I'm on standby.
The kids are fairly occupied. I'm making soup.
And I'm at your beck and call.
Got a random question for me?
Then ask away.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Snow Day
Take a look at that picture and tell me what you see. Because I see maybe a dusting of snow on some of the grass... but completely clear and dry roads and sidewalks. That's what you see right?!
Today... is a Snow Day... and I CANNOT freaking believe it.
Just for the fun of it this is a picture of our backyard in Michigan:
Now this is what a Snow Day looks like!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Like You Didn't See This Coming
Overheard during bath time...
[splashing... crazy, crazy, splashing]
"I mean it. Sit down NOW and don't move!" Mr F says firmly.
[sudden silence]
"Turn around so I can wash your hair." Mr F instructs.
"I'm not moving. You told me not to." Kid replies somewhat snarkily.
[splashing... crazy, crazy, splashing]
"I mean it. Sit down NOW and don't move!" Mr F says firmly.
[sudden silence]
"Turn around so I can wash your hair." Mr F instructs.
"I'm not moving. You told me not to." Kid replies somewhat snarkily.
Compacting In The Kitchen
I know this is long... but it's chock full of information. If you are trying to cut back but don't know how this might be worth reading. Skip half way down (below the bold line) to check out the dollar for dollar changes we're making now. We are saving some serious money without giving up our quality of food. Sure a few of the changes are more time consuming... but not as much as they sound. Last year I wouldn't have thought there was much I could take out of our spending... I was seriously deluded. Oh and check out the link at the end of the post.
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Not even a year ago we were spending over $200 a week for our groceries... and that didn't count takeout or eating out (2-3 times a week), or Mr F's lunches at work. That might seem like a lot but it's actually the national average! At that time we had been buying high end brands and some (more and more over time) organic foods. But we were throwing out rotting produce and meat EVERY week.
I started meal planning and that helped some but the lure of the $5 Hot & Ready often meant I pushed meals around and/or never got around to making them. Before we left MI I had worked pretty hard to lower our grocery spending to around $180/week for nearly all organic foods but we were still doing plenty of take out and still wasting food. When we moved we had a completely stocked fridge/freezer and pantry of partial opened foods that we had to give away!
Moving here actually gave me a clean slate and instead of filling them back up with everything we had had before I decided to only buy things AS NEEDED. Which meant not buying every kind of vinegar, oil, and baking ingredient "just in case", etc. I really switched my head space from buying things to make a new recipe to trying not to buy things... like if I don't have "x" let's just scrap that and find something I can make with what I've got. Is my cooking somewhat less adventurous?... yep... but it's also a hell of a lot cheaper.
When we started "compacting" a couple of months ago I decided to take meal planning one step further. Instead of thinking of meals and then seeing which components we had and buying the rest, I started carefully assessing what we had and trying to make a meal plan around buying as little as possible. It's a subtle but important difference that resulted in... oh... $40-$50 a week. To make that work most effectively we do a monthly stock up on our basic meal components that we eat EVERY SINGLE WEEK: frozen vegetables, frozen fish filets, pasta, rice, peanut butter, jam, butter, popcorn kernels, instant oatmeal, dry cereal, pancake mix,chicken stock, tomato soup, canned salmon, pasta sauce, and apple juice.
Did you get all that? Because we are buying all organic foods the cheapest way to get them is to buy the store brand. Organic food rarely has coupons (sigh) so the store brands are where it is at... and the bulk bins! I have found (and believe me I have diligently searched and price checked) that Whole Foods has the cheapest (and best quality) of store brand organics. We don't have one here but Mr F drives about an hour and half with a cooler in his trunk and loads us up. It is winter so the cheapest (and best quality) produce is frozen.
Now at this point we don't buy more than a months worth of food... because we don't have a chest freezer or a lot of pantry space... and we can't front that much money. The stock up costs us about $80-$140 bucks depending on how much we needed to replace. That lets us limit our weekly spending to fresh ingredients: dairy, eggs, meat, bread, some vegetables, and fruit. Doing that brought my weekly spending down to about $75-$80 with the monthly stock up bringing our monthly spending to about $440. When we started compacting Mr F also started packing his breakfast and lunch and we only got take out or a restaurant meal once a week. So our total monthly food budget went from about $1200 a month to $520 (that counts one night of takeout once compacting started).
