Date Night

Nick and I had a lot of fun at his company Christmas party night before last. The company he works for sells high-end cars, and they like to try to give their employees a night experiencing life on the high side, so they always try to pick an exclusive venue for the party. One year it was held at a local historic theater. One year they completely rented out a very expensive restaurant. One year it was held in a very exclusive dining club. This year they rented out the dining club attached to the sky boxes of our city's college football stadium.

College football is big business in our town, so this was everyone's favorite place yet. There are always all kinds of games, and Nick won a $50 gift card. I got some neat pictures of the stadium (rare to have a chance to get pictures of it empty as generally we wouldn't be allowed inside other than for a game). We really wanted to get down on the field and take pictures, but were told it was off limits. About halfway through the night Nick disappeared with three of his coworkers. A few minutes later he called my phone and told me to get on the elevator and bring my camera. Turns out they had found the open door to the roof of the stadium! I got some really neat pictures up there, and what a rare opportunity!

As we were leaving for the night a guy Nick works with and his wife came spilling out of the building into the parking lot, giggling up a storm. They had found a way onto the field and were just giddy with the experience. Nick and I immediately headed back into the stadium, and they showed us how to get there. We got about 20 pictures from on the field, and it was the highlight of the night. It's a good thing we hurried though, because when we got to the door to get back outside one of the stadium employees had her hand on it to close it and lock it. She was very nice about it - she didn't scold us for being somewhere we shouldn't have been, just remarked that we were lucky we hadn't been locked in. I was elated to be able to get such rare photos, and Nick was on top of the world to have gotten to walk around where so many football legends have played. All in all it was a great night.

Yesterday was low key - church for all of us followed by some last minute Christmas shopping for me while the kids stayed at home with Nick. I can't believe we're only 19 days from Christmas!

It's beginning...

...to look a lot like Christmas! This evening Nick and I took the girls to see a locally famous Christmas light display. Unfortunately Daisy slept through the whole thing, but we'll go again before the season is up. :) This family goes all out every year, over 70,000 lights between the father's house and the son's house. Both homes have light displays synchronized to the music on a local radio station (a different one for each house), and the show is free. We've been for several years in a row now, and it's always a treat.

The $60 I got to put in the bank yesterday was definitely needed - without it we would have gone about $11 overdrawn plus the fees! God is so very good to us! Another blessing I forgot to mention:

If you've ever bought baby formula, you know how ridiculously expensive it is. A 24 ounce can of Enfamil powder will run you about $23, and even the Wal-Mart brand is about $14 for the same size can. While I breastfeed (and obviously she's on solids too now), Daisy still takes formula on a regular basis just because I've found it's the most consistent and effective way to make sure she gets all her needed nutrients when she's not a big fan of the solid food I put in front of her. What we've been blessed enough to have access to buy for most of her life has been a large can of formula at Sam's. It's a 3 lb (48 oz) can for $19.97. Compared to other options, this is a great deal! However, this formula is really only meant for babies up to a year.

Enfamil and Wal-Mart both make formula intended for toddlers, but we're back to the $20+ dollar range for a 24 oz can. Wednesday I was in the discount grocery outlet they just put in near our house and I found that they have shelves upon shelves of Nestle Nido Kinder, which is basically a "next step" for formula fed babies. It's marketed to Hispanic communities, but the store I was at pulls overstock from all kinds of businesses. Rather than a formula, it's a milk product fortified with vitamins, minerals, and prebiotics, and is better for toddlers her age. What's so fantastic about this for us? It's $9.99 for a 3 1/2 pound can! I've been wanting to wean her off formula for a couple of months now, but I just don't produce enough breast milk any more to completely satisfy her urge to nurse, and I was afraid that she would miss the nutrients in formula since she can be a somewhat picky eater. This solves that problem while cutting our formula expense by over half!

Anyway, I'm headed to bed, Good night!

Still plenty to be thankful for

Well, we're into December now, and God continues to provide. Yesterday I found a really cute plaid shirt in the bag of stuff my friend Elizabeth had sent home with me the day before. It was just Morgan's size, and she loved it. In fact, she put it on to wear to church that night. While we were at church, Elizabeth texted me and asked if she had accidentally put a plaid shirt in the bag. Oops...turns out it belonged to her mother-in-law (who lives out of state), and Elizabeth needed to send it back to her. Morgan was pretty sad about it, but we dropped it off on the way home from church. When I got home, Money Saving Mom had a coupon posted for JC Penney for $10 off a $10 purchase. I went online and after fighting the extremely slow site for a while, I managed to snag a very similar plaid shirt for her for all of 44 cents out of pocket!

