Psst- Avast There!

Arrrrrgh! Today is National Talk Like a Pirate Day!!! Properly warned ye be, says I!

Yes!!!!

It's the moment I have been waiting for ALL summer!!

THUNDERSTORMS!!!!!

It rained for like 5 seconds here, but it's been thundering here for about a half an hour. Now, some of you are probably thinking "Becky, you crazy girl you, thunderstorms are no big deal. They happen all the time!"

Well, I'm here to tell you where I live, they happen once in a blue moon. Once summer hits, I dream of amazing thunderstorms with flashes of lightning and the beautiful sound of thunder. Usually, I'm left in disappointment when a summer passes with no thunderstorms to be seen or heard. But this summer I finally got my wish. Today folks, I got my thunderstorms.

Now I'm gonna go back outside of my office for a little bit and listen to the thunder. Just pray I don't get struck my lightning.

It's Feastin' Time

Appetizer
Who is the easiest person for you to talk to?
Eric. I love the fact that I can go to him to talk about anything and everything.

Soup
If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose?
I would love to have seen Babylon when it was in it's heyday, especially the hanging gardens.

Salad
What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed?
I don't think I've ever witnessed anything exciting.

Main Course
If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt?
I could say I'd be scandalous and steal Johnny Depp away from Vanessa Paradis, but that would be un-Christlike and I could never see myself doing that. Even if I were a celebrity! however If I really were a celebrity, I'd go into hiding for fear that the paparazzi would sell pictures of me picking my nose or something like that.

Dessert
What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child?
It all depends on the person having the child. For me, I have no idea. I don't think age is the issue, but the maturity of the parents to be.

Being Thankful

Psalms 100:4
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

I recently found out about Thankful Thursday's and I love the idea. Since there are a few life situations I'm unhappy about, I need to always remember to be thankful for what God has blessed me with. If the main thing I'm unhappy about is my location, I'm in a pretty good place and I should just suck it up. If I focus on the good things in my life, I won't have to dwell in my dis- contentedness (is that even a word?)

I am thankful for:

• A God who loves me unconditionally and even sent his only son to die for me.

• A husband who puts up with my scatterbrained antics.

• A family who is so sicking-ly close we actually like hanging out together.

• A stable job where we are paid enough to meet our needs

• A beautiful lightning show at 2 in the morning. We never get stuff like that here, so it was nice to just look out my window and watch the show for a little while.
  

Oh How I Love the David Crowder Band

There is No One Like You:



You are more beautiful
Than anyone ever
Everyday You're the same
You never change, no never

You are more beautiful
Than anyone ever
Everyday You're the same
You never change, no never

And how could I ever deny
The love of my Savior
You are to me everything
All I need forever

How could You be so good?

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You

Everywhere You are there
Earth or air surrounding
I'm not alone, the heavens sing along
My God You're so astounding
How could You be so good to me
Eternally I believe that'

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You
There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You

You, You, You, You, You, You

How could You be so good to me?
How could You be so good to me?
We're not alone, so sing along
We're not alone, so sing along, sing along, sing along

Here we go!

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You
There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You
There is no one like our God, yeah

Another Giveaway!!!

This site:
http://musingsofahousewife.typepad.com/musings_of_a_housewife/2007/08/eliza-grace-giv.html?cid=80875371#comment-80875371

Is having giving away this fabulous handbag




























All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog and then link back to it. Isn't it beautiful? I REALLY want to win this thing, however knowing my luck I won't.

Domestic "Stuff"

I don't know if it's because I have been reading some really uplifting home keeping blogs or what, but I've really been in the domestic mood lately! I even cooked a meal from scratch, people! My house it still a bit messy (I'm working on that) but dang did we eat well over the weekend.

Friday we, along with my parents, went down to my grandmother's old apartment to pick up my China and China hutch. It has been my grandmother's wish that I get her China when she passes away. She hasn't passed away yet (I think we still have a few good years left with her) but she has moved to a really nice assisted living facility and there is no room for her China hutch, so she told me to come pick it up! While we were down visiting her in Westminster, we took her to dinner at the Claim Jumper (Yum!) and went back to her new place to visit. We had such a wonderful time and I think Grandma is finally getting used to her new place. It really is a whole lot nicer than her old apartment.

I meant to take a before picture of the hutch, but I forgot and now, after spending 2 hours cleaning the lower portion of the hutch, I found out I'm going to have to re-finish the whole thing. Cleaning it took off the original finish and now it's almost down to bear wood. I have never, ever re-finished a piece of furniture before so I'm counting on my husband's fabulous internet research to figure this out for us.

Anyway, I was able to get a picture of all the China and the other numerous pieces that she has given me. This is all of it stacked nicely on me new( to me) kitchen table:




























Here is a close-up:















I don't know if you can see the detail, but it's just beautiful. It's white china with a white lacy pattern on the rim. It's from a company called Fashion Manor and the print is called "Lady Elegant". Isn't that a pretty name?

