{Thrifty Thoughts}:: Books

 

 

I had originally planned to share Part 2 of our budget this week {if you missed Part 1 it's here}, but with a super full week at work and lots of stuff to do at home and visiting my Grandmother in the hospital, there was little time for deep thinking.

Or, deep thinking that anyone else could follow...my minds a bit scattered right now.

 

So, lets keep it light.

 

This week, I'd like to share our book buying secret.

Thrift Stores!

 

Yep!  You heard right!  Thrift Stores.

You can find brand new books, some barely used for so cheap.

Not to mention, some serious classics.

And, we love books!

 

The book pictured above is Ladybug Girl & Bumblebee Boy.  I stumbled upon this book one Sunday afternoon while perusing the Southern Thrift, looking for some vintage ties.  It was part of the Imagination Library collection so I knew it was a winner!

 

And speaking of Thrifty Thoughts, what's thriftier than FREE.

If you aren't signed up for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, you're missing out.

Simply sign up and you get a free book delivered right to your mailbox!

Doesn't get much better than that!

 

We read this book almost every night along with one other book. 

Sometimes a short one, sometimes I get suckered into the Berenstain Bears. 

I don't remember those being so long...but they are.  Trust me.

We follow our books by a few songs, then prayers.

Also, weaseled in there, somehow, Easton manages to go back into the living room about 4 times to 'give daddy one more hug or kiss' or some water because he's 'stirsty'.

I just remind myself, he's only little for a short while. 

 

BUT, you know what's almost as good as keeping Easton's attention for more than 32 seconds, and him sitting still in my lap, is the fact that this little gem was 49 cents!

I think I spent 12$ that day on a big stack of books.  

12$ is one book at Target. 

I love a good deal!

 

Head on over to The Vanilla Tulip's blog.

She's had so many smart women link up their money saving tips!

I can't wait to see what they come up with this week!

 

  And, I'm also linking up with Emily today. She encourages momma's to get in the picture!  

Ganny- a tribute to an amazing woman.

 

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Last Friday on a whim, Easton and I ran by to visit Ganny (mom's mom) on our way home.

Mom had seen her Friday morning and she'd had a few little 'spells' where she stopped while mom was trying to help her get to the potty and back to the bed.

Nothing major- we attributed it to a drop in blood pressure from standing up too quick.

Although she does take her time when getting up.

 

Anyways.  Friday night.  Thank you Jesus for making us stop.

We had a fun little visit.

At first she wasn't sure who I was but after about 15 minutes, she remembered.

She's been getting slower and slower (mentally and physically) for some time now, but hey, at 95, I'll be slowing down too.



We had some funny times!

 

While I was trying to get her to the bathroom, he was all up in our business.

I asked him to go sit back in her room till I was finished with her and we'd be right back.

Once I got her settled, I went back and explained:

'Easton, Ganny's a little slower than we are.  She's old and it takes her a long time to do things.  She's kinda tired and might not feel good.  I need you to help me by staying in this chair so we don't get in her way and make her fall.  Can you help Mommy with that?'

That lasted all of about a minute.

Ganny and I were making the shuffle back to the bed when Easton joined us in the bathroom.

He looked up at us, just as serious as could be and said 'Momma..... is she Oooooold?'

Bless him. 

She looked right down at him, with her quick witted humor and said

'I beg your pardon!' followed by her sweet little laugh.

 

Easton heard me say "Way to go Margaret!" once I got her back in the bed from using the potty...and he repeated it. Often. Kid's a mess.

 

Eventually, mom and Ali showed up too and the gang was all there.

We talked.  We laughed.  We took pictures.

Easton and I left a bit later to go meet daddy for dinner. 

 

Saturday morning, I got the phone call you never want to get.

Something was happening to Ganny and the ambulance was on the way.

 

After a little while, I got the details from mom.

Preliminary observation looked to be a stroke.

The right side was affected, including her speech and possibly eyesight.

 

They admitted her Saturday and she's been there ever since.

A massive stroke was confirmed.

Severe brain damage.

Time was limited.

 

She's a fighter.  She's never quit anything in her life, why start now?

 

My moms dad died when she was a baby, leaving Ganny with my mom and her 2 older siblings.  

She sewed every stitch of clothing my mom wore.

She was a great cook.  Fried Chicken was her specialty. 

She could turn a K-Mart Azalea bush into something worthy of a medal. 

 

She has a way with flowers. 

I once bought her a pot of bulbs for Mother's Day or Easter or something, and that pot of flowers sat in her front room on the table and she pruned and cared for them like they were a newborn.

They were the most beautiful pot of flowers I've ever seen.

Oh, she longed for spring.  Every winter she longed for spring.

Sunshine.  Buttercups.  Lunches on the deck in her white slip on Keds.

