10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Our 6 year anniversary is in less than two weeks! My oh my - how the time flies.
2. Patience is a virtue that I do not have. In two weeks we've only had one showing on the house. I'm trying my very best to be patient. God has a plan and it's not on my watch. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat.
3. Being on a budget and staying true to the budget is SO hard, especially towards the end of the month. It never fails - we are usually out of grocery money a week before pay day. Therefore, we have been eating out of our pantry for the past four days. PB & J for dinner- sounds great.
4. I have a new found love for music from Jeremy Camp. Check out "Give Me Jesus". Just awesome.
5. I cannot wait to give Ethan his Easter basket. I found a firetruck basket at a consignment sale for $3 and he's gonna love it!
6. I'm also excited to have family come up for church, brunch and an egg hunt on Easter.
7. I desperately need a haircut.
8. I kicked butt in the cycle class on Saturday. I haven't done it in FOREVER and I was able to do an hour class! Yipee - now I feel like a pro like Julie and Amber! ;)
9. I am also loving this warm weather. Please come and stay a while.
10. Stephanie Meyer will be coming out with a new short story book June 5th - an extension (sort of) to Eclipse! This is very exciting to me and just in time to read it before Eclipse comes out! The only weird part is that it's about Bree, the newborn vampire. Should be interesting though. Hey - I'm all about a new vampire book that has to do with Twilight! Click on the link to read: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/

Understanding Coupons

When I was looking at one of my most favorite coupon sites, Southern Savers, the other day, I saw that she posted an article about understanding coupons. After I read it, I actually did understand the logistics of it a lot more than I realized. If you are trying to save money and are trying to get started, click here for the link! Happy couponing! Oh - and happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Little Tid Bit for the Day

Thanks to a good friend of mine, Carolyn, I get these wonderful inspirational tid bits every morning from a website called The Vine. It helps me to get my day started and I'm so thankful for them. I thought I'd share with you all what I got yesterday!

No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Psalm 84:11 NKJV

Often the toughest times in life are those moments when all we know about God doesn't seem to help or get us the results we want. That's when we learn about His silence. Whenever God doesn't say a word, He's teaching, even in stillness. He's allowing us to grow by forcing us to think, study and arrive at conclusions while He stands by like the loving parent He is. Faith comes by hearing, but patience comes by silence. Patience is what God gives you when bad things remain unchanged. It's His sedative for the troubled heart. It's the balm He rubs into your aching muscles when it feels like you're being stretched to breaking point. These are the times when the pain lasts so long that only God can release the patience required - the sheer grace to get you through it.

There are great benefits to waiting. For example, if you learn to wait and observe, you'll make better choices. The thing you think you can't live without today, you may be glad to live without tomorrow. '… No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly' (Psalm 84:11 NKJV). So when God says, 'Wait,' trust Him. Either it's not what you need at this time, or He has something better in mind for you. You say, 'But what am I going to do in the meantime?' The Bible says, 'Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart… ' (Psalm 27:14 NKJV). Stop fussing, stop pushing, allow God to work and you'll come out of this stronger and with a better result.

AMEN Sista!

Crazy Coupon Ladies!

Of one my most favorite events arrived today - HARRIS TEETER TRIPLES! As much as I love this time, there are quite a few gripes that I have. You would think getting there by 8 AM would get you a decent amount of items that would be free or next to nothing. I was wrong ... as I was in the cleaning aisle checking to see if there was any Lysol Kitchen cleaners left, the lady next to me proceeded to tell me she had been there since 6:30 AM, and it was 8 AM. She then told me she had already made one shopping trip, gone back to the car to get more coupons and her SECOND HT card, and came back to find all the Lysol cleaners gone. This is SUCH a pet peeve of mine - having a second card so you can get the deals. I want a deal just like the next person, but leave some for the rest of us please. I mean how much can Lysol cleaner do you really need - really?

