Thursday morning we dealt with Logan and his apparent sleep walking. He did make me laugh a ton before we left for school. He LOVES pencils as much as I do and LOVES to sharpen them. He brought his pencil in our room as I was getting ready and was asking where his pencil sharpener was. I told him if he did not know then he would probably have to wait until after school to find it since we needed to leave in a little while. He then said it was his magic wand and it was broke. He had tried to make a couple of things "discappear" and they did not. He then abbra cadabraed Clark to get him to stay still and it worked. Then he tried again saying "Abbra Cadabra make Clark disappear" and then " mama, see it did not work". Phillip's response was maybe it is the person not the wand because the "spells" are supposed to rhyme.
After work it was a mad dash as Phillip had worked on a deal with Target for new phones. We made it to the Target in the next town over where they were holding phones for us. It was a lot of work but we ended up with 2 new phones, cell service at a better rate than what we had and almost $400 in gift cards by the time we left 1&1/2 hours later. This put it after 8pm so I just took us through the Rosa's drive through and picked up dinner. Clark was asleep before we got home and stayed that way all night. Logan ate dinner with us, had his bath and then had to finish up his home work before bed. He was not happy about most of it and kept asking why things were boring. I of course had to keep explaining that life is not always entertaining. I was sooo ready for him to go to sleep last night!
Friday AKA this morning Logan did not want to go to school. It was slightly funny, frustrating and sad at the same time. He was asking why Kindergarten was sooooo long and why he had to go every day day day? We had to start a conversation that I am sure is going to continue for the rest of his life at home. Sometimes things are not fun, you have to do some things whether you want to or not and you will go to school weekdays just like mommy has to go to work. I parked down the street once we made it to school and we walked in together. He started crying before I left because he was going to miss me so we had to have another brief chat. I imagine that he ended up having fun today but will see when I get home.
I discovered today at work that one of the doctor's here also has the same no rhythm issue as me! I can not keep a rhythm to save my life. When I am somewhere that people are clapping along with a song such as church I have to watch someone else and keep pace with them. It was nice to know I am not the only person in the world who has this issue. I have always really wished I could play an instrument of sing since I love music so much. My dad always used to tell me " Lisa, you should be on the radio. So we could turn you off." Oh well, I will continue my love of music and live with my no rhythm issue!
Friday, August 28, 2015
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Updates On Logan and The New School Year
I forgot to update on Logan with the last post. This is the picture I took of him on Friday morning before I came into work
When I got home the swelling was gone, Phillip had dosed him with benadryl but over the weekend he started breaking out with what appeared to be bug bites. They started under his arms and then progressed to his trunk and by Monday they were on his feet. All the research I did came up with Hot Tub Rash. Everything seems to be gone now and he never felt bad from it so I really think it was just the hot tub rash.
Monday morning was Logan's first day of Kindergarten! He told me when we were shopping for his supplies the kindergarten was scary and when I asked him why he said because he did not know anyone. We talked about some of the kids from his pre-k might be in his class but that it would be a chance to make new friends and learn new things. I got up and got myself ready and then woke Logan up. He was up and ready quickly so we left home in plenty of time to get to the school and walk in. There were only 8 of the 22 students there when I left.
This year was a little harder for me than last year and I am not sure why. He wanted me to stay with him and was not talking to anyone but eventually I ducked out. After dropping him off I had 1&1/2 hours until my annual doctor's appointment so I went by Winco and picked up a couple of items that we needed. Phillip was afraid if I came back home Clark would not be happy with me leaving again in short order so I just dropped the stuff on the porch and called Phillip to tell him it was there. I also saw the ARC donation pick up truck pulling into the neighborhood and then remembered I forgot to set our donation out. I called Phillip and asked him to set it out which he did. Then it was on to my annual which ended up being depressing. I was told by the nurse that since I have turned 40 it was now time to start having rectal exams and a mammogram. After that huge let down which I am still not over I had to meet Phillip in the next town for his interview. He was on his 3rd interview with an agency and they had requested to speak with his wife also. They just wanted to make sure I was aware of what the job entailed, travel, nights, etc. These are things that we had already discussed so nothing huge. Once we finished there it was during my lunch hour from work so we brought Clark up to visit with the peeps at my work. Phillip took Clark home and I worked the second half of the day. I did call home after Phillip picked up Logan to check on how school went and found out he thought it was "quite fun". Dinner was grilled chicken tostados which used up all the shells I had and the rest of the chicken tenders. We ended up with 2 chicken tenders left which I put away for Tuesday night. After dinner and baths the boys played while I worked on inputting more items on JBF. They were worn out and headed to bed pretty early.
Tuesday morning Logan was moving a little slower but wanted to walk to school so I made a deal with him if he got ready in time for us to leave early we were going to park down the street and walk. He got ready quickly and so we parked down the street and walked into the school. He had another good day and came home with a bunch of stuff I still need to fill out as well as some minor homework which we need to make sure he gets done tonight. I used the leftover chicken tenders, some frozen broccoli I had put up, some carrots from the fridge, and the last bit of noodles I purchased at the beginning of the month to make a stir fry for dinner. After dinner and baths I started cleaning out Clark's clothes. He has outgrown a lot of them and I had been putting it off but with JBF next week I needed to get it done. I sorted some for JBF this time, some will be for spring JBF, some to be traded and some went in the donation. Phillip set the donation for ARC out after I called him on Monday but it still did not get picked up. Wednesday the Leukemia society was picking up in the neighborhood so I just switched the tag and planned to put it out on Wednesday morning. The sorting took the rest of the evening so I just stacked everything to take care of the next night. Again, the boys went to bed pretty early.
Wednesday morning Logan did not want to get up. Once he was up and getting around he asked me why Kindergarten was soo long. I told him it had not been long yet, this was only the third day. We then had to discuss that it was going to be the same amount of time as pre-k had been. Every year he was going to go to school the same length of time. On the way to school he kept talking about kindergarten and then first grade and then second grade and then he was going to be a grown up and buy shirts like dada. I guess shirts make the grown up dada. After dropping off Logan I put the new book on cd in the car player and headed toward the highway. The CD would not play and I got stuck in traffic on the service road so I popped the CD out to discover that it was cracked. While still stuck in traffic I put a sticky note on the container and decided to jump off the highway. I was within an exit of the library so I just swung by their drop box and put the CD in and got a iced tea at the gas station next to the library. After this I jumped onto the highway which was still backed up, while in this traffic I sent my boss a text to let her know I would be late. Once I got up to the accident I found out why traffic was so backed up. A produce semi had not made the exit onto another highway and took out the guardrail as it turned over. This resulted in the trailer peeling back and produce dumping out all over the highway. A hazmat unit was there cleaning up the mess and a tow truck was righting the truck as I passed. I called Phillip to let him know as I had not made it into work yet and he told me he heard about it on the radio as he headed the other direction to the dealership. He has had a whining noise in the truck's ac and while it was still under warranty he wanted to get it checked out. The bonus is the dealer is by his Grandma's house and so he and Clark could visit with her. Mimi loves to spend time with the boys and Phillip's mom was off work so she visited also. My dad went downhill more after I got to work, because the morning was off kilter I forgot that I was supposed to have a telephone interview with the SNAP people to renew our benefits. They called my cell phone while I was at work and I missed the call. I called right back but was told the next interview time was September 3rd at 3:15pm. This means on the day my benefits are supposed to be loaded I will talk to them. They will probably tell me there are additional items that they need and I will have to scan in and submit. Then in probably another week I will have benefits. I broke down in tears while talking to them. Do they not realize how arbitrary this system is! I submitted the same paperwork as last time, nothing has changed in our financial status and yet I have to talk to them and jump through more hoops. The system assumes I have nothing else going on but applying for benefits. Anyway it took most of the day for me to move on from this. After getting home Logan told me about his day and Phillip gave me the family updates. Dinner was spaghetti with mushroom marinara served with garlic bread. I forgot to take anything out last night so I fixed something meatless for dinner. Baths went down after dinner and then playtime for the boys. Once I walked into Logan's room I could smell that he has wet the bed and not told us so I had to strip it and get the bedding into the wash. The boys played after baths and I worked on entering more JBF items as well as cleaning up the kitchen. The fridge needed to be cleaned out also and so I started on that. After loading the dishwasher it was time for the boys to get to bed. Clark went to sleep pretty quickly and so I used the time to finish up the JBF tags. After making up Logan's bed I went to get him out of my bed and carried him to bed. Overnight was horrible though. He woke up at 4:00am wanting chocolate milk. He came into our room and asked me. I told him to potty and then go to bed. He went to the bathroom and then came back to me, I told him to go to bed. He went to bed and started crying so I went to see what was going on. He still wanted chocolate milk. I went to get him some water which he did not want. I had to tell him if he was thirsty he could drink the water but it was 4:00 in the morning and I was not getting him chocolate milk. He still was crying in bed so I shut the door to his room. This morning I went in there and he had thrown all the stuff off the top bunk but still slept up there. He also had no memory of the situation and hugged me as soon as he woke up. He did tell me he had a bad dream about a black house with black paint.
Monday morning was Logan's first day of Kindergarten! He told me when we were shopping for his supplies the kindergarten was scary and when I asked him why he said because he did not know anyone. We talked about some of the kids from his pre-k might be in his class but that it would be a chance to make new friends and learn new things. I got up and got myself ready and then woke Logan up. He was up and ready quickly so we left home in plenty of time to get to the school and walk in. There were only 8 of the 22 students there when I left.
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| 1st day pic before we left home |
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| 1st day at the school, he wanted one with his backpack |
Tuesday morning Logan was moving a little slower but wanted to walk to school so I made a deal with him if he got ready in time for us to leave early we were going to park down the street and walk. He got ready quickly and so we parked down the street and walked into the school. He had another good day and came home with a bunch of stuff I still need to fill out as well as some minor homework which we need to make sure he gets done tonight. I used the leftover chicken tenders, some frozen broccoli I had put up, some carrots from the fridge, and the last bit of noodles I purchased at the beginning of the month to make a stir fry for dinner. After dinner and baths I started cleaning out Clark's clothes. He has outgrown a lot of them and I had been putting it off but with JBF next week I needed to get it done. I sorted some for JBF this time, some will be for spring JBF, some to be traded and some went in the donation. Phillip set the donation for ARC out after I called him on Monday but it still did not get picked up. Wednesday the Leukemia society was picking up in the neighborhood so I just switched the tag and planned to put it out on Wednesday morning. The sorting took the rest of the evening so I just stacked everything to take care of the next night. Again, the boys went to bed pretty early.
Wednesday morning Logan did not want to get up. Once he was up and getting around he asked me why Kindergarten was soo long. I told him it had not been long yet, this was only the third day. We then had to discuss that it was going to be the same amount of time as pre-k had been. Every year he was going to go to school the same length of time. On the way to school he kept talking about kindergarten and then first grade and then second grade and then he was going to be a grown up and buy shirts like dada. I guess shirts make the grown up dada. After dropping off Logan I put the new book on cd in the car player and headed toward the highway. The CD would not play and I got stuck in traffic on the service road so I popped the CD out to discover that it was cracked. While still stuck in traffic I put a sticky note on the container and decided to jump off the highway. I was within an exit of the library so I just swung by their drop box and put the CD in and got a iced tea at the gas station next to the library. After this I jumped onto the highway which was still backed up, while in this traffic I sent my boss a text to let her know I would be late. Once I got up to the accident I found out why traffic was so backed up. A produce semi had not made the exit onto another highway and took out the guardrail as it turned over. This resulted in the trailer peeling back and produce dumping out all over the highway. A hazmat unit was there cleaning up the mess and a tow truck was righting the truck as I passed. I called Phillip to let him know as I had not made it into work yet and he told me he heard about it on the radio as he headed the other direction to the dealership. He has had a whining noise in the truck's ac and while it was still under warranty he wanted to get it checked out. The bonus is the dealer is by his Grandma's house and so he and Clark could visit with her. Mimi loves to spend time with the boys and Phillip's mom was off work so she visited also. My dad went downhill more after I got to work, because the morning was off kilter I forgot that I was supposed to have a telephone interview with the SNAP people to renew our benefits. They called my cell phone while I was at work and I missed the call. I called right back but was told the next interview time was September 3rd at 3:15pm. This means on the day my benefits are supposed to be loaded I will talk to them. They will probably tell me there are additional items that they need and I will have to scan in and submit. Then in probably another week I will have benefits. I broke down in tears while talking to them. Do they not realize how arbitrary this system is! I submitted the same paperwork as last time, nothing has changed in our financial status and yet I have to talk to them and jump through more hoops. The system assumes I have nothing else going on but applying for benefits. Anyway it took most of the day for me to move on from this. After getting home Logan told me about his day and Phillip gave me the family updates. Dinner was spaghetti with mushroom marinara served with garlic bread. I forgot to take anything out last night so I fixed something meatless for dinner. Baths went down after dinner and then playtime for the boys. Once I walked into Logan's room I could smell that he has wet the bed and not told us so I had to strip it and get the bedding into the wash. The boys played after baths and I worked on entering more JBF items as well as cleaning up the kitchen. The fridge needed to be cleaned out also and so I started on that. After loading the dishwasher it was time for the boys to get to bed. Clark went to sleep pretty quickly and so I used the time to finish up the JBF tags. After making up Logan's bed I went to get him out of my bed and carried him to bed. Overnight was horrible though. He woke up at 4:00am wanting chocolate milk. He came into our room and asked me. I told him to potty and then go to bed. He went to the bathroom and then came back to me, I told him to go to bed. He went to bed and started crying so I went to see what was going on. He still wanted chocolate milk. I went to get him some water which he did not want. I had to tell him if he was thirsty he could drink the water but it was 4:00 in the morning and I was not getting him chocolate milk. He still was crying in bed so I shut the door to his room. This morning I went in there and he had thrown all the stuff off the top bunk but still slept up there. He also had no memory of the situation and hugged me as soon as he woke up. He did tell me he had a bad dream about a black house with black paint.
