Yesterday was my BIRTHDAY so it seems just fitting I fond a very exciting deal at Meijers.  I was looking at a blog called:  afullcup and there I learned that Meijer's was having a cheese sale.  3 packs of cheese for $4.00.  Then, there was register coupon that printed anytime you bought 5 packages of cheese for $5.00 off your next order.  Add to that there were several Kraft cheese coupons in the papers over the last few weeks PLUS some printable ones.  This would make each transaction FREE. 

Armed with all this information and my Kraft cheese coupons, I headed to Meijers.  I took my oldest and newly married daughter with me so that she could get some free cheese as well.  It was also nice to have someone there with me to giggle over our sale and to stay strong when the whole thing started to go wrong.

We went through and picked up our first 5 packs of cheese.  It worked!  We got our cheese and our $5.00 coupon.  So we had to repeat this process over and over.  We chose all the cheese we thought we could want and could share/store.  Then we headed to the self- checkout lane- the one with unlimited items because we did not want to make a bunch of people stand in line behind us.  We ran our next transaction through- and NO coupon printed!  Then Christina quickly noticed the red lights for "paper out" were blinking on the Catalina machine.  YIKES.  So I went up to the front counter and asked the guy there if he could help us because or coupon did not print.

He immediately gave me a coupon, so we changed lanes and moved to one where the machine actually worked.  I did not want to drive the man crazy running up there after every transaction.

We did two more transactions and suddenly it quit working too.  So, the checkout guy in charge o helping the self-checkout people knew what we were doing, so when the coupon wold not print, he would simply take a $5.00 off each transaction. 

So, it took a lot of patience and a little begging for help from the store staff to get the whole thing to work, but it DID work.  And the staff was really helpful, although I imagine they were secretly  just glad to see us leave. 

Last night I totaled up my cost for all that cheese, and my grand total I had to spend was $2.36.  This was for 45 packages (8 ounce for most of them) of Kraft cheese.  Shredded, block, crumbles, etc.  All were eligible.

I did take some pictures but I used Anne Mary's camera.  I cannot figure out how to load the pictures, but I will get her to help me post a picture later.

Now, what am I going to do with 45 packs of cheese?  Well, Christina took some home.  Then, when I arrived home, I called a neighbor who also likes to freezer cook and such and she sent her hubby over to get several packages.  Then, the rest I plan to use in the following ways:
1.  Cheesy Chicken Bundles
2.  Some kind of taco dinner thing with meat, beans, rice and cheese
3.  The girls love to make quesadillas for lunch
4.   I will freeze the shredded cheese to use in the future.
5.  The block cheese will be used for snacks and shredded to put on top of cheese or soups.

So here are all the people who got me brave enough to undertake this:
Jim Bob Howard's Start Saving with Coupons Class
Gina Glenn- she ROCKS with coupons!
http://www.afullcup.com/ - told me about the deal.

In total it took about 30 minutes.  I was a little shy to ask for help at first, but having Christina with me kept me motivated.  Take a buddy with you if the whole thing makes you nervous.  And I am glad I did not have any toddlers with me.  I think that would have made it more nerve racking, and I would have stopped sooner.

After a couple of different friends urged me to give it a shot I grabbed my coupons and headed to CVS.  I did look over the ad before I went, so I knew of a couple of things I definately wanted to buy using my coupons. 

Once I arrived there, I went inside and immediatelly spotted the aisle that had all the big ECB deals.  I went straight there and chose the things I knew our family would use then I glanced through my coupons and matched them. 

When I got to the register, I immediately told the man at the counter that I had never done the "whole ECB/Coupon thing" before and told him I would need some patience.  He said: "Do you want me to show you how to work the CVS thing?  And I said, "Would you?"

He quickly surveyed the items in my overflowing shopping cart, and I handed over my coupons.  He then told me what items to put on the counter.  He rang up two of them, scanned my CVS card and then told me the total.  Then, he handed me my receipt and ECB (Extra Care Buck).  Then he told me what to get next.  Then took my ECBs and paid for them, resulting in more ECBs being printed.  Then, he did the same thing over and over again.  I think I did about 7 transactions total with the ECBs from one trnsaction paying for the next. 

He then told me a few more hints for he next time, and threw in a free "Take 5" Candy bar to encourage me to take five minutes to fill in the survey and give them "All fives" - well of course I would-  This guy went so far out of his way to walk me through the transactions.

