not me! monday

it's monday again... here's what didn't happen this past week:

i did not fail to do any homeschool with samantha all of last week because i had so much to do to get ready for thanksgiving at our house. and samantha was not bored all day every day.

i did not go to bed at 3am and get up at 5am to go shopping on black friday. after my 3 hours of shopping i did not come home for breakfast, get the family, and then go out for an additional 3 hours of shopping.

i did not return over $450 worth of stuff on saturday. okay... some of that was Christmas presents that had accumulated over the past couple weeks.

i have not been in such a cooking funk since thursday that ben had to get most of his and samantha's meals.

i did not go to target last night and see pat at one of the two lanes that was open (see, i told you they only have two open) and did not totally avoid her lane in case she remembered me.

man i can't wait to see what i don't do this coming week!

what did you not do? visit mckmama's blog to play along!

would you like to save 10% on your purchase today by signing up for a target red card?

this is one of the things i hate the most about target. well, besides the fact that they have 20 check out lanes and only 2 open. sometimes only one. even with long lines. i digress...

but i hate it when they ask you all the time if you'd like to apply for a credit card. no, we already have one thank you, one that was maxed, one that the apr was about 22.9%, one that we PAID OFF about 5 months ago. no, i really don't want to save $20 on my purchase when i'll be paying $10 a month in interest. no thank you, we really don't want another target red card.

i don't ususally get into that kind of conversation when they ask the simple question, but that is what rambles through my mind. (although after we paid it off we were asked if we'd like a credit card and i told the lady, "nope, we had one that we just paid off and we definitely don't want to go down that road again!" i hope i wasn't too rude to her.)

so black friday morning i was at target when the doors opened (actually before they opened and got to stand in line), easily made my way through the store, snagged the items i wanted and was headed for the checkout in no time. they even had seven lanes open. i don't think i've ever seen that many open at one time. (yes, i stopped to count.) i chose the express lane and was greeted by a nice lady that was probably in her 60s. i'll call her marge. as we were chatting she mentioned that she was nervous because she was from a different store and that the computers were a little different and she wasn't used to them.

as she was finishing scanning all my items i swiped my debit card and signed for my purchases thinking i would shortly be on my way to the next store.

nope.

marge looked at me and asked, "would you like to save 10% on your purchase today by signing up for a target red card?"
me - "no thank you."
marge - "ok." she said, smiling. then she hit a button looked at the screen for a minute and said "ohhhhh....... oh no....... uh oh.... OH NOOO......"
she started pushing some different buttons and then found a credit card application, scanned something on it, asked for my driver's license and scanned it, asked me what my address was, then handed me the application brochure, looked at me with appologetic eyes and said, "just throw it away."

uggghhhhhh. so apparently she had pushed the yes i'd like a credit card button on accident and had to go through the whole process. meanwhile the lines were backing up behind me. i didn't dare look, but i could see the impatient people out of the corner of my eye.

then marge asked me to sign something on the credit card thingy. (what's that called anyway?) but there was nothing to sign. it stated that i had already completed my transaction. so marge was stuck. she was pushing buttons on the computer, flipped her light so that she could get some help, and just kind of looked around unknowingly. poor marge. finally the lady from the cafeteria - let's call her pat - came over to help.

**side note - why is the cafeteria opened at 6:15 on black friday morning? are they having a popcorn special that people don't want to miss out on?**

so pat and marge discussed what was happening and pat asked me for my i.d. again. so i gave it to her and she went through the whole process of scanning, swiping, and asking again.
pat looked at my license and asked me, "is your first name erin?"
me - "yes."
pat - "is your last name k***?"
me - "yes...?" can you seriously not see it on my license?
pat - "is your address blah blah blah?"
me - "yes......."

she finally got done with all that and asked me to sign on the credit card thingy again. "it says my transaction is complete. i already swiped my card and signed it," i said. so pat started pushing a bunch of buttons and got stuck again!!!

finally i looked at pat and said "is there no way you can get out of this because i don't want the credit card."
pat - "oh, you don't?"
me - "no!" (laughingly, not rude.)
she pushed some more buttons and after a couple more minutes my receipt finally printed out - my ticket to leave the store! after the 15 minute fiasco i quickly took the receipt, did not even dare to glance at the line behind me, and swiftly got out of the store!

and to think i went back there today...!

thanksgiving by the numbers

6:30 - the time my alarm went off so i could stick the turkey in the oven before going back to bed.

