WWHD?

So, after my last post, I got to thinking...if hubby were home and I asked him to fix my sewing machine, what would he do?

Given his upbringing and his parentage (and the fact that my MIL gives all the men vice grips practically every Christmas) I went to the tool drawer, found one of many pairs of vice grips and used them to beat...err...I mean, fix, my sewing machine!

So, I managed to complete the machine sewing on one insert (thanks to the girls taking an unprecedented 3 hour nap!...of course, since Eva has pink eye and a fever, I'm guessing that may have something to do with it!)

Once Eva gets out of bed and eats her snack (Charlotte is happily eating, already) the three of us (four with the dog) will go outside so the girls can play and I can turn the insert right side out and hand sew the last side!

Now my big dilemma is: do I go to the scrapbooking crop that hubby is willing to let me go to (given I was away from home last night, too), or should I stay home, lock myself in the laundry room and see if I can knock out 4 more of these things??

(image: http://www.photosharingforum.com)

Foiled again...

Maybe I need to rethink this whole homemaker thing...I just don't know if I am really cut out for domesticity!

I mean, there are basic tasks that I SHOULD be able to handle as a homemaker...ironing, for one (which I lamented about my skills on here a few months ago), cooking, which I at least do well enough that the family MOSTLY doesn't complain (thank goodness I don't have picky eaters!), and one would think working a sewing machine that I've had for 2-3 years would be among the skills of a homemaker.

It is a war every time I get that dumb thing out (okay, hubby actually has to get it out because we have to move our deep freeze to get it off of its shelf in our laundry room!) Most of the time, I can handle some basic sewing (such as hemming hubby's pants to 26 inches, since the shortest I can ever purchase are 29) with several rethreadings (and heaven help me if I have to wind a new bobbin...thankfully, I generally keep blue thread in the machine since most of my mending is hubby's work clothes!). Today, however, the sewing machine has won!

So, my goal for this afternoon is sewing some inserts for...well, the term I've learned at some diaper sites is "mama cloth" so I'll go with that...

I have several ratty prefolds (toddler size) that were partially destroyed when I procrastinated washing diapers for too long, and the ammonia ate away at the cotton (we also lost several diapers and about half our medium covers to mildew...long story...Charlotte was getting too squirmy to diaper, so about 1/2 the time we resorted to disposables...that combined with a diaper pail that could hold 4-5 days of diapers...not good!) After a particularly long cycle, I determined that I wasn't going to buy anymore disposable "mama cloths", and I have been formulating a plan to use these diapers for longer than I should have, and now my need is getting critical.

So, the goal was for me to get some inserts made during nap time, with the theory that next pay period I will buy some fabric to make covers similar to this pattern. Good theory, huh?

Well, until I bent the needle of my sewing machine very badly, and discovered (I've never had to change the needle on the machine) that it is in there VERY tightly, and my big, burly, strong man (okay as big, burly and strong as we have around here) already went back to work. So, I decided to come blog about it while I brainstorm a way to get that silly needle out so that I can finish some inserts before I run out of my small stash of disposables!

Since hubby knew of my plans, as he was leaving for work he asked me "do you think that maybe you should reevaluate your life goals?" I'm starting to think he may have been right!

I am now one of "Those" moms...

You know, I made all sorts of stupid assumptions (hopefully I didn't actually tell them to people...I'm hoping I just thought them!) before my kids were old enough to become severely opinionated...

One that hit me this morning was this:

I always thought scornfully that I would never allow there to be a dozen open boxes of cereal in my house. I figured that it was just a lack of discipline that lead parents to buy a variety of cereals for their picky eaters, and then allow them to eat half a box, and start another new box of a different variety of cereal.

My philosophy was that we would not have more than two open boxes of cereal at a time. There is just no need for that many different varieties of cereal all at once!

Okay, so the day is now here...I went to pour myself a bowl of cereal, and opened a new box of a different variety of cereal. Right now we have the following cereals in our pantry:

Rice Krispies (almost empty)
All Bran (almost empty)
Cheerios (almost empty)
Wheat Chex (okay, generic ones, but about half empty)
Raisin Bran (I think it may not be open, but hubby may have opened it)
Raisin Bran Crunch (I opened it yesterday)
Smart Start (the cereal I opened this morning)
Frosted Mini Wheats (opened yesterday for Eva - Barbie on the back of the box)
High Protein Crunch (two bags, unopened...I occasionally eat this over yogurt)
and Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal (opened)

Yeah, I have become a mother I never intended on being!

