A quick break for a update

Whew...it feels good to sit for a minute.  I've been a busy lady today.  This mornig I made a huge batch of sausage egg and cheese bisquts for breakfast and the freezer, then had to clean up after that. 
   Then I had to take a shower and get ready to go to Wal-mart so Emma could get her big girl toy.  Last night she finally decided to give her binky up to the binky fairy and she put all of them in a envelope and left them out for the fairy to take them to a new baby that needed them since she is a big girl now. :)   She went right to sleep and slept the whole night through!  Then when she woke up this morning the binky fairy had left her a cute little note and some cash for her new toy!  I'm so proud of her,, I didnt pressure her to do this.  We have been talking about it a lot and when we were at the library yesterday we picked up a book called bye bye pacifier.  Before bed she said she wanted to put her binky in a envelope like the girl in the book!!!  I was thrilled, and scared I would be in for a long night, but like I said she did great!   She hasn't asked for it at all today but I think its been on her mind.  Nap time didnt go to well, she didnt fall asleep but some days she just doesnt take naps so hopefully that was the case and she isnt gonna not nap for me anymore.  We will see how tonight goes.  
   When we got home from the store I made lunch,, cleaned up from that and then since then I've been working on getting my kids stuff  hung tagged and priced for the kids resale thing coming up tomorrow!  thats a big task  but I love getting the check and getting to shop for "new" used clothes for the kids.  These second hand sales are such a blessing in my life! 
   I'm still working on going through things and decluttering around the house.  We have such limited space here we really dont have room for all our stuff.  The goal is to only keep whats needed and figure out the best way keep/store the stuff we need and use.   
  Anyways, I guess I should get back to work,,,:(    I need a maid.  LOL

Kitchen Tip

We have city water where we are.  I always thought if you lived in the city then you automatically had soft water,, not true.  We really need a water softener, but due to lack of knowledge of how to put one in and not quite sure where we'd put it we have yet to get one.  Anyways when your water is hard it can cause problems with leaving a film on you dishes when you run them through the dishwasher.  Even with Jet Dry my dishes never seemed to get clean.  Then I read about this miracle product somewhere on the web.  I was skeptical but decided to try it.  It works!  Really well too.  I just add a little, about 1-2 tablespoons in my prewash container in the dishwasher along with my detergent and my dishes come out sparkly clean.

I have been  checking out  homemade dishwasher detergent recipes and plan to try one once I run out of detergent.  A lot of the complaints I read are that dishes come out with a film on them but with this stuff it might not be a problem!  It will be awhile before I run out though because I recently got a big container of the Jet Dry tabs from Sam's and it last us forever!

For more kitchen tips visit tammys recipies!

Content

I'm not absolutely sure when this happened, but I'm glad it did.  I was just sitting here with Emma watching Cailou, listening to Bennie snore beside us(he's taking a nap before going to work tonight),  and thinking to myself,, I'm happy.  I love this.  I love sitting at home with my family not doing anything.  Not having to go or be anywhere.  I'm content. 
There was a time in my life that I felt like we constantly needed somewhere to go or be, even if that ment just going to my moms house. I felt like we were boring or something if we just sat at home.  But now I really enjoy just hanging out here.. dont get me wrong I also like doing things outside the house but it doesnt bother me to be here, especially when Ben is home with us. 

I was able to get out by myself this morning and go to Walmart.  It was so nice to take my time and not worry about chasing after anyone.  I got a new drying rack.  This one says heavy duty so I hope it holds up for a little while.  I like being able to air dry stuff even in the winter time. With as much laundry that goes on around here I'm sure I save on electricity by using the dryer less.  I'm still going strong with using my homemade liquid laundry detergent.  I think its working great and saving us loads of cash. :)  I hope everyone reading this has had a great weekend.  Coming up this week I'm planning on writing a post of all the frugal things that I do, to give you some tips and you guys can give me some ideas on things that I could also be doing. 

Can't find the time

I have this running to do list in my head.  Things that  I want/need to get accomplished.  The problem is its hard to find the time/energy.  Here is a few thing I need to get accomplished and hopefully soon:
*go through kids closets and find stuff for the Kids Market sale, then hang, tag, price them.
*go through Emma's and Gary's toys and purge like crazy!  Emma's toys are totally outta control.  I think part of my problem is since I do daycare in my home I feel the need to hang onto things because even though some stuff she is growing out of others still enjoy. 
*Wash down walls in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom
*Scrub the shower(i'll admit, I hate this job  because no matter how hard I scrub, it never looks clean!)
*Start going through everything else to find stuff for summer garage sale

Then there is a whole other list but I need Ben's help and extra money for that
*paint kitchen, new counter tops and maybe even sink, new kitchen floor

Am I the only one that has a hard time with these things?  The ideal time for me would be during naptime, but that is my only downtown for the whole day and I often try and relax during that time.  I feel like I need a break every once in a while.  Ugh.....     Well now that I have my list written down maybe that will help me tackle some of these things. 

Good day turned bad

Happy Hump Day!  This week is dragging for me.  I wish it were Friday.  Isn't it funny how a day can start off so wonderful and turn into an icky day?  I notice a lot that my mood is greatly affected by the people around me and their moods. 
So this morning I got to sleep in a extra half hour!  I thought that was a great thing, apparently that is where I messed up my day( you'll see why).  Anyways I got up took a shower, woke the kids, feed them, wrote 3 checks to the school :(,, and sent them on their way.  Then the littles and I started with breakfast and playing, we watched part of The little Mermaid, ate lunch and it was so beautiful outside I decided to take advantage of it.  There is still snow on the ground and I knew they would play in it so I put snow pants on them and we headed out.  The sun was shining and it was warm!  We played out back for awhile, swung on the swings, then we ventured out front and I tidyed the garage and cleaned out my car.  The kids were having a blast playing in the car.  They were pretending one was the mommy driving the other one(the kid) to school.  It was so cute listening to them pretend.  I love watching them play and interact(when they are being good, lol).  Then we came in and I put them down for a nap.  I was in such a great mood.  The sunshine lifted my spirits and I felt like I got a lot accomplished.  I cleaned up the house and sat down to read a little while they were sleeping.  Then Ben got up.  This is where my day turned. I don't know what it is about 3rd shift but it makes him so grumpy.  He actually gets more sleep on 3rds than he did on day shift so I dont think its lack of sleep.  It really stains our marriage.   Anyways I could tell by the look on his face he was in a bad mood.  I tried talking to him, asked how his night was, asked if something was wrong. He just gave me one word answers and really wouldnt talk to me.  He was up for 2 hours before the kids woke up and would not speak to me.  Finally I told him obviously something is wrong,, how can I fix it if he doesnt tell me whats going on?  He said I should know,  I didnt.   Well it ends up he was mad because he came to bed today while I was still in there and I rolled over and pushed the covers around me so he couldnt get near me.  I vaguely remember this,, I remember hearing him come to bed and starting to roll towards him and he was freezing so I scooted over and covered upmore.  I was half asleep though! 

Yesterday he was grumpy too.  Its like he's trying to find reasons to be mad at me.  I am trying really hard to be positive and happy so it will rub off on him.  I am not gonna let these petty things make us miserable again.  Hopefully whatever it is that is really bothering him will get better.  He has been working a LOT.  I know hes probably getting worn down.  I just hate it when work life affects our home life, but I dont know how to fix that. 

Then poor little Gary, I got a call from the school nurse today, the swing knocked him in the head and hes got a gash and swelling and bruising all around the area.  She told me to watch him tonight and sent home a paper telling me what to watch for in case of a concussion.  She said I should wake him up tonight after hes been sleeping a couple of hours to make sure he wakes up and seems normal.   So now I'm worried about him.  He seems ok,, but hes acting really tired.  Hopefully I dont have to end up taking him to the emergency room in the middle of night, cause since Ben isn't here I'll be dragging the other kids with me. 

So there you have it,  my wonderful day turned blah.  Now he is gone, he went bowling and he will go straight to work from there.  Hopefully tomorrow afternoon will be a happier one.  It is supposed to be nice again.  I sure wish it would stick around and get spring/summer soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  So far it has been a great day.  Last night I set up my kitchen table with heart stuff so when the kids woke up they would be surprised.  Jess and Gary are the first round of breakfast eaters and they were happy.  We got Gary a pillow pet and Jess some I tunes gift cards.  I know they arnt traditional V-day gifts but we would rather get the kids stuff we know they will love and get good use of. 

So the big kids then left for school and the second round woke up.  Emma was super happy with her Jessie doll from Toy Story.  She has been wanting one for awhile now. 

 Breakfast was doughnuts (daddy brang some home this morning when he got off work) and fruit smoothies!

 Then it was balloon time!  I couldn't believe how much fun they had with these dollar tree balloons I picked up!

 Next was craft time.  We made a heart craft and decorated Valentines bags for the cards they got for each other.  I think they really enjoyed that. My sister brought  Mira over,, it worked out great that way cause the extra set of hands here came in handy helping me with the glue, markers, and all that messy stuff.

 For lunch we had peanut butter and jelly heart shaped sandwiches and green beans and applesauce(not shown),, then valentines cookies and cupcakes!

Not to smart of me to get them all sugared up before naptime. LOL.   They are all sleeping now and whew, Im worn out.  I think this cold is wearing me down.   Every minute is worth it though if the kids are having fun.  Tonight for dinner we are having steak, baked potatoes and corn.  Were gonna attempt to grill the steaks outside cause its a little warmer and the snow melted off the grill. :)  Ben has to go to work tonight so no alone time for us, but at least we still get to spend some time together on this special day of love!

The Blahs

I'm pretty sure I've got a case of the winter blues.  I just feel yuck and tired and blah.  While I've been doing the dailys and getting what I need to get done accomplished, I'm just feeling so tired.  Like I could lay down and sleep for a week straight!  Although I will tell ya'll that I am still doing well with staying up and getting showered before the kids wake up, and making them breakfast every morning.  About the breakfast thing,, I'm trying really hard to get them to like homemade oatmeal.  They are never excited about it though.  They did like the butterscotch oatmeal I made(I think because it was so sweet), but this morning I made apple cinnamon oatmeal and they wernt to thrilled.  I'm still gonna try a peaches and cream recipe.  The big container of oatmeal is such a better deal than the individual packets, thats why I'm trying it this way.  We've also been doing a lot of eggo waffles,, they really like those.  I have been thinking though of trying to make up a big batch of waffles and pancakes and then freezing them for easier access.  That would probably be cheaper than buying the Eggos.  We also do scrambled eggs a lot, thats Emmas favorite.  Believe it or not, cereal is their last choice. I think they got burned out on that earlier in life.  Anyone have any cheap easy breakfast ideas besides those? 

Anyways, back to the blahs,   I hate feeling like this.  I  normally force myself to put on a smile and be somewhat energetic for the kiddos.  I love them all so much,, even the ones that come here and arnt mine.  Every last one of them can always make me smile,,,some of them can bring me to tears to depending on how they are acting on certain days.  While I love what I do more than anything, sometimes being in the house non-stop with kids can become mind numbing!  Some days I feel like my brain is turning into mush with kid show theme songs.  If you guys could here the songs that are stuck in my head throughout the day,, well I'm sure you would have a good laugh.  Emmas favorite show right now is WonderPets......so quite often you will here me randomly shouting out,,,,,,Wonder Pets Wonder Pets were on our way....the help the bangle tiger and save the day........", that little Duck on there cracks me up with the way he talks..."this is serious" he always says,, but his r sounds are w's...   
Anyways,, deep down I know what I'm doing is important. I'm helping to shape these little one's minds.  I try very hard to make everyone happy and teach them the good values in life.  I often feel underapprechiated and sometimes wonder why I try so hard.  But I keep on and try to live my days like I have a audience.  I think what people do behind closed doors is important and I try to do my job like there is a hidden camera in my house that anyone could see what I'm doing at any certain time.  It helps keep me in check and makes me feel like I'm doing the best possible job that I can. 
I'm planning a small Valentine's day party for next Monday.  Were all excited about it... I'm trying to think of some simple crafts and projects that everyone can do,, its a little hard with the age group I've got here.  I know were making heart cookies and were gonna make Valentines bags and most of the kids are bringing in Valentines.  I plan on reading some Valentines books I got from the library,,,gonna play some kind of game...I've still got some planning to do.  It should be fun though!

Menu plan

I haven't posten a menu plan in quite awhile so I decided to type it up. 

Tonight we will be having chicken tacos, refried beans, and tortilla chips---for the chicken tacos I just put some chicken tenders in the crock pot along with some salsa and am cooking it up until its soft and I can shred it up then well just throw it on the tortillas along with some cheese, lettuce and sour cream!

