Guess who's getting a tooth?

Too cute...

Really a little busy...

I'm so busy right now, along with the rest of you! Tonight is the church Christmas play and all the girls are in it. That means 4 costumes! Just finishing up Ellie's today. Ava was an angel last year and so Ellie will be wearing Ava's old costume. I just need to shorten it and we'll be good to go.

Lauren is leaving after the play to spend the weekend with two of her best friends. They go to our church so she'll be delivered to us on Sunday. What will it be like without her for 2 days? We'll see!

My laptop screen died and we thought it would be $400 to fix it (as the local fix it shop told Brian), however we found a brand new one on eBay for $158 shipped. It should be here on Tuesday. Brian can install it.

So I had better get to Ellie's costume while Molly is sleeping. You know the minute I sit down to sew she'll wake up ;)

Okay a new cheap stocking stuffer through Ebates!

I came across another cheap deal if you have just signed up for Ebates but haven't made your purchase.

Super cute mini gel pens from Staples, 2% back from Ebates. $1.99 for a dozen with free shipping. Go to Ebates and then search for Staples. Once there do a search for Mini Gel Pens. There are a couple of different variations. I got the assorted! My girls will love these. Hope this helps!

Another overheard at my house...

Grae is passionate about clementines. He eats about 6 of them a day.

Maddie: "Grae, it's breakfast time."
Grae: "No, it's lemontime (clementine)".

We also listen to him talk about paki. We have no idea who or what paki is. One day he's a puppet that lives outside in a paki house and now he's on cookie dough. I wish we knew what on earth Grae is talking about. 2 year olds are sooo fun!

Follow up to Ebates - some deals

So I'm on the couch with a massive sinus head cold. Bri is taking care of the kids (and made dinner), so I've been scouring the net looking for deals. If you signed up with Ebates (via my last post) you know you need to make a purchase in order to get your bonus.

Here are two great (and cheap deals). I'll post the links but you will need to open up Ebates, search for the store and click their link. Then find the item so you will get credit.

First is Neiman Marcus. You can get Ralph Lauren bath & hand towels for $7.99 shipped. You can even have them monogrammed for free! Go to http://www.neimanmarcus.com and click on Sales & Values (all the way on the right hand side, top bar). Type Towels in the Search Sale box at the top of the page. The towels say Ralph Lauren Closeout. When you want to check out type in WINTER in the promotion box for free shipping!

Here is a direct link to the page but don't order from that link. Go to your Ebates account first.

Next is a 5" black and white TV for $5.00 shipped from Office Depot. This is great when your power goes out. Again first go to your Ebates account and find Office Depot. Then search for 5" Black-And-White TV With Radio, add it to your cart. Shipping is free! Here is what it looks like: . Tv here...

Hope this helps

Easy way to save & earn $$$

I try to use Ebates when I make online purchases. Ebates gives you cash back on all your online orders. Sometimes they even offer special coupons you can use.

For example, I just ordered a Britax car seat for Graedon. I went to Ebates first, searched for Baby Universe (the place I wanted to buy the carseat from) and clicked the link. Baby Universe offered 4% back through Ebates. The 4% will show up in my Ebates account and then Ebates will send me a check or paypal.

Anyway, the carseat was originally $299 but was on sale for $224. I then found a coupon for $20.00 off and the seat had free shipping. So total price was $204.00. Baby Universe gave me $9.00 back in my Ebates account. So I actually paid $195 for a $299 carseat! Not bad at all for one of the best carseats out there!

I just found out that Ebates is offering a special holiday bonus sign up. You can get $10.00 in your Ebates account for signing up and then making one purchase through them. Oh and I also get $10.00! Yippee! Oh the offer expires on December 31 so you need to get your purchase in by then.

Here is the super special link:
Click here!!! My email address for the referrer box is amyshearer @ alittlebusy.com (take out the spaces)

Hope this can help you some as you're searching around buying Christmas presents.

Overheard at our house....

Ellie: "Daddy, do you like cream cheese?"
Brian: "On occasion."
Ellie: "No, do you like it on toast?"

See what we've been up too.

Come check out the photo tutorials my daughters have been doing for Journal Modiste's Handmade Holidays!

http://www.journalmodiste.com/index.cfm?page=tutorials.

Also I'm starting a new venture/business: http://www.pbellie.com

Thanksgiving...

