Voting Day

Today is the day we as Americans get to cast our vote for who we think would be best to lead our country. Today, history will be made either way. 

Every morning when I get to work I deliver the Wall Street Journal to a co-worker. This morning the Headline was something like ” New challenges for the new President.” They were already setting the scene for failure. And my first thought was “What kind of crazy person wants to be President?” 

Seriously. It has to take a special person to believe they can lead the entire country. I respect both of the candidates and their families for the sacrifices they are making for our country. They spend very little time with their spouses. They are attacked by the media. Some are attacked by their own party. How exhausting it must be to be on the road for months shaking all those hands and kissing all those babies. 

And yet we complain because we are tired of the ads and the calls and the signs. 

So today, I will be part of history and cast my vote. And either way there will be change.

Thankful

1. Beautiful Fall colors

2. That the tree in my front yard turns bright red

3. Coffee

4. Sunrises

5. Co-workers that make me laugh every day

6. Pot-Belly’s chicken salad salad

7. Friends that care

8. Kids that are silly

9. A Husband that loves me for me

10. Parents

Lessons

Pastor quoted me in his sermon last Sunday. It’s always nice to be able to add to the sermon. It’s not nice when you’re sitting in the front row and he says the exact same thing you were crying to your husband about that week. Nothing like wanting to crawl up in a ball under your chair and start bawling. 

Larry and I purchased a franchise about 3 years ago. We felt that the Lord was leading us to start a Coffee News franchise for several reasons. The main one being it would give us more time for ministry.

We jumped in with both feet and fell flat on our faces. Right after we started the Coffee News business the economy took a turn for the worse. People were not taking ads in the paper because they were afraid. Gas prices soared and driving around town was a big part of the business. 

We began living on credit. Lots of credit. After awhile I did not even think about slapping down the plastic to pay for something. We needed stuff so I just charged it. After 4 months of living on credit we were in trouble. 

We had some ads sold and we were both working hard to make the business work. But we were up to our eyeball in debt. Finally we got some loans and were able to make a dent. My parents helped us out a lot when they moved back from Florida.

This was a very difficult time for us and I am not very good at sharing with others how very hard it was. Call it what it was: Pride. I did not want not fail. After a long summer of me kicking against God for “doing” this to us I gave it over to Him and started learning what it meant to depend on God. I am still working on that lesson.

People were buying ads and it seemed like we were going to make it. We put the girls in school. I got a job, started couponing and finally we could cover all our bills. It was still hard, but after a couple of years of hard work things were going well. 

So this past Labor Day when Larry asked me what I thought about procuring all of Coffee News Downriver I immediately said NO. All I could think of was all the pain it had been to get the Dearborn one up and running. Ugh! was all I could think. I did not want to go through all that again. 

And yet here we are. We did decide to go ahead with the Downriver franchises. We are now the owners of 7 Franchises. Larry likes to say he is a Coffee News mogul.  

The week after we made the trade to get the franchises the stock market crashed. We have not sold an ad for 3 weeks. We figured we needed to sell about 25 ads to have things running smoothly. Larry has worked non-stop every day and he sold 9. 

Last week the stress came to a head when we figured how short we would be for the month. We had prayed about this. We had sought counsel. It seemed like it was the right thing to do. Why was God allowing this to happen again? 

And this is where the sermon from last Sunday comes in. I think I said something like, “We are doing all this for God. Why is He allowing us to suffer?” to Larry just two days before the sermon. And my husband gently corrected me that day. But I guess I needed reinforcement. How wrong I was to think that way! Who am I to think that I am in control? It has taken all week for me to come to terms with this pride and sin of mine. God can do what He pleases and He will take of me. It may not be in the way I would choose, but He is always good. 

Yesterday Larry sold an ad.  And he has another one lined up for today. 

God is good all the time.

The Birthday Cake

Goals Schmoals

I made a goal for myself to lose 50 pounds this year. Do you think that I could re-lose the 20 that I had lost but gained most of it back and call it 40?

