Having my husband home and unemployed has become second nature to me in the last 3 months. Just like when he was working, he took the kids to school so I could sleep in {yes, I know I’m spoiled, shush}. 

Then he would come home and we would hang out, or do a project together. Mostly we hung out when he didn’t have meetings or job interviews.  I think our favorite thing to do together was to catch up on shows or watch an old movie on TV that we’ve seen a dozen times already.

We took turns picking the kids up from school and when both of our cars were running, I was free to grocery shop or have a long lunch with a friend. {Yes, I KNOW I’m spoiled, shush!}

All I’m saying is, I got used to having my husband home with me. I thought I would get tired of him being around all day, and there were some days I really wanted to watch a cooking show on TV, but he go to the remote before me. I thought our tempers would flare or I would feel resentment that he wasn’t working.

You know what?

God moves in more ways than just providing for us and hearing our prayers. He gave me such a peaceful heart, that I actually enjoyed spending all this time with my partner and husband. We worked together, talked, laughed, shopped, and parented together more so than we did before. I think God let us have a renewal or a reminder of what was already good in our marriage and made it stronger. Our bond is strong and honestly, if we could get through this unscathed, then I know we are doing this life together right.

Through our faith and covenant with God to love each other for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, and in sickness and in health, we have come out on the other side of losing our source of income and stability. We surrendered and were blessed.

My friends on Facebook are doing a 30 Days of Thanks and although I haven’t participated yet, I am so thankful. These are just a few of the things I’m thankful for right this very minute.

• A loving, faithful God who never left us, period.
• My supportive family and friends
• My loving children who understood the severity of our situation and
  adapted without much complaining
• My husband who worked hard to get this new job and a new start for our family
• My ability to not freak the heck out at all this change- maybe I’m growin’ up!! Maybe. {grin}
• The cooler weather…I mean seriously! I’ll take 65 over 110 any day!!

So, now what am I going to do with all this time?? Well…today is early release for our youngest so I only have another couple of hours to get some errands done. After that?

I want to work on Christmas presents and more organizing of the house. I really need to tackle the linen closet! I’ve been dreading that for a while now. I think it’s time to move the games to another space, but that would mean cleaning out another closet!! Gaaahh!! I need a dumpster!

Also, I need it to not be so windy. I have some things I want to spray paint Oil Rubbed Bronze!

I guess I have a long list I want to work on and with hubby gone, I can get them done and he won’t tempt me to come lay in our cozy bed and watch movies! {Ok, so I was really the one who was the tempter, shush!}

See ya laterz!

Love and Productivity,

oh and P.S. – I’m already showered, dressed, and have make-up on! All before 8am and I drank coffee! It’s going to be a great day!! jass;dfjal;squeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Today is a banner day in our house! As of 3:45pm, on November 7, 2011 my husband is gainfully employed! He signed the paperwork this afternoon and will start on Wednesday.

I would like to thank you all for the hours spent on your knees, my faithful and perseverant prayer warriors! I truly believe that God’s timing is accurate and he places people and situations in our life to show us a clear path to Him.

The minute Jon told me he was terminated, I felt this terrible pain of fear come over me. As soon as that came, it quickly went and in it’s place was a feeling of calm and hope. Calm because I knew my God was bigger than our biggest problems and hope because I knew that just because this door was being closed didn’t mean another one wouldn’t appear. I told Jon that we would be ok, and I really meant that. I still believe that this very minute.

I know that getting a job isn’t the answer to all our problems. We still have bills to pay and a budget to meet each month. I think this is an excellent opportunity for us to stick to a budget and live within our means, just like were supposed to be doing. I think if we make a commitment to that, we will be blessed even more.

Thank you to our family for always being there for us! I can’t wait to spend time with my parents and sister at Christmas because that time spent will be full of joy and relief and family.

We are blessed beyond measure and we don’t deserve one bit of it! Thank You Lord!!

Ok, so we might go out to dinner and celebrate so we’ll start budgeting tomorrow! {grin}

Love and Cubicles,

Many times I have attempted to pen a new post and just as many times I have backspaced until it was gone and closed the window because it seems all I have to write about is loss and pain. I promised myself that I wouldn’t agonize over the negatives of life and become nothing but a whiner.

After my last post in July about going to the beach, we went to the beach. I won’t say we had the best vacation of our lives, because we didn’t. The kids fought every moment they could, I was sick with a lingering virus/throat infection, 2 of the 3 girls were PMS’ing, and we spent waaay too much money on touristy trap things that weren’t even that great.

What I couldn’t seem to write about that vacation was the good memories my kids will always have of the time we drove in the car, listening to my ipod, singing out hearts out and then playing in the ocean. How they got to stay in their own room and hang out (and fight) with each other, the dolphins we saw jumping out of the water, and the seashells we found walking along the beach.

Like some people, I tend to need quite a stretch between events to gain an appreciated perspective on it. I’m not sure why I trip over my own thoughts these days about what to write and how to not just regurgitate my conscious streaming thoughts, but to make them well planned out and interesting. Maybe I should take a writing class. Or MAYBE I’m just lazy. Let’s just go with that.

So just to catch you up on the latest in my life "The condensed Version", here goes! (Here’s me being NOT lazy even thought I am sitting in my bed NOT eating lunch until this is done!!)

July: I cut 5.5 inches off my hair, we go to Galveston, we celebrate the 4th at Kaboom town

August: School starts and Jon loses his job (sorry, I don’t have a picture of that)

September: Brenna turns 15, Michael turns 9, Leslie turns an undisclosed age, I travel to Missouri for Leslie’s birthday

October: Lauren goes to Homecoming, My Dad’s beloved dog, friend, and my furry sister- Penny passes away, I clean my whole house!

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Jon is still looking for a job. Irons are in the fire and hopefully God will bless us with employment before our money runs out. My family is coming for Christmas, so I am stoked about that!! Yay!!

I can’t promise I won’t go another 3 months between posts, but I can guarantee that I will be working hard at updating facebook!

Love and Trick or Treats!

When we moved to Texas 14 years ago, I cried. You would too if you saw a tumble weed blow across the road in a rural town that took you 3 days to drive to. Thousands of miles away from the coast you grew up on and a thousand miles away from the lovely coast you just left full of snow, gorgeous salt box houses with wreaths on the door, and the eastern charm of it all.

I made do with what God gave us and I resolved to "like" South Texas after all, it was where we got stationed and there wasn’t anything we could do about it!

One day, we decided to take a drive down to the "beach". I was excited to see the "ocean" and walk on the "sand". When we got there, Jon drove on the "beach!!" I died right there in the car. I yelled, "YOU CAN’T DRIVE ON THE BEACH!! IT’S ILLEGAL!!!!!" He assured me that "Yes, in Texas you can." I soon learned why.

It was ugly!

We got out of the car and the water was brown and foamy and the sand was all streaked with black tar from the oil derricks out in the gulf. And that’s another thing: the ocean is not the Gulf. I learned that the hard way.

When we pulled the girls out of their car seats (2 1/2 and not quite a year) and tired to put them down on the "sand" to walk around, they pulled their feet up and started to cry. They didn’t like the way it felt and I guess looked! I mean, Lauren had an aversion to grass back in California, as she didn’t like the way the pointy blades felt on her bare feet, but I didn’t blame her one bit about the "sand". It was gross! It made our feet sticky and black.

No thanks.

We got in the car and drove a little farther south west looking for some "prettier" "beach", but no luck. We heard if we wanted really pretty beach, we should go to South Padre Island. That didn’t happen while we were there, as we (I was)/ were too busy raising babies and trying to stay sane in a town of 7,200 people and a mall 30 minutes away. This was dire people. I was stuck in country hell. (Love my friends from there though!! smooches!!)

So, anyhoo! Back to why I tell this lovely story! (see what happens when I don’t blog much? All these words just pile up in muh brain and spill out when I start typing!!)

We are going back to the BEACH!! A real beach! No air quotes needed here!! WhoooHooooo!!

Wanna see where we are headed??

GALVESTON, TEXAS

Photo Courtesy of Flickr! 

Yes…Galveston, Texas! We’ve never been, and we are so excited to check it out! Looks like the beaches are much nicer and not slicked with oil! We’re staying just off the main strand, about a mile at a neat Hotel called the Inn at The Waterpark.

There’s Schlitterbahn Waterpark   nearby and Moody Gardens as well. Locally there’s a Flight Museum, and lots of other fun beachy kinds of thing to do! Put Put Golf is on the grounds and a nice looking pool. We are super jazzed at how close we are to the beach and the superawesomegreat rate we got for 2 rooms for 2 days! It’s going to be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! Foshizzle!

Expect there to be lots of gratuitous pictures and hopefully none in my swimsuit, because no one should be subject to THAT !!  You’re welcome!   Snack shopping and car cleaning outing commences today, so that’s always a plus. Can’t have too many snacks on a 5 hours drive to the beach, don’t you think?

