Big kid decisions

Time to make some major decisions. Last week started looking at houses. Only 3 so far but we already need to make a big decision. The first house we looked at was a total no, but the other two we liked. The ones we liked are in Bella Vista. We like Bella Vista cause we can get way more house for our money and the whole town is safe. The problem... its a retirement community ruled by POA. They have tons of rules, some not a big deal but stupid- you can only paint your house certain colors; others a bigger deal for us - you can not have a trailer or a boat sitting out on your property, so ours would have to be hidden in a garage or behind a fence where hopefully no one will see. You have to submit plans to put up a fence, or really to do anything to the outside of your house.
So do we keep looking in Bella Vista because we can get a nice house, or do we avoid BV because of all the hassle it can bring us in the future. I understand wanting to have a nice looking city but at a certain point it just gets ridiculous. No wonder homes are so much cheaper, no one wants to put up with all the rules. Ugh! I told Andrew we could move out to the country if the house is really cheap, but even then it probably wouldnt be worth it having to pay all the extra gas.
And the worst part of it all... there is no Texas Roadhouse in this area.... just saying.

God and the Workplace

What a busy week and its only Wednesday. This morning was our office Christmas brunch. So much fun. All the people I work with are awesome and we all seem to get along. Some people believe that you need to work in a religious environment to really get along with your coworkers and have the same values but I dont believe that is true. Not everyone I work with believes exactly the same as I do (being in AR probably none of them believe exactly the same as me) but they are pretty much all awesome people with a desire to help others and have a love for Christ.
Its interesting thinking about all the different people Ive worked with in many different environments. I think for the most part I have had pretty good experiences in all my jobs, except for St. Vincents of course. There has been many conversations about God and religion. Some of them annoying and some of them pleasant. No matter where Ive worked, Walmart, Campus Ministry, Catering, Home Health, Church... Ive always have had opportunities to grow and share the love of Christ. I remember in high school at Walmart a lady started opening up to me about her dying dog because she saw the Mary medal I was wearing. I always loved the Catholic events while catering, especially the seminarian reception. Those always offered opportunities to teach the non-Catholic servers about the Catholic faith. Someone usually had a question about something going on.
A lot of times I dont think we think about how we can affect other people spiritually in the work place. We may put on a nice face for our customer/client but then the face our co-worker sees doesnt show kindness or Christ's love. For some people it can be scary thinking about bring up God to a co-worker, especially if they think they will get fired for it. But doing something as simple as wearing a cross, not saying anything negative, and giving your 100% at work can really have an affect at work.
Well this is a rant I wasnt expecting to go on tonight but hopefully it touches someone, and helps remind me to not be negative at work.... or even as a customer in stores this Christmas season.

Dish #8 Thanksgiving dinner

A little late but Im finally getting it posted. Thanksgiving dinner! This year we had ham, cranberry sauce, mashed potatos and gravy, rolls, stuffing, and cranberry apple spritzer to drink. The big challenge was the homemade rolls! It wouldnt of been too bad if I had our mixer but it's in storage. I also added some honey to the recipe. They came out pretty good! For Christmas Im thinking about cooking a turkey, Ive always avoided cooking it because I prefer not cooking things that look like the animal, but I miss eating cold turkey sandwiches the day after a holiday... so yummy!

 A. really enjoyed the food. He even made sure his panda bear got some to eat.

Snow day activities

With the first winter storm of the season we had a lot of time at home. Luckily I only had one full day of no work, but several days of only working a couple hours each day. The kids here had 5 snow days in a row! With not much work A. and I had a lot of time at home. A. made an angel. It was supposed to be made out of a paper plate but I didnt have any so I used a Kohls gift box (free).

I found some fun snowman ideas on pinterest and i decided to try this one. Andrew wouldnt let me do the head around the mailbox itself. Hopefully the mailman enjoyed it.

 Andrew and I built a little hill for A. in the backyard. At first he didnt care for it but when I compared it to a slide he loved it.

1st snow day 2013

Today was our first snow day in Arkansas! Supposidly they usually dont get much snow here, just ice, but we got about 8 inches of snow. We took A. to the doctor this am because one of his eyes is read. And of course he has pink eye. Luckily there are eye drop antibiotics so we dont have to give him oral antibiotics again. Hopefully soon he will be done being sick for a while. After his nap we decided to go out and play in the snow. We had to be a little creative though. We had snow overalls, winter coat and hat, but no gloves or snow boots for A. I remembered I bought some girl boots a while back and luckily they were his size. For gloves we used A's socks. Yup, Id suggest 2 pairs for each hand though.

A. did good for about a minute then he was done. Hopefully it will warm up a little tomorrow and we can try again and make a snow man.

Chilly Deals

I have a few dish posts I still need to do, but today I got some great deals so I have to share them!

Today was our first wintery weather in Arkansas. It was supposed to start around 6 am but didnt end up starting til around 9 am. Because of this delay I was able to go to Potter House to get some stuff. Today all the colors changed and there was some stuff in the new 50 cent color that I wanted.  I got a high chair (missing its chair cover) and a child's table (just needs a few coats of paint :) ) I also got a bunch of baby clothes! Yes there is pink in there.... just hoping that one day God blesses me with a girl. I probably should slow down on buying girl stuff but when its cute and so cheap its hard not to.