What's your grocery budget for a week... and what does that include?
I'm looking for inclusion of household supplies, toiletries, and cleaning stuff in that and any regular pet expenses. How many people are in your household? I'm just curious. I'm pretty frugal but not a very good bargain shopper. I mean, I tend to buy things that are on sale but I'm no good at buying in bulk and I'm not very good at using coupons, although I've gotten better. I also steer away from really cheap foods, like a loaf of bread for say .50 cents that probably doesn't have any nutritional value. I wonder how much other people spend on average... although where you live/ cost of living factors into the total quite a bit. This total would also include eating out expenses. I put that into my grocery budget because as far as I'm concerned food is food.
I lost track of spending somewhere mid October this year but from what I've recorded the average weekly spending for my three person (plus three pets) household came out to $129 a week. If I randomly assign $5 a week per pet that puts me at an average of $38 a week per person in my family. That seems pretty low to me, not that I'm complaining, just thinking in print.
In keeping with the title of this blog $38 per person per week boils down to about $5.50 per person a day. So now I feel the need to point out that a large specialty coffee costs about that much. It's amazing how quickly a few pennies can become a fortune isn't it.
I was sitting in the car with little Abe on Christmas day looking at the enormous waves in Lake Michigan and watching the constant stream of wind coming off of the lake carry millions and billions of tiny grains of sand away from the lake and into the parking lot. I couldn't help but think how insignificant one grain of sand is. But when the little buggars work together they create mammoth hills, cover road ways, and make parking lots disappear. Pennies act very much the same way. When you have just one of them it's not of much use but when "the wind" gets a hold of them they can create massive debt or huge savings in not too long a time. (Yes, I was thinking about money on Christmas day while sitting at the lake.)
Average daily spending for 2014: $18.40
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Simplicity and Clarity in January
I don't know that I'll profess those "words of the year," but I'm hoping to make January all about simplicity and clarity. I'll be cutting out news radio, tv (for the most part), facebook, and I'm hoping to make no plans next month. My purchases should be kept to a minimum, purposeful purchases and I want to get rid of a lot of clutter from my home. I hope to read a good deal as well.
My plans seem to never go as planned but at least I have an outline for next month now.
I may be a dreamer, always scheming and planning and conjuring up magical moments in my mind but I crave simplicity, peace, and calm. I think a quite month will be the best way for me to start out this new year.
My plans seem to never go as planned but at least I have an outline for next month now.
I may be a dreamer, always scheming and planning and conjuring up magical moments in my mind but I crave simplicity, peace, and calm. I think a quite month will be the best way for me to start out this new year.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Thank-you You Tube (I'm learning Irish now)
I cannot believe what I just stumbled upon. Really, they do have everything on You Tube. I've always thought it'd fun to learn the Irish Gaelic language but I never thought I'd actually do so especially since the pronunciations are so difficult but woah... I'm excited to spend a little time with these videos. Haha!
Yay! My dreams for 2015 are becoming a reality :)
Oh my goodness my husband is going to get annoyed with me...
Yay! My dreams for 2015 are becoming a reality :)
Oh my goodness my husband is going to get annoyed with me...
Sunday, December 28, 2014
My 2015 Goals, um, wait, I mean dreams
This is the year to grab life by the horns... what a silly saying. I imagine grabbing anything by the horns is incredibly dangerous.
My first goal is to become an Irish historian. I'll read every book ever written about Ireland, it's people, it's history and although traveling there every month or so might be an excellent educational attribute it certainly wouldn't be practical. So, I'll leave that part out (because you know that reading every book ever written about a country in a year is SO practical...)
I'll also perfect my baking skills and become a master baker. I'll work with hundreds of pies one week and then bake cake after cake after cake the next. There'll be weeks of cookies and I'll make pastries most people have never heard of as if they were toast. Over and over and over until I'm a certified professional. (notice losing weight has not been mentioned in my goals yet)
In my spare time I intend to become fluent in three languages. I'm already pretty good at English so that only leaves two to learn. I can speak and understand very broken bits of Spanish so that should be a piece of cake to pick up. Next on the list is the Irish Gaelic language. I think it'd be wonderfully fun and beyond fascinating to learn an ancient language that had practically died at one point and is now only kept alive due to the patriotism and resolve of it's people.
Lastly I'd like to take a few weeks off from the baking and reading and language learning so that I can travel across the United States, by car of course. If you're not staring at the mountains of Montana or the rock formations clinging to the road sides in Kentucky or the enormous trees in California as you drive through the land and you chose to fly overhead instead then what's the point really? You can hardly call flight "traveling across the US." I need to see the Grand Canyon and the red wood trees. I'd love to see glacier national park and the deserts of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Alaska is surely on my bucket list but I don't think I'll put that on the road trip itinerary this year.
What a fun year this will be! Let's get this party started!!!
My first goal is to become an Irish historian. I'll read every book ever written about Ireland, it's people, it's history and although traveling there every month or so might be an excellent educational attribute it certainly wouldn't be practical. So, I'll leave that part out (because you know that reading every book ever written about a country in a year is SO practical...)
