Still a financial mess. When will I grow up and get out of this? Stay tuned.

Still have to post pics of the bathroom upstairs. Haven't forgotten!

Still have to open new checking/savings account at the credit union.

Still have to be firm and make DH pay these stupid bills. He has slowly dumped it back on me!!

Still have to decide about Christmas. Thinking of doing Kmart layaway.

Still......

Two of the abandoned new homes subdivisions I pass on my way to work have sprung new life. Can't wait to see what happens! Especially since the first time homebuyer money will be up soon!

Still need to take pics of the bathroom. Will get to it soon!

DD1 turned 17 today! Wow! She can legally see rated R movies. She is very excited about this!

Back to work is going fine. Learning how to pump the car seat again. Those things are heavy! Mainly, feed the baby, change the baby, rock the baby, rinse, repeat!

Can't wait for my first check this weekend, so I can go open my own savings account at the credit union!

Well, tomorrow I go back to work. (The nanny job). Instead of focusing on how uptight the mom is, I have decided to focus on the kids. When I went to visit on Friday to get the run down on the routine from mom, the three year old ran up and hugged me so tight. She missed me so much! I can't wait to spend time with her again! And the baby was really good.

I am still working weekends at the real estate office too, so I guess I am working two jobs! And in November, my friend is opening up his Christmas Store at the mall and I will be working there too!

Still have a few things left on my "to do" list that I did'nt get to. Will try to squeeze in finishing them up. Mostly getting the girls bathroom finished before our German exchange student gets here in two weeks. I took before picks, so I will post when I am all done! The pics of this bath are in my archives. How quickly the kids can tear up a bathroom, it was only two years ago!

That's it. Just, I'm eating M&M's. I guess, to make it financial, I could say I splurged on some M&M's, but whatever. They are good. I love chocolate!

Boy, we are poorer than dirt, but I love being a SAHM again! I believe that is my true calling in life! The weather has been gorgeous, DH is home during the day, so we get to spend more time together, and I have been getting TONS done around the house!

I have proposed to DH another payment plan that includes borrowing from the 401K and turning all the bills over to him. Still waiting for his answer.

This is insane! Our local Hummer dealer could'nt sell his autos any more. So he has become an ARMS DEALER TOO!! Hummers on one side, automatic rifles on the other. I guess its whatever it takes in this economy, but OMG! Got Glocks??

The friend I baby sit for had her baby today, a little early. A healthy little girl.

I had figured up the bills hoping to get two more checks in August. Am hoping to still be able to do some sitting this week so that I still get my check Friday. Will try to sell some stuff on ebay to make up for some of what I will miss from the one on the 28th.

I had applied at the school district for subbing, I just have to drop off my background check form and a $9 money order for them to send it in. Picked up two cleaning jobs that will help out some.

We have a $75 rebate Mastercard coming. Am hoping to use this for food.

$112 dollars later and 3 medications, it looks like our dog did not have a stroke, but has a bulging disk perhaps? The vet can only guess. She has steriods, antibiotics and pain killers. We could have gone for the $2100 spinal work up, but hey, I will be unemployed soon. So we try the cheap route and hope for the best!!

We leave for vacation on Thursday. We rented a condo at "The Lake". If you are from Missouri, you know exactly where we will be! Trying to keep this as frugal as possible, we will probably only eat out once at our favorite restaurant there and maybe one fast food time. Planning on a little boat time, lots of pool time and some family game time! :-) I will search the outlet malls and see if I can find any awesome bargains that I can resell on ebay.

Have a great day everybody! Looks to be a rainy one here! Having our bbq. Not too expensive as everyone pitches in. I guess the most expensive will be the hamburger and brats. I already had the hot dogs.
Anyway, enjoy, whatever you are doing!

There are just those moments in a girls life when you can't get between her and chocolate, ya know??
Took DD3 up to Walgreens and we picked up the 3/$3 special. Yum! :P

Took DD2 to camp last Sunday. I couldn't sleep Sunday night thinking about her in this heat! Right now it is 93 degrees and it is 11:45 at night!! I will get to pick her up Sunday for a short "home" visit and then take her back. I hope she is having fun despite the heat, but I have'nt received any letters from her yet. Will keep you posted!

Hope all you fantastic Dad's out there on the blogs have a spectacular Fathers Day!!

Any suggestions would be helpful! Assuming my position stays as is, this is what I have come up with:

More play doh!
Legos! the girls don't have any. Will look for some in garage sales.
Free movies. Two theaters show them!
She has dollys and a doll house.
Library?
Baking/cooking

Bring em!!!

Just found out one of the little girls I babysit for broke her leg over the weekend. No weight on it for 6 weeks. No swimming, no Six Flags, no park, no playplace. Ugh. My own kids have been in casts in the summer time and I am okay with that part. I am just concerned because mama is waiting to see if she will get the ax for her job and taking more time off to go to the specialist and etc. will not look good. She also came home early on Fri. because she did not feel good, so they had sent her home from work.
Will keep you posted.

On a better note, had a great weekend! Got taken to the winery for my belated "going away party" from my old job. Then we have had graduations and graduation parties! Fun! Tomorrow we are going to an awards ceremony for DD1's Girl Scout Gold Award. This award will help with scholarships! Yeah!

I was buoyed by my two payoffs, but am now back in draggin' land. Seems like the "I need" emergencies keep popping up like crazy with the end of the year festivities. Barely able to juggle and rob Peter to pay Paul. We are still eating in and the cupboard is getting a little bare. We are going to start reaching the freezer burn yum yums soon. June should be a little better as far as the money, but I think that and the "I need" emergencies pop up again!

