Princess Perky's Page

Either that or they were good actors.

Yesterday after church, and the kids Christmas pageant, we headed to the Bro-in laws to trade gifts.

The one niece was very 'ooooh cool' about her gift, the other played with hers right away. And the boys played with their laser game most of the evening. They tried to run downstairs to test it out before we even gave them the second present!

Hopefully the 31st and the 2nd my husband will take them in pairs to the arcade, to use up the second half of their gift. (we have done that for birthdays and they seem to really enjoy it)

Unfortunately we are not sure if the parents liked what they got at all. I really am so ready to not give to adults at all. I would be more than happy with a no gift obligation or reception from the adults. I might try to talk my husband into at least testing the waters on that for next year...

Yesterday my husband was discussing a friends from resolution to not eat any processed sugar (or drink it). While I heartily agree in such a wonderful goal. I wonder at how long he will be able to keep up a no consumption resolution.

I myself have spent the past 7 years working toward less and less refined sugars, less high fructose corn syrup and less white flour, both in purchased and homemade products. Did you catch that 7 year part? I am a terrible dieter a terrible person for change. Now that might seem strange to many who have known me, I have changed my eating habits, my sleeping habits, my spending habits, cooking, cleaning, even my teaching habits. But I took a LOOOOONG time to do it all.

I didn't overnight go from diet Mt Dew drinking, sugar hyper, all night partying DINK, to a water chugging, whole wheat eating, 'typical' sleeping, frugal non working mom.

It took me about 18 years to formulate all my 'bad' habits (and a few good ones) and I think my slow tortoise change of almost reversing some in 7 years is pretty good.

I often wonder about folk with dramatic resolutions. Do they work? Can you stick to them? And if so, please don't expect me to! Not all folk can handle overnight change.

I find the 'Santa story' to be cute, I like watching old Christmas specials, I like hearing different stories of how 'Santa' got started. We read "the night before Christmas" every year with the kids. The kids have a Santa hat and regularly grab and old pillow throw it over their shoulder like a sac and 'play Santa'.

BUT at no point have I lied to them, I do not deceive them into thinking he is real, I do not suggest Santa brings the presents that I lovingly picked out, and carefully wrapped for them. Nor do I center my holiday traditions around him. At no point do I interfere with their imagination, nor do I try to alter reality. Imagination is a wonderful thing, but it is NOT reality. At an age where children are learning the difference between fact and fantasy, I do not hold back one fantasy as reality.

Which leaves me having two kids old enough to talk and understand others are convinced Santa is real, not understanding how they could be so ... dense. Which is putting my sons opinion of them mildly.

How on earth can anyone truly believe that Santa is real? The answer is deception by mom, dad and others, the only way an intelligent child would believe in Santa is due to deliberate and constant deception by trusted adults. Without nearly everyone a child encounters perpetuating the story, Children would fast discover he is just that, a nice fantasy story.

But many parents feel compelled not only to hide their own part in choosing gifts but also to find inventive ways to keep them believing. Leaving boot prints for a kid with baking soda might make for a cute face on a 2 or 4 year old, but is that cute face worth having a 12 year old that is afraid to admit he knows the truth, for fear you wont give him anything? Does our gift giving have to be tied to belief in a fantasy?

Now I know plenty of parents do drop the fantasy when the toddlers and very young grow out of it. But I also know many who fear visiting my house at Christmas time...with there 8, 10, 12, 14, or even 16 year olds! (BTW my children are under strict orders not to argue religion.. including the religion of Santa, so you can visit, we wont try to talk you out of it)

Why force a cute story about how being different can be an advantage, by trying to convince kids that one little red nose can light the way on a stormy night? Why twist the idea of a kind fellow with a giving heart, one worth emulating, by refusing to admit to the children who most look up to you to learn how to act in the world, that you yourself give freely?

What is so wrong about learning from stories without trying to make them real? Elmo is a puppet, controlled by more than one person, Dora is a drawing, who's words and actions are designed by a team. Santa is a story, retold and retold in many ways, with many lessons. Why can't we appreciate the lesson of freely giving without having to lie to children?

We generally keep our eye out for Christmas gifts all year long, but this year. Maybe due to less shopping in general, or just bad luck. We were short many gifts come Thanksgiving. Add to that a bad couple of weeks due to new pregnancy and you have us in a last minute crunch.

