Yesterday was a busy day! I made 2 batches of bread. Not sure what happened to the first batch, but the bread dried out really quickly. Not that it wasn’t good, just a little dry. Butter to the rescue!
The 2nd batch I made was for yummy pigs in a blanket. We just love them. I made 32 total, kept about 12 in the fridge and froze the others. They don’t stay long in our house so putting them in the freezer really isn’t necessary, just a habit really. Caitlin wanted them for breakfast so I made up some scrambled eggs and we ate pigs in a blanket with them. Perfect breakfast. :)
I made *the* best bread the other day. It’s a honey, oatmeal wheat bread. And it’s delicious! If I can remember later, I’ll post the recipe and a picture.
We got some good news yesterday! Chris was able to go speak with a lady he used to work on a project with. He was asking her about the different projects going on and if any of them were hiring. She told him, anywhere he wants to go, she can send him! Such good news!!
Chris has the weekend off and since this is the first weekend of the month, it’s free for us to get into our local science museum. I have been wanting to go here for years but just never got around to it. It looks like tons of fun and can’t wait to take the girls. They will have a BLAST!
Off to shape my bread and think of what in the world I can fix for dinner. You would think that ground beef would be easy, but I need something NEW!
7.28.2009
Pulling out my hair!
Let me just start off by saying that we are so blessed as a family. We have our health, my husband has a job, we have a roof over our head and food on our table and I am so thankful for it all.
With that out of the way, I am sick of my husbands’ J.O.B. He has been there for 12 years, 13 in September but they treat him as if he was a new hire. He applies for new positions within his company and time after time, he gets turned down. Sometimes without even an interview. And never with an explanation as to why. It bugs me. And I am pretty sure it bugs him too.
Now what really has me pulling out my hair is that his supervisors are constantly asking people to leave early. Go home, without pay. He can’t and won’t do it. We need the money. He came home yesterday and informed me that not only are they asking people to go home early, they are forcing them to as well. Forcing people to go home without pay.
What if they start forcing him to leave. What in the world would we do.
So far I have been holding up pretty good but today I lost it.
Totally lost it in front of my kids. I hate crying in front of my kids.
My husband is coming up quick on being 40. Less than 2 months, and it scares me TO DEATH to have to start all over.
I feel such a huge amount of guilt with all of this. I love staying at home with my kids, but if I wasn’t at home with them, I could be out there working. Bringing home some extra income and helping out some. Granted, it wouldn’t be alot since childcare alone would cost almost $900 a month, but still. It would be the principle of it.
What scares me more than having to start all over is having to move. Where would we go? What would we/he do? I am just at a loss. Clueless.
On the other hand, what is keeping us from starting over? Moving to a new place can be exciting! Even fun! I remember when I decided to move to this city. I am so exicted. But I was sooooo naive. I grew up in a small town and the thought of a big city was exciting to me! Culture, museums, zoos & shopping! What more could a single mother ask for???
Now with a husband and 2 additional children, I don’t like this city.
The culture?? Eh… Not really feeling it.
The museums?? Haven’t even been to one.
The zoo?? I live in FL where it’s HOT so the zoo is bearable about 3 days out of the year. Been there once.
The shopping?? Too much to choose from. And TOO many people!
How ironic is it that I want that small town back? I want people to know my kids. I want them to notice if we aren’t at church on Sunday. I want to see our neighbors in the only grocery store in town and talk with them about God knows what for God knows how long. I want that small town feeling back. But not so sure I want my small town back.
Wow this post has turned into a big ol’ whine-o-gram. Remember that skit on SNL, Mr and Mrs Whiner? Yeah, my mother used to always say that when I whined. It was really quite funny. Anyway I feel like that now.
OK…. going to stop whining now.
Going to pray instead.
With that out of the way, I am sick of my husbands’ J.O.B. He has been there for 12 years, 13 in September but they treat him as if he was a new hire. He applies for new positions within his company and time after time, he gets turned down. Sometimes without even an interview. And never with an explanation as to why. It bugs me. And I am pretty sure it bugs him too.
Now what really has me pulling out my hair is that his supervisors are constantly asking people to leave early. Go home, without pay. He can’t and won’t do it. We need the money. He came home yesterday and informed me that not only are they asking people to go home early, they are forcing them to as well. Forcing people to go home without pay.
What if they start forcing him to leave. What in the world would we do.
