Day 9: Sales and Coupons

We're a "sale" kind of family. My mom shops sales and can get away with paying little to nothing for an item. My dad researches purchases until he finds the best deal for what he wants. My brother buys 90% of his stuff from Ross or TJMaxx. Me? I bargain hunt everything! It kills me to pay full price for anything. I will drive across town to save a few cents on a tank of gas. I won't buy bananas or Milk at Albertsons if I know I'm going to Costco in the next day or two because Costco's stuff is cheaper. I will, however, use the Albertsons app, which saves me anywhere from $20-$40 per shopping trip. Today I used a Subway coupon to save $.90 on my sandwich that I bought for lunch. My favorite is the free kids' meals that Cane's gives away at community events. I can buy the boys and I an entire meal for under $3! I've returned things that I've bought when I've looked at the receipt and found I had paid full price. I will NEVER, I repeat never, pay full price for a pair of shoes for any member of our family. You get the point, right? Well, last month I had scouted one of E's "wants" on his Christmas list for sale. But at the time we had 2 car repairs and a costly pool repair so it wasn't feasible to buy the toy. I was sick about missing out on the great sale but I was not about to put it on the "emergency" credit card. Fast forward to today. I was looking at the store's pre-Black Friday sales and saw that the toy was listed on sale. Imagine my disappointment when I saw it was on sale for less than a dollar off the original price. (What kind of sale is that??) Right after that someone on FB posted a 25% off coupon for the same store I had just been looking at. But, I figured it couldn't possibly work. Too good to be true. Well, I was wrong. I ended up being able to use it, and saving MORE money than I would have from the original sale! The way I see it, Rob and I give up stuff to work full time. We work hard for our pay. So why waste it? I'm okay spending a few extra minutes to save a few extra dollars. And around this time of year I like to use those few extra dollars to help out people in need. I am thankful that there are ways to save money and I am equally thankful that there are ways that we can help others with those few extra bucks.

Day 7 and 8 combined

A week in and I'm already slacking. (Insert eye roll emoji) But I have been under the weather the past couple days and have just been surviving instead of thriving. Any hoo….
Day 7: I am thankful for modern conveniences. I was reading about all the destruction in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic from hurricanes the past few years. One sentence jumped out at me because it said that 1500 houses in Puerto Rico still don't have a roof. I can't imagine. Not only do we have a roof over our heads but we have central heat and a/c. We have running water and can adjust it to our liking. We have an oven and stove. And if we want to eat it even faster, we can use our microwave. It's easy to take that stuff for granted. But when you read an article about so many without it's an eye opener to just how blessed we are. I am thankful for the things we take for granted, things that make life so much easier than our ancestors or people in other countries. If I had more time, I could blog an entire page on things I've seen in other countries that really, truly make you appreciate how good we have it here in the USA.
Day 8: I am so incredibly thankful for my niece. I never in a million years thought I'd ever have a niece or nephew. So, imagine my surprise when my brother told me that my sister in law was pregnant. A year ago today my sweet niece was born. Although I've only seen her a handful of times, I enjoy our FaceTime "conversations". She has blessed our family in the past year that she's been on this Earth and I can't wait to see how the Lord uses her life to bless others.
I would write more but I've got to get to the store and I am on a time crunch. So expect a longer blog tomorrow. Until then.....

Day 6: 4-legged family members

I debated all day whether to share my thankfulness for great co-workers or wonderful neighbors (who have become good friends). But, I settled on our 4-legged family members. I have been a dog owner ever since I was rewarded for bringing up my grades in 6th grade. Since then I have never been without at least 1 dog (with the exception of a few days when we had to put Roxy down). Sadly, not all of the dogs we've owned have been a good match for us. But for the past 5 years we have been blessed with the most perfect mutt who adopted us to get away from an abusive home (at least that's what we think happened before she came to us). And for the past year we have been blessed, and sometimes annoyed, with our little black lab/Korgi mix. Both dogs have been a perfect match for us.
Fetcha, our yellow mutt, is technically P's dog. He found her, begged for her, named her and worked with her to trust others. She's a faithful dog, so mellow you hardly knows she's around and you can set your clock by her because at 9pm she'll pace until one of us put her in her crate. The only time she'll show any form of aggression is toward another dog if she feels her boys are in danger. If I am walking her and another dog approaches us, she wants to play with it. But if her boys are walking her, she'll snarl any time a new dog gets close to them. Her only quirk is running away if the door is left open. Unfortunately, she has run to the main road outside of our subdivision and we worry about her getting hit by a car. 9 times out of 10, P is the only one who can get her back home. Most nights she'll curl up in her bed in his room as he falls asleep. If he's had a rough day, she will sit by the side of his bed so he can stroke her fur until he falls asleep. Sadly, she is a shedder so she is not allowed on any furniture. (Although once in awhile we do catch her up on P's bed!)
Our other mutt, Charlie, became E's dog last October when we fell in love with him at a fall festival. They have been inseparable ever since! He's a tad high strung but, when we get home from school, we let him out to play with his best friend (who, ironically, is the dog of E's best friend). Playing with Otis usually wears him out enough to relax the rest of the night. He never strays far from the house or the boys. If he gets left outside he stays by the door until one of us let him in. He plays with other dogs fairly well (once he lets them know he thinks he's in charge) and he wags his whole butt when he gets excited about something. He loves to lay next to me on the couch and for some reason he loves to be rubbed by my feet. He'll sit under my foot until I "pet" him with my toes. Sometimes he will crawl up on the boys' beds at night but most of the time he has "his" place on the couch. If anyone sits there, he paces until the person gets up. I think his favorite place in the whole world is deer camp. We've only taken him there once but he ran ALL weekend, scouting out new scents! He wagged his butt the entire weekend and it seemed like he smiled for 48 hours straight.
It took the dogs a few weeks to get used to each other but now they get along great. We quickly learned to feed them separately and not to give them bones when they're together. So now they get along as well as any siblings. They look as different as night and day and their personalities are polar opposites, but they are both perfect for our family just as they are. I am so thankful for our faithful, fun loving 4-legged family members!!

