Pumpkin Man 2008

Kelly & I cut out our pumpkin for this year - Here he is....
I can't belive we are at the end of October already and Halloween is tomorrow. Time sure does fly, What was that John Lennon quote? Life is what is going by while your making plans.... something like that.

It still is very cold here! We haven't put the heat on yet (I would have had it on but the kids said it smelt like fire when I started it up). I just hate it so cold though, but everyone else in my family seems to really be enjoying it. It brings back memories of PA. : )

How do you work with your inter-library loan books? I can only have three out at a time but I have a ton on order.... (sometimes it take only a few days to get the book and other times it takes two weeks so there is no judging the time frame). I think the librarian is getting sick of my asking for so many but with so many subjects to cover I seem to be needing a number of books they just don't have. They only give me a few days to pick them up so I may have to quickly read through each one when it comes in so I can get it back to the library so I can get the others before they ship them back.... Yikes.

My local homeschooling group seems to be falling apart. Kelly and I haven't had a chance to participate in many of their activities but now it looks like they are falling to pieces. It really all started when one mom mentioned something about the elections and since then they have been bantering about with each other. I just don't get it actually everyone has their opinion so be it. I can listen to your thoughts about a subject but it doesn't mean it will change my mind about what I think. It seems a shame that a number of the members are saying they will be leaving the group "because they don't like the direction the group it taking".....

Hope everyone is all set for Halloween and you have a spooked filled day tomorrow!!!!

Tues.

It sure is cold here! We have a cold chill to the air and a strong wind at times. Not your normal Florida weather for sure! I had to dig out my pants & sweatshirt out - Yikes...

I tell you last month I was in the dumps about homeschooling and now I seem to find something great ever day to work on.... I just have to figure it all out and get us working on all this stuff : )
I have been upset with myself that we still had not got to working on learning about the states. This has been on the to do list since we started homescooling. I found a site that has a tone of stuff "50 States Notebook" http://www.squidoo.com/50statesnotebook. It looks great. My husband is a nut about knowing the state capitals for each state so that is our goal but along the way we will cover the little extras like state bird. flag ect. and also the state quarter (I thought of buying one of those quarter maps that I mentioned in an earlier post that my Dad was working before he passed for Kelly). I am also getting a book from the library that has a recipe from each state that I thought we would try and make. Then it also lists living books that happened in each state http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/projects/flags/states_books.htm#Georgia
http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/states.html I thought we could get a few of them from the library. It sounds like a fun plan now I just have to get it all together and start it!

Today's lessons were cut semi-short, It was cold in the house and Kelly's nose & eye were running so possibly she is getting a cold.... We were working on Astronomy (not one of her favorites) and I saw she wasn't really paying much attention (she was more worried about staying wrapped up in her "no sew" blanket that we made). Hopefully tomorrow will warm up a bit and we can hit the studies hard again.

A note about the Angel Food Ministires food we got, So far we have had the boneless Rib eye steaks & the boneless pork chops and both were terrible! The meat was tough as shoe leather and tasteless : ( I don't think we will be ordering anytime soon.

7am. Monday Morning

I have to pass on a tip I found which I am sure you all most likely know about already.... Did you know you can set your Homeschool blog friends list up so you can see when someone posts to their blog? It has been such a time saver for me. Now I don't have to go to each blog and see if it has been up-dated or not.

I worked on our schedule for the week yesterday - It was pretty hairy here though. As I have mentioned our water tank has a hole so my husband bypassed it and now the pump goes on when you need water.... Well now you may be in the shower and it just shuts off and doesn't come back on. Needless to say my husband was ranting and raving about that all day - I tried to wash some forks up for dinner and he yelled at me that we aren't going to have any water at all if I keep using it. Soooo the dishes are piled sky high in the sink which I hate.
Back to the school schedule, I think I have a nice handle on it this week. I am also adding in a craft pumpkin that you use crayon scraps, wax paper and then you iron it. I just have to locate my iron.... I know I have one some where : )

Picking up the Angel Food Ministires box was a adventure. The truck was very late in getting there and the lines to pick up the food where huge so I left and went over to the library for a while then came back. I had brought plastic bags which was such a mistake - they had to find me two boxes. Then since I was by myself there was no way I could carry the two boxes,but a nice man helped me carry one all the way to my car. It seemed like alot of food but when I put it away it looks like I didn't get much. I am not used to cooking steak type meat (we never have it) so I guess I over cooked the bonless ribeye steaks that I had gotten, they were so chewy everyone didn't care for them. I think they needed to be grilled but we don't have one. I will let you know about the rest of the things in the box as I use them. Just not sure if I will order again from them....

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!!!

Wrapping Up The Week....

The visit from the ferrier was not so good : (
Roper still has an infection in his hoof. He is walking fine and I thought we had gotten it all healed up so it sure was a surprize when I saw the puss coming out when he squeezed the hoof! My poor boy! He packed it AGAIN and taped it up, to be honest it is going to be really hard for me to get this infection under control, it rained again yesterday and the horse pen just gets so much standing water in it that there is no way I can keep their hooves dry....

I did make it to the library yesterday (My husband had off again from work so he took me). I picked up most of the books I was looking for except their copy of "Thanksgiving on Thursday" they said someone must have walked off with it.... : ( We really enjoy the Magic Tree House books, I know they are a very easy reader and Kelly is in "7th" grade but with her learning problem I figure as long as she is reading something. We are going to add a Thanksgiving unit study to our school week. Over at "Shades Of Pink" http://theshadesofpink.blogspot.com/ she mentiones using the Amanda Bennett Unit Studies, I was thinking of buying that but with things so tight I figure I will use the one listed on Cindy Downes site http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/pilgrimCL.html. Or I also found this Thanksgiving Lapbook: http://www.squidoo.com/thanksgivinglapbook While I was at the library I picked up a really nice Art book "The Usborne Book Of Art Ideas", I really want to start getting arts & crafts and nature study into the school week. I think it really will add that "something" we are missing. Now I just have to get some cash together to buy some art materials like tissue paper, chalk & oil pastels, some acrylic paints and brushes....

While I was at the library you should of seen the line to vote early - My gosh isn't the point of early voting so you don't have to stand in line.... I still haven't made up my mind yet who I am voting for so I guess I will be waiting in really long lines election day. Speaking of the economy, I am picking up my first order from Angel Food Ministries this afternoon. I will let you know how that works out. I bought two boxes they say that will feed a family for two weeks (they don't know my son). I have also been working on a "Price Book", I an trying to get the prices of each item I buy week to week from each of the stores I can shop at to really see where I get get the best bang for my buck.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!!!

Sometimes.....

I just did something I feel terrible about!
Kelly & I went to check the mail and inside the mail box is this scary looking spider. This spider has lived in there for a year now, way back in the back of the box. Today it was right at the front of the box when we opened it. It looked like it had something in it's "hands". I grabbed a stick and started to scoot it out of the box - I didn't think it fair for the postman to be shocked when he opend the box and sees this standing right there. Well I knocked it out of the box on to the ground and I checked it and it was alive. I looked back into the box and what it was holding was still in there - I think it was her baby! : ( Now I feel terrible! I scooted what ever it was out of the box and closed it. I hate spiders with a passion but I just feel so bad.....

Thurs., One More Day Till Friday!

Good Morning, Hope everyone is doing well this week!

We had another fire in the burning pit last night, I hate to carry on, but it really gives me a nasty headache when I sit out there to long. I hated to be a party pooper but I went in early and watched Ghost Hunters. I enjoy that show, they showed a repeat last night of the St. Augustine light house which is kinda close to us. We had gone there one day "before" we had seen the Ghost Hunter's episode and were going to take a walk up the lighthouse but when we got there it was too expensive for us - It was $9.00 a person and we had the four of us (It is huge too, Not sure if this old out of shape body could have made it anyway). It would be fun to take a tour at night but since we saw the episode I think it would be just to scarry for us... They are having a Trunk or Treat at the church (that is where families park their cars and sit by their trunks and hand out candy so the kids don't have to travel around the neighborhoods) I asked Kelly if she would like to go - This kid really has never enjoyed a good Halloween! She was about 7ish when we moved down here and the first year here she was fighting with her brother and told him she was going to call 911 and she did! The police officer came to the house to check it out (we had only been here a month... what a way to start out). I told her we NEVER fool around with calling 911 and took away her Halloween privleges for that year. Since then we have never gone trick or treating here. In our area no one treat or treats, you have to drive down to town or drive over to Palm Coast which kinda takes the fun out of it. So nedless to say Kelly has never had a really fun time with Halloween (we did do alot of trick or treating in PA. but I think her memories of that have faded). Now that I think of it this kid really has been jipped in alot of areas : (

As for schooling, Going well! Today the hoof guy is coming to take care of the horses so that may put a kink in the day - If he says Roper's hooves are better we just may head out for a ride : ) I know what you are saying "Now Donna, Don't go blowing the good thing you got going"! I hear ya....

I Think We May Have Started A Fire.... For Homeschooling

I hate to even say it, But WOW! What a difference so far in our schooling. This starting in the afternoon is doing wonders for both of us. When my husband got home last night he asked her some questions about the Civil War and she answered each question correctly! Yea! It made my heart sing.... I have struggled so much with worry that she isn't getting anything out of what I am teaching her and now I am seeing just maybe a little time change may make this work out so much better for all of us.

Last night my son had to work late and Kelly's friend wasn't on the computer so my husband and Kelly decided to start a fire outside and we sat around it. It was very relaxing starring into the fire and we had a little chill in the air which made it even nicer.

For Halloween this year since we don't get any trick or treaters and Kelly doesn't plan on going out - I am thinking we will make these cute ice cream cones: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50003039@N00/1812057231 they are just the cutest and look so easy too. Then get some marshmallows and start another fire and sit around telling ghost stories roasting marshmallows....

So Far So Good : )

Well the school time change is working out very well for us so far. Kelly did very well yesterday (of course we didn't cover every subject we were supposta but it's a start). It could also be the temp. change giving everyone that extra something lately, It sure is nice to be able to be outside again with out the dreaded ultra hot weather.

Kelly really loves the Zoology 3 book, this child would be just as happy if that was the only topic she ever learned about... She has no interest in the Astronomy book at all. Here I am outside at night (It is very dark where we are so you can really see the stars and planets very well) pointing out the planets and you can see she just doesn't find it one bit amazing like I do. I don't want to scrap it, but it seems a waste to spend all that time getting the lapbooks together on each chapter and not having her really care about it. Maybe I will scrap the lapbooking on the Astrology book and just do the Zoology 3 lapbook but still read over the Astrology book and do any experiments that might be interesting.

I also want to add in Unit Studies - Over at Cindy Downs site: http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/unitstudies.html she has just such amazing ones already put together that I would like to try. I am going to use the Thanksgiving one to start off with - Now I know Kelly has heard the stories a hundred times about the pilgrims ect. but I thought we will read a bunch of the books she has listed and see how it goes. It's funny but I am going up to the library this Sat. I have been checking the library's listings and almost the entire stock of Halloween books are out : ( I obviously started to late to looking for them! I thought I would grab the Thanksgiving books on Sat. even though it will be pretty early to start the unit study but at least I would have th books available. You can keep the book for two weeks and then you can only renew it if no one else has it reserved, so just possibly I will be able to keep them a bit longer.

As far as inter-library loan books go..... I really don't know how to work with it. Sometimes I request and then they come right away and other times I am waiting weeks and weeks before I hear back from them. I am only allowed three inter-library loaned books out at one time so it is pretty hard for me to judge not having too many lined up at one time. Many of the books required for the history program "Biblio" we are using don't seem to be in our library which is a bit of a pain in the neck. At least the inter-library loan lady knows me by name now : )

Can you tell by the post I am getting a twinkle of the Homeschooling bug back : ) I had lost it for awhile there and was pretty worried about it but now I think it is inching back again!

