I wonder if you know...

how very frugal I am?  I'm not sure I've ever admitted it here.  It seems very obvious to me, but I realize that I've never actually fessed up and announced it.  So, here it goes:

Hi, my name is Terri and I am a bargain-lover. 

I lurk around places with names like "Goodwill", "Salvation Army", "Garage Sale", and "Flea Market".  I also stalk the SALE aisles at Target (sometimes several times a week) waiting for something to be marked down.  But, my most favorite things are from that side of the road Wonderland marked "FREE". 

You don't have to have two pennies to rub together when you open the back hatch for one of these....

Yes, the bed in my daughter's room was F-R-E-E. 

I found it alongside the road where it was waiting for me

This chair in my room...also F-R-E-E.  Still in need of an Extreme Makeover, but free is not always perfect.

{My favorite F-R-E-E-bie}

I had to do a little begging to keep her.  She lived (and aged) through Hurricane Katrina and begged me to take her to a good home when I discovered her knee-deep in a moldy Dr.'s office.  The rest of my clean-up team insisted she be laid to rest at the garbage pile with the rest of her friends, but a little begging and pleading won her a spot in the back of our bus.  (Wrapped tightly in a garbage bag and duct taped shut)  They wouldn't even consider rescuing the matching desk. 

I couldn't save 'em all.  But I did save her.  Beside her is a mirror salvaged from my grandmother.

Which leads me to my next best type of bargain. 

The kind that is free to you because someone you know has no use for it and you happen to be at the right place at the right time.  Like my grandmother's mirror.

And like my grandmother's other mirror. 

As well as the suitcases that belonged to an old friend of a friend.

And the rusty "gate" that I snagged from my mom's yard sale before the customers came.

I guess gifts would fit in this category, too.

Like the bed my mom bought me at an auction. 

(Does it matter that the pieces did not go together?  No, it does not.  You improvise and lean it against the wall, and no one would ever know - unless you tell them)

Or the table my son made me in shop class. 

(Actually, I guess I technically paid for this, since my taxes paid for the wood and materials,

but you get the idea)

I'll save some of my other THRIFT-y bargains for another day.  But since we're in my room, I'd like to introduce you to a pair of fraternal twins that made their way here all the way from the Goodwill showroom.  One lights up next to my bed...

...while her sister lights up a corner of the livingroom. 

The pair set me back a hefty $10.00. 

 

I can't help it, I just LOVE to get a great deal. 

I don't think you have to sacrifce having a nice home just because you're on a budget.  With a little creativity, a little search and rescue, and a little appreciation of things of yesteryear I think we can live on a tight budget and enjoy it, too!

word of the day...

My new friend, Lindsey, who lives way over on the other side of the Atlantic introduced me to a new word today.  The word of the day is "scrummy", and it is a cross between the two words "Scrumptious and yummy" she uses it to describe her family in her latest post.  So, in honor of Lindsey and her British roots...I am using her word of the day to describe my own offspring. 

Here they are, my scrummy children...

(insert British accent for best effect)

my scrummy boys...

my eldest "scrummy" with my youngest "scrummy"...

a bittersweet day with my scrummies!

Thanks, Lindsey, for the word-of-the-day.  I predict it will not go farther than this post, as my kids will repeatedly roll their eyes if I should call them "Scrummy" in public. 

 So, it'll be our secret word-of-the-day, you understand, right?

Apparently the word is already out, though...Costco must have been thinking "Scrummy" when it made this...

(I stole the picture from Google....I could NOT be snowed in with this beauty on my counter!)

more snow and a little junk food...

If you wake up and THIS is what you see out your front window...

then it's time to find something to do with the kids who will soon find themselves bored...

something like make a big bowl of Puppy Chow. 

Around our house we don't do well with puppies or dogs of any kind. 

