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.”

Toon-ful Tuesday

Marriage Retreat - Here we come!

We are heading out to Gatlinburg tomorrow!! I may or may not be able to update my blog while away. Not sure if I'll have internet access or the time to do it. Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Finances: Men vs Women

Read a couple of noteworthy blogs recently.

BeingFrugal.net posted a list "What Women Wish Men Knew About Money" in response to another interesting blog by The Wisdom Journal titled "7 Things Men Wish Women Knew About Money."

As far as the woman's point of view...most of that was right on...what about from the man's point of view?

Free Pictures

Just in time for Valentine's Day!

CVS is offering a free 5x7 enlargement or photo collage until 2/10/08. Here's the coupon for that. Remember, it expires 2/10!

Walgreen's is offering a Free Family Value Photo Pack through Saturday only. Go here for more details.

Challenges

The pictures are not the best...I have already placed these pictures in my scrapbook years ago and I didn't want to take my scrapbook album apart to scan these pages so I took the lazy way out and just re-photographed the pictures in my album...hence the reason they are blurry.

I recently began thinking about this trip I took with my daughters back when they were in 8th grade. I think it was in 2000. This was to be a leadership building trip full of challenges and self-esteem building activities. I went along as a chaperone. It turned out to be quite a "challenging" trip for me as well. Everything the kids had to do - the chaperones had to do. We were not exempt from anything!

Our first stop was Cloudland Canyon State Park for a strenuous 5 mile hike. It was a beautiful hike but there were parts where we had to rely on one another to help us climb up and down steep enbankments. Everyone was exhausted by the time we were done.

The 2nd day we went to Raccoon Mountain for a Wild Cave expedition. We were told to wear clothes that we could throw away after we came out of the cave because we would be so dirty we would NOT want to keep these clothes! We got our gear on...helmet with light, kneepads, and gloves and began our journey down into the caves. We walked, crawled on our knees, slithered on our bellies, and pulled ourselves through holes and up ropes through the caves for four hours. By the time we got out, our bodies were bruised, battered and exhausted but it was an awesome, amazing feeling of accomplishment at having completed this together.
Yes, "they" were right....as soon as we came out of the caves, we grabbed our bag of clean clothes off the bus and headed for the bathrooms and got cleaned up. We tossed these muddy filthy clothes in the trash (shoes included)!

After we left Raccoon Mountain, we drove to Ocoee, TN and stayed in Horn's Creek Cabins for the remainder of the week. This was a beautiful retreat set-up complete with horseback riding and ropes course. We participated in both of these activities the next day. The only thing I did on the High Ropes Course was the zip line....had to climb up a 40 foot ladder to the top of a tower and was strapped into the zip line and then was supposed to jump off this tower to go flying through the woods 200 feet down the mountain on this "thin" zip line. Yeah, easier said than done! Looks easy until I was actually standing UP at the top of this 40 foot tower looking down!! Then I tried backing out. The instructor informed me the only way down was either the zip line or climbing backwards back down that ladder....which wasn't very comforting....so the zip line won.

He tells me "Just Squat and drop" as in - I don't really have to jump...just squat and push off the side. By this time all the kids below are saying "Come on, you can do it, come on!"

So I FINALLY do it and I close my eyes and SCREAM the entire ride down....then I slam into this large trampoline thing hanging from the trees and it sends me back up the zip line!! WHAT?!

Here I am going back and forth until I slow down enough for the instructor at the bottom to grab me. My daughter comes running up to me..."Mom, wasn't that great!!!????" My legs are like jelly..."umm, yeah, great!"

She starts heading to the next high rope obstacle..."C'mon mom!"

"Hmmmm, I think I'll watch this one." I decided one was enough for me that day!

Our last day in TN we went whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River. I had never been before so this was something I was really looking forward to. I was in a raft with the other teachers/chaperones. We had such a great time!

On the way home the kids were rewarded with a trip to Six Flags over GA. The chaperones/teachers were all so exhausted from the week long trip of "adventure" that all we did was sit and talk in different restaurants and areas throughout the park the entire day. Kids were making fun of us all day because we didn't ride rides or anything. We told them we had had enough adventure for one week!

