Oh, how I love Ballard Designs.

And usually, I only sit and look through the catalog, wishing and longing for some of the pretty things on the pages. Well, today I actually BOUGHT some of those things! AND, the best part, they were 75% Off, PLUS an additional 30% off the sale price!! Yes. You read that right.

I bought a set of these adorable wreaths.

...and a set of these mercury glass acorns.

These items, along with a Cuisinart hand mixer, were purchased with Christmas money from my grandparents. Thank you Noni and Papa! I love them!

I love a good bargain!

Speaking of frugal...weren't we?

Made an impromptu thrift store stop today.

I came home with this book for $2.

And a dozen of these for $4.:
I also got a really cool afghan that I will show a picture of later. My digital camera actually took a so-so picture for me!

Commitment Four

Set goals.

For 2008 I won't be making any

resolutions, because for me a resolution is like saying I'm going to go on a diet. The word diet, for me, equates to "eat more". Quit smoking always meant "smoke more". (But I finally DID quit...thank God.)

Resolution means "set myself up for failure". And quite frankly, I want good things this year. I want success. I want to accomplish things. And in order to do this successfully, I feel that setting goals is what I need to do.

Sadly, I've never really set goals. I've always flown by the seat of my pants, taking what came my way each day, like it or not, and dealing with it, rightly or not, as it flew at me. And somehow I've managed...I've survived. But I want more than that. I don't want to be content with managing or getting by. I want to make things happen on purpose. I want to LIVE on purpose. Not haphazardly. I don't mean that I want total control, or total organization, and no room to veer from that.

As far as I'm concerned, God is in total control. And I know that if I follow Him, rely on Him, stay focused on Him, and make this list of goals and rely on HIM to help me DO them...then I believe I will be successful, because of Him.

My list of goals will be made with God. I will take this desire to Him in prayer. I will follow Him, completely. Because His Word says that if I delight myself in Him, He will give me the desires of my heart. (He says this for you, too...!) And by "the desires of my heart" I don't mean a Cadillac and jewels. Sometimes we don't even KNOW the desires of our hearts until God places them there. Imagine! On the other hand, there are some things that I want out of life, and God knows them all. Some are spiritual. Some are physical. Some are financial. Some are for my husband, and for my kids. And yes, some of those desires are "stuff". He knows them all...because He knows my heart better than I do. So I'll ask Him for help in making this list of goals. I think I may be surprised by what ends up on that list!

I'm excited to see what God has in store for me.

Dear Lord,

I pray that you help me to set goals for my life. Speak to my heart, and I will do my best to listen. I love you, Lord.

Amen.

Commitment Three

Study the Bible.

Once I finish reading the bible in it's entirety I plan to then study it.

I don't know what this will consist of; whether I'll study a whole book of the bible, perhaps one of the minor prophets?

Or maybe study a person in the bible, Joshua or Caleb, maybe?

I could even take one chapter of one book...or even one VERSE and do a word by word study, breaking it down to the bottom line truth.

I don't know where I'll begin, I just know that it's the next thing to do. And I'm really excited about it. I almost can't wait to get to the end so I can begin the study part! And now that all of the holiday rush and craziness is over, I can get back on track, back to my "schedule" of getting up early before everyone else and taking some quiet time to read God's Word. It's a great time; it's quiet, I've got my coffee, my journal, my hiliters and sticky notes...just me and God starting the day. It's nice.

Commitment Two

Finish reading the bible.

I began reading my bible, from Leviticus since I'd already read Genesis, in late June. I just started Luke. My commitment is to read the bible all the way through. I am really enjoying it. I had no idea that I would love the Old Testament as much as I do. I was sad when I was finished with it! I can't say that I have retained much. Well, let me rephrase that. I think I've retained a lot because I can recall quite a bit when I hear it again. What I can't do is remember exactly where everything is, or what it said, or names. But it wasn't my intention to memorize it all. My intention was to get it in my head once through...then go back and study individual books or events. That is the part I'm excited about...the deeper study.

