Rejoicing

Yesterday I took my two blessings, my niece, and my nephew to the local lake. We stayed for three and a half hours. Thank goodness for 70SPF sunscreen! We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch and the kids made many memories. As I sat on the beach watching the kids play in the water all I could do was rejoice. Rejoice in the moment that God had given me. Quiet time enjoying the moment. I was not busy trying to get laundry done, or cleaning toilets, or writing out lesson plans. I was able to sit, relax, and watch the kids playing. I was not worried about what I needed to do at home or what was for dinner. I was able to be IN the moment.

I played Frisbee with the kids and watch them bury each other while I took pictures. We all had a great time yesterday. I was so grateful for this time together. My family has missed out on these types of moments because we have not lived close enough to family in the last ten years. All I could do yesterday was rejoice. Rejoicing for the opportunity that God gave us.

Time with family.

Creating memories.

My heart was and is grateful. Last night before bed I was so cranky because I was so tired (sorry hubby!).  Although I was cranky my heart was rejoicing. I was thanking Him for the moment He blessed us with yesterday.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Oh To Be Home

As we grow older many of us cannot wait to leave home and spread our wings. The adventures we dream of as children or even teenagers are endless. We dream of traveling the world or being on our own. We dream of being any place then at home. Not everyone has these dreams but many do. Just the thought of being independent can be so exciting!

I left home when I was 18 years old. I left for the military and came back home for only a few short months before I married my hubby. I was a dreamer. I wanted to travel the world. I wanted to see everything I could. I wanted to learn new cultures, meet new people, and I wanted to see what was beyond the city limits.

Married to an active-duty Soldier I did just that. I lived in different countries and states. Met new people and learned new cultures. I was away from home being independent.

Then I got older.

Now I am dreaming of going home and being closer to family. Wanting to start a tradition of spending Sunday afternoons at the parents for dinner. Nieces and nephews spending weekends at our home. Shopping with my sisters. Watching my brother at his softball games. Watching my nieces and nephews grow up. Spending 13 years away from home you come to realize how much you have missed out on.

Now that we are four hours away from home we can spend more time with family. Oh but to be even closer to home....

296. Going home this past weekend and bringing one of my nephew's home with us.

297.  Going home this past weekend and bringing one of my niece's home with us.

298.  Going home for my niece's birthday party.

299.  Seeing my sister on her birthday this past weekend.

300.  Listening to my nephew and son laughing from the other room.

301. Watching the memories being created by the four blessings in my home.

302. Quiet talks with my brother.

303. Laughing with my family.

304. A car full of laughter and kids talking during my four hour car ride home.

305. Cuddling with the hubby after returning from the weekend.

What Are Your Favorite Money Saving Tips?

Today I have a question for all of you.

What are your favorite money saving tips?

 Is it homemade laundry soap? Homemade cleaners?

I would love to hear your tips. Would you mind sharing?

A couple of my favorites are washing dishes by hand, menu planning, using the clothesline for certain laundry items, and we do not turn on any lights until it is dark outside. Why waste electricity or increase our bill when we have plenty of natural light?

So, now what are your tips?

 I am anxious to hear and learn some new money saving tips.

Prayers For Those Affected By The Floods

Today is Wednesday and I was thinking of something that Works for Me Wednesday and nothing is coming to mind but prayers. Prayers for my husband and prayers for my hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, and its sister city of Superior, Wisconsin.

My husband is still trying to find out what is wrong with his arm. His elbow causes him great pain that he cannot open doors or even lift a stapler without pain. Thankfully the doctors have found the cause for his other pain throughout his body, but they cannot figure out his elbow. So I am praying for him, constantly.

My hometown of Duluth is based on Lake Superior. Duluth is a large city consisting of about 80,000 to 85,000 people. The city has many large hills throughout. Think of the hills of San Francisco, California. Well, Duluth has some great damage caused by rain. The entire city is covered by water. The Duluth Zoo has had some farm animals die due to the flood and the seal was found alive outside the zoo. Our canal that is gateway to the shipping of the iron ore and other items is completely unnoticeable. Our mall area is covered in water. Restaurants have water half way up their front doors. Roads are now rivers. Cars are stranded. People's homes are now flooded and many things lost. Duluth is expected to receive three more inches of rain today.

Here are a couple of pics of my hometown in many different areas of the city:

This is the road in front of my cousin's house

The seal from the zoo

The main road leading from my sister's house to Superior, Wisconsin, which is sister city to Duluth, MN.

Canal Park. There is a paved walkway leading to the lighthouse on the left. Completely washed out by the lake.

Explains itself

Notice the restaurant in the background. The white building on the left is the back of Target. There is normally a four lane road in between those two buildings

This is leading into my brother's neighborhood

Click here for more details on the flood and the areas affected.

Pray works for me today. Prayers that those affected by the rain and flood. Will you please pray?

