and print it out. This is the best part because after I have printed out my list and checked to see what coupons I have to match the items on my list, if I don't have a coupon for a certain item then I go online to Google and type in "that item coupon" or the name of the company and find a coupon to match that item!
I have been doing this for over a month now and I am amazed at the great coupons I've found that I can just print out online from these companies!

Here's a for instance. I decided I wanted to purchase some Tennessee Pride Sausage which is on sale this week 2 rolls for $5.00 but I didn't have a coupon for it. So I googled "Tennessee Pride Sausage" and it took me to this website where I found this coupon for $1.00 off 2 rolls of Tennessee Pride Sausage. So now I'm paying 2/$4.00.

I've been doing this for the last month and I am really impressed with how much money I've been able to save on our grocery bill. I'll know better at the end of the month after I have tracked this WHOLE month if I have cut our grocery/food expenses down...but as of right now I'm on the right track!

Build-A-Bear - FREEBIE

Build a Bear has a code now for $5 off any order online. There are several animals that are $5.00, such as this puppy. Use the code and just pay shipping ($2.95.)

At checkout enter: 92592 .....where it says do you have a coupon.

Daylight Savings Time

My husband is on call 24/7. He has a Blackberry permanently attached to his right hip so he can be reached at all hours of the day and night no matter what day of the week it is. I am very grateful he is so good at his job and so respected because it has allowed me to stay home with our children and spend my time raising them. I am also extremely grateful that he keeps his Blackberry on vibrate 99% of the time because it would become annoying very quickly as often as it goes off between the phone calls, IM's and emails.

Well this past weekend he was not on call. When he is on call I understand getting phone calls at 4:30 a.m. But when he isn't on call, I get a little irritated when his cell phone starts vibrating rather loudly on the nightstand at 4:30 in the morning. We both woke up pretty quickly. He answered his phone and I started nagging, talking in the background about "why was so and so calling you and not calling whoever's on call!?"

As soon as he gets off the phone he says "Ummm, it's 5:30 - we forgot about Daylight Savings Time."

Me: "Oh crud! We sure did! Thank you Jesus for that phone call!!!! We surely would have been late for church!!" Amazing how a little thing will change your perspective isn't it?

I talked to a lot of people this year that seemed to "miss" the DST announcements...what about you?

Restaurant Savings

Save 50% right now at Restaurant.com and get $25 gift certificates for $5. At the checkout simply enter the code LUCK and hit “apply”. This offer ends Sunday, March 16.

Toon-ful Tuesday

I love this one! We just spent the last 2 weeks discussing this in Sunday School so I thought this cartoon was perfect!

Cartoonist's Comment: This verse, from the parable of the sower, depicts some of the things that Jesus says will keep the Word from growing and producing fruit in our lives.

Fun Challenges

Try these out for fun!

The Blogger Spelling Test - you'd never believe I used to win Spelling Bees would you!!??

I Scored a 87%!

This was tricky - you are just naming countries off the top of your head - not looking at a map or anything...try this!

39

LOL, okay if you are reading my blog then you just HAVE to take this test!

45% Geek

Baby Steps - March Goals

I posted some New Year's Resolutions you can read about here if you are interested. Most of those I am still sticking to but there is one that I am crossing off the list and another one I am going to break down into smaller monthly "Baby Steps" so we can achieve a little bit of success along the way and be able to congratulate our victories along this journey rather that waiting until the end of our release from the bondage of debt. With that said, here's my goals for March (I realize by posting them on the internet for all the world to see, it makes me somewhat accountable! LOL):

1. Cook more meals at home - get our total food budget including eating out under $350
2. Begin putting money towards the $1000.00 Emergency Fund - Step #1 - Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover
3. Begin paying off our $2000.00 credit card - (the only one we have) and get rid of it
   

Eating in vs. Dining Out

I love going out to eat. We go out to eat a lot! In 2007 I kept track of where all of our money was spent (at least the money that was spent using Visa check cards/debit cards and the cash that had receipts turned in - dear husband still doesn't have the whole "turn all the receipts in" down pat yet so my record keeping is off a little bit.) Anyway, after running the end of the year report in the program I use I was astonished to find out that we spent close to $5000 last year just on dining out in restaurants or fast food joints! That works out to $400.00+ a month! That's a whole bunch of Happy Meals!!Needless to say, now that I have a year's worth of income/expenses to look at I can see where we need to "trim the excess spending" and this is the FIRST PLACE we are starting. So far in January of this year we spent $150.00 and in February we spent $250.00 (but we were out of town on that Marriage Retreat for a week too.) I am shooting for even less in March!