OH and LOTS of Sunscreen!!  It’s supposed to be pretty warm there, but I just wanna dip my toes in the water and watch my precious children build a sand castle. Maybe I’ll get to bring home some seashells and put them in one of my glass jars. Ahhh, the simple things in life. I love it!

See you all in a week!

Love and sandy beaches,

How? Not quite sure yet, I’ll let you know when I do!

No, seriously… I feel somewhat better today than I did yesterday and even the day before. It might have something to do with 2 (two, dos, zwei, deux…you get the picture) iced coffees today!! Wheeee! I think I was caffeine deficient!!  That MUST be why I was misscrankymcspankypants. No other reason I can think of, (except no money, clogged drain, and oh yeah, no money). Ahem, sorry. Bright side…

…(crickets)

Um..yeah. As I was saying!

Oh yes, caffeine. It’s a glorious thing. I ran out of Dr. Pepper and didn’t think 1 can a day would make much of a difference, but I guess I was wrong.

I usually don’t like coffee, but iced with milk and sugar is just a wonderful thing, and so much less expensive than Starbucks.

I must be hyped up because I can’t seem to stop talking about it.

So I guess that’s all for now.

Oh, here’s the linky to the power juice I made this morning. Enjoy!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/

Love and iced coffee buzz,

Just when I thought we would catch a break from all the repairs and bills our sink decided to back up.

So, last month our guest bath fell apart, the car needed repairs, and various expenses popped up unexpectedly. Oh, and I forgot, 3 of our kids went to camp for a week. Can you say stress??  How did we deal with all these expenses? Well, after our bonuses ran out, (My parents who are generous to a fault-mostly mine)  came to our rescue. Not sure what we’d do without them.

Now our sink is clogged and we have to wait until Tuesday for a plumber. We’ve tried everything we can do, so we’ll be washing dishes in a bucket and using paper plates.

I’m just a girl trying to get through them summer with 4 kids and a hard working husband. Why does our house have to continue to fall apart?!

Why?

So frustrating.

Can the universe just stop throwing crap my way please?

kthxbai.

I’m not a Mommy blogger, or an entertainment blogger, or really a blogger at all, since I’ve stared at my blog’s homepage for weeks and felt, "Meh. I’ll do it later."

Gah! I can’t even formulate complete sentences. Why do I have a blog again?

Ok, well, you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit, so here is all the stuff that’s happened in the last month or so, just to catch you up, since I know you are dying to know how many loads of laundry I’ve done!

• My Sister and I flew to St. Louis to visit my Dad. We had a great visit!
  I flew stand-by, thanks to generous friends. (Important to know because I got snowed in during the "SNOW-POCALYPSE of 2011" and thought I might not make it home.)
• I got snowed in in St. Louis because Dallas was being hit by the Ice/Snow storm of the century at the same time St. Louis got 9-11 inches of snow or something like that. It’s all a flurr.
• While I was gone, a bunch of really awesome young adults from the Access group at our church came and cleared our yard of every. plant. and tree. (save for 2 crepe myrtle trees) and even took down our nasty dilapidated patio cover! It looks great and lets in tons of light. (I’d show you pictures of what they did to the yard, but I just now discovered that Facebook and it’s billions of dollar earning creators have made it impossible to right click save on photos now. Even though they are mine and I own them. so yeah.)
• We celebrated the snow-pocalypse of 2011 with almost a whole week of snow days off from school and I went crazy while they were all stuck in the house. The end. Just kidding, more stuff happened in Feb.
• I made a fancy feast of food for Valentine’s Day! Pasta with "Love sauce", salad with red pepper hearts (yes, I cut the red bell peppers in to heart shapes) and red velvet cupcakes (I bought) with hearts (I made) and fresh chocolate dipped strawberries! (I made those too, because well, I rock!)  It was delish!
• I went to a baby shower, a valentines day party, and 3 kinds of dip all in the same weekend!
• I got my hair cut. 3 1/2 inches off! 

• I felt the calling of reviving our Women’s Ministry at church. Still figuring what God wants to do with it and how He’s going to use me, but I’m excited to see us grow!
• Went last weekend to a Women in Ministry Conference and came away with a fresh outlook and vision for what our ministry could be!
• Had a great time driving through the fog with my friend Andee, singing songs from my iPod and eating twizzlers!
• My three oldest kids had a great weekend at FUEL ( a discipleship event) at church a couple of weeks ago. I got to spend quality time with Jon and MJ. Gelato was consumed. Oh and pudding. but not at the same time, eww. 
• Cooking every night for the last 2 weeks because gas prices have us over a barrel. Get it? barrel? gas barrels? ha. anyway, GAS IS FREAKING EXPENSIVE!
• and cooking every night makes me tired. and the dishes! don’t get me started. I’m allergic.
• Taking care of sick girl at home with strep and this morning my oldest boy says his throat hurts. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Wheee! This is fun!

