Menu Plan Monday

December 31 - Jan 7

Monday: Emilia is having her cousin Jordan over and we will be having a "girls night" Emilia is going to pick up snacks at the store.....although her main thing she wants is the new cereal straws for the morning....go figure

Tuesdsay: Roast, Red Potatoes, Carrots, Gravy, Rolls

Wednesday: Pancakes, Bacon, Eggs

Thursday: Split Pea Soup, Rolls

Friday: Pinto Beans, Cornbread

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Sheppard's Pie

To help us become more frugal I actually have the whole month of January planned and have incorporated a breakfast night for Wed, soup for Thursday and a bean dish on Friday. I also am purposely not planing food for Mondays and Saturday because I want us to get better at eating our leftovers. We currently throw out more food because we "forget" about the leftovers.

No Spending Months

For the months of Jan and Feb my husband are entering a "no spending" freeze. We are not going out to eat, to the movies, no extra shopping. Just bills, groceries and gas. We are hoping to put every single extra cent towards our credit card debt. I am also going to restart our goals on the right side if the blog to pay off cc debt. Currently it is showing the percentage of debt to the credit limit. Now it will show the 100% as the amount owed on the card and we will go down by what we pay.
The only event that we are doing is a snow-weekend trip that we are looking for the frugalist way to go and a present for Nicholas's Birthday. But I am hoping to get a great gift for him with all the Christmas specials still going on.
I have made a menu for the whole month of January and have purchased quite a bit from the shopping list. I plan on updating daily any "extra" spenditures and and "pay-off" that we make for the two months.

Upward Basketball

Both Nicholas and Emilia are in Upward Basketball for the Next few months. The actually were put on the same team and Margaret is helping to coach the team. We are all so excited. Emilia had fun watching Nicholas when he was doing soccer and she got to play a little on the last day. She choose basketball over cheerleading, so I am glad. I want her to have fun and use her energy for running around. I think this could be a great confidence builder, plus she will get to spend time with Nicholas. Hopefully they will learn to cooperate with each other on the team. We are going to borrow one of Margaret's smaller hoops so she can practice. We have a concrete slab with a real hoop attached in the backyard, but it is way too high for the kids to actually shoot hoops. I am hoping to get her to do a little practice routine, it will also hopefully get the adults out there getting exercise with her. We could use some. If you don't know about Upward it is worth checking out. It is a Christian based team sports for kids.

Holiday Season

Well it is finally getting close to Christmas. I seemed like it would take forever to get here and yet time flys. I didn't get alot of things done that I wanted to. We got the Christmas Tree up, but none of the other decorations that would sit out. Some I was afraid that the cats would knock over. They have already climbed into the tree and bent a few of the branches down and have knocked a couple of ornaments off the tree. Emilia is getting excited, this morning she sleepily asked me what date it was...I replied that it was Wednesday, "no, the date" I was corrected. I told her it was the 18th....oops. Later when I asked her if she was counting down the days till Christmas, she said no that she was counting down till when Nicholas came over....Awwwhhh! She get so excited to spend time with her brother. I will have both the kids all day Friday, Sat, Sun and Monday. Of course we have some things going on. Not too much thankfully, I want to do some fun stuff with the kids, like making cookies, maybe ice skating. I know we plan on caroling over at Margaret's Neighborhood. It should be a fun time for everyone.

Menu Planning

Ok so far, we haven't followed the Menu plan. However, it is because both my husband and I work and so Monday and Wednesday he cooked dinner, but he mostly used items from around the pantry. Monday was Hamburger Helper and Wed was Sloppy Joes. He got hamburger buns from the store because he knows I don't like it on plain bread and he picked up sliced cheese because he likes it....and being a cheesy kind of girl I like it too!!
Tonight we are having the Taco's because I forgot about a ladies church event on last Tuesday. I am going to be making homemade tortillas, hopefully they will turn out.

Kitchen Tip Tuesday's w/Tammy

The ABCs of Flour

What makes a certain flour good for one recipe and bad for another? Gluten! When flour is moistened and mixed for dough or batter, gluten forms from the protein in the flour. Some flours have more protein, some less, forming more or less gluten, which is key to making breads expand and cakes stick together. For the best baking results, learn about these three basic types of flour:

• All-purpose flour is a blend of hard and soft wheat. The balance of gluten from these creates the texture you want for quick breads, pie crust, cookies and most everyday uses.


• Bread flour has a higher gluten-forming protein content, creating dough that is nice and elastic. This makes it ideal for making kneaded breads.


• Cake flour is made with soft wheat, producing less gluten, so your cake will have that perfect delicate and slightly crumbly texture. Note that self-rising cake flour is different.

This tip comes from Whole Foods Market for more tips from bloggers just like you go here.

Menu Plan Monday #1

So I am trying out posting a weekly menu for the rest of December in hopes of getting in the habit for our "savings month" of Jan and Feb. I am relying on old favorites as well as looking for new frugal recipies.

Monday: Leftovers, clean out fridge

Tuesday: Taco's @ Margaret's

Wednesday: Spaghetti, salad, bread sticks

Thursday: Grilled pork chops, veggie, peach cobbler

Friday: Beans and Cornbread

Saturday: Meatloaf, veggie, rolls

Sunday: Turkey, mashed potatoes, veggie, rolls

Breakfast is: cereal, oatmeal, grits, Orange Muffins

Lunch is: leftovers, sandwiches

snack is: apples w/ caramel dip (already made), carrot sticks w/ranch, various items in the house.

Trial recipe to try to make this weekend: Beef Pepperoni

I get alot of recipes from Pioneer Woman and Tammy.

Credit Card Tally

So to the right I have posted our Credit Cards and the percentages to pay off. I have listed them in importance of payoff....for instance any extra money right now is going toward the CitiBank card with the 32% interest rate. It is a little misleading, because the amount owed varies from as little as $40 to upwards of $2000+ on some cards. Bear with me as I explore how to best display this. The Visa and Sams are both nominal amounts and I might get those knocked out with any extra money before applying it to the CitiBank, just so that I have less monthly payments. I plan to move money off the CitiBank to the Capital One from 32% to o3.99%.

Total debt:$7,814.16

I don't count car/house in this debt. I am hoping to knock out most of this debt by 2009. I know it is ambitious but here is my thinking:

Tax Returns = $1500 (very conservative)

3rd paycheck me 2x in 2008 = $1600
5th paycheck Steve 4x in 2008 = $1200
Monthly $200 x 12 months = $2400

Total: $6,700

Now this does not include any overtime or extra jobs that Steve gets, plus any number of creative way we come up with to save money to go towards our debt.

Debt Reduction

Okay, so Steve and I have decided to really get serious about getting ourselves out of debt. We both have a $200 item in mind to get with our tax returns

(Steve wants a dvr recorder and I want to purchase some backpacking gear)

so we have made a deal with each other. For the months of Jan/Feb we are going on a spending fast. Except for needed items we will not be going to the store, out to eat, to the movies .....anything. We will each "earn" $50 toward the item we want for each sucessful pay period "two weeks" that we abstain from spending. I am going to post how far we get in paying off our debt. Feb is a 3 paycheck month for me and a 5 for Steve so I am hoping that we will be able to get alot paid off. I will keep you posted.

Homemade Caramel

Ok, so I found a recipe for Homemade Caramel on TammysRecipies.com....and since I LOVE caramel I thought I would give it a try. Tammy prefers the dark brown sugar so I made it will the dark. I have to say that next time I think I will try the light brown sugar; it turned out great, but I think I would prefer a lighter tast to it. The recipe makes 4 cups and believe me it is alot....I made the mistake of doubling the recipe and now I have tons of caramel on hand.....yummy! I will just have to get creative and bring treats into work.....lucky them. I think I will make some brownies and top it with the caramel, maybe bring in some apples to slice up. I am looking for some pretty jars and maybe I will make some to give for Christmas Presents. I wonder if it will freeze.....I will have to email her to find out.

Snowball Fight

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

The Charleston

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

Pampered Chef Cookbook Contest

So Stay at Home Mommy is having a give away for a Pampered Chef Cookbook. I so want it. I love pampered chef recipes, they are so good. Most are really easy to do, but can be "spiced" up by an experienced cook. And most don't have any funny hard to get ingredients. If you want to try for it, write a post on your blog and post a link in her comment section here.

Crazy 8

Okay....so I got turned onto an online store called crazy8 that is an off shoot of Limited too. I also like a local store called Justice that has great "cool" clothes for Emilia. Justice is a girls only older girls sizes 6-16, but Crazy 8 has boys and small sizes from birth on up. I don't buy there "expensive" clothes, I look for the items on sale, I just bought pjs for Emilia for $8 for each set and they are really good quality. I have gone back and bought matching jammies for Jordon her cousin and a similar themed jammies for Nicholas. They have them set up as outfits and to purchase separates. Right now there is no shipping cost option, I am not sure if that is a promotion or an all the time thing. I think it is great, because Emilia and I can go online and pick out an outfit together. I am a new customer and have not had to return anything yet, but so far I am extremely happy! Cute Stuff. (They are very similar in prices to Walmart's expensive stuff) I plan to keep my eyes peeled for more deals.

Christmas Party

Tonight is Steve’s annual Christmas Party for Platt’s. To me the best part is the Filet Minion that they serve. The have all you care to drink alcohol (don’t drink), Salmon appetizers (don’t eat Salmon), salad with Vinaigrette dressing (don’t do vinaigrettes), but love me some steak, good bread. Another great part is the dessert. They have a eatable chocolate box filled with chocolate mouse. Can anyone say yummo?!? It is at the fancy Augusta Country Club so we have to dress up. I bought several months ago this dark red/maroon velvet pants suit. The only problem is the top has one button at the top and is open the rest of the way. I have been meaning to go buy something to go under it, and just have never remembered. The black top that I am going to wear under is not very flattering around the waist, but I am going to be sitting most of the time and hopefully no one will notice. I will post a picture soon. Let me know what you think.

Christmas Tree

So we put up the Christmas Tree here at work. And although it helps bring a Christmas atmosphere here, I have to admit that it is kind of pathetic looking. The tree is very old...I am talking a couple of decades. The limbs are so far apart space wise you can see the "bones" of the tree. The decorations are also all pretty old. I am thinking that maybe it is time to update the tree a little. If I can get a picture I will add it in.

Storing Ground Beef in the Freezer

We bulk buy 10 lb tubes of hamberger at Sam's Club so portioning them out is key. We divide the tube up into equal increments and place them into quart size freezer bags. The key to storing them is to flatten the meat to the full width and length of the bag and to squeeze out any air. The meat defrosts quicker than if you store them as a chunk of meat. You can even toss it in a sink of water, or place directly into the pan. To see more kitchen tips go to Kitchen Tips Tuesday by Tammy

NaBloPoMo

Well it is coming to the end of the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). I have copied over postings from that site to this. I have found that:
#1 It is hard to try to manage two blogs
#2 I am definitley not a post everyday kind of girl (at least not at this time in my life) I could just stare at the computer with nothing to write about. I have never been a writer, I am more of a reader and I love reading other blogs.

Whew!!

Well we finally got through Thanksgiving. Now onto Christmas. We are pulling out all the decorations for a friend tonight and we will start putting the basics up tomorrow for our house. We are also going to get a couple of shelves from Lowes to help organize our household a little more. I can't wait til Christmas. I want to see what the kids think of the presents we got them.
Chow!

Thanksgiving Aftermath

Well, I am proud to say that I did not fall prey to previous habits and consume copious amounts of food. I still ate more than I should have but did not overdue it. Of course it helps that I went to someone's house for dinner and they had plenty of (I am sure quite delicous) vegetables that I just don't eat. They had a sweet potato soufflee that had an camalized nut topping. They had a mess of greens. (I am in the south)
What could have killed me was the desserts.....apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pineapple upside down cake and strawberry cheesecake. I had a piece of the cheesecake and a sliver (and I do mean a sliver) of pumpkin. Now that isn't to say that I didn't take slices of the other stuff for leftovers.
All in all I am proud of myself. So how did you do???

Turkey Day

Although we will not be having Thankgiving at our house or Margaret's house this year I thought I would tell you what I would have made if I was cooking.
Turkey
Mashed Potaotes (real w/skins)
Gravey
My bil mother's stuffing (best I ever tasted)
green bean casserole
brocolli salad
peas or corn
yams with Marshmellows (not sure about this one, can't remember if we decided not to have this because no one cared or not last year)
cresent rolls (lots, and lots, and lots)
pumpkin pie w/ whipped cream
pistachio pudding
pumpkin cake
apple pie w/ ice cream
Sparkling Cider/Wine/Coke
I am so ready for tomorrow, I am already salivating. Best wishes on your T-day.

Mommy my hands are THICK!! (nablopomo.com 11/20)

So about a year ago or so Emilia started licking her hands in the morning and for several weeks Steve and I tried to stop her saying..."Emilia that's gross", "Ewww Yuck" and such. Finally growing frustrated, I asked her why in the world she was licking her hands. Her response was "My hands are thick!" I took me a little while, but I realized the problem was that she had dry skin and it was bothering her. So I told her htat she just needed to put lotion on. So now she has her own bottle of lotion to use....but still every once in a while I still catch her licking her hand and have to remind her to use lotion. Children contiunally provide a sense of entertainment.

Bread Machine (nablopomo.com 11/19)

So we have pulled out the bread machine, dusted it off and have started a loaf. I am going to try a few recipes over the next couple of days and play with my machine to see if we can set the timer to have hot fresh bread in the evenings for mealtime. I am trying a news simple recipe from allrecipes.com called the "Best Bread Machine Bread" it has alot of great reveiws so we will see. I also want to make dinner rolls, biscuits, waffles and other baked good to put in the freezer so we can have them on hand. I will let you know how it goes.

Tired (from nablopomo.com 11/15)

I am so tired....I am going home and going to bed. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. Well...I guess technically it does since I have to get out of bed to go to work...but you know what I mean. Here at the Newspaper we are heading into early deadlines because of the coming holiday. Hopefully all will run smoothly. The Thanksgiving day paper is our biggest paper of the year, it even beats out Masters (I think)
Night all...

Canning

I can remember over the years canning with my mother. We have made grape jelly, apricots, and I can clearly remember a case of exploding pumpkins. I have a sudden yearn to take up canning for my own little family. I have no supplies, but that will not deter me. I think I am going to start looking around for the necessities so I can be prepared for the next harvesting season that starts in May. Wish me luck.

A Great Joke

Saw this great joke online in the Rant's and Rave's Section of The Augusta Chronicle and had to share it...

The other day I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw a "Honk If You Love Jesus" bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. Boy, I'm glad I did! What an uplifting experience followed! I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good He is. I didn't notice that the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed! I found that LOTS of people love Jesus! While I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, "For the love of GOD! GO! GO! GO!" What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus! Everyone started honking! I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all these loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love! There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a "sunny beach". I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only one finger stuck up in the air. I asked my teenage grandson who was in the car with me what that meant, he said that it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back. A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed. So, I waved to all my sisters and brothers grinning, and drove on through the intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and I felt kind of sad that had to leave them after all the love we had shared, so I slowed the car down, leaned out of the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!

Last Picture

This is the last complete picture of Steve's immediate family, unfortunately just a few months after this picture was taken his mother passed away. She was a really great lady who accepted my children right off the bat and loved playing Grandma to them. I will miss her dearly.

Here are some pictures of the kids from the first day of school. Nicholas is obviously starting 2nd grade and Emilia is starting 1st Grade. You never know what kind of smile you are going to get with these two.

Christmas Decorations

We have a news store that opened up out here called "Final Markdown", it is such a great store. It has greeting cards for $.39 and decorations/gifts for a really low cost. I will add some pics later, but I was able to expand my holiday theme (snowflake, snowman, blue, white, silver) between this store and the dollar store. I was also able to purchase some really pretty ornaments for the exchange party they have at the church each year. My goal is to get some that people fight over. Steve and I are already pulling out the decorations, since we will be going somewhere for Thanksgiving, I wanted to get an early start.

So what is your opinion - is it okay to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. (even if we don't light up the tree??)

Budgeting

I have been reading alot of blogs/websites from women doing amazing things...Things like a weekly grocery budget of $35, Yikes. I found this website thefamilyhomestead.com about how to make your own laundry soap that cost approx. 1 cent a load. Just around $.70 for a two gallons of laundry detergent vs the $5-$10 that it usually cost. It had alot of other great ideas. While I could do some...like the laundry soap, there were so many other ideas that I unfortunatly would not have the time to do. I am still researching ways to provide income so that I might one day be able to be a stay-at-home mom, but only time will tell. I am looking for ways to improve so that by August 2010 when Emilia starts the third grade, maybe I will be able to be home.

Too many trees.....

Well, my husband and I have had it with Comcast. We bundled our services with them about a year ago and have had quite a few problems with them. The phone has gone out 4 times in the last few weeks, and considering how important the phone is to Steve's work - this was not tolerable. So we decided to go with a Bell South and Direct TV(??) bundle. However when they came out to the house today it seems that we have too many trees for their dish to work properly...so he is talking with Dish Network about getting the cable through them and then we would get the phone/internet through Bell South. I wish we could afford to get rid of the trees now, but we are hoping to get rid of them come March with the Tax Returns. If I was brave (or stupid) enough I would hack down the trees myself, but since I don't know what I am doing and I live in the burbs instead of the country I am sure my neighbors would appreciate me hiring a professional to do the job.

Modesty

Why is it that almost every dress has no sleeves? I went to a Department store that is having a moving sale today and 99.9% of the dresses had no sleeves or even worse were halter top type dresses. Shorts are only one inch from the inseam....yikes what messages are we sending our children. My little one is only 6 years old and we are already battling over what clothes are appropriate. It gives me heart palpatations just thinking of when she gets to be a teenager. Boys are so much easier - long shorts and tees.

Behavior

Emilia is getting very unpredictable in her behavior. Thursday she pulled only one card. Unfortunately Friday, neither Steve nor I remembered to put a patch on her and by 11:30 I recieved a call from the school office that she had pulled 6 cards already. They are keeping her there for now, but if she continues to misbehave then someone is going to have to go get her. I feel so bad, because I know that we help contribue to the problems, but I still stressed to her that she was in charge of making good choices and she was not doing a good job. She sounded so distraught over the phone. She told me "I tried to pull no cards, but I pulled 6" I am going to post a big ole sign by the door so that we see it every time we go out to help us remember her medication.
Got Patch??

Halloween

Halloween was fun, the kids got a kick out of dressing up and going trick-or-treating. However, I noticed that each year the lite porch lights are less and less. Maybe people are going to parties with there kids, or maybe they just don't want the hassle anymore. We have always gone over to my sister's house and gone trick-or-treating in her neighborhood. Last year I remember that and the end of going up and down her street we had to off-load the kids because their pumpkins had become too heavy. That was not the case this year. I think next year, since it is on a Friday that Steve and I might just invite people over to the house for a Halloween party, bring the kids, have some fun, maybe have an adult party later in the evening. It has been almost a decade since I dressed up for Halloween, it might be fun.

Unconsious Gestures

It is amazing to me that with all we teach our children ABC and 123 and such that they seem to learn more by observing and repeating. They absorb our speach patterns our unconsious gestures, our habits. Yesterday Emilia (my six year old) and I were driving to my sister's house for Halloween. I had a glass of ice water and Emilia asked for some. We were at a stop light so I turned and gave it to her waiting for her to be done so that I could take it back. She took it, swallowed some and rolled her eyes with pleasure from the cold water. It was hilarious. No one taught her that. I am positive that I have done it when trying to get them to eat something at the dinner table. Mmmmmm! these vegtables are so good (eyes rolling heavenward). This is just one of many example of my daughter "learning" without being taught.

NaBloPoMo

That stand for "National Blog Posting Month" a challenge to blogger to post everyday for the month of October. If you want to check it out go to NaBloPoMo. I will be copying and posting my blogs from there to here to keep this blog up to date. Wish me luck.

Report Card

Emilia got all A's on her academic grades, but has a C in conduct. We have made a deal with her that if she can get an A on Conduct at the next 9 week report that she could get a Nintendo DS. Hopefully this will encourage her to do better.
Nicholas got A's and B's and is doing much better. He now has tutoring twice a week to help give him a boost. Margaret says that homework with him is now a fifteen minute deal instead of the hour it was taking. He is able to concentrate so much better now.

ADHD

Last year Emilia was having a really hard time in Kindergarden. We ended up taking her to a local dr to be evaluated. She was diagnosed with ADHD and Oppositional Defiance Disorder (That can also be found at the link above). I know that alot of times that children are misdiagnosed with these issue, but for her I know it was true. After talking to her ped. we put her on Daytrona it is a patch that worked quite well for her for the rest of the school year.

This year she seems to have a wide variance in her behavior. She can have a great day with no cards pulled and the very next pull 5 because of misbehavior. She has only pulled more than 3 cards one day this year, but her behavior is so unpredictable it has caused concern at home. I just had a parent-teacher conference and was told that Emilia had been overheard saying that she had pulled her patch off. The teacher checked over the course of the day and she did have it on, but it leads to the question of if she has been doing that. Since she takes it off herself, I haven't been tracking whether or not she had been keeping it on. We are going to her ped at the end of Nov. and will be discussing other medications with him. Nicholas was just diagnosed ADD and is on Vyvanse and it seems to be working well. I really like that they have different dose sizes. She has gotten old enough that I think she will do well with a pill, and we can be confidant that her day is with the medication instead of hoping.

Garbage Compacter vs China

Steve and I had been talking about getting a rotisserie for the house for a while. And although at this point I am confused as to who wanted it first, I had thought it would make a great Christmas gift for Steve. He can be so hard to buy for and this seemed like a great gift for him.

Well this last weekend we were at Sam's Club and Steve started talking about what amount we were going to spend on each other. He is a very thoughtful and generous man most of the time, but he he blew it with one statement "I was thinking of getting you new pots and pans"

Now to some people this might seem a little two faced that I can get him a kitchen appliance and not the reverse.....but the difference is that I have not mentioned once that I wanted new pans recently and I have dropped hints to him about things that I do want.

Him however, everytime I ask, cannot come up with one thing that he is interested in for Christmas. I don't want to give him Book Gift Cards....because we have enough books around the house. Most likely he will end up with a Lowe's gift certificate if he doesn't provide me with something else.

It reminds me of a story that was told to me about my Grandparents and Christmastime gifts. It seems one year that my Grandfather went out and bought my Grandma a garbage compacter for Christmas, so she returned the thoughtful gesture by buying him a set of China. You go girl!!

Change on the Side

So....I am currently looking ways to earn extra money that does not entail a 9-5 job. Ideas are Pampered Chef, tupperware, Newspaper route. Each have pros and cons attached to them. The one I am exploring the most is the Tupperware, it is a name brand product that most people know. I don't know if I could wake up early to do a Newspaper route. I am hoping to bloom this into something I could eventually use to replace my current job so I could be at home.
The ideal situation would be for me to get a position on night side here at the paper, but that could be a while....which is at least something to look forward to, I guess. I signed up for some kind of online survey which was recommended throught a blog that I read, but it just wanted me to sign up for more offers and led me through a maze to nothingness. Yikes!!!
I know some women/men out there have profitable at home positions...so I am not giving up yet.
Let me know if anyone has any ideas!

LDS Missionaries

The Missionaries stopped by last night to introduce the New guy. They had stopped by last week so the one leaving could say goodbye. It is too funny because both times they came right after we had sat down for dinner. They felt so bad, but I don't mind. It is nice to see them. We talked a little about the biggest question I am facing right now.....The god head. Three in one or three separate beings. Being raised Mormon I had always been taught and believed that they were three separate beings. However, the church that Steve and I have been attending lately (non-denominational conteporary christian) believes that they are the Trinity or three in one. The Missionaries pointed out some scriptures in the Bible and also lead me to a Oct Conference talk by Bro. Holland on this subject. I am hoping to download the talk so I can listen to it over and over and contemplate this issue. I don't know if I am leaning towards three separate beings because I was raised this way or because I actually believe it.
I am wanting to delve deeper into my thoughts and feelings. I have never had a close relationship with the Lord, but I know I want one. I feel so lost at times in my own desire for a spiritual connection. Well....wish me luck. I will keep ya'll posted.

The TWO BROWNIE rule

So we have rules for when Emilia misbehaves and pulls cards at school....(see previous blot) but I realized that we needed an immediate reward for when she pulled no cards at all. While we were in the grocery store I let her pick out a Nestle "break and bake". She actually picked the brownies instead of cookies. It has Halloween sprinkles on it which she just loves. She knows that when she pulls no cards that she gets to bake up two brownies. Monday she pulled cards. Tuesday she pulled no cards and was so excited to bake up her brownies. I am hoping that this will help her to not pull cards...we will see and keep you posted.

Cryin' over Poptarts

This morning started out well enough. Woke my daughter up Emilia and got a cute sleepy "good morning" in return. I told her that if she wanted help getting dressed that she needed to go pick out a outfit right away.....she just laid there. After repeated warnings that I was leaving....I left to take my shower. Meanwhile Steve tried getting her going. When I got out of the shower she was still in bed ignoring him. I told him to just leave the room and told her that she had lost her privilege for a morning cartoon. I told her to get dressed if she wanted to eat the oatmeal that Steve was making. About 15 minutes later I hear this miserable crying coming from the living room. I poked my head out the bedroom door and asked Emilia what was wrong. "Daddy says it's too late that I can't have Oatmeal, that I have to have a poptart" (with a disgusted voice) I told her next time to get up so she can have oatmeal.

I just love the fact that she would rather have oatmeal than a poptart. I know that wouldn't have been the case when I was a child. Hopefully morning routines will get better. We shall see.

Blogging

I just love blogging. Love reading it... love writing it...Love the comments. However, sometimes it seems that I have a block....so many ideas and to actually write them down is intimidating. I am getting to know my ablilities in here. Hence the picture.....I have a friend that does the coolest stuff on her blogspot. (I am jelous) I am hoping to get recent pictures uploaded here soon, but my camera is still in Ohio. We left it at Steve's brother's house. Hopefully we will get it back soon. I am getting camera crazy and just might go out and buy a new one if I don't get mine back soon. I have missed so many pic opportunities.

Bible Study

I am doing a new Women's Bible Study called "Breaking Free; Making Liberty in Christ a Reality in Life" I have to say I am really into this study. I am learning a lot and remembering more often to pray. I think that is my biggest hurdle to cross is regular prayer and scripture reading. I know that my mom several times tried to get us to gather as a family for prayers and scriptures. I hope that I can get this going in our little family. Emilia has a kid's bible that she loves to read out of. I want to encourage that as much as possible.

All at Once

Why is it that you can have several days...weeks even when you have nothing to do, but then Everything is scheduled on One Day?? This Saturday in town we have:

1. Nicholas's Soccer Game
2. Emilia's School Fair
3. Nicholas's School Fair
4. The Greek Festival
5. The Latin/Hispanic Festival
6. The Renasiance Festival
7. And Nic has a B-day party invitaion.
8. Steve has a Men's Breakfast to go to.

Can anyone say Yikes! Let's see....how to pack it all in on one day.

7:00 Steve leaves for Men's Breakfast
7:30 Wake up Kids
9:00 Leave for Soccer Game meet Steve
11:00 Leave Soccer to go to Emilia's School
12:30 Leave Emilia's School to go to Nich's School
2:00 Go to Renasiance Festival
5:00 Go to Latin Festival.

Will have to skip the Bday party....Oh and one more thing the Greek Festival is also going on this weekend....So Steve is going to have to get his gyro either tonight or tomorrow Night. Afterwards I think I am going to bed early to recover. I hope the kids will be worn out by the end of the day. Maybe Sunday we will all relax and play games together.

Hiking at Conagree National Park

I joined the local Hiking group and went with them to Conagree National Park last Saturday. I was so excited....got new shoes, a new waistpack to carry water and snacks and off I went. The path started out with a high boardwalk leading to the dirt trail. Well it was wet and covered with leaves.....so needless to say I found a way to slip and take a pretty hard fall. To my credit I shook it off and kept going. There were several other times when I tried to slip...mostly on the various wooden bridges. Emilia went along and had a blast, she bonded with Kathi a nice lady that carpooled with us up to the location. She became Emilia's new buddy and Emilia hiked most of the time with her. Kathi was so funny talking and singing with Emilia, spining around on the trail to the song. A few times Emilia would exclaim that she was "so tired" and squat on the side of the trail only to jump up and race to the front after a few people passed her. There was a total of 13 people there. One guy brought his new puppy - which everyone had fun playing with. Afterwards a bunch of us went out to eat afterwards. It was a great time with a great bunch.

Appalachian Trail

I have a desire to backpack the Appalachian Trail. (For those of you who don't know what it is...it is a 2,170 +/- hiking trail that extends from Ga to Maine) Now I realize that this is a VERY ambitious desire/thought. But it is not like I plan on leaving home tomorrow. There are a lot of things that I need to do in preparation for this trip. I know that this will be a 3+ year endeavor.

1. I will need to get into a lot better shape. Some extra padding won't kill me, but the physical exertion of carrying it will be hard. I have started walking daily... and plan on doing dayhikes in the surrounding state parks.
2. I will need to purchase the necessary equipment - I have been pricing around and it is going to cost me $700+ dollars for all the things I will need.
3. I plan on taking smaller overnight trips in the foreseeable future.
4. One of the trips I would like to do in the spring of next year is to hike the Bartram Trail. It is a 37 mile trail in Northern GA. It will take 3-4 days.

I am getting Emilia some backpacking gear and she will go with me on the smaller trips....It will be our special thing. I have found a hiking meet-up group here in Augusta and have joined it. I am hoping to go on some hiking trips with them. They mostly do day trips...but maybe I can meet a few people who would be interested in doing overnighters. I think the biggest problem we will have would be teaching her how to pee in the woods without getting her drawers wet. Ha, ha, ha I hope that she enjoys hiking....I think we will try it before buying her any special equipment.

Any of the long trips I will hope to find a female companion to go on it with and I know that it is not exactly ideal to go out in the woods alone, but we will see.

