Why didn't I buy stock in Kleenex??

I have officially joined the "Let's get February over with already" fan club. In our house we don't usually say we "hate" or "don't like" something. (For example the nutritious, sometimes slightly complex meals I "slave over"). In our house we say "It's not my favorite." if the meal or activity is something we don't care for. It's just a little thing that my husband started a couple of years ago to help take sting out of the occasional objections I get to the meals I prepare. With that in mind, I'd like to submit the following statement.

February is definitely NOT MY FAVORITE month. No offense February, but you kind of stink. Over the past 4 years it has always been the "sickest" month in our house. Since the beginning of February this year, we have had colds, stomach flu, a different strain of the stomach flu a week later and more colds.

I was so glad to start this week. I knew our luck was turning-March was on her way with multiple family birthdays, warmer weather (hopefully) and the beginning of spring-I could almost taste the fresh air....

And then my little guy started to get a runny nose (again). No biggie, we just took it easy for a couple of days-I can handle colds standing on my head. After a couple of days rest, we were ready to venture out into the wide world. We met my sister for coffee yesterday morning, and even made it to the mall to scout some presents for the upcoming birthdays. That's when I got the phone call.. "This is your daughter's school, could you please call us about her eye?" I'm thinking to myself.. "What eye?-her eyes were fine this morning."

Well, as I got to the school office and got my first glimpse of my gal I saw that her eye was definitely NOT FINE now. Her left eye looked like it had been out for an all night bender and back. It very much stood out next to her normal looking right eye. The nurse informed me that pinkeye was going around and kiddo needed to come home until I talked to the doctor and got her some drops. So that was our day yesterday. I climbed into bed last night thinking-well at least we're at the end of the month.

That's about when my little guy came down with his fever. 101 degrees isn't very high, but it sure feels like it when your the momma holding the kid in your arms all night. He was uncomfortable, I was uncomfortable, Daddy was uncomfortable. I think even "PINKY" came to join the fun at one point and mentioned something about her tummy hurting (the only time I've ever wondered if I could run straight through the wall like they do in the cartoons).

Thankfully, as the ashes settled this morning, a sort of clarity (and possibly sanity?) settled upon us. My girls eyes were looking like a normal persons and was able to go to school (the tummy ache had been heartburn-Tums took care of that). A quick visit to the doctor let us know that my little guy just had a mild infection in both ears. A not-so-quick (ugh!) visit to the drugstore got us the medicine he needed. And there you go-we're all on the road to recovery! I'm not even going to say how glad I am there are only two days left to this month. No offense, but Valentines Day just doesn't cut it in bringing up my opinion of this month-maybe when we're a little older and a little less (ahem) sickly... Of course, my husband is probably right when he says "If we didn't have February, then you wouldn't like March."

Can't keep a good gal down!

Man, this is one of those weeks that I'm GLAD there is church for Ash Wednesday tonight-I really need it! It started yesterday when I stopped by my (old) office to visit some of my friends. They seemed to be very busy and missing me so much. I figured it was time to put a feeler call out to my boss and see if she had any idea when I might be able to go back.

It took me a couple of hours to work up the nerve to make the call. (I think I already knew what I would hear and wanted to put it off for as long as possible). At first she said that she really can't tell me much at all. Things really haven't changed. Though they are busy, they think it is a very temporary rush that will pass. She then said that in order for them to call people back, especially part-time employees, it would take an immediate major upswing in the economy. She then said that if I need to work-I should probably start looking elsewhere.

Oh... Excuse me for a moment as I watch the last 7.5 years go out the window. All of my friends. One very special one that just gets me-gone. I know-I'm not dead and my life DEFINITELY was not only my work-I was part time for goodness sake! But I still gave a lot of myself to the company and now it's pretty much over with not even a card or flowers or even an acknowledgement from the big guys?

I think it's just the fear of the unknown that's really getting to me. My husband reassures me that we will be fine. And I have loved being home with my kids. I'm just afraid that I will HAVE to find a new job-to start over. My husband once again is looking at this as an opportunity. He's always an optimist. I usually am, too. That's the bummer about this situation. Some of the pessimists I know were proven right, which makes it hard for us blind optimists! I'm hangin' on, though!

