Pro Tips from Brenda

When you make chicken chimichangas for your family for supper...


...put chicken in them. Vital ingredient, folks. 

That is all. 

You Can't Make Me Pay!

So Little Bit has been invited to go watch the new American Girl movie next week. This movie is about the girl of the year--Isabelle--of which Little Bit happens to own the doll. So, it's pretty cool to take your American Girl doll to the movie with you. Doubly cool if your doll is IN the movie! I know Little Bit would really, really like the outfit for girls that matches the doll but, you see, I'm not independently wealthy.

My word the amount that company charges. She was helping me clean out paperwork yesterday (yes, she enjoys that stuff) and we ran across the receipt for Isabelle. She said she wanted to keep it. I told her, "Yes, keep it so you can show your daughters how cheaply you got your doll! They will say, 'No fair Mom! American Girls cost $500 now!'" She cracked up.

Anyway, Mama is not dumb. I have a plan to make Little Bit an outfit that matches her Isabelle. I will share it with you when I'm done. It's going to be awesome.

We have had a pretty busy summer. For the first time ever, I signed the girls up for classes in a nearby town at their rec center. Sweetheart was supposed to take a self-defense class and her friend signed up with her. I was going to count all the hours (10 classes!) towards high school P.E. credit but, she and her friend were the only ones who signed up. Needless to say the class was cancelled.

But Little Bit's "Mini Gourmet" class was great! It lasted 4 mornings and she took it with 2 friends.

She learned to cook quite a few things and even got to help cook one of her meals for everyone at our church a few weeks later. She was very proud. 

Then last week, Little Bit attended VBS in another nearby city. She enjoyed it. I can't get over how brave she has become--this child who wouldn't talk to anyone outside of our home for years. She didn't know anyone at the VBS but just marched on in every day and had a good time. 

The last day of VBS happened to be Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. I promised her we would NOT come in and pick her up from VBS dressed as cows. So, we had our black and white on and then had to do a lot of shuffling around in the van. But we made it and had a completely free lunch for four. 

Mama has no pride. I wanted Free food! I did not wear the ears the whole time.

We also had cow toes but I'll spare you the pics of feet. I hate feet pics. 

And that reminds me that I need to remove said cow nail polish before lunch today. S and I are going to go eat to celebrate 21 years of marriage. And something tells me he'd rather not dine with a bovine wife. 

Because we're classy like that. 

Saturday Fun

It's pretty sad when you have to schedule time for family fun. We had so much to do this weekend, some of which did not get done (grocery shopping, finances....). But this is important stuff too.

We went strawberry picking at a nearby farm. 

Bee caught on very quickly which ones to pick. 

Little bit choosing good ones!

Sweetheart LOVES to eat strawberries. 

I had to really keep on top of Bee. She was quick. 

Add caption

 

You don't see the pictures of when Bee ran ahead down the row and into mud. Mama had to wade in to get her and we both had shoes that were caked with mud. I was just really happy I didn't fall in it!

Then we shopped a bit at their farmer's market (there see? I did go grocery shopping!) and went to eat lunch together. It was a nice Saturday morning.

And just in time too because a cold front came through Sunday morning and it was raining and cold the rest of the weekend.

Now we face Monday somewhat unprepared for the week. But that's OK. There are only 24 hours in a day! Lesson plans got done and S is going to get Sweetheart up early from now on so she can get a jump start on her day and NOT be behind all week.

Have a great Monday!

Patting Myself on the Back

I am so proud of myself! I made baby food!!

OK. So, as it turns out, "baby food" is just grown up food mashed or pureed up. I know that now.

Let me start over. I've had a baby in my 20s, a baby in my 30s, and now...a baby in my 40s. (That pattern stops here, by the way!) I am a MUCH wiser mommy in my 40s than I was in my 20s. Much.

Sweetheart ate baby food. The kind that comes in a jar. WAY longer than was necessary. I liked it because I knew she was getting a fruit, a vegetable, and a meat at supper. (That statement makes no sense to me now.) I didn't know or care what was in those little jars. It was baby food. It was made by Gerber. What could be wrong with that?

