So I went to the store, I sniffed and smelled till I found the one scent I KNEW you would like, I wrapped it up, got the kids to make a card and we gave it to you.

You oohed and awwed, You sniffed and sighed at the perfect scent I found (ok fine, my husband found) and then what did you do? You put it on a shelf and turned it into a dust catcher! What was the point of me finding the right scent if you were just going to leave it on the shelf!

If I screwed up and it stinks to you, give it away, someone will like it, and I don't have to be reminded of the dustcatcher I found!

On the other hand if I did good, take it out, dust it off, and USE IT!

Thank you.

I have single serve applesauce, single serve fruit, single serve juice, single serve bottled water, single serve oatmeal, and single serve drink mix. If I shopped like this normally I wouldn't be able to fit a weeks worth of food in my pantry!

Fortunatly I only have to pack it up...but how to fit it all in the car?

I made a bird! I got the idea that an online flash 'how to draw' would be cool. I have some paper versions that the kids love to follow and I thought a computer would make it real simple....I thought wrong!

Here is what I made after well, really not to terribly long:



But the trouble is..it isn't worth copying! Who would want to learn to draw that! Ah well. I think I have an idea how to break it down into steps, but I need an actual artist to draw the bird..not me!

And yes, all that was me avoiding buttons, I still can't get them to work, so I keep assuaging (is that the word?) my ego by learning something else.

The worst part of PTing a kid (regardless of method, or least between traditional for oldest and EC for middle and current) is the phase where they pee on demand, yet will pee agian 5 minutes later! and of course will also follow that up by refusing to pee when asked or not at all for hours on end!

GRRRRRR! that is where Ue is. He will wake up at night mad because he has to pee, but yet if you take him he may not pee, if he does he will go back to sleep for awhile thankfully, if he doesn't I am in for a bad night till he decides to (in a potty or a diaper).

And during the day he will pester me, fussing, I run thru the list,'nurse?, potty? Diaper? Sometimes he nurses regardless (and yes I am trying to stop that!) sometimes he heads to the potty. when he does I think way cool and figure I am off the hook for a bit, but like 10 minutes later he will come up with a wet diaper! grrrrrrr!

On another note, he can take off the cloth diapers..which is a bit risky seeing as he is still learning..Though he is nicer about laying down for a a diaper..
We bought some 'pull ups' huggies brand..not what we used on my DD, the very first one ripped as we put it on him! not what I need in a diaper!

I tried a fuzzy cover, to see if it would hold the pee (not really), the diaper doesn't stay inside unless you pin it and he plays with the pins, grrrr. I was debating on trying to stich a diaper into a rough underware state, and use it under the cover..tried just a diaper before he started messsing with the pins, doesn't contain enough pee to save my carpet.

And I was debating on going the easy route and getting 'training pants' (thick underware) and using the fuzzy cover over that....but that would be money spent.

Oh and I remembered what else I think I need for DC..shoes for UE..he will be doing more outside walking htere, and I don't want his feet cut up by the rough concrete....kid has been walking for two months almost and I still haven't gotten him shoes!

I actually used coupons today! We bought all the stuff for the trip and stull managed to stay under budget, due to flashes coupons.

One for diapers, one for wipes, one for oatmeal (which also happened to be on sale) one for detergent and one for err..ok several other things...oh chicken! I never buy canned chicken, but it sounds like the perfect thing to take to a hotel for lunch!

Speaking of lunch and breakfast and the hotel, I have access to a microwave! and a coffee pot, and a mini fridge! that totally makes my life easier! I still went with lots of convenience, this is what convenience is invented for IMO!

In other words, I and many others should stop reading into comments, and or compliments.

I know a girl (ok lots of girls) who is (are) upset because someone told her "you look really nice today"

Now common, how about your wedding day, when everyone said 'wow' did you take that as an insult on your daily wear? of course not, and no way you should spend every day in a wedding dress, or the equvalent. you look nice today means nothing less than you look nice.

How about

They said: "I have too high of standards for homeschooling"
you think " so my standards are not high enough?

They actually prolly meant they do not feel confident enough to meet their own standards....maybe they also think you do a lousy job, but I doubt it...anyway who are you teaching for, them or your kids?

