WE got a bit of rain yesterday. Between three and five inches of rain. How much rain is that? Enough to wash out and puncture the natural gas supply line that supplies our town and one other, which means...no natural gas.
No hot water. No gas for the stove. No showers. No washing dishes. No cooking. At the earliest, this will be resolved tonight, although I'm seriously doubting that it will happen that soon.
Now, no showers I can live with. We can heat enough water in the micro for sponge baths and even hair washing, if need be.
No washing dishes I can also live with. We can scrape them very well, and again heat enough water in the micro to give them a good scalding to make sure we don't attract any vermin or other assorted ickies.
No cooking. That is an issue. See, we've planned for a power outage. In the winter, you can shovel out a snowy area and set up the grill and you're good to go. Generally, even when it snows, the humidity is still relatively low. The wetness doesn't sink into everything until it begins to melt, and even then it's not the pervading humidity that comes with a good monsoonal rain, which is what we're having now. When it snows, you get mud. You don't get mud because your house has turned into an environment suitable for growing rare orchids.
In Southern Colorado in the Spring, and in August, we get what's called Monsoonal flow. This means we will have three or four days where everything is just drenched. We spend that time bleaching everything, because the wetness just sinks in to everything. I have known people who left a window in their car cracked during this time and opened it afterwards to find a patch of mushrooms growing in their back seat.
That means the grill is wet. The charcoal, stored inside, is damp. WE do have a small portable propane grill, but this raises the issue of where to use it. We don't have an area outside protected from the rain. It doesn't have a cover like most grills, so I can't use it in the rain.
So, breakfast today will be....umm, not sure. PBJ is a possibility, but we will have to go to the store first as I don't have enough bread for that. We are hitting the store at their opening time to stock up on paper plates and silverware. I have some, but not as much as I should have, planning as I have for an extended power outage and not a gas outage.
Lunch will be something out of a can that I can microwave or sandwiches.
Dinner is a mystery at this point. Last night we did TV dinners that I had saved for a fire night. We did have two calls (including the gas line rupture, that we were stood down from), but I was in the middle of cooking dinner after they had calmed down when I noticed the flame on the stove was really little. I called the county dispatch center, because when we were first toned out, I assumed the line, due to its location, was a transport line, not a supply line. I should have realized that it was a supply line, because we were told that witnesses reported a strong smell of gas, and the fake smell that is added to natural gas is not added to gas in transport lines, only supply lines. The dispatcher then notified me that there were plans in the works to shut down gas to the town of Aguilar.
So, dinner...who knows, we'll figure it out. After all, I'm a prepper. Even though I prepped for the wrong event LOL. Corn dogs and pot pies anyone?
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wow...
Has it really been over a month since I've posted?
Well, as you may have guessed, things have been rather busy here.
Larry took his EMT-B National Registry test yesterday. We find out his results on Friday.
My work is going about the same-plus I'm writing more again (although obviously not here). I did finally finish the department's web site (http://www.spbcfpd.org), and then I helped our new grantwriter put together two AFG grant applications.
And the kids-ah, life is good. Aimee is finishing up her Junior year. She got a 25 on her ACT (I still scored higher than her!), Saren is playing with the high school band, Nikki just had a great field trip to the zoo where she petted a snake, Roan is registered for preschool and Aria's verbal skills are improving every day.
OK, off to check the work email!
Well, as you may have guessed, things have been rather busy here.
Larry took his EMT-B National Registry test yesterday. We find out his results on Friday.
My work is going about the same-plus I'm writing more again (although obviously not here). I did finally finish the department's web site (http://www.spbcfpd.org), and then I helped our new grantwriter put together two AFG grant applications.
And the kids-ah, life is good. Aimee is finishing up her Junior year. She got a 25 on her ACT (I still scored higher than her!), Saren is playing with the high school band, Nikki just had a great field trip to the zoo where she petted a snake, Roan is registered for preschool and Aria's verbal skills are improving every day.
OK, off to check the work email!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday afternoon with friends
A few weeks back we got a new firefighter. She's a really sweet girl (I shouldn't call her a girl, she's only 5 years younger than me) and has all kinds of firefighting experience.
She's a substitute teacher, so I took her over to the school and introduced her around there; hopefully she'll get some work from that. She's been at the station quite a bit learning the trucks and doing her S130/190 recertification. She invited us over to have a cook out with her and her fiance yesterday.
We had an awesome time over hamburgers, hot dogs and BBQ chicken. Found out they read like we do, so we have someone new to trade books with. Told them all about the used book store in Walsenburg. Might be able to turn her into a shopping buddy, too. I would like that, I think Larry gets tired of driving me around everywhere. But someone else who shops like I do would understand! I know she coupons, so we're probably good to go.
The kids had a blast running around in their fenced yard. Aimee and Saren had a wrestling match-I think Larry is relieved that Saren is finally big enough to give Aimee a run for her money-since she's big enough and Larry is old enough that he's usually hurting after they have a go at each other-although they both sleep really well!
She's a substitute teacher, so I took her over to the school and introduced her around there; hopefully she'll get some work from that. She's been at the station quite a bit learning the trucks and doing her S130/190 recertification. She invited us over to have a cook out with her and her fiance yesterday.
We had an awesome time over hamburgers, hot dogs and BBQ chicken. Found out they read like we do, so we have someone new to trade books with. Told them all about the used book store in Walsenburg. Might be able to turn her into a shopping buddy, too. I would like that, I think Larry gets tired of driving me around everywhere. But someone else who shops like I do would understand! I know she coupons, so we're probably good to go.
The kids had a blast running around in their fenced yard. Aimee and Saren had a wrestling match-I think Larry is relieved that Saren is finally big enough to give Aimee a run for her money-since she's big enough and Larry is old enough that he's usually hurting after they have a go at each other-although they both sleep really well!
Get a Free Easter Ham
Unilever is offering a rebate on the price of your Easter Ham or Turkey when you buy $40 worth or unilever products.
Participating Unilever products are:
Amora
Axe*
Becel
Bertolli*
Blue Band
Blue Bonnet
Breyers*
Cif
Close Up
Comfort
Country Crock
Degree*
Domestos
Dove*
Flora
Heartbrand
Hellmann's
I can't believe it's not butter
Knorr
Lever 2000
Lifebuoy
Lipton*
Lux
Omo
Pond's
Qtips*
Radiant
Ragu
Rama
Rexona
Signal
Skippy
Slim·Fast
Snuggle
Suave*
Sunlight
Sunsilk
Sure
Surf
Thermasilk
Vaseline
Wishbone
Wisk
* indicate that I KNOW coupons are out there for those products, there may be others.
The forms were in Sunday coupon inserts on 4/5 or 3/31. If you didn't get one, The Coupon Clippers has one available on their site. Go to Forms, then scroll down, and you'll see the unilever rebate.
If these are items you need, this month would be a good time to buy them (purchases can be made between 4/1 and 4/30). Some of these brands are also included in Safeway's Living Well Promo that starts 4/15, so if you purchase them at that time, you'll also get a $10.00 Catalina for your next purchase. Rolling that Catalina to future purchases of the same products will further reduce your cost, lowering your overall bill and still qualifying you for the free ham. So far I have $15.90 towards a free ham, although I only spent $11.60 actual cash (based on sale price, after coupons).
Participating Unilever products are:
Amora
Axe*
Becel
Bertolli*
Blue Band
Blue Bonnet
Breyers*
Cif
Close Up
Comfort
Country Crock
Degree*
Domestos
Dove*
Flora
Heartbrand
Hellmann's
I can't believe it's not butter
Knorr
Lever 2000
Lifebuoy
Lipton*
Lux
Omo
Pond's
Qtips*
Radiant
Ragu
Rama
Rexona
Signal
Skippy
Slim·Fast
Snuggle
Suave*
Sunlight
Sunsilk
Sure
Surf
Thermasilk
Vaseline
Wishbone
Wisk
* indicate that I KNOW coupons are out there for those products, there may be others.
