6 Word Saturday

Today I'm going to try something new.  It's called 6 Word Saturday.  If you want to play along, don't forget to link up to Show My Face.  I'm going to keep it simple and come up with something that probably most of us are feeling today.

Remembering 911 and those that died.

 

5QF

I can't believe how quickly this past week has gone by.  While I have been busy, I am going to stick with a simple post of 5 Question Friday.  Feel free to copy the questions and link up at My Little Life. 

1. Do you feel guilty spending money on yourself?


Actually, I do.  I'd much rather spend any extra money on my kids.   However, if I have been looking for something for the house for a really long time (like that table I just bought) then I get it.  But only, if I can find it at a really good price (like that table I just bought).

2. How well do you know your neighbors?

Well...I know who they are.  I've got neighbors on one side that have 4 kids like we do, but they are never home.  Ever.  I see the dad at restaurants and the mom driving down the road, but never at their house.  The neighbors on the other side of us have 2 kids, and I see the mom more often.  She works with Joe, also.   They should carpool so I can keep the car during the day!  I think times are just different now.  People just don't hang around and have block parties anymore, which is really a shame.  I remember when we moved here 4 years ago.  I was the new one in the neighborhood and yet I was the one to go to my neighbors houses to introduce myself.  They probably thought I was a weird one.  Maybe they are right!


3. What age are you looking forward to being?

I just turned 40 this past June and can finally admit that out loud without hyperventilating!  I can't imagine an age I look forward to being.  However, I look forward to the day my kids are 18 and living on their own!  Ha!   No, Seriously.

4. Do you get excited when the mail comes? Why?

I used to look forward to getting the mail.  Especially when I was little and it was around my birthday.  I loved getting cards and packages.   Now that I am older, all I ever get are bills, so I put off going to the mailbox as often as I can.  My kids LOVE getting the mail everyday and even have their own designated mail days.

5. What is your earliest childhood memory?

I'm not sure how old I was, but because of where I lived, I know I was younger than 7.  As a matter of fact, I think I was younger than 5.  I vividly remember standing in my side yard, which is actually no bigger than a small patch of grass, when an older man was walking down the street.  He was tall, wearing a suit and had gray hair.  He all of a sudden, stopped walking and fell straight back onto the sidewalk.  I remember seeing blood seeping from his head and on the walk.  Our parents (I lived in a 3 family house.  My cousins lived on the 1st floor, we lived on the 3rd) all came out to see what was going on and told us to go into the house.  Some memory, huh?
 
Have a great night everyone! 

Welcome September!

I love it when I get to turn the calendar to September.  That means that fall is right around the corner!  With fall comes several birthdays in our home, which is quickly followed by all the holidays.  Before I know it, it will be February!  It's been so hot here this summer and I am really looking forward to the cooler temps, pumpkin scented candles and sweet potato casserole.  Yum-O!

Yesterday, I was hoping to post about a trip some friends and I took to a local thrift shop on Tuesday.  However, on Wednesday my husband works from home and takes over the computer for the day.  I suppose I could have done it last night, but let's just be honest here.  I was lazy.  Anyhow, there is a thrift shop in town that I think is fairly new and I've been wanting to visit it for a little while.  I tried to find it one day, but got completely turned around.  However, this time, the plans were made and we were going.   There would be no one stopping us!  Michelle and I started out Tuesday morning at....

Panera for something to eat, while we waited for Kellie to join us.   After talking for over an hour, we hit the road.  Michelle goes to Gina's Junk fairly often, but Kellie and I have never been.   How cute is this place!!

And how cute is this little guy hanging over the doorway?  I imagine you could make this pretty easily.

The woman who owns it, Gina, is super nice.  We saw lots of things we could have taken home, if we had space at home for it.  Such as this door.  All you need is a new screen and some sanding.  I'm surprised Michelle didn't buy it.

And what about this window?  I saw on  Tatertots & Jello, that someone had made a really cute coat rack with one similar. 

Kellie ended up getting a really pretty pantry.  Isn't it gorgeous!  It has a couple of shelves inside and tons of room to fit a child who is acting up, perhaps.  Just saying.

In the end, Michelle's van looked like this. 

