Bad Week or Why I Couldn't Be a Single Mom

Editor's Note- I actually posted this post and then deleted it because I was a little embarrassed about my whiny tone. I got some emails that people were looking for this entry in their feeds so it is back up here...only read this if you can handle all the whining and moaning. Seriously, WHINING and MOANING. You have been warned!


My husband has been out of town since Monday and I thought I could do this on my own. I envisioned our fun-filled days and evenings that would be spent painting my toes and catching up on my reading.

Day One- The roofing construction begins on our home. A new roof has been in the works since we moved into this house. I never thought of how this construction would impact our day. No naps for kids means a tired mommy and grumpy children.

Day Two- My son comes down with a nasty case of pink eye. He can't go to school for the next two days until we get it cleared up.

Day Three- Rained all day, which leaves our house quiet. Emily wakes up with a snotty nose and Ethan's eye is gooped beyond recognition. The only thing I have to look forward to is my girlfriend coming for the evening. We cook. We clean. We prepare for her visit...she has an unexpected conflict and can't come. I think we scared her off with all of our illnesses.

Day Four- Our gutters turn up missing (after being removed from our house for the roofing job). I have to file a police report and talk to a detective. I feel ridiculous reporting a case of missing gutters and embarrassed that I am wasting their time with something so trivial. They were our gutters though so I file my little plea that they figure out who the culprit is.

Day Five- Emily is sicker by the minute and wakes up with a 102 degree fever. I get a late appointment at the doctor and he tells me she has a bad case of strep throat.

Day Six- I can only imagine how great the day will be putting drops in Ethan's eye three times a day, distributing penicillin to Emily and medicine to keep down her fever, as I swipe her little nose. I feel so bad for them both and am feeling blue myself.

My days are filled with nursing sick children and running myself into the ground. The evenings are spent playing catch up on the household chores and laundry. Fabulous dinners at home were replaced with two trips to the fast food joint so that I could keep my sanity. No painting of nails or relaxation in the evening, in fact, I didn't even blow dry my hair this week because there was no time.

The final nail in the coffin is calling the bed and breakfast, where we have reserved our room for our anniversary this weekend, and letting them know we can't come. One case of pink eye and one case of strep seal the deal.

How do single moms of the world do it? I humbly bow to them because I am a blubbering mess right now. I am so ashamed that I couldn't do it for one week. I really believed it was going to be a great week, but it seemed I have a little too much confidence.

The Naughty Stitch- The "Amy Purl"

Requests were made to show you guys how I messed up my knitting. I am not sure if this is genuine interest or an opportunity to laugh at my ridiculousness, but I will pretend like it was to marvel at how inventive I am. Now if this is a real stitch, please tell me. If this resembles something you have seen before and don't believe that I can get a patent on this fabulousness, please let me know. I was hoping it was unique, but perhaps it is not!

Begin by taking your needle in going up into the top of the stitch and hold 'er steady.



Don't panic this is exactly wrong so you are doing great. Now take your yarn (which should be on top and not behind like that old and boring knit stitch) and loop it around on the outside of that knitting needle. Does it feel wrong and inappropriate? It should, especially if you know how to purl the proper way.


Now you are going to take that loop and slip it off on the right needle. You are so wrong! Don't you feel like you need a shower after this horrible knitting tutorial?

Now you can slip that stitch off the left needle and you have completed the naughty stitch...or the "Amy Purl."



If you alternate this stitch with a row of this and a row of knitting, it will look like this. That's right....completely wrong, but completely straight and right-in-your-head.

Do NOT do this stitch if you are not an experienced knitter and can understand just how wrong this is. I don't want to deter you from the path of the straight and narrow.

Hugs and Kisses,
The Stitchery Satan

What I Got For Mother's Day

Ethan brought home this beautiful picture for mommy from school. I adore it because he is giving a toothy grin and he has the sweetest smile. When he was little, he knocked one of his front teeth (tragically stunting the growth in one of his front teeth) and his one front tooth is short and his other is longer. It is one of those things you think you won't forget as a parent, but you do...I am glad I have a picture of this precious little smile. I will hang on to it when all those perfectly perfect teeth come in. This little picture was accompanied with a potted flower that I just love. Two of my favorite gifts.

What else did I get for Mother's Day? Oh, don't hate me too much, this was lots of time and research and just happened to be purchased around Mother's Day, but is really an investment for my kitchen and meal preparation... Behold, my glorious Cuisinart Multi-Clad Pro Stainless Steel Pot Set. Oh my goodness! Heaven! Total and utter heaven! I love these pots like I love my children and as much as I love my red pot, red coat, and red shoes. Yeah, that kind of love...a deep kind of affection that only one cook to another cook could understand.

My husband has been making so much fun of me as I clean these precious gems. I am all stroking them lovingly (hoping that phrase doesn't pop up in our keyword phrase searches too often) and just cleaning them like they are the finest china dishes I have ever own. Yeah, I don't care... say what you must, but I have waited YEARS for these pots.