I honestly wish that President Obama would start some sort of subsidy program for stay-at-home moms. Aren't we doing the best we can for our families? It's not like we need a lot. It would just be nice to still be able to take family vacations, go out to eat once in while, little things like that. But once again-we will be fine. We may need to make a few more adjustments, but there are a lot of other people out there that need our prayers. As my hubby's dear grandfather always used to say: "If you pray, why worry? If you worry, why pray?"

Love those Midwestern winter weekends!

Well, what a whirlwind of a weekend we've had for our family. Originally my husband and I planned on getting up early Saturday, making breakfast and going to some local furniture stores to price out a love seat (how we're spending our tax return). One look at all of the winter storm warnings Friday night put the kibosh on that plan.

We hoped that maybe Mother Nature would go easy on us, but as we woke Saturday morning, one peak out our window showed that, yep, we were staying in. Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't a blizzard. It's just easier to NOT have to bundle everyone up and make sure that the little guy keeps his mittens on-especially just to go window shopping. Plus, what better reason to cuddle up and watch movies, play some games and just plain have fun.

We (and by we I mean my husband) did achieve two major accomplishments on Saturday: he cleaned the gum off of some antique chairs that we had acquired from our church and he tightened up an antique table that we bought from our neighbors. Put them all together and VOILA! You have a completely different looking dining room setup! I finally was able to put away the cheap big box mart table and chairs set that I bought um... 10 years ago! It's just so nice to have a dining set that lives up to the integrity and character of our drafty old house.

Sunday was a much more action packed day for our family. We started out with Sunday School and church. After church it was a mad dash home for a quick bite and then my daughter and I were off to the local high school to watch "Junie B. Jones the Musical". We had an awesome mother daughter bonding time. I even got a little choked up on the finale song (something that isn't too huge of a surprise to anyone who knows me). After waiting in line for "forever" (according to my daughter) we got autographs from every single cast member, then headed home.

At that point we decided to get bundled up and go sledding (the temperature and wind chill are much more comfortable today). It was a pretty short trip, and the snow was pretty thin, but we had a blast! The little guy was just as excited to go down the hill (all by himself mind you) as his big sister! When everyone had enough of the cold weather we headed home for supper and hot chocolate.

And now, what do you know-it's nearly bedtime. I just love the days that fly by like that! I truly hope that our kids will remember half of the fun things we've done with them. I wish that I could remember every second of it, myself.

To Mortgage or not to Mortgage?

In light of our (and several other peoples') situation, I have been trying to find ways of saving money.

One thing I started doing a few months ago was looking at fliers for the local supermarkets and making my menu around what was on sale (and what I had in stock) instead of the other way around. Between that and clipping coupons, I have cut our grocery bill in half! I also have cut my lunches out down to once every few weeks (before I was laid off it was at least once a week). We have also been keeping our thermostat kept pretty low (long johns anyone?).

Unfortunately, these savings just are not enough to help me with my grand plan (more like pipe dream). That was for my husband and I to go away for a few days for our 10 year anniversary this summer. Originally the plan was to go to Las Vegas and stay at the Venetian (reminiscent of our honeymoon-we went to Italy and are still paying for it-ha!). Then I lowered my expectations to a few days at a beach house along Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. That is more than likely slightly out of our grasp, also.

I just don't think that Obama and the stimulus package are going to be able to help my family fast enough. And it really isn't the end of the world-we're happy at home, too. But lately I've been thinking that maybe we should look into refinancing to get our rate lowered. Now, I used to work in a mortgage related industry, but I couldn't tell you what current rates are to save my life! I kind of feel bad about that, but my mind is so filled up with tomorrow's lunchbox for my girl and tonight's dinner for all of us, and ooh, what is that smell?-time to change the boy. That's just an example of the zillions of thoughts going around in my head.

I guess I really should call up some of my old lender friends and find out what rates are and if we can even get approved on one salary. I'll keep you posted-it will be a whole new adventure!

Count your blessings.

What an exciting President's day we have in my household! Right now we have the little neighbor girls over that my kids love playing with. They are into my little guys Hot Wheels and Thomas trains, setting up tracks all over the place. I just love hearing the busy bustle and giggles that are floating up the stairs to reach my ears!

