Valentines

So, what is your idea of a perfect Valentines Day or date? Candy? Flowers? Eating at a nice restaurant? Gifts?

If your answer is yes to any of the above then your idea and mine differ quite a bit from each other. Not necessarily a bad thing--it's ok to have differences of opinions. It's just that, to me, this doesn't represent the perfect Valentines. That's all.

To me, Valentines day has never been a really big deal. Ever since Brandon and I started dating, even up until now, we've never really celebrated Valentines day in a big way. He's usually had to work and we're hardly ever together on that day. So instead we celebrate love all throughout the year.

But this time Valentines Day was a little different for us. This year we were together on Valentines Day. Without kids! :)

With President's Day being Monday and the kids out of school my mom decided to take all three kids to my grandparents' house for the night. All three of them! Whatever will we do with ourselves with no kids? On Valentines Day? :)

Here's what we decided. We had a simple lunch with the family before sending them off and out of town. We spent the afternoon piddling around Jackson running here and there (Goodwill, Old Navy and even a quick trip to the mall!--Romantic, I know! Ha.) Got back to town, went to church, ordered take out from our favorite--Los Portales--and went home. We spent the evening watching a movie, enjoying our take out and watching episode after episode of 24. It was great. We baked a pan of brownies and went on a brownie binge! Really, we just enjoyed the night together. Just us. It was perfect.

You see, to me, Valentines isn't about spending a lot of money on big gifts or candy that will be eaten in a day--ahem--week. :/ It's not about waiting hours to eat at a nice--crowded restaurant. I don't like to share. I didn't want to share my Valentine with 100 other Valentines dates at a crowded movie theater. I much more enjoyed our night in together. Just me and him. Nothing better! :)

What kind of girl am I?

I'm a boots kind of girl!!! That's what kind! :) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE boots. Problem? I have big legs. And ankles. Most of the time boots (the cute stylish ones) don't fit. Sad.

Until...I found some that fit. Well. Bad news? They are Coach. The word "Coach" is also interchangeable with "expensive"!

However, last year I found an amazing deal on Coach boots. Used every bit of my Christmas money to buy them. Best money ever spent.

Until...I wore them every day in NYC in the rain and weather and the soles began coming apart. Sad.

You know, expensive boots shouldn't come apart. Not even after you get them at the clearance price. So, I sent them back asking if anything could be done? Sure. They will send them to Coach Headquarters and repair them and ship them back to me free of charge. Great.

Except...they can't be repaired. Sad. So what now? Oh, they'll just issue me store credit in the amount of full retail price. But I only paid clearance on them. Doesn't matter. You get full store credit. Say wha????

So...what do I do? Order this year's boots--at CLEARANCE price and have money left over to spend in store! WhoooHooo!

And...my boots arrived today. And they're LOVELY. Makes me all the more sure that I'm a BOOTS kind of girl. :) Thank you, Coach!

Wordless Wednesday...

;D

So sad, but so true...

My cousin and her family came in for a visit this weekend. Sunday as they headed home we decided to follow them as far as Jackson and have lunch together. We ate at Logan's. Thanks to coupons we enjoyed a steak meal on a bologna budget. ;) Yum, yum!!!

As we were leaving and getting everyone buckled here is the conversation:
Lawson grinning: "Mom, look! I took a peanut with me. --Can I crack it open now?"
Me: "No, Lawson. Where are you going to put the shell once it's opened?"
Lawson surveying the floorboard of the van: "Mom, this car is a wreck anyway. Can't I just put it on the floor like we do in the restaurant???"

Kudos, Lawson. You not only were 50% of the cause for the car being "a wreck" but you also managed to remind me of just how messy it was/is! Haha. What a stinker. I think if it hadn't been so cold I would have made him stay out there and clean it when we got home. ;)

BTW, he waited until we got home to open the peanut...and left it on the kitchen floor!!!! ;)

Don't judge me...

So what? I'm using Christmas postage stamps and it's already February. I like to think of it as an extended holiday. A way to make the pennies reach just a little further. A way to get my bill payments to their destination on time. Yep. Go me. I'm sooooo on top of things. :)

Is there a pill for this?

I need help! Like the help people on talk shows get! I've often watched episodes of Dr. Phil or Oprah on people with a "hoarding" obsession. I've never really thought of myself as one of those people--until I realized that different things can be "hoarded". Not just clutter in one's house. I've never had much of a problem with keeping "things" in my house. I do not typically become attached to clutter and therefore don't have a huge problem when it comes time to clean out.