Last night I made this delicious homemade pizza crust that I "stole" from Monica's blog - The Full Table. My husband could eat pizza every night of the week and we generally order it from Pizza Hut at least once a week. I made two pizzas last night because Dakota had a friend spending the night so there would be 6 people eating - we all ate and had some leftover. My husband said this pizza was way DELICIOUS!!! I'll definitely be making it again!

I didn't have tomato sauce so I substituted this:
1 can of Italian style diced tomatoes on the boys pizza - since they don't like to "see" tomatoes I blended them up in the blender to make it into a sauce; then the toppings I put on theirs was ground turkey I had browned and plenty of cheese.
Garden style Ragu - spread parmesan cheese on the crust first, then small bit of Ragu, then fresh spinach leaves, fresh mushrooms, and topped it off with cheese.
Thanks Monica - it was great!!

Creative Correction

I started teaching a new Ladies Bible Study back in February called "Creative Correction" by Lisa Whelchel. You'll remember her from that TV show "The Facts of Life."

"You take the good,

You take the bad,
You take them both and there you have the facts of life.
The facts of life..."

Haha, now you're going to be humming the theme song in your head all day! Okay, I digress - back to my original intent of this post. This is a 7 week study if you include the Intro week. We are in week 4. I have enjoyed this Bible study immensely!

The only problem I have now is Dakota heard me talking about some of the "methods/correction ideas" Lisa suggested using - many of which I would like to begin implementing - and when he heard me talking about this he said "yeah, I hear you, don't even try it! That's stupid!" LOL

This may sound rude and disrespectful but Dakota is neither of these. What he is is lazy when it comes to chores and schoolwork which is my fault for being so laid back and now I am trying to figure out how to change that without being a complete tyrant about things. I love this approach so much because she focuses on our relationship with God being the same as our children's relationship with us. We are to God as our children are to us - therefore they mirror what they see. Boy talk about a kick in the pants!

She also gives great ideas for creative correction based on scripture that we should show our children so they understand we want them to follow God's commands the same way WE are following His commands so in essence they are learning to follow, love and serve HIM and not just us.

Walgreen's Deals 3/2 - 3/8

I hit my 3 favorite stores Monday night - Walgreen's, CVS and Winn-Dixie.
Here's the deals for Walgreen's.

They have a deal where you earn $12.00 in RR (register rewards which can be used like cash on your next purchase) for purchasing these select items:
Buy 3/$10.00 or 6/$20.00
Body Wash

• Old Spice
• Olay Botanical or Ribbons
• Zest

Antiperspirant/Deodorant or Body Spray

• Secret Platinum
• Old Spice Red Zone
• Gillette
• Tag

Pantene, Herbal Essence, or Aussie Hair Care

• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Stylers

So I purchased 2 sets of 6 items and I had coupons for almost everything I purchased - all my coupons were from the Sunday coupon inserts out of the newspaper.

1st Purchase
Herbal Essence Shampoo
Pantene Conditioner
Zest Body Wash
Olay Body Wash
Gillette deodorant
Gillette deodorant
Coupons took off $4.00 of the $20.00; Out of pocket = 16.00 plus tax; earned 12.00 RR

2nd purchase
Zest Body Wash
Herbal Essence Conditioner
Old Spice Body Wash
Gillette Deodorant
Herbal Essence Shampoo
Herbal Essence Conditioner
Coupons took off 6.33 (had a Buy 2 get 1 Free for Herbal Essences coupon)
Used 8.00 RR (wouldn't let me use all 12.00 of RR for some reason?)
Out of pocket 5.67 + tax

3rd Purchase
Skim milk - on sale 3.49
(2) Fruity Pebbles cereal - on sale 1.99 + used coupon $1.00 off 2
(3) packs of 12 rolls Angel Soft toilet paper (in store coupon 3/$8.00)
Used 4.00 RR left over from above purchase
Out of pocket 11.07

Total out of pocket on this trip = 32.74
Recap of what I brought home:
3 packs of 12-rolls toilet paper
2 boxes of cereal
1 gallon milk
2 Herbal Essence Shampoos
2 Herbal Essence Conditioners
3 Gillette Deodorants
2 Zest Body Wash
1 Old Spice Body Wash
1 Pantene Conditioner

Definitely not as great as CVS - but still better than paying FULL price for all of this.

