Welcome to Dana's blog!

home today

I'm just dead today. I really thought I'd be OK since our super hectic days were over, but I guess not. I let everyone sleep in, then I mopped, worked out, vacuumed, laundry, showered (I couldn't even get that in peace today!LOL), both boys science and supper is 'thawing'. I will need to go over Mat's math and then I can READ!

Oh I also made some phone calls. The 'cheap' rooms at the hotel attached to the HS convention are SOLD OUT! So I called the hotel across the street and the cheap rooms were gone there, but they had THREE other rooms left so I just booked one. I'll try the cheap hotel right before we leave and see if they have any cancellations. It's 'only' $25 difference, but still.

And I called to reorder my Rx. It expires TODAY! So I don't know if the Rx is still considered good or not! I really hope so!

I need to call the ski place since I got the last 2 checks and see what's up there. Dh and I are already arguing over what time to get there. He says 'on time'. That's 15 min late in his world. I want to get there 15 min EARLY. He totally doesn't get what all I have to do and how much of a headache that he is going to make for me. I've already told ppl if they are late, then it comes out of their lift ticket time cuz it's not fair to make ppl wait for unexcused tardiness (it's sort of rampant in our group!LOL). So how is it fair if WE show up late?!?!?!?

MOMs, skating, Valentine day party and more!

I'm totally beat. Work out, MOMS group, roller skating (where I collected ski $$ and worked on Friday school), pizza hut, bank, HS library party, CVS for passport pics, aldi and walmart. Then home to toss the potatoes in the crock pot (roast), cleaned the bathrooms, dusted and put away everything we drug in. I updated the checkbook and went thru my emails and sent out all my homeschool stuff that needed done. OH yea, went over every single one of Mat's math probs and I still need to grade a bible quiz.

And as a complete SHOCK, we need a minimum of 15 ppl to ski. Last year, that was a struggle. So imagine my shock to have a total of FORTY TWO PPL!!!!!!!!!!!!! This should easily get us a free chaperone! WAHOO!

Anyone seen or know about A Street Car Named Desire? Is it appropriate for children?

symphony, deals and Pacers!

Wow! We had a good day. It started waaaaaaay too early, but I worked out and we all headed out to the symphony. It was a combo w/the astronomy dept and pretty neat! The astronomer who does the plantearium had pics set to the music for each planet. Mat was quite dismayed to learn that we got 4 free tix for attending this am tho!LOL

Then my goal was to find litght weight cotton cargo pants for Mat to take to Honduras. I was hoping to get him 4pr for less than $10 at thrift stores. I knew of 2 in this town and I can typically find something at hte mission one. So at Goodwill we found 2 pair and one was half off so they were $3 total and then at the mission we found 2 pr for $4 total! I couldn't believe that we found ALL FOUR today and for only $7!!!!

In addition to that, Mat's math boot camp is going extremely well today! NOT ONE ISSUE and he's only got 5 probs left! I haven't 'graded' them per se, but I know the 1st 20-25 are fine. THe test will be tomorrow when he's totally on his own while I'm in the MOMS meeting.

Ok, now to finish the kombucha, hang up the pants, fold the dry stuff and get ready for hte Pacer game tonight.

Ok, that's all done. Oh and I forgot I did get hte Your Shape free from my friend!!!!!!!!!

next week's menu

Sunday: Chili (leftover from Friday)

Monday sloppy joes (from freezer--I make 3 batches and freeze 2)

Tuesday: pizza

Wednesday: roast & potatoes in the CP

Thursday: bacon and eggs

Friday: probably chili

Saturday: DH's work yearly 'celebration' dinner!

weekly menu

I used to be good about this, but I'm doing it for my sake this time!

Sunday: chili

Monday: sloppy joes

Tuesday: I can't remember

Wednesday: pork chops and sweet potato casserole

Thursday: roast and potatoes

Friday: Chili

Saturday: tacos/salad

hair and food.....

Hopefully not in the same meal.;)

Firstly, let me apologize for not blogging in FOREVER. I've been blogging over 3 years now!

Ok for those who asked about my hair, it's fine. I fixed the part, grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped. Yes, I"m a stylists worst night mare!:)

AFA food, unfortunately I"m probably NOT going to be much help. My goal for Jan-March was to eat out of our freezer. I can from our garden so we have veggies and fruits and we have pigs and our FIL usually gets us beef for Christmas (But not this past year). So that's a huge frugal (and healthy) start right there. But I just decided that it was insane to spend $150/mo on groceries that we didn't NEED! So I'm not only keeping more in the checkbook, but I"m also using up what we have before it goes bad. I'm cooking from scratch more and really enjoying food.;)

homeschool conventions and $43 spent on groceries for the month!

