Back To The Real World.

It has been quite a while since our Washington Trip. We had a great time! I posted pictures on facebook and that is about as far as I got. The girls and I had a great time!

One of the best pictures was snapped on the first night. We stopped at my folks place and mom had made an awesome dinner for us. The cousins got to catch up. They hadn't seen each other all summer so there was lots to tell...

Now that Summer Vacation is over and the kids are back to school I thought life would slow back down and I would get caught up on some long neglected chores around the house that I had been putting off. Not going to happen......

Why you might ask???

Well the high school that I was subbing in the kitchen for called me shortly after we got back from Washington and asked me if I would like to apply for that job permanently. My hubby and I had talked about this, and what would I do if a position came up full time. We had decided that if it came with a family health insurance package and retirement program that would benefit the family and working outside the home would be worth it.

So long story short I took the job and started working the middle of August. The plus side of it is I am home by 3pm. I have all the same holidays off as the kids, I get summers off, we have an awesome health care package, Hubby and I will be able to retire and not depend on Social Security.

The bad side, (and its not really that bad) little miss Shannon is in preschool from 8 am - 2:00 pm, she is learning lots and has loads of fun. She gets to paint, write her name, learn all the wonderful things you need to know before you start kindergarten. I am lucky, I know her teacher at the center and everyone that works there. She is surrounded by people who truly care about her but I guess I have Mothers guilt, for not doing for her the same things I did for her sisters.

So now the Stay at Home Mom, has ventured out into the working world. So far its going ok. I have yet to learn time management skills when it comes to household chores. I am hoping that this Labor Day holiday I can get the house in order and WE as a family can keep it running smooth.

I will let you know how that works out.....

P.S. I tryed adding the pics to this post but it didn't work to well, sorry.

I linked some pics. from Facebook.

VACATION!!!

Port Orchard Wa.

Once upon a time a long long time ago, before the Great Recession of 2008- AKA Tough Econimic Times, AKA Sorry girls mom and dad have no money for fun stuff. You get the point. Back to my story....

The girls and I would take a road trip up to Port Orchard Washington to visit Aunt Suzanne, Uncle Monte, Christopher and Alex ( we fondly call them The Barbarians of The North) We have not done this trip for 2 year. But that all ends today!!!! We are off on our grand adventure in 6 hours! We have lots to do to get ready, but the one I am most excited about is we are getting a NEW CAMERA!!!! That means I will be able to let you all get a better glimps of the goings on here on the farm.

So off I go, I will be back in a few weeks with lots of stories and pictures to share.

You thought I was kidding....

I have been working on my dresser.... This is how it has looked for the past 7 months... Scary, I am not proud, but it is what it is.... 

It took me little less than an hour but what a difference!!! 

The Lazy Days Of Summer, Yeah Right!!!

Hello my adoring followers! LOL I am back from the land of "The Job That Didn't End!" 

I took a temporary job in October at a school cafeteria that was only to last six weeks and I ended up staying for the whole school year! I loved it, but I think my kids missed out on having mom at home. We managed to get to all the games, 4-H meetings, and lodes of other events we had going on, but it was hectic to say the least!  

Now school is out for summer, my temporary job has ended and I am slowly putting the house back together!

Who knew that a house could get so cluttered? 

                                                   

For the last 7 month the best I can say about the house is . "It's tidy enough not to kill someone." It is possible that it could seriously injure or perhaps maim an individual from a falling stack of half folded laundry, or blind an unsuspecting someone by a falling ceiling fan dust glob. 

Now I need to get the girls to rally and help me tidy up, I think bribery and blackmail are in order. I also am not afraid of resorting to the occasional threat of great bodily injury, or severe butt trauma if they do not help out!!!  

I am desperate! and desperate times call for desperate measures!!!!

Did I mention I am desperate??? 

                                                         

I need to work on my time management skills. I don't know how people find the time to work, keep the house tidy, animals feed, kids to all there appointments, games, practices, school... And still have time to Facebook, Blog, and all the wonderful things the WWW has to offer.  I cant even post here on a regular basis... 

I will try to be better, but who am I kidding. I will still have weeks... no months between posts. 

This April is again quite busy, we have softball, 4-H, school, and the hay is ready! Yeahhh! 

