Last year was the first and only year that I have dressed up for Trick or Treating with the kids so I thought it was worth a post
Wordless Wednesday
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Author Archives: Sheila
Random Thoughts Tuesday
Boy do I have alot of these….
We are going to enter the family costume contest at the church on Sunday night. I can’t give away too much but all seven of us are going and we have a theme. I promise pictures next week for sure.
I am working ALOT this week. When I say alot I mean that I am schedule for both the hospital and the nursing home every day this week. This will not last long as of next week I am down to 2 days a week at the nursing home until December. With the change of rehab directors I am unsure how much of the schedule will last but at least for this week I can complain of being tired.
Matt and I are starting a couple’s devotional time. We hope this will help deepen our faith and keep our marriage strong.
I have already started a list of things that need to get done before our trip and it appears that it just may be a smooth transition because of the busy week is the one just prior to our trip so I have to get as much done ahead of time as possible.
Potty training with Kendall is frustrating. We think she is starting to get the idea then then she pees in her panties 3 times in an hour. GRRRRR I was so hoping to have her trained prior to the trip but I seriously wonder if this is possible.
Kendall and Zach are now in the same room. We are only using the room for sleeping so it is not a big deal. Nap times are a nightmare. But after falling asleep they both slept at least 8 hour straight last night which is better than average prior to moving them in the same room.
I have decided that we are all are affected by the dreary weather because the mood around here tonight is YUCKY!
Grocery Budget…the good…bad and ugly
I have been really trying to get us on a strict budget this year. One of the areas that I seem to continual struggle in is grocery shopping. As you know, Matt and I decided to clean out our cupboard/freezer starting exactly a month ago. I have been sticking to shopping only for things we are out of and of course CVS. Unfortunately on Thursday we were in town with Costco and went to pick up the items on the list. I can say that we stuck very closely to the list and only add things after discussion. The one exception was “gluten free” crackers we found and bought but Zach because they are delicious and he loves to have crunch foods. We bought drinks for Haley and I at lunch, cleaning wipes, swiffers, milk, eggs, bread, bananas and bacon. Our total was $120 that pushes the total for the month to $420 and with the $40 Matt just took to Walmart for Formula and creamer and diet coke. We are pushing $500 for the month. At this point we are starting to consider if the budget of $600 a month is realistic or should be increase that to $800. At $800 that is approximately $125 a person or $29 a week per person. Looking at the number $800 sounds like a lot but when you take that down to $30 a person a week that seems reasonable, especially when you include diapers for 2, formula and Gluten free foods for Zach and household cleaning products. So I am pretty convinced that I will again increase the budget to set it at $800 a month. But since finding 5 lbs of Hamburger and getting Angel Food in this week. we are also both convinced that we will continue to eat out of the freezers/cupboard until we leave for our trip at Thanksgiving. I am planning on having the first Monday off after arriving home and we most like will make a HUGE trip to Costco at that time unless we realize that we have enough food to go another week. 🙂 Any thoughts or suggestions?
Eye Appointment
Today, both Lily and Kendall had an eye appointment with the specialist in Greensboro. Both the girls were awesome and for the most part well behaved. Kendall is so young that basically they look at her eyes and nothing has changed with her. We are to return in 9 months, when she can hopefully read the charts and we can get a better idea of what she is seeing. On the down side, she managed to break a pair of glasses in half on the way home.
Lily is a different story. It has been a year since her vision has been checked. At that point she was 3 and they were uncertain if she was reading the chart right. Today, we were asked if she knew all her letters. She does and is accurate all the time if she is seeing correctly. Matt and I both were concerned when at 60 she could not read the chart with her right eye in glasses. After doing some testing with her, the doctor determined that her vision has gotten worse. Personally, I am unsure if it has gotten worse or they were wrong the first time with her. Both eyes have changed by +2.70. Her prescription is now a +8.5 and +9. This is only increasing her prescription by +1.5. The doctor also wants us to patch Lily’s good(left) eye for 4 hours a day. We were given a princess patch to use today. I asked several questions but still am not sure of the answers I got. Basically, I know that she is far sighted, according to this doctor this is going to worsen. The patching is to strengthen her bad eye and should be short in duration. Far sightedness does not correspond to 20/20 or 20/40. We should only be concerned if her corrected vision is not 20/40. After talking with my mother tonight, Matt and I are in agreement that we are going to seek a second opinion just to make us feel better. We should get this arranged in the next week or so.
One of the problems we have is that the doctor asked us to remove Kendall and Zach because he did not want to talk over them. We don’t have a problem with that but he was rude in the way he asked/ told us he would not continue until they were gone. He also was offended that I asked at what point does Lily have a visual impairment.
The other problem is my personal thought about patching. I don’t like the idea of limiting her sight. I don’t think she should be punished because she is not seeing. I understand the principle but don’t agree with it. So hopefully another doctor will be more helpful. Or at least I can say that this is definitely the way things need to be done.
Wordless Wednesday-the new bed
So here is the air mattress we have been sleeping on for 6 months.
Here are pictures of the new bed..It is awesome but we are saving the air mattress “in case of a water landing.” per Matt
Randon Thoughts Tuesday
I am so glad I get to post this tonight. I have ALOT of Random thoughts right now.