Plus, I worked back then. I barely cooked for US, much less the baby!

Flash forward 13 years. I have been a homemaker for 5 or 6 years now. I have learned a few things. And it seemed to me that making Bee's baby food would be no big deal.

First I had to make sure I was getting the right thing. Text: Dad, is the one on the bottom the acorn squash?

OK--so 40 doesn't equal wise ALL the time.

So this morning S cut an acorn squash in half for me and I baked it. I filled 2 ice cube trays with it.

Then this afternoon, my dad baked a sweet potato for her. I got another almost full ice cube tray from that. Along with bananas and apples from our countertop, she should be good to go for quite a while! (Especially since I'm not feeding her at every meal, or even every day---just whenever the time seems right.)

I know I could have (should have?) waited until she was 6 months old, but she's ready. I watched for all the cues. I tested her tongue thrust reflex. I let her chew on an apple slice in the feeder thingy. She's an eater now. Its all going well except for that unfortunate idea to give her some cold carrot to chew on for those sore gums....

Thankfully, she forgave me later. After she threw it across the room.

So I Have a Secret

I've been making smoothies for breakfast for 2 weeks now. The girls and I have been drinking one every morning. I'm doing this for our health. So what's the big secret?

Well, they think they are drinking fruit smoothies, but they are really drinking green smoothies. Yeah, yeah..."knowledge is power". How about "what you don't know won't hurt you"? Or "ignorance is bliss"?

The first 2 mornings after I bought my Ninja...(**Warning: My sister and a good friend have both sliced themselves on the blades to this bad boy. Not my Ninja--theirs. These things are SHARP. Use caution.)
Anyway...the first 2 smoothies I made were straight up fruit smoothies. And I made them pretty sweet. After that, the novelty of the new blender wore off and the girls wandered off and I started stuffing spinach in there too. I started with one good fistful and now I'm using 1/2 a small bag every morning.

I LOVE that Sweetheart is getting all those greens in her diet. She wouldn't eat that much spinach in a YEAR left to her own devices. I love that breakfast is easy. I'm excited they still like them. Little Bit asks for them every morning. Sweetheart sometimes needs encouragement to finish hers, but she does. She's even said she likes them!

One day soon they'll discover my little secret. And that's OK. Because at that point I can just say, "You've been drinking green smoothies for X amount of weeks and you liked them." Anyway I thought I'd share what I've been doing.

I basically used this video to get started. The big difference is, I use blueberries to turn our smoothie a wonderful shade of pink. My smoothies aren't that green even before the blueberries. I'm working up the amount of greens I add though little by little.

Our basic daily recipe is some no sugar added mixed frozen fruit, water, spinach, and frozen blueberries. Oh...and flax seed and sometimes I throw Little Bit's magnesium supplement in there too. Oh and a little Truvia. I understand you are supposed to change things up a bit and use different greens, etc. But this is really working for us and is way more health food getting inside of us than usual. So for now I'm sticking with it.

I can't say that I've noticed huge benefits yet. Some people report symptoms of other diseases gone, great hair and skin, etc. My nails are really strong just like when I was pregnant. I guess that's something. But we're going to keep going and see what happens.

Oh one more thing! I'm kind of starting Sweetheart on this diet. Yes, my 90 pound almost 13 year old on a diet. :) It's not for weight loss. That girl loves nothing but carbs and sweets and avoids any vegetable she can. She's on the fast track to diabetes with her Dad's family history, so I decided something needed to change. The smoothies are my own idea--they aren't part of this diet. The first step in the diet is to eat protein every morning with breakfast. So I make her a piece of peanut butter toast, or a slice of sausage to go with her smoothie. I'm also going to try throwing oatmeal in the blender. Whatever I can do to improve her diet.

That's my little secret. And my little plan to get our family healthier. There is so much to improve on it can be overwhelming, but at least I've started, right?

The Last Day?

