It has been a while since I blogged. My computer crashed and I lost my bookmark for this blog. Thankfully someone posted a link to start a blog on here and I was able to find it.
The house search is dismal. Dave Ramsey says to only have a house payment that is 25% of your monthly take home pay. WE have looked at every house in our price range and a bit higher. Nothing!! Today we decided that we are going to look into rentals. They are more in our price range and I think it would be the sensible thing to do for a while. WE have been living in an RV for almost 6 months and it is getting a little close. My furniture, kids toys and personal items have been in storage for 1 year. I think I am ready to have a household again. But I do know one thing, I will be going through everything with a fine tooth comb. I know what it is like to only need the essentials and I know we have way to much of everything. I have been taking stuff to the local thrift store but I think I am going to have a big garage sale after we find a place. Who know, that money might just pay for a new washer & dryer. Of all the things I miss that are in storage, I miss my freezer the most. I have a very tiny freezer on top of the fridge and have to turn my ice cube trays sideways because it is to short.
I have a call into a local real estate agent that handles rentals and she has two that I am interested in. I think renting for a while I don't feel so much pressure to find the "right" or "perfect" house. I can concentrate on area and price. And if there is something I don't really like it won't be such a big deal. I can live with it for a while.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Lizard Skin
We have been studying dinosaurs and today we made Lizard Skin. It is just rice crispy candy on steroids. It doesn't look to much like lizard skin unless you squint. It has peanut butter, marshmallows, and green food coloring. But the kids had a great time.
We hit story time at the library last week. It is geared to younger kids but they always do a neat craft so the kids like to go. This past week as the librarian was reading the last book one of the little kids pulled the fire alarm. They made everyone evacuate the building and wouldn't let us back in. I thought it was interesting that we could see the fire department from the library parking lot but no fire truck ever came. After about 20 minutes the librarian told us we would do the craft next week and we all left. I'm glad we weren't really on fire.
I have been getting organized for next years schooling. DD will be in 3rd grade and DS will be in K. I was going though some worksheets that were grade appropriate and realized that in most things DS should be going into first grade. His birthday is in Dec so I have decided to see how he does and if he should be in first grade by his birthday, I will move him up.
We joined the local art museum today. We joined because I found out they do a homeschooling art group once a month. It would be a great way to meet other homeschoolers as well as learn about art. I cannot really find a homeschooling association that is close. There seems to be some great ones in this state but none that are close by. So I am hoping to meet a few people.
I found a great website for unit studies. It has a few unit studies on it that will be great for DS. Unit studies are when you take one subject and learn all about it using any means or methods. For example. If you are studying dinosaurs, you learn all aspects. Out math worksheets involve dinos, our reading, writing, all involve dinosaurs. You use dinos as the subject of everything you teach. This works great for DS because he some things he is very interested in and is willing to learn all about them.
We hit story time at the library last week. It is geared to younger kids but they always do a neat craft so the kids like to go. This past week as the librarian was reading the last book one of the little kids pulled the fire alarm. They made everyone evacuate the building and wouldn't let us back in. I thought it was interesting that we could see the fire department from the library parking lot but no fire truck ever came. After about 20 minutes the librarian told us we would do the craft next week and we all left. I'm glad we weren't really on fire.
I have been getting organized for next years schooling. DD will be in 3rd grade and DS will be in K. I was going though some worksheets that were grade appropriate and realized that in most things DS should be going into first grade. His birthday is in Dec so I have decided to see how he does and if he should be in first grade by his birthday, I will move him up.
We joined the local art museum today. We joined because I found out they do a homeschooling art group once a month. It would be a great way to meet other homeschoolers as well as learn about art. I cannot really find a homeschooling association that is close. There seems to be some great ones in this state but none that are close by. So I am hoping to meet a few people.