I'll also perfect my baking skills and become a master baker. I'll work with hundreds of pies one week and then bake cake after cake after cake the next. There'll be weeks of cookies and I'll make pastries most people have never heard of as if they were toast. Over and over and over until I'm a certified professional. (notice losing weight has not been mentioned in my goals yet)
In my spare time I intend to become fluent in three languages. I'm already pretty good at English so that only leaves two to learn. I can speak and understand very broken bits of Spanish so that should be a piece of cake to pick up. Next on the list is the Irish Gaelic language. I think it'd be wonderfully fun and beyond fascinating to learn an ancient language that had practically died at one point and is now only kept alive due to the patriotism and resolve of it's people.
Lastly I'd like to take a few weeks off from the baking and reading and language learning so that I can travel across the United States, by car of course. If you're not staring at the mountains of Montana or the rock formations clinging to the road sides in Kentucky or the enormous trees in California as you drive through the land and you chose to fly overhead instead then what's the point really? You can hardly call flight "traveling across the US." I need to see the Grand Canyon and the red wood trees. I'd love to see glacier national park and the deserts of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Alaska is surely on my bucket list but I don't think I'll put that on the road trip itinerary this year.
What a fun year this will be! Let's get this party started!!!
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Expectations: The Killer of Happiness
The first 30 or 40 minutes of this lovely Christmas morning were perfect! Then we got the call that our enormous (as in tons of food) family brunch was canceled today. You know when you've been planning a thing to go a certain way for so long and then it's abruptly altered; bum expectations. My third shifter hubby decided that since the family gathering was called off for today he'd just head to bed at about 10:30AM. Joy! Joy! Joy! I was hoping to spend Christmas alone with just my son and a few pounds of cookies... <sarcasm
After an enormous inward temper tantrum and a sugary binge I worked up enough motivation to get out of the house with the little guy. Half to get myself away from the sweets in the house and half in an attempt to calm my thoughts. I received a CD for Christmas this morning from my hubby of one of my very favorite artists, Kari Jobe. It's a worship CD. I'm very quickly brought back to my senses whenever I put any of her music on. I popped it in the car stereo and off we went. It was naptime so I knew that little Abe would sleep the entire ride.
There's nothing that some good deep breaths, a nice long ride, (with the lowest gas prices we've had in years) some excellent worship music, and sights of nature out the windows won't cure... at least crazy out of wack emotions wise. We dropped a gift by someone, stopped at my moms to deliver a few slices of Christmas cheesecake, and drove to the lake to watch some enormous beautiful waves. I parked the car and let little Abe crawl up in the front seat with me to watch the waves. We rolled down the window for a bit to listen to their magnificent sounds as well. All in all, I'd say that will be a good Christmas memory. Oh, we went out back and blew bubbles for a bit too!
After an enormous inward temper tantrum and a sugary binge I worked up enough motivation to get out of the house with the little guy. Half to get myself away from the sweets in the house and half in an attempt to calm my thoughts. I received a CD for Christmas this morning from my hubby of one of my very favorite artists, Kari Jobe. It's a worship CD. I'm very quickly brought back to my senses whenever I put any of her music on. I popped it in the car stereo and off we went. It was naptime so I knew that little Abe would sleep the entire ride.
There's nothing that some good deep breaths, a nice long ride, (with the lowest gas prices we've had in years) some excellent worship music, and sights of nature out the windows won't cure... at least crazy out of wack emotions wise. We dropped a gift by someone, stopped at my moms to deliver a few slices of Christmas cheesecake, and drove to the lake to watch some enormous beautiful waves. I parked the car and let little Abe crawl up in the front seat with me to watch the waves. We rolled down the window for a bit to listen to their magnificent sounds as well. All in all, I'd say that will be a good Christmas memory. Oh, we went out back and blew bubbles for a bit too!
I put bubbles in his stocking.
We're used to very white Christmases around here.
But hey if there's no snow to play in bubbles must be the next best thing, right :)
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Christmas Buttons
As human beings we tend to hold onto memories of our past and our loved ones through physical trinkets. Whether it be the antique furniture that my husband's dad collected that doesn't belong in our house as it's slowly all getting scratched and scuffed in an atrocious manner but to my husband it's a connection to his dad. Or the closet of my husband's grandpa's clothes that is still completely intact in the corner of my son's bedroom. Or for me tons of tiny little tchotchkes from my childhood that I can't let go of. It's a lot easier for me to look back and remember the bad things from my youth but all my little trinkets make me smile and feel like there were good times too. I know that people struggle with letting go of these useless things that connect them to their past, geesh there are entire television shows surrounding this issue. I'm not saying that you should keep the stuff or shouldn't just that the connection exists.
I'm at a point in life where I'd rather simplify and just get rid of every single thing we own that we don't use than hold onto all the memories in physical form. I can picture a lovely home in my head free from clutter and excess and although it would have a few things in it that are purely sentimental it wouldn't have random useless nonsense that was owned by someone sometime that's no longer with us.