Am sitting here on the couch listening to the sound of birds as the sun finishes rising in the sky and the cool breeze from the backyard blows gently in from the open patio door.

 Full disclosure: I BADLY burned the toast this morning and the door is open to get the smoke out of here.

Idyllic, no?

So...I have a doc appointment this afternoon. I had a contraction every hour all day long yesterday until the evening. They never picked up, but hopefully (?) they did something in the way of progress? I'll find out today.

Best case scenario (in my opinion): I go into labor myself before 5am tomorrow.

Next best case: I go to doctor today and find out I am totally favorable for induction and we proceed Friday morning at 5am.

Next, next best case: We decide to induce anyway and it works.

I think you can see the options go downhill from there. Failed induction...waiting until Monday...these things do not appeal to me.

Well, we find out later. Until then, I have my totally fabricated-just-to-make-myself-feel-better list of things to do today. It mostly involves being really OCD about the house. The girls love me right now. Of course, after the doctor's appointment there may be other things to do like last minute packing of bags and stuff like that.

I'm going to eat lunch with S today. It could be one of my last times out and about in public for a while. Not sure where we are going to go, but I predict it will be good because it will be somewhere that does NOT smell like burnt toast or that makes me feel like cleaning. That should be relaxing.

I'll update you after the doctor's appointment!

The Shower

My good friend Carrie offered to throw me a baby shower a few months ago. Her strength is planning. She is an awesome event planner. My mom was super impressed.

Carrie said she had Pinterest to thank, but said it was very annoying to not be able to pin stuff because then, of course, I would have seen it!

Just look at all the cuteness and yumminess and loveliness!

The donut hole tree was a favorite!!

Everything had cute little labels with owls on them. 

She also had a "Decorate a Onesie" station set up. We had a slew of 8-12 year old girls at the shower and they really enjoyed this. Let's just say that the paint on their onesies MIGHT be dry before the baby comes! Then later the grown ups visited and we've got a lot of cute, original outfits for baby.

There were 3 different sizes of onesies to choose from. 

And of course the really fun part: the presents!

I'm only sharing 2 pictures because I make the CRAZIEST facial expressions! Mercy!

But look at this sweetness! The girls were SO excited to get to open these and will look so cute coming home from the hospital with their (hopefully) little sister.

"Biggest Sister", "Big Sister", "Little Sister."

Some other shots of the morning:

There's the awesome hostess. I'm digging in!

It was a lovely, lovely shower. Thank you so much Carrie! (and everyone who came!!)

I feel much more prepared now.

And also, after looking at the pictures....just a little hungry.

I'm a Hater

Woke up this morning thinking about the very heavy responsibility I have to take care of my family's health. S has not felt really good this week and his blood sugar has been really high. (which is why he hasn't felt good!) Then this morning I got to thinking about the girls too. Everyone has something that needs to be dealt with!

click to read their diagnoses!

These are just the things that came to mind this morning as I lay in bed. S and his diabetes (which I HATE), Little Bit's TS (although under control right now), and her scalp problems are back, and Sweetheart with her complete love of all things sugar and starch and her avoidance of any form of vegetable. (thankfully, her asthma is gone!) Sigh.

As a homemaker, I feel such a HUGE responsibility in all this. I KNOW 90% of these problems could be helped or cleared up completely by proper diet. But OH "proper diet" is SO hard!!

I really just want to go to the store and mindlessly buy Hamburger Helper and Cheetos like I used to in the early 90s, OK? Grocery shopping was easy then.

Menu planning, label reading, grocery shopping, (affording the healthy stuff), cooking....it is all so much work and I feel very overwhelmed when I think about it all. And then there's me being pregnant and the new baby will be here soon and I need to make wise choices then because of...well, new baby and breastfeeding.

This isn't going away, is all I'm saying. So I suppose I need to really, really get with it.

