Happy Non-leap year birthday!

Sense it seems life has been hitting my family pretty hard with every bump known to man, I thought sense it's my birthday (kind of) that I'm only talking about good things today!! So if you couldn't tell, today is my kind of birthday. I was born on leap year..which only comes every four year. This year it felt like my birthday was all month...I'm not complaining about that..lol I bought what I thought would be my only gift this year. I bought myself an early birthday gift...the gift of dry feet!

This year I spent the money and got all three girls boots from bogs. They are the best boots ever! They are rain boots and snow boots in one and are even good for -14 weather! I got these boots on sale for $75. They have been my new best friends! These aren't the ones that I actually ordered. I ordered these but in a different color. But these were still pretty cute :O)

Last month my mother-in-law was wanting me to research pot and pans for her because she was in the market for a new set. So I did just that...and I told her the ones that I would get. My "DREAM" set! And she said OK thanks those were the ones that she would be getting. LOL I feel like suck a brat because I called Fred that not and cried around about how everyone is always able to get XYZ and I'm going to have to wait for 10 more years to get what I want. I admit I was being a BRAT! I guess it was because my pots and pans were all hand me downs and were in desperate need of love from the trash can. Just like my husband to go and tell is mother that I was complaining about her getting my dream pans!! OK he normally doesn't do that....why he did it this time was beyond me because it makes me feel even worse!!! Anyways, she was doing the research of what I wanted because that was what Fred wanted to get me for my birthday....HA! Funny thing is I normally always can find our what I'm getting..yep because I snoop because I hate surprises. They got me GOOD!

being put to work

Although I love my new set...I didn't budget for these :O(  And I'm not going to think to much about it because there isn't anything I can do about it now. I love love practical gifts. I got the boots at the beginning of the month my pan set in the middle and we had Oreo cake this last weekend. All in all it's been a nice 29th birthday!

The sad and emotional part of my birthday...........

This birthday is the birthday  that I have been waiting to get over with for years!!! Yes, years. My real mother passed away when I was  little. Leaving behind a 9,5 and three month old baby.....I was the three month old baby. Even sense I can remember I have always been scared that I was going to die at a young age leaving small children behind. It got worse after I had my youngest because it was three kids just like my mother. She passed away at the age of 28....I'm so happy and thankful that I made it to 29.

Happy half Birthday! -KayLynn


School is out in three months!-MacKenzie

What's for breakfast?-Brooke



Happy Non-Leap Year Birthday to me!!


PS. When your sister tells you not to cook eggs in your new pans....JUST DON"T DO IT!

Shopping for two weeks

So my new goal for myself this year was to shop for two weeks at a time. The reason I want to do this is 1. To shop at decent store we have to drive at least 35 miles 2. Shopping for groceries is pure torcher for me. 3. Have you even taken children shopping? 4. Because I feel that it will save me time, money and what little sanity I have left. The budget that I have set for myself is $300. I was over this time around because I stocked up on a few things...but I still felt that I did pretty well. Sense I'm always wondering what people buy and how much it costs I thought I would share that with you. I also would like to add......we try to eat a balanced diet. I might buy things that I could make myself or that you may not buy, thats fine. Please don't bash me because I wouldn't bash you . If you have the time to make everything from scratch I'm happy for you that you have the time. If you are thinking that I'm feeding my family things that you feel that will give us all cancer....well...ok. The key for our family is BALANCE. I'm not on one extreme or the other.  Ok on to my lists!!

First on the list is BJ's which is a whearhouse store:

$2.05 two soda's.....that was out of the norm for us...but I needed a freaking drink!
$8.99 Natural Valley granola bars ct. 60
$5.29 Veg straws  We like to get these every few months. Better then getting chips
$3.29 Ground Cinn.  They used to carry the really large container. This one was half the size of the one I have gotten in the past.
$10.29 Semi Sweet chips This bag is 72 ounces..this will last us a few months
$7.29 Ragu pack of three
$19.99 Venus Razors pack of 16-stock up item
$ 4.47 9 pounds of bananas these are a little cheaper then walmarts
$4.99 ORG. 50/50 I'm not even sure what this is..lol....but I bought it!
$3.99 Large Green peppers 4 in a pack
$6.39 String cheese
$4.99 Biscuit Mix....I know that you can make your own and I do plan on making some at some point.
$5.49 Salsa This will also last us a few months
$8.99 Mozz. Cheese should last us a little over a month..My hopes are for two
$4.99 two gallons of milk. Sadly Fred left a whole gallon of milk on the counter last night after making himself a snack!!! So I will have to replace that milk.
$.8.49 Gallon size glad freezer bags-stock up item
$6.59 two pack of organic grape juice which a also water down a little.
$7.99 BIG bag of organic blueberries. This should last 2 months. Only one if we make smoothies with them :O)
$7.99 5 dozen large white eggs
$14.99 bag of seasoned chicken
$14.99 large black trash bags. These should last us two months.
$11.99 Purell this last us 6 months
$14.49 Dove bar soap. They should last about 5 months???
 Total $190.03
   NY Tax 8.00% $5.75
  TOTAL: 195.78
    -coupon 2.50
TOTAL"193.28

My Normal total for this store is around $200 a month.


WALMART:

$3.94 bread x4 Yes this is normal white bread that will kill us all!! We make french toast out of it. And we also don't eat a lot of bread.
$2.56 Hamburger Rolls x2
$0.93 Red onion
$1.48 bag of radishes
$1.50 cucumber x2
$2.58 broccoli
$2.50 carrots
$2.48 yellow onion x3
$7.44 wheat tortillas x3 we do eat a lot of these
$2.95 bagels
$1.59 chicken noodle soup x2
$1.18 green onion
$1.94 mushrooms
$13.96 frozen bag of chicken x2
$ 7.84 bag of apples x2
$1.98 tomato soup
$2.50 ritz crackers
OK so next time I shop I should take a picture or something because I can't seem to figure out the rest of my receipt!
The total was 165.34 with  $37.34 being non-food.



My norm for this store is around $400 for the month.

Goats Yelling Like Humans

BAHAHA!! My sister e-mailes me this! I needed a good laugh! I didn't even know that they sounded anything like that! Super bonus my kids are walking around trying to imitate the goats!

Just trying to breath

Good news is that I'm on the mend and Fred's pay check was more this week. Bad news is that sense I wrote my last blog post I had to have the heater guy come back, he ran some more tests and it seems to be working fine now...if this doesn't work we are going to move the line that connects the thermostat to the heater. Fred was suppose to be home this morning, his work truck broke down a few hours away from home. I would have gone to get him but my car as been acting up and I don't feel that it would be safe for the girls and I, so his mother went to pick him up. I was talking to a friend today and she was saying that someone saw on my facebook page all the trouble I was having with the heater and asked her why Fred would have a job like the one he does??? Why is it that we just don't cut our budget so that he can be at home??? I admit that when I got off the phone with her I cried. I'm not sure why I took it so hard hearing that?? She knows me personally as were he doesn't know me as well. I guess it just hurts to know that you are giving up a lot and going through so much to hear that is how people are looking at you. And then I just got really mad because he is single without kids. He doesn't even have health insurance.....which cost our family almost 4k a year without anyone even setting foot in any kind of a health office. He doesn't know anything about my family (I adding him because she found him on a dating site and wanted me to see his picture) He doesn't know the hell of this house, having a low paying job with a family you have to feed, that because of that job you have debt and that is the reason you take a job like this. That in the last ten years there has been 10 surgeries in your family.....I could go on all day with the reasons as to how we have come to find ourselves in the state we are into day....but we are trying to get out of it. We are slowly getting there.....I'm just trying to breath.

Heater 2 Me 0

UGH! Yesterday the heater wouldn't kick on and of course it happen to be a very cold day. Our electrician was up visiting his camp (we take care of his camp and he does our electrical work for FREE!) so he came by and put in the new thermostat that I had bought two weeks ago. All was working for three house when it wouldn't kick on again. Called our heating guy and we couldn't get a hold of him...hmmmm....it was going to be 9 degrees! After about 2 hours it kicked on and thankfully it stayed working all night. Heater guy came by first thing this morning and checked everything over and said that he thought it was because our electrician didn't program the new thermostat...ummm..OK??? So he only charged me $10 and said to call him if anything else happened. So far so good. p.s. I am also sick, which has made the past few days dealing with this even better.