They are every bit of good as I had hoped. Sturdy, heavy, easy to clean, and beautiful to look at. Yes, I can gaze at my freaky expression on the lids as I take a dishtowel to the corners of my eye and weep at their beauty. I don't know why my husband is making fun of me? Perhaps jealousy because it is a love that I cannot explain.


Oh, and one of the strangest things that has happened to me is getting a beautiful flower sent to me...by the TiVo company. Say what? Yeah, Tivo was all like, "I hope you can pause for a moment and enjoy your Mother's Day." Although you can't see it, the company stamped their logo on the corner of the flower and sent these to me one morning via Fed Ex. This was perhaps one of the most creative campaigns I have ever seen. I used to work in marketing so I can appreciate a good campaign- can't imagine how much time and orchestration it took to send these out to mommy bloggers, but very thoughtful and I loved looking at it in my window. What did I appreciate about this campaign? The note was actually handwritten. That means a lot to me because this can be a rarity. I appreciate it when people write notes by hand- it is good form, in my humble mommy opinion!

Not to be outdone by the flower, this entire stack of books came to me from Hachette Book Group. They wanted to send me a, "Mother's Day Package" with no strings attached. Who in the world would turn down free books? In this stack are:

1. Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
2. Your Best Life Now For Moms by Joel Osteen
3. How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger by Charla Krupp
4. Bobbi Brown Living Beauty by Bobbi Brown
5. Kim Cattrall Sexual Intelligence by Kim Cattrall
6. Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics by Wendy Mullin & Eviana Hartman
7. Jewels: 50 Phenomenal Black Women Over 50 by Michael Cunningham & Connie Briscoe
8. On Becoming Fearless: ...in Love, Work, and Life by Arianna Huffington
9. Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach
10. Days: From the Heart of the Home by Susan Branch
11. Heart of the Home: Notes from a Vineyard Kitchen by Susan Branch
12. Starting Your Day Right: Devotions for Each Morning of the Year by Joyce Meyer
13. Ending Your Day Right: Devotions for Every Evening of the Year by Joyce Meyer
14. I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris
15. Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles by Gloria Feldt and Kathleen Turner

Some of these I already have so I will be giving them away as gifts and for our giveaways on here, but it was just so darn exciting to get all these nice new books. I am hoping we can work through a couple of these on the site since I have enjoyed our past book discussions so much.

Retro Housewife Bunco

This month, I got to host our Bunco group, and I was so excited about my retro housewife theme. The best part about this theme was that I could display my apron collection and I could make all my friends wear aprons too.

The downfall with entertaining is that my home is a smaller space. It just means that I have to be a little more purposeful with clearing the home of clutter and finding more inventive ways to display and share all of our good food, but I did my best.

I cleared all of the shoes and coats from our entryway and replaced them with a handful of my favorite aprons from my collection. A couple of the girls said that they didn't have an apron (I know, *gasp*) so I thought they could borrow one of mine from one of our hooks when they walked in. It also helped to tie in the theme!
I love to look for benches for my house because it makes great instant seating in any room. Even an old and ugly bench can be recovered and made to look more modern with a new fabric or coat of paint. I pulled my benches into a seating arrangement that I thought would make it easy for groups to sit together and would make it easier for people to chat. These are also narrow enough that they make good seating for homes with smaller spaces.

We had a delicious retro supper prepared. I made my favorite Sloppy Joe recipe and I got mini-kaiser rolls to make it easier to eat while we played. These were served with tater tots and Rice Krispie treats for dessert. I could prepare everything ahead of time and just had to throw the tater tots in the oven before everyone arrived. I planned to serve slushies, but everyone brought a beverage to share instead so this made it easier for me.

I love to serve our food on cake stands and the covered ones are great for keeping bread from drying out and they help to create a display. If you are short on space, elevating the food can make more room for lower dishes to rest. If you don't have cake stands, you can use an inverted bowl and rest a plate on top to create a cute cake stand. Hunt at the thrift stores and you can find elegant china plates and cups or bowls to create cute little cake stands.

Coolers can get in the way when you are trying to entertain and can be difficult to hunt for just the right drink. I plugged one side of our double sink and filled it with ice. I tucked the drinks inside of there and then took a ribbon and looped a bottle opener through the ribbon and around the spout. It made it much easier to drain (just have to unplug the sink) and it also saved on space in my fridge and freezer.

What retro housewife would ever serve her guests dinner on paper plates? We kept our party green and wallet-friendly by using cloth napkins and my favorite white dishes to serve on. I had seven guests so it only equaled one fast load of dishes and everything was cleaned.

Isn't this scorekeeper so handsome? Ethan got home from grandma and grandpa's and was immediately intrigued by what all these crazy women were doing. He was so good to help keep score and even got to throw dice a few times with us.


