My Poor Neglected Blog

I'm baaaccckkkk!! Well, for now at least. I have really missed my fun little creative outlet but it has been a rough few weeks. To recap, we sold out house very quickly and had to find a new one and be moved into said new house inside of 6 weeks. Yikes! As if that wasn't scary enough, we were blessed with a record sales month at that same time, so my poor husband was a bit distracted and exhausted. Oh, and I was about 7 months pregnant and chasing a busy toddler. But God blessed us with a great home and made it all come together. Now, we are (relatively) settled and anxiously awaiting the arrival of sweet little Allison any day. (Note my optimism as I say "any day"...in reality, she won't likely show for at least another couple weeks but a mama can hope!) Anyway, I am excited to begin posting again more regularly even though it will likely be erratic for a while.

Life As Of Late

Whoever noted that when it rains, it pours, was very wise. Man oh man, has it seemed to pour lately! There is way too much going on to go into details but here is a recap of my past 2.5 half weeks in a nutshell:

• We got a contract on our house! After 5 years of being on and off the market, we were elated. The only downside is that they wanted us out in 45 days. Yikes!
• Since we had no place lined up to move into, the search for a new home was fast and feverish. I looked at nearly 20 houses in less than 3 days, plus we sifted through at least 100 homes online.
• We put a contract on a house! It is new and still under construction so we requested to make some decisions re: final colors and such. It is a beautiful home and just down the road from our business, which is great.
• I immediately began lining out details for the move, including updating our financials with our bank and signing paperwork to get our mortgage in place. I have also been selling off furniture that won't be needed in the new house and buying/preparing to buy things we will need immediately like a refrigerator and window coverings.
• We had a record sales month in April for the store - yea! Hopefully I will remember what my husband looks like when I see him again. He has been working 12-13 hour days 6 days a week and has had to work many Sundays too. Craziness.
• In the middle of this, I found out about some health issues a family member is having which are potentially serious. Hopefully they are nothing but we are still awaiting test results. There are many prayers going up in the meantime.
• My nearly 13 year-old dog has stopped eating regularly. I don't know why. My vet doesn't seem concerned so I'm trying to ride this one out too.
• Insert 2-3 instances of randomness/requests from our buyers/their realtor each week and I'm feeling like I might snap.

Anyway, if I have seemed a little stressed lately, that is my world. Oh, and I'm nearly 27 weeks pregnant - yea! That has become totally back burner and I can't believe I'm almost to 3rd trimester already. Hopefully the pouring will slow to a minor drizzle soon. Even in the midst of this insanity, we recognize how incredibly blessed we are. I look around me and see people sick with terminal illness or struggling with recent the loss of loved ones. My problems of today are fleeting and, in the grand scheme of things, are minor. I have full faith that the Lord will carry us through this time and that everything will work out as He intends, even if that plan isn't the same as ours.

Extreme?

Last night, I was flipping channels and stopped on TLC's Extreme Cheapskates. I have seen the show before and have heard lots of people who are shocked by people featured. I have seen some things on there that disgust me but, honestly, there are a lot of things I currently do or would consider doing. I was contemplating this as I watched last night. Additionally, I couldn't help but think that we really are a wasteful society. And it is fine if you want to be wasteful and can afford it, but most of us can't afford it. According to CNN Money, the average family has nearly $16,000 in credit card debt. Yikes! Think about it, this is consumer debt with nothing to show for it. Now THAT seems crazy to me - living or going further into debt while living wastefully. I will be the first to admit that I, too, am guilty of not being as resourceful as I probably should. But I recognize that and am always striving to find new ways to save where I can. Even if you aren't in debt, could you not put more money into savings or retirement or give a bit more to your church or favorite charity? We can all strive to save more, right?

Here are some perfectly sane (in my opinion) ways to save money that have been featured on the show:

• Buy food from discount grocery outlets. This includes scratch and dent items and items which are just outside of sell-by dates. I have done this. If I had a large family to feed, I would likely do this more often.
• Sell your car and ride a bike. Exercise, frugality and saving the earth? Many urban dwellers discovered the benefits of bikes long ago. 
• Make household products or cleaners. This includes cleaning your home with staples like vinegar and baking soda or making homemade toiletries. I clean most of my house with vinegar and baking soda, so I obviously see nothing wrong with this one.
• Recycle cooking water or bath water for watering plants. I don't see how anyone saves a lot of money doing this, but it is efficient, I suppose.
• Eat alternative cuts of meat. I probably won't be buying goat heads or eating cow brain but I don't see it as flame worthy, either. Kudos to these people for eating parts that often go to waste in our country. They are often very nutritious but the stigma of eating them prevents most Americans from ever trying them.
• Scavenging for wild food. If one is savvy (I'm not), then they can pick edible grasses and berries from the wild and eat them.
• Upcycling items. Basically, finding other uses for items that would traditionally be seen as trash. There are a lot of items that can be reused. You generate less trash and don't have to buy additional items for household needs. It can be a win-win! Just a note, here, though - there was one individual featured who was making gifts out of upcycled items. Sorry, but I view this as tacky. Be frugal on your own but don't give your trash as "gifts" unless e recipient is a fellow cheapskate or has requested a specific item.
• Washing and reusing Ziplocs. I frequently do this, especially if the bag has just held bread or a similarly non-threatening food. I will not reuse bags that have held raw meat or pungent items like onions, though. But bags can get expensive and they'd go right into the trash, so it is basically throwing money away each time I use one, so why not reuse thr ones I can?