I went during a very slow time- around 3 in the afternoon, so only one or two other customers came through in the course of this transaction.  I offered to step aside, but instead the store manager jumped in and rang up folks at the next register.  She also had encouraging things to say and told me they have several "regulars" who come and get 60 or more dollars worth of stuff free every week.  They gave me nothing but smiles and laughter the whole time. 

It was kinda of complicated, but in the end I left with TONS of stuff for next to nothing- all things our family will use except a couple of things I bought specificallyfor our church to send to the Haiti relief effort - Pediatite and Protein bars.  I also left with a $3.00 ECB for the next time and a coupon for a $25 gift card with a new prescription.  Oh!  And a survey to take so I can tell CVS about my incredible visit.

Thanks CVS guy for making it all so simple.  Customer service seems to be all but lost sometimes, and this made me feel like I would be willing to do it all over again.

It took about 15 minutes for all the transactions.  I thought it was time well spent.

My friend Karla started trying some homemade cleaners because her daughter's asthma seemed to be aggrivated by many of the typical household cleaners.  Being the wonderful friend she is, when she tried the bathroom cleaner and loved it, she sent some for me to try.  I agreed with her that it worked as well as the Scrubbing Bubbles brand I have long used, and it did not have a heavy smell that store bought cleaners have.  She found the recipe in the book:  The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Cleaning Second Edtion. 

Shower Cleaner:

1 cup Baking Soda

1/3 Cup Borax

1/2 Cup liquid soap (organic dish soap)

2 Tablespoons Vinegar

1 Cup Warm waterr

4 drops of pine or lemon essential oil

Mix Borax, Soda and Soap.  Add water.  Mix until soda and borax have disolved.  Use a funnel and pour into a narrow necked bottle.  Add vnegar and oil.  It will bubble and fizzle a little.  Pour onto a damp cloth, clean and rinse surface to avoid a residue.

This worked great!  Since I have not made the recipe myself I have not done a cost analysis.  Once I do, I will report.  :)

Happy Homemaking!

Malia

I have had a few people ask about the pregnancy and why I have not blogged more about it.  I guess it is time to fess up.  After having several pregnancy losses, it seemed a little scary every time I went to write about it.  I do not believe in jinxing things or whatever.  I believe that God has a specific plan for every little life, no mater how short-lived, but for some reason I felt especially protective and private about this one.  I still feel the sting of pain about the babies we have lost even while I am joyful and delighted about this newest little one.

So here is an update:  I will be 24 weeks pregnant in two days.  The children are thrilled.  Duncan really, really wanted to know he baby's gender, and we are excited to share that our little baby boy, Daniel Joseph is due right around May 9th (Mother's Day!).  Daniel has long been the name I have wanted if God decided to bless us with another boy.  If you have ever studied Daniel in the Bible at length (there is much more to him than the lion's den story) you will understand why we hope our boy will be the kind of man that Daniel was. 

This baby seems to be quieter over all than the other children, but when he does kick, he packs a HARD kick.  More than once I have gone week in the knees because he kicks some internal organ that is right at my rib cage on the left side.  He is also MUCH higher than any of my other children.  Even the ultrasound tech remarked at how very high this one is.  That makes it difficult to breath or catch my breath. 

As for morning sickness, I had a few weeks where I had "all day" sickness.  Those days are long past.  I was supersensitive to smells for awhile and that seems to be returning.  I hope not for long.  If this keeps up, a  few members of our family are going to have to tone down their cologne.

I also had the strangest thing- adversion to water.  The smell and look of water made my stomach turn.  That, too has passed. 

As for working out daily, that has been put on hold.   A couple of months ago I started spotting and cramping so after a quick trip to the OB was put on "light activities" and told to lift no more than 10-15 pounds.  At that point the workouts had to stop.  Now, spotting and cramping have happened at some point in ALL my pregnancies, so I really had no alarming cause for concern, but with the more recent losses, I think we are all just being more cautious.

I have been doing a great job keeping my weight under control until last month when I gained 7 pounds in one month (YIKES!!!!) so now I am back to really watching things more closely.  I do not want to gain too much and end up with a super sized baby!  David was 8lbs 13 ounces and that was quite large enough, thank you very much.  With his pregnancy I only gained 1 pounds.  I shudder to think how big this one will be if his keeps up.

So there you have it- a full update.  So far all the ultra sounds have shown him growing strong and healthy and being an active little guy, so we are thrilled to be looking forward to the next few months.

