We Never Dreamed It Would Be This Hard....

picking out a car for Morgan!!!

She will be turning sixteen next month. She has already taken Driver's Ed and is impatiently waiting to get her license.

I must be honest here.... I am REALLY not doing well here with just the thought of her driving to begin with. She seems to be a good driver when we're in the car with her, but there are so many distractions for these young teenagers. For one thing, her phone is CONSTANTLY going off. We have pretty much threatened her that if she ever texts while driving, there will be HUGE consequences to pay. And how are we going to watch that??? Well, the mobile phone providers have finally gotten it right....we monitor most of the calls that come in and go out and the time of the day/night it is happening. I know that this sounds a bit controlling, but sorry....these days, they (teenagers) just flat out have more things easily accessible to them than we did years ago. I guess we try to justify our control streak by also reminding ourselves that she's still a kid who is still working her way to maturity. I know....pretty lame excuse, huh?

Anyhow, the most recent issue that we're facing is picking out a car for Morgan. Our priorities and her priorities are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!!! We want a car that will be safe, the right price (cash only), and a car that she will be proud of. She wants a car that is sporty, red, convertible, shiny and let's not forget.....her words exactly...." that I will look good in." She even said at one time when we were first looking...."the car has got to match my outfits!" PLEEEEEEASE!!! So, as you can see....this has not been an easy task.

We've set a budget that we will not go over and we really don't mind her having a car that she will truly love, BUT....there are way too many disagreements on what her car will be. Oh, and on the rare occassions that we have found a car that we ALL like, it's already sold by the time we call on it.

We actually read an article on the best cars for teenagers. Honda Civic(s) were rated at the top of the list. And if you wanted to spend a little more money, BMW 325 series were rated at the top for luxury cars. We actually considered looking at BMW (1995-1998), but were convinced by friends to stay away from them because when they finally do break down, we could possibly pay more for repairs than what we actually paid for it to start with. And YES, believe it or not, we found a lot of them in the budget and the insurance for Morgan was very, very reasonable. Anyhow, it doesn't matter...because it won't be a BMW for sure.

My first car was a 1978 baby blue Buick Regal. lol! I just loved that car! I was SO proud of it!!! I guess I didn't know any better. To me, that Regal suited me just fine! I was just happy to even have a car even though I had to pay for myself! lol!

So friends, I need some advice...
First, what was your first car? And if you have teenager that is already driving, what was their first car? Was this a hard decision to make in your family? Morgan will be required to pay her own insurance and her own gas. Do you pay for your teenager's gas and insurance? It's okay to be honest with me; Morgan has already made it very clear that no other parents require this from their teenagers. lol! Heck, if we're paying for her car in full, the least she will do is pay for her insurance and gas. Okay, for all of you that are really tripping out on us for making her do this...her insurance and gas should cost her roughly $100 a month. She is making almost $600 a month now and will still make almost $300 when school starts back. Uh......we're thinking for someone who has free rent, free food, and other necessities provided to her can definitely fit these two needs into her budget. lol!

Sorry! I have really talked a spell here. But, all kidding aside....let me know your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions on the above questions. I would love to hear what you all have to say on the subject.

Whew!!! I already feel so much better getting some of this out in writing! WOW! This blogging really is good therapy that way, huh?

Okay....I'm DONE!

test!

Test!

A Special Day Spent With a Blogging Friend!!

After months of planning and anticipation, me and my blogging friend, Heather, were FINALLY able to meet yesterday. It was a very special day!

Ya know, Satan always tries to rear his ugly head. Boy did I have a time trying to get ready and get out of the house to meet Heather yesterday.

The first thing that happened was that I could not find my camera. What!???!?!?! Yep, we have two cameras, a big one and a small one. I wanted to take the small one so it would be a little more discrete. I practically turned the house upside down and still could not find it. After about an hour of looking, I called my neighbor to see if they had a small one that I could just throw in my purse. Luckily, they did and were kind enough to loan it to me.

Second, I attempted to put my makeup on......I had forgotten that I ran completely out of mascara the day before. Unfortunately, the teenager is at Grandma's house this week. So, I couldn't borrow her mascara. Soooooooooooo, I started digging under the bathroom sink to find an old tube. I did. It was awful and was just about dried out.

Third, I wanted to curl my hair and look beautified. My stupid curling iron STOPPED WORKING!!!! I am not kidding you!!!!! I literally had to stop and ask the Lord what did He want me to learn from all of this. So, I had to pull my hair back and put it in a ponytail.

BUT, none of this stopped my special day ahead. I met Heather around noon and we spent the day visiting. We went to Mimi's Cafe for lunch, then we went shopping. Heather introduced me to a neat, neat jewelry store that I've never heard of before. I was amazed at how well she knew the area (actually better than me!!! lol). The jewelry store was called Compass Trading Company. This store was FILLED with all kinds of fun and inexpensive jewelry. I will definitely be going back! Thank you, Heather!!!!!

After our shopping spree, we went back to Heather's mother-in-law's home so that I could meet Ella. Little Ella is just as cute in person as she is in all the pictures I've seen in blogland.

