1st book report

Jacob had his first book report due today. I went to the library and picked out a small chapter book for him. I really liked seeing his enthusiasm to read it and complete the project. I also really enjoyed working on this project with him. It was a book report "quilt" which I thought was a cute idea. Each square has something about the book, title, main character, child's name, favorite part etc. I put what I had left of my scrapbook paper (that I had used for a project for Jack last year) and made it look like quilt squares. He was so excited last night to complete the project.

Money Saving Monday(early)

I decided not to take pictures of all my deals this week since there were so many. Here are just some of my deals from the previous week:

From CVS:
free toothpaste

From Target:
Two Connect Four games for $3 each
two free sobe waters
one free vitamin water

From Harris Teeter:
Two free gatorades
two free BBQ sauce
two free Barilla spaghetti's
one free package of lifesavers sweet and sour gummies
one free uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
4 free taco seasonings
lots of items for under 25 cents
lots of items for under 1.00
Over $70 saved using coupons alone.

is it really worth it......

I know a lot of people who do not use coupons at all.....and that got me thinking...am I wasting my time on Sundays cutting out coupons? Well, I think after this week I realized I am not wasting time....I'm saving my family money. My first point.....yesterday I went to HT and saved $52.49 on my order. $32.57 of that was coupons I used!!! That's about enough money for us to go out one night as a family. I was quite proud. I went back today and saved $29.25.....again $18.64 was my coupons!! So I saved $51.21 in coupons alone this week not counting the deals for using my vic card. I love it when HT runs triples or super doubles, but I love knowing that in less than one week I have saved $51 just by cutting out coupons out!!******I just went back today for a few items I couldn't get at the other stores and saved another $21.60, which brings my total in coupons alone to $72.81!!!************

The grocery expierment

If you remember two weeks ago, I decided to try something different....shop for groceries for two weeks. Here is what I have learned: It did save a little money for us (not as much as I thought, but every bit helps). I really liked the way it saved me time. Last week, I didn't have to run anywhere on Wednesday after school and was able to get caught up around here. It also helped me ration out our food a little better! One other thing I learned is that my bread did not freeze well. I froze it until today and the buns got hard. I think I will do it again and if I still have good success, we will make this change in our household. So, here is my two week dinner menu:

Pizza/salad
chicken nuggets/french fries
appetizer night (french fries, sausage quesadillas)
eggs, bacon, pancakes
roast/potatoes/corn
meatloaf/green beans/bread
twice baked potato/salad
chicken Caesar wraps
hot dogs
tacos
surprise
Not sure what we are doing for Easter dinner yet
BBQ ribs, corn on cob, rice
pigs in a blanket

Hard working kids

Report cards came out for third quarter. Joshua and Jacob got A honor roll again and Jenna made Pastor's list (I think that has a lot to do with Lauren). We also have a famous person in our house. Jacob made the cover of the March addition of the Home Town Realty magazine, spotlighting SCS. Autographs anyone????

blessings in disguise.......

I had a hard time at first when I lost my T/TH class, however, I must admit this has been a blessing in disguise. I've been able to go on two field trips with Jacob and am planning on going with Joshua in April. I've been called to work, I've gotten things done around the house, I've run errands....and I love it. Yesterday I went with Jacob to Marbles Kids Museum. We also went to IMAX to see a 3D movie, UNDER THE SEA. It was such a fun field trip and all the kids seemed to have so much fun. Thank goodness for blessings in disguise!!!!

Braggin' Rights

Friday Jack's company had their annual ACC fun day and chili cook off. After our ladies group on Thursday, I stopped to get one onion and one pepper (I had everything else on hand). Anyway, I made chili for him. He called me Friday and let me know that out of 17 entries of chili, my chili came in second place!! My prize came from Williams Sonoma. It included a set of 4 chili bowls and 4 dish towels. I looked up the dish towels on line and they were $18 (an expensive place). Anyway, I am very proud that my chili beat out so many, and on top of that Jack was proud of me.

Money Saving Monday (early)

My freebies for the week include one box of rice krispies, two nivea lip care items, 12 pack of diet coke, two Gatorade's, and two propel waters (which I have really grown to like). The drinks were all mainly because I had $7 to expire, and there was nothing I wanted or needed to keep the coupons rolling, so I'll have to start from scratch again at Walgreens. The lip care and rice krispies were free from CVS and I was able to get money back to keep things rolling! Happy Monday!

10 honest things about myself

I was tagged by Monica to write 10 honest things about myself. This was kinda hard to do, but here is what I came up with:

1. I hate housework. I guess because it never ends. I also do not like cooking only because I can't come up with new creative things.
2. My stomach makes a lot of embarrassing noises during quiet occasions which makes me very paranoid.
3. I don't sleep well at night because I always worry my kids will wake up sick or something else.

4. I really want to go away somewhere a couple of days this summer with Jack, but don't know if we can.
5. I'd like to go away for a weekend by myself (to the beach or somewhere).
6. I snore, drool, moan, and talk in my sleep.
7. I'm a planner and I hate to be late!
8. I get stressed very easily
9. I can't wait till we get a bigger house....in a few years?
10. I've never used a garlic press and I don't know what a gravy strainer is!!

Answered Prayer.....my story

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a prayer request that was on my heart. I wanted to let you know that I received my answer last night and I wanted to share everything with you.

