With a thankful heart

This Thanksgiving has been unexpectedly stressful for us. We're all still trying to get over our respective sicknesses, while Chad has been cranking out papers, with two more due the Tuesday and Wednesday after Thanksgiving weekend. This year, we had planned to gather with my family in Ohio for the holiday, but when the time came, there simply was no way for us to go, between money being tight, the mountain of papers and the weekend being too short. My sister and her husband drove up to my mother's from Nashville and I have a strong case of the "wish I was there's".

But despite all of this, I am so thankful. As the verse above says, the Lord has done great things for us and as a result, I am filled with joy. When you are able to recognize who the Giver of all good gifts is, your life is filled with peace and joy. The kind of joy that allows you to rest from the grasping at empty things and find contentment in your present circumstances. Which, of course, leads you right back to having a thankful heart. A beautiful circle.

So this holiday season I've been working on recognizing as many of the good gifts and "great things" the Lord has done for me. It's been slow and sweet. And my joy is waking back after what seemed like a very long slumber.

It is yet another gift which I am thankful for.

Sickness Abounding

We almost never get sick, over here. Chad and I very rarely get any sickness involving vomiting, though every winter I get at least one or two of the upper-respiratory type sicknesses. But this one has hit us hard.

Monday night, we woke up to hear Bram miserably being sick in his room. His first ever, flu. The rest of the night was so sad. By morning, there was a mountain of laundry. He was sick all day, barely sleeping but only able if he was right next to me. But by evening he seemed much better and by Wednesday you'd never know he had been sick at all! Praise the Lord!

Last night, before we went to bed, Chad told me he wasn't feeling so great. I thought it probably was just the pizza not sitting right in his stomach. "He never gets sick" I thought. FAMOUS LAST WORDS.... He was so very sick, allllll night long. And even now, he's sleeping on the couch, shivering and fighting waves of sick feelings. Poor, sweet man.

So I guess this means I'll get it. At this rate it will be sometime over the weekend. Yuck, yuck, double yuck. But better now than over the holidays I say.

Hope you all are doing well and HEALTHY!!!!

Happy Anniversary Babe!

In our house, we celebrate many things and many "holidays". Today is one such day!

It's the 4th anniversary of the day Chad asked me to be his wife!!!!
(this is not our wedding. It's another celebration!)

It was a lovely day, full of unexpected surprises (I knew it was going to happen, so there were many other weird surprises instead!)and interrupting foreign tourists.

When it actually happened, it was so funny and obvious what was going on that afterwards we realized he never actually said " will you marry me?" and I never said "yes"! Some how we communicated our intentions anyway and it was wonderful.

Sweetie, I'm so glad you asked me to share your life. There has never been a day or moment in the past four years that I've regretted it or even wondered if I made the right choice. The only thing I've wondered was what it would have been like to marry you sooner! I love everything about you including (but not limited to)- your curly hair, attached ear lobes, and brown eyes. Without you I would never have learned so many things about the world of science, history, the Navy and love.
(this is Chad with Nicola Tesla)

I love you wonderful, handsome, hubby! Here's to our forever!

Red, White and Fall

This autumn my fireplace mantle has taken a less than "fall-ish" feel. But I'm okay with that.
This summer I decorated my mantle for the 4th of July and not long after that my oldest, younger brother (does that make any sense? For some reason it does to me!) finally fullfilled a dream to join the Army and left for bootcamp. I decided to leave it up for him until he came back.





How amazing is it that there are still young men who dream of serving their country by voluntarily joining during a time of war. I'm so proud of my kid brother.

The mantle has been the perfect reminder of the sacrifice many families are making this fall so we can have the freedom to celebrate the upcoming holidays in our own homes.


Lord of the Rings has nothing to do with 4th of July, BootCamp or the American Flag. My brother Jordan is a big geek and loves it sooo much. He'd read the books and play LOTR Risk all day if we let him. (We don't. We avoid it at all cost) It reminds me of him so much.


I love you kid brother! Thank you for making such a sacrifice for all the people you know and all those you don't know by defending your country. I can't wait to see you at Graduation!

I've linked up to The Nester's Mantle Party. Check out the other great ladies linked up there too! Later this week I should have all my other Fall decorating done so come back and see me then!

