FPU

Tonight is our first class of Financial Peace University. If you remember this you know that one of my resolutions for the new year was to say "no" to buying things I don't need. After I read Dave Ramsey's book I got all fired up about it. I talked to Josh about it and we decided that attending his Financial Peace University would be a great idea. Since we've only been married a few months and don't have too many financial obligations at this point we thought this was the best time to learn a lot about finances and what God has to say about them. I looked up the classes online and found one near us that was on a day we could attend. So...tonight is our first meeting and I'm really excited about it. It is supposed to last 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours and it goes on for 12 weeks with a different topic each week. It starts out with a video of Dave and then ends up with discussion questions. I think it will be great!! Josh and I have already done so well with cutting out things we don't need and have been able to save and use our money where we need it, PTL, so I am sure these classes will only further our efforts. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

I did weigh this morning and there was little change. I'm not at all bummed about it because with the fluctuations of last week I feel like this is a good place for me. I've decided to switch my weigh days to Fridays so I'm going to give it a whirl again tomorrow. We'll see what happens!!

Mail Call

Josh just went and got them mail and I have TWO very special things in it!

Look at this little love?? I can't wait to look at this card again years from now and thank God for all He has done!

And for the other one you'll have to go here to see it. The one I got had some personal information on it so I didn't think posting it on my blog was the best idea. I know, I could have edited it but I didn't want to mess with that (The Biggest Loser is about to come on). Let me just tell you how cute and fun this little guy is. I can't believe he is a year old!!

Monday Already???

Yes, it is true, it is Monday already. My how the weekends fly!!! I had a great time this weekend though. Friday night was really low key. I cooked dinner and we watched TV. Glory!

Saturday was a pretty lazy day as well. I slept in a little, got up, ate breakfast, took a nap, took a shower, watched TV, took another nap, got dressed, met up with Josh in the evening. You see, Josh had school work to do all day and I had the house to myself. What better way to enjoy the peace and quiet than with a nap...or two?!?!

Saturday night Josh and I had a great time! We went to the home of a WONDERFUL family in our church. Not only do they belong to our church but they have 5 children in our youth group AND they teach 11th and 12th grade Sunday school. I'm a HUGE fan of theirs and I know you all would be too if you knew them.

When we arrived we spent time hanging out. The kids entertained us while dinner was being prepared.

Kassi, Keaton and Skylar

Kevin and Lisa


Kevin is a great pizza dough tosser!



It was delicious!!!!

We had hot fudge sundaes for dessert!

We ended the night with a game...Buzz Word.

Have you ever played it? It is a lot of fun. I'm not very good at it though. It requires you to think fast. Regardless though it was a great ending to a wonderful night.

Sunday was a great day as well!! We went to church, met my parents for lunch here and took a great nap! Then, of course, we headed back to church and home to relax a little before bedtime. A great weekend indeed!

Middle of the Week Randomness

Just got home from church and now I'm unwinding. Wednesdays are very tiresome for me. Our youth group is growing, PTL, and with that comes exhaustion. I'm not as young as I used to be. :) It's hard for me to keep up with them sometimes. They are a good group but a rowdy group. Then again what teenagers aren't? Anyway, now I'm just checking blogs and seeing what I've missed.

Don't you just ADORE little Miss Harper Stamps???? I know any of you who read my blog know who she is because chances are you came here by way of Kelly's in the first place. Let me just say I love that little girl! She gets cuter every day! And those bows. Oh my word!

On another note, I went to the oral surgeon for a consultation appointment today. Lucky for me I get to have THREE teeth (is that the proper usage) implants. I prayed that the LORD would have mercy on us financially and it looks like what we have set aside for it should cover it. Go God! I was really concerned about that. Another major plus is that I like my...doctor?...dentist? Is there a shorter, yet politically correct term for "oral surgeon?"

