And the one little duck with the feather on his back

he led the others with a (sing it!) Quack! Quack! Quack!

It has not stopped raining since last week sometime.

Yesterday we had rivers of water running down our streets.

Just last week it was snow.  Yuck!

We WILL be outside working tonight until 10.

I think a big ol'thermos of hot chocolate will be in order.  Don't you?

How do you shop?

Working at the customer service desk at a grocery store gives me plenty of opportunity to watch people as they shop and I have seen it all, from the lady with the stack of coupons to the family that just throws stuff in their cart like the world is coming to an end.

It got me to thinking today, how do you all shop?

As for me, I have to start with a meal plan, see what I have/don't have for that plan, make out my list, get it and my coupons clipped onto my clipboard, grab my calculator, grocery bins and re-usable bags and head out.

I find that we, as a family, save money when I shop this way.  Not only do I stay within my food budget but it seems we get more food for our buck when I am not tempted to throw a few of this and a little of that.  The gas station that I fill the car up at offers you a rebate in the form of a coupon to the store each time you get gas and I make sure to use those when I get my groceries.  Another perk, for me, is the fact that I now have a discount card for the store which gives me 10% off the total of most anything in the store.  For things like electronics or clothing it simply covers the taxes but, when I buy food, I am basically getting 10% taken off the cost of the food (which is very, very nice).

I have only just got this card as I have just, at the beginning of this month, been there 6 months and I decided that the money I save through the card, coupons or those special gas "coupons" was not just going to be saved and forgotten.  I decided to keep track of that money saved and put that amount into a savings account for us.

I don't have a lot in that account since it just crossed my mind to do that once I got the card 2 weeks ago but, I have all ready saved $14.57.

One other thing I have learned from working at Customer Service is ALWAYS check your receipt!!!  ALWAYS!!!  People make mistakes.  Computers err.  Prices can be wrong. Check the prices and check your receipt.  I don't know if the same holds true for the USA but here in Canada we have a scanning code policy.  If the price on the shelf is lower and not what you paid, you (a) get the item for free, if under $10 or (b) get $10 taken off the price of the item. 

I think most places have to give it to you automatically BUT, when you take your issue to Customer Service or talk to the cashier do not allow them to just adjust the price accordingly AND, if they don't mention the scanning code to you, YOU MENTION IT TO THEM.  Mistakes happen more than you think.  It pays to pay attention to your receipts and to the shelf prices. 

So, how do you shop?  What are your best tricks or tips for saving time and/or money?

Is it really almost done?

Those duplexes our church has been rebuilding? The ones my family, including my small children were forced to work on...

The last day of working on them will be tomorrow night.  They will be finished!  Wow!  It feels so weird and so good.

Last night, I spent the night filling nail holes and washing paint splatters off the floor.

Sounds like final touches to me!

Yay!


Lat night as we were leaving Jellybean piped up (in a very tired yet happy voice), "People are going to come from all over to see Manville & take pictures of it, put it in newspapers, on wallpaper, on backgrounds, try fitting it on cookies..."

We erupted in fits of uncontrolled giggles.  Overtired much?

Dear Hallmark

You have a card for most situations.  Today, I would like to thank you that you do NOT have a card suited to the situation we faced this weekend.  At least, I really hope you don't.  That would be sick!

Rush came to visit for the weekend.  She arrived on the bus Friday night at 8:30, came to Manville to help out and, mainly to visit.  We got home, visited and went to bed at midnight.  When B.D. & I woke up Saturday morning, we were pretty certain Rush had snuck out of the house during the night (and come back in the wee hours of the morning).

Rush left our house, suddenly, at 5:30 this morning.  We had our suspicions to keep an ear open while we slept Saturday night. 4:30 this morning something woke B.D. & I suddenly & completely from our sleep.  B.D. went outside as he had set up a way to determine if Rush had left again. He then went downstairs to the room we had set up for her.

Much to our, somewhat, surprise, there in the room with her was a boy she had snuck in and was sleeping with.  I can not begin to explain to you what my heart felt like at that moment. 