We had a wonderful Easter! We had a small group of 40, twenty of them where kids! We had a great egg hunt! Even a prize egg for the adults! Not your run of the mill prize candy egg, no we had a lottery ticket filled egg!  It was fun to see the adults looking just as hard for there egg as the kids where. 

The 4-H project animals are doing well. We have 30 days till fair so its down to the final push for getting them "Fair Ready" We also had to turn in fair entry forms today. I got the kids all filled out and thought I would give it a go as well and entered a few things. Apricot and Blackberry Jam, Chocolate Cake, Apple Pie, Berry Pie, and my grandmas white bread. I will let you know how we all do... I could even take a picture or two if I remember to bring my camera and charge the batteries. 

Well I had better get to my TO DO list. 

Have a wonderful day! 

Update April 14, 2009: 

I have been doing this $35.00 a week challange since Feb. and it has saved me so much money! I have to say it is not easy feeding a family of 6 (3 adults and 3 kids) but it can be done. There is nothing gormet about the meals I

have came up with, but they are satifying. I think my saving grace has been the freezer that was well stocked going into winter.

I think there would be no way of doing this if I had to buy meat every week. So my #1 tip would

be to stock your freezer when you get the chance! It pays for itself in the long run!

Week 2 of my $35.00 a week grocery budget...

I just got back from the grocery store. I didn't go to my beloved WINCO this week.

I took a gamble and went to FOOD MAXX. I don't like the selection, or should I say the lack of selection that

Food Maxx offers, but when I got into WINCO parking lot and couldn't find a parking space and I wasn't getting anything

special I would go to the other store. I did pretty well, I did get my WIC so I got:

WIC

3 Gallons milk
2 lbs cheese
2 dozen eggs
2 boxes cold cereal
1 jar peanut butter
3 frozen apple juice

WEEKLY SHOPPING

10 lbs potatoes

3 heads lettuce

3 lbs. onions

1 bunch celery

2 bunches of green onions

2 lbs. grapes

1 box strawberries

2 lbs Italian sausage links

16 oz. cottage cheese

1 lb box lasagna noodles

12 oz bag frozen spinach

1 16 oz can spaghetti sauce

1 store brand Oreo cookie ( want to try a recipe this week, if I can keep everyone out of the cookies)

TOTAL$ 34.45

On the menu this week will be:

Breakfast is toast and eggs, cold cereal, oatmeal, or pancakes on the weekends. Lunch is always the same.

• Monday
  

Roast chicken with potatoes and carrots

Green salad

Canned Fruit

• Tuesday
  

Leftover Lasagna or tacos???

• Wednesday
  

Chicken and Green Chili Enchiladas

Green Salad

Fruit

• Thursday
  

Irish Stew with Soda bread

• Friday
  

Leftovers

• Saturday
  

4-H Dinner

• Sunday
  

BBQ Pork Ribs

Macaroni salad

Fruit salad

Rolls

Sunday Night Dinner

DINNER MENU 

****

Chicken Fried Steak 

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy 

Mixed Vegetables 

Green Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing 

Home Canned Pickled Beets 

Grandma's Chocolate Crazy Cake 

****

~COST OF DINNER~

Chuck Steak 4.50

Potatoes .56

Mixed Veg .83

Salad 1.18

Dressing .85 (weeks worth of dressing)

Beets 0.00

Cake 1.38

Total Cost: 

$2.00 per person 

This dinner was for 5 people so total cost was $10.00

This kinda blows the thought that you can eat out cheaper than cooking at home.  A family of 5 can't even eat at Fast Food for under ten dollars anymore. 

Grandma's Chocolate Crazy Cake 

This super easy recipe came from my Grandma Cassel, a very busy mother of 9 children. 

1 1/2 Cups Flour 

1 Cup Sugar 

3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder 

1 teaspoon Baking Soda 

1/2 teaspoon Salt 

5-6 Tablespoons Oil 

1 Tablespoon Vinegar 

1 teaspoon Vanilla 

1 Cup Water

Get your ingredients ready.

Pre-Heat oven to 350* F 

Spray baking pan (9x13) with non-stick spray. 

In mixing bowl mix first 5 ingredients. 

Add wet ingredients, mix together until you have a nice batter. 

Pour into baking pan. 

Bake for 30 min. or so. 

Let cool, frost if you wish, but the cake is wonderful just by itself.  

Enjoy!