First, I wanted to put pictures on for my mother. I was a matron-of-honor at a dear friend's wedding this past weekend. Christine was a beautiful bride! The whole weekend (starting Thursday night) was a whirlwind but it was so much fun. Martin was away and although we were sad he had to miss the wedding, I was able to focus on my duties and hopefully met Christine's expectations. Here are a few:
Above is her sister-in-law Pamela (brother Bryan's wife) and I with Christine.
Jayme took a picture for Martin after the ceremony.
I LOVED my hair! This is at the end of the night. I loved the "messy" look.
Not the best picture in the world but this is me singing "Oh the Deep Deep Love" while the rest of the wedding party and family prayed over Christine and David.
Moving on:::
Last time I wrote I talked about what a funk I had been in. I really do allow my joy to be based on my circumstances. And I am trying to work on that. I see how amazing God comes through when I am in need of everything from Him. And I miss it (although He continues to provide) when I'm busy or not "needing" Him. I read in someones blog this week about when they were in Sudan earlier this month she needed to rely on God for every breath. Every step. Every word. But here in the states, she can easily sit at her dining room table and read her Bible then get up and go throughout the whole day without giving what she read another thought. It makes it so evident that we don't live radically. We live very safe. Blah. I hate that but yet I love it because I do it more than not.
So, I am trying to trim down on our finances. BIG bills are going to be due soon with our adoption and I want to stay home, at least part time, in a few years when (if) God allows me to become a mom so I need to start living like that now. But I must admit, it's very hard and it's quite time consuming. And I've only been doing it for two days.
Don't judge me for my last sentence. I know I sound like a baby. It's only because I am. Yesterday I went to our local wholesale club, BJ's. It was after work and I was quite excited to have my dinner by walking by all the sample booths. To my utter distress, there was only one sample booth set up and I walked by about ten times and the sample was still in the microwave. I instantly decided I would not be buying that demo item (I never do but please don't tell them that). Anything that has to be in the microwave that long other than hot water to loosen the splattered food (and even that) is not worth eating. I don't feel like I bought a lot of things. I got deli meat for next week, chicken breast, steak, breadcrumbs, raspberries, Greek yogurt, string cheese, shredded cheese, a french baguette, and a pair of Calvin Klein slacks for Martin ($16.99 - what a steal!). It was over $125. I guess I need to reevaluate my priorities. Like boneless chicken breast. I pay a lot not deal with the bones. And steak. Maybe frozen Bubba burgers are the only "steak" I should buy. And french bread. Probably should stick to American. And shredded cheese. I can simply shred my own cheese and it will help tone my arms too. Bonus!
Anyway, I debated whether or not to go to Wal-Mart. I didn't need a lot of things. I could have simply stopped at Target. It was in the same complex as BJ's. But, I recently read a great article in Fortune magazine about the Wal-Mart CEO and all the things he's doing with the company. It warmed my heart, mainly because I am a firm believer in capitalism and Wal-Mart is the true example of capitalism, so even though I have a love/hate relationship with it - they get their items for cheap so I can get my items for cheap (love) yet they pay their employees very little (hate), I still go because it's really all about me. So I went about 10 minutes away to Wal-Mart. I have found a quiet Wal-Mart. It is built about five miles from a loud Wal-Mart and I just enjoy it so much better.
Like I said earlier, I didn't need a lot of things. I walked down each isle. (Side note: not sure why they put the frozen foods up front. Are we supposed to start shopping from the back? Is that the plan? They need arrows like Ikea has if so.) I needed breadcrumbs (yes, I know I just bought some - I needed real breadcrumbs - I bought Panko breadcrumbs at BJ's), alfredo packets (thank you Jayme), Pepperidge Farm wheat crackers, and a dessert mix for Martin's "Welcome Home - I missed you more than a kid at fat camp misses cake" dinner. I got to the packets first. I looked for several minutes (fine, it seemed like minutes - it was seconds) for alfredo packets. Then I saw on the top shelf, an empty spot. I looked at the label below and it said "McCormick's Alfredo Packet." I guess the word got out it was better than fresh Alfredo sauce because they were plum out. Next, I went down the dessert isle. Martin loves peanut butter and I love chocolate so I got Reese's no bake dessert. It has the calorie content of three days in a small square but worth it. Then, breadcrumbs. Never found them. And here's my thinking around that - Wal-Mart is a southern store. Most southern people don't bake breaded chicken. They fry it so the idea of buying breadcrumbs and not flour is foreign to them. That's something Wal-Mart needs to work on - knowing what Yankee's like too. Because we southerners are much better at adapting to them than they are to us - trust me. The last thing on my list were the crackers. By this time I'm a little upset. I have been up and down almost every isle in the food section avoiding the customers that put their frozen foods in their carts first and are rushing around trying to finish shopping before their ice cream becomes simply cream. I get to the cracker isle and after looking behind almost every Pepperidge Farm box, I concluded that southerns must not eat wheat crackers either.
I thought about complaining but remember my statement earlier about the employees not getting paid a lot - that kinda backfires on you when you want to complain. They simply do not care. So I put my dessert away and left. Went to Target, and laughed when they too didn't have the crackers and the alfredo sauce mix.
So, see? It is hard! If I wasn't concerned about trimming down, I would have gone to Shop-Rite and gotten everything there. I know they have it all (except skim milk that doesn't expire before the weekend - but that's another story).
But I will not give up. I will continue on this journey of trimming down. I will succeed. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day.
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