5 for Friday

We've been really busy in the Allen/Shepherd households making Halloween costumes. Wendy is going to be a skunk, and Avery (Wendy's cousin) is going to be an Indian chief. Today will involve a lot of machine sewing and hand-sewing, then hopefully the fitting of the costumes this evening. Our church has Trunk or Treat this Sunday evening, so we've got to get these done!! I'll definitely post pictures of the kiddos all dressed up; I think Wendy will make an adorable skunk!

Here are my 5 for this week:

1. Credit Cards - while they can add to your overall debt and have certainly gotten me in trouble a time or two, they're definitely useful in emergencies. We've had to do almost $1500 in repairs on the van this week, and we didn't have that kind of money just sitting around waiting to be used. If we didn't have credit available, we would've had to figure out how to do without a vehicle for awhile.

2. Zip-loc bags - I use Zip-loc bags for everything, especially the quart sized freezer bags. They're great for corralling some of the smaller diaper bag stuff, and they always hold our toiletries for travel (what can I say - I'm a classy girl). Of course they work well for leftovers and for freezing bulk items from the store.

3. Netflix - I love Netflix! For various reasons, we haven't been to the movies in close to two years. Netflix lets us see stuff we want to see, without having to make a 40-minute round-trip to town to go to Blockbuster. Lately we've been catching up on Lost. We've both really enjoyed the show, but have only caught a few episodes here and there since it plays during church. But with Netflix, we've caught up on Season 1 and are almost finished with Season 2. Season 3 comes out in December, so we'll catch up on that, too, before the new season starts in February.

4. Matilda - the outside cat that came with the house. As I was typing about #3, Netflix, heard a horrible commotion on the front porch. I opened the door to see Matilda puffed up to three times her normal size (she's not a big cat) cornering a big dog I had never seen before. She swatted him a couple of times on the nose and he yelped and went on his way. Sometimes I think our neighborhood has more wandering dogs than people, and it's great that Matilda keeps them at bay. I want all wandering dogs to stay away from our property - you never know when an unknown dog is going to cause a problem with a child.

5. Zip-up footie pajamas - it's that time of year! Wendy has started wearing the blanket sleepers to bed. They're fantastic, since she won't keep socks on and definitely won't lay still under a blanket. As the weather gets cooler we'll add a onesie underneath, then socks, then a lightweight sleeper under the blanket sleeper. Hopefully by next winter we'll have new windows and better insulation, so it won't be as big a problem.

What blessings have you become aware of this week?

I strongly recommend you read today's post at Rocks in my Dryer. I definitely needed it today!