SO

we not getty housey. BUT. we still are thinking of building, and that seems more and more like the thing to do. BUT. we would still like the (cheaper) plan of getting a old junker and fixin it upper. Dang schools takin up our lives. BUT one day we both shall be even more grateful that we have our degrees...i hope...:) peace.

People.

My sister posted a video this morning about the heroes in her life. It inspired me share some thoughts i've already had this morning and it's only 9:37 AM. (that's kindof a big deal folks cuz normally i'd be snoozin still)

So, let's start with a little bad news. We've all had bad encounters with people right? Moments where you feel like you seriously don't want to leave the house because you're sick of being hurt. I could go on about this- because i know we've all been there, we've all been offended, and we all get frustrated.

BUT

The good news is: for every raunchy encounter--many of us would agree that we've had TONS of amazing encounters. Small, but nonetheless spectacular moments that touch our hearts and lead our minds back to one person. This has been the theme of my life-lesson learned this week. Among institute classes, moments of pondering, sunday testimonies, and i don't really know what else--- i've realized how wonderful it truly is to experience Christ's love through other people. I have been so blessed to know people who have manifested His love for me through their actions. Through their actions, their words, and their Christ-centered life, they have helped me to know my Savior. They help me to understand in little ways more and more how much Christ loves me. I have found that one of the best truths in this life (I believe) is: people have an intent to do good. Even the roughest of folks on the outside feel the brightness of infinite joy, in a tiny moment, when they find themselves serving someone else. Every one of my family members has shown me a way to love someone else. Love--is an action word. It's not complete just as a feeling. I hope, I sincerely hope, that in my actions, my words, my thoughts, and my life, I can somehow show Christ's love for every person I encounter. Yes, I have said things that weren't nice--I've done things that weren't the best---and I am positive I've hurt feelings many a time. but i dont want this to be a confession moment--it's a learning moment. This is what I've learned, and hopefully I can take it and apply it in my life to the people I know and love, and the people I don't know or don't love...

Matthew 5:44 "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Merry Christmas everybody. I'm thankful for a season that humbles me. A season that teaches me, and refocuses my thoughts and my heart.

Exciting Things.

It's true, this post will be about exciting things. No pictures.....but exciting things nonetheless.

#1 exciting thing: i have absolutely no more homework. (unless you count studying for finals). Next week i will be done with the most stressful semester yet. Every girl in my classes has commented: "I still don't know how you ever got married during the semester!" And that's true, it was a crazy task. BUT, the nice thing was, we had just started our classes so it wasn't bad, and even though we were doing homework on our honeymoon, everything was still a blast and I don't regret it one bit. In fact, I got the pictures back that my cousin took of our wedding day, and Colten and I were looking through them....and I started tearing up again! Had to walk away or else I woulda lost it! haha. I take that as a good sign though. :) Anyway, we're almost done. Our schedules have been so insanely crazy that I'm excited for what (maybe) will be a break for us. Why the maybe? because......

#2 exciting thing: i guess that i thought this would jinx something if i posted it. but now...because i'm so stinking curious as to what's going to happen if it does jinx something that'll be ok, because i'll at least have my answer. are you going nuts not knowing what it is yet? haha well, its just something simple, but could be really exciting. we put an offer on a house, just a small-piece-o-junk-house, but it's got loads of potential. And it was in our price range. :) Its been taking the Bank so ridiculously long to decide though that at this point- i'm just wanting an answer. Even if its no! That'll be totally fine! I just needa know Bank of America! Decide! Take our offer or leave it! URGH. We have so many good ideas of decorating it and making it look saweeeeet. But that does nothing it they don't want our money. IF we do get the house, we'd be doing serious-everyday-hardcore-speedmode-remodeling. IF we don't get it, then we'll get ourselves a nice break from school before it starts again and then we'll wait for another opportunity.

#3 exciting thing: It's Christmastime! me wuv Christmastime.

Merry Christmas everybody. :)

Good Stuff

Here's our tree. It's pretty right? Guess how much we have spent on our tree?
Total Cost: $4.50
Family Dollar is who we gave our money to, and they supplied some red and gold sparkly ornaments. Then, my mama let us borrow a small set of ornaments cuz I helped her decorate her tree (and she has approximately too many ornaments in general). Also, because i tied the big ole' ribbon for her tree, she let me do one for ours. And my dad is the one who brought home the real tree for us. (pretty exciting) :) ME LOVE CHRISTMAS.

This is a pretty braided bread creation. I braided it, and even made it! Cool huh? My mother has also shown me this really good bread recipe which is Colten's new favorite bread, and i like it a Lot too. Maybe I will get the recipe up here one day--if y'all want me to, comment and I will, if not, i won't worry about it. But i will tell you this, it only takes a half a cup of honey and an optional tablespoon of sugar (aside from the Tbls used for the yeast) and the only other thing my mom changed about it is she puts some cream as a substitute for some of the water. (oh and it makes two big loaves) My cousin Matt was down for the past week (seriously Matt is a rad dude, aside from the fact that he has a kagillion sweet toys that many of the guys in our family like to play with....guns/explosivestuff/i didn't tell you though...he is always so willing to help my mom with everything and anything she needs, and she is very appreciative-they are buddies :) Anyway, and he kneaded the bread so good that the bread was nice and tall. Who knew he could make bread? And wear an apron too? Ha Ha, we had a good time.

