Devotional

Christ is All

O Lover to the Uttermost,
May I read the meltings of thy heart to me
in the manger of thy birth

in the garden of thy agony,

in the cross of thy suffering,

in the tomb of thy resurrection,

in the heaven of thy intercession.

Bold in this thought I defy my adversary,

tread down his temptations,

resist his schemings,

renounce the world,

am valiant for truth.

Deepen in me a sense of my holy relationship to thee, 

as spiritual Bridegroom,

as Jehovah's Fellow,

as sinners' Friend.

I think of thy glory and my vileness,

thy majesty and my meanness,

thy beauty and my deformity,

thy purity and my filth,

thy righteousness and my iniquity.

Thou hast loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,

may I love thee as I am loved;

Thou hast given thyself for me,

may I give myself to thee;

Thou hast died for me,

may I live to thee,

in every moment of my time,

in every movement of my mind,

in every pulse of my heart.

May I never dally with the world and its allurements,

but walk by thy side,

listen to thy voice,

be clothed with thy graces,

and adorned with thy righteousness.

~From The Valley of Vision~

Training Body and Spirit

I've been thinking about these verses today:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

I thought a lot about what purpose we have for anything we do in life.

As I train, prepare, and look forward to participating in the Tough Mudder race this fall, this verse made me consider a few things.

"All the runners run, but only one receives the prize"

Am I merely participating? Or am I striving for a "prize" am I focused on a specific goal?

"...so run that you may obtain it..."

This requires determination, serious and specific training. When one has a goal, they do what it takes to obtain it.

"...every athlete exercises self control in all things...but I discipline my body and keep it under control..."

Control over all things. Disciplined, consistent training. They make training a priority.
Not just physical training. But proper nutrition and diet, adequate rest and healthy habits. Self control in all things must take place in order to obtain your goal & win the prize.

 "... I do not run aimlessly..." 

Again, a purpose and goal that one is striving toward.

These verses also have a spiritual application.

"All the runners run, but only one receives the prize"

All men participate in the race of life. Not all receives the prize of eternal life.

"...So run that you may obtain it..." 

Run as one worthy of your calling as a Child of God. Live in obedience to God because of His grace given to you.

"every athlete exercises self control in all things... I discipline my body to keep in under control..."

Self control being part of the Fruit of the Spirit. Discipline or Teach your mind to be focused on the truth of God's Word and practice self control by walking in the Spirit.

"I do not run aimlessly..."God has a purpose for our lives. We must live according to His will. Not merely go through each day aimlessly but strive and work toward knowing and obeying God.

"...They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable... lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."

Unlike physical training, our Spiritual goal is imperishable. And we must be disciplined and self controlled so that we are disqualified by our witness and testimony.
If we do not practice what we preach, and our lives don't give evidence to what we say we believe our witness is disqualified.

3-10-12 Shopping Trip

The new experiment of shopping twice a month is turning out to be successful!
I bring home less and less stuff in one trip! :)

I'm also very proud of myself today for not buying things I didn't need...

Ok, I bought some things that I didn't need. But they will get used/consumed.

For example, of something I turned down. At Raley's Progresso canned soup was on sale (select varieties) for only $1 a can!! With my $1/4 coupon I could get them for $0.75 each. Which is a really good price for that kind of canned soup. The only reason I didn't take advantage of the deal is because I don't need canned soup. I have a good stockpile of it already, and I don't feel that I need to add to it at this point.
So even though it was a good sale and coupon deal I still saved $6 by NOT buying any (I had 2 coupons).

As for the purchases I did make it to the checkout line with, here are the highlights from the trip, as well as a break down of my transactions and savings at both CVS Pharmacy and Raley's stores.


Everything in the picture below was either a $1 or less!!

Ocean Spray Juice $1 ea.
Dole Tropical Fruit $1 ea.
Fresh Express bagged salad $0.99 ea.
Nature Valley granola bars $0.99 ea.
Variety of Protein bars (21 total) averaged $0.94 ea.
French's Classic Yellow mustard $0.74 ea.
Uncle Ben's ready rice cups $0.71 ea.
Johnson & Johnson hospital grade gauze pads $0.57 ea.
Softsoap Body wash $0.50 ea.
Iodized salt (kroger brand) $0.45
Tortilla chips (raley's brand) FREE
Fire Roasted salsa (raley's brand) FREE
Pepper and Corn salsa (raley's brand) FREE
Jelly Beans FREE


Paid a little over $35 for everything in the picture below. Did 4 transactions to make it happen!

