Amy Currioman

Guest post written by my buddy Lavern Small

I went to CannonSatellite.com to look into satellite and see if it was any cheaper than cable. I also talked to the people with my lawn care company to make sure they wouldn’t mind if I cut back to twice a month instead of every week – that’s helped us save hundreds a year. I don’t know why I got on this money saving kick but for me it’s all about making sure we’re financially viable in this economy and I know that my job’s secure but I get really worried that I might lose my job or get hurt or something else terrible. I love being part of a supportive family but there’s something to be said for taking matters into your own hands and that’s what I’ve done – I’ve asked every member of my family to put their best effort forward when it comes to saving money but at the end of the day it’s an individual effort and everyone has to answer for themselves with what they’ve been able to save.

Well, here it is, Christmas morning and so far the house is still quiet. There are no longer young children that waken the adults at the crack of dawn with cries of “Santa came!”  Such memories are sweet, but I do enjoy being able to drink my morning tea while starting to prepare our traditional holiday morning cinnamon buns. I won’t wake anyone else until I’ve finished making them and put the turkey in the oven. Once everyone else gets up, it will be a busy, noisy, joyous day.

Merry Christmas to all!

I was so tickled when I saw Helen put on her Facebook account that she is now selling tie-dye scrubs in her tie-dye store! For several months now I have suggesting that she find an online source like http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/ to buy some and try selling them. There are several hospitals near her store, and there are so many people that be-bop around town wearing scrubs that I think that she would sell a ton of them!

Now that she’s posted that she has a lot of them to choose from, I will have to make a point to squeeze in a trip to her store to check out the selection and try to get a set. I love to wear them as pajamas and lounge wear around the house! Helen won’t have any trouble selling them; comfort is one thing that will sell quickly around here. Especially comfort that is easy on the wallet and looks great at the same time!

I was asked by my mother to host the family Christmas dinner at my house this year. I’ve been hosting the family dinner here every year for the past several years and I really would prefer to go out to eat Christmas dinner at a restaurant. Having around twenty people here is not an easy task. My hubby and kids don’t want the dinner here, so they mope and complain about it. There are other family members that only come here out of a sense of duty, and you can tell that they would rather be at their own homes celebrating inside a bottle. Still others simply say that they want to start new traditions with their own family that don’t include being with the rest of “our” family. Is every single family this dysfunctional?

I’m thinking about trying to start a new tradition at the dinner that would make everyone happy that they came. I just don’t know yet what that will be.  Maybe starting a food fight!

When I was younger I had hoped to have two children, one girl, and one boy. Life had other plans for me, and I ended up with two wonderful boys. Every now and then, though, I tease them that one of them was supposed to be a baby girl! They just roll their eyes at me and laugh; they know that I love them dearly. When my niece had a baby girl last year I was very excited to be able to go shopping for new baby girls clothes for her baby shower present. There are so many adorable outfits available on the market today!

To be perfectly honest, that is probably one of the biggest reasons why I wanted a baby girl way back then; the outfits for baby girls are always so adorable! The outfits always bring back memories of my childhood when my sisters and I would play with dolls and dress the dolls up in frilly outfits. Sometimes I wonder if playing with baby dolls was brain washing us, or simply appealing to our maternal instincts. Seems to me that I was just as happy playing with toy trucks and building blocks when I was given them to play with. That’s probably a good thing, though, since I had two sons and I ended up spending many hours with them playing with toy trucks, building blocks, trains, and action figures!