new years eve

Wow! The last day of 2011! I'm looking forward to the start of a new year. It always makes me feel like I get a chance to start fresh. I'm not really one for making a bunch of resolutions. I used to do that, but I never really followed through. We don't have any major plans for tonight. When I was younger, I really felt like I was missing out if I stayed home, but since having kids I've been perfectly content to stay home. In fact, I prefer it. Who wants to be out on the roads late at night in the middle of winter in MN with crazy drunk & drug using people? Just not particularly my idea of a good time. I'd rather be in my warm cozy home with my sober family. We'll spend tonight just as we usually do on New Year's Eve, watching movies til a few minutes before midnight, counting down the final minute, then toasting in the New Year with sparkling fruit juice. I just wish Cory was here. He's still at his friend's house. :-( Last year he was there too for New Year's. I'm glad Michael will be with us. He is going to a party ,but he told his friend that he will leave before midnight cuz it's a family thing that we are together for our midnight Happy New Year toast. I thought that was pretty cool! I mean I certainly would have understood an 18 year old preferring to be with his friends, but he chose us, old fashioned, out to lunch traditional , politically & culturally incorrect mom & dad. ;-) Yay!

James is doing much better. Sure enough he did have a uti but is on antibiotic & is in no more pain. He just has to give another "sample" a few days after treatment is done to make sure everything is cleared up. The dr said though it's rare for boys to get uti's, in kids with chronic constipation problems (which he has) it's more common. Not sure why that would be, but I figure she knows what she's talking about.

Same plan as usual for today. Nothing new at this point. Tonight's dinner will be steak strips with veggies & mashed potatoes. Brownies for dessert.

Blessings to all on this last day of 2011!

Ruby Tink :-)

Yesterday, the unexpected interrupted my plans (which tends to happen a lot in life especially when you have kids & even more so when you have a lot of kids, lol). Jim's friend didn't end up coming over cuz we had to take James to the dr. He had all the symptoms of a bladder infection, which is pretty rare for boys. I don't think Michael or Cory ever had one, & even my girls have only had it happen once. Our regular dr is taking vacation days right now, so we had to see someone else. She was nice, but is very new. She did say it is unusual for boys to get uti's, so she started him on an antibiotic, & they're going to send his "sample"(which Jim had to bribe him with a quarter to even "produce" cuz it was burning so badly every time he did, but hey it worked) for a culture to see if it actually is an infection & if not , or it doesn't get better or he gets any more infections, they will have to do more invasive testing to see what's up. She said sometimes boys have anatomical problems or I guess can get some kind of blockage or even kidney stones (rare for kids but not impossible) that can cause problems with flow &/or lead to infections. No fun. :-( Let's just hope it's just a simple uti without other causes. He started on the antibiotic last night, & so far today I haven't heard any screaming or crying so hopefully it's starting to take effect & he will now be pain free. These are NOT fun. I have had MANY MANY of them. I don't like when my kids are in pain, especially the little ones.

I did get my Bible lesson & grocery list done, so that was something anyway.

Today I get to have my hair done. Yay! I'm definitely due for a trim & color touch up. I was supposed to get it done a week ago, but my stylist's daughter was taken into Children's Hospital because she was so sick with mono & double pneumonia. Poor kid had to spend Christmas in the hospital! Thankfully, she's back home now.

Anyway, my plan is the same as usual with the addition of grocery shopping. Tonight's dinner will be chili dogs, fries, & yellow cupcakes for dessert.

Ruby Tink :-)

Today Jim went back to work, so it feels like a Monday. I'm so confused. It's Wed but no church tonight. Michael is here ,but Cory's not, so it kinda seems like he's in school. Ok too much going on for my poor little ADHD brain to process. lol.

