Still Picking up the Pennies

We love summer time with the great warm weather we are having. We would so love to go on a real vacation, but instead we have resorted to day long trips and excursions this year. We were all in the mood for a day trip to Copper Harbor, MI. If you have never been there, go! It is one of my very favorite small towns in the world. Copper harbor is about 2 hours from where we live. We stopped at every little site seeing opportunity along the way. This is a snow-o-meter measuring the local area's record breaking snow fall in one year 390.4 inches. Can you imagine!? It still snows a lot up here but I am glad I have never seen that much snow. Our next stop was at Fort Wilkins' State Park. There is a ton of history at this fort. My boys really enjoyed seeing how and where the soldiers of that time lived and worked. Joel setting off the cannon. Noah shopping getting supplies for making cookies, he is my cookie monster!! The ammo depot. Then to Mount Brockway, it sure do...

The other night I went into my boys' room to kiss my babies good night. I was amazed to find this in the oldest baby's bed!..... Who is this little man in my baby's bed!? My kids are growing up so fast. Sometimes it just seems like just hits me more then others, and this moment was like reality slapping me in the face.

I have done a lot of thinking about what I am grateful for this past week. While I was having a conversation with my very moody preteen nearly 12 year old darling son, it dawned on me. I am very grateful for God blessing me enough to be the care taker of my sweet family. Whether or not it is my moody preteen, my midlife crisis husband or my button pushing 8 year old, they are my life, blood, sweat and tears. I would trade nothing in the entire world for my three men. If they shed one tear, I shed 1 million, or grin one smile, I grin 1 million smiles. What else would a God loving woman ask for. Thank you to Laura for hosting Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers

We had such a wonderful weekend. Friday night we went to the circus, I paid $15 for me to get in but the boys were free. They did not ask for any junky toys or rides on the animals, we were content just watching the show and the crowd. Noah loved the acrobats, and Joel enjoyed the dry comedy. On Saturday, the boys took me out to lunch at our favorite restaurant, and it just happened to be a mystery shop. I love eating out and being reimbursed for a majority of the bill. Then we went to visit Dave's mom, we stayed longer then we had planned but every one enjoyed the visit. The sunshine was so warm sitting there. Then to visit my parents. My mom was babysitting her great grand daughter Isabel, my boys just love playing with babies. Sunday we slept in and enjoyed lounging round the house. The plan for the week is a lot less stressful then last week. Monday - Fish sticks with tater tots Tuesday - Ham something Wednesday - soup and dinner rolls Thursday - Brats on buns ...

We had such a wonderful weekend. We spent the night Saturday night at a hotel, we swam and lounged all weekend. My darling husband works from 2:30pm til 10:30pm Monday through Friday; which means our family time is really limited. I try to make sure we only have fun things to do on Saturday and Sunday, so we all can enjoy our time together. This weekend we had a wonderful time. But it is Monday and time to get back to the grind. So here is the food plan Monday - Burgers and fries Tuesday - is a Burger King night, it is book fair time at the school. Wednesday - Fish with noodles Thursday - meat loaf and ........ Friday - is always pizza night Saturday - Chinese food at home Sunday - tacos. For more yummy menu ideas go over to orgjunkie.com

This weekend fly by way to quickly. We were able to spend a relaxing day at home on Saturday. The boys and I did a sand art project, as part of our prep for the county fair this summer. I love doing craft projects with them. I also did a lot of baking; I made strawberry cake balls, banana bread, brownies and a bundt cake. All the goodies were brought to a memorial we attended on Sunday. It was great to see people we don't get to spend much time with, we just wished it was under other circumstances. Fast-ward to this week, the meal plan looks like this: Monday- Pasta bake Tuesday: Lunch -sloppy joes Dinner -Beef barely soup Wednesday- Fajitas Thursday - BBQ Chicken Friday - HM pizza Saturday roast Sunday TBA If you notice I planned lunch only for Tuesday as there is no school. The Juniors are taking the ACTs and the rest of the kids are off. I think I may take the boys sledding. Also do a bird identification lesson. Have a great week everyone. For more yummy menus, po...

Just when things are going blissfully well, then IT always seems to happen. We had just purchased a decent car for a good price. Decided to pay off the last bit of credit card debt we have $2300 from our tax refund. Then IT happened. I came home to this thing....... in the basement making a horrific sound, it truly sounded like it was going to blow up. I panicked, dh was not home and unreachable, I did leave a message at work. I had my oldest son bringing things out to the car just in-case we did have to leave. I grabbed our box of important papers, keys to cars, what else!? A day worth of clothes for each of us, school bags, winter jackets. THEN DH called and told me that it would not blow up {WHEW!} but a water tank may flood the basement and blast hot, HOT water every where, also to put out the fire in the wood stove. Did that. Then I had to get the kids out of here, the noise was so loud and scary. We put the indoor pets in the detached garage and went for ride. When we came back,...

Romance does not have to break the bank. I am trying something new for my DH this month, the 14 days of romance. It starts today. I have made or will make little homemade cards to go with each day. Today is "a sweet for my sweet" day. He works from 2pm to 10pm, so when he gets home he will see the big cookie I made for him and open his card.

Today my boys had a half day of school, so I wanted to do something fun for the afternoon. The rules were we could not spend any money but could use some gas from the truck. So we decided on taking Mother nature up on her beauty she provided about 3 feet of new snow over the past week. We went sledding. My son is the one being pulled backup the hill in the blue and black jacket. We brought cocoa and hot dogs from home and invited a few cousins along and had a bonfire. This is a look down the hill. My crazy and one of my favorite sister in laws road down the hill together and nearly peed our pants laughing. It was a great day!!