Since I had this beautiful China, I figured I had to get some use out of it, so Saturday night I made oven friend chicken from this recipe:http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1726,135176-250193,00.html
and I made biscuits from scratch from this recipe: http://thesparrowsnest.typepad.com/the_sparrows_nest/2007/01/biscuit_making_.html

The biscuits came out thinner than they should have been, but they tasted delicious. Next time I won't roll the dough out so thin. Just to make you hungry, and to show off my new China, I took some pictures of this fantastic dinner.

























































Another thing I received from Grandma was her box of recipes and recipe books. Eric and I went through it together and we found a carrot cake recipe in there. Eric's favorite cake is carrot cake and since yesterday was his birthday, I thought I would make it for him. It turned out really good and when I can remember, I will post the recipe.





























So that was my weekend of being domestic. I told Eric not to get too used to it.

Camping!

Last weekend we went camping with my brothers and their families as well as my cousins and their families. For the past 3 or 4 years we have been trying to make it a summer tradition to get away for a weekend and go camping. The past couple of years, we froze our rears off in the mountain community of Julian, so this year we decided to try beach camping again. We had gone before, but it's very difficult to get a couple of camping spots at the beach.

My awesome cousin Lisa, being the awesome person she is, made the calls to the campground so that we can get our reservations for us. To let you know how difficult this is, she called 6 months in advance to get us the reservation and was online as well as her phone hitting re-dial multiple times until she got someone. She was able to get us 2 camping spots. One was right on the beach, and the other was across the little road from it. Thanks Lisa for your hard work! It was so worth it!

Here are some pictures of our trip.

Eric setting up our tent:















Our "home" for two nights:















The main camping spot:















Our view from the main site:














My niece enjoying the beach sand:














My nephew's not to sure about this beach thing:














My little cousin playing in the water:














This dog was so cute playing in the waves:














My niece again:














My nephew's making a sand castle:














My husband said he was "enjoying the beautiful scenery"














Justin can't wait to play in the ocean!















The three "old guys" have fun in the ocean too















Makin' the s'mores














Note to self: Being in the shade all day does not equal being completely protected from the sun. This is also a public service announcement to remind you to use your sunscreen!

Ha! I love it!

Surely?

Can I have her?

Well, We Did It...

We canceled our satellite service. Since we are working on being more frugal, we decided that we were paying too much for a service we rarely ever use. I've also decided to finally give up my acrylic nails. Honestly, I don't miss them. They got in the way more than anything. So far, our savings with no satellite and no nails is about $90.00/month. I feel pretty good about this decision.

Living Frugally

So I have decided to take the plunge and try to live *gulp* frugally. Some people think it's not that bad to live frugally, but this shop-o-holic is going to have a hard time.

Not only am I a shop-o-holic, I am an emotional shopper. That means if I have a crummy day, the thing that makes me feel better is buying something. I'm also an impulsive shopper. Even though I have my list, I always buy a few things that aren't on it. Take, for example, last Saturday.

I went to Target to pick up a few necessities. I had our budget money with me and I really only intended to buy a couple of things. Well, as I walked into Target, I noticed many shelves of the new Harry Potter book. I really hadn't intended to buy it for another few weeks, because I didn't think they would be on the shelves since this is the last book in the series. I figured all stores would be sold out. So imagine my surprise when I saw many, many shelves of the book in all it's yellow covered glory! And to top it all off, it was only $17.99!! I told myself it was such a deal because in a couple of weeks, the price would have gone up quite a bit. So, I picked it up and bought it, along with the other few things on my list. I went over our budget and I had to steal from another envelope, something that really isn't a good idea.

Even though this book is pretty good so far, it wasn't right for me to steal from another envelope. It's a good thing we get paid tomorrow, or we would have had to go without a couple of real necessities because of my impulsive buy.

So how am I going to try to save us some cashola? Well, here are some of my ideas:

1- Pray, pray pray! - God knows I struggle with this, so I know He can put those little reminders in my stubborn little head when I reach out to pick up something that isn't necessary. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me, right?

2- Take Eric shopping with me- I've already discussed this with him and he agrees that for awhile, he should go shopping with me. That way he can talk some sense into me when I reach out for those cute pair of shoes that I need (never mind the 30 pairs of perfectly fine shoes I already have in my closet!)

3- Coupon Clip- I have never, ever clipped a coupon. I know some people who do and they save a bunch of money! I found this great website, couponmom.com that takes some of the guesswork out of coupon clipping . I haven't had the chance to play with the website yet, but the website helps with searching the grocery ads in your area and then helps you find coupons to double your savings! She also has a couple of free e-books that help you learn how to get more bang for your buck! I'm looking forward to the time that I can sit and read through the material and learn how to save money for groceries.