Anyway, yesterday I got my workout done, shower taken, we worked on school, I did my Bible lesson, straightened up my room, put in a load of laundry & made dinner. Today I'm still planning the usual stuff with the addition of meal planning & making a grocery list for next week. Tonight's dinner will be hamburgers, Romaine lettuce with Italian dressing, & oranges. I just got a text from Jim asking if his friend from work could stop by with his wife & kids to meet me. Sure I don't mind, as long as I don't have to run around cleaning like a crazy woman. Actually, it's not too bad. Both the bathroom & kitchen are reasonably clean (Well except for the bowl of hardened oatmeal sitting in the bathroom cupboard.... Don't ask. Personally, I have no idea who put it there or why they would think that was a good place for it. All I can say is that kids defy logic. At least I HOPE it was one of the kids, lol) The living room is still somewhat cluttered but not scary. So as long as we can keep them out of the basement, I think we should be OK. I don't know when they're coming, but there may even be time to do a quick pick up in the basement after Jim gets home from work. But even if we don't, I refuse to stress over it.

I'm wearing my new skirt that my friend Bethie blessed me with for Christmas! She's a professional seamstress & makes beautiful clothing. I LOVE it! It's denim so it goes with anything & everything, fits perfectly, not tight, but not baggy either. Sometimes I tend to wanna wear baggy stuff being such a plus size girl, but , though I suppose it's better than too tight stuff that shows every fat roll, baggy stuff still isn't flattering. Kinda makes you look like a giant blob. Much better to wear something that shows you do have a shape (just not every detail of that shape, lol). Anyway thank you so much, Bethie! & when I have funds to do so I wanna get several more in this exact same style. Hey it works, & if you just change colors or fabrics you get the benefit of different looks. There aren't a whole lot of styles that actually fit well all over cuz even though I'm plus size, some parts of me are more plus size than others. I'm not perfectly proportioned. So when I do find something that works, I tend to stick with it. & I love denim skirts. They are pretty much my daily uniform. I wear them like I used to wear jeans.

Ok I'm off to tackle the rest of the day's adventures!

Ruby Tink :-)

Well today things are feeling better in the girl department. Still dealing with some tummy pain every time I eat, but the other things are easing up. Yesterday, I did my Bible study lesson, straightened up my room that had become gift wrapping central & was strewn with all kinds of paper & junk. It took a while cuz it was pretty trashed. I also put a load of laundry in the washer & had the kids pick up the junk on the stairs.

Nothing new today. The plan is the same as yesterday except I also wanna do school, workout on the treadmill & take a shower along with all the other stuff. Tonight's dinner will be creamy chicken & rice, homemade dinner rolls, baked acorn squash, & apple slices with caramel dip for dessert.

Oh my exciting life! Actually as boring as it may sound to others, I do like it. I'm not where I wanna be yet but I'm on the road & for the most part am enjoying the journey.

OK time to go tackle that treadmill.

Ruby Tink :-)

Today has been kind of a weird day. OK I'm going to say this cuz it's mostly a girl's blog, but technically anyone can read this, so if talking about time of month stuff is tmi for you or just bothers you, STOP now. Though I would think most guys who are married & in their 40s or 50s probably can handle hearing it OK cuz I'm guessing they are well aware of our female challenges. I just don't wanna upset any skittish guys. So consider yourself warned.

I am having one of those periods from you know where. It was bad yesterday & still bad today. Even taking 3 ibuprofen isn't entirely getting rid of the pain, & holy guacamole am I ever bleeding A LOT. I don't think dangerously so but definitely enough that I can't work out & am too uncomfortable to do anything physically challenging, like move or clean or even take a shower, which I really do need. I've been in bed A LOT today cuz I've been so tired. I've actually slept off & on for a lot of the afternoon. & I really did wanna work out. That was my plan, but it just didn't happen. Yesterday I was nauseated so I didn't get to enjoy Christmas dinner with my family. I put it all on the table, took a Zofran, & went to bed, sleeping off & on, & was able to eat about 5 hours later. BTW----- The dinner WAS really yummy & the dessert? Oh my! Jim & the kids thought it was amazing & I would have to agree with them. I wasn't able to make it to my mom's. She's probably mad cuz I didn't call her, but I just felt so sick. I was hoping things would ease up today so I could get back into the swing of things but nope. I did make like a pseudo, healthier cheaper version of an egg macmuffin for brunch, but that was about it for activity today. I texted some & was on the computer, then I had to lie down. I've been crampy, bleeding heavily, & just tired even sleepy, & now I'm very thirsty but water isn't sounding good to me. I'm craving fruit juice, which is weird cuz that's just not typically something I would crave. I also am having terrible heartburn even though I've been taking my protonix. Again very unusual for me to have this much breakthrough discomfort. I think something is off kilter here & rocket scientist that I am, I think it's related to my period.

Well I'm not gonna beat myself up over being somewhat of a slacker. There is something physical going on & I feel like if I had tried to force myself to workout, I might have passed out or something. & no I'm not missing any meds or anything. Maybe it's just all this bleeding that's causing some kind of temporary inbalance.

Yesterday I did manage to do my Bible study before I became a semi zombie. I am feeling a bit better as I type but I still don't feel up to tackling the treadmill. I am making a little bit of progress though. My first week, I did it once. Last week I did 20 minutes 3 times. Still not optimum, but making some strides.

Today since it's already evening I'm not sure how much,if anything, I'll actually get done, but my plan is to try to do as much of my usual wanna do's as I can, plus start getting thank you notes written for me & have the kids do some too. Dinner will be hot roast beef sandwiches, chips, baby carrots & celery slices tonight. Pretty simple. I haven't started yet cuz Jim & the girls aren't home. Jim took Cory to a friend's house who lives about an hour away from us. Cory will be staying there for about a week. I think they must also be doing some other errands while they are out & about, but dinner won't take long to make, so that's fine.

Anyway, I will tackle what I can in between now & dinner & try not to lose more than a few gallons of blood in the process. lol. Sorry not trying to be gross. Just happens by default sometimes.

Ruby Tink ;-)

merry christmas

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful morning, opening gifts & eating the pumpkin bread I made last night! We were so blessed by people's generosity this year. Not only did we have that anonymous delivery, but we also got a completely surprise package with stuff for all of us from one of my online friends who I hope to one day have the joy of meeting in person. Thank you so much Bethie Boo & Ernie! This truly was an unexpected blessing!

I just finished making Christmas dinner & am waiting for Haley to finish washing dishes so we can eat. We're having baked ham, mashed Yukon Gold potatoes with nutmeg, biscuits, romaine with a homemade mustard vinaigrette, sparkling cider, & chocolate cherry trifle for dessert. I think it'll be yummy!

Later we're planning to visit my mom, & then we'll play the rest of the day & evening by ear. I'll try to get some of my stuff done that I've been wanting to do for the past couple weeks, but it IS Christmas, so if it doesn't happen, that's OK too.

No snow today. This is my 19th Christmas in MN & first one here that hasn't been white. That's fine though. I'd rather have this than 20 below. Hope everyone is having a blessed day of celebration!

Ruby Tink :-)

christmas eve

Church is done. The kids looked great, & of course, Jamesies was absolutely adorable. He was so enthusiastic ringing those bells. It was hard not to crack up. The shopping is finally done, all the gifts wrapped, the food all purchased.So tonight we can just relax & watch a movie & get to bed @ a decent hour. So many Christmas Eves we've been up til the wee hours finishing up the wrapping.

Tonight's service was really cool. I LOVE candle light services, & it's been years since I've been to one. The only downside was that Jim, Cory, & Kelley's wax managed to drip through their paper holders & was a bit warm on their hands. But mine was fine.

My friend Carrie who just had her baby yesterday is on her way home from the hospital. & when they get home they're going to skype with us.The only bummer is they don't have a web cam, so I won't get to see the baby.:-( But Carrie has promised to send me pics.

Anyway a week ago we had nothing under the tree, & now there are what looks like a truckload (or maybe a sleigh load) of presents. Amazing! I know it's not about the gifts,but I still think it's fun to watch everyone open them, & hey, I enjoy presents too.

I still need to make dinner. We're having hot ham & cheese sandwiches & homemade applesauce (so much better than the jar stuff & really easy to make). I also might make some pumpkin bread tonight so we can have it for breakfast tomorrow while we open gifts.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all!

Ruby Tink :-)

Wow! Just 2 days til Christmas! It's hard to believe! It's crazy at my house right now. Everyone is home & noisy. I haven't gotten much done, but I did manage to workout on the treadmill & take a shower & make myself presentable. My dear friend Carrie finally had her baby this morning. I'm still waiting for them to send pics, but I'm sure she's beautiful. I just wish they didn't live all the way in Pennsylvania cuz I so wanna go see them. & the cool thing is she will get to be home for Christmas!

