Sunday Evening Weekend Wrap Up

Friday was pretty much the last of the field trip shirts, just a few stragglers left. After school, one of The Youngest's friends came over to play for a few hours and they had fun with all of the toy weapons and legos. I think the oldest is over the newness of the braces and we broke out the wax this morning. He's still convinced he can only eat liquids, despite enjoying a brownie and banana bread at school :-) The boys watched Meet The Robinsons on the big TV for a treat, and the temps finally got below 95 after the sun went down! The neighbor came over and was at the house until nearly 9:00, when MDH came home from soccer.
Saturday, freecycle brought a youth guitar to the house, and we had one of The Boys' friend's Birthday Party. At NOON. in 109 degree heat. Dry heat. At least it was at a park that has a water play area, and they all cooled off. Of course the heat, and the seeming lack of food got The Oldest in a "poor me" frame of mind, and he had 3 meltdowns. At nearly 9 years of age. I think it had more to do with the heat and Friday night's late night than anything else. We came home and had a nice quiet 30 minutes, before the neighbor came over. The Youngest and he had a skirmish that involved spitting, so I sent him home. The Oldest broke out the hose for cooling off out back. MDH came home from a study session at the library and took a nap. When he got up, he ran a few errands for me, and I sat down to play a little Bejeweled. Soon I was hearing an unusual rustling on the shelves behind me, but in the darkened room, I couldn't really see what it was. That is until it fluttered around a bit. Evidently my fur butt cat brought a Blue Jay into the house while we were gone, and it sat on the top shelf through the kids playing, and only when alone with me decided to make itself known. I opened the window and shut the door, but it kept running into the not opened part of the window, so I had to throw a towel over it, and get it out the window myself. The Boys wanted to know if it was dead, because when I did release it, it just lay there. I waved the towel at it, and it flew away. We had a mish mash dinner - cereal for The Youngest, blended spaghetti for The Oldest, leftover pork roast for My Dear Husband, and I had a few croutons - it was still 98 at 8:00 at night, and I was boiling noodles...
Sunday was laundry day, and The Oldest mopped the front room and the kitchen (nice)! I cleaned out the bottom shelf of The Boys' closet, as well as my half of our closet. Got together a couple bags of clothes - some that The Youngest has outgrown, and some that are TOO BIG for me now!!!!!! Although I did have a pity party moment when I realized that My Sis' fat clothes are my goal... We can't all be stick thin, but we can at least all be healthy! We had another kid friend's birthday party at Build-a-Bear Workshop, which was VERY generous of the hosting family. Each Boy got a stuffed animal (Bunny and Grey Wolf), and accessories (A Dracula Costume, Camo Outfit, Camo Tent, Baby Grey Wolf, Rain Boots, Sunglasses, and Roller Skates). Toward the end of BABW, The Youngest pulled me aside to tell me that he loves me and thanked me for all that I do for him. It was such a sweet and tender moment that I almost started crying! Then it was off to Boudin Bakery for pizza and cake and I had a delicious salad! I took the long way home to give The Boys a chance for a short nap. It was while driving, that I had a flashback to out accident last summer. It happens, not frequently, but just the weight of responsibility, and the fact that we all made it out is a miracle, and I am grateful for that, even when circumstances seem difficult, or obstacles seem insurmountable, I am grateful that I live each day. I know we are being watched over, that I lead a charmed life, and for that I am also grateful. Once home, it was mere moments before the neighbors were over and they were all playing until dinner. Dinner was chicken, asparagus and summer squash, and The Oldest even managed 3 pieces of chicken that were no bigger than an eighth of an inch, cubed. He has a mouth full of sores, so I broke out the oragel, and I think he'll be better off in the morning (at least that's my hope).

Monday Morning, Weekend Wrap Up again

Yesterday I took Ron on a date. We went to Lunch, and then a Play. The food was good, and the play was really funny. It was good because we needed some time for just the two of us. We don't get to spend a lot of time alone together, unless you count facebooking from two different rooms in the same house. We are techno geeks, to that I will admit. We were able to talk about what is going on for work and job searches, and discussed the possibilities of moving out of state. The only problem with that is I want to live in Key West where it is damned expensive with few jobs. I don't want to follow the hordes to Arizona because it isn't close enough to an ocean. For now we're staying put. We don't have the money to move at all. Ron is applying like crazy all over the place, now that he has his county EMT registration. I am also applying like crazy with nary a bite on my resume. This weekend, I did get the e-mail of someone who could help me polish up some things, so we'll see what comes of that. I've been told that my resume is golden, but why no noise? I am putting it out there to the universe to find me an ideal job, in a field I am both good at, and love.