So far I have been holding up pretty good but today I lost it.
Totally lost it in front of my kids. I hate crying in front of my kids.
My husband is coming up quick on being 40. Less than 2 months, and it scares me TO DEATH to have to start all over.
I feel such a huge amount of guilt with all of this. I love staying at home with my kids, but if I wasn’t at home with them, I could be out there working. Bringing home some extra income and helping out some. Granted, it wouldn’t be alot since childcare alone would cost almost $900 a month, but still. It would be the principle of it.
What scares me more than having to start all over is having to move. Where would we go? What would we/he do? I am just at a loss. Clueless.
On the other hand, what is keeping us from starting over? Moving to a new place can be exciting! Even fun! I remember when I decided to move to this city. I am so exicted. But I was sooooo naive. I grew up in a small town and the thought of a big city was exciting to me! Culture, museums, zoos & shopping! What more could a single mother ask for???
Now with a husband and 2 additional children, I don’t like this city.
The culture?? Eh… Not really feeling it.
The museums?? Haven’t even been to one.
The zoo?? I live in FL where it’s HOT so the zoo is bearable about 3 days out of the year. Been there once.
The shopping?? Too much to choose from. And TOO many people!
How ironic is it that I want that small town back? I want people to know my kids. I want them to notice if we aren’t at church on Sunday. I want to see our neighbors in the only grocery store in town and talk with them about God knows what for God knows how long. I want that small town feeling back. But not so sure I want my small town back.
Wow this post has turned into a big ol’ whine-o-gram. Remember that skit on SNL, Mr and Mrs Whiner? Yeah, my mother used to always say that when I whined. It was really quite funny. Anyway I feel like that now.
OK…. going to stop whining now.
Going to pray instead.
7.27.2009
Week ending 7/25/09
Not too bad this week. We had to get 2 more big ‘ol boxes of diapers so $40 of the total for the week came from that.
My biggest score for the week was at Walgreens. I got 2 nail saver sponges, cough medicine, ear thermometer covers and toilet seat covers all for $4.04. The sponges were marked down to 1.49 each, the medicine was marked down to 3.49, the probe covers were marked down from 5.99 to 1.49 and the toilet seat covers were a whopping $.24 each! I also had a $5.00 register reward to use. Talk about a good trip. $20 worth of items for 4 bucks. :)
Total for the week
Shelf Price $274.00
Price Paid $129.00
Amount Saved $145.00
That is a savings of 53%
Oh I forgot we went to Foodlion this week and spent over 80 bucks on groceries! We wouldn’t normally do this, but they had a great sale on their meat and boy did we stock up! Our saving actually went UP because the entire shopping trip was paid by a gift card that Chris got at work. :) Kinda like a little bonus for doing good on some accounts.
My biggest score for the week was at Walgreens. I got 2 nail saver sponges, cough medicine, ear thermometer covers and toilet seat covers all for $4.04. The sponges were marked down to 1.49 each, the medicine was marked down to 3.49, the probe covers were marked down from 5.99 to 1.49 and the toilet seat covers were a whopping $.24 each! I also had a $5.00 register reward to use. Talk about a good trip. $20 worth of items for 4 bucks. :)
Total for the week
Shelf Price $274.00
Price Paid $129.00
Amount Saved $145.00
That is a savings of 53%
Oh I forgot we went to Foodlion this week and spent over 80 bucks on groceries! We wouldn’t normally do this, but they had a great sale on their meat and boy did we stock up! Our saving actually went UP because the entire shopping trip was paid by a gift card that Chris got at work. :) Kinda like a little bonus for doing good on some accounts.
7.25.2009
Coming up for air!
This week has been a busy one. We went to the Salvation Army Thrift store on Saturday. I found a brand new bread machine! Of course I got it. It can make a 2 lb. loaf unlike my other one that can only do a 1 lb loaf. I also found another ice cream maker. This time it’s one of those that uses ice and rock salt. I hope this one won’t quit on us.
Chris took some time off at the beginning of the week for a class he needed to take but the class got canceled at last minute. It all worked out though since I needed to go downtown and really didn’t want to take all the girls with me. Downtown terrifies me. Seriously.
