The Gift of A Bible

make sure you pause the music (at the bottom of my blog) before you play the video.

this week on the island

this will be a short update. we are busy, busy bees!

i have several other posts i will be posting, but not this morning. last week we went back to the great wolf lodge! so much fun! waiting on pictures from our underwater camera before i post on that. so that post will be coming in about a week.

my daughter and i are getting our hair cut today. our hair is to the middle of our backs (my daughter's hair is a little longer) and we are both getting it cut up to our shoulders. there will be a post on that.

i am diligently trying to stay on schedule with our schooling with all the busyness.

my son and the officer are testing for their next level belt in tae kwon do this weekend. the officer is testing for his blue belt and my son is testing for his black stripe on his red belt. after that test he has to wait a mandatory 6 months before he can test for his black belt!

two of my nephews have birthday parties this weekend.

i attended a girls game night with my sunday school class. this has been a great way to get to know the girls in my class on a more personal level. during one game, i found out some very interesting things. one girl used to collect eraser lint when she was smaller (last person you'd expect). it was a lot of fun!

tomorrow i'm having a neighbor over for lunch. yeah we're having taco salad - what of it? anywho, do you remember me talking about how bad of a neighbor i was? i have seriously been trying to work on this. i have taken it to heart and i am making the efforts in getting to know my neighbors. in church on sunday mornings, we have been having the best services. my pastor is doing a series on "inviting". last week he invited people to be biblically baptised. 21 people answered the call and were baptized. it was awesome to see God move in that way. the week before the pastor talked about simply inviting people to church. he showed a video of penn of penn & tellers talking about how a sincere christian man gave him a bible and how it affected him. penn said, "how much do you actually have to hate someone to not tell them about everlasting life?" someone who loves God has left a mark on penn. do you leave a mark on people when you leave? i will post the video of penn even though i do not agree with his beliefs so you can hear what he says.

okay deeper than i thought i was going to go in this quick date. not that there's anything wrong with that! :)

oh and my anniversary is coming up very soon. 11 years with the officer. wow. it's gone by fast. i'm sure there will be a post about that too. :)

have to clean the house now so our neighbor will come back after tomorrow!

duh-na-na-na-na-na-na-na BATMAN

duh-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, duh-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BATMAN!!!!!

this is papa bill, otherwise known as "the pack mule" for those who may have followed my BFS posts. he carries packages/sacks on BFS day, thus the name "the pack mule".

the other day i went to my mother's house for dinner. we were celebrating september birthdays. when i walked into the house, i saw papa bill. he was wearing a brown batman t-shirt. this is unusual attire because he usually wears a sports coat and pressed slacks. just kidding -that was for you papa bill! i do rarely see him in t-shirt, but the batman t-shirt was something completely new.

i was mildly impressed he was wearing it. i thought maybe he was wearing it to impress my son. i asked him about the t-shirt.

"where did you get that shirt?", i asked.
"i don't know, it was hanging in my closet so i pulled it out and wore it.", he said.

still impressed he's wearing it but it's basically a guy move, wear what's clean and hanging in closet.

then i thought that it was unusual that he had it in his closet but didn't say anything else about it.

when my son noticed it minutes later, he came up to me and said:

"i think papa bill is wearing my batman shirt. last time i stayed the night here, i brought it so i could be batman. i must have left it here."
that explains things.

i said, "maybe we should just let papa bill have it."

"no!" was the reply. we'll keep working on the generosity thing.

i told papa bill the shirt was my son's. he said, "i don't know it was just hanging in my closet so i wore it. it can't be your son's, it's way too big for him. it would just fall off of him!"

it is too big but he wears it as a night shirt.

today when back to my mom's the batman shirt was in my son's box.

back story... my mom keeps photo boxes at her house. she has one for each grandchild she has. she often puts little surprises in the boxes. sometimes, the cousins will make something at grandma's house and put it in another cousin's box. if we forget something, grandma will put it in their box for safekeeping until we visit again. the greatest thing? my mom just recently made a box for each of her children and their spouses. i found coupons in my box last time i went! how fun is that?

so batman t-shirt in my son's box. thanks mom!

i have something to tell you

my son came to me the other day because he had something to tell me. i guess he felt he should prepare me first.

somewhat nervous, but calmly: "mom, i need to tell you something. it's something i did wrong and i need to tell you. i have prepared myself to get in trouble or maybe even a spanking if you say so."

