Christmas

So I fell off posting in December. It's always a crazy busy month for me because of dealing with Christmas gifts. God showed up in so many ways for us last month. One of the biggest blessings was around the middle of the month. All three kids were sick, but especially Jack. Our pediatrician copay is $5, and I had figured out that we were going to have exactly that much available in the bank to cover it. Then a preauthorized payment came in a day early. I got enough money in the bank to cover it before it processed out, but because they knew about it before I made the deposit, they still charged $70 in fees, which put us $65 overdrawn. Not only did this take the copay money, but it meant that if we couldn't get enough to cover the shortage within a few days they would charge us another fee on top of it. I asked my Facebook friends to please lift us up for an unspoken prayer request, and I called the bank as soon as customer service opened. I explained the situation, and the agent was very nice and agreed to refund half the fee ($70), which was great, but it still left us $30 short and needing money for the doctor. I asked if a manager might be able to refund the rest, and he seemed doubtful, but agreed to get one on the line. Let me just tell you, that lady was an angel. She listened to this stressed out teary mama, and not only did she waive the other $35, but she went back on the account and waived every fee she could find, putting our account at a positive $110. I had gone to drop off some work for Morgan at school since she was home sick and made the call from the parking lot there. I sat in my car and cried over how above and beyond good to us God is. So I got to take all three kids to the doctor instead of just Jack, which turned out to be a very good thing since they all three had strep. 

The whole month God pulled us through bit by bit. I had 8 or 10 craft orders throughout the month that covered gas and groceries day by day. 

Grant and Kelly had their baby boy on the 9th of December, and I got to be in the room for it taking pictures, which is such a special thing for me. This is the third niece or nephew I've had the privilege of seeing born, and it's the best thing ever!

Christmas was very nice. Nick bought me a couple of pieces for my Willow Tree Nativity, a couple of pretty bras, and some makeup. I got him some duck decoys, a duck call, a few stocking stuffers, and I made him 4 custom t shirts, which were a big hit. The kids got pretty much everything they wanted, and life was good all around. 

Right now we are in a very hard place financially again, but I know God shines brightest in those situations, and I can't wait to see what He does to meet our needs again. 

December already

I can't believe it's December already! It's been a little bit of a rough week. Our dog Taco passed away Wednesday evening. He was a rescue the came to us from my sweet friend Mary who saved him just as they were taking him back to euthanize him. She got him to us, and we had two sweet years with him before he passed away. 

Friday we had a family get together at my cousin's house, which was fun. The kids got some fun gifts, and I got to see some family I don't get to see very often. 

Yesterday my mom brought by some groceries, which was a huge help as we were basically out. Right now I would really appreciate your prayers that God will send some funds by tomorrow. We have car insurance coming out, and I don't have the money in there to cover it right now. Nick also needs gas in his truck, and we have about another $85 in bills to cover by tomorrow as well. I know God is able, and I'm grateful already for His timely provision!

 

Showers of Blessings

Guys, I just have to tell you, God just keeps blessing me! As of my last post before LOL Day, we were pretty down to the wire with money. Kelly and Grant's photo shoot was very close to our house thankfully, because I drove there on a very close to empty tank. The photo shoot went so well - both my niece and nephew and even the dog were so cooperative and well behaved, and I got some great shots of everybody. After we were done we walked back to our cars, and I was kind of hanging out talking to Grant while Kelly got the kids in the car. She walked over to tell me goodbye and handed me a check for $75.00! I honestly, really, truly had not expected them to pay me anything, and I wasn't even thinking about it standing there. They've sometimes paid me some in the past, but not always, and I was happy to do the shoot either way. I assured them that they didn't need to do that, but they insisted, and it was such an answer to prayer! I was able to put gas in the car and buy some groceries for dinner that night.

A little later my mom called to tell me she had found a couple of really cool robotic dinosaurs at a thrift store for me to give Jack for Christmas. Morgan was spending the night with her, so when I dropped her off Mom showed them to me, and they both work.  I looked them up online, and they retail for around $100 each, but she got them both for $12. They're going to make an awesome Christmas gift for him!

The next day we had lunch provided for us at the birthday party of one of our other nephews, which was nice. I was supposed to do his 3 year pictures that day after the party, but Faith wasn't feeling well, so we postponed it.

By Sunday the $75 has been almost completely spent on gas and groceries. I sat in church that morning thinking about the last $8 in my wallet, about how I had asked God to bless me, and how He had been doing so, and how that $8 was just about 10% of the $75 Grant and Kelly had given me. So when they passed the plate, I dropped it in, determined to keep having faith. Nick runs the sound board every service at church. After the service I made my way to the sound room to find him with a huge grin on his face and an envelope with his name on it in his hand. Inside was a Christmas thank you check from the church for $750. For the last couple of years they've done this for him because he not only runs the sound board, but he also maintains the supply stock in the room and fulfills the requests for our sermon CD and DVD ministry. We had both forgotten about it though, and it's not a guaranteed thing anyway. What a blessing! God took that little $8 I put in the plate and gave it back to us almost 100 fold! I thought He was blessing me with the $75 a couple days earlier, then He turned around and gave us 10x as much! And you want to know something funny? Remember that $8? Well a couple weeks prior a lady at church had asked me to make her a couple of decals for her and her husband, but they hadn't been back to church since. That morning her husband was there and told me his wife had told him he needed to give me some money. It was to get his decals that I had gone up to the sound room when Nick showed me the check. And it was with that happy news in my heart that I brought the decals back down to the man - and collected $8 from him.

Yesterday I had a deposit of $27 for an Etsy order that came in on Thursday. Today a lady that I was paired with in a craft exchange a couple of years ago messaged me and ordered 11 decals from me, which will be $33 when it comes in. Tonight Robert asked me to make a church logo decal for his car and asked me to price them out because he's going to offer them for sale to church members. And just a little while ago I finished up an order for 9 aprons for a church that our church supports. Our church bought all the materials and will be paying me $45 labor, plus I get to keep the heat transfer vinyl that was leftover.

I've also found some really good deals on Christmas gifts, including a couple at a thrift store, as well as some amazing deals online. God is just so, so good to us! I don't share any of this to brag (other than to brag on God), but I just want to maybe encourage someone who is struggling and needs to walk in faith. He will take our little bit and make it great! And it's so important for me to document for myself how He is daily taking care of us.

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving!

Starting Christmas

It's been a good weekend. We're low on money at this point, but we were able to pay the bills, put gas in the cars, fill Morgan's lunch account, and buy a few groceries, although we need a few more of those. But dinner tonight was delicious, and I know what I'm making tomorrow. We have season passes to a local amusement park, and we took the kids for a few hours last night to see the Christmas lights, which was a lot of fun.

I was also able to knock out six major Christmas gifts using a huge coupon, which was a big relief. Every year I make photo calendars for the dads and brothers in my life using an annual buy-one-get-two-free coupon, and they are always a huge hit. Putting them together is probably the most stressful and time consuming part of the Christmas season for me, but I'm thrilled to have something that works well and is affordable for people who are otherwise hard to buy/make for. 

This starts the busy season for me, the time when I start making all of our Christmas gifts for everyone. The heat press my parents bought me for my birthday/Christmas is going to be a huge help with that this year. I'm so grateful to have the tools and materials I need to help make instead of buy gifts, as well as to bring in a little money here and there with orders. 

Speaking of orders, my mom has ordered several custom aprons, and I'm working on an order for a memory blanket made from special clothes for a friend's daughter. I've also got a couple of decal orders waiting for pickup. None of these are super lucrative, but they do add up, and I'm grateful!

Another answer

This morning my photography client messaged me and told me that she has decided to buy the full session disc of her photo shoot, which is great news, but she won't be able to do it until Friday, which was not so great news as it didn't do much to help me come up with dinner for tonight. or to cover what I needed in the bank. When my mom called me later to talk about the election, I asked her to pray that God would cover our needs, specifically that the insurance check might come in today after all, even though our agent said it would likely be tomorrow at the earliest. A few hours later I called the claims office, and the lady who answered said that my agent should call me when it came across his desk. I asked if she would care to just check anyway for me, and she came back with the good news that she had the check in hand! I drove down and got it and deposited it before picking Daisy up from school. I'll go get a few groceries here in a bit when Morgan gets home. Again, God is always on time!

Dinner Update

Nick's cousin messaged me to meet to get the shirt she ordered from me. I met her, got paid, swung by the grocery store with the money, and we're all sitting here with bellies full of yummy cheesy chicken enchiladas. God is so good, and He's always right on time!

Busy life

So four months have gone by. I'm sorry I've not been updating. I just haven't been able to find the wherewithal to sit down and post. But a lot of things have been happening. 

First of all, the house I mentioned back in February. We didn't get it. We kept working toward getting ours ready to market, and the Realtor called us periodically to find out how close to listing we were. Finally he called in April to tell us the homeowners expected an offer from a particular buyer any day. This would be their very first offer after over a year on the market, so we expected them to take it, which we hated, but we just weren't ready. Then the other offer got delayed. 

