A Penny Saved, A Penny Earned

 What Operation: Grocery Plan looks like

Before Baby B arrived, I was working part-time as a Nanny and spending the rest of my time keeping house. One of my major duties is the grocery shopping, although let's just be upfront about this: I kind of love grocery shopping. It's a little sick. When I was first home from the hospital and my amazing husband was doing the shopping for us (and doing a terrific job, I might add) I might have missed it a teeny bit.....

I like to think that Husband and I are pretty fiscally responsible, due mostly to the wisdom and experience of the former, the organizational skills of the later, and a little Ramsey thrown in the mix to keep things interesting. So when I first clapped ears on the idea of couponing, menu planning, and the like, it sounded like the perfect fit. I gave it a whirl, and I got a little good at it - for a couple weeks. About the time I would get a good stock of coupons built up, I would lapse for a bit, and by the time I would pick it back up, they would all be expired and I would have to start all over again. Hello, revolving door of coupon mediocrity!

All the couponers I knew were from church or the Internet, and I remember thinking, "Well, they stay at home all day, so they have more time than I do and when I am a stay-at-home Mom, I'll have time to get better too." Ha! Go ahead, judge away, I so totally deserve it.
So here we are three months later, with me totally and completely thrilled to be staying home with my baby, but honestly missing the luxury of a few extra bucks in my pocket. I see all these inspiring bloggy moms who work from home, so I took a quick inventory of my marketable, stay-at-home skills. I taught piano lessons before Baby B came along, and I hope to do so again, but waiting for a baby to develop a routine is like waiting for water to boil. I don't make jewelry, paint, or "craft" (in the professional sense), and my sewing experience is limited to a middle school Home Ec class and a little inherited skill from my Mom. It would be great to make money with this blog someday - but today I have exactly 4 followers (Love y'all, by the way!) and 17 posts. There it is.

And then it hit me. Saving money! Saving money is a marketable skill. If I could shave a few bucks out of my grocery budget each week, that's at least a coffee with girlfriends or thirifting with my sisters, or saving up so Husband doesn't end up buying his own birthday present. Not to mention, the opportunity to live more generously.

My Coupon Center. It may not look like much, but I am a proud Mama.

So here is the mission: Shop sales, use coupons, and waste less. The rules:

1. I will not - okay - I will try to be obsess. This will not be one of the things I beat myself up about. This is just an exercise in good good stewardship and will be treated as such.
2. I will be respectful of cashiers and other shoppers.
3. I will not buy stuff we don't use, like a year supply of food for the dog we don't have (I'm looking at you TLC "Extreme Couponers") unless we can donate it.

So, there it is. Wish me luck!

What are some of the ways your family saves money? Any creative leftover ideas? As always, I love to hear from you!

TGIF

Well, I had a nice ambitious to-do list today, and I can't say I got it all done, but one thing I did manage is to give this blog a little kick in the pants....

Whaddya think?

Be sure to check out the new pages and such.

Have a fabulous weekend, Friends!

Time in a Bottle

From last Fall

Over on sweet Casey's Blog she talked recently of Fall. Of a little Fall craving to be exact. And it's odd, but I've been feeling the same way. When I was making my oatmeal this morning (I know what you're thinking "It's a million degrees outside, what is she doing making oatmeal?" But hey, my motto is "Buy what is cheap, use what you have" and oatmeal totally qualified this morning) I caught a sudden whiff of cinnamon and it was...magical. All the sudden I had this vision of our cozy house, plus Baby. It was just for a second, but it basically rocked.

Don't get me wrong, this summer has been pretty great so far. Baseball games with my guys, homemade barbecue, jean shorts and flip flops, yard sales, ice cold sweet tea, church picnics, the feeling you get when you walk in from the blaze and hit your first breeze of AC, and - despite the fact it's been mercilessly hot - very little complaining from me. Which is an accomplishment, people. Plus, that's not even counting the fun to come like Independence Day festivities and my birthday. So there's plenty to live for in the now.

But I just can't help it. Our lives have been turned upside down with the arrival of this little guy, and I can't help imagining all the great things to come. Really, just ordinary things that are there every year, but will be made so much sweeter by his presence. Cozy mornings, fragrant beverages, picking out gourds and pumpkins at the local farm stand, crisp walks, Halloween, Thanksgiving, lots of snuggling to "keep warm," and let us not ignore the behemoth - college football season. But it's like a treadmill. I can't think about all that without going further. His first Christmas, the lights - he will LOVE the lights, the music, the presents.......and then I stop.