Enjoying the new job as much as I can. I already got a raise and they have begged me to continue in the fall when the baby comes. I will tell them yes, as prospects of a "real job" are still extremely slim right now. I will tell them we will reassess at Christmastime.

DD1 is doing a German exchange student program. Our student comes in October. I am pleased to say, besides spending money, which she has saved for, all it will cost is the plane ticket. What a relief! We will start fundraising soon!

While my friend Ray is off on her lovely Mexican holiday, I am going to stay at home and catch up on well, lots of stuff! I get a nice vacation this weekend. I am off from Fri to Wed!! And it is a paid vacation. My little family that I nanny for is off for a Florida vacation, so that makes a vacation for me! Today I checked a few of those pesky things off my list that have been staring at me. We had some really dusty air return vents. My daughters dresser needed a nice fresh coat of paint and the office, well, is a mess! I have a lot more cleaning and touch up painting to do, plus some organizing as well. But I am going to do it at a leisurely pace and hopefully spend some fun time with family and friends too!

Have a fun holiday weekend!

Since we are at about $0 in the account, we have been eating from our pantry, freezer. I sure like that DH has been cooking since he has been working from home. I scrounge and he cooks! Hamburgers last night, chicken tonight. Wonder what I will find for tomorrow night??

Mothers Day was nice, even without the high cost! I gave my mom a nice card, DH gave his flowers and candy. Time spent together was the best gift of all!
Love that DD1 gave me a whole bag of Reeses Peanut Butter cups! I am guarding them with my life from DD3!!! DD2 sewed me a cute elephant and gave me flowers and DD3 gave me a candle and some "coupons". The hub gave a box of chocolates and took us to Bread Co for lunch/dinner (had a GC)!
Redeemed my Mypoints for a $25 Red Lobster GC to use for DH for Fathers Day. Searching Craigslist for a golf push cart that rolls your clubs for you. Probably give him that and some GCs. Gotta plan ahead!

I recently was watching an infommercial on the "In-Styler" hair tool. It allows you to straighten your hair, while curling your hair? Anyway, I thought it looked neat and with three girls, we do experiment occasionally with different hair "gadgets". The price was reasonable, $14.99 + shipping, but I am too cheap to really get it. But then I thought about my PayPal account which has some money just sitting in it. Perhaps I could find this cheaper on ebay? So off to ebay I went. Here is where the gullible part comes in, these things were going on ebay for $60+ dollars!!! Holy cow people! Go to In Styler.com and get it for $14.99!! Geeze! So now I am thinking, the infommercial offers 2 for $14.99. Perhaps I will purchase this and sell the other one on ebay and make my money back, plus some. I am just amazed that people do not research before they buy!

Yes, I took the nanny job and now I am working out my two weeks notice. I am cautiously optimistic about the way things are moving. If I hate it by the end of the summer, I will move on and find another job.
More money! Will keep you posted on the transition!

The deed is done, the strings are cut. I wish he could have talked to the HR person before he left, but she was gone. He was right, they asked him to leave immediately and not work out his two week notice.

Now, he is a self-employed business owner. I sure feel like I have jumped off the diving board and I'm not sure if there is water in the pool or not!!

On the upside, the new job is going to pay his health insurance. Did you hear that?????? We have been paying over $800 a month for health insurance. It will be around $1000 for COBRA. And the new company will pay it!! That extra $800 will go a long way toward paying off the debt!!

Now, here's the clincher..... Hang on to your seats..... I am thinking about QUITTING MY JOB TOO!!! How about that??!! I have a job offer that MAY come to fruition in Aug/Sept, until then, a friend of mine (more like a niece, and I helped raise her) has asked me to be a nanny to her kids for the summer (she is having a baby in Aug/Sept'ish and will then be home for 6 weeks). While it is more money, it is more hours too. BUT, since DH will be working from home for most of the week and the kids will be home for the summer soon, this would give me the opportunity to take care of my own kids as well. We could stay over at my girlfriends house during the day and they have a subdivision pool. Plus there is the zoo, parks, Magic House, Six Flags, etc.. The kids are 3 and 5, can talk and do things for themselves and NO diapers!!
And if the other job doesn't work out, my friend says I can stay on watching the baby and the middle one, as the oldest will be off to school.

So.... what do you all think??

For the kids that is! Last one goes back tomorrow! And I have a day off! Can't wait! So many plans and spending money is not one of them!

I have been so busy, I haven't had time to think this weekend. But I did get up early this morning and make a pot of chili in the crock. So yummy! I am so confused by this time change. I hate losing an hour!

DD3 had a DI competition, we placed 5th out of 11. At least we don't have to move on to state. We also had a couple of GS cookie booths. I have been lucky to keep my 20 pounds off, but I sure haven't been able to loose any more!

Did spend on eating out twice yesterday because of the competition, but at least hubby was fed.

I can't believe I missed such an important event!! Three years ago I joined this wonderful blog and I am so glad I did! You guys are awesome and I love all the support you have given this undisciplined debtor! One of my best buds, Thrifty Ray, joined right after me and we have been bloggy BFF's ever since! Here's to you all and all the wonderful bloggers who have since left our little spot, but are still in our hearts! (Contrary, PJMama, DivaJen, Retire@50, I could go on and on!)

I hope everyone has a thrifty and lovely Valentines Day!

Fridays has a buy one get one coupon you can print off and use as many times as you want until March 1.
http://fatwallet.cachefly.net/attachments/2006_tgifriday_cou....
Enjoy!

The kids were off again. I guess I have grown up with the snow, so its "snow" big deal. Having a car that has front wheel drive helps and teenagers to shovel helps too! Here is what we got:

The girls are hoping school will be called off tomorrow. Our school district calls it when it is -30 windchill. I don't think it will get much more than .... -20. Lord, please send these kids to school!