It has been awhile....

I feel so busy and yet so relaxed.  My little savings page Freebies, Great Deals, and Swag Bucks is taking off a little on facebook now.  I started posting there January 14th....for some reason, I've been keeping mental track of the date, which is surprising since I rarely remember dates without a calendar :)  It is actually a lot more "work" than I thought it would be.  I was doing it originally just for fun because I was finding all these great deals and I didn't have much of anyone to share them with.  Now it takes at least 4 hours a day to make sure the day is full and I have enough of what people might be looking for.  Why is it I always do more than anyone would ask me to do!  Lucky for me I found someone I knew from Recipezaar that is willing to throw on some great deals when she finds them too.  She was doing the same thing I was on Facebook....just putting them out there, so when that works out it's MUCH easier!  That's basically my "work" now...and I don't get paid for it so I have to enjoy it! 

My work work is gone for the most part.  I started unemployment two weeks ago.  Believe me when I tell you that $298 will not take you very far.  Seriously wondering how we will survive but I have to take it on faith that a door will open.  Tracy says he enjoys coming home to a happy wife, dinner and my new found calmness.  I guess the stress of knowing I would lose the job was starting to become a background strain I wasn't really aware was changing my innate happiness.  Now, at this moment I would say I don't mind if I go back to work for awhile....not that I won't, but that I'm not minding having some time to breath and enjoy the great weather, and happy family life. We'll see how I feel this week when my folks take Sarah on spring break with her friend and I'm on my own most of the week....well maybe not since it's Tray and my birthdays, so we'll try to do something with each other one day...but mostly on my own.  I'm thinking about teaching myself web design and HTML for fun.  Unfortunately so far, my mind isn't wrapping it's way around it but I think I can get it if I can focus!

On a funnier note, Sarah has her first (and second) two piece bathing suit!  I had a hard time letting her do it but she's 12 and an impossible fit for most one piece bathing suits right now since she's so darn tall and skinny. I'm starting to wonder if she'll hit 100 lbs by high school but it's possible as puberty hits I suppose :)  We got her one with a regular thick strap bikini top and short, and one surf shirt and shorts.  I let her try on a "regular' bikini and sorry...but not yet.  She looked far more grown up than we needed! 

I need to get breakfast started and get ready for church.  So little time :)

Happy Valentines Day!

I feel so lucky to have such a sweet little family!  My dearest husband loves me every day.  We don't "celebrate" Valentines because truthfully we love each other daily...I still love to give the kidlet a little something but this year I was sick and didn't leave the house in time to get her anything.  I'm sure we will be making a trip for Valentines candy as soon as I feel better!  (She does have daddy's sweet tooth!)  Love to all my friends and family.  I hope you are having a wonderful day.

So today is a slug day!

Sarah is staying home sick today...and Tracy doesn't have much work so we are hanging around just playing on the computers, reading books and doing laundry.  I wish I could say that I will get so much done today but it's just not a good day for it...mentally speaking.  I guess I might be in the minority but I really love doing "nothing" sometimes!  I have updated my little  saving blog for the day...well at least until late afternoon.  I like being able to schedule my posts with good deals so it looks like I'm always there :)  No, I'm really not although I am a driven girl!

We are crossing our fingers and toes that Tracy's interview went well last week.  He is stepping back out and considering working with and for people again.  It's a hard thing to do when you've been on your own for so long but it could work out.  He might have to do some traveling but until we know details and even if there is a job I'm not going to worry about it! 

I should get back to looking like I'm doing something...kidlet is in a soothing bath while I sit here babbling.  The dog is watching her LOL.  Life is good

Mommy Multi-tasking!

Seems I like to take off more than is smart to chew!  I have decided that my work is "unsteady"...not sure how long the business will survive and frankly there are so many folks, unemployed right now in my field (i.e. bookkeeping) that I couldn't even begin to get a job that will pay much for quite awhile if it does go away.  This is also a concern because I haven't had to go back to work full time since we had the little girl.  We had decided that I would work when she is in school and then off after.  This has worked out really well, with the exception of the summers, when Grammy & Grampy have willingly stepped in to help us out. 

