Trades, Swaps and Good Deals...

I have been doing so many awesome trades over at DiaperSwappers. There is a WAHM thread, where all the mammas are swapping stuff they make w/ each other. I have got a few diapers for Emersyn, some clothes for the girls and a matching necklace/bracelet for my sister in law's birthday this week. I should also have a few Christmas gifts on their way! I'm hoping to get a trade worked out so I can get Steven's sister and her family matching tie dye shirts. I am LOVING it b/c, who, with this awful economy, can even afford to THINK about Christmas??? But, I'm slowly getting my gifts stocked up. Even if you don't use cloth diapers, I think you should totally check out the WAHM thread! There is something for everyone there! And, if you want to do a trade w/ me, just throw me an email!:)

Halloween Costumes

Well, it's almost Halloween. Scary, huh? :)
Natali has been insistant that she wear the same butterfly costume from last year. Until a week before Halloween. Now she wants to be a Princess. Ugh. So, I've whipped up a simple pink and yellow tutu and have some flowers and some sequins that she wants attatched to the tutu. (They'll more than likely be glued on! Lazy mamma!)
Emersyn got the most amazing ladybug tutu from my good friend, Lisa. Her work is, of course, impecible. Always a treat to get something from her. She even included many extras to make Ms. Natali feel special. We LOVE Lisa! :)
So, I have nohting too exciting to post about, but I have been searching online for a simple Princess Hat pattern and can't find any and needed a break! Back to work for me, now!

No School!!!

Natali is home today, due to Parent/Teacher Conferences. We have been cleaning like crazy and are still getting nothing accomplished. Don't you hate days like that. Regardless, it was nice having Natali here w/ me today. It makes me really wish I was homeschooling her. I think I may let her finish the year out and start homeschooling in kindergarten. That is, if I can get Steven to agree! :)

Garage sale...

My friend, Carrie and I had a garage sale Thursday and Friday. We usually have at least 2 sales a year, just to keep our homes free of clutter. We didn't have much this go-around, but we did have a little, so we decided to go ahead w/ another sale so we don't have to store the "junk" all winter. Well, good idea. For the VERY little stuff we had, we banked! :)
We each made off with over $100, and we weren't expecting nearly that much. While I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to put the extra cash into our emergency fund, I have decided to use it to buy the bridesmaid dress, I've been putting off for months. Literally, months since I didn't want it to go on my credit card and didn't have the room in my budget!
The wedding is in January, and I was supposed to buy it in September at the very latest, but I never got around to it. LOL Sorry, Meghan! The bride has been my best friend since kindergarten, so it's VERY important that I buy the dress. If it was anyone else's wedding, I would've passed and saved the money. The good news is that she is actually buying Natali's flower girl dress, which is more expensive than mine!

Financial talk...

Well, last night Steven had an "opportunity meeting" for his Primerica business, which basically means people come over and meet w/ him, watch a short presentation about the company and then sign up to work w/ Steven. Well, last night was the first time Steven had a meeting of his own and he got a recruit!!! YEAH! This means that his contract will go up after one more recruit! Thank goodness! Now he'll make better money when he makes a sale. I am so proud of him b/c he has really worked his butt off and hasn't made much money, but has stayed after it! Of course, it's just like any other business where you have to really work hard and wait...you aren't going to get rich overnight. So...we're going to celebrate this weekend!

On another note...we are officially starting the Dave Ramsey program next week! We are going to go ahead and save another $1,000 in our BF b/c we want to keep our other savings b/c of Steven's job. So...we are starting out w/ a little less than $8,000 which is our car and our credit card! Hopefully by this time next year, we'll be DEBT FREE!!! Won't that be awesome!!!

Lovely Dovely Sunday afternoon...

