Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is officially my dad's birthday, but we actually already celebrated last weekend. You see, we were home for my brother's wedding (a separate post to follow about it), and decided to surprise dad with a birthday celebration 6 days early. It was pretty fun. Between all of the kids, we got dad 60 gifts to represent his 60 years of life.

We actually got the idea from Scott's mom who has sent 30 gifts for 30th birthdays. We turned the tables on her this June when she turned 60, and sent our portion of 60 gifts her way. This was actually the first time we were able to be present for such a birthday gift opening. Here's dad just getting started on the gifts.
There was one gift that he didn't want to open until the end...PARTY HATS! We didn't hide the gift in our wrapping, and I think he knew he'd have to at least put them on. We had 8 hats, just enough for everyone present.

You can see how much fun Scott and my other brother had with the hats. The look on A's face cracks me up.

Even grandpa put a party hat on for a few seconds.

It was a fun, small celebration after a weekend of wedding preparations. Scott and I are hardly ever able to celebrate holidays or birthdays with our family members in person, so it was a special treat to celebrate this monumental birthday with dad.

Dad was anxious to show us his massive garden. We had to take pictures to document the height of some of the beans. My brother, A, is on the left and my other brother, D, now married, is on the right.

And finally, I'll leave you with Scott's attempts at creative photography. I'm not sure what he was doing when he took this picture, but here it is, unedited for you. I call it the swirly one.

Fantasy Football Week 2

As you may recall, last week ended with a victory for me in both of my fantasy football leagues, while Carried dropped her opening game. Therefore, each of us had great anticipation as week 2 rolled around.

As it turned out, neither of us was able to watch any of the football games over the weekend, and without access to our computer, we also weren't able to check our lineups until the scores were all in. When we did, we found that our household had actually pulled off a sweep of the weekend.

In our league together, we both pulled out wins. That puts my record at 2-0, while Carrie stands a mere game behind at 1-1. I had a majority of my points from my two running backs, one of whom netted me 66 points! I also had the high score of the week, with 175 points.

In my other league, I also managed to pull out a win. I only had 62 total points in this league, though it was enough to give me the win. That puts my record to 2-0, which happens to be the only undefeated team in the league.

It's still early, and lots of fantasy football will still come. Stay tuned for more results.

Fantasy Football Week 1

Maybe you heard a rumor this past weekend that NFL football is back. Carrie and I, though both with fairly full Sunday schedules, managed to tune in a little bit to catch some, mostly to see how our fantasy football teams were doing.

While there were some exciting games to watch, the league we are both in also had some exciting moments. The two teams with the most points happened to be playing each other, and had a final score of 151.48 to 151.44! Just think, a single yard from one of their players was the difference between winning and losing this past weekend.

I happened to win in my matchup, though Carrie fought valiantly and came up a little bit short. Also, in my other league (with some of my school friends), I happened to have the most points in the league and am now 1-0 in both leagues.

The season is off and running. If you have a fantasy team somewhere, we hope you are off to a good start!

Are you ready for some football???

Many of you may keep up with the yearly NFL games and teams. I know I do. And one of the things that I normally do, to help get and keep me in the spirit of the football season, is play a little game called fantasy football.

This year, both Carrie and I are playing yet again. (You may recall that she and I have played for several years, and that she's not only been pretty good at it, but her competitive side has come out once or twice!) We are playing in our league with a few friends and some college students.

Be sure to tune in often, as I will likely be giving weekly updates on how we are doing. The first game of the NFL season was this past Thursday, and since Yahoo! was offering free stattracker (a way to keep up with your team's statistics as the games are being played), we were both watching the game and the computer.

In addition to our league, I also am in a league with several long time friends. So I'll even keep you up to date on that one!

Are you ready for some football?

Buy None Get Two Free!

You probably have seen offers to buy one, get one free, but have you ever seen an advertisement to pay nothing in return for two free items? That's what happens when you combine a buy one, get one free store offer with a buy one, get one free (BOGOF) coupon!

I have a couple of coupon websites I frequent, and they alerted me to a deal going on at Kroger affiliated stores last week. John.Morrell lunch meat containers were on sale with a BOGOF offer. The website directed me to another website where I could print a coupon for BOGOF. I took the coupon to the store and it really worked!! I used the coupon as "payment" for my one item and got the second free. I got two of the containers of lunch meat for free! Essentially I paid nothing but tax, but even then it was hardly anything because I brought my reuseable bags for an additional 5 cents off each bag.

I love getting deals like this, especially when I didn't think it would actually work. The store will get reimbursed for the full amount of the item for my coupon- just as if I had paid for one container myself. The store wins because they get reimbursed, the lunch meat company wins because I try their product, and I win because I get free food! How great is that?

If you feel inspired to find your own stellar deals, check out a few of my favorite websites: CouponCravings, TheFreebieBlogger, PinchingYourPennies, and two other sites specific to the state we live in. Email me if you want those sites. Happy shopping and deal hunting!

Working 9 to 5

As of last Monday (a week and a half ago now), I've had full-time employment again! Our classes started Tuesday of last week, and on Monday my boss gave me another contract for full-time work this school year. I was starting to get nervous because this is the latest I've ever been offered a contract. Usually by spring or summer things are finalized for my work in the upcoming fall. God has really been testing my patience lately and my ability to wait on Him, and this was just another example of that.

I was offered the contract on Monday and then classes started Tuesday, but I didn't know what I was teaching yet! Turns out that today- the 7th day of our classes- I finally know all 3 of the classes I will be teaching. Can you believe it? It's been absolutely insane the past 1 1/2 weeks, but I'm hoping things will calm down by next week. I finally know my classes and students and can begin teaching. I'm thankful for the upcoming long weekend, so that I can plan out the remaining weeks of class and know where I'm going! I've just been in survival mode up until now. It's time to get into "thriving" mode next week because I just can't stand feeling like I'm only surviving.

I am grateful for yet another 9 months of professional work and income. God has truly blessed me with my work the entire time I've lived here, and this is yet another example of being able to contribute to our household now and for the future. Now that I have the contract, Scott and I need to sit down and make some financial goals regarding what we would like to do with the extra income. Over the course of the summer we had been trying to live off of his salary since I wasn't getting paid(some months we were more successful at this than others). Knowing that we can somewhat live off one income, it's time to plan. I'm sure we'll disagree a bit on what to do with my income- retirement funding, house repairs and updates, travel, etc. But this is one disagreement I don't mind having because I have work again. Thank you, Lord!