Until then, however, I'll keep plugging along with my highlighter and sticky notes, reading and taking notes in each book of the bible until I reach the end.

Commitment One

Grow My Own Food.

This spring, after the last frost of course, my boys and I are going to plant food in our backyard. I don't necessarily want to call it a garden because it's not going to be your typical rectangular plot of land with everything planted in nice, pretty rows. Not that that's a bad thing. As a matter of fact, if it were possible, I'd have exactly that. But since my backyard is not designed in such a way, my garden will be different.

Last summer my husband planted grass in our backyard and installed some lawn edging all around the yard, leaving a 2 foot border for planting all around the perimeter. Originally I was going to plant it full of drought tolerant, low-maintenance plants...mostly flowering for some color. But since last summer I've done lots of research on gardening, sustainable living and canning. And because of this I've decided that, while flowering plants are nice and beautiful, I would rather fill my planters with homegrown vegetables and fruit. This will be a challenge because we have a HUGE pecan tree that shades half of the yard. So I can only plant in certain areas where there is enough sun. But it's doable. Definitely. I have a lot of containers that I can utilize as well. I've got pots and barrels and two raised beds. And then the areas in the yard where there is full sun.

Ideally I would have a rectangular plot of land to call my garden. Instead, I've got areas. I've also got a dog that likes to let us know that the backyard is HIS territory...if you know what I mean? So fencing would be ideal. But seeing as how I'll be gardening in strips, containers and borders, a fence isn't gonna work. Any ideas? I'd love to hear any tips or advice.

What will we grow?

Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Strawberries
Zucchini
Tomatoes (for eating and for canning my own sauce)
Cucumbers
Green Peppers
Hot peppers
Green beans
Sugar Snap Peas
Garlic
Shallots
Carrots
Sage
Cilantro
Flat leaf parsley
Thyme

Have I forgotten anything? It's dangerous reading the gardening catalogs. One could go a little over the top with the order form! But I will try to keep it to what we'll eat...regardless of how beautiful the pictures are. I would love to grow corn but we really don't have room. Not to mention we've got a great fruit stand nearby that sells delicious corn that is grown locally. So I'll utilize them for whatever I don't grow.

I also want to plant a Meyer lemon in one of my half barrels and possibly a dwarf orange or a tangerine. I'm leaning toward the tangerine because they're beautiful and delicious. But I am not sure yet. I have to read up on citrus more. I haven't researched it enough yet.

I'm so excited to grow my own food. It's my first step in becoming less dependent on "the man". Ha!

Happy New Year!

This year has started off slow...and for that I am thankful. Because LAST year went out with a bang and no room to breathe! And I have to admit, between Christmas celebrations, family visiting and staying with us, New Year's parties and weddings in between...I haven't hardly cooked! And if I did get in the kitchen it was to grab yet another piece of Almond Roca!

I guess not cooking can be quite frugal since it forces everyone to choose from what we've got sitting around...leftovers, frozen corn dogs, frozen burritos, turkey sandwiches...or in my case, salami, sliced cheese and sugar snap peas in ranch.

I didn't make any resolutions. I haven't in years. Probably because I felt I was always setting myself up for failure. This year is no different. I haven't made any resolutions. But I have made a few commitments to myself. A list of "wants" if you will. Desires. None of them include weight or quitting any stinky habits. It's really a matter of setting a goal...and doing my best to reach it. I have never done that. I just go along handling things as they come my way without any real thought as to what I WANT in life. This year, I want things to be different. I think the words "Live on Purpose" sum up what I want for myself in 2008. I want to live ON purpose and FOR a purpose. I want to be proactive...not reactive. I want to prevent fires...not have to run around putting them out.

I don't know that "resolutions" are much different than "commitments". But for some reason, it just sounds less threatening and more attainable to me. Resolutions sound like something you do out of expectation of others. Whereas a commitment, especially to myself, is more of a promise. For me it has more of a positive spin...as opposed to the negative and threatening resolutions of the past.

Go figure.