The Cousins Came To Visit!

My sister and her son Bennett Pumpkin and her Bonus Pumpkins BP1 and BP2 came to visit us from up north! They think it's warm! :) We went to the park and had cookies and played.

Then children started to dissolve. A 20 hour car ride and no sleep for my sister's kids and then colds for mine, will do that. So we parted ways. They girls and I walked home. We had fun!

Now my girls are down for their naps and it is time for me to get to the spring cleaning!

Cleaning Up and Taking Inventory!

It is that time again. Time to plan my meals for a month and do a humungo (like my new word? :) grocery shop. Unfortunately my cupboards are in disarray. I had to make a list for my food storage and for my groceries. Here is what I did.

I took all the stuff out of the cupboards. (It was a LOT!) And cleaned them out. This is what it looks like. (I hate my cupboards...lol)

And this is after I organized my spices and baking supplies and extra stuff.

Then I decided I wanted to do the other side too.
Before

After!

I am very happy with it. After I go shopping I will show you the rest of the cupboards. We don't have too many of them. (I will tell you why I hate them another time) I will show you food storage next! Oh, and I will post my monthly menu plan.

Why I am who I am!

There are several things that have defined my life and who I am and what I do. First there is my religion. I am a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also nicknamed Mormons.

-picture of the Salt Lake Temple from www.lds.org
The values and beliefs I learn from my faith are where a lot of the elements come from that have shaped my life. Like love, charity, family, faith and provident living to name a few.

The next big thing in my life is my Hubby! We got married in 2004. My life took flight when I met him. He is my very wonderful, handsome other half!

Next came our fist bundle of joy came in 2005, little miss Sassy. When she came into our lives it became happier and brighter!

Then our second bundle of joy came in 2008, little miss Spunky. She came into our lives with her a roar! Our little family is complete!

My family and my faith are every thing to me! I heard somewhere that life is a classroom. I agree! I learn something new everyday and can't wait to share our adventures with everyone!

Credit

I want to thank Mandy for helping me make my blog look like I wanted it. She did an amazing job!! Mandy, you are my right hand Momma!:)

Embracing my Calling

It has been an up and down journey for me over the last 6 months. I have wanted many things and realized they were not for me. I have come to one firm conviction: I am proud to be a 'Homemaker'.
I wanted to work so I could earn that little bit of extra money so I could help out my husband.
Instead I am learning to cut expenses so I can save enough money to equal what I was earning working part time jobs.
I struggled with household duties. Trying to get the house clean and get the cooking done and cleaning up afterward and playing with the kids and taking the oldest too and from school.... Oh, my head hurts just thinking about it! I started to make myself charts. I started to build up my food storage. Then I found THIS website. I LOVE what she did with her homekeeping binder. What a genious! I am cheap, so I looked at her ideas and made my own sheets that worked for me. They aren't as pretty as hers, but hey, they work!

One of the main ways that I saved money was with the GROCERY SHOPPING. I used to do a two week menu pan and then do a two week shop. It wasn't working very well. Shopping week to week I spent nearly $900 on food. EEK! No thanks! Two weeks was about $600. Um, No thanks! So I planned 1 month worth of meals and then did a huge 1 month grocery shop. I then calculated how much I would spend each week on fresh veges and milk. I gave myself a $90 budget for the month. So far I still have $35 left of my budget and I just need lettuce. I have spent $465. Now that is drastic cut! Anyone can do it! Every month I will post my monthly plan to give others an idea of what it look like. I will also post links to other blogs an post recipes so you can see what I do and what has helped me. My new motto is to SAVE AS MUCH AS I WOULD EARN OUTSIDE OF THE HOME.

Resume's

Time for me to go back to work. Since I was a teenager I have done childcare. Now I have two of my own children and want to try something new. I want to go get a job in the real world. I have no work experience outside of taking care of my family. I want to spread my wings! Just one problem. I have to write up a resume. I haven't had to do that since highschool. scary. My wonderful dad helped me do a rough draft of my resume and made me sound really experienced and good... wow. Problem: that was four months ago and I have no idea where I put those papers. I know that I have them, but I have idea where I put them. Ouch. Guess this week I am going to be a detective!

Pruning and Reaping Rewards!

This morning the girls and myself are going over to my mom's house to help her prune the trees and do any work she needs in the garden. This summer we are canning as much as we can to build our food storage. Ok, so mom is building her food storage and I am starting mine. I am very excited. I have never felt much of a need to accumulate food storage until recently. I am not sure exactly when it hit me. I just feel like I need to do it NOW. Usually when I get the urge to do something, it means that it needs to be done right away and there is a reason. I live in an apartment, so there isn't much that i can do in the way of storage. We have NO STORAGE. And no cupboards except in our tiny, skinny galley kitchen. Can't you just feel the love? Someday, when we buy a house,it will be open concept. My kitchen is the witdth of a diningroom chair. Ok, I digress. I have cleared out several bottom cupboards. These will be used for jars and such. Top cupboards will be used for what we are going to use in two week incriments. Flour, sugar, rice... dry extras will be stored in large icecream buckets in the hallway closet. the only closet we have. One of these days i will take a pic of my closets and post them so everyone can see how I utilize space. The closets are full to the ceiling. And organized. haha. I am very proud of my skills. :) Well, time to pack up the kids.