Camping

I love to camp. I had so much fun doing it when I was younger. I bought a tent 3-4 years ago that was supposed to be easy to set up. All the poles are connected and attached to the tent - you just lay it out on the tarp, pull the poles straight and then pull a tension device apart. Well pulling that tension rod apart was impossible, so it has sat in storage until recently. This last weekend was it's first true adventure into to great outdoors. We left Friday night, got to the campgrounds just before dusk. It stopped raining long enough to pitch the tent. Then we went out for dinner, because of the late hour. It rained all night, but we woke up to a clear warm day for Saturday. The sun even got a little too warm and the kids and I retreated into the tent to play games while Steve was running errands. We had origionally taken baby (our dog) with us, but because of our new queen blow up bed there was not alot of room left in the tent. Steve took the dog home and picked up a few needed items....like matches to light the fire/stove. Silly us.
Saturday night we had BLT wedge salad, pork chops, and couscous for dinner. We generally agreed that the couscous would need a whole lot of seasonings should we ever eat it again. Margaret and Jeff came out Saturday night to join us. We had fun taking walks and hanging out with each other. We got the kids put to bed and stayed up for a while chatting.
Sunday morning we woke up and it was windy and cold. We ended up packing up and leaving early because it was so cold. Next time we will be more prepared...so we can stay a little later.
The worst part about camping this last weekend was the lake water was really far down. It was so bad that the yellow floaty things that mark of the swimming area were totally out of the water by several feet. But we want to go camping alot more often - and with time things will improve.

I hate School!

Well that is at least what my darling child Emilia tells me repeatedly. I do find it funny that this comment is mostly made when she has a bad day at school. She had a great Monday and Tuesday with no cards pulled, but on Wednesday she pulled three cards. She has a tiered level of punishment when she pulls cards:

1 card = no desert

1 cards = no dessert, no tv

3 cards = no dessert, no tv and has to stay in her room.

She cried and cried last night having to stay in her room, we talked several times about how "unfair" her punishment was and how "mean" I was being. She told me that she didn't like school and that she just wanted to stay home with me. I think her hyper behavior tends to make her feel excluded from the other children. Hopefully she will learn better way to control her hyperness and be able to overcome. We shall see

Journaling

Yikes - It has been a long time since I have posted...sorry. Alot has been going on it, but to actually be able to sit down and type it all out is a tremendous task.
Since my last post -
Steve's mother Barb past away, he is still trying to come to terms with it, but is taking it one step at a time. So in turn we have taken in her dog into the family. It is a white fluffy dog, unkown breed, male named Baby. So far it has been a welcome addition to the family. It can be a little hyper, but has been very helpful to wake up Emilia in the morning. We just call the dog on top of her bed and he starts to nuzzle her awake...much improved from last year's tourture sessions to get her morning started.
The kids have started school Nicholas (2nd grade) and Emilia (1st grade) each are having there own struggles this year. Nicholas seems to be having trouble learning and Emilia's is a behavior problem - mostly just being too active and hyper...trying to get her to calm down for school.
We went camping this last weekend. It was raining Friday night, was great Saturday and we woke up to a cool, windy Sunday. The lake was way down...so we didn't swim, we went for a couple walks, but mostly just hung out with Margaret, Jeff and Jordan who joined us Saturday afternoon til Sunday a.m.
I was forwarded this email about this woman who has gotten alot of attention from an ebay auction. Her blog address is mom2my6pack.blogspot.com she is hilarious. I wish that she lived closer, because I would love to meet this woman. She has 6 kids and the things they get into are hilarious, and make me appreciate mine. One off her kids she calls Spaz and he reminded me of Emilia so much I almost peed my pants. Well - I got to get back to work. I know that this blog jumped around on different topics, who knows maybe with time I will improve....maybe not.

Year Anniversary

Well, Steve and I made it to our one year anniversary...Yipee!! We went down to Savannah for the day this last Saturday and had fun roaming around River Street. I got to watch them pulling taffy at a candy store, we took a Paddle Riverboad tour and went to the famous cemetary from the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" I was interesting looking at all those beautiful statues. We also went to the cemetary in the middle of downtown Savannah. I saw a plaque commemerating the first Newspaper publisher in GA. Alot of the graves were of people who died in the Yellow fever plauge (I think in the 1870's, not sure) but it was so sad to see all the markers for the children...it had their ages: year, month and date. We ended the day having a seafood dinner at one of the restaurants - very Yummy! Steve and I had a wonderful time looking for gifts for our loved ones.

Emilia had a great time staying at Margaret's house. She came home wearing a bow in her hair, which doesn't happen as often as i like at home. Oh well.....until next time.

Sickness

Man, it has been a while since I have posted. A lot of that time has been dealing with a sick child - Emilia. She was sent home from school on a Tuesday with a fever and was out the rest of that week and the following week with it. We thougth it was just the "flu" thing that was going around and I guess we will never know for sure, because she went to school on a Monday and was sent home with a fever again on Wednesday. Steve took her to the ped. and we found out that she has a UTI, poor thing. This is her fourth one. Tomorrow she is going into the hospital for a test they are going to put some dye into her bladder using a cathedar and see if it is getting into the kidneys. Margaret is coming with us to help keep Emilia calm. I am not sure what will happen if it is -- and it would definatley not be a good thing, but I don't want to get all freaked out, but I am worried.
Nicholas has lost both of his bottom teeth and the permanant ones are coming in somewhat sideways.....he will need braces/orthodontist work. He has been having alot of bad dreams lately, the other night he woke up and said a dragon was chasing him. He also wasn't feeling very well this past week or so, and Margaret mentioned it is affecting his schoolwork. But he was feeling better on Sunday, so hopefully it has past whatever it was.
Steve is doing good working hard and so am I. We are hoping to get a new car soon - but the kind we want (Honda Pilot) is expensive even the used ones. So -- who knows what we will get, probably won't even start seriously looking until summertime.....
bye

