Lost! Please Return if Found

I had a perfectly good lunch I took to school a couple weeks ago.

Yep, a couple weeks ago.

It was a breakfast burrito, yogurt, and girl scout cookies.

Yep...it was a breakfast sort of day. So I thought...

I walked in to school that day with the lunch sack in hand. Normally I walk straight into the teachers' work room, grab the newspaper out of my mailbox, put my lunch in the fridge and then walk down the hall to my classroom.

On that particular day, I forgot to put my lunch sack in the refrigerator. But no worries, I figured I would just take it back to the workroom when I went to make copies.

That's where the trail runs cold.

At lunch time I am very disappointed to find no lunch in the fridge, no lunch in my classroom, no lunch in my car, not even in the restroom...yes I even checked there.

No lunch. Anywhere.

Gone.

Audios.

Disappeared.

Me? I had to eat the school's lunch for the day. Beef stew, salad, and bread sticks. Definitely not the breakfast burrito I had my heart set on.

And today?? Still no lunch.

Gone.

Never coming back.

And by this time...the only reason I want to see it, is for my piece of mind.

"Hot Dog!"

We have two AMAZING dogs who are, at this point in time, our babies. We love them, their silly faces, how they love to play with the ball, go for walks, and give those "sad puppy eyes" when they want something.

They are wonderful!

Most of the time...

There is one thing that they do that continues to cause me grief.

They escape.

KC, the three-year-old black lab mix, has escaped from every single dog pin that we have put her in. She can squeeze through incredibly small spaces when she JUST HAS TO GET OUT! She HATES being put in the kennel alone, and will do anything to bust loose...

Breck, the almost-three-year-old yellow lab mix could probably leap a small building. Whatever kind of dog her full-breed lab mom got "mixed up with" HAD to have some awesome jumping skills. "Breckers" can leap up high enough to get her paws hooked over the top of a 6ft. tall dog kennel and that's all she needs to propel herself over the edge. CRAZINESS!!!

This causes me grief.

Why???

Because that means they have to be put inside at night or any other time we leave the house.

I hate that.

I hate them in the house...they are big, outside dogs, and they like it.

So...we finally broke down and decided to get an electric wire for our fence. Ethan and his dad just spent the afternoon installing the power box and getting the wire in place on a small section of the fence to try it out.

The result???

Awesome! It WORKS!!! It took KC one zap and Breck two in order for them to stay away from the fence! No more dogs escaping...no more late night searches...no more fear of possible "accidental pregnancies..."

Life is good!

Coupons...

I'm all about saving money. Who isn't?

Ethan and I do a pretty good job of trying to get the best deal when shopping, eating, or just buying anything. He is a very good comparable shopper, and that has rubbed off on me more and more.

One thing that I have always seen the advantage of and never tried is using coupons. I guess I never wanted to take the time to look for the coupons and cut them out or take up even more time at the grocery store checkout line while the cashier scans my hundreds of coupons. (You know you hate getting stuck behind someone like that in line).

However, things have changed. Groceries are getting more and more expensive, cost of living is getting more and more expensive, gas is more expensive...starting to get the picture.

As I look to the future, I don't see those costs going down anytime soon, and we would someday like to have a family. When I think about the amount of money my parents spent on groceries for us kids when we were all at home, I cringe when I think about our future store runs.

I am starting to come around to the idea of searching for coupons, clipping, and caring whether or not I make the person behind me in line wait a little longer to check out.

My "new" cousin Dana, sent me a link to another blogger who lives right here in Wichita and shops at the Dillons stores around me. She blogs about her coupon savings and shows that it can be doable without spending hours and hours. This blog has given me a reason to at least give it a try. Check her out at:

Money Saving Mommy

We'll see how this goes. I'm hoping to have some success with this!

"Unanswered Prayers"

That used to be one of my favorite Garth Brooks songs. One I grew up listening to, enjoying the melody, and singing along and wishing that my legs were long enough to touch the floor while I sat in the chair.

You know how sometimes you did things as a kid and didn't realize the importance of it until much later in life.

That was me, when that song came on the radio the other day and I began to sing along, just as I did when I was 8.

Now I get it.

I started to think about the meaning of the words "sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers..." and thinking about my life and how many times I prayed for something that didn't come.

That my parents wouldn't be so "old fashioned" and let me do what I wanted...

That I was friends with the "popular group" that went to parties and had boyfriends/girlfriends...

That I was skinny like the other girls...

That I would be a archaeologist...

That I would find a college out of the state of Kansas...

That the guy I thought I loved would finally "come to his senses..."

Now that I sit here thinking of that song and how wonderfully Blessed my life is, I can't imagine what I would be like today if any of those prayers had been answered.

That song was a great reminder for me, as my husband and I start to pray for things in our future, to keep in mind that God always has a plan for us. He may not answer our prayers the way we think...but He always has a better plan.