CVS deals for the week of March 2nd-8th

Some of you may be wondering why I keep posting these "deals"...(speaking specifically to my daughter here since she called me yesterday and I told her I was working on writing this post about my "deals of the week" and she asked why I keep putting them on here)...it's because I have several people who read my blog and are trying to learn how to do this type of shopping and this is an example for them to follow. So bear with me as I lay it all out for those few people. This will be something I continue to do each week. If you aren't interested, you can always skip these posts.

1st purchase
4 Colgate toothpastes - $2.99 each; used coupons for $1.00 off and $1.50 off.
2 Bounce Lint Rollers - 2/$7.00; used coupons for $1.00 off
I printed off the Lint roller coupons twice because I was buying 2. The toothpaste coupons say you can only use one per household and it puts your name on the coupon so I suggest only printing off one each of those.

Your purchase will now be over $15.00 so you can use this coupon - get $5.00 off every $15.00 purchase. Go here to find out how to get these coupons.

For each toothpaste I earned 2.99 in EB (extra bucks) 4x2.99 =11.96
For the lint rollers I earned 2.00 EB

Out of pocket 9.46 + tax; earned 13.96 EB

2nd purchase
Phenom Razor 9.99 - 4.00 coupon from 2/10 Proctor&Gamble insert in Sunday's paper
Embrace Razor 9.99 - 4.00 coupon from 3/2 P&G insert
Mach 3 Razor 7.99 - 3.00 coupon from 3/2 P&G insert
Dawn dishwashing soap .97 - .25 coupon from P&G insert
(2) Cascade gel dishwasher 2/5.00 - (2) .50 coupons from P&G insert

I earned 6.00 EB for Phenom Razor
I earned 6.00 EB for Embrace Razor
I earned 5.00 EB for Mach 3 Razor

Used another $5.00 off/ $15.00 coupon
Used EB from purchase #1 = $13.96

Out of pocket 3.51; earned $17.00 EB

3rd purchase
Febreeze Noticeables Starter Kit - 3.00 off coupon from 3/2 P&G insert
Febreeze candle - 1.00 off coupon from 3/2 P&G insert
Glade Wisp Flameless Candle - $5.00 off coupon
Glade Wisp Flameless Candle - $5.00 off coupon
Tide Detergent - .50 off coupon
CVS moisurizing lotion

I earned $5.00 EB for my 2 Febreeze purchases
I earned $4.00 EB for my Glade Wisp purchases

Used another $5.00 off/$15.00 purchase coupon
Used EB from purchase #2 = 17.00

Out of pocket 8.24; earned $9.00 EB

So I spent a total out of pocket of $22.00 at CVS and I have $9.00 EB to use on my next trip!!

My stockpile is beginning to grow - in recap, this is what I got for 22.00:
4 Colgate Toothpastes
2 Bounce Lint Rollers
Phenom Razor
Embrace Razor
Mach 3 Disposable razors (set of 3)
Dawn dishwashing soap
2 - Cascade dishwasher detergent
Febreeze Noticeables Starter Kit
Febreeze Candle
2 - Glade Wisp Flameless Candles
Tide Detergent
CVS Moisturizing Lotion

Only in Florida...

Okay, so I read this on my friend's myspace blog and thought it was hilarious (because it is SOOOO true!!!)
Only in Florida -
...Socks are only for bowling.

...You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in five minutes.

...A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store, but everything to do with shade.

...Your winter coat is made of denim.

...You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites.

...Anything under 70 is chilly.

...You pass on the right and honk at the elderly, but pull over for a funeral.

...You've driven through Yeehaw Junction.

...You could swim before you could read.

...You have to drive north to get to? "The" South.

...You know that anything under a Category 3, just isn't worth waking up for.

...You dread love bug season.

...You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances...but Charley , Frances , Ivan and Jeanne.

...You think a six-foot alligator is actually pretty average.

...You were twelve before you ever saw snow, or you still haven't.

...'Down South' means Key West

...You think New York drivers licenses should only be valid in New York

...Flip-flops are everyday wear. (I say flips...u say flops!!)

...Shoes are for business meetings and church, but you HAVE worn flip flops to church before. (shamelessly I admit I do all the time! LOL)

...Sweet tea can be served at any meal.