Thank you to all my Bunco Babes who allowed me to live out one of my little fantasies. It was so fun to have a retro night with all of you!

Morning & Night

Now that it has finally warmed up, Emily & I can start taking our walks in the morning again. As soon as I drop Ethan off, we pull into the garage and get that old stroller out. I fill the little compartments with oodles of Cheerios and a cup of milk and we can set off for our morning walk together. Emily takes in the sites while I try and get my body moving again. It has been a long winter of being cooped up so it feels good to be enjoying this fresh air and sunshine.


A little rocket fuel speeds up the pace. For $2, this is a sweet little indulgence to help me go, go, go. I love McDonald's Vanilla Iced Coffees for a morning pick-me-up. A whole heck of a lot cheaper than the Starbucks and just as yummy! A large one can last me an entire day!

What happens at night in this house? A whole lot of this! Can someone be addicted to knitting because I think I have found a new addiction? I am usually wound tight as a spring at night, thinking of all that I need to do, and this little hobby has provided some soothing relief to quiet my brain. My iPod is loaded with soft music and I am clicking away on the couch. Thank you all for your great knitting help and suggestions. I am tackling my first little project and making a scarf. My pace is slow, but my heart is proud that I am doing this.

Not Today, Please...

UPDATE: Bunny was found!! Only fellow moms could recognize the tragedy we would have faced without him! Thanks for all of your well wishes and I will write more on location in NJ!

Have you seen this bunny anywhere? It appears my daughter has lost, not just one, but BOTH of her bunnies are missing. I have spent the past hour trying to find them- searching the car, checking behind chairs, looking in cupboards. I am supposed to be packing, but there is no way I am going away without a bunny in her arms.

When I find him, I am going to have to figure out how to install a tracking device inside. I wonder if one of those remote finders would fit nicely on the interior of his face? Wow! Never thought I would say that!

One thing you also do not want text messaged to your phone, right before a trip, is this:

"I am starting to think I have shingles."

Nope, my husband is allergic to penicillin. He made a trip to the doctor's covered in a fiery rash from head to toe. He is completely miserable, but got a prescription to calm down his reaction.

Oh, and since we are talking about fun events that happened today, here is another great one! I typed up a document called, "Daddy's Cliff Notes" with all of the things that he asked me to write up for him, all neatly typed in my favorite Georgian font. As I hit, "Save" the screen fades and says, "Microsoft Windows is not responding." Yup, that document... yeah, it's gone. Didn't even save itself to be recovered to make up for being so flaky.

We will see if I actually get to go on this trip after all!

Target- How Do I Love Thee?

It is cold and dark outside so I have to use my flash for these pictures which makes them hideous looking, but bear with me! When I went to Target, I happened upon these sweet little things. Aren't they so cute? They are about the size of a wallet and have pretty Target trees on them with little birds. They are super compact and I can fit three of them easily in my purse.



Unzip and unfold... behold their glory! A full size grocery bag. Say what? How cool is that? Did I mention that three of these will easily fit in my purse.

And...let's say that you went on a trip and you didn't want to carry a purse, but you had some unmentionable items that you had to carry with you. You could tuck these inside with it all folded up and no one would be the wiser (just remember to remove the stuff before grocery shopping). Oh, and did I mention that these are $.99? Heaven!


Let's just say that you are one of THOSE KINDS OF PEOPLE, and you like everything to be all matchy-matchy in your life. Maybe you thought to yourself that carrying these cute grocery bags would look super cute with your red shoes?

And then you thought about that amazing red coat you purchased with the amazing lining that would match perfectly with your red Target bags and you were like, "OH MY GOSH! How cute am I going to look with all my matchy-match stuff!" And your husband and family totally didn't get it AT ALL, but you knew someone out there in the internet world thought, "Wow, won't that look cute with her red shoes and red coat!" And you happened to pat yourself on the back because you knew you had such great girlfriends who would understand.




I also found over in the housewares section, they had these cute placemats for $.99 for TWO placemats. They wipe off and they look so cute and modern in my kitchen. I have a thing for red these days and these make me happy. I got six of them for my kitchen table (less than $3 in all!) I just love this print!

And then I thought how cute these would look with a basket of red apples with just a few green in there to bring out the green in the placement. And then I thought, "Wouldn't it look just like a pretty portrait if I sat in a chair and ate my red apples with the hint of green that I removed from my cute red bag and sat down at that table with the cute placemat and kicked up my red shoes with my red coat draped behind me?" I think that sounds like a portrait, don't you?

Or am I taking this too far? Maybe I need a label on my blog for dork moments? Hmm...

It Was Bound to Happen

At the doctor's office:

Dr: Well, it looks like a sinus infection. I am going to go ahead and prescribe some medicine for them.

Me: That sounds great!

