Living Large

I was always the one that never wanted to drive a minivan even. I thought that wasn't "cool". Give me my mustang convertible and the wind in my hair. I find it ironic that now at the age of 31, I'm the proud (?) co-owner of a 15 passenger van. Yes, we are crazy. We purchased this van from a church down the road from us for a GREAT deal. It only has 55,000 miles on it. We are selling our Saturn. We'll end up better off financially and now have a vehicle that if we wanted to pack up the dogs and take a trip, we could. I think the plan is to sell off all but one of the seats. Thankfully, Mike will be driving this beast much more than I will, so I guess I can still be sort of cool for a few more years.

I do consider this as a good Works of God Monday post because we had been looking for vans for a while and they all seemed too expensive and not what we really wanted. Then when we were out walking the dogs one day, we "happened" to see this van for sale. We were the first to call about the van and they were willing to hold it for us until the weekend when we could get it checked out by a mechanic. They were willing to lower their asking price to offset for some of the repairs needed (nothing major, thankfully). Even the mechanics said we were getting a great deal on the van. So, even though I don't think it is cool to drive a 15 passenger van, I'm still thankful that God worked out all the details on this for us.

Free Samples This Week - Whohoo!
Sensodyne Toothpaste, Aquafresh Toothpaste, Tide with Dawn Laundry Detergent, Vasoline Hand Lotion (Perfect Purse Size)

We have 4 Giant Dogs.

4 Giant Dogs eat A LOT of dog food.

I've been trying to figure out how to save some money on dog food.

We normally buy Purina One in the 37.5 pound bags. Those bags have been running us $24.99 a piece. We go through several a month (and will be tracking this month to see just how long it takes us to go through what we got today).

So we had to go to get some dog food today. I came armed with coupons to save $1.50 a bag (better than nothing). We found two of the 37.5 pound bags for $24.99. Then I figured out that they changed the size to 34 pounds and the price to $25.99. SNEAKY. We started looking around to see if there was a cheaper kind of Purina that could work. We found some for $20.00 a bag for 37.5 pounds. We decided that to save money we would go that route and I knew I had coupons in the car for this other brand.

So on the way out the door, I spotted this stuff in the picture. 55 pound bags. Normally $18.49, on sale for $16.49. WHAT??? I called Mike and told him to come up front and scope it out. Then I went to the car and found out I had three coupons for $2.50 off a bag and one coupon for a free doggie treat with a bag. So, we ended up walking out of there with 220 pounds of dog food for $63.16. With the new price structure and smaller bags on the other kind, we would have had to pay $168.17 for the same amount of food.

My dogs will learn to love this new kind or they will starve. I'm going to save $105 every time from now on! :)

CVS & Walgreens for the Past Week

Well, I gave in and decided to give Walgreens a try. My sister convinced me due to the Cascade deal, but I'm pretty sure that CVS is WAY better in my mind than Walgreens. I might have to do a complete other post about that topic so I don't get high on my soapbox here.

So, here is the breakdown of my week.

$309.56 in regular retail value
$154.31 in sale retail value
$45.68 Out of Pocket (higher than normal due to the way Walgreens works)
$77.27 Used in CVS Extra Care Bucks & Walgreens Register Rewards
$110.70 Earned in CVS Extra Care Bucks & Walgreens Register Rewards (for future purchases)
$7.13 Earned in Walgreens Rebate
$6.99 Earned in CVS Return (I ended up returning the contact solution because I came up with a plan to better save money on getting it another way)

Bottom Line: Made Profit of $1.87 on all of this

Here is what I ended up with:

8 Cascade Dish Detergent Bottles
3 Old Spice Men's Body Wash
2 Freestyle Light Blood Glucose Meters
2 Tums Quickpaks
1 Venus Embrace Razor
1 Walgreens Maxi Pads
1 Honey Nut Cheerios
2 Boxes of Crest Toothpaste
4 Kiss Nail Glue (I'll be selling this on Ebay)
3 Pringles
2 Adidas Men's Deoderant
1 Oral B Toothbrush
3 Garnier Hair Color
2 Mr. Clean Cleaning Wipes
1 8 X 10 Picture of Our Awesome Dogs (free at Walgreens on Wednesday)
1 24 Pack of Zephyrhills Water Bottles
1 CVS Contact Solution (to be returned)
3 Boxes of Charmin Fresh Wipes
5 Copies of the St Petersburg Sunday paper (5 sets of coupons!)

