Finish This...Week V

Missed it yesterday 'cause I was so busy catching up on everything else after my girl being sick, but I'm back for week five of the Finish This...linkup hosted by Nicole ~Three 31~, Jen ~The Arizona Russums~, Lisa ~Coastlined~, and Becky ~The Java Mama~....

Five Things I Know For Sure: 

1.) I am absolutely in love with my wedding dress. I finally bought something at David's Bridal on Saturday, and I couldn't be happier with it. It was within the budget I wanted to keep, it's very flattering, and I think it's just so perfect for the type of look I want. Now, I just need March  21st to hurry up and get here so I can wear it!

2.) What it feels like to really be in love and in a good relationship that is a true partnership...I was married for 6 years and never felt the way I felt about Bruce in just a few short months. Love that only continues to grow every day we spend together. 

3.) Being a mom is my favorite thing I will ever be. It's also the most stressful thing I'll ever be. But she's worth it. 

4.) Blasting "Let it Go" by Idina Menzel from the Frozen soundtrack on the way to work is a surefire way to guarantee that you will have a good day...even when your kid isn't in the car with you. Although, it's even better when a precious little 4 year-old singing voice joins you on belting out the chorus. 

5.) Sweet potato fries are a million times better than regular fries. I will never choose regular fries over sweet potato ones, ever. But then, sweet potato anything is awesome....

The Flu

Allie woke up Monday morning crying of a stomachache and burning with fever. Over the course of the morning, she became lethargic, began vomiting, and could barely hold her head up. I took her to the doctor, where he initially said it was a stomach virus and wanted to give her Zofran. But I asked for a flu test, just to be sure, and the test returned positive almost immediately.

We were given tamiflu, which almost immediately made a difference in my precious little girl. She's still not back to her usual feisty self, but she's been improving a lot over the past three days. I got to stay with her on Monday and Tuesday, then Wednesday she stayed with her Daddy, and today she's with Nana, so she's been loved on and snuggled  up and taken good care of. I'm anxious for  her to be fully recovered though, because I know every good mama knows there is nothing worse in the world than your baby being sick and you not being able to "fix it."!

On Living Arrangements

I live with my parents. Yep, there it is. It's out there. I don't talk about it much, I mean, really? Yes, I'm 28 years old, divorced, and myself and my four-year-old daughter live in 2 bedrooms and a bathroom at one end of my parents home.

I am also a homeowner. A little but cute 3 bedroom, 1 bath, red-shuttered, well landscaped home in town. Following my divorce, I refinanced our house, which I was keeping, into my name only, and lived there just my daughter and I. But, after a few months, it all just became TOO MUCH- emotionally, mentally, financially- for me to handle on my own. So, I moved in with my parents, and found a wonderful young, single woman to rent my home for the past year and a half.

For awhile, I was NOT OKAY with my living situation, but it's actually been a good thing. During a very turbulent time in my life, I had the constant  help and support of my family; I wasn't completely alone in this. Allie has loved every second of living with her Nana and Papaw and getting spoiled rotten. Of course, it has had it's downsides as well, as anyone might expect of moving back home after almost 7 years of marriage and living on your own. But overall, I feel blessed to have had somewhere to turn when I needed it the most.

Also, if I hadn't lived with my parents, I might not have met Bruce. But, now that we're getting married, we have made arrangements for my renter to move out and us to move back into my house. I'm really excited to move back in and get settled and put in those little touches to make the house OUR home. 

Here are a few fun DIY things I've pinned that I hope to work on in the coming weeks to add those little touches to our home  ...

Finish This...Week IV

Joining up with Jen ~The Arizona Russums~, Nicole ~Three31~, Lisa ~Coastlined~, and Becky ~The Java Mama~ for Finish This.... --

1. I plan on buying: A dress to get married in...soon, I hope. Since I'm getting married in 29 days. Also, a wedding band for the soon-to-be husband, and a cake and some petit fours, and a bouquet for me and a boutonniere for him, and some kick-butt red heels to go with aforementioned dress....It's amazing how much goes into planning a wedding, even a very tiny one. We're just having about 15 people in attendance-our parents, siblings, and their spouses-but there is so much to get done! 

We're also moving in together and are going to need to buy new sheets, a comforter, new curtains, new dishes and a host of other things for getting our home set up. At the top of my list is a Keurig...I really want one of these. 