Brace Yourself

Pun intended! See this very pretty girl?

This last Monday her father and I went to  her Orthodontists meeting. That's were they sit you down and tell you what they think needs to be done and what arm and or leg they want for payment!!! This poor girl just had to get glasses the week before! So they told us that she needs a palate extender...she is small for her age so that really didn't surprise me..ugh. The cost sure did though! So for her first phase they want $1225 down and $145 for the next 22 months with the last payment being $45. For a grand total $4460! Fred also went to the dentist, which has been a long time coming! Lets just say it wasn't pretty....they did some work on him this time around and he will be going back three more times! I'm so excited to get those bills!!! After hearing all the news I'm not letting myself even think about my dental implant until May, which is the earliest I could get it anyway. So with everything else that's going on in my life, now I have to come up with that money....Good news I just payed my taxes on my house $1055.00 which we pay on our own and not with our house payment. I also upped our insurance on our house so I also need to come up with $500 by the time the bill comes in. I can just see someone asking themselves while reading this, "Do you have money in savings"? We do have money in saving....but I don't look at these bills as true emergencies....so I will just tighten the monthly budget more and pull it from there...ugh....And I also think that I should get a pat on the back because I sent out my tax papers..we have a friend that was a truckers wife that knows all the ins and outs that does taxes so she does ours. That money will not be used for anything that was talked about above..BOO! That is a whole other blog post HA!  

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Sense Fred was home this last weekend we celebrated early! I must admit and I hate to admit to because I can just picture Fred with a big stink'n goofy smile on his face...THE MAN CAN COOK! shh don't tell him I said that!! When we first married the only thing that I could make came out of a box (that's what I grew up on) and even that was questionable!! His mom only makes everything from scratch.....that was a culture shock!! Between him and my mother-in-law I have been schooled in the art of cooking and now can hold my own! OK on to all the pictures!

 These pictures are from the girls V-Day dinner! They also got a small box of chocolates each.

Ranch burgers!

                                    



                                                       These are from our adult dinner!

                                    

And this is what I was left with.......



This is our temp. kitchen. I say temp. BAHAHA! This is almost 3 years!



I was fine with the clean up, but...Why does the man use every pot, pan and plate in the house to cook?

New Freezer and a dead cow

So our cow came in and lets just say he was heavy! Sense Fred wasn't home I had to put all five boxes in the deep freezer. Putting it in there wasn't an easy task at all, sense it's up on cinder blocks because we have flooded in the past. I kept it all in the boxes because I knew that we were going to be getting a new freezer. Our deep freezer was 20 years old and we have had it over a little over 8 years. The lid is falling a part, and although it's still working it should be kicking the bucket any day! If Fred was home every night we would have just waited for it to completely die but sense that's not the case we thought this would be better for all involved. My nerves thank us...can't you just picture me having a break down over a whole freezer full of meat and trying to move all of it and trying to get someone to help me get and move a new freezer??? Right....it wouldn't have been pretty. The freezer that we bought was a little over $750 **barf face** I just have to laugh every time I see this freezer..lol. This one is an up right and our old one was a chest freezer. Our old one wasn't anything fancy...maybe it was when it came out??? It was really big, like I could stuff a body in it big :O) The new one is like a space freeze! It has the temp. digital on the outside of it..and has all these buttons and beeps if you leave it open and even sings a song when you close it!!! What the crap?? Why does it need all of these things??? I just want it to keep my food frozen!?

Cost of a dead cow $600
Cost of new up right space freezer $750

Your 4 year old daughter asking you why you would buy a freezer you didn't know how to work....PRICELESS! 

Insulation is and has been coming out of it.

The duct tape worked for 5 years!

These were very heavy!

Our new space freezer...it's smarter then I am! p.s. the temp. on it is 10. This picture was taken when it was cooling.

I must admit that I liked our chest frezzer a little better because you could just dump all the meat in and go. With this one I actually have to keep it organized for it all to fit in there...hmmmm.....Forced into organization...HA.  For the time being the freezer is in our kitchen, with the plan to move it in the future.