Get To Heaven. Bring Your Brother.

Well, I said that I'd have a few reflections on the Mother's Day of Reflection I attended on Saturday. So, I'm going to try to remember all of the really good parts of Danielle Bean's talk. (Since it was a day of relaxation and reflection for me, I didn't take any notes...though in retrospect, it might have been easier to write about had I taken some!)

She had eight different ways to be a happier mother. My favorite tip was "Do what you're doing". In other words, focus only on the task at hand, even something simple like tying a shoelace...we shouldn't be distracted mothers...the tasks that make up our life are important, even the small menial ones.

Another great point was "Focus on long-term goals", and honestly, because I am such a goal setter (to a fault) I didn't really get this one until she mentioned a banner hanging at one of her friend's homes that reads GTH BYB, which of course stands for (as my title stole) Get to heaven. Bring your brother. Our long term goal should be getting ourselves and our family to heaven. We should not worry about what we don't accomplish in a day, as long as we are moving closer to God, we are doing exactly what we should be doing.

I don't remember the words Danielle Bean used for this one, but the gist of it is that we should not underestimate ourselves. We should not allow motherhood to be an excuse not to do things. We should not be a "slacker mom" who allows herself to NOT do things because motherhood is so overwhelming. For instance, many times people may tell us that it is okay not to have a prayer life because we have small children, but that underestimates our abilities...and we should not allow ourselves to use excuses like that.

Of course, we also should "be less busy." We should be home more, and more focused on our vocation as wives and mothers. Since there are different seasons in a woman's life, there are different tasks that fit with each season. What you did before you had kids may not be feasible with small children.

Another key that I don't remember her wording for, was not focusing on material things, and she pointed out that this includes appearances. We should take care of our bodies, of course, but we should not focus on beautifying ourselves to live up to the worldly standards we see in the media.

Okay, so getting 5 of the first 7 isn't too bad! Her final point was the one she most wanted us to remember: PRAYER!

We should always work prayer into our day. Prayer does not need to be separate from our day. We can pray for each member of the family as we fold their clothes. We can pray in thanksgiving as we prepare meals for all of the abundances in our lives. She strongly encourages a morning offering...giving your whole day to God in advance.

I have a long way to go in some of these areas, but they were all good things for me to hear. The other speakers also had some great things to say, as well. (Though I have to admit, I missed a chunk of Father's talk because I was in confession!) The final speakers were a married couple who have been married for a large number of years...their presentation was on "Love is a choice". It was a good reminder that although I may not always "feel" love for my husband, I can make the choice to love him and serve him every day.

Menu Plan Monday - My 100th post...

Hmmm...fitting that my 100th post is menu planning, since I've made ten gazillion meals for my family (of course, that is an estimate!)

Due to a mix up on our SHARE order this month (I ordered a produce package and two petite packages...hubby picked it up and they had us down for a variety package and two petite packages) we have virtually NO produce in the house, so I will have to do a little bit of shopping. Honestly, though, since we have so many convenience foods in the house, I'm not going to be doing much in the way of cooking. I just finished baking two loaves of bread...I'll probably have to do another batch of bread before the week is over (homemade bread disappears much more quickly than store bought!)

Monday: Ham Sandwiches and Baked Chips (Ham from SHARE, Chips from Safeway Savings Rally)
Frozen Pizza (from SHARE)

Tuesday: Spaghetti (possibly will do meat sauce, with meat from SHARE)
Ham Steak and Au Gratin Potatoes (We did get a ham steak from SHARE, but I'll use up one from last year's pig, instead)

Wednesday: Chicken Tenders and French Fries (Chicken from this month's SHARE, French Fries from our Freezer grab bag last month from SHARE)
Crock pot Moroccan Casserole (recipe from the Frugal Menu Mailer at Saving Dinner)

Thursday: Patty Melts and Baked Chips (hamburger patties from SHARE...hubby raved about his lunch all afternoon last time I did this with patties from SHARE, so hopefully he'll enjoy it again!)
Frozen Pizza (from SHARE, I have Bible Study so hubby and the girls are on their own!)

