Rough Week

It's been a rough week around here. I had a bad cold, a headache and did a lot of sleeping. While I was sleeping one day, my husband finished up with painting the kitchen. He sure knew I wasn't feeling well, because I slept through all of the banging and vacuuming, etc....

We had a great weekend last week!  We went to Liberty Ridge Farms for the all scouts weekend and the kids had a blast!  :)  Bonus for mom and dad.......  They went through the huge corn maze, saw pigs race, sat in a hen house filled with corn,walked in giant gerbil wheels, drove pumpkin vine 500 cars and had their faces painted.  There was a lot more there, but that's all that time would allow.  This weekend, my youngest has his "homecoming" football game and then we're thinking of heading up to Great Escape for their frightfest. Also, I see some apple picking in our future. Kyle is taking Jared to the super dirt races on Sunday in Syracuse and he is taking both boys hiking with the cubscouts on Monday. Prospect Mountain get ready, 'cuz some cubs are coming to climb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I accomplished a lot this week, despite everything. I went through all of the gifts I ordered and put them on my Christmas list and put them in bins. I organized the office a little and cleaned out some things. Today I went to the springs to get water, went to Price Chopper for the deals and went to the library to return some books and get one they were holding for me. I've also done laundry, dishes and cleaned out my daughter's closet (not pretty!).  Now I've been relaxing and catching up on some computer stuff, before I go swap out laundry and I'm thinking about making FishMama's Apple Slab Pie.  You can find the recipe on her website at http://www.lifeasmom.com/.  She's got a lot of make ahead freezer recipes and I can't wait to try this one.  It is definitely the day for it. 

Then my evening will start as will the rest of my countdown to my vacation without children next weekend.  I'll spend a wonderful week in Las Vegas with my husband and no children.  I see many hours relaxing by the pool and seeing the sights and hopefully reading lots of books.  Also, I am hoping that my foot will hurry up and continue with the recovery process.  Still hanging in there with it, but boy is it getting tough!  (as you could probably tell, since you all know I can't go into stores myself without my crutches. So you all know I was cheating when I was shopping earlier today)  I can't wait until I can walk again without the crutches and without the cast.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend with your families and I know some of you will have a longer weekend because of Columbus Day.  Let me know if you find any great deals out there this holiday weekend!

By the way, Old Navy has coats on sale for the whole family tomorrow. $16 each with a limit of 5 per customer. Get there early for the best selection!

Finally Friday!!

It's finally Friday and I'm sitting here relaxing with not much planned for the evening! What a rare event......and with all of the rain we have had the last 2 days, there will not be a soccer game tomorrow. That means that tomorrow afternoon will be free as well. Wonder what I should do with all of my time? Don't worry, I have a list.

I have to go through all of the gifts I have purchased for the holidays the past few weeks. Then I have to make sure that I have them all written down and know who they are going to. Then I have to put them away. I have to figure out who I still have to shop for and get the whole amount of money for each person figured out. Then I hope that I can find things on super deals to save even more money.

I have to also clean up the house and reorganize the office/craft area. I have really been putting this one off, since I broke my foot, because I don't think it is going to be an easy job. I also have all of the usual cleaning that needs to be done every week. I try to split it up so that I'm doing the same jobs on the same days each week, but guess what? Life happens and the best plans always get messed up! I am getting better at being okay with this. I have found that it doesn't go anywhere if you don't get to it right away.

I would also love to have some extra quality time with my kids and with my husband. That is always the best part of my weeks! Nothing could ever be better than that. Not a million dollars or all of the possessions in the world.

Speaking of family, I think I'll go and see what they are all up to. I love updating the blog, but sometimes there are better things in life to do!

Tuesdays Adventures

I was just trying to think of a few things while I was clearing out my email inbox and going through my rss feeds. I have decided that those are two things that I really need to keep up with on a more regular basis. I do get my emails on my phone, but I only deal with the really important ones on there. The others get filtered to my computer, where they sit until I have time. My rss feeds don't sit as long, but sometimes I miss a really good thing, because I didn't get to it quickly enough! That really bums me out......

I have been trying to get really organized lately and I can definitely say that it is a work in progress. I believe that I will take another lesson from my children and say that you learn new things every day and that you can never be perfect, so don't even try! I seem to be telling my kids to just do their best on everything, so why can't I seem to follow that same philosophy??  I think I need to learn to give myself a break and let things slide and realize that there is always tomorrow. Especially with the RA and fibro, I need to learn that my health and family should come first and everything else should come later. You would think that since I have had this for a while now, I would actually have this engraved in my brain, but it is still difficult to do.  So, for everyone else out there, who is living with an illness of any kind: RELAX, let things happen as they will and just take your time! The dishes will wait and if someone needs something bad enough, they'll get it done themselves.

Now, I'm off to get some laundry, dishes, cooking, baking and organizing done. If I can accomplish just one thing today, I will feel like I conquered the world  :)

Very Lazy Sunday

I have been hanging out this afternoon, watching reruns of CSI NY. My husband has our oldest son at the races, since it's the last one of the season. My youngest son and daughter are somewhere in the house and are being very quiet! I know I should be asking why but right now I'm too busy relaxing.....

