Great Words

I read this in a Daily Bread devotional a few years ago. I don't know who said it, but I've never forgotten the words. It's one of my favorite quotes ever.

"If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshipped."

I just can't tell...

how much I'm really saving? Okay, so here's the picture of my grocery purchase today:

And let me say before I continue, this was a PAIN. I don't know how Gayle does this every week. Putting all those groceries out to take the picture and then having to put them where they really go....a pain, I tell you. Anyway, this is what I got...and PLEASE do not throw rocks at me for what you feel is nutritionally inadequate or too junky, okay? Okay. It is as follows:

28 ct. case bottled water
24 ct. tea bags
4 lb. sugar
Bottle of Tartar Sauce
Toilet Paper (12 double rolls)
Bacon Bits
Strawberry Pop Tarts (no rocks)
Basil
Mustard
Italian Dressing
(4) can green beans
(4) can diced tomatoes
(1) cream of chicken (fat free)
(1) cream of celery (fat free) (I mention fat free because it cost more than reg.)
(2) can mushrooms
(2) chicken gravy mix
(2) spaghetti (16 oz ea)
(2) Rotel
(4 ) shredded cheddar cheese (2 cups per bag)
1 gallon of milk
1/2 gallon chocolate milk
Large Coffee Mate French Vanilla Creamer
(3) Grands Biscuits (5 ct.)
Hand Soap (Refill Sized)
(10) Banquet Frozen Dinners (again, no rocks)
(2) Frozen Brussel Sprouts (there, the healthy stuff is back)
(1 )Frozen Corn
8 lb. bag Chicken Leg Quarters
2 lb. bag lettuce / salad mix
1.2 lbs tomatoes
1 Pineapple
5 lb. bag red potatoes
(2) Family Size Bag of Tortilla Chips
(2) Microwave Popcorn
1 lb. bacon
Lunch Meat - ham
Lunch Meat - chicken
Loaf of bread
Total: $102.68

This came from Kroger and I saved 30%, so they say. "Store Coupon" savings was 34.53 and Manufacture/Bonus Coupons was $6.05. So according to them my total should have been adding back savings from sales and coupons $143.31. What I really want to do is go buy all of the exact items at Walmart and see what their total comes to not having the sales ad and coupons. Anyone want to do that for me? I didn't think so. I just don't know...do you think that looks like a good amount of food, considering what was bought, for $100? Oh, and the reason why the only meat you see is the 8 lb. chicken and 1 lb. of bacon is that I have other meat in the freezer :)

And today was a double post day, because tomorrow there's this:

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Granny is bottom row, center in this picture. She is surrounded by her sisters...I love this picture. It's one of my favorites. Granny is not really my Granny but my mother-in-law. I call her Granny, because that's what my children call her, and because it fits. Yesterday was Granny's birthday. She turned 83.

Granny was raised during The Great Depression, and The Bob and I like her to tell us the stories of life back then. She grew up one of 9 children, was extremely poor, picked cotton from can to can't, and was only schooled until the 4th grade. She married The Bob's Dad in her early 20's. He worked at a steel factory for about 40 years, and retired in his early 60's due to health issues. He only made about $10 per hour at retirement...and that was in the mid 1990's. With such a meager salary they were still able to send their two boys to private school, not accumulate any debt paying cash for everything, and build a small little nest egg of savings. Granny could give lessons in being frugal. She is one of the most content women I know. She has little and wants for nothing. Material possessions do not impress her.

Granny is quite the character. She doesn't meet a stranger and will talk your ears off if you give her the chance. Sometimes you've not a clue as to who or what she's talking about. But that's okay. You just have to smile and nod your head every now and then. She loves to go dancing. Let me repeat that. She LOVES to go dancing. When she meets you, one of the first things she will probably ask is if you like to dance.

Yesterday was Granny's birthday, and she is 83 years young.

