Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Cabel vs. Satellite

My wife grew up without cable TV and her parents only recently began looking at whether to get cable or Satellite TV. We did all kinds of price checking and searching out the pros and cons of all the options. I personally don't see how you can go wrong with either. I know the ads will tell differently, but I would like to have either. I believe they will go with Direct TV, but they aren't sure.

We currently are without any service and simply go with the standard, over-the-air, channels that we can get from our antenna. It works for us because we spend so much time with our boys and it leaves less distractions for us. It isn't until we visit someones house with a ton of channels that I miss it. ha..

If anyone has thoughts on which is better, like personal testimonies, I would love to hear more. I would let my father-in-law know before he makes his decision.

*I was paid for this post*

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Growing like weeds!

Kids sure grow quickly! We don't spend a lot of money on clothes and that is a good thing because kids don't stay in the same size for long. Especially shoes! There are so many neat kids shoes, sandles, mbt shoes, etc. but I just have a hard time spending money on them since they grow out of them so quickly. We usually look for good sales like the one we recently found at the Children's Place. They had shoes for $1!!! Now that is a deal I can jump on! We got the boys some croc type shoes which they are loving and will really love this summer when they spend all their time outside! Can't wait!

Prism

My in-laws are on a weight loss program called Prism. It is based on eating healthy and being active. It doesn't require you to starve yourself or do anything unhealthy, which I like. You do use scales to weigh your food in order to count calories, but it isn't just about calories, they stress eating healthy foods, not simply low cal. options. They also stress staying away from refined sugars and high fructose corn syrup. Stuff like that. It really works! I am totally impressed by their motivation!!!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Prayers welcome!

As we continue through the adoption process, there are a lot of things we would love prayer for! One is that God continue to lead us in the direction he has for us! Another is that the funds are available throughout the process, since it costs so much to adopt. $30,000 is the estimate, which is mind blowing to think about and quite stressful if you dwell on it. Pray that we continue to trust that if this is what God wants for us (which we believe it is) then the funds will be there! Thanks friends!

Texas Polution

Polution was horrible when we lived in Texas. I had never heard of cities having to show levels on TV in order to let residents know if it was okay to go outside that particular day. We are so used to small town Iowa, I guess. Well, we looked into getting air cleaners and did end up getting an air purifier that we have been very happy with! It not only helps clean the air but really cuts down on how often we have to dust in our house... which is not something I enjoy at all! haha.. We breath and sleep better with it, highly recommend!

Back Issues

For the first couple of years that we were married, we had horrible beds! During that same time I really struggled with back issues. I couldn't even get out of bed some days. Well, we decided to look into beds and I haven't ever felt better. Honestly, a nemo astro sleeping pad provides more support for my back than our first two beds did. It was an uncomfortable time for the both of us, but never again!

Life insurance

As many of you know, we have begun the adoption process. We are very exciting but the paperwork is crazy! We first have to prove our net worth is in the positive. I never knew that term life insurance could have cash value and still don't really understand it. Anyways, we figured out we are in the positive and able to move forward, which is great! What an exciting time for us and our family! We can't wait to meet the new member of our family!

Great Business School!

The university in town is one of the best business schools in the nation! I had a student work for me last year that was just amazing with accounting! Even with the tough job market, he didn't seem to have any problem finding accountancy finance jobs that wanted him! He was always studying in the lounges and got excellent grades. He also was very involved with clubs and internships to help boost his resume.

So Sad

We went to see some friends the other night to pick up some kittens for our property. We found out that they had been to a visitation the same evening for a man in their church. The man was only 39 years old and had fallen off his motorcycle when he hit a patch of gravel on the highway. He had children and everything. I have always been a little skittish with motorcycles, too dangerous in my opinion. I am not sure who was in charge of funeral arrangements for the family, but how sad and to leave a wife and kids. Just shouldn't happen like that.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Awesome New Phone!

