the tightwad's PDA

Because I'm cheap frugal.

Okay, I AM cheap. And trying to be more frugal.

Actually, what I REALLY am is trying to change my mentality from forced to voluntary cheapness/frugality. HUGE difference!

Anyway...

I stumbled on this a couple of weeks ago while reading through this series of posts over at The Simple Wife and have been using one ever since:

I have a larger DayMinder on my desk at home, but I sort of like to keep that for keeping track of business stuff. Plus, I'm still using the fairly small purse I bought in celebration of no more diaper bag (!!! ~ the thought still excites me!) and the DayMinder just doesn't slip in and out of it very easily.

There's manoeuvring involved.

The DayMinder's coils inevitably catch on the zipper. And then I have to put my keys down somewhere while I turn the DayMinder INSIDE my purse so that I can pull it out....

It's WORK, I tell ya. And there's a very real risk of me losing my keys virtually every time.

I can't afford a PDA. Nor am I really that interested in owning one. But I have often been at a loss for paper to write reminder notes down when I'm not at home, email addresses of friends I bump into while shopping, upcoming appointments that get made last-minute.... not to mention my to-do list for each day.

I know a small notepad would do the trick, but the PocketMod uses just ONE sheet of paper to make an 8-page, PERSONALIZED booklet that provides customizable pages for everything from your normal day-planner to chequebook balancing to food-journalling to sudokus for when you're waiting at the dentist's office! You can even add pictures if you want. (I totally put this picture of a PDA on the front page of my current one! Oh man, I crack myself up sometimes.)

AND, you can staple two or three together to give you a month in the palm of your hand!!

All for free. Free help with organization is good.

Free help with organization that puts my veritable mountain of printed-on-one-side scrap paper to really good use is even better.

Of course, printed-on-one-side paper is also quite handy for starting fires in the woodstove on cold winter mornings, but this way I use BOTH sides before it becomes fire-starter!!

the last weigh-in wednesday

Here on ValleyGirl, anyway.

From now on, anything along this vein will be happening over here →

I invite you to check it out whether you're a member of The Sisterhood or not.

If you're tired of struggling to lose weight, if you desperately want to quit obssessing about eating, and dealing with food issues in general, if you're wondering exactly how ON EARTH you become A Woman of Moderation after years and years of not having "enough" self-discipline....

I think you'll find some encouragement there.

it gets better

You remember last week, my answer to prayer?

I didn't think it could get better than that.

But it did.

Take a moment to read through the comments on that post. I'll wait right here.

Anything jump out at you?

It didn't for me either, the first time I read them through.

But when I went to clean out my Yahoo! email inbox, I read through them again, and this time I caught it:

"One of my daughters prays for your company faithfully..."

When I read it in the comments on the post, I'd misread and understood her to say, "One of my daughters prays for OUR company..." and I didn't really think much of it. How sweet their daughter prays for her parents' business. Hmmm, I didn't know they had a business. Oh well, very sweet. On to the next comment.

But it's "for YOUR company."

"One of my daughters prays for YOUR company faithfully."

A young girl no more than 11 years old, living somewhere WAY south of here, whose family I've never met, whose mother I only periodically correspond with via blog comments and short emails... prays FAITHFULLY for OUR company.

Is that not absolutely incredible??!!

So not only were MY prayers answered, but God favoured the prayers of a young girl, who, for whatever reason, has taken a personal interest in my life, and, unbeknownst to me, was kneeling and praying at my side.

Incredible. Powerful. Humbling.

What other reason could there be for a young girl ~ a complete stranger a third of my age ~ to pray for ME, if not to demonstrate how amazing God really is and the awesome power of prayer?

No wonder God couldn't say no!

ah, springtime on the canadian prairies....

...it's NOT for the faint of heart!!

It started out normally enough. Progressing like it generally does ~ getting warmer and warmer, the snow disappearing steadily, flake by flake. We were thoroughly enjoying the transition.

Here we are on April 13th, Peanut helping her little sister, Fidget, learn to ride a two-wheeler. Notice the length of the sleeves. And lack of jackets.

Still on the 13th, I went for my 2-mile walk in the evening and enjoyed a breathtaking sunset:

But on the 16th, things suddenly took a turn for the worse. It began innocently enough ~ just a spring rain. But as temperatures steadily dropped...

...well, you know what happens:

BUT we survived that, and as the new puddles began to dry and the clouds parted to let the sunshine through once more, we hoped that was the end of the nonsense.

Here we are at the "frog pond" on Saturday, April 18 ~ the deepest section of ditch bordering our property. The pond generally lasts well into July because it has no way of draining beyond this point. One of our favourite activities is throwing rocks and listening to the frogs. And trying to hit the frogs with rocks.

Even the pussywillows believed it was safe to make their first, fuzzy appearance. They weren't out the day before.

