It's been a long time...

we shouldn't have left you, without a dope beat to step to...

*flashback to 2000 "Try Again" by Aaliyah*

But yeah - the family is hanging in there, same ol' same ol' with us!

Baby Faith is growing so much, walking and talking and exploring the world! It's really fun to watch her learn each day, she's a really sweet baby and I thank God everyday for blessing me with her!

One thing that I'm learning however is how to manage her hair. I've learned how to cornrow (yayyy mee!); the hard part is managing to find a time when she'll sit still enough for me to braid it. My mom gave me the advice to do her hair while she sleeps - she said that's how she did my hair. It took me a while to try it, I was afraid of disturbing her sleep; but I found out that it doesn't wake her! Hallelujah!!! I really need to make an effort to style her hair at least one (good) time per week; maybe I'll even take pictures of my handiwork and share them here as I learn!

Before I wrap this post up though, I gotta tell you that SoulMom blog is giving away a gift set of Cara B Naturally products!!! I hope I win, their products sound WONDERFUL - I'd really like to give the Leave in Conditioner/Daily Moisturizer a try on Baby Faith's head AND mine!

Gotta go...

Ahhhhh...refreshing! Is there an app for that?

Yes, I'm referring to my lemonade from the last post! I enjoyed it until I realized that my husband had located it in the fridge and had been drinking it as well - can't he make his own???

Just kidding...but I am excited and encouraged about our struggles right now - I'm confident that "trouble don't last always"!

It's Friday night and the babe is asleep (why am I up???) - but I would be remiss without telling you about the fact that Christian Personal Finance is giving away an iPad! They are an excellent resource and this is a pretty rocking giveaway for the tech-savvy!

YAWN...must.go.to.bed.! The babe and I have a walk date at the park in the AM!

Ummmmm...see what had happened was...

No, I have no valid excuse for not updating this blog in over a month. This is obviously something I haven't put priority on and it shows. So - to update you on what's transpired since my last post...

1. April ended and May began!

2. The fam took a trip back home to visit our loved ones. Long car drive (12 hours one way); but Mac did all the driving and Faith was a very good girl! It'll be a good long while before we do it again though...
3. May ended and June began!

4. Here we are...

And you wonder why I never blog? Not much happens that seems "blog-worthy"; but I'm working on that.

Anyhow - I guess I haven't been overly excited this year about much of anything. Mac's work schedule changed in January and the entire year I've been moping about it. I just realized that I've been a grump for 5 entire months about it, and am NOT interested in making it 6...that's half a year! *read entirely too much time to devote to thinking negatively about something*

So you know what I decided to do??? Make lemonade!!!

I'm serious y'all! I sat Faith in her jumper thingy, marched into the kitchen and made some lemonade! I'll be honest, this was my first time EVER making lemonade, so I had to google a recipe (don't laugh at me). I followed it to the T (with the exception of only having 5 lemons instead of the 6 that the recipe called for), and I think it turned out rather refreshing! (IIDSSMS)

So basically - I'm sick of the sour face and decided to add some sugar and water and take a swig and say "aaaaaahhhhhh!" I'm 2 blessed 2 be bound for goodness sake! Baby's crying...gotta go!

P.S. I joined a book club, LOL!

Oops...I did it (or didn't do it) again!

Yeah, this whole blogging thing is an afterthought *hangs head in shame* - anyone got any ideas to help me remember to do it? Thanks in advance :wink:

Okay - last post was last Thursday talking about my grocery budget idea to try Angel Food Ministries. Well tomorrow is pick up day, so I can't comment on that yet. I'm excited (to pick up groceries? Yeah I'm a weirdo)...but we need to go over my mom's house to pick up Faith's new carseat anyway! (verrrrry excited about this)

Yes, I'm excited about the Learning Curve True Fit Premier convertible car seat that is waiting for us over there! This is the replacement seat after our wreck last month (you DO know that car seats should be replaced after an automobile accident, right?); so I'm excited that she'll be back in a super comfortable and SAFE seat again. The seat we are replacing was a True Fit, but the Premier was introduced in 2009 (after I'd registered and received the True Fit) with an added feature of an anti-rebound bar. In an accident this would prevent the seat from tipping forward and hitting the seatback.

I'm extremely blessed to have never been in an accident prior to just recently, but after this wreck I'm soooooo thankful that she was in such a quality seat! I plan to try my hand at it, but meet up with a friend who is a self-proclaimed car-seat junkie so that she can install it.

Got carseat on the brain right now, so can't think of much else to share. Y'all have a safe weekend (if I don't check in before it's over)...be blessed! *smooch*

Of Groceries and Angels and Coupons...

See - I knew I wouldn't have a problem interwining debt reduction, health and spirituality! *brushes shoulders off*

So - the first step in my family's goal to be debt free is to make a workable budget AND FOLLOW IT! Emphasis mine, because soooo many times we take the time out to make our budget but spend money however we want. For our family we are guilty in overspending on food - the fast kind if you get my drift. I can even go to the grocery store and purchase food, but if we are too tired lazy to cook - the groceries sit there. In an effort to eat healthier we HAVE TO MAKE STRIDES in this area, so we've made another commitment to purchasing food and cooking it.

Was reading a few personal finance blogs and saw mention of Angel Food Ministries, I'd forgotten that Mac and I said we'd give them a try. There is a church by my mom's house that has their large banner out, so we'll order from there. Placed my order this morning for a fruit and veggie package, convenience meal package (hey, I'm being realistic here), and a 4x4 package (the goods to make 4 meals for a 4 person family). I even found a coupon code (yay me) that took 10% off my order! I pick up my "groceries" next Saturday...I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

And heeeeere we go!

Okay, tryna jump back in to this blogging game! I've been doing my homework (laughable if you know me - I'm too lazy to do homework - DUH!) and think I have gathered some helpful information on keeping a blog. Been visiting and commenting here and there, and have some ideas of things to talk about since I'm too boring to be the main focus, LOL!

So - in keeping with my original foci (the plural of focus, I know the math nerds understood); I'd like to talk about getting out of debt, getting into better health, and the other spillovers of being blessed! Who knows if I'll be able to intertwine them all and keep this entertaining at the same time, but I'm gonna give it the good college try.

Wow...where do I start???

Well, I guess I'll start at the beginning...my last post was 2/19.

My ear was hurting, I went to the chiro for an adjustment and started wearing my night brace (have since stopped again though - it's a pain in the butt to boil that thing every night) - and my earache went away - HALLELUJAH!

The weekend of 3/21 we traveled to Atlanta for the ING Georgia Half Marathon; it was AWESOME! I ran out of steam between miles 10 and 11 though, and never caught a "2nd wind" like I thought I would :( Still finished in just under 4 hours though so it wasn't totally horrible. It was really good spending some quality time with an old friend and seeing family (they met us in ATL)! I'd love to do it again, possibly this October at the Free Press Half Marathon in Detroit...

The weekend of 3/27 we traveled to Ozark, AL for a birthday party! Lil Miss CJ and her parents came all the way from California to celebrate her first birthday with her dad's side of the family. Had a great time once again...

Unfortunately on 3/29 the baby and I were in an automobile accident ("a wreck" down in these parts)! Aside from some soreness we are okay, but our vehicle was declared a total loss! I normally name my cars and I don't think that one ever had a name, interesting...

That's about it...baby is trying to post for me now so I'll wrap this up before it become unintelligible. I'd really like to keep this up, give me another chance - pleeeaaaasssseeeee???