The thing is, no one in our family has IMMEDIATE MEDICAL RESPONSES to bad choices. If someone were to say, have an allergic reaction or go into a seizure because of a food choice, then obviously we would be very careful and diligent. But that isn't it. In our case, a person can choose to eat a really bad-for-you meal and you really won't notice any difference in their life right away. BUT I KNOW it's having a bad affect on their long-term health. I know the future path if these problems are allowed to continue.

I won't get into any of my specific plans right now. They are still swirling around in my head. I need to do more research. I need to pray, too. All I do know is I need a plan of action and I need to start taking this responsibility very seriously.

Because I absolutely HATE all these health problems. But I LOVE my family.

Wanna Know Why I Didn't Post Yesterday?

Because I was very near comatose. I was so exhausted after 2 nights of waking up at 3am for the day that I fell asleep last night the minute we walked in the door from church. I literally walked to the bedroom, changed clothes, and crawled in bed. It was 8:30pm. So sad. I was so tired I actually felt kind of sick.

But, after 9 hours of sleep---I am a new woman!

Good thing too because this house is falling down around my ears. It's picked up. At least we've kept up with that end. But we have NO groceries, precious few clean clothes, and it's getting old. Today: must actually switch the laundry and get it all the way clean and dry and delivered and must procure food for my family. You know, the basics?

But I have another reason I am glad I slept. Sweetheart and I have a shopping date today. Girlfriend has outgrown just about everything but specifically she needs dresses to wear to church. I've been looking up size charts for various stores and she's all over the place. Best I can tell, it's going to be a toss up between sizes 14-18 in the girls' department and sizes 0-1 in the juniors department. There's really no way to know until we try stuff on.

My main concern is finding dresses that are an appropriate length. Can I get an Amen? Sigh. My other concern is not spending an arm and a leg. The plan is to start at Goodwill and work our way up (Wal-Mart,  Old Navy, Kohl's...). We'll see what we can find for cheap and then move on if we have to.

Oh yeah, and we have some school to do too. But I think food and clothing is more important today.

Signed,

Still not adjusted to Daylight Savings Time

Redeeming Alexander's Day

You know that one, right? The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad kind? Mine started off like that.

BUT...I was determined that the morning need not set the tone for the whole rest of the day.

I didn't sleep last night. No reason---just because I woke wide awake at 3:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got up and ate some cereal. I could have washed the dishes or balanced the checkbook or any number of things at that hour I was so awake. But I chose to go back to bed. I finally, finally drifted off to sleep a few minutes before husband's alarm went off. Sigh.

I weighed all the courses of action I could take. Get up and make his coffee and breakfast and lunch like usual? (He was getting up an hour earlier than he usually does ON TOP of losing that hour of sleep this weekend). Or lay here and try to get back to sleep? Hmm. He's getting up early. He can make the coffee and grab some toast. I think he has enough cash in his wallet for lunch.

I guess you know what I chose. But it was 7:00 before I went back to sleep. And then I woke up at 8:30. (which, really, is 7:30--you know?) Great start to the day. The girls got up before me and were playing on the Wii. The kitchen was a mess and I didn't know what we had for breakfast.

(On a side note, we cleaned house this weekend, but the kitchen didn't seem to make the cut.)

So I sent them to get dressed and I took a shower. Now it was 9:30. I'll make pancakes. Shoot. No baking powder. I have a tiny bit of "just add water" mix they can have and I'll find something else. Not enough. Oh look! Just enough Bisquick! Add milk. Add eggs. Huh? Oh man. Little bugs in the mix. I hate those little things. Wonder what else they are in?

So, I had to pay for breakfast while we ran our errands. Not what we needed to do. But I'm still determined to make this day good.

Errands are run. We have lunch and supper for today and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. Picked up medicine for S. Back home. It's 11:15. There is still time for this day to turn around.

After lunch we will do school. We will START with Bible. There hasn't been enough Bible around here lately. Then we will clean the kitchen. And update that checkbook. And do some chores around the house. I will have the girls sweep off the back porch and tidy up before Daddy gets home. We will watch a show together tonight and maybe eat popcorn.

