Christmas

Christmas was great this year! As I'm sitting here reflecting on 2011, it was so much better than last year. I think we are finally recovering from the layoffs that have happened and maybe we can live like real people soon. Todd and I are both in jobs we love and things are looking brighter.

Mom came up for Christmas and redid the boy's bathroom for our Christmas present. I think it's beautiful. I love the disco ball that lights up sitting on the new cabinet which has been needed in there for a while! I might have to take a shower using that as the only light. LOL Thank you Mom!!

We finally discovered the lights at Saluda Shoals this year! If I recall correctly, the were almost as nice as the lights at Lake Lanier in GA but they were less expensive and just beautiful! There was something new to see around every corner :)

And, we got to meet with Todd's mom and the rest of the family at our traditional spot - Sonny's near Greenville. This was our 3rd year. I wonder if I have pics from the previous two years...

Well, here's the 2010 picture...

I think it's time to get Patch a new coat ;-) It would be nice to get the entire family together sometime!

I am planning on making some New Year's Resolutions this year - something I rarely do.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and gets to spend lots of time with family and loved ones.

We've been as crazy busy as the rest of you but I wanted to take some time to share what we've been doing lately. 

We've been making stuff....

Chocolate covered candy canes

 Laundry soap

Homemade vanilla extract - will be ready in about six months and I'll have plenty of it! If you want to try it, just let me know! :)

We've been going places....

The downtown lights we saw on our way to Todd's Christmas party for work - sorry, no pics of the cool ice sculptures there this year :(

Sorry, terrible pic of Occupy Columbia we saw on our way to the ballet (But, go Occupy a Job, please!)

Twas the Night Before Christmas ballet at the Koger Center - the boys even liked it! :)

One of our favorite things - a full moon hike through Phinizy swamp in Augusta, GA

We've been getting read for Christmas...

I ordered a present from Ebay - I had no idea it was coming all the way from China but it's got Chinese writing and stamps on it - pretty cool!!

My Secret Santa ornament from one of my co-workers at JustAnswer - I think one of the guys drew my name ;-) and the boys thought I should have mentioned the Gamecocks instead of the Wolverines. 

Finishing up school work for the season - you'd think he'd be happier about it!

Todd thought we should stop there with the tree...

The view from my office these days :)

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope to see you sometime soon!

Hi! Remember me?

I'm the girl that got 'restructured' and then had to hunt down a new job. While I was unemployed from a paying job, I had a full time job looking for work and was sort of surprised to find out, not all jobs are found by word of mouth. I also took advantage of the extra time (HA! Not sure there really was any!) to spend more time with the boys and trying to learn some new cost saving techniques.

Patch has been showing some interest in learning how to cook. He has been promoted from grasshopper to apprentice chef and wants to be my sous chef something fierce! I do appreciate the extra help in the kitchen. He can make eggs on his own and keeps trying to find new things to add to the eggs to make them yummy. He has also helped me make a bunch of dinners, laundry detergent and some chocolate covered candy canes today! Franklin does not seem to care to cook too much but he did help with the candy canes today. He doesn't like mint so we made some choc covered pretzel sticks for him. Franklin does seem to almost like school this year. I think it's dawning on him that he needs to know stuff but he really likes doing 8th grade math as a 7th grader.

Patch making soap

I'm trying to buy whole chickens and cut them up myself to save some money. I've done 4 so far and have 2 more in the fridge to work on - making them boneless and skinless, making stock. Saving the chicken wings to make hot wings is going to take a while - 4 chickens worth of wings will feed one of these guys - maybe... (I can hardly wait to see how they'll eat as teenagers!) And, of course, I'm trying to do some couponing. I think I only saved 20% last trip to the store but, I'm trying! I think the most I've saved is 35% but I'm not a crazy extreme couponer either ;-)

My new job is awesome! It's not community oriented like my last job but it's still very interesting and the people are GREAT! I'm working for JustAnswer.com where people get answers to their questions from verified experts. The answer everything from legal and medical, auto and appliance repairs to tarot and dream interpretation. They'll also help you with your homework - don't let the kids get any ideas though - you have to be 18 years old to be on the site ;-) They did open up an AskSanta site though - Patch asked if he'd get what he wanted for Christmas - Santa was non-committal on that answer ;-)  If your kids want to ask Santa a question, or just read what others have already asked, check this out :) http://www.justanswersanta.com  

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays this year!!

