From the Mouth of Isaac

This morning we woke up to dark and stormy skies... Isaac walks outside and says -


"Mama, I love the smell of a rain storm."

Me- " I do too! It smells clean"

Isaac - "I like it because it smells like eggs and makes me hungry!"

Random man has struck again!!

Blogoversary Party at My Place

Okay... so today is my blogoversary!! I really have no idea what that means anyway. I know it all started with a post about my hair! Weird really... I had no idea what I was doing!! My friend Stacey had been blogging for about a year, I had been without the Internet for about 9 months. I loved looking at her blog and so she encouraged me to try it!! I kept thinking "What is the world am I going to say? I hate journaling, I hate scrapbooking and who in the world is going to care anyway?" But to my surprise, after a few posts, I got the hang of it and I was hooked!! So needless to say, I love blogging! I love to post, I love to take pictures and think about what I am going to say, I love to read others blogs for inspiration, encouragement and sometimes just a good laugh!! I love how we all can share our lives, hurts, struggles, accomplishments and be so encouraging to one another. I kinda feel like I have pen pals all over the world!!

So... now to the celebrating!! I have no idea how this works. I have seen others give stuff away but I am not sure how to do that! But because I love parties and love prizes I thought I would have a giveaway of my own!! I have an Amazon store and love to buy and sell books!! So, I would like to give away one of my favorites. If you click here you can view the book!! DON'T do anything at the Amazon site! Leave a comment on the bottom of this post and at the end of the week I will draw a name out of hat and the book is yours!!

This is so fun!! Have a happy day!! A remember, Just keep blogging, just keep blogging!!

Black Out Month - First Weekend

I would really like a dollar for every time my kids asked to eat out this weekend!! I had no idea how much we go out on the weekends!! It is usually my fault that we do. I give my self permission to not cook on those days! I always have a good excuse like, we are out running errands and have no time to go home, or we have friends that we don't see very often that want to go out for lunch on Sunday or we are so tired after AWANA that I really want (& deserve mind you) Burger King!!I almost caved on the Burger King run last night!! I thought about asking my husband but when my older son asked first and my husband had to remind him that we were not eating out this month, I realized that I am just as bad as my boys are!!! I love fast food!! I crave it and usually in a moment of weakness and on an impulse, go get some!! I don't think we can even eat fast food for less than $15 as a family!! And don't even get me started on the health issue!! I have heard if you have an addiction that it takes about 3 weeks to really stop craving it!! I hope it works!! I would love to break this one!!!

Anyway... one weekend down, one to go!! And in to be perfectly honest, my husband did get me a breakfast burrito for McDonald's yesterday. I had to be at church early, ate a breakfast bar at home but by 11:00 I was starving. He had cash, not in our budget, and graciously got one for me!! Does that count???

On a good note, this is my black out grocery week as well and after evaluating my fridge, I only spent $13.40 at the store today. That's for the whole week and $2.00 of that was a dog treat for my much neglected puppy!! So that's $106.00 less than my normal food and mad money budget for the week!!

Well, only 27 more days to go! Ughhhhhhhhh!!

Black Out May

Those of you that know me best know that I am not an alarmist. I am not freaking out about the economy, the government taking my rights away or most definitely not the swine flu. I find all of these things interesting and fun to talk about but I am not preparing for the worst just yet. But to ignore all of the issues that are surrounding us, I think, would be short-sided and irresponsible. Money has always been an issue with us. We have NEVER been diligent about a budget. We save very little and for many years lived way above our means. Well, not anymore. We as a family are committing to getting out of debt as soon as possible. Steve and I have been reading and discussing our obligation as Christians to be "indebted to no one". Romans 13:8 speaks to the end by stating "Let no debt be outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another." We have really searched our hearts and bank statements to see where our "love" lies and sadly is not to one another as much as to Target, Chick-fil-A, Netflix, Sonic, etc.....

All of this to say that I read this article in a Family Fun Magazine a while ago about saving money, spending more time together and eating healthier. They suggested having a "black-out" month. This is a commitment to spending nothing extra for one month. No eating out, no buying clothes, no entertainment that cost money and so on and so on. At the end of the month, if you live like we do, you should have a substantial surplus of money to roll over to outstanding debts. The money you save should not be considered "extra". I guess unless you have no debt!! The money should be one more step in the direction of living a debt free life!! Steve and I are committed to this and even excited too see how we do. I have already done a lot of brain storming of some free things we can do as a family (I would gratefully take suggestions too!!). I am looking forward to not only the savings but the family time, healthier eating and guilt free conscience of knowing I haven't spent unnecessarily. I am even taking the challenge of my friend Kim to have a black out grocery week where I only buy a few essentials. ie milk, apples, and make meals out of the ingredients I already have in my fridge! I have to do this next week b/c I am afraid at the end of the month it may be a little lean ;)

So...here's to saving money and taking a small step toward freedom!!

Friday Photo Flashback

Today's edition... Ethan's baby pictures....

My chubby bunny

I told you he was always an intense child...

I hate that this one is blurry but look at the yummy belly

Steve was still in school when Ethan was a baby. He would have to go into the extra bedroom to work. Ethan would lay on the floor for a long time waiting for Steve to come out!!

My soon to be 10 year old now!! Sniff, Sniff