So I have discovered some tricks to not puking...I should be happy that it has been a day and a half without any puking thanks to my discovery. But instead I am complaining.

I should be happy I can drink and keep it down, instead I am complaining that I cannot drink a full glass of any liquid without puking. And even a quarter glass has to be accompanied by food.

I should be happy I can eat and keep it down, instead I am complaining that I cannot eat a normal sized meal, and instead I have to have 'mini meals' of about half normal 'serving size' making them minuscule compared to what I normally eat.

I should be happy I can get some work done, instead of complaining that I have to rest frequently rather than blitz the house in an hour...ok sometimes an hour and half, I have to do work in mini 5-10 minute episodes, once we get to gagging and heaving, time to sit yet again. any idea how long it takes to clean a house if you work 5 minutes sit for 10? I don't know, I usually give up after noon and quit trying to go back for the 5 minutes.

I should be happy I tend to wake up feeling human, instead of complaining that I run out of 'tricks' around dinner time and can't seem to finish cooking or cleaning up after for anything.

I should be happy my kids are so easy to put to bed, instead of complaining that I cannot tuck in my youngest without puking. (last night he insisted Daddy tuck him in...I should be glad, but I kinda feel uselss)

Heh, I suppose I should even by happy I seemed to have found a cure for my chocolate addiction..nothing worse than puking up chocolate! 'cept maybe chili.... of course instead you know I would like to complain about not having chocolate!

Anyway, I know what I should be feeling, I know how happy I aught to be...I am just not a good enough person to be so happy.

Yesterday Daddy brought home a tree, one taller than my son! For the past 7 years we have not had a real sized tree, my husband still balks at buying a tree to toss year after year (yes the man who has a garage full of toys he does not play with doesn't want to buy a tree he will...)

Anyway I was a big rude wife and put my foot down...a tree taller than GMC or no ornaments, no decorating.

And being the wonderfully patient man that he is he put up with my ridiculous waste of money and bought me a wonderful tree...no 9 footer, we don't have the house for that, just a nice simple almost 6 foot tree.

And this is the most wonderful thing to me...every single ornament we own is on the tree! Most years someone gives us an ornament or the kids one (or worse one each) and I have the hardest time not ranting about how there isn't enough room on the tree for what we own..not helpful when gratitude is really appropriate! Well this year I am happy to announce there is room for a smidgen more, I will receive all ornaments with a smile (not that we need any we have a perfect tree)

I actually went through both shoe box sized collections of ornaments and proudly, thankfully, announced to my husband that all were up and he found another (small) box.... I racked my brain while I emptied my hands and tried to figure out what ornament I had missed, I remember all the ones on the tree, and usually miss any that would not be on (even when I didn't open the box they were in) so I was confused. Turns out he had bought a Serenity ornament for me!

Medical notes:

Daddy..doing better, trouble has moved south

UE..we are trying benadryl for the hives - it has resulted in a 4 hour nap!..hope that is good?

ME..err still puking

Well the youngest, UE, is feeling better. He seems to have a case of migrating intermittent hives..but no more fever and no more loose output. I just wish we could pin down the cause..no new food has been eaten all week.

My husband is no longer puking! Yeah! over 24 hours and no pukage! Unfortunatly he has switched to some sort of bloated gas trouble that had him burping half the night and me running for the other room cause the sounds was making my nausea worse!

I well...I am still puking, but only once yesterday! And right now, I don't think I ill puke...for a time anyway.

JC and GMC are still healthy, in fact GMC went with Daddy to the store to buy more bread (the kids can make toast, and if mom isn't cooking a lot of toast and sandwiches get eaten by them!)

Daddy of course isn't perfect but feeling well enough to go to the store. We removed pepperoni and broccoli from his lunch..seems to make sense if he is having digestive trouble to remove known gas causers...though I feel bad about the broccoli..he needs nutrition...

On a financial note, Daddy has a list including 'Food mommy doesn't have to cook!'..not cheap really...but the friends food is about out, and Daddy has a limited abilities, even if he wasn't sick.

I have a house full of sickos...the worst three to be sick, Daddy, UE (the youngest) and me!

But I am thankful for amazing friends, we were going to go to their house for Thanksgiving but due to puking, we thought we should keep our germs to ourselves and call off.

They offered to bring us the dinner! I am so happy to have food, I would have been happy with leftover hot dogs so long as I didn't have to cook!

