Our unusual houseguests:)

I sent my son to get the mail and he pulled out a small tan box from the mailbox. He wasn't sure what was in it since the box said to avoid heat and frost and the words Live and open at once were stamped on it.  I had to giggle- Avoid heat- ya right.  We have had high 90's, close to 100 degrees here.  And the mailbox had to be hot inside.  I guess the postman missed the large red lettering on the box.  Luckily, the box wasn't in the mailbox too terribly long. 

When I realized where the box came from, I tore open the box.  I felt like a kid at Christmas- they were here- they are finally here- YEA!!!!

You are probably wondering what in the world is in this container.  There are 5 painted lady caterpillars.  Nathan got a butterfly habitat for his birthday and you had to send away for the caterpillars.  The company was supposed to send me an email to let me know when they shipped, so I would know when to expect them.  Well, that didn't happen.  So, we were really surprised to see them in the mailbox.

I am so excited that my boys willl get to experience the transformation of caterpillars into beautiful butterflies up close and personal.  Don't worry, I will take pictures and keep you updated as well.

Adventures in Gardening

I am amazed on how well garden is doing.  My cucumbers seemed to take a little break but they are in full force again:)  I counted 10 cucumber "babies"- YEA!!!

I love going out and watering my garden every day.  It gives me some alone time to reflect on things and gives me a sense of peace.  My mother would be so proud of how my garden is coming along, since last year my garden was a huge flop.  Plus, I must admit, I love the smell of fresh picked tomatoes that came out of my garden- yummy:)

Here are some pictures of how my garden is doing this week:


Green Peppers



Hubby's Hungarian Wax Peppers

Watermelon on ground

2 Watermelon hammocked on fence

Ambrosia Melons on fence

As you can tell, my garden is doing really good.  I am so excited.  The Lord is truly blessing us with more than we can eat and we are more than happy to be able to bless others:)  More pictures coming next week....

2011 Goals Updated- August

Our 2011 Goals- Review of June: 

1) To not eat out or at least to not pay out of pocket, with the exception of tips.  If you want to treat the family to a meal out, we will make sure we have a gift card to cover all of us.- We did great with this goal and didn't pay out of pocket to eat out in the month of July:)

2) Pay off 1 credit card- So super excited- we wrote out the final check to pay off this credit card 04/05/2011- WOOHOO:)  Cross off list:)

3) Not to use any of our credit cards for 2011.  To pay cash for everything.- I did use my credit cards a couple of times in July.  Am determined not to touch my credit cards for the month of August.


4) To lower our grocery budget.  Our current grocery budget is $400 month for our family of 6.  Our goal is to lower that amount and to save the remainder.- We spent $247.76 for the month of July and had $150 leftover.  We took $90 out and used that on Nathan's birthday presents, a new pair of shoes for me (my last ones were falling apart and I got a really good deal) and were able to purchase books at Goodwill and Salvation Army.  We were able to put away $60.
5) To create a monthly meal plan for our family, to purchase most of our groceries at the beginning of the month (with the exception of fresh fruits, veggies, milk and other perishible items) and do more freezer cooking- all while staying below our current grocery budget.- Doing well with creating monthly menu plans.  No bulk shopping this month as we are eating out of the pantry and freezer.

6) Unclutter the house and become more organized:)- This goal didn't go well for us this month- hope to get more motivated in August.

7) Lose weight- I need to get motivated to lose this baby weight.- I did great on vacation but lost motivation when I got home.  I ended up losing 12 lbs:)  Need to get motivated in August.

8) Morning devotions, prayer time and more bible reading- Doing great with this goal

9) Monthly date night with hubby- whether we go out or stay at home, pop popcorn and rent a movie- didn't do the whole date night with hubby in July :( 

10) To spend quality family time together.  With everyones schedule and us running all over creation, I would love to spend more quality time together- no tv- us playing games, talking, enjoying each others company- We did this on vacation and enjoyed spending time with one another.

11) Not to use our dryer to save on electricity and lower our electricity bill- Did great with not using the dryer.  The weather has been so beautiful and the clothes are being hung on the clothesline:)

12)  We want to unclutter, which goes with #6, sell unwanted items, pay off as many credit cards as possible- 1 at a time, which goes with #2, find a bigger house and sell our current very small house:)  This is a huge goal and one we are working very hard to achieve along with all the other goals listed above- We hope to have better luck in August.  We are still looking for a bigger house closer to my dad.  We have faith the Lord will lead us in the right direction.

13) Pay off credit card #2- still going strong with this goal- YEA!! :)

Monthly Spending for August

Here is where I will keep a list of our spending for the month of August.  Lets see if I can do any better than last month's spending- even though I didn't do too terribly bad in July :)  Remember our monthly budget is $400 for everything including animal food for our family of 6 and 2 pets, not too mention our 2 bird feeders outside.  Lets see how much under budget I can get for this month.