But we always welcome a handful of Puppy Chow....

it goes something like this:

Gather youngest child, who likes to cook...

then gather ingredients:

Box of Chex mix (real or generic)

1Cup of choc chips

1Cup of PB

1/2Cup of butter

2Cups of Powdered sugar

melt butter,

peanut butter, and chocolate chips over low heat...

pour box of Chex into large bowl...

add melted chocolate...

pour sugar into large baggie...

add cereal to baggie...

shake like crazy...

if that doesn't work, add the sugar to the bowl and stir like crazy...

clean dishes...

use cold water to remove chocolate stains off shirt...

pour generous portions into two small baggies, one for the elderly neighbor, and one for the guy we

pray is going to come plow us out (please, oh please...) 

pour another generous portion into a pink bowl to share with your mom

(because everything tastes better in a pink bowl)

and more into another small bowl to share with the other people in your family whom you love/tolerate.

Even snow-haters will smile with a bowl of Puppy Chow...it's not possible to eat it without smiling, I promise.

That only took us about a half hour.  The rest of the day was spent shovelling...again....and again.  And, honestly...for as much as I was complaining about the snow coming, I decided last night I needed to embrace the fact that I couldn't control it and just chill and enjoy. 

(Plus, there's a big notice on the top of my blog that I look at every day that promises

I will choose joy and be content.  Grrr...)

My attitude changed last night about 10:45 when my kids and I were out walking in the freshly falling snow.  There's something so pure and calming about falling snow that has yet to be touched by dirty tires and plows.  But, the real change happened when my daughter was walking behind me....

It went something like this:

"Mom, you better not mess up or anything.  I'm walking right behind you in your footsteps."

WHAM!

Convictions sucks. 

So...if you find yourself stuck in this...

Grab a bowl of THIS or any other junk food, smile and enjoy...

cause someone else is probably watching...

Humph...

The weatherman is calling for MORE of this tomorrow...

He had the nerve to say I should be thankful for another 12" of insulation around my house.

He is a hater.

All I want to see is a little of this...

And hang out here for a while...

I don't want to do this ANYmore, do you hear me????

I'm finished...

I refuse to do it anymore.

If you need me, you can find me here...

my mother heart...

swelled on Friday when I clicked on my blog to find my son is now "following" me on here.  I wasn't sure how to react...is he checking up on me?  Stalking me?  Or just afraid I'll say something that might embarrass him???  Either way, it makes me smile to see the little picture of his face each time I log on!

And then tonight I logged onto his facebook page...only to find he's posted an announcement that he's started his OWN blog.  Be still my heart!  As with every mom of college kids, I often wonder what my son is thinking, what's keeping him busy, and what makes him tick.  Granted, sometimes when I find out what he's thinking I would like to retract it immediately...but really, I miss him and just want to know what he's up to each day!  So when I read his first post, my mother heart swelled again...not because I have raised this young man to be who he is...on the contrary, he is a testimony to God's faithful steadiness in the life of those who suffer a broken heart. 

My firstborn son endured heartache no child should be allowed to know.  His 7 year old world was ripped apart. He was old enough to understand and old enough to hurt.  Old enough to be filled with fear....and old enough to know what he was losing.  I vividly remember panic attacks and cries of fear...begging me to pray for him.  My heart was bruised and broken....but even more so watching the reaction of the one child who felt the greatest impact and abandonment.  The others mirrored his reactions, but only because they watched him so closely. 

Twelve years later they are still watching.  But in a different way.  We trudged through some of those hard years, finding our way and our new "normal".  And on the other side, we found that our normal was pretty good...blessed, even.  And this firstborn son..the one who bore such a heavy heart, is now free of heart and spirit and following hard after Jesus.  Tattoos and gages not withstanding, he is on a journey to find out who he was created to be.  He is full of life.  Full of laughter.  Full of potential. 

His journey that started with heartbreak has caused him to look heavenward for direction. He's growing and stretching.  Nothing, not an intact family, not an unbroken family...nothing... is better than that. 

So, let me introduce you to my son and his new blog.  Visit often.  Leave him some love....tell him his mommy sent you....

take this life make it yours

(click the link above)

A little yellow plow...

So this is what happened last night while we were sleeping....

and this is what it looked like this morning when we attempted to dig ourselves out...

this is Emma thinking she's too weak to shovel...

and this is the measuring device that tells us it's going to be long day...

