Reluctantly Resourceful

I cannot believe that I am doing a Frugal post.
I really cannot stand the word Frugal.
It is not something I do well.

BUT
recently, I have had to become more Frugal.
No.
Resourceful!

anywho.

Here is my top 10 lists of things we did to instantly wipe hundreds and hundreds of dollars out of our monthly budget. {I am sure everyone else already does these things... but if you are reluctantly resourceful, like moi, try some of this stuff. I'm telling you - it is nice to be a 'waster.'}

Reluctantly Resourceful Top 10 {The Saving Money List}:
1. Talk to your good friend Flamingo Mama. This girl knows all the short cuts. {And aren't you jealous that I can just go have coffee with her? In fact, I got to witness the flamingo stance, yet again. In person.}
2. Meal Planning based on what you actually HAVE in your pantry already. Pick 5 dinners for the week and eat off of the leftovers in between. Make as much as you can from SCRATCH!
3. Grocery basics: Do NOT buy anything unless it is on the list or it is a SUPER ESSENTIAL item you forgot to write down.
4. Food shopping basics: Do your major shopping at a cheapo store {Aldi or Walmart}, get your produce from a farm stand or market, and check your town for FACTORY OUTLETS. Our town has a bread outlet. {thanks for the tip, Flamingo}
5. Don't "stock up." Unless it is a regular ingredient or pantry item {NOT snack items}. It wastes money and you eat more.
6. Call up your cable company. or phone. or service provider. or whoever. find out who is cheapest and call back your current provider and have them match it. Or, sign up for the current promotion.
7. we cut out the TV. I know this is not for everybody. But, we never watch it. except for Chuck, and we can watch that online.
8. Stop buying everything. {this won't last, I know. But can you believe we have bought NOTHING extra for 3 full weeks? NOTHING. It has taught me that I really don't "need" all the stuff I thought I did}
9. call your insurance co. and update your car status. We were paying comprehensive on a car that was no longer worth it. Saved us, like $50/month, Maybe you are too.
10. adjust your thermostat and turn off your lights. More than you already do. You will be surprised at how comfortable you still are.

Reluctantly Resourceful or not.

How cool would it be to have several hundred extra bucks a month?
To give. To save. To finally get that one ____. To bless another.

Backing up: LOVE MY GIRLS

Here are some pics of an amazing weekend spent with my love and my friend/daughter/family girls!!!!! I never got to post about it 'cause I was awfully busy just Living the Thing!

I just love these stinkin' precious girls. To say that we have fun together would be a vast underestimation.

oh. and in case you didn't know:

Paisley is back in style. {wink}

These moments are precious to me... because now that Agniya is back in Russia, who knows when or if we can share these times again.

{You know. There are an awful lot of amazing colleges and cute boys in America, Agniya.}

Love you, Liney Bug and Anan.

Where on earth has May gone??

Enjoying Everyday Togetherness.Co-directing the High School Musical:
Going to graduation ceremonies. Cum Laude. I am so proud of you, little Sis!!Going to the library. a lot.

Trekking on Pre-School field trips:

Enjoying Caleb's Pre-school End of the Year picnic and program:

BBQ'ing with friends:

Taking firehouse tours.
Playing in the mud and the creek.
Going on fun playdates.
My Bday and Mother's Day, too!
Oh, and I have been enjoying reading some fun novels. true.

I have really been Living the Thing... and, wow: May is nearly gone. Poof.

Me. No makeup.

Since lately I have been such a blogging slacker, by happy choice, I thought I would offer you all this juicy tidbit of a photo:

Me. No makeup.

I know. It is unbelievable that not only did I go without makeup, but I then captured it on a camera. proof.
unbelievable. but true.
:)

This Comment Rebel is Living the Thing

I never really had a rebellious side until I had children.

Now that I do have cuties, and my top priority is my family, I have become somewhat of a rebel.

Not return a phonecall? That is SO rude.... until I had kids.
Not get back to someone right away? That is SO rude.... until I had kids.
Not follow through on something I said I would do? That is SO rude, and not to mention, just poor character.... until I had kids.

Haha. Bloggettes, don't get me wrong. I try not to make too much of a habit of those aforementioned no-no's....... But sometimes, you just can't be everything to everyone! I am rebel. Hear me roar.

So I come to this post with an apology that holds no promise of immediate change (hee-hee, I am SUCH a Rebel):
Apologies, bloggettes and bloggadeers. Sorry I have been a comment slacker! That is SO rude... but in my defense, I have kids.

