Project 2008 January Project

January Project

Our project this month is to move, dh has been commuting about 3 hours per day to work. We are lucky in that we rent, we figured out that with gas alone we are spending $360 per month and than add in $5 per day(he works 5 and half days per week) in toll his commuting costs us $480 per month. Plus the time away from us, ohhh yeah and we pay more in rent for living out here. So our rent is up in Jan. and we will be a movin' on out. So this month we are packing and sorting and getting rid of junk. That is our project this month I know it is not glamorous or fun or life shattering, although it is money saving and right now that help a lot!

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Family Goals
1. to get a move under our belt so we can lower our bills
2. get our finances under control(with dh being unemployed we need to get back in shape)
3. start to pay back debt

Personal Goals
1. start reading more for me instead of prereading stuff
2. start to walk (with the kids for P.E. would be the easiest)
3. drink at least 5 c. of water per day

My to do list for Thursday 12/27 through 12/31

Well the move is getting closer and closer and we must now get serious about packing we are 36 days from the move.

This weeks to do are:
-take down Christmas stuff and get it packed up
got it half down
-work on co-op class (literature)
-email literature students their assignments
-pack up 2 boxes per day 2 boxes done today
12/27 got 2 boxes done today
12/28 packed up 3 small boxes and 1 large
12/29 packed up 2 boxes
12/30 packed 2 boxes
-school planning for Jan.(we will only do basics until we move)
-start looking for a new rental and hopefully an equally as wonderful landlord as we have had for the last year

Menu:
Thursday- sausage and potatoes
Friday- breakfast
Saturday-sandwiches and salad
Sunday-grilled chicken
Monday- tacos

Secret Sister

thanks secret sis, we love baking cookies and we love to read. I do love the bookmarks and wonder where you got them. thanks again.




Well my post office is the slowest I am positive now! This was priority mailed on the 17th of December and is just now showing up at our door today the 27th.

Merry Christmas Picture

The Queen to Be getting a cd she has been wanting, I believe it is the Carrie Underwood Cd.


The Chef also loves cupstacking, and it is real good at it. he took a co-op class in it and wanted a set for at home


Wacky Prince has been wanting a fan to sleep with, he has to have the white noise or he wakes up a lot. Do you know how hard it is to find a fan in winter?


The groupu picture on Christmas Eve, can you tell one prince did not want to do this activity?

All in all they had a great Christmas, we were able to get them a PS2 (we have a Gamecube but they are no longer making games for it) and they were excited. Momoo got them a gift card to gamestop we went yesterday and they had there games buy 2 get one free on there used games!!! Queen to be got a card to Claires and bought a bunch of cute teen products(earrings, makeup and hair things).

Sleep over memories

Well dd has a sleep over, it is her first in a long time, and I will share why. Some of you who have known for a long time know our story....but for the rest of you, it is a warning.

I was reminded of this horrible sleepover that we had to endure a year ago on the Teaching Mom board and felt the need to write a public service announcement to warn you That not all sleepovers are good, and if you are just getting to the sleepover age this might scare or even frighten you but you need to know the truth



It all started when our little friend K moved away, she took dance with my dd. She was a sweet looking little girl and a couple of years younger than dd(I did not know until the night of the sleepover) but dd is small and she was the same size who knew So little K moved away and I thought well that is the end of that poor dd she lost a friend. Well about 2 months after they left K's parents called and said they were coming into town and was wondering if my dd would like to get together with K. I thought great it would be fun Well overnight that "get together " turned into a K spending the night. O.K. I thought fine she can spend the night no big deal (this is where the scary music should be playing to tell of the foreshadowing you should be feeling).



So the day of the fun sleepover arrives and they call because the are traveling in from a nearby state. They will be here in about 2 hours great I have time to run to the store and do and come back to find 3 more messages on the machine saying it was more like 30 min before they got there I called them back and told them I had a meeting at the dance studio could they just meet me there fine! K wanted to see her old dance teacher they were then wondering if my dd could go with them to see there old house. great I thought I can stop by Target to pick up a couple more things I need.