Friday: Tuna Helper (might as well keep with convenience foods!)
Cheese with Broccoli Quiches (from SHARE, I may not be home, as there is an all day scrapbooking crop that I might go to after hubby is home from work)

Saturday: Leftovers/Fend for Yourself!
Lemon Chicken Scallopini and noodles (recipe from Saving Dinner)

That's it! I'm looking forward to very little time in the kitchen this week...hopefully I'll get some deeper cleaning that keeps getting put off done instead! Lots more menus are up at Org Junkie!

Back from the city...

It is SOOOO nice to be back home! Traveling with both girls by myself wasn't really that hard, but traveling in general is just pretty exhausting.

So, the funny thing about this trip was that there were two shining, wonderful parts of the trip...but a whole lot of annoyances the rest of the time. I think I got the message that God was trying to send to me this weekend...people, not things or my pride, are important. I KNOW this, of course, but I guess I need a refresher course every once in a while.

I've been stressing out lately about ways to save money. We are trying to save over $1000 per month on a salary of $2500-$3000 per month (depending on the month)...so I've been trying to use more coupons (which is a reasonable goal, I think), but I also got it into my head that I could do a bunch of shopping in Denver to save money.

Finding a store in Denver is pretty hard for me...I just can't handle the traffic and finding places. So, here's what happened: Walgreens, got charged wrong on one item, didn't notice, didn't get $2 coupon for purchasing another set of items, and couldn't find several of the free after rebate items. Also couldn't find the old or the new months Easy Saver catalog. Used children's clothing store: took 3 tall trash bags in, sat there for 2 hours while they went through them (all were unstained and in good condition) they chose to buy 10 items for $17...I had to then locate a Goodwill store to drop them off at (I guess they will do more good for a charity than for a business anyway). Safeway, bought 25 items from the Savings Rally list, should have received a $20 coupon, but got a $10 one instead, was told the wrong info by the assistant manager, and after several phone calls, I stopped back by the store to get the other $10. And finally, to top things off...took my SIL out to dinner with the girls to thank her for watching them. Charlotte completely freaked out and was screaming...I kept taking her in and out of the dining area to annoy the fewest people possible. Someone in the bar complained (after coming out and giving me dirty looks) and the bartender basically asked me to leave the restaurant, when I refused, she suggested I take Charlotte outside until she calmed down (it was 30 degrees), I refused again, but was so upset by the whole situation (the manager told the complainer that we had every right to be in the restaurant...so that was nice)...it was very hard on my pride because I think of myself as a reasonably good mother, but I know the impression that many people got of me there was not that good.

The shining wonderful moments were: the Mother's Day of Reflection (I'll post more about it when I have collected my thoughts), which was wonderful, we had a Mass, confessions, three speakers, a rosary, breakfast and lunch. There were more than 100 Catholic moms there...so cool to see so many people! Also, we met some friends from college at their parish for Mass, and then took all the kids (their 5, my 2) to the zoo. The kids had so much fun, and it was so great to catch up with friends (it's hard to really keep up when we live so far away from each other.

So, it was like being whacked across the head again...what I need to be focusing on more are my relationships...both with God and with neighbor...and worrying and planning a whole lot less!

Pray to God, But Row For Shore???

So, I am finding today's reading from Jeremiah challenging. Here is my paraphrase (and, of course, the fact that it is MY paraphrase could be half the problem...) Men who rely on themselves and other humans are like a bush in a desert, but a man who trusts in the Lord is like a tree by a stream and doesn't have to worry about drought.

I guess my issue is...how much should we rely on God, and how much should we rely on ourselves? Obviously, I think there is a combination needed, but I don't know how to work that out in my head!

I watched a Dr. Phil the other day about a couple with 7 kids and no job...they were relying on God perhaps too much, because the husband wasn't really working to improve the situation. I felt for the couple because they got dragged on the Dr. Phil show by the wife's parents, and they weren't bad or lazy people...they just kept waiting for a sign/a direction from God...but in the mean time, things were just getting worse for them. Obviously, I don't think that God wanted this family to fall into such dire straights (they were living in a house with no water and no gas and were a week or two away from foreclosure), but I am sure that God will use it for their good.

Of course, I think it is a lot more common in our society to rely too much on ourselves and to ignore God...there are thousands of examples of that all over the place. But what is the happy median? How do we make sure that we are relying on God, but working towards something (hopefully, God's will)?

We're planning on going to daily Mass this evening, so I'm hoping that Father's homily is on this reading!

I don't even have the energy to come up with a title...

