Friday, October 25, 2013

IT MAKES "CENTS" TO ME FRIDAY FOR OCTOBER 25th

Hi everone,

How has your week been?  Mine has been full of all sorts of things...BUT I've been really knocking it out of the ballpark on sales at work this week.  My main goal is to really develop personal relationships with all of my customers, because I want them to feel like welcome guests when they walk into the store.  I also strive to have them leave happier then when they walked in. In any case, I've been really thankful that for the most part I am totally exceeding my sales goals every day I'm scheduled to work and that is a praise :) :) :)

My VitaCost order arrived really fast.  I ordered it last Friday morning and it arrived by the following Monday afternoon (October 21st).  Here is a look at what I ordered:































Click here to read my post from last week. I detailed exactly what I purchased and what it cost from the VitaCost.com website versus buying it at my local grocery store.

I was really surprised to see that they sold the Eez-Gum threaders.  Those are like giant flexible plastic "needles" that help you to thread the dental floss underneath the metal wires of braces.  So I'm going to keep a detailed diary of when I use each product and when it runs out. It'll give me an idea of how fast I go through a product.  That in turn will give me a better idea of how much to order next time.

I don't really "need" to buy a natural soap, except I do believe that what you put on your skin gets partially absorbed into the skin.  It's true. The skin is the largest organ of your body, so treat it right.  I can only speak for myself, but I notice that when I use gluten free or natural products on my skin, I don't have a skin reaction like I do with regular "soaps" etc. 

Oh, and I'm still trying to figure out how to budget on a variable income.  So I'll fill you in on that some more later this afternoon. 

I get paid on a weekly basis, but my hours can vary quite a bit. If you have ever worked retail, you know exactly what this is like. Add to that, that my job is only part-time, but I have the opportuntiy for full-time hours, when there are available shifts to pick up. Case in point, this week, I only have 17.75 hours, but NEXT week, I'll have 30 hours. 

I found this really simple, but very good article on the Dave Ramsey website. It's about how to make a zero-based budget.  Dave Ramsey has been a huge inspiration for me in wanting to be comletely out of debt in the first place.

I also found this article to be really helpful. It's really simple and straight-forward and it's great if you need an idea for how to budget when your income and your hours vary quite a bit from week to week. Dave Ramsey's daughter, Rachel Cruze, also has a really neat nifty website.  She wrote a really easy to understand blog post about budgeting with a variable income. Click here to read that article.


Now my budgeting got a serious monkey wrench thrown into it, because I had to make an appointment to get my teeth cleaned at the dentist in between visits with the orthodontist (when I get new wires put on my braces). That's going to cost a little bit, so the solution to that is pick up extra hours at work.

So next week, I'll try and fill you in a little bit more on how I do a zero-based budget from week to week...and how I still manage to live and have some sort of fun on my very tiny income.

































I have to say that VitaCost really does a good job, even with their cardboard boxes. They use some space on the boxes to provide good, healthy recipes for sweet treats :) :) As if it couldn't get any cooler or more practical, I also saw this on the inside flap of the box:
































There are even some frugal ways to repurpose this box. It is quite the sturdy box, too. 

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs to you all, Heather :) :) :)

Friday, October 18, 2013

IT MAKES "CENTS" TO ME FRIDAY FOR OCTOBER 18th, 2013

Hi everyone,

Wow, is my head ever swimming. It seems like I was in a rut in terms of how I was going to come up with a game plan for knocking out my student loan debt etc. Now that I'm starting to turn my dream into a concrete vision, all these ideas are swimming around in my head.

I am starting with small baby steps. 

One thing that I like to do is to make a list of things that I'll be "needing" in the future.  Here is a list of things that I will definitely be needing at some point, but I don't have to buy them right away:








































First thing, the word "Einkaufszettel" is German for "shopping list". I still write it out that way, ever since I lived in Germany as a study abroad student. 

In any case,  these are things that I'll be needing to buy in the near future.  The MAC lipstick and lip gloss are really nice, neutral colors that I can wear anytime. It's funny, because I'm almost out of both colors.

I almost stopped by work to buy some today after church. However, I didn't really have a piece about it and I kept asking myself the question: Do I really NEED this right now or can I wait just a little bit longer before I plunk down money for this?

My answer was: I CAN wait and I will wait a little bit longer.

