Last Saturday, the kids and Kevin cleaned house for me. They thought they were throwing away trash from the living room when it was really my stack of coupons which I had planned to clip while watching a Lost episode. It should have been obvious that it was not trash because 1) I don't leave trash laying around and 2) Duh! It was coupons! When I realized they had been thrown away, I dug them out from the bottom of the trash can, totally unaware of the fact that they were laying on top of a paint tray from Alyssa's room. I know some you may find that totally disgusting, that I would dig coupons out of the trash, but they had the potential of being worth $20-$30. So after sitting on the couch for a few minutes with my treasured coupons, I discovered paint on my sweater and my pants! Aaagh!
Things like this make me wonder if I'm the only person on earth that these goofy things happen to. I mean, who else in this universe has gotten paint on their clothes from clipping coupons?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
It's a small blog world
On Saturday, I got an email from a friend telling me about a friend of hers who had just had a baby who was in critical condition and being transferred to St. Francis hospital here in my town. She asked if someone from our church could go visit the parents. She gave me a link to Kelly's blog so I could read all about Harper.
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Later I was checking my friend Cassie's blog and read about how Cassie had found out about Harper through Kelly's blog and had already gone to the hospital to see them. Cassie's husband is the youth pastor at our church.
Today Cassie and I went to the hospital to see Kelly and Scott (Harper's parents). It was truly a blessing to meet them. We talked with them for a little while and the "small world" connections were almost endless..the people we both knew, schools we had both attended, etc.. We even discovered that our sr. pastor used to be Kelly's parents' pastor when they were young marrieds. I guess when you're all from Arkansas, the family trees and stories all bound to intersect!
Check Kelly's blog for updates and pray for their family. This is their first baby and they are 2 hours from their home. Pray for us to know how to minister to them in the days to come.
">Later I was checking my friend Cassie's blog and read about how Cassie had found out about Harper through Kelly's blog and had already gone to the hospital to see them. Cassie's husband is the youth pastor at our church.
Today Cassie and I went to the hospital to see Kelly and Scott (Harper's parents). It was truly a blessing to meet them. We talked with them for a little while and the "small world" connections were almost endless..the people we both knew, schools we had both attended, etc.. We even discovered that our sr. pastor used to be Kelly's parents' pastor when they were young marrieds. I guess when you're all from Arkansas, the family trees and stories all bound to intersect!
Check Kelly's blog for updates and pray for their family. This is their first baby and they are 2 hours from their home. Pray for us to know how to minister to them in the days to come.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Get cookin': Fettucine Alfredo
In the past few weeks, I've had several conversations with moms who admit they don't cook....at all! It seems to be more and more common for us to feed our families out of the frozen food section. This is not only ridiculously expensive but also incredibly unhealthy. In order to inspire you to cook for your families, I'm going to start posting some of my quick and easy recipes.
Today I made fettuccine alfredo for lunch. We have enough leftovers that we'll eat it for the next several days for a total cost of around $3.
Sauce:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. butter
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. olive oil
minced garlic or garlic powder
salt to taste
1 tsp. parsley (opt.)
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan on low heat until melted. Stir into cooked pasta and you're done!
Options:
The amounts above are enough for 8 oz. pasta. I add 1/2 c. chicken broth to make it enough for 16 oz. pasta, making my food budget go a little further.
Add grilled or baked chicken or imitation crab meat for variety and some extra protein.
Worried about fat? Use fat free cream cheese, skim milk, and you can eliminate the butter and increase the olive oil to 1/2 cup.
Now get cookin' and let me know how your family likes it!
Today I made fettuccine alfredo for lunch. We have enough leftovers that we'll eat it for the next several days for a total cost of around $3.
Sauce:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. butter
3/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. olive oil
minced garlic or garlic powder
salt to taste
1 tsp. parsley (opt.)
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan on low heat until melted. Stir into cooked pasta and you're done!
Options:
The amounts above are enough for 8 oz. pasta. I add 1/2 c. chicken broth to make it enough for 16 oz. pasta, making my food budget go a little further.
Add grilled or baked chicken or imitation crab meat for variety and some extra protein.
Worried about fat? Use fat free cream cheese, skim milk, and you can eliminate the butter and increase the olive oil to 1/2 cup.
Now get cookin' and let me know how your family likes it!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Extreme Makeover: Master Bath Edition
When we first moved into our house, the entire master suite was painted this lovely greenish blue color that makes the word 'Crest' pop into my mind. When I say 'entire', I mean ceilings, closets, shelves...everything. I painted our bedroom the day we got the keys. Partly because I didnt want to move our ridiculously heavy furniture but mainly because I didn't think I could sleep in there without having nightmares of drowning in toothpaste.
One of my projects while we were on Christmas break from school was to rid myself of one more room of nauseous green. (I still have a linen closet and my master closet that are this color. I don't know that they'll ever get painted just because of the work involved.) The walls were painted a creamy beigy yellow.
The cabinet finish had some water damage and I didn't really like the stain color so I painted them black, and added hardware.
I just love these knobs. I love the swirls and how they complement the rug.
Now when I walk in my bathroom, I smile, not fight the urge to hurl.