Anyway, still trying to get through all my daily stuff & still not completing it. SIGH! Not sure at this point really what else to do except continue to plug away, doing what I can each day. We've just had to wait til this week to do Christmas shopping & wrapping cuz we finally have some cash flow thanks to some generous gifts from relatives. So now that's all in the mix of stuff to do. I'm not complaining though. lol. I'm very thankful & I do love to shop & want to bless my family. Tomorrow my 3 youngest kids are in the Christmas program at church. We found really cute outfits for them at"the cabin" Wally World. Matching red velour dresses, white woolen tights, & red sparkly slip on flats for the girls, & a red, gray, & black plaid dress shirt, red sweater vest, black pants & black loafers for James. I think they're going to look adorable, but of course, I am a tad biased. Now I have to figure out what to do with my girls' hair. They both have pretty long fine hair. Kelley's is stick straight, & Haley's is for the most part as well except for a section in the back about 2 inches across where it's very wavy. I'm not handy with hair. I don't know how to do many styles, so this should be interesting.

Today I'm going to try to get as much of my usual stuff done as I can, but I also need to grocery shop, finish up my Christmas shopping, & wrap gifts, so I'm thinking I might not make a whole lot of progress with my plan, but that's OK. It's already 3:00, & we didn't even have lunch,so Jim picked up Papa Murphy's (take n bake pizza) & it's in the oven. This is a weird time to eat. It's so late that I don't think I'll end up actually making dinner. I guess if we get hungry again before bedtime we can just put together something simple or if we are out grab something quick or people can just sort of snack on whatever they wanna get themselves. We'll just play it by ear. A lot of times that's what we do on Sundays cuz we eat our big meal mid to late afternoon ,& I'm not usually hungry for a full on meal later. But man I am hungry now. All I've had so far today is a cup of coffee & 2 poptarts. Can't wait for that pizza to finish.

Well I'm off to do my stuff!

Ruby Tink:-)

Ah Monday! Yesterday I did manage to get my Bible study lesson done, my room picked up, do some laundry, & have the kids pick up the junk on the stairs. I was going to clean up the bathroom, but we were out of trash bags & Michael had the car all evening. He did puick some up on his way home, but by then I was in my jammies & done for the day.

Today I'm feeling ALL the way better & no toothache. Yay yay! Same plan as usual as far as getting stuff done & now that we have trash bags, I can clean better. It's awfully frustrating when you have nowhere to put garbage. Tonight for dinner I'm making ground beef & tortilla skillet, green salad with Italian dressing, corn, & flan (store bought) for dessert. I think everyone will like it, but you never know with my kids. lol We will see.

We also might do some Christmas shopping tonight. Other than that we don't have any particular plans, but that's Ok. I'm not one who likes to be running & busy all the time. I like having unscheduled evenings. I just don't believe it's necessary to be involved in multiple activities outside the home, even if that is the norm for our society. So many people are over committed between work, school, church, sports, lessons, volunteer work, this committee or that project, all good stuff, but seriously when you put it all together, you barely have time to take a breath. No wonder so many people get constipated. Hey who has time to poop anymore? Sorry if that was a little tmi, but you know it's true. lol

Well on that note, I will go & start working the plan & see how much I can get through.

Ruby Tink :-)

It is absolutely gorgeous out today! Sunny & 41 degrees & not a bit of snow only a week before Christmas. Not exactly typical Minnesota weather for mid December, which is fine with me. My kids are hoping to have snow for Christmas though.

I'm feeling much better today. It must have been the missing doses of my blood pressure med that was causing me to feel so sick. I got told by more than 1 person that going without it was a VERY bad idea, but I didn't realize suddenly stopping would actually make me feel sick after a few days. I would definitely have taken care of replacing the missing bottle of meds sooner had I known that it was so unsafe & that it would make me feel so miserable to be off it. I guess I just didn't like the idea of throwing $ away on another bottle when I know that the first one has to be SOMEWHERE in my house. I feel like such a spaz losing it. Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do. Now I just have an awful toothache. Oh I feel like a little old lady with all my complaints & ailments. Except I'm not little & I'm not so old. lol. I just took 3 ibuprofen, so hopefully that will help ease the pain. Too bad it's not instant cuz it really is hurting.

Today the coolest thing happened! We've really been struggling financially & haven't even been able to do any Christmas shopping, but this afternoon, someone we don't know showed up on our doorstep to be the delivery person for some people who wish to remain anonymous. They brought a bunch of presents, a small Christmas tree with lights & ornaments, and some Christmas goodies! So now we have gifts under the tree! The kids are so excited & Jim & I are SO thankful.

Last night's movie was a total dud. That's the thing with these independent movies. You don't always know what you're getting. Some can be amazing, like The Last Sin Eater & others are lousy. In the one we saw last night, the plot was SO obvious, most of the acting was mediocre to lousy, the editing was poor as were the seguays. Oh well, at least it wasn't inappropriate or anything.

I didn't get anything done other than grocery shopping yesterday. Today I didn't do the treadmill cuz there wasn't time before church & I don't like to workout once I'm dressed & have my hair & make up done. So we went to church, then I made our Sunday meal: beef with peppers & onions in a sauce made with golden mushroom soup & topped with cheese, which I served over rice. Jim liked it as did most of the kids. Kelley didn't. She HATES peppers & onions & wasn't too crazy about the beef, but she did eat it anyway so she could have some Christmas goodies.

So today my plan is to tackle the same stuff that's been on my plan for a while. Hopefully, I'll be able to actually finish it or at least move farther along than I have been able to. At any rate, I'll do what I can do. Anything is better than nothing.

Ruby Tink ;-)

Well yesterday, I did the treadmill for 20 minutes at the lowest speed & that was still quite a workout for me, but still do able. Didn't feel like I was gonna die or anything after I got done. So I think for now, that will be a good amount. I do wonder though how much I should ultimately work up to, & how often I should increase my time & in what increments. Not sure how you're supposed to figure that out. So any input on that would be great. I was going to work out again just now, but my ipod is outta juice, & this would just be WAY too boring without my tunes, esp those rockin ones by the Newsboys (my fave group), so I'm charging it as I type. Hey maybe I can multi task, lol! I know some people read or watch tv while they do the treadmill ,but that makes me feel queasy to read or watch stuff while I'm moving.

I'm going to add in another thing to help with my health (and possibly weight though I'm really trying not to focus so much on that----- I'm hoping that as I make enough healthy changes the weight will ,eventually anyway ,take care of itself) Other than my morning & occasional afternoon coffee, I'm going to start drinking mostly water. I drink a lot of sugary drinks, some pop (but I hate diet, so the ones I have are pretty much all sugar, which I know is not a good thing), some lemonade, & once in a while fruit juice. I still might do the fruit juice a couple times a week. Yes, I know it has way too much sugar, but @ least it is natural sugar & I am getting some nutrients along with those calories. But mostly I will do the water. I figure that will be a fairly painless way to eliminate some of the empty calories & excess refined carbs from my diet & I really don't mind water.

So for now, those are my two things I'll be doing for my health. I like them because neither one of them feels like deprivation or a huge sacrifice, so I think it will be easier for me to stick with them. I just think the whole mind set of adding in good things rather than just taking away bad, works better for me. Keeps it more positive. I know in practice it's the same thing, but it just makes the focus less unpleasant. At least for me anyway.

Well, Michael is home now & is keeping Cory entertained so he's not bothering his other siblings, which is a nice change. I think he's gotten bored since Michael left, but just won't admit that he misses his brother. Teenagers are so funny!

I didn't end up going grocery shopping yesterday cuz by the time Jim & Michael got home, it was later in the evening. So we just had Little Caesars for dinner. They aren't my fave, but I can tolerate their sausage & plain cheese pizzas, but the pepperoni is NASTY! I took all of two bites before giving mine to Jim. But Caesar's is cheap & fast, & I didn't have to cook, so I won't complain. (But I much prefer Papa Murphy's. Now THAT is delish!)