We went out two weeks ago and bought over half of what we needed in one trip, then we struggled thru the next few gifts. Last night we left at around 2pm to find the remaining 4 gifts. At 7pm after finding two we gave up and went home, UGH!

Today on his way home from work my husband is stopping to hopefully pick up a gift for our nephew (he has a plan, just needs to find it in the right price) Leaving us with just one more gift to get... For UE, you would think the hardest gifts would be for extended family! But nope, we are struggling on a gift for UE. We always have trouble with the youngest.

On a positive side last night my son picked out a gift for his sister and Daddy and wanted to find a specific item for his little bro (plastic bugs) And I got some traditional junk food for my husbands stocking. Plus he bought himself a slinky. His sister found one item for Daddy, but nothing for either brother. Seeing as they are young and it is late I just don't think the gifts will be bought.

We might go out again tomorrow to try one last time.

Every year we have really really low gas bills until December, then they climb and January February are terrible. But with all the changes we are making/have made every year they are slightly less terrible than last.

Apparently in 30 days last December we used 36 therms. This December we used 34 therms in 32 days, both months had an average temp of 50. So we used a smidgen less in a smidgen more days. That is better than using more!

I love those little graphs the gas bill has showing usage over the last year, but I almost wish I could get a usage graph for multiple years. I know we payed more when we first moved in, before all the cost savings went into place (I know that from the checking account records that I do keep) but I don't know by how much, and looking at a smidgen drop isn't as cool as if I could look at the huge difference from 2002 to now.

We live with an HOA, for us it means a pool pass in summer, for them it means they get to waste money reminding me I have a terrible lawn.

Every December we get a booklet of 5 payment slips scheduled for the first of the month Jan - May. Now at first I tried to send in one a month on time..but well, truth is I am the least organized person I know, I hate clutter and disorganization, but I am not any good at it. Leaving me hating myself

A friend suggested I pay the full amount for the year in January and then forget it for a year, at the worst I would only pay one late fee! While I kinda thought that would be wasting my money letting them earn interest on it before it was due, but I also thought, given my organization disabilities, it would be better for us. So off went several yearly checks in early January.

Well this year I have my little book in hand, and my secret weapon...INg, I can schedule a payment right now for Jan, Feb, Mar, April, and May..and leave the money sitting in my savings account (or use excess OT) earning interest instead of paying early!

I love ING

Last night we had my mother and father in law over to celebrate Christmas..I made BBQ chicken, and it was good! I actually liked it, I usually complain that the chicken is too dry...and I usually ruin some part of it anyway. Though no one else complains the way I do when I cook! Thankfully they have manners.

This time I loved the chicken, not to dry, not to overpowering BBQ either. The only trouble, out of 8 pieces of chicken, the one I served my mother in law was still pink in the middle! ACK. The rest were done, this s why I hate cooking bone in chicken unless it is a roast...the pieces are never uniform in size so you either dry out the little ones or don't cook the big ones, or just plain ruin them all!

Fortunalty it was just the one piece.

Thursday my husband started his on call rotation, I knew we were in for Overtime, but I had no idea what the holidays at a store were like.

He is a computer guy, he keeps servers running and helps trouble shoot registers, printers, desktops and the like.

Well Thrusday he has to be in the office at 5am...and didn't get home till 5pm, at which point he proceeded to be back on his computer for most of the evening, and had a scheduled 'reboot' or whatever at 8pm.

Then on Saturday he had to wake up at 3am to do some more remote stuff from home, then drive in for a 5am call, and didn't come home again till 5pm...at which time he immediately ran to his laptop and began fixing yet another problem...he came to bed at 1AM! that is 20 hours of work!

Don't get the idea Sunday was easy, he was up and on the laptop at 7am, and still there at 8:30 (when our church service starts) he had a short break to drop us off at Sunday school and was back online again! UGH! (this morning I don't know when he got up, but he was gone at 6:30 am, and I doubt he will be home before 5pm)

Don't get me wrong, the money is going to come in handy with Christmas and a root canal this month...but 20 hours in one day?

Please as a favor to all who are serving you at Christmas time DON"T SHOP! Or at least know the harried person serving you may very well have been working for over 12 hours...along with plenty of support staff behind the scenes. All so we can buy last minute gifts! (self included I still need about 6 things)

Well first one thing I did partly know.