...An alligator once walked through your neighborhood.

...You smirk when a game show's 'Grand Prize' is a trip or cruise to Florida~~oooohhh...aaaahhh!!!

...You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.

...You think everyone from a bigger city has a northern accent.

...You know the four seasons really are: hurricane season, love bug season, tourist season and summer

...It's not soda, cola, or pop. it's coke, regardless of brand or flavor, 'What kinda coke you want?'

...Anything under 95 is just warm.

...You've hosted a hurricane party.

...You understand the futility of exterminating cockroaches.

...You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee , Ichnatucknee, Wewahitchka, and Withlacoochee

...You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat, than have a boat yourself.

...You were 25 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.

...You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas.

Spring is in the air

Dakota decided to go out of town with his grandparents yesterday for a family reunion. Poor guy had no clue what he was getting himself into...I don't go to those anymore because everybody I knew has died. I'm not one to sit around and listen to the "old-timers" tell stories of who did what with who and when they did it because I don't know who the people are and I don't care what they did. This probably makes me sound heartless and uncaring but it's kind of hard to connect when you see these people once a year and they don't remember you from year to year.

I say all of that to say this - when church was over Greg and I both hit the front door like a bullet from a gun. It was a beautiful day and we both had the same idea! Head to the beach! We rushed home, changed clothes, packed up some bottled water, towels, our iPods and our chairs and we were ready to roll.

It was a glorious day out there...oh my goodness, the sun on my face felt wonderful! I guess a whole bunch of other people had the same idea because the beach was packed! We drove further away from the main part of the beach and we were still around a whole bunch of people. We stayed out there enjoying the sun and listening to our iPods for about 2 1/2 hours before the wind started getting too chilly for us so we packed up and left. That was enough time for us to both get burnt though. I was hoping this was the start of Spring...but after watching the weather this morning on the news I see it's supposed to rain tonight and turn cold again this week. Oh well, I enjoyed yesterday!

Walgreen's Leap Day Coupons

Walgreens has some special sales for .29 today only in honor of Leap Day. You can pick them up here.

Addicted to Shopping!

I have been a shopping fool lately BUT not in the sense you might imagine. I am getting so addicted to FRUGAL shopping!! It has been time consuming because I am learning the ropes, so to speak, but I am trusting the more I do this the easier it will become.

This past Sunday I pulled out the sales flyers for CVS, Walgreen's, Target and Walmart and the coupons from my Sunday paper and I spent the last couple of days perusing these ads/flyers as well as The Coupon Mom's website for her free weekly list of coupon savings at these stores. The thing I like about her website is you can choose what you want from her list and just print off only what you want for each store...which I did - for Walgreens, CVS, Winn-Dixie and Walmart.

Thursday is my day to run errands because I take Dakota to his homeschool park play day - (we hang out with other homeschoolers all afternoon and just play) but yesterday one of his friends came home with us so I only hit Walmart on the way home. I didn't want to bore them by stopping at the other 3 places because I knew they wanted to get home and play.

After Greg got home from work last night I went back out to the other 3 stores. I ordinarily wouldn't do this because the gas usage would probably offset any savings but I actually was looking forward to some "alone" time in the stores to just leisurely peruse the aisles and since all three stores are in the same vicinity I didn't think it would be too bad to do it this time.

First Stop - Walgreen's - Total spent out of pocket $16.37

1. Purchased 2 boxes cereal & 2 boxes Quaker Chewy Granola Bars - 4/$10.00
   Received $4.00 register rewards (used as cash for my next purchase) - Paid $10.38
2. Purchased 2 packs of Charmin Toilet Paper (6 rolls/pk) - 2/$5.00 with coupon; potting soil - .99 w/ coupon; 2 - 6 pks water 2.49 (Buy one get one free) Used my $4.00 RR from previous purchase so paid $5.99
   

Next Stop - CVS - Total spent out of pocket $25.18

1. Gillette Phenom Razor - $9.99 - 4.00 coupon earned $6.00 extra bucks (EB) Paid 6.74
2. Revlon eyeliner & eye shadow - used 6.00 EB; earned 10.00 EB Paid 17.18
3. 4 bags of Nestle Easter candy (4/$10.00) - used 10.00 EB; Earned 5.00 EB; Paid 0.00
4. 2 Degree deoderant (men & women's) on sale for 1.99 & had coupon for 1.00 off; M&M's - buy one get one free + coupon for 1.00 off; used 5.00 EB....they would have owed me change and they couldn't do that so I grabbed a chapstick and told cashier to just ring that up so total paid 1.26
   

Between WalMart and Winn-Dixie where I purchased food my totals came up to 89.00 before coupons; after coupons I paid a combined total of $74.00.

