Maddy Got Her Ears Pierced

Around Thanksgiving Maddy had mentioned wanting to get her ears pierced. She's mentioned it off and on for years. We decided it was a good time to do it. I talked to her about the pros and cons of the gun verses the needle. I let her make the decision and she chose the gun.

We went to Claire's on December 27. Maddy was super nervous and to be honest so was I. Thankfully the store was empty when we walked in. The girl who did the piercing was nice and tried to put Maddy at ease. Maddy chose birthstone earrings. 

Right before she got her ears pierced a mom and her daughter asked Maddy if they could watch. Maddy wanted to say no but felt obligated to say yes. The mom put her on the spot afterwards by asking if it was bad. Maddy didn't want to scare the girl, but also didn't want her to think it was painless. She told the mom it wasn't bad, but throughout that day she was worried she made the girl think it was painless when in reality for Maddy it was not painless.

She was happy it was over and loves her pierced ears.

Christmas 2022: Part 2

 This year was my aunt and uncle's year to host Christmas. After we opened our presents, it was time to clean up and get ready to go to their house. I didn't take a lot of pictures and what I did take I can't post due to privacy reasons. 

The top picture is my go-to face when someone asks if they can take my picture. Getting your picture made feels awkward, so this is my coping mechanism.

After we opened presents at my aunt and uncle's we went back to my parents' house to open more presents. I took mostly video, but again am not allowed to post some members of my family.

My sister is the best gift giver and also finds the best paper! 

Even though it didn't feel like Christmas, we still had a great day! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas as well!

Christmas 2022: Part 1

 I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone. It does not feel like Christmas happened at all. Christmas was so different this year. Mainly because we no longer have our own house, but even with a house I think it would have felt different. 

I was able to get Friday December 23 off, so we decided to make Santa cookies on that day.

Maddy and my mom decorated all the cookies. We usually never decorate them all because it gets tiring, but we did this year.

By the time the cookies were all decorated, it was time to get ready for church. The Christmas Eve service is my favorite service. It is usually a candlelight service with a lot of music. This year was slightly different, but it was still a candlelight service.

After church we headed downtown to see the windows all decorated. Ironically, we had an extreme cold front move in, and the power company decided to have rolling blackouts lasting up to fifteen minutes. In order to preserve energy, they turned off the lights in the windows. 

Once we got home Maddy opened her traditional Christmas Eve present.

I mostly have video and unfortunately the clips are too long to upload. This is the best picture I have of her shirt. This set came with buffalo plaid fuzzy socks and shorts.

After she opened her present, it was time for everyone to get into their Christmas jammies to watch Home Alone 2. Since Maddy has graduated into a Santa's helper, this has become our new tradition.

These were the cookies she wanted to leave out for Santa and the elves.

I was so excited this year for Christmas because for once I knew exactly what I wanted to get Maddy. Approximately two years ago we had the money saved for a PS5, but life happened, and I ended up having to use that money as our Christmas fund. I promised her we would rebuild the sinking fund and try again. She was such a good sport about it. She had a plan to save her money for a PS5 this year. Once our house sold, she realized the reality of her getting a puppy is sooner than expected, so she decided to use her PS5 savings as her dog savings. I knew I had to find a way to get her a PS5 for Christmas. After a little digging I found I could request an invitation from Amazon. I gave it a try and two days later received an invite. I could not believe it happened so fast. As you can tell in the video, she was quite surprised. 

The PS5 was supposed to be her main present. We've been trying to figure out what homeschool curriculum we would use next year. We finally came to a decision. Unfortunately for me that decision required her to have a laptop because it will solely be online. I debated with the do I or don't I decision of getting her a laptop for Christmas. I figured it made financial sense to go ahead and purchase the laptop and make it part of her Christmas. She has wanted a laptop for a while, so she was really excited to get one.

Since she ended up getting two main presents, the rest of her Christmas were accessories mostly. She got a PS5 controller charging station and an extra controller. Mom wants to play too ya know! She also got three games: Avengers, Uncharted; Legacy of Thieves Collection, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

The last thing she got outside of stocking stuffers is a JBL Flip 6 speaker. This was something else I knew early on I wanted to get for her. When I tell you it is an awesome speaker, I mean it. The sound is incredible!