So, that’s pretty much the highlights of the last month+. You’re welcome. I knew you were going through withdrawals.

Now if I could just get motivated to blog the rest of my summer trip to Europe from LAST YEAR, I would feel more complete. 

So I leave you with this.

The picture I wouldn’t let my Sister show ANYONE, but the one that makes her laugh the most. We were mid-primp when Kurt snapped this baby. I was fixing my hair, NOT saying "Hallelujah!" and my Sister seems to be bringing out her inner Queen, "I do say, this is a lovely day for a picture!"

So there you go. Until summer, I bid you adieu.

Love and underachieving,

PS. Loads of laundry = 5

I even wore the same shirt twice! *gasp*

Most days were spent in jammies and t-shirts. It was the first week no one was sick! Praise Jesus!

What I’ve learned this week:

1. I need to have better lighting
2. I need to paint my walls and the front door!
3. I need to put the scale away that’s by the front door. Really? There’s got to be a better place for the hubs to weigh in every morning!
4. And I need to find a better place for the vacuum!

So with all that in mind, here we go!

Thursday: Day 1- Week 2

Again, my most favorite jeans. I wore this to lunch with the hubs. I think that was the only day last week I got dressed “up” enough to be seen in public.

The lighting is so dark in my house (we have 2 huge 37 year old Oak trees in the front yard) that you can never see my shoes. I was wearing my Father-In-Law’s boots from a LONG time ago. They are so old that they need to be resoled. They’re worn and dry, but I can’t help it, they are too cute and even though they are *slightly* big, I LURVE them!

Here are said boots up close! I feel compelled to collect more pairs! How can a girl go wrong with multiple pairs of boots in Texas?!

“I’m not from here, but I got here as fast as I could!”
-seen on a bumper sticker the day we drove into Texas from Rhode Island

Sunday: Day 3- Week 2

I subbed for another Worship Team Member this day. I can spend an hour or more trying on outfits to wear to church on days I sing. I know God doesn’t care what I wear or how I look, but when you’re being video taped and archived, the last thing *I* want is to look like I didn’t care what I was wearing. Call me vain. I can take it.

Top- Cato
Skirt- Avenue
(another pinned skirt because it’s too big! Good problem to have, but I think my backside was looking a little J-Lo if you know what I mean!)
Boots- ?? It’s been so long I can’t remember
Black tights-Avenue
Necklace- Avenue
Flower Pin- me

Close up of the boots, they’re suede slouchy boots with no heal and a REALLY pointy toe! My feet aren’t THAT big.

Every other day I didn’t take a picture…

PJ pants and various t-shirts. ‘Nuff said.

Tuesday: Day 6- week 2

Ladies Night Out with my girlfriends. I felt cute from the neck down. Ever have one of those weeks where you’re face isn’t very well, um…clear? Yeah. It’s like I’m 14 again. Good reason if you ask me to stay in ALL week. Being a girl is hard!

Ok, I’m done whining. I KNOW my friends and family are done hearing about my complexion! I just had to get it out, you know on the INTERNET and share. Thanks for listening! )

I leave you with one last thing. One of my favorite t-shirts. It pretty much sums things up.

See you guys next week!!

BEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP.

For those visiting me for the first time, You should know a couple of things about me.

First things first: I’m cute. All my friends tell me so. I’m not being vain. Ok, well maybe a little. But sometimes a girl has to hold on to hope!

Secondly, I’ve been on a journey to lose weight. It would be unheard of for me to take my picture and then post it for the whole world to see before I lost 20+ lbs. I have a long way to go, but I felt inspired to take better care of myself and not allow myself to look like a shlump all day long. If picking out my outfits and putting extra time and thought into it can help me love my body and myself more, then how can I go wrong?? I can’t!

So! Here we go. ( I must say, most days last week, I felt TOTALLY cute. I LOVE days like that!)

Sunday- Day 1

I wore this to church. Our church is very casual and so most days I do not wear jeans because I am on the Worship Team, but this day, I wanted to be warm and comfy.

