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Archive for April, 2007

curtains

April 29th, 2007 at 03:12 pm

As in making them. I made door curtains for my DIL porch door and am starting on their bedroom ones. I am also painting a mural on the wall of my 3yr old's playroom. It is (of course) Veggie Tales and really fun to do. Doesn't take any talent since it came with a large size picture that you just trace over and the lines show up on th ewall. Then you just paint by number. It is cool. My DIL wants one also. I found metallic paint, as in when you are done you can put magnets on the wall and they stay. i am going to do a silouette of my DS2 in that stuff. I bought hooks for his dress up stuff and masks to be stored on. We are picking up wood and cement blocks tonight for a train platform (free cycle stuff yea) and I made a big pillow for the reading corner. I need to find milk crates for the books to be in. It will be easier for him to clean up that way.

ebay update

April 22nd, 2007 at 11:09 pm

by th eway my 20 items did well. 18 of them sold and are already paid for. One of those was a dutch auction and I sold 8 of the items I had. I'll use the others for kids in Sunday School and such.

I started

April 22nd, 2007 at 11:05 pm

Today is monumental. I bought paint a roller pan and am getting started on the walls of the house. I am starting with the playroom which will involve painting all of them after fixing them (which I did today) anld then painting a mural on them (Veggie Tales of course). Then figuring out what to put on the floor, where to put toys and how to build a train platform. I want to put in a "book corner" with soft veggie Tales pillows and lots fo favorite books. I want to get a low bookshelf or some cubes he can reach and keep presentable himself. I had put the books on a shelf in the library (actually he had his own shelf just outside the library which is just outside his bedroom) but somehow most fo the books ended up down here on his rocker. I don't want to discourage this so I am putting in a reading corner. For my next trick I will find away of making a platforn for the train to be on so we don't have to ruin a great display to be able to play with something else for awhile.

clothes

April 16th, 2007 at 08:47 pm

I bought clothes, new, not at a second hand shop. Now before I get all kinds of comments on how I could find th esame or better at Goodwill let me state I am 6 feet 2 and a half inches, only wear skirts and tops or dresses and am overweight as well. I rarely find stuff for me at second hand shops. I paid a grand total of $31.00 total. I bought three skirts and three sweaters. I figure I will wear sweaters for at least another month and then will have them for next winter. I have summer t-shirts and can wear 2 of the skirts in the summer. So not so unfrugal and very needed. I am going East and would rather not hear that I need clothes from some of the family I am visiting.

Goal update

April 14th, 2007 at 02:52 pm

I am going to copy the goals blog and delete the ones I have done so I can tell where I am and what I still have to go.

1. EF is currently way way low. By the end of 2007 I plan to have it up to one month's take home.

3. Increase our Tithe by a percent in August as usual.

4. Pay off the medical bills from January 2006 (that will take alot.) Right now we pay 50 a month on 4 bills. At this rate if I add what I was paying to the next payment I will accomplish this.

Concrete Health

2. Continue to only have one can of soda a week and several bottles of water a day

5. Lose weight, about 40 #

7. Walk somewhere every week increasing to 3 times a week.

Concrete Personal:

4. Lose weight (40 # or so)Figured it was worth repeating!!

6. Read less fiction and more Theology books.

7. Become more organized and efficient.

Concrete Parenting:

1. Have more kids

2. Help DS2 learn to share better and be polite.

3. Continue playgroup and find other opportunities for him to practice the above skills

4. Have a more organized plan with more variety in his school work

5. Instill a love for nature and God's creation in our children.

6. Teach them good nutrician habits and exercise.

7. Teach them good money management skills.

Concrete goals House:

1. Make all curtains for the house

2. Paint the downstairs rooms

3. Decorate walls upstairs

4. Redo the roof on the garage and fix the doors

5. Make the yard and driveway less of a swamp.

6. Put up a backyard play set.

7. Fence the backyard so the dog can run free.

Now for the wish list!!!

3. Make everything fresh or from scratch

4. Sew something for each person on my Christmas list. (In Progress)

5. Finish my thesis and last course and get my Masters of Divinity. (In Progress)

6. Go on a family missions trip. (Have to wait until youngest child is 6)

7. Keep the house neat and clean. (No Comment)

Up to 15

April 14th, 2007 at 02:41 pm

With the raise we decided to raise our 401 K contribution to 15 % now instead of waiting the whole 6 months. That is as much as we plan on putting in there. The company matches the first 3% so there is really 18% going in. We will probably never retire but it will be there just in case we can afford to someday. If there is anything left when we die it will be divided evenly among all living grandchildren. One more goal met. I need to revisit the list and see where we need to work next.

