Wordless Wednesday- Happy Thanksgiving
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Category Archives: Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Thankfulness
Yes, it has been an entire week since I have blogged. I have been very busy and stressed over the past week. The good news is that I am finally caught up at work. I am so very thankful for this!!!!
I am also thankful this week for my family! We have all been together these past two days. We have been enjoying food and fellowship. Last night we had a Mexican night with lots of good food! We ended the night on the deck with a small fire pit.
I am also very thankful that we have the means to run out to the store and grab last minute things like marshmallows without it stressing us out!
I am thankful that the kids are all enjoying just being together and enjoying reasonable conversation!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thankful Thursday
Today I am thankful a supportive and helpful family. This has been one of the busiest weeks at work for me with after school meeting on three days. Everyone has stepped up to help. Lily, Kendall and Zach all agreed to be in charge of diner one evening. The did an excellent job. Matt has been helping with orthodontist appointments, and other errands that I simply do not have time for!
I am also thankful for my co-workers who have stepped up and helped with covering my caseload and getting my testing scored. It is so nice to work with people who respect and support you even in the midst of their own chaos!
Thankful Thursday
November is one of my favorite months of the year and it is definitely not the weather. I absolutely LOVE Christmas, but Thanksgiving is a close second. I need the reminder to be grateful for what I have!! This year I am going to try something different. I want to take some time each Thursday to express specific thanks. I am going to add my normal disclaimer that I am always very thankful and appreciative of my husband and kids, but I want to be more than superficial with these post.
First, I am thankful for our garden this year. We are continuing to see small (2 cherry tomatoes and 2 carrots) harvest, and this is November. We are still enjoying tomatoes as they ripen on the kitchen cabinet! I honestly can’t think of a better harvest than this year.
Next, I am thankful for steady jobs for both Matt and myself. At this time last year, Matt was expectedly unemployed. This was a huge hit for us and lasted much longer than expected. Thankful we were able to survive and even enjoy his extra time!
Jeremiah 29:11-12 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”
5 Things Friday
- Wow how things change yet they remain the same. Last Thanksgiving, Matt and I both had COVID-19. At least we were on the recovery side but still it was not fun. We missed Thanksgiving almost completely. This year we celebrated at my brothers for a big family lunch. Haley and her crew spent the night at our house. Today, we find out that Braxton’s father has COVID so Amanda and Braxton will be spending the next 7 days with us.
- I wanted to decorate outside this year. Zach has complained for the past two years that we leave his window dark. We spent a couple hours on Wednesday and finished up yesterday. I saw or heard the idea of using tomato cages for Christmas trees so we now have 4 small trees on our front yard as well. I am planning to get some pictures to post this week.
- Lily really enjoys decorating especially trees. So I let her do most of the tree decorating and fluffing. We have 2 large trees along with each kid has a smaller tree in their room.
- I really did not do any Black Friday shopping this year. I did order from Bath and Body Works on Thanksgiving and a white shirt for Zach from Amazon today.
- Lily turns 16 in a week.
Thankful Thursday
Today I am thankful for some extra time off from work. When I worked at the hospital, Veteran’s Day was not considered a holiday of any shape or fashion. At the school system today is definitely a holiday. I had some extra time today to spend at church preparing for the fundraiser this weekend. We all enjoyed a special treat with a lunch out. Matt and I made a grocery store trip. Finally haircuts for all of us!
Thankful Thursday
I so enjoy the month of November. It is uplifting and inspiring to hear and express gratitude. I have tried and failed in the past with posting a thought each day of thankfulness both on line and on the blog. This year, I am going to keep it simple. Of course I am very thankful for my family and friends. I am thankful to see and spend time with my Mom on a regular basis. I really enjoy modern conveniences such as central air and heat. But this year, my goal is to post a thankful thought each Thursday of the month. And it can not be the simple things already listed above!
Today, I am thankful for the financial blessing that we have received and enjoyed over the past year. They have help us pay of debit expand our lifestyle a bit and find ways to spend quality time together. But today, I am thankful for these financial blessing because they have allowed us to face and work around an expected job loss with minimal changes to our lifestyle.
Matt’s last day of employment will be next Friday November 12th. The current plan is for him to start tackling a long list of task and repairs that need to be completed. He will also be looking for another job but he is not forced to accept anything and we fully anticipate his unemployment to last around a year. But of course our prayer is that God will direct our paths and present a job either today or a year from now that will be the perfect fit.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a very fluid holiday around our house. Many of our Thanksgivings have been spent travelling. We have travel to Michigan and Georgia to visit with family on most of these trips. We also have discovered that Thanksgiving is an awesome time to visit Disney World.
This year we are quarantined. Technically, Matt has been released but the kids and I are officially quarantined through Monday November 30th. The good news is that Matt is definitely better. I am starting to feel human again. I am positive that I have experienced COVID twice now but did not chose to test on either occasion. The kids all have not had any symptoms. I chose not to test this time because the kids would end up needing to quarantine another 14 days after my test. They have been really troopers and this really would benefit no one. We did end up cooking both the turkey and ham along with multiple side dishes. We have been enjoying and even packed some lunches for next week. Thanksgiving was not cancelled just quarantined.
Zach has been experiencing some stomach issues. After multiple discussion with his pediatrician’s office, we don’t feel they are COVID related. Instead, a food intolerance. We are going to watch his diet as well as complete some testing to try and get a handle on what is causing this.
The goals for the rest of the holiday are to get the Christmas decorations complete!
5 Things Friday- COVID 19 Edition
Did you ever think to yourself- why might could happen if you decided to buy a new car on Friday the 13th 2020? I am so glad I am not the only one and I do have the definitive answer- COVID!
- We decided to go ahead and trade the 2016 Honda CVR that I have been driving in for a 2019 Chevy Equinox on Friday November 13th. We actually were going to shop on Friday night and planned to purchase on Saturday but we ended up finishing up all the paperwork and driving away in the new to us car around 9pm.
- I am going to share the reasons we decided to trade cars just for future reference and so I can prove to myself that we did think this through and not regret the purchase. First- neither Matt nor I really enjoyed driving the Honda CVR, it was not a car that we would have purchased. It was under powered and although the gas mileage was better than the van, not enjoyable to drive. Next- the payment was extremely high. I actually had to split the payment in half in order to make it fit our budget. After doing the research, I realized that we could likely reduce our payment by trading even with our upside down status. Finally- Matt has been employed at his job for over a year. Which allowed us to improve both of our credit scores at the same time. By trading and placing the new Equinox in Matt’s name, we reduced my debt ratio and improved his rating with consistent payments. We have accomplished all we set out to do. Car payment is $100 less, Equinox is a car we both enjoy driving and credit will improve in the next six months.
- Sunday, the kids arrived home from spending the weekend with Haley and we took them for a drive in the new car. We ended up eating outside at the Salisbury Cracker Barrel. Matt and I had skipped church that morning because he was not feeling well and we did not want to expose any one to our germs. After eating on Sunday, Zach became sick and threw up. It was a one time thing so I did not worry about it as this can happen.
- Monday- Matt says he is staying home from work so I decided to take Zach to school. He does not have a fever at home or at school. I honestly thought he had a case of the “Mondays”. I dropped him off at school and headed to work where I was schedule to see 3 kids back to back a 30 minute break and another 5 kids back to back. I get a call from Matt that his boss suggest he go test for Covid, because he is positive and has exposed the whole office all week. I finish the third kid and as I am checking my phone to call Matt back, Zach school is calling he threw up!
- Matt did test positive. By Friday (today) his symptoms are very light and he is only taking medicine at night. We suspect that Zach had food poisoning – I ate some of the spinach dip that he had on Sunday and it was bad. I threw it out after one bite and had a horrible stomach ache. By Friday, Zach is completely better! I have had what feels like sinus stuff to me. I have not had a fever, but runny nose and wet cough. Lily has had a sore throat but feels much better today. Kendall ended up with a headache. Everyone is currently on quarantine. We have not left the house since Monday. We are praying for two specific things- no one else get COVID and we can have a small family Thanksgiving. We have been told that 3-4 days without symptoms can end Matt’s quarantine and if no one else has symptoms especially a fever before then. We should be safe. the health department is suppose to call on either Thursday or Wednesday to officially release us as well.
Traveling on a Budget
Our family tends to travel a lot. Some of this travel is by choice and some is by necessity. Most of our travels are planned well in advance which allows us plenty of time to save. However this was not the case for our Thanksgiving trip to Michigan. We decided that this was an important trip on November 3rd, two week before we needed to travel. Here are the ways we used to save money on this short notice trip.
1. I spent around 4 hours or more trying to find a hotel on priceline and the other “cheap hotel sites”. I had two huge things working against me, first we were two weeks away from the trip and the second was this is a holiday weekend. I finally decided to call the hotel we usually stay at. I was able to get a room for all five of us and the dog and breakfast for less than $100 a night which is our good price. After having success calling the first hotel, I called the second with the same results. The average price per night was $100! Tip#1- Call the hotel direct and ask for pricing.
2. Gift Cards- We continue to attempt to use Swagbucks on a regular basis. Each month the first gift card is discounted to 2200 or $22 for a $25 card. Starbucks is always a favorite so we try and keep around $50 loaded to it at all times. I also took advantage of some promotions, and this helped our budget a great deal. We had around $150 in gift cards for this trip and even managed to combine with sales to stretch it a bit further. My suggestion is to purchase gift cards ahead of time an keep a stash for trips and other surprises.
3. Pack a Cooler- The average price of a soda is between $1.50 and $2.00. Just by packing drinks and water, we saved at least $100. I also packed sandwich items and frozen burritos in our cooler. We were able to eat breakfast in the hotels and then ate one meal from the cooler or even left-overs so we ended up eating an average of one meal a day out while traveling. Even if we would have eaten fast food for each meal we saved at least $40 a day by bring a cooler.
4. Pack snacks- We like to eat while driving and crunchy snacks help keep you awake. I have a snack bag that stays in each vehicle but for a trip we ended up making individual size bags of chips and popcorn. This worked well and was much easier than trying to carry large bags and eat from them.
5. Check gas prices and make a plan. We discovered that it was cheaper to buy gas ahead of time then waiting to fill when we had to.