Friend Makin Monday

I did this a couple weeks ago and it was fun so here I am again - tryin to make me some friends!! My answers to the 20 questions - I hope you will still be my friend after you read my answers!!!

1. Do you cook every night?
Not if I don't have to!! I really do not enjoy cooking! But you gotta do what you gotta do - right? and if we are going to change our eating habits - which I posted about yesterday - then I am going to HAVE to cook every night - YUK!!!

2. What kind of laundry detergent do you use & why?
I used to use the costco brand int hat big huge container but lately i have been buyin whatever is cheapest! We have this great store around here that has super cheap prices on food items and some other odds and ends so I have been buying laundry detergent for 3.49 a bottle for a few weeks!

3. Do you do laundry every day or loads at a time?
I do it whenever the mood strikes and it is usually when we run out of undies! I usually end up doing it 2 or 3 times a week a few loads at a time.

4. How often do you eat out per week?
NEVER.

5. Where do you usually eat out?
if we do - it would be to hit the drive thru at chick-fila or mcdonalds

6. What is your favorite retail store?
I do soooo love Thrift stores!! But real stores - my favorite is TARGET - and since hubby works there we do get a small discount!!!

7. What is oyur favorite thing to drink?
Dr.Pepper but it has to be fountain soda!

8.Do you take vitamins? What kind?
i was taking mellaluca but it has been a few months since i got them

9. What percentage of the household chores do you do?
80%

10. Do your children do chores?
yes - alex does the 2 bathrooms(not mine), sweeps and mops the stairs and hallway, vacuum downstairs after dinner
the little ones empty the dishwasher, scoop dog poop, clean the van, clean their room, and they each have a dinner chore - get drinks, set the table, wipe the table
Here are some pics of the chore charts and schedules I recently made for the boys.

11. Do you go to church?
ABSOLUTELY

12.Do you have a housework schedule?
HA!HA! I wouldn't keep it but the OCD in me would sure have fun making one!

13. Do you keep a working budget?
Dave Ramsey all the way!!

14. What do you do at night as a family?
we always eat dinner together. we watch movies, play games

15. How do you prepare yourself for a new week?
I wish I planned out my school week on sundays. I have tried to do a meal plan but so far I havent done so good with that!! Other than that I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants and take it as it comes - I would not recommend this method!!!

16. What do your mornings look like?
In reality - i roll out of bed whenever the boys come pester me to get up. then we have breakfast, do our morning chores and get started with school. there is no set time for any of the above but I am trying to follow the same routine every day!

17. What time do you get up in the mornings?
during the week I set the alarm for 7:00 and usually hit snooze till about 8:00. on the weekends I sleep as long as they will let me but i am usually up by 830 or 9!

18. What time do you go to bed at night?
I would like to be in bed by 11 but so many nights i am up till 1,2 and sometimes 3!! Now that we have started school I am better about getting to bed but alot of times it is 12 before i hit the pillow!

19. How do you manage all the paperwork that comes into your house?
Anything that needs to be attended goes staright ont he calendar whitha s much info as I can fit and then the piece of paper goes into the trash can! if i need the paper it gets attached to the door to the garage with a magnet( it is right next to the calendar) or it goes around the calendar ona string I have hanging there attached with a clothespin. I have a bill/money file taht all that goes into until bill paying time. all phone lists are in 1 binder in a central spot by the calendar.

20. How do you keep your household organized?
I think my answer to 19 would qualify here as well! Pic here of my wall calendar system!

Healthy Eating

About 6 months ago I started making our own bread and it has been a good change for us. That is about as far as I got in the healthy eating dept until recently. The other day i found myself listening to Sue Becker of the Bread Beckers on one of the MP3's from convention. I was mesmerized and God just struck something in my head and heart and said listen up because this needs to happen in your house! We do love our cereal, popcorn, chips and all sorts of frozen goodies like chicken nuggets and pizza rolls but hubby and I have gotten sick of the way we eat and so we knew it was time for a change!
The 2 things that really struck me were 1) shop for REAL FOOD. do not shop the inside aisles of the grocery store - only shop the outside perimeter and only buy real food. I didn't understand at first but I just so happen to go to the grocery store a day or so later and was floored by the reality of what she was saying! It will mean I will have to actually cook and make food for my family instead of opening a bag or dumping it onto a pizza pan but i feel like God is behind me on this and will keep me fed with ideas thru the internet and friends!
2) grind our own wheat. this will be a little harder since I don't have a wheat grinder and I sure don't have $300 plus to drop on one! But I do have a dear friend who has one and is willing to grind it for me! I was totally convinced just listening to Sue Becker talk about what they do to the wheat to make it have a shelf life of undetermined time. I have been blessed since we decided to make this change by realizing half my friends eat this way and are so willing to share recipes, hints and tips and even help me get started(I really have NO desire to cook - I would much rather be painting). Any recipes or tips YOU want to share I will be so blessed to have!!!
Those are the 2 things we are gonna slowly strat to change around here!

I will be more than happy to make you a copy of her talks and send them to you if you want to listen to what she has to say!

Once I started researching recipes and figuring out other things to eat for breakfast and lunch I started thinking about my son's acne and if this change of eating might be helpful to him. I found nothingt hat said 'these foods cause acne' but i found multiple articles that had found correlations between caffeine - soda & chocolate, dairy products and all the preservatives put into food and acne! Are you suprised? I was - just a little bit - but the more I learn about what things are being put into my food the less and less I am suprised by what a change in diet can do for us!!

My hubby, Alex and Ben are okay with the idea of change but we haven't had the full effect of it all yet - there is still cereal in the pantry and chips so as soon as those are gone it could get UGLY around here! Stephen and Thomas are my picky eaters and when I say picky I mean they will go hungry rather than try something(which is almost everything i put in front of them). Stephen actually GAGGED when I made him try a bite of a wheat pancake I made with our fresh flour!! I have always given them the option to have a bowl of cereal if they didn't like what we were having for dinner but we are going COLD TURKEY on the cereal and they will have to take a NO THANK YOU bite before they can turn it down and refuse to eat! I am sure we will still have some frozen items for lunch now and again - I love pizza rolls and tater tots as much as they do!!

God give me strength to make these changes and stick to them for our family and the benefits we can receive by eating the way you intended us to eat!

Yard Sales and In-Laws

I spent the week getting ready for a yard sale at my house this weekend. I LOVE yard sales! I love going to them - I love having them and I love getting rid of stuff! We have bought very few pricey things - most everything we own has come from thrift stores and yard sales so it is easy to get rid of stuff every year because there is not alot of emotional attachment! But now that the boys are getting older we are putting more thought into what we buy them so there is less and less need to get rid of stuff!!

Ben had a blast selling lemonade for 25 cents a cup! He was very patient and sat there all morning waving and saying hello to folks and asking them if they wanted to buy lemonade! He made $12!!

I would sooo buy lemonade from him if he smiled at me like that!!!

My In-Laws will be arriving Monday or Tuesday and I am a total stress case! They are never here long but when they are it is very stressful. I have been cleaning like it was 'spring' and i still have a LONG way to go!!! I love them dearly and they are awesome, God-lovin' folks but they are just different than I am and my mother in law does not hesitate(at all) to tell me how she is feeling, what I am doing wrong and how ugly the color on my walls is! It is very hard to prepare myself mentally for the put downs..aaarrggghhhh!! The biggest problem is that they are the most wonderful people EVER and it is so hard to remember that sometimes!!! God has truly blessed our family with them but sometimes it is just HARD!!!

on a side note.....I found an old Dave Matthews cd when cleaning and I am just chillin' listening to it right now - I love the instruments he uses in his music!!!