Next I headed over to the rice aisle. I think everyone and their mama were on this aisle and I'm guessing because the rice was free with the tripled coupon. One lady just pulled her cart on over and parked it literally in front of the rice so no one else could get any. She then proceeded to take as much as she could leaving none for anyone else. They do limit you to three of the same item and/or coupon, so that helps. By the time I got over there, there wasn't much left.

After practically getting run over by these crazy coupon ladies and their baseball card coupon books (I guess I shouldn't judge - that may be me one day), I made my way to the check out line. It was already 8:45 and I had a 9:30 appointment I needed to get to so I had to cut my fun time short. I do have to say I will give serious kudos to the lady who checked out right before me. After all was said and done, the cashier told her SHE owed the customer money. Since they can't do that, she had to find something that would equal $1.20, so she grabbed a pack of gum. She paid 10 cents for $60 worth of groceries. She's my hero! I've never been able to do that!


With some of the things that made me irate, here are some highlights of the morning:

• Reynolds Aluminum foil - 75 cents each
• Mahatma Rice - 19 cents each
• Lysol Kitchen cleaner and toilet bowl cleaner - FREE!
• Can of Dole mandarin oranges - .17 cents each
• Ortega taco seasoning - FREE!
• Texas Toast croutons - 20 cents each
• Oral B toothpaste for EE - $1
• McCain crinkle french fries - 75 cents each

Not too shabby huh?

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. I have New Moon in my DVD collection! I've already watched it twice this weekend. -It's just wonderful. Now, I just need to save up for my Glee DVD.
2. I absolutely love being in the mountains.
3. I cannot believe Easter is in two weeks. I would have to say that Easter is probably my next favorite holiday next to Thanksgiving. I love Spring, Easter baskets, going to church, dressing up, etc. Especially now that we have Ethan I love egg hunts!
4. Ethan has two more of his last baby teeth coming in. That explains the mood swings, diarrhea, fussiness, restlessness at night and drooling last week.
5. HT is having triple coupons next week! Yahoo!
6. The marriage enrichment class is going to be fun and great for us. The homework assignment for this week is to pull out the old scrapbooks from when we dated all the way up until we've been married and just reminisce about the good ol' times. Should be fun.
7. Wicked here we come! I got tickets last week for the awesome Broadway show, Wicked, for June. It's going to be a fabulous girl's night and I can't wait. I've heard SO many good things about the show and I'm sure it will live up to every expectation.
8. My son is quite the Casanova. We went up to the mountains this weekend, Adam broke out his guitar and strummed some tunes. Ethan was feeling the music and just took little Kaitlyn by the hand and started slow dancing. It was the most precious thing ever. If only I didn't miss the moment! I grabbed the camcorder 10 seconds too late!
9. A weekend in the mountains breathing in the fresh spring air is just what the doctor ordered. Stay tuned for pictures soon!
10. Congrats to Frankie and Ashley who are now engaged. We wish you the best!

For Sale: Update

We had our first showing on a very quick notice Thursday evening. I got the call at 2:30 PM that someone wanted to come and see the house and asking us to disregard the 24 hour notice. I knew the house was in pretty good shape so I said yes. After I got off work at 3 PM, I ran home and did some last minute cleaning. We had the marriage enrichment class at 6:30 at church so that actually worked out that we would be out of the house. We grabbed a bite to eat at Moe's then headed to church. About 10 minutes into the class, Chris got a text that the key we left for the lock box didn't work! Are you serious!?! Luckily our neighbor had an extra key so our realtor went over and got it from her. We were anxious and curious to get the feedback soon after. The realtor said it would be anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. We finally got the feedback yesterday. The bad news is that they did not choose to put in an offer. The good news is that they thought the house showed well and were their 2nd choice due to not being in the price range they wanted to be in! That's wonderful! It's only been one week so I'm really ok with the feedback. It's good to hear we were 2nd choice. Most people wouldn't say that in any situation but I'm good with it! We'll see what happens this week!

MJ's - BELATED Post!

