Archives for July 2012

The Summer of 7: Spending

July 7, 2012 by Amy 2 Comments

Spending week is messing with my head.

The week as a whole has not been hard. Books went on my wish-list instead of my Kindle. Nothing else was a temptation because I stayed home the entire week.

Seriously, I don’t think I’ve been anywhere this week except picking up groceries, which I had allowed as a spending item, and meeting and eating dinner with our fearless Summer of 7 leader Katrina (she’s just as wonderful in person as online).

I had planned for the next two weeks to be breaks since birthday weeks are here but I think I’m just going to keep going with spending until it quits messing with my head.

I have a deep belief that God is not one of confusion and he wants to give me wisdom. But I also believe we have to seek and knock at the door. So I’m going to keep doing that until he answers. I have so many things running around in my head but every time I write, it’s a jumbled mess (other than Waterfall purchases). Perhaps he’s waiting to show me something at our yard sale next week that was postponed. I don’t know. Just know I’m seeking him and thinking about you and how all of us can learn. I know he has me doing this publicly for a reason. Not to show off, but to pass on. So, if you would, pray with me that I’ll get clarity. In the meantime, I hope you’re having a great weekend and check out more Spending posts below.

Garden Update – Month 3

July 6, 2012 by Amy 5 Comments

Can you believe it’s already been a month since my last garden update? I almost didn’t do another one because I didn’t think the garden had changed much but um, wow. You’ll see in a minute it has.

When we planted:

Month 1:

Month 2:

And now, Month 3:

So, um, yeah. The tomatoes and zucchini are going kind of nuts (sorry the coloring is weird. It had just rained and the sun was going down when I took these).

The squash on this side is about 3 feet outside of the box and just hangs over it.

The tomatoes are using the fence and are growing outside of our yard.

I look at this picture and cannot believe it is me. I grew vegetables, ya’ll. My aunt over the weekend said, “Who would have thought you would have a garden?” Not me, folks!

Photo Jul 05, 7 46 44 PM-001

Emma was so impressed with this perfect little tomato tonight. It had gotten blood red hidden at the very bottom and back.

You wouldn’t know it, but I still have jalapeno peppers, green peppers, basil, marigolds and parsley growing underneath all that too.

We’ve been using up the zucchini by making chocolate zucchini bread, zucchini cakes, and sautéed zucchini and onions. So far with the tomatoes, we’ve done tomato sandwiches and tomato slices for July 4th cheeseburgers. I’ve gotten more basil and parsley than I can keep track of and at least 6-8 jalapeno peppers to make jalapeno poppers. I’d say the investment of about $35 in plants has been well worth it.

I say it every time I write an update, but I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed my little garden. It’s just enough to keep me busy but not overwhelm me. I love fussing over the tomato plants and getting them tied up correctly and watching the zucchini nearly grow before my eyes. I love to trim back the parsley and basil. I’m turning into a little garden geek. I LOVE IT.

Waterfall Purchases – “If a Woman Buys a Shirt”

July 5, 2012 by Amy 7 Comments

If a woman buys a shirt, she’ll want a skirt to go with it.

She’ll realize her ballet flats won’t work so she’ll go buy some espadrilles.

She’ll want to accessorize her new outfit but realize her chokers are out of date so she’ll go buy a long necklace from a boutique.

When she’s paying, she’ll realize her leather purse just isn’t the right style for her new espadrilles and necklace and she’ll find a bright bag at Target.

While she’s at Target she’ll see some earrings that could not be more perfect with her new outfit.

And more often than not, she’ll want another shirt to match.*

And that, my friends, is way too familiar. I’m calling them waterfall purchases. It starts with one purchase that seems like a really good deal but with every step, it’s like a waterfall, one purchase leading into another, ending in a pool of things. If you’d realized staring at the Clearance rack that the $4.99 shirt would actually cost you $90, you would have never gotten it in the first place. Not to mention all the extra STUFF you now have.

I have two examples of this from around our house.

We got a free pool from my parents but then the liner went out so we had to get a new liner. We’ve had to rebuild the deck. We have to buy floats every year. I’ve had to buy chemicals continuously. We bought extra towels which I now have to wash incessantly. We buy sunscreen in bulk for all our visitors. Our food bill goes up to entertain. And on it goes. Sure, the pool was free but there are so many trappings that go with it.

But it doesn’t just stop at free or clearanced items.

We had to plan for Scott’s bicycle purchase. He does some serious mountain biking and cycling and he needed some bikes that could keep up. He got a great deal but the bike is all he budgeted for. Now he has to buy energy drinks and water bottles and helmets and shoes and clothes and truck contraptions to carry it. Sure the bike was a great deal, but there’s a waterfall effect with so many other purchases.

I’m sure you can relate in some way. Anyone ever get a free puppy??

Waterfall purchases are leading us into pools of misdirected funds, unnecessary possessions and even debt.