Last week was very frustrating...nothing in particular was wrong...both kids were on the mend, normal amount of running around, etc.

I am just having another one of those days!

I ordered a diaper off of www.DiaperSwappers.com, and had all sorts of frustrations with paypal...including my account being unable to do bank transfers, a double transfer into paypal from our checking account (this one was my fault...I transfered in the money, then paid a person, which caused an automatic transfer of the same amount) and finally, even though I CLEARLY remember clicking the ship to address for this house, when I checked it today, the ship to address was our old house (where we haven't lived for over 2 years...) and to top it off, the lady had indeed mailed it to the wrong address (not her fault, of course...but when you hope somebody is procrastinating, they never are!)

So, hubby worked it out with the one nice lady at the post office up there (there is one guy that is just a pain...I had to print off the internet at the postal service website the definition of media mail because he wouldn't let me send BOOKS media mail! Okay, I know I should just get over it...) and I have to call my MIL to go pick it up when it arrives.

I've been working on kids clothes all week long...we went through all the clothes from the attic, and now I have 3 tall kitchen bags of clothes to take up to Once Upon a Child when I head to Denver this week...plus a large black ForceFlex trashbag of clothes in more worn condition for Goodwill. I finally have that done, and still need to clean out the car for the trip and pack.

Add on top of that, I've had a stuffy nose and sore throat all week (nothing more than irritating) and Charlotte is firmly in "destruct-o-baby" mode today...

I just am so tired and worn out about being a mom right now. I so need this day off this Saturday! Okay, I am now done complaining, and I will work on changing my attitude to a more positive one!

Hmmm...I don't know how to feel about this...

On the one hand, my blog is mostly about my life as a mom to little ones...on the other hand, I did spend a year in a PhD program...

TV Reviews

Menu Plan Monday

Yet another Monday is here...and this week I am back to my normal cooking philosophy of taking as little time as possible to prepare items, and sticking to things that everyone likes! As usual, I will add some sort of frozen veggie to almost every meal.

Monday: Spaghetti with meat sauce
Pork Chops and Stuffing

Tuesday: Leftover quiche (made with leftovers...not a leftover itself!)
Frozen Pizza (hubby has a soup supper with his K of C meeting)

Wednesday: Soup and sandwiches
Ham Steak and Scalloped Potatoes

Thursday: Sloppy Joes
Lemon Chicken Scallopini (from www.savingdinner.com) and noodles

Friday: The girls and I are going to Denver...so I'm sure that I'll get a fish sandwich at "'Donalds" while the girlies enjoy a happy meal...

Saturday: I get to go to a Mother's Day of Reflection and see Danielle Bean (yeah!!!) plus breakfast and lunch are included (double yeah!!!) and my sister-in-law is taking the girls for the day and hopes to take them to see the VeggieTales movie (triple yeah!!! though I have to admit, I would like to see the VeggieTales movie, too!)

Sunday: More Denver in the morning, drive to mother-in-law's town to go to her parish's family fun night and meet hubby there...so no cooking for me on Sunday either!

Go check out other fun menus at OrgJunkie!

Just call me Pedro...

Subtitled: why I need spiritual direction.

So, I have felt pulled towards finding a spiritual director for a number of years now, and this week's Women of Grace chapter challenged us to seek a spiritual director. It would be so much easier if God would just drop one in my lap so that I don't have to ask someone...but I digress!

Since I am a little bit of a type A personality, I harassed hubby all the way home after a "date night" about how to pray for a spiritual director. I was contemplating a novena, and I wondered about whether there is a particular Saint who might be of assistance in finding a spiritual director...maybe St. Teresa of Avila (after she came up in Women of Grace, Bret brought her up, and she turned up in Father's homily today, she's seeming very likely!), maybe St. John Vianney, etc. I'm wondering if my desire to do a novena is just to put off the inevitable need to just ASK someone to be a spiritual director...particularly since I was wondering if a 54-day novena would be better...

So, Father's homily today was all about how Peter was a man who just would not shut up and listen. That Peter was a man of great ideas, and wanted to do great things for God...but Jesus had to tell him to "get behind me, Satan" because Peter did not look at things through the eyes of God, but through the eyes of men.

I'm really not doing Father's homily justice (I did have a squirming baby, who shortly after the homily threw the biggest temper tantrum that the church has ever seen in the un-insulated cry room)...but as he spoke, I really felt that I am very much like Peter! I have all these great ideas that I want to do for God...but I am not very good at checking with God to see if what I want to do is God's will for me (I'm guessing that a lot of the time, it is not!)