"okay, son, just tell me what it is and we'll see if there needs to be any punishment."

"okay, mom."

he takes in a few quick, deep breaths (more of his "preparation").

what in the world is he going to tell me? i haven't a clue what it could be. i have noticed any broken window. no neighbors have said anything to me. this kid asks me before he plugs something in, before he eats a snack, if he found a toy that is supposed to be put up and it's not.

in one big breath he quickly blurts out, "one sunday in sunday school i was sitting by my friend, j, and the teacher had to separate us because i was talking!"

he releases a huge amount of breath, and anxiously awaits his punishment.

that's it? did he hit someone? did he go on a rampage and tear up the sunday school room? don't get me wrong, i know that talking when the teacher is talking is rude and disrespectful.

"son, you know you are not supposed to talk in sunday school when the sunday school teacher is talking right. it's rude and disrespectful to the teacher and other kids in the class who are trying to listen."

"yes"

"when was this?"

"i'm not sure, not today but a couple of weeks ago."

"alright, well you need to make sure you do what you know is right." i'm trying to appeal to his conscience so he will do what is right and not just because mommy and daddy said or because he might get punished.

"yes ma'am!"

that was it. i am not sure what he thought was going to happen, but i do know he probably worried/stressed more about it that was necessary and that was punishment enough.

he gets upset about things. he still throws the occasional fit. he still disobeys. he still yells. he still pesters his sister (i think that one's going to take a while as i hear sister yelling for her brother to "stop" as i write this.). but.... he knows what's expected of him. he's sensitive. he's helpful. he's sweet. he's organized. he's inquisitive. he caring. he show's God's love to others.

i love him. i'm so glad God has give us this time with him. i am trying to tell myself that this is going by fast. he's almost 8 already. i remember seeing him in the nicu when he was born, and it doesn't seem like that long ago. this is one of the many reasons we made the decision to homeschool. we wanted this time that passes all too quickly with our kids. we wanted to be the main influence in their lives. we wanted to spend this time getting to know them and to be able to teach them, so that when they leave they will (hopefully) be well-equipped to go out into the world and tell others about God. almost 8 years have passed already. it's going by in the blink of an eye. so fast, but i'm thankful for any amount of time that God gives us with our son and our daughter.

just going to say it

we are grilling out chicken tonight. it's time for me to get the chicken out, put it in a ziploc bag with some italian dressing to marinade it for a couple of hours before the officer grills it.

i opened the pantry door to grab the large ziploc bags and i see i have no more in there. i'm just going to say it. it's nice to be able to go out into the garage and grab another box of bags. i have my choice of large or small. double zip or slider.

this is what happens when you coupon. you will get your a box of ziploc for free or only .25/box. when you get that price, you stockpile and that most likely take care of your and your family until the next great deal comes along. i don't have to run to the store to get ziploc bags (not that i would i would put it in a pan) and pay $3.96 for ziploc bags or even $2.74 for the wal-mart generic.

it's something to think about. you don't have to purchase things that you don't want. you don't have to have a big bertha. you just have to know how to play the coupon game and get what you need at a cheaper than the "i need it now, so i'll pay full price" price. there are resources everywhere, but if you know me and you live locally i would be more than happy to explain "the game" to you. just leave me a comment or send me an email. when you figure it all out, you won't be able to keep it to yourself. you will want all your family and friends to be able to save money too. you will be amazed how many ways God has blessed you and how many opportunities He will give you to help others.

we've been hacked!

so today i was checking my bank account as i often do. i noticed two weird pending charges on our account. the first thing that stuck out was "tampa, fl." that's strange, i haven't been to florida. ever. however, i wasn't sure if the location was a routing thing that restaurants or store do. i immediately called the officer to ask him what his last couple of transactions were. everything he mentioned was already accounted for. i looked closer at the charges. two charges for $4 each at a place called seven one seven pa (that's all it said) in tampa, fl.

