Homestead Dreamer

The new Transformers Movie.

Lilli and I went to see the new Transformers movie yesterday.  It was really really good and we both enjoyed it.  When it was over, she said, "Optimus Prime is my favorite Transformer".  I had to agree, that he is my favorite too.

It was very cool watching them transform on the big screen.  I know that makes me a dork, but I really did enjoy it ;)  Of course, I used to watch the cartoon when I was younger, so to see it on the big screen...well, it was cool.

From a mom's perspective...be warned that there is a lot (LOT) of bad language and more sexual references than in the first Transformers movie. 

Our breakfast:

So Lauren and I are sitting at the table eating breakfast (Lilli spent the night with my parents). 

Cheerios, toast and water.

Lauren then drops a piece of her toast into her cereal bowl, so tries to get it out, knocking over her cereal/milk.  While trying to upright the bowl, spills her glass of water.

All in a matter of seconds.

I give her my bowl of cereal while I clean up, and she says it's too mushy.

So I pour her another bowl and we start all over.  LOL

I seriously love days like this.  My life must have been so boring before I had my girls ;)

A long over-due update on us...

Sorry I've been MIA lately.  I've been posting snippets on Facebook about what we are up to, but haven't been on to blog.

Lilli is out of school, and had her dance recital in June.  She was beautiful and did a great job.  There was such an improvement over last year.  She smiled and really enjoyed herself this year.  It was a joy to watch and I cried ;)  She danced ballet, tap, and jazz. 

We plan to homeschool this next year, so we are doing a little schoolwork over the summer just to keep her from forgetting anything important.  She really enjoys reading and I find her reading to Lauren quite often.

Lauren is doing great and really keeps us hopping.  Her personality is all her own and she is such a joy.  She is probably ready to potty train, but I'm happy to change diapers instead of running for a potty every so often.  We'll wait until she asks ;)

We've been spending our summer (so far) with playdates, gardening, caring for those blasted meat chickens (I'm so ready for them to be processed!), and just enjoying each other's company.

Lance and I are attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class.  We are almost done with it now, it was a 13 week class, and we have one more week, plus a party to celebrate the end.

I cannot say enough about the class.  We have really learned a lot and it has brought us closer as a couple.  We talk more about budgetting and spending and at least TRY to understand each other's reasoning.  ;)

Lance is doing good, though his work has been slow lately.  He had two days off last week.  That's really the first time in 13 years that he's been off due to lack of work.  There is another job starting in August, but I think it may be slow until then.  We'll see.

He went fishing in Canada a couple weeks ago, and brought back some fish for our freezer.  He said everybody with a boat was checked at the border this year.  They have to leave the skins on the fish so the border can see what kind of fish you are bringing back.  There is no limit on panfish, but they have to be able to SEE that they ARE panfish.  They were checked, but had no problems.

I didn't really have such a great week while he was in Canada.  The day he left our hot water heater wasn't working, so we started up the woodstove to heat water that way while he was gone.  So I had to keep the fire going while he was gone.  Not a really big deal, but added with gardening, caring for the cows, chickens, guineas and dogs...it was a long week.  Then on Thursday night we had a huge storm that knocked the power out.  No electricity, no water.  That sucked.  It was still out on Saturday and I was beginning to worry about getting water to the animals.  I called Lance to ask him what I should do, as everybody need water by then, and he said he'd be home in a couple hours and he'd start the generator.

Of course, the power came  back on an hour later, so I had everybody watered by the time he got home ;)  All the critters were happy to see me...LOL.

Oh, the hot water heater is fine...it had a reset button on the thermostat that we didn't know about, so all is well with that now.

Lilli just turned 8 years old last week, and we had a skating party for her on Sunday this last week.

She attended Vacation Bible School at a Methodist Church in Lawrence last week and absolutely LOVED it.  We plan to try that church this coming Sunday.  I was very happy with how they ran the VBS and we are in the market for a church.  I grew up Baptist, so I'm not sure how that goes along with Methodist, but I reckon I'll find out.  I figure we are all there to worship God, each in our own way I guess.

Ok, I'm off to do chores and then head to South Haven.  I told Lilli I'd take her to the new Transformer movie.  She just watched the first one on DVD the other night and LOVED it.  I'm not so sure I'm excited about sitting at the theater for 2 1/2 hours, but it does look like a good movie.  That last Pirate movie was that long and that didn't bother me at all!  LOL. 

Happy Birthday Peepa!

An evening at the beach, playing and looking for rocks, beach glass, and other treasures.

I took these last night...April 24, 2009.

Happy 68th birthday to my dad, he's the greatest! 

Meal Plan Thurs-Thurs

Well, I've decided that since I do my shopping on Thursdays, I'd start posting my menu to reflect that.

