A Few of My Favorite Things

Yes, The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies, but I wanted to write about another of my favorite things...great deals! I've always loved getting great deals. I guess I enjoy making my "dollar stretch" a little further. Last fall I really got into coupon clipping. I've been amazed at the great deals I can get. For example: 10 bags of Malt-o-Meal cereal for free! Yep, FREE! I recently bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.30/ lb. Awesome! And just the other day, I bought my daughter 3 pairs of pants for $1 each. I just love a great deal. I would much rather buy something when it is cheaper and stock up on it than to have to pay full price for it. As a result, I've been able to build up our food storage pretty good. We've still got a long way to get to the 2 year supply, but we're working on it.
So, speaking of my favorite things and great deals...I've mentioned before that I've become a digital scrapbook addict. It is so easy to do and fun! I have completed my son's 2 second year album and am working on the third year. The other day I came across a digital scrapbooking website. It's actually a blog that a stay at home mom has and she creates and posts kits on her blog. They are the cutest kits I've come across. The boy kits actually look boyish, not babyish. The best part about it...you can download the kits for FREE! Oh, I was happy about that. I'll admit, it took a while to download all the kits, but it has been worth it. This woman is truly amazing and talented. Thank you Summer!!! (I'll include a link on the side so you can check it out.)

And so it begins...

We're into the third year of it; yet, I haven't found it any easier. Tax Season!!! Steve is now gone from 6:30 in the morning until around 7 at night and gone on Saturdays, too. We all miss him. "A" struggles waking up and not seeing his daddy...several mornings I've had to run to him (so he doesn't wake up the baby) as he is calling (not screaming or crying) for daddy. No, I'm not sad he doesn't call for me and it doesn't surprise me. For a while now, he has been getting up and spending morning time with daddy (either playing, watching cartoons or reading). Of course, this all started when I had the baby and Steve wanted to give me a little more sleep so he would get up with the older one and I could take care of myself and the baby. It has been great! As for the baby...she notices that her daddy isn't around much, too. As soon as Steve walks in the door at night, she starts kicking her legs, grinning and doing whatever she can to get his attention. She has become a little Daddy's Girl. As for me, oh how I miss him. I've never taken him for granted, but tax season reminds me how nice it is to have him around. I want the kids to get to see him at night, so I let them stay up a little longer than usual, but at the same time, I want some alone time with him as well. So it's been kind of tricky getting a routine that we can all work with.
I know that I reflect on my joys on this blog, so you're probably wondering where it's at. Well, I think about the rest of the year when we get to have Steve home on a lot of Fridays, it's pretty easy for him to take time off for family vacations, his hard work allows me to stay home with the kids, and April 15th is just around the corner...kind of. Okay, I know it's still a couple of months away, but who's counting? We haven't made our chain-link count-down (you know, the ones you made in elementary school to count down the days until Christmas) and hung it up...yet! And so, it is just the end of January and it has already begun!

Mamma Mia!

Here I go again....So, can you guess what this post about? I really don't know when I started liking ABBA, but I don't ever remember them not being one of my favorite groups. I know, I'm not really old enough to be apart of that era, but I love their music. ABBA Gold was one of the first cd's I ever bought (second to Yani...remember him?). Anyway, several years ago, before I was even married, I had the opportunity to go see the broadway production of Mamma Mia in Tempe, AZ with several good friends of mine. I really enjoyed it then and I was so happy I had all the songs on cd already...that meant I could sing along at the top of my lungs right away. But, after a few months, it went back into my cd case and was listened to only on occassion. Well, with the release of Mamma Mia, the movie, my love for ABBA has been renewed. Over the holiday break, we (my mom, sisters, sisters-in-law and nieces and even the "men" occasionally popped in to watch the flipper scene) watched it a couple of times and everytime, we all belted out the songs and, when possible, broke out in spontaneous dance. Even my little girl got a few dance moves in with me. It was so fun and just shows that ABBA is a classic. Mamma Mia definately ranks right up there with Grease and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I don't own the movie; yet, but one day it will be added to my classic movie collection!