Not sure what is going on with my body right now. Last night I went to bed @ midnight but woke up about 2 AM with that jumpy adreneline rush feeling & nauseated. My heart was racing & my stomach did not feel right. I took 2 zofran ,which helped bring the queasiness down to a tolerable level so that I could get some sleep off & on. I was starting to feel a bit more nauseated around 9:30 again so I took a couple more & was able to have my coffee about an hour later without feeling like I was gonna hurl. Around 12:30 I had a couple of muffins & they aren't bothering me. I'm doing OK now, but not great. I just feel off kilter. Slightly sinus headachy, somewhat queasy, & my feet & hands were really puffy when I woke up this morning. Also had a sore chest & achiness like body aches, but only in my mid arm area. Weird cuz this combo just doesn't go with any sicknesses that I know about. But I just feel "off" & not quite well, but I don't wanna stay in bed all day cuz that's boring. Besides no fever anyway, & I did get a flu shot several weeks ago so I don't think it's influenza. Maybe it was the yucky pepperoni pizza! lol. But the rest of my family ate it & was fine. I don't know. Hopefully, it will pass. It's just hard to get stuff done when you feel crummy. Feels like you're walking uphill in lead boots just to do simple things, but really not sure what the alternative is. It's not like just lying around helps me feel any better.

Anyway, today I really do have to grocery shop. Tonight is movie night & it's my pic. I saw a netflix streaming movie that looks good. It looks like one of those Hallmark or independent movies & isn't rated, which doesn't make me nervous cuz those movies are usually very family friendly. It's called All I Want for Christmas. Tonight for our traditional sandwich dinner, we'll have ham as our filling & of course, we have to have chips & drink. I'll get a flavored water for myself & something else for the rest of the family. That way, I stay with my healthier choice, but still get a little treat.

So my plan for today is to do my usual stuff. Nothing new at this juncture cuz I'm still not getting through the old. lol. It will happen eventually, right?

Ruby Tink ;-)

Today's the day! Jim will pick up Michael after work. My boy is all done with finals, so that ends his first semester. He thinks he did really well too. :-)

Well, yesterday I didn't get everything on my plan done, but I did get through some of it. I made the meals, did some school, memorized a couple of Bible verses, did my Bible study lesson (which was a LONG one), picked up my room (which again had become a big mess), & planned next week's meals, & made my grocery list.

So today, it will be pretty much the same plan except I won't need to do any Bible memorization, but I do need to grocery shop. Tonight for dinner, I'm making beef fajita stir fry & rice. Also, today I'm starting an exercise program. I'm planning to walk 30 minutes a day on the treadmill. That might not sound like a big deal, but I am really out of shape & 100 lbs overweight & haven't done any exercise in a while, so this is a major undertaking for me. It's not a complete lifestyle overhaul at this point, but I figure doing something healthy is better than nothing. Hopefully, it will help me lose weight, but I know there are other health benefits too, so even if it does take more than that to lose weight, at least I know I'm still doing something good for myself.

Anyway, time to go tackle the day.

Ruby Tink :-)

I can't believe how quickly the days seem to be whizzing by! As far as all my plans go, I've somehow managed to become stuck. Other than meals & school, I've gotten pretty much nothing done the past week. & the past 2 days, we haven't even done school. It seems like one thing after another keeps coming up or postponing my plans or things take longer than I thought they would. Yesterday & today I've had an upset tummy. Not puking or anything, but just feeling kinda icky & by 4:30 yesterday afternoon, I was down for the count. I got up around 6 ish to try to make dinner but felt too lousy to stay up & ended up going back to bed while everyone fended for themselves. I slept off & on until this morning. Guess I'm just at one of those bumps in the road. My tendency in the past has just been to give up for a while, but this time I've decided to just stick with things & do my best to get myself back on track right away.

I'm not adding anything new in for today since I haven't even been keeping up with the stuff I already have on my to do's. So this is my plan. Do school with the kids, work on memorizing a scripture passage that a friend & I are doing together, do my Bible study lesson, do laundry, do my daily & weekly room cleaning, clean the bathroom (which shock of all shocks has become dirty again), plan next week's meals, make a grocery list, look for a family devotional (We never did end up doing the Advent stuff, grrrrrr.), & see about getting together with a friend to see a movie. & of course, make lunch & dinner. Tonight we are having tuna casserole, asparagus, & leftover garlic bread from Tues night.