Back early February, I went for my yearly exam. Everything went well. Tests came back ok, except for my iron, which is very low (it always was during my pregnancies too). My blood pressure was up. The doctor asked about my periods (sorry men readers) and I told her they were coming closer together at times, seemed to be heavier and lasting longer. She asked if I wanted relief, and I said of course. She couldn't put me on birth control because my blood pressure was up. We discussed options and decided that I would like to go with an endometrial ablation (where they go in an burn the lining). I had a friend who had this done, and is very pleased with the results. Back to the story....she needed to do an ultrasound first before anything else could be done, so I did that. About a week later the phone rings and she told me that the top of the lining was very thick which means there was probably a fibroid tumor or a polyp there. Again, before they had to do anything, they had to test for CANCER! They had to make sure these growths were not cancerous. Now maybe I over-reacted, but to even hear that they have to test for this freaked me out. All I wanted was relief from my period, not discovering cancer. (I also got this phone call in car pool line). So, I had to wait for my next period and then schedule a biopsy. I'm really thinking the worse here. Cancer had never been mentioned during our office visit.

Monday I had the biopsy. Again, things started rocky. Jack took the afternoon off to be with me so that he could hear what the doctor had to say. About 15 minutes after he got home, the phone rang. We didn't answer it. Then, my cell phone rang....it was the doctors office. She had to cancel and switch my appt until today (Thursday). Are you serious? Jack said I kept my cool, but I thought I lost it with the lady. I hung up and just cried. Ten minutes later, the doctor called herself and said she COULD do it if I would come later.

The doctor said if they found cancer, she would do a hysterectomy. I got the results last night (I wasn't supposed to get them until today), and there was no cancer......yipee....did you hear me yelling yesterday?

Last night she called in a prescription for me to take for 14 days. About 3-5 days after that I will have a period. Once that is done, they will schedule outpatient surgery for me.....first they will go in and remove the tumor/polyp and then they will do the other procedure.

Thank you all for your prayers and for standing by me. God is so good!!

A New Expeirment......

So I am all about saving money. I decided to try something new this week and see if it works and if it saves me money. This week I wrote down EVERYTHING we were going to have.....breakfast, lunch and dinner. I included snack time for the kids at school as well as what I was packing in their lunch.....that was a hard job. I also had to think about when I had Bible study, when I don't get home till after 3, and when Jenna has soccer practice. I'm going shopping today for 2 weeks!! I want to see if it saves me time and money. I do realize that I will probably go back to get some fruit and milk, but I'm ok with that. I never know how much milk we will go through....sometimes it's a gallon, sometimes more, sometimes less....so I don't want that to go to waste. The same with fruit....I like my kids to have fresh fruit. I may find this to be too much trouble, I may see that it saves me time and money......stay posted in two weeks as I see how our family did. For sake of time and space and boredom from reading, I am only posting the dinner meals....starting today and running until Tuesday, March 23, this is what we will have (Of course I will allow for flexibility)

Chicken casserole
Pizza, salad
appetizer night....sausage dip, quesadillas, cheese fries
meatloaf, potatoes, green beans
burritos
twice baked potato, salad
pancakes, eggs, bacon
chicken and dumplings, green beans
chicken nuggets, french fries
tacos
steak, cheese fries
baked spaghetti
ribs, corn on the cob, rice
hot dogs/chips

If you give a mom a muffin...so true and funny

If you give a mom a muffin.....

Author unknown....



If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three year old will spill her coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do the laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over the boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer reminds her she needs to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook ("101 things to do with hamburger")
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse which is being dumped out by her two year old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year olds diaper.
While changing the diaper, the phone rings
Her five year old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend for coffee
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are.....
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Money Saving Monday (early) and misc.

My week was slow. Seems like the stores didn't have anything I wanted. I did snatch some of this mouth rinse for the kids and some of this body wash/soap. At least the mouth rinse came with a free travel size!!! Hoping for a better week ahead!!

I hope to post later this week details about the prayer request. I hope to know by the end of this week and am hoping for a great report to tell you. Thank you for praying!

Freezer Cooking Day.....

I started this morning at 8:30 and it's 9:30 and I am done! I made the English muffin pizzas and then I made these "brown bag burritos". I know the picture doesn't look that good, but let me say they smell wonderful. I'm not sure if I'll fix these as a meal or have them handy for lunches. I wrapped each one up in a paper towel and then foil. That way if we want a quick lunch we just have to take the foil off and pop them in the microwave and the paper towel should keep them moist.

One of my goals this year was to do more freezer cooking. I'd love to be one of those moms who spends one day cooking a bunch of meals at one time (some for a month). I have to admit I'm still a little scared about it and still learning because I'm nervous about what to cook, can it freeze, how do I freeze it....etc......but it's a start. I'm also going to make some freezer homemade mashed potatoes, but that has to cook in the crock pot for the day and then put in the freezer.

Friday Family Night

Last Friday we surprised the kids and went to Krispy Kreme (we finally figured out how to get there). Thanks, Rich and Lydia for the free donut coupons. The kids loved getting to pick out their own. As for me, I was perfectly happy with the HOT donuts that just melted in my mouth. I really could eat an entire box!! I was going to take a picture of the "HOT" sign but just as we walked out, they turned it off......we made it at the perfect time! I just love watching all the donuts on the assembly line. I would love to take a field trip here sometime during the summer!!

Prayer Request.......

I can't go into the details, but I would ask you to pray about something that is weighing on me right now. I had been praying last week about something, and finally got an answer, although it wasn't quite the answer I expected, and now I have to wait again for another answer to the same thing I had originally started praying about. (are you confused?) It will probably be late next week, possibly longer before I know the outcome of this request. All I can say is that I am very anxious about it and it is very important to me. I'm not good at waiting.....I hate it, but for some reason, I must wait and I reflect on the song (and I've heard it a lot lately on the radio).....I'm waiting on you, Lord. "I will worship while I'm waiting, I will serve you while I'm waiting..... Thank you my friends for your prayers!