7 Quick Takes Friday (Take 58)

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Thanks to those of you who prayed for my mom last week.  Her infection was minor and she was able to come home on Saturday. She's still experiencing quite a bit of pain and her recovery has been difficult because my dad works out of town four days a week and can't help her.  Continued prayers would be great, but it looks like she's on the mend and she's scheduled to be back at work a week from Monday.

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I had a new guest post this week in my Baby on a Budget series entitled "Top Ten Couponing Tips for Beginners".  It's a great introduction for anyone who wants to start couponing or who wants to do a little more with it.  It is by no means only for the parent of a baby, the post was written by Beth Anne of The Catholic Couponer who is not a mom.  I am planning to write a more specific post on baby coupons, but this is a great introduction.  Although I consider myself to be pretty handy with the coupons (but not a professional "couponer" by any means), several of the tips were completely new to me.  Thank you, Beth Anne!

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In case you missed the big news for our family, my husband graduated on Sunday!  I wrote him a letter earlier this week to tell him how proud I am and how much it means to our family.

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Speaking of graduation, David is now looking for jobs.  Well, he didn't just start, he's been at it for awhile, but no luck yet.  We are going to have to make some very difficult decisions soon about whether David should continue pursuing post-docs to work toward his dream career in academia (which would most likely mean we would stay here in North Carolina) or whether he should widen his job search to industry jobs in order to have a better chance of moving back to Colorado.  If you get a chance, would you shoot up a prayer that we might soon given a sign as to which way God wants us to go?

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Today, two students asked me if I was pregnant.  My response: no, but I did just have a baby.  I didn't add that by "just" I meant over five months ago.  I'm within five pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight, but as evidenced by the questions, not everything is distributed quite the same as before.  I thought I was looking quite nice when I left the house this morning; there's nothing quite like a few middle schoolers to humble you.

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David's graduation happened to be on Mother's Day, so we didn't really do anything special.  But since it was my first Mother's Day (at least with a baby in the arms instead of in the womb), I did get a picture with my favorite girl.  Unfortunately, you can't see the corsage I was wearing.  David's mom bought it for me and I wore it with pride all day!

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What is your favorite online tool?  I recently discovered an amazing meal planner.  Then I found a few sites that make going out of town a bit easier.  And I can't forget the many ways I make a little money online to help supplement our income.  And then there are those that are just fun (read: time sucking) like Pinterest.  Are there any big sites I'm missing out on?  I'd especially love to find more of the former (useful ones) than the later (time killing) ones (although to be fair, I have found some awesome recipes on Pinterest).

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