A birthday around the corner

I took the kids shopping for their dad's birthday next week. Last year, my husband's special day got overlooked because I was lying in bed recovering from foot surgery. Silly me, guess I should have thought ahead and shopped online, but in my drugged state I guess I didn't think of it. Today we were armed with a long wish list and hit about four places to shop. I think hubby will have a good birthday.

When we got home, I went online (to JC Penney, remember them?) and thought I'd shop for shirts for hubby. Well, darn, they didn't have his size in the color I wanted. Poo. So much for them. That ended my search for shirts. Guess I'll use that money to take him out for his birthday dinner. Upon much thought, he decided it would be fun to go for pizza and beer as opposed to a nice dinner out. Fine with me as the kids have school the following day and there's a pizza place close by with yummy food and good beer on tap.

Some of the things on hubby's birthday list don't require money, just time. Do you know how precious time is? Oh wait! Maybe I should be attempting one of his presents instead of typing! He would like the basement to be clean. That's a major undertaking, but... while he's at school perhaps I can work on that. Hmmm... my scheming mind is at work! I could pitch all the VHS tapes that never get watched. Does anybody even want those things anymore???

Side note: Do you know a good crispy pizza crust recipe? We've been looking for one and have not been successful. We don't have a pizza oven or a pizza stone and we make BIG pizzas.

Back to the birthday thing. Hubby wants one of those small cheesecakes you get at the grocery store. Last time I made one, it bit. It was sooooo bad! I used a pre-made graham cracker crust but you know what? I didn't do anything wrong, but it was our refrigerator to blame. It wasn't chilling properly and that thing didn't set! It was horrible! May as well have been pudding. Bleh! So I am going to save my sanity and buy him a cheesecake that we can cut into at least 4 slices.

Today started out sunny but turned to rain later in the day. Figures. I wanted to go for a walk!

It's 2012, yessirree

Happy New Year! Guess it's a little late to say that. Maybe I should say something like Happy Super Bowl as that's the next major event for this month.

I was going to start a brand new blog where I can just say what's on my mind on any given topic but then I remembered this was here. I've got two others that are kind of in limbo, but I like the name of this and I think I'll use it more or just use it 100% of the time. If you like what you read, tell your friends. <3

So here we are in January. It is 40 degrees outside on my deck and I was outside with the dogs (so they could do their duties and most likely eat their duties because they are dogs) and it was just a bit too cold for my liking. I shall say that it was 26 this morning on the way to Costco and I was in the car but still I was cold as my wonderful hubby decided to open his window. Um.... hello?? Too cold! But he likes to have some fresh air whilst in the car.

I'm just rambling - get used to it. I tend to do that when I feel like babbling about everyday things.

Did you know that JC Penney is trying for a new image? Have you gotten the new catalog in the mail? Let me go get it. Well crud. Hubby took it. It's got a picture of a small girl's legs and feet in adult high heels. It's the February issue. February issue? ISSUE?? Like a magazine? It's basically just a waste of paper. It's thick and too busy, in my opinion. I was going to take pictures of it and post it here. If I can find it, I'll do that. But maybe you don't care. I just thought it was weird.

I'm trying the Special K 2-week weight loss challenge. You basically eat their food for breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and then you eat a sensible dinner. They have recipes on their website but they are for a single serving. I usually quadruple or double-quadruple them so I can feed my family as well. The recipes, so far, are quite tasty. You can also eat as many freggies (fruits and veggies) as you want if you get hungry. I'm all over that!

We are down to one income again as hubs got laid off. That's what happens when you work seasonal. It snowed. He got laid off. He's on, oh what did his boss call it... standby! He's on standby. He's also in school, so at least he can concentrate on homework while he isn't working.

I work, yes I do. From home, thank God!!! When we had the snow last week, and the power outages, I was either able to work (or not) when I could. No need to commute (hallelujah!).

Kids are doing typical kid things. My oldest, he's 14, has a friend over and they were supposed to be "quiet" while playing in his room. I hear them now. It is 5 p.m. It is almost time for son's ADD meds. Both my kids have to take meds for that. One of my sons has ADD and the other has ADHD but I think most people glom them together and either call it ADD or ADHD but not both. The kids have to take their evening meds around 6 p.m. or there will be serious issues. I really wish there was no need for meds but what do you do? Take them off the pills and let them freak out? I heard that sugar is to blame. Do know how many foods have sugar in them? How can I know what my kids are eating when they are away from the house? I can't control EVERYTHING they put in their mouths.

Guess that's about it for now. Have a good rest of the day and Happy Super Bowl!

It's April! Where does the time go?

Lots of things have happened since I last posted. First off, in January I fell and went boom and broke my ankle in three places. Here it is, April 5, and I am still using crutches and trying to walk.

