It's all about the little things !

Today, I bought 22 used outfits, socks, and other miscellaneous items, and guess how much I spent? Drumroll, seriously. $5.50. Can you believe it? We're talking about totally fine, completely usable stuff! I was so proud of myself! Where is this miraculous place? Other Mothers. If you don't know about this fabulous store and it's .25 cent sale, let me tell you, it's good.

Now, if you are one of the people who must have new, unworn items for your new baby, this sale is probably not for you. But, if your family's budget is a little tight and you would like to not have to spend a fortune to clothe your child, this is your store! I am grateful to the sister who first introduced me to the happiness that is Other Mothers .25 cent sale a few years ago. I continue to be grateful that they still continue this fabulous tradition on the last Friday and Saturday of every month.

Counting my Blessings

Well, this post isn't actually about counting each and every one of my blessings, just to tell you about some of the ones I've really been enjoying lately.

I have been trying and trying to coordinate this baby kicking and Reed being home and patient enough to wait for her to kick, so that he could feel her. I don't know why, but it's very important to me. :) So, last night was the prime opportunity and Reed felt a little poke out of the side of my tummy. He got so excited - it made me happy and made all the work and planning worth it. (I had to eat a few sugary things to get her going, it was a small sacrifice, ;) but I felt it was a good investment toward daddy/daughter bonding.)

Other things I've been grateful for this week: cleaning one room a day! When two people clean/do something for the house every night, especially two people who also work full time jobs and aren't often home to make it messy, the house stays incredibly clean and makes everything so much happier and especially makes the people living in it happier. I love having a clean house. I'm feeling much more optimistic about getting everything arranged and ready for the baby's room.

I'm grateful for a husband who is willing to work so hard, for a man who takes his responsibilities so seriously. I knew the question was coming, but when Reed said to me last night as we talked about our baby coming "Do you ever feel scared?" it made me love him even more. I felt from him the commitment that he has for this baby, in taking care of her and providing for her needs. What a sweet, sweet man! I have also appreciated the work he has put into cleaning and caring for our house. It makes it a lot easier on me.

I'm grateful for the blessing of family - grateful for kind words, caring phone calls, generous giving and loaning of things that help me to worry less. :) Thank you to all for the blessing that you are in my life!

I'm over January's gray skies . . . .

And I have most definitely moved on. :)

There's so much in life to be grateful for, so I will help to pass that positive outlook onto all of you. Here's a few things I'm grateful for at this time of year:

1. Rare, sunny days. I love them! Climb in the car and bask in the
sunshine! (If you enjoy the sun from the car, it creates the illusion
in your car that it's warm outside because it's heated by the sunshine.
Smart, huh? )

2. Valentines Day! A day to show a little love, and maybe enjoy a little
chocolate.

3. Flowers at Walmart. Ever notice how on a not so happy day for you, if
you buy yourself flowers and put them on your table, you can't help
but smile. They brighten the room with their presence.

4. St. Patricks Day - a day to pinch people for fun, and it makes me
smile mischieviously just thinking about it.

5. Easter! Another day filled with notions of spring and chocolate!

6. Birthdays! It's fun to plan those fun birthday surprises and think of
how your loved one's face will light up with happiness at your
thoughtfulness. And you get to eat cake and ice cream!
(Are you noticing a theme of food here? I just started noticing it . . .)

Last but definitely not least:

7. Shopping for new clothes at all the really good after-Christmas sales,
or spending what little money I might have buying all the cute new
clothes the stores bring out for spring.

Things to look forward to: General Conference, flowers popping up out of the
ground, all the nests holding plenty of baby birds, baby ducks, and lots and
lots of sunshine!

The gray skies of January . . .

. . . . . __________________. Fill in the blank. I'm feeling a little blah lately. I have had at least 2 good posts in the last month that I couldn't post without the cute little picture I saw in my head and felt would illustrate my point so much better than just words. But without the ability to download pictures from my camera, I chose not to post them. And, they're still in my head. Maybe I'll post them soon.

In other news, I made my mothers rolls on Sunday. And mama! they were good. Just the right amount of butter and crispiness. Perfect amount of chewiness in the middle. Yummy! Reed gave them a 10, with absolutely no hesitation. That means something, I'm telling you!



Also, I checked out the Target sale this weekend. I should have gone to the Target on Eagle. I heard they had an additional 30% off their clearance. I might have saved on the few baby outfits I invested in. But I am happy that our sweet little newt will have some clothes.

In larger, more important news, I have become one of the statistics of these times and this economy. Luckily, though, even though I am only losing 10 hours at work, my bosses are being generous enough to let me keep enough hours to also keep my health insurance. Holy Hannah that's a blessing!

(In case anyone is wondering why I referred to our baby as a newt, I had a dream when I was pregnant and it ended in miscarriage that our baby's name was supposed to be Newt. Kind of funny if you think of what a newt actually is. Reed hates the name. ) =)

Love me anyway

I have known for quite some time that I don't put enough pictures on my blog. I hoped that if I came up with enough thought-provoking subjects, maybe people wouldn't notice. But yesterday, I had this conversation with a person who shall remain nameless over the phone.
Me: Yeah, we just got 2 new couches! Woohoo!!
Person: And how far along are you?
Me: 5 months and 1 week!
Person: Wow! You should put a picture of yourself and your new couches on your blog. You
don't, ahem, put enough pictures on your blog. (!!!!!stunned silence!!!!)