I hearby promise that I have been popping in on your blogs, because I think you are all so very cool, and I love to hear your thoughts, see your big ideas, and check out your great pics. But somehow, commenting has gone the way of the buffalo lately.

"Sorry" is all this little rebellious thing can say:). Because......

I am really preoccupied with gettin' me some more of this:

and this:

and this:

Can you blame me??

OH, but my rebellion gets 'worse,': I am about to drop out of blogland for a bit. Our celebrating begins tomorrow. Oh, precious friends, Did you get the memo? He is Risen.

Happy Easter you precious things. May you walk toward Him who is The Only Thing Worth Walking Toward. May He be ever present in your hearts and minds and soul this week and next. May His sacrifice for you become more real to you than ever before, and may you then rejoice and rejoice and rejoice.

for We have HOPE.

Living the Thing; miss you!

Hey bloggsters. This is the quickest, substance-less-est, post ever.

Just wanna say hi. Been quite busy Living the Thing. Lotsa good stuff to share...but I must keep you waiting for now. Life is calling. a lot. But I will be back!

So sorry for the lack of checking in with you, at all of your worlds. Giving up a few things.

Oh, but please DO know:
I miss you, my friends, bloggettes, and bloggedeers. And I hope that you are grand!

I leave you with this pic of my darlings. This is from this past summer trip to the Lake. (We roasted S'mores)... and I just had to do some Digi-Scrapping of their royal cuteness:

Related Posts: Living the Thing, S'mores, Digital Scrapbooking 101

Recent Precious-ness

Dearest Bloggettes!! I apologize ahead of time for being MIA this weekend. I will be Living the Thing. I am off to have family fun, and shall return soon!

Love ya! And I leave you with recent pics of my stinking adorable children:

Our Christian:

Our Caleb:

Working so hard

Oh, we have been working so hard lately! So much to do....

My, my. We have been busy.

Diapering:

Shaving:
Laundry-ing:
Sweeping:

Exercising:

Phew. I need to rest.

BUSY

Busy, busy, busy.

Miss you, friends. Mean it.

I shall return. Promise.

AAAAAAAGH. In-laws coming. Pre-school homeroom mom deadlines. Half of Thanksgiving Dinner to plan. Getting part of house painted. Need to make chocolate pilgrim hats. Bible Study to do. Two kids... under 3.5... boys. Husband has huge deadline with overtime. Don't even mention Christmas shopping.

Are you with me, peeps??
Gotta go!!!!

Our anniversary tradition: Honeymoons

Where my hubby and I were sitting this weekend:

Matt and I do not exchange gifts for our anniversary. Instead, we make memories and make an effort to build on our love. We set aside time and money each year so that we can go away for our anniversary. These are our "Honeymoons." And we have done this successfully, 8 out of 9 years (In 2007, I was soooo pregnant, and our house was under full-blown construction, so we postponed our trip until Feb of '08).

We usually pick a wonderful inn, plan ahead (as they get booked quickly), make reservations, and pick long-weekend dates as close to our anniversary as we are able. A few times, we have done bigger trips, and sometimes we have gone with friends or even family (we always get at least some time where it is just the two of us). But, most of the time, we do the short, just-us, inn-trips . We pick from Karen Brown guidebooks, or The Select Registry (we almost always book the cheapest room at these inns, and they are still amazing!!!! and for not much more than a boring old hotel)... and we have never been let down! We always have a romantic experience. Matt and I do love to try out new places, restaurants, and inns, together.

This year, we went to Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania. Everything was beautiful! Including the blessed time we spent working on our precious marriage.

Is it almost next year, yet????

The Fairville Inn, where we stayed this year:

Our room (peeps, this only cost about 60 bucks more than a Holiday Inn, and had a full gourmet breakfast included):

Every year since our honeymoon #1, Matt and I have taken a pic. like this in our room's mirror. Here is the one from this year:

Off to dinner on Saturday night:

Relaxing at the inn:

We spent Saturday at Longwood Gardens. It was so beautiful! I got a ton of ideas for our own landscaping. It was a perfect Fall day, and we just soaked in the majesty of God's diverse creation:

Okay, so here is one of the cool ideas that I got at the garden. Below are (seemingly) examples of hedges. But they are made out of fast growing trees, not bushes! So they are more compact, easier to trim, but grow quickly. The one just below is Leland Cypress, and under it, Arborvitae. I am soooo going to plant these along our road, and cut them like hedges:

The honeymooners, taking silly pictures:

The honeymooners, in front of a wall of mums:

Happy Anniversary, honey!!! Thanks for another great Honeymoon.

