Category Archives: DITL

Week In Review

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Just when I am getting in to a good groove and keeping up with things, I get so busy again that I don’t even know where time goes. This was one of those weeks.  Highlights included:

Monday- Matt picked up Zaycon chicken and Lily had tumbling practice. I did manage to exercise this night.

Tuesday- Matt had a Church Board meeting-Haley played in the schools powder puff game, Amanda came over to hang out for several hours. Squeezed in a second night of exercise

Wednesday- Church night.

Thursday- I spent most of the morning working on budgeting and bill pay. Matt made several contact regarding his business. After picking up Lily from school, we headed to Winston for groceries and a meal at Olive Garden.

Friday- Senior night at Football game followed by Fireworks.

This week has also been the first in a month that I have worked over my hours so it really was hectic.

Finally on Saturday, I had some time to catch up, I spend time cooking a couple of meals for next week, cleaning, laundry. The weather in NC is supposed to turn cooler to the point of freezing this coming week, so I decided to go ahead and pick all the veggies from our Square foot garden and prepare it for the winter. I did leave 4 pepper plants and one tomato plant in case the predictions are wrong.  Both Kendall and Zach helped with picking of the veggies as well as pulling up plants and adding dirt to the garden. They said this was the most fun they had all day!  A picture of what we were able to pick:

 

Crazy Busy Life

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This has been one busy weekend! Here are some highlights…

  • Thursday night was spent looking for ribbons to make hair bows for  family pictures along with hair cuts, cheerleading and colorguard.
  • Friday night was homecoming at Central. We ended up with both Lily and Kendall sound asleep before the end of the ball game. Matt carried both girls to the van. Zach managed to keep himself awake and walked to the van.
  •  Bright and early Saturday morning we all headed to Midway for Bible Quizzing. The day finished up around 2:30 so we came home and took naps!!!
  • Sunday is of course church. This afternoon we gathered at my parents and brother house for our yearly family pictures. Hopefully I can post some of the best ones in the next week or so.

Ever wonder why  I am tired?

 

Renovation Update 8/13

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Lots of changes have been going on this past weekend. So I wanted to start sharing with you. We have not spent any more money but  mostly likely will end up spending more on a matching bed set for Kendall and a third dresser for Zach as he is sharing a closet and needs some more space.

Kendall’s new bed it fits so well!

Notice the cool strip and both the new dressers in Zach’s room

The finished product

 

Right before bed…………… don’t they look innocent?

 

 

 

Renovation Update

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The latest numbers will follow…. but this is much more fun!

This is the dresser/clother organizer that Haley ended up choosing. Her room is now complete!

 

 

 

 

Lily and Kendall’s room is now almost complete as well! We decided to build and replace Kendall’s bed! Here is a sneak with the final to follow by the weekend.

Vacation vs Staying

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One of the traditions for our family since the first summer that Matt and I met is a week long trip to Myrtle Beach SC.  This year with the changes in our financial situation and our desire to renovate to make the house more useable, the annual trip was given up. I am probably the most upset about this than anyone, but I am trying to make my week of vacation as fun and productive as possible.

One of the great part of our vacation is I build a stockpile of junk food and sodas for the kids to consume. I decided to allow a moderation of junk food at home this week. So far the kids have enjoyed donuts for breakfast for 2 of the 3 mornings as well as candy 3x daily for the last couple of days. A bag of Cool Ranch Doritos has also been consumed in less than 3 hours. I would say that so far this area is pretty equal for vacation vs staying at home.

Besides spending time at the ocean every day, the kids usually like to spend several hours at day at the pool. Sunday, we celebrate Kendall and Zach’s joint Birthday Party at the pool. Monday, Zach, Kendall and I spent a couple of hours for swim lessons, currently the plan is for all of us to go to the pool today (Wednesday). My plan is to spend all afternoons at the pool on Friday, Saturday and maybe even Sunday. The will definitely get us more pool time then we would normally have at the Beach. Now if I could just get my feet in the ocean even for 1 day, life would be perfect!

Shopping is a major event during our normal vacation. We are definitely keeping this up while staying at home. On Tuesday, we spent the afternoon at IKEA. It was lots of fun and we were able to get most of the furniture to make our moves complete! Matt and I shopped at Harris Teeter this morning for the Super Doubles event and I plan to hit CVS today as well. I will be taking Haley and Lily school shopping on Thursday so I think the shopping is definitely the same.

The final reason, I look forward to vacation especially in the last several years, is spending additional time with the kids. I can honestly say that by staying at home this year, has given me more stress free time with the kids. No set schedule definitely reduces the stress on a person!

So in conclusion, I wish we could even go to the beach for a couple of days but since that is not possible, we are making the best of staying home together as as family this year!

Hopefully new pictures and more post will appear the second half of my vacation week than the first!

