Merry Christmas!!!!

Our Family would like to wish all of our blog readers a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! We hope you and your family has a wonderful time together and through the New Year! Remember the Real reason for Christmas...... Not the Presents and all the Commercial hoop-la...... Keep CHRIST in Christmas ....... The Real gift that was born 2009 years ago!

Santa Pictures

After 3 attempts of trying to see Santa we were finally successful. We braved the crowd at the mall and to go to dinner . Thank the Lord all my Christmas shopping has been finished for a while now , I almost had a panic attack out in that Christmas mess last night! Ugh! We had to make reservations to see Santa. Lol! We got there around 3:15 and had to make our reservations for 6:30 pm. Can you believe you need Reservations to see Santa?!? It still did not help.... We had to wait in line for about 40 minutes anyway!

He was a really cool Santa though! He gave all the kids high 5's and was the most active one I have ever seen with them.

Here is the 3 little ones with Santa. The 2 older boys are to old now!!! Until Chirstmas morning!!! Lol!!!

Happy Birthday Karlton!!!

Today is my hubby's 38th B/D. I married this man when he was 23 yrs. old ( so guess how old that made me ;0)! He has been my very Best Friend for the last 14 1/2 yrs. Today he woke up to cards from all of us and gifts. Then we spent his B/D doing a little shopping..... seeing Santa Claus.... and eating at Tony Roma's!



Then we came home to eat his favorite kind of cake ..... white cake and white icing! He loves the butter cream icing best!

Then Josiah had us to do a photo shoot. Here are a few of the ones he took.

Now we have a movie to go watch together................ Hope you had a great day today!!!!

Looking Back At Our Past Week

It has been a really busy last week! Last Saturday I drove to Florence, SC w/ 4 of the kiddos to meet my family ( mom, dad, grandparents, and nephew ) for Christmas at a really yummy restaurant! They had the BEST giant brownie I have ever had! Sara Ava got sick early that morning so Karlton had to stay home with her. My sister and 2 of hers and my brother did not get to make it either. But we still had a nice time!

Then Sundays are devoted to Basketball after Church.....Our team and Jordan Jr. High Team has practice. Jordan also had a Christmas Party at his Friends house were they exchanged their Secret Santa gifts.


Monday was Jordan's Fall Sports Awards Ceremony. He received a Certificate for Cross Country. The first picture was of him walking back after he got his Certificate...... My Camera's batteries were dying! Ugh!!!!! I had to switch back to the 8X longer batteries because my rechargeable batteries never held a charge!



Wed. night I taught my Women's Bible Study and Josiah went to his Christmas Party at Church.



Thursday ,Sara Ava's K class Sang at K-mart. Lilee woke up that morning running a fever so we had to miss that...... and Sara Ava and Joel's Christmas Parties. I hear they did a great job! :0(
When she came home from School I took her picture in the sweatshirt she had made for their Caroling. She is the 4th little Shrum to make of of these cute little sweatshirts!

Joel and I are not feeling well now.... we both have headaches and are dealing with colds! Ugh!!!! I have been working hard this week finishing up all my Christmas tutu's, hat sets, gift sets, and etc..... I have been to the post office 4 times this week shipping out all my orders. I have shut Cutie Patutuz down until January the 4th, so that I can spend the rest of the time with my kids over the Holidays. I am looking forward to a break but..... I am brain storming and preparing for Valentines Day :0) Other then baking and making a lot of Goodies for my kids and their parties, running , and couponing..... that has pretty much been my week ;0)

I Have Posted A New Message on Cutie Patutuz

UPDATED - I am shutting down Cutie Patutuz this Friday until Jan. 4th for the Holidays. Make sure you stop by to see all the gloves that I have left. If you have already bought a hat then you will need my gloves to make a matching set. They are $5 a pr. (this does include the shipping) Make sure you stop by http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/ to see which ones I have left. They will be shipped out this week. So you better hurry and let me know if there was something you were interested in! karlton5@juno.com

A Fun Holiday Treat!

Peppermint Chocolate Fudge Sundae

I saw this in one of my magazines and wanted to try it out yesterday. All I can say is it was Yummy!

It called for more ingredients but I just used what I had at home. Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

~ ( I used Candy Canes) or Peppermint Candy - 1/2 cup ( I used more)

~ ( I used Chocolate Magic Shell Sauce) Chocolate Fudge Topping

~ Chocolate Chips - 1 cup

~ 2 pints of Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions:

1.First you will have to sit the Vanilla Ice Cream out to soften.