Where to post, what to say??

So much drama on FaceBook today! Everybody seems to hate the changes and I have to say, I think there's a lot of redundancy between the new lists, what FB thinks is important to me and the running status/comment updates in the right hand column. It feels sort of like iVillage today - everybody complaining, threatening to never come back, blah, blah, blah...

I discovered Google + last night and I'm not sure what to think about that. Does this take you to me? https://plus.google.com/u/0/?gpcaz=e737f855#110652639194611001985/posts There don't seem to be a lot of people there yet so not too much activity going on. I'm also not sure what's better about it than FB.

Or, do I keep posting on iVillage? Just blog here, find a new forum to post on? I imagine I will post on a new forum if I can find a new job soon!

Maybe it would just be better to not be on the computer so often...

When one door closes another door opens...

There is more to this quote...

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." - Alexander Graham Bell


The door has closed on my time at iVillage.com but I'm looking for that open door. I've had the feeling for a while now that with the economy so bad, and unemployment so high, the world is in for another change. Like the industrial age and now the computer age, the world is in for a new age. I just want to have an inkling of what it is and get in on the ground floor!

A new career?

I think Patch is ready to go professional! He did such a great job with his first play. There was no way that at 9 years old I would have even tried out but he was so excited for the entire 2+ months to go to rehearsals and then perform in front of strangers for 5 shows. He played the role of the farmer in the play The Music Man Jr. where he had a small solo part in the song Iowa Stubborn.

It didn't even bother him that he had a wife in the show - at least I think girls are still fairly yucky in his book. ;-) His wife, Tess was awesome in her role too. She played the part perfectly when she'd grab him by the hand and drag him where ever he needed to be. He seemed to take direction rather well, even from dear old mom. I told him once to make sure he got excited during different parts of the play and I never saw him miss that afterwards. When we went to see the show on Sat. afternoon, I could barely hear him so I'm guessing that for the first 3 shows, they couldn't hear him either. I told him that I was going to peek in and watch him during the last show and that I better hear him all the way in the back of the theater. He did AWESOME! I even teared up a bit - I know, I'm such a sappy mom. Deal with it. ;-)

We were lucky to have family and friends able to make it to see his show too. He kept asking 'Who's coming?' so I know he appreciated everyone coming.

We had some great friends in the play also but I think I'm mostly impressed with Riley who did NOT want to try out and did NOT want to be in the play. I think he had the most fun out of all of them! He was great! His brother and sister were great in the play too and so were Jesse & Chloe! I hope they can all get parts in Annie Jr. if they want them and I'll let friends and family know if they should come by for another play in a few months!

And, next time, I'm hoping for better seats! I got a lot of shots with the back of these two guys in them. :( But, Patch has got to be the cutest thing up on that stage! Okay, I'm just a little prejudiced! ;-)  )

Next goal, getting the school year started!

Columbia Children's Theater

Last year, we got to go enjoy the play Nutty Nutcracker put on by the Columbia Children's Theater and Patch LOVED it! Franklin enjoyed it too but Patch still talks about it. I guess we really should go to more plays. Patch was also very excited that his friends Jesse & Chloe were in the play Peter Pan a while ago (and boy have I been in hot water for not getting him to that audition!!) So, I made sure to get him to the audition for Music Man Jr. last weekend. We got the casting list today and I have a slightly happy boy on my hands...

It looks like we'll be at rehearsals for a while! The play will be the first weekend in August. I hope you all will be there!!

Speech Class

Today is Patch's last speech class for the school year. :( He has really loved going to see Ms. Tangie every week and I know he'll miss her over the summer.

Patch has improved already and I love how patient he is with us and anyone who has a hard time understanding him. If you repeat what he says or just say 'what?' he'll slow down and work on saying the right words. Only occasionally will he say 'nevermind.' He rocks!!


Well, today was suppose to be Patch's last speech class. :( He missed last Thursday because he got hit with a nasty cold and then Monday was Memorial Day. He was so excited to show up for his last class but apparently there were no classes this afternoon. I'm not thrilled that we weren't told. Patch worked on a thank you note and we got his teacher a gift card but now I don't know what to do with it. There didn't seem to be a mail slot or anywhere we could have put it.