Bottomline: I like the holidays. I like a nice pine tree in my living room. I like bread/making bread. I love family.

p.s. sorry my pictures are so junky. I'm not good with bringing a camera. Thanks Verizon for supplying me with one that follows me everywhere I go. Even if the pics are blurryish.

i have a cute hubby.

This morning while I was at my mother's house, in my dad's office, sitting at the computer, printing off coupons, I turned around just in time to see this....

AND thanks to Verizon, and all cellphone companies (sorry I can't give proper thanks to whomever is really responsible cuz i just don't know...) for providing cellphones with cameras, I was able to snatch up my phone, snap a picture, and smile:) My hubby was waiting for me (ready for me to be done) and I'm pretty sure that most of the time he sits down, if it's for a long enough period of time, he falls asleep (cuz he works so hard every other second of the day) AND turbo, the dog of everyone's dreams, thinks he's small enough to be a lapdog, but yet knows he doesn't fit so he's always got half of himself on your lap and the other half hanging off the side. Too cute huh. I know. Most the time I generally think Turbo looks uncomfortable, but he falls asleep in this position. Kid you not.

CooopAn Expereenthe....again

That title says Coupon Experience, if you couldn't read it. I was tryin to be funny. I know. BUT okay, here we go.

Walgreens:

I bought 5 boxes of Royal Jello,

and 2 can things of Comet cleaner.

Total, 2.09

Savings, 3.72

that was just straight In-store Ad coupons. Main goal: (for me) is to save more than I spend. So, this trip, although not perfect, was successful. (no picture for this cuz it's pretty easy to imagine.)

This is what I got at Smiths. First let me tell you what I got, then I'll tell you what I did wrong.

5 cans of pringles
1 package of activia yogurt
5 Swanson broth cans (2 varieties)
4 cans of cream of mushroom soup
4 cans of chili
4 bags of pasta
2 things of Welch's grape juice (where I went wrong)
2 boxes of Hot Chocolate
3 cans of pears
1 gallon of milk

Okay, so, the grape juice, even with a deal and a coupon was still pretty expensive. Looking back over my receipt, I am also not 100% sure that the cashier rang it all up right, but close enough for me to just go ahead and go with it. I also could've used a better pringles coupon (bad call on my part) and I would've had one less thing of Pringles, and I could've maybe gotten one more thing of somethin else. Not everything I got had a coupon, but the store has sweet deals. Sad part- because I'm still not hardcore I did this all on the last night of the sale. Therefore, one of the items I was going to get for free (which would've downed the price a lot and helped me get more items) was already way gone. So, thanks to my Sis-in-Law Kathie for her help in helping me get this all figured out, and sorry to her too cuz she didn't get her cough drops:( (the item i would've gotten for free) So ya wanna know how much this bunch was?

Total Savings: 30.16
Total Price: 23.23

But again, if you don't count the milk and the juice, I would've been about 5 dollars cheaper. But hey, I'm still learning. Colten is such a trooper- he came with me, and although it wasn't maybe his favorite thing at first, he was quite impressed with the deals we got. So I might be able to sucker him into going again:)

Life question # 5000

So, since getting married I have learned a lot about my husband I never knew when he was my boyfriend, and I still didn't find out when he was my fiance. That sentence may bring the word (DUH) into most of your thoughts, I know I know, I'm just sayin. Anyhow, 1 major thing comes to mind as i type this post,

#1: He likes doing dishes...............................yep. (SWEEEEET HUH!)

A) (i've been writing a lot of outlines lately, just go with me here.)
B) About this doing dishes thing, he does them the opposite way I do them.....

let me explain, I fill up the sink on the side opposite the garbage disposal, then as I clean them I rinse the junk down the garbage disposal. I don't think it's too crazy!? But, he puts the plug on the side of garbage disposal, cleans them in that water, then rinses them in the other side of the sink!? I guess I grew up thinking everyone did them the same way. So, here is my question for y'all, what side of the sink do YOU do the dishes on? Although my bet is that 99% of you have dish washers so this isn't totally applicable, but I'm just wondering. and now that I've set your curiosity on a lit firework, we DO have a dishwasher, however, we don't use it. Why? We both agree (strangely enough) that it takes less water to just do them in the sink, and it's faster, and we just like it better. I can honestly say I took part in that vote and I am fine with doing dishes so no big deal :) but tell me? which side of sink do you start with?

P.s. I like the Pioneer Woman. I just realized I'm like 1.5 million people too late to figure this out. but I do, she has a good website.
and i just cooked up some pork chops from one of her recipes, it went over well. :)