Peace and Craziness

Mine is to eat out less. This is hard with the bu...

2010-01-03T14:50:25.910-08:00

Mine is to eat out less. This is hard with the busyness of school. We are actually making meals for one month and frezing them. Hopefully this will save us some money.

I'm with you on "how is it 2010?" The last year f...

2010-01-03T11:53:31.753-08:00

I'm with you on "how is it 2010?" The last year flew by! Good luck with your move and all your new year's goals.

All great goals! I may be doing the moving thing, ...

2010-01-02T18:12:42.010-08:00

All great goals! I may be doing the moving thing, too - either this year or next.

Thanks so much for being a loyal reader. Means a lot!

Happy 2010!

Tamara
www.theunexperiencedmom.com

My mother passed in February of 2008. Christmas wa...

2009-12-30T00:06:40.685-08:00

My mother passed in February of 2008. Christmas was her favorite time of the year. I am still struggling with it; the hole is a huge one, and it doesn't go away.

The kids continue to play with a lot of the toys she got them for her last Christmas. I wish there was some way I could have solidified the memories that will surely fade as they grow older.

I am a kid in 5th grade, and I learn nothing at sc...

2009-12-23T09:16:21.553-08:00

I am a kid in 5th grade, and I learn nothing at school every day. It is almost completely review, and I know at least two other people in my class in the same position. Three people--that's one tenth of the class! I don't exactly believe that we should get more hours of boredom when we actually learn more at home.

This is a great blog and I love the ladies.

2009-12-20T13:41:51.090-08:00

This is a great blog and I love the ladies.

We are within 1-2 months of being debt free thanks...

2009-12-13T08:45:35.009-08:00

We are within 1-2 months of being debt free thanks to Dave. I completely feel you on just wanting to move on to the next debt. It can get so frustrating yet so fun. I also feel you on the medical bills-that is actually where we started. We actually should have been debt free this month but had a medical emergency with our dog-uggggg. But he is okay now (all be it now taking a significant portion of what was our debt repayment to see that his medical needs are now met) and we are back on track. Keep on plugging and congrats on the progress.

Hang in there. We did Dave Ramsey's plan and we a...

2009-12-12T19:23:20.481-08:00

Hang in there. We did Dave Ramsey's plan and we are now debt free except our house, with a plan set up to pay it off early. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it will be worth it. I know it's hard when you're in the middle of it, but the feeling of being debt free...it's amazing. It's like a burden has been lifted off your shoulders. You will make it!

We have no credit card debt and I LOVE it! We hav...

2009-12-12T17:17:08.360-08:00

We have no credit card debt and I LOVE it!

We have one car payment, the house, and the 4 wheelers. That's it. No other "notes" besides my camera gear which I make pay for itself. My budget could still use some work, but I am proud of where we are at the moment.

First off; I just want to say that family time sho...

2009-12-11T06:57:40.262-08:00

First off; I just want to say that family time should NEVER trump someones education. If one of my parents had taken me out of school because I wasen't spending enough time home I would have hit the roof.
I'm in favor of a longer school year but shorter days. The time lost over summer break does students a great disservice.

Another problem I never thought of until someone m...

2009-12-10T18:56:03.258-08:00

Another problem I never thought of until someone mentioned split families was just that. What I mean by it, particularly pertaining to shorter summers, is that would mean less time for Dustin (and I) to see him son. Every other weekend is nice (when we're home) but weeks at a time during the summer are GREAT!

I agree with you, as well. In any other instance m...

2009-12-10T13:57:29.540-08:00

I agree with you, as well. In any other instance majority rules, correct? Like you said, if "we" were shoving CHRISTmas down their throats, forcefully, yes, by all means be offended! It's scary what this world is coming to... very God-less and evil.

I agree 100%! I was frustrated when we had our Ch...

2009-12-09T18:40:56.362-08:00

I agree 100%! I was frustrated when we had our Christmas cards printed and I had to look under "holiday" cards - when did Christmas become a bad word? BTW, I love your blog - I'm following it now.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of us. ...

2009-12-09T11:30:55.783-08:00

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of us. May it come back to you ten-fold!

Amen, sista'. The loud and obnoxious minority seem...

