Okay, so I finally moved near enough to CVS to do the deals MoneySavingMom recommends. This is quite fun! Right up my alley. Immediately, I realized that I am going to need a better stockpile of coupons than online printables will allow. Nevertheless, I managed to dig enough coupons up to buy a few things and generate ECBs for next time.
I now have $13.99 in ECBs. What next, CVS bargain experts?
I'll post a picture of my purchases later, when I regain access to the main computer (too many kids, too few computers).
I also went to the local grocery store. It doubles coupons up to 50 cents. I got $1.75 off lunchmeat that was marked 2/$6. Combining those with Claussen pickles (I had $1 off coupon), I was able to get Kraft mayo for free! I had two coupons for $3 off 1 Post LiveActive cereal. The store had them marked down for $2.50 apiece! So I got two of them for more than "free"! I combined that with another store coupon I had: buy any two Post cereals and a gallon of milk, get a certain amount off (can't remember how much, but at least a couple of dollars). Even more "free"! On top of that, I had a store coupon for $3 off a $30 purchase. I did buy a family pack of sale ground beef, three gallons of milk, two loaves of bread, and on-sale strawberries ($1.88). Pretty good, for around $20 cash!
I can't even describe to you what a total wreck we have made of the house. I can't seem to get hands free long enough to get through a single task. Very discouraging, but I'm tired tonight, and I'm sure that contributes. If Fuzzy drops off in a few minutes, I'll get the dishes done, but not much else.
I'm longing to tackle it, but that requires time and no people in the way. It's a small-ish house and everyone is just underfoot all the time. I don't get much time away from baby at all, except for the few hours at a time that I sleep. We've been homeschooling, which is good, but we all know what homeschooling does to the house. We are also scheduled for a good bit of running around (by my standards) this week.
Otherwise, we're doing very well. I love my clothesline. Have I mentioned that? :) I may not be keeping up with laundry, but that bit is enjoyable, at least. Even the kids like doing that.
Today was Fuzzy's 4-month doctor visit. He is indeed 5 months old, but we missed the 4-month with the craziness before the move. He's all caught up on shots now. The children behaved excellently in the waiting room with their big sissy while I took Fuzzy to the examining room. I treated them to lunch afterward.
The doctor has recommended vitamin drops for Fuzzy because if he doesn't take them "he'll be anemic." Hmmmm.... Well, we haven't had a problem with that the last couple of babies; in fact, I don't think any of them but Chicken has taken vitamin drops, and she only for as long as I remembered. Which wasn't long. It's a bit confusing; I thought mother's milk was supposed to be a complete food for infants. I guess after seven children, I just don't scare that easy.
However, wishing to be a compliant mother, I bought the drops at the drugstore on the way home. The thing is, according to the pharmacist, the only way to get them into my exclusively breastfed infant is to put them into water (or juice, but he's not getting any juice for a long while yet). That means introducing a bottle. That has obvious drawbacks. Not only the confusion issue; it's also just one more doggone thing to keep up with. Why not just wait until he's eating baby food? It's only another month or so.
Now that you've had a sample of my tortuous reasoning style, shall we discuss tomorrow? Tomorrow is a field trip to the grocery store, where the children will learn (we hope) the benefits of a healthy diet. If they can tear their eyes off the pastries and cookies in the bakery dept. long enough to hear the lecture. I'm not prepared for tomorrow, and it's nearly ten at night here. So, I'm signing off to do what I can. Aforementioned dishes & whatever else (although I hear Fuzzy fussing again).
I guess my incoherence is a little too obvious tonight! Signing off to tackle...something.
Just a quick word on this, and then it's back to our regularly scheduled mundanities.
People, we are talking about entrusting our health care decisions to the same government that counts on a certain percentage of us to die before we collect Social Security benefits. Believe me, they have actuarial data on it and they base policy on the fact that a certain number of people will die before they reach retirement age.
Foolish.
We already have a Europe on this planet. If Europe is truly a socialist paradise, let people vote with their feet and immigrate there. We don't need yet another nation of government-dependent children-citizens. What we do need is to hold the line. We need to retain our ideal of being the land of the free and the home of the brave. No free-born person trusts the promises of politicians. All free-born people know instinctively that when government intrudes into our personal lives, it does great damage.
Don't trade your noble heritage, your blood-bought freedom, for a mess of pottage.
They are one small reason I believe in a Designer.
Every year, I spend a good chuck of time untangling strings of lights that I thought were carefully wound before stowage the year before.
Anyone who's picked knots out of a child's beloved string of beads or tethered baseball has asked herself, "How on earth did this thing ever tie *itself* into such a complicated knot?"
Bottom line: Things tangle far more easily than they untangle. It takes no effort or intelligence to tangle a string, while untangling it requires titanium fingernails and 1/2 hour or more of close observation. All things proceed from order to chaos. Any homemaker knows this from sad experience.
So, anyone who can observe DNA doing this and not believe in a Designer is being deliberately obtuse.
The One Horrific Day approach is not for me. I think I will stick with the two-loads-a-day approach for now. I was trying to get all dirty laundry done on a daily basis, but that's where I'm getting derailed. This is without question a three-to-four-load-a-day household, and I don't have that kind of time.
I'm in the middle of the clothing switch-out, still, and that's part of the chaos. The weather here is sproinging up and down and off the wall like one of those crazy bouncy balls the kids get at the dentist's office.
I am literally overrun by ants. I have them crawling on me as I type. They are swarming out of the cracks in the bathroom. I have no hope of keeping the place sterile enough to get rid of them via starvation methods. Also, I'm out of Borax, and anyway, can't poison every ant in the great outdoors that way. I'm going to do the best I can to straighten and clean the upstairs, then call the bug man first thing next week. [Susie waves white flag.]
I thought we got a lot done today. We homeschooled, and I got two loads hung and dried on the line outdoors. It didn't storm as predicted; the weather was simply gorgeous. Almost as if it were apologizing for its moodiness earlier in the week. If things can dry out a bit, I can actually plant a few things. Speaking of which, anybody else remember this song?
I really need to go mop now. And a dozen other things I probably won't get to. 'Night!
• May. 2, 2008 - Encouragement from Another Mom in the Trenches
My friend wrote this excellent column, and granted me permission to post it. Read and be encouraged!
I AM IN OVER MY HEAD I admit it , I am in over my head, hopelessly inept, completely incapable of doing all that needs to be done, all that I want to do. All of my ambitions, God given dreams, aspirations, visions of grandeur…. even just plain old competence escapes me some days. Years of opportunities for future failure loom large in front of my eyes. My life as a one hit wonder lies behind…my piles of discarded “been there done that, got the t-shirt and donated it already” are a memory. The daily grind of existing with my endless “to do list” is a never-ending reality. Depressed yet? I’m not., as I realize that I am EXACTLY where the Lord wants me; utterly dependent on God to give me strength, as my own has failed me. Acknowledging, that, without HIM…I can do no good thing. . When I am weak, He is strong, and His power is made perfect in my weakness. 1 Corinthians 12: 9-10 With complete abandon I must DAILY throw myself on the grace and mercy of God. Psalm 84:5-7 “Blessed is the man whose strength is in YOU, whose heart is set on pilgrimage, as they pass through the valley of Baca; they make it s a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from STRENGTH to STRENGTH; Each one appears before God.” As we go through dry places, times of weeping. and even exhaustion, God is faithful to provide “times of refreshing”, He will “water us” in the dry places, He will BE our STRENGTH.. That is part of His plan, for us to recognize these words as true: Psalm 78:25-28 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. 28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works. I am in over my head. He has thrown me the lifeline. Have you recognized that you are in over your head too? He is there, to save you, from your SELF. by V.: A woman being preserved through childbearing!
Just as the first of May ought to be. I hope we have more of them this week. I've lately been feeling as if I live in Seattle instead of the South.
I got the papers on the desk cleaned off today. I got some papers filed and a few scanned. I got rid of the cardboard boxes at the recycle center. I dropped off an application for a CVS card, so now I can join Catrina and Tonya on getting deals. :) I made calls and resolved a few things. I made a picnic date with the Mom We Met at Wal-Mart for next week. I signed us up for two field trips with a local homeschool group, to take place next week. I made a decent supper. Which my son refused to eat. And now it's, "I'm hungry!" and I'm losing my temper. Grr.
That's enough for a day, you'd think, but I'm way backed up on laundry, so maybe I ought to send everybody to bed and put in my new Andy Irvine/Paul Brady CD and do a folding/washing/drying marathon.
If I could come up with a workable laundry routine, it would probably solve 50% of my housekeeping frustrations. I've tried: do a load a day, do it all on one horrible laundry-focused day, do *two* loads a day (light and dark), recycle pj's, dirty basket in each kids' room, clean delivery basket for each room...you name it. I can't seem to make anything work. Urg. Laundry: my Waterloo.
Okay, thinking out loud here: What if I just piled dirty clothes in the closet all week and did all the wash starting on Thursday night, then all day Friday, and then had everybody sit down to a folding marathon late Friday afternoon? Obviously not the most careful way to do it while watching for stains. Also, cuts down on the possibility of clothesline use. The other problem I see with that is, what happens when we have to go out or have other things more pressing on those days? Going out throws off all housecleaning efforts.
I just hate laundry so much that having to do it every day is like a punishment. I hate it because I can't just focus on it and get it done (my preferred way of doing things). The process consists of so many steps that inevitably I am sidetracked and derailed before it ends.
On the other hand, nothing makes my flesh crawl like seeing a gargantuan pile of dirty laundry sprawling on the floor. Ew. That's probably the only reason I'm ever motivated to do the laundry. That, and the prospect of having to go unclothed.
I'm really bad at doing laundry, too. And honestly, it's not for lack of trying. My friends give us beautiful clothes for my children to wear, and somehow we manage to stain them right away. I'm not sure how! I soak things in Oxyclean, I spray them with stain treatment, but our clothes just don't stay nice. I just want to cry when I pull something out of the dryer and it has ugly stains all down the front. It's such a defeated feeling.
I really want to use my clothesline more, but that will only draw the process out. I hear it helps with stains, whereas the dryer sets them.