Have a fantastic day today!!!!!

Monday Morning, It's 8:45am Already.....

We are trying something a bit new for us to maybe make our homeschooling day go a bit better - We are not starting school till almost noon or later. Since Kelly likes to sleep in late and I don't get enough sleep at night and feel like I need a nap in the morning we have decided to just start much later and see how that works for us. We don't do anything else during the day so time wize we are wide open so hopefully this will take the stress off of me to get everything ready in the morning and then feeling so tired when I am trying to teach her. Kelly is a much nicer person when she has had her sleep so this may work for us. Now that it is a bit cooler here we have been having class outside again as I mentioned not sure if we will continue that or not. It is funny, If I have more then one thing to think about (like homeschooling, getting my son's paper work together to apply for college, how we are going to pay the bills ect.) I just can't seem to get even one thing done corectly.... I get so overwhelmed with things : ( I have tried hard this past weekend to get th crazy stuff out of the way and hopefully try and focus on homeschooling.
Best Wishes for a Great Day!

Thurs. on the Homeschooling Front

We had a nice school day outside yesterday. I find it refreshing to get in the air and away from the airconditioner. Of course there are many distractions out there.... mostly the horses! But we got a bit of schooling done which is a start for us. I have been wracking my brains for some ideas on how to get Kelly to have better recall of what we have learned - Any ideas? I read a chapter in History of Us about the civil war generals (we have been covering the civil war since the school year started, but have had quite a bit of time off from it) Kelly said "General Lee, I think I know him"... I have mentioned this mans name no less then 25 times or more since we started this lesson and she only kinda remembers who he is. So I obviously need to use a different method to help her retain the information. I try not to show her how deflated I feel when she says something like that but it really wears me out.

My son took the day off today from Winn Dixie to try and gt all his paper work ready to take down the police academy. the gal said on the phone the Jan. class is almost all filled up already - She has 27 students but she can take 30 so he has to hurry. To be honest I am not sure how this is all going to work out, but I am leaving it in Gods hands.

Have a great day!

Wake Up, It's Wed.!

I think I have found a great Christmas idea I can give to just about everyone on my shopping list.... the "No Sew Blanket"! Kelly and I made one for her yesterday (I will post pictures soon). It was sooo easy, fast to make and I think they are really cute. We don't buy Christmas gifts for many people at all.... the kids, my in-laws and my son's girlfriend so this could really work out for me and that it is kinda homemade is even better.

Speaking of my in-laws, I e-mailed her again since they weren't answering my e-mails (I wasn't sure with my computer having major virus problems ect. if the e-mails were going through) anyway she sends off a e-mail with such a "tone" to it. I was taken a back by it - All I did was ask her to keep a look out for three items I am searching for for Chrsitmas gifts. She said that they couldn't "promise" my anything... these people go to no less the 50 garage sales each weekend sometimes more. I know nothing is for sure but with going to that many sales I think their chances of finding a used computer, coffee maker & blender are pretty good. She kept asking my how my husband was in the e-mail, She seemed really worried about him. I wrote her back that he is fine - I come to find out he didn't want to go down to their house this past Sunday to paint her washroom so he must have told her he was feeling sick. Here I get the back lash from them because I am seeming like I don't care about their son's health when it is all a lie! They used to treat me better then they treated their own children but I guess my husband has been telling them stories/lies when he goes down there without me... : (

Hope everyone has a wonderful day today!!!!!

I'm At It Again....

Here I go whinning again....
I have just been in this funk for awhile now and just can't seem to get out of it.
I am soooo tired all the time, now my sleep is never restful so that I am sure is a large part of it but you all have crazy lives too and I wonder what you all do to keep you energy up all day? I don't drink coffee or reg. soda (just diet pepsi). I litterally am always thinking through out the day when I can get a nap in. I am thinking of trying melatonin and see if that will help me sleep better so I have some kind of energy for the day.