Dr: I would pick this up at Meijer. The kids will get their antibiotics free there, which is a great deal.... and I know how much you love a deal (with a wink)! How's that next article coming?

*****************************
On the massage table:

Me: When did you start working here?

Massage Therapist: Oh, about a year ago. I love it.

Me: That is great!

Massage Therapist: You stay home right? And do your website?

Me: (face muffled in massage table) Um, yeah... I do. How did you know that?

Massage Therapist: Oh, I read your articles in Michiana Family Magazine. That is so great that you figured out a way to stay home with your kids and work.

*****************************

Me: I brought in my vitamins to show you, like you had suggested, just to see if I was taking what you were recommending.

Doctor: Let me see. Wow! I am so impressed!

Me: Oh, really? Did I pick the right stuff?

Doctor: I am just impressed at the quality of the vitamins you bought. Honestly, I am really impressed.

Me: Well, they were a bit of a splurge, but I gave up my prescription drugs so...

Doctor: No, I am just really impressed.
*****************************
In line at Goodwill...


Cashier: That will be $15. Oh, you brought your own bag....wait, I know you. You're that frugal mom. I watch you every week. (Calling over to the other cashier) Shirley, Shirley....remember that girl I was telling you about? That one that tells you about deals and coupons. That one on the news. This is her. You need to watch her.

Shirley: How can I watch her? I am always working here!

Guy Behind Me: You do that segment on WSBT?

Me: Yes

Guy Behind Me: I watch that every Tuesday

Cashier: That tip about Sam's Club...I loved that tip

Lady Behind Me: What tip?

Cashier: She said you can order your stuff online and they will put it together for you.

Lady Behind Me: (interrupting) Yes, yes...I already knew that. I thought everyone knew that (smugly)

Me: Thank you, have a great day!

*****************************

In line at the grocery store...

Guy in Front of Me: Is that a good deal on bread? You bought a lot of it?

Me: Well, it is about $2 cheaper per loaf so I thought it would be a good time to....

Guy In Front of Me: Can you watch my cart for a minute?

Me: Um... yeah

Guy In Front of Me (now behind me): My wife is going to be so happy!

*****************************

It was bound to happen. What do you do when your anonymous life doesn't feel anonymous anymore? I am talking to all of you great bloggers out there- do your families read your blogs? Do people know you because of your blog? Do you censor yourself because you know people are reading your blog?

Here is another question, is it good to be known because you are CHEAP?

I really want to talk about this with someone and I am asking people to come out of lurking and tell me how you guys deal with this stuff. Please share!

Be Mine, Sweet Valentine!

Yesterday we made our Valentines for my son's class. I was originally going to do a more organized and cute craft, but ended up just letting Ethan draw and make his own special pictures for each friend.

No Valentine is complete without a heart sucker! Each Valentine lovingly made for his classmates- sixteen in total!



Don't get jealous, but this is my little Valentine! She looked so sweet in her pretty red dress. We had to go to her brother's Valentine's Day party for school so we needed to look our best! Off to school we go for a special party!

We distributed our little cards to all of our friends and teachers. We were so excited to share what we had made. Paper construction hearts filled to the brim with treats and sweet notes from our friends. What is not to love about this holiday?

A plate full of treats for all of the kids. A thoughtful mommy brought extra so the siblings could have their own plate.


Emily was so happy to have her own little plate of goodies and didn't waste any time diving in. The Little Debbie heart-shaped brownies were a huge hit with all the children.

Not Pictured: The crying and wailing of both the children as we left the party. Ethan had a sudden and severe bellyache from all of his treats and Emily was upset because she had to leave all of the fun toys behind. Mommy questioned whether it was too early to pop open the wine or if Daddy would notice half of the bottle gone when he got home for their private Valentine's Day celebration. Let's just it was not all heart-shaped brownies and suckers...but isn't that what motherhood is all about?

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

The Thrills of Modern Day Inventions

The weather here has just been brutal- blowing snow, freezing temperatures, icy road conditions...the list goes on and on. I am ready for warm weather and bathing suits. I want to sit in my lounge chair and watch the kids play in the sprinklers. I want to sweat, not shiver.

Last night the school listings were starting to post for delays and cancellations. Ethan's school was not listed, but I was determined to not have a repeat incident of what happened last time. I checked the news website and lo and behold...you can have school delays and cancellations sent right to your phone.

I signed up for this service and the weather alert service. I am bad about watching the news so this was perfect for someone like me.

This morning I heard a beep, beep, beep. This wasn't my alarm beeping at me...it was my telephone. "South Bend Community Schools have been canceled. Go back to sleep, momma!" (Well, I am adding that last part for the sake of narration...)

Roll back over and go back to sleep. Thank you, sweet modern day invention!

Sound Off: Do you do text messaging or receive any free services like this to your cell phone? Coupons, deals, alerts? Please share!

