Literature is my Utopia

Ahhhh... how I love my books! Lately it is my Nook but you get the picture :) Here is what is currently consuming me...

I stared the Stephanie Plum Series back before Christmas. I love, love, love them so far. I did go and see "One For the Money" on opening weekend. It was fabulous! Katherine Heigl was perfect for the part and they stuck to the script...which is always a good thing.

I just finished this one..

Believe it or not...it was my first Nicholas Sparks. I know, I know..I should have read some of his books sooner. I do own a couple that are sitting on my shelf. I just can't stand the heartache! This one was great and not at all heartbreaking. If you have not read this you really should. It is a great Nicholas Sparks "starter" book. I can't wait to see The Lucky One in theaters. I just hope they do it justice.

Next on my list...

I am headed back to the wonderful world of Mercy Thompson. Mercy is a mechanic by day and surrounded by the supernatural by night. I was introduced to this series by a friend and I really enjoy visiting Mercy from time to time. Silver Borne is the fifth in this series. I can't wait!!!

Will We Ever Grow Up???

Saturday I went solo to a child's birthday party and I must admit...I had a lovely time :) Both Wyatt and Nick were sick at the end of this past week so they stayed at home to cut down the risk of spreading germs or having a coughing relapse. Since it was at the home of one of my best friends and the majority of my other girlfriends would be there, I simply couldn't miss the opportunity to see them.

I love birthday parties!! Who doesn't? And as far as I am concerned...the bigger the better. It is the perfect opportunity to eat to much of the stuff I am not supposed to eat, laugh and talk and enjoy seeing and visiting with some of my favorite folks. My friends and I love taking crazy pictures together. It has become one of our favorite pastimes. So when one of them suggested that we all go down the big blow up slide in a "train" fashion we were all on board.

Even though we are technically adults we do enjoy a good blow up slide. We do have the good manners to wait until some of the party guests have thinned out before pushing our own kids aside and showing them how it's done. Saturday was no exception. As soon as we could, four of us (just enough for a good train) were climbing up that ladder to get to the top of that slide. The cameras were entrusted to the right people and we were ready.

What happened next is not for the faint of heart. Amanda and Lora were at the top of the slide followed closely by me and Amelia. All of a sudden the slide starts to lean...oh NO!! I thought to myself...is the slide tilting?? Then I felt it lean a little more..uh oh. I hear Lora say, "go back down, go back down." But by then we were to far up to go back down. One wrong move and we are going over. That is when the air started going out. As the slide collapses around us and Amanda is almost buried alive we sit in a puddle of humiliation as the cameras around us FLASH..FLASH..FLASH. We are four grown women sitting on the ground, laughing uncontrollably as one of the children starts to cry.

The good news is that one of the hubbys deflated the slide to get us down and we didn't actually cause the thing to deflate (thank goodness). They were able to blow it back up so the kids were able to play. The bad news is we didn't get our train picture and we were photographed relentlessly in our humiliation. We are fondly referring to it as the Epic Slide Fail of 2012.

Here we are going up

...and it begins to tilt

and collapses on us

I was laughing so hard I was crying!

No more pictures!

Ooopppssss!

Rules were made to be broken!

Living Frugal

I have recently went through a little change of heart when it comes to money. I am not sure if it is my age or maybe because we have Wyatt now. Whatever the reason, I have become somewhat of a penny pincher. I am not crazy like some of the folks on tv. I am not an extreme couponer, a hoarder or a cheapskate. I just enjoy saving money on things when I can.

I started couponing a couple of years ago and got pretty good at it. I managed to cut my grocery bill in half. I did great for about a year and between Publix and CVS I was really doing great! Both of these stores suddenly changed coupon policies and made it a lot harder to score the deals that I was accustomed to getting.

I must admit that I got pretty disgusted with them and with the amount of work that I was doing and still not getting the great deals that I was getting before. By this time Dream A Little Dream was in full swing and I was unreasonably busy so I started slipping. I couldn't detect it at first but as the weeks started ticking by I noticed a difference in my checking account. We absolutely didn't have as much money! I could tell that something in our budget was costing us more. I immediately knew the answer. I had previously been spending about $50 a week on groceries and that figure jumped up at least by half. I told Nick one evening that I have got to start couponing again.