Just because the morning started off poorly doesn't mean the day is going to go downhill. I mean, sometimes it does. But today is NOT one of those days.

Because I say so.


And this picture makes me happy. Little Bit, nearly 2 years ago, helping Daddy in his wood shop. See all her Handy Manny tools in her tool belt. Cutie. 

You Can't Believe Everything You Read

So I posted on Facebook yesterday that I was about to take down my Christmas decorations, but I took a nap instead. My mom walked down to visit--thinking I was, of course, taking down Christmas decorations. Oops. I really INTENDED to take them down, but I got tired. What can I say?

Little Bit cooked dinner by herself last night (except I opened the cans with the can opener and put it in the oven). She was very proud and then I nearly threw up getting it out of the oven. S walked in the room just as I bolted for the bathroom. It was kind of out of the blue as food hasn't been bothering me for several weeks. So, I had Cheerios last night while the family ate Little Bit's masterpiece. These girls are going to be such a tremendous help--and already have been.

Today we left our decorations still up and went to the farmer's market. It's 20 or 30 minutes away and I know I have to do big things like that in the mornings when I have energy. We also ran several other errands. Here is our haul:

Mmm. Yummy, fresh food. Not organic, but probably tons better than what you find at the grocery store. Little local places can't afford to be certified organic. I'm not 100% sure where all this came from, but it all looks fresh and delicious and worth the drive. Sweetheart said, when we were checking out, "This looks mostly like vegetables..." I told her that was what was good for Daddy and us. She isn't a fan of the vegetables.

And I'm sorry to say that at least 3 of the vegetables in that picture will end up being fried--so don't be too impressed with my good healthy choices.

I sat down last night and started to plan for school and couldn't find one solitary idea for activities to go along with Little Bit's upcoming books. Planning fail. Guess I'll try again today. I really need to get the rest of the year planned so I don't have to take more breaks to get that done.

Monday S is off so...no school.
Tuesday morning is a doctor's appointment so....very little school.
Wednesday is my birthday so...i don't WANT school.
Thursday seems kind of late to kick things off, huh?

 I'm seriously thinking about waiting another week but I'm already yearning for some routine. I think we'll just do some subjects and ease back in. How is your planning going? When do you start back?

And will you come take down my decorations for me?

Actually, You Can Just Stick to Calling Me Brenda

So I had high hopes yesterday of baking and crafting goodness.

Well.

The Oreo bark was a dud. The cake balls are SO ugly! It looked so easy on the tutorial!! There is definitely a learning curve with those suckers and let's just say....I learned a lot yesterday.

So that just leaves me with the pretzel/kiss/M&M snacks which SURELY I can't mess up. Oh, and the already sliced cookies. I can do those I think.

On a good note, the gift for Sweetheart's piano teacher turned out nicely.

I am really ready to stay home for a few days but today is not the day. I need to go on a major shopping trip Friday morning and THEN, I should be able to hole up here for a while. Make my children breakfast again. Pack S a lunch. Know what's for supper before suppertime. Get some laundry done. Work on some presents. It'll be great. I'll feel like a homemaker instead of a taxi driver!

And who knows? I might even have something to talk about on here! (Wouldn't that be something?)

Ready to be home all day,


brenda


Bonus Feature:  (to redeem this boring post)

18 weeks. Please enjoy our messy bedroom. Is that an orange on my bed? 

Today You May Call Me Betty Stewart....or Martha Crocker

It's baking day at the House Revised! Yesterday we worked really hard on school so we aren't worrying about it today. Just baking Christmas goodies.

Of course, first I have to clean the kitchen a bit. Sigh. That is not the fun part!

Most of the goodies will not be consumed by us, although we will be sampling them because how can you give treats away unless you are SURE they are yummy? Right? S has 4 women that work in his office and that is a new thing for him. He knows what to get for male co-workers. This year, he wasn't so sure what to do.

"I know what to get women," I told him. "I'll take care of it."

We'll be making these.
And this. 
And these. 

So...the theme would be....CHOCOLATE.