 

As a child, mom and I would go with her to Rhode Island to visit her best friend.

So many memories of time there, along with time at her house with her 2nd husband, Dad-O. 

 

The memories could go on forever.

I could list story after story with her in it.

Each family member can. 

We each have our own special memories with her.

Each even more priceless now that we see her laying in that hospital bed, her frail body fighting till the end, her fine white hair combed back by the brushing of loved ones fingers through it.

 

I have questioned so much this week.

How could a merciful and loving God do this to her?

Why couldn't He just take her in her sleep?

 

I think of my mom.  And how her face curls up when she's about to cry.  And how that hurts my heart deeper than anything I can possibly think of.  And how dedicated she's been to the very end.  She's slept in a chair with her feet propped up on the foot of her bed.  Every night.

I think about how it must feel for all of them to see their mother, your pillar of strength, laying in that bed wondering when her last breath will be.  Wondering if this is the last time they'll say goodbye.

Why do we now have to have these images in our head of how she looks in that bed?

 

I just want to picture her in her pastel knit shirt, with her soft white cardigan, and her jean capri pants with a crease down the middle.

 

But now, when I think of this week, I think of conversations I've had.

 

Lance has been so sweet through it all.  Checking on her each time he calls.  Visiting her one day when he was by the hospital.  He's said as many positive things he could come up with.

Lending an ear when I just needed to talk, a shoulder when I needed to cry.

And encouragement when I didn't think I could be strong!

 

And my bestie.  My bestie in the whole wide world.

Calling to check in.  Text.  Pray.  Offering to keep my child so I could go just one more time.

 

My dad.  Listening every time I wanted to cry.  Every time I just wanted to update someone.  Wanting to go visit himself even though he wasn't her family anymore.

 

 My co-workers, hearing update after update on the phone through the day.

Offering every bit of sweetness they could.

 

So many others.  So many sweet concerned friends and family.

 

The love and support we've felt from so many more.  It's amazing.  And so comforting.

 

My friend Scarlett, lost her father a few years ago. 

I asked her these questions and she responded with the most perfect words.  Words that have comforted me since:

 I know... I know it's hard to see her like this. But God might be keeping her here more for you and your sister and your family. He is working not only on welcoming her, but working in your hearts as well to come to peace with saying goodbye. 

 

Tuesday night was the hardest for me.  I cried from her bed, all the way home.

But I said my peace.  I kissed her, for what I thought would be the last time.

 

But again, the morning text confirms she's still fighting. 

 

Wednesday night was hard.

But I had to be the big sister.

My Ali Bird LOVES her Ganny.

LOVES.

They have a bond like no other.

A bond like I share with my Nana. 

And she's heartbroken.

We'd yet to be at the hospital together but Wednesday night lined up for us to be there together.

I knew I'd have to be strong for her.

And that was hard.  Really, really hard. 

 

But now Friday night.  She's still keeping on.

And each night, it gets somewhat easier to cry out the the Lord, "take her Lord.  Bring her home."

 

Just as Scarlett said, He's not only preparing a place for her, but he's preparing our hearts as well.

I never understood how someone could say "it's ok to take them, it's ok for you to go..."

But for her, now, I can say that.  And I know now, what Scarlett means by that.  It truly is peaceful and freeing to let her go.  Even though I want to so badly hold on.

 

If he'd taken her Friday night in her sleep (like what I thought I'd prefer) we'd have all been so shocked it might have been even more traumatic.

It's His plan.  Not mine.

Annie, how long is it going to take you to learn?  It's HIS PLAN.  NOT YOURS.   

 

No one wants to see her go.  If we could rewind time, we all would.

But what better place than Heaven for her to go?

There is no better place.

 

And another internet friend, turned real life friend quoted CS Lewis:

"And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and so beautiful that I can not write them. And for us, this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

Isn't that cool? Her real story is only beginning!!!

Can you imagine?  Can you just imagine what those little twinkling eyes are going to see?
Those that have gone on before her, that she longed to see again?
The streets of Gold.  The Flowers.  The Sunshine.
JESUS! 

I could go on and on.  And I've gone on longer than I planned.  Big shock.
But.

  

We don't cry because we're sad for her, we cry because we're sad for us.

And that's normal.  It hurts.  But, it's normal. 

Each moment is hard.  Each moment is different.

 

But each moment, we trust and believe that He's in control and He loves her

EVEN MORE

than we do.

He created her.

And he knows how and when she'll draw her last breath.

That's far better than any plan I could ever dream up.

So, while she's still hanging on, I'm gonna keep thanking Him that we had

One More Day with her and trust that He's preparing us all for what lies ahead. 

 

 

Messy Volume Curls: A Tutorial

For those of you who have asked...here is the step by step, detail/picture full, tutorial of how I fix my hair.