i called the bank's handy dandy 24 assistance line. i told the customer service rep that i had two charges on my account that i was not sure about. she took a look at the charges and said, "oh yes, that's strange. you didn't get just get back from florida did you?" i wish, but no. she found out the charges were on the officers card. she also figured out that the charges were for a parking garage/lot. since the officer is often downtown, the parking charges could have been possible. so the customer service rep requests that i call the officer on another line and ask him about it. of course i can't get a hold him the first time, but the second time was a charm. the officer confirmed he had not paid for parking yesterday. not that the customer service rep wanted to know, but i told her the officer had been home earlier than usual yesterday because he wasn't feeling well. i was almost tempted to tell her about my impressive raw meat cutting experience, but i didn't. maybe if i talk to her tomorrow we can chat about it.

anywho, in the end we closed the account, ordered a new card, and tomorrow i will have to call back to see if the "pending" charges post to my account. if they do, i will have to call back the lovely customer service reps to "dispute" the charges. my bank was very helpful and patient with me. they had told me that "these people" often will start out by charging something small to see if they can get away with it and if they can they will use the card to charge something much bigger. so.... keep your eyes on your bank account and if you see anything fishy, get right on it. get it taken care of quickly.

thank you "michelle" (customer service rep) for all your help.

there's a first time for everything!

today i did something i have never done before. i am not sure how many 38 year olds can claim that, but it's true with me!

if you have followed my blog for a while, you know that i do not like raw meat. i don't like to see it, hear it (yes you can hear raw meat), or touch it. especially touch it! i have never touched raw meat. i have never cut it up for a meal. one of the reasons the officer is the best husband around is because he has always done it with no complaints. i will handle the meat after it's cooked - thoroughly!

today the officer came home and he wasn't feeling well. he slept for 2 hours. he decided to go to tae kwon do and i didn't have time to ask him to cut up the meat before he left. i was planning on pepper steak. i didn't want to have to wait until he came back from tae kwon do to start dinner.

so i decided to bite the bullet.

i got out the top round steak. i got out the rubber gloves. yes i did! i got out my favorite knife and the cutting board. i didn't think it would be too bad because the meat was pretty thin and lean. if it was large, thick, fatty, and bloody, we would have had grilled cheese sandwiches.

i pulled on my pretty purple latex gloves and got to work. it wasn't so bad. i did gag once when i was trying to cut off a piece of fat from the side, but that's neither here nor there. it's to be expected, right? i realized when i was about 3/4 the way through that i was sweating. when did that happen? has anyone else ever gotten a cardio workout through cutting up meat for pepper steak? i checked the thermostat to turn it down, but it was already going. i finished up the meat and cooked it up!

after i was finished with the meat, i cut up all the veggies. onions, green peppers, and broccoli. yum! of course i had to use my second favorite knife because the other one had touched the meat and it went straight into the dishwasher. so this is the finished product. we served it over rice.

so don't think just because you are 38 years old you can't try something you've never done before. of course, i also informed the officer this wouldn't be an everyday occurrence and he will still have to cut up all the chicken. i do have limits.

what's wrong with this picture.....

hello all! it's tuesday and so far the week is going great.

yesterday was the officer's birthday. he had to work so we went out to eat for his birthday on saturday. however, we skipped all scheduled things yesterday (tae kwon do and gymnastics) and hung out with him. i made boneless bbq short ribs (in the crockpot), twice baked potatoes (so glad mrs. k. taught me how to make them), corn and rolls. we always make cupcakes for actual birthdays on the island. we had a good time spending the evening together.

we gave the officer his birthday presents on saturday. one of the presents i gave him was body wash from bath and body works. no not, sweet pea. it's called oak. when i got in the shower this morning, i was glad to see he was using it. it meant he thought it smelled good (so did i) and he liked it.

but...... what's wrong with this picture????


this is what i found in my shower. mind you, they were not all lined up like this, i did that. i am determined to not throw away the empty body washes. i'm leaving that up to the officer. it was never like this before i couponed. :) before i couponed, i would find that last little sliver of soap (sometimes the last 1/4 of a bar of soap) in the soap dish. the officer doesn't like fiddling with the last little bit of soap, so he would get a new one. no big deal. i didn't care, so i would use it up or if i'm being real honest, it may fall to the shower floor and eventual dissolve. however, since i've started couponing and getting all the men's body wash for free, our shower has started to look like that picture.

i'm hoping with all them lined up, it might send a subtle hint. i might even have to make use of our dry erase markers and write him a sweet little message.

okay that's all i'm going to say about that. was that too much?

