In His Presence

On Tuesdays, I see patients from 9am to 3:30 or 4pm and then I have class from 5-8pm. Last Tuesday, there was a tornado warning for the county that my graduate school is located in as well as the county where I live. There were also heavy rains that began at about 6pm. When I got out of class at 8, I prayed my usual rainy day prayer: "Please, Lord, no wrecks." I don't have the best vision at night anyway, so rain makes me nervous.

That night was different. The rain -which was heavy everywhere else- was light for my entire hour long drive home. And then there was the lightning. Every time I had trouble seeing, lightning would light up the entire sky and allow me to see miles ahead. There are spots in the highway where the road is not clearly marked. Whenever I hit those spots, there was the lightning again. It became increasingly clear that God was, for some reason, blessing me with his very clear presence. I don't know why He did it, but it made my week. I do know that sometimes God uses these moments where I have no other choice than to be still and pay attention to show His mighty presence.

Just a reminder to all of us to be still every once in a while.

Little Things Add Up: April $

As I've mentioned before, any money I earn right now either goes to savings or to pay on student loans. I don't have a real job right now, I just do side gigs. Here are some things that I am currently doing to net some $:

* Mystery shopping
* Paid surveys
* Consigning my clothing
* Selling on eBay (although I haven't done this much lately)
* Saving rebate checks
* Selling on half.com

For the month of April, this has made me $104.04 with virtually no effort on my part. I plan to get more involved in mystery shopping and eBay selling, so hopefully I will continue to make a little profit. I won't do clinical trials or plasma "donation". I won't do the clinical trials because I am a hypochondriac and don't want to worry about poisoning myself with some new drug. And I don't do plasma selling because I don't want to blow a vein and I dislike needles. :P

Friday's Yard Sale Finds

I had a busy day Friday but managed to squeeze in a few yard sales in the early morning. I went to two church sales and one regular sale. Here's the price break down:

* Three baskets at .05, .10, and .10 to use for gift giving

* Large embroidery cloth new in package .25 (I have delusions of learning ribbon embroidery)

* Two vases at .05 and .10

* Vintage Hallmark Christmas stationery .10 (I am such a sucker for stationery)

* Easter cellophane bags .25

* Cloth napkins, .25 for three

* Three beaded necklaces (one not pictured) for .25 each

* Tennis racket $1 (Once again, delusions of learning to play tennis)

Spring Fling Swap Pretties

Look at all of the pretties that my Spring Fling Swap partner Maureen sent me! Everything was packaged beautifully (and I was able to save the bubble wrap, tissue paper, and so on for future gifts- you know that makes me happy!). Here is the breakdown:

S: Skeins of yarn

P: Pin cushions, picture frame

R: Remnant

I: Iron-on applique

N: Notions (zippers, thread, rick rack, buttons), notebook

G: Green bag, glass votives

There was also dark chocolate (my favorite!), candles, a pretty nail polish, and a super cute handmade mini tissue dispenser. Thanks, Maureen! I love it all.

Odds and Ends

* I didn't post over the weekend because I had a weekend class. Blah. It was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8-5. I am happy that my days as a student are numbered!

* Have you heard of www.bibleinayear.org? They send you daily emails of scripture and you get to set up what version you use and in what order you read. The end result is- surprise!- that you end up reading the Bible in one year. I really like this. In case you are wondering, I am reading the NIV in chronological order.

* Speaking of numbered days, I have nine weeks of class left. That includes this week. Yay, yay, a thousand times yay! Except I really need to get to steppin' on the ol' dissertation.

* I received my Spring Fling swap from my swap buddy Maureen and it is fabulous. I will post pics on Wednesday.

* I went ahead and got a Tracfone. I really like it! Well, other than the fact that I cut myself twice just opening the packages. Attention family members: I have a new phone number that I need to give you.

* Note to Grandma- we need to book Daniel O. tickets soon. :) I think the May shows might be sold out, but November is still available. They are around $47. I will email you soon and I love you!

Happy News!

