October Blessings

This has been a bumpy month for us.

It started out so good with my surgery going so very, very well and the fridge and pantry being so well stocked by my folks before they headed back home.

...then it seemed like things started to fly apart all at once.

...A broken plate...a broken futon...running out of several things in the cupboard...John not really getting well...Missy getting sick...me getting sick...the weather stripping on the van...the water softener having a canary and spewing water all over the floor...finding out we need to buy Buddy yet another pair of Tap Shoes for dance class (his feet just keep growing!)...John having two paychecks this month below our normal 'budgeted' amount due to various reasons...having to somehow pull an additional $1000 out of that monthly budget to pay my tuition...

...and I could continue.

Still, there are many blessings:
  • Time and a flexible schedule. Far and away the biggest blessing this month is time. My schedule is flexible enough that I can stay home with the kids and John is able to take a day off as needed right now too. I am able to recover myself, which is also a blessing. We didn't have any company or big time commitments that involved cleaning the house, making elaborate dinners, or spending inordinate amounts of time elsewhere. All of that helps with the recovery.
  • Seeing the benefits of a budget. Sometimes it's really hard seeing the $ pile up in a category when you 'need' them in another. We're reaping the reward of being diligent right now with our cars - plenty of money to fix the weather stripping on the window and replace some aging brakes without having to put anything on the credit card.
  • Timing! We got John's scholarship check just in time to pay tuition! I love it when that happens!
  • We're still eating from our garden. Tomatoes and the very last squash. I had put the green tomatoes we harvested before the snow in a brown paper bag with the top folded over. I check it about every other day. We've had several large tomatoes ripen (3 this week!) and enough cherry tomatoes to keep us in salad and snacks. We're good for probably another week or two as well! How cool is that?
  • Good sales! There have been so really good sales lately. I've spent a tidge too much (back to diligence today though!) but we're well stocked again. I'm happy with that!
  • Homemade Halloween Costumes from Grandma. I may have mentioned how much my Mom loves to sew! She sewed awesome Halloween costumes for the kids - a dinosaur/dragon thing for Buddy and a purple princess for Missy. They're lovin' it!
  • The ability to give. We have a lot of birthdays in October, so I had to put together 4 birthday baskets and 2 bags for littler kids as well. I spent a total of $10. Mostly I used what I had on hand - the baskets/bags, quilt supplies that I had bought 2 years ago, candles from cleaning out my own stash, some $1 nail polish, lotion and things I had bought a while back as part of my gift stash, a mug I had cleaned out of my own cupboard a while ago, and some snacks picked up on sale this week. It feels so nice to give a thoughtful gift without spending a lot of money on it. Not to mention being able to give someone a hug, a small treat or just being able to donate some old things to charity. Nothing gives a warm fuzzy like that!
  • Knowing that I'm FINALLY on the mend. Seeing the 'light at the end of the tunnel' so to speak with all this illness stuff, especially for myself, is SUCH a blessings. After feeling like I got teased a few weeks back, I'm glad to be heading to a point where I can see things improving. No idea yet where I'll end up, but I'll take what I can get right now!

How have you been blessed in October?

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