Back from the city...

It is SOOOO nice to be back home! Traveling with both girls by myself wasn't really that hard, but traveling in general is just pretty exhausting.

So, the funny thing about this trip was that there were two shining, wonderful parts of the trip...but a whole lot of annoyances the rest of the time. I think I got the message that God was trying to send to me this weekend...people, not things or my pride, are important. I KNOW this, of course, but I guess I need a refresher course every once in a while.

I've been stressing out lately about ways to save money. We are trying to save over $1000 per month on a salary of $2500-$3000 per month (depending on the month)...so I've been trying to use more coupons (which is a reasonable goal, I think), but I also got it into my head that I could do a bunch of shopping in Denver to save money.

Finding a store in Denver is pretty hard for me...I just can't handle the traffic and finding places. So, here's what happened: Walgreens, got charged wrong on one item, didn't notice, didn't get $2 coupon for purchasing another set of items, and couldn't find several of the free after rebate items. Also couldn't find the old or the new months Easy Saver catalog. Used children's clothing store: took 3 tall trash bags in, sat there for 2 hours while they went through them (all were unstained and in good condition) they chose to buy 10 items for $17...I had to then locate a Goodwill store to drop them off at (I guess they will do more good for a charity than for a business anyway). Safeway, bought 25 items from the Savings Rally list, should have received a $20 coupon, but got a $10 one instead, was told the wrong info by the assistant manager, and after several phone calls, I stopped back by the store to get the other $10. And finally, to top things off...took my SIL out to dinner with the girls to thank her for watching them. Charlotte completely freaked out and was screaming...I kept taking her in and out of the dining area to annoy the fewest people possible. Someone in the bar complained (after coming out and giving me dirty looks) and the bartender basically asked me to leave the restaurant, when I refused, she suggested I take Charlotte outside until she calmed down (it was 30 degrees), I refused again, but was so upset by the whole situation (the manager told the complainer that we had every right to be in the restaurant...so that was nice)...it was very hard on my pride because I think of myself as a reasonably good mother, but I know the impression that many people got of me there was not that good.

The shining wonderful moments were: the Mother's Day of Reflection (I'll post more about it when I have collected my thoughts), which was wonderful, we had a Mass, confessions, three speakers, a rosary, breakfast and lunch. There were more than 100 Catholic moms there...so cool to see so many people! Also, we met some friends from college at their parish for Mass, and then took all the kids (their 5, my 2) to the zoo. The kids had so much fun, and it was so great to catch up with friends (it's hard to really keep up when we live so far away from each other.

So, it was like being whacked across the head again...what I need to be focusing on more are my relationships...both with God and with neighbor...and worrying and planning a whole lot less!