Dear God.

Today, I have heartburn. Not because I ate delicious pizza, but because my life is insane right now. Today, I am having heartburn because of many things. Because my sister is blind to her domestic abuse and violence that can not end well. Because I am having to cancel my ceremony and reception because my mom wants to allow a felon who has a history of child abuse and sexual misconduct stay in her house where I live right now that weekend, even though he won't come to the ceremony. I will not stay anywhere near this man, and if I have to find another place to stay for MY ceremony and reception, why have it? I won't. Maybe it's petty-but I haven't told you the whole story. Today, I am aggravated because Mr. Wonderful didn't listen to me, the professional college student about financial aid and student loans. SO, while he is at work, and I am getting ready to go to work, I'm sitting here filling out his stupid paperwork to ensure he can finally go back to school. I feel unappreciated, ignored, and gross because it is disgustingly hot and we have no air conditioner. I am emotional and crying, and pissed off, and sad all at the same time. Today, I am frustrated with my life. Today, I am screaming at God for abandoning me for the past 10 years. And for letting terrible things happen to me, even though I know sometimes, Your hands are tied. Right now, I am pissed off enough that I almost hate you. I can't stop crying, and you can't start helping. I don't need much, I don't want much, I just need ONE THING (I don't care which) to be stopped so I can have a semi-decent, crisis free 24 hours. No more pregnant sister's who are abused, no more clinically depressed parents who are unemployed, no more adhd husband who can't do an effing thing without getting upset that I nag, no more tears running down my cheeks because I can't do it anymore and want to give up, NO MORE NO MORE NO MORE. FIX IT. All my life you were supposed to be there for me, and make everything better, or at least tolerable. Well let me tell you, it hasn't been tolerable for 8 years. I'm sick of funerals and cancer and crises and school, and work and budgets and fighting and douchebags. Today, I want a miracle. Today, I need one. Today, you need to show up. Because I'm done.

Wedding Invites on the Cheap!

So, eventually...I will figure out how to upload pictures, and either add them to this post, or re-write this post with pictures. Either way, hopefully soon, there will be pictures! :)

Mr. Wonderful and I got married in a quick minute earlier this year...not because we had to...because we wanted to. My Grandma (whom I'd been EXTREMELY close to my whole life..she lived across the street from us), was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. It was a long journey of ups and downs, she was doing really well, and then she started to not do well. We had already made an engagement commitment, and in hopes that Grandma could be there, we moved everything up. However, it simply was not meant to be. She saw my flowers choice, my guest list (from when she was doing well), and even my dress! But the day she saw my dress, and cried with me over how beautiful it is, she treated Matt and I, along with my parents and sister to lunch. Little did I know it was the last time we would see her that she was conscious. That night, she slipped into a coma, and passed away the next Tuesday. Many tears were shed, and many gasps were had when we realized the ceremony was to be the day of the funeral. Needless to say, we postponed everything a week (we had already arranged for out of town family to come, etc), and had a simple ceremony at my parents house. Now that everything has calmed down, we are going to do a vow-renewal/wedding ceremony and reception. Which, of course involves invitations.

SOO. Long story short-here we are.

I picked up plain white invitations, that have vellum connected by a ribbon bow to the paper. These I got at Wal Mart (not my favorite shop, but it did in a pinch), on clearance. I picked up 150, which is about 30 more than I need. These I can make up and save for our own keepsakes, as well as give some to friends and family in frames later in the year.

I then used my free 50 prints from CVSPhoto (Which everyone gets when they sign up with an e-mail address!) I used all 3 of my e-mail addresses, because I needed 150 prints. I then attached the photo's to the invitation (under where the vellum will be), using photo glue-sticks. Rubber Cement could work-but it's a heavy liquid, as well as having the possibility of being too acidic for some photos. You could also use scrapbooking squares or glue dots, but the glue stick was cheaper for us to buy.

Now, just print the vellum like you normally would, and voila! You have a wedding invite on the cheap that's personal, and fabulously cute and frugal!!

Til then,
C.

So little to do, so much time! Scratch and Reverse that...

Alright. Here we go. This is my to-do list...and then I'm off to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow I can scratch off my progress! :) That's assuming I make progress...but I think I can, I think I can..

Tuesday:

*Pick up Wedding Invitation Pictures. (Note to self: Blog about chic, frugal wedding planning)

*Address invitations (Note to self: Get the rest of the addresses!)

*Buy stamps

*Send invites

*Buy Rubber Cement to make invites! (Note to self:List not in order...)

*Laundry

*Exercise ???

*Laundry (if time allows)

*Drop off at GoodWill

*Pay Phone Bill.

Wednesday:

*Laundry

*Finish Organizing Basement.

*De-Clutter Basement

*Etsy?

This Week In General:

*Clothes to consignment shop

*De-Cluttered items to GoodWill, Listed on Craigslist, or taken to consignment shop

*Laundry done and PUT AWAY in the correct place/manner.

