We are a little bunch - hopefully growing soon - fully reliant on the Lord to see us through. We have been homeschooling for 3 years and plan on continuing as long as the Lord allows us to! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 14 May 2008 08:44:00 -0500 Wed, 14 May 2008 08:44:00 -0500 I had started a giveaway Monday and unfortunatly I have to postpone it until this upcoming Sunday. The weather down here has been horrible the past couple of days - with tornado warnings, very high winds, and thunderstorms. Along with that, the internet connection here is very slow - it took me over 2 hours to upload some of the pictures I took to the server I keep them on! So the giveaway will start this upcoming Sunday in full force. I don't know if anyone will even participate, but I thought I would just let those of you who do read this know. I will try to get on here later to post about our vacation thus far - it has been a very wierd one indeed! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/532030/ Wed, 14 May 2008 08:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/532030/ YES - that is a picture of a Sonic Menu/Ordering Board.... I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is one of the things I am looking forward to hitting on our little trip. As a child my parents used to get us Slushes as a special treat on weekends. We don't have any where I live now, so having one again will be a special treat for me. I tell you, it's the simple things that God gave us that I enjoy the most! I really enjoy the drive of the trip just as much as I enjoy the location we are headed to. My husband is more the "let's leave before the sun rises and stop only once" kind of person - which makes long car trips interesting for us. We go up to Vermont every year during the summer and stay at my husband's family's cabin during our stay. He usually traveled up with his brother a few days early and help set everything up. They woke up and left by 6am, stopped once for a combined gas/potty/food break, and arrived between 12 and 1 o'clock in the afternoon. My daughter and I would finish taking care of things at home and leave a few days later. Our trip was broken up into two days! The first day's drive would consist of about 5 hours of driving and about 3 hours of stopping. We stop at a rest stop in Conneticut for my daughter to get out and stretch her legs (I bring bubbles to blow at these locations to help get her runnig around), stop at our favorite restaurant for a late lunch in Massachusetts, check into the hotel around 5pm, unpack, take a swim, and head over to the Cracker Barrel for a late dinner. The next morning we eat breakfast, pack up, and continue the rest of our drive stopping at a few more places along the way. So different than my husband's ideal travel! So, yes I am excited to stop at Sonic and to get a Slush, I am excited to take pictures of trees and structures (bridges and such), and I am excited to simply sit back and enjoy the long drive down to OBX. I see the drive as part of the trip - not just the means to getting to a destination... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/528973/ Thu, 8 May 2008 06:33:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/528973/ I disappeared from the blogging world there for a couple of days because life got so busy. We are preparing for our vacation and trying to get things together before we leave - our house, our new home, schoolwork, etc... Our realtor was able to work out the details in the extra fee that the sellers were holding off on telling us about. Everything worked out in our favor! We will have to face some of the extra fee but the sellers agreed to pay a larger portion of it! Thank God for his grace and thank all of you who had prayed about the situation for us! Yesterday we had the inspection for the house. The man doing the inspection said that it was in wonderful condition - there were a few minor things that need to be repaired, but not much. There were also no insect problems and apparently the house had never been treated for any problems in the past, which the inspector said was a really good sign! All in all the house is in great condition - Thank God! We are now out of attorney review and I think the next step is for the sellers to go over what has to be fixed in the house - after that, I honestly don't know what happens. We are leaving for vacation to the Outer Banks on Saturday morning. Leading up to the vacation every year I tell myself that I don't need to start getting things settled until about a week before - and every year I make myself crazy for a week before vacation. This week happens to also be filled with things outside the house that have to be taken care of and I just feel so overwhelmed. I need to shift my focus though to be grateful that God has given us the ability to go on vacation instead of feeling weighed down by the tasks that need to be completed. I came up with the brilliant idea that it would be better if we came home from vacation to a very cleaned house. Why I create extra work for myself, I am just unsure of! The first task I am currently in the process of is emptying the closets of all winter items and putting them in vacuum storage bags to save some space and make it easier for the move. This turned out to be a bigger task than I first assumed though as I had worked most of the morning and some of the evening hours on it. I know that it will make things easier for when we return, so I will drudge on and finish it up tomorrow. I was surprised to see how much fit into the space saver bags. I am seriously contemplating opening one up and taking a picture of it before and after the air is vacuumed out - we'll see if I get the gumption to do it tomorrow and post the pictures here. Well, I'm off to plan schoolwork for my little one... I'll try to contain myself from the excitement of it all . http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/527905/ Tue, 6 May 2008 20:54:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/527905/ Please head over to Money Saving Mommy and check out her posts for making CVS work for you! She has a side tab to start with entitled "CVS 101" - and I found out today what I had been missing!! 