Liz 2.0

The last few days of coming to the office I didn't make time to eat breakfast at home. Sticking to our budget I didn't stop and get anything instead I ate a granola bar I knew I had in my desk drawer.  It was decent not too filling but it was soo much sweeter sticking to our budget.  We used to never say no to ourselves when it came to dining out. It was quick and EASY and on the way home from a long day at work we pass probably 50 fast food restaurants. The main road we live off of from the interstate to our street probably has 20 in maybe a mile that we drive on it.  So the temptation is ALWAYS there.  And when we don't plan ahead and pack our lunches or prepare dinner it sure makes it easy to turn into the drive through and spend and get that instant gratification.

Anywho that brings me to how God blessed me.  The last few days I come into the office go to the break room and believe to see donuts sitting on the counter (we have a dunkin donuts right next to the entrance of our office park).  Each day there were no donuts. Oh well I have that granola bar.  Today I spent time eating my breakfast, got to work a bit later than I would have liked but my belly was full of toaster waffles :D.  I asked my assistant if there were donuts in the break room she said no. :( bummer.  Well about 11am one of our vendors came by for a meeting and what was in her hands?? DONUTS & MUFFINS!!!! YAY I was just soooo excited :D I was doing a little dance in my office chair. So now my belly is super full and I've got a big smile on my face.  Sticking to our budget has been challenging but it has also given God so many ways to BLESS us! And I enjoy so much REJOICING in those little things God does to bless me sooo abundantly and to make my day!!!

That's my blessing I wanted to share for today. How has God blessed you today???

Well sorry I haven’t posted another inspiration until now but you can read
why here.  Today’s ornament inspiration is all about WOOD! There are lots of
options in this area but I’m going to pick 9 and hopefully you’ll have some to
share too, just leave a comment on this post.  Here we go:

Well it has been quite the busy week in my household.  You may or may not know that my husband’s job was terminated and his last day was Friday 11/13. So thankfully I’m still employed and I’ve gone back to a 40 hour work week. It has been quite a transition for me.  Exhausting to say the least. I’m in bed usually by 7pm each night.  Ken’s been home all week he now watches the kiddo full time.

I think both of us have a greater appreciation for the rolls we play as primary provider and support staff LOL. While we are grateful that this situation will meet our need we are eager to get Ken a job and me going back to part-time.

We have evaluated our finances and while we were doing good we still will be cutting back a good bit to make our new financial situation work the best at meeting our NEEDS.  Wants definitely will be on the back burner for a while.

We are both very thankful for the theme that our church has for this year, Making God our Sufficiency. Every time we attend fellowship, hear a sunday teaching service, read the way magazine we see how God truly is our sufficiency.  We are uplifted and renewed in our conviction that God WILL PROVIDE!

II Corinthians 3:5:
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.

So I have been away from the blog for the week just working hard at the day job.

Hey all my Atlanta peeps I’d love it if you know of any job opportunities in the Finance/Accounting area let me know please!!  Email me elizabethLmccoy {at} gmail or just leave a comment.

HUGS!!!

Great Couponing Article on Internet Printables

Over the last few weeks when my sister and I have been out couponing we've seen lots of people shopping using coupons. Their carts seem to be emptier and their hands usually contain an shopping list and a fist full of coupons. They stand in the isle and weigh the cost of each item.  If that's not a sign of these difficult times then I don't know what is.

We've also heard that coupon policies at stores in our area have started to change. Stores are getting more restrictive and more skeptical.  One of the reasons for this is fraudulent coupon usage!  Sometimes people are just uneducated when it comes to coupons and use them fraudulently without really knowing or reading the fine print.

An easy way to accidentally be fraudulent with coupons is with Internet Printables (IPs). Please if you are using coupons you print from the internet please take a moment to read this article by Michelle @ I Heart Publix (one of my favorite couponing blogs) called Internet Printable Coupons.

The use of coupons fraudulently really hurts all of us couponers who try to play by the rules and get the deals legitimately. There certainly is room for all of us to get great deals using coupons appropriately.

Have a great day!!

Handmade Ornament Inspiration: Paper

Since Liz 2.0 is hosting the 2009 Ornament Exchange I wanted to do some posts to inspire those of you participating. The inspiration for today is PAPER. We all have it and it's affordable, it's readily available, and it is light weight and easy to ship. Most of all it is VERSATILE! You can use old scrapbook paper, holiday cards from past years, photographs, you could even print out digital scrapbooking papers.  There are lots more ideas out there using paper to craft ornaments.  If you find any inspiring paper ornament ideas share them in the comments please!

