Tests

There is so much I just want to blurt out, but at the same time I feel as if I am supposed to keep quiet about it still. If you know anything about me you know I just want to tell all pretty much. I will say there is nothing new with my life. It's still the same ol same ol...it's what God is doing IN my life...or in me rather. I wish I had written down the exact date...I may have by blogging about the subject, but I definitely know God is fixing me up. I truly feel God is preparing me, but before I can finish this "mission" I have to pass some tests. I could be completely wrong with what I am feeling but I really don't think I am. I mean what woman is going to say she's wrong right? lol. Seriously though I'm 99% sure I'm not wrong and I must say I'm a little excited. The one difference in this mission is that I haven't let it consumed my thoughts. I have stayed focused on God, Maddy, and work and I am proud of myself for doing so. I do think this whole test phase will take some time but I'm ok with that. I have learned a little more about myself and about what I want and I just feel so peaceful about everything. In the past I didn't always listen to God's direction/leading but dad gum it I'm going to do my best from here on out. I have definitely developed a stronger relationship with the Lord over these past two years and I really like where I am compared to where I've been. Relationships are continually growing so I can't even think about what things might be like two years from now. Life is not easy at all. In order for us to grow we have to go through some hard times. We are always being tested for one thing or another. If I think about life and how it is I seriously get overwhelmed and think I just want off this ride. It's not something I can just get off of and as hard as it may be sometimes I'm so thankful that I can see where the Lord has taught me this or that. I'm absolutely exhausted so I suppose I will end here :)

House Updates

This weekend a huge milestone was accomplished in our house. We finally got hardwood floors. The carpet got ripped up Thursday as well as all the furniture.

Maddy just loves helping no matter what the job is. These pics are when the furniture is being put back in place after the living room walls got painted. This occurred sometime before Thanksgiving. For about a week...this is what our living room looked like while the office/playroom was being painted:

As you can see...Maddy did not mind a bit :) Once the walls were painted then the carpet got ripped up in preparation for hardwood floors.

We know we know...the carpet WAS 10 years old so needless to say it was good and worn in lol. On Saturday the workers showed up at the house around 9:30 ish to begin the long process of making our house become pretty again. 

This is the finished product...of the floor that is lol. The furniture has been put back in and some of Maddy's toys have come in as well. The next task is to get the kitchen wallpaper all the way off and then clean out the garage all before Christmas. We are having the entire family over for lunch this year for Christmas so there's a lot of work to do and not enough time to do it. I do love how our stockings look with the new floor and am so glad it got done before Christmas.

Here is what my bathroom looked like in the middle of the renovation:

I'm sad to say I don't have a finished product to show because I only took a picture of the new sink with my phone...I will def have to get in there and get a picture to share. We still have to add the finishing touches such as towel holders and toilet paper holder and that kind of thing. I am also going to be buying new accessories and it will become a pink/brown theme :) I have to order my shower curtain and find the other accessories still but that will wait till I can get caught up financially from Christmas.

All Kinds Of Random

As you know this week has been really hard on me due to the long weekend from Thanksgiving and my wanting to be a stay at home mom so bad I can't see straight. On top of my emotions, I struggled greatly to keep up with work. I now get to do the whole explain why your numbers are down thing on Monday (joy joy). Tuesday was a not so great day (to be honest I can't even remember why that was now lol) and I was just over it. My manager asked to speak with me, which luckily she already told us she would be speaking with each of us individually, or else I would have freaked out. Basically I got a promotion, but I will still be doing my same job. She started out telling me the new title and in my head I was thinking, ok what does that mean? I think she expected a reaction but I had no idea what she was even talking about lol. She went on to explain that it also meant a small bump in pay. When she told me my new salary I felt like crying because I'm pretty sure it's an answer to one of my prayers...I'll find out soon enough :) 


Not too long ago I mentioned I was being audited by the IRS. On November 21 I received a large packet from them again. My heart sank and I pretty much just dropped everything to open it. Staring back at me was a letter stating I owed them $4100 (don't remember the exact amount) because I failed to prove the tests they sent the first time. I'll be honest and say that as usual I wanted to cry but one of my first thoughts were, there goes Maddy's Christmas. I'm so very thankful that I was able to realize that the devil was just trying to steal my joy and I refused to let him do so. I couldn't say I felt 100% peaceful, but I was definitely unusually calm and did feel peace about it. Since then I have received another letter from them letting me know they received my information and to give them 30 days to review. I was confused because first they say I owe money now they say to wait to hear back. The CPA who has been handling this situation said to always go by the newest information and to just wait to hear back. IF they say I still owe money then I am going to give him power of attorney and he is going to go fight my case in person lol. Basically from what they say I owe it sounds as if they are saying I can't claim Maddy, when in fact I can. This is def something to pray about because there is no way I can pay that kind of money...installments or not! I can say I have learned a lesson from all of this...use this CPA and let him file my taxes lol. I've had problems ever since I started claiming Maddy. At the end of 2010 I received a letter from the IRS stating someone else claimed Maddy and to make sure I could really claim her. For 2010 taxes I tried filing like I have for years and it kept rejecting me saying someone else already claimed Maddy. I went ahead and filed by mail and here we are today...with a lovely audit. I really need to check out what is going on and make sure somebody isn't reaping benefits off my child or even worse, stolen her identity. 


Tomorrow the hardwood floors are being put in. It's going to take all day so me and Maddy are pretty much banned from the house lol. Not exactly sure everything we will be hanging out with my mom for some of the day to help her out with a work situation. I had thought about taking Maddy to the mall to do her santa pic but I can't find her dress we bought. I really wish she already knew about her car she is getting for Christmas because the weather is going to be decent and she could drive around the neighborhood. I'm sure I will end up in stores buying clothes and shoes for Maddy and come home completely broke lol.


