What a Testimony

Through a fellow homeschooling friend I was introduced today to the Smith family, who is featured in the videos above and below. Todd, Angie, Ellie, Abby, Kate, and little Audrey. All I can say is wow, what a testimony. What an honor it is to now 'know' them. I sat for a very long time just reading their story and wiping away tears. To have the sweet, precious spirit Angie has, all while going through what has to be the most gut-wrenching pain... wow. She is an excellent writer and shares the very rawest of emotions she is experiencing. How many of us would be willing to do the same? She's so real, so honest, so human. Through her pain and honesty she has encouraged and blessed me!

Enough from me. Go meet them yourself, and prepare to have your heart squeezed, tears to fall, and be challenged in your own walk with your Heavenly Father.


Smith Family Story from Matthew Singleton on Vimeo.

The Deals Were Slim Pickins This Week

I don't mean for this blog to become nothing more than me posting my CVS (and other) deals but it seems that is what I've been doing the most of lately. I apologize for that. This decluttering stuff is a lot of long, hard work and I promise that I will be back to my regular blogging about homeschooling soon. I get next to no comments, so I don't even think anyone really reads my blog anyway, so I guess it really doesn't matter what I blog about, does it? LOL.

Oh well, for my own enjoyment and pleasure, I present myself with the few deals I was able to get tonight.

First up is my big CVS trip. Don't let the massive amount of items overwhelm you!

I didn't have any Extra Bucks to start out with, so I had to spend some to get some. And they were out of the Softsoap Body Wash AND the Alavert D I had planned on getting. So, this was it for this week.

The regular price for everything would have come to $25.92 plus tax.
I paid $8.84 plus tax.
I earned $5.99 in ECB's.

The Herbal Essences shampoos and conditioners were Buy 1 Get 1 Free, so I only paid for two bottles out of the four ($4.29 each). But I had TWO $3.00 off of 2 coupons which made the two I was paying for only $1.29 each! So all four bottles cost me a total of $2.58! (No ECBs on these).

The deodorant was $3.99 and I had a $1.00 coupon. So I paid $2.99 and earned $3.99 back in ECBs.

The Zone bars were $1.59 each for a total of $4.77, but I had a coupon for $1.50 off 3 bars. So I paid $3.27 and earned $2.00 in ECBs.

My receipt printed out with the following extra coupons:
$10 off $50
Save $2.50 on any pain reliever purchase of $10
Save $3.00 on any Revlon cosmetics


This second picture is of the deals I got at Wal-Mart tonight. In all the years I've been shopping at Wal-Mart this is the first time I've actually used coupons there! I can't believe it!

The regular price of everything would have been $24.37 plus tax.
I paid $5.62 plus tax.

*The cereal was $2.88 each; I used two $1.50 coupons making each $1.38.
*The pastas were 1.50 each; I used three $1.00 coupons making each $.50.
*The Fabreeze Noticeables was $6.97; I used a $5.00 coupon making it only $1.97!
*The three bottles of body wash were .97 each; I used a .75 coupon and a $2.00/2 coupon making them all come to a positive .06!
*The Zantac was $4.23; I used a $5.00 coupon leaving me with a positive .77!


Overall, I'm very pleased with my shopping trips this week. The regular prices from both stores comes to $50.29 plus tax. I paid $14.46 and earned $5.99 in ECBs. That's a savings of $35.83 not counting the ECBs! I hope this encourages someone else to put a little time into getting those deals and be a good steward of what God has blessed you with!

Spring Cleaning Help

Ahhhh... spring. I love it. It's always been my favorite season. Open windows, gentle breezes, flowers and trees blooming, new life, fresh smells, school winding down, kids going outside. Can anything get any better?

And spring cleaning. It feels so good (once it's over) to have a nice, clean, fresh home. With my recent de-cluttering/straightening kick, my home will soon, once again, be a place of CLEAN peace and enjoyment. Happy sigh...

If you need help with your spring cleaning then check out these great places...

*Cindy's Porch
*Spring Cleaning: A Complete Checklist
*Woman's Day Printable Spring Cleaning Checklists (very pretty!)
*All Things Frugal

Oh, and yes, that really is me in the picture above. I just simply ADORE doing housework in my high heels and pearls!

Anti-Procrastination, Declutter, WHATEVER... It Just Feels Good!

I had, a little late, joined Anti-Procrastination Week (see my first project here), and now Crystal's got a Clear Out the Clutter Challenge going on. It doesn't matter WHAT it's called, I just know that I need to join them ALL!

We are a family of 6 living in a house that is less than 1000 sq. ft. so needless to say, we don't have a lot of room for ANY kind of clutter. However, it somehow always seems to find its way here.