Random Blog Thoughts Bullet Style

• I have blogger block, and have absolutely nothing to post about.
• If I have nothing to post about, why am I posting this?
• Susie and Nester's "buttons" match the colors of my blog. Pretty.
• I have Pioneer Woman and Holy Experience in my blog list. Could those women be any more different!
• Everywhere I go now, people have buttons for their blogs. They are EVERYWHERE. Where do people get these? Not that I need one or anything.
• I thought coming back into the blogging world that I could avoid "comment lust". I have not achieved that yet.
• Blogging takes up a lot of time. Even to do a simple post like this seems to take way too much time. For me it does anyway.
• I have one follower. I think I need to take that whole section off. In fact, I will. It looks sad.
• I went back and read some of Debbie's stuff at This is the Life last night. I wished she was still active in her blogging. She is so funny.

Unplugged

**Edited to add: I unplugged on the 20th and again on the 27th. Friday's are busy days for me as I have to get employees payroll, run errands, and the like. I think I need to unplug on a day other than Friday to get the real feel of unplugging. Although I will say, I wanted to check the blogging world on the morning of the 27th sooooooo bad. This is my post from uplugging on the 20th**

I took to this challenge a little early. Kimba planned it for the 27th, but I needed to break early. Yesterday, I did not blog at all. I did not look at my blog nor did I look at anybody's blog. Oops. Let me correct that in saying I did go to Stretching a Buck to help a friend. I had promised I would help her work through the Kroger ad and coupons in a money saving adventure. We had computer issues, printer issues, couldn't find Kroger card issues, and trying to use our brain in general issues. It was awesome.

What led me to getting off the computer yesterday is just way too long to go into. I will say I've had lots of issues over the past week, and I've needed to pray more. I had thought about fasting, and out of the blue, I remembered fasting didn't have to be just food related. Honestly, the computer is more of an issue than food. And I've known, too, that I've not controlled all this blogging and computer time stuff as much as I thought I could or would. Oh, I've been telling myself I'm keeping it within the limits I set for myself and before the Lord, but I was the only one I was fooling. Late Thursday afternoon, The Bob got home early from work. A very rare treat. He was outside with Fep and Moose doing "stuff". I seized the opportunity for a little nappy napperstein. As I was on the couch trying to nap, one of my children came in the door and did not see me on the couch. So, they went immediately to the computer. I had to let them know where I was. Did you catch that? I did. They went immediately to the computer! Hello! Eye opener!

Honestly, yesterday was easier to stay off the computer, because it was a busy day. Busier than I had planned. But I know, I really know, if I had visited the blogging world, time would not have been used wisely. I probably would have missed folding a load of laundry. I probably would have missed time with my family. I probably would have missed time with the Lord.

I think I need to unplug a lot more...

Proverbs 31:27 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Great Words

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture, or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a person humanized or dehumanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming."

~Goethe~

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29

Sadie

This is Sadie. She's my Mom's dog, and I love her. She is the sweetest, kindest, calmest little dog. Calm is important, because my dog, Dixie, she's not calm so much. I love Sadie so much, in fact, that I like for her to visit us from time to time. Just because we are not dogs on the furniture type people, she's very considerate and waits for me to put down a blanket for her before jumping up on the furniture. She likes to join in when Fep has a sleep over with her girlfriends. She snuggles in nicely, don't you think?

Sadie does have a little bit of a feisty side that she only exerts when necessary. Like when she has to go in her kennel. She hates that. Hates it. Despises it. Loathes it. Anyway, she was becoming quite the escape artist, so my Mom tried keeping it secured with a sock (or stocking?) tied around the latch. She was able to chew that up. Now she has a little pad lock on it so Sadie can no longer escape. Who has to put a pad lock on the dog's kennel? My Mom says it's the German in her. She also gets feisty when she has to deal with Dixie.

I'd get feisty, too, if a dog were trying to eat my head.

Ye Olde Budget...

It's linky linky time again with Phoebe! I love her frugal linky parties, and this week is on budgeting. I am very passionate about budgeting. So passionate, in fact, I have been teaching some local home schoolers the joys of budgeting. Some people hate budgets, but not me. I think it goes along with my list making personality.

