How are you stretching $$$?

I was sick Friday night and on Saturday. I think I have had a bug.

Needless to say, I've been at home.

We're going over to my aunt's house - she's celebrating her 70th birthday.  Didn't know about the gathering before so I don't have a gift - will have to pick up something on the way.  Maybe a gift certificate.  I don't mind spoiling her a bit.    We won't have to cook today either - thanks to the steady round of invitations we haven't cooked dinner since Christmas Eve. 

Things are kind of quiet around here this morning.  DH has to go out to do a small job this morning, youngest DD is still in bed (late night) and the older kids are either at work or at a friend's house.  No TV watching as a power outage yesterday has knocked out our cable converter.  I think I'll spend some time making a few gift bags, now that the mood has hit me!

Have a good day everyone!

Making a pot of stew from leftovers today.  Trying to cut Mt. Washmore down to just a hill. LOL. Dishes to do, budgets to figure and a ball game or two to watch.

No plans to leave the house today!

re-tired

Dear All, Since I don't post on the Sabbath, I thought that it would be appropriate to write in today's thread rather than belatedly post on Saturday's thread.

I have had better days.  I went for what was to be a fun walk, & came home shaking like a leaf.  San Francisco in general has many hills, but my section truly proves the point.  There is a certain hill that one of the nurses at my personal physician's, Peter's, practice drove by & told me never to walk down it.  That ws about a year ago, & I thought, Well, I have surmounted that caution -- look, I walk all over w/o a cane.  I had forgotten that I had known beter, just 2 months ago, to take my cane & to be watched by 2 tall men, front & back, when I walked up & down the 6 flights of narrow steps at shul/synagogue when we walked to its Dome. 

So, I walked up that very, very steep hill.  (That wasn't a problem.  I have decent cardio-vascular health.)  There are stairs on that hill -- just to show how steep it is -- but it's easier to walk up on the regular sidewalk.)  What goes up must come down, right?   So, I started going down the steps like this:  one foot on a step, other foot on that step, my arms out at about a 30degree angle.  I got dizzy several times & stopped.  One family comiogn up moved off the stairs, but then a group of 5 came up on the staircase & I had to move out of their way -- Peter says that San Franciscans have gotten ruder by the generation.  By the time I got all the way down, I was shaking like a leaf.  Indeed, for 3 blocks after that, I was thanking my Saintly Mommy for having gotten me down -- an angel -- but then I finally remembered to give credit where credit is ultimately due, & praised Hashem/teh L-rd.

When I called my Darling brother -- health concerns trump all the commandments, he said, Why in the world didn't you turn around, go back up, & hail a cab on the street?  (Cabs run very frequently on that thoroughfare.)  Obviously, it hadn't occurred to me. 

Moving right along, I began to plan  a wall hanging for an up-coming family wedding (see the Hobbies section, sometime later today).  That -- & 4 cups of pepeprmint tea (2 from each teabag) -- calmed me down.

Now, does that not count as a "hairy" day?!

Today, I will baby myself.  We are cooking staples today -- brown rice & popcorn -- as well as a mocha-orange tofu mousse.

Yours in Him, Deb

Tongiht is the last Chanukah candle lighting.  Last year, I did not use the electric hanukiah/menorah, because the whole holiday was tainted by my PTSD.  This year, I see how beautiful teh candles are -- they are mostly blue, but there is a gold top to simulate a flame.

Wow Deb it's a good thing you were able to make it down safely maybe taking it easy today wouldn't be a bad idea I know some of the hills in my area are almost as bad as the ones in yours and after hiking them I've regretted it the next day with every muscle in my body even though I work out everyday.

We slept in this morning to the point that we'd have to rush around to make church on time so after talking with dh and ds#2&3 we opted to stay home today. I noticed that the last full bar of soap has snapped in 1/2 so I'll be grating the last few bars and rebatching all the flakes in the basement into new bars. We have some sample bars and the dks were given a novelity bar for Christmas so we're not totaly out of soap but I'm allergic to most of those soaps.

The wind outside is pretty stong and I noticed that my manager scene is taking a battering (Mary holding baby Jesus & Gabreil have been blown over the manager looks like it might be next only Joseph is standing tall) and my cand canes are getting blown over since they're all in a row when one goes down it's like dominios so we're taking down the sculptures today but will leave the lights on the house till after the new year.