Happy Homemaking!

Malia

 

A couple of years ago my dear friend, Vanessa made our family a batch of sugared pecans.  I cannot even begin to describe how delicious these things are! YUMMY!

The recipe turned out to be quite simple, so I thought you might like to try it too.

1 lb Pecans (I buy them cheap at Sam's Club

1 Egg white

1 T Water

1 Cup Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Cinnamon

Beat eg white until Frothy

Add water and beat until thick.

Sift together remaining ingredeints and add to egg/water mix. Blend until thick and gooey.

Coat the pecans completely in the mixture.

Put on a full size cookie sheet.  Bake at 300 for 30 minutes, stir every 10 minutes.

When I make these, I use my pampered chef cooking stone ( the one with edges) and it takes about 40 minutes total.  I also coat my pan with cooking spray prior to adding the pecans. 

These are a wonderful addition to any goody pack or can be bagged in a litle gift sack for a nice gift all by themselves.  Caution!  These are addicting.  DO NOT TASTE them unless you have plenty to eat and still have some to share.  Enjoy!

 

 

The last couple of weeks so may things have been out of whack.  Routines have essentially been thrown out the window.

A couple of weeks ago we started painting.  This meant that as I planned for each room to be painted, I also declutered the room, organized nything messy, removed pictures and such, etc.  We started with the kitchen and dining room.  I thought if those were finished first, sanity would be quickly restored.  Ha.

4 days with limited access to the kitchen and dining room meant eating on the living room floor or in the basement.  Fortunately I had an arsenal of freezer meals at my disposal and used them exclusively (xcept for the one night i called my husband and asked if we could go out to eat because I could not bear one more meal on the living room floor.  Unfortunately, I had also scheduled a freezer meal exchange and did not have my ten meals made in advance, so I was making them late tursday night for my Friday exchange.  Whew!

This week, our painter advanced to the living room (great room), entry hall and the upstairs hallways. I thought the kitchen was stressful!  So this week I got to disassemble David's room.  At the same time, I was finishing bringing his items up from where he was sharing Sarah's room. 

The day before he went to paint the bathroom that is between Anne and David's bedroom, I went in there to empty the closet and found to my horror that it was dirty.  Not just messy, but dirty too.  As I scrubbed the bathroom (really their job) I found myself pondering why the room wass this way when it is clearly their responsibility.  I realized I stoped inspecting their stuff.  So I entered Anne Mary's room and found the same problem.  So I headed down to Sarah's bedroom and found it the same.  See, I rarely enter those rooms.  Duncan does bedtime routines with the children, and I simply have no need to go in there, so i rarely do.

This has lead to a character issue.  The girls were eager to move on to their fun activities so they often skipped their rooms and apparently their bathrooms as well.

I am sharing all this because all the routines and lists in the world will accomplish nothing if no one is inspecting the work.  As the mother, inspecting their work and checking for orderliness falls on me- no matter how well trained and well taught the children are.  They will still tend to follow the path of least resistence when it comes to chores they dislike.

So, all this to say- routines this week went out the window.  Everyone is now recovering their personal areas of responsbility.  Laundry was even off routine because my washing machine broke, so we ended up at the laundry mat.  I am looking forward to next week when the routines will be reinstated and I will be adding inspections into my routines.

The main part of the house is now painted and the only area left is the master bedroom.  We decided to wait until January to take on that project.  I need a break from the disorder and now that the main painting is done, I can deccorate for Christmas.

Our painter, by the way, has been fabulous.  He is the father of 16 children!  Just the concept of making that many meals in a day is baffling.  He tolerates my children well which is very important since we are here a lot of the time he is working. 

I hope life will slow down a little now and I can regain my balance.

Happy Homemaking!

Ok, I admit.  I have made some pretty bad mistakes.  One time I forgot all the vegetables to put into the chicken pot pies I was demonstrating.  That was recoverable because I arrived early enough to run to the store near my speaking engagement and still get back with time to spare.  Another time I forgot the foil, but it was hosted at a church with a big kitchen that had lots of foil.  I sent out an e-book with all the wrong numbers in the food columns because I did not check it before sending it.

Those were all pretty embarassing, but nothing catastrophic.

This week I had a dream that I had missed a speaking engagement.  That should have clued me in right away that something was amiss in my calendar.  So, this morning when I left the house in sweats, no make-up, hair in a ponytail, and with my girls and a robotics project in tow I had no idea what was coming next.

