My friend had surgery the other day, so after lunch I took EJ and her two kids to a nearby splash park. There were SO many kids there! But it was fun. EJ is right in the middle, with the pants and 18 on his shirt.
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One of EJ's friends had a Frozen-themed birthday, complete with ice skating, capes, and even an appearance by a grown-up lady dressed as Elsa. He wanted to go as the future man who would marry Elsa, so I made him a cape with sequins and glitter glue in the shape of snowflakes. (While the mother in me wanted him to wear his helmet for protection, I was glad he incorporated it {in his mind, at least} as part of his future-man outfit.) He said first, he would struggle around the rink a couple times, then he would put on his cape and go flying across the ice, reminiscent of when Elsa went from her normal clothes to ice castle clothes.
Last week our church's school gave the SATs, so I administered the 4th grade in exchange for EJ taking them with the 3rd graders. Every morning after the devotional, the class did pledges. Since he was visiting all week, the teacher graciously allowed EJ to be in charge of the Christian flag (the kids change jobs every week).
Today, unexpectedly, my husband had a day off, so he filled the morning and early afternoon with much-needed errands, and we spent the beautiful afternoon together enjoying Spring.
Another name for this post might be "A Zoo Visit with my New Camera." I love my new camera.
Last week my handbell group played the national anthem at a basketball game. EJ is in the green shirt holding the "Embellishments" sign. My dad snapped this just as I turned to look. Good timing!
Two years ago, I made prayer sticks for our devotional time, and last year I blogged about it. One of the missionaries that we pray for went on furlough last year, and in December, she posted photos on facebook about a notebook she received from one of her prayer warriors. It was filled with dates from the past four years--every day the lady prayed for the missionary, she wrote down the date. The missionary shared what a huge blessing that notebook was, and I can imagine it was indeed!
So that got me to thinking...and I made missionary notebooks of our own. Last year (which wasn't really that long ago, if you think about it) I saw an article on facebook about washing your pillows. The article had close-up photos of millions of dust mites living in your pillows, and it urged you to stop being gross and to wash your pillows. It said put two or three in, use baking soda, dry with some tennis balls. Well, right there I decided I couldn't do this, because I didn't have any tennis balls. Whew! Guilt relieved!
And then last week I went to my mom's ladies meeting and one lady gave her household tip for the month--about washing your pillows. But I can't, I inwardly whined/rejoiced. I don't have any tennis balls. I wasn't about to go out and buy tennis balls, not in this economy, are you kidding? Part one was about saving money by switching where you buy your groceries. Part two is about shopping the sales with coupons (at a completely different store).
Yesterday, we went to Publix, where they double manufacture coupons up to 50 cents. Saturday evening I browsed the web sites for coupons and compared the coupons to what was on sale and made my list. The result was that we saved more than we spent, which is the goal anytime we go to Publix. Here is the main website: southernsavers.com, and to get to the Publix pages, hover over "grocery stores" (next to the magnolia) and choose Publix (or any other store you want--Aldi is listed, and she puts up the items on sale there, but you can't use coupons. Walmart and/or Target are rumored to price-match Aldi prices, so I think that's why she lists the Aldi ads.). I am all about saving money, but normally the suggestions are things like, don't go out to eat, bake stuff from scratch, don't make needless trips around town. All these are good tips, but sometimes you want to just go out to eat! And with a kitchen as small as mine, I NEVER want to make anything, much less anything from scratch!
So with dwindling income in this ever-increasingly expensive economy, how can I save money? I need a short-cut--obviously less eating out and driving unnecessarily, but I also need something tangible, something I can look at and see: I just saved money here I normally would have spent. I used to coupon. I had a friend who did and we would encourage each other in how much we saved. I "borrowed" the coupon pages out of the newspaper from my in-laws and the savings really did rack up. But then my friend moved away (and took her encouragement with her) and my in-laws stopped getting the paper, so I went back to Walmart grocery shopping. |
Who am I, you ask?
In 2006 I had a stroke, and every day my husband encourages me to use my remaining brain cells to the best of my ability. I love to organize, make crafts, and go on adventures (safe ones). I hope that through my blog posts, you will be encouraged to accept and make the best of challenges God throws at your life. Categories
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