2. Then unwrap all the Candy Canes or Peppermint Candies and place in sandwich bag. Then start smashing them them with a rolling pin until they are really tiny pieces.

3. Stir the crushed Peppermint Candies into the soft ice cream until it is blended really well.

4. To really make it yummy..... you can mix in some Chocolate Chips.

5. Put back in the freezer for about 1 hr.

6. Serve in a bowl with you choice of Chocolate Topping!

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

Basketball

This picture is from Monday night. Joel is able to play for the 1st-3rd and play up to the 4th-6th, since he is in the 3rd grade. That is Joel jumping for the ball in the orange shirt, in the picture above. He did get it for his (1st -3rd grade) team. This was his first game that he had played with them. They did not win that night but Joel had the ball most of the game. He ended up making 6 points for their team and 1 point for our team (4th-6th grade). Joel was on Fire that night!!!

Our team has still not won a game! We are on still on a roll from last year. We have had some pretty tight and exciting games but no wins!!! Arg!!! Josiah is our really good defensive player.... Joel too! Josiah has made some points too in ea. game!

Jordan's team has won 3 out of 4 games. He always has a really good team! Last year they won the Championship. Jordan scored 8 points at his game on Thursday night!

Way to Go boys!!!!!!!!!!

We are on break until after the NEW YEAR! So we have plenty of practice time.... hopefully we will win a game!!!

UPDATED!!!! CHECK OUT MY NEW GIFT SETS!!!!!!!!

I AM SELLING OUT OF MY SETS SO QUICKLY! I HAVE UPDATED THE ONES THAT I HAVE LEFT! YOU NEED TO STOP BY MY WEBSITE http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/ AND CHECK OUT MY NEW GIFT SETS!!! I'VE BEEN WORKING HARD!!!! ;0) THESE MAKE GREAT STOCKING STUFFERS, GIFTS, AND FUN SETS FOR YOUR LITTLE ON TO WEAR IN THIS FREEZING WEATHER!!!!! IF YOU SOMETHING YOU LIKE DON'T WAIT..... YOU CAN E-MAIL ME AT KARLTON5@JUNO.COM

We Are Still Alive! ........

Barely!!!!!!! Ha! It feels like that anyway. Karlton just finished up his night shift at the Nuclear plant today. It was suppose to go the beginning of the year , but then they started talking about wanting to have the shut down finished before Christmas, and then it became the 10th and all of a sudden it was over. I am happy it is OVER but a bit worried again, because that would have been 3 more 72 hrs. worth of paychecks. :0( . Now we are back to square one..... Praying and asking the Lord every day for work. The Nuclear Plant did ask Karlton if he wanted to work another shut down in March. But my word, March is a long time from now!

With Karlton working 72 hrs from 6pm to 6:30 am. I had to pull double duty!!! Felt like Triple duty!! The kids really gave it to me for all they had! They have tested me like I have never been tested before! ALL OF THEM!!! It got so bad that one day this week I walked around with a paddle in my hand daring anyone to cross me! Karlton asked me if I was losing it... I said " Ya think!" We got to see Karlton from 4pm to 4:45 pm while he got ready for work. So it will be nice to have him around again... more. Poor Lilee thought he never came home anymore, she was so confused asking where her daddy was at now! Lol ! When he came home today at 2pm. she asked, " daddy what are you doing here?" I was on my way out the door to get the 2 from Elementary and I asked, "do you want to come with me or stay with daddy?" Guess which one she picked???? He is working tomorrow (for his Company) and taking the 2 older boys to help him. Yay!!!! That is the most of a break I have had in 5 weeks. Ahhhhhh! So me and the little ones are going shopping! Getting out of this house! I am going to get my stress reliever.... STARBUCKS!!!! Nothing better then that combination.... For me anyway! ;0)