Frugal Shopping

I have been following a couple of bloggers lately who do a lot of shopping at CVS and Walgreen's. They save a lot of money by shopping there and using the various customer rewards programs offered by the two stores. If you haven't signed up for CVS' Customer ExtraCare reward card you can do that here. It's free and you earn Extra Value Bucks (EVB) on many purchases made throughout the store. These EVB can be used just like regular cash. When used with other coupons and discounts you can purchase many items for deeply discounted prices or FREE!

Walgreen's has a monthly Easy Saver Rebate program you can participate in. They publish a monthly Rebate flyer which you can pick up at the front of the store for Free or view it online and once you've made all your purchases, you complete the form and mail it back to them and they will send you a Walgreen's gift card with all the rebate money you earned on there. This Rebate flyer is also full of coupons which are different from the weekly ads Walgreen's puts out.

I went to CVS last night to pick up a few things we needed and this is how my purchases went (I was very pleased with what I got for my money!):

2 bags of M&M's: 2/$4.00 received 2 EVB
also used coupon $1.00/2 bags so actually paid $1.50 per bag + received 2 EVB

Purchase $10 of these items get $5 EVB
Irish Spring Body Wash 3.99
Softsoap 3.99
Toothpaste 2/5.00
Used 2.00 coupon so paid $11.00 + received $5 EVB

Lysol Neutra Air on sale 2/$5.00 and used coupon Buy one, get one free - register deducted the regular price of $2.99 instead of sale price; Advil was 6.99 and received 2.00 EVB so total price paid for this was $9.00 + received 2.00 EVB

Now I have a total of 9 EVB and I used those on the personal hygiene products which cost 12.58 total so after applying my $9.00 EVB I paid $3.58 cash.

Total cash paid for this trip $26.58

I am pleased with this first trip because had I purchased all of these items at another store I would have paid much more than this. I hope to collect more coupons and refine this "art of frugal" shopping this year.

Marriage Retreat 2008

I love to organize events! I run the Women's Ministry at my church and I'm always organizing something for that. If not for that, then I'm sometimes called upon to help plan other activities - for example our 2nd Annual Marriage Retreat in Gatlinburg, TN! We are leaving in 2 weeks for 4 days in the mountains - no kids, just adults...skiing, staying up late, going to a show, hanging out and having a good time. We had so much fun last year on this trip! Just to give you an idea of how to do this, I thought I would share with you the details of our trip. Cost per couple - $400.00 - includes lodging, activities, and all meals except travel meals (basically lunches) and one dinner.

Lodging- Mountain Laurel Chalets - if you pay for 3 nights you get one night free. We have 3 chalets rented and we were originally scheduled to go from Wednesday - Saturday only. When I found out about the free night's rental I gave everyone a choice of arriving early on Tuesday or staying an extra night Saturday. Once people gave me their answers I booked one chalet for an extra day on Tuesday and the other two chalets for Saturday night (at no extra charge!)

Meals - For those of us arriving early on Tuesday and those staying after on Saturday everyone is on their own as far as expenses go...but we are staying in a chalet so we can just purchase groceries and cook together those nights.

The meals I had to provide for with the money each couple paid was Wednesday night, all breakfasts, Thursday lunch, Friday Lunch, Friday night. I have 19 couples going which gives me 38 people so that is a great "group rate" to work with!
Wednesday night - $17.25 per person all inclusive (tax, tip, drink, dessert and choice of meat - several choices to choose from) Applewood Farmhouse Grill
2 free meals w/ group
Thursday Lunch - $7.75 per person all inclusive (1 free meal w/group) Bennett's BBQ
Friday Lunch - purchasing supplies for sandwiches, drinks, snacks for picnic lunch because we'll be driving into the Smokey Mountains for the day and hiking to a waterfall (weather permitting) - no restaurants will be around us.
Friday Dinner - going to prepare lots of chili and have it slow-cooking all day while we are in the Smokey Mountains so it will be ready for us when we get back to the chalets. (dessert, bread, cheese, crackers to go with that)

Activities We'll be having Morning Sessions on Marriage on Thursday and Friday at 9:00 am for about an hour and a half.
On Thursday after lunch most of the group will be going skiing at Ober Gatlinburg from noon - 10 pm. The group rate is $37.00 and includes tram ride, lesson, lift ticket and ski equipment. Those of us who aren't skiing will be shopping or perhaps attending a show of some sort - this is the off-season and a lot of the shows are closed right now (I'm still working on this part - but it will cost about 40.00 per person whatever we do! LOL)

On Friday after our morning session, and weather permitting we will be driving into the Smokey Mountains up to Newfound Gap and over towards Cherokee, NC. My plan is to hike to Mingo Falls because it is a short hike - less than 1 mile round trip.

