Feeling distracted

We are still cleaning up from the yard sale & The Prince is recovering nicely. Turned out he had pneumonia. So he has been on an antibiotic which seems to be working well.

The yard sale was successful in a couple ways, the 4 families managed to clear out a lot of stuff & we made around $450 between us. Not too shabby for a really rainy busy weekend. We still have a lot left, but it is mostly the small stuff that is usually left. Some of it will get donated to a cat shelter for their yard sale and whatever is left will either get set out street side or taken to our food pantry.

I will work on our menu later. Right now I am off to set up the guest room!

Week in Review 6-25-08

WEEK IN REVIEW

The purpose of this meme is to record a weekly memoir of your life to look back on for your own personal reflection/enjoyment and for your children/grandchildren to enjoy and learn from your experiences. Don't you wish your parents/grandparents had left something like this for you?? I do!! Feel free to answer all or any...whatever you want to share and record, and feel free to add any subject I may have overlooked.



Week's Weather Rainy but comfortable weather. There was one really big thunderstorm that went through on Saturday

Life lessons -

Favorite Meal(s) - Pizza (takeout)

Treasured Moment(s) - The Princess's last t-ball game, rocket launching, The Prince is home sick.

Impacting News

National Gay Marriages legalized in CA over voter's will, flooding in the midwest

Local- nothing big really local, not sure about the cities, didn't watch the news!

Personal - The Prince is home sick, he might not make it to his last day of school.

Things I Read Finished "Interview with a Vampire" Browsing old Better Homes & Gardens and old Homes & Gardens to get ideas for plantings. All I really got was an urge to paint everything white...

*Movies We Watched - Iron Man, National Treasure 2, Alvin & The Chipmunks

*Interesting Internet - Discovered why the movie theater has those "no recording devices" signs, otherwise I've been researching more plants!

Talked with - Just people at the games, no one really stands out!

Places We Went - tball, baseball, pancake breakfast for class of 2010

Budget Savers/Busters- Another week of almost no grocery shopping, living out of the freezer & pantry, we're getting down to chicken & rice soup and vegetarian beans... better get myself to a store soon!!! (oh yea, yams I have a TON of yams!)

Blessings - we were all getting healthy until Sunday! Even the hubby's allergies were getting better.

Challenges Sick Prince, finishing the garden planting

Accomplishments moving our dresser upstairs; laundry; setting up a guest room upstairs, just in case it's needed in a couple weeks; last of the veggies are planted.

Family Happenings - last week not much but baseball

Photos (dresser before move , dresser cleared off before move, I don't have a pic of it in place upstairs but it is very neat & decorated, I think there are only 3 things still on it that were in the first pic)

Comment Luv Wednesday

Because I'm not sure if my "haloscan" comment thingy "follows" I am going to start a post series linking to the wonderful blogs (and their people) that come, visit & comment!

Queen of Good Intentions

Muthering Heights

Sit, Stay, Good blog

Homemaker Barbi

Taking the Challenge

Just another Tuesday

There is no real tackle today, just life!

The Prince is home sick, his last week of school & the next 2 days were only till 11:30 anyways. I hope he is well enough to go tomorrow. He needs to clean out his desk :)

Our yard sale is Thursday & Friday this week (of course it will rain) so hubby is out mowing the yard & we'll have to pull out the carport tent. Then there is bringing up tables & set up. My sister still has to bring her contributions & there are rooms I just haven't gotten to.

I am just trying to keep peace between The Prince & Princess, do the piles of laundry generated by the sick one and some minor cleaning.




So if you are feeling productive head on over to see what others are tackling today.

Yard Sale Saturday

I forgot to take pictures of the great buys I picked up at a local attic & cellar days. Here are 2 of my great finds. We were also able to pick up a bunch of clothes for the Princess and I even got a couple things too.





My 10 cent plate










The $1 three tiered tray.

