Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish all my NSM friends a blessed Thanksgiving.

Blessings,

I Got The Job!!!

It is true, I got the job I interviewed for last week...yee haw!!!

I am praising God for this blessing and rejoicing about this opportunity. Now I have three weeks to prepare for my first day of work. There is lots to be done over this time period in preparation of me being gone for more than eight hours a day. Things I should have probably worked on sooner but now I have the swift quick in the butt I needed, plus motivation that I've needed because I am employed!!!

My husband is still on the job hunt. Now he wil have to turn his focus onto jobs that will work with my schedule. It is my job that has excellent health benefits, the best yet since our days in the military where we didn't ever have to make a co-payment for an appointment or pay for a prescription. We are beyond thrilled with the health benefits we will be getting!

Getting this job also means we can stay right where we are and not have to move. Which totally delights our children. God is good, all the time. Things don't always happen in our time, but they do happen. Prayer and a patient heart, are two things that have gotten me through this time in our lives. My relationship with God has grown. We have received many blessings that have helped us out a lot. And having a well stocked pantry has been vital for my family. Foodstamps doesn't give you enough to feed your family but it does help. Having a well stocked pantry helped tremendously so we would have enough for feeding our family. I am grateful to God for placing on my heart the need to build a large pantry. At the time I didn't know why I needed to do this, just that I needed to and am now so glad I listened. It truly made up the difference for our family.

Now I can rejoice in His blessing...

I have a job!!!!

My first interview in over 13yrs.

It has been eight months since my husband was let go from his job and I had my first interview. I've applied for many jobs in our town, even outside of our area and in other states...not a single bite. Until last week. Wow, what a process it is trying to get back into the working community.

One of the best businesses in our town is hiring right now for various positions. I felt at ease with applying for a couple of the positions. Confident I could do each job very well. In times past I was never comfortable with the thought of working at all because I was either pregnant or nursing a baby. And I just wasn't ready. Those days are gone now and we are in a different phase, season of our lives. Which is very bittersweet for me. Yet, I am very much at peace with the possibility of working again. Even a little excited about it!

So, this process was none like I've ever experienced before. After the common submitting of an application and resume which was not the easiest thing to do since I haven't worked in over 13 years was completed, I was called to take a test. I initially didn't think much about it but then quickly remembered I am a horrible test taker! EEK!! After some great encouragement from my husband and my best friends I went with confidence that I would do good. And I did! Much to MY surprise I was called for an interview for this past Monday. So much goes through ones mind for their first interview in all these years.

What do I wear?
Do I need to color my hair because I think I might see some grey?
What kind of questions will I be asked and will I answer them well?

Oh my, I was so worked up for this interview! I interviewed with two individuals who traded off asking me questions. That was interesting because I wanted to give each person my full attention but couldn't. I had to divide my attention between the two adults. Sort of like I have to do with my seven children, so it wasn't an extremely difficult task to do. Once the interview was over with I had the pleasure of taking a second test! Ugh, not what I was hoping to do. I was in the building for over two hours, which felt much longer than it actually was. I ran a couple of errands afterwards, made dinner and talked to my husband about my interview. Then a hard crash hit me and I had a tension headache so I went to bed early...it had been a very hard day for me apparently. (Giggle...)

Now I wait. I wait and pray that the Lord's will be done. The two postions consist of one full-time and the other part-time. Ideally I would like to work full-time to receive benefits but I will be just as happy to get the part-time job. Either one will be just fine with me.

Wish me luck and pray for me. I will let ya know if I get a job offer!

It's been a year...

It has a been year since I first thought of doing a 'No Spend Month'. Wow, how the time flies. It was that little voice from the Lord that told me to change my spending habits. To build up my stored food pantry because something was on the horizon. My first thought was some natural event was coming that would keep us from being able to go to the grocery store. Maybe a blizzard or an illness in our family. Even scarier, maybe an attack on our country. Well, none of those happened and I am quite thankful. What happened though, has made this past year the most challenging time in my life...my husband became unemployed.

I didn't see the wisdom in preparing for such an event before now. I took for granted his job and paycheck. Yes, I did pay off a good amount of debt in my first month of doing a 'No Spend Month'. I just wish I'd started this sooner. If I would have been more finacially savvy and responsible, we would be in a better situation right now. Now eight months later my husband is still unemployed. We've done our very best to keep our family above water. With the help of some loving friends and family whom we could never had without, we are doing okay.

We have all learned to do without a lot of things. We've learned to cook a lot more economically than we've ever done in times past. We've learned to enjoy our time as a family without cable TV which used occupy a lot of our time. I always tell my kids, 'What doesn't' break us, will make us stronger.' We have not been broken yet. Infact, we are getting stronger!

I can definitely say I look at life differently than I ever have before. That is a good thing. With times being tough for a lot of us I will always plan for the unexpected, no matter what that may be. If you aren't having any financial difficulties you may want to get a head of the game and better your situation now.

Blessings,

Winter preparations for lower heating bills...

We live in what I like to affectionately call 'the frozen tundra'. It can get brutally cold up here in northern Minnesota. Any little space that air can get through into your home will make your home cold and increase your heating bills.

With many of us dealing with under/unemployment we don't have much money to spend on high electric/heating bills. I have enjoyed a low electric bill this summer, it wasn't much more than $100.00 each month...wonderful! That is all over now. We are getting down into the mid 20's for a low and just above freezing for a high. We had to do something about keeping us warm this winter while keeping our expenses down. Here is what we've done so far...

1. We put up Energy Film on our windows that are old and have leaks that allow cold air to come into our home. I found this film in Walmart and have seen a noticeable improvement already!

2. Then my husband bought some expanding foam to help seal up the window frames and door frames. It isn't very expensive so we thought it worth a try in helping to keep our heating bills down.

3. Next we bought a portable heater for our living room, which is our coldest room when we are having cold temps below -15. Our radiant ceiling heater doesn't do a great job and works far to hard to heat that room, which means a high electric bill. So far with this portable heater we have not had to turn on our heat in that room.

4. Warm bedding and pj's for everyone! And that means fleece pj's for everyone because it is warmer than flannel in my opinion. This may be a no brainer for many but I wanted to mention a wonderful find I discovered recently, fleece sheets! Now, we haven't bought these yet. I am hoping to use some anniversary money we got to buy these for my bed and my teenage daughter's bed. I have touched them in the store and they will be a lot warmer than flannel sheets. That means being able to keeping the heat down during the night.

I am sure we will do more than the above, but this is just a start. And with money being limited our preparations are slow going and have to be done very wisely.

I would love to hear what you've done for winterizing your home.

Blessings,