So what I have I been up to you ask?????? Thanks for asking BTW ;0)........... I have been making tons of pretty little Tutu's in all colors and sizes and Hats..... LOTS AND LOTS OF HATS!!!! I have been staying up to midnight trying to finish my tutu orders. I only have 3 more to go and then I am taking a break from tutu's until after Christmas! Because of all these hats and tutu's I was single handed-ly able to by my kids Christmas presents this yr. I am very happy about that since I have always depended upon Karlton to work extra or take side jobs to come up with the money for Christmas gifts. I put my own sweat into it this yr. It feels really good too! But I didn't really single handed-ly do it! I am sending a big shout out to everyone who has purchased my hats and tutu's. Thank YOU all soooo much! Thank YOU LORD!!! I prayed everyday that he would send me customers so that my kids would not be with out Christmas presents under the tree this yr. They would have had something .....trust me! But.... it wouldn't have been what they wanted! They still don't have as much this year but I am satisfied with what they are getting!! Its good for them to learn to deal in hard times just like everyone else!BTW...... I only have 3 Christmas Hat sets left, better check and see if there is one you want because they will not last long. You can go here to see which ones are left http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/ I am now working on Valentines Day CREATIONS! Brain storming anyway!

Speaking of Christmas presents .......... I got some awesome deals this yr! I got the big boys an Xbox 360 for $199.00 but the deal was I got a $100 Wal-mart gift card when I bought it for FREE. It was a 3 day deal that I just could not pass up. So I took that $100 and bought their games that I got on sale too. I think I ended up getting 6 games for under $100. Not bad at all! So I spent $200 for 2 kids Christmas gifts. averaging out to $100 a piece. I think that is pretty good. I bought Sara Ava a doll house that was on Sale but it came with a free family van that was a $25 value. I hardly spent anything on Lilee but got everything on her list. Toys R Us had a great deal one weekend. I bought her a baby that crawls for $4.99. It was a $30 doll. I had bought another doll and got that one for 1/2 off. But it ended up being being more than 80 % off. I finished up their stocking stuffers today. So they are all done. I am so relieved to have that behind me! Maybe I won't have panic attacks this year! :0)

I am still couponing away!!!! I hope you all are too!!! I want to hear about some good deals that you all have been finding and let me know how your coupon deals are coming!!! I went to Harris Teeter today and forgot to give the girl my Vic card and when she rang up everything it was $120. I about had a heart attack because I have not seen this much of a grocery bill since May. But, then I found my card and handed it to her and it went down to $57.00, that was before the coupons! Then I handed her my stack of Q's and ended up paying $38.00. Not Bad huh!!?? So I saved $82.00 that is more that 62% savings. I actually got a lot of stuff too. Here are some of the deals..... Bayer aspirin for .57 cents, Bread for .24 cents, PB for .26 cents, 6 pk. of apple sauce for .50 cents. Oh yeah.... and shredded cheese for .46 cents. I bought a few of ea. of these items to I stocked up!!!!

I had to coach 2 basketball games this week by All by myself.... Ack!!! Poor kids...... we lost both games of course! Karlton will be back for this weeks games! Hallelujah!!!!! Pray that these poor kids win a game this yr. They lost every single one last yr. Even the really close ones and the over time games. Ahhhhhhh! We are off to a bad start again................

I am still running!!!! I FINALLY made it to 3 miles today for the first time! :0D I can't believe I actually did it! I have been running 6.5 mo. now. I would have never dreamed I would have made it this far! I though I would have had to run for a yr. or 2 before I could run that distance. I ran 14.6 miles total this week, best so far. It was so nice and sunny yesterday and it felt good to run! Today was cold and yucky and only going to get worse! My mood changes with the weather and the seasons!!! Trust me!! I am a SUMMER GIRL!!! I love heat, green, green leaves on the trees, flowers, and SUNSHINE, oh yeah and daylight that last! I get so down in the winter time!!! But yesterday...... was a nice break for me, it felt good to PRETEND it was spring already! I know the winter is not even here yet...... :0(

The kids are all doing well! We have been pretty healthy for the most part! PTL!!!!!!!!! Joel has been excepted into Eagles because of his good grades!! And Jordan was named a Junior Scholar for making the top 12 highest grade on a SAT test out of the 8th grade. I think these are practice test for when they are in High School, which he will be in next yr. Waaaaaa!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!! We did!! We stayed home and I cooked it all! Yes.... even the gross turkey! If you follow me on Face Book you know what I am talking about! I had a hard time with prepping the turkey, I totally grossed out! Next Year Karlton gets to clean that nasty raw bird! But it still turned out pretty yummy and I got a really clean kitchen afterward! I cleaned it 3 times! ;0) Josiah did help me cook some, but he only cooks what he wants to. We got Karlton up to carve the turkey and he ate with us and then went back to bed. I was glad that he was able to have Thanksgiving with us and that we did not leave him alone!