Organization

Uugghhh! I hate being disorganized, it seems that in our house the pile of stuff move from place to place, room to room creating chaos. At this point we just don't have anywhere to store most of it and I am reluctant to go out an buy stuff in the meantime, because I am not sure how I want it stored permanantly. For example, we have books, but do we buy small or large bookcases? Black, cherry or natural finish, what room are we going to put it in. I pulled a side table from the livingroom into my bedroom to serve as a dressing table, however it is a little to large and I have to squeeze by to get into bed, but I don't exactly want to go out an buy a vanity table. Plus, the fact that we are paying off credit cards and debt doesn't exactly allow us to go buy organizational stuff. We did buy some shelving for the Closet in Nic's bedroom, we are turning that into a game/craft closet, but as yet we have not put the shelving in --- why you ask, because I have to touch up the painting in that room. Along with the rest of the touch ups that I need to to in both Nic and Emilia's room. It is so hard to find the time to be able to take care of these projects. I know what I want to do in the main bathroom, but first I have to peel all the wallpaper off of the walls -- not going to be a fun task, and oh so messy! Steve and I just don't have any time together without the kids, and to be perfectly honest - right now we are just to tired to do all this stuff....but meanwhile I am going crazy.
Aren't people insane...can't stand the clutter and unfinished projects, but not willing to do something about it. Maybe I can win the lotto and let someone else do the work for me.....just a thought.

Managing Finances

Stevens Creek is doing a new small group series on "Managing your finances" It looks to be a great series to not only learn better ways to manange your money, but to do it also from a spiritual aspect. It helps you to realize that not just 10% is the lords, but all of it is. We have to start thinking about being responsible to the lord for all of our money and use it for purposes that further our spiritual selfs.
I am glad to know that we don't have too much debt. Both our cars are paid off, we have a little on credit cards, and I always forget about Steve's student loan from Utah. I hope within two months to have the credit cards paid off and then start working on that student loan. Hopefully except for the house we can be debt free within a short while.
We are also trying a new thing where we are going to do all our shopping for the entire month of Feb. We will have walmart cards for gas and cards with $10 a week for Milk and fresh produce. Otherwise we are not shopping (we hope). I have found it is too easy to go into walmart for miilk, bread and eggs, and come out with $60 worth of groceries.
Pray for us that we can stand strong in our commitments.

Tastebuds

It is amazing to me how your tastebuds evolve as you mature. I now eat things that I know I did not like growing up. My co-workers and I went to Augustino's for lunch today and had the pasta bar. You create your own individual pasta dish from a variety of choices and the heat it up for you.

Now as a kid - I would have had pasta, sauce, meatballs and parmesean cheese.
But as an adult I have learned to add to it: spinach, bell peppers, green peas, onions, garlic, sausage, chicken.

I still don't like brocolli and I won't eat it on it's own as a side dish, but will eat it in a casserole. And at subway I add more than meat and cheese to the sandwich.

The fact that I try new things and my taste's are expanding give me hope for my children.

Both kids are pretty good eaters, Emilia eats most anything and Nicholas does too...although he has a "list" which can only consist of 5 things that he does not have to eat. Margaret implememted the "list" and I think it is a good idea. I know that he has taco soup, onions, broccoli and spicy food on the list. he used to have mashed potatoes on the list but he eats it now. Steve has now learned that if you want the kids to try a new food, you get Emilia to try it first, otherwise, if Nicholas doen't like it Emilia won't even try it. But if Emilia likes it you are more likely to get Nicholas to try it. Our new rule when we go to any buffet is that they have to try one bite of something new. Just this last Sunday Nicholas and I tried Macaroni and Cheese Soup. He like it, but secretly between you and I - YUCK!!!


SY (see ya)

Boston and Concord

I am readying a news series that Steve found for me. It is about the "Winslow" family starting in England coming over on the Mayflower. I have reached book 5 bringing them to the American revolution.

This has all reminded me of a wonderful time in my childhood when my parents would take us to a park called "Boston and Concord" - or that is what I remember it being called. In the middle of the park was an island with a covered bridge leading to the island - the only way to get on it. They had a ship docked at the island that you could explore and I remember buildings that you could play in. Set up like the coloinal days. They also had a wooden thing in the square that people who were in trouble would be clamped into with their head and hands sticking through. I remember my parents sitting on a blanket at the front of the covered bridge, while we went throught and played on the island. It was such a fun place, but the best part is that we would go when we would pick up my (step) brothers and sisters. It must have been close to the place that they lived, because I don't ever remember going without them.

It is funny what we remember from when we were growing up.

Inspired Blogger

I have been inspired to become a blogger by a dear friend of mine Suzanne Bree. I love ready her blogs about her life and her memories of growing up. It is a nice way to get to know her better and hear about what is going on in her life.
I have felt for a long time that I wanted to communicate more with my family and friends but to email everyone that I want seemed like to tremendous of a task. So I am copying her idea of blogging...the wave of the future.
I hope that everyone would check back every so often and leave comments about their life. In this day and age we get so busy moving so fast that we forget to communicate with the ones we love, but don't live with. I hope to bridge the unseen gap between me and my family members/friend.

All my love,
Sharon