MY LIFE AS A SAHM!!

$100 coupon giveaway

2009-04-13T13:26:00.002-04:00

I now have my own domain name - www.couponqueenofcorning.com

In celebration of this (and making the local paper) I am having a giveaway on my blog. You can enter to win over $100 in coupons. Please come and see my new blog and enter to win at:

HASAY update

2009-04-13T13:21:00.001-04:00

UUUUGGGGHHHH. That's all I can say.

I need to lose this weight and it needs to start now! Easter was not a good day for my diet. All that good food just calling my name! DARN PEEPS!!!!! I have NO will power. I just need to keep the crap out of my house.

Starting right now I will do better. Hopefully I will have time later to take a walk with the kids.

Come read my new blog

2009-03-23T09:40:00.004-04:00

I wanted to invite you all to read my new blog Surviving Unemployment. I will be writing about how we are dealing with the layoff, both financially and emotionally.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T10:16:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year to all those who celebrate the Chinese New Year! May it be a wonderful year of prosperity and health!

2009-01-24T22:43:00.002-05:00

Lyrics to Good Enough... by Evanescence

Under your spell again.
I can't say no to you.
Crave my heart and it's bleeding in your hand.
I can't say no to you.

Shouldn't let you torture me so sweetly.
Now I can't let go of this dream.
I can't breathe but I feel...

Good enough,
I feel good enough for you.

Drink up sweet decadence.
I can't say no to you,
And I've completely lost myself, and I don't mind.
I can't say no to you.

Shouldn't let you conquer me completely.
Now I can't let go of this dream.
Can't believe that I feel...

Good enough,
I feel good enough.
It's been such a long time coming, but I feel good.

And I'm still waiting for the rain to fall.
Pour real life down on me.
'Cause I can't hold on to anything this good enough.
Am I good enough for you to love me too?

So take care what you ask of me,
'cause I can't say no.

Now, if you have read the book or watched the movie, how fitting is this song for that movie? Why, I think they should have just had Evanescence do the whole soundtrack. Haven't heard from them since 2007 so I hope they will be coming out with a new cd soon.

Twilight movie soundtrack

2009-01-24T21:19:00.002-05:00

Here's a vid from Paramour. Although I think it is a good song, I guess it just doesn't feel dark enough for a soundtrack for a vampire movie. Evanescence would have done an awesome song for it....

Oh Christmas Tree

2008-12-21T23:26:00.002-05:00

Our tree looked pretty good when we put it up about two weeks ago. You should see it now! LOL. The thing has some problems! Our one year old and two year old find it amusing to play near the tree, under the tree, around the tree, and of course put their own small toys IN the tree!

Here's what it looked like in it's prime (2 weeks ago):

And this is what it looks like now:

Did I mention also, that there are no ornaments below like 3 feet? Even the plastic balls they were taking off and playing with. Or they would pull on the balls and try to bring the whole tree with it!!! We can't turn the lights on when the Little Man is awake because then he can see the wires and pulls on them! Little Princess is a little better than her brother. At least she doesn't try to destroy the tree! lol.

We haven't even tried to put presents under there. Right now a majority of them are in our kitchen! Both of the little ones love opening presents, and I really do not want to rewrap presents. I've got enough to do, without having to do that too!

I am hoping that next Christmas we will be able to decorate better and have presents under the tree BEFORE Christmas! The Little Man will be 2 and Little Princess will be 3, so it could happen.... LOL!

Preparing for Christmas

2008-12-20T23:01:00.003-05:00

Christmas is in a few days and things are so busy around here. We are done with Christmas shopping and trying to get cookies and fudge made up. I'm really looking forward to the holidays this year, because Little Miss is 2 and she will really be surprised with Santa and the whole mystery thing.

Little Miss helped me make cookies the other day. She loves to help me in the kitchen, though she is still limited on what she can do and still has problems following directions. Here are some cute pictures of her trying to help and what our kitchen table looks like (we have limited space because of lack of counters so the table is it for all food prepping).

Little Miss had a lot of fun learning how to use measuring spoons and missing the batter. I caught her sneaking a little taste of the dough.... hehe. The cookies we made were chocolate chip and then there is pictured in the last photo. Of course half of the fudge is now in our bellies. LOL.

If you'd like to share pictures or stories of your holiday traditions, please do so in the comments. My readers and I would be happy to come visit your blog.

HASAY Weekly Update

2008-12-08T11:49:00.002-05:00

I jumped on the scale a little while ago and it said 175.5. Wow. I must have cut off an arm or something. LOL. heh. That was definitely NOT right! I moved the scale and got on again and it read 202. So I lost half a pound this week.

Actually that's not bad all things considered. Saturday we went to the Christmas party hosted by hubby's work. There were SOOOOO many goodies. I was very good and I ate 3 or 4 cookies and that its it. This is good for me. I have a big problem with portion control especially when it comes to cakes, cookies, brownies, or anything with chocolate in the name! LOL. Last night I did a lot of house cleaning and then my 2 year old and I made chocolate chips cookies. She LOVES helping me bake. I made a double batch, but only baked up 3 trays. The rest went in a freezer bag. I used to scoop them out and flash freeze them and then put them in baggies, but I would find myself going to the basement freezer and pulling out little round balls of cookie dough. I would eat them frozen! Soon they would all be gone and I would feel like a pig. But I think this way will work better. We shall see.

I didn't get much exercise in for the week, except for cleaning. I'm going to try to get a little bit more in this week. It's just a really busy time because my classes are wrapping up and will have finals next week. I'm also trying to get Christmas cards out and finishing up shopping.