1/2. Don't use the whole loan offered! We were offered twice the loan we used for this house, and even this one had us scrimping and barely managing until my husbands last raise! If we had taken the full loan and bought a bigger house, we would be in deep trouble still!

Ok Now on to what I failed to do right.

1. Even if you plan on homeschooling the school district might be important. I forgot two important things...the kids who are in the nearby schools are also the kids who are around at non school hours (or not, in our case I hardly ever see a child under 13 except on weekends..daycare of course) the other that my kids may one day want to test out the schools, and I will not allow them in the Charlotte/Meck system...there are daily reports of guns, knives, lock downs, drugs..I left the city of Pgh I don't need to go back to that. so check your schools even if you don't have kids.

2. The shape of the street makes a difference, if you have kids My kids like to ride bikes, but they can't on our street at all, it is curved, but the most often used street next to the entrance (and yes we live at the back!) The curves lower the visibility, but not the speed of drivers. If I had known I would have aimed for a house further down the road where it is a cul-de-sac, and rarely used by thru traffic (or turnarounds)

3. Hills don't mow, but homeowner's associations want them done. Our back yard is a gentle slope for about 15 feet, then it is a steep drop down to the lower path. I couldn't mow it if I wanted to myself, yet the HOA thinks I should hire someone to take care of it..personally not living in times needing a clear 'killing zone' I see no reason to stop the natural vegetation from taking over (there is now a tree taller than me halfway down, should help keep the dirt from eroding better than grass)

4. Speaking of HOAs, they like manicured lawns! I might still live here had I thought of that, I do like the pool within walking distance. But at least I might have started with a better commitment to the lawn...or an earlier commitment to getting registered as a nature lawn.

5. Your cute kid will grow..and wont like kiddie walls If I was interested in repainting or re-wallpapering this would be no big deal, but I am Lazy. Once was enough. Not to mention the time. So now I am stuck with a blue room the exact shade that will clash with my sons bedspread. Fortunately we moved him to the blank room and put my girl in there, purple and this shade of blue look fine, though she is unhappy with the walls. The next time I do a room for kids I will pick very neutral colors, something that cannot clash no matter what decorations or blankets my kids pick! (actually the paint was done after we bought the house, but many folk paint first, so I figured it fit here)

6. The whole house prolly wont be (nearly) perfect, but the most important room should be I looked at several houses that were ok, many had great layouts for living rooms or dining rooms, or kids rooms. Many had amazing closets. The house I picked I didn't know it at the time, but it had the most important room perfect (or nearly so) The kitchen. For me the kitchen has to have room for all the kids to 'help' me cook and room for all to eat (with nice easy clean floors!) For someone else the requirements might be different. My Grandma for example designed her kitchen to have only enough room for herself, and not to much moving between stove fridge and sink. Many others find the living room or bedroom or those closets more important. Of course I would love all the rooms perfect, but for that I would have to hire an architect!

GMC my oldest was talking about Tiger cubs and how many 'yellow' elective beads he was able to earn. For no cubers you have to have the Tiger badge first then you can do 10 electives to earn one bead. There are a total of 50 electives in the book, for a total possible of 5 yellow beads. Though you are sortof allowed to repeat if needed (but shhh)

Anyway, point is he seemed disapointed that 5 was the max, so I told him he was only going to a be a Tiger till May (9r is it June?) then he would be a Wolf..immediatly he wanted to know what he had to do to earn the wolf badge and just how many parts, and started planning his next year!

Wow, Dude, slow down, one step at a time. He is so like his mother and father..we have trouble slowing down and taking things one step at a time. I love planning...I hate to admit that, because I only like the planning part, making sure it all goes according to plan is not fun!

Financially I want to jump into being done paying things off and done with this EF buildup, and move on to bigger better things. I can plan it all I want, but if I forget to focus on what I am doing right now, I will fail at this step and never need the future plans! (or rather I will need a whole nother set)

I often see something cool or neat and might play with it at the store if it si a toy, or I might just oooh and aww if it is s knicknack or painting, or fancy pretty thing a majig.

But usually I do not buy it. The reason...I do not live in a museum. I live in a house. My kitchen doesn't have pretty nicknacks..it has cooking pots and frequently used appliances.

