Contentment

Contentment.  This is something I have struggled with and worked on my entire life.  As a child it always seems your friends have bigger and better things,, the grass is always greener concept.  Well unfortunately as an adult I still struggle with this.  Lately it has gotten so much better though.  Here's the thing. Most days I am happy.  I am more or less living the life I have always wanted.  I have a husband that loves me, I've got great kids, I am able to be home with them.  There have been quite a few times I have despised my house but I have finally come to terms with the fact that this is where we are meant to be right now.  The payments are right and we can not afford a bigger house payment.  Everyone has there own room,, granted it is only 1000sq feet and there are 5 of us, plus extra littles here through the day but we all fit and its cute and comfortable.  It is our home and will more than likely be our home for quite a while. It could be so much worse.  The main thing I want right now is to get out of debt!!!! I want it so bad! I wish every other thing in life wouldn't keep coming up making it near darn impossible to pay down the credit cards.  All in good time.  If we want something really bad and are willing to work for it we can make it happen eventually right?

The only time I get down about my life is when I'm around other people,, listening to them talk about where they are going or all there grand things,, mostly I'm home though and hardly talk to anyone besides my family. lol   I guess that's something I need to work on.  Jealousy of other people.  I'm sure somewhere out there in the world might be jealous of me.   Like I said my life isn't bad at all!  I'm so lucky to have these great kids and man that would walk to the end of the earth if I asked him to.

What do you do when you feel the jealousy monster creeping in?  Or is it just me that this happens to?

Money question and colors

As if making hubby go to second shift wasn't enough,, his employer has now decided that he will be working12 hour shifts for the next few weeks while another boss is out recovering from a surgery.  This means because he is supposed to be there 30 minutes early and stay 30 minutes late, that he will be working from 9:30am-10:30 pm.   Lovely.   The good thing is he should be getting a few really nice paychecks along with the extra hours.  I'm gonna do my best to be smart with the extra cash and either pay off some more bills or build up the savings.   That's my dilemma right now,, we don't have much in savings and I'm really not comfortable not having anything to fall back on,,, so do I bank the extra cash now or pay off other things?  I know Dave Ramsey would say bank it for the emergency fund first,, what's your all's opinion? 

I've been keeping myself busy with housework and kiddos...the story of my life really. LOL   I've really been focusing a lot of my attention lately on working with Emma on some learning stuff,,, for the most part she enjoys it but she does get tired of it now and then.... She will tell me  " I don't want to learn my colors right now MOM"!   :)   Of course were working on more than just colors but for some reason she still doesnt have them all down and I really want her to get it.  

A fun post with your help

Good morning All!  I thought I'd do a fun little post this morning.  I'm gonna tell you my most and least favorite household chore and just cause I'm nosey, I would love it if EVERYONE who reads this leave a comment and tell us you most and least favorites too.  It will make it more fun :) 

I would say my most favorite chore is doing laundry.  Mainly cause I LOVE the smell of laundry and it gives me joy pulling warm clean fresh clothes out of the dryer, or even hanging them up to dry.  Whenever I get clothes out of the washer/dryer my family always looks at me in some weird sorta way cause I just can't do it without breathing in the smell of them(well, everyone except for Emma cause she has the same habit of smelling everything).  LOL

My least favorite chore is cleaning the bathroom.  Yucky smells, sticky toothpaste on the sink, a shower that never looks clean no matter how hard I scrub.  I still do this chore, but I do not enjoy it. 

Now whats your favorites? 

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. 

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!

Help....

ANYONE HAVE THE ANSWER TO KEEP A 8 AND 10 YEAR OLD BROTHER AND SISTER TO STOP FIGHTING AND JUST GET ALONG AND LOVE EACH OTHER?????

Help

Anyone know how to get the smell of gasoline out of clothes?????

Do you budget?