Rush decided, at that point, that she was leaving. We made her say goodbye to Jellybean and Bug as there was NO way she was leaving on them in the middle of the night again; we also made her say goodbye to her girlfriend she had asked to sleep over but made to sleep on the couch (while she slept on a queen sized air bed).  As she came to say goodbye to me, I gathered the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I had made her, the puffed wheat cake I had wrapped up for her and the chocolate bar and vitamin water I bought for her bus ride home, told her I had made/bought these things for her and wanted her to have them.  She set them down and cried in my arms while saying 'sorry'.

I. am. devestated. heartbroken. lost.

*Disclaimer: I know I have tried approaching this with a bit of humor but, I have come to realize that if I allow this to consume me or haunt or destroy me.

Hard to say

It's hard to say whether this visit is going good or bad or just as it should. 

There's a lot of tension here. 

It's really hard and heart breaking to sit in this house with my daughter and feel uncomfortable, awkward - to feel like strangers.

But we are.

I don't know who she is anymore.

She absolutely had to go to bed at midnight last night as she was "so tired" but, she ended up staying up until 5:30 this morning doing God knows what.  Did she stay here?  Did she sneak out?  I don't know.  There's nothing I can really do about it anyway - not right now.

She is loving her ability to flaunt all the things my mom buys for her - the things that I can't, at this time, buy for the members of my family.  Things like a $50 bus pass (monthly), $40 nails (monthly), tanning beds, cell phone bill, brand name clothes (monthly), hair appointments and professional hair dye (monthly). 

I will be honest, I am partially jealous.  When I lived with my mom I never got any of those things and it makes me wonder, at times, why she loves Rush more than I?

She wanted to watch a movie with her brother.  The movie she picked..."Finding Nemo".  "Finding Nemo"!  Seriously!  I wonder if that was intentional to see what my reaction would be or if she just wasn't thinking.  For those of you who are knew to reading my blog, you can find out here.

Is it wrong for me to just want things to be back to normal?  To have my daughter curl up on the couch beside me, to be happy for me instead of distancing herself from me and trying to one-up me?

I'm trying to rejoice in the babysteps but I'm a mom and I just want my baby back!

Dream a little dream for me

Rush is definitely coming for a visit this weekend!  She is taking the 6:30 bus which means she will arrive at the bus station in our city at about 8:30 tomorrow night.


I am looking forward to this weekend and anything that it does bring. 

I'll keep you updated but it may not be until Monday.  I am going to spend as much of my time with my girl as I can.

Distractions

or, why I never seem to do what I set out to in the first place.

Last night I went to clean our upstairs bathroom.

I cleaned the mirror.

I washed out the sink and the counter top.

I shook out the bathmat and began to sweep the floor.

As I swept, something caught my eye as it jumped out of my way.

Gross!

It's a cricket.  And he got big running free (yes, we feed our lizard free-range crickets only. LOL).

I went to grab a glass & a piece of paper.  (I know.  I am proving myself to be brave {grin}.)

I caught the little critter and then, adding a couple of his caged companions to the glass, I fed him to Mr.
Fred.  (Mr. Fred was happy to meet them.)

I saws what Bug's room looked like.  I helped him clean it.  I went to help Jellybean with a bit of hers. 

I heard the buzzer on the dryer go off so I folded clothes and got the kids to put them away.

It was their bed time.

I tucked them in and made their lunches for today.

I sat for a moment to put my feet up. My feet liked it so we stayed for about 45 minutes.

It had been a long day so I decided to go to bed.

I went to the upstairs bathroom to wash my face...

...it needed sweeping.

Oh, and it also needed the tub washed and the toilet scrubbed.

I finished what I had started, washed my face and went to bed.

Which reminds me, I am going to need to order somemore of my MaryKay moisterizer.  {sigh}

{P.S. Tomorrow I will have a post showing you how much more crap I mean stuff I found and convinced to leave my house.  Another successful round for me.  Another loss for the clutter king.}

Lookey what I found!

I just happened upon this CD of pictures from 2003 (pre-photoshop elements and lightroom so I will be having fun later). Aw the memories!

Dec 2003. My 7 beautiful children. I love these guys SO much.

Jellybean "reading" at 3 years old.

Bug and my brother.

4 more days or T-minus 8 months

Today marks 8 months since I woke up and found Rush had run away from home. In those 8 months, I have grown and changed a lot. I never imagined I would be able to face another day with strength or joy.

I have. Sometimes...  I miss my daughter.... I don't go a day without thinking of her.