It was just an awesome day spent getting acquainted with a blogland friend in real life. I felt very blessed that we were able to make this happen.

Today is also another special day for Heather, it's her birthday! Happy Birthday, Heather! God bless you my friend! And thanks for being a blessing to me!!!

I wanted to share just a few pictures with you. I am believing that I will have more opportunities to meet more blogging friends.

I hope that you all are enjoying your weekend!

Blessings~

I'm SO EXCITED!!!

I am really excited thinking about my BIG day tomorrow. I finally get to meet one of my blogging friends; Heather at Family Forever. She's visiting family here in Texas about an hour away from me. Sooooooooooooo, we planned many months ago to get together while she's in town.

We plan on going to lunch and doing some shopping and after that... we'll just have to see what else we can get involved in.

I am REALLY, REALLY excited!!!

Not to worry, I am almost positive that we'll take pictures and post about it.

Until then....................................stay tuned!

I'll be visiting blogs in the morning before I leave. It's late and I have to get my beauty sleep so I can look good tomorrow. lol!

It Was an Honest Attempt...

After repeatedly hearing from several friends of mine about how much money they save when using coupons at the grocery store, I finally decided that I would give it a try. I had it all planned out. I would just stop and pick up the Sunday paper with alllllllll the coupons in it each week.

One of my "professional coupon shopper friends" also recommended that I clip the coupons for about a month (stock up) and then try going shopping with them. I didn't really understand this, but she's the one who saves anywhere from $100-$200 each week at the store. So, I thought I'd follow her advice.

To be quite honest, I thought I would do even better (lol). I have clipped coupons for almost two months now. Ready for this??? Some of them actually expired because I kept forgetting to take them to the grocery store with me each and every time I've gone in the last few weeks.

I now have not only my coupon clipper friends making fun of me, I have one of my coworkers and my own husband laughing at me. But, wait it gets worse.........

This past weekend, I was really going to do good! I made my grocery list out and made a special attempt to REMEMBER my coupons on my visit. I was soooooooooooo excited! I went through the store picking up what I needed and also the things that I knew I had coupons for........I get to the register......I get my total.....I write my check.....and I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO USE THE STINKING COUPONS THAT I HAD TUCKED AWAY IN MY PURSE!!!! I was so MAD!!!! I asked the cashier how could I correct this and be able to use my coupons. She smiled at me and pointed for me to go the the customer service line. Talk about a lot of work here to save a few bucks! lol!

I did go the customer service line and I did get cash back on the coupon items that I had purchased. So, it all worked out in the end, but my goodness!

I'll definitely give it another try, but I don't know if this coupon clipping is for me or not. lol!

Soooooo, are any of you coupon clippers? Any pointers for me? If so, please don't hesitate to share.

I hope that you've all had a great week! I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

Have a great weekend!

Our 4th of July...

Our plans for the 4th were very low key. We kind of wanted to invite some friends over, but then kind of wanted to just be alone, ya know? My mom had to work and one of my sisters just got back from a month long vacation....so we decided not to do anything together this year.

We allowed the girls to invite friends over. Unfortunately, Jae's little friend (who ended up spending the night last night) got sick at 6:30 this morning with a bad stomach ache and had to go home. Jae was a bit bummed about that.....so she quietly invited her way in with Morgan and Morgan's friend.

It's been a great weekend so far. I took the day off on Thursday, so I've actually had a long weekend. I worked in my flower garden both Thursday and Friday morning. I was out very early both mornings and I am telling you, I thought the heat was going to take me completely out. Oh my goodness! I didn't get completely finished, but it's looking good.

I hope that you have all enjoyed your holiday weekend. Now you know before I sign off and start visiting everyone, I HAVE to leave you with some pictures.

The pictures that we took outside today didn't turn out so good. No matter which way we tried to take them, the sun was wayyyyyyyyyy too bright!

Oh one last thing, I HAVE to share this......
For the last two days I have not even worn makeup. So today, I at least wanted to dress up just a little bit. So, I just put light makeup on and then a dress that I had purchased while on our trip to Jamaica. Ready for this??? When the teenager (Morgan) saw me in it this morning, she said, "Mom, you look really good! I think I will put on my dress too." Two things here... I hardly ever get compliments on my attire from the teenager anymore. She thinks that my style is not only boring, but too much the same all the time. lol! Second, I could not believe that she actually wanted to wear her dress on the same day as me because it's just not cool looking like her mom, especially in front of a friend. lol! She's a real trip!!!

Our menu was also very low key....

We had ribs, smoked sausage, mac and cheese, and a salad. For dessert, we had a good ole' piece of SWEET watermelon. I usually don't buy them because I can never find one that is really, really sweet. Hubby picked this one up this morning while he was out and let me tell ya....it was DELICIOUSLY sweet!!!!

Okay, I'm finally done rambling.....

Happy 4th to all of you!





YES, we like eggs in our salad!!! You couldn't tell that already, huh?

Morgan and her best friend, Tya.
Jae and her best friend, Olivia (taken last night before she got sick)




We normally don't feed Gooch table food often....but we had to let him in on some of the fun today!!! lol!

Have a great week ahead! Be blessed!