I am borrowing this post "Sign up below and you’re on your way to receiving free books in exchange for your honest and thoughtful book reviews! You can also win cash prizes, autographed books, iPods and other great awards! For full details on how the Blogging for Books program works please visit our FAQ page. http://www.waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/sign-up *USA only, book reviews are due within 30-90 days, can only request 1 book at a time." but I just got an email stating that my book: The Dragon and the Turtle by Donita K. Paul and Evangeline Denmark; illustrated by Vincent Nguyen has been queued for shipment, I should have it in 7 to 10 days. Just in time for Christmas break reading with the boys. I love new kid's books that my boys will love for free.

The New Year is coming and is so full of promises of every thing starting over, like a clean slate. I am going to be brainstorming about how I want to save/make money in the new year, as that is going to be my main financial role again. DH is back to work and I will be laid off after the first full week of January. While there are tons of blogs that combine sales with coupons, or deal links, I will be taking advantage of those, of course. But my main goal with this blog in the next year is going to be about me keeping track of MY savings and money making, in so I hope to inspire others (and myself) to start or maintain a frugal lifestyle.

So here it is Saturday morning! I feel pretty inspired. Last night after I picked the boys up from school. We went to pick up my Mom and Great niece who is 4 months old. We hit the library for a few books and videos. Then we all went out to eat. I really feel pretty frugal in doing so :) I did a survey for a $15 gc that I used and it was also a mystery shop :D So I will get ALL of the money I spent back and had a great time. The boys and I finished up the gift for my Gram's birthday. It only cost money to mail it to her. She loves flowers and can NEVER find a pen. So this is what we made. I am thinking she will love it. DH is out of town for the night completely the first of the bus driver education class. He took the school van, so no cash spent there, maybe even over time :) OH yeah also in the picture is a cookie jar that I got Friday night from a garage sale for 50 cents. There is a tiny chip in the lid that I colored with an orange marker.

Life has handed us a curve ball this week. an out of town friend of DH's extended his stay in the area, so I did not stick to the plan at all, but no meals out but one, and my parents bought it. Tonight, I fixed a new recipe for dinner, Creamy Mac and Cheese I served it with chicken and cucumber slices. My family LOVED it, thank you Laura for a great, healthy recipe. My family didn't even notice that it was whole wheat pasta. It was my first time cooking it, as I am trying to get healthy and avoiding the "white" foods. I found out some news that just makes me sick to my stomach. A dear friend of mine was arrested for embezzling from her place of employment. Apparently she has a bad gambling problem as well. I am sick with the thought of theft but just heartbroken by the thoughts that as school starts her teenage daughters are going to be on the receiving end of such torment. We live in a very rural area and news spreads like wild fire. My prayers are with the family ...

The boys and I got up early, DH slept in. While he slept in, the boys and I cleaned up the house, they did their summer daily lesson, and I made up a yummy quick lunch. It was kind of cool outside and I made a goal last night to move at least 4 miles in the next week. So the boys and I invited DH to join us for a family hike. We had a great time and got some great free exercise. We also took so great photos, I especially like this one. Then DH planted the plants we bought yesterday for the garden. We should have loads of veggies come harvest time. I hope to work on a menu and post it soon.

I managed to ditch the Santa boarders, still not sure how but I am glad they are gone :) Today I got to see my one and only niece graduate, I am so very proud of her and happy for her. She worked very hard for this occasion, she not only conquered the trials and tribulations of every teenager, but she graduated 9.5 months pregnant. So I am very proud of her determination and strength! Also I quickly visited two graduation parties, and took my boys swimming and had planned to sleep in the camper, but we were rained out :( but we just started summer on Friday, officially. I am going to try to post here on a more regular basis. I quit and offically done with my time suck job, so I should have time do it. More soon.

time for an update and a plan for February 2010 ok, lets see, where to begin. The Dfamily and I made it through Christmas and had a WONDERFUL day, season. I did have a couple of Christmas angels. We spent what we could on presents and excepted that. January, in a nutshell was ok, DH applied for many, many jobs, there are three that would be really GREAT, low pay but in his career field and enjoyable. But we shall see. UI is still keeping us a float along with my two part time jobs, I have been taking every single hour offered to me. Noah's birthday is coming up and we are going to splurge a bit for it. I have kept to NO eating out, no carry away and being frugal to the bone. So now, my food stamps has went from $382 to $262 a month because I am working, I expected it and will just have to watch that again also. I am going through the steps to apply for a hardship for our mortgage and it is still pending, this will give us a bit of a break for 6 months. I applied for eme...

Hi all! I have been working a lot of extra hours at the store, one of the girls took a few days off, so I will enjoy a bigger check next payday, TG. I am having a hard time coming up with the mortgage this month. Things are REALLY tight, but with no unplanned spending we will be able to make it within the ten day grace period!! I went to town yesterday after work, I got a ton of groceries in the house which is a good feeling! I did go by a thrift store and bought two blouses for myself for a total of $1.57. and I bought a grab bag for $5. There was 4 left, toys and stuff they said. So I picked one of the two boy bags. I have a hard time buying things site unseen, but it turned out to be most excellent! There was a digital camera in it Joel asked for one from Santa, it is sealed in the package and with a $59 price tag on it from Walmart so everything else is bonus. There is also a watch set that DH will get. and a few other things I will pass on to MIL for gifts for her tribe of kids sh...

My DGram is in need of prayers and good thoughts that anyone has to spare! She has been blocked up #2 wise for awhile and she is experiencing some things that are not normal, so she is going for a cat scan tomorrow and seeing an ob/gyn for corrective surgery if needed on Wednesday. and if they can clean her out enough a colonoscopy next week. I know TMI sorry, but the prayers and good thoughts please.