Um…Hello, unexpected cost!!  Didn’t see you coming!

The day our fridge died was the hottest of the year thus far.

107 degrees in the shade.

And 65 degrees in our freezer.

Not a good thing.

Our past year has been much like our past month, Unexpected:  To date we’ve:

Replaced:

oven/stove, parts of our heater, our water heater, part of our fence, found a crack in the pipe under our house that must get repaired (not done yet), a big computer issue (read, would no longer turn on)

Paid and need to pay for:

a new master’s program, a new year of preschool, an upcoming vacation, and a myriad of other small unexpected expenses

Worked through:

a torn shoulder, a repaired shoulder, an almost vasectomy, an actual vasectomy, and most recently my grandma’s immanent death of ovarian cancer.

Wow.  Just typing makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb.

I’m tired.  And when I get tired, I retreat.  When I retreat, I become a bad mom.  When I’m a bad mom, I get angry.  When I’m angry, I become a bad wife.  And when I’m a bad wife, I become tired all. over. again.

On Thursday our family leaves for our first camping trip of the summer.  And it couldn’t come at a better time.  I hope to use my time to refocus on the important pieces of my life, (read: family and friends) and not sweat the huge glaring, pending CRAZINESS going on back an home small stuff.  I hope to remind myself this to shall pass and some day we’ll look back on these years fondly as we remember how we relied on love burritos and cheap wine and not much more to raise our kids to the best of our ability.

Someday when my Master’s program is done, I’m back to work full time, and am armed with more knowledge and maturity, I’ll probably see that I didn’t have to have heart palpitations, weeks of anxiety, and sleepless nights worry as much as I did.

But for now, I’m in need of a few good vacations.  And a whole lotta margarita!

First up: Our second annual camping trip with our good friends.

Second up:  BlogHer BABY!!  Hey Roomies!!  So excited!

Third up: My dad’s conference. Where I not only hope to enjoy the pool, but also learn more about being a good leader.

Fourth up: An adult Caribbean vacation WITHOUT KIDS. people.  without kids.  (Thank you air miles and nice stimulus check!)

Fifth up:  More camping with Hubby’s family.

Ya.  So like I said, I’m in need of a vacation, or five.

Overwhelmed, need a vacation.

Regular sour cream??  They’ve never heard of such a thing! Whole fat Mayonnaise?  Naa, we go with fat free! If it’s made nonfat, I buy it.  (Except for cream cheese.  Fat free cream cheese is just disgusting. So I get the 1/3 fat.  A girl’s gotta have her limits!)

Anyways, Last year I’d become pretty tired of staring at the fridge and trying to figure out what I could make for dinner, sighing, and pulling out a packet of Mac & Cheese or those cute frozen dinosaur chicken nuggets from CostCo.  I was so. over. it.

Since I was just exiting my ugly years.…you know which ones I’m talking about, pregnancy, birth, nursing OMG did I even brush my teeth today??!! years, saying Bye Bye Boobie and gaining my sanity and self back.  I decided that I need to take control of my family’s dinnertime chaos.

So I began meal planning.  Insert choir music and angelic voices here. Oh how life has changed.  Once a week I sit down, browse allrecipes.com figure out what meals I’ll be making for the week and write my grocery list accordingly.  I don’t buy pre-packeged dinners ever anymore.  And I rarely fret about what’s for dinner.

You know the greatest thing?  I save bucket of money.  BUCKETS I tell you!!  I don’t buy bags of chips, crackers, or any other snacky foods anymore–with one exception, NutriGrain Bars (Which I keep in the van for those hunger emergencies!)

For snacks my kids often get fruit, string cheese, or low fat yogurt.  I don’t buy high sugar snacks or anything that claims it’s fruit flavored.  They get two snacks, one at 10 a.m. and one after nap.

That’s it.