Jeans: Wal-mart
Cardigan: Ross
Striped Shirt: Avenue
Red Shoes: Keen (my very most favorite pair! EVER!)
Flower Pin: Me, I made it!

Side story on the jeans; I bought them years ago with the intention of wearing them. Like I said before, I’ve been on a journey this year to lose the extra pounds so now these jeans fit. They didn’t used to. I could barely button them and then once I was wearing them and the seam by the zipper split! I was mortified so I threw them in the closet and forgot about them. Fast forward to about 2 months ago, I fixed the zipper and tried them on and they are my most comfortable pair of jeans and they make me FEEL skinny. Those are the BEST kinds of pants!

Monday: Day 2

Yeah, we can’t always be cute. This day I was running errands and slapped some braids in my hair and threw on the workout pants. No working out was involved though. Need to “work” on that! Ha! Get it? Work? … yeah ahem. Moving on!

Shirt and pants: Wal-Mart
Gold flips: Old Navy

Tuesday- Day 3

Tuesday…hmmm. I can’t remember what I did that day. I should really write these things down. I’m sure it wasn’t earth shattering. Most likely I went grocery shopping and picked my kids up from school. It was kind of warm that day because I was wearing flips. Oh, and I had to use a gigantic safety pin to take in the back of those jeans. I have a pile of pants that I need to take in. One of the pitfalls to losing weight: your clothes get too big! Cry me a river, huh?

Shirt: lane bryant years ago
Jeans: Avenue
Gold Flips: Old Navy
Necklace: Canton Flea Market
(One side has a cool vintage cowgirl and the
other is a lavender bumble bee print)

Wednesday- Day 4

I ended up trying on two different outfits this day because I was feeling insecure about my middle area. Birthing four kids will do some damage to your tummy area if you know what I mean. As you might have been able to tell, I wear a lot of tanks under my shirts. Is it me or have the neck lines gotten lower? Anyway, it smoothes out the belly and makes things look nicer.
But whatever…I made this shirt myself. I took two Old Navy T’s and cut one up and made flowers to put around the neckline.

So I decided to go with something not so clingy. I don’t look as slim, but comfort was top priority here.

Cardigan: Old Navy
Orange Tank: Wal-Mart
Jeans: Avenue
Red Shoes: Keen
Necklace: Forever 21
Ring: Etsy

Thursday- Day 5

Oh my goodness you guys! This day, I literally rolled out of bed and put on the hubs sweatpants and a choir t-shirt from my daughters High School! I couldn’t even put my face in the picture because my hair, well lets just say, I’ve had better days. No make up, no cute what so ever. You’re welcome. I’ve spared your eyes.

Moving on!

Later that night though, the boys went to their bible study and us girls went to a jazz performance by our local Senior High School show choir. It was awesome. I showered and dressed. I clean up pretty good.

Cardigan: Wal-Mart
Jeans: Wal-Mart
shoes: Steve Madden from Ross (I can’t wear them that long, they are so narrow, but I love the pattern! boo!)
Earrings: Forever 21
Necklace/bracelet: ??

Friday- Day 6

This is what I wore to a bible study I’m hosting at my house on Friday mornings. It was 65 in the house when I woke up, so long sleeve shirt and a black cardi were in order. To keep my neck warm, a pretty scarf. I’m not the only one who wears their jeans several days in a row, am I? Whew! Good to know!

Then I went shopping for some curtains for my bedroom and I found a new shirt!!

It was one of those days where I came home and had my own fashion show! I paired it with a lot of pieces in my closet and settled on this one for Trick Or Treating at the hubs office. Or should I say, dropping off the boys at the hubs office so they can load up on candy while I play taxi to my two teenage girls? I love my job! At least I looked cute in the car!

Earrings: Frisco Mercantile
Coral Flower Pin: Me!
Black Cardi: Old Navy
Striped shirt: Ross
(I seem to have a love for all things striped this week!)
Jeans: Avenue
Black flats with rosettes: Payless Shoes

Saturday-Day 7

I spent that day in bed feeling blah and lazy. No pictures of my pj’s, sorry!

Sunday- Wk 2

I just have to show you my Halloween Costume!

Totally cute huh? Everything but the hat and the spiders, came from my own closet! I made another flower pin out of an old silky polka dot shirt!
It’s my favorite!

And yes, there is another striped shirt. I bought 4 colors: black, green, mushroom, and beige. Plus a black and white solid. When you like something, buy it in every color!! You never know when it’ll come in handy!

Hope you had a great Halloween weekend! Bring on Christmas!!