One thing I have learned is that just because you have the money to buy something RIGHT NOW doesn't mean you have to.  So I will wait until I'm completely out before I replenish my make-up inventory :) 


I do wear braces, so dental floss is a MUST right now.  I go through that stuff really fast.  The same for the toothpaste. Since I'm paying out-of-pocket for my orthodontic care, I want to make sure that I get my money's worth and that means taking very good care of my teeth.

The toothpaste is gluten free and so is the shampoo and conditoner on my list. I do use the Raspberry Shine. Here's a photo again of the conditioner:










































I was paying $8.99 a bottle for the shampoo and conditioner and probably about $6 for the toothpaste.  They are gluten free products and those things are important to me. So I am willing to make the sacrifice for those things.

HOWEVER, a very sweet reader sent me a private email the other day and told me of a really great site, where I could get my conditioner for much less. The site is called Swanson Vitamins.  Click here to visit their site. I found my conditioner listed here for about $4.98...yeah, my jaw dropped to the floor, too. With as often as I use this product and even factoring in shipping, I won't be buying it at my local store anymore.

There's also another site called VitaCost that has awesome natural and organic products at really great prices. Click here to visit them. The last time I checked I found my shampoo and conditioner selling here for about $4.98 a bottle and my special toothpaste for $3.98 a tube. the BEST part is that shipping is free on orders over $49 and they often have free shipping specials on smaller orders.

I don't normally spend that much at one time on my hair and body care products. However, with such great deals, I can afford to make a BIG purchase now, knowing that I'm saving a LOT of money in the long run. 

Today is payday. I'll let you know what I end up ordering, what the total is and what I ordered.

UPDATE at 6:23 p.m Pacific Standard Time:

Hi everyone ;) :) Okay, so I ended up having to place my order as a "guest", but I was able to reset my password this afternoon after work.  WOW, did I save a boatload of money...at least a lot for me.

After work, I went to my local store where I usually most of these products I'm about to tell you about.  If I payed full price (including tax) for everything I ordered today, it would have been $91.99.

As it happens, with my VitaCost order I only paid $50.31. There was no tax and it was FREE shipping because I ordered over $49 worth of product :)

That's a savings of 45%. That is HUGE in my checkbook and that frees up that much more money to put towards paying off bills etc.  I just placed the order this morning and it should arrive in 1-4 business days.

Here's the breakdown of what I purchased. I will highlight in BLUE what the regular retail was and factor in the taxes at the end.  Unless otherwise specified, I only ordered a quantity of ONE of certain items. In other cases, I ordered multiples because it's something I know that I will use consistently.

South of France Bar Soap Acai Pomegranate - 8.8 ox
$3.94 / $6.39

Desert Essence Dental Floss - Tea Tree Oil - 50 yds
$2.29 x 4 qty / $3.99

GUM Eez-Thru Floss Threaders - 25 pieces
$2.96 / $3.29
I will say that this one came as a surprise, because I didn't even know that VitaCost carried this, but they DO :) :) :) I use these ALL THE TIME to help me with flossing. They're necessary in order to floss the teeth while going through the process of braces on the teeth.

Auromere Herbal Toothpaste Fresh Mint - 4 oz
$3.44 / $5.99

Desert Essence Organics Shampoo Raspberry Shine for All Hair Types - 8 oz
$5.29 x 3 qty / $8.99

Desert Essence Organics Raspberry Conditioner Red Raspberry - 8 fl oz.
$4.98 x 3 qty / $8.99

So here is the breakdown again. Hopefully it's a little easier to see this way:

Vitacost Order total (no tax/free shipping) - $50.13

Regular Retail (including sales tax 7.5%)  - $91.99

That means I saved a total of 45%. What does that mean?

Serious CHACHING back into my wallet :) :) :)

I can hardly wait for my VitaCost order to arrive. When it does, I'll show you all a photo. In the meantime, enjoy this vintage beauty :) :) It's a vintage Ford Mustang that I saw in the mall parking lot a few days ago:








































That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

MY BEAUTIFUL PACIFIC GROVE, CALIFORNIA

Hi everyone,

How was your weekend? My weekend was really good. I worked for a few hours on Saturday. Plus, I spent a little time working on my blog, working on my budget and other household chores etc. 

I wanted to share a few photos of Pacific Grove with you today. If you'd like to see my other photos, please come visit me here at my photography page on Facebook. It's called Heather Danielle Photography. I love friendly visitors, and while you're there, if you want to "like" my page, please do :) :) 

These are mainly of the ocean. I love the ocean. My grandmother lived here for many, many years before she bought her home in Monterey.

