I am not sure how many times I declined, but it was at least seventeen years worth, because I knew that the LAST thing I needed was a ticket to shop at my favorite store, even if I didn’t exactly have the extra cash handy.

I know, I know….I should have some responsibility when it comes to what I spend….but really if I am going to be honest, I am sure that I would foul it up somehow.  Trust me.

On what seemed like the 50th time I was in Target one week, {I am sure it wasn’t but I am going for dramatics people} I was asked that all too familiar question about applying and saving 5% on my purchases everyday at Target.  And let’s not forget about the free shipping that I would be receiving when I ordered from Target.com.  {to be clear, I have never ordered anything from Target.com}  I declined, as always…and with my regular routine….I tossed the husband under the bus.

“Oh how I would love a Red Card, but I am pretty sure that my husband would kill me,” I told the cashier as I chuckled.

She looked at me and instead of the usual ‘But you will save FIVE percent’ or ‘FREE shipping’ {you know at a website that I only window shop at} and said, “You do realize that you can link your debit card up to a Red Card and still save the 5% while it comes out of your checking account.”

Why no nice Target lady I did not, in fact, know about that I could have saved an amount of money that I don’t even want to think about because it would probably make my stomach hurt.  So, to make up for crazy amount of money that I could have saved over the course of the last 17 years that I have been shopping at Target, I now share this story with you.

You CAN save 5% on your purchases at Target and get FREE shipping on all of your online purchases with a Target Debit Card.  Just take your ID and a blank check into your nearest Target and they will set it all up.  Just remember what you picked for your PIN number so when it prompts you for your PIN and you put in another PIN you won’t get flustered with the poor checkout guy that was just helping from seasonal because the registers were backed up and tell him that you never picked any numbers to go with your account and what kind of scam are they trying to pull all while he tells you  he is just helping out from the back of the store.

You’re Welcome.

Disclosure: I’m pretty sure that Target doesn’t have a clue as to who I am, because even with the 17 years of shopping there I am probably just a blip on their radar.  I was not compensated for this post, you know, aside from the $23 I have saved so far this year with my beloved magical card.  Although it might be Target’s fault that when I talk about my magical card I sometimes ask the person that I am speaking to, “What’s in your wallet?” in a crazy western voice and I might go on a tangent about how you can’t buy real salsa in New York City….but they probably aren’t at fault and I just watched too much television in the 90′s.  So go forth, be happy, and enjoy the of saving 5%!

I break open my Macbook Pro only to find that it won’t connect to the internet.  No biggie, the poor thing is nearly nine years old, and my dear friend has a back up computer.  So instead of losing my ever loving mind trying to get the Macbook working, she gives me her work laptop to use.

The track pad is jumpy and it won’t see photos that I need for some posts.  In short it is making me want to chuck it out the window.  But, alas, the windows are closed and it’s not my computer.  I try and I try some more to no avail….this stupid computer is sucking the life out of me.  So much so that when my friend posts on Facebook about all of the late night writing we will be getting done, I proclaim the computers sitting in front of me to be wiener heads.  That’s right…wiener heads.

Then I look up and that’s when I realized that these computers are conspiring against me to keep me from updating my blog.  Yes, that’s right I totally just threw a couple of computers under the figurative bus because sadly Nichole lives out in the country and not too many buses pass by her front door and I am pretty sure that the Amish would just drive their buggy around it while cursing the English.

So one Mac and one PC {a Dell to be exact} are talking to each other and conspiring against me…..it’s either that or well, I just don’t want to think of the alternative.

Friends, I will admit that this has been happening to me a lot more lately than I would care to admit.  It seems like the closer I am getting to Him the harder it is to explain why.  I get defensive, I get upset, I try to explain to my husband that it is like someone is questioning my love for him or why we have such a good marriage.  It baffles me as to why someone would argue so vehemently with me about my love for my God & Savior.

Love for Him, love for others, without love I am bankrupt.

My friends, I am excited, as I have really prayed about this and wondered what to do and then I saw this:

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corninthians 1:12

I want everyone to see the Power of God and to not perish.  I want their eyes to be opened to see the beauty of everything around them. This is my prayer today.

So friend, what is your prayer today.  What truth is He speaking into your life? I would love to hear about it!

photo was taken with my iPhone 5 using the Afterglow app and the Over app.

If you don’t know most of the music that I listen to when I have full control of the radio or Pandora list in my car or office is mostly Contemporary Christian with some other music tossed in for good measure.  Music is a huge factor for me in worship; certain songs really speak to me and I listen to the lyrics (unlike my husband who claims not to hear a single word that is sung in a song but likes the beat better)

Recently this song, by for King and Country has really been speaking to me.  It has been stuck in my head and it doesn’t help that whenever I am in the car The Fish decides to play it.

Let my life be the proof, the proof of Your LOVE!