The five younger children and I went out today for "snip snip les cheveux." (Knew that college French class would stand me in good stead someday.)
We had a good time, but it took two-and-a-half hours, and it was hard on the toddler. He fell asleep on the way home. Sound asleep. Woke up after supper was served and would have none of it. Had a screaming tantrum. Was put to bed without eating. :( Poor little guy. Can't make him eat when he's like that. I gave him some milk and he wouldn't even drink that.
We chose the closest barber shop to our address. Hubby had been there and said it was a good place to go. I was very pleased. The stylist who cut the children's hair was very good with them, even my nervous one. All the children behaved perfectly (almost). The barber who cut my hair was positive about large families. He essentially told me the work was all worthwhile. He said he knew that for a fact because he didn't have any children. (Sad!) They even let me run across the way to the ATM and get cash to pay them after they'd cut our hair, since I forgot to bring that form of payment. Prices were reasonable.
He cut my hair a little trendier than I wanted. However, it is an improvement over the shapeless mass I went in with. It's essentially a layered bob, with one side a bit longer than the other. I have a picture, though his gel had fallen flat by the time we took it.
Look at Mopsy's hair, though. Isn't it cute? It's a little messy in this picture because she'd been lying on the floor. I thought it was so nice of the lady to give Mopsy a hair-do after the trim, and one appropriate for a little girl.
Here's mine. Don't be scared, please; it was post-tantrum, post-spit-up, and no-makeup.
No earthquake, don't worry; 11yo took the shot.
From the looks of it, I really need to catch some z's.
On the matter of looks--I can't find my clothes! I have no idea where my summer clothes are. Do I even have any? I can't remember! I'm serious. I thought I had t-shirts, at least, I mean some that aren't leftover maternity.
It looks like I may have a good excuse to do some shopping.
Against all odds, we got back to homeschooling today! I decided it was best to do the 3R's and just read aloud for pleasure. We did math and spelling. We read a child's version of the biography of Corrie ten Boom, and a chapter-and-a-half of The Indian in the Cupboard. I do intend to get back to the unit study, but right now, until matters here are more settled, this is the best way to go about it. Oh, for science we identified our tortoise friends. Common Terrapenes (box turtles). T. Carolina Carolina. And yes, they were mating.
I literally feel like I come under satanic attack when I try to gather us all together to get started. Literally. But we pushed through and the children seemed to appreciate the readings (though not the math). We'll just keep plugging away! :)
I think I have discovered the path to successful housekeeping!
All this time I have been attempting to conform my day to the checklist. I've had it all backwards.
The secret is to conform the list to the events of the day.
For instance:
* Wake up when hubby asks you to choose and iron his clothes. Check
* Catch toddler before he climbs on top of sleeping baby. Check
* Discipline toddler for spitting at you. Check
* Iron while toddler fusses. Check
* Iron more wrinkles into tapered-leg pants than you are ironing out. Check
* Go fix toddler's breakfast. Check
* Notice there's a phone message. Check
* Retreat to farthest corner of house to speak to pediatrician's office in quiet. Check
* Apologize to office worker for the noise when toddler finds you. Check
* Catch chewed up cereal in hand while giving pediatrican's office pertinent information regarding transfer of records. Check
* Go get fussing baby out of exer-saucer . Sit in recliner with baby and and screaming toddler to calm both. Keep them from conking heads. Check
* Direct children to put on clothes. Check
* Clean outsides of honey containers. Spray ants on counter. Check
* Rescue milk from counter. Return to fridge. Check
* Rescue remaining cups of chocolate milk from toddler. Put in fridge. Check
* Get dressed. Check
* Put baby down for quick nap. Check
* Pull laundry from dryer. Check
* Notice you forgot to bring a laundry basket. Check
* Notice washer is empty. Check
* Notice water in tub is rusty. Check
* Notice new rust stains on stained clothes soaking in Oxyclean in tub. Check
* Notice tub is clogged. Check
* Find a bucket in which to soak clothes. Check
* Realize bucket is full of automotive cleaners. Check
* Realize path to garage shelves holding automotive cleaners is blocked. Check
* Thread a path to shelf, unload bucket, rinse bucket over clogged tub, fill with soak water, move clothes to bucket. Check
* Repeat with diaper bucket. Check
* Step on bucket lid; injure foot. Check
* Hear 8yo upstairs going AUUUUGGGGHHH in frustration. Check
* Write a quick blog entry. Kiss boo-boos and direct 8yo to missing chocolate milk in fridge. Check
I've had a pretty successful morning, I think. It's not even ten o'clock and look at all I've accomplished on my list! Way to go me!
It's only run-off, but it's clear water, and very fast. That little drop-off in the foreground is a spot where the water totally inverts as it rushes over a tiny waterfall. Pretty cool.
Look what we found! Salmonella carriers! (Heh, jk, I hope.)
Hellooo in there!
They didn't care to look this noisy crew over. In fact, we may have interrupted a "romantic moment"--erhem. Together again:
Probably someone will comment and say they're both males or females or somesuch. I'd love to know.
It was definitely a "misty-moisty morning."
Let's teach little brother how to jump over the creek. First you do this:
