Gotta Have Faith, a Faith a Faith...

Sing with me now!  So faith is definitely what I need right now if we're going to be going to Disney this year or if we are going to sell our house this year.  Faith, which dispells fear, is what I need.  How do I get it?  I am going to speak the positive and dive into God's Word.  I need to believe the positive not just for these things I want but for the fact that I want my children to know that I believe that God is interested in the things that interests me and that He enjoys being involved in our lives.

I'm in the process of creating a summer schedule for me and the kids.  Cullman has got some great summer activities planned and I hope to take advantage of them.  Right now I'm working on a Summer-Fun-on-a-Budget List.  We'll see what happens.

It was just me and Tres this evening. Uno is at his mom's and Dos spent the night with cousins.  So me and Little Miss had some fun just the two of us.  She is so amazing.  Her little face just lights up when she talks and she gets so into her topics of conversation.  She is very exact and intent on whatever task she is involved with.  Tonight she instructed me as to which marker was to be used during coloring time and while I was on the phone with a friend, I watched her take care of her baby doll.  She meticulously changed and re-changed the baby's diaper then loaded her diaper bag to take her "baby" shopping. 

Dos has started using the word hate and I dislike it.  Today he told a cousin he hated him.  I am trying to explain to him why we shouldn't use that word.  And with all of my children I am trying my best to explain why they should obey without guilting them into it.  I am finding that more often then not I am trying to turn them to the truth of we must fall on the grace and help of Christ to obey.  I think shock, shame, and guilt were used on me as a child and I don't think it worked.  All I ended up with was a guilt complex about everything it seems.  Not that one should not feel guilty for wrong doing. Guilt has its place.  But if all I do is react with shock and disgust at the sin in my children's hearts then that alone will not turn them to God.  I believe they will be left wondering "What is wrong with me?". 

When it rains...

Have been really trying to focus (intensely) on how we're going to pay for Disney.  Low and behold at a moment when I felt overwhelmed at bills and the total cost of the trip, my man's car breaks down.  In my true selfish nature, I want God to solve all of our problems right away - miraculously fix the car, sale our off-the-market house, pay our way to Disney, provide perfect weather, yada, yada, yada.  Why do I even stress about this stuff?  My life is GREAT!  My prayer requests aren't "Lord, heal my sick child" or "Lord, my man ain't got no job, please help us out".  No, we are not in that shape, praise God and I am well aware of the glorious blessings He has bestowed on me.  And yet I am still praying for the car-healing, house-selling, Disney-paying prayers.  Am I shallow?  Or is this really what He wants to hear about, my everyday desires? 

Discount! Discount! Discount!

Restaurant.com has a new code to get even deeper discounts on their coupons!  If you haven't heard already, the code is SAVOR.  You can use this code all the way up to 5/23/10 but the certificates are good until December ( I think).  There are some restrictions such as if you purchase a $25 gift certificate then you must spend $50 or if you purchase $50 you must spend $100.  Which is not a big deal for us because we've just been inviting friends out to eat with us and split the difference - everybody wins!  Today, I got a $25 certificate to Rojo's  in the Highlands area of Birmingham for $3.75.  Me and my man are having date night Sunday night and at most we will be out $25!

Cha-Ching!

I went to CVS yesterday and Publix today!  I am super pumped about these trips - I did very well:)  I'm pretty certian Numero Uno is tired of hearing about my savings but I can't keep quiet! 

So, I had $2 Extra Care Bucks (ECB) from a previous CVS trip and I purchased Herbal Essance Shampoo which is on sale plus I had a $1 coupon.  Also, I bought Col-gate Pro Clinical toothpaste on sale and had another $1 coupon.  Now each of these items gave me $2 ECB back.   Then I purchased the Scott Paper Towel mega rolls and the Crystal Renuzits which were both on sale and I had a $1 and $3 respectively coupon for these items (plus my just earned $4 ECB).  I walked out of there with $25 (not including tax) worth of product for $5.31 (including tax!).  Southern Savers is right, Sam's Club will become absolete for me:)


Now for today's Publix... I found I heart Publix online and enjoy looking at her info because she generally post Publix's weekly ads before Southern Savers.  Anyway, I made a list of what I wanted from I heart Publix and lined up all my corresponding coupons.  By the way, I want to give a BIG "Thank You!" to my BFF for hooking me up with all her leftover coupons - they were awesome!  Then this morning I looked on the Southern Saver website for any deals I might of missed and I'm glad I did because she noted several FREE items that I did not have on my list.  Unfortunately, three of the free items (Women's Nivea Body Wash, Hydro 3 razor, and Hydro 3 shave gel) are out of stock.  But I did get 3 packs of Carefree Liners for free!  You can't beat free, baby.  For my two weeks worth of groceries plus toiletries and teacher gifts, I walked out of there spending $161, which breaks down into $80 a week.  I haven't spent $80 a week on groceries from Wal-Mart in a LONG time.  My coupons and special store savings came to $85!  Therefore, I got $246 worth of groceries for $161! 


And by the way, I earned $4 in Amazon.com gift cards this week just by completing a couple of surveys.

Tell Me! Tuesday

Being the List Maker that I am, I know that most everyone else has a list of some kind; therefore, starting today I will have a "Tell Me! Tuesday" link.  Post what your list is for the day - what you have to get done or want to get done.  I am still tweeking the look of the blog so ideally the link would look cuter than what it does but I will try to get it changed in the future.  For now, it's a start.  So... enter you list, let me know what's going on! 

Also, I want to say Happy Birthday to Tres!  She is three today:)  I can not believe three years have passed so quickly.  I love you, my sweet and funny girl.

Make Way for Change!

You might have noticed I've added a couple of sections to my blog.  1.  I added a Disney Fund section to keep up-to-date on my savings for this BIG family trip.  I will be the first to admit...I could have made better financial decisions as far as the cost of the trip goes; however, it is what it is.  Now, I'm liking the challenge of finding deals, coupons, and saving money for this trip.  I am in need of your help!  If you know of some Disney deals that I am not aware of, let me know. 
Here is the break down of the trip:
$1300  room at Wilderness Lodge for 4 nights
$ 200   insurance package for trip
$1185  3 day park hopper passes for family of 5
$1049  plus Dining Package for family of 5
*add tax plus we still need to pay for round trip air fare and any spending money, this will total $5000
Now there are some extras that I want to do while at Disney but if I don't find some special offers or discounts than I am out of luck!  When I booked my vacation Disney did tell me that if they ran a special offer for the dates of my trip, they would discount my current price. 

And now 2.  I added a poll feature that will hopefully get feedback from you.  As crazy as it may sound, I would like to write a book one day.  This poll will let me see what your likes and dislikes are and how I relate to you.  Now, I realize that the "dream" of writing a book may never come to pass and I'm okay with that.  Dreams can change but for now this is what I'm thinkin:)