Snow Days for a Frugal Family

I am standing in the kitchen baking my little heart out. I have two trays of granola in our oven and the bread machine is humming as I make another batch of homemade pitas. The computer is booted up and I am typing in between flipping and turning pans. I work at a frantic pace, trying to crank out the work for the week so that I have my time free this week for making and attending my son's Valentine's Day party.

The smell of shoe polish is traveling into the kitchen, as my husband sits on the couch shining his shoes for the week. He has had the same shoes for years now, but believes in making a good investment in one pair of shoes and frowns upon my ten dollar Payless shoe habit. I have went through about the same amount of money as he has on his shoe splurge, but I try to keep up with the trends and he is more of a classic kind of guy.

As he is shining, the kids are running and gathering speed as they loop around and around chasing each other. Emily is banging a coffee can like it is a drum and they run past me as I type.

If you listen, you will hear the washing machine humming as it cranks out another load of our wash. The dryer buzzes, and I plop in the front room and fold our clothes. I head upstairs and place the fresh sheets on our bed. Sunday night is my favorite night to climb into bed because this is when I put on the clean sheets for the week. The sheets are crisp and smell like lavender- a fancy scented laundry detergent. The detergent is a splurge, but I love it too much to give it up.

In the evening, you can hear the sound of the hair clippers as I give the guys a hair cut. They both need one and we are all thankful that we don't have to try and schedule hair cuts for them anymore or put up with poor service at the cheap salons they used to frequent. I also spend the evening coloring my hair...a shade called, "Color Me Vibrant." I call it "Color Me Cheap" though because I save $35 each time I color my hair myself.

As we tuck the kids into bed, we break out the board games for an evening of fun. Games that were probably rarely used in someone's else's house and then donated as they gathered dust in a closet. They rarely get dusty in our house as you hear the clink, clink, clink of tiles being placed on the Scrabble board for the third night this week.

As I climb into my bed with the clean sheets against my skin, I grab a library book that I am working through. No guilt as I page through it quickly, devouring it at a record pace. There is no guilt because I didn't pay for it and I can return it with no buyer's remorse.

I am happy and I am content...Yes, this is the picture of a snow day for our frugal family!

Sound Off: What are some of your favorite things to do when you are snowed in? If you don't get snow, just offer sympathies for those less fortunate than you!

All Around the House 02.07.08

You might be wondering where I was yesterday? Well, I am proud to say that I am tackling one of my New Year's resolutions and have begun a sewing course over at Hancock Fabrics. I had been looking into it (or procrastinating on it) for several months now and finally decided that this was the year to learn.

To say that sewing is hard for me is an understatement. I am really struggling with learning to sew. Does sewing come naturally to anyone? I find this whole thing to be quite tedious compared to using a hot glue gun and a staple gun. I am one of those free spirits though that doesn't like to measure or follow direction, but that is not what is expected of you in a sewing class. I know I am being taught the proper way to sew, but I don't envision myself doing half the stuff I am learning when sewing. My goal really was just to learn how to use the sewing machine so that I could make throw pillows or curtains. An added bonus for me would be to be able to make a simple skirt or apron, but never to sew my own pajamas (which is our third project in this series of classes).

Our first project was pillowcases. I have a feeling I will never make pillowcases again because this is something I would rather buy in the store. Of course, the purpose is to learn how to sew, not necessarily to learn how to make pillowcases. These were supposed to be an easy first time project, but it took me four hours to make these. They didn't turn out perfect, in fact, one of my pillowcases had to be completely sewn again because it wasn't done right. I also had made the mistake of picking striped fabric, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone who is trying to learn to sew because all of the lines had to match up and it took forever to cut these and sew them.

Our next project will be more up my alley. We are learning how to make aprons and this time I picked a green polka-dotted print. Seeing as the pillowcases took me four hours, I can imagine that an apron will take me about twenty hours.

Regardless, I am really enjoying Ivy's, from Home Ec 101, posts on learning to sew and she is offering a great tutorial for beginning sewers. Taking her free advice is a lot less expensive than taking the courses, which average $15 each plus materials, but I am hoping this class pays off for me.

If you have any kind words for a discouraged sewer, I could really use them! I know I am not very patient!

Ethan was also the superstar in his class for the week. They pick one person each week to be the star and each day they do something special with that person. He had to make a picture about himself and his family which shared all about himself and his favorite things (pancakes and trips to Chicago). The next day he shared his favorite book, "How do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon." The next day was spent sharing about his favorite toy- his Mega T-Rex. Lastly, today we had to make his favorite snack to bring in to share with the class..Pumpkin Muffins. After my sewing class last night, I came home and whipped these up to take this morning while my little superstar slept.

The whole family chipped in to make his superstar week, complete. Even Emily & her monkey helped by handing crayons to our rock star to complete his project! This was definitely a family effort to make his week special.

I Heart Oz (Or I Heart Carrie)

I got an unexpected package in the mail last week. I didn't remember ordering anything, but tucked between all of the junk mail was a squishy envelope.

