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I promise I will get around to posting about the rest of Matthew's visit.... later.

In the meantime, I will blab about something completely different. I love to shop. I really love it. I like bargain shopping. I like window shopping. I just like shopping. I usually go to Target at least a couple of times a week. This week, we have decided to toss things up a little at our house, and we are going to try a money-free week.

Money is stressful. We are always working hard to make ends meet, pay down student loans as fast as possible, save up for future things (an excellent vacation, perhaps a house someday). It's all going well and we are more secure than we have ever been during our married life, which is awesome. But we (or maybe just I and I'm pushing all this onto Z) want to get away from all of that for a bit. So I spent yesterday and a little bit of this morning preparing. I paid all the bills. I put gas in the car. I got my hair cut (turned out terrible, if you were curious. The lady made one side WAY longer than the other, and I didn't notice until I got home and it was dry and styled). I made sure we had some fresh fruit and milk in the house. I did my bargain shopping. I did the laundry. And so, as of noon today, I declare this money-free week. We will not spend any money. We will eat in and brown bag it at work. We will not give any change to vending machines or laundry machines. I will put away my coupons and rebates and let them stay away for an entire week. The one single exception to all of this will be the tithing check I will write on Sunday. It really needs to go in this week as it is for the past 2 weeks (we didn't get one in last week because of conference). Plus that doesn't really count as spending money. It's just giving God some of his money back. But that is the only check that I will cut this week. I don't know how well this is going to work out, but I want to simplify, to take the time to be grateful for what I already have, and to be more level headed about needs vs wants. Something like this might not even be a challenge for a lot of you, but for me, it is, especially since all the Rita's water ice places have recently opened. :) Wish us luck.