They said "that dress is nice, is it new?"
you think, what all the old stuff is bad? or I never wear anything new?

What they meant was "nice new, dress...."

They said "are you losing weight?"
you think "should I be?"

what they meant "you look thiner" no offense, no implied need to do so..just fact...

They said: "MMM this is good, this you should cook again!"

you think..so my normal food you do not want me to cook?

What they meant.."This is good, I would like it more....."

They say "I would never pay that much for that!"
you think, so I am an idiot for paying?

What they meant "I am not into that, not my splurge area"

They say "I could never afford to live there"
you think "what so you think I am rich? I gotta prove you wrong!"

What they meant "I do not think I could live there on what I make (regardless of how it compares to yours)

Now there are exceptions, and people who are really rude..but not as many as we make up!

Trying on winter clothes...

Normally winter kind of creeps in, One morning you need a sweat shirt So you dig it up, but by lunch you are glad of shorts. Another night you think, warmer PJS are in order...So you grab a pair, but the next night you need cool barely there stuff.

Anyway, by the end of october you might have all the winter stuff, and to make life easier ont he kids I get rid of the shorts (nothing like being asked every morning..is it warm enough for shorts? when it is 65 degrees, but you know it will be 75 by bed....

Well, next week we are going to DC, and then on to PA..I hear they need coats in PA lately..I don't havea friend in DC to check with, but I am guessing shorts are not in season!

So this morning I dug up all the 'will grow into' that was wintery (but not to fridged) and tried it on, ok J and G tried it on, U I kinda guessed..hope I am right. I found a few gaps in style, but I am not buying stuff for one vacation, G will just have to suffer with no PJ pants....J has no warm 'dressy' long skirts, or tights, but for one day (sunday will be church in PA) I think she will live..I'll hold her in a blanket from the car to the church if I ahve to (though we will need tights eventually here in NC)

Hmm phooey, there was one other reason I was thinking of going to a store besides the tights...if I can't remember it, I guess I don't have to go and spend money

Anyone know of one?

For breakfast we normally eat english muffins or oatmeal. Niether of which work well in a hotel.

I do not want to buy one (both due to cost and time) but I also do not want to have to do cheereos, which don't fill you up for long (all carbs, and no matter what they say not enough complex ones at that)

I have been racking my brain for weeks now and nothing is comming up except pb sandwhiches..and if we use them for breakfast what will we pack for lunch?

Sigh, travel had better be worth it!

1. Pack food, lots of it
2. Take out garbage the DAY BEFORE! (yeah like I will remember that!)
3. Take garbage to garage the day of...
4. Pack clothes..cold weather ones..it is colder up north!
5. Pack phone numbers of friends in PA!
6. plan an itinerary,so we can actually see some of said friends in PA
7. plan itinerary for DC as well.
8. have fun.....Yes I have ot plan this, otherwise I might forget and get all worked up about everything that will go wrong!

I went to a picnic at a church friends house last night, it was Nice, very nice, all decorated, big screen, all the fancy stuff dreams are made of (the grass was even greener .)The company was nice too

My house on the other hand, has a crib in the middle of the living room......and writing on the primered walls, still.

I would like to have some church friends over, but do I dare let them see my house, or should I go on a decorating/rearanging spree first?

Oddly enough, at least to me, I do not feel the need to go on that decorating spree, sure I would like to paint, but it isn't in the budget now, and I am not putting my life on hold waiting for it, and no amount of money will turn me from an occasional mower to a lawn pro!

And that writing stays on the wall to remind this over-demanding mother that he is only 4 (was 2 at the time)......and 4 year olds do NOT know everything. For example he does not know how to stop his one year old sister from finding a pencil and writing on the wall.....(I was only around the corner for a minute!)

When I debated about what to do with my kid information, I debated doing a blog, after all I do teach everyday..but I hate blogger, and I have no idea how to do myown, so I thought about putting it here, but..this is a finance site, about finances, whihc is cool I need htat to help keep me motivated.

And as far as teaching goes, it is a whole lot of NOT spending! I can't remember the last time I spent a single dime on teaching....Oh sure we go places (local science center) but we went there for fun, not my fault they learned stuff!