So, I inherited my grandmother's sewing table (actually I took it while everyone else was going through more important things... no one else seemed interested in it). My grandmother was a very proper English woman who was fabulous at gardening and sewing. I remember her most with dirt on her gardening gloves and a pile of sewing projects in her sewing room... My grandmother had a sewing room! I don't know anyone now a days who has an entire sewing room. I admire that about her. Sadly her sewing table has been sitting in my basement for years. I sew with needle and thread but I cannot figure out how to correctly use the sewing machine. I've tried. It hates me. I obviously need a sewing class or something. I've never used one of the hundreds of patters tucked away in the drawers. I have been using some of the wonderful assortment of thread. I've hardly ever used the neat tools that I just like to look at as if they're some sort of grand antiques. More recently I discovered the most fabulous round tin. It rattles with a musical beauty when you shake it as it's filled with buttons. I can't imagine I'll ever usefully employ the buttons but the tin and it's contents are marvelous.
This Christmas (as I adore Christmas cards and mailing them) I made a plan to use the buttons for our cards. It took a few moments of deciding if I really wanted to send out my Grandmother's buttons (and really only a handful of them when all was said and done) or if I should keep them and cherish them as they were in the tin for always. In truth the majority of them will be thrown in the trash come January. I like to imagine that maybe a few of the crafters I mailed them to will remove them from the card and actually use them for something but I'm not delusional. They will mostly all be discarded. But I went ahead with the plan. I sewed one and in some cases when a snowman was involved two buttons onto each card. I spent around 30 minutes sewing every one. I enjoyed the process much more than I should have as it became much more time consuming then I'd envisioned. I wrote a note to each recipient. I stuffed the envelopes, addressed them, and each button began a journey to some corner of the world it'd never seen before. I wrote a little note on the back of each card, "this card brought to you by Grandmother Sylvia's button tin."
Maybe I'm slightly delusional but rather than sitting in my basement for all time and maybe getting a good shake once or so a year these handful of buttons have taken in my eyes a beautifully poetic last journey; one of spreading holiday cheer. My Grandmother's buttons have traveled all over the United States this Christmas, to Hawaii even, and the UK and Sweden. I didn't send a photo with my cards this year. I only spent 20 cents on each of them. Some of them were, um, the first few I made were kind of scrappy. But I loved our cards this year.
I'm at a point in life where I'd rather simplify and just get rid of every single thing we own that we don't use than hold onto all the memories in physical form. I can picture a lovely home in my head free from clutter and excess and although it would have a few things in it that are purely sentimental it wouldn't have random useless nonsense that was owned by someone sometime that's no longer with us.
So, I inherited my grandmother's sewing table (actually I took it while everyone else was going through more important things... no one else seemed interested in it). My grandmother was a very proper English woman who was fabulous at gardening and sewing. I remember her most with dirt on her gardening gloves and a pile of sewing projects in her sewing room... My grandmother had a sewing room! I don't know anyone now a days who has an entire sewing room. I admire that about her. Sadly her sewing table has been sitting in my basement for years. I sew with needle and thread but I cannot figure out how to correctly use the sewing machine. I've tried. It hates me. I obviously need a sewing class or something. I've never used one of the hundreds of patters tucked away in the drawers. I have been using some of the wonderful assortment of thread. I've hardly ever used the neat tools that I just like to look at as if they're some sort of grand antiques. More recently I discovered the most fabulous round tin. It rattles with a musical beauty when you shake it as it's filled with buttons. I can't imagine I'll ever usefully employ the buttons but the tin and it's contents are marvelous.
This Christmas (as I adore Christmas cards and mailing them) I made a plan to use the buttons for our cards. It took a few moments of deciding if I really wanted to send out my Grandmother's buttons (and really only a handful of them when all was said and done) or if I should keep them and cherish them as they were in the tin for always. In truth the majority of them will be thrown in the trash come January. I like to imagine that maybe a few of the crafters I mailed them to will remove them from the card and actually use them for something but I'm not delusional. They will mostly all be discarded. But I went ahead with the plan. I sewed one and in some cases when a snowman was involved two buttons onto each card. I spent around 30 minutes sewing every one. I enjoyed the process much more than I should have as it became much more time consuming then I'd envisioned. I wrote a note to each recipient. I stuffed the envelopes, addressed them, and each button began a journey to some corner of the world it'd never seen before. I wrote a little note on the back of each card, "this card brought to you by Grandmother Sylvia's button tin."
Maybe I'm slightly delusional but rather than sitting in my basement for all time and maybe getting a good shake once or so a year these handful of buttons have taken in my eyes a beautifully poetic last journey; one of spreading holiday cheer. My Grandmother's buttons have traveled all over the United States this Christmas, to Hawaii even, and the UK and Sweden. I didn't send a photo with my cards this year. I only spent 20 cents on each of them. Some of them were, um, the first few I made were kind of scrappy. But I loved our cards this year.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Little Christmas Miracles
I'm more scattered brained than normal being Christmas is so very upon us so this post might turn out... random to say the least. Why is the Christmas season so hectic? Geesh! But still, I'm enjoying this Christmas more then ever.