we are going to my mom's today, so she can do a writing class with the kids. we are going after her flying lesson. did you read that - her flying lesson? papa bill is a pilot and i guess my mom has decided she needs to learn enough about flying to be able to land the plane if she needs too. if you had asked me 10 years ago (or even last year) if my mom would be learning how to fly a plane, i would have said no! she has papa bill for that. i'm proud of her though. she is having to get over the fear and learn something very technical. not an easy task for anyone. she has been writing about her lessons and when she decides to post them on her blog i will give you the link because it is great.

alrighty off to my mother's. have a great rest of the week!!

good morning monday!

we started new bible studies last night at church. the officer is of course finishing up the revelations study he has been doing the last year on sunday nights. i am going to the 5 conversations every mother should have with their daughter study.

we ate dinner last night at church and afterward the kids played outside with some other kids. as they were playing, they found a giant (well i say giant) grasshopper. i did not think my son would touch it. i thought he was more like me. you know the kind that finds cricket in her house and puts a cup over them until the officer comes home to take them outside. so to encourage him to not be afraid to pick them up (don't want him to have to put cups over them until his wife comes home), i said, if you pick the grasshopper up and take him to daddy (about 15 ft. away), i'll give you .25." at first, he hedged. i told my daughter the same thing. finally, my son picked him up and started to take him to the officer. of course he dropped him 3 times on the way over. it was probably much more traumatic for the grasshopper. sorry grasshopper. while he was carrying it over to the officer, my daughter said, "how about you give me $1 to carry the grasshopper to daddy!" hmm.... well good try, but no.

we have been talking about tea parties lately. i think that's what we are going to do for her next birthday party. the officer has agreed to dress up and play the part of the waiter. i thought my son would be a mini-waiter. he let me know this morning that "i am not going to be a waiter at sister's birthday party. i'll be a ninja instead!" not sure that's going to fit into the tea party theme.

my son came in this morning and told he me had a splinter on his leg. the kids often get splinters from our playground. we try to use tape and tweezers before we move onto needles and such. my son showed me what he thought was a splinter in his leg and told me he wanted to try to get it out before i tried. okay. he got the tape and put a piece on his leg. for some reason he's just keeping it on there like a band-aid before he takes it off. he informed me, "mommy so i'm not wasteful, i put double-sided tape on my splinter. i took it off the first side and now i'm using the second side so i can make use of both sides!" very resourceful.

while i was typing this, my son asked me if he could make lego hair with playdoh. i have no idea what he's talking about, but i said, "sure." i guess he is taking one of his regular lego heads from the minifigures, and putting playdoh hair on them. he takes the hair off and then will let it harden, then he will be able to play with it when he plays with his legos. very resourceful indeed.

this week on the island...

this week has flown by. this is the first full week of school. the previous weeks, each of the kids took a turn by themselves staying a couple of days at the grandparents. both kids were back home this week, so we are in full swing. back to things like tae kwon do lessons, gymnastic lessons, cub scouts, kids choir, and a new bible study for the officer and i (the truth project).

the officer and i are very excited about the bible study. i have wanted to do it for some time, but it never worked out. this time my sister and mom are taking turns watching the kids. i'm sure you'll hear more about it on the blog as we dig deeper. a few things that caught my attention were: every sin can be traced back to a lie and faith is not a feeling. faith is what you hold onto when everything else points away from it.

i went to a scentsy party on tuesday night with my daughter. loved smelling all that wonderful stuff. didn't buy anything. yet. they have little scentsy tins i am seriously considering!

last night i went out for a girl's night out with two of my friends from college. it's so nice to still have friends from college you can hang out with. we went to the olive garden. the olive garken had their never-ending pasta bowl special. afterward, we ate gelato. it was my first time and it was yummy. one of my friends had to go back home, but i went to homeland with the other one and showed her how to coupon. not sure if she got it all, but we had a lot of fun. even though the manager did actually make me go out to my car, come back, and change lanes before i could conduct my second transaction. :) all good though.

today we split up for a portion of the day. my son had a field trip to the 45th infantry museum with his cub scout den. it was my son and the officer's first visit. they had a great time.

i took my daughter to a friend's princess birthday party. she dressed up in her cute pink princess dress with a pretty pink bow in her hair.

yeah - that lasted about 45 minutes. this is her after. hot and sweaty after having a blast jumping on a trampoline with her hair pulled up into the standard puff-puff. she looks like she's having fun though doesn't she?

