Practicality, First Loves, and Valentine's

I don't consider myself a materialistic person.  I tend to be more practical in nature than anything, especially when it comes to money.  We have been (since I started grad school) a single income family essentially.  This means that my faithful car my parents purchased for me in high school is still my faithful car at 27.  It means that the brand new wardrobe for my growing belly is full of the necessities, certainly will not make the cover of Vogue, and tends to be repeated weekly.  It also means we are preparing for April as best we can within the confines of our budget (which I have found a rather odd delight in maintaining lately thanks to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover).  Fortunately, my husband is an amazingly hardworking man and leaves me to it.

Now, when Christmas rolled around this past year we were in the midst of trying to determine just how bad my medical bills were going to be thanks to a few ... shall we say ... issues I've been having (I'll post more on that later).   My family does not do Christmas in the way Phillip's family does.  We typically have a small get together with friends and family on Christmas eve and then sometimes exchange gifts.  No biggie.  Phillip's family, thanks in large part to Santa Linda, does it up in ways I've never seen and have yet to comprehend.  So in trying to prepare and brace for the expenditures, I was dreading this past holiday season.  However, the Lord (in all of His provisional goodness) was looking out for us and made it all happen.  I am not a big present recipient, but I'm trying to learn to not see it as a hand out.  I'd much rather give to someone that needs it or see someone I love open a present.  Phillip and I agreed to not get presents for one another.

I thought I'd share some things that we received that make me SUPER happy.  Enjoy!

Please ignore the mess around this, but my parents bought us the baby's bedding (and the dresser barely pictured to the left) as our Christmas gift.  I struggled finding something that I liked for the baby's room that wasn't all cartoonish, so I sent my mom a link to JoJo Designs and asked what she thought.  Lo and behold, she bought it.  We love it!  I am sure my son will be as rough and tumble as my husband, but at least for a few months he'll be all precious and cozy in his argyle patterned room.  :-)  Mom and I spent several weekends looking for a dresser and found this one on sale!  I will post a real picture after we get the room painted. 

If you ask most people about their first love, they will probably give you a name of some lost soul that broke their heart.  Not I.  My first love and I met when I was in kindergarten in the form of a fictional character named Amelia Bedelia!  I have always been a night owl, so I would sneak these comical treasures along with my trusty flashlight under my mattress.  When my parents were sure I was asleep, I would break out my treasure.  Books have never failed me since.  I love their pages, I love the covers, I love their smell, I love the characters that I could almost promise exist in my life as other people, etc..  This love can be expensive if you purchase all books new.  So, Santa Linda shocked the Southern out of me this Christmas.  She bought me a Sony eReader.  My first purchase consisted of three books I had been wanting to buy, but couldn't justify spending 70 some odd dollars on them.  Thanks to this little treasure, I spent $21.16 and I'm set for a while!  Oh happy days!  (She even bought me the case that has an attached light.  Look Mom!  No flashlight!!!)

I realize that I already posted about this, but I broke the rules and bought Clemson tickets as a gift to Phillip.  We had so much fun at the game.  It's one of those moments that was totally worth the expenditure...even if they did lose.  This coming year looks to be shaping up with some good recruits! 

And lastly, guess what you do for Valentine's Day when your parents own a florist?  First, you work for them on February 14th no matter where you are actually employed.  Second, you suffer from exhaustion that evening so you skip the romantic date.  Lastly, you get real about the gift exchange and you certainly do not want flowers delivered to you on V-Day!  Our dishwasher decided to kick the bucket this past week.  Ask my husband, I don't replace things until they are broken normally.  He has determined I inherited this trait from my father, but I believe it serves a purpose in our lives.  So, we decided to give a dishwasher to ourselves.  :-)  It was delivered bright and early this morning.  Fortunately, my handsome handy man of a husband got her up and running in no time!  Here's to the slow conversion of all appliances to stainless steel (the fridge is being delivered Thursday).  Heavens help me and the finger prints that I am sure will ensue and subsequently drive me insane.

Happy Valentine's Day ya'll!