A few days ago our neighbor who Abe and I brought the cookies to gave us a gift in return. The gift consisted of some homemade peppermint sugar scrub (with coconut oil) and a mason jar of peach crumb cake ingredients along with a can of peach pie filling. I made the crumb cake right away as I have a serious sugar problem. And honestly it was SOOOOOO yummy. My husband can't stand peaches so I never get to make peach crumb cake but I do love hot peaches and they're even better with yummy sugary crumble surrounding them. The hand scrub too, something I would have never thought to make for myself is the best hand scrub I've ever used. I love it! I was not expecting anything from her. It was unbelievably delightful to receive the gift. There's truthfully so much obligation surrounding Christmas that receiving an unexpected gift like that feels a little like a Christmas miracle; to me anyhow.
I recently posted a photo to a local helping hands facebook page of a large baby toy that we've had sitting in our living room for, well, about two years and that my son no longer plays with. I do hope to have more kids someday but I couldn't see letting this thing collect dust in my attic for who knows how long when someone could be playing with it right now. (it's not the farm Jessica) It's a nice large interactive toy. I met some people in the Walgreens parking lot today to drop the thing off. They were really excited about receiving the toy and just kept saying how nice it is. It was given to us as a hand me down by some friends. I had been meaning to get rid of it for a few months now. Even so I'm feeling really good that while I don't have tons of extra money, and bills are pretty much all getting paid late this month, and I wasn't able to get very nice gifts for my family still I was able to bless total strangers with a gift they really, really appreciated. It was very neat. My heart feels a little fuller.
I went to the chiropractor this morning. My wonderful insurance covered one whole visit this year. It seems that after you meet the $2600 deductible then they start picking up your visits BUT, here's the fun little catch: the insurance company only allows 24 visits to the chiropractor a year (that's what the office administrator explained to me). Guess when I hit the $2600 deductible? At my 23rd visit. That means they paid for ONE visit. I went into my appointment today trying to work up the courage to ask if I could pay for today's visit and my next visit next time. I really was not sure where I was going to come up with the money for today. I thought of canceling a few times but I figured I'd at least go in and see if they'd let me pay two weeks late. Just as I was about to ask her about the payment she said, "oh, turns out your insurance max visits is 26, not 24. This visit and the next one are covered since you paid for the last two already." It's only two more visits (as opposed to one) but it felt like a miracle to me.
I feel like there was something else I wanted to mention but... can't remember what it may have been.
I do hope you all are experiencing a wonderful Christmas season this year! I can't believe Christmas Eve is really tomorrow. My little Abe is so excited. I think he's going to be a bit disappointed however the day after Christmas when all the countdown bags are gone... just a little bit of Christmas reality I guess. Still, the Christmas cards we received this year will probably hang on the wall until March... mostly because I'm lazy but also because they just make me happy. Ooh, I did want to mention Christmas cards too. Maybe another time.
A few days ago our neighbor who Abe and I brought the cookies to gave us a gift in return. The gift consisted of some homemade peppermint sugar scrub (with coconut oil) and a mason jar of peach crumb cake ingredients along with a can of peach pie filling. I made the crumb cake right away as I have a serious sugar problem. And honestly it was SOOOOOO yummy. My husband can't stand peaches so I never get to make peach crumb cake but I do love hot peaches and they're even better with yummy sugary crumble surrounding them. The hand scrub too, something I would have never thought to make for myself is the best hand scrub I've ever used. I love it! I was not expecting anything from her. It was unbelievably delightful to receive the gift. There's truthfully so much obligation surrounding Christmas that receiving an unexpected gift like that feels a little like a Christmas miracle; to me anyhow.
I recently posted a photo to a local helping hands facebook page of a large baby toy that we've had sitting in our living room for, well, about two years and that my son no longer plays with. I do hope to have more kids someday but I couldn't see letting this thing collect dust in my attic for who knows how long when someone could be playing with it right now. (it's not the farm Jessica) It's a nice large interactive toy. I met some people in the Walgreens parking lot today to drop the thing off. They were really excited about receiving the toy and just kept saying how nice it is. It was given to us as a hand me down by some friends. I had been meaning to get rid of it for a few months now. Even so I'm feeling really good that while I don't have tons of extra money, and bills are pretty much all getting paid late this month, and I wasn't able to get very nice gifts for my family still I was able to bless total strangers with a gift they really, really appreciated. It was very neat. My heart feels a little fuller.
I went to the chiropractor this morning. My wonderful insurance covered one whole visit this year. It seems that after you meet the $2600 deductible then they start picking up your visits BUT, here's the fun little catch: the insurance company only allows 24 visits to the chiropractor a year (that's what the office administrator explained to me). Guess when I hit the $2600 deductible? At my 23rd visit. That means they paid for ONE visit. I went into my appointment today trying to work up the courage to ask if I could pay for today's visit and my next visit next time. I really was not sure where I was going to come up with the money for today. I thought of canceling a few times but I figured I'd at least go in and see if they'd let me pay two weeks late. Just as I was about to ask her about the payment she said, "oh, turns out your insurance max visits is 26, not 24. This visit and the next one are covered since you paid for the last two already." It's only two more visits (as opposed to one) but it felt like a miracle to me.
