Happening Holidays

My friends I am sorry for my absence again.

We have been so busy I have hardly had time to breathe.

We finally got all the toys from Karen's Kids delivered to the needy kids in the area.

I had the privilege of driving one of the Santa's around to deliver the toys. The look on those kids' faces when they saw Santa and the bag full of toys. I tell you those looks were a blessing to me. My heart was warmed and opened. I just can't describe the feelings I felt.

We have attended several school activities as well. One was a band concert and the others were Christmas plays. They all were really cute. I enjoyed watching each one of them.

My children were also in the Christmas Play at our church. Hope was an angel, Faith was the arch angel Gabriel, Eddie was a wise man, and Sj played Jesus' earthly father Joseph. I didn't get to watch the play because I was directing traffic backstage BUT the kids did a really great job and I am really proud of them.

I got to attend a birthday party for one of my best friends children. She turned one this past Wednesday. It is hard to believe she is a year old already. Where in the world does time go? Can someone tell me?

Lets see...we also had a cookie party to go to. We went to my mom's and made cookies and decorated them. We also made homemade decorations. 

All of this on top of practices, Church, Bible Study, Christmas Shopping. We are wiped out here in Misadventure land.

I am happy to say I have all of my Christmas shopping done. All the gifts are wrapped and under our tree. Oh I guess I had better explain a bit...In our house, Santa brings the stocking stuffers. You know, to help him get in and out quicker. Anyway, I had the majority of my shopping done by the 5th of December. I did order a few extra things online that came in this past week. I think if I totaled up all that I spent it would be around $1000. I know that is alot but this is going to be the last really big Christmas the kids will have. We will be spending a lot of time volunteering next year. I think they may get 3 gifts each next year. But we will see. I know we all want to spoil our kids during this time of year. I just want my kids to remember the reason for Christmas..not just getting stuff. I want them to volunteer and give. Learn that gift of giving and ministering to others.

BUT I am super excited for them to open their gifts. They all got some things they had been wanting for a while. I tell you, the older they get the more expensive gifts get!! But they will have a good amount of gifts this year and next year we will tone it down.

Well, I think that is all for now. I have a lot to do today.

I will update you all on a lot of stuff as soon as Christmas is over. Right now things are just too busy and hectic. 

I love each of you who read this blog.

Be Blessed,

Erin

A New Misadventure

Hello again my friends.

I'm doing pretty good this week with my blogging. I have missed writing to all of you.

I am thinking about starting a new misadventure. The idea came to me way back in summer when my neighbor had a catastrophe. You see, she had ordered and payed for a Team Umizoomi cake for her son's birthday. He's just a little guy of 3 or 4 years old. Well, she picked up the cake and paid for it but by the time she got it home, the cake had fallen apart in the box it was in. She didn't drop it, she didn't drive crazy, she didn't do anything but be careful with it.

Well, they have heard my kids and myself talk about baking and how I love to make cakes and cupcakes so her daughter rushed over to my house and asked me to come and take a look at this cake. Man that poor cake and the poor little boy and the furious mom!!!! The cake layers had slid off each other because the baker made them in small layers and then used tiny dowels to try to hold the layers in the individual cakes together. Her fondant work was pretty good but it wasn't on the layers it was just the characters.The cake was just iced in buttercream. It was slippery. It fell. The cake was a mess. 

I wish I had a picture to show you all the mess.

Well I told my neighbor that I thought I could fix it and piece it back together. I ran over here to my home and made some icing. I took all my icing tints back over to her house with my piping bags and such and started working. I tinted the icing to match and began piecing all the cake pieces back together. Guess what....I was able to take this poor crumbled cake and make it look like new again.

So can you guess what my misadventure is? 

I am thinking of starting out in a home based business making cakes and cupcakes for events. Then if it takes off, I may just look into getting into one of the empty storefronts here in my town. (We have one that was a doughnut/coffee shop that closed because the owner was elderly and sick and the kids didn't want to keep up with it..it hasn't been touched so maybe it still has the ovens and stuff in it) My bakery will carry gourmet cupcakes in flavors like chocolate death, orange cream, cookies and cream, red velvet, regular cupcakes like vanilla and chocolate. I would love to have some brownies and cookies in there as well and then people could order birthday cakes and maybe even wedding cakes.

Now, I live in a small town..It may be 5-10 square miles at the most. However, we have one place here in town to buy cakes and it is a local supermarket. We don't have anyone who makes personalized cakes. The closest to us is about 20 miles away.

With all that being said, I have ordered a few things to help me get started. I went to the Wilton web site and ordered a master set of piping tips, a cake turntable, and a piping practice board. I have been using them all and believe it or not, I'm pretty good. I actually surprised myself. 

Now another cool thing is, you can buy wilton products at walmart and I have 4 within 30 minutes of me. I can also get cake stuff from Hobby Lobby and the outlet mall which is only 40 or so minutes away.

I'm really thinking of giving it a go. I think I will get started by bringing my designer cupcakes to carry-ins at our church, to family reunions, and test them on my family and the ladies at our women's Bible study. 

So what do you think?

Should I give it a go?

Let me know in a comment.

Until we meet again remember I'm sending my love and big hugs to you.

Be blessed,

Erin

Cleaning again?

You know what. ... No matter how hard I try, I just can't do it all. So I've split it all up. In a previous post I mentioned my new system for keeping my house clean.  I had things i would do daily and little extras added in. It really was a great plan but i couldn't keep it up.  I got busy and the house suffered.

Keeping a clean house has been a struggle for me. A lot of people tell me "well you have 4 kids". To me that is no excuse.  If i had younger kids then i may be more comfortable with that excuse but since my youngest is 8 and my oldest is 14 and they are all old enough to help out, that excuse doesn't fly.