In August, I will move to a town not-too-far-away where I will do my one year internship. In this town, there is an education building that houses branches of a state university, a community college, and a private university. In the interest of paying down my student loans and because I think I would like to teach someday, I have decided that I would like to try to get a job teaching at night as an adjunct professor of psych. I submitted my vitae and apps to the community college and private university branches so that they could contact my references and 'approve' me or not. Today, I found out that I have been approved to teach four courses at the private university! This means that in the future they will contact me as needed. I am very excited! :) In case you were wondering, the courses I have been approved to teach are Intro to Psych, Abnormal Psych, Lifespan Development, and Biopsychology. Yay!

Spring Fling Swap: What I Sent

My swap partner has received her package, so I thought it was safe to post these! I tried to tailor my gifts to her interests, so I had to use a lot of adjectives in order to meet the criteria that each gift start with one letter of the word spring. I will spare you the adjectives, but what I sent was the following: green yarn with pink flecks, Staples Stickies, a mystery novel, a pretty embroidered handkerchief, handmade notecards, and a thrifted dish. I hope you can click on the pics and have them enlarge, particularly to see the cute green and pink ribbon that I used!

Works for Me Wednesday: Thrifty Fun Shreds!

Okay. Are you familiar with those bags of shredded paper that you can buy for gift baskets? They're sometimes called "fun shreds" or "tissue shreds", etc. I really, really, really hope you aren't buying them when you can make your own! Use whatever you have lying around: construction paper, tissue paper, computer paper, wrapping paper, card stock. Whatever is cheap and handy. Put a clean bag in your paper shredder, run the paper through, crumple the shreds, and voilà! Your very own shreds for gift baskets. Tip 1: Using stiffer paper like cardstock will allow you to position items in your gift basket with ease if you have heavy items. Tip 2: Store a clean bag in underneath the full bag in the paper shredder for quick use. Tip 3: Don't have a paper shredder? Staples has them free after rebate this week. If you can find them. Cheap shreds- works for me!

Freebie Monday

I went to some sort of vendor fair at an area college on Monday to promote our school clinic. It was very small, but free stuff was everywhere! And you know how much I love free stuff. ;) I got many pens, sticky notes, a letter opener, a safety whistle/compass/lighted keychain, candy, bottled water, and a travel mug. Lunch was provided by Chick-Fil-A and was chicken wraps, chicken strips, brownies, and cheesecake. That's my idea of a good day.

Recent Semi-Frugal Shopping

I went to Express on Thursday armed with the knowledge that there was a sale and with a 15% off clearance coupon. I wound up getting everything in the top two pictures: two v-necks in purple and a green-grey color, a pink striped scoop neck, a pink tank top with lace trim, and a long black and white flowered shirt. The long black and white flowered shirt (picture two) is MUCH cuter in person and looks super cute with a red belt. I tried not to let the horror I felt show on my face when the sales girl suggested that I should wear it with leggings. Oh, honey, no. Price paid for all five pieces: ~$47. I think that is really good especially considering that the flowered shirt alone retailed for $59.50. Yes, $59.50. No, it is not made of gold and will not run errands for you. Express prices are ridiculous as a rule but they do have good sales.

Picture three is a fancy black dress with raised flowers that I got at J.C. Penney for $9.97. I have no need for a fancy black dress, but if the occasion should arise, I am prepared, right??? It is a size too big and I need to go back and hope that they have a size smaller. It retailed for $89.

Picture four is a dress that I am undecided about. It is adorable and vintage-y, but it cost $37. I realize that is not a ton of money, but it is a lot more than I typically pay for any dress. It was on sale at New York & Company, but I didn't get to use a coupon because I left it at home. :( I was also swayed by the fact that two salespeople sought me out after I tried it on to tell me that it looked great on me. That does not happen often, people! :) I do have a few 'events' coming up that I could wear it to, but I am still undecided. I just feel much better when I can combine sale + coupon.

Cheese Biscuits

The cheese biscuits I made for a belated birthday party for my sister-in-law and the mess I made creating them. :P

The Iterations of My Convergence

We have a school statistician. Thank you, Lord. Because I have no clue how to run my own statistics. And 90% of the time I am not sure what is going on. Here is an actual conversation from Monday:


Statistician: Oh, those are just the iterations of your convergence. You don't need to worry about them.