So far, I am not overly impressed with the public school system. I've felt like a 2nd class citizen while we've been there - and doing things like not telling us there's no class today certainly didn't help. I sent a note to the teacher apologizing if I should have hung around for class anyhow. To her credit, she did email me back to apologize for not letting me know.

But, look how excited he was about going today!

my cutie patootie :)

My Organizer...

Okay, Todd and I have worked hard on this couponing stuff and I decided that I'd borrow an idea or two from my homeschooling moms too. I might have to figure out a separate organizer for the homeschooling school year - to keep the forms, the planner/diary and samples of their work handy. But, that's a different project to work on this summer.

So.... the first thing you get when you start couponing is coupons! Looking at this, you would think 'Lego Box'

Well, you'd be wrong! I rescued it from the garage and it now holds all the flyers that I've gone through and cut coupons out of that I hope to use sometime. These are things that we normally eat or use and maybe a couple of new things to try. It also keeps my scissors where I 'should' be able to find them - I know you moms out there know how easily scissors can disappear.

Friends and Todd's co-workers have been great about sharing their unused coupons with me. They just need to stop using all the coupons I want! LOL But, seriously - they've been great! and I will have to make them some cookies or brownies from what I get free or cheap thanks to them :)

So, here is my organizer. I can't call it my coupon binder because it's more than that.

I got it for $10 from Walmart. I bought some baseball card holders there but they're really too small so the boys will have some holders for all their Pokemon or whatever cards.  The front flap will hold an iPod and has a place for the ear buds or something to come out from - sorry, I'm not taking this thing jogging with me! (Well, the extra weight might help.... I might have to rethink that - after I get an iPod or whatever plays music - I know, I'm so techno savvy. ;-) )

The front flap opens up to where I can store pens/pencils, keys, a business card or two... and maybe more if I need it.

Inside, it has a file folder system on the left, I could put some flyers in there but I don't want to carry them all! So, right now that's open to options. The right side has a 3-ring binder where I have a notebook for duh... notes, a calendar and other things.

The calendar goes through Dec 2012 so I can plan for the future a bit :)

Next is the great part that Todd helped me with. I have the store coupon policies, current deals I'm interested in getting and then... THE COUPONS!! I have them sorted into store coupons, food coupons and non-food coupons and all the coupons are alphabetical. I think that will work best for my brain. Not all coupons have made it into the binder yet. I need more holder thingys.

So... now I need to go get organized and get to the store, hopefully saving more money than I have before! And, if I run into someone or something that needs to book some time in our day, I'll have my calendar with me! This will be after I get dressed and hopefully gather some broccoli from the garden!! YAY!

This couponing stuff...

I have clipped coupons on and off over the years but I'm seriously getting more involved with it. When I do the couponing, I can save 35-40% off my bill and I'm stocking up on the pantry goods!

I do not have a place to have a big stash like on that show Extreme Couponing. I'm not sure where I'm going to start hiding things! We already took over the kids refrigerator for the dog stuff. ;-)

We've decided that Idahoian mashed potatoes are yummy :) We haven't tried the sweet potato fries from Ore Ida yet though but we will!

I'm still working on my coupon binder but... It will have my calendar so I can keep myself organized all in one place :) the store coupon policies, current promos I'm interested in and of course, coupons! Todd has been a great help in getting that organized - we're still working on it so I'll post pictures at some later date. We're sorting them first by food and non-food items and then alphabetically. I think that will help me the best way. And I need to get some currency holders as I think this looks like the easiest size to hold the different size coupons.

I get info from a LOT of different places on the internet who have great deals and do coupon matching for me (getting store sales to match coupons.) but I'm thinking I might want to start my own matching. Mostly because the sites that I use have more deals than I can find so I'm thinking they're not local.

Look at some of the freebies I've gotten recently - and yes, I'm including my Avon samples that we haven't tried yet - I can hook you up with a great Avon lady, if you'd like! (She'll give me a catalog just so I can see all the cute guys. :D )

Anyhow, I plan on continuing this and no, I don't expect to be on the Extreme Couponing show anytime soon. I'm not dumpster diving for coupons! LOL

I know, I know! I've been a bad blogger lately :(

We have been busy having fun, working ourselves half to death, gardening and trying to fit some school work and field trips in lately!