Rewards Update

Let's see. My email has been overflowing with surveys, click through ads and offers

I have earned 1035 points at mypoints. Just from clicking through, completing a couple offers and some surveys, since April when I redeemed some points for a TJMaxx gift card. You can Earn Rewards at MyPoints.
I'm not sure what I'm earning points for yet, but I will probably have some purchases by the time I do. Maybe I'll get a CVS card for me, or a gift card for one of the many weddings we have coming up.

I have earned $19.13 at Inbox Dollars they require a balance of $30 for payout, so we're getting there!

I have redeemed e-rewards for a 2 year subscription to "Everyday Food" & a 1 year subscripiton to "Woman's Day." I still have $13 left in my account but there wasn't anything appealing in the $10 range besides the Woman's Day. Maybe there will be something nice in the $15 range when I get there.

I can't remember where I got the 2 year subscription to "Country Home" was from but that arrived this week.

I completed the required viewing for Adperk to get "Good Housekeeping" I am working on "Field & Stream" now.

I have also started collecting SheKnows points. I doubt I'll have enough anytime soon to get the Wii, but there are lots of other cool things to choose from!!!

I found this when I cleared off our dresser to move it upstairs (one more piece of furniture in place!)

This was a creation of my husband, using a tube from lipgloss the Princess got at Christmas & one of the LED flashlights I bought as small gifts, voila, one blue lightsabre. I thought it was very odd & yet creative!!!

Just one of those things that few would get, and are strange looking when not in context LOL!

One Word Meme

SAHMmy Says posted this meme she got from Ima on (and off) the Bima


Rules:

You can only use one word and it's not as easy as you might think. Now copy or
forward, change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only
use one word answers.

Here's mine:


1. Where is your cell phone? charging

2. Where is your significant other? Couch

3. Your hair? frizzy

4. Your mother? home

5. Your father? driving

6. Your favorite thing? chocolate

7. Your dream last night? playdough

8. Your dream/goal? happiness

9. The room you're in? dinning

10. Your fear? sickness

11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy

12. Where were you last night? t-ball

13. What you're not? thin

14. Muffins? blueberry

15. One of your wish list items? ipod

16. Where you grew up? NY

17. The last thing you did? vacuum

18. What are you wearing? pjs

19. Your TV? Off

20. Your pet? Hamsters

21. Your computer? nice

22 Your life? hectic

23. Your mood? grumpy

24. Missing someone? Sister

25. Your car? green

26. Something you're not wearing? shoes

27. Your summer? hectic

28. Your favorite color? red

29. When is the last time you laughed? morning

30. Last time you cried? Sunday

31. Who will resend this? Anyone!

Works for Me Wednesday #3

I think I am having one of those crisis moments that comes from realizing that the kids will be home an hour early for the rest of the school year, A WHOLE 7 days. And on the 7th day we have planned to have our yard sale they will be home at 11:30. I feel I have accomplished nothing and I am not ready for both children to be here for the whole summer. I will have the neighbors children until they start summer school. The Prince will have summer rec & reading camp, but still. A whole summer & I have not planned anything, eek!

So instead of giving into the chaos in my head, and instead of feeling like a complete failure and absolutely incapable of giving any kind of tip on any topic I will go get another cup of coffee & check my P.O.D.A. to see what needs to be done today. Maybe I'll play FlyLady's crisis cleaning broadcast. Because sometimes the only thing that is consistent at bringing me back to a sane place is the mundane doing of my daily tasks. Laundry, dishes, vacuuming these give me peace. How strange that sounds! If it were a nicer day here I'd go find quiet on the riding lawn mower. Maybe I'll go weed the garden. I will go into the play room & organize things a little while the Princess watches whatever movie Disney.com is streaming today. I only have a couple weeks left to complete the challenge from The June Roundup

Week in review 6-17-08

WEEK IN REVIEW

The purpose of this meme is to record a weekly memoir of your life to look back on for your own personal reflection/enjoyment and for your children/grandchildren to enjoy and learn from your experiences. Don't you wish your parents/grandparents had left something like this for you?? I do!! Feel free to answer all or any...whatever you want to share and record, and feel free to add any subject I may have overlooked.