The forms were in Sunday coupon inserts on 4/5 or 3/31. If you didn't get one, The Coupon Clippers has one available on their site. Go to Forms, then scroll down, and you'll see the unilever rebate.
If these are items you need, this month would be a good time to buy them (purchases can be made between 4/1 and 4/30). Some of these brands are also included in Safeway's Living Well Promo that starts 4/15, so if you purchase them at that time, you'll also get a $10.00 Catalina for your next purchase. Rolling that Catalina to future purchases of the same products will further reduce your cost, lowering your overall bill and still qualifying you for the free ham. So far I have $15.90 towards a free ham, although I only spent $11.60 actual cash (based on sale price, after coupons).
This Week's Shopping 4/3/09
This week I did three different stores:
Our local in town market, Ringo’s. The usually have some great sales. Their regular prices are considerably higher than the stores in Trinidad, but with their sales, and the convenience of them being local, they are great for when you run out of bread. They also have amazing customer service.
Safeway. Our store in Trinidad is coupon friendly. I do, however, often have to get rainchecks on sale items.
Walmart. Blech, but necessary. It is my goal to reduce my Walmart trips to one a month or less once the littles are out of diapers.
Prices noted are shelf prices. Items in Italics were on sale (shelf price, not sale price, reflected). Items on which I used coupons have * next to them.
Ringos
48 cans (four flats) veggies (3x carrots, 1x peas)$51.36
Safeway
*Chex Snack Mix $3.19
*2x Pop Secret Popcorn $6.78
2x Safeway Chocolate Chips $5.98
*4x Reynolds Wrap 75 ft. $19.96
*4x Milk $9.96
*Dannon Activia with Fiber $2.99
*10x Yoplait Yogurt $8.90
*2x Lysol Disinfecting Wipes $7.98
*3x Suave Shampoo $6.87
*5x Suave Conditioner $11.45 (with many of us having long hair, we use far more conditioner than shampoo)
*4x Tyson chicken $31.96
Walmart
*2x Triscuit Crackers $4.00
*2x Artisan Crackers $4.00
*Gogurt $$2.62
*Gogurt $2.62
Frozen Berries $2.94
2x Grated Sharp Cheddar, 16 oz (I think) $3.56
*String Cheese 10 pack $3.38
Taquitos $5.88
*Rold Gold Pretzels $2.50
*Celestial Seasonings Tea $2.36
2x Great Value Pie Crust $4.24
Great Value Sour Cream $1.53
*3x Reese’s Easter Candy $8.88
*3x Pillsbury Grands Biscuits $5.04
Country Kitchen Syrup $1.98
*Celestial Seasonings Tea $2.36
*2x Hormel Chili $3.00
Canned Tomatoes $1.18
Brisket $18.42
3 pack Wipes $4.96
Organizer for Saren $5.44
2x Canned Tomatoes $2.36
2x Great Value Ranch Style Beans $1.34
10 Pr. Socks for Aria $5.00
Boxers $6.50
Birthday Present $6.88
*Q-Tips $2.38
Some Misc Item I can’t determine from the receipt $1.00
*Face Scrub $3.54
*Neosporin $4.76
*Disposable Razors for Aimee to take to work at Scout Camp $4.74
*Bengay $4.27
*Visine Allergy Care $3.98
Equate Children’s Tylenol $1.94
Equate Pepto Bismol $2.96
*20 ct Excedrin Migraine $3.12
Canned Tomatoes $1.18
White Cloud Pull Ups $12.84
Great Value Dishwasher Detergent $2.27
*Spray N Wash $2.64
*2x Sparkle Paper Towels $6.24
*24 Roll Angel Soft TP $6.68
2x Whole Wheat Bread $4.36
Before Tax, Shelf Total $349.25
Sale Savings $75.83
Coupon Savings $34.50
Total Savings $110.33
Total Out of Pocket $238.92
Lesson Learned: Even with coupons, some store brands are still cheaper. It is, however, a good idea to still hold on to coupons you can get in your paper or for free for items you need often, but buy the store brand of (diapers and pull ups, for us). Our store is often out of the store brand for diapers, so we end up having to buy the higher priced brands. Coupons help us save there, even if we wouldn’t normally buy that brand without a coupon, or even with a coupon.
I do find myself buying more items that I normally would have made from scratch (biscuits, chicken nuggets, etc), but with working, time is more valuable-I'd rather be spending it tickling giggly girls or kissing baby belly or reading Aimee's writing or having a philosophical discussion with Saren than cooking in my tiny kitchen that makes spending family time together in there difficult. Yet another one of those choices we have to make.
Our local in town market, Ringo’s. The usually have some great sales. Their regular prices are considerably higher than the stores in Trinidad, but with their sales, and the convenience of them being local, they are great for when you run out of bread. They also have amazing customer service.
Safeway. Our store in Trinidad is coupon friendly. I do, however, often have to get rainchecks on sale items.
Walmart. Blech, but necessary. It is my goal to reduce my Walmart trips to one a month or less once the littles are out of diapers.
Prices noted are shelf prices. Items in Italics were on sale (shelf price, not sale price, reflected). Items on which I used coupons have * next to them.
Ringos
48 cans (four flats) veggies (3x carrots, 1x peas)$51.36
Safeway
*Chex Snack Mix $3.19
*2x Pop Secret Popcorn $6.78
2x Safeway Chocolate Chips $5.98
*4x Reynolds Wrap 75 ft. $19.96
*4x Milk $9.96
*Dannon Activia with Fiber $2.99
*10x Yoplait Yogurt $8.90
*2x Lysol Disinfecting Wipes $7.98
*3x Suave Shampoo $6.87
*5x Suave Conditioner $11.45 (with many of us having long hair, we use far more conditioner than shampoo)
*4x Tyson chicken $31.96
Walmart
*2x Triscuit Crackers $4.00
*2x Artisan Crackers $4.00
*Gogurt $$2.62
*Gogurt $2.62
Frozen Berries $2.94
2x Grated Sharp Cheddar, 16 oz (I think) $3.56
*String Cheese 10 pack $3.38
Taquitos $5.88
*Rold Gold Pretzels $2.50
*Celestial Seasonings Tea $2.36
2x Great Value Pie Crust $4.24
Great Value Sour Cream $1.53
*3x Reese’s Easter Candy $8.88
*3x Pillsbury Grands Biscuits $5.04
Country Kitchen Syrup $1.98
*Celestial Seasonings Tea $2.36
*2x Hormel Chili $3.00
Canned Tomatoes $1.18
Brisket $18.42
3 pack Wipes $4.96
Organizer for Saren $5.44
2x Canned Tomatoes $2.36
2x Great Value Ranch Style Beans $1.34
10 Pr. Socks for Aria $5.00
Boxers $6.50
Birthday Present $6.88
*Q-Tips $2.38
Some Misc Item I can’t determine from the receipt $1.00
*Face Scrub $3.54
*Neosporin $4.76
*Disposable Razors for Aimee to take to work at Scout Camp $4.74
*Bengay $4.27
*Visine Allergy Care $3.98
Equate Children’s Tylenol $1.94
Equate Pepto Bismol $2.96
*20 ct Excedrin Migraine $3.12
Canned Tomatoes $1.18
White Cloud Pull Ups $12.84
Great Value Dishwasher Detergent $2.27
*Spray N Wash $2.64
*2x Sparkle Paper Towels $6.24
*24 Roll Angel Soft TP $6.68
2x Whole Wheat Bread $4.36
Before Tax, Shelf Total $349.25
Sale Savings $75.83
Coupon Savings $34.50
Total Savings $110.33
Total Out of Pocket $238.92
Lesson Learned: Even with coupons, some store brands are still cheaper. It is, however, a good idea to still hold on to coupons you can get in your paper or for free for items you need often, but buy the store brand of (diapers and pull ups, for us). Our store is often out of the store brand for diapers, so we end up having to buy the higher priced brands. Coupons help us save there, even if we wouldn’t normally buy that brand without a coupon, or even with a coupon.
