I am so proud of myself! Philip and I have really been working on sticking to our budget to kick out the rest of our debt. I've been trying to pinch pennies, but still buy the things we need.

We've been wanting a digital video camera for a long time. I don't want Cooper's life to fly by without capturing it on video! We found a certain camera we like. We shopped around different stores Saturday, trying to find the best deal. We tried to get places to price match, Philip bargained, tried talking them down.. etc. Well, no luck. The lowest we could get the price was $127 and that was for the DISPLAY. No thanks. We left after an afternoon of shopping with nothing. Which took a LOT of discipline to not go ahead and buy it. Today I found the exact camera on eBay bundled with a tripod. I bid on it and won for $87! Whoo-hoo! The waiting paid off. I was really proud of us.

Also, I've been looking for a halloween costume for Cooper. There is one particular one I want... but it's $50 + shipping EVERYWHERE... even eBay. I found one today on diapers.com $49 and free shipping. Not a super deal. Well, they also had a 30 oz can of Cooper's formula for $19.99 (regular $29.99). If you bought formula or diapers you could use this 10% off coupon code for your whole purchase. :-D Then I got coupon happy and started searching the interent for online coupon codes. I ended up finding some and getting $80 worth of stuff for $60 annnd FREE SHIPPING.

Today Philip, Cooper and I went to Target. As we were checking out, I pulled out my FPU envelope system to pay. The cashier noticed and said, "Dave Ramsey huh?" I said, "Yeah we're working his plan, doing the best we can." She was quiet for a moment then said... "So I guess I won't ask you if you want to sign up for a Target credit card then." Bahahaha!

I've had my Apple iBook G4 since 2005. That doesn't seem like that long ago... but in the technology world 4 years is FOREVER. It has 80GB of hard drive built in. Back in the day 80GB was plenty! I remember thinking... will I EVER use up that much space?

Here I am. 4 years later with about 100GB of pictures, movies, etc on an external drive and only 250MB left on my computer hard drive. Which means no uploading pictures until I make some more space. Ugh! I need/want (mostly want) a new computer! Sorry little iBook... you've been a great friend.

All that to say... I have a lot of pictures on my camera of recent events I'm not able to upload! Boo. That hurts me. They'll come soon in one mega-post.

We had a great lake trip this weekend! I got some sun, but NOT burned like last time thankfully. We stayed in the trailer by ourselves which was awesome. After Coop went to bed we rented a couple of movies and stayed up together. It was really fun to spend some alone time with Philip.

We watched Pineapple Express and 88 Minutes. Pineapple Express was *really* funny. I mainly rented it for Philip cause I thought he wanted to see it. But, we were both ROLLING on the floor laughing. Seriously hilarious. Seth Rogan is the man.

88 Minutes was *eh*. I was falling asleep until the last 30 minutes or so when the movie was finally able to hold my attention. I'd heard reviews that it wasn't so great... and I think I agree.

All in all ... really fun weekend. I'm ready to do it all again next weekend. :-P

I need God like crazy right now! I really almost had a baby panic attack today. ("Baby" meaning small... not Cooper, lol) I'm just flooding with awful things right now. Philip's ridiculous work schedule which continues to be a struggle, his school load is becoming more intense also. It's not like I'm doing these things... but when he is stressed and gone all the time, it takes a toll on me too. The Infinity when ka-poot today too. Now we're down to one car again. The ONE toilet in our house is clogged and not functioning (no, not thanks to a TT). I forgot at the last minute today I was supposed to be in Norman tonight, so I was scrambling trying to find someone to watch Cooper. And, I've been at my grandpa's all day.... which in a of itself is mentally (and somewhat physically) exhausting.

As I was driving to Norman tonight, I was praying for God to help me. I know I can't do this without You, God. The stress of life is just too much. I need You to help me and guide me. I asked Him to encourage me with music on my drive. I turned on my iPod and hit "shuffle." The first song it chose was "Burn for You" by TobyMac. I was listening to the words and I realized.... I need to burn for You! You lift me up! It's so hard to not look within ourselves when we're struggling. I was really humbled tonight God... I can't do life without You! Thank you!

I feel so much more comforted and at peace now.

Baby Jenn!

She has a name now, but she still feels like "Baby Jenn" because that's what we called her for so long! 

My friend, Jenn, had her baby Meredith Claire (spelled correctly Jenn?) on August 4th, 2009! (Which was actually our 3rd wedding anniversary) I am so proud of Jenn for having a VBAC and completely med free birth. She is my hero ;-) We went to visit her in the hospital and here are a couple of shots of the baby Meredith.

She is such a cutie!! I can't wait to have my first newborn session with this sweet girl. 

I seriously wasn't trying to be dramatic with my last post and leave everyone hanging. It REALLY was so disgusting it was hard for me to talk about. Mostly because I was disgusted with myself.

Up high, on the 3rd shelf, above where I could see ..... was the thing that attracted all the nasty flies. I had no clue what it was. And, I'm glad I never saw it.

It was so rotten and overgrown with mold it was basically unrecognizable (or so I heard). It was a bag of old potatoes. Now, that doesn't sound too bad in and of itself.......potatoes. But. Philip said they were BLACK. Solid black because they were so rotted. There were things growing out of them, and ooz was seeping out all over the shelf. He said when he picked them up, they were completely soggy and almost liquid inside.

Bleh.

I feel like such a horrible house keeper!! I'm sure I can home from he grocery store, didn't have a spot for the potatoes so I threw them up on the 3rd shelf. Thinking I'd grab them down to cook a few days later. I, obviously, totally forgot about them and never look up there. I'm really disgusted with myself!! Last night I made a HUGE deep cleaning list for the whole house. Like, washing the baseboards, scrubbing the blinds, dusting, polishing.... I'm going to be a crazy cleaning maniac!

Anyway. That's all. Hopefully you'll all learn a valuable lesson from my mistake.