Grateful..

In stake conference today there was a talk about being grateful. As I listened I thought to myself that I need to be more grateful. So a few things.. How about one thing for each day of this month so far...

1-The gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, even though sometimes I take it for granted.
2- My job, and bosses who give me encouragement.
3- My beautiful mom who sticks by me for everything even when I get mad at her :)
4- My students who can always bring a smile to my face.
5- Bountiful Baskets, they provide me with delicious fruits and vegetable every other week.
6- Weekends and the ability to accomplish so much.
7- The beautiful colors of fall.. Even though I don't see a ton of colors in AZ I know the beauty they are bringing to the rest of the world.
8- Tolleson Union School district and giving us a 3 day work week.
9- Seeing my students accomplish things like a tomato consame or mastering french bread.
10- Seeing other culinary programs, and talking to those who teach and gaining knowledge from them.
11- Those who have served and continue to serve our country so I can have all the freedoms other countries don't.
12- Medication to take the pain away from my back that I hurt when working on a dresser.
13- The flash cards, and book my mom purchased for me to pass my test.
14- Today I am especially grateful for the opportunity to think about the things I am grateful for.. I am so grateful for a warm home and for the means to prepare a delicious meal.

I hope others think about the things they are grateful for. Its very easy for us to forget the people and the things that bless our lives.

lack..

I have a lack of motivation this evening. I really need to snap out of it, I have way to many things I should be doing! grrr

Sweet Sunday

Its been a wonderful weekend ending with a beautiful Sunday. I am becoming more and more grateful for the weekends. This has been the first weekend that I haven't been super busy with 100 things to do, traveling, or having to take a test. I enjoyed every second of it, and wouldn't do anything different. Yesterday I watched the RS broadcast and was overwhelmed with love for my Savior. Today I attended church with a friends family, they both had to talk so I sat with the kids and held a newborn. I couldn't help but look at him and long for my own children. I know eventually the day will come but I want anything more to have my own family and teach them the gospel. I end this weekend tonite with homemade banana bread and an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition, I seriously love that show, I love the impact and change they make in others lives. I hope as I continue to teach that I touch a student or at least make a difference in their life. Its been a great evening to a wonderful weekend.

Fall

Heres a pic of my lil craft I did tonite.. Its toilet paper pumpkins.. So cute!
I love love love fall, to bad I live in Arizona where it is almost October and still 110 degrees! Although it is warm I am reminded everyday how lucky or blessed I am for an amazing life...I honestly am not sure I could be any happier than I am currently. I will be heading to NY for a few days in just two weeks.. Until then I have lots of work to catch up on and get ahead of. I am happy that I am able to go back when the colors are changing and everything is brisk :)

Cute Diaper Cake

Everyone knows I always like a good deal.. Well I have to go to a baby shower tomorrow, and I wanted to spend very little out of pocket... So I decided with all of the random baby stuff/diapers I get free or very close to free I would attempt to make a diaper cake.. Well I did and I am pretty darn proud of myself.. I did spend more than I would have liked BUT I bought way to much and will have enough to make 2 more for 2 of my students who are expecting! Onward with buying random baby stuff/diapers!

Crazy Times...

The night before I left NY.. my fav people came to pick me up to get some ice cream from king kone, my all time fav! Right before leaving to go I got a very distrubing call from the maintence man at my apartment! My apartment had been robbed!! Talk about a way to ruin an amazing night.. Pretty much they stole :
*32 inch Flat screen TV
*Dell Lap top
*Sony lap top
*wii
*gps
*bag that looked like it was coach but it wasn't..
Then my lovely apartment manager gave away my packages!!!!
*ipod nano
*pack newborn diapers(got them for free with my coupons)
*big pack of baby wipes (got them for free with my coupons)
*2 paint samples from Gideon
Yeah that apartment complex was no good.. But the good news is 5 months later I have moved into my beautiful NEW HOUSE!

home sweet home...

I have been in NY, which was once my home since the 10th of June. I leave to head back to AZ later this week, and I am ready to suck up that dry heat. Boy oh boy I am not sure how I ever survived the humidity here. Some days its sticky and yucky, and other days its cold! I sure do miss that dry heat...

While I have been home I have had a great time. Soon after arriving I got my hair did by the BEST hairstylist ever. Lacey lived down the street from me and owns a lil shop in town. She is seriously the best ever. I also managed a trip to Rehoboth Beach Delaware with my fav. Aunt. We only had one really good day at the beach but none the less we had a wonderful time. I also scored a free teeth cleaning from a friend of the family. I have seen many people I haven't seen for awhile and I am just truly enjoying my time with my mom.

