It always take a week or two for us to adjust back to school and work. Last week I was tired, and my head was swimming by the end of each day. This week is going smoother so far (one day, I know - ha!)

I get my first paycheck later this week (I thought it would be on the 30th.) With all of the beginning of school year expenses, the timing will be great. Actually, all I have left is school photos for the youngest and yearbooks for the oldest two. Whew - I don't know why I'm so surprised at the flurry of checks the first couple of weeks of school.

I'm already trying out my paid sick leave on Wednesday afternoon. I arranged for a sub so I can go to a medical appointment with my oldest, scheduled from last spring. We're winding down on these appointments, as her medicine seems to be where it needs to be (finally!)

Last weekend was busy, but fun. We went to the high school football game on Friday night to watch my third girl cheer and my second one dance at halftime. The girls looked great (yes, I was the mom taking those annoying flash pictures.) The evening was absolutely perfect weatherwise, and the team won too.

Saturday I ran errands in the morning, including the grocery shopping. Later I took the younger girls over to the next town over for their Heritage Festival. Very small town, but it was fun seeing so many people we knew. My youngest two spent most of the time in the petting zoo area, with hedgehogs, bunnies and guinea pigs. They also went up the portable climbing wall a few times. The girls helped their daddy, who's a police reserve officer, in the public safety area. An AirCare helicopter even came as the highlight - I did mention small town, right?

The two youngest went to an amusement park
with our church youth group on Sunday afternoon. The two oldest were busy with friends. Gosh, my husband and I almost had visions of what it'll be like in a few years. So what did we do?? We made a run to make a return to Officemax, had a fast food lunch we were both craving, and gassed up at the cheaper gas station up that direction. Then we came home and caught up on some housework. I baked for the week's lunches. Hmm - not very exciting, but nice just the same.

I did good at the grocery store. I got a ton of food for the next two weeks, as well as some at the store deals on meat that I put in the freezer. Slowly, but surely I'm stocking us back up for the fall. A few weeks back, I switched back over to Cub Foods for most of my groceries. With this change, my oulay of dollars has decreased once again, making me wonder why did I ever leave Cub in the first place? I shop every two weeks, and I keep a running list of groceries needed, as well as menu plan a night or two before I go to the store. I guess there have been periods in my life where that much preparation was beyond what I could handle. I'm getting better at this as my girls get older. No slacking for me!

My house and work all seem to be in order - at the moment. Please make note, as it can all change in the next moment!

Have a great weeek and take care!!

Not a lot happening this weekend - just working at the odds and ends that are endlessly on the to-do list.

We helped out my inlaws around their house. My husband and I are starting to see a need to schedule a bit more time over there to keep things up better, as their health keeps limiting them more and more. All I know is that I had visions of my mom's house and the endless stuff she and my dad had collected. It took me a long time to clear out things from her house when she entered the nursing home, and the long-term storage ruined so much of it. My inlaws have organized their stuff into an endless sea of plastic storage boxes, tucked into corners everywhere. They're finding out that their three kids and families are just not really wanting any of it. The stuff has meaning to them, but not to their kids. It's kind of sad. Oh well, it helps motivate my husband and I in limiting what we think we should store away (a small house also helps with this.)

I went with my oldest and youngest to visit my mom. She's doing well, though conversation is a bit confusing as usual. We were joined by a talkative gentleman who managed to share his life up to the point where he and his wife had their six daughters. He was interupted to go to dinner, but I'm sure I'll hear about the second half (or more - he's 93) of his life. My mom enjoys the company of men, so she mostly giggled, laughed and made the occasional odd comment throughout his story. I always leave there with a smile.

I baked some vanilla chip cranberry bars and used up the rest of the package of chips into some chocolate vanilla chip cookies. After the obligatory 'testing of the recipes' by my family who came out of the woodwork, I bagged up and hid the treats in the freezer for the lunches this week.

Over the summer I had talked to the girls about our use of bottled water for the lunches. They were all willing to carry reusable bottles - yay! The environmental reasons spoke to them more, while I was definitely hearing the monetarial ones as well. Either way, it's all good!

To-do list odds and ends that got crossed off include my husband and girls washing both the vans in the driveway. I cut my husband's hair with the clippers (on the patio - you'd think we were doing this only to embarass our kids!) My husband turned his time sheet in online with 30 hours OT from last week (he was out of town two times, and gets drive time.) I sprayed the new athletic shoes with Camp-dry, so dew, rain and snow wreak less havok on those new shoes. Starting to go over a new budget with my husband so that there is no mindlessly expanding the spending to fit the pay increase. Otherwise, we're all getting ready for school's start tomorrow.

Happy Labor Day...take care!