Hey everyone.....

Well yesterday ended up being a longer day of work than anticipated.  I ended up working 14 hours.  I woke up this morning with such a head ache as I didn't sleep well last night.   So I am staying home today.  I am taking a sick day.  Actually as my schedule was I was going to end up working about 50 hours this week so now it will only be 42 hours for the week.  So I guess I could sort of afford to stay home today.  But that did mean I had to reschedule one home visit.  I did get up and get the kids off to school and put some supper into the crockpot.  Now I am off to hopefully take a nice long nap.  I am not sure I will make it to church tonight unless this head ache goes away.   I will check in with you all later once I get rid of this head ache.  Off for a mid-day nap...what a luxury!

I have been stopping by blogs but just haven't updated my own.  Life is crazy.   It is the busiest time of the year for me and things will be sane again in January.  I plan on taking at least a week off in January. 

- MONDAY -

I woke up early and actually had some energy.  This is actually pretty rare, especially since I haven't been sleeping well.  Before going to work I fried and package 6 pounds on hamburger and washed two load of clothes.  I worked from 9:30 until about 7:30.  I got home a little after 8;00.  It is a bit of a drive from my office to my home.  I paid the bills and switched the laundry around.   Then it was off to bed.  Tommy and I read our Christmas book.  We started a great tradition last year we learned about from HeartWomb.   We wrap a Christmas book in wrapping paper for each say until Christmas.  Each night Tommy opens the book and we read.  He loves counting the books each night to see how many days until Christmas.  It is going to be a great memory for us!   I love that we do this every night.  SInce I am out of the house so much working I really cherish the time I can be with the kids and Hubby. 

- TUESDAY -

Up early again and doing ok.  Tired that is for sure.  I was up showered and dressed by 6:30.  I did the laundry and picked up a bit and was out the house by 7:50.  I headed off to Rosemount and did a couple of school observations.  I love observing in the early childhood classrooms.  The kids are so cute and have such energy.  The teachers are great!  One reason I liked it so much as I had though of becoming a teacher in Special Education.  But instead I ended up as a social worker for children with disabilities.   But I love early childhood special education. 

Stopped at the library over my lunch and picked up a couple of books.  And headed back to the office to get busy.   I have a homevisit tonight at 6:00 so it will be another long day.

MrsCatherine has a great entry on her blog about our wants vs. needs.  She reminds us that we are the sum total of our time and how we use those hours.  I wonder what that says about me.....I work too much and away from my family too much. 

We have been reviewing how we have done financially over the year with our new budget this year.  We seem to be right on target.   In November we committed paying off our credit cards and car loans.     We are using the snowball technique.  We pay the minimums on all payments and choose one that we pay an extra $100 on.  Once that one is paid off we roll that extra $100 and the minimum payment of that one onto the next bill.   I really hope we can keep up with doing this.  According to the projection we did, we should be able to have all this paid off by November 2007.  Then we will use the same system to hit the student loans and house.  We have to be debt free by retirement.  We are really working towards that goal, but it is hard with three kids and stuff. 

So I will be adding some tips here and there that have worked for us or that I want to try. 

TIP OF THE DAY: 

I sure wish we would have thought of this years ago!!  It is so simple and so helpful for us.  It was a DUH moment for us.  Each week at payday we put into savings 1/4 of our house payment.  Then at the end of the month when we need to make our mortgage payment it really isn't so hard since we have been setting aside money for it each week.   One of us gets paid every Friday.  It is a great way to know you are on track budget wise, etc.  

IT IS STARTING TO FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS..........

Amy, Tommy and Josh setting up the tree......

The Tree Is Decorate.....

The Stockings Are Hung.....

The Candles Are Lit.....

The Wreath Is Hung....

IT MUST BE CHRSITMAS TIME!!!!

 GOOD MORNING......

I woke up this morning to the house full of Christmas boxes.  ARGH!!   Yesterday was a pretty good day.   I cleaned and did laundry in the morning.  At about 1:00 we left and went to the library, CVS, Target and Aldi.   Once home I made some marinated pork chops, baked pots and veggie.   We had a nice supper and then we watched How the Grinch Stoled Christmas.   I love the remake of that with Jim Carrey.  When the movie was done Tommy and I were heading to bed.   Just then Josh came home and said "let's get the tree up!"  So we stayed up and took all the Christmas stuff out of the attic and set up the tree.   Josh's girlfriend was also over to help with it.   We went to bed after setting up the tree and planned on decorating it today!

Today....hubby wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go to church.  He is still sleeping right now.  I am doing laundry and have supper started in the crockpot!  I have done a load of laundry and will shower and get ready for our day in a bit.   I will be cleaning and decorating for Christmas today.  At 2:00 we have tickets to take Tommy to a play, The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.  I hope Tommy likes it.  We have not taken him to a play before, but we love to go.  

I will spend some time today planning for next week as well.  I have my menu for he week done.  We are working very hard to eat everything in our freezer.  It is almost empty, I probably have about one more week of food in there.  

MENU

SUNDAY - Pea Soup (crockpot) and Rolls

MONDAY - Hamburger Helper and Vegetable

TUESDAY - Turkey Noodle Soup (Freezer)

WEDNESDAY - Baked Chicken Breast (Crockpot - 8-10hrs)

THURSDAY - Brendas Baby Back Ribs (Crockpot: 8-10hrs) - Mashed Pots

FRIDAY - Frozen Pizza and Salad - MOVIE NIGHT

SATURDAY - Rostierre Chicken (Crockpot 4 - 6 hrs)

SUNDAY - Scalloped Potatoes and Ham (Crockpot: 6-8 hrs)

READING......

I am almost done with my book for book group this month.  We are reading, Gardenias by Faith Sullivan. 

I checked out the following books at the library yesterday....

1.  Claire Knows Best - Tracey Bateman (Christian Fiction)

2.  Creative Correction - Lisa Whelchel

3.  The Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Cookbook - Jyl Steinbeck  (I really like this cookbook and plan on asking for it for Christmas!!)  

I really need do my blog......not much of a Christmas look around here!

Sometimes I just don't think.....every weekend I get so behind because I want to run errands in the morning and get everything out of the way.  Hubby wants to go along, but doesn't get out of bed until 11:00 or so....ws driving me nuts.  So I decided to do all my cleaning and chores in the morning and we can run the errands in the afternoon.  Not my favorite way to do things, but time to be more flexible.  

So this morning I am going to shower and dress and tackle mopping floors, laundry and cleaning.  Last night was a very nice evening.  It was family movie night.   Josh stayed home.  He had two friends over and we all had food and watched a movie (the Wild) together.  I made homemade pizza, wings and salad.  It was a nice time and then I headed to bed. 

Well off to start my day!!  Have a great one!