Lucky Tails

One early Sunday morning in June, and by early I mean about 1:30 AM, the wonderful husband of mine calls and says he has a German Shepherd puppy in the back of my jeep.

Wide awake now...

We posted found ads, told everyone we knew, called the SPCA. By Wednesday, he was ours. We named him Lucky. He peed a LOT. I pretty much carried a mop around with me those first few weeks. He had so much energy and loved to lick. I am not going to say I was enjoying this.

(Cannot believe he was this small not that long ago)

Yeah, we had a Golden Retriever (our golden child) but this was a puppy. A puppy with no bladder (figuratively speaking). Our wonderful friends that raise German Shepherds gave us some toys, food, and a crate. Boy, were we thankful for that. 

Next stop, the vet.
The Vet guessed he was anywhere from 3-4 months, had a heart murmur and a hernia. Along with being at least 20 lbs under weight. He had probably been on his own outside for over 2 months. Heart murmurs and hernias are apparently common in GSD (German shepherd dogs). The vet said it was very possible the hernia would heal and he would grow out of the heart murmur (Let's pray).

We scheduled neutering and hernia repair for early August. His bladder was improving drastically. Still loved licking. The day arrived, and Bill dropped him off at the vet. Within two hours, the vet called.

"Lucky still has his heart murmur, if we go through with this, he has a 20% chance of surviving the surgery"
Bill went and picked him up. He may be a pain, but he's like a child to us.

The vet said to wait 2 more months to see if he grows out of it, because as of October he should definitely be 6 months old. If at that time he still has the heart murmur, we were referred to a dog cardiologist (I kid you not, they do exist!...for $600 an appointment).

We can barely afford all the dog food we are running through, let alone a $600 dog cardio appt.

So last Monday, October 8, was the big day. Would the heart murmur be gone? Can we go ahead with the neuter and hernia repair?

YES! He is gaining weight as needed, growing as needed, has the right amount of energy, he's doing great! He has his surgery scheduled for the first week of December.

Here he is just this past week, as big, if not bigger than our full size Golden.

Dogs may be expensive, may be a pain and a big responsibility, but our children have four paws. 
(As i'm yelling at them to share their toys with each other)

I'm BACK!

So apparently I decided to take the summer off.

I actually didn't, I just had other things to do. 

I love blogging, I really do, but I also love sitting on the porch and spending time with family and friends. Haven't seen me lately? COME VISIT! :)

I promised pictures in this post (according to my post 3 months ago). Check out my Pinterest-TONS of pictures ;)

Back to why I originally started this blog. The church has too many taboo topics, that the Bible actually talks about. Submission, Sex, Love, Marriage, the way you live your life, obedience, the list goes on.

Yeah, I'm going there. Check out To Love, Honor, and Vacuum. Seriously. 29 days to great sex challenge. This is for you, Christian married women! Ugh, are brains are so full of how BAD sex is before marriage that  half (probably more) of us don't even enjoy it when we are married.

Better yet, read her article on submission isn't abuse. The comments as well. Wow. What Submission Isn't

My list goes on and on about what I want to talk about. and my BIGGEST concern is that I might not be right. That what I say might not be in line with God's vision for us. 

But I am trusting that God is leading me to these thought-provoking articles for a reason. That he gives me such strong ideas because he wants me to share them with you.

I want to go there, because not many people do, and we are just hiding behind our "Christian" label, when we should be shouting it to the world. I feel there are too many people out there showing off their "Christian" label and making us all look BAD. Why don't we start showing off how AWESOME and WONDERFUL it is. How God loves us and wants us to love, obey, and follow Him.

We can do it. We should do it. We are called to do it.

Let's start talking.

Hiatus

Who am I trying to impress anyways?


It's been a wonderful month (aside from not blogging)
My coupons are well on their way to being organized with dividers I got at Dollar Tree (only $1!)
I'm making progress in spending my time the way I want to, instead of trying to please others.
AND my house has been relatively clean, without me going crazy each day trying to keep up with it...YAY!