First off, I am better now. I was rather under the weather for a while but all is good now. :) All the boys are good too.

I think our first social outing in a while was a visit w/ Marsha and the girls to see the WONDERFUL job they did in the play, Peter Pan. I was way impressed with them both. :) I'm still debating letting my boys try out for Music Man Jr. as I hate the gas prices lately but I know Patch would really love to be in a play. I'm not sure if Franklin is interested now that he saw the girl's play or not. I do love a good play though!

Then we went to visit our friends, Pat & Jan and helped them build a cool Topsy Turvy garden. I hope it's finished and growing well. I know Pat couldn't finish it because he had carpal tunnel surgery on his right hand and can't do anything with it for a while - well, he can lift a soda can this week, if he has too. ;-)

He has to hook up the watering system and I think it will be really cool when it's done. I'm thinking that next year, Todd will be doing something similar for me :) Less weeds! They could hang up at least 8 topsy turvy plants on there!

Pat, in case you're reading this... I had a thought for you the other day. Since you are one handed I was thinking that something fun you could do is to write poems. I know it's slow typing with your other hand but you always come up with some funny poems responding to things the boys say and I think you'd be good at it! I hope your hand isn't bothering you too much and that Jan is taking good care of you. (Well, I know she's doing that!)

The boys and I enjoyed a really fun field trip at Nosoca Pines Ranch last week. They have some great looking camps if you want to send your kids away for a week. We got to go out on the lake - the weather was perfect for that!

We got to go horseback riding :)

Even the moms got to ride the horses! We had a picnic, the kids played basket ball and tennis. Then we went on a nature walk and got totally lost on their map but again, it was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods. We did head back to the ranch and April asked for directions and we finally found the mine shaft hidden in the woods. That was REALLY cool!

That, Hope! She is so much fun! She got right in everything with the kids. :) She was about to crawl under the wooden wall through the dirt and out the back end of the mine shaft. She braved all the spiders and snakes for the kids. You rock, Hope!

If April is kind enough to schedule this again next year, we are so there!

Saturday and Sunday, we worked on the garden. Hopefully, we'll get some veggies out of it soon

Sunday, we went to Todd's company picnic and the boys had a blast at Saluda Shoals Park at the water park and the rock wall area.

I hope all my friends out there are doing well!

Good news!

I saw the doctor today (and yes, she saw me) and she said that I'm healing well and they got all the bad, nasty cells out of me.  :) Life can go on as normal. A pap in 4 months and then another 6 months after that and if they come back clean, I can go back to the regular annual exam!

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers. They helped a lot!

I hate to blog about me

But, I know some of you knew I was having surgery on Monday and I wanted to let you know that everything is going well. I have a follow up on Monday so the doctor can feel better about my recovery. Mostly sleepy - and hungry!

Speech Class

Patch had his 3rd speech class today. He got homework today! The first day, the teacher made it sound like she would do it all and we wouldn't have to help him. I guess that's changed ;-)

I'm still not impressed with public school. I've heard them use a couple expressions that I'd rather my boys not know - telling him that he has no excuse to not listen because we know he can hear great - after his hearing test. Yeah, I need the boys to have something new to try to get out of doing stuff - they just haven't thought of some of this stuff on their own!!

At the meeting with me to determine if he was eligible, the teach (I'm calling her that because she calls me 'mom' ;-) ) asks and then looks at me very expectantly if I was going to enroll him in PS. Oh wait, let me rethink my plans here in 5 seconds and change everything I do. Umm, no, I'm not going to enroll him.

Today, I found out that if the kids raise their hands and behave, they get sand dollars that they can cash in for candy. One of the boys misbehaved so he didn't get any today but then neither did Patch. 'Why' you ask? Didn't he behave himself? Of course, he did! This is Patch we're talking about! He didn't get any because he doesn't attend school. I'm not thrilled that they bribe the kids with candy but I think I would be crushed if I were in Patch's shoes. :(

Needless to say, Patch is pushing to attend PS next year :(

Update on Monday

Patch LOVED his first class. Even if it was too short. They have smart boards in the school now (from what I hear.) It looks like a dry-erase board but the teacher can program it with different things. I guess the teacher pulled up various pictures and had the kids pick out rhyming words. If they got it right the pictures did something fun. I wonder if I can get something like that for homeschooling  - yeah, if something like that was in my budget. HA!