Moving Through the List
Friday evening Logan looked a lot better and as I said he has never acted like it hurt him. On the way home I made a side trip by Dollar Tree to pick up some photo boxes. I was determined to get the project done over the weekend. I did work on the photos and got them all sorted out. Other than that and fixing dinner I really did not do a lot on Friday night.
Saturday was a day of much ado. Phillip got up before we did and headed out to weed eat the church's yard. Logan of course did not sleep much past this but did try to play quite in his room. Once I knew he was awake though I could not sleep so I just got up and took a shower before Clark woke up. I got my shower and Logan's bedding in the wash before Clark woke up. Once he was awake we had breakfast and got everything together to run our errands. First on the list was Lowe's for the build which for once Logan wanted to bring home and build with Phillip. This made my life a little easier and so we headed to the library and then picked up the tires for our backyard project. She wanted nothing in trade so we just loaded up the 3 tires and headed home. At home I got a second load of clothes in the washing machine and one they were completed took both loads out to the clothes line. Phillip was still not home so the boys and I worked on the house. Really this means Logan played, Clark tried to take everything he could reach as his own and I kept working on the pictures. I did manage to get some pulled out for scrapbooks, some set aside for frames, some for the boy's baby books, some I want to talk to Phillip's family and find out who they are, some to give to Phillip's sister. some for photo albums and the rest for photo boxes. I put all the scenery pictures and most from before we met each other in the photo boxes. I put pictures in 2 albums and started our travel scrapbook. The next project as far as that goes is to finish Logan's baby book and get Clark's going before I forget everything. When Phillip made it home Logan and I went out in the backyard to work on the play area as well as continue planting the monkey grass and clean up the yard overall.
We had Clark with us for a little while but Phillip came and took him back inside after a while so we could get more done. Logan was really a lot of help as long as I was not interested in getting done really fast. We got the area cleaned up and the tires we picked up in place. I need 2 more tires to complete the area and then we will need soil to turn them into planters. I also will need a lot of pea gravel to cover the ground and put enough in the area for them to dig and haul around. After we did as much as we could there Logan played some while I cleaned out around the shed and planted more grass. We then worked on cleaning up some of the fallen branches around the yard but a lot of the bigger ones I am going to let Phillip cut to the required length for city pick up. I also moved some lantana from one bed to another as well as some plants from the front flower bed to the back. By this time we ( I ) was tired, hot and wet from letting Logan water again. We went in and got showers and then dinner which was pork chops from the crock pot. I had seasoned them with some lemon juice, cumin, garlic and paprika. After dinner Logan and Phillip built his "chariot" from Lowe's while I sat in the bathroom with Clark for his bath. I went ahead and pulled all the items together for the JBF sale so I could sort them. During all of this I washed 4 more loads of laundry and hung out 2 of them in addition to the 2 from the morning. It had just dawned on me that I needed to get Logan's school clothes out of the top of the closet and washed for his first day! This added 1 of the loads to what I washed.
Sunday morning started off without much fanfare. We went to church as usual with the added benefit of Phillip's mom and grandma being there. First hiccup of the day was Clark threw up all over himself and the car seat. We drove straight to the fellowship hall and stripped him down. I bathed him in the sink and then changed him into the spare clothes from his diaper bag. Phillip took the kids down to church after that while I washed the clothes he threw up on as well as the car seat cover. Once washed I threw them out on the picnic tables to dry while we were in service. There had been a dance at the church there were a ton of leftovers so they decided to have a potluck after church which helped our budget out. Logan and Loralee had a great time turning on the disco lights and dancing around while we were eating. This also gave Clark's clothes and car seat cover time to dry so we could put it back together before heading home. The boys slept on the way home with Clark staying asleep after we arrived. I used the time with Clark asleep to work on the JBF items. I managed to get them sorted, on hangers and mostly entered before bed that night. I of course had to stop and play with the boys as well as get dinner and baths. It was the night before Kindergarten for Logan so we laid out his clothes. We had already put his supplies in his back pack but I made sure it was all ready and started getting his lunch packed. To make sure we would not run late I took my shower on Sunday night after the kids were in bed.
Over all I finished the weekend feeling accomplished.
Saturday was a day of much ado. Phillip got up before we did and headed out to weed eat the church's yard. Logan of course did not sleep much past this but did try to play quite in his room. Once I knew he was awake though I could not sleep so I just got up and took a shower before Clark woke up. I got my shower and Logan's bedding in the wash before Clark woke up. Once he was awake we had breakfast and got everything together to run our errands. First on the list was Lowe's for the build which for once Logan wanted to bring home and build with Phillip. This made my life a little easier and so we headed to the library and then picked up the tires for our backyard project. She wanted nothing in trade so we just loaded up the 3 tires and headed home. At home I got a second load of clothes in the washing machine and one they were completed took both loads out to the clothes line. Phillip was still not home so the boys and I worked on the house. Really this means Logan played, Clark tried to take everything he could reach as his own and I kept working on the pictures. I did manage to get some pulled out for scrapbooks, some set aside for frames, some for the boy's baby books, some I want to talk to Phillip's family and find out who they are, some to give to Phillip's sister. some for photo albums and the rest for photo boxes. I put all the scenery pictures and most from before we met each other in the photo boxes. I put pictures in 2 albums and started our travel scrapbook. The next project as far as that goes is to finish Logan's baby book and get Clark's going before I forget everything. When Phillip made it home Logan and I went out in the backyard to work on the play area as well as continue planting the monkey grass and clean up the yard overall.
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| Logan's area mostly before we got started on it |
Sunday morning started off without much fanfare. We went to church as usual with the added benefit of Phillip's mom and grandma being there. First hiccup of the day was Clark threw up all over himself and the car seat. We drove straight to the fellowship hall and stripped him down. I bathed him in the sink and then changed him into the spare clothes from his diaper bag. Phillip took the kids down to church after that while I washed the clothes he threw up on as well as the car seat cover. Once washed I threw them out on the picnic tables to dry while we were in service. There had been a dance at the church there were a ton of leftovers so they decided to have a potluck after church which helped our budget out. Logan and Loralee had a great time turning on the disco lights and dancing around while we were eating. This also gave Clark's clothes and car seat cover time to dry so we could put it back together before heading home. The boys slept on the way home with Clark staying asleep after we arrived. I used the time with Clark asleep to work on the JBF items. I managed to get them sorted, on hangers and mostly entered before bed that night. I of course had to stop and play with the boys as well as get dinner and baths. It was the night before Kindergarten for Logan so we laid out his clothes. We had already put his supplies in his back pack but I made sure it was all ready and started getting his lunch packed. To make sure we would not run late I took my shower on Sunday night after the kids were in bed.
Over all I finished the weekend feeling accomplished.
Friday, August 21, 2015
Books Aug 13th Through Aug 21st
I am still reading How Not to Die which is a pretty good book although there are no tips in here that are shocking or new. I really just like Dr. G and find the cases she profiles interesting. This is a book I was hoping to have completed by now but since I have only been reading at lunch time I did not get through as much as I could have. Still I am within 50 pages of being done and plan on getting that finished tonight!
Saturday I did not have the book with me so I started on one just checked out from the library. This will be the one I pick up and read after I finish How Not to Die. The book started and soon to be completed is Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her. I checked this one out as I was a huge Nancy Drew fan growing up and was a little distraught to find out that the author was actually a bunch of people writing under the same name.
As for books I am listening to I finished up Factory Man. It was a long investment of time for a book but I really did like it and find it well researched.
After finishing Factory Man, I listened to So You've Been Publicly Shamed. This book really has changed my life. I know you hear me say all the time that I learned something or changed an opinion because of information I gained from reading. I will say though this book actually has changed my life. I can not recommend it or this TED talk enough. If you have a bit of time to spare I would watch the talk, if you have a little longer I would watch it and read/listen to the book. Because of these and my quest to live a compassionate life I have left some facebook pages I normally followed and refused to participate in negative discussions about people.
The next book I started listening to is Survival of the Sickest. It has been full of interesting information.
Forgot to mention in the middle of all of this an author I like for trashy romance novels released another one. It was only available in Kindle edition so I actually purchased it and speed read it through in one evening! So if you are looking for an easy read that does not require a ton of thought or action then check out the Protector Series. This is the latest one that I read A Warrior's Wedding.
A cute book I read to my son also is How the Meteorite Got to the Museum.
Plugging Away on the Yard
This has been a week of business and fun activities and some not soo fun.
Monday morning I left home early enough to swing by Winco for a refund. Their Kleenex was marked $1.47 for a 3 pack which was an amazing deal so along with my coupon and rebate I was getting them for next to nothing. I had initially bought one a couple of weeks ago and then noticed they were still marked $1.47 when I was there on Saturday. Having the kids with me usually means I can not watch the prices ring up as closely as I need to so I have been known to look in the store or after I get home. Upon looking at the receipt at home I discovered I was charged $3.74 for the Kleenex. I put it and the receipt back in a bag. I then thought I should recheck the last receipt and sure enough I was overcharged then also. Anyway Monday I had left home early enough that I had time to swing by for a refund.
Winco Trip:
refund ($4.32)
After Winco I made it into work still early which was unusual for me but a great chance to read before the day really started. On the way home after work I called home only to find out that we needed milk. So on the way home I went by Albertson's to pick up the milk and ended up with a couple of other items.
Albertson's Trip:
2 boxes of egg rolls
2 cans biscuits
1 lb peaches
1 loaf bread
1 fruit pie ( I totally regretted this one)
1 lb dried navy beans
2 gallons milk
Total: $10.73 Cash
Once home I got the items put up and my clothes changed. Logan and I went to work on the back yard getting it cleaned up and some more of the monkey grass planted. I started work on another section of the flower bed and under the bird feeders. Clark was hanging out talking to us from his stroller. Logan played for a little while and then he was on watering duty. This is usually a process in which everything except what I asked him to water ends up soaked. I am really working on my patience while he is "helping" me with anything.
Out of everything Logan was most excited about the lady bug. Keeping the yard organic has not helped with appearances yet but it has increased the amount of wildlife we have to watch.
After working in the yard for about an hour we headed inside for baths and then dinner. Dinner was short cut chicken pot pie. I chopped up some leftover grilled chicken, mixed that and a can of cream of mushroom soup with some steamed mixed vegetables. I put this in a stone casserole dish and covered it with the dough from some prepackaged crescent rolls. They make a great crust when laid flat and the seams pushed together. Clark especially liked the soft veggies out of the pot pie. There really was just a smidge left over to put up. By this point it was fairly late and I tried to get Clark to go to bed but he wanted to play a little longer. I let him while I picked up some stuff and got things ready for Tuesday. Once I was done I got him to bed and then went to read to Logan. Logan wanted a book on Meteorites read to him so that is what we did.
Tuesday the kids went to the sitter so I picked them up and then headed home. Once home I immediately changed clothes and put Clark in the stroller. Logan and I got to work on another section of the yard while Clark talked. Phillip ended up coming out and pushing Clark around in the stroller as well as helping direct Logan's watering efforts. We all still ended up being watered as well as the grass I was putting out.
This was the before of the area we worked on. I neglected to take an after....may do that tonight after I get home. The back corner of this area is where I was to try to recreate this which is pictured on http://www.letthechildrenplay.net/2014/07/these-are-few-of-my-favourite-found.html.
I posted on my trade group and will be picking up tires over the next couple of days so we can get this recreated. After working in the yard though for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half we went in for baths and then dinner. I had put on navy beans with some leftover ham in the crockpot that morning. We ate that with the extra corn bread from the corn dog meal. After a couple of days of yard work and playing at the sitter the boys were easier to get to sleep.
Wednesday I ran by library to turn in some books on CD that I was finished with as well as the meteorite book Logan and I had read. CVS is right across the street so I swing in to pick up some baby powder for my shoes. The tiny one kept hiding my old one but now it is officially empty so I picked up a new one. I learned a lesson though, in the baby section the exact same baby powder was $1.99 compared to the .99 it was marked in the travel section. So needless to say I bought the one from the travel section. It rained that morning so Logan's plans for the day were delayed. He ended up going later with his friend Loralee and her dad to the water park. The night before he went here is the conversation we had with him
Phillip: tons of info on being safe and staying with Loralee and Mike.
Logan: I will be safe, I will not get drowned
Me: Thank you, because I love you and I would really miss you.
Logan: I will not get drowned, you do not have to be sad. If I get dead you could born another Logan.
Me: No I can not born another Logan, that is not how it works. You are the only Logan for me ever.
They were not sure when they were going to come home so Phillip and I played it by ear on picking him up. The park closed at 6 and since I get off at 5:30 I told Phillip I could try to meet them and get Logan. He was worried I would not get to the meeting spot in time so I called him once I was on the highway and their ETA looked to be 6:45pm. Originally I was going to go home and wait them out but decided to complete a pick up of donated items for this month's family. The person donating items was close to the pick up spot so I just went to meet her. Mike ended up calling when I was exiting the highway and said he was 10 minutes away from the pick up spot. I tried to complete the donation pick up in that time and the person who was supposed to be home turned out to not be so I picked up Logan first. We stopped at the gas station and picked up a blue drink (powerade) for him and then went back to do the donation pick up. He told me all about the water park as he had an amazing time. His face concerned me a little and still does.
I at first thought it was a sunburn but it is only on his face, it is in a pattern, not hot to the touch, does not bother him and it was scaley in appearance. We just contemplated it for a while on Wednesday evening while he told us all about the fun he had. We had eggrolls for dinner and then baths. Logan was in the bathtub for a long time getting the chlorine off and playing, mainly playing. Once baths were done we rubbed his face down with beeswax cream and headed to bed.
Thursday morning the redness appeared better and it still was not bothering him so I took him to the sitter and headed into work. I had to be here early for a meeting and then stayed late for inventory. Phillip picked up Logan and took him to his meet the teacher night. He starts Kindergarten on Monday, I can not figure out where this summer went. They also went to visit his teacher from last year while they were there so he was excited. After inventory my coworkers and I got a bite to eat and then I completed a trade on the way home. I traded some cranberry liqueur I made and a can of refried beans for 5 bars of soap and a bunch of building blocks and cars for the boys. Logan was asleep when I got home so I snuck in a gave him a kiss and then held Clark while Phillip and I caught up. He had an appointment about his VA claim yesterday and got a call about an interview for a job he applied for. This is actually the next step interview as in his field there are many steps to getting a job. It was a little bit before Clark went to sleep and then I tried to read but was just worn out.
