Monday, December 20, 2010

Unto the Hills


I can easily see why Unto the Hills by Billy Graham is a classic devotional. The words are timeless and applicable to any day in time. As I read through the book, I could easily tell that this would be one I could enjoy year after year. I love daily devotionals as they easy to read and keep my attention. This one is no different. The thoughts and lessons delivered in the devotions are simple and enduring. It is written in such a loving manner. I really cannot say enough good things about this devotional. I would recommend it to anyone at any stage in their life. It will be applicable.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com http://BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”


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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

phew....

that's the sound of me finishing christmas shopping today! yay! christmas really shouldn't be this stressful. i need to spend the next week focusing on the real meaning of christmas and not all this stress. we got lots of travel ahead the next two weeks. but it's nice to spend it with my crazy, silly, wonderful family. we always get good memories at christmas...
like dink catching her hair on fire, or bradley making it known who made the big smell... that's putting it politely :) alayna and laurie fighting over the walking doll. yeah, those memories everybody hopes you don't remember. but those are the best ones.
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Thursday, December 2, 2010

On This Day in Christian History


On This Day in Christian History by Robert J. Morgan is a fantastic little book that any history buff would love. It enlightened me so much to events in Christian history I had no idea about.

The book is in a daily devotional format but also has a topical index in the back which I found very helpful. Also the format makes it less overwhelming. I would recommend this to anyone interested in figures in Christian history, not only the history of the church. There are so many events detailed in the book that it will inspire any Christian. It will also give you some new heroes to look up to. It is a quick, easy read for every day of the year.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

epiphany....

appropriate title considering how close that is... i was waiting on david to come have lunch with me and i was thinking about all the why's i've had lately. why hasn't he got a job, why does he keep getting discouragement, why can't we just have a normal little family. then i realized, all these why's are earthly desires. i got my priorities wrong big time. so i hope to get out of this funk and focus on more heavenly things and desire not my will but Thine. there's too much hurt and pain in this world. and i don't want to be a big ball of darkness in it. i flipped through my daily Bible verse calendar my sweet neighbor i grew up by gave me for my birthday, and i saw this from a couple weeks ago -

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights. -Habakkuk 3:19

just felt really appropriate to me today.
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Sunday, November 21, 2010

wow....

i can't believe thanksgiving is this week. time really does go by faster as you get older. i haven't been blogging much. i don't have much to talk about. i'm dealing with this awful issue of bitterness. i'm so bitter about so many things right now. i won't go into detail. it's just something i'm so sick of dealing with. i know deep down God has a plan, but it's so very very hard to continue living in the same situation with no light at the end of the tunnel, i guess is the best way to put it. aw, billy the exterminator... sorry commercial distracted me. i love billy. i love that he hates to kill things. plus they're good ol louisiana folks. can't go wrong with that. i'd be closer to home if i was there... well south louisiana. i'm rambling now, i realize that. you know i used to put a lot of stock in education, but i really don't anymore. my husband has worked so long and hard for his education, and it's unfortunately getting him nowhere. well, if you know me you know that's what's taking its toll on me. as always, five years of taking its toll on me. i'm so tired... mentally, physically, and spiritually...
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Sunday, November 7, 2010

my crafty weekend....

friday, i made a cowl...

saturday, i made a wreath...

and today, i made my first attempt christmas tree topper bow. bows are not my specialty...


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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

on a quest....

to get myself more organized. i am for the most part, but i get messy with it. this has all started with my coupon binder. it is becoming a pain in the behind to keep up. i clip all these coupons and never use most of them. so i'm going to the whole insert method. all the bargain sites i use list coupons by dates and inserts anyways, so why was i wasting all this time clipping coupons. that project is in progress.

i can't stand a messy house. period. and my house gets messy very quickly. so that's my next step. getting some sort of plan together to keep up with the housework.

i am proud to say i am well ahead of the game on my christmas shopping for this year. of course, the gifts are piling up in my spare bedroom and making that room a mess now. i just hate to pull out my wrapping paper. ugh. the spare bedroom closet, du-du-dum... that place is a bottomless pit of stuff. maybe that should be my next goal, get rid of stuff.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

disney fund update....

it's been such a crazy month that i've forgotten to update my disney fund. here's my deposits since my last posting about it:
9/28 - $30.44 - leftover cash from our monthly budget areas
10/3 - $5 - for being a neilsen digital voice participant
10/19 - $11.12 - leftover cash from our grocery budget
10/19 - $60 - from toluna surveys
10/25 - $30 - for being a neilsen tv family this week. i love being a neilsen family.

