The long-awaited baby update!

About 3 weeks old!

After taking a few weeks off from blogging (and honestly, from "normal" life in general!), I am slowly getting back into blogging. The reason for my break?

See the picture above of the adorable baby!

Hannah Joy was born on February 19, 2013. She was (and still is) a little peanut (about 6.5 pounds at birth!), but she's growing quite a bit now. She is a great baby - very content, a good eater, and a good sleeper (nearly all the time).

Thanks for your patience and understanding as I adjust to motherhood!

Friday night: Baseball, menu planning and a knit bracelet!

I found myself at home for a quiet night tonight...here's what I've been doing:

Of course, I've been cheering on my St. Louis Cardinals!!

Boy, what a World Series this has been!

I've also been working on our November menu plan. Thanks to Pinterest, we will be trying a number of new recipes this month. Anyone want to try "Crispy Pizza Wraps" or a "Chicken and Veggie Skillet?" Yikes - I truly think I am addicted to Pinterest now!

By the way, if you're curious about menu planning, try these two posts: "Why should I plan a menu?" and "How to plan a menu." I promise menu planning will help you become more intentional in your homemaking!

Awhile back, Crystal at Money Saving Mom posted a link to make a knit bracelet with an old t-shirt. I am so not a crafty or artistic person, but I decided to "stretch" myself a little bit and try to make this bracelet. I wouldn't say I'm a pro, but the end result was certainly passable as a bracelet:

I won't be making these for a living, though! :)

What did you do on this fine Friday night?

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

Shopping trip: Aldi

I also made a stop at Aldi yesterday. Gotta love shopping there! I actually made $0.25 today at Aldi because my cart already had a quarter in it! :)

Peas, .99
California Medley veggies, $1.09
2 Shredded cheese, $3.49 each (Yikes!)
Block cheese, $1.99 (Another yikes!)
Artisan lettuce, .99 (We had this tonight and it's really good.)
2 Tortilla chips, $1.19 each
Ketchup, $1.19
Butter, $2.69
Tomato sauce, .29
Crushed tomatoes, 28 oz., .89
Vegetable oil, $2.49
Spent $23.33.

Well, I didn't buy him at Aldi, but he is really cute, isn't he?!

Meet Simon, our "baby." He enjoys sleeping in our bed, eating raw carrots and potatoes when I am preparing dinner, and playing keep-away with his ugly purple toy.

He's basically the king at our house! :)

Monday morning update

The mornings will likely be a bit quieter here at Our Frugal Happy Life this week as I focus my time and energy (and everything else in me!) on our Vacation Bible School at church this week. As the director, I am going to have my hands full. :)

We are hoping that this week of VBS can be an exciting and fun week where kids from our community learn about Jesus and his love for them. We are so looking forward to share God's amazing love with them!

A Peek at our Weekend

As many of you know, we spent much of our weekend moving to our new home. The actual physical moving happened on Friday morning. In fact, a team of seven strong men from our church had everything out of our old house and into our new condo (which we are renting) in just 2 1/2 hours! It happened so quickly, I almost didn't know what happened!

I was quickly reminded what had happened when I looked in the family room at our condo:

And after we looked at that, we headed for this:

Yes, our condo complex has a pool - to which we have free access!

We are making headway on the unpacking and organizing, but we still have a long ways to go. With a few more days to stay home and focus on the house, I think we'll be in good shape by the end of the week!

Regular posting should return here at Our Frugal Happy Life with the start of this new week. :)

Ahhh...vacation! {where I am now}

Through Saturday, things will be a bit more quiet here at Our Frugal Happy Life. My husband and I are enjoying a short vacation with his parents at a camp "up north" (with a lake, pictured above) from Wednesday through Saturday morning.

While I expect to have {limited} Internet access, I anticipate taking some time off from blogging and media in general during these few days. I have several posts scheduled for each of the days that we will be gone. I will {hopefully} check in on things once or twice each day and will update with any hot deals at those times.

I am looking forward to reading, relaxing, fun with family and time away with my husband. We don't have the opportunity to get away very often, so we cherish every chance we get!

I appreciate your understanding. Regularly-scheduled programming at Our Frugal Happy Life will return next week!

Life in a Small Town... {Part 2}

{Read Part 1 of this series HERE.}

Since we moved here, I have begun to appreciate life in a small town. Most importantly, we are being obedient to God’s calling in our lives, even though it isn’t what we thought we should do.

Then again, who are we to choose what we get to do?!