There I was, standing at the Gheen's resource center using the die cut machines to cut out letters for Sarah's robotics poster.  I was making good progress, despite the nagging cramping that has plagued me all the last week.  The girls were helping cheerfully.  I was sure we would finish by noon.  I had even ut dinner in the oven with the preset timer so that it would be hot and ready when we got home.  I was feeling quite accomplished. Then, I get an announcement:  Mrs. Russell?  There is an urgent call from your husband on the phone.  I looked for my cell phone- of course, not turned on...so I went to the counter wondering how terrible something must be for him to go through such lengths to call me on the public phone there. 

"Um, Malia, there is this lady who just called who said you are supposed to be speaking right now. "

"WHAT? "

I grab my calendar and start looking through the pages.  Sure enough I had the engagement in there- but at the WRONG time.  I was more than an hour drive from where I was supposed to be speaking, so at this point I had no idea whether it was recoverable.  I called the number back from which he said she had called to see if I could even make it before it ended.  YES, she said, Come on!

I called him back as the girls grabbed our still unfinished project, and threw it in the van.  I rattled off a list of things I would need:  A particular shirt I knew would not need pressing, a skirt, black shoes, hose, a brush, my make up- then I listed each item from my make up bag I needed in case something had strayed.  He wrote everything down then agreed to meet me and drive me the rest of the way.  That gave me time to change clothes (Including putting on hose PREGNANT and in a van!), put on make-up and rewrite the speech I did not have with me.  Of course, it was a new one- one I had written just for them, so it was not one that I had practically memorized from giving over and over.

When I finally arrived- 1.5 hours LATE, a precious sister in the Lord was sharing her testimony.  The tables were beautifully decorated- this was their Christmas tea.  The ladies were so gracious and kind about me arriving so late. 

When I got up to speak, I was very nervous, then I just prayed and asked the Lord to calm my fears and help me to just deliver His message to them, and not to get in the way of it.

I have no idea what kind of impression I left on the ladies.  I am mortally embarrassed.   And of course, I am sharing it with all my closest friends just so that I can hurry up and get passed the HORRIFIED stage and move on to the poking fun/laughing about this later stage.  It is definately NOT funny yet. 

So, after I spoke and we drove the hour back to Louisville, I went back to Gheens.  We finished all we needed to do there at ONE minute to closing.  Those ladies that work there are fabulous and helped a lot. We came home and the lunch I had put in the oven became our dinner menu instead.  Of course, my awesome husband remembered to turn off the automatic oven starter before he left, so our lunch was just waiting to be warmed.  We ended up eating the $5.00 for 5 at Arbies for lunch.  So much for Homemaking 911!

All I can say is that it is now 9:20 PM and I have never been happier for a day to come to an end.  Praise God- His mercy is new every morning, and I certainly came very close to using up my entire bucketful of grace today.

Yesterday was our freezer meal exchange.  Here are the meals that we all brought and swapped.  Each woman came and left with ten meals and a plate of goodies!

Quiche Lorraine

Pizza Casserole

Chunky Chili

Lemon Chicken

Black Bean Soup

Shepherd's Pie- Having this tonight!

Mostacciolli - we ate this last night.  It wass enogh to feed our family and the next door neighbor's family of 6 and we had a serving or two left.  It was YUMMY!

Jammin Chicken

Santa Fe Chicken

 

From Russell Family Management Binder

 

Last night  I had the pleasure of teaching a freezer cooking class at Bethany Baptist.  I did our usual talk about freezer cooking, then demonstrated an actual freezer session by making 6 Chicken Pot Pies, which were given as door prizes. 

This class had such a precious group of ladies- they all seemed very close to one another.  I felt like a member of the family.  Anne Mary, my 9 year old and cooking assistant was shocked.  At food time (and these ladies serve a BIG dinner at their meetings) she was urged to go to the front of the line because she was a guest!  She has never, ever been at the front of a food line.  Usually when there is a buffet, we are here at our home where the children are taught to show respect and preference to guests.  At our home church, generally they are taught not to eat until the mothers (hostesses) have eaten, or until invited to do so by the hostess.  I asked her how it felt to go first in line and she said, "Great!"

I am excited to be invited back there in January to do our talk:  Chaos to Order. 

Today is Friday- Piano Day and the day Anne Mary and David get to go to Woodland Baptist for enrichment classes.  David seems to be completely well after his missed day last Friday and I am certainly glad because he really missed his time with Mrs. Enix.

 

 

Looking back over the plans for the last several days I have realized that I have not gone back and shared how the days ACTUALLY went.  Starting with last Friday- when David got up, he was too sick to go to his special school day, so our day was completely reorganized and I ended up at the pediatrician with him.

Yesterday was supposed to be my chance to get c aught up on all my paperwork, and I only got a little of it accomplished.  The day before Duncan got hurt playing racquetball and I dropped all my plans and drove down to the gym downtown to pick him p.

Today (Thursday) is supposed to be a heavy school day for us- no outside activities or classes, but my mom decided to come into town to visit.

Why am I sharing this with you?  Because these changes, adjustments and interuptions happen in everyone's life.  I could sit and be discouraged and lament at the unfinished items, projects, and changed plans.  But here is the unique calling of a Christian mother.  My children have no idea that our plans were changed.  Well, some of them they do- but these adjustments and changes were not upsetting.  They are just accepted as the Lord's plan for the day, and we keep moving forward.

When we get too set in our plans and have a hard time accepting changes and adjustments, it creates undue stress on the entire family.  But as the mother setting the mood for the entire family, handling these with grace and joy will make all the difference in how your weeks, months and years go by.

So what kind of surprises are in store for you today?  A sick little one?  Morning sickness?  Spilled milk (4 times in one day)?  A surprise visit from a friend?  A great sale on Turkey that makes you drop your plans and run to the nearest grocery?  It is OKAY, friend, when life throws little changes your way.  Handling them with dignity, grace and joy will make all the difference in your day.

Today  Sarah takes classes at CEC http://www.christianconsortium.org/  There she takes Middle School Robotics with Rebecca Cecil, Advanced Chess with Andrew Porter and Saxon Math 7/6, also with Mr. Porter.  She loves her days at CEC. 

 

From Russell Family Management Binder

At home today I am having an Office Day.  I have some speaking engagements coming up, some http://www.homemaking911.com business to tend to, and some tax filings to tend to.  Tomorrow night I have a speaking engagement to teach Freezer Cooking 911 to a group of ladies at a church in Indiana, so when I go to pick Sarah up at 3:30 I will combine the trip with a stop at Sam's club to get a few things I need for the class. We will be giving away 6 pot pies as door prizes that the ladies will get to help me make.  Won't that be fun?

 A friend of mine just called to tell me that pork chops are on sale for 99 cents a pound at Krogers. She is going to pick me up three packs if she gets by there today. Pork is not a favorite meat of mine, but I will use it for bulk cooking. It is one of Duncan's favorites. :)

This year once again we hosted an Operation Christmas Child Box party at our house.  We did not have as many girls this year- I think it was my choice of nights.  last year we had it on a weekend, and this year we had it on a Tuesday night.

We had a simple kid-friendly menu of chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, applesauce and peas.  We also had kool-aid and cake. 

Here are some pictures at the end with the girls and David and the boxes they assembled.

 

 

From 2009-11-10

From 2009-11-10

OK, these muffins just came out of the oven.  These are dense muffins.  I only used half the honey called for in the recipe, but I think I could have added a little more.  They are delicious, just not as sweet as a traditional banana nut muffin. 

 

From 2009-11-09

From Russell Family Management Binder

Today is Monday and time for another kitchen day.  What this means is that my "extra time" and chore time today will be spent in the kitchen.  I will organize the pantry, straighten cabinets, wipe things that have been missed by the girls during their normal kitchen chores, and doing some cooking.  I have already started bright and early by starting last night.  I decided to try Sue Gregg's Blender Banana Muffins which you actually put into the blender the night before.  Then in the morning you add the egg and baking soda/powder and salt.  This is the first time I have made these.  I should add that I have a VitaMix a kind of super duper blender.  I seriously doubt if a regular blender could have handled this batter.  They are cooking now, and they smell great, so I hope the taste is just as good. 

From Russell Family Management Binder

Now, often the children will help me on Kitchen Day, but on this particular one, I amactually having them do a Laundry Day instead.  For some reason, the laundry is behind- so I wil have them set a timer every hour and they will stop, switch, fold and put away another load until all the laundry in the house is clean and put away.  When not doing laundry, they will work on their school work.

David has a "Pa day" today.  My father - in - law is coming to pick him up to spend the day, then they will come home in time for a bean soup dinner.  I actually made the bean soup last night so that dinner would be ready for today.  I used the "Quick Soak" method so that I could start and finish the soup in just under 3 hours, and it is delicious!

 

Our Fridays are quite different from all the other days.

We usually start our day with a quick breakast.  Then, we head off to piano.  Both Sarah and Anne Mary take lessons from Dr. Hannah Hall, who also happens to be the best chiropractor in Louisville.  They girls LOVE piano.  I did manage to run by the music store yesterday and pick up their new music books.  Yeah!

David goes in for a quick 5 minute lesson, then he and I run whatever errands we can fit into the remaining 55 minutes.  Sometimes this means the bank or UPS store or a quick trip to the grocery.  Today it will be a trip to a local store to get a few more boxes for our big book sale tomorrow.  I also hope to stop at the UPS store to mail my packages of SuperMom I owe to several customers- my shipment came yestrday and I already need to order again.

After piano, I pick everyone up, hand everyone a healthy snack from the snack bag and a small sized bottled water.  Then I drop Anne Mary and David off for an enrichment program they take here.

Anne Mary(9) takes:  French, Journalism, Chess and Knitting.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  David (4)takes only three classes:  Reading readiness, Music and Movement, and Art.  I was not intending to sign him up for anything, but then I found out that my sweet friend (and often cooking buddy) Kathy Enix was teaching and I knew he had to take those classes.  Now, he tells me he wishes everyday was a Friday. (I ony cried a little)

After I get them to their classrooms, Sarah and I go to lunch someplace a little nicer than fast food.  One week we went to Homemade Pie and Icecream Kitchen (They have a deli!!!).  Once we went to Mark's feed store.  I usually just pickk a place once we are out.  She and I chat about life, discuss any personal or private things and talk about the week in general.  it is about the only one-on-one time she gets alone with mom and I really treasure this day.  After that, we head to a library where I do her one-on-one tutering.  This includes spelling, answering any math questions she has that Mr. Porter has not covered, reading, and anything else where she actually needs mom.  This is almost her only tutoring time, too.  unless a question comes up in her math (which I try to address right away) she works fairly independently for the rest of the week.

We then pick up David and have one hour before we have to pick up Anne Mary so Sarah will often take him to the playground and swing and climb with him for most of it.

Anne Mary reports that she loves her classes, but is usually quite tired by French class- so I really need to work on getting her to bed earlier, or insisting she eats a little more in the morning.  She is my only child who does not like breakfast, and it is all she can do most days just to put down a couple of crackers until lunch.  Does anyone else have this problem?  The rest of my children EAT teir breakfast, if you know what I mean.

By the time all this is done, I get home around 4.  We work on chores and dinner until Daddy gets home.

Last night I planned to do spaghtti but at the last minute decided to make a venison roast in the crockpot.  I took a small roast (2 lbs) and covered it with barbecue sauce and let it cook all afternoon.  The roast strted frozen so I cooked it on high. Once it was finished cooking, I took the roast and fork shredded it and served it on some buns I took out of the freezer to thaw at the same time as I removed the roast.  We had baked beans and brocolli for our side dishes.  Dinner turned out fine.  There were NO leftovers of the roast.

So, today we will have spaghetti and meatballs and greenbeans.  I went ahead and set out the water, pasta, collander, green beans, pans, and even pulled 15 meatballs out of the freezer to add to the sauce at cooking time.  I know I will be exhausted at the end of the day, so doing all that in the morning while my energy is so high makes dinnertime so much easier.

Now, off to the shower and then to start waking the little sleepy heads.  

Happy Homemaking!

Malia 

From Homemaking 911

Today is town day.  This is the day I run errands that I cannot figure out any way to avoid.  I say the ones I cannot avoid because I used to do a lot of running.  It really hurt my ability to keep up with the house and homeschooling and all the other things I juggle, so I started eliminating excessive trips outside the home.  Now, a couple of years later, I really prefer to be at home.  Quite a change from the days when I LOVED running around.  I actually prayed a couple of years ago to be more content at home.  The Lord did answer that prayer.