I'm not sure what draws me to the water. It's been a life-long love ever since I can remember.  When I am having a bad day, I like to spend time near the water. When I am having a good day, I like to spend time near the water.  I'm always reminded that no matter what is going on, God has still given me things of beauty to enjoy.

I'll post the photos and then talk about them below each picture. 




























This is a photo of my dad taking a photo of me with my smartie pants mobile phone camera.  He is really camera shy. So I was very lucky to get this photo. We were out near Asilomar State Beach.































I am constantly trying to get photographs of birds in flight. This particular day, I had my "big girl" camera with me. Translation: I had my Nikon  D3200 with me :)  I can't even remember what type of bird this was now. It was either pelicans or geese. 































Deer are very common here on the peninsula.  As my father and I were driving along the ocean shore, we saw this handsome creature. Look at the antlers on that thing. It is not uncommon to see them in peoples yards, crossing the street, walking down the side walk etc. In fact, I see them in my neighborhood quite often.































It was a beautiful, sunny day with blue skies. However, it was also really, really windy. So while the wave were not very high. They sure were rolling in really fast.  Usually when the ocean looks like this, it makes me think there's a possible storm ready to head inland.  Not this time. I'm hoping we'll see some rain soon. In the meantime, it was really a beautiful ting to see this many waves.































Another thing that I'm obsessed with capturing on film are the waves right as they're about ready to crash into white sea foam :)






























This plant is called "Pride of Madeira".  It is not quite in full bloom. When it is in full bloom, it's amazingly beautiful.  I'll see if I can find a photo of it in all its glory. This is one of my favorite plants. One of my other favorites is Mexican sage.


































This will be my last photo for today. This is literally my favorite place to sit and look out over the water.  Whenever I drive along the shore to take photographs, this place is ALWAYS one of my stopping points.  It's a favorite of many people and I always see tourists stopping here to get photographs :)

Well, that completes my little ocean tour of Pacific Grove for today.  I pray that you all will have a really good  Monday and a good rest of the week, too.  That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

MONTEREY

Hello everyone,

How are you all today? I'm doing fine.

Monterey is a beautiful city.  There's this one building that I drive by quite often when I'm downtown.  It is heavily decorated.  I'm not sure how old the building is. My first thought is that it was built in the 1920s or 1930s based on some of the design features.

There is a flower shop on the ground floor that has been there since the building opened. Hmm...that's a thought. I should walk into the flower shop and ask the owner. 

Here's a photo of the building from the outside. It has some amazing detail and I LOVE the fact that the main entrance to the building is on the corner. You don't see that kind of detail much anymore:
































The flower shop is called "Flor Monterey".  In any case, I'll make sure and get some more photos of this building sometime this week or next week.  It has so many interesting details.


There was a controlled burn out at Fort Ord yesterday and then again this morning. Here are a couple of pictures that I took with my mobile phone camera.  It looked a lot scarier than it really was, but I figure that as long as that smoke is not shaped like a mushroom, we're doing fairly well :)

The first pic was taken around 9:47 a.m. this morning from the Whole Foods parking lot. The controlled burn had just started at 9:30 a.m.
































This next photo was just over an hour later. It was taken from my front yard. By this time the smoke was quite thick and it even covered up the sun. However, it didn't last long. It's 1:20 p.m. now and most of it is clearing away thanks to the wind.
































I actually have today off from work. So I stopped by my hairstylist's salon to get my bangs trimmed. They were getting kind of long and I just can't make up my mind about whether to keep them short or grow them out long.  In any case,  I had my mobile phone with me and snapped a couple photos.  There is beauty all around if we can only learn to keep our eyes open for it.

I really like bougainvillea. It's a beautiful plant that grows very well here in the Monterey Bay peninsula area. I just loved how this particular bougainvillea was growing up around the slats on this balcony railing.

































I also love vintage antiques, including trucks. I usually see this beautiful Ford truck at a local carwash. Today it was parked downtown.  This is my dream car, for real :) :) I so would love to drive something like this.
































I also went to Trader Joe's to buy some cheddar cheese. I have a leftover bag of gluten-free tortilla chips that I purchased at TJ's yesterday. Then the idea came to me to make easy peasy nachos. So on the way to the store, I stopped to get a photo of this beautiful iris. This is another flower that I see a lot around this area.
