So while I have a topic here for frugal home ducation, it is rather full of notes, and err brags ...cause the money spent is nil, and I like it that way. I don't even think of it as in 'I saved X by doing it my way' it is automatic. I hope someday I will find cooking a bit more automatically frugal, and maybe even more of my entertainment.

All week I have been unable to bake for one reason or another, till finally today! yesterday my husband found silicone papers for muffin tins..well not paper, cause they are silicone. I thought they were adorable and so hopped they worked because I hate cleaning muffin tins and I hate having to buy papers, not to mention the whole environmental thing of throwing away a paper for every muffin!

Well I am not entirely certain that making th esilicone liners was all that good for the environment but after a day of testing, they held up really well, Only one muffin stuck, and that was very edible..always eat the ugly ones . I did have to wash the liners, but it was so easy to get in the 'nooks' because it was flexible! I loved it, I did not spray them wiht oil or a fake version therof, even when the recipe called for it....

I still have a few other recipes to test it on, but so far I love them! I told my husband to go look for bread pan liners!

I made:

1. Pumpkin bread and muffins...very good, very sweet, not healthy bread for a picnic Sunday, muffins in freezer for another day.

2. Fruit muffins, with fruit juice and 'crasins', pretty good. for sunday school. (mine and a kid)

3. Oatmeal raisin muffins, recipe from Flash, I think. Like an oatmeal cookie, only better 'cause I never make oatmeal cookies right! for sunday school (a kid)

4. hoagies..the bread part, for steak hogies..soon as I cook the meat, if I can get to it before the kids eat all the bread!

I still have to make something for the other kids sunday school, and my kids have requested choclate cookies..not chocolate chip cookies, but chocolate cookies.

So I have to go find a recipe..maybe like a chocolate sugar cookie?

My origional was:
1.send more stuff to HTML guy (heh, and he thought he was almost done with me!)

2. learn more flash

3. get email out and do so weekly

4. convert more pub to pdf..to give to html guy Smile

So far I did 1, and 3. Then I realized my computer crashed, so I need to take care of that before doing 4, and I ra into a snafu on flash, which stumped me there.

I also have to add to my list:

5. check out feasability of ads.
6. write up dot-to-dot
7. finish the alphabet for the BBA page
8. get stuff ready for next weeks email (I did get a better system for logging all the people who signed up)

Oh and I learned something today, I learned that 'bots', from search engines came to my site! ok so it is silly, but cool to know, google looked at my site...

oh and that todo list, is only for the site, I also have to bake, pack, plan, clean, and err yeah..I like the site list, it is shorter!

Well I tried to send one out, what I got back was a lot of mailer deaomn and failure notices, I am not sure if any went thru! I managed to get cool links and bold headings (nothing quite so cool as SAs newsletter) but I seem to have a problem with lots of junk emails, I sent it to my address list (hey if others can forward chain letters I can advertise!) but guess it wasn't a good idea.

I will work on next weeks and only send it to valid emails, or people who signed up for one anyway(you can sign up too just

click here)

Uh Oh that is a bad sign, when I say that to my husband I am totally cranky and not concerned about budget at all.

It wasn't a huge expense (A&D ointment for my excema) but still that thought is a dangerous one. I should care, I might still get it, but I should care that it is expensive, and over budget.

I also turned the air on for company (the ILs..) And I was making a cgrocery list, My wonderful husband left the coupons (yes we actually have a couple we are going to use!) and well....I was thinking 'who cares' I care, I should talk him into waiting till tomorrow (BTW I was wrong on my count, I was blinded by no chocolate for so long, today is day 8, not yesterday).

So I need to decrankify, and start caring about purchases again...at least a little.

Ok lets ust get hte bad news out of the way...I hae no idea if my ILS are comming to diner or not, maybe tonight, maybe not, maybe tomorrow, maybe not, maybe at some point of friday maybe not...so some people want to know why I care, partly due to keeping hte house at a higher level of clean, clean in generaly is not clean for ILs (toys on floor, must be not to many..easy to put away...projects interupted by screaming 10 month old must be hidden, not left in the middle) Not to mention if they are not comming we should go to the grocery store, and have the steak that is thawing for a late dinner (giving the kids a snack at a bit before normalish time)

Which brings us to the good news..been 9 days since the last grocery visit..if we make it thur today it will set a new record (well record for us, nothing compared to Boe)

On the one hand I do not want to create rude kids, but on the other hand I do want them to see people not paying bills, and wasting food, and not recyling, or donating, or working to be doing it wrong.