Now we are down to $400 a month... maybe less... time will tell. Here are the changes we've made (some since Compacting some since January):
From buying 2-3 loaves of organic bread each week for $4.50 each
To making our own bread in a bread machine (it was free!) for $1.25 per loaf
From buying lunch meat for Mr F's & my lunches for $9 - $12 a week
To buying a rotisserie chicken and eating chicken & chicken salad sandwiches for $5 a week
From making 2 cups of coffee every time we made coffee for a total of 2 pounds of coffee a week $16
To making 1 cup at a time and not pouring any down the drain for a total of 1 pound of coffee a week $8
From having several beverages in the house to having ONE beverage choice other than water per person. KId gets milk, Baby (still breastfed) gets apple juice, Mr F & I have coffee w/half & half. Savings for us $12- $16 dollars a week!
We don't have premade packaged snacks we now have fruit, yogurt, cereal, pb &j, or popcorn for snacks. Mr F & I have both lost 3 pounds in 3 weeks just by getting rid of packaged snacks. It took a little adjustment but the kids are doing just fine ;) Once a week I make homemade muffins using up whatever apples or carrots are getting old. Savings of $5-$10 a week. (and a pound a week)
From ordering pizza once a week for $17 (it was fantastic)
To making it or having a frozen pizza for $4-$5. Saving $12-$13 a week!
I make exactly 4 portions of dinner. Kid, Mr F & I each have one and Baby has 1/2. The remaining 1/2 is immediately packed up for Kid's lunch the next day.
I have lowered our protein portion down an ounce per person and raised the carbs up a small bit to make up the difference.
I have figured out the costs of each dinner I typically make and keep that in mind when I'm meal planning. Tomato & Meatball Soup is about $5 for 4, Brown Sugar & Ginger Salmon w/ rice & broccoli is about $12 for 4. Our dinners have not lost any of their nutritional value I just try to plan more cheap meals versus expensive per week.
Using frozen vegetables saves me about $1-$2 per pound which is $7-$14 a week. And I have mastered the art of cooking them so they are not mushy and you would never know it wasn't fresh broccoli.
We do not go out for dinner. Period. Saving us about $80- $200 a month. For us, right now, we just can't afford to. And the expense just isn't worth it for what you get when your dining companions are 2 and 6 years old.
For our sweet tooth we still have dessert.... just not lots of choices. I have my Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered caramels. The kids & Mr F have Newman's Own Organic Fig Newman's or Newman's O's (cheapest at Target). We have vanilla ice cream and we have chocolate sauce. We make a simple icing-less chocolate cake that is a depression era recipe that has no dairy or eggs (it's moist and it is cheap) once a week. We make cookie dough and freeze them in portioned balls... so we only bake what we need for that dinner. We eat less of them saving money and calories. I'm not sure how much money this saves certainly a couple of bucks a week.
My whole philosophy with all this is to strip it down to what we NEED. We buy fresh fruit as needed. No more bowl on the counter with rotting fruit just because something looked good at the store that day. When it's gone we buy more. That's the great thing about living in modern times.. we can just go to the store. I find we don't need to go as much as we thought we did... we can make do with what's on hand. And the less times you go to the store (in my experience) the less you spend.
*******************************************
Oh and if you are at all interested in coupons or don't know where to start hop over here. Scroll down and she's got an introductory post... but, dude, she just got 21 jars of Ragu for less than a buck! It's almost enticing enough to make me cross back over the conventional/organic divide!
*****************************************
Not even a year ago we were spending over $200 a week for our groceries... and that didn't count takeout or eating out (2-3 times a week), or Mr F's lunches at work. That might seem like a lot but it's actually the national average! At that time we had been buying high end brands and some (more and more over time) organic foods. But we were throwing out rotting produce and meat EVERY week.