For those of you wondering how home decorating fits into my frugalness, this project was completed for a little more than $100. $20 for knobs and pulls, $60 for paint and supplies, and $25 for the rug.
One of my projects while we were on Christmas break from school was to rid myself of one more room of nauseous green. (I still have a linen closet and my master closet that are this color. I don't know that they'll ever get painted just because of the work involved.) The walls were painted a creamy beigy yellow.
The cabinet finish had some water damage and I didn't really like the stain color so I painted them black, and added hardware.
I just love these knobs. I love the swirls and how they complement the rug.
Now when I walk in my bathroom, I smile, not fight the urge to hurl.
For those of you wondering how home decorating fits into my frugalness, this project was completed for a little more than $100. $20 for knobs and pulls, $60 for paint and supplies, and $25 for the rug.
In Memory
It's 3 am. I can't sleep. Today would have been my dad's 62nd birthday and is the one year anniversary of his funeral. Somehow I made it through Wed., the anniversary of his death without a tear but today I can't sleep and am a blubbering mess and the day hasn't really started yet.
It's been a year and I still can't think about him without my throat tightening and tears at least moistening my eyes. Sometimes the sadness is because I miss him and wish he was here to see the kids grow up. Sometimes the sadness is regret..that I couldn't have done more in the last months of his life to take care of him. Due to the circumstances at the time, there wasn't anything else I could have done but there's still part of me that wishes things could have been different, that I could have brought him home with me and taken care of him so that he wouldn't have spent his last months alone.
And sometimes the tears are from thankfulness, that God still saved him, even in his last 6 months of life after a lifetime of rejecting Him. I treasure the almost daily conversations about what he had read in God's word that day or about how he was praying every night before he went to bed and how he was trying to make better choices in his life. I am still amazed that God chose to honor my prayer that began when I was a little girl. I honestly don't know that I could cope with losing him if I didn't have the promise that I will see him again.
It's been a year and I still can't think about him without my throat tightening and tears at least moistening my eyes. Sometimes the sadness is because I miss him and wish he was here to see the kids grow up. Sometimes the sadness is regret..that I couldn't have done more in the last months of his life to take care of him. Due to the circumstances at the time, there wasn't anything else I could have done but there's still part of me that wishes things could have been different, that I could have brought him home with me and taken care of him so that he wouldn't have spent his last months alone.
And sometimes the tears are from thankfulness, that God still saved him, even in his last 6 months of life after a lifetime of rejecting Him. I treasure the almost daily conversations about what he had read in God's word that day or about how he was praying every night before he went to bed and how he was trying to make better choices in his life. I am still amazed that God chose to honor my prayer that began when I was a little girl. I honestly don't know that I could cope with losing him if I didn't have the promise that I will see him again.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Talkin' in the ghetto
I went to the Sprint store today to add unlimited texting to our family plan. I tried to take care of this a few weeks ago by calling the customer service line but the lady in India and I were having trouble communicating so I had to make a personal appearance at a store. All of this wouldn't be necessary if certain people in my house (Zachary) could keep from sending 247 texts when we have no texting plan. I decided it was easier to pay the $20/month fee than to keep making Zac mow the lawn for free, keep all of his allowance and make him take his lunch to school just to pay me back for the $50/month I was spending for him to text really important messages, like "what's up?"
Anyway, the guy asked to see my phone so he could access my account and he laughed when I pulled it out of my purse. Alyssa has been telling me forever that I have a ghetto phone, but since I gave her my phone upgrade so she could get a rumor, you would think she would be a little nicer about my ancient technology. I've had this phone since the February 2005 lemonade-in-my-purse incident when I was forced to get a new one. It makes calls and receives them, most of the time, and that's all I need. How dare he laugh out loud at my phone!
Anyway, the guy asked to see my phone so he could access my account and he laughed when I pulled it out of my purse. Alyssa has been telling me forever that I have a ghetto phone, but since I gave her my phone upgrade so she could get a rumor, you would think she would be a little nicer about my ancient technology. I've had this phone since the February 2005 lemonade-in-my-purse incident when I was forced to get a new one. It makes calls and receives them, most of the time, and that's all I need. How dare he laugh out loud at my phone!
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Code
I have a really good reason for not posting in the past week. If you know what these numbers represent below, you'll totally forgive me because you understand....
We mistakenly started watching Lost season 1 while Kevin was on vacation around the holidays. It's like opening the Pandora's Box of time because I can't seem to be capable of anything else besides finding out what happens next. I'm actually watching the last episode of season 2 while writing this. We're racing to get through 2 more seasons before the new season starts this month. Please no comments telling me what happens. I'm purposely avoiding googling anything to do with the show to avoid any spoilers!
We mistakenly started watching Lost season 1 while Kevin was on vacation around the holidays. It's like opening the Pandora's Box of time because I can't seem to be capable of anything else besides finding out what happens next. I'm actually watching the last episode of season 2 while writing this. We're racing to get through 2 more seasons before the new season starts this month. Please no comments telling me what happens. I'm purposely avoiding googling anything to do with the show to avoid any spoilers!
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