Weekend Wind-Down

What a fun weekend!

Friday night, we had our couple's Bible study. It was great, as usual! We have so many great friends, and it's fun to see a handful of them every other week. I think Joel and I are growing closer together through this, and I hope that others are as well. We did get big news from one couple, who found out they are expecting their first baby! I've never been the sentimental type, but ever since I've had babies, I get all emotional when a woman finds out they're pregnant. May be it's because I know what she's headed for. The hardest, most wonderful, most challenging, most rewarding stage of her life!

Saturday, I went to work on Vacation Bible School stuff at church. I think we made some good progress, and we have a plan for the next work day, and we should be ready to go for VBS!

After that, I headed to spend my Lowe's gift card that my mother-in-law gave me for Mother's Day. I finally got a big metal barn star. It was one of those moments that if I'd been in a movie the lights would have all zoomed on it and angelic music would have started playing! I have really been wanting one, but haven't seen one yet (especially since I haven't been really shopping at places that don't sell groceries!). So, I got that and a pretty tuscan wall basket for my front door. I will show you when I hang the star!

Saturday night, Joel and I just relaxed and took it easy.

Sunday, after church, we made the 3 1/2 hour drive to Jane and Adams house for Lee's birthday party. The ride up was pretty good, and the party was fun (Mary Helen LOVES a good birthday party). I forgot my camera, so if someone emails some to me I will post them. The ride home was not as grand, since Anna got sick just in to the trip. Joel and I had a good time, though, and laughed a lot.

Here are some pictures from the other night when the family was over.







Until next time,
~Hadley~

kids, decorating, life?

So, last night when I couldn't sleep, I was thinking about my blog. Many blogs I read have a theme. Decorating. Kids. Shopping deals. Crafts. Mine seems to be so random, so I was thinking may be I should streamline and stick to one topic. Then it hit me. It really is all one topic. LIFE. Our life. So, I hope you'll stick around to see and hear all about my latest decorating project, craft project, what my kids or husband are up to, and how I saved $40 dollars at the grocery store yesterday (seriosly!).

Today, I made some little curtains for my island. It has always been a bit messy under there, and I decided instead of letting it collect junk, that I would put curtains on there and make it useful. Now, I have sippy cups, plastic plates and bowls, snacks, and ziplock bags under there.



I think now I will take down the poor, tired fruit napkin curtains and use the same fabric to make new curtains. Then, in a couple of months when I'm bored I'll put up some totally cute, fresh fruit napkins! My poor sweet Joel is learning to adjust to all our fabric!

I also wanted to show you all a totally cute gift idea. My friend, Tracey (I would link you to her cute blog except she doesn't have one...isn't that a shame??!) got one of these and decided to make a few. Here are the pictures she took of her little creations! She took an acrylic frame with a magnet on the back (or you can use one of the free standing ones for a desktop version), fixed it all cute with the first initial and scrapbook paper, and slapped a post it pad on there! How adorable is that? The second picture shows it gift wrapped in an envelope.




So, that's us for tonight. We had a fun night with Joel's family here. I'll try to get those pictures up soon.

Until Next Time,
~Hadley~

Tackle it Tuesday ~ Matching Coupons to Sales

Today's Tackle it Tuesday for me is to match my coupons to the sales at my stores and plan my menus and shopping list. I love couponmom.com, but they don't show sales for my two local grocery stores. So, I am going to have to do it myself. Hopefully I can save big and not lose my mind in the process! I would also like to use some stuff I have in my pantry and freezer too.

Yesterday, I was busy in the kitchen cleaning out my refrigerator. It was in desperate need! So, now I will have room for my shopping trip tomorrow. Now, if I can get to my pantry today, I'll have two tackle its!

Check out what everyone else is tackling at Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom!

About Stay at Home Moms

Well, here is my passion. I could go on and on about the calling to be a stay at home mom. I don't want to make anyone think that I think of myself as any better than a mom who has to or is called to work outside of her home. I realize the circumstances are different in every home. My passion is encouraging moms whose heart desires to come home, but the world has made her believe that they can't survive on a single income.

Now, I will grant you that our family has never had two incomes. I was in college working part time to get myself there until we had Mary Helen. Joel's income has always pretty much been what we had to live on. But, one day, I realized that I had a choice. I could spend whatever money was in our account on clothes from the mall, convenience food, and new toys until the money ran out; OR I could learn how to make our money stretch so that we could have all the things we needed and Joel and I could have dates, we could go to the zoo, and we could do other fun things. The day Joel and I sat down to look at where our money was going (he had been keeping up all along), I literally cried. I realized I had no idea what it meant to manage money. So, we talked and planned out a budget. And I got a coupon organizer used it to split cash into categories. I had grocery money, clothing money, dining out money, and a few other categories.