I started meal planning and that helped some but the lure of the $5 Hot & Ready often meant I pushed meals around and/or never got around to making them. Before we left MI I had worked pretty hard to lower our grocery spending to around $180/week for nearly all organic foods but we were still doing plenty of take out and still wasting food. When we moved we had a completely stocked fridge/freezer and pantry of partial opened foods that we had to give away!
Moving here actually gave me a clean slate and instead of filling them back up with everything we had had before I decided to only buy things AS NEEDED. Which meant not buying every kind of vinegar, oil, and baking ingredient "just in case", etc. I really switched my head space from buying things to make a new recipe to trying not to buy things... like if I don't have "x" let's just scrap that and find something I can make with what I've got. Is my cooking somewhat less adventurous?... yep... but it's also a hell of a lot cheaper.
When we started "compacting" a couple of months ago I decided to take meal planning one step further. Instead of thinking of meals and then seeing which components we had and buying the rest, I started carefully assessing what we had and trying to make a meal plan around buying as little as possible. It's a subtle but important difference that resulted in... oh... $40-$50 a week. To make that work most effectively we do a monthly stock up on our basic meal components that we eat EVERY SINGLE WEEK: frozen vegetables, frozen fish filets, pasta, rice, peanut butter, jam, butter, popcorn kernels, instant oatmeal, dry cereal, pancake mix,chicken stock, tomato soup, canned salmon, pasta sauce, and apple juice.
Did you get all that? Because we are buying all organic foods the cheapest way to get them is to buy the store brand. Organic food rarely has coupons (sigh) so the store brands are where it is at... and the bulk bins! I have found (and believe me I have diligently searched and price checked) that Whole Foods has the cheapest (and best quality) of store brand organics. We don't have one here but Mr F drives about an hour and half with a cooler in his trunk and loads us up. It is winter so the cheapest (and best quality) produce is frozen.
Now at this point we don't buy more than a months worth of food... because we don't have a chest freezer or a lot of pantry space... and we can't front that much money. The stock up costs us about $80-$140 bucks depending on how much we needed to replace. That lets us limit our weekly spending to fresh ingredients: dairy, eggs, meat, bread, some vegetables, and fruit. Doing that brought my weekly spending down to about $75-$80 with the monthly stock up bringing our monthly spending to about $440. When we started compacting Mr F also started packing his breakfast and lunch and we only got take out or a restaurant meal once a week. So our total monthly food budget went from about $1200 a month to $520 (that counts one night of takeout once compacting started).
Now we are down to $400 a month... maybe less... time will tell. Here are the changes we've made (some since Compacting some since January):
From buying 2-3 loaves of organic bread each week for $4.50 each
To making our own bread in a bread machine (it was free!) for $1.25 per loaf
From buying lunch meat for Mr F's & my lunches for $9 - $12 a week
To buying a rotisserie chicken and eating chicken & chicken salad sandwiches for $5 a week
From making 2 cups of coffee every time we made coffee for a total of 2 pounds of coffee a week $16
To making 1 cup at a time and not pouring any down the drain for a total of 1 pound of coffee a week $8
From having several beverages in the house to having ONE beverage choice other than water per person. KId gets milk, Baby (still breastfed) gets apple juice, Mr F & I have coffee w/half & half. Savings for us $12- $16 dollars a week!
We don't have premade packaged snacks we now have fruit, yogurt, cereal, pb &j, or popcorn for snacks. Mr F & I have both lost 3 pounds in 3 weeks just by getting rid of packaged snacks. It took a little adjustment but the kids are doing just fine ;) Once a week I make homemade muffins using up whatever apples or carrots are getting old. Savings of $5-$10 a week. (and a pound a week)
From ordering pizza once a week for $17 (it was fantastic)
To making it or having a frozen pizza for $4-$5. Saving $12-$13 a week!
I make exactly 4 portions of dinner. Kid, Mr F & I each have one and Baby has 1/2. The remaining 1/2 is immediately packed up for Kid's lunch the next day.
I have lowered our protein portion down an ounce per person and raised the carbs up a small bit to make up the difference.
I have figured out the costs of each dinner I typically make and keep that in mind when I'm meal planning. Tomato & Meatball Soup is about $5 for 4, Brown Sugar & Ginger Salmon w/ rice & broccoli is about $12 for 4. Our dinners have not lost any of their nutritional value I just try to plan more cheap meals versus expensive per week.
