Snow Storm!

I am all settled in and ready to be stranded at home! You see, we have a huge snowstorm that is going to paralyze the whole area. Grocery stores are running out of food, and the storm has earned the nickname snowpocalypse. I am enjoying all the hysteria around here; it is funny to me. I know it is a ton of snow, but as long as I'm safe and warm in my house with my kids and my family, then bring it on! The snow has started and the roads are covered.
Anyway, we could have anywhere from 20 to 33 inches. I'm eager to see if we really get that much. I'm hoping we do. No matter what, this is a winter to remember.
Meanwhile, I am going to sit back and watch, go out and shovel when I need to stretch, and enjoy lots of homemade food such as soup we will make and the homemade pizza we just finished off. Just praying that we keep power; that would completely change my happy mood if it went out for days. However, I'm really not expecting that to happen.
Let it snow!

Celebrity Look Alike

Well this week on Facebook everybody is supposed to post a picture of someone that is famous that looks like you. I had a lot of trouble finding anyone close. I used a generator by scanning in a photo of myself and it came up with Venus Williams. Ummmm, not quite.
I mean seriously, here is my actual picture:
So as you can see, the celebrity generator wasn't working for me. I decided to waste a lot of time and find someone by myself. The best I came up with was this picture of Mandy Moore.

So what do you think? Do I look more like Venus Williams or Mandy Moore? Ha! Or maybe I look like someone else. Judy Garland was one of the suggestions from the generator. Sometimes wasting time can be so much fun!

Grateful

This morning my daughter was thirsty and kept asking for drinks of water. I filled up her cup yet again, but I was frustrated that she needed refill after refill. Immediately after she left the room, I sat down at the computer and checked up on the latest news with Haiti. I watched a video of people running through the streets all because of a rumor they heard about water possibly being available. Tears came to my eyes instantly.
I'm so thankful that all my daughter has to do is ask, and she can have a drink of water. I just push the water button on my refrigerator and out it comes. I am glad she doesn't know what it is like to be without water for days. I'm grateful for the simple things today, such as food, water, and shelter. In the meantime, I'm praying for the people of Haiti after this earthquake. I'm praying for all those thirsty kids and all those moms that would give their children a drink if they had any to give.

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!