Weekly Glimpse: OH ME! OH MY! What a week!

It has been quite the busy week!  

It started on Monday with me needing to go to my parent's house bright and early on Monday morning to meet an insurance agent. Once I was done there I took my daughter for her well child check-up at our pediatrician's office.  So with these two appointments on Monday, I wasn't able to do my usual "office time" at my computer where I type up my weekly menu plans and make sure that I have everything ready for schooling the kids for the week. So my week has been a little off balance to say the least.

I did have time at home on Monday afternoon, so I was able to figure out things for Tuesday and the rest of the week and did not have to fly totally from the seat of my pants for the whole week.  But I can tell you starting the week off on a run does not help the week to go any faster.

Tuesday afternoon I made a trip to see my chiropractor because my back muscles had literally spasmed so bad that I was leaning slightly to one side and just felt in pain.  The only relief that I got before I went to see him was laying on the floor stretched out. He took the time to massage and stretch the area in my back that was giving me troubles but it was so acutely spastic that when I stood to leave I could barely walk!  So he got an ice pack for me to sit for about 5-10 minutes with before I left his office. I left his office still in pain. Once I got home I took some Motrin and did some more stretching on the floor.  By the evening on Tuesday, I was still dealing with a very sore back but the spasms seemingly were subsiding.  By Thursday, I was my old self with just the dull aches in my back. It is amazing what a couple of days of relaxing can do to back spasms!

Despite having my week start off with appointments, we managed to complete a full week of school! I had my three older boys working on finishing up different writing assignments this week. My oldest son was working on research report on Frederick Douglass.  I told him that it only needed to be two pages total but I think he found so much information that he is having trouble keeping it under four pages! My #2 son was working on a research report on Sir Francis Drake.  He is a boy of few words when it comes to writing reports!  I am having to help him expand his report so that it fits on a page. My #3 son was working at finishing up a notebook on the Presidents.  He did a profile sheet for each President.

I have begun the task of working with my daughter in learning to read!  She is doing quite well for just working on it for a few weeks.  Hopefully, I will have her fluently reading within the next couple of months.

Our suburban had to go back into the mechanic again this week after just being there TWO weeks ago!  It just so happened that it was for the same problem but a different part!  So now we have two(or is it four) solenoids for the down shift and the up shift  replaced in the transmission.(I am NO mechanic or even mechanically inclined so I am not totally sure exactly how it works!)  At any rate, we have now spent about $280 to get it running again.  Well relatively running as can be cause when it was in the mechanic's shop on Thursday for the second transmission repair, they also turned the brake rotors and while they were doing that they left the key in the ignition turned on and drained the battery!  Well they did the right thing and charged it so they could get it out of the shop and then hubby drove it around to help to charge the battery the rest of the way before coming home. However, that only helped for a couple of start-ups cause before he could come home from work today, he had to get someone to jump him again!  I have a feeling that we are going to be getting a new battery or something else like the alternator is going out now.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of all the events that took place this week!  I am not going to ramble about one child deciding that he would lie to me about whether he had completed a task or not. OR ramble about the child who got upset that two of his brothers got into his bed to hide and messed it up and one of those brothers hiding had the audacity to pass a "stink bomb" in the bed!  OR ramble about the fact that my 3yo son has been potty trained now for 3 months and has been accident free for most of that time and had 4 accidents this week alone.

Now it is your turn to ramble...

• So how was your week? 
• Was it busy? 
• Do you feel like you accomplished something this week?  

Is Spring Here?!?!

Could spring finally be here in West Michigan?? It is hard to tell at my house!!  If you look out my back windows you will see....

There is still a couple of inches of snow and mounds of snow that are a couple feet high!!  You can see that the snow is melting but not as fast as what it has in my front yard!  My front yard thinks that spring has sprung because in my front flower beds peeking through the winter leaf blanket are crocuses and tulips and even some of my perennials are starting to green up!

These pictures are just a taste of the green that I am seeing in my front flower beds!