I think that is everything that has been going on around here! Hopefully I will be taking some picture of more then just hats and tutu's soon.... like my kids!

Hope I did not bore you all to death with all this ranting!!!!!

CHRISTMAS HATS THAT ARE READY TO SHIP!

Make sure you stop by http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/ to see all the Christmas Hat Sets that I have been working on this week! These are one of a kind.... if you see one you like let me know quickly because I will Not be making anymore of these. You can e-mail me at karlton5@juno.com if you are interested in one.

My tutu's and hats are how my kids are getting Christmas this year! ;0)

I promise for an update on our family soon! I have been trying to fill all my hat orders, make new hat sets, and working on a mound of tutu's to get out before Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Our Family wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you have a great day with your family eating lots of yummy food!!!!!!

A Little Funny

I thought I would share a little funny with you all...........




Sara Ava came to me on Sunday and said "Mom, did you know there is no Santa Claus .... there is just a rich lady who goes around and buys and gives everyone presents." I replied, " No, I have never heard that in my whole life , so does that mean you don't want to go see Santa at the mall in a few weeks to give him your Christmas List." She said, "YES! I want too." (Guess she just wants to cover all her basis.) I asked," Where did you hear that mess at anyway?" She said, " A girl in my class told me." These are 5 years olds mind you! LOL!!!!!!


The boys were just appalled that she had said that!!!!

So Rich Lady if you are out there ..... Here is my Christmas List!!! I want a stocking FULLLL of Starbucks gift cards!!! Heaven knows I NEED them to get through these next several weeks!!!! Ha!!!

The Christmas Tutu

I have enough material to make one more red, white , and green tutu. I made 3 of these and they are PRECIOUS!!!!!! I also have my new Hot Pink and Purple Hats in!! Check them out at http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/

I know I am boring you all with these posts but this is the only way my kids are getting Christmas this year! ;0)

4 New Posts

Stop By Cutie Patutuz and check out all my new posts. I have been working on a lot of new hat sets, they are ready to ship! I also have new headbands sets and 2 new headband colors. You will

also want to see a few pictures that I posted of some Cutie Patutuz in their Halloween tutu's!

http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/

These Hat sets will make great Christmas presents and the Headbands will be the perfect touch to finish off that Christmas outfit! There is less then 6 weeks until Christmas! I just made your shopping a little easier for you so that you can stay at home in your PJ's to shop! ;0)

If you are interested in anything please e-mail me at karlton5@juno.com

An Answer To Many Prayers!

Karlton finished his training yesterday at the Nuclear Plant , he passed all tests and he was hired on today until the beginning of the New Year. He is working a shut down, so it is contract work. He will be working nights starting Sat. .....12 hr a day, 6 days a week. That is 72 hrs a week! He got paid for his first week of training today!! That is our first paycheck in months!!!! It is a good thing too because unemployment was running out! The next several weeks are going to be hard for Karlton (on everyone) , but PTL there is work!!!!! Keep us all in your prayers and pray the Lord will have work lined up for Karlton's business after the New Year too!!!

Jordan and Sara Ava are all better now from the Swine Flu and they are back to school! Praise GOD!

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

First I am going to start off with the Ugly.........

The piggy flu has made it into the Shrum household. On Tue. Jordan called me from school asking me to come and get him. I did not even recognize my own child on the phone at first, because he was so sick! He was running a fever and had a very bad cough and stayed in his bed until Fri. when I finally took him to the Dr. I knew he had the flu but I thought it was were he had gotten his shot the week before. After he had gotten his shot his lymphoid had swollen up under his arm and his arm hurt him for a few days. They said he only had the Flu ......Jordan is on a Z pack for his reaaly bad cough.

Then Friday I sent Sara Ava to school with a cough. I had given her some med. because her cough sounded like a drainage cough. She came home from school coughing and went to take a nap. When she woke up from her nap she was red and was shaking, I knew she had a fever! When I took her temp. she had a 105.2 fever. I gave her some Tylenol and put her in a luke warm bath, with a Vanilla Frosty ( at her request). We got then fever down 3 degree's with in the first hour. But it went up and down all night long. It spiked back to the 105.2, but then broke. I took her to the Dr. yesterday and they said she has the Swine Flu. We started the Tami Flu yesterday and it is working wonders on top of the Triaminic Flu. So now I know Jordan had the Swine Flu too. Sara Ava's fever was gone this morning PTL... She is up and walking around the house today. No keeping her in the bed for 4 days like Jordan did.

