Helpful Hints from Holly

Gotta make this short and sweet but here are a few ways I have found to help streeeetch our budget to cover our expenses.

• Mint.com-life/time saver. Keeps track of everything, including student loans, credit cards, even has a way to implement cash spent-brilliant and FREE.
• THINK- before I buy anything right now I try to think about if I would rather be spending that money on something else, i.e. Do I really need to spend $10 on lunch for just me? that means I won't have that $10 when I need it to put towards date night-when I think of something I would rather put the money toward it loses it's appeal and I usually don't splurge on it. 
• Can I make that?- I will take something homemade over store bought any day-and so will just about anyone when it comes to gifts (at least women do!) I make it a habit to hand make cards, for instance, which might not seem like a big deal but if you get a Hallmark Card it will cost you at least $3, usually 5 or 6! 
• Home Cookin Preferred!- Yes, it does take more time to prepare but it's almost always cheaper and more fun especially if you have kids-just small things like making real lemonade instead of paying $10 or whatever ridiculous price you would pay at restaurant for a gallon. Allrecipe.com is my favorite for meals.
• Use the Internet for all it's worth!- some people say that cutting out the internet in your budget will save you money because you don't "need" it, but I wholeheartedly disagree. I have saved more time and money through the internet that it's well worth it's spot in my budget. Do It Yourself blogs, sites, Youtube and even just asking on FB for advice has saved us hundreds of dollars when it comes to repairing or making something ourselves rather than calling a specialist. Not to mention there is an answer to just about any need you could have-Google is my favorite money saver.
• Ride the bus-Yeah, I know it's a bit of a pain but Kyle recently has started using a Park and Ride bus that goes from Newnan (the stop is about 5 miles from our house) to Atlanta. By doing this we save money on gas, parking, car maintenance and wear and tear, etc. Plus, it give Kyle a stress free drive to and from work so he can read and have some time to himself. 
• Use an Insurance Agency-Insurance agencies take your info and get quotes from all different companies who you would normally have never even heard of. The companies bid lower because they know the agency has the ability to compare prices from everyone else and they want the Agent to recommend their business so they can have you as a customer. Also, they handle all the details for you and will help you find a place that you can have a combined Home and Auto Insurance bundle which saves you money too. I called my agency today (The Harbin Agency) and asked if we could get a lower rate since Kyle is only driving a few miles now instead of to Atlanta (due to the bus) and we are getting a rebate check in the mail and a significant cut in our monthly bill. FREE-and saves you time and hassle-they do all the work!
• Ditch Cable-seriously. Who needs it? With Hulu and just about every major tv channel having their own websites where you can watch full episodes free it's just not justified to pay for tv anymore. If you have kids, take them to the library and let them pick out movies and shows to watch-it's free and they won't be watching all those commercials that market toys they don't need. Besides all that who gets anything done with cable? Not me. Life's too short to spend it watching tv all day.
• Facebook Saving- For real-most companies now have Facebook sites and they advertise specials, offer giveaways and coupons.
• Coupons-you can do the AJC newspaper ad thing and go to CouponMom.com for tutorials on how to maximize on that system but you can also print coupons for groceries and retail stores.
• Promo Codes- There are promo codes for just about everything-when buying anything online go to RetailMeNot and check for a promo code before buying. 
• Buy Refurb-even Apple sells refurbished products-almost all electronic sites have a section for this, you just have to find it-it can save you hundreds of dollars and usually you get the same warranty as if it were brand new. We bought a lawn mower at the end of the summer last year "refurbished" (John Deere, not a cheapo brand) and paid less for it than any of the lesser quality brand tractors, just because someone bought it and returned it and the factory had to fix it and send it back. It works perfectly and came with the warranty. Totally the way to go.
• Clearance-always, ALWAYS check clearance before buying full price merchandise. I went to BabyGap to buy clothes for Bella and ended up paying only $3 for some of her clothes...you can almost always get the brand or quality you want of something, you just have to wait for it to go on sale!
• Phantom  Power Usage- pull the plug on your unused electronics! (google it and see how much money you are wasting-you'll be more inclined to take the time to unplug things!
• Craigslist and Freecyle- Craigslist has been great for large purchases we need to make but don't have the money to buy new-like we got our washer/dryer via Craigslist and one of our cars-and made a few friends in the process! You have to be careful about it but it's worth it. Freecycle is amazing! People give away SO MUCH -you just have to be available to go get it. Usually people will hold items for you if you really need it.

That's all for now-baby woke up-hope this helps some of you out! Share any money savers you know too :)

"Two Old"

My Bella, when I ask you how old you are you say "TWO old" but my heart breaks because I feel like two is TOO old. 

I have never thought two was too old until now, when my own baby is more a child than a baby, more independent than dependent on Mommy. Lately everything you do seems so grown up and I find myself gladly cuddling and sharing the bed with you when there are storms or you have a bad dream because I know you only get bigger every day and I won't be able to hold you tight forever. I used to long for you to reach your next milestone, excited for you to grow bigger and smarter, but I find myself holding back, not wanting you to move too quickly to the next thing...I wish I could linger for a bit, just hold you right where you are for a little while. It doesn't exactly help that I am so pregnant with your little sister and I know that soon I will have another baby filling my arms and competing for my attention and I will have to divide my time with you and her...which is wonderful in so many ways but kind of makes me want to cry right now knowing how quickly life is passing and seeing you changing every single day.

