Who I Am & Who I Want to Be

I heard something the other day and I think it is so true:

You are constantly becoming the person you will ultimately be.

This really got me to thinking about my life and who I am now and who I want to be. I will have to admit, I do things now, that I wouldn't want to define me in the future. I see people around me and how selfish and uncaring people can be, but on the other hand, I see people who are loving and caring. I want to make sure I am taking steps in the right direction. So I decided to write who I feel like I am and who I would like to be.

Who I am:

I am a wife who doesn't have a very good relationship with her husband, who knows things could be better.

I am a mother who doesn't take the time she should for her children, who makes sure they are clean and fed, but, who knows there is a lot more to being a parent.

I am a Christian who doesn't read her Bible and pray as often as she should.

I am a woman who is overweight and finds it difficult to lose the weight.

I am a woman who has been depressed for several years, who is no longer taking any depression medicine, who is much better, but still has so far to go.

Who I want to be:

I want to be a wife who has a great marriage. I want to have a good physical relationship with my husband. I want to find things my husband and I enjoy doing together. I want to build a better relationship.

I want to be a homeschooling mother who has lots of time for her children. I want to make the most of each day with them. They will be grown up before I know it and I don't want to waste the time.

I want to be a Christian who reads and prays regularly. I would love to be more like my Grandma Wilson. She was so loving, caring and had such a sweet, gentle spirit. I want to be an encourager.

I want to be a woman who is no longer overweight, but a woman who has lost the weight and is in the best shape of her life. I want to learn and teach my family healthy ways to eat.

I want to be a good housekeeper. I want to learn to better organize our house and keep it clean.

I want to be a “finisher”. Often times, I am good at starting a project, but sometimes I find it difficult to finish the project. I get it to a point of stopping to a point of “good enough”. I don't want to settle for “good enough” I want to expect excellence.

There are many more things I would like to be, but these are a good start.

Old Navy Weekly Coupons

This week at Old Navy Weekly, I found a coupon for $50 off a purchase of $100 or more.  Every week, Old Navy updates this site and hides more coupons.  In the past, there has been $75 off a purchase of $100 or more.  It is fun to look for the coupons.  

There are no high value coupons left this week, but you can still find some of the other coupons.  There are still $20 off a $100 purchase, $15 off a $75 purchase, and $5 off a $50 purchase.

I like to check The Thrifty Mama for updates.  You can check out last week's post HERE.  

I am not sure when they are going to reload the coupons, but if I find out, I will let you know.

Caregivers Marketplace

A little while back I heard of The Caregivers Marketplace. It gives you a rebate on certain products you buy. I decided not to pursue it at that time.

Recently I gave this another look at this program. I think it is great. I just filled out the form and mailed it. I have purchased 18 packages of Huggies diapers in the last several months. I am going to get back $13.50. You can turn in any receipts from this year. You just have to have at least 5 products before you send in for your rebate.

There are many products you can purchase and get money back. For Huggies diapers, they offer $0.75 per pack. Other brands include: Nature Made Vitamins, Huggies, Pull Ups, Balmex, Os-Cal, Poise, Polident, Icy Hot, Gold Bond, Glucerna, Ensure, Depends, plus others.

You can buy the products from any store. Check it out.

Reusable Bag

In April I signed up for a free reusable shopping bag from Earthbound. They had a limited supply and I was one that won.

I love using my reusable shopping bags. I try to look for any free ones or deals on bags. Most stores have bags for about $1. They hold so much more that the plastic sacks. When I bring in my groceries from the car, I don't have to make as many trips.

I have bags from WalMart, Kroger, Walgreens, CVS, and Aldi. Most bags are about the same size, but the Aldi bag is about 2 times the size of the other ones. It is great for things like diapers, chips, cereal and other things that aren't very heavy, but are a little bulky.

I have also made a few of my own bags from fabric. I really enjoyed that. I wish I had more time to do this.

Yard sales are also a great place to get bags. They don't have to look like all the other reusable bags in order to be a great bag.

If you haven't already, consider getting a reusable bag and trying it.