I really have tried everything to keep a clean house.  I've tried chore charts, rewards, money, doing it myself. .. You name it I've tried it. Nothing ever works. 

So I'm back to giving everyone a room. I've relinquished control of the laundry and laundry room. My hubby now washes and dries the clothes. I fold them and put them away. That in itself has helped a lot.  I clean the kitchen full time: dishes and countertops. My kids rotate between the living room, dining room, bathroom, and kitchen floor/trash. Each one of them get a different room every week.  If they do it everyday they get paid for their work. 

We've had this plan for nearly a month now and so far it's working just fine. The kids are even keeping their bedrooms reasonably clean. Which is a plus. 

The pic in this post is of our chore list. I'm writing on my phone so I'm not sure where it will be in the post. 

I hope all of you are having a great day!

Be blessed, 

Erin

Can one be too busy?

It has been a long time since I have wrote about anything here. I have been so busy I have barely had time to breathe. I do have pictures of my agenda book and the various goings on here but I have not uploaded them yet. You see it is kind of hard for me to blog right now because I still don't have a laptop. Mine crashed. All of my pictures are on it. It is in a corner in my room collecting dust until I find someone I trust to get my files from it. So that has been holding me back from blogging a lot.

With that being said, I don't really have an excuse because I can blog from my phone. The down side of it is that I can only post one picture at a time. I have yet to figure out how to post multiple pictures from my phone. Also, typing on my phone is a nightmare. Auto correct has a mind of it's own lol. 

BUT

I promise I will get back into my blog. I miss my blog and reading your comments so much. Until then, here is a little update.

First, I have been super busy with Karen's Kids stuff. We have one more big night and we will be finished with for the most part. We have the wrapping and delivery night coming up which is super exciting. A lot of members of our church come for a carry in and then we get to wrapping all those gifts. Once they are wrapped we have Santas who will deliver the gifts that night. Then we will be finished until after Christmas. We will hit all the local stores snatching up all the discounted toys and gifts. We pretty much clean them all out. 

Secondly, (when I finally post a picture of my agenda book you will understand) we have had tons of little things to attend in November. I think I had only a week out of the whole month that I didn't have anything to do. Most weeks there is something every day. December isn't looking any better. I know I am free until the 7th but after that I am busy up until December 20th. Loads of school programs and Christmas play practices for the church play. We will also be going caroling with the church. I know it sounds hectic and crazy but I love being busy.

Then after Christmas is over, we will prepare for our major Karen's kids Fund raiser. Valentine's Dinner!

It shouldn't be as time consuming as Karen's kids was but hey I stay busy.

Now to more personal stuff....

I have been enjoying my Christmas decorations and tree since November 5th. I know I put it all up way early but I absolutely love the holidays and I want to enjoy them as much as I can. My crazy cat has been living in my tree though. I have given up on keeping it full and fluffy but I get to redecorate it almost daily which is kind of fun.

I also hosted Thanksgiving dinner here at my home this year. My mom and stepdad and both of my brothers and their significant others were here. We even had a 2 year old and a 4 year old. I love love love hosting dinners. I would really love to do a family dinner every Sunday after church. You know like a casserole or a crock pot meal. Something that can be cooking low and slow while I'm at church BUT my extended family just isn't into it. (thats a whole other post)

We also went Black Friday Shopping this year. This was our first year ever braving those crowds and you know what I really enjoyed myself. It was like an adventure...a scavenger hunt. We went to Walmart the night of Thanksgiving. We don't approve of people working on Thanksgiving BUT we decided to take a ride that night and wanted to go see just how many people were there. OMGoodness it was crazy. The whole parking lot by walmart and that shopping center was filled. The crowd was crazy. We walked through...ok we stood in lines that weren't moving through the store. It took us an hour to get from one side of the store to the other. When we finally got out of there, we rode up to the Tanger Outlets in Jeffersonville. Their moonlight sale started at 10pm. It was fun. The kids got a few things. The only thing I have to say is the lines in some of the stores were so long. We waited in a checkout line for 30 minutes in Gap lol. But we all had fun and that is really all that matters.

I have also been making sure I exercise. I purchased a treadmill from one of the local yardsale sites on facebook. I love it. I have been alternating between yoga and walk/jog intervals. I don't see much of a difference in my weight or measurements but I was feeling better. Unfortunately, this past Monday I aggravated a bulging disc in my lower back and was unable to do much. I did walk a bit. Luckily by Thanksgiving morning I was able to move much better and was able to host the dinner.

I think that brings you all up to date. I have been doing some crocheting when I can find the time. I started a diagonal afghan for one of the ladies that attends our women's Bible study. She has come out of remission and is battling Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma again. She was in remission for 5 years. So I am making a blanket for her in nice calming colors. I hope I can get going on it and can have it finished by Christmas but it isn't looking hopeful :P. 

Ok I will quit rambling for now. I will try to post more often even if it is just a few lines from my phone!

I love all of you who read this and I hope you all have a great day.

Here is a big hug from me to you.

Be Blessed,

Erin

Organized Cleaning, Current WIPs

Hello again friends.

Today is a nasty, nasty, nasty day here in Ordinary Land.

It is cold, wet, grey, yucky!

It has been raining, sleeting, and spitting snow all day long.

 Looking out of my kitchen window.

YUCK!

I was so far behind in my cleaning this morning. You see I was down with a cold for the past few days.

You know what kind of cold? The kind that keeps your nose stuffy but running (how is that even possible?), your nose burns like something is on fire which makes you sneeze a billion and three times. The sneezing causes pressure in your head, your throat, ribs, and nose hurt. Yeah it was that kind of cold.