I knew yesterday that we needed about an extra $20-$30 to put in the bank to cover our outstanding charges (the JC Penney charge won't be billed till next week when they ship). I didn't have any way to come up with the money, and I had gone through all my pockets and purses and only been able to come up with $7. Then one of my clients decided to buy a CD from her session. It was only a small CD, but it gave us $60. I met her to give her the CD and get the money, then got the check in the bank 15 minutes before closing time.

 

We are facing some serious bills this week, and I know that Nick's paycheck won't be enough to cover it. An average check would be a stretch, but this week will be short because of Thanksgiving. All of that said, it's wonderful to know that God is going to provide, even if I don't know how He 's going to do it.

 

Saturday night is Nick's company Christmas party, and we're really excited about having a date night! I can't believe we're just over 3 weeks from Christmas! I've decided to try to do something Christmasy with Morgan every day until the 25th. Yesterday we sang Christmas songs on the way home from church. Today we got milk shakes and listened to Christmas music while we waited on my client to meet us. Perhaps a bit of a slow start, but it's getting us in the spirit. :) Normally we have our tree up by now, but I'm a little terrified to put it up right now with Daisy so extremely curious and mobile, lol! We'll probably put it up next week, but I can't help remembering my brother at her age. He was forever pulling ornaments off and being scolded away from the tree. One day my mom and I were in the kitchen when suddenly we heard a crash, and ornaments flew through the dining room - we rushed into the living room to find the tree overturned and my brother waving his arms wildly from underneath it. Hehe - he was fine, and we didn't have any problems with him touching the tree after that. :)

 

Oh, speaking of Christmas, Wal-mart has a couple of cute (and inexpensive!) shirts that I thought were really cute. Sorry if the picture quality is poor - I was using my phone to take them. The first one says "Naughty or Nice, You may need to check the list twice." The second one says "Naughty but Sweet".

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Have a great night!

Last Day

I can't believe November's already over! I have to say, I'm glad to see it done, although I can't really say why. Maybe I'm just anxious to get to Christmas. Today's thank yous:

Today I got the $0.95 coasters I ordered from One Kings Lane a few weeks ago, and they included a pretty little silver picture frame in the box at no charge. Sweet!

I got our free Christmas cards from Shutterfly today and I luuuurve them!

I also got our niece Kit's photo book today, and I think she'll really like it.

I got to have another visit with my friend Elizabeth. When I ordered my sample prints, I got 11 sheets of wallets in different poses. Each sheet comes with 8 wallets. I got 6 of the sheets of images from a shoot I did of her and her family in October. It was a shoot I did pro bono, just because she's been my friend literally my whole life (we were in the church nursery together), and they're having a really hard time financially right now. When I went to see her tonight I gave her 4 wallets of each pose that I had, and she was thrilled with them!

A sent me home with a bunch of Christmas decorations that I can use this year.

It's only 25 days till Christmas!

Goodnight, everybody!

Sweet Cyber Monday

I'm sure most of you are aware that this was Cyber Monday, the online equivalent to Black Friday. Today's thank-you are in part due to that:

I got 154 photo prints for $0.28.

I won a $15 gift card to an online retailer on Facebook. (I never win anything - who would have thought I'd win 2 things off Facebook in one month!)

Nick fixed dinner tonight.

It was his special breakfast burritos - sausage, eggs, hash browns, onions, peppers, bacon, cheese, and sour cream, all wrapped up in tortillas and love. Yum!

I'm especially thankful today to have left my old job. I ran into a former coworker today at Wal-Mart, and she was telling me that the department has gotten pretty unbearable. They've taken away most of the privileges from the agents and begun firing people right and left. They recently fired a supervisor who had been there 23 years, and I got the impression it wasn't a very fair situation, one of those where they look for a reason to let you go.

Yesterday I stopped at Wal-Mart with Morgan to pick up some things for lunch and they were doing free Santa pictures. No purchase necessary, just sit down and pose, and they would have a free 5x7 ready for you in a couple of hours. Morgan has never believed in Santa, but I thought it would be a cute picture, so I asked her if she would do it if I was in it with her and she agreed. When we went to pick the picture up (that's why we went back today), the lady at the counter had three different poses of us. I was going to buy the other two because I absolutely LOVED the way they turned out, but she said to just go ahead and take all three. Apparently Wal-Mart's plan was to print the extras in hopes of selling them, but no one was buying, so they just decided to give them away rather than trashing them.

