Back to Reality

 It's a new year and as I promised I'm more determined than ever to get my budget under control. We are attending Financial Peace University once a week for 13 weeks. We started this last Wednesday. We were just getting started and the power went out! LOL So we went around the room and told who we were, why we were there and what he hoped to learn from this. It was a good time with good people. I'm looking forward to next week. We are assigned homework each week to do during the week. It consists of some reading and this week we had to put down on paper a mini budget. This made me sick and I've been thinking maybe I should get a job at night so that I can be home when my children are, do homework and prepare them a healthy dinner meal. The husband hates this idea so we shall see how this month goes. 

 I ordered our AFM's boxes this month and a fruit and veggie box. I get a recipe menu from menus4moms. For a very small fee they give you two weeks of dinner menus that use your AFM box and a few extra recipes as well. A regular main box is $30 and the fruit and veggie box is $21. You cannot purchase all of that food in the grocery store for the cost that AFM charges. Their website says you can feed a family of four for a week/box. I've had better luck and been able to feed my family almost all month on two main boxes and a fruit and veggie box. Now I do have to buy a few extras for the dinner meals and stuff for the children's lunch everyday. I'll have a better idea of my grocery budget after this month. 

 Our first major step for this month (after writing out a budget) is to save $1,000 for a rainy day and put it in a savings account. We are working on that now. Our goal is to be close to credit card debt free by December 2009.  That will take a lot of frugal living to make it happen. Maybe it's unrealistic and it may change as we get further along through this course. It's a goal and that's a step in the right direction. 

 We are also trying to bundle up our t.v. internet and directv. We want to go with Verizon since FIOS is now available here but I want to keep our directv since we have dvr's with them. I may end up giving it up if the deal isn't worth it. Anyone else doing a bundle with Verizon? This is just one of the ways we are looking into to save a little extra cash each month. 

 Friday I had my second spinal injection. I spent most of the weekend on bedrest and am feeling much better today. I really hope to get quite a bit of relief now that both sides have had the injection. I see my spine specialist on the 30th of this month to re-evaluate. I plan to be riding my bike with the kids by midweek and trying out my Jillian Michaels Wii Fit game by the end of the week. I hope everyone has a great week! 

