Everything on my to-do list is done. Yah. The afternoon belongs to me. I really mean, the next few minutes belong to me. I took the kids to the library today. Ds was not in the most pleasant moods. When he got home, it was naptime. He went straight to sleep. This is something that he NEVER does. Ds was one tired little boy.

     Dd’s schoolwork is coming along. Last week was rough but this week is coming along. We are getting into a nice routine. During the next few weeks the schedule will increase. She is doing a Spanish program this year. I do not like it so far. I had to pull out some other books and will make some copies. This will supplement what she is learning. I am also going to copy some cds for the car. This way she can listen and learn while we go to Doctor’s appointments. I want to make this a fun process. Does anyone use the Rossetta (sp) Stone programs? If so, please let me know how you like them. I told dd, if she works hard in 7^th Grade, I will purchase RS Spanish. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. God Bless. I

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This is so much better then my earlier post. MY BABIES. Hope everyone has a blessed day. I

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     This week has to have been one of the craziest in my life. We did start school on Tuesday but it was hampered by a three year old that wanted all of the attention. The doctor’s office called (Wednesday) and said that ds had to get evaluated before the insurance company would allow any treatment. Isn’t this the same insurance company that wouldn’t let him get evaluated last week? This took three hours of my crazy day.  Thursday seemed to be going better. I did have an appointment with the Chiropractor and had to get a shot for my allergy.  Ds left his hat at the doctor’s office (Weds) so on Thursday I had to go and retrieve it. I don’t know when or if the insurance company will approve the therapy so I had to pick up the hat. (Couldn’t wait until a visit). I did my fruit and vegetable shopping at a store near the Drs Office.  Today was a very BIG shopping day at Wal-Mart so I hurt my shoulder pushing the buggy. All the work that the Chiropractor has done is gone.

      This weekend will be better. It is Father’s Day weekend and Dh wants to go to Olive Garden. How can I not be happy with OG? Lol.  I am taking him to Sears tomorrow so he can get his present. I was going to go myself but I can’t pick up the gift. If dh doesn’t want what I was going to get him, he can pick out something else. Lol. Sears is like man candy. Hope you have a blessed day. I

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This week is turning out to be very busy. Today was full of errands and doctor appointments. Tomorrow, dd will start school. We had a nice, long break and now it is time to hit the books.

Dh has been on call this week and it has been rough. The temps are past 100 degrees and it feels worse. I am thankful that we enjoyed our time when it was cooler outside.

After we hit another goal for the house, our family will be getting new bikes. This is something that we will enjoy doing as a family. We’ve already found a nice bike trail, in SC, which we are going to try. This will probably happen in the fall, when the weather is cooler. After the cost of the bikes, it will be a cheap way to have fun with the family. I can pack a picnic and off we will go.

This weekend was spent going over the new curriculum, watching all of the parent orientations, and making copies of school work. Our “classroom” is set up again for a new school year. Dd and ds are so excited. This weekend, we will go and “school” shop for a few things that I don’t have on hand. Not much is needed but just the thought of school shopping brings excitement to the family. Hope you have a blessed day. I

This is what I received in the mail along with the new curriculum. I am going to keep them. lol.

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      Ds did not take a nap yesterday. So last night, he didn’t sleep much. He has been up since 4:30. Yes, 4:30. I need a nap.

     I don’t have a lot going on today. If our curriculum comes, we will start school on June 16. We have had a very nice and relaxing “summer” break. Our family enjoyed a vacation and many day trips. Dd has been able to sew and so have I. Dd is going to work on a few more skirts today. I bought a book on Amazon that had simple patterns. The book was old but with new fabrics the patterns work beautifully. I haven’t really made any clothes in my life but this book is easy.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. God Bless. I

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     Our family had a busy week but managed some “home” time. I thought this was going to be a crazy week but maybe not.