God continues to take care of us, and I praise Him for it!

Good night, everybody!

More Sunday Sweetness

Today I am thankful for:

The soreness in my neck being mostly gone.

God's provisions.

The great church services we had today.

The Pioneer Woman's Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies (yes, I made more - I may need some sort of 12 step program to stop eating them!).

I delivered the last of my print orders today and the clients were thrilled with the pictures. Now if only I can get some more booked!

A clean living room.

A washer and dryer that work so that I can get some laundry done.

My dishwasher.

Potstickers.

Mozy - they are my off-site file back-up, and they came in very handy tonight in recovering a folder of pictures I accidentally deleted!

My parents.

My children.

My husband.

That my brother is enjoying Texas and his assignment there.

That I was able to get my shutterfly order for 151 free prints submitted about 2 minutes before the coupon code expired.

Happy Holidays!

Another Day of Thanks

Hello again. Today's list of thank-yous:

My neck feels a bit better today. Yesterday I woke up with a terrible crick in it, and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to even maneuver myself out of bed. It was pretty excruciating all day if I tried to turn to my right, and I'm thankful that it has eased off quite a bit today, although it's still a little stiff.

Nick's sister and her husband came over today so that Nick could change her oil. They bought us some McDonald's for dinner and stayed to watch The Blind Side with us, and we really enjoyed the time together.

God has continued to extend His hand of mercy on our bank account.

We have some pressing financial needs right now, and I'm thankful that God is going to provide for those in the proper time.

Nick's normal day off through the week is Thursday (every other week). Since this week it fell on Thanksgiving and everybody got the day off, he got to take Friday off. It's been ages since he had a 4 day weekend, and I'm so thankful he was able to work it out.

My first print order came in the mail yesterday and the prints are beautiful! We took the package to the guy who ordered it, and he was thrilled with it!

Both of my baby girls are snuggled up asleep in bed, and it warms my heart.

Good night!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What a lovely day! So very much to be grateful for today. Everything we brought to the dinner was a HUGE hit, especially the Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. Nick helped all morning with the cooking and did the deviled eggs and jalapenos himself. The sweet potato casserole was a recipe we got from a guy Nick works with and it turned out fabulous! It was just wonderful to be able to spend time with both of our families together.

See, Grant is my parents' godson. Both of hiss parents passed away when he was young. His mother was actually murdered, so there's a lot of trauma in his past. Before she was killed his mother asked my parents to be godparents to Grant and his younger twin sisters. After she died, her parents got custody and raised the kids for several years, but within about 10 years both grandparents were gone too. Grant was about 19 by this time, and he moved from his home about 3 hours away to our town to be close to my parents and go to school. His younger sisters were still minors, so they went to live with their aunt and uncle until they were adults. Anyway, Grant really began to become like a part of the family, to the point that my brothers and I consider him a brother, my parents consider him a son, and he calls them Mom and Dad.

So Thanksgiving dinner this year was made up of both my (and Grant's) family and Nick's (and Kelly's) family. We are blessed to have families that get along well, and it was just a sweet time for us all. My friend Denise was able to join us too, and I think she really enjoyed it.

I hope you all had many, many blessing today. Happy Thanksgiving!

Countdown to Casserole Time!

Hello, everyone! Less than 24 hours till the big dinner! I'm really excited, but dreading the morning a bit. LOTS of cooking to do. Tomorrow I'm making sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, cheese biscuits, and The Pioneer Woman's Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. Nick is making deviled eggs, and we're bringing a few 2 liter drinks. Now about the jalapenos - I am NOT a spicy food type person. AT ALL. Nick's not much for them either. But Mija blogged that she will be making them, and well, they sounded really good. So tonight I did a test run of about 15 of them, just to see if they would be worth bringing tomorrow. Oh. My. Goodness. They are FABULOUS! I made sure to hull them really well, and we got all the flavor with very little of the heat, although they can definitely be made hotter. But I give them an A+. Just make sure to wear gloves while seeding the peppers.

Anyway, today I'm thankful for:

Kay, who left me a comment with a new discount code for restaurant.com. I ended up not being able to get the gift certificates for my brother the last go around, so I was quick to take advantage of it today and his Christmas gift is purchased.