So, I guess that maybe God is trying to tell me to stop procrastinating the spiritual director thing...I'm definitely going to pray about it...but I think I'll try to pray about it in a way that I can't control!

So, do you have a spiritual director? How did you find that person? Any advice for me? (I know, I know...let the Holy Spirit take care of it!)

Coupon Giveaway...

NerdMom over at Making Money, Keeping Money is having a coupon giveaway this week with twenty coupons, mostly personal care/household items, all you have to do is a leave her a comment about what coupon you'd like to see in a future giveaway. Go on over and check it out if you use coupons.

Speaking of coupons...I am trying to get back into the habit of using them. It makes it hard when you live in a rural area to get coupons to begin with...

We don't get the Denver paper, and on the few occasions that we have bothered to purchase it, the coupons were missing about 50% of the time. Hubby recently came home and told me about a website (RedPlum) that he THOUGHT would send you the sunday coupons by mail...so far as I can tell, you can just save and print coupons there. Although, the saving coupons feature is pretty cool! I can just click save on the coupons and then go print them out if I find a good deal on the product. The site doesn't have near as many coupons as the average sunday paper, but it might be worth checking out if you like to coupon.

Maybe we need to move to a state that likes kids...

So, this morning I counted collection at church. Each week two people have to work together under the supervision of the church secretary (who uses it as another excuse to fill my children up with candy, of course!) I enjoy it quite a bit (because I am that much of a dork!) After we are done counting, we have to go to the bank together and put in the deposit.

Today, I worked with an older gentleman...he is very nice and I like him very much. Anyhow, as you could probably guess, anyone who volunteers to count collection has an interest in money. On the way back from the bank (where he very shrewdly pointed out an error in the teller's counting) he asked me if I had done my taxes. I told him that I had indeed finished. He asked if I had mailed them in. I told him that I had filed my federal taxes (no mailing...I e-file if I'm getting a refund), but that I hadn't mailed in my state taxes, since we owe them money.

Now, I've been experiencing some bitterness about taxes ever since finishing our taxes...we are poor enough that we don't pay any federal taxes (thanks to the child tax credit and our two little tax deductions!), but apparently the state sees us as rich, as we owe them more than $400 (in addition to the almost $300 we paid in throughout the year!)

So, the gentleman I count collection with told me that their state taxable income was negative! I was a little bit flabbergasted, since our taxes were so high for the state. He explained that his social security and his wife's social security incomes are not taxable...and further, his military retirement is not taxable either.

This, of course, just increased my bitterness about the state...but I'm working on getting over it...

I wonder if there are any states that like working people with kids more than seniors...

Woo hoo!!! I'm still appropriate!!!

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My first meme!

Okay, I've finally been tagged for a meme...now the problem is I have to think of people to tag now!

That Book Meme (which is about to show truly what a dork I am!)

I was tagged by Christine over at Good Company.

Here are the rules:

1)Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)
2)Open the book to page 123.
3)Find the fifth sentence.
4)Post the next three sentences.
5)Tag 5 people. (This assumes that I know 5 people who blog who haven't already done this one!)

So, the books close at hand are 1)The Art of Natural Family Planning, 2)God Help Me These People Are Driving Me Nuts, 3)Pat the Bunny, and closest because it is at the top of the stack--Fertility, Cylces & Nutrition. (I am such a dork!)

So, here goes:

Small problem...there aren't 5 sentences on 123...the end of a chapter, so here is the 5th sentence: "My breasts hurt so much sometimes that I can't even hug my husband."

The quotation continues: "Other times they feel uncomfortably full, but I'm not nursing. Please don't tell me it's my coffee--I'll give up anything else!"

The answer begins with the third sentence:
It probably is caffeine, as you've no doubt suspected by the correlation between your coffee habit and your symptoms.

Great, now people will find me because of the word breast...I should go find one of those "your blog is rated" tests about now!

I tag Whimsy (since she is one of my few readers!), Theresa at Heckboys, Dietrich over at wombs of life (that had better have a different one than Whimsy) and because I've run out of people to harrass who have blogs...I tag my hubby who should start a blog to answer this!

Menu Plan Monday!