My husband and I have lived together for 10 1/2 years now. And up until about 5 or 6 years ago I was absolutely awful with the money. So was my husband,,, he might still be I don't know because one day I just decided we needed to get with the program and took it on myself! 6 or 7 years ago we filed bankruptcy ( yes it was that bad) WE just had crazy bills, bills from Dr's, he had bills from before we were together,,, I used to just throw bills away when they came because I knew we couldn't pay them. My parents bailed us out numerous times,,, and finally we decided with their pushing us a little that bankruptcy was our only option if we were gonna ever get anywhere with our credit. We decided that it was better to file and then just build our credit up from the bottom and ya know what it worked! I didn't want to screw anything up so every since I have worked very hard to make sure every thing is payed on time. I have tried out numerous ways of managing the money and within the past year have stuck with the same thing. Its the most simple thing. And the more I think about it I have figured out that anything will work, you just have to know what is coming in and know what is going out and you need to make sure that whats coming in is more than what needs to go out! Whala,,, budgeting made simple:) Now I'm sure I could make it more complicated and one day I will but for now this is what works for me.

I have a note book and at the top of the page I write the month,, hubby gets paid every two weeks, so I break up the bills into being paid twice a month. I list the bills and then write how much his check is at the top,,,, then the bill that has to be paid,,, then what is left after paying,,, for example


January 2009

$$$$$$-this is how much his check is
van ----- $$how much the bill is /money left after bill
truck---- $$$$$$/$$$$$$
water-----$$$$/$$$$$$


After all the bills are paid, then I factor in groceries and all that because then I know what I have to work with....

Eventually once we get doctor bills paid and some stuff we are paying on there will be new coloms made up for a vacation fund and more savings,, things like that. For now though the focus is on getting the payment plans I made for the hospital bills paid.

So you can see how simple it is. nothing special but I know where the money is going and how much I have to work with when i need things..



the problem right now is because of the little work problem that happened with my husband, is there wont be enough money to even pay the main bills for the next two months,,,, so I'm trying to figure out how to make money appear from nowhere :)lol

Anyone figured that one out yet! :)

Over 100 and fun with boxes!

I realized as I looked at my blogger dashboard this morning that yesterday I posted my 100th blog post! I didnt realize I had posted so many. When I started this blog I honestly didnt think anyone would read it and it was just a trial thing, but I rather like blogging. I love reading others and my favorite thing is when people comment on my blog! It makes me feel connected to the outside world even though sometimes the only adult I talk to here in real life is my husband!! IT is neat knowing that people in other areas of the world can read my thoughts. So anyways I am going to keep on blogging. I would love to be able to help others through my blogging experience. I dont know everything but I have learned a few things in my little lifetime so far, so does anyone have a particular topic of interest that I might be able to talk about that would help you. Or maybe just some topics or things that you think I should blog about,, any input is welcome!!
Also I ordered a few things online for Christmas this year, it sure has been fun getting packages in the mail. Today we got a really big box that had Emmas giraffe I ordered her in, so I let the little ones play with the box, they have been having so much fun in it. I think I'll just keep it around a while til it starts getting torn up, Its not the prettiest thing but the kids have fun with it.
Thanks for taking the time today to read my blog. Have a super duper day!!!

Vinegar

I have a question. My dishwasher doesn't work very well, I keep having nasty film and icky stuff on my dishes when they are supposed to be clean. I have heard of people using white vinegar in the rinse agent dispenser. I was wondering if anyone has tried this and how were your results? Did your dishes come out cleaner? Did your house/dishes end up smelling like vinegar, cause I don't know if I could stand that. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Question

I've got a question for anyone that has had or has little ones. My daughter is almost 9 months old and I am still using the baby laundry detergent for her clothes. I've been thinking of switching over to the regular laundry detergent that I use for the rest of the family(which is tide). But I cant remember for the life of me how old my other two were when I started washing their clothes with regular soap. So how old were your kiddos when you made the switch. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Oh, I just thought of one more question,,, has anyone out there ever used the Members mark(sams club) baby wipes, we are going there this weekend and I thought about buying them but I hate to buy such a big box and then end up not likeing them. IF you have used them what would you compare them to? I dont want anything thats going to be rough on my little ones touche:) thanks again,,,,,