I'm a blog slacker

It's been crazy busy around here the last few weeks. I'll try to play catch up and then be a better blogger.
I had a MRI done last week on my lower back. We took the results to my chiropractor and the spine specialist. Chiropractor said he didn't see anything spectacular and the specialist said I DO have a bulging disc in my upper, lower lumbar. However, that is not what is causing my pain. The pain is much lower. Near the bone at the bottom of my spine where it connects to my hips. (I hope that made sense) They were prepared to start the epidural steroid injections yesterday but I convinced them I'd like to wait another month, do some water aerobics and strengthening stuff and see where we are in December. The specialist said he'd do the same thing if it were his back. I'm still getting adjusted at the chiropractor three times a week and now I FINALLY get to do some working out. I would love to run or do a spin class but they have both been forbidden at this time.
My oldest child passed the advanced state test last spring and is eligible to participate in the 2009 CTY Talent Search (this is sponsored by Johns Hopkins University). A child must score in the 95th percentile or higher on a reasoning section of a nationally-normed test. We went to meeting last night to find out a little more about all of this. Basically, he will get to take the SCAT in February, be eligible for a rewards ceremony and can take some classes on campus of a nearby college in the summer. Also, he can take a high school credit of Algebra 1 in 7th grade instead of high school. 7th and 8th graders can take the SAT or ACT if they qualify. They gave lots of information to those grades as very few 6th graders qualify for this program. So today I'm a proud mama!
Reports came home last week. Of course, my son did very well, middle child (oldest daughter) is really struggling. She brought home C's and D's. I'm considering pulling her out at the semester and homeschooling her. I've put a LOT of thought into this and think I'm up to the task. If anyone cares to share the views on this, I can handle it and have probably shared your views/thoughts at one time. I'm considering the A beka curriculum since it is accredited and uses a DVD program to teach the assignment. Then there is book work. The youngest child (second daughter) is doing pretty well. If I could just get her to sit still and pay attention she would be at the top of her class. All of her grades have improved since last year. She is graded on a scale of 1-4. She had all 3's except for handwriting which she received a 2. The teacher told the husband she writes like a kindergartener! She can write correctly but her mind races so fast that she writes terribly. We are working on this and seeing great improvement.
College football has been pretty interesting lately. I loved seeing Texas Tech beat Texas! That was a great game and their receivers have made some fantastic catches. My O-state cowboys just couldn't keep up against the Texas Tech Raiders. The next few weeks should be really, really interesting. The thing I love about college football is it all can change in one weekend. Go Cowboys and Sooners!!!
I have been doing some cooking with my AFM's food. I received some split chicken breasts and made a really good baked chicken with them on Sunday. Basically you soak them in buttermilk and dredge them in a mixture of crushed ritz crackers, oatmeal, a dry ranch packet , and instant mashed potato flakes. Place a few pieces of butter in between them in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. These were really juicy and flavorful. I served them with skin on mashed potatoes and some steamed cabbage with bacon. Probably not the most healthy meal but it was sure was tasty. I also used my AFM's pork chops. Brined them in a buttermilk, rosemary and thyme mixture for 24 hours and then grilled them. They were really delicious. I served them with some fried potatoes and some mixed vegetables. It's chilly and rainy here today so I'll be using the rest of my split chicken breasts to make a chicken tortilla soup. I decided not to order November's menu. With Thanksgiving this month I wanted to serve MY traditional meal. November's menu had fried chicken bits on it and those things are just evil. Not to mention I have a whole bag unopened in my freezer from September's menu.
My husband has already purchased a 20 lb. turkey for just the five of us. The children mentioned everything they think makes Thanksgiving so I'll be making all of those. I'm thinking I'll post some of their favorites in each post leading up to the big day. I make homemade cinnamon rolls every year for the husband's employees, children's teachers, and my cleaning lady. My recipe makes at least 6 dozen rolls so the entire house will smell like them for days. By the time I get them ready for the oven, I'm tired of them and never eat one.
The December menu at AFM's is up and has some really neat things to choose from so I'll definitely be purchasing it. If you haven't checked them out yet, here is the link: www.angelfoodministries.com
Also, if you any of you read Bigg's blog please say a special prayer for him and HB. They are going through some rough times right now. I've read his blog for what seems like forever and these two are very special people. That's all for now

Weekend Madness and some football too!

Those three hours of studying with middle child on Thursday night paid off in at least one department. Miss M. e-mailed me to say that the daughter made a 100% on her spelling test!!!! Wooohoooooo! You're probably thinking...a spelling test??? But this daughter is a horrible speller and we have to really study hard! I'm so proud of her! We also studied for a content test which was basically a few questions about what country you live in, continent you live on, inalienable rights, a few holidays matched with the month they happen, and naming the oceans. We won't know those test results until Tuesday. The matter test we studied for was postponed but you can never study TOO much, right?
Saturday morning was pick up day for our Angel Food Ministries boxes. The university was also having homecoming which made traffic a bit hectic. We finally arrived and got our boxes. This is such a neat offering to the general public. There are always plenty of men/women to help carry your boxes to your car for you. They all greet you with a smile and in general seem happy to be doing the work of God. I'm inspired each time I go there. I am pleased that this month's menu has NO mini chicken chunks that require frying. I hate to fry food! We bought our usual two main boxes, the fruit and veggie box, and a special meat box. There is a ton of food here for $102. My children were happy about the Hawaiian Punch and I was happy to have the pineapple. Tonight I made the meatloaf with gravy (most of the meals are not prepackaged), Corn au gratin, and mashed potatoes. The potatoes and meatloaf came from my food box. The rest of the ingredients were simple things I had around the house....milk, sour cream, bechamel sauce, butter, salt and pepper.
My oldest daughter (middle child) has come down with the stomach flu. She has been up vomiting since 6:30 a.m. Try telling a sick nine year old that it's Sunday and you want to sleep in! Ughh! The husband took good care of her til I woke up. She's been sick in every room and has finally settled in on the sofa with a cool wash cloth on her forehead and a trash can nearby. I hate it when the kiddos are sick. :(
Our home owners association is most of the time a PITA (pain in the a$$). Today they organized a Halloween parade. We are the new peeps on the block so this our first time doing this. My son is Ozzy Osbourne this year, youngest daughter is a candy corn girl (she chose this costume), and the sick daughter will be Hannah Montana. I'm rolling my eyes just typing Hannah's name! They divide the neighborhood by last names. Some bring snacks and some bring drinks. I was told there are some "adult" drinks as well. I sent the husband and the youngest to the parade while I prepared dinner. Our son is a bit old for a walk through the neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon in costume. He's saving his for the actual night. I believe he's next door playing x-box 360. I made orange cupcakes for the mini party after the parade. Decorated with whipped frosting and sprinkles. Not just any sprinkles but bats and pumpkin sprinkles! No wonder my neighbors calls me Martha!
It's been a pretty quiet day and for that I'm thankful. I wish my little girl felt better. Dinner is made and all that's left to do is get my wonderful son to load the dishwasher and I need to hang some clean laundry. I've started writing a rough draft of the whole who I am, where I come from blog so it'll make it here eventually.
Can someone please beat Texas University??!! Oklahoma State played a fantastic game against them but just couldn't pull it off so Texas remains undefeated. I have yet to see the University of Oklahoma game but did happen to see they won! BOOMER SOONER!
The husband and daughter are still at the parade that started at 4. I should probably go hunt them down and spoil their fun. Hope you've all had a quiet weekend. Bigg, I hope the meds are kicking in and you're feeling better. Bis zum nächsten Mal!