I am just praying that the rest of us stay safe and healthy but you know how large families work. You don't always get what you want!

Now for the GOOD...................

Joel came home with straight A's on his first report card this yr. ( I can't remember if I have written about that or not. ) He was the only child this go around to get straight A's. Lilee and I also went to see him get Terrific Kid for the month of Oct. week before last. Sara Ava was Terrific Kid out of her Class for Sept. and now Joel was it out of his class for Oct. I have 2 Terrific Kids!!!!!!!!!!! Sara Ava also was the Star Student out of her class week before last! Ya Sara Ava!

Lilee is completely potty trained again.....after she had it licked for 3 weeks and then fell of the wagon for about a week. It has been 4 weeks now since any messes! Ya! I love not having to buy pull ups!

Jordan just finished his yr. in Cross Country. He had his name in the paper for beating his own personal records! He started out the season running the 3.1 mile races at 28 min. 56 sec. and finished up in the 24.26 min. Wish I could improve my time on my running. It takes me 27-28 min. running 2.7 miles (that is with or with out a 1 min. walk).

The Basketball season has started. Karlton and I are coaching Josiah's team 4-6th grade for our Church. Joel will get to play on our team and the 1-3rd grade. Jordan is on the Middle school team. We are already practicing and our first games our the week of Thanksgiving. So the Boys are really excited!

Karlton finished his first week of training at the Nuclear Plant. He has 1 more week to complete before he starts working. PLEASE PRAY that he is excepted. If he is not then he will not get paid for all the time he has in it. WE NEED A PAY CHECK BADLY!!!!!!

Now for the Bad.................

Even though the Nuclear Plant is work and will possibly be an answer to pray it is still hard on us all. We never see Karlton now at all, he work weekends for his company to try to keep it going for now, because he will have to shut it down for the 6 weeks he is working at the Nuclear plant. He (we) is so tired and we both have a lot of extra responsibility. He will be working straight through the holidays, that is if they except him. :0(

Pray for a good week for him and that he has great news this Thursday that they can use him!!!
Thanks!

Wednesdays Prayer List

I am back to my Wed. prayer list. Here are some things that you can pray for, for our family and other prayer request that I have gotten. If you have something you would like us to pray about leave me a message here.

~ Please pray for Karlton this week. This is a huge week for him. He has started training for the next 2 weeks to do some contract work at a Nuclear Plant. If he passes all 25 test over the next 2 weeks then he will work 12 hr. days, 6 days a week for the next 6 wks. which will bring him to the New Yr. If for any reason that he does not pass and they let him go then he will have waisted many days and not get paid for it. One strike against him already is that he had to take off 1/2 the day for a meeting with his lawyer. Please pray that he does not get canned over this!

~ Keep praying for his Bankruptcy! Pray that all works out for the good with it and it will help Karlton to get back on his feet!

~ Also keep praying for work! It is helping, in baby stages... but it is working!

~ Pray the land will get to close. We had to postpone the closing on it at the end of Oct. because of the Bankruptcy. I think the new closing is set in another month. Pray all goes well there!

~ Pray for our health.... We all have been sick over the past few weeks and now Jordan is home in bed , running a fever.

~ Keep praying for me..... These are very stressful times for me. I keep wondering how each bill is going to get paid. By the Grace of God they do.... but it keeps looking worse and worse. I am thanking the Lord for helping me with my hats and tutu's if it were not for them we would be in really bad shape! The money from my sales has saved our behinds more then once. So I guess keep praying they keep selling!! :0) I have had to step it up a lot and basically am a single mom right now with Karlton's long hours and he is trying to work the weekends too. So it is a lot of extra on me right now. The only break I get is when go running. And THANK GOODNESS for running!!!!!!!! Or I would be a bigger bear then I am now! ;0)

~ My friend's husband John is having surgery on his leg today. He has an aneurysm in his leg. Pray all goes well with that.

~ Also my friend Jodi has a friend who is pregnant w/ twins and one of them has died. Please pray the other one continues to do well!!!!

~ My friend Kristy's nephew was born 12 weeks early. Please pray the Lord lays his hand on this baby and heals him and helps him to grow to be strong.

~ Also for my friend Becky's pregnancy! Pray that she and the baby have a safe and healthy pregnancy.

I think that is all for now............. Thank you all for you prayers!

