Over or Under?

Sometimes while I am searching around on the internet for good deals and coupons, I find some things that have nothing to do with anything…. but are just funny!  So I like to share them!  I thought this one was too funny not to share!!  Cottonelle wants to know which you prefer “over or under”  and they have a Great Debate going on right now!  If jump on over to their site HERE you can join the debate and see which is winning!

By the way I voted for over!

Local: Volunteer Your Time For Haiti

I have had multiple emails from people who are praying for those in Haiti and I am so grateful that there are others who are on a mission to pray these people through this disaster.  Today among my emails was also an email from my pastor at Real Life Christian Center here in El Dorado, encouraging us to donate some of our time to help support Numana’s effort in helping Haiti.

Last month Numana packaged and sent over 250,000 meals to Haiti to feed the school children, those meals packaged last month are in transit set to be delivered in March… however, with the recent catastrophe FedEx has offered to airfreight these meals at no cost!  I will be heading over to the Civic Center shortly to help package food, will you join me on this Friday night or even tomorrow?!?  Also please pass the word about this event… there is still all day tomorrow and El Dorado has a lot of people with big hearts that may not know about this event!

Friday, January 15, from 12 noon to 10:00 p.m. (TODAY, right now) and again tomorrow,

Saturday, January 16, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

at the El Dorado Civic Center
201 East Central, El Dorado, KS.

Numana asks that you donate at least an hour of your time!   No need to sign up for this event, they will assign you to a work table when you show up.

If you would like to donate money to help with the cost of the meals, you can donate HERE… the cost is $.30 per meal.

Also I just saw on Numana’s last twitter update that  they have already packaged almost 140,000 meals today just since noon!  WOW!!!  What a response!!

Helping Haiti

After learning just today about their tragedy, Joelie came home from school this afternoon and told me that her heart hurt for the people in Haiti and that we needed to pray for them.  I told her that my heart is aching too and that there are many people around the world that also have aching hearts.  So we prayed together because she is right that we need to be in prayer for many things … we need to be praying that the immediate needs of food, water and shelter are met.  Praying that the survivors can overcome the despair and grief of losing everything.  Praying that they will not give up hope.  Praying that God can heal broken hearts and touch lives.

Obviously money is a great need in the relief effort of those who are suffering in Haiti right now.  CNN has put together a list of credible organizations to donate money HERE.  RedCross has a very easy donation method that doesn’t take a lot of effort or money:  just text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 to the International Response Fund. The money will go directly to relief efforts in Haiti.  I encourage all of you to help in any way that you can.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

Not Me Monday!

Well, I wasn’t even planning on writing one this morning because honestly I couldn’t think of too many “not me” moments to share.  That is until this morning! 

So…  it absolutley was not me that sprinted out my door with several recycling bags in hand, wheeling a big dumpster full of trash to the curb trying to beat the trash guys!  Nope, I didn’t run out without a coat on and slippers on my feet!  Had I done this, surely I would have been super careful and not slipped on a patch of ice at the end of my driveway… totally wiping out.  Had this event actually occured, I would not have laid there an extra couple of seconds feeling sorry for myself, getting a little irritated because the trash should have been taken out a couple hours ago… by someone else in my house….   But then again this never happened, so nobody needs to worry… weird how I have a little bump on my head and a sore shoulder

One other thing… I totally didn’t talk my husband into hosting a foreign exchange student next year!   I never get crazy ideas and then follow through on them within two minutes of my husband agreeing!  And now my obsession with other cultures isn’t being exposed at all!! 

I hope you all have a great week filled with lots of laughter!!

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

I have to admit that my husband and I were a bit nerdy and boring this evening, spending the last moments of 2009 reviewing the accomplishments and shortfalls of the past year.  We peeled off our list of super ambitious financial goals we had posted at the beginning of 2009 on a huge piece of construction paper from my mirror to see where we had come from last year.  We accomplished all but one goal that we set forth at the beginning of the year.  Yippee!  We are excited that we continue to make progress financially, even when a few roadblocks get in the way here and there.

So we set our new financial goals for the year, and we will evaluate them periodically throughout the year to see how we are progressing and to decide if there are goals that were a little over ambitious to begin with or ones that we undershot that need to be a little more ambitious!   One exciting goal that I will share with you guys is that we plan to take our first real family vacation this summer!  We have a few places in mind already!

