Daddy, can you please wash my cups?

Just Because He's Too Cute

This guy has stolen my heart.

Can't you see why?

It's Way Past Time for a Haircut!

I had finally had enough with the hair and the tangles and the crying and the tears and the food gunked up in the hair. Jason and I talked it over, and then we began to work on Abby, convincing her that a haircut would be a great thing.

So, we went from this:


To this:



Much better, huh?

A Report of the Weekly Savings

As you have probably already figured out, I endeavor to save my family as much money as possible when it comes to grocery shopping and truly any other kind of shopping.

So, today, in the nasty, misty rain, I journeyed to Publix and CVS. I had gone to Ingles yesterday, and since it was naptime when we got home from Ingles, there are no pictures from that trip.

Jason says that I have to stop with the Coke. We now have about ten 2 liters and ten 12 packs of Cokes in our house. The sad thing? We'll drink them.


Here's how it all broke down:

CVS - spent $22.94, saved $39.82
Publix - spent $57.37, saved $68.94
Ingles - spent $$29.05, saved $27.34

Total spent $109.36, saved 136.10 or 55%

You'll notice there are two greeting cards in that pile. They're for my Nannie who will be 81 tomorrow. She doesn't look at this blog; heck, she's never even had her driving license, but I love her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANNIE!

The Things I Learn from Chocolate

For Christmas, Jason gave me a bag of Dove Dark Chocolates. I'm amazed that we waited over a month before opening them, but today we opened them for dessert after lunch. They're the promises. You know, the ones that have pithy saying written in the wrapper. I think the first one I opened said something like, "Your smile could light up a room." Well, thanks. That makes me feel great.

The second one I opened, however, made me think. It said, "Love rules without rules."

Now, that's simply not true. Genuine love loves with rules and parameters. What kind of mom would I be if I never set any guidelines for Abby and Jake? I'd be a pretty lousy one. Jason and I institute rules because we love our children.

For example, I tell Abby she can't run in a parking lot (a rule) because I don't want her to get hurt, not because I hate her.

Somewhere along the line, our culture has bought into the lie that true love allows us to do whatever we want whenever we want. That's simply not true.

What kind of God would we serve who never told us no? If I never tell Abby no I create a brat, and the same goes for God. I'm afraid we have lots of spiritual brats running around because they refuse to believe in a God who would tell them no. Instead they create their own god who never tells them no, and thus act like spoiled brats. My God disciplines me and puts limits in my life for my good, whether I see and understand that or not.

It's kind of amazing how something as simple as a piece of chocolate can make you think.

I love orchids.
I distinctly remember buying a beautiful orchid when I was in high school. I was certain i could keep the thing alive because I'm pretty good with plants, but orchids are like cats: they want to be left alone, and I've never really been a cat person. All that to say, when I bought my first orchid, I promptly killed it because I overwatered it and then underwatered it and it eventually died because of my misunderstanding of how it wanted to be handled.

Now, when Jake was born one of my best friends brought an orchid to the hospital because she, like me, loves them. She gave me instructions and told me not to kill her. I told her I would try my best.

One of the things I had to learn was that orchids will bloom forever, but when they drop their flowers, you must prune them. The flowerless stems have to be cut back in order for new flowers to come. It usually takes about a year for a new shoot to form, but when it does, it is so satisfying.

Here's the hard part. I am now nurturing 6 orchids. My second one just started blooming with new flowers about a week ago. She's lovely. In the meantime, one of my newer ones dropped her last flower, and I hesitated to cut her stem because I thought, maybe, just maybe, she'll put out a new bud. So I waited. No new stem. This morning I cut her. Down to nothing.
Why do I write this. Well, I think there's a spiritual lesson here. So many times, God prunes me: he cuts back the things in my life that he knows are dead and lifeless. And it hurts. It's never fun to have something that is a part of you taken away, but ultimately those times are for my good. God wants me to bear good fruit and to produce something beautiful. Those flowers may not come overnight. As a matter of fact hey most certainly will not. It will probably take time for God to cultivate the things in me that he wants there, but the result is more beautiful than before and much more satisfying.

What is God doing in you?

It's time for a savings post

Okay, I haven't put one of these up for a while, so I thought you might like to see my haul today. I hit 3 grocery stores (which I normally don't do, but we needed milk, and when I can get Pet milk for $2.98 a gallon, I'l go wherever I need to).

Included in all of this are two large packs of chicken breasts, a Boston Butt, asparagus, lots of oatmeal and cocoa (for chocolate oatmeal cookies), cheese, frozen pizza, 3 gallons of milk and a half gallon of chocolate milk along with several other items.

I would call this a success in shopping. I have to admit, Publix is my very favorite place to shop, but today I had a wonderful little girl in Bilo who made that experience delightful.

Here are the totals:

Ingles - spent $6.95, saved $11.97 and got $5 in Catalinas
Bilo - spent $27.08, saved $17.09 and got $2 in Catalinas
Publix - spent $47.07, saved $60.41

That breaks down to a savings of 52%. Now, some of you may say, "Come on, Alicia, you brag that you can save 60% when you shop," and normally that's true but when we became a 3 gallon a week family, I'm happy to save half. All in all, I'm thrilled that I can buy the things my family needs without breaking the bank. Ultimately, that's my goal.