Budget End-of-Year Teacher Gifts

My daughter goes to a great preschool and she's always had wonderful teachers who I never thought twice about letting take care of my most precious possession all day. They are just awesome. But this year, her two teachers were just  FAN-TAS-TIC! I cannot say enough about how much I adore these two ladies, and how thankful I am that my baby got to learn from them all year. They are really going to be missed. 

To show just a tiny portion of my thanks, I wanted to get them a little gift. I perused different boards on Pinterest, and found some ideas and kinda pulled together what I wanted to do. 

I found this adorable little free printable at The Idea Room, through a post on Pinterest, and I just printed it out on plain white paper at work. I found two pretty indoor plants, Allie-approved, at our local Wal-Mart, which totaled $ 9.66 and then bought some twine and two sheets of paper at Hobby Lobby, totaling $1.35. I'm on a budget people, so these things are important. 

Anyway, I cut out the printables and paper backing, used some Modge Podge I had at home to secure the labels to the side of the pot, then wrapped some twine around it and voila! --$11 and about 15 minutes later, I had two adorable end-of-year teacher gifts! 

Finish This...Week XIV

Finish This... linkup with Nicole, Jen, Becky, and Lisa.--

The best mistake I ever made …Marrying someone way too young, for all the wrong reasons, and somehow convincing myself that it was real love. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, and I can see now how very wrong I was about so many things, but obviously, very good things came from this...

From this mistake, I learned …I love being a mom! It's the most wonderful thing that I will ever be and I will never take it for granted. I learned what I really want out of life. I'm also stronger than I think, and I deserve happiness and to have all my dreams come true. Second chances are a reality, and sometimes your darkest hours to lead to your brightest days.

When I’m anxious, I ask myself …  if there's anything I can do to change my situation. If there's not, I try to let it go or make some type of peace with things. I also remember that God is in control and listening to my prayers.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:6-7

All I really want to do is …To not have to go to work everyday;  because I have to be so focused on money, but to be able to work if and when I want to, and to fill my time with things that I really want to do. To be able to eat all the foods I love whenever I want and not get fat. To be really fit and have a great body. 

Memorial Weekend Camping/Rafting Trip

My husband's best friend from childhood/high school is also in the Army and has been serving in Germany and has not been home in over 3 years. He is currently in town on leave, so we planned a couples camping trip with him, his girlfriend and my husband's sister and brother-in-law for this past weekend. We left home Saturday afternoon and drove 3 hours to Tennessee to our campsite, where we stayed Saturday night and went white-water rafting on Sunday.

I had never been camping until I went with Bruce this very same weekend last year, but it's turned into one of my favorite things to do. We had so much fun playing cornhole, tossing the football, grilling out, sitting around the campfire and making new friends with our fellow campers.

As we were preparing for our trip, someone decided we should have a patriotic/America theme for our white-water rafting trip--and my goodness, the men went all out for this. I think the photos speak for themselves here...

Yep, that's my hubby in the middle..jorts and the stars-and-stripes..."Merica!

The ladies (also, I Pinterested that tank from one of hubby's old tshirts!)

Pre-rafting kisses

Bruce with his big sis and my wonderful sis-in-law

On a more serious note, I want to remember what Memorial Day is really about. Both my grandfather's served overseas, as well as several other family members and friends. My husband was stationed in Italy for several years and also served a year in Afghanistan. I'm so proud of him and the type of man that he is, and I'm thankful for him and all the others who have served and I remember them on this day and all others, especially those who have given their lives for our freedom. 

Finish This... Week XIII

I've missed a couple of weeks, but I'm excited to be back as part of the Finish This... linkup with Nicole of Three 31, Jen of The Arizona Russums, Lisa of COASTLINED and Becky at The Java Mama.

My favorite recipe is … Taco soup. It's so easy to make and everyone I know loves it. My incredibly fit, healthy-eating, gym-rat hunk of a husband repeatedly asks for this soup, even though there isn't anything particularly healthy about it at all. The first time I made it for him, and he went back for literally like 4 servings, I knew I had a winner...

Taco Soup

1lb. ground meat, cooked

 (we currently use ground chicken, but have used beef or turkey at different points)

Lg. can crushed tomatoes

Med. sized can of tomato sauce

1-2 can black beans, drained

1-2 can light red kidney beans, drained

2 cans Mexi-corn, drained

1 packet taco seasoning mix

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix

Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot for about 15-20 minutes (the longer the flavors get to meld together the better); or a crockpot during the day while you're at work. Before serving, top with shredded cheese, sour cream, and crushed up tortilla chips-at least that's what we do! 