I like the fact that there is green showing but with the early flowers I am afraid we are going to hit with late season snow and all my tulips will be ruined! I also don't like the kids playing in this in between time because it is hard to know how to dress them for the outdoors because no matter what they come home soaked to the bone and muddy!

Has spring sprung where you live??

If Someone Had Said...

• ...That I would be the Mom of five kids in ten years after getting married. I would have said,  "No Way! I only want to have at least three."
  
  However, God planned for me to have five and now with five, I would not change anything because I can not imagine life without them.
  
  
• ...That I would be homeschooling all of my kids through all of their school years. I would have said, "You have got to be kidding, I am just planning on getting them through their elementary years! I know that I have a bachelor's degree in teaching but I am terrible with English, esp. grammar, never took trigonometry, and definitely have not a clue about chemistry or physics!"
  
  However, God is working on my heart and I just may be teaching trigonometry in a year or two! My oldest is only 13 years old and is already doing Biology, Algebra 1 and reading college level books for enjoyment reading!
  
  
• ...That I would be dealing with a parent that has been diagnosed with dementia. I would have said, "No Way! My parents are in relatively good health, aside from being diabetic, they will grow old with all of their mental capabilities!"
  
  However, God has a different plan!  In the last six months, my mom has been diagnosed with progressive dementia.  Before the diagnosis, an outsider looking in would have thought that my mom "wore the pants" in the family.  She did all the bill paying, cooking, managing the household while my dad worked his blue collar job in the auto parts factory.  Now looking in one would find my dad, now retired, struggling and stressing to take care of my mom and everything that she once did with ease.  Also now one will find that I have become their power of attorney and come into their house once a week to help my dad by doing some grocery shopping so there is food in the house, taking care of their finances by paying bills and making calls to companies who are looking for their money to let them know the circumstances and figure out a way for my parents to pay their bills without too much in penalties.
  
  
• ...That after fourteen years of marriage, I would be dealing with a "bombshell" of emotions surrounding my hubby's humble confession of an addiction to lust/p*rn.   I would have said, "How can that be? I married a Christian man with strong values.  You must be wrong!"
  
  However, God showed me that my husband is human and has struggles just like me!  Granted, I have been a naive in my thinking that my husband would have these kind of struggles because I never heard or saw my Dad have this struggle so I just figured that my husband would be just like my Dad. Boy! am I wrong!  God is working on my heart and showing me that forgiveness needs to be part of my story everyday!  God is showing me that my marriage is something that takes work and is worth fighting for against an Enemy that would rather destroy it.

It is so amazing to know that God has planned out our life!  He did that even before we were even known to the world (Psalm 139).  God knows exactly what you and I are going through right now and He knows what troubles or triumphs we will face tomorrow or next week!

Praying today for those of us that are facing troubles that we just don't know if we will make it through them.

Praying today for those of us that really need to feel the presence of God in our lives as we go through the troubles of the day.

Praising God with you for the troubles in our lives we have conquered today with His help!

Praising God today for the all the triumphs in our lives!  Isn't it great that we have another day of life to celebrate!?

...and there you have just a glimpse into my thoughts today!!

Looking Ahead--2010 Goals

While I look at the following list of goals, I see potential in reaching every one of them by the end of the year with God's help and my determination. I realize that some of the goals are not very measurable right now so there will be some tweaking going on in the weeks and months to come.  However, I wanted to take some time to set some goals so I can develop my vision for the next year.  I divided the goals up into categories(thanks Toni for the inspiration) to help me sort through all the ideas floating around in my head.  I also did not prioritize these goals because a lot of them are dealing with being consistent in things every day.

2010 Goals:

Spiritual:

• Continue to be faithful to the weekly Woman’s Bible Study.
• Memorize at least 100 Bible verses. (that is 2 verses per week)
• Read my Bible daily and work at growing closer to God.
• Realizing and praising God each day for the gift of life and to living each day to the fullest with Him in control!