Friday evening we are going into Pigeon Forge to The Comedy Barn

I will leave you with this clip from The Comedy Barn...it's long (9 mins) but if you haven't seen it, it's a hoot!!

Spiritual Gifts

8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,^[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.^[b] 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines....

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues

This passage comes from 1 Corinthians 12 in the Bible. Paul is speaking to the Christians in the city of Corinth and reminding them how important each one of them is to Christ and the churchbody as a whole. They each possess a gift specifically given to them BY God to be used for His purposes.

I've known what my spiritual gifts have been for years. However, I recently took a spiritual gifts test just to see how I "scored" since it's been about 6 years since I took my last test. I was surprised to see how much my score had changed, reflecting my growth over the last few years I guess. Faith has always been #1 - it still is. Mercy and Helps used to be my next two dominant gifts with Evangelism, Wisdom, and Administration at the very bottom of the list. NOW my test came out like this: Faith, Administration, Wisdom, Evangelism, Mercy...(I was really surprised!)

Gotta have my chapstick

On the local forum I moderate online a question was brought up yesterday asking what weird habits we had. It was quite funny reading some of the responses people posted - from how they ate their food (in certain orders, by colors, in number fashion) to how they organized their home and office space. Makes you realize everyone is kooky in their own right! LOL

But this reminded me of a particular instance about 7 years ago when my twin daughters were around the age of 13 and wanted to go see teen queen Brittany Spears in concert. (She was actually really cute back then!) She was coming to our civic center here in town and the Civic Center was kind enough to set up a Parent Room at no charge for all of us parents to hang out during the concert if we didn't want to actually attend the concert with our children. For the sake of money, no I didn't want to attend the concert - I already was putting out a bunch of money for 2 tickets; I didn't want to buy another one for me when I didn't care for her music anyway so this Parent room was a terrific idea!

My daughters were so excited! My plans were to deposit them where they needed to go, find out where the Parent Room was and when the crowds thinned out a little bit I was going to head back out to my car to get my scrapbooking tote and purse, come back inside the parent room and work on my scrapbook for the next 3 hours while they enjoyed the concert....or so that's what I thought! Well, I was wrong!

Once I got up to the Parent Room (with only my cell phone in hand) I was informed that I could not leave the building until the concert was over. If I left the building I was not allowed to re-enter the building. The problem with that was the kids whose parents were in the Parent Room were wearing a special wristband and they were not going to be allowed to leave the building without their parent. These kids were going to be brought to the Parent Room AFTER the concert was over. It's not like we had matching wristbands or anything...so if I left the building I had no idea what they would do with my girls.

I was stuck! With only my cell phone....no scrapbooking supplies, no purse....wait a minute, no purse? If no purse, that means, NO CHAPSTICK!!!!!! The realization and horror of it all began to sink in. I HAVE TO HAVE MY CHAPSTICK! I began to pace like a caged animal. These people just didn't understand. I can't be in this building for 3 hours without chapstick!! Are they crazy??!! I mean, seriously I am the lady that has tubes of chapstick all over the house. I have it hanging on my bedpost for crying out loud so I don't have to look for it in the middle of the night when I wake up with dry lips!

I went into the bathroom and called my mother and told her the dire situation I was in. She would understand! She could fix it! She listened to my tale of woe and suggested driving all the way downtown to me (30 min drive) and bringing me some chapstick....she could come to the door and throw it to me. (If I didn't feel so bad for her having to get out and drive an hour round trip I probably would have taken her up on her offer! She's such a sweetie!!) But I told her "No, let me get off of here and calm myself down and just pray about this. I am getting myself all worked up and angry. I just need to make the best of this."

That's exactly what I did. I hung up the phone and I prayed. I prayed for God to give me something to occupy my time because at that time of my life I was EXTREMELY introverted and detested making small-talk with people....hence the reason for bringing my scrapbooking supplies (to keep me busy and occupied so people would leave me alone!) I prayed that He would help me with my crazy "dry lips" problem. I prayed my daughters would have a great time inside at the concert despite their neurotic mother's breakdown in the next room! LOL

About 30 minutes later I was sitting at a table just people watching and one of the Civic center employees walked into the room and announced that they had set up a mini-conference next door for anyone who was interested. They had arranged for a child psychologist to come speak and have a question & answer session on raising teenagers. Hmmm, this might be interesting I thought. So I walked over there. Upon entering the room, I was given a goodie bag. Inside the goodie bag was a TUBE OF CHAPSTICK!!! Awwwww, my God is good!!

By the way, this conference was FANTASTIC too! I didn't have enough notepaper to write on! I didn't want the evening to end! God is good all the time!

I've been Tagged (again!) LOL

ClaireBoe tagged me for this meme. This should be fun!

Here are the rules:

1. You must post the rules before you give your answers.
2. List one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details).

E - enjoys riding motorcycles through the country
L - loves hanging out with my girlfriends!
I - I am not a worrier and it drives my husband crazy...lol
S - seashells, shoreline, seaspray, sunshine, seaweed, salty smell of the ocean - my favorite SUMMER sights and smells
A - always seeking to glorify God in everything I do and hopefully let the light of Christ shine through me.

Okay, I tag:
Sniz (I know you get tagged all the time but I only have so many people to choose from! LOL)
Monica
Binx (this is an easy one for ya!)
Sandy (maybe this will jumpstart your blog again!!

Well, I'll have to leave it at that because the other people I would choose have already been tagged or for sure wouldn't do it anyway so why bother ya know what I mean? LOL
Have fun ya'll!

The Vote is In

Yes, we are in Florida which means we had our Primaries yesterday. I am not into politics at all. I hate having to decide who to vote for! I end up asking my family members and close friends their advice and then I research as much information as I can online - mainly through Focus on the Family and Christian Coalitian websites. I can always tell right away who I am NOT going to vote for and I'll narrow it down to about 2-3 people and then agonize over which one to finally choose.

It's actually quite funny talking politics with family members. I lived with my dad and step-mom as a teenager and they are of the mindset that you don't talk about who you vote for. It's a "very private matter" to be guarded until you breathe your last breath so no chance finding out who THEY actually voted for.

My mom and step-dad on the other hand are very open about their choice and will defend their choice to one another because they don't always agree on the same candidate.

I sent away for absentee ballots this year for Greg and I just because I liked the idea of filling it out at home and not having to worry about going somewhere and standing in line to vote on Tuesday, 1/29. I filled mine out and sealed it while Greg was at work. After he filled his out he asked me who I voted for. I jokingly said "I'm not telling you!"
He said "I know who you voted for. You're so predictable."
He guessed and he guessed right....turns out we were on the same page because he voted for the same person. :-)

Anyway, I didn't vote for McCain or Clinton but that's who won in our primaries :-(

Fascination with Poop

After reading my blog friend Sniz's latest post on "POOP" it reminded me of this horrible game we played at my daughter's baby shower. I am sure some of you have played the dreaded dirty diaper game! I couldn't believe when the host of her baby shower announced we were going to play this game. It about made me sick to my stomach when they started passing these diapers around and all these women were putting these nasty melted chocolate "poopy-looking" things up to their noses and smelling them to try to guess what flavor chocolate bars they were! GROSS!! Needless to say, I sat this game out....my stomach couldn't handle this little game.

Meet the Spartans

Okay, so Dakota has been waiting for weeks for this movie to come out. He has literally been counting down the days until 1/25/08 - because that was the day this movie was going to come to the movie theater.

Well, when I saw the trailer for this movie I said "uh uh, no way! I am NOT going to see this movie....this is a DADDY movie!" LOL, yeah, sounds good, I'll pawn this movie off on daddy!!