Because this little guy is exploding before my eyes, getting bigger by the second, learning by the day, charming us all with his bashful flirting, and I cannot stand the thought of how quickly it's all happening. My little newborn is an infant, and that infant can already hold his head up and is so close to rolling over he can taste it. I think I'll take now, thanks :) 

Linking up with Casey Leigh today

Thank goodness for lazy days

Does anyone else have to make ultimatums with themselves concerning Pinterest?

"Okay, you're only going to stay on here until suchandsuch a time. Fine, 5 more minutes. Well, I guess you can finish this board, then get off. Look, if you just get off and clean something, then you can get back on. That's it - off, NOW!"

No, just me? Okay...

P.S. Stay tuned for a new link party to give you a good excuse to indulge in the Pinteresting we all know and love :)

Linking up with this Lovely Lady

Control Freak

After almost 24 years, I think I am coming to terms with having a Type A personality. I never really would have admitted that growing up. I mean, I tend to be non-confrontational, I'd rather follow than lead, and if someone has to give up their way to make the group happy, I'm your gal (which, before you get the idea that I'm bragging about this, it comes with it's bag of flaws I can assure you). But then there's the fact that if the counter between our kitchen and living area gets a little cluttered, I feel like the whole house is messy. I arrange my groceries on the conveyor belt into groupings at the check out stand and get a little miffed when the cashier totally disregards my system. I adore all things list, routine, and organization. And I always (and I mean always) have to put my sugar in my coffee before my cream. I know, I'm an underground control freak.

So, imagine my surprise when this translated to my recent excursion in parenting. Shocking, I know. I made what I have found to be a common mistake and I read, and read, read, and researched, and read, and researched some more. Routines, "Attachment Parenting," "Eat-Sleep-Play," "co-sleeping," "Combination Parenting," "self-soothing," "cry it out," bad habits, good habits, you name it - the list goes on and on. And after three months, with a little help from the wiser Mommas around me, I seem to have deprogrammed myself a bit. Things happen in the Vacuum in Pearls household at a much more peaceful pace, thank goodness! But there's always something lurking on the horizon.

Last week I was putting B in his car seat, picking him up from the nursery at church and an older baby walked over and dropped a toy (a not-soft toy!) in B's face before even my reflexes had time to react. It happened in a split second. B was, obviously, upset (as was his Papa Bear Daddy) but there was no physical damage done - not even a mark. But I was devastated. I just couldn't get over the fact that I "let" it happen. "I was right there! What could I have done differently? Maybe if I had just....? I'm supposed to protect him!" I'm guessing if you're a Mom, you know the drill. It appears that, even though I'm recovering from my need to control B's routine, I've only just begun my journey in giving up the need to control his safety, his welfare, and his happiness.

Please, don't mistake me! As Mothers it IS our duty to keep our children safe, to do our utmost to protect them, to keep bad things away. But we can't be there every second. And, apparently, even when we are there, we cannot control every scenario. Sometimes kids will walk up behind you while you're strapping your sweet, precious baby into his seat, and they will accidentally hurt your child. And it isn't even remotely your fault. It's no body's fault. It's the way the world works. B has his very first infection this week. And there's nothing I can do about the fact that my child got sick. I can cuddle him when he's restless, give him his medicine, and clean out his little nose to make him feel better, but I cannot control his upper respiratory system. You know what I mean?

Here's the good news: God is in control. The world is not some random room of toddlers waiting to throw stuff on my kid. It is a place set in motion and kept by a loving, powerful Creator. Does that mean bad stuff won't happen? No. But it does mean that there is Someone who knows all about it, and will be there when it does.

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast {whose thoughts are fixed on You} because they trust in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord Himself, is the Rock Eternal." Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV {NLT}

So, as I rinse B's pacifier off for the umpteenth time today and frantically wonder what kind of germs and particles it could have come in contact with, and whether I should I sterilize it - again, I will take a breath, fix my thoughts on the Rock Eternal, and remember that I cannot control the micro-sphere.

Linking up with this Lovely Lady today

Lesson Learned, Life Enjoyed

Fathers Day Feast

Good morning Friends! It's almost 11am on a Monday morning, and I'm just beginning to start my day. Don't get me wrong, as the mother of a three-month-old, I've been up for hours (and hours, and hours) but those hours didn't seem to be filled with the things I originally planned. No dishes were put away, no countertops wiped down, no floors vacuumed, no workout done, no junk from the weekend put back where it goes. I did manage to choke down some leftovers and there is a load of B's laundry singing in the dryer, but on a whole the morning could seem like a disappointment.

