By Nicole Humphrey Cook
Brielle is finally riding again. We found her a great barn (quite by accident actually) run by this amazingly wonderful lady that I just adore, as does Brielle (which is the important part). So letting go of our old barn, was a blessing in disguise even though it felt like the end of the world to all of us (we miss the horses and many of the friends we made). After her former trainer left (much better job opportunity in the show circuit), we just couldn’t get into the new instructor. Riding wasn’t fun anymore.
Brie had her first lesson Wednesday night at the new barn and it was awesome. We are back to private lessons (they are FAR cheaper than the other location) and I am doing some marketing and web design work for her to get them even more discounted. Woohoo!
It was just really nice to see her on the horse again. I plan to keep updated on the pics and video as time goes on.
This is Sassy just before Brie got on her for the first time. She is a very smooth walk and trot, but Brie was a bit unsure about the whole bumpy canter thing. LOL We are so happy to be back in a barn again. 
By Nicole Humphrey Cook
We had a great time last night trick or treating. It was kind of bittersweet for us, since our two oldest (both 14) don’t think they will probably dress up next year. I think we might actually miss it a little, but they say they are okay. It’s their choice. We saw some MUCH older kids out last night that didn’t compare in age to our two oldest.
I at least have a few years left with the other three.
Here they are in all their costume glory:
Jess is an asian princess, Brie is a southern belle, Ryan is a gladiator, Melissa is a nerd and Vanessa is a Japanese geisha girl. They loved the costumes they picked and they all played the part going from door to door completely in character. So funny.
By Nicole Humphrey Cook
With the gas prices finally making a slow decline, it doesn’t feel quite as tight as it did, but we are still watching where every single penny goes and making sure we are living comfortably. I don’t think I ever knew I’d wind up as frugal as I am.
I don’t know what kinds of things your family does to be frugal, but we:
- cook nearly every single meal from scratch.
- keep the heat and/or air conditioner off and open the windows to get cool or layer our clothing to stay warm.
- have all unused appliances unplugged from the walls – do you know that even if something is turned off, it still draws energy? Yeah – unplug it.
- try to make only the necessary doctor and dentist visits and not go overboard or act a bit over protective (which I am know to be sometimes).
- spend loads of family time together rather than worrying about how much money we are spending on fun things, etc.
- purchasing items online we might not otherwise have purchased such as eyeglasses and other products.
The cool thing about ordering eyeglasses online is the quick and efficient way you can do it and they are so much cheaper than going and dropping $100-$200 at an optical shop. Face it, eyeglasses are expensive and if you shop online, you get a much better deal!
So what are you doing to be frugal in this money pinching economy?