I found a great website for unit studies. It has a few unit studies on it that will be great for DS. Unit studies are when you take one subject and learn all about it using any means or methods. For example. If you are studying dinosaurs, you learn all aspects. Out math worksheets involve dinos, our reading, writing, all involve dinosaurs. You use dinos as the subject of everything you teach. This works great for DS because he some things he is very interested in and is willing to learn all about them.
Househunting
We have been out looking at houses the past few days. I talked to a realtor and told him my requirements and he sent me a list of 10 houses in the area. The first 5 were not that great and they wanted $195K for them. Then we headed to a small town about 20 miles North of here. We saw 2 more that were way overpriced. One was over 100 years old and while the house wasn't to bad the location was the drawback. Then we found one that we will probably go back with the realtor and look inside. It is still to high at $190K and has been on the market for over a year. I just don't want a big house payment. I know where we live the cost of living is outrageous but I still don't want to pay over $130K and would prefer to pay even less. The house we are going back to look at is 4/2 and it is a modular. It was factory built, brought to the lot in pieces and assembled.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Kid's Movies
We took our 2 kids to see Meet the Robinsons this weekend. It was okay, but there were previews for a Nancy Drew movie coming out this summer. My daughter has quite a few ND books and has been reading through them. It looked like it would be pretty good. I will have to look more into it before we decide if we will go see it.
Today was an absolutely beautiful day today. At least it was until early afternoon and then the wind started blowing, and blowing and blowing. Had to close the windows it was blowing so hard.
My DD started coughing a few weeks ago and I was finally able to get her in to see our Dr. The Dr told me something I never thought of. She told me to give her vitamin c before letting her go out to play and as soon as she comes inside form playing that she needed to wash her face immediately and this would cut down on the coughing from the allergies. So we are going to try it!
The days are getting much longer now but we are still freezing every night. High 20's and then it gets up to mid 60's during the day.
Today was an absolutely beautiful day today. At least it was until early afternoon and then the wind started blowing, and blowing and blowing. Had to close the windows it was blowing so hard.
My DD started coughing a few weeks ago and I was finally able to get her in to see our Dr. The Dr told me something I never thought of. She told me to give her vitamin c before letting her go out to play and as soon as she comes inside form playing that she needed to wash her face immediately and this would cut down on the coughing from the allergies. So we are going to try it!
The days are getting much longer now but we are still freezing every night. High 20's and then it gets up to mid 60's during the day.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Winter is Back
We have had such nice weather the past few days. Until last night. Winter is back and it will be in the 20's the next few nights. I can I can pack my shorts away again. The wind was howling and blowing like crazy last night. The forecast called for 25-35 mph wind with gusts up to 50mph. So it got really loud at times with the wind whipping around the house.
So, we had a craft day today. My DD worked on her journal. She has started keeping one and it is really improving her handwriting. My DS and I just read a lot today. I think it is time to go through his books and remove some of them. I think he is getting to old for some of them. Plus we just really don't have the room for them. I have two small bookcases set up in our living room right inside the front door and they are stuffed. I also have their home school workbooks in there as well and I also have two shelves of puzzles that they like to do. I need to reorganize things so we can work better and get more things done.
So, we had a craft day today. My DD worked on her journal. She has started keeping one and it is really improving her handwriting. My DS and I just read a lot today. I think it is time to go through his books and remove some of them. I think he is getting to old for some of them. Plus we just really don't have the room for them. I have two small bookcases set up in our living room right inside the front door and they are stuffed. I also have their home school workbooks in there as well and I also have two shelves of puzzles that they like to do. I need to reorganize things so we can work better and get more things done.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Finally, the potty is fixed.
We have been having problems with our toilet this past week or so. First it had a small leak and then a large leak and then it stopped up and wouldn't go down. We tried everything and finally just bought a new one. Then we didn't have the right parts to install. So, today I drove DH down to the hardware store and we got the right parts, installed it tonight and DS got to break it in right. I am so thankful it is done. You don't appreciate things like flush toilets until you don't have them. I am so glad we don't have outhouses anymore.
