Tomorrow the boys and I are going to Kearney to spend my $50 in gift cards. I have become so accustomed to shopping the ads, using my coupons and stockpiling that I have NO idea how to shop without an ad. Why doesn't walmart have an ad every week like every other store? So I am making this half-assed list and hoping I don't overspend by the time I get to the check out.

Here are some of the cards I did for the Mommysavers card crop this weekend. Some of the pics are blurry, some were scanned on my computer.

Garden Pictures! We have a small tiny tomato, about the size of a pea!

I finished The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I loved it. Definitely one of my top favorites. I gained some new insight on my own views of religion and God. My favorite quote from the book was this:

"'What is that, Aunt Adah? And that?' their Pascal asks in his wide-eyed way, pointing through the aisles: a pink jar of cream for removing hair, a can of fragrance to spray on the carpet, stacks of lidded containers the same size as the jars we throw away each day.

'They're things a person doesn't really need.

''But Aunt Adah, how can there be so many kinds of things a person doesn't really need?'"

With all the bad weather, we thought we lost all 4 tomato plants, 3 flower plants and 2 bean plants. This morning 2 of the tomato plants seemed to have perked up, 2 of the flowers plants suddenly had flowers. They can be knocked around by golf ball sized hail, 70 mph wind and enough rain to make the water just sit around them and there they are. My garden is resilient. I am happy for that.

I have been reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a long book, a 3-decade long story and I'm not even close to half way through. This is the type of book I love. I can get to know the characters and be with them for a long time before they go away at the end of the book. The mother in this book tells one of her daughters that God doesn't make the bad things go away, but He does help us through them. I really liked that.

My simple living today consisted of hanging out laundry (I haven't used the dryer in 2 weeks), making bread and making potato salad and fried chicken for dinner.