Getting three packages in the mail today - always fun! I got my Thanksgiving cards (LOVE them, although I wish I'd gotten them sooner. Still I can pass them out to family tomorrow). I also got 151 prints from Shutterfly, filler for the photo albums I bought Morgan and her cousin K. And I got The Blind Side.

Which leads me to the fact that we get to keep The Blind Side for ourselves. It was supposed to be for Nick's sister and her husband, but I found out today that they already have it (also grateful to find that out NOW rather than when they opened it). So I do have to come up with something else for them, but Nick and I have both been wanting to see it, so now we can!

Two of my facebook friends have had babies this week, and I'm very glad for both. One girl especially was having a hard pregnancy, and it's good to see her done with it.

I got to pick up my free photo collage from Walgreens tonight.

I got to spend a few hours with my friend A. It's not often that I get that opportunity, so when my parents offered to keep Morgan overnight and A invited me over, I jumped on the chance.

A has a little girl about 15 months older than Daisy, and she gave me some clothes and very cute toys for her tonight. We've gotten a lot of great toys from her over the last year, and I'm always grateful.

Anyway, lots to do tomorrow, so I'm off to bed!

Terrific Tuesday

Happy Almost Thanksgiving!

Today's thankfuls:

Yep, more online deals! A free 8x10 photo collage from Walgreens (use BFCOLLAGE at checkout and choose pickup at store to get it completely free with no shipping).

I completely finished Morgan's Christmas shopping today! One thing I was hoping to get her was a cheap used digital camera. Nick's sister is getting her daughter one, and anything K gets, Morgan wants too. Of course their budget is waaaaay out of our league, so I knew we couldn't get her a new one of any quality. Plus I didn't want to put too much money into it until we know she will take care of it. I found a used 7 MP HP today at a pawn shop for $25, so I snatched it up. I'd love it if she took a real interest in photography - maybe someday we can shoot together!

I also finished her cousin K's shopping as well. I ended up getting her a photo album (since she's getting a camera too) and a small camera case, and I paid less than $10 for both of them together. I also got Morgan a photo album at the same place.

I also found this cool toy for my friend R's little girl. Honestly I had forgotten I needed to buy for her, but she always gets Morgan something, and I just couldn't pass up the deal! It was supposed to be $19.98, but it was marked $4.98. The cashier started to argue with me about it, and a manager walked by. Apparently there was a known issue with the price, because the manager said that yes, I was right and that she'd had to fix the price on one yesterday. So I got the last one on the shelf for basically 75% off!

I got a facebook message today that I had won a contest I entered (and frankly forgot about). I'm getting a super cute pair of earrings that are probably a little young for me, but Morgan will love them in her stocking!

I finally got my 50 free Christmas cards ordered from Shutterfly tonight - hooray for not waiting too late this year!

A while back I had an offer for $15 off a $15 order from overnightprints.com. This is the second time I've gotten that offer. The first time I ordered some extra business cards and some magnets made just like the cards. This time I ordered the photo calendar for my brother and his wife and some postcards for my business. The calendar came a couple of weeks ago, but they somehow left out the postcards. I called and let them know, and I finally got them today and I love them!

My photo shoot client for today called me last night and cancelled (again) because her little boy is sick. This might seem like a bad thing, but it rained all day anyway, and this way I got to spend the day taking care of some errands and getting some great deals!

God has just been so very good to me, and doing this (almost) post-a-day has really brought that out for me and let me focus on it. I can't promise that I'll be able to keep it up after November, but I'm going to try to make gratitude posts a regular thing on this blog again.

Have a great night!

Almost Turkey Day!

Hello, hello! Today I'm thankful for:

Getting a lot done on the house today. It was nice and clean by the time Nick got home.

Getting The Blind Side for $3.99 with free 2 day shipping from Amazon! (Feel free to email me if you want to know how to get the free shipping).

I also got 140 free return address labels in the mail today from Vistaprint.com. We got to customize them to use as Christmas tags, and they are soooo cute! Vistaprint is who I order my business cards from, and they are constantly running specials to get stuff free if you pay the shipping. I recommend them to anyone needing business products!

I was cleaning out my hotmail account tonight. It's the account I use any time I enter a contest or sign up for something free, so it's always full of spam. But I happened to spot an email from Pampers, and they had a special offer from Shutterfly for another free photo book! So tonight I was able to knock out another Christmas gift, this one for our niece. So far the photo offers I've come across have gotten me: a free photo book for my parents, a free photo flip book for Nick's grandparents, a free photo book for our niece, a free photo calendar for my brother and his wife using their engagement pictures, 151 free prints to put in albums for our niece (her birthday is just after Christmas, so we need 2 gifts for her) and for Morgan, and a free photo mug for my dad for his birthday!