And, most challenging of all, some of these:

Hey I can't be amazing all the time, yo? Those are for our homeschool Christmas party and our Keepers at Home ceremony later this week. The girls will be earning their pins and Grandparents are invited so we are serving refreshments. Easy refreshments.

But ladies and gentlemen....she doesn't JUST cook!

Today is Sweetheart's last day of piano for 2010 so we are making this to give to her piano teacher. Oh, but we will be using scrapbook paper that has sheet music on it instead of old book pages. It will be pretty.

(Picture from A Cottage Industry--link above)
Her whole site is pretty amazing! She has great ideas!!

Also I'm hand-sewing some little things right now. I love hand-sewing. It gives you an excuse to sit down and rest.

So cooking and craftiness all in one day! (After I clean...sigh.)

Thanksgiving--a Week Early--and Some of My Friends

It's our homeschool group's Thanksgiving feast today. I love getting to eat yummy Thanksgiving food (most of which I didn't cook) a week early! I'm making mashed potatoes and so in a minute I have to go start peeling potatoes. Ug. I also signed up to bring 2 liters. Bread was already taken.

I'm all about the challenging cooking.

So we won't finish all our subjects today but that's OK. We're going to be more thankful today than productive.

The really good news is, since we had friends coming over last night, we actually cleaned the kitchen up after supper. (As opposed to the next morning--ahem.) It was a joy to walk into a clean kitchen this morning, let me tell you. Haven't done that in a while.

So this morning we're scrambling around trying to find good looking clothes to wear. It was in the 50s this morning, but will get up to 69 today and we will be helping set up and clean up from the feast so....how do you dress for that? I'm sure we'll all pull something together.

Two more things:

My friend's 1 year old baby had major (and very long) surgery yesterday to remove a tumor from behind her right ear. This is the second tumor. The first one was removed in May. She will be in the hospital for 8 days and will have another surgery in 4 days. I have felt very distracted thinking about them. When they get in a regular room, we can go see them. She has 5 other children who she had to place in public school for the time being and I just cannot imagine what all she is going through. If you think about it would you say a prayer for baby Marissa and her family?

On a happier note, another friend was nominated for best homeschool vlogger. She really is. Even if I am slightly upset when I see her gorgeous self (EVEN with no makeup) on the videos. Do you even want to know what I would look like if I were to video myself while driving? Dear me. Check her out here and go vote if you like!

I Have a Plan

Sweetheart has been wanting so badly to be big and helpful lately. Yesterday we got home from the grocery store and I was so tired. She said she would unload the groceries for me. And she did--each time carrying more and more bags. (Which of course I bragged on her about.)

Then she asked if she could cook supper. Why, certainly!! I just happened to find a recipe yesterday that was very easy. And me sitting on the couch giving directions to Sweetheart in the kitchen was really nice and ALSO made me think about things in 6 months.

So, my plan is:
#1 Get a list of meals together that Sweetheart can make.
#2 Get some meals in the freezer. (I've been pinning freezer meal recipes.)

And, oh yeah, I also need to kind of organize the kitchen a bit better. It's gotten messy.

That's just the kitchen!!!! Sigh. There is so much to do!

Anyway, here's the recipe (any family bigger than mine will want to double it--I may double it next time so we will have leftovers.)

Tasty Taco Bake
Crush Doritoes in the bottom of an 8 inch casserole dish.
Combine chili with beans, green chilies, and a 1/2 cup of olives in a bowl. Spoon over the chips in the dish.
Spread sour cream over the top.
Sprinkle with cheese, mushrooms, green onions, more crushed chips, and olives.
Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top with shredded lettuce.

(We left out the green chilies, mushrooms, and olives. We're picky.)

Glad I have a plan for the kitchen--now I just need to implement it!

The Longest Day Ever

Oh my word y'all.

We're doing every. single. subject. today and it's 2:30 and we aren't through yet. Well, Sweetheart isn't through anyway. Who knew school would take this long when you do the WHOLE smash?

