A Few Of My Favorite Things

I'm gonna start this blog out just like a good day starts out: with coffee. So with that, the

Keurig Coffee Maker

is the most awesome coffee maker ever BUT you will have to spend your life savings, non-existent retirement fund and your children's savings accounts on the K-cups that go with these spiffy coffee machines. Don't despair. Some smart soul came up with a solution that puts all that money right back into your pocket: The

Solofill coffee filter

And because of

This Awesome Place

that lets you use outdated and expired coupons (one coupon per item, no matter how many items you purchase in one transaction), I was able to save lots of money to invest (yes, INVEST. If it involves a good cup of coffee, it IS an investment) in this important addition to our home of both the Keurig AND the reusable filter.

But without

Starbucks Coffee

the amazing coffee maker and money saving reusable filter weren't really doing me any good just sitting in my house all new and shiny. You can't go wrong with Starbucks coffee, except in the price. BUT, of course this vital ingredient to a good day was made much cheaper because of my all time favorite store:

TJ Maxx

which is never the same store twice so don't go running to your nearest TJ Maxx in hopes of finding Starbucks coffee today. They might be plum out because the truck that came in had

This Special Item

instead which is also pretty sweet, no pun intended.

Now I'm totally going to change gears here and run down another rabbit trail. Bear in mind, this is The Most Random Blog Post you will ever read in your life so don't hurt yourself trying to connect how each item I talk about is remotely connected. Because they're not connected. These are just my favorite things. And since I'm a random person, my favorite things are random too.

I love gardening and canning. (Did I just say that? Yes I did. I say it because every single jar of food I've canned this year, has sealed. And stayed sealed. Unlike the first year of marriage when most of my efforts were dumped out due to not sealing. Just so you know, I blame that failure on the elevation difference between here and where I used to successfully can food. I didn't process the jars long enough.)

(I've been sitting here debating over whether or not the above paragraph should have that much of its contents in parenthesis. And then here I go putting another paragraph into parenthesis. Grammar is not my strong point. But now that I'm a home school mom, maybe I can learn grammar all over again.)

I love

Math-U-See

because it's made teaching (for me) and learning (for my kids) so fun.


(Now to find a good grammar curriculum so I can learn when and how to use parenthesis...)

Oh my word, I just love

Swagbucks.

One reason I love Swagbucks is because of $175 of Amazon gift cards. Free. I kid you not. That Husband complains when a random pop-up will announce I just won ONE SWAGBUCK and it'll delay his arrival to a web page he's trying to get to or interrupt a movie online. But $175 that did NOT come from our checking, savings, retirement or children's fund? I'd say that's pretty good.

You can get everything on

Amazon,

by the way. I love Amazon. And

Amazon Mom. Free, 2-day shipping because of free Amazon prime? Bring it on.

I love, love, love

My New Stroller.

I can push it with one hand while an over 20# baby reclines in it's multi-positional seat and a load of shopping merchandise and heavy diaper bag hang on the back of the stroller and sits in the basket underneath. It's everything you love about a heavy-duty jogging stroller packed into an easy-to-store-in-your-crowded-van umbrella stroller. You can even change your baby's diaper in it because it lays back so well. Think of it as buying a stroller AND a travel changing table. It also functions as a convenient toy for a 2-year-old since it pushes so easy. Let me explain... if you have a kind, sweet and gentle 2-year-old nephew who's height is above average, he can easily and safely push your baby in the stroller which makes the baby content and keeps the 2-year-old busy.

On a side note, because of signing up for Amazonmom AND using Swagbucks, I got that stroller for a steal of a deal.

I couldn't say enough of how I love

Our Church.

Being inspired, challenged, fed and impacted by Jesus-loving people on a consistent basis, has been an uplifting and ongoing part of my life for almost 2 years. It makes me wonder how I went so long without having a continual feeding of God's Word from a pastor who preaches from a Bible and not tradition. My least favorite part of the service is when the pastor says it's time to wrap up his message. Sometimes I hate that part so much, I'll go home and listen to the sermon again online. The closing song is my second least favorite part. Basically, I hate it when Church ends but console myself with the fact that we get to do it all over again next week.

Because of a dear lady in our Church, I was blessed with

This Devotional.

Short clips of inspiring encouragement that are easy to read no matter how busy you are or how little time you have to sit down and read a book. Or where you're at in life. Or what's on your agenda for the day. Simple yet deep, each page hits home.

Back to the first topic on my list, I need to wrap this up and brew myself a fresh cup. One Of My Other Favorite Things which is recognized as a little bundle of twenty-pounds of sublime fatness and sweetness, still hasn't figured out that most Americans sleep solidly between 12am and 6am. Instead, she sleeps solidly from 8pm to 2am and then is up every few hours. And since I don't go to bed until after 12am because I lack discipline and routine and love the heightened insanity that takes over the creative part of my brain between 10pm and 2am, allowing me to produce tons of evidence that I can be productive with my projects, I basically spend my nights napping when I do finally go to bed.

Napping and nursing, that is.

Oh, nursing is another of my favorite things. That sweet little muffinhead refuses to consume anything from a bottle or a spoon. Basically that leaves one food option: me. But she's happy, content, fat and healthy so I'm okay with this arrangement. Actually, I'm not just okay with it: I think it's great... even if we have to do it all night.
Yawn.

But my coffee shall redeem me.