About two weeks ago my email went kaput and I had rebuild my database. It took FOREVER! I had SO many emails. Emails that dated back to 2006!! Yes, 2006! Four-year-old emails! My inbox had over 6,000 messages. That didn't include messages in my sent folder, junk folder, or deleted folder! Total I had over 16,000 messages! I'd like to say that I just didn't realize that I had so many messages or that I didn't keep them intentionally, but that would not be true. I have a bad fear of needing one of those emails at a later date or needing to reference a specific incident, etc. so I keep them. But, I decided it was time to let go of some of those emails...finally. I figured that if I hadn't needed it in the last four years, I probably wouldn't need it tomorrow. So I began deleting. About an hour and a half (or more) worth of deleting (the picture above reflects the last leg of the deleting journey when I realized that it was worth documenting) :). It felt refreshing. I had an almost empty inbox with only 2 or 3 messages in it!

And the next day? I needed one of those deleted messages. Yep. I'm back to my old ways; back to hoarding email again. Somebody get Dr. Phil quick! :)

Long time, no write?

Well, once again, I'm a terrible blogger. Guess you're used to it by now though, right? ;)

We've been quite busy. I did make my trip to the Big Apple and back. It was AMAZING and no words I could type could ever do my feelings about the trip justice! NY is an awesome place. The food was great, the stores were great, the TREE was FABULOUS, and more importantly, the company was unforgettable! I won't blog about the entire trip; my friend Becky has done that and I see no need to "re-invent the wheel". So, I'll just direct you to her blog posts on the trip here. Please go and check these out. It gives a day by day of things we did. Well, some of them anyway. ;)

My amazing girlfriends and I infront of THE tree. :)

A week and a half after we returned, my bags were packed again and we were headed to STL to watch my brother become a doctor! What? A DOCTOR! So proud of him! He was beaming. We got to meet his new lady friend (very sweet) and her precious little boy. We had a great weekend, despite the cold.

Jordan (Dr. Jordan, that is) and Holly.

Mom and Dad were just a LITTLE proud of him, can you tell?

Of course, a week and a half after that and it was time for Christmas. Another year come and gone. Where does the time go?? The boys had an exceptional Christmas. We all got MUCH more than we deserved. Christmas this year was full of X-Box games, Super Heroes, Spy Gear, and the big gift this year: BUNK BEDS! Yes, all three of my boys are in the same room now. I love this. I think it makes them so close. I know the day will come when they'll be begging for their own room so I'm savoring these moments while they are all so thrilled to be in the same room with each other. Awesome.

Bunkbeds + organized room = happy boys AND mom! ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS sleepy heads!

We traveled to KY for New Years and watched the big ball drop in Time Square--the 2010 lit up with energy (what little we had left anyway) that we helped provide and store up while in NY. Neat! So now 2009 is a closed chapter in our book of Young.

2009 wasn't the greatest; we had our fair share of struggles, sickness, etc. But 2009 wasn't the worst, either. Far from it. In the ups and downs I've often found myself on the roller coaster as well. I get tired and discouraged. Some days I felt everything was a mess. Well, not everything--only the things that don't matter so much. My house was a wreck or my car was filthy or we were really low on money that month, etc., etc., etc. This year Brandon took several hard hits at work with a pretty significant pay cut and then a couple months later yet another pay cut. Then holiday pay was taken away and now, most recently, vacation time has been taken away. Still, he has a job and we can feed our kids. We just have to look a little harder to find the blessings in it all but they ARE there. But the things that really DO matter flourished in 2009. Our kids are healthy and happy, our marriage is healthy and happy and our church life is good. Always ways to improve upon but I can't imagine a time when that cannot be said.

I really have no resolutions for 2010. I see no need in setting goals that I may or may not be able to achieve only to make me feel like a failure next year. However, I do have daily goals and just overall ways I'd like to improve. I'd like to be a better wife. More understanding, more compassionate, slower to become angry or irritated. I'd like to be a better mom. More patient, more soft spoken, more attentive. I'd like to be better at budgeting our finances. We've been very blessed that we've always had what we needed and more. We still do. We just need to be better and staying within our NEW, lesser budget. I'd like to read/study my Bible more. I want to become a better person from the inside out. I see no better place to start.

I hope that 2010 is the best year yet for all of you. God's blessings to you and yours. :)