If you read in my last post, 1o Things I Learned This Week, we were supposed to go to the mountains three weeks ago. Mother Nature had a mind of her own so we made other plans. We decided to head to Monkey Joe's with The Ledfords for an afternoon of fun! Here are the pictures!

Me and THE MAN!

Sweet Katy Rae
Oh the things we make our children do!

Ethan had a BLAST!

He was SO excited to see MJ. As you can see Kaitlyn on the side, she wasn't too excited.

Again,Kaitlyn not too excited.

Dada and E

You Don't Know My Story

Last Sunday was the 5th week of the Love, Sex, God study and it was great! We get e-news in our email every week to summarize what happened the previous Sunday, as well as other news going on in the churhc. Here's a summary:

Could my story make me an exception to God’s expectations? A deeper reality occurred to me last Sunday. I squirmed uncomfortably through parts of Pastor Chris’s Song of Solomon message. All of my life decisions have not been good. His words reminded me of that. Yet I had perfectly good reasons to act the way I acted at the time. Because of that I want to say my story is different and makes me an exception. I had good intentions. I meant no harm. Surely God’s absolutes make exceptions for me, right?

The truth is that everybody’s journey is unique. Everybody has reasons for the choices they made. None of us set out to ruin our lives, but we have all made decisions with nasty consequences. And even if some of the nastiness in my past is not completely my fault, I do hold some responsibility. And God is calling me to take responsibility for what is mine.
Taking responsibility means trusting God and making changes. God knows my story better than I do. He knows the thoughts and intents of my heart. He knows why I did what I did. But he also knows that he made me for something better…something more. He has taught me through Song of Solomon that regardless of my past, I can make some better choices:

Invest time and energy in my marriage.

Teach my children the value of sexual purity.

Protect my children and myself with internet porn filters like Safe Eyes, Net Nanny, or Hedgebuilders

Agree with another couple to become prayer and accountability partners.

Do marriage and all relationships God’s way, trusting Him for the results.

God would only make me uncomfortable about my past in order to call me to a different place in the future. So, which of the “better choices” is urgent for me? Which is urgent for you now? What is your next step?

Ours is attending Marriage Enrichment tonight. Can't wait!

Boots Mommy, Please!?

I bought these cute rain boots at a consignment sale and when I showed them to E, he had to put them on right away. He immediately said, "Get shoes off! Mommy, boots please?". So cute! So after dinner tonight, we went outside to play for a few minutes and I captured some cute pictures. Enjoy!

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. I am allowed to officially announce that my best buddy Carrie will be having another baby due at the end of September! Yipee!!
2. Glee returns in 27 days! I'm so glad that I have a friend in Carolyn that makes me feel like my obsession is not too embarrassing.
3. Getting back in the gym feels SO good ... but also hurts so bad.
4. Chris and I are starting a 6 week class this week at church called Marriage Enrichment. I am excited to see what God has in store for us as a married couple.
5. Keeping the house clean and tidy is hard! :) Nah, it's not too bad. It's sparkling clean from having pictures taken on Sunday so we're trying our best to keep it that way. Pretty soon we'll have it down to a science on who cleans what on what night!
6. When God closes one door, He opens another!
7. Is it just me or does American Idol suck this season?
8. Why does watching Jim and Pam on The Office have their baby make me cry, like sobbing cry? I think I'm getting baby fever again.
9. Cherry blossoms are in bloom! You know what that means - SPRING!!!
10. We are off to the mountains this weekend and it's perfect timing. We planned this trip about three weeks ago but a huge winter storm decided to ruin our plans. So, we've rescheduled for this weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice thank goodness. I hear a hot tub calling my name!

Our Listing!

Click here for the MLS listing and pictures!

