A video to help little ones prepare for Mass. Very short, sweet, and beautiful!

Prayer Request

For anyone visiting this site. Could you please offer a small prayer for my nephew/godson. He has severe asthma and has come down with H1N1 and pneumonia. He's home on antibiotics, but I am sure he could use some prayers for a quick recovery.

Small Successes

We SAHM's often have a thankless job. No one notices what we've done unless we don't do it. I'm not complaining - that's just the way it is. Even I don't really give much thought to the laundry unless it starts piling up. Most of us are very appreciated though. I know my family appreciates me and my husband makes a point of telling me every so often. But, since our successes often aren't really "noticeable" we need to be aware of them ourselves.

For more small success stories click on the button above.

In the past week:
1. Made one new side dish. I am going to try to make one new meal or side dish every week - OK let's be honest - most weeks.

2. Planned meals and went grocery shopping without my master meal chart and master grocery list since my computer was holding them hostage. This was challenging. But I did it.

3. Called my MIL again to fold laundry (she's coming tomorrow!). I was too busy with 1-4 above and fell behind, again, on my laundry.



BONUS: Bought some cute little pumpkins and let the kids decorate them. I am not necessarily that crafty and the thought of all the work/clean up associated with carving pumpkins is daunting to me. Terese and Henry found some that looked similar to these at Target for $4 each, and right next to them was a bag of 8 undecorated ones for $4. We opted for decorating them ourselves.

CRUNCHY MOMMA - WHAT ARE YOUR SUCCESSES?

HI! This is Crunchy... Let's see....

1. I fixed the toilet myself rather than paying the plumber over $100 + tax + parts + extra time to come. The part was $12. I love the cute little old fashion hardware store near us. They are so helpful and save me big $$$.

2. Took Jack to get his first pair of glasses and then out to lunch with just the two of us. He got them today and he looks SUPER cute in them.

I think that is all I got for this week. How many of these am I required to have?

Easy? Dinner

At our house, pizza for dinner generally isn't the EASY way out. With 2 people allergic to dairy (1 cheese free pizza), 2 allergic to dairy and tomatoes (1 cheese AND tomato free pizza) + 5 others....we have a number of pizza options. Add that to the 3 different kinds of milk! But, alas, I will NOT complain. I am NOT one of the people that needs to eat one of these unique pizza's. I can enjoy the real thing. The only reason there are 4 normal pizza plates is because I had to cut the two pizzas and separate the pieces so they could cool faster. Note to self: Next time bake the younger kids' pizzas first, the older people can cool their own off.

Spoiling the dog

We have a super fabulous Labradoodle. His name is Chewbacca or Chewie for short. He is great with the kiddos, loyal and tons of fun. One of his downsides is that he has tons of energy. Most times dogs with lots of energy like to chase a ball. Chewbacca could care less about retrieving a ball. So sometimes it is hard to get all of his energy out. This weekend we took him for a 2 1/2 mile walk and then to the dog park to play. Both were tons of fun. One of the nice things about wearing the dog out is that it wears the kids out too. Chewbacca is now asleep under my desk (and it must be my imagination but it looks like he is smiling) and I hope the kiddos will be asleep soon as well.

What did you do this weekend?

Ode to my Computer: A Haiku

Meals, Bills, Charts, School
I trusted. You let me down.
And now I am toast.

As stated above........Crunchy Momma and I love Excel and schedule/simply as much as possible.

My computer is holding everything hostage!!!
My chores charts (now every asks - whose turn is it this week to sweep? what do I do today for my extra chores?)

My grocery list. It is all on the computer, organized by subject, I just circle what I want, now I have to figure it all out!

My meal chart. What do I buy for meals next week? What meals do we even eat?

My cleaning rotation schedule. What area of the house are we supposed to clean this week? Sounds a little rigid, I know. But I spent months tweaking that schedule so that everything got done on rotation at the right time. I.E. Laundry room cleaning came right after purging kids drawers for end of season clothing. It was very slick (thank you Crunchy Momma for that idea).

The kids' school schedules. They were tweaked! I didn't have do anything on than reprint them each week!

Our train history plan. I purchased the PDF version. I'm winging it for now.


This is so sad. It reminds me of the cashier who cannot count cash back because the cash register is down. Give her a $5 bill for a $4.85 purchase and she doesn't know what to do.

I do believe that those lists and charts have greatly simplified my life. But, I've also become dependent on them. Like I said, this is sad.

Small Successes

For more small success stories click on the Faith and Family link above.

1. Finally took the time to log in and check my email from another computer (read dig out password and get used to a different system). Ours is having some problems.

2. Managed to stay Flu-less when dh and all 7 kiddos came down with the flu. This one was a doozey. Some were sick for 8+ days, others just a few.

3. Cleaned out under the bathroom sinks. OK the credit really goes to my dh and son Nathan who took everything out to unclog sinks (and put new fixtures in and recaulk the tub/tile!) All I had to do was decide what/where to put back.

4. Changed sheets on all 4 boys' beds trying to rid the house of germs. I don't usually change all at once so I was short some boy sheets. The other boys were going to let Logan (21 months) have the cool Batman sheets until they found out someone was going to get stuck with pink ones. Logan got them. I don't think he cares, but I do think he'll get some boy ones for Christmas.

5. Called MIL for help in folding laundry after becoming incredibly behind - 1. behind about 5 days due to the flu 2. added all those sheets and some quilts 3. new towels (desperately needed and BIG sale today only - I saved a boatload!) I've washed 10-12 loads today in my ultra capacity HUGE washing machine in preparation for her morning arrival to fold tomorrow. Why is this my success? 'Cause sometimes it's hard to ask for help, even when it's for the good of the family.

NOW CHECK OUT CRUNCHY MOMMA'S POST BELOW. LOOKS LIKE A GREAT SUCCESS LIST TO ME!