I have had lots of things running through my mind lately and have been trying to keep up with all of them. I would love to get my house organized, plan for my upcoming trip and get a lot more cooking and baking done. Then I end up with a day like this and decide that I really don't want to do anything!   :)

I think I'm going to take a page from my children and just hang out and do whatever I feel like. I thankfully have that mind frame that my children do not have to be busy all of the time. I don't over schedule them, they can only play one sport each at a time. They also do scouts and my oldest does violin through school, but that's it. They don't need to have a play date all of the time, they don't need meetings and activities, they can actually be bored for a little bit. AND I'm not totally against TV and video games on occasion......

I know that these last couple of hours of quiet from my kids are all I'm going to be getting for a while. I know reality will set in, they will need me for something, want something for dinner, need showers before bed, etc...

And as I typed that last part, my youngest did indeed come up to me and ask "Can we look to see what we have around for Halloween costumes and also put up the fall decorations?" 

I don't think I would have it any other way!!

It's just going to be one of those days.........

I had to go to the doctor today, so they could take an xray of my foot and let me know if it's healing properly. Of course, I knew the answer before they even did all of that.. No, the bones have not healed, I'm back to no weight on it at all, they are trying to get me a wheelchair, I need to have a bone stimulator and this will all be going on for the next six weeks! I also will be going to Las Vegas in 4 weeks with my wonderful husband and the kids will be staying home with family. After these next six weeks, if the bones have not healed enough, I will probably be looking at surgery! So, now for the good news of the day.....

I have a wonderful husband, 3 fabulous children, 3 great step children and an oh so cute and handsome step grandson!  Life doesn't get much better than that!  I am trying to stay on the positive side of things and not worry about what I cannot change. Besides, as I said, I'm going to Vegas.

On another note, I ran into Hannaford this morning and stocked up on some meat and some beans, so I can get to making some meals ahead. I want to go to Price Chopper in the next couple of days to stock up on some of their sales (they have 3 pound bags of apples this week for only $1.00). I have some yummy new recipes that I found and would SOOO love to try!

Guess I'll go back to doing what I should right now (dishes, relaxing and maybe a load of laundry) then get the kids off of the bus and snuggle with them a little and then make dinner.  So much for staying off of my feet!

Triumphant Tuesday

I feel as if I conquered the world today! I woke up, made glittersticks for a teacher, got 3 kids off to school, came home and made more glittersticks, did dishes, laundry and cleaned the shower.  The reason I feel as if I conquered the world is because my shower has not been cleaned since I broke my foot 8 weeks ago. I guess no one else feels that it is necessary to do any cleaning. I, on the other hand, like things really clean and in their place. I think it's from the RA and fibromyalgia, so if I'm having a bad day, I know that I can go to a certain spot, without my glasses on, and find exactly what I'm looking for by touch. I know, probably too much info! (but that's my life)   :)

I have many things to do and I am famous for making lists, but I have also been learning that I need breaks during the day and even with so much to do, it is VERY important for me to take them. It makes life much better when everyone gets home later in the day to have a happy, relaxed mom. Then, of course, the stress returns when I'm helping with homework, getting everyone ready for sports that night and getting dinner onto the table. (we won't even talk about whether or not everyone will eat that meal....)

I have had so many ideas going through my head, as to what direction I want this blog to take and since it's been up for a year and I haven't concentrated on it as much as I would like, I have decided that I need to do this for me. The blog may take some time to find it's way, but I know that I will enjoy every minute of it! I enjoy reading other peoples blogs and making new friends along the way. I feel that life is important and even more important is learning something new everyday. We all need assistance with that and meeting new people and sharing ideas is one step toward making that happen.

I can't wait to see how all of this turns out and can't wait to finalize some of the things that have been going through my head. It should be a lot of fun and I hope you're all ready to join me on that fun.

Until tomorrow.........

JCPENNEY $10 off $10 code plus free shipping on shoes today only!

I was browsing thru all the blogs I follow and I noticed a link on moneysavingmom.com that gave the above info for jcpenney's. I just ordered my daughter a pair of sandals for a whopping $2.05!!! Just what I needed to make my day!

I also ordered a few Christmas gifts online earlier today. Since I'm confined mainly to my chair, I decided I better make good use of my time. You never know when I'll be able to sit down and do nothing for awhile again!

There seems to be a lot of good sales starting for the back to school season and I'm hoping that we'll all be able to take advantage of them.

I just finished reading a book today, The USA Today's The Busy Family's Guide to Money. It was really good and had some very helpful ideas of where to put your money, what you need to use your money for, finding out how much you need for certqain things, how much you should have in good debt at the most, etc... The only thing I wish it had more of is ideas on how to cut expenses and how to earn extra money on the side. I am looking for ways to increase our income without taking time away from my family. My family definitely comes first and that will always be the case. I couldn't tell you how many jobs I left in the past, because they were not family friendly at all.