Fun (Frugal) Summer Ideas

I'm so excited to be guest posting this weekend at 3 Moms in 1!  I hope you'll check out her awesome blog and my post on fun (and frugal) ideas for summer fun.

Featured Working Mom

I'm so excited to be today's featured working mom at PDX Momma!  Jenn has a great series of interviews with working moms who share how they make it all work for them.  I hope you'll stop by and check it out!

Something Cute AND a Great Deal, Too!

If you've visited my resource page, you know I LOVE Design Her Gals!  This awesome website lets you design yourself and your friends, then use the images to create personalized stationary and gift items.  Design Her Gals graciously gifted me with a print at home membership so I can show you how great their products are!

I am very proud to present my hot-off-the-press business cards!  I will be using these when I start dental hygiene school.  Since I have to find my own patients, I have to get the word out - and these cards are perfect for it. 

Excuse the slips of paper on the card...that's for the sake of privacy.  I didn't want my school name displayed (although I'm very proud of it).

AND, as if showing off these adorable cards isn't enough, Design Her Gals is also offering a special deal right now...you can get your own print at home subscription for just $14.95!  What are you waiting for?  Check them out now!

Things I Spend Too Much Time On

1. Procrastinating
2. Stressing
3. Worrying
4. Facebook
5. Cityville
6. Bejeweled
7. Looking for things I've lost
8. Planning to clean the house (rather than actually cleaning it)
9. Reading mystery novels
10. Watching crime shows (Any other Castle, Rizzoli and Isles, or Psych fans out there?)

A Coupon Queen in the Making?

A few weeks ago, when I was talking about my goals for the early part of summer, I mentioned that I wanted to start couponing.  I've been at it for a few weeks now, and although I'm certainly not an expert, I've learned a lot.  It's getting addicting fast!  Every experienced couponer I talked to told me it would take a few weeks for the savings to start kicking in, and this week I really started to notice a difference.

I found the local paper with the best coupons, and I buy two papers a week.  I also have 7 or 8 friends and coworkers who are saving their coupons for me.  I'm checking out coupon sites weekly.  I'm making detailed shopping lists and carrying around envelopes with dozens of paper-clipped coupons.  My kids are even checking food packages for coupons before they throw them away.  It's becoming a way of life for our whole family.

My stockpile is growing.  I only plan to have a 3-6 month stockpile, not the 3 year ones that you see on Extreme Couponing.  So far I've stockpiled basics that I didn't pay a dime for after coupons, such as laundry detergent, pasta, floss, and toothpaste.  I've also got a huge stash of cereal that I got really cheap.  I'm learning what rock bottom prices are and when to buy stuff.

I'm so glad I decided to start this!  It's work, and it's overwhelming at first, but when you see your total at Kroger drop from $80 to $25 on one trip, it's worth it.  When you see your weekly budget stretching further and further, it's worth the extra effort.

I'm Guest Posting Today!

I'm so excited to be guest posting today at Musing Mom!  I'm sharing tips for moms who are getting ready to make the transition from a stay at home mom to a work from home mom.  Stop by and check it out!

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10 Things I Need

10 Things I Need To Get Through My Day

1. My morning time with God
2. My morning coffee
3. My day planner
4. Post-It notes
5. Highlighters (If you sense some OCD tendencies...you're right.)
6. My Miche purse
7. Hand sanitizer
8. My Droid X phone
9. Crystal Light
10. My afternoon coffee (ok, maybe not every day)

When It All Crashes Down

I haven't done a Working with Delight post the past couple of weeks.  I could give you a lot of reasons why, but it really boils down to just one.  I've been feeling completely and totally overwhelmed.  It's hard to write a post that's supposed to help other working moms when you feel like you're drowning yourself.

Everything college is starting to press in on me.  It's time to start buying books and ordering supplies.  I'm seeing hard numbers now on just how much this is going to cost us, and I'm terrified.  I'm finishing financial aid paperwork and praying I get some grants.  I'm trying to balance my work schedule and get my home organized.  I'm couponing and trying to save money wherever I can for school.  I'm scared out of my mind.

This weekend, I had to remind myself to stop and put it all in perspective.  The timing of the new Hello Mornings challenge at Inspired to Action couldn't have been better.  I did the challenge earlier this year, and it was life changing.  I desperately need my morning times with God.  It's where I draw my strength for the day ahead.

My morning time was born out of complete desperation.  My world was crushing in all around me as I faced a possible job loss, my parents extremely troubled marriage, and juggling college with work and family.  I knew that I could not find the strength I needed with a two minute devotional and a quick "Lord, watch over my family," prayer time.  So I found the challenge, along with other great resources, and I threw myself at the feet of God in a desperate plea for strength.

I wear so many hats in a day.  I'm a wife, a mom, a manager of a women's fitness center, a college student, a pastor's wife, a daughter, a friend...but when I come to Jesus every morning, I'm just Amanda.  I don't have to have it all together, I don't have to fill any role, and I don't have to live up to any expectations.  I just have to pour out my soul, my fears, and my failures and throw myself into my Daddy's arms so He can comfort me and give me strength.  When it all comes crashing down, He's there to pick up the pieces and hold me in His arms.  He's never let me go.  Even though I'm terrified of how much I'm taking on, I'm so glad that He's never let me go, and He never will.

Sabrina Fair

If you could go back to high school, what would you do differently?

I love the movie Sabrina...not the original (its okay) but the 1995 version with Harrison Ford, Greg Kinear, and Julia Ormond.  It's probably my all-time favorite movie.  The newer version came out while I was in high school, and I fell in love with it!  Most people who know me know how much I love it...few know why.  I love it because dreamed of being Sabrina.

High school was not a good time for me.  My naturally curly hair was naturally wild and frizzy most days.  As most of my classmates were getting their braces taken off, I was just getting mine put on.  I had no fashion sense.  I was painfully shy, awkward, and unsure of myself.  I was drifting away from my best friend since 6th grade.  On top of everything else, my faith was deepening, but with no youth group in the tiny church I grew up in, I felt isolated.  I think I went home crying almost every day after school.  I dreamed of being Sabrina, of growing from the ugly duckling to the graceful and beautiful swan. 

If I could do it all over, there is so much I would do differently.  I would loosen up, be myself, and put myself out there more.  I would push myself more.  I would take the A.P. classes I didn't take for fear of pulling my GPA down.  I would try out for drill team (even though I can't dance).  I wouldn't compare myself to everyone else.  I would stand up for myself more.  I would apply to be an exchange student.  I would plan to go away to college and get my own apartment.  Most of all, I wouldn't care what anyone else thought, because in the end, those high school relationships are so insignificant.  I would tell myself that while I not be Sabrina Fairchild, years after graduation, I would be a much different person and a much better person.

Top 10 Signs You're Not a "Traditional" College Student (a.k.a. Signs You're Too Old for College)

1. You ask if you have the right classroom, and the kid who answers calls you "ma'am."
2. You wonder who has more gray hair - you or your professor.
3. You feel awkward calling your professor "Mr." because he's the same age as you.
4. While the other students talk about tanning and their weekend plans, you find other moms and discuss breastfeeding and tee ball games.
5. The students around you put their assignments into their iPads, while you pull out your paper day planner.
6. You cringe when you write your tuition check.
7. You have to call tech support to be able to check your student email account.
8. Your car is older than some of the students on campus.
9. You realize that when you got married, most of your classmates were in elementary school.
10. Reality hits when you realize that in just a few years, your own children could be sittting in the same classroom you're in.