I found out that the bank made a counter offer on my house.. I accepted the offer! They were just asking for $1,000.00 more so no big deal. Everything is moving right along. Thank you for all of the encouraging words and prayers :)

I am in the process of making a pie.. my least favorite thing to do.. So I will make sure to update soon!

Summer Vacation

Still no word about the house, altough its ONLY been 2 weeks. They say these can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months. It sort of feels like I didnt even put an offer down, let alone am working to buy a house. I have had some pretty good dreams about getting the keys and converstations with the real estate agent. I am hopeful!

This is my last Saturday of the school year! I am so excited to be done with this school year. It has been eventful, a little more challenging than last year. Which is hard to believe with all that I had on my plate last year. I am just glad it is almost over. I have had a few thank you cards from some of my seniors, thanking me for teaching them skills that they will forever use. It feels SO good to hear that you are really touching their lives! Teaching is so hard, but when you actually see the changes in kids lives it makes it SO worth it! I hope that I can save up for a Scholarship that I can give to a student each year, to use to further their education.

My summer is going to be jam packed with lots of traveling and hopefully moving :) But trust me I will be doing a lot of reading, sun bathing, and just relaxing. Thursday I should be done with school by noon, after which I will put on my swim suit on and soak up those UV rays!

Almost

School is almost over thank heavens. I feel like this school year went by so SLOW. I am so ready for a nice summer sitting by the pool and spending time with family. Only two more weeks, one week is class and the other week are finals! Yipee!

For those who read my facebook, you learned I put an offer on a house. Well they accepted the offer, but since it is a short sale I have to wait for the bank to approve the offer. They say that could take anywhere from 2-3 weeks to 3-4 months. I have my heart set on this house. I am hoping everything will work out in my favor. If the bank approves by the end of June I will be egible for the tax credit, and it would be perfect timing since my apartment lease will be up. Lets just pray its meant to be. If not it will be another year of living in apartments. I have a lot of faith everything will work out.

My super savings are going good.. I am not really buying a lot because I am trying to save mucho monies. Pretty much at this time I am only buying things that I absoulety have or I can get totally for free. I am really putting every extra penny towards this house. Since there are some things I would like to add to it if I do get it.. ie.. Grill, Dyson Vaccumm. YOu know the luxeries that I feel I can't live without :)

I never would of thought that I would be single and buying a house at the age of 25. But everything happens for a reason and I trust that my father in heaven has a plan for me and will provide me with whatever I need at any given time. I truly feel so blessed to be in Arizona, who woulda thought I would end up here?

Well I should get some Saturday chores done.

Aprils Challenge..

I have challenged myself to $25 dollars a week for the month of April. After yesterday I thought thats really a huge jump as far as how much I was spending to now... SO in the back of my mind I am saying $50 but will be working my butt off for $25. My 1st stop was Frys my go to favorite store.

I stocked up pretty well on butter.. Dont worry I will be giving most of it away :) Any ways I spent a total of $6.23 not to bad..Plus the catalina machine printed 4.00 off your next order.. that was for buying the 3 promise tubs and the 4 biscuits..

My next stop was Walgreens to get free shampoo..


My total was $1.50.. I also got a cadbury egg but ate it..I needed a cheap filler item :)

Next stop was Ulta.. I had spent a ton of money at Ulta last year when I was getting $75 facials like every other week.. I dont know what I was thinking. Anyways I got an Ulta membership that tracts the money you spend. I was in the highest category of spending and was elgible for a free perfume among other things. I picked up the $45.00 perfume for free :)



And my last and final stop I made was at Safeway where my list I had made fell apart when they didnt have most of the stuff I had coupons/ looking to buy..But I made the best of it and did pretty darn good..


Total spent was $1.68. Pretty awesome!

Looking at all that theres not a ton of food but its defintley a good stock up.. My mom for easter sent me some Meat from Omaha Steak Co. So I am well stocked up on meat. I need to make a grocery run today to pick up some yeast for the crescent rolls I am making for easter and then fruits and veggies for the week.
So my grand total so far is $9.41 leaving me 15.59 till next friday.. I think it is doable :)

Who said you can't get things for free?

I went to Walmart last night and found this great deal on Nestle Chocolate chips .50 Cents!! Then I remembered I got a coupon from the Redplum this week actually 5 of them cause I went dumpster diving in the apartment complex :) $1/2 so I bought 10 of them for FREE!!!