Finally the Realtor called and asked me what it was that was keeping us from submitting a contingency offer. I explained that we still had a few things left to do, which we were working to come up with the money for, and we knew a contingency offer would be time sensitive. We didn't want to waste part of that time with our house not yet for sale. He said he felt like they would be open to a lengthier contingency time frame than normal since no other offer had come in, so I told him we would talk about it and pray about it. We finally decided to go for it, and we submitted an offer several thousand dollars below the asking price, with the expectation that they would counter. 

And of course the other offer came in the same day. But they asked the Realtor to come back to both us and the other buyers and ask us to submit our very best offers. So we gave them an offer for the very most we were willing to spend. The next day the Realtor told us he was very sorry, but they had chosen the other buyers. So I was very sad and upset for about an hour.

Then Nick found a very new listing online for a house in close to the same price range with even more room than the one we had just lost. It was For Sale By Owner, so we called the number listed and asked for a showing. We went to see it the next day, and we fell completely in love. Like head over heels. 

It was definitely a project home, as the owners had purchased it to completely renovate and then run out of money after running into some nasty surprises. But they had fixed most of the big things, like a new roof, a new ($20,000) HVAC system with all new trunk lines, new plumbing, a completely renovated kitchen with granite counter tops, all new cabinets, and all new higher end appliances, tile flooring in the kitchen and living room, and new carpeting upstairs.  The husband is in the military, and they bought the home based on the information that he was going to be deployed to Afghanistan. They were going to used his deployment salary to pay for the renovations. They went ahead and started the major renovations using credit with plans to pay it off when his salary came in. Then his deployment got cancelled. By this time they were tens of thousands of dollars in debt with the renovations, so they decided to cut their losses and sell. 

It had everything we wanted and even things we hadn't  been looking for, like a pool and a tennis court (yes, a tennis court). And there was a ginormous craft space with a kitchenette attached to it. Okay, it was a mother-in-law suite, but it would make a dream craft room. And there was a huge detached garage tall enough for Nick to install a car lift in, which has long been on his list of someday dreams. The bedrooms were massive, and there was tons of natural light throughout the whole house.

We loved it so much that, after praying about it, we made an offer that same day. At first they didn't accept it because we weren't on the market yet with our home, but our Realtor talked them into a 90 day contingency contract, and the race was on! Our families came together to help, and we were market ready in 2 weeks. It actually took a few days for the listing to go live because we were waiting on the photographer to come take listing photos, but once it did, we blew up with showings. Like 5 in the first few days. And they just kept coming. We've had 45 showings at this point. But no offers. And our contract ran out last Monday. 

We talked to the homeowners, and they were willing to renew on basically the same terms for another 6 weeks or so. But we wanted to go by and see the home again before we signed a new contract, especially since they did not want to work with our Realtor since they didn't want to have to pay him a seller's commission. As we've only contracted with him to sell our house, not find us another, that was fine with us. But we wanted to take my parents with us to see the house, especially since my mom would be handling all the paperwork on our end if we weren't going to use our Realtor. They really didn't like the house at all, which was disappointing to us, but all they could see was the work left to do. 

It's mostly just finishing work at this point, like laying tile that has already been purchased and would come with the house, putting up trim and hanging doors that are also already there, and installing toilets that are sitting there in the boxes. But there are a couple of major projects too, the most urgent of which would be putting together the completely gutted master bathroom (no small expense). The in ground pool needs a bit of cosmetic work, and we don't know if all the pipes are sound. The upstairs hallway and the stairs need  carpet, and there are several places in the home that need drywall or ceilings installed. We were actually pretty disappointed that they hadn't finished anything since we had first seen it three months prior, but the  wife is very pregnant and the husband is frequently gone with his job, and I guess they figured they had a buyer and didn't need to do anything else.

We could do all the work ourselves with the exception of the pool, but after more prayer and talking, we opted not to renew the contract. We haven't completely ruled the house out by any means, but we feel like God was telling us not to sign anything else until our house sells. Maybe since they have to start marketing it again they will finish up a few projects, and if it doesn't sell soon, maybe they will come down on the price. Or maybe it's not the house for us after all and it will sell to someone else before ours sells. We're still just waiting and praying.

So that's what's happening on the real estate front. The good news is that my house has been pretty much spotless for 3 months straight. The laundry is always all done and the sink is always clean. I've never been such an awesome housekeeper in my life. Wherever we end up, I definitely want to continue the habit, even if I have to be the meanest mom in the world to make it happen. Jack and Daisy are both actually great at keeping things neat now. It's Morgan I have to stay on top of.

Of course now that the house is all clean I am literally perfect (ha!), so there's no reason at all for Nick to bring up anything discipline related. Except of course for the fact that I still desperately need it in my life, but whatevs. I've asked him several times if he's decided not to do it any more, and he always says no, it's just not something we've done "lately". We're coming up on 11 months now since the last punishment spanking, and 9 months since the last spanking at all, which was my wonderful birthday spanking last year. I'm halfway convinced that he really is done with it but just doesn't want to have the conversation so he keeps putting me off. That's probably not a fair assessment, but I'm on my period and not inclined to be reasonable.

We did finally get that night alone on our 17th anniversary last month. It was kind of a mixed bag. The time we had together was wonderful, but the timing was bad. Nick had to work that day, then get up early and go back to work the next day. Plus I was on my period then too, which kind of put a damper on things. We went downtown and had a fabulous sushi dinner, but our plans to explore the downtown area on foot together afterwards got rained out with a vengeance. 

Nick took this last week off, and my mom tried to give us another go at a romantic night alone. That went swimmingly until about 2:30 in the morning when she finally gave up trying to pacify a little boy who badly missed his mom and I had to go get him. But we had been about to go to bed anyway, to sleep since we'd had some crazy good sex on the back deck earlier, rather daring for us these days. :) 

So what else? Nick ended up not getting to join us at church camp this year because they wouldn't give him the time off. which was a huge disappointment. He did drive up every night for the evening meal and service, but it wasn't the same without him. Since he wasn't going to be there all week, I had just planned to drive up daily myself. This was the first year we incorporated a craft time into every day, and I was in charge of it, so I did have to be there for that, but I was afraid it might be hard to manage both little kids in that environment by myself all week. But Nick didn't want me to make the drive every day, both because of the gas expense and because it's kind of a long and sketchy drive road-wise, so he had me stay. Kelly and her two little ones, Logan and Adison ended up staying with me most of the week though, so we traded off sitting so the other could get a shower when we needed to. At 9 months apart, Jack and Logan are best buddies as well as first cousins, so it was good for them to have each other to play with, and Daisy couldn't get enough of 13 month old Adison.

Nick missing camp did mean that he still had that week of vacation, which is why he was able to take it off last week. Vacation Bible School was going on at our church all week, and I wish it had been some other week. It went great and the kids loved all the crafts, but Nick wasn't thinking about it being that week when he requested off, so it wasn't quite the break he was hoping for. But he still got some fishing time in, and it was nice for him to at least not have to show up at work. And we did have that one very nice partial night alone. :)

We're most likely not going to get to go to Texas this year, which makes me very sad. We've been every year since Kate and Will got married with the exception of the year we all went to Sea Island to vacation together. It would have to be in the next 3 weeks or so if we were able to go, and the money is just not there this year. We did get to see Kate and the kids for a week though a few weeks ago when she came in to stay, so it's not like we're going a couple of years between visits. Maybe if the house sells by then we can try to go when the kids are out of school for fall break.

Speaking of school, in 20 days I'll have both a high schooler and a kindergartner, (Sob!) We had Daisy in a one on one preschool program one day a week last school year with Morgan's retired preschool teacher who now teaches like this in her home. Daisy missed the age cutoff for kindergarten by 5 days last year, so she'll be one of the oldest in her class, and we didn't want her to fall behind. She did really great with the in home teaching, and she's reading pretty well and a whiz at math. She'll do great in school, but I'm sad to see her growing up so fast! So far it's looking like she'll be in the elementary school near our current house, which I don't love. Morgan attended there in 5th grade, and the teachers were all very nice, but the school is only rated a 3 out of 10. We didn't put in for any sort of transfer request for her, because we thought we'd be moved by now, and the house we were trying to buy is zoned for the top rated elementary school in our county. 

Morgan on the other hand will be going to the school we want her to attend. We did request a transfer for her, because the other house (well, both other houses actually) were zoned for a school we didn't want her to attend. We were actually surprised to be approved for the transfer, because we were told they're notoriously hard to get, but we sure prayed hard about it, and God answered. I have to trust that He has a plan for Daisy being where she is. When they had kindergarten round up a few months ago we went ahead and pre-registered her at the nearby school because we didn't have permission to go anywhere else, and she really liked what she saw, so I'm sure it will be fine. She'll be close to home, and it will probably just be for one year anyway.

So I think that's all the news that's news. Hope you guys are all doing well!

July so far...

Did everyone have a nice 4th of July? Ours was quite lovely. We actually went to my parents' house the day before for a cookout, and it was a lot of fun having all 6 of their grandkids under one roof, especially since 5 of them are 4 years and under. :) Of course they're all together every week at church, but it was nice to have them where they could get down and play and make lots of noise. The actual 4th we went up to Nick's grandparents' cabin on the lake. It was wonderful! We had great food, fishing and swimming, and when it got dark, some of us went out on the pontoon boat and watched the fireworks going off all over the lake. 