Moving on...you should all know something. I have a confession...I didn't weigh this week. I know I'm bad but let me tell you why. This week I struggled with making good eating choices (did you know girl scout cookies are here??). I wanted to weigh but I also didn't want to be so discouraged in the beginning and give up. I have done some good things this week like going to the gym, taking the 4 flights of stairs at work and not the elevator, writing down everything I eat in a food journal, and eating smaller portions. Having done all that I very well could have lost weight or stayed the same but for some reason I just didn't feel like getting on the scale. I'll get back on it next week though. I must!

Tomorrow is Thursday and one day closer to Friday. It is also mine and Josh's 5 month wedding anniversary. WOW!!! Time flies!! I love being married to Josh! He's my favorite!!

OK, I guess I will leave you on that sweet note!!

Heart Day and More

What a great weekend!! I started it off by having lunch with my friend Jenny on Friday. We went to Panera. Yum-O!!! I hate that I didn't take a picture. It was so fun being able to catch up. We live only a few minutes from each other yet we barely see one another. We're about to put an end to that!!!!

Friday night we (Josh, my sister, who was in town, and myself) decided to get dinner to go. I gave Josh choices and he picked this. I didn't mind at all!! It's one of my favs, we hadn't had it in a while, and it was the cheapest option!

For our entertainment that night we watched a comedy DVD of our brother-in-law, Paul Harris. He currently has a show in Branson, MO and he's so funny!! He is married to Josh's sister.

What a great Friday!!

Saturday started off with a Valentine's breakfast! Nothing special but still delicious!

My Happy Valentine!!!

After breakfast I was lazy for a long time and then my sister and I went to see a movie (Josh had to meet with some people to complete some class assignments).

It was a cute movie! Nothing deep or thought provoking but a fun, lazy, Saturday afternoon movie.

We finished Saturday night with more laziness and some dinner (which I made). Then Sunday was church. I'm not sure if your church has the tradition of altar flowers for every Sunday service. Ours does and this week was a very special arrangement of flowers. They were in honor of our one year anniversary as staff at church. I can't believe Josh has been working there a year! Wow! We love our church and are very thankful for the wonderful support we get from everyone.

I hope you all had a great weekend like I did!!!

God Can Do Anything, Right?

This morning Josh and I decided to sit in on our 6th and 7th grade Sunday school class. We like to rotate the different youth Sunday classes just to be able to spend time with the kids more and support the teachers. This morning I was sitting next to a sweet girl that has just recently started coming a lot. She's a mess, let me tell you, and she says the craziest things. Here was our quiet conversation while:

Sweet Girl: God can do anything, right?
Me: He sure can!!!
Sweet Girl: Can He sing?
Me: *smile and nod* He Can do anything!
Sweet Girl: Can He do the stanky leg?
Me: *bust out laughing*


For those of you who don't know what the "stanky leg" is it is probably because you aren't around youth much. You can go to to You Tube and type in "stanky leg" to see. I was going to link a video but I didn't want to be responsible for picking one with a bad song or something. The "stanky leg" is a dance move.

I will post tomorrow about our weekend. Hope you had a great LORD's day!

TGIF

It's Friday! Yea! Friday, the 13th, to be exact!!! And it is the day before Valentine's Day. Hope you all have a good day.

In an effort to keep up the weight loss accountability...I lost 2 pounds this week. I would have liked for it to be more but I'm pleased! Still have lots to go though!

Happy Day!

Weekend Wrap Up

I know the weekend has been over for a couple days but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. As you know Friday wasn't any fun b/c our sweet Chloe was at the vet and we weren't sure what was going to happen. Thank goodness she came out of everything ok and the vet let her come home Sunday morning. She is still really sore and having some issues but every day she gets better.

Here she is with her battle wound.

Backing up a bit...Friday was when I was really sad because I wasn't sure what was going to happen with Chloe. Luckily I had plans with our youth group that night. After work I went to Alltel Arena to meet the group for...

It was really good! I'm a big fan of Meredith Andrews!! I enjoyed everyone that preformed. They all put on a good show.