I feel like there was something else I wanted to mention but... can't remember what it may have been.
I do hope you all are experiencing a wonderful Christmas season this year! I can't believe Christmas Eve is really tomorrow. My little Abe is so excited. I think he's going to be a bit disappointed however the day after Christmas when all the countdown bags are gone... just a little bit of Christmas reality I guess. Still, the Christmas cards we received this year will probably hang on the wall until March... mostly because I'm lazy but also because they just make me happy. Ooh, I did want to mention Christmas cards too. Maybe another time.
Friday, December 19, 2014
Christ at Christmastime
For the past several years "the magic of Christmas" has been missing for me. I've chalked it up to being grown, to working in retail, and to not having sufficient funds. Christmas if very different once you've lost the magical Christmas mornings of your childhood. That's one of the things my mom always did very well. Christmas mornings were absolutely delightful. Working in retail reveals often times the worst in people. The madness of Christmas shopping isn't something you endure for how ever many hours you subject yourself to it but it's something you must suffer for weeks on end. And then there's money. I don't mind as much not having fabulously lavish gifts for myself as much as I mind not being able to spend copious amounts of money on everyone I care for. I'm pretty sure that giving gifts is my strongest of the five love languages and I do suffer at Christmas time with the inability to give well thought out, hopefully gleefully received gifts to everyone I love.
Things were supposed to change once I had children. It's said that the holiday glee of childhood returns once you're able to watch your kiddos experience it for themselves. This will be my son's third Christmas and last year at least was actually more frustrating for me then ever. I've celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmastime for my entire life. Santa Claus and his elves were always a fun story but my siblings and I never "believed" in Santa. Jesus was the reason for the season. Last year I noticed for possibly the first time how very removed from Christmas Jesus has become in our culture. When it comes to TV shows and Christmas marketing/ decorations, gift wraps, bags, kids books; you name it there is very little sign of Christ and the nativity left in Christmas. It was sickening to me last year and I was really sad for much of the holiday season at the revelation of what apparently Christmas is now about: giving and getting gifts. I get it that alot of people don't believe in Christ but that's what Christmas is for me.
This year has been very different, in fact this has been the best Christmastime I can remember and Christmas day itself is not even here yet. I have very little money to spend on gifts. I already know that I'll be getting some pretty small gifts myself. The holiday shoppers don't seem any less stressed or polite than years past. The television programming and marketing sure haven't changed. This year has been different thus far because I made a conscious decision to make Christmas about celebrating the birth of Jesus with my son and not about anything else. Our Christmas countdown has helped alot because we are reading scripture every single day about His birth and the Christmas story. In an effort to combat the Christmas programming that I do allow my son to watch even though it has nothing to do with why we celebrate Christmas I've been talking with him every single day about the Christmas story and Jesus. Just the other night I told him the story of Saint Nicholas before bed... which ended rather silly. I said to him, "now the simple story of Nicholas has turned into the giant story of Santa Claus." Then my two year old looks at me and says, "he was a giant? did he say fee fy fum? were the kids scared?" Uh...
This year I've been enjoying the simplicity of the Nazarene baby born in a stable, placed in a manger, and visited by shepherds and my son has been too. The peace and joy and holiday splendor that have come from truly taking gifts out of the equation are magical. It's not that we aren't giving gifts but this is the first year that I don't feel pressure about it and that in a way it doesn't matter. For me this is the first Christmastime where Jesus is the gift, the only gift that matters or means anything and I'm really really happy. Santa Claus is fun. Giving gifts is a wonderful thing. All the decorations and music and parties are great but I'm enjoying this Christmas more than any other because none of that matters this year.
Did you know that Rudolf the red nose reindeer (almost Rollo or Reginald) was created by Montgomery Ward department store in 1939 in an attempt to sell their own coloring books as opposed to buying and selling other coloring books? The simple fact alone that Rudolf was created for marketing purposes... yep. (and I love the little guy. he's adorable but... yep)
Monday, December 15, 2014
Merry Christmas to me/ A BRAND NEW SINK
When I was a kid our sink leaked, it leaked for a very long time. The smell under there, the rot, the mess... my mom never fixed anything so it was just another one of the broken parts of our home and it was gross. I don't remember exactly but I think it was a small leak too, probably a bad washer or something like that. Last night the pipe under our kitchen sink got a hole in it. It was very corroded so it was only a matter of time. My husband was at work and I was just about to get my son in bed and I felt like the roof collapsed on top of me. I think you have regressive flash backs in moments like this. I was imagining living without a kitchen sink for weeks, or possibly as horrid having to pay for a plumber to repair the broken pipe. It's Christmas time. I'm not entirely sure yet how I'm going to pay the mortgage this month and now this!!! I became physically nauseous and went to bed thinking positive thoughts with a knot in my stomach.