8 - the number of things i made for dinner.

2.5 - how many hours the turkey had been done by the time we ate.

12 - how many people were at our house throughout the day.

80 - how hot (in farenheit degrees) our house was.

0 - the number of stressful minutes i had during the day! seriously!

240 - minutes spent looking through the black friday ads.

2 - how many hours of sleep i got last night.

6 - hours spent battling the crowds shopping this morning.

14 - the number of items i bought today that i will be returning.

359 - days until we do this all over again!


i must say i had a wonderful thanksgiving day. this is the first year we hosted ben's side of the family. i had dreams that the turkey didn't get done and that we ran out of food. but the reality was that the turkey was done way early (it wasn't dry though, thankfully!) and we had tons of food left over! as i was getting ready for the day i was missing my family and wishing i could be with them. then as everyone showed up i realized i was with my family! i am so blessed to have in-laws that i love and get along with! i had such an enjoyable day with everyone!

we had a relaxed day. we the men watched the football game, we played a couple games, spent hours looking through the ads, and all but two people played guitar hero. by the time everyone left it was the kids' bedtime. sweet quietness!

the past 4 years ben and his brother tommy and a bunch the nephews and family camp out at best buy most of thanksgiving afternoon and through the night. they decided not to do that this year since there were no good deals and they really didn't want anything so instead they went to walmart at midnight to see if they could get anything then or if they had to wait till 5am. by the time ben got home it was after 1am. i was still looking through the ads, then ben started his quest of ordering stuff online. it was 3am when i got to sleep, 4am when ben got to bed, and 5am when my alarm went off. i was out the door by 5:20 and went to target, walmart, kohl's (wow... i'm definitely not a kohl's lover. walked in and out in a matter of 5 minutes!), gordman's, and kmart and was home by 9am. then we all ventured out again at 10! it was so nice to go shopping by myself! the crowds weren't too bad (except at kohl's!) and it was great that the kids were sleeping the whole time so that i didn't feel like i had to hurry home!

i had a tiring but fun day. hopefully by monday i'll be recovered and ready to get back into the groove of things. i hope you all had a fun, safe, and happy thanksgiving!

ben's first time carving a turkey. you did a great job hun!

ben's brother tommy and his daughter kasey.

kasey and her boyfriend josh.

friend casey, ben's mom debbie (yes, playing the drums!) and step dad mike.

debbie and friend jason who is married to casey.

friend casey who is married to jason! :-)

cousins! samantha and niece karma. no, not samantha's niece, our niece! figure this out: karma's dad is tommy and her mom is casey. ;-)

ryan LOVES playing the drums! and doesn't he look soooo cute!

thankful thursday

so this morning i was going to write what i was thankful for, but of course i decided to procrastinate. by the time everyone left today i didn't realize that the evening was half gone. so here i sit with 18 minutes to get this done!

how truely blessed i am! i could go on and on about the things i am thankful for - so many things that i don't deserve. the greatest and most important being a God so loving that He sent His one and only Son to die for MY sins. that if i would simply believe i would not perish but have eternal life.
a God so loving & merciful Whose mercies are new every morning.
a God that has given me a wonderful godly husband.
a God that has given me two adorable children.
a God that has allowed me to live in a country with so many freedoms and opportunites.
a God that has never let me go without a meal whereas millions of people may not have even had a meal today.
a God that has never let me sleep on the streets while there are so many that right now are without a warm, safe home.
a God that is always here.
a God that has given me a great family. i mean totally awesome. i'm so thankful for the family that i was born into. i have a mom and dad and three sisters that are my best friends. we all get along... and i love them! :-) i'm so thankful for the family that i married into. they accept me as one of their own. and love me like one of their own. and i love you guys too! :-)
a God that has given me wonderful friends past and present. friends that i have learned from, friends that i have leaned on, friends that i have laughed with. friends that have shown me Who God is through living out their own faith.
a God that has never missed a shed tear.
a God that is my Savior, my Father, my Provider, my Protector, my Refuge, my Friend, my Comforter, my Shelter, my Healer, my Fortress, my Helper, my Peace, my Light, my Refiner, my Sustainer, my God.

i am so thankful. i am so blessed.

wondering...

this past week samantha has been learning a little bit about thanksgiving and we've been reading some different books about the pilgrims. i had totally forgotten some of the details of their first year in america and how difficult it was for them to survive.

i got to thinking that what if the pilgrims would've gone off course and landed in florida? would they have had an easier winter? would not as many of them have died? would they have met and befriended any indians? would they have been as thankful for a bountiful harvest and had a thanksgiving feast? would we even celebrate thanksgiving today?

just a thought...