So while my out of pocket was higher this week than I prefer, I did get a large stock up of Walgreens Register Rewards and CVS Extra Care Bucks to outweigh it AND we were able to get products that we currently use (Cascade, Old Spice, Cleaning Wipes, Pringles, Cheerios, etc.), so I consider this week a success.

Revolution Money Exchange

Well, I found out that you can still sign up for Revolution Money Exchange from now until May 15th and still get the $25 opening bonus. If you sign up yourself and then send a link to your spouse and have him or her sign up, you each get $25 and you'll also get a $10 bonus for the referral. Quickest way to make $60. Then start referring your friends. You can make up to $500 in referrals. I've already transferred the money directly to our bank account and made $120 without much effort, but if you don't want to give them your bank account information, you can request a check. They'll take out $2.50 for the check, but it is legitimate free money.

You do have to give your social security number because they are FDIC insured and an actual bank. Here is an article you can check out if you aren't sure about it: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2007-11-06-ted-leonis-steve-case_N.htm

If you are interested in joining, you can follow my referral link on the right side.

So, Sandra, what do you do with all that CVS stuff?

Thanks for asking. Well, first I take out the items I purchased because we needed them (hair spray, milk, shampoo, etc.). Then I take out any items that I think we might need in the next 6 months (a couple tubes of toothpaste, gum, etc.). Then I call my sisters, mom and mother-in-law and offer up to them what I have left. Since I'll see all of them this summer, I've started boxes for each of them of the items that they said they would use. Then I take the rest and donate it to the missionary closet at church. I'm excited that this new adventure of getting paid to take stuff from CVS is something that allows me to provide for our family as well as extended family and the missionaries!

Whohoo!

One more thing...blood glucose monitors? Why purchase so many of them? Well, any time CVS is going to allow me to purchase for $19.99 a $72.99 item, then give me $19.99 in Extra Care Bucks for doing so, and allow me to use a $3 off any purchase over $15.00, I'm going to make $3.00 and take the item off their hands. If we don't have missionaries who can use them, I can find a group to donate them to. I wouldn't buy them if I wasn't getting them free with overage.

Thanks for asking.

CVS - SCORE!

Okay, this is my week at CVS and I have to tell you about it because if you have a CVS in your area and haven't considered saving money using their deals, maybe this will inspire you to take a look at it.

I do have two different CVS cards. We were told that we could have one per adult member in the household. I have registered both under our names and same address, and have had no problems. I do have to keep track of which purchases were made using which card in order to make sure I'm getting the correct limit on each one per product and can only use the extra care bucks earned on that specific card, but this only requires a minimum of organization before going.

So here is the bottom line from the picture:
13 Transactions
$416.34 original retail value
$12. 39 Out of Pocket (that's less than $1.00 per transaction - you should see the look on the cashier's face when you ring up a bunch of stuff, hand her a few coupons and pay $0.21 for it all).
$154.92 Extra Care Bucks spent over the course of the week
$192.30 Extra Care Bucks earned over the course of the week
So if you subtract the Extra Care Bucks spent and the Out of Pocket from the Extra Care Bucks earned, I earned $24.99 to spend on other items by taking these items off their hands!!!

Here is what I got:
3 Orbit Gum 60-Pak
6 CVS Allergy Medication Packages
3 Men's Adidas Deoderant
7 Colgate 360 Toothbrushes
3 Orapik Traveler
6 Aquafresh Toothpastes
2 Tums Quickpaks
1 Freedom Lite Blood Glucose Monitor
1 Precision Blood Glucose Monitor
1 White Rain Hairspray
3 Bic Soleil Razors
3 Bic Soleil Razor Cartridges
2 All Laundry Detergents
2 Boxes CVS Brand Neosporin
2 Gift Bags
1 Exfoliating Facial Sponge
3 Bath Sponges
1 Dove Shampoo
1 Dove Conditioner
1 Dove Creme Oil Lotion
8 3M Post-It Flags
2 Just for Men Haircolor
3 Trident Gum Packages
1 Suave For Men Shampoo
1 Gallon Milk

Air Show

Yesterday my really cool friend Julie hooked up a bunch of us from our Sunday School class and got us on McDill Air Force base to see some of the air show stunts. It was the military friends and family day and a practice time, so they didn't do the whole show but there weren't huge crowds and we were able to hang out under the plane and watch them. After supper, we went to the beach and watched a few more planes including one at the end that show fireworks and had streams of fireworks coming out the sides while it was flying. We had a great time and enjoyed the food and fellowship. Thanks, Julie!