Well, I honestly have nothing to blog about but thought that in order to get back into the habit, I should try to pop in here whenever I think about it! :) So, here I am.
Had a nice afternoon today. Woke up and went to church, of course. After church was the monthly potluck, so that was nice. Had some good fellowship. Then we came home adn I put Emersyn to sleep while Steven and I watched Mad Money. About half way through, I decided a nap would be more exciting. LOL So, I took a nap for about an hour and a half. Then Emersyn woke me up so here I am and getting ready to get the girls ready for evening services at church. Big things are going to happen at my church. Don't ya just love that feeling, when you KNOW God is present and hard at work in your midst! :)

It's been a while....

since I've been on here, but guess what...I'M BACK! :) That was an extremely long break from blogging and I've missed it a lot! I basically took the summer off, but am going to TRY to put a little more "E" into my blog! :) So, for tonight, since it's after 11 p.m., I will just let you in on some of the "big" events going on and some stuff that happened over the summer! :)

First of all, my girls are G.R.O.W.I.N.G. like weeds! I can't believe how big they are getting! Emersyn is already standing by herself and fixin' to start walking! Here's a few pics of them! Aren't they adorable in their matching outfits! I made them for Natali's first day of preschool! :)

We had a great summer, but Natali started school in mid-September. She is still deciding whether she likes it. I already know that I don't. I am missing her like crazy and have been BEGGING Steven to let me home school. We'll see...
Here's a pic of her first day...and her on the bus! Doesn't she look so grown up?

So...I've been wanting to read the Dave Ramsey book, Total Money Makeover, for a while now but I just never got around to it. Well, I just started it a few days ago and am almost done. It's just INSANE thinking that I could be debt free in just a year. Wouldn't it be nice to NOT have a car payment. Or better yet, NOT have a credit card payment! (I HATE HATE HATE credit cards, but used it to fix Natali's teeth, again, in August, so now I have almost $2k on it!!! UGH!) Anyways, I have TOTAL faith that we can get everything paid off rather quickly, especially if we put all of Steven's extra income towards it. However, we have decided to go ahead and still buy Christmas this year, but cut WAAAAY back! I am really excited and have even agreed on some trades over at DiaperSwappers. I am getting a necklace/bracelet set for my Sister-in-law in exchange for an appliqued tee. Also in talks to have orange/black and white tie-dye shirts made for Steven's sister and her family, the Dukes of Hazard lovers! :) And, am hoping to trade for a few sets of bath crayons for all the small kiddos in the family! So, so far, nothing spent on Christmas! Hopefully I can trade enough to keep my Christmas costs down! Dave Ramsey would be proud! LOL (Probably not, actually...he'd say NO GIFTS, but that's okay!)

Natali had surgery on her teeth in August and there was the nicest lady in the waiting room w/ us. She was in the recovery room w/ her husband when Natali came out and Natali was really upset, bawling and trying to rip her IV's out. Well, the lady went and bought her a Webkinz from the hospital gift shop and told her that if she's scared, just hug the Panda. Well, that made Natali 100% better! She quit crying and got to go home really quickly. Now, we are all OBSESSED w/ playing on the webkinz website! It is so stinkin' fun! Me, Steven, Natali, my little brother, and my mom are ALWAYS on it! Natali has the coolest stuff and always has so much KinzKash b/c we're all addicted! My mom even went and bought my little brother a Webkinz, so it won't kick him off when we log on at the same time! LOL (And, he's 15 and now has a stuffed animal! LOL)

Oh yeah, can you believe the hype over the presidential election. It's a scary one, that's for sure! I'm sure most people know I am not a fan of Obama's. At all. Anyways, I found these the other day online and thought they were hilarious! There were some even better ones, but they were kind of...vulgar. LOL The second one pretty much sums up my views of the election.

Guess what...I am gonna try to start sewing more now that Natali's in school. We'll see how that goes. I am still adjusting to her being gone, but hopefully Tuesday, I'll be ready to "get my sew on!" LOL

Well, if you're still reading, you either REALLY missed me or are just super bored! :) Either way, all I have left to say is "Good night!"