Marley had a great Christmas as well. He got a few new toys and a big bag of treats.

My parents got him his very own "human grade" blanket. He is very spoiled and loves his blankets. Maddy took this pic of him. 

I think I will stop here and put the rest of our Christmas in part two.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Drummer Boy Christmas

 I never expected to get to go to two for King & Country concerts in a year. We got to attend A Drummer Boy Christmas tour in Nashville, TN. We did not have our new phones for this concert, so the pictures I did get will not be great quality. Like Christmas, I took more video than pictures, so we will see what I can come up with. We plan to make this concert a tradition every year.

The concert was held at the Gaylord Opry House. This was our first time at the venue. We got to drive through the beautiful lights. I could not get good pictures because I was in the back, and you weren't allowed to stop. It was breathtakingly beautiful!

For King & Country never disappoints! They are high energy and know how to work the crowd.

At one point in the concert a few musicians joined them on here as it was lifted towards the ceiling. 

I love that they use live musicians outside of the rhythm section. The man playing the cello is their band leader and he plays several different instruments. My music loving self was blown away!

I had to include a couple of videos. This is the beginning of their song Relate. We didn't get to see these elevators in Knoxville, so it was neat seeing something new.

They ended the show playing Drummer Boy. I think it is neat they also play instruments throughout their show. They truly are talented. After Drummer Boy they walk off stage, and then come back for an encore. Their encore is Joy. I can't recommend their concert enough!

2022 Year in Review: Finances

 I received my 2022 year in review and thought I'd share. As a reminder, I follow The Budget Mom on Instagram. I have implemented her budget by paycheck and have seen great progress. 

My credit score went up by 83 points in 2022. Yes, you read that right; eighty-three points. I'd love to know how they calculate it because from the sounds of it I had a really low credit score to begin with, but in all reality I really didn't. 

I've been able to keep my average credit card usage to under 30%. This is a big deal for me. I used to high credit card usage. 

I was able to pay off $5,733 of credit card debt. My mind is really blown on this one. How?! It just goes to show a little bit really does add up in the long run. That is so hard to see in the beginning, which is one reason I never really tried before. When I first started this process, I did not have extra money to throw at debt. I had to wait until I was able to pay off a debt and snowball that payment into the next debt. 

I paid off $4,135 of my car loan. 

Other finance wins in 2022 include having a fully funded Christmas sinking fund. Whereas I did go over budget for Christmas this year, I did not accrue more debt. I started my house savings fund. We will just pretend it wasn't a forced savings lol. I feel very defeated in saving for a house. I feel like it will never happen. I'm trying to remind myself that much like debt, a little will turn into a lot in the long run. The last win is being able to afford new phones for my daughter and me. I did finance them through Apple; however, they are interest free for two years, and I have a plan to pay them off sooner than two years. Our phones were no longer going to be supported with the next update, so we needed to go ahead and purchase new ones. I now have a phone savings set up and plan to have it funded within the next four years. 

Was 2022 a good year for you financially? I'd love to hear about it!

Ways I Save Money

 I am always looking for ways to save money. Several years ago, I cut the cord to cable. I went from paying $100 for the basic DirecTV package, to paying $54.75 for Sling. That was almost half the price of what I had been paying, and I got more channels. In full transparency, Sling has gone up on their rates. I tried to figure out a way I could go to a cheaper streaming service, but at the end of the day Sling was still the cheapest. I purchased the 4/$10 entertainment package, which included all the hallmark channels. I found it was cheaper to drop the extra package and use frndlytv for hallmark and lifetime movie network. In dropping the extra package, I was able to get my Sling bill back down to $54.75, but I now have a $9.84 frndlytv bill. It saves me $3 doing it this way verses having it all on Sling. If Sling keeps increasing rates, I may just drop it altogether and solely use frndlytv and a few other streaming platforms.