And OK we didn't get started very early because mama was awake for 3-4 hours last night for no good reason and so I went back to sleep after S left for work. Then we had to run to the grocery store just to have anything to eat for breakfast.

I told you I wasn't exactly prepared this week.

But the good news is, we WILL finish every subject today and the best part is: I MADE A GROCERY LIST. That, my friends, is 50% of the battle. Maybe more.

And so we were all ready to walk out the door and go procure food and let Sweetheart finish school when we got home and then.....

Well, if you can't tell, it is POURING outside. So, we will wait.

And school taking this long wouldn't be a big deal if we just stayed home every day but somehow we have gotten ourselves into too much going this year. I hate that. Mondays and Fridays are home days at least. I really need to look at the calendar and pare down some stuff.

So, how about you? If you homeschool, do you do every single subject every day? How many days a week do you stay home?

Date Night and Giveaway Winner

Well, I said I was going to pick the winner of the True Christian Motherhood book last night, but what I really did was go out with my husband. Sorry! (But we had fun!)

Remember I'm going out of town today so spending some time with my husband was very nice. The girls spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa so a good time was had by all. Now the girls said they "already missed me last night" and now I'm "leaving today." Poor babies. They are used to having me 24/7. But Daddy has some fun planned for them while I'm gone so I'm sure they'll have a good time.

I'm spending the morning packing and figuring out what I'm going to take for snacks. You know I've been tired and shaky hungry lately. Last night I got a smoothie--strawberry/kiwi infused with protein--and it really helped! But alas there are probably not many smoothie shops in the heart of Texas where we are headed, so I'm going to need to figure out some good snacks to take in case I get shaky while I'm gone.  That, and how to fit my Mom's 3 giant pillows she sleeps with into the van are my only concerns right now. Also, if I'm going to have room in the bed to sleep.

Now, on to the winner!

#8--That would be....Deborah! Congratulations Deborah! (Your profile says "not available" right now. Could be my computer....will you shoot me an e-mail? Thanks!)

Thank you to everyone who participated. I encourage you to look out for other giveaways around the web right now if you still want to win a copy. There are several going on.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Resting and Doing

So I had made a doctor's appointment earlier this week to go see if there was  reason why I've been so tired. Then Tuesday I left the house at 12:15 and when we got home at 3:30 or so, I realized I felt...normal. I continued to feel good all evening and even stayed up until 10:00! I know!!

And surprisingly, I felt fine yesterday morning at 6:45. I didn't even feel the need to go back to bed after S left for work. So....maybe I have finally caught up on rest? I cancelled the doctor's appointment (which is good because then I saw I had a voice mail--them cancelling b/c the doc was sick!) and am just going on with my week.

I really think one reason why I have not felt that good is diet. We have been trying to be frugal, frugal, frugal with the grocery shopping and that boils down to eating a lot of non-food, really. After I eat, I still feel like I need something else. But what is it? I've decided I need to get more real food in me. I don't know how we will afford it, but it must be done. I believe I will start with green smoothies. Only I'm making mine purple (just add berries) because drinking something the color of Shrek is just wrong. Also I bought steak today and I'm eating it for lunch. I've been craving it.

In other news, I am going to my first ladies' retreat ever this weekend. I never went to retreats when the girls were little because I didn't want to leave them and S worked a lot and I didn't see how it was possible. They are much older now and childcare worked out fine, so I am going. It is a long way away and there will be a lot of driving involved, but I hope it will be fun and even relaxing. My mom and a friend from church are coming with me. There are many questions in my mind:

1. How will S fix the girls' hair while I am gone?
2. What will they eat?
3. How will the house look when I get back?
4. Will I be even more tired from this long trip?
5. Will it be wonderful and refreshing?
6. Will I ever get everything done in time to leave?
7. What will we eat and what should I pack in case I don't like the food?

I have many concerns. The main thing is I need to get things done around HERE before I go THERE because we get back late Saturday night and boom! school starts back on Monday. And I'm not ready.

