On November 22nd, my handsome husband and I will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. OH, how I love that man! It totally doesn’t feel like 14 years. More like 5. Except that things were harder at year 5 than they are now. BUT, what I mean is that it feels like we were married just yesterday! Except that I love him more.
Isn’t that just incredible? I mean, you think you love the person you are going to marry more than any other person/thing on the entire planet on the day …

I am so excited to be moving into the holiday season! I love Thanksgiving (oh, the FOOD!) and Christmas is my favorite.
I have a dream that one day I will be the kind of mom who has a decorating bin for each season of the year: Snowflakes and snowmen for January and February, shamrocks and leprechauns for March, flowers and bunnies for April and May, etc.
I am not that mom. However, I really would love to be that mom.
I have a ton of great ideas! Really, I do!
The problem lies …

Okay, so here’s the deal: It has been nearly a month since I posted anything, and before that it was just grocery store scores. Yes, those can be exciting, but there is nothing more exciting than LIFE around the Ratzlaff house. I’ve been so overwhelmed at the thought of jumping in here to update you all and start to blog more regularly that I just kind of froze up.
Well, no more. This silent treatment has GOT to come to an end. I’m going nuts.
My life in bullet points. (Hopefully …

Just this morning, I was telling my friend that I would totally do the Eggo waffle deal if I had any more coupons. Fortunately, I didn’t need them today!

I went to my trusty end cap frozen food clearance section and found a BUNCH of Eating Right waffles and pancakes on 50% off clearance, which made them just $1.40 each. I bought 11 boxes to get my total above $15 so that I would earn that fun $5 Catalina! I rolled a previous Catalina, plus I used the last of my …

I once asked a friend whose son was entering first grade what she was going to do all day now that all of her kids were in school full time. She said, “Everything I did before, except better.” I just loved her response and was SO looking forward to the day when I could get a little bit of consistency in my schedule as my youngest started Kindergarten. Unfortunately, that still hasn’t happened! Kindergarten? Yes. Consistency? No.
I have been going, going, going since the first day of school, and I …

As you know, I have a great little Etsy store where I peddle my handmade cash envelopes for your cash budgeting system. I create custom labels for my customers, and it is really fun to see all of the different budgeting categories people use. It is VERY common for a customer to purchase a set of envelopes and then wonder what they should have for their categories. Well, now, that’s an interesting blog topic, isn’t it?
Cash budgeting is catching on all over the country, but it can sometimes be uncomfortable …

A few weeks ago, I asked the Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs Facebook Fans what color I should paint my front door and you guys come up with some great color combos. See, we were getting ready to paint our house so that it would stay in one piece over the rainy winter months, and I felt like we needed a change. After all, if we were going to pay someone to paint the entire house, then I wanted to SEE the difference!!
Here is the BEFORE. Please keep in mind that we …

My Friday Five (read all the way to the bottom to see a Family Room update!):
1 - My husband’s high school class held their 20 year reunion on Friday (bowling) and Saturday (BBQ). We had SUCH a good time! Although we did go to the 10 year reunion, there were many people there whom I hadn’t met, yet. Here’s the thing, though: I get SUPER shy/nervous in situations like that. I get all sick to my stomach. I’m actually quite the introvert, but I force myself to be social. It’s …