Let that sink in for a minute. I’ll wait.

I know right?! There goes all MY  fun!

Anyhoo, I made them soup and got them medicine and tissue. I accused Dan of faking it. Turns out that Monday would hit him like a ton of bricks and he really was sick. Oops. Muh bad.

It really wasn’t that bad to have them all home, I like to be dramatic. I did get to go to the store and stock up on groceries. That’s always fun. {crickets chirping}

I begged the next week to please be kind to me. It was, er well is. Being kind. Sort of. Let’s take a look shall we? I love lists. They are fun!

Saturday: Took oldest to the the sick clinic because she felt REALLY sick. Just a cold. That’s what I figured. Treat the symptoms- good advice Doc! That’s what I said, but whatever. Then she rested all day and was able to go to her school’s Fall Festival and sing in the Halloween show they put on every year. Brenna was able to go too and they both had a good time.

Michael and I went to the BFF’s house for a Monster Bash party. He won a couple of prizes for Silliest Pumpkin and Pin the Eye on the Monster. It was a ton of fun and Natalie out did herself! She’s a party hostess with the mostest! And if you are reading this Natalie, when you get tired of some of your Halloween decor, send it my way. Thanks. )

Oh and Jon put up my coat rack over the bench in the living room where I moved it. I love it! Wanna see? Sure you do. Please excuse the crappy picture- I used my phone.

so cute, huh? I’m beginning to really love my house!

Sunday: Went to church and I always need and enjoy going. Then came home and made lunch and then took a nap. It was an ok nap as far as naps go.

Monday: I slept in while Jon took the kids to school. Then….then… I WENT BACK TO BED!  Iknowright?! Then, I ate lunch and watched TV and when it was time, picked up the boy from school. That’s it. Quiet and lovely. Oh I did make dinner.

Tuesday: More of the same. Please see Monday. Thank you and amen.

Just kidding. I did some laundry and cleaned off my vanity. Man there was a lot of hair. How do I still have any in my head? I’m just wondering cause that’s just wrong. And gross. Oh and I made dinner, AGAIN!

But then I couldn’t sleep. I woke up at 4 something and just laid there until 6 something. Then I fell asleep while Jon got the kids ready for school. Convenient, no?  I didn’t mean to. I was tired. Sue me. Please don’t. I’m all out of money. Thank you.

Wednesday: Annnd, now we are back to right this minute. I’m SURE I’ll do one of two things. 1. go back to bed. Get those hours of sleep I lost, back. OR 2. Don’t go back to bed and do some more laundry and clean up my side of the bed. And maybe the dresser because that didn’t get cleaned off very well when we cleaned our room.

Yep, either one I am SURE to do. Let’s take bets which one it is! It’ll be funn!

{I’m just going to toot my own horn for a minute, ok? Commence tooting…}

Since at least Sunday October 16, because that is as far back as I can remember, I’ve cooked a meal at home for dinner. That’s 11 straight meals. At. Home. I know for some of you, that’s a normal occurrence.  Not so much for us. We always eat out at least once a week or did.

Money is a big factor these days {read: we have none"} and that’s true for so many. I know we aren’t alone in that department. What has surprised me is I’ve actually stuck to a menu! I make them all the time and then I allow myself to change the plan to suit my mood. Those moods are sometimes expensive. I’ve even used all the stuff in my freezer! Crazy, huh?!

So I challenged myself to cook at home until payday. I’m doing it! I also proved to myself that I could go a whole week without eating any fast food. And believe me when I tell you I talked myself out of it several times. I almost gave in yesterday and got me some Chip-i-top-a-tolp-le! I love that place and I know it’s a weakness. But I didn’t succumb and for that I am proud.

Tonight on the menu is a new recipe for Pork Carnitas! I can’t wait! I’m going to try cilantro lime rice and refried beans too!

I may just get my Chipotle after all!

{Ok, I’m all done tooting my own horn! Maybe one more…Yay me! Now I’m done.}

So far, this week is WAY better than last week. It would be the BOMB if my Sister got a call for that job she interviewed for last week after her purse was stolen and she was so angry she couldn’t see straight. Which by the way, her bestest spechals flew her out to California for the weekend to hang out and get her mind off all the junk that’s been going on in her life and were a healing balm to her heart. That’s the best right?

I love best friends! They are more than friends, they are Sisters that you choose!

Anyway, the best news today would be that she got that job. I want to see my Sister smile again and have it be FOR REALZ!

Let’s make that happen, mkay?! Thxbai.