Oh, and in my backyard, we have quite a few different varieties of trees from Spanish oak to a very tall Redwood tree.  Well, a few weeks ago, one of the trunks on the Spanish oak just fell over. It just missed the house by a few inches. Thankfully there was no damage. One of our neighbor's was really kind and helped us chop up the trunk. Most of the wood has gone to the yard waste recycle bin. This is what it looks like now. Thankfully the rest of the tree is solid :)
































That's about it for now.  I hope you all are enjoying your Tuesday.  That's the news  from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)


Saturday, October 12, 2013

THE OCEAN AND BEAUTIFUL SEA GLASS

Hi everyone,

How are you all today? I'm doing well.  I'll often answer "Better than I deserve".

One of the things that I like to do in my free time is search for sea glass. Sea glass is simply broken shards of glass that have been worn smooth of the course of many, many years by the ocean waves.  It's like finding little gemstones in the sand. It really is fun to search for these tiny treasures.

Here is what I found one day back in September. I went to one of the local beaches here in Monterey. This is what I came back home with:







































These little bits of sea glass are often times smaller than my pinky nail. The biggest and rarest piece that I found was the size of my thumb nail. It's the very light aqua piece of glass that is to the left of that tiny piece of brown sea glass. Aqua glass is rare to find. 


I love aqua as a color.  When I went searching for sea glass this particular day, it was already afternoon and most of the good sea glass has already been picked over. However, I think God meant for me to find this piece to let me know that He cares about every detail of my life, even the small things :) 


Here's a close-up of what I collected:


































The white, green and brown sea glass is quite common to find.  Every once in awhile I do find aqua sea glass. I'm still on the hunt for the extremely rare pink sea glass. Some day. A girl can always hope and dream.


































Much of the aqua sea glass comes from broken pieces of old blue Mason jars like the one pictured above.  I wonder what kind of stories those pieces of glass could tell me. It's a bit of a romantic notion, I suppose, but it's fun to imagine and to dream.

I'm storing all of my aqua sea glass in a small glass storage jar with a glass lid and metal latch hook system.  My collection is small, but it's worth waiting for.  Maybe I'll actually manage to fill this small jar one day.

































Oh, and just as an added bonus, I took a photo of the bottom of this small glass storage jar. It's so CUTE. It says "WHEATON" in big bold letters up top...and below it in smaller much fainter letters it says "U.S.A".

































I love the ocean. Truly, I can be happy anywhere, but I'm so thankful that I've got this time to live near the ocean shores. 

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs to you all, Heather



Friday, October 11, 2013

IT MAKES "CENTS" TO ME FRIDAY FOR OCTOBER 11th, 2013



























Hi everyone,

How was your week? Mine was interesting. It was a mix for me, but for the most part it was very, very good.

The photo above was taken in the Carmel Valley. I just love how the mist/fog sits atop the mountains in the morning. It always reminds me of when God spoke to Moses on the mountain top. That and it's just magical and beautiful, like something out of a story with knights and princesses :)

Okay, so this week, I "officially" start blogging about my journey to becoming completely debt-free.   I'll also be blogging about what I do to save money on every day things. 

So first off, I stink at keeping certain papers organized. Oh, I keep them all in one spot, but I don't file them. I'm talking about my bills from the orthodontist, my small student loan bills etc. I always pay them on time every month but I'l explain a little bit more towards the end of this post.

The only really BIG, UGLY LIKE AN ALBATROSS AROUND MY NECK debt that I have left to pay are my student loans from college.  Once those are paid off, I'll be completely debt free.  I"m working on increasing my income to make that happen.

However, I'm also looking at what I can do RIGHT NOW as well.  I am NOT an expert by any means, but getting this out in the open is helpful to me personally and hopefully it'll encourage you that you can do something as well, no matter how small to manage your money a little more responsibly.

Now for me, my overall bills each month aren't that many. I only have four in total.  But there are three that I have each month that once they're paid in full will free up a LOT of money each month that I can actually start paying on my student loans. Phew...are you confused yet? I am feeling totally overwhelmed, but a girl has to start somewhere right?