So now after a nice turkey dinner, eaten in my PJs, I can reflect on what has to be for me the most non traditional Thanksgiving ever, with possibly more gratitude than any previous year!

So heres praying you all had a much better day than I!

We went back to the ren fest this Saturday..OK first I have to rant...we were supposed to take our teen niece, we promised early in the year, picked a date we thought would work, she checked with the parents and agreed. Well the in laws from GA came up a different weekend and wanted to go, teen niece couldn't make it, so we figured we would go on the original date, and the one with GA family. not cheap, but fine. We don't break promises if at all possible.

Then teen niece gets sick the planned date...so we ask if postponing will work or if we have to scrap it for the year. She checks with the parents and the final weekend will be fine for her.

Friday, we get a call from her parental unit...sorry they are going to PA early so teen niece cannot come with us......

The tickets are purchased in advance..cheaper than at the gate. So now we have tickets we can't use, and secondary tickets for ourselves (remember we already went once this year) We were NOT happy with the inlaws ....$@#%^@%&@@$!#

K so back to the question of living off of tips. The Ren fest is mainly, people watching, shows, a joust, and shopping.

The people watching and joust are free for cost of admission. The shows really are too, but they only make money if folks tip. We always do.

On the one hand, watching the huge crowds of people tipping you might think they make a killing, but on the other hand, they only work Sunday and Saturday...how much money can you make if you only work two days a week? Two long days admittedly. But you have to pay for the stage. I don't think I would have that much faith in other people to pay for a stage and hope to make enough to cover it, and food... Or maybe I wouldn't have that much faith in my own abilities as a performer... Of which I have none

One of the best things about the SA forums is that it raises questions. Maybe the discussion is holiday spending, or parenting, or cell phones.

The question doesn't have to be currently mine, and yet it causes me to think.

The other night after reading up on who has a cell phone from the forum I talked with my husband about when/if we would get the kids a cell phone...the need is far off, he is only 5. But thinking now means we don't have to make a fast decision, we can think about what we feel constitutes a need and evaluate as needed.

For the phone we decided, when he has the opportunity to be away from us with not super well known adults..for example a friends house (not a cousin, or our close friends, but his friends) without us...yeah they have a phone, but having his own makes us worry less. Or when he is able to take walks down to the creek without us. (mostly our back yard)

However, having a 'kid phone' would not be a kid line to be called and call from at will. It would function as a contact mom/dad only device...We plan on counseling them NEVER to give out their own phone number, my phone is the 'house number'.

Basically it would be a high tech way of giving him 2 quarters to use a pay phone..only more expensive, and more reliable...

If he abuses the phone he loses not only it but all away from mom/dad privileges till he pays us back. If he wants a 'real phone' with a real number to give out, he has to pay for it.

We have seen too many kids get 'pay as you go phones' that they use up all the minutes on, and no longer have any way of contacting mom or dad in an emergency... we have also heard of kids with phones..who never use them up..prolly cause we never see the phone .

As to how we pay fro that..we will cross the bridge when we come to it..far far in the future

I put bleach in with white stuff, and towels (cause they are so far faded it can't get worse) but what about colored sheets? JC is a princess with pink pink and a bit more pink..oh and some purple

Also do you think a dishwasher (which is currently working) gets dishes 'sanitized' enough or should add bleach to that as well?

Update on JC. more puke overnight, but bouncy today, and nothing gross yet.

JC woke up two nights ago and I thought she was puking, but it was just bad coughing..that sounded like puking...rather weird. so she wnet potty and go tucked back in bed.

Last night she really was puking, so we spent half an hour hunting up all the puke and washing sheets, and such. I really have a wonderful husband, I cleaned her, he cleaned the bedding.

Then we let her sleep on the couch for a bit while wash was done. since she ate breakfast and complained of being bored I thought she was doing better.... till she puked lunch at the lunch table... so gross.

Now she is back in bed, pouted about having to nap, but is sleeping and hopefully not planning on puking again.

So anyone want to calculate the financial cost of washing a bazzillion loads of clothes sheets and towels in super hot to kill germs?

I may have mentioned I hate shopping. Shopping for shoes is even worse these days. When I was a kid I loved shoe shopping, twice a year a trip to try on some shoes nearly always resulted in nifty new pair of shoes. The fact that for 4 years running I found the same sandals each spring to replace the old ones is beside the point..they were new, they smelled new, I liked that. Then I couldn't find those sandals and that is where it all went down hill.