so that brings our grand total up to $338.98. as i say each time, this is all from couponing, budgeting, and doing some surveys and fun stuff online.

on another note, i'm thinking of starting another blog on my passion, saving money. it feels so good when people say i should teach a couponing class. i would love to share my knowledge, tips, and hints with the world. there's so many savings sites out there, so i'm gonna think long and hard how to differenciate it from others.
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Monday, October 18, 2010

october, october....

this is usually my favorite month. i love crisp fall weather and halloween. well, this had been a rough one. my previous post explains my best friend's dad's situation. which he is pretty much still in. it's been a roller coaster, and i just can't imagine what they are going through. so continued prayers for them please.

week ago this past friday, we had major kitty emergency. long story short, wound up with an emergency surgery to remove part of a suction cup out of my baby's intestine. he's recovering well thank goodness. he get his staples out this week. poor kitty

and this morning, i start my week off wonderfully. i got rear ending coming into work. just scratched my car up pretty good and i thought nothing else..... well, i get into work and sit down to start my day and my back starts killing me. so according to the doc, my back took most of the jolt and i'm gonna be "stow up" for about three or four days. this will be fun.
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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

prayers please....

please stop the minute you read this and say a prayer for gary case. he's my best friend's dad. he suffered an aneurysm yesterday followed by a stroke. he was airlifted to umc in jackson. he's in critical condition but has made progress since yesterday. his sister said he started showing some response this evening, but it's still very very critical right now. he is in recovery from brain surgery. i should have posted this sooner, but i've been trying to keep up with the family. being in a different state stinks when people you care about are hurting. so please, pray for complete healing. a miraculous healing from the Great Physician. wow.. amazing peace just from knowing He is the Great Physician. pray for a miracle in their family and all praise and glory go to Jesus Christ. thanks everyone...

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.

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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Saint Francis


Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge animal lover. I am a vegetarian on top of that, so I’ve always admired Saint Francis of Assisi. When I had the opportunity to check out Saint Francis by Robert West, part of the Christian Encounters Series, I was very excited. I have never been one to enjoy biographies, but West is definitely a talented writer. I felt more like I was reading a fiction novel because he told the story of Saint Francis’s life like a story. I did not know much about the life of Saint Francis, and unfortunately, lots of details of his life are possibly rumors, hear-say, and the like. But West did a great job interweaving fact and fiction. I really did enjoy reading this book. I look forward to checking out other books in the Christian Encounters Series.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Sunday, September 26, 2010

10 years is a lifetime....

so my ten year high school reunion is this weekend. yeah, that's gonna be weird.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

cricket....

we have a cricket that has taken up residence on our back porch. i'm glad he's there. makes me think of home. i never realized how much i missed hearing crickets until he moved in. it's something i'm so used to hearing back home, it's like i don't even notice it until it's gone. that doesn't make much sense, does it. anyways, i hope he stays around.

i have a book review i've been meaning to write for three weeks. i'm so far behind on it, along with lots of other things.

oh and my sweet finney is back to her happy swimmy self. i felt absolutely terrible for feeding her that food. supposed to be the best out there and it's not cheap, i'll say that. so we're sticking to homemade food and nice veggies for the girl. yes, i make my fish homemade food. much better than that flake crap. at least i know what's in it.


not too easy taking a picture of a fish.

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Sunday, September 19, 2010

poor finney again...

i'm sitting here feeling absolutely awful because i've made my poor precious finney sick again! she's had this awful persistant case of fin rot that just won't go away. used to salt treatments would clear it up but not this time. so i fed her two pellets of medigold to try and start her on an antibiotic treatment. she's had this before with good results. well, not this time. she ate it this morning and i've watched her closely all day. she's getting worse and worse. clamped fins, red streaks, barely moving. this has to be from the medigold, she had none of these symptoms before today. i've been feeding her peas since this started to try and cleanse her system. i feel awful. medigold is supposed to be the best stuff on the market for bacterial infections, now i'm worried i'm gonna lose my sweet girl because of it. say prayers for her please. she's a goldfish, but she's so special to me. :(
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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

that empty spot in my tv life...

is no longer empty come 28 minutes. jeff probst, i'm so happy to see you. i've missed you so. i have to make adjustments to my tv scheduling due to your move, but alas, it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make for you and those 39 days, 20 castaways, and 1 survivor.
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Sunday, September 12, 2010

and this is why i love cvs....