So.....I took the project  of taking on doing a blog that might make us a little extra money if I had to go on unemployment: Freebies, Great Deals, and Swag Bucks.  I get to research and find coupons, deals, etc and help people find ways to save.  This has always been a bit of a passion for me and after Dave Ramsey I just can't imagine paying for something at full price!  I think I might actually try to tie in my passion for cheap cooking as well but that might have to be on the back burner since putting this all together is taking mommy time and I hate to do that.  I do feel like I've gone back to school trying to understand all this affiliate marketing and HTML stuff.  Most of it is partially sinking in and part is so far out of my understanding that I am going to have to seek help....which I'm not good at asking for!  Still this is fun and I'm hoping it will work out so that we can feel a bit more secure.  Oh and did I mention that we are thinking of letting people use some of our property for a garden coop for church.....so much to do and so little time to take it on!

Things change when you blink

I know that everyone told me that the time you have your child will go so quickly.  In the early years it didn't seem to hold true as we were with her so much and the daily journey just seemed....well, it was just life.  Now, as we are looking at the pre-teen little girl, things seem to be moving faster.  I can picture her in high school and college...then off for a life that doesn't include me on a daily basis.  The fun thing is watching what an interesting soul she is. 

The other day we went to Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's to exchange Christmas gifts.  It had been a few months since we had seen each other and it seems she "sprouted" when they were gone.  I got to see through their eyes how she had grown in just this short time.  I'd noticed the things like the talking for hours on the phone, texting between her and her one friend from school, her goofiness coming out, and her new interest in "negotiating with work" for things she wants instead of asking for them.  She's been writing a "book" on the computer, still drawing mostly manga type drawings, and bonding more with friends.  I've also noticed that the things that she is really interested in, she researches on the computer endlessly.  This kid knows more about her guinea pig than I thought possible.  She's growing up into such an interesting girl....

So I need to stop blinking because it's all going so fast and although I love who she is today, I know the girl of tomorrow is just as wonderful.  I feel blessed every day to have this child to nurture.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Getting organized....

I am not a person that does resolutions.  It's not that they don't work for me...I just chose to live life the way I'm going to every day.  I'm unlikely to make some monumental change by chosing one day to make that decision.  Maybe that's just me!

That being said, I've decided that I need to get my grocery budget in line.  After going through FPU it seemed that this is the one area I could affect just by being more diligent.  We are eaters.  We love food and I enjoy cooking.  I've always thought I was careful by watching the price per oz and buying when on sale but I don't think I've been near diligent enough.  There is definitely room for improvement. 

Though this is not necessarily a New Year resolution, it definitely is something I can do that will be good for my family. I'm going to give couponing a shot this year.  I've used coupons but never with any real objective in mind....just savings a little here and there.  This year I want to actually watch and try to stock up.  It's become apparent this year, with the unemployment of my dearest, to the slow down in my own work, that we are in precarious circumstances financially.  I can't even "budget" because there is no weekly amount I can count on.  This is why FPU was great for solidifying what we were already attempting to do, but didn't really change our financial peace as of yet. 

So I'm starting to coupon.  It's something I can control and I need something I can control right now.  I'll try to track my progress on my other blog but I thought I would put here what my thoughts were and why I'm trying to do something new and "different" this year.  Anyone else want to join me?

2010 - It's History!



I just thought about this....to our daughter 2010 is part of her growing up.  It's her "history".  She has grown and changed so much this year.  This is the second year of middle school.  She has played her viola for almost 2 years now.  She met a wonderful new friend last year and now her family goes to our church and spends time with us.  She's had one close friend since 2006.  We've had a few fun times this year as a family, going hiking, swimming, meeting family for the first time.  We've lost friends, gained friends and figured out the difference between  friends and aquantances.  She's gone camping in new places with her grandparents over the summer, and met a lot of people along the way. We tried to move this year....the economy took a dive and we've learned to live on less.  We were broken into and found that sometimes the stuff doesn't matter as much as we thought it did. 

Life is a blessing and I hope she will look back on this year like I do....so happy to have had each other.