A Confession...

I have a confession to make.  I love shopping.  Absolutely love it.  And if it is for shoes or purses...all the better.  My daughter and I have no problem taking a day to hit whatever store we can.  But the one thing I like more then the actual shopping part, happens at the register.  I love seeing the total.  Then seeing how much we were able to save by using coupons, sales, and etc..  Shelby and I even frequent yard sales, second hand shops, Goodwill, etc..  We have found many bargains doing this.  In fact, I think most of my wardrobe consist of things bought this way.  However, there are a few rules we have come to know and shop by.  First rule is if it isn't going to get wore or used, then it is a waste of money even if it was on sale.  Second rule, try everything on unless you are %100 sure it will fit.  Don't want to get it home and find out that you just gave your hard earned money for something you can't wear and can't return.  Third rule, check the care instructions and for any rips, stains, or what not.  If it is going to cost you for dry cleaning or fall a part in the wash...again, waste of money.  There are some exceptions to this.  It just depends on your own ability to sew, stain remove, etc..  Last week we went shopping at our local second hand shop.  Found the cutest Croft & Barrows sweater ($60 NWT) for $3.00.  I did happen to notice that there was a small stain in the right arm.  The sweater just looked like it had been sitting in a closet for a while.  So I decided for $3.00, I'd take a chance.  The stain wouldn't have been noticeable anyway.  So, I brought it home and used some of my homemade spot remover on it.  Washed it and hung it to dry.  No stain!  It looks brand new and I can't wait to wear it.  The point is that it is possible to have a great wardrobe, dress the family, or afford nice gifts without breaking the bank.  It just takes a little research, self control, and knowledge.  I keep an app on my iPhone called Retail Me Not.  It has saved me so much money.

A few other tips...do not use your store credit card unless you are going to pay that bill right away.  Many stores will offer a certain amount off for using them.  Ask yourself a couple questions first.  What will I be paying in interest?  Will I have it paid off before the interest catches up?  Also, make sure you take your time.  You need time to try it on, look it over, read the coupons/sales details, and time to pay attention as things are ringing up.  Check out online deals before you head to the store.  Sometimes the discounts are better or there is a coupon available.  I have found Fisher Price toy coupons on coupon.com, searched the Walmart add, and been able to not only get the toy on sale, but save an extra $5 or more.  I have, also, been known to check online, go to the store to try on the right size, and then come home and order it.  If you order through sites like Ebates, they will send you a rebate check once a month for the amount you saved just by using their site.  So, not only do you save with the store online promotion, but you get a percentage back of what you spend from Ebates.  Ching!!!  Obviously, there are always going to be those who don't mind paying more for what they want.  That's fine and it is their business.  Yes, my kids wear name brand stuff and nice stuff.  I just much prefer that money in my pocket then someone else's.  I hope that this is helpful with the holidays around the corner.  Other tips to come.   

Journal Check In...

So how are we coming on our "All About Me Journals".  Now remember to just journal your daily activities for the first few days (actually, I think a full week is the best).  Don't forget the good stuff too.  Special time with loved ones.  All of that. If you miss a day (I missed today), don't fret.  Just pick it up tomorrow.  This is not suppose to cause us more stress.  It is to help us figure out what we need to change in order to get us back to that positive, healthy place we want to be.  Whether it is home, work, health, or just plain making you feel better about yourself.  This is a process of baby steps.  When I say baby steps...I don't mean 20 emails a day  of reminders or any if that.  I've done those websites.  They caused me to freak out and made me feel like a failure.  Truly not what one needs when they already feel so down and life is already so disorganized and hectic.  I mean a slow, gradual process.  So, keep journaling, my friends.  Remember, no changes.  Just your everyday life, just how it happens.  We will get to our "Happy Place" together.  Any further post on this series will be under the "All About Me" at the top of the page.  This will help to keep it all together and cause less confusion.  Much love and Many blessings!!! 

All About You Series

There is nothing like a 20 year class reunion to make you sit and reflect on your life.  This past weekend proved that, and then some, for me.  I sat and looked through old photos and reminisced.  No one ever knows, for sure, where they are going to be 20 years in the future.  If we did, I promise you my life would be much different, right now.  I never planned for the challenges that life has presented me.  However, I can't help but think that it has made me who I am today.  Chronic illness not only takes its toll on your body, but your mind as well.  There comes a point where you are sick of being sick.  Then, there comes the moment you are just plain sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I know it sounds redundant, but it is what happens.  The way I see it, you have a few choices.  First, you can keep going through this cycle.  Doing the same thing, day in and day out.  No habits to break or changes to your lifestyle to worry about.  The second choice is to surrender to it.  Basically, just giving in.  You just sit and let the illness run its course.  Whatever happens...happens.  The third is to decide that you are not ready to let the illness take you and your life over.  It is the most difficult choice.  It requires more then positive affirmation and making alternative lifestyle choices.  It involves determination and energy.  Neither, of which you have when you have been ill for any length of time.  After much thought, prayer, conversations with my husband and doctors, and research...this is the choice I have decided to make.  As I stated, it will not be easy.  However, I can not feel content with any other decision. 