I haven't found a decent pair of sandals in my size since! I wasn't even 6 ft tall back then, I lived in Millvale PA, and I am guessing I was about 10yo.

That is a long time a lot of summers to be without a nice pair of sandals....Tennis shoes used to be easy, plain boring and simple...ok and size 9 1/2 W...apparently cheap well made no longer comes in plain boring and simple, and size 9 1/2 W. The last pair I saw that I liked had some sort of seam trouble, plastic was seeping out and if I tugged it (pink, who wants pink plastic seeping out of their shoes) the seams started to pull apart...I put them back on the shelf and ran out before I was charged 20$ for trying to see if the shoe was repairable. (speaking of the $20, since when is that cheap?)

So here I am wearing my husbands shoes (I made him get new ones because his had so many holes in them). And a pair of 'dress' shoes I have come to hate (with plenty of holes in them) not because I wont pay for shoes, on the contrary, I have tossed all price restrictions out the window! I don't care what they cost so long as they fit and look good. But instead, because shoe makers have gone crazy...or maybe shoe wearers have gone crazy.

Actually I thought I tossed the price limit out the window, then I priced custom made Ren Fest shoes...at a minimum of $450 I actually did say no....not a definite no, just a umm..well, come on, $450? for a pair of shoes? (well boots really) That does seem a bit high.

The true mark of desperation ... I am still thinking about it. Since I haven't bought shoes in...over 5 years, prolly 6..and they claim to last a lifetime (guarantee) I can take the last 5 years of shoes at up to $15 each (old benchmark, always bought on sale) and sorta have $75 saved for them right now.....which is not even one quarter of the way there....

Maybe feet aren't all that important...

I have posted before that the best way to get what you want is to ask for it, and boy do I wish folk would ask us for stuff...even if I couldn't afford it at least I would know what was wanted...and I might just give the gift in sections so you get what you want and I don't have to agonize..

So I am off to email my mother to buy my husband book one of the firefly companion..though I actually don't know what it costs...

And me another blanket for a queen sized bed...or make if it is made out of the stuff she made for JC's bed..I like it, I just want it in black

I love knowing I will get what I ask for...I really don't even feel guilty any more 'ordering up' Christmas...I feel relieved to know I can check wishes off my list and ignore them...the only trouble is I give my mother the best ideas for my husband...hope she appreciates it! (and I hope he knows I wouldn't be such a terrible giver if I didn't have to give away my best ideas!)

Our plans are cheap this year...no travel. Not up north, and not down south.

And no company here.

We might share Thanksgiving with another family local that also will not be traveling, or if that doesn't work out we will just stay home. Either way this will be the cheapest Thanksgiving in years!

Course, if I don't cook a turkey on Thanksgiving I plan on cooking one around then anyway..to take advantage of the cheap Turkeys you can buy then!

banning hugs

As if the world needs one more thing banned in public school...don't get me wrong I can picture a bunch of barely teenage girls doing the 'screechy oohs and group hugs that is ALL for show, and yeah I hate it...seen it many times at many places...but would I ban ALL hugging? No see being a mom I would just pull aside the girl I was in charge of and have a talk...one about how fake French cheek kisses belong in comedy routines, not hallways.

That is the difference between big groups and families...I don't have to change the world, when I see a situation or behavior I do not approve of, I only have to worry about teaching my own kids...and though some think three kids is a bunch, it is a small bunch compared to 300 in smaller high schools, or 3000 in larger ones.

You cannot legislate human behavior..

But then I don't get to change the world, I just get to do my best with me and mine.

I started with the premise that any reduction was a good one, and figured a little discomfort was prolly good for us. After all the human body can adapt to amazing extremes of temperatures especially if you include clothing in the adaptation, and yet we waste this ability on houses set comfortably at X temp year round.

Our first winter here the heating bill (gas) was regularly in the $120s-$150s, with an average of $80. The last year it broke $100 only once, with an average of $50. That once BTW was when we had lots of company...company that was obviously born in a barn...door constantly left open! I figure if I could teach guests to shut doors I would have actually reduced the bill by more than half.