Personal:

• Exercise 4 times a week—bike riding, walking,  weights or aerobics.
• Drop my weight by 50 lbs.
• Have a consistent morning and bedtime routine every day.
• Read at least two books a month.
• Spend quality time via date nights with my husband once a week.

School:

• Get previous school years papers in binders for each child.
• Work with my daughter to get her fluently reading by June.
• Do hands on activities with my children at least twice a month.
• Be done with formal schooling every day at 3 pm. --I have two that like to drag out the day's work!
• Declutter papers and books that we have never used or are no longer using.

Homemaking:

• Keep consistent with menu planning. The last 3 weeks of  "flying by the seat of my pants" planning has not worked very well!
• Shop for groceries twice a month(other than for fresh items like fruits, veggies, milk & eggs). (more on this goal next week)
• Update and keep up with my household binder
• File papers every month.
• Work at sewing/mending twice a month.
• Work at doing more baking from scratch and cut out the processed foods.
• Try at least two new recipes each month to increase my “family favorite meal list”.

Financial:

• Pay off all three credit cards. (total $3825)
• Work at building a three month emergency fund (approx. $8100)
• Pay cash for the two major house projects (carpeting the rec. room/office & finish the 4^th bedroom) that we have planned for 2010.

 Blogging:

• Be consistent with writing posts (other than weekly Meijer deals) at least 4 times a week.
• Keeping a list of blog post ideas and schedule posts.
• Finish “ABC Parenting”  and “Kindergarten through the Alphabet” series
• Continue to keep a balance between computer/blogging and family.

This post is linked to:

• Goals Link-up at The Happy Housewife!
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom!

When Winter Comes to the Midwest!

My area of the Midwest received about 12 inches of new snow overnight!  This is our first measurable snow of the season!  It was beautiful this morning to look at but not to drive around town!  It took hubby over 45 minutes to get to work that is 15 minutes away on dry roads!

my backyard!

the trees across the street!

the view down the street into the cul-de-sac!

Sickness Rampage!

I am still alive!!!

However, I have been dealing with sickness! Monday and Tuesday I was feeling run down and had a funny sore throat like what I normally get from my fall allergies! But Tuesday night, I came down with a fever of 101°. Along with the fever came body aches, actually all my joints in my body felt huge and achy! Thankfully that only lasted about 8 hours!

NOW I am fever free and have been for about 36 hours, but I still have this major stuffy nose and a cough that I hope is keeping the "crud" from entering my lungs! It hurts to cough!

So I have been caring for myself over the last few days rather than worrying about posting anything here. I hope you understand!

Hopefully my kids do not catch this "bug"!

I will be back soon!

PRAISE the Lord!!

If you didn't catch my previous post, my brother had open heart surgery today!

Just a quick update...

My brother made it through his surgery! My dad called me about 2pm this afternoon to let me know that he had made it through the surgery and they were taking him to the recovery room and then on to ICU.

Thanks for your prayers!  He has an uphill battle now in the recovery phase. Continue to pray for him!

Calling for Prayer Warriors!!

If it seems like I haven't been around too much lately here posting it is because not only is it time for a weather season change and all the readiness that needs to happen for the long winter months but I have had a "life season" change as well.   Being the oldest child in my family, I have taken on the responsibility of caring for my aging parents. They are still able to relatively live on their own but they need help with making sure that the bills get paid and that the every day upkeep of their home is done. Two weeks ago, I was officially made my parents' power of attorney so that I am able to help them.  So I have been concentrating on getting the mess of their finances cleaned up and a monthly budget working for them on their fixed income.  Just about the time I see the light at the end of the tunnel some other bill or circumstance pokes through the piles of papers!  So I have had to put aside some of usual free time activities(yes as a mom I try to have free time!) and work through my parents' financial matters.

My mom has also been diagnosed with progressive dementia so that has put some challenges into the mix of things as well.

Along with all of this, today my 24 yo brother is at the hospital for all the pre-op appointments along with getting admitted to the hospital. Then tomorrow(Oct 13th) around 8am he is going in for a 10-12 hour open heart surgery.

