Thursday, February 26, 2009

Fashonista Revisited

You may remember my post about Kate's fashion sense.

Here's what she wore yesterday.

Not too bad really. I mean all the same colors are there. Just a little overwhelming to look at that's all.

Still, I wouldn't change it for the world & I hope she keeps her own sense of style when she grows up.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Fat Tuesday

(picture from TheAng)
I am not catholic but I do enjoy fat Tuesday. I mean who doesn't right! An excuse to eat whatever because you are going to "give it up" for the next forty days. Anyway, yesterday I ran into these little Fat Tuesday treats at the grocery store. Staring at me from their obscure red & white box. Paczki, pronounced Punch-key. A polish tradition for Fat Tuesday to use up ingredients that are not to be eaten during Lent. I have heard of them before but had never had one. They looked yummy, I was hungry so I caved.

Um, let me warn you. If you are highly susceptible to cravings and addictions read no further!

They come in 9 different fillings. Most of which sounded good (except for the prune, yuck!) I chose bavarian creme because I knew everyone else would like that filling too. I thought they might be good. But I was wrong. They were freakin' awesome! I am not a huge doughnut person but I would eat these EVERY day if I could. Of course it is a good thing that they are only available for Fat Tuesday or I would be in SERIOUS trouble. If you have never had one I strongly suggest that you run out TODAY & see if you can still get some. However, I did warn you, they are highly addictive. I am convinced that they are laced with crack or something to keep you coming back for more.

A little note. When I was telling Duane about them last night (he's out of town) he said he made the die for the box. See now I feel so much better about buying them because in a round about way I am supporting myself, or at least my husbands job!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Not the Best Day

Despite my exciting finds on Saturday, Sunday & Monday have not been the best days. Duane left yesterday morning for a business trip. Something he has never done in the 7 1/2 years he has been with his company. He will be gone until Friday. I readied my self for it though & was only slightly concerned with how the week was going to go. But you know. Someone always has to throw a bone into our otherwise boring week.

After a great day of church and playing Seth suddenly had a fever. It was about 20 min from the time he complained about not feeling well to the time I took his temp. It was 103.3. Knowing that sudden high fevers for him have a tendency to set off a seizure I quickly gave him tylenol & put him to bed. About an hour later the kids told me he was awake so I went up to talk to him. He was completely out of it. He was talking but not making any sense. His eyes were rapidly moving back and forth. I kept asking him questions trying to get him back into reality. He either didn't answer, answered with non words, words that didn't belong together or an answer that had nothing to do with what I asked him. I asked him if he knew where he was & he couldn't tell me. After about 9 minutes of this I decided to go ahead & call his Dr. They instructed us to go to the ER. Woohoo! Just where I want to spend my Sunday eve! After several hours there they said he did have a seizre, he tested positive for the flu, told us to see his neurologist in the morning & sent us home.

Today he is home, still sick with a fever & so am I. At this point I am just trying to make it through the day without falling over asleep. I have to miss class tonight & am praying that I feel better so I don't have to miss class tomorrow too.

Finds

Elijah & Seth both had birthday parties to go to on Saturday. At opposite ends of town. Duane & I were discussing who was going to take who. Elijah's was down the street from my thrift store, so you can guess which child I was quick to claim!

I had two glorious hours to peruse the stuffed shelves WITHOUT KIDS! Needless to say my cart was overflowing with fantastic finds. I did weed through them a bit before I checked out. I bought a set of vintage daisy glasses, a set of vintage mugs, vintage plates, a larger serving platter for my best friend (it matched her dish pattern), a couple of yards of red & white striped knit fabric to make something for Kate, a super soft blanket for Elijah, a felt table cloth to make a costume for a oral book report, two pairs of Gap jeans for $2.99 each!, a bracelet for me, four brand new books, a wool cropped cardigan for Kate. It is a little big for her but after I felt it it will fit perfectly! Jackpot!

This was the 2nd time I had gone back since my last post. Last time I found lots of great melamine sets & a set of 6 juice glasses for myself. I absolutely LOVE them! They are nice & sturdy. Thick heavy glass so you know they will last. The have this great rib which makes them that much more special! They were $.49 each! I wish they had a mark on them so I could possibly find some more but oh well. I recently found a couple of new (to me) thrift stores in the area. I haven't had a chance to check them out yet but I'll keep you posted!

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!


Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Love these skirts but they are a PAIN to make! I made two last fall for a dear friend in exchange for her taking pics of my kids. They turned out so cute! Kate loved them but they were so time consuming that I had no desire to make another one. Oh, Kate would be so excited to have this one!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Logic from a 7 yr old


Logan is allergic to nuts.

An elephants favorite snack is peanuts.

Therefore Logan is allergic to Elephants!

Makes perfect sense to me!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Little Fashonista


Like many little girls Kate likes to create her own looks. Here are a couple of her latest.
She didn't want me to take her picture so she kept running away from me, hence the action shots. But what a fun game it turned out to be & the pictures are so candid!


Yes, she is wearing two skirts. She did have some difficulty with this one though because the bottom skirt would not stay up. But being the true fashonista that she is she didn't let that stop her & just made adjustments to the skirt as necessary.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Follow up

I can't say much about what really happened yesterday. It turned out it was a student. He called the school with a bomb threat. He also brought a starter pistol to school.

