Stuff Swap

I read about hosting a "Stuff Swap" in an issue of Real Simple sometime last year and decided to host one this month. It ended up being VERY fun and everyone took home all kinds of new treasures.

I invited ladies from work, ladies from their early 20s through their 50s, and instructed everyone to clean out their attics, closets, etc and bring everything to my house to swap one Saturday. I decided to do it in the middle of the afternoon and just did cookies and drinks as the food. I also set up all of the big tables in our house and organized my stuff into piles. We ended up with piles of books, movies, housewares, kitchenwares, purses, and then items still in their original boxes (thank you wedding showers!) I decided not to do clothes because we had a wide varitety of sizes and ages. Everyone unloaded their stuff and then we shopped like it was a garage sale.

It was so much fun! We all really enjoyed finding things that we needed, or just liked, and taking them for free! We did a first touch rule so if whoever wanted it, had to grab it first. I ended up with two new purses, a box of books, a few movies, and some very pretty necklaces!

We've decided to do it again in the fall and to trade more stuff! We also took all of the extra stuff to Goodwill so we spread the free stuff beyond ourselves as well.

New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions

From 2010...

Mark: To visit his Great Grandpa and Grandma at least once a month
Amy: To do one "Indianapolis" thing each month
Together: To lose weight and get into better shape

How did we do?
Mark visits his great-grandparents at least once a week now.
I succeeded in doing quite a few fun Indianapolis things, not one every month but my resolution forced me to get out and try new things.
Together we lost 40 pounds and got in much better shape!

Looking ahead to 2011...
Mark: ------------ He's still deciding
Amy: To live in the moment and to work on being happy as a family of two.
Together: Continuing to enjoy our Bible study that we've begun and trust that
God will take care of the rest.

SO much of 2010 was consumed by dreaming/wanting/wishing for children for our family. We, as always, will continue trusting God in the placement and numbering of our children. Please pray with us as we hope for a child of our own.

God's richest blessings on your 2011!

December Recap

I have abandoned my blog this last month and a half of 2010! So Sorry!

To recap life since Thanksgiving:

- I successfully coordinated an ornament exchange/dinner night out for the ladies at work
- We survived another work Christmas party
- Our house was decorated all month and looks beautiful this time of year
- Mark worked December 24, 25, and 26 so I played "Mark" and went to all of his family's events.
- I caught the stomach flu at Christmas Eve, then Mark caught it by the middle of the week, and then we came to Evansville to share it with my family as well.
(Mark says we'll have to work on receiving and giving better gifts next year)

- We rang in the new year in Owensboro while celebrating our "Christmas" with Momaw

All in all, a wonderful month of celebrating the season!