2. I give MY DAUGHTER five stars because: I had to take her to work with me yesterday, and she was a total angel the entire day, and I managed to still get a ton of things accomplished. 

3. I felt courageous when: I've been sitting here staring at this for about a half hour, and I honestly cannot come up with anything. I guess choosing to become a parent is a very courageous choice, because I feel like it's the most difficult and most important thing I will ever do. 

4. I feel about swimsuit shopping like I do: having a root canal, or listening to fingernails scrape on a chalkboard. I feel like this about shopping for clothes in general usually. I despise having to do it. In fact, just having to answer this question makes me feel stressed out. This year will be the first time I've shopped for a suit since my breast reduction surgery this past summer, and I've been in the gym and eating cleaner and plan to continue these habits, so hopefully it will be less stressful than previous years, but I'm still not very optimistic. 

Finish This...Week III

I missed this week's Finish This... with Nicole, Jen, Lisa and Becky- because we were busy dealing with the snowpocalypse, but I wanted to catch up today, in honor of V-day--

1. I celebrate Valentine’s Day by: It's mine and Bruce's first V-day together! So, really, this is the first one that actually matters. I'm not a huge fan of making a big production over Valentine's Day. I mean, you should show love to your significant other every day, not just some majorly commercialized holiday. But I do still like to do a little something to commemorate the day. We've been focused on marriage planning, so tonight I think we're just going to order take-out and eat it in our (empty) house while we clean it up to start moving our things in. 

Last night, I ventured out for the first time in days and bought Allie a big Sofia the First floor puzzle-she loves puzzles-and a few Valentine's Day heart balloons that I plan on giving her when she comes home from her dad's tonight. We also made personalized Valentine's for the kiddos in her preschool class from her absolute favorite thing-pink bubble gum. 

2. My heart goes pitter-patter for: my super sexy fiance`. I know people hate us because we're so lovey-dovey, but I just can't help it. We laugh and joke at this, but I had major surgery just a few weeks after we started really hanging out a lot, and I honestly actually felt better physically when I was around him afterwards. He just makes everything better. 

3. When looking for romance, my best advice is: 
Don't look for it. It's been my experience that things happen when you least expect them too. Focus on yourself, on being the kind of person you want to be and loving yourself, and things will start to fall into place. 

4. My favorite love story (real or fiction) is:
Real-My grandparents, Marjorie and Euel. They were amazing grandparents as I was growing up, but it was their relationship with each other that stood out to me. They held hands, they were affectionate, they did kind things for each other, they were really a team in life. My grandfather was a one-of-a-kind, special man who passed away from complications from esophageal cancer in June 2012, and it was his love for my grandmother during that time that will always stay with me. They had been married over 60 years and his only concern the whole time he was sick and hospitalized was that my grandmother be taken care of. So selfless and amazing. I have never seen two people who truly loved each other like that. 

Fictional-Jamie and Claire Fraser, hands down, my favorite fictional love story. If you like to read, you should read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, but it's just awesome. 

5. The best relationship/love/dating advice I ever received was:
A co-worker once told me that all you can ever control is your actions and reactions. You choose to forgive, to stay and be committed to your relationship, and to love. You choose to be happy. True love is a choice everyday. The best relationships are those where both people chose to forgive, to love, to be happy, everyday. 

Snowpocalypse 2014

We have missed school/work for the past 3 days due to the excessive amount of snow that was dumped on Alabama this week. While I'm not a fan at all of the cold, at least if it's going to be cold, it's nice that it snowed. We got to stay home, spend time together, play out in the snow, and eat snow cream! Some pics from our wonderful snowy week....

Allie & her soon-to-be cousin, Colton 

Snow angel!

This girl loves the snow!

"Sledding"! 

Snow cream!

Blind Date with a Book

I'm rather proud of this little book display I created with the help of our super-awesome students in honor of Valentine's Day in the high school media center where I work. It's called "Blind Date with a Book" and we covered books with red paper, printed a very short description of the book on the front, and decorated everything up really cute for the holiday. 

Our students have seemed to really enjoy it. 

*Please excuse the industrial chic look of our media center. Our school is completing a major construction project this year, and we are currently located in what used to be the carpentry shop.

Wedding Planning

Bruce and I are getting married on March 21, 2014.