He was born with a 3 chambered heart and has had open heart surgery before(back when he was 2 1/2yo). The surgery is to do a repair on the repair that he had done when he was 2 1/2yo. Basically medical technology has changed enough over the years that his doctors are confident that they can make his heart work in his adult body as a 4 chambered heart.  He also has transposition of the great vessels so the option for an artificial heart or heart transplant are out of the list of possibilities.

Also this will be like the 6th or 7th time that my brother has had his heart medically stopped and restarted again. Each time this happens it is one less time that the heart can be stopped and restarted.

My dad is at the hospital(which is out of town for us) with my brother and my mom is home and alone for the majority of the next 48 hours!! I still have a unmarried 35yo sister and mentally impaired 22yo brother that still live at home so my mom won't be alone all the time but during the day today and some of the day tomorrow.

The reason for calling the prayer warriors....pray for my family at this time it is a very stressful time with my brother's surgery. Also pray for strength for the 3 doctors that will be operating on my brother tomorrow.  Also pray for patience for when I am working with my parents on their financial mess!  They have made some unwise decisions and it has left them with not a whole lot of money to work with in their pockets.

TIA for the prayers!  I will post an update on my brother when I know more after his surgery tomorrow!

Garage Sale Mania!

I am in the midst of setting up for a TWO day Garage Sale!!

There are others on my street that are hosting one so it should be a bit crazy around here over the next few days! We are to get rain this weekend too hopefully that won't keep the buyers away!

I'll be back around at the beginning of the week with the Meijer Deals and much more!

Sonshine Unplugged!

In case you have been wondering about my whereabouts...

I was inspired by FishMama Unplugging that I decided to take these past couple of days and do the same thing!

My life was starting to revolve around the blog and keeping the hits coming! That I found I was feeling LOTS of pressure to keep up with the blog and figuring out what I would post next and forgetting what really mattered in life!

What really matters in my life is my relationship with God and my family! Both of these were getting neglected so I unplugged and worked at refocusing.

It is amazing how fulfilling life can be when you put technology aside and just focus on the in real life relationships that matter the most.

I am still working on figuring out a good schedule for my life that includes blogging so in the meantime posts will seem a bit slim.

In the next three weeks, I have many things on my plate to do:

1. Son gets cast off his foot.
2. Preparing, setting up, and following through with doing an end of summer garage sale.
3. Getting the "big picture" lesson plans completed for this next school year.
4. Going on vacation to see family and go to my hubby's 20th high school reunion.

So life will not be dull around here to say the least!

Caring for Elderly Parents!

If it seems like I have been a little quiet around here lately....

I have reached that part of the climb on the mountain of life where I am having to care or at least check on my parents on a regular basis. My parents will be 70 next year and I am the oldest of eight children in my family. I am also one of the closest siblings. I have a 35 yo sister and a 22 yo handicap brother that still live at home, however, my sister actually cares about herself, her romance novels, and her soap operas than she does in making sure that my parents have a meal on the table. My other siblings either live out of state, or are too busy with their own affairs to be of much help! So that leaves me!

Over the 4th of July weekend, my hubby, kids and I went over to my parents' house to help them get some landscaping and other outside chores done around the house as the weeds and moss had pretty much taken over their flower beds and yard.

My family has been going over there on a regular basis since the beginning of July to finish up the outside work.

On top of the outside work, we have had to help them realize that one of their bank accounts was getting scammed!! So far they have lost $500 over the last 5 months!!! They have been able to get some of that money back but they will not get all of it back due to the statue of limitations.

We have had to deal with my mom being in the emergency THREE times in the last 2 weeks! The third time was due to her not being able to handle the pain well from being bruised up. She actually told the ER docs that she had fallen again when in reality/according to my dad, she hadn't fallen again! My mom is suffering from dementia! The docs have ruled out alzheimers through tests but as far as I am concerned it might as well be alzheimers!!

