Fun Day Off From School

On November 4th (Election Day) the boys and I had a day off from school.  Their daddy had to report for work so it was just us at the house!  We had so much fun!!

First:  The boys slept in while I went to vote.

2nd:  We ate all day!  I baked blueberry muffins.  Each boy cooked their own snacks and meals.  The fire alarm only went off 1 time!  We are making progress!!

 Finally, we watched our favorite TV shows.  N and I caught up on our favorite shows together.

Of course we did other things in between but those are the ones we enjoyed the most.

It was a really good day.

Oh, I almost forget - D gave Maxie a much needed bath!  She is nice and clean now!

The Work of His Hands

N recently went on a field trip with his Honors Art Class to the Governor's School for the Arts.  He had a great time and this picture is one that he did while there.  He is very talented in art and seems to enjoy it very much.  He does not, however, like to use color.  He is strictly a black and white boy!  

He is interested in attending a summer camp at the school.  We will have to see if he is willing to pursue the application for getting into the school.  I am very proud of him!

Psalms 90:17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

November 3 - Housewife Day

November 3rd is Housewife Day!  This day we honor all the housewives that make their homes a place of peace and love.  Housewives come in various shapes and sizes, working in the home or working outside the home, it is still hard work.  

What do we housewives do?  We love our families, give hugs to encourage, comfort, and celebrate, cook, clean, do laundry, listen, problem solve, budget, shop, plan, referee, create...the list is endless.  And, I might add, it requires an endless list of skills!  It is not for the faint of heart!

For those called to the vocation of being a housewife and mother, it is the greatest job in the world and one I would not give up for any amount of fame or money!  

It's all worth it to see a smile on your husband's and children's face at the end of the day!  It's a good thing!

November 2 - All Soul's Day

One of the things that I love about the Catholic church is the remembrance of our dearly departed.  On November 2nd of every year, we remember those who have passed away and prayers are said.  This would be my entire family with the exception of one brother.  

It's probably one of my favorite days of the year.  

I find great comfort in the prayers and my memories of my loved ones.

November 1 - All Saints Day

November 1st is All Saints Day - a time to remember all the saints, known and unknown, who have gone before us.  

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

The menu week in review

This past week I was in the kitchen cooking.  

Monday -  salsa chicken served over rice

Tuesday - turkey, stuffing, gravy, pumpkin dump cake 

Wednesday - BBQ chicken, rice, broccoli

Thursday - hamburger hash brown casserole

Friday - popcorn shrimp, hush puppies, corn

I went to the doctor this week with a sinus infection.  The meds have a terrible side effect of a headache.  I will be glad when I am finished with them and my head can quit hurting!  

I have this coming week's menu planned.  I tend to change meal throughout the week so I will wait until next week to post my meals.  Many times it depends on my work day and mood.  My goal is to cook each day and clean out my freezer and pantry.  Not to mention that my budget is gone for groceries.  So, I need to cook at home and use what I have.  Might make for some interesting meals!  

It's raining here today and is supposed to rain all week.   I don't mind the rain.  It's good to lower the pollen count.

Farmer's Almanac and Weather Predicitons

When I was growing up, my father planted the garden by the Farmer's Almanac.  He would buy a new one every year and I remember many nights of him pouring over each word and planning his garden.  Did I mention we always had an acre+ garden??  Not so fun as a child working in the summer heat in the garden, but that is another post!  

Anyway, I decided to check the Farmer's Almanac after the last snow we had and see what it had to say about this winter.  It had successfully predicted the two previous snows.  

This is what I found for February:

FEBRUARY 2014: temperature 41° (5° below avg.); precipitation 4" (avg.); Feb 1-6: Rain, then sunny, cold; Feb 7-14: Periods of rain and snow, then sunny, cold; Feb 15-20: Rain, then sunny, cold; Feb 21-26: Rain to snow, then sunny, cold; Feb 27-28: Rainy, cool.

Hmm, looks like snow is in our forecast again!  I am not surprised since the snow stayed on the ground for 3 days, waiting for another snow.  I grew up with that saying and then to confirm that saying, we had another sign of snow to follow - a thunderstorm in winter means snow will come 7-10 days.  There you go!  Two sayings about snow and the Farmer's Almanac prediction - better buy that bread in milk today!!