Most days.

This is day one, clean hair.

It should be known, this works best on dirty hair, at least for me.  I have fine, thin hair, but mass quantity of it.

 

I wash and condition with Redken Bodyful and I dry upside down, using only my fingers.

Brushing while drying makes it flat.

 

I section my hair in rows, starting at the bottom and working my way up to my part and face framing sections.

All curls are curled on the vertical (iron straight up and down) and curled towards the back. 

I think this is a 1 inch iron, but it could be 1-1/2.

I never comb out the curls.

I curl my whole head and finish with Redken Powder Grip at the end and some cheap Suave hairspray. 

Shhhhh.  Suave.  I know.   Don't knock it till you try it.

 

So: here's the tutorial, in pictures...

  

Starting at the crown, I make sure to bend my curling iron at the root and hold for a second, for added volume.

 

 

This is after curling, no styling.

Sometimes I tease at the part and crown, others I just use Redken Powder Grip. 

Teasing is my favorite, but it takes more time.

I'll show you how I tease it another day.

 

Today was the Powder Grip day.

 

It doesn't take a lot of Powder Grip.  Sprinkle a few rows under your part and at your crown and rub your fingers under you hair against your scalp.  Sometimes I even sprinkly it on my curls at the bottom.  I find it gives it some texture and hold. 

But, remember, a little goes a long way!

Throughout the day, if you feel a little flat, simply rub under your hair again, at your scalp and it pumps right back up.  It's good stuff.  Trust me. 

 

 

 

And, for those who have asked about the color. 

This is really more of a grow out from when my hair was SUPER SHORT and it was really blonde.  My girl goes in and touches up at my face and pops in a few fresh pieces of blonde and sometimes some low lights, but for the most part, this is it. 

And, on my hair, ombre looks better when curled. 

This was after a morning of rain. 

This flat hair is no match for rain. 

 

I hope this will answer some of your hair styling questions.

Once you get the hang of it, it's just as quick to me as flat ironing.

It takes me about 15 minutes.

And remember, don't wash every day!

Your hair will get used to it.  The less you wash, the less oil it produces.

I can go 4 days without washing mine. 

{{GASP}}

I know.  Sounds bad, but its really quite healthy for your hair.

 

Make sure if you try this, let me know!

And if you have any questions, ask away!  I'll do my best to help!

Tag me on Instagram (@annie_loo) if you post it.  I'd love to see it!

 

Good luck!

Happy Curling!

 

Thrifty Thoughts:: A Link Up with The Vanilla Tulip:: Week 1: Budget

One of my 'favorite' quotes that I say...and dare I say, I made it up...but it's this...

"There are two things I hate to waste, and that's time and money."

Time is so precious! Because I work outside of the home, and am away from my boys during the day, I want to make the most of my time with them when I'm at home...or if I choose to be out for an afternoon/night I want to make sure it's a good use of my time.  (Hair appts, girls night out, dinners, etc.)

And, because I choose to work, and have that time away from Easton, I want to make sure I'm spending my hard earned money wisely.

Growing up, my dad was a big spreadsheet user.  If I made $100, we'd sit down and determine what would go where.  Church.  Savings.  Responsibilities.  Play.  I never knew NOT to do it. 

I am a penny pencher for sure.  I don't think I'm cheap {my mother may say otherwise}, but I do like to pay attention to where my money goes. 

For me, the easiest way to do this is a spreadsheet.  If you know me, you know I love spreadsheets...if you don't 'know' me, well...now, you at least know this.

Lance and I began budgeting our money shortly after Easton was born.  Neither one of us got a pay raise when he was born, but we were going to have to creatively carve out enough for diapers, wipes, clothes and-----GASP-----CHILDCARE! 

And let me just say, it's amazing to look back and see how much we could have been saving! We were good about saving but not as good as we could have been. For all of you without kiddos yet, or even single, carve out money for savings.  You'll be so thankful you did!

Once we had Easton, and decided we wouldn't live in our house forever, we really started budgeting.  We wanted to save for some land and build our own home.

Here's where the budgeting begins.  This week I'm going to show you a sample of our budget and how we determine what money goes where and next week, I'll show you my other spreadsheet of how I see what we spend where and then determine what, if any, goes to savings for home, vacation, play, etc. 

 

And...this is not rocket science, I'm no Dave Ramsey, but I thought I'd show you how we do it. 

This will look different for everyone, but for us, this is where we start.

Section 1: Montly Income: Determine what your household income is (after taxes)

Section 2: Monthly Bills: Write down all of your bills, that you HAVE to pay each month.

(Mortgage, Cable, Vehicles, Electricity, Water, Insurance, Cell Phone, Trash, etc.)