Then homeschooling, It has been such a struggle on my part. I just don't have any interest in it at all and I am not sure why.... We have some really good books we are using and some fun looking projects but I just can't seem to get with it. My life has been crazy mentally and physically but really I thought once the puppies all left I would bounce back (I always have a happy attitude after I am able to pay bills) but I haven't. It seems to be worse because now all the money is gone and we are back in the same boat as we were in.

And while I am gripping - Remember the dog we were babysitting for a few days, Well the fellow still hasn't paid us (I am going to let Kelly have any money we make from dog sitting). He told us as soon as he get's some money he will pay us (Hey, I understand that!). Tom told me yesterday that this guy went golfing at a golf course where they drive around and serve you drinks as you play (He invited my husband but he thought better of it). So here this guy had money to spend on golfing but not paying Kelly for the dog watching (Isn't this what is wrong with America)!

Okay I'll stop whinning - I did spend my last $20.00 on that Winn Dixie can sale this morning. My son is going to pick some more corn & cream corn cans up for me (we had the cream corn last night and it was very good, we liked it). I wish I had more money to really stock up on everything we buy.

Oh well, Today is another day....

Up's and Down's of the Weekend.....

This weekend has had it's good points and terrible points about it!
The good - I had fun shopping at Winn Dixie and getting $65.00 worth of veg. cans, they were 20 for $10.00. I also put in my first order at the Angel Food Ministries. Isn't sad that this is the highlights of my weekend! I am now officially broke again, all of the puppy money has been spent. I had really hoped to get a chance to take Kelly to the dentist to have those terrible cavities she has on her back teeth pulled out but that's out the window now. I did buy at Walmart a few spices & baking ingredients, Since I have been reading the "Dining On A Dime" cook book I want to be able to maybe whip together some cheap meals and snacks.

On a sad note, one of our puppies (Gracie) who I had bottle fed and brought it along to where I thought she was out of the woods caught a cold and passed away last night. It just broke my heart : ( I of course have been bawling like an idiot all last night and any time someone says her name.... I had gotten so attached to her.

I have my in-laws looking when they go to garage sales for a used computer for Kelly's Christmas present, that's all she wants this year. I know she is on the computer alot, but I figure it would be either that or on the phone if she had friends around here.... I am not looking forward to the hoildays at all, I always feel much better in Jan. after they all pass. Not that we do much of anything different around here anyway so I don't know why I feel that way.

While I was at Walmart I did pick up the other piece of fleece material for that "No Sew" blanket we are going to make for Kelly's room. It is going to be a very cozy blanket : ) I will post pictures of it as we work on it.

Can you belive gas prices are going down....! We are at $3.19 a gallon. It makes you want to buy gas when you see it going down. At least something is going down in price for a little while at least.

Have a wonderful day!!!!!

Just Weathering The Storms.....

Gosh just when I thought things were settling down at my house it all starts back up again!

Kelly & I did do some schooling yesterday - Yea! It went well, I just love Apologia Zoology 3 book. In one part it asks a question and if you get it right it says "You have a great memory". Kelly soooo needs this kind of re-enforcement because she always feels like she can't remember a thing..... We also did some spelling and reading.

Then we had a terrible storm come over our area. Heavy rain and nasty thunder & lightning. After it kept getting worse I turned on the tv and it said we had a tornado warning. My son's girlfriend was driving home during this and saw one come down from the sky and touch down in a field. It tore apart the farmers shed where they process potatoes, ripped the roof right off... Not much other damage was done to the area thank goodness!

