Saturday Activities and Parenthood

I keep having this crazy notion that if I get the yard manicured the way I want, and the house organized then I will have loads of free time to spend doing what I want to. My mind knows this is craziness but I still plan my days with this as the plan. Yesterday (Saturday) I was up at 6:18am with the tiny one, he did go back to sleep briefly but we were completely up by 8:00am. This was fine as I had a busy day planned and I wanted to take care of a couple of things without the kids. Phillip entertained and fed breakfast to the kids while I hit up a grocery store that was having a 72 hours sale, then went by the farmer's market only coming away with a cookie for Logan which he turned around and gave to Phillip as he did not want it. After the farmer's market I went by Archie's for another terrarium plant for Logan and picked up 4 other small plants to put around the yard. After leaving Archie's I went to my produce co-op for this contributions pick up. I purchased a share as well as a freezer pack and a juice pack so we have a ton of fruits and veggies now. This is what $42.00 worth of produce from the co-op looks like

My grocery store purchase totaled $38.60 in food stamps. Between this and the produce I only need to pick up a couple more staples and I should be able to get meals for the month and beyond.

After the produce pick up I headed toward home but came across an Estate Sale which I on a whim decided to stop in at. I felt so many emotions mostly sadness at going through someone's things in their home. The owner of the house had passed away and I assume his family was divesting themselves of his possessions including the home. Going through the house looking at everything for sale, most of it still in the cabinets and pantries where the owner left them just made me horribly sad. I took a picture with my phone which I can not get to download of height marks of the home's children off a door jamb. Those marks made over the course of many years will be cleaned away when the home sells and that history will be gone. I of course never feel this way at yard sales, maybe because the owners are there and have brought their items out of their house. The estate sale did not get any of my money but I told Phillip some of the items that were there and so he went back by and came home with a Star Wars blanket, an original one as well as a paper cutter. They were running 75% off when he got there trying to close out the sale. Once home he went to work on his homework and I took the kids to the library and to McDonald's so Logan could play with other kids and normally I can read. This time the tiny one did not go to sleep so I spent the time wrangling him. Once home I changed into my yard clothes and we made Logan's terrarium, here are a couple of photos. I need to get one of the finished item, hopefully in a little bit.

Once this was finished we did another project for the neighborhood birds and used up some scraps in the process.

After these we planted the items I picked up from the nursery that morning. So for less than $10 the kids and I stayed busy most of the afternoon. Once inside I decide to get started on dinner, I had separated out half the chicken thighs for dinner earlier and put the other half in the freezer, Looking for something new I decided on  Ranch Cheddar Chicken for dinner and served it with a green salad and fresh green beans. Everyone is exhausted by the time dinner is done, the kids take baths and while I get the tiny one to sleep Logan plays on the computer. I get my shower, snuggle with Logan and then read a little after he gets in his bed. I wish it was a great sleep but Clark started running a fever about 4am and was very congested. I ended up reclining on the couch with him asleep on my chest to help him breath. These are the times when you are utterly exhausted and helpless.