This week's menu:

Thursday (yesterday) - Shrimp Scampi (it was really good!), Garlic Bread

Friday - Grill (it's too nice not to grill!) pork steaks, sides?

Saturday - Shepherd's Pie, Salad

Sunday - White BBQ Chicken, Boiled Potatoes, Asparagus

Monday - Slow Cooker Beef Vegetable Soup, Cornbread

Tuesday - Sloppy Joe's, Fries, Green Beans

Wednesday and Thursday - We'll be out of town, probably eating out ;)

A few Spring photos...

Our family

Our Girls

My Dad, w/ Alyssa, Lauren, and Lilli

The Easter Egg Hunt, and the yellow submarine...I mean Lance's new truck.  LOL

A recent picture of the lighthouse in my hometown.  My parents still live there, so I drive by the beach whenever I am able too.  It pulls me somehow, I guess growing up there will do that to you?

Spring Break! Meal Plan Monday, new truck, Ikea

Woohoo!  I love breaks from school.  We don't really have any solid plans right now, but we would like to go roller skating, bowling, and swimming sometime while we are off this week.

We are seriously looking into homeschooling Lilli next year.  She is sick so often that she misses a lot of school, and then she doesn't want to go back when she is feeling better.  Plus I feel like I am always sending her to school when she really isn't well enough to go, because she's already missed so much.  We hope to try it for a year and see how it goes.  If it doesn't work out, then we'll look for another solution for the next year.  We keep hoping that she outgrows her frequent sickness, but it just hasn't happened (yet).

Here is our meal plan for this week, coutesy of Emealz.com with Aldi as the store for shopping.

Monday:
Sausage and Crab Gumbo, Cornbread

Tuesday:
Roast Beef (crockpot), Mashed potatoes, Green Beans

Wednesday:
Swiss Chicken, Rice, Broccolli, Salad

Thursday:
BBQ Beef Sandwiches, Cucumbers, Chips

Friday:
Mexican Chicken Skillet, Spanish Rice

Saturday:
AM-Chocolate and Biscuits, Bacon and Eggs
PM-Leftovers or pizza

Sunday: Happy Easter! 
AM-Quiche
PM-Easter Dinner at my parent's house

Lauren is currently sick with a cold, so she's pretty stuffy with a nasty cough.  Lilli is spending the night with my parent's tonight, and then we are pretty open as far as plans for the week.  Hopefully Lauren feels better quickly so we can enjoy our break.

Lance bought a 'new' truck on Friday, so he's heading to the Sec of State today to take care of the title and all that entails.  We think there may be a problem with the title, so he's hoping to get the ball rolling so he can fix it, if it IS a problem.  (The seller never had the title put in their name, so they are listed as 'purchaser' on the title, and our name is nowhere at all.  They wrote us a receipt/bill of sale, but I'm not sure if that's enough to take care of the problem or not.  We'll find out today.

His truck is an '88 GMC with a dump body.  It's a little rough around the edges, but it does grow on you.  Did I mention it's yellow?  It reminds me of that song, "We all live in a yellow submarine".  LOL  Sorry.

So he bought the truck in Livonia...that's across the state from us, near Detroit.  Well, Ikea is over there too, so we stopped in there for a few minutes.  I wanted to price bunkbeds and I've been wanting a shelf for my entryway as well.  We ended up buying both items.  The bunkbed (twin over full) was $300, and $400 was the cheapest I'd seen them around here.  The shelf for my entry way was $40, and we bought two.  It's a shelf with bins, so we can store our hats/mittens, misc items above where our coats hang.  I've had my eye on that since the first time we went to Ikea (2 yrs ago).  I really wanted the matching bench w/ shoe storage, but they didn't have it in the right color to match the shelf we bought, so we waited on that.

Ikea rocks.  LOL

We had our third financial class last night.  It was about budgets.  We have a pretty good budget at the moment, but we are going to try and work on a budget for the farm/animals/feed, and that's going to take work.  We always keep $$ in a separate account to cover those costs, and we'd like to keep it all balanced better.  We'll see how that goes, it's going to be a long process I think. 

We woke up to two inches of snow on the ground today.  I was planning to take Lilli to my parent's house and run some errands, but Lance called and said he'd rather I didn't get out on the roads.  He said the rain/sleet/snow made a mess of his jobsite, so he came home early and took Lilli to my parent's and he's running the errands.  I'm glad to not have to get Lauren out with her being sick anyway.

That's about all of our excitement lately.  Gotta love the snow in April.  Gotta love Michigan :)

Meal Plan Monday (March 30-April 5)

I'm going to post our menu now, as Sunday and Monday look pretty busy and I'm not sure I'll have time...