Failed Inventions

The other day my son asked me if we could make a radio that we had in our invention kit that we have for school. I agreed. I thought it would be a great time to spend with the blessings. As we look through the items we needed for the radio, we notice that we do not have some of the items needed. So instead we decided to make a generator.

We gather the items and begin creating our generator.

Lil Man helping me connect the wires

After we get all the wires connected, it was time to wrap the string around the thingy mabob.

Wrapping the string around the thingy mabob

Now it is time to test the generator.

Hmmmm that didn't work right

The light bulb did not light up like it was suppose to. Let's try that again.

Ok round two...hmmmm again it doesn't work

After a few more rounds it did not work. The generator was defected. I know it wasn't the users. Instead let's eat banana bread.

I am so grateful for failed inventions. The laughter we had and memories created were a blessing from God.

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

I Will Not Fear Tuesday Afternoon

Friday evening my husband delivered some news to me that turned me upside down. He learned of the news Friday while at the doctor's. I guess you could say it wasn't really news but possibilities. Instantly fear took over. The what-ifs began to creep in. I prayed. All day Saturday I prayed. The more I prayed the more the fear would set in. I could not hear God. I could not hear what He was telling me. That scared me even more. More fear.
Friday evening I wrote a draft of the feelings I was having and intended on sharing that on the blog this past weekend. For some reason I felt that I was not suppose to share it. On Sunday I NEEDED church. I NEEDED to hear His word. I knew that whatever the Message was, He was sending it to me. I knew my Heavenly Father would send exactly what I needed to calm my fears.

He did.

Here is the post I wrote on Friday evening (when I was broken):

You pray.

You ask why.

You ask for His strength and wonder why.

You don't understand why nothing can be found.

You see the pain.

You see the hurt and stand by wishing something can be done. His touch is needed.

You pray.

You ask why.

You have a battle within. You can't hear Him. You don't understand why. You don't understand what He wants you to do. You don't know His plan.

You sit in your living room and hear a storm stirring outside. You head to your patio door. You watch the rain and wind rage outside. All you can think of is praising Him during this storm. Praising Him during this difficult time. Praising Him while you wait to hear the news. The news of what your future holds. You know He has only good plans for you, but you do not know what those plans entail.

As you watch outside with the door open, the wind shifts and rain is blown over your face, and you snap back to reality. Reality of what-ifs. Reality of what you feared from the beginning could truly take place.

The reality of being alone.

You pray for His strength.

You pray that He is there to get your through.

You need Him.

Your future is unsure. The storm outside calms. You begin to wonder if the storm inside you is calming. All you can do is wait.

Wait for Tuesday afternoon.

Nothing but fear. As you read you can see the fear I was dealing with. I felt it creeping up and not letting go. I felt I couldn't breathe at times. I needed to hear Him. I needed to feel His arms wrapped around me and telling me it was going to be okay.

Then Sunday the sermon was meant for me. Everything that was said was for me. All I wanted to do was break down and cry. Cry because I finally heard Him. Cry because I knew He would answer. Cry because my faith was not strong enough.

"Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed."
Luke 8:50

That is what I needed. I needed to believe. I cannot believe if my fears are getting in the way. If God could raise Lazarus and Jairus' daughter from death, why couldn't He calm my fears?

I left church as a new being and left the issue there. I left it for God to deal with. I had no fear.

I knew He was with me because His Word says so:
"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear: I will help you. Do not be afraid..." Isaiah 41:13-14a

He had my hand the whole time. I could not feel His grip. I am not alone. I have no fear. He is with me and holding my hand.

I will not fear Tuesday afternoon.

286. His Word.

287. His Strength.

288. His Grip.

289. His Love.

290. His Grace.

291. Storms that are sent my way.

292. Overcoming the storms.

293. His Messages.

294. Healing.

295. Calming of fears.

Menu Monday, June 18-22

We had a great weekend. We celebrated Father's Day on Saturday because the hubby was to work on Sunday. We spent most of Saturday fishing with the hubs.  On Sunday, the hubs went to work and the blessings and I went to church. As I was walking into church the hubby sent me a message to tell me he was home.  It was nice that he was released early from work but sadly he was sick and not feeling well. Hubs spent most of Father's Day in bed. Thankfully today he is feeling much better. 

The blessings and I will may head out of town this weekend. My niece is turning eight and we will be heading home to help her celebrate. Unfortunately, hubby cannot go because of work.

I started something new with my menu plans. I have started to incorporate a meatless dinner. Last week for our meatless dinner we had french toast, yep breakner (breakfast for dinner). This week we will be having fried rice.

Monday~ cinnamon rolls
                 sandwiches and yogurt
                 enchiladas

Tuesday~ chocolate chip waffles
                  quesadillas and hot dogs (son does not like quesadillas)
                  cheesy chicken alfredo

Wednesday~ smoothies
                       leftovers
                       hamburgers and hot dogs on grill, with pasta

Thursday~ pancakes
                    sandwiches and fruit
                    fried rice

Friday~ cereal
               leftovers
               tater tot casserole

If we do not go out of town then I will add Saturday and Sunday meals to our menu.