Wine Brined Turkey (a la Martha Stewart): $10.00
Homemade cranberry sauce: $3.50
Homemade bread: $2.50
Homemade pumpkin pie: $4.50
Homemade chocolate chip cookies: $2.50
Me staying home due to two sick kids (Grae and Molly): depressing
Having Brian and the 4 girls going to my Grandparents house for Thanksging: priceless

Molly has an ear infection, major congestion and a croupy cough. Grae has major congestion and a cough. We stayed home and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the dog show while Brian took Lauren, Maddie, Ava and Ellie to my Grandparents house. From what I've heard my Grandparents enjoyed it very much. They had plans to go the senior community center because they figured everyone else was busy.

Grae and Molly slept practically the whole time so I ate my turkey dinner alone in front of Country Living magazine and the dog show (which I recorded for the girls). It was surprisingly relaxing ;)

Hope your Thanksgiving was really enjoyable!

Oh my...

Guess what this picture is? I took it at 6:00 pm last night.



It's our oven! I turned the oven off after taking dinner out last night and then a little while later noticed it was still on. Brian tried to turn it off and it just wouldn't. He hit the breaker and unplugged the oven and I got on google to see if there was an easy fix. We'll the easiest would be to buy a new oven ;) but that is not in the budget right now.

We figured out it was the oven panel control thingy. Brian called our local appliance store and they could order a part - at $138 - tomorrow (which is today). We would have it tomorrow (today) afternoon. Except I have to bake all day. So he took the panel thingy off and we disconnected some wires and then reconnected them, plugged it in, turned the breaker back on and it worked! Yeah for small miracles.

So far it's working fine. I have the first pumpkin pie in the oven and then Ava will bake cookies followed by the turkey. Lauren made the cranberry sauce and Maddie is just about ready to make bread. Then we need to do something with green beans. We're doing all of this while taking turns holding Grae and Molly who have their Wednesday-after-attending-church cold of course.

Hope your day is going well!

Still a pirate...

Grae is still obsessed with pirates. Every boat he sees is a pirate ship. Anyone who carries a sword is a pirate. He even knows the term scallywag. Here he is talking to me about Captain Hook and fighting or something.

I'm teaching Ellie and Grae the Westminster Shorter Catechism (kid friendly version) and one question is "Who is God". The correct answer is "God is a Spirit and doesn't have a body like men." Grae answered Captain Hook. Now I'm hoping in his little 2 year old mind that he meant, God is in control and not God is an evil villian who wears a peg leg and a hook.

We also prayed. He was to repeat after me. I start: "Dear Jesus, thank you that I.." He repeats: "Dear Jesus, thank you that eyepatch..." I couldn't even finish I was laughing so hard.

Now pirates aren't the most wholesome thing for Grae to get attached too. We'll gradually try to encourage him to explore acutal heros but for now it's just fun!

The politics of the holidays

We are in the throes of trying to be just and fair where we spend the holidays. It is by far the most stressful undertaking of the year.

Both sides of the family are in the area so that presents the problem of where to spend the day. My side of the family is usually content to celebrate the day or two after a holiday. Well except for Christmas morning and then we all get together bright and early. That morning is so fun and soooo noisy. In addition to my 6 kids, my brother has 4 girls and my sister has 2 boys and one girl. All under the age of 12. Gift wrap is flying everywhere and the air is punctuated by screams of delight.

Anyway, my grandparents are now in the mix. They've always lived a couple of hours away but now they live just 30 minutes away. All of their kids live far away so they are alone on the holidays. I hate the thought of them spending special holiday's alone but how can we be in three places at once?

We have the only kids on Brian's side of the family. The only kids in Oregon. Brian's brother doesn't have any kids. One of his cousins in Idaho has 8 kids, I think, and I would love to meet them.

I really think that when your kids are grown you forget how tiring having little ones can be. My dad gets tired out just watching all of his 13 grandchildren play but he doesn't have to go home with them. ;) I mean Brian and I haven't had a full night sleep in years. We're awake every couple of hours every night. For years now.

We're also not super portable. When we go to a relative's house, we have so much stuff to bring. Lots of toys and busy stuff so Graedon doesn't knock stuff over in his quest to climb higher and higher and then jump off anything that will hold him. ;) Oh and two of the kids take naps - much needed naps - so we factor that in as well.

I really want everyone to be happy and get the most from this holiday season. So how do you balance making everyone happy with keeping your sanity? What does your family do for the holidays and extended family?

Ask and you shall receive

Maddie asked Graedon (2 yrs) what he wanted for lunch, to which he relpied "no."

So Ava made him this:

On being crunchy...

Well I was intending on talking about the wonders of baking soda and apple cider vinegar but our family was attacked by another round of viruses. This time bringing fever & chills and sore throats. Brian and I have pretty much sat on the couch all day only taking turns walking Molly around and doing laundry.

We feel a little better now and hopefully we're on the mend.