Week's Weather We had hot days & rain with thunder & lightening.

Life lessons No matter how old you are bubbles are still fun

Favorite Meal(s) Grilled Chicken, corn on the cob & mashed potatoes

Treasured Moment(s) Attending Tara's wedding shower with Grace

Impacting News

National Meet the Press Anchor, Tim Russert dies of heart attack at age 58

Local nothing noteworthy locally

Personal Lindsay is home for a month,

Things I Read "interview with a Vampire"

Talked with Sisters in law at the shower

Places We Went baseball field

Budget Savers/Busters ate out twice this week but one night was pizza with the neighbors.

Blessings Mother in law is finally taking her cancer prescription.

Challenges Baseball!!!

Accomplishments Yard sale pile is growing & what we have out is priced & sorted

Family Happenings Wedding shower, no real Father's Day celebrations, because of showers!

Photos

For school project "what I want to be when I grow up" speech - Construction Engineer


Sunday assembling model rockets before we left for shower
The Princess' T-ball game Monday

Tackle it Tuesday #11

It's not a terribly impressive tackle, but a much needed one. The hair stuff! The Princess & I picked up a new storage container on our last trip to the store so we could organize the mess of hair stuff we have. Until I can pick up one of these it will have to do.


We pulled out the really tiny clips & bows for the yard sale & organized all the bands, clips, ties & bows. The larger headbands didn't fit in the new organizer, so I left them in the old basket we were using.

Menu Plan Monday 6-16-08

Another Frugal week here.

I did get to the store last week so we managed to pick up some staples.

The crockpot chicken didn't get made. Instead we marinated and grilled the quarters I bought on sale. I have a whole chicken in the freezer to crock pot this week.

What is going to throw a wrench in the plan are the 4 games & a practice we have this week. The only day we have off is Tuesday. The tball game was moved from Saturday to Monday, one was already rescheduled to Wed, baseball practice Thursday, game Friday & tball again Saturday. GOODNESS.

Monday - Tball game - Sandwiches, probably grilled cheese
Tuesday - Crockpot chicken
Wednesday - Tball game - hot dogs & tater tots
Thursday - Mac n cheese or some other quick pasta dish
Friday - Pizza - Homemade
Saturday - Grill
Sunday - lasagna

Free Magazines

A Call to Higher Places alerted me to a website Adperk.com that gives you magazine subscriptions for watching ads.

I completed the Good Housekeeping & will be going back for the Field & Stream. I am also waiting for the Country Living to be available. I have read people say they got their subscriptions, so I think it was worth my time. We watched the ads while we were waiting for the Live Streaming "Battlestar Galactica" to start.

What are you giving up?

Homemaker Barbi has written a post What I'm Willing to Give Up. So I am responding:

I have already given up TV. We turned our Sat off last month. We have not missed it much at all. We have been watching all our old DVDs & VHS tapes. We didn't miss "Lost" or "Battlestar Galactica" because they are available online. We even got to watch the Mid-season Finale of Battlestar before it aired on TV, cool!

As for the other stuff we used to watch, I don't think I miss it. We had finally watched enough of Charmed for a while. I still think there are a couple episodes I haven't seen, but I think I'll live!!!

I get updates in my email for the soaps I watched. Although really in the last couple years I haven't been paying attention that much. Things also didn't change too much either, at least not for the good!

As for news, we get all we need online. There isn't great local coverage on the TV anyways. I only buy papers on Sunday for the ads & coupons (and garden mulch!!!). There isn't much "news" in them anyways.

I am not into the current election hype, I made my choice a LONG time ago & the only thing that will change my choice between now & November would be withdrawal from the campaign.

I was sorry to hear of the passing of Tim Russert, though. He was a local boy & "Meet the Press" was the first show of it's kind I could stand to watch. We didn't watch every Sunday, but we watched regularly.