This phrase, stanza, whatever it is (dear golly I hope my former choir director never reads my post and shakes his head that I can’t remember what a chunk of music is called.  I’m sorry Dr. J) gets stuck in my head and I find myself humming it, closing my eyes and savoring it bouncing around in my head, and on occasion I belt it out in my car driving down the road.  The message, Love, is something that I think  no matter what you believe, is important.

Without Love I am Bankrupt.

So what songs are speaking to you this week?

For years I yearned to wear dresses and red lipstick.  YEARS.  I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to stand out, to seem to fancy in what sometimes is a very non fancy world.

I look around at so many people who are trying to be someone they aren’t.  We, as women, are constantly picking ourselves apart and finding all of the tiny flaws.  These flaws jump out at you and scream in your face about how you aren’t good enough or beautiful enough.  And then I think of that Psalm.

Everything He does is marvelous! Have you stood in awe at a sunset?  Have you been amazed when those tiny flowers poke their way out of the ground each spring?

How many of us have taken photos of unusually created fruit or vegetables? Or have looked over a flaw in a piece of furniture because it gives it character?

We look at life with rose-colored glasses when it comes to the whole world until we look at ourselves in the mirror.

My eyebrows are uneven and my face is red and splotchy.  Most days my hair can’t decide if it’s wavy or straight.  And don’t get me started on my extra-large feet and hard to fit body.

What happened to being wonderfully made and praising Him for all of his marvelous creations?

This morning after my devotional time, I really was burdened with something on my heart as I looked at the table in my dining room.  It came from my grandmother’s house and sits in the corner collecting various things that don’t get dumped on the dining room table.  My favorite thing about this table are the clawed feet.  They are chipped and discolored, there is some dirt that won’t ever come out from the lines, but I love it.

To me it speaks stories about life and family.  I could never cast it aside for a different table, because to me it is perfection just the way it is. So I decided to post this to Instagram (I’m @hdurdil there by the way) with the hashtag #TruthOnASaturday.

Sometimes are flaws are what make us the MOST beautiful.  Just let that sink in for a second.

My husband has the picture of me that I took while at a conference a few years ago.  I see my saggy arms and multiple chins.  I actually tried to throw it away on one occasion because I wasn’t really sure why he had it in his dresser.  He saw the picture in a pile of stuff destined for the recycle bin and asked what I was doing to his beautiful wife.  He looks at that photo and sees my smile and the joy in my eyes because I was doing something that I loved.

We need to love ourselves and all of our flaws, because we ARE wonderfully made!

What truth would you like to share with us this Saturday?

After the sale was completed, I realized that maybe I shouldn’t be making rash decisions about purchasing things at 2:30 in the morning.  A time that I would have normally been asleep for close to six hours at this point.  (Yes I understand how lame I sound by telling the world that most nights I am asleep by 8:30 PM, but I am pretty sure we established my lameness earlier this week.)

I tossed and turned all night long.  Not because of buyers remorse, but because my darling husband was peacefully sleeping next to me and Chewey the Cat was wandering around the house just randomly meowing….you know, because she can.

While trying to sleep I will admit that I wondered if people ever got bark correcting collars for their cats and how much something like that would set me back.

This morning, after two and a half hours of sleep, I head off to work while the husband enjoys a day off.  I muddle through my morning….with caffeine.

The husband tells me on my lunch that he has found the perfect television for us.  A little back story….the husband told me two days ago that our television’s tube was dying.  (yes, yes we had one of those behemoth television sets that no one has any more)  I told the husband that perhaps he should start researching a television set if we were going to need one sooner than later. 

I know, I know…you all are asking why I am surprised that it took him two days to find a television that he likes.  I am here to tell you that this man researches everything to the point of exhaustion.  It took him nearly two weeks to figure out which waffle iron to get.  We went weeks without a working microwave.  But a television, one of the most expensive things we’ve had to purchase in our marriage…..two days.

So during my lunch hour, in my sleepy stupor, I committed to my husband not only buying a television, but we got one so large my nearly six foot daughter can do this with the box.

I will admit it is nicer and the picture is clearer.  But, suddenly I don’t feel so bad about purchasing those boots at 2:30 in the morning.

With all of that being said….this is what I wore to work within the last few weeks.  Some days I forget to snap a photo and other days I forget my phone at home.

Pretty much everything I am wearing I either got at a thrift/consignment store or I scored off the clearance rack.  I tell you this not to brag (well, okay a little) but, to share with you that you can have awesome outfits on a budget if you are willing to be patient and invest some time into getting them.

Most of the items that I am wearing I didn’t pay over $5 for, in fact the  most expensive piece of clothing I’m wearing is the owl tank top from Target that I got for $6 because I couldn’t resist it.

If you look closely you can see some of the items used again and again.  (Like my Friday skinny cords….I call them that because I happen to wear them on Fridays) I think it’s important to be able to have versicle pieces of clothing in your wardrobe.

I ask myself five questions when purchasing clothes:

• Does it fit?
• Do I love it?
• Does it match stuff I already have?
• What is the price?
• What condition is it in?

If I can’t answer: Yes, YES!, yes, within my comfort price points, and like new.  I don’t get it.