My dad has problems with dyscalculia so him working with bank accts. and finances is quite difficult for him! So right now they have all their bills automatically withdrawn from their accts. and their SS and pensions automatically deposited. This is the best route right now as my mom and dad are pack rats!! They get their mail and bill statements and literally have it dumped on a dining room table. I was helping them one day work through some of the paper debris and found bill statements from over 5 years ago in the piles!!! Down in their basement they have boxes of papers that they moved with them to their current house from the old house...the move was over 25 years ago!!!

Needless to say, I am just overwhelmed so I am scaling back my blogging efforts to a few posts each week!!! I need to work at getting my parents' affairs in order so that life can be running smoothly over there and here!

My Working Grocery Budget with Sam's Club

My friend, Judy over at My Adventures in Homeschooling left me a comment/questions on my weekly shopping post that I decided I would take the time to write another post to explain my weekly budget and hopefully answer her questions. Thanks Judy for commenting and asking the questions!

She wrote:

Do you do $100 weekly grocery budget plus your monthly Sam's run? So the total food budget of $525 doesn't include Sam's right?

I am trying to re-do my food budget. It seems to be so out of control right now. With a new baby coming in September I want to get this fixed now. I am looking for ideas.

We have a BJ's (which is like Sam's) in my area. What do you think is the biggest help with your budget? Would you say it is the Sam's run?

I saw that my grocery budget was getting out of control too! My hubby actually has commented before on what looked like me being excessive in my stockpiling. So I have been working at keeping aware and having better control over my spending. So I set myself the goal of having a $100 weekly grocery budget that includes everything that I need to run the household(food, cleaners, toiletries, etc). I don't do "drugstore game"(CVS-ing or Walgreens) but do shop the local grocery stores(Meijer, Save A Lot or Aldis) and do a once a month run to Sam's.

I have been trying to work it where the weekly budget includes the monthly Sam's run. But, I am finding that it is easier to keep my monthly Sam's run out of the weekly total because many of the items end up lasting more than a month and its easier to keep track of it.

I decided to go to my Quicken program and do some figuring out as to find out what my weekly totals are with the Sam's run included in the totals. Here is what I found:

• We are on day 175 of this year.
• We are also in the 26th week of the year.
• I have spent $3621.10 this year for everything that I need to run the household. That figures out to $20.69 per day or $139.27 per week that I am spending to feed and clean seven people plus keeping the house, clothes and linens clean.
• Out of that $3621.10, the amount of food purchased was $3274.97. That figures out to $18.71 per day or $125.96 per week for just food!

So taking those totals I am finding that my written down monthly "everything I need" budget of $525 is not working for me because it actually is averaging out to around $557 for the month!! The $525 will work for me IF it was just to be the measure for food only!

It is hard to take Sam's Club out of the equation of my grocery budget so after evaluating things, I need readjust the "bottom line" of my monthly grocery budget to include the trips to Sam's Club, or readjust my spending habits to fit back into the $525 monthly "everything I need" budget.

As for how Sam's Club helps the monthly budget and works for me...

Even though it is not the biggest help with keeping my monthly budget low, shopping at Sam's Club does work for me and my family.

1. I can check their website to find the current prices of items that I normally buy so I know how much approximately(they don't list fresh meat prices) I am going to spend each month.
2. I can buy certain items in bulk that we use on a consistent basis that are cheaper than sale prices in the local chain grocery stores.
3. I find it easier to store the bigger containers rather than a bunch of smaller ones.
4. It helps me with doing a controlled stockpiling better known as the buying ahead principle which is the biggest help to my budget.

Along with buying ahead and shopping at Sam's Club, there have been other "lessons" that I have learned over the last couple of years that has help to keep my grocery budget in check.

One needs to remember what works for me and my family might not work for your family based on number of different variables(location, prices, allergies, tastes, etc). Do what works for your family and challenge yourself to do the best you can with the time, energy and resources that you have.

This post is linked at:

• Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family!