So I am once again (I seem to do this at least once a year) in the middle of de-cluttering/reorganizing our entire house and getting ready for a sale... on-line AND in my front yard!

So here is the next 'before' and 'after' pictures. This is our linen closet/blanket closet/all-extra-medicines-and-other-personal-items closet. When I couldn't put the extra blankets away that the kids had used to make tents without them all falling down on my head, I knew it was time to tackle this mess.

Before...

...and after.

Let 'Em Go!

We have now received everything I ordered for our next school year and the kids just couldn't wait. When our Math-U-See box came the other day, Reece Cup and Princess went on and on for about 10 minutes, whopping and cheering. They were SO excited! So today, everyone started on their new math books! I didn't make them. In fact, I told them they didn't have to. But they wanted to so I figured, why wait? If they're ready and asking to do it, why in the world make them wait until August? Because that's just 'the way' it's supposed to be done?

I challenge that reason. That's just 'public school' thinking. It's just the way it's always been, the way most of us have always learned and gotten use to. But as homeschoolers we're called to be different anyway! The kids are finished with this year's books and they have their new books and they wanted to start them. So instead of forgetting what they've learned over the summer and having to recap in August, now they'll be four months into their new books!

If I haven't said it before... I LOVE homeschooling!

Update On My Doctor's Visit

Well, my dream did not come true. There's actually something 'wrong' with me, thank goodness! LOL!

Seems that first of all, I have too much estrogen. The only natural way to bring this down is to watch the meat and milk that I consume. There are such high levels of added hormones that I need to make sure I'm eating and drinking organic meat and milk. Yeah, the grocery budget's going to love that! Oh, and make sure my bowels are moving regularly. Ok, moving on.

Secondly, I have nearly NO progesterone. A normal level is 10 and she expected mine to come back around a 4. She said she was shocked when my level actually came back at a 0.8! So tonight I begin using a liquid progesterone that I rub in on the inside of my forearm at bedtime. She said that it will help me sleep better and deeper, I will dream more vividly (don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing), that I will be more calm and patient (a collective 'YAY' erupts from my entire household), and that I will be ABLE to begin to lose weight! (A big ole' loud YIPPEE erupts from me!) She said that no matter what I did right now to try to lose the weight that is simply would not come off. HELLO! Thank you very much. I knew it wasn't all just in my head.

My sugar was also just slightly high, but it wasn't anything to be too concerned with right now. As the weight begins to come off that should correct itself.

It feels SO good to finally have someone take me seriously and be willing to work with me to find out exactly what's going on in this old body of mine. Oh, and speaking of old body, I asked her what exactly would cause my progesterone level to be so low. She said, 'Getting older'. Getting OLDER? OLDER?!! I'm ONLY 32. Please tell me she was just kidding! I've always been 'young'. I can't be on the 'getting older' boat. Not yet! Great. What's next? Geritol?

Sigh... well, anyway. I just thought I'd update you and let you know that I'm on my way to being fixed! I hear so many women talk about feeling some of the very same things I've been experiencing. I sincerely hope that if you're one of them that you can find someone who's willing to listen to you and actually work to find what's going on. I'm so excited to start feeling good again. It's been a very long time.

I've Joined Anti-Procrastination Week

I'm a bit late in joining in the 'fun', but Mrs. Byers over at 'A Complete Pantry' has motivated me to stop procrastinating and just get up and do the things that need to be done!

I LOVE looking at 'Before' and 'After' pictures, so this morning I went through the house and took 'before' pictures of all the areas I need to tackle and as I get each of them done I'll take 'after' pictures and post them in hopes of motivating all of you!

The funny thing is, I know the messes are bad, but they look so much worse when I see the pictures of them! Yikes!

So, here's my first set of before and afters. I decided to finally tackle my kitchen, which I'm embarrassed to say, had been neglected WAY too long. I've had a mountain of dishes gradually growing each day and it was hard to get anything done. They were getting really gross, my stovetop needed scraped, and the floor was nasty. What makes it even worse is that we do our schoolwork in the kitchen so it was making each day start out on a very sour note. I can't believe I let it get this bad. I vow to work hard to keep it clean now that it's done.

Before. (Believe me, the picture doesn't do the mess justice. It was much worse than it looks.)
And after.

So, what do you think? Doesn't it look GREAT?! I LOVE when my kitchen is all clean and shiney. After wiping my counters off I spray and wipe them with Lysol Kitchen cleaner and they just sparkle! It's the cleanest room in the house. I just want to stay there. LOL!

Ok gals. Now, get motivated with me. You know there are projects you need to tackle too. There's no better time than now to just get up and do it! I promise, you'll be SO happy you did. So what are you going to start with? And don't forget to take those 'before' and 'after' pictures for me!