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.

21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Well, all I can say (even though I have said it before) is that I have THE proverbs 31 woman! I think of this often. And when I see the success she has had with Ebay, sports, CVS and so many other things I can only say WHAT A WOMAN!!!

Thank you all for the friendship and support you have given to her. It brings a smile to my heart when she is able to spend time with her friends.

Yay! My friend from Northland has started a weekly plan to post works of God each Monday and allow others to link their own stories of how God is working in their lives. This originated at NBBC while we were in college. Each Monday during chapel they would allow testimonies of works of God that we had seen in our lives. Without a doubt this was a highlight of each week because we were reminded again and again that we serve a living God Who as work in our lives each and every day. We only have to look around to see it. I remember hearing how God provided from the small to the mighty. Sometimes it was a school payment just in the nick of time. Sometimes it was the opportunity to lead a child to Christ on extension over the weekend. But no matter who stood up and what they said, we were always pointed back to God and He was given glory. I'm so excited about the opportunity to go each week and read on others' blogs what God is doing in their lives. Thanks for the great idea, Jenny! You are already an encouragement to me. If anyone else wants to read the works of God each week, you can view them over at mjmuth.blogspot.com.

My praise for this week is that God has given me peace. Mike and I have finally filled in all applications, completed our adoption profile and had our home study. There is nothing left for us to do. Some have said that now is the hard part - waiting for a birthmom to pick us. However, the moment I turned in that final application on Monday, I had complete peace. I'm done. I don't have to do any more work, stress about making sure my house is clean enough for the home study, or worry about when we will get picked. Now I have the privilege of sitting back and waiting to see the ultimate work of God - a new life placed in our family for us to rear for Him. I am at peace and I view that totally as a work of God.

I LOVE CLEARANCE SALES!

Normally I don't shop at Sears, but for the last several weeks they have been running a clearance sale. Many of the items have already been marked way down and then they marked them another 75% off of that.

So, in the picture above you can see my take from Friday. There was a windbreaker/windpants combo, two sweater shirts, 5 pairs of pants and 3 skirts. The original retail value of the items was $387.00. I paid $40.00. WHOHOO!!!! The windbreaker/windpants set alone was originally $50.00. The pinstripe skirt rang up at $1.74 and it is nice skirt with a liner.

So yeah. Needless to say, I was excited.

Tilly

Well - here she is. This is Tilly. An almost one year old purebred staffordshire pit bull. She belonged to our neighbor down the road, but he didn't really have time to take care of her and she ended up escaping regularly. During her great escapes, she would often come down by our house. She looked kind of skinny, so when she came down I would give her food, water and love. Long story semi-short, she is now living with us while we seek to find her a long term home. As you can see from the pictures, she is very loving. I think she needs a home with someone at home during the day because she loves to be by people. She also needs a home where she can get tons of love and attention. With our four rotties, we already have a full house and although I'm becoming quite attached to her, I just don't think it is fair to her to keep her here where she has to share her people time with the other four.

If you know of anyone who would like her and will take good care of her, please let us know.

Score.

I love checking out and having your total come to over $58 (having already saved $9.60 on in store savings), hand a pile of coupons to the cashier, have your total come to $4.54 and then get your extra care bucks print on the receipt saving more than that $4.54.

I went in to CVS today with coupons in hand. I found the above shown items. I paid $4.54 out of pocket, used $22.99 in extra care bucks and left with $34 extra care bucks printed today. So basically they paid me $6.47 extra to take all of these items off their hands. Whohoo!!!!

In the picture are 3 different Sunsilk cremes (which will hopefully either straighten, curl or moisturize my hair), 1 Sunsilk Shampoo, 1 Sunsilk Conditioner, 2 Boxes of Excedrin Extra Strength Pain Killer - 24 count, 3 Nail Brushes, 6 Exfoliating Facial Buffs and best of all - 2 CoverGirl TruBlend Whipped Foundations (normally costing $9.29 each).

Oh yes...this totally makes me happy. They were, unfortunately, sold out of a few of the other items I planned on picking up for free which would have made the picture look even cooler, but I haven't given up. I have about 3 weeks left to find those available before the end of the month.