Head over to Org Junkie for more menu ideas.

Summer Reading Program

Now that summer is here many libraries have started their summer reading programs.  The programs are a great way to get children to read during the summer months.  Most libraries may off some type of prize or incentive to get the children to read.  Yesterday the blessings and I went to our local library and signed up for the reading program. I not only signed the blessings up but myself as well. I love our library's reading program. The children's reading program consists of each child completing seven out of 10 activities per week.  Four of those activities have to be reading for 20 minutes.  The other activities are another day of reading, find and check out a fact book, attend a free library program, play a special game at the library, write a poem, and play a word game at home.

Once the children complete the reading log, they are then to take the log to the library to spin a wheel and receive a prize. Oh but wait! A local restaurant has teamed up with the local library to encourage children to read. Once a child completes a book, they are to write down the title of the book. After five books have been read, the child receives a free single scoop of custard. After ten books have been read then the child receives a free kids meal that also includes free ice cream!

The adult reading program consists of reading a total of 250 pages and then turning in your reading log to be entered to win some prizes. Sign me up! I do not know what the prizes are but I love to read and I know I can turn in at least three to four reading logs per month.

The best part of the summer reading program is how frugal it is to participate. There are no fees to sign up. Kids receive a FREE prize, FREE ice cream, and a FREE kids meal. Adults can win prizes as well. Also, the library offers many educational activities throughout the summer that children and their families can attend. For example, next Tuesday the blessings and I are attending Remnants of the Rainforest. A gentleman will be teaching us about the different animals of the rain forest and the conservation of the rain forest. I am excited about this because we just learned about the Amazon Rainforest a couple of months ago. You know what the best part is? Yep, you guessed it, its FREE!

If you are looking for a frugal activity this summer then I would suggest looking into your summer reading program at your local library. What could it hurt? I mean you get to read free books (as long as you turn in your books on time and avoid late-fees) and possibly free food!

Do you participate in your local library's reading program? If so, what does your library offer for incentives?

My $0.23 Shopping Trip to Walgreens

Today the blessings and I headed out to our local stores to do some shopping. I believe I did pretty well. I took out $100 from the ATM and my goal was to spend no more than $75. Unfortunately, I spent $89; $14 over my goal.  I know where I could have spent less. At Our Town Market, the store had Jack's Pizza on sale five for $10. That is $2 a pizza and because these are our favorites I decided to buy ten pizzas for $20.  I will not be buying pizza anytime soon. I did buy everything on my list that was needed, but I did buy a couple of items that I had good coupons for. I am trying to create somewhat of a stockpile. Right now I have enough shampoo and conditioner to last about two months. Body wash is about two months as well. Razors is probably about four months. These items that are stockpiled will help me build a stockpile in food because I do not need to buy as much for a couple of months. Unless I find a good deal ;)

Here is my $0.23 shopping trip to Walgreens:

Walgreens has selected General Mills cereal on sale two for $5 and the angel soft was $4.  I had two manufacturer coupons $1 off of two General Mills cereal, a $10 gift card (due to a $10 RR that did not print last time I was there), and a $3 register reward.  My total came to around $9.22 or something like that. Walgreens does not give change when your gift card is under a certain amount. So instead of keeping $0.80 on my gift card, I threw in two fillers to get my price close to $10 as possible. The store had selected candy bars on sale $0.49 each. Once those were added in my final total was $0.23!!!!!

I was so excited about this trip that I told a lady in line behind me at the Our Town Market! She was impressed. 

After looking over my receipts one last time, I do have to say that I am pretty happy with this trip.  Usually I would just go to one store and not spend as much time matching coupons with sale prices.  I am so glad I did!

I Am Being Selfish...What????

Since arriving home from our weekend of fun I have been so crabby and short-tempered. Hmmm, what is wrong with that sentence! I have no idea why. It started Sunday evening when I arrived home and has been with me ever since.  I am not liking it. After a spat with the hubby last night, I knew I needed guidance, grace, forgiveness, and wisdom.  So, I turned to the One who knew me best. After my Bible reading this morning, I cried out to Him. Asking Him what is wrong with me? Why am I so crabby and being someone who no one wants to be around? I could not understand what had happen since I arrived home. Nothing has occurred that would upset me. It was the opposite. Everything was great! Even though hubby worked 12 hour shifts all weekend, he still completed the laundry and the dishes. Why would I be mad about that! I was frustrated, which then made me even more mad and frustrated because I was grateful he did this. So, why was I snappy with him?