I've just been thinking about a lot over the past couple weeks. Why I do what I do, and what I would rather be doing. A girl I went to school with took a hiatus from Facebook to get away from it all and focus on herself. I don't think I could do that. I think I'd be very bored with myself. So I started thinking. Why am I so focused on a "show-room" clean house, when I don't have anyone coming over? Billy doesn't mind a "lived-in" look. Heck, I don't think I mind it much either. So if Bill and I are happy, then why am I choosing to clean the house over going out? or sitting down and watching a movie? or taking a walk? or doing something I enjoy? 


...Yeah, I'm not too sure. So I've been working on it. 


I had a fantastic weekend. 
Started off Thursday at the Sweet Valley fair, got some photo frames for my wall collage I'm working on. 
Friday Bill and I spent the day shopping for the pampered chef party, and we had lunch at cosmo's cheesesteaks in Kingston-YUM. The party went very well, enjoyed every minute of it.
Saturday Stef and I went shopping, and then I watched some netflix for the afternoon
Sunday I went to church, then watched more netflix (yes. I was lazy. I enjoy it)
And Monday Bill and I did some errands and visited his family in Mtn Top. Then a cookout at moms :)


Cleaning? Yeah, I took about 1/2 an hour each day to straighten up...not enough to keep me from doing what I wanted. And the house is pretty decent. :)
No coupons this weekend because of Memorial Day, so I got a break there.


So maybe I will be posting more regularly again, and maybe I won't. But either way, the next post will have pictures. Pictures are so much more fun, aren't they?


Hope you all had a wonderful May :)

Slacking and Succeeding

Hello slacker. (speaking to myself). Organizing? Couponing? Time Managment? How are these things going?!

This is my living room MESS. I hate it. Piles of to-do and to-file and to-toss. It really is hard to keep up with it all. Fortunately, I had time tonight to tackle most of it. I think a Home Office is in my near future....

My coupon binder. It needs more sheets and more dividers. I will tackle this next week. Stay tuned for some more couponing tips, I know a few of you who are just waiting for me to help you out, and believe me, I want to :)

See? lots of coupons NOT in sleeves. So not helpful.

So maybe a few more posts on my problems, then I will start sharing my progress. And in the time-management area, there has been DEFINITE progress-Woot! Now to get on an even better schedule, including daily blogging, couponing, and loving. That will be a success...

To be continued...

So here's the problems

In my last post, I mentioned I had my own plan for this month. A focus on where things are in my life and how I want to change them. I chose 3 main points for the month of May. And here is the problems I have with them. I apologize in advance for any ranting that might go on.


Streamline Couponing:


Problem? 
-Couponing takes time and effort to get the maximum savings. I check at least 2, if not 3 blogs as often as possible-multiple times per day to stay current and catch the best deals. That takes a TON of time.
-Then they need to be organized. A lot. I do have a binder. I have sleeves full of coupons. They need to be organized better IN the binder though, cause I can't find a thing.
-There are a lot of stores. and a lot of deals. I need to begin to track prices to be able to determine a "good deal" quicker.


Fortunately, this all won't be hard because I have time at work to work on it, and I have my ideas and some tips in place already, I just need to implement them :)


Stick to a Budget:


Problem?
-We eat out. A lot. Turns out, last month we spent over $140 on fast food (as my friend Kasie shakes her head in disgust) We need to cut way back on that if we want to ever get ahead.
-We have a good amount of debt. I want the personal loans and credit card debt paid off before children. and I want children soon.
-We don't have much savings, and we always wish we did when our cars break. which they do. a lot.


So, we have plans. We need to watch our spending. It's as simple on paper as weigh down, and yet just as hard to actually do.




Spend Time More Wisely:


Problem?
-I think I have a slight OCD problem. I can't just "straighten up" the house, it needs to be CLEAN for me to feel like it's presentable. it cuts into time to go and do things and have fun. I need to let go of my inner expectations I'm trying to live up to.
-I want to visit more people, and have more of a social life. I don't make time for it, and I want to.
-I want to read more of the Bible. To have my "Jesus Time" more often. More regular...
-I also want more quality time with Billy. Who doesn't want more quality time with their Husband? I want memories, new experiences, and laughter <3


So, I need to work on the whole housework taking over my life, and start focusing on some other priorities.