However, I am happy to report that I am pretty much caught up with everything. Honestly, I did try to maintain my house a little while I was down. I did manage to get all my laundry done (well until everyone took showers). I also made sure the kiddos kept their messes cleaned up. So today wasn't so bad with catching up.

Wanna know how I keep up with everything? Appointments, chores, to-do's, events, just everything?

 Here is my secret. A good old fashioned agenda book. I have everything I'd like to get done on that particular day wrote down. The post-it notes have my daily, monthly, and bi-yearly chores written on them. You know those mundane things...Well here let me show you in a simpler form.

 There! Now it is all laid out. The yellow post it note has all those daily chores that I like to do on it..just so I don't forget something. Then, in my agenda I have my weekly chores written on the days I want to do them. The rest of the post-its contain the rest of the monthly, bi-yearly, and yearly stuff. I also write all the kiddo's events, and dates for Karen's Kids and things around town. So I don't forget anything.

I know this may not be everyone's cup of tea but I have to do it this way or I get completely overwhelmed with it all and just don't do anything. I have found out that I need to be organized to function! It is a must. I have also found out I can be quiet lazy and this gives me a visual of those things I want to do so I will just do them.

So now that I am finally able to keep up with my household chores, I have time for things I enjoy to do like nap, read, and crochet. I have been working on several things. I tend to get bored with just one thing really easily so I keep a few things on the go.

First, I am making some nice and bright dishcloths. Here in the picture it looks like a melon color but the color is much brighter than this. I absolutely HATE doing dishes but I may just enjoy these dishrags enough to not hate dishes so much.

I also started on a lap blanket for another wonderful lady who attends my church and our Wednesday Women's Bible Study.  It is going to be a diagonal stripe blanket. I don't know if you can see in the lighter blue in the middle but there are darker blue and brownish flecks in the yarn. It is GORGEOUS.

My next project is made from yarn from a finished then frogged  project. I dunno if you all remember my post about the hooded scarf I crocheted up but I made it, debuted it, wore it, and hated it. So I ripped it out and am now using that gorgeous yarn to make myself a simple scarf and hat. The hooded scarf was just way too long and bulky. It was warm but it didn't fit with my winter coat well. So I'm fixing it.

Last but not least, I am continuing on with my big color block blanket. This blanket is made from the Stylecraft yarn I ordered a couple years ago. I am basically just crocheting with a color until it runs out then connecting the next color. I actually love it. I can't wait until I finish it so I can use it.

Before I quit, wanna see a rare site for my house?

Yes, this is my clean laundry room. Usually there are lots of clothes in there but today it looks neat and tidy so I thought I would share. I love this room but I really don't like the broken up old linoleum in it. ICK.

That's all for today. I hope you all are staying warm and enjoying your day.

Until we meet again.

Be Blessed,

Erin

Family shopping, Fall Festival of Leaves

Hello again my wonderful bloggy friends. 

Guess what...Hubby is graciously allowing me to use his laptop to blog (until I can get one of my own) so I can upload pictures. I still haven't resolved the issues with our old desktop. It's so frustrating to want to share snapshots of moments in one's life and cannot.

We had a wonderful family weekend in Ordinary land. My kiddos didn't have school AND hubby didn't have to work on Friday so went out and about. We decided to go to Chillicothe to Party City because the kiddos wanted to see all the great Halloween stuff and possibly get their costumes. Boy those kids were in hog heaven in that store. Two of our 4 found ready made costumes they wanted to wear. Eddie has decided to be Harry Potter and Sj has decided to be a ninja. It was the closest thing to the Assassins Creed guy he could get.

My daughters on the other hand are way different. My oldest, Hope, loves to scare people. She likes to be really creepy and make all the little kids run from her. Last year she made several cry!! This year she chose a weapon and some fangs. Faith isn't like Hope at all. She is very girly and very picky. She looked and pouted and she found something she wanted to be BUT it was twice the price of everyone else's stuff. That is a big no no here. We make sure to spend the same amount on all kids. So I told her that we could get the same look at walmart buying real clothes for half the price. SHE HATED THE IDEA but ultimately we are the parents and she agreed.

After we left Party City we went to Ollie's. Now if you have never been to Ollie's you are really missing out.

Do any of you remember when Big Lots first started? Their stores were really kind of, whats the word, messy?, I dunno but Ollie's reminds me of that. They have a large selection of books. Loads of Bibles and loads of just all kinds of books.  They have loads of all kinds of everything from mattresses to rugs to tools to food. The only thing they lack selection on is clothes. Most of their stuff is priced really cheap. Well, I was able to find loads of spices and extracts and Hope found her a black hoodie to complete her Halloween outfit. 

We left Ollie's and went to Walmart. We found items to mimic the costume Faith wanted. I also picked up a couple pairs of pants for myself (I was down to 2 pairs!!) After leaving Walmart we went to Golden Corral to eat. Then we went to Petland to play with the dogs and then came home.

On Saturday we had made plans to go to the Fall Festival of Leaves. As usual, when we plan to go the weather STINKS!! It was cold and rainy BUT we went anyway. We had a blast walking around looking at all the booths. I even saw a few crochet booths (hmmm...that's what I would love to do).

The highlight of the festival was meeting an online friend and fellow blogger Nikki from The Only Nikki. I really enjoyed meeting her and her parents. She is such a sweet person. I am really hoping we can get together again soon! Oh and don't forget to click on the link to check out her blog!!!

We also met Abraham Lincoln at the Festival and heard him speak. After that we grabbed our funnel cake and elephant ear and some hot chocolate and left. We then went to my mom's house to see my niece who just happened to be up from Georgia this weekend. We then came home and dried off and warmed up!