This morning I was pleading with Him to show me what is wrong. I needed help. I knew I could not make it through another day acting like I have been.  During my talk with Him, He told me I was being selfish. What?? Ummm, that is not what I wanted to hear. Clearly, He was wrong. I mean how was I being selfish? I mean have I not made dinner every night since I have been home? All the laundry was done on Monday. The house is clean. I am creating a stockpile. I was doing what I thought I was suppose to be doing.  I mean how was I being selfish? I was arguing with Him. I was throwing my temper tantrum. Of course He showed me. Wasn't I snappy each time the blessings would ask me a simple question? Wasn't I snappy when the hubby would talk about work? I was acting like they were bothering me and I did not want to hear. Wasn't I disgruntled that I had to run out and get a newspaper because I forgot to pick one up on the way home? I mean couldn't my husband do that after I just drove three hours to get home. Couldn't he stop folding laundry to run for me. Ummmm, hello selfish!

I was instantly convicted.

I am not doing what God called me to be. I am to be home with my blessings showing them God's love. Showing them what it means to be a Christian stay-at-home mom and I was failing. I am to love my husband. He works everyday and is in tremendous pain, I could at least listen about his day when he arrives home. I should be doing more for him.

I am failing.

I knew I needed Him to help me. I needed Him to guide me throughout the day. I need to be in constant prayer today. After my talk with Him, I decided that I was done with Satan getting in my way. I want to listen and follow Him. I want to do what He called me to do. I want to perform my motherly and wifely duties according to Him. I want my heart to be joyful when I do things for my family. Not hostile.

I came into my room and my son was on the computer. I asked if he wanted to make banana bread with me. He excitedly said yes. My daughter then came in and I asked her the same thing. She responded the same way. So we went into the kitchen and began our baking.  Within a few minutes the blessings began to argue over who was going to do what. I could feel my patience running thin. I mean really? We just started preparing and they are already starting? I prayed. Lord, please help me. Help me control my temper. Before I spoke I waited for His guidance. I then told the blessings that if they were going to argue then I am sorry I will bake myself. They instantly stopped. So our banana bread is almost done, and it is smelling so good! Next my son and I will attempt to build radio. I see a future blog post in the making. Then I will be taking the kids on a bike ride.

I can already see a change in my attitude today. I need to be in prayer constantly and ask Him to help me along the way.

 I am blessed.

Trusting Him When I Jump

As I was sitting on the dock this weekend, I was observing a father and a daughter interacting with each other.  The father was standing in the water at the edge of the dock, and the daughter was standing on the dock waiting to jump into his arms.  The daughter had no doubts that her daddy was going to catch her.  He would say jump, and she trusted that he was going to be there, so she would jump into his arms.  As I was watching I was beginning to think of my relationship with my Father.  How many times has God said "Jump my daughter, I am here."  Plenty of times.  Many times I will jump and other times I do not.  The times I listen to myself and do not jump usually end up in a bad way and I pray asking for His guidance.  No matter how many times I fail to listen, He is there waiting for me with open arms.  God has shown me many of times that He is with me and ready to catch me when I jump.  He will not let me fall as long as I trust Him.  He continues to show me that He is standing there with arms wide open waiting for me to jump.  A simple event of a daughter jumping off the dock into her father's arms was a way that God was showing me to trust.  I am so grateful that God had given me the opportunity to witness this simple event because it truly was a blessing to me.

As my husband is preparing for retirement, I am trusting in Him as we take this jump into a new lifestyle.  I do not know what His plans are for us.  We do not know what type of job my  husband will have when he gets out.  We do know that God is with us and is waiting to catch us when He says jump.  I am so grateful that I serve such a trusting and loving God. 

The next year will be interesting and we may encounter some struggles along the way.  However, we know that God is wanting us to leave the military and enter a new lifestyle.  All we have to do is trust that He will be there to catch us when we jump. 

"Trust in the Lord with all heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6


Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Weekend Of Fun

On Friday afternoon I received a phone call from my sister.  As we were talking she mentioned how she was at her camper and her husband would not be arriving until the next day.  I said the kids and I should come up for the weekend because my hubby has to work seven days a week for 12-14 hour days for the next three weeks.  She agreed.  When we hung up it was around 4 p.m., she was three hours away.  I started running around to pack our items.  We left our house at 5:30 and arrived around 9.  My two blessing were so excited to see their cousin and their antie (Most people say Auntie but we say antie ;).  I was just excited as they were.  We put our blessings to bed late and my sister and I stayed up to about 5 a.m. YES! 5 A.M.!!! We were having so much fun playing Skip-Bo and reminiscing of our earlier years.  I sure love living so close to family again. 

Come Saturday, my sister and I were wiped out.  We were so tired, but we had a fun-filled day.  We joined my sister's friends on their pontoon and the blessings went swimming and my son went jet-skiing for the first time.  It was truly relaxing sitting on the pontoon and relaxing. 

Sunday we took the blessings to Hayward, Wisconsin, to a Wilderness Walk.  Of course my daughter went straight to the kittens.  She is in love with kittens and trying to convince us to allow her to have one.  Then it was off to a candy store and then back to the camper.  We originally were staying til today, but I was missing my hubby to much.  Since he has been back from Afghanistan we have been away from each other twice.  I do not like it.  So we left yesterday afternoon to head home. 