So in roughly the order we carried them out:

Reduce the heat by 2 degrees I heard from my father that reducing the temperature (or raising it in summer) would reduce the electric bill by something like 7%..now this is heresy, he said something, and now I am saying something, the two are not necessarily the same! My memory is defunct...the closest I can come to scientific evidence is

here where it says every degree above 70 raises the cost by 7%...I picked two degrees, because if I got really cold and uncomfortable I could go turn it back up a degree and still save while feeling like I 'got to cheat'.

Frugalize some curtains out of blankets and sheets. I think real insulating curtains would have been great, but I didn't want to spend a penny. Instead I safety pinned a blanket to make a 'fold' to slide a rod I happened to have in. I know of others who have stapled the blanket to the wall as well..all free and all helps to insulate.

Reduce the heat by two degrees ..you thought I already said that, but this was an additional two degrees. Once we were comfortable with the temperature I decided to shake things up. I think the deciding factor was a day I vacuumed and started sweating while the heat came on. I decided I would rather move more, or use a blanket than PAY to be hot and sweaty!

Learn to open and shut said curtains I am sure we have all heard that curtains on the east side should be open in the morning and shut after noon, while the opposite should occur for the west side of the house. But actually putting that into practice took lots of work...and I still fail too often.

Turn the heat down two degrees Yep I did it again...I found I was sleeping with only a sheet and a bedspread..it seemed a waste to have such wonderful blankets and not use them.

Learn to bake when cold actually I bake a lot anyway, but now I try to bake when the heat was off in the evening, to keep it that way. And I practiced not opening a window if the kitchen got too hot..after all letting it cool of the slow way would keep the gas heat off longer. Plus when debating between nuking a potato and baking it, I picked baking...might use more electricity, but it sure does taste better

Reduce the heat by 2 degrees Ok you are prolly tired of hearing this, and you prolly wonder just how low I am willing to go? But well I had all these sweaters (I am from the north) but I never got to wear them! So I had to reduce the heat just to have a use for what I didn't want to give away.

Learn to drink hot drinks when cold heating up some boiling water to make tea or hot chocolate doesn't take as much energy as heating the house 6 degrees, but it gives the same effect. Only tastes better than a heating bill .

Reduce heat by 2 degrees..again. I woke up one morning freezing cold..I checked the temp.. 72. I hadn't paid to keep my house at 72 in years! And yet here I am thinking this was freezing. The same temperature that, had it been afternoon, I would have complained of not being able to wear a sweater for... So down the temp went and I added socks to my bedtime PJs (or at least put them on as soon as I woke up)

Create a rule for turning the heat off and on The weather here is a mite bit unpredictable, so a set date for turning the heat on (like we use for the air conditioner) doesn't work. Instead we have a rule, currently if the heat drops below 63 in the day (after 10am-ish, before 6pm-ish), we will turn the heat on, and leave it on for the winter. Until it stays above 63 all day. This means no chilly morning will drive me to spend money, just to find warmer clothes or blankets.

And as of yet this year, no heat has been used (and no air since Labor day) Making for a very nice low heating bill

That is it, nothing spectacular. But consistent. by attacking the heating bill like a ongoing battle instead of a one time fight, I was able to reduce it dramatically. I have hopes of reducing it further.

For example I acquired several sets of insulating curtains from my mother as presents. This will be the first year to test them on winter. (They did make a difference in summer already)

And we still might turn the heat down, two degrees at a time of course!

Safety note..I checked children's fingers and toes frequently for warmth (Though more importantly necks must be warm), so long as the shirts were doubled and the socks on both were warm. (Parents of premature babies do not have the turn down the heat option, for quite some time)

Now for some misc. science-y questions ...do Inuit (up north natives) tend to keep more 'brown' fat longer due to the colder climate? Do babies born of traditionally warmer climates have less? Or keep it for shorter times?

Do complex carbs help keep you warm longer than simple?

Does being chilly tend to encourage the body to add on more muscle? or just fat? Does muscle keep you warmer than fat? One insulates one is a heat source.

How cold can humans be comfortable in? How hot?

How many blankets can you pile on before you lose the cumulative effect? Is there a top breaking point?

Does having house plants help keep a house warm..due to humidity? or insulation? or extra oxygen?

Does having a lower 'normal' temp mean you are more likely to be comfortable in cold or heat? How about the reverse?

Not that any of it matters, I just always wondered.

GMC just told me:

"we should get a book like that in Spanish, so I could learn Spanish, then I could talk to everyone in America!"