If you have CVS in your area and would like to get some of the same great deals, check out moneysavingmom.com for some help in where to find online coupons and other great deals. I have found that website to be a huge help.

Okay, for awhile now I've seen posts on blogs of Jenny, Pam and others that are the excellent bargains that they find and I've been wanting to learn and attempt to be as cool as them. So, after my outing today, I decided to post my own success. These were my CVS finds for today.

Glade - normally$1.69 a bottle, On sale for $0.99 each, One $0.99 extra care buck awarded & one $0.99 coupon used. Overall cost $0
Jelly Beans - $0.99, one $0.99 extra care buck awarded. Overall cost $0
Oral-B Toothbrushes - $4.49 each, $9.98 in extra care bucks awarded. Overall cost $0
Vitamin C Bottle - $2.99, one $2.99 extra care buck awarded. Overall cost $0
1 Bic Soleil Razor - normally $6.99, on sale for $5.99, one $3.00 extra care buck awarded, one $2.00 coupon used. Overall cost $0.99

So basically I got all of this stuff for $0.99. Oh yeah. Score!

My sister, Danelle, and her family (this picture was actually taken around Christmas):

This past week while I was up in Michigan I was able to spend some time with Danelle and her family. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them. The kids are tons of fun. We sang lots of fun songs together (they especially loved the ones that ended up with them getting attacked and tickled). :) I also enjoyed spending time with Danelle shopping (she saves me from myself when I try to buy "Old Woman" clothes). I will miss them tons, but look forward to seeing them this summer on vacation.

A friend pointed out to me today that it has been awhile since I've posted anything new. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of life and find yourself barely able to keep your head above water, let alone take time for facebook and blogging and real emails to friends. I feel like I have been in that busy mode since about August of last year. With the completion of basketball season this past week, I should be a little less busy for the next few months and I'm very thankful for that. I love my girls and the opportunity to work with them. I also love getting back the 16+ hours a week I've spent in the gym and on road trips since August. So hopefully I can be a little more faithful in updating...
For today's picture, I thought I would share my "baby" (or at least what used to be my baby). I always wanted a convertible. When I was in Guam, the Lord saw fit to allow me to have that desire of my heart. This is Austin, my Ford Mustang Convertible. He was only a few years old and had less than 13,000 miles on him when he came to a tragic end due to a head-on collision. I miss him. He made me feel young. I enjoyed driving around with the wind in my hair after a long day in the office. I currently drive a Chevrolet Malibu and "it" (not even worthy of an affectionate name) makes me feel middle-aged. Maybe one day the Lord will decide I need to feel young again and grant my desire for another Mustang Convertible. Maybe not. In the mean time, I can look back at this picture and be thankful that the Lord allowed me to have him in the first place. :)

Score!

I love garage sales. Living in Florida gives me the opportunity to hit a good church garage sale even in the beginning of January. For some reason, Michigan never had that.

As every avid garage saler knows, there are some where you can tell the sellers are clearly trying to make some money and others where they are just trying to get rid of stuff. This one was the latter. When you walk in and hear them say "everything is just a quarter unless marked otherwise", you know there is some good potential.

At this particular garage sale, I was able to get stuffed animals for all my dogs ($1.00 for hours of contented chewing = priceless) as well as 2 textbooks and 2 video games all for $2.00 total. I anticipate that I should easily be able to make at least $20.00 on the textbooks and video games selling them on Ebay, thereby allowing me to add $18.00 into my budget just from making a 5 minute stop.

Score!

This is a picture of Vanesa and I at a place called "Top O' the Mar" on Guam. Vanesa and I met in college and quickly became best friends. Thankfully God led us both to the pacific where I went to serve in Guam and she went to teach in Saipan. Since these islands are only about an hour flight apart, we were able to spend many of the major holidays together which helped us not miss home quite so much.

This is my friend Sarah. She was one of my soccer players and my office assistant. She was also a great friend. We had a few great adventures on hotel row with my cool convertible.

These are a bunch of my sports players at Nikka's big birthday party. I had just returned from Bali, which is why my hair was still in braids.

These are my friends, Karen and Holly. Karen was a teacher out in Guam and became a good friend. Her husband was one of the principals I worked for, so I was able to see her on a regular basis when she visited the office. Holly was a friend of mine from college, who eventually became a roommate on Guam. We had awesome times and have great memories. No matter how long between conversations or seeing each other, I know we will always pick up right where we left off.