Hubby has started school (the same week the kids have Spring break. Why? WHY? What kind of cruel joke is that??) and he is also working part-time. We have decided to stay here and make the best of it. No moving in the near future. That's ok. Back in January, the entire family was working in the back, trying to clear brush. Not much has happened since the day I fell (I was outside, working in the yard at the time) but now my hubby and our oldest son are out in the side yard, trying to shore up the hill that is eroding. We've had quite a bit of rain and the hill is coming down. The only thing staying in place is the huge plum tree, but it's in the way of the project and will most likely be cut down.

So my dreams of having a garlic farm are pushed out again, but that's ok. I still have the dream.

Time to vent

Oh.my.gosh. You will not believe this. My husband and I have been going round and round with our mortgage company to modify our loan to get a lower payment because my husband is unemployed. We have been trying since April or May and today they denied us. Why? Because our hardship is not severe enough. Hello? What more do they want? We used to be a two-income family but now we are not and that is not a hardship? My husband has spent his retirement on paying the mortgage and bills. Hello? What part of unemployment do they not understand??? It is completely unacceptable. We are probably going to change mortgage companies by refinancing ... or if hubby gets the job he wants, we'll move. We may have to move anyway because we can't afford to live here!!! Ugh...

Here we are now

We are still in our house. We are trying for a loan modification with the mortgage because hubby still is looking for work. He did, however, hear from a company one state away who is interested in his resume. Hallelujah! If he did end up working for them, we would have to move. This both scares me and excites me at the same time.

Scared--having to pack up all the stuff in our house. Get real! That would take a month of Sundays! I may have to just start selling/getting rid of stuff now... even thought it might be too soon for any of that. I know we have too much stuff. Hence, I have sold stuff on Craigslist and given stuff away on Freecycle. Having to sell this house. Ugh. Not looking forward to that. Hubby has talked about renting the place out. Um... no. I am not into that at all. However, we live in a desirable area. If something didn't work out where we move to, then we could come back to our house. That makes sense but does it actually work???

Excited--a new area! A new life! That is exciting. Starting over in a new area. Yeah, that does sound kind of freaky, but haven't you ever wanted to just up and move and begin again? I've had those thoughts.

Right now we are just barely getting by, but I don't let it get to me. I work full time, I sell beauty products on the side, I have a million hobbies/interests that keep me busy and hey, I have a family! My time is limited and believe it or not, as I write this and am sitting down, this is the only time I have spent on ME since I got off work at 4:30. It's been go, go, go all day. It seems things are just too busy. If moving to another area will help change things, so be it. Maybe I just need an attitude adjustment!

I did it!

I cleaned my craft room yesterday! Woweee!! I can see the tabletop now! YAY!!! What a relief that is! I am so proud of myself. I should have taken a before/after picture. You would not believe it. I threw out a bunch of stuff and rearranged things. I was even able to mend three items that had broken - I used my hot-glue gun and was so happy to have the room to make the fix. My sewing machine was unearthed and I found some do-dads I forgot I had. Battenburg lace, anyone? No clue why I had a section of that lying around. I bought it for some project long forgotten. I am so happy to have my tabletop again! Now there is room for scrapbooking and sewing and whatever else I choose to do.

Moving sooner than later?

Please say it ain't so!!

Yesterday afternoon the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so husband and I went for a walk. I work from home (YAY!), so taking an hour-long walk on my lunch break is fabulous. We talked about job possibilities for him and we talked about buying bricks for the retaining wall. He wondered who, of the people he knew, had a dump truck he could borrow so he could go get some gravel. We talked about where we would like to live. The southern part of the state? The northern part? A different state altogether? I told him that he needed a job first before we even began to think about relocating. Can't exactly buy a house on my income alone. He said something like buying anyway seeing as how we'd want to move anyhow. Eh... what?

Here is the plan:

Well, this is the plan that came up yesterday so it could very well change tomorrow! We continue to live in this house for another year and complete the projects that sit unfinished (retaining wall being one of them). If he gets the job he is thinking of, he will get a nice income and we'll be able to either save or pay off debt and he's thinking that in a year we should be better off financially and will be able to put $10K down on a property. Gee, I hope so!

This idea kind of stresses me out when I look at all the stuff in the house that needs to go. Hence that giant list I made yesterday, well, the giant part of it was the stuff I want to do versus the need to do. Makes me think my free time will be spent doing a lot of cleaning out. That will be good for the house, though. I cleaned out a lot of stuff from my craft room by posting it on Freecycle and I sold furniture on Craigslist. A lot of stuff went to Goodwill. You know how it is, people accumulate stuff and then realize things haven't been used in a while, so why hang on to them? So... yeahhh... I had a lot of fun clearing off shelves and making little piles of things to post on Freecycle. I can do that again!

Anyway, I don't know if we are on the one-year plan or what, but this is a step in the right direction. Who wants to move all that stuff? Gotta get rid of it!

Side note: Husband and I took a walk yesterday afternoon and saw our neighbor's chickens all hanging out under a pine tree. Silly little things! I want chickens! A house down the hill has chickens and a turkey! That thing gobbles and makes me laugh. Love it!