So onto baking soda and apple cider vinegar. I now use them to wash my hair. Yep, I'm going no 'poo. (no shampoo). My friend told me she and her daughter were using baking soda to wash their hair and I thought "hmmm, okay.". Jump to a few months later and I thought I would give it a go. Everything I've read said to expect gunky, greasy hair for the first two weeks while your scalp "detoxes" and then you will have beautiful, shiny hair.

So I tried it. I mix up 1 tablespoon baking soda to 1 cup of hot water in a squeezable ketchup bottle (like the kind at the restaurants, you can find them at the grocery store, minus the ketchup). I massage my scalp to loosen the dirt and then squirt the mixture all over. I also massage this in and wait about a minute. Then I rinse it thouroughly. Next I take 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and dump it on the ends of my hair (not my scalp). I work it in and then rinse it a little. The vinegar makes my hair so soft. The vinegary smell goes away when it's dry.

I did find that the first 2 weeks my hair was a little greasy and my scalp itchy but now my hair and scalp feel so clean. My hair is full and shiny and my wavy hair is back. In fact, one day I hopped in the shower without my mixture and just used regular shampoo. My hair felt so weighted down and greasy the next day.

So there you have it. I'm becoming crunchier everyday. First cloth diapering, now baking soda. Actually now that we cloth diaper we are not only saving money by not having to buy disposables, but we went down one garbage can size. That saves us $15.00 per month. We've also bought a huge pack of microfiber towels at Costco to use instead of the million paper towels we were going through. Brian is building a worm bin in the backyard so we can start composting our leftover veggies, egg shells, tea and coffee grinds.

God created this beautiful world and charged us with taking care of it. I don't buy into all the global warming talk but I do think we can do things that are healthier for our children and the enviroment.

Since so many of you asked, I'll be writing more about cloth diapering. It's really fun and really not that much work.

Friday, friday, friday...

Will the illness never end? Grae and Molly are getting over their colds and now Lauren is in the throes of a fever/sore throat. Brian and I are feeling some head congestion coming on. I haven't been to church in two weeks straight and it looks like we may miss this Sunday too. Can't we all have it at the same time instead of dragging it out for weeks?

It's a beautiful day here so I grabbed my camera and shot things around my home.

First is my latest vintage pyrex find. Brian found it for me at Goodwill and I love it.

Then I recovered a boring white lamp with one of my favorite quilting fabrics. This lamp makes me smile everytime I look at it now.

You can see one of the blue paint swatches in the background. Here's some in the dining room. We decided to go with a nice pear green (none of the swatches pictured.)

My Craigslist chair from the 1920's. This is a very nice and sturdy chair. The lady we bought it from said we're the 3rd owners. It had been recently reupholstered in some really nice (but boring) fabric. We only paid $85 for it which I consider a bargain.

Carnage from the day after Halloween. I ate so much chocolate I swear Molly is drinking chocolate milk today.


I have one more pic to share that involves baking soda and apple cider vinegar but Molly is whining for a nap now so I'll be back.

Tagged....

I'm so bad about completing tags but I'll give it a shot. The wonderful April of Momo's Clothes tagged me to reveal 7 random facts about myself.

Rules for the tag...
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I have red hair, freckles and blue eyes and none of my kids do. Well all of them have blue eyes and some of them have freckles but not one of them has even one red hair. Grae is the closest with being blonde.

2. When I worked at the Oregon State Capitol(before I had kids) the then Governor came out of a meeting room and almost knocked me down. I was 6 mths pregnant at the time. He didn't even say he was sorry (but he was a democrat so I didn't expect much, hee-hee).

3. I wear my husband socks and his Keen clogs around the house even though they are much too big for me. Actually he doesn't even wear them (probably because I do). I really need to get some house shoes but never think about it when I'm out.

4. I can't stand to have anything that is not absolutely necessary laying around the house. If I can't find a use for it, then I sell it or throw it away. I really want a big fabric stash but it stresses me out to have all that fabric looking at me and not have the time to sew it up.

5. My best friend Melodie and I have been friends since 1st grade. She lives about 5 minutes away from me now. We've never lived more than 20 minutes away from each other (well she did go to college in Washington for 4 years). What's funny is that Brian (my DH) and Melodie are distant cousins.

6. I recently found a love for vintage Pyrex. I can't believe how much I'm finding at Goodwill (and cheaply too!). My favorites are the turquoise blue pieces.

7. Every morning for breakfast I must have 2 eggs scrambled, 1/2 cup of cereal and an earl grey tea with 2 packets of Splenda and a splash of whole milk. That has been my breakfast of choice for over 3 years now. Boring - yes, but it really gets me through the day. Sometimes that's all I have until dinner.