What I'm most excited about today is that we get to share our blessings with others. I taught Junior Church yesterday, and our lesson was about how Jesus shows his love for us. I had each of the kids talk about how they are blessed (home, family, food-these kids are pretty smart-none of them said their Wii's (not that that isn't a blessing, too!)). Then we spoke about how we need to show our love to others. The kids said that we can help other people, donate to charity, and help in the church. Like I said, they're pretty smart kids! Well, you can imagine my delight when I looked at the calendar this morning and realized that today is the day that I signed up (months ago) to prepare a green vegetable for the local homeless shelter.

When I signed up to help out, I didn't realize it was a holiday-what are the odds that I'd be able to have my seven year old home from school to help with this honorable task? I'm so excited to be able to carry our church lesson over into our everyday life so quickly. We've already taken the walk up to the grocery store for green beans and French's onions (Green bean casserole seems the best choice of my recipes for green vegetables). Plus we picked up the neighbors to walk with us. So we've had fun with our friends, gotten some exercise, fresh air and we're feeling good about ourselves! What better way to remember OUR blessings (freedom, home, food on our table) than by sharing them. Yes, it's a very good President's day, indeed.

My cheapskate Valentine.

Happy Valentine's day everyone! Hope it's good for all. I'm always amazed by the wide range of how people celebrate Valentines Day. Some people lavish each other with chocolate, jewelry, flowers and/or dinner at a fancy restaurant. Then there are couples that take "V" day with pretty much and "eh" attitude (of course when I was single, it was the holiday I hated the most, so there is that range on the celebrating spectrum, too).

I've always thought that my husband and I kind of took the middle path, with a slight veer toward "eh" at times. Over the past few years, we have gotten a heart shaped pizza from a take'n'bake place, had cookies, and get each other (and the kids) a small gift and chocolates.

Well, this year just feels different. Because I know times are tight, I asked for the gift of time from my husband, that's all. See, I have a massage gift certificate leftover from my birthday last year, so I just wanted the time to use it. Fate is not in my favor, however, as the spa is booked up for Saturday. So I'm hoping hubby does not go crazy and buy me something..... too big (haha). All I got him was some special dark chocolates that I found on sale and some spicy nuts, also on sale.

But the best part of our Valentines day will be after the kids go to bed (not that you dirty minded people!). I'm going to make some hors 'duerves and fondue just for him and I. I might even get dolled up a little while he's putting the kids to bed. I'm pretty excited that I was able to get all of my supplies/ingredients for decent prices or raid my freezer for them. I also hand made his card and found an awesome quote to use in it. All in all it should be a pretty cheap Valentine for us. And I am A-OK with that!

And the walls came tumbling down.

Hello everyone. Welcome to my life. I thought I'd give you a little back-story to show how I come here today.
This goes back to six months ago. On a sunny day in October, my boss of over seven years came into our office. I was the only one working in that branch that afternoon, so I was pretty surprised to see her. She let me know that even though it saddened her horribly, the company I worked for needed to lay me off, temporarily(?).
She explained how it was a hard decision for the owners of the co., but since I was a part-time employee, they were going to have to let me go for a little while, but hopefully the mortgage market will pick up. More than likely not before Christmas, or January or February, mind you. Those are always our slowest months.
So I got the fun task of going home to tell my husband "I am now a stay at home mom, can we afford it?" I just sat like a zombie through dinner and while the kids watched a movie. I had been doing my work for over seven years. I loved it, what was I going to do now? I think I would have really freaked out, if it wasn't for my awesome husband. He always keeps me on the even keel. We talked and prayed all night. And we really looked at this as an opportunity. Our little guy was just about to turn two, how much fun to be with him all the days. Plus, wouldn't it be great to be able to meet our 6 year old at the bus stop every day? Of course we were worried about the money, but we knew we'd figure it out one way or another.
Well, it's been four months now, but it has FLOWN by! I am loving being with my kids, though I do still look for work and file for unemployment. And I'm dealing with issues about being laid off and an at home mommy. But that's for another post.....