I've really missed the cabin. We spent our honeymoon there, and every June for years we would go back for a family June birthday party and then stay for several days to celebrate our anniversary. For the last three years Nick has used his free week of vacation for church camp, so we've not gotten to stay for the week since 2010, and in 2011 we just had a weekend there. This was the first year at least as long as we've been married that they've not had a June birthday party, which was sad.

This year he gets 3 weeks vacation, and we were so looking forward to having a week there again. Unfortunately, since Nick's grandfather passed away, his grandmother has been getting more skittish about life in general, and she told us at Easter that she didn't think she was going to let anyone stay up there anymore. When Nick's dad opened the cabin up for the season there were some plumbing problems that had appeared over the winter, and I guess she's paranoid that someone will tear something up and Nick's grandfather is no longer here to fix things. This is disappointing to be sure, but we're hoping and praying that she will come around. 

Saturday we took the kids to the mountains and just walked around and had fun as a family, which was such a precious gift. God has been so good to provide us some financial ease recently, and it was wonderful to be able to have time with family on all three days and not have to scramble for money for gas or food to take to the celebrations.

Another blessing was that my parents found a killer deal on an upgraded washer and dryer a few weeks ago, and they passed their old set on to us. Obviously it was used, but definitely an upgrade to our washer and dryer, both of which were close to wearing out entirely. We were hoping to make it to next income tax return time so that we could buy a new set, so this was a real blessing. It's actually made laundry a much more pleasant chore. :)

I did end up getting a spanking after all. He planned to get to it Friday night after the kids were in bed, but he fell asleep on the couch. Then he planned to handle it Saturday night, but we got home late, and when he was ready to do it and go to bed, the girls were still awake (although they were in bed). So he decided that he would set the alarm early and do it before church. He was quite prepared to wake me up and paddle me (a rude awakening indeed), but his alarm also woke the girls up, and they came piling upstairs (saved by the bell!). 

Finally Sunday night the stars aligned and he took me upstairs to meet my fate. Forty or so swats with the Patty paddle from Cane-iac over my jeans might not sound so bad, but 4 months is a long time to go between spankings, and I was definitely on fire from the start. But it was exactly what I needed, and I've rediscovered my motivation for housework since lol. Now if I could just rediscover the same motivation to get to bed on time!

Prayer Request

Hi, guys. Things are good here, just working through my still growing to-do list. :) I do have a favor to ask of you. If you're a praying person, I sure could use your prayers this weekend. Tomorrow I have to go pay a car payment. Monday I have to pay a house payment. I don't have the money for either one, and I have no idea where it's coming from. If I can pull together $300 this weekend (somehow??), it will cover the car payment, but that leaves the (even bigger) house payment, and I am OUT OF TIME on both. Nick's next check also has more than usual that has to come out of it, and it will be short a day through no fault of his own, although that's a story for another day. Please pray with me that God provides for these needs. I know that He can do this, and I have faith that He will. 

We've been here before. I mean right here. Just a few months ago in fact, and God showed up in a big way. I know that He can do it again. I want you guys to know that I appreciate being able to come here to people that really care about me, and it means the world to me that I can ask you guys to pray with me and know that you will! Thank you all! :)

Chugging along...

It's been a while since I've posted, but it's just been so busy! We were snowed in, oh forever. Well, not really snowed in, but Morgan was out of school for almost a week straight, she had a friend overnight for several of those days, and it got a bit cabin-feverish. We did get our income tax return in on the 7th, which has been nice. We paid my parents back everything we owed them (for Daisy's dental work last year), took care of a few bills, and were able to get some things we needed. I'm planning to have another crafting slumber party for Morgan's birthday this year, so I got pretty much all the crafty supplies I needed for that. I also got to get an external lighting set up and a nice backdrop, which will be great for my photography! Nick had a few things on his list as well, such as his handgun carry permit, his next ASE testing registration, some new running shoes, and a new backpack. God always, always provides for us, but it's always fun when He provides a little extra. ;)

Monday night I got spanked. He told me Saturday night that it was coming. The plan was for it to happen Sunday night, but school was out for President's Day the next day, and Morgan had a friend spend the night. Nick didn't feel comfortable doing it with company in the house (nor did I), so he let me know he would deal with it the next night.

Monday night after all the kids were asleep he asked me to join him upstairs. I followed him up, then went into the bathroom to pee first. When I came out he had the Cane-iac Jr. with holes paddle in his hand.

The issue at hand was, as it always seems to be, the housework. I know it comes back to this time and time again. I've come to accept that it will probably always be somewhat of an issue for me, and though I really do make an effort, there will always come times when I need to be refocused and re-motivated. That was certainly accomplished with this spanking. I have no idea how many I got (well less than 100 I would think, but beyond that I can't guess). I do know that it was really, really hard to take right from the beginning, and I was no good at all at staying put for it. Finally, after telling me to bend over again 4 or 5 times Nick pulled down my jeans and panties. He told me that if I could stay put I would get 5 more, but if I moved again it would get a lot worse. Those last 5 were especially hard, and I've got a pretty bruised and sore bottom still a couple of days later.

But I feel better for having been spanked. I feel reconnected to my husband, and safe within his boundaries, and I've been getting more accomplished around the house. It's still far from perfect, but I'm working on it.

After the paddling we made love, something that doesn't always happen after a punishment, and he took his time making sure it was good for me too. Since then I've felt lighter and happier and just closer to him. 

Well that's been our last few weeks - how about you guys?

A super long dear diary post all about the last month.

I've been trying to get here to post for a few days now, and I'm finally getting a moment to sit down and do it. This post will probably be long and filled with details on gifts, so feel free to skip if it doesn't interest you. But I try to get all this stuff down because it serves as a record of our lives for me. :)

December is always busy for me, and this year was no different. I had a couple of different sewing jobs - five different winter skirts with matching hair bows, and a hem on a formal dress for the same customer. It was for a girl I graduated high school with. She has a 13 year old daughter who's pretty severely autistic, and the formal was for a special needs pageant (which she won in two categories I'm pleased to report). The skirts were because, at her physical age, it's hard to find clothes in her size that are appropriate to her developmental age. She's very much into things that most 5 year old girls are interested in, so it was fun to watch her reaction when I delivered the skirts made from material she chose. She was thrilled with them all, and her mom was equally happy.

I also had a couple of photo shoots, one for Brandon and Melanie's new baby boy, and one for a customer I've done several previous shoots for. And I had several Etsy orders too, including one on the 21st that had to be made from scratch and received on the other side of the country by Christmas Eve. 

And of course there were all the Christmas gifts to be made. Probably the most time consuming were the Christmas stockings I made for nearly everyone in our families, and well as Brandon, Melanie, and their new baby. My mom helped with cutting out the pieces since it's hard to spread fabric out to cut with a toddler running around, but I did the sewing, as well as hand painting the names on all of them. I think they turned out fabulous, and everyone loved them. 

Besides the 26 stockings, I also made: 5 shirts (2 applique and 3 stenciled), 5 stuffed whales, 9 corn bags (flannel pouches filled with cracked corn - stick them in the microwave and they make wonderful heat/therapy packs), 7 pairs of earrings, 10 necklaces, 12 wine glass charms, 2 zipper pouches, 1 skirt, 7 scarves, 2 blankets (one for new baby Liam and one for Morgan), 1 bracelet, 24 stamped note cards, a taggie security blankie, a bunch of baby bows/headbands, peanut brittle, candied pecans, 2 paracord bracelets, 4 paracord key fobs, 20 or so wax and cotton fire starters, and 2 pillows. I also ordered 9 personalized photo calendars for the guys and Nick's grandmother, and I think I almost worked harder on them than on the stockings. But they were a huge hit, and I will be doing them every year if I'm able. It will be easier next year, because I already have all the dates saved and can just update with new photos.

Nick and I never do much for each other in the gift category at Christmas just due to time/money constraints. But he did get me a $40 gift card to Joann's (yahoo!), and I got him a sweatshirt, made him a calendar and one of the paracord keyrings, and tracked down Youtube videos of all the songs on an album he wanted, then converted the audio tracks to mp3s for him. 

With my gift card I was able to order a jewelry tool I've had my eye on forever (can't wait till it gets here!) and buy some fabric and other sewing goodies. I made myself two awesome infinity scarves out of some of the material, and I've gotten multiple compliments on both of them. :)

Our Christmas celebrations went as follows: my cousin's house for my extended family on the 21st, my parents' house on the 23rd, Nick's aunt's house for his extended family on the 24th, our house Christmas morning, then his dad and stepmom's house after we were done at our house. 

From us the kids got:

Morgan - a blanket, 2 necklaces, 3 pairs of earrings, a scarf, a corn bag (she and Daisy sleep with them literally every night), a pillow, a Loom Bands set (found on Amazon for about $4 a few months ago!), and several shirts from Aeropostale that my mom bought on Cyber Monday for a great deal and gave to me to give her. Mom also made her a couple of pillows and a set of curtains for her room and sent them to our house for her to open.

