Yes, Creative Counterpart HAS MOVED. I will still be blogging at Creative counterpart, but it’s location is new!
Http://creativecounterpart.reformedchristianblogs.net
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2009 Goals Update :)
At the beginning of the year I posted a list of goals I would like to accomplish this year. Well, what good is a list of goals if you never look at it, check off the accomplishments, and reassess what you originally wanted? (Why do I ask so many open-ended questions?) So, let’s recap..
- Set up a sewing station in our new home and finish lots of projects! I just got this set up the other day, yay! Now I need to get to work.
- Specifically to sew: taggie blankets/soft toys, cloth napkins, aprons for the kiddos.
- Look ahead at next Christmas all year long, so I’ll be prepared with special gifts including homemade ones. (been looking ahead. Nothing made yet, haha.)
- Have Gregory recognize his colors, numbers, and letters. (He knows some of his letters and colors, yay! he’s a natural learner, so i didn’t really have much to do with this.)
- Paint and decorate our new house (Nope, still in the planning stages)
- Have a great stockpile from couponing It’s good, but could be better. I am focusing on only free things at the moment.
- Keep up with our new joint blog project, Big Red Deals, sharing the deals and savings with those in our local area. (The joint idea is scratched. Personal problems arose. I’d love to do this someday but now is NOT a good time.
- Teach other women how to be savvy shoppers and save their families lots of money. I’ve had the wonderful privledge of sharing some of my tips with other moms at a coupon swap.
- Donate surplus to charity and food banks. (Still need to do this. Goodwill still gets lots of our old stuff, though!)
- Keep up with everyones birthdays and send them cards. (I HAVE done better this year than any other, but definately not met my goal.)
- Start Seminary (Not even close)
- Learn a little about cars from my husband (including how to change a tire, and other simple things that I’ve been too stubborn to learn.) Guess what, I’m still stubborn.
- Read to the boys more. We used to be really good about this but have gotten away from it since the birth of our newest. It’s very important and I need to make it a point everyday. We HAVE been reading more, thanks to the library and their summer reading programs!
- Visit my sister often who is now only a few hours away. She may be sick of me I’d love to see her more, but she has a life, you know.
- organize photographs
- get an SLR camera and get into photography I don’t think this fits our tightwaddery at the moment.
- Spend more time with friends and make new ones I have made some new friends. Now, if I just had more time…
- Serve more Does serving more at home count?
- Get a practice pad and/or snare drum and practice.. introduce my son to it and let him get comfortable holding the sticks and making rhythms. I am a drummer and my goal is to teach him this instrument for home school. I’d love to do this NOW, but again… tightwaddery. I guess I need to “put the word out”.
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in the coupon code “freegift” . Have to order BY TODAY DEC 20TH.
Pick up in store. Let everyone know!
Still Catching Up
I went black friday shopping for the first time ever. I must say, it was kinda fun. I didn’t get to the stores so early that my heels got run over, and I also wasn’t shopping for any big ticket items. I just love a good deal. I like to challenge myself to see how creative I can be and keep Christmas cheap, while still finding some great gifts. Overall, there were only a few stores with “great” deals. Walmart and Kohls had several very decent deals. Walmart has streamlined black friday very well, they know what they are doing for the most part. Kohls on the other hand, had a line to the back of the store that was very unappealing. It almost wasn’t worth the deals to stand in line that long, but I decided to b/c there were some good deals that I wanted for gifts (and I had time).
We had a very good thanksgiving. We went down to my dad’s house in the morning and then followed him into town at noon and had thanksgiving dinner with his wife’s family. We ended up staying all day until about 6:30pm. We had such a fun day. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got home. I planned on getting some sleep before waking up for black friday shopping, but our hispanic neigbors decided they were going to blast their music and have a fiesta. My husband asked them once to turn the music down and they just turned it back up later. They were singing and carrying on over there, so my husband called the cops about the noise around 11:30pm. After the cops left they were still carrying on and then we heard them having a fist fight, so my husband called the cops again. Finally they settled down well after midnight. Needless to say I didn’t get that much sleep. We really can’t wait to get out of these townhouses with paper thin walls. Owning a home is going to be well worth it for that alone!