We just got a new phone and LOVE it! It has a great camera so that is basically all we have to bring everywhere to have internet, phone, camera, etc. Things have changed so much over the years! Now I just need to look at sd memory cards and find the one that fits my phone. We already have over 400 photos on the phone and need to add a memory card to have more space. I have to say that I love the applications on the phone too! There are apps for me, my wife, and kids. Something for all of us!

Jackpot on our cruise!

When we went on our cruise a couple years ago, we hit the jackpot buying jewelry! We found a Di's Diamonds and loved the St. Maarten jewelry. Di not only liked the name of the store but came home with tons of stuff which made her happy and made our pocket books happy! :) I know we will definitely look for deals again if we ever go on another cruise! If you have the chance to travel, take advantage of it!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Tire Swing!

Wow, the boys LOVE the tire swing! We put it up in November but then the weather got nasty and we didn't really get to play on it. Now that it's nicer, the boys want to spend every minute on it! They can't wait to play on it with Grammy and Grandpa! We spent hours out there the other day just swinging. I do have to admit that it's a lot of fun! :)

What a week!

I LOVE having the week off to be with my family! I am currently sitting on the couch with my best buddy! I love just sitting back and watching my boys. How precious they both are!!! I am soooo blessed! We had a very relaxing week, enjoying the beautiful weather and having company visit. Last night we had the pastor and his wife over for dinner, and today Grammy and Grandpa are coming over to spend the night! The boys are super excited!!!

Need Auto Answers?

If you are anything like me, then you probably could use some assistance when fixing your car, preventative maintenance, or simply knowing what to check on your car and when. That is where RepairPal can assist you. It doesn't matter if you live in Iowa or if you are trying to look for San Diego auto repair shops, they will have your answer.

I currently drive a Vue, but my brother-in-law has a Ford F-150 and we were both able to get help! It is always important to stay on top of what needs to be fixed with your car or what you can do to keep it up. Every vehicle is so different, so it is great to have a place you can look to find specifics about your make and model.

I don't even know what the check engine light means, so I love having a resource that can help. Need an auto shop, NO PROBLEM! Really, anything you need, RepairPal can help you with! I know I am going to stop looking for answers everywhere else and go straight to them for help and answers!

*I was paid for this post*

Monday, March 14, 2011

Foodball January!

Guest post written by Bill Justice

This past Sunday, my wife and I made plans to make a big deal out of the NFC and AFC Championship games on television. After picking up some Digital Hearing Aids, we made a special trip to the grocery store and bought a great deal of food and refreshments. We made the day a little holiday for ourselves. We love football, and we've been watching these teams throughout the entire season. Also, we're still lamenting the fact that the holiday season has passed, so we are starting to give ourselves a few days to look forward to. We watched both games between the Jets and Steelers and the Packers and Bears. We snacked all day and made some great items for dinner.

Next weekend, we are hosting a big Super Bowl party for our friends and family members. The Super Bowl really has become a holiday in America, and we certainly treat it as such. Mostly, we use it as an excuse to see the people that we care about, but we are genuinely excited about the game itself; I can assure you. This weekend was pretty good but next is going to be even better!

*I was paid for this guest post.*

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Carpet Help Please!

It is very hard to keep our carpet clean with 2 kids. Not only are they kids but they are two boys! Our living room carpet definitely needs some help! I could use some help with carpet repair and cleaning austin. There are some really good companies out there that would do a really good job. Then after finding respected carpet repair companies austin, I always try to find out what the best deal is for the carpet repair cost austin! That is probably the most difficult part of picking which company to go with. I am definitely on the hunt and The Steam Team seems to be the best pick!

*I was paid for this post*

NFL Draft

I sure hope the Vikings get a Quarterback! I know it is always a gamble, but it would be so great to land one of the top QB prospects in this draft! I would be so excited to see someone like Cam Newton playing along side guys like Harvin and Peterson! WOW! What a great day to be a Vikings fan if that happened! Exciting too! I can't wait until the draft to see what happens!