2009-12-08T06:54:23.808-08:00

Amen, sista'. The loud and obnoxious minority seems to run the show.

Thanks, girl!

Hi, Mandy. I'm a college friend of Jeff's and Caro...

2009-12-05T11:37:13.425-08:00

Hi, Mandy. I'm a college friend of Jeff's and Carolyn's. My dad died November 15 after a really yucky year-long battle with brain cancer.

I read this post with a great big lump in my throat and tears in my eyes because I could relate to almost every single word. (My dad gave the best hugs and always smelled good, too.)

I think I've drawn the most comfort and wisdom from friends (and believe it or not, even strangers) who have lost a parent. It's a horrible club and no one wants to be in it, but I hope you have someone whose a little bit further than you on this journey who can help you. They can't make it not hurt as much as it does, but it helps to know that others have survived this and lived to helps someone else through it. Count me as a new friend who will be praying for you, too.

I am so sorry.

Thank you for your open-hearted revelation of your...

2009-12-05T09:26:45.541-08:00

Thank you for your open-hearted revelation of your love for your dad. We continue to pray for you guys, and are so sorry. It was a little surreal last week. One of young church members lost his dad to lung cancer and a former member here also had a dad that died.

In addition, one of our great friends from OBU lost her father as well, and her blog entry about it was amazing. I am going to share yours with her as well.

I am a very new blogger and was so happy to see yo...

2009-12-04T20:27:37.227-08:00

I am a very new blogger and was so happy to see your post! I have a lot to learn and I feel like this has given me a good jumpstart. Thanks for taking the time to write this all out for us newbies. :)

I am so so sorry, Mandy. You and yours are definit...

2009-12-02T13:23:21.280-08:00

I am so so sorry, Mandy. You and yours are definitely in my prayers right now. Love and hugs, love and hugs.

I know no words can make it better, so I will just...

2009-12-01T16:07:28.973-08:00

I know no words can make it better, so I will just say I'm so sorry for your loss! ;-(

Hi everyone! I really don't want to sound too neg...

2009-11-26T13:41:46.162-08:00

Hi everyone!

I really don't want to sound too negative and I agree with a lot of peoples views on here but I can especially empaphise with bloggerans post.
As a 29 year old woman the thought of having children is never far away and in fact I do feel like something is missing which makes me very sad and perhaps unfulfilled but I also do not want to have children just to make me happy.

I feel very sad about the state of the World. God intended us to have children. But we are also here to look after the planet and unfortunately not many of us can say we are making much of a contribution, in fact a lot of us just exist. Many live in the moment and are very selfish.
I have nothing against people having children but when it gets to six or more (for example) who is paying the price for them?

I would love to say I will adopt but I suspect I will be selfish and want my own one baby one day.

Read children's story books about potty training t...

2009-11-24T19:24:04.666-08:00

Read children's story books about potty training to your child. There are lots of books available for you get online on potty training. Reading and imagination helps the child to relate to the interesting characters and behaviors within the story and helps them follow accordingly. Offer lots of praise when your child does make some progress. It is not an easy practice but this will help you see results amazingly when you really put in the effort to make your child proud of their achievement. Avoid physical punishment for not using the potty. Stop all reminders about using the toilet. Replace the reminders with the potty training stories you’ve read to your child. This helps as their mind recalls the story and how will keep it in mind when its time.

source: www.childdevelopmenttechniques.com

Oh goodness, this is really sad. I could not sit a...

2009-11-24T05:56:21.745-08:00

Oh goodness, this is really sad. I could not sit and watch that. No way. Did you see I got a new dog? I cannot remember who has stoppd by lately but we got a rescue dog that was being fostered. I couldn't watch them being loaded up...you have a lot more strength than me.

Great post! glad to hear how they have all been wo...

2009-11-21T08:18:36.768-08:00

Great post! glad to hear how they have all been working out for you also, not just a list of places to go! Still not sure how "out there" i am trying to get my blog to be, but it has become a topic of interest to me of late, so I appreciate your thoughts on how to go about getting started! thanks for sharing!

Thanks for all of the GREAT TIPS! I will definite...

2009-11-20T11:58:28.007-08:00

Thanks for all of the GREAT TIPS! I will definitely try them out.