Daisy - a skirt, a scarf, a necklace, a corn bag, a toy camera, a stuffed whale, a Foofa shirt (that turned out embarrassingly lame I think, but she loved it anyway), a like new Butterfly's doll that I found at the Goodwill for $1 (total score - they sell these dolls at Cracker Barrel for $20. She wanted one for months before we finally got her one back in August while we were on vacation), two Disney Baby Princess dolls (found for a great price at Aldi of all places), and a toy vacuum cleaner that was actually a hand-me-down from my cousin's little boy.

Jack - a whole bunch of toys handed down from my cousin. She did this for us last year also, going through all her son's toys right before Christmas to get rid of the ones he wasn't playing with and passing them on to us to help fill out Jack's gift list. I also got him a Plex beanie baby, and made him a matching Plex shirt. The beanie baby was a sort of hit, but he went nuts over the shirt, which cracked me up. He's worn it several times since Christmas, and every time he's tried to help put it on and proudly pointed at the applique on the front for anyone who would look. :) He also got a toy camera like Daisy did.

In other places, the kids got lots of clothes and shoes mostly, although my mom did get them all some non-clothing stuff. Morgan got about 6 scarves, which she loved, and Will and Kate sent her just a crazy amount of gorgeous name brand pieces. They also sent shoes and clothes for Daisy and Jack, every single item perfect as always. Nick's dad is also in the process of making a very nice set of bunk beds for Morgan's room. He's a very accomplished carpenter, and they look great so far. Morgan's big Christmas wish was a room makeover, thus the pillows and curtains and blankets. The bed is her grandparents' contribution. They kids also got small gift cards to Walmart (Jack), Old Navy (Morgan), Chick-Fil-A (all three), and Carmike Cinemas (all three). We took them to eat and see Frozen on New Year's Eve, which was very cute.

I couldn't tell you everything Nick got, although I know there were jeans and shirts and socks and a jump box (to jump off a dead car battery), a couple of pocket knives, and a basket full of edible goodies made by Kelly. Also a gift card to Bass Pro Outlet.

I got: from my parents - boots, a shirt, a purse, a recipe organizer, 2 books (one sewing and one on organizing for dummies lol), a pair of scissors, a hair barrette/bun maker thing, pajamas, and a sweater; from Nick's parents - makeup powder, eye liner, lip liner, lip gloss, socks, and an electric can opener; from Kelly and Grant - a ribbon organizer basket with two cute spools of ribbon, a pair of earrings, a gorgeous ornament wreath, and some hair bands; from James - a $25 gift card to Hobby Lobby (the most magical place on earth!); from Robert and Faith - a $25 steakhouse gift certificate (for me and Nick together); and from his cousin who drew my name - a Mary Kay mini Satin Hands set and a $25 gift card to Hobby Lobby (can you tell she knows me?). We also together got a huge bag of meat (steaks, burgers, etc - possibly weird, but so awesome) from my aunt, a huge box of Christmas cookies from my cousin, and a big basket of goodies like bread and hams and blocks of cheese and hot cocoa and chocolates and crackers, etc. from my parents. 

Let me tell you, if you're ever stumped for what to get someone for Christmas, a big basket of hearty snacks for the next day is hard to beat. My mom and dad did this last year too, and it's so awesome when you wake up the next day, with no energy to cook and no money left to eat out, to be able to have something quick and easy and filling to munch on! And if you shop sales and coupon, it doesn't have to be expensive, either!

The biggest Christmas blessing came a few days later from Kate and Will. We're always just crazy tight by the end of the year, and this year was the worst it's ever been. I knew that we would need about $1000 more than Nick's last check of the year was likely to be to just pay the bills, let alone buy gas and groceries. And the check after that (the one coming this Friday) would be particularly short due to the way the holidays fell this year, so we would need to supplement that one by several hundred dollars as well. 

When there's a holiday at most jobs it means full pay for a day off, or maybe even a bonus. At his job they get 8 hours pay, which sounds quite fair, except he works on commission, and being at a car dealership, they get paid for the number of hours an order is supposed to take (which sets the price for a service that the customer pays), not the number it actually takes. Which means that if they are quite good at their job (which Nick is), then an 8 hour ticket might only take them an hour or two of actual labor. This means that on an average day they might clock 12-15 hours in the time they're there, so an 8 hour pay day is actually a loss. Normally it works out that Christmas is on one paycheck and New Year's is on another, but this year they both fell within the same pay period, so his upcoming check will have two short days on it.

A few weeks ago I got particularly down and stressed about our finances. I was praying and searching for God's voice on it, and getting very frustrated with myself for not having more faith. I called Robert and asked him if he could come and talk with me about it. One advantage to having my brother as my pastor. :) So he came by, frozen Coke in hand for me since his wife is a sweetheart and suggested it.  Since my mom had stopped by when he showed up and he knew I wouldn't feel comfortable talking in front of her, he asked if she would watch the kids while I ran to Wal-Mart with him. Then we left, and had a lovely talk and some prayer, and he bought me a strainer I was idly admiring at Walmart and picked up my tab at the post office when I went to mail an order out. I felt much better when he dropped me back off. 

We still had no real prospects in sight, but I felt more at peace and sure that God had a plan. Kate had texted me and let me know that their gift for us was in the mail and to keep an eye out for it. It had not arrived by Christmas, but a few days later it came - a check for $2,000! It was enough to pay our bills, including a few to help out on the upcoming payday, as well as buy gas and groceries. We didn't really do anything out of the ordinary with it, other than to buy a new lunch box for Morgan and a few bottles of deeply discounted lotion for me, and take the family out to eat once. Nick and I also got to go out to eat once by ourselves, our fourth date night of the year. :)

At this point we're back to broke, but the bills are paid, there's a little gas left in the car, and we have food in the house. :) And I know that God is still continuing to provide, as He always does!

A few weeks ago I was in a very minor car accident. More of a hit and run, actually. I was on my way to Wednesday night church and somebody swerved into my lane and clipped my driver's side mirror. It's frustrating, because our insurance will only pay after a $200 deductible which is likely higher than we can replace the mirror for, but it could have been so incredibly much worse that I can't complain too bad. No one was hurt, and nothing but the mirror was damaged at all (although it's pretty much toast).

Daisy and Jack have both been battling some intestinal issues lately. Jack has had a number of vomiting episodes, although they have come with no attending symptoms, and almost always after he's been laughing really hard or crying a lot. So I'm thinking he maybe is triggering them with the laughing/crying. Daisy on the other hand is a little more worrisome. 

A few months ago the kids' insurance plan changed networks to one that their longtime pediatrician won't accept. We picked out a new pediatrician (the same one Faith and Robert use and love), but she was not accepting new patients until the new year. Back in September Daisy had a stomachache that went on all day, along with a fever. That was before the insurance change, but it was a Sunday, so the ped's office was closed, and she was in so much pain that she was actually asking to go to the doctor, so I took her to the ER. 

They ended up doing an xray, telling me she was, er, backed up, and giving her an enema. That seemed to do the trick for a day or two, but soon she was in pain again, so I took her to the pediatrician. They just told me to give her laxatives and sent us home. Unfortunately that didn't do anything for her. By the time it became a serious issue again, we were between peds, so back to the ER we went, for the exact same outcome.

Fast forward to a few days before the end of the year, and she was crying in pain again, and vomiting this time. So I took her back to the ER again. This time the xray showed no blockage, so they gave her something for the vomiting and told us to see her pediatrician for a referral to a GI specialist. She has an appointment this Tuesday to go in and get that referral, so please be in prayer that we will be referred to a good one that takes her insurance, and that it will be something easily fixed and not serious. I'm worried that maybe she's developed a food allergy or intolerance, which we've been blessed enough to have never dealt with before, so I'm hoping it's not that, although that would certainly be preferable to something more serious.

Also of note, Jack turned two on the 2nd. Waaah! My tiny baby is growing up on me! We had cake and ice cream at my parents' house, and he went nuts over all the hand me down toys from my cousin that I saved for his birthday. He's definitely his father's son. He's nuts about anything with wheels, and he can figure out anything mechanical in a flash. He got a little tool kit for Christmas with a toy drill and plastic screws, and he was drilling the screws down into the hole with no help whatsoever. The day Robert came over and Mom kept the kids, she turned her back for a minute and caught him on the kitchen table trying to run a piece of fabric through my sewing machine, which he had managed to turn on and start. :) She about had a heart attack!

The other day Nick and I had a small talk about DD. I started to feel really hurt and frustrated and unimportant because he's backed off on a couple of spankings lately, and we didn't really have any acknowledgment of our 10 year DD anniversary on New Year's Eve. But I recognized that I was letting myself spiral, and after some prayer and reasonable conversation with myself I brought it up at a good time and we had a civil conversation about it. He's agreed to try to be more consistent, as well as to help me with some other things like staying on top of going to the gym. 

Anyway, as promised, this was a super long dear diary post all about the last month, and I'm a bit past my bedtime, so I'm off to bed. Good night all!

Prayer requests and possible punishments...

Hello, everyone. Not a whole lot to report, mostly just checking in. I'm working on the skirts an old classmate ordered, and I'm trying to clean house and plan Christmas gifts. The house kind of got put on the backburner while I was sewing,  and I thought I was going to get a spanking. It's possible that might still happen, although Nick hadn't decided last time he mentioned it. I'm quite sure I deserve it, but mostly I just wish he'd tell me one way or the other so my brain can move on. 

I've got some serious financial needs this week for several bills, in the next couple of days actually, and I would really appreciate you praying with me for God's timely provision. 

Nick and I do have a date night Saturday night for his company Christmas party, and I'm really looking forward to that! Anyway, that's what's shakin' around our house these days. What's up with you guys?

Busy November

I've not gotten to post as much as I wanted to this month - it's just been so busy! But God has still been showering us with blessings!

Nick had some side work fixing Robert and Faith's car, which really helped us out.  And the day before payday, when we were in need of some basics, he sold a couple of used tires on Craigslist for $40. I also had three photo shoots this month, although one was Faith's maternity shoot, which I didn't charge her for, and the other was Melanie's, which I only made $40 on. But the last one was Melanie's mother-in-law's class reunion, and I made a little over $250 on it, which was a big help. I also got an Etsy order yesterday, and tonight I'm supposed to go out to an old classmate's house to measure her daughter for some skirts.

This season is going to be a busy one for us, or me anyway. Right now I'm taking a break from editing the reunion pictures. I have to finish those, then make about 60 CDs, package and address them, then mail them out to the different attendees.

Then I've got to make my Etsy order, and I've got to make some things for my partner in the handmade gift exchange I'm participating in again. I've also got to finish collecting info and pictures for 8 photo calendars for Christmas gifts, put those together, and order them.

I have some other financial needs this week. God knows what they are, and I would as always appreciate your prayers that He brings in the money I need.

Robert and Faith's baby is still not here, but God has really worked some miracles with his growth in the last few weeks. Faith goes in to the hospital at 5:00 tomorrow afternoon to start Cervidil (sp?), which is supposed to encourage her body to go into labor. Of her water hasn't broken on its own by midnight they will induce her, and the baby should be here Thursday. Please also be in prayer for a safe and easy delivery and a healthy baby! I've got to think of a name for him on here! :)

I've been working on Christmas gifts a bit. I mad Jack a Plex shirt since he's a huge fan of Yo Gabba Gabba. It's not perfect, but I think he will love it. I also got him a matching Plex beanie doll. I made Morgan a pillow for her soon to be redone bedroom. That's what she's getting for Christmas from just about everyone, including curtains and bedding and some new clothes storage from my parents, various accessories from me and Nick, and a new set of made-by-Papaw bunk beds from Nick's parents. I also ordered her a Rainbow Loom and extra bands that I found for a crazy good deal online. Daisy wants an Easy Bake oven with her whole heart, so that's what my parents got her, and I'm going to be packaging up some DIY mixes for her to use in it.

I've got various other gifts in the works, including handmade stockings for all the various siblings and parents and children. I think I'm looking at 35 in all. Fortunately they're a pretty quick and easy sew - I just need the space and kid free time to cut out all the  pattern pieces.

I'm loving all the Elf on the Shelf ideas on Pinterest. I've always wanted to do it with the kids, but the set is something like $35, so it will have to wait till another year.

Anyway, I'm off to bed at a relatively reasonable hour tonight. Good night, all!

Happy November!

Happy November, party people! We're in the month of Thanksgiving, and around here that means ratcheting up the gratitude! God is so good, all the time, but oftentimes I'm a spoiled brat who focuses on my stress and forgets what I've been blessed with. I spent a little while earlier looking back on Novembers past here on the blog, and while I've not always done a daily post, it's still humbling to see how relentlessly God had blessed and cared for us over the years. So without further ado, a few recent gifts:

We had some really big bills this week. Like Nick's average paycheck would have left us several hundred dollars short, even utilizing every available option available to us. What he brought home instead was several hundred dollars more than usual. It was just a crazy busy pay period, and while we're still stretching to cover gas and groceries, it is so incredibly much better than it could have been. The thing is, I didn't even realize until after I saw his pay stub just how many things we had to take care of this week, so God was providing before we even knew we had the need!

Next Saturday I have a photo shoot, which will bring in a little bit of money.

Nick and I really enjoyed our haunted hike date night about a week ago. It wasn't the sort of thing with people jumping out at you. Rather it was a hike along a very old trail with the park ranger telling us stories about the real families who once lived there and the reported hauntings in their history. What was really neat is that after talking to my mom it looks like the families in question are likely some of my ancestors, as my great grandmother's maiden name was the same as one family, she married someone with the same name as the second family, and she was from that area.

Faith got to put in her notice at her job today, which is directly related to another recent blessing. It has always been her and Robert's desire and conviction for her to be a stay at home mom when their baby comes (in about 4 weeks!). Unfortunately Robert was only on a part time salary as our pastor, and he just didn't make enough to support the three of them on only his income. But they've been steadily praying about it along with the rest of the family, and a couple of weeks ago, with absolutely no suggestion or input from him, her, or anyone from either family, the church voted to increase his pay by several hundred dollars a week as well as add a weekly fuel allowance for him. It was actually more than the number they'd been praying about, and it allowed Faith to go in today and put in her notice.

Tomorrow is also Faith's baby shower, and I'm very excited to be a part of it.

We had a fun and safe Halloween - Morgan, after endless angst, settled on being a black cat, the sum total of which included black pants, a black tank top, and a headband I whipped up some cat ears for out of scrap leather at the last minute. Daisy had been set on going as a "girl ghost", but I didn't have a spare white sheet to cut up. And about a week ago I made a last minute decision to go to a Trunk or Treat at our YMCA and had to come up with some quick and easy costumes. Morgan went as a One Direction fan (guys, she's obsessed!), Jack went as a farmer (long sleeve shirt, overalls, and camo ball cap), and Daisy went as a baby, in fuzzy footed pjs. She was supposed to have a pacifier too, but I couldn't find one at the time. Anyway, she went as a baby on Halloween, and we stepped it up a bit that night with a pacifier and bottle. Jack went as a cowboy in some cute cowboy costume pjs I found for $5 at Walmart earlier in the day.

Wednesday I was really sick, some sort of stomach virus, which didn't feel like much of a blessing, but I was certainly grateful that my parents were able to stop by and stay for a few hours and watch the kids while I suffered through it. They also brought by a few groceries, which is always a help.

Walgreens.com (not an affilate link) is also running a free photo collage deal through tomorrow with code BOOCOLLAGE, which I plan on taking advantage of.

And I've lost 15 pounds so far, so yay!

Anyway, those are just a few sweet things that have come into my life lately. Hope you guys will play along and take note of your own blessings - I promise it will make every day better!

Floods (of blessing and otherwise)

***Fair warning, this post is a bit long, but I need to have my eyes on my blessings right now, and I've been awfully blessed!***

I've got to be honest, I'm kind of stressed right now. Within the last few hours: Jack threw up everywhere as soon as we put him to bed. Pretty sure the fact that Morgan was dipping him upside down a few minutes earlier had something to do with that. But anyway, pretty much any vomit in the house is dealt with by me, not because I have such a strong stomach (I don't), but because everyone else is worse, and I don't want to have to clean up even more. So I sent Daisy for a towel and Morgan for the baby wash, and I got him hosed down and smelling fresh, a plan he tried to derail by crying and trying to get out of the tub the whole time and finally just peeing in the tub. Once I had him clean I took him to Nick to diaper and put in fresh pajamas while I changed his bed clothes and took everything to the garage to wash.

Finally we got all three kids settled in bed and I went upstairs to change my own clothes. As soon as I got to the bedroom I could hear the water in the bathroom sink on full blast. As no one had been upstairs for about 15-20 minutes, this was alarming. Sure enough, the sink was overflowing and there was about half an inch of water covering the floor, and it was running down into the floor vent. 

That of course had to be dealt with quickly, and while I cleaned up Nick went to the girls' room to investigate. I assumed Daisy would have been the culprit, but no, when I sent Morgan upstairs to get a new sheet for Jack's bed she decided to wash her hands and somehow neglected to turn the water off at all. So now the ceiling in the downstairs bathroom is nice and soft. 

I actually did almost the exact same thing when I was 10, so I can't be too mad, but it was still frustrating. After all that we sat down and watched a movie, Parental Guidance, which was really cute, then Nick went to bed.

Then I sat down and went through the bills and realized that taking every humanly available option into account, we're going to be a couple of hundred dollars short this pay period (which just began two days ago and won't end till Friday after next). I knew we were going to be really tight because of a few different things, but it's frustrating that it's short, and that much. Of course God can provide, and He always does, but I would really appreciate your prayers that He will send the money we need. 

I also just started my period, and when I came upstairs a little while ago to take my shower I found that the water had dripped down into the cabinet under the sink and soaked most of my pads and three precious rolls of toilet paper. Fortunately it didn't get them all, but I was hoping we'd have enough to get us through this pay period, and now I'm fairly sure we won't, at least not with what we have right now. It also soaked my almost completely full box of tampons, but it just got the box itself, and the tampons all stayed dry inside their wrappers.

