How Many Beds?

We have 5 beds for 6 people, but I think we could get by with 3.

Only Meg appreciates having her own bed. Anyone but Meg would sleep with us if we'd let them. Little Boy sometimes does for naps, or early in the morning on Sundays when we sleep a little later.

We sleep in two beds when we stay in a motel. Our camper sleeps 5; usually the girls sleep in a tent, but during a storm once they all piled in along with my parents and we managed to sleep!

When we moved into this house Hubby built a room for Jo and Amy. Up until this point they had bunk beds but slept together in one of them. They decided they each wanted their own beds. So we bought them. Well now all three girls are in the one room, and guess where Jo and Amy can be found. Sleeping together in one bunk! 12 and 10 and they still prefer to snuggle up together. We always have at least one empty bed.

Meg moved into their room with them about 6 months ago because she said she wanted to develop a better relationship with her sisters. I love that these girls like each other so well. Don't get me wrong, they have their squabbles, but they really to get along quite well.

We don't have a 'family bed'. I think we all need some privacy, but I think it's great that we are all able to share our 'space' once in a while.

Having Time for Everything

Ahh, I feel like my head is spinning. I asked God for guidance this morning. I need to figure out what to put my energy into, and what to cut back on.

The money saving with coupons and store ads, especially CVS, is really helping our budget; as is the menu planning. I really need to find a way to spend less time at it. I asked the girls if they wanted to take over the menu planning, but no takers. The person doing this job needs to have some interest in it.

Business is booming, which is also helping with the finances. I need to let one of my girls practice on these projects. Meg already has enough sewing for her own job.

Blogging also takes some time, not sure if I'm willing to give this up. I've always wanted to keep a journal. I did when I was younger, but it needed to be destroyed, I didn't need a record of all my sins and how I relished in them.

Of course there is school, housekeeping, bill paying, and all the family stuff to keep a mom busy all the day long!

Hubby says I need to focus on one thing at a time. I really think that is a man thing. How can a mom with 4 children, soup on the stove, laundry in the washer, and the phone ringing, concentrate on one thing at a time. I'm thinking crayon on the walls, stinky laundry and burnt soup.

God bless you (and me too) as you go about our day!

Remaining Anonymous

Under my husband's protection and recommendation, I have chosen not to give our real names, location, or pictures of our family. Though, I would be willing to bet all of my readers are 'good' people, we still need to be under protection.

I'm sure I don't need to mention all the bad things that have happened, for you all to understand why.

Anyway, I think it is confusing to always say, the youngest girl, oldest girl etc. So I will reintroduce us as...

Stella-that's me. Mom. A Nickname.

Daddy, or Hubby depending on the context

Meg- 14

Jo- 12

Amy- 10

Little Boy- 2

The girl's names are close so I don't forget and Little Boy, well, we sometimes call him Little Brother anyway.

I really would love to show you all pictures. I really have a beautiful family, but you'll just have to use your imagination.

It is nice to meet all of you, especially if you've commented! I always stop by to visit the blogs of those that have commented to me. (Unless your profile is not public.)

Running in the House

I had this topic on my list of blog ideas. I was going to write about how I don't mind running in the house. As a matter of fact, this family seems to like to chase each other around the house. Daddy chases Mommy, Girls chase Daddy, Everyone chases Little Boy! The kids chase each other. I actually like the sound of the kids running around playing together, especially the sound of a toddler running; they really do pat-ter!

Except yesterday. Amy wanted to get the mail. I told her it was cold and she needed her jacket. Now running to get things is usually frowned upon, however, she went sprinting through the house. Her feet slipped out from under her and she smacked her head on the island counter on the way down.

She ended up with a gaping wound right behind her ear. It was good that MIL had just walked out our door and was easy to catch. She drove us to the hospital for stitches. They ended up gluing it. Since it was a head injury we had to wake her up every couple of hours last night. She seems fine though, and didn't even want to go to be early.

We actually would have glued the wound ourselves, but decided against it because it was a head injury. I was glad she didn't tell them that when they were asking if she'd ever had stitches before. I can just hear it now, "No, but Daddy glued my chin shut!" UH-OH!

Actually we've done pretty good for injuries in this house. 4 kids and only 2 dislocations (She was a seal being pulled to shore by one arm by her sister) (He tipped his chair backward and caught his arm between it and the wall) One broken hand (fell off bike) a broken toe (trying to walk gracefully-oh, my!) A split chin (tipping a chair back) And now a split head. Not to bad I'd say and only one kid has had 2 injuries.

So anyway, maybe we'll have to have a 'rule' about running in the house. It is only allowed if you are playing!

I Almost Threw My Walgreens Card Away

Alright, the couponing thing is driving me crazy. I don't like paperwork. I've made a decision, if coupons are not filed by Monday, they are going in the trash. Not only do we get a paper on Sunday for filling up with gas, but my MIL gives us hers from 2 papers. I appreciate the coupons, but I don't like clutter. Ahhh.

Walgreens gives a gift card with 10% extra for mail in rebates. For the first time they send the card, there after they just recharge it. It was supposed to be sent out on the 2nd. Well, amonst all the coupons, store adds, and junk mail I almost missed it. It came early last week. There was nothing on the envelope to suggest Walgreens, so I put in the open and shred pile. When I was opening the junk mail today, I got quite a surprise. There was my card. I could have gotton my free after rebate items yesterday since we were in the area. Oh, well, I will have it for Black Friday.

Yesterday, I went to CVS and they chuckled that my coupon book was 'so small'. I can hardly shut my purse, but apparently another lady comes in with a coupon book the size of a real photo album!

Later, I have a sick boy who will wake up soon. Thanks Bellamama for the suggestions for cough, I'll have to try those today!

Sick Little Boy

Little Boy woke up with a dry cough and chest congestion. We are giving him echinacea and Vit. C., and a little Robitussin while he sleeps.

So far this little one has never been on an antibiotic and we would like to keep it that way. Any prayers will be appreciated.

Later,
Stella

Only spent $62.44 in Groceries for the Week for 6 People!!!

Check out these pictures! I am so pleased to have a full pantry again! I was feeling a little "thin" in the food department these last few weeks. I like to have so easy foods to make for those days I'm really busy; to keep us from eating out!

Everything in both pictures..... Drumroll please.... $33.75!!!

My Best Deals are in the picture. Apparently I hit the salvage store right after they got a new truckful. My new strategy is to pick through all the items and get the best prices. They usually have tuna marked 40cents, but I noticed one marked 30 cents. I picked through and found all the 30cent cans. (There was no difference and nothing was even close to expiring!)

I also found one can marked free because it didn't have a label. Hubby laughed and said it was probably cat food. (we have a cat, so no problem there) It was tuna!

I found the same price difference with the cereal. The six boxes of cereal I bought were marked $1.00 and $1.25 each. Some of the same brand, size, expir. were marked $1.50 and $1.75.

The noodles are organic; 40cents each one pound bags. 3 bags macadamia nuts 25cents each. 2 bags walnuts 25cents each.

My favorite find..... Coconut oil $1.00! We use this instead of shortening and sometimes butter. It is usually $2.89 at Walmart.

Not pictured oranges, lettuce, mayo, milk, eggs, peanut butter, catfood, and a 16# Turkey!

Oh, yeah; Hubby bought 2 bags of Doritos.

I'm very pleased with this week. We also traded sewing for organic hamburger and were given almost 2 quarts of goat milk! All total we spent $62.44. $57.56 left for next week.

Want to see our goal and previous weeks shopping? http://happyinthehome.blogspot.com/search/label/Frugal%20Living

Want to know more about shopping for Super Saving Saturday? Visit Crystal at www.moneysavingmom.com

Thanks for stopping by!

Of a Sensitive Nature-Need to Pray for These Kids.

I understand this is a very sensitive nature, however I feel a need to talk about it.

This has been on my heart lately. We have heard a lot lately about pred*tors. I often think, "My daughter is the same age as the 'target' was supposed to have been."


My SIL opened my eyes about this. She is a principal and had to take a course on this subject. The police did a sting operation on the internet right there during the course. They 'caught' a 19 year old (He was later apprehended). My SIL said everyone in the room was so disgusted, yet all she could think is, "I have a son close to that age."


What an eye opener. And we are all correct, it is disgusting, it is frightening, it could be our daughter, or it could be our son.


A similar situation has been brought to prayer a lot at church lately. A teen girl (relative of a church member) had gotten a ride from an older boy. He took her to the woods and shot her three times when he was finished with her. Then he left. We have spent the last month praying for her recovery. The boy has been apprehended. Lately the church has been praying for justice to be done.