We’ve been blessed with not one, but two, caring and loving congregations. We’ve been blessed with a four bedroom house in the “country” on four acres of land to rent for the past year (for a great price!). We’ve been blessed with a part-time job for me through the local school district, making a difference in many disadvantaged kids’ lives here. We have been blessed.

With nearly one year of small town life under my belt, I have begun to recognize some of the benefits of life here. Sure, there are some downsides…but we can talk about those some other time!

1.       You spend less. Let’s face it. When the only stores in town are Dollar General and Kwik Trip, you don’t shop as much. You learn to plan your shopping trips much more carefully. And if you don’t have something, you make do without it! When shopping means one or two hours of driving round trip, you just don’t shop as often. Spending less is great for your budget!

2.       You’re bombarded by media less. When I travel to a larger town or city, I actually feel like I’m being attacked by too much media. I get overwhelmed much more easily now since I’m not around much media on a regular basis. And when you don’t have media encouraging you to buy something, you’ll spend less money!

3.       Life is simple. When Friday night entertainment consists of the local high school football game or the high school’s musical, or relaxing at home, life is just more simple!

Do we want to live in a small town the rest of our lives? Do we want to raise our family in a small town? Probably not. However, during this season of our lives, small town life is just what need!

Life in a Small Town...

We moved to small town Wisconsin this past summer, due to my husband’s first call as a pastor in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Since this was our first call, we were not able to say yes or no to the call – we were expected to take it.

We did provide the seminary with a few of our preferences:

1. Not extremely rural.
2. In the Midwest, but not in the North.
3. Not a dual parish.

In late April, we sat in a church service and waited to hear our first placement. I can remember it clearly: two church names! My dad looked at me and said, “Does that mean it’s a dual parish?!” And after the service, my father-in-law says, “Oh, Emily, that is a town of less than 1,000…”

Hmmm, interesting…

Yep, you heard that right. We got a call:

1. In an extremely rural area.
2. In the North part of the Midwest.
3. In a dual parish.

Stay tuned next Monday for Part 2...and find out how we really feel about small town life!

As we celebrate Christ's Resurrection...

...may you be blessed in abundance with Jesus' love for you!

He died on the cross for you...and for me. He took the huge weight of the world's sins on his back as he hung on that tree. Just for us.

But it didn't end there.

Three days later, He rose from the dead. Because of this, we have the hope and promise of eternal life with Him!

As we watch the Son rise on that empty cross this morning, may we all be reminded of His infinite and deep love for us!

3 Cheers...for used cars & savings accounts!

We had a seriously huge car repair this week...and while it was hard to part with that large sum of money (isn't it always?), being able to pull it out of the emergency savings account made it much easier.

I work part-time at our local school with the After School Program. I have a position through AmeriCorps, which means that I receive a very small "living stipend" each month. Because we have committed to living only on my husband's income (since we plan on me staying home full-time with our future children), we put all of my earnings into a savings account. I also put my earnings from substitute teaching and all of the money I receive from taking surveys into our savings account.

It really wasn't even stressful when the car problems happened because we knew we had the money to cover the necessary repairs. Our older car (a 2000 Buick!) was the one which needed major repairs, but we are hoping that by doing it, we can get a few more years out of it.

The car was gifted to me three and a half years ago and had always been kept in immaculate condition (by my grandpa!). In fact, when I received it, it was seven years old but had only 32,000 miles on it! The car still runs amazingly well and has not any serious problems until now. It has never bothered me in the least to drive a "grandma's car" (especially because it was my grandma's car!) and it is wonderful to have a paid-for, reliable car.

Three cheers for used cars - and for emergency savings accounts!

Love.

Two years ago today...I married my husband, my best friend.

We don't celebrate that well-known "Hallmark holiday." Even before marriage, neither of us liked that day.

Instead, we celebrate the day the two of us became one. The day we promised each other our lives. The first day of many years together.

Today, we celebrate an amazing two years together. And we look toward the many years to come that we will have together, God willing.

I love you, Michael!

New Plans for a New Year!

As we begin a new year, I have been thinking about some of my goals for this year.

I never make "New Year's resolutions." In fact, I never know what my resolutions should be! Instead of resolutions, I would like to set some goals for 2011. I want these goals to be specific - and tangible. If my goals are tangible, I'll be much more likely to achieve them!