K, I don't know where I left off.........I haven't left the house all week and I'm LOVING that! Got home from church Sun and don't have to leave until 8:30 Sat morn.;) DH took Mat to youth since the weather was dicy Monday night.

So I've done laundry, cleaned the entire house and got everything cut for everyone for a borders class and put my borders together (for samples). That was NOT FUN! The directions weren't bad, but it's like trying to figure out a puzzle and not having ONE CLUE! So if you cut a piece the wrong direction, you can't cut all the pieces you need. Oh well, we'll figure it out.;)

Tomorrow reading and some science experiments. Mat's been slacking off on them and I'm going to start cracking the whip. 5 more chapters and JOey's done w/science. I STILL need to start Latin.

I think we've finally decided to go the Cincy HS convention instead of the Indy one. CIncy is cheaper and that inclued Joey being able to go AND paying for him to be part of a Children's program both days (while we go to workshops and shop for curriculum). I just dropped the bombshell on DH that i"d like to spend the night and be tehre Fri and Sat. We'll see. LIke I said, it's the same price no matter how many days you go so it'd jsut be the cost of the hotel room. I thought about trying priceline if he's not picky about what hotel. But either way, we have to register by 2/1.

And we are supposed to get our statements from the church Sunday adn then I can file taxes. That will be a huge headache to have gone.

AFter mentioning spending the night in Cincy, I did bring it to DH's attn that we only spent $43 in groceries this month. Higher than my $35 goal, but that's what I get for sending DH to the grocery Monday night.;) It's all good tho.

new hair cut

Fun at the 'love in'!

fun day! 2 parties!

neglectful..........

I have been inundated lately and this seems to be the 1st thing to go! But that's OK!

We survived Thanksgiving. I made turkey tetrazini (or teriaki as my FIL keeps saying!LOL) w/some leftovers and FIL is hooked! He's saving a bag of turkey for me to make when we are out at Christmas, which is fine as it's a favorite here as well.

Last week was sort of a blur. We were home a couple of days, but we spent that recouping from Thanksgiving!LOL I got everything all caught up and we were asked to chaperone a boy scout event this past weekend. DH had been gone a few weekends in a row and didn't want to so I took Mat. It was a toboganning event. What fun!!!!!!!! But Mat woke up Thursday morning and threw up and ran a low grade fever all day. However, he woke up Friday fine so the scout leader said to go ahead and come. The youth really had a good time w/the fire starting competition (I truly think that was their fav!), making walking sticks and toboganning. Toboganning might have been more fun if you didn't have to lug the sled back up the hill to the top again! Those sleds are HEAVY!

Meanwhile, my extended family lit the advent candles at church. I hated to miss it, but...... JOey did some reading and Keylee lit a candle. I was told that both did a great job. The adults read and stuff too, but who cares about them?LOL Also the children's Christmas program was Sunday night. So we got back from the scout event 2:30-3 and raced to my sister's to shower (I forgot towels!!!!!!!!). Dh had driven the jeep (what I took and left at hte church during the scout event) to take the boys to program practice Sunday afternoon (while I showered!) and then I drove it to church for the program. The program itself was very nice! The premise is that the mayor wanted to cancel the children's christmas program on the town square so the children decided to go caroling door to door w/a plea to stop the mayor. Mat was the DH of the hippie couple! He did a nice job. Joey...........well dear Joey........he was in the choir. He came up w/his own hand motions to the songs. Initally they were very cute and appropriate (he really got into the praise part--I think he's been going to a pentacostal church on the side...LOL) and he had the crowd rolling. Well it morphed into "walk like an egyptian", "disco", etc. Dh and I couldn't get under the table fast enuf! We're getting the DVD to use as blackmail later on.........plus I wanted to let FIL see it. I thanked the director afterwards for doing the program and he said that it's the ones like that that make the show. Easy to say when it's NOT YOURS!!!!!!!!;) We got lots of comments. I did ask DH if he spent all afternoon working on those dance moves. Joey was also one of the 3 wise men in the 2nd half. He was a very good wise man.;)

Monday was full of more recouping. It was very chilly (the boys had NO HEAT and slept in their snowpants, hats, gloves in their sleeping bags w/their coats on top of them!) so we were pretty tired.

Today I worked out and made the boys their PJ pants! This is the 1st year that they won't match.;( I coudln't get to Joann w/o them so I let them pick out their own fabric.