I am not sure if it is adorable, or sad that he feels he has to know Spanish to talk to fellow Americans..(the book BTW was 'my first French)

In making a grocery list for company this weekend I wrote down:

6 cans of veggies, 2 each of three kinds

Now the company will be here for all the 2 days...there is no way they will use all those veggies (we don't eat canned, they prefer em)...I just wanted a variety since I don't know what they will like...but what to do with the leftover cans? This is why we must be rich:

Just donate them.....

A couple years ago the idea of buying food that I KNOW we will not use would be considered 'wasteful' and here I am planning to do it, with no worries on our budget for the month.....Not that I ever had anything against donating, just that well, I now can afford to do so..frivolously.

Mighty nice to notice we are rich.

And that 4$ was a splurge we would have avoided if my DD hadn't her own money to buy it with.

GMC: Knight, sword he has had for years, shield he bought himself recently (just cause he wanted it) and cardboard armor.

JC: princess, now here we really are cheating, she has a princess dress gma made for her last year, that still fits (and prolly will next year too!) the 4$ was for accessories...unnecessary ones, but hey, gotta let em spend some money sometimes.

UE: squire, a old shirt of his big bros, a belt, and voila, a squire...

Daddy...a jedi, robe, gma made eons ago, plus one of them toy light sabers...one of many toys that he owns but never really plays with.

Mom: I don't do costumes.

So for what is really nothing we have 4 dressed up kids to take 'trunk or treating'.

For treats we did spend a bit on play dough and on spider rings...and we will be taking some pumpkin muffins (the sweet kind) to share.

It has been raining at varying intensity's for three days now...On the one hand I am getting a bit claustrophobic, but on the other hand..since we are in a drought we need it....

So instead of asking it to go, I would like it to stay, just go before next Saturday! (my SIL is coming to visit and we will go to the Ren Fest)

On another note I discovered that one of the trees in the backyard is prolly a tulip poplar..we learned about them on a nature walk at reedy creek, and I think that is the same kind of leaf on this tree.

We didn't plant it, it planed itself last spring. The only thing we did was not mow it something we actually tried for about 5 trees last year, two of them have survived...the poplar, and possible a short needle pine..or some other scruffy pine.

This whole 'leave it alone' might not go over well with the home owners association, but it is incredibly low cost landscaping .

Officially Cub scout packs are supposed to do a good deed together each month...

Unofficially I have enough trouble convincing them to plan a pack meeting, without adding on another item.

So unofficially the Tigers (which my Husband is in charge of) are trying to do one each month if possible, with no pressure..except that felt by me.

So far this month my two ideas are a litter patrol, or a leaf raking...I know the boys would like to rake, but I don't know where it might need done...I also know they could easily pick up trash, but I don't know where...

hmm the church is having a Trunk or treat...I bet that leaves extra trash around after, maybe the boys could spend a few minutes of the next meeting taking care of it.....

You know this cub scout stuff is harder than it looks!

That isn't entirely true, I love fresh air popped popcorn with salted butter on top. I just rarely ever like pre-made packaged popcorn(I have a weakness for cheese popcorn on occasion though), and I have not been able to stomach microwave popcorn since I read a story on how the chemicals put in the bags gave the workers cancer (apparently one bag does not have enough to cause it, but a whole bunch in the air as you fill them does)

So why am I selling it?

It is the boyscout way...Girl scouts sell cookies (which in spite of the high sugar content, I love thin mints and the coconut ones). Boy scouts (and cubs) sell popcorn....

So now I have to wonder around thinking up folk who do not already have boys in the scouts to find at least some orders so I seem like I am participating....

Actually they have a popcorn for troops option where the company will pool the money (25dollars each) and send popcorn over to the troops...Since most folk don't mind high fructose corn syrup, I figure that is the way we will go with our obligatory purchase. And I know my mother likes the microwave stuff. But I really do not want anyone to feel obligated to buy it, so I wont be even telling the Uncle (then he might expect me to buy his kids school fund raisers again!)

Now out of that 25$ the pack gets 40%...lesse if my brain can handle the math yet...10$..I have to pay 25$ to get my kids pack $10??????? I think I would rather hand over 15 cash and call it a day!

Actually I wish I could come up with something the Tigers could do to earn money so that GMC could get some experience with work for cash, and I wouldn't have to buy popcorn...I am just drawing a blank.