Sunday we went to church and then came home and ate and started doing the cleaning and doing the laundry we neglected over the weekend. I hated doing it on Sunday, the day of rest, but the kids desperately needed jeans washed for school. Hubby and I also moved everything out of our bedroom so I could really deep clean it. Now I have to re-clean the house from the mess hubby and I made so I really do need to stop typing and get to work!!

Well that is all for now. I will get some pictures together and get some on this blog for you all very soon.

Until then, 

Be Blessed.

Erin

I'm Sorry; Brother-in-law; Karen's Kids; Annoying Computer...an update

Firstly, I want to take time to tell you guys how sorry I am for not posting sooner. 

I have no excuses . I just haven't done it.

Secondly, an update on my brother-in-law.

My hubby did make it to Florida to be with his family during this scary time.

His sister was able to use her frequent flier miles and hubby was able to hop on a plane the very next day (Sept 27). This was the first time hubby and I had been apart more than one night the whole time we have been married! 

His brother was in really bad shape. He had an infection of his heart that blew out one of his valves (that they knew of). They had him sedated and on dialysis. The meds were shutting down his kidneys.

Well on Monday, Sept 30th, my brother in law went into surgery. He had a 50/50 shot.

The doctors were afraid the infection had spread throughout his heart.

But

It had not. The surgery was an easy one. The infection was clustered on just the one heart valve. They replaced the valve and he was good to go.

Hubby flew home that afternoon.

It has been nearly 3 weeks now and I'm happy to say that my brother in law is no longer in ICU.

He is in a regular room and they are looking forward to him going home!

Praise Be to God.

Thirdly, I have some really exciting news.

Way back in December I did a blog post about a wonderful community program my church heads up, Karen's Kids. Basically, Santa delivers wrapped Christmas gifts to needy kids in the community.

Well, the head of Karen's Kids has asked me to Co-head the program!!! This is absolutely awesomely amazing to me!! I now get to help organize events, shop for the kids, I have my hands in EVERYTHING!

Right now the group is taking applications for the gifts (so we know what the kids want). Then we will start shopping in November!! I can't wait.

Fourthly, I know I said I have no excuses but one of the reasons I haven't blogged is because I cannot get my pictures to come up on our new computer. I have no idea why but it is a problem I am working on. I have tons of pictures to share but this crazy computer has a mind of its own. I may have to purchase another laptop.

So, I think that is it for right now. I have so much more to tell all of you. I really haven't been getting a lot of feedback here in bloggy land BUT I will continue to post HOPEFULLY more regularly. I really like getting stuff out of my head and out there. Maybe I can help someone else realize the toils and troubles of their lives aren't so unique. 

Ok guys. I send my love to whoever reads this post.

Until we meet again,

Be Blessed

Erin

Prayers Needed...urgently

My friends I'm gonna try to keep this short and sweet.

My husband's oldest brother is in the hospital right now. He has something called  Bacterial Endocarditis.

Bacteria has gotten into his heart and has messed up a valve in his heart.

To make it short he is really sick.

So sick in fact that my hubby's other siblings have told him he needs to get down to Florida if at all possible because it isn't looking good.

I ask you all to please say a prayer for my husband's brother Jim.

If you aren't the praying type then try to send good vibes.

I hope he gets better and I hope my hubby can find some way to get to Florida.

Just please send prayers and good vibes and thoughts.

Thank you all so much!!!!

Be Blessed,

Erin

New Computer

Hello my faithful readers.

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that we now have a new computer.

It is a desktop so it will take me some time to get used to.

We mainly bought it for the kids but since my laptop went kaput I will be using the desktop for now.

I really hope to get a new laptop soon though.

I imagine with 4 kids vying for time on the computer I won't have much time to get on it.

Anyway, I will blog more later as it is really late and I am super tired.

Be blessed!

Erin

Water bottle carrier fo

Hi my friends. I'm not sure how this is going to work out since I am posting from my phone but I thought I would give it a try. 

You see, my laptop bit the dust several days ago and I think it's gonna cost more to fix our than to replace it so...
The good news is hubby has a laptop so he may let me use it to blog. I dunno.

Anyway, I wanted to show off my latest finished project. .a handy dandy water bottle carrier. You all know I've been trying to be more active. Part of that is walking. I hate having my water bottle in my hands so I crocheted this carrier. It will hold a good size water bottle. I will wear it as a cross- body bag.  It is awesome!

Well that's all for now. Typing on my phone is a pain in the tooshie.

Sending loads of hugs and love your way.
Be blessed
Erin

Garden Update

Hello again everyone.

I am sorry I haven't blogged too much this week. I have been dealing with sick kiddos.

It seems Faith (Daughter #2) and Sj (Son #2) are passing a cold back and forth.

This time it was the same cold except this time they had a low grade fever.

Luckily the fever only lasts a couple days.

Oh and this morning Hope (Daughter #1) woke up with the same cold.

I dread them going back to school because of the germs!

Anyway, this year I made the decision that I wasn't going to bore you all with tons of posts about how my garden is growing. I figured that it grows about the same every year and you all would get bored with seeing it all the time. BUT I got out there last Wednesday and did some cleaning up and weeding and decided to take some pictures so I could show you what is going on out there.

In Garden bed 1 I pulled out the dead magic pumpkin plant and the bean plants.

I still have chives, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and three heirloom tomato plants in there. I also cut back the fennel and noticed the transferred herbs were taking root and doing well.

In garden bed 2 I pulled all of my kentucky wonder bean plants and cucumber plants out. 

The only thing that's left is some transplanted herbs, various pepper plants and a volunteer tomato plant.

The volunteer tomato plant gave us beautiful big pink tomatoes this year.

Garden bed number 3 has the most vegetation in it.

I have 3 huge regular/heirloom tomato plants and one cherry tomato that has taken over.

I also have kale and peppers in this bed. I love tomatoes and we have had a ton this year.

My back deck garden was being severely neglected because we rarely are on the back deck.

Usually the only time we are back there is when we are grilling. So I moved all of my back deck items on to the front porch. We have a huge wrap around front porch so we have plenty of room for growing.

Here you can see my neon swiss chard on either side of my steps.

Here is the rest of my garden items.

I planted some sweet peas, onion, and kale in the galvanized tub. Two kinds of lettuce in the cream box on the side, and spinach in the in the black box in front. All of the little pots contain herbs and the bigger cream pots contain mint. I also used the rest of my jelly jars from canning to plant a cute little herb garden for my kitchen window. I didn't take a picture but I really hope they grow well so I can have fresh herbs to cook with.

Here you can see my little herb pots.

I wanted to show you the harvest from cleaning up my garden.

I ended up harvesting:

2 huge carrots

2 heads broccoli

2 pounds of cherry tomatoes

dill seed heads

6 cucumbers

6 1/4 lbs of various tomatoes

16 small onions

3 green onions

2 1/4 lbs of various peppers

and 3 lbs of kentucky wonder beans

Not bad huh?

Hope you have enjoyed a journey into my gardening life.

I hope you all are having a blessed day.

Bless you,

Erin

PMS, Menopause...Yeah that's fun

Hello again friends.

My brain is foggy so if this post doesn't make sense I'm sorry.

I have spent all day in my bedroom watching tv.

I am still feeling under the weather.

This may be TMI but here it all goes.

Every  month when it is time for mother nature to call, I feel terrible.

I start feeling weak and sometimes flu like.

I have really bad cramps.

I have bad headaches.

My stomach feels bad.

I feel really weak and ran down.

This happens for around 1-2 weeks BEFORE my monthly even starts!!

I know my cramps are caused from the surgery to remove cancer cells from my cervix.

My cervix is scarred so badly it nearly scarred closed.

So when I need to have my monthly visitor, I actually have to have contractions to open up my cervix to let my flow through.

The other symptoms are just Severe PMS symptoms.

Now the good news is......

I am in premenopause.

So I have something to look forward to.

However, it took my mom about 15 years to get totally through menopause.

She finally completed that journey this year!

(applause)

But in the mean time I have to deal with all these PMS symptoms.

Then on top of those symptoms I also have night sweats and hot flashes.

My temperature goes up 2-3 full degrees.

Let me tell you, I am miserable.

OH another important thing I must say..

A lot of women can take birth control pills to help balance out some of their hormones

But I cannot.

I am allergic to birth control pills.

They think it is the estrogen in them. Progestrone only pills I'm ok with but they don't help.

So, I have to now try some natural and herbal remedies.

I already take vitamins and supplements

Fish oil, magnesium/calcium, B complex, vitamin c, and a multivitamin.

Believe it or not it has helped.

I also try to exercise regularly and eat as well as I can afford.

So this is what I am doing now.

Patiently waiting for mother nature and my body to work together so I can feel better.

Relaxing as much as I can.

Feeling cruddy and completely worthless.

Oh and on another note...

My hubby is under the weather with terrible Crohn's attack complete with bloating, fever, vomiting, the whole nine yards and my poor little Sj (son #2) has a fever and scratchy throat.

So I ask each of you to please pray for us all.

It's time for me to go lay back down.

Until next time.

Bless You.

Erin

Domestic Goddess in Training

Hello everyone.

I hope your weekend has been great so far.

Today has been ok for me.

I got to watch my favorite college team, The Michigan Wolverines, play football today.

They won of course ;P

Yesterday wasn't as great as today has been though.

My daughter Hope, (Daughter #1) was able to take a "free" day off of school yesterday because she did well on her testing at the end of last year. She chose to job shadow me..the domestic queen.

I got up at 5:30 am with the hubby as he was getting ready for work and then at 6:30am I woke her and her sister up for the day. Faith (daughter #2) had to go to school. 

Hope and I stayed up after Faith left for school. She watched the news while I showered.

Then at 7:30 am Hope and I got the boys up so they could get ready for school.

Once the boys left Hope and I ate breakfast then we got started with the "job shadowing".

I explained to her what I do while they are at school and then we got started.

Room by room we tidied and cleaned the house.

We did laundry.

We laughed and danced.

We did dishes and mopped floors.

We were finished with our chores by 10am. 

A new record for me as it usually takes me until 1 pm or so when I am alone.

Once we finished mopping the floors, our final task, we came into the living room to admire our handiwork and to take a break before lunch. 

Then Hope asked me for a brownie.

When I said yes, she started acting really silly.

She ran into the kitchen, slipped on the wet floor, and slammed her shin, just under her knee  into the corner of our staircase.

She laughed at first, that is until the pain set in, then she started crying.

She hurt her leg pretty badly.

So badly in fact, I felt she needed to go to the Emergency Room.

We waited for an hour in the waiting room before we got a bed.

The doctor came in to see us right away.

We got xrays and guess what.....

No broken bones.

She does have lots of bruising including deep bruising.

She has a huge lump on her leg.

She also has a nice mark that split open when she hit the stairs.

Lord knows I am thankful she is ok and doesn't have a broken leg

However, her domestic goddess training has been suspended until further notice.

P.S. I was going to post pictures of her wounds but I didn't feel you all would want to see it. It does look pretty grotesque though.

Until next time,

May God Bless You

Erin

Baby Ripple TA-DAH

Hello again my friends. 

I am just popping in today to show you a blanket I finished this week.

My neighbor is going to be having her 5th child, 2nd girl very soon. I was in a bit of a rush to get this blanket done because I wanted to give it to her before the baby got here.