Friday morning, which was this morning is the last day of summer break! It was the last morning anyway that I get to sleep a little later since I do not have to take the kids anywhere before I go to work. The boys were up before I left this morning so I gave them the building blocks and they started playing. Logan's eye is swollen so I am a bit more worried about the reaction to whatever. Phillip was going to give him some benadryl and see how it works and then we will dose him as normal with some zyrtec tonight.
Hoping he feels better by the time I get home. I was hoping to work some more in the back yard tonight and still have no ideas for dinner since I did not pull anything out this morning.
Monday morning I left home early enough to swing by Winco for a refund. Their Kleenex was marked $1.47 for a 3 pack which was an amazing deal so along with my coupon and rebate I was getting them for next to nothing. I had initially bought one a couple of weeks ago and then noticed they were still marked $1.47 when I was there on Saturday. Having the kids with me usually means I can not watch the prices ring up as closely as I need to so I have been known to look in the store or after I get home. Upon looking at the receipt at home I discovered I was charged $3.74 for the Kleenex. I put it and the receipt back in a bag. I then thought I should recheck the last receipt and sure enough I was overcharged then also. Anyway Monday I had left home early enough that I had time to swing by for a refund.
Winco Trip:
refund ($4.32)
After Winco I made it into work still early which was unusual for me but a great chance to read before the day really started. On the way home after work I called home only to find out that we needed milk. So on the way home I went by Albertson's to pick up the milk and ended up with a couple of other items.
Albertson's Trip:
2 boxes of egg rolls
2 cans biscuits
1 lb peaches
1 loaf bread
1 fruit pie ( I totally regretted this one)
1 lb dried navy beans
2 gallons milk
Total: $10.73 Cash
Once home I got the items put up and my clothes changed. Logan and I went to work on the back yard getting it cleaned up and some more of the monkey grass planted. I started work on another section of the flower bed and under the bird feeders. Clark was hanging out talking to us from his stroller. Logan played for a little while and then he was on watering duty. This is usually a process in which everything except what I asked him to water ends up soaked. I am really working on my patience while he is "helping" me with anything.
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| Another Friend |
After working in the yard for about an hour we headed inside for baths and then dinner. Dinner was short cut chicken pot pie. I chopped up some leftover grilled chicken, mixed that and a can of cream of mushroom soup with some steamed mixed vegetables. I put this in a stone casserole dish and covered it with the dough from some prepackaged crescent rolls. They make a great crust when laid flat and the seams pushed together. Clark especially liked the soft veggies out of the pot pie. There really was just a smidge left over to put up. By this point it was fairly late and I tried to get Clark to go to bed but he wanted to play a little longer. I let him while I picked up some stuff and got things ready for Tuesday. Once I was done I got him to bed and then went to read to Logan. Logan wanted a book on Meteorites read to him so that is what we did.
Tuesday the kids went to the sitter so I picked them up and then headed home. Once home I immediately changed clothes and put Clark in the stroller. Logan and I got to work on another section of the yard while Clark talked. Phillip ended up coming out and pushing Clark around in the stroller as well as helping direct Logan's watering efforts. We all still ended up being watered as well as the grass I was putting out.
Wednesday I ran by library to turn in some books on CD that I was finished with as well as the meteorite book Logan and I had read. CVS is right across the street so I swing in to pick up some baby powder for my shoes. The tiny one kept hiding my old one but now it is officially empty so I picked up a new one. I learned a lesson though, in the baby section the exact same baby powder was $1.99 compared to the .99 it was marked in the travel section. So needless to say I bought the one from the travel section. It rained that morning so Logan's plans for the day were delayed. He ended up going later with his friend Loralee and her dad to the water park. The night before he went here is the conversation we had with him
Phillip: tons of info on being safe and staying with Loralee and Mike.
Logan: I will be safe, I will not get drowned
Me: Thank you, because I love you and I would really miss you.
Logan: I will not get drowned, you do not have to be sad. If I get dead you could born another Logan.
Me: No I can not born another Logan, that is not how it works. You are the only Logan for me ever.
They were not sure when they were going to come home so Phillip and I played it by ear on picking him up. The park closed at 6 and since I get off at 5:30 I told Phillip I could try to meet them and get Logan. He was worried I would not get to the meeting spot in time so I called him once I was on the highway and their ETA looked to be 6:45pm. Originally I was going to go home and wait them out but decided to complete a pick up of donated items for this month's family. The person donating items was close to the pick up spot so I just went to meet her. Mike ended up calling when I was exiting the highway and said he was 10 minutes away from the pick up spot. I tried to complete the donation pick up in that time and the person who was supposed to be home turned out to not be so I picked up Logan first. We stopped at the gas station and picked up a blue drink (powerade) for him and then went back to do the donation pick up. He told me all about the water park as he had an amazing time. His face concerned me a little and still does.
Thursday morning the redness appeared better and it still was not bothering him so I took him to the sitter and headed into work. I had to be here early for a meeting and then stayed late for inventory. Phillip picked up Logan and took him to his meet the teacher night. He starts Kindergarten on Monday, I can not figure out where this summer went. They also went to visit his teacher from last year while they were there so he was excited. After inventory my coworkers and I got a bite to eat and then I completed a trade on the way home. I traded some cranberry liqueur I made and a can of refried beans for 5 bars of soap and a bunch of building blocks and cars for the boys. Logan was asleep when I got home so I snuck in a gave him a kiss and then held Clark while Phillip and I caught up. He had an appointment about his VA claim yesterday and got a call about an interview for a job he applied for. This is actually the next step interview as in his field there are many steps to getting a job. It was a little bit before Clark went to sleep and then I tried to read but was just worn out.
Friday morning, which was this morning is the last day of summer break! It was the last morning anyway that I get to sleep a little later since I do not have to take the kids anywhere before I go to work. The boys were up before I left this morning so I gave them the building blocks and they started playing. Logan's eye is swollen so I am a bit more worried about the reaction to whatever. Phillip was going to give him some benadryl and see how it works and then we will dose him as normal with some zyrtec tonight.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Back to Feeling Productive
I think the answer to me feeling productive is just to plug away at the current projects until they are done and then move on to the next one. I am trying to do this and not look around too much.
Friday I left work and went to complete a trade. I traded for some work clothes for 2 rolls of tp each. Of the 5 items I traded for 3 will work now and 1 will when I lose about 5 pounds. I can actually wear the pants now but they will actually look decent 5 pounds from now. After leaving the trade I headed home along a path I normally do not take. Within a couple of miles of my house I came upon an accident. This one looked to be terrible, a motorcyclist was hit by a Ford 250 pick up truck on a stretch of road with a 55 mile and hour speed limit. The motorcyclists friend was laying him out flat on the median. I was 3 lanes over and would have caused an accident getting over so I called 911 as I worked my way over and to a place I could turn back around. The dispatcher told me they had already been notified and EMS was on their way. By the time I started to circle around the ambulance was coming so I went ahead to my next errand praying that everyone involved was ok. I was right by the car wash at this point so I swung in to use the vacuum on my trunk. Hauling all that monkey grass home had left my trunk and everything in it covered in dirt. Once home I had to tell Phillip about all that happened on the way home. I was going to make Baked Corn Dogs for dinner but Phillip said he really wanted grilled cheese. Grilled cheese sounded great because it is easy, I used up the leftover bacon on Phillip's two sandwiches. Once dinner was done and baths taken care of the kids played while I tried to get stuff ready for Saturday. I pulled out all the picture frames I had traded for and bought at thrift shops. I worked briefly on the photos getting them all sorted and rubber banded but really just got stuff ready for Saturday. Funny that I nearly forgot the emotional component of Friday night. I went ahead and took down the cast iron sea creatures off the boy's wall. Logan wanted to hang a world map there which is a big boy thing so the sea creatures had to go. I am the one who is not sure if I want to let them go yet or not.
Saturday morning I went ahead and got up early and got outside before the heat was overpowering. I managed to get 2 hours of work on the flower beds done by 9:30am. I got the flower bed around the mailbox cleaned up and then started on the beds around the house. In the middle of pulling out some weeds that were taller than me ( this alone should point out how far behind I am) a praying mantis fell on me. Of course when it fell I did not know it was a praying mantis and I nearly screamed. When I knocked it off I realized what it was, got a picture and then took it inside for Logan to see.
I got from the gate to the corner of the house done and then quit.I went in and got a shower while the kids were having breakfast. Once everyone was dressed we headed to the post office and then the library. The kids really love the library and since we know all the employees it has been a safe place for them to get around and explore.
After leaving the library Logan was saying how hungry he was so I told him we would hit up the thrift store before getting something to eat because I need to find Phillip some jeans. I thought we lucked out because we found 2 pair in his size but they are the cowboy cut Wrangler's and those are just a touch snugger in the crotch than he likes. So those 2 pairs will end up on ebay so I can get my money back out of them. He is an unusual size so I usually do not have trouble reselling them. After leaving the thrift store with the jeans and Logan's great find of some legos we went to Chick-Fil-A. Clark was asleep by the time we got there so we ordered and Logan ate and played while I read some in a book I had just checked out. This was one of the few times I had actually left the house without the book I am currently reading in my purse. Clark woke up after a bit and shared my kids meal with me. I let Logan play for about an hour and then we headed home. I asked him if he wanted to go to Winco with me and he said no so I dropped him at home with his dada and took Clark with me to the store. We really needed milk, now that Clark is off formula he is competing with Logan's record of 3 gallons of milk a week.
Winco Trip:
1 gallon milk
7 packages lunch meat
1 pint sour cream
2 packages cinnamon rolls
~.25 lbs gummi
1 gallon apple cider vinegar
2 large Nutella
1 baking powder
1 pack Kleenex
4 boxes snack cakes
2 "packs" gatorade
1 pack fruit snacks
2 "bags" chips
1 tube toothpaste
1 sleeve instant milk
1 package croutons
~2.5 lbs bananas
1 loaf bread
Total: $47.47 Cash
$2.12 SNAP
After we got back home I unloaded the groceries and scanned the stuff into my apps. Once the groceries were put away Logan told me all about what he and dada had been up to. I sat on the couch for a little bit with Phillip talking and helping Logan with his legos. This lasted just a bit and then I went to tackle the picture frames. Logan came out with me and we painted the frames. First one side and then we took Clark on a stroller ride through the neighborhood and then came back and painted the second side. We walked after painting the back but they were still a little tacky so we went inside to wait. They did not take that much longer to dry but once we brought them in I still let them sit longer before deciding which photos to put in them. By this time it was time to get dinner started. I went ahead and made the Baked Corn Dogs which I had to eat on the run.
The tiny one had a long day and he was not going to wait for these to be finished so once I got them in the oven I fed him and then took them out of the oven. I ate one and then it was bath time. Phillip ate a couple and then I got his review which I semi agreed with. In order to get them in the pan the recipe called for cutting the hot dogs into quarters. This left us with a batter heavy corn dog. When i make these again I will only half the hot dogs and see how they turn out. The other difference is since I made my corn bread batter from scratch I had some left which I put in another cast iron pan and baked as corn bread. Once it was cooled I put it up for another night's dinner. Since the oven was warmed up and I had some bananas that needed to be used I made Banana Nutella Bread. After it was in the oven I realized I forgot the butter but it still turned out.
Sunday morning the kids slept in a smidge past normal. Once Logan was up Phillip stripped his bed and got the wash going hoping it would finish in time to put the clothes on the line.
After breakfast and getting ready we headed to church and ended up being about 2 minutes late which for Phillip is like walking in after it is done. Mimi and Nene were there so it was nice to visit with them. Had to calm some child fears once we went up to the fellowship hall as some ants had taken up residence in the kitchen. Once church was over we went to the standard McDonald's for lunch with Logan's friend and while there I managed to squeeze in a trade. A member of BBT brought some orphaned nativity scene pieces by for free. She just wanted them to go to a good home. Now my set has Mary, Jesus and 4 Wise Men. Once we left there we headed home where once again there was hope of a nap but that did not work out. Phillip laid down but I doubt he got any sleep. This was the time I used to put the pictures in the frames which required spray painting the mat on one. I also got some pictures into albums and tried to make a decision on what needed to go in the albums I have versus scrapbook versus the baby books versus photo boxes. I am pretty sure I am going to end up with a mix of photo storage. Once Phillip was up I went outside to work on the yard some before he was heading to the gym.
I got this bed by the fence cleaned up and monkey grass put down. I had a couple of flowering plants that may or not make it that I put in here and I will move some items from the front yard to this bed. When we have a little fun money I am going to get some bushes/plants with height to put behind the grass. I also cleaned up my succulent bed and put a couple of plants in there. The whole time I was outside I could hear Clark at the window crying for me which was mildly heartbreaking. I came in and needed a shower. Clark did not want to leave me so I took a shower with the shower door open. He kept throwing a frisbee he likes into the shower with me and I would just kick it over to him with my foot and then he would throw it back. Kept him entertained and I got a shower. Once I was out Phillip left for the gym and I fed the kids. They both had baths and then while Logan watched TV in our room I got some laundry done and cleaned up the kitchen counters. I did have a scare which could have turned out so much worse. I was making Logan's bed which is the top bunk and Clark climbed up there. I picked him up and then headed back down the stairs but missed the last one and fell. Clark's leg was pinned between me and the step. I seriously thought I had broke his leg but he was just mad at me for getting him off the stairs so he crawled away. He ended up falling asleep before Phillip got home so I read while Logan watched mine craft videos.