1st Trip: 2 All Concentrate Laundry Detergent = $6.49 (BOGO) 2 Aquafresh Advance Whitening Toothpastes = $5.98 ($2.99 each) Total = $15.46 - $1/1 Aquafresh Toothpaste Coupon - $1/1 Aquafresh Toothpaste Coupon - $1/1 Aquafresh Toothpaste Coupon - $1.50/2 All Liquid Detergent Coupon - $3/$15 CVS Coupon - $2 Store Credit (given to me by MIL) =$5.96 + Total of $5.98 Earned ECB! 2nd Trip: 2 All Concentrate Laundry Detergent = $6.49 (BOGO) 3 CVS Allergy Tablets = $11.37 ($3.79 each) =$17.86 - $1/1 All Liquid Detergent Coupon - $3/$15 CVS Coupon - $5.98 ECB = $7.88 + Total of $11.37 ECB Earned! 3rd Trip: 1 Aquafresh Advanced Whitening Toothpaste = $2.99 = $2.99 - $1/1 Aquafresh Toothpaste Coupon = $1.99 + Total of $2.99 ECB Earned So in the end I paid $15.83 out of pocket and was left with a total of $14.36 ECB!! So I ended up with only $1.46 difference! Over $46.50 in groceries was only $1.46 in the end with the store weekly specials, ECBs, and coupons clipped and found on the web. Now run over to Money Saving Mommy's sight so you can play the CVS game too!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/526729/ Sat, 3 May 2008 21:46:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/526729/ I just have to make this short because it is getting pretty late and we have had such a long day that I am exhausted. Well, if you have read any of my previous posts, we just started the process of purchasing our first home. To make a long story as short, we have been in limbo with attorney review for the past week waiting on further information on any known future assessment payments on the house. We are purchasing a condo and there are regular condo fees, but they are renovating the community and there is an extra charge for the next two years. This was previously known to us and ok because the renovations would help raise the selling price when we go to sell the property. Today though, I called the Condo Management group to ask a few questions (I'm a researcher at heart) and came out of the conversation with a shock... apparently they have accepted a proposal that would charge the homeowners another set of fees, starting in 2 years. These aren't just fees though - it's robbery... They are charging each homeowner approximately $13,000. They expect it in one payment or financed over the course of 10 years (about $2000 in interest fees)!! After I called my realtor in a panic - she did her work with the attorney and research on her end. After we got off the phone, oddly enough, the seller's realtor called ours and asked why we were holding up the attorney review! Our realtor explained to her that we were actually awaiting the sellers to fill out the paperwork for any known future assessments - to which the seller's realtor said there was no way that they could know what was coming in the future. At the end of the day the other realtor lied to us about not knowing about the huge fee being implement - and evaded the truth when asked directly. So we gave them two scenarios - 1) They pay the $13,000 and we purchase the house or 2) We cancel our contract and keep looking for another house. I can't say how disappointed I am - I loved this condo... LOVED! I also can't say how upset I am that people would avidly avoid the truth and lie about something so major. It is above (or below) my comprehension. I know and fully trust that we will end up where God wants us - but sometimes that understanding doesn't completely ease the feeling of loosing something you really liked. We shall see if they choose to pay the amount for the sale of their house. To be honest - if it were me, I wouldn't pay it - so I'm not expecting the process of purchasing it to continue. But if it were me I would also have been honest from the start... To put it in my daughter's words "They're just really stinky"!! Thank for reading this ranting post... I just needed to get it all out ... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/525291/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:59:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/525291/ Well since I was confessing yesterday I figured I should just go ahead and blurt out another confession today... I stink at following our budget... Stink with a capital "S"!! I know my weaknesses - coffee, Target (who doesn't go into that store and not walk out with 10 items you didn't go in for and without the 1 thing you needed!!), and eating out. Things that could very easily be avoided - but I normally give in to temptation to spend the little $4 on cup of coffee and convince myself that $4 is not that much in the grand picture... well $4 three times a week is $12 - which adds up to $48 per month!!!! I know this is not biblical living - especially since my hubby has had conversations with me about how we need to stick to the budget and how/why on earth I spent so much. I pray every night to become the wonderful biblical woman that God created me to be, but I still give into the desire to spend some money unwisely, and I don't know why!! So today I have decided to just put it all behind me. Lord, forgive me for the sins I have had with mismanaging the money you have so generously given to us and for the sins of disobeying my husband's repeated requests to not spend money on compulsive things. I know that if I seek you instead of the frivolous items of this world I will start again down the path of becoming the woman that you created me to be. Dear Lord, please mold my heart to become the frugal woman of Proverbs 31 more and more every day that passes. Thank you mighty God! Amen. Something I will change or give up to help save money: I fill the coffee travel mug or water bottle @ home Plan out the menus 1 week in advance Give up my trips to the nail salon. I know it seems really silly, but in the area in which we live this is not considered a luxuary, but a necessity. Well, at least it is assumed to be - even my husband deemed it a necessity... Yea, that confused me too . Stay home more through the weekdays - take trips out 1 day a week to run all errands and try to plan extra errands around my daughter's activities. I know there are more - but these are my weak points that need the most attention right now. In my surfing of the wonderful web today I have been lead to some sites that have an amazing amount of tips, coupon links, and inexpensive recipes. I have listed links below to their blogs/sites. Money Saving Mom Be Centsable Biblical Womanhood Hope you enjoy and find it as useful as I did! Many Blessings!