When we arrived home we were beat.  I was so tired. From the sun and the drive I felt like I had not sleep for days.  The blessings were tired but so excited to be home.  As was I.  Once we arrived home, I sat down and did not get back up til I went to bed. Oh I did run to the store to pick up my Sunday paper. Could not forget the paper.

We had a wonderful and cannot wait to go back. 

Woo-hoo!!!

Lil man petting a baby skunk

Panning for gold

Princess found some gold

Lil man up close with a buck. He was super excited.

Princess with the kittens.

  Now back to reality.

Craigslist

The hubby and I were trying to find ways to make extra money for our upcoming move.  We looked around our house and figured out that the best way to make money was to sell some of our items on Craigslist.  We looked at each piece of furniture, clothing, or outdoor equipment and asked if we NEEDED that item.  In one weekend we posted our bedroom suit, our trampoline, my husband's Iphone 4S, and a mismatched bedroom suit that was to big for our bedroom. 

My  husband's Iphone 4S sold within just 18 minutes of posting! We met the buyer at a local store because I am apprehensive about people coming to our home.  However, we needed other buyers to come to our house to pick up the other items. I figured since we were moving it was not a big deal.  So, within 24 hours we had all the items picked up and removed from our home.  After posting everything on Craigslist, within 24 hours we had made close to $1,200.  We were so thankful for the blessing that God had just blessed us with.  Of course we took 10 percent of that money to tithe and sent many praises to Him.

Just this past week my husband posted a washer and dryer that we had and that sold the same day! We use Craigslist as much as we can to earn some income.  The best part is Craigslist saves me money because I am not using gas to run the items to the Goodwill, and it is free to list our items.

Overcoming the Obstacles And Saying Goodbye To My Baby

If you missed the previous post to After ten years of wanting, it could actually come true, please click here. 

I told the hubby that I actually had peace about the thought of buying our first home.  Of course, I, being the realistic one, told him that we had two obstacles we had to deal with prior to even taking the first step into buying.  We just signed a year lease with our housing office on base.  Hubby said that we will not have a problem getting out of the lease because the contract between the military and the housing area was up come July 1st.  I did not want to take any chances. I asked him if he could call Monday morning to verify that we could get out of our lease with no issues.  We prayed the rest of the day and when we woke up. 

Monday morning I receive a phone call from the hubby stating that we will be released from our lease with no consequences.

The second obstacle was trading in our first "mortgage" payment.  Our 2012 Nissan Armada AKA "my baby." Yes, we knew that it was an expensive vehicle and we justified having the vehicle by calling it our "mortgage payment."  We knew that in order to get a loan to purchase our home we needed to trade in my baby.  So we did.  I will not lie, I was emotional.  I loved that vehicle.  My hubby surprised me with it as a birthday gift to me.  However, I knew that it was for a good reason.  I would rather have a house that will be an investment rather than a vehicle that loses its value each day.  We prayed asking God to please allow us to receive a certain amount on it.  We knew that we would be upside down on it, but prayed that it was not a large amount.  Hubby went to the dealership, told them our situation, and we were able to work a deal that we were comfortable with.  Our mortgage payment was cut in half.  A huge weight had been lifted off our shoulders.  We were feeling very blessed.

Saying good-bye to my baby. You are missed!

The hubby then went ahead and began the pre-approval process.  After a couple of hours on the phone with our bank, we were pre-approved! We could begin the actual house hunting process.  My favorite part! I knew that it could a difficult time trying to find the right house and one that met our expectations.  We were not going to settle. We would continue to look until we found the house that God wanted us to be in. 

Our bank, which is USAA, offers a program called "Movers Advantage Program" and if we went through the program we would have an USAA certified realtor, and could possibly qualify for a rebate bonus on the completion of purchasing our home.  We were set up with our realtor, whom we absolutely LOVE, and began house hunting.

We were shocked at the time it took to go house hunting.  The area we lived in is small so we did not know what we were going to do if we did not find the house that God called us to be in. 

I would not worry.  God has blessed us this far. I knew He had something in the works for us.  It was just the matter of His timing, not ours.

6 June Shopping Trip

Today I went to Walgreens, Dollar General, and Our Town Fresh Market to pick up a couple of items that were on sale.  I am really excited because today was the first day I received a product for FREE!!! Oh wait, not a product but two of the same product!! Oh wait, sorry, I received THREE items for FREE!!!