So I tell Dakota that I have plans Saturday night to go out with a friend and perhaps he and daddy could go see this movie then. He asks his daddy and daddy agrees. (LOL - little did daddy know what he was getting himself into at this point.) Sometime after I fell asleep last night, my dear darling husband wakes up and begins watching television and he sees an ad for this movie. Oh no! When we go to breakfast (our regular Saturday ritual) he tells me he saw the ad...(gulp)...and he is NOT about to go see this stupid movie. He can't believe I told Dakota that HE would take Dakota to see this movie! LOL

Anyway, to make a long story short....we got Dakota to call around and find a friend to go with him and we dropped him off and after the movie we took the young man back home - clear across the other side of town - but it was soooooooooo worth it! It saved us from sitting through this disastrous movie and the boys loved it!

Rick and Bubba

My husband listens to the Rick and Bubba show on the radio. I was sad to hear that Rick's 2-yr-old son, Bronner drowned Saturday. I listened on the radio this morning as they played Rick's speech from his son's Memorial Service this past Tuesday. I was amazed to hear what he had to say about this precious little boy and his death. I don't think I'd be able to speak at my own child's funeral service much less with the passion and strength Rick spoke with! This is worth sharing with all those you love. (It is a 3-part video)

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
1 Thessalonians 5:10

Dumb & Dumber (follow-up)

If you missed my previous post about Dumb & Dumber you might want to catch up on that before reading this follow-up story. I was referring to a friend of ours, Bob who has two brothers who fight like crazy.

Last time I posted, Dumb was sitting in jail and Dumber was furious at Bob for trying to help Dumb out so Dumber was trying various legal tactics to seek revenge on Bob. Craziness I tell ya!

So today the whole circus group arrives at the court house for their day in court. I went along as a character witness for my friends - turns out though Dumber made enough of an a$$ of himself on his own that my friends didn't need any character witnesses for themselves. All charges were dropped against Dumb and he was given permission to live at Bob's house. The judge threw out everything and told Dumber & wife that they needed to stop the foolishness. The funny thing was, the more Dumber spoke, the people in the courtroom started getting ticked off at him and telling him to Grow Up, Get A Job, Quit Being Stupid and various other comments. I kept waiting for the judge to call order in the court!

As I stood in the hallway talking to Bob & Sue afterwards several people passed by (who had been in the courtroom) and told Bob & Sue how sorry they felt for them with all the craziness going on between Dumb and Dumber...and they sincerely hoped things would get better for all involved.

Tattoos

I can remember growing up as a child and thinking that tattoos were only for men who were in the military. Those were the only people I knew that had them. When I was in my 20's (and going to nightclubs) some of my women friends I hung around with started getting them. I was always shocked and couldn't believe they were doing that to their bodies! In my 30's (I was now in church full-time) - a few of the women I knew at church went out and got tattoos. WHAT!? I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Women just don't do that...especially NOT church women!

Two years ago, my twin daughters upon turning 18 yrs old, went and got identical tattoos on their hips. The meaning behind their tattoos was really sweet. Hmmm, that's kind of neat. I like that. Could I be changing my mind about these artistic works of art? Nah, I wouldn't go that far!!

(I did tell Greg next time I go see both my daughters together I want to get a henna tattoo painted across my lower back and not tell the girls and see how long it takes them to recognize it! Now THEY would just die if I showed up with a tattoo!! LOL)

For all you tattoo lovers out there, here is a Tattoo Design place where you have access to unlimited designs and can print out what you like to take it to the tattoo parlor.

The Carlton Dance

I love watching Nick at Night! This is what I watch before I go to bed everynight. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and George Lopez are my two favorite shows!!
Carlton cracks me up...

Letting Go

Today I spent some time on the phone with my very best friend, CJ, listening to her and crying with her as she talked about the last 3 days since I've seen her. I haven't seen her since Saturday night at 11:00 pm when we were both at the hospital with her boss of 20 years - an elderly gentleman named Gordon who was 77 years old. Gordon & CJ have a very special relationship. Up until the last couple of weeks Gordon was not saved and CJ, being the strong Christian woman she has always been, has spent the last 20 years praying for Gordon and loving him and being there for him through all of his trials and tribulations when he had nobody else to turn to. Gordon, in turn was like a father to CJ...and a year ago when she and her husband decided to adopt a baby boy, Gordon's heart began softening and his crusty bitter exterior began to melt the more he hung around with his "adopted" grandchild.