This is Mrs. B. She became one of my closest friends while on Guam. She accepted me exactly as I was. I have great memories of Kmart at 6 a.m., tons of meals together and a summer of riding around on a golf cart on "granny patrol". She took care of me when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I'm very thankful that the Lord allowed me to know this special lady.

These are a bunch of the really cool people we hung out with and had awesome fellowship with on a regular basis. From left to right: Mike (my handsome husband who was only a friend back then), myself, Jason Scheck, Tim Harmon, Julie Plonk, Noel Infante, Jonas Macapinlac, Lisa Flower and Emily Davis.

I miss them hugely and cannot begin to express how much their fellowship was a blessing in my life.

Here's to friends near and far: (though most of these are VERY far).

I was just thinking today of how much I miss some of my friends. The Lord blessed me indeed when He led me to Guam. Each of these friendships were either started there or continued there. Thank you to those of you who invested your lives in mine.

Disclaimer: While there were many other close friendships developed on Guam, these were the pictures most quickly accessible and in my quest to blog more often, they became the ones I grabbed first. I'm sure more of you will find yourselves featured here in the future. :)

Also - no matter how much time I spent playing with the formatting on this, I couldn't get it to line up how I wanted it. I finally gave up, though every bit of secretarial perfectionism in me fought it.

Continuing Randomness...

Here is yet another random picture from "the old days". This was taken sometime in 2002 I believe. Next to me is the beautiful Mabel Duguies (I hope she forgives me for posting this picture). We were having a youth group unique dress day. Really, I promise we didn't normally look like this.
Working with the youth group at Harvest was awesome. I am so thankful that both Mike and I had the privilege to do that. I miss that type of ministry. Thankfully I still have the outlet of coaching at Providence to get my time with high schoolers. Oh yes, and if you do happen to read this, Mabel, I would LOVE to have you come show my girls how to drive to the basket.

Well, I admit to being kind of at the lack of ideas/not sure what to write point in blogging. I'm sure this isn't a shock to those of you who randomly check and find out that I haven't blogged anything in a month and a half. So, I thought I would start posting some random pictures. This is the first of said pictures.

This is from the trip I took to Bali, Indonesia in 2002. I went with April Briggs, Bob Shuck and Dr. and Mrs. Watson. Good times were had by all and I loved getting my hair braided by locals on the beach and having the awesome opportunity to touch and hold various reptiles. Maybe later on in my random pictures series I'll break out some more Bali pictures.

Whohoo! Here is a picture of my team after they won the championship match. They finished the season 17-2 in conference games and most importantly, pulled off the championship victory. They lost the first game, but then came back to win the next three. The 4th game was really exciting. The girls were down 7-16 and ended up coming back all the way to win the game 25-19. Check out their super cool socks they received right before the championship. They loved them and I think it helped take their minds off being nervous. Way to go, Lady Knights!

These pictures basically sum up my life right now. You can see first of all the crates for the dogs. Then you see the four dogs. I find myself understanding stay-at-home moms more. Yes, I realize they are just dogs. However, every time I come home to smell aromatic fragrances in the house as a result that the puppies left me a present, and as I find myself continually cleaning up after them, I can imagine that they could be sort of like kids. The pile of dirt was one I couldn't resist taking a picture of. Each day I have to sweep the floor. That pile was accumulated in less than 24 hours in our living room alone. I'm amazed by how much they can bring in. So, I sweep. We talked about using the Swiffer, but we would have to buy stock in the company for how many of those little Swiffer sheets I would go through in a week.

The last picture is of my volleyball girls. I'm spending lots of time with them these days. We have games about 2 nights a week right now and practice on the other 2 days a week. I'm enjoying working with them and especially enjoying the fact that they are currently undefeated.

So, this is my life right now. Volleyball and the dogs. I do try to spend time with Mike as much as possible, but he has had a super busy work schedule lately. It's a good thing business-wise, but not so much fun timewise. I have had the opportunity to work with him several times in the past three weeks, so that has been a blessing. I enjoy helping him and it lets me see him during the work day.

Call us Crazy...we've doubled our pack.

