For Such a Time as Now

Surviving and Shopping

2008-05-09T21:47:00.004-05:00

I'm still here. I have survived a double illness (stomach virus on top of allergies), driving Gabriel far and yon to the drama performances and 3 solid days of teaching in the same kindergarten class. My house needs some serious attention tomorrow and my brain needs a rest. I must make time to read a good book. I happened to get 3 in the mail. I actually won a contest! Thanks Marsha! I can't wait to sit down and relax a bit with these.

Last Friday night, Hannah, Holly and I stayed on the other side of town while waiting for Gabriel. I had a $10 off coupon for JC Penny so we decided to check it out. We happened upon a great deal. Most everything was 40% off and I was in desperate need of some new clothes. It was actually fun to shop with Holly as she hurried around all the racks, picking out things that she thought would look good on me. "Oh Mom, you have to get this one!" was repeated over and over again. I was glad to have Hannah along to, to help me decide what looked the best. We had a great girls' night out.

I have some more blog entries in my head. A bit deeper and hopefully not as boring as things have been lately. Please stay and chat a while. I've missed my bloggy friends.

Allergies

2008-05-01T19:51:00.003-05:00

Thanks for all of your votes. Hannah came in 3rd place. There's supposed to be another contest later this month so I'm sure I'll be by shamelessly begging for your help again.

In other news, I'm drowning in what appears to be allergies. Seems to be an annual event here in the states. I had the same thing last year a month earlier in Alabama. Anyone have any allergy relief/prevention ideas?

Yet Another

2008-04-30T14:49:00.003-05:00

This would be a fun prize to win! Check out the details at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Vote for Hannah!

2008-04-29T08:07:00.003-05:00

UPDATE!! Hannah is ONE vote shy of being tied for first place. Please vote now!

Hannah has entered a photography contest. You can see her entry here. Voting takes place TODAY ONLY over at Are We There Yet. In the little poll box, scroll down until you find An American Girl. Thanks so much!

Always Exciting Contests

2008-04-27T16:29:00.001-05:00

5 Minutes for Mom gives away the greatest prizes. Click on over to see what they're doing now!

Cleaning Up

2008-04-26T21:50:00.002-05:00

Don't you love all the e-mails giving you new things to worry about? Like don't let your child play in the ball pit. Or call an environmental clean up crew if you break a compact florescent lightbulb. I've gotten those and bunches more. I usually check them out at Snopes before I become too concerned. I hadn't checked out the light bulb one until tonight. I needed to get a new battery for our thermometer. We've been bitten by a stomach bug and Gabriel felt feverish. So I went to the pantry and pulled the box off the shelf where the batteries are kept and one of those lovely bulbs came crashing down. Oh great. Now I had to go check out Snopes. I remembered something about never using a vacuum cleaner and calling a haz mat crew. Thankfully the haz mat crew is an unnecessary step although it would have been nice to have someone else deal with the mess seeing as how I have felt horrible all day. But sure enough, the vacuum cleaner is a huge no-no. Snopes had a link to a government page on CFL clean up and hopefully I have done the job sufficiently. Now I can go back to being sick. Thankfully we caught the bug before I broke the bulb or I would be worried all over again.

Learning Something New

2008-04-24T21:41:00.003-05:00

Gabriel and Hannah were able to take a drama class this year. They both had a great time with it. I thought we were done until the fall after their performance last week and final class this past Monday. Yesterday morning I received a call from their drama teacher. She wanted to know if Gabriel would be willing and able to learn something new and help her out with the production she is currently doing. To make a long story short, (maybe) , the man who is doing the lights won't be able to make it to one of the performances and needs someone to take his place. Gabriel has never done anything with stage lighting before but he is fairly good with computers (everything's computerized these days) and he learns fast. He went to the dress rehearsal last night and really enjoyed learning this new skill. Tonight was another dress rehearsal and he was able to do everything by himself. Hooray! I am hoping to attend one of the performances. I will probably pay more attention to lighting than I ever have before!

I had to wonder if Gabriel was among the first of the teacher's students to be called or was he towards the end of a long list. After all, she has a lot of students and many of them have been doing drama for years. She told him tonight that he was the first one she called. She was really impressed with all that he had done over the year, especially for a first year student.

Thanks for listening to me shamelessly brag about my son. I am blessed with 3 amazing kids.