I had the privilege this last year of working with Gordon on several occasions and he loved to talk and tell me stories from his past. He was such an interesting man. He began having some health problems about six months ago and he has been in and out of the hospital constantly. CJ has been there for him and had taken over the role of his caregiver.

When we left Saturday night they had just given him a sleeping pill for the night so he could get some rest. The hospital called CJ early Sunday morning and told her he wasn't going to be around much longer and she needed to come back up there. He kept hanging on until she finally gave him permission to "leave" around 5:00 pm Sunday afternoon...for the last year she has called him every morning as soon as she wakes up and he answers with "Yes, I'm still alive." She said the last two mornings have hit her hard when she goes to get the phone to call him and she realizes he is gone. She has a peace about one thing though....my sweet friend prayed her cranky old boss into heaven - he DID accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior a few weeks ago so she knows she'll be seeing him again one day.

The Little Car that Could

Until March of last year, Greg and I only had one vehicle. I have been a stay-at-home mom for a long time and this wasn't something we needed. If I ever needed the car, I would take him to work so I could use the car for the day...other than that I'm home all the time. Dakota and I are pretty much homebodies so this worked for us.

My daughter, Tina had a car given to her by her grandparents when she started driving. It was a '91 Toyota Corolla. The exterior didn't look all that great but it served its purpose for her while she was living here. Last March when she moved to San Diego with her husband she decided it wasn't worth it to take the car out there - she really didn't think the car would make it all the way anyway - so she gave me the car. I've been driving it now since April 2007 - when I got the title transferred over.

Today I think my little car has seen its last trip. Greg & I drove separately to church today because he wanted to leave straight from church to go watch the Playoff games at a guy's house. I had a mission trip meeting after church so it was almost 1:00 by the time Dakota and I got out of there and we were starving! We were headed to Wendy's to grab some lunch before going home when I realized I didn't think I had my money/credit cards, etc on me....I had put them in my pocket last night when I was out and when I got home I set them in my ring box and I didn't remember picking them up this morning.

I told Dakota we were going to have to go home and try to find something to eat there (which, by the way, there is NOTHING to eat here - I desperately need to go grocery shopping next payday!) All of a sudden I remembered I had a gift card in my purse that our family had received for Christmas. It was to Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, or Red Lobster - all of which are clear across town, about 30-45 mins from our house. I asked Dakota if he wanted to go to one of those restaurants and he chose Red Lobster - he LOVES fried shrimp. We had a wonderful lunch and great conversation over lunch!

We get in the car to leave and upon starting the engine, it starts shaking and sounds terrible!! Oh great! It was a longggggggg drive home. I had to drive 40-45 mph the whole way and I tried to take as many back roads as I could so as not to have to stop at red light after red light because it seemed when I stopped, the whole car shook, rattled and rolled so hard I was just waiting for it to BLOW UP! Dakota kept saying "Let's just call daddy and get out of this car!" I knew Greg was at the game and probably wouldn't answer his phone so that option was out. I called my mom to see if she could come meet us but she had an appt she was headed to. She told me to call my dad - but he has a little 2 seater truck and the 3 of us REALLY can't fit in there so I told her I would use him as a last resort. I just started praying fervently for God to get me home (please!!) and I would park the car and kiss it goodbye. LOL
I told Dakota to sit back and be quiet because I was already stressed to the max and didn't need his worry and carrying on to add to my stress, um - concentrated effort to get home safely. :-)
The closer we got to the house the more that poor car shook and the slower it drove...but most lights were green allowing me to breeze right on through...and we made it safely home.
Praise God and Thank you Jesus!

Never Doubt The Boy

Dakota, my 11-yr-old has this saying he likes to throw at us alot! - "Never doubt the boy!" This got started several years ago because he has the most amazing sense of direction and has been able to find his (our) way around new towns and cities after being there just a day or two. Ever since he was 3-4 yrs old he's been able to point out the directions home...which way to turn, which road to take now, etc. Needless to say as WONDERFUL as this has been it also comes with a downfall - his big head!! LOL

Anytime we are bantering back and forth over which way we should go he will be right 8 out of 10 times - and he loves to "beat" me, or Greg, or my parents....whatever adult he has just given the correct directions to. So now when he is right about ANYTHING, not just directions, he'll say "C'mon, let me hear it..." and we say "yeah, yeah, we know Never Doubt the Boy!"