Okay - so I'm only going to tag 3 people 'cause I'm a rule breaker... ;)
Kerri
Melanie
Rachel

Learn from me...

You have company coming on Friday morning; don't decide that you can't stand the paint color in your living room, paint some new swatches on the wall, decide that the original color wasn't so bad but now you have blue swatches everywhere and no time to repaint the wall. Just don't.

Glasses

Both Ava and Lauren need reading glasses. Guess how much I had to pay? $200? Nope. $100? Nope. $50? Nope. I paid $20 each for them. Insurance came through this time!

Lauren and the Dr. picked out her glasses. Ava and I picked out hers. Ava really wanted purple frames but they didn't have any. This is the closest we got. Green with some purple in them.

Oh and I never call them four eyes in school, 'cause you know, that would be immature. Ahem...

A poop day....

Wool knit longies by Brandy's Boutique

So most days lately are what I would term "bad". I think it is because my expectations of what I want to accomplish are too high and when I don't get through my list, I feel defeated. When all Molly wants to do all day is be held, it's frustrating to me. It shouldn't be, afterall I'm a stay at home mom so I can be with the kids. But still...

On Friday Molly decided to poop. She's a once a week pooper and boy did she save it up. I had just put her new wool longies on her so of course she would have to blow out. I have to hand wash the wool (which I actually like) but it takes the wool pants about 3 days to dry.

Anyway, I didn't know she was going to poop when I put them on her. She had a cloth diaper prefold on underneath, no diaper cover. I was watching the kids eat their lunch when I heard Molly make these strange choking sounds. She was in my lap at the time and I turned her around to see what was wrong. Nothing. She made them again and then I heard the first of what was about 5 explosions. I'm thinking, "uh-oh, hope the prefold holds."

Finally the choking noise stopped and was replaced with a smile. She must be done. I go and peel off her pants and notice yellow mustardy poop EVERYWHERE...on her longies, on her legs, up her back. This was no runny poop but thick peanutbutter poop. Too much information? Yeah well at least I didn't take a picture.

I decided instead of using all my cloth wipes that I would get most of it off and hose her off in the tub. Problem is that is was past Graedon's naptime and he was bouncing off the walls. Well, it couldn't be avoided, he would have to wait 10 minutes. I started the bath water and put Molly in her bath seat. Graedon showed up and started peeling off his clothes and before I could tell him no, he jumped in the tub. Oh man...the water was turning a pale yellow from the leftover poop and I didn't want Grae in there. Oh, it gets better. Grae gets a very serious look on his face and says he went potty. AHHHHHH....so I drain the tub, run some fresh water, finish up the bath, get them dressed, put Grae down for his nap, feed Molly, put her to bed and try to figure out if I was going to laugh or cry. I called Brian and he laughed for me.

Hey I haven't blogged in awhile so it may as well be about poop, eh?

Sayings...

Today has been a horrible day so I thought I would remember some amusing things the kids have said, you know, so I can remember why I still have them around.

Me: "Grae, do you want some milk or something?"
Grae: "Yes."
I get him a cup of milk and hand it to him.
Me: "Here's your milk."
Grae: "Nooooo, I want something."

------------------------------------------------------------

Ava: "If you needed to drink water so you wouldn't die, it would be better to eat a tomato not a frog."
Me: "Couldn't you just drink a glass of water?"
Ava: "Yeah, you could do that too."

(We studied the water content of food and animals in science and found out a tomato is 98% water and a frog is only 70%. )

I heart The Office

Funniest show on tv!

Hardly time to write....

Hey, I'm alive, tired but alive. Let's see what's been going on. Graedon's sick, Molly's sick. Gradeon is grouchy, Molly is grouchy. We went up to the church nursery to play after the service was over and I think that was a mistake. I used to take Ellie and Grae up there and every Wednesday they would have the sniffles. I forgot and did it last Sunday and now Grae and Molly have full blown nasal congestion. Ugh...

Ava and Lauren both have reading glasses now. I'll get a picture of them sporting their four-eyes. Brian went in and bought new glasses but thankfully his prescription didn't change. No change in 5 years is great!

Ellie used the word 'realistically' in a sentence correctly which surprised me greatly. She is more than ready to start learning to read but I keep putting it off. I can barely keep up with the girls school work. Ava wants to teach her so I think I'll let her start introducing the phonograms to her.

The girls are taking over more of the dinner preparation. Last night Lauren made the beef-barley soup and Maddie made the bread (in the bread maker). I didn't have to do anything, which was good because I was dealing with a sick Molly.