Sunday night, we did a dry run of our route to where we needed to go. It’s a good thing we did because we would have never made it in time without doing that. We got so turned around. We must have gone in circles about 10 times. The homeless people on the side of the road practically knew we were coming by again. (I don’t get why there are so many homeless people here) We had to go to the FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) and right beside it was a Walgreens with about 10 homeless people on the front sidewalk….. over them read a sign… No Loitering. Ummm… hello??? The FDLE is your neighbor! Call them!
Tuesday we didn’t do much of anything. Chris did move around some furniture that had been sitting in our living room for far too long. We have 2 sections in that room. The living room and the basement. I swear one side of my living room looks like my grandpas basement. Our deep freeze is there, a TV, a shelving unit, boxes we still haven’t unpacked, rubber bins with stuff we still haven’t unpacked….you get the idea.
Yesterday, Chris cleaned out the van when he got home. He also went to our storage unit and got a mattress set out for the girls, 2 tables, his stereo, books and lots and lots of clothes. I made some homemade laundry detergent yesterday too. I’m sure you all know about it. The fels-naptha with washing soda and borax. Well, I hand grated that whole bar of soap. It smells so nice and clean in our kitchen now because of the detergent. It seems to work great so far. I will have to wait and see just how well it does over the long haul with our EXTREMELY hard water.
Today was my unplug from the interwebz day for me. I had enough. I needed to get through this ribbon I am gonna sell and I just needed to unplug. Plus, I really wanted to spend time with these kids. I kinda like them ya know. They make me smile.
Sorry for the long post….. And I thought I didn’t have anything to say. Guess I did. :)
Chris took some time off at the beginning of the week for a class he needed to take but the class got canceled at last minute. It all worked out though since I needed to go downtown and really didn’t want to take all the girls with me. Downtown terrifies me. Seriously.
Sunday night, we did a dry run of our route to where we needed to go. It’s a good thing we did because we would have never made it in time without doing that. We got so turned around. We must have gone in circles about 10 times. The homeless people on the side of the road practically knew we were coming by again. (I don’t get why there are so many homeless people here) We had to go to the FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) and right beside it was a Walgreens with about 10 homeless people on the front sidewalk….. over them read a sign… No Loitering. Ummm… hello??? The FDLE is your neighbor! Call them!
Tuesday we didn’t do much of anything. Chris did move around some furniture that had been sitting in our living room for far too long. We have 2 sections in that room. The living room and the basement. I swear one side of my living room looks like my grandpas basement. Our deep freeze is there, a TV, a shelving unit, boxes we still haven’t unpacked, rubber bins with stuff we still haven’t unpacked….you get the idea.
Yesterday, Chris cleaned out the van when he got home. He also went to our storage unit and got a mattress set out for the girls, 2 tables, his stereo, books and lots and lots of clothes. I made some homemade laundry detergent yesterday too. I’m sure you all know about it. The fels-naptha with washing soda and borax. Well, I hand grated that whole bar of soap. It smells so nice and clean in our kitchen now because of the detergent. It seems to work great so far. I will have to wait and see just how well it does over the long haul with our EXTREMELY hard water.
Today was my unplug from the interwebz day for me. I had enough. I needed to get through this ribbon I am gonna sell and I just needed to unplug. Plus, I really wanted to spend time with these kids. I kinda like them ya know. They make me smile.
Sorry for the long post….. And I thought I didn’t have anything to say. Guess I did. :)
7.21.2009
Week ending 7/28/09
Not bad at all this week. We kept the spending down to a minimum which is always a plus.
Total for the week
Shelf Price $129.00
Price Paid $80.00
Amount Saved $49.00
That is a savings of 38%
Oh and I wanted to add that we have saved over $4000 with coupons and store savings cards this year. A little over 52% for the year. Since we just started doing this seriously at the beginning of the year, I’d say that total is pretty good.
I am anxious to see how much better we can get throughout the rest of the year and into the next.
Total for the week
Shelf Price $129.00
Price Paid $80.00
Amount Saved $49.00
That is a savings of 38%
Oh and I wanted to add that we have saved over $4000 with coupons and store savings cards this year. A little over 52% for the year. Since we just started doing this seriously at the beginning of the year, I’d say that total is pretty good.
I am anxious to see how much better we can get throughout the rest of the year and into the next.
7.14.2009
I'm ready! Just bring it!
That’s it… I am officially asking for “it”.
What “it” is, I don’t know, but bring it on! I will get through it and I will survive!
Rewind to a couple of weeks ago. Our neighbors car got broken in to. They took his GPS system. That was it. It’s an older car and I guess they figured it didn’t have an alarm. Easy pickens, I’m sure they thought.