there are two other things going on today. ou and osu play today. of course, our house is a house divided. the girls like ou and the boys like osu. since both teams were playing at home today, we had to wear the proper attire. nice huh???

also the officer's birthday is in a couple of days. however, he has to work so we decided to go out to eat tonight (since he took the day off to go on the field trip). the officer likes to eat early to avoid the dinnertime traffic (on the road and in the restaurant). he chose to eat at texas roadhouse. when we got to the restaurant, in all our proper attire, they showed us to our table. look where it was. can you see it?

they sat us right under the OU mural!! SCORE!! the kids love to eat here because they can throw the peanut shells under the table. we like it for the hot rolls they give you as soon as you sit down. our waitress was great. she shares my daughter's name. my son kept calling the officer the "birthday boy". of course our waitress, nickname "boston" asked him if it was his birthday. the officer said no (technically it isn't) because he didn't want any singing. half way through our meal, a whole lot of waitresses/waiters began clapping and cheering heading our way. they were carrying a little saddle on a stand. i was very scared they were headed for our table. they went to the table right next to us to the little girl turning 7. boston pointed and asked us if we wanted to them to come over. the officer turned red and just had his head down. i had to say no. although it would have been great to have the officer sit on the saddle while everyone gave him a "yee-haw"! sad note, i think we left the OU hat at texas roadhouse. guess i'll have to get her another one.

when my daughter got home she gave one of party favors to her brother. i didn't think he would want it. it was a big fake diamond ring. i thought there was no way he would want it - it was from a princess party. leave it to him to figure out a way to turn it into a superhero thing. he colored the top of it green with a sharpie marker and now it's "green lantern's ring"!!! when i took a picture of it the flash reflected and made it look like it was lit up.

well that's all going on the island this week. hope you've had a great week so far on your islands!

buried treasure

my son is working on a small family tree for his cub scouts. he is only going as far as his great grandparents. i was having trouble remembering my in-law's parents names. i thought i knew, but i wasn't sure so we called the officer's parents to ask them.

after we got off the phone, i was telling my son, "many people use their parent's name when they name their children. for instance your middle name is papa's middle name and sister's middle name is grandma's middle name. great grandma's name is your aunt's name." it went on and on for a bit while i explained how all the names were connected.

i told him if he wanted to name his daughter treasure, that would be fine by me! :)

he promptly replied, "i'll name her "buried treasure", she'll like that!"

umm.. no, no she won't.

pink puppy

i am sure most kids have one of these. not a pink puppy, but some beloved object they cannot do without. they cannot be soothed without. they cannot go to sleep without. they cannot be without.

when my daughter was born and still in the hospital, her aunt rachel gave her a pink puppy. we have always just called it "pink puppy". even as my daughter has gotten older, she's always wanted to call it "pink puppy". my daughter has always slept with it. when she's upset, she want to hold it. when she was a baby, she would suck on the tail. as she got older, it became the nose. now it's just the feel of the funky, rough, floppy, flat puppy that soothes her.

when my daughter was about 1 1/2 years old, i realized what this pink puppy had become. it was the thing we took everywhere with us. it was the thing we never forgot when we went to someone else's house. it was the thing that would get shipped in the mail as opposed to just "getting it next time we are there". it was the "well as long as we have "pink puppy" we can buy anything else we need!" thing. i purchased another puppy just like it when i realized pink puppy was "it". honestly, i slept on that pink puppy (to try to get it flat like the authentic pink puppy) but to no avail. it could never be a substitute!

my daughter still sleeps with it. we can get through a night without it. we can get through several nights without, but there's no joy greater for her when she finds the lost puppy at the bottom of her pajama drawer (what it was doing there i never know.)
my daughter likes to put the puppy at the top of her pillow so she can grab it in the middle of the night and "it's cool".

i read an article that was titled, "you love that stuffed animal more than they will". it was about how kids have that beloved thing and then they grow up. the beloved thing becomes a remembrance of when they were younger and all those wonderful times.

my daughter claims when she turns 6 years old she will put up pink puppy "just for decoration" in her room so she will be a "big girl". she had inquired about when her brother had put up his pajamas with the grippy feet. i told her when he was 4. she said, "well i think i'll put up pink puppy when i'm 6!" now that that birthday is fast approaching, i'm wondering if she will still do it. we'll see.

i wanted to take one post to dedicate to pink puppy and my daughter's love for her. i love my daughter immeasurably and long after she doesn't think about pink puppy, her mommy will have it and remember all these days.

tids & bits

if you're looking for anything spiritual, this post will not help you. i mean, this post is purely fluff. i had been thinking about things that i just enjoy. little things. not things that radically change my life for the better or worse, but they just bring a little smile to my face. here they are....

1. netflix. see i told you, they aren't spiritual things! :) we just recently got netflix, but we have really enjoyed it. we have a month long free trial period so that probably adds to the joy.

2. the sunrise i saw saturday when i got up at 5:30 a.m. - did you just race over the fact that i got up at 5:30 a.m. - to go see my mom and papa bill go on a hot air balloon ride. it was great seeing the sun come up.

3. the cooler weather. although it's been a little bit warmer these past couple of days, it's not been in the 100s, and the evenings have been quite nice. i feel fall coming on soon and i can't wait to break out the sweet cinnamon pumpkin fragrance oil from bath and body works.

4. sweet cinnamon pumpkin fragrance oil from bath & body works. not to mention the autumn, spiced cider, pumpkin, leaves, and caramel apple scents there too!

5. my big red purse. really i am usually a small/medium size purse gal. however, several months ago i purchased a "big" red handbag at payless for $4!!!!! i had it for several months before i even used it. i was waiting for the right time. i made the switch from my medium purse to the red purse and i don't think there any going back now. it holds everything! there's a pocket for all my needs! as you can see it's pretty plain and doesn't have a lot of bells, whistles, or frills, but it's me. it's perfectly me.

6. good friends that i've had for over 15 years.

7. i'm not going to lie, getting free things from the grocery store/walgreens/cvs.

8. spending an evening with the officer.

9. the excitement of starting a new bible study (the truth project and another one about 5 conversations every mother should have with their daughter -- purity).

10. my daughter's smile/giggle every time i kiss her right under her chin.

11. my son's need to have the facts just right (oh this one can also be frustrating too but not today.)

12. our perfect little house that's perfect for us.

13. my car that is still running great since the officer fixed it about a month ago.

14. my mom.

15. impromptu sleepovers and great times with family!

16. fitz and flloyd jokes (that's for you sister!)

17. new friends.

18. a girl's night out this weekend.

19. friends who will color my hair and not make too much fun of the skunk stripe i have acquired!

20. the new big fluffy pillows i bought that i am still trying to smash down.

21. for sisters who smash/separate/cook the taco salad meat for me (of course she's the one who fitz-ed and flloyd-ed me too!)

22. new colors of sharpie markers

23. vanilla coke from sonic - can i get an "oh yeah" for that shirley???

24. a new school year that is going good so far.....

25. blessings beyond what i deserve.

okay now that i made that list and started thinking about them, a lot of them are not little. a lot of them do radically change my life for the better and that's why i put #25.

God had blessed me beyond measure.

what kind of little things make you smile?

slumber parties and hot air balloons

i got a phone call from my sister, mistie the yesterday about 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon. she called to see if she and her family could stay the night at our house. YES!!! they are adding onto their house and yesterday the workers were lacquering the wood. the fumes were pretty bad, so we had an impromptu slumber party. no problem, throw an few extra pieces of chicken on the grill and some hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids and we are set. it was fun hanging out with them. my kids had a great time playing with their cousins and going to sleep at - get ready for this - 10 p.m.!!!! crazy, but they had lots of fun!

oh i almost forgot. one of my nieces has to wear head gear at night. my son thought it was pretty neat. if you look around his neck in the picture below, you will see that he made one to wear himself. he let me take a picture of him, but he made me promise to not post it on the computer. i'm honoring that.

this morning i got up bright and early, and i mean bright and early - 5:30 a.m. (that's almost like bfs time!). my mom and papa bill were going on a hot air balloon ride. my mom thought my kids would like to see the hot air balloon being filled and lift off. plus, she wanted me to take some pictures. i got up at 5:30 a.m. and asked my kids if they wanted to go. ummm.... the answer was "no!" i prepared to go myself, but then my sister came out with her two boys and said she would go too. why not, she had been awake for a while. you know - the whole not sleeping in your own bed and having your three smaller children sleeping in a strange room with you thing. it can get your every time!