Keep checking in to see how my month goes :)






Side note. I attempted homemade seasoned baked french fries. Won't do that again. Ore-Ida is the way to go :)

May Challenge

Money Saving Mom's May challenge is freezer cooking. And while I find the idea fantastic, I'm not quite ready to jump in to all that just yet.


I do have some goals for May though.
1. Streamline my couponing.
2. Stick to a budget.
3. Spend my time more wisely.


With that said, I will be talking about various topics that are on my mind, while focusing on one of the three goals for May.


By the end of the month, I want to have a couponing "schedule" that works for me, a clear idea of where our money is going and where we need to cut back, and a regular schedule that reflects my priorities accurately, because my time now does not.


I'll update a few times a week hopefully, so please keep checking back :) Oh, and I'll share my couponing tips too, because I know so many of you are intrigued ;)

The Final Days (of the challenge)

I combined the last three days of the challenge...at least for the most part.
I've been lazy, or busy, every day this week. Lots of time has been spent at mom's just watching TV. 


I did have Thursday afternoon off, and did a ton of cleaning. I basically cleaned the whole house and finished the majority of my laundry ( finished it today). 


Between the 3 days, I did clean out and mop my closet floor, wipe down all windows (that hadn't been wiped the other week when Billy was cleaning), finished wiping down all mirrors and glass doors, and cleaned my bedroom blinds. Just have to do the downstairs blinds now.


I got a majority of my 5-7 things done each day. 
-Started going through my e-mails...little by little
-Made dinner plans with some people and returned messages
-organized my coupon binder -what a relief
-finally blogged-sorry for the slacking
AND I got to go see Kasie tonight! Yay!


One project I did during the week was cleaning the grates on my stove. I saw on Pinterest that you can put the grates in a gallon zip-loc, pour a few tablespoons of ammonia in it, and let them sit for 12+ hours. 

Here is what they looked like originally-who knows what all is burnt onto these.

After 12+hours ....EW.

They did NOT come completely clean...but a definite improvement. I will probably try this again and again until they are completely clean.

You can kind of see the yucky burnt stuff on the left and the clean and shiny part on the right.

Today's "challenge", the final challenge, was to clean the medicine cabinet. I keep all of our medicine in a bin that I've had for years.

The stuff next to the bin should be in the bin, but I didn't have room.

Few empty boxes, and some empty bottles- all in one bin, yay.

So all in all, this challenge was good. I attempted a lot of new things I had been wanting to try, and cleaned some things I probably wouldn't have bothered with if not for this challenge. I got into some routines I will keep, and have also found what doesn't work for me, and hopefully I will keep up with the cleaning on my own terms, or maybe even make my own challenge.

Moneysavingmom.com IS having another challenge for the month of May. I don't know what it is yet, so I don't know if I will be following along, but I will still be posting about cleaning/couponing/christian living as often as possible, so please keep checking in and reading. Let me know what your interested in reading about or what I might be able to post about to help in any way.

Thank you all so much for following along as I get my house all clean and organized, it's been fun :)

Have a wonderful weekend <3

Today's challenge was to clean out and organize all the kitchen cupboards and pantry. Lucky for me, since this challenge began, I already cleaned out under the sink, all my drawers, and the pantry. I had two cabinets that still needed some work though....

I'm not a big fan of this cupboard. Which is why it's all pretty much thrown in. I saw a pegboard on Pinterest that was framed and painted and used as a pot hanger....

But here it is, much more organized.

At one point, this held some food, and store bags, and appliances, and random other stuff.

Now it looks SO MUCH better:) all our kitchen gadgets.

The 15 minute challenge was to clean up the bathroom, which I got Billy to do. He also took care of sweeping and mopping the downstairs, which I didn't even ask-SCORE!

My to-do list included:::

1. Make dinner-it's cooking now

2. finish laundry- done and put away

3. swiffer upstairs-done.

4. make a chore list-done and agreed upon :)

5. go through my emails-that's for after dinner.