Glimpse of the "It could have been worse!" Week

I can not say that I have been bored this week!! Life has definitely been keeping my hopping so much so that I am finding that things like blogging have had to be put on the back burner.


The Sonshine household this week has seen:

1. a broken dryer! The dryer is around 5 years old and does not want to heat so the clothes can dry! There is too many cottonwood seeds flying in the air and seasonal allergies for us to line dry clothes outside. So we made a 15 minute trip to my parents' house to use their dryer and to dry the 4 loads of laundry. The dryer was fixed to the tune of $138 on Saturday!!
   
   
2. a U-joint in our Suburban replaced! ahhhh no more vibrating or squeaking noises while driving.
   
   
3. a water heater that doesn't want to heat water! Lukewarm showers are becoming the norm around here! It is amazing what happens when someone inadvertently dials down the temp of the heater! Hubby turned it back up and it seems for now we have dodged having to replace it. However, I know that its days are numbered due to its age.
   
   
4. An egress window and window well installed so that we can move towards separating our five kids into THREE rooms rather than just TWO. To save us money with this installation, my hubby dug the FIVE foot by FIVE foot hole by hand one shovel of sand at a time about four different times due to "cave-ins". Yes under the grass and topsoil is nothing but sand so just when hubby thought he had it ready more sand would cave into the hole!! Once the window was installed by a contractor friend of ours, my hubby installed the window well.
   
   
5. I had my yearly physical and unless my bloodwork comes back showing problems, the doctor gave me a clean bill of health.
   
   
6. The oven would not heat so this morning the same company that fixed the dryer on Saturday returned yesterday morning to fix it to the tune of $160!! Not sure if we were going to have to get a new one, I made my weekly menu not using the oven! Thankfully I have two full propane tanks for the grill, a stove top, a crockpot/roaster, and a microwave to keep food rolling out of the kitchen!

Despite all the things that have gone wrong this past week, I haven't forgotten to take the time to be thankful!!

I am thankful for:

1. My family and our health! We are healthy and able to enjoy doing things together.
2. My house with air conditioning! The weather has been hot and humid and it has been refreshing to come inside to a nice cool house.
3. My God! He has been with us through everything this past week. If it wasn't for being able to lean on Him and His promises, I think I would have had a mental breakdown! Just when things were at the worst, His calm quiet voice reassured me that things would get better!
4. My friends! Friends that will give a helping hand and not expect something in return.

This post is linked at:

• Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Perennial Plant Exchange

This year I was able to expand my flower gardens for free through a plant exchange that my hubby's co-workers do every year.

How it works is they plan a day in the spring that they bring into work plant clippings or seeds and exchange them for other plants or seeds that others have brought from their gardens. Basically they share the wealth of the plants that they have thinned out or divided or just do not want any more.

This year we trade some daylilies for....

TWO mini Hostas

an Autumn Joy Sedum

this gigantic Hosta!

We also got some shasta daisy seeds so that I can start some more plants.

I love this concept of the plant exchange because I am able to fill in holes in my flower gardens and get some variety of plants rather than just dividing or thinning out the plants to compost them or having to buy new seedlings.

Have you done this concept before with a neighbor or friend?

Glimpse into Sonshine's Day Revisited

If you have been following my day today(follow link for my full to-do list), I just had to show you a picture of my dinner!!!!  It is done and waiting now for me to drain some of the juices off to make some homemade beef gravy to go over the beef and potatoes.

Instead of making some honey oat bread, I am making up some french bread. The ingredients are in the breadmachine doing their thing.  I love having a breadmachine it makes breadmaking or roll making easier for me!

Here is the results so far for my day!!  The muffins are done!  The double chocolate cookies are done!!  For the double chocolate cookies, I used two of my 50¢ Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes!  Each bag said to use 1 egg, 2 tbsps. water, and 1/4 cup oil.  Well this momma put two bags into one bowl and used 2 eggs, 4 tbsp. water, 1/4 cup canola oil, and 1/4 cup natural applesauce!  The cookies came out soft and chewy and cakelike!  I love 'em!!  