The weather is freaky deaky here....it was partly sunny and 70* here yesterday. Warm enough to turn down the heat, and open a few windows!! It was wonderful!! However, waking up to high winds and only 36* this morning, well, is like a big 'ol slap in the face!!

Anyway, Brian and I spent 8 hours cleaning out our closet yesterday/last night. I finally took all the clothes that were outdated and/or did not fit out and packed them away. My hope is that by next fall, a lot of the clothes that are too small, will fit me again. Brian also went through some of his clothes...jeans that were too holey, that had grease stains, etc. were packed away in a special tub labeled "work around the house clothes." In other words, good enough to wear when working on the vehicles, the yard, etc. but not worthy of wearing to work everyday. I also went through my candle stash that was in our closet. I was able to condense a huge box of candles down to a medium sized box, by simply removing all the Christmas-y candles and packing them with the Christmas stuff. *note to self: burn more candles...you got them to enjoy, not take up space in your closet*

Today, once I finally get showered and dressed, will be spent cleaning up our bedroom. There is scrapbooking stuff, piles of outgrown kids clothes, boxes and boxes of Arbonne products, CD's & DVD's needing gone through, books to move to the office, school papers/art projects to put up for safe keeping, and I need to clean out my dresser as well as clean it off and dust it! This is a project that Brian and I will work on together, while the kids either play with their new DS games or the mega amounts of Legos that Santa brought.

I have no idea what supper will be...might make some tukey noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for supper. I need to put some of the leftover turkey in the freezer today. Lunch will be leftover pizza from Friday night. So, unless something drastic comes up today, there should be no money out at all!!

Good Morning Everyone

It is a breezy day here today too, and it's trying to rain some.  It will be a very stretchy day here for me.  After a really rough night I'm not having a very good day.  DH & DS's went to church this morning but I decided to stay home and try to get some rest.  I put some pinto beans in the crock pot for lunch.  Then sorted through some of my beads looking for some for a project I want to work on.  Then I got on the net to catch up here.

All meals will be from home today.  Breakfast was pancakes and bacon, I made some extra to freeze for breakfasts for DH & DS's next week.  Lunch will be pinto beans that I put in the crock pot this morning, ham slices, fried potatoes and corn bread.  We have chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  For supper we will clean out the last of the finger foods or have a sandwich. 

Only money out will be for DH & DS's to drive to/from church this morning and for DS's to go back to youth group this evening.

Shellia

DH woke up very early this morning and did some maintence work on the computer.  Then I woke up and gave him a movie to put in the player for me while I waited for DD to wake up.  Had breakfast and then went to KMart for these deals:

• 10 bags of Goldfish crackers for DD at $1 each (instead of more than $2 each)
• 2 boxes of cat litter for $8.50 each (normally $13 each)
• A few more gatorades for DH ($1 each)
• 2 Christmas storage totes ($5 each); DH wants all the Christmas stuff in these -- not just the ornaments, which is why all I bought the other day was an ornament tote
• Light blue tinsel for the tree next year ($1) and *squee* ribbon ornament hangers in light blue (to match the tree decorations) at $1 each -- bought 2 packages of 50 ribbons per package

All in all about $50 in stuff; some for next year, some for now but to be stretched out over time.  Will spend the rest of the day at home.  It's going to be about 75* today, so we have some windows open to get fresh air in the house.  I'm wearing a t-shirt and flip-flops with my jeans, it's that warm.

Today DH and I want to clean up the kitchen, dining room and bookshelves.  This should take a good portion of our day.  While we are doing this he will continue to do minor maintence on the computer.  He's getting the computer ready for his new software that he got at Christmas.

hello my friends,

 i babysat for 41/2 hours last night, made $50, so i  am heading to wally world to get milk and salad stuff for the week,

 i cleaned out the fridge and got rid of all the little scraps left from christmas eve  dinner, washed out the fridge. wiped  off the counters and swept  and mopped

 i also packed some of the christmas stuff in the living room up, but i am leaving the tree up till new year's day, i hate to take it down,i get the blues after christmas, wishing that  it had not  gone  so fast!!

 we are having venison spag. tonight with a huge salad,

have a great day all