The great news is that I caught it when I did (before it soaked the bedroom carpet and completely destroyed the downstairs bathroom ceiling), and we didn't have any phones, Ipads, or my Kindle plugged up charging on the sink. That's where we charge them every night, usually when we go to bed, but sometimes I'll leave my Kindle there all day, or we might plug our phones up early if they're dying. Thank God they were all elsewhere. 

BUT, after all that drama, I got into a shower with running hot water and washed and conditioned my hair and dried off with a fluffy towel and generally enjoyed a standard of living 90% of the world doesn't have. First world problems indeed. So I wanted to sit down and post about all the blessings God has showered on us lately, because that's where I need to focus!

First of all, my mom showed up with a HUGE load of groceries last week, so we're in much better shape than we could be. I actually didn't have to buy very much household staple stuff at Walmart, which is always a relief. 

She also really blessed us with something else. Several weeks ago her kitchen stove stopped working. It's a really nice double oven model, but they'd had it for 12 years, so they figured maybe it had just worn out. They remodeled their kitchen last year and got mostly new appliances, so they decided to just bite the bullet and replace it as well. So they purchased the newer model of the one they had, and because my mom is a great shopper they got it for a very good deal.

The other day they delivered the new stove, and when my dad went to move out the old one, they noticed that one of the connector wires was loose. They tightened it back up and it worked perfectly! My mom called me to tell me about it, and she said that she was planning to put the old stove on Craigslist, but that if they couldn't sell it for a decent price, she was going to give it to me. I was excited about the possibility, but I also felt bad that they'd bought a new stove unnecessarily, and I assured her that I wanted her to get some money out of it and that I would pray that it would sell. 

She called me back later and told me that she and my dad had just decided that it would be a hassle to list it and that they would be unlikely to get what they wanted out of it and they would rather just give it to us! So Nick went out to get it that night, and it's sitting in our garage waiting on us to get the time to install it. :)

The funny thing is that not long before all that happened I was randomly telling Nick that if and when we move I'd love to have a house with a double oven. Isn't it awesome how God sometimes blesses us with things we haven't even asked for?

Friday we went to our local trampoline park with our church's youth group. This was a huge treat. We've been once before (actually Nick and the girls went for the first time when Kate was in town this summer, and we went once as a family after that). This is a fairly new facility in our city, and it is SO MUCH FUN, but it's kind of expensive, so it not something that's really on our regular rotation. It was a lot of fun to get to go and take not only ourselves and the kids, but also a couple of Morgan's friends, and the church paid for it all! They even bought pizza for everyone afterwards.

I also had an order for a scarf for a girl at church. I had made one for Kelly for her birthday, and the girl saw it and asked me to make her one too. I had about $4 in the material, and that was enough to make 2 scarves and a matching hair clip. She paid me $8, and I was able to use the extra scarf and the hair clip as a gift for one of Morgan's friends whose birthday party she had to go to today. 

Another neat thing was something Kelly told me today. One of the things I sent Will for his birthday was a paracord survival bracelet I made in the school colors and with the logo for his alma mater, of which he is a huge supporter. The strap on my camera is one I made from paracord, and he was admiring it when we were in Texas. 

I ordered the logo charm months ago off Etsy for a couple of dollars, I was kind of excited about it. He's so hard to buy or make stuff for, just because I don't really feel like I know him all that well, plus he has the money to buy really whatever he wants, but I was pretty sure this was a winner. But as I sent it off I started to doubt myself and worry that maybe he wouldn't like it after all. 

Today Kelly told me that she was talking to Kate, and that she said he was really excited about it, but when he tried to wear it, it was a little too small and that he was really disappointed that it didn't fit. Of course I hate that it was too small, but I love that he really was excited about it, and I'm having Kate mail it back to me so I can remake it to fit him. It always makes me feel so great when someone really loves a gift I make them!

And one of the biggest blessings lately was Daisy's birthday. She's such a sweet little girl, and I really wanted to make the day special for her. I stayed up late the night before (with permission) sewing up her birthday skirts. That was all she had asked me for other than  a Baby Alive doll, so a few weeks ago I let her pick out some fabric, and I think she did great! I had her 5 skirts from the material she chose, plus a birthday outfit I made with a skirt, headband, and matching birthday cake shirt, and the doll she wanted. I also found a nice stuffed bear and elephant at a thrift store. I made the bear a bow and blanket, and I made the elephant a skirt to match her birthday outfit. 

Kate had sent her $50 to The Children's Place, so a few days ago I took her shopping. The gift cards were literally all the money I had, so I had to make sure we kept it within that amount. I found a 20% off coupon in a coupon book my mother-in-law gave me a few weeks ago, and we took our time and looked for bargains. She chose three shirts, two pairs of jeans, and a pair of shoes. When the girl rang us up it came to $52 and some change. Later on I realized that one of the shirts rang up $5 too much, but at the time I thought I had just miscalculated, so I gently told her we would have to put something back. The cashier told me to hang on, and she found a 30% off coupon for us to use instead! Not only did we have enough for everything she wanted, but she also had enough then to get a necklace and two bracelets! That sweet cashier sure made my day!

The morning of her birthday (Saturday) I asked her if she wanted to wear her new jeans with the birthday shirt that was one of the three she bought that day, but she declared that she wanted to wear the shirt with a skirt. One of the skirts I had made her just happened to match it perfectly, so I stuck it in a gift bag and let her go ahead and open it. She loved it, and so out the door we went with a new outfit, complete with the sparkly new shoes that also matched perfectly.

First of all I took all three kids to McDonald's for a cheap lunch. Then we went to this tiny little cash only thrift store. I had $1.50 in cash, so I let her go through the toys and see what she wanted. She had seven things in her shopping basket, and I told her that we might have to choose her favorites depending on the price. When I put them up on the counter I told the cashier that we might have to put a few back as she was doing her birthday shopping herself and only had $1.50. The lady promptly declared that the total was $1, and Daisy very importantly handed it over.

Next we went to the Goodwill, where we had a little more leeway since they take the debit card. There she scored this awesome baby changing/feeding/bathing station for $3. 

The picture is just one I found online, but it's the same one, and it had all the parts except the mobile and the plastic bottles. The other side has more shelves behind doors that close as well as a sink and a changing area. She also found a few dolls, and we even got a few dolls for the nursery at church. 

After that we went to Froyoz, which is a frozen yogurt place that she asks to go to literally almost every time we pass it, which is about 3 times a week. We hadn't been able to take her, so I really wanted to do it as a special birthday treat. I had a buy one get one free coupon for there, so it was also really cheap. 

She wanted to go home and play with her thrift store purchases, so I dropped her, Morgan, and Jack at home while I ran to take some library books back. While I was out I stopped at the Dollar Tree and picked up some little plastic bins and mini packs of diaper wipes for her changing station, as well as a couple of birthday balloons. 

By the time I got home Nick was home from work, and we all loaded up to go out to my parents' house. My mom had balloons on the porch and a birthday banner on the front door, and she had the dining room in full on princess party decor. There was a birthday tiara and more gifts than we could have imagined. Nick's parents came, as well as Kelly, Grant, Logan, James, Robert, Faith, my aunt and my two first cousins as well as their daughters and son. She got SUCH cute clothes, as well as four pairs of shoes for winter (much needed), and several toys as well.

This morning she insisted on wearing her birthday outfit to church, complete with tiara, and I figured why not? At least she got another use from the birthday shirt. :)

Sunny Days and Blessings

How have you guys been? Our scholarship application for the Y finally got looked at. Unfortunately they didn't approve us for the level of scholarship we were hoping, but they did give us a little off each month, which was good. What was great was that my dad decided to have my mom go ahead and pay for 6 whole months for us, including Nick! 

I mentioned that Nick has a membership to a little gym near his work that only costs us $15 a month. We're going to keep that for now, mainly because he goes on his lunch break to work out, and the closest Y to his work is too far away to make that an option. But he's gone to the Y with me a number of times already, and he really likes it. Yesterday evening we took the kids to the pool there, which we all really enjoyed.

Other than Sunday and today, I've not missed a day. Today I missed because Morgan had a soccer game this morning during the time I usually go (they won 6-0!), and afterwards we went and got lunch, then took the kids hiking on a trail in a state park near us. We did about 3 miles, which is a little more than I would have probably done at the Y, so I still got my exercise in, and we really needed a family day together. It was gorgeous weather, and other than the $5 or so worth of gas we used, it was completely free!

Monday Morgan and I have our fitness evaluations so that we can get in the system for a routine, and Nick's evaluation is a week after that. I've been trying to make healthier choices at home as well. The biggest thing I have to conquer is cutting out sweet tea. Here in the South it's truly a staple, and I generally make a pitcher every day. Besides being just plain cheap to make, every last one of us really loves it, but I know it will do us all good to cut it out. My main problem is that well, I hate plain water! Nick says nobody can hate water because it doesn't taste like anything, but that's just not true! I have to have some sort of flavor, or I just don't like to drink it. I've bought a couple of different sugar free, calorie free "water add-ins", but I've not really been happy with the taste of those either, so we'll have to see. I'd really prefer something with no calories, so I don't really want to go the Gatorade route. I guess maybe it will just have to be something I acquire a taste for.