He already does chores around the house, and extra chores are done when needed free of charge, part of being in this family....so I am drawing a blank.

For cub scouts my husband and son planted some seeds in a plastic ziplock bag..with dirt of course, ad a bit of water.

At first we thought it was hopeless, especially since my 2 year old shook up one of the bags, but as of now we have 2 inch shoots coming up. Skinny little shoots, but alive none the less.

The only question I have is...what do we do with them?

While our Sunday school 'class' is discussing Luther's reformation, the church is starting to sell books...

Is it me or is there something odd about a Lutheran church ... making money off of peoples desire to grow their families and personal faith?

Now I get that a church is a great place to find resources on faith. What better than to read a book your pastor has recommended (assuming you see eye to eye with him). I personally bought a terrific book on communion for kids because my pastor had it, he showed it to me, I read it, and I liked it. The church buys extras of this particular book so that parents can do that.

The difference is in the advertising, word of mouth sold me the first book. A magazine full of 100 books that I don't know anyone who read, will not.

Not to mention I doubt the pastor made a cent off the first book, everything about a book stand smacks of fund raiser.....

I had the opportunity to visit a family that has utilities included in their rent. When we first walked in (no one was home previously, it was an empty house) every light except the bathroom was on....every single one in the middle of a VERY sunny day! (not to mention hot)

The front door was left open after our arrival, and many other times during the visit. While the air conditioning was on low enough to make me cold (though admittedly I chill easily).

I cannot understand why anyone would leave fans, lights on, doors open....aside from the loss of air, there is the flys that come in! And while I am NOT a tree hugger, I do think needless waste is wrong, a little forethought will tell you financially the rent cannot afford to stay the same if you continue to waste electricity at such a rate, the rent will have to go up to cover it!

Not to mention the long term thought of children raised with no restrictions on electricity who may one day move out and buy a house, only to find electric bills are through the roof!

And besides, there is the environment to think about....

Well he will be tomorrow when he wakes up. To commemorate his almost two-ness, he skipped nap today...and reminded me how desperately he needs a nap!

We actually just bought his present today..wooden food for him to cook. Breakfast supplies, something we didn't have yet. He is a major chef, at the church nursery he is always cooking. At home he is always cooking. He even feels it is his job to help me cook every night (and lunch, and any other time he can squeeze his way in!)

Which is why the theme for his half of the birthday party is cooking.

Speaking of which I went with two sided invitations, actually a regular 8*11 sheet folded in half. The one side has picture of a couple cooking, the other upside down is a princess. When you open it it either says 'UE is cooking up a party' or on the facing side (upside down, but right side up if you opened it from the princess side) 'Princes JC is having a birthday ball'.

Across the bottom is all the important info, dates times and such. I thought it was kind of cute

All printed on my computer for...very little. Only thing I don't like is the lack of envelopes. I didn't come up with any. Though honestly since we will be hand delivering all the invites, I am not sure why an envelope is needed...it just seems improper to not have one.

cooking at princess...how do you mix those? expecially since the princess is turning 4 and the cook is turning 2...

Well basically you just do it

Two homemade cakes, one for each, and some fruit (berries, only wash to prep) some cheese, crackers....

Oh and burgers dogs and all the trimmings for that...you know the biggest problem is not the theme, it is space for the food!

I see all these elaborate centerpieces and I wonder how on earth anyone has room enough to put a centerpiece on a table with all the food! Or maybe they put a small amount out and constantly refill..unless the food will go bad, I pass on refilling!

My mother has offered to take care of crafts for the kids to do, something I rarely ever do since I have my hands full of cooking the food, no time to help kids with messy crafts. I think the kids will really enjoy the aprons and crowns though.

The only thing I have left to do is invitations and decorations....I wonder how a double fronted invitation would look...one side princess-y and one side cooking.....

I woke up yesterday morning about 4 am and shut the one window in the kitchen, it was a chilly 66ish. Then at a more normal hour of 7am while getting ready for church I was cold but it was already 69.

My friend mentioned to me how cold her house was that morning and I agreed, but said we only turn the heat on when the house is less than 63...hers was 54.

How on earth is my house 66 with a window open and hers 54? No mountains, similar area, suburbs. She does have a bigger house. But I didn't think it would make that much difference.