My earliest memory of budgeting comes from my Mom. She would use a steno pad and keep track of money coming in and money going out. I was always a bit fascinated by that even as a child. Really. The Bob and I have been married for 14 years, and we started budgeting very early on in our marriage. Though not the case when I was single (that's another story for another time), we have always been careful with how much debt we get our self into. There's a plan in place to get it paid off as quickly as possible if/when there's an occasion that we do take on any debt. Right now, other than our house note, we have no debt. It's a beautiful thing. Getting our house paid off, which should be in about 9 years, will be heaven.

We follow a combination of Dave Ramsey and Larry Burkett. We're probably more Larry Burkett than Dave Ramsey. If you've never heard of Larry Burkett you can go to his website at Crown Financial Ministries. Larry is actually deceased now, but the ministry he started is still going. They have a ton of free stuff to help people in budgeting. Following a budget over the past years has gotten us through hard times with our business and helps keep our checkbook balance where it needs to be. It makes us mindful, extremely mindful.

I hope I don't sound like we have it all together and that we're all that and a bag of chips? To be honest, we still struggle with the discipline of some things. Like oh say, saving. Not retirement saving, but saving saving. This year, we are really, really trying to focus on saving more. It's one of our top priorities. Considering the economy and the state of the Nation, it may be more of a challenge, but it's challenge we're willing to tackle! Also, I'm trying to tackle the grocery portion of the budget. I may never be a Phoebe or Gayle, but I know I can get it down. I'll keep you posted on that. Actually, if you see this post from yesterday, you'll see what I'm working on to accomplish that :)

A beautiful site...

I stumbled upon this site through Phoebe's site. It is a beautiful place. She takes the sale ads matching up online coupons and Sunday paper coupons. She does all the work for you, People! I went to Kroger today and took $23 off my bill. For the first time ever, I planned my list around what was on sale and used the Stretching a Buck site. That alone saved me 23 smackeroos. And I didn't even have any Sunday paper coupons. And my sick computer would not print out the online coupons. I have since remedied my sick computer and next time I'll be printing out online coupons. Next time I will so have the Sunday paper coupons in my hand. I know if I had the extra coupons that I could have probably saved another $10 or so. Yep, it's a beautiful place.

Behold the Krispy Kreme Doughnut

Yesterday I had the privilege of going to Krispy Kreme. I love Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They make me very, very happy. In my previous blogging life, I put a post up about my love for the Krispy Kreme. And when Heathahleewas recently telling Missyabout my previous blog while we were in Nashville, it is the one post she mentioned to Missy. She didn't mention my very sentimental post about my Dad or something else of great meaning and worth, she mentioned my post on Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Heathahlee must love them, too. I love them so much that I feel they are worth another post.

Because Krispy Kreme is about 35+ minutes from my house, I don't go often. Plus, it's in a bad neighborhood. Plus, I joined Weight Watchers back in the fall. But yesterday, I was taken to the area where the Krispy Kreme bakery is located. Our accountant's office is less than 5 minutes from Krispy Kreme, and I had to run by and drop some stuff off to our accountant, so my car mysteriously pulled into the Krispy Kreme before going to see Deb, our accountant. Everyone enjoys it when I go, because I get doughnuts for everyone. I take them to Deb, I take them back to the office, and I bring some home for friends and family. I like to share the love that way. Again, it's been a looooong time since I've visited Krispy. I told Deb a few weeks ago when it was mentioned I had not brought Krispies in a while that when I joined Weight Watchers, everybody else joined Weight Watchers with me. Being that I'm down to my goal weight, I decided yesterday to splurge. And splurge I did. I ate two lovely, beautiful, melt-in-your-mouth, delectable doughnuts. I could not have enjoyed them more. Deb was so happy to see me walk in her office with that Krispy Kreme box that she was shoeing other clients out the door. Well, not really, but I think she wanted to. And her eyes did light up, real bright, at the sight of that pretty green and white box.

When you eat Krispy Kreme, you MUST go to a bakery or store. The ones they sell in the grocery store will not do. I never ever buy those. Never. And don't go for the fancy schmancy ones. Just get the basic glazed and chocolate. They are the best ever. Although my Mom loves the sour cream ones, and they are pretty good. But still, I prefer the basics. Look at them. Aren't they lovely?
Look at Moose enjoying them. He almost looks giddy...

One more shot of them before I go. They are worthy of one more look. Until we meet again...