My living room is NOT a sitting room...yeah we sit in it, but we also 'live' in it...my kids bounce, jump (we hae a step..like the kind for people to work out, solely so on rainy days the kids can jump...) play, goof off, build castles and contraptions. It is a well used room. If I had to worry about them breaking some valuable china or glass pretty thing all the time, when would they play? Besides I am klutzier than they are.

No room in my house is safe from klutzy, bouncy, curious kids..or mom. So no room is cluttered with knicknacks.

On the other hand I like to go to the science center to play with odd ball expensive toys that take up tons of room (build an arch out of blocks bigger than the kid? or a water pipe maze?) and museums to look. That is where the fancy art vase belongs (make sure you pronounce that all hoity toity!) My house is not. Sorry.

Not that I wouldn't mind some nicer walls..so long as they are out of reach of the kids . I just see no reason to buy twenty million pretty things...not when the art over my desk is totally kid made, no rembrant could ever make me as happy as the adorable pirate ship with pirates taller than the main mast. or the pretty princess with three fingers, or the scribble by UE - with echos of his "I did that, I cribbled!"

I guess that means I cheat on the low spending front..the paper is usually scratch paper, the crayons were gifts. and the tape is pretty cheap. Someday when I paint or paper the living room I will have to invest in some sticky tack or something to save the paint.

Well I researched a bit..mostly I am lost in a sea of quasi information.

I found several plans that are around $30 a month that cover any dentist, and a discount on everything..maybe..depending on what the asterisks mean.

Plus a few that seem to be discount cards, where local dentists may sign up for. I can't get the fine print though... I need that before I am willing to pay for what may or may not save me money!

The one good thing is while hunting up what Dentists might take the discount card I found our old dentist! We loved him, yeah he still did root canals, but he was GOOD at them...very quick, little pain after and his staff was excellent at knowing what to hand over to make the whole thing seamless and quick. Today..was the opposite. I got in the car after mumbling "I want our dentist back" over and over and over again.

So I will be calling him tomorrow to get quotes and ask if he knows something about the discount plans.

(I just googled dental insurance..please if anyone else has better info let me know)

I have a tooth that has been bothering me on and off for about two months, mostly I can deaden the nerves with mouthwash and some creative distraction, but last night nothing worked, I was up all night..well until 4am, then I managed a bit of sleep till 8.

So today I called the dentist and got a quote for a root canal..yeah I know self proscribing, but I have been thru this pain before. Only last time I went for a good many more sleepless nights before I called the Dentist. For one root canal the cost is around 800 dollars. plus the Xray and exam, plus a buildup and cap..or is it crown?

All told this little painful episode will cost us 2000 dollars...not really my favorite way to spend money at Christmas time.

But on the upside, it was there, sitting in the savings account...nice to have put it there for this sort of thing.

Boy Scouts wants me to register as a member. I am the unofficial secretary/nag of the pack. Mostly the nag part. And I am supposed to fill out a form and pay $10 for the joy of doing this job. Umm No. I am not going to pay money to work...sorry.

Now my husband has paid, he is insured as a leader, BSA covers him, because he registered. And he needs that, he is the Tiger den leader, nominally in charge of 7 boys each week. (though their parents are mostly there)

I on the other hand, am never in charge of kids. Well my own, but never any others. So I don't need insurance, I don't want the responsibility.

It was suggested that $10 is a small amount, and I could 'save up for it'. The point isn't that I don't have $10 the point is I am unwilling to pay to work.

On the other hand we spend at least $10 every month on healthy snacks for the Pack meetings. Not to mention the food for each den meeting. plus misc. craft supplies, we have never asked to be reimbursed, and don't plan on it.

We have the money to spend as we see fit. (that is a nice feeling, wasn't always the case, so I am very thankful that we do have it) I simply have better places to put my money. I would rather buy food or crafts for that $10 than a card for my wallet that says BSA on it.

Cause I am cold . Last night I made coconut macaroons..only I was short on coconut, and no almond flavor. I decided to use lemon, sounded good lemon coconut.

Then since there wasn't enough coconut, I decided to try some flour, just a bit. It didn't help. So I went for chocolate chips.

It actually turned out quite good! I had to bake them a bit longer than the recipe called for, but the end result was quite edible. Nothing to write home about, doubt it will be added to holiday favorites, but at least it was good.