Friday I left work and went to complete a trade. I traded for some work clothes for 2 rolls of tp each. Of the 5 items I traded for 3 will work now and 1 will when I lose about 5 pounds. I can actually wear the pants now but they will actually look decent 5 pounds from now. After leaving the trade I headed home along a path I normally do not take. Within a couple of miles of my house I came upon an accident. This one looked to be terrible, a motorcyclist was hit by a Ford 250 pick up truck on a stretch of road with a 55 mile and hour speed limit. The motorcyclists friend was laying him out flat on the median. I was 3 lanes over and would have caused an accident getting over so I called 911 as I worked my way over and to a place I could turn back around. The dispatcher told me they had already been notified and EMS was on their way. By the time I started to circle around the ambulance was coming so I went ahead to my next errand praying that everyone involved was ok. I was right by the car wash at this point so I swung in to use the vacuum on my trunk. Hauling all that monkey grass home had left my trunk and everything in it covered in dirt. Once home I had to tell Phillip about all that happened on the way home. I was going to make Baked Corn Dogs for dinner but Phillip said he really wanted grilled cheese. Grilled cheese sounded great because it is easy, I used up the leftover bacon on Phillip's two sandwiches. Once dinner was done and baths taken care of the kids played while I tried to get stuff ready for Saturday. I pulled out all the picture frames I had traded for and bought at thrift shops. I worked briefly on the photos getting them all sorted and rubber banded but really just got stuff ready for Saturday. Funny that I nearly forgot the emotional component of Friday night. I went ahead and took down the cast iron sea creatures off the boy's wall. Logan wanted to hang a world map there which is a big boy thing so the sea creatures had to go. I am the one who is not sure if I want to let them go yet or not.
Saturday morning I went ahead and got up early and got outside before the heat was overpowering. I managed to get 2 hours of work on the flower beds done by 9:30am. I got the flower bed around the mailbox cleaned up and then started on the beds around the house. In the middle of pulling out some weeds that were taller than me ( this alone should point out how far behind I am) a praying mantis fell on me. Of course when it fell I did not know it was a praying mantis and I nearly screamed. When I knocked it off I realized what it was, got a picture and then took it inside for Logan to see.
Winco Trip:
1 gallon milk
7 packages lunch meat
1 pint sour cream
2 packages cinnamon rolls
~.25 lbs gummi
1 gallon apple cider vinegar
2 large Nutella
1 baking powder
1 pack Kleenex
4 boxes snack cakes
2 "packs" gatorade
1 pack fruit snacks
2 "bags" chips
1 tube toothpaste
1 sleeve instant milk
1 package croutons
~2.5 lbs bananas
1 loaf bread
Total: $47.47 Cash
$2.12 SNAP
After we got back home I unloaded the groceries and scanned the stuff into my apps. Once the groceries were put away Logan told me all about what he and dada had been up to. I sat on the couch for a little bit with Phillip talking and helping Logan with his legos. This lasted just a bit and then I went to tackle the picture frames. Logan came out with me and we painted the frames. First one side and then we took Clark on a stroller ride through the neighborhood and then came back and painted the second side. We walked after painting the back but they were still a little tacky so we went inside to wait. They did not take that much longer to dry but once we brought them in I still let them sit longer before deciding which photos to put in them. By this time it was time to get dinner started. I went ahead and made the Baked Corn Dogs which I had to eat on the run.
Sunday morning the kids slept in a smidge past normal. Once Logan was up Phillip stripped his bed and got the wash going hoping it would finish in time to put the clothes on the line.
After breakfast and getting ready we headed to church and ended up being about 2 minutes late which for Phillip is like walking in after it is done. Mimi and Nene were there so it was nice to visit with them. Had to calm some child fears once we went up to the fellowship hall as some ants had taken up residence in the kitchen. Once church was over we went to the standard McDonald's for lunch with Logan's friend and while there I managed to squeeze in a trade. A member of BBT brought some orphaned nativity scene pieces by for free. She just wanted them to go to a good home. Now my set has Mary, Jesus and 4 Wise Men. Once we left there we headed home where once again there was hope of a nap but that did not work out. Phillip laid down but I doubt he got any sleep. This was the time I used to put the pictures in the frames which required spray painting the mat on one. I also got some pictures into albums and tried to make a decision on what needed to go in the albums I have versus scrapbook versus the baby books versus photo boxes. I am pretty sure I am going to end up with a mix of photo storage. Once Phillip was up I went outside to work on the yard some before he was heading to the gym.
Friday, August 14, 2015
This Week that Feels Like a Month
Monday and Tuesday were long enough on their own but then the week marched on. Wednesday started out a little closer to our current normal. I came to work while Phillip stayed home with the boys. I got a text message not very long into the morning with a picture of Clark covered in blue drool. Evidently Phillip left Logan in charge while he went outside to hang out some laundry and Clark ended up trying to eat the pool cue chalk.
Once I was finished at work I decided to try to do a return at Target on the way home since I pass one getting to the highway. After attempting to return my item and not having any success getting the item to scan even though it was one of their up and up branded items the customer service rep told me I would have to go to the store that I bought it from to do the return. I batted out there but still had a plan for Sprouts so I swung by there as again they are on the way home. Their new ad had a deal on Horizon products. They were priced in $1,$2 and $3 groupings with the promo that you would get $3 off when you purchased $10 worth. I had some coupons on these items and printed more to try to maximize my deal. After I worked out the best option I headed straight for the display.
I ended up getting 6 mac-n-cheese , 1 honey graham cracker and 1 chocolate graham cracker. Originally as you can see from the sheet I was going to get more graham crackers and some fruit snacks. The only fruit snacks this store had though were freeze dried apples and since I dehydrate I decided to skip that bundle. It got sketchy at the check out line because the cashier was new and did not know how a buy one get one free coupon works. Eventually she got it all figured out and that group of stuff ended up being $1.70.
Sprouts Trip:
~1&1/2 lbs peaches
~2lbs green grapes
6 boxes mac and cheese
2 boxes graham crackers
1 muffin
Total: $4.66 Cash
Once I got home I went with grilled hotdogs and mac-n-cheese for dinner since I forgot to set anything out or start in the crock pot. While I was cooking I heard a rustle and this is what I looked down to see.
He got really upset at me for trying to take the potato away. I went ahead washed it and put him the high chair with it.
He was soo happy and when I thought he was done he dropped it on the floor for Turbo. Turbo was not interested but when I picked it up to throw it away Clark started crying and trying to get it back. Who knew I just need to feed my child raw potatoes.
That rest went smoothlyish as I only dropped 2 buns outside getting them off the grill. Once baths were taken care of I worked on getting the boys room picked up so I could vacuum it which led to picking up all the rooms with carpet and getting them vacuumed.
Thursday morning I was going to a WIC hosted event to pick up some produce. 3 times over the summer they host an event where farmer's bring produce and you can use vouchers to purchase the fresh items. The "prices" are usually higher than even the farmer's market but it is "free" so I did not say too much. Last year I was off work after having Clark so the size of the lines was not such a big deal. This year I pulled up, looked at the line going around the building and decided not to participate. The vacation time from work would have cost me more than the produce I was going to get out of it. I decided instead to head to the Target down the street which was the one where I made my original purchases and return the items. They have a new system so she had some trouble also but took the time to fix it.
Target Return Trip:
Total: (9.95) Cash
(2.12)SNAP
After I left Target I went by the new QT also on my way to work for gas and a tea since in my haste to get out of the house I left part of my lunch and my beverage for the day. To save money I have been making a gallon of sweet tea at home and then bringing a thermos to work everyday and since I no longer drink it that sweet I put it over ice and water it down through the day. After this I went by the library and turned in some books that were due and then got on the highway to come to work. As I got close to work I thought about just going by sprouts and picking up some cheap items for my lunch which would cost less than going out.
Sprouts Trip:
1 large bag chips
~1/4lb of trail mix
1 muffin
Total: $3.76
This was enough extras to have for multiple days. Once at work though Jane (my boss/work mom) treated a pizza lunch. We split a lunch special at a local amazing pizza place which was nice. During the afternoon a couple of people listed free items on my trade group that I could use for me or the family my group is collecting for this month. After leaving work I headed by to pick up the free gatorade for the boys and then some monkey grass to try and get the yard looking semi decent. The listing looked like just a little bit of monkey grass but it turned out to be enough to fill my trunk which is way more than I have a use for so I send a pm to the next person on the list who happens to live next to me so she was going to pick it up from my house. I called home and Phillip said we needed milk and then a couple of ingredients for the shampoo he wants to make. I stuck with some WIC items and something I needed with a coupon as well as some school supplies for Logan that we could not find at Target.
Albertson's Trip:
1 gallon milk
1 lb colby jack cheese
1 pkg crescent rolls
1 pkg dry erase markers
1 dozen eggs
1 loaf bread
1 pkg manilla drawing paper
Total: $6.27 Cash
Once I got home I unloaded the groceries, got the items with rebates uploaded and then started on dinner. I wanted something simple and to try to use some of the toastado shells I had left so we went that route. I put the chicken on to marinate and then grilled it while I grated the cheese and shredded the lettuce. After dinner Clark got in the bath and I ask Phillip to watch him while I got Logan to help me get the wheelbarrow around front and got the monkey grass out of the trunk and separated. I put some on the porch for the other person to pick up and poured some water of it to keep it for as long as I could. The rest went around back and as much as I was trying to let Logan water everything he was drenching me and not the plants so I took care of it while he played. By the time I got inside I was hot, tired and nearly in tears. Our yard looks horrible, it has either been raining or too hot so I have not been working in the yard. I have lost several plants including my 10 year old Rosemary in the front yard which hurts me worse than anything. I went in and got Logan in the bath and then fought with Clark to get him to sleep. After he went to sleep I took a shower and just cried it all out in there. I can not neglect the yard anymore. I have to get out there even if it is just an hour early in the day or late in the evening and get as much taken care of as I can. There is just so much to get done and honestly not enough time. We will see how much I can get done this weekend!
Once I was finished at work I decided to try to do a return at Target on the way home since I pass one getting to the highway. After attempting to return my item and not having any success getting the item to scan even though it was one of their up and up branded items the customer service rep told me I would have to go to the store that I bought it from to do the return. I batted out there but still had a plan for Sprouts so I swung by there as again they are on the way home. Their new ad had a deal on Horizon products. They were priced in $1,$2 and $3 groupings with the promo that you would get $3 off when you purchased $10 worth. I had some coupons on these items and printed more to try to maximize my deal. After I worked out the best option I headed straight for the display.
Sprouts Trip:
~1&1/2 lbs peaches
~2lbs green grapes
6 boxes mac and cheese
2 boxes graham crackers
1 muffin
Total: $4.66 Cash
Once I got home I went with grilled hotdogs and mac-n-cheese for dinner since I forgot to set anything out or start in the crock pot. While I was cooking I heard a rustle and this is what I looked down to see.
He got really upset at me for trying to take the potato away. I went ahead washed it and put him the high chair with it.
That rest went smoothlyish as I only dropped 2 buns outside getting them off the grill. Once baths were taken care of I worked on getting the boys room picked up so I could vacuum it which led to picking up all the rooms with carpet and getting them vacuumed.
Thursday morning I was going to a WIC hosted event to pick up some produce. 3 times over the summer they host an event where farmer's bring produce and you can use vouchers to purchase the fresh items. The "prices" are usually higher than even the farmer's market but it is "free" so I did not say too much. Last year I was off work after having Clark so the size of the lines was not such a big deal. This year I pulled up, looked at the line going around the building and decided not to participate. The vacation time from work would have cost me more than the produce I was going to get out of it. I decided instead to head to the Target down the street which was the one where I made my original purchases and return the items. They have a new system so she had some trouble also but took the time to fix it.
Target Return Trip:
Total: (9.95) Cash
(2.12)SNAP
After I left Target I went by the new QT also on my way to work for gas and a tea since in my haste to get out of the house I left part of my lunch and my beverage for the day. To save money I have been making a gallon of sweet tea at home and then bringing a thermos to work everyday and since I no longer drink it that sweet I put it over ice and water it down through the day. After this I went by the library and turned in some books that were due and then got on the highway to come to work. As I got close to work I thought about just going by sprouts and picking up some cheap items for my lunch which would cost less than going out.
Sprouts Trip:
1 large bag chips
~1/4lb of trail mix
1 muffin
Total: $3.76
This was enough extras to have for multiple days. Once at work though Jane (my boss/work mom) treated a pizza lunch. We split a lunch special at a local amazing pizza place which was nice. During the afternoon a couple of people listed free items on my trade group that I could use for me or the family my group is collecting for this month. After leaving work I headed by to pick up the free gatorade for the boys and then some monkey grass to try and get the yard looking semi decent. The listing looked like just a little bit of monkey grass but it turned out to be enough to fill my trunk which is way more than I have a use for so I send a pm to the next person on the list who happens to live next to me so she was going to pick it up from my house. I called home and Phillip said we needed milk and then a couple of ingredients for the shampoo he wants to make. I stuck with some WIC items and something I needed with a coupon as well as some school supplies for Logan that we could not find at Target.
Albertson's Trip:
1 gallon milk
1 lb colby jack cheese
1 pkg crescent rolls
1 pkg dry erase markers
1 dozen eggs
1 loaf bread
1 pkg manilla drawing paper
Total: $6.27 Cash
Once I got home I unloaded the groceries, got the items with rebates uploaded and then started on dinner. I wanted something simple and to try to use some of the toastado shells I had left so we went that route. I put the chicken on to marinate and then grilled it while I grated the cheese and shredded the lettuce. After dinner Clark got in the bath and I ask Phillip to watch him while I got Logan to help me get the wheelbarrow around front and got the monkey grass out of the trunk and separated. I put some on the porch for the other person to pick up and poured some water of it to keep it for as long as I could. The rest went around back and as much as I was trying to let Logan water everything he was drenching me and not the plants so I took care of it while he played. By the time I got inside I was hot, tired and nearly in tears. Our yard looks horrible, it has either been raining or too hot so I have not been working in the yard. I have lost several plants including my 10 year old Rosemary in the front yard which hurts me worse than anything. I went in and got Logan in the bath and then fought with Clark to get him to sleep. After he went to sleep I took a shower and just cried it all out in there. I can not neglect the yard anymore. I have to get out there even if it is just an hour early in the day or late in the evening and get as much taken care of as I can. There is just so much to get done and honestly not enough time. We will see how much I can get done this weekend!