God has really been blessing us lately. Money is crazy tight, but He's been providing day by day. Nick was able to sell some scrap metal today, which gave us enough extra gas money to drive us to the hiking trail as well as get lunch. And I got a small mending job from a lady at church that will yield a few dollars. And at the end of the month I'll be shooting a wedding for a couple at church, which will really help with bills. I won't make as much as I would if I were doing it for anyone else, but I was just glad they committed to hiring me because they're really on a budget, and even the discounted rate I quoted was kind of a stretch for them.

I'd really appreciate your prayers for the upcoming week. I've got a couple of bills that are due before Nick gets paid again, one of which is our water bill. I know God has it in His power to send the money for both, and I'm praying He does just that!

A Friendly Reminder

So how are you guys doing? I'm doing well. Money is tight this week, but God has been blessing us. I should get paid tomorrow for a group of toddler skirts I made for a lady at church, and I have orders for a couple more from people I went to high school with. And my parents stopped by today with a HUGE load of groceries, which was AWESOME. 

Also in the awesome category (well, not so awesome at the time, but in the long run - and yeah, kind of awesome even at the time), I got spanked on Monday night. I wasn't expecting it. Nick went up to take a shower, and I went up with my laptop with the intention of showing him something funny I'd found when he got out. I was lying across the bed on my stomach when he came out, and he smacked my bottom hard with both hands. I squealed, and he pulled me back onto my feet and pulled down my jeans and panties. To be honest, I was expecting things to go in a different direction, so I was a bit surprised when he started spanking me, rather hard, with his hand. And then he started lecturing me on slacking off a little with some of the housework. And he asked me what happens when I do that. And that's where I made my mistake. 

See, during an actual, serious discipline spanking I have a very hard time with articulating just what's happening. During sex, it's a huge turn-on, but during a punishment not so much. It's embarrassing, and it also pushes hard on that little core of rebellion inside of me, and he knows this. When Morgan is defiant with me, I sometimes make her do jumping jacks. Not like a bunch of them, usually something like 10-15, certainly less than the average public school gym teacher demands in P.E. It doesn't hurt her, it doesn't impose a physical strain on her, but it brings home to her that she is the child and I am the parent, and at the end of the day, I'm in charge and she has to do what I say. And she HATES it, but it gets the message across, and it generally brings her back in line pretty quickly.

And it's with the same reasoning that Nick sometimes makes me admit out loud that I've done something wrong and I'm getting spanked for it. And I hate it just as much as Morgan hates those jumping jacks. So when he asked me what happens when I don't do my chores, my answer was a very noncommittal "Mmmm..." A couple more very hard swats and the question repeated prompted me to say "That!" To which he answered, "I can see that you're not taking me seriously. This was supposed to be a friendly reminder, but I can see that's not working."

By that point he was rummaging in the toy chest, and I was starting to panic. He pulled out the Cane-iac Jr. with holes, and I went into full on begging and apology mode. To no avail, though, because he bent me right back over the bed and began to paddle me. I'll admit that it wasn't a very hard paddling, but, and I think most of you know what I mean, slick, hard maple, especially with holes in it is very painful on a bare bottom at any force, just for the stinging alone. 

Before long I couldn't hold still at all, and I asked if I could please lay on the bed. He let me do so, and the paddling continued for a bit. When he asked me again what happens when I don't do my chores I wasted no time at all in answering loudly enough for him to hear, "I get spanked!" He gave me a few more swats, then put down the paddle and held me. 

It wasn't very long before I was eager to show him just how sweet and submissive I could be, and we moved on to the awesome part of the evening, which is best left in my memories. :)

Vacation

You guys, we had SUCH a great vacation! 

The original plan was to leave early Friday morning and take turns driving straight through to Texas. It's easily 15+ hours of driving, with the inevitable stops for meals and potty breaks, but we'd done it before. Then it turned out that we wouldn't be able to leave as early as we'd hoped. Morgan started 7th grade yesterday, and she had to have a couple of immunizations before she could start. I'd tried several different offices of the pediatric practice we use, but the only appointment available before we left was at 8:45 Friday morning. 

So I got all of my and the kids stuff packed, along with the snacks for the road, and once Nick threw his stuff together late Thursday night I loaded it all up in the car. Nick usually packs the car, but I was anxious to get on the road ASAP, and I knew he was tired and would have a few things to do while I had Morgan at the doctor, so I went ahead and loaded up, and I did a great job if I do say so myself!

Early Friday morning I loaded Morgan and Jack up and headed to the doctor while Nick and Daisy took off the trash and straightened up a few last things around the house. Morgan and I hit Chick-Fil-A for breakfast for us all on the way home, and I walked in the door ready to leave. When I got home Nick was on the phone with Kate. It turned out that she and Will had decided to meet us halfway in New Orleans to spend the weekend. They had already made hotel reservations for us. 

We got to the hotel at about 10:15, where they valeted our car for us. This is something Kate had told us would be happening, but we got a little lost getting to the hotel, spotted it about 5 seconds before we had to turn in, and were completely unprepared for the flock of valets that descended on us as soon as Nick stopped the car. They were incredibly polite and helpful, but it was a little embarrassing to open the back hatch to get out the luggage. Morgan had spent the whole trip in the back by the bags and had shifted stuff around looking for things over the course of the drive, not to mention scattered various snack wrappers about, so we felt a little like the Beverly Hillbillies when various bags and debris tumbled out, lol. 

The first fun surprise came when they took us up to our room. Will and Kate had booked us a double room, but the hotel had somehow messed up and didn't have the reservation. They had Kate and Will's and Grant and Kelly's, but not ours. So to make up for it, they put us in the penthouse suite! It was on the 30th floor of the JW Marriott, and it had an AMAZING view of New Orleans! It was far and away the nicest hotel accommodations we've ever had, even nicer than the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, although the cottage we stayed in last year at Sea Island probably had it beat (check out photos 7 and 8 of the link up there to see an example of our suite). But it was a two story suite, with a ginormous master bathroom (it even had a bidet, which tickled Morgan and Daisy lol), a gorgeous master bedroom, and equally gorgeous double bedroom with it's own very nice bathroom, and an area with a game table. That was just the upstairs. Downstairs was a living room, dining room, coffee bar area, desk area, and another bathroom. The suite even had a doorbell! Here are a few strategically blurred photos, but they were taken late at night with my phone, so please excuse the quality:

When we got there Will told us to just order room service on him for dinner since it was so late. Dinner was delicious, and we headed to bed since we had to get up early for a delicious breakfast and the swamp tour Will had booked for all of us! That was a blast, something we really enjoyed. It was a company in Slidell, and a very nice man took us out on a boat through the swamp. We got to hold a snake (er, everybody else got to hold a snake - I wanted no part of that!), and we got to see and feed tons of alligators! What was so funny was that they feed them marshmallows! Who would have thought?

Anyway, after the swamp tour, we headed back to New Orleans, where we freshened up, then Will took us all to lunch at Huck Finn's, where we all tried fried alligator. Not bad, but awfully chewy. After lunch we went to the New Orleans Aquarium, which was honestly kind of a let down. We've got a couple of aquariums in our state that are much nicer, and the huge crowds of people we had to fight through didn't help matters much. But it was Shark Week, and we got to see an IMAX 3D movie about them, so that was neat. And Nick got to add to his collection of souvenir golf balls. :)

After the aquarium we went back to the hotel and napped for a little while, then Kate watched all three of our kids while Nick and I went out to dinner with Grant, Kelly, and Logan to a little barbecue restaurant called The Joint.

Quick funny story about that huge tub up there: It had whirlpool jets, and after Nick and the kids went to sleep I decided I was going to soak for a bit. The control for the jets was up high on the wall to keep it out of the reach of children. So I ran hot water, sitting in it until it came up above the level of the jets, per the instruction. Then I got out to turn on the jets. Obviously when you get out of a tub the water level goes down, so getting out dropped it just below the top line of jets, but no big deal, I was going to just turn it on and hop back in real quick, right? So I set the automatic timer for 10 minutes and hit start. Well, for some reason, (probably Maddox and Daisy when they were taking their bath earlier), all of the jets were pointed UP, so as soon as they came on they shot hot water all over the bathroom! So, in a panic, I jump back in to get the water level back above the jets. And I can't get the jets to point back down, I'm staring at all this puddled water everywhere, not at all relaxed, and the water must have been too hot, because I start getting kind of weak and lightheaded. But I can't get back out till the timer stops, because if I do it will spray water everywhere for the rest of the time. Finally, I decide to risk it, and I jump out again, and the water goes everywhere, but the timer lets me turn it to zero, so I got it stopped. But I spent the next little while using almost all of our towels to mop up the bathroom. So much for a relaxing soak in the jacuzzi!

The next morning we had another terrific breakfast at the hotel, then Kate, Will, and Maddox had to leave. Kate's daughter Kit had spent the previous week out of state with her father and grandparents, and they had to pick her up at the airport. The rest of us checked out a few hours later and spent the afternoon visiting the French Market. That was okay, although the kids were hot and tired, and Jack had a completely out of character meltdown. Nothing would calm him down until we happened upon a fresh fruit vendor and got him some watermelon, which he loves. That did the trick, so I think he was maybe just needing water, but too hot and upset to be patient enough to drink it from his water bottle. He usually drinks from a baby bottle, but it had gone missing (we later found it in the car), so we had purchased a kid's sports bottle to fill with water, and he wasn't used to drinking from such a hard spout, so that may have been part of what was frustrating him.