I also realized after trying to write down some dinners we commonly eat for a friend who doesn't like to cook...I have a bad habit of just throwing spices at food and hoping it works. Which 75% of the time it is ok, 10% is terrible, and the other 15% rocks! I suppose if I were smart I would learn how to do the 15% more often

I automatically transfer 1/12th of the yearly bills like insurance and the like. I debated on using the 'escrow' or extra funds many times this year. and previously I always used the extra and figured the escrow already sitting in my savings would pad our EF. which is rather in need of padding.

This month however we just paid insurance and tax on the car and had one week of no OT followed by one of less than 40 for DH being sick (no vacation no sick pay) So there just isn't any extra right now.

I had to use the escrow from savings and transfer it over to the checking to pay. Not to happy about having to do it, but at least it was there sitting and waiting for this.

That was what my son said to me while I was doing his hair. We were talking about him controlling himself..Monday I wasn't feeling good and he and his sister were ... bratty. So Tuesday we started with yet another talk about how he has to control himself without waiting for the big mean mommy to force him to behave. For one thing I do have limits, I cannot make him behave, I can just ban him from fun until he does.

And that is when he said "God can't make people be good". Well...Truthfully I believe God can, but I don't want him to do it, even though I would like to find being good easy, I don't want all my decisions made for me. And I can't very well ask to be the one and only exception to the rule! I asked GMC if he would like life as a sim..never even deciding what to wear, or when to read a book, or if GMC would even like it if I made all his decisions for him. I could choose his clothes if I wanted, or choose what he can color or all of his reading.

He decided he wanted to make some decisions and figured having to make all of them was a small price to pay.

I found myself relating this idea of behavior to the recent money tree article on

pfadvice
What if money was all taken care of for us..what if someone else got to decide just where and when we saved and how much we spent and exactly on what. Wouldn't leave much room for variety...

That is one reason I am very much against govt control of money. Oh sure they need some for some things, but I don't think they are even good at controlling any money! At least if God decided to remove free will I believe He would be only making the best decisions for us! The govt on the other hand can't even handle it's own debt! The only thing saving the USofA from retirement downfall is that it doesn't get to retire! Somehow asking the govt to take over as Big bro for anyone is like asking your in laws who can't pay the bills to come tell you how to pay yours!

Even if the govt was good with money, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and he will eat for life."..Govt should stop handing out fish without fishing poles.

So we have been trying to nail down the trigger for hives in UE. We think fake food is the culprit. We had been eating some pre-made breaded chicken patties..easy to make when the rest of the house is sick. Plus a few other convenience foods that all prolly have food coloring in them. And we already have a very good idea that he gets hives from bright red food coloring (like in colored goldfish, or red punch).

So we stopped eating convenience food...until we went to GA. There he had some American cheese, and the Japanese steak house food. Next morning new hives... so we really think it is fake food...I hope it wasn't the soy sauce, we like fried rice and the like. American cheese on the other hand we don't really like anyway.

I feel like a silly overprotective mother when I tell teachers and friends no food coloring but I worry that one day instead of just hives it will be something bigger...

While meandering through someones blog I saw the nifty new stars for voting on contest entries..it looks really neat!
And of course thanks to all who voted for mine
I checked out all the most interesting titles and did a little voting myself.

I remember reading a tale of a writer who credits his skills to a childhood assignment to write 100 words on nothing once a week. The fellow recalling this was of course an excellent writer..but you know every kid in his writers class had to do the same thing...and most of them were never heard from again. But were they better writers for the practice?

I have no idea, not having a class list or a before and after writing sample to test this, but in theory it makes sense. Which is why I blog every day. Not that I have any desire to be a writer, just that when I do have an opinion I wish I could write it better. So I blog every day, and I make it a personal goal to blog for the contests. Just to have a forced topic to practice on.

I dunno if it is helping my writing skills at all, but I do type faster!

We were taken out to dinner last night and I had a conversation about our former (pre kid) wasting days..two things that made me realize I am inherently frugal..

First I realized even when we used to go to Nakato (Japanese steak house) 3 or 4 times a week...I ordered water. Not that I didn't drink pop then, on the contrary we had a case of diet a case of regular and a box of wine in the fridge at all times then. But I refused to pay 2 dollars for a drink when I had a case of 12 at home for 2$! I would pay for the cooking and the show, I couldn't replicate that, but I would not pay for the pop (or the rum...)