My dad gave us $50 at the family Christmas party the other day. I've honestly been dreaming about what I'm going to do with it. (I'm not supposed to "pay the bills" with Christmas money/ I've been scolded for that before) I would like to complain about the money going to fix the sink but honestly I feel more appreciative that we have the "extra" money for the sink repair as opposed to not having an extra $50 bill in my wallet right now and still having to fix it. This was a completely unavoidable problem.
I messaged a friend this morning who's really great at repairing things (I'm NOT talking down on my husband but he is absolutely not handy and is always fearful of making any situation worse if he tries to fix it (is there a term for someone who's not handy, like how you can not have a green thumb?)). My friend was glad to help but is in Chicago this week. I watched you tube videos for a good portion of this morning working up the nerve to do the fix myself. I picked up a box of sink plumbing pvc pipes and a joint wrench while I was working and this evening.... wait for it... I totally fixed the broken sink myself and there is no leakage going on down there at all!!!
I spent $25.75 on the fix and truthfully I feel like this little sink issue has repaired something inside of me. I am actually thankful right now that I had to spend $25 of my Christmas money on repairing the broken sink myself. (I will be singing another tune if the fix doesn't hold... but we'll cross that bridge IF we get to it) I feel like I've stared an old demon in the face and kicked it out of my life. I am an adult. I can take care of myself, with God's help always. I am not a helpless kid living in a home that's crumbling over my head. I am NOT! I feel completely on top of the world right at this very moment. I've bills that need paying and not a ton of money laying around to get them paid and yet I feel like a millionaire. This Christmas (for other reasons as well) has been the best Christmas I can remember ever experiencing and we're still over a week out! One happy camper right here!!!
My dad gave us $50 at the family Christmas party the other day. I've honestly been dreaming about what I'm going to do with it. (I'm not supposed to "pay the bills" with Christmas money/ I've been scolded for that before) I would like to complain about the money going to fix the sink but honestly I feel more appreciative that we have the "extra" money for the sink repair as opposed to not having an extra $50 bill in my wallet right now and still having to fix it. This was a completely unavoidable problem.
I messaged a friend this morning who's really great at repairing things (I'm NOT talking down on my husband but he is absolutely not handy and is always fearful of making any situation worse if he tries to fix it (is there a term for someone who's not handy, like how you can not have a green thumb?)). My friend was glad to help but is in Chicago this week. I watched you tube videos for a good portion of this morning working up the nerve to do the fix myself. I picked up a box of sink plumbing pvc pipes and a joint wrench while I was working and this evening.... wait for it... I totally fixed the broken sink myself and there is no leakage going on down there at all!!!
I spent $25.75 on the fix and truthfully I feel like this little sink issue has repaired something inside of me. I am actually thankful right now that I had to spend $25 of my Christmas money on repairing the broken sink myself. (I will be singing another tune if the fix doesn't hold... but we'll cross that bridge IF we get to it) I feel like I've stared an old demon in the face and kicked it out of my life. I am an adult. I can take care of myself, with God's help always. I am not a helpless kid living in a home that's crumbling over my head. I am NOT! I feel completely on top of the world right at this very moment. I've bills that need paying and not a ton of money laying around to get them paid and yet I feel like a millionaire. This Christmas (for other reasons as well) has been the best Christmas I can remember ever experiencing and we're still over a week out! One happy camper right here!!!
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Who Needs Presents When You've Got Cheesecake?
Our first Christmas party this year is in a few hours (as soon as my little one wakes up from his nap we'll be heading out). Instead of buying a gift for each of my 6 nieces and nephews (on my side) because we don't have the money for and sort of decent gifts I took $15 to the dollar store and bought 15 toys. I told my siblings ahead of time so they wouldn't be offended at our "little" gifts. I'm going to hand the 5 oldest three numbers each 1 thru 15 and they will get to choose gifts from the pile and open them one at a time in order of the numbers they get. I think it sounds like a fun game. They can trade off after it's done. I'm really amazed at some of the fun stuff dollars stores carry too.
My mom put me in charge of the desserts for the party. Very fortunately she paid for all the supplies I just had to shop and do the baking. I've got almost $9 worth of chocolate in that triple chocolate Ghirardelli cheesecake right there! I CANNOT wait to cut it up. I've also taken a second attempt at lemon meringue pie. I hope it turned out as good as the first one I made. There's some Russian tea cake cookies too because my parents LOVE them. But who doesn't love a cookie that's covered in powdered sugar?
This party should be wonderful. Mostly because I love spending time with my entire family and we really don't get together much more often than at Christmas. My kid is SUPER excited too so I'm looking forward to the event due to his excitement as well. I suppose I'd better get everything else ready and be off!
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Burp
For birthday party gifts I absolutely love to have little Abe paint the funny pages and we use the artwork for wrapping paper.
Sometimes however you may not notice until you're on the way to the party for the one year old nephew that one of the only legible words left on the page is "BURP!" I laughed. They are called the funny pages after all. But it was NOT my intention to have that one word left sticking out like a sore thumb.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
One of Those Rare Uber Accomplished Days
Today I made a visit to the chiropractor, went into work for the day, finished making a Christmas present for my mom, and melted together some homemade peppermint bark all by 5:00. Woohoo! Oh, and my letter to the editor was printed in the local newspaper today.