So, here goes week two of menu plan monday. I have to admit that I am not that new to menu planning in general, I've been trying to do it for a couple of months now. It is nice to have some accountablity (and it's great to be able to come to my blog to go directly to the recipe I need, as well!)

Monday: Charleston Chicken Sandwiches (wrap recipe) with celery sticks
Sirloin Tip Steak Stir Fry with brown rice
Tuesday: Leftover Stir Fry
Roasted Chicken Breats with Couscous
Wednesday: Cold Chicken Satay Noodles (from Rachael Ray's "Just in Time")
Spicy Pork Steak with Spanish Rice
Thursday: Happy Valentine's Day LUNCH OUT!!! (yeah!!!!)
Barbeque Meatballs and Baked Potatoes
Friday: Tuna Helper (it's Lent...and it was on sale!)
Lentil Soup with Whole Wheat Bread (This is the only bread we eat now)Saturday: Leftovers/Fend for yourself
Canadian Bacon Pizza on Whole Wheat and Honey Pizza Crust

Looking forward to checking out other people's menus! Go check them out at OrgJunkie!

Gardening plans...

I love to can...I enjoy cooking and baking...I love having fresh ingredients on hand...

However, I just have trouble getting excited about gardening!

I've had 4 vegetable gardens in my life. One at my parent's house while we were waiting on family housing at the university, not a great plan, as we had moved by the time most items were ready to harvest. I did, however, make my first ever pressure canned item...12 jars of spaghetti sauce...AWFUL recipe...I still think that the 12 bay leaves really should have read 1-2 bay leaves!

Our second one was at a community garden at family housing...all went really well until serious watering restrictions were put on the gardens, and we were only allowed to water for 15 mins per plot three times a week...of course, EVERYONE had to water on the same days, and there was only one hose...so we had to wait in line for an hour or more just to water.

The third was at our first house...I was VERY pregnant with Eva, which made everything difficult! Of course, Eva was born in late August, so I did get some canning and freezing done, but not to the extent that I would have liked.

The fourth was the following year. Gardening was quite a bit easier with a one year old than while hugely pregnant. I did a lot of canning and freezing this time...I still have some of the canned goods, and I gave a bunch of them to my MIL 6 months ago, or so.

So, I haven't had a garden at our new house (that we've been in for two years) and I'm gearing up to have one this year. I participated in a phone conference from the Urban Homemaker about gardening on Thursday, and have been printing articles to figure out how to best do this gardening thing this year. We have plenty of space, but we also have a pretty serious sandbur problem. I'm trying to figure out what veggies I should start with.

I know that I want tomatoes, probably some peppers, and some cucumbers. I've not had much success with beans or salad greens in the past...I know that I can grow zucchini, I'm just not sure I want to! (Although, I don't know my neighbors very well, so I probably could drop bushels of zucchini on their porches!)

Do you have any suggestions for easy to grow vegetables? I'd love to branch out from the types of foods we can get at our supermarket, but don't know which are relatively easy to grow. For instance, we can't get leeks, or any types of greens other than spinach, green leaf lettuce and iceberg...I'm sure that there are tons more, but my brain isn't coming up with them right now...

What is most worth your time and energy to grow? Any gardening expertise you'd like to share with a novice gardener?

Sick kids and Women of Grace...

Well, both girlies are sick right now...they each have at least one infected ear...one might have two...I'm not totally clear on it, even after an HOUR at the doctor's office.

I think that I may just have "sucker" written across my head...either that or I just have really bad timing for doctors appointments. I ALWAYS seem to get the med students (not that I mind, but with two sick kids and a hubby looking at the clock every 2 minutes because his boss was dumb enough to tell him to come back to work as soon as the girls appointment were over...AND it being during naptime...it was just not the most fun hour of my life!) So, after the med student was done figuring things out she went to talk to our doctor for 15 minutes, and then he came in for about 10 to confirm and write prescriptions.

Which I dropped off at the pharmacy on the way home. Hubby said that he'd pick them up on his way home from work. He forgot (which isn't suprising, I'd have a hard time remembering, too!) went back, got EVA's prescriptions, told me they didn't have any for Charlotte, so I had to run back to the pharmacy before it closed (10 mins) to get that straightened out. It turns out that Charlotte wasn't in their computer. 14 months old, and this is apparently her first prescription! I'm so proud!