Walgreens Trip

At Walgreens I did two different purchases.  My first purchase was the razor and the cartridge refill.  I had a P&G coupon from the Sunday insert for a buy one, get one free.  I had to purchase a cartridge refill to get the razor for free, which had an additional 5 razors included.  The refill was $11.99 and I had a $2.00 register reward that I used which made it $9.99.  My final price after taxes was $11.36.  BUT I received an $8 register reward, which made the refill down to $1.99.  A total savings on the first purchase was $14.99.  My second purchase at Walgreens was the two Aveeno body washes.  The Aveeno was on sale for 2 for $10 and I had a $2.00 off coupon from the Sunday paper.  The price was then $8.00, but I used my $8 register reward from my first purchase, which made the two items FREE!! I had to pay tax, which ended up being $0.55.  I will take that! My second purchase was a total savings of $13.98. My overall savings at Walgreens was $28.97. Not bad for my second time. I do want to add that when the clerk rang up my Aveeno products, it did not give me the 2 for $10 because I had two different price products.  The two products had to be the same price in order to receive the sale price.  The clerk nor the manager knew this, so if you are wanting to use that sale price and rewards grab the same price product. 

My other two stops were not as exciting as Walgreens but still had some good deals.  At the market I purchased four bags of shredded cheese for $6.00, which was on sale for two for $3.00, and three pounds of bananas for $1.48, which gave me a total of $7.48.  At Dollar General I bought a pack of Cascade action packs for $2.69.  The action packs were on sale for $3.50 and I used a $1.00 off coupon from the Sunday paper.  I have decided to wash dishes by hand so the action packs will be used sporadically. 

My overall cost for the three stores was $21.52.  I have very happy with my shopping trip today.  I do have to admit receiving free products is definitely a rush! I will be heading back to Walgreens this weekend to pick up a couple more buy one, get one free items before the sale prices end. 

Loving Those Who Are Tough To Love

Lately, I have felt an inner battle going on within me.  For awhile I felt that it had to do with an upcoming event that was occurring, but God has revealed to me what was really going on.  As a Christian we are called to love one another no matter how difficult that can be.  That is exactly what I am dealing with.  I recently had to be in a place with a person that is very difficult to like let alone love.  I can go on and on about the sin this person has committed and the planks in their eye, but what does that say about me? I am no better.  I sin everyday. I am difficult to love at times.  I have my temper tantrums and I whine.  I cannot tell you how many times I whine to God when He wants me to do something that I do not want to do.  I have many planks in my eye so I cannot find the planks in others. 

As I am in this situation and having to deal with this person I avoided every situation I could to keep from speaking with them.  I had nothing nice to say so I felt it was better to say nothing.  Isn't that what we were taught. If you have nothing nice to say then do not say anything at all? So I didn't.  Instead I avoided this person and had a cold heart towards them.  At the time I thought I was doing the right thing even if I was being rude without really saying a word.

I did not realize what God was telling me.  I realized it last night while speaking with my husband.  How many times has God forgiven me for my sins? How many times has God said He loved me when I was being difficult? How many times has He continued to bless me after I have whined to Him? How many times has He offered His grace to me? I continue to take everything He blesses me with and when He needs me to be obedient I throw a temper tantrum.  That is exactly what I did.  I did not want to be nice to the person. I did not want to talk to the person. I did not even want to be in the same room as this person.  The last thing I wanted to do was love this person.

As I sit here convicted for my actions and my words, I pray asking God to show me what I am suppose to do.  I have asked for His forgiveness but I am now to ask this person as well.  I am to humble myself.  This person does not know my feelings toward them although they may have a good idea, I am to ask forgiveness.  I am to love them.

My blog is based on Mark 12:30-31 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this "Love your neighbor as yourself."  The last thing I am doing is loving my neighbor. I am not doing what God asks of me.  No matter how hard it is going to be I am going to show this person love.  I am going to offer my hand and ask if they need help.  I am going to ask God for His strength when it comes time to deal with this person, but I will show them love. 

I am to be the light. I am to show them God's love towards them.  I am to defend them when others gossip about this person. I am to tell others they too have planks in their own eyes when they talk about the planks in the person's eye.  To be honest, it will be hard.  I will have moments where I am to bite my tongue and say nothing when this person says things.  I will be in constant prayer when I am dealing with this person.  However, I believe that eventually my cold heart towards them will begin to warm.  I may actually begin to really like this person and I will truly begin to love them.

How about you? Are you loving those who are tough to love? Are you focused on others planks than your own?

Today's Shopping Trip, 4 June 2012

Today the blessings and I went to five different stores.  By the time we arrived home I was wiped out. I am thankful that the stores are in the same area because I feel that I had an overall good shop today.  My goal was to stay within the range of $30 but I knew that I was not going to make that.  So, I decided that the goal was $50. 