We're going to be doing Christmas on a pretty small scale this year, but I know everyone understands, and I'm just thrilled to be able to get something for everyone we need to. All that I have left to get: 2 small gifts for Morgan, something small for Nick's sister Kelly and her husband Grant, and a couple of very small toys for my cousins' kids. I also need to print out a panorama shot I did of the view from Nick's other sister Kate's lake house and get it framed for her and her husband Will. Oh, yeah, and a picture album to put the prints I just ordered in for our niece.

I'm really excited about Thanksgiving. It's going to be at Kelly and Grant's house, and she and I are doing most of the cooking. Anyhoo, I'm off to bed - good night all!

A New Week

Hello guys - can you believe it's already Thanksgiving week? Today I'm thankful for:

A God whose mercies are new every morning! Lamentations 3:22-23

The photo shoot that has been rescheduled twice but which is (finally) supposed to be Tuesday afternoon.

Nick's dad offering to make the shoe moulding we need to go around the trim in our house around the edges of our new floors. If we buy the actual shoe moulding it's about $1 a foot. Nick's dad is going to cut and route it out of shelving board, which will cost us about $18 instead of $108.

The new furniture arrangement in our living room. It was just moving pieces around, but it was free and it gave the room a fresh feel.

A couple of clients who I had just about written off as far as ordering prints from their sessions contacted me to let me know they want to order soon.

The nice cashier at the grocery store tonight voluntarily went through her personal stash of coupons and gave me a handful that I'll be able to use in the coming weeks.

Have a great week, everyone!

Okay, this daily posting is harder than it looks...

It's been crazy busy the last couple of days, but I have plenty to be thankful for!

I got paid for my first print package (YAY!) and got to order it today.

When I bought my Nikon back in February (I think) there was a $50 gift card in the box to a photo lab. I stuck it back in the box to be looked at later and didn't give it another thought until we were moving stuff out of the living room to put down the new flooring. I had stuck the Nikon box under a side table in the corner beside the couch in case I needed to send the camera back. We pulled it out last night and I found the gift card. I was super excited because it was to the print lab I had already decided to use. Then I realized that it had expired in May. I called the print lab today and they gave me a new gift card code for $50, so I was able to order all my customers' prints as well as a bunch of wallet sizes of my work to use as samples and even a couple of Christmas gift prints. My total cost out of pocket was $5.40!

We got the flooring finished tonight - hooray for that!

I got to order a small free photo book from another photo website to use as a Christmas gift.

I also found an offer where I got 75 free Thanksgiving cards that will be here Monday.

Plus I received an offer for 50 free Christmas cards that I can customize with my own photos.

A good day to be a photographer!

Good night, everybody!

I know, I know, I did it again.

I missed another day. But I was busy editing pictures! The family said they really love them and hopefully will purchase a package this weekend. Today (and yesterday) I'm thankful for:

Finally finishing those edits.

God's hand of mercy on our bank account.

Daisy finally learning to walk! Morgan walked at 10 months, so Daisy was really taking her sweet time at almost 13 1/2 months. But she's probably my last baby, so no rush. :)

Getting 151 free prints from Shutterfly, which really helps with a few of my Christmas gifts.

The amazing sex I had with my husband a little while ago!

Rolling along...

Day 15! The things I'm thankful for today:

My in-laws unexpectedly came over this morning and hauled off our garbage for us. We don't have trash pick-up where I live, so we go to the local garbage dump. Normally we do this every other Thursday when Nick is off so that we can use his Xterra. I can take it off if it's not too much, but it's hard to fit it all in my Camry. Anyway, this time we were going to have to borrow my dad's truck to haul away all the old carpet/laminate flooring, so it was great that they came and got it for us.

A silly little thing, but it made me smile: Morgan collects silly bands. She has hundreds of them. Most of them she has purchased herself with her allowance, although I do have a few packs for her Christmas stocking. Anyway, a few months ago I came across an offer to get a free pack from a soap company using them to promote hand washing in schools. I signed up for them and promptly forgot all about it. They came in the mail today and Morgan was thrilled. :)

Nick got all the flooring in the kitchen put down tonight with the exception of one spot where the under-floor needs to be repaired, and his dad is going to come fix that for us. It looks really, really awesome! When we bought the house nine years ago, we put laminate flooring down in the kitchen, living room, and hallway. At the time they didn't have much of the snap-and-lock stuff, and what they did have was expensive, so we ended up with the type you glue together. There was some sort of tool you could rent to help make sure you got all the boards together nice and tight, but my mom assured us she could put it down just as well without it and that it would be a waste of money. Unfortunately she didn't do such a great job with it, and we've dealt with gaps (that attract dirt), chipping, and swollen spots where water has spilled (as it inevitably will in a kitchen) and seeped into the seams. Nick has done a fabulous job with the new stuff, and all we have left is the living room.