Tomorrow I hope to get up the tree (we need to move furniture and for DH to get it down tonight) and I bought pretzels and rolos and hershey kisses. I loathe making cookies. I can't say that enuf. So this is the alternative. Not necessarily cheap, but the boys can do it by themselves and I don't have a huge mess to clean up. I've got to get cracking for the 'love in' in less than 2 weeks........

sick???

I have worked out, cleaned up puke, ironed, folded a ton of laundry, have 2 loads today thanks to Joey not sure if he puked on the bed sheets or not (I couldn't find any evidence, but it was almost time to wash them anyway) and a load of darks since DH didn't collect Joey's dirties last night.

I did get all the sweet potatoes done. I wound up doing them all, filling the crock pot about halfway on DH's advice and had two 8x8s for our freezer.

Joey threw up last night. Didn't tell anyone--DH told me that he cleaned up some (but didnt' know how much cuz he didn't want to turn the lights on) before he left for work (which is HUGE! I don't think he's EVER touched it before!) I worked out since Joey was still sleeping and DH managed to step over 2 spots to clean the one he did!LOL So I ask Joey how his stomach feels: It feels refreshed mom! But my head feels like an earthquake. Um OK?LOL His temp was 97.6 so that's good and he's kept down the piece of bread for about an hour. If nothing happens between now and noon I'm calling it good. I need to ask which day he drank the questionable grape juice. I thought i'd pitched it long ago, but I guess not. It smelled OK nad I couldn't see anything so I let him. It's now down the drain.;)

hair cuts and sweet potatoes!

K, all the sweet potatoes are boiling. I'll go whip them in a bit. Frugal: The gal washed, cut, styled and flat ironed my hair--FOR $10! It's $15 at the beauty college! So she got a $5 tip. I was not expecting her to flat iron it. She then offered to cut BOTH boys' hair for $10. She's new and trying ot drum up business--which means I'm getting great deals since it's $18/woman's cut and $8/child ($34 and she'd charge me $20). I'd already taken Mat to the beauty college for a cut so I was off the hook.

Unfrugal: My eastland shoes died. Big time. I'd noticed my right foot getting soaked all the time and didn't give it much thought. Last night at the library, I noticed a giant hunk hanging off the side!LOL The seam 'sealer' broke and you could easily see the insides. Then I flipped it over and saw a HUGE crack across the bottom sole and when I bent it, again, saw all the insides of the shoe. I've had them for 4-5 years and wear them the bulk of the time Oct-March so it's not like they haven't served me well. So I bought another pair of them tonight for a mere $50.

I've got all my 'work' done and Mat finally got school done so we get to do this all again tomorrow.......LOL

rested!!!!!

After church yesterday an older lady (who we ate lunch w/last Tues!) stopped me to say that she was super impressed w/Joey at children's message. I was quite put out myself w/him cuz he was not sitting still during hte prayer, but I digress. The hysterical part is that she said he gave a great answer but couldn't remember the Q or the A!ROTF!!!!!! I remembered later and he said "MY BROTHER"! I'm like, 'your brother waht????"LOL He said, she asked what we were thankfuly for and I said, "My brother"!!!!!

I'm frantically trying ot find stuff on sale on BF. I HAVE to be organized this year due to finances and I"m NOT! UGH!  I've got some ideas for my neice (name draw), which is good. I'm trying to find Wii SPorts Resort on sale on BF.

I need to get a list from my SIL about my nephew. Those are my big concerns at this point.

I slept until after 9!!!!!!!!! I desperately needed it! The got up after 10 so that's when I finally got up. I started laundry and have the stock pot going. I totally forgot I needed to make stock or I'd have gotten up and got that started and gone back to bed!LOL I've got a call into to the salon to see if there is anyway I can possibly get a hair appt tomorrow. If not, I'll be gambling at hte beauty college.

And I have spent almost my entire morning on the phone.....I made my bfast nad an hour later was still trying ot eat it! I had to call my neighbor, my sister called while I was talking to her, then I needed to call the bowling lady and she also HSs (does nothing w/our group) and that was a VERY long conversation! and then finally got my sister called back...

We survived Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!

I think my (extended) family was paid a nice compliment yesterday. My cousin's dd is 18yo. She said that of all the Thanksgivings that she goes to, if she could pick, she'd bring her bf to ours. They go to 3 or 4. She did say the upside of the one that she is taking him to is that she'll at least have someone to talk too!LOL

I'm still not amoung the land of the living, but I have to be. We were up until almost midnight dealing w/the turkey that DH made for his office for Tuesday. The stinking combine (that I've been waiting on for a month so I could wash windows) made it's appearance yesterday and didn't bother leaving until after 1am last night.....