$27.09 worth of mechandise
paid $4.63
earned $17.97 in extra care bucks.
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Saturday, September 11, 2010

30 days with thirty-one

well, today makes my first 30 days with thirty-one, and i have to say i have enjoyed it so much more than i imagined i would. honestly, i got into it just thinking it would be something fun to do on the side, and if i made some money on it, that would be great too. this is really a "fun" job. it really doesn't feel like work when i work on my stuff. i love what the company stands for and especially the name coming from proverbs 31. here's verses 10-31 if you're not familiar with the chapter, proverbs has always been my favorite book of the Bible:

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

i've always believed women shouldn't settle for anything. we have every bit of power to succeed and have complete happiness in life. i sound like an infomercial for thirty-one, but i really love it so far. i think it's the best $99 i've spent. check out my shop here. email me at samanthas31gifts@gmail.com if you have questions, want to hear me brag on the company more, or just interested in the opportunity. i know i had a ton of questions before i signed up and thankfully found my sponser on facebook and she answered them so quickly. well, i'll end my commercial for now. but i really encourage anyone that is thinking about thirty-one to do it! i highly doubt you'll have any regrets. :)
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Thursday, September 9, 2010

quick post....

i've had a super busy week. i took a couple days off last week to go home for the holiday weekend. it was a nice trip. i feel like i slept for 2 days straight.

i did make a deposit to our disney fund. $42.02... $20 left out of my birthday money. i used the rest to start my thirty-one business. and the rest from leftover grocery budget money. total $202.42. long way to go, but i'm getting there :) plus if i make any influence on people to budget, coupon, save money, etc. i'm doing pretty good. wink wink jill.
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Sunday, August 29, 2010

disney fund...

i'm getting our september budget set up and have $11.10 leftover from our personal, house, pets, and eating out budgets from august. i'll have another deposit tomorrow or tuesday when i see how much we have left from our grocery budget for august. it's going slow, but $160.40 in a little over a money in money we don't miss. that's pretty good. couponing and smart shopping pays off.
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

calling all orders....

i'm placing my thirty-one launch party order friday around noon, so get your orders in to take advantage of the august $1 embroidery special. shop now! help me get off to a good start.
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

busy busy...

that how i feel these days. i feeled pulled in so many directions and just can't get it all done. i was going to create a blog for my 31 stuff, but i have enough trouble keeping up with my own blog. i think i'll just post on here about it. so here's the august customer and hostess specials if anyone wants to order or have a party:


you can shop online anytime at my website, samantha's 31. check it out. super cute stuff!

on another note, i got a $40 check for doing some surveys. so $149.30 in the disney fund now. yay! my mean ol parents are going back next month without me. :( better bring me back some park 4 and have a laugh vinyls.
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

bleck....

so i feel really crummy today. it just hasn't been a good day. today would have been jacob's 21st birthday. i really miss him. i miss shooting bottle rockets with him. i miss putting up christmas lights with him. i miss his really funny laugh when he thought something was hilarious, it was so loud and just filled the room. so funny. i can't see big mama's house or the nutty professor without thinking about that laugh. i question it so much especially since i've spent the last few years struggling with anxiety and depression. i don't even feel comfortable saying that cause i can put on a good happy face for everyone around me. i just like to keep it private. but it is true. i wonder so much why him and why not me. but i guess i should think at least he doesn't have to worry with the pains of this world anymore. i don't usually post such personal blogs, but it actually makes me feel better to get it out.
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Sunday, August 15, 2010

disney fund and thirty-one....

that almost rhymes :). anyways, i have a couple of things to write about today. i'm adding to our disney fund, $21.38 leftover from our grocery budget and $45 from opinion outpost surveys. $109.30 saved in a month. slow start i know, but i've got other survey checks coming and hopefully i'll have a bigger deposit at the end of the month.

on another note, i'm officially a thirty-one consultant now. yay! i didn't know this company existed until my favorite blog, couponing to disney, did a giveaway of one of their items. well, i looked up the site, fell in love with the products, and signed up. didn't happen that quick. i researched it all last week. the company name comes from proverbs 31:31. i love that. i'm hopefully going to set up a seperate blog sometime this week to keep up with my progress.