Yes, friends, we've done it again. We've added to the family. We'd like to introduce you to our new "kids", but unfortunately we still don't have names for the newest members of the family. They are both girls and both desperately in need of names. Since they are of the rottweiler family first and foremost, my husband would like to point out that they will NOT have sissy names. So, calling out to all of you who have some measure of creativity...we'd love suggestions.
The vital stats...both originated in Farmington, Iowa. They are half sisters (both have the same father), purebred rottweilers. One was born on April 13th and one was born on May 25th.
Let us know if you have any great name ideas. :)

My Kids

Here is an updated picture of "my kids" for those of you who may be interested. Each day when I come home from being gone, I open the door and say "Hey Kids" and you can immediately hear Sheba's tail start pounding the edges of her cage. Poor Cody is left with only a silent wagging of his stub.

We had the Herrons here for volleyball camp this week and they would rotate who got to say "Hey Kids" upon the opening of the door. The response was always the same though - ecstatic waving of the tail and stub. Maybe that was just because they knew they could finally go outside to the back yard and relieve some pressure.

I'm thankful for the companionship of these dogs. They give me someone to look after and "mother" around. They give me someone else in the house during the days and in the evenings when Mike occasionally has to work late. And even though I do recognize that they are "just dogs", they'll always have a special place in my heart.

Basketball -
Thanks to Kassy Harper for the picture. This was taken on our last night of basketball summer practice (two hours each Tuesday night). I was so excited because it was the first time we only had 9 girls (WHICH MEANT I COULD FINALLY PLAY AND NOT JUST REF). You might note that I have a very red face - which usually follows anytime I play. The girls improved tons over the summer and I'm looking forward to seeing how the season goes!

Yes, it is true. I caught this beautiful fish while we were on vacation in Michigan. For those of you who want the technical information. It is a 23 inch Northern Pike caught on a simple pole with a small night crawler. Nothing special, nothing dramatic...oh wait - it was dramatic. You see, my Dad, sister Barb and Uncle David were out not very far from the dock in a pontoon boat with all the little tykes fishing (where they could see the whole thing). I decided to stay on the dock and fish off the dock. They had the net and the bucket with them. Suddenly I thought I had a fish on and started reeling him in like crazy. Then my pole broke in half. I kept trying to reel in and finally just reached out and grabbed the line and pulled him up onto the dock. My wonderful husband was nearby and came and stepped on the neck and put his hand down on the body so the fish couldn't get away. He held the fish there while my Aunt Becky went running in to get us a bucket - all while I kept saying "Don't let him get away!!" This is without a doubt the biggest fish I've caught in life and I would also like to point out (in true Stapilian competition form) that it was the longest fish caught on vacation this year. Thank you. Thank you.

I have been tagged by a fellow blogger to list some random or weird facts about myself...

“Rules:” After posting these rules, each player proceeds to list 8 relatively random facts/habits about himself/herself. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, leaving them a comment on their blogs to let them know.

1. I broke 8 fingers during my 8 semesters at NBBC and dislocated a finger once. I guess collegiate sports weren't good for my bones, but certainly good for my spirit.

2. I have been toilet-papering 46 times in my life. Thankfully, I only chose to toilet paper people I knew and who had at least relatively understanding spirits, so I never had any run-ins with the police during my excursions. The all-time winner of home I toilet-papered the most was Pastor Mike and Brenda VerWay - yes, I believe it is a prestigious award.

3. Up until 9th grade, I was known to all as "Sandi". At that point I decided I was much too grown up for that name and informed everyone that they must now address me as the name on my birth certificate - Sandra.

4. For a period in high school, I held the state championship distance (though really our "state" only represented fewer than 10 other Christian schools - I can't remember how many) in shotput.

5. I'm a missionary grandchild, pastor kid and deacon kid all at once (since my Dad recently was a deacon following his pastoral retirement). I guess that makes me one of the biggest brats of all.

6. My major in college was "Church Secretarial Science" and I received a Bachelor of Science degree. I'm still sometimes puzzled how much science is involved in being a church secretary, but who am I to question?

7. This probably isn't really news to anyone, but I thrive on competition in almost any arena. Since growing old and leaving college, I've used coaching as my avenue to feed the addiction. I've coached girls high school volleyball for 5 years, girls high school basketball for 4 years, girls junior high basketball for one year, girls high school soccer for 4 years and guys high school volleyball (my personal favorite) for 3 years. I was even a basketball referree for one year.