Then we had a storm of another kind..... My husband. He came home in a very foul mood. He took Kelly & I to pick up the hay for the horses and to see the damage at the farm field. Well even though I called the feed store twice, paid for the hay with my credit card and told her to leave it ourside of the fence so we could pick it up after hours it wasn't there. He just exploded! He must have been drinking before he came home because he doesn't usually scream like that. He went off on everything from the feed store, to his job, to the fellow who called about having him paint his whole entire inside of his house to my son and the extra van rental money.... I mean he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I tried to explain to him that he was screaming at the wrong people but he still kept going. Poor Kelly, Here she just wanted to get pictures of the farmer's shed and she had to put up with all the yelling! We finally got home and would you belive my husband started yelling at my son for round two.... So that made for a very long night. Which brings me to a bight spot though - I went to bed and I prayed to God asking him to help me make Kelly's life better, she doesn't deserve all this crap that she has to deal with. Do you know what happened next (I swear and cross my heart), I heard a voice in my right ear and it said "I heard you"...... That's all I needed to hear : )

THEN... In my email box this morning was this post from Joel Osteen:

The God of Comfort
Today's Scripture

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…” (Isaiah 66:13 NIV).

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria

Oftentimes, when people face challenges, they seek comfort in things that are familiar. It may be work, or an activity, or relationships; and of course, we all know about “comfort food.” But those things only bring temporary comfort. True comfort is found in a personal relationship with God in heaven through His Son, Jesus.


According to Webster’s dictionary, comfort means: to give strength and hope; to ease grief or trouble. No matter what difficulty you may be facing today, God wants to bring you comfort. Like a mother cares for her child, He longs to give you strength, hope, and confidence. Make the decision to put Him first in every area of your life.

Let go of those things you know are holding you back. Let Him be Lord over all! As you surrender to His grace, you will be filled with His peace and joy. You’ll be empowered to overcome every obstacle, and you will live in victory all the days of your life.
A Prayer for Today

Father in heaven, I come to You today and invite You to fill my whole being. Give me Your comfort and strength and empower me by Your Holy Spirit to live in the victory You have planned for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.


Have a Blessed Day!!!!!

I Have To Get A Life......

I tell you, I have to get a life! This is how nuts I am, I check all of my homeschooling blogging buddies sites every day and when you all don't up-date I worry about you. : )

By chance yesterday I found out a church kinda in our area is hosting Angel Food Ministries http://www.angelfoodministries.com/ I am going to order two boxes and see how it works out. The meat portions are ex. one pork chop per person, my son eats like three himself so I am not sure if this will save us money or not.... Has anyone bought from them before?

I also had one of those 'Is this really my child" moments. My son let us use his credit card to rent the van to go up north. The fellow said it would cost about $367.00 dollars, I gave my son $370.00 dollars to pay off his credt card bill. Well it turned out the car rental place charged us only $258.00 dollars to rent the van. When my son told me about it I was like "Yea I get $100.00 back".... Well this eight ball looks at me and get's all mad. He wanted to keep the extra $100.00! Can you imagine, I am just shaking my head lately and wondering where have I gone wrong. That's what makes me really worried about with how the economy is going and what really lies ahead for us - Most of the now & up and coming generations are all about what can I get for me..... How will they be able to handle in the future when you have to SAVE to get a car or house, you will have to be able to pay cash for everything you want to buy when they all think they are entitled to all these things. You won't be able to just get everything you want RIGHT NOW.

Can you tell I am in my chair each night at 7pm to watch Glen Beck! This guy is the only person who I feel tells it like it is. If you get a chance take a peek at his show (I even get a daily e-mail from him... http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/16278/
He brings up so many interesting ideas. I have seen first hand how people are reacting to this situation. This family who lives in our area bought a pretty new house a few years back. Of course when they saw that the interest rate was just going to swamp them they refinanced. Do you know what they did...? Since they knew they weren't going to be able to make the house payments either way (before the refinanced or after they got the new loan or wouldn't be able to sell it) they took all the money they got refinancing the house which was a lofty sum and just left the house! They new their credit was shot anyway and they figured they would at least have a chunk of money to work with..... Now doesn't that bust your back hearing that! This is just one family I know of, Can you imagine how many more people have already done this.....

On a lighter note: Winn Dixie is have a 20 cans for $10.00 sale on their brand name canned veg. & fruits. I am really thinking of stocking up - Canned veg. around here are up to $1.00 a can (Of course that is the name brands price). I also found a farm family outside at my local feed & grain store selling bagged 5lbs. potatoes for $2.00 - I want to buy a few bags, Does anyone know how to store them so they won't go rotten before I can use them up?