so at 6:15 a.m. we left the house to go by my sister's house to grab some shoes. we had to meet my mom at a local fast food restaurant at 6:30 a.m. the balloon people met them at the restaurant and then they drove about 10 minutes to the lift off spot. after some quazi-directions, we arrived while they were still filling up the balloon. two other hot air balloons had already taken off. the sun was coming up as we got there. it was very pretty.

i was surprised my mom was only wearing this light weight jacket. she is always cold. however, the balloon operator told her it would be very warm. every time they would put more air into the balloon, a big flame would ignite. i suppose it kept her warm enough.

all smiles before lift-off!

they went right over our heads.

papa bill waving from the balloon.

the ride was about 45-1 hour long. they had a great time. it was very pretty, and i got to see a sunrise. i can't tell you how long it's been since i've seen one - oh wait since bfs!

the rest of the day..... filled with nothing but relaxation!

the best yet.....

tonight i went to homeland armed with big bertha. since this next weekend is labor day, they have a pretty good sale ad this week. i made my list of items on sale i wanted to look at. i gathered the appropriate coupons. thanks to websites/bloggers like simplesavingsavvy.net and the couponprincess.net they do all the hard work for you. i also really like thefrugalfind.com and i always check her site, but she is not local so her sale ads could be different than the local blogger. however, they all find the sale ads, list the items on sale, list the coupons to use, and let you know how much you will end up paying for it. these two bloggers are local to the oklahoma city area, so they really know our sale ads.

i went to homeland with my coupons organized and my list made. i had my daughter with me. we were both a little giddy from getting to eat kimbobs tonight, so we were having a good time in the store. this week there was a special coupon in the distinctly oklahoma magazine. it was a coupon for $6 off any $30 purchase at homeland, country mart, or united supermarkets. i took this coupon with me too.

i did all my shopping. in case you didn't know, homeland will double any coupons up to $1. that means a coupon that says .50 off turns into $1 off. a coupon that says $1 off will take $2 off. however, they will only double the first coupon. any other coupons that are the same can only be redeemed at face value. here's the trick - you buy your items in two transactions. i always have two transactions. i purchase basically the same items, but in separate transactions so they double all my coupons.

in the beginning when i started all this couponing, the end of my receipt would state, "you saved 40% (or 50%) off." the more i couponed and got the hang of it, the more my average would go up. now i routinely save 80% off my grocery bill. don't forget to take into account though that homeland does mark up their groceries. however, if you use the sale ad with coupons you will get brand name stuff cheaper than generic or what you would find at walmart.

anyhow, here's a picture of everything that i purchased tonight at homeland.

2 - best life butter spread
1 - kikkoman teryaki sauce
3 - cans of libby peas
2 - 15 ct. chinet plates
2 - chinet beverage napkins
1 - 1/2 gallon of blue bell homemade vanilla ice cream
3 - wisk laundry detergent (32 loads)
2 - boxes of wheat thins
4 - gain liquid dish detergent
2 - packages of ball park hot dogs
2 - packages of kraft singles (16 slices) - a free tub to hold the cheese came free when you purchased two kraft singles.
1 - jimmy dean sausage roll
1 - boneless beef ribs
1 - green pepper
4 - packs of orbit gum
2 - packages of friskies cat food

on my first transaction, after all my coupons, homeland owed me .24. that's right - they owed me .24. of course they cannot pay me money, so we called it even. i saved 104% off my grocery bill. here's a picture of the receipt.

on the second transaction, which was the larger of the two, i only owed .15!!!! i saved 103% off my grocery bill. here's the picture of that receipt.

this is not typical for me. as i said before, i usually only save about 80% off. however, you can do this too. you can be saving more money than you are now by just utilizing the sale ads, money saving bloggers, and coupons, coupons, coupons! you do not have to buy generic. you do not have shop at walmart (unless you like to). you can find coupons for the things you use/purchase. you don't have to pay an arm and a leg. you do not have to buy things you don't want to (of course if you get them for free there are plenty of people you can donate it to who would be willing to take it - God will put someone in your path that you can bless). if you have any questions you can email me or you can leave a comment and i'll try to help. i am not an "expert" on this like some of the money saving bloggers, but this is something i enjoy doing. it's something i'm getting better at. it's a way i can help out in our household. even if you don't end up being the obsessive couponer that i am, i am sure that any amount of money you can save your family will help.