Archives for August 2010

On the 12th

August 8, 2010 by Amy 13 Comments

Today is our anniversary. Twelve years married. TWELVE. Add that to four years of dating and we’ve been together more than half my life. Nothing compared to 30, 40, 50 and even 60 years but 12 is something. A lot of people don’t make it that far these days. And if they do, many are not happy ones. Ours haven’t been all happy but we are today. In fact, a few years back I wondered if I’d ever be happy again. But we are and it’s only because of God’s grace and guidance. And I don’t say that as a cliche. I’m serious, without Him, I’m not really sure what we’d look like right now. I don’t get sentimental and mushy a lot but I want to take such a mushy day to talk about all the mushy stuff I love about Scott. How about 12 things for year 12?

Sometimes I can’t stand how good of a Dad he is. Just yesterday he took them on a breakfast date to McDonald’s AND brought me Starbucks on the way home. Today he was really upset he didn’t make it to paint pottery with Emma and I just so he could spend time with us before work.
I love how he leads. I don’t know what it is but people listen to him. Sometimes he doesn’t give them a choice but he’s got this weird way of making people respect and listen to him. Some people call him to find out what to do in a rough spot even if he’s clueless on the subject.
I love that he’s a handyman. He can fix or build just about anything. There’s nothing sexier than watching him use a drill. What can I say? Blue collar men can be hot too.
I love his sense of humor. MOST of the time. Sometimes it seems he can’t be serious for anything. But most of the time, he keeps me laughing and I love that.
OK, fine, I love most of his OCD tendencies. This house would be freakin’ disaster without him and I know it.
On that note, specifically, I love that he doesn’t mind helping around the house. He’s been known to wash dishes regularly and vacuum and do laundry when necessary. Talk about scoring points!
I love that he loves people. He’s always wanting to invite someone over or go do something with someone. He’s so much more outgoing than me and it really balances us out.
I love that he thinks I’m beautiful and tells me a lot. Even if sometimes it seems he says it so much it doesn’t mean as much but I know I’d be lost without that. I just hope he thinks it when I’m 85 and wrinkled!
I love how generous he is. He’s taught me so much about compassion and giving and I know he’d out-give me any day of the week and I consider myself pretty generous.
I love that he loves to learn. Even though it bores me to absolute death to watch the History channel, I love that he has a passion for learning.
I love how athletic he is. He’s strong and healthy and I’m so proud when he takes off on his bike or whatever he is doing! It seems like he can do just about anything he sets his mind to.
And of course, most importantly I love his love for Christ. If there is one thing that is most attractive in a man it is the ability to humble themselves before God. It seems so backwards that humility would be so attractive but it is. I can’t explain it but on that account alone, it’s like a magnetic pull. I love God so, so much and to find a man out there these days (well, 16 years ago) that still proudly stands up for his faith too, well, I consider myself quite the lucky one.

So, yeah, mushy, mushy. I know I talk a lot about how much I love this TV show or that one or this celebrity or that one but if you can just imagine how much I go on and on about that, my love for Scott is 1,000 times more than that. I just choose not to gross you guys out about it too often. You’re welcome 🙂 Actually, I think it’s kind of nice to hear that this marriage thing actually works every once in awhile. And it has. So very, very much.

Intentional Spiritual Education

August 6, 2010 by Amy 7 Comments

I found this article “Homeschooling Is Not Optional” from OrganizingYourWay.net from AmyLovesIt.com (is that enough linkage?) I love this quote:

No school can address your child’s every need. I often talk about the “whole child” a common term used in educational and developmental literature. It refers to the education of not just the cognitive aspects of a child, but also the creative, and physical, and so on. And yet, you will not likely find much spiritual education in a public school. Spirituality is a part of the whole child, and shouldn’t be neglected. In public schools, you will find character development, perhaps, but not real morals. References to religion, on occasion, but little on faith. This is your job. Tend to it intentionally.

It’s always the parents’ job to be the spiritual teacher of your children but after our decision to go with public school versus private, I felt even more of a burden to fill that role. Lately I’ve been reading a story, or THREE, out of Lexi’s picture Bible (ImpressYourKids.org recommends The Jesus Storybook Bible). It has been astounding the questions they have come up with. We’ve discussed sin and creation and Heaven and Hell and Satan and Jesus’ scars and Noah’s ark and the plagues and God’s miracles. I love how we can all agree “no one in the whole world” understands how God has no beginning and end. I love that they’re discussing it with me and not (or as well as) a school teacher or Sunday School teacher. I love that I have a pulse on their fears and struggles.

But it is very intentional. Even when we’re all exhausted and cranky at the end of the day, I have to make that time intentional to read and answer another 100 questions before sleep. But it’s so entirely worth it.

BlogHop ’10

August 4, 2010 by Amy 18 Comments

If you’re from the BlogHop, I am SO EXCITED you’re here! I know you have a lot of hopping to do so let’s get to it.

First and foremost, my faith is most important. I’ve been a Christian since I was 7 and love God with all my heart! I’ve been married for 12 years this week to my high school sweetheart and we have two girls that are 5 and 7. By day, I’m a programmer for a large bank and am thankfully able to work from home. It gets a little crazy around here because after work, I run OneTreeHillBlog.com, IHeartDannyGokey.com, FridayNightLightsFan.com and NBCParenthood.com. Yes, TV is my guilty pleasure and I love to blog about it! And this blog you’re on is my personal one that I’ve been running for over 8 years where everything and the kitchen sink goes. If you stick around you’re gonna find posts on….

books, movies and TV

cooking (I cooked through Pioneer Woman‘s entire cookbook!)

