Productive Free Weekend

We once again had a weekend with no major things to accomplish or events to attend. Haley left on Friday for Winter Retreat with her youth group, Amanda was at school and work and Lily did have a skating party on Saturday afternoon. Lily loved trying to skate and actually got around the rink a couple of times.

On Saturday, I was able to get FREE toilet bowl cleaners at Walmart. I had read about this deal on several website, and decided to try it. I asked to “price match” a sale at Family Dollar for $4 and then had a $4 off coupon. We actually got 2 of these and they are really working great. I was disappointed to find that they were out of the 3 other free items on my list. Also on Saturday,I cooked the 10lbs of chicken I purchased earlier in the week. I was able to freeze 10 cups of shredded chicken as well as 22 bags of chicken broth.

Sunday in North Carolina was rainy and COLD. The temperature was around 35 all day. So to get things warm, I decided to start planning for my “Square Foot Garden.”  We have been debating on how big or small to make it this year. I also wanted to stick to items I know we will use. I had purchased several packs of seeds 2 years ago and want to try to start from starch again this year. The good news is that I actually got myself organized enough that this should be possible and if not then I can always purchased at the right time for growing. I did order broccoli seeds to start right away as well as some green chili seeds to try my hand at. I will also be raising some tomatoes this year as well. Otherwise, I hope to purchase enough corn to freeze as well as we will be participating in the Food Coop again. I am excited that I actually am ahead of the game this year instead of waiting to the last minute to start. I also hope this means it works and produces enough for freezing.

Finally on Sunday, Matt and I got all the tax papers together. I am currently waiting on 1 more W-2 then I can spend 3-4 hours filing online.

Sounds relaxing right?

Random Tuesday Thoughts

  • Plans for Saturday including working on and filing our income tax.
  • Going to try the envelope system next month for easier budgeting and saving.
  • Lily’s face is looking much better!
  • We are going to make another trip to Food Lion this week to stock up more on house brand items
  • I am the only one that has a doctor’s appointment this week.
  • Work is still really slow and looks like it will stay this way for several weeks.
  • I am actually met most of my goals this month- thus the need for this really lame blog entry!
  • CVS was actually a good place to shop this week
  • We actually spend less money when cooking/entertaining friends than even the 5 of us going out to eat!
  • Water from our refridgerator is better filtered than what I have purchased, so I am going to start re-using bottles and/or dig out our disney bottles.

Where did it Go?

Seriously where did this week go? My usual excuse is work but this week I know that is not the case, work is actually really low at the moment but I just can’t seem to figure out where my time went. So maybe list will  help?

-took down the snow village. I am so sad doing this. But the good news is that we were able to store much better this year so I can purchase a  couple of new pieces for next year maybe 🙂

-Thursday was spent between doctors and IKEA.

  •      Lily has a infection on her face, there is a 60% chance it is MRSA. We decided to stop at the peditricians office on the way to all the kids eye appointments in Matthews (1.5hours south). She missed school on Friday and is on a strong antibodic. We are praying the infection clears quickly otherwise we have been warned that it might require surgery, because of it’s location and size.
  •     Zach has decent vision. There is a slight concern that he may be far sighted but it will be a mild case and currently will just wait a year!
  •     Kendall can stop with patching now. Her vision is unchanging at this point. She did get a new presciption but we were told we could wait a couple of month before switching.
  •    Lily’s vision is improving. She still has extremely poor dept perception, we have to continue patching 4 hours daily and her prescription also changed.  The hope is that her corrected vision becomes 20/20.

-IKEA- we joined the “family card” program for free. It allowed the girls to stay an extra half an hour at the play place, Matt got a free cup of coffee and we also received a free ice cream cone as well as saved 0.50. Not bad for a free card.
          – we purchased a new frying pan, new lights for over the kitchen sink, and several differenet shelves. I think this will be the last shelves needed for the house in a long time. I am excited to have enough storage space and a home for most things now!
         – we daydreamed about purchasing a new living room and kitchen. Never hurts  to dream.

-I have been able to keep up with the goals I established for the year! I am excited to be losing weight slowly and keeping on top of devotions!

How I Spent my Christmas vacation…

I remember doing these in school, the only bad part is that I don’t remember doing anything grand to write about then, pretty much the same as now but at least I am writing it down. I am really focusing on accountability this year, basically if I post it for the world to read, I need to be honest and give it my best shot. In addition to that, please ask me about specific things that way I have some real life accountability as well.
So back to how I have spent the past several days working on my goals for 2012 of course.
                   Dieting-Yesterday, I was conscience of what I ate, weighed in using the Wii, consumed 8 glasses of water and exercised for 30 minutes on the Wii. The down side to this is that I have a long way to reach my goal of 150 by next December but the good news is that I am starting at all!
                  Saving Money/budget- One of the ways we are going to save money on groceries is finally eliminating the need for diapers/pull-ups.  Since last Thursday, we have been attempting to potty train Zach. He was doing really well in pull ups but did not complain when he was wet or didn’t even seem to care. So after buying underwear, he has been in underwear for about a day and half. The results are not as stellar as I would have hope but we do have results: Zach gets very upset when  he is wet, he even thanked me for cleaning up his mess.  We are going to continue to work with him this week, I would be very pleased if he is able to stay in underwear at home and move to underwear in public by the end of the month or as long as we have diapers!  Next I have been cleaning out the freezers and refrigerators.  I actually went shopping in the freezer in the building this morning. I was able to bring up enough meat for an entire week as well as lots of veggies. I did not have any “extra” money this month to work on purchasing the final window or beginning to pay down debt so the plan is to squeeze some of that out of our grocery and dinning out budgets. I have also spent some time searching for ways to use of the remaining items from Angel Food that we really didn’t like. Last night I used some pre-breaded chicken wings to make Buffalo wings for Matt’s dinner, he is planning to use the rest of the smoked sausage for sandwiches. Finally, I am planning to do some cooking this coming Saturday of “conveince meals’ because after looking at our schedule for the month of January it is going to be really easy to get off track.
                Blogging- 2 days, 2 post a really good start.

I was able to get together a donation for Goodwill on Saturday as well as done alot of general cleaning and cleaning out done.  Best of all I have been able to spend time with the kids just being a Mom. Not rushing to get to something or tired from working.

A “Drama” Free Christmas

To be honest up front, on Friday (23rd), I was thinking that this year,it really felt like Christmas was getting shorten. With December 25th occurring on a Sunday, there was no extra days off and it just didn’t seem like it was so close to Christmas. However, as of today (26th) I have really enjoyed my holiday. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I am already planning by BIG decorating for next year! I really wanted to share the highlights. 

Christmas Eve, of course the kids woke up early but I managed to relax in bed till after 7am.  I sent the kids outside to play for an hour followed by cookie making, naps and then it was off to Pawpaw’s and Granny’s. We really enjoyed spending time with everyone and stay until after 8pm, playing cards and laughing.

Christmas Day we were up bright and early of course. The little ones played with gifts from Santa Claus, we ate an awesome Breakfast casserole and then the kids played with the one unwrapped gift from us till Amanda made it home from work around 7:30am. Everyone got lots of cool toys and electronics. Haley really likes her class ring. Zach will spend hours playing his “drum kit” and the little girls changed their doll clothes at least 3 times prior to church. Church was nice and I even got to hear all the sermon. Last minute plans with the Pierce made the day complete and lots of fun! One surprising fact is that the kids did not watch any television at all on Christmas Day. They played with new toys and friends! I didn’t even realize it  until today.

Today, we have slept in again. Matt, myself and the little ones went to Belk’s, Ollie’s and Walmart. We decided to splurge on new bath towels, wash clothes and a complete new bedding set for our bed. I LOVE it. I will be posting pictures of it this week. Our room is starting to look like adults live in it and it finally feels complete!

No family fights, no sick kids, and no car emergencies make this a really peaceful and relaxing Christmas!

Lily’s Birthday Celebrated

 
Birthday’s are a big deal around here even if we get to celebrate one at least every other month! This year instead of a big or small party we decided to take Lily, the whole family and her best friend to see Disney on Ice. Our biggest tradition is that the celebrator gets to pick the dinner restaurant. So Lily chose Olive Garden. We were meet at the restaurant by our friends the Pierces. Then of course the plans changed and Nancy, the mom, went to Disney on Ice  with us while Haley went home with Andrea and of course to youth group. The pictures above are from the restaurant and I will post more from Disney on Ice     Just for the record, I was able to get awesome seats at a discounted rate simply by ordering in a group of 8!

Thankful-November 4th

Once again this year I am going to try an post an item each day I am thankful for but I will only be posting these once a week so that I can keep up and all that stuff.
November 1st- I am thankful for my husband, who supports me and loves me even when I know I am not being loveable
November 2nd- My church family.
November 3rd- My children, I know I could cheat and list each one for a day but I love each one the same. They teach me patience and more about love than even imaginable.
November 4th- A job that I am secure in..

Next week will be a bit longer and harder to come up with but at least I can add to my posting!