Saturday Shopping Success = Grocery Challenge Failure

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We decided to make a shopping loop through town on Saturday morning, with a stop by my parents to play with their new puppy first. The local Aldi advertised a food dehydrator for $19.99, we actually bought some apples and bananas to try out the dehydrator. Next stop CVS, I scan my card and received a free Children’s Gummy Vitamin. So I purchased a total of  4 AMP energy drinks and the vitamins total spent  $1 with 6 ECB earned.  Finally stop was Food Lion, the reason to purchase party supplies for Kendall and Zach’s party next Sunday. Matt and I both scanned our MVP cards, which produces some very interesting and useful coupons. Ground Beef is currently on sale for $1.99 a pound, one of the coupons was $5 off $45 Butcher’s Beef. Combining sales and coupons we purchased: 4 bags of Cool Ranch Doritos, 10 Food Lion brand Sodas, 3 Pespi Next Soda (sale 0.79 with one coupon 0.55/1 and a second 1.00/2) Gallon of Bleach, 5 cans of veggies  (sale 0.33 each), 2lbs of Ground chuck reduced to $5.09 and 21 pounds of Ground Beef. Our total was 64.24!!!  Total saving was 49% or 60.59. I am so excited because of the amount of meat this trip included.

 

Now if you have been following the Grocery Store Challenge you realize that is is definitely over my $30 but as I have said before we eat food and so this deal was too good to pass up!

Our Summer Entertainment

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As we discussed and debated, while trying to eliminate as much excess spending as possible from our budget over the past 6 months each activity was completely analyzed.  For entertainment this summer, we chose to continue paying our community pool dues. A look at strictly the numbers is: Pool dues $300 a year due in April, weekends available to use the pool 15 so a total of $20 a weekend.   This in reality is a lot cheaper for us than any other entertainment, I have found. In addition to the weekends the pool is open all week long. Some times we actually use the pool an addition 2-4 times during the week. Using just one additional trip each week the cost becomes $20 a week for unlimited swimming and fun. In addition to our family of 7 using this benefit, we have 8 guest pass that the older girls split. Out of town guest are free so that leave us pretty well set for the summer. This year, Lily is competing on the swim team and both Kendall and Zach will be receiving swim lesson for a week that are included with membership as well.  Over the past several weeks, we have spent at least 6 hours a weekend at the pool. The pool also provides a grill that can be used for dinner, no additional cost for gas!  I definitely thing that this is one activity that we will continue to enjoy!

First Days of Summer

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Summer officially begins around here the day that school ends. So this was our first weekend of summer….

Spending lots of time at the pool..where Lily is able to jump off the diving board with floats. She is even able to swim to the side unassisted!

New Haircuts for everyone.  There is  now no doubt what his last name is.

Lily lost another tooth on Saturday am~

Lots of fresh veggies are making up most of our meals!

Lots of Thoughts

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Zach is going through a rough time at night..he has begun to wake up at night, several times a night and is currently screaming because I will not open his door!

Zach is asking to go potty at least once a day, he still does not EVER poop in the potty but this is an improvement.

Ruger is still peeing in the house, this is the only complaint I have with him. Otherwise he is so well behaved and lovable, I would have 3

With the unseasonable warm weather we are having, I need to make an effort to store all winter coats and go through all of Kendall’s clothes. We have already been through Zach’s clothes but I am noticing how small most things are looking on Kendall.

I have been work 4 days a week at the hospital so it feels like I never see the kids especially if Matt has a meeting! Please pray that I have more time with the kids….

I actually planted Broccoli in the square foot garden on Sunday. My plan is to plant cucumber and squash this weekend.  This is one of the earliest springs on record for NC.

At the book sale today, I purchased 2 separate book on financial stuff and budgeting. I am hope to get some inspiration! We actually are on track for the month but I want and had planned for some bigger results.

My weight loss is at a stand still, I am going to continue to exercise 4 nights a week and see what happens. I am hoping with it warmer outside I can eat lighter as well.

Haley’s Birthday is Friday, we also have church pictures on Saturday. She has agree to go out and celebrate on Saturday after the pictures as a whole family.

On Friday night, Haley and Matt will be going to see the Hunger Games. Matt hopes to finish the third book in the series prior to that.

Harris Teeter is having triples this week. I am planning a trip tomorrow and hope to spend less than $20 but really have no clue what I will spend. I will only be purchasing items that I have coupons for but still don’t have a clue.

Ruger

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Meet Ruger….

He is actually a “rescued” dog of sort.  We were headed to Walmart to pick up some sand and dirt today with a quick stop at “P & Gs” (Papaw and Granny’s) to pick up the coupons from the past several weeks.  I noticed a couple of new Boston Terriers in one of the lot.   They are such pretty dogs!  I ended up mentioning to my mom that I wouldn’t mind having a puppy. She asked so what about a fixed male?   So Ruger came home with us. It appears he is an inside dog who was regularly bathed as he stood still in the tub  and enjoys laying around. Today has been a rough start for us because he is a male who is insisted on “marking his territory.” We have spent the better part of the evening taking him outside. I am hoping this gets much better as he adjust to us and the cat! 
Ruger and his “friend” Susie were found at the local Livestock sale by Papaw. He knew that my mother liked this breed of dog, so as the previous owner got both the dogs out of the van, he asked how much they would take for them. To his surprise, “free to a good home.” After a brief discussion, both Terrier where loaded into Pawpaw’s truck.   The information that we have been able to gather is that he is a “pure breed” but does not have papers. Pawpaw has had the dogs for about 3 weeks and after some attention and extra feeding they are both much healthier. Ruger was at the vet this week and is current with all his shots.  Ruger has been neutered and is approximately 5 months old.