Things I am doing with my time instead of watching TV:
1. De-cluttering, my yard sale pile is H-U-G-E
2. Reading, letting my nerd roots show, re-reading the The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition) to compare with The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition). I also picked up Interview with the Vampire at a yardsale.
3. Gardening, We will be putting in the last garden this evening. I have lots of weeding & maintaining to do.
4. Hanging out in the yard with the kids
5. Baseball, baseball & more baseball. We have 4 games & a practice this week alone.

I'm sure we will turn it back on in the fall, or maybe not. We signed the Prince up for peewee football, so we will be busy with that starting in August.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Comments

It is also hubby's b-day so I am off to clean & make cake & yes when I wrote my menu for the week I had forgotten, bad wifey, bad.

Photo Friday

The Princess' last day of preschool was a picnic at our Community Park & the firemen brought a truck to show them how the water works.
And to hose them all off...



Lastly, because I REALLY need to be cleaning the house but I'd rather be...

Tackle It Tuesday

I have been brutally attacking clutter. The yard sale is the 26th and 27th so I haven't got much time but this is the pile so far. I still have a couple rooms left to go through but everything I find is going into one corner. After I get through the rooms I'll start organizing and pricing.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Something simple, I'm thinking breakfast but it's going to be hot and the kids have baseball practice. So could be grilled cheese sandwiches to go!

Tuesday: Homemade pizza

Wed: The Prince has a game at 6 so quick snack and a hot dog at the snack stand is most likely. Today is shopping day, so hopefully I'll be able to pick up some decently priced grill food.

Thursday: Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken

Friday: 2 options a) Grill b) Fish Fry take out. ~ If you need to know anything about a western New Yorker, it's that Friday is for fish fry!

Saturday: 2 games and most likely another grill night

Sunday: Wedding Shower for me and the Princess so hubby and the Prince are on their own

Why Cheap is not always Frugal

DH is upstairs on the other PC researching repair parts for his miter saw. Apparently the flat parts that are supposed to keep the blade straight are not very flat anymore (if they ever were). We haven't used it a ton for actual miters, mostly just straight cuts. But I noticed when he cut the trim for the bathroom the angles were "off".

I discovered that the tilt was set to below 0, Dh had only paid attention to the angle it's self. Apparently there are parts that are worn or bad that would have made this error less likely.

We knew this wasn't a top of the line power tool when we bought it but I did figure that it would make it through the "little" bit of trim work our house requires. And it makes me angry that after maybe 2 years of owning the tool & maybe having used it 20 times it needs repair.

Thankfully it seems the part is fairly common & we should be able to upgrade it when we replace it. How inexpensively I don't know yet.

GFS - I've been!

It's been a few weeks since we were there but it was a really cool place. I am hoping to get back before too long. My Mom bought more than I did, I really was only looking for bulk yeast (found it!). She bought some chicken salad that was better than any I've ever made, and I make pretty good food!

Just figured I'd share if anyone else has driven by & not gone in yet. Especially great if you are having a party. They seem to have all your catering needs, without the membership fee (which ROCKS). Next time I'm buying a can of hot fudge, it's the only thing I really miss about being out of the ice cream business...the 10 pound can of hot fudge!!!

Anti-Procrastination Wednesday

As I am sitting here lost in the "Mom I'm bored" WFMW...
My anti-procrastinations for today will be:

Dentist Appointments
Eye Dr. Appointments
Finish my Tackle it Tuesday project (I was grossly sidetracked by DH & cooking)
Gathering more for the yard sale.

Also writing out my shopping list including borax so I can make homemade silly putty

WFMW - Mom I'm Bored

I really do dislike these words, mostly because when I say them I really do mean it. Unlike the way kids just toss it around because they can't think of something to do.

