A City Life For Me

Andrea & Ben enjoy a day on the slopes On December 26, 2008 we skied the Rockies. My brothers Kenny & Wesley went to Winter Park ski resort with Ben and me for the day. Mom and Dad also drove up and spent the day in the lodge with the DVD player. We had a fabulous day for skiing. Winter Park had 10 inches of new snow, and we skied in 4 inches of fresh powder for most of the day. It wasn't too cold or windy until late in the afternoon. Kenny, Wesley, and I ski on short skis called Snowblades. Ben opted for regular skis. Despite accidentally taking a black-diamond, mogul-laden run, a head-on collision with my husband (we cracked two pairs of goggles), and a silly kid who messed around on the ski lift (which pushed me off the chair as we loaded) -- we had a fabulous day. This was my first ski trip in two years, and Ben's first time on a "real mountain." We tease him about that all the time. Although he has been skiing since he was young, we often refer to the Be...

This was in the PARADE in the Sunday paper on December 21, 2008. I thought it was humerous. {The artist is Dan Piraro}

It’s been a bad week for us when it comes to movies. All three movies we watched were terrible! I was so irked; I decided to let you all know so that you don’t have to waste your time on these three. The first movie was End of the Spear . It is supposed to be based on the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming. Disclaimer : The movie is from the view of Steve Saint, Nate Saint’s son. I know the story from Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of Jim Elliot. The story as I know it is about the dedication of these five men to win the Waorani , or Auca Indians of Ecuador to Christ—even if it meant laying down their lives. The movie had no mention of Christ. Jim Elliot acted like a drunken man every time he appeared in the movie. In the movie, the purpose for trying to contact the Waorani tribe was to put an end to the killing that had pushed the tribe to the brink of extinction. The Gospel was unclear and watered-down. In the end of the movie, it was al...

When my husband brought me home to our apartment, which had been his bachelor pad for several months, his ties were a mess. It wasn't his fault - he just didn't know what to do with them. And neither did I - for about 10 months! He insisted that tie hangers didn't work - the ties fell off, or you couldn't see which one you wanted. His ties were just thrown over a hanger so that whenever the hanger was bumped, the ties all slid off. I tried a fuzzy hanger so that the ties wouldn't slip so easily. It was only slightly better. I looked at many tie organization racks at different stores. I would come home and announce, "I want you to look at this tie hanger. I think it will work." It was to no avail - none of them were good enough. I saw this tie organizer at Target for about $7 (I think). I don't know what possessed me, but I bought it and took it home. It worked! It is screwed into the wall, so it is stationery and the ties don't get bumped. Each lit...

"Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury." ~ Edwin Hubbell Chapin Psalm 37:1-5~ "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. (2) For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. (3) Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. (4) Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (5) Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Romans 12:19~ "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Ephesians 4:32~ "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. "

This is my latest and greatest shopping trip to Walgreens - I got it all for FREE and I made $2.01 on these items! Thanks to Money Saving Mom, Centsible Savings, and Be A Blessing, I have been successful in my Walgreens adventure to save (and in this case make ) money. Frosted Flakes Fruit Loops 2 - Arm & Hammer liquid laundry detergent 3 - toothbrushes 4 - Sugar free Jell-O 2 - Baking soda 3 - Robitussin 1 - Rubbing alcohol When I was taking the picture for this post, my hubby got another streak of funniness and joined the fun...as Arm & Hammer:

I guess it's time for an update. Working at Books-A-Million...well, it didn't work out. There were a lot of issues in the management. Since I don't have to work, we decided that I would give my notice and find something fun. I applied at Bath and Body Works. I never really thought I had a chance. Do you know how many people are on their email list? And everyone got the "Now Hiring for the Holidays" memo. And I don't want to work nights, or Sundays (or even Saturdays really). But I got a call for an interview. So I went in for my group interview. That was an experience. I have never had an interview with four other people before! Then I didn't really expect to get called back...but I did! In the interview, they said we would be paid minimum wage. When they offered me a position it was at a higher hourly wage than I was drawing at the bookstore. And I can still go to Colorado for Christmas! Do you want to know a secret? I am having a blast! When I shopped Ba...

