Dance Recital

The little blond next to Lindy is Ella, my cousin's daughter, and Lindy's best friend. And yes, she looks like a professional ballerina. They are really cute together!

Brother and Sister

They have been playing together really well lately. In fact, the past two days Lindy has been in a dragon costume while Corbin is dressed as a pirate and they've been tromping through the house on all kinds of fun adventures. Here's some pics of Corbin as a Jedi (?) and Lindy as a princess. Dad took these pics- I would've washed the peanut butter off of their faces. ;-)

Winter Fun

Nate, Renae and Suga (their dog) were out visiting in early March and we went for a walk across the lake at mom and dad's. This bottom picture is of Ella, Lily and Lindy on New Year's Day at great-grandma's house.

Frugal and Thrifty-

(I'm back- sorry for the long hiatus, and thank you Cassie for noticing. I feel loved! :-)
I will be posting photos soon: I have some good ones on the camera, waiting to be downloaded.)

I wanted to mention something I've been pondering the past couple of days. I'm boiling homemaker thriftiness down to two camps- stay with me here- and trying to decide where I fall. Times are tight right now for everybody, and we all need to tighten up our spending, right? Well, I think there are two ways to do that:
1. Make everything from scratch. Bake your own bread, make homemade laundry soap, and put juice or milk in thermoses for your kids' lunches. These frugal masters do NOT buy pre-packaged food, because you pay for the individual packaging. Also- this kind of living is healthier because you use less preservatives and chemicals in your food, and you control what is in your house cleaning products. (OK- I'm convincing myself as I write this...)
OR
2. Work the system by following sales, clipping coupons and earning rebates. I have friends that do this and have reduced their monthly grocery bill down to ONE THIRD of what it was! It is amazing- and I am finding that it is not nearly as intimidating as I thought it was to clip coupons and find great deals.
So, here I am again- being all black and white, and bogged down in my perfectionism. I feel like I need to pick a "system" and do it all the way in order for it to work. Arg! Any advice?