A few things...in no particular order!

First, I'm trying not to be sad about the fact that a Tree service has been hired to come through our neighborhood to cut down tree limbs that may interfere with power lines. I'm not sad they are doing their job, but I am sad about the fact that they cut down an entire TREE in my back yard that is usually very pretty when it blooms in the spring. The tree hugger in me was SERIOUSLY frustrated when I walked out to my back yard to see the work they had done and noticed that something was missing.... Oh, right, a WHOLE TREE! Really... I think that was one of those things that they could have just cut off some branches NOT the entire beautiful tree. We do pretty much have a jungle that grows along the back fence of our house and they did clear out a lot of that, which was nice, but the poor tree got tangled up in their efforts and now, I'm sad to see it gone. Now, I realize I should have been watching them a little more closely.

Second, Micaiah and I went to the Zoo for the first time yesterday! I only took one picture the whole time and it is on my cell phone, but he LOVED looking at all the people going by. I don't think he realized there were animals at the zoo. We had such a great time with other Crossroads mamas! They gave us a free pass to get in and Micaiah just cooed and talked in his stroller. (We are finally enjoying the nice weather, so stollers are happily tolerated again). When we got home he took a 2.5 hr nap! Note to self...get out more with him.

Third, I met a new friend last week from Crossroads. Her name is Mary Elizabeth and she is a lot of fun! She brought over her monogram embroidery machine and monogrammed me a towel. I pretty much begged Hart to buy me one after that, and feel much more motivated to start sewing again and start selling some things, so that I can get closer to my goal of having my very own machine!

Fourth, We had my Gramie's memorial service this past Friday. She's been in Heaven for about 21 days now. It was a beautiful time of closure, but I realized that I hadn't really "faced" dealing with my feelings about her death until the day after her service. It's when people start making comments like, "I'm sorry for your loss." That you start realized, oh...she really is gone and I won't get to just call her up and say hello or ask her to pray for something going on. I'm really going to miss her, a lot.

Fifth, I started couponing again and I did really GOOD! I spent $60 dollars at Publix and I saved $53. I always have the goal to save about as much as I spend. My receipts for the last few months have been like this...spent $70, saved $9. So, I felt very accomplished and my husband was happy to have an array of cereal to choose from this morning for breakfast!

Lastly, I don't think I have really talked about this on our blog yet, but my friend, Chelsey and I, have been planning to do some partner Freezer Cooking off of www.onceamonthcooking.com. We have our date picked out and we have been shopping sales this entire last month in order to do the cooking. We are pretty excited about having some meals in the freezer that we can just pull out and not have to clean up the kitchen NIGHTLY. It makes around 15 breakfasts, 10 lunches, and 15 dinners per family. This means that approximately half of my dinner cooking will be done in one day, which should last half a month. And I think it will last longer for us because, I know we will use our lunches for dinner most of the time, too. Do you know how happy this makes me?