Out of sensitivity for church members I just want to ask everyone anonymously to pray for this boy. What awful thing has been done to him in the past? Should we not pray for this boy as well as the girl he hurt and left to die? This was a horrendous thing he has done, but Jesus did not come for the righteous man. Cannot this boy also be saved? Yes, he should be punished, but shouldn't someone take the gospel to him also.


Please pray for this girl's continued healing both physically and emotionally. That is the easy one, but also take the harder road and pray for the boy.

And while your at it let's praise God that we don't get the just punishment for our sin.

Home Management Binder-Weekly Routines

This is on the right hand column next to Daily Routines. I mark these off as we finish them, so when we get to Friday's Catch up we can see what didn't get finished for the week.


Weekly Routines

Daily Routines
Monday: Bedding
Dusting
Quick Vacuum
Unload Dishwasher

Tuesday: Water Plants
Declutter 15 min.
Garbages

Wednesday: Mirrors/2 windows
Clean out Fridge
Menu/Grocery list

Thursday: Pay Bills
Errands
Correspondence

Friday: Vacuum
Bathrooms
Mop Floors
Zone Clean
Catch up


Yes, we only unload the dishwasher on Monday! We use it only to hide the dishes we didn't wash on Sunday. So we wash that one load, and the rest of the time we wash by hand.

Information on Decluttering and Zone Cleaning can be found here: http://flylady.com/pages/FlightPlan_Detail.asp I copied and pasted them onto a Word Document and changed them to fit our home.

We also have a Master Schedule that has time slots on it, that we sometimes follow loosely. We have a School Schedule in a different binder as there was not room in this binder.

You can see more of my posts about my Home Management Binder Here Home Management Binder

Home Management - Daily Routines

I came back from a FUN weekend with my family feeling refreshed. I decided to get back to the schedule in my Home Management Binder We got so much accomplished! What an awesome feeling.

You can see my schedule in the picture. I didn't realize how bad it looks. It is in a plastic sheet protector so we can mark what we have done with a dry erase marker. There are 2 columns. In the right hand column is my schedule for the week, and the left is the daily list. I'll list my daily routines tonight and get to my weekly tomorrow.

Daily Routines

Early Morning-Mom
Teeth
Shower/Dress
Hair
Make Bed
Prayer/Bible
Wash Clothes
Meal Prep

Morning-Children
Dress
Hair
Teeth
Bible
Clean Bedroom
Animal Chores

After Breakfast-All
Clean Kitchen
Weekly Chores
Dry Clothes
Wash 2nd Load


Afternoon
Clean Kitchen
Finish Laundry
Check School

Bedtime-Girls
Shower (Tues, Thurs, Sat)
Teeth
PJ’s
Tidy House/Room
Bathroom

Bedtime-Me
Teeth
Tomorrow’s To-do List
Tidy House

The girls also have a list that explains in detail what a clean kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom means, so that I don't constantly have to tell them what to do next. They can just look at the list and mark it off as we go.

We start school at 8:30 most mornings, so whatever is left on After Breakfast is left for me when I get a chance.

If I get up with Hubby, I have extra time to blog and work on my business. My business also fits in in the afternoon when Little Boy is napping and the girls are finished with school.

Hubby gets home at 2:30, so we don't schedule anything else until bedtime.

I really like this schedule for a couple of reasons. It is not a time schedule, so I don't ever feel behind! Also, if I am ever not able to follow it, I am sure my girls can take care of the home!

Family Fun!

We went away for the weekend. My husband has some financial blessings this last week. We bought 2 tires for the van, took $100 for a fun weekend and the rest will pay on a loan!

Friday evening we loaded up the kids and rented a motel room for the night; with a pool of course. We spent the whole evening in the pool. It was super warm! Perfect! The kids had a blast. The big kids raced across the pool with Daddy! They jumped in the water and caught the ball in the air, that Daddy threw! Little boy caught fish, that none of us could see ;) We played volley ball! Did I mention we had the pool all to ourselves.

We had a continental breakfast and headed straight back into the pool!

We spent the afternoon shopping! I got some items for my business and a new coat for Biggest Girl. We hit CVS and Aldi's. I don't know just what I spent on groceries because I haven't found all my receipts for the week yet. I don't know if we stayed within budget or not, but we have to be pretty close.