Mid Week Synopsis
Monday morning I was exhausted from not sleeping and of course it was a morning I had to get the kids to the sitter. Phillip had a crap ton of errands to run so we agreed to take the kids to the sitter. I did manage to get the kids out of the house and to work almost on time. The day passed ok even though by picking up the kids I needed to skip the errands I wanted to run. I did swing by the gas station next to the library and of course in the couple of hours since Phillip had been there they went up 10 cents a gallon. I got half a tank and then dropped the books I finished in the outside return at the library. On to get the kids after that only to have Sandra (the sitter) tell me that Clark threw up all over himself and his car seat while he was there. She had the car seat in a box and Clark in new clothes. She was going to loan me a seat but since she lives within a mile of my house I just put Clark in Logan's seat and Logan strapped in the middle with just the seat belt. We got home and Phillip took the seat apart and put it through the washer again. Clark acted like nothing was up while Phillip and I went through every option I could come up with. We were worried he may have another ear infection but there has been no fever. The other thought was he was getting too hot but the sitter keeps her house at a reasonable temperature. My final thought was that Grandma had given him some honey on Sunday at the restaurant so I started doing some research. He did not have any of the symptoms of botulism and most restaurants do not have real honey anyway so we ruled that out. Whatever it was seems to have passed as we did not have any issues that night or all day yesterday.
Dinner on Monday night was pancakes at Logan's request. I had told him on Sunday to remind me on Monday before I got anything out so we would definitely have them. He was not even completely awake that morning and he was already reminding me.
Logan always tells me we are bakers when we are cooking. We whipped out some pancakes and bacon for dinner. Phillip opted for a sandwich with his bacon. I ate both and Logan polished off all I did not eat which was 7 pancakes and 5 pieces of bacon. After dinner and baths the boys played for a little while and I used the time to clean the pantry. Since Clark is not eating the baby food I cleaned it out of the cabinet and took some to the sitter just in case and the rest I boxed up to donate to the food bank. The boys went to bed and I did not sleep much better and again not totally sure why.
Tuesday morning Phillip left before we even woke up to head to a job interview 3 hours away. I got up and got the boys together to head to the sitter. Logan started crying he did not want to go but it was really he did not want to get up and dressed to go. Once everyone was ready we headed to the sitter. I dropped off the boys and the baby food, Clark started crying as soon as he realized I was leaving. This separation issue is something totally new and hopefully short lived. I had agreed to be the go between after work for a trade so I needed to meet the person who told me she would not be close to campus yet so I planned on meeting her somewhere nearby. I had already pulled off campus when she informed me she left because she did not feel safe. When I finally caught up with her the story made sense to me but she was going to call the police and just went crazy with it. We have a very international population and evidently a male student went up to her car and started to get in. She yelled at him and he tried to explain he was sorry, he thought it was his car. She took this literally and could not believe he did not know his car. She then said his friend /accomplice came up and said no over here. Knowing that 90% of our international students do not have cars I really think it was a matter of his friend said my car is over there and hers being the only one he saw he tried to get in. Hoping the situation is diffused. Once we found each other and made the trade I headed out. Realizing I forgot to bring the replacement DVD with me to take to the library I called Phillip. In my head I was thinking he would offer to get the kids and I could grab the video and go to the library or he could get the DVD and go to the library. That was not mentioned so I headed over to get the kids from the sitter. All was going well until we got into the house. My plan was to leave the tiny one with his dada, grab the DVD and take Logan with me to the library. Once in the house Clark started screaming as soon as I set the carrier down. We got him out thinking that was the issue, still screaming. Tried holding him: still screamed, tried a bottle: still screamed. There did not appear to be anything wrong with him other than he was making himself stiff and rolling around on the floor. Eventually I just decided to leave him and go to the library. By this time Logan had decided to not go with me which was fine. I went, dropped off the baby food donation and paid the reshelving fee associated with replacing the DVD. After I got home Phillip informed me that Clark stopped crying right after I left, ate some snacks and was walking around behind his truck. Guess that was his idea of a show for mama, I was not impressed. After all this nonsense I went with a stir fry for dinner so I could use up some carrots, mushrooms that were getting past their prime, fresh broccoli and the leftover grilled chicken. There was just a smidge left over which is a win all the way around. After baths I worked on cleaning up the kitchen and then get the tiny one to sleep. He fell asleep pretty early so I used the time to take some more pictures of items that need a new home and post them on BBT. After this I headed to bedtime snuggles with Logan before he went to bed and then I was out like a light!
Dinner on Monday night was pancakes at Logan's request. I had told him on Sunday to remind me on Monday before I got anything out so we would definitely have them. He was not even completely awake that morning and he was already reminding me.
 | |||
| Baker Logan |
Tuesday morning Phillip left before we even woke up to head to a job interview 3 hours away. I got up and got the boys together to head to the sitter. Logan started crying he did not want to go but it was really he did not want to get up and dressed to go. Once everyone was ready we headed to the sitter. I dropped off the boys and the baby food, Clark started crying as soon as he realized I was leaving. This separation issue is something totally new and hopefully short lived. I had agreed to be the go between after work for a trade so I needed to meet the person who told me she would not be close to campus yet so I planned on meeting her somewhere nearby. I had already pulled off campus when she informed me she left because she did not feel safe. When I finally caught up with her the story made sense to me but she was going to call the police and just went crazy with it. We have a very international population and evidently a male student went up to her car and started to get in. She yelled at him and he tried to explain he was sorry, he thought it was his car. She took this literally and could not believe he did not know his car. She then said his friend /accomplice came up and said no over here. Knowing that 90% of our international students do not have cars I really think it was a matter of his friend said my car is over there and hers being the only one he saw he tried to get in. Hoping the situation is diffused. Once we found each other and made the trade I headed out. Realizing I forgot to bring the replacement DVD with me to take to the library I called Phillip. In my head I was thinking he would offer to get the kids and I could grab the video and go to the library or he could get the DVD and go to the library. That was not mentioned so I headed over to get the kids from the sitter. All was going well until we got into the house. My plan was to leave the tiny one with his dada, grab the DVD and take Logan with me to the library. Once in the house Clark started screaming as soon as I set the carrier down. We got him out thinking that was the issue, still screaming. Tried holding him: still screamed, tried a bottle: still screamed. There did not appear to be anything wrong with him other than he was making himself stiff and rolling around on the floor. Eventually I just decided to leave him and go to the library. By this time Logan had decided to not go with me which was fine. I went, dropped off the baby food donation and paid the reshelving fee associated with replacing the DVD. After I got home Phillip informed me that Clark stopped crying right after I left, ate some snacks and was walking around behind his truck. Guess that was his idea of a show for mama, I was not impressed. After all this nonsense I went with a stir fry for dinner so I could use up some carrots, mushrooms that were getting past their prime, fresh broccoli and the leftover grilled chicken. There was just a smidge left over which is a win all the way around. After baths I worked on cleaning up the kitchen and then get the tiny one to sleep. He fell asleep pretty early so I used the time to take some more pictures of items that need a new home and post them on BBT. After this I headed to bedtime snuggles with Logan before he went to bed and then I was out like a light!
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Books July 30th through Aug 12th
I have actually listened to and read a few in this time period!
I finished The Murder Room and just as I said before it was not that good. The cases were interesting as a true crime buff. Most of them I had read about or watched on forensic shows and the back story was something I was glad to hear. This book though could have been so much more than it was.
After finishing The Murder Room I picked up The Feast Nearby. This one was a disappointment also. The author writes well but I do not feel like the book lived up to what it was billed as. She makes some valid points about local living/eating but I never felt progress from her.
I did finish The Feast Nearby fairly quickly as good portions of the book is recipes. After that one I moved on to Men Explain Things to Me which started out good. I am not sure that I completely agreed with everything in the book, as a feminist and the mother of boys I think there needs to be more balance in the way men are portrayed. Not all men are hateful oppressors and using the words " there are some nice men out there" smacks of the same prejudice as saying " I have black friends".
Once finished with Men Explain Things to Me which was very short I picked Little House in the Suburbs. I had previously started this book and not finished it so I thought this would be a good time to finish. There is some really good information in this book and it is set up in sections so you could skip say the goat chapters if you did not have any interest in raising goats. There were a couple of things I disagreed with but felt the book is worth reading. I did get some helpful information from it even though I am already doing some of the stuff. In order to do everything they suggest you would have to be at home all the time. I do not have the time to make everything including my condiments from scratch and rotate them out on a schedule since they do not keep like store bought. I will just pick my battles and maybe someone with more time will choose to do all the options listed.
I actually finished Little House in the Suburbs today at lunch and picked up another from my huge stack. I started on How Not to Die by Dr. G. This one has been on my list since 2011 so I am excited to see what information it holds.
As far as books I have been listening to. I ended up not going right back to Factory Man and instead listened to Joan Didion's book The Year of Magical Thinking. This was an excellent if incredibly sad book. She does jump around a lot as memories hit her but you get a real sense of her struggle to move on and deal with the immense grief she feels after the loss of her husband.
After finishing Joan Didion's book I went back to the long Factory Man. I am within an hour of being done with this book and almost can not wait. While I love the subject and the information in the book which was very well researched I am ready for it to be finished!!!
I finished The Murder Room and just as I said before it was not that good. The cases were interesting as a true crime buff. Most of them I had read about or watched on forensic shows and the back story was something I was glad to hear. This book though could have been so much more than it was.
After finishing The Murder Room I picked up The Feast Nearby. This one was a disappointment also. The author writes well but I do not feel like the book lived up to what it was billed as. She makes some valid points about local living/eating but I never felt progress from her.
I did finish The Feast Nearby fairly quickly as good portions of the book is recipes. After that one I moved on to Men Explain Things to Me which started out good. I am not sure that I completely agreed with everything in the book, as a feminist and the mother of boys I think there needs to be more balance in the way men are portrayed. Not all men are hateful oppressors and using the words " there are some nice men out there" smacks of the same prejudice as saying " I have black friends".
Once finished with Men Explain Things to Me which was very short I picked Little House in the Suburbs. I had previously started this book and not finished it so I thought this would be a good time to finish. There is some really good information in this book and it is set up in sections so you could skip say the goat chapters if you did not have any interest in raising goats. There were a couple of things I disagreed with but felt the book is worth reading. I did get some helpful information from it even though I am already doing some of the stuff. In order to do everything they suggest you would have to be at home all the time. I do not have the time to make everything including my condiments from scratch and rotate them out on a schedule since they do not keep like store bought. I will just pick my battles and maybe someone with more time will choose to do all the options listed.
I actually finished Little House in the Suburbs today at lunch and picked up another from my huge stack. I started on How Not to Die by Dr. G. This one has been on my list since 2011 so I am excited to see what information it holds.
As far as books I have been listening to. I ended up not going right back to Factory Man and instead listened to Joan Didion's book The Year of Magical Thinking. This was an excellent if incredibly sad book. She does jump around a lot as memories hit her but you get a real sense of her struggle to move on and deal with the immense grief she feels after the loss of her husband.
After finishing Joan Didion's book I went back to the long Factory Man. I am within an hour of being done with this book and almost can not wait. While I love the subject and the information in the book which was very well researched I am ready for it to be finished!!!
Behind as Always....This Past Weekend and Not Catching Up
I was feeling accomplished for a couple of weeks, like I was really getting caught up and maybe ahead of the game. Now that I look around my house and yard at all the things that need to be done I feel discouraged. For every "project" I get through another is there waiting and something else gets added to the list.
Anyway, Friday was a normal evening even if I did not get everything done. I stopped at Target on the way home as Phillip said we were out of juice and cheese. Those 2 items are essential to the peaceful running of the home so I stopped for them.
Target Trip:
2 fruit snacks
2 bottles juice
1 loaf garlic bread
3 boxes of brownie mix( on clearance and I could not pass up)
1 pkg chicken
2 t-shirts
3 pkgs sliced cheese
Total: $18.24SNAP
$10.88 Cash
I used the ham to make homemade pizzas. I had a crust in the cabinet and some pizza sauce in the freezer. I put mushrooms on about 1/3 of it since I really like them. After wrangling the children through baths and picking up after them I tried to get all the stuff together that we would need for our errands on Saturday.
Saturday morning Phillip got out of the house early hoping to beat as much of the heat as possible since we are topping 106 here. This left me getting the kids up and out of the house for our list of things to do and people to see. The first thing on our list was the build and grow at Lowe's which despite my wishes to take it home and have dada help him Logan insisted on building it there. We got it together with minimal interference from Clark but it wears me out. After leaving there we went by the library to turn in some books and check out some more. After leaving the library with our haul we went to set up for our monthly charity drop off. We usually sit for an hour but of course partially through this time Logan had to potty so I sent out a message and then went to Chick-fil-a with the kids. He used the restroom and washed his hands, this I know because he insists I smell them so I know they are clean. We ate and Logan played while I corraled Clark. Before leaving Chick-fil-a I sent Max's mommy a message to see if they could play. She sent me a message back that sure they could play later in the afternoon so we went to Winco to waste time. After Winco which turned into Clark's nap time we headed home to put up the food and wait to hear from Caren (Max's mommy).