Using frozen vegetables saves me about $1-$2 per pound which is $7-$14 a week. And I have mastered the art of cooking them so they are not mushy and you would never know it wasn't fresh broccoli.
We do not go out for dinner. Period. Saving us about $80- $200 a month. For us, right now, we just can't afford to. And the expense just isn't worth it for what you get when your dining companions are 2 and 6 years old.
For our sweet tooth we still have dessert.... just not lots of choices. I have my Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered caramels. The kids & Mr F have Newman's Own Organic Fig Newman's or Newman's O's (cheapest at Target). We have vanilla ice cream and we have chocolate sauce. We make a simple icing-less chocolate cake that is a depression era recipe that has no dairy or eggs (it's moist and it is cheap) once a week. We make cookie dough and freeze them in portioned balls... so we only bake what we need for that dinner. We eat less of them saving money and calories. I'm not sure how much money this saves certainly a couple of bucks a week.
My whole philosophy with all this is to strip it down to what we NEED. We buy fresh fruit as needed. No more bowl on the counter with rotting fruit just because something looked good at the store that day. When it's gone we buy more. That's the great thing about living in modern times.. we can just go to the store. I find we don't need to go as much as we thought we did... we can make do with what's on hand. And the less times you go to the store (in my experience) the less you spend.
*******************************************
Oh and if you are at all interested in coupons or don't know where to start hop over here. Scroll down and she's got an introductory post... but, dude, she just got 21 jars of Ragu for less than a buck! It's almost enticing enough to make me cross back over the conventional/organic divide!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Being Frugal Is The New Black
That's what I tell myself at least. Because if it's not I'm becoming a nerd with a capital N-E-R-D. I just spent an inordinate amount of time this weekend registering for online grocery coupons, trolling our local stores' circulars, joining Freecycle, and filling out customer surveys (in the desperate hopes of winning big in the monthly drawing). The word is out... saving money is in... and I'm bringing my A game in the hopes of, well, not going under (not without a fight at least).
In the past year I've lowered our grocery budget from over $200/week to under $100. We've gone from expensive chlorine-free diapers to Target brand (sorry about that one Mother Earth... hopefully you'll survive). Outside of the diapers (the savings from which is HUGE... we're talking over 50%) we've actually reduced our household food and upkeep expenditures while at the same time making a complete overhaul to all "green" body products; "green" household cleaners; hormone free/antibiotic free/humane certified meats; all organic dairy, produce, and dry goods... even our butter people... our stinking butter!
Intrigued? Bored? Whichever I'll be back to update this post with exactly how we're doing it. Are we skimping?... you freaking betcha. It is not a snack buffet around here (as we're apt to say to Kid quite a lot these days)... but hey there are unexpected upsides to that as well (Mr F's down 3 pounds without even trying). But it's doable... highly doable. So for now we're doing it and hopefully we'll get even better at it as time goes on. (I told you we're down about $1000 a month since we starting compacting right? So I think we might be on to something here.)
More Tomorrow!
In the past year I've lowered our grocery budget from over $200/week to under $100. We've gone from expensive chlorine-free diapers to Target brand (sorry about that one Mother Earth... hopefully you'll survive). Outside of the diapers (the savings from which is HUGE... we're talking over 50%) we've actually reduced our household food and upkeep expenditures while at the same time making a complete overhaul to all "green" body products; "green" household cleaners; hormone free/antibiotic free/humane certified meats; all organic dairy, produce, and dry goods... even our butter people... our stinking butter!
Intrigued? Bored? Whichever I'll be back to update this post with exactly how we're doing it. Are we skimping?... you freaking betcha. It is not a snack buffet around here (as we're apt to say to Kid quite a lot these days)... but hey there are unexpected upsides to that as well (Mr F's down 3 pounds without even trying). But it's doable... highly doable. So for now we're doing it and hopefully we'll get even better at it as time goes on. (I told you we're down about $1000 a month since we starting compacting right? So I think we might be on to something here.)
More Tomorrow!
Mr F Wants Everyone To Be In Love With Him
So behold...
Yes, he does the dishes.
But the reason I'm married to him is because he watched Saving Sarah Cain last night, a Lifetime Original Movie, about an orphaned Amish family (yes take that ALL in).
Just wait it gets better.
In reference to the funeral scene wherein a fancy city slicker awkwardly shows up late (bearing flowers no less) and then has her cell phone go off Mr F said...
"That's like the worst case scenario."
"What your cell phone going off at an Amish funeral?" I asked.
"Yeah. It's bad enough that she's an Englisher." Mr F replied.
Then he smiled up at me and said "Do you love me?"
Yes I do.
Yes, he does the dishes.
But the reason I'm married to him is because he watched Saving Sarah Cain last night, a Lifetime Original Movie, about an orphaned Amish family (yes take that ALL in).
Just wait it gets better.
In reference to the funeral scene wherein a fancy city slicker awkwardly shows up late (bearing flowers no less) and then has her cell phone go off Mr F said...
"That's like the worst case scenario."
"What your cell phone going off at an Amish funeral?" I asked.
"Yeah. It's bad enough that she's an Englisher." Mr F replied.
Then he smiled up at me and said "Do you love me?"
Yes I do.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
You Wish Your Saturday Was This Exciting
"Look what Dad found!" Kid exclaims, as she throws her coat onto the living room floor.
"I'm so excited I'm not even doing my chores* right now!" She continues.
"Wow, then you must be that excited everyday." Mr F replies under his breath.
* one of her very few chores is to hang up her coat!
Parenting 101
"I'm just going to..." Kid begins.
"How 'bout you do what I told you to do." Mrs F cuts her off.
"How 'bout you do what I told you to do." Mrs F cuts her off.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Mrs F's Got Weight Loss On The Brain
Even if you aren't ready to do anything else I believe doing this one thing...
could make a difference. Try it for a month and see if just the act of writing down your weight doesn't inspire you to eat less or workout more. I really believe that the scale is just another tool and that it can be used to your advantage. I know, for me, that weighing DAILY is key for maintenance. That one act sets the tone for the day and says I'm still engaged in the process... that I'm still being mindful and conscious about my weight.
When I stop weighing in it is the first sign that I am no longer *playing the game* that I have disengaged and that I am no longer exercising or paying attention to what I eat. Time and again when I look back at my calendar the times I have skipped weighing in for a few weeks (or a month or so) are times when I have given in to outside stressors and have been sabotaging myself. Every freaking time I stop weighing in my weight has crept up past my maintenance range. I think getting up and weighing in not only keeps me honest and accountable for what I'm doing to my body... it also sets a positive "can do" type message for the day, no matter what the number. This one act says to myself that I'm still showing up and that this is still a priority for me.
Try it!
*****************************************
Also on the topic of weight loss I thought that Bob Greene's webcast with Oprah the other night was FANTASTIC (FYI it wasn't about Oprah... so don't let her deter you). I took a couple of pages of notes and thought his "circle of life" exercise was on the money (and I hate journal type exercises). You can download it on Oprah.com or iTunes.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
It's All Yours For The Taking
You might not have won my giveaway but you can still get something for stopping by everyday.
Hop over HERE and you can download Suze Orman's latest financial book for free.
Now I'll admit I haven't ever made it through one of her books... but... hey it's free and I saw her lay out her action plan on Oprah last week and I thought it made sense and was doable.
Hop over HERE and you can download Suze Orman's latest financial book for free.
Now I'll admit I haven't ever made it through one of her books... but... hey it's free and I saw her lay out her action plan on Oprah last week and I thought it made sense and was doable.
Mr F's Secret Life Revealed
"Dis a baybee?! Dis a baybee?!" Baby asks frantically and somewhat concerned.
"Hmm... that's a weird Daddy baby." Mrs F replies uncertainly.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Ever Wondered Why Mrs F Talks About Her Weight?
This video is for you... all new insights (so even long time readers might learn something new!)...
I have a lot to say on the subject but I'm home alone with Baby... hopefully I'll get up a written post on the subject when I get some time tonight.
********************************
This video is NOT as good as my first one but it's still chock full o' info.