For the record, I have never been a super emotional person, but every day that you learn something new or do something on your own I don't know whether to cheer or cry. This morning you (accidentally) made me burst into tears. We were sitting at the table, eating orange danish and enjoying Mother's Day when I said something to the affect of, "eat up, baby" and you looked at me and said "I not baby, Mommy" to which I turned to your Daddy in disbelief and my eyes got a bit misty and then you said "I two years old" and that did it...I completely lost it and just cried right in front of you and Daddy. I wanted to cry all morning, every time I thought about those words and how true they are. In reality, I know you are still a baby in many ways, but I just couldn't believe you could verbalize that you aren't really a baby anymore. I know this but in my heart I know you will always be mine and Daddy's baby...our first born love.

In your growing up, simply put, you amaze me. I truly wonder what another whole year will bring if you already have learned so much by two years old. By around 16 months you knew all the letters of the alphabet and soon after you learned all the sounds that go along with them. You like to count to ten in English and Spanish. You don't care much for colors, haven't figured that out yet, lol. You like puzzles but need help...you have tried Play-Doh but haven't figured it out on your own. Drawing is fun for you and playing with tea cups and toy food is always a favorite. 

I want to tell you some things about you at Two so you know what a special time this is in life and how much you have grown in just one year. You are incredibly inquisitive...lots of "who'sat?" and "what'sat?" Everything is interesting to you. You have a huge heart and sense of compassion for others when they are upset or hurting...just last week you were crying so much I thought you were hurt but you just were upset that another little girl was upset. You are working on learning how to share...it's a work in progress ;) Your favorite things to play with are your babies, feeding them bottles, cheerios, and "shushing" them so they can go to sleep. Lately you even sing to them "byo, byo" and "sweet chariot" which is extra sweet to listen to your precious voice singing. You sing a lot about all sorts of things, even if you are asking for crackers you sing it to me instead of asking me in just a question and I love it, it is super sweet and funny. You love to slide, run, play outside, rock in your rocking chair on the front porch, and to color. You love to eat yogurt and berries, pizza & rolls (like your Daddy), bagels for breakfast, animal crackers for snack and homemade smoothies. 

I pray for you...for your future, for you and your sister to be the best of friends, for God to allow you to feel every bit as loved as you should even after we have another daughter. I pray for your future husband, that the Lord will shape him and you to become the people He wants you to be, that He will show Kyle and I how to be the best parents to you to help make you that person. It's not easy being a parent to a two year old...there are plenty of times that we mess up, say or do the wrong thing, are too strict or too lenient, but just know that we are trying our best, because you are worth every bit of hard work and frustration that goes into parenting.

Above all else, dearest Bella, you are the bright spot in your parents' life. Every day is more fun and beautiful with you in it. Every day I am thankful for your joy and humor and constant love. When the rest of the world is going to pieces, I can still look at you and know that there is good in the world and that God is going to use you to do GREAT things as you grow and follow Him. It excites me to be a witness to your life. I love you, my "two old" child, more every day.

That "In-Betweenness"

I am so thankful right now. Thankful for the days like today that I am extraordinarily covered in blessings that all I have to whine about is that my A/C only works downstairs (bizarre, but true). When the thing that keeps me awake at night is that Kyle and I are too picky/indecisive to pick the perfect name for our soon to be daughter (9 more weeks!! EEK!) These things are troubling to my brain but when I stop and talk to other people, or just think of the many troubles of the world, I kind of want to laugh at myself. When is life any sweeter than now? Sure we have bills, and student loan payments that eat our paycheck alive. Sure we have dreams we can't afford to make happen. But seriously? At the end of the day, when we sit at home and eat our hot dogs in the living room because it's too hot in the kitchen and congratulate each other on not spending any money or gas to go anywhere...it just warms my heart to think God has brought us far enough that we are GLAD when we don't spend money instead of CRYING over the money we don't have. 

We have a little girl who is the sweetest, smartest, FUNNIEST person I have ever met. She makes me laugh when she asks her Daddy if she can try on his pants while we fold laundry...and HE makes me laugh for indulging her and I get to watch her waddle around holding up pants ten thousand times too big for her little beautiful body. I love that I have friends who can spend the night with us and I feel at home enough with them that I can do laundry and cook a cheap but yummy dinner and we are all good with just watching a movie in our 80 degree bedroom and not have to apologize because she knows that "this is life" and that's just how we roll. I ADORE that I have friends I have reconnected with that I get to go help clean their house so they can come home from the hospital with their precious bundle of joy and not have to think about anything to do but love on that sweet new baby. What a JOY. God is just so so GOOD and when I lose track of that I hope I come back to this post later and remember that life is not about everything being "just so" or all the socks being matched and put away...if I spent more time with my daughter than I did my dishes, and if I taught her that it's more important to help others even if I'm tired and pregnant and have family drama-well, that is what really matters. Being thankful is so good for the soul. (And Norah Jones playing in the background helps). 