     Dd had a class on Saturday. This was in a “big” city so I took her and waited for her to get finished. (9-3:30) I had some shopping to do so this is what I did. While in a huge (chain) fabric store, I was deciding whether to buy more blades for my rotary cutter. (They were on my list and also 40% off.) I was standing in line paying for my other purchases and noticed the older woman in front of me had the blades I wanted in her buggy. The lol (little old lady) had two separate orders and she paid for all the items but the blades.  She put the blades to the side of the buggy. She paid for her purchases and went to put her buggy by the door. I told the cashier what had happened and she went up to the woman’s buggy and the lol had already put the blades in her bag without the cashier seeing them. Their was nothing that the cashier could do because she didn’t see this transpire. (I didn’t have any children with me so I could focus on things. I was AM of a shoe store and this was part of my job.) I now know why my rotary blades are priced so high. I did go back and purchase my blades with the coupon.

     One of our extended family members had a hip replacement last week. While I was in the city, I went by a local bakery to purchase something to bring to take to the family’s home. I purchased a cake and was leaving the store.  In the parking lot, I noticed a baby left in a car. I went to my car and was going to call the police. The “mother” (I use this term loosely) came out with her cake and got in the car and left.  The woman had one child in a “carrier” car seat that could have easily come out and carried in the store with her. What are people thinking?

     Anyway, dd finished her class and had a wonderful time. She learned a lot and was thankful that she had taken the class. I was glad to get out of the crazy city and go home. I love walking through the door of my home. I feel blessed. Thank you Lord. God Bless. I

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     My dd is skating around my kitchen as I type. Ds got on all of his gear skated for about two minutes and he was done. Kids are cute and funny.

     We cleaned the house yesterday so today will be a day for quilting. I am working on a small wallhanging to go outside on the porch. I finally figured out how to quilt on my Singer 301. I didn’t think that my attachments were right for my machine but it was operator error. I was going to purchase a machine just for quilting so I saved myself money.

     Our washing machine stopped working on Thursday. After work on Friday, dh purchased a new washer and hooked it up. He sat down for a few minutes and got a call to go back to work. Dh had to work until about 2 in the morning. I have a wonderful hard working husband.

      I am going to go to the Chiropractor this morning. My neck has been bothering me for a few weeks and just haven’t wanted to go get it adjusted. Shame on me. Today is the day. It might take a few times but I will feel better in the long run. I am also going to stop at Wal-greens and try and develop some pictures. Hope everyone has a wonderful day. God Bless. I  

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     RollerBlades?! What was I thinking? Dd is learning to use them as I type. She is skating around the kitchen. It has been years, not telling how many, since I have been on a pair of rollerblades. I have tried to teach her and now she is practicing. She has on a helmet, wrist guards (which I love), new pads and elbow pads. My dh says that she needs cushion on her backside. Ds has all the same gear with his Fisher Price roller blades. I must have lost my mind for a few minutes.lol.

     Today is a day to relax. Do what I want to do. I am working on organizing my pictures. I finally started last night and this will be my “have to-do” project for the week. We are still enjoying our summer break. I will order the new curriculum soon. I am trying not to think about it and just enjoy. We quick cleaned the house yesterday so I will have a few days without major cleaning. Hope everyone has a wonderful day. God Bless. I

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     The smell coming from my oven is wonderful. I am making an old-fashion pound cake. Yummy. I have some blueberries and will make a sauce to go with the cake. Dd will love this, along with the rest of us.

     Dh and I went out on a lunch date yesterday. Yes, an actual out of the house with no children date. It has been years. We had such a wonderful time. We ate Chinese food, went to Lowe’s and Walmart. It was weird not having to help someone with food. Dh and I got to sit beside each other in the restaurant. It had a wonderful calming effect. This will happen more often now. Praise The Lord. We were gone, under two hours and it was wonderful. We didn’t rush and just had a great time.