I jumped back in pretty quick. Anyone who has done any couponing knows that it does take about a month or so to get back on track and get the pantry restocked. I am proud to say that I am currently spending about $60 a week on groceries. That includes meat, toiletries and the occasional pack of pull ups. My newest goal is to get it back down to $50 per week. I am doing great considering how strict the coupon policy is now compared to when I started. I have decided to give CVS another try and see what I can get there to help my cause. We shall see :)

Another change that I made beginning last summer was very challenging. I opted to run my dryer as little as possible. That means that I have put the Amish made clothing rack that my daddy bought me to good use. I have also learned from The Fly Lady that if you will simply do one load a day the laundry will not back up on you. That theory works great with my no dryer policy. I don't get burnt out by washing and hanging everything in one day and my clothes have plenty of time to dry before the next load comes along.

After incorporating this method for a couple of months, I could definitely tell a difference in my electric bill. I usually have at least one electric bill that is very close to $400 during the summer months (we have a pool). But not this past summer! I have managed to keep our bill pretty close to affordable for almost a year now. At times it was even reasonable. I have also adjusted the thermostat and the dishwasher so we are that much more "energy efficient."

I have set a few "financial goals" for our family this year and I must say that I am doing pretty good at seeing them through. I hope to meet these goals this year and get more money in my savings. I find great comfort in watching my "emergency fund" grow. I also enjoy saving on the day to day things so we can enjoy a few luxuries as well.

It's A Twister!!!

Our little town was once again touched by a tornado this past Friday morning. After the horrible destruction of last year's April tornadoes I think we are all a little on edge, and rightly so. I for one go into a hot panic as soon as I hear those sirens go off! I immediately think about my husband who is usually working right in the middle of the storms and my friends and family who are scattered across the county.

The east side of Limestone County took a hard hit yet again as well as our neighboring Madison County.

Photos taken by WHNT News Channel 19

There were a few homes in the area and surrounding areas that were also hit last April as well. Some were still under construction from the last storm.

I know that material things do not compare to "what money cannot buy" but to me loosing my home would be the next worse thing. Our homes that we live in from day to day that house all of our memories and where all of our belongings are to be gone in just a moment would be devastating. Over the past year so many of our neighbors have lost everything, including many irreplaceable things such as pictures and family heirlooms. Please say a special prayer for these people and be thankful to have your home.

I certainly am.

These storms made the national news and I was not at all surprised to see a news story on the Yahoo homepage over the weekend.

Nick (who is a lineman with Athens Electric Department) and his co workers worked long, long hours this weekend. By Sunday evening they had power restored to all of those that was possible. I am proud of the work that they did this past weekend and last year as well.

Is it really called work when it is this fun???

As previously stated, I am fortunate enough to work at home. I am the co owner of a small clothing line called Dream A Little Dream. My cousin Carla and I work daily in our little shop right in my back yard. Oh the joy of walking to work!! We specialize in hand made clothing and accessories for children. We are blessed with an abundance of friends and family that support us. We enjoy advertising and selling on both Facebook and Etsy. We also have many local customers who we love seeing from time to time around town and at local craft/trunk shows. Everything created in our shop is born out of love and laughter. We have so much fun working together. Our family is very close by and we enjoy daily visitors at our shop.

Here is our sweet logo. Carla designed it and a fellow Etsy seller tweeked it for just the right look. We absolutely love it.

Merritt modeling our Simply White Peasant Dress on the beach last summer

Our Dream Girl wearing triple ruffle denim pants and Just a Little Lace peasant top

Merritt and Wyatt (best frienemies) modeling our Sandollar tees

One of our most favorite items to make is the One Of A Kind dress. Time only allows a select few and we either auction them off on our Facebook fanpage or use them as a promotional item in a Giveaway. Here are a few of those precious jewels that are so personal to us.

Please feel free to join our fanpage or browse through our Etsy shop!!

http://www.facebook.com/DreamALittleDreamClothing

http://www.etsy.com/shop/dreamalittledream10