As I’m staring down Spending this week for Summer of 7, I can’t help but pinpoint my weaknesses. I tend to think about this with larger purchases but am so guilty of it with smaller things like clothes. I know some of you must struggle with this too.

I think one way we can curb unnecessary spending is to take the time to ask ourselves if what we’re buying has the potential to cause waterfall purchases. If so, are we willing to pay the price for all of them? But more than are we willing to pay for them, is that where we should be spending our money?

Is anyone else guilty of this? Any other suggestions for dealing with it?

*Written by Amy Bennett in the style of If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, image courtesy of Old Navy

The Real Work-at-Home Mom’s Summer Day

July 2, 2012 by Amy 3 Comments

This is what about 3:00 looks like on a work day in the Summer when Scott is not home to run interference.

Mail, trash, candy, random papers all over my desk.

Kids are plopped in front of the TV (although they didn’t turn it on today until 3).

Table still has traces of lunch and the game they played earlier.

Dirty dishes are piled up, clean dishes haven’t been put away. I used Express Lane to order and pick up groceries but only the refrigerates were put away. (But there is dinner in the crockpot way back there!)

Clean towels are piled up to be folded. (But they’re clean and more are in the washing machine!)

Suitcases have not been emptied and are randomly in the hallway.

My bed didn’t get made and you can’t see them but the girls set up some sort of play area in front of the couch for the paper dolls they made this morning. Oh and that yellow cup beside my bed has a smoothie in it from last week.

The kids room is well, the kids room. Wet towels on the floor included.

Now this is what I call giving you Permission to Peruse. We all have days like this and we just have to take a deep breath, set a timer for 15 minutes at the end of the day and fake it.

Saying Goodbye to Pap and a Wink from God with Summer of 7

July 1, 2012 by Amy 10 Comments

We buried my grandfather this weekend (pictured above in the center). He was a good, sweet man who worked hard and loved his family. I kept expecting to completely lose it. I expected it when I saw my mom or when we drove past his house or at the viewing or the funeral or the burial or when we drove past his house in the procession. But the truth is I just keep chanting, he’s with Jesus, he’s with Jesus. Perhaps it’s a defense mechanism or something but I just keep chanting it. He’s with Jesus. And I get to be there too one day. Jesus is our sure hope. I will miss him and my heart hurts especially for family, no doubt. But Jesus is our peace and comfort. I have felt your prayers so surely this weekend and I so appreciate them.

While we experienced the tragedy of losing our family member, many people experienced a physical storm over the weekend on the East coast. Some are saying they won’t have power for a week. Fourteen are dead at last count.

I do not claim to be the center of attention in either of these tragedies this past week but may I say that in a very minuscule way I got to see a slice of God taking care of me in my Summer of 7 endeavors related to both of them?

In the Clothing

I was in the middle of clothing week when I got the news about my grandfather and I was ready to scrap it, of course, if I needed to dress more appropriate to the occasion. As it turned out though, the viewing was on Friday and the funeral was on Saturday. Friday was my last day of clothing. And I realized that I had my black dress from one of my 7 items. I decided it was appropriate to the occasion and it gave me the ability to keep my commitment to Summer of 7. And more than that, my mom and I decided that any eye makeup was probably pointless so I went makeup-less too.

I picked those items well before we knew this was even a sliver of chance happening and I just can’t help but think God took care of that little, little detail for me when I picked out my 7 items.

In the Spending

I realized I started spending week on Saturday. We had plans to do a little shopping after the funeral on Saturday. We like to go to a few discount stores every time we visit back home and more often than not, I come home with a ton of books from one and clothes from the other–two of the main pain point areas I’d identified in my possessions week–and here I had a huge pitfall ahead making it worse.

We loaded up the car Saturday afternoon to go shopping and I was giving myself pep talks. You don’t need any books. You don’t need any clothes. And I know, know, know, the cause of the storm was not related to me but do you know the entire section of town that housed BOTH of the discount stores was ENTIRELY CLOSED due to a power outage from the storm? I mean, even McDonald’s, Walmart and the entire mall were out. The entire mall. And yes, these two discount stores.

The power outage wasn’t about me at all but it was like a prayer answered in such a unique, specialized way. I mean, what are the chances both stores would be closed on a sunny Saturday before July 4th? Let me tell you, little to zilch. But there they sat with empty parking lots and it was such a relief that it was no longer a temptation. Just writing this it reminds me of this verse:

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

I could have easily insisted that we go shopping before Saturday to make sure I got my spending in—in fact, my sister joked about it—but we didn’t and just at the moment I knew I would be tempted, there was a way out.

So, I finished out clothing and started out spending week with what I felt like was a wink from God. He may not have arranged any of it for me but it felt like he used it to say, I see you. I see your sacrifice and it’s not in vain.

If that is the beginning of spending week, I am looking forward to the rest.