Blogging is my Outlet

I wanted to share with you some of the reasons why I wanted to start blogging.

Most of you have now read that financially it has been some what of a crunch for us since I started staying home, I decided that I needed to kick it in to gear and find ways to save money. This was no drag for me I have always loved being frugal, getting the most bang for my buck and I love looking at it with the idea of it being a challenge. Bring it on!!!

I remember back in my Senior year of Highschool I would go to garage sales to find home goods for my aptartment that I would someday have. I went shopping with my girls and as they were in the clothes dept. looking at all the newest trends I was in the house dept. looking for a good buy. They never said anything, but I'm sure they thought I had been dropped on my head as a baby. I was not your normal teen.

When Cody and I got married in 07' I moved into his aptartment I didn't want to completely take his place over right away with all my Home decor finds, so I decided to wait awhile.... and 3 hours later I started the decorating!

From garage sales to diy projects I'll do anything to save money. I started cutting coupons watching the adds and then heard from a friend about Money Saving Mom and other websites to help you save money and then came the Blogs!!! Let's just say I got hooked. There's everything and more on blogs. People are so creative. I started learning more and more and decided that after a few weeks of learning so much, that I could do this too!

I want to share my stories and hopefully inspire readers like I was inspired. I want to let people know how they can save money and have fun doing it. I think it's wonderful that more women are coming together and sharing all these wonderful stories and ideas through blogs.

I guess I just wanted to be a part of something so Great!!!

I love my Job!!

Way back when Cody and I were dating I told him that I would want to someday stay home with the kids and be a Homemaker. I really didn't know what he would think about this?? In this day in age so many adults in our generation grow up either being raised with the mindset that more is better so therefore having more would mean two incomes or that women should have to pull their own weight, because after all it's not going to just be the man that goes out to bring home the bacon. Mostly I think we're told that if the wife chose to stay home there would have to be sacrafice. Which I'm not saying that this isn't true...believe me. Now for those women out there that want to work outside of the home or are called to work outside of the home, I do not frown upon you at all, actually I applaud you for taking on two fulltime jobs. That takes a lot of power to do such. I just knew that aside from the dance studio I first and foremost wanted to be a wife and mother that stayed home.(For those who don't know much about me and might be reading this you'll learn more about me and the studio in blogs to come.)

Anywho....Cody was more then okay with me staying home. His mom did and he very much appreciated what she did for his family and her just being there was something he wanted for his own family. This made me more then thrilled!!

So during pregnancy I was working (3) jobs. Yes...(3) jobs!! I know crazy. I worked at Paradise Bakery and Cafe, the studio and a nanny job. I was pooped. So in November of 2010 I quit Paradise. Then several weeks leading up to the birth I quit nannying and I continued doing paper work and such for the studio the week up till giving birth. What a doozy...anyway I knew that the best job of all was right around the corner.

Being a stay at home mom has been amazing!! And, very challenging as well. I knew financially it was going to be hard on us, I just didn't know how much.
So my new journey (job) has started and as the obstacle courses keep coming my way... so do the beautiful memories of being a stay at home mom!!!

And then there were (3)

On August 25th 2010 I went into the Doctors office for a blood test. I had been feeling not quite myself the weeks leading up and had taken (4) at home pregnancy tests but all came up negative. To be quite honest I don't know if I really thought I was pregnant, I guess maybe because I thought those tests were suppose to be so accurate. I think maybe there was a bit of scare in me that it could possibly be something else.

That phone call from the nurse telling me that I indeed was pregnant and about 7 weeks along was one of the best phone calls i have ever recieved. Telling Cody who happend to be on the other line was the best feeling, telling him he was going to be a dad!!

After a lot of preperation and long sleepless nights because little sweet pea decided to be up when mom wanted to sleep, the time finally came to bring Rowynn Elyse into the world. My llife couldn't feel more complete. I felt so Blessed by the Lord and felt the love of Him through this child that He had so beautifully created in His image.

Our lives have forever changed since Miss Rowynn has been here. It has been a learning experience for both of us. I have had my good days and my bad and maybe some ugly...where I don't think I even brushed my teeth because i was so exhausted from being up with her up all night. "I know...Gross!" That's the life of a mother and I wouldn't change it for anything.

Life was fun when it was the two of us, the traveling, the remodeling and hey the "let's go out with our friends whenever we wanted to", but now i really don't remember what life was like before Rowynn.

Now I sign cards: Love,
Cody Gabrielle & (I love that there's an and) Rowynn. Yep!! And then there were (3).

You want to live here???

My husband and I started to look at homes the fall of 2008. We had looked at a handful of homes and after feeling a bit discouraged we decided to wait awhile before we moved on with our search. Winter rolled around and we started searching again,"we're not very patient people."

I would find a home here and there that i wanted to look at and then he would find one here and there, but there was this one that he kept going back to. I finally decided to take a gander at this home that we just had to check out in person. I'll never forget that feeling of "what??" You would want to live here?? I'll be completely honest I was not feeling this home at all. The color, the set-up, the driveway. I thought to myself there's no way I'm living in that home....and about two months later with the keys in our hands we were proud owners of this "You want to live here home!!!"

I have to say the moment I walked in the front door of this home I was in love! I never thought that i would be saying that; but I am I'm so in love with this Home!!! So...Life On Ridgeway begins...

The neighborhood, the park, the nearby pool. Kids laughing and playing. The quiet at night with just a slight sound of the interstate off in the distance. I knew that this is where i wanted to start a family, to nest and make this house our Home.

While renovating and decorating and making this home feel more and more like us 2009 flew by us before we could realize where it went. In early 2010 we decided to tackle the basement..."what were we thinking?" We started tearing out the walls, pulling up carpet and peeling off that retro wallpaper and then we got a little "Surprise"...this family of (2) was about to become (3).