Remind me when I am all grown up, just how hard the whole process was....

I do hope some day to be all grown up, not giving up fun, but not having to war with myself to do simple things..like clean a kitchen!

Friday is my birthday, and I will be 20something...again . And in that 20something years I really feel I spent very little time growing up.

On the other hand in the last year or 3 I think I have done a great deal. From getting the finances straight to getting my job under control, to figuring out small talk...ok no I really havn't figured that one out yet. Working on it, really I am.

Anyway as the kids grow and work out their own lives I wonder how I will feel when they are teens, or when they are young adults, will I remember how irritating little details like filing papers can be, or will I be so good at it, I find their incompetance annoying..like their lack of table manners of yesteryear.

Will I teach them enough so they can 'keep house' or will I wonder over to visit and peek in their closets to find they still clean by stuffing it all in there?

Will I be able to guide them on track to finding a proffession they love, or will I rush them into a job and life they hate just because I want it for them?

Will I sigh in frustration as they struggle to decide how important church is (or is not) and I watch the oft empty pew?

Or will I get it all right find none of the above did I fail to teach, and yet still complain over niggling details like failing to iron their shirts........

Knowing me, I will be complaining, it is what I do best.

No not mine, his:

Bryan Berg, card stacker


Is Cardstacking your job?
Yep. And what a tough job it is (not). Imagine having no boss, getting to travel, setting your own hours, "working" a fraction of the days of the year, and doing something you love. Doing projects has been a challenge while in college because I am often gone for a week or more at a time.

Nice, getting paid to do what you love......and paid well! were did I put that deck of cards again?

We checked out the health food store, flour was 79cents a pound for whole wheat in bulk...and you had to put it in a plastic bag to take it home...somehow that doesn't sound 'organic'....... I can't recall the price of whole wheat at the former store though.

Also got yellow corn meal at 99cents a pound....that I am sure was cheaper at the food lion.

And saw MANY nuts and grains (saw quinona, I might try it, wonder if I spelled it right) most were well above the cost of white flour or nuts at BJs, though I am sure many were healthier.

Saw spelt flour, dying of curiosity what that is, and tasted three kinds of cheese...got suckered into buying one for the party we went to that night!

This is a problem! I bake every weekend (and then some) and I always use baking powder, in large quantities.

I tried one batch with soda and umm, shoot what is that stuff called.....cream of tarter, thats it, I read somewhere that the two in some combination works almost as good. We shall see.

And my local grocer stopped selling whole wheat flour..again a problem, Ig o thru 10lbs in a little less than a month, now I have to go find a new store to get it from.

Course snce I sent him in for flour, my husband tried a substitute, unbleached flour..instead he may have acuired a replacement for regular flour..wonder if I can find it in 20lb bags somewhere? (that is about a month of flour. 20lb of white, 10lb of whole wheat)

Now of course the heating bill is for the coldest part of January, but it still seems odd to open today, when it was a nice 70 degrees outside, my highest bill for heat all year!

The good news is, it should be my last high bill, the bad news is..I will be wanting AC soon!

BTW we took advantage of the day and took a walk wonderfully warm, a bit windy, and oh my youngests face watching leaves blow around! it was soooo cute, I wished I had a camera at the time to catch it.

I never have enough time, and today I thought about looking at my days schedule like a budget, and finding the 'leaks'

I quickly thought about all the things I do and how much time I spend on each, and I found they don't add up to 24 hours!!!!

I have gaps, time that is slipping by with no record of what on earth I did with it!

Now looking closer I can find some, sitting on the couch with my DD in my lap talking to my husband about my day....but other gaps..how on earth can it possibly take 2 hours to get 3 kids dressed showered and fed?

I have to work on speed or something, and I definatly plan on being more concious of my time next month, I might not write it all down, but I want to find out just what I am doing with my day that is using up all the time.

And then I want to decide how to use my time more instead of just letting things happen, like money I want the splurge to mean something, not just some silly waste that will be forgotten long before the month is up.

I looked at a pack of 2 black dry erase markers for 2.17, pack of color for 2.99, and color with hangers and erasers attatched for 3.99.

I was looking at those dry erase options thinking 'I am rich, I can afford to pay the extra to get color, just because I want to'. I also thought I am smart, I am not paying extra for hangers, I store them in a bag in the threering binder I use.

The truth is, I can do the same work with black as with color. I don't even need the marker at all, I could use something cheaper, scratch paper, or something. I could keep using the faded one I have.

But I could afford to buy the color dry erase markers, and that little choice makes me, rich.

