Week 19 of 52 - Something Borrowed, Something Navy Blue

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I really did, I forgot the garment bag with the clothes that we are supposed to wear to the wedding.”

“No, I put the garment bag on the loveseat by the door, so it has to be in the car.”

“I hung the garment bag back in the hall closet while you were at the training so the clothes wouldn’t get wrinkled.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. This is from the man who routinely wears socks with sandals and prefers pants that zip off into shorts. Now he is worried about wrinkles?

I had packed everything Thursday night and placed it by the door. After a very long commute home Friday evening, I snuggled and fed the baby while he packed the car. I mentally checked off everything that I had packed up the night before, feeling more and more confident I had remembered everything.

So when we arrived at almost 11 pm and learned my clothes for the wedding were still at home, almost 3 hours away, my heart sank.

Then as I’m processing how I will find a dress before the wedding tomorrow afternoon, he says, “I guess this means I won’t get to go fishing tomorrow morning, huh?”

“Don’t talk to me about FISHING,” I growl.

The next morning I decide my options. First, I text my good friend who might have something I could borrow. When I don’t hear back from her, I head into town to the one department store.

For 40 minutes, I try on over 10 different dresses – my options are down to a purple dress with 3 inch waist pleats that scream, “Is she expecting again?” and a bum zipper. Then there is a yellow dress 2 sizes too big and my attempts to fold the extra fabric over under the belt are failing.

I am heartsick at the idea of having to buy yet another dress when I had three I'd just bought at home. My dear mother is calling to assure me she can fix the zipper or take up the other dress but I hate both dresses. My frustration is slipping out in my thoughts – yeah, they’d better enjoy their wedding day because it won’t be so enjoyable when he forgets THEIR garment bag.

Then just before I start to shed tears, my phone rings, my friend Meg is on the line saying she has plenty of dresses to choose from. So I race out of my dressing room and speed to her house – a far better selection than the department store and all in my size! I choose a beautiful navy blue and cream one and thank her as I race out the door.

As a funny side note, my mom later tells me that just before I called to tell her I was going to Meg’s, she heard Walt tell George, “Son, we’d better pray that mama finds a dress so that mama will be nice to daddy.” Glad that prayer was answered because I was failing at the being nice part!

In the end, we made it just fine with my borrowed dress and Walt in my dad’s borrowed button-down and pleated pants, circa 1998. When I saw all the bridesmaids dressed in the exact same shade of pink as my dress tucked in the garment bag at home, I had to smile. Maybe he saved me a wedding faux pas after all.

Love him and love that in the middle of everything he grinned and said, "look at it this way, I've given you a blog topic this week"...

Favorite image of the week:  my brother with Samuel...

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
         From where shall my help come?
    My help comes from the LORD,
         Who made heaven and earth.
    He will not allow your foot to slip;
         He who keeps you will not slumber.

Psalm 121: 1-3

Week 17 of 52 - Easter Sunrise

Thankful for the chance to watch a beautiful Easter sunrise over those Smoky Mountains with my mom and G.  She commented that she almost expected to see Him in the clouds.  "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.  And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."  Matthew 24:30-31

I have to share something that warmed my heart this weekend. In my hometown is a Christian family that has worked hard and profited immensely from their efforts.  They have given back so much to my town - a performing arts center that showcases Christian recording artists and jaw-dropping local talent, a factory converted to a huge playroom for kids and restaurants, as well as multiple stores and businesses that employee many people.

On Saturday, they opened two buildings to the community's children for egg hunts.  This photo does not do justice to how many eggs were in this room.  Each egg was filled and many contained prizes for larger gifts. Perhaps some would scoff and remind this isn't why we celebrate Easter.  Of course it's not, but every direction my eyes turned, I saw laughing children. I have to think God was enjoying those smiles and this act of generosity.  Thank you Drake family for all you give to your community and how you shine Christ into the world.

Decided that starting this month, I will capture a family photo of us each month.  Here's my first.  Most will be just capturing life versus a posing moment, but since we were all cleaned up...