For Sale

There is officially a for sale sign in our front yard ... and we are exhausted, and sad, and excited, and nervous, and happy! As I am writing this my eyes are crossing and my brain is slowly shutting down. For the past two months, we have been working on this house and the day has finally come. Aunt Liv came to keep EG busy yesterday while we put some finishing touches on the house. This afternoon our realtor came over, we signed on the dotted line, she took pictures and then put a sign in our front yard. We stood at the front door and watched her as she put the sign in the ground and I immedately started to cry. I don't know why. I think it's just a bittersweet moment to be leaving this house. Our first house as Mr. and Mrs. Cassidy. The house we brought our little puppy home to. The house that endured blood, sweat and tears, literally, on all the many, many projects we've worked on. The house we've entertained our friends in. The house we brought our first child home in and begun our journey in raising him. I do however feel very excited because we are closing a chapter in our lives and starting a new one. I have total trust in God that He has great plans for our family. But I am going to miss this house. I'm crossing my fingers that this journey in selling the house does not stress us out and that it sells quickly. Please pray for our family as we begin this process!

Tomorrow evening we should have it actually listed on the MLS so I'll be able to post a link to the real estate site. Stay tuned!

Lookie What I've Got!

The NEW Eclipse Trailer! Enjoy!

10 Seconds of Pure Joy

Sleeping with Mater and Lighting

Nana made a blanket for Ethan with Mater and KaChow on it and he LOVES it! Here are some pictures with EG and his new blankie.

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. I LOVE warm weather weekends. This past weekend was just beautiful! A tiny bit chilly, but beautiful none the less. Thank you God!
2. Ethan is taking tiny baby steps towards potty training. I don't want to get my hopes up too much but he is doing well. He has been going to the potty before bed and going pee pee in the potty. No #2 quite yet since that big day when he did it unprompted. We have been giving treats (a jelly bean or M&M) and he gets really excited about those. Yesterday morning and after his nap at school he woke up with a dry diaper and then went pee pee in the potty. Let's pray this continues!
3. Witnessing a baptism of a friend is such a inspiring feeling. I grew up in a church with baptisms in a pool up on the stage and very formal. This was different. It was in a swimming pool of some kind and everyone was in T-shirts and shorts. As soon as someone was dunked everyone erupted in applause and cheers. It was so cool.
4. Ethan LOVES to dance to the band at church. It's so cute too.
5. Having a dinner get together with your family is such a wonderful gift.
6. I have two MORE consignment sales to go to on Thursday! Yipee!
7. New Moon comes out on DVD next Saturday! If only now I could decide if I want to pre-order it and have it shipped to my house OR brave the crowds, if any, to get one the day of. Ummmm...
8. Ethan loves his new Mater and Lightning McQueen blanket from Nana. I will be posting pictures later tonight so stay tuned ...
9. Speaking of Mater, we were driving to church Sunday night for the baptism when at the traffic light Ethan yells out, "Mater! Ghost light!". I looked over to see a tow truck across the way. I was just dying laughing!
10. I think we'll be taking the big step into transitioning E into the toddler bed this weekend. Wish us luck! I don't want to see two little eyes peering at me over the bed at 2 AM!

Random Friday

I do have readers! I haven't checked my blog in a few days, so when I logged on to see I had 6 comments I was so excited! Thanks you guys for commenting and letting me know you do in fact read! Let me say too how awesome you guys are. After having some problems with some other "friends", it's such a nice feeling to know you are loved and appreciated for EXACTLY who you are. It really brought tears to my eyes! Thanks for the comments and KEEP READING! I love you all!

On a side note, I have been to four consignment sales already and I'm not done yet! I mean, I just live for these things. They are SO much fun and so rewarding! I told Chris how much I have spent so far and felt a little bad for not feeling like I've gotten a lot for the money. Then I reminded myself of how much just two Stride Rite shoes are and how much I would have spent on those compared to what I've spent already ... on more than just shoes. So far I've spent $125 and gotten the following:

• 4 or 5 pairs of shoes, one being the CUTEST blue and brown plaid slide on loafers, perfect for summer days! Ethan has already tried them on and was VERY excited. He LOVES shoes, as if you can't tell with the Lighting McQueen slippers in a previous post.
• somewhere around 20 shirts
• somewhere around 20 pairs of shorts, both nice and play
• 2 boutique one piece outfits possibly for Easter
• 3 PJ's
• 1 belt
• 1 baseball cap
• 1 bathing suit