Day 5: New Days and Coffee

There hasn't been a day recently where I thought, "I want a do-over". But the nights are when I am thankful for new days....and good coffee. I usually average one good night of sleep a week. Sometimes it's every two weeks that I actually wake up feeling rested. Most nights I'm woken up by a nightmare (like last night) or Rob snoring or a leg cramp or E waking me up because of a nightmare or our neighbors' floodlight or having to go to the bathroom. Once I wake up I have a difficult time going back to sleep. Sometimes I get about 4 hours of sleep and I'm a 8+ hour a night sleeper. By the time morning shows its first light I am ready for the new day and a couple cups of coffee. I am thankful that the good Lord provides us with new days. It energizes me and makes me ready to go, despite my lack of sleep. I love drinking my coffee by the picture window, watching the morning wake up with birds singing, and reading my devotion. I used to love the nighttime but now I am so thankful for the new day, new beginning, new light....and a good cup of coffee.

Day 4: Helpful Husband

This season of life is busy. Between both of us working full time, football season, guitar lessons, finishing up the last of my photography sessions and everything in between we have little down time. So I am so thankful for a helping husband, someone who steps up when he has down time, someone to help around the house and with the boys. Yesterday he made sure P got to his guitar lesson and tonight got him to football practice. Today, on his day off, he did laundry and washed dishes. Little things like that mean so much to me. It was his first real day off in over a week and he could've spent the day sitting on the couch. But he didn't. Instead he made my life easier by bringing something to the school that I needed and doing things around the house that I would've had to do after a full day.
One of the characteristics that I looked for in a spouse was someone who would be a team player. I wanted someone who would be a partner in all aspects of married life and parenting. I am so thankful that I have found him.
P.S. He brings so much more to our marriage than just that but today I am extremely thankful that I have such a helping husband.

Day 3: Friendships

Saying that I am thankful for all my friendships, both near and far, is an understatement. My friendships are one of the biggest blessings in my life. The other night the boys were trick or treating and, as we walked down the road, I looked to the left to see a good friend and looked to the right to see another good friend. We spent the hour laughing, watching our boys make memories and pouring out our hearts to each other about parenting while our boys brought in the motherlode of candy. Last night, after a day of photo shoots, I met up with a couple good friends for dinner. One friend announced that she was pregnant (surprise!) and one talked to us about her health issues. I drove away from the restaurant, thankful for my friends and the different phases of our life. Right before I went to bed last night I got a text from a newer friend in life, wanting to tell me that her husband wants to reconcile and work to save their marriage. (yay!)
As an adult, making friends has been more difficult for me. When I walk into a room of people I become a wallflower. I don't feel comfortable approaching a stranger to introduce myself. But when God does bring people into my life as a new friend I cherish those friendships. I appreciate how each friend brings something different to my life. I have friendships in life that started as children. I have friendships that began in college. And I have friendships that have begun in the workplace. Sadly, I have had good friends come and go in life as well. But the ones who have stuck around amaze me.
I have some good friends in California, Nevada and Louisiana. I can go years without seeing a friend and when we do see each other we pick up right where we left off. One of my dearest friends in life and I only see each other every few years at best. The last time we got together we took a girls' roadtrip to the beach. That was one of the best weekends of my life! We caught up on life. We cried over heartache. We reminisced about our college days together. And we laughed until our stomach hurt and we had tears rolling down our cheeks. It's times like that I don't take for granted.
But I also don’t take for granted when my friend opens up about her depression or her heartache or her marital problems or her parenting issues. Because I know my friend trusts me to share those things that are heavy on her heart. I also know that I can celebrate with her when life starts looking up again.
There is a saying that I am sure you've heard that says, "As we go through life, we start to understand that it's not important to have a lot of friends. What truly matters is that we have real friends." I am blessed to say that I have a lot of real friends and I am forever thankful for each and every one of them!

Day 2: My Photography Business

I have loved photography ever since I was a little girl. I remember searching the film rack, trying to find just the right film speed for what I needed. I remember anxiously waiting for that roll to be developed to see if I captured things just the way I wanted. I also remember putting those pictures in photo albums, those same photo albums that I will still look at, laughing about certain memories captured on film.
I remember borrowing my dad's digital camera and Rob buying me my professional camera. I remember taking classes to learn about the art of photography. I remember how nervous I was at my first official photo shoot. And yes, I remember how I've screwed up occasionally, making life stressful for me.
My photography has been my creative outlet for so many years. For the past 6-8 years, it has also been a source of income for us. It has provided me the chance to think outside the box. It has introduced me to people I may not have met. It has given me the chance to make people feel beautiful, to allow them to see how other people see them.
My photography business has been so many things for me. It has been a blessing and a source of ministry. I have loved every minute of it! But, for the first time in 10 years, I am working full time. So I feel a peace that it is time for me to close my photography business. I don't have a desire to work 50-60 hours a week and miss out on so much of our boys' lives. This time of year, my business can consume me. I don't want that anymore. So I will enjoy the next three weekend of photo shoots and then I will close the door on Nov 16. My thankfulness for my photography business goes beyond words. I know how blessed I have been with it.