financial advice from a 4 year old.

so i came across this video on this blog and i wanted to share...

Elijah Offering Video from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

pretty insightful, huh?

a quick update

it's official. i'm all moved in. thanks to my friends and amazing students... all i have to do now is get settled in the new house.

today is halloween... i had about 5 trick-or-treaters... sadly, they came in 2 groups. hopefully, that will pick up next year.

we successfully changed the cord on my dryer (needed a 4 pronged one instead of the 3 pronged one it had). the washer is now in place but we think it is in need of a "washer" for the hose.

i ordered blinds today.

i bought a $100 vacuum cleaner for $32 at bed, bath and beyond. oh how i love clearance and coupons.

my living room is coming together. we added slipcovers to the couch and love seat (thanks mom!). my friend melanie alphabetized my dvds for me... and the books will happen tomorrow.... while i organized and hooked up the "entertainment" center. (no cords touch the floor!)

my clothes are either in trash bags or sitting in a huge plastic tub at the foot of my bed.

so far: the garage door opener is installed, verizon internet/tv is up and running and the new fridge is in place.

i hope to be able to park my car in the garage tomorrow... but we'll see.

i'll write more soon but i'm exhausted, so i'm heading to bed.

BSM halloween party

here is a group picture from our BSM halloween party this week.

by the way, in the previous post... our staff dressed up as the "black-eyed peas."

staff bonding...

here's a picture of our staff at our BSM halloween party. can you figure out who we are?

packing, painting and preparing for the move...

today was a very productive prep day for me. I completed the following:

• decided on a homeowners insurance policy
• lined up utilities for the new house (got out of a $150 deposit!)
• canceled utilities on the rent house
• transfered internet/tv account to the new house - and saved money!
• bought a refrigerator
• finished going through the rest of the boxes in the garage

also, meagan and hollye came over and packed up my kitchen and movies tonight while i continued to work on the furniture and boxes in the garage. they not only helped me be very productive, they kept me very entertained... which was a nice change to working at the house on my own.

tomorrow i do the walk-thru. my mom came up and susan is leaving work early to help me spot all the things that need to be fixed... and i'm very thankful for their willingness to help.

i close on thursday, move on friday... and melanie comes friday evening to help me start the "settling" process.

creatively thrifty

the money required to buy and furnish a house astounds me, which means that i must try to be creatively thrifty. so when my realtor, pam, asked if i'd like to have a daybed that they were trying to give away... i gladly accepted.

it's a nice daybed... but the color wasn't going to go with the rest of the house... so i'm in the middle of a project to make it match. here are pictures of the process:

the original white:

primed:

painted and pretty:

look... sod!

irrigation...

sprinklers!!!

a glimpse at what God's doing...

here is a video that we put together to show at our UNT BSM alumni reception today.

some house pictures

the appliances have been put in... the bathrooms are finished... the house is getting cleaned. we're 16 days away from my move-in date. here are some pictures i took with my phone tonight. more will come soon.

master bathroom:

here's the mirror in the guest bathroom: