4 Sweet Sisters

I've used coupons here and there ever since we've had children. As I mentioned before we do most of our shopping through co-ops and warehouse stores, but there are some things I just can't get there or I have to buy to much of said item. That's were coupons come into play. With coupons, sale prices and BOGOs sometimes its a better deal at my neighborhood grocery store. Last week I had the privilege of attending a free True Couponing seminar. It was wonderful timing with our buying club taking a break for the whole summer! Basically I learned that I need to be getting more papers so that I have more coupons to work with. I don't have the time or inclination to go dumpster hunting for extra coupons, so having extra papers delivered to my door step at 50 cents a piece is a much better option for me. I also learned a super easy way to store these piles of paper. I had all the needed supplies to make my storage unit an immediate success ! That's one of the things ...

Does anyone remember my lovely craft room that Superman created for my birthday a couple of years ago? Click here , if you need a reminder. Well today my lovely room that has been continually abused and misused is changing. It's becoming the School Room. Superman still isn't sure about all of this...the house is torn apart and quite frankly I'm a bit nervous myself. I'll post the finish projects (there are 3 intertwind) next week or so. My goal is to have the two and 1/2 basics done by Saturday! See you Soon. Julie

So I was over at Raising Homemakers this morning. I get reminders from their site via face book . Anyhow, I 'm really enjoying the site because sometimes I get bogged down in the midst of it all. I even feel at times I'm in a battle, unfortunately a battle of wills. Much of it is of my own making. Today the discussion revolved around keeping a household. A huge item jumped out at me... Yikes! Dare I come clean... here goes..... I don't follow through enough with my girls. Ugh!!! Those of you who know me know this. I've been trying to keep it from myself and blame it all on them. Bad mom, I know. Now believe me I'm not being to hard on myself. We all (I hope I'm not the only one) have things come up in life that throw us off track. I unfortunately don't always get back on! One of my summer "head" goals (meaning I didn't write it down in stone) was to get on top of it with my girlies and stay there. I'm not talking about being mean. I...

I guess I should have looked up the definition of Cross Training before I started this post. Since that would be to laborious, I've decided to give you my definition. (See the stuff you read online may not always be accurate.) Reader Beware ! My definition is just this: Exercising 4 to 5 times per week using different muscle groups on opposing days. How am I going to accomplish this? Let me tell you... it has been a HUGE brain struggle! I've been warring with myself for a couple of months over this. My brain has finally won. I've decided to Nordic Walk 2 to 3 times a week and Swim 3 times a week. My body has become somewhat stagnant with just swimming and due to concerns over osteoporosis I needed to get in some bone building exercise. For Christmas I received a new pair of walking shoes and have really been trying hard to do my foot exercises each night. Urban Girl and I took our maiden walk on New Year's day (before I came down with the crud, again). It was great!...

Life has been a whirl wind. I keep stating that each time I have a chance to break away and blog. I would like to be on here a lot more, but time is precious when you're raising a family of any size. Am I right? I did want to update on my exercise habits. Since I last posted a lot has happened. First off, the Lord has been so good in graciously giving me the toys I wanted. I got a pair of water gloves for half price at Target and I was so excited. I used them for all my arm work outs for about a month. Then I laid off for a couple of days. Some how on my break I over extended one of my shoulders. I tried swimming through it thinking it would heal. It did not. So about two weeks ago I changed my workout and got rid of all arms. I'm not sure what I looked like coming down the lane, but I can assure you it was silly! That leads me to the next gift. This time another swimmer. She wanted me to have her old fins because she bought new ones. What a blessing. She's such a great la...

Does anyone recall me explaining the Sumo Diet? Go here and find out more. Unknown to me, I was following this lovely large plan. Ugh, yikes, I could scream were a couple of my thoughts and emotions. After I got over the initial shock and horror. I became terrified. Yay , I over did it. I was a afraid to sit down for fear of being sedentary. Don't worry, it didn't last long. I REALLY did not want to low carb diet anymore. Especially when we eat really healthy, preservative free and organic. Calorie counting at this point in my life would take an enormous amount of thought and time (although I'm still holding on to the idea- it's falling further back in my mind) So I've prayed and swam and swam while I prayed, yelled, screamed and shed a few tears. (You can do all that under water without people noticing - I think) Finally after having my rant I knew what I was supposed to do. The hardest of all weight control solutions out there! Eat when I'm really hungry...

A week or so ago while I was amidst my morning (torture) laps, I realized I needed a better way than my bean to keep track of my laps. I could be on 10 for 6 laps ( if I get into pray or start playing a game to keep me moving) before I realize I'm not on 10. Another more experienced swimmer had these big nuts on a string. They looked as if they had come from the South Pacific and I wanted some! They were really cool. Anyway, a swimmer who is on the mend made them for her out of a necklace. Perfect! I can do this. Well I didn't have much moola in the budget for beads ( i want big funky turquoise ones). So Monday as my feet hit the floor I see that some of the chickadees haven't cleaned up after crafting (ahem)... I scurried into the room and found enough beads and string to work for now. I would prefer to use fishing line, but the beads have worked out great! I did want to mix colors for easier counting, but I was in a hurry. So here's what I did: A Clear bead (purity) t...

Okay, as promised here are the disturbing photos..... Doesn't look to bad does it? This area ALWAYS piles up. Here's the actual closet where I keep this year's c urriculum. Stuff I really don't want touched goes on the upper shelves. Here's some books......... Sorry about the pictures , I did it quick and it was painful! And here's 1 cabinets worth of books out in the living room....... Believe me it looks even worse in real life :0 So here's the plan: 1. Wednesday- haul out all books and go through them. ( give , keep , throw or craft away) 2. Thursday- clean out all curriculum. (sell, give, keep) 3. Friday- IKEA Day! We've never been so it should be fun! ( at least for Grammy and me) Finalize room changes with Superman. Maybe even get some things moved around. (i have a plan drawn up on paper- we may need to make 1 shelf and a make shift work station) 4. Saturday and Monday- re categorize everything and put into place. So that's it. I like t...

