A few weeks ago one of my Instagram friends posted a picture of a book she was going to read. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I was intrigued, so I ordered it for myself. She then decided to do sort of an Instagram book club with it as a few of us joined in. Little did I know what I'd be getting myself into.
Ann talks about Eucharisteo. Meaning giving thanks. We all tend to think about our blessings at least once a year. Thanksgiving Day. Maybe even the entire month of November. I don't want to ruin it by talking about it too much, but let me just say this... My eyes have been opened to so so much. My heart has been opened to receive the joy that eucharisteo manifests. I can't put into words the change in me. The realization of so many things on so many levels. Never has the breeze blowing making the leaves fall like rain, put me in the very realm of God. Not until after reading this. The very presence of God is where I've always enjoyed being, and true thanksgiving will get you there real quick. I'm so very thankful for Ann and her book, and for my IG friend for posting it. The way God works never ceases to amaze me. I'm sure my IG friend had no idea He was using her to send me a message...just in time.
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For the last few days Clayton and I have been in Galveston for classes he has to take for work. I never seem to be able to sleep well in Hotels, even though the beds are oh so comfy!! I guess it's just because I don't have any interruptions, so my mind can actually slow down enough to focus on one thing at a time. once I'm focused on something, it's hard to distract me. Even if that means sleeping.
So last night after my devotions, I started getting app happy. Love freebies! I came across (and downloaded) so many, I still haven't had a chance to really investigate them to the core. I wanted to share with you some of the ones I love so far.
Path. Its sort of Instagram meets Facebook meets Twitter. I'm loving it, but it can get messy on my phone. I really enjoy it more on my iPad. Much cleaner, but still the phone version is very cool. Check it out.
Iplan apps. There's a lot of those. I haven't gotten deep deep into them all yet, but I do have a journal entry from Iplanjournal QT. I saw tonight where I could email the entries to myself, which is a plus.
One I'm checking out right now is called JesusLife. I can't even begin to explain that one to our just yet, but it looks amazing!
Think I'll get to that now.
Blogging tomorrow.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Breaking Bad Habits - Spending Money - Part 1
I'm so thankful for Clayton's job. We have moaned and groaned about it because it takes sacrifice and lots of it to be able to handle him being away for 6 months out of the year, every other month. Moaned and groaned instead of being thankful for it. He makes a great living for us. By far we are not rich, but we have been able to go and blow without a second thought. A lot. It has formed a very terrible habit. Blowing. Exactly that.
It hasn't been until we fear for his job when we decide to get tight with finances. It lasts for only a short time when we realize we are in the clear of him losing his job. Then it's back to our old ways.
We've often wondered how we made it back when our household income was less than $1000 a month with 6 littles running around and no help from the government. It's then when I realized our wants weren't so grand, our greed not so intense. Greed. OUCH!
Frugal living. I want to get back to that. We want to get back to that. After all, that's when we were a closer knit family. We had to entertain one another because that's all we had. That's all we knew. All the gadgets and gizmos we have acquired throughout the years only take up space and eat up family time like a blood thirsty vampire. And I don't mean the sparkling kind.
It's pretty sad when you try to make out a Christmas list and even your 12 year old child has everything she could possible want. It's like a relationship moving too fast. Once you've done it all, what's there to look forward to? My 15 year old is wanting a car. She's 15. She doesn't need a car right now. She's not getting a car right now. The fact that she even put that on her Christmas list and was serious about it shows she's spoiled beyond belief. Sad.
I never pay attention to prices of groceries. Never. Today, I decided to. I picked up a 5.5lb. package of ground chuck and looked at the price. I seriously couldn't believe what I saw! $18.98. For ground beef? That's $3.45 per pound! I really honestly thought it was around $1.49 at the highest. Do you realize how many times a whole package of that meat has been put in my freezer without dividing it, so when I go to cook it, I have to thaw the entire package? How many times I have forgotten about the extra I didn't cook and it sat in my fridge until it ruined? Do you realize? Ugh, it sickens me!
So, on a positive note, I'm going to strive to live like we did back in the day. The best I can.
So far so good. Except the groceries. We went to Houston today to take Morgan to the bus stop. I avoided Hobby Lobby. That took a bit of self discipline, though I know there's not one thing in that store I HAVE to have. I bought a $4 journal for the book I'm reading from Office Max. That was my splurge. I spent close to $500 on groceries that won't even last the entire month. I absolutely did not buy any junk food. I refrained from the chocolate chip cookies. I refrained from giving into the kids' "needs" for anything processed. Yet, it didn't seem like I bought anything out of the ordinary. Apparently we are huge eaters here. That's what my jeans say anyway.
I'd like my wallet to be thicker than my gut, guys.
I'll be looking over our ignored budget tomorrow and getting back on track with it.
So, that's it. The two bad habits I'll be working on this month ~ NOT COOKING BREAKFAST and SPENDING MONEY.
Wish me luck, pray for me, whatever you think will help.
Now, I must go turn off some lights in rooms not used at the moment.
Car. Yeah, right.
It hasn't been until we fear for his job when we decide to get tight with finances. It lasts for only a short time when we realize we are in the clear of him losing his job. Then it's back to our old ways.
We've often wondered how we made it back when our household income was less than $1000 a month with 6 littles running around and no help from the government. It's then when I realized our wants weren't so grand, our greed not so intense. Greed. OUCH!
Frugal living. I want to get back to that. We want to get back to that. After all, that's when we were a closer knit family. We had to entertain one another because that's all we had. That's all we knew. All the gadgets and gizmos we have acquired throughout the years only take up space and eat up family time like a blood thirsty vampire. And I don't mean the sparkling kind.
It's pretty sad when you try to make out a Christmas list and even your 12 year old child has everything she could possible want. It's like a relationship moving too fast. Once you've done it all, what's there to look forward to? My 15 year old is wanting a car. She's 15. She doesn't need a car right now. She's not getting a car right now. The fact that she even put that on her Christmas list and was serious about it shows she's spoiled beyond belief. Sad.
I never pay attention to prices of groceries. Never. Today, I decided to. I picked up a 5.5lb. package of ground chuck and looked at the price. I seriously couldn't believe what I saw! $18.98. For ground beef? That's $3.45 per pound! I really honestly thought it was around $1.49 at the highest. Do you realize how many times a whole package of that meat has been put in my freezer without dividing it, so when I go to cook it, I have to thaw the entire package? How many times I have forgotten about the extra I didn't cook and it sat in my fridge until it ruined? Do you realize? Ugh, it sickens me!
So, on a positive note, I'm going to strive to live like we did back in the day. The best I can.
So far so good. Except the groceries. We went to Houston today to take Morgan to the bus stop. I avoided Hobby Lobby. That took a bit of self discipline, though I know there's not one thing in that store I HAVE to have. I bought a $4 journal for the book I'm reading from Office Max. That was my splurge. I spent close to $500 on groceries that won't even last the entire month. I absolutely did not buy any junk food. I refrained from the chocolate chip cookies. I refrained from giving into the kids' "needs" for anything processed. Yet, it didn't seem like I bought anything out of the ordinary. Apparently we are huge eaters here. That's what my jeans say anyway.
I'd like my wallet to be thicker than my gut, guys.
I'll be looking over our ignored budget tomorrow and getting back on track with it.
So, that's it. The two bad habits I'll be working on this month ~ NOT COOKING BREAKFAST and SPENDING MONEY.
Wish me luck, pray for me, whatever you think will help.
Now, I must go turn off some lights in rooms not used at the moment.
Car. Yeah, right.
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