And finally get rid of 7 things

-a couple cds

-an old utensil holder

- a few foods that expired

- a bowl that belongs to a friend

- Ketchup that I bought for work

What a successful night :) I hope you are all enjoying following along this cleaning journey with me! I'm planning what I will be doing for the month of May...Any ideas?

Challenge-Day 16-FINAL WEEK!

Today's challenges included making a list of weekly goals, cleaning the vents in your house, picking up the clutter, and getting rid of 7 items.


Weekly goals include:
1. Solve my downstairs clutter issue. Everytime I clean it, it is all cluttered up within minutes.
2. Make dinner each night (already failed that one...)
3. write out my youth group ideas and plan a "planning day" with Pastor and Billy
and a few others that are unknown for now...


Today's to-do's were:
1. fold all the laundry- done.
2. make dinner-meatballs-not done.
3. clean up the clutter-done.
4. dishes-done.
5. vacuum downstairs-done.

Ugh, what a mess... I HATE folding laundry, can you tell? oh, along with making the bed, why make the bed when you are going to mess it up in a few hours?

Less than an hour later, bed made, laundry folded and away, AND I pledged all the wood ledges and dressers. Success!

And then the clutter...aka DISHES!

I really avoid emptying a clean dishwasher. I wait until I can talk Billy into doing it for me. That happened tonight, cause this sink was just getting gross.

I promise you, I will sleep better tonight because this is taken care of :)

Seven items to get rid of?

I put at least 3 more items in the yardsale bin, and threw some jackets and clothes in the "donate" basket, although they will probably also get to the yardsale bin eventually :) 

Cleaning vents? I wiped down the majority of our "vents" (aka baseboards) back when we were supposed to clean all that yucky stuff. I don't know, maybe I'll tackle some vent-type things this weekend.

More tomorrow :)

Where have I been?

Friday MoneySavingMom did not post a challenge, which was perfectly alright, cause I'm usually busy either way. Although, to be honest, I don't remember Friday.

Saturday however Billy and I went to Harrisburg with our Pastor for some youth training, which was wonderful.  We were also able to meet some other leaders and workers in our UMC conference :)

Sunday night we had a youth rally at our church, and with over 80 people in attendance, I would deff. say it was a huge success and I hope we get to do a lot more things like that in the future.

After this weekend I'm really looking forward to all the possibilities Billy and I have with this new journey we are one. We have a lot of people to help us out, that are full of helpful advice and tips, and willing to help out in any way that they can. Very reassuring! I believe God has some great plans in store for us :)

It's been an interesting week

Ah, what a week of being busy and having some fun. Oh, and enjoying having NO ambition whatsoever.

But I did get some things done. 

Starting with the Monday's challenge, which was to make weekly goals, clean up the clutter, and organize the silverware drawer. Made my goals, which have not been followed at all, and the rest wasn't hard at all.

Tuesday's challenge was to vacuum and clean the stove....this is what my oven looked like... EW.

I'll be honest, I hadn't actually looked in the oven since I moved in October. I think 90% of this is not from us...

A little baking soda and wet paper towels overnight and this was the result!!! So happy. The glass on the door is still real gross, but I think it's from the inside, so Billy and I will be taking it apart soon.

Wednesday's challenge was to clean off the refrigerator and wipe down the cupboards-done! Feels wonderful!

And today's challenge was to clean out the junk drawer, utensil drawer and wipe down mirrors and glass doors.

I asked Billy to windex today while he was home. He didn't touch the mirrors or glass doors BUT he cleaned the inside and outside of most of the windows-score!

My utensil drawer was cleaned out a few weeks ago, and while we do have a 'junk' drawer, we don't really use it, so it still looked the way it did when I put stuff in there nice and neat back in October.

So, I cleaned out under the sink, which has all our cleaning supplies, and I went through some stuff while I cooked dinner and got over 35 items to get rid of :)

I'm caught up now for the week!

cleaning products were either empty, given to mom, or being saved for a housewarming gift :)

Food for food pantry, odds and ends for yard sale, and garbage.

So enough on that...

I had no ambition this week. I didn't even get through my 5-7 things to do each day until yesterday. But everything still managed to get done that needed to :)

Sometimes I think I might be focusing too much on this than other, more important things. This challenge needs to be a guide, not a requirement.

