7 Quick Takes Friday :: Volume 27

Wow, it's Friday already..and it's time for 7 Quick Takes Friday!  Be sure to visit Conversion Diary to read more Quick Takes.  In the  meantime, here are 7 little notes about my life this past week.  You can read all my previous Quick Takes here. 


1. Earlier this week my husband and I celebrated our 14th Wedding Anniversary!  Tonight we'll be going out (sans kids) and enjoying a night of "just us" time!  I'm so excited!  I flipped through our wedding pics yesterday and this has always been one of my most favorite pictures...it was candid and sweet and one of those "moments"...(sorry for the quality - scanning just doesn't do it justice and the pictures have faded over the years!)...

 Happy Anniversary Richy!  I love you!! (click the picture to enlarge it)

2. In an effort to further trim our budget, yesterday I drastically reduced our satellite package (ie., bill) to a very basic...and I mean ultra basic package.  We're going to miss a few of our favorite shows, which I think we can keep up with online!

But more importantly...most importantly, I've got to figure out if and how we can keep up with the up and coming football season...or more specifically, the Miami Dolphins.  That's the thing we're going to miss the most!  Any suggestions out there?

3.  I cut my babies hair the other day.  It nearly killed me.  I wasn't supposed to cut it... my husband was the one who wanted a haircut.  We set up the chair and got out the clippers kit and were all ready to go when I realized I didn't have a comb.  When Richy ran in to get a comb, Christian climbed up on the chair and asked for a hair cut.  

I hesitated.  I asked was he sure.  He was insistent...and excited about it...see?

I love those beautiful almost white blonde curls.  I mean, they make my heart squeeze tight...and that grin... I can't get enough!  But, he's quickly approaching 4 years old and I figured...okay, a haircut is not unreasonable.  But when I got done...he was sad....

he wouldn't even look at me...

and all I had left was this...

Let's just say...we both cried.  A lot.  Do you want a little unsolicited advice from this mother of 5?  Never ever give your baby boy an unplanned spur-of-the-moment haircut.  Especially if you're pregnant.  And hormonal.  And extremely emotional.  Just don't do it!

4. I told you a couple of weeks ago that our life was a bit crazy at the time.  We had no beds, no dressers, no washer or dryer.  Well, I'm happy to report that things are looking up...sort of.  We still live in the rental house (read here and here), but we went to our other house and got all of our stuff!  So now we're here in a rental house...with all of our own things!

The thing I most happy about (other than a bed to sleep in is that I have my beautiful huge red couch!!  Okay, so maybe after having it for 4 years with 5 kids it's not quite as beautiful as when we got it, but it's mine and I love it!   {insert picture here...except I can't find a good one!}

5. On the same topic, we have about 7000 boxes to sort through.  Okay, so it's not 7000, but man, you never know how much junk stuff you have until you pack it all into boxes and stack it in a couple of rooms.  We completely emptied our house (see #1) and the shed at that house...and it was a lot more stuff left there than we thought!  Man, oh, man, do I have some paring down to do! I'd show you pics, but I'm too ashamed...maybe next week!

6.  While going through our boxes and boxes and boxes...I found a set of 8 wine glasses that we were given when we got married.  We don't drink wine.  Ever.  After thinking about it...we've moved 8 times...8 times in 14 years of marriage.  Eight times I've packed up those very pretty wine glasses and made sure they were well padded and moved them to a new house.  Eight Times!!!  And we've never used them.  Not even once.  Probably never taken them out of the boxes.  So where are they now??  

They are here...on eBay.   It's crazy to keep lugging these glasses around year after year.  Crazy, I tell ya!  So, after a little research, it seems this discontinued pattern sells pretty well on eBay..so I'm going to see if I can add a little $$$ to our budget by unloading these (and maybe 947 other useless things from my house) if I can find the time to write the listings!

Do any of you do creative things like this to stretch your budget when things get tight?  The tighter things get around here...the more creative I find myself being!!

 7.  I'm going to wrap this up and start getting ready for our anniversary date {insert super excited squeal here}!  I don't know yet where we're going or what we're doing (rest assured, it will be budget-friendly), but it doesn't matter.  This much needed alone time with my husband will be wonderful no matter what!  I hope you all have a terrific weekend!

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