I used Lucy's pattern from the Attic 24 website. I also chose to do her "interlocking" color pattern.

This blanket is made from skeins of random yarns I had in my stash. 

I am happy to announce that my neighbor said the blanket was very pretty.

I hope her baby comes soon.

My friends, I am sorry this post is so blah and short.

My children brought me a cold from school so I'm not feeling up to par.

However, there is something I must put out there.

I cannot get into specifics about the situation 

BUT

We had a very pressing need this week.

We were very worried.

We all prayed for God's mighty intervention.

God is so good and merciful.

He has sent angels to us to help us in our time of need.

All the praise and glory be to Him!

Amen

Anyway, that is all for today my friends. 

I have to fold some clothes then I'm gonna rest and try to get rid of this cold.

Until next time,

Bless You,

Erin

The Little Black Kitten: A True Story

Hello friends.

 Today I'm supposed to have a deals post for you

 But 

I haven't even been to the grocery store yet. I may just wing it this week.

It has been THAT kind of week.

However...

I do have a story for you...

Once upon a time there lived a little black kitten. This kitten didn't have a very good life. His owners were very mean to him. They would yell at him and throw him. They would pick him up by his neck and run around with him. They didn't feed him near enough. The little black kitten didn't mind so much because he thought that is just how things were supposed to be.

One day the little black kitten was left outside all alone. He saw some kids riding their bikes so he decided to follow them. They were just going way too fast for the little black kitten to catch up so he stopped chasing them and meowed after them as he watched them go further and further down the road.

The little black kitten sat there in the middle of the road looking around. He realized he was lost and started meowing hoping someone would hear him. Someone did hear him. A stray dog came and started prowling around him. The little black kitten was frightened so he hissed and spit at his attacker but the stray dog just kept pawing at the kitten.

Then a woman with two little dogs came by and saw what was happening. She and her little dogs stopped traffic and scooped up the little black kitten. She saved the kitten from being hit by a car and eaten by a dog all at the same time.

The woman with the two little dogs held the little black kitten tight to her chest. She talked to him and reassured the little black kitten that he was safe. He quit being so nervous and started purring. He had never felt this kindness before.

The woman with the two little dogs took the little black kitten to her home and set him down in front of the food bowl. The little black kitten couldn't believe his eyes. He ate and ate and ate. He drank as much water as he could stand. Then he realized something. The woman with two dogs also had kids. Lots of them. 

The little black kitten wasn't so sure about kids. He had been treated badly by kids his entire life. But these kids were different. They were not yelling at him, they weren't grabbing him and hurting him. They were talking softly and kind and petting him gently. The little black kitten liked that very much.

Unfortunately, the little black kitten couldn't enjoy it for long as the woman with the two little dogs thought she knew where the kitten lived and she had to give him back to his rightful owners. So the woman with the two dogs took him down the road to the house she thought he lived in and knocked on the door. The woman didn't really want to give the little black kitten back because she knew he was so mistreated but she had to do what was right. The door opened and a woman said that little black kitten didn't live there but one of his owners was there. She took the kitten and shut the door.

The woman with the two dogs was very sad. She said a prayer for the kitten. She asked God to protect him and to keep him safe. 

The woman with the two dogs thought about the kitten alot after that. She wondered how he was doing and worried about his safety. She kept praying for him to be loved and kept safe.

Then about a week after the woman with the two dogs had given the little black kitten back to his owners a miraculous thing happened. She got a knock on the door. A little boy had found the little black kitten in the middle of the road, meowing and hurt. He asked the woman with the two dogs if she could take the kitten because he didn't want to leave it all alone but he had to go to school.

The woman with the two dogs told the little boy she could take the kitten. Once again she placed the little black kitten in front of the food bowl and the kitten ate and ate and ate. He drank and drank and drank. When he was full he tried to find the woman with the two dogs. When he found her he ran up to her and jumped on her lap and started loving on her. He rubbed against her hand. He rubbed against her chin. He rubbed against her neck. He purred and he purred and he purred. The little black kitten was hoping that if he showed the woman with the two little dogs how much he loved her that she would not return him to that awful place but she would keep him for ever.

You know what...the little black kitten's wish came true!!!

You see, the woman with the two little dogs didn't know where the little black kitten really lived. So, she decided that if its owners wanted him they would be looking for him and she would give him back.

But God answered her prayers and those of the little black kitten.

No one came looking for him.

So the little black kitten stayed with the lady with the two little dogs.

They all lived happily ever after.

The End

Here is the little black kitten. We have named him Yoda.

He has plenty of food, snuggles, and love.

We really wasn't sure we would get another cat after the death of our beloved Smokey but this little kitten really pulled at our heart strings. We hope he lives a long and happy life with us.

Until we meet again,

Be Blessed,

Erin

Random Saturday: WIPs, Something new

Hello my friends.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday.

Today I have been running some errands, doing some cleaning, and doing some laundry.

Have you ever wondered what 2 days of laundry would look like for a family of 6?

I had all of our laundry done Thursday morning. This is Saturday.

I have a full load of light colors (in front of dryer), a full load of dark colors (in front of door), a full load of jeans, a full load of whites and 2 loads of towels. Plus 2 loads of blankets we used to snuggle under.

Who else do you know that would share their dirty laundry on their blog?

Now to the good stuff.

I haven't crocheted much this week but I do have 2 whole projects on the go.

First is this baby blanket I am making for my neighbor. She is 36 weeks pregnant right now and docs said she could have the baby anytime. The colors are maybe a tad muted but not very much.

My other project is a water bottle carrier.

You all know I have been on a journey to get a little bit healthier. 