Well I return home to find dh with the 2 girls looking-- not well I asked what is wrong little dude? well K came over and has shrieked everytime she has seen the dog or cat (shrieking is not allowed) she has than proclaimed to be bored 5 times. How long has she been here? 20 min. OHHHH NOOOO



So I call dd in my room and tell her she has the guest and it is part of being the hostess to entertain her. Which she did a great job until little K found the most annoying toy ever made which we had hidden on the top shelf behind the comforter because grandma gave it to her when she was 5. IT is a cute Little Mermaid phone that will not shut off to save its life and she plays with it for the next 3 hours(did I tell you it is really loud too) Ariel needs to be glad she was under the sea that day.



So we ate dinner all the time she complained she wanted McD's I ignored her for fear it would slip that she was a br*t. Finally my favorite time comes you will love this--------BEDTIME. The appropiate amount of giggling occured and finally off to sleep. WE awoke in the morning and took the dear to church with us and meet up with her parents and gave little K back to them We get home and my dd calls me to her room to tell me little K wet all over the sleeping bag and comforters on the floor.



AHHH why did you not tell me before we left? K asked me not to, it had soaked through a sleeping bad 2 heavy comforters onto the carpet K really had to go. We cleaned all of it up, my washer was having serous issues already and after 3 loads of heavy laundry it broke it for good. So we had to go a couple of weeks without a washing machine (until payday) and treated the carpet stain. For the next month everytime dd left her door open to her room the cat and dog would go and mark that spot- this went on for about six months until we got it professional dry cleaned and banished the animals from her room for 2 months.



I know you think this tale is coming to an end but ohh no there is more. Little K calls again in another 3 months and says she is coming into town can she spend the night? I thought yeah right hold your breath little sweetie. Well she calls and calls and calls. My dh and I went on a vacation and returned 7 days later to have 81 messages on our machine. 79 was from K and her family 79!!!!!! The just called and begged and begged and lots of heavy breathing for K followed by uhh's uhh's! We finally called and told them we would be out of town, and there reply was well I think we could come a day earlier so K can come with you Two months later the phone starts ringing again, my dh finally picks it up and tells them he has been transferred to California and that if they are ever in LA to look us up



Come to find out when we were on vacation they called our dance teacher to ask for our phone number(to make sure they had the right number) and reversed the number and called the police to check on us the were "worried!!!" The police ran into our pet sitter who told them, these people were a little extreme and on the scary side. So if you live in Arkansas and know a sweet little girl K with 2 brothers and a sister DON'T TAKE THE CHANCE!!! This could be you!

Logan the Sky Angel Cowboy

This is precious and what a reminder of God's love for us and a reminder of the gift God gave us at Christmas

The Birthday Boys

My dh's birthday was the 12th and ds turned 11 on the 13th, so they celebrate together :)

To Do list for Thursday- Sunday

- pack at least 3 boxes onThursday and Friday

-Birthday party for friend on Saturday unless it snows

-sweep laundry room and pantry area

-return library books

-call TOG for replacement cd

-email landlord and give 45 day notice

-clean master bath

-vacuum living room

-get some more tape, running low!

Wordless Wednesday

Going to call this one Winter Wonderland Wishes

Blogger Friend #11

Please pray for us to find a new rental house, that will be at a fair price and an easy commute for dh. Pray that the move will releave our $$$ trouble. Pray for the stress that packing up brings out in me with dh working 5.5 days a week it is all on my shoulders.
thanks

My to do list for Monday and Tuesday

I am trying to get some things done, we have a move looming on the horizon. So I need to get my act together so I can pull Christmas/December and packing off!

-wash kids sheets- now to get them put it on their beds:)
-plan week 11 of school got week 12 planned too
-pack 4 boxes got 3 big boxes and 2 little boxes and repacked something
-vacuum living room
-wash towels
sweep kitchen

Monday
Leftover spaghetti

Tuesday
leftover fajitas

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
Leftover Spaghetti
Salad
garlic bread out of frozen hamburger buns

Tuesday
leftover chicken Fajitas
rice
ranch style beans

Wednesday
enchilida lasagna (dh's favorite)
DH's Birthday

Thursday
hot dogs with chili (the chef's favorite)
THE CHEF's birthday

Friday
tomato soup and grill cheese

Saturday
bean and cheese enchilidas

Week 19 and 20 Review

Well our Christmas break is now here, and boy are we all happy! So the last two week we have been finishing up for the year and we focused on current events. I don't know how we did it but we finished up our history two weeks early. Wow have no idea how that happened.