The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere.

Oswald Chambers

thankful thursday

i was so excited when i saw this last week:

then yesterday i was thrilled when i saw this:

i didn't think it could get much better, but this morning my sister-in-law di and i went shopping in independence, mo (about 12 miles from our house). i definitely had to fill up just so i could have this receipt:

let me zoom in for you...

i really don't need to elaborate on these pictures, but i will!

right after ben and i were married i remember gas being around $1.20/gal. and i remember when gas started going up that i thought $1.60 was through the roof, out of this world, insanely expensive.

man, what a difference a few dollars makes!! thank you, God, that a mere four months ago i got to pay... (yes, GOT to pay. that means i have a car. that runs.) ...$4.09 per gallon of gasoline, because that has totally put $1.60 into perspective!

what are you thankful for today?

47.2 pounds...

...of CANDY in my house.

well actually more... i didn't count the candy in our regularly well stocked candy bowl.

my sister heather had the closest guess in the candy contest with 47 pounds. but unfortunately she said to keep it. that totally was not the point of the contest... it was to get it OUT of my house! the next closest was my niece callie with her guess of 55 pounds. i already promised her and her sisters that i'd bring lots of candy at Christmas, and so that y'all don't think the winners were fixed (since they were family members), kimberly also gets a bag with her 3rd closest guess of 32 pounds.

oh joy that this candy will hopefully be disappearing to some place other than my mouth! :-)

thankful thursday

first of all... i don't know if someone else has come up with a thankful thursday scheme so i totally won't take credit for it. but this is something that has been on my mind for a while---that i need to be more thankful. and i should be able to come up with something every week shouldn't i?? (you're invited to do the same!)

the past week i've been trying to teach samantha about being thankful and grateful. the other night we were going to go out for dinner because it was too late to make anything scrumptious and i didn't have anything quickly fixable in the house that ben would like. so as we were getting ready to leave ben told samantha that we were going to go to the dumpster for dinner. i saw this as a great teaching opportunity and asked samantha if she though anyone would ever do that. "eewwwwww! that's so gross! no one would eat from the trash!" she said. so i explained to her that yes, some people do eat from the dumpster because they don't have food and we need to be thankful for the food we eat even when we may not like it the best and on and on.

so lesson taught and off we go. we ended up at dairy queen (which has a rep with my mom for not being very good). ben got 2 cheeseburgers and the kids and i split a chicken strip basket. long story short---the food was gross. everything tasted like it had been sitting for quite a while, the chicken and fries were cold and hard and the hamburger was pink in the middle. so i asked for a refund, got my money, we hopped in the car to go somewhere else, and right away samantha pipes up from the backseat, "mom, i thought we were supposed to be thankful for our food even when we don't like it. didn't we just talk about that tonight?? right??"

oh crap. i hate it when my daughter teaches ME a lesson. (but at least i know she was listening to me earlier...) so i apologized to her about not being thankful for my food and so on and then ben proceeded to tell her that if the food was free we would've eaten it and been thankful for it but we had to pay a lot of money and if we threw away the food we would've been wasting our money and dairy queen needs to know that the food wasn't good so that they don't keep making it that way. whew! (yes i know that was a run-on sentence) he made me feel a little better after saying that, but i still learned a lesson from my 5 year old.


so all that said, here's what i'm thankful for today: food! it's not number 1 on my list, but it goes along with the story! i have a fridge full of food right now. my freezers are plumb full and i have so much stuff in my pantry that there is some stuff i can't even see. i am thankful for food. food that is not dug out of a dumpster or trash can because my family is hungry. food that is fresh and healthy. food that is warm on a chilly day. food that i have chosen. food that is not hazardous to our health. food that satisfies our appetites. even food that is gross from dairy queen! we are so blessed.

not me! monday ...and a contest

it's monday again! here is what we (yes, i'm being brutally honest for ben too) did NOT do this week!

a couple days after halloween we did not go to target and ben did not buy a mound of candy that was on sale.

after target we did not go to walmart and he did not beg me let him get another bag of candy because "please???? it's my favorite..."