Our first stop was Dollar General.  I was not planning on stopping there until I received an email stating that the store had a twin pack of secret deodorant for $2.50 and I had a dollar off coupon.  I had deodorant on my list anyways so I thought it would be wise to stop.  I am glad I did! I walked around the store and did some price comparisons and now I know where to go for certain items.
Here is what we purchased:
2 boxes Pasta Roni $1 each
Secret deodorant $1.75 - $1 off coupon= 0.75cents
Overall Priced Paid:
$2.85



Dollar General

Our next stop was Walgreens.  I really took my time in this store.  I wanted to really pay attention to the sales and the prices.  I also compared prices in the store and realized that the milk is about 70cents cheaper than any of the other stores.  Now when hubby is on his way home and I need milk I know where to send him. 
Our Walgreens items:
Tampax tampons $7.49-$1.00 off coupon= $6.49 and received $2 register rewards= $4.49
All Laundry Detergent $3.49-$1.00 off coupon= $2.49
Colgate Toothbrush $2.50-$.75 cent off coupon=$1.75 and received $1 register reward= 0.75cents

Overall Price Paid:
$11.47

Walgreens Trip

Our next stop was Family Dollar.  By this time I was getting somewhat tired and just wanted to get the items I went there for. 
Here is what we purchased:
2-12packs of Pepsi $8-$2 coupon=$6
Pepto Bismol $2- $0.50 coupon= $1.50
Colgate toothpaste $1.00- $0.75coupon= $0.25
2 bags Doritos chips $7- $2 coupon= $5

Overall Price Paid:
$13.25

Family Dollar Trip

Right next door to the Family Dollar is the Piggly Wiggly.  This was my first time in the store and I saw that the store is no longer Piggly Wiggly.  The store is no longer offering the discount store cards which help for the in-store sales and gas at the Mobil that is located in the parking lot. I was not sure what to expect of the prices when I entered but have decided I will only shop there when they have sales.  The store officially changes to Our Town Fresh Market tomorrow and the store has a new sales ad prices starting on Wednesday.  A couple of the Wednesday sales were on my list so I am waiting til then to finish up the rest of the shopping.  One thing I purchased was two pack of hot dogs.  I was debating on purchasing these because I like to buy turkey franks or all beef hot dogs for my son, since he is the only one who eats them.  However, I decided to go ahead and buy the regular hot dogs.
Here is what we purchased:
Lettuce $0.78
2 packs of hot dogs $0.88 each
Mozzarella shredded cheese $1.98

Overall Price Paid:
$4.52

Piggly Wiggly/Our Town Fresh Market

Our last and finally store was Wal-mart.  Let me tell you, we were tired by the time we reached this store.  We were ready to be done.  Wal-mart was where I spent the most for the day, but I was expecting that. 
Here is what we purchased:
condensed milk $1.00
cooking spray $2.18
oil $2.78
2 packs of gum $2.00- $1.00 off coupon=$1.00
tea $3.48-$.55 off coupon=$2.93
2 packs of starburst $3.76-$1.00 off coupon=$2.76 (hubby will take a bag to work)
gallon of milk $3.23
pound of stick butter $3.48-$.75 off coupon=$2.73
eggs $1.92
bread $0.88
Overall Price Paid:
$21.92

The grand total for the shopping trip today was:
$54.01

I was $4.00 over what I wanted to spend but I am pretty happy with the end result.  On Wednesday I will be heading back to Walgreens to snag a deal that will end up being free after using register rewards, manufacturer coupon, and receiving $5 back in register rewards. I will post that deal on Wednesday.  I will also head to get cheese and bananas from the Our Town Market, and I might pick up some dishwasher tabs from Dollar General as well, but I need to decide if it is cheaper to just wash by hand or use tabs.  What are your thoughts?

Starting To Use Walgreens To Save Money

This past weekend we traveled home for the weekend and I wanted to be as frugal as possible.  My goal was to only spend $40 and we did well with that.  I went over our budget by $8.  That was my fault and I knew exactly what I did.  God showed me.  Overall, I am very happy that we were smart with our money and did not cave in to impulse spending.  We had a few times where people asked us to go out to eat but we said thank you and politely declined.  I did not budget well with our gas money.  I planned on $60 but in reality we needed $80.  That is fine though because I had some extra money set aside. 

My plan for this week is to try and save as much as I can on groceries.  Today, I am hitting the Walgreens to try and get some good deals there. The new town we live in has Walgreens, Family Dollar, Piggly Wiggly, Dollar General, and Wal-mart within a one mile radius of each other.  I bought a Sunday paper yesterday and I am so glad I did.  Sometimes I hesitate buying a paper because there have been times where the coupons where not worth the money spent.  However, yesterday had some great coupons!

I did some research and learned how to play the Walgreens game.  If you are interested in learning more you can go here to Money Saving Mom.  She explains ways to save at Walgreens. 

Today, I will be hitting Walgreens, Family Dollar, Piggly Wiggly, and possibly Wal-mart.  I have not been in the Piggly Wiggly so I am not sure of the prices.  I have seen their ad and the store offers some good prices but I am not sure exactly how well they stand with Wal-mart on certain items. 

I am really enjoying finding new ways to save money! I want to make a nickel stretch into a dollar!

Wish me luck as I venture out to play the game!
I will post later today on how well I did.