Well, a couple of friends of mine and I walk a few days a week. When I say walk, I mean at a fast pace and usually about 4 miles. I hate holding on to my water bottle so I am making a little crossbody type holder for it. I am using cotton yarn. It is cream with red trim. The strap will also be cream with red trim. I will have a red tie on it as well that will secure the water bottle in place.

I also purchased a few things this week.

First, I want to show you my favorite bag. I stole it from my mom a while ago and I have been using it to carry my Bible and my notebook to church. I also keep a pencil pouch with pens, pencils, and highlighters and some peppermints in there. I usually just throw my clutch in it when we go to church to avoid carrying several bags.

Sadly, I have to retire my spotty, stripey bag because I have a new companion to my Bible.

This book is amazing. If you need to find something in the Bible, this book will help you!

It is called The New Strong's Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. I know this will help me as a student of the Bible.

Since my Spotty, stripey bag will not hold all the things I need, I now have this new bag.

The color isn't true as this bag is a very vivid orange and cream.

I bought it from our local Shopko store. 

You know I am a deal seeker. If I can't get it free I will try to get it as cheap as possible

So...

This bag was originally $40.00

I paid only $8 for it. 

It is HUGE.

Now for a bit of news for you all.

My darling hubby started classes this week at Ohio Christian University.

He is in Ministerial and Biblical Studies courses.

He is a bit overwhelmed right now but I ask that all you praying friends please pray and send well wishes to him.

I am very proud and supportive of his decision to go back to school.

Well that is all for right now my friends.

I have to go change out loads of laundry and do some yard work.

I love each one of you who reads this.

Be Blessed,

Erin

To diet or not to diet

Hello again!

I know! I am on a roll with this blog thing.

It's kind of funny how things are just popping in my head to talk about.

But that's what makes this blog real, right?

I have been really trying to organize my life to get everything done I want to do in a day

AND

To keep myself from just sitting around doing absolutely nothing.

Doing nothing makes me feel horrible.

I mentioned in this post how I was planning on cleaning my entire house and then doing things daily to maintain it. I have to say I have been doing a pretty good job at keeping my house neat and tidy.

It takes a lot of work and commitment to the schedule since it is so new but I know it will become second hand soon enough.

Along with organizing my cleaning I have also added in bloggy time and exercise time into that daily to do list.

I plan on blogging every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Tuesday will most likely be about my deals I found on Monday while grocery shopping.

But Thursday and Saturday could be about anything that pops into my head.

I'm really excited to get my thoughts out to you all!

I also plan on exercising 4-5 days a week. 

I may walk several miles, do yoga or zumba or even some random video on youtube.

I have noticed that when I am up and moving more than sitting around I feel tons better. I feel more energetic, my head is clearer, and I have less aches and pains.

I have also made some decisions about "diet" and my body.

You see, I am 5'2" and I weigh 154 lbs. 

That isn't too bad but I am considered obese for my height.

My ideal weight is around the 115 range.

Now, I acutally like most of my body the way it is.

EXCEPT 

my stomach. My ab muscles are weak from having my kiddos and they poke out.

I also have some fat over them that keeps my belly out further than it should be.

My measurements: chest 40, belly 33, hips 40.

I am an hourglass shape.

So, I am not really trying to lose weight. I am trying to be active and healthier.

I have come to the point that if I am exercising and eating well and I feel good then I'm not really going to worry about the astethics of it all.

As for my diet. Well what diet?

I pretty much eat whatever I want still BUT I just don't eat as much.

If we go out to eat, I will have a kids meal.

If I order an adult meal, I pay attention and I eat until I'm full or I will eat half whichever comes first.

If I want something, I eat it.

If I want a candy bar I will buy the fun sized ones and share with my family.

If I want a piece of cake, I cut half the size I normally eat.

I also try to eat fresh fruits and veggies as much as possible with meals and as snacks.

Eating them with meals is really hard as Eddie (son #1) is a very picky eater (textures) and he is allergic to some foods.

I tend to grab celery and peanut butter, apples and peanut butter, yogurt, or my favorite snack...saltine crackers with peanut butter and bananas..yum.

As far as drinking...I mainly drink water. I will have a regular coke or pepsi every once in a while.

I do drink sweet tea sometime but I really prefer unsweetened.

I love chocolate milk but limit myself.

As for results, just in trying to figure all this out I did lose some weight.

My heaviest was 167 pounds earlier this year.

So I have lost 13 pounds.

I have been stuck at 154 for a month or two.

(Oh I have noticed I will gain 2-5 lbs when it is time for my monthly)

BUT the weight doesn't bother me.

My muscles are getting stronger, I feel better, I have more confidence.

That is all that matters.

I must tell you all, accepting myself has not been easy for me.

BUT I have found that not worrying about the measurements or scales (just using them when I am curious)

and trying to be as active and healthy as I possibly can, I feel better.

I am getting better. I may not have the flat toned tummy and I may never get it but I accept me for me.

I am wonderfully and perfectly made by God. He doesn't make mistakes.

Well, That is all for today friends.

Hope to see you all soon!

Be Blessed

Erin

Deals and Steals

Howdy friends.

This week has been a stressful week already and it is only Tuesday!!

You see my wonderful hubby had an accident at work a couple weeks ago and injured his knee. 

They suspected he had a torn miniscus BUT docs found out he had just bruised his knee very deeply.

He was out of work for a week until the orthopedic doc released him to go back to work.

Most of you all know that our family is a single income family.

I am a stay-at-home mom and hubby works outside the home.

We live pretty much paycheck to paycheck.

Well, hubby will be missing a week of work on his paycheck this week (he gets paid biweekly).

That leaves us really strapped.

You see we have been really tight with our money since our camping trip way back in mid July.