Ava claimed she had short term memory loss in school and then she answered a question twice. I told her she just said that and she replied, "oh I forgot". ;)

I've been getting up at 6:30ish a.m. and going for a 1.5 mile walk around the neighborhood. I'm enjoying it very much. It's nice not to have to carry someone or push a stroller. And I get to spy on all the neighbors remodeling projects.

The girls and I got out all of their fall clothes this week and made a count of who needs what. Ellie has two dresses. Oops. So I'm going to sit down and make a plan of mix and match outfits I can sew. Ava ended up with all of Maddie's clothes and Maddie ended up with a few of Lauren's clothes. So I need to go shopping for Lauren. She is almost as tall as I am and doesn't fit into girl clothes anymore. It's a struggle to find modest clothing for a 12 year old.

Speaking of Lauren, she attended a 6.5 hour Red Cross babysitter's course on Saturday. It was the first time she was gone by herself for that long. Brian dropped her off (it's 5 minutes away) and it was weird not to see Lauren walk in the door. She loved it and we're looking into more classes she can take.

Well Molly is screaming now so I'll go attend to her.

Miss Molly Blue

Molly at 14 weeks.

Oh and just in case you're wondering what Brian brought home for my worst morning ever...no chocolate...no fabric....no paint samples....but dinner!

Yeah!

Guess who got a shoutout at Kiddlins today?

Yep, Molly and I!



http://www.kiddlins.com/

That kind of day...

Have you ever had that kind of day...the day where nothing goes right and it's only 12:00 pm and you have the worst headache of your life?

Where 4 of your 6 kids have spent the morning crying and/or throwing tantrums until you want to walk out the door and not come back for hours. Where one boy wants chocolate and you are more than willing to give some to him just so that he will be quiet for two seconds so you can teach some science to the girls but he won't say please and just keeps demanding it over and over again. First you try to ignore his tantrum, then move on to spankings, all the while trying to keep Molly happy and quiet. Finally after 1 1/2 hours of crying about various things (sorry you finished reading that book and there are no more pages to look at) I stuff said boy with chicken nugget dinosaurs and send him outside.

Meanwhile Molly wants to take a nap but won't settle down so we walk and walk while teaching mixed whole numbers and improper fractions, pausing long enough to switch shoulders because an arm is very likely to fall off it's so tired of holding a 14lb chunk.

Just when you think it might be quiet so you can go gulp down some wine water, your oldest (who rarely cries) is crying because she just started a new math book and doesn't understand the problems. What she is really crying about is that this new math book will take her longer to finish the problems and more brain power, hence she doesn't like it. You tell her to suck it up and get cracking because life is about work and isn't fun so get used to it. Okay well you didn't really tell her that. You really said something encouraging and told her if she needed help to just ask.

Now it is quiet, 2 advil are down the pipe, Molly is asleep, Grae & Ellie are playing outside, it is t-minus 5 minutes until the boy's naptime and things are looking up. Maybe your husband will read this post and bring home something special for you tonight, maybe something involving chocolate or fabric or paint samples? I'm just saying...

Ava

Lauren found a broken cd during school. She showed one half of it to her sisters. Ava, being a nitwit witty, said "Oh no, now only half the songs will play."

She sure makes life fun around here.

Would would Alice wear?

Our eBay sewing group, the Clovergirls, decided to do a Wonderland launch. Since I can't make costumes (I'm really not creative enough), I did a What Would Alice Wear On A Fall Day Before Going Down The Rabbit Hole For Her Long Adventure outfit.



You can check out more pics here: My auction...

My pink princess

A new gown on eBay. I made the hat and it about killed me. I probably went through a yard of fabric just testing it out, lol.



Link:
http://tinyurl.com/yuea25

What I've been up to...

Just got back from Maddie's vision screening and she doesn't need glasses. To say she is relieved is an understatement. She's thrilled. Lauren went in for her screening last week and we found out she needs prescription reading glasses. Fortunately our insurance covers hardware up to $250 so we won't have to pay anything out of pocket. Ava's screening is Thursday so we'll see what she needs.

Molly is 3 months old now and I really need to get some pictures of her. Hopefully by the end of this week. That girl will be crawling by the times she's 5 mths. I can't leave her on the bed alone or she will scoot herself right off.

Oh and a big hooray. I just paid off two of our 5 medical bills! It feel so great. 3 more to go (and they are the bigger ones). I thought I ran out of things to sell on eBay but then I find a box here or there will stuff we don't need.

I was sewing on Saturday while Molly took her long nap and Grae, Maddie and Brian were running errands. There is a soccer field pretty much right behind our house and I could hear a girls soccer game. The parents were cheering, the referee's whistle blowing, the coaches, well, coaching. One thing that bothered me though was a male coach (at least I think he was the coach), yelling at the girls. I don't mean encouraging, "go get 'em" yelling but borderline abusive yelling. It really upset me.