I have been working on streamlining and organizing the many different aspects of my life. I often feel pulled in far too many directions and feel like I can never finish everything. I put together a "Daily Plans" sheet at work that will help me organize each day. This gives me a place to keep track of what I need to do. I have found that I do much better if my tasks are written down.

I still need to work streamlining and organizing the "home" aspect of my life. Because I work part-time, I find that I need to be organized with my household responsibilities. If I'm not organized, they won't get done! Right now, I plan out my week on Saturday or Sunday and create a Weekly To Do list on my blog. I assign certain tasks, like cleaning the bathroom or sweeping or required phone calls, to a specific day of the week. Then, as the week progresses, I cross off the tasks as I complete them. I have also been using Google Calendar, but I think that I'm really more of a paper calendar-kind-of-girl. I am still in search of the ideal planner for me! (Any suggestions?!)

I have established a basic weekly blogging schedule and do a fairly good job of staying on top of that. I outline my blogging plan for the week on my Weekly To Do list as well. I hope to continue to expand my blog during 2011, but this will certainly take effort and work!

Most importantly, I need to make sure that the many aspects of my life are balanced. I know that if I'm not balanced and organized, my life will come crashing down! With all of this in mind, here are some of my goals for 2011:

Personal goals:

• Love the Lord! My relationship with the Lord is my top priority! We will be reading through the Bible in two years (2011-2012). I will stay involved at church (in some capacity) and will continue to work on way to minister to our members and our community.
• Love my husband! Our marriage means the world to me! In this new season of our life, we are working hard to find ways to stay connected. We need to continue to be intentional about our relationship and our time together as husband and wife.
• Find a planner that works for me. I need a planner that:
• helps me plan the whole month.
• helps me organize each day of the week.
• gives me a place to list daily tasks.
• gives me a place to identify planned meals.
• Continue to fine tune our budget. Since starting our first call, we have put a strict budget in place. (I am in charge of the budget.) We have done well sticking to it. We want to be able to put as much income in savings as possible.
• Continue to plan meals monthly. Honestly, this is the only way we can eat. If I don't plan meals one month at a time, life is not pretty here!
• Continue learning to make more foods from scratch. I have learned to make several staples (like chicken broth, pizza sauce, taco seasoning, plus more!) from scratch in 2010 and want to continue this trend.
• Experiment with more gluten free baking.
• Experiment with making bread for my husband.

Blogging goals:

• Establish and maintain a weekly schedule. Along with this schedule, I also want to focus more on posting current, "hot" deals, new coupons and the like.
• Sunday:
• Dollar General deals.
• Walmart deals.
• Kmart deals.
• Weekly To Do list.
• Menu plan for the week.
• Monday:
• Topical post or series.
• Tuesday:
• Burnstad's deals.
• Wednesday:
• Aldi Special Buys.
• Thursday:
• Copps deals.
• Festival deals.
• Friday:
• Walgreens deals.
• Saturday:
• Super Saving Saturday.
• Include more topical posts. Currently, I am working on:
• a two-part series about the "Benefits of Small Town Life."
• a series about my "buy prices."

These are just a handful of goals, ones which I have in mind right now. As the year progresses, I am certain that I will add more to this list. For me right now, one of my biggest priorities (outside of relationships) is getting organized in the many different aspects of my life. I want to establish a "household management system" before we have children, since I know life will get...um, disorganized...when kids enter the picture!

Merry CHRISTmas!

As you enjoy a relaxing day with family and friends, consider also the precious Baby whose birthday we are celebrating today. Jesus' birth is the reason for this season - and the reason we live everyday!

God's richest blessings to you all as you celebrate our Savior's birth this day!

~Emily

Let It Snow!

It appears we can't use our deck for awhile...

Have you heard about the blizzard in the midwest?

We were one of the {un}fortunate ones who was dumped on with the beautiful white snow that white stuff which shall not be named over the past 48 hours. It looks like totals for our area were about 14 inches with lots of drifting, making it much higher in some areas.

We have shoveled numerous times over the past couple days, just trying to stay on top of it. Since we rent, we're still waiting for our driveway to be plowed. Sunday School and the church service were both canceled this morning. It's tough to have a service when the pastor can't get to church!

So, in between shoveling, I've been keeping up with my blogging and doing some baking and cleaning (for our Council Christmas dinner tonight). While it's nice to be home, it's frustrating to not be able to leave!

Now, the bitter temperatures (as in, hovering near 0 degrees - for a high!) are moving in for a couple of days...

Can anyone tell me why we moved to Wisconsin?!