So, I have my Full of Grace study group this morning, and one of hubby's aunts is being very nice and is going to watch the girls for me. (I don't want to get other people's kids sick!) I've been very challenged by a lot of things recently...and I have a lot of thoughts running around in my head...hopefully soon I'll be able to get them to settle down so that I can get them written down! I'm glad I'll be doing this study again with my bible study group here in town...I'm going to need the reinforcement!

I've had an epiphany for Lent!

...wait...wrong liturgical season! (Okay, I'm a dork...when I was writing religious ed curriculum for 3-4 year olds, I popped out of the basement, and told hubby that I just had an epiphany about Epiphany...it's been a lame joke in our family ever since...)

On to my thought: I've been having trouble coming up with some sort of Lenten sacrifice to do. I tend to come up with huge plans that are hard to keep up with, and I am trying to be less controlling, so I knew that I couldn't do something that would control the whole family. I've also been making a lot of changes and putting a lot of effort into my prayer life as I've being doing the "Full of Grace" study group. So, I was kinda at a loss until showering this morning...I was looking at the sink afterwards and all the clutter that has collected there. It's something that I just don't want to do...it really doesn't bother me that much. Hubby, on the other hand, used to be a little bit of a neat freak, so I know that at some level, things like that do bother him.

That's when it hit me! I could make small sacrifices every day for my family. I have some St. Therese sacrifice beads...so my Lenten sacrifice is to make 10 small sacrifices per day. So, things like cleaning off the sink, cleaning the toilet (yuck!), diaper dunking the 3rd poopy diaper of the day rather than leaving it for hubby, putting away the rest of the Christmas decorations, etc. (I'm sure that it won't be hard to find 10 things a day that I just DON'T WANT to do!)

So, that's my plan! I'll be starting with that sink very soon!

Disposable Free Night...

Okay, I admit it...I am not nearly as hard core of a cloth diaperer as I thought I would be/intended to be.

As soon as Eva started needing a diaper change in the middle of the night (I mean, as a toddler...I did change her during the night when she was itty bitty!) I ditched the cloth diapers at night. So, Charlotte, naturally has used a disposable virtually every night of her life (okay, when she was itty bitty, I may have kept her in cloth, too! As soon as they move out of my bed, however, I do NOT want to have to get up in the middle of the night!)

So, I recently obtained 7 pocket diapers...greatest things ever! Had I known how great they are, I would have asked for them rather than prefolds and covers at my baby shower...of course, there is a chance that they have improved quite a bit in the past 4 years.

The diapers were Charlotte's Christmas present from my MIL (thankfully, she sees diapers as an appropriate gift for a one year old...my mom thinks only TOYS will do!) I got to pick them out...so I chose a variety of styles. In the one size category, I have 2 Haute Pockets (1 snap, 1 velcro), 2 Tiny Tush Elites (1 snap, 1 velcro), and 1 Bumgenius. I also got one large Fuzzi Bunz, and one large Pocket Change. My favorite by far are the Haute Pockets...but I love all the one size. The only problem I see with them is that Charlotte may outgrow them (I know Eva would have!) before potty training...but then again, as she is my shrimp (50th percentile for height and weight) maybe I won't have that problem. My least favorite is probably the Pocket Change...but that might change!

See, the Pocket Change diaper came with two inserts...not sure what either are made of...one is terry cloth (maybe??) Well, it's the same material as the Haute Pockets inserts, and the other is ?? (no idea on this one...flannel? hemp??) the same material as the inserts for the Tiny Tush Elites. So, last night, feeling brave (and sleep deprived from Eva being sick) I stuffed both inserts in the diaper, and put Charlotte to sleep at 8. She did wake up at about 5:30, but hubby gave her pacifier back to her, and she went back to sleep without even getting a change...and SHE'S STILL SLEEPING!!!! It's almost 8 am! YEAH!!!

So, I guess maybe someday I will be as hard core as I have always wanted to be!