I played sports when I was a kid. Basketball, baseball and softball. I know the excitement that a coach feels during a game but since when did it become okay for a man to yell at girls like that? Why didn't the parents step in and tell him to cool off? What kind of example does it set for the kids? Well, it's just a game, he's really nice in real life...NO I don't buy it. If it was just a game, why act like it is the most important thing in the world? I hope he doesn't act that way at home with his wife and daughters. Get a life coach.

Update on cloth diapering

I.LOVE.IT!!! I am really enjoying cloth diapering Molly. We use prefolds, a Snappi and a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap during the day. During her long nap I also stuff a Cotton Babies microfleece insert.

Still using disposables at night but that will change when I get my fleece soaker, the Stacinator, great name ;) It should come this week. Lauren is also going to knit Molly some wool longies, like these, to wear at night over her prefold. Aren't they cute?!

I'm so glad we aren't putting disposables on her all day. I like knowing that we can just wash her diapers and not have to throw them away. I also like that she wears cotton and not chemicals on her bottom. I'm going to be switching Graedon over to cloth soon. Maybe it will help him to potty train faster if he feels the wetness. I'm not so excited about changing his poopy diapers. Yuck. But at least it is only once a day and I can put a flushable liner in it.k

A quick project

Don't you love quick projects? Brian's dad let us have this wood bed frame that was sitting out in his shop.

It's in really great shape but just needs some paint. Bri sanded it down and we had Lauren prime it.
Brian glued a wood decal we bought at Lowe's. It was only $3.49 but really adds to the look of the bed (at least I think so). After 1 coat of primer and two coats of a cottage creamy paint, it was ready to go up to the bedroom.
The whole project took a few hours and cost only $3.49. Can't beat that! I do have another project that won't be quite so easy and certainly not quite so inexpensive.

I want Brian to build me an armoire to hold our flat screen tv. The t.v. will sit on top. I want it to look old and I want it stained my favorite turquoise blue. This is my drawing.
It will have open shelves at the sides and two doors in the middle. The doors will have beadboard on the panels. The hard part will be finding some great short legs for it. I have total confindence that Brian will make it exactly how I have pictured in my head and probably even better. I can't wait to get started on it!

Another project we're going to be starting is fixing up our hallway. I'll try to get some pictures of it later. It's really small and really doesn't get much light. I want to stencil the upper walls and really decorate it in an art deco style. Our house was built in 1938 so it would be appropriate. I've got lots of ideas but little money ;)

Making Red Grape Pie

Every time red grapes go on sale, Brian asks for this pie. Well, they went on sale for $.99 lb so I HAD to make it. Here are the steps:

1. Wash the grapes:


2. Enlist children to cut them in half for you because you don't want too:


3..Assemble your ingredients:


4.In a large bowl mix everything together and dump in a pre-made pie crust because you hate making crust (or maybe because you are no good at it).


5. Put crust on top. Brian likes when I tear the crust and squish it on top. Hey, it's easier that way too. Be sure to place it on a baking sheet to catch the splatters.



6. Pull it out of the oven and stick it on your very favorite Fiesta ware blue plate.



7. Repeatedly tell your 2 year old son that we can't eat it yet. Tell him again and again as he asks for pie all afternoon.

8. Eat it but forget to take pictures.
Red Grape Pie

• Pastry for a 2 crust pie


• 5 cups seeded, cut up red seedless grapes


• 2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar (divided)


• 1 teaspoon lemon juice


• 3 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca


• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine


• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine grapes, 2/3 cup sugar, lemon juice and tapioca. Place in pastry-lined 9 inch pie pan. Dot with butter.
Adjust top crust, flute edges and cut vents. Sprinkle with a mixture of 2 teaspoons sugar and the cinnamon. Bake 45 to 50 minutes.

I'm not a guy

So I was standing in line at our local REI store yesterday waiting to pick up some Keen sandals I ordered on their website. In front of me was a strapping young man in his mid twenties. He proceeded to the next checkout lady (who also was in her twenties.) She was all smiles and helpful and had a cheery tone in her voice. I thought she was nice.

He finished up and she bid him adieu and it was my turn. I gave her the print out of my order and told her I wanted to pick up my shoes. I think what she heard was I needed her to change my son's poopy diaper. She trod off to the backroom and a few minutes later came trudging to the counter carrying what seemed to be 100 lb shoes. My order was a heavy burden for her to bear. She hoisted them up on the counter, printed a receipt and handed me a pen. I signed for the shoes and handed the pen back to her. She took it from me and dropped it in a can right next to me. I told her "oh sorry" and she gave me the "whateva" look. I thanked her but her attention was elsewhere. Probably searching the store for another guy. ;)

10 weeks

Click for a bigger image:

Getting the bug...

