Full Weekend.

My husband got home late Friday and said Saturday would be worse.  But we had dinner plans for Saturday night, so I told him he should call in.  So we went out Friday night ended up just the two of us sitting talking downtown, which was nice.
Then we were able to get my desk Saturday!!  Hooray!  We were able to put the first part of the desk together then had to get ready for dinner.  Dinner was elegant, and I got the spicy dish. (whoops)  We took both our parents to a fine Italian dining place, and we paid!  It was pricey, but our parents paid for the bottles of wine. (I told my husband as long as our kids do this at some point, hahaha.)  Once we got home my husband fell asleep while I watched Mega Python vs. Gatoroid.  I share this hobby with my brother of laughing at ridiculous scifi movies.  And I think we got my dad starting to watch them now too.
Sunday we got up early but took our time and went to the late service of church.  I walked the dog, while my husband watched church from last week and finish putting together my desk. <3  Oh and he made me hot chocolate in the morning.  The church series continued with the Marriage part, it was a great message and I am glad we watched it together.
The rest of my evening consisted of cutting out coupons, family lunch, finishing a digital scrapbook for my grandma, starting to organize my desk, and watching Incredible Hulk on TV.

Hopefully this week goes by fast.  I know it will for my husband.  He had jury duty this morning and they already let him leave, and he only works two more days.  Plus this week we join our first small group with our church! 
Anyway we plan to go to the beach on Friday and Saturday and spend Sunday together at church, soccer and end with rest. =)  Can't wait!

DARE - Week 20

This Week's dare is to honor and respect your spouse!  It says to do more than normal, but I'm really having difficulty finding other things to do besides telling him how much I appreciate what he does for us. (which is what I normally do)  Also I feel like some of these dares are hard for us to do, because we already do them, and they seem to tie up with previous dares.
I'll just continue to work on honoring my husband.  One thing I have heard in church and have tried to focus more on is how women often talk about their husbands and bad habits they have or things they might say.  When co-workers or friends begin talking about something their husband/boyfriend did or didn't do, I try not to pitch in with a story, but think more about what my husband did for me recently, like washing the dishes.

This morning I actually woke up before 7 and walked Flo.  I walk her at least once a week, but I haven't been getting up early to do so, so I've been a little late to work.  She is doing great on our walks!  Love her! 
Unfortunately the past three time I have walked her I have noticed pain around my knee. (not cool)  I guess that's what I get for no longer exercising frequently.

Yesterday, groceries continued for this week, spent $45 and saved $33.  Which I would have saved more, but now that I am saving money by couponing I buy other things like wine and cheese! =)

DARE - Day 139 & 140

Church was awesome today, beggining the series with "Love."  I brought back out my notebook "Boys have Cooties" from my high school breakfast small group.  The message was how we treat Love like a noun, something we need to receive and feel. But we need to make Love a verb, something we do and give to others!

Well we did not get a desk last night. =(  We walked ALL the way through Ikea, which I would have enjoyed if I had half a day or so and we get to the warehouse to grab my desk and it's out of stock! So we decide we will order it online, and the main piece is out of stock online too! Grrrrr.

Went to the grocery store after church to grab some things, but did not have all my coupons.  So I grabbed some things on sale spending $11 and saving $22.  Went through the paper when I got home and am planning my trip to the store again tomorrow.
Waiting for the husband to get home, so we can go to Sunday lunch. =)

"BELOVED"
This word was in our devotions yesterday and today.  I love this word because of the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. (If you haven't read it, it is amazing. I don't read much but I have read that book twice!)  Anywho, our devotions talk of how God calls us his Beloved and loves us unconditionally.  The next days talks about how Beloved should be our spouses name now. <3

Like I said last week, I love Saturdays!

If I could feel like this everyday it would be great.  I can't sleep much past 8 am because of my dog, but I'm glad she woke me up so I could enjoy this day!!  Thank you lord for such beautiful days.

Walked the dog this morning, and helped my Little Sister with a school project.  Her project was on Influenza, and I learned that Influenza comes from the Italian word influence, because they thoughtthe disease was an influence from the stars.

=) Today we are going to get my desk at Ikea, and hang out with the husband's friends in their new house!
=) Tomorrow church starts the series, "Love, Marriage, Baby Carriage" and small groups are announced.
I am super excited!

Extra Money

We bought our house last year near the end of May before we got married.  Then at the end of the year we filed for Homestead.
So our Escrow had an overage of about $1,000!  Checked with my dad to make sure this was for real, and then made a plan to spend it.  My dad of course suggested taking them out to dinner, and I said if he comes up. (which he will. =) )
Anyway now I can get my desk for our office! We are also going to replenish some of our vacation fund!  And put the rest toward payig off our Rain Soft Water. (We plan to pay it off in the year, before interests jumps.)

Hooray Money!

Short Vacation

We just got back from our Ski/Snowboarding Trip, and picked up our pup who we missed soo much.  I decided to Ski while my husband learned to board.  I started to learn 3 years ago, but figured it wasn't worth it.  We had a blast on and off the slopes!  I do feel bad though that we only went boarding one day, I need to make that up to my husband.