Saturday we woke up to find out mom had gone to get us breakfast...Shipley Donuts...YUM-O!!!

After that we decided it would be fun for Josh to help dad spike his hair. My dad has had the same hair style for as long as I can remember. My mom has always wanted him to spike his hair and he finally let us work with it.

Here's the end result. Not what we had in mind but I think it will look better once it's shorter.

Here's and added bonus:

Before Chloe went in for her surgery we decided she needed a bath. This is what her hair looked like after we took our her pony tail in the front prior to bath time. Isn't she cute?????????????????????????????????????

Chloe Update

The vet called this morning and Chloe is out of the danger zone! PTL!!!! He wants to keep her and watch her because he isn't sure what caused the swelling. If you want to read more about the details of what happened you can go to my sister Courtney's blog.

Prayers Please!!

As you know our sweet little Chloe had surgery today. Well, there were complications and we really need her swelling to come down. I realize I'm talking about a dog and it doesn't compare to human life and all of the crazy things going on in this world. BUT for any of you who have animals and they are part of your family you understand. We just want what is best for Chloe. The vet said she had so many stones it was unbelievable. She just had this surgery last year so the fact that her body is making them so fast is not a good thing anyway. Pray for Chloe that she won't be in pain and pray for my sister (and the rest of my family).

Unexpected Guest and UnwantedPounds

Yesterday while I was at work mom called and said she was going to pick up Chloe (two hours away) and bring her back to Little Rock in order to take her to the vet. Chloe was having some issues and needed some extra attention. The vet confirmed her problem was just what we thought...more bladder stones. 3 stones in fact! Bless her little heart. She has surgery tomorrow to remove them. She's going to be a much happier dog when all of this is over.

This is Chloe...although she looks homeless in this picture she really does have a family. We love her lots even if we let her look like a shaggy dog!

*************************************

OK, enough is enough!! I have wanted and needed to shed some UNWANTED pounds for a LONG time. I have always struggled with my weight but had it under control for a long while. In the last two years things have change and it is not so under control anymore. I have tried this and that but just haven't been motivated. My blog friend Tricia has inspired me to get it together and start doing something about it. I am not paying to go to some group (be it JC or WW) anymore b/c we're trying to save every penny we make. I figured the only kind of accountability I'm going to have is what I do for myself. SOOOO...I'm going to blog about it. I know, I know, BORING. Don't worry, I won't talk about it all the time. Just once a week I'm going to comment on my progress. If I lose 5 pounds I share and if I gain 5 pounds I share. I weigh on Wednesdays but it looks like I probably won't update on my progress until Thursdays (because it is usually too hard to blog on Wednesday because church keeps me busy). So, if a Thursday comes and goes and you don't hear a thing from me about it, ASK ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ashley C., I know this isn't what you had in mind when you requested I blog again soon but I will try to do better next time. Hope you had a good lunch!

Tuesday!

I love Tuesday nights! They happen to be one of my favorite nights of the week. I think this is because Josh gets home at a decent hour, we're able to eat dinner together, then we get to cuddle up and watch The Biggest Loser! Nothing like being lazy on a weeknight. I'm sitting here waiting on Josh to get home now so the night of laziness can begin. Don't worry, I'm already in my pajamas and have been since 5:30. I figured I needed to be comfortable while I sat down and tried to recreate one of my blog rolls. It disappeared last week (a couple of days after my header went missing). I asked blogger to help me get it back but they weren't any help. I decided I would just do it on my own. Having said that, if I left you off its not because I don't read your blog it is because I couldn't think of it off the top of my head. I'm sure I'll remember them all soon.

Ok...well my hubs should be home and minute now so I better go! I hope you enjoy your Tuesday as much as I'm going to enjoy mine!

Gets Even Better

Tricia added some extra touches to my fun new blog design!!! Didn't think it could get much better but I was wrong! It's perfect! Thanks again and again and again, Tricia! You're awesome!