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/524642/ Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/524642/ Planning the rest of the week's schoolwork for my dd Cleaning the "hot-spots" in my house Packing away winter clothes Preparing the meal plan for our vacation (in 2 wks) Exercising But I'm not... Today was such a busy "outside the house day" with my daughter that I feel I sort of deserve the down time. We participate in a Co-Op through the month and today was one of those days. I love it so much - and it's wonderful for my daughter - but it's exhausting!  I realized that I haven't been the best 100% mommy as of late. Maybe a little harsh on myself, but with all of the changes and commotion in the family, I have really felt pulled down. Normally my daughter goes to Co-Op, Field Trips, Gymnastics, and two youth groups at church - but lately we have barely made it to Gymnastics and one youth group. I can't use life changes as an excuse anymore though because we are missing out on too much... I should be able to put things behind me and know God will take care of them. I know our lives are full but I have to make sure that my focus remains on what will be lasting in the long run - my family - and not the worry about the small stuff. So this is me - admitting my mistakes and knowing I have to make alterations on my energies and the focus of my heart. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/523938/ Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:19:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/523938/ I came across this post as I was surfing around this evening. Hope you enjoy! Proverbs 31 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/522999/ Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:04:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/522999/ Our offer on the house was accepted Tuesday! I wanted to wait until we were in Attorney Review to post anything - just incase things fell through. If everything goes as planned we will be closing around May 30th, which gives us a lot of time to set up everything as we want and move in slowly. Last night I just broke down crying because of the worry I am having with the budget. I am a numbers cruncher and have our budget worked out a year in advance at all times. I worked forever, and still work part time, at a bank - finance is just part of me! We already have a plan to help build our savings back up, but putting so much money into the house worries me. The savings account is security to me and giving a large sum of it away is just slightly unsettling. I know it’s for an investment, and that it’s a buyer’s market so it‘s in our favor to act now - but it is still just hard to part with. Don’t get me wrong, after working with money for so long, I see what negative and positive things it can do to/for people - and personally I hate $$. I usually don’t worry about it - if it‘s the one thing I don‘t worry about. I usually have a great understanding that God will always make things work (even if just barely) for us financially. He always has. But I digress - seeing such a large amount go is worrisome to me. My husband has been all smiles and excited about the house though. He has taken care of all of the calls, handling the lawyer, the mortgage paperwork, etc… I thought he just wasn’t worried about the changes at all. Last night when I got so upset, he held me close and tried to make me feel better assuring me that it would all work out. God never gives you more than you can handle and we both felt Him leading us in this direction. After I calmed down a little he looked at me and told me that he needs me to be excited about this - to be happily planning, start packing, be excited about decorating a new home. I didn’t think about how much pressure he was under with handling all of the logistics of the house and working full time and taking two evening college courses. He reminded me that I needed to build him up along this journey because of the paperwork and demands he is facing - and my little breakdown, in a sense, was breaking him down. Anyway, I just have to be reminded that God will see us through all things and not to worry, but pray about everything. Those bible verses I wrote down earlier this week are such a blessing at this point. I will prayerfully help keep building up my husband and remain (or go back to being) a positive assistant to his needs! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/522115/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/522115/ Today was one of those days that felt busy as it was passing, but when this evening hit I realized I didn't get much done. My daughter completed most of her schoolwork in the morning and early afternoon hours without fussing or procrastinating. She just grabbed her checklist sheet after her morning chores and sat down to do work. Thank the good Lord for this because I really needed a relaxing mental mommy day. I figured with all of her hard work done diligently, she deserved a fun afternoon snack. I found a clever way of making roasted marshmallows on Melissa’s blog (Our Busy Little World) and thought it would be a nice treat for my daughter. We set our toaster/convection oven to Broil, placed a few marshmallows on tin foil, and let them brown for a couple of minutes. She really enjoyed our inside smores - so did I! Our Roasty-Toasty Marshmallows Who knew our convection oven had so many wonderful purposes! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/521381/ Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:08:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PathToProverbs31/521381/