I really liked our dare Day 133 "Love Leads"
It talks about not following your heart but leading it!  You must choose to love your spouse, and eventually by leading your heart it can make the right decisions and you can follow it.  When your love is just a feeling you are following, it is temporary.  You need to costantly love and lead your heart so you do not stray.

This weeks dare is to neglect an activity you normally do to spend time together with your spouse doing something they enjoy.

DARE - Day 127

Last night's devotion was about having rules before you have an altercation.  There are "WE" rules and "ME" rules.  "WE" rules would be something like not fighting in public, or not bringing up past situations.  While "ME" rules would be like I will not raise my voice, and I will not address his problems before addressing my own. (I need a rule like that)

I need to work on my "ME" rules. 
On a side and not too separate note, I really think I should make a pray box!  Somewhere to put my prays, to write my rules, to forgive and let go, and to give things to God so I no longer carry them.

This week's Dare is to basically let your spouse win. Give in, and let them have their preference kind of thing.
This week's Goal to make a pray box.  And to pack for our Snoborading/Ski Trip, which we leave for Thursday evening.  West Virginia!

Church - 472,686

"That is the number of people living within driving distance of our church that don't attend church anywhere. These are our neighbors, co-workers, family members, friends, waiters, cashiers, doctors, teachers, classmates.
What are we going to do to reach them?" (http://www.access.tv/)

My husband and I discussed becoming foster parents, we will pray about it.  But wouldn't that be cool.  We also talked about starting one of the small groups, since the pastor mentioned special interest ones.  Maybe dog lovers, or I could do a craft one?  Who says you can't make a scrapbook while talking about Jesus.  We have not become a part of the church yet so I wouldn't feel comfortable, but we are getting ideas for the future.

Saturday, husband working

No offense to my husband, but I kind of like when he works Saturdays.  I don't like to run errands while he is relaxing at home, so when he is at work I can get some things done and I can hang out with my Little Sister.

This morning I went grocery hopping after organizing my coupons.  I have used a few coupons before, but this week I made a list and kept track of the money I was spending.  I was so proud of myself when I realized I was still under $60 that I grabbed a few more things and donated a dollar.  I bought a $104 worth of groceries for $65!!!  And I haven't even got the hang of couponing yet.  Publix rocks!  Check out iheartpublix.com if you want to learn more about couponing.  Or as the husband says cupins. =)

So after I did my grocery shopping I picked up my Little Sister to go to this wildlife rescue center in Auburndale.  But of course I had the wrong address, and drove around for an hour (literally) calling my mom trying to figure out how to get there.  Well, if you wanna go it's actually at the flea market!!  I thought that was weird.  It isn't that exciting, but it's only a donation of $2 to get in and see TIGERS!  (my favorite, RAARRR!) Wildlife Rescue

Once I got home from that, I took Flo for a walk (she was good and got hot dogs), and still had about 10 minutes before my husband got home from work!  I <3 Saturdays!

DARE - Day 122

Funny thing:I sat down on the floor to read the devotion while playing tug-o-war with our Puppy and I read the title of tonight's devotion Love Lets Others Win. Then of course I let go of the rope and looked at my husband who had a cute smirk on his face. (Yes, it would have been better if I won, and the dog let go on cue.)
So the devotion goes on to talk about how we are naturally stubborn, but we must be "willing" to favor our spouse's opinions to demonstrate love.

This week's Dare is to find a need in your spouse that you can meet this week. A gesture that says "I cherish you."

I have not been able to think outside the box lately so I am meeting his need of massages every night. Yes, I normally do this, but he has been working harder this week, and I don't usually do this daily.

Oh yeah and last night we had an extra passage from Song of Solomon. We found Song of Songs, but for some reason didn't realize it was the right book until I read my chapter introduction in our study bible. Thanks NIV Study Bible for helping those of us who just remember the stories, but not the specific scripture and books they came from.

Happy New Year!

2011!  Ever since I started dating my husband I have never got to kiss him at midnight on new years.  But last night, even though he works today, he woke up to kiss and toast the new year with me. It's going to be a good year!

I want to talk about resolutions. But first, not sure if I mentoned this week's dare about doing something out of the ordinary for your spouse that proves to them and you that you love them by choice.  Well I guess I am not sure how to go about doing this, trying to think of out of the ordinary, brings up ordinary ideas for me.  So I've been doing some weird out of the ordinary things, but necessarily things that say I love you.  Just weird things that make my husband laugh, I guess that will do this week. =)

So I want to do better things with my time. So resolutions are to walk my dog, start working out, possibly volunteer more, read some, and go to church more consistently.  My work out plan will not go into affect until I start walking my dog close to daily.  Walking my dog is my most important resolution, once I get to four days a week I will begin looking into a work out plan. All my other resolutions have already been started, I just need to continue focusing on them, so I added them to my resolution list.
Moving on, I asked my husband if he had resolutions, he said he never really did new years resolutions.  This kind of upset me some, but what he said after makes sense. He changes things as they come, much as I have been doing.  He plans to think of some things though, because he said he has until Jan 3rd. =)

All I want to do now is set up our budget for the year and write up a list of things that happened in 2010!