2013

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sheila

Both little girls had eye appointments last week and we received some good news, Kendall’s eye are stable, corrected to 20/20 with glass so she will not need to be seen again for six months! Lily’s weak eye has improved as well and she will no longer be patching! She continues to need to be seen every 3 months but she is so excited to stop patching after 3 year!
All of Zach’s dental bill have been processed by the insurance company and after requesting refunds, which I will turn around and pay on the remain bill, we only owe an additional $93. This is a huge relief and praise as the original bill I received last week was $696
Budgeting this month has gone really astray. I am struggling to get a grip on the coming in but more importantly on the amounts we are spending. I know that a significant amount is school/end of the year related but man I wish it would slow down.
Haley is fast approaching Graduation from high school. She presented her final English project today and has a presentation next week that is very stressful for her. But she is counting the days till she walks across the stage. She also is searching for a job for the summer.
Matt has been working on the car, Haley purchased from Amanda, hopefully it will be completed and ready to drive by the end of May.
I have a student who is shadowing me this week and starting next week will be “taking over my caseload” to complete her education. I did not realize until this week how difficult and stressful my job can be! But I still love it!
The only success I had with starting my garden from seeds this year was the cucumbers. I hope to replant the other items this week.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Sheila

My 5 reasons

Tiger Bark- My New Favorite Desert

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Sheila

I was given this recipe by one of Sandy’s patient. It was awesome so I decided to try it at home. YUMMY! and Simple! So I had to share..

24oz Bag White Chocolate chips
12oz Creamy Peanut Butter
4oz Milk Chocolate chips

Melt White chocolate chips in microwave 1 minute at 70%, stir if not smooth add additional 15 seconds at 70%. Mix in peanut butter. Spread in 9×13 pan. Melt milk chocolate chip, same 1 minute at 70%. Drizzle on top of other mixture. Using a toothpick swirl into the mixture but not too deep. Place in fridge to firm up. I keep mine in the fridge but you can keep in air tight container.

Wordless Wednesday Lily Cheerleading

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Sheila

Wordless Wednesday Prom 2013

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Sheila

April In Review

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Sheila

Financial goals: April was a month of catch up that didn’t have us catching up as I had hoped. One of the reason was I actually was shorted a full day on a check. Hopefully things will start to improve in May

Pay off Lawn mower by March 2014, so no interest is charged. Payment made of $175
Pay off all outstanding debt except the mortgage by June– No progress this month
Emergency fund to $2000– This fund has actually decreased again this month. My focus for May will be to return it to the $500 mark. I would like to have it up to $500 ASAP and $2000 by the end of the year.
Maintain a budget using a form of the envelope system – Still working well!
Groceries: Spend $600 or less a month Goal met, and we are on track for meeting our projection for the year as well. , We spent a $564.00 this month. We have decided not to participate in the food co-op this year but instead use of the money for fresh fruits and veggies.

Blogging: Goal: 15 per month This is my 14th post of the month . Still have not met this goal for the year but will continue to keep working toward it. I am actually pleased this month because I feel I have achieved a good balance with pictures and information.

Devotions: Goal is 5 a week Goal Met! I am really enjoying my morning time.

Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December by losing around 4 # a month. Exercising has not been as consistent as I want it to be and I have realized that I really need to focus on my water intake as well. This continues to be a daily struggle for me.

Stretching Your Dollar and Ground Beef

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Sheila

I wanted to share today how we have managed to stretch our ground beef over the past several days. These are simple and fast, but because my family really does not like left overs this is a way to stretch the ground beef.

Start with 3-4 pounds of ground beef and simply brown.
Tacos are first, add the seasoning and water. Enjoy!
Sloppy joes are next add one can of rotel and enough ketchup to make the remaining meat look “soupy”. Let this mixture simmer for about 30 minutes or so. Add bread and cheese.
The remaining mixture can be used in several different ways; chili(or sloppy joe) cheese fries, hot dog chili, spaghetti sauce.

We actually have practiced this for the past couple of days. We have actively been raising money for Haley’s summer youth trip to the National Youth Conference. Our first meal was pintos, I brought home leftovers and made refried beans. The next meal was a “Mexican Meal” we used the refried beans and add Taco meat. I definitely over purchased the meat, so we frozen the remaining 10 or so pounds. This past Sunday was our “Soup and Sandwich” Meal. I used the above recipe to change the taco meat into sloppy joes. Because the meat had been frozen one time, the remaining meat was sent home with several families. Matt has enjoyed several meal of Sloppy Joes but the kids really did not like this idea so the other idea became part of the plan. Tonight Matt was able to use up the remaining meat mixture in a baked spaghetti which was really good!

Crazy Busy Weekend

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Sheila

This has been one of the busiest weekend so far. Friday night and Saturday, Haley and I spent time at our District Bible Quizzing Meet. We were joined by people from Georgia, Raleigh and South Carolina. Haley left around 1:30pm to start preparing for the prom. Above is one of the many pictures I plan to share from pre-prom. Matt is playing around in Lightroom to see what he can come up with. I was planning to do it myself but he has much better eye and a lot more patience with it than I do. One of the things that we realize is that our camera which is now close to 8 years old or more, needs to be updated. I think* this time I am going to save up some money and purchase a real camera instead of a point and shoot. I have considered it in the past but I really do like pictures and with the prices of pictures continuing to rise not counting the time it takes to get the professional pictures taken. I think now may be the time to invest in something along these lines. I was able to catch a nap, and talked Haley home after prom. On Sunday, we had a fundraiser for Haley’s Life trip this summer. Enjoy the picture!

My 2 Cents

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Sheila

This is what I was able to purchase with my 2 cents yesterday at CVS! I always say that couponing is a game but it is a long game like monopoly. I used 10 ECB to pay for the above items. All the items I purchased were on this current weeks sale,including the toothpaste which was BOGO Free! But you really can’t look at this purchase in isolation. It really started in January, when I grab a rain check for 24 12 packs of coke products. The rain check was 4 for $10 and 10 ECB when you purchased $30. Last week I went by CVS to pre-order 24 cases of Diet Coke. Thursday morning, I was able to purchase the 24 packs in two separate transactions. I used 2 free 12 pack coupons to bring the actual cost down to $1.80 per 12 pack including tax. I chose not to spend my remaining 10 ECB from the second transaction in hopes of a awesome sale that might start on Sunday. I did check Thursday night and discover I really had no interest in going to CVS for the next sale so decide to go ahead and so see what I could use from this weeks sale.