Not sure how much of this I will actually get done, but it's good to have a plan anyway. That way, if I do get off task due to not feeling well or all the things that can come up in the course of a day, both expected & unexpected, at least I'll know where to jump back in afterward.

Michael comes home tomorrow! Yay! We get him til after New Year's. This will be the longest he's been home since he left in August. Of course, he usually spends a lot of time with his friends, but that's OK. Friends are a good thing, right?

Other than getting our tree up & decorated, we haven't done anything for Christmas yet. We really don't get invited to Christmas parties. Honestly, we don't have any close friends nearby. It's funny, but my closest friends at this point are all long distance. I meet people online who I really connect with, & we talk, text, email, skype, but they live all over the country. Some are even foreign chicks, lol. Ok they're Canadian, which technically is a foreign nation, but um really is for all intents & purposes similar to living in the states. I guess I could have my own Christmas party, but that would require money & a clean house, so maybe next year. Haven't done any shopping, not cuz I'm such a procrastinator, I would LOVE to get my shopping done early, but ya gotta have $ to shop. Stores are funny that way. Oh well, we will do what we can when we can, & it will all work out. God is on the throne , life is good, & I am a blessed woman. & tomorrow I will have all my chicks in the nest for the next couple of weeks! Hooray! (& hopefully they won't kill each other.)

Ruby Tink ;-)

Baditude

It's a cold grey Sunday. Jim is at work so we couldn't get to church. So he's had a 7 day work week & will still have to work at least the next 5, probably the next 6, as he more often than not has to work Saturdays. He's working like a dog, yet we're barely making it. Normally, I have a pretty good attitude toward the whole $ thing, but today, not so much. I'm frustrated cuz I feel trapped & deprived. Yes, I know I should be thankful that for now anyway, we have a place to live, food, transportation, good health, and he has a job. That's a lot more than many many people throughout the world possess. And I am thankful for that stuff. It's just that there are things I want to do to move forward in life ,and the cold hard truth is that some of those things require $. There's only so much you can do & so far you can go for free. Take this whole Advent thing that I wanna do as a family. I need a few supplies. Nothing major. Could get what I need for under $10, probably even under $5, but we are so strapped, I can't even do that. I just hate that feeling of knowing that I can't even have one little thing that I'd like. Yes, I'm whining, but it's my blog. Better to get it out here than go bite someone's head off. I guess I just feel kinda stuck. Payday isn't til Thursday & by then we will be so many days behind in Advent that there probably isn't any point in trying to do the book cuz it would be awfully hard to catch up by Christmas, though maybe if we did 2 days worth each night til we're up to the right date that might work. OK I guess that would work. Well, that makes me feel a little better. Still frustrated though cuz shallow as it is, sometimes a girl just wants to know she has the option of buying a latte. Even if she doesn't exercise that option, there's just something about knowing she COULD get it that makes her feel better. Guess I wouldn't have made a very good pioneer or missionary. What can I say? Camping does NOT appeal to me. Coffee, hot showers & epidurals for childbirth do.


Yesterday, I got the bathroom mostly cleaned up, which was a HUGE improvement over how it looked before I started. I'm not quite done though, so my plans for today in addition to the usual will be to finish up in there. I need to clean the baseboards. (I didn't realize til I got in there yesterday just how grimy they are) Also sweep & mop the floor, & though I can't buy new towels at this juncture, I can look online & decide what I want anyway so that when I can get them, I'll be ready.

Tonight I'm making pork chops with an apricot glaze, coleslaw & applesauce. So hey, we may not have cash flow, but we can still enjoy a yummy dinner. It's not like we're starving or even eating Ramen & beans (which btw my kids would think is great anyway lol). OK well time to tweak my tude & get things in gear & do my Bible study & cleaning & not let the dreary winter greyness color my soul. Joy is a choice.

Ruby Tink :-)

Weekend Update

I admit it's not an original title, but I'm not making any $ here so I don't think the folks @ SNL will mind. I did so enjoy that show until it started getting utterly disgusting & gross. Oh for the vintage SNL! Now THERE was some funny stuff.