I opened the envelope up and out fell an "I Love Oz" t-shirt. There was a sweet note explaining that my awesome blogging buddy Carrie had attended a swap night and happened upon this shirt. She remembered my entry about my surprise birthday tickets to the show and she also knew my size. Wouldn't you know she snatched it up for me?

I really wanted a shirt when I attended the show, but you know me and my money. We are tight. I kept my money in my pocket and never imagined that I would have gotten such a nice surprise!

Thank you, Carrie! You truly made my week!

My Amazing B-Day Gifts

I had the best birthday gifts ever this year! All of these pictures can be expanded for full view and amazing real-life detail! Above, is my new apron to add to my apron collection. My crafty mother-in-law (who also made that super cute purse) made this for my special day. I just love the colors and it matches my kitchen perfectly. I just love the aprons she makes because there aren't very many aprons that fit my petite frame like hers do. This one fits me like a glove and it is going to get a workout in my kitchen. Picture me in it stirring something delicious in my beautiful red pot.

My mom & dad got me my very first set of real pearls. They are so beautiful and dainty and I feel like a polished woman in them. I have always wanted a set of pearls, but didn't want to splurge on myself for something that wasn't really necessary. What a treat to have my own set and a special gift to give for my thirtieth birthday.

My sister-in-law got me some really cute retro goodies that included a cute compact for my purse, bath salts, and a little dishtowel that says, "High maintenance doesn't even begin to cover it!" Doesn't my family know me so well?

My best friend got me two great books. The first one is "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World," by Joanna Weaver. I am so excited to read this and have heard such great things about it that I am anxious to dive in. Has anyone else read this? It is definitely something I could improve upon.

The other book, not at all religious but oh-so-funny, was, "I Like You," by Amy Sedaris. I am a huge fan of Amy & David Sedaris so I was really excited about this one. It is one that I have borrowed from the library, but is too funny to return to the library.

I thought I had gotten all of my gifts, but got up early Saturday morning for an appointment and my husband got up with me. He turned me towards him, as I was getting ready, and said, "You don't really think you got a pot and a pizza party for your birthday do you? Do you really think that is all you deserve?" And I said, "Um...I like my pot and I loved my pizza party." He told that there would be no Goodwill half off day for me because I was to come straight home for a surprise that he had planned.

His parents came to pick up the kids and instructed us to pack an overnight bag for them. They kept asking me, "You really don't know what you are getting? Really?" And I kept shaking my head and telling them that I had no idea at all.

I didn't know until we arrived in Chicago, thirty minutes before the show would begin, that my husband had two tickets for us to see, "Wicked." Not only did he have two tickets...he had two FRONT ROW tickets to see the show.

I have been dying to see this show since it opened. We read the book for my book club and I was so excited to see how they would turn this great book into a musical.

The show was the best I have ever seen and I have seen and been in my share of musicals. The music was great, the writing was so fast and smart, and the singing was phenomenal.

Of course I was a teeny bit concerned about how much it all cost, but Ryan assured me that he scored an amazing deal for us. The nosebleed seats and our seats cost the same amount because a couple was needing to sell them because of a wedding that conflicted with it. We thank that amazing couple that decided to get married that day so that we could enjoy such a wonderful show.

And a big shout out to my husband who did his very best to make sure I had the best birthday ever and for his family for taking our children so that we could enjoy a fabulous day like that.

It was truly the best birthday ever!

Good Cheap Fun- BUNCO!

I don't know if any of you participate in Bunco or any other fun game like this, but I joined a Bunco League that has been an ultimate blast for me once a month.

This past week's was probably the most fun yet because our theme was so great! The theme was "Weddings" and we all were told to wear our wedding dresses or favorite bridesmaid dress to the event. Considering how much people pay for these dresses, any opportunity you have to wear this more than once seems like a great idea to me!

I borrowed a dress from a girlfriend, who has been in her fair share of weddings, and got all dressed up for the event. My husband got a big kick out of me dressing up like this, complete with warm socks and snow boots. Considering the freezing Indiana temperatures, I wasn't about to brave it in a sexy pair of strappy shoes.

Our host went all out with a Polish Wedding Buffet complete with a wedding cake, made by her aunt. The food included homemade Polish sausage, herb-buttered noodles, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, and lots of yummy appetizers. We stuffed ourselves silly and then played Bunco by the light of her Unity candles.

In our league, the cost is $5 to play and a booby prize to be given to the person with the most losses. I eat more than $5 in food and sometimes I win my $5 back (or more) at the end of the game. For an entire evening of great fun and good food, it is totally worth the investment.

The booby prizes were a hoot and many people graciously passed on their ugly wedding gifts that they got from their own weddings. It was hilarious to see the gifts that were given and the hideous gifts that people got.