08/01/2011
$81.49- Walmart
$4.15- $ tree
$0.00- Walgreens- used giftcard to pay $22.87 and got $12 RR's
$7.78- Martins

08/08/2011
$36.76- Walmart
$11.38- Dollar Tree
$5.47- Martins
$0.00- Walgreens- used gift card to pay $8.60 and got back $7 RR's

08/15/2011
$14.63- Target
$0.15- Walgreens and got $1 RR
$0.53- CVS
$4.20- Dollar Tree
$4.56- Martins
$78.20- Walmart

08/18/2011
$2.05- CVS
$7.08- Walmart
$2.58- Dollar Tree

08/22/2011
$1.05- CVS
$2.29- Walgreens
$3.24- Walgreens
$28.55- Walmart

08/28/2011
$21.19- Walmart
$1.66- Martins
$2.10- CVS
$1.05- Dollar Tree
$0.74- Walgreens

$322.88- Running Total

My Shopping Trip

I went shopping on Monday and here is what I bought:

Martins
$4.00- 10 cups of Giant yogurt
$2.00- 2 loaves white bread
$1.59- Sprite
$7.78- Total with tax

Walgreens
$7.00- Bioglan Kids Smart Fish Oil
$3.99- Crest Pro Health rinse
$9.99- Gillette Fusion razor
$0.99- 7 day pill organizer
$22.87- Total with tax and got back $12 in RR's
$0.00 out of pocket- paid with a gift card that I won from Walgreens last instant win game
**It wasn't until I got home that I realized I forgot the give the cashier the $6.00 in coupons I had in my purse- grrrr.  I was tired from the weekend and from the doctors appointment that it slipped my mind.  Oh well, at least I didn't pay any out of pocket:)

Dollar Tree
$1.00- Nature's Own
$2.00- 2 pkgs toilet paper
$1.00- pancake syrup
$4.15- Total with tax

Walmart
$3.44- Fish sticks
$2.24- lunchmeat
$2.28- Peperonis
$1.88- Italian shred cheese
$1.88- Italian shred cheese
$1.64- Welchs grape juice
$1.64- Welchs grape juice
$1.88- Shred Ched cheese
$1.28- 2 lbs long rice
$1.00- elbow macaroni
$1.00- 2 pks Mac & cheese
$2.60- Ramen
$5.94- 3 bottles salsa
$0.68- Pineapple coconut water
$4.38- 1 gallon of Kosher dill pickles
$2.00- 2 pkgs York peppermint patties
$1.38- 3 pks Taco seasoning
$6.67- nosestrips
$1.24- Diced tomatoes
$2.40- 4 cans tuna fish
$1.00- cream of mushroom
$3.36- 2 large cans of fruit
$1.68- cheese sauce
$2.62- Parm cheese
$3.88- 2 containers Ricotta cheese
$5.78- 2 gallons skim milk
$3.29- Gallon whole milk
$2.38- Fruit Spin cereal
$0.96- Pineapple chunks
$1.88- 2 cans spaghetti sauce
$2.48- Apple juice
$2.58- 12pk Twist up soda
$81.49- Total with tax

I have updated my August monthly spending post to reflect this trip.

Menu Plan for the week of 08/01/2011

Breakfast
Baked Oatmeal
Banana Bread
Oatmeal with brown sugar
Pancakes
Smoothies & PB Toast

Lunch
Turkey, ham, grilled cheese, tuna salad or PB&J sandwich
Carrots and cucumbers
Banana

Dinners
Goulash & veggies
Bean & rice tacos with fruit
Tuna alfredo & veggies
Pancakes & turkey bacon
Homemade pizza
Pasta with cheese sauce & veggies
Leftovers

Snacks
Carrots
Cucumbers
Cherry tomatoes
Popcorn

What a wild weekend we had....

It started on Friday- a normal nothing too exciting happening Friday.  The older boys went to the library to volunteer.  Later that evening, the library was hosting a Pokemon game, where my boys stayed to play.  That is until, my 14 yr old calls me and says, "Mom, can you pick me up, I'm having chest pains".  I ask him to rate his discomfort from 1 to 10- 10 being the worst and he says 8.  Luckily, my husband was in the driveway.  I grabbed my keys and picked up the boys from Pokemon and on to the ER we rushed.

Evidentally, Friday was the day for going to the ER.  It was more packed than I have ever seen it.  We sat for 2 hours before being taken back to the ER.  They did do xrays and we were informed that if something didn't look right that we would have been taken back alot sooner.  We didn't even get a room in the ER, we got a bed and chair in the hall.  But I didn't mind if it meant getting answers sooner.  We were seen by 2 PA's (Physician Assistants) and 1 doctor and no one could pin point what was causing Kevin's chest pain. 

We were later informed that Kevin either strained a muscle or ligament or had inflamed chest cartilage.  They wrote a prescription, which my insurance didn't cover and sent us on our way.  We got home late.  I gave Kevin 2 Motrin, we ate dinner and went to bed.  Thank the Lord, Kevin has not had any more pains.

Saturday afternoon, we took Nathan to Toys R US to spend his birthday money.  We were surprised with a phone call from my mother in law asking us to have an early dinner with her and her husband.  We went to Johhny Rockets and had the most delicious milk shakes I had ever tasted.  Dinner was good too- LOL:)  After dinner, we finished running our errands and got home for bedtime.

Sunday, we went to church as usual.  Then went to my dad's house, where we met up with my aunt, my cousin and her two kids and had a really good lunch.  I really enjoyed spending time with everyone.  We left dad's house that evening and headed home.  Everyone was exhausted.  We had a busy weekend. But it doesn't end there.

Monday, Kevin had a doctors appointment for a physical for marching band.  Everything was going well with the physical until Kevin had to touch his toes.  The doctor asked me to look at his back.  He feels Kevin may have scoliosis.  He sent us for xrays of Kevin's back.  It was confirmed that he does indeed have a mild case of scoliosis and he would need to be monitored.

So, that is how the last 4 days for us went.  We are all exhausted and haven't caught up on our sleep yet.  I hope your weekend was alot less eventful than ours:)