8. I met my husband on the island of Guam where I served at Harvest Ministries for 4 years. He is amazing and I never could have imagined that God would bless me so greatly with someone like him. All that I ever planned on in the "perfect man" is encompassed in my husband. I praise and thank God for bringing us together and for giving Mike an extra measure of patience to put up with me.

There you have it - probably far more information than you ever wanted.

Praise the Lord!

Mike and I have wanted to have wood laminate flooring put down in our house for awhile. The arrival of one and then two beasts who shed like maniacs and who track in dirt like they are planning to build a sand castle indoors meant that our creamish colored carpet was crying out for delivery. So, we bought the flooring when it was on sale at BJs and started the project. We didn't get very far when we found ourselves very frustrated that everytime we banged one piece into place, three others that we already perfect decided to come apart. We then decided we were going to need a little help.

We inquired with some guys at church as to who might be available to help us and found someone to help. He has been a big blessing. So far the living room and kitchen are done except for the quarter rounds on the edges and I think he'll be finishing the master bedroom floor today.

I'm so excited. I keep walking out to see the progress and finding myself so thankful that we are able to get it done and so amazed at how much better it looks. Of course, I'll be sweeping 12 times a week, but at least it will look nice when I'm done as opposed to that carpet which will never look nice again.

My Three Cuties

Well, here you go. Maybe one day my blog will not refer to my husband or my dogs, but not for the near future at least. :)

This was taken a few weeks ago, so Sheba already seems to me to be much bigger than this picture. I just love it because it has Mike, Cody and Sheba all together.

I'm blessed to be able to share life with these three (though especially with my husband - I don't want to group him in with the dogs on something like that). Mike takes great care of me and of our little ones. Some people deal with diapers...we deal with housetraining a puppy. Anyway - just thought I would show you all my cuties.

Addition to the Family Once Again

We thought sometime this fall we would get a puppy to be a playmate for Cody. We didn't plan for that now. However, we innocently went into a pet store in NC (where we were visiting Mike's parents) to pick up a collar for their dog and left with a 5 1/2 week old female rottweiler/hound mix puppy for me and a kitten for Mom Herriage. Approximately three minutes later when Dad Herriage said "we should have gotten the male puppy", the van turned around and we went back to get the boy puppy. So, Mike's mom and I enjoyed our new puppies together for a few days before having to split them up and come back home to Florida.

Sheba is the name of my little girl. She is a cutey. The biggest difference we have found from Cody and Sheba is the fact that Rottweilers don't really make much noise vocally. Cody has only barked a single bark probably less than 10 times. However, Rottweiler/Hound mixes apparently enjoy using their vocal prowess to share their every emotion. We are hoping to crate train/potty train her quickly as the whining/howling and the releasing of bowels everywhere is starting to drive me a little crazy.

Anyway...meet our new cutey. We love her even though we don't sleep.

Here are a few pictures of Mike, Cody and I from last month. At this point he was about 8 months old. They are a little blurry because they came from Mike's camera phone. I like to call the one on the bottom "In the Doghouse". We actually added that so that Cody could have a cool place to hang out when we weren't home. The crate we had for him was getting seriously cramped and we both feel better about leaving him home alone if we know he has room to move around and can have his food and water in there with him. It is 4 foot by 4 foot by 6 foot tall. On the right hand side of the doghouse, you can see where Cody has done some creative redecorating of our vertical blinds. That happened during his maniac separation anxiety day when he pointed out to us that we would not be able to leave him home alone loose in the house. Anyway, here is our little guy. He is a good dog and we are thankful for him.

Ahoy Matey!!!

This is my awesome brother-in-law, Mark Dickerson, and my really cool nephew, Mark Dickerson.

They happened to be down in Florida with some youth group kids visiting college. At the same time, my aunt and cousin and family were visiting from Illinois, so we all met up for dinner. Since Mike occasionally drives like a maniac and we left early to account for traffic, we got to the Disney area in time for a quick stop at Downtown Disney (basically a shopping area and best of all FREE). I figured little Mark would love some of the cool things to see. This was our first stop and a great picture. I enjoyed seeing them and look forward to spending time with the rest of the family this summer on vacation.