I'm so excited!

Oh, just about started channeling The Pointer Sisters for a second... {grin}  (you know, if I believed in that sort of thing).

Jellybean and Bug are excited too.

Why are we so excited?

  We get our new car tomorrow.  Ok, new is sort of  a push. It is almost as old as I am.  Uh, so not kidding here but this car is in so much better shape than the one we have been driving (which makes us sea sick every day thanks to some computer sensor that no one can fix that make the car lunge, sputter and cough).  The "new" car is an '86 Chevy Caprice and if we tint our windows we will, we've been told, look rather maffiaesque.  Hmmm?  Let's "pimp" that baby up.  :-D

The best thing about this car is, it is paid for completely! With a minor technicality.  We are paying for it with the income tax we get back so we have, in the mean time, borrowed the money from B.Ds parents.  Well that and the fact that you can fit A LOT in the trunk of the car.  We are talking 1 adult sized body and 2 children aged 6 1/2 and 9. {Ahem} Don't ask how we know that or why it was important to know so we could figure out our bulk grocery space.  {grin}

Of tri-fold boards, glue sticks, fancy scissors and pink dolphins

22 hours of work.

1 young lady who worked very, very hard.

$23 spent.

1 mommy who LOVED every single minute of the 22 hours working with her daughter.



$100 of prize money.


What do these numbers all equal? A lot of pictures like this...
(not sure why this picture rotated itself. It wasn't like that in the camera. Weird)





(Jellybean seems to be saying "Shouldn't you be putting that camera away and helping me?")

She did it!

My dear Jellybean's science fair was last night.  She was in for a nerve wrecking surprise when she found out that she had to present it by speaking into the microphone; I think she almost hyperventilated.  :-D

Her project was on pink dolphins.  She bumbled through her presentation with a very red face.

She was the youngest student there - by two years.

She won first place, in the junior division (under 13).  She was in such shock, it took her a minute to even move after they called her name.

Completed

Well some things have been completed anyway.  There are periods in my life where it seems I have a lot of irons in the fire and some may think I do too much.  It's ok.  I don't mind.  Sure, there are moments that seem very stressful but they are just moments.  A few deep breaths and I am all better (probably even a firey prayer or two to really help).

I got a couple of things completed  today.  I am SO happy.  I got the classroom I was asked to work on done.  Well, the painting part anyway.  There are a few odds and ends I still need to do or buy, as budget permits.  But, for the most part, I am done what was asked to be done for next weekend!

Jellybean's science fair is tomorrow!  We are done.  We have been working on and learning about pink dolphins for the last month and it has been so great to work with her.  She is quite the go-getter.

We made an offer on an old car that is in GREAT shape and is way more reliable than the  old car we have now.  It was accepted!  Yay! I am so relieved to not have to drive the car we have much longer.  Just about everything was going wrong or wearing out on it.  I am so very happy.

B.D. leaves Monday morning again (for a week - again).  I will be working on the next skit I have been asked to write.  Really I should have had it done a couple weeks ago but I have had writer's block BAD! Hopefully the blockage has been lifted and I will be able to get that skit out like nothing now.

Happy Sunday everyone! 

Snow Flurries and Blowing Winds

cause cancellation of visit with Rush this weekend.  All involved, including Rush are disappointed by the events that transpired. 

In other news, she seemed like she really wanted and needed her mama this weekend after having a boyfriend (we "knew" nothing about) break up with her.

Baby steps.

Progress...

There's been a lot going on around here.  A lot. 

We are still working on those townhouses that B.D.'s church has been renovating.  They should be done in the next week or two.  Yay!  It is fantastic to see what we started with and where we have taken them from there.

From this...

To this...

And a little of the fun in between...

This picture is particularly funny to me.  These townhouses used to be the place the police in our city were called to.  This was it.  A great percentage of all calls to the police were to this bay.  It was home to drug dealers, prostitutes, gang members.  The elite (shall we say) of the bad were here.  As we were tearing down, cleaning up, clearing out and re-building we would have people stop in the back alley and bang on the doors (or the holes cut in the walls) to get their next fix.  People would walk up to the front door saying "Heh, buddy, you got any (insert drug of choice here).  So, although the situation that resulted in this sign is NOT funny; one of our team putting this on the door reminding us of those times is funny.