Menu Plan Monday

I'm sitting here working on my week's menus, and thought it might be fun to join in with the Menu Plan Monday crowd! Keeping a few things in mind: Hubby is home for lunch every day of the week, and two friends just had babies so I'm making freezer meals this week (and doubling them so that I can feed us, too!) Also, most meals will include me pulling out a frozen veggie and nuking it, but I don't plan those in advance. So, here it is:

Monday: Pasta (leftover) with Spaghetti Sauce (leftover)
Sour Cream Enchiladas (from our family cookbook)

Tuesday: Cheese Pizza (finishing off the leftover sauce)
Chicken Breasts with Spanish Rice

Wednesday: Tuna Sandwiches (with nothing...it's a fast day)
Veggie Lasagne (small amounts...it's a fast day)

Thursday: Soup and Bread (maybe canned, maybe homemade...we'll see!)
Pork Chops with stuffing

Friday: Leftover Veggie Lasagne
Lentil Rice Casserole (a la Tightwad Gazette...in my crockpot)

Saturday: Leftovers/fend for yourself lunch
Buckwheat Pancakes and Bacon

Now, feel free to go check out tons more menus (most vastly healthier than our this week!) at OrgJunkie.

Congratulations GeekyCyberMom!!!

...who is the winner of a copy of "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. She blogs and podcasts over at Tales of A Single Parent. Congratulations, GeekyCyberMom--I hope this can help you get started on paying off those student loans and finding financial freedom!

What is it with grandparents??

Okay, so first of all, I love my in-laws, and I am sure it is not just them (my parents would probably be equally guilty if we lived closer to them!)

Yesterday, I drove up to in-laws town to ride with them up to the big city (okay, the pretty dinky sized city that impresses those of us in towns of 2,000 people!) We got to do some shopping. We went to JCPenney, Bob's Unique Camera and Gun (okay, it wasn't Bob's I don't remember the name...), Dollar Tree, (My MIL and her exchange student went to the Buckle instead), Walgreens, and Walmart.

It was a pretty exciting trip for me, as I had a bigger budget than anticipated. Shortly before I left, I checked our account online to see how it compared to Quicken, and found out that we had recieved a reimbursement from hubby's employer that I had forgotten about. (It was seriously delayed when his boss ended up in the hospital and unable to work for 2-3 weeks). Best thing? I found a really pretty purse on clearance for $19.99 at JCPenney, and they were doing a 50% off the clearance price sale, so it was $10 and some change with tax. (I was planning on waiting one more month to try to find a purse at a thrift store in Denver, but I figured I'd probably have to spend at least $5 at a thrift store, and this way I have a purse I can use!)

So, all went well. I let Eva pick out something at the dollar store to keep her occupied. She chose ABC cookies and shared them very nicely with Charlotte. Then comes Walmart!

I started shopping first, since I had a pretty big list, and eventually the in-laws caught up with me, and the girls wanted to go with them. As I was leaving, I heard MIL tell Eva to have grandpa take her to look at the toys. I specified before I left "NO BUYING TOYS!!!" Do you think that helped???

NOPE! So, an hour or whatever later, when they finally were checking out, I met up with them, and of course there were new toys for each girl. Grandpa and Eva had picked them out. For Charlotte, they chose a Dora the Explorer plush doll for ages 3+ (Charlotte is 14 months!) and for Eva they chose an ATM bank, which upon further investigation, is for ages 6+ (she's almost 3 1/2). The ATM bank requires that in order to open the drawer, you must have the card in the bank, you must push the withdraw button, key in the amount you will withdrawl, press the withdraw button again, and key in your four digit passcode. I had to repeat this sequence about 5 times on the way home until she fell asleep in the car!

Fortunately, my in-laws traded cars with me so I didn't have to move two sleeping girls and all my purchases to my car. So, I need to go get dressed to drive back up there for my "Full of Grace" study group meeting...then drive home this afternoon, then drive back up tomorrow because hubby wants to watch the Superbowl there, but we have to go to church down here first.

Did I mention that it's a 40 mile drive???

A Prayer in Time of Debt

I just recieved this prayer through a yahoo group I belong to (Catholic Curriculum Swap Chat), and given my current giveaway for Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" book, I thought this was very fitting. It comes from the Rural Life Prayerbook (one I probably should look into!)

A PRAYER IN TIME OF DEBT

ALMIGHTY, everlasting God, we beg of You to help us soon to pay off our
debts to our fellowmen. Give us strength and courage to persevere until the
last penny is paid. Give patience to those to whom we are in debt, and let
them not treat us unjustly. Help us have great confidence in You and in the
workings of Your providence, trusting that You will always direct things to
our greatest good.
Make us also fully realize that no debt to our fellowmen can begin to equal
the debt that we owe You on account of our sins, to say nothing of the
immense debt we owe You for the gifts of Your divine grace. These we could
never pay at all but for the coming of Your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. To
Him be all honor and thanksgiving, now and forever. Amen.