The Small things in life

I want to start out saying thank you for all the well wishes.  Everyday is different and today is a good day.  I have experienced hardship like everyone else on earth.  This experience has taught me that every person has emergencies, trauma, hurt, etc.  You cannot compare one person's issue to another.  We are all the sum of our experiences.   I am filled with the joy of the Lord.  What I am going through is very real to me, however, what you or someone else struggles with is very real to them.  There is no comparison.

Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Very grateful this morning for a friend I met at church.  She delivered a pile of coupons to me.   What a blast.  These are paper inserts - awesome. Since moving to this new town I have couponed some, but not to the level I am know for.  This is for no other reason than moving, settling in, finding out where everything is, etc.  BEST PART - the three surrounding towns and this one doubles coupons on Tuesday (EVERY WEEK) - yeah!!!!!  What does this mean - savings to be had!!!!!  Happy, Happy, Happy.

Huge savings on cereal this weekend.  Head to Dollar General. Before you go - get on line (their web page) print $5.00 off $25.00.  then print the 3 for 1.00 off Kellogg's, $.50 off 1 General Mills.  print 2 of each of those coupons.  Hopefully you have the coupons for 1.00 off cereal in the paper.

Go Saturday.  If you combine all your coupons, with the sales.  You will get 15 boxes of  cereal for about a $1.33 each.  More than I like to play, but anything under $1.50 is worth purchasing.

Lunch today:  Blackened Chicken with Romano cheese, corn bread, peas and corn, with peanut butter cookies.   Timothy will eat everything except the chicken so he had pizza.

Here he has pizza sauce on his face.  He is giving me his hands to wipe them off.  He does not like them dirty at all.  Notice the face.  He is not all that interested in his face being clean. Fun times!!!

LTC Challenge - here is a piece of the background.   It, hopefully, will look like a star rich background when I am done.
It has to sit for 24 hours for the clear coat to dry.

Nap Time

So Timothy likes this picture.  He has a printed copy of it and holds it often. The poor picture is almost worn out. This is Timothy and his ya ya (my mom) at the beach.  The little guy loves the water is a but unsure of the waves and gulls.

The Big, Heavy, Ugly - FREE - desk has been moved.  It will get a paint job soon.  This is where all my work will hopefully get done.  My Work room is coming together.  Notice how big a gap there is for the chair.  Over-sized desk - love it. 

Side note:

 Timothy loves ducks (in the tub).  We had a funeral for one last night (trash can).  There was a slit in it so it would sink.  When he would lift it out of the tub water would go everywhere. It had to go.  Really sad for a little guy to lose a favorite toy.  This is the second such funeral we have had for a toy.  He threw a fish in the kitchen sink (toy) and it got chopped by the garbage disposal because I did not know he had tossed it into the water as he was trying to tell me when I asked him why the fish was in the sink.  He would say water, water, water. 

Breathe

Life moves on. . . . .

So David has the day off - Which is always great.  Spending time together is so refreshing.   Today is a good day to letterbox, however, I have to get organized.  The goal today is to move a desk. A HUGE, HEAVY desk from one room to my work room.  (yes, I do share it with the little boy with fast hands and my ever thoughtful husband, but it is my room).  We have been putting this off for a few days as it is no small task.

One of the wonderful things about have a family day is eating together.  I enjoy cooking for David and he is very grateful for it.   Lunch is our big meal of the day and today we had homemade Mac 'n' Cheese, peas, lean beef steak, and Apple turn overs w/ homemade whipping cream - YUM!!!

I only had enough apples for 3 so that is what we made.  Timothy helped me move them to the plate so one if not completely in one piece, but still very taste.

My dad would love this warm apple turn over with
 homemade whipping cream.
 (he would probably request ice cream)

 

Timothy and I enjoyed playing in the church Gym.  We had a blast following the colored lines on the floor.  He is able to identify which color he is on. We laughed so hard.  He is fast.  It amazes me that he will be 2 soon.

The LTC challenge - I have some of the cutting and inking completed. 

 Hopefully in the next day or 2 I will be able to present a new card.

                   I will come back to couponing.  I have some questions the I need to answer.  

                                         As soon as that is completed we will pick up.

Thank you for all the encouragement, prayers, and thoughts.

An entire new meaning of normal

A normal day is not in the cards.