Unfortunately for my husband ,I'm getting the decorating bug again. (I can hear you groaning from here Bri. Just cover your eyes if you don't want to know.) I have Paint ADD and can't stick with a paint color for more than a few months. I thought it would be easy to choose paint colors but it's HARD. So I'm really thinking it through this time and will be getting samples to try out before buying the whole stinkin' gallon.

I also want to slipcover a chair we found at Goodwill and rearrange the living room. I would like to finish decorating my bedroom and I'm so close. I want to find some vintage mirrors for one wall. I found the perfect ones at Pottery Barn but they are waaaaaay to expensive. If anyone knows of a cheap alternative, I would be grateful.

The hallway is boring and small so I want to punch it up with an Art Deco flavor. I'll probably stencil some type of art deco pattern and I would love to get a mirrored desk since it is kind of dark in there. Again, this one is way to expensive.

The school room needs a new paint job as well as the ceiling molding put back up. Graedon decided that the walls needed some pencil art so the whole room is looking shabby.

So lots that I want to do but I don't have any money. The hospital bills came in from Molly's birth and Ava's bungled trip to the e.r. We now owe $4000. That's after insurance. I "cheerfully" sent off $100 to them yesterday. I'm very generous. It's going to take awhile to pay them off.

Oh and we need a new hot water heater, washer and dryer. Oh and the old van just went in for $600 repairs (paid for with cash from our new emergency fund). And the half the girls and the boy need some new fall shoes because they insist on outgrowing their perfectly fine ones.

Aaaahhhhh! I'm looking around the house for anything to sell ;) The girls are starting to feel anxious and holding their posessions closer to them. I know their hiding places though.

Brian did remind me that God has always given us enough money to pay our bills and I shouldn't be anxious. It's hard not to be but he's right. (Yes I did just say you were right Bri, it's even in print). So we'll see how fast we can tackle those bills. Hopefully by Christmas or the girls will only get oranges ;)

Good golly Miss Molly

Don't you just love sleeping baby lips. They are all relaxed and so soft and kissable.

Well Molly has proven to be a very good baby. She's almost 9 weeks now and sleeps 5-7 hours at night. In a row people. We have never had a baby do that. Of course she grunts and tries to get out gas in the early morning hours. She flings her little fists right in my face and I'll start to mindlessly pat her tummy. Sometimes I think about moving her to her crib but I really do love having her there right beside me at night. Makes nursing so easy.

Molly smiles at all of us and I even got her to laugh (witnessed by Maddie and Ava). She gave her first non-immediate family smile to a very nice lady who owns a garden store nearby. She's also making those adorable and very serious coos. She loves to watch Grae and Ellie talk to her. She'll watch them play until her eyes just won't stay open anymore.

She's getting on a schedule (hooray!) and will take a really long 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. It's even the same time as her brother so I am free to do laundry, sweeping, mopping, sewing, computer work. Why am I never free to read a magazine or nap?

It's amazing to think how depressed I was when I found out I was pregnant with her. We really were undecided if we wanted another baby but God said we did ;) Then He gave us an easy baby. THANK YOU.

Now off to take care of our not so easy toddler who only wants to scream and listen to pirate music.

Help a gal earn some money.

I listed on eBay two outfits I made with my very own hands.

Here's one:

































And the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270157591358&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=017

And the baby gown:




















Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270155823588&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=017

Going greener...

We're making the switch to cloth diapers and I'm so excited. We did cloth for 3 months when Lauren was born but then stopped. Now in an effort to not clog our landfills with more of our diapers and to save money, Molly will be cloth diapered. I spent two days researching and asking questions and am convinced it is the right way to go.

I already do 2-3 loads of laundry a day so 1 or 2 more won't be any big deal. Our clothesline came and I've been using it everyday to hang clothes. Hanging clothes on the line is one of my favorite times of day. It's surprisingly relaxing. I can't wait to see our electric bill this month.

We've come under our grocery budget so far this month and I'm really excited about that. I've been cooking meals everyday and getting creative with what we have here.

We've been able to put an extra $250 toward our van payment so far and the month is not over. I love the challenge of not spending money and looking for ways to earn or save it. I need to pull out the fall clothes to sell on eBay. I have about $300 worth of stuff laying around that I need to list.