I do find myself buying more items that I normally would have made from scratch (biscuits, chicken nuggets, etc), but with working, time is more valuable-I'd rather be spending it tickling giggly girls or kissing baby belly or reading Aimee's writing or having a philosophical discussion with Saren than cooking in my tiny kitchen that makes spending family time together in there difficult. Yet another one of those choices we have to make.
The power of 15 minutes
Well, I must say, after the first full day of cleaning under the Flylady method, that I am truly amazed by the power of FLYlady’s fifteen minute segments. From my previous post, you can see that I have about 3 hours of time scheduled. Of course, it took me much longer to get all of that done. Interruptions from littles, fixing lunch, quiet time during nap time, etc, all took away from that schedule. Of course, starting earlier would have alleviated a lot of that. Having Larry home would also have alleviated a lot of that, as he would have helped in whatever capacity I asked him to, whether it was taking a fifteen minute segment or helping with the littles. It’s a special blessing having a husband who is generally as eager to help me as I am to help him. It makes it a joy that he realizes the hard work involved in keeping a home, and that he makes an effort to help with it. Not that I expect him to. And not that he does as much when he’s working, but he still helps as he’s able.
I’m digressing again. I know you’re shocked.
Anyway, this week’s zone was the living room. I actually ran out of things to do in there. Not that it’s perfectly clean, but that the remaining tasks that are more than just routine maintenance need to have time where the littles are outside or otherwise distracted. Maybe save those for evenings after bedtime. Well, checking on flylady.net I see that I got my zones messed up, but that’s OK. I can live with that. I have a shiny living room!
Next week will be the kitchen, which I am really looking forward to. I have been working on decluttering a lot in there lately, and on organizing, with using my shopping money better, I need to utilize my space better. So hopefully, with this week’s zone work, I will be able to finish that up.
I actually took several grocery bags of donations and clothes sharing stuff out to the van, instead of letting it sit, waiting to go in the van. We DO have some stuff sitting, but only because we needed space in the van.
Now, I did NOT get everything done. But it was the first day. I did get about 75% of the day’s goal done. It will take practice, and better use of my time and resources. But that’s OK. FLYlady is, after all, about Finally Loving Yourself. Not about loving yourself above all, but about loving yourself enough to say “It’s OK that my home isn’t perfect, because it’s better than it was. I got something done!” And I actually got a LOT of somethings done!
I’m digressing again. I know you’re shocked.
Anyway, this week’s zone was the living room. I actually ran out of things to do in there. Not that it’s perfectly clean, but that the remaining tasks that are more than just routine maintenance need to have time where the littles are outside or otherwise distracted. Maybe save those for evenings after bedtime. Well, checking on flylady.net I see that I got my zones messed up, but that’s OK. I can live with that. I have a shiny living room!
Next week will be the kitchen, which I am really looking forward to. I have been working on decluttering a lot in there lately, and on organizing, with using my shopping money better, I need to utilize my space better. So hopefully, with this week’s zone work, I will be able to finish that up.
I actually took several grocery bags of donations and clothes sharing stuff out to the van, instead of letting it sit, waiting to go in the van. We DO have some stuff sitting, but only because we needed space in the van.
Now, I did NOT get everything done. But it was the first day. I did get about 75% of the day’s goal done. It will take practice, and better use of my time and resources. But that’s OK. FLYlady is, after all, about Finally Loving Yourself. Not about loving yourself above all, but about loving yourself enough to say “It’s OK that my home isn’t perfect, because it’s better than it was. I got something done!” And I actually got a LOT of somethings done!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
It feels earlier than it is...
...but that's what happens when you have a middle of the night med call.
I guess I need to organize my giveaway earlier in the week and get it ready to be posted for Friday.
Have a post I wrote about how the big cleaning day FLYlady's way went, I will post that after all our stuff today.
Doing church at home.
Then going to friend's house for late lunch on the grill in the snow! Hopefully most of the snow will be melted by then so we can play outside.
Then home to get ready for school in the morning.
I guess I need to organize my giveaway earlier in the week and get it ready to be posted for Friday.
Have a post I wrote about how the big cleaning day FLYlady's way went, I will post that after all our stuff today.
Doing church at home.
Then going to friend's house for late lunch on the grill in the snow! Hopefully most of the snow will be melted by then so we can play outside.
Then home to get ready for school in the morning.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Wake up, wake up, everybody everywhere
Well I did not post my giveaway yesterday. I will do so today after we get done FLYing.
I finally got a daily routine put together, and then the cleaning day routine. FLYlady talks about changing your routine when you work. So the basic idea of what I have put together is this:
AM Routine
Get up, shower, get dressed to shoes (OK, I still don't do the shoes, but, I reiterate, big clunky boots, bitty baby toes and fingers, don't go well together)
15 minutes 1 room (Kitchen, living room or my bedroom)
15 minutes zone room
5 minutes putting out a hot zone
PM routine
15 minutes 1 room (Kitchen, living room or my bedroom)
15 minutes 1 room (Kitchen, living room, or my bedroom)
15 minutes folding laundry
5 minutes putting out a hot zone
Shiny Sink
Cleaning Day Routine
27 Fling Boogie in Zone Area
15 minutes in Kitchen
15 minutes in Dining Room
15 minute break
15 minutes zone room
15 minutes living room
15 minutes folding laundry
15 minutes break
15 minutes zone room
15 minutes pantry or closets or bathroom
15 minutes bedroom
I will use the daily emails where FLYlady gives zone tasks to help guide me in those areas, but I'm also still in the decluttering stage, which FLYlady says can take months, depending on how cluttered your home is.
I put together a similar list for the kids, and today is the first day we will work on that. I did give Nikki the bathroom as her morning zone, so she does swish and swipe. I will also be implementing the monthly habits that FLYlady discusses, so this month's habit is making your bed, so once I get the morning routine down, I will be adding that one in.
I finally got a daily routine put together, and then the cleaning day routine. FLYlady talks about changing your routine when you work. So the basic idea of what I have put together is this:
AM Routine
Get up, shower, get dressed to shoes (OK, I still don't do the shoes, but, I reiterate, big clunky boots, bitty baby toes and fingers, don't go well together)
15 minutes 1 room (Kitchen, living room or my bedroom)
15 minutes zone room
5 minutes putting out a hot zone
PM routine
15 minutes 1 room (Kitchen, living room or my bedroom)
15 minutes 1 room (Kitchen, living room, or my bedroom)
15 minutes folding laundry
5 minutes putting out a hot zone
Shiny Sink
Cleaning Day Routine
27 Fling Boogie in Zone Area
15 minutes in Kitchen
15 minutes in Dining Room
15 minute break
15 minutes zone room
15 minutes living room
15 minutes folding laundry
15 minutes break
15 minutes zone room
15 minutes pantry or closets or bathroom
15 minutes bedroom
I will use the daily emails where FLYlady gives zone tasks to help guide me in those areas, but I'm also still in the decluttering stage, which FLYlady says can take months, depending on how cluttered your home is.
I put together a similar list for the kids, and today is the first day we will work on that. I did give Nikki the bathroom as her morning zone, so she does swish and swipe. I will also be implementing the monthly habits that FLYlady discusses, so this month's habit is making your bed, so once I get the morning routine down, I will be adding that one in.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Grocery Shopping Day
I am about to head out to Walmart and Safeway with my rather long shopping list-still in budget, though.
Not getting any cereal today, except for the life that is in the Safeway Super coupon. I don't like serving them cereal, but after a rough night sometimes that's the easiest option. And we have a lot right now due to all the great deals.
Aimee's going to babysit the littles, which will make shopping go much faster. Saren will go with us, because we pick up his glasses today. I'm doing two transactions at Safeway so it will be good to not have the littles with us. It also means I can put my coupon binder/list in the front of the cart, making it much easier to check other deals and see what I can modify in my list if I find something that doesn't fit into my $25 misc. budget. Safeway doesn't have a lot of great deals this week, although the shampoo I use is on sale, and I have coupons, so we will get quite a bit of that. Plus, since I'm still working on stocking up with coupons, there is a lot of stuff I need. If I was fully stocked, I would only buy the good sale items and stuff like milk, and bank the rest of my grocery money for a week with better deals.