I'm pretty proud of my mom's gift this year. I spent a whopping $1.50 on it (for the navy paint). Everything else for it including the piece of scrap wood I found in my basement were items I already had around the house. The handwriting could be nicer. The hand painted letters could be way less "crafty" looking. And it could contain the month of October... I'm really awful at completing any task without a major glitch. This particular glitch was not measuring the circles to make sure I could fit 12 of them under the wooden header. I had it all complete before I found out I could only fit 11 months. Oops. I guess you can't be in our family if you were born in October (Starr, that means you can't marry a guy whose birthday is in October).
My mom has 4 kids, 3 in law kids, and 7 grand kids. With this hanging on her wall she shouldn't have any problem remembering birthdays (not that she does necessarily but this will make it easier).
I'm pretty proud of my mom's gift this year. I spent a whopping $1.50 on it (for the navy paint). Everything else for it including the piece of scrap wood I found in my basement were items I already had around the house. The handwriting could be nicer. The hand painted letters could be way less "crafty" looking. And it could contain the month of October... I'm really awful at completing any task without a major glitch. This particular glitch was not measuring the circles to make sure I could fit 12 of them under the wooden header. I had it all complete before I found out I could only fit 11 months. Oops. I guess you can't be in our family if you were born in October (Starr, that means you can't marry a guy whose birthday is in October).
My mom has 4 kids, 3 in law kids, and 7 grand kids. With this hanging on her wall she shouldn't have any problem remembering birthdays (not that she does necessarily but this will make it easier).
Sunday, December 7, 2014
It's the Season for Giving
The Christmas countdown is going so well. Every morning my little one opens a bag to find a single Hershey's hug, a Bible verse and a giving goal for the day. I've only done two little gifts so far, a hot wheels car that I got on sale for under 70 cents and a wooden owl Christmas ornament on sale for 65 cents that he was able to paint. Funny thing about that, if you give a two year old red, green, and white paint (that came with the ornament) for painting an owl, the owl will turn out brown in the end.
For the giving goals it's been super simple so far. We've only done two that required leaving the house. The one was when he picked out a gift from the dollar store for his fried Isaac and we brought it to his house. The other was when we baked cookies for our neighbor's Rick and Vicki and brought them next door to their house. Apparently giving is incredibly fun. This morning my little guy was running around the living saying, "I want to go to Isaac and Vicki's house again," on repeat. I think we need to bring someone else cookies in the very near future! I love that my son is having so much fun giving to other's this Christmas, even if sometimes it's just reading a story to mom or giving dad an extra big hug. It makes me so happy!
For the giving goals it's been super simple so far. We've only done two that required leaving the house. The one was when he picked out a gift from the dollar store for his fried Isaac and we brought it to his house. The other was when we baked cookies for our neighbor's Rick and Vicki and brought them next door to their house. Apparently giving is incredibly fun. This morning my little guy was running around the living saying, "I want to go to Isaac and Vicki's house again," on repeat. I think we need to bring someone else cookies in the very near future! I love that my son is having so much fun giving to other's this Christmas, even if sometimes it's just reading a story to mom or giving dad an extra big hug. It makes me so happy!
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Christmas Cake
What type of cake would you think appropriate to celebrate the birth of the Christ child?
My son is so excited to celebrate Jesus' birth that he's already planning the cake and balloons. I can't say I've ever had cake on Christmas day but I fully intend to this year (and I think I'll get a balloon or two for the occasion as well). I know the little guy is going to have us sing happy birthday to Jesus as well. Even though it's not His actual birthday, we will be celebrating His birth so why not? I have it in my mind to make a nicer looking version of the chocolate cake I blogged about a few months back... you just can't go wrong with chocolate and in my opinion it certainly is heavenly but maybe something lighter, brighter... hm. Decisions, decisions. I guess it's good I still have 18 days to get these things sorted out.
Do we have extra money so that we can enjoy a lavish holiday season? No. Are finances quite possibly tighter than they've been in a very long time? Yes. (it seems to be a common December issue though) Are we having a fantastically joyous festive holiday season already none the less? Yes!
Who needs money anyway?!?!
My son is so excited to celebrate Jesus' birth that he's already planning the cake and balloons. I can't say I've ever had cake on Christmas day but I fully intend to this year (and I think I'll get a balloon or two for the occasion as well). I know the little guy is going to have us sing happy birthday to Jesus as well. Even though it's not His actual birthday, we will be celebrating His birth so why not? I have it in my mind to make a nicer looking version of the chocolate cake I blogged about a few months back... you just can't go wrong with chocolate and in my opinion it certainly is heavenly but maybe something lighter, brighter... hm. Decisions, decisions. I guess it's good I still have 18 days to get these things sorted out.
Do we have extra money so that we can enjoy a lavish holiday season? No. Are finances quite possibly tighter than they've been in a very long time? Yes. (it seems to be a common December issue though) Are we having a fantastically joyous festive holiday season already none the less? Yes!
Who needs money anyway?!?!