I usually steer them to the back yard where we have a swing set, sand box, sided trampoline, yard, batting cage, play boat, bikes, scooters, slide, garden... If it's yucky I send them to the playroom. There they have tinker toys, legos, blocks, barbies, dolls, kitchen stuff, cars, balls, tents, books, crayons, tractors, countless happy meal toys that they HAD to have, etc., etc., etc.

But then you know this because you probably have it all too, so what do you do when there really is NOTHING to do. Trying to think frugally I try to use what I have. Cardboard boxes become something else, we break out the paints, playdough (bought or homemade).

But the best so far was the day we spent making CD-Rom fish (the freebies we always get in the mail or old ones) some construction paper for lips and fins.

Of course you can see I am a very talented mouse artist (NOT)...
But you get the idea, we used regular glue & cut a length of yarn to hang them from. This takes 2 CDs shiny side out. We glued all the parts to one and then glued them together.

The kids gave them as Father's Day gifts to the Grandpas. We also made some ornaments using some left over trim (I have a lovely furry pink one with lace string). We made some look like flowers with petals... The options are only limited by your imagination & the number of CDs you have around!

May Goals Wrap Up

1. Budget our money better We got behind again (just keepin it real). The last paycheck is still lost in the USPS somewhere so we were caught unprepared for that. Plus the added expense of all the baseball stuff. Oh why didn't I have summer children!

2. Pay down our debt We are still on the set schedule so we are -$600 on our loan but still only -$320 on other stuff.

3. Use savings, rebates & misc found money to fund our emergency fund. Dh transfered the money from our savings to our checking, we don't know why he just did, so now I have to transfer it back, but when I do I'm sending it straight to the ING account.

4. Blog daily. I haven't been daily but I've been multiple when I do. Which is more annoying?

5. Work on DIY project everyday. We got the hotwater tank switched out, more gardening done, DH is working on our winter supply of wood, we moved the table/island into the kitchen, I think my DIY right now should be more on the decluttering of it all!!!

6. Do better with cards for family & friends. Think I should just toss this one for the year & pick something else!!!

7. Focus on more MYO foods. Living out of the pantry has helped too.

8. Eliminate more clutter Monday is big metal pick up day, we will be putting our stuff out, if the Village doesn't get it some scavenger will.

June will be another interesting month, we have to get caught up, but I also have 2 wedding showers, birthdays, & Father's Day. I am the type of person that usually picks up things on sale for these occasions but DH doesn't so I am constantly at odds with him over it. My gift closet is gone & I know that it is contributing to my current stress level. But then by month's end we should have our stimulus check. I am just hoping to get the 25% squirreled away before it all gets spent.

June Organizing Round up

This month is the playroom so I am all in! The playroom will be changing & I'll need to be organizing it anyways. We aren't sure what the room will become (I was thinking storage for tools, indoor work bench, minor repairs) but it may end up being the playroom, who knows! The kids both will have large rooms & the ability to keep all their stuff in them so we'll see.

Tackle it Tuesday #9

Besides tackling my pedometer (which reads 8770 for yesterday) I need to clear off the dryer and washer again. I'm not sure what about these areas says "hey put stuff here, even if it belongs somewhere else" but alas I am again in need of clearing this "Hot spot".



I'll post the afters when I'm done, ewwww.

First T-ball game

This is the real reason out April & May budget were shot to hell. Note the pink spikes, helmet & very WHITE pants. The pants are 2 sizes too big for her so she is wearing a belt. I'm not sure how I managed to get them clean but I did, so they are white for her next game!!!
She really did a good job on the field, can't ya tell??? (Pink glove, camo no less)


We also had to buy a tee so she can practice in the batting cage at home (yes we have a full size batting cage 12x12x40 feet) and a pink bag to carry her things in (TJMaxx woohoo). The bat she uses is also hers, it's purple with pink grip tape. We had that last year, I don't remember why!

Poor thing ended up on the RED team, sigh, at least it's only 5 games that she'll look like an obnoxious Valentine's Day card.

