Princess Perky's Page

I don't think this would be well received, specially since keeping me on topic in person is rather hard. So instead of saying it to anyone, I'll post it here, because I can....

I have this blanket that my Aunt made, it says 'Thadeus April 10th, 2002'...Now I do not have a kid named Thadeus, nor one born on April 10th, but I do have the blanket. She tried to make a blanket and messed it up. I thought it was funny, and obviously 5 years later still have it to tell you this story.

To me the blanket says two things:

1. No one is perfect, and
2. We should try anyway.

(Ok and 3. that my Aunt loves us and cared enough to make it)

Now when I hear someone telling me they don't think they can do it, I remember the blanket...so what if you can't, don't fail because you didn't try, if you are going to fail at least put some effort into it first.

I know I fail frequently, and in the past I never wanted to try, becasue I knew it wouldn't work, now I have learned to try anyway, and take the consequneses.

If I let my kids not try they would never learn to walk, Each child fell (failed) countless times before that first step succeeded, each time they learned a little something. Each time I fail I learn something - even if it is a lesson I had to learn again (and again, and again)....

So please, don't tell me 'I can't' Go try anyway, and just see what happens, don't fail due to lack of starting.

K all done now, if that should fall in the right hands I will be eternally amazed.

So I told my son I would print a page of notes and help him learn where they were on the keyboard and how to read them. this was mainly an excuse to go look it all up, cause I can't read music nor play any instrument!

Anyway he gets this excited look on his face and says 'so I can learn to play piano!'

umm yeah, so long as you teach yourself!

I made the pages, dug up the old sentance (Every Good Boy Deserves Fun) and found out the space spells face...now all I have to do is figure out why my computer wont print!

Oh and get a cord to plug my keyboard in, see this same kid broke the old one....I told him if he wants to learn he has to save the money to buy a new one, without reducing his church gifts or bank savings.

He is eager to do it, and has been memorizing the notes very quickly..so all I have to do is find the cord, before he gets the money!

While hunting up some more quotes I found a couple relating to education and money....

Wendell Phillips
The best education in the world is that got by struggling to get a living.

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. – (unknown)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Well he asked for a construction cake, but he is also asking for balloon expiraments, because balloons are a birthday thing, every birthday we get out balloons and a hand pump and the kids go to town.

I found one where you take a balloon and blow it up (touch a match to it) and one where you put some water in it, the match wont burst it.

and now Monkey mommas rocket will be added to the list. I think I would like a couple more.

Our birthday things are really family events, no fancy games or anything, but a few balloon things before I cook is cool.

The local nature center offers classes for preschoolers at 3$ a pop.

Now 3$ last year seemed soooo big, but this year...with CC paid off, and car actual on track for off by the end of 2008...I kinda think 3$ is worth it.

Of course it also needs transprotation, and if one kid goes the other will...but bugs butterflys, frogs...stuff I actually know very little about, and they love.

amazing what a budget and a raise will do for your spending...apparently increase it for us! (kidding, well no not kidding, but I want some areas to go up, like education..as the kids grow I think it is important, and I don't know any bug people..)

So you noticed for a time I have on again off again been complaining about how long it takes to do everything.

I even started waking up early and didn't seem to finish any earlier.

Well two days ago I decided to schedule the important things so that when I look at the clock and think 'doing good' I know what I am talking about.

and it worked!

As odd as it might seem to schedule 'vacuum' it actually worked.

I scheduled just the basics, and listed the other stuff, but just being able to look at the clock and see where I aught to be, helped me keep up the momentum, and not lose track of the esssentials in all the 'other stuff' (like dusting, nothing wrong with dusting, but washing towels is more important...)

Yesterday I was done at 930, today just after 9..course the depressing thing is I get up at 6:15 now...that is about 3 hours of 'getting ready for the day'....

Though on the upside it includes:

1.working out (10 miniutes plan on increasing soon)
2. kissing my husband goodby and helping with his lunch packing.
3. Praying (15 minutes -man is that hard!)
4. Making my bed, checking kids
5. Load of laundry in
6. breakfast
7. dishes out of dishwasher and back in
8. 'tidy up house to vacuum'
9. Nother load of laundry in
10. Vacuum (8am)
11. bleach entry way floor
12. wash windows/dust (actually this is what the kids do while I vacuum, keeps em out from underfoot...and happy!)
13. Mop kitchen floor (or sweep, depending on crumb count)
14. clean mirrors (again kids do)
15. Bleach bathroom (or two) (8:30)
16. shower three kids and self

And of course miscelaneous potty help, dressing assistance, inspections, ect.

I guess that list is kinda long...