In addition this Christmas my brother handed over his amazing juicer which I use almost every morning.  I make a full mixture of some or all the following ingredients:

apple, carrot, cucumber, celery, orange, broccoli

And my family drinks it.  eClaire, BC and Hubby ALL drink it.  Hehe, I’m totally getting my kids to DRINK their veggies. More impressive, I’ve somehow managed to hoodwink Hubby into drinking his!!  he he.

Lately Hubby and I’ve been taking it up a level.  Buying organic.  Not everything, but lots of stuff.  We got to our local farmer’s market most Sundays to stock up on our weekly veggies, jam, and honey.  We always choose organic when offered a choice.  And recently I’ve all but changed my household cleaners over to all natural products.

And I feel good.

Sure we still go on an occasional fast food run.  But I try to keep it to In & Out, and NOT McD’s.

And best of all I feel like by teaching my kids healthy eating habits now, I’m hopefully combating a whole slew of health problems down the road, most importantly, childhood obesity.

And that my friends, is recently what I’m most proud of doing right for my family.

****I just looked over to my right and realized that I have a CostCo sized bag of peanut M&M’s open and partly eaten…  I’m SOOO not perfect.  Excuse me while go do some emotional eating as I ponder this…

Healthy Living

over $600 later…

Today we replaced our water heater which, apparently, had been leaking for months.

and that’ll be $500 more…  (Hubby was awesome and decided to rally together two friends to help him replace this water heater, saving us $400!  Thank goodness he’s cute AND handy.)

And on Monday we need to take our Civic into the shop because the light indicator is on informing us that our airbags no longer work.

cost: between $85 and $1500…

God, please please let us survive this week.

They happen in threes, right?

I will kill you.

I stalk you, wait patiently and hit when you aren’t looking.

I am good.

Do not set wing into my house or I’ll be forced to use my mad hand/eye skilzs and my trusty fly swatter to slice your body in half.

I swing hard and I swing fast.

I have no compassion for your kind and never any guilt.

I’ll even chuckle as toss the pieces of your body into my trash can.

I

Am

The Exterminator.

Be warned.

I am the exterminator

To Do List:

1. Laundry, do and put away.
2. Cook two dinners, in bulk for Hubby when I’m gone
3. Pack
4. Clean the house, again, and again, and again. You know how it goes with toddlers!
5. Wash the dog
6. Wash the kids
7. Wash myself, at some point, oh ya, and my teeth too!
8. Blog
9. Entertain two sick kids…
10. Finances

I’m exhausted already

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Things to do:

Since Hubby’s promotion, his hours have become more stable, which is very nice for me! But that means that I don’t ask AM to watch our kids as often. So… this week I decided to ask her if she wouldn’t mind me bringing my little terrors adorable children over to her house once a week for a couple hours so I can sit in my empty house and work on our finances, in total and complete silence!

Nice huh? She agreed. So, today I was fortunate enough to have a 2 ½ hour chunk, all to myself, in the morning, to sit down and focus on our finances.

I was able to pay bills, reconcile our savings and checking accounts, and get us back up and running on this whole managing our money thing.

The gift of time.

It feels good. As much as the thought of working on and doing our finances paralyzes me, being organized and up to date seems to free me!

Funny, huh?

I feel fortunate enough to have a set of spectacular friends who have shown me support in the last days.

Thank you AM for your willingness to take my kids, and J-Doc for your kind, kind email. I am so lucky!

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The Gift

Two days ago, the company called us and told us we had to come up to their business, an hour away during business hours to sign the documents. Hubby was a bit annoyed. He informed her that we wanted a notary to come to our house instead, as we have…well, lives. Two toddlers, two jobs, nap schedules, helping friends move, etc. She told Hubby no. Mistake #1.