Frugal February Weeks #1 and #2

I am really thinking of ways to save money since we are adding on to our house.  Although I have not told the rest of my family, we are going on a debt diet.  I just need to write it down for myself so I can keep my part on track.  I think February is the perfect month to start being more frugal!

Week 2 was an easy week to save money.  The snow really helped us all to stay home and not spend money!  

Savings for Week 2:

1.  I cooked all the meals.  Soup for lunch several days and then a nice hot supper each night.  My boys LOVE soup!  I don't mind cooking if I have the time.  The boys and Dennis loved having a home-cooked meal every night. No trips to the grocery store this week either!  I had plenty to eat from the freezer and pantry.  

      

2.  We have not move the car at all since Monday night.  Since school was called off, we all stayed home.  I don't mind staying at home.  I would all the time if I could.

3.  No internet shopping (Sunday - Friday) since the boys used the computers to play games.  I did order something today but it was a necessity and cheaper online than at the local stores.  Oh, I almost forgot, I did order child #2 a new iPod but he had cash in hand for that purchase.  He had saved his money for this purchase.  

4.  I used Swagbucks to earn points to trade in for Amazon cards.  

Not so frugal things from Week 1:

1.  I am afraid that the first week of February was not so frugal since we ate out a lot that week.  This was due to long work days for me.  I really need to avoid those.  Unfortunately, when you work two jobs, something has to give.  See there?  I am justifying again to myself!  I need to stop that as well.  I need to plan better!

2.  Lots of trips here and there that could have been combined.  

3.  I bought things for Valentine's Day that I ended up not giving due to the snow.  I could give them late but somehow it loses it charm....  

Any tips for being frugal?

Winter Wonderland

This is what our front yard looks like this morning.  ICE on everything...

 BEAUTIFUL

Trees are weighted down with the ice.  I sure hope we do not lose electricity!

I might also add that Dennis won't let me off the front porch because he is afraid I will fall!  :)

Snow + boys = Snowman

 

No long pants, no coat, no gloves....

 

 

No coat needed!!

Update on SNOW

Picture from Programming Resource Center

Winter Storm Watch:Issued at: 4:11 am EST on February 10, 2014, expires at: 7:00 AM EST on February 13, 2014

Accumulations...snow accumulations of 6 to 8 inches along the eastern slopes of the mountains...4 to 6 inches along and northwest of the Interstate 85 corridor...and 2 to 4 inches southeast of Interstate 85. Ice accumulations of a trace to one tenth of an inch are expected along Interstate 85... 

Currently it is raining.  Trying to keep my students focused on a day like today is like nailing jello to the wall!!

Stay Warm Everyone!!!

More Snow!!

Winter storm Pax is suppose to deliver us some more snow this week!  Tuesday and Wednesday we have a 90% chance of snow.  But, we all know that winter storms are unpredictable.  We might just end up with rain!  We will just have to keep an eye on things - much like Anna does from her favorite perch in the kitchen!

SNOW!

We had our first snow this past week.  It was beautiful falling.  School was out for two days.  I thought I would show you a few pictures of our yard and surrounding areas.

Job 39: 6-7  When he says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth!' to the showers, 'Now rain hard!'  he brings all human activity to a standstill, for everyone to acknowledge his work.

This is a waterfall that is not too terribly far from us.  My friend sent me these pictures.

Stay warm!

Susan

When to be quiet

My husband told me today,"you are blowing this way out of proportion."  Hmm, not wise words to say to an overprotective mama bear.  I asked him why did he think that.  He said, "We have talked about this for at least two times in the past two days!"  Really?!

At first, my feelings were really hurt.  He is the one I am supposed to pour my heart out to when troubled.  He is my safe place to fall.  He is my best friend.  And, here he is, telling me to get over something that I cannot.

Then, I realized it was not that I could not get over it, I was choosing not to get over it at that point in time.  So what if things are not going the way I think they should?  Will it matter in 5 years?  I just want to understand.  That is what I do,  I analyze the problem, break it down, and fix it.  Only this time, I can't fix it.  I can only pray.

I can turn off the tape in my mind that replays the situation over and over.  I can turn to prayer instead of voicing my concerns over and over.  I can just let it go.  My friend relates it to holding a balloon and dragging it with you everywhere you go.  One day, she let hers go and was at once peaceful.  So, maybe, I will just let it go and watch it float high in the sky out of sight.

This business of life is hard.  My pastor wrote in his pastoral letter this week about being quiet in order to listen.  It's time for me to be quiet!

Susan