I'm off to cook my steak for lunch and see if I can get this shaky empty feeling to leave. If I'm not feeling more normal by the end of the weekend, I suppose I'll go to the doctor next week.

And I've also decided that starting school "on time" is NOT the be-all, end-all proof of a successful day. Sure, we have a lot to do and need to start in a timely manner. But if I need more sleep, I'm getting it. That's it. Homeschooling is not so important that I need to run myself into the ground for it, you know?

Signed,

Your tired hungry friend

Bit By the Frugal Bug

This was my second week attempting frugal grocery shopping and I am very pleased again. I only used 1 coupon and price matched 18 items at W-mart.

The problem with all the couponing this week was the match-ups I found on websites called for coupons that came out in the May inserts. I don't have those inserts as I wasn't saving coupons at the time. So, it will take a few more weeks before I'm all set on the coupon front.

This mama killdeer laid eggs in the flowerbeds at church. We've been watching her every week.
They hatched this week. I sure hope we get to see them! 

But I can still price match! I don't know exactly how much I saved this week as I forgot to write down the prices from W-mart. Last week I saved about $13, which doesn't sound like a lot. So why are my grocery bills so much lower than they have been?

I think it's because I'm spending the time going through all the grocery ads for all the stores in our area so I KNOW a good deal when I see it. There are many times when W-mart's price is better than the one I have written down. It's good to know that I'm getting a good price.

And of course, I'm not buying organic anymore. I would like to go back to organic one day...but not right now.

I love that I'm saving money on our grocery bill each week. Since I don't actually have an income....saving money where I can makes me feel like I'm contributing to our family's budget in a very real way.

My grocery store helpers. They are very patient and good shoppers.

Now, I need a better deal on my Internet and phone service! Our Internet has been flaky lately and to get a faster service it will end up costing only about $8-$10 a month more BUT $100 more for a new modem. That's not helping me save money. The only reason we even have a land line is for the Internet service. I wish i could get rid of the whole bill!

I'm all about getting a better deal. Once you start saving money, you feel really offended if you can't save on something. We went to Chili's last week with a "kids eat free" coupon. Bought books at the bookstore "buy 2 get 1 free" and used a Starbucks gift card.

It's official. I've been bit by the frugal bug. I LOVE saving money.

The First Grocery Report

Well, I went on my very first "saving grocery trip" this morning. I'd like to tell you about it. Here is a report from a complete coupon novice.

This week my only goal was to learn to price match at W-mart. I didn't use any coupons. Here is W-mart's price match policy. I'll add in other couponing techniques later. One thing at a time.

So I sat down with all the store ads yesterday and wrote down what was on sale that I might need. I fought the urge to stock up buying things that were a good bargain but we didn't specifically need this week. I wrote down, for example:

Ground Beef 93% lean (Kroger $2.99)

on a separate sheet of paper. Then I put a * next to "meat" on my grocery list so when I got to the meat section, I would remember to check my price match page.

Sometimes, W-mart had the better deal so I didn't use the price match. I ended up price matching 14 items. I put those at the back of the conveyor belt. I lucked out and got a cashier who knew what she was doing. In fact, she was training two new cashiers so I provided a good lesson for them.

It was so easy. I just read off what I had on my list (I had hi-lighted what I was buying on my price match list while I shopped) and she did a price override, typing in the price I told her. I didn't even say the store names. No questions asked. No proof needed. It was weird.

I ended up saving (I think my math is correct) 16% on my grocery bill. But here's the thing! When I am being really cheap, meaning I don't buy a lot of meat that week, I spend a certain amount. I spent a few dollars LESS than that amount today AND got 5 pounds of lean ground beef and a big family pack of chicken breast. AND STILL CAME OUT CHEAPER than my cheap weeks!!! And also got some name brand things that I normally would say "no" to.

I am very pleased with my first saving trip. Thank you Karly!

One more point. I went early while the cashiers were fresh and the store wasn't crowded. I think that really helped.

This saving thing is going to be a breeze!