OK, off to go shopping.
Not getting any cereal today, except for the life that is in the Safeway Super coupon. I don't like serving them cereal, but after a rough night sometimes that's the easiest option. And we have a lot right now due to all the great deals.
Aimee's going to babysit the littles, which will make shopping go much faster. Saren will go with us, because we pick up his glasses today. I'm doing two transactions at Safeway so it will be good to not have the littles with us. It also means I can put my coupon binder/list in the front of the cart, making it much easier to check other deals and see what I can modify in my list if I find something that doesn't fit into my $25 misc. budget. Safeway doesn't have a lot of great deals this week, although the shampoo I use is on sale, and I have coupons, so we will get quite a bit of that. Plus, since I'm still working on stocking up with coupons, there is a lot of stuff I need. If I was fully stocked, I would only buy the good sale items and stuff like milk, and bank the rest of my grocery money for a week with better deals.
OK, off to go shopping.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Wrestling...
If you've read further down than the first page or so, you know that I'm struggling about working. I truly believe that a mother's place is in the home. If God hadn't meant for us to RAISE the children, he wouldn't have designed it so that we HAVE the children.
When the opportunity came up for me to take over the administrative assistant position at the Fire Department, I went back and forth with it. Larry was working, but we still NEEDED the money. Not to buy "things," but to live. To buy food. Clothing. Essentials. We were paying the bills, barely, but rapidly working through our stockpile of food.
I prayed about it. I talked to Larry about it. I agonized over the decision, and finally took the job. And still I agonized about it. And felt guilt. A very wise commenter to this blog pointed out that I wasn't working for things, I was working for need, and maybe the job being put in front of me was God's provision.
I'm a big believer in God's provision. I have this "just enough" theory. See, when Larry went to school and we were living on student loans, life was OK. Not great, but OK. But then two weeks went by without him finding a job after school. The class had been told that a lot of them would be hired by our local company. He had top grades in his class, was local, has good references, and we figured (assumed, oh, I see the error), that he was a shoo in for the job. But the company hired NO ONE. It took him five weeks to find a job. And, of course, another few weeks to get paid.
I used the last of our potatoes to fix dinner on the Thursday night before he got paid. We had just enough. God made sure we had just enough. God provided just enough. God provides.
So that comment about this job being God's way of providing eased some of my feelings about working (although none of my guilt at leaving the littles in daycare). I started October 1. Larry got laid off at his job in mid December. If I hadn't have been working, we'd have been homeless.
But still I wrestle with it. I guess, maybe, I'm not seeing much of God's provision right now. I know it's there, if I look for it, but I'm getting frustrated. Larry is getting depressed because he hasn't been called back to work-and he hasn't found another job. He's hopeful of getting one after his EMT class is finished, but by the time he takes his national registry test, we're looking at another three months before he would be hired, if he even is. And I hate to see him depressed. I know that the root of his depression is his need to be the provider for our family. He needs to be that guy. The guy that takes care of his family, not the guy dependent on his wife to put food on the table. It hurts him inside to be dependent on my income. And to see him hurting, hurts me.
And I don't know how to help. I don't know how to show him that my faith in him hasn't wavered. I have faith that he will find a job. I have faith that he is still the provider that he always was. But it's hard to have faith that God's provision will continue. I feel like we've done something wrong. Well, I know we've done wrong things, because we can never attain perfection, but I do wonder why we are going through this. I'm not sure how free will plays into this-which is the answer I get when I ask people more knowledgeable than I questions like "Why do babies get cancer?" That free will plays into that-that we as a people are paying the price for the free will decisions we made earlier in life. I try to tell Larry, and show him, that I have faith in him, but I'm not sure that my affirmations are helping him. And I don't know what else to do.
He has his good days and his bad days. I want him to have all good days, but again, I don't know how to help. If I tell him too often, it will cease to have meaning, or, even worse, he will interpret it as harping-like the invisible "but". As in "I know you'll find a job soon, babe (to which he adds "but..." whatever negativity he's swimming in, in his head)" I don't infer a but. I don't feel a but. I hope I don't infer a but. But I'm pretty sure he hears the but, when all I want to do is build him up.
So I'm frustrated, and wanting him to be confident and assured, but it's like he's in a downward spiral right now. He won't be confident until he finds a job, but in a county where unemployment has quadrupled since late November, that's hard to do, and that's nothing to do with him. When you have 300 people applying for one position, well, odds certainly aren't in your favor.
Anyway, the man is home, safely, from the weather, and I think I'm going to drag him to bed. Guess I'll wrestle more tomorrow-cause this really isn't where I was going when I started writing this post.
When the opportunity came up for me to take over the administrative assistant position at the Fire Department, I went back and forth with it. Larry was working, but we still NEEDED the money. Not to buy "things," but to live. To buy food. Clothing. Essentials. We were paying the bills, barely, but rapidly working through our stockpile of food.
I prayed about it. I talked to Larry about it. I agonized over the decision, and finally took the job. And still I agonized about it. And felt guilt. A very wise commenter to this blog pointed out that I wasn't working for things, I was working for need, and maybe the job being put in front of me was God's provision.
I'm a big believer in God's provision. I have this "just enough" theory. See, when Larry went to school and we were living on student loans, life was OK. Not great, but OK. But then two weeks went by without him finding a job after school. The class had been told that a lot of them would be hired by our local company. He had top grades in his class, was local, has good references, and we figured (assumed, oh, I see the error), that he was a shoo in for the job. But the company hired NO ONE. It took him five weeks to find a job. And, of course, another few weeks to get paid.
I used the last of our potatoes to fix dinner on the Thursday night before he got paid. We had just enough. God made sure we had just enough. God provided just enough. God provides.
So that comment about this job being God's way of providing eased some of my feelings about working (although none of my guilt at leaving the littles in daycare). I started October 1. Larry got laid off at his job in mid December. If I hadn't have been working, we'd have been homeless.
But still I wrestle with it. I guess, maybe, I'm not seeing much of God's provision right now. I know it's there, if I look for it, but I'm getting frustrated. Larry is getting depressed because he hasn't been called back to work-and he hasn't found another job. He's hopeful of getting one after his EMT class is finished, but by the time he takes his national registry test, we're looking at another three months before he would be hired, if he even is. And I hate to see him depressed. I know that the root of his depression is his need to be the provider for our family. He needs to be that guy. The guy that takes care of his family, not the guy dependent on his wife to put food on the table. It hurts him inside to be dependent on my income. And to see him hurting, hurts me.
And I don't know how to help. I don't know how to show him that my faith in him hasn't wavered. I have faith that he will find a job. I have faith that he is still the provider that he always was. But it's hard to have faith that God's provision will continue. I feel like we've done something wrong. Well, I know we've done wrong things, because we can never attain perfection, but I do wonder why we are going through this. I'm not sure how free will plays into this-which is the answer I get when I ask people more knowledgeable than I questions like "Why do babies get cancer?" That free will plays into that-that we as a people are paying the price for the free will decisions we made earlier in life. I try to tell Larry, and show him, that I have faith in him, but I'm not sure that my affirmations are helping him. And I don't know what else to do.
He has his good days and his bad days. I want him to have all good days, but again, I don't know how to help. If I tell him too often, it will cease to have meaning, or, even worse, he will interpret it as harping-like the invisible "but". As in "I know you'll find a job soon, babe (to which he adds "but..." whatever negativity he's swimming in, in his head)" I don't infer a but. I don't feel a but. I hope I don't infer a but. But I'm pretty sure he hears the but, when all I want to do is build him up.
So I'm frustrated, and wanting him to be confident and assured, but it's like he's in a downward spiral right now. He won't be confident until he finds a job, but in a county where unemployment has quadrupled since late November, that's hard to do, and that's nothing to do with him. When you have 300 people applying for one position, well, odds certainly aren't in your favor.
Anyway, the man is home, safely, from the weather, and I think I'm going to drag him to bed. Guess I'll wrestle more tomorrow-cause this really isn't where I was going when I started writing this post.
