Groceries and the Garden

I went grocery shopping today.  I'm averaging about $60 every two weeks, which isn't quite what I need to be spending to be able to make it a full 2 weeks between grocery trips.  I think I'm needing an extra $40-$50 to be able to make it.  Right now, I'm making 10-12 days, but the last few days before the grocery trip are painful.  Which, if we could go out to dinner 3-4 days every two weeks, that'd be perfect, but alas, we cannot.  And I don't even WANT to go out that often.  I tell Charlie all the time- once a week is perfect.  Which usually is Saturday if we go to Saturday Mass, or Friday night if we don't. 

Most days I wish I could just go to my perfect pantry and pull out my ingredients that I need to make dinner.  Unfortunately, I can't.  I don't have a pantry, and my cabinet space leaves MUCH to be desired.  I honestly hate my kitchen set up, so I have to make the best of a bad situation.  But anyway....moving along- that's another blog post for another day. 

I am wanting to join Costco again.  I've joined in the past, and it's been useful, but I wasn't using it as I should.  Now, we have a little more cash, and even if I go 1 time a month, it'll be worth it for us.  I want to be able to start putting a stockpile up, not just for the future, but for those last 3-4 days every paycheck when I'm making dinner out of 2 eggs and a box of cake mix.  Sometime in February is my goal to rejoin, which is really only either this Friday, or in two weeks.   I think I might just go down there Friday afternoon, and just get everything set up, maybe stop at the Goodwill outlet as well.  I'm not sure, I dislike getting off work at 12:30, and then having to shove all sorts of stuff into 3 hours before Luke gets home from school. 

The Year the Snow Wouldn't Stop

Or, the year that our children attended school until July, when we should have been out in May.  Here in Central Indiana, we've been hammered with snow and cold.  Last week it was 13 inches, and the polar air cap, resulting in a 3 week Christmas break.  This week, we had one make up day, and yet another 3 inches, and another snow day today, resulting in the last flex day being used.  Truly, the next time we get called for snow, we're going into June.  The snow has to end eventually, right??  At this point, I'm going crazy.  I hate snow- with a passion.  I'm not one of those people that can just sit at home and watch the snow fall.  Ick.  If I have to go out in it, I hate wet pants, I hate wet shoes, etc.  Give me sunny and 75 (thanks, Jake Owen!). 
I have, however, started planning the garden, and Charlie has promised a cold frame at work here soon.  So yay for that!
I *have* been using my time with Luke home wisely though.  I've got him helping pick up the house, and put stuff away.  All I have to do is promise him time to watch his television shows for an hour.  :)  Other than that, he's all about helping pick up and throw away.  I know Charlie has been irritated at how messy the house is, and it is my fault, but I'm trying to get stuff listed on Ebay.  See, I sell used clothes on eBay for extra money.  He likes it, he's cool with it, he just hates the mess I create sometimes with it. 

No call no show

I hope my boss switched my schedule like she told me she was going to. I was supposed to work today, and be off Friday. Monday, she switched me. Hopefully the schedule reflected that, and I'm not in trouble. :/ 

Things have been so crazy around here. I'm finally picking up more hours at work, so I'm full time for all intents and purposes. Which is great, but it's been a while since I've done that- and I didn't have a kid. I honestly have no idea how moms working outside the home do it!  Mad props to you!!! I couldn't do it!!  I'm stressed out enough trying to get laundry done so I can run loads to the laundromat (our dryer crapped out a month ago), getting stuff ready to put on eBay, cleaning, etc. 

Be Nice

This is my plea for today. Be nice. To each other, and to yourself. 

This was hammered home to me yet again today. There was a deal at Family Dollar that resulted in free laundry detergent. Great, right?  Wrong, sadly. It resulted in women (and men) yelling at cashiers and managers because the employees were unsure of their own coupon policy. While there is no excuse for lack of knowledge on the employees part, there is absolutely no reason for the customers to get all up in arms and yell and curse the employees out. A simple please check your coupon policy would suffice- and if the employees were still unsure, a quick call to corporate or showing the coupon policy would also be acceptable. Screaming and yelling at the employee who is simply doing their job (and not getting paid well for it) is simply not acceptable. If they were treated how they treated the Family Dollar employees, I daresay they'd be complaining to high heaven. 

I've actually been teaching this this past week in religious education. Love God with all your heart, and love each other. 

Love each other. Be NICE to each other. Don't scream and bitch at that employee who is just doing her job. Say thank you. It's not that hard. I promise. And just maybe, your day will be better, because you were nice. 

Can 2013 be over?

Its gotten worse. Out of the 5 people in my immediate family, 2 are currently in the hospital. WTF? Bubby #1 was shot!!! almost 3 weeks ago, and is currently in a trauma center up north.  And brother Barry aka my dad, has been diagnosed with cellulitis, and is going to be in the hospital for the next 3 days. Seriously. Could September and October get any worse?   I'm not trying to tempt fate, I'm just ready for this shit to be over. 

And yet again....

It's been over a month since my last post. I haven't forgotten you, I promise. I've just had way too much stuff going on in my life. So in the interest of space and time, this is a synopsis of what happened- summer ended, school started, my brother almost lost his life, still not out of the woods, and now we are at today. 

  Charlie is turning 40 this week. We decided to have a camping trip for him- invite a bunch of friends, and we could just chill, and catch up. Well, it ended up being one of his friends from college, one of her friends, and Charlie, Luke, myself, and Busia. Which I think is kind of crappy, that people that expect him to do stuff for them don't even show up to help celebrate. That's just shady. :/ But we had a fantastic time, and so did Charlie, so it was worth it. Even if his brothers didn't show up, or his friends. 

  Camping this weekend showed me a few things- somewhat in relation to being prepared- but more so just for camping. I really miss it, but we really need to replace a lot of our gear. :(. Our camp chairs are absolute crap, we don't have nearly enough lamps, etc, etc. This means that apparently I need to start saving my pennies for camping gear that I want. :) I know Charlie will use the camp chairs until he's sitting on the ground. And we have an air mattress, we just have no clue if it has a leak in it. So I have to purchase a pump. It's just stupid stuff I have to do. And believe me, I could have used an air mattress this weekend. It was rainy, and muddy, and I fell. :( so of course I wrenched my back, and hurt my knee. Yes, I know, first world problems. 

  

So it's been almost a month....

And this month has been crazy.  I've been working 50+ hours a week, Charlie has been working 40+ hours a week, and Luke hasn't been in school.  So I've not been sleeping, or sleeping when he's home- hello, tv, you've become my new best friend.  Which isn't good.  At. All. 

But, school starts on Tuesday, and Luke will be in 2nd grade!  Oh my gosh, where did the time go?  I remember like it was yesterday him starting kindy, and me crying, not only because he's my first, but because it would be the only time I'd get to experience this.  And now he's starting 2nd.  It's First Communion year as well, so that's huge for us.  I don't want to think about that either right now.  ;) 

The garden isn't going as well as we'd hoped, either.  We've got a ton of pickles, and beans, but our tomatoes aren't producing like we'd hoped.  Each plant only has 3-4 tomatoes on it, and we've only gotten 1 tomato so far.  Sad face.  Time to do some research on it, and if we have to start them early next year, so be it.  Charlie is talking about starting them in the greenhouse at work.  I am thinking instead of putting 5 seeds in a tiny pot, maybe you should only put 2, and then be careful with them.  But whatever, what do I know....  Hahaha!  That's what I'll be doing next year, we'll have a little competition to see who wins!