Have Wonderful & Blessed Day!

I Sure Am A Worry Wort!

Good Wed. Morning all!
It's funny how being able to pay a few bills makes me in a good mood : )
I have to go today after my son get's home from work to pay a few more people.... I am sad we aren't going to have enough to pay the property taxes but I am thinking we will use our income tax rebate check in Jan. to pay that off.

Here I was so worried when my husband, son & his girlfriend were in New York City on their return trip home from dropping off the puppies.... Just yesterday my son was driving home from work and at a gas station in town there was a man laying on the ground, police where every where with their guns drawn (I think they shot the man) and a helecopter was landing. We use this gas station alot so my son could have been getting his gas there and been in the middle of all this. The other scary thing is just a few stores down is the Bank Of America that my son does his banking at, that had gotten robbed just a few weeks ago mid morning.... and I was worried about them being in NYC! Yikes!

On the "Homeschooling" front: It is really going slow!!!!! I think we are in reverse mode. We have really hit a nasty slump where both Kelly & I have no interest in working on the school stuff. My husband was all mad last night when he heard we took another day off yesterday - He is right I have to get it back on track... One very interesting thing is our tad pole has turned from a greyish fish looking creature to a green alomst frog : ) It has been amazing to watch : )

Best Wishes for a Wonderful Day!

Happy Tues. Day : )

My husband, son & his girlfriend have all made it home safe from their trip up north! I always worry myself silly until they put their feet back on Florida soil. The trip went very well, they have alot of stories to tell which are very funny so I am glad they all enjoyed themselves. The one sticking point was Annie relized in NC. that she had lost her pocketbook in a NJ rest area.....! They called and someone had found it and are mailing it back to her. The trip was very expensive but I am blessed that we will be able to pay some of our bills at least.

I really want to start stocking up on canned good ect., just last week my husband was off of work Mon., Tues, & Wed. we can never count on how much his paycheck will be from week to week and plus with all that is going on with the country at this time I think it is a good thing to get a bit stocked up. I am enjoying the "Dining on a Dime" cookbook! It is very basic but I think my limited cooking skills can really work with these receipes and maybe save some money.... Have you all checked out "Save-A-Lot" http://www.save-a-lot.com/display.do?page=Fuel+Your+Family they have an area where they show you how to feed a family of four for $4.00 a meal. In my family nobody seems to eats breakfest... I don't drink coffee either (maybe that's why I don't have any energy). Our lunches: Tom & Kris usually take a sandwich to work - Kelly and I share one frozen pizza (they are $1.29 each at WalMart). Dinner: I am a horrible cook and not creative at all but I get food on their plates,we never have any steak ect. it is basic food. For fun I am going to try and figure out exactly how much we spend on each meal. I think one of the budget busters I have is paper towels!!!!! I use alot with all the dogs and their messes that always accure in the house. I have tired using the cheaper brands but they fall apart and are not very absorbant. I use Bounty and it works great but cost $8.00 for a package of them sometimes I use two big packages a week. Anyway, My mission this week is to start really scutinizing over where our food money is going and see if we can save in that area.
Hope every one has a Happy & Blessed Day!