Interesting article for today:

10 Most Overpriced Products You Should Avoid

No, we can't go home yet. We got home briefly, packed another bag, and are staying at a church member's cabin for now. There's still 8 inches of water in our driveway. The basement is down to about an inch. Progress is slow...

A Flood Update...

We tried to go home today.

Yeah, we're not there now.



That would be our driveway, front yard and house. We are currently renting "lakefront property!"

 We got to the road at the end of our driveway and couldn't go any further. Our landlord came and took us to the house on an ATV. We grabbed a trash bag of clothes and shoes, along with our camera and computers.

There was as much as 12 inches of water on the driveway. According to our landlord, "It's going down!!" Yeah...it's all relative! Personally, we thought that was a LOT of water!


Our basement

There was still 1 1/2 inches in our basement. The pump is still running (constantly). Again, according to our landlord, "It's going down!!" It was as high as 4 inches yesterday, so it's improving slowly.

We are hoping to be able to get home tomorrow. If we can safely get at least one of our vehicles down the driveway and out to the highway, then we can stay there.

The cleanup is just beginning. They aren't sure yet if our furnace was affected since the water did hit 4 inches. It's getting very close to freezing at night here now, so no furnace would not be good.

Many other people have been much more seriously affected than we have. We are thankful just to be safe and dry right now!

Sometimes the best laid plans go awry...

I had all kinds of posts planned for today. They won't be happening.

Yesterday morning (Saturday), we willingly left our house because of the potential for flooding. We haven't been back since. We can't go back. Every road to our house flooded and impassable.

We spoke with our landlord this afternoon while they were at our house. They live 2 miles north and took their ATV down to our house. Our house is now surrounded by water. Water is flowing through our garage (which is not attached to the house).

Our sump pump backed up and 2 inches of water came into the basement in just 30 minutes. They have our pump working again and are trying to empty the basement. Thankfully, we only had empty boxes in the basement. And yes, we have renter's insurance.

When we left yesterday, we packed a small suitcase but don't have much. We're staying in the village for now. We're thankful for a warm, dry place to stay.

Our area is not out of the woods yet. The waters continue to rise, but our dam is holding. They expect the river to crest soon, but no one knows. They've been saying that for a day and half now.

Right now, we do not know when we'll be able to go home again. Until then, I won't be blogging. We are not going on the retreat as planned. Our county will likely be declared a disaster area; many people here have lost much more than we have.

We are continuing to pray for everyone here who is being affected. We ask for your prayers as well.

I'll be back tomorrow...

I had orientation for work in Madison today but didn't make it through the entire day there. I ended up in Urgent Care tonight and have a raging sinus infection. I've started antibiotics and hope to feel a little bit more human tomorrow.

When I can see and think straight again, I will get the Festival, Aldi and Copps matchups posted!

Gratituesday: There's a fire?!

After dinner, my husband wanted birthday cake for dessert. I decided I'd eat my last Udi's cinnamon roll (best gluten free bread products ever!).

I stuck my cinnamon roll on a "Happy Birthday" paper plate and put it in the microwave to warm it up a bit.(I am not a paper plate-person, but when we lived in my grandma's house last year, we "inherited" her massive collection of paper products and I determined it would be wasteful to throw them away, so we are slowly working our way through them...there's a lot.)

Bad idea.

I see smoke coming out of the microwave.

Then I open the door and see flames...like real-fire-kind-of-flames.

I yell, "There's a fire!" My husband jumps up. And then just stands there staring at the fire. {Gee, thanks for the help, honey!} So I grab a cup, fill it with water and start throwing water on my beloved Udi's cinnamon roll.

Here's the end result:

My husband now says something like: "Guess you're having cake tonight, huh?"

Yes. I guess I am.

I am extremely grateful it wasn't more serious! Especially considering we're renting...

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Kleenex for my birthday?!

What did my husband get me for my birthday today?

A three pack of Kleenex!

Yes, he did. Why?

"Well, you always say you only want practical gifts!"

Yep, that's my wonderful husband! And he's absolutely right - I prefer practical gifts! Actually, I'd prefer no gifts (that is not my love language!), but no one seems to listen to that...!

Tissues are about as practical as you can get with this allergy-prone girl. And I am nearly out of tissues, which constitutes a crisis in my world! As someone who is allergic to air (almost literally!), tissues are a great gift - and quite useful!

Oh, and did I mention he also got me a bag of Dove chocolates? Yep, he knows me pretty well! :) And boy, do I love him!