Saturday

I really like Saturdays. They are different from every other day, and they are special. When we got married, we started a tradition of having a big (or at least different/special) breakfast than all the other days of the week. This is a tradition that I took away from living with the Wrights (a family at my church) for a summer and a half. We usually eat some kind of biscuits but this Saturday we made french toast. We sat outside on our porch, ate breakfast, enjoyed the nice breeze, and watched people going to the yardsale at the end of our culdesac. I love those times- enjoying the outside, a good meal, time with my husband, time without a tv or other noise. I wish we had more Saturday mornings, but don't we all.

Our Saturday in pictures....

French toast for breakfast (okay not a picture of our actual french toast because we ate it immediately. I mean you don't want it to get cold!). This makes my mouth water....maybe we will have french toast 2 weeks in a row....

Cosmo explored the trash pile across the road, and I caught him in the act.

Abby slept on the porch when she wasn't barking like a maniac at the people walking to the yardsale.

Glen bought an old belt sander for $10 at that yardsale.

I bought some linen pants from Loft. I have been wanting them for awhile now. They were on sale plus an extra 40% off since it was Memorial day weekend!

I made mini cupcakes for a cookout on Sunday.

oh, and I forgot to mention to you our mini-sego palms. We dug these up last week our of our big sego palms. So that was last weekend but this weekend they enjoyed the sun and some rain.

The end.

Multitude Monday, Week 7

76. Rain (for our grass)
77. Cookouts
78. Getting to know new people
79. the lake
80. Breaks in the rain to enjoy the lake
81. Friends you can share with
82. Friends who encourage
83. Quarterlife class
84. a day off for my husband
85. linen pants on sale
86. Dancing
87. unplanned calls

Week 6

Friday Confessions: Pride Comes Before the Fall

I used to be super competitive. Well, I might still be pretty competitive, but I wouldn't use the word super before the competitive. I think I have learned not to be so competitive, for the most part.

This learning not to be so competitive started when I was in 10th grade. I worked in the summers as a counselor at a summer camp that our church held. Even though I was a counselor for the kids, we still had fun and played lots of games. I was pretty intense when it came to games. This was encouraged by a few of my co-workers. On a training day we as a staff played sardines (which if you don't know is hide & seek backwards). One of my fellow counselors and I were the first to hide. We got up on the roof of one of the buildings, and of course no one found us. That began the rule of "No getting up on the roof" which you would think was self explanatory but because of us they had to make it an official rule.

Later in the summer, we were playing hide and seek with the kids. This round the counselors hid and the kids went to find. I was the only counselor not to be found so when the rung the bell to sound the end of the game I leaped up out of the tall grass I was hiding in and ran toward the pavilion. I then proceeded to yell "yes I won" as I leaped over a bench, caught my foot on the seat, and fell flat on my face.

I learned in a literal sense- pride comes before the fall and thus began the journey of learning to be less competitive.

And for your viewing pleasure....a blast from the past....

Yes, I am wearing overalls for real. It's not a joke.

p.s. sorry for the grainy-ness.

I don't have children...So here's Abby

Update: $50 Challenge

You can check out my $50 challenge in this post. The first four weeks went well. I kept within my $50 a week budget. We had plenty of food, and I am slowly getting better at couponing which makes it easier to be withing the $50.

However, I am going to make a few changes.

First I am going to be getting 6 weeks worth of $ at a time. The reason for this is that grocery stores (for the most part) have a six week sale cycle. This way if I know that one certain week is a good sale week I will plan to spend a little more that week and a little less another that does not have good sales. The six week plan will just make it easier to know what will be on sale which week.

Second, I will add $20 making my total grocery budget $320 for 6 weeks. I will try to stay within my budget of $50 but I will have some wiggle room in case I don't plan very well. For example, this weekend we are attending a cookout for our sunday school class, and I want to make potato salad and cupcakes. I can get the ingredients for the potato salad but I have run out of most of my baking supplies in the last month. So I need a little extra to make sure I have them in stock.

On another subject....sort of.....

I love CVSing now. It's such a thrill to walk out of there only paying .24 and making $4 CVS bucks and getting free stuff! If you don't coupon, at least try CVSing. It takes a lot less time and you can get all your toiletries free!

Multitude Monday, Week 6

66. a visit from mom
67. and a visit from grandmother
68. an impromtu coffee date
69. dinner with friends
70. friends who are like family
71. knowing that we don't have to do anything, God does everything
72. skype
73. breakfast food
74. volleyball
75. fellowship with quarterlife

Week 5

Yard Sale-ing

This Saturday I went yardsale-ing for the first time. My friend, Elizabeth, and I mapped out which houses we would go to. I got up at 6:30 so that I could be at her house at 7:30.