As the sun set on a cool, but sunny day, I enjoyed the view from my dining room window while I read in the evening.

And then I woke up the next morning, April 19th, to THIS:

So much for winter being over.

Guess the pussywillows were wrong. And I'm positive every migratory bird having made it this far north already was kicking itself in the tailfeathers for following its instincts.

But once again, we recovered from that shock and had another week of warmer weather (though not really ideal spring-like temps) and did some work around the yard...



a bit of bike ridin'...

and enjoyed some more sunsets.

And then woke up to THIS today:

Isn't that exciting?
Boy, I tell ya, the fun never ends around here.

ask me why i'm smiling.

Y'all, I just had an incredible morning yesterday. But you'll need to wade through this bit of background first before I can really get to it.

As you know (at least if you've been reading this blog regularly since January), The Bushman and my cousin bought a trucking company at the beginning of the year. Things went relatively well for the first four weeks...

...and then we blew an engine.

It had suddenly developed a serious knock and so the decision was made to haul it by low-bed down to The Big City, to the actual Cummins dealer. The assumption being, of course, that would be the quickest and most reliable place to have our Cummins engine serviced.

Well.

The first thing THEY did, was start the engine, despite our reports that we'd specifically low-bedded the truck because we believed there was something SERIOUSLY wrong with the engine internally.

And as a result, a broken connecting rod (the source of the knocking sound) blew a 4-inch hole straight through the engine block. Suddenly, a $12-15,000 problem became a $35-50,000 nightmare. Cummins refused to accept responsibility saying they'd done nothing but standard procedure, and claimed that the engine block's integrity must have been in question beforehand. All WE knew was that there was no hole in the block before they took over and now the engine had a gaping wound.

Our company being just four weeks old, naturally, we didn't have the bank account to deal with this. There was also no way we could afford the time or the money for a lawsuit. We consulted a lawyer and all the mechanics we knew, and every last one of them agreed we had a case. But still, time is money. We didn't have either.

We were lost.

Incredibly, the company we're contracted to stepped in and loaned us the money. Initially, while grateful for their assistance, we weren't sure we wanted to be indebted to them, but we quickly realized that this also made it within their best interests to make sure our trucks were working!

We went back to work, collecting only a portion of our income each week, and slowly began to pay off our debt. We were hopeful we'd be able to pay it off by summer.

But then business slowed, partially due to the spring thaw, and partially for other reasons beyond our control. Now in April, we've had two weeks where only one of three trucks has been running, and one week where ALL the trucks were sitting in the shop. Not great for the bank account! Especially when last month's bills are all going to be due in just over a week.

I confess I started to panic a little. We were considerably short of having enough money to pay the bills. (Which is a bit of an understatement, in my opinion!) I KNEW the few load slips I had to hand in yesterday weren't going to be worth anywhere close to enough.

Boy, I tell ya, I prayed like I've never prayed before. For an entire WEEK, I petitioned God non-stop, begging for a miracle. (Hey, the Bible says to pray without ceasing, right? He asked for it!!) Amazingly, yesterday morning as I made my way to the company's office, I was calm and peaceful. I wasn't sure what was going to happen if they couldn't give me any money, but I had peace nonetheless. Which, for anyone who knows me well, will be hard to believe. Normally, I would've lost sleep and been a complete basket case for at least the last three days.

I watched the office manager's fingers fly over the adding machine and my heart sank when I saw him scribble on my summary sheet. Only about 10% of what I needed. I asked if there was a statement yet for the end of March and he handed it to me. We were still owed some money for work done in March, but the two numbers together were still only a pittance. Heck, the two amounts together wouldn't even cover the larger of two fuel bills sitting in my inbox!

The office manager read my expression and asked, "How much do you need to keep running?"

I gulped and admitted it was about ten times what they owed us for last week's load slips, hoping against hope he wasn't going to think I was joking. Hoping his jaw wouldn't hit the floor. Hoping...

"Sure, no problem," he said. "You guys have already paid off the loan for the engine, so it's no problem."

Ummmm... HUH?!? My jaw hit the floor.

"It's right there on the statement."

And there it was ~ my miracle!! The clouds parted and a ray of sunlight pierced the gloom! I think I heard the faint strains of the "Hallelujah Chorus" somewhere in the distance.

Sure enough. We had indeed paid off their loan for replacing the truck motor.

Y'all, you just can't even imagine the weight that lifted off my chest. It was like I hadn't been able to breathe properly for a week and suddenly, the sweet spring air was once again coursing through my lungs. The colour returned to my face. I couldn't stop smiling.

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!, I prayed as I skipped down the stairs and out the door, back to the van.

I smiled all the way to the bank. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!

I smiled through an hour of grocery shopping. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!