Bedrest HA HA HA

I've had physical therapy for two consecutive days. Yesterday they had me walk on the treadmill VERY slowly for six minutes, do some rubber band stretches and then some muscle stimulation. Seemed very easy at the time since less than two months ago I was training for a 5k. Well, my back felt much different than my head. I was up almost all night in pain. I tried very hard not to wake the husband and think I succeeded. Although he's extremely pissed off at me now. You see I saw the PT today and I could barely walk into the office. They didn't ask me to rate my pain on their scale as you could see it on my face. No stretches for me today. Just ice and muscle stimulation which gave me very little relief. So the diagnosis is BEDREST! Yes, you read that right and I'm still laughing my a$$ off. I'm the mother of three children under the age of 11. I tried explaining this and they told me it was time for me to learn to delegate! I did come home, eat some lunch, take some pain meds, and crawl into bed for a good two hours. Of course with the birthday party approaching people were calling all afternoon to RSVP. I did rest a little. The kids came home and because it's the weekend they want to play outside. I tried explaining to my neighbor (who speaks very little english) that I'm on bedrest and if my daughters aren't behaving to send them home. I not really sure how much she understood of that conversation but the grand daughters said it was fine so I came home. This is where I made the husband mad. He expected me to come inside, go back to bed and rest. I came inside but chose to wrap some more presents, post my very short blog, pick up the kitchen and have girl conversation with my youngest daughter. Since the husband works such long hours most of our conversations happen on msn. He told me to take the _________ (insert maiden name) stubborness away because he's really tired of trying to explain to me that I have to listen to the doctors if I want to get well. After I laughed my a$$ off I explained to him that my job in this life is to take care of him and our offspring. That this makes me feel whole and complete. Without laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, I don't know who I am. I do realize as a woman I can be anything I want, I have chosen at this time in my life to be a homemaker, mom and wife. I call this the domestic events coordinator. He was quick to tell me who I was: STUBBORN AS HE LL! There was a lot more to the conversation but it got pretty sappy so I won't bore ya with all that. I love him and he loves me. We are soulmates and this too shall pass.
So tomorrow is Oklahoma football and the husband took the day off. This will be the first game of the season that we've watched in real time. Normally we tivo the games and watch them once he's home from work. It's Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Longhorns. This game normally determines who wins the Big 12 South. We are pretty stoked since the Sooners are ranked #1 in the nation! Boomer Sooner!!!
I think I mentioned before that my father sent cash for my middle daughters birthday and said, "make this a birthday she'll never forget". Well, I think I'm accomplishing that. Wednesday I took her to Glamour Shots for a makeover and photo shoot. It took about 3 hours but the pictures turned out fantastic! She is beautiful without all that hair and make up but they really captured her personality in these pictures. The pictures will be mailed to our home in 7-10 days. During one of the clothing changes I told her that her grandfather had given this to her for birthday. She almost cried and I had to fan her tears away. She called my father and told him he was the best grandpa ever! Awww girls just melt their daddy and grandpa's heart. It was a fun day for us girls.
Unfortunately I was in a lot of pain towards the end of the photo shoot. I refuse to take pain meds and drive with my children in the car so it was pretty bad. In my rush to get home (with the husband 5 cars behind me) I went through a yellow/red light. When I entered the intersection the light was yellow but turned red while I was in the middle. A police officer was sitting at the intersection. I knew I was busted as soon as he hit his lights. So I got a ticket for disregarding a red light. I called today and the fine is $166. I can see my insurance premium going up already. I tend to have a lead foot so I'm just glad I wasn't speeding. LOL I was pretty pissed at myself. Hey, we've all ran a red light in our life, I just happened to get caught.
I think I've pretty much blown the budget all together for this month but I'm going to try harder next month. This is a work in progress! I will get better! I haven't cooked much of the food in our AFM's box this week. I'm in pain so we've cheated and ordered take out many nights. I do have a pork tenderloin defrosted for tomorrow. The husband follows directions well so I'm sure he'll be doing most of the cooking. I'm thinking a pecan crusted tenderloin, roasted asparagus, and some kind of fruit salad for a dessert. We are suppose to start decorating the dummy cakes on Sunday. Not sure how I'm suppose to do that on bed rest but maybe the husband will cut me a break and let me help. I at least want to make the lady bugs, butterflies, snails, flowers and leaves from fondant. Fondant is like play-doh for adults. It's edible but NOT tasty. I hope everyone has a peaceful weekend! Tschüß