House Projects

Whne we moved into our new house, the first thing we wanted to do was fix up the bathroom. We knocked out a wall, made it bigger, added a tub, and put in tiling on the floor. We looked at all kinds of materials, like glass tiles, clay tiles, etc. I am loving how it has turned out! Now we just have to touch it up with some decorating, which is coming along nicely. It is so amazing to finish a big project like that and step back and see it finishd. I have a lot of pride in it since it was such hard work!

Another Cruise

My parents are going on another cruise. I know we loved the cruise we went on a few years ago. What a neat way to travel. It is reasonably priced and you get to see some really amazing sites along the way! There are so many different cruises I would like to go on, like hawaii cruises, Alaska cruises, etc. Someday we would like to go on a cruise with a lot of our family, like cousins, gradparents, etc. That would be a blast!!!

Website management

It is a lot of fun to have a website, but sure hard to navigate all the stuff that needs to be done. Buying the domain, pci hosting, who has the best offers, etc. I know it took me calling a lot of companies to figure everything out and I still feel like I got ripped off. I continue to learn more every day about it and my brother is a huge help since he is a wiz when it comes to websites and stuff like that! I don't know how I could have figured any of it out without his help!

Mini-Vacation

It was soooo good to get away this past weekend! We had a blast in Minneapolis with family! We got to go to IKEA and to a Timberwolves vs. Dallas Mavericks game! Our son LOVED going to the NBA game and we had courtside seats! Can't beat that! It wasn't anything huge, but it is great to get away with family for a few days! I could do that more often, that's for sure! Next week is spring break so it should be really quiet on campus, which will be nice! Can't wait!

Suzie Orman

We were watching a show by Suzie, last night. It was called something about "financial class" and was really interesting. She makes some really unrealistic recommendations though. Like the fact that she says everyone should have 8 months worth of savings. How is that realistic for the average family? It isn't!! There is NO way we can save that kind of money. On top of that she says to save 20% down for a house before buying. What? 8 months reserve AND 20% to put down on a house. In the mean time, we should rent? Simply throw our money out the window in a rental, while we "save" the money? Renting would cost us about the same as our mortgage. She talks about Outer Banks foreclosures, etc. but I don't think her recommendations are realistic at all.

Always learning!

It doesn't matter how old I get, I seem to always learn something new every day. Usually I learn it from my 3 year old! Today I learned what thrust bearings are. Don't know? Well, you should look it up and find out! I wouldn't consider myself obsessed with learning, but I do find it fun and interesting to learn about new things. My favorite area to learn new things in would have to be home improvement, now that I have a house! I was clueless before moving into a house! I am learning a lot!

Remember when....

PC Games were the coolest thing you could own and play? I would sit on my computer for hours playing games. Then came the Xbox and PS2 and I seemed to stop playing PC games. I know they make a lot of games and they are still very popular among many people. Heck, I even met people that buy certain types of computers that are better for playing games on. I guess I am out of the loop these days!

Switch or not to switch?

So, this is the question of the day. On my way to work this morning I heard a commercial for auto insurance companies debating who has the better rates. They make it sound as easy as picking their company since it is always the cheapest. But, when I go to their sites and get quotes, it never seems to be cheaper than what I am currently paying. I don't get their claims. They sound so convincing in their ads, but they never seem to add up to any savings.

Made Her Day!

My mother-in-law recently went to Arizona to attend a huge jewelery show for a week. She came back with a lot of gifts for us and specifically Diana. She totally made her day with all the jewelery she brought back with her! I am not sure if it was scott kay, Di's diamonds, or what, but it was sure some beautiful pieces of jewelery! Thanks for the gifts Kris!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Fathers Day

There are only a few days out of the year that parents get to be selfish. A couple of those days are Mothers Day and Fathers Day. A day that you can just obsorb people thanking you for being such a good dad or mom.. ha.. I actually don't soak it up too much but I do feel really good when my family compliment me all day. Last year I got an iPad. I totally don't expect gifts like that every year! That was a splurge. They are great about finding unique fathers day gifts that don't cost a lot of money. I love it!