He is 14.

He is crying out for help.

I'm not for certain but I am pretty sure he spent the night in jail. I can't imagine what he must be going through and what would make him do such a thing. The boys and I prayed for him last night. It was the first time in a long time where I really felt my heart pouring out to God.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Unthinkable

I wasn't home today. I babysat for a friend this morning & then we had lunch together while the kids continued playing. I barely heard my cell ringing & caught it after the caller had hung up. There were 3 missed calls. Which for me is strange. I don't live through my cell phone & most people don't call it. My dad, who is assistant superintendent of the school my boys attend, was one of the calls I had missed. Which had it been a normal day I would have thought it was strange that he called me on my cell because he is an extremely busy person & doesn't call during the day for no reason. But I had called him earlier in the day about a paper I needed him to fax to the other school location so I was half expecting a call back. When he didn't answer again, I left another message thinking he was just returning my first call. My sister was the last call I missed so I called her back next. It was then things took an unexpected turn. The conversation went something like this.

Amber: "Do you know what is going on at school?"

Me: "No?"

Amber: "There was a bomb threat at the school. All the kids have been evacuated, are ok & are at the church next door. I can pick them up but I need to be on their EMA list."

Me: choking out a "Yes, you are."

Amber sounded surprisingly calm as I was somewhat upset. I thank her for that. I am usually quite calm in emergency situations but for some reason I was rather shaken up this time. I am still shaky just thinking about it.

There was no bomb. As of right now we don't know for sure what happened. I briefly spoke to my dad but only long enough for him to make sure Amber was on my EMA list. He sounded angry. My dad doesn't get angry very often. It has been speculated that it was a student that said something. I was subbing one day last spring when a group of middle school girls pulled the fire alarm. I was in the teachers lounge when my dad & a police officer were talking to them. I hadn't seen him that upset since I was a teenager. I can only imagine what is going on now.

The kids are fine. My sister talked to them on the way back to her house & then I talked to them again on the way home. They had a few questions & Seth was mad because he had to leave his backpack there with a favorite toy in it. But they are otherwise unconcerned as Elijah put it.

There is nothing in the world that can prepare you for hearing those words. I cannot imagine had there really been a bomb. Just a threat of one shakes you to your core when it touches someone you love. This would have been five someone's that I love. I am trying not to be angry. After all no one was hurt. But the sheer stupidity of it all is hard for me to wrap my brain around. I keep telling myself that I need to pray for the person who said something. I have no idea what is going on in their life. Perhaps this was their way of calling for help.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

CPSIA & Gap... Works for Me!

Apparently Gap didn't get the FANTASTIC news that the CPSIA testing has been postponed until Feb 2010. Because my sister, who works at the Gap, came over yesterday with a bag full of clothes for Kate. Ten shirts and one pair of yoga pants all for a grand total of $.11! How you ask? Well, they all had little sequins or rhinestones on them that didn't pass the CPSIA standards so they all had to be pulled from the sales floor. But! The employees could buy them for $.01 each! Man I wish I still worked there!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Frugality

I know that we are not alone, but things have been very tight for us lately. Duane had 3 days off last week because there wasn't any work for him. Partly because things are slow, partly because of all the snow and ice we got last week. I don't know about you but when you only have one income missing three days out of five really hurts. Luckily he can take vacation days to cover them, at least for now.

In an attempt to make what we do have coming in stretch a little farther I have been reading up on living frugally. I found this fantastic blog Apron Thrift Girl, which I cannot stop reading. Of course it doesn't help that her "job" is buying & reselling thrift store & craigslist vintage finds. Now that is my kind of job!

As far as our bills go we don't have much to cut down on. We don't have cable or car payments. And we have good yet minimum cell service. I am not an avid coupon user(shame on me), mostly because I don't get the paper because it is a monthly expense we cannot afford. Duane has started driving my car to work as many days as possible for a couple of reasons. One, it get's better gas milage than the truck and two, because it means I can't be tempted to go to Target, the bane of my budget, because I refuse to drive the truck simply because the driver side door is half broken & doesn't shut properly. I have to climb over the passenger side to get into the seat. And when you have a manual & not an atomatic it's not that easy to do without getting the gear shift shoved near places it doesn't belong.

I sell what I can on febay & craigslist. Stuff I don't need, stuff the kids don't need, stuff I find at the thrift store ... That becomes my spending money, right now I am saving for our trip to Gatlanburg this month!

My parents live closeby so my mom & I try & combine trips to the grocery store whenever possible. I also buy all my bread at the bakery thrift store. I can get the wheat bread I buy at meijer for $2.79 a loaf for $.59 a loaf on Wednesdays. We don't eat out very often. One of your favorite "fast food" places is Chipotle. But for Duane & I alone it is over $13.00. Last night I attempted to make our own Chicken Burrito Bowls. While it wasn't exactly the same it was still pretty good & it fed our entire family plus leftovers for less than what it costs Duane & I to eat the real thing.

I am going to be meeting up with this couponing guru soon. So that she can show me the way & hopefully I can become half the couponing queen that she is. But despite my efforts I still feel like there is more I can be doing. Any suggestions?