Then after all that we play actually most mornings they ask to do 'worksheets' or read magazines, or sometimes play a game. but summer is comming, and I want to be able to go swimming most sunny mornings....will have to ad 'pack lunch' to the list, plus sunscreen and such.

Anyway, I broke my record

I jumped on the band wagon.....so far..inputing food is ahassle, and the site wont listen when I tell it I want to do my workout my way...I am not objectionable to new, I just want to log todays work..and it is not what they are telling me to do

Oh well, regardless I hope to find new ideas, motivation and goal tracking for free.

Everything we do is a subtle advertisment for something, might be taken wrong (what were those cat wranglers selling anyway?) and it might be taken out of context, but every step you take, every move you make, someone is watching you.

Networks like the buzz word of mouth thing, and 'digg' try to capitalize the selling people do each and every day.

I knew this but a few examples over the last year really drove this point home for me.

I used to pack juice in the kids cups for trips...I personally prefer the flavor to stale water, and I dont mind a weekly or twice weekly treat.

Then I heard a small comment about how I always let my kids drink juice...umm what? oh yeah, all they see of my kids is those trips, and it is always juice. I have since stopped packing juice, "water water everywhere". Fortunatly you can (and we do) drink it.

I also had a friend over who commented "you have a lot of movies"....umm yeah I guess we do, Now I don't plan on ditching the ones I like just to avoid being seen as an avid movie watcher(we are avid readers and occassional movie watchers), but as I plan how to arrange my living room, hiding the movies is prime on my list. Oh and that bookcase I made him put up to get the books out of the closet was done within the week of the comment....

While I do not want to live my life for what others see, I also do not want to advertise what I do not believe in. Not that excessive juice is the worst sin in the world, far from it, this just happens to be one example of something I can sell, or not.

So when I pack for an outing, or make changes to my house setup, or wardrobe, whatever...I often ask "what is this selling" if I can't figure it out, I don't worry, but if the answer is something I don't want to sell, I try to change it

(and I deal with life if I can't, I also deal when I fail, guess wrong, screw up, and otherwise cannot be perfect, but I will try)

For the longest time my husbands old company had been paying him in addition to the new company, now we were not crazy enough to spend it, but we did put it in ING while telling the managers they were paying double.

As more and more months of double pay passed we started to hope we could keep the money (or at least earn a nice interest for a long time.

Well the time is over. They have requested the amount back. Their math seems odd, but then we have all the pay stubs and will be double checking before saying good by to a nice couple months pay...(yeah would so be aan almost full EF! Oh well)

I followed the link from the main site to the 'complaint free' bracelet. and found a site for a church that is dedicated to not complaining.....

Not complaining! but that is what I do! Most of my entrys are in the complaint category!

Not that I like to complain, well you know maybe a little. Just that 'life is ducky' is well boring..and doesn't result in very much helpful advice.

How am I supposed to learn how to save if I never get around to complaining that I don't have enough money? Or learn to cook better if I just go along 'ducky' with my lousy cooking (I bake not cook, though some foods I am good at)

How am I supposed to change if I don't complain?

I can't think of a single change I have made that didn't start with me complaining...I reduced sugar due to too many headahes....I increased whole grains due to too many drops in sugar after 'healthy meals' that had all white stuff.

Complaining may be worthless when no change can occur, but:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change those things that I can....and the wisdom to know the difference.

I can see the need to not complain or worry about things you cannot change like......ummm......oh I know: the time between lunar eclipses. (boy was that hard to come up with!)

But as to things I can change, I just need some patience figuring out how and waiting for it to work (not to mention persistance to try try again)

now I shall check 'complaint department' for my category..and move on.....

I am geeked, little things excite me. We went to the roof of the science center parking lot after a day of science, and managed to see Venus..which looks just like a big white spot....

And we saw Saturn, which really looks like saturn! rings and all! It was very cool!

Unfortunatly the roof is a bad place to see the lunar eclipse, we didn't see any of it till we had left the roof and were driving home and that was the tail end of it as the moon came out of the shadow.

Now about that money....we went to the science center first, around 3pm, and we figured we could pack dinner or eat out at the cafeteria. Before expoloring we asked "when does the cafeteria close today" the response was 4, no wait 5 it is saturday. Well we figured 4:30 for dinner was fine, and headed back to food at that time...only to find it had closed.....boy were we boiling mad. How on earth can you expect to remain open if you refuse to serve customers, and wont even tell anyone the right times!!!

We walked down the street looking for a restaurant that was wiling to take short kids, found one but the wait was 45 minutes! we signed up anyway seeing as all the restaurants we passed were pubs or had long lines. We headed to the bar and found several empty tables...but were told we had to wait to be seated by a hostess to get menues and food.....
Then we went outside and watched them clear several tables outside and NO one was seated...rows of empty patio tables and they wouldn't seat us! I have no idea what their trouble was.