I also remembered that I had picked up a package of 24 Nestle Ready to Bake Easter Chocolate Chip Cookies for 64¢ at the store the other day so I baked those while I had the oven on this afternoon!

I did not have to call my mom cause she called me!  I still remembered though to tell her "Happy Birthday!"

School is finished for the day!  The kids are outside on this bright and sunny 60° day playing kickball in the backyard with their neighbor friends.

It looks like the bill paying is going to have to wait until later after dinner!!  I just love online bill paying cause I can do it anytime I can get to it!

Now I am off to work on getting those pork chops in the freezer and to drink a glass of water! Along with getting beef gravy made and the french bread in the oven. 

To see what other's baked today or yesterday, head over to MoneySaving Mom!

Glimpse into Sonshine's Day

What I have accomplished so far today:

--hubby's lunch fixed and he out the door for work
--kids' breakfast (scrambled eggs, & bagels & cereal)
--got my younger two dressed
--"referee" the morning chore routine
--got 3 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded and put away
--got 3 loads of laundry folded and put away (these loads were sitting in a basket waiting for me, since no one else knows how to fold!)
--put a second coat of paint on baseboard trim in the playroom.
--fixed/heated up lunch for the kids and me
--browned some burger to freeze before it went bad in the fridge.
--showered and dressed myself
--schooled the three older ones(actually kept them on task as they were doing independent work this morning).
--paid three out of 10 bills that are due this pay period. Hubby only gets paid twice a month so we divide our bills between the two pay periods.  Then I pay bills on payday and then I don't have to worry about them until the next payday. Pay bills(including tithe) first, then am able to know what we have left for gas for vehicles and groceries. 
--got dinner(roast, carrots, & potatoes) in the slow cooker and it turned on to cook! :)

Still need to do:
--pay the rest of the bills
--make honey oat bread
--make double choc. muffins
--make double choc. cookies
--divide up the pork chops for freezer
--finish school with the boys
--call my mother to wish her Happy Birthday!

I'll be back to update my list!

That Did NOT Last Long...

So what did not last long???

Life with one vehicle!!  

After hubby wrecked his Explorer truck, I was resolved that we were going to be a family of seven with just one vehicle for a while, despite going in several different directions every day and needing to take hubby to work in order to go the different directions.   However, after just one week of one vehicle, hubby was having major withdraws and started looking for another vehicle for us.  He was looking for something that would manage all of us and had low mileage. 

After looking for a couple of weeks, we had narrowed it down to several vehicles, actually trucks!  

After test driving and having our friend who is a master mechanic look at all the trucks we were interested in...we settled on a 2003 Chevy Suburban!  It has less than 80,000 miles on it! The only thing that our mechanic found on it was that it needed an alignment!  It has enough seats for all of us!  Granted it doesn't have an entertainment center in it like we have had in our other vehicles(including our current van) but that is something that is easily fixable if we so desire. 

So now life can go on like it had been before frightful snowy day when hubby wrecked his Explorer.   

Thank You!!

Thank you faithful readers for your patience with me!!  

It has been very difficult for me over the last couple of weeks as I take time away from my computer to find balance in my life and to work through my emotions from the "bombshell" that hit my life.

I am finding myself coming out of this valley and starting up the mountain trail!  It will be a slow climb but I am confident that with the Lord holding me I will make it up the mountain trail and His greatness and strength shine through and will get me to the top!

My God is a God of mercy and compassion and He is showing me every day how I can minister to my family, esp. my hubby in a way that glorifies Him! He is a Mender of the broken heart and making it to beat stronger for Him and the family He has given me.  Our God is an awesome God!

It has been amazing how much the Lord has been teaching me through this "computer fast". One of the things He has been teaching me is that I can not be a lukewarm or cold Christian.  I can not just go through the motions of life just being a Christian.  I need to truly let my light/life shine for Him in everything that I do and say.   The new Matthew West song, The Motions, has really ministered to my heart over the last few weeks and has become my lifesong.  When I feel like going through the motions of life I remember that I need to keep my fire/passion of God's love burning inside of me and pour it out for and to others!