Slowing Down

Well, Mike and I spent a lot of time this weekend discussing life and the busyness of it. We don't want to get 10 years down the road and wonder why we wasted so much of our life being busy. So, one of our first major changes is that we are closing down the Ebay store for Mouse Memories (my sister's Ebay store that I manage, keep all the inventory in our house, ship packages daily for and make it all work). It has just become too much of a 24/7 job. When I'm home, I'm always thinking of the work that could be done on the computer and Mike and I spend several evenings a week with me in one room working and he and the dog in another room. We just don't want to continue that. The hours pile on top of each other and overwhelm. Even when we work together on it (and he is AWESOME about helping me), it is just too time intensive. So, we discussed it with my sister and her husband and we are going to close it down next week. I'll go back to working in her warehouse 3 days a week from now until August 1, which won't be so bad once I have evenings and weekends free. Once August 1st hits, I'll be full-time into volleyball season followed by basketball season and won't work outside the home at that time. I'm excited about life slowing down and being able to enjoy it as opposed to work the whole time.

Feeling Better

Finally I've overcome the food poisoning episode and the killer cold. The Lord gave me strength when I really needed it and gave me the rest I didn't realize I needed as well. Thanks to all who prayed that I would feel better.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (King James Version)
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Okay, so I might be about to stretch this a little out of context, but these were the verses that came to mind this morning after spending a little over 36 hours with some form of flu/food poisoning. My entire body still aches and I haven't been able to eat much, but I think I'm headed out of it as opposed to still going strong. In the first 12 hours of it, I lost over 5 .5 pounds, probably from the fact that everything in my body had been emptied out. Now I've put one pound of it back on, so I think that means my fluid levels are getting back up there.

I was reminded as I was fervently begging God to take this away from me of what a small issue it truly is in the scope of eternity. Could I really have the same spirit that Paul had? How does one really take pleasure in infirmities? I do recognize that it is much harder to feel like you can do things in your own strength when you are sick and just praying that it will go away fast. So perhaps God is using this to remind me that I can't operate in my own strength and I need His help. It did give me the opportunity to slow down a little - certainly not in my timing, but I've had to recognize that I'm not in control and wait on God's timing to feel better.

Please pray that I'll feel better quickly. This weekend is the big scrapbooking expo consumer show that my sister's company participates in. This requires many hours of work and I have an important role in preparation and being cashier for all day Friday and Saturday. I'm just asking the Lord to heal me as I know my sister needs my help and I don't want to let her down.

Okay, off to take a nap. I can only be up for a little while at a time before needing to rest again.

Straight Hair

Here is a picture of Stela and I (courtesy of Cristina Vielmas). Right before the game she said that after the game she was straightening my hair. I said okay and hence the picture. I do like my hair straight and loved it when I had it professionally done in Saipan several years ago. It just makes it so much easier to deal with. Unfortunately this one went away after washing, but the professional one lasted about 6 months. I just don't have the skills or patience to deal with straight ironing it every day.

As for the weight loss goals, I'm now at 33.5 pounds. It feels like it is much harder now. I'm working out more and feeling more of a difference in my clothes, but the scale isn't budging. I just can't give up. Jenny, here is the picture you've been asking for. It isn't full body, but I can tell a difference and that makes me feel better.

It's official.

Now that Mr. Redmon told the basketball girls in the locker room that I would be coaching high school girls volleyball and basketball next year, I feel free to share the news here as well. Since some of my girls check the blog, I didn't want to break the news before he did. My plan is to start with a two-day practice in May for those interested in playing volleyball next year. That will allow us to have a better idea of who will play on which team and warn the girls who might be on the bubble so they can work over the summer. That will also allow me to introduce the plans for the new year. They are going to find themselves in a whole new world. I'm seriously going to be pushing conditioning much more and allotting time for it in practices. Even if you are an expert at a skill, pack on extra pounds and you'll have a hard time performing it well. Now imagine that you aren't expert at a skill and you have extra pounds...and hence you see the need for extra conditioning.

During the summer, we are also going to have two practices a week (one for volleyball and one for basketball) as well as a week of camp for each. I think this year we will need to do that camp in house, but I'm hoping that next year we'll be able to start bringing in some other help to run the camps. We just need to keep the cost down this year and build the basic skills. That is something I can do.

So, that is my good news. I'm excited about continuing to work with the girls next year and having the freedom to make the coaching decisions. Even though it will be a lot more work for them, I think we have a group of girls who will rise to the occasion. If some choose not to work hard, I will be disappointed, but I'll also have a great spot next to me on the bench for them. No matter the skill level, I'll only reward those who work hard. That might be a new world for them too.