But while waiting I found some balloons just on a string and let my daughter play, she loved it. And I happend to see over in the corner the unlocking of doors at a little bohemian looking restaurant.... opens at 5, completly empty, and had food....we dropped the 'blinker pager' from the first restaurant and headed for the cafe....bit odd of the food choice (every plate came with a cookie hidden under the chips...) but it was food and it was served relativly quickly.

We were talking with a firend about whole wheat bread and they said they liked the gneneric bread from BJs, and that it was cheaper than the brand she saw us eat from that day.

Well we thought we were eating the cheapest 100% whole wheat bread...

Next trip to the store we looked around, and found we were spending almost 50 cents more for two loaves than the cheapest (which wasn't the generic she recomended but was even healthier than both our brand and hers....)

Anyway...in case I am not the only one who does the research once then assumes it is still good...never get lazy! keep looking for a new brand, or repricing, or something.

No not entertaining us, entertaining guests...I don't have a seperate category for it, but I do buy food for company...not alot, not the best or top of the line, and I simply cannot afford to cater dinner, nor do you want to be stuck with what I cook

But there is some, I was talking with someone about budgets and it occured to me...not for the first time, but in a different way. A budget is to help figure out what you want to spend money on, if you go about it willy nilly spending when the occassion arrises, at the end of the month you may be able to stay under income, but you may realize you spent a ton on XYZ but that you keep wanting to have money for ABC......

For me company is one of the things we want to have some money for, as is paying off the car. sorry but % wise the car is winning! (especially last month!)

Well we arn't broke yet...

The good:
-Sent tax return plus bonus almost ALL to the car...I can't wait to see next months bill with the new lower total!
-Food under budget even with eating out twice and extra convenience for illness!

The bad
-Gas for the car and gas for house was over budget partly due to a trip tp GA. being gone for a day cost a good bit of gas, but didn't save on heat much...

The Ugly
-miscelaneous! UGH, between the postal runs (mostly for husband ebaying stuff) and the medical stuff, and the suprises for my bros kids, plus ours, plus the treat my husband felt they needed while I was sick...UGH!

Actually the end of the month we have more money in than we sent out (so more goes off to the car next week)

----------
Non financial if I discount the week of absolute sick and reduce goals for the week after, I did amazingly good. (1 miss, 4 half days on workouts, all yep on food)

For March, in addition to all old goals:

Financial = Get up earlier than kids.....not sure if it will help, but I tried for this last week, up early means more stuff is done, and half my todo list saves me money. (bake not buy food to share/serve, check on bills not ignore, ect.)

Excersise = add abdominal and legs work for 5 minutes a day.

Diet = Limit treats to two servings a day (that would be my servings! though I do aim for less than double recomended, but seriously who can eat only a half cup of ice cream?)

So in effort to be semi respectable tonight (lenten thing at church) I decided holes in the jeans would be bad and hunted up something nicer. You may recall my recent medical issue, it came with a two size expansion (sorry not a size 8 anymore )

Well I am back in 10s, not great, and more irritating since I do not have a little one to hold...

But all my jeans that I know fit now, have holes, so I headed to the closet to see just how close to an 8 or 9 I am, grabbed one pair of size 9s and tried them on.

I couldn't even get it up to my hips much less over them! Talk about depressing moments! I checked, all other jeans even close to 9 have holes.....so I grabbed a pair a bit smaller..and a bit stretchier....

A size 6 and they fit! Good grief they have changed sizes dramaticaly! So I checked my size 31/34 jeans (you can't change that, 31 inch waist means 31 inch waist...no getting around that)...one fits, one doesn't (different cut, big hips).

I decided to dich the 9s..every time I have a kid (or lose one) I go thru the down phase of weight, and every time I come to the size 9s and I try them, and every time I get depressed because they don't fit....seems to me I am storing them for nothing but trouble!

The number (9) doesn't really bother me much, it is the fact that I haven't worn them since highschool (pre kid), and all outside reports (plus the tape measure) say I am thinner now.....shrunk in storage or something? I dunno, but out they go.

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:

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.

This was said by my husband last night, in a 'I can't believe you set it so high, what is wrong' kind of tone, then while I was trying not to laugh at my once 'anti less than 70' husband, he did the same thing I do most days and pushed the button to switch it to saying the setting vs the 'actual temp. and it is still set at 62 from several nights ago.

Yep two great pieces of news.

1. My house is comfortably 67 in midday, simply due to nice warm sunny NC weather, and

2. My husband has really converted to a cooler house

Course at bedtime the house was still 67 and we were both shivering, I swear the time of day has way more to do with how cold I feel than the temp.

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)