Deals and Dealing With

Can I just tell you how much I LOVE getting good deals!! Over the past two days I have done my weekly jaunts to Walgreens and CVS. I got SO much stuff. I love getting awesome deals on things I need but also on things that I can donate to the food pantry. It's so hard to give sometimes knowing that nearly every penny we have is student loan money and will have to be paid back. That's why I get so excited when I can get AWESOME stuff to give away. A couple of years ago I went to the Hearts at Home conference (www.hearts-at-home.org) and went to a class put on by Ellie Kay. She gave a lot of practical tips on how to save money on everyday items. It has been a lot of fun putting her tips to use and helping others at the same time. I love nothing better than looking at the bottom of my receipt and seeing that I saved over 50% on my grocery bill. Small thrills.
In other news - our little Charity has had quite the day today. Michael finally got to go back to school and it apparently left her at loose ends. I asked her to pick up her room (it would have taken me about 15 minutes - it was not that messy) and she just couldn't quite get that accomplished. Poor thing started crying at about 10:30 a.m. and didn't really stop until we sent her to bed at 8:00 p.m. My screensaver scrolls all my old pics and I found this one that pretty much could have been taken today! She's normally a happy (if slightly conniving) little girl which made today especially trying for all of us (see the second picture). She's a snuggler and will crawl into the first open lap she finds at any opportunity. Unfortunately for her, Eric and I were in no mood to have her cuddling up and manipulating us into giving her whatever she wanted. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I'm more concerned about the bigger picture here. If she can't obey us in the simple things then how is she going to obey in the tough issues. I realize she's only 4 (and a half!!) and maybe not picking up her room is a "tough" issue to her at this point. We're just having a really hard time teaching her that by obeying mommy and daddy she is also obeying God. Michael is such a compliant little boy it's been an adjustment to parent Charity in a way that is appropriate for her strong-willed nature. Thank goodness for good books and other parents who are willing to share their heartache and knowledge.