Random Goings On

There are a bunch of random things going on here and I thought I would just make one big post about them instead of trying to find the time to post about each one. I am sorry this is so long. Feel free to read it in spurts, lol!

*A dear friend awarded me a blog award! She is such a sweetheart and I so love to read her blog because of the love for the Lord I see there. I don't have a whole lot of blog friends but most of them were on her list that she awarded! And how nice that it is a butterfly award, since most of you know how much I love butterflies, lol! There are a few blogs that aren't on her list that I do love, like Calitexans, The Lamberts, Where My Treasures Are to name a few. The ones she had on hers were Funderstorm, Glorious Grace, Kaleidoscope. Don't forget that even though Absolutely His gave me the award, I am giving it right back to her! You all touch my lives in so many ways! I am thankful for you!

*I have started flying again! I had tried it before several years ago and it worked pretty well then. But then life happened and I got so busy and bogged down with things that I let it go. I decided that I needed to "fly" again so I started checking into it. They have so many new things on there now. Even fly lessons for the kids! We haven't started that yet, I am working on some other things with them though and will add that later. I have been doing pretty well about keeping my sink clean and shinny! Most nights I actually go to bed with a clean sink. I am taking babysteps and I know I will get there. They have this great holiday flying list, but it started the first of November and I didn't get back into Flylady until after that. So I am trying to make my own short version. The point is to have everything done by December first so that you have the month of December to actually enjoy your holiday! Wow! Imagine that. What I have always wanted to do it enjoy my Thanksgiving because my birthday is usually right around the corner. This year it is the Friday after Thanksgiving. I always tell my family I want a clean house for my birthday. Most people don't understand why. But the reason is so that I don't have to feel guilty for sitting around and enjoying my family and some quiet time doing nothing. If I have a messy house, I feel guilty because I am not up cleaning. This year, thanks to Flylady, I might just get my birthday wish. Today we spent the morning doing room rescues. I set the timer for 15 minutes three times. You do 15 minutes in one room, then 15 minutes in another room and then go back to the first room for another 15 minutes if you didn't finish. Since I did finish that room we went to another room. Then you sit down and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee for 15 minutes. You can start over or be finished for the day. I started over and did it for another round. The boys hit their room while I did the kitchen! We got three rooms plus the hall done and have most of two more rooms done. I am going to do it again this afternoon and finish up the dinning room and kitchen. We will hit the other bathroom and two of the bedrooms tomorrow! I am also doing laundry today and get it out of the way! It feels great to know that the house is getting more than just a quick cleaning. We are getting all the dust and hidden things out of the rooms! I just can't believe how much dust there actually is hiding. YUCK! No wonder we are all sneezing! I am looking forward to cooking and having family time of Thursday and Friday without feeling guilty for the first time in many years. I am so thankful for my kids and their help!!!

*I found Joyful Momma through an e-book that I read of hers. It was called "Momma's Guide To Thriving on One Income". I read it in one day between doing all the other things I had to do. There were so many good things in that little e-book! I then searched her website for more precious gems. One of the things I found there was a menu guide. I am so bad about eating out for the simple reason that I am not organized when it comes to planning my meals and cleaning up. I found a wonderful menu planning on her site plus some tips on how to plan your meals. I made a basic chart for breakfast and lunch and then came up with four weeks of dinner meals. Then I took her chart and gave the kids assignments. Each meal one of my children has to help me cook the meal. Not just watch me cook but actually learn how to cook and does the work along side me. (They LOVE it!) The one that cooks has to help me do the dishes after that meal. The other two either have the job of setting the table or clearing it after our meal. This is the second week we are doing this and we have only eaten out for two meals! That is saying a lot when before we eat out for at least one a day! I am so proud of myself and my family! I am going to have to work on the grocery bill though. While it is a great deal LESS than the eating out bill, it is still a pretty high amount. But as with other things, babysteps!

*In my quest to lower our bills so that we can live on one income and get out of debt completely and move (Lord willing) to Colorado sooner than later, I have cut back on a few things. Eating out is one of them. Cutting back on bills that we can live without is another. For several years now we have had the "joy" of having many TV channels that include the kid stations and the Hallmark stations that I love. I have known for many years that too much TV is not good for anyone. So we do limit it and they can only watch a certain amount a day. The same goes for video games and computer time. With the new programing that the TV stations will be using soon our TV's will be out of date unless we have "cable" or buy a box to have the correct signal or buy new TV's (no way!). Instead, I have opted to forgo the $79 a month that I have been paying. Yes, I realize that is a huge amount of money and I should never have paid it to begin with. And I am not going to get the boxes to "fix" the signal and I am not even hooking up the rabbit ears from now till the signal changes. Last Friday I canceled our TV service! We have four TV's! One in each bedroom and one in the family room. But we also have DVD players in each room. And we love buying movies that we like and we also enjoy investing in the TV shows that we love. So, with a small portion of the money we will save each month we will put it towards some of our favorite TV series and old movies. We will still limit our time in front of the TV but it will be much easier to monitor what they watch now. I keep up with the news and weather on the computer by watching my favorite TV channel, channel 11. I go to bed much earlier, although when I put on a movie for myself I sometimes stay awake and watch the whole thing. We tend to watch things more as a family than just randomly watching whatever is on at the time. And we are saving money!

*I have a goal to go through my entire house (attic, too) and get rid of everything I don't want to take to Colorado with me. I want to downsize the amount of things that are cluttering our home so that we can be free to enjoy life in a way that it is impossible to do when you are surrounded by too much stuff. I want to first have a garage sale and make back a little of what I paid, I know it won't be much. But that will go towards some home repairs or towards paying off some of the debt we still have. Then the rest will be sent to Mission Arlington. I would love to be able to do the garage sale before the end of the year so that we start the new year off with some of that weight off our shoulders. But that is asking a lot of everyone considering I know I can't get it done by myself. The attic is a huge job all by itself and I am not going up there with the squirrels! We will see how it goes.

*Our plans for Colorado are still there but we don't know the timing. Our land in Colorado has to be paid off before we can make the move. We owe so much on it that it is going to be a miracle that we get it paid off by the deadline of November 3, 2009. But God is in control and we trust that He gave it to us and will see us through. We long to move now, but that is not God's timing. And Fourstringpop longs to quit his night job and find something he will enjoy. But he is waiting until something comes along and is even looking in Colorado. So far, nothing has opened up. God will open the doors when He is ready. The kids talk about Colorado all the time. Even the teen is ready to go. Some days I wonder what the Lord has planned and if Colorado is really a part of it. But that is just me not wanting to wait on Him. I am very impatient!

I know this has been long. Forgive the amount of posts that I have combined into one. My life is so full of activity that sometimes I can't find the time to sit down and post all that I want to share. My daycare is still going strong. I thank God for that provision. He is so good! I will do a Thanksgiving post on Thursday with the long list of things I am thankful for. I know I will forget some but will try to post as many as I can think of at that time. Have a blessed week!