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
I Think It's Time for Bed
Today would have been one of two more days I was going to allow myself to work on Christmas cards before I call it quits this year. When I arrived home from work my husband was sound asleep on the couch, my son was no where to be seen, and my house looked like a category eight tornado had blown through (this is a rare thing; finding hubby asleep when little Abe is not. little Abe was sitting politely on the potty doing his business)... fast forward several hours, my house is pretty much put back together and some cookies have been baked to bring over to our next door neighbors tomorrow.
No cards have been worked on this evening.
I'll give myself two more days still and then all of this talk of Christmas cards will be left in the past with different Christmasy topics waiting to unfold.
: )
No cards have been worked on this evening.
I'll give myself two more days still and then all of this talk of Christmas cards will be left in the past with different Christmasy topics waiting to unfold.
: )
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Dollar Store Christmas
Christmas is a time for giving: Today we should go to the store and buy a Christmas present for Isaac, wrap it, and bring it to his house.
Little Abe found the above written on a piece of paper in his Christmas countdown bag today. He was beyond excited as he listened to me read today's "do something nice for someone" goal. We took $2.12 out of his piggy bank (so we could pick one toy for Isaac and one for himself). We put the coins into today's bag and then we were off to the dollar store for a shopping adventure.
Little Abe found the above written on a piece of paper in his Christmas countdown bag today. He was beyond excited as he listened to me read today's "do something nice for someone" goal. We took $2.12 out of his piggy bank (so we could pick one toy for Isaac and one for himself). We put the coins into today's bag and then we were off to the dollar store for a shopping adventure.
I'll tell you what, the toy aisle at the dollar store is like little a piece of heaven to a two year old. This is only the second time we've gone there together. I personally get as much enjoyment out of watching him ooh and ahh over all the toys he gets to choose from as he does choosing I think. He picked a large blue bouncy ball with a flashing light inside for his little friend and a sheriff's kit for himself.
His buddy LOVED the blue ball. My buddy had a wonderful time giving the special present away. These bags are proving to be very fun indeed! I'd planned to only stop for a minute or two and instead the boys ended up having a drum session together. Pretty great day for my little guy I'd say.
23 Christmas cards are currently on their way to their respective destinations.
6 are waiting to be sent, for various reasons.
13 need to still be made, written, addressed, sent... but my list is growing daily.
There are a good 20 people more I'd love to send a card to but I feel it may be best to focus my attentions else where, I mean I've been making cards since October.
Who thinks I should set a cut off date and what's done by then is where it gets left?
Maybe this Saturday?
I must be going now. I have more cards to make.
: )
6 are waiting to be sent, for various reasons.
13 need to still be made, written, addressed, sent... but my list is growing daily.
There are a good 20 people more I'd love to send a card to but I feel it may be best to focus my attentions else where, I mean I've been making cards since October.
Who thinks I should set a cut off date and what's done by then is where it gets left?
Maybe this Saturday?
I must be going now. I have more cards to make.
: )
Monday, December 1, 2014
A Bit of Literary Art to Start off this December
The first of December is here. Christmas is rapidly approaching and the Christmas season is upon us.
I can see no better way for me to start off the month then by sharing a wonderfully entertaining Christmas story that I read on one of my absolute favorite blogs yesterday. It is an original story that I think is exquisitely written, wonderfully creative, and the ending is beautifully profound. I highly encourage you to stop by Frugally Challenged's blog:
Trundling through life <- linked here
and to read this fabulous story "Tea Break in the Archangels' Restroom." I had to giggle several times at how very English or British (I apologize at not knowing the most proper way to describe my thought) the Archangels in this story appear. And I giggled immensely at the angels suggestion that they should get to building "a very quick twenty first century hospital. And organize parent craft classes" in first century Palestine for the Christ child's arrival.
Here's to a wonderful Christmas season for one and all, free as much as possible from the stress, obligation, and hustle and bustle that so often can creep in!!! Simple can be (and maybe always is) so much more enjoyable anyhow. Also, and this I'm working very hard at focusing on this year, may we all (who recognize Jesus as Lord) truly remember the reason for the season :)
I can see no better way for me to start off the month then by sharing a wonderfully entertaining Christmas story that I read on one of my absolute favorite blogs yesterday. It is an original story that I think is exquisitely written, wonderfully creative, and the ending is beautifully profound. I highly encourage you to stop by Frugally Challenged's blog:
Trundling through life <- linked here
and to read this fabulous story "Tea Break in the Archangels' Restroom." I had to giggle several times at how very English or British (I apologize at not knowing the most proper way to describe my thought) the Archangels in this story appear. And I giggled immensely at the angels suggestion that they should get to building "a very quick twenty first century hospital. And organize parent craft classes" in first century Palestine for the Christ child's arrival.
Here's to a wonderful Christmas season for one and all, free as much as possible from the stress, obligation, and hustle and bustle that so often can creep in!!! Simple can be (and maybe always is) so much more enjoyable anyhow. Also, and this I'm working very hard at focusing on this year, may we all (who recognize Jesus as Lord) truly remember the reason for the season :)
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