My Garden #3

We have only 1 bed completely fenced so the other hasn’t been planted yet. I am hoping to have it up by the weekend so I can get my tomatoes & peppers in.

Lettuce – Doing well

Carrots – doing well enough that I think I can remove the window that I have over my “cold frame” (apparently I need to weed them).

Spinach – Hasn’t sprouted yet

Watermelon – one survived transplanting, will have to re–sow I really only wanted 3 or 4 plants

Pumpkins – 4 have survived, I will be planting another couple seeds

Tomatoes – I have 9 cherry & 4 regular. I will go buy a pack of regular for earlier picking. The seeds I started 8 weeks before the frost are not as far along as I think they should be.

Corn – I have some ruby seedlings to go in this weekend, a few peaches & cream variety as well, I will also start some directly in the garden

Cukes – I have 10 plants between the regular & lemon shaped all doing well

Beans – I think I might lose a couple plants but they seem to be thriving.

Pole Beans – Haven’t finished preparing the pole but the seeds have sprouted

Green Peppers – Sprouted & not nearly as far along as I would like

Jalapeno peppers – Not sure if these guys will make it, the 6 seedlings I have seem to be failing.

Wild Strawberries – what is left of them in the yard after mowing, we did leave a bunch of plants undisturbed up by the house.

Strawberry plant – only one came back this year from last but I think it has several flowers on it.

If I can keep the critters away I should do fine. (our back yard has recently been visited by a family of bunnies)

The neighbor kids started some peas & Black Eyed Susans at school that I have been put in charge of & we are going to plant some sunflower seeds too.I need to build some trellis for the vine plants, finish my pole bean structure and mulch the flower beds. At least that's what I plan to get done by the weekend!

Menu Plan Monday

We signed up for a local walking event that goes for the next 4 weeks so I am trying to plan walking time in around the baseball schedules and everything else we have going on. We took a brief walk this evening, it's about a mile. We are lucky to have a Rails to Trails just up the road from us. It runs all the way to the school so we take it frequently, but tonight we all had our pedometers on! While we were on the road I had a whole wheat pizza crust rising. I am starting to get better at the pizza crust thing, but I'm not deli perfect yet! Lunch was a chicken BBQ hosted by a local fire department. It's one of several annual fundraisers they have so we try to go every year. My Dad paid for us all to go, but then they take most of the leftovers!!!

Then we moved to the school for their annual Fling hosted by the Wellness committee. It was a fun couple hours, the kids played on the new playground & at several other activities & the best part, FREE! I think this has been the first clear and almost warm day since they started, last year it rained. Such is the weather of WNY in spring!!!

I am trying to clean out the freezers, they are just a mess & we need to replace the bulk storage freezer, so there may not be a huge variety in my menu, but it is truly pantry/fridge clean out time! Especially since I am trying to avoid buying as much as possible, just the basics!


Monday - Individual Pizzas (provided by neighbor) for quick before practice meal, hubby & I will eat leftovers 6PM practice Prince

Tuesday - Shells & Cheese - homemade. I just have shells in the pantry, I also have some ham leftover from a spiral ham I bought at Aldi when they had them marked down. I would put in peas but I think I am out & may not get to the store before then. If I don't I will use the broccoli I know I have.

Wednesday - Spaghetti & Meatballs, I have some baby spinach in the fridge I will mince into the sauce, they didn't notice it hte last time (homemade meatballs, jar sauce) Preschool picnic, 5:15 practice Princess

Thursday -Chicken and biscuits, I'll used whatever cream of soup I have and my biscuit baking mix

Friday - Something quick like hot dogs, game night & I'll be yard sale-ing all morning. Baseball Game 6 PM

Saturday - Grill Night, I think Burgers unless I find a good special on some steaks b-day party Prince, tball game Princess

Sunday - No clue! Defeats the purpose of a plan but It will probably be leftover night, unless it's an icky day & I throw together some pizza dough.


Check out other plans