     I ordered my new camera bag. It will be like a fanny pack and will keep the weight off my shoulders and neck. My goal is to have all my pictures, print and computer, organized before I let myself use the new bag. I bought three picture boxes (look like shoe boxes) to house all of the pictures. I already have them separated but need to organize them into subcategories. (This is going to the extreme.) Oh well. That is who I am. We also found dh a bag to where for our family hikes. Can’t wait to use them and take some pictures.

     Today has been a wonderful day at the homestead. I am just thankful for all the people serving our Country and the people who have given their lives for our Country. God Bless. Hope everyone has a wonderful day. God Bless. I

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     Hello everyone. Hope you have had a wonderful week. This has been a very busy week for our family. Dd’s recital went well. It is over for another year. I am always surprised how much work, piano is for the parent.

     Dh drove to Florida and back in one day. He didn’t want to miss his dd’s performance. How sweet. I wish he would have spent the night somewhere so he didn’t drive all the distance in one day. When he got home, he told me this was his plan all along. Gotta love that dh.

     Dd took her standardized test this week. Woo-hoo it is over. Praise The Lord.  For two days, dd was wiped out after taking the test. One of dd’s friends is in PS. They had testing this week, also. She is going to spend the night, on Friday, and we are having an EOG party. They will have a blast. The friend has test anxieties, so this week has been horrible for her. They can eat snack foods and play games. What a fun time at our home.

     I need to get out of the house this morning to run some errands. I have to go get my allergy shot, go to the Post Office, and to the grocery store. Ds had a rough night and I am being very lazy this morning. Yes, I did say lazy. I do plan on deep cleaning the house today and steam cleaning the carpets. Hope everyone has a blessed day. I

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     I am listening to dd practice for her recital. Tomorrow is the recital and she has all the songs memorized. Dh went to Florida this morning, so he will miss the recital. He always attends (gladly and proudly) all the children’s performances. Please pray for his trip.

     Not a lot going on around the house today. I have a few kitchen cabinets to go through. I am also going to get rid of a few more pictures off the wall. During our trip to the mountains, I took some wonderful pictures. I am going to print and frame one for dh. He loved them and so this will be a little surprise. In my hallway, I have a drawer full of pictures. On Friday, I plan on buying some photo boxes. It is time! I love to take photos but am horrible on doing things with them. This is going to change. De-cluttered and organized is how I live my life. There are a few things that need to be worked to de-clutter. If I can get rid of fabric, I can get rid of anything. Lol. I truly try to get rid of something, if I buy something new. It also helps if you are cheap and don’t buy anything.

Hope everyone has a blessed day. I

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     Our family did end up going on Vacation. Not sure if I was happy about the trip or not. The sun was hard on my skin. I put on sunscreen and used my protective hat and gloves but still got a lot of sun. I believe I ended up with a small patch of sun poison. Either it was SP or an allergic reaction to all the sunscreen. It sounds funny but it doesn’t feel that way. I was so diligent with the protection. Oh well. It does seem a lot better. Praise The Lord.

     I was so glad to come home. It is just enjoyable to walk into my clean and organized home. The hard work that was put into the house before we left really paid off. I immediately calmed down after getting home.

     My dh took me to several quilt shops in Tennessee. What a wonderful husband. We just love looking at all the quilts and fabric. My dh enjoys all the quilts and hard work put into them.

     Dh will be going to Florida in the morning. Please keep him in your prayers. Thanks. Have a blessed day. I

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     In my last post, I talked about stopping and praying over the money situation. I normally do this but failed to this time. Panic over to many large bills in a row.  When I finished that post it was my time for prayer. God gave me clarity with the situation. No more stressing out. Dh said that we should call HR about the situation with the hospital. I am glad to post that all is well. Praise The Lord.

     We also were able to make another goal on the house. I am not sure how this happened but only can say that God is Good. I feel that we are using our money as God intended.

