Gardening and Getting Fit!

This last week was very busy.  I was unsure if I was going to do a garden this year...it is a lot of work, and I've been really, really busy with work I actually get money for, so I didn't know if I could fit it in.  What turned the corner for happened at a garage sale.  On some Saturday mornings I go out to garage sales with a friend.  It is simply amazing what you can find for SO cheap.  One Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago I found two tomato cages...the wire things that keep tomato plants all together and off the ground.  When I saw those I knew it was my sign...so I paid a $1 and that began my garden season.  This week I had another sign. I pulled the recycle bin around to the garden bed and began pulling grass and weeds to prepare to plant.  I always tell myself I won't let so much winter green enter my garden...but I have yet to be successful at that.  ANYWAY...I started at the easy end and started pulling...when much to my amazement, I found volunteer potato plants - another sign!  I think the gardening bug has well entrenched itself this year - I am excited to plant!

The other thing that happened this week is I joined an exercise group.  A woman at church is spearheading this group and it is being held three times a week.  The first day I got 10 minutes into it and felt like I would not be able to finish.  Discouraging thoughts kept coming at me..."you are SO old compared to these younger women"..."they are all thin...I've never been thin, I'll never be able to keep up"...and I think you get the idea.  I didn't give up, and by the end of the workout I was sweating and felt great!  I have set goals for myself...against myself, not others...and I'm ready to take on the challenge!  I intended on only attending two of the days, but on Friday I found myself in the car and heading towards the church.  I was SO glad I did.  I am really grateful to the person putting this together (thank you Tracy Adams)...

May 17 - Sami will be on her way home - YEAH!

He's Baaaaaaackkkkkk!

On April 9 I flew to Salt Lake City and met my parents and David there.  We journeyed on to Provo to meet up with Sami, and attend her end of the year band concert.  I had promised her that I would buy flowers and have them ready for her at the end of the concert. Unfortunately I forgot, and 25 minutes before the concert was to start David and I were driving around looking for a store that sold flowers.  Provo-ites....business idea: open a flower shop!  We finally found one and I raced in and bought a bouquet.  We raced back to the concert, arriving just in time to be seated.  It was a beautiful concert!  David left the next morning to go back to Rexburg to finish out his end of the year responsibilities.  Grandma, grandpa and I spent that day with Sami.  She had a cold, but was a trouper and went where ever we wanted.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of her!  All too quickly the time passed and the next morning we left early to go pack David up to bring him home. The picture above is of David and his two roommates...anyway, their apartment was impressively clean for a boy's apartment and we quickly were packed and ready to go.  Side note: the apartment manager had to sign David off before he left....she gave a new meaning to "white glove" check.  Whew.  We drove to Caldwell and got to have dinner with Aunt Mada and spent the night there.  Next day we drove, drove, drove and drove more and finally made it home!  It was a long drive, but David and I had a good time doing it.  Next step: Bring Sami home!

Grandma and Grandpa stayed to visit with us for the week after we brought David back.  Roo often startles easily..and in this pic something had startled her and she decided to hide behind Grandpa. Silly girl.  She may startle easily, but when it comes to letting us know when strangers are at the door she is serious business.

Have a great week!

Recognizing Blessings

An unexpected blessing happened to us today and I wanted to share it.  Backing up a couple of years:  we have struggled with budgeting our money for years.  It was tough to live on what we made and it was easy to use credit cards.  Over the years we have started and stopped with spending our money wisely...budgeting, budgeting, budgeting.  Giving up when it became too hard or a crisis happened and we went into debt further.  We always paid our bills on time, and never missed payments...we just couldn't seem to put anything into savings.  About two years ago we decided to try again.  Only this time I decided to take the advice of church leaders to pray and study the scriptures for a solution to this problem.  Oh, I had prayed before, but didn't add the scripture part into it til now, AND I really wasn't ready to sacrifice my own "wants".  It made all the difference.  When we were faced with a rather large (thousands) tax bill, at first I was totally crushed, not sure what to do next.  I slept on it, and the next day after prayer and some scripture study,  I was determined we were going to pay this bill with as little help as possible.  We saved every penny we could, we scrimped, we cut back on buying anything that seemed "extra".  We had a little help (thank you!) but we covered most of the bill ourselves.  YEAH!  That success was humbling and made me realize that with the Lord's help we can do anything - even things that seem insurmountable.

Fast forward to today.  It is interesting how things work out.  We are in the position of needing a more dependable vehicle.  A wonderful deal was dropped in our laps and we couldn't say no - so we said yes!  We had to come up with $182 to pay insurance on the new vehicle until our policy renews in July.  I didn't have it.  Still determined to pay cash I decided it would work out.  Sunday Dan was presented with the opportunity to help a woman in our church put risers on her septic tank ports.  In doing a little research on where to buy the risers on the internet I ran into "Septic Riser rebate program".  Turns if you live in a certain area in our county and you've had risers installed (or you install them) anytime after July 2006 you qualify for up to $100 rebate.  We had risers installed in October 2006.  We qualify.  So that bill of $182 has now shrunk to $82...a sum I know I can come up with before the bill is due.

Coincidence? I think not.  By being willing to help someone that needed it, we were blessed - not only with good feelings for helping a friend, but by given the means to pay a bill.  The Lord is good indeed.