Indulge me...

I try very hard not to be a complainer. Really I do. But can I just whine a minute here? It's hard being the brave little toaster all the time.

I've been sewing for 4-5 hours a day during the little ones nap time. Then again when they go to bed. In addition I'm trying to spend at least an hour on answering email and working on Journal Modiste. Oh and the insane CPSIA law that was passed that threatens to shut down all my businesses in one fell swoop, that is taking some time to work through as well.

All of this while doing my normal "chores." You know the really fun ones like: 3-4 loads of laundry a day, budgeting/paying bills, cleaning and directing the kids to clean (ie. Do you call this clean? What about that pile of junk in the corner?), making grocery lists, planning & preparing meals, homeschooling, cuddling various kids, thinking of new ways to make money, trying not to worry about Brian not finding a job, breaking up fights, exercising..... You get it.

Don't get me wrong, I am thankful I have the ability to bring in money while Brian is looking for work. Unemployment just pays our mortgage and heat. Everything else comes from what I can earn. God has been blessing me with orders and is keeping all bills paid and food on our table.

But I'm just a little weary. I'm not a coffee person but I've been relying on it to keep me hopping all day. I'm having trouble turning my mind off a night to sleep and all of my sleeping pills are gone. Whine, whine, whine. Okay done.

This verse is running through my head and it is a comfort to me.

James 1:1-8.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

So I'm going to keep on keeping on and throw the focus off myself and on to serving my family and God. Wow! Who knew blogging could be such good therapy?

What I've been working on...

I did this all week:



Whew, that's a lot of diapers.

The sun will come out tomorrow...

Hey we had sun! So we bundled up and went to the park. I'm thinking Brian had the most fun. He let loose and burned up some energy teeter-tottering and racing Grae on the motorcycles. Here they are in no particular order.

Bizarre

Okay - did anyone else find the "prayer" (and I use the term loosely) by Joseph Lowery during the Inauguration bizarre. He was going forth spewing social justice stuff and then he did the mellow yellow, brown stick around thing. My immediate thought was the "green" toilet rule: "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If's brown, flush it down." Obviously he wasn't refering to that but perhaps the old civil rights song: Big Bill Broonzy Black, Brown And White lyrics. Link here: http://www.lyricstime.com/big-bill-broonzy-black-brown-and-white-lyrics.html

Just weird. Here is exactly what he said:
“We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."

Do we "white" people not embrace what is right? I'm thinking that Obama wants us to all work together regardless of race and this is what is said? Is this the tone he wants to set for the Presidency?

It will be a long 4 years.

So cool

I never had these when I went to the dentist as a child.


She was watching the Disney Channel.

new loves

From pirates to Spiderman

How I get stuff for free....

Since Brian has been chronically unemployed, I've gone back to my first love: couponing for free things.

Here is a picture of a recent haul. Most of this was either completely free, less than $1.00 or they paid me to take it. The girls get the list I generate from The Grocery Game and then sit down to cut coupons. This takes 45 minutes a week.







This mostly works for household items but I get great deals on food too. Since we make most of our meals from scratch, I ignore the convenience food. The kids love cereal and so I stock up when I can get it for less than $2.00 for 15 oz. Right now I'm spending $1.00 - $1.50 at Albertsons for some cereal which makes the girls happy.

I used to match up ads with the coupons on my own and it took a few hours. The Grocery Game does that for me know so it saves time. I would recommend it! She gives out a trial for $1.00 so it's worth it to try it. Be sure to start saving a few weeks of Sunday paper ads before you start, otherwise you will not be able to do many deals.

Oh and if you go to sign up, you can use my email address : amy shearer @ alittle busy .com and I can get some weeks free!