I'm going to make more of a point to take care of my priorities, and re-focus on all the right things :) 

I hope you all will continue reading! Share me with your friends!

Question::

You saw my gross stove window....any tips to get it clean? I do believe spills may have gotten inside, but once I get it apart...any easy fix? Thanks!

It is way too nice out! :)

No pictures today, because I barely TOUCHED my to-do/challenge list.

It was way to nice out. :)

I had dinner at grotto with the grandparents, mom, and John, then did a bit of cleaning up downstairs, a load of laundry, then spent the night out on the porch at mom's house with Billy, Stef, mom and John.

Sounds good to me. Maybe tomorrow I'll at least get the dishes done.

Spring time <3

Sleep

Sometimes, there is just too much swirling through your head to sleep at night. I'm not quite sure what it is, or what to do, I just feel that I can't go to sleep yet.


It's God time. Wonder what He has planned for me now...








Stay tuned for Day 11 of :4 weeks to a more organized home", and some changes I'm making, and why.

Shopping and making some DiaperCakes!

It's already 5, or is it only 5?! It's been a very successful day. I had quite a bit I wanted to do today, and for the most part, it's all done. I even slept in till 9.

I began my morning by taking apart our bedroom ceiling fan. It was the most filthy of them all.

I was also quite proud of my skills in taking the thing apart :)

I rinsed out all the light covers from the bedroom, kitchen, and living room

And here is the fan, all clean, shiny, and put back together, yay!

Next on my list was to go through the deal sites, print out coupons, and go do some shopping before the sales for the week are over. So I started at Rite Aid for some razors, tampax, and lightbulbs.

The razors were gone, the tampax I wanted were gone, and the lightbulbs were the old kind. boo.

Next I dropped a bag of stuff off at Salvation Army (They have a sign on the door that they NEED clothes)

Target was my big stop of the day.

1. Do they price adjust? (The cardigan I bought last week was on sale this week) They DO! (within 2 weeks) So, I got $2.99 refunded.

2. Did they have my games in stock? Yes. I had called yesterday and had them set them aside.

3. Did my coupons get scanned correctly? For the most part. I had a BOGO for head and shoulders, and they should have taken $5.99 off, only took $3.89...whatever.

Candy land-$7.79

Chutes and ladders- $7.79

Raincheck for $5 each, and $9 in coupons= $1 total

BIC Silky Touch Razors-$2.99 -$2C= $0.99

Country Crock-Sale for $1.97 each -$3 of coupons= $0.94 total for two

Slow Cooker liners- $1.97-$1C=$0.97

Head and Shoulders- $5.99-BOGO should have been $5.99 for both, but it was $8.09 

( should have watched more closely...)

All in all, $11.99 for all that. Works for me. And for those of you asking WHY I'm buying these games, since I have no kids? One, they were FIFTY CENTS EACH. Two, they can be gifts. Three, they are shrink wrapped, I could just save them.

On my way home, I stopped at Burger King. They are selling their new chicken wraps for $1 this weekend only. I got a Honey Mustard one, with no lettuce. It was quite yummy.

Next I turned on Groundswell, to get that out of the way, and it's still running...about 2 hours later... BUT while it's on I did make a DiaperCake and I'm blogging-Multi-Tasking :)

This is for sale, BTW. Local pick up/delivery only. (at least for the time-being) $45 

---Has 60 diapers, mostly size one. 

---A bottle with nipple, lid, and 5 drop in liners, and a 

---Johnson and Johnson baby wash.

Let me know if you or anyone else is interested, and please pass this along.

I CAN make each one to order, the cost will vary depending on size of the diapers, products you want included, and whether you provide the products or if I go out to buy them. Please e-mail Lyndsay216@live.com and we can discuss options and choices and what not.

WHOA WHOA WHOA, WHAT ARE DIAPER CAKES?!

They are handmade "cakes" of diapers, along with many other little baby products thrown in. They are great Shower decorations, shower gifts, welcome home baby gifts, 1st birthday gifts/decorations, etc.

Hope you all are having a FANTASTIC weekend so far :)

Day 10, and an incredible movie.