Funny Mom Video

I heard part of this song on the radio this morning and decided to try to find it on YouTube. It is a very funny song. Go HERE to listen to it. It is all a part of being a mom.

New Huggies Program

There is a new program by Huggies called Enjoy the Ride Rewards. I signed up for it a few weeks ago. You do not have to buy diapers to earn points. You can earn points by watching videos, taking polls and telling friends. In addition to those, there are many points you can get just by entering the codes.

You get 10 points just for joining. Money Saving Mom has codes posted that should give you 100 points. It is a little slow entering all the codes, but there are several prizes you can win.

There are sweepstakes and instant win prizes. Also just for signing up, you will be entered to win diapers for a year. They are giving away a years supply of diapers everyday for a year. Yesterday I won a $25 prepaid Visa card. It is not going to arrive for 8-10 weeks. I am happy to have won!

Free Dishwasher and $100 Stove

A while back, I searched Craigslist and found a dishwasher someone was giving away. I quickly emailed and found that they still had it. I asked to see a picture and then said I wanted it. The catch was I had to wait until their new one was delivered and installed. That was not a problem for me. They had several problems with getting their dishwasher, but finally they got theirs and I was able to get my free one.

They also had an electric stove they were selling for $100. I decided to get it also. They also gave us the range hood.

So, for $100, I got a stove, dishwasher and a range hood. I am very happy with what I got. I was even able to sell my old stove for $25. I gave them the dishwasher and range hood. They were very happy to get it.

If you are looking for something, check out your local Craigslist, you never know what you might find.

Haven't lost weight yet!

I just wanted to clarify that I have not lost the weight as pictured in a previous post. The picture you see is what I might look like when I lose 50 pounds.

One Goal for this Year

One of my goals for this year is to lose weight. I know that is a resolution many people make every year and I have made in years past.

I want to be healthy.
I want to teach my girls to be healthy.

With being pregnant last year and being depressed, I have gained more weight than I care to admit. I know I have a lot to lose, but my goal for this year is going to be 50 pounds. I think I can do that. It will only be about a pound a week. I have lost weight before and I know I can do it again.

To give myself a little extra motivation, I found a site called WeightView that shows what you might look like after losing weight. You submit a picture of yourself and how much weight you want to take off. They email the results back to you. I thought I would share my pictures with you. I am also going to add a weight loss ticker to my side bar, so you can see how much weight I have lost so far.

BEFORE-DECEMBER 2008

AFTER-DECEMBER 2009?

Tag! I'm it!

I was tagged by Amy at The Wells Family blog. I am supposed to post the 4th picture from the 4th folder. I save my pictures in several different places. This is the 4th picture from the 4th folder in one of the places I save them.
This is Cassidy giving her cat a bath a Build a Bear. She enjoyed making the cat and picked lots of clothes for it.

I am suppose to tag 4 people who read this blog and also have a blog. I am going to do like Amy did and just say if you read this blog, then you have been tagged. Leave a comment if you post this on your blog.

Where Have I Been?

If you read this blog regularly, you may be asking yourself what happened. I know I try to post deals on a regular basis, but things have come up and I've been busy.

Two weeks ago, Chloe (my youngest daughter) was sick. She had a fever and a cold. I took her to the doctor and found out she only had a cold.

On Thursday night that week, my mom called to tell me that my grandma had died. She was just 1 day (actually just a few hours) from turning 80 years old. She had been in the nursing home for a few months. In that time, she gotten to where she had a hard time getting around. The visitation was Saturday evening with the funeral on Sunday afternoon.

Late Friday night that week, Callie (my middle daughter) woke up with a fever and throwing up. She was sick much of the day on Saturday.

I was still able to attend the visitation and the funeral because Ryan stayed home with the girls.

This past week has been filled with Halloween preparations. We usually have a small Halloween party and I needed to get the house ready for that. I also worked on getting costumes for the girls.

So, I am sorry I have been a bit absent. I am going to try to start posting more frequently now. I am excited to post a couple of deals I got a Kmart the past couple of weeks.