We learned that a few days prior to that, the neighbor caught some kids looking in all the car windows in front of our building and even some house windows. I didn’t see them looking in mine, but if I did catch them, I can assure you they would no longer have eyes. :)
Well fast forward to this past Sunday. We had to pick up some thing from the grocery store and of course it was late. I don’t like going anywhere after dark here. It’s too scary for me. I’m a small town girl living in the big city so I am out of my element. It doesn’t bother Chris. He is from NYC so this is like Mayberry to him.
When we got home I carried 2 bags of groceries and Lillian, Chris got Sophie and I have no clue what Caitlin brought in. Anyway, we left the 12 pack of soda on the floor of the van. We were coming right back.
Guess what!?!?
Someone TOOK our soda from our car while we brought our children in the house. OMG. I am just in shock. I mean, come on… soda??? It was 2 bucks for Pete’s sake! 2 bucks!
I just can not get over the fact that someone would stoop so low. I feel ultra violated too. We have 2 car seats in the van. Who would steal a 12 pack of soda from people with babies?? What is this world coming to??
At least they have good taste and like the same kind of soda as me.
Aren’t I lucky?? And we live on the “good” side of town. Sheesh…. Don’t be jealous. :)
PSA: Do NOT move to Jacksonville FL. I repeat, do NOT move here!
Carry on.
What “it” is, I don’t know, but bring it on! I will get through it and I will survive!
Rewind to a couple of weeks ago. Our neighbors car got broken in to. They took his GPS system. That was it. It’s an older car and I guess they figured it didn’t have an alarm. Easy pickens, I’m sure they thought.
We learned that a few days prior to that, the neighbor caught some kids looking in all the car windows in front of our building and even some house windows. I didn’t see them looking in mine, but if I did catch them, I can assure you they would no longer have eyes. :)
Well fast forward to this past Sunday. We had to pick up some thing from the grocery store and of course it was late. I don’t like going anywhere after dark here. It’s too scary for me. I’m a small town girl living in the big city so I am out of my element. It doesn’t bother Chris. He is from NYC so this is like Mayberry to him.
When we got home I carried 2 bags of groceries and Lillian, Chris got Sophie and I have no clue what Caitlin brought in. Anyway, we left the 12 pack of soda on the floor of the van. We were coming right back.
Guess what!?!?
Someone TOOK our soda from our car while we brought our children in the house. OMG. I am just in shock. I mean, come on… soda??? It was 2 bucks for Pete’s sake! 2 bucks!
I just can not get over the fact that someone would stoop so low. I feel ultra violated too. We have 2 car seats in the van. Who would steal a 12 pack of soda from people with babies?? What is this world coming to??
At least they have good taste and like the same kind of soda as me.
Aren’t I lucky?? And we live on the “good” side of town. Sheesh…. Don’t be jealous. :)
PSA: Do NOT move to Jacksonville FL. I repeat, do NOT move here!
Carry on.
7.13.2009
And then it got real quiet
My house is LOUD… I mean really, really LOUD. I can barely hear myself thinking it’s so loud. So when it gets quiet, I have to find out why. Usually 1 of 2 things are taking place. Either cartoons are on, or there is a mess somewhere that the babies have made.
Today, it was the latter of the 2. I knew I shouldn’t have given Caitlin the markers. She uses them for all of 5 minutes and then finds something else to do. Of course, it’s too hard to pick up the markers and put them away. 10 year olds have so many more important things to do during the day then clean up after themselves.
*ahem* sorry… whole ‘nother post someday. :)
It got quiet today. Eerily quiet.
Nope not 3pm. PBS kids would not be on yet. That means only 1 other thing. BIG MESS.
Lilly came in first with her hands behind her back. That of course is never a good sign. I knew they hadn’t gotten into the make-up again. That was on my desk. Paint?? Nope.
Here comes Sophie, screaming of course. Her hands are covered in markers.
See Lilly’s “lipstick”?? She just wanted to be like her mommy.
“Mommy, I look pwetty?” she asked.
“Beautiful” I answered her.
Hey, at least she got it right on her lips. With no mirror I might add. That’s my girl.
Pay no attention to the HUGE bruise on her head. Last week we painted and I put down a sheet over the tile for easy clean-up. Silly Lilly forgot the “No Running” rule and slid on the sheet. She face-planted the tile floor.