Awe, finally Friday :) We even got Treat pizza for lunch at work, since they opened for the season on Wednesday!


Today's challenges did NOT get finished. Nope, not at all. What were they, you ask?


Clean all light fixtures and ceiling fans- mine are FILTHY. God only knows the last time they were clean, and certainly not since we moved in last fall. So I did wipe some off, but I'm planning on giving them a good scrub tomorrow.

My 5-7 things to-do were

1. 10 minutes of pilates-nope.

2. finish the laundry-didn't touch it

3. clean the lights and fans-see above

4. read a chapter of PPW- haven't even gone in the room that the book is in.

HOWEVER

5. blog about the day-doing that now, obviously.

6. Watch movie with Billy -the 15-minute challenge today was to relax. 

(2 hours sounded better.)

 https://riotstudios.com/store#bewareofchristians


I encourage each and every one of you to see this film. It was wonderful. Check out the link, pass it around, think about it.


That's it. I have a LOT planned for tomorrow, and it's my day off, and no one is around-check back tomorrow to see what I actually ended up doing :)

A trip to Dollar Tree, and Day 10 of the challenge

Today was a very productive day. The challenges were to do a 15 minute cleaning of the bathroom, wipe down all light switches, get rid of 7 things, and make a list of 5-7 things to do today.

I'll start though with my trip to Dollar Tree last night, which I am very excited about....

As you can see, I got a yellow tub, which I will use for electric cords and such-keeping them all in one place helps me find them easier :) We also bought Sonny some new toys. I was able to get 2 containers with lids that I will use for my laundry detergent. I also found rubbermaid containers for only $1! yay! They sell for $2 at the Dollar General. There's also a piggy bank, mesh laundry bag, and clear sleeves for my coupon binder. :)

Here is the 7 things I got rid of today. 3 books, a candle holder, photo frame, basket, and old car mats.

I didn't time myself with the bathrooms, but I did scrub the tub, which didn't really need it, but I saw a little improvement, and I also cleaned the toilets.

The light switches didn't take much time, because I did most of them yesterday with the door handles.

Finally, my 5-7 things to do today:::

1. 10 minutes of pilates-never got to it

2. blogging about today-yay, I can say I've done this each day so far -yay!

3. spend time with Billy-He made a delicious dinner, and we went out to walmart, I'll count that.

4. chapter of PPW (power of a praying wife)- never got to this either

5. begin laundry-it's half done :)

So, I'm not too upset about not doing everything, because I did also clean the tables downstairs, washed the window and ledge off, vacuumed, and ran the dishwasher. I'd count that as a success.

Plus, I bought everything I needed to pick up this weekend, so one less thing to do on Saturday!

I went ahead of myself and made a to-do list for the weekend, since I'm not busy, and Billy is working

1. Make two batches of laundry detergent

2. Make diaper cakes -I will be selling these. Watch for that post, and please pass it on :)

3. Was to buy all my odds and ends, but that is already done -score!

4. Watch GroundSwell- I can't put it off any longer

5. Go through my coupon binder

6. Mop the kitchen, bathrooms and living rooms.

7. Finish up the baseboards.

It shall be a productive weekend, check back Sunday night and I will let you know how it goes :)

Any thoughts on a challenge for when this is over? Let me know your ideas!

Challenge, Day 8, and my thoughts on gift giving

Today's challenge was to clean out my dresser drawers and disinfect all handles around the house.

Bad picture, but they were all filled and not organized at all. So I set my timer for 15 minutes, got it all organized and found way more than 7 things to get rid of

Speaking of getting rid of things, I do have more than 49, so I'm right on schedule with the challenge, yay! :)

I will be having a yardsale sometime in May or June, if you're in the area, let me know if you want to join in!

My 5-7 things for today included

1. 10 minutes of pilates 

which I didn't get to, we went out for dinner and stopped by the dollar tree for some goodies (which I'll share at another time)

2. watch video 2 of weighdownathome (since I didn't get to it yesterday) I started to watch it. Then realized once again, the videos are a chore for me. I don't enjoy them, nor do I feel I get anything out of them. I just need to make the choice each day to follow the principles of it.