The Queen to be
She is doing really well with her math now that we are in the Zeta book. In fact last week she took the next lesson exam accidently got a hundred so we skipped that week, totally different math child! She is doing really well keeping up with her health and received her science score from co-op, she received a 100%. So she should receive a A for her first transcipt grade and in science what are the odds! She turned in her CQLA essay and her writing is quite great.

The Wacky Prince
He is buzzing through his math book and should hit the dreaded fraction book this spring.UGH not another go through! He received his science co-op score and received a B, it is the test that keep tripping him up, they are using Abeka. And he always blows it with matching he thinks every answer has to be used and that is not the case and forget that some are used twice. He does love that class and has learned a lot! He is still doing handwriting, I am not sure it is doing any good but he is still doing it. For logic he is loving the sudoku and we are using Word Winks from Mindware (right now we are doing the samples on CBD).

The Chef
He is working well in his math and has finally hit a good pace. He is really wanting to be a chef now it is all he seems to talk abou. He got a good write up with his co-op science class, they do not give grades for his age. He does not really love the class, I think the class is too full and loud and his very gentle and not into chaos (or what he believes is chaos). He is working through the Building Thinking skills and hopefully will be done with that by years end.

This is a busy week for us, we have two birthdays! I will start packing for the move that is coming up at the end of January, YEAH! We are looking forward to dad not having to commute 3+ hours per day. The money saved in gas, tolls and rent will be a huge help. Hope you have a great week!

Easy Recipes

Quick Lemon Pasta With Chicken
(I have not tried this but plan on it soon! IT looks good and simple)

8 oz. linguini, cooked according to package directions
3 tbsp. unmelted butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning
1 lb. cooked, cubed chicken (from freezer)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta according to package directions. In a separate saucepan, combine next 5 ingredients and simmer until butter is melted. Add cooked chicken and stir until coated and chicken has been reheated. Add drained pasta and toss to coat. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve immediately

A couple of Freezer Meals

I am going to try and prep a couple of these for our Co-op Fridays, it is so hard to go to co-op and be gone all day and not order pizza that night. Here are a couple of recipes I have found.

ORIENTAL SESAME CHICKEN STRIPS
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
2 T. soy sauce
1 envelope Good Seasons Oriental Sesame Dressing Mix
1 1/4 lb chicken strip pieces
Mix honey, juice, soy sauce and dressing mix in large bowl until blended. Place chicken strips in freezer bag. Pour marinade over chicken. Freeze.
Cooking Day: Thaw. Thread chicken on skewers. Broil 4 inches from heat or grill over medium coals 8-10 minutes

AND

Cranberry Chicken
4 deboned chicken breasts
8 oz. Catalina Dressing
1 package dry onion soup mix
16 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce
Cooking day: Mix together dressing, soup mix and cranberry sauce. Place chicken breasts along with sauce mixture in a freezer bag. Lay bag flat in freezer until needed.
Serving day: Thaw completely. Place chicken with cranberry sauce in greased baking dish and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for one hour.

Co-op Registration

Well yesterday was co-op registration day and the kids were so excited, we were lucky enough to get all the classes we wanted. Two of my 1st-3rd grade classes filled up and my older kid class came very close to filling up. This semester since we are moving at the very beginning of the semester I let them pick all but the one science class I need them to take.
MY 13yo dd's classes:
Whose Line is IT?
Dancing with the Stars
Einstein's Lab(Rainbow Science curriculum)
Shake it Up Shakespeare
Mythbusters (we forced her to take it last semester and she loved it)

My 12yo ds's classes:
General Science
Billards
Rollar Hockey
Chess
Mythbusters

My 10yo ds's classes:
Real Science 4 Kids Physics
Taste of Texas
Let the Games Begin (cup stacking class his favorite class)
Chess
Archery

My weather class and U.S. Geography classes filled up and my 4th-6th grade Renaissance Literature Class was just a couple from filling up. So all in all the kids were excited.