Yes, we'll be married in 38 days. We've been engaged for 10 days now. No, we don't really see the point in waiting very long. We want to be married, living together, and building our life like, last month. 

Because of this though, wedding planning has been at the top of our list of things to accomplish this past week. We want to just have a very small, very US, event that doesn't cost anyone very much money.

So far, we've reserved a small chapel in our town that allows citizens to use it for ceremonies free of charge. It will hold  about 15 people, which is perfect for our immediate families, and it's so very cute. We've talked to the officials at our local city hall, who will be performing the ceremony and got everything scheduled to say "I do" at 4pm that Friday afternoon. 

My aunt and cousin are going to be doing pictures of the entire event for me, because they are just wonderful and I love them for that. 

I have also reserved the banquet room at a nice local restaurant, where we will all go have dinner and cake after the ceremony. 

Oh, and I bought Allie's dress for the day. A new, sparkly dress was a major selling point in getting Allie on board with this whole wedding idea. She picked it out at our local Belk all by herself, but it's perfect for what I want, and adorable-I couldn't have picked out a better dress myself. It also cost $12, so yea, that's a huge plus. 

I'm feeling very good about how things are coming along, and very confident that it's going to turn out perfect. 

Also, because we have pretty much turned this into a game to see how cute we can make our wedding on how little money, we're keeping track of....

Current wedding expenditures: 

• $48.50-Marriage license and officiant to perform ceremony 
• $50-fee to rent banquet room at the restaurant 
• $12-Allie's adorable red dress 

Battle Ready Finance- Week 1

• Focus on your finances! Work on living frugally. Continue to budget, controlling where your money goes and looking for new ways to make and save money. 

In my Home Management binder, this is the very first entry on my sheet of yearly goals/lifestyle changes that I want am going to make for myself and my family this year.

I have not always made the best choices, in life in general, but especially in finances. I was feeling very down and out a few days ago because ever since mid-December, when Bruce and I really decided to begin budgeting and take a hold of our financial situations, one thing after another has just been going WRONG to mess up my plans. If it's not one thing that pops up, it's another. Unexpected gifts to buy, a new battery for the car, work that had to be done on my house, that ticket for not having an up-to-date insurance card in my vehicle....

Then, this past Wednesday night, my future mother-in-law asked us to come to a finance class hosted by her church called Battle Ready Finance. The instructor is former military, so a lot of the jargon and examples are things Bruce relates to, and it's all Scripture-based. We decided to go and I can't tell you how excited I am that we did. 

Here's some of my main takeaways from this past week: 

•  Money is not good or evil, but there is a very real spiritual war going on out there for your finances! (This really got to me, because I've been experiencing this very thing these past couple of months!)
• Bruce and I are actually one of the youngest couples in the group, so it's a plus that we're starting this lifestyle as early as we are. Our situation is not so bad as I often make it out to be; that with God and sound money management principles and self-control, we can be in a great place financially.
• If the enemy (Satan), can keep you stressed, defeated, constantly focused on money and how you're going to pay your next month's bills, he can keep your focus away from where it should be- on God! Your financial situation affects every other aspect of your life. 
• We need to be in a place where our money isn't telling us what we CAN'T do.
• We must learn to LIVE ON LESS than we make, not try to make enough to cover what we spend. 

I look forward to delving into what the Scriptures say about finances even more and learning some more real-world strategies for changing our lives. I've read the Scriptures on finances before; I've read Dave Ramsey, but I think participating in a a class like this, in a small group, is going to help us really dig in, keep focused, and make great strides toward our goals. It's going to be an 8 week program, and I already can't wait for next Wednesday. 

Finish This... Week II

1. I will never outgrow-watching Disney movies. I love all of them, but I'm a little partial to the princesses, of course.  I'm so glad I had a daughter who loves them, so I have an excuse most days. But to be real honest, I would watch them anyway. My favorites are The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and the new one, Frozen! (That Idina Menzel song "Let it go" just really gets to me.)

2. I splurge on-getting my nails done. My real nails are very thin and soft, so I usually keep tips and acrylic on mine. I still like to keep them very short, so they don't get in the way, but I feel like they look good. I jump around with colors a lot, but try not to do anything too tacky/crazy. My go-to looks are either white-glitter tips, or black tips/solid black ('cause in my head I think the black makes me seem like a tough chick lol).  Everything in the world is just a little better when my nails are freshly done. 

