My Nut Village

Org Junkie’s MPM.  We are working off of the first pay period while doing Dave Ramsey,  (Still, not as sexy as it sounds…)  I spent $239.39.  My budget is $300 per pay period.  We had really already cut back in this area.  I will make a trip again next week to get some produce, but I feel like we are doing pretty well in that area.  If I can feed this family of seven for under $600 per month, I’ll be happy.  One thing I did find that is kinda fun is a Ramen Noodle recipe website.  I have 24 packages of Ramen Noddles.  I need to get rid of ‘em.  So we’re gonna try to rock the Ramen a bit this week.  Join me, will you?

Monday

Lunch- Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Fruit, Carrots and Ranch

Dinner- Chicken Ramen Noodle Salad   

Tuesday

Lunch- Beanie Weenies

Dinner- Lo Mein Ramen 

Wednesday

Lunch- Loaded Baked Potatoes

Dinner- Cheese Quesadillas

Thursday

Lunch- Egg Salad Sandwiches

Dinner- Swedish Meatballs, Noodles, Roasted Potatoes (Swede’s don’t eat anything that’s not beige.  If it happens to have color, a good Swede will cover it in beige gravy.  It’s a law, I think.) 

Friday

Lunch- Beef Hot Dogs

Dinner- Homemade Pizza

Saturday

Lunch- Pasta Salad, Garlic Bread

Dinner- Spaghetti with Meatballs, Salad, Leftover Garlic Bread

Sunday

Lunch- Homemade Macaroni/Cheese with Ham

Dinner- BLT Sandwiches

For snack, I have planned:

Tortilla Wraps

Frozen Graham Crackers with Pudding

Apples with Peanut Butter

Apples with Cheese

Peanut Butter/Honey Crackers

Veggies with Ranch Dressing

Lotsa Fruit

My kids may have never seen a cow, but we have seen the wild.  The wild, barbaric ways of the neighborhood cats and squirrels.  As my kids venture to the cul-de-sac, they know that danger lurks.  They know that at any moment, nayure might show them her worst.  Like today…

We decided to put our science lesson on hold so we could watch the behavior of the ever elusive house cat.  Every morning on the cul-de-sac, a squirrel wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest house cat or it will be killed.

Every morning a house cat wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest squirrel or it will starve to death.

The moral:
It doesn’t matter if you are a house cat or a squirrel. When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.

 ”Mom, are you taking a picture of my butt?”  “Stop it, L.  Watch nature.”

“Mom, the squirrel jumped from the branch to the roof.  Are we done watching nature?”

*Please click on the image to experience the titillating glory…and ,yes, they’re real.  Photo courtesy of my mother.  Thanks, Suz!  You’re quite the budding photographer. 

Octamom posed a question on her blog:

What is your favorite season and why?

This is a no-brainer for this Texas girl.  It’s Falinter!  It’s those few weeks we have every year when it dips below 80 degrees.  Brrrrrr!  I know.  We get our first cold front usually at the beginning of November and the temperature dips way down into the 60s and sometimes even the 50s!  The humidity falls, I get to pack up my flip-flops until February and I walk around in my coat that I’ve had for 14 years because I only wear it about 2 weeks outta the year.  Then I start to sweat and take it off until those 2 weeks actually arrive. 

Growing up, for me, Falinter started when we went here:

The Great State Fair of Texas!  The only place I’ll eat these:

Ahhh…yes.  The famous State Fair corn dog.  With mustard.  Hello, you perfectly breaded, then fried, weiner. 

Then we start the birthday season.  First it’s ds12, then dh, then dd10, Jesus, and then ds9 after which we do our yearly bankruptcy filing.   

In all seriousness, nothing makes me happier than that first burst of cold air from the North.  I’m always inspired to make that first batch of chili in the crock pot and buy a couple of pumpkins to carve with the kids.  Lights start going up on houses and drinking hot chocolate does not cause you to perspire.  Sleeping in snuggled up to warm husband…and always the hope that maybe this year it will snow.  That’s always a huge highlight!  Dirty, grassy snowmen become works of art!

This one would just as soon stand on her head than sit at a table to do her school work.  And nothing is more fun for her than making a “desk”.  She uses the piano bench, storage boxes and yes…books for chairs and chairs for desks.  Hey, whatever works, man. 

We’re in the bathroom this week with FlyLady.  If you sign up for the gazillion emails you get hourly, in one of them you will have a Mission, if you choose to accept it.  These arrive daily.  Hourly.  Minutely.  Secondly.  I really have to stay on top of the emails or they build up and I start getting a twitch in my left eye.  They are helpful if you take the time to use them.  And who can argue with this?  It’s your duty!

Yesterday, our Mission was to wipe down around the base and the back of the toilet. This is an area that I choose to forget exists.  I have 2 boys and just wish we had urinals in their bathroom.  They spend most of their days hitting imaginary targets with fake guns but can’t seem to hit the 18 inch hole…well, you get the idea. 

For this, I put on gloves (for the love of Pete, please wear gloves if you have boys.  They really are “HandSavers”.  I’m just sayin’…) and grab a rag and some general purpose cleaner.  I use Windex.  Lots of Windex.  No, I’m not Greek.  Wipe down the toilet from the bowl downward, the floor around the base and behind the base.  *gag*  See?  That wasn’t so bad!  And since we’re swishing and swiping everyday, the inside of the bowl should already be clean.  Are you swishing and swiping?  Are you?