Winco Trip:
2 pkgs toilet paper
3 cans refried beans
1 bottle teriyaki sauce
1 bottle soy sauce
1 doggie bone
5 containers yogurt
1 bottle ketchup
1 bottle vinegar
2 pkgs chex mix
2 pkgs pepperoni
2 pkgs cinnamon rolls
1 pkg fresh spinach
.20 lbs swedish fish
Total: $19.10 SNAP
$9.27 Cash
After getting the groceries put up and the receipts loaded into my apps I got some laundry going and unloaded and loaded the dishwasher. The older child wanted to watch some TV and so I went around trying to pick up stuff with the little one. After the laundry was done in the washer I threw it in the basket and did a second small load. These then went out onto the clothes line. Even though it was getting later in the day it is soo hot right now here that they had no trouble drying. By this time I had called Phillip to make sure he had not died from heat stroke. His first response was if you were just checking on me after this long I would have died. To which I responded if I called earlier by the time I drove the hour to make sure you were ok and just not answering because the weed eater is too loud you would have been dead anyway. Loving exchanges there. I also heard from Caren so we loaded up and went over to play with Max. Logan and Max played up a storm while Caren and I visited in between telling Clark no do not touch that, no that is not food, no you can not go in there so relaxing in other words. Once Max's other mommy got home from work with dinner we cleaned up and headed out. Once home I wanted a salad because of the spinach I had purchased earlier and the leftover garlic bread still in the wrapper so I went with grilled chicken which I marinated in zesty Italian dressing with a salad and garlic bread. It was really a great dinner and super easy to pull off. After dinner was baths and bringing in the clothes from the line. Clark was so exhausted from his day that he passed out almost as soon as I turned the lights off. Logan also fell asleep as soon as I made him lay down.
Sunday we were up a little later than normal but still early enough for me to fix some biscuits for breakfast. So Phillip and I got our showers, had breakfast and got everyone out the door for church. Phillip's mom and grandma were at church which was nice for the boys. After church Logan's friend could not go out to eat so we skipped McDonald's and ate with mom and grandma (nene and mimi to the boys) at Taco Cabana. After visiting with them we headed home with both boys falling asleep in the car. I was hoping they would stay asleep but needless to say they woke up as soon as we got home. I needed to get the grocery donations to the family in need so I loaded up the car with those items and lists/coupons for back to school shopping at Target. Sunday was the last day of the tax free weekend and I wanted to take advantage of that along with other sales and coupons that I had. The boys and I left the house and stopped at Sprouts on the way to pick up a couple more items for the family. I also found a large bottle of Dr. Bronner's rose scented castile soap on clearance so I picked that up also.
Sprouts trip:
1 bottle castile soap: $8.97
After leaving Sprouts we headed to the family's house and they met me at the car so I could leave the air running for the kids and hauled everything in. I pulled back onto the highway to head to Target, as soon as we hit the highway Clark started throwing up the milk I had just given him and he kept throwing up and screaming because he was throwing up. It coated him and the carseat with some of it going on the back of the car. I drove as quick as I could home but it was not all that quick since we were across town. Got home, took him in and stripped him. Once I got him in the bath tub and Logan was there telling him it was going to be ok I started taking his carseat apart so I could wash it. While doing this he started screaming again and Logan the obvious points out he has just pooped in the bathtub....some easily scooped out and some that had to be cleaned out. This has to be remedied which at this moment was to just let the water out and bathe him in another location until I can wash the tub. Once he was clean and settled down Logan and I headed out on our own to shop at Target. It started out ok as I got him a pretzel and he was picking out supplies. It went down hill toward the end when I was trying to finish up. We got checked out despite him going mama 400 million times . Because I was distracted and the totals were not what I thought they should be I stopped close to the customer service desk at a counter and went through the receipt. As I thought I was mischarged for 4 items so I started to get into line for a refund but it was sooo long and by now it was late in the evening and I was exhausted so I just said screw it and I am going to take the items back. Once we were out to the car and I was loading the stuff into the trunk Logan asks me where his map is....my response is I do not know you were holding it. Needless to say he set it down in the store and left it. By now I had no more patience left and I was asking him why he could not keep up with things? Was it not important enough to him? This of course caused people passing by me in the parking lot to look at me like I was an abuser. We went back in the store against my initial judgement and found it sitting on the counter where I stopped to look over the receipt. I let customer service know we were not stealing it that I had bought it earlier and he left it on the counter. We then discussed not buying him anything because he can not keep up with stuff but I know that went in one ear and out the other. By the time we got home Clark was asleep so we unloaded quietly and got the receipts put into the apps. I them loaded the items I was mischarged for up and put them back in my car.
Target Trip:
2 Cases of diapers
1 pkg baby hangers
1 pkg dishwasher detergent
2 bottles dish soap
2 uniform shirts
1 pkg cookies
2 pkgs fruit snacks
2 bottles juice
1 pkg hot dogs
2 jars Nutella
1 pkg rice
1 box cereal
2 loaves bread
4 pkgs dried cranberries
~ lbs bananas
1 gallon milk
2 sticks deodorant
5 notebooks
1 pkg markers
1 world map
1 pkg tape
1 bottle liquid glue
1 pkg glue sticks
1 pair scissors
1 bottle shampoo
1 bottle baby shampoo
1 pkg printer paper
1 pkg construction paper
1 pkg envelopes
Total: $2.12SNAP
$107.71 Cash
Because we were being quiet dinner was sandwiches and then I had to clean the tub for real. I put all the toys in the kitchen sink so they could go through the dishwasher and then scrubbed the tub for Logan so he could get his bath. While he was getting his I checked on some ebay items I had ending and then set him up on our bed with my phone while I got a shower to wash the day away. He fell asleep pretty quickly but despite being exhausted I could not go to sleep. Monday was killer.
the weekend's rebates pushed me over on some apps and I was able to request $30.00 to my account. I also had one sale on ebay but it was a small item and will not net me a whole lot.
Anyway, Friday was a normal evening even if I did not get everything done. I stopped at Target on the way home as Phillip said we were out of juice and cheese. Those 2 items are essential to the peaceful running of the home so I stopped for them.
Target Trip:
2 fruit snacks
2 bottles juice
1 loaf garlic bread
3 boxes of brownie mix( on clearance and I could not pass up)
1 pkg chicken
2 t-shirts
3 pkgs sliced cheese
Total: $18.24SNAP
$10.88 Cash
I used the ham to make homemade pizzas. I had a crust in the cabinet and some pizza sauce in the freezer. I put mushrooms on about 1/3 of it since I really like them. After wrangling the children through baths and picking up after them I tried to get all the stuff together that we would need for our errands on Saturday.
Saturday morning Phillip got out of the house early hoping to beat as much of the heat as possible since we are topping 106 here. This left me getting the kids up and out of the house for our list of things to do and people to see. The first thing on our list was the build and grow at Lowe's which despite my wishes to take it home and have dada help him Logan insisted on building it there. We got it together with minimal interference from Clark but it wears me out. After leaving there we went by the library to turn in some books and check out some more. After leaving the library with our haul we went to set up for our monthly charity drop off. We usually sit for an hour but of course partially through this time Logan had to potty so I sent out a message and then went to Chick-fil-a with the kids. He used the restroom and washed his hands, this I know because he insists I smell them so I know they are clean. We ate and Logan played while I corraled Clark. Before leaving Chick-fil-a I sent Max's mommy a message to see if they could play. She sent me a message back that sure they could play later in the afternoon so we went to Winco to waste time. After Winco which turned into Clark's nap time we headed home to put up the food and wait to hear from Caren (Max's mommy).
Winco Trip:
2 pkgs toilet paper
3 cans refried beans
1 bottle teriyaki sauce
1 bottle soy sauce
1 doggie bone
5 containers yogurt
1 bottle ketchup
1 bottle vinegar
2 pkgs chex mix
2 pkgs pepperoni
2 pkgs cinnamon rolls
1 pkg fresh spinach
.20 lbs swedish fish
Total: $19.10 SNAP
$9.27 Cash
After getting the groceries put up and the receipts loaded into my apps I got some laundry going and unloaded and loaded the dishwasher. The older child wanted to watch some TV and so I went around trying to pick up stuff with the little one. After the laundry was done in the washer I threw it in the basket and did a second small load. These then went out onto the clothes line. Even though it was getting later in the day it is soo hot right now here that they had no trouble drying. By this time I had called Phillip to make sure he had not died from heat stroke. His first response was if you were just checking on me after this long I would have died. To which I responded if I called earlier by the time I drove the hour to make sure you were ok and just not answering because the weed eater is too loud you would have been dead anyway. Loving exchanges there. I also heard from Caren so we loaded up and went over to play with Max. Logan and Max played up a storm while Caren and I visited in between telling Clark no do not touch that, no that is not food, no you can not go in there so relaxing in other words. Once Max's other mommy got home from work with dinner we cleaned up and headed out. Once home I wanted a salad because of the spinach I had purchased earlier and the leftover garlic bread still in the wrapper so I went with grilled chicken which I marinated in zesty Italian dressing with a salad and garlic bread. It was really a great dinner and super easy to pull off. After dinner was baths and bringing in the clothes from the line. Clark was so exhausted from his day that he passed out almost as soon as I turned the lights off. Logan also fell asleep as soon as I made him lay down.
Sunday we were up a little later than normal but still early enough for me to fix some biscuits for breakfast. So Phillip and I got our showers, had breakfast and got everyone out the door for church. Phillip's mom and grandma were at church which was nice for the boys. After church Logan's friend could not go out to eat so we skipped McDonald's and ate with mom and grandma (nene and mimi to the boys) at Taco Cabana. After visiting with them we headed home with both boys falling asleep in the car. I was hoping they would stay asleep but needless to say they woke up as soon as we got home. I needed to get the grocery donations to the family in need so I loaded up the car with those items and lists/coupons for back to school shopping at Target. Sunday was the last day of the tax free weekend and I wanted to take advantage of that along with other sales and coupons that I had. The boys and I left the house and stopped at Sprouts on the way to pick up a couple more items for the family. I also found a large bottle of Dr. Bronner's rose scented castile soap on clearance so I picked that up also.
Sprouts trip:
1 bottle castile soap: $8.97
After leaving Sprouts we headed to the family's house and they met me at the car so I could leave the air running for the kids and hauled everything in. I pulled back onto the highway to head to Target, as soon as we hit the highway Clark started throwing up the milk I had just given him and he kept throwing up and screaming because he was throwing up. It coated him and the carseat with some of it going on the back of the car. I drove as quick as I could home but it was not all that quick since we were across town. Got home, took him in and stripped him. Once I got him in the bath tub and Logan was there telling him it was going to be ok I started taking his carseat apart so I could wash it. While doing this he started screaming again and Logan the obvious points out he has just pooped in the bathtub....some easily scooped out and some that had to be cleaned out. This has to be remedied which at this moment was to just let the water out and bathe him in another location until I can wash the tub. Once he was clean and settled down Logan and I headed out on our own to shop at Target. It started out ok as I got him a pretzel and he was picking out supplies. It went down hill toward the end when I was trying to finish up. We got checked out despite him going mama 400 million times . Because I was distracted and the totals were not what I thought they should be I stopped close to the customer service desk at a counter and went through the receipt. As I thought I was mischarged for 4 items so I started to get into line for a refund but it was sooo long and by now it was late in the evening and I was exhausted so I just said screw it and I am going to take the items back. Once we were out to the car and I was loading the stuff into the trunk Logan asks me where his map is....my response is I do not know you were holding it. Needless to say he set it down in the store and left it. By now I had no more patience left and I was asking him why he could not keep up with things? Was it not important enough to him? This of course caused people passing by me in the parking lot to look at me like I was an abuser. We went back in the store against my initial judgement and found it sitting on the counter where I stopped to look over the receipt. I let customer service know we were not stealing it that I had bought it earlier and he left it on the counter. We then discussed not buying him anything because he can not keep up with stuff but I know that went in one ear and out the other. By the time we got home Clark was asleep so we unloaded quietly and got the receipts put into the apps. I them loaded the items I was mischarged for up and put them back in my car.
Target Trip:
2 Cases of diapers
1 pkg baby hangers
1 pkg dishwasher detergent
2 bottles dish soap
2 uniform shirts
1 pkg cookies
2 pkgs fruit snacks
2 bottles juice
1 pkg hot dogs
2 jars Nutella
1 pkg rice
1 box cereal
2 loaves bread
4 pkgs dried cranberries
~ lbs bananas
1 gallon milk
2 sticks deodorant
5 notebooks
1 pkg markers
1 world map
1 pkg tape
1 bottle liquid glue
1 pkg glue sticks
1 pair scissors
1 bottle shampoo
1 bottle baby shampoo
1 pkg printer paper
1 pkg construction paper
1 pkg envelopes
Total: $2.12SNAP
$107.71 Cash
Because we were being quiet dinner was sandwiches and then I had to clean the tub for real. I put all the toys in the kitchen sink so they could go through the dishwasher and then scrubbed the tub for Logan so he could get his bath. While he was getting his I checked on some ebay items I had ending and then set him up on our bed with my phone while I got a shower to wash the day away. He fell asleep pretty quickly but despite being exhausted I could not go to sleep. Monday was killer.
the weekend's rebates pushed me over on some apps and I was able to request $30.00 to my account. I also had one sale on ebay but it was a small item and will not net me a whole lot.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Grief, Situations I Never Want to Find Myself in
I am having a jumble of emotions on this subject. A friend of a friend, these stories always seem to start that way. A more accurate description would be the former high school classmate of a friend suffered great tragedy this week. She suffered last week also but this week is the one that has me grieving also. Last week her mother passed at what I now consider a young age as her daughter is 10 years younger than me. This week she lost her husband's grandmother and their 6 year old daughter in a car accident. The grandmother and 6 year old were in the rear seat of a vehicle that got a flat on the highway. They were subsequently rear ended by a pick up truck killing the grandmother instantly. The little girl was taken to the hospital where she passed away a couple of days later. I can not imagine this pain, I can not even pretend to.
The situation that I find disconcerting and do not know what I would do stems from a gofundme account set up to help the family with the crush of expenses they now face. The pictures attached to the gofundme page are of her holding her dead child in the hospital. The pain on her face is enough to make me hurt physically. I am not sure, in this situation what I would do. Would I want anyone taking pictures of me at the worst point in my life? Would I want this memory in print? I know the actual memory will forever be with this woman but would I want the world to share this very painful moment with me? Is the fact it would be the last picture I would ever have with my child make it ok? I know in the moment I would probably not even be conscious of cameras, I just would not be able to let go of my baby. Maybe it is a decision I would not have the capacity in that moment to make. As I type this I am crying for this woman and praying I am never in this situation. I work with a woman who is the mother to a murdered son. He was murdered 20+ years ago and talking about him still brings her to tears. This is a wound that never heals, it scabs I am sure but never truly heals.
