Father's Day Present

I was talking to my mom last week and asked her what my dad wanted for Father's Day.  She said that he had sent my sister a link to Craigslist with a listing of some goats and told her that was what he wanted.  In fact, he has always talked about wanting a goat.  The other night I was really racking my brain trying to figure out what to get for him.  I knew that I would have a few extra weeks to get him a present since I won't see him until the beginning of July.  I happened to check my email and found an email from Compassion International with their gift catalog (probably trying to target people like me trying to think at last minute of what to get their father...and it worked on me!) where you can buy a gift like building supplies, mosquito nets, chickens, etc for children with the Compassion organization in honor of someone else.  I was scrolling through and found a goat.  I thought it would be the perfect gift for my dad, so I called up my sister and asked her if she would be willing to go in half with me and she was all for the idea as well.  I was hoping that I would be able to send the goat directly to my compassion child, but it doesn't work out that way.  So, we bought the goat and they had a page that could be printed out with a picture of a goat and it lets the person know that a gift has been bought in their honor.  My wonderful sister printed it out on nice paper and framed it for my dad for his father's day present.  :-) 

My dad was pretty excited about it since he finally got to get his goat, but he doesn't have to take care of it and someone get better use out of it than he could! 

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Thankful Thursday

My dear friend Lydia always posts Thankful Thursday on her blog where she posts certain things that she is especially thankful for that week. She gave me permission to steal any of her ideas from her blog...so here is my Thankful Thursday!

1.  My dad has to be number one this week.  With father's day coming up, I'm especially thankful for him.  Growing up, he was always supporting us in whatever we were interested in at the time.  He made countless trips to the bird store with me just because I liked to look at the birds.  Sometimes I would get brave enough to let them sit on my finger, but as soon as I got bit, I would go back to just liking to look at them.  I'm pretty sure he took me down there a few times a week for months.  I got into gardening for awhile and he was always willing to take me to the nursery to buy some more plants to put in my little sectioned off area of the backyard (that now serves as a mouse cemetary).

Speaking of mice....there was also the time when I blatantly disobeyed my mom....Amy and I went to the pet store while my mom was at the grocery store and bought a mouse plus all of the fixins to go along with it.  My mom got very upset and wanted me to take the mouse back, but I wouldn't, so then it became one of those "wait until your dad gets home" type of a thing.  Well, my dad got home, came up to my room, took a look at that adorable little furry face and went back downstairs and told my mom he didn't see a problem with it.  My mom grew to like little Sniffy and it got to the point to where I would walk into my room and find my mom on my bed just sitting there petting my mouse.  Had he not been ok with my mouse, my mom would have never found the love in her heart for tiny furballs, and I would have had to return my mouse that was such a homework time companion.  :-)  Thanks Dad!

He has also helped me out so much during school.  He was always willing to help out with homework and, along with my mom, helped me financially through college.  I certainly couldn't be in the same position I'm in right now without their support.

2. Caleb. 
Seriously.  He's awesome.  He spoils me all the time and I couldn't have asked for a better husband.  Somedays I catch myself just staring at the picture of the two of us on my desk thinking about how thankful I am to have him..

3. Our apartment. 
Our apartment is perfect for our needs/wants right now.  We have a laundry room where I can do our own laundry without anybody else interferring.  We have a whole extra room where Caleb can do his woodworking stuff.  We have counter space and a dishwasher in the kitchen!  We have closets that are designed logically!  It's also a good reminder when looking towards the future and knowing that God has us in His hands.  The ability to get this apartment was certainly only in His perfect timing and we couldn't be happier with it.  He provided this, and He will continue to provide.

4. My job.
Again, just another reminder of God's provision.  It was a long waiting game to get a job that provided enough for us, and I am again thankful for His timing in it all so that we were able to spend time with our families for the holidays while in transition between jobs. 

5. Bincy.
I'm thankful for our Compassion International child.  We got a new picture of her the other day.  I also got a letter from her a few months ago and she called me her loving aunt.  It made me smile.  I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to change her life and give her a chance to hear the Gospel.

A typical night above the hair salon

Tonight is just a typical night here.  Caleb reading while I sit by and keep him company.  :-)  Tonight, it's couponing and waiting for The Big Bang Theory to come on. 

An apparently bi-montly update

I mean to update this more, I really do.  It just doesn't happen.  Maybe someday I can be like my friend Lydia and post several times a week.  Until then, you can enjoy this update.

Here are some highlights of what's been going on lately:


Travelling
In the past month we went to the Creation Museum up by Cinncinatti one weekend, my parents came to visit the next weekend, then we went to Chattanooga following that to visit some college friends, and then we headed to Missouri to visit with Caleb's side of the family the weekend after. It's been great just to get out and enjoy going places (mostly because I didnt have to do any of the driving) and getting to see family and friends, but it sure was good to stay home this past weekend and not have any plans.

Plants.  I have a flower in bloom!  And two more on the way! (It's actually neon yellow) It's been years since I have grown flowers and had them bloom.  Last year my plants kind of all died off in the whole 4-day moving process.  Also, I've been growing Cilantro and Basil.  The Cilantro isn't doing too hot, but the basil is taking off like crazy.  I started by just putting a few seeds into two mason jars, and I now have 7 individual basil plants that are quite abundant with their leaves.  Caleb used some of the fresh basil leaves in some roasted potatoes the other day and oh my were they delicious.  I'm planning on taking some of these leaves off soon and putting them in our dehydrator to have some dried basil on hand. 


Bread. 
Since we were home this past weekend and having friends over for dinner, I decided to make some bread.  So Friday night I went to make some dough and when I went to get the flour to add in (which I always add last), I had no flour.  Actually I did have some in my cannister, I just thought it was empty.  I went out Saturday morning to buy some flour but I knew I wouldn't have time to whip up some of that yummy sourdough that I was planning on making the night before. Fail #1. I got out my Better Homes and Gardens cook book to find a faster recipe. I found a potato bread recipe and decided to give it a shot...only I didn't read the recipe immediately and I ran out of time to finish the bread before dinner because I still needed about another hour.  Fail #2.  The bread ended up turning out fine, but since I went ahead and made the sourdough bread as well, we now have 2 loaves and 2 dozen rolls at our disposal.  Next time we have dinner and want homemade bread, I'll just check the freezer.  I'll have plenty.

Garage Sales

Not the wow factor. 

Garage sales are so much better here than they are back in St Louis.  They don't usually start until 8 am (instead of 6 am) and you can still go out after lunch and find some.  In the past month I also got to go to garage sales in Chattanooga, TN with my friend Leah while our husbands did boy things and then again in Missouri with Caleb's side of the family.  We've found some pretty sweet deals.  Nothing real big (Caleb is still looking for his "wow factor"), but we've still managed to find a few things that were worth paying a quarter for.



Summer classes

Caleb started one of his possibly three J-terms for the summer today on C.S. Lewis.  He was pretty stoked about it because he's quite the C.S. Lewis fan.  I'm glad he finally gets to focus more on subjects that he likes now that he has both his greek and hebrew out of the way. Yay  Caleb!  :-)



Coupons
Another thing I enjoyed about this weekend was being able to go shopping.  Caleb has been so gracious in doing the grocery shopping here lately since he's home a lot more than I am.  I've missed that thrill of being able to walk in with a handful of coupons and be able to cut my bill in half.  I'm still stepping up my game and was only able to save 1/3 of my bill this weekend, but hey, I still bought a ton of food for $30.  Tonight's menu: Shrimp fettuccini alfredo.  Every ingredient was bought on sale.  Woo hoo! (Oh, and probably bread too just because we can.)