Every time I walk through my building at work, this song runs through my head:

I was actually in the office yesterday to print out things that cannot be e-mailed, and it wasn't really that different from the weekdays. Lights were off, and there were a few people in. While I've certainly bitched about the place and it's politics and policies, I will miss it, and not just for the pay and benefits. I'll miss seeing the familiar faces that go with names I do not know, as well as all those I do know and have worked with over 12 years.

The kids are off from school today, and we're still trying to plan a snow trip. They went a bit stir crazy over the weekend because I needed some time to just stay home after the previous week's myriad of play dates. I'm looking forward to Mardi Gras, and hope to get a few good photos, and that the parade isn't cancelled like last year.

I did get rid of some more things via freecycle this weekend, and kept the spending to a minimum.

Monday Morning, weekend wrap up

This weekend FLEW by! I read 2 books that I got for Christmas; Plum Spooky and Tales of Beedle the Bard. I highly recommend both! The boys spent the weekend playing on the tire swing and riding scooters. We all went to visit my folks, because I had to see my dad and he looks great! I guess this was the artery that was making him so tired for so long. He said he feels better than he has in a very long time, and this angiogram was healing much faster than the previous four. Took the boys to Cafe Art and decided that it is too expensive to go on any regular basis. I will post photos of our projects when we get them later this week.

Frugality update: Got alot of laundry done, and switched to cold water - for the frugality of it. Freecycle brought my youngest a pair of baseball cleats for the upcoming season. Grocery shopping found me searching for bargains, but no meat to buy because I am using what I already have on hand.

Went on two photo walks and wasn't particularly inspired, but the walks were good anyway.
Started entering Sunday Stills competition, and we'll see what comes of it.

I have two more nights of training today and tomorrow, and I'm bringing my camera - it's pole climbing class!

Ron is pissed that I don't ever want to watch movies with him, so I'm going to take him to see a play.

Sunday free crap Sunday

Today was OK.

Went shopping for flannel sheets for the boys. They like mine and have been asking for some. Found them at Target for $15 a set. Also found Bamboo sheets for me, for the summer on sale for $45.

On the forefront of Yankee Frugality, I made a 2 lb. meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. This is one of the boy's favorites, and will be another dinner later in the week. I used to buy the meatloaf and potatoes ready-made in the deli section of the supermarket. That would have cost me $14.07 before, and only last one meal. I made it all by hand, and it cost me approximately $10. A savings of $4, but really a savings of $9 if you figure that it only cost $5 for the one meal. Not bad, but I think I can do better by buying larger quantities of ground meat and freezing what I don't use immediately. I also started buying frozen chicken breasts, as that is the only part of the chicken they eat.

Also filing this under frugal, I found the oldest's old Tae Kwon Do uniforms, that now fit the youngest. His name is on the lapels (if you can call them that) in Sharpie. I seriously think that is on purpose, so that they cannot be handed down. Well, I'm not into buying new uniforms when I already have the size I need. I got out my Bleach pen, and after 3 treatments with an old toothbrush the blue sharpie came out. the black sharpie is being a bit more stubborn, so it's on treatment #5, which should just about take care of it. I also bleached out the youngest's, so I can hand that down to a family who might need one.

I'm now a firm believer in freecycle. I cleaned closets and the toy room, and found new owners for a Duplo set, a couple boxes of toys, toddler towels, and boys clothes and jammies. Now they are being used by people locally, and I don't worry about some corporation making money off of something that was previously purchased, or about them sitting in some landfill. I've gotten some clothes for the boys that way too! I think of it as the modern day equivalent of a seriously large and local family. I have no nephews handing down clothes anymore, as my 8 year old is the same or larger clothing size as them.

Of course, not a day goes by that I don't wonder what kind of supervision the boys are under while I'm away. Tonight I found that the oldest cut a giant hole from the middle of a blanket that was folded in his closet. I think their father was playing too much WoW, and not listening to what was actually happening in the house. I'm no super mom by any stretch, but I can figure out when they are getting into mischief, and I know when to take them outside to burn off energy. I asked that they go out and ride scooters while I was gone, and since their father is studying, he could sit in a chair outside and study while they rode up and down the side walk. As soon as I got home they begged me to go riding. I guess their father could only take it for about 10 minutes before taking them back inside. I was out for 45 minutes with them. I guarantee there would be not a hole in a single blanket if they'd stayed outside.