I believe… the following things to be true about life-from my Pinterest board-Quotes!

I need to set boundaries … In what I eat. I love going to the gym, it makes me feel so much better and I always try to make that a priority. But, I'm just not strict enough with my diet. It will be my diet that keeps me from ever having a really great body or being as fit as I want to be unless I make some changes. 

I began living when … I became a mom, then again when I met my husband. Both times, I was introduced to a completely different type of love, a kind that I didn't even know existed up until that point. 

When my daughter was born, I didn't realize you could feel that strongly about another person; it's just a love like I can't even describe. She was and is my reason for doing all things-doing the best job I can as her mother is the most important thing I'll ever do. She changed my basic way of thinking and living life and I'll always consider myself blessed to have her. 

 Then I met the husband, and he basically brought me back to life. He brought fun, laughter, and adventure when it was glaringly absent from my life. He brought passion and love and hope for the future. He gave me confidence in myself and a desire to be the best version of me that I could be in every way. 

Lately...

I haven't written much lately. I don't really have any good excuses, just it's been busy, but it always is, at least in my life. 

We're wrapping up things on another school year, so I've been working a little longer hours than I normally would. We've celebrated Mother's Day and my brother's and grandfather's birthday and I'm trying to get things ready to plant a vegetable garden. We're preparing for a 2 day camping/white water rafting trip next weekend-just Bruce, his sister and brother-in-law, and his best friend from high school and his girlfriend. We're very excited for that. Then there's the usual shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, bill-paying etc. that I've been trying to stay on top of here lately. Of course, spending time with my sweet girl and loving on the hot husband are top priorities too. So, I guess the weeks have just flown by with nothing really spectacular happening, just the everyday joy of living a life that I love so much. 

Here are some recent glimpses into our life...

Our first door-hanger, made by my brother's sweet girlfriend
 that we've recently gotten hung on our front door.

Allie loves the new kittens that
her cat at Nana and Papaw's had

All decked out for Preschool Sunday, where her
class sang songs they'd learned in school for the church
(As you can see, we're in the middle of a remodel)

Sporting the new mermaid dress Nana bought her at the thrift store.
She loves this thing!

Loving on Russell Papaw (her great-grandfather) as we ate ice cream
for his birthday, which was also on Mother's Day!

Allie deciding that she LOVES salad!
(Wearing aforementioned mermaid dress!)

My precious Mother's Day gift Allie made me in school. 

The picture Allie and I had taken at church on Mother's Day

My Precious Great-Grandmother 1923-2014

On Friday, April 25, 2014, Heaven gained a precious new addition when my great-grandmother, Tressie Mae, when to be with Jesus. She was 91 years old and still one of the funniest, strongest, most vivacious women I've ever known. She could always make me laugh and had some food to send with me when I came to visit. She passed away peacefully in her sleep at the hospital, having spent the past two weeks surrounded by four generations of her family. We are all going to miss her so much, but I'm so blessed to have had 28 years with my great-grandmother, and that Allie had a chance to know her great-great-grandmother. 

My Two Loves

Divorce is really hard. Everybody knows that. Divorce when you have a child, and dealing with all that implies for you and your child for the REST OF YOUR LIFE-that's about a million times harder. I knew it was going to be tough. I think any single mama who has to deal with sending your very young child off, even if it is with their father, for any extended period of time, understands the sadness and anxiety of that.

What I personally hadn't expected, however, was how hard my having a new relationship would be for my child. I didn't have divorced parents; none of friends did. None of my friends were divorced and trying to date again or forge a new relationship with kids. No one gave me any warning about what to expect here.

Bruce and I, as a couple, always just seemed so easy and so natural and so perfect. Of course, I know there were some adjustments on Bruce's part to being in a relationship with someone who is already a mother, but he's never been anything but amazing to my daughter. My daughter, on the other hand, wasn't always as supportive of my relationship with Bruce. 

For a very long time, my daughter had had almost all of my attention, almost all of the time. It was me and her, a team against the world, doing everything just the two of us. I never dated a whole lot after my divorce and certainly no one who ever met my daughter, until Bruce came along. It was several months even before they were introduced, but then suddenly there were three of us, and someone else who Mommy loved and who also wanted and needed her time and attention. Allie was not always okay with that. She was always pretty vocal too about how she felt about Bruce. It was difficult at times, but we've made it through, and I think that Allie loves Bruce very much now.  

So, with all that being sad, it made my heart happy to get out of the shower this morning and come back into our room to find this....

Having the two people you love the most in the world love each other is a wonderful thing.