Transaction #1
Colgate multipack toothbrush $7.29
used $0.75/1 coupon
Total OOP: $7.04 w/ tax
received $3.00 ECB (extra care bucks/CVS cash)

Transaction #2
2 Softsoap body wash 2/$7
used 2 $0.50/1 coupons
1 Jelly Beans $0.99
used $3.00 ECB from Trans. #1
Total OOP: $4.47 w/ tax
received $5.00 ECB (for softsoap)
received $0.99 ECB (for Jelly beans)

Transaction #3
4 M&M's bagged candy $12 ($3 ea.)
used 2 $1.50/2 coupons
used $5.99 ECB from Trans. #2
Total OOP: $3.01
received $3.00 ECB

Transaction #4
Listerine $5.99
used $1/1 coupon
3 Zone perfect bars $0.37 ea. (clearance)
3 Met Rx bars $2.57 ea. (Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale)
used $2/2 coupon
3 Pure Protein bars $2.19 ea. (B2G1 free sale)
used 2 $1/1 coupons
12 Balance Bars $1.77 ea. (B2G1 free sale)
used 2 $1/5 coupons
used $3.00 ECB
Total OOP: $21.19

All 4 Transactions together:
Spent: $35.71
Saved: $47.18
I love saving more than I spent!!


At Raley's spent less than $20 on everything in the picture:

Just one transaction this time :)

Downy softener $4.49
used $0.50/1 coupon
2 Filippio Berio olive oil $3.99 ea.
used 2 $1/1 coupons
2 Keebler cookies $1.99 ea.
used $0.55/2 coupon
2 Fresh Express Salad $0.99 ea.
2 lbs Tomatoes $1.49/lb $2.71
Bob's Red Mill whole grain oatmeal $2.49
used $1/1 coupon
Raley's Tortilla chips $1.99
Raley's Fire roasted Salsa $1.25
Raley's Pepper and corn Salsa $1.99
used Raley's store coupons Get all 3 items free when you spend $20

Spent: $19.58
Saved: $29.26

I also shopped at Smith's, Albertsons, and Walmart. Most of the $1 and under items were from Walmart. And, at Smith's I purchased mostly meat as they were having a very good sale on Beef and Pork, and, even though I did buy other items at Smith's I didn't use any coupons there today!!

Plaid Rag quilt

This past weekend I put this quick little lap quilt together.
Made from 3 layers of soft, snuggle flannel in warm, plaid pinks, yellows, and green/blues.

rag side

reverse side

Here is the pattern if anyone is interested.

Love crossing things off my wish list...

Today, thanks to the girls at Fabulessly Frugal I found out about a great price on a Salad Shooter at Amazon.

A few weeks ago I went to a Pampered Chef party and she used/demonstrated the Salad Shooter for grating carrots within seconds for the carrot cake dessert she was making.

Since then I've been very interested in one. So I was thrilled to hear about the deal on Amazon.

I got this Salad Shooter

Being 43% off today and having a $25 Amazon gift card that I got from redeeming points from MyPoints.com! And I got free shipping as an Amazon Prime member (could be free shipping anyway since it is over $25). I paid $14.97 for my new SaladShooter! 

So excited to get this at such a awesome price! :)

Also, if you haven't signed up for mypoints.com you really should! If you're like me and shop online often, you should sign up, for free! You get points for your purchases, and can redeem them for gift cards! Great way to get free gift cards just for buying things you already would buy!! :)
Here is a referral link:

MyPoints.com

 

 

This week's shopping (no coupons used)

Today I made a quick run to my local grocery store - that being the one 1.5 minutes from my house. The little, small town grocery store which usually has a poor selection and overpriced items. I shop here when I really need something, occasionally get fresh produce and dairy products and similar items that have a short shelf life.

They do occasionally have good sales. I pick up their ad when I buy the paper just to see if there is anything on sale at a decent price that I need or use.

This week they are having their case-lot sale. They do these 2-3 times a year. Last year (October) I stocked up on canned foods. I still have quite a bit of it left. I was planning on picking up a few things that I needed this week, but not whole cases of any of it.

My husband always picks out the Apple Cinnamon flavored Instant Oatmeal packets out of the variety pack box for his breakfast in the morning. During cold weather months we like a hot breakfast. We like to keep Instant oatmeal on had for backpacking trips, or in case of emergencies since they are a quick, easy, and lightweight food items that only requires water to make.
Since he likes the apple flavored oatmeal so much I decided to use a recently found recipe for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal mix. That way we can save the instant stuff for camping or whatever.
So yesterday I dried 10 apples, diced up, with my dehydrator. (which was reduced down to exactly 1 glass quart canning jar of dried, diced apples - pretty cool)!
I made it today, and realized I didn't have enough quick-cooking oatmeal (though I had plenty of flavored instant oatmeal packets).
I remembered large cans of oatmeal were on sale this week. So I pulled out the ad to see what else was on sale.

All that to say, I did a quick shopping trip today, and saved over 30% without using any coupons!!

25lb bag Flour $9.99
Seasoning & Sauce mix packets $0.33 each
Saltines $1.50
Ketchup 24oz. $0.99
Oatmeal $1.99

Spent: $23.93
Saved: $12.16

*I plan on trying the Apple-Oatmeal mix in the morning. Will let you know how it turned out!