currently

I'm sitting on the couch next to Hubs, who is sprawled out watching the Cowboys game with Murry asleep on his chest (it's an "awwww!" moment). Our friend Hans is on his way at some point to join us, as is our Cowboys Sunday tradition. I made a big pile of oatmeal raisin cookies, and they're tempting me from the coffee table to eat "just one more." It's been raining all day, as is common during the fall season in Pennsylvania. I love that. It's in the 60's for the highs and low 50's to 40's for the lows, which I also love. The leaves are beautiful. I promise to post pictures.

Life is good right now. Settling in can be scary, but finally we have reached that point. We're here, we're comfortable. It's so good to be home.

saving money and time is my goal

Hubs and I went to BJ's (basically a Sam's or Costco) today. I got a coupon book in the mail on Thursday, and as I flipped I discovered that most of the coupons in there were $2 to $3 off of frozen food items or products that we use on a regular basis. And it's discounted off the already bulk price. So I clipped, I studied, and Hubs and I went this afternoon to reap the fruits of my efforts. We stocked up on enough of some things to last us through the entire winter. And we had $45 worth of coupons. That's a lot of savings. We filled our basket and headed for the checkout, and Hubs decided to make a competition out of guessing how much the total of our "investment" would be. His guess was $125 higher than mine. He made fun of me for how low my guess was. Then we stood and watched as the register finished... within $6 of my guess. As I told Hubs then, it's because grocery shopping is my job in this family in the first place. Every two weeks I go through the process of clipping coupons, planning our menu, and bargain shopping for groceries. It's my job, I feel accomplished and successful when I walk out of the grocery store knowing that we saved money. And yesterday was a day I'll remember and repeat as often as possible. We will be saving around $100 off of our monthly budget for at least the next 3 months, and it will significantly reduce for much longer. Going just slightly over budget this month will benefit us immensely as we watch this day pay out.

Not to mention the thrill of the win surged through my veins as I sipped my $1.09 "Classic Cherry" Icee and chewed my $0.89 pretzel - the spoils of my victory.

It was a good day.

absence makes the heart grow... ?

I'm a horrible person. If my trustworthiness relied on my blogging faithfulness, I would have lost all credibility. I know this. And yet... I'm not really sorry that it's been 6 weeks since the last time I posted. I have to be honest. I've been so incredibly busy. But I've missed the writing, the outlet, the knowledge that at any given moment those who I hold most dear can log on and connect with my life with the click of a button. I like that I know my life is, in a way, chronicled here for all my loved ones to read and share with me in my experiences. So I'm back!

The biggest thing that has occured in my life since the last post is Murry. We got a dog. Hubs and I love dogs... we've wanted one since we got married. But big city apartment life is not very conducive to happy puppies, so we waited. Now we have a house and a little yard, and a little Jack Russell Terrier named Murry to poop in it. He's added a lot of energy to this house. As I write he's curled up on the couch next to my knee, sleeping soundly after wearing himself out playing chase with Hubs. They are quite a pair. He even likes watching Cowboys games with Hubs... which is what we're doing tonight. Monday night football is back! A couple of students just left at halftime, life is starting to fall into a regular pattern.

We're loving the ministry. Hubs gets to study and preach and meet with students all week. It's hard work, but fun and rewarding. I get to work on the house and study and meet with students some, too.

Church is going pretty good, we're beginning to make friends. Actually, the best friends we've made so far, though, we met at the movie theater when we went to see Batman: The Dark Knight. (Excellent movie, BTW). Hubs was wearing an A&M t-shirt, and we were approached by a Texan asking about the shirt... which led to the discovery that he and Hubs graduated from the same small town high school within a couple years of each other. He introduced us to his girlfriend, and we all hit it off so well that we wound up going to supper together after the movie. This has resulted in a good friendship as we have continued to get together for different outings.

Next week we start a couples fellowship group through church, and I start women's Bible study on Thursday mornings. We're really starting to settle into a swing of life. And a sense of normalcy is welcome.

I think that's pretty good catch up for now... I'm determined to begin being more regular with posting and keeping up-to-date. We'll see how that resolution goes.