Other meals will be
-tuna noodle casserole with crescent rolls
-deer steak, mashed cauliflower and green beans
-spaghetti and garlic bread with a salad
-chicken breast, pasta salad, corn
-roasted chicken, baked potatoes,, broccoli
-chicken and noodles (with leftover roasted chicken)

Stocking up and more snow :(

Its snowing again!!!  I am so sick and tired of cold and snow!  I'm really hoping for a early spring this year!

Were having a kind of lazy Saturday today.  We did go into town for a little bit to get some groceries that we didnt get last night.  Yesterday Martins in our town was having a truck load meat sale!  They also had some other really good sales on other items. We went and got quite of bit of stuff. We got some steaks!  We rarely buy steak due to the high price but they were supposed to have boneless rib eyes for 5.99 a pound,,normally I think they are close to ten.  We were gonna get some of those but they were all out but they seemed to have replaced the ribeyes with t-bones so we got a couple of them.  We also got two 3lb bags of boneless skinless chicken breast for 3.99 for the whole bag!  The also had bulk pork sausage for pretty cheap,, they had different kinds,, I got some Italian sausage, the only other kind left was spicy hot so I didnt get that.  I would have gotten breakfast type but they were out,,, guess we shoulda gotten there earlier in the day.   I will split it up into bags with my food saver cause it was a in bulk.  I'm so glad we got that thing, its really coming in handy.  We got quite of few other items but I wont list them here.  When things are super cheap thats the time to buy!  Today we went to Aldis to get  a few other items that we needed that I knew were cheaper there.   We ended up spending two hundred dollars on food between yesterday and today but its gonna last up a while. 

I wrote up a budget at the beginning of the month and plan to stick with it.  I felt that we were getting a little to relaxed with our spending and now its time to get back on track again!  I set our food allowance to be $500 for the month and between groceries and eating out we have already spent 300!  Thats not good!  So more than likely no more eating out for the rest of the month.  I think two hundred on groceries is doable to last us since I stocked up so well this weekend.  I'll try and keep you updated if I am able to keep to the budgeted amount.  As our family is growing our food seems to be disappearing faster and faster now adays. 

And now just for your viewing pleasure here's Emma,  She wore this princess dress all day the other day,, when I asked her if she wanted to take it off she said "no mommy, I'm a princess"   and that she is. :)

We survived the Blizzard if 2011

Well our snow storm came and went,  it never got as bad as everyone predicted but we did get quite a bit of snow.  I ended up getting the day off from my childcare buisness because no one could get here,  That was kind if nice.  Ben was home and it felt like a Saturday.  We decided to go ahead and make the day exciting and venture into town.  We live just outside of town so it really wasnt that big of deal.  We went to Walmart.  I had never in my life seen so little people there, it was like a ghost town!  Then it was lunch time so we went to Mc Donalds that has the play area.  The kids really enjoyed that.    Then we went home and played in the snow for a little while.  The kids loved it!

Ben got his workout from pulling them around in the sled because our little hill isnt really big enough for them to slide down very well.  Maybe someday we can get to somewhere that has some big hills.  The kids had fun and and thats all that mattered,  I love that they can still enjoy the good simple things in life.  I hope that continues throughout there lives.  They are all 3 such great thoughtful kids,, I really couldn't ask for more from them.  I guess the occasional attitude is a normal natural thing and as long as we can keep it in check with them we will survive.  All I can hope for is the teenage years to go by fast!     Although once those years are gone so are they :(    I dont even want to think about that!

What if

So I'm sitting here thinking of life and all the what if's that come with it.  I do that quite often, which is really a bad thing for me, it causes me a lot of stress because I think of all the bad what ifs.....right now my what if's are this:
What if we get this bad snow storm everyone says is coming?  What if we get snowed in?  What if we lose power?  What if our water line freezes up?  What if we have to live like pioneers for the next few days?

Honestly the snow storm doesn't bother me,,, getting snowed in doesn't bother me,,,living like pioneers wouldn't bother me accept I don't feel we are equipped to live like that right now.  We have a gas furnace but it won't run without electricity to circulate the air so we'd b very cold.   And we now have a electric stove so I couldn't cook anything.  I think we'd b okay if we had a gas stove and some sort of fireplace or other thing to heat us up,,,that might actually b kinda fun, but without those 2 things we might freeze and starve.LOL   No, I don't think we'd starve but our food options would b quite limited.  :)

School was canceled today.  I think they could have made it to school but maybe they were worried about the kiddos getting snowed in there or something.  So far there is no new precipitation going on outside,, we do have a blizzard warning though.  We will see!