I have PTSD. What does that mean. Every person is different, for me it means that I absorb the world around me slowly. I tend to be more private than ever before. The majority of people I know do not have a good understanding of this.  News Flash:  neither do I.  I just know that things have changed. Telling others that you have PTSD brings about an entire line of questions.  How can you have it, you need to have more faith, think happy thoughts, time to move on, you seem normal, are you going to shoot someone, and the list goes on.

I am working through the issues that go along with it. What exactly does this mean?  Not much most of the time, but living through trauma over and over is hard on the heart, body, and soul.   I am grateful for so much. Even though life is complicated at times. I lose time (although, not as much as I once did) and forget (block) things from my memory. Often times my emotions just happen.  It can be brought on by so many different things.  Everyday is an adventure.  There are so many emotions that I experience daily it is really hard to describe them.

     Right now I am having trouble sleeping.  I go to sleep without any problems, however, I wake up in the middle of the night reliving the trauma.  So today is a rough for me.  Everyday is different.  This does not define who I am or what I am.  It simply explains some of the gaps in my thoughts.  I have a wonderful support system.  A warm, loving, kind husband, parents who are amazing, a brother who listens through issues and only advises after thinking it through, and friends - well I cannot even express how wonderful you all have been.  Thank You.  I find comfort in the arms of my Savior and in his fortress I remain.

I am finishing up my night, after having a very hard day.  It is no one's fault, it just is.  I was listening to the radio and sure enough someone with PTSD has done something bad.  The conversation went on to we have to protect society from people with PTSD.  I am bothered that there is such a judgement with this issue.  I am not harm to anyone.  If anything I am vulnerable and could be considered an "easy target".

I do not know what this person has gone through, but I know that it is vital for someone in my position to have support around them.  I cannot imagine walking this road alone.  This is more common that people realize.  There are so many judgments made about this issue that people do not share.  I am getting ready to put this day away.  I cannot wait to go to bed this day needs to end.


Everything else has to wait.

Sweet Dreams
Shawna


PS - This is not an easy topic for me.  If you write, I may respond, but it might take some time. \

Yes, I am work on this with professionals.

LTC challenge begins

Here are a few more LTCs that I have come across cleaning up my work room

 

The Challenge: 
Create something out of "discarded items

As I was going through some of my craft work I came across a box of stamps I carved.  I have been given a challenge to create an LTC from my "odds and ends."  This comes from me suggesting that these items are not really useful.  So here is the stamp she pulled.  I have a tub of misc. stuff.  I plan to make a dozen of these babies.  However, I need to figure out who this is.  I know it is Star Trek.  New game.  I'll keep you up to date.

Work  Room:

Here is the progress on the organizing.  I sorted paper by color and started to fill these tubs with like items. 

 

 

 

Couponing Day 3

 

You have decided to coupon,  you have coupons, are organized by your primary store, have a copy and have read the coupon policy - Good Job!

 

The trick is to know your budget.  In the first 2-3 months decide how much you can spend for your coupon shopping.  Remember in a few months you will have "stock" so you can decrease the shopping.  This is where you save big $$$$$.

 

Lets say you have $20.00 to add for couponing each week.  You will spend this money on items that are on sale that you have a coupon for. 

 

Watch the sales. If you have a coupon for 75 cents off Ragu.  The store has Ragu on sale fpr 2 for 3.00.  You use 2 coupons getting 1.50 off the 3.00.  So the Ragu is 75 cents each. 

 

Remember that Dollar Tree and Dollar General also take coupons.  If you have $1.00 off Pine Sol and Dollar Tree has Pine Sol.  Yep it is free.  (except tax) you still have to pay the tax.  When you find a deal like this.  Use all the coupons you have.  This is how your stock pile begins. 

 

Football

Today is Super Bowl Sunday

For the first time in over a dozen years I am not throwing a party.  Timothy and I will be going to a party, but not hosting.  Looking forward to cooking up some yummy goodness for the party. 

Taking 3 dishes.  Spinach dip with sweet bread, chipotle tacos, and hot chicken spread with crackers. 


Spinach dip

1 package frozen spinach (thawed)
1 sour cream (med size)
2 granny smith apples diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 package of hidden Valley ranch powder
tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 finely diced red bell pepper
mix in bowl and serve chilled


Chipotle tacos

5 lbs of ground beef ( I use lean)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 onions diced
8 dried chipotle chilies
2 Anaheim chilies diced  (remove seeds)

brown the meat (drain), add salt, pepper, onions, and Anaheim chilies. simmer for 20 min.
boil the chipotle chilies in 2 cups of water.  Sift out chilies.  Keep the juice.  Pour it over meat and continue to simmer for 15 min. I serve it with tortillas and cheese


Hot Chicken Spread

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package cream cheese
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
12 oz of Hot sauce (your choice)

boil 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - drain off water
Place cream cheese in food processor and chop it until smooth, add cheddar cheese, add hot sauce.  When mixed up very well add the chicken breast one at a time. Add salt and pepper to taste.  heat until bubbles on edges.