Thursday night my mom, Dakota and I had just left Wal-Mart and we were stopping at Home Depot to pick up one last thing before heading home. We were in my mom's caravan. She pulled up and parked and she & I both jumped out of the front seats and shut the doors. We walked to the front of the van and turned around to wait for Dakota....who was lingering at his side door while closing it. I said "c'mon Dakota, let's go!" - we had been gone all day and I was ready to get what we needed and go home. He said "um, Mimi, your van is making a weird noise...like shhhhhhhhhhhhh...sounds like air is coming out of your tire."

Again I repeated, "well, c'mon, let's go! It's probably just the car sitting next to you that you hear - they have their engine running.

He says, "mom, I KNOW what that sounds like...this is like air coming out of your tire really fast." Mom and I just started laughing and she said "Dakota, if air was coming out really fast my tire would have blown - it doesn't happen like that"

We go in the store, get what we need and head back outside. At this point I notice a young couple parking next to us and the young guy gets out of his SUV and starts looking at my mom's van...down at the tire. We get closer to the van and he says "Is this your vehicle?"

Uh-oh! Gulp! "Yes, it is, why?"

His response "Well, you have a major flat tire over here and it's still losing air - you can hear it coming out."

Dakota looks at us and says "Ah-ha!! What do you say?? Let me hear it?? Altogether now??"

We know!! NEVER DOUBT THE BOY!

Choosing Sides

The hubby and I have a couple of friends (a married couple - we'll just call them Bob & Sue) - they are really getting smacked around by life right now...they are getting it from every which way. A couple of their problems deals with their extended family. I've been spending time with Sue, comforting her, listening to her and offering advice when solicited. When the guys get together my husband just listens to Bob, never offering advice or anything. His "advice" is always to just stay out of it whereas I believe there is a time when one should step in and "help"
Here's two of the most recent situations our friends are dealing with...

1. Sue's parents have been married almost 60 years! (Wow!!) Sadly, she has suspected her father of having affairs or even another family somewhere but her mother has never said or done anything about it until recently. The last couple of months her mother has started putting some things together and is now suspecting it and is very distraught over this and calls Sue all the time, crying, asking for her help in catching him so she can confront him. Sue is not sure what to do. She loves both her parents and even though she is angry with her dad, she is fearful for her mom because her mom has no life outside of her dad....she is "old school" and he is her life. Yet right now she is miserable and unhappy and doesn't want this to continue. I've encouraged Sue to help her mom hire a private detective if she doesn't feel comfortable herself catching her dad in the act. Sue is a Christian, whereas her father isn't and she's not really sure about her mom....but Sue knows this lifestyle is wrong. My husband & I actually argued about this last night because he thinks Sue should stay out of it. It's not her problem. It's her parents problem and they need to work it out. I told him I felt like Sue's mom was reaching out to Sue because she has no friends, no church family, no husband (because he is cheating on her!) no other family...who else is she going to get help from?? Why shouldn't Sue help her?!
2. Bob has two brothers (Dumb & Dumber) who are at each other's throats...constantly! They literally want to kill each other. They have hated each other for years and years and years. The youngest brother and his wife (Dumber) have constantly used whatever legal means/lies/manipulations they could use to keep the middle brother (Dumb) in jail or tied up in court for the last 10 years! It is insane! Dumb is homeless because he has lost everything having to pay for court and probation fees so many times, etc. Well - get this--he was just arrested again last week because Dumber & wife have a restraining order against him and they actually staged a time where Dumb was working outside Bob's house and Dumber's wife got within the 500 feet distance of Dumb (prohibited by the restraining order) and then they snapped a photo!! They called the police the next night and the police arrested Dumb!!!! He is STILL sitting in jail. No amount of talking on Bob's part could convince the police that this was staged...Dumb wasn't doing anything wrong. The police said "let the judge decide." Bob tried to explain to the police "but don't you understand? Dumb is already homeless! If you arrest him, that is just racking up more court costs and attorney fees for something he didn't do!!! AND he is going to keep looking like a repeat offender." I was suggesting to Bob how he could help by going down to the courthouse and pulling the records and looking at what all has been said against Dumb that keeps getting him thrown in jail and then speaking on his behalf...yada yada yada....and my husband said "why should he do anything...it's not his problem, he needs to stay out of it"

GRRRRRRR, so tell me readers, out of curiosity.....what's your advice?