Poor baby.
Oh and this is after she ran into the door frame the week before. She was pretending to be a monster or something and had her blanket over her head when she ran smack into the frame. That bruise was just slightly left of the one you see here.
As you can tell, good manners, poise and grace runs DEEP in our family.
I think my kids will get helmets for Christmas this year.
If you don’t read Wendy’s blog then I highly recommend it. That means you Beth! Go read it! Seriously.
Thanks formaking urging me to post Wendy. :)
Today, it was the latter of the 2. I knew I shouldn’t have given Caitlin the markers. She uses them for all of 5 minutes and then finds something else to do. Of course, it’s too hard to pick up the markers and put them away. 10 year olds have so many more important things to do during the day then clean up after themselves.
*ahem* sorry… whole ‘nother post someday. :)
It got quiet today. Eerily quiet.
Nope not 3pm. PBS kids would not be on yet. That means only 1 other thing. BIG MESS.
Lilly came in first with her hands behind her back. That of course is never a good sign. I knew they hadn’t gotten into the make-up again. That was on my desk. Paint?? Nope.
Here comes Sophie, screaming of course. Her hands are covered in markers.
See Lilly’s “lipstick”?? She just wanted to be like her mommy.
“Mommy, I look pwetty?” she asked.
“Beautiful” I answered her.
Hey, at least she got it right on her lips. With no mirror I might add. That’s my girl.
Pay no attention to the HUGE bruise on her head. Last week we painted and I put down a sheet over the tile for easy clean-up. Silly Lilly forgot the “No Running” rule and slid on the sheet. She face-planted the tile floor.
Poor baby.
Oh and this is after she ran into the door frame the week before. She was pretending to be a monster or something and had her blanket over her head when she ran smack into the frame. That bruise was just slightly left of the one you see here.
As you can tell, good manners, poise and grace runs DEEP in our family.
I think my kids will get helmets for Christmas this year.
If you don’t read Wendy’s blog then I highly recommend it. That means you Beth! Go read it! Seriously.Thanks for
Week ending 7/11/09
This week wasn’t the greatest even though we did buy 2 BIG boxes of diapers. That by itself was $40! We went to the wholesale club and did pretty well spending wise, but of course it costs big time up front. The savings will show down the line when I don’t have to re-buy things.
Total for the week
Shelf Price $219.00
Price Paid $149.00
Amount Saved $70.00
That is a savings of 32%
Total for the week
Shelf Price $219.00
Price Paid $149.00
Amount Saved $70.00
That is a savings of 32%
Cutting back... again.
I was looking over the weekly totals recently and thought, “Wow! I spend a LOT!”. I have to tell myself it’s because that is ALL of our spending. Grocery, household products, EVERYTHING. Well, except like gas and clothes.
I just don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about what we spend. We are on a VERY limited budget, which needs to be re-done by the way, and we use coupons as much as possible. We have had to cut our trips to Harris Teeter where we used to get great deals because the cost of gas has gone up so much recently. Our savings are not as good as they were at the beginning of the year, but that’s fine.
We will adjust.
I just don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about what we spend. We are on a VERY limited budget, which needs to be re-done by the way, and we use coupons as much as possible. We have had to cut our trips to Harris Teeter where we used to get great deals because the cost of gas has gone up so much recently. Our savings are not as good as they were at the beginning of the year, but that’s fine.
We will adjust.
7.08.2009
Next year, we are staying HOME
Did you have a good 4th of July holiday??
Oh you did??
WONDERFUL!!!!
Ours stunk big time.
I really don’t know what it is about this town, but we never have a good 4th of July (unless we go over to friends). Is it the people, this town, the craziness of it all? I don’t know. But I imagine, it has to do with all of those things and more.
The day started off GREAT! I had everything planned out, everything was going according to plan. I made the ice cream mixture the night before so it would be chilled, the potatoes were cooling in the fridge for the yummy potato salad I had planned, the burgers, well they just looked marvelous.
I wanted to go ahead and get the ice cream started so it would be done in time for us to still go see the fireworks. They don’t start until 9:45 here so we had plenty of time to get there. (Or at least ride by downtown to see them) I just can’t bring myself to go downtown here. I don’t like it. It’s a major city to me and not the safest. It just plain makes me nervous.