Then at dinner I asked my son what he wanted (another Japanese steak house) and he pointed to a lobster shrimp and something else platter for twice the cost of other meals...I immediately pointed to the price and said no...I wasn't paying, and I didn't feel right about asking someone to pay that much for my kid. (he did get shrimp and steak)

The drinks last night were not free refills unless you got sweet tea...which of course my husband did (He was driving and needed caffeine) when water wont do we will pay for the 2$ drink...but with no free refills? Nah we will take the tea!

Then there is the kid meal vs real meal..we get three meals, one for each adult and one for the three kids to share ... of their meal there was 3 pieces of shrimp left..and rice..Even Daddy had rice leftover! (lunch today)

We just can't see the point of paying for a kids portion that is usually half sized..but not half the price. Now sometimes it is a good deal, so this isn't a hard and fast rule, depends on the restaurant. Plus kids meals don't have the variety of adult meals.

So apparently some frugal habits are hard to break!

Got an ad in the mail for trader Joes..I might recall they tend to have organic foods and more whole wheat type options at reasonable prices?

Not sure if this is true or not but we hope to make it out there next week to find out, we would love to be able to find a store that sells whole wheat flour pasta and sunny field farm yogurt, rather than having to go to two stores different stores.

I think it was Mom-from-Missouri who alerted me to the right time to sign up for Pizza huts 'book it' program. Thanks!

So tonight is the last night we can use our tickets earned in October..just in time to earn them for November. We really aught to be more on the ball with our freebies!

Anyway I am all for free food, I just find myself looking at these library rewards and pizza thinking, why can't free food be healthier? Even if we could afford to eat out more often, we wouldn't do it, not that I like to cook, believe me, I hate cooking! I am not particularly good at it either, I like to bake not cook.

But we would still eat at home, because we use whole wheat flour, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and lots of veggies...hard things to find when eating out.

The only places that have whole wheat are hoity toity and come with plenty of tofu and sprouts..nothing wrong with tofu or sprouts, just that I am boring, I want plain boring sandwiches..with whole wheat bread...

Don't get the idea we are health nuts, you all know I love chocolate! and I still put Mayo on my turkey sandwich (and not a tiny amount either) not to mention a fondness for ice cream, red meat and peanut butter and well real butter!

I just hope to balance all that yummy stuff with vegetables (drowned in butter) and whole wheat bread (slathered with mayo) for my burger, not to mention brown rice or whole wheat pasta for my spaghetti or oriental food, ooh and whole wheat tortillas for my tacos!

Oh well...I guess I will just have to get rich enough for a personal chef rather than eating out....Might have a cheaper option as UE grows, he LOVES cooking!

Feminine troubles aside, the end or beginning of the month my husband and I have never found to be a factor in spending.

I often hear the 'end of the month' complaint from folks, or 'day before payday' and I have never understood it. I actually don't trust most businesses and never short our account less than the next mortgage...what if the pay check doesn't come in? So 'day before payday, is just like any other day for spending. (and the day after is often time to transfer money to pay down debt)

Before direct deposit my husband and I had a bad habit of not cashing checks...seemed a royal pia to cash one every week, we'd rather save them up and go once a month.

I suppose financially it would make more sense for us to figure out how to get interest on it, but well money should be there for an emergency, or for a last minute splurge if you can afford any. Or at the very least for a last minute trip to see family.

Not that money has never been to tight to splurge or pile up much, between the DINK life of forgetting to cash paychecks and our current 3 kid comfortable life, there was that miserable time with horribly low grocery budgets....but even then, the time of the month didn't matter...I still never let the account get less than the mortgage and I still didn't care if it was payday or not..the sum total of money in was a smidgen more than the sum total out..if I didn't have it right now I wouldn't next month either.

In fact I remember a time when someone offered to 'spot me some till payday' and I broke down and cried and said it wouldn't matter this payday or next there just wasn't any spare cash. Normally I wasn't so weepy about finances but it was the 'wrong time of the month'..being female and all...

Then we got a raise, and life is comfy, though not easy. (easy would be enough to hire a maid and already own the car .) And we still don't care what time of the month it is, the budget is what the budget is no matter what day...and being pregnant I cry no matter what day too

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.

