Budgeting Tool

You may remember me talking about using Mvelopes.  I used it as a tool to get out of debt and also as the primary tool for our household budgeting.  It is now FREE!  You can find it at Crown Financial - which is a super fantastic, Biblically-based website that will help you in your financial goals.  Hey, thank me later! =)

"Yes E_____?" I responded to the little hand of a first grader with awesome red hair, adorable freckes, serious blue-green eyes and a smile that is missing a few teeth.  He paused a moment, like he always does when I call on him.  "Do you ever feel like God is watching you?"  He glanced out the window as he said it.  "Yes, I do." I replied.  "I feel that way a lot.  Does that feeling make you feel nervous or feel happy?"  He said, "It makes me happy.  Sometimes I look at the sky and just know He is looking down at me."  Me too, E.....me too.

Just Some Housekeeping...

If you use my blog list over on the right to get to different blogs, I did some rearranging.  The blogs are all still there and I have added some new ones.  However, they will now be in order of the most recently updated instead of alphabetical.  =)

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Photo Source

Pinterest is a wonderful invention.  If for no other reason, I love Pinterest because it introduced me to the perfect, most delicious, amazing chocolate chip cookies!  (You know me and my love of junk food!)  This recipe calls for an inordinate amount of work to be placed into these delicious confections...but chocolate chip cookies are so worth it. =)  

This recipe calls for interesting steps such as changing mixer attachments for different jobs of mixing in the recipe, adding the chocolate chips before adding the flour, putting the cookies on the cookie sheet and then refrigerating them for half an hour before baking, plus more.  Honestly, I looked at all the steps and thought really?  those things are really going to matter?  Then I remembered......chocolate chip cookies are so worth it. =)  

If you want to make the Perfect. Chocolate. Chip. Cookies, just visit  this website.  They will tell you all you need to know. =)  (It's worth it.)

Does Couponing Still Work?

Recently, I have heard some bemoan the fact that coupons just aren't what they used to be from even just six months ago.  I can't say for sure whether or not that is true, but I thought you might be interested in hearing what the Krazy Coupon Lady would have to say about the subject:



As much as I do find coupons to be helpful in some areas, there are some types of food, etc., that just do not ever have coupons!  On top of that, couponing does take time and effort and discipline.  If I had to choose only one way to save money on groceries, I would have to choose using my price list.

The price list is the list of the items I normally buy.  I put down my lowest price and always shoot to beat that that cost.  Of course, the longer I have the list, the less I will beat my prices because I will truly have found the rock-bottom cost. (I also include the store where I found that price and also the date). There have been times when I thought I knew I was getting a good deal on something only to check my price list and realize that it wasn't that great after all and I chose to wait for it to be cheaper before buying. If I do not have time to cut coupons or sort them or whatever, I still always have my price list that I update every so often and it helps me to realize whether I am getting a good deal or not.

It is always a good thing to try to create more money in the budget by cutting costs on groceries.  I don't always have time to invest in all of the tricks available to me - though I still do it often-ish.  Creating the price list was time consuming in the beginning but it takes very little time now and it has proven invaluable!

From Pigs to Cows

This is the latest addition to the family.  This animal has no name but it sure is cute!

The Atheist convicts the Christian...

Singer Sewing Machine - Old School

I am trying to decide whether or not to buy this elderly machine.  I am new at sewing and need something non-plastic(ish) and tough to use.  Clearly, it only does the basics.  So do I! Anyone out there with experience and good advice about these sorts of things?

Missions Week 2012

Every year, at the school where I now teach, they have Missions Week.  Yesterday was the kickoff and it will continue through Friday.

As a kid, I was terrified I was going to be asked by God to go to......a particular country.  =)  It is a country with a culture so completely different from my own, that I was sure it would just be terrrrrriiibbbllllleeee!!!!!  I was quite paranoid about it.

As a direct result of where I went to college, I eventually came to view foreign missions and the people who serve as some of the most interesting, exciting acquaintances one could ever make.  This week has reminded me of this fact once again.

If you want adventure, listen to a missionary.  If you want your faith to be proven and increased, hang out with a missionary.  The stories could go on all night!

This week, I have introduced my students to Touching Lives for Christ.  This organization gives these kids a chance to go for a short-term missions trip during the summer for 2-4 weeks.  It was so fun to tell them all about the trips available and see the excitement grow.  Of course, they will see their first missionary miracle if they can raise the funds to go on one of these trips....but that's a good thing.

Maybe...just maybe, they will come to see missions as I do.  =)