Section 3: Remaining after bills: Subtract your Monthly Bills from your Monthly Income to determine how much is left to split between the Other Budgeted Expenses. 

Section 4: Other Budgeted Expenses: This is things like gas, food, childcare, childs needs (diapers, wipes, clothes, toys, etc), clothing, play/misc, health & beauty, church.

Section 5: Wiggle Room: Subtract your Other Budgeted Expenses from Remaining after bills to determine your Wiggle Room.  We have a column on the other spreadsheet that says wiggle room.  This is for things that you might not plan for (tags for vehicle, registration, yearly fees, etc).

For us, we don't budget for savings, but we budget LESS than what our Combined Income is so we can put something into savings..  Lance is paid on commission so his check is different each month.  Some months we are able to save more than others.  But they even out in the end. 

Some months we nail it and some months we fail, but it's so nice to have some sort of guideline to follow and to see where we need to improve.  And, for the record, it's always food & play/misc.  Bass Pro goes under the play/misc. column if you should need to know. 

It's really important to me to tell your money where to go.  Like I said earlier, we could have saved a LOT more before having Easton if we had been using this method.  But, lesson learned, we do it now. 

I hope you have found this helpful and maybe it will encourage you to start saving and budgeting!  It's really nice when you have that summer vacation paid for with a little here and there you've saved throughout the year.  It makes the beach a lot more enjoyable knowing you don't have to make payments on your credit card once vacation is over.

Hope on over the the lovely Ashley's blog where there are some other fine women linking up their Thrifty Thoughts! 

That new house I've been mentioning...

I thought it high time to post some pictures and a timeline of the 'new house'. 

We bought this lot, right at an acre, before Thanksgiving 2011.

After lots of searching, a few potential spots, a few that ended up falling through, we found this one.

Its right at an acre, on a country road, kinda in the middle of no-where.

I kinda love it.

It's quiet.

We have 6 HUGE trees on our lot.  They have acorns!  ACORNS!  I really love it. 

Many nights were spent discussing and planning what we wanted in our new house.

My big thing was porches.

I  wanted a farm house, but a farm house doesn't fit this area so porches made it more 'farmy' feeling to me.

We picked our plans in January of 2012 (I think).

 

May 3, 2012 we put our house up for sale.

May 13, 2013 we signed a contract on our house.

May 26, 2012 we closed on our house.

July 18, 2012 they cleared the land for the new house.

August 20, 2012 footers were poured.

September 22, 2012 block was laid around footers/foundation.

September 29, 2012 framing began.

October 13, 2012 roof started.

December 29, 2012 drywall started.

January 8, 2013 hardwood floors laid.

January 12, 2013 Prime walls and paint ceilings.

January 13,2013 Interior doors installed.

January 14, 2013 trim work started, 2nd front door installed.

This picture was taken last weekend. 

Currently, the front yard is full of water because the water line was hit when they were digging to lay the electric plus 5 days of rain steady rain. 

Good news, it's not close to the house. 

But, here she is!

We are so excited!

This is a sort-of panoramic shot of the back yard.

This is looking from left to center...

...and this is center to right.

Lots of room to play and run!!!!

Projected MOVE OUT OF THE APARTMENT date is Feb 28.

I've said since we started I wanted Easton's 3rd Birthday to be here...that's cutting it CLOSE.

I'll be back later this week, or maybe next, to post some interior pictures and a few plans for each room!

11 Years we've been married...

11 Years ago,  January 5, I only thought I knew what love was.

Now, I'm certain I know what love is.  

I love this picture.  We were so young.

I see excitement, but I also see nerves.  

We were 19.  We were leaving our family and friends and moving 2300 miles away to San Diego.

I couldn't even go to 4H camp, but I was willing to move across the country for this man.

I remember the feelings I felt.  He chose me.  He was all mine.

And to this day.  He chooses me.  He's all mine.

Thank you Lord, for this man.

We have been through so much.  

Gods grace is ever present in our relationship.

There are, of course, areas that need improvement, but I can honestly say there is no one else I'd rather partner with, parent with, friend with than him.

 We had a date night for our anniversary.

Sambuca and a night out on the town.

We even took a cab.  Watch out!!

Don't worry...we were home by 11.  

 It was so nice to just be the two of us.  

As must as I love the three of us, it's so important to just be two every now and then.  

We went to a few honky tonks, went in EVERY boot store on Broadway in search of some new boots for Easton and ended the night at a Piano Bar.

That was my first time at The Big Bang but I want to go back!

Those guys were amazing.  They knew every song.  By memory!

MIND BLOWING!

 Of course, we had to find something sweet too.  

Lance got an Ice Cream Cone and I got a handful of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  Mmmmmm.

Here's to a hundred and eleven more Boo!

I love you!!!