I smiled while I ran a couple more little errands. I parked in one spot and walked to several different locations because the air and the sunshine felt like something I'd never felt before. I'm not even sure my feet touched the pavement. And still I was grinning like a fool, waving at strangers, and saying HI! to everyone I met up with.

I finished everything ~ including browsing through a couple extra shops for fun ~ with over an hour to spare before picking up Fidget from Nursery school, but decided it didn't make sense to go home in between. (Plus, it being Earth Day and all, I decided to save a little gasoline!)

So I headed off to the public library and spent a wonderful, quiet hour leafing through the latest magazines.

And smiling.

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Oh God, you are an awesome God.

I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of your wonders.

I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name,

O Most High.

~ Ps. 9:1-2

weigh-in wednesday

...is happening over here again →

I invite you to check it out whether you're a member of The Sisterhood or not.

If you're tired of struggling with ANY self-discipline issues, I think you'll find some encouragement there today.

holy fireworks!!

I've had some great instant messaging conversations with my Sweet South'un Sistah over the last several months. I always enjoy our chats, but the one we had last Friday was downright monumental for me. (She posted her take on it HERE)

We were discussing how our weeks had gone ~ our first week going through the "A Woman of Moderation" study together. Discussing how losing weight is HARD and WHY it's hard.

Here's the excerpt that really blew me away:

Tammi says: It's hard to shift the mindset to reality though, when it comes to weight loss, isn't it? At least, I find it that way.

Susanne says: Yes. It's like we want to change pace for a couple of days and have it all fall/melt away. HELLO!?!?! You didn't get like this over night (allthough it seems like that sometimes) and there is no such thing as a "quick fix".

Tammi says: Ugh, I know. I hate that there's no quick fix for reasonable, normal people!!
But I think that's an overall societal problem ~ none of us wants to accept responsibility for our failures, pay the consequences, and actually learn from the experience of righting the wrong.

Susanne says: That is what my Dad said the other day. He said the problem with our generation is that we want stuff NOW, and we never learn to wrestle with things until we learn the lesson.

Tammi says: Doesn't the Bible actually SAY that hardships are good for us?!

Susanne says: Yes. It actually does. They are meant to test and prove us. I was reminded this weekend of the Columbia Commissioning from the Beth Moore (LPL) Event that Mom and I attended exactly two years ago. Mom has it printed and on her refrigerator door.
Going to fish it out of email and forward it to you...hang on.

Tammi says: Oooo, I LOVE that!!! I'm totally printing it out and putting it on my fridge!!!!
"Go forth and display divine special effects"... AWESOME!

Susanne says: It's GOOD. That whole weekend was AWESOME!! I needed that reminder. Yeah, she says that the verses about "a cloud of witnesses" (James, James or Hebrews, I think) refers to what's going on all around us that we can't see (spirtual realm) and that everytime we choose Christ and his will for our lives they are applauding and sending out "special effects" that we cannot see.

Tammi says: I always kinda wondered about that verse. I like that interpretation. Makes struggling through something instead of desiring the quick fix more worth it. Almost kind of fun! (almost!)

Susanne says: Yeah... ALMOST!!

Tammi says: But imagine the fireworks! Or better yet, you know how at really big events, they use spotlights that you can see for miles and miles? It's like the angels are saying, "Hey, God! Over here!! We've got a victory over here!!" Dang, and now I'm crying. Geez.

Susanne says: THat is EXACTLY what she meant! And now I have GOOSEBUMPS!

You know why this made me cry? (other than that I'm just a crier, plain and simple?!) The idea that the angels around me, unseen to the human eye, throw up a beacon, set off the fireworks, to celebrate each little victory in my life with our Heavenly Father. That is so completely humbling and encouraging all at the same time!

I was so energized and refocused after that!

Friday was a fasting day for me and it almost KILLED me to fix Fidget's lunch ~ a hotdog and a handful of chips ~ or afternoon tea, which included a cheese and cracker snack. But turning to God while my tummy rumbled on, all the while knowing that there were mini-celebrations in honour of these tiny little victories made it worth it.

Check it out ~ here's a picture of me resisting the urge to nibble a chip or two while making Fidget's lunch:

Who knew one small self-discipline victory could be so beautiful?!

Or how 'bout this stunning B/W shot of me deciding to give up General Hospital permanently after Lent was over:


Isn't that AWESOME?!

I think my angels were going all out because it had been so long since they'd been able to throw a decent party. So long since there'd been even the smallest of victories to celebrate.

What challenges are you facing today? Do they feel insurmountable, like you'll never succeed, so why bother trying?

Are you looking for the easy road... or the one that leads to the incredible laser and fireworks display?

Trust me, the harder road is worth the reward.

why daddy is simply cooler than mommy

That's pretty much it, right there in a nutshell.

goin' through THE CHANGE

About STINKIN' time!!!!!

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