The answers

This first picture is me!1.
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The second picture is Baby bubbles 2.
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The third picture is Lovely K 3.
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The fourth picture is Man man 4.
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.The fifth picture is Baby bubbles 5 .
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The 6th picture is Me,again 6.
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The seventh picture is Ky Ky 7.
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Number 8 is Lovely K 8.
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Picture number 9:Its me again,margaret 9.
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Picture number 10 is Man Man 10.
and yes,picture number 11 is Jamie!!!

Welcome

to this edition of …………..

Guess the baby!
I threw a few easy ones in there for you… (edited to add 2 pix)

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So who do you think is who?

Forks,Washington?

For those of you who dont get my reference,yes,it is a reference to Twilight.Forks,Washington is the town that is absolutely the rainiest in the continental US.But here lately,it seems like MY town is,not Forks.

So here is how we are handling it.This, my dears,is a pump.When you live in an area that floods,as my area does,you have to be ingenuitive or rich.We like to claim one but from our understanding are not the other.So we took our swimming pool pump and rigged it so that we can divert water from where it should NOT be,to where it should be.
The red arrow points to the end of our carport…where we are diverting the water to.

Oh and what would any of my posts be without a picture of my beautiful baby bubbles?Coming soon:Picture of Lovely K!!!

The gravity

of my kids ages has struck me today,specifically.I dont know why.Maybe because this month,two of my children have or will turn another year older.Ky just turned 8 and man man will be 9 in a few days.Thats puts the tally at Lovely K being 12,man man being 9 and Ky being 8…well,and bubbles being less than a year.

Where did the time go?

I know it has hit Rosjuane,how about anyone else?

I know nothing about teenagers other than I was HORRIBLE as one.I dont know the clothes(a little help here,for Lovely K’s sake),I dont know the music and I certainly dont know what I will do when I have to handle a truly difficult situation.

PANIC TIME!

She still tickles me though.You see in the picture above she is holding a box of cheese nips well,and wearing a flounder hat a la Disney on Ice,but anyhow,back to the nips.After supper yesterday she grabbed this box of nips,when I told her to put them down…she immediately said No!“[Lovely] K,put those crackers down!” To which I got the response..No!(and a tongue stuck out at me).I am not supposed to laugh.Im not.but I did.ooops.

On a budget,with 4 children.

I spend less per week than any other family that I know, on groceries.I always have,in fact,when I was first married and it was just the three of us,I spent $40 a MONTH on groceries[but times and prices have changed]Sure,if I am feeling frivolous,I can spend $100 a week.But on average,we spend about $40 a week in groceries.

This is what $40 of groceries,for us,looks like.But this will last us longer than a week…

You will notice,no name brands.I am not opposed to name brands and on occasion, I buy name brands,in fact in some foods,I refuse to eat the generic brand because of flavor differences BUT for the most part,I do not buy name brand.
I buy on sale.I take survey of prices and shop accordingly.Some things will be cheaper than others at different grocery stores and I make it a priority to stay on top of those prices.I also use what I have on hand,I dont re-buy something that I already have.I take stock of what I do have before I even enter the grocery store.This week,I had a nice big bag of apples and two heads of lettuce.So my kids will eat apples this week.If bananas,oranges,plums etc; are on sale,they eat those.And I will plan meals around using those two heads of lettuce.I also have a deer shoulder,two slabs of pork ribs,2 pork shoulders and a loin and a huge jar of peanut butter,many jellies and jams,oatmeal(I could go on)-on hand.

Last week I did an experiment.I wanted to see if we could make a good,large dinner for 5-6 people on 3 dollars a day…and the addition of what we had on hand.We passed with flying colors.And had leftovers.Some days I could have spent less-

Most people buy groceries when they dont even need them.

If you look at the above picture you will see that I bought a bag of potatoes for $1 and a bag of celery for $1.You will also see a really tall stack of bologna.3/$1, so I stocked up.I will freeze what we wont use  now,for later.

Our dinner/supper menu:

Breakfast night:Pancakes,eggs and bacon(or fried bologna,I personally hate it,but some of my fam loves it.)
Deer “stew” with noodles and creamed corn
Taco Salad
Pot roast including carrots,peas and potatoes
Chicken and dressing with green beans on the side
Baked shoulder with great northern beans and cornbread

If you are looking at this menu and asking yourself,where is day 7? Well,usually on day 7 we treat ourselves to dinner out or we take groceries to his mothers house and have a dinner with his mom and fam.