     Last Thursday Night, I looked at dh and told him that we did have money to go on vacation. Did he think he think that he could get a few more days off? The answer was yes and 12 hours later we went to the mountains. My dh was extremely happy that he was able to get away. Hope you have a blessed day. I

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     Our family is changing out the winter clothes for the summer ones. This is always a long process. I am thankful for the stuff that we have and blessed to pass it on to the next person. For the last few years when we clean, we have had a yard sale. The money has been used for a special project. This year I decided to donate the stuff. I have heard about the different organizations not having a lot to sell in their thrift stores. (People aren’t buying a lot of new stuff and getting rid of the old.) This isn’t our problem. I keep age appropriate bins with clothes that I have purchased from yardsales and such. Not too much stuff has to be purchased for full price.

     We are working on dd’s room today and then we will take a break. My closet will take a little bit of money. I hope to purchase a tall filing cabinet to put in one corner. I MIGHT go ahead and get everything organized and then purchase the fc later. Not sure what mood I will be in at the time. There is one place in my home that is not organized at ANY time. Yes, it is my closet. Everything else is clean and organized. Oh well. I promise it is on the to-do list. Lol.

     I am hoping to post some pictures of our EOG picnic that we had on Saturday. We just had a special (simple and cheap) time with our family to celebrate the end of another school year. To me, this should always be celebrated. As a family, we have worked hard to complete the 6^th grade. That might sound funny to some but probably not to other homeschool families. Hope you have a blessed day. I

PS- All the closets have been de-cluttered. What a large task. I even cleaned out the black hole other wise known as my closet. I

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     Today was my first allergy shot. The receptionist told me that the office is not on my insurance network. Isn’t that wonderful?! Not. They were suppose to collect all of this money on my first visit. Yikes. I posted about another bill so this is a hard week. I went to the mailbox and got another bill yesterday. 1700 dollars. Yes. I was expecting that bill to be 600 dollars. The hospital is no longer on our network. They were but are no longer. The ones that take the insurance don’t seem to be listed anywhere. It has been a tough week. I will pray about the money situation and all will be okay. We do have an emergency fund but I try NOT to touch it. My dear husband does not spend change. He keeps the money and calls it my “shoe” money. Whenever we go on a vacation, he always wants me to spend this money on extras. I want to spend it on a hospital bill. Lol.

     Today is the last day of dd’s school. She is almost complete in all of her subjects. All that is left is English. Tomorrow we will complete everything and get all of the paperwork in order. I am so happy. Dd is so happy.

     I went to the store last night and finished up all the “stocking” up. We had sick house a few weeks ago and I never restocked. It is always easier to have everything on hand in case someone gets sick. Dh is going to have to make some chicken stock. I bought a chicken and dh normally makes all the stock. I pack it in small bags and make chicken noodle soup whenever needed. Easy, simple and oh so good. Hope everyone has a blessed day. I

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     Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday. Our family has to start getting ready to go. I am being slightly lazy this morning. Ds and I are going to drop dd at her Grandmother’s for a day of shopping. Ds and I will head over to Wal-mart and do the bi-weekly shopping. I need to remember to put the cooler in the car. It is starting to get hotter in our neck of the woods so Summer time precautions will start.

     Please keep the people of Myrtle Beach in your prayers. They have a large mess on their hands. So much destruction and clean-up needs to be done.

     This is a very tight month financially. Everyone knows that I am working on paying off the house. I am CFO of our household. I try to take my job very seriously. Everyone makes mistakes. When we changed insurance companies last year, I wrote the wrong month down, on the calendar, for when the insurance was due. I had it due in June, not the beginning of May. Yikes. I did manage to scrap the money together but it did hurt. Things are back on track. I have another house payment “goal” for the end of this month. I will pray for this goal as always. The major things coming in the next few months are the new heating & air unit, the house goal, quick trip for dh to see his relatives, and a mini-vacation. The mini-vacation is because my dh said. Lol. This will come after the other two goals are met. I am the money person. Dh and I talk about money, with no arguments, but I am the actual one to the “grunt” work. Love this job, but this month is crazy. I will be in prayer about this situations and it just seems to always clear things up in my mind. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. God Bless. I

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     When I lost parts of my memory, I didn’t know if they would return. Yes, most things have come back. Or maybe I have forgotten what I forgot. I feel so much better with daily living. I took dd and ds to the doctor (35 mins away), and didn’t have any trouble. Praise God. I am so thankful for my memory. I still can get lost in a box but this is because I am directionally challenged.