My Dates with Myself

Before I got married, every Wednesday night, my roommate and I would go "grocery" shopping together and call it our "Date Night". It was a lot of fun and it was nice having a set date that I would go and do this weekly "chore". It was an extra bonus to have a great friend to go with.
When I got married, due to work and my calling at the time (Young Women's, Wednesday nights were activity nights) my weekly grocery shopping trip occurred on Saturday mornings usually. And, since Steve hates shopping, I usually did it on my own. This has never bothered me, but it made shopping less exciting (compared to what it had been). Then, when I had my first child, I discovered that I could go any time I wanted...there was no work to interfer with shopping during the day and I looked forward to getting to do the "stay-at-home-mom" kind of stuff. This worked great...until my child got old enough to crawl out of the cart and run (at about 2 years). It definately became less and less exciting as the weeks went on. Pretty soon, I found that I was dreading going shopping.
Then I came up with the perfect solution...I go every Thursday night and leave the kids with Steve. It is perfect. It's towards the end of the week, so it gives me something to look forward to. And it gives Steve the opportunity to bond with the kids. And I have to say...I love it!!! Every week I appreciate the opportunity to leave for just an hour or so and get a little break from being in the house all day (I actually choose not to go too many places...it's just a lot easier...on me and the wallet). I feel happy and excited that Steve is so willing to let me go and reassures me that I can take my time and not worry about rushing home. The best part is...the kids are always ready for bed, and sometimes even in bed, when I get home. Yes, it is a date with myself, but I love having that time to myself. Some of you may think it's weird that shopping would be such a great "date" for myself, but for some weird reason, I love to shop. No, I don't love to spend money; rather, I love the challenge of seeing how much I can save...you know, what kind of great deals I can get. Maybe that's why I love Black Friday's so much!

The Excitement

I don't know if it's simply because of the season. Maybe it's because it's the ultimate shoppers
dream. Two words: Black Friday! I am seriously so excited. I've been working so hard this month to stick to our budget and have a little extra for shopping. The funniest part?...I'm not even after anything in particular. I just love to go. I love getting up early, pulling on something warm and comfortable without even bothering about it being cute (in the past I've worn some things that normally I wouldn't be caught dead in), standing in the lines waiting for the doors to open, the shoving and pushing (and yes, getting shoved and pushed), running to some "great" deal, standing in line again to check out...it goes on. And it all sounds crazy. The first year we were married I dragged Steve with me to Kohl's. Shortly (and yes I mean shortly) after entering the doors, I sent Steve to stand in line to check out. He thought I was crazy since I didn't have everything I wanted. So, when I pointed to the end of the line which was already wrapped around to the back of the store, he realized what I had just gotten him in to. I think he vowed to never go again. Thank goodness for the Krispy Kreme's we got on the way home...it cheered him up. However, now I stick with my mom and sisters as shopping partners. It's great! I really don't know why, but I am getting so excited about it. Crazy, I know!

I Know Him!

"Santa is coming...I know him!" -Buddy the Elf
I saw this quote on a pillow last week and couldn't stop laughing about it. It made me want to watch that movie this week, and I have...a couple of times. Every time that part comes, I hold my breath and wait to laugh. I don't know why it's so funny...maybe it's how excited Buddy gets because he knows someone "important".
Important. I've thought about this a lot since that day last week. I know a lot of important people in my life. I get excited, too, when I hear about these people and I want to shout, "I know him/her!" Like my friend who sang a beautiful song at our Enrichment the other night; or my sister who makes beautiful quilts; or another friend who has written a book on dating your spouse (it's called "How to Date Your Spouse")...the list could go on and on and on, but you get the idea.
As I've thought about it more, I've realized, I don't really get excited because of how important they are, rather, because they are important people AND nice. One of my favorite quotes (besides Buddy's) is: It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice! That's what these people are. Nice! And, although I know a lot of people that may not seem to do important things, they are important to me because they are nice (of course, there are other reasons they are important to me)! Like my sister that I can call up and ask for advise on a lot of issues, or another sister that is always willing to watch my kids, or my mom who is just the best at everything.
It doesn't take a lot to be nice; we were all little once and had moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents, etc. that would remind us: "Play nice", "Be nice to the doggy", "Be nice to your sister", "Use nice words". Again I could keep going, but won't.

The song that my friend sang the other night was "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." Not only was it beautiful, but the Spirit was so strong. I Know Him! I know that He lives. This brings so much JOY to my life.
As the holidays quickly approach, I hope that I can help my children to KNOW Jesus Christ, that we can find JOY in our home regardless what we "get" for Christmas. Yes, Jesus Christ is important, but, when it all comes down to it, it's because He was nice...everything He did for us! What a blessing it is to have this time of year to remind us of Him. I hope that I can take the spirit of Christmas and drag it out all year long. What a JOY it is to KNOW Him!

Lessons Taught/ Lessons Learned

As a parent of a toddler, I know that it's not too early to start teaching some valuable life lessons. We recently had a Family Home Evening (we used the new Nursery Manual...if you don't have one and you have little kids...get one! It's amazing!!!) on sharing. I wasn't sure how my two-year-old would respond, or if he would really learn anything from it, but we decided to give it a shot. It turns out, he did learn something. He still struggles and has to be reminded, but that's part of the learning process. Last week, we got a visit from "A's" little cousins. While they were squirming around on the floor, "A" took his beloved train and "shared" it with the little boy. I was kind of shocked that he did it all on his own. "A" has also been pretty good at sharing his snacks with me, also without a prompting, and shares his toys with his little sister (he always makes sure she has a car, a boat, even a book when he's playing...he even shares his hats...see my other blog). As I watch him share with others, I have realized how much joy this has brought me. Not only because he is sharing, but he also learned something from Family Home Evening and the lesson wasn't all in vain!