The Handmade Dress Patterns GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Handmade Dress Patterns GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!! 

Did I mention that I love my oven?

The first weekend in October, I was doing my first quarterly freezer filler since Leila was born.  There are many times that I love vintage products, but my kitchen range was not exactly one of them.  When we first moved here, the landlord told us the former tenant left the stove and we were welcome to use it until it gave up the ghost.  I don't think it will last more than a couple of months, he said.   That was in 1999.

Anyway, back to the first weekend in October.....I was struggling along with my stove....finally down to the last two burners---the little ones.  The top element was falling down, even though Shawn kept re-screwing it back up, the broiler didn't work anymore, and now my last big burner has gone bye-bye.

My ever-helpful Hubby,  seeing that I was not even able to boil a large pot of water to cook my ziti noodles, drove over to the appliance store and picked out a new switch and a new burner, and got instructions on how to replace it.  He lifted the top of the stove to work on it, and said to me, You know, no wonder its been sparking (not a good kind of sparking).  There were some exposed wires....and per the Helpful Hubby, there would be no more cooking on that stove after I finished up.

So the following day, we went to Lowe's and the helpful people helped us pick out a nice discontinued model.  Free delivery and free takeaway of the old appliance. Since I was at work, Shawn handled the delivery and I asked if it fell apart on the way out.( haha)   A month of good homecooking later and I am so happy with my new stove---it boils water so fast that I cannot leave the kitchen after I turn on the burner and did I mention that the broiler works? 

I did save the 2 oven racks, thinking that they might be good on a fire pit someday, since I don't have a nice grocery cart to use....

Princess Leila and her loyal subject

5 months old

I think we're in need of some real heroes!!

From an email I just received: 

STATEMENT FROM GRESHAM BARRETT ON THE NOBEL PRIZE


COLUMBIA, SC – U.S. Congressman Gresham Barrett, Republican candidate for Governor, today released the following statement regarding President Obama receiving the Nobel Prize:



“Congratulations to President Obama on his prize. I'm not sure what the international community loved best; his waffling on Afghanistan, pulling defense missiles out of Eastern Europe, turning his back on freedom fighters in Honduras, coddling Castro, siding with Palestinians against Israel, or almost getting tough on Iran. The world may love it, but following in the footsteps of Jimmy Carter is not where America needs to go. Hopefully, this surprise award will give the President cause to reevaluate his current course.”

To Meet Such a Man

Here is a meaningful story that I pulled from my email archives:

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant

just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were
both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street.
There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all
his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that
read, "I will work for food." My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others
around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a
mixture of sadness and disbelief. We continued with our meal, but
his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our
separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish
them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat hat
halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that
seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and
saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in
my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: "Don't go back
to the office until you've at least driven once more around the
square." Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I
turned the squares third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the
steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet
wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to
be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and
approached the town's newest visitor.

"Looking for the pastor?" I asked.

"Not really," he replied, "just resting."

"Have you eaten today?"

"Oh, I ate something early this morning."

"Would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Do you have some work I could do for you?"

"No work," I replied. "I commute here to work from the city, but I
would like to take you to lunch."

"Sure," he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions.

"Where you headed?"

" St. Louis ."

"Where you from?"

"Oh, all over; mostly Florida."

"How long you been walking?"

"Fourteen years," came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in
the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered
slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he
spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He
removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus
is The Never Ending Story."

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in
life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences.
Fourteen years earlier, while back-packing across the country, he had
stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men
who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he
thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival
services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his
life over to God.

"Nothing's been the same since," he said, "I felt the Lord telling me
to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now."

"Ever think of stopping?" I asked.

"Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me but God has
given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I
work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit
leads."

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a
mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment
and then I asked: "What's it like?"

"What?"

"To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to
show your sign?"

"Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make
comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a
gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it
became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and
change people's concepts of other folks like me."

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered
his things. Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and
said, "Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've
prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was
thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in."

I felt as if we were on holy ground. "Could you use another Bible?" I
asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was
not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. "I've read through
it 14 times," he said.

"I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church
and see" I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do
well, and he seemed very grateful.

"Where are you headed from here?" I asked.

"Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park
coupon."

"Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?"

"No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that
star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next."

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his
mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours
earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and
unloaded his things.

"Would you sign my autograph book?" he asked. "I like to keep
messages from folks I meet."


I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had
touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him
with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for
you, declared the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you;
Plans to give you a future and a hope."

"Thanks, man," he said. "I know we just met and we're really just
strangers, but I love you."

"I know," I said, "I love you, too." "The Lord is good!"

"Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?" I asked.

"A long time," he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend
and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He
put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, "See
you in the New Jerusalem."

"I'll be there!" was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling
from his bed roll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said,
"When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for
me?"

"You bet," I shouted back, "God bless."

"God bless." And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold
front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my
car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them...
a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of
the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if
his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: "If you see something that makes you
think of me, will you pray for me?"

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the
world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those
two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry.

"I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or
any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass
this way again."

Coupon Class in Greenville!

Greenville couponers, mark your calendars!!  Jenny from Southern Savers, is doing a coupon class in the Greenville area on Tuesday, October 20th.  

October will mark 2 years since I started couponing.  Recently, I was able to take Jenny's workshop when she was in Anderson, SC.  In 2 1/2 hours, she covered everything it took me 2 years to learn.  I highly recommend that you take her class. 

Even with the way groceries, and personal care items have sky-rocketed, I have cut our grocery budget by half---to around $200 a month--and buy 3 times the amount of groceries.  I now have a pantry stockpile and a full freezer. Couponing is one of the tools that I use to cut costs on things I have to buy anyway. 

With significant savings on personal care items and things like toilet paper, I can afford to buy local Happy Cow milk and many more fresh fruit and veggies.

During the summer of 2008, I challenged myself to cut my grocery bill back to $100 per month.  I'm planning on doing it again this October, and use the extra for Christmas shopping.  Honestly, I could challenge myself to only buy milk, eggs and fresh fruit and be just fine and have PLENTY of food left over.  But I want to be sure that I can take advantage of good stockup deals if they are available. 

Leila McPeela

Progress Report:

• She'll be 4 months old this coming Sunday and she finally rolled over.  I'd say Yay! and I am really happy for her, but I know whats coming.....and probably soon.  She's already moving on to trying to go somewhere, anywhere!  Leila moves herself around in circles, and backward.  Not going far yet, but she's definitely going. 
• She loves to sit up in her "new" Bumbo seat.  I didn't want to buy one as they are kind of expensive for how long they actually will be used.  My friend Amy is letting me borrow hers, but there are at least 2 other ladies from church that would like it IF she doesn't like it.  Yeah....Leila likes it! 
• She had her first bites of solid food this week as well. Yummy avocado!  I found a couple of websites with homemade baby food tips and recipes---Wholesome Baby Food, and Once a Month Mom  also has some baby food menus. 
• Drool....everywhere, all the time. 
• That thumb is surgically implanted in her mouth. 
• What a smiley little girl she is---big grins that make a mother's heart turn to mush!
• Every coo and gurgle is interpreted by Knox.  "Shes sayin' she's hungwy!"  "She doesn't want to take a nap, Mommy!" 
• I got out the "fuzzy" books and Knox reads them to her and shows her the pictures and helps her touch the fuzzy parts...I got all of them at the thrift store when Knox was a baby and they have been well worth the pennies that I spent for them.  Funny thing, I still look through the children's book section everytime I go, and have never seen any since.  I think we have 6 or 8 total, from DK and other publishers.

What fun!