Moving On

I have yet: to acquire those Christmas photos from Dad's camera, but things are starting to settle down again (for a bit, at least!) so I should remember to get them this week.

Saturday: was Mom's big 5-0. She's not big on surprise and/or big parties, so she opted for a dinner with all her kids and grandkids. After a flurry of texting here and there, we managed to pull it off. We all made/brought different food favorites of Mom's and I think we were successful at pleasing her (which is never hard to do, she's such an awesome mommy!!!). The cake was on my To Bring list, and since we've had tons of junk swirling around the past month and I know Mom isn't a big fan of junky leftovers, I went to Big Y and bought ten of Mom's favorite donuts (chocolate-covered) and stuck some "I heart MOM" candles in hers and called it a cake. Big success, for me (cheap and easy) and everyone else, too (oh-so-yummy!!). Anyway, Happy Birthday to The Best Mom Ever! You're a blessing and who I want to be like when I grow up :). I could list all your wonderful qualities, but then everyone would be jealous you're not their mom! ;). Love you!

ING: is the best mortgage company, in my humble opinion. Not sure if i mentioned it before, but we were recently blessed to have $100 knocked off our monthly mortgage payment!! ING offers this option to remortgage without going through all the remortgaging hassle/expense. D knows all the terms and details (but don't ask him unless you want to hear ALL about it!), but the bottom line: for a small fee, we reduced our mortgage payment by what will eventually add up to a significant amount. And who couldn't use an extra $100 per month, especially when a child who eats like mine?! And, if you'll remember, this time last year D won an essay contest in which ING paid our January mortgage. See? ING is the best mortgage company!

I made these ornaments for both grandparents and for us: It's Micah's [massive] handprint turned into snowmen. He wasn't too keen on the paint-on-the-hand part, but D and I managed to get three good prints.


My Adventuring through the Bible: is going well. I'm ahead of schedule, actually, because I know I'll miss some days here and there throughout the year. My goal is to read from Genesis to Revelation this year, along with some supplemental books that explain rituals, traditions, the time periods, etc. to make what I'm reading more understandable. Next year, I plan to read through the bible chronologically. And the year after that, I want to read a passage from the Old Testament, from the New Testament, a Psalm, and a Proverb each day. They have an actual Bible set up like that, but I just printed out the passages online :). Another tool I'm using to help me on my journey is YouVersion.com. You can choose a reading plan and track your progress AND they have audio versions of the Bible for free :). You can read along as they read, which will help with staying on track.

New Year's Eve/Day: were a nice ending to one year and beginning of another. We had dinner over Mom and Dad's, but D didn't want to spend the night, so we went home around 9:30ish. M went right to sleep and we watch an MI-5 episode, on my recommendation of course. I'm officially addicted to that show, which is okay because all the other shows we watch have been on hiatus. Netflix doesn't have the Watch It Now feature for the remaining seasons, but I found a website where you can watch them for free (along with a ton of other shows!). If you're not a paying member (which we're not) then you can watch 72 minutes before being cut off for an hour (which I don't mind because the episodes are 59 minutes long). D's happy with that limit :). I like watching shows on the computer better because there aren't any commercials and you can watch them/pause them whenever you want. But I digress... After MI-5, D had to watch Scrubs and that brought us to The Ball Drop when we promptly kissed and then headed to bed. M didn't get up until after 9 the next morning (big thank you to him), so we rolled out of bed and did some errands before heading to breakfast at Denny's. They now have chicken sausage, turkey bacon, and whole wheat pancakes, which made us very happy people. We didn't get the bacon, but the other two were excellent. After M's nap, we headed over D's parents' home to hang out for a bit and eat lots of dessert before heading back home for another of M's naps.

One of those above-mentioned errands: was to Toys R Us to buy diapers. Not just any diapers. Earth's Best Chlorine Free (and a lot of other stuff free...) disposable diapers. The good stuff. For $5 a jumbo pack. No, that wasn't a typo, $5 a pack. And I had a coupon for $1.50 off one pack, so that one wase only $3.50. Slightly embarrassing, but not enough to stop me from doing it! I'm not sure what possessed them to put those diapers on sale for that little, but I wasn't questioning anyone about it. We very nearly cleared them out (you were only allowed three per customer, but the guy ended up not caring, so we got 9 packs altogether). I even asked them to check in the back for more and fortunately they did have more in the size I wanted! I told Yana about it and she and Ry went the next day and managed an even better deal: ten packs for $40 plus two free packages of wipes! I got the tip from a money-saving blog I follow...and what a tip it was!

Another great deal Mom, Yana, and I chased down this weekend: makeup. The organic makeup we use isn't a great deal more expensive than your average chemical-laden type (actually, it's much cheaper than some of the more expensive brands), but it was on sale last week (and this week, too, I believe) at CVS for $1.99-$3.75, depending on what you get! The eyeliner and lip gloss were $1.99 and the powder and blush were $3.75 (you save anywhere from $6 to $10 off the regular price!). Craziness. And I saw that one of them had a $3 off coupon stuck onto it, so I pulled it off and gave it to the cashier. It worked. So I got an eyeliner and half of a lip gloss for free. Can't beat that!

Now I had better get back to my de-cluttering extravaganza. I have a long way to go...