Each person went home with a wedding favor of chocolates wrapped in netting. Every detail went into the event and we all had such a blast dressing up and hanging out. Much thanks to our hostess for the evening for making the night so special!

If you are thinking of starting your own Bunco league, you can get more information at this website. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for some good cheap fun. Best of all, it is a great way to build friendships and get away from the kids for a night.

Sound Off: Do you do a game or activity regularly with your friends? What are some cheap ways that you have found to socialize?

A Special Prayer Request

Update: Austin's surgery went really well and he is now in recovery. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers, as he has a long recovery ahead of him.

I don't often ask for a prayer request on here, but we have so many amazing readers that I would love to tap into that today. My nephew will be going in for a very serious surgery tomorrow morning. He has a rare condition called, Congenital Nevus that covers one of his legs.

They are attempting to get skin to use for a grafting and the past few surgeries have failed. They will be expanding his tissue in a different place this time, in hopes that this tissue will be stronger and give them more to work with. The more skin that they can get, the more of the nevus they will be able to remove.

Please pray for their family this week and ask God to help heal him. He is only six years old and it breaks my heart that they have to go through all of this. They are a young family and need all the prayers and support that we can offer them.

One of My Birthday Gifts

We are celebrating with our family tonight, but Ryan decided to give me my birthday present early so I could stop lusting after these at TJ Maxx. Here is my beautiful Cuisinart Cast Iron Pot. It is such a beautiful shade of red and I can't wait to cook in it. I have wanted one of these forever and I finally got it!

Along with this, I have gotten the go-ahead to get myself a new set of pots. Here is the thing...I don't know what kind of pots I want, but I know I want something that will be good quality and last me for the rest of my life. The only qualification is that I do not want nonstick cookware. Any suggestions from my favorite peanut gallery?

Don't Cut Up Your Princess Express Credit Card!

I ran across this from Life, In a Nutshell! This is classic and a great laugh (and lesson too!)

Santa Spotting

We went to a friend's holiday open house and Santa happened to stop by to see the children. As we were too sick to make it over to see our amazing mall Santa (he truly is!), we decided this was a perfect opportunity to get the kid's special visit in with Santa.

Pictured here is how polite our son is... some of the time anyway! He is raising his hand and saying, "Excuse me, Santa! Santa, excuse me! I need to speak with you"

Ethan quickly plops down in Santa's lap and talks his ear off. A last minute change of plans occurrs where his original plan of getting a Monster Truck was now changed and he wanted a Hummer Truck that he could ride in (price tag of $300). He says Santa told him to write it all out and he would see what he could do. Unfortunately, Santa already shopped and Santa did not have $300 in the Santa fund to spend. What can I say? Our Santa is cheap.
Emily is watching Ethan talk with Santa and is really excited to see him. I mean, you can just see it in her face. I know that this is the year that we get that amazing shot of her with Santa. This will not be a repeat of last year. She is going to look so cute on Santa's lap....Oh! We are getting excited now. I hand her over to Santa and all of a sudden...
Santa looks at me and says, "Oh no! There is something wrong with this one" (All pictures can be expanded for real-life detail and trauma we invoked on our child)

Better luck next year, I say! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Operation: Sterilization

Today was spent sterilizing everything in our house, thanks to a bad case of the stomach flu. It used to be that I would get sick and my mom would change my sheets, hold my hair back when I got sick, and get all of that sick food out (Jello, Sprite, hot soup, etc...) Boy, do I miss those days! Nothing makes you miss your mommy more than when you get sick as an adult. Can I get an, "Amen"?

I stripped the beds and washed them in hot water, ran the sterilization program on our dishwasher for all of our dishes, killed the carpet germs with my super UV powers, steam cleaned the hardwood and bathroom floors, and sterilized the bathrooms with some of those homemade cleaners in my closet. If a winter storm wasn't brewing outside, I would be whipping all of these windows open to do a little airing out of the house.

Would one call this obsessive compulsive or just high-maintenance? I am not sure, but I hope that we can prevent another family member from suffering from this plague. Each meal, my husband thinks it is going to be his last. Isn't it amazing how differently you look at food when you think you might get sick from it?

On another note, I completed all of my holiday baking on the day I got sick. I am thinking I am going to be pitching my six 9x13 pans of goodies that I made. This almost makes me sick all over again, but I don't want my gift to be the gift that keeps on giving (If you know what I mean?) I don't think I have the energy or the funds to make a second batch of stuff so I might have to skip the goodies this year...which makes me really sad.

Side Note: I get tons and tons of emails about what I use to clean our hardwood floors. I bought a Bissell Steam Mop and it was BY FAR one of the best investments I have ever made for caring for our house. They had discontinued selling these, but they recently came out with another model of them and it looks to be the same, just a different color. It has replaceable terry mop heads that you can just throw in your washer. I bought extra of them because I use them so often. If you have difficulties carrying for your floors, this makes the job a lot easier. Amazon doesn't have them in stock right now, but a quick Google search should come up with some other stores that sell them.