So these are the bills I'm going to pay off from smallest to biggest. Once the smallest bill is paid off, then I'll roll that payment over to the next bill and pay all that off. It's like a debt snowball :) :)

Here they are:

1) ECSI - a small student loan from college

2) Verizon Wireless - the plan is to pay off the rest of the contract period EARLY, so I can put that money towards paying off my student loans

3) Orthodontist - Once that is paid, there are no more monthly payments, regardless of how long I have to wear these braces on my teeth.

Once I get my organizational act together, I'll come back and update what the actual dollar amounts are here :)









































One of the items that I buy often are USB flash drives.  When I take photographs, I leave them on the original SD memory card and then buy a new one when it's full. I also transfer copies to a USB flash drive. That way, if something  happens to the SD card, for example, I'll have copies on the USB flash drive.

My previous USB flash drive was completely full and I had to wait till I had enough money to buy another one. This is one of those things that I will definitely have to budget for on a regular basis.

This USB flash drive my dad purchased for me at Radio Shack. It has the best price of any place local to me. It is 16 GB for only $14.99 plus tax. So it ended up costing me a total of $16.11 (including tax)

I also received a register coupon for $10 off my next purchase of $50 or more. Normally I ignore coupons like that, but in this case, since I KNOW that I'll be needing this particular item on a regular basis, I can budget and stock up on more.  It will equal almost 20% with tax when it's all said and done.

On a comletely DIFFERENT note, I do budget for slightly more expensive things.  In this case, I also bought a gluten free conditioner.  I have a very strong intolerance to all foods that contain gluten in them.  As it happens, it seems that my skin and hair also respond to hair care and body care products that are also gluten free. So  I sacrifice other things so that I can afford this conditioner. It works great. It does the job well:











































This is an 8 fl oz tube of "Red Raspberry" conditioner from Desert Essence. The whole line of products is wonderful, but I like this scent the best.  It costs $8.99 at my local Whole Foods store. However, I get a 10% discount because I work at the mall. So it only costs me $8.70 (including my 10% mall discount and tax) That equals $1.09 per ounce.  I don't use very much at all, so this product actually lasts me a very long time.

I'm sure there's a website where I can order more in bulk and save even more, but until then I'll continue to buy it at Whole Foods.

Desert Essence DID NOT pay me to talk about their conditioner. I'm just blogging about it because I LOVE this product. It works wonderfully well.  It also is fantastic because there is hard water in the area where I live, so it still leaves my hair feeling soft and shiny instead of dry and crispy.

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs to you all, Heather

p.s. Update on Friday - October 11th at 9:30 a.m.  One of my BIGGEST inspirations in my desire to become completely and totally debt free is Dave Ramsey. Click here to go to his Facebook page. Click here if you want to visit his website. You can listen in live to his radio show every day Monday through Friday. The shows are also archived to listen to later on.


In any case, I saw a really nice, simple article on five easy ways to lower your heating bill. Click here to read the article.

I've got sone more posts all lined up for later this weekend and next week. I'm so excited to be blogging again. It's a real creative release. You all out in the blogosphere are awesome :)

I would LOVE to hear what you all do to save money on anything.  Stop on by for a visit and leave a friendly comment.  That's the news from the ocean shores California...again :) Love and hugs to your weekend, Heather :)

Friday, October 4, 2013

IT'S BEEN AWHILE & SOME NEWS

Hi everyone,

It's been a LONG, LONG, LONG time since I've blogged. I took a look. It's been since about mid-August...and did I mention it's been a LONG time?

Okay, so lots of things have been happening and I'm finally back into the blogging routine. Let's pray that I can keep it up. 

Starting next Friday, I'm going to start blogging about my journey of getting out of debt and what I do to save money on the things I buy every week and how I track my spending etc.  The only really BIG debt I have left to pay off are my student loans from college. Yes, they're hanging around my neck like a big fat albatross and I want it GONE.

So I'll be blogging more about that on Friday. In the meantime, I bought this to get me started on my journey.  It's really hysterical how I even decided on this particular monthly/weekly planner.





































I was surfing on YouTube looking for videos on the cash envelope system and how to make my own.  There'll be more info on that on next Friday's post.  I stumbled across a really cool video where this young lady had a binder similar to this one, where she wrote down all her bills and when she/her hubby got paid every month. It's an excellent visual to help keep one on track financially.

In any case, I saw this notebook at my local RiteAid but it was $9.99 and I thought it was too much money. Oh, little did I know what I was in for this day. Oh, and as a side note this all happened last Wednesday. It was my day off from work. 