I also want to mention separately how very thankful I am for all the hard work Nick has put in, especially here lately with getting the rooms cleared out and the flooring installed. He's truly a wonderful husband, and I'm so very blessed to have him!

Friends and free magazines

Hello, guys! Today I'm thankful for:

The fact that my friend D came to church with us this morning. The message really spoke to her, and while she did not come to a decision, the Holy Spirit was really dealing with her. At one point she was crying so much she got up and left to go to the bathroom. I went to check on her, and she asked me to come back in with her and sit in the back. I agreed, and she really seemed to be thinking hard about what was being said. After the service we all went out to my parents' house and had lunch, and she hung out with us until it was time to go back to church. She declined to go to the evening service, but I think she will come with us again.

Nick and I got most of the flooring in our kitchen pulled up tonight. All that we have left are the areas under the dishwasher and our pantry cabinet.

A few weeks ago I signed up for a free subscription to Martha Stewart Living. I had forgotten about it completely (and in fact can't even remember where I found the offer), so it was a neat surprise to get my first issue in the mail yesterday, especially since I was doubtful at the time that it would even show up!

And I'm grateful to have read this post. I needed to hear it. We are facing some real financial needs right now, and while I know, know, KNOW God is going to provide (He always does!) in His time, just when we need it, it helps to be reminded of it too.

Good night, everyone!

Super Saturday

Okay, okay, so I missed a day. But I had a good reason, I promise! I spent all night last night (literally - I went to bed at almost 5 this morning) working on the new floors with Nick and Morgan. We finished Daisy's room yesterday and finally got the carpet pulled up in Morgan's room early this morning. Today Nick's dad and stepmom came over and helped put down the new flooring. So of course I'm thankful for that!

I'm also thankful that today my parents decided to go ahead and buy us enough flooring to redo the kitchen and living room too, and I couldn't be more excited!

My brother and sister-in-law did something really neat for us today too. When my brother became a pastor, the church decided they wanted to pay for his and his wife's monthly cell phone bill so that he could have an unlimited minutes/text/media package and always be available without having to worry about a huge bill. Anyway, they wanted to switch him from ATT to Verizon. My brother's contract was up, but his wife's was not (they've only been married a little over a year and weren't on the same account).

So anyway, they went in to cancel her account and ATT told them there would be a big cancellation fee. They asked if there was any way they could waive it. ATT said they could not, but that they would be willing to credit $50 of it to another ATT account if they had another account they'd like to put it on. They decided to have it credited to our account. My brother called me to tell me this, and I offered to pay him for it when we can, but he said he wanted us to just consider it part one of Christmas. :)

God has been so very good to us!

Those of you on praying terms, I would really appreciate your prayers for a situation. My friend D is not a Christian and is not entirely sure she believes in God at all. I've been praying for her for a few years, and she's been to church with us a couple of times. She messaged me the other day and asked me to have coffee with her. We met last night and spent some time talking, and she's in a place where she's feeling like her life is really empty and she's just really searching. We talked some about God and what He means to me, and she got pretty teary eyed. I've invited her back to church tomorrow, but she's not sure if she'll be there or not. Please just be in prayer for her, that she'll come to realize what/Who she really needs, and also that I can be the friend I need to be here.

Anyway, I'm BEAT (and not in a good way!), so I'm off to bed. Good night, all!

Thankful Thursday

Today is Veteran's Day here in the states, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I'm incredibly thankful for those who do or did serve in the military. From my father to my old boss to former schoolmates all the way down to the kid whose senior picture I shot for the yearbook back in March, they are all brave for making the commitment they made, and we owe them our freedom.

I'm also thankful for the laminate flooring my parents bought for us to put in the girls' rooms. The carpet in both rooms has been pretty much trashed by 9 years of kids, mechanic's boots, and potty training puppies, and it was basically unsalvageable. We've wanted to replace it for a long time (more urgently since Daisy started crawling), but haven't had the money. My mom and dad decided to just go ahead and get it for us, and Nick got most of Daisy's room finished tonight.