So, I had choices to make. I could buy one shirt from the mall, or I could buy several things from consignment stores or clearance racks. I could buy lots of convenience easy foods, or I could plan my meals and shopping list, buy less and have some new candles or lotion. I could take the girls to McDonalds a couple times a week, or Joel and I could have a nice dinner a couple times a month. It became a game to see how much money I could save and what great deals I could get to make our money stretch.

We also did the snowball effect to get out of all of our debt. We are not rich by any means, but God blessed us for our efforts. We are now in a home that we thought would never be attainable. I am home and not trapped. We now manage our money rather than our money managing us.

Now, if only I could figure out how to keep my house clean and laundry caught up!

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On another note, the Duggars have announced that they are expecting their 18th child! Wow! 18! There is so much controversy surrounding their decision to have such a large family, but I am so happy for them. They seem to be very happy and grounded in the Word. I'm not sure God would trust me with 18, but I will take as many as He gives. Now, if she can run a smooth house with all those kids, why is it so hard for me with 2? hmmmm....

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Well, Happy Mothers Day to moms everywhere!!

Strawberry Fun

Joel, the girls, and I went strawberry pickin' yesterday! Some friends of ours invited us out to pick, and they sent us home with all the strawberries from their garden! I have a freezer full of strawberries, and friends who have fresh strawberries, and have more to do something with fast! We all had a great time, and now I feel like Bubba Gump did about shrimp only with strawberries...strawberry ice cream, strawberry shortcake, strawberry truffle, strawberry pie....






I'll spare you the pictures Joel took of my rear end while I was bent over picking! (you're welcome)

Needless to say, yesterday afternoon was spent slicing and freezing strawberries.

Today was spent running around doing all our errands. I went to Wal-Mart and got a trunk full of flowers, some for my grandma and some for us, and spent the afternoon planting all of them!

Tomorrow is operation house recovery. Wish me luck.

Works for Me Wednesday

This week over at Rocks in My Dryer, Shannon is hosting another works for me Wednesday. This week's themed topic is "What DOESN'T Work for Me Wednesday"! So, since I have been wanting to blog about this anyway, I am going to blog about why entertaining does not work for me.

We love having people over. I love people to drop in for coffee. I love to visit and chat and walk through the yard or sit in the rocking chairs. I love for people to feel at home here. So why don't I like to entertain? Here's the hitch: I am striving for hospitality. The difference, you ask? Simple. It's your motives. Entertaining is when you work your hiney off to impress your guests. When you cook a whole meal that is time consuming, but impressive. You are wanting people to notice your great cooking, your fine decorating, etc.

Hospitality is working to make your guests feel comfortable. Now, don't get me wrong, I like to cook yummy food for my guests, and I love a pretty table. I enjoy decorating our home the way we like it, but I do this for comfort, not for style. I don't let it stop me from having company because I don't feel like cooking. Some of our best times have been ordering pizza and just hanging out. I have been known to decide after church on Sunday afternoon to start a big pot of chili and invite several couples over after the evening service. Chili. Cheese. Crackers. Tea. Good fellowship! What else can you ask for? We've also done potlucks where I just fix a dish, provide plates and forks, and clean my toilet. Good times.

Now, those of you who know me in real life know that I am not a great housekeeper. When you come over, you might have to move a stack of laundry out of the way, and I might have to pull clean coffee mugs out of the dishwasher (somedays I might even have to wash one). I don't have a perfectly clean house. I don't have perfectly clean or well behaved kids. My bassett hound will try to sit in your lap. But this is home. All are welcome here.

When we have dinners just have couples over, I do try to get things looking nicer. I run the vacuum, and I set the table. Joel comes home five minutes early and helps hide some of the clutter. But, when you're here, we don't want you to feel like company, we want you to feel like family. And, when supper's over, please don't clean the kitchen, this is supposed to be a treat. A break. Get some coffee, and let's go sit in the living room. Dishes have never run away from the sink overnight. They'll be there tomorrow and I can do them then as I reflect back on the good times we had.

Check out what doesn't work for everyone else here.

Tackle it Tuesday

Well, I have a really fun project for Tackle it Tuesday!! I did a quick re-do on my guest bathroom. Here are the before pictures:





And, here are the afters....





I finally got to do my first mistreatments!! You don't know what a mistreatment is? Then you must visit the Nester's blog to read all about them. Find her here: The Nesting Place

Now, I need to paint...what color do y'all suggest??

Find out what everyone else is tackling here.