I hate pay day.

Odd statement for many I know. But I do. I hate payday. Hate it with a passion. I hate getting the money deposited in my checking account, I hate figuring out bills, and most of all I hate shopping. Something I thought I'd NEVER say. Ever. But lately, I hate it all. Hate to me is a really strong word. And one I like to say I don't use very often. But I've come to hate the above listed things. Mostly because they revolve around money. And for me, and my family right now, money is the root of all bad things.

If you didn't guess by now, today was pay day. I wrote out the bills: my car payment, phone, cell phone, electric for two houses, gas for two houses. After all the necessities were paid, I have a whopping 292.03 left. And then I went and put 75.00 into my car in gas. Amazingly enough with gas prices down to what they are right now it actually put me on full. I was pretty shocked. Usually that doesn't even get me to 3/4 of a tank. So, for that I'm thankful. After that, the kids and I headed to Costco. We got just the bare minimum there, and even shopped it smart. My kids like canned green beans vs. frozen, and their cheaper, so we got the big 6 pound cans of them there were 2.99 a can, vs the individual 14 ounce cans that were 7.99 for 8 of them. I'll just open the cans, and put the unused portion in my fridge to use over the week. They'll go. My kids love beans. I did the same thing with popcorn, that my kids have been begging for for weeks now. The pop corn was the one splurge I allowed myself, the one thing that wasn't on my list, and rather than the microwave bags that were 10.00 for 40 bags, I got a big 12 pounds jug of seeds that I can pop on the stove top, and get MUCH MUCH more for the value of 8.99. I only got the things I needed, that I was totally out of. Like chicken. We get 2 10 pound freezer bags of chicken, and it lasts us one entire month. Those are 23.99 a piece. I got one thing of hamburger. That was 13.49. I got one package of beef for stew meat. 11.32. I also got some canned fruit, a bag of potatoes, and one carton of taco seasoning. I got to the register, and my total was 174.61. So, if you're doing the math, that leaves me with less than 10 dollars in my checking account for the next two weeks, before the next pay day. And that didn't afford me the little luxuries like, oh, say bread? Nope. Didn't get any of that. How about some fresh veggies? Nope, none of that either.

So, Todd and I talked about it, and because times are so tight right now we decided we'd use our "emergency fund". Its a signature line of credit that I have with the bank. Its only 1,500.00 in value, but we don't touch it unless times are tight and we need the money. The payment is really reasonable, at 40.00 a month, if we were to use the entire thing, which we weren't. We were just going to use 200.00. Enough to put a tank of gas in Todd's car, and enough to get some bread, veggies, and some more pasta, since that's a pretty cheap way to feed the family. That would have stocked us up for the next month, since usually we only get 300.00 for a month of food. We stretch it and make it work. Well, I haven't shopped for food in over a month, and we're down to bare cupboards, so we thought this warranted dipping into the emergency fund.

I logged on to the online banking system, and tried to transfer money. It informed me that I couldn't and that I needed to talk to a customer service rep, because my account was due for a "review". I talked to someone, gave them all the necessary information on the income, etc. And she said she'd call me back. She called about 10 minutes ago to inform me that because of the economy and the tighter purse strings at the bank, and the fact that in the last couple of months I had a late payment on a different account, that I no longer qualify for that money, and that there was nothing she could do to help me.

So, here I sit. Not knowing what else to do other than to vent my sorrows to the only kind of venting system I have right now. How on EARTH am I going to get the next two weeks without some of the basic necessities? How on EARTH am I going to feed my children when I don't have things like bread, or even the stuff to make dough to make bread?


I know there are many who say "go to a food bank" or something of that nature. Well, most places like that require you to show proof of income. And they all take the GROSS income amount, never the Net. They never take into account that its health insurance costing my family 700.00 plus a month. They just look at Todd's gross income, put it in their system, and say "there's nothing we can do for you." We're unfortunately one of those "working poor" families that doesn't qualify for help. No matter how badly we need it some times.

UGH!!!! I hate pay days. I hate them with a passion.

Progress! There's actually PROGRESS!!

There's finally stuff HAPPENING at the house! And you can actually SEE it!! WOO HOO!!! I'm so excited!!! Today Todd meets with the plumbing inspector to go over the plans for the plumbing that needs to be done. So they have the bathroom "dry fit" right now. They just have things set in to give him the idea of where things will go, and how they will effect the space/plumbing in the room. So of course I had to take pictures to show what it WILL look like!!!

This is looking in the door from the hallway!

My tub. My glorious glorious tub! I can't wait!!
Distance between the tub and shower.
The vanity is actually going to move down to the right some more. They just have it set there for now so they could haul stuff in!

My oh so funny husband. Always the clown. Don't worry, he still has his underwear on. And he paid for this picture! The toilet was wet from carrying it in in the rain, so he wound up with a wet bum!!! He said it was worth it for this picture though!!!
The shower.
Distance between the shower and the linen closet.

Ahhhh, doesn't it look wonderful???

The master closet is framed in too. The side ways framing is for the pocket door that will be there.
My linen closet again. Its 16 inches deep, by 32 inches wide! Gonna LOVE that!
Also, the concentration camp shower is gone! It makes a HUGE difference in the basement bath!
The pile of bricks from the old nasty shower.
SEE THE PROGRESS???? Isn't it exciting????

Way back When-sday!

So, I missed last week and way back when-sday. I was a little busy getting some new kitchen cabinets! This week I pick up where I left off, with the kiddos and their baby baby pictures. This picture is of Kaleb and Kendyl, two days old. This is the picture that was used for their birth announcements. Their very proud daddy took this one the very first time they could be together, and Kaleb could have an outfit from home on. The outfit only lasted about 20 minutes, because he had to go back to the level 2 nursery, but we were able to get them together. They were so happy to be together! They just snuggled right up. Its how they always were as babies. No matter how far you put them apart, they always found a way to each other to hold hands, or to snuggle!!!

Here they are, born at 37 weeks on the nose, one day early because things didn't go well after my amnio, July 13, 2005: Kendyl Grace, technically baby B according to my ultrasounds, born at 2:48 pm, weighing in at 5 pounds 14.4 ounces (they rounded down to 5 14) and 18 inches long. And Kaleb Todd, technically baby A, born at 2:49 pm, weighing in at 5 pounds 14.8 ounces (rounded up to 5 15) and 19 1/2 inches long.


If you'd like to get in on the way back fun, head over to twinfatuation, and let them know you're playing!!!

Why is it always MY stuff that has to break?

I have VERY limited amounts of MY things in the house, mostly because over the last several years my family has broken them. It hasn't always been the kids, Todd's been thrown in there too, but its ALWAYS my stuff that gets broken. ALWAYS!

This morning it was one of my party lite wall sconces. I had a set of four of them. They look like THIS one. I had them hanging on the wall behind the couch. And they've been fine there for.. .oh. . .5 years? Yeah. Until today when Miss. Kendyl Grace decided that the couch was for jumping not only OFF of, but climbing up and somersaulting off. I'm now down to a set of four. Joy. Atleast it looks like I can get another off ebay. God bless ebay!


An update on the sadness. Todd's aunt Carol passed away last night, sometime in the early evening. Our friend Sandi from church passed away at 1:40 this morning, and my uncle Paul is still hanging in there. It seems that he's made a bit of a recovery from where they tought he was. They'll meet with the oncologist before deciding on hospice or not.

Mommy moment Monday!!!

Its Monday yet again, which means its time for another mommy moment from the week! And this week, I actually have TWO mommy moments!!!

The first one comes courtesy of Kendyl. A day last week while I was getting the kids all ready for bed, getting the last minute things taken care of for the boys before school the next day, and getting everyone calmed down enough to head for bed, I noticed Kendyl wasn't around. So I called for her, and out from the bathroom she came. I figured she was washing her hands, like she always is. (more like playing in the water which she CALLS washing her hands!) And I didn't think anything of it, until I actually looked at her. I noticed the black on her nose, and in her hair, and started to look for the marker she'd gotten into. I figured the boys left one out, and she'd found it. . . right??? Take a closer look at this picture and see if you can figure out what is on her face. . .(and please pardon the left over food on her face! I had yet to wash her face!)




If you notice, there is even some black on her eye lids! Yes folks, that's what gave it away for me! My little princess had been in the bathroom trying to put on MASCARA!!! She's such a girlie girl, and she'd seen mommy do it, so how hard could it really be. Right? It took a little scrubbing to get it off because it was waterproof mascara! But it gave me a good little chuckle!!


My second mommy moment of the week happened yesterday. It was a hang in your jammies kind of day. The kind where mommy didn't feel the greatest (thanks to a head cold headed south to the chest!) and we were just hanging out. The kids began playing. They started to get into some of Gabe's pirate dress up stuff. And what I heard next just melted my heart! How would you suppose two bigger boys, one little boy, and one little girl could play together using pirate clothes? The imagination in this one really made me proud!!! Gabriel was "Captain hook", Dallas was "Peter Pan", Kaleb was "Peter Pan's Shadow", and Kendyl was "Tinkerbell". They had something for each of them to do, and they were all happy to play their rolls, and enjoy their time together. The Peter Pan's shadow just blew me away! What kid would think to play that? Obviously my very inventive big boys thought it would be the perfect role for their little brother who wants to be just like the big boys!!!


If you'd like to share a mommy moment for the week, let me know here, and I'll link to you!!!!

Laundry, laundry everywhere.

Have I mentioned in the past how much I HATE laundry? Not so much the washing, or the drying, or the folding, but the putting it away. There is NO room in this itty bitty house for clothes with all these people here. And it drives me NUTS!!! This whole past week I've been working on getting the seasons switched out. Its kind of been a downer, because I'd hoped to be in the new house by this time, and not to have to fight with space, and putting things away. So right now my entire living room and beyond are FULL of laundry. Two different wardrobes for each of the kids. I need to get the summer stuff out and packed away, and the fall stuff out and put into drawers. But when you have to sort through what will fit, what won't, what needs to be passed on, what needs to be stored, etc. It gets REALLY REALLY OLD! I'm so done! I know part of it is my not feeling the greatest, but still.