Made some chicken tortilla soup today. It came out okay. It tasted great but I when I usually make it, I use my food processor to chop up the onions, tomatoes and green chilies as small as I can. This way the soup is very smooth and creamy. Since I don't have my food processor right now, I just have to cut things as small as possible. Tastes great but has a different consistency.
We decided to grill outside tonight and got everything ready but the wind was blowing so hard we thought it might be dangerous so I ended up cooking inside. When we lived in Texas we usually only had high wind when it was a storm or front moving through. Here it is an every day thing. We have an awning outside that has some holes in it that you set the height with. It is whistling like crazy because the wind is blowing over the holes and making a weird sound. I actually went looking for the noise because it was so loud.
At the local health food store they have those great heating pads that have rice or beans in them that you heat in the microwave and then lay on them or under them. I have had some before but these are great because they have some great herbs in them. I can smell mint and some kind of cinnamon maybe. It is very soothing and relaxing. i also like them because you can go to sleep with one. Usually with heating pads you aren't supposed to go to sleep with one I guess you could get burned without realizing it.
Made some chicken tortilla soup today. It came out okay. It tasted great but I when I usually make it, I use my food processor to chop up the onions, tomatoes and green chilies as small as I can. This way the soup is very smooth and creamy. Since I don't have my food processor right now, I just have to cut things as small as possible. Tastes great but has a different consistency.
We decided to grill outside tonight and got everything ready but the wind was blowing so hard we thought it might be dangerous so I ended up cooking inside. When we lived in Texas we usually only had high wind when it was a storm or front moving through. Here it is an every day thing. We have an awning outside that has some holes in it that you set the height with. It is whistling like crazy because the wind is blowing over the holes and making a weird sound. I actually went looking for the noise because it was so loud.
At the local health food store they have those great heating pads that have rice or beans in them that you heat in the microwave and then lay on them or under them. I have had some before but these are great because they have some great herbs in them. I can smell mint and some kind of cinnamon maybe. It is very soothing and relaxing. i also like them because you can go to sleep with one. Usually with heating pads you aren't supposed to go to sleep with one I guess you could get burned without realizing it.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Long weekend & new recipes
We had a long weekend. DH's plane was supposed to be in Fri pm about 11. Did not happen. Kind of strange, the airline decides to put new tires on his plane before they leave, takes about 4 hours and of course he misses his connecting flight. He was put up in a hotel with no luggage. Arrived about 10am Sat. And then still had no luggage, we had to stay another night to get his luggage. Thankfully they delivered it to the hotel. I'm just glad that nothing was missing.
Got home a day later and have been playing catch up all day today. We have a washer but our dryer doesn't work real well so I wash clothes and then run them down to the laundry where we live and dry them. It does save a bit of money. And much more convenient than washing and drying everything.
I tried some new recipes today. I finally found a potato soup recipe that was pretty good. Even the kids ate it. It was called sour cream potato soup and it was really creamy. Of course we sprinkled bacon and cheese on it. Also made pasta salad. It's not a new recipe to me, I just never made it. I used garden rotini and Italian salad dressing and put in a few sliced olives. My DD like this especially. So, we just had a basic housekeeping day. The kids also did a few crafts. A paint by number and I had found some small wooden birdhouse wind chimes and they painted them as well. They look very cute hanging outside.
Got home a day later and have been playing catch up all day today. We have a washer but our dryer doesn't work real well so I wash clothes and then run them down to the laundry where we live and dry them. It does save a bit of money. And much more convenient than washing and drying everything.
I tried some new recipes today. I finally found a potato soup recipe that was pretty good. Even the kids ate it. It was called sour cream potato soup and it was really creamy. Of course we sprinkled bacon and cheese on it. Also made pasta salad. It's not a new recipe to me, I just never made it. I used garden rotini and Italian salad dressing and put in a few sliced olives. My DD like this especially. So, we just had a basic housekeeping day. The kids also did a few crafts. A paint by number and I had found some small wooden birdhouse wind chimes and they painted them as well. They look very cute hanging outside.
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