Ugly Christmas Sweater

This Sunday my church is asking everyone to come dressed wearing an ugly Christmas sweater. Unfortunately I had none in my closet. I had a couple I never would have donated if I had known this event was coming up. So the search began!
Who wants to pay a bunch of money though for an ugly sweater? Not me! So I went to the local Salvation Army and paid $6 for a white(well it used to be white) cardigan with these big glittery poinsettas on it. Something I would never wear. Well, when I paid for it, the lady in front of me was impressed with my find. She thought it was beautiful and was giving me tips on how to get a small stain out of the sleeve. Ha! I wanted to tell her it adds to how PERFECT this is, keeping it in the ugly sweater category. Maybe she'll be excited when she goes back next week and sees the same sweater back at Salvation Army. I would make her day. Unless I decide to hang on to it for next year.. . . I hear Ugly Christmas Sweater parties are all the rage.

Grapes of Wrath

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon of shopping by myself while my husband took care of the kids. I was all finished with my outing and was driving home, listening to the radio and feeling totally relaxed. I left the busy shopping center and turned into my quiet neighborhood. My window was rolled down a quarter of the way so I could enjoy fresh air on this beautiful day.
All of a sudden I was struck by an object that came flying through my window. It hit me so hard that I screamed out loud in pain and grabbed the side of my face. I pulled the car over and threw on my hazards so I could come back to my senses. It felt like someone had punched me. I felt something in my hand and I looked at it. It was a broken grape. I looked down at my lap. Another grape was sitting on it.
A car had passed me at the same time this incident happened. When they heard a scream, they slowed down. I thought maybe they were going to check on me. Instead they quickly turned down a side street. I know it was an older car, sedan type, but I didn't get a look at the plates and the individual. If I hadn't been alone in the car, maybe I could've gotten their info, but I was still in serious pain, trying to get over my shock. I debated calling my husband because it hurt so much, but I was only a few blocks away from home, so I decided to drive on home.
By the time I got to the house I could tell it was already starting to swell. I looked in the bathroom mirror and my face was red, so I went to get some ice. My husband was very upset so he made the whole family get into the car to drive to the general area where it happened. We saw a car in the parking lot of a local park with a young man in it just sitting in the car. He looked nervous when he saw us. The car looked like it could have been the one. But, I can't say for sure.
My husband called 911 to report the incident. A police officer came to our home and filed a report and gave me a case number in case I decided I needed to go the hospital. He could see the redness. I apologized that I had very little info to give him, but thought it should be reported in case the individual continues to throw things at vehicles in the area. He agreed and said he would drive around and maybe even check out the guy in the car I saw. He took me seriously, and asked questions like "did you cut someone off at the shopping center and make them mad?" I told him, "not that I'm aware of". I knew he couldn't do much with the little info I had, but who knows. If this throwing continues, the police will know it has happened more than once in the area.
So, I guess I'm coming out of this whole thing feeling very grateful. It is the next day, and my face is only tender. I don't see any bad bruising. The grapes hurt so much, I wondered if it could have been frozen. I really think the individual was a young teenager or adult that thought it would be funny to throw fruit at a car and didn't intend it to go through an open window. The back windows of the driver's side are also streaked with grape residue. I'm just glad it wasn't a rock, because if a grape could hurt so much, a rock would've been even worse.
Watch out for flying fruit!

Money Stuff

Money has been on my mind a lot lately. My husband and I have stopped using credit cards. That is quite the change for us. But, we were living beyond our means and knew we had to quit that habit.
Now we are working on paying off our debt. I am happy to report that we recently paid off a credit card. It feels good!!!!
Money has been super tight every month. Sometimes we haven't known how the next bill would get covered. God has been providing for us EVERY time. For example, we were 83 dollars short on making our mortgage payment. Well, that week I got a last minute babysitting job that paid $84. That is just one example of how amazing God has been to us. He has been providing EXACTLY what we need, not more, not less.
It will take a couple years to get out of all the debt we have, but we have learned through this experience, and once our debt is gone, we will continue better habits we have learned the hard way.

The Singing Kitties

This is a silly video and one of Christina's new favorites. I bet you didn't know cats could sing!

School is Coming

I've done most of my back to school shopping. I will miss the boys while they are at school, but I'm excited that they will get to learn :) My husband found this video and I think it is really funny. Please note, I WILL miss the boys, but the house will be a little quieter during the day with only one kid at home. Is it wrong to look forward to that just a little? :)

Whack-A-Kitty!

Cute and funny! No animals were hurt :)

Bookmarks are Here!

I have recently launched my new bookmarks at my etsy shop Hidden Treasure. They are pretty shepherd hook style bookmarks. Perfect as a gift or for yourself. The best part is they are only $5!($8 after shipping). I really love them and want to show off a few examples. Do you love them too? More are available in my shop.

Still love the grocery store!

I get so excited going to the grocery store. It is so fun for me! Right now I am just giddy about my shopping trip. I spent $14.60 on $38.32 worth of stuff. Name brand stuff. That is 62 percent off. It is so fun matching coupons with sales. Let me tell you what I got for under 15 dollars. I think everything I got was best name brand kind of stuff

2 bottles of bbq sauce
2 bottles of mayo
4 boxes of cereal
5 bags of frozen vegetables
1 dozen eggs
pack of sponges

nothing was store brand

Maybe this is boring to you, but for me, it is FUN! More money for other things like bills and fun stuff

Andrew's Latest Story

Andrew has been writing stories at school. He's a first grader. He recently brought home a school paper describing what he would do with 100 dollars. Here it is. I'm going to leave his spellings and everything the way he wrote it:

"If I had one hundred dollars I would get a gint tv. If I had one hundred dollers I woud get a school."

He also drew a couple cute pictures. I guess the reason we thought it was so funny was that Phil used to write similar papers when he was in school. Poor Andrew, I'm not going to tell him that giant tvs cost more than 100 dollars! I asked him about the school part, he said he made it up. I wonder if it has anything to do with my decision to homeschool next year. Hmmmmmm.....

Who is Coming?

Christina kept saying this over and over. Listen, it is really cute!

Everything is Amazing!

I thought this video was pretty funny

Goodbye Crib, Hello Bed!

This week Christina has made the transition from crib to bed. It all started because I went to Toys R Us to return duplicate Christmas toys for her. I really wasn't sure what to get. So, as I was wandering around the store, I saw the toddler beds. I realized that I would only have to spend 9 dollars out of pocket to be able to get her the bed. The boys each got beds on their 2nd birthdays. Even though she hasn't figured out how to climb out the crib yet, I figured I should let her be a big girl since she is now a 2 year old.
She absolutely loves it! The first night it took her about 30 minutes to relax in it, but after that first night, she now goes to bed very well. Here are some cute pictures of this milestone.
She's a pretty good builder too!!

As soon as she sat in her bed, she folded her hands and said "Pray". It was so adorable!Chili didn't waste any time getting comfortable!
Just in case you thought we really made our daughter build her own bed, here is the real builder. I'm so proud, he even read the directions! My baby girl is growing up!!