Me: ............................................................. (nods smartly and makes mental note to remember the phrase 'iterations of convergence' for later.)


However, she is very good at explaining things, so I think I will actually be attempting to write up my results section this weekend. Yay!

Works for Me Wednesday: Thrifty Organization

Ideas from The Complete Tightwad Gazette: stamp dispenser, magazine holder used to store mailing supplies, and tissue-box grocery bag holders.

I am a very organized person. I have a million binders with clear front and side pockets so that I can neatly label what is in there. I own (and use) a label maker. Organization is fun! But organization can also be spendy. I have spent quite a bit of money on plastic containers to store things. So whenever I can use items around the house for organization, I do so. I got these ideas from The Complete Tightwad Gazette- there are lots of great ideas for organization in there! Think outside the box (or think what you can put in the box!).

Cheap organization. Works for me!

Any Thoughts on Tracfones?

I am considering switching to a pay-as-you-go Tracfone when I move out. I will have a land line anyway for internet use, so I think I can just have people call me on that line. Any Tracfone users out there care to comment?

What I Did to Save/Earn $ Over the Last Few Days

1) I did not buy a new outfit for Easter (gasp!). I wore stuff that I already had, but in my closet most things barely get worn anyway.

2) I filled out an online survey for $5.

3) My sweet grandma gave me $10 which will go in my savings account.

4) I repotted my tomato plants in the hope of having an abundance of fresh and FREE tomatoes this summer.

5) I sorted out some stuff to list on eBay (but I haven't actually listed yet).

6) I used two $10 gift certificates to Dillard's to purchase most of a baby gift for a shower that I went to on Saturday.

7) I am making homemade pizza right now for dinner so that I can take the leftovers for lunches. I ate fast food several times last week, which I had been so good about not doing. Back in the saddle I go!

Pretty Material + Shirt Pattern

If I ever get the dang dress made, I will make this next.

Vintage Tupperware Lunchbox

I think anything that motivates me to bring my lunch is worth the $4 investment. ;)

An Easter Basket

What my sweet mama got me for Easter (I'm stocking up on some food stuffs for when I move out in August).

I'll Be Back Soon

A combination of working on my dissertation and computer problems (this is not a good time!) have prevented me from posting, but I will try to post some tonight.

Looking Polished On a Dime

Warning: this post is superficial in nature.

There are many times in life when you need to look polished, even if you do not work in a professional environment. There is no reason for you to Here are some tips to making the process a little easier.


Clothing:
1) The most important thing is to pay attention to detail.

2) Wear clothing that fits you properly. Too big or too little is not good, but neither is wearing the wrong proportions for your body type. Try on outfits and take pictures of yourself to get a better idea of whether you're wearing the correct type of clothing. What does your eye immediately go to? I recommend these books: Lucky Manual for overall wardrobe ideas and What You Wear Can Change Your Life for how to properly wear color. Another great resource is the archives at Rebecca's blog. She goes in depth on fit, color, and personal style.

3) Wear clothing that is made of natural fibers. Wool, cashmere, cotton, and linen all look and feel better than acrylic or nylon.

Hair:
1)

Heads Up: Freebie

At Walgreens this week they have the 2 pack of Olay bar soap on sale for $2. There was a $2 coupon off any Olay bar soap in the Procter and Gamble brand saver in the Sunday paper. Free soap!

This week there is also an unusual rebate for Advil PM. If you buy the 16 count liquid filled capsules, a rebate form prints at the register that makes it free. This is not part of the usual Easy Saver catalog, but it does appear to be a Walgreens rebate. I don't typically need sleep meds, but they are great for when I travel.

A Frugalite's Mailbox

What I got in the mail on Monday:

* A free dry erase marker
* A sample of a face care product
* A free hardback book
* Two magazines that are from free subscriptions
* A $20 rebate check
* A pricy home catalog that I don't order from but like to glean ideas from

Notice a pattern??? :P