Another way I save money is by using Ibotta. Ibotta gives you money back on certain offers. I was able to earn $79 last year through Ibotta. If you haven't signed up, I highly recommend in doing so. You can click here to sign up. I have a referral code you can enter when signing up: nhpkaw. When you use the referral code, we will both get cash back when you submit your first receipt. Just a tip for Walmart pickup orders. If you use Walmart pickup, you will need to choose online in Ibotta. I learned that the hard way and missed out on some cash back. You will need to make sure you add the offers in Ibotta prior to purchasing them, otherwise you will not get credit for it. I left .30 in my account from last year, so I am excited to see what the new year brings.

The next way I save money is by using Fetch Rewards app. This app just requires you to submit receipts and you will get points for each receipt. It's similar to Ibotta in the fact that there are certain offers that give you a lot of points, but even if you don't redeem an offer, you still get 25 points per receipt. I have not gotten a lot of rewards off this app just yet. I am less than 10,000 points away from getting a $25 Visa card. My issue is I primarily shop at Walmart for groceries and when I switched to curbside pickup I no longer get receipts to scan. 

The last way I save money is by shopping at CVS for household products. I shop their CVS bucks sale as often as possible to earn extra care bucks. I then use the extra care bucks to purchase household items, and sometimes you can get them for free. 

Do you have any tips on saving money? I'd love to hear.

What I'm Watching

 I cannot remember all the shows or movies I've seen since my last post, so I'm just going to name what I can remember.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - can we just talk about this movie for a minute? It was phenomenal! I was not a fan of Black Panther, no offense to Chadwick Boseman because he was amazing. It was just the movie itself did not capture my attention. Wakanda Forever was a different story though.

Fire Country - this has been one of the best new shows I've seen in a while. 

Manifest

9-1-1

Dead to Me

Stranger Things

Dog Gone - this was such a heartfelt movie.

Friday the 13th

National Treasure: Edge of History

Dead to Me

All Together Now

The Recruit

The Gray Man

Do you have any show or movie recommendations?

Current Beauty Favorites

I am by no means a beauty guru, but I have found products that work well with my maturing skin. 

I'll go over what little skincare I do first. The first product I use is Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. I like that this product melts my makeup off. To go along with this, I really enjoy using the Wonder Cloth. It works like magic! You simply run the cloth under water and then wipe off your make up. Once you run the cloth back under water the makeup disappears. I have found after I washed mine that the makeup no longer washes away. 

Another cleanser I absolutely love is Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Daily Cleanser. This makes my face feel so smooth.

After I cleanse, I apply the L'oreal Age Perfect Cell Renewal Midnight Hydrating Serum. I love the way it smells and feels. I am not sure if it really produces results, but I continue to use it in my routine.

After I apply the serum, I use Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol Regenerating Cream. This is my first time using a retinol cream and thank goodness have not had any issues. I've only been using it once a day, but plan to try to bump it up to twice daily as recommended. I've noticed while doing this routine, I do not wake up with sleep lines on my face. I'm not sure if the products are actually working, but I do like how my face feels after using them, so I continue.

Another product that I love is from Good Habit Skincare, and it is the Bright Bright Baby Glow On Oil Exfoliator. I don't use this every day, but when I do use it, my face feels buttery smooth.

I do plan to add a sunscreen and essence water to my routine at some point, but for now these are all the products I use.

The next product I have been loving is the Elf Halo Glow. This product evens out my skin tone just like a foundation would but doesn't give full coverage like foundation. It is great for a no makeup, makeup look. 

My favorite foundation is no longer available, and I am so sad! I decided to give Fenty Beauty a try and got the Pro Filt'r Hydrating Longwear Foundation. I instantly fell in love with it. I went back to try and get more only to find it was no longer available. Fenty Beauty replaced it with a skin tint. I guess it's back to the drawing board to figure out the best foundation for me.

These are the products I have been loving for now. I plan to update as I find other products I love just as much. These products, with the exception of Fenty Beauty, can be found at Ulta, Walmart, or Target.

We Lost Our Home

My original purpose for this post was to talk about my oldest niece moving out for college. Plans have changed and I'm now talking about Maddy and I moving.

We've rented our house for the last ten years. It's by no means anything fancy, but it was home. We have been working on becoming debt free in order to buy a home. My landlord texted me to let me know our house had been sold and gave me the new owners information. That was no big deal because our home had been sold before with no problems. Little did I know.

