Good morning! Today is Monday, March 27th and I'm feeling pretty chipper. Why you might ask? Well, because I got 13 hours of sleep last night. How great is that? I went to bed at 4:30 PM intending to take a nap and I woke up at 5:15 this morning. Can you believe I *still* did not want to wake up even after the massive amount of sleep I had? So I went back to sleep and got up at 5:45. I got dressed quickly and was going to run on our treadmill on the backporch until I saw how cold it was. So I hopped in the car and went to the gym. I did my usual 45 minute "run" (I put quotes around it because I'm pretty slow but I still call it running)... and it was *really* hard. It was one of those days where I was counting the minutes. Miraculously, I remembered to bring my MP3 player but I'm finding out that I am not technically skilled enough to use it. So that was pretty frustrating. I watched the news by reading the words going across the bottom of the screen (the name of which escapes me at the moment). It's funny because the "words" are a few seconds behind the actual person speaking, so don't try to lip sync or you'll be very confused. I've decided I'm going to listen to book on tape while I run... any suggestions? Now I just need to find a tape player walkman and I'll be all set. I'm sure I'll figure out the MP3 player someday but for now, I will get caught up on "reading" all the books I've been meaning to read. And just for some comic relief, I'll tell you that while I was wiping down the treadmill after I was done, I was still on the treadmill, leaning over to get my jacket on the the floor when I accidentally turned the treadmill ON and couldn't stop it. Sure, it was going slow but I was kneeled down on it and almost couldn't find something to grab onto. Did anyone notice? Well if they did, they kept their laughter to themselves. I was able to find the stop button and recover nicely but that could have been really embarrassing!
We don't have much on the schedule for today. Eddie will be getting on the bus at 11:05. His class has been doing "The Letter of the Week" this year and today they start the letter Y. Each Monday, he brings home the new letter and we have been putting them up in his room. I will post a picture of his letters.... also pictured are Eddie's fish... Eddie is on the left and Steven is on the right. Kevin and Ryan will nap while Eddie is at school and I'm going to attempt to get some cleaning done. We don't have anything planned for the afternoon yet but hopefully it will be warm and we can either play in the yard or go to the playground.
We are getting a fence! I'm so excited. We are going to move our swing set to the other side of the house. That will give the kids more room to play around the swing set and hopefully they will make use of the picnic table under the slide. That would be nice. In the new location, I will be able to see the kids out the kitchen window and since they will be safely contained by the fence, I will be able to be inside and see them out the window! Yippee!!!
What else is new? I'm trying to write about "regular" stuff because when looking back on this in years to come, those are the things I'll want to remember.
I'm sure you remember my friend, Norma, the TV star... well, she has been an inspiration to me. I'll share 3 reasons.
1) She is very good with her money. We have just started cutting back on spending. Not that we were crazy before... but careless you could say. Not anything extravagant but those iced coffees add up. And going to all those home parties and buying the obligatory one or two items that you totally don't need but wanting to help out, sure add up. And then there's my scrapbooking spending. So we are keeping a spreadsheet of all spending. I have it broken down into categories so we can see where we are spending money the most. And can I say that if you have to write it down, it makes you think about what you are spending and it makes you say "Do I really need that?"... Norma is very good about not spending money and I need to take some more tips from her! (Norma, maybe you can do a blog post on saving money and budget tips!)
2) Her handiwork! Norma is quite crafty as I am finding out. She can crochet a SWEATER! I think that's pretty amazing. She is now doing thread work which I find pretty neat... looking at her needlework has reminded me of all the cross stitch I have done (mostly for gifts) and Saturday night I pulled out a project that is not completed yet. I have a few of those... sigh... Anyway, it's a really nice sampler of a lighthouse and it will look perfect in my bathroom. Look for a picture of the completed version hopefully SOON!
3) Her awesome cooking. I can only hope of being as good as a cook as Norma! Her recent post about her tuna steak lunch (www.notnormajean.blogspot.com) made my mouth water! I have a feeling that Ed will appreciate my new efforts too!
So thanks for the inspiration Normie!
And speaking of cooking, we are trying out a weekly menu. That way instead of not knowing what is for dinner, I will know ahead of time and can plan. Want to hear our schedule?
Sunday - Big roast chicken dinner after church...
Monday - Crock pot... less cooking after the big Sunday dinner...
Tuesday - Casserole... Eddie claims he does not like casseroles but I don't think he knows what he is talking about... I'll let you know how the casseroles go over.
Wednesday - Pasta... the kids love spaghetti and meatballs.
Thursday - This is Ed's night out at the lodge so he doesn't even come home after work. I have designated this chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese night. While not the best things in the world for the kids, I have found a really good brand of nuggets that are delicious and taste like you made them yourself... and I always say, everything in moderation... so they can look forward to it once a week.
Friday - Every Friday night Ed picks up some dough at Bertucci's and the kids make pizza with Dad. They love it... and it's delicious too.
Saturday - Cookout
That's the plan anyway.... What do you think?
I suppose I shall wrap it up for now. I am going to print off some "Y" coloring sheets for the kids.. and get the day started.
Enjoy your day!!!