my last few posts have been weird and vague and upset and so on. but things seem to be looking up now. it's just hard for me to accept God's plans are not necessarily my plans. i see things falling into place now. i really feel like i was led to thirty-one, so that will hopefully help this year since david's assistanceship was not renewed. he'll defend his dissertation this fall, give his recital in the spring, and graduate may 2011. finally! :) he'll be dr. after all these years. it's been tough, but i gotta keep faith that everything will fall into place.
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Friday, August 6, 2010

perspective....

well my last post was crazy to anyone who doesn't know what's going on in my life. this is really the first day i've felt decent since last saturday. i've spent the past week being miserable and worried and anxious and so many other emotions. i won't go into detail, but it's just been a really tough time for me and david. lots of things neither of us can understand right now, and i guess we're not supposed to. that's where faith is built. i've had a terrible struggle with faith this week. thankfully, i was blessed with sleep last night and i think i'm seeing things more logically. i think at least. it's hard, but as so many people are telling me, things could be worse. it's hard to look at the bright side of things when there's no light anywhere. i'm being vague, i know, but if i think about things to write about them, it'll just bring them up in my mind again. so, at that point, i will end here. i'm going home this afternoon and to new orleans tomorrow. maybe things will look brighter when we get back....
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Saturday, July 31, 2010

i have to get this out.,..

why won't anyone give my husband a chance?!?!?! i just don't understand. he's qualified for every job he applies for and doesn't even get a chance. i just don't understand. we're both at the end of our ropes and i don't know what we are going to do. we've prayed and prayed and prayed. and i just can't understand anything anymore.
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Sunday, July 25, 2010

disney fund deposit....

so i wrapped up july's grocery budget cash today. i had $26.69 leftover to put into the disney fund. grand total as of today, $42.92. it's a start. plus, it's not any extra money coming out of our budget. this is just savings from couponing and smart shopping. hopefully, i'll have a good increase to post in a couple weeks. i gotta requests my survey site checks for july. i got a pretty good balance in two of them.
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Friday, July 23, 2010

well, again....

of the two jobs david is currently trying to get... one is a no. jill, i'm sure you know which one i'm talking about. deep down i know it isn't a bad thing cause this one would have not let us gone to church together, and that's really important to us both. so here's to hoping and praying and praying and hoping that this other door will open.
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Thursday, July 22, 2010

sunshine rewards....

i just joined sunshine rewards a couple days ago. they have disney gift cards you can earn. yay! so, i'm trying it out to see how it goes. the only thing i've done on it so far is a couple of surveys. see my banner on the side.
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

disney fund, the beginning...

i've been saying for the longest time i was going to start a disney fund ever since i stumbled upon couponing to disney. so i officially started it this week. i put a ticker at the bottom of the blog to track my progress. the first deposit - $16.23, leftover money from our grocery budget from the past two weeks. i don't even know when we'll go next year, but we really want to since it'll be the magic kingdom's 40th anniversary. i figure they'll do something special for the year. what am i saying, disney always does something special. i'm a disney dork, i know.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

envelope system wallet...

with my leftover fabric from the purse organizers, i decided to try my hand at an orginal design. i've been wanting an cute envelope system off etsy, but i thought i might could make my own. so i made the envelopes out of scrapbooking cardstock. i made a template, then just glued them together. i've got them bound with ribbon. the toughest part was figurind dimensions to make sure everything fit. i'm pretty happy with it. i would use heavier weight interfacing next time and make the card pockets a little smaller.




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Thursday, July 15, 2010

purse organizer....

here's my latest creation. i gave this to someone i work with. this one turned out pretty good other than my seams on the end. me and my sewing machine's bobbin were at war with each other, hence the ribbon on the end. but i'm pretty happy with it. check out the super easy pattern here.


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Monday, July 12, 2010

motivation....

i just haven't had it to blog lately. i guess there's just not much exciting going on. ever get a summer rut? i do every year. things slow down so much at work, not that it's a bad thing, but the days drag on and on. we've already gone on our big vacation for the year so i don't have that to look forward to. i think i need a couple days off and to go somewhere. just a change of scenery. maybe that'd help...
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

well, here i am....

i haven't been much of a blogger lately. i just haven't felt like it. hopefully things will start looking up in the job market. good thing is the community college down the road from us has an opening in d's area. that would be great. i wasn't expecting to stay here again, but God's knows what's best for us and the more i think about it, the more i think that is best for us. so pray for us, pray that God's will is revealed to us and we are accepting of it no matter what it is. that's what i have a hard time with accepting things.

on another note, strat at a poisonous plant yesterday and got to visit the doctor. luckily he threw it up and was ok after that.
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