1. Decorate the tree...this always has to start with laying out the lights to make sure they work..the replacing of lights is a royal pia, but seeing kids faces when a strand lights up is so worth it. Then Daddy is in charge of putting lights on, while Mommy helps the kids find out what other decorations are available (some kitchen towels, a few place mats, a bell, nothing much) and then the most important part of the tree...The kids take turns putting ornaments on (with Daddy assisting as needed, Mommy unwrapping) Of course the whole time Christmas music has to be on!

2. Bake sugar cookies Now if you have never tried this I want to warn you children make a royal flour mess, and yes the cookies taste more like flour! but it is fun, and they are cute, and they love eating what they made! (or other cookie)

3. Read the advent book The actual book is a bit expensive though wonderful, I often think of making one, to give as a gift, we have 5 years of tradition of using this exact book so I could never get rid of it. Each day in December has a separate page with a door cut out (like lift a flap books) and behind the door is a bit of the story of Jesus and a beautiful picture (the 'doors' are beautiful too). We start with page one on December 1st and then each night review the 'old' pages before reading the days page. We usually do it in a 'fill in the blank' way so that the kids help tell the story "The angel ------(Gabrial) came to tell ----(Mary) that she was going to----(have a baby)" and so on.

4. Drive through the neighborhood looking at lights. Nothing special, no drive far from home, we just take a detour down the side streets one night that we come home.

5. Christmas carols at church bake a batch of cookies and share while singing, The kids have a song they sing just kids, and lots more sung as a big group. All gathered around tables so not like a service, just cookies and fun.

6. Fill a Shoe box of toys Operation Christmas is a cute method of filling shoe boxes to send to poor countries to give to kids at Christmas time. We always do one per kid. I am sure many fill the box with 50 or more dollars of stuff, but we have always done them for less than 10..some toys we never used some crayons a few dollar store surprises and done, full box. There is a shipping fee of 7$. The kids actually usually contribute their Halloween money to the Dollar tree part.

7. Get a gift for an angel tree we did this when I was a kid and I liked it, I would love to get one per kid, but so far that is hard, these days the requests are for bikes, Ipods or some other toy I can't afford to get my own kids (gmas bought the bikes here) so we have to hunt around to find one that just says 'toys' and we usually aim to spend less than $20. Picking the gift out is great fun for the kids.

8. Making place mats every year we cut out last years Christmas cards glue them on construction paper and laminate to make place mats for some relative...the recipient varies, but the kids love cutting gluing and giving.

9. Write our own Christmas card we usually like to fill in the family about our kids, any family news and of course a picture. We print them ourselves so cheap paper and a bit of time is all it takes. Sure done perfect would be nice paper, but no one said we were perfect!

10. Make some kind of Christmas decorations some times we do paper chains (use glue and you can recycle them, use staples and you really aught to save them) Other years we do snowflakes, many times we design and print a magnet or window cling or stickers (papers received free from buying pictures..haven't done so in 2 years, and still have plenty of magnets to go for years!) One year we made ornaments out of cinnamon and applesauce, smells wonderful, but all my kids had rashes on their hands for a week!

There are many more things we do, but those are ten of the earliest done, making them fresh on my mind!

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!

Our pastor wrote an article in the church newsletter regarding telling children when it is their turn to sing. We always sing a song where the men have one part and the women another and the congregation comes together for part. I love hearing the deep voices of the men, and the higher ones of women..mostly in harmony. Our pastor wrote of how parents need to fill kids in on these details..sure many can figure it out on their own, but by saying "your turn, cause you're a guy and guys usually sing deeper" we are helping out kids know what to expect.

Anyway, it occurred to me that most areas of life need things pointed out for kids.
While many kids can pick up on things by inference, some...need things explained over and over again.

Finances are no different. I had a young teen over once and we discussed how I had never had any utility threatened to be shut off...she was amazed. So we don't just need to point out to our kids 'the right way' we also need to point out some things to less fortunate kids!

My daughter received money for her birthday, I asked her what she would like to do with it. She replied "Spend it!" Now every time any of them receives money we discuss this, and I tell them, 'some to church, some to the bank, the rest do what you want'. So some lessons need repeating!

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