Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A Little Glimpse

A little glimpse is what I got this week of what is to come. My seven year old daughter is sick with the flu...yuck, so I was off Monday, Tuesday and today. While it wasn't an ideal reason to be off, (who likes to see their baby sick?), it certainly was nice to be home. I was able to get a head start on some of my decluttering and my 27 fling boogies, for sure. Being home these past few days has been yet another confirmation that I belong at home with and for my family. When Ethan my five year old found out I was going to be home the next few days, his eyes lit up and he did the "yes" motion with his arm - priceless I tell you!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Operation Organization - 09/27/09

I Corinthians 14:40 says "Let all things be done decently and in order."

That was a weekly Bible memory verse I had when I was in, I believe, the fourth grade.. and it has haunted me ever since!! Seriously, for almost all of my years of education, Bible memorization was pretty much a weekly requirement and yet this is the verse that I have hid in my heart!! LOL Maybe the truth is that this is one verse that I have not hid in my heart and that is why everytime I am looking for my keys, the kids shoes or anything else that has gone missing, I am overcome with the guilt of not living an orderly life.
I know that this is not the context in which this verse was written, but nevertheless, it is driving me to become a more organized person, one step at a time.

My first battle, if you will, in Operation Organization is to declutter.. you cannot organize clutter. So I am starting with FlyLady's 27 fling boogie everynight or at least every other night until my last day on the job. I have about three weeks left at my job, so if I follow through with this or "win" this battle, I should have a pretty good head start on decluttering, who knows maybe I will even be done so that I can immediately begin actually organizing- that would be great!!!
If you would like to find out more about what a 27 fling boogie is you can read about it here.

Have a great night.. I am going to go do a little flinging before I head off to bed!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Autumn

is upon us! Yesterday was officially the first day of fall and because of that I thought I would share a picture of the fall wreath that I made with my sister when she was visiting over Labor Day. I made a wreath, with her guidance, while she made a fall bouquet of flowers for my father's grave. She is so talented!






Happy autumn everybody!!!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Getting Closer

We have decided for sure of a quit date for me, we have for the most part budgeted our money for the rest of the year... the kids will get Christmas!LOL and now are seeking ways to make the most of our money and to be good stewards.

Let the count down begin.....

23 days, 1 hour and 8 minutes!!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

I Think We Have ***UPDATE***

Eryn won!! She was 1 of about 10 kids ( I beleive she said) that ran for class representative.. We are so proud!! Congratulations, Eryn!


a politician in our family!! My ten year old, a fifth grader is running for Class Representative - she is so excited and I am equally excited for her.
She has told me who she is endorsed for Student Council President, coincidentally his name is Aaron, she told me that his speech "moved her". How could she not endorse him??
Anyway, she is allowing me to share with you her upcoming speech....

As you already know, I am running for Class Representative in Whiteside's student Council.
First of all, I would like to wish all of my fellow candidates good luck. I would like to represent all of you and contribute my strongest dedication. As your class representative I will voice your ideas and insights to the student council.
I believe I qualify for this responsibility for a few reasons. First, I am an extremely dedicated person, I am willing to cut out whatever time it takes to make Whiteside a better place.
Obviously, I can't promise you everything you wasnt like I wish I could. I still will do whatever it takes to get your voices heard.


and in her best Napoleon Dynamite voice she plans to end it with..
So vote for me and all your wildest dreams will come true.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

It Is Getting Close....

I can't believe it, but the time is drawing near for me to put in my notice. I am really excited. I am excited to be able to once again give myself to those that I love the most, God and my family. Far too long have I been trying to juggle everything, only to find that I keep "dropping the balls" . I really envy, or really I should say that I admire, those women that are able to do it all ( I am blessed to be surrounded by many of these amazing women).
I do know that this is the right move for our family, seeing my childrens eyes light up like it was Christmas when we told them our plans, was all the proof I needed!
I would be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous about the financial aspect of this change, but I know that God has promised to supply our needs and that brings the peace.
I have a whole lot of things on my to do list, things that have been on the back burner far too long...decluttering, organizing, deep cleaning (i.e. windows washing - yuck!)I have even thought about doing a little self cleaning on me and try to lose some of this weight, but hey we'll see..can't do it all at once, right!! LOL

Another reason to love Target...

They now price match! I "heard" that rumor but have now seen the sign first hand myself!!!

Speaking of Target I got a couple of AWESOME deals there over the weekend. First off in case you were not aware Target will allow you to use a Target coupon + a manufacturers coupon, that together is great! Anyway here are my two deals of the week...

Chef Michaels dog food (1.5) on sale for $4.29, used a Target $1 off coupon and a $3 manufacturers coupon. Final cost = .29, I did this deal 3xs.

Schick Womans Intuition Razor on sale for $8.29, used a Target $4 off coupon and a $4manufacturers coupon. Final cost = .29, I did this deal 3xs as well.

I love these free or almost free deals!!!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Coupon Heaven!!!

Five coupon inserts in today's newspaper = coupon heaven for me.....

Saturday, September 12, 2009

I am a football mom....