I also did the weekly home blessing yesterday.  “We” meaning my kids.  It’s actually done throughout the week.  If I ever figure out how to post their chore chart, I’ll definitely show you how you too can use your children to keep your house clean in just 20 minutes a day!  It really frees up my time so I can organize my whiskey bottles and play online poker.  I kid…

Today, our Mission is to clean out our bathroom trash can. Put the can in the tub and fill it with hot water and add some general purpose cleaner.  I use some blue stuff from Dollar Tree.  I love Dollar Tree!!!  

Let the cleaner soak and then scrub the bottom, the sides and the outside of the can. Turn it over and let it dry in the tub.  And please get it out before your 12 year old needs to take a shower.  He will shower with it because it won’t occur to him to take it out.  Again, just sayin’…

Since the remodel, we’ve stayed pretty clutter-free upstairs.  I’m going to have the kids get their clothes organized today so when it’s time to introduce warmer clothes, they don’t get all confused and pull out swim trunks and a sweater. 

I hope this is helpful to someone.  It helps me to post it.  Thank you for helping me. 

Monday

Lunch- Ramen Noodles, Saltine Crackers and Cheese (Did I mention we’re “doing” Dave Ramsey?)

Dinner- Breaded Chicken, Broccoli with Cheese Sauce (yum!), Corn, Fruit Cocktail

Tuesday

Lunch-Beef Hot Dogs, Chips, Peaches

Dinner-Beef Stroganoff, Salad

Wednesday

Lunch- Mac/Cheese, Green Beans, Bananas

Dinner-Chicken Pot Pie, Pears

Thursday

Lunch-Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Carrots and Ranch

Dinner-Beef Tacos

Friday

Lunch- Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Dinner-Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Saturday

Lunch- Leftover Pizza

Dinner- Monster Burgers, Grilled Veggies

Sunday

Lunch- Out with Sunday School Class

Dinner- Oven-fried Chicken Tenders, Corn, Green Beans, Fruit Cocktail

And Breaking Weather News:

Tropical Storm Nana…she’ll be arriving with long sustained hugs, lots of gum and will smell like coffee.

So, we’re doing Dave Ramsey.  As sexy as that sounds, it’s not gonna be fun.  We decided we needed to get more control of our money.  This is quite a commitment and I’m a little nervous, but the way Dave lays it out makes a lot of sense to me.  Me, who once had to send my checkbook home to my parents when I was in college because I couldn’t figure out if I was $400 over or under.  True story.  Sorry, Suzi and Larry.   

We are involving our kids so they won’t make some of the mistakes we made.  Like having 2 credit cards maxxed before I graduated from college.  Again, my apologies to my parents.  I am going to make it part of our homeschooling day by using this for my 7 year old, this for my 9 and 10 year old, and this for my 12 and 14 year old.  It will be part of their Christmas.  I know!  They’re gonna be thrilled! 

I’ve still been implementing the FlyLady program.  Although my house has been in a slight state of CHAOS due to the new bathroom and carpet, I have been able to keep up my routines.  I’m feeling the stirrings of renewed motivation. It’s either that or the breakfast burrito I had this morning…But the weather is starting to change and that always makes me wanna make my nest cozy.  I’ve started on my laundry room and it’s caused me to do some soul searching.  Who am I and why are there quarters stuck in laundry soap on top of my dryer?  What defines me and how did a footprint get on the wall.  Five feet up.  This is deep stuff…

The kids have started swim team that practices three times a week that meets right at dinner time, so I’m trying to get together an arsenal of crock pot recipes to help make dinner easier.  I found this site, by the way.  She’s the Crock Pot Lady.  Apparently, I only take advice if your name has “lady” in it.  She’s having a sweet giveaway at the moment, as well.  Check it out!!

It’s all good.  My reunion was actually quite fun.  I didn’t drink too much and start singing Rapper’s Delight.  I was really stressed about that.  They had an awards show and someone actually won Most Gay.  Another highlight was seeing a friend that I thought was dead.  I told him that I am glad he’s still living.  He agreed. 

I can’t believe the amount of people that have Facebook pages!  Everyone said, “Just look me up on Facebook!”  This is something I haven’t gotten into.  On purpose.  It’s just too tempting.  I’m afraid my plants would die and my kids would go hungry.  OK, well…yes…I have only one living plant and my kids water it, but I’m afraid I’d be on Facebook too much if I were a member. 

So, what’s next!  Well, we’re still finishing up the remodel.  I have a mountain of boxes/trash bags to go through.  We brought everything that’s not furniture downstairs and I am going to be really careful not to let the crap creep back up the newly carpeted stairs.  We’ll see how that goes…You know there will be photos. 

I also have a confession to make.  I’ve become obsessed with this:

We finished the last episode of season 4 and I’m bereft…I’m not ready to talk about the fact that season 5 doesn’t start until January.  When I am, maybe we can gather here for support and encouragement.  I want you to feel safe here.  Group hug!   

And to continue the randomness of this post, please remember that the Renewed Mind is the Key… 

Tile and tub are finished  Here’s some before and after shots of the floor.   

Shower/tub area.  There’s still something they have to fix with the thing that makes the deal do what it does.  I’m sorry if that is too technical. 

Here’s the hallway rug shot.  It’s a lot lighter than I was expecting, but I like it.  The kids are not allowed to walk on it. 

They asked, “But how do we get to our rooms?” 

And I said, “You know, I can’t solve all of the problems around here.  Figure it out.  Sheesh!” 

They’re not allowed on the stairs, either.  Neither are their shoes.  That’s just good parenting, people.  Learn from me!

This is how we roll with math in the homeshizzle…Peace out!