Monday.....glad to get back to the routine of my week.   Weighed in and lost .2 pounds.....during the holiday season any little loss or maintaining is very welcomed!    Stay the course to February!!!   I hope to make my goal weight by the time we go to Florida for Spring Break!

Good Morning.....Today should be pretty low keyed.  We are going to church this morning of course and then we will head to my nephew's for his house warming party.  Should be a nice afternoon. 

On my list to complete today is my Christmas Newsletter and pick up a bit in the living room and dining room.  Oh of course work on the never ending pile of laundry.  I want to finish the book I started last night too.  It is for book group this month.  We are reading A Christmas Carol by Dickens, which is a very short read. 

Off to wake up Erik adn get Tommy dressed.   Have a great day!

Seasons Greetings from our family to yours!

Update my blog and website with holiday themes......what beter thing to do while I wait for my supper to get done!   I finished two books in the last couple of day as well....

December

Blessings -Anna Quindlen - 4/5

Skipping Christmas - John Grishim - 3.5/5

Off to set the table and get supper on the table!  Hope you are all having a great day!

Home from errands....now to relax the rest of the day.   We got a ton done, but I was getting crabby towards the end.  I hate to shop and I like to go in and get out...hubby loves to look and look.   I am not a good at waiting either. 

OUR MORNING.....

1. To the Bank to Order checks and get grocery and allowance money.
   
2. To Great Clips for hubby and Erik to get haircuts.
   
3. Library to return books and pick up more.
   
4. Bread Thrift Store for Bread and buns for the week.
   
5. Office Max for Christmas Envelopes
   
6. Kohls to use my $10.00 coupon.   Bought an under garment that was on sale for 14.99, normally 29.50.  So I paid only 5.  That is more my style.
   
7. Old Navy - Bought 3 pairs of pants and 3 shirts for Erik.  They had a good sale too....pants were on sale for 12.99 and 9.99.  Shirts ranged from 2.99 to 5.99 each.  I bought three shirts for Tommy for school next year.   So I ended up with a big bag of clothes for 62.00 and used my $10.00 coupon too.  So a little over 50.00 spent on my every growing Erik and Tommy.    I hope these last longer than 2 months for Erik.   When school started I bought him size 12 clothes and now we are moving up to size 14.  He is having such growing pains in his legs too.  Poor kid.    I remember Josh getting this alot at this age too.
   
8. Hallmark - picked out our yearly ornament and a card for Joe's house warming party tomorrow. 
   
9. Fabric store to get some elastic to sew Tommy's Mittens to and run through his sleeves.   It costs me about 75 cents and we never loose our mittens.  Great money saver!  I sew my kids mittens to a string until they are in Kindergarten or so.  He got a new coat from a friend of mine so I needed to get mittens to match that one too.  We stopped at the pet store to look at the puppies and kitties too.
   
10. Home Depot - Gift cert for Joe
    
11. Cub Food - Groceries for the week.   Did well on the grocery budget.  I only spent 40.00 for the week.  So that is good. 

Now we're home and have had our lunch.  Tommy fell asleep on the way home.  Erik has a friend over and they are watching a movie.   Josh is at work.  He just called to say "Hi" during his break.  Hubby is playing on the computer.  Supper is in the crockpot and I am going to curl up in bed and finish my book.   Time to relax for a few hours.   

Good Morning....we have a ton to do this morning.   Erik had a sleep over last night so he is still sleeping.  We will need to get them up so we can run errands yet this morning.   I have ten places we have to go for errands so I beter get going.   I usually take a 1/2 day off during he week to do this sort of thing, but December is too busy of a month to do that.  I work over 40 hours each week and am unable to flex my time since I have so much to do.  If we were going to my nephew's tomorrow I would probably go into work for a while this weekend.  

Gotta quickly make a grocery list!   Later!

Payday....paid bills this morning and broke again.  LOL!  Isn't that how it always goes.  We are waiting for two checks to come in yet.  I need to buy Erik more pants.  He outgrew everything I bought in September already.   I bought two pairs of jeans out of my check last week.  He could use two more pairs yet.  I have a 10.00 off coupon for Old Navy, so you know where he will be getting pants from.   He wants two more pairs of Khaki pants.  I also have a 10:00 off coupon for Kohls that I need to use this weekend.   I am going to buy some necessities for myself.  Nothing exciting.  So I guess we will be hitting the mall this weekend. 

I need to get some groceries, but I haven't worked on my menu or shopping list yet.   Hey...that reminds me of the great news....they are building an Aldi near my house!  YEAH!  So when that is done I won't have to drive to Rice street every week.   Have to make that food money stretch!  

Sunday we are invited over to a house warming party at my nephews.  He bought his first house.   His roommate came over to our house to look at the electrical work we need done.  He thinks he can do all of it, but one thing will have to wait for spring as the ground is frozen.   And that was actually one of the items that was on my wish list not the NEED to get done list so that is fine!  He is working on a quote for the work and will let us know.  He ball parked it last night and it will be manageable I think.  

Last night Amy, Tommy and I wrapped up all the Christmas books.  Tommy was excited to unwrap the first one and read it.  Tommy, Erik and I all crawled into my bed and read the first Christmas story. Only 23 more to go until presents!  What a fun way to count down the days to Christmas. 

My goal for this weekend is to get my Christmas newsletter updated and printed.  I want to mail all my cards out on Monday.   I still need to scan our family picture to share with you all.  It really turned out nice this year. 

Enough rambling for now....gotta scoot!

Can you believe it is Thursday already??  This week has been flying by.  I have been working alot.   Tonight I will be home early and that will be nice.  I think hubby will be gone most of tonight at church for a meeting, if he goes. 

Supper tonight is already marinating in the fridge.  I have Teriyaki chicken breast and a Ranch Pasta Salad made too.  All I need to do yet is make a veggie and supper is done.  

Tonight the electrician is coming to see what he can do for us.  I hope he is reasonable.  He is the roommate of my nephew so hopefully he will be easy on us.  We have a few things that *have to be done so we can move the computers to the basement and switch the boy's rooms around.  

Last night I had started reading the Advent book I bought for Tommy and I to do.  The stories are a bit above him so we will have to wait a few years for that one.  It didn't hold his attention much.  It is the Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas Treasury.  It has a story for each day until Christmas.   But this morning I was reading HeartWomb's blog and she has the most fabulous idea for a Christmas Book Advent.   So tonight I will be wrapping 24 Christmas books up and we will unwrap and read one each night until Christmas.  What a great Tradition to start with my little one.   I am going to buy some additional Christmas Books later in the year for the project, but I did count and I currently have over 24 Christmas books right now.   Some are board books and won't be one I will want to keep much longer.    It is so great when other share their traditions.   I love making this time about family togetherness and our traditions.   That is why I get my shopping out of the way so early so we can enjoy our activities in December!  

Gotta scoot!