So, there is a plan in the works.  A plan to not only help my body get healthier, but my mind, as well.  Some of the steps might seem small and silly to some.  However, if you have ever hit rock bottom, you know that even the smallest things can have a huge impact.  Something as little as getting dressed in the morning can be very difficult.  There are days I can hardly find the physical strength and mental will power to do this.  Then I look at all the wonderful blessings I have been given and know that I have to.  I want more from life then that.  What if it doesn't work you ask?  Well, then I know that I tried everything I could.  I can live with that, better then if I just gave up.  My biggest enemies are going to be patience and self motivation.  I know this, and am working on ways to get me through.  I will try to share them, as I go.  When you stop to think about it...we all have our struggles.  Being a woman is hard.  The demands we face on a day to day basis are exhausting and stressful.  Whether it is with our weight, depression, smoking, stressed, or whatever.  We all need to try and find ways to take care of our physical self, and our mental well-being.  So feel free to take the tips you need, participate in the challenges presented, or whatever you need.  The important thing to remember (this is the hardest for me), is that we will have bad days.  It's not that you had the bad day that counts.  It is how you got through it, and what are you going to do to make tomorrow better.

So the first challenge I presented myself was to take few days and just journal my daily activity.  I kept track of my diet, medications, sleep, symptoms, weight, and any extra activities.  The easiest way to do this is to keep a small notebook in your purse.  If you are like me, your purse goes where you go.  Now, it is important not to make any changes during this few days.  You want to see what your everyday life is like, so that you can look back and see what your day to day routine involves.  I know it is hard to remember to always write it down, just do the best you can.  Remember, this is not about achieving perfection.  It is going to be about different things for different people.  For some it might be weight loss, financials, or just plain boosting self esteem.  It doesn't matter, whatever the cause, it's all about you and helping you feel better about yourself.  Good Luck!!!                

Learning As We Go...

There comes a time in every moms life when we question ourselves.  We question ourselves as mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, and as a friend.  Am I doing this right?  Do I spend enough time with them?  Do they all feel love and protected?  No matter what we do there always seem to be criticism.  To top it all of, that criticism fuels the questions already roaming in our heads.  It's hard being a mom.  They say it is one of the hardest jobs in the world.  The worse part is you don't get a do over if you mess up.  There is no rewind button.  We can only learn from our mistakes and hope that the next step is a better experience.  When the criticisms come from our own children, it makes the sting burn even more.  There is so much riding on whether we make the right choices for our children.  Talk about pressure!  From choosing when to start potty training to when they can start dating.  It all shapes and molds who they become as people.  There is something else that this process has taught me.  Sure it took 18 years to figure it out, but I finally figured it out.  There is no perfect way and what works for one family doesn't always work for another.  You can pick all the right schools, feed them nothing but healthy meals, be a stay at home mom, or a working mom.  It doesn't matter.  Things are not going to be perfect all the time.  It's human nature.  You can blame the difference in personalities.  And if you have more then one child, you are dealing with more then one personality.  My husband and I have always tried to take the kids personality characteristics into account with everything.  However, that has seemed to back fire on us a time or two.  I have read books, visited blogs, and all the things they suggest a parent should do in order to be an "affective" parent.  I hate to admit it, but it was all time wasted.  In the long run, my husband and I have come to the conclusion that we are still (yes, 18 years later) learning as we go.  It doesn't matter that one child has already left the nest, because the two to follow are completely different people.  We are not perfect, and neither are they.  The biggest challenge is in getting them to figure this all out.  They do not understand that they are not the only ones growing through the process.  We are too.  Parenting not only shapes children, it shapes us as well.  Just because we are the parents, doesn't mean we have all the right answers.  Of course, we aren't going to admit that to them.