I’m still trying to catch up from my wisdom teeth removal down time. I’ve finally put a dent in getting my coupons sorted and cut. I am still behind but no as far. I sat and wrapped most of the Christmas presents last night, but now we have nowhere to put them in the house. My sink is full of dishes as usual, but all in all my house is not that bad. I’m learning to let go more and more to the little things like dishes and baskets of laundry. I’m realizing with 2 very young children, my expectations may need to be a bit lower so I don’t stress myself out too much trying to make things perfect. I can relax and spend more time with my kids.
On the way home from thanksgiving dinner, my husband and I had a very long and wonderful discussion about where God is leading us in our service to him. We’ve discussed attending theological seminary online to further our understanding of scripture and prepare ourselves to serve him more. Recently I came across RTS Virtual : Reformed Theological Seminary Online. It looks very good and I am going to look into it more.
The Country in the Girl
There is just something so confining about any town that I can’t get around. Something constricting the freedom that is waiting to be released within myself. In this tiny townhouse with no yard to run away from the traffic. Nowhere to go to be alone. At least, not really alone.
It’s so funny how teary-eyed I get when I think of the country. But how can a kid really be a kid without at least a yard to run free in? Let alone a field. I miss it so badly. The fences to duck under and climb over. Rows of haybales to hide in, sleep in. Barns to explore, hills to roll down, corn rows to navigate, places to spin and fall down. Secluded places in nature to talk to God.
We all have a place that is dear in our hearts. Where do you go when you close your eyes? Where is the place you long more than anywhere to be?
And so I’ve set a goal for myself this evening as I type and dream. I want my sons to know the country that is so dear to my heart. I want to take my sons to visit the country where my dad still farms. I want them not only to run free, but also to know the joy and hard work that is country life.
A few things I’ve learned in life…
There are two surefire ways to lose weight without really trying. 1.) Get pregnant and have outrageous queasiness for 4 months straight. 2.) Get all four of your wisdom teeth removed at once.
The best person to wake up to in the morning is a short, drooling, toothless person.
Becoming a mother taught me to let go of little messes. Becoming a mother of 2 kids under the age of 3 taught me to let go of the bigger messes. Being the mother of 2 kids under the age of 3 and having all four of my wisdom teeth removed at once taught me to let go of the BIGGEST messes.
The house won’t fall to pieces if dad is in charge for a week. Really.
Jello & Pudding & Ice Cream, Oh My!
Probably the reason I’m so very tired; I’m existing on jello, pudding, ice cream, and soup while nursing a hungry little 3 month old! The last few days have been ROUGH to say the least. A daze of consciousness between pain and pain medication; I’m finally seeing the end of the tunnel.
There is some good news. My recovery time has allowed me to think about things at a slower pace and start books I otherwise wouldn’t have started.
Firstly, I am almost halfway through The Deadliest Monster, an introduction to worldviews and theology. So far, an excellent read for any christian in better understanding the logic of our Christian faith and the fallacy of other worldviews.
Literate, witty, incisive and provocative, The Deadliest Monster is a remarkable book. Part worldview handbook, part theological primer, and part introduction to belles letters, it is a genuine delight to both heart and soul. I can’t think of a better book for home schoolers, Sunday School teachers, youth pastors, or Christian educators to use to understand all the implications of the biblical view of the nature of man. Jeff Baldwin has done us all a great service.
by George Grant, author of Grand Illusions
Secondly, I was introduced to an invaluable resource for Christians on the web. Christian Classics Ethereal Library contains hundreds, if not thousands of Christian classics for free on the web or in text download. Pay a small fee for PDF and other formats.
The mission of the CCEL is to build up the church by making classic Christian writings available and promoting their use.