Then today I went to Frys and had saw they had snickers 2 for $1.00 and realized that I had 8 coupons(dumpster diving) for snickers $.50/1 and luckily my frys doubles so I got 16 Snicker bars for FREE!!!

hmm..

I seriously think I have a shopping problem. I actually get a high from shopping/ getting a good deal.. Because I have this problem I have enough "supplies" to get me through a year or two.. Yeah that much...Its crazy.. So I have decided that the Month of April I will not spend anymore than $100.00. This will budgeted out to about $25 a week.. That will be milk, fruits, etc... Do you think I can do it? Will it be hard? Yes because I LOVE SHOPPING!!!

LoVe

I just finished watching the Bachelor. I never thought I would get into it. I have watched many seasons or at least bits and pieces of them. Never before did I have a mix of feelings as I did with this one. I am not sure if it was because I think he made the biggest mistake of his life, or the fact that I am the same age of many of the girls on that show if not older. I am not scared that I wont find love, but I may be worried or unsure what I excatly need to do differntly. At the same time I feel I shouldnt have to change for anybody, Iam very sure of myself I have done SO much stuff on my own, but I am ready for soemthing more.

Love the Double Coupons!

$15.44 @ Frys
4-Laundry Detergents
1- Cranberry Grape Juice
5- Gatorades
2- Brownie Toppers
1 - Lunchable Sandwich
1-1lb Ground Chicken
1- Double Stuff Oreos
3- Scotch Paper Cutters
Saved $29.17 Coupons

Serious Shopping Problem!

Good Ole Target :)
$17.26@ Target
1 Baby Wipe
1 -3 pack Orbit Gum
1 Baked Cheetos
1 Kettle Chips
2 Uncle Bens microwave Rice
2 Body Washes
2 Deodrants
2 Mens Hair Gel
2- V-day Tissue Paper
1 V-day Book
1 V-day plaque
1 V-day card
20 Ct Sharpie Markers
30 pk baseball card holder (used to hold Coupons)
Saved $26.98 in coupons

My grocery budget...

I decided to get my groceries weekly instead of monthly. So i planned my menu and went to town.. My goal is to spend $25 a week on groceries. This week Ive only spent $15.00. I got what I needed for my meals and then just stocked up on sale items that I had coupons for.
It included:
2 Cases Water
1 6pk Water
3 Boxes Klennex
4 pks I Can't Believe its not butter
Read Leaf Lettuce
2Onions
2 Gaucamole
1 Salsa
1 Gelatin
1 Seasme Ginger Marinade
1 Ketchup
1 Cookie mix
1 Sliced Almonds
2 Kit Kats- gave one to my cashier
74% Savings...

January

I have never been one for resolutions, not because I ddont think they are important I just know that I most likely am not going to follow thru with them like the other 99% of the world.. I guess I dont want to set myself up for failure.. THis year I said my resloustion was to have no resloutions... Although I did set some goals that I would like to accomplish each month.. Same thing huh? I feel better calling them little goals.. Some of these I came up with during the beginning of January and others I added on as the month went by.

1. Set a Spending allowance and stick to it..I did horrible at this but will be doing a lot better starting tommorrow.. Serioulsy all my spending money was gone the 2nd week of january...I anaylzed where I spent my money and started making changes immediatley..
2. Pay my tithes.. I was very faithful in making a tithe and fast offering for the entire month of January..
3. Finish taxes before the end of January.. I did them all by myself for the very 1st time, and it felt wonderful.. Except that they were rejected twice and my mom ended up having to help me..
4. Finish an entire book.. I didnt make this goal till half way thru January so I am giving myself a little more time to finish.. I truly have enjoyed this it actually gets me to keep the tv off for an extended period of time..I am reading a book by Sheri Dew called "God wants a powerful people." Very good.
5. Send hand written notes to someone.. I sent thank you cards to my family for the christmas gifts I recieved as well as thanking them for spending time with me.
6. Finish my Visiting teaching before the last day of the month.. I have an amazing VT compainon and we got our teaching done last week...
7. Keep my apartment in a more orderly fashion.. I continue to work hard at keeping my place clean and orderly..
8. Limit eating out to once or twice a week, my budget went quickly mainly because I was eating fast food way too often.. So half way thru I made a menu and a grocery list and have stuck it pretty closely.. I still need to improve but WAY better..
9. Eat breakfast! I have never done this.. I hate breakfast but I have been making and taking with me a carnation instant breakfast every morning.. and its crazy how much more energy I have..
10. Lose 7 pounds every month.. Yes this month I lost 8 woohoo.. and I did it all in a week, thanks to the start of the get fit challenge..