I have a lot of catching up to do this morning. I have some orders to fill and some emails to catch up on. I want to get back on schedule and will probably post about my schedule later! May you all have a blessed day!

Super Saving Saturday

Yes, I know it's Monday! Read my next entry to find out why I didn't get this done on Saturday.

Here is my best deal this week. I got all this for $1.06 at CVS.

500 ct. Cotton Swabs $3.19

80 ct. Baby Wipes 2.79

- ecb - 4.99

Total with tax $1.09

Printed off 2 ecb and a coupon worth $2.50 off a pain reliever.

My husband thought it was a good idea to use the coupon. So I went back in and got:

24ct. ibuprofen $ 2.89

40ct. envelopes 1.59

minus coupon -2.50

minus ecb -2.00

Total 0.00 Free WHOO-HOO

Aldi had butter on sale for $1.69 each! As we don't use shortening or margarine, this was a great deal. We bought 7 of them!

Comment me.

If you would like to leave a comment that will not be published on my blog; go ahead, just say so in the first line. Also, please leave me a way to respond to you that is also not public! I love to hear from my readers.

God bless

~Stella

Pastor Wants to Read my Blog

At Awana last night I was talking to a gal, who had written up her testimony to share with the kids. I said that I just wrote mine up yesterday on my blog. Well, our pastor heard me and wanted the address.

I'm not sure I want to share this with many people I actually know. My husband has not even seen it, even though he has permission. He (Pastor) said that if it was private I shouldn't be sharing on the internet. I'm not sure there is anything I would consider private, however, there are things on here that are definitely 'womanly'. For instance, I wouldn't share that much information about my miscarriage with him. Also, I want to write from my heart, and not worry about who is reading.

I am going to print off my testimony. Pastor has already heard this anyway, however I am considering sending him some of my articles for review. Hmmm, we shall see what I decide.

My Testimony of Salvation

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. -1Peter 3:15

A couple of months back I was asked at the church potluck to give my testimony. Right then, right there, no time to think. I couldn't do it. I froze and said, "It's a long story." I have given my testimony many times before in a small group or one on one. But never to a hundred people at once or with a microphone. Well, it's time I shortened my story, memorized my verses and made friends with the microphone. So I decided to start here.

I didn't grow up attending church, or reading the scriptures, so I had no preconceived notions about Jesus, or salvation, or baptism, or God. I knew that Jesus died (I actually thought they killed him), that God decided who went to heaven, and that if you lied you'd go to hell.

When we were married we went to church for awhile, and were even baptised. I said that I believed, but I still didn't understand that Jesus death was on purpose. Jesus dying for my sin didn't really mean anything to me. I tried reading my Bible, but didn't stick to it because I didn't understand much of it. Even the eunuch said"How can I (understand), except some man should guide me?"

Well, eventually someone did guide me. He showed me scriptures that showed that Jesus's death was planned by God, that it was a sacrifice for me, that there was no other way to Heaven, that I was a sinner (I already new that), that my good works were as 'filthy rags', and that Jesus loved me anyway.

When I asked how to be saved I was left with Scripture and told that I would just know it when I was saved. I spent the next several days or weeks, I have no concept of time here, reading through the list of verses he left me with. I also went to several gospel presentations during this time. Again, I cannot remember if these were given daily or weekly.

Finally I just started to cry, why wasn't something happening so I would 'know' I was saved. What was I waiting for? Lightening, angels, a whisper in my ear, a feeling? Then there were 2 verses I read that finally caused me to just take God at his Word.

1John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

Whoa, I did not want to be calling God a liar.

1John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

At that point I shut my Bible deciding that I was not going to wait for a 'sign'; I would just have to believe what God said. Of course, that is when I felt a tremendous peace, and I KNEW I belonged to God. Praise God!

Gluttony/Weight Loss Update

The good news..... I lost 9 pounds! The scale said 10 Sunday morning but says 9 today, so I will go with 9.


The bad news.... SLACKER


I've been getting slack about memorizing Romans 6. At first I was reciting it in my head several times a day, and falling asleep memorizing the next section of the verse. When I was doing that, the verse would pop into my head the second I would think about a snack. Obviously there is something really important about that, because once I started to slack off some, the verses wouldn't come until after I had put something in my mouth.