Square Foot Gardening is over. Tonight we ended up going and pulling up the remaining watermelon plants as parts were dead. We left the pepper plants as they still have blooms on them and some small peppers. I also left the basil it is starting to flower but it smells so good that I will just go out and smell it. We definitely learned alot and hopefully next year will expand to 3 boxes and actually grow enough to enjoy several times. The key things for us to remember is water water water and we need to start the new plants inside in January.
Zach is so proud of himself for two reasons today. First he has learned to climb. He can climb in the small rocking chair, on Kendall’s bed and of course on top of the toys. He also has discovered he can drive out of Kendall’s cup. We are very careful that it has only water or juice but he is so happy just to get it.
Our eat out of the pantry challenge may end a week sooner than we originally hoped for and 4 weeks then my dream. The reason is that we are starting to run out of food such as bacon and juice. Haley also needs more Fruit2Os for school. I know that we will probably end up going to Costco on Thursday while we are in Greensboro. If we can buy only the items we are out of then I will be very very excited and happy. Maybe if we make a small trip then continue with the plan it will work out.
I have decided that I really really really dislike working at the Nursing home. I feel like I go in and really just loose track of time and never seem to get out at a decent time. I have already scheduled myself through the end of the year. I am hoping that I can at that point stop doing it on a regular basis but that will me a lot more work at the hospital. It is just so hard to juggle to two jobs. I have been scheduled to work every day at the nursing home next week so hopefuls that will keep me motivated to get our budget down.
CVS Game
I shop at CVS differently then most of what I have been reading lately. There are several reason for this first with 2 in diapers, I have to be able to supply these and still try to stay on a budget. I also enjoy the challenge of finding good deals. I rarely save ECBs. My thought is why keep free money, I am also afraid of losing or letting it expire. I probably made my best trip to CVS yesterday…looked at in isolation there is no way you can’t be impressed. I spent $0.80, saved 95% or $15.47 and earned an ECB as well. But this is just one of 3 trips this week.
Last Sunday, I made my weekly trip, I discovered a monthly deal on AZO anti-itch wipes and lotion over at Couponing to Disney. It is a monthly long deal. Original price was $6.99, coupon for $2 off making the product 4.99 plus you receive 5 ECB back with each purchase. This deal can be completed 3 times. I bought 2 of these items last Sunday and got a rain check for an additional 5 because the store was out. I returned on Wednesday to the store and they were still out so I decided to go to Thomasville. On Thursday, I went purchased the other 3 for my monthly limit as well as 3 bags of candy and a bag of candy corn, with coupons I spent 16.87 and received 15 ECB back. I used these on Saturday at CVS to purchase the Formula, Zach needed. So as you can see this is a game. Currently, I can repeat this deal using Amanda’s card prior to the end of the month and also until my coupons run out in December I can do another 5 on my card with the rain check I received. These items will get used around here but they would not be something I would normally buy. In reality I earn one cent for each time I buy so I buy use and then purchase what we really need with ECB. Are you playing the CVS game? Share how you play!
Saturday Catch UP
This week has been busy as usual. I was trying to decide what made it so busy that I have not been able to post…the only thing I can come up with is that I worked on quizzing every night to prepare for our monthly meet today. At least I have part of the morning before heading that way. So here is the long and short of the week.
Eat out of the pantry/No grocery shopping for the month of October. So far so good, we have had to buy Diet Cokes, cream, milk, formula and eggs. The one exception is that we bought cake mix and icing for Amanda’s cake. But we returned a battery cores so this technically no money was spent on this. I am not sure if I said this upfront but I am continuing to shop at CVS as usual. I do count this in our grocery budget but I usually only buy sale items that we use in the stock pile and diapers. So far for the month we have spent 200 this includes our Angel Food so that is about 1/3 of what I usually budget and 1/4 of what we have been spending. The next 3-5 weeks depending on how long we can actually go will be challenging simply because the food we have left requires thought and preparation. Matt has been using the crock pot several days this week.
Kendall is doing really well with potty training. She has been staying day most days with only 1 accident per day.
CVS has an awesome monthly long deal on AZO products so I have made several trips this week but next week looks lame. I am saving over 80% on all the trips.
The other big news this week is that we finally bought a bed for Matt and I. I will be posting before and after pictures for Wordless Wednesday.
Happy Birthday to my Firstborn
Happy 19th birthday to Amanda..the first born…the sissy. Yesterday, Sunday we went to Olive Garden with some friends to celebrate Amanda’s birthday. It was actually a fun time for all of us to be together and talk and laugh. I always get nervous when we attempt to go out to eat because it can turn very ugly if the little are not exactly right. Last night, Kendall managed to dump a bowl of salad on the floor but that was the majority of the mess.
Lily decided this morning to ask Amanda if she wanted a “store cake” or a “Lily cake” of course Amanda decided on the Lily cake. So Matt and Lily made the cake while I was at work. I got home in time to frost the cake and then Lily decorated the cake. It was awesome.
This has been a long hard year on Amanda and I am praying that brighter days are ahead as she grows into the Woman I have been praying for all these years! Happy Birthday AMANDA and remember we all LOVE YOU!
Wordless Wednesday
I am tired…wish I was here…