I also spent quite a bit of time reflecting on my own goals in the different areas of my life.  After spending several hours writing and rewriting my goals, I noticed one common theme among many of them~relationships-with God, my husband, my children, my friends and other random people that I don’t even know!  Yes, relationships seem to be important to me, and many of my goals revolve around others!!   I did, however, set some goals that have nothing to do with anyone but myself-such as the half marathon that I will be running this spring!!  I have wanted to run 13 miles again oh-so-badly, but have never felt like I had the time to devote to training for it…. but this year I will be accomplishing this!  I also have a small list of books that will be reading this year!

My biggest tips for accomplishing the goals you set!?

1.)  Set specific goals that are not so over ambitious that they aren’t realistic, but ambitious enough that you have to work for them.  Make sure you have measurable steps to obtaining your goal.

2.)   Be mentally prepared for roadblocks-there will be some struggles and you might mess up!  Be willing to keep on pushing through when something doesn’t go as planned.

3.)  Write your goals down where you will see them often!   This way you will review them often-being reminded of the frequently is super important!  Hence the reason for mine being posted on my mirror all year!!

4.)  Lastly, be flexible!  If you set a goal that is becoming really frustrating, modify it… maybe it was not realistic to begin with.  You aren’t a failure if you tweak the goal a little, but will likely give up if the goal really isn’t working for you!

Happy New Year!  I wish you all many blessings in 2010!!

“If you have a goal in life that takes a lot of energy, that requires a lot of work, that incurs a great deal of interest, and that is a challenge to you, you will always look forward to waking up to see what the new day brings.”  ~Susan Polis Schultz

Hi Ho Hi Ho… it’s off to work we go!

Okay, friends….over the next couple days, I am going to be tinkering around with the blog to try some new things as far as the look and some of the features go.  It shouldn’t cause any problems for you all to continue using the site, but it may look funny at times and it may change again!  So bear with me and if you have any input, feel free to send it my way!!!

Also a reminder that I changed my email address to paystobefrugal@yahoo.com… I am still getting the messages that you are sending to the previous address, but I will get them more quickly and respond more quickly if you send them to the new address!!

Pays To Be Frugal is on Facebook!!

Yes, that is right I finally decided to kick it into gear and start a fan page for Pays To Be Frugal on Facebook!  So if you would like to join me over there, just click HERE and become a fan!!

Thanks to all of you who have already joined, I am really loving the support!!

Merry Christmas!

I overheard my daughter’s having a conversation about Christmas today and it went something like this:

Zia (5 years old)  says to Joelie (6 years old)  ”I know what makes Christmas special.  It’s not because we get presents.  It’s because we get to have all of our family around us and that is really special.”
Joelie back to Zia: “Yes, Zia, but don’t forget that the other reason Christmas is special is because we are celebrating the birth of Jesus and Jesus’ birthday is very special because if He wouldn’t have been born then we wouldn’t have been forgiven of our sins.”  Zia back to Joelie “I know this already, Joelie.  Jesus loves us and He lets us spend time with our family.. so they are both special!”

Okay, so of course I gave both of them big hugs and kisses!!  I am so happy that my girls already have an understanding of the things that really make Christmas special!

I want to wish you all a very heartfelt MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  May you be filled with peace and joy during this season and celebrate the things that are really special during this time!

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

I changed my email address

I have been having some trouble with my other account and  not actually receiving all of my email the same day that it is being sent.  So I am changing my contact address to paystobefrugal@yahoo.com.

Feel free to use this address to send me any deals that you find or just to say hello!!

Thanks!!

Not Me Monday!

“Not Me” Monday!!

This blog fair created by MckMama is one of the most ingenious ideas ever!  Who doesn’t want to laugh a little at some of the not so perfect moments of others?  Of course out of love and kindness because we have all been there before! I had so much fun not sharing all of my imperfections last week that I couldn’t resist but to  join in on the fun again!  So here I am asking you to accompany me in laughter as I share some of the crazy, sometimes not so cool moments in my life, while totally admitting to absolutely nothing!

First off, let me just tell you that I am NOT sitting here at five o’clock in the morning eating a ham and cheese hot pocket as I write this. Who eats those anyways, they are disgusting and so completely unhealthy for you.  Especially in the wee hours of the morning when I could be starting my day by making healthy choices!!  Not this gal!   I also absolutely did not feed them to my family as a meal this past week. Nope!  Didn’t happen!

I certainly didn’t entertain a group of friends at a party on a Saturday night by talking about all the different places that I threw up while I was pregnant.  Nope that would be a totally lame thing to discuss with a whole group of people that aren’t even thinking about becoming pregnant in the near future…and even if I did, I wouldn’t willing discuss it on my blog….in fact you are NOT even reading this right now because really I wouldn’t write about something so lame.