That would make me feel better.

I’m Feeling Momish

Some days I feel more like a “Mom” than others. I get to do really Momish things. Stuff like make birthday cupcakes and help kids with homework. On days where I just have to clean the house or go to work and come home and make supper I feel more like a maid. Yes, those things are important to my family but I could hire someone to do those things. I guess I could hire someone to make a cake and tutor my kids too. 

But yesterday was a Mom day. Susy came home from school all upset. Two of her friends wanted to sit by her on the bus and she didn’t know how to choose which one without hurting the other. Of course the one that was not chosen was hurt and upset. She confronted Susy about it. And being her Mother’s child Susy ran in the house to avoid it. So I had to be the Mom and make her go back outside to talk with her friend and make it right. They must have been out there at the end of the driveway for 10 minutes loudly discussing the situation. The longer they talked the louder it got. I may or may not have been ease dropping at the door. After they both broke down in tears Susy came back in still upset.

And ten minutes later the little girl’s mother was at my door. My turn for confrontation. All four of us discussed the situation and resolved the issue. 

I’m such a mom.

Eleven Years Ago Today

My life changed forever. Eleven years ago today Larry and I welcomed our first child into the world. It is hard to remember what life was like before children. To be able to stay out late and get up later. To hop in the car and not have to wait for 3 other seatbelt buckles to click. To sit in silence. And maybe I miss a few of those things, but I would not trade being able to watch a favorite TV show straight through without interruptions for all the great times we have had with Emma. 

On October 21, 1997 Larry was still working at Franklin Covey. He had to work late that night so my Mom came over and we decided to go out to dinner. At that point I was one week over due and miserable. Every day I would get phone calls from people asking if I had the baby yet. Note: Do NOT call pregnant ladies unless you are offering to bring them dinner. They will call you. So I waddled out to dinner at Big Boy. My belly was so big I could hardly fit in the booth. I had a Slim Jim. Let the irony of that set in . The Big girl at Big Boy eating a Slim Jim. 

After dinner we decided to get some ice cream. I got a double dip. Pregnancy to me was a license to eat. Pralines and Cream. Mmmm. After all that eating I was bushed to we headed back to my house. I was not feeling well. I thought it was just from indigestion. My back hurt and my stomach was as hard as a rock. I had already been to the hospital twice for fake-you-out labor so I did not want to get my hopes up. 

Larry got home around 9 and I told him I thought I may be in labor. He did what any good husband would do and ran to the video store to get a movie to watch while we waited and timed contractions. It’s a good thing he did because we were in it for the long haul. And we named Emma after one of the characters in the movie. Good thing he did not rent the Titantic. 

Around Midnight the movie finished and right on cue my water broke. Talk about perfect timing. After showering and shaving and having Larry give me a pedicure. (Kidding about that last part) we went to hospital. It was the longest 5 mile drive of my life. I remember telling Larry to stop hitting all the bumps in the road. We were newbies at all this birthing stuff and I had never been in a hospital before so he just dropped me off at the front door. At 2 am the front door is locked. Thankfully, after driving off a bit, he looked back to make sure I was in the door. Or it might of been me screaming Larry!!!! I’m not sure. 

We quickly figured out that in the middle of the night you need to go to the ER to get in a hospital. The wheeled me up to triage and gave me a gigantic gown to change into and told me to pee in a cup. Yeah right. 

That’s when the puking began. The first of seven or eight times that night that I would lose my ice cream and Slim Jim. I had a terrible doctor in the triage. He had a puffy blue hat on and spoke with a Bahamian accent. I was in such pain and I kept getting sick.  I do have a flair for the dramatic but when a pregnant first time mother is in pain and crying hysterically while she is puking up pralines and cream you do NOT ask the husband, “Is she always like this?” 