Well, I couldn’t get the darn ice cream maker to work. Remember I bought this one at the Salvation Army for only 5 bucks. It worked in the store, I made sure of it. I could hear the motor coming on, but the little thingy that spins the paddle, wasn’t spinning.
Great.
Let’s try another outlet.
Nope.
Still not working. Oh well, no homemade ice cream for the 4th. No biggie.
We decided at last minute, to go over to a friends house. They live at the beach, but far enough from the main roads that we can shoot off fireworks and not get the cops called on us. Did you know it's illegal to shoot fireworks that go up in the sky in FL?? Well, now you do. :)
We get to the beach and all the girls see are the fireworks from the Jacksonville Beach display. We decided to just ride by there and let the girls see those and then drive on over to our friends house.
Boy did we mess up!! As we headed into the beach, the traffic really started picking up. Next thing we know, we are in a full traffic jam. I’m talking LOTS of cars and people. Why didn’t I think to take some pictures?? It was crazy! They had what they called “Citizens on Patrol” to basically wave red wand thingy around and attempt to direct traffic. The “Citizens” were more like Senior Citizens on Patrol. I felt bad for them, but when you get a few hundred thousand people wanting to leave a small area all at the same time, you might want to just pay a real cop to do the job right. It was a mess. The beach was basically gridlocked. The whole beach. Ugh.
I don’t know my way around the beach well enough to take the back roads, and apparently, neither did anyone else.
We finally found a back road that Chris knew would led us back towards we wanted to go. Awesome. Let’s GO!
We drive down that road a few minutes and then “THUD!” What in the hack was that!?!?
We get out and look.
EGG!
The big ‘ole redneck truck that just passed by us EGGED OUR CAR! I mean, come on. It’s the freakin’ 4th of July for goodness sakes. You don’t egg people’s car on that holiday!
Halloween, yes.
Independence Day, noooooooooooo!
We get back in the car and try to follow them. Of course they are LONG gone by the time we get back in the car. We decided, well, since we are now turned around, let’s just go back the way we came and go back home.
We get back on the road and “THUD!”
O.M.G. They did it AGAIN! Twice. In one night. By the SAME truck!!
By this time, my blood was boiling. What do you do when you are driving, with your kids in the car mind you, and someone just starts throwing eggs at your car?? Do you stop to look up the non-emergency police number or do you call 911?
Well I called 911. I explained what was going on. The dispatcher was less than enthused with my call.
“Ma’am, is this a life or death situation?” he asked.
“Well what do you think?” I asked him back.
“I’m transferring you to the NON-emergency number. Hold” he blurted out.
I get a nice lady, but there is an awful echo. I can hear myself talking like a second later in the phone. Which, by the way, makes it incredibly difficult to talk. My heart is racing as Chris is literally chasing this truck full of kids. Not fast, since it was in a neighborhood and we had the kids, but it was kinda fun. Makes me wish I was a cop…. in a town like Mayberry. Tee hee.
We finally catch up to them… then they went through an intersection. We stop and get ready to go through and the nice people of Jax Beach decide they would rather BLOCK the entire intersection. Thank you people of Jax Beach. You are too, too kind.
They got away. The dumb kids that egged our car, got away with it. And we didn’t even get close enough to get a tag number.
I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t watch up to them. I would have yanked them up by their toenails and given them a lecture along the lines of this: “How would you like it if someone egged YOUR mom’s car?? How would you like it if YOUR kids were in YOUR car and someone egged it?? Not so funny now being hung up by your toenails now is it?? Not such a prankster now huh???”
I then realized that I sound just like the mean old lady that lived in the neighborhood when we were kids and every time the ball went in her yard, she kept it. Just because she could.
You won this time eggers. But next time you might not be so lucky. We are nice people. The next people you hit with an egg may not be so nice about it.
Next year, we are staying home and doing sparklers and snakes.
Oh you did??
WONDERFUL!!!!
Ours stunk big time.
I really don’t know what it is about this town, but we never have a good 4th of July (unless we go over to friends). Is it the people, this town, the craziness of it all? I don’t know. But I imagine, it has to do with all of those things and more.
The day started off GREAT! I had everything planned out, everything was going according to plan. I made the ice cream mixture the night before so it would be chilled, the potatoes were cooling in the fridge for the yummy potato salad I had planned, the burgers, well they just looked marvelous.