I want to go tobaggoning w/the youth (we were asked) in a couple of weekends, but it falls the same weekend as the Christmas program. So they rearranged Christmas program practice to accomodate the tobogan deal. DH and I were not communicating well and I informed out SS class that I might just take the boys and Dh can stay home!LOL If I weren't so frustrated w/him, it'd have been funny, but I've been aobut to wring his neck for a while now. I must give him huge kudos--he was FABULOUS help yesterday as he always is when we host events. The only thing he didn't do was drag the 803987530478 lb coffee table out of Mat's room so I did that a bit ago.

ANd I'm debating. I have bday money leftover from last year that i haven't spent. I really really really want the big cricut, and it's $188 on BF. I'm just not sure how badly I want it....... I need to count my money and see if I"m short or not. That would seriously curb the agonizing and possibly bring on some financial lamenting instead!ROTFL!!!!!!

I have a 20qt stock pot of bones from a 20lb and 10lb turkey from yesterday. I'm buying carrots tonight so I can make stock tomorrow. I have plenty of limp celery (courtesy of the small town grocer) and onions so I'm good.

still cleaning

I also drug in the big ladder and cleaned the ceiling and ceiling fan today.

Tomorrow we get to drag up some tables from the basement and get that set up and get out the table service and run stuff thru the dishwasher. I'll eventually be ready for Saturday.;)

Tis the season!

trying to be better......

2 weeks of neglect.....

Alot has happened in 2 weeks! We're gearing up for our family Thanksgiving this Saturday!

I just got back from a weekend crop. We had a nice time. My pics didn't come in so I made 80 cards! I'm set for quite a while!

OH MY WORD! Ok, I need to give kudos to my boys for having ALL their work done in time to meet mom for lunch. It was a nice lunch and I behaved and got a chef salad vs. the beef'n'noodles, mashed potatoes, corn and roll special. I also bought 2 sugar cream pies for a total of $3. That's for IL Thanksgiving. Then to walmart and no clearanced cake. And to Aldi cuz the other one that I"m shopping at tomorrow doesn't carry the mini whole wheat bagels.

So to the next town and Mat bowled. I stopped by DH's office and got roped into buying a turkey cuz they are going to have an office Thanksgiving party. Great. I also remembered that I hadn't bought the boys' PJ pant fabric and it usually sells out by the end of Nov so I swung into JOann and it was viturally gone. I even let them pick their own out. At Walmart, I got the turkey and I got a cake, which I'm sure the twins' parents will hate, but I wasn't thrilled about being told to buy one (Today is their bday and they wanted a 'surprize' for Saturday--like all the food and sweets won't be enuf already????) I don't really care, but was slightly put out being told to buy a cake.  Then to Kohls. They had the sweater and vest on sale, but the shirt on clearance was gone.;( So I used the coupon and the gift card and $5 of my own money. Then to cash in the free $5 coupon from the pet store. We now have $5 in crickets. I'm pretty sure that she shorted us, but it will tide us over for 2 weeks and it was free.

I also swapped w/mom to give her back her car seat for 2 crock pots so I can set up for Saturday (our Thanksgiving) on Friday. DH will need to bring home some chairs, but that's about it.

All of that is put away and I'm ready to collapse!

volunteer and fun day!

Today was a busy day, but very fun! Our MOMS group donated time at the pregancy care center and we helped w/the mailers and got the baby bottles used to collect donations ready. Then we went back to the church and drew for the raffle and secret sisters.

AFter that we went skating. I made sure I had them loosen my skates this time. So I skated longer than 45 min, wasn't sweating like a dog, and could still walk afterwards (last time my wheels had been tightened)!LOL Then we had a HS meeting about forming a 'go to' committee. Our group is getting large enuf that we have about 20 families that participate in Friday School and I need some help.;) Plus there are other issues this committee will address.

Then thru Pizza Hut to cash in our BookIts, I forgot my fiber bar for lunch so I got a coke from McD (that was totally NOT healthy!LOL), paid our internet bill since our CC was cancelled and got to library. AFter that, I dropped off the recycling, bought some lunch meat and Mat and I did our banking.

Then home to butternut squash spaghetti and I just showered cuz I didn't want to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to do it!LOL

Also last night, for fun I guess, the FedEx lady knocked on our door. She said I owed $17.XX for a courier package (that might have had a couple of sheets of paper in a letter size mailer). Um, excuse me??? I called DH to make sure he wasn't expecting any deliveries and he said no. The hackers charged A BUNCH of stuff to FedEx and even the courier commented that it was odd that the return addy was FedEx! So I refused the package and pray that they catch these leeches.......