I'll try to remember to blog about my new physical therapist. It's eery how much we have in common!

Tuesday has been frustrating to say the least

On Sunday I saw this doctor that was the old school type. Ya know the kind that they speak and you nod and agree whether you agree or not. My back has caused me severe pain for three weeks. This doctor gives me naproxin and more muscle relaxers. I'm thinking it's been three weeks, they have had me on a medrol dose pack for five days, muscle relaxers and now this guy gives me naproxin???? I rack this up to 2 hours of wasted time on a Sunday. So today I go back and see MY doctor. He's a great guy, one who listens and truely wants to help his patients. I waited three hours today to see him. His diagnosis is that I need a spine specialist, another steroid pack (12 days this time), and some vicodin. He also said I have poor reflexes in my right knee. I guess that means there is something pressing on a nerve in my back. I'm not really sure. I've never taken vicodin so this could be interesting. I react strangely to medication so I hope the husband still loves me with all this medicine flowing through my body. He says I'm "easy" when I'm this doped up. I believe that was meant to be a compliment. I start my physical therapy on Thursday and see the spine specialist on Monday. Oh and there's a chiropractic visit in between those.
My youngest child is hypoglycemic. She was diagnosed when she was 15 months old. She is now seven. We treat her mostly by watching her diet carefully. The school nurse and principal have decided we should check her sugar levels three times a day for a month. They want to find out when she has low times so that we can adjust her snacks accordingly. I call the doctor for a prescription because testing supplies are NOT cheap. Insurance will pay for it with a prescription. I drive over to the doctor's office to pick it up and take it to the pharmacy along with my handful of scripts. Insurance won't pay for her prescriptions because the doctor didn't specify when her sugar should be checked on the prescription. Of course by this time the doctor's office is closed. I know three times a day but I'm NOT the doctor. Uggh Frustration has settled in.
While at Target getting prescriptions I decide to buy the cake pan my middle child has requested for her birthday. Talk about expensive!!! $39.99 for a cake pan! It's not just any cake pan either. It has two places to put the batter. One side is the bottom of a HUGE cupcake and the other side is the dome part of the cupcake. Once baked you ice the top of the bottom piece and stick the dome part on, then ice it however you wish. This will be a mega chocolate cupcake. Icing has yet to be decided. I'm not sure if my creative side will be coherent enough to do the whole piped icing look. We'll have to wait and see. She also wants multi-colored regular size cupcakes. Ya know where you make your batter, seperate it into small bowls, and add a different food color to each small bowl. Then you pour a small amount of one color batter in a cupcake liner and a different color on top. This makes the multi-colored look. I have a very good friend who loaned me a metal cupcake holder. It holds the cupcakes at different levels so this should display my creativeness well. As long as I don't fall asleep in the cupcakes!
So $39.99 for a cake pan, $10 for invitations for 24 chatty children, and $15 for prescriptions is what I spent today. This does not include all the gas I spent driving to my doctor, then to youngest child's doctor, getting lost and ending up at the boardwalk, and my trip to Tarjay. My justification with the cake pan is the youngest daughter will undoubtedly love my creative cupcake and want one for herself in February. I almost forgot I cheated today and spent $6 at Sonic for myself some lunch since it was 3:30 when I left the doctor's office and my banana and milk breakfast was long gone. Yes, I could have lived without the cake pan but at least I'm not just buying my daughter a cake like so many parents do. As far as Sonic well, I was hungry and I cheated. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm determined to get better at this whole spending thing. I took all my credit cards and sealed them in an envelope and put them in my safe. I can't use them if I don't carry them in my purse. Hey, it's a start! Baby steps towards my goals.
I'm feeling quite drugged so tonight we are having the supreme pizzas from our Angel Food Ministries box. I will pair it up with a nice green salad and fat free italian dressing. The kids will have some orange slices from our fruit box. My husband loved the teriyaki beef stir fry last night and was happy to have the leftovers for lunch. He says I scored lots of points with that meal. That makes me a happy wife! :)
My son did pack his lunch this morning. A ham and swiss sandwich, an apple,some chips ahoy bites, and sour cream and onion chips. He came home starving and begging for extra cash in his lunch account. Maybe he's learning something here. I'm going to make him continue with this lunch packing thing for a least a couple of weeks. Of course I'll let him pack himself much more food than he did today.
I hope someday that I will have some readers to this blog I've created. I know my husband reads it. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing but he's at least paying attention so he gets mega points for that! The husband makes me feel alive and gives me reason to get up and try to be better each day. I'm truly blessed to have such a supportive, wonderful husband. The best part is he's ALL mine! Tschüß