What was missing from this video that I had in the other was more of a discussion about how my work in therapy allowed me to make more peace with the relationships that had been damaging as a child. And as those relationships improved and allowed for more open communication of feelings I was no longer stuck recreating that dynamic within myself. And without that I know for sure that I wouldn't have been able to be as successful losing or maintaining my weight loss.
The other part missing is the part where I talk about emotional eating and poor health choices modeled for me by my mother and how much harder it is to establish healthy habits when you aren't exposed to them as a child. Not only was emotional eating and self sabotage modeled for me (unintentionally of course) but never seeing people exercise or control their eating (healthfully) set me up to feel that those are things you shouldn't really have to do. Which is, of course, precisely why I want to succeed so that I can raise my daughters up with a positive role model in that regard.
I have a lot to say on the subject but I'm home alone with Baby... hopefully I'll get up a written post on the subject when I get some time tonight.
********************************
This video is NOT as good as my first one but it's still chock full o' info.
What was missing from this video that I had in the other was more of a discussion about how my work in therapy allowed me to make more peace with the relationships that had been damaging as a child. And as those relationships improved and allowed for more open communication of feelings I was no longer stuck recreating that dynamic within myself. And without that I know for sure that I wouldn't have been able to be as successful losing or maintaining my weight loss.
The other part missing is the part where I talk about emotional eating and poor health choices modeled for me by my mother and how much harder it is to establish healthy habits when you aren't exposed to them as a child. Not only was emotional eating and self sabotage modeled for me (unintentionally of course) but never seeing people exercise or control their eating (healthfully) set me up to feel that those are things you shouldn't really have to do. Which is, of course, precisely why I want to succeed so that I can raise my daughters up with a positive role model in that regard.
I Need To Get This Off My Chest
Did you see The Biggest Loser last night? Did you?!!!
Sweet baby Jesus it was the best episode off all... past seasons included. I cried tears of joy and compassion and in the end sorrow. I thrilled at Bob's crazy blowout.... dude, you know he was one step away from an actual physical beat down... it was awesome. This episode brought it all... it was amazing TV.
Sweet baby Jesus it was the best episode off all... past seasons included. I cried tears of joy and compassion and in the end sorrow. I thrilled at Bob's crazy blowout.... dude, you know he was one step away from an actual physical beat down... it was awesome. This episode brought it all... it was amazing TV.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Who's The 4th Best Diarist?... Yeah You Know Who!
I'm not sure why I'm so excited about coming in 4th at something... but hey... considering that the blogs that came out ahead of me have considerably more readers I think that is an honorable finish.
While I may not have the most readers I definitely have the most loyal! Who else could have brought me up from 7th to 4th within a day. Awesome display of teamwork.
Now don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY. I'm not sure what I'm giving away just yet... but rest assured it will be something you want!
While I may not have the most readers I definitely have the most loyal! Who else could have brought me up from 7th to 4th within a day. Awesome display of teamwork.
Now don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY. I'm not sure what I'm giving away just yet... but rest assured it will be something you want!
Proof Of Life
Today was a big day... well I guess I should say this morning was a big morning. Weeks ago I had signed Baby up for a toddler class run through the public school system here. I had been looking forward to getting her out and about and a bit more social during our long days without Kid. Of course I had assumed I'd be fully upright and functional when I did that. Anyone who has attended anything like this knows that circle time involves a lot of sitting and up and downs and hookieing and pookieing. So I was a bit apprehensive to go today but I had also committed to our spot and didn't want to miss out on introductions and whatnot. In retrospect I needn't have bothered... as there weren't any introductions and no one even acknowledged my existence... but hey hindsight is 20/20.
I could barely sleep last night I was so worried about a lot of what was going to go into getting out of the house: getting Baby dressed, putting on her shoes, going down the front steps, driving, wearing something other than old yoga pants.... but most of all getting Baby in and out of her carseat. As any parent knows that can break your back... even when you're... you know... not broken. Baby fought me on most of the steps involved having gotten quite used to her new routine of getting up and staying in her PJs all day while she watches TV and eats cookies. But once out the door her attitude improved. When I opened the van door I said "Can you get all the way in your seat by yourself?" hopefully. "Yes I Do!" came Baby's enthusiastic response. And she did! She even took the time to pull all of her buckles out of the way before turning around and sitting down. Phew! That was way easier than I feared.