This is so exciting because I normally spend anywhere from $200.00-260.00 when I go grocery shopping but yesterday's total was only $115.55!!!

Sportsmen Spectacular

Our church has an annual outreach event we just finished up last weekend. It's called the Sportsmen Spectacular. This year makes the 7th year we have done this. When we first started we held this event in our church until we outgrew that and had to change venues. So we moved to one of the buildings at the Fairgrounds. We've been out there the last 4 years - but after last year we had to move to an even bigger building for this year's event! It was so exciting to see the crowds this year! The doors opened at 4:30 and the people were lined up by the hundreds out the door waiting to get inside.

(Greg and Mac Seibert)

Mac was the guest speaker this year. He's an old friend of ours we used to attend church with about 10 years ago. I taught his oldest son in Sunday School when he was 4 years old and now his son is taller than me! (Gotta love those moments...haha) Mac is a former Major League Baseball scout and now the manager of our local Pensacola Pilots baseball team. He is a very Godly man and God used his testimony last weekend to touch many lives at the event.

We charge $7.00 per person for dinner (pulled pork, rice, beans, corn on the cob, homemade banana pudding for dessert and a variety of drinks.) We had over 90 door prizes (knives, guns, hunting gear, fishing gear, camping gear) to give away with the last and best prize being a 4-wheeler. All of the door prizes are donated every year.

My job this year was photographer! I love to take pictures so I got to walk around the whole evening and take all the pictures. Greg's job was to shuttle people back and forth from the parking lot in the golf cart. When he got done with that he came and relieved me from picture duty so I could eat something (and he snapped this one picture of me and my good friend Nancy.)

Wish I could take credit for this neat picture with the deer head all lined up (and lit up) in the background but dear hubby took this picture....I thought it looked so cool!

I think at the end of this evening we had 38 people accept Christ. :-)

Toon-ful Tuesday

Cartoonist's Comment: When we break God's Command, we run head on into sin, which will leave us damaged. But God doesn't want us to remain broken down on the side of the road. We should confess our sin to Him, receive His forgiveness, and get back on the road.

My sweet Bailee

The last time I saw Bailee was in October when I flew out to California to babysit for my daughter and son-in-law while they attended a Marine Ball. Bailee was just turning 1 year old and was so attached to her momma that everytime I watched her that week all she did was scream herself to sleep. I felt so bad for her because she couldn't stand to be out of her momma's sight.

That has all changed now! We were pleasantly surprised 2 weeks ago to find out that Tina and Bailee were making a "surprise" visit into town. Bailee LOVES us again!! She cries when WE walk away from her and wants US to constantly pick her up. It was so awesome havign them home for a short visit! Unfortunately this visit came at the same time Greg and I went on our marriage retreat but it allowed Tina & Bailee to go visit other family in town while we were out of town.

Bailee gets her blue eyes from me - her Yaya. She loves to see herself in the camera and video camera after I take pictures and video of her. She is 15 months old and chattering away non-stop.

Tina and I managed to go out one night by ourselves while she was in town. We left Bailee with Tina's mother-in-law. Tina was worried about how Bailee would get along without her for the evening but she was fast asleep when we got back to the house to pick her up. We went and saw the movie "Fool's Gold" with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. (It was a cute movie but too much foul language for my taste - I really don't like movies that use the Lord's name in vain repeatedly.)

Tina and her sweet baby girl the day before they leave town. She has a flight at 6:00 a.m. Saturday to go back home. It certainly is going to be quiet around here with little chatterbox gone!!

Bailee-boo crawled right up into bed with Pops her first night here and took his remote control away, pulled up the covers and got settled in like she had found her spot to sleep.

I think Bailee's 2nd most favorite person here in Pensacola is her Uncle Dakota. She followed him around from room to room to room. If he stopped long enough, her little arms went up just begging him to pick her up....and he always obliged.