Life at 4am

I always did do my best work late at night...maybe blogging is that way too. It's been over a month since my last blog entry-a lot has happened. The biggest thing is that my (older) brother, Kent, got into a severe car accident. He was in ICU for a month and he is now at a wing of Emory for rehab though the physical rehab has not even started...he's still trying to work his way off of using the trach they had to put in. I have been to see him many times but haven't seen him "awake" though he has been for a few weeks. To be honest, I'm scared to see him awake. Kent was never afraid of anything. I have rarely seen him upset about anything-always a tough guy. I think if I meet his gaze after not seeing him awake for so long I might just lose it and cry, the way I did that first week they told us "he's probably not going to live through today." There is nothing wrong with a good cry over someone you love, but I don't want to bring him sadness when I see him, I want to be encouraging, to lift his spirits and not let him see any more pain. It's not that I fear death for him now because he has fought hard to stay alive, it's that I have been told he feels depressed and wants to go home and I know that won't happen for at least another 2 months...and Kent's not the sort to be patient. Most of you don't know my brother-never met him or perhaps even knew he existed before this incident...he and I are not "close"...we haven't been since we were very little. We are not on bad terms or anything, we just have usually been at very different places in life and see the world in our own way. We are tied together by humor, love, and a competitive spirit for most things, especially chess (he is so stinking good at chess). He has one of the biggest hearts in the world and the last time I saw him outside a family function was when he volunteered to come fix a leaky pipe at my house an hour away from where he lives. He is very selfless when it comes to helping people he loves, and has always had a sense of wanting to make me proud as my big brother-I recently reread some letters he wrote me when he was far from home and longing to be back and couldn't come to my high school graduation. He was very sad that he couldn't make it and promised to be at my next one (a promise he kept). Unfortunately I have spent the majority of my life focusing on the mistakes he has made instead of remembering the good things he has done...obviously at a time of crisis like this it makes me stop and remember that no matter what has happened before, I love my brother, and I am so thankful he is still alive and for that I know I owe gratitude to God, and to all of you who have prayed and continue to pray for him and for the thousands of people who have prayed that I will never know about. Because in the end, although it's easiest to see life through my eyes, I try to look at it through the eyes of his wife, and son, knowing that it means so much more for him to make it to his son's graduation and milestones in life than for any other reason I could want to keep him around. I pray that he can use that as motivation to press on, to not give in to the depression he is feeling and to fight not only for his life to be reclaimed but to be able to be a part of his family's life again. I simply can't imagine life without my husband, and especially for Bella and our new baby girl-they need their Daddy and I know that my nephew needs his. I will keep praying for him, I hope you will too.

One Step Closer

Every now and then I stop and realize that a project that I have completed is one step closer to that feeling that our house is becoming a home. Today I got to experience that :) I bought glass jars to store our dry foods in and I hand made some simple labels for them. It's such a small difference but it makes me happy every time I look at them. It's just one thing that echoes what we love, and it makes our house have a little more of that 

ambiance I am looking for.

Little Things

So lately I have been finding some pretty amazing blogs for coupling organization with real life and getting inspired to be organized in creative but functional ways. I have found lots of doable (and affordable) ideas that I am excited to try this year! I decided that I would start using Mason jars to store things until I can afford the coveted OXO brand system (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0029096ZO/ref=dp_image_text_0?ie=UTF8&n=284507&s=kitchen ). So, in my attempt to start this new and fun venture I discovered that a colony of moths have decided to camp out where I keep my stash of rice and beans. >:( Yeah, it didn't make me too happy because I had to throw pretty much all of it away, even my pricey jasmine rice. However, this did reinforce to me that I do need a better storage system, one that is moth-proof. Oh, and if you want to read up on the latest blog I have fallen in love with it's called TheInspiredRoom.net.

Today I am also bravely tackling taking down the Christmas tree so that the hubs (and I) will have more free time this weekend to spend together. :)

Bella is still pitching fits these days but they are more spaced out and Kyle and I are reading up on parenting books and praying for guidance on how to deal with the fits. Other than that she is doing really well dealing with all the craziness that has been going on around here. I am always more emotional and in clean-freak mode when I am pregnant, poor child has to deal with me all day. She is learning a lot and loves to help me around the house with laundry and cooking and she is beginning to grasp that her Mommy has a baby in her tummy...I know this because she asks to "hold it" when I point to my tummy and tell her to say hi to the baby! I tell her it's too little to hold yet, but later she can :) She's so cute...I just love her to pieces!

Christmas was amazing. We got to see my family and Kyle's on separate weekends so we got plenty of time with everyone. Bella got tons of cute toys and she is still getting used to having so many options of things to play with! I feel like we really got to enjoy the season of Christmas this year and focused more on spending time with each other and making memories than on the rush-rush that comes with gifts and people. Pictures are on FB if you haven't seen them yet.

Oh, and btw Kyle got his new job! He starts in February and he is working for a different contractor this month due to some changes at CFA. He even got a raise for this month and will get an even bigger raise when he moves to his new job! Praise the Lord! He is so good and we are so blessed!