Now,there are other areas of saving which I am not well versed.Gardening and dehydrating,freezing or canning.I know how to do very little of any of those things.I have a ton of canned tomato relishes etc from a year that I joined in a “canning party”.I have a dehydrator and plan to learn to do all of these other things soon,maybe I can cut my grocery budget back even more,since I will no longer be paying for a personal chef.But anyhow-
I do grow my own tomatoes and green onions.
In pots.
In my front yard.

The hardest part is the wait.This is a cherry tomato plant.I bought it for a dollar and it came in a peat pot.I filled a flower pot I had on hand with soil,dug a hole and sat the plant in.When it gets larger I will have to stake it and tie the plant to it in three spots to support the weight.Thats it.Its easy,its cheap and anyone can do it.It will provide my family with cherry tomatoes to last the summer season.
You dont have to buy flower pots.Anything will do…as you can see my sons cabbage  is being grown in a sand bucket.I will eventually have to move it,it is a giant cabbage plant.
I have 9 regular tomato plants too.and green onions.They are not hard to grow.In past years,I have tilled an actual garden in my backyard but with flower pots you have the advantage of NOT HAVING WEEDS.You dont have to amend soil that is in the pot,no snakes or slugs or any other creepy crawlies.No tilling,pulling,hoe-ing.And..
I have grown other things before but with much less success due to my lack of dedication.This,what I do,takes no work whatsoever.And for the cost of 1 tomato,you can get a seasons worth.

So what I am saying is this.Most people are looking for cheaper recipes and while that does help,that is not the root of eating frugally.Changing the way you shop and preserve your food is what makes all of the difference.

Updates,get your updates here

Well,lets see,where do I start?
Lovely K’s meeting today to discuss her educational future was re-scheduled,stay tuned,MondayWednesday is D-day.

We had the Area Special Olympics yesterday.It was a hoot but Craaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzy!I will just share a few pics here…Some of my favorites of the day(and I didnt take even one of them)

Thanks to Shelley Smith Photography,Ashlee and Mandy for taking all of the wonderful pics!Lovely K got 5th in the tennis ball toss and Area 3rd in the 50 meter run.I am so proud of her!

and another thought while I am at it

Ranting,I mean.

I saw a toilet paper commercial this morning advertising it being “green” or eco-friendly.

and then there is that nice little soft drink tax that I completely and utterly disagree with.Supposedly set forth because of this country’s obesity problem.

Well where’s the beef?

I got it right here.

If these companies actually cared about the planet,they wouldnt have another type of toilet paper that was eco friendly-ALL of their toilet paper would be eco-friendly.When did “saving the earth” become a group of people to market seperate products to? So here is my point,listen up companies…

If you actually care about the environment,make your entire product line environment friendly and dont raise the price of said products.THAT would help the environment.

And the obesity tax on soda.Dont even get me started on the resemblence to the “Tea Party”.That completely aside.Has anyone checked the price of healthy food lately?Here is an idea…lower the price of healthy food.Lower it to a minimum of nickel below the prices of processed food.Right now,there is no competition because anyone can afford a box of 59 cent processed mac and cheese but a loaf of whole grain wheat bread can set you back 2 bucks.The majority of the country is overweight not because they drink soda,or eat primarily at any number of fast food dives.The country is overweight because there are an overwhelming amount of people at the 200% below national poverty level or lower and when they buy their food-$100 of groceries that can last a month in processed food sounds alot better than $100 in healthy food that might last a week.People these days have to stretch their dimes.Processed food,just because of the low cost,is the way to do that in the eyes of the general population.
I am,by no means,saying that people that are from a lower socio-economical status only eat junk,but eating healthy every day and a slim budget dont necessarily get along.
An at-home salad alone can cost you $10 these days.But I can go make you Chicken,Mac and Cheese and butter beans for about $5,right now,enough to feed a crowd.(Believe me,I know,I feed a crowd nightly.)

I also cant ignore the fact that,most of us are raised this way.This is the way we LIKE to eat.Its what we are used to eating and people follow familiarity.But changing that familiarity is the key and I personally believe,that it starts at the dollar.Lower the prices people,dont raise them.