Do insulating curtains really make that much of a difference? I have a blanket in my living room since we haven't wanted to spend money till we picked a color. (finally decided on brown).

I also had my mother make me lined insulated curtains for our bedroom (black) and we have a simple cheap one in each of the kids rooms (ok find it is s sheet in the boys room .)

I wonder how well insulated our house will be when we get the kids curtains lined? (coming Christmas for JC, made again by my mother) Maybe I could skip heating the house in the winter, just bake a batch of muffins once every couple days!

It was a bit harder, but more fun..she got a flower...with a button right in the middle just for fun

I cut out denim to be the inside of the jeans and then felt to go on top, cause the denim would prolly fray, and the felt wouldn't....but after I was a third of the way through it occurred to me that felt is not very strong, and is likely to rip under normal small child wear and tear....

Oh well. It was a first and a test, looks cute right now anyway.

We went to the grocery store last night.
First the cute part, my almost 2 year old wanted to eat the broccoli...out of the bag,It was frozen! He was adorable insistent that he get broccoli....when Daddy told him mommy had to cook it first he decided he wanted broccoli for snack! Of course you know if it was cookies he wanted I would be embarrassed not indulgent....(we had apricots for snack anyway)

Now the shopping cart effect...I think shopping carts are driving up the prices of food.

Consider that I have never been to a store in recent years (since having kids) and needed a cart and NOT seen at least one out of place..in the middle of the parking lot, or just up on a curb...not once..in 5 years.

Yesterday I counted as we put 10 shopping carts away (in corrals or in the store). 10! at least 10 people were so inconsiderate as to leave their carts less than 10 yards from the corrals or store entrance....

Now I will admit my kids thought it was great fun to round them all up (we were cart wranglers) but I found it very irritating as a fellow working for the store was on the other end of the parking lot getting paid to move his 10 carts back to the store...(plus the 50 or so actually neatly in the corrals)

The store has to spend more money on the workers time to fetch and carry carts....This has to drive up the price of the food in the store. Why on earth anyone would willingly make food cost more for themselves and everyone else is beyond me.

My husband went to the store (different store) the day before and while putting a cart he found beside his car back offered to help a lady who took the last item out (by all appearances physically fit lady) and just picked two wheels up and left it on the curb...then as he is coming back from that he witnesses another lady doing it as well.....why a simple trip to the store to buy yogurt has to take 15 minutes longer due to the rudeness of other people I just don't get it.

Do people not think about others anymore? Maybe it is the video game mentality..you walk out of a room and the 'stuff' 're-pop's and the mess is cleaned up...walk back in and find a fresh new no work needed place.....real life isn't like that, you make a mess someone else has to deal with that...

I suppose someone is going to tell me it is a safety issue..if you do not feel safe walking from your car to a store, stay home or hire a body guard. If you must go out then call 911 or your mom while you put your cart away....but please don't stoop to the level of not caring about your surroundings.

Well mostly free, take advantage of what you are already spending on..

I just got a wonderful love poem in my email from my wonderful husband.

Didn't cost a cent, and yet it plastered a goofy love sick smile on my face...one that might even last past the kid troubles till he gets home.

I am sitting here at naptime, my time to be alone and have peace, and in the background I hear birds, some bugs, but lots of birds...a bit of wind rustling by and the occasional 'white noise.

It isn't a nice new recording, no electricity needed, it is actual birds from the actual weeds/err woods we have out back.

The white noise was an airplane

Anyway I was thinking of the nature sounds CDs I used to like when I was a city kid....

I might not like everything about living here, but I love getting the country sounds and still being close enough to civilization to order in..if I could ever force myself to spend that much money that is!

And I have a big bad yucky one.

No not from drink, I have only been hung over from drinking twice...and the last was over 6 years ago.

Nope it is from reading, oh laugh all you want, but a huge migraine, light sensitivity, not to mention nausea, all add up to one whopper of a hangover.

All addicts get them once in a while, but some of us feel a bit sillier about it. Who ever heard of a teacher swearing off reading!

Ah well..next time I will pace myself better...isn't that the promise of all hung over addicts? That if you can't avoid a next time you will at least aim for moderation?

I told my supplier only to leave me with one book, but no he had to drop off three! There aught to be a law .

Now I am off to read the third book, once the house is rid of the drug in it's fresh never read form I can stop thinking about it..and I will know how the dama and her cats made out.........

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