Please hug your babies tight tonight and kiss them extra.
The situation that I find disconcerting and do not know what I would do stems from a gofundme account set up to help the family with the crush of expenses they now face. The pictures attached to the gofundme page are of her holding her dead child in the hospital. The pain on her face is enough to make me hurt physically. I am not sure, in this situation what I would do. Would I want anyone taking pictures of me at the worst point in my life? Would I want this memory in print? I know the actual memory will forever be with this woman but would I want the world to share this very painful moment with me? Is the fact it would be the last picture I would ever have with my child make it ok? I know in the moment I would probably not even be conscious of cameras, I just would not be able to let go of my baby. Maybe it is a decision I would not have the capacity in that moment to make. As I type this I am crying for this woman and praying I am never in this situation. I work with a woman who is the mother to a murdered son. He was murdered 20+ years ago and talking about him still brings her to tears. This is a wound that never heals, it scabs I am sure but never truly heals.
Please hug your babies tight tonight and kiss them extra.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Can I Have A "Normal" Morning....Nope
It is telling when something additional goes wrong in your day and you do not even bat an eye. The morning started out greatish with Phillip getting up when Clark woke up at 5:30. He got him back to sleep so I could stay in the bed until at least my alarm went off. I got up and started my morning routine as quietly as possible trying to make sure Clark stayed asleep as long as possible. Trying to also help out Phillip who wanted to leave the house about 9:00am to take the kids to see his mom and grandma while he got his oil changed I filled a couple of extra bottles with milk and a sippy cup. I then got out the cooler bag and made sure there was an ice pack in the freezer. After all this I started getting my lunch together and then was extremely pissed at myself. Yesterday at lunch I had run an errand with a coworker and we stopped at Taco Bueno for lunch. My total was going to be $4.40 or I could do the 5 for $5.00 and get an additional 2 bean burritos. I went with the extra burritos thinking I could save them for lunches the rest of the week or take them home to Phillip. At the end of the day I took them home for Phillip. Once home though the kids wanted my attention, I got side tracked and never took the burritos out. I found them this morning in my bag and had to throw away 3 bean burritos just because I did not remember them. I continued getting ready and was putting on my make-up when Logan woke up. He wanted me to hold him so I employed a skill that all moms seem to have. I held him ( yes he is only about a foot shorter than me) and continued getting ready 1 handed. After he got down I sat on the bed for a moment and he started crying. He just realized even though he is going to see Nene and Mimi today his cousins are not going to be there. He wanted to play with them soo bad and assumed it was a holiday so they would be there. I had to deal with that broken heart and then load up to leave. I got into the garage and hit the button only for the arm to come up but not the door. The nut holding the screw in the door had fallen off. Luckily I found it quickly and got it back on. I was having difficulty getting the door to reset until I just manually opened it and then pulled on the lever. Tada! I fixed it myself before Phillip was able to get into the garage. Of course he told me I put the nut on backwards but hey it is working now so I am good with it!
Anyway, last night I went home with the mission of making the pioneer woman's chicken fried steak. The making of this dish messed up a ton of dishes but final review is ok. I am not a huge fan as it was a bit bland but that is because I do not eat gravy. Phillip said he would not turn it down if I made it again although he said it was not as thick or fork tender like restaurant chicken fried steaks. He was over the moon about the gravy though. He even pulled some leftover biscuits from breakfast out and covered them with gravy to eat. I served this with mashed sweet potatoes from the sprouts trip.
After this I put Clark in the bathtub and then we worked on cleaning up the mess of dishes. After Logan's bath I did manage to knock washing the yoga mat off my list. There was not much left to the book I was reading so I finished it off last night before going to sleep.
I have some ham I need to use so that will be the meat tonight. I am trying to use the veggies I bought in an order so we do not lose any off them to spoilage. The red potatoes should hold for a little longer so I am going to use some of the broccoli or okra a couple at church gave us tonight.
Anyway, last night I went home with the mission of making the pioneer woman's chicken fried steak. The making of this dish messed up a ton of dishes but final review is ok. I am not a huge fan as it was a bit bland but that is because I do not eat gravy. Phillip said he would not turn it down if I made it again although he said it was not as thick or fork tender like restaurant chicken fried steaks. He was over the moon about the gravy though. He even pulled some leftover biscuits from breakfast out and covered them with gravy to eat. I served this with mashed sweet potatoes from the sprouts trip.
After this I put Clark in the bathtub and then we worked on cleaning up the mess of dishes. After Logan's bath I did manage to knock washing the yoga mat off my list. There was not much left to the book I was reading so I finished it off last night before going to sleep.
I have some ham I need to use so that will be the meat tonight. I am trying to use the veggies I bought in an order so we do not lose any off them to spoilage. The red potatoes should hold for a little longer so I am going to use some of the broccoli or okra a couple at church gave us tonight.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Great Veggie Side Dish and When a 5 Year Old Decides to Help
Last night was not productive in the got a bunch of stuff done way. It was a test of my patience night.
I stopped at Sprouts on the way home to get some items to hopefully tide us through most of the month. And yes for those who judge people on food stamps I did purchase 3 packages of steaks.
Sprouts Trip:
~1/3 pound broccoli crowns
1 bunch celery
1 head of garlic
~ 1&1/4 lbs nectarines
1 pkg mushrooms
~1 lb of sweet potatoes
5 protein bars
1 pkg soba noodles
1 bag chips
1 pkg graham crackers
1 pkg soup
~1/4 lb gummy bears
2 pkgs breakfast steaks (really thinly cut steak)
1 pkg skirt steak
1 muffin
Total: $24.44 SNAP
After this I headed home to fix dinner which I was originally planning on grilled chicken with a squash casserole side dish. Plans changed when I purchased the steaks at Sprouts. I was originally planning on using the steak sliced in a stir fry but decided to grill them last night. So when I got home I put them on to marinade while I got the casserole in the oven. The recipe is an adaptation my aunt and uncle used a lot with excess squash from the garden and not being a true fan of squash this is a good dish for me. The original recipe is as follows:
1 lb asparagus or 2 pkg 10 oz frozen, thawed
2 med onions
5 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
3 oz cream cheese
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
saute asparagus and onions in 1 Tbsp butter until crisp tender about 8 minutes. Transfer to ungreased 1&1/2 quart baking dish
Melt 2 Tbsp butter, stir in flour until smooth, gradually add milk. Bring to a boil, cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat. Add cream cheese, salt and pepper, stir until cheese is melted. Pour over vegetables. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Melt remaining 2 Tbsps butter, toss with breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over casserole. Baken uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until heated through.
Yields 4 to 6 servings.
I can say I have never made this with asparagus as I really like asparagus and have no desire to cover them with sauce. I did have the lovely squash, zucchini and onions from the farmer's market to use up.
This was actually the first time Phillip thought the cream cheese was a little over powering so I may cut the amount down next time I make it.
While this was in the oven I got the grill ready, quickly grilled the steaks since they were thin and set them out of the way to rest. Because our dinner was going a little long I went ahead and fed the kids and got Clark's bath. Of course there were other items on the list but I was not feeling like doing any of them.
Here is the first reason my patience was tested: Logan "helping" and me trying to be ok with it. I actually asked him to water the plants we purchased at Archie's on Saturday. They are still sitting on the porch waiting for a home. There is a watering can on the porch which he could have used by filling it in the house. He is his method though.....get the water hose and bring it on the porch. I tell him he can use the watering can, he wants to use the hose. Ok, I think he is going to water the plants with the hose...a couple of minutes later nothing has happened. What is going on? I can not turn on the hose. So I take Clark outside and turn on the hose. Mama, it is overflowing. Ok I will turn off the hose. I come back around to the porch and he has filled a bucket with water. Ok, now he can not pick up the bucket to water the plants and he wants me to turn on the hose. No, I am going inside. He then instead of using a cup which is sitting right on the table to dip from the bucket decides to get his watering can from the yard and then wants the hose back on, not to fill the watering can or water the flowers but to rinse off his watering can so that he can then scoop the water from the bucket with his hands into the watering can to then water the flowers. Phillip had come in the kitchen by then and he went out to deal with the situation.
After Logan's bath Clark was getting fussy so I got him to sleep and then Logan decides he is hungry again and wants to play games on my phone. I let him sit on our bed playing on the phone while I try to get some work done on the computer. Nope, he wants to sit on my lap and ask me 100 questions so I just give that up and come in the bedroom. He starts to watch the news with Phillip so I try to read and I get mama, read to me. Ok, get a book. He comes back with a book and puts it on my book. I tell him when I finish the chapter I am reading which is 2 more pages I will read to him. I get hands on my pages, 100 questions and another book on my book. I finally read the 2 pages and then read to him. He then does not want to go to sleep and has a dozen reasons why he does not need to. As soon as he is still for a couple of seconds though he is out like a light.
Another night when I needed scream therapy.
I stopped at Sprouts on the way home to get some items to hopefully tide us through most of the month. And yes for those who judge people on food stamps I did purchase 3 packages of steaks.
Sprouts Trip:
~1/3 pound broccoli crowns
1 bunch celery
1 head of garlic
~ 1&1/4 lbs nectarines
1 pkg mushrooms
~1 lb of sweet potatoes
5 protein bars
1 pkg soba noodles
1 bag chips
1 pkg graham crackers
1 pkg soup
~1/4 lb gummy bears
2 pkgs breakfast steaks (really thinly cut steak)
1 pkg skirt steak
1 muffin
Total: $24.44 SNAP
After this I headed home to fix dinner which I was originally planning on grilled chicken with a squash casserole side dish. Plans changed when I purchased the steaks at Sprouts. I was originally planning on using the steak sliced in a stir fry but decided to grill them last night. So when I got home I put them on to marinade while I got the casserole in the oven. The recipe is an adaptation my aunt and uncle used a lot with excess squash from the garden and not being a true fan of squash this is a good dish for me. The original recipe is as follows:
1 lb asparagus or 2 pkg 10 oz frozen, thawed
2 med onions
5 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
3 oz cream cheese
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
saute asparagus and onions in 1 Tbsp butter until crisp tender about 8 minutes. Transfer to ungreased 1&1/2 quart baking dish
Melt 2 Tbsp butter, stir in flour until smooth, gradually add milk. Bring to a boil, cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat. Add cream cheese, salt and pepper, stir until cheese is melted. Pour over vegetables. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Melt remaining 2 Tbsps butter, toss with breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over casserole. Baken uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until heated through.
Yields 4 to 6 servings.
I can say I have never made this with asparagus as I really like asparagus and have no desire to cover them with sauce. I did have the lovely squash, zucchini and onions from the farmer's market to use up.
This was actually the first time Phillip thought the cream cheese was a little over powering so I may cut the amount down next time I make it.
While this was in the oven I got the grill ready, quickly grilled the steaks since they were thin and set them out of the way to rest. Because our dinner was going a little long I went ahead and fed the kids and got Clark's bath. Of course there were other items on the list but I was not feeling like doing any of them.
Here is the first reason my patience was tested: Logan "helping" and me trying to be ok with it. I actually asked him to water the plants we purchased at Archie's on Saturday. They are still sitting on the porch waiting for a home. There is a watering can on the porch which he could have used by filling it in the house. He is his method though.....get the water hose and bring it on the porch. I tell him he can use the watering can, he wants to use the hose. Ok, I think he is going to water the plants with the hose...a couple of minutes later nothing has happened. What is going on? I can not turn on the hose. So I take Clark outside and turn on the hose. Mama, it is overflowing. Ok I will turn off the hose. I come back around to the porch and he has filled a bucket with water. Ok, now he can not pick up the bucket to water the plants and he wants me to turn on the hose. No, I am going inside. He then instead of using a cup which is sitting right on the table to dip from the bucket decides to get his watering can from the yard and then wants the hose back on, not to fill the watering can or water the flowers but to rinse off his watering can so that he can then scoop the water from the bucket with his hands into the watering can to then water the flowers. Phillip had come in the kitchen by then and he went out to deal with the situation.
After Logan's bath Clark was getting fussy so I got him to sleep and then Logan decides he is hungry again and wants to play games on my phone. I let him sit on our bed playing on the phone while I try to get some work done on the computer. Nope, he wants to sit on my lap and ask me 100 questions so I just give that up and come in the bedroom. He starts to watch the news with Phillip so I try to read and I get mama, read to me. Ok, get a book. He comes back with a book and puts it on my book. I tell him when I finish the chapter I am reading which is 2 more pages I will read to him. I get hands on my pages, 100 questions and another book on my book. I finally read the 2 pages and then read to him. He then does not want to go to sleep and has a dozen reasons why he does not need to. As soon as he is still for a couple of seconds though he is out like a light.
Another night when I needed scream therapy.
Monday, August 3, 2015
Another Weekend in the Books
I am feeling exhausted today and accomplished. This weekend I was able to get a ton of stuff done off my list which will hopefully allow me to knock out a lot of other items this week. It was the first time in a long time when I felt like I might get ahead of all of the stuff that needs to be done around the house.
This was the list I made before leaving work on Friday afternoon.
So on the way home I grabbed my last sodapalooza drink for the year and then went by the new QT close to my home. They were running gas for $2.19 a gallon as a grand opening special so I topped off my tank while I could. I was passing the library on the way back from the gas station so I dropped some books in the drop box. After all this I decided to splurge and just pick up dinner for us at Rosa's since it was payday. Once home we sat down and enjoyed dinner and then baths. In between Clark's bath and Logan's he helped me sweep off the porch so I could set some trades out. This was the extent of Friday's accomplishment.
Saturday morning we were up and at them early and ran all day! The boys woke up about 7:30 and from there I fixed breakfast, took a shower and got us all in the car for errands. The first stop the ATM machine to get money for the farmer's market and then on to the market we went. After making a pass through all the stalls we hit up a couple that had items we wanted. Logan of course wanted to buy something from the plant guy so we can have a pretty yard but I knew I wanted to hit up Archie's afterwards. I was surprised when he did not want a cookie from the baked goods booth. I wanted to try a ice cream but that would have been too hard carrying Clark and eating that while shopping.