I want my kids to think it is automatic to save a bread bag, or use a cloth napkin, I don't want them to think it is a treat to use paper, I want them to see it as an oops.

I want them to see saving as the norm, spending it all to be 'oops'

I want them to see recycling as the norm, and pitching as 'oops'

I want them to see whole wheat bread as the norm and white as 'oops' (or can't afford it...)

I want them to see fruit and vegetables as the norm a meal without an 'oops'.

I want them to see games and fun with mom and dad, reading and writing as the norm, and a day without as a big 'oops'.

When I do something I try to think of the future, I try to think what picture it paints for my kids, one I want to keep or one I want to avoid?

My son asked me two years ago to take him to DC, and we told him we would after we paid off the CC, actually thinking back on it, it was one of the major reasons we got our act together to seriously pay off the CC.

We now have th eCCs paid off, and money saved for our trip..in ING so we wont go spending it.

Now the question, do we take the money out and put it in the checking now to use a checkcard in DC, or do we dust of a CC and use it..or do we buy travelers checks and use them....

I think the checks would limit our spending, but be a royal pia...I think the transfer would leave me very likely to use it all, and hte goal is to leave some for a seed for next years vacation.

but then if we use the CC we will have to pay it off imediatly or risk a fee..which I do not want.

I think I will make it a goal to write down all the reciepts each night before sleep to help keep us on target. but still use the CC (after double checking on the float thing) and then when we get the bill transfer the amount we spent out of ING, and only the amount. leaving the rest as a seed.

I hope it works.

Well it has a forum, some cool links, a way to sign up for the weekly newsletter, and flash files

My HTML guy really put a ton of work into it this weeked, which rocks, I plan on learning how to do the email notice this week and letting everyone I know, know about it, then after that it will be a 'update' email to let people know what is going on.

DimeEd.com

There is still work to do of course, but now I at least have a place to put all the stuff I keep writing!

I talked to several people at church who thought it would be interesting, I hope it is, and I hope it helps them.

to do list:

1.send more stuff to HTML guy (heh, and he thought he was almost done with me!)

2. learn more flash

3. get email out and do so weekly

4. convert more pub to pdf..to give to html guy

K so I was going ot make bubble n squeak..not gormet, but adequate.

Unfortunatly I did not have enough tomato sauce...so I used what I had and suffered.

suffered is the best way to put it, my husband and I put on some carribean jerk, plus some hot sauce for him, then we managed to eat our share....

the kids on the other hand are still devouring it!

you never can figure kids...

but we were talking how our example (my kids don't read this so I can complain here) in person we hinted to each other how bad it was..we didn't let our kids know what we thought..

I think that is one of the key reasons why our kids eat so much so easily.

libraries are cheap..but we will have to go back to take BZ's stuff, so we might as well do it all at once, instead we are going to go down the woods later today (after nap)

oh and this evening I told the kids they could write secret messages for the Gmas and such...we shall see which ones figure it out, and which complain of a blank sheet of paper

square animation

Now I need to learn how to do buttons, and I need to work on the speed (it is a bit fast) and I need to get mutiple steps (I want to trace a window, and the side of a box..and all sorts of stuff)

then I need to do it for all the shapes

oh and at some point make a page to start all the animations..yeah lots to do...

I found out a friend from church is having a birthday...I could go the normal route and buy a card..or I could get my kids to make one..or I could go with an E card...

I like the ecard, cute sweet and able to brighten the day at work (assuming you get email at work..)

That is what GMC asked me to make today...'encourage adventure' part of my brain went to war with the 'you will be baking a replacement saturday night' part...

In the end the 'encourage adventure' won, and we made the muffins, with broccolii inside...

And the verdict is in..edible, actually pretty good!

No idea how, no clue what I did wrong last time, no idea how to do it right again, but I did do it once

Wanna see the pretty circle morph to a square?