I did not spend the better half  of yesterday  being a total grumpy gus!  Nope I wasn’t irritable for no reason at all and I didn’t snap at anyone in my family, not once.  I was a perfectly happy wife and momma who only spoke in an adoring tone with my family and gave lots of loving.  I am super mom and never have those days where nothing is going right and everything is annoying.  Nope that is for other moms that just can’t handle everything!  Of course then I didn’t spend the last part of the evening apologizing to everyone for my stinky attitude and cuddle on the couch with a few kiddos that are totally forgiving and oh so cuddly!  There are many more things that I did NOT do this week, but this is all I am willing to share for now!

Want some more laughs, head over to MckMama’s now to read a bunch of other not so perfect women sharing some of their moments!

Not Me Monday!

This blog fair created by MckMama has kept me occupied with laughter over the last several months!  I am finally joining in on the fun this week to share my major minor imperfections without actually admitting to anything!  So join me in laughter as you read on and then go check out MckMama’s site to read more posts of women sharing their imperfections and laughing over their commonalities of the things they DID NOT do over the past week!

Okay, so it definately wasn’t me who turned my head and pretended I saw nothing as my two year old son picked up his chicken nuggets off the floor at *ahem* the McDonalds play area.  Nope, wasn’t me because that would be disgusting and he could get sick from all of those nasty little germs hanging around!  It is also not me who is begging asking all of you politely that know my husband not to pass this information along to him because he would totally freak out and tell me what a horrible thing that was!!

It certainly was not me who dug through the trash for ten minutes to find a Strawberry Shortcake stamp that child number three freaked out child number two by telling her he threw it away.  Then we absolutely did not find said toy on the desk 20 minutes later just sitting there!  Nope, surely I wouldn’t have dug through the trash when just a week prior the exact same incident panned out with child two and three, just insert a My Little Pony instead of Strawberry Shortcake toy!

And finally, it was not me who waited for all the other customers to go through the line at Walgreens with all of my coupons and register rewards only to find out that I had NO cash on me!  I didn’t dig through my purse for five minutes telling the cashier over and over that I just knew I had enough change in my purse to cover it.  I definately DID NOT have to walk out of there with nothing after so carefully planning this trip!  No way, I would have been prepared with a backup debit card or checkbook because I never ever leave our house and go shopping unprepared!  And finally it was not me who turned around and gave the person behind me a business card after said incident.  I mean really, who does this???

Thanks for joining me on this little adventure of not me’s this morning…. and thank you to MckMama for creating this little outlet for us!!!

Good Morning!!

Good Morning!  A friend of mine took this picture while visiting a “museum” of funny signs found around the world!  There are some pretty funny ones, but I thought this morning I would share this one because this is how I have felt the past week…lol… I was skiing down a double black diamond super fast and fell off!  Okay so maybe not that extreme, but I have definately had way too much going on this week and then had to stay home in bed for two days with the flu.  So if I responded to any of your emails and they were jumbled and didn’t make sense this would be why!  I am officially back on my feet and ready to start playing catch up!  I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Dear Stomach Bug,

GO AWAY!

Thank you for all of the sweet emails.  I am still feeling pretty rotten this morning and am heading back to bed.  I am hoping to be feeling well enough to post the ads this afternoon and start getting some of the deals up!  Thanks for understanding!   I hope you are all feeling better than I am

My prayers are with all the soldiers and families!

I wanted to just take a moment to pour out my heart with love and prayers to all the families that have lost a loved one today.  This was a horrible tragedy and I can’t imagine the pain that these families are going through.  My little brother is at Fort Hood and after a bit of freaking out we found out that he is safe and sound, praise God!  I couldn’t be more thankful for anything today!  I love you, Roger, and I am so grateful for you and all the men and women that risk there lives to serve our country.

Please take the time to pray for the families and those that have been injured.   Also the soldiers that are out at Fort Hood, as many of them may have just lost a best friend and are going to be going through a very difficult time.

My family minus one!

So I was trying to find a picture to share with all of you of me and as I was digging through photos I found plenty of pictures of me wearing Hannah Montana wigs, pretty princess hats and various other goofy things on my head… then I remembered that last weekend we took a trip to Walter’s Pumpkin Patch and I had some pictures!  So I made Kevin get the camera and upload some pictures on the computer and here’s what I came up with~ just happen to be missing a very important part of our family, sorry honey!  Hopefully we will get around to having some family photos taken soon!!