News

2008-04-21T15:40:00.005-05:00

The weather here in Virginia can be so fickle. One day it's summer and the next you need a winter coat. Friday was nice and I decided to wear my sandals to school. It didn't take me too long to remember why I never wore them to school before. I was in a kindergarten class and had my toes stepped on at least a dozen times. Today and yesterday have been filled with April showers.

The more exciting news of the week is that my daughter Hannah got her learner's permit today. I now have 2 teenagers with their learner's permit. Oh help! Gabriel will be getting his license soon and Holly has another 5 1/2 years before she'll be old enough to drive. Maybe they'll raise the driving age by then!

In the cyber world, there's a great birthday party going on. Marsha is having a bloggy birthday bash and giving away gifts. So click on over there and wish her a happy birthday.

I've got to finish up lesson plans for tomorrow and run Gabe and Hannah to their final drama class for the year. Their performance was last Thursday and they did an awesome job. Tonight's class is the end of the year celebration. That's about it for my busy day. How's your day been?

More Deals at CVS

2008-04-19T16:18:00.005-05:00

I am sure that I have mentioned before that I dislike shopping very much. This feeling that sometimes comes close to loathing does not come without reason. I do not like spending money, especially money that I don't have or that I might need for something else later. Being in the ministry, we've always been on a tight budget. We have never gone without things that we need. We've been able to include some wants here and there. But it's always been tight. I must admit that I didn't really like shopping before that anyway. I guess it's in my blood. Who can fight circumstances and DNA?

While I would still rather scrub the bathroom than take a trip to the mall, I have found a new love - shopping at CVS! I learned from Crystal over at Money Saving Mom about an unadvertised special. The 18 oz Softsoap SPA shower gel is $5.49 and you get back $5.49 in ECB's! I also learned from a couponing friend of mine that CVS takes competitors coupons. I had a Target coupon for $1 off. So I paid $4.49 and got $5.49 back. Even a tightwad like me has to like that kind of a deal! Now I need to go and make some space to put everything I have recently bought.

Here's what I got today:

18 oz Softsoap SPA shower gel - $5.49
VO5 shampoo - .66
VO5 conditioner - .66
Nuetrogena eye makeup remover 7.49
Total = $14.30 plus tax

$1.00 Target coupon
9.99 Extra Care bucks
Total out of pocket = $3.53

Extra Care Bucks earned - $10.49

Contest at 5 Minutes for Mom

2008-04-19T15:31:00.001-05:00

Two Weeks of Toys is just about over at 5 Minutes for Mom. I haven't entered any of them because so far, they've all been toys for children younger than mine. But I do have a little girl who would love to win this one!

Catching Up

2008-04-15T20:34:00.003-05:00

I think I'm in a blogging slump. I don't have time to blog and when I do manage to squeeze some in, I cannot think of anything exciting to say. Here are a few things that have happened in the past few weeks:

Gabriel turned 17 - He is the most awesome young man in the whole entire world. I am blessed.
Holly turned 10 - She is turning into a young lady right before my very eyes.
My parents came up for a visit. They'll be here until Friday.
Holly had a "Grandma and Me" dinner with her Girl Scout troop. Her leader was kind enough to schedule it when my parents were here.
They decided to do a 50's theme. Holly wore a dress and sweater that we already had and I spent $1.00 on some ribbon for her hair. She looked really cute.

She read a poem that we wrote together.
We went shopping in Williamsburg. I found some dishes that I like at the Pfaltzgraph outlet. I bought some shoes.
I took Hannah to the DMV to get a driving manual. She will be old enough for her learner's permit in only a few days.
My dad and John took the kids on a field trip to the Navy Museum in Washington DC.
My mom and I looked for some more deals at Walgreens and CVS. We found some.
I'm hoping to mostly stay home tomorrow.

Deals at CVS and Walgreens

2008-04-12T19:16:00.002-05:00

I've been having fun finding deals at CVS and Walgreens. Here are some things that I bought at CVS earlier this week. I don't remember my exact totals but each time I earned more money in Extra Care Bucks than I spent out of pocket.

I went to Walgreens early yesterday morning. I had a coupon that was only good for the 11th for $5 off on $20. I bought 4 boxes of cereal, 4 Red Baron Pizzas and 2 boxes of ice pops. Between the sales and the coupons my total came to $12.25!

My Wedding Cake

2008-04-11T20:42:00.003-05:00

I was fooling about not blogging any more but being too busy was the truth. A week has flown by since my last post. Holly turned 10 and my parents arrived yesterday for a visit. Things won't slow down anytime soon but I am still here.