I was really excited about the watermelon since it is a yellow meat and the farmer offers a discount next time if I bring him seeds back. I may keep part of them and attempt to grow my own since this variety obviously will grow here. The cheese is a local made gouda and I am really excited to have some. The other veggies came from the same booth, she has a mixed basket for a special price. They are the odds and ends that are left after making up her other for sale baskets. The totals are as follows
Cheese $9.00
Watermelon $7.00
Mixed basket of produce $5.00
Baguette: $3.00
After leaving with our wares we went around the corner to the plant store as Logan calls it. We picked up 7 plants for the yard ( 3 are for his garden) and a glass bee for his terrarium. After leaving Archie's we went by the place where I got my oil changed so they could look at the leak again. They think they have it fixed this time but I have heard that the last 3 times so I am not sure I believe them. Once we left the oil change place we headed to the library. We turned in all the stuff Logan had at the house and he played on the computer for a little bit while I talked to Mrs. Laura the librarian about his missing DVD and changed Clark's diaper. We checked out a minimal amount of stuff and headed out to the next errand which was Winco. Clark fell asleep in between the library and Winco but once we were in the store the kids yelling woke him up. I tried to hurry through the store and pick up the minimum.
Winco Trip (Saturday):
2 boxes snack cakes
1 jar pasta sauce
1 jar Nutella
1 gallon milk
5 containers yogurt
1 soda for me ( I know I should not have)
3 pkgs cinnamon rolls
1 pkg ricotta cheese
~4.5 lbs bananas
1 yellow watermelon
2 cans biscuits
1 pkg mozzarella
3 bags chips
1 pkg Parmesan cheese
1 loaf bread
2 pkgs chex mix
2 pkgs toilet paper
Total: $45.16
Needless to say it was more than the bare necessities. I was hungry by this time, needed to make something for potluck and started worrying about school lunches in addition to the boys being at home eating. I got us all home and fed myself and Clark. Logan snacked since he was going with Phillip to get haircuts and their tradition is to go by Wendy's before hand. Pretty much while eating I put up the groceries and loaded the receipt into the rebate apps I have on my phone. So Logan left with Phillip and I was going to take Clark to a birthday party but I was feeling tired and he needed a true nap so I just worked on the house and played with him. He played while I put the shower cleaner on the walls in our shower and the cleaner in the toilet and then we went on to cleaning his room and vacuuming it. Once we were done in there he was acting sleepy so I put him down for a nap on the couch so I could finish cleaning my bathroom. I got it all cleaned up before the other boys made it home. Once they were home Logan went back to watching TV while I cleaned up the office and our bedroom so that as soon as Clark woke up I could vacuum. Once he woke up I got the vacuuming on the bedrooms and office finished. I also went to get the donation and trade off my porch since she was giving me cash for the trade item I put out. Dinner was next on the agenda which was manicotti with the baguette from the farmer's market. This of course meant bath time for the kiddos especially since Clark had manicotti all over him. Once baths were done I finished vacuuming the bare floor portions of the house and then cleaned up the vacuum and my hands. Clark was good about sitting in his high chair while I cut up both watermelons. He loves watermelon so I kept feeding it to him while I was getting the stuff put up. I went ahead and put the grocery store melon in a bowl to take for the church pot luck. The farmer's market melon is in baggies for me to bring for lunches this week. I also put a rice casserole in the oven for potluck at church. This was done and in the fridge about the time everyone was getting ready for bed. Clark surprisingly enough did not give me any trouble going to sleep even with the long, late nap. Logan on the other hand wanted to stay up passed his bed time and for once I was not strict on him. He snuggled in our bed while I read some.
Sunday morning the boys slept a little later than normal until 8am. Phillip had already had his shower so I went ahead and put on some cinnamon rolls and then got a shower. The boys had already had their rolls when I got in the kitchen and Phillip was loading the dishwasher. I quickly ate the 2 remaining rolls and then we got ready and loaded up for church. It was nice to see Phillip's grandma at church and we got an extended visit with her at potluck. On the way home I completed a trade of tp for some fresh eggs. I was going to get a picture of the beautiful eggs but forgot and then was out of motivation and time. Once home the kids were asleep and so we moved them into the bed. I started working on cleaning and then decided to make another trip to Winco for the trash bags I had forgot the day before while they were asleep.
Winco trip:
1 gallon milk
2 pkgs diapers
1 box trash bags
1 pkg (3 boxes) kleenex
2 boxes ziploc bags
1 bottle deodorant
2 pkgs toilet paper
2 boxes fruit snacks
1 bottle chocolate syrup ( the last one lasted almost 3 years)
2 boxes cereal
Total: $38.96
Again, school starting was going through my mind and they are having an amazing sale on the toilet paper. Once home I unloaded all the stuff and loaded eligible items into my rebate apps. I had enough on one app to request $10.00 to my paypal account. I also was paid for an item that sold on ebay. Our netflix and hulu plus accounts are paid through my paypal account so I left enough in there to cover both of those bills and requested the rest be transferred to my bank account. After I took care of this Clark "helped" me clean up the front room and get it vacuumed again. Logan also needed to tell me all about his Minecraft videos which I patiently listened to. Once this was taken care of we had dinner. Clark and Phillip ate leftovers from the lunch potluck. Logan wanted a sandwich and I was not really hungry so I skipped dinner. Clark was again covered in pasta sauce from the manicotti so he immediately went into the tub. While he was playing in the tub I sat in the bathroom putting the month of August on my whiteboard calendar. That is when I discovered I scheduled my pap on the first day of school and work inventory....it is going to be a crazy day. I finished the calendar and Clark was still having a good time playing so I sat there and read a chapter in my book before scrubbing him down and getting him out. Logan wanted me to start his bath so I got that taken care of and then passed off the watching of him to Phillip while I held Clark and steam most of the house. I did not mop the kitchen as I just had a couple of nights ago and will again tonight. With baths done the boys played for a little longer while I worked on cleaning up the kitchen some. Clark was then ready for bed but it was still a little early so I took some pictures to post items on ebay and my trade group. While I took care of this Logan played on my phone and Phillip chatted with a friend on the phone. I read for a little bit after this and then carried Logan to his bed before crashing myself.
I need to take more pictures tonight and get more stuff out of the house. I am also thinking of purchasing a minimal amount of meat this month and just using what I have in the freezer. If I can make 3 or more meals from each item I have on hand and have a run with some beans then I should have plenty. This should allow me to stock up on some other basics with that grocery money. I am also going to try to trade for as many staples as I can with the items I have left to get out of the house.
This was the list I made before leaving work on Friday afternoon.
So on the way home I grabbed my last sodapalooza drink for the year and then went by the new QT close to my home. They were running gas for $2.19 a gallon as a grand opening special so I topped off my tank while I could. I was passing the library on the way back from the gas station so I dropped some books in the drop box. After all this I decided to splurge and just pick up dinner for us at Rosa's since it was payday. Once home we sat down and enjoyed dinner and then baths. In between Clark's bath and Logan's he helped me sweep off the porch so I could set some trades out. This was the extent of Friday's accomplishment.
Saturday morning we were up and at them early and ran all day! The boys woke up about 7:30 and from there I fixed breakfast, took a shower and got us all in the car for errands. The first stop the ATM machine to get money for the farmer's market and then on to the market we went. After making a pass through all the stalls we hit up a couple that had items we wanted. Logan of course wanted to buy something from the plant guy so we can have a pretty yard but I knew I wanted to hit up Archie's afterwards. I was surprised when he did not want a cookie from the baked goods booth. I wanted to try a ice cream but that would have been too hard carrying Clark and eating that while shopping.
I was really excited about the watermelon since it is a yellow meat and the farmer offers a discount next time if I bring him seeds back. I may keep part of them and attempt to grow my own since this variety obviously will grow here. The cheese is a local made gouda and I am really excited to have some. The other veggies came from the same booth, she has a mixed basket for a special price. They are the odds and ends that are left after making up her other for sale baskets. The totals are as follows
Cheese $9.00
Watermelon $7.00
Mixed basket of produce $5.00
Baguette: $3.00
After leaving with our wares we went around the corner to the plant store as Logan calls it. We picked up 7 plants for the yard ( 3 are for his garden) and a glass bee for his terrarium. After leaving Archie's we went by the place where I got my oil changed so they could look at the leak again. They think they have it fixed this time but I have heard that the last 3 times so I am not sure I believe them. Once we left the oil change place we headed to the library. We turned in all the stuff Logan had at the house and he played on the computer for a little bit while I talked to Mrs. Laura the librarian about his missing DVD and changed Clark's diaper. We checked out a minimal amount of stuff and headed out to the next errand which was Winco. Clark fell asleep in between the library and Winco but once we were in the store the kids yelling woke him up. I tried to hurry through the store and pick up the minimum.
Winco Trip (Saturday):
2 boxes snack cakes
1 jar pasta sauce
1 jar Nutella
1 gallon milk
5 containers yogurt
1 soda for me ( I know I should not have)
3 pkgs cinnamon rolls
1 pkg ricotta cheese
~4.5 lbs bananas
1 yellow watermelon
2 cans biscuits
1 pkg mozzarella
3 bags chips
1 pkg Parmesan cheese
1 loaf bread
2 pkgs chex mix
2 pkgs toilet paper
Total: $45.16
Needless to say it was more than the bare necessities. I was hungry by this time, needed to make something for potluck and started worrying about school lunches in addition to the boys being at home eating. I got us all home and fed myself and Clark. Logan snacked since he was going with Phillip to get haircuts and their tradition is to go by Wendy's before hand. Pretty much while eating I put up the groceries and loaded the receipt into the rebate apps I have on my phone. So Logan left with Phillip and I was going to take Clark to a birthday party but I was feeling tired and he needed a true nap so I just worked on the house and played with him. He played while I put the shower cleaner on the walls in our shower and the cleaner in the toilet and then we went on to cleaning his room and vacuuming it. Once we were done in there he was acting sleepy so I put him down for a nap on the couch so I could finish cleaning my bathroom. I got it all cleaned up before the other boys made it home. Once they were home Logan went back to watching TV while I cleaned up the office and our bedroom so that as soon as Clark woke up I could vacuum. Once he woke up I got the vacuuming on the bedrooms and office finished. I also went to get the donation and trade off my porch since she was giving me cash for the trade item I put out. Dinner was next on the agenda which was manicotti with the baguette from the farmer's market. This of course meant bath time for the kiddos especially since Clark had manicotti all over him. Once baths were done I finished vacuuming the bare floor portions of the house and then cleaned up the vacuum and my hands. Clark was good about sitting in his high chair while I cut up both watermelons. He loves watermelon so I kept feeding it to him while I was getting the stuff put up. I went ahead and put the grocery store melon in a bowl to take for the church pot luck. The farmer's market melon is in baggies for me to bring for lunches this week. I also put a rice casserole in the oven for potluck at church. This was done and in the fridge about the time everyone was getting ready for bed. Clark surprisingly enough did not give me any trouble going to sleep even with the long, late nap. Logan on the other hand wanted to stay up passed his bed time and for once I was not strict on him. He snuggled in our bed while I read some.
Sunday morning the boys slept a little later than normal until 8am. Phillip had already had his shower so I went ahead and put on some cinnamon rolls and then got a shower. The boys had already had their rolls when I got in the kitchen and Phillip was loading the dishwasher. I quickly ate the 2 remaining rolls and then we got ready and loaded up for church. It was nice to see Phillip's grandma at church and we got an extended visit with her at potluck. On the way home I completed a trade of tp for some fresh eggs. I was going to get a picture of the beautiful eggs but forgot and then was out of motivation and time. Once home the kids were asleep and so we moved them into the bed. I started working on cleaning and then decided to make another trip to Winco for the trash bags I had forgot the day before while they were asleep.
Winco trip:
1 gallon milk
2 pkgs diapers
1 box trash bags
1 pkg (3 boxes) kleenex
2 boxes ziploc bags
1 bottle deodorant
2 pkgs toilet paper
2 boxes fruit snacks
1 bottle chocolate syrup ( the last one lasted almost 3 years)
2 boxes cereal
Total: $38.96
Again, school starting was going through my mind and they are having an amazing sale on the toilet paper. Once home I unloaded all the stuff and loaded eligible items into my rebate apps. I had enough on one app to request $10.00 to my paypal account. I also was paid for an item that sold on ebay. Our netflix and hulu plus accounts are paid through my paypal account so I left enough in there to cover both of those bills and requested the rest be transferred to my bank account. After I took care of this Clark "helped" me clean up the front room and get it vacuumed again. Logan also needed to tell me all about his Minecraft videos which I patiently listened to. Once this was taken care of we had dinner. Clark and Phillip ate leftovers from the lunch potluck. Logan wanted a sandwich and I was not really hungry so I skipped dinner. Clark was again covered in pasta sauce from the manicotti so he immediately went into the tub. While he was playing in the tub I sat in the bathroom putting the month of August on my whiteboard calendar. That is when I discovered I scheduled my pap on the first day of school and work inventory....it is going to be a crazy day. I finished the calendar and Clark was still having a good time playing so I sat there and read a chapter in my book before scrubbing him down and getting him out. Logan wanted me to start his bath so I got that taken care of and then passed off the watching of him to Phillip while I held Clark and steam most of the house. I did not mop the kitchen as I just had a couple of nights ago and will again tonight. With baths done the boys played for a little longer while I worked on cleaning up the kitchen some. Clark was then ready for bed but it was still a little early so I took some pictures to post items on ebay and my trade group. While I took care of this Logan played on my phone and Phillip chatted with a friend on the phone. I read for a little bit after this and then carried Logan to his bed before crashing myself.
I need to take more pictures tonight and get more stuff out of the house. I am also thinking of purchasing a minimal amount of meat this month and just using what I have in the freezer. If I can make 3 or more meals from each item I have on hand and have a run with some beans then I should have plenty. This should allow me to stock up on some other basics with that grocery money. I am also going to try to trade for as many staples as I can with the items I have left to get out of the house.
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