*Prep for school.

Ok. And now, I think I will go to bed. I am sleepy with much to do!

~C.

Check it out on the Daily!

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So-let's face it, I've been wishy-washy on the blogging train. Which, I'm hoping will soon change! :) I've put together a fabulous Home Binder, which I copied from Joy over at Just Organize Yourself, you can find her site here: http://justorganizeyourself.blogspot.com/ I'm a big fan of her blog, because anyone who knows me knows that organization is so not something I'm good at...and it's a constant battle, and I'm working on it! But anyway, this thing is hopefully about to become my best friend. And this is how I plan to start being more accountable not only to my blog, but to myself, and my life! :)

I have a job interview next week, at a facility I've been trying to get into since I was 18 years old! It's next Friday, mid-morning, and I want this so desperately I'm actually nervous for the first time in my life about an interview. So, I'm all over the place right now emotionally, and trying to get everything done. BUT here's a run-down of what I hope to do this week on the blog: Give a list of the blogs that I read on a daily/every other day basis to help me with my frugal journey, explain how excited I am about some new FREE software that helps with our finances, talk about how we're planning a vow renewal ceremony on a VERY limited budget, and then who knows what else!?! Let me know what you'd like to get from this blog-ideas, deals, concepts, topic for series, that type of thing!

~C.

ADD, Goal Setting, A New TV Show.

So, I'm sitting here with my husband, watching Rizzoli and Isles (Which we were both nerdily excited for...as in LOST excited...oh wait-the ending of that show killed me..but never mind!), and reading some e-mail, and catching up on my fav blogs while Mr. Wonderful is working on putting together some computers and techno stuff. The more I'm reading, and researching, and trying to change my life, the more I realize I need to set some consistent goals. And if I do them here, and have to update them monthly, I will be more inspired and accountable!

So. Instead of blogging about what I thought I would be (that sounds familiar...dejavu from yesterday maybe?? Haha...), I'm gonna switch it up AGAIN! Oh-please note-I do have a slight case of ADD, and I'm ridiculously easily distracted, and I'm relatively scatterbrained, AND I could just go on and on and on...just for future reference.

Goals:

De-Clutter. By de-clutter, I mean EVERYTHING. Clothes, school supplies, books, Mr. Wonderful's techno stuff, furniture, whatever! :)

Become Financially Independent and Responsible. This means I will be disclosing how we are doing on paying off our debt (depending on how brave I feel, I may even disclose how much debt we have! We'll see)

Budget twice a week. With Mr. Wonderful. (I think that is my new code-name for Matt...because I like it, and it's fun)

Exercise. Anything is better than nothing, right?

Eat better.

In conjunction with eating better, Cook at Home More.

And with that, I think I'm done for tonight. Because now, I am sleepy, and desperately trying to peg tonight's serial killer before Mr. Wonderful does... ;)

C.

A Sunday afternoon Quic

So, I've decided to split up the post I originally had planned...because some of these subjects cause me to get excited, and therefore long-winded! :) I will be telling you about how I coupon today, and then offering a link to a blog I read on the daily who is sponsoring a $10 Target Gift Card Giveaway! :) YAY!!!

How I coupon.

My current method of couponing is this: CUT IT ALL OUT! I cut every coupon available in Sunday's paper. I am fortunate enough that our paper has a few options for subscription-daily, weekend, Sunday only. We go with Sunday only, my parents get it daily, and my work receives the paper on the weekends. This gives me access to 3 sets of coupon inserts, while only paying for one.

****But before I actually cut and organize, I do go through and take out all expired coupons! These can be thrown away, recycled (which is one of my faves!), OR sent to military families...I will try to find the link for that and put it up at a later date-I just can't find it! :(

*If you are at a point where you are ready to tackle couponing, and can handle more than one insert some options to do this are to go to your local recycling plant and check out their paper section (some people I know do this and come away with 6-10 inserts a week!), ask a gas station or grocery store if they will save the inserts only for you (they get credit for the papers they turn in, but inserts don't matter...at least here), or have family, friends and neighbors save them for you! :)

*After I cut them all out, then begins the organization. I am currently using an old plastic box to hold my envelopes. Other methods include binders (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE, and am saving up for!), boxes, and who knows what else! My envelopes are labeled by subject-such as Milk/Dairy, Cereal, Eggs, Frozen, Meat, etc. (By the way-I will try to get a picture of my old plastic box up here..it's old, and sort of tacky, but I love it!)

And that my friends, is the gist of how I coupon. More in-depth posts to come later, with what websites I use to match up my deals, how I match up my deals, that sort of stuff! :)

Now...as I'm sure you've all been waiting for it-here's the $10 Target Gift Card Giveaway I was talking about! It's over at Couponing To Be Debt Free (which is a newfound fav of mine), and everything you need to know about entering should be one click away on this link: http://couponingtobedebtfree.com/?p=5201

Head on over, and check it out! :)

Later Gators,

C.