Do you want to know where I get my clothes? Do you want to know how much I paid for each piece? Let me know so for future What I Wore Wednesdays I can share with you!

Linking up with What I Wore Wednesday at The Pleated Poppy

I’m not sure what pulled me to that dilapidated little house on the island of Lake Avenue.  With it’s pale pink peeling paint and lopsided shutters and the hand painted side nailed to the front porch.

I’m sure now a days parents wouldn’t let their children in there.  Questions would be asked.   Rumors would be started.

Thankfully I didn’t grow up in that time.  Most summer days were spend taking care of my younger brother while my parents worked long, hot hours in the sun for the family business.

I remember the stench of the quarter that was clenched in my sweaty fist tightly as I made my way closer and closer to my destination.

He was always so welcoming on the porch, waving the children in and collecting our quarters in a basket.  I step into the coolness of the house and melt into a metal folding chair.

I twist my body in a way to maximize the amount of skin touching cool metal.

She brings us tiny dixie cups of water that barely quench my thirst.  I push my hair out of my face, parts of it cling to my damp forehead.

We sing songs off of sheets of tattered paper and we learn about HIS  love for us.

We learn of HIS mercy and grace.  We learn that we should be less of us and more of HIM.

Our lives shouldn’t revolve around us.  That we should always consider others.

Jesus Others You was the key to happiness and pure JOY.

I drive by the place that used to have the island with the house.  With it’s peeling paint and lopsided shutters.

I wonder what happened to it.  What happened to Him or to Her.  I wish I could thank them for their selflessness and their love and most importantly for sharing that JOY for only 25 cents a week.

linking up with Just Write

Yeah, I think that I decided that I wasn’t going to tempt fate again this year and so hours before people were going to come to my house to celebrate The Chicken’s 15th birthday party I may have gotten a bunch of Valentine decorations at the Dollar Store. (I know, I know I can’t believe that she is 15 either, I mean just yesterday I was telling her how she couldn’t be turning 13 if I wasn’t there to witness it)

In a fit of panic, I realized that it would be faster to take the Christmas decorations off of the tree and put on those Valentine’s decorations than it would be to properly put all of the Christmas stuff away. Seven dollars later at Dollar Tree and I have this…..

“The Love Tree” is currently still residing in my living room 11 days after the holiday it is decorated for because I need to go get decorations for the next holiday.  I haven’t decided if I am going to do St. Patrick’s Day or Easter….although if I don’t hurry up my choice will be made for me.

I see a trip to Dollar Tree in my immediate future.

I realize that she is just pressuring me because she loves me and this drivel that I spout out here and there.  Maybe she wants to make sure that I didn’t get eaten by zombies and that I survived the scariest “hotel” room in the history of rooms.  I mean I could practically hear the screechy horror music in my head and when I went to the bathroom I made sure that the shower curtain was wide open and that the door was partially cracked, but she should know all the answers to these questions, as she was right there with me apologizing the whole way. Perhaps she is concerned that I got lost in the Big Apple or got kidnapped by a band of gypsies at the airport from my many delays getting home, but again she knows because she is sitting right next to me knitting her little heart out.

Being unplugged felt good, but then after a while I wanted to return and I couldn’t.  But then one day I wanted to come back and I couldn’t reach the plug and I looked for my extension cord. I looked high and low for that stupid cord and no matter how hard I tugged and tugged I just couldn’t get the words to come out and to get plugged back in.

Hell, I was even getting called out by The Chicken on my lack of writing up in this space.

I realized that freelancing is hard stuff, especially the whole being your own boss thing. It’s hard to carve out a living for yourself and  I do much better with someone telling me what to do and when they want me to do it (most of the time anyways).

So much has happened in the five months I have been gone…..

I realized that I was married to the most unobservant man on the planet when I came home from BlogHer with a pierced nose and he didn’t say anything about it for over a week!

I have been married longer than I wasn’t.

I had a fabulous girls weekend with Nichole & Amanda.

I saw how milk gets from the cow to the table.

The Chicken is taller than I am.

Giggles is now and adult and as of yesterday she had completed all of the requirements to graduate from high school.

Speaking of high school….The Chicken is now in it!

Barney no longer eats underwear cro.tches….well, most days.

I upgraded my phone to an iPhone 5 and I LOVE it!

And….I got a big girl job.  I had been subbing for our local school district doing various tasks (mostly secretarial) and at the end of November they offered me a position  that started two weeks ago.  I have a salary, benefits, and work 12 months out of the year.  It has been crazy, but oh so fulfilling.

I want to be here, I miss it so much but it seems like there isn’t enough time to do it all.  I thought of a reward system where I could do so many posts a month so I could get the next charm on my charm bracelet, but I am pretty sure in the end I would still just have an elephant.

If I can make my way back from the edge of an island, I can do anything.

Disclosure: I bought the charm bracelet with my own monies and Lisa doesn’t even know that I am blogging about it today.  But it’s lovely and you should totally go get one for yourself.