7 Weird Things About Me

My blog friend, Miss Sniz, tagged me for this WEIRD meme.

The rules are as follows: Simply link to the person who tagged you. SHARE SEVEN WEIRD things about yourself. Tag SEVEN bloggers to do the same AND include a link to their blog. Let each person know that they have been tagged and finally post the rules on your blog.

1. I love it when Dakota brushes my hair and pulls my (few) gray hairs out for me. It's so relaxing to me and I'm sure he gets a thrill at yanking, umm, I mean gently pulling my hair out.
   
2. My favorite "sinful" sandwich is white chocolate peanut butter and marshmallow creme on wheat. Add a banana to the mix and I'm in Heaven!!
   
3. I detest the smell of raw meat and I don't want to look at it in the grocery store. If the family wants it for dinner they have to buy it. I'll cook it IF they buy it.
4. I have no problem standing on a stage and speaking in front of large groups of people and being the center of attention IF I'm in charge of an event or organizing something...but if I am just supposed to show up and make idle small talk with a large crowd of people it is extremely hard to do and 9 times out of 10 I'll talk myself out of going (or I'll make myself physically ill! LOL)
5. I have slept with a "little pillow" since I was a little girl...when my little pillow starts looking too bad I replace it with a new one because I HAVE to hug a little pillow to my chest while I sleep. I carried 2 of them with me to Brazil this last year! :-)
6. For some people this may seem weird - and I am having a problem thinking of 2 more "weird" items so here's #6 - I LOVE being at church anytime the doors are open - no matter what's going on. Dakota and I are always there!
7. I rarely drink anything but water, occasionally a glass of unsweet tea or orange juice, but mostly just water all day.

Okay, guess that's it! Now, let's hear from some other people out there. I'm only tagging 6 instead of 7 though....Binx, Monica, Erin, Sandy, Becky, and last but certainly not least (and because I can't wait to see what INTERESTINGLY WEIRD things HE'LL come up with!) I am tagging Miss Sniz's hubby Big Doofus.

Resolutions?

Here it is January 9th, 2008 and I've yet to put down any "resolutions" on paper. Traditionally I don't make resolutions. I like to call them Goals for the New Year or an "action plan" so to speak. But the last few weeks I've been in a funk I can't quite shake. I'm actually having a hard time concentrating on anything for very long and I've been very moody and angry lately.

I started writing in a personal journal this morning and it felt good to get some feelings out on paper where I could go back and read them later. I don't think I've been spending enough time alone with God lately and my attitude is beginning to reflect that.

With that said though I will go ahead and post some of my goals for this year:

1. continue working towards getting out of debt
2. raise all my money for my mission trip to Brazil in June (without my husband's help)
3. get to Hawaii to see my daughter and her family
4. continue growing an online business
5. GIVE more for all I have belongs to the Lord!

Peace...

I Am Legend

Greg had plans to go bowling with his co-workers late Saturday afternoon for a belated Christmas party. Right after he left the house a friend of mine called to see what I was doing and to see if I wanted to catch a movie. I just happened to be free since Greg & Dakota were both gone so we decided (my choice) to go see "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. I like Will Smith as an actor and have enjoyed his movies in the past.

We were racing the clock trying to get to this movie by 5:15 so I didn't have time to look it up online to see what it was about or anything. She beat me to the theater and purchased my ticket before I got there. We got about 1/3 of the way into the movie and realized we had made a HUGE mistake! This was definitely not our type of movie!! It was a very scary, suspenseful movie that kept us jumping through most of it. Neither one of us like these types of films. I was extremely disappointed in this movie!

After the movie we walked next door to a Mexican restaurant and ate dinner....and calmed our fluttering hearts! Lol