And now for the quickies:

*also bought a rice steamer for my birthday, mom said go buy one, and I did. Felt great to be able to just buy it (cost a bit more than the markers...)

*husband found some silicone bakeware on sale, bought a LOT.....and said 'I can't help it, I get excited when things are on sale'....I didn't say anything, I could hear his acnowledgement of how silly it was in his voice, and anyway I think I can give them as gifts.

*more stuff was sold! more stuff out of the house, though also more postage...though supposedly at some point I will get some back from that.

We were sitting in the car for some reason discussing the frequent 'how do I get my spouse on board' threads.

And he mentions 'well like if your spouse is still buying a pop every day for a buck you could just mention how you drink water, and ask if they think an insulated cup or something would help them drink water more'

ummm, I did that....

But I didn't remind him, I fiugured he certainly remembered and didn't need to be reminded of the unfrugal habits I helped him break.....

so do I get a medal?

My son wants sheets with cool animals, dinosaurs and general 'fluff' between the words..and I am finally making my own after way to lng searching for 'fluffy' ones.

The main trouble is his knowledge interest beats his emotional level..he is young, but he wants to read about things older kids do. Hard to find.

Anyway, I decided to be easy for my first try at harder fluffy papers, I used dinosaur clip art found on office, and wiki intro then made up a couple simple questions.


(ain't print screen grand?)

Now here is the thing, I am sure Wiki and microsoft wont mind me using it for my kid..but will they mind me offering it to other kids? (like free)

Office publisher for educators....

Many things we make for kids are the same templates over and over, crosswords, word searches, fill in the blank, maps, ect....

And kids like fancy clip art with the 'work'...but I personally do not enjoy hunting up worksheets only to reject half because they look too boring. Nor do I want to go make them all interesting myself, nor do I want to go pay store prices for fancy sheets that half the time contain errors.

I just want a simple template suggesting a couple clip arts, space for a name and date (yeah I know I could tell my kids work apart, but of all things that I do feel need practice, name and date tops my list.)

Anyway, buisnesses get tons of em, I want one.

*my glasses broke..I am wearing contacts, not to much time to get them in, but man I miss having eyes after I am 'ready for bed' I aught to use this as a way to make myself go to bed early, take them out and nothing can be done, but instead I am leaving them in till the last possible minute! Oh and no we don't have vision.

*The bill for my daughters busted chin came in, 50, not to terrible. but one heck of an expensive bandaid..(steristripped, no stitches, but stripped held better than any bandaid I have ever seen)

*finetune (found thru BA) has a way to preview music, seems to have 30 second sound bites of many songs. Which is cool for the musically challenged (me) I never know what a song is called or who wrote it, but now I can try it, then cut and past the name...

* and a photo of my little pot head

So I call my car loan company. All I want to know is how the interest is calculated.

The lady tells me it is about $y a day. Umm? For every day that I have the loan?

She doesn't know, she only knows it is $y a day this month, the total interest paid last month was X and the interest next month will be about X......

OK great, and my question is, how is that calculated? All I want to know is if I pay down the principle will it effect the interest or is the interest calculated for the life of the loan regardless of principle?

She doesn't know.

What good is a live person answering the phone about a loan if they don't know the terms of the loan?

She offers to transfer me to a local branch to speak to a loan officer.

Lovely.

I get transfered to a nice woman who asks to direct my call, sigh, loan officer, that is what I was transfered for, why can't people who are doing the transfering state the nature when they transfer, do I HAVE to repeat myself a million times?

Of course, there is no loan officer in the office that day....um hello you are a bank, all you do is take money and LOAN it!

So off I go transfered to another person.

"How may I direct your call?"

Sigh....

Loan officer..I need to speak to a loan officer, I just want to know how the interest is calculated on my car loan.

"I am sorry our loan officer is busy now, I can transfer you to his voice mail"

sigh.....
fine....

Really how hard can it be for a bank to know how it's interest is calculated? I left my message and an hour later got a call from a very nice man who explained and told me I had to pay down the principle in person. (btw 'busy' meant out ot lunch)

Why on earth they want you to be in person is beyond me, but regardless we now know for sure it will save on interest and we will be headed over there soon as all checks are in. (bonus plus income tax plus some loot leftover)

I introduced him to Pot*...I wanted a break, I wanted a minute of peace to get things done.

So I pulled out Pot. showed him how to use it. There was an instant attraction he was busy with Pot for hours, I had to drag him away for meals.

For most of the last two months he wont talk to me except to say "Pot", then he is off in his own little world again.