And a few more favorites...

Week 11 of 52 - Sleepless Nights and Wasted Days

We have the best of intentions, we plan to take our boys places, we really do.  Then through a tiring chain of events, we usually end up staying at home.  It goes down something like this:

10:15 pm (shortly before turning out the lights):  “It’s supposed to be in the seventies tomorrow, we should take the boys somewhere.”  Both agree.

12:29 am:  Cries of teething infant, both get out of bed, one makes bottle and other rocks infant back to sleep.

1:37am:  Strange beeping noise, both out of bed, stumbling over pillow shams, throwing neatly-folded clothes off dressers, seeking source as if on a blindfolded Easter egg hunt.  Finally discover cordless phone has a beeping low-battery indicator.  Nice feature...

2:26 am:  Infant crying again, pajamas and sheet are soaked.  Both out of bed – one changes and rocks baby, other changes sheet and makes bottle.

4:00 am:  Toddler wakes up screaming.  Mom out of bed, silently berates self for buying Toy Story 3 DVD and introducing toddler to the wild-eyed cymbal-clanging stuffed monkey which now haunts his dreams, sleepily brings toddler to bed (for the first time ever, he is usually the rock star sleeper).

4:something am:  Toddler is laughing hysterically in his sleep, both close eyes, thankful no intervention is needed.

5:44 am:  Toddler sits upright in bed to avoid falling back asleep, begins chattering, and the day begins.

In the six o’clock hour is usually when we cast aside our plans for something that requires less exertion.  Except this day, we slurp down our coffee, pack a picnic, and go somewhere anyway.

We laugh along the way that the destination which was fondly recalled as a 5 minute drive on our first date is now a 33-minute excursion in which each looong minute is punctuated by “Tie my shoe, tie my shoe, tie my shoe, alternated by I wanna go to the park, I wanna go to the park, I wanna go to the park.”

I had fun photographing the bridge.  No family pics though, G asked me to put up my camera, so I happily obliged him.

It was a busy and fun weekend so I decided to use a coupon clipping service instead of buying the Sunday papers and clipping my own coupons.  I recommend The Coupon Clippers.  You buy only the coupons you want and they arrive on your doorstep 2-3 days later all clipped and sorted.  I paid about $3 more than I do for the papers and for the time I saved, it was a bargain. 

Week 2 of 52 - One baby step at a time

Week 2 has brought very few photo opportunities. Here’s one of S on his play mat.  Similar to us, he is taking baby steps… rolling over, learning to support the weight of his arms, and trying to crawl.

I had several baby steps this week including a conference call coaching session with Russ Carroll, Dave’s lead financial coach.  The meeting with Russ reminded me of why it’s so important to be better money managers – so we can be even better givers.  He commented we are made in God’s image and God is the ultimate giver, so we too should strive to be givers.

As for the couponing, it’s been a good first start, thanks to the help of my friends!  I have my coupons organized in a hot pink binder and even scored 3 jars of Peter Pan peanut butter for .44 cents each…which may come in handy during this snow storm.  W must be motivated too, he even said he would take the flashy pink binder to the store if needed.

Week 1 of 52 - Couponing!

I'm so not a coupon person.  Well I once was a coupon person and the relationship ended in the middle of an Ingles store.  I was pushing the cart with my hip, shoving a pacifier in the mouth of a crying newborn with one hand, and clutching my accordion-style coupon book in the other hand.  Long about Aisle 5, I tossed the coupon book aside and my left-handed scissors have been gathering dust ever since.

But I have some good friends who are impressive coupon ladies, not TLC Extreme Couponers mind you, but savvy enough that when they told me this week's Sunday paper had 5 coupon inserts, I decided to give it a whirl.

So here is my first shot of the year and hopefully the start of a new less-frustrating coupon adventure.  

As for the photography, it's a very noisy start!  I learned that I must always check my ISO before clicking... I didn't and the ISO was set at 6400!

Meanwhile, if you have any coupon tips that helped you save time and ease frustration, please share!