A great ebayer...
So I buy coupons. OK, I don't actually buy coupons. I pay for the time to clip, sort and mail the coupons. So I buy a coupon broker's time, and get the coupons for free. I don't have good newspapers around here, so my ability to get the coupons free in the weekly inserts in the Sunday paper is pretty small, so I'm thankful for the coupon sellers that charge me for their time and effort. It gives me the opportunity to save more money for my family's grocery budget.
Anyway, in the last few weeks, I have bought a lot of coupons on ebay. I guess I should say ordering coupons, since I'm not buying the Q's, but the time of the broker. Again.
Anyway, one of the folks I ordered coupons from, I got two batches, and they arrived sometime in the last couple of days. One of them was in a different envelope, having been rewrapped by the post office. Seems the envelope ripped in shipping and they plopped it in another envelope and sent it on it's way. It was a pretty significant rip. The thing is, this ebay seller took the five seconds to wrap the coupons in a separate piece of paper. Only one other seller did that. But this seller, because she took the time to wrap it, averted the loss of my coupons. That little act, I'm sure, prevented my coupons from being strewn all over the place when the envelope got ripped. I really appreciate effort like that, so I wanted to share it with you all.
Here's her link.
Anyway, in the last few weeks, I have bought a lot of coupons on ebay. I guess I should say ordering coupons, since I'm not buying the Q's, but the time of the broker. Again.
Anyway, one of the folks I ordered coupons from, I got two batches, and they arrived sometime in the last couple of days. One of them was in a different envelope, having been rewrapped by the post office. Seems the envelope ripped in shipping and they plopped it in another envelope and sent it on it's way. It was a pretty significant rip. The thing is, this ebay seller took the five seconds to wrap the coupons in a separate piece of paper. Only one other seller did that. But this seller, because she took the time to wrap it, averted the loss of my coupons. That little act, I'm sure, prevented my coupons from being strewn all over the place when the envelope got ripped. I really appreciate effort like that, so I wanted to share it with you all.
Here's her link.
Bad weather, absent DH and recipe reviews
We have more snow. We're not supposed to get much snow but it's blowing so visibility is about 100 feet, according to one of our firefighters who just reported in on his way out to check on his horses.
Larry has class tonight so he might be stuck in Trinidad until tomorrow. I haven't slept in bed completely alone in, umm, years. Literally years. At least not all night. I've spent some partial nights when Larry was on a call, before I was a dispatcher, but not a full night since Larry first started at the post office and had to go up to Colorado Springs for training. That was before Aria was born.
So, last night we tried the Island Sausage. We didn't really like it. Not that it was bad. It had an interesting blend of flavors, and the meat itself was good, but the sauce was overwhelmingly sweet. Maybe doing something like that as an appetizer, where you put the meat on toothpicks, would be OK, or adding something to the sauce (green and red peppers and onions come to mind). It was the kind of dish I'd order at a restaurant to try it out, but I wouldn't order it again.
Tonight I kind of concocted a recipe. I had on the menu "beef casserole." So I went through my beef casserole recipes and started with a recipe, that I won't post because I have no idea where I got it, called "jail food." I varied it right from the start, using a pound of ground beef, a sliced onion, a family sized can of cream of mushroom soup, a regular sized can of cream of celery soup, 2 packets of au jus mix, 3ish pounds of potatoes, and about a pound of carrots. I browned the meat with salt and pepper, the onion, a pinch of basil, a generous pinch of italian seasoning, and about a tablespoon of fresh minced garlic. Drained it, then mixed with the soups and the au jus mix and the small soup can of water. Poured half of that mixture into into a 9x13 casserole, put the potatoes on top of that, then salted and peppered those, then put the carrots on, then poured the rest of the soup mixture on. Baked at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. It wasn't bad, but I would omit the italian seasoning and basil next time.
So, tomorrow, we're going to have something tried and true. Maybe chicken and dumplings, since we've had such cold weather. I had chicken and rice planned, but with all of my menu rearranging, I ended up doing that on Monday. But dumplings sounds good-and I'd have to work really hard to mess that up!!
Larry has class tonight so he might be stuck in Trinidad until tomorrow. I haven't slept in bed completely alone in, umm, years. Literally years. At least not all night. I've spent some partial nights when Larry was on a call, before I was a dispatcher, but not a full night since Larry first started at the post office and had to go up to Colorado Springs for training. That was before Aria was born.
So, last night we tried the Island Sausage. We didn't really like it. Not that it was bad. It had an interesting blend of flavors, and the meat itself was good, but the sauce was overwhelmingly sweet. Maybe doing something like that as an appetizer, where you put the meat on toothpicks, would be OK, or adding something to the sauce (green and red peppers and onions come to mind). It was the kind of dish I'd order at a restaurant to try it out, but I wouldn't order it again.
Tonight I kind of concocted a recipe. I had on the menu "beef casserole." So I went through my beef casserole recipes and started with a recipe, that I won't post because I have no idea where I got it, called "jail food." I varied it right from the start, using a pound of ground beef, a sliced onion, a family sized can of cream of mushroom soup, a regular sized can of cream of celery soup, 2 packets of au jus mix, 3ish pounds of potatoes, and about a pound of carrots. I browned the meat with salt and pepper, the onion, a pinch of basil, a generous pinch of italian seasoning, and about a tablespoon of fresh minced garlic. Drained it, then mixed with the soups and the au jus mix and the small soup can of water. Poured half of that mixture into into a 9x13 casserole, put the potatoes on top of that, then salted and peppered those, then put the carrots on, then poured the rest of the soup mixture on. Baked at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. It wasn't bad, but I would omit the italian seasoning and basil next time.
So, tomorrow, we're going to have something tried and true. Maybe chicken and dumplings, since we've had such cold weather. I had chicken and rice planned, but with all of my menu rearranging, I ended up doing that on Monday. But dumplings sounds good-and I'd have to work really hard to mess that up!!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Favorite Site of The Week: BeCentsAble
I found this site through a link at The New Frugal Mom.
BeCentsAble lists sales and coupon matchups from all kinds of different stores, and it's national! I'm really pleased to have found this site!
BeCentsAble lists sales and coupon matchups from all kinds of different stores, and it's national! I'm really pleased to have found this site!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Coupon Code for Personalized Children's books
I See Me is running a promo through April 13, to get $5.00 off any $40.00 0rder. Here's the info:
Click Here for $5 off on orders that are over $40! Use code FSR615 at checkout.
Click Here for $5 off on orders that are over $40! Use code FSR615 at checkout.
Change in Menu Plans for Tuesday
Since my menu plans for the past week were messed up by weather and other "stuff", I'm changing Tuesday's plan to this recipe, originally found on The New Frugal Mom blog. Works really well with the polish sausage I scored on rollback and with coupons over the weekend.
I won't have to buy anything additional except ketchup, which I needed anyway.
I won't have to buy anything additional except ketchup, which I needed anyway.
Aria and baths
Aria hates baths. I mean, screaming fit hates them. Oh, she'll get in easily enough, but if there's a loud noise while she's in there, or she splashes herself, or the dog walks through a doorway three rooms away, she screams. It's always a battle.
Consequently, bathing her is one of my least favorite things to do, and I don't do it as often as I should. Last night I decided to bathe her and Roan together. Again, something I don't normally do, because Roan likes to really play in the tub, which usually means Aria gets splashed. But it was already creeping up on bedtime so I was in a hurry. The play part went well, actually. The washing part went it's usual way, which is not so good, but it could have been worse. I stayed relatively dry.
Since I had cleaned out the bathroom cabinet, and found the baby lotion, we did lotion after their baths. And Aria LOVED it. Whether it was the massage element, or the feeling of the lotion, or the bonding with mom, I don't know, but she LOVED it. So now I have a bribe. "After your bath, we can do lotion."
I'm a bad mommy.
Consequently, bathing her is one of my least favorite things to do, and I don't do it as often as I should. Last night I decided to bathe her and Roan together. Again, something I don't normally do, because Roan likes to really play in the tub, which usually means Aria gets splashed. But it was already creeping up on bedtime so I was in a hurry. The play part went well, actually. The washing part went it's usual way, which is not so good, but it could have been worse. I stayed relatively dry.