Halloween Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the little ones from the past 2 weeks dressed up in their Halloween Costumes. Last weekend we went to a Boo bash were the kids got to kids to pick out a pumpkin....

My 2 Fairy Pricessa's just had their nails done , that is why they are holding their hands weird.

The girls getting their nails done.................

They even got to get their faces painted.

They had a costume parade and the local restaurants brought their food to sample. Yummy!!!

Joel and Sponge Bob. We had a really fun time!

Here are a few pictures of the little ones decorating their pumpkins from this past weekend.

Lilee made a pumpkin piggy...........


Sara Ava made a pumpkin kitty..........

and Joel made a pumpkin puppy.

These pictures were taken Sat. they were all ready to go to our Church's Carnival.

One little fairy princess.........

two little fairy princesses...... ( these were the costumes I made the for the girls)





and my handsome Samurai.....

Lions And Tigers And Bears..........

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! We went to the Columbia Zoo last weekend. It was rainy and freezing but we managed to have a really good time! All the animals were out and so lively!We had some that were even really interacting with us, maybe a little too much!

I had a lioness chasing me from one side of the pen to the other, because I had a zebra print scarf wrapped around my head (because of the rain). Karlton said she thought I was a Zebra. She was doing anything she could to try to jump the gully to get to me. Oh!!! The look in her eyes was scary!!! You know that I want to eat you look!!! Eeek!

Doesn't he look so cuddly! The bear not the tiger! Lol!

This fellow got a little agitated when there was a lot of people at the window starring at him. He stood up and started beating on the window w/ both fists. Lets just say it scared everyone!! But he liked the kids. He would just look at them and watch their every move. He was really fascinated in Lilee's Yellow flower on her hat.

Siah took this picture of mom and dad. Notice the bird over our heads....

Even the elephants were really friendly that day! We had one walk right to us, like he wanted us to feed him. Wish I would have had some peanuts!

Siah keeping one of the monkeys from escaping. Lol.....

We got to see 2 baby giraffe's. They were so cute! I just LOVE giraffe's!

All the kids had to have their pictures taken with this cut out!

Even though our day could have been ruined very easily, we had a great time! So did all the animals!

A Couple of Couponing Trips.....

I went to Harris Teeter on Thursday and had a really good time! I bought over $100 worth of groceries for a little over $32.00. Sorry don't have the exact #'s with me.... Some of my favorite buys were:

- 5 boxes of Special K cereal - on sale for $2.50 ea.
If you bought 5 you got $5 off your bill so that brought it down to $7.50 for 5 boxes of cereal with out any coupons. Which is a very good deal! But I had 2 $1.00 off coupons for Special K. So I ended up paying - $5.50 for 5 boxes of Special K. The Chocolate is my Favorite , I do like the Strawberry too! And I am known to mix the 2 together too! Mmmmmm!

- I bought 6 boxes of cake mix for .34 cents ea. Here's how..... They were $1.79 ea. org. but on sale for B1G1 Free. Then I had coupons for .55 cents off of 2. Harris Teeter doubles their Q's so that made them .34 cents ea.

- the e-vic special was a bag of miniature Mars candy bars for $.99 cent a bag.

I bought lots of other things too! I actually had a whole buggy full for under $33. :0D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also went to CVS and bought a Large Glade Candle and a loaf of bread for $1.04.

The candle was $10, on sale for $6.99, plus you get your ECB $6.99 + Free. Plus I had ECB's that I used from previous purchases.

I saved over $12.00.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today I went to Target and got a few really good buys!

- Neosporin Lip therapy $3.34
I used a $3.00 Q
Paid .34 cents

- 2 Dove lotions that were $5.04 ea.
if you bought 2 you got a $5 gift card for your next purchase. So that is like it brought it down to $5.08 for 2.
Then I used 2 $1.50 manufacture Q's
and 2 Target peelie coupons that were on them for $1.00
I ended up paying .08 cents for both of them

- 2 Skippy Peanut Butters $2.04 ea.
I used 2 $1.00 Target Q's
and 2 .40 cents manufacture Q's
I ended up paying .64 cents for ea. of them

Not bad huh!!!!

How about you all???? Have you been Couponing???? Have I inspired anyone to start using coupons!! Let me know here if you have gotten any good deals lately!!!

Infant Hats, Beauties, And Followers!

I have posted 3 new post today on Cutie Patutuz. Check it out here http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/

Have You Stopped By.....