Last week I had enough, I took his pot away. I hid it, and for days he repeatedly requested "Pot", but I insisted he had to find something else to do, Then finally, he found a substitute, he stole my Pot!

Of course I wasn't willing to lose my pot! he should stop using but I needed mine!

Quickly his Pot was found and returned to him, and yet again tonight he had to be dragged away from the pot for snack and forced to stay away to get some sleep.

I may never get my son off his pot addiction, nor hear anything but "pot!", but at least he lets me have my pot in peace.

If you would like some peace and quiet and want to get pot for your kid try

here

But I'll warn you, it is addictive!


* he is one, it is really a cooking pot, no I do not use drugs nor do I condone the use of drugs. Please excersise caution around small chilren and pot(or pots).

Got a nice supprise in the mail today, my huaband did recieve his bonus for last year, we thought transfering to the other company in October would ruin that, but it didn't

Our plan is to put it straight to the emergency fund.

With a current aim of 3 months pay in the EF, the bonus will bring us 1/3 of the way there.

There was a time I thought I would never get a sisable EF....and here I am 1/3 of the way there. The Income tax return portion going there will bring it up to almost half...44%.

But then after that it will be slow growing...k being excell obsesed it will be growing by 5% a month till april...we don't know who will be signing the checks at the end of april, so we can't count to many chickens past that point.

Err now that you mention it, 5% isn't that slow of a growth....nice for interest, and will result in a full 3 months at the end of this year...could be worse.

Well after over a week of not caring, I am starting to try and pick up where I left off.

Mainly the financial goals are on track, It is easy to go back and write what was bought new, and easy to record the grocery and misc and gas spening after the fact, I am caught up on that.

The work out and eating was managed today as well, but nothing is going to make up for the time off. (and now I lost my excuse for the jeans being snug...actually truthfully the size 8s stopeed fitting last month, but I'll get them back!)

I have a terrible case of 'The Gimmies'.

It all started last Friday when I took sick (previous post has

medical update), First when shopping I knew the week would be bad, so we bought lots of convenience food.

And we had to go to my brothers the next day, normally when I go somewhere we pack loads of food, I decided to only pack what I could stand up for, and buy the rest out...

Then Saturday AM I called for some reason or other and brother mentioned the pirate game, so instead of turning around and getting the cards we already own to play, I said sure buy new packs while getting medicine for the snots (little snot at home is fine, when out, I try to contain it), of course you can't buy yourself a present when visiting and not get one for the visitee's, so suprises all around, and few nice gifts as well (put away for birthday or christmas)

Then we eat out lunch (managed to pack snacks, but thats it) on the way to brothers (5 hour drive)

Fortunatly during the week I was too sick to want anything.

Till Thursday, when I was healthy enough to want plenty again. Sent husband to the store for a need, and almost called for junk, turns out I didn't have to call, he bought some anyway.....for the kids for putting up with a sick momma for so long...and chocolate, and bowls, we'll have get the bowl problem in its own post someday.

Then yesterday I stay up late researching swords...like I need one! and I spend time thinking of what I want for 30 bucks, and we filed our taxes , yeah sure I put smart things in my blog, but really in my head I was thinking of some really nice stuff to get (like one of those swords...or at least one of the paintings...).

Today I awoke in a funky mood, I wanted all sorts of things I normaly don't think about, like a new chain for my necklace, sure I miss wearing it, but normally spending that kind of money to replace a decoration is out of the thought process..today I had trouble not asking my husband to stop at the mall after the library to pick one up..I settled for cutting his leather up into a necklace...and now we need to buy him new leather, but honestly leather is cheaper, and he can live without. (it is for his hair, which is 'only' mid back length)

At Bjs I had troubles, I want that vaccume cleaner....it had circular brushes, so my long hair wouldn't break it.....and that bedding ....and those new books...and the chocolate...oooh that organizer thingie.....and those cookies.....and .....and.....and

Good grief! I noticed my dire situation at BJs and practically begged my daughter to need a potty to get me OUT! Actually my youngest son obliged but hey it worked.

I escaped, and my husband finished the shopping alone, in the end no more than usual was spent $72 (food plus easy ups.)

Though I did use my own card to pay

Medically speaking I am much better, if you are curious, I had a miscarriage, prolly. Unfortunatly the trouble started last Friday with a sick momma, weak, spotting, sickish, and pain. I think my body was having trouble letting go.

Thursday I felt great again, that night I lost a lot of blood (which is why I was online all night..up taking care of bleeding), but felt better, just weak. and that is why we think the baby is gone, and now momma is healthy...still tired though. And not really done, past experience it takes weeks to finish, though this is the first time the release was so bad.