then last wednesday we did not go to target again and notice that the remaning candy was on sale even more and once again ben could not pass up such a deal. (no, really, he couldn't pass it up!)

then friday night we definately didn't go to target AGAIN (yeah, we love target. and these were all different targets by the way) and we he certainly didn't buy even more candy.

tonight i did not look at the mound of target bags filled with candy wondering how many pounds of candy we had and i did not add it all up. i definately was not shocked at the amount i had calculated and then i did not find another target bag full of candy. ahhhh!

after telling ben how many pounds of candy we have he did not say "cool! lets eat it all tonight!"

so can you guess how many pounds of candy we have? click on comments to leave your guess. whoever is closest gets a bag of candy! hey---i have to get rid of it somehow! (and no, ben my love, you cannot guess the correct answer to get another bag of candy!)

play along! what did you not do?

love is in the air...

i love fall. it's probably my favorite season. it's in a close race with spring.

i love my new camera lens. i've had fun taking it for a test click this past week.

and i loooooove my kids! nothin' better than enjoying fall with samantha and ryan and ollie (my camera)! here's a few pictures from this week.

they would never smile at the same time...

i love the next three pictures. i wish i knew what was going through ryan's mind!

i didn't get as many pictures of samantha. she was either hiding from her brother....

...or playing with the boys.

mr. pitiful

tidbits

i need to start writing down everything samantha says because one of these days she's gonna grow out of her blondness. (i hope!) here's what i can remember from the last week:

on our way home from minnesota while crossing the state line, samantha said, "bye minnesota. see you later..... hi iowa!!!! it's sooooooooo good to see you again!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

tuesday morning we went outside to go to church and there was frost on the car windows and on the ground. with much awe and enthusiasm, samantha proclaimed, "mom, it's snowing today!"

"no, honey, that's just frost on the window."

"oh!!! it's frosting today!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

the other night on our way to the airport she saw a street sign that was a little crooked and said, "oh no, it's gonna fall over! i guess they planted it wrong."

right after that she was looking out the window at the stars and asked, "mom, can you help me find the apple dipper?"

and a couple minutes after that she excitedly exclaimed,"MOM!!! I KNOW WHO WE'RE GONNA VOTE FOR PRESIDENT!!!"

"who?" i asked, thinking she would say john mccain. she's a HUGE mccain supporter or as she would say, "we're cheering for john mccain..." anyway... i asked "who?" to which she replied, "JESUS!"

ohhh, wouldn't that be nice..!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

this one makes absolutely no sense, but last night as we were in the car the dome light wasn't working very well. ben said "i'll have to fix it again." and samantha pipped up with "i know..... so that you don't have to pay for it anymore, why don't you just spend all your money and buy a new car!"

what a good solution. i can't believe we didn't think of that! :-)

GOD and politics

i was so blessed to go to church this morning. it's been so long since i've worshipped at my own church--it felt so good to be back home!

this morning pastor bob had a wonderful message that i wanted to share with you all. in light of the HUGE election coming up this tuesday, his sermon was "what is your responsibility as a christian citizen" taken from Romans 13:1-7.

a little background on the passage.... paul wrote this letter to the christians in rome about 4 years after nero became emperor. he became emperor when he was about 17 years old and he was an evil beyond evil ruler. (he murdered his first wife to marry his misstress, then later murdered her. he murdered his mother. he would dip christians in oil, hang them on a pole and set them on fire for light at night. he was BAD!) more evil than we could ever know.

so after 4 years and in the midst of a horrible ruler paul writes this:

1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

no matter what happens this election, GOD IS IN CONTROL and we still need to submit to our government.* God has already appointed our new president, senators, mayors, etc.** and at the end of the day, GOD IS STILL SOVEREIGN. if you don't like how our governing authorities rule, let God deal with that (Romans 12:19).*** our country doesn't need the perfect president (not that that will EVER happen!) to fix all our problems, but what our country needs is JESUS. let's not get so wrapped up in the political scheme of things that we forget what really matters--telling others about HIM!

*yes, i know there are instances in which we should not submit to authority--obey God rather than men--and if you listen to the sermon you'll hear that too!

**you still need to get out and VOTE, though!

***and yes... i know we can talk to our congressmen, etc. and voice our opinions.

i can't do this sermon justice. if you have a minute or 30 please listen to it or download it. and don't forget to VOTE on tuesday!!