I received a letter in the mail from a lawyer to inform me I had thirty days from the date of the letter to move out or legal action would be taken. By the time I got the letter I had twenty-seven days to figure out where we were supposed to live. The housing market has been horrible, and rent has skyrocketed. Not to mention most places do not accept dogs. I was in a state of panic. How could this be happening? 

The only option I had was to move in with my parents. 

I found out from my neighbor that the new owner planned to live in our house. My thoughts were, "You kicked a single mom out of her house so you could live in it?! What kind of person are you?!" Obviously, that was during my anger phase of grief lol.

On our last night home, we sat on the floor; our couch had already been moved and we watched the last episode of Gilmore Girls. I thought it was fitting for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to cry my eyes out and every single time I watch that episode that is exactly what I do. The second reason is it is about Rory getting her first job and leaving her hometown. It was just the perfect episode for our situation. 

It's too soon. If I stop to think about you leaving now, I'll fall apart. It's too soon." - Lorelai Gilmore

I can now share pictures of our house since we no longer live there. Again, it's nothing fancy or great, but it was home. We miss it, but we also know we will love our new home, wherever that may be.

Christmas was our favorite. Our house looked so pretty in our opinion.

We are looking forward to the day when we are posting about our new house. 

2022 Homeschool Curriculum

 It has always been helpful to me seeing what other people choose for their curriculum each year. I thought I would share our curriculum picks for the 2022 - 2023 school year. 

Our main curriculum is My Father's World, and we will be working through 1850 to Modern Times. Maddy is most excited about the U.S. History cookbook we will be using. My Father's World is very heavy in reading material. This year we are going to cut out a few of the extra readings. For bible she will be going through a book called A Young Person's Guide to Knowing God and Tales of Persia. History will be a combination of American History and Story of the World. Geography will be focused on map work. Science will be Science in the Atomic Age and she will complete labs each day.

We typically use BJU for English but decided to try Abeka. BJU English included a separate writing book. We did not need writing as we typically use IEW. After researching it appeared most curriculums would include writing. We decided we would try Abeka for writing as well and drop IEW. What I like about Abeka's program is it seems to be more student led instead of teacher led. She will be able to complete the assignments independently and I will just check her work.

The Abeka English curriculum also comes with spelling and vocabulary. 

We are sticking with the art program we used last year, Artistic Pursuits. She did not complete the first book last year, so we will finish book one before moving to book two. She is very excited about book two because she will be working with pastels and color. Book one mostly works with graphite pencils and black ink.

She will stick with Teaching Textbooks for math. She absolutely hates math, but out of everything she has tried she likes this one the best. We have talked about trying others just to see, but she has been very adamant that she wants to stick with Teaching Textbooks. As long as she shows she understands the concepts and her grades are good, we will continue with this curriculum.

She will also be finishing up La Clase Divertida for Spanish. We typically take two years with Spanish before moving on to the next level.

Rocktoberfest

 This is a really late post. We went to Rock City's Rocktoberfest on October 27, 2019. We've been to Rock City several times, but mainly during the Christmas season. We really enjoyed it and planned to go back more often. 

The views during this time of year were incredible. 

There is a swinging bridge at Rock City. Maddy has never gotten to go on it because it's closed during the Christmas lights. She went on the swinging bridge while I went on the solid bridge lol. 

It's tradition every time we go to Rock City for Maddy to get ice cream. We started this tradition when she was close to two years old.

We really enjoyed doing something we had never done before. It's so easy to take whatever city you live in for granted. We hope to continue finding new things around town to do.

What Are We Waiting For?

 We had the privilege of attending For King & Country's What Are We Waiting For tour. It was such a fun night! 

There isn't much to talk about. I took tons of video clips, but I am having problems getting them to upload. 

                                       

This was our first time at the Civic Auditorium and Coliseum. We took the day off work and school and spent the day in Knoxville, TN.

If you want to see the video clips you can find them on my blog's Instagram, @ourmemoriesandmoments. I will save them in the highlights under for King & Country.