Hubby was non too pleased with these results and refused to set up an exact time to make the trip to see her. We’d call 1 hour prior to our arrival. The next morning, Thursday, I called at 9:30 to ensure all was well and let them know to expect us. She, informed me that our lender for our line of credit had not gotten back to her with the exact amount we owed. But that didn’t matter, so come anyways and she’ll approximate it. Mistake #2

Hubby did not like this, and called to clarify. He mentioned that he was frustrated because the day before she’d informed him that all was complete and ready to be signed. And now today there were still parts that were not done. And on top of it, we were schlepping two kids an hour out of our way because she refused to send a notary to our house.

The lady then told Hubby that he didn’t give her a reason why. Had he then she’d have been more sympathetic to his needs. Mistake #3 Hubby did not like this.… he let her know it too. “Let me get this straight,” (never good when it begins with “let me get this straight”) “I’m now required to report to you why I need what I need?”

After an earful she responds by saying, “I feel like you don’t trust me.…”

This is not our mortgage broker we are speaking too, but rather the company the broker used. That being said, we’ve never, ever spoken before. Trust? Ya, we don’t trust you. We don’t even not trust you. We don’t know you. This is a business deal, hello!

After about fifteen minutes of this, Hubby hangs up the phone. We load up and head to her office. An hour and a half later, after getting lost, we finally make it to her office only to find out that there have been some glitches. Mistake #4

Turns out that our property tax check, sent by B of A, the bank our mortgage was through, had not been cashed by our county tax department. This immediately halts the process. We are not able to refinance our loan with an outstanding tax bill. Why had she not noticed this prior to sending us out to her office? Why did we drive 1 1/2 hours with a 2 yr old and 1 yr old just to turn back around and head home? Um, we were livid.

At home, I dealt with B of A, had a letter faxed to our lender, stating that the bill had been paid, just not cashed yet. So all is well. The notary is coming out to our house tomorrow night and we will sign papers then.

Yesterday was so stressful that I was not able to function for most of the day. I tend to shut down with extreme stress. All I want to do is curl in a ball and go to sleep. Of course, sweet darling BC and eClaire chose not to take naps, so that wasn’t an option. It wasn’t until I sobbed to my mom, later that evening that I began feeling better.

Life isn’t all that easy. But each day gets better. You’ve gotta just to keep moving. Right, please tell me I’m right!

Stay tuned tomorrow! I’m participating in The Blog Exchange and have been paired up with Gunfighter. He and I are exchanging our best posts. I’ll have his up first thing in the morning.

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Just keep moving…

Backing up to Thursday, Hubby the kids and I went for a two mile walk to Starbucks and back. BC rode his tricycle and eClaire was in the stroller.

BC on his trike!

While we were out, I got a call from a friend, Mrs. I. She asked if I could watch her darling daughters for a few hours. No problem! They played with eClaire while BC slept and I cleaned out the fridge, thoroughly. It was awesome! As Mrs. I was leaving my house, she suggested that her daughters would love it if BC came over and spend the night.… so he did!! I packed his bags, put him in the car and waved, “Bye, bye!”

2 1/2 years old and already has had his first sleepover! It was such a blessing because Mrs. I gave me the gift of time Thursday evening to bake sugar cookies, 4 cheesecakes, two different types of chocolate chip cookies, and time on Friday morning to clean the house. BC came home at 1:30 Friday afternoon, ate and took a nap until 4:00. This was a good thing because he stayed up until 9:00 p.m. playing with the other kids who came to the party.

I guess HM, girl to the right of green-haired BC in the picture said to BC in the car, “BC, do you want to sleep with me tonight?” to which BC responded, “Yes, I do. I really, really do!” So cute… but if this conversation happens again in another 10 years… Lord help me!

Anyway, the party was a fantastic success. May more kids came than I was expecting, but all young ones had a blast. There was more alcohol here than we will ever use. Beer, cigars, wine and dessert was loved by all in attendance. But mostly, we were surrounded by friends and family that have made a difference in our lives. The eclectic group of people meshed so well, and many stayed until the wee hours of the night. Our last guests left around 1:30 this morning. It was so much fun. Hubby has been a really hard worker, and is now beginning to see the fruits of his labor. I am so proud of him.

