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!)

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?

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.

Ours happens to be in a park, so last week and this we loaded up the kids and went together.

I love combining fun and work! I wish more of life was like that.

I finally tried to nail down amounts for the peanutbetter concoction.


2, 4, 2, 4

2 heaping tablespoons of spreadable margerine

4 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter

2 heaping tablespoons of coco powder

4 quarter cups of powdered sugar

mix, roll in balls.

I coated the balls with saltine crumbs, but for a sweeter taste use powdered sugar.

I got rave reviews

We planned nothing for today...and while we were at nothing, a trip down the hill to the creek just sounded like nothing really.

Sun screen, bug guard, jeans, and shoes were found....children were psyched, daddy chose to stay with UE (too small still), mommy geared up to go, or rather turned off her computer and escaped before any more work called.

Mud was found, squelched between the toes, splatted back to the ground, and it snuck into nooks and crannies of all. Cool clean water rushed over toes, and stole shoes.

shells were found, oohed over, rocks polished, walnuts cracked, acorns collected, leaves identified...sortof.

Finally we headed back home, hosed of, then hopped in the shower for real soapy cleaning.

Here comes the expensive part, my kids and I ate about double the normal meal! If we had stayed home doing nothing instead of out doing nothing we wouldn't have eaten as much!!!

Oh well, it was a buck well spent (fortunatly I cook cheap)

I opened my dishwasher the otherday to discover everthing was covered in a slippery film, and the bottom of the washer was filled with water. I rinsed what I needed for dinner and planned to redo te rest later.

We hand washed the dinner dishes, a wet but fun family activity, then just as I was about to empty the dishwasher for washing I heard the wooosh/shwoosh of it running. I asked my husband if he fixed it, he said he hadn't touched it, then we looked at JC..she did it, by closing the door fully! Someone had opened the door and stopped it midcycle!

My husband found a great deal on a laptop, so here I am finding all my passwords and settings, and such.

It amazes me how much of life has a password on computers, butmore amazing is how few I remember! Seems silly that so much needs security, that only my computer and theirs know!

Is it really keeping me safe if I have to look up the password? couldn't a would be hacker just have the sites email him/her instead of me?

I have limited space to line dry.. I kept telling myself I should get a retractable line.. I never found one, so I continued to allow myself to use the dryer..since I had no room.

Well lets just look and see why I need a retractable line..

Because I am not allowed a line here in the community, so it has to come down when not in use, to leave the impression I don't use one.

Err, what broke my arms preventing my from taking it down every day????????

So today upon realization that my hands and arms work fine, there is a line strung from the 'swing' to the light. I can take it down when I take the clothes off!

Somedays my stubborn have to have it amazes me! Others my ingenuity for solving problems does, I prefer the latter type of days.

I have three kids, and I waste a ton of food in spillage!

milk, juice (thank goodness it is watered down) food on faces, hands, and floors.

I could prolly cut my food bill in half if I could just get the kids to stop spilling!!!!!

That is honestly the question for my website.

Honestly money is nice, but the internet is paid for by my husbands site now, so I don't actually need my own to pay that bill, though I certainly could find a use for it

A bigger payout to me would be helping people learn in life, all of it. To see more people talking about why you need baking soda, or at least how to measure it, and less grabbing cupcakes at the store or baking them after the kid is a sleep (though sometimes it happens to the teachiest of us-besides, sometimes you gotta be kidless...) More people counting while braiding hair, or anyway talking about something, anything but 'hold still I can't see the TV'. Or more people looking things up their kids ask for ('are there tailess rats?)

but then I should at least try to make my hosting/name register back.. and more money would enable me to do more...but

I hate sites loaded with ads.....and I want part of my site to be a math version of Starfall (though I don't know how, os I would rather

starfall did it!) but hmm
maybe if I do ads on the main site, and no ads on the 'mathfall' (not actually planning on that name..but it gets the point across! (just checked it is taken...an ad site..links to other sites) Anyway links on there would be harder for kids new to a mouse to avoid..I like how easy it is for GMC to navigate (and was easy last year when he just started)

maybe I think to much...to big...to fast.

let me count the ways

half the time it skews websites, did it with

justonespin last month, and today it is doing it with groceryguide but if I say anything I guarantee it will be all better by the time anyopne looks at it, so I don't want to waste anyones time, but I can't read when print is squished! which is why I never go to about.com...

that and the stupid firefox wont work for surveys, or many other sites..

so why do I use it? cause it is very good at popup blocking.....I used to get a ton of popups.

I admit it, I am antisocial. I am also blunt, straightforward and lacking in any tact. and tell the truth a loner.

so after two weeks of far too much...people in my day, I am taking the next 4 days off! nothing but my three kids and husband IRL. somehow online I don't mind as much..maybe cause I can rant all I like, no biting of the tounge neccessary ....course I occasionally have to break my own fingers to keep from spewing forth my opinions, but in general I skip it and assume that if anyone doesn't like it they don't have to read it!

Anyway, no people, means little money spent, so it is a good thing in many ways. Groceries need bought as they do each week, but no company, so no extras

neccessitty is the mother of invention, generally it can save money, at the very least it can avoid the horrid words 'I can't'. I hate those words, I have used them, and as a child I abused them, but I currently find 'I can't' to be the dirtiest phrase in the english language. I would rather read a blog full of swear words than one full of 'I can't'.

Today I had a chance to see what I CAN do when things are not right. I promised to make pumpkin bread for a picnic tonight. just as I got started I realized I had no kitchenaid bowl! no problem I have a different bowl, but not going to use the kitchenaid, then I discovered I had not thawed enough butter out, no problem, there was some in the fridge, and I have an electric hand blender. Next I found the whole cloves were mixed with the ground, never do this! so I had to 'sift' my cloves, I don't even sift flour! I am soo lazy.

The of course there is the shortage of milk, and the lack of directions for powdered, I previously used powdered for milk bath, and some recipies that specifically called for it, I still have no idea how to mix it to make milk, no big I guessed.

With an aproximation of pumpkin bread batter prepared all I needed was a pan or two to bake it in, unfortunatly I had only one bread pan..and no time, UE was awake and fussy. so I grabbed a round casseroll dish...I know that is not right, but I did, and It will work..I can take 'pumpkin cake' close enough to the promised bread.

So it is ok, I CAN do all sorts of things, I just chose not to do the dishes while GMC was supposed to be napping......

oh and I can't figure out pictures ofn my website (err I mean I havn't yet figured out.....)