The Super Bowl is right in the middle of organization for my work room.  This room holds my crafts, jewelry making items, letterboxing stuff, sewing, basket making, and David's Bible study items. This one space has many uses and must be organized. Right now it is a hot mess.  So the creative juices will be working in overtime this next week.

Couponing Day 2

So now you have thought about saving a few dollars or not.  Where do you go from here.  Well you need to decide how much time are you going to give for couponing.  For the past 10 years I gave myself a few hours a week at home and limited my shopping trips to one hour shopping then get in line.  Now that I have more time I am giving myself 5 hours a week to cut and organize my coupons, two hours shopping.  Remember you still have to put all your buys away. 

Remember it takes awhile a few months to get stocked up.  So don't get discouraged!!!

I use a binder and baseball card sheets to organize my book.  However you do it is up to you.  My best advice is to organize by isles of your primary store.  If you shop at target, organize you book how you go through the store.  Same goes with Baker's, Hy-Vee, etc.

All the baking and coffee might be on the same isle then in your "organizing" you can put the Bisquick next to the Folgers.  will help when shopping so you don't have to go back and flip through your coupons.

Ask the store "help" desk for their coupon policy.  It might be on line.  Read it and keep it handy.

Good food and money saved





A wonderful day

There is something to be said about good friends. 

What a JOY!!!!

Spending time with friends who have the same values, beliefs, and love for others as you do is rewarding all in its own, but to create wonderful, tasty, and completely homemade Tamales - Bonus!

 

 

cooked peppers



assembly line of stuffing



rolled and ready for steaming

COUPONS

 

I have been (big) couponing for almost 10 years.  Recently I have been asked again on how to get started. So I will give a brief how to get yourself going for the next week.

I look at every dollar saved as less work for David, who is the primary provider in the home.  If there is a way to save I'll look it over.  I try to never, ever pay full price for anything.   (OK- emergencies do come up, but those are special occasions). 

So back to couponing:  Even if you don't carry a binder of coupons and are just trying to save a dollar here and there - there is money to be saved. 

Coupons can be found online, papers, magazines, pullies (on items being sold), and offered at stores (there are more, but this is where most people get their coupons).  Look at the coupons available to you. If you never look you wont use them and them won't save anything.  If you use something that you have a coupon for keep that coupon.  Look at the other items, have you tried them?  If you are willing to try new items cut those coupons and keep those too.

Items I rarely pay for or pay very little for:
deoderant
toothpaste
toothbrushes
shampoo
conditioners

A Big Day Ahead

  

Today we are making Tamales!!!!  YUM!!!!

Excitement is mounting as we are preparing to get together with a good friend of mine to make yummy yummy homemade Tamales!  Pictures tomorrow.

 

 

- - - - - -

 

Timothy has suffered from night terrors regularly for about 6 months.  Over the past month they have gotten better.   Last night he was up from 1:30- 5:30 in the morning. That means I was up with him.  We rocked, read, counted, and then started again.  My husband left for work at 5:30 this morning so we were awake when he was up getting ready to leave.  Probably very good for Timothy.  As soon as David left Timothy crashed.  He was out - Slept well. Having no where to be this morning I thought I would sleep until he woke me up.  I woke up to hear Vrrrroooomm.  Vroom then giggles.  There he was playing with his cars in my bed.  Notice them lined up.

(so glad my phone was on the headboard or I would have missed this moment)

 

 

 

 More LTCs

 

Bothers me that the accents of these cards do not show up very well.  They look plain.

  However, here are a few more LTCs 

 

Bridge

 

I have some of theses to trade

Shells

 

 

Cat in the Hat

- - - - - -

 

Proverbs 1:8-19
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
⁹ They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them.
¹¹ If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for innocent blood,
let’s ambush some harmless soul; ¹² let’s swallow them alive, like the grave,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;  ¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder; ¹⁴ cast lots with us; we will all share the loot”—
¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; ¹⁶ for their feet rush into evil,
they are swift to shed blood. ¹⁷ How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it!
¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush only themselves!
¹⁹ Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it.