Then we had to get school supplies and school clothes for our brood of 4.

So money is tight to say the least!

Anyway..I was worried about getting food for the week on the $50 I had left.

Let me tell you, it's a good thing I coupon AND have God on my side!!

The Kroger I go to (in Washington Court House, Ohio) still doubles coupons.

As a matter of fact they still double coupons valued up to 99 cents. 

That means a coupon worth 99 cents that doubles will be worth $1.98!!

Not too bad huh. 

And my Kroger's limit of like coupons is 5 in a transaction. That is why I buy  my papers in fives.

Anyway..This week the Kroger sale was right up my alley.

They had a few buy one get on on meats like pork sirloin cutlets and pork sirloin roasts.

They even had some frozen chicken on sale.

BUT the best of all was the "if you buy this...you get this free" sales.

If you buy Country Crock you got eggs free.

If you buy Knorr Rice or Pasta Sides you get Big K pop free.

If you buy Breyers Ice Cream you got a half gallon of milk free.

If you buy Ragu Pasta Sauce you get kroger pasta free.

And if you buy Hellmans Mayonnaise you get bread free!

Not too bad huh. So let me just tell you what I got for free this shopping trip!

I had coupons for free:

Playtex sport Tampons

Free box of cheerios

Free Kraft Singles cheese

Free Kroger Eggs.

Using the sales I got.

A 2nd dozen eggs free

2 Big K Sodas

4 Kroger pastas

Free pork roast

The rest of my list was fairly short!

Pork Roast

milk 2/$5

country crock

4 knorr pasta or rice sides

4 ragu pasta sauces

So to feed my family of 6 for this week I spent $48.48

The Savings for this week were $55.16

That is a 53% Savings.

Now I know this isn't as huge as those extreme couponing shows but I am stretching my weekly food budget as far as it will go and getting tons more food for way less money.

So there ya have it.

Until we meet again.

Be Blessed

Erin

I'm Back; Cleaning Again and maintaining it

Hello my faithful, furry followers.

I'm back!

This past month has been absolutely crazy!

It all started with our camping trip and since we have only had 5 days where absolutely nothing was scheduled!

We had 3 dentist appointments, 3 eye appointments, 3 doctors appointments, Vacation Bible School for 3 days, 3 open houses, School supply shopping, school clothes shopping, in town events, out of town events.

I'm telling you we were busy people. AND we still have an orthodontist appointment for Faith (Daughter #2).

So that is the reason I have been MIA. I haven't been on blogger much. I know I didn't comment on everyone's blogs. I have so much catching up to do. 

BUT

THE GOOD NEWS....

School started yesterday so I will be able get back into a routine, back on a schedule, and be able to take time to blog AND to read blogs.

Speaking of school starting, would you like to see a couple of the "first day of school" pics I took?

Here are my bouncing boys.

Eddie (Boy #1) is on the left and he is in the 5th grade and Sj (Boy #2) is on the right and he is in 3rd grade.

Here are my darling daughters.

Hope (Girl #1) is on the left. She is my 8th grader and Faith (Girl #2) is on the right. She is in 7th grade.

By looking at this picture you would thing Faith is the oldest but she is 2 years younger than her sister BUT she is an inch taller than I am!!

I just dunno how the years go by so fast!

``````

When the kiddos go back to school I always miss them so much. This year I actually broke down and cried I missed them so much (I'm such an old softy). So I try to keep myself busy until they get home until I get used to the idea of them being gone all day. 

Keeping busy is easy to do these first days though. I always deep clean my house once the kiddos go back to school. I clean, organize, get everything in working order so we can all run a little smoother.

This year the cleaning was much needed. We stayed so busy all summer I didn't have much time to truly clean my house. I did tidy and tackle out-of-control rooms when I was home but my house was screaming for some tlc.

Today I get to finish up that task. I still have floors to mop, windows to clean, ceiling fans to dust, 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms to tackle, and laundry to finish up.

Once I get all this done I can begin my cleaning routine which will ensure that my house stay neat and tidy.

Do ya wanna know what this routine is?

Well, I have made a list of my cleaning tasks and have decided if they should be completed daily, weekly, monthly, biyearly, or yearly. Then I categorized them and set out the following schedule.

Daily

Morning   

Make beds

wipe/tidy bathroom

vacuum

Fabreeze furniture

Through day/Evening

2 loads of laundry (or more)

dishes

Wipe counters/appliances

sweep floors

spot clean floor spills

Weekly

Sunday-Clip and organize coupons

Monday- Meal planning, cobwebs, dusting

Tuesday- deep clean bathroom

Wednesday-Spot clean carpets, windows

Thursday-mop floors

Friday- wash bedclothes

Saturday- Mow grass, pull weeds, wash dogs

Monthly

shampoo carpets

spot clean walls

light fixtures/ceiling fans

clean oven

move furniture and clean under

clean furniture

Biyearly (April & September)

Wash walls

clean basement

wash curtains

clean out closets

move appliances and clean under them

clean blinds

Yearly

Pressure wash decks/porches/house

trim bushes

trim roses

This list really breaks down the majority of my household tasks. If I follow it, my house will stay reasonably clean and tidy. This list can also be modified to suit any individual needs. It gives you a few basic cleaning chores to do every day just to upkeep your home then one bigger chore to complete each day of the week so a thorough deep cleaning doesn't have to be done all in one or two days. It also allows you to pencil in your monthly chores on a day you have the available time to complete each task. The biyearly tasks are simple spring and fall cleaning you can complete throughout those months. 

Well that's going to be all for today. It is after noon and I need to get back to cleaning. I hope to get back on this cleaning schedule no later than Monday. 

Until next time friends

Be Blessed,

Erin