Happy Valen-Birtha-Versary!!!!

Today is my birthday. Yesterday was Valentine's Day, next week is my husband and my's 3rd anniversary. We call this busy time of year "Happy Valen-Birtha-Versary"!!! It's full of kisses, hugs, and a few sneaky tushy pinches.

Today my hubby went out of his way to make sure he gave me a nice day. Since Abraham woke up several times last night he skipped this...



and let me do this...


And then he bought me one of these:

And he made me one of these:



I think it's going to be a good day!

Frugal Weekend Fun!

I LOVE the autumn. There just something about the shorter days and cooler nights that makes me want to be outside as much I can. But I also just want to enjoy the cooler temperatures by snuggling up in a fleecy blanket and taking a nap. This weekend I got to do both!

Other fun inexpensive things we did:

... I finally figured out how to make bread in my Bosch mixer! I'd tried twice before but couldn't get the water temp right. This weekend it worked and I celebrated by making 2 dozen Turkey and cheese sandwich rolls and 2 loaves of Stromboli! (In case you are wondering what sandwich rolls are, think cinnamon rolls but with turkey and cheese instead.) Both of these make wonderful cold lunches and should last us 2-3 weeks.

... my husband and I decided to take up a new hobby-- metal detecting! He already had a metal detector from before we were married (he was a ghost-town hunter!) so it cost us nothing to start. We had to pay $1 for parking on the beach but eventually we plan on finding beaches that cost nothing. It was super fun and relaxing to walk the beach after dark, just moonlight, waves and our little family!

... I made blueberry scones for breakfast but in the middle of making them, I found I had run out of milk. Should I run to the store or find a way to resolve this with what I had on hand? Aha! Yogurt! I put in one container of peach yogurt in place of 2/3 cup of milk and they were delish!

What fun things did you do this weekend?

Weekend Update

This weekend I came down with a lovely cold. At first I thought it was just allergies, so I didn't stop loving on/kissing/snuggling the Baby Bug, but... when I woke up Saturday unable to breathe, I felt immediate remorse. So far he seems fine, some small symptoms, but nothing too bad. I'm just worried that if he does get sick we will have to pay out of pocket because the insurance company is taking their sweet time putting him on our policy. I have a love/hate relationship with insurance. They seem so out of tune with the real needs of the people who pay them but the alternative is SO much worse. Customer service that takes days, weeks, months or government "help" that take years? Anyway, I'll just hop off my little soap box....

So this weekend was fun. We....

.... made some money selling our moving boxes on Craigslist! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

.... had a cheap date at Sonic- we ordered off their Dollar Menu! I really like their Jr. Burgers. Just the right size for a woman trying to lose here "baby belly"!

....checked out a new grocery store called "Bottom Dollar Foods". It seems like it will be a great place for us to shave some $$$ off the grocery budget. Their prices are less than some other stores and they accept coupons. The produce was great, even better than some of the upscale stores in the area.The only drawback is that it's kind of far and not in the best area. I'll let you know how the deals pan out.

....made my own laundry detergent. So far it works better than the stuff from the store and much cheaper too!

....used RedBox for the first time!

So all in all a great weekend.

(Photo: Prevention Magazine Online)

Finally Friday!

This week has been a complete blur. It seemed like everyday I was asking my husband what day it was because I just couldn't stay on top of it in my mind. I'm so thankful that whenever we don't "get it right" we are given the next day/next week to start all over again fresh!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend because I might get some rest. The Baby Bug has been going though a growth spurt (again!) so he's not been sleeping through the night. But he's getting big enough that I could take a nap and he and his daddy could have some play time! I was able to get into the very messy office and clean it up so I feel pretty good about that room and won't be thinking about it guiltily while I'm doing nothing. Today I'm going to make some delicious Strawberry Banana muffins so I won't have make breakfast in the morning, just in case I get the chance to sleep in a bit.

This weekend I plan on
...watching some TV or something from Blockbuster Online
...finding my knitting so my hands have something to do!
... taking a nap! (Maybe I can convince my husband to take us to the beach and I can take my nap there!)

What do you usually do on a lazy weekend?