  

Until I think about what I have been up to. I've been holding, feeding, singing to, and soothing a slightly-crankier-than-usual-because-he's-sick B. I've been accidentally dozing off for some much needed rest after a nightly feeding that turned into a diaper changing, bed re-making incident thanks to a wet diaper that went rouge. And I've been sneaking in some much needed Bible study.

I think like a lot of Proverbs 31 Woman Wannabes (well, at least I hope I'm not the only one), I don't give myself very much grace. I even tend to equate my value as a wife, and maybe even as a woman of God, by the things I can get done, by how clean my house is, by how put together I am. Especially now that I have the awesome privilege of staying home full time, I put even more pressure on myself because I need to be "pulling my weight." Wow, sounds pretty silly when I type it all out like that, but nevertheless, there it is. And it's funny, too because God didn't put that pressure on me. H doesn't put that pressure on me. And as long as B is fed several times a day I'm pretty sure he doesn't care how many chores I mark off my to-do list.

You know what's funny about the Proverbs 31 Woman? She's like a house-keeping, home-making machine, but you know what her crowning achievement is? Her fear of the Lord. See, no one can DO all that by themselves. Mere mortals can only accomplish so much in a day and keep their relationships, not to mention their sanity, stable. It's God who gave me this incredible task of caring for my family and keeping my home, and it's His job to help me tie up the lose ends. If things go undone, then they were meant to go undone. If the dishes sit in the sink for 24 hours, the world will not come crumbling to an end.

Now, I'm not talking about sitting on the couch, eating potato chips, and watching CSI reruns all day. I'm talking about priorities, about reveling in every little moment I get to spend with my baby, about not being exhausted when my Husband gets home, and about doing my very best to get the rest done, and giving myself grace when I can't. Can I get an "Amen" from the other exhausted, perfectionist housewives? Thank you.

You know what? My life basically rocks. I didn't do any housework all weekend except for a few dishes, but you know what I did do? H and I took B to his very first baseball game. We watched movies in our pajamas. We got our Red Robin on with my Family for Fathers Day. H took me to Baskin Robins for my first scoop of Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream in about 7 years (Thank you BOGO coupon!). We kissed, and cuddled B and enjoyed all his new 3-month-old tricks. I enjoyed my first Sunday back on the worship team since B's arrival. We traipsed all over town looking for a Mexican grocery store so I could get some Apple Soda (more on this in a later post). I made H his favorite dinner (which is fried salmon patties, cornbread, and veggies, in case you were wondering) for his very first Fathers Day. And you know how many times I wished my dining room table was cleared off? Exactly zero. Case in point.

I'm pretty sure it's not just me out on this ledge, and if you're there with me, I encourage yourself to give yourself a break today. Know what I mean? And for those of you older and wiser than I, what are some of the ways to keep your balance? 

Thanks Friends, enjoy your Monday! I've got me some chubby baby cheeks to nuzzle...

<

What it's About

I have to admit that, while I haven't been posting much lately, you can pretty much guarantee that I'm getting my daily blog fix. There are about half a dozen blogs that I follow with a vengeance, and they're almost always great, but recently I've read a few posts that have shot through the screen, directly to my heart. They have moved me, encouraged me, and inspired me to act, either spiritually or in my home life. I think people outside the blogging community can underestimate the significance of what a good, godly blogger can do. I know that I myself have struggled with my purpose as a blogger, and have even resisted posting because I'm still unsure of why I'm here.

I know what you're thinking, "Enough with the hyperactive self-awareness lady! Stop being so melodramatic and post already!" I agree. Just one more. Those ladies who have spoken truth into me made me realize what I want. Why I'm here. They didn't preach or sermonize. It wasn't anything complicated or wordy. They just spoke about their kids, were honest about their struggles, or shared a little practical advice. I want to be that for someone else. Good, God-centered blogging should be about lifting each other up, pushing each other forward, and even meeting someone where they are so that they walk away saying"Hey, I'm not he only one!" Even just sharing life with them, building community. It's all valid, and important. Do I ave scripture to back it up? Not this second. But I know that God has been speaking to me through you and I so hope He'll do the same through me. Sure, it might be as simple as a recipe or a revelation on motherhood, but those things are good and someone needs to hear them. Know what I mean?

So, I'm back. Sure, I've got an infant an enjoy, which poses some time constraints, but I'll be around. I'm so excited about being a part of a community of friends like you. Thanks for listening :)

Linking up with this lovely lady!