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Archive for October, 2007

Glorious Fall Day

October 13th, 2007 at 08:15 pm

Sunny, 60s for temp, leaves have changed, but haven't fallen...exemplary fall day here in MN.

And my plans for this gorgeous day?? I've already gone shopping for more clothes for my mom - with being in the wheelchair and having aid at mealtimes, she's gained weight and outgrown much of her clothing. As the girls were all places this morning, I took my husband along and he found some steel-toe work boots (his old ones had split across the sole, though he con't to wear them for quite a bit, which became a problem with the recent rainy weather and working on a new construction site in that rain.) We then went out to an early lunch - just us.

In a bit, I'll head over to bring the clothes to my mom. Then I'll come back home and do some much-needed straightening and cleaning. Hopefully I'll have time to do some puttering outside too.

Also this weekend, I want to do some baking for the week's lunches and for the bus drivers for bus driver appreciation week. I ride one of the small buses with one of our more delicate sp.ed. students I work with, and I've gotten to know that bus driver pretty well. He's a retired guy, whose wife died a few years back. He tells me about his four kids and his eleven grandkids. Anyway, we were talking about the bumper crop of apples this year and how delicious they've been, when he offered me some off of his apple trees. So far, he's given me a huge grocery bag full of two different, unsprayed apples. So I want to do up an apple bread or some muffins with those apples for good old Wayne. I think he'll enjoy them. He's so good with all of the special kids he drives - they are all very excited to see him. He's a good guy, and it'll be fun to brighten his day.

Last night was the last home football game, and my three youngest all participated in some manner (oldest was working at the pool.) My second girl danced at halftime, my third cheered at the game, and my youngest was part of a cheerleading camp for grades 3-5, and 'helped' the cheerleaders with the cheering, as well as doing a special sement at halftime also. It was a beautiful night, and fun to see the girls. I'm glad I opted to not pay for the family pass, as the girls either have participated most of the games, or I've only paid for my youngest on occasion, as my husband got in as my guest on my school pass, which gets us in free. Winter season is coming up, but I think we'll still come out ahead by not buying the family pass, which was pricey.

I'm not sure how it came to be, but the cheerleaders get to cheer over the winter season on their fall season athletic fee. So my third girl will continue to cheer for a few more months. She has put in for hockey, though I'm not sure she can as she isn't the steadiest on skates (in which case, the savings on that athletic fee may be far outweighed by the medical costs incurred by cheering on skates - mom is heavily suggesting basketball cheering might be a whole lot safer.) My second girl has opted to not do the winter competitive dance season, as she wants to concentrate on her grades - a wise move indeed.

The three younger girls have joined their older sister at the pool for lesson time Saturday mornings. They will have to put in 15 hours unpaid probation time to train as aides during the swim lessons, and then they'll all be on the school's payroll. Yes, even the 10 yr. old will be receiving pay at $6.50 an hour eventually. Amazing! As we encouraged with our oldest, most of their earnings, if not actually all, will go into their savings account. They really have so few things that they want to spend money on, and especially we find, if it's their own earned money. Isn't that a great thing to learn!

Enjoy the weekend...take care!

Catching up

October 8th, 2007 at 10:25 pm

How busy the last month has been! Between school's start and my new job and my husband's job, along with the girls' few activities - whew!

I've now worked long enough to get three paychecks, and all I can say is that it's so nice to write out the bills and have the funds ready. Our checking account buffer is back in place again, along with the small emergency funds. Now we're working on the one last cc debt - actually we have been for the last year, but we are making greater strides in obliterating that balance.

This month hasn't been cheap either. The school fees and expenses aren't fun, but are normal and expected. The unexpected included another repair on the conversion van (along the more important repairs, I now have the driver side washer fluid line working AND I have greatly improved heat and defrost. Yay! As this has been our warm weather camping van, this hasn't been too much of an issue. But with my oldest driving her sisters to school in the minivan, I'm using the behemoth, and well, heat is a good thing.)

The other expense that we weren't expecting quite yet was some dental work for my husband, which I paid in full today. Easy come, easy go the paychecks!

Budgetwise, we're holding tight. I've been cooking at home and still shopping once every two weeks. My grocery budget has actually decreased a little, due to changing to a different grocery store. I've been able to stick to just under $200, which has been my goal. The last couple trips I've been including stocking up bit by bit for upcoming holiday baking. I've also been trying out new recipes, mostly because I'm bored with our usual meals. Many are from the Light & Tasty magazine - some have been more successful than others. The girls come to the table warily, and I'm no longer bored as it's very entertaining to watch their expressions. A mom's gotta have fun once in a while!

Utility-wise, we're doing pretty good. MN has been going the whole range of weather lately, and we have had the heat on one night a couple weeks back. The last two days have been very humid and near 90. I keep a pile of blankets next to the beds and keep a constant refrain of "take the jacket...where's the jacket" ringing in my girls' ears.

That's all for now...take care!