I'm still in search of a light jacket for spring, a couple more bathing suits, and some other shirts to go with some of the shorts that don't have any shirts to go with them. After the first sale, I came home and realized that I bought pretty much all 3T stuff. I was so mad at myself because what I truly needed was 2T. It's so tricky though because I held up a 2T to a 3T and they were practically the same. It's probably because they've been washed a numerous amount of times. So after that first sale, I've now gotten a good mix of both sizes. We'll just see how they fit when the time comes. I have two to go to next Thursday as well as a couple next week. YEA! FUN!

As far as an update on the house being put on the market, this weekend is supposed to be nice so we're going to finish up some loose ends on the outside of the house as well as some on the inside. Then, next week hopefully we'll have the listing agreement signed and a photographer out to take pictures. Next weekend my lovely sister is coming to watch E for us while we take some stuff out to a storage unit and do any last minute stuff. Then we should be good to go! I'm excited to see what kind of activity we get, if any. We feel confident about the house selling but you just never know. We'll keep you updated!

As I was standing in line at one of the sales this week, there was a table set up for the Come See Me Festival. If you're not familiar with it (which most of you reading are) it's a spring festival in Rock Hill that is a week and a half long with all kind of activities for adults and kids. We've really only attended the last event of the festival which is the tailgate and fireworks at the Winthrop Lake. We always have such a great time and this year I'm really excited to be able to take E to some of the kid oriented events. There's the parade down Oakland Avenue, Ice Cream Sundaes with Glen and Mother Goose in Glencarin Gardens (which is BEAUTIFUL in the spring), Moonlight and Jazz (great date night for Chris and I), Everything Trucks! which is just as it sounds (which I think E will love) and then of course the tailgating and fireworks. I can't wait! I hope the weather works out! It makes me so excited for spring! Which is why I've already changed my background! I just can't wait!!!

Have a great weekend!

Is Anyone Reading?

Since we've made the switch over to a new blog and being private, I've noticed a decline in comments on the blog. Not that I live for them, but they surely are nice to read. I know it's mainly to the fact that not as many people are reading the blog, which is what I wanted, but there have been problems with people getting on. I think our blog doesn't show up in the blog roll or dashboard since it is private so people don't think I'm blogging. Thinking back to the reason why we made the switch, it just makes me mad that I felt like it had to be done. Oh well, that's life and you have to do what you can to adjust and make your life easier and drama free. But I do want to know - is anyone out there reading? Give me some love! Love you all!

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Don't plan your day around a toddler's nap schedule - it will NEVER go as planned.
2. Consignment season has begun!!! I've already been to two and there are 6 more I plan to go to! Crazy but so much fun!!!
3. I finally got my Samoas, and I'm eating them right now. Yum-a-lish! I guarantee the box will be gone by the time I'm done with this blog.
4. I'm also watching The Bachelor and I am not crazy about Vienna sausage, oh I mean Vienna. Tinley is just a cutie patootie but I just know the history of The Bachelor. They always choose the wrong girl.
5. I want to see Remember Me with Robert Pattinson. I mainly want to see how different he acts than our dreamy Edward Cullen. * Sigh *
6. One more weekend of working on the house and it'll be on the market. Yipee!
7. Ethan has gotten excited about potty training again. We thought we'd be on to trying to transition him into a toddler bed, but it looks like we may be attempting to potty train first. I don't know - it's all so hard.
8. Pleaseeeee Glee - please return soon!!! (I know it's April - I just wish they would surprise us with an episode earlier!)
9. And the new cast for Dancing with the Stars are ... WOW - Kate Gosselin, Pamela Anderson, Ocho Cinco! And lots more!
10. ... can you tell I'm blogging as I'm watching TV.