Kim from The Continuing Adventures of SlugMom requested a picture of my wedding cake so here it is. I couldn't find a cake topper that I like so I settled for the Precious Moments. But what I hated was the tacky blue flowers all over it. The cake decorator told me that she could put some silk flowers around the base and showed me some pictures of other cakes that she had done. They were pretty. Pastel pink and white. She said that she did the blue to match my bridesmaids dresses. Blue is my favorite color, especially navy, royal and sapphire. But it doesn't belong on a wedding cake. I didn't see it until after the wedding, the pictures and the reception line. I was horrified. But what could I do at that point? John liked it. He said it tasted great. I said I didn't care about the taste. It should have been pretty.

Our Anniversary and a Tag

2008-04-04T19:43:00.005-05:00

Rebecca from Beautiful Feet has tagged me.

Here are the rules:

Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Today is our 21st wedding anniversary so I thought I would add a twist to the tag and share 7 random things about our wedding/marriage.

I hated Chinese food when we met. John asked me several times if I liked it and even though I continually told him no, he brought me some to work. I liked it!
We ate at a Chinese restaurant tonight.
We wanted 4 children and we were going to name them Mark, Mitchell, Mandy and Megan. Using all M's was coincidental and now inconsequential because we didn't choose any of those names.
I hated my wedding cake. It was ugly and not what I told the cake decorator to make.
We went to Williamsburg on our honeymoon.
For nearly 1/3 of our married life, John was in law enforcement.
We spent 1/3 of our married life in the country of Romania.

Dear Blog

2008-04-01T06:41:00.004-05:00

Dear Blog,

You have been a huge part of my life but now it is time to say good-bye. I have loved being here, writing down my thoughts, events of the day or just silly memes. I've met many friends, most of them are simply cyber friends. Other's I've been able to meet in real life. I've enjoyed making and especially getting comments. The contests, awards and popularity have been immensely exciting. I'm still one of the top 10 commenters on homeschoolblogger even though it's been more than a year since I left there.

Now it is time to move on. Life has gotten too hectic with homeschool and substitute teaching, trying to spend time with my family and a moment or two on house cleaning. Maybe I'll even find time to read a book now and then. So, I will just say Good-bye dear blog. Thank you for being a fun part of my life.

Please leave me a comment so at least I will know I'll be missed. And I would like to add just one comment here at the very end. April Fool! Have a nice day and leave a comment anyway!

CVS Deals

2008-03-28T18:44:00.003-05:00

If you haven't seen me around the blogosphere lately, you might try looking at CVS. A friend of mine clued me in to the great deals there. Here's what I brought home today for $2.43 out of pocket:

2 Kellogg's cereals @ $1.50 each
Irish Spring Soap (3 pack) .97
Cascade dishwasher tablets 3.49
2 Colgate Toothpastes @2.99 each
Excedrin - (Buy 1 Get one free) 4.69

**
$5/$15 CVS coupon
.30 coupon on Irish Spring
.50 coupon on Cascade
9.97 ECB's (Extra Care Bucks)

Tax was a whopping .07. I don't know why I was only charged 2.5% when tax here is 5%. Oh well. I also earned $6.98 in ECB's for my next trip. I can't wait to find out what's on sale in April! Check out Money Saving Mom to learn more.

Naming Countries

2008-03-26T10:37:00.001-05:00

There were only 213 more countries that I either couldn't think of or couldn't spell. How many countries can you name?

A Contest I Need to Win!!

2008-03-21T19:09:00.002-05:00

JenIg is having a fantastic contest that I would love to, need to win. I've won two things recently. Maybe I am on a roll. . .

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE!

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.

This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it. And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg. And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win. Yay for free stuff!

Winners!

2008-03-15T20:16:00.003-05:00

Well, the Ultimate Blog Party has come to an end. I've met some new friends and will introduce them soon. A rare incident took place during the party. I won a random drawing! It's for an Amazon gift certificate from Genesis Moments. Thank you so much! And the winner of my mom's beautiful hand painted porcelain Easter egg is Melanie at Party of 5. Congratulations!

Welcome to my Party!

2008-03-15T17:26:00.009-05:00

(This is a sticky post. Please scroll down for more recent additions. Thanks!)

Hi! Welcome to my blog. I am Karen and I'm so glad you have come to my blog party. It's going to be an exciting week. Last year's Blog Party happened to occur during an exciting yet sorrowful time in our lives. We were packing to leave Romania, a country that became home to us and friends that we love with all of our hearts. After more than 10 years in the ministry and 7 years on Romanian soil, God called us back to the states. Now we find ourselves in Virginia, watching in awe as God unfolds His plan for us. My husband John and I will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary next month. We have three children:

Gabriel - days away from 17, happily employed at Chick-fil-A and recently promoted to trainer. He was an avid lego collector/builder but now they mostly sit dusty on his shelf or dormant in boxes. He has dreams of bigger, more expensive toys these days.