What A Day We Had!!!!!!! : (

You will NOT belive the day we had yesterday!!!!!! To be honest I kinda don't belive it either.
I got Kelly up early (9:30am) and we shot downtown to PetsMart for our first stop. Kelly picked out a very cute purple polk-dot collar for her dog Reba. We get to the cashier and my PayPal debit card won't work! Okay I stayed calm I tried it again and it said denied. I stood there dumbfounded, I knew I checked the balance just before my husband left for the trip up north and I had $247.00 available. We left the store and I just sat in the car a few minutes, It was like a bad movie was unfolding in front of my eyes. The only money we had for the next 3 or 4 days was on that card!!!!!! My stomach was in a knot driving home. When we got home (Thank God my son left us enough gas in the car to be able to go back and forth) I checked my PayPal account and sure enough it said I owed them $118.00. I was in a panic, I had no money for food, the horses & dogs had no food what was I going to do for the next 3 days.... I looked over the account and I found an error - FPL charged me $367.00 twice. I called PayPal, they said the see the error but can't fix it without the okay from FPL, I called them they said it wasn't their doing it was Wester Union who handles the credit card payments for their bills, I called them the girl said unless I have three way calling (I don't have three way calling) and can get PayPal on the line she can't give her authorization. I am now crazed, I called Pay Pal again I talked to no less them 5 different people there - They were getting sick of me and my tone of voice was getting nasty. I had two supervisors tell me that there was nothing they could do! I just couldn't let that be the finale word- I NEEDED that money. I sat there and started to cry! Kelly was like "Mom", but I just couldn't help it. I called PayPal again and got a lady who I pleaded with and she fixed the error and freeded up my account so I could use it.
Even though the day was totally ruined we shot back down to PetsMart, the girl was still working she said they had put the collar back on the shelf (It wasn't there so Kelly picked out something else that I could tell she wasn't very happy with but went with it anyway). Then we went over to Walmart and I used the ATM machine I figured I was just going to pull most of the money out so we would not have any more problems the rest of the weekend - My card would not work.... I asked a cashier to run a purchase and that worked so we got some dog food & picked out a fleece fabric for the blanket we wanted to make. By now Kelly was feeling sick and I was just so drained so we agreed we would food shop another day. I stopped and picked up chinese food and then headed for home - Then you know what I did! I drove straight over a large glass beer bottle and shattered glass every where! I looked at Kelly and just held my breath.... We made it home but now I a wreak that we might not have a car to use to go food shopping with!!!!! And to top it all off - I bought only one panel for the blanket, I was supposta buy two so now we can't even work on that : (
My gosh it sure was one of those days...... I just feel soooooo bad for Kelly, It just seems we can never just have any fun at all.

Happy Saturday Morning

My husband, son, his girlfriend & the puppies are all off on the trip up north. They left about 7pm. last night, they plan on driving straight through to PA. only taking short naps at rest areas and of course getting gas in the van. I worry until I hear they have gotten there safe. Today Kelly and I are going out! As I mentioned in a previous post we are going to buy the material to make her a blanket (most likely at WalMart), going out to lunch (maybe Steak n' Shake), buy some snacks and rent a movie for tonight. We almost thought our plans were going down the tube.... My husband had called up from work thurs. and asked me if I could baby sit a dog for a co-worker of his for this weekend. I was a little reluctant since just getting rid of the puppies I wanted some fun time but I said yes anyway. Well he brought "Honey" home just before they left for the trip last night and she is a sweety : ) But my dogs bark ever time she makes a noise so it is going to be a long weekend..... I told Kelly we are going out anyway for at least a few hours so we can enjoy our fun day.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

P.S. - I did buy that e-book Dining On A Dime cookbook, It is something like 480 pages (yikes). I will let you know what we think of it in a future post. I would still like to hear from anyone who has already gotten this book to hear what your thoughts are about it.....

Crazy.....

So the Bail Out Bill passed.... As I have said, I don't usually follow such stuff but this is monumental I think. It amazes me how we can give this kind of money back to the people who abused it in the first place. It's crazy! I know they were all worried about what would happen if they didn't pass something but gosh these people are supposta be doing what is best "for the people". It really makes you worried what kind of life we will be moving towards for our children and their children.....

My husband, son & his girlfriend are leaving tomorrow night to take the puppies up north. Kelly and I are counting the minutes.... We have our weekend all planned out : ) We are going to try and buy some cheap fleece for the blanket project, look around in some stores, rent a movie & get some snacks - I sure hope it turns out to be an enjoyable weekend for us!

Did you all see for a short time that the e-book "Dining on a Dime Cookbook": http://www.livingonadime.com/ebook-ordering.html?hop=kinderinfo is $10.00 Have any of you used this cookbook? I need a bare bones cheap type cookbook and am wondering if this would be worth investing in?