So while the outcome is not what I hoped for, at least it seems to be decided.

I do have a Drs apointment next Wednesday (finally called last wednesday that was as soon as they could see me), but I will prolly cancel it, I feel fine now, and I don't need a Dr to tell me I am not pregnant (though I will wait a week of no bleeding and take a test before I go drinking again or anything)

For the first time in ages I can buy groceries.

Due really to procrastination and lack of organization I never registered my last checkcard, the one that will expire this year just to let you know how long ago they sent it.

Well ING sent me one, I imediatly pulled out my phone and called and activated it, it works.

And today I am buying, just because I can .

So Ba's post combined with my recent search for what I want sent me on a hunt for a knife I would like. Truthfully I do prefer swords.

Now first I have to say I am not a violent person, I have no desire to main, injure, or even defend myself, I just think they are cool...


by

Ugrik on diviant art

Or wicked....

from Kit Rae

Totaly worth watching in action (and hard to find clips online apparently, but most rmember the show)

highlander intro

But, well I am unlikely to ever get one, where would I put them? I have a perfectly good sword in my bedroom, in a box, fully wrapped, because..well even though it isn't sharp, I fear it dropping on my kids head someday.........

Mainly I just like the fantasy of a sword.

by spirit of gabriel

Awaiting the confirmation email, but the work is done.

Now to decide what to do with it....we always get a refund and always get a large one, can't say it is that nice though, we have raised our 'dependants' so high that no federal tax is taken out of normal checks....but those OT checks, they tax the living daylights out of them! pre-raise my husband joked it almost wasn't worth working OT, barely a 1$ an hour in the check! But all the rest is now on its merry way back to us.

My choice would be 5% steak, 47.5% savings, and then 47.5% car.

hmm wonder if I aught to send some to the church?

So my husband saw the paypal promotion regarding 15$ rebate when you spend 30$. and he comes to me and says "hey isn't that perfect, I just made 30, so I can go spend it on something"

Umm honey, you also just spent $30 last night, Out of norm spending, midweek (it was only Thursday!) and not all neccessary IMO....

I saw the paypal promotion and imediatly thought of buying christmas presents or birthday presents early. Could get a nice gift but spend less, my goal every year.

He on the other hand is thinking of the more expensive junk he wants....I have no idea how he puts up with the non spending we normally do.....

But I suppose I aught to be more sympathetic, I want stuff too....umm....ok this is corny but nothing comes to mind...oh paint, I want paint, (grey for kitchen) but we can't do it till spring (need ventilation).

And shelves, I have more than last time I complained, little by little we buy some and he puts them up, I want some more in the living room and another one in my sons room.

oooh I know what I want that can prolly be bought with paypal! Maybe even for 30ish. A queen sized blanket, for two blanket hogs in a queen sized bed a full sized blanket just ain't cutting it!

K figured out my whiny wants, now that waste is done on to convincing my husband to buy gifts regardless. (any ideas for a gma and gpa?)

I know Jeffrey helps thousands of people, but I still think of him as 'my advisor' With the help of SavingAdvice.com we have finally gotten our finances turned straight, headed in the right direction.

And the other day I saw he made the

top 10 list of PF bloggers!

Now to rant on Digg...
I clicked the 'blog this' button so I could share how cool it was, and got asked a billion questions, apparently letting Digg know you are blogging about a digg is complicated unless you use those ad covered blogs...so I shelved it, then I tried again, then I was hit with the stupidity of it, why do I care if anyone on Digg knows I blogged about it?

So duh, I came here and blogged

So while hunting up nanamoms cards, just to see what they look like, I came accross

kids cards

This seller who has cards by an 8 year old and a 5 year old. None of them have any bids yet, but I am curious if they get any. It would be an interesting project for a kid.

The fact that shipping is not specified might be part of the problem.

(BTW I never did find the cards Nanamom listed)

I looked over his recent auctions (listed thanks to my 'encouragement' err, ok fine, nagging)

And he has quite a bit of money comming to him! Plus some old auctions he has to recieve payment/ship out, plus some recent winnings. (though due to the recent US players thing it is harder to jump the hoops to get the cash)

Unfortunatly he is prolly stewing due to needing that money for medical issues, he complains because every time we seem to get a bonus to get us ahead, something happens to crush those dreams..which is the true danger of counting chickens, when you don't get them...you might be annoyed.