Hannah - 15 and hoping to soon be employed at Chick-fil-A. One of her immediate goals is to learn more about digital photography. Here is her photo blog.

Holly - weeks away from 10 and a wanna be teen. She is a girly girl and loves anything pink and sparkly. One minute she's playing with baby dolls and Barbies, the next she's trying hard to grow up.

There's lot's of prizes being given away at the Ultimate Blog Party. I am donating a beautiful hand painted porcelain Easter Egg (#33) painted by my mom. I posted a picture of it in the entry below. Check it out- it's gorgeous!

The top 3 prizes that I would like to win are:

59 — $25 Cash Provided by: Lori
60 — $25 Gift Certificate Provided by: Judy
67 — Blog Makeover Provided by: Shauna

Other great prizes include:

117, 55, 140, 129, 39, 82, 49, 70, 102, 24 & 21

Pull up a chair and make yourself at home. We'll have some fun and games and hopefully make some new friends! Introduce yourself and tell me something about your family.

An Anniversary

2008-03-14T16:28:00.003-05:00

There are many anniversaries celebrated, or at least remembered, in life. It may be something magnificent like they day you got married or something as trivial as when you began your blog. Today is a bittersweet anniversary for our family. It was one year ago today that we left our friends, our lives and even a large part of our hearts in Romania.

Still Partying

2008-03-11T15:23:00.002-05:00

Holly was invited to a real life party on Sunday night. Since we don't have a PM service on Sundays, I thought it would be a good chance to get to know some more people. Holly was really excited about going and I was happy for her. It was at a place called Pump it Up. I lost all excitement for the celebration when they handed me a waiver to sign. Whatever happened to having birthday parties at home anyway? Letting a child, whose nickname happens to be Crash, loose in a place like that is nerve racking. She did fine, thankfully. Only ended up with a slight friction burn from one of the slides. I'm glad she had fun. I'm glad it was only two hours.

Are you enjoying the Ultimate Blog Party? I've been busy the last couple of days with substitute teaching but I'll probably check out some more blogs tonight and put another party game on my blog. Tell me who has a great party going on?

Party Game

2008-03-08T18:36:00.004-06:00

Games are a great way to get to know each other and lots of fun too. Last year at the Ultimate Blog Party, I listed a dozen things that I like beginning with the letter K. This year, I'll use my last name. W is harder than K, I think.

Watermelon
Wendy's Frosty
Wick, Lori
Words
Writing
Wit
Woodwind instruments (I used to play the clarinet)
the West (I'm going back to California someday, even if it's just for a visit.)
Wisdom
Worship
Wishes
the World Wide Web!

Now it's your turn! Tell me something about you using one of your initials. Thanks for playing along.

P.S. As promised, here is a picture of the hand painted porcelain Easter Egg that I'm giving away. If you'd like to win this, list it on your original Blog Party post. It's prize #33 out of over 100!

Quiet

2008-03-06T06:40:00.004-06:00

So far it's a quiet Thursday morning. The kids are still asleep, even Gabe who has always been my early riser. He now sleeps until around 8 AM, sometimes closer to 9. John worked midnight shift last night and he's not home yet. That's not his normal hours but the overtime will be nice. My plans for the day, after getting ready and reading my Bible, include taking the girls roller skating, homeschool, dinner and LOST. Of course I'll throw in some housework here and there. That's my plan. We'll see what actually happens! I don't have a clue as to what is for dinner. I haven't been very good recently in making out a weekly menu. What's for dinner at your house?

Cherishing Home

2008-03-04T17:32:00.004-06:00

My life isn't boring but sometimes it's not very interesting to read about. Last week, I subbed three days, leaving me with Monday and Wednesday at home. I cherish being at home, even when there is nothing blog worthy going on. Simply hearing my children talk, laugh and even complain is comforting; knowing where they are and what they are doing. Even when I'm isolated in my room, typing away or perusing others' blogs, I have, at any given moment, the chance to go and give my kids a hug, tell them that I love them, or remind them for the 10th time that there is a basket of clothes needing to be folded.

While I am grateful for the ability and opportunity to earn some extra income, I am hoping it is only for a brief season.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"