I really hate being in debt to the bank for our van. Hopefully by this time next year we can say we've paid it off. We owe a little over $13,000 for it. Ouch - that hurts to type it but there it is. We paid $20,000 for it and have had it a little over 8 months. I don't regret its purchase. We only had one van at the time and we couldn't all fit in it after Molly came. So we just need to be free from the payments as soon as possible. How can anyone be happy with their purchases knowing they don't have the money to pay for them? Credit is dangerous. So many people that we consider "well off" and have lots of new stuff are actually so far in debt that they can't get out. That's sad.

Well Molly is awake and telling me she needs to be fed RIGHT NOW. So no more debt talk for now. Aren't you glad, lol...

Love Thursday

Yee-haw

Ava and her wagon....
The robber...

Grouchy

Everyone in my house is grouchy today. Ava doesn't like math so she's taking a looooong time doing her test. Maddie actually broke down in tears twice, one in math and another because Lauren beat her to the shower. Ellie slammed Graedon's fingers in the closet door this morning and they have been alternately fighting and playing. Ellie just screamed because Grae just took a cracker from her plate.

Molly is sleeping. Yesterday she was awake practically the whole day, which didn't make for a very happy momma. I felt so defeated by this. How quickly we go from feeling happy and content to feeling sorry for ourselves. How quickly we forget to thank God for everything He brings.

So today I declare comfort day. We will finish up our Friday chores and veg out in front of a movie or make cookies or do some sewing. Oh and eat lots of licorice that I bought. Thank you God for making sugar.

Bye Harry...

Last night Brian and I finished the Deathly Hallows. Wow.

I'm sad there will be no more books to read, but wow, what a way to end it.

My first born, my guinea pig

Yesterday Lauren celebrated her 12th birthday. She requested tater tot casserole, lemon bars and Tillamook mud slide ice cream. Molly Kate was an angel yesterday so I actually made all of it (and did some sewing too!).

Lauren - you are our guinea pig. When you were first born I had never held a newborn let alone changed a diaper. Your dad changed the very first one and then changed them all week as I had lost a lot of blood giving birth to you and could hardly get up off the couch. How happy our first days were with you! What a miracle you were, did we really have a baby? I was only 21 but now I was a mother.

We experienced firsts as you experienced them. First smile, first foods, first words (dada of course). You went to work with me for 3 months until I had to make a choice. I chose to stay home with you even though it meant a slight loss of income. You were worth it.

We made so many mistakes with you but by the grace of God, you have turned into a beautiful young lady. You are growing up so fast. Where is our little Lor-lor?

I couldn't take a shower when I need to without you holding Molly or keeping an eye on Graedon. I thank you and everyone who has to smell me thanks you.

I realize that I need to teach you so much. So now when I make dinner, you are in there learning how. You keep your room clean (and actually care if it is messy). You see messes around the house and instead of stepping over them (ahem -Maddie & Ava), you pick them up.

Thank you for all you do around the house and thank you for loving your brother and sisters. Happy Birthday.

Savin' dough

I'm tired of our big van payment and student loan payment. The student loan isn't very big but we just make slightly more than the minimum payment each month. I'm ahead several months on the van payments and always put all of our extra money toward it. We aren't in any credit card debt so once we retire those debts we will only have the house payment.

I've been reading the Dave Ramsey books and we are going to follow his plan for getting out of debt and building a 6 month emergency fund. Then we will work on retirement saving. We already have a Roth IRA and some stocks going toward retirement but I would love to put lots more money toward it.

So in an effort to reduce our grocery bill, I finally went to the Orowheat Bread outlet store. I used to go all the time. We can go through 1 loaf of bread in one lunch meal so bread was an expense I wanted to reduce. We do make our own bread for evening meals but it doesn't make very much and fresh baked bread doesn't last long in our house!

Here is what I got. I HAD to buy donuts for Graedon but still ended up with $45.00 worth of bread for $11.61.

Four loaves of buttermilk bread, two loaves of Orowheat wheat bread, two loaves of Orowheat light wheat bread (for me as it's lower carb than the rest), 3 big packages of hamburger buns including the ultra gourmet onion buns, a huge package of hot dog buns, a package of sandwhich rolls and a box of assorted donuts.

We love going down to farmer's market on Saturday and buying berries and veggies. We are growing our own veggies this year and the blueberries we wanted to buy are terribly expensive. So we hopped into the van on Saturday and went to pick our own. $1.00 a pound! We spent $20.00 and our freezer is full of fresh berries.

Now I'm looking for more ways to save money in our budget and get out of debt in 1 year. Fortunately I'm a frugal person (or I used to be when we had NO money) so I just need to get back into the swing of things. I need to get to the sewing machine and sew again as it saves us money on our kids clothes and I also sell my clothing on eBay.

Picture day

Molly Kate - 6 weeks




Ellie - 4 years


Grae - 2 years




Maddie - 10 yrs


Have a great weekend!