I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sick of looking at clothing.

So much sadness.

There is so much sadness around here right now. We have two family members both VERY sick, and on the verge of passing away. The first we got notice of was my great uncle Paul. We found out that he has cancer on his lymph nodes, and was given a year to live. He started chemo, and things just aren't looking good. Last weekend the call was put out there to "call the family just in case." And while it looks like he has pulled through this episode, they aren't sure how much more he has in him.

Next is Todd's great aunt Carol. She fell last weekend and broke five ribs, and has a hematomoa on her lung. Well, this is only one of many in a string, and she just can't heal before another incident happens. She lives in Tucson, AZ, so Todd's grandma (her sister) flew down to be with her. She was moved to hospice on Wednesday. We were told last night that she many not make it through the day today.


And you know how they say death always seems to come in threes? Well, that seems to be the case here too. We have a friend at church who was diagnosed with colon cancer, and has had other things go wrong. While they were able to operate and get the tumor out with the cancer, she is no longer strong enough to go through chemo, due to the other things that were going on. The family yesterday was presented with two choices. The first would be to try to get IV nutrion and get her stronger, which probably wouldn't happen since she couldn't get up to walk around, and gain some physical strength. Or they could move her to hospice and keep her comfortable until she passed away. They opted for the second option after being presented with the options. Its so sad. She's only in her 50's. WAY too young. We dont' know how long she will have, but it sounds like a month max.

I know being a Christian that I can have faith that these people are moving on to something bigger, something better, and something wonderful. But at the same time its not easy to go into this without sadness, and a feeling of loss, as they will no longer be with us. I don't think it will ever be easy, or ever not hurt to lose someone you love. Even though I know whats next for them.

Beyond that, we're still dealing with house stuff. And this proves to be another point of sadness for me. We've tried to get some work crews together to work on our new house. All people that Todd has helped in some way or another, and also some family members, who he WOULD help, in a seconds notice, either of us would really. And its hard, because we just found out that NO ONE is coming tomorrow. No one. And it hurts. It hurts me to know that this upsets my husband. He is so giving with his time. He' do anything for anyone, and when he needs help, it seems that there is no one there to help him. And I feel even more horrible, because I could be at the house helping him out with things. He and I could be working together, but I have to be with the kids. I don't have anyone to watch the kids for me, so I have to be here with them. And it just hurts me to know that this is how we're starting out the memories of our new house. With upset, and disappointment.

The house itself is proving to not be very nice to us as well. Its been COLD here lately. And inside the house is currently 55 degrees. Even if the temps OUTSIDE get to be in the 60's, it stays COLD in the house. So last night Todd wanted to get the vents cleaned out of debris, and get the furnance working. Turns out the induder motor is broken. He's looking around to find a new one, and its looking like its going to be a minimum of 400 bucks to fix. Oh the joys.

On top of all the stress, pressure, and sadness, I am now sick. No one else in the house is, just me. I'm wondering if it isn't just my bodies way of saying OK! I've HAD ENOUGH!!!

I want to end on a happy note, so here are some pictures of my kiddos from this week, and also some pictures of our finds from shopping the other day.


Here's Gabe. He's now officially lost TWO teeth. The other wiggly one came out the other day while he was eating. We have no clue where the tooth went, we're thinking he may have swallowed it! You can't see it in this picture, but its the bottom front two! Just in time for picture day!!!
My funny little clown Kaleb.
Dallas. He's getting so big, and so grown. I can't believe it!
Bubby again.
All four kids being silly.
Gotta love footie pj's when its cold outside!!!
Kendyl girl and her new old find. It's been in her toy box and she pulls it out from time to time. She got it for her second birthday! Its her new favorite though.
Kaleb and his "beer". Another stuffed animal they've had for a while, but its his new favorite. He calls it a BEER. Something I'll have to remind him of later in life!!!!
This little boy just makes me smile! He's ALWAYS happy!
Kendyl playing shy
Kendyl escaping from the new house yesterday, while we were there to take pictures!
Come on bubby! lets get out of here!
We have a MILLION of these little guys in our yard at the new house. They're all out and about getting food before it gets too cold! This little one stopped, looked at me, walked closer, gave a good sniff and decided I wasn't too big of a threat and kept oh his mission. Shortly after this picture he found a crab apple, and the twins giggled like silly fools while he scampered up the tree with it!!!
Here he is just before his big find!!!
This is the new bath vanity we bought at BMO. Its oak with double sinks. We also got the counter top there! The best part? The vanity was only 270 bucks, and the marble counter top was only 50 bucks!! WOO HOO for good deals!!!
Closer up of the pattern on the sink. The color doesn't show up well. Its a chocolate brown, with tans, browns, and others mixed in.
They also had ALL the kitchen cabinets we needed! We were so excited! And they had them in a finish we could live with, and a finish where the insides of the cabinets were finished too! WOO HOO!!!!
They're considered a "pecan" color. We got the ENTIRE kitchen cabinet set for about 1,800! Another great deal!
They are now living in the living room until the kitchen is ready to house them!
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!