We are officially on countdown to Christmas. I'm a little disappointed because I ordered a countdown to Christmas calendar from an online store and I have no idea when it is supposed to get here. It's an individual who sells stuff online...her clothes and headbands have been featured on teen mom 2 (Bailey Booper's Boutique). It's not at all her fault that I don't have it yet...I'm just disappointed that I didn't order it sooner. I must say I just love her items she sells and plan on buying some more as I can. 


Maddy has been going through some moods lately. Monday-Wednesday was horrible on the way home. She was just so frustrated that she was screaming as hard as she could and shaking and biting herself as hard as she could. Thursday she was in a great mood and didn't pitch a fit. Today was right back to the bad mood tantrum. I'm not sure if it was just getting re-acclimated to daycare after the long weekend or if there's something else going on. It's been a little rough though and I'm really hoping it goes away soon. 


This week we had a large amount of rainfall in the Chattanooga area. On my way to pick up Maddy I took a pic of water in the road. Just as a FYI I was stopped when I took this pic. 

We also had our first chance of snow. I'm the nerd who captured the radar with my phone to document on here. It's crazy that we are already talking snow...where has the time gone? We didn't get any accumulation at my house, but we did see it snow.

I have some pics of Maddy I haven't posted yet so I will end with a collage of Maddy pics :) I hope you all have a great weekend, even though I'm sure I will post pics of the new floors.

 Maddy's Christmas jammies :) I tend to buy a lot of Christmas jammies and have her wear them until she outgrows them. I'm going to try to tone it down this year. I just need to get her actual Christmas Eve jammies and then I'm done...I think.

Real Estate

My mom is a local real estate agent and has just created a wonderful new website. You can click here to check out all the latest info. She wants the best for her clients and will do everything she can to ensure they get a great deal, whether they are buying or selling. If you are in need of a great realtor look no more. Her contact information is listed on the website so make sure to check it out :)

Lauri Clark Homes....

Wishes you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

The Stockings Were Hung...

Ok so our stockings aren't really hung just yet, but I'm so excited that they finally got here. I received a catalog from Personal Creations a while back and I just loved all their Christmas stuff. I decided to go all out and buy Maddy, my dog, and me personalized Christmas stockings. I had such a tough time choosing which ones to buy because there were so many cute ones. I asked my mom which ones she would pick and she picked the one I was contemplating getting so I knew they were the ones for us. I was disappointed because Manny's stocking was out of stock and apparently they didn't plan on getting anymore in. I found a similar one at Wal-Mart and was thrilled. Manny's doesn't really match mine and Maddy's but it's the only bone stocking I could find and I still love it. I posted pics on facebook and twitter so sorry for the repeat pics :)

This weekend is very busy around our household. Saturday we are having hardwood floors put in. It will look so pretty for Christmas and I simply cannot wait! We are also decorating the house, hopefully anyways, and getting our Christmas tree. Once everything is set up and back in place I will be sharing pics :)

P.S. I really didn't try to stay with a "M" name theme when Maddy was born lol...never thought about it until recently but I guess it just sorta ended up that way. I must have watched one too many 19 Kids and Counting shows lol. I guess I could say we're the three muskateers :) I love my lil family!

Random Emotions

Today has been a rough day for me. I am so thankful for long weekends, but they make going back to work so hard...especially this time of year. I found myself almost refusing to work, which just makes the rest of the week harder. I can't even begin to tell you how bad I want to be a stay at home mom. I know being a stay at home mommy is no easy job, but it's a job I've wanted even before I knew about Maddy. I don't think the desire to be a stay at home mom will ever die down any, but the need to talk about it will if I can just make it through this week lol. Maddy and I really did have an amazing weekend together and I just hate that it had to come to an end. She has started saying, "Yeah" instead of, "Huh" for uh-huh and her expressions are just too cute and often quite funny lol. I am having to write from my phone tonight and it doesn't let you add captions under the pics so these are just random pics of Maddy I have on my phone. There is nothing like having a child and I pray that God would someday (soon preferably) let me be a full time mom for my job. I have been specific in my prayers that I am not forced to stay home by losing my job, just as an FYI :) for now this is where God has me so I will pick myself up and carry on. I just needed to get my feelings out again so I could do so. I really am an emotional girl.

Zulily

As you all know I switched over to the iPhone 4S. I wasn't too sure about it in the beginning and really missed my amazing camera that my HTC Evo had. Since writing about the iPhone 4s I have really grown to love my phone. I've been watching Zulily sales for a while now, but never saw anything I just had to have for Maddy and didn't quite think the prices were that great. I have since downloaded the app on my phone and have found a few things I just love. I have a feeling having the app on my phone is going to get me in trouble but I will deal with that later lol. I will try to show some pics of what I've ordered so far:

I normally buy most of her clothes at JC Penny because they have so many sales I generally can buy a better wardrobe than most places. I also like shopping at The Children's Place and Old Navy but those are more expensive stores so I only buy a few things. I have found an Old Navy outlet store that I shop at for her as well as OshKosh and Carter's. There is a Children's Place outlet but the prices aren't much different. I am not the type of person to pay high dollar just for a cute outfit, so that's why I haven't bought more from Zulily. I only buy things that are just super cute and for a decent price because she grows out of clothes quite fast (although it is starting to slow down) and I know once she gets older she will want more higher dollar clothes so I better save my money while I can lol. I look up the brand online prior to purchasing from Zulily just to make sure I can't find a better deal and so far they have been the lowest. The last outfit picture on here I found runs around $50-60 and I got it for $22...I can handle that :) I know most people have heard about Zulily but if you haven't I would definitely encourage you to check it out. I look everyday but only buy here and there.