What we’ve been doing

Pricing paint for the best bargan, priming the dining room. Trying to keep up with the dishes, cooking and laundry. (an impossible task I might add) We will buy the paint on saturday, Thank God we have a 10% coupon so that helps a bit, paint is $28.95 a gallon. I need to pick up something for my granddaughter’s birthday. I also have to go to Grandparents Day tomorrow at Ivette’s school. It is finally sunny here after days of rain and cold weather although it is still a bit cold for me. At 52* at 3:30pm. I need it to warm up a bit so I can open the windows to paint without freezing us to death. I won’t paint when it is so cold and wet. I’m thinking we might not be painting until Sunday at this rate. We spent some time weeding the front area where we have two bushes and some bulbs. Saw lots of spiders, worms, a few potato bugs, ants, and a bronze colored beetle. Anyone know what that was? It was shiny and very small. Just in case you didn’t know, I hate bugs………

Ok, I have work to do or a nap to take we will see what wins out.

Wow, what a difference

Today, the kids and I (mostly Noah) worked really hard getting the dining room ready to prime. First we had to move everything but the table out of there, ( the husband helped here a bit) We washed down the walls, filled in holes, vacuumed out the window sills (they were a mess with paint chips, leaves, dust…..) swept and washed the floor, sanded the holes, vacuumed again, then taped up the wood work. The kitchen is a mess but I’m done for the night, except for baking the banana bread for the kids for breakfast tomorrow morning. Oh yes, and finishing the pudding pie. We needed a loaf pan and didn’t have one anymore. Tomorrow we will prime the walls, I”m so hoping it is only going to be one coat. Although I think we need to prime the ceiling as well and I hate painting ceilings. Perhaps I will let the husband do that one. Ok, out of here to finish that bread and pie. Have a great evening.

My final decision

I decided to wait a bit longer for the Bosch and the Nutrimill. I am probably going to be watching my granddaughters this summer and could possibly buy them with that money ( The daughter pays me a minimal sum for all day babysitting)

While I’m a bit disappointed I feel good about this decision, so today we went out and bought 5 gallons of primer to start working on the dining room this week. We will also be buying the paint. I’m hoping to possibly put in carpet in the living room/ stairs and hallway before winter. I would love to do the bedrooms as well but we will see what happens.

In my quest for healthy eating i”m just going to buy some spelt flour and make some of the things with it : waffles, pancakes, muffins, bagels. Perhaps a single loaf of bread occasionally. I also need to get to the local fruit and veg. market we have not far away. I’ve heard they have really great prices for produce which will definitely help us both food and health.

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts, it was a hard decision for us. The husband finally asked me if we were going to be committed to eating healthier if we bought it? I was surprised and said we have to be……he agreed. So I know that when the times comes again to revisit this topic he will be more willing. I was the one that backed out of buying it right now, I didn’t want him to stress about money. I’m glad I decided to wait, I think making him happy is a good thing.

Frantically Working

on our budget…..our stimulus check was in the bank this morning. I also had to pay bills. I”m working on our homeschool curriculum for this fall, that is where the bulk of the stimulus is going since I spent most of my tax refund getting into my house and the rest needs to be saved in case the husband takes his pension and goes to work full time at our church. It takes 12 weeks for us to get the pension money and then it is retroactive. So that means I need to have enough money in the bank to pay for our mortgage and car payment for 3 months. Although, we would save so much money on gas for the van, I would love to have him work at the church full time. I’m going to have to get serious about praying about it.

I’m debating on buying something and have to make a decision by tomorrow.  Bosch has their Bosch Universal Mixer and Nutrimill on sale until Mother’s Day. It is still pricey, worth the money. The reason I’m considering it is we have been eating horribly for well over 2 years now and I know that is affecting our health and my fibromyalgia. I am feeling convicted by the Lord to work on our eating habits and work on our food budget. I’m allergic to wheat and I could easily switch to spelt with the mill and the mixer. Not to mention, making all those other great things that require flour and a mixer : muffins, bagels, pancakes, pizza crust, along with bread and french toast. Oh and I did find a spelt pie crust recipe. I am just having a hard time spending that amount of money, when I know that there are other things we need or will need in the house. So on one hand is our health and food budget and the other miscellaneous things for the house. With our economy, I’m really leaning towards our health and food budget. The husband has been kind of silent on the whole subject, he understands how worried I am, although I think he is worried about giving up his unhealthy italian bread The bread we buy right now is full of stuff that I don’t really want us eating, and costs $2.59 a loaf, which on a heavy day of sandwiches is gone in one day, leaving nothing for the morning or even the husband to take sandwiches for lunch at night. I guess if I didn’t have to spend the rest of the money on school books this wouldn’t be such an issue. It is however………………….the husband did point out that except for our mortgage and car payment the only other bills we have are living expenses. Which is a great thing. Even our new appliances were paid for in cash. I will let you know what I decide to do in a day or so. I so hate making decisions……

Pictures from our first cookout

slideshow part 2

slideshow

Soon

I will post pictures and a real entry. There is so much to do right now I haven’t time. I really need to find some time to study more. Once I take my finals, I will be able to catch up with everything else. Watching my granddaughter and having children with colds is a bit time consuming.

What Punctuation Mark are you?

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven.
You aren’t concerned much with theories or dreams… only what’s true or untrue.

You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched.
You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren’t subject to whim or emotions.

Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice.
(But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!)

You excel in: Leadership positions

You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

http://www.blogthings.com/whatpunctuationmarkareyouquiz/

Yesterday’s Happenings

Many of you don’t know that I sit on the board of our Women of the Church. Yesterday was our west cluster meeting of all the churches in our area. I helped out with registration, ushered the Love offering, helped get the  women in order for communion, helped served the food and clean up. While doing t he above activities, I listened in on the business part of yesterday’s meeting and was asked by MaryAnn if I would come on the board of the West Cluster. I thought about it, for less than 30 minutes and was bugged to give an answer. Since it will only require 4 meetings a year roughly, I will do it. As I was getting ready to leave the board meeting after lunch, another friend Marilyn, says to me, “You would make a great president of the west cluster”.  Scary thought there, God is pushing me places that I don’t feel ready to go to yet. I would so like to just go to school and finish my degree before getting any more active in these things but once called, you just pray and find a way to do both. I’m beginning to wish the Lord didn’t trust me so much. I only know that he will see me through it.