4- Cook More, Eat out Less- We could save gobs of money by just stop eating out. Sure there are special occasions that call for eating out, but we really need to stop driving by fast food joints on our way home from work. Sure, I could use the excuse of getting home from work late most nights, but really, that is exactly why casseroles and crock pots were invented! I am going to work on finding good recipes that cost less in making and gives a good amount of food for left overs. That way we won't have the excuse of stopping by In~N~Out on the way home from work because there is nothing to eat.

5- Learn to be Content With What God Has Blessed Me With- Eric and I truly have all we need. Even though I don't have everything I want (well who does?) I need to learn to be content with what God has blessed me with. I need to stop looking at what others have and feeling sorry for myself because I don't have that too! I do have a nice home (just don't come by without giving my a couple hours to spruce up) and I have plenty of clothes, so there is no need for me to buy things that aren't necessary. As Sally from agracioushome.com says: "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Do without" She has some amazing posts on celebrating a year of abundance. She too is learning to live frugally to save some money.

So those are the few things I am going to work on. Also, my verse for this period in my life is Philippians's 4:11-13":

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

I got bored with the pink...

So I changed it. I thought this looked pretty elegant.

Happy Fourth!

Gettin' Creative...

Oh. My. Goodness.

I just recently discovered a few blogs of women who enjoy stamping as much as I do. I had been in a creative drought, but after looking at their sites, I couldn't wait to dust off my stamps and ink and make cards again! Over the weekend a made a few cards, so I thought I would display them here. There is one that I LOVE, however it is for a gift for someone and since I'm not sure if they read my blog, I won't post it till after they get it.

Here is the website where I got the idea to make the following cards. It also has a step by step tutorial on how to do it!
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/triangletrifold.php

And here are the cards I made:

Outside:















Inside:















Card #2
Outside:















Inside:













Card# 3
Outside:














Inside:













Card #4 (Work in Progress)
Outside:













So there ya have it. This is the beginning of my creative streak! I'm already looking forward to playing with some new techniques. I'll post my new creations as I make them. Also, if you are into card making, I will add the links to the websites I steal ideas from to the right under my "links" list.

Four in Row?!?!?!

I'm really taking advantage of being caught up at the moment. I know when I come back to work on Monday, I will be overwhelmed. When I have a down time, my brain just goes and goes, so I thought I would post on what's in my head.

Is it okay to have a change of heart? Just a couple months ago all I could think about was staying at home and having a baby. I think I was just so unhappy at work, anything sounded good to me. Now that I'm happy, I really feel that I could wait a few more years till I have a kid (sorry mom!). I'm only 26, so I can wait a couple more years. Many women have kids in their 30's and it works out fine! Eric and I both enjoy our time together and we don't feel the need to have a kid right now. We like the idea of being able to go where we want, when we want and not have to worry about a babysitter, or lugging a bunch of baby stuff everywhere. We like sleeping in on Saturdays and having an occasional "lazy day" here and there. Okay, I admit it, we are spoiled and we like it that way.

Now, if God has other plans in mind for us and I got pregnant before we felt we were ready to have a a baby, we would be fine with that because we know God has better things in mind for us. I'm always open and ready for God's will and we would make it work if I just so happened to get pregnant.

I don't know. I'm just really happy with the way our lives are going right now and I want to keep it that way. I don't feel the *need* to have a kid, so I'm not worrying about it.

I've pretty much stopped reading some of the "mommy blogs" I used to. Some of them were so anti working women I just started to feel discouraged and I questioned weather or not I was a good wife. After Eric assured me I was a great wife, I re-evaluated a few things and prayed over what makes a wife good helper, and I realized (with the help of my man) that I AM helping him by working.

I shouldn't have to feel sorry about that. I shouldn't feel discouraged because I enjoy working. I shouldn't feel like an awful wife because I only do laundry and clean my house on the weekends instead of every day, or make a fancy dinner every night (or ever). I should feel like a good helper because I'm serving my husband in the way that he wants. Not the way that other women serve their husbands.

All in all, I know I am at the place where God wants me. Shouldn't that be what matters most?

I love You Tube

Thursday Thirteen

Whoah, what's this? Two posts in one day? Don't get used to it, I'm caught up just for the moment. I got a whole stack of work waiting for me in the copy room, I just need the copies made before I can work on them. Anyway, today is Thursday, and you know what that means? Thursday Thirteen!!!!!!!!!

Today's Thursday Thirteen is "Thirteen Movies I Love"

1. The Princess Bride- " You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

2. Singin' in the Rain- "Cosmo, call me a cab." "OK, you're a cab."

3. Gone with the Wind -"I don't know nuthin' about birthin' babies!"

4. Airplane!- "What kind of plane is it? " "Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels and it looks like a big Tylenol."