My father came along for the ride because well, my dad is just plain cool. So it was a chance to spend some time with him, too.  So we decided to go to my local Walgreens on Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey. BIG MISTAKE.  Parking is free on that street BUT trying to find a parking space during lunch house was a BIG MISTAKE.  It's like asking the sun to stop shining. I was in no mood to circle the block a gazillion times waiting for a space to open up.

So we went to Staples in Seaside. Well, I was in planner heaven there, because they not only had EXACTLY what I wanted and needed, but they had at least 7 different styles. However, the prices were a total deal breaker. The least expensive one was about $22 and the most expensive one was around $40.  Heck NO!!!!  I wasn't going to pay that much money for something so basic.

So we went back to RiteAid and I ended up buying this planner for $10.74 including tax. I also got a little cash back to put gas in the car.  Here are the two things that I really love about this planner so far:





I love that this planner has a view of the entire month on two pages. It's the size of an 8 1/2 x 11 in sheet of paper. That makes it easy to read. There's plenty of room to write stuff down. My plan right now is to right down my paychecks each week and also to record when my bills are due. I do this on the calendar on my smartie pants phone, BUT I also wanted a literal physical paper visual that I could refer to as well.

There's also a weekly planner to go with the monthly calendar pages. It looks like this:


































This is a look at the month on a week-at-a-glance basis. This is where I'll be tracking my daily spending. I'm saving ALL of my receipts for a couple of reasons:

1) It will help me to keep track of my spending and help me to divide it up into categories

2) It'll justify me not having to clean out my purse every day since this is helping me on my way to fiduciary independence. Well, that last bit is a stretch, yes...but it's a good excuse, right?


Seriously, though, I am tracking my spending for the entire month of October, just to simply see where my money is going.  Once I've done that, I'll put it into categories and see what can be adjusted so that I can put more money towards paying off student loans and my orthodontist.


Okay, now on to some more fun stuff. These are some "random" photos from the last few days. I go to a women's Bible study at my church on Tuesday mornings.  My friend Sarah gives me a ride there. Last Tuesday we stopped in at a local coffee shop in the Carmel Valley.  They have the CUTEST vintage coffee tins. Of course, I was in vintage heaven and this tin was my favorite by far :) :) Plus, when I saw where this used to be made...well.. Oh, I can't even imagine buying a giant tin of coffee like this now:












































I also spotted the coolest vintage VW bus the other day in the Whole Foods parking lot. This was definitely the real deal.  I've seen this one around town a few times. I think the only thing missing was some hippies and a surf board attached to the roof of the vehicle.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Oh, did I mention that I've got braces on my teeth? Well, it seems like this one particular bracket kept breaking off and I had one week where I visited the orthodontist twice.  This was a pick I took of some of the utensils they have set up. Oh, it looks much scarier than it actually is. They just set up the standard tools in case something is needed, it'll be ready.  Thankfully I haven't had any issues for over a week now. So I'm just praying that my teeth will cooperate and be less stubborn and just move into alignment. It'll all be worth it in the end because when these braces come off, guess what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna party down with a nice big fat candy apple :) :)


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We are studying women of the Old Testament in our Tuesday morning Bible study. I've been making these Scripture photos every week for myself and for the other ladies in my Bible study. It's fun and I hope it's an encouragement to everyone. Feel free to borrow this. If you do, please credit it back to me here at Heather's Blog-orama.  OR please credit me back to my public photography page here at Heather Danielle Photography on Facebook.  While you're there, feel free to "like" my page. I welcome all friendly and nice visitors to my site.
 
My goal is to have a website or an Etsy shop where I'll start selling my photographs. Two goals:
1) To earn enough money each month that I don't have to pick up extra hours at work
 
2) eventually reach my goal of working from home and becoming completely and totally debt-free (except for the hoouse 'cause you gotta have a place to live )
 
Oh, here's the Scripture photo before I forget it. It's from Romans 12:21 and we were studying about Abigail last Tuesday morning:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Okay, that's good enough for now. My laundry has just finished drying and I should probably be thinking about getting ready for work this afternoon. Afterall my bills won't pay themselves (insert big smile here)  Thanks for hanging in there with me. Pray for me. Pray that God would give me wisdom. Plus I hope that what I'm about to start on with this journey to financial independence will be an encouragement to some of you out there in some way :)
 
 
That is the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)