After Ten Years of Wanting It Could Acutally Come True

The other day I mentioned that God has blessed us with a pretty awesome blessing in the last couple of months.  What I did not mention was what that blessing was.  For the past ten years my husband has wanted to purchase his first home.  I did not feel the time was right to buy at all during those ten years.  We did look at some homes a couple of times during those ten years but the Holy Spirit was telling me no.  I can tell you that the hubby and I had some very intense conversations about buying and not buying a house.  I have always wanted to purchase our first home but I felt God was telling me no and also we have not been somewhere long enough to buy.  The longest duty station we have been at is three years, the rest has been a little over two years.  PCSing (permanent change of station, or moving) can be stressful as it is and I did not want to throw selling a house in the mix.  That was until we moved here.

When we moved here to Wisconsin from Alaska we had no intentions of buying a home.  Hubby had mentioned a few times in Alaska that he was thinking of retiring, but we were not sure when that time was.  After a couple of months of being here, the hubs reeealllly started talking about retiring.  During those couple of months God had been working on me. 

One Sunday after church the hubby said "lets go drive around the area and see the different neighborhoods."  I agreed and while we were driving we saw a house for sale.  He mentioned how nice it would be to purchase our first home.  I agreed.  I could not believe what I just said. On top of that I felt at peace with it.  Something I have never felt when we spoke of purchasing a home. 

I could not believe what was happening.

Could I really be ready to purchase our first home?

Sacrifice Now To Enjoy More Later

When we want something in life we have to work very hard to get it, even if that means sacrifice.  I could make a list of everything I want right now.  Trust me it is a long list, but the key word in the earlier sentence is want.  Each of my "wants" is not a need.  My focus is knocking out this debt and finding new ways to save money or limit the amount of our spending.  Each little bit helps.

Yesterday I shared how I started freezing our fresh produce so we can use it in later meals.  After I wrote that post I went into the kitchen and grabbed the rest of our "about to be outdated produce" and prepared them for the freezer.  I cut up green onion, green pepper, and carrots.  Each will be used in a future meal or even perhaps on a veggie tray for an upcoming BBQ.  I then went on to prepare for an upcoming trip that we would be taking in the near future.  I baked up some muffins and some peanut butter cookies.  Along with those snacks I threw in some chips that we have left open and a couple packs of crackers.  As I was going into the fridge I was thinking, "hmmm, what should we do for drinks."  Then it hit me! I could re-use a milk jug and fill it with water.  So, lil man and I washed out the milk jug (many times) and filled it with water.  Then we filled up our water bottles with water and put them in the fridge so they will be cold and ready for the trip.

I decided that we would be eating breakfast at home and I would prepare sandwiches to eat on the drive.  Our dinner will be at a ceremony so that is covered.  Our next day meal will consist of breakfast at family's member home, leftover snacks for lunch, and I have already told the blessings that we would stop at our favorite fast food place for dinner.  They have done so good with not complaining about not spending money that we would splurge for our dinner.  After I told them this they both were coming up with ways to make the dinner frugal.  Love those two! 

Gas for the car has already been budgeted so I am hoping that we should not spend a lot of money.  I am shooting for no more than $40.00.  I have to continue to keep our focus on our end result: hubby retiring.  Working and sacrificing now will show the fruit of our labor.  Honestly, I am enjoying looking for new ways to save. 

What frugal saving tips do you have to save money?

Fresh to Frozen

One thing that drives me nuts that my family and I do is waste food.  I cannot stand it! I am just as bad as everyone else in the family and even though it drives me nuts I still do it.  Crazy! I know I am throwing money away so I am better off just throwing real cash in the trash.  Now that we are paying more attention to our finances I am looking at our food and ways not to waste.  I realize that we waste a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables  I have every intention of eating or baking with the items before they go bad, but I never do.  I cannot tell you how many times I would buy a watermelon and never even cut it! I know, CRAZY!! 

Well, today I became smarter and wiser. I looked in our fruit door of our fridge and saw that we had some strawberries that were about to go bad if they were not used soon.  Instead of making the kids eat them today, I decided that I would freeze them.  I have smoothies on the menu for next week and decided to freeze the fresh strawberries to use in the smoothies.  I feel so smart and wise!

To freeze them I washed them, sliced them, and put them in a pan on waxed paper.  This way the strawberries are not one big frozen group.  They will now freeze separately, just in case I only need a few strawberries.  I then placed the pan in the freezer and now I wait.  Once the strawberries our completely frozen I will put them in a container and store them in the freezer.  If I had a freezer bag I would use that because it would save me room, but I do not have bags, so the container will do just fine. 

Ready for the freezer

Fresh to frozen works for about any type of fruit or vegetable.  Really it only takes a few minutes to prepare the item and toss it in the freezer.  So much better than just throwing the item in the trash.  By doing this process I am not wasting our food or the money that I spent on the items.