Monday
BBQ Meatballs - Cheesy Potatoes - Asparagus

Tuesday
Beef Stroganoff (crockpot)

Wednesday
Great Gravy Chicken (crockpot) - Rice - Peas - Biscuits

Thursday
3-Bean Pot O' Chili - Cornbread

Friday
Baked Crab - Rice - Salad

Saturday
AM - Quiche
PM - Grill (pork steaks?) - Baked Potatoes - Caesar Salad

Sunday
AM - French Toast Souffle
PM - Honey-Mustard Chicken - Stuffing - Broccolli

Breakfasts - cold cereal, toast, waffles, cinnamon rolls

Lunches - sandwiches, soup or leftovers

Sweets - Chocolate Chip Cookies

Friday Tidbits...

Wow, this week has flown by!  We've been crazy busy it seems.

Lilli was sick Monday, and STILL had a fever on Tuesday.  She finally went back to school on Wednesday, but I let her sleep-in, and took her in at around 10AM that day.

Lauren is doing ok, but complains of tummyaches frequently.  I took her to the pediatrician about acid reflux (I'm sure that's what it is), and the ped put her on Prevacid.  They didn't order tests to confirm, or anything.  They said they'd do the same thing regardless of what the tests show anyway.  I am sure it's reflux, but I'd rather find a solution to the reflux, than just depend on meds.

Lance is busy with work, he's been on 10 hour days this week.

I lost my day-planner.  That doesn't sound drastic, but it really is.  Sigh.  It had my license, debit card, cash (about $80), calendar, address book, 3 or 4 different gift cards, and just misc. important things.  Important only to me, but still important. 

We figure somebody is probably trying to take my identity about now.  LOL.  Ok, it's not really funny.

Seriously, we don't know what happened to it.  I thought I took it with me to Lauren's dance on Monday, as I wanted to go to the grocery store afterwards.  When I got out of dance, it wasn't in the car.  I really can't see somebody stealing it out of the car...it doesn't look like a purse or anything equally exciting.  Anyway, I figured I forgot it here at home on the table, as I forgot Lauren's drink, and figured they were together.  I called Lance and asked him, and he said that he didn't see it on the table.  I figured I must have set it down someplace silly while getting Lauren ready for dance...the bathroom sink, or the changing table, etc.  We scoured this place and never found it. I called the dance studio and they scoured it for me, never finding it.

By this time, I figure I must have set it on the back or top of my car, forgot about it, and drove off with it like that.  When I carried Lauren to the car, her carseat was full of goldfish crackers.  I had her in one hand, and scooped them out with the other hand...maybe I set the planner down in order to do that...I just don't know, but it sounds possible. 

So, I drove BACK to the dance studio checking along the roadsides to see if I could find it in the ditches or side of the roads, etc.  No luck. 

I went into the dance studio and scoured it myself (it's not very big, and I really don't think anybody there would take it intentionally).  No luck.

I drive home SLOWLY, still checking ditches.  No luck.

I'm getting worried now.  So I get home and cancel the debit card.  The next  day I put a security freeze on my credit report.  I'm not sure what else to do.  I have to get another license, but I need:  A copy of my mortgage lease, birth certificate, life insurance policy ???  I haven't gotten those around yet.  So I'm driving without a license until I get that done.

Another idea is that the planner fell off in our driveway and Biscuit (our Heeler) picked it up and took it someplace...but who knows where?  He visits the neighbors a lot, and brings their items up here, so he could be doing the same with our things.  If they spoke english, or were even halfway nice, I might go ask them, but the situation being what it is...I'll just leave that alone and keep hoping it turns up.  Sigh.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The girls are heading to my parent's house tonight for a slumber party with their cousin Alyssa.  Lauren is going there this morning, and my dad (or mom) is picking Lilli up after school and taking her to their house.

I am heading to a scrapbook retreat weekend (WOOHOO), with Vicki (my sis-in-law).  I'm really looking forward to it.  I may not get as much done this time, but I want to organize some pictures that really NEED organizing.

Lance is working 10 hours today, cutting wood tomorrow, and then picking the girls up sometime in the afternoon tomorrow.  Sunday I'll leave the retreat early enough to get home and unload my things before we head to our FPU class at 5PM.  I really need to make lunches before that too, as we'll be getting home quite late (8PMish is late for us).  LOL.

We started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University Class last week Sunday.  We are both excited about it and enjoyed the first class.  We are looking forward to this week too.

We joined Emealz, so our menu this next week will be different than we are used to.  LOL.  We'll see how it goes.  It was fun trying to find all the ingredients at the new Aldi store this week.  Lauren and I were in there for an hour (it really isn't that big a store!).  LOL.

Anyway, I'll post our menu soon.

Energy usage calculator (link)

I found this really interesting.  It's a calculator to estimate how much it costs you to run different things in your house.

A clothes dryer can average a penny per minute!  I think mine is more efficient than that, but I still hang clothes to dry every chance I get (I did today, and it was so nice to have that fresh-smell!).

Anyway, here is the link:

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html