Freshly done nails...aaannd yea, another great excuse to show off this
gorgeous left-handed sparkler I acquired this weekend! =)

3. My worst habit is-being forgetful, I guess. I tend to get a lot of things on my mind, and lose track of a couple of them. I have to write things down on a list, or do them right away as I think of them, or else they probably are not going to get done. 

4. My passport represents-well, I don't have one. I guess that in itself represents the fact that I need to travel more. The only time I've even been out of the country was on a cruise to Mexico about 7 years ago and a passport wasn't required. This year, however, I am looking forward to some in-country travel. (Hello New Orleans in March for the honeymoon!) 

5. My most ridiculous fear is-mice/rats. Rationally, I know that one or two isn't going to hurt me, but they're just so gross, and awful, and terrifying, and I hate them. I swear my brain plays tricks on me and I think I see them running across the floors at home; I'm so scared of them. My dad once dove out of a moving truck he was a passenger in when he saw a mouse in the floorboard, so I guess I come by it honestly? 

6. My favorite thing to give is-book recommendations, since it's just usually something I have thoughts on and know something about. Especially romances, and young adult books. If you're talking to me and mention that you like to read, it's a given that I'm going to ask what type of books, then offer some suggestions. =) 

I'm linking up with Nicole at Three31 and several others for Finish This... Check it out! 

Books my 4 year-old daughter loves Vol. I

 I'm a lover of books and a librarian by career. I always swore that I would work hard to try and instill that love of reading into my own children. Luckily for me, my daughter loves her books just as much her mommy does. Some of our best times are spent just cuddled up in bed or the recliner reading. 

I've compiled a list of a few of our recent favorites to share. I've linked to the Amazon page under each title. I don't get any compensation for these links, I just like to be able to know where I can find out more/buy books that I'm interested in. All of these titles were also found at my local public library, which a trip there is a special treat in and of itself and a whole other topic. 

But for now, here's a few of our favorites: 

Pinkalicious By: Victoria Kann & Elizabeth Kann

We read this every day for like, a year. My daughter is a total girly-girl and loves all things pink, so this was perfect. We even had a Pinkalicious themed birthday party last year when my girl turned 3. It's a lot of fun, and also has great lesson about what happens when you don't listen to your parents. (The little girl eats too many cupcakes and turns pink!) These authors also wrote Purplelicious, Silverlicious, Goldalicious,  Emeraldalicious, and a host of other titles starring Pinkalicious. The Amazon link can be found HERE. 

Disney Princess: First Look and Find

This was one of my daughter's first favorite books, although she's looked at it so many times she has no problem locating all the hidden objects in seconds. She still likes to pull it out every once in awhile and find them all again. Sometimes it turns into a game with Mommy or Nana or Papaw to see who can find the objects the fastest. Amazon

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom By: Bill Martin Jr. and John Achambault 

This is a new favorite, and my daughter loves when you read the story in the sing-song voice similar to the song of the same book. This one is so cute, and great for practicing letter recognition. Amazon

Fancy Nancy By: Jane O'Connor

Fancy Nancy is a total girly girl who uses "fancy" words, with little asides like "I am unique. (Unique is a fancy word for one of a kind.)" It's a great vocabulary building book and so much fun. Even better, the covers of often sparkly/glittery, and there's a whole collection of books starring Fancy Nancy. Amazon

Bark, George By: Jules Feiffer 

This was one of the kids' absolute favorites when I used to do story hour at the public library where I worked, and my daughter loves it just as much. George is an adorable puppy whose mommy takes him to the doctor and tells him to "Bark, George!" But a bark isn't what comes out....This is just great fun! Amazon

Happy Reading! 

IT'S OFFICIAL! WE'RE ENGAGED!

We have some very exciting news around here this weekend...Bruce asked me to marry him Saturday night! It was so wonderful, and so sweet. Allie was with her dad that afternoon, and we had just gotten back to his house after doing some grocery shopping and grabbing some dinner. He got down on one knee under the arbor at his house where we very first met and asked me to marry him, revealing the most gorgeous, fantastic ring. It was amazing and emotional and I cried and cried and am still on a high about it 48 hours later. 

We've set a date for Friday, March 21st-just a small, family-only ceremony and dinner-but expect plenty of details about that coming up. I absolutely CANNOT wait to be his wife. 

But first, a look at this beauty I can't stop staring at...