Step 1

April 14th, 2007 at 02:37 pm

This summer we have to do alot work on our new house and yard. Yesterday step 1 was completed. We had 11 trees removed. They are all old pines that were half dead. We paid 350 for two guys to spend 2 1/2 hours cutting trees down. They wanted another 300 to remove all the debris which we were too cheap to pay. So our yard is littered with pine logs and branches. DS2 and I spent an hour picking up a bag of pine cones and a large pile of brush this morning but since I have pneumonia (again) I am not able to do as much as I want. DH is geocaching so will have to get to it later. We're planning on going out again after I rest an hour or so. We are going to rent a chipper (70 dollars) and chip as much as we can in the 3 hours we can have it. The rest we will put out for city pickup. They have a schedule they come around on and pick up brush. The wood chips are going at the bottom of the playyard we are going to put up for DS2 at the beginning of May. The wood we will use when we are camping or having a fire here at night. The next several steps include a garage roof, driveway solution (maybe not paved the estimates are outragous), and a fence. Of course in there we will plant a garden, put up a ramp in the front, a pond (want not need but ...)

Phased Out

April 13th, 2007 at 08:48 pm

I have been selling Veggie Tales at home parties since they started the program last September. They just notified me that they are fazing out the program as of May 31st. I am disapointed that it isn't continuing but I understand it can't if it isn't making money. I am putting one last party on the site but I will be surprised if it goes anywhere.

20

April 12th, 2007 at 11:47 pm

I put 20 items on ebay this afternoon. I am proud of myself, now if some of them just sell maybe I'll break even on fees!! One of our playgroup parents put their parents place on an ebay auction, 83 acres. I can't imagine! i did sell a house at auction once but I was desperate and it wasn't an ebay one.

April?

April 12th, 2007 at 02:55 pm

I've had white Resurection Days before but this is silly! We have enough snow that my DH had to get up early and shovel snow this morning!! It is winter out there. I had to dig out the extra warm wraps for my DS. He wants to go play in the snow today. I want a roaring fire! Neither of us will get out way. I did have good news. Last months gas bill came and it went down by over 50%. I am very happy about that but not thrilled that this months won't do the same (never satisfied!)

I love April!

April 9th, 2007 at 01:17 am

April is when my DH company give bonus and raise notification. We got ours on Maundy Thursday. He got a 4% raise. I am proud of him. The bonus will almost be enough to roof the garage (unless more is rotton than we know). take down 11 trees and build most of the jungle gym ofr DS2. It is a relief to know I don't have to squeeze it out of our monthly budget. The raise will help too although most of it is going straight into our 401K. We will finally be at 15% on that and even be doing it 3 months early. That way we won't get used to the money in the check and miss it! Now all I have to do is find th emoney to fence the yard! Oh and build the ramp and plant the garden (roto tiller, topsoil, ... and pave the driveway or at least put down crushed granite and ..... Home ownership is so much better than renting???!!!

Miss a day Miss alot!

April 8th, 2007 at 03:07 pm

I haven't logged in for a whole day and look at the blog changes!! WOW someone's been busy. We went to the children's museum in Madison Wisconsin yesterday and spent hours and hours doing construction, building walls, playing house, milking a cow (not real), running a restaurant, gardening, and selling produce at a farmer's market, and having a grand time. We ate at a local coffee shop and then had Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It was a fun day. We had driven down because I bought alot of fabric on ebay from a woman near there on ebay (for the church quilt ministry) and we decided to pick it up to save shipping. DH went geocaching and waymarking so it worked out, except for the part about going to bed in a hotel room, not a fun time for him which made it torture for me.

Same old same old

April 5th, 2007 at 03:12 am

I haven't written for awhile becasue nothing noteworthy comes to mind. All my ebay items sold at the buy it now price which tells me I sell too low! but I was glad to get them off. I have some more things I want to list but haven't taken the pictures yet. i had to cancel playgroup, everyone seem sto be sick. We had a couple great spring days and now it is snow again.