The yellow table and some of the shutters underneath it are mine.  I've been wanting a table for my front porch for the longest time now.  This one is cute, with a little drawer and it was only $20!!  Score!!  I'll leave you with a final photo of Kellie and the ginormous aloe plant!  She couldn't get over how large this was.

Have a great day everyone!  I'm off to meet the school bus.  :)

Milestones

Today we had a new milestone at our house.  Can you guess what it was?

Today we let Maeve ride the bus for the first time!!  Declan was with her.  His first ride was just a week ago, but unfortunately, I forgot my camera!!  Not today.

Maeve jumped off the bus and was grinning from ear to ear.  They both LOVED it.  I am going to let them ride the bus, coming home from school, from now on.  We only live a few miles away, so I will still drive them in the mornings.   I just wish the bus dropped them off closer to our house in case I am running late meeting them at their stop.  It might only be a half mile away, but you can't see it from our house.  Maybe I will give the bus driver a bribe gift!  One can hope. 

Have a nice night everyone!!

My vanishing act

This is the time of year where I usually do my vanishing act.  At least where blogging is concerned.  However, this year I am going to try and stick around.  You are thrilled, I can tell. 

So let's see what's been going on, shall we? (I'm just going to pretend that we are having a real live conversation here.)   Oooh, guess what!!  I've started is an Etsy shop!!  It's called Ladybugs and Fireflies.   I've got a link of the side of my blog. I'm going to make some cute things for the home and sell them there. Or at least I hope to.  My favorite so far, is the Advent Calendar. Probably because I love Christmas. Anyhow, I've only put a few things on there to see what kind of response I get. Hopefully I can sell some things and make enough to help with Christmas. We shall see. My friend, Michelle, has an Etsy shop as well. She is uber talented and has a ton of things listed. Her shop is called 24 Olive Street. If you are in the market for anything made with fabric, I urge you to visit her shop. You won't be sorry!

What else?  Well, school has been in session for 3 weeks already!  How time flies.  The older kids are doing good with school.  Each of them have friends in class from last year.  The younger two, well that's a different story.   Maeve is liking Kindergarten, except for that little brat girl in her class who is telling the other girls not to play with her!  This is not making momma happy and I'm ready to go to the school and have some words with said child.  It's not going to be pretty.  Declan has class with many of his friends this year.  He loves that!  Of course, he also loves talking, which is why his desk has already been moved away from the other kids.  I've also been asked to call his teacher at home last weekend.  Apparently my son thought it would be a good idea to climb up on the urinal (YUCK!!) and check out some kind of bug that was climbing up the wall.  In his mind, it was not a big deal, he just wanted a better look.  The teacher was afraid he might fall in.  (I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.)    Also, there has been some playing on the playground which may or may not involve kids who are falling into broken glass and pieces of cement, resulting in lots of blood and stitches.  Not my son, just kids chasing him.  So naturally, it's his fault.  And he might be playing a made up game called "Tap Out" where boys try to knock each other down, then stand over them screaming "Tap Out!".  Again, while this play time involved 4 boys, the only one to get caught was....Declan!  And finally, another child came to school, so shaken he could not breathe, saying he was afraid of using the bathroom in case Declan was in there?!  Personally, if my child was that upset, I wouldn't just drop him off and leave, I would be in the office finding out what was going on.  But, who am I to judge another parent.  At any rate, he never even saw my son in the bathroom at all, so we are not sure where this came from.  And I was in the office for that as well.  *sigh*  It's going to be a long year for him, I'm afraid.

I am also teaching Maeve how to read.   I have this totally awesome book called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons".  I love it and recommend it to everyone!  I even brought it in Declan's class last year to teach some of the kids in his class.  Anyhow, Maeve is up to lesson 15 and is doing great!

What else?  Oh yes.  Baseball has started up again.  Lord help me!  Fall ball is much more relaxed then when you play in the spring.  At least that's what I was told.  However, we have practices twice a week, which will stop when the games start.  They are also twice, possibly three times a week.  Thankfully it's a short season.  A little side note here:  I would like to shout out a HUGE congratulations to Columbus' Northern Little League.  Their team went all the way to the World Series playoffs!!  They did fantastic and should be very proud of themselves!