I wanted to go ahead and get the ice cream started so it would be done in time for us to still go see the fireworks. They don’t start until 9:45 here so we had plenty of time to get there. (Or at least ride by downtown to see them) I just can’t bring myself to go downtown here. I don’t like it. It’s a major city to me and not the safest. It just plain makes me nervous.
Well, I couldn’t get the darn ice cream maker to work. Remember I bought this one at the Salvation Army for only 5 bucks. It worked in the store, I made sure of it. I could hear the motor coming on, but the little thingy that spins the paddle, wasn’t spinning.
Great.
Let’s try another outlet.
Nope.
Still not working. Oh well, no homemade ice cream for the 4th. No biggie.
We decided at last minute, to go over to a friends house. They live at the beach, but far enough from the main roads that we can shoot off fireworks and not get the cops called on us. Did you know it's illegal to shoot fireworks that go up in the sky in FL?? Well, now you do. :)
We get to the beach and all the girls see are the fireworks from the Jacksonville Beach display. We decided to just ride by there and let the girls see those and then drive on over to our friends house.
Boy did we mess up!! As we headed into the beach, the traffic really started picking up. Next thing we know, we are in a full traffic jam. I’m talking LOTS of cars and people. Why didn’t I think to take some pictures?? It was crazy! They had what they called “Citizens on Patrol” to basically wave red wand thingy around and attempt to direct traffic. The “Citizens” were more like Senior Citizens on Patrol. I felt bad for them, but when you get a few hundred thousand people wanting to leave a small area all at the same time, you might want to just pay a real cop to do the job right. It was a mess. The beach was basically gridlocked. The whole beach. Ugh.
I don’t know my way around the beach well enough to take the back roads, and apparently, neither did anyone else.
We finally found a back road that Chris knew would led us back towards we wanted to go. Awesome. Let’s GO!
We drive down that road a few minutes and then “THUD!” What in the hack was that!?!?
We get out and look.
EGG!
The big ‘ole redneck truck that just passed by us EGGED OUR CAR! I mean, come on. It’s the freakin’ 4th of July for goodness sakes. You don’t egg people’s car on that holiday!
Halloween, yes.
Independence Day, noooooooooooo!
We get back in the car and try to follow them. Of course they are LONG gone by the time we get back in the car. We decided, well, since we are now turned around, let’s just go back the way we came and go back home.
We get back on the road and “THUD!”
O.M.G. They did it AGAIN! Twice. In one night. By the SAME truck!!
By this time, my blood was boiling. What do you do when you are driving, with your kids in the car mind you, and someone just starts throwing eggs at your car?? Do you stop to look up the non-emergency police number or do you call 911?
Well I called 911. I explained what was going on. The dispatcher was less than enthused with my call.
“Ma’am, is this a life or death situation?” he asked.
“Well what do you think?” I asked him back.
“I’m transferring you to the NON-emergency number. Hold” he blurted out.
I get a nice lady, but there is an awful echo. I can hear myself talking like a second later in the phone. Which, by the way, makes it incredibly difficult to talk. My heart is racing as Chris is literally chasing this truck full of kids. Not fast, since it was in a neighborhood and we had the kids, but it was kinda fun. Makes me wish I was a cop…. in a town like Mayberry. Tee hee.
We finally catch up to them… then they went through an intersection. We stop and get ready to go through and the nice people of Jax Beach decide they would rather BLOCK the entire intersection. Thank you people of Jax Beach. You are too, too kind.
They got away. The dumb kids that egged our car, got away with it. And we didn’t even get close enough to get a tag number.
I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t watch up to them. I would have yanked them up by their toenails and given them a lecture along the lines of this: “How would you like it if someone egged YOUR mom’s car?? How would you like it if YOUR kids were in YOUR car and someone egged it?? Not so funny now being hung up by your toenails now is it?? Not such a prankster now huh???”
I then realized that I sound just like the mean old lady that lived in the neighborhood when we were kids and every time the ball went in her yard, she kept it. Just because she could.
You won this time eggers. But next time you might not be so lucky. We are nice people. The next people you hit with an egg may not be so nice about it.
Next year, we are staying home and doing sparklers and snakes.
7.07.2009
Menu Plan Monday... on Tuesday!
Yesterday was a doozie of a day so I am a day late posting the menu. Actually all weekend was a doozie, but that’s a whole ‘nother post!!
Here’s what’s for dinner at our house this week! Want more idea?? Check out Orgjunkie.com.