I have been trying to "play the drugstore game" for the last several weeks. I hear that CVS is the best, but the closest CVS is in Elizabeth City, NC. So, I only have Walgreens with which to work. I'm learning as I go along, but the first week (a week in which I needed a lot of items) I spent $35.51 - but it was for $70.62 worth of items. I purchased a lot of paper products, soda for Thanksgiving, and sale items. I also received several register rewards which I have been trying to use in the cheapest, most frugal and productive fashion. The second time I went to Walgreens I got a lot of good stuff. I spent $15.73 for $39.33 worth of product. I purchased Kleenexes, toothbrushes, dish soap, candles, gift boxes, ziplocs, and cotton balls, Maybelline blush, and Scotch tape. This week I went in solely to make money. I purchased $25 and change in items, but I only paid $4.60 out of pocket. At the end of the transaction I received a coupon for $5 off my next purchase. Essentia...

Wire hangers annoy me. Ben's uniforms come back from the uniform-cleaning-people--you guessed it--on wire hangers. That's 12-14 annoyances every week that come into our home. When the new set of uniforms is brought home the empty set of hangers usually continues to hang in the closet, until there are so many empties that the clean uniforms won't fit. The reason for this is simple. Since wire hangers don't get along with me, I delegate the job to Ben. Ben doesn't get annoyed with wire hangers, he just ignores them. He just doesn't think about it most of the time--he brings the uniforms home, hangs them up, and ignores the empty hangers. Yesterday he was being proactive, so he pulled the empty hangers out of the closet. But then his ornery streak took control, and he decided to leave me a present. I came back to the closet to find this--my closet door {decorated} with wire hangers. Ha ha. Ben is soooooo funny.

The credit for this idea goes out to my in-laws, the Hamiltons. I don't like Thanksgiving leftovers. The endless turkey. Turkey isn't my favorite to begin with, so I definitely don't appreciate it warmed up. Enter the Hamiltons and their creation of what I call the Leftover Sandwich. It's very yummy. I had one {at least} on Friday, and Sunday, and Monday. It is like a grilled cheese sandwich, but with all of the Thanksgiving ingredients. Butter a piece of bread and put it in the heated skilled, butter side down. Spread mayo on the top of the bread. Add a slice of American cheese. Add turkey. Sprinkle with stuffing/dressing. {Because it is only stuffing if it was stuffed in the bird. " See, Mr. Dallas, I was paying attention!"} Spread another piece of bread with cranberry sauce, and place it on top of your sandwich, cranberry side facing in. Butter the other side of the bread. It's probably ready to be flipped now, because you want to grill it t...

We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving with Ben's family. They drove in from Pittsfield, MA on Wednesday evening and stayed through Sunday morning. It was a special time because Evan was able to come along on this trip. Amazingly, although he works retail, he was able to get the time off. It was the first time he had visited our home. We enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner around 3 pm on Thursday. I had prepared the mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, an apple pie, and a chocolate pumpkin cheesecake ahead of time on Wednesday. It was a good thing--there was already a lack of space in my tiny kitchen! We also feasted on stuffed turkey (a Hamilton stuffing recipe - very good), scalloped corn, rolls, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. I was grateful that Dad Hamilton was around to help with the turkey - it was my *first* time to do this! We pulled the turkey out with wonderful timing - it was moist, but completely done. Not bad for the first time! After dinner we pla...

Sorry this is a little late... "Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden." ~Corrie ten Boom Philippians 4:6-7 ~ Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Corrie and Betsy ten Boom suffered a lot during WWII. I'm sure they had many things to be worried and burdened about. Yet Corrie was able to turn those things into prayers, and let the peace of God envelop her mind and heart. In this way Corrie could focus on her God instead of on her circumstances.