We didn't find much. I didn't have anything particular in mind. I just thought maybe I could find something cool, and I was leaving cool as a very broad category.

I did, however, get a never been used Yahtzee which I have been thinking about buying for awhile now but it cost like $20 at Walmart and all it is is a score pad, cup, and dice. I got it for $1!

Any tips on being a more successful yard sale-r?

Friday Confessions: Cat Food

I see that a lot of blogs have a thing. Some kind of post that is a constant. You can expect it every week, and it brings much joy to those who read it. And thus begins Friday Confessions. Not that I am thinking that I will give joy to everyone who reads this, but I thought it would be fun. It will consist of some story whether embarrasing, weird, or just funny from my past or current to give insight into who I am/was/might still be.

So this Friday confession was inspired by my sister Carrie who said on her facebook account, "I just caught Alexis [her daughter] on all fours drinking from the cat's water bowl".

My family had cats growing up. Lots of cats. Penny was the first and lasted the longest (16 years). Jenny, Penny's twin, didn't get invited to be in the family. Cleo, a stray, did. Cleo had litters of kittens which resulted in Sami (short for Samantha from Days of our Lives). Sami was my cat. She was born a day after the rest of the litter, had pretty severe breathing issues, sometimes while running would immediately stop and fall asleep, and was allergic to fleas which caused baldness on her complete lower half. But she was mine and I loved her.

Anyways, enough of the background. Carrie and I for a brief period of time as kids ate cat food. Don't ask me why. Maybe we were playing pretend or were just curious how it tasted. Anyhow, we ate it, and now it seems, Alexis has not fallen far from the tree. She is her mother's daughter.

P.S. This is not my cat. This picture is just for fun.

And for the record, I no longer eat cat food. It's been 20 years, and I'm going strong.

Baking Challenge: Cappuccino Muffins & Ginger Cookies

Baking Challenge: Cappuccino Muffins

Recipe Source: Hannah (my sister in law)

Outcome: This is something I have made time and time before and love them every time. However, this time I added a bit too much coffee. Next time I'll know better! 

 

Baking Challenge: Soft Ginger Cookies

Recipe Source: Allrecipes.com

Outcome: The batter/dough would be good for ginger pancakes. We made a half batch and the dough was too sticky to really roll. I will stick with the slightly harder ginger cookie!

Good Deal/Freebie

I follow Southern Savers and so I hear of a lot of good deals around town. The most exciting ones I like to share with you just in case you are not a follower. Two good deals came up recently:

1. This Saturday Old Navy has its flip flops on sale for $1 a pair with a 5 pair limit. I have a friend who works there who said if you want these you have to get there early, like when the store opens early.

Luckily she is getting me 2 pairs since she is working there that morning and since she has a discount they will only be .75/pair!

2. Chickfila is launching a new Spicy Chicken Sandwhich soon and you can sign up to get a free sandwhich at this website. The website says you can sign up for your free sandwhich on Monday, May 24, but some other websites are saying you can sign up on Friday, May 21 (I think you can do this if you are on their email insider list. you can sign up for that on the Chickfila website!)

This made me smile

Check it out:

Cool Baby Trick

I hope my future babies are this talented.

Lessons Learned

The last two times I visited the grocery store they have overcharged me on produce.

 The first time I was overcharged I caught it on the screen. I saw $8.90 flash across the screen when the cashier rung up my 2 zucchini. Really $8.90. So I asked before I paid how much the zucchini cost because they were supposed to be $1/lb. Apparently baby zucchini cost $8.90. I am not really sure what's special about baby zucchini, but I think I'll pass.

 The second instance, I left the grocery store with my heart sinking because I paid more than I thought I would for that grocery trip.

Sad. I know.

I then proceeded to examine my receipt when I got in the car and saw elephant garlic listed on my receipt, 6 bucks of elephant garlic. I only wanted regular garlic. I returned to the store and got my refund.

Two lessons learned:

1. Watch the screen as the cashier rings up all your items and then check your receipt before you leave the store.

2. Don't buy baby or giant produce. Be content with regular size produce.

The results are in...

Because I know you are dying to know, here are the results of the strawberry preserves.

Good taste!

But a little watery.

Overall, I believe it was successful!

Disc Golf

Disc golf on a Sunday afternoon.

The players...

Glen

Look at that form

Travis

Just a flick of the wrist

And then there's me....

Let's watch as she approaches this throw...

Here she goes...

This might have been the shot that hit the tree 10 feet in front of me, but at least they didn't capture the throw that hit a building and cracked, yes cracked, my disc. What can I say? I'm stronger than I think or maybe I just have no sense of direction or control.

But anyways...

Glen and Travis did very well. I just need some more practice.