Even driving was better than I had anticipated. With the help of a cushy pillow I was virtually pain free. Then the parking lot happened. It was covered in ice... which I didn't notice until I had gotten us out of the car... or I assure you I wouldn't have gotten out. I was filled with real terror still able to vividly remember the pain of my first fall. To avoid it I had to tromp all over an uneven hillside which was not much better... especially since I had to carry Baby to do it.
We made it though. I proved that I can leave the house, that Baby can get in and out of the car... should some type of emergency arise. And that is important to know since feeling dependent all the time is not good for one's psyche. But the whole event ... which was less than an hour start to finish... wore me out. I mean I feel like I just ran a marathon and then was put through the "spank machine". I'm couch bound for the rest of the day. It was too early and I won't be making that mistake again.
Mrs F's Voter Appreciation Giveaway!!!!
The Polls Are NOT Closed. So please continue to cast your votes today.
If you have faithfully voted everyday be sure to give me a comment so that I can put your name in the drawing. If you were able to vote more than once a day let me know and you will get an entry for each of your extra daily votes. I'll be announcing the winner Thursday AM to give everyone a chance to get their name submitted.
If you have faithfully voted everyday be sure to give me a comment so that I can put your name in the drawing. If you were able to vote more than once a day let me know and you will get an entry for each of your extra daily votes. I'll be announcing the winner Thursday AM to give everyone a chance to get their name submitted.
Monday, January 12, 2009
First Nude Schools And Now...
"Only two more days and then NudeFest!" Kid announces excitedly.
"What's NudeFest?" Mrs F asks cautiously.
"After swimming we take off our suits and go NUDE into the washers!" Kid explains.
"What's NudeFest?" Mrs F asks cautiously.
"After swimming we take off our suits and go NUDE into the washers!" Kid explains.
Updates... Of All Kinds
#1 Thank you to everyone who has kept my Nana in your thoughts and prayers. I actually don't have any concrete news. She is not doing well, or even doing better, but she is still hanging on. At some point that will probably create more issues but for now she is still in the ICU and still hooked up to a respirator. I am relying on my father's updates, but seeing as he went 2 days without calling, I might need to switch informants. He has also openly admitting to being a bit more optimistic than anyone else there. She has a heart arrhythmia and I guess today they will try their last remaining option to treat that... if that doesn't work then they have exhausted their resources. I'm not entirely sure what that will mean but it doesn't sound good. So please keep her in your thoughts. I know she is exhausted physically and emotionally but I hope that if it is her time to pass that she is able to do it in comfort and in her own bed.
#2 My pain level is actually improving. While still there, I can tell a noticeable difference with certain hard to do movements (like... ahem... getting on and off the toilet) and I am much more encouraged than I was at the end of last week. I have been off the pain killers for 3 days and have been doing fine... they never did work that well to begin with. I will also say that my emotional state and outlook has improved 100% since going off of them... so I'm thinking it is possible they were bringing me down.
#3 I need to focus my efforts on getting help for the things that are making me feel most out of control. Sorry Renee but that means you may be helping me clear off my desk (it's always more fun to file someone else's papers...right?!). I just can't feel on top of our bills and finances functioning from the tops of piles. There is still a lot I cannot do around here but I need to get the house back up to functioning so that I can manage it on my own. Who knows how long it will be until I'm able to do everything... I can't leave the paperwork to stagnate any longer.
#4 The voting still continues. I can't help but get sucked into the SUPER close race for 4th. I mean it is really neck and neck. So keep voting. Please. You will have the opportunity to win your own reward for doing so.
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"So does this make you appreciate all I do around here?" Mrs F asks Mr F last night.
"Not really." Mr F replies
Mr & Mrs F then begin to laugh hysterically
"I already did." Mr F corrects himself.
"Yeah, right." Mrs F replies
"It does give me a new perspective on how crazy the kids are." He adds.
Well... that's something... I guess.
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