Back and feeling refreshed

We left last Tuesday afternoon, 2/12, around 3:30 (after Greg got finished with a last minute meeting he had at work which ended up lasting all day - he wasn't a very happy camper) -- we had planned on leaving early Tuesday. Greg had to drive in thunderstorms the majority of the way to Gatlinburg. We had a wonderful drive together though - we were really looking forward to our week away! Around 11:00 pm we stopped at a gas station to stretch our legs and when we walked inside we could smell pizza cooking. Greg LOVES pizza! He asked me if I wanted some and I told him I would eat some of his (my normal response - LOL - saves me from eating so much!) so we walked over and got in line. The pizza place was next to a little chicken place. The young boy behind the counter at the chicken place announced that he was getting ready to close and if anybody wanted FREE chicken they could come get it because otherwise it was all going in the trash. Hmmmm, did he say FREE!?! That FREE beats Pizza anyday! We walked over and said "well, we'll take a chicken breast and a thigh." That boy took two boxes and filled them slam full with breasts, chicken strips, thighs, potato logs, and biscuits!! What a blessing it was!

We arrived around 1:00 am our time (2:00 Gatlinburg/central time). We were staying this first night with another couple in their time share instead of in the chalets with the other 7 couples who drove up early. There were only supposed to be 6 couples plus ourselves who arrived on Tues and the 7 of us were going to stay in the chalet that first night but then at the last minute another couple decided they wanted to go up early too and they were just going to sleep on an air mattress until we told them we would stay at the time share condo with some friends. Not a sacrifice - let me assure you!! LOL This was a VERY NICE condo!

I am so glad we decided to go one day early or else we would have completely missed the snow! When we woke up Wednesday morning it had started with a few snow flurries. By about 10:00 am it was really snowing and the wind was blowing and the temp was dropping. We walked around downtown and took pictures everywhere as the snow began to stick on everything - it was beautiful! The people who waited until Wednesday to come up missed it unfortunately because our temps the rest of the week were in the high 50's and low 60's....the snow was gone!

On Friday we took a group into the Smoky Mountains. So many of the couples that were up here with us on this retreat had never been to Gatlinburg before so all of this was new to them. We had such a wonderful time on this retreat! We stayed in a chalet with these two couples as well as 3 other couples. We were up VERY late every night shooting pool, playing games or learning how to play Guitar Hero on the Wii (my NEW addiction!! - this was soooooooo much fun!)

Me up at Newfound Gap. We drove up there and then over into Cherokee, NC. It was cold up here!

Greg playing in the icicles!

Mingo Falls - we hiked up to these Falls - actually this hike is considered easy to moderate - there are 163 steps up to see them...most of us were worn out after walking up these steps! These Falls are in Cherokee, NC on the Indian Reservation and not actually in the National Park. It was beautiful - they are some of the tallest Falls in the Smokies.

Greg wanted us to walk out there to have our picture taken in front of the Falls. I was scared to death of the slippery terrain. Our dear friends who were holding our cameras have several lovely shots of me on my hands and knees climbing over there to this log! Uhhh, gee thanks!

This shot was taken Sunday morning as we were preparing to leave. It was a sunrise picture my husband captured. The clouds look so neat! We left at 8:00 am for our 8 hour drive back home.

Our last picture before leaving from the chalet. We had such a wonderful week together and with 17 other couples from church - we were all sad to see it end!

We ended up driving home in awful, horrible weather. Greg has a Blackberry for work and he kept getting the emergency weather notification emails through his Blackberry for our area at home. We heard that a tornado had just gone through our area where we live and we knew our family was in church and would be getting out of church soon so we were anxiously waiting to hear from them. We started listening to the radio as we drove because we could tell the weather was turning worse and worse the farther south we were headed. Once our family started getting out of church, the phone calls started - they began calling to let us know that we were headed for horrible tornado weather. We drove through Prattville, AL between tornadoes. We saw destruction, trees down, construction cones blown all over the road and car accidents all day long. We even watched an SUV hydroplane and spin out in the median - praise God they never flipped!

As soon as we got off the interstate near our house we pulled off the road at a gas station and met up with our friends we'd been traveling with (they were in a truck behind ours most of the way)
and we were all praising God for our safe journey home and talking about all the destruction we had seen and thanking God that the sun had come out now and we looked over and saw this rainbow peeking out....I love rainbows....always reminds me of God's promises!

Gen 9:13	I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Gen 9:14	Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
Gen 9:15	I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
Gen 9:16	Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
Gen 9:17	So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”