Monday – Last minute frozen pizza
Tuesday – Crockpot lima beans with ham, rice and green beans
Wednesday – Pork chops, leftover limas and rice, broccoli and biscuits
Thursday – BBQ baked chicken, corn on the cob and field peas
Friday – Pizza night with salad or broccoli
Saturday – Slow cooked beef steak with onions, egg noodles and green beans
Sunday – Grilled fish, potatoes, peas and bread
It’s gonna be an easy week here. Too much other stuff going on to worry about big dinners. Plus it’s HOT outside!
Here’s what’s for dinner at our house this week! Want more idea?? Check out Orgjunkie.com.
Monday – Last minute frozen pizza
Tuesday – Crockpot lima beans with ham, rice and green beans
Wednesday – Pork chops, leftover limas and rice, broccoli and biscuits
Thursday – BBQ baked chicken, corn on the cob and field peas
Friday – Pizza night with salad or broccoli
Saturday – Slow cooked beef steak with onions, egg noodles and green beans
Sunday – Grilled fish, potatoes, peas and bread
It’s gonna be an easy week here. Too much other stuff going on to worry about big dinners. Plus it’s HOT outside!
7.05.2009
Week ending 7/4/09
The savings this week are a little deceptive since we did buy some stuff on markdown at Winn Dixie. Chris picked up 3 boxes of spaghetti noodles for a quarter each, 2 Mexican kit dinners for 50 cents and 99 cents, a can of diced potatoes for 10 cents. He bought about 7 things total for under 5 bucks so the savings doesn’t show up right since they were on markdown already.
All in all it was a really good week. The biggest savings was at Publix. They had great BOGO deals!!
Total for the week
Shelf Price $440.00
Price Paid $225.00
Amount Saved $215.00
That is a savings of 49% – Not too shabby for no double coupons!!
Updated post: I found 2 more receipts in my bottomless pit purse that I forgot about. Oops!
All in all it was a really good week. The biggest savings was at Publix. They had great BOGO deals!!
Total for the week
Shelf Price $440.00
Price Paid $225.00
Amount Saved $215.00
That is a savings of 49% – Not too shabby for no double coupons!!
Updated post: I found 2 more receipts in my bottomless pit purse that I forgot about. Oops!
7.03.2009
Happy 4th of July! (early)
Nothing has really been going on except I am EXTREMELY sleepy and tired around this time (5pm) every single day now. Maybe it’s just the weather. We usually have thunderstorms around this time everyday and I love to sleep during a good t-storm. Who knows… at least I’m gonna blame it on that.
Tomorrow we are going to grill hamburgers and hot dogs with homemade buns, along with potato salad and grilled corn. BTW, Target has ears of corn on sale this week 10 for $1.00 15 for $1.05 at our store!! Can’t beat that!
Since not much has been going on, here are some pictures of the girls from last week and today.
Here’s Sophie looking adorable. I tell ya if this kid gets any cuter, sheesh… she’s gonna be a little heart-breaker when she gets older.
Here’s one of Lilly. I didn’t realize I got Caitlin in the picture as well, but I love this picture of her. She is always thinking about something.
I had been planning on making the girls some dresses but then procrastinated so much I never did make them. Well, last Wednesday I finally made them!! They turned out so cute.
Bad lighting + bad camera = bad pictures. Sorry.
Guess what came today!! My years supply of Kraft Mac and Cheese!! My girls were so excited!
Sophie was VERY excited! She loves anything pasta and cheese.
Tomorrow we are going to grill hamburgers and hot dogs with homemade buns, along with potato salad and grilled corn. BTW, Target has ears of corn on sale this week 10 for $1.00 15 for $1.05 at our store!! Can’t beat that!
Since not much has been going on, here are some pictures of the girls from last week and today.
Here’s Sophie looking adorable. I tell ya if this kid gets any cuter, sheesh… she’s gonna be a little heart-breaker when she gets older.
Here’s one of Lilly. I didn’t realize I got Caitlin in the picture as well, but I love this picture of her. She is always thinking about something.
I had been planning on making the girls some dresses but then procrastinated so much I never did make them. Well, last Wednesday I finally made them!! They turned out so cute.
Bad lighting + bad camera = bad pictures. Sorry.
Guess what came today!! My years supply of Kraft Mac and Cheese!! My girls were so excited!
Sophie was VERY excited! She loves anything pasta and cheese.
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