If anyone else has hardwood floor advice, please share! Who can't use a little help when it comes to this household chore?

Prayer Request

I have a very special friend named Amy that I would like to share with you. Amy & I actually met through the internet and through my website. Her husband worked for a news channel in town, who featured our site in one of their stories, and he told Amy about it and she decided to visit the site.

Our friendship grew through emails exchanged back and forth and we were so surprised by how much we had in common. Amy has a similar quirky sense of humor, she has a computer hubby, she & I both had one little boy...oh, and her name was Amy too!

When I got the opportunity to talk to a mom's group in another town, Amy happened to be friends with the moms and had been planning to go too. She emailed me and said that she was willing to drive and I could ride with her to the meeting. It was a bit like a blind date for us, but we talked all the way there and back, enjoying great conversation about motherhood and all that goes along with it.

Amy later joined my mom's group and quickly became a leader in our group. Sadly, her husband found a job in another town, and Amy had to move to another city. I have discovered though that Amy has found an awesome congregation, has found a rock-steady faith in God, and she has made a new and wonderful life for herself in her new town. We were sad to see her leave, but who can argue with all of that good stuff?

Recently though, Amy has went through one of the most heartbreaking experiences that a mother could ever go through. When she was only twenty weeks pregnant, they discovered that their child was diagnosed with a rare and fatal disease called anencephaly. They were told that they had to make the decision on whether to terminate the pregnancy or asked if they would want to deliver their little daughter to term, not knowing if the baby would even be with them when she was born.

They made a very brave decision to carry their daughter, named Lydia Grace, to term knowing that this was the best choice for their family. I can't imagine how heart wrenching that decision must have been, but they knew that it was the only decision and proceeded on with her pregnancy and making arrangements that no parent should ever have to make.

Lydia Grace was born on December 3rd and she spent only 28 minutes with their family before going to be with the Lord.

I just ask that each of you lift their family up in prayer and help them during this difficult time. I have been so thankful for Amy and her friendship and I know that God has a reason for all of this and for all of the people who have been touched by their family and by Lydia Grace.

If you have any kind words to share with their family, please leave them here!

We are praying for you Mike, Amy, & Alex!

Frugal Hacks: Ornament Decorating Fun

For today's installment on Frugal Hacks, I am sharing crafty ideas for making holiday ornaments with your children. I have been spending some time surfing the internet to come up with some ideas for Ethan & I to do together so I thought I would share them with you too!

In this picture is our ornament making station that I made for our special ornament-making days. I purchased a vinyl tablecloth and loads of fun crafty supplies from the dollar store. Right now they have wooden ornaments that come in a ten pack for decorating that would be a wonderful decorative addition to any gift.

I just love decorating the Christmas tree and thought it would be a fun discussion to share your favorite ornaments that you hang on your tree each year.

I have two special ornaments that I absolutely love and that bring a smile to my face each time I get them out. One is a beautiful painted light bulb that one of my co-workers purchased for me at my very first "real" job. I was working as an administrative assistant and this gentleman was the head of the sales department and told me if I worked extra hard, he would secure a position for me in the sales department. So...I worked my tail off and did extra projects for the group and he gave me this special ornament right before he told me that he never got permission to hire me as an assistant and then I eventually was laid off after a brief promotion as a marketing assistant...WAIT! This is a horrible story! Why the heck is that my favorite ornament?

In all seriousness, the ornament represented one of the first times in my life where I felt like a grown-up and I felt valued as an employee. I felt like a smart woman and I had struggled through school (getting by on my fine social skills, mind you!) so it felt good to feel appreciated and valued as an employee.

My other favorite ornament is a Dunkin' Donuts ornament that I won in an ornament exchange. When we lived in Massachusetts, every single day I would buy myself a cup of joe over at our local Dunkin' Donuts. Our first home, a small townhouse, was situated behind a Dunkin' Donuts and we would get bagels and muffins from there all of the time for our Saturday mornings.

Right after I had Ethan, I was determined to get my baby weight off, and we had an amazing bike trail right outside of our home so I would walk it for miles trying to get the baby weight off. On my way, I would stop at the Dunkin' Donuts to pick up an iced mochachocalocaroca that I thought tasted like a little bit of heaven. It was my little reward to myself for working so hard to get my weight off.

But my weight wasn't coming off. And I was putting on weight. How was this possible? Um, did the smart & educated woman check to see how many calories a mochachocalocaroca has in it? No! Despite a background in food and nutrition, I never thought twice about the gazillion calories I was taking on my athletic walk. But, oh, what a taste of heaven that was!

The moral of the story is, every ornament has a story. Go ahead! Ask your grandmother about the ornaments on her tree- I bet she will have a story to tell!


Sound Off: Please share your favorite ornament on your tree! I would love to hear your stories!