just the essentials......

holy cow. i haven't blogged in a long time. once a month is lame.

this photo was taken in the crosby super valu. we needed tp and milk.:) this was just after the first night of Vacation Bible School. we all had matching tee shirts! how cute is that?

garage sale!!!!!!!!!!

God does big things if you have faith! there was a delicious ad in the courier for a sale that had 4T and larger boys clothes. exactly what i need for jack! it was the third day of the garage sale...but i told dan that i expected God to do big things for us today. and He did! we walked away from that sale with 2 huge boxes for...FREEEEEEEEEEE! FREEEEEEEEEEEE! FREEEEEEEEEE! 2 boxes filled with clothes, books, toys, costumes, toy story sleeping bag, and a "buzz-a-bightyear" rug. the shoes, bing crosby records, cookbook, agatha mysteries, and some of the clothes were from other sales. these are the grand haul photos. i don't have a photo of the sleeping bag because dan deleted it.:) God is so good.

tax refund, how i love thee

last night my husband bought doors/sundries/trail mix and i bought yarn and flower/veggie seeds. today i bought household supplies/cute clothes/groceries(guava juice!)/COFFEE! i love getting a tax return. love it. i know it is not free money that magically appreared. i know that in actuality it was extra money we loaned to the government throughout the year... but it feels like free money. woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

itsy bitsy's last days

just got an e-mail from the owner of the baby boutique in downtown brainerd, "itsy bitsy". she says her last day is april 4th. make sure to hurry in for some great deals. once when she had a clearance i got french sailor suits for $3.30 and a great photo frame for a photo of jack and i for about $1.70. hurry hurry!!

homemade pizza

my tum is all warm and cuddly full of homemade pizza. i made it. i have been making them for about 2 months now. wish i had started sooner! very easy. crust mixes are around 50 cents and sauce is about $1.50. and it is sooo much nicer than frozen pizza. i haven't bought a frozen pizza since i started making them. jack loves it. he was so tired tonight at dinner that he started falling asleep in his high chair. that's because he only had a 30 min. nap in the car today. poor thing. he had to suffer so i could finish my Christmas shopping. ahhhhh... shopping FINISHED! and this year i really, really think i got people things they will like. but, that's what i thought last Christmas!:) and mom, dad, mom-in-law, and sis-in-law all took their big gift items back. crud!:) you can't win them all. hopefully this will be my year.

road trip to albertville mall cont.

jack's first birthday is in 2 weeks. i am throwing a large family party. there is a cowboy theme. the gymboree outlet had some cute cowboy clothes and this adorable cowboy hat, but my mom had already given him a cowboy hat... so we didn't get this one. i don't know. i kind of regret it. he was so cute in it. she did get him a cowboy shirt. it has horseshoes on it and white pealized snaps.

road trip to albertville mall

friday i went on a road trip with my mom and jack. we had a terrific time. we spent a lot of money. we had a lot of good food (panini, hostess snoballs, pastries), good drink (iced vanilla coffee, green iced tea with passion fruit, chocolate shakes), and jack and his mommy got to ride in a firetruck with ernie and bert.

jack was going nuts on this thing. he was making all these motor noises and was spinning that steering wheel as fast as he could. poor dear cried when he had to get off to let the next child play. jack has a thing for steering wheels.

grocery boy

jack is growing up so fast. i love his new milestones, like riding up front in a shopping cart. he loves to ride in the cart. i don't love keeping him from sucking on the cart handle. no, not so much.

this day we were shopping at the local supermarket. i grabbed the camera on the way out the door because jack is soooo cute in his peruvian sweater, and i knew the grocery store would make a colorful backdrop.

notice the sun and the red chicken on the sweater. there are also clouds, rain drops, and a lamb. could you just die?

knee surgery

no, not for me. not now, anyway. i called my cousin stacy yesterday and said something like this, "so, grandpa is doing fine after the surgery..." "WHAT!!!?", was the response. oh, didn't you know? apparently you move to louisiana and they don't tell you when your grandfather is going to have knee surgery. how un-Christian.:) she didn't even get to pray about it! right? right.

so today is payday. why is there a twinkle in my eye (why is today "rhetorical question" day?)? because i am going to buy SHOES. yes, the objects near and dear to a woman's heart. since the baby was born there is a new dress code at work and all my new work pants are too long and i walk on the hems, or i roll them up until i look like a hillbilly. HUMILIATING. so, now that Christmas is over i am going to go get some shoes with a big-fat-lift-me-off-my-hem heel. WHEE! oh, and today is haircut day, too. i am so nervous. i don't know what kind of a hack job i will be getting. oh for the bygone days of just getting a trim every year or so. but, i do have a coupon. "those are nice to have."

the ladies retreat

a while back i went to my first ladies retreat with my mom, jack (of course) and denise rosenbaum. we had a lovely roadtrip to camp chetek in chetek, wisconsin. we stopped along the way in northbranch, mn to go outlet mall shopping. we had another stop in barren, mn where i suggested we check out the amish furniture and art shop. my mom bought jack some amish furniture -- a rocking chair and a wooden toy. lucky little man.

at the retreat we had a lot of fun. wish i could say i learned alot, or that i had a religious heart-touching breakthrough or something. i didn't. better luck next year.:) really, i actually feel guilty. i was supposed to have a learning experience and instead i had a lovely time making flower pens and taking rides on a haywagon and pontoon. i was all primed for some deep intellectual growth and some serious Bible pounding and instead i got a lot of nice talk. it's not fair, really. the men's retreat is going to have an actual speaker who is going to speak on finanaces. i bet they get syllabuses or even cd's. that's what my husband comes back with. i want to go again next year... but i am going to make sure that they have a real speaker, not a very nice wife of a man on the faculty at maranantha baptist Bible college.

henry's pumpkin

today started off cruddy. i was trying to buy my beloved pumpkin oil sketch from lauren and everything i did turned to doo-doo. after a lovely afternoon shopping with my mom and gram and jack i felt much better. it might have been the new cord "diaper bag", or the lunch on mom, or the starbucks on mom... the coffee most definitely helped.:) so, i got back and i was able to finalize my pumpkin transaction, with a little help from my sister. so, viola. here it is. henry's pumpkin. God is good.

confession

confession. i went shopping last night at 8pm with my baby and 6 year old niece. claire pushed the stroller at khol's as i pulled clothes off the racks. claire pushed a cart whilst i pushed my own cart with jack in it at cub foods. cub was having an excellent 10-for-$10 sale and i couldn't tear myself away. we arrived home at 10:30 to a frantic dan. oops. guess next time i will leave a note or use my cell phone to give him the heads up. well, i guess that's karma. but, i didn't mean to teach him a lesson, really!

bath & body works... for me!

others may have lost their love, but i still adore bath & body works. they send me the loveliest coupons. today i stocked up on anti-bacterial pump soaps (3 for $10) (i got 6.) and got a "scent port" for free. i chose the sandalwood-vanilla scent. i plugged it into an outlet in the kitchen near the plastic garbage (where jack's used diapers are deposited). within 15 minutes there was a very pleasant aroma! unlike the very unpleasant aroma that has been detected lately.

"yeah, bob!", "glory be!" and, "shake that bush!". cleanliness is next to Godliness.

bonus? when i paid for my stuff, i got more coupons! hooray! Christmas is coming and i always like to augment my gifts with b&b stuff.