Anyway- here is my town day list for today:
-Post office
-Bank (must deposit a check)
-Book Club- Our girls' book club is at 12:30, so the girls need to finish their projects for Beautiful Girlhood, the book we read this month.
-Music Store- the girls are moving out of their current music books and are ready for the next level.  THey have piano lessons on Friday and I cannot put this off any longer.
-UPS Store - to ship packages for our Amazon business
-Stop at Goodwill to see if I can find some full sized sheets.  Someone is giving us a full sized bed for David, and we do not have any sheets of this size.
Walmart- Need boxes for a book sale I am having this weekend and I am going to see if they have any 40 Cent per pound turkeys left.

Since we will be out quite a bit, the girls will bring along school work that can be completed in the car such as Latin, History, French, Bible, and Knitting. 

Also, I need to pack some snacks because NO MATTER HOW MUCH I feed them, when they see golden arches, they call cry "hungry."

Oh, I almost forgot that at 3:00 today I have an OB appointment.  I think I will take David in the room with me because he really wants to hear the baby's "Heart beep" as he puts it.

Now that I think about it, I may not get through everything on this list- there is a lot on it and with Book club and the appointment, time will be limited.

We will have Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner because they are quick and easy to make.  I know I will be tired at the end of this day!

That was very simple to do!  YEAH!  The only thing I do not know how to do is to get my old profile picture back.  I am sure it is saved here somewhere, so maybe I can get Duncan to fix it tonight.  The one I put up there temporarily is a great pic, but too small to see anything.

I have a few minutes while everyone is still asleep, so i am going to bite the bullet and try to change my blog format.  If everything goes haywire, I have come to say, "I'm OK with that."  I am so ready for a new look.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.  Cross your fingers for me- or hide and watch in horror as I ruin the thing!

I love the idea of blogging more about our day-to-day homeschool life so I asked myself this morning why I do not do it more.  The homeschoolblogger platform makes posting messages simple and easy.  I enjoy the topic, and could never run out of things to share.  However, I simply do not like the design of this blog.  I do not know why, but the colors kind of get on my nerves.  I do not like the sidebars.  I would like to have a better design, but I simply do not know how to do it.  I know there are a bunch of easy templates to use, but if I switch, what happens to all the formatting?  Will the colors be right?  Will it wipe out my info? 

I really have no idea. 

So, that is why I do not blog on homeschooling more- even though it should be fairly easy and fun.  (sigh).

Ok, Christina's Wedding is fast approaching.  We are less than one month away.

• We have the dress and it is at the dry cleaners (Highland Cleaners) for bustling.
• Still need to buy/rent/borrow a full slip (at least 4 inches thick) as the one we thought might work will not, so we are going to keep checking.
• Her engagment pictures have been taken- Susan Speece of www.personalizedimpression.com did these and they are fabulous!
• The photographer will be Bill Klein Photagraphy.  We like his pictures and Christina and Jonathan liked him when they met.
  
• Reception:  Old Medical Center Building
• Wedding:  Duncan Memorial Chapel
• Officient:  Steve Yeager, and elder in our Home Church Fellowship
• Music for the ceremony- Dr. Hannah Hall (our family chiropractor, and an amazing musician- she also teaches my three younger children piano)  We love her.
• Food for the reception:  we are self-catering and some of the ladies from our church are bringing food.  My friends Jill and Vici have agreed to "run the show" food-wise, so I can rest easy that it will be fine.
• Vici is loaning us her beautiful silver for the reception.
• An amazing lady, Terri from the local homeschool group has assembled all the flowers for us.  She and Christina chose the flowers a few weeks ago.  This was such a blessing to Christina who planned to make them all herself.  This was so much stress taken away, you would not believe it. 
  
• Terri's family is going to be our "clean-up crew" after the wedding as we have to completely clean the room upon completion and I could not stand the idea of being worried about that the day of the wedding.
  
• Food for the reception: Veggies and Fruit trays, cheese, cheeseballs and crackers, meatballs, spiral little sandwich things, shrimp dip, punch and cake.
• A friend of Jonathan's family is providing the cake, which they bride and groom chose.
  
• The rehearsal dinner is going to be at O'Charley's, pending final discussion with the manager to make sure all details are agreed upon.
• Lois, Morgan, and Johnnie Elise threw an amazing "Kitchen Shower" for Christina where she was truly blessed with a great time, and many kitchen necessitites.
• I am trying to WIN a Brand New Washer and Dryer for them through my blog HERE: http://www.homemaking911.com/2009/09/18/where-is-the-heart-of-your-home/ - all you have to do to help them win is leave a comment over there!
  
• Less than one month away now!