For whatever reason, Alex decided to come home this weekend.  He EVEN decided to come home after he KNEW it would snow a bajillion inches.  And he EVEN came home knowing he'd be out with a shovel for several hours helping us dig out.  I love that kid. 

I found out I am not as strong as I wish I was.  About a half hour into the shoveling process I was ready to quit.  But so were they...so we continued on so that no one would quit. Meanwhile our neighbors had already finished up their own driveways with their snowblowers and were probably sipping hot chocolate  watching us struggle to make a dent in ours.  I'm not bitter.. But, it was a good time to teach my boys a lesson about buying themselves a truck and a snowblower when they're older so that they can dig out every single mom and old lady they know.  Just saying...

Eventually fatique won out and we just plain old QUIT and went inside.

About an hour later, along came a little snowplow from the business across the street, and within minutes, our cars were set free.  Our hard work managed to give us a great workout, but the best thing of the day was that little yellow plow.  THANK YOU, SIR.  I believe you just won yourself a little jewel in your crown!

I can now appreciate the view out the window...and I sort of like snow again. 

The plan for the rest of the day is NO-thing.

Maybe a movie or two...maybe a little food...maybe nothing else.

Day 3 of Project "Stuck-in-my-House"....

Day 2 of Emma's flu, Day 3 of being home all day.  If I had known the flu would hit, I might not have chosen to stay home on Monday...although it was a very beneficial day here.  Emma's feeling much perkier this morning...even ate a PopTart!  But, not quite up to a whole day of sitting in school...so, one more day here. (Dear Lord, PLEASE don't let Nick come down with it tomorrow!!!!!) 
She may, in fact, be up to a little car ride later to pick up homework from school...here's hoping!

By this time, I'm going a little stir crazy.  Not that there's not PLENTY of things to do around here, but it's that psychological thing....the fact that I have no choice but to be home again today that makes me think I'm going to go crazy by the end of it. 
But, I won't...

Truth be told, I'm so thankful that I have the privilege of being home and available to the kids for this period of time.  I make it sound like it's an inconvenience to be here...but it's really not.  I love home.  I love home when my kids are in it.  And, I love home when my kids are not in it.  My ideal life would be to have a flexible enough schedule to be in and out of HOME as I want, and still have a paying job.  Sounds a little idealistic, I know...but it can happen, right??? 

{I'm voting for a job that involves sitting on my computer at the local coffee shop}

Speaking of coffee....you know I'm bored when it's 9:00am and I'm taking pictures of my morning cup of joe.  But, there's a reason for this one...I found a new coffee this week.  It jumped into my cart at Darrenkamps, and, I'm really enjoying it...maybe because it's roasted by a local company...maybe because it's nice and strong - just the way I like it.

You can find it here

Here's what their website had to say about the Lancaster County Coffee Roasters:

"Based in downtown Lancaster, Lancaster County Coffee Roasters is a coffee boutique offering up freshly roasted hand crafted small batch coffee on a daily basis"

COFFEE BOUTIQUE!??!! 

I'm so there when I get out of here.

Speaking of getting out of here....

Looks like I have something to do today, after all...or I'll be going NOwhere. 

(GULP...I don't like to be told "I'm going nowhere" - in any sense of the phrase.)

"And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do.

Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!"

Psalm 90:17

Around here....

...this can mean only one thing...

SOMEone is home from school w/the flu! 

This water jug has been around since I left the hospital with one of my newborn babies...can't remember which one.  It's either 19, 16, or 13 years old!  It's seen better days...has a crack in the lid, BUT..it's still the go-to cup for everyone who comes down with any kind of flu-bug!  None of us would DARE drink out of it if we're not head-first in the toilet or sweating with fever.

This morning, shortly after the rude alarm woke us up, Emma slinked into my room and complained of  stomach and head aches.  After (selfishly) trying to convince her she's ok, I agreed to let her sleep in for an hour and see if she's feeling up to going to school later.  (*Selfish me wanted to spend the morning with my dad at Panera as planned...we had some SERIOUS talking to do!)  Thankfully, common sense screams louder than my selfish self, because not an hour later, she was, in fact, head-first in the toilet.  Poor thing...