After we had seen all we wanted to see of New Orleans we got on the road to Texas. It was a long drive, and we arrived a little after 1AM Monday morning. Monday we just kind of hung out at the house, and everybody played in the pool. Jack is not a big fan of being in the water, but he loved the water table they had there for him and Logan to play with. Now Maddox is four, and pretty mischievous, and we had to watch him around Jack. Not that he was malicious, but he was used to playing with bigger kids, and he could be a little rough. Anyway, I think it was either that day or the next that he pushed Jack into the pool. Kate and I were inside, but all of the other adults were out there either in or beside the pool (or none of the kids would have been out there in the first place), so Nick scooped him up just as soon as he hit the water, but it was still scary. Kelly grabbed Maddox and spanked him for it, and he got it again when Kate came out and found out what had happened, so hopefully he'll never do such a thing again!

Tuesday we went to the mall, where Kate took Morgan, Daisy, Maddox, and Kit to see the movie Turbo. We decided not to put Jack or Logan through the movie experience, so Nick, Kelly, Grant and I walked around the mall with the babies. I got Daisy a few pairs of sandals and a sweater, and Jack a couple of shirts. After the mall we headed back to the house to get ready for the Houston Astros game Will had gotten us all tickets for. It was the first time Nick, the kids and I had been to a MLB game, so it was really neat, even though we ended up leaving early because Will had to work early the next day and the little ones were getting restless.

Wednesday we went to the Houston Zoo, which was a lot of fun, but it was HOT! The kids got to feed the giraffes, which was really neat. :) That night we had dinner at Mooyah's.

The zoo kind of wore us out, so Thursday we just hung out at the house till Will got home from work, then we all went to Rudy's for barbecue. Rudy's is a Texas tradition for us, and Nick has been looking forward to it all year. :) Afterwards we stopped at Academy, and Will bought Morgan some stuff for soccer (cleats, shorts, socks).

Friday we just hung out by the pool again till Will got home, then he took us to dinner at this terrific Mexican restaurant, Pappasita's, I think it was. Afterwards we stopped by the man made lake their neighborhood is built around and did a quick photo shoot with all of the kids. Kate had bought matching outfits for Jack, Logan, and Maddox, and a coordinating dress for Daisy, and we wanted to get some shots to give the grandparents for Christmas. Then we stopped for frozen yogurt, then went back to the house.

Kelly, Grant, and Logan left early Saturday morning, but Nick and the kids and I stayed till about 1:30 that afternoon. After we said our goodbyes, we loaded up and hit the road, but I talked Nick into letting me visit both the Goodwill and Hobby Lobby before we left Houston. :) He thinks it's silly that I always want to do that on vacation, since we have both stores at home, but you get a better level of donated merchandise at the Goodwill in the rich part of Houston than you do where we live, and every Hobby Lobby has different stuff in their clearance aisle - my main interest! I got a few things at both places, and we were on our way.

The trip home went okay until we reached Louisiana. We were just a mile or two onto the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, which is 18.2 miles long, when traffic came to a standstill. At this point my parents' borrowed GPS unit was telling us we were still 10 1/2 hours from home. There was a wreck up ahead somewhere, and in 2 hours time we moved about half a mile. After about 15 minutes of us being stuck there, Jack got a piece of a fruit roll up stuck in his throat and started projectile vomiting, which seemed to go on for several minutes. I was driving (or sitting behind the wheel rather), so I couldn't do anything, but Nick was completely awesome. He made sure his airway was clear, and cleaned him up as best he could with baby wipes, even while he was still throwing up. Of course this all meant that both Jack and the car smelled super awesome for the next 12 hours, but what are you going to do?

It was seriously the slowest trip home ever. Even taking into account the traffic jam, it just seemed like we were making terrible time, despite the speed limit being 70 MPH most of the way, and us doing every bit of that. Sunday morning we rolled into Chattanooga, tired and hungry, and Nick declared that we were going to take the opportunity to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel and visit the Chattanooga Aquarium. Nick and I went to it once probably 15 years ago, and we were really impressed, so we wanted to take the kids. It was even better than I remembered. The trip really caught up with Nick about halfway through the exhibits though, so I got in the driver's seat when we finished up. I drove until I couldn't stay awake anymore, then we switched out.

By the time we got home it was 5:30 Sunday evening, about 30 hours after we left Will and Kate's house. We started unloading the car, and the heavens opened up on us. Within less than a minute it was pointless to try to stay dry, so we just gave into the rain, and by the time we were done we looked like drowned rats. Nick went and got us some pizza for dinner, and my parents stopped by after church to drop off our mail. Then we went to bed, and the next morning Nick went back to work and Morgan started school.

Just a few of the ways Kate and Will (and God through them!) blessed us on this trip:
*Paid for valet parking and awesome hotel accommodations in New Orleans
*Dinner twice in New Orleans
*Aquarium and movie in New Orleans
*Swamp tour in Slidell
*Watched the kids while Nick and I went out for dinner in New Orleans
*Had (all on their own) new pajamas for Jack and Daisy, swimmie diapers for Jack, diaper wipes, and lotion and body wash purchased specifically to treat Jack's excema waiting on us at their house.
*Purchased (without any input from us) sensitive teeth toothpaste for Daisy because Kate noticed she was showing sensitivity to cold drinks
*Purchased sandals and a dress for Daisy, and a swim suit for Morgan
*Tickets for a Houston Astros vs Boston Red Sox game
*Tickets to the Houston Zoo
*Paid for Morgan and Daisy to feed the giraffes.
*Will bought Daisy a Barbie doll and a Disney princess Play-Do castle, and some extra Play-Do
*Bought soccer cleats, socks, and shorts for Morgan
*Took us to a very nice dinner in Houston
*Stocked their house with all our favorite foods and sent us home with loads of snacks and cold drinks
*Paid for everybody's frozen yogurt
*Sent us home with some chalkboard paint and magnetic primer. Before we went on vacation, I had told Nick that I wanted to paint the bottom half of a short section of our hallway between doors with chalkboard paint. I've wanted to do this for a while, and had finally settled on the place I wanted it. When we got to Texas I noticed that the closet door in their playroom was chalkboard, and I complemented them on it and mentioned my plans for our hallway. Will immediately said that they had leftover paint that we could have, and the next day he got it out for me.
*Sent us home with an extra bottle of Rudy's barbecue sauce that they had because they knew how much Nick loves it.
*Paid to have Morgan's iPad (which they bought her) fixed. Several months ago she was getting out of the car and it slipped out of her hand. It was in its cover, but it landed face down, and the screen basically shattered. It still worked for a little while, but eventually the touch screen quit working at all, and we hadn't had the money to get it fixed. Will dropped and cracked his a couple of weeks ago, so he told her that he would take hers in with his to get it fixed. Hers was damaged badly enough that they just had to replace it (with us sending her old one back in), so they sent a new one to the house and it came today.
*Kate did almost all of our laundry all week. This was not my intention, and several times I went to the laundry room to do a load and found that she had already done it. The girl straight up loves to do laundry!
*Sent us home with a $1,000 check and several hundred dollars in cash.

That last one was really such a God thing. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Nick took out a loan from his 401K so that we could take this trip and pay off a few bills. There was a bit of a misunderstanding between us, because the amount I had mentioned us needing for bills was $1000, and he thought I had said $500. So when I paid $1000 worth of bills with it, he got pretty upset, which led to me getting upset, because I was only doing what I thought I was supposed to. Anyway, we still had enough left for the trip, but not as much as Nick thought we would have. So before we left, I prayed that God would somehow let us come home with money in our pocket. They obviously paid for a lot of stuff, but it was a lot of gas to get there, a lot of gas driving around Houston (not a small town!), not to mention meals on the road, and a few little souvenirs for the kids.

By Wednesday we were down to less than we needed to get home. That wasn't quite the panicky realization you might think, because I knew Nick would be getting paid Friday, and his vacation pay would make it a larger than normal check, so we could use that. Then Friday morning rolled around, and his check showed up in the bank - minus his vacation pay. This is maybe the 3rd or 4th time they've done this to us, and it makes me want to scream every time. Nick always does everything he's supposed to to insure that they turn his vacation in, but it never seems to help. In fact, they would have done it back in June when he took a week off for camp if he hadn't called from camp and had the guy double check that he had submitted it on his end. Worse news - they said they would make the correction on his next check - in two weeks!

As far as I know Kate didn't know any of this when she handed Nick several hundred dollars on either Friday or Saturday. She just told him that she wanted to help us out with gas since Grant, Kelly, and Logan had ridden everywhere with her and Will while Nick and I had had to drive our own car since there wasn't room for us too.

Just before we left on Saturday she handed Nick an envelope and told him to open it after we left. When we did, there was a $1,000 check signed by Will inside. Until then I had no idea how we were going to get home and still pay the bills that needed to be paid before they got around to fixing his missing vacation pay. God is so very good to us, and he has blessed us so much with family who love us so much!