DH had to work all of Christmas week. Basically he had to work his own vacation & another guys sick leave & another guy who took some personal days for a baby that had severe medical issues. So, he worked most of December, when usually he has the majority of the month off. So, the HR department gave him a $100 prepaid VISA. Last night he took the girls shopping and bought a Wii. The family is having a lot of fun with it.

I worked today (if you want to call it work) at my part time nanny job. So, he had the girls all day. They finished their school work in record time, since he didn't allow the Wii until all their work was done. Tomorrow he works overtime so I will take them with me tomorrow, Thurs and Friday. They will take there books and we will homeschool there. Basically I play with the kids from 9-11:15. Then fix lunch. We eat a few minutes before 12, then down for naps from 12:30-2:30. Of course there is diapers to change and then kitchen clean up afterwards. I get them up at 2:30, change diapers and get them a drink, then their mom wakes up and takes over at 3 and I leave. So, from 12:30 I can work with my kids on their school work and before then they can work on their own.

Last week I worked 1 day, this week 5 days and next week 1 day again. Normally it will be between 1 and 3 days (M-F no weekends)but this week they had some dr appts and work meetings.

My last visit to Aldi, I noticed some changes.

Used to be, most people I saw bought aldi bags (at 5 cents each). I rarely saw others who like myself, took their own bags or, like I do, laundry basket....
Last visit, most people walking in were carrying cloth reusable bags.

The parking lot acutally had a couple of caddys, bmws, a corvet and a hummer in it, in addition to other nice cars. Used to be years ago, older cars.

The store had a lot of people in it--it was packed. Most were nicely dressed working type of people. In the past I have seen more along the lines of retired persons or younger starting out families. Now I see the working in there more than before.

Used to see a lot of food stamp cards--last few visits I have only seen one being used--

I think Alid is starting to collect a different sort of customer now.

On a different note, I am supposed to be sleeping. I stayed awake till 4 am so I could sleep today, as tonight we have an all night non sleeping girl scout even. Yet, I am wide awake by 10:30 this morning...

I'll never make it tonight...

What can I use??

My husbands first wife died before this house was finished....Needless to say, little things were not done and I have been slowly doing them.

One of those little things is that none of the bathrooms had towel holders/racks or TP holders.

I have installed some in two of the bathrooms (the kidsm or else the towels would be on the floor and the TP wet).

But, I am looking for something more unique looking to use in the last two bathrooms. Both are painted sage green. Our house is full of antiques. I'd like to stick with something antique looking or repurpose something to use as she suggested in one of her posts....Both bathrooms have honey oak trim and cabinets.

One idea I had was to use a floor standing quilt rack as a towel holder. Any of you creative people have any frugal repurposing ideas I could use? (I looked thru magazines at the library, but they were of little help).

Today was my first day at my "new job". I am sitting/nanny to 2 little ones. Some weeks I will be there 1 day, and next week I will be there 5 days. But, on the average it will be for 3 days a week. I must say, they are cute! I think this job will work out very well.

I sold 2 identical pairs of boots. One brings $18.75 and the other $8.50. Why such a difference?? Same boots, same condition....Same shipping fee....

I just don't get it.

Got my coupons organized, that is. The only downside is that my new system won't fit into my purse....Oh well. I am still looking for a better system, but this is the best I have had so far.

The pocket coupon organiziners seem to only have 12-16 pockets. I need about 40. I don't like to have all my HBA in one pocket--I like it further divided down into a pocket for shampoo, one for dental, one for deoderant.... I am not brand loyal, so when I see deoderant on sale, I don't want to look through 50 coupons to see if I have one for that brand, I rather just look through my deoderant coupons.

So, I designed my own. I used photo refill pages that fill a 3 ring binder. I can add more sheets if need be. The are clear so I can see through it. The pockets I am using are 4x6, so they are big enough. So, I will try this for awhile.

We never left the house today, so it was a NSD. Yesterday we went to church, but other than buying the Sunday paper, it too was a NSD, although I will make back the $1.50 I spent on the paper in coupon savings and promotions at Walgreen and CVS. Tomorrow will also be a NSD-in fact, all week probably until I do my shopping run.

I went today and met my future kiddos to watch. They are cute. She showed me around the house some, and then gave me the hours she knows of for sure.

Next week I don't have any (it is their last week of the 2 week notice she gave to their daycare center). The next week I work 1 day, and the following week I work M-F. The agreement was for 3 days a week, unless she had overtime, and that when needed, I can take my kids with me, or she can bring hers to my house. She has some days off the first week, and the reason I have 2 extra days the following week is because she has a doctors appt one day, and a work meeting the other. But, those 2 extra days will be short ones-just for about 3 hours. It will help balance out the first week where I just have 1 day.