As some of you may or may not know, sadly, I have a laptop that is older than the hills and twice as old as Methusaleh. We are working on getting an up-to-date desktop, but it will most likely be a few more months. In order to even get pictures of any interest on our blog, the pictures must be developed first and then I scan them in and then post them. It's a lot of work, and I've tried to just download them off my camera like all you normal people. But sadly, I just can't.

If you could, would you please try and love me anyway?! :^)

My Silly Little Quandary

As most of you know who are regular readers of this blog, or just participants in my life, we just found out we're having a girl. I can honestly say, now that a few weeks have passed and I've gotten over the shock, that I am very excited! Our family is going to have a different start than I ever imagined, and that's kind of a fun discovery. But, I feel very confused and befuddled. When I thought we were having a boy, I knew very definitely the name of our child, and why he needed that name, and I even felt a confirmation that he liked the name! I know, I'm different. Well, so now I am having a girl. What does all that other stuff mean, and does it still apply if our next child is a boy, and really, is it important?!? And most important of all, I can't come up with a name for our baby. We had a name picked, but now that we're really having a girl, I don't like this name. In fact, there's not one name that I can honestly say I like, because I don't feel as strong as I did about our boys name. What kind of a name do you give to your first child that's a girl? Does she need a strong name so she can be a leader in your family and in life, or does she get the sweet, girly name that will help her develop into the beautiful woman she will someday be? Can you see my quandary? Please, if you have insight, share it with me. I would appreciate it, and so would Reed, who gets frustrated with my "new name every night" game.
Okay, now I just shared this post with Reed, and he didn't seem to understand where I was coming from. He thought the point of my post was that the name you are given will shape you into who you are. That is NOT my point. Here is an example of what I'm trying to express. My mother, when my sister and I were born, felt impressed to give me her name as my middle name because she felt that I would be a lot like her. And, sometimes whether I liked it or not, I felt tied to my mother in a special way because of this whether I was truly like her or not. It can be the same way when you name your child after an ancestor. Most people will remember, for the rest of their days, who they were named after and why, and probably take the time to find out about that person and try to emulate them in some way in their life. This is where names can be important.
Even if you're not named after someone, you never know when someone may name their child AFTER YOU, because you were an important enough person in their life. Like my twin sister whose middle name is the name of one of my mothers good friends. I never even knew this friend, but it was obviously someone important enough to my mother to carry on this woman in some way with one of her children. Names are interesting stuff, huh? Or maybe it's just interesting to a hormonal and anxious soon-to-be mother wanting to ensure a good name for her child.

The parable of the garbage can . . .

About 3 weeks ago, I went to work feeling VERY upset. I couldn't find our garbage can! Reed had only just put it out for the garbage men and hadn't brought it in that night. The next morning, while leaving for work, I noticed that our garbage can wasn't out by the curb anymore. "He brought it in, it's a Wednesday miracle!" I thought. But just to make sure, I went and looked in our garage. No garbage can. It wasn't in our house and it wasn't in our backyard. Someone had stolen it! I fumed and fussed about it all day long, until coming home, I decided that I hadn't checked one place at home. When I got home, I checked behind our half fence. And there it was! I was so relieved that I decided it was a waste of my energy to be that upset about a garbage can again and so I resolved never to do it again. (By the way, in case you might think "why didn't she just call Reed and talk to him," Reed has lost his phone. Don't waste your time calling his #, just call Reed on my number.) I did tell Reed he might have told me where he had hidden it, so I wouldn't worry. Anyway, so fast forward to this week.
We forgot to put out our trash for the trash guys on Tuesday, our trash day, but Reed decided to get all the trash bags situated and ready for next week. So he went to our hiding spot for the can, and IT WAS GONE! :) Sorry, I smile because to me this time, it was funny. I had already decided, who in the heck goes around looking for unwatched trash cans just so they can steal them for their own house? If they really are that pathetic, then that person can have it. But, I noticed that our garbage can lid was still in the hiding spot, and we had been having really high winds out here. To me, that meant our can blew away. Reed walked all around our house, and told me I was wrong, and that someone had really stolen our can. I kept reasoning with him "But why would they leave the lid?" Yesterday, I was loving the weather and the sunshine, so I went for a walk in our neighborhood. Not even a block and a half from our house, in an empty field behind one house and to the side of another, there lay a deserted, dirty garbage can looking kind of lonely and looking a whole lot LIKE OURS! I was right! So, I hauled our dirty garbage can that had blown away from home back home. And what can we learn from this story? Well, never jump to the conclusion that other people are really THAT out to get you. I believe in general most people won't steal your garbage can.
Also, faith without works is dead. Heavenly Father knows our concerns and worries, how small or stupid they may seem. And he will help us, if we will let him guide us. Even if he guides us to take a walk on a sunny and windy day so we can locate our lost trash can.