thankful Thursday...tomorrow is Friday & a sweet award

Well I posted yesterday my whiny story about how awful my day was but the sweet presence of God in my day.  Thanks for listing y'all.  What sweet comments some of you left! After an 11 hour day today (there I go whining again....grr), I opened my email to see the kind Sarah Ann at Sarah Ann's Bon Mot gave me a blog award.  How sweet! I love how supportive some people can be when you connect with them through the blogging world...she has been so kind to comment and show support to my blog!

I love when there are fun conditions that come with an award! Of course I will pass on the encouragement and support to other great bloggers! (Hope you'll check these great blogs out...and those award winners will pass on the love.)

1.  List 6 things you are a master in.
2.  Pass it on to 6 bloggers you think are masters in friendship, and make blogging so awesome.

Six Things I'm a Master In:

(hint about me...one is definitely not talking about things I'm a master in, but here goes.)

1.  Loving on my puppy.  He's adorable, the best cuddler in the world, stands at the door with his daddy to wave goodbye to me each morning, and smiles (literally, shows teeth) every day when I get home.

2.  Being a wife to my best friend.  Well not a master, because oh my am I still learning, but I'm a master in loving him like crazy, giving my marriage my all, and handing it over to God in prayer.

3.  Writing.  This is the whole reason I started my own little corner of the blogging world.  It's always been a passion of mine and I love doing it. (And I'm crazy/obsessed over spelling and punctuation.  Always have been...it's not just the teacher in me.)

4. Whining.  Not proud, but it's the truth.  I whine.  Way too much.  God's working on me.

5.  Eating french fries and drinking Diet Coke.  Enough said.  Healthy? Nope, not a bit.  But I do have to mentally remind myself to stay away from french fries (even over ice cream), and if I don't have my Diet Coke in the morning, watch out.

6.  Encouraging.  One of my sweet friends told me one time they thought this was a gift God had given me.  I had never really considered that, but I've always been one to want to cheer others on, show random acts of kindness, and care about others and their successes.  When she told me this it was one of the first times I really embraced the thought of a specific gift God had given me.  Aren't friends like that sweet?

Six Bloggers I'm Awarding:

1.  Ashleigh @ Thankfully Thrifty (inspiring and encouraging blogging friend I connected with)

2.  Page @ Crazy Joy (teacher friend of mine)

3.  Jessie @ Graciejess (teacher friend of mine)

4.  Heidi @ Wonder Woman Wannabe (kind and encouraging blogging friend I connected with)

5.  Crystal @ Endless Vine (new connection I have made through blogging, but already love her blog)

6.  Sarah Ann @ Sarah Ann's Bon Mot  (Don't know if this is against the rules, but I'm totally passing this back to Sarah Ann because she would be on my list.)

We had sunshine today! It was wonderful.  I hope you got a little bit of the sunshine too.  Have a wonderful Friday!

Now go visit these lovely ladies I awarded!

an award and a thank you!

Thank you so much Thankfully Thrifty for an award shout-out!

Ashleigh at Thankfully Thrifty has become a "bloggy friend" of mine. :) She's in Dallas...I'm in good ol' Kentucky...but we've found lots of similarities. Striving to be stewards of God's money? Check! Crafty? (well she's much more impressive on that end! Check out her cute clutch.) Check! Cute "puppies" that seem to be more like our babies? Check! If you're not in the blogging world...it's the best part of it all...making friends with people you would have probably never come in contact with!  Check out Ashleigh's blog for thrifty tips, AWESOME links to freebies, her amazing deals, and all things crafty and cutesy.  Thanks again, Ashleigh!

 Now to pass on the love...Check out my post from about a week ago on my blog tribe to find some great ladies whose blogs bless me! (So cool that I've added Thankfully Thrifty since then...I challenge you to continue to grow your list as I do mine! It's just plain fun!)

So in honor of any of my new (or old revisiting) bloggy friends....here are a couple thrifty tips for your Tuesday morning.

1.  Coupon Buddies--
Find a few people that get coupons that they don't use all of them and swap coupons! Sounds simple? It is! (It's "being green" with your coupons, too!) My mom and my grandma are my coupon buddies.  We're so serious about this that my grandma hands me a stack of coupons when I come into church on Sunday mornings and my mom has them waiting for me in a grocery bag at her house when I come by. haha...we're hard-core coupon people! Check out this stack of coupons I got from my mom the other day.

This makes my heart happy.

2.  Frugal Fabric Softener--

My momma taught me this one! I have been guilty of always buying drier sheets.  Well, this great tip cuts down on how much fabric softener you buy...big time. Whew! The directions on the bottle won't tell you to do this....but I am asking you to be a thrifty rebel here.  Grab a waschcloth and cup it over the top of the bottle.  Simple turn the bottle over once to wet a spot of the washcloth with the fabric softener.  Throw the washcloth into the drier with your clothes and you'll have the same fresh smell and soft-to-the touch clothes.  (And my favorite...no static.) Of course, you may need to adapt how many times you do this onto the washcloth depending on if you are a get-it-over-with-as-fast-as-you-can laundry person like me and do huge loads.  (Dollar off coupon in that stack of coupons you saw earlier helped me get this for about $2.)

Enjoy your day!

blessings, Cait