Since I had cleaned out the bathroom cabinet, and found the baby lotion, we did lotion after their baths. And Aria LOVED it. Whether it was the massage element, or the feeling of the lotion, or the bonding with mom, I don't know, but she LOVED it. So now I have a bribe. "After your bath, we can do lotion."
I'm a bad mommy.
Product Review: Coupon Binder
OK, I ordered this coupon binder off of ebay, from this seller.
I walked to the Post Office in the snow on Saturday, because it was still too sloppy to get out in the van. I also knew I should have some coupons, so I really wanted to get that mail so we could go shopping at some point during the weekend.
I opened my coupons first. Went through and picked out the ones I can't use, for whatever reason. Some are items we don't use, some are too close to expiring (I'll use one or two before they expire, but not the rest), etc. So I had the coupons sorted before I even opened the binder.
I cannot tell you how pleased I was with this binder. It's sturdy, and has a LOT of pockets, so you can carry the included calculator and coupon cutter and pen. It has accordion files attached to the inside, so you can file inserts, ads, lists, etc. The three ring portion actually comes out of the binder. Not sure how that would benefit someone, but it probably will. I just haven't figured it out yet!
The binder is loaded with baseball card pages, which some people may find a little small. However, because there are 9 per page, there are 180 openings. Being able to have that many coupons in that few pages, means there's no problem closing the binder even when it's fully loaded, as mine was (and will be, I have more coupons coming).
The lovely lady who sold it even offered to customize the dividers for me. It having been so long since I couponed, I told her to use her standard categories. So the dividers are:
(Italics indicate additional add ons to that divider that I made, for specific categories that I wanted)
Dairy, Cold Items, Boxed Meals and Sides
Canned/Condiments, Breakfast, Portable Foods, Beverages
Snacks
Frozen, Baking, Salad Stuff, Misc Food
Pet Care/Baby Items
Pharmacy
Personal Care/Beauty
Household Products
So when we went shopping, I took the binder. You don't want to be without your coupons while shopping, in case you find some unannounced deals, clearance items, etc. If I had had a free baby seat, it would have fit perfectly in there. Since both of the baby seats were taken and I didn't want a third cart, I balanced it on the bag pile (when I go out I have the baby bag and the dispatch bag). That worked really well. I could flip through the binder quickly and determine if I had a coupon that matched an item I wanted.
With the calculator, I could quickly determine which deals were better. For example, I think I had six or so different types of deodorant coupons. I could quickly determine which products would be cheapest with the coupons I had.
My favorite part is that the binder zips closed. So if I drop it, I'm not playing 300 coupon pick up. I have had that happen in the past when using a regular notebook.
Here are some binder pics so you can see what I'm talking about.
I highly recommend this binder!
I walked to the Post Office in the snow on Saturday, because it was still too sloppy to get out in the van. I also knew I should have some coupons, so I really wanted to get that mail so we could go shopping at some point during the weekend.
I opened my coupons first. Went through and picked out the ones I can't use, for whatever reason. Some are items we don't use, some are too close to expiring (I'll use one or two before they expire, but not the rest), etc. So I had the coupons sorted before I even opened the binder.
I cannot tell you how pleased I was with this binder. It's sturdy, and has a LOT of pockets, so you can carry the included calculator and coupon cutter and pen. It has accordion files attached to the inside, so you can file inserts, ads, lists, etc. The three ring portion actually comes out of the binder. Not sure how that would benefit someone, but it probably will. I just haven't figured it out yet!
The binder is loaded with baseball card pages, which some people may find a little small. However, because there are 9 per page, there are 180 openings. Being able to have that many coupons in that few pages, means there's no problem closing the binder even when it's fully loaded, as mine was (and will be, I have more coupons coming).
The lovely lady who sold it even offered to customize the dividers for me. It having been so long since I couponed, I told her to use her standard categories. So the dividers are:
(Italics indicate additional add ons to that divider that I made, for specific categories that I wanted)
Dairy, Cold Items, Boxed Meals and Sides
Canned/Condiments, Breakfast, Portable Foods, Beverages
Snacks
Frozen, Baking, Salad Stuff, Misc Food
Pet Care/Baby Items
Pharmacy
Personal Care/Beauty
Household Products
So when we went shopping, I took the binder. You don't want to be without your coupons while shopping, in case you find some unannounced deals, clearance items, etc. If I had had a free baby seat, it would have fit perfectly in there. Since both of the baby seats were taken and I didn't want a third cart, I balanced it on the bag pile (when I go out I have the baby bag and the dispatch bag). That worked really well. I could flip through the binder quickly and determine if I had a coupon that matched an item I wanted.
With the calculator, I could quickly determine which deals were better. For example, I think I had six or so different types of deodorant coupons. I could quickly determine which products would be cheapest with the coupons I had.
My favorite part is that the binder zips closed. So if I drop it, I'm not playing 300 coupon pick up. I have had that happen in the past when using a regular notebook.
Here are some binder pics so you can see what I'm talking about.
I highly recommend this binder!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Large Families
Those of you that have truly large families will laugh at the size of my large family. We have five children. Those of you that read me know this. In "society", I guess is how to put it, we have a large family. We get those looks that you're familiar with if you have a large family. I can only imagine how many more we would get if/when we have more children.
Living in a primarily Catholic community, though, I probably get less of those looks than a lot of large families. We get a lot of little old ladies telling us what a blessing our children are (to which we heartily agree, and give thanks!), and more, mostly women, commenting on what lovingly full hands we must have. I do love those comments. Lovingly full is good.
We do get some negatives. We took Aimee in for her school physical a few years back, and we decided to try a new doc. Ours had taken another position at a private company. Anyway, most families here go to a doc in Pueblo that we're really not comfortable with. They have the "assembly line" approach to doctor's visits. Come in, spend five minutes with an anonymous doc cause they have so many that you never see the same one twice, even if you request a specific one, and then say something quick about growth rates and eating habits, and then lecture for the remaining 2.5 minutes about vaccinations.
So, anyway, we go through the phone book. It's a school physical, really can't be screwed up, and we were in the market for a new doc. So we find a clinic in Walsenburg who's name has something to do with FAMILY. I can't remember the whole name. But family was in there. That tells me they have experience with kidlets and welcome them as patients. So we go. We ALL go. Jessica took us, so add Jamie to the mix. We go in and there are only elderly patients in the waiting room. Not that I have anything against elderly patients, or elderly people, for that matter, but not much FAMILY at the FAMILY doc.
We check in, and go find seats. The kids immediately beeline for the toys, which are mostly broken happy meal rejects. Well, OK, small town, lots of medicaid/medicare, I can understand that. Since my kids don't get happy meals often, even the rejects are new toys for them, so they eagerly play with them, and, being kids, make noise as they play. Cheerful, playing noise. FAMILY noise. Not banshee screeching or war cries or other assorted non-family noises.
We find out the doc is running late. Way late. Now, we scheduled an early appointment so we would have the kids out the door before the wanting lunch and getting tired crabbies set in. You've been there. Kids are hungry and starting to get tired, so their attention span drops to about 3.4 seconds. Had the doc been on time, we'd have been safely home before that happened.
By the time Aimee even got called back for the preliminary stuff, the crabbies are starting to rear their ugly heads. We still haven't progressed to banshee screeching or war cries, but probably another half an hour, at most, is what we would be granted, before we did get to the beginnings of that point. So, being the smart mommies that we are, Jessica and I decided to take the kids out to the van to wait. In the van are snacks, which will at least ward off the hungry crabbies, and no one to bother with the getting tired crabbies. I mean, this is a normal childhood behavior, right? Judging from the children I ran into when I worked the late shift at King Soopers back a bazillion years ago, most children get the tired crabbies. Anyway, I digress (me? noooooooo!). But why does it annoy people so bad when kids get tired and crabby? After all, it wasn't our fault that the doc was late.