There have been some other practices featured that are a bit further than I think I would ever go, though. Among those are the following cheapskate practices:

• Dumpster diving for food. Yuck. Sorry, but just yuck.
• Washing clothes in the shower while you shower. No...
• Not flushing the toilet. Honestly, how much are you really saving with this?
• "Family cloth" aka cloth toilet paper. Um, I'm all for reusables but I can't imagine giving up toilet paper.
• Asking strangers for their leftovers. I'm sure they are probably fine but this one is way too much for me.

All in all, though, I have to laugh a bit. What do people think their ancestors did or used? Even the things that I'm not willing to do (like family cloth) were likely normal practices in our country as recently as 100 years ago.  And I obviously still drive a car and don't do many of the things that I find acceptable. But I guess I'm not seeing where the controversy is with many of them either. To me, some of them seem worthy of consideration if times get tough. But maybe I'm an extreme cheapskate too.

For Every Season

It is currently a strange time in my world. It is, in general, a blissful time for our family. Sure life is incredibly hectic and there aren't enough hours in the day. But it is magical to watch a toddler discovering the world and getting so excited about all of its details. Life really is about the simple things right now. And knowing that we'll soon start all over with little Allison is very exciting. I am definitely trying to soak it all in, expecting that this will be my last pregnancy and knowing that we will never experience this exact phase of our lives again.

Still, it seems like everyone around me is not in such a blissful time. There is currently so much disease and loss everywhere. My heart breaks for all of my friends and acquaintances who are struggling right now. Yet, I remind myself that many of them were experiencing smooth sailing when I have been pushing through hard times. And there is no promise that tomorrow will be easy for any of us, so I should soak up today and enjoy it. But why do I feel guilty? I'm just praying hard for those around me and trying to focus on enjoying today in my own life.

Allison

My husband and I have been watching The Bible miniseries on The History Channel this past couple weeks. We have really enjoyed it, as we re-visit Old Testament stories which we had forgotten and learn a few that we didn't know as well. It is so incredible to see God speaking so specifically to His people! I'm always even more amazed as I see Him working in my life, even though many of the ways I feel He speaks to me are far less profound. One of those little ways has been on my mind this week.

A few months back, I was not content with the baby carrier I had been using for Andrew. I researched and researched and decided to sell the one we had to fund a different one. There were two which I thought would work well for us, given my frame and his size. And both had great reviews for young babies too, which was a bonus. I looked for several weeks for a used carrier but didn't have any luck as they were still very pricey, even used. Finally, I settled out on a new one which I loved. A few weeks after that, I was poking around in our local kid consignment store and found the other carrier I had looked at. And it was only $30! (These carriers are $125 new so this was a steal!!) Even better yet, it was a pretty, neutral print. Though I certainly didn't need it, I wanted it as it had the best reviews by far for newborns. But I wasn't even pregnant so it seemed crazy to consider purchasing it, right? I had complications after having Andrew and we were very unsure of whether we would get any more babies in the few months after he was born. But thankfully, I was healed and we planned to have at least one more baby. I contemplated the carrier a bit and really felt like I should just buy it, so I did. I figured that I could easily get my money back out of it if I changed my mind as the going price for a used one was roughly twice what I paid. After getting the carrier home, I looked up the print and was taken aback - the print name was "Allison".  Allison was the name we had chosen if Andrew was a girl and it has been my girl name of choice for many years. My husband was sweet and quickly agreed to it during my first pregnancy as I loved the name so much. As I looked at the carrier and the name, I really felt that it was a promise from God - that He would send me another baby to love, even if it wasn't an "Allison" and was a boy instead. A couple months later, I found out I was pregnant. And this week, we found out that we'll be welcoming our sweet little Allison this summer. I am still in shock, honestly. Apparently my feeling regarding God's promise was much more literal than I thought!

So I'm obviously the crazy girl who feels like God gives her promises through used baby gear but I am okay with that. I am just feeling incredibly blessed that He speaks to me at all and has given me all that He has. Has God spoken to you? What messages or reassurances has He given you, big or small?

Baby Bump at 18/19 weeks

Almost halfway there. And definitely wearing this shirt for the last time for a few months!

Little Mr or Little Miss?

Next week should be an exciting week for our house - we will find out the sex of Bean 2.0! As many of you know, we did not find out the sex with our first child so this is a whole new experience. The anticipation is building...will this baby be another boy or a girl? We shall see!

The comments and assumptions of society re: gender have been a bit surprising to me. One, that we automatically want a girl. (Honestly, we would love to have a daughter so that we could experience parenting both sexes but I know many parents who prefer one sex over the other or simply have no preference at all.) Two, if you have a boy, at least he can be close to A. Huh? My husband and his sister, who is one year older than him, were very close growing up. Likewise, I know many sets of siblings who are close in age but not close at all, even if both are the same sex. I tend to think that closeness is dictated by personality versus gender. Three, if you have a girl, she will be super-girly and decked out in pink all the time. Honestly, I hope not. I can't imagine encouraging a daughter that she is a "princess" and should only wear pink. But again, I tend to think that kids are who they are. Just today, I watched A run around outside wearing his bike helmet like it was a fashion statement. I would never encourage that one but hey, safety first, right??