Cutie Patutuz lately to see what all I have???? http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/
Christmas is coming soon!!! My tutu's and hats will make great gifts! Please keep me in mind!:0)

GUESS WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

We accepted an offer on the land yesterday. Actually it was the 3rd offer from the same people. It was very low and we still lost some money on it but it is better then the bank taking it right! We are suppose to close on it the end of this month ( Oct.) if the buyer can get all the permits, which I don't know why they couldn't, we did. But you know how things go!! Keep praying because it is not finished yet!

We are praising the Lord and having faith this will go through! The buyers should be praising the Lord to because they got a $25,000 discount. Now we can breath!!!!!!!!!!

Lilee's Big News!!!

And now a message from Lilee....................

" I am a big girl now and not a baby anymore, because I wear panties! They are Sleeping Booty Panties."

Lilee tells everyone this now!!!! She finally made a break through and finished potty training herself. Thank goodness! She has been poopy potty trained now since Christmas, but the pee part we just could not get! For the last 3 weeks she has done so well! She has only had 2 accidents but luckily she had a pull up on at the time, and it was in the car. She only wears a pull up now for bed time and in the car if we have to go somewhere with a long drive. But when these pull ups are gone, they are gone!!! That will save us some money!!! Excited about that part!

I know this picture is blurry but I thought it was still cute!

Wednesdays Prayer List

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR OUR FAMILY!!!

Things were just starting to looking up, but that all went away very quickly.... Karlton was working night and day and weekends , w/ the help of the boys on the large job he had gotten, and had passed all his first inspections. Things were rolling! Then people started getting greedy.... contractors, business owners... until things turned really bad and the contractor Karlton works for got thrown off the job and lost the job. (The little man always gets hurt!!! )Karlton thought he was not going to get a penny but the contractor he works for gave him 1/2 the money that is owed to him, out of his own pocket. The poor contractor has 57K of his own money on this job and has not been paid. So now there are attorneys involved. The owners of the business has already hired another contractor and has people working which is not really legal. They came in and tore down all the work that has been done already. The city will have to get involved now because they have passed all the inspections and they tore down that work as to say your inspection is not good enough. So let me just say these people deserve what ever happens to them. I know that is bad of me, but very true!!! What does the bible say about a slap in the face?

So now the few weeks of steady work is all gone out the window! I have turned in a few resumes for Karlton for contract work with some large companies..... please pray something turns out!

The Bankruptcy has taken longer to start, because we did not have the money to do it. Nice huh!!!! We are to poor to go bankrupt! =0( But in a few short weeks we are filing and it could not come fast enough. The phone calls and the letters keep getting uglier and nastier! Seriously people!!

On a good note the Lord has blessed me with all the work I can handle with tutu's, flower bows, and hats! Oh..... the hats!!! I am so grateful the Lord has given me something that I can handle to help our family out. I actually love it!!!! I don't feel so useless.....(Proverbs 31:24 )"She makes linen and garments and sells them and supplies the merchants w/ sashes." Yes....I am a Proverbs 31 woman or at least strive to be!

So here are the things you can be praying for our family:

1. Health - Joel was really sick over the weekend but is doing better. PTL!!! Now we have 3 that are coughing a lot ( 2 asthma related)! Pray the Lord will keep our family healthy!
2. Work for Karlton! Work that pays!!!! Work that will keep him busy for a while and keep money coming in!
3. Me!!! That the Lord will continue to let my little business take in money. Lord only knows how much we need it right now. The bills need to be paid and children need winter clothes. ( well actually Sara Ava is the only one in need right now)
4. The Bankruptcy!!! That the Lord will help Karlton to get everything worked out and back on his feet again!
5. I have a cousin ( Summer) who lives in FL that is very sick and in the Hospital. She is 27 and has 2 young kids. Pray for her healing and her salvation!!
6. Pray that justice will be done for the contractor Karlton works for that he will get what is rightfully owed to him and that some how Karlton will get the other 1/2 of the money that is owed to him!

I know that is a lot to dump on you but it sure makes me breath easier and not have my stupid panic attacks when I can get it off my chest!

We do have a lot to be Thankful for!!! I do know that! We are not starving thanks to Coupons!!!! Yes, I am still couponing away!!! We would not survive if it were not for the coupons!!! Lol!! Hopefully sometime soon I will post about my savings. I just have not had the time lately......

Thank You all for your prayers we know and can definitely tell that we are being prayed for! Also.... thanks to those of you who have helped my little business flourish! =0)