Anyway, as we're picking up the happy meal reject toys and gathering our stuff to head out to the van, the receptionist says "Can you please keep your kids quieter?" I say "We're heading out to the van now." She then tells me to take the kids (including a toddler boy and an almost toddler girl) to play in the front yard of the library right behind them. The unfenced yard of the library that fronts the business loop of the highway with a speed limit of 40. That's where I want my kids to play, yup.
Umm...where, exactly, did the doctor's office lose the focus on "family" that is in their very name. If they don't want kids in their office, they should stop billing themselves as a family doctor. Yes, children are loud and sometimes distracting, despite our best efforts. We are training them to be adults, but as anyone knows, training goes roughly in the early days. At the point at which they surpassed normal kid noises, I removed them from the situation.
Am I out of line to think that a family business of any type, should expect that families will consist of young children who will act like, well, young children? It's one thing if my kids are pulling stuff off the shelf at Safeway. It's another altogether if they are making car noises while sitting in the toy car shopping cart.
Let's put it like this: I wouldn't take my kids into an antique store. I wouldn't take my kids into a restaurant that requires reservations. And while I do consider the grocery store to be a family type business, I wouldn't let them pull things off the shelf or scream like banshees. Of course, if I'm there when they're tired, that's on me. I should schedule my day better, so they can be out of there to, well, act like tired children act. But if I do take my kids to the store, and the check out line is an hour long, and the kids are fussing by the time we get to the cashier, well, I've made that effort, and the business needs to understand that. And most businesses that cater to families do.
All children are a blessing. And training is an ongoing task. It requires repetition, and children, being, well, children, will test their boundaries, requiring further training.
Anyway, my intent was not to rant. It was simply to discuss the inequalities that larger families have. That most of the time, aside from a look or a comment that probably wasn't really intended to hurt, that I don't really have to deal with. I was going to talk about the difficulty in our daily walk with God. See, I heard this pastor on the radio today, talking about how people don't struggle to walk with God. They just screw up, then ask for forgiveness again. And that's not how it works. You have to work at it. Now, the walk itself is work. I've talked about my own struggles with submission. Boy, it's hard. And yeah, I do screw up. I'm not perfect. No one is. But I do consciously make the effort to submit to God's will. I mean, in that area, I really have no choice. God's will, will win every time, one way or the other. But one can choose to not be judgemental, or to not gossip, etc. Rather than being so and then asking forgiveness, one has to make the conscious choice to not do it. And trusting God with your fertility is one of those things. One has to make a conscious choice to let God be in charge.
I'll tell you why that scares most people. Kids are expensive. But very rarely do I hear families saying "I can't afford this." Most of the time what I hear are stories of God's provision. I posted a long time ago about "Just enough." And often that's how it works. No, you probably won't be living in a huge house with enough bathrooms and plenty of room and always have the newest bestest this or that. But you will have "just enough." If you only put that faith and trust in God.
K, I'm done now, and so are the dishes, so I'm heading to bed.
Living in a primarily Catholic community, though, I probably get less of those looks than a lot of large families. We get a lot of little old ladies telling us what a blessing our children are (to which we heartily agree, and give thanks!), and more, mostly women, commenting on what lovingly full hands we must have. I do love those comments. Lovingly full is good.
We do get some negatives. We took Aimee in for her school physical a few years back, and we decided to try a new doc. Ours had taken another position at a private company. Anyway, most families here go to a doc in Pueblo that we're really not comfortable with. They have the "assembly line" approach to doctor's visits. Come in, spend five minutes with an anonymous doc cause they have so many that you never see the same one twice, even if you request a specific one, and then say something quick about growth rates and eating habits, and then lecture for the remaining 2.5 minutes about vaccinations.
So, anyway, we go through the phone book. It's a school physical, really can't be screwed up, and we were in the market for a new doc. So we find a clinic in Walsenburg who's name has something to do with FAMILY. I can't remember the whole name. But family was in there. That tells me they have experience with kidlets and welcome them as patients. So we go. We ALL go. Jessica took us, so add Jamie to the mix. We go in and there are only elderly patients in the waiting room. Not that I have anything against elderly patients, or elderly people, for that matter, but not much FAMILY at the FAMILY doc.
We check in, and go find seats. The kids immediately beeline for the toys, which are mostly broken happy meal rejects. Well, OK, small town, lots of medicaid/medicare, I can understand that. Since my kids don't get happy meals often, even the rejects are new toys for them, so they eagerly play with them, and, being kids, make noise as they play. Cheerful, playing noise. FAMILY noise. Not banshee screeching or war cries or other assorted non-family noises.
We find out the doc is running late. Way late. Now, we scheduled an early appointment so we would have the kids out the door before the wanting lunch and getting tired crabbies set in. You've been there. Kids are hungry and starting to get tired, so their attention span drops to about 3.4 seconds. Had the doc been on time, we'd have been safely home before that happened.
By the time Aimee even got called back for the preliminary stuff, the crabbies are starting to rear their ugly heads. We still haven't progressed to banshee screeching or war cries, but probably another half an hour, at most, is what we would be granted, before we did get to the beginnings of that point. So, being the smart mommies that we are, Jessica and I decided to take the kids out to the van to wait. In the van are snacks, which will at least ward off the hungry crabbies, and no one to bother with the getting tired crabbies. I mean, this is a normal childhood behavior, right? Judging from the children I ran into when I worked the late shift at King Soopers back a bazillion years ago, most children get the tired crabbies. Anyway, I digress (me? noooooooo!). But why does it annoy people so bad when kids get tired and crabby? After all, it wasn't our fault that the doc was late.
Anyway, as we're picking up the happy meal reject toys and gathering our stuff to head out to the van, the receptionist says "Can you please keep your kids quieter?" I say "We're heading out to the van now." She then tells me to take the kids (including a toddler boy and an almost toddler girl) to play in the front yard of the library right behind them. The unfenced yard of the library that fronts the business loop of the highway with a speed limit of 40. That's where I want my kids to play, yup.
Umm...where, exactly, did the doctor's office lose the focus on "family" that is in their very name. If they don't want kids in their office, they should stop billing themselves as a family doctor. Yes, children are loud and sometimes distracting, despite our best efforts. We are training them to be adults, but as anyone knows, training goes roughly in the early days. At the point at which they surpassed normal kid noises, I removed them from the situation.
Am I out of line to think that a family business of any type, should expect that families will consist of young children who will act like, well, young children? It's one thing if my kids are pulling stuff off the shelf at Safeway. It's another altogether if they are making car noises while sitting in the toy car shopping cart.
Let's put it like this: I wouldn't take my kids into an antique store. I wouldn't take my kids into a restaurant that requires reservations. And while I do consider the grocery store to be a family type business, I wouldn't let them pull things off the shelf or scream like banshees. Of course, if I'm there when they're tired, that's on me. I should schedule my day better, so they can be out of there to, well, act like tired children act. But if I do take my kids to the store, and the check out line is an hour long, and the kids are fussing by the time we get to the cashier, well, I've made that effort, and the business needs to understand that. And most businesses that cater to families do.
All children are a blessing. And training is an ongoing task. It requires repetition, and children, being, well, children, will test their boundaries, requiring further training.
Anyway, my intent was not to rant. It was simply to discuss the inequalities that larger families have. That most of the time, aside from a look or a comment that probably wasn't really intended to hurt, that I don't really have to deal with. I was going to talk about the difficulty in our daily walk with God. See, I heard this pastor on the radio today, talking about how people don't struggle to walk with God. They just screw up, then ask for forgiveness again. And that's not how it works. You have to work at it. Now, the walk itself is work. I've talked about my own struggles with submission. Boy, it's hard. And yeah, I do screw up. I'm not perfect. No one is. But I do consciously make the effort to submit to God's will. I mean, in that area, I really have no choice. God's will, will win every time, one way or the other. But one can choose to not be judgemental, or to not gossip, etc. Rather than being so and then asking forgiveness, one has to make the conscious choice to not do it. And trusting God with your fertility is one of those things. One has to make a conscious choice to let God be in charge.