3. blog about the day (done)

4. call Target to see if games are in stock (done)

5. write out letter (maybe tomorrow?)

6. read a chapter of Power of a Praying Wife (done) 

7. Get garbage together for Billy <3 (done, and he was so happy! <3)

I also have some more pictures for you today! :)

These are my peanut butter easter eggs before they got dipped in chocolate. According to the family, they were delicious-Thanks Grandma for the recipe! :)

Here's the clean car after wiping it down the other day

And the backseat, which has yet to be used by anyone since I got it.

And finally, yesterday I asked  If people you were once close to are having a wedding shower, and you are pretty sure you aren't invited, do you give them a gift anyways?

So here's my thoughts...
---One, I love buying gifts, so if I have the ability to get a gift together, whether through deals, couponing, or just flat out spending full price, I will do so for those I care about (and remember I need a gift for) ...but I also don't always have the ability.
---Two, I do feel, in this situation, and all that we have been through, the right thing to do would be to buy a gift. I would feel good if I did so, but money is tight.
---Three, now that I have decided I will get a gift together, what gift do I choose? They do have a registry, with quite a bit of nice things on it. But I have also been planning what I would like to give them for over 2 years now. I know what Billy and I got that we loved, and I know they do like similar things. So now I need to choose a price point, and whether or not I want to do a gift basket like I often do, or just purchase one "big" item to give. I have so many ideas, it's hard to choose just one...

I love hearing your thoughts, so please share :) Have a wonderful day!

Day 7 and the crazy things that happened.

Today's challenges were:::
-Get rid of 7 things ( I would like to make sure I have 42-I'd be caught up)
-vacuum main living areas (vacuumed yesterday)
-wipe down baseboards
-list 5-7 things to do today


1. 10 minutes of pilates
2. video 2 of weighdownathome
3. blog about the day
4. work on our budget
5. make dinner for Billy.


Ok so. I'm blogging about today, and that is as far as I have gotten.


I came home and decided I would clean the baseboards when I'm home this weekend. So I began to read power of a praying wife, which is on my weekly goal to-do. After a chapter of that, I picked up Lysa Terkeurst's book Becoming more than a good bible study girl. God had big plans for me today...


For those of you who don't know, I have had an extremely rough relationship with a former friend of mine over the past year+. I was bitter and hurt and couldn't get past it. It filled my thoughts, and I would pray and pray for a different perspective. 


So I got a different perspective today- YAY! :) #thankfulforansweredprayers <3


So then I felt I needed to do something about this new perspective. So I wrote her a letter. Now all I need is the guts to send it to her.


So yes, God had other plans for me today. So now I will go put dinner in the oven for Billy and get 10 minutes of pilates in, and if all goes well, I will watch the weighdown video and redo the budget. :)




P.S. If people you were once close to are having a wedding shower, and you are pretty sure you aren't invited, do you give them a gift anyways?


I'll let you know my thoughts on that tomorrow---only if anyone else weighs in with their opinions, so please, spill your guts out to me :)

Organizing Challenge, Day SIX.

Today's challenge's were to come up with 5 weekly goals::
1.  Blog each day
2. Follow weighdownathome
3. Start reading power of a praying wife
4. start a pilates/yoga routine for stress and back pain
5. spend quality time with Billy <3


Then take 15 minutes to pick up the clutter around the house. Took about exactly 15 minutes to get both living rooms, the bedroom and bathroom picked up, what a great start to the week :)


Next was to clean my car out. There wasn't much "stuff" in there to take out, because I haven't had the car that long, but it did need a good dusting and cleaning of the inside of the windows, so I took care of that.


I got rid of a couple magazines and newspapers, so I'm counting that towards my 7 things to get rid of.


Finally, I made myself a list of 5-7 things to do today
1. clean out the car-done
2. pick up the clutter through the house-done
3. blog about the day-done
4. 10 minutes of pilates (starting small)-done
and 5. watch 1 weighdown at home video, which I'm doing after this.


Sorry there weren't many pictures, but nothing was too dirty or messy to take pictures...


Maybe tomorrow! Hope you all are enjoying this challenge, let me know how it's going :)