5. You've Got Mail-"When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does."

6. While you were Sleeping- "If you fit into my pants I will kill myself."

7. Pirates of the Caribbean-The Curse of the Black Pearl-"Honestly. It's the honest ones you need to watch out for"

8. Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty- "Now, father, you're living in the past. This is the 14th century!"

9. So I Married an Axe Murderer- "I'm smitten. I'm in deep smit."

10. Miss Congeniality -" I am in a dress, I have gel in my hair, I haven't slept all night, I'm starved, AND I'm armed! Don't MESS with me!"

11. The Wedding Singer -"Sir, one more outburst from you and I will strangle you with my microphone wire."

12. 50 First Dates- "Are you staring at me or her? 'Cause you're starting to freak me out.

13. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -"Everything in this room is eatable, even *I'm* eatable! But that is called "cannibalism," my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies."

Update

I've had a couple people mention to me that I needed to update my blog. It had been awhile hasn't it? So in the words of Marvin Gaye, "What's Goin' On?"

Well I have been working in my new position for the past 2 1/2 months and I must say I love it! It keeps me busy, which makes my day fly by. Having every other Friday off isn't half bad either. I just told Eric the other day that I can see myself doing this for another couple of years. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed my work.

My "side job" with Cookie Lee is going well too. I have had a few parties and I have done really well with them. I think the most fun is going to the showroom and buying everything. It's also fun for me to "display" my jewelry by wearing it every once and awhile. I had thought it would be nice to make extra money (which that is pretty nice) but I'm just having fun with it right now. It's not like this is my "real job" and our bills depend on it. I think that is what also makes it fun for me. There is no pressure to make a money deadline.

Hmmm, what else have I done since the last time I posted...

Oh! I saw Johnny Depp's head! Back in May, I got the crazy idea to go to Disneyland at the butt crack of dawn and stand in one area for many, many, many hours just to see the Pirates of the Caribbean celebrities come down Main Street U.S.A. on the largest red carpet I have ever seen (Okay, it's the only red carpet I have ever seen.) I figured I only live once, and an opportunity to be a part of something big like that won't ever happen again. So I packed up some clothes and headed down to my cousins' house and spent the night. I got up at 4ish the next morning and took my cousins Katie, Maggie and a couple of their friends to Disneyland for the day.

We found our spot and stayed there for most of the time. Katie is my hero because she literally stood in the exact same spot for 14+ hours. Her perseverance paid off and she was able to get Johnny's autograph. I'm still bitter! I did have a good time making fun of the 12 year old girls who said they have loved Johnny Depp "forever". I wanted to tell them I've loved him longer than they have been alive!

It was so crowded, I ended up just hanging in the back of the crowd and standing on my tip toes as the celebrities walked down the red carpet. I tried to take pictures, but I kept getting bumped and my pictures didn't come out. I was able to get a good view of some celebrities( most of them "B" list), but as soon as Johnny came walking down, hundreds of people just crowded around me and I was only able to get a glimpse of his head. Oh well, I still got closer to him than just seeing him on my TV. If they do make a Pirates 4, you bet I will be there again to experience it all over again. Only at that time, I'm pulling a Katie and I plan on staying in one area the whole time.

Other than that, nothing too much has been happening. Eric and I are busy with work, and there have been a few family events, but other than that, nothing too exciting.

What's Goin' On?

It's been a little while since I last posted an update on our crazy life, so I thought I would let you know what's goin' on. I ended up taking the promotion at my company and I've already stared my training. Next week is the last week for the girl I am replacing so after that, my new job will be in full swing! I am already enjoying it. I'm the kind of person the enjoys learning new things and there is so much to learn with this new position. You should see how thick my manual is! I will be guarding that manual with my very life because if I should lose it, I'd be so lost.

Not many of you know, but as a side job, I've started selling Cookie Lee Jewelry. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of it, but picture a Tupperware party, but instead of selling storage containers, I'm selling really pretty jewelry. I bought enough of it, so I finally decided to see what I could do about selling it. I recently signed up and I've got two shows this weekend! I'm so excited and I am looking forward to see how I do with this little business.

I love the people I work with (my "up line") and I LOVE the jewelry. I don't even have to give a spiel about the jewelry I sell. I just set it on the table and let the ladies do the shopping. How tough could it be? I also just recently got to me THEE Cookie Lee herself. She is a lovely woman and she makes us all love the jewelry as much as she does! I felt kind of honored to meet her, even though she's not really a celebrity. Below is the picture that was taken when I got to meet her!



Other than that stuff, not much else is going on. I won't be updated too much once I start my new position because I won't have time. I'll try to keep things going when I have the chance, but I'm not sure how often that will be. Don't miss me too much!!