Well it's the usual story about yesterday. Got some things done, but not all. I did my Bible study, daily room pick up, grocery shopped & made food (even the chocolate cupcakes Haley wanted). I bought most of the things needed for our Advent devotions, but I couldn't find the styrofoam craft wreath we needed @ Walmart, & the nearest Michael's is probably about a 20 or 25 min drive from our house, & it was getting late & Jim still needed to take Cory to get dress pants cuz he's outgrown all of his, but Jim's are still too big for him, & he HAD to get them last night cuz he waited til then to tell us he needed them for TODAY! Why does this not surprise me at all? Today is his first basketball game & for some reason beyond my knowledge or comprehension, the coach wants the boys to dress up for the bus ride & walking into the other school. I guess this is what they'll be doing for all their away games. Dress shirt, dress pants, tie optional. Ok then. Wanna back up the teachers & all, but I'm just thinking, "And the point of this is.......?" Maybe I should ask my new friend I met online to ask her hubby ,who is a high school teacher & football coach, if he could enlighten me on the reasoning behind this.

I'm really bummed to be missing Cory's first game, but Jim has to work today. In fact, he has to work the whole weekend. So I don't have a way to get there. We always try to be @ all of our kids' extracurricular events cuz we think that's so important, but it's hard when there's mandatory weekends scheduled & when we so desperately need the money.

Well today my plan is pretty much the same as yesterday minus school & grocery shopping, so hopefully it's more likely to get done. Tonight is family movie night, so dinner will be sandwiches & chips & Jim will make it. Also I'd like to get to Michael's to pick up the craft supplies to make that wreath.

Anyway hope everyone is having a fun weekend!

Ruby Tink :-)

Wow! Is it really the 2nd day of December already? How did that happen? Oh I know. I blinked! lol. I wanted to start our Advent devotions last night, but there was a Christmas party at my mom's nursing home. Then when we came home, Jim wanted to watch Cars 2 as a family. I thought maybe we'd do the devotion afterward, but it took me forever to even find the book. In my defense it IS small & hey I think I might have mentioned a time or two that I'm organizationally challenged. But even after I found it, I saw that we needed supplies that I didn't have on hand for the activity part, so we skipped last night. I think they do build on each other though, so tonight we'll just double up. I have to grocery shop today anyway, so i'll just pick up the supplies while I'm @ Walmart aka "the cabin." which you might remember from an earlier post. I'm looking forward to starting this.

Well, I've made SOME progress this week, though not nearly as much as I had planned. Seems like I always plan more than I actually do. A friend was really helpful in getting me to focus on my priorities the other day, taking me through things step by step & even having times for check in. That really helped. Part of me is embarrassed that I seem to need so much direction/structure, etc. cuz I feel like this is something that women esp usually have so internalized. Girls are supposed to be neat, tidy, organized, right? In so many other ways I'm such a typical feminine girly girl, but in this area I'm more like a 5 year old ADHD boy. Anyway, it is what it is & at least I'm moving in a forward direction. So I did finish in my room. Now I just have to keep on top of it with daily & weekly cleaning, & thanks to my friend's sage advice, I had the kids pick up all the stuff that was on the stairs. I'm going to ask Jim to vacuum them today too. So I figure if I have the kids pick up the stairs each day & maybe have Jim vacuum them twice a week, that should keep them safe & decent looking. So my cleaning project for today will be our main bathroom. SCARY! I wouldn't want anyone outside my own family going in there now. It needs to be picked up, trash emptied, sink, toilet, tub, mirrors all cleaned, vanity dusted, & the floor swept & washed as well as fresh towels put out. My towels are all really ratty. Maybe I'll get a couple new ones while I'm at Walmart today. Once I get the bathroom cleaned up, I plan to stay on top of it with daily pick up, trash emptying, wiping the sink & toilet seat & rim with disinfecting wipes & using a little toilet cleaner with a quick swirl of the toilet brush each day as well as windex wiping the mirrors, then once a week cleaning the whole sink, toilet, tub & sweeping & washing floors. That should keep it nice.

So for today it's kids' schooling, Bible study lesson, making lunch & dinner, cleaning the bathroom, grocery shopping, starting the Advent devotions, & inviting a friend to a movie. That should keep me joyfully busy being a wife, mom, homekeeper, friend & spiritually nourished all around everyday diva.

RubyTink :-)