The Dr. found something that she could have biopsied yesterday. Now I have to wait patiently until next Thursday to get results. And, I'm sure you all know how patient I can be. Not very. Please continue to think good thoughts for me. tyvm!

A little nervous...

I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. First, we have Patch's first speech therapy class. I'm nervous about him behaving well and not disrupting the class and him saying something that makes me look like a terrible teacher ;-) Like the time he told Ms. Chanda in our nature class that I once told him that if he ever saw a snake to run away as fast as he can. Umm, what?? Lord knows what I'll be accused of when he's in a class I'm not around at! So, yes, I'm worried about putting him in public school even for one specialized class and what influences he'll get from the other kids or the teacher that I won't know that I should be correcting!

Then, I get to go to an ob/gyn that hasn't made a great impression on me during my first visit. I was referred to her for an abnormal pap and I expected to get the 2nd procedure done the day I met her. Then the scheduling person tried to schedule it out four months from that day. Don't tell me I might have a problem and then make me wait four months!!! I corrected that the next morning and she scheduled it for tomorrow (a week and a half later?) So, that's tomorrow and then I have to wait how long to get those results? I can tell you I won't wait four months for that either!! LOL

So, tomorrow will be over before I know it, right? Think positive thoughts for me, please!

BzzAgent & Makeup!

I know some of you know that I'm a BzzAgent. It's a really great concept where manufactures or sales agents anyhow ask us to try out a product and then tell our friends about it. We just hope it's something good to say about the product. ;-) If you'd like to find out more, check out the BzzAgent site here: http://www.bzzagent.com/

I haven't done a lot as a BzzAgent lately but they offered me a chance to try out some makeup and I know you're all thinking... Wendy? Makeup? This does not compute! But, I have on occassion worn makeup. Every once in a while, I think I should wear it more often but it's something I'm not very good at. (Just don't tell those people who still think I'm perfect - a certain 8yo and 11yo that are all near and dear to our hearts.)

So, anyhow, I received my samples today from L'Oreal - because I'm worth it!

The eye shadow looks pretty cool, one fell swoop and I have three colors on my eye. The mascara on the other hand looks a little scary. What's with the round ball on the bottom end?? I never saw such a fat mascara container before. A two step process sounds like twice as much clumping and getting black stuff all over my face - very dangerous in my thought process... But, I will try them on later and maybe give you a before and after shot and let you know what I think.

In the meantime, check out this video of our silly puppy. She WILL get this red dot some day! I have faith in her ;-)

Rental house is DONE!

Well, except for the appliances but there's no big rush right now. But, it's soooo nice to have all that painting, painting and more painting behind us!

We didn't have to do too much work outside this time. (It needs work but later, much later hopefully!)

 There was soooo much junk left on the property, included a truck (broken) muffler left under the house. We made two large trips to the dump - one shortly after we started work and the 2nd one, this weekend. The muffler ran the entire length of my van.

Both bathroom sinks needed to be reseated as they were popping out of the counter and that led to plumbing work below.

The entire inside needed to be painted, we stuck with white throughout the house. One of the renters had left thousands of pin holes in the walls. Dart board or push pins, we're not sure but they're gone now.

This tub was disgusting! But, I finally got it mostly clean.

 In addition to the sink in this bathroom, we had to replace the light fixture.

 The wood floors took a beating from the renters too. I don't know what they kept dragging across the floors and along the walls but this looks better too.

 The sub floor needed to be replaced in the laundry room. It seems like they had a freezer that leaked? Anyhow, we couldn't have a mushy floor so the guys worked hard to tear up what was there and replace a lot of wood below and then covering the entire laundry room and kitchen floor with new linoleum.

 The kitchen was just nasty, dirty. And, they not only ran off with the stove but left a broken dishwasher too. Thanks, renter people!

 They did replace the counters near the stove though. We had to finish them so they'd be easier to clean up after the next renters though.

We couldn't have done all this work without the help of some friends. Thank you Pat & Jan for putting in so many hours in helping us get this ready. It's a good thing I married such a handy guy and we have such handy friends :)

We listed the house on craigslist and had two people interested within the first two hours. When we were working on Saturday, a couple stopped by and fell in love. I think we'll have renters as of April 1st - they put a deposit down anyhow.

Cross your fingers for us!!