Anyway, I'm sooo tired and ready for bed, so it's a short list tonight. 'Night all!

Wonderful Wednesday

It's hump day!

Today I'm thankful for:

The fact that today's photo shoot went well.

Today's visit to the salon to get trimmed, plucked, and colored - hooray for no more gray!

That tomorrow is Nick's day off!

That the photo shoot I had scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed till Tuesday - now Nick and I get to enjoy the day together!

The money I made at the photo shoot today.

Our DVR.

Sweet tea - mmmmm!

Have a great night!

Gratituesday

Gosh, almost a third of the way through the month already! Today I'm thankful for:

The unexpected photo booking I got for tomorrow.

The $20 Target gift card that I forgot I got for my birthday - I was able to go get Daisy a Christmas gift and both girls some stocking stuffers today.

The coupons I found today that are going to get some free stocking stuffers for Nick and Morgan.

The metal shelf that my brother gave us tonight - Nick is going to convert it into a rack to hold my new backdrops.

The fact that www.restaurant.com currently has their $25 gift certificates for $2. Every time this deal comes up I spend $8 and get $100 worth for us. We use them at a couple of different sushi restaurants and have never had a problem. What makes me really happy is that this is going to be a great (but inexpensive) and easy to ship Christmas gift for my (hard to buy for)brother who's currently working/living in Texas. The number of restaurants available for his city was staggering to me, and I know this is something he'll love! (Btw, if you want to take advantage of the deal, it's good through 11/15, and the coupon code is GIVE.)

Tonight Daisy learned to : 1) blows kisses and 2) enthusiastically clap for herself afterwards. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

Morgan has been such an amazing big sister, especially here lately, and Nick and I are both so proud of her!

Morgan's conduct grade has been exceptional so far this school year!

Crazy Blogger!

Well I just had the weirdest experience with Blogger! I tried to do my post, and the new post box looked REALLY strange. So I tried to do the post by choosing Edit Post on an old draft. When it published, it didn't have any of my current post, just the old partial draft (which, btw if you saw it, it was a survey I had copied and pasted from somewhere, and the answers in it weren't even mine! They belonged to whoever I copied the survey from - guess that's why it was still in draft!). Anyway, here's trying again:

Today I'm thankful for:

The free room spray I got at Bath and Body Works - yay coupons!

The fact that Nick unexpectedly got to go see a college basketball game tonight with some men from our church - great seats too!

Finally having my tags renewed - they expired at the end of September - eek! I'd say that was spankable, but Nick's expired in August!

The discount grocery outlet that just opened near our house. There's another really close to my old job, and I used to shop there all the time. But it's 25 miles away, and that's just too far to drive if I'm not going to be out there anyway!

Nutter Butters - yum!

Good night, everyone!

Sunday Sweetness

Hello, everybody!

Today I'm thankful for:

The extra hour of sleep I got due to the time change.

The great church service.

The great deal I got on diapers.

That I was able to knock out several Christmas gifts today for a good price.

That one of those was for our nephew, for whom I had NO IDEA what to buy!

The nice lunch we had today.

That I got to go to Wal-Mart All By Myself without one single kid tonight.

The sweet, sweet giggles I got to hear out of Daisy tonight. Admittedly, I get to hear those every day, but they never get old!

Have a great week, everyone!

Fantastic freebies!

Hello, everyone!

Today I'm thankful for:

The spanking I got last night (now that it's over).

The fact that I got to see my friend Elizabeth this evening.

The fact that I got most of Daisy's room clean today.

All the great photography backdrops I got FOR FREE from Elizabeth's dad tonight!

My dad for letting me borrow his truck so I could go pick up the backdrops.

The extra hour of sleep I'll be getting when we set the clocks back tonight!

Happy Saturday!

Betrayed by Facebook!

I got a spanking last night. It was promised to me the night before, but I didn't mention it here because I never know when (or even if, in some cases) we'll be able to get to it.

Recently I've found myself staying up much later than I need to. Part of it has been me trying to find time to edit pictures, but part of it has been spent just playing online and catching up on our DVR listings. Of course Daisy wants to get up about 8:30, whether I've been up till 4:00 or 5:00 or not. Naturally this has left me pretty tired and unproductive.

