Just checking in

Sean and Marisela made it in last Wed. night. He called meeting on Thurs and Fri, then a singing on Sat. It was all very good and uplifting, including Sunday. We heard about doing for others and counting our blessings, just to name a few. I really enjoyed the time we got to spend with them. Today I need to get back onto the job of packing, so I thought I would make a quick little post as it may be a while before I return to the blogging world. I will miss you all. Please leave me lots of wonderful comments to come back to.

Busy Days

I have started packing. What a chore! I have almost all of our books packed, all 12 boxes of them! Amazingly we have really down sized these last 2 moves and have gotten rid of a lot of books.

Today I am working on cleaning up the packing mess and getting some groceries because we have company coming. Safeway has a $10 off coupon in the Tuesday paper this week, so I am heading there to take advantage of their other good deals too. $1.89 lb boneless skinless chicken. Not as cheap as I paid last time ($1.49) but still a great deal, especially with $10 off.

Sean and Marisela should be in for dinner tonight and are staying through Friday. I am really looking forward to it. We see each other in passing at weddings, ect., but it's been a while since we really got to spend some quality time with them. She hasn't seen my house yet, so I didn't start packing any decor (normally my first boxes to pack). I still have 2 weeks until I need to be packed, I'm sure I have plenty of time.

Movin' on up

As many of you know, we have been praying about moving for a few months now. At first we had no idea where the Lord would send us, only that we were going to move. Just over a month ago Dale started thinking about a place, but we didn't want to say anything until we knew for sure. We have now given our months notice and rented our Penske truck, so I would say it is official. We are moving to Denver, Co.

I have some mixed feelings about the move. I love the brethern there dearly and I am excited to get re-aquainted with them. We have lived there 3 1/2 years total through out our marriage. On the other hand, I feel that my heart is in the Northwest and that it is definately my home. I know God knows best and I can't wait to see what his will is for us there. Knowing the way we move around, we will probably be back in the Northwest someday. Until then, I will miss you all. I feel that we are such a close family out here. We are intending to go to the Oregon campout so I hope to see many of you there for a last goodbye. Just know now, I will be shedding some tears.

A tightwad fashion show

I recently got to do some shopping for some needed items. Here are some of the deals I got.

These Levis jeans are $44.00 reg price. I paid $22.00. This is the best deal I have ever gotten on new Levis brand jeans. I can normally find them for about $10.00 - $12.00 off.

I love my new purple shirt, too.

It was reg $28.00. I paid $12.00. It is very feminine with special detail around the neck and elastic at the arms. I made the fred meyer clerk take this one off the manikin. It's the last one they had! Again, I love it. The picture doesn't do it justice. I also have a new white tank on under the shirt. I bought it a few months ago for $9.00 reg $18.00. It has crocheted lace at the neck. I was going to take it back because I didn't have anything to wear it with, but I lost the receipt and was afraid they wouldn't give me all my money. Now I'm glad I kept it!

This green T-shirt is very basic, but comfortable and casual. This one was $28.00 reg and $12.00 on sale also.

I have been eyeing this little white skirt for a while. It is very wrinkled here because it sat in my floor all night. I don't remember the reg. price on this one, but it was on clearance for $25.00 and I paid $15.00. It is lined and just adorable in person, especially with my new purple shirt.

So far, my clothing deals have been good, but not spectacular. Here are the deals the "Tightwad Gazette Lady" would be proud of:


I thought this black and white top was darling and knowing how much I paid for my other clothes, you know I would have gladly paid the $1.00 asking price, but at yard sales the rules are different and I was happy when the lady took my $0.50 offer.

These are some freebie shoes from shopaholic sis cherrie. I will take her discards anyday! She gave me these shoes last oct and I have wore them a few times but I didn't have THE thing to go with. They are a hit with my new black and white, $.50 shirt!

Here's another yard sale find. I agonized whether or not to get this with the move coming but I just love it. $5.00 She was asking $7.00.

Here it is with some of my other decorations. I love my little metal wall hanging. My Dad bought it for me as a surprise.




This is a picture of my mantle and the family ties sign I bought a few months ago. It was 14.99 at TJ Max.

And the winner IS...

Thanks to all of you who participated in my contest in my last post. I would have to say that Marisela won. I am starving right now and it's been a loooooong time since I've had a grilled cheese sandwich! Marisela knows my issues with dairy, and knowing her devious nature, I would say she decided to stop at nothing to win this contest. I'm sure she felt that the satisfaction of winning would out way her guilt over tempting me with the sandwich. Thanks Marisela, that's what friends are for! I give a close second place to Kali. Great effort and interesting comment. If I wasn't hungry right now, you might have won!

Help, I have the Blah's

I can't seem to come up with any great topic for a new post. I feel I have been retrospective lately and not very talkative. This now carrying over to my blog because every story I think of has more details than I am willing to sit here and write about. Sorry. Maybe you guys could give some really great comments and that would spark a new post. In fact, lets have a little contest on who can leave the most interesting comment. I know there are some of you out there who are competitive by nature, so here's a chance for you to shine. I will be the judge of coarse, and again I said, the most interesting comment, not the longest (Sabriena:)

I am finally posting some pictures!!

These are all from Aug of last year to current. They did not stay in the order they were supposed to, so they are all mixed up.

Roman is sad, he doesn't want River to move away.