I charged my camera last night but, of course, I forgot to take pictures. The only pictures I have are of the kids, not the party. So I’ll leave you today with the best picture of the cutest girl. eClaire gets today’s award for being the most adorable child I’ve ever come across!! She is found, at all times, with at least three necklaces around her neck, clutching a purse and talking on a cell phone. Honestly, girls are so different than boys!

Stop by and have a glass of wine with me, one of these days. I have tons left!!

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Partied out!

I know what you are thinking, “ah, she’d just being hard on herself.” No, I’m not. Dad and Husband, don’t reply affirming my statement! I can do many things very well. I am a damn good mom, most days. I am a pretty good public speaker. I come across in most situations as a confident, well spoken individual with few insecurities (if only they knew the truth!) I do not, however, enjoy cleaning to the extent that when I do, my 2 1/2 year old asks me, “Mommy, who’s coming over?” Pathetic.

But, all things being said. I still cannot cook.

So when I got my brother’s chili recipe from my dad the other day, it looked fool proof. Just get all these ingredients together, put them in the Crockpot and let it cook for 10 hours.

So I cut up the Jalapeños

And the habanera peppers

Browned the flank steak (Whatever that means. It was still tough when I ate the chili 11 hours later.) And dumped the rest of the prepared and canned ingredients into the Crockpot.

Then I washed my hands and went to do my makeup. As I was putting eyeliner on, I smudged some of it onto my skin next to my eye. And so, like I would do any other day, I took my finger, and wiped it off.

Mistake #1. Do not touch your face after cutting up five very hot peppers.

Actually that was mistake #2, really. Mistake #1 would be: Wear gloves when cutting very hot peppers.

So here I am at 10:30 at night, with hands burning, my dad’s words echoing in my head, “What are you a moron?? Touching your face after cutting peppers??” (Said with love and affection, I hope ) Ringless, 2 bags of frozen green beans on either side of my hands, and a lesson learned.

Yes, Dad, I am a moron. A novice, and not a very good cook. But with all that being said, I made a mean Chili this evening, thanks to my brother’s chili recipe and a willingness to try a new recipe… I’ll continue trying new recipes, for the sake of my family,as long as they take me less than 30 minutes to prepare!

Now I’m off to go ice my hands again.

Jeffrey’s Chili
———————————————

2 lbs. Flank Steak
6–8 oz Beer
2 TBS Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2TBS chili powder
Salt to taste
1/2 chopped red onion
1 cup celery
2 (14.5 oz) cans chopped tomatoes (drained)
1 (14.5 oz) cans tomato sauce
2 (14.5 oz) can kidney beans
1 1/2 habanera chilies (seeded & minced) USE GLOVES!!
1 jalapeno chilies (seeded & minced) USE GLOVES!!!

Brown cubed steak
Place all in crock pot for 8–10 hours on low

Enjoy! Let me know if you make this recipe and how you liked it!

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Make the burn stop!!

That being said, I’m writing a post about a very embarrassing subject. One that I’ll write about once, and never again.… Ladies, you remember them, pink plastic, sparkley, canisters you kept your most prized possessions in, when you were nine? That’s right. The Caboodles.

Well, I went to Walmart the other day and bought one, at age thirty. I said it; I went to Walmart, bought a Caboodles, brought it home and made it my own. For me. At thirty. There, I said it, and feel so much better! It’s named “Rockstar!” by Caboodles, of course, not me.

The really cool thing is that for only $2.00 I can get a personalized nameplate sent to me! You’ve just figured out what to get me for Easter this year!

Or even better yet, you could get me this great sweatshirt!

Here are a few before and after shots of my junk and how well it is organized now.

Over toilet cabinet
Then:

And Now:

Under Sink
Then:

And Now:
(Notice the Caboodles!)

The Rockstar, in action:

I’ve said what I needed to say, and I’m done.

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Caboodles