Well, I am a flag football mom. Ethan had his first flag football game today and while they don't officially keep score for his age division, dad did and his team won!! Go Rams!!! I have included a few pics of my lil' guy.. he is soooo cute!!!







This last pic is of both teams in a huddle with coaches and the refs. They are giving words of encouragement and praying before the game!! I love it!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Clutter...Clutter...

With our family the size it is, we tend to accumulate so.much.stuff. I am fearful that somewhere in our dna we may have the hint of a hoarder gene. I am so over it!! Our house is small, but would be so much more accomodating for us if we had less "stuff" and then the "stuff" we must keep would stay organized! Slowly, very slowly right now, I am working on decluttering our home. Once I resume my "stay at home" position, I will hit it full force until it is done. I made a promise to myself and to my family, that we will not live disorganized anymore!

About five or so years ago, my sister introduced me to a site called Fly Lady. If ever you need motivation to get cleaning, to declutter or to get organizing this site is for you. Here you will learn the appropriate acronym for CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome) and will learn what a 27 fling boogie is, it is a fun site and very motivating should you ever be lacking there. Check out Fly Lady when you get the chance!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009




Because of our busy weekend, I didn't make it to the grocery store or really give much thought to what our menu would consist of this week. I think we will just use what we already have on hand...

Monday - leftovers from our weekend.
Tuesday - grilled pork steaks, pasta salad, corn
Wednesday - Quesadillas
Thursday - Ranch Chicken..not sure about sides
Friday - Homemade Pizza
Saturday - Breakfast for Dinner, probably French Toast
I was given some Bread Co. Texas Toast that I froze, it will be perfect for this.
Sunday - My mom's house

Of course, we will have apples, we have lots of apples! I am going to try to make some apple crisp tomorrow night.

Monday, September 7, 2009

What a Weekend....

This three day weekend was so busy! Filled with fun though!
My sister and her family who live in Chicago visited this weekend and as usual we had a really great time.

We went to two parades, went to the Barnyard Olympics at Eckerts Farm and then apple picking! The best part of this fun filled weekend, other than getting to spend time with our family, is that most of it was free - we obviosly had to pay for our apples that we picked!!! I love being able to do things with the kids, but since we are really trying to watch our pennies, we really rely on community activities that are free or almost free - the bottom line is the kids are having fun, we are making memories, they don't care or even know if it is free or not.

I have included some pics of our eventful weekend






She really isn't as high maintenance as she looks!!!



My beautiful neice Amber!




Saturday, September 5, 2009

Coupons...No Coupons...

Well since this is a holiday weekend there will not be any coupons in Sundays paper. For me that is probably good - I am so behind in getting my coupons organized that I probably shouldn't be adding to the crazy pile I got going on.

I am really trying to fine tune how I organize my coupons, when they are not organized it becomes overwhelming and often then I miss out on good deals - that is where I am at now. When I am organized I keep my whole inserts in an expandable folder until I have a chance to clip them, once clipped I organize them into an index card holder that is divided into sections. This has really worked for me.

Any couponing organizing tips are sure welcome!!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Thankful Thursday....

I too often find myself taking for granted the things that God has blessed me with and even more too often, I think of all the things that I feel I am "missing" from my life... so today, I choose to be thankful. Be thankful with me... in this uncertain world that we live in, there is one thing we can forever be certain of and that is His faithfulness and for that I am so thankful!

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is Thy faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Funtainers.... how fun!

Lunches from home have always been well... boring.. at our house, it always is sandwich, chips, fruit and a snack. Because I tend to lack in the creativity dept. we have let the kids buy their lunches from school. That really was not a problem, our school lunch offered choices and they were healthy choices, the problem is that now with three of our four children in school, buying lunch everyday is rather expensive! There is a mommys board that I frquent and everyone kept talking about funtainers and how their child took leftover spaghetti, soup and other things that would need to be heated up to eat. Apparently, these funtainers will keep hot food hot for 5 hours and cold food cold for 7 hours! I was so excited because I could get them each one and that would help solve the lunches from home problem, especially Ethan because he does not like sandwiches at all! They are pricey... $16 each, but fortunately I found them 50% off at Target tonight in their back to school section. The kids are taking leftover spaghetti tomorrow. I am anxious for them to report back to me if their food indeed was still warm at lunch time.

Here is a pic of what one looks like...Ethan has this one, Transformers of course!


Tuesday, September 1, 2009

All You...

I cannot believe that I haven't stumbled across this website or this magazine before today, it is called All You. It has all kinds of tips on saving, couponing, organizing ( this is where I really struggle) etc. Right now you can sign up for a free trial of their magazine, if after the first two issues you don't want to continue, just write CANCEL on the bill and send it back. However, judging by the website, I can't imagine not loving the magazine. You can check it out here.

Consumer Testing

I signed up a while back to test product for McCormick Spices and Seasonings. I am so excited, I just received an e-mail asking to test a new product - I am not sure what it is yet, but they will send me the product sometime next week, I will cook with it, submit my evaluation and they will in turn compensate me!! I will post what it is, what I cook with it and if it gets a thumbs up or down as soon as I can.