Inspired one of my favorite blogs, Crafty Crow, I’ve decided to do my own handmade ornament exchange this year.

The Details:

• Open to kids and kids at heart (adults).
• Fill out the form below. Sign ups will close at midnight PST on Sunday, November 20th.  An email with your recipients will go out on November 21st.
• You and/or your kid(s) will make at least 1 ornament and probably more it depends on how many people sign up.
• The ornaments do not have to be 100% home made they can be premade with added decorations. We’re looking to have some crafting happening but there are no big rules on what type or kind of ornament. Keep in mind you’re shipping them.
• Participants in the United States only please.
• Try to keep your ornaments religion neutral. We have many people who celebrate the holiday season differently. Try gingerbread, snow, winter, snowflakes, trees, birds, etc.
• Ornaments have to be mailed on or before Monday, December 7th! That’s a two week window to make your ornaments. We definitely want to make sure all the recipients get their ornaments in time for the holiday.

Have fun. Please let me know if you have signed up and cannot participate. We would hate to have someone on your list miss out on getting an ornament. Also if you have questions post comments after this post.

If you have problems with the embedded form please click here to fill out the sign up form here.

If you want an image for your blog/website to promote the exchange here you go:

I'm stopping to take notice of the little things in my life that bring me joy and put a smile on my face. The ways that God blesses me each day. I want to share these things on my blog and with you all. They will have the label Blessings.  There is no particular order nor will there be any kind of theme. Ideally I'd like to see this post happen every day.  Maybe it will but probably not but I'll post as often as I can.  Sometimes they'll have pictures other times not. It will just be something that blessed me that day.

I'd love it if you left a comment sharing one of your blessings too!

Well I’m believing to get all my pictures from our cabin trip scrapped and put into book format before the holidays. I think Mamaw would love to receive one as a keepsake.  I can share this here and it will still be a surprise because Mamaw has no access to the internet and probably no clue about this blog or how to even get to it.  So shhhhhh all of you who know Mamaw no telling.

I really want to take advantage of one of the great artscow.com deals they always offer so hopefully I get this done by the end of the month and it should arrive by xmas.

Oh and if you remember my goal of printing something from back in September? Well this will help me see part of that come to pass YAY for goals!

So far I’ve completed five pages:

The Cabin

Click here to see the layout larger and to see scrapbook supply credits.

Amazing Views (Page 1 & Page 2)

Click here to see the layout larger and to see scrapbook supply credits.

Click here to see the layout larger and to see scrapbook supply credits.

The Scenic Route (Page 1 & Page 2)

Click here to see the layout larger and to see scrapbook supply credits.

Click here to see the layout larger and to see scrapbook supply credits.

Well that’s what I’ve got so far and I’ve just covered the beginning of the first day LOL. Many more pages to come. I really want to see this thing through and get a whole book of this trip done.

Have anything you think could inspire me? I’d love to check it out. Leave me a link in the comments!

If you’re interested in digital scrapbooking be sure to check out this site.

Lookie at what we found at a garage sale yesterday. A wooden play fridge! We’re very excited because it only cost us $5 (I was reluctant to pay even $5 but my sister convinced me it was a good deal).  I am glad we purchased it I cleaned it up this afternoon and Ken trimmed about 1 inch of the bottom to remove some water damage.

I do want to do some work to it like fix the gaps. I thought about painting it?  Perhaps adding some metal sheets to the front to make it magnetic, also maybe some sheet paper for the shelves? Not sure exactly which improvements I’ll make but right now it will stay as is all cleaned up in the kitchen/house play section of the playroom.

Here it is next to it’s kitchen companion. The other piece is from my mom’s childhood and mine.  We played with this as our kitchen for a long time. So cool to have this piece. Glad to add to the collection. I’m sure this will be passed around the family over the years.

Watch out for future posts on this DIY project.

YEAH!!!

iclickpix you’re a winner!! send me your mailing address to elizabethlmccoy{at}gmail.com and I’ll get it right out to you!!

And don’t forget all the great digital scrapbooking tutorials for Paint Shop Pro and other digital scrapbooking software at DSP.