Things I have splurged on…

Things I have splurged on since our Tax Return came on Friday:

• New sponges for the sink
• New toothbrushes
• 2 plastic storage bins
• Pantene Shampoo
• ICE CREAM!!!

It is nice to have some money in the bank again!  Thanks everyone for your prayers last week, this week has been a complete u-turn.  :)

Weekend Poll- Romantic?

Weekend Polls

I’ve decided to start a new blog meme, just because everyone is doing it (Charlotte has her Monday Musings, Erin has her Thrifty Thursdays).  I don’t have a snappy day-of-the-week name for my polls, hopefully you’ll let that slide.

I can’t guarantee I will post polls every weekend, or that even if I do that they’ll be interesting.  You see, I have a strange thought process… so things I think may be funny/interesting to ask, you all may very well feel are weird and unanswerable.  I’ll try and throw some normal ones in there too.  Who knows, you all may not even like taking polls, and it will be a big bomb.

To start things off I am going with a personal poll question.  I myself have not decided which one I would pick.  And this really is how Nick and I started our journey towards marriage.  Really.  Romantic, huh?

Life has ups and downs!

Sometimes I think God must throw a whole bunch of stuff at you at once to see how you handle it.  Do you blame Him?  Do you get mad at others?  Do you laugh it off?  Do you look and find the positives anyway?  This has been one of those weeks.  And I have had a wide range of reactions.  Let me recap:

• Thursday: Elijah got the cocoa, gave it to Elena, and they both had a cocoa throwing party behind the couch.  It was all over the place.  Elena’s hair was a completely different color, it looked like it had been dyed.
• Friday: We have a sleep number bed.  Meaning it is filled with air.  My side got a hole.  In the middle of the night it deflated and all of the sudden I was sleeping on a plastic board.
• Saturday afternoon: Bad news from unemployment… everything is on hold (at best) or off (at worst) from January on.  No back pay we were hoping for, and no more future payments.  Maybe things will be fixed next week during our scheduled call with them…?
• Saturday: Nick and Tom work on the brakes, to fix the leak.  Success!  I think…
• Sunday morning: Not complete success.  Wrong brake fluid.  Meaning the whole thing has to be flushed.
• Sunday afternoon:  Missed Peyton’s b-day party due to the brake situation.  Nick and Tom had to fix it then, or wait a week for everything/one to be available again.  5 hours of work?  This time it was a success.
• Monday:  Nick was headed out to find work and noticed a flat tire!  Not too bad, we have a pump, so we just threw the pump and extension cord in the trunk and used the car anyway.
• Tuesday:  Fine I think.  Nothing much happened.  It was weird. Oh wait, nothing big.  But the car CD player shut down flashing the words “AMP GUARD” as it died.
• Wednesday (today):
• Elijah locks the bathroom door behind him.  I don’t know how, because I can’t even lock that door to save my life!  The door is still locked by the way, haven’t bothered addressing that problem yet.
• The tire finally completely craps out, as does the pump.  Nick attempts to put on the spare in time for me to go out to my new job training (tutoring center).  Problems.  Lots of problems.  I am waiting to hear what is going on.
• While waiting, Elijah is playing with his remote control car.  Somehow he gets the antenna stuck in between a plug that is already plugged in and the socket.  Sparks.  Burns through the metal antenna and breaks it off.  Everyone is safe though. Crisis averted.
• I hear from Nick, things not going so well.  It’s hailing now.  He doesn’t have the right tools.
• So I call my new boss, tell him I can’t make it, my cell phone drops the call.  For the next 20 minutes all cell service was down.  Finally I get through to my boss and everything is fine.  He didn’t think I hung up on him, believed my crazy tale, and will give me my schedule for next week.

I won’t even bother telling you all the emotions I have felt over the past week.  Some of the stuff was not so big, but because it came after a big thing (unemployment news) it seemed huge.  Thankfully by today I am able to laugh about all this stuff.  It has been a crazy week for sure, and through it all God still protects (car issues, socket fright!) and provides for us!

Elijah Finds Breakfast

Many mornings Elijah finds himself breakfast.  He likes to search around for what he wants to eat, and so far he has always picked breakfast appropriate foods to eat.  Usually it is something like yogurt, fruit, or cereal.  I encourage him to find his own food because I like independent children.  All the tasty, desserty stuff is locked away, or on a high shelf that he can’t reach.

Or so I thought.

Nick and Elena were still sleeping, so Elijah and I ran downstairs to watch Up.  As soon as we got down there Elijah said “Hey, I want grapes!”  So I told him to go get some.  He was upstairs for an unusually long time… especially considering he was just going to grab the bag of grapes and bring them back down.  I promptly started to worry about what it was he had found to eat and asked him to come back down.