Flowers

Ryan gave me some flowers a few weeks ago. I thought they were so beautiful, I just had to take a picture. We finally had to throw the flowers out because they died, so I thought I would post the picture for everyone to see.

He gave me the flowers for no other reason than he loves me. I thought that was so special. I am lucky to have such a great husband.

A Time of Change

Today is Cassidy's first day of kindergarten. We had planned to home school her, but decided against it. I have been a little overwhelmed since the birth of Chloe, our third child. Life can be difficult with 3 children. With that in mind, we decided to seek other schooling options. We looked at a couple of Christian schools and our public school. In the end, we decided the Christian schools were too expensive and she would go to the public school. The public school in our town is new and is a very nice facility. We were impressed. After seeing the school, Cassidy couldn't wait to go.

It was hard to leave her there this morning. She has gone to preschool in the past, but it has always been half of the day. I was a little sad leaving her there. I will not pick her up until 3:10 this afternoon. She will eat lunch at school. She has never eaten her lunch at school before. I hope she will do well. I know she will, it is just a mother's fear for her child.

Today our neighbor is watching the younger 2 children for about an hour. I want to be able to go to the school to help out and get to know the teachers and the staff. Our neighbor is going to watch the girls while I do that. I am leaving them there a few times to be sure they do well. I know they will.

So all is quiet in the house right now. I am not sure what to do with myself. I already did the dishes and put a load of laundry in the washing machine. I thought I would sit down and share my thoughts on this blog.

I know my postings have been a little less than they usually are, but I hope to change that soon. I am going to get adjusted to our new schedule and I should have a little more time to post. Thank you for reading and for your patience.

Amy's Life was found by Google

I was looking for details about the free movie promotion that Kroger and Hershey has going on now. My mom bought the candy and the movie voucher did not print, so I wanted to make sure she bought the right bags of candy.

Imagine my surprise when I saw my blog on the Google search page. I was so excited, I had Ryan look at it. Then I thought I would share it with everyone who reads my blog. It is at the bottom of the picture.

You still have time to get your free movie ticket from Kroger and Hershey. You have to buy 4 bags of Hershey candy. They have to be 10.5 oz to 17.25 oz and it has to be done in one transaction.

WE WON!! WE WON!!!

People's National Bank opened a new branch in our town. This month they hosted customer appreciation days. Ryan and I each signed up one time to win the prizes.

Friday was a day of mixed emotions. We woke up to the sound of water falling in our hallway. Ryan had been working on the roof to remove the chimney because it had been leaking. It was covered with a tarp waiting for the roofer to come on Friday morning. The rain somehow go up under the tarp and made a puddle in the attic. It then proceeded to leak in the hallway. We had to get a tote to let the water fall into. It was a mess. The roofer came and now the roof is fixed. The house is mostly cleaned up now. We are waiting to let the attic dry out completely and then we are going to check for damage. Hopefully there will be none and we can just paint the hall where there are a few water stains.

Friday afternoon I got a call from People's National Bank. I was told I won the gas grill and asked if they could say my name on the radio. He told me I would need to bring a truck to pick up the grill because it was big. I borrowed my parents truck to pick it up. I did not think about how I was going to load the grill. Thankfully two of the women who work at the bank and one customer who was a man helped me load and secure the grill. (Thank you so much.) I did not expect to have anything else with the grill, but it was filled with every goody imaginable. I get everything I could need to grill out (except the meat). You can look at the picture and see all the things that were included. There was even a cooler on wheels, a cutting board, and a digital meat thermometer.

Thank you so much PEOPLE'S NATIONAL BANK.

Yard Sale

Last Saturday we had a yard sale.  I spent a lot of last week organizing and pricing everything.  The kids even put some of their toys in the sale.

The sale was successful.  I only had about 3 garbage bags and 3 boxes left.  My mom and dad took those things home with them.  They are having a yard sale next weekend.

I was very happy to have made a little money.  We are going to buy a new patio swing or lawn chairs with it.

Thanks to everyone who came out.

New Blog Layout

As you can see, my blog has changed.