Hopefully a few of those stood out to you. I’d love to connect with you on Twitter or Facebook and would be thrilled if you subscribed and tried Permission to Peruse out for awhile. Leave a comment to say hi and I’ll hop over to your blog!

Lexi Learning to Read

August 4, 2010 by Amy 5 Comments

I’ve talked before about using Teach Your Child to Read 100 Easy Lessons to teach Emma to read. I could have sworn as different as Emma and Lexi are that it wouldn’t work for Lexi, but it is! Off and on the past year or so I’ve been pulling the book out. Most of the time, Lexi would get frustrated very fast and we’d put it away to try for later. As Kindergarten looms, I’ve mentioned her learning before school starts and tonight she randomly asked to pull it out. Well, in 30 minutes or less she was putting small words together and getting it! It was very interesting to see how Lexi seemed to really want to understand what the word meant and wanted to make sentences with it whereas Emma was just about getting it down and moving on.

You are completely free to not watch this but my heart pitter-patters when she reads a word and really gets what it is! Also, notice that I tried to use her love language (touch) in congratulating her. A small tip for those with children that speak that language! Also? I have my cute gray shoes on and one of my Loft shirts 😉

What Was Supposed to be a Loft Haul

August 3, 2010 by Amy 6 Comments

So I was going to do a haul video for you of a few new things I got from The Loft outlet in Charleston this weekend. In fact, I did 4 of them. But then realized my Flip is dying and there’s this weird strip on the right hand side of the screen which completely covered me up. That could be a good thing according to some but I decided to take a few pictures instead anyway. And then the pictures looked really bad so here…PLEASE LOOK AT THE REALLY CUTE SHOES.

These did not come from The Loft but they go with the new gray pants, red tank and gray&cream striped V-neck sweater from The Loft that you’ll now have to use your imagination to see.

But trust me. CUTE!

Coffee Cozy Etsy Results

August 3, 2010 by Amy 13 Comments

OK, people, I finally decided on a coffee cozy from Pink Gasoline. Yes, it took me nearly a month to decide. That’s how indecisive I am. It’s not that I didn’t like any of them. She even added more to their store since my first post and I loved more of them. I would be ok with using a different one every day. I love them all that much. But in the end, every time I went by this one, I felt like it was already mine. I think it may be the same one I eyed at the post office originally.

Anyway, I was SO EXCITED to see it came in the mail today

And even better? There’s a cute liner!

Yes, it’s probably unhealthy to devote so much time to and be excited about a coffee cozy. But it’s SO CUTE!

Walgreens School Supply Deal

August 2, 2010 by Amy 1 Comment

I got a great little deal at Walgreens tonight for stuff the girls needed for school and who couldn’t use a little extra savings this time of year?

I paid $1 for:

1 Box of 24 Crayola crayons
1 Pencil box
4 Boxes Yellow Pencils
1 Box 8 Crayola Washable Markers

Here’s how:

1 box of Crayola crayons for $1
Received $1 RR
Total: $1 oop

1 Pencil box with in-ad coupon
4 Boxes Yellow Pencils on sale for .09/each
1 Box Crayola Washable Markers on sale for $3
Used $1 RR from crayons
Sent in $3 mail-in rebate for markers (it prints like a RR)
Total: FREE after rebate

That’s it!

Charleston Birthday Weekend

August 2, 2010 by Amy 3 Comments

This weekend we headed to Charleston to celebrate my sister’s 30th birthday. I hadn’t been to Charleston since I was somewhere around 10. The only thing I could remember is Battery Park and buying a Charleston T-shirt in some market. Well, clearly I forgot how wonderful Charleston is because it is just darling! There is so much to do and see so much so we were at times pulled in so many directions on what to do next.

Of course food was key. We got many wonderful suggestions on Facebook and Twitter. We ended up with Vickery’s on Friday night. Excellent view but not as much seafood as other places. Saturday night was Gilligan’s. Everything was just ok there. Sunday night was Fleet Landing. That by far was our favorite. All very yummy seafood right on the water. Hyman’s, Jestine’s and The Wreck were other top suggestions we didn’t make it to this trip.

The beach turned out to be a small sliver of the trip. We trekked out to Isle of Palms Saturday morning and I have to say, wow! They know how to do it there. It just does not compare to Myrtle Beach. Everything is nicer, there are showers and bathrooms and the beach is flat and wide and the water is shallow for much longer. But the people! Wow! So many more than our little beach we usually visit in Garden City. Rows of chairs and blankets and tents!

I think the highlight of the weekend though has to be the sunset boat tour we took Saturday night. What an adventure! It was all fantastic until about half-way through it started raining. The entire boat all ended up huddled under the deck. Even so, it was a great time on the water. I loved seeing the cargo ship going out to sea (Scott was enamored with the shipping port downtown), a lighthouse, downtown from the water and Fort Sumter. Definitely a sight not to be missed while in Charleston.

Check out all the pictures on Facebook