Thankfully before I injured that doctor they moved me to a delivery room where I could get the blessed epidural. It only took the doctor 45 minutes to get to the room. After that I dilated from 4 to 10 in one hour. Why they made me suffer for 3 hours dilating from 3 to 4 I have no idea. Around 6 am the nurse told me to push. I did and about 6 doctors rushed into the room playing “Let’s freak out the pregnant girl.” They decided to put an internal monitor on the baby and try the pushing thing again. So I pushed again and they all ran in again. This time whispering and discussing urgently. Apparently the baby’s heartbeat kept dropping dangerously low which was causing all the running. After the entire night of labor it was to be a c-section for me. Larry and my mom put on some blue suits and off the surgery room we went. I just wanted to see the baby born so bad but that wasn’t to be. I was to be strapped down on a table when the doctor told me I had someone to go shopping with. We did not know if the baby would be a girl or a boy. I assumed he meant it was a girl and after taking one look at her from across the surgery room while strapped on a table we decided to name her Emma. 

And so it began. Life as I now know it. And I would not change it for all the uninterrupted conversations in the world.

GHM Winner

I’m sad to announce that nobody won the latest “Guess How Much?” contest. I was so proud of this one too. I think maybe the first one threw you off. Last time the guesses were pretty low. This time, everyone guessed too high. Julie has made more great deals lately. Maybe I’ll post another one sometime in the near future (that is, unless Julie finds a way to lock me out of the blog).

I’m Stickin’ it to CVS

In April I broke my boycot on CVS.

Back in 1995, when CVS was Arbor Drugs, I would frequently stop in to pick up stuff. Drugstore kind of stuff. I was a newly married and dirt poor. I worked as a Christian school teacher and Larry was in Seminary. He was working part time at The Franklin Planner store and making even less than I was. Although at the time we thought $8.00 an hour was great! Much better than the $3.35 he was making in college. So money was tight. I learned early on to always check my receipts for mistakes. Arbor Drugs was the reigning champ of overcharging.

One day I went to CVS/Arbor Drugs and picked up some drug store stuff. As a splurge I bought myself a magazine. It was a Taste of Home recipe magazine. As I was walking to my car I noticed they overcharged me again! So I went back in to Customer Service and asked for my dollar back. It was the principle. First the lady gave me a hard time about the price. Then I asked about the scanner law. And she gives me grief about it and makes a big deal about it. She made me feel like I am trying to rip off CVS/Arbor Drugs.

So decided that day that I was done with CVS. They were dead to me. For 12 years I have not stepped one foot into a CVS. And you know they were sorry they lost my business. In fact my love for Target started afted I boycotted CVS. They lost out.

But in April my friend Suzanne started talking about how she was getting free stuff. And you know my motto, “If it is free then it is for me.” I was curious. I like free stuff. So I started reading Money Saving Mom. She had all kinds of information about saving some green. After reading her CVS 101 several times I thought I can do this too. I can get free stuff from CVS and get back at them for all the bad service they gave me years ago.

And now it is a slight addiction. Not only am I fleecing CVS, but also I hit up Target, Wal-mart and Walgreens. Oh, and sometimes Meijer. Not all at the same time or the same day. I am not that crazy yet.

So I no longer pay for stuff like toothpaste, toothbushes, paper towels or cereal. And many other things that I can’t believe I get for free. Or if I do have to pay, it is only a few cents. I can not tell you how much this has helped our budget.

And don’t think that I figured all those great deals out by myself. I just read Money Saving Mom. She does all the work for me. I just have to cut out the coupons.

One bonus that I never expected from my couponing is I feel like I am shopping a lot, which I enjoy, but I am not spending a lot of money.

The other bonus… I get to stick it to CVS.

Guess How Much?

Hi! Larry the blogjacker here again. Here’s another one of Julie’s great deals. This week’s prize is a bottle of Excedrine P.M from CVS (Retail Value – $5.29). Rules are the same as before: closest to the price without going over wins. Submit your answer in the comments. I’ll post the answer Saturday.

UPDATE: Since the only guess has gone over, this contest will remain open until Wednesday. Happy guessing!