I wanted a blog with 3 columns. It is more difficult to change than you might think.

Ryan was kind enough to figure out how to change my blog from 2 columns to 3 columns. He did saved everything before he started, just in case I changed my mind. When you are changing your layout, unless it is a layout on the blogger website, you sometimes loose some of you extra things in you side columns. When he uploaded the layout I wanted, we lost all the things in the side columns.

Ryan was just going to reenter them, but I thought it would take to long. I decided I would just go back to my 2 column layout. I am not sure why the saved blog did not work, but we tried and tried to upload my original blog and just adapt it. It would not work. It was so frustrating. I worked with it and Ryan worked with it. I even tried to find another blog I liked. I was just ready to say, "Forget it, I don't want to blog." I just left it alone.

Ryan offered to work on it, but I told him not to worry about it. I think he could sense my frustration and he probably felt it also.

Ryan is a great man. He stayed home from his class tonight to work on my blog while I ran a few errands. When I came home, he had reentered everything by hand. He said it didn't take long, but I know it must have. He is so good to me. I really appreciate him.

I am ready to blog again and I am excited about it.

Do you like it?

Do you have any suggestions?

I Am Thankful

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. I have been married for 12 years. It has been an incredible journey so far. I look forward to the years ahead.

In the past 12 years, Ryan and I both earned our bachelor's degree. We bought our first house and fixed it up. We moved back to our hometown and built a house and a few years later built another one. We have had three children. We have been on a few vacations and job interviews in other states. We are still looking for the exact place where God wants us, but we are both willing to trust Him.

I took a little time this week and wrote a list of things why I am thankful for Ryan. These things may just be small things, but they mean a lot to me.

• He took the girls out to try to fly a kite, even though there really wasn't enough wind, just because the girls really wanted to try to fly it.
• He took Cassidy on a walk and spent time with her.
• He always mows the yard when it needs it without complaint.
• He took Cassidy shopping for gardening supplies.
• He went to the Spring Fling at Cassidy's school.
  
• He planted flowers to make the house look better.
• He took Cassidy and Callie on a walk to give me a little quiet time.
• He watched all 3 girls while I walked.
• He cooked supper.
• He watched Chloe while I took a shower.
• He took us to the Pasta House one evening for supper.
  
• He watched Chloe while I helped Cassidy and Callie take a shower.
• He is supportive of me staying home.
• He goes to work everyday without complaint.
• He is bettering himself by going to tae kwon do.
• He has gone a few times to get us lunch/supper when I did not feel like cooking.
• He washed the car I drive.
• He helps the girls when they ask.
• He built me a shelf for the hall to set pictures.
• He planted the bushes I bought for the front yard.
• He watched Chloe while I cleaned up the house.
• He supports my parenting of the girls.
• He helps keep the house clean.
• He is good at entertaining friends and family.
• He took the recycling to the recycling center.
• He goes to church with us.
• He plays with the girls outside (they love that).

There are many, many other things. I just wanted to express a few things I was thankful for from this past week or two.


Ryan, you are wonderful husband and I look forward to many more fun filled years together.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

FREE MONEY!!

Click the button and you can get $25.00 FREE for signing up!

I have done some research and this looks legitimate. I get $10.00 for each referral I make. It would help me if you would sign up. You do not have to link this to your bank account. You can choose to have a check mailed to you.

I often read other blogs and one mother received a check for $525.50. She got $25 for signing up and $500 for all the referrals she made. It cost her $2.50 to have the check mailed to her instead of linking it to her bank account. Here is her post: Money Saving Mom

If you have any questions, please leave a comment or e-mail me at amyjr76@yahoo.com

HURRY THIS ENDS ON MAY 15TH!

My First Post

I decided to create this blog to help me stay organized, set and accomplish goals, and to have a place to express myself. One of the first things I want to do with this blog, is to create a set of goals. I am going to try to track which goals I have accomplished and which I still need to work on. I have found a web site where you have 101 goals in 1001 days. I think this will be a wonderful thing to become involved with. I am planning to post my goals soon. Keep reading.