I've also gotten a few emails asking me how I plan on getting debt free.  First off, let me just say that it's not happening overnight.  There are little changes that we are making, which will hopefully make a big difference when added up.  One thing we decided to try this month was buying food from Angel Food ministries.  We have never done this before and thought we'd give it a try.   I'm not a name brand snob, so it wasn't going to bother me to try something new.  Some things I do like my name brands though.  Anyhow, we checked it out and found that you don't need to provide anything showing a need.  It's open to everyone!  How awesome is that?  Anyhow, we only bought one package to try.  On pick up day, we were surprised to see how much food was really there for only $29!!

We've already eaten most of the food, and I'm happy to report that it's really good!  I know that sounds like I expected it to be spoiled or something, but as I said, we have never done this and didn't know what to expect.  Next month, we are getting a couple of packages.  On their website is a menu for the following month, so you can decide if it's what you want.  Also, you can order as many packages as you like. 

Have a great night everyone!!  I hope to be back soon!

It's 5 Question Friday!

1. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?

I'd have to say that I do not have any nicknames.  Sure, my husband calls me the usual things like "honey" and whatnot, but other than that nothing comes to mind.  When I was a kid, though, I was very thin and called everything from stick to twig and string bean.  I'm also quite certain that, behind my back, my kids have probably called me something other than mom!

2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?

My parents only had my brother and me.  I am the oldest.  I've often wanted a sister, especially when I was a young girl.  I like to pretend that my parents had me, and seeing that rainbows sprouted from my arse, decided to have another golden child.  They quickly realize, after my brother was born, that one cannot hit the lottery twice and immediately stopped having any more kids.

3. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?

Oh my.  There are so many actors that I really like.  I am always after my husband to shave his head, so maybe Bruce Willis.  However, because Joe is anything but a daredevil, I can't see that working.  If I were to play me in the movies, then I would want John Duhamel to play Joe.  That man is HOT!!

4. What is currently your favorite song?

Sorry, I was lost in thought after that last question!  Ahem.  Anyhow, currently my favorite song is probably California Gurls by Katy Perry and Snoop Dog.  Each summer has a song for that year and this year, that was it. 

5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?

If you've read my last post, you already know the answer to this.  I'm not really saving for any big purchases.  I am trying not to spend money on anything that I don't absolutely need.  This way I can pay off any debt.  Once that is done, and we only owe on the house, then I want to buy land someplace so I can build the home of my dreams. 

That's all of my answers this week.  Feel free to copy and paste them to your blog and fill in your own answers!  Let me know if you do.  I'd love to read them.  Then, head over to My Little Life and link up!!

Debt free living. It's a struggle.

Living debt free is my goal.  Although, when you first start out trying to become debt free, it's hard.  As a matter of fact, it downright sucks.  Especially when you have four kids and one is a preteen!  They don't understand why we won't go out to dinner like we used to, or buy new things whenever we want to.  Before you start to worry (hello, mom!) we are not broke.  My husband makes a nice living for us.  I'm just tired of looking around the house and wondering where his paycheck goes.  Can I get an AMEN!  And it's not like we blow money left and right.  For example, my television is years old.  Our goal is to only owe on our house.  In our effort to live debt free, we've cut out certain things like having a cell phone (I heard you gasp!) and even a second car.  Both of which we got rid of last year.  It's not easy having only one car, but certainly doable if you are willing to make the sacrifice.  Much to the horror of my kids, they will find out this afternoon when they get home from school, that I've cancelled cable!  No, I'm not trying to be cruel to them, they have other things to keep them entertained.  I just don't want them turning into zombies every afternoon.  I've been reading other blogs where families only spend $50 per person, per month, on groceries!  I'm not there yet.  Not even close.  I can't seem to get out of the store without spending way more than that.  However, that's the kind of habit I'm trying to break.  I'm trying to make a menu for the week and only buy the food that's needed.  I also painted the side of my pantry door so I can write down my menu plans, which will hopefully keep me from forgetting what the menu was in the first place!   Are you living debt free?  Do you have any suggestions or hints for me?  I'd love to hear them.  Not debt free, but want to be, then join me on this journey!