And, their house is clean! Yeah! Yes, I worried about that because one time years ago I watched a little one that lived in a very very filty home. I did keep the babies room clean though, so she had one clean spot to play. The mom was a single mom who had some major issues, one of which was depression. Needless to say, she eventually lost custody which turned out to be a good thing, because then the mom finally got help. Last time I was in her home it was clean and she had her child back, and had remarried and had 2 more. So, it was a happy ending.

Today has been a NSD, except for a payment I made to the electric coop. Currently we are at the library, and when we leave we will be stopping at CVS, but I will use by bonus bucks so that item will be free.

We are at the library now. When the kids are done with their computer time I let them have after their class, we are going to hit the new CVS they built here. I am going to use the bonus bucks I got yesterday, and earn more, plus my coupons, so I hope to walk out with little money spent. However, this store is very small compared to the one we went to yesterday while in the city, so I am not sure if they will have everything I want to hit again. We will see.

While they were in class, a reporter from the Kansas City paper took pictures of the homeschoolers at the library. He asked me a lot of info on DD4 and said it may appear in the paper this week or next week. He said he had 2 real good photos, she is in one. The editor has the say as to which photo to print or to print both or neither, so we will just have to wait and see....

I still need to go to Dollar General and Target (will do that on Thursday when we go to the city library).
I saved around $27 and got several free items, several rain checks and bonus bucks.

Since CVS scans your card each time, can I get bonus bucks twice on the same item??
For example, today I bought shampoo and got bonus bucks of $2. If I go back tomorrow and buy more of it, will I get another $2??? The girl at the counter was new and didnt know, and the store was swamped, so I didn't want to tie up the line while she ran down the manager...

I met with the craigslist contact this morning. I felt it went well. Basically I would be watching a 6 month old and 2 yr old 3 days a week for 6 hours each time while she sleeps (she works nights). There is a possibility that some weeks she may have an overtime day, and on those days the kids could come to my house.

I can take my kids with me on days my DH works, and on days we have coop or library, her kids can go with us.
She seemed very nice, but has to talk with the Mr, and then will get back to me.

Her schedule is easy-she gives them breakfast when she gets home and before I get there, then she goes to bed, and I would do an activity with the kids and play. 12 is lunch, then they nap after lunch till 2, and she gets up between 2 and 3. I like it because the play time is in the morning before the heat hits, and because they nap after lunch at the same time, my girls can do their school work then if they are with me.

She seemed sensible and had common sense. (I say that because about 18 months ago I talked to someone about a similar set up and basically she was a dingbat. She offered it but I turned it down. She had 3 kids on 3 different schedules and couldn't understand why I couldn't be outside with a 4 year olda t the same time I was to feed the baby and pick up the kindergardener....had too much crammed into one day and no nap times!)

So, I guess now I wait and see.

Today would have been a no spend day, but we have a wedding to go to tomorrow so we will be heading to the city shortly to go shopping for a gift. The bride (and the groom) is a homeschool grad that was in one of my classes last year. She graduated in Dec of 07 from high school. The groom already has bought a home. He takes college classes part time and works with his dad in his family business. The bride is also taking college classes, but hers are online and she works with her family business. They each have a car paid for, and as for the house, I think they said they still will owe about $25,000 on it. Not a bad way for a young couple to start out. Their classes have been paid for with scholarships, so no student loans as of yet either. They already have their furniture (off craigslist and garage sales) and are big fans of Dave Ramsey. I am excited to see how the wedding goes as it has been in the planning for a very long time.

I used to have a free virus checker and then for free it would clean up anything it found--spy wear or bugs.....
I lost it, (accidently deleted it and then even emptyed the recycle bin) and I can't remember the name of it.

On line I can find free scanners, but haven't come across one yet that will repair for free. I have windows XP. Any suggestions??

Today was a NS day. Never even left the house. Tomorrow I will get a gallon of milk when I go in for my interview. Then, later in the day I will take the girls shopping for a wedding gift for a wedding we are attending on Saturday afternoon.

I have 4 watchers on my ebay auction. I am selling some boots the twins outgrew. I should be selling 2 pair, but DD4 lost one of hers--it is somewhere in her bedroom, so it should hopefully resurface soon and then I can get the other pair listed as well. I am going to start small, and try to list one thing a month on ebay.

The next thing I would like to do is join a coupon train, but I can't find one ready to take passengers, but will keep looking.

My other blog (about homeschooling and farm life) has over 500 hits on it now, so I am thinking of adding some things to it. I haven't decided what yet.