Ughh it's Monday

I have a lower lumber sprain. It happened several weeks ago. See, I'm a real clutz and fell down my stairs. Not once but twice! My sciatic nerve is inflammed and the L1 and L2 are hating me at the moment. I went to the chiropractor for an adjustment this morning and start physical therapy on Thursday. I'm suppose to be relaxing LOL! A mother of three children does NOT relax! I just want R-E-L-I-E-F at this point.
I received a phone call at 1:45 today from my oldest child. It seems he was on his way to lunch and didn't have any lunch money. I put plenty of money in his general account three weeks ago. I told him I'd pick him up and get him fed. Upon picking him up from school I find out he's been using his lunch money for cookies, brownies, ice cream and gatorade in addition to his plate lunch. Now I know why $100 didn't feed him for an entire month. Looks like he'll be packing a lunch from now on. It's like he believes that money just appears in that account.
I made our first meal with our Angel Food Ministries box tonight. We had teriyaki beef with stir fry vegetables and whole grain rice. I took the steaks and cut them into strips, made a teriyaki sauce and tossed it in the crockpot. Added the veggies about 30 minutes before dinner and prepared the rice. I must say I was impressed with the quality of the sirloin strip steaks. The meat was very tender and the flavor was great! The husband still isn't home so we'll see what he has to say about dinner. He better like it because it's his lunch tomorrow as well. :)
As for my budget...I didn't spend one penny today so today has been successful! Let's see how well the husband did. Well, it's time to study greek vocabulary words again and start the bathing, bedtime rituals. I have survived Monday, let's hope Tuesday is better. Auf wieder sehen!

Food and football go hand in hand

So today I picked up my first Angel Food Ministries box. I must say I was very impressed with the organization and the amount of food I received. The main box cost me $30 (I ordered 2) and has a ton of food in it. I opted to buy the grill box for this month ($20)and the fruit and veggie box($19). So I've spent $100 and should be able to feed my crew for about three weeks. I'll get back to you on the quality and how long it lasts the five of us. Yes, they are a ministry but noone shoved their beliefs down my throat. The best part is "If you eat, you qualify". Here's the link:
www.angelfoodministries.com
I must mention a little college football. I grew up an Oklahoma State fan but I married a University of Oklahoma alumni so I now bleed crimson and cream. Poor University of Southern California lost and is no longer ranked #1. This makes me happy and is great news for my Sooners who are currently ranked #4. It's time to whip up some football food and settle in with the husband for some OU football. Boomer Sooner!