Multitude Monday, Week 5

54. Strawberries
55. Rain
56. Time outside
57. A husband who will go out to get a newspaper after we've settled in (because I didn't want to)
58. Moe Mondays
59. Much needed time with a friend
60. Good dessert
61. The sweet baptism of a friend's daughter
62. Opportunities to serve/lead
63. A lazy afternoon
64. Cameras
65. A lost book found

Week 4

I gotcha

A few weeks ago I came home after a long Saturday, and Glen had bought me this hummingbird feeder. Just because. I love those kinds of presents. It has been hanging up on our porch ever since. We have been wondering if we were ever going to get a hummingbird or if there were any around our neighborhood, and then this morning I was outside....

and I gotcha!

Strawberry Preserves

I love strawberries! Really I could eat 1 pint every two days by myself.

But I might have gone a little overboard on how much I bought this time.

No worries because I had planned to make my very first strawberry preserves.

Wow, I feel like susie homemaker right about now or maybe just a little bit country.

The Final Product

No Bake Coffee Cheesecake

I found this tutorial on how to make chocolate shells. They fill theirs with pudding but I decided to make a no bake cheesecake instead. Look how cute these are!

The only problem with reading these blogs is that a lot of them will only post the most perfect pictures of the product and not let on to any sort of problems or difficulties. I don't know if I was too impatient to wait for the chocolate to set or if it is really harder than it looks. Anyways, I will not hide my imperfect products so here you go:

No bake Coffee Cheesecake

1/2 cup whipping cream

2 Tbs. of sugar

1 Tbs. instant coffee

8 oz Cream Cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbs. left over melted chocolate from shells

Add 2 tsp of cream to instant coffee to dissolve. Then whip cream, coffee mixture, and 2 Tbs of sugar. Set aside whipped cream. Mix Cream cheese, 1/3 cup of sugar, and chocolate until smooth. Add whipped cream to cream cheese mixture and mix until smooth. Add to chocolate cups.

I miss cooking

So I haven't been baking/cooking/trying new recipes as much lately. Why?
1. We have been really busy lately.
2. I started my $50 Challenge.
I used to find a recipe, go buy the ingredients I need, and make it. I would coupon for our "regular" weekly food, but the new recipes were special. I have changed my ways, but this makes it difficult to try a recipe that has a lot of extras we don't normally keep in the pantry. We do have an exception to the $50 rule. It is for special meals that we specifically invite people to we can buy outside of our budget. I really enjoy entertaining people and would die if I had to feed them cheese and crackers like I had for lunch today. And now that we are winding down from our insanely busy spring, hopefully we can start entertaining again and I can try my new recipes. So if you want a home cooked meal, let me know!

In the meantime I have two new ventures on the horizon:
1. Homemade chocolate shells with no bake coffee cheesecake
2. Strawberry preserves (a project for the weekend)

Multitude Monday, Week 4

Better late than never...

39. Opportunities to spend time with friends
40. The ability to run and excercise
41. My dog who requires excercise even when I don't want to
42. New recipes
43. Friends who are genuine
44. Friends who will pray for you
45. My parents new car
46. My sister-in-law and Brother-in-laws new house
47. My sister and her familie's new house
48. Pictures of my nieces and nephews
49. the internet on which to view them
50. God's timing
51. More contentment with my job
52. Glen's job
53. Dinner out


Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

Laundry

I expect to find some coins, a dollar bill, possibly a scrap piece of paper, but I don't expect to find these when I take clothes out of the dryer. I am however thankful that I have a handy husband who has reasons to put these in his pocket.

A bug's life

So for awhile now we have been seeing sawdust around the gate that Glen built for our front porch when we first moved in. This morning I saw another pile and started to investigate more closely. This is what I found.

And here's a closeup. Notice the saw dust.

So clearly we needed to find out what it was or at least remove it so that it would not take over our house.

Even Cosmo was curious to see what it was.

So Glen decided to take the gate off. Clearly whatever it is is now living in the column on our porch.

Turns out it didn't get into the column. It only got into the board. So we Glen flipped the board over to find that it was hollow in parts and started breaking through the wood. Glen went into the house to get his knife. I guarded the board.

While Glen was inside I decided to blow into the hole to try to get whatever it was to come out. It started making noises at me. I of course jumped and decided to leave it alone. It seemed pretty angry. They certainly were not hey come and play with me type noises.

Glen returned and continued to cut the board and whatever it was continued to make mean noises at him. Honestly, it made me a bit nervous. Glen then proceeded to cut the part of the board that they were hiding in, and they came out. I screamed, ran away, and refused to come back. Glen dug deeper and found these.

They left larva which will inevitably turn into more of them and burrow more holes and take over the house. So Glen immediately threw the board away. I don't want these living with us.

I will be A-okay not to see this face every morning.

Turns out they were carpenter bees.