So on Tuesday night I mentioned that I really need to be going to bed earlier. Nick immediately agreed, and I suggested that maybe I needed a curfew. He thought that was an excellent idea, and even though he didn't set an exact time, he made it clear that he expected me to be more responsible about it.

I had good intentions - really I did! Unfortunately it got late pretty fast on Wednesday night. But it wasn't nearly as late as I had been getting in bed recently, so I thought I was still okay. In fact, I even read for a while after I went up to bed.

Thursday when Nick got home from work he asked me what time I'd gone to bed.

"Ummmm...I don't remember exactly."

"It was late. Do you know how I know? Looking at your facebook."

Well crap. He let it drop, but I knew it was going to come up again. That night when we went to bed (you can bet I went up when he did!) I snuggled up against him and apologized for not being more obedient about it. He answered with the sort of "Mmm-hmmm" that generally means the apology is a good idea.

"Are you going to paddle me?" I asked softly.

"Yep." That was all the conversation about it that night, and I figured it would be several days before he could take care of it. Morgan's best friend Sarah was due to sleep over the next night (last night), and Saturday nights are rarely good for any kind of alone time because Morgan's bedtime is later on Fridays and Saturdays.

Originally Morgan was supposed to spend the night with my parents, but then Sarah's mom asked if Sarah could sleep over. We'd been trying to make that happen for several months now and never could get our schedules to coincide, so I hated to tell her no, even though it wasn't really the ideal time for us.

I kept meaning to call my mom to tell her Morgan wouldn't be coming over, but every time I thought of it, it was at a time when I couldn't call her. I was on my way to pick Morgan and Sarah up at school yesterday when I realized I still hadn't let her know. I called her and told her what was going on and apologized for not telling her sooner, and she said, "Well, I've already got dinner made - why don't you bring them out and let them spend the night here?"

Sarah has spent the night with Morgan at my parents' house before, and they've even taken both girls on an overnight trip out of town, so I knew Sarah's mom probably wouldn't care. But I was hesitant myself because I knew this would give Nick the opportunity to paddle me once Daisy was in bed. Still, I knew I couldn't let that dictate the girls' night, so I agreed to ask Sarah's mom and run it by the girls.

Of course Nanny and Papaw's house is always way more fun than home, so both girls were on board with it, and Sarah's mom said yes without hesitation. So when Nick got home from work yesterday it was just me and Daisy.

Last night we went up to bed at a reasonable hour. Although he hadn't mentioned the spanking again, I knew it was hanging over my head, and I kept stalling to keep from actually undressing and getting in bed. Finally I had to take my pants off and crawl under the covers, and as soon as I did he said that we had something to take care of. He got up and pulled out the Spencer paddle.

Now I have mixed emotions about the Spencer paddle. Fantasy-wise, it really appeals to me, just because of the shape and size and the extra shivery detail of the holes. But in reality, this is a Very Serious Paddle. And when it's a serious spanking, as this one definitely was, there is no layer of arousal to cushion the burn. Spankings hurt, especially the way my husband gives them, and I knew that this one would be no exception. I actually even asked if I could put my pants back on first, even though I knew the chances of that were less than slim.

"Nope," he answered.

"Please?"

"What did I just say?"

I didn't ask again, because I knew that if I kept pushing I was likely to lose my panties too. He lectured me for a bit about the staying up late, but also about the fact that he'd asked me to focus on getting the laundry done and Daisy's room cleaned out (there are lots of things in there she's outgrown) and neither chore was as far along as he felt they should be.

Then he picked up the paddle and proceeded to blister my bottom with it. It wasn't nearly as long a spanking as some that I've had, only about 100 swats, but the paddle really made an impression, and the last 10 swats especially left me marked. This morning when I turned over in bed I could really feel it. When he was finished paddling me he held me close and asked me if I thought I has learned my lesson. I assured him that, yes sir, I certainly had.

It helps me so much when he steps in to help me focus, and I really do appreciate it.

Happy Friday!

It's Friday! It's Friday!

Today I'm thankful for:

Morgan's overnight play date which unexpectedly went from her best friend spending the night here to both of them spending the night with my parents.

Today's piece of cheesecake, which was Godiva chocolate!

That today is payday!

Fruit Roll-ups (honestly, I'm going to get away from the food).

Daisy, who is 13 months old today.

The Picaboo photobook I got in the mail today. I had a coupon to get it for just the shipping, and it's going to make a great Christmas gift for my parents.

Hair dye. I truly do not cherish my gray, and I can't wait to get it colored next Wednesday.

Happy Friday!