For those of you that haven't heard the song before, here are the lyrics....

The Motions
by Matthew West

This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)
take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way (I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go)
take me all the way (through the motions)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

As a final note, I am going to start back up blogging in this next week but just not with the same intensity as before.  I was caught up in the number of hits my blog got on a daily basis and stressing over what to blog about for all the different blog carnivals that I found myself just going through the motions of posting just to get more hits rather than just sharing as my heart lead me.  Now I am not concerned about my "blog ratings" but rather the friends I have made by blogging and following through with the mission that I set for this blog when I started it a year and a half ago.  

The mission was to show others encouragement through getting a glimpse into my life of homeschooling, frugal living, and parenting.

The Baking "To Do" List & More Part 2

Whew! What a day!! You can read about my "to do" list and what I accomplished this morning here.

When I left that post, I was needing to check on my Jewish Coffee Cake. Here is the results...

Once the Jewish Coffee Cake was complete, I had ready a double batch of banana bread with nuts(3 loaves and 12 muffins). After the bread was done, I had this single batch of cookies to put in the oven. For the cookies, I used my basic chocolate chip cookie recipe for the dough and for the chips I used 1/2 white chips and 1/2 chocolate chips.  Basically using up a couple of open bags of chips that I had in my fridge!
Once the cookies were done, another double batch of banana bread without nuts(3 loaves and 12 muffins) was ready to go into the oven.  While the banana bread was baking, ds#3 and I worked on getting our dinner ready.  Dinner tonight was a Taco Bar!  Ds #3 put the finishing touches of spice into the chicken and burger meat that I had cooked up this morning while I cut up some lettuce.  We had our choice of beef or chicken tacos with all the fixings(lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and rice).  Here is my plate...
Before I cleared the table, I took a picture of the bounty I had baked today!  In the bags ready for the freezer are the cookies, and banana muffins with nuts. The rest of the items will either be eaten in the next few days or once cooled put in the freezer for later breakfasts or snacks.  The only thing missing from the picture is the 3 loaves of banana bread without nuts which were still cooking in the oven!
The only thing on the baking portion of my "to-do" list was a batch of brownies. I will do those some time next week! So now all that is left on my to-do list is emails and blogging for here and for Happy to be at Home, where I am contributing writer.

Thanks for joining me on productive day!

The Baking "To-Do" List and More!

So this morning after fixing hubby's lunch and getting hubby out the door for work, I sat down and wrote out my "to-do list".  Knowing full well that if I didn't write something down, I would sit and veg and not get anything done!  And that my friends would be a bad thing in not getting anything done, because hubby and I are going on a marriage retreat this weekend(Thursday afternoon thru Saturday afternoon)with other couples from our church.   So I have to stay focused today to accomplish anything!

Now that I have a list...time to get busy!

First to do was a batch of Muddy Buddies/Puppy Chow.  I needed something "snacky" to take with us to share and this was the perfect item because I had all the ingredients on hand to make it up.   Yes, you are seeing correctly....it is in a paper shopping bag!(more explanation coming later as to why I used a paper bag!)

Next up was cutting up the fruit that was in my fridge.  Better to cut it up and have it available for munching on rather than having it sit and get wasted!  It is not strawberry season in my neck of the country but these store bought California strawberries sure taste yummy!  While cutting up the cantaloupe, I realized why I do NOT usually buy out of season fruit!!!  This melon was still green so it was like cutting up an apple!! UGH!  Oh well, it still tastes good and the kiddos are eating it up!  I could have combined these two to make a nice little fruit salad but some of my kiddos would have strong objections to the combination!  So this momma keeps the fruit separate and if you want to eat the fruit together like a fruit salad you can do so in your own little bowl.

Now that lunch is over, here is where my list stands....



***off to check the Jewish Coffee Cake in the oven and to accomplish more on my list!*** Will update my progress later!