January went by very slowly, but I feel I accomplished much.. now heres to Feburary..

I may or may not...

Dig in the apartment garbages for people who threw away the coupons in the Tuesdays mail...

Anywho $9.19 for all that..
4 Cans Tomato Sauce
4 Cans Rotel
3 pkg Guacamole
1 Salsa
2 Granola Bars
3 Rice Cakes
2 Dixie Napkins
1 Triscuit
1 Wheat Thin
3 Boxes Tissue
6 Double roll pie crusts
Thats 85% Savings!

Get Fit Challenge

Tommorrow I join a team of 3 other ladies in the get fit challenge. Its something our school is doing to raise money for the weight room. Its $20 and lasts 2 months at the end they crown the winners to those who worked out the most hours, lost the most body fat percentage as well as the amount of muscle gained.. Wish me luck.. I am going to work out 2 hours a day, 1 in the am and 1 in the pm :x

2009

Everyone keeps blogging about 2009 and I'm going to be a follower and follow them.. 2009 was a rough year,but full of bittersweet moments...

January- Became very happy when I went back home to Vegas after a Cold Christmas and New years in NY. I definatly am not a cold weather gal...

Feburary- Worked my butt off at Desert Oasis High school getting things in order for our Valentines Candy gram sale.. As well as a huge La Fiesta De amor event for the high schoolers before the last basketball game.

March- Really got into coupoing and saving money. Started to become obessed with Walgreens and CVS deals. I also took a Visit to Idaho to visit an old roomate who I hadnt seen in years. It was crazy how we still clicked like we did 5 years ago when we were roomates :)

April- Since I wss the Student Council Advisor I got to take 5 High School students to Sparks Nevada to a leadership confrence. What an amazing experience, so insperational. It had council kids from the entire state of Nevada. On a sad note I started to get some info that I may not have my job next year because of budget cuts. Luckily I get a job offer at another school teaching the same thing.

May- My lovely sister and her friend AJ came out to Vegas. It was nice showing them around and spoiling them by getting them a room on the strip and taking them out to a nice dinner. On a bad note My job at the other school gets a no go beacuse someone who has more years under their belt bumps me out.

June- My mom comes out to visit a few weeks before school is over for the year. The day she arrives I get called into the principals office, he puts a lady on speaker phone and she tells me I have been rifted for the upcoming school year. I now have no job. This was a really hard for me. My mom defintaly came on a good weekend. She looks for new jobs while she is there for me, I call tons of places to see they still have openings. Friends Rick and Collette come to visit while my mom is visiting. We try to make the best out of a hard time. School at Desert Oasis comes to a close, I pack my things and head to Arizona for an interview at a school located in Avondale Arizona. The interview goes great and before leaving they offer me a job. What a blessing...

July- I pack up my stuff in Vegas and pack up a moving truck. I dont say many good byes in vegas because it hurt like pulling a band aid off. I move into my new and much nicer apartment unpack my things and start work a week later.

August- My first days of new students in a new state is exciting and nerve racking. I use to teach rich snobby kids in Vegas. Now I am teaching poor kids who really dont have much.

September- Start becoming crafty and enjoy ready craft blogs. Try creating my own things.

October-Continue to craft it up halloween style host a really nice "enrichment" meeting at church with halloween crafts and foods.

November- Named employee of the month at my new school. Kinda crazy how much they appreciate all the work I do already and we are only in the 3rd month of school. If only my last school realizled that. For thanksgiving I decide to stay in Arizona and shop all day and have Mcdonalds for dinner.

Decemeber-THe month went quick and I soon returned back to NY for Chrismtas with the family. It was very cold and I wasnt really into going out and visiting people. I once again deliverd presents to the poor in ELmira with my fav people. And I also taught them a lil spanish :)

I think that wraps up my 2009. ALready 2010 has been AMAZING!! I will contuine to work harder to update this.

Finally Home

I made it home from NY, numerous hours later.. It feels so good to be back in your own environment. I got up early this morning and hung my beautiful Pottery Barn shower curtain and towels.. 6 months later and I finally have a shower curtain in my bathroom. I was in search for the perfect one..Pretty sure I found it. I am going to be getting life in order for the first week back to work.. should be a busy one! I hope everyone had a nice holiday! I sure did!