(If you thought this was political of me,I guarantee you that you would be surprised where I stand politically….on a number of issues.I cant be boxed in…LOL)

Raising the price of soda,that wont stop people.Even if it did,where would it end? Would every single unhealthy food be taxed?

I am going to be as transparent as possible….now.

This is one of those days that when its over,you dont miss it.Today I forgot about Lovely Ks IEP.Stupid me,I assumed the typical was going to take place..Wrong Wrong Wrong.

They were supposed to continue on without me but then I got a call from our local,well, we will just call her a special ed advisor.I dont personally know this “advisor”.I have never met her.But in times past,the advisors and I havent gotten along so well.Mainly because of this phrase right here…”self contained”.For those of you who do not have a special needs child,this is basically the equivalence of putting your child who has special needs into a classroom with only other special needs children of varying levels.This concept gets mixed reviews from the special needs community.Some parents are fine with it,some love the idea and then,then there are the rest of us.Most special ed advisors are on the pro side of the fence.Including this one
We despise this concept.
Yes,I said DESPISE.Because if there is anything on this earth that I could even come close to hating….it would be the self contained classroom.

**edited to add** I am going to try my best not to villainize those who are suggesting this for her,I am going to just keep telling myself that.

and I am angry.I could spit nails.This was not,is not,has never been,part of the plan for Lovely K.I just want to scream.

But wait,is it that dirty word alone that sends chills down my spine?
At any point in time,does a mainstream classroom become the most restrictive environment and a self contained classroom becomes a least restrictive environment?To birdwalk here a bit,what am I having trouble with?The concept?The idea that has been demonized?Yes,I did just use demon and classroom in the same sentence.Is it really all that bad to herd anyone who is different into a seperate classroom away from the general population?Or maybe I need to gather perspective.Is this what is best for her?Would she learn better amongst a group of “like minded peers”?Is this what we have come to? Or would she be better off to continue to learn in the real world,because that is the analogy that schooling is for her?The mainstream classroom is the real world….and self contained would be her bedroom.

I have no idea what to do.Because my first instinct is to say NO.
My hubbys first instinct is to say no,as well as most of the rest of my family.

I wont pretend that I have always been confident in my decisions for Lovely K.And I also wont pretend that there arent times when I have no idea what to do.
And I wont pretend that this is not one of those times.

I wonder sometimes how the general community sees Lovely K.I wonder how they see the decisions I have made for her.I wonder that right now….

The case of the missing diaper.

Have you ever seen one of these?

We,moms(and dads) like to call them “blanket sleepers”.Well,have you ever seen one that looked like a bag at the bottom.The babies legs could just be free in the bottom to move around inside the “bag” as they wish.

Well,these are our favorite types of sleepers on a cold night for bedtime.
But they have their drawbacks.Like..
you dont know when your baby is wet,until you take them off of your baby.
As was the case on one specific morning at our house-
I woke up and as is customary,went to change baby.So I unzippered her blanket sleeper.She instantly started flailing her legs through the opening of the zipper…but something was missing…

Something very important…

Lets call her the streak(a la ray stevens).

Yep,her diaper was missing.Apparently velcro and these blanket sleepers dont get along so well and during her tossing and turning of the night,her velcro on her diaper got caught on the inside of her sleeper and yanked that little diaper off because my baby was nakey.

So where was the diaper?

Balled up in the bottom of the “blanket sleeper”.

Easter 2009

We had an absolutely wonderful Easter,even though we did get up at the crack of dawn to hunt easter eggs.You see,it rained,heavily,all day Easter in my little area of the world.I had originally planned on going on with umbrellas in tow to hunt,but the lightening and thunder prevented that.It was beautiful weather that morning though.This was a particularly fun year because now our kids are old enough that we can hide the eggs in difficult places where they have to actually SEARCH.That,they did.It was not the only Easter egg hunt of the day…

We hosted Easter,as we do most years at 2 Sunday afternoon.40 lbs of chicken,cherry-brownie trifle and Mandys homemade baked beans.Yumma!We had a good crowd.We played Guitar Hero,talked,laughed,played with babies and did an indoor Easter egg hunt.137 eggs were hidden and found.Thankfully.We certainly didnt need any rotten eggs to be found weeks later- and the indoor hunt was more challenging than the outdoors one(more places to hide).

I also took the opportunity to try to take another family photo,we did much better this time.I hope you all had as great of an Easter as we did!