Apparently quite a bit, as I have done not much, and my husband is only one person with only two hands..and sorry a guy (really if he was home all the time he would be faster and more in practice, but he isn't, he is a computer guy, not a homemaker)

Anyway the balance of the work is either not done, or done by the kids. cleaning, laundry, dishes, amazing what they can do. And more amazing to me, is what their peers are NOT doing.

Before you go feeling sorry for them, they have scads of time to do what they like as well, after they clean up from lunch or whatever. I have always held that a child must learn to take care of themselves, and the training for that is NOW.

My youngest has very few responsibilities, we take advantage of what he likes to do, and let him so long as he is tall enough, and can get to it. So he tends to take the paper recycling to the bin...after some bigger person opens the door . He also Loves to put things in the hamper, and put his own clothes in some drawer or other. I still do not know why I fold laundry nothing makes it to the dresser folded!

My middle girl is showing amazing aptitude for all tasks, from dishes to laundry to 'clean up' She however cannot manage to sweep or vacume yet.

My oldest gets those 'tough' chores, plus some of the higher up dishes (breakables wait on Daddy).

All in all if I had more no cook food availible I would have nothing to do except help UE with the potty and occassional diapers (he is doing great on that whole PTing thing).

Reading a blog post regarding frugalness (found thru digg) I noticed I apparently have been dressing wrong (or right depending on how you look at it)

Mend clothes and reuse, or wear layers.
At home, I wear longjohns/ thermal underwear with ripped jeans. Why not? The pants are still wearable and no one is going to see me except family and the dogs and cats. The #1 rule of frugality: use what you have for as long as possible.

You mean your not supposed to have holes in your jeans? since not a single pair is holeless I certainly hope holes are fashionable..or in any event that any one who cares has better things to do than complain about my jeans.

For more formal affairs I do have 'slacks' with no holes.

On my daily check of the accounts I found a gas entry...not that it would hurt us...but, nice to know now...and husband forgot to tell me.

It seems the more kids we have the less we talk!

Last minute possible plans to go see my bro in GA on Saturday.....have to pack food and rearange shopping, plus gas to get there.

Husband sold two things on ebay, then paid for shipping from our checking....but he is getting paid in his paypal..somehow the math is way in his favor! But I am not really complaining, I am happy the stuff is out of the house.

(hey those were quickies...)

I am google defficient, I rarely find what I need though I am getting better.

I was killing time and came accross a list of 100 altenate search engines and decided to try

chachab, it was mentioned as having a guide. I assumed I was getting a some sort of computer program that would help narrow down the options or something.

But instead I got a live person!

I wasn't desperate for information or anything just wanted to test it, so I asked about plantains and said my husband bought one for the kids to try but I was clueless. (Cause he did)

Within seconds she brought back three recipe sites, the first of which included a discription of what it is like at each color phase (very important for a newbie like me)

I was way impressed, true I might have eventually searched out recipe plantain, but the live person understood 'new food' and all right off the bat.

I totally am going to use this way more, in fact if I can figure out how to get them on my bar instead of google I want it.

Due to some silly things I want right on my spreadsheet budget, I am having trouble copying the equations easily, and by hand is a pain, there has to be a better way.

While I work on it, I did most of it by hand to be ready, in February I plan on recording which store we go to and how often, my goal is to make it once a week for BJs (I was earlier aiming for less, but we get gas there, and we can't do that less than once a week) and every third week for the other 3. (harris teeter, aldis, and food lion)

The less you go the less you spend, and I want to spend less, though I have plenty budgeted.

Anyway I set up the form for that, so I have no excuse when I go shpping Friday-or Saturday (at Bjs and aldis, not food lion- I hope) not to fill it in properly.

Should make DH happy because the church is sponsering a food bank thing and I want him to buy some stuff for it, aldis seems like the perfect place for a tighwad to find things to donate. No offense to the recipients, but one can of corn is like another...

Though I am glad I read, oh phooey was it contrarys blog? about not all knowing how to cook? I am aiming for simple, though he list doesn't say pasta, wonder why not, posta topped with tomato sauce is way easy.

Oh well, canned fruit, veggies, and maybe meat if they have it it is.

I had this big old post about goals and how things were going and plans for February..and I lost it, the whoel thing thru one dumb click as I was switching between an IM and the main screen...

UGh I hate that.

Oh well, we have one trip to the Post office to mail some games my husband sold to add anyway. (so happy bout him selling some dust catchers!)

When he is done I will be taking that extra and transfering his portion to ING and mine writing a check for most to the church, and the remainder I so have to call the car company to see how to get it applied to principle.

I'll rewrite goals review after that.