I love to paint and be creative and use bright colors!! I started painting about 5 years ago - from the encouragement of a friend whose art I kept buying - and I haven't stopped since!!

Frig Frames are my absolute favorite thing to paint and to gift!! I can be as colorful and fun as I want because most people aren't worried about a frig magnet clashing with their decor!!I love to have my frig full of them!

I love to mix old and new with the use of color and patterns. I love to look at something at a yard sale or in the thrift store and think how I can make it my own!

For years I have also wanted to figure out a way to make some extra $$ from my art - we always need extra $$$!! I tried a website but right as I got it set up we decided to homeschool and there was no way i could do both at that time! I tried some craft shows around here but I don't think my style was quite country enough!! So - I gave up and just have painted to give as gifts and to decorate my house with the random person buying stuff from me here and there.

Well - a friend encouraged me to try again at a local coffee shop - so I did. I met with the owner yesterday and she liked my stuff!! I am excited! I am going to start with a couple of small things that I have around the house and see how it goes!

Bowl.....

Lazy Susan.....

and Frig Frames - of course!!!

We have 2 colleges near us so I am gonna try to do something with their school colors too!!

I am really excited and hopeful that maybe now is the right time to try to make something of my passion!!!

Lady Julie

I was Knighted today!!! We went to the Medieval festival today and I was knighted along with the boys. It was fun! It was a small festival and we were so looking forward to the Jousting Tournament but it turned out to be not what the boys were expecting. Oh well - we enjoyed getting to see the period costumes and all the armor and weapons that they wore!
I totally forgot my camera so no pictures - the memory will just have to be etched into my brain forever!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

My sister just recently turned me onto the whole coupon shopping craze and a fantastic website that does all the work for me - southernsavers. She goes thru the coupons you get in the paper and matches them up to the store sales for each week. It is truly amazing what you can save by adding coupons to store sales - which I never knew you could do!!! Now - I have not experienced the amazing deals my sister has but I have found milk for only $2.17 a gallon and eggs for $.89 - that works for me for now!!! I plan to get a little more into it now that we are home from all our vacations and we are starting to get back into our routine!! It seems to take a little bit of work but I think it will be worth it for the savings!!!

I have been painting in my free time the past couple days. I started working on my sister's LATE birthday present and couldn't stop so I got a few other projects done that had been sitting around waiting for me to finish!

like this stool that I bought at least 6 months ago, painted it orange and then it sat around and waited for me to do something to the top of it.....

my sisters late birthday present!

a little something for the wall in our family room!!!

tomorrow we are going to a medieval festival and we get to watch a jousting match!! should be fun!!

The newest Pasiecznik has arrived.....

isn't he stinkin cute???

our neighbor had puppies and the boys just fell in love and we thought Shiloh needed a brother so........

look at how he just loves on him.....i couldn't resist!!!

Meet Jack........

Legos HURT.....

Who knew legos could cause some serious damage when you step on them?? I didn't!
I was helping a friend paint yesterday and I stepped down off the ladder and stepped right onto a lego. That thing jammed up into my foot and I literally had to yank it out! It hurt so stinkin' bad! Now I have a gash in the bottom of my foot, it is all swollen and painful to walk and I am in bed with my foot up! There are gonna be some changes in our clean up process around here!!!

we are home...again

We are home to stay this time!! no more vacations - although they were all really fun and well worth it - we are glad to be home! We went camping this past week and can I just mention it RAINED the WHOLE week!!!! It was yucky, wet, more wet, smelly but the kids had a lot of fun! They played in the rain with their cousins, they cooked smores when it cleared for a little bit, they swam in the lake and jumped off the high dive for hours in the rain, they played in the rain some more, we took a hike or two during brief respits from the rain and we had FUN! But - we are glad to be home - even the boys are glad to be sleeping in their own beds!!

I told a small fib - it didn't rain for about 1 1/2 of the days we were there!

I am having trouble loading pics so maybe later I will be able to put some up!!!