You get what you pay for

So we are having to re-do the window trim that we had already paid someone else to do....why is it so hard to find people that care about their own work? Aren't the ends suppose to be touching?

When we pulled this up we found....

See all that yellow get stuff??? We added the great stuff, (Yes, thats the name of it!) before we added it you could see outside! The guy never sealed the windows!!! How the hell does someone not know to do that??? So there is the answer to my questions of how all those bugs and cold air got in! We have to do this to each and every window! That's 22 windows...COME ON!

Walk with me....

I will warn you that I'm talking to my sister in the first two videos...do yourself a favor and just turn off the volume! And p.s. I sound like a man..always have..hmmmm.

We have painted sense this was taken...and really that is about it...

Master-Bathroom upstairs......it still looks like this.


Don't feel bad for me when you see our house and think to yourself..."I could never live like that"! Oh you would be surprised what you could do if you had too.  This is life......my life. It's always getting better.

p.p.s There are more rooms in our house.....I just didn't get to them yet.

Pinterest Meal find

The plates were free...yes they are ugly!

Chipotle Chicken Salad


2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Chipotle Seasoning
2 cups Romaine Lettuce
 1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup black beans
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 avocado sliced

SALSA RANCH . .

1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup ranch dressing
tortilla chips crushed

Instructions

1.rub chicken with chipotle seasoning and cook on stove top or grill until cooked through. Once cooked, chop up and set aside.

2.Place lettuce on a plate or bowl. Sprinkle with corn, black beans, and cheese. Place chicken and avocado slices on top. Top with Salsa Ranch and crushed chips! Refrigerate any leftover dressing for later use!


Garlic Knots


Pizza dough (homemade or store bought)
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp garlic salt
parmesan cheese


Instructions


1. Roll out pizza dough on floured surface. Cut with pizza cutter into long strips. Tie dough into small knots (or any design that you get the dough into).

2. Leave knots to rest covered with a dry towel and let double in size.

3. Melt butter in a sauce pan and add minced garlic. Cook on low and add additional spices to taste.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Can brush with butter sauce during cooking or after. When cooked, top with additional butter sauce and then parmesan cheese.

We loved this meal! It also was super easy!!

Still kicking

Things has been crazy at our house the last 2 weeks....HA! This weekend my heating system decided that it wanted to jump on the wagon of torching our family. We spent the weekend at Grammies house and on the phone with the heater guy. The weather was total crap which made the 20 min. drive 40, which I drove 8 different times (with 3 kids)....FUN!  The part that went out on the heater was under warranty so the cost was $120. Yesterday morning the thermostat wasn't working right. When the heater guy come over to get paid we figured out that it took batteries. I guess after 3 years, they needed to be changed...hmmmmm all very interesting :O) I did buy a new thermostat yesterday just in case it needed to be replaced.....which I really didn't have planned into my budget....but the one in the bathroom needs to be replaced anyways. Yesterday my oldest had to get glasses, so that was $60 and I didn't realize that it would take so long to make them so I had to feed the three of us lunch so add on $10. Our beef is coming in soon as well so that was another $604.00, which is less then I thought it was going to cost. We were suppose to have company over last night....he and his little boy didn't show...which made me more then mad sense I bought food for them sense they are picky.....whatever. OK. for the first time I totaled up what we spent on groceries which also includes toiletries....oh also what Fred spends out on the road. So in total it was $1000.00. Fred said that's not bad...and I'm thinking...hmmm...We can do better :O) We really can't help what he spends out on the road most of the time. I pack him enough food for 1 week, that's all the food I can pack him. So as it has been up until now he has to make do for two weeks.....things at work have changed for him so he won't be staying out for three weeks anymore but for 2. Which just equals out in the end...so nothing will change money wise. We are very happy that he will be home every two though!! I was able to pay more debt off this month and put money in savings....so all in all it's going pretty well.

Miss Smarty Pants!



STARS!



Oh the things they say........

The girls and I were watching “My big fat Gypsy wedding” and the narrator said that the men are out on the road for months at a time providing for their families leaving the women in-charge. The girls turn and look at me real fast and say, “I didn't know we were Gypsy’s!” Great......we are Gypsy folk now!

Fathers Day Picture I made....

I just LOVE these three!! Life woun'dn't be as fun without them!!!