My cousin Tara and her daughter Lanie from our trip in april. I left my camera at her house and wasn't able to get it back until on our way home, so I didn't get any photos of the trip accept the ones of Tara's family which I am glad to have.

Michelle, melissa, Dale, and I

Brewster Campout: Isaiah, Andy, and Levi. The boys had a good time.

Myla and Sally at Brewster campout. They liked the hats they won in the little kid games.

Shelby, JilleeAnna, Andy, and Reuben at Thanksgiving.

Drewsie

Mellonie

Amanda and Heidi

Roman last year.

Abram, the tough guy

Samuel, the silly boy

Levi and Stormie both look a little disturbed!

Way Too Cool

My thoughts today

1. Andy got a job. He is a gas station attendant. He really worked hard to get this job. It is amazing how it has changed his attitude overnight. It is obvious that he feels more grown up.

2. Where is summer? We had one week of nice weather weeks ago, and now this. I live in the desert and today's afternoon temperature is 56. The wind is bone chilling. It's nearly mid-June, what's going on? Global cooling?? Who knows, I just want some warmer temps. I am SICK of my winter clothes.

3. Thank you, Cherrie, for a good laugh. Yes, I choked on my drink because I was laughing so hard, but it was worth it.

4. Sis Jewel makes an awesome applesauce cake. I have been enjoying it to much, which leads me to my next thought...

5. Count down to Ashley's wedding; only 11 days left. Yikes! I sooo wanted to lose a few pounds. There's always tomorrow. Maybe all the applesauce cake will be gone by then. Since I'm the only one eating it, I'm not sure how that will happen.

6. I love Redbox. For those of you who might not know, Redbox is where you rent movies for $1.00 a night. They have new releases too. It is a vending machine, they are in McDonald's, Walmart, Albertson's and various other retail stores. You may return your rental to ANY Redbox. This would work great for traveling. Redbox is ideal for tightwad entertainment.

7. I am sleepy today. The combo of Redbox last night and getting up before 5am to take Andy to work has made me one tired lady.

8. Please comment. It makes me very happy to read all your little comments, but I know, you know what I mean:)

Dinner Delima

I have been having a tough time with dinner lately. 4 o'clock rolls around and I have no idea what I am fixing for dinner. It is rather frustrating at times. I used to make a monthly menu with about 20 meals on it and try to stick to that, however I find that I make pretty much the same meals so now I can go to my old menus for ideas. 4 o'clock is not a good time to find that I need to go to the store before dinner though, even with my handy list of meals to fix. Then I came across a great suggestion in my reliable Tightwad Gazette. She said that while she is doing the dinner dishes, she checks out her pantry and plans the next evenings meal. This sounds like it will work great. The theory is that you will use up what you have instead of running to the store for last minute purchases.

Today is my first time to try it. I am making Minestrone for dinner. We wanted this last night, but because I didn't have any canned beans, I couldn't make it at the last minute without a trip to the store, which I wasn't willing to make. I also didn't want to purchase canned beans when I have a surplus of dried ones. This morning I took just a few minutes to get some beans on for the soup tonight. About 4 o'clock I will take a few more minutes to get a fresh loaf of herb bread going in the bread maker.(it takes the bread maker under an hour from start to finish!!) As I am running errands today, I will pick up a few carrots to put in the soup. Everything will be in place to easily and calmly prepare a nice dinner, and while I wash dishes, repeat the cycle so that tomorrow nights dinner is also a calm affair, and so on....

A New Look

I have been doing some thinking since reading Marisela's blog last week on attitudes. I decided today that I was going to make a huge change. Here are some of the ways I have worked on my attitude today.

First thing this morning I was on the phone when Andy got up, which usually gets our day off to a bad start. When I got off the phone, I offered to make him egg and toast for breakfast. He was a little surprised, but quickly accepted with thanks.

While making his breakfast, I tried to be extra cheerful and singing. He decided to chat a little, so when the 8:30 school time came, I said nothing and we continued to visit. We then played a game of Foosball, during which I gently reminded him of the time and suggested he start school when the game was done. I am such an exacting person, it was tough for me to let 8:30 go by without saying anything but the 45 minutes of talking and joking together were so worth it. It was also great fun that I totally creamed him in the game.

Our plan was to go to the library at 12:00, after Andy got some school work in. I had some errands to run, so I headed to Fred Meyer. I simply had to exchange some capri's. HaHa. Easier said than done. 1 hour and 45 minutes later I still couldn't find any that I liked. I had been in and out of the fitting room several times trying on numerous items. Then, I realized it was 12:45. Oops. I also realized I had forgotten my phone. Double Oops!

All the way home, I played out the scene that would take place. I knew Andy would have quit school at noon, expecting me home any minute so we could take off because he is supposed to be back on school at 1:00. I got myself all fired up ready to tell my all to often grouchy teenager that I can do what I want, I don't have to answer to him and too bad if he was inconvenienced. Then I remembered how I was going to change today. I immediately decided I would grovel meekly and let him have an extended lunch.

He met me in the yard when I pulled up, and I opened the door, smiled sheepishly and said I'm sorry. He just smiled and said no big deal. We joked and laughed while I ate a quick lunch and while we were on our way to the library.

The change is amazing. It is contagious. I can't believe how it has worked. Hopefully I can keep it up.