Misc.

You know it's going to be a rough day when the first sound penetrating your consciousness is that of your children bickering. Actually, "bickering" is too mild of a word. How about, "If Mom wasn't in the next room I'd have my hands around your throat and be bashing your head into the floor" That's more like it. And it hasn't gotten any better since I've been up. Sigh...

Well, I did it. Last night I wrote my first piece of fiction since 1993. I just remember the year because I started a story (and never finished it, of course) in the early months of our marriage when Paul was working all day and often all evening and I had not been successful in finding a job yet. I was bored silly, so I remember sitting down with a notebook and pencil. I never did it again until last night for FaithWriters. It really was not that difficult. It's just a silly, 750 word piece about a 30- something gal hoping to find love. I'll be curious to see how it's received by the FaithWriter's community. After that foray into fiction, I may find myself scurrying back to the comfortable land of Devotionals!

Paul got his check today, and as is customary, he called me with the numbers. Things have been so, so tight since the first of the year, and especially in the last couple of months since we started paying these higher insurance premiums. We're regularly dipping into Savings just to cover bills. And that account won't last forever, particularly since that's where the basement funds are coming from. It's beyond stressful. At the same time, my expenditures have gone up. Normally, I budget $350 for food and necessities for every two week period. It's not enough anymore. I know we're not alone and I don't want to sound whiny, because God is providing. In fact, with the last paycheck we were more than $600 short and within 2 weeks Paul had earned more than that in side jobs. So, it does work out - usually. Nobody's starving here yet and we're current on the mortgage. But I've just seen a real shift since I started handling our money two years ago. The shift is not a pleasant one, either! I suppose it's a combination of the economy, as well as increased expenses as the boys are getting older. And it's the insurance, too. Anyway, Paul's numbers today were good. It was so nice to be able to go through our expenses for the next couple of weeks and to not fall short at the end. I get so worked up over finances and it was a blessing to not have that this pay period. Paul sold three AC systems, which was a big help! We'll probably be back to scrambling by the next pay period, but I'm just going to enjoy this one...

I bought Paul some new underwear the other day. There's nothing like getting ready to go out of town to bring on the underwear buying! He's going to camp next week with Ben and David and I suddenly realized that he probably wouldn't have enough undies to make it through the week (I do laundry almost daily here at home, so it's not really an issue here). I ended up having to do the same with Will last Sunday. He's gone this week at Water and Work week and informed me he didn't have any underwear. I strongly suspect they are hiding with his socks, no doubt balled up and stuck between his mattress and the wall, or in the corners of his bedroom...but anyway, I bought this package of undies for Paul. Sam saw it laying on my bed and pointed it and said, "Daddy diapers!" I thought it was cute!

Oh, and back to God's provision: UPS delivered a box this week, which was a surprise to me because I haven't ordered anything lately. It was from Paul's sister. She sent a bunch of her 18 yr old's outgrown clothing, mostly shorts and jeans this time. Will loves it because it's brands that we can't (won't) buy - Billibong, Tommy Hilfiger, Hollister, etc. I'm always grateful for the hand-me-downs and between her and other families from church who pass along their kids' outgrown clothes, there's not a whole lot I have to buy for the boys. We just got several sacks last week, too, that time, mostly for Sam. We do the same thing with the stuff that the boys outgrow. I can't bring myself to sell anything because of all we've been given! Plus, the thought of sitting outdoors all day having a garage sale does not appeal to me at all!

Although, I did sell my diaper pail this week on Craig's List. But that wasn't a gift - I did buy that originally. Sam isn't fully trained yet, but that thing took up so much space in the bathroom that I just wanted it gone and figured we could get by with the regular garbage.

I do have more to write, but I need to get back to my buns. I'm making homemade hamburger buns today. I'm back on my "frugal" kick and I'm trying to figure out ways to save money by buying less. I know buns are only $1.17 for 8, but still - it's cheaper to make them! I also made my own all-purpose cleaner this week and I plan to try to make some bubble bath later. One thing I did was to purchase a whole bunch of 1/2 C size ziploc containers (bowls). I had gotten into the habit of purchasing a lot of prepackaged fruits and pudding cups. They're very handy because of the size and I liked how the boys would actually eat fruit if it was ready to go in the bottom of the fridge. So, I bought these re-usable containers and filled them up with my own pudding, jello, and fruit. They're eating them and it was definitely cheaper (and healthier, I'm guessing) to do it this way.

I'm getting to know the neighbor gal better these days. Her 6 y r old is over here all the time because we have boys at our house and he only has sisters. She just came to the door wanted to know if she could take David with her kids to go see some buffalo at a wildlife refuge nearby. I didn't know we had buffalo in Iowa, let alone so close! He'll enjoy that and best of all, it will separate he and Ben for awhile.

Well, back to my buns!