I also want to make it very clear, mostly to myself, that I am not so pleased with the weight loss as I am disappointed in the sin of gluttony. I want to deal with sin.


Here is something really interesting that happened that reminded me about having 2 or 3 witnesses: On Friday a lady from church called to see how this was going for me. We chatted for a while and talked about how much help Romans 6 has been. This person does not usually call me. Then, on Saturday I got my new Rod and Staff catalog. There is always a tract or something tucked inside, so I shook it to see what I would find. You will not believe what fell out. A credit card sized calendar with this verse: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How can we, that are dead to sin, live anylonger therein. Romans 6 1-2


Definately God is watching all that we do, and cares even about an extra brownie. I stand in awe of Him!

AND THE WINNER IS.....

The winner of the bar of TRUE VINE SOAP is....... Romie from Romie's Rants! Congratulations! I will be contacting you shortly!

Thanks to everyone who participated! It was so much fun to see my inbox full of comments!

LORD bless you and have a wonderful day!

Super Saving Saturday-LOTS OF TP

Last Saturday I posted my goals for shopping: $60 per week averaged over the two week pay period for Hubby (This is for 6 people). I did it last week with $2 to spare. Here's how we are faring this time. We are just finishing the first week of the payperiod.

Here are some of the great deals from this week:

Trip to Kmart: This sale is still going on.

Toilet paper, toilet paper, toilet paper. Flyer came out for Charmin Basic 12 Big Rolls (325 sheets per roll-double rolls) $3.99 limit 5. I got my limit of 5 and used 3-25 cent off coupons. 7up was 79cents. Spent $22.39 My bedroom closet is now full of toilet paper (and papertowels from a shopping trip several weeks ago!

At the salvage store I found Herb Ox boullion (no msg) for 50 cents a box-I bought 5! They also had one can of goat milk-30cents, brown rice-45cents. 2 boxes of Organic cereal $1 each. Everything in the picture on the right $12.65!!!!

Great use of an instore coupon for vitamins: Our local grocery store had a coupon for $2 off any one Sundown vitamin. I found the smallest bottle of Vit. C-100 tables for $2.59- 59cents!!!! I also bought organic bananas for 19cents/#.

Walmart had Silk soymilk for $2.89. I used a $2.25 coupon 64 cents!!!

We also bought 2 gallons of milk, 2 bags of softener salt, liquid hand soap, 2 bags of Doritos (at full price-Hubby went shopping) Shredded cheese, chocolate chips, Tangerines, Cough drops (BOGO) , Peanut butter, chicken strips, sour cream, and romaine lettuce.

Total spent $76.42; Left for next week $43.58 I think we did pretty good!

Teenagers

Where do we get the idea that the teenage years are years of rebellion? Is rebellion then necessarily any worse than any other time in our lives? Can we really blame rebellion on hormones?

I had many "warnings" from family and acquaintances when my girls were small. "You just wait until they are teenagers", "Whoa, you're going to have three teen girls at once, look out", "Oh, you just wait you'll have to deal with all this ________(insert some kind of rebellion) too", "They all go through it, you just grit your teeth till its over".

Now, I know I have many teen years to go through yet with my girls, but I have seen none of this yet. My girls are 14, 12, and 10, and the only thing I have noticed with hormones is some weepiness that lasted about a year. (The 10 year old has not done this yet.) We have not seen any increase in sassiness, or disobedience.

I definitely had a problem when I was a teen, but I cannot say that it started then. I remember being angry a lot when I was a kid. Maybe I just got more bold about it at that age. I was also rebellious against my husband during the first several years of marriage. So is it the teens, or is the rebellion always there in us, and it just comes out physically usually during the teen years.

I'm just wondering if the difference isn't that my children know that sassiness and disobedience is just not tolerated? They are able to take the things that are bothering them to the Lord for help? Or maybe its from being homeschooled (read sheltered :) ) and without television?

A quick note about television..... When the youngest girl was 8 she started to be "mouthy" and would bob her head funny when she did it. I got the idea to ask about the tv; as they had been allowed to watch it on weekends at that time. Apparently a girl on tv (Raven) talked that way. Problem was easily solved when we took away the program.

Here's to praying that all of our teenagers are able to deal with their "feelings" by taking them to the Lord and their parents. God bless them all! I'll let you all know if rebellion becomes an issue in our family all of a sudden. Comment me and let me know what your thoughts on teens are.