“OTAY!  I’m bringing my food!”

Exhibit A:

Please take time to notice all elements of this photo.  I first saw Cottage Cheese and thought, excellent choice- good job Elijah!  But then I saw the chocolate smeared all over his face.  What in the…?  Where is THAT coming from?  And then I noticed the cute little addition of eating with a medicine spoon.

Exhibit B:

Inside contents of said Cottage Cheese container.  Wondering what this disgusting looking concoction is?  Why it’s cottage cheese and chocolate syrup of course!

Breakfast of Champions!

Club Initiation?

This morning Elijah found some Burt’s Bees chapstick I have that I don’t really wear because the stuff is PINK.  As in, so pink it makes your lips look like you have sucked on a pen kind of pink.  Well, he found a new use for it.  Body paint!  Elijah and Elena came into my room this morning with matching pink chapstick stripes down their bellies.  I deduced that this was some sort of club initiation, because after they showed me they proceeded to go around following and copying each other.  It was very cute.

Elijah: Go over here!

Elena: Over here!

Elijah: Heeheehee!

Elena: Hehe!

Elijah: Where are we going?

Elena: Going?

They marched around the room doing this for a while, meanwhile I just got to lay in bed and enjoy it all.

Mischevious

The other morning, we were all playing on the big bed before getting up to face the day.  Elijah was busy jumping around, while Elena was over with Daddy poking him in the face and eyes.  Nick scooted her away (telling her not to poke him in the eye anymore) and proceeded to talk to her about her behavior.

Nick:  Elena, you shouldn’t do that, it hurts.  You know, I’ve noticed that you’ve been getting a little more—

Elena: Promptly turns head and puts her fingers in both ears.

Me:  Holding back the laughter.

Nick:—that you’ve been getting a little more mischievous and snarky lately!

Chase the Sun

On Saturday we decided to go out for a drive and see if we could find some sun because there still wasn’t a whole lot at our house.  We picked the right direction and drove up the coast a little ways.  It was gorgeous out, a little chilly but clear and sunny.  On the way back, we hopped out to roam around Wilder Ranch for a bit.  Which we were almost foiled in doing because the kiosk was closed and I had no small bills to leave in the envelope.  But, turns out, there is a part of the highway you can park along and it is actually a quicker walk from there to the farmhouse than from the pay lot!  (Although I am all about supporting our State Parks, I consider this their fault for not having the kiosk open on a Saturday, where I would have been able to get change for my $20.  So it was either we not visit at all, or do it for free and make the Blacksmiths who were showing off their mad skills happy that someone was there).  Anyway, I snapped a few pictures:

This is Elijah asking “wat’s dat smell?” There was a large puddle in the coop that was in fact causing it to stink more than usual:

I like this picture even though Elijah isn’t too thrilled. Of course right after this, he gave a great smile for me… but my battery died.

Summertime! In Janurary…?

These videos were taken on January 30th.  This is what my children do when there is any amount of sun out.  Obviously that means it is swimming/get wet kind of weather!

Baking and Housewifery

It finally clicked this week that I have been a complete lazy bum when it comes to baking.  I know how to bake.  I have been baking for years.  My mom taught me faithfully while I was living at home.  Yet why do I not bake often in my own home?  Is it because I like to be healthy and avoid all those carbs?  Hahahahaha…no.  It comes down to the fact that I am lazy.

Yes, yes, I am saying that all mothers who don’t bake are lazy.  That is exactly what I am saying, so shame on all of you who don’t bake.

Wait, I take that back… that’s not what I’m saying.  I just had this realization that I was being lazy.  Me.  Myself.  And here are the reasons why:

1. As stated above, I know how to bake.  Bread for instance.  I used to sell homemade bread.  So yeah, it’s not like it’s a struggle and takes me a long time.
2. We are tight with money right now.  So why am I going out to the store and buying bread, cookies, etc. when I know it is cheaper to make them?
3. I have time.  I stay at home.  I only work 7 hours a week.  From home.  Bread in the oven while tutoring?  Not a problem.
4. My kids like it when I bake.  They let me bake.  I know this isn’t the case with a lot of moms, it just makes things more chaotic and disastrous if they try and add baking to the mix of the day.  But not here.  Elijah likes to help.  Elena likes to eat.  It all works out well.
5. I don’t have a car.  So, really, going to the store is more complicated right now then just baking what I need.

So you see my friends, I have no excuse.  I was being a lazy housewife.  The good news is, I have resolved to change all that.  I baked some bread this week, and made my family some cookies.  They love me for it.  (And the cookies are already gone).  It feels good to know I am being productive, saving my family money, and serving them carbs that are healthier than some of that store bought crap I was buying.

Let’s see how long this lasts.  Hopefully I can keep it up for a while.