*********Oh the Horror! I'll be posting the pictures as soon as my battery charges.********** I'm sitting here in our School / Computer/ Office/ Library/ Musical Instrument Room and well......... I just don't know how to control this room. I'm constantly freaking out, yelling, crying over this 11x10 space. I've tried going with the flow. I've used every organizational skill known to woman kind. This space is just not working. At times all 6 of us gather in this small space. It holds 4 large cabinets, 3 computers, a dining room table, 5 to 6 chairs, and an encyclopedia cabinet. I need to haul it out yet again. Put away the past year and get ready for the new one. As you can see I'm not doing what I should be doing.... Anyone want to come and help me? I'm REALLY Serious. On to happier thoughts... Summer has become so crazy! It's great, but I haven't adjusted to our schedule. We all are involved in some sort of swimming from 8:30 until 10:30. By th...

Things I like to get back or accomplish this week. - Get up at 6:30 - Writing/Scripture - Bake Bread - Clean my bathroom (yikes!!! :0) - Finish Florida notebooks - Hair cut - Clean out School Room (I'm CONSTANTLY doing this) - De clutter craft room -Laundry -Get ready for our anniversary! -Organize portfolios and school work for storage -Continue food plan -Plus all the other stuff that comes and I'm forgetting! Do you have anything big planned this week? julie

As you can probably tell from previous post I'm not a very eloquent person or a good writer for that matter. Which leads me straight into today's topic..... Perfectionism. Oooo we really hate/love that word don't we! I do. I still get caught up in it's ugly web. Perfect dieting (weight control), perfect marriage, perfect homeschool children, perfect school program to name a few. Yikes, that's only a few. The thing I've (pretty) much learned over the past 16 years of marriage and motherhood is that my Dad isn't looking for perfection from me. He's already got that and more! He wants me to be good, maybe even superb in many areas of life and to come to him whether I'm good or bad at it. So this leads me to homemaking, child rearing, schooling, and husband loving. Way back when my first daughter was just a tiny babe I would purpose to sit down in the afternoons and read a couple of scriptures and write in my prayer journal ( not for long or I would ...

Well I wanted to get these up because Nestor is having a 10 minute to a beautiful room party . This has definitely taken more than 10 minutes. But in my brain it was only suppose to take a day! It's far from finished, but that's what a craft room is for. Right? Here's a couple of before pics during the Children's Christmas play. Basically every surface was covered and I had to move stuff just to work. Five of us craft, sew, scrapbook etc in this room. So space and good storage is an issue. The room is apx.10x11. I really want my daughter's to grow up being Keeper's of their Homes. Home Decorating and Crafting Frugally is a must! You can have a beautiful home on a very tight budget. I also want them to be creative and have a place to show and explore their abilities. ( alrighty let me jump down from my horse; ) Here's some after photos. The paint was from the $5 bin and too yellow. So I added alot of white that we had from another project! Th...

I'm just stopping by.... I have so much trivial and mundane stuff to share, but I just haven't had the time. My real job has been super busy with a Surprise Trip out of state thrown in! So I've been feverishly knitting scarves and crocheting hats ( 1 goal down for the new year!). I crocheted this hat.... not the scarf (target clearance) I did crochet this hat and I knitted this scarf... I've been doing a lot of sewing and school with the chickadees . We pretty much finished my Christmas/Birthday Room which I'm putting off sharing until I get back from the Great White North. Which incidentally we hear will be having a warm snap while we're there! Pray for SNOW !! The other item I wanted to share is the Surprise Baskets for the little chickadees. It's a tradition my Mother started when we were young. Depending on the age of the person you may write notes and/or give tiny gifts to open for the days you are gone. I did this for Superman when he had to trave...

I have so much on my mind today. Some happy and some not so happy. I'll let you in on my thoughts over the next couple of weeks. Be forewarned, it doesn't always come out the way it sounds in my head! But before I go any farther I wanted to share with you a simple project Farmer Girl and I made together. It was her 1st experience with the hot glue gun! Yikes!! We took a simple basket. (The kind that produce comes in and makes you feel like you live in the country and home grow everything.) Then, last summer I happened upon a bed canopy for 70 cents at a thrift store. We used this for the interior. It already had a ruffle so we cut the ruffle off and hot glued it on to the outside of the basket. We then finished it off with pink ribbon, a white button and lots of hot glue. She is very proud of herself. The Little Chef was the happy recipient on Christmas morning. We hope to make bedding now that Farmer Girl has her new Janome Hello Kitty Sewing Machine. Words cannot describe h...

Yippee! It's time to talk money. In December or a bit earlier of 2007 we decided we wanted to become debt free. So in Jan '08 we started. We ended up getting to take the Dave R. course that Jan. Great timing. What a interesting journey this past year has been. We had to refund our emergency fund 4 times , due to dental problems! We stayed on budget and didn't rack up any more debt than we alredady had. We also were able to pay down about a third of the debt. We put our home up for sale. But even with an ELP on our side it didn't sell. FL's market is flooded with foreclosures. But we did what we felt we were called to do. So for now our plans of more land and country are on hold. This Year: -Make a little over minimum payment to debt each month. -Sock all extra money into EF to get it up to 6 months (not sure about Superman's job this year- if all goes well we will pay off debt and start working on refunding the EF ) -Save all the extras I can towards a new...