I'll tell you why that scares most people. Kids are expensive. But very rarely do I hear families saying "I can't afford this." Most of the time what I hear are stories of God's provision. I posted a long time ago about "Just enough." And often that's how it works. No, you probably won't be living in a huge house with enough bathrooms and plenty of room and always have the newest bestest this or that. But you will have "just enough." If you only put that faith and trust in God.
K, I'm done now, and so are the dishes, so I'm heading to bed.
The hard choices
Found this over on inashoe.com
Sometimes, the choices we face in life are harder than we can even imagine.
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2009/03/woot.html
Sometimes, the choices we face in life are harder than we can even imagine.
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2009/03/woot.html
Bug Out Bags
OK, with spring coming, and fire season already here, very early, I went ahead and redid the bug out box. For those of you that don't want to read all the way back, my bug out box is based on a bug out bag, also called a 72 hour kit. Unfortunately, I had to dig into it a few times during the recent financial hard times, and now restocking is a priority.
Last night, as we unpacked groceries, we just dumped the aquapods I bought into the box, and then today worked on restocking it. I added several aquapods and some Capri Suns and some snacks to a car bag, that I've been wanting to do for awhile. This bag will always be in the car. Normally, if something happens, we won't be stranded on the road for too long. We both have cell phones, and the fire radios. So the car bag for every day doesn't have to be huge. If we take a bigger trip, or will be up in the mountains, we will pack more emergency essentials. Remember, running to the store for a gallon of milk is an hour trip for us. We aren't surrounded by convenience stores and Walmarts. Again, we wouldn't be stranded for long, but sometimes stuff happens. So here's the car bag:
Here are some pics of the organized box, with all five backpacks in play. The clothes aren't in the backpacks yet, but they are in a basket on my bed ready to be loaded. We don't have everything in there. Here's why: With five children, I can't pack everything. I do, however, have a list of "stuff to grab" that I will also be updating this week. The hard truth is, if we have to walk out of here, for any distance, we're pretty screwed. However, all of this stuff loads into the van with minimal effort, with room for the computers. With this, we can safely evac in the van to just about anywhere. We have multiple places to go if we need to evac. With the computers, if we lose the house, we can start over completely, if we had to.
In this pic you can see the medicine bag, some of the food, and the extra large ziploc of paper stuff-tp, trash bags, pads, etc. You'll notice the food isn't the healthiest. There's a tin of cookies and some pudding in there. For bug out purposes, you want calorie dense, not nutrient dense, and you want foods everyone will eat with minimal complaint. You want to keep the kids full when they are hungry. The evacuation situation will be stressful enough for them (and for you). If they are happily full of food they like, they will complain less, be less stressed, and cause less stress for you. If they are sugar high, the walking (if you are walking) will cure that, and if you're driving, stop frequently at rest stops (you'll want to do that anyway, as adrenaline wears off) and let them run around, then crash when they get back in the car.
In the backpack with the stars, you see a bag of pretzels and some linens. These are misc old linens which I packed for bandages and triangle slings.
Two more backpacks, ready for clothes. You want to keep each backpack balanced and light. Even a short walk with a badly packed backpack can hurt someone.
Pic of the box with the big paper goods bag taken out. You can see water, gatorade, shelf stable milk (which I will eventually take out and replace with soy milk, takes up less space) and the bowl for doggie water. Don't forget to pack for your pet. We have two gallon storage bags with dog food, and the leash is on the back door, on the "stuff to grab" list. I planned a gallon per day for her, too. She may not need that much, but she might, especially if she gets stressed.
One last pic, showing more food, a guide book to medicinal herbs, and the wind up radio/flashlight that I got off ebay. Not only is this a bug out box, but an extended power outage box. It gets stored in the safe closet in case of tornado (not likely but not impossible) or some other long term power outage. If we do need to camp on an evac, we'll have light. We can light a fire, and do have matches and such, but I'm hesitant to light a campfire with the kidlets. I will if I have to, but I'd rather not have to. But if we are evacing and need to stop, we can find a campsite instead of a hotel, saving a lot of cash-which will be needed if the evac lasts awhile or if we lose the house.
At some point I will post a list of what I have, what I want, and what is on the "stuff to grab" list.
Oh, since I'm taking the computers if we can drive, no loss of family photos. If you have a lot of photos, take the time to scan them to a CD and you only have to grab the CD if you ever have to evac. Better yet, do one seasonally and send to gramma or someone else to hold for you, so you don't even have to worry about it. You won't lose those precious photos that way.
If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments section, and I'll answer them best I can!
Last night, as we unpacked groceries, we just dumped the aquapods I bought into the box, and then today worked on restocking it. I added several aquapods and some Capri Suns and some snacks to a car bag, that I've been wanting to do for awhile. This bag will always be in the car. Normally, if something happens, we won't be stranded on the road for too long. We both have cell phones, and the fire radios. So the car bag for every day doesn't have to be huge. If we take a bigger trip, or will be up in the mountains, we will pack more emergency essentials. Remember, running to the store for a gallon of milk is an hour trip for us. We aren't surrounded by convenience stores and Walmarts. Again, we wouldn't be stranded for long, but sometimes stuff happens. So here's the car bag:
Here are some pics of the organized box, with all five backpacks in play. The clothes aren't in the backpacks yet, but they are in a basket on my bed ready to be loaded. We don't have everything in there. Here's why: With five children, I can't pack everything. I do, however, have a list of "stuff to grab" that I will also be updating this week. The hard truth is, if we have to walk out of here, for any distance, we're pretty screwed. However, all of this stuff loads into the van with minimal effort, with room for the computers. With this, we can safely evac in the van to just about anywhere. We have multiple places to go if we need to evac. With the computers, if we lose the house, we can start over completely, if we had to.
In this pic you can see the medicine bag, some of the food, and the extra large ziploc of paper stuff-tp, trash bags, pads, etc. You'll notice the food isn't the healthiest. There's a tin of cookies and some pudding in there. For bug out purposes, you want calorie dense, not nutrient dense, and you want foods everyone will eat with minimal complaint. You want to keep the kids full when they are hungry. The evacuation situation will be stressful enough for them (and for you). If they are happily full of food they like, they will complain less, be less stressed, and cause less stress for you. If they are sugar high, the walking (if you are walking) will cure that, and if you're driving, stop frequently at rest stops (you'll want to do that anyway, as adrenaline wears off) and let them run around, then crash when they get back in the car.
In the backpack with the stars, you see a bag of pretzels and some linens. These are misc old linens which I packed for bandages and triangle slings.
Two more backpacks, ready for clothes. You want to keep each backpack balanced and light. Even a short walk with a badly packed backpack can hurt someone.
Pic of the box with the big paper goods bag taken out. You can see water, gatorade, shelf stable milk (which I will eventually take out and replace with soy milk, takes up less space) and the bowl for doggie water. Don't forget to pack for your pet. We have two gallon storage bags with dog food, and the leash is on the back door, on the "stuff to grab" list. I planned a gallon per day for her, too. She may not need that much, but she might, especially if she gets stressed.
One last pic, showing more food, a guide book to medicinal herbs, and the wind up radio/flashlight that I got off ebay. Not only is this a bug out box, but an extended power outage box. It gets stored in the safe closet in case of tornado (not likely but not impossible) or some other long term power outage. If we do need to camp on an evac, we'll have light. We can light a fire, and do have matches and such, but I'm hesitant to light a campfire with the kidlets. I will if I have to, but I'd rather not have to. But if we are evacing and need to stop, we can find a campsite instead of a hotel, saving a lot of cash-which will be needed if the evac lasts awhile or if we lose the house.
At some point I will post a list of what I have, what I want, and what is on the "stuff to grab" list.
Oh, since I'm taking the computers if we can drive, no loss of family photos. If you have a lot of photos, take the time to scan them to a CD and you only have to grab the CD if you ever have to evac. Better yet, do one seasonally and send to gramma or someone else to hold for you, so you don't even have to worry about it. You won't lose those precious photos that way.
If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments section, and I'll answer them best I can!
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