You thought I forgot about it didn't ya!
I didn't I just got sidetracked...

link to first 20

link to 21-30

link to 31-50

lnk to 51-65

today is all about the 'don't'

66. don't pay late fees
67. don't buy stuff
68. don't play the lottery
69. don't stay up to late, save on electricity, and medical bills/missed work
70. don't buy millions of face products (do wash and moisturize)
71. don't buy junk food (do make an occasional treat)
72. don't get cable
73. don't get caller ID...
74. don't get call waiting..did you really need to hang up on gma to hear about aunt ethels latest boyfriend?
75. don't buy your own copy of the wizard of oz, borrow it.
76. don't buy your own tivo, hae a party at friends to watch thiers..
77. don't buy your own weed eater, borrow neighbors (or at least loan em yours)
78. or don't buy the weed eater, use your hand and glove to pull up weeds at the edges.
79. don't mow your lawn too often, scruffy is the natural way.
80. don't plant flowers for the wrong climate! deserts were not meant to be full of evergreens!
81. don't plant to many annuals..err those the ones that die every year?
82. don't buy a billion bulbs, let em split then replant...if it is worth it it is worth waiting for...
83. don't leave the water running while scrubbing hands and face, brushing teeth, filling dishwasher..do scrub the hands face, brush the teeth and wash the dishes though...
84. don't keep your house the perfect temperatre...keep it a 2 degrees off...then enjoy the cool/heat when you have company (next year go 2 more away)
85. don't buy all magazines, borrow from friends and library, check online for free years.
86. don't leave the door opn when you take the dog out or get the mail! (less your air/heat is off...)
87. don't leave the lights on in the bathroom (even nightlights, commmon people, how bad do you need to see that you can't reach the night light in the middle of the night? if you must have one, get the flurescent low energy bulbs.)
88. DO NOT teach your kids to be afraid of the dark!!!!!! It is hard to see sure, turn on a light, it is NOT scary, unless you make it that way. (if they get it somewhere else, gently slowly, supportivly wean them off it)
89. don't leave the outside lights on all night...really, it is keeping my daughter up..please turn them off and save your electric bill too.
90. don't leave the TV on for background noise! make your own with a buisness plan, or learning a song, or writing a book, or whatever....practice a speech, practice a call to get CC companies to lower the rates, or your phone company..anything free.

I just reread a mini clip of my last post about the funy flash video "did I mention flash sucks" now I happen to think Flash MMX has way to many bugs, but I wanted to point out that Flash as in our wonderful

resident coupon expert rocks

I handed over the webdesign; because I hate HTML, and instead turned my eyes to learning flash (for the mathfall thing.

I first discovered that flash sucks..then I managed to do a simple 'tween' which is sortof a moving animation.

then I got stuck on the tutorial, did I mention flash sucks? It is the stinking tutorial and it doesn't work!

Anyway in my search to understand what went wrong I found this way funny flash movie thing

stick movie link

kept me giggling instead of swearing at my tutorial troubles

I amde banana muffins expiramenting with whole wheat flour for part..and the result was good, but..healthy tasting...I know that prolly reads odd, but that is the best I can do to describe it. It got me thinking though, part of me wants to take them to church, part of me wants to aim for more healthy tasting, but the other part of me is worried..no one will rave over healthy muffins they way they did over chcolate snowballs and sugar cookies and brownies....

It seems sweet and unhealthy is the way to go if you want praise...but the goal of baking for church isn't actually praise, though I do like it! The goal is food, for my kids and husband and I, because we honestly are cranky whiny PIAs wihtout food.

to sweeten up or not to sweeten up, that is the question....

[Quote] Mostly, they thought differently. Canning, smoking, drying meat and fruits and veggies. Flour was mostly for bread, all these other things like cakes and cookies and doughnuts, were special occassion uses of flour, not a weekly norm. If you only used your flour for making bread it would last much longer, but it wouldn't be as much fun.[/quote]

LuckyRobin pointed out how treats were a bit more of a treat back in the day...I was thinking I call those treats too..but I also call them daily treats! I make muffins nearly every week, usually several different versions, sure we pack up some to take to church, but we also get to try some of every batch...Not to mention making icecream nearly every week.....juice is pretty frequent, though limited and watered down......pop is getting rareer, but I see DH put some in the fridge every day, I certainly hope there will be some left for Friday company.......

Spoiled, we are spoiled....and not just on the whole 'roof over head, 3 squares a day'. We are spoiled in soo much more.