So, I headed to the Library...

for videos...

...and came home with a bonus in the FREEBIE box, for me...

Plus, THIS

came in the mail yesterday, and I can't wait to get lost in it! 

So, in between this....

and this....

(and trying to ignore the nagging feeling my stomach hurts...)

.....it's a good day...

Two things I hate and One that I love...

Two things I'm not happy about this Monday morning....

THIS PILE...

...which happens to be bills...today's the day. 

I cannot wait another hour, they MUST be paid...or else...

AND THIS...

Notice the inspection date??  Expired January 31, 2010. 

That was yesterday. 

She will be inspected tomorrow morning...until then, she will be extra careful to follow every Speed limit sign, every road rule and anything else that will cause her to blend in to her environment. 

So sorry, Mr. Copper...I promise I'll try not to do it again.

These two annoying tasks creep up on me ALL the time.  I confess I am not very good at doing the things I hate on time.  I am a procrastinator at heart.  I procrastinate what I hate...and sometimes even what I love.  BUT...I DO get them done.  As you can see, some completely fall off my radar until I know I'm in trouble....like the above.

But really...I DO have good reasons for feeding the procrastinator lurking inside me.  Namely, it's the lack of a steady income.  You simply cannot pay your piles of bills or send your car to Mr. Mechanic if your check cannot back up the funds.  You can't...

This has become the way of life around here for years.  I can't say I love it or that I'm used to it, even after 12 years.  But, it is a fact of my circumstances, so I've learned to pray alot and wait on a plan.  I've learned to STRETCHHH a dollar and am continually mastering the art of being patient.  It's why I say no to things we don't need to have or do.  It's why we are satisfied without the latest trinket...and extremely grateful for what we do have. 

This weekend we were blessed by two different sources who had NO idea how empty my bank account was.  I was sweating bullets - not going to lie.  I did alot of praying last week...alot of wondering when I would get some relief and answers.  I struggled not to complain...at least not outloud.  In my heart many a question was whispered...Why a dead-end at every job search?  Why is there no relief after all this time?  Why do I still ask why?  Why is it still so hard?

Can't say I heard answers...but the incredible gifts of generousity were from His hand, I have no doubt.  I am constantly checking myself..making sure I haven't missed a cue or headed down a wrong path and ended up tracking my own two feet instead of God's footprints.  As He has for so long, He is continually reminding me to stay calm, be diligent and wait on Him. 

I don't want to.

But I will. 

Thank you, Father...as you promised generations ago, you have supplied all of our needs. 

And that is enough.

"And my God will meet all your needs..."

Phil. 4:19

It has come to my attention...

...that it is soon to be bathing-suit-shopping-time again.  I hate that time of year.  It used to be that I hated it because I hate every single suit I've ever tried on.  But, I'm past that now...I only wish for those days.  These days I break out in a  sweat thinking about bathing suit shopping because I. HAVE. A. 13. YEAR. OLD. DAUGHTER.  And...the designer world hates me and is out to personally sabotage my relationship with Miss Emma who only wants to wear what everyone else is wearing...but what everyone else is wearing is really hard to see, because all you really see is THEIR WHOLE BODY..know what I mean???

I don't get it. 

Why is it so hard to create and sell cute bathing suits in great prints that are ALSO modest?  I'm not talking prudish here...I'm just talking a little covering up.  I'm not even talking a full out one piece - even I understand that.  I can even deal with a little belly peeking out...But, really, would it kill Target to actually sell two pieces that have more than an 1/16 of a yard of fabric?  You're killing me here...I feel it coming on...a brawl of the wills.  And all because someone out there decided that the skimpier the bathing suit, the better.  And now mothers like me have to argue with their daughters over what it means to cover their bodies because everyone ELSE in the WORLD will be wearing THIS...

Really?

Great fabric...but can we cover a little MORE??

This one I like...cute fabric and covers much more.....

Question is, will she go for it???

sigh...not a chance.