     I made an easy apple dumpling recipe. I hope the link works because it is simple and delicious. On Sunday evenings, this is usually made to replace a meal. It is filling and yummy.

     Last night, I cut out 5 swiffer covers from an old towel. I can’t remember who had the link but thanks. I wanted to stop using the throw aways and start using healthier cleaner. I only use a few cleaners that I don’t make but want to finish changing over to “green”. It does make a huge difference in my Asthma. Hope you have a blessed day. I

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    Monday was a very interesting morning. Dh went early to the doctor. He does have a bad sinus infection and strep. Dh came home and I took dd to the doctor. She does not have strep. PTL. It did cost a lot to find that out. Don’t you think they should give refunds if the patient isn’t sick? Lol.

     Dd is working hard to finish up all of her school work. On April 30, she will have 180 days completed. I hope that all of the work is finished. I need a break. I mean dd could use a break. Dd has already planned out things for the next school year and I am already tired.

I finally made shrimp and grits. Yes, I am southern and have never made them. They turned out wonderful. This is a dish that I will be making again.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. God Bless. I

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     I did manage to get to the NP, yesterday. Yes, I have another ear infection. I already knew this but now I have medicine. This Thursday, I am going off all my allergey medicine for a week. Yes, all of the medicine. Next week, I am going to get tested for all my allergies. The stick test in my poor back or arms. I do not like this test. Dh is getting off work so that I don’t have to take the children with me. That will ease my mind, but I can be a big baby about this test. Oh well, it has to be done.

     Dh wants to put all of the plants in the dirt on Thursday. This will be hard on me because of no allergy medicine but it will be worth it in the end. I do love all the fresh vegetables. I am asking for a pressure cooker canner for Mother’s Day and my anniversary. I have a few in mind so if anyone loves there’s please let me know. I have gone online and looked at them. Dh has a pressure cooker that he loves, a presto. He is the one who will work with me on canning with a pressure cooker. Those things scare me. I am going to love the end results with all the things canned and ready to go. I am trying to use all the things from the freezer and pantry so I will have room for all the new stuff.

     Today’s big goals are exercising and making a cobbler. Not much is on my to-do list. House is clean so I can just do what I want. Hope everyone has a blessed day. I

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     Just a simple Saturday, my family just had a wonderful day together. Not much was accomplished but we enjoyed the day anyway. Dh wanted to go look at the flea market. I don’t think we purchased anything but a few books. I did purchase 2 shorts for ds (yardsale). The whole trip cost 2 dollars. Not much money but good family time.

     Lunch was a joint effort by dh and myself. Dh cooked the chicken in the pressure cooker (I’m scared of the PC) and I made homemade egg noodles. We also took some field peas out of the freezer. The meal was yummy and cheap. I figure the whole meal cost around 3 dollars. Yes, three dollars. Our food budget is cut because I am still trying to clean out the freezer. During hurricane season, I hate to have a well stocked freezer. When the power goes out in our “neck of the woods”, it can stay out.

     Another reason for using the stuff in the freezer is that we are working on another “goal” (principal payments) on the house. When this happens, we will get a new heating and air unit. I have been putting money aside for this purpose and once we meet our house payment goal there should also be enough money in the “air” fund. I am strange about our goals. I like to be rewarded for our hard work. We will have wonderful cool air during the hot days of the South. I have asthma and allergies so I don’t open windows. I am suffering now from another ear/sinus infection from enjoying all the Spring days outside. It was still worth it to spend quality time with my family. Hope you have a blessed day. I

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