No, I'm not a perfect mom.  My husband is not a perfect dad.  My children will make mistakes.  In the end, I can only pray that they make the right choices for themselves, or learn from the wrong ones.  I pray daily that my husband and I make the right choices in raising our children.  It makes us feel better knowing that the lord has their backs.  Hopefully, he has ours as well.  We have learned to pick our battles with each of them.  In the end, we are very proud of each of them and feel extremely blessed to have them.  You just have to be willing to accept that there will always be a critic, things will not always be perfect, and you can't be their best friends and their parents.  Pray often, stay involved, and always be willing to listen.  Sometimes, they just need a little reassurance from us that they are on the right road.  The greatest thing is that when they make those right choices, it is God's way of letting us know that we are also traveling the right road.  The most important thing is that they know they are loved and can count on you when they need you.  No body knows your children like you do (yes, there will be those who think they do).  I know that none of this is a great and rare discovery.  Just a thought, if you need it, for the day.  Much love and many blessings!!!!        

Changing Seasons...

I love fall.  I love the colors, the crisp fall air, the comfort that comes with spending time and sharing good food with friends and family, Yes, even football.  This year fall looks a bit different for this family.  We were used to the view of a country setting with miles of changing trees, dirt roads, and wildlife in our back yard.  We are finding that moving into this new house as brought a new picture of fall to us.  We still have changing trees.  However, not as many.  The closest thing to wildlife we have found here are the chipmunks that come up on the front porch and antagonize our poor little shih Tzu (Phoebe).  We traded the dusty dirt road for a nice paved blacktop.  Although we miss the serenity and scenery, we have come to appreciate these newer experiences.  For one thing, there is less mud and dirt being dragged into the house.  I can not tell you how much work this has saved us.  Another thing that we have found is that we absolutely love our new neighborhood.  It is so nice to be around people.  We have all ages in this neighborhood.  I look out and watch some of the younger children playing in the neighborhood and it brings back memories of our own children when they were younger.  Then I look the other direction and see older neighbors and it is like looking into the future 20 years from now.  I guess you could say that everything we have been through in the last 3 years with being ill, moving, and having one of our sons move from home has awakened my thought process. 

It is funny.  When you are young and first starting out, you and your spouse have plans and ideas of what you imagine your life to be like.  Then 15 to 20 years later, you find yourself reflecting and thinking that things turned out so differently then you planned.  Paul and I are learning that isn't such a bad thing.  If things had worked out the way we had planned them in the beginning, I think we would be rather unhappy people today.  Oh sure, there were hard times.  However, we have always operated on the belief that God has a plan for our family and He has always taken care of us.  I have to believe that we are where He wants us to be.  Not sure on the reason, yet.  But I am sure it is for a good purpose.  One thing is for certain, there are more changes going on here then just the seasons.  This family has learned to embrace change.  It's much easier then fighting it.  Turns out it is way more rewarding in the end, too.  For years we were determined to put a house on our own property.  When that didn't work out, we decided to take a different path.  Looking back, it worked out the way it was suppose to.  Like I always say, "God's plan, on God's time, for God's purpose."  

A Blog Makeover

Well, it has been one year that I have been blogging.  It has been so rewarding, therapeutic, and quite the learning experience.  I have decided to get this particular blog back up and running regularly.  I have many new ideas and am very excited for what lies in store.  Over the course of the next few weeks, you will find new pages, content, and pictures posted at least once a week.  Some of you have asked for tips about homemade cleaning products,  exercise and diet, household tips, recipes, and so much more.  I am working on all these.  I hope that you all will find everything very helpful and encouraging.  Let's face it...being a woman is hard and very demanding.  I hope that you will not only find many helpful hints, but a little humor and inspiration as you read.  As I stated, this will be over the course of a few weeks.  I am still going to keep Dustin's Journey running regularly as well.  Yes, I must be insane.  However, I love that so many seem to find something they can relate to.  I also think that life is way to complicated.  Let's face it, who has time to fix seven course meals, run kids, clean house, and go to work everyday.  I probably could , if I didn't ever need to shower, sleep , and to be pleasant.  It is my hope to help you simplify life a bit, or at least, find some enjoyment in it.  So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.  I will not be deleting any of my old posts.  I find that I still get asked for recipes and what not.  It's just easier to keep it here to refer back to.  Also, feel free to post questions, send messages, and share your own tips.  I am always open to new ideas and positive feedback.  I hope that you will share this blog with your friends and family.  As soon as I can, I will be accompanying the blog with an updated Facebook page.  So, check back often.  Thank you all for your support and your loyalty.  I appreciate and absolutely adore my readers (for both blogs).  I am amazed at the response by all of you.  Have a wonderful day!  Let the adventure begin.  Much love and many blessings!