Motherhood and... (shhh. don't tell anyone)... ME!

This Tuesday we had a guest speaker at MOPS; Kate Harris. She was wonderful. She put into words (quite eloquent words, I might add) how I was feeling about the inner struggle that exists when your vocation is Motherhood. Please! Set aside some time, when you have a few moments to absorb her words, and come back to this post to click on this link to an article that she wrote, entitled "Motherhood as Vocation". It resonates!!!

I have shared a few of my thoughts on mommy-ing, and it is easy to see that I struggle, from time to time, just like most stay-at-home moms. To be honest, I have only a few people in my life that can even understand where I am on my journey right now. So, there are not too many peeps I can bounce my thoughts off of. I suppose that is true for most of us. So, it has helped me to blog my heart....

Here are some of my thoughts on the topic:

from this post,"Works for Me":

I am telling you, for those of you who are not mommies, this job is NOT for wimps. I have to give an extra special shout-out of encouragement to those mommas who are doing the full-time mommy job of staying home with your children. I cannot tell a lie: I think stay-at-home moms (also known as never-at-home-mostly-in-the-car moms) ROCK. I think they are women with more guts than brains (haha, just kidding. I do wonder what I am thinking sometimes... it seems as though going to work would be a lot easier). I also think they are CHANGING THE WORLD, one tiring day at a time!!!!!!

from this post,"Dangerous Surrender (Chapter 2)":

I had my 6 month old baby boy (Christian) in one arm, and Kay's compelling book in the other. As I read about leaving my comfort zone and surrendering to God and dropping everything, Christian puked all over my brand new book!! God said to me, in that moment: "Whoaaaaa, girl. Your time is coming... sweet daughter. For now: wipe up the puke!!!"So..... I guess God got very precise in telling me what my current purpose is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

from this post,"Just plain-old Surrendered":

Truth be told, I keep hearing God tell me to stay put. To surrender to the current task of dying-daily to self. Dying-daily to my husband. Dying-daily to my babies. This is where I am for a while...and not only that, I don't want to forsake being here!! I KNOW that God wants me out of my comfort zone, but I believe He wants my children IN this comfort zone for a while. Not teaching them that STUFF is where it is at, but just taking care of them and protecting them while they are babies, and pouring myself into THEM.

And, especially relevant to this current post, one from this post,"Closet Artist":

I am sharing this post because my [creative] ideas are about to
drive me crazy. I have so many of them. But I just don't have the time and/or money and/or motivation to create. This has become more of an issue since this is the first time in my life that I do not have a constant creative outlet. Sometimes I feel like I am busting at the seams to create - but I am JUST TOO TIRED. Anyone hearing me on this one?? Part of being a mommy to little little ones, maybe.

Sooooo. All of this to say....

After hearing Kate Harris speak, and pondering the thoughts of "planting seeds" of purpose, in order to sustain my own giftedness (which is from God in the first place, and to be used to His glory!)...

I planted a seed for me:

The "little room," Before.

Our home has been under renovation for the past 2 years. We are finally at a pause (we will never be DONE!). This room is on the 3rd floor of our 1850's farmhouse. It is teeny-tiny, super cute, and is one of my favorite rooms in the house. Until last night, it was essentially filled with construction trash, HVAC trash, dusty baby toys, and, um, DUST! The "before" pics that you see above are actually a bit kinder than what I started with last night (with the exception of the refinished soft-pine floors. We did that a month after closing). So, basically, this room sat empty.

Why??

Well, I struggle with perfectionism. Not always the good kind. Often, the parylizing kind. If I can't do it perfectly... I don't do it at all. Hence, the many unpainted, uncleaned, empty rooms in my home. I know. I know. Just being honest, folks.

But!! To HECK with it all!!!!! I need a place to myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May I introduce:

My art studio

complete with a bible study corner!!! I love that ratty, ugly chair. It is sooo comfy. Can't afford to recover. Hate most slipcovers (forgive me, slipcover fans!!). I am so excited about this!!!!!!! Check out the basket, for bible, books, studies, and tissues (of course). Coffee will finally get all the respect it deserves, on the cute table that was 'hold-up' in my basement.

Oh, and one more thing....

No precious, adorable, cuter-than-pie, sweet-smelling, lovable, darling children allowed.