So, here's to a better week!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

2008-12-07T11:50:00.003-05:00

These are wonderful cookies. So tasty and so easy. My family loves these cookies so much I thought I would share it with all of you.

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter at room temperature (1 cup)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (may need a little more)
1 cup quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt (if you use unsalted butter)
1/2 bag - 1 bag of chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla
3. Stir together flour, oats, baking powder and salt and add to wet ingredients. Mix well. If dough is too sticky add more flour until dough is slightly sticky. Add desired amount of chocolate chips.
4. Drop dough by the tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet at least 1 inch apart. Bake for approximately 10-14 minutes.
5. Take out cookies and let rest for about 10 minutes. Then transfer to cooling rack or papertowels.

Hope they taste yummy! I will be sharing more cookie recipes in the next couple weeks as I make them for Christmas.

Smells Like a Burger Joint in Here!

2008-12-07T10:53:00.002-05:00

I am busy cooking up 10 pounds of hamburger and 6 pounds of chicken strips. Why you may ask? There are two reasons. The first is because I decided to do an experiment and only go shopping once a month. We spent almost $150, but will only need to go back to the stores once a week to pick up milk and fresh fruit. You can read more about my Monthly Shopping Challenge here: First Time Shopping for a Whole Month.

The other reason I cook up so much meat instead of just throwing it in the freezer is because it's a time saver. I may be cooking up a lot right now, but when I am trying to make dinner, it is just so handy to have the meat already cooked. All I do is unthaw and throw it in whatever I am making. It is really a great time saver.

What tricks do you use to make dinner easier and/or quicker to get on the table?

I Joined Club HASAY

2008-12-03T22:58:00.002-05:00

I joined this wonderful group of women who are trying to lose weight. I think it will be a good thing to have people to help motivate me to lose this baby weight. You can check the group out here: Club HASAY

1. What motivates you and why do you want to do this challenge? I'm fat! Ok. I'm sure you already figured that. LOL. When I got pregnant with my daughter in November of 2005 I had about 20 or so extra pounds on my body. I should weigh around 135-140 and I was getting up there a littlee over 160. So, when I had her I weighed in around 200 pounds. After that I went down to 180. When my daughter was 6 months we got pregnant again with our son who was born in November of 2007. By the time he was born I was 214 pounds. At my 3 week checkup I was already down to 191 but I started inching back up. As of today I am 202.5 pounds and I HATE IT!!!I have 3 pairs of jeans and they are starting to rip in the seams (again because I'm fat) but I do not want to buy any more.

2. What is your long term goal? My long term goal is to be back at a healthy weight. I'd love to be able to buy any shirt I wanted to and not have to think how the shirt will hang over my hips. Ultimately my goal is to be below 150 pounds and back in a size 8-10 in pants and medium shirts (though I can wear medium shirts they don't always look right - my hips and thighs and stomach are what is gaining the weight. The top half of me doesn't look all that bad, although I could use some toning.

3. What is your short term goal? My short term goal is to lose 20 pounds and I would like to do that within the next 6 months. If I do this I could get back into some of my size 12 jeans!! YEAH!!

4. What tools are available to you? Treadmill, double stroller, Hip Hop Abs videos, another video series of which I cannot recall the name, several Denise Austin videos where she's so bright and cheery that I want to strangle her, a bowflex (though I really don't know how to use it), some free weights, one of those seats that you sit on and work your abs, and a sit-up bench. I have a lot of tools, I just lack the motivation and time.

5. How often can you exercise? There is really no reason why I should not be able to exercise every stinking day! lol. But be realistic. With my class schedule the way it is now (at least for 2 more weeks until classes end) there is no reason why I cannot exercise at least 3 days a week for 30 minutes. I will probably get on the treadmill, but really any exercise will help me.

Also, I am going to try to find ways to squeeze a little exercise in here and there. For instance, tonight while my daughter was in the tub, I cleaned the sink and toilet as usual, and then I did some squats and knee lifts.

6. What do you plan on doing? Exercise is my biggest problem. With my classes, family, daily life (oh and we're in the process of getting loan to build a house) I seem to be pretty busy. But I think this darn computer takes up a lot of my time (if you want proof, go look at the dishes that have been there for 2 days! GASP!) I plan on setting the timer on my cell phone so that I do not spend too much time one here. I do take computer classes, so that I cannot help how much time I need to spend on her for those. But I can for everything else. Here's the breakdown:

30 minutes reading emails and doing Entrecard
60 minutes writing for blogs and AC
30 minutes for reading blogs and commenting, and miscellaneous

In the food department, I will watch my portions. I think that is all I can really do, because I know that if I deprive myself I will only want something more (especially if that something is chocolate). I will then precede to eat the WHOLE batch of no-bake cookies that I will be seduced into making.

7. What has worked for you in the past? haha. I would not suggest doing what worked for me before. I was 170 pounds and went down to 138. I looked good. But I also cheated and took ephedrine. Dang that stuff was great. There is also significant risk in taking them and I know that now.

I will update my blog often with how I am doing with exercising and, of course, my weigh-ins on Mondays. UGGGHHH.

Been a While!

2008-12-03T20:43:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted recently. I have been extremely busy since Thanksgiving. I had tons of work to do for my classes, home stuff to work on, plus my kids were sick. I think things will calm down here at least for a few days. I have a few things to do for my classes, but nothing too overwhelming. I have one week left of classes and then finals week. I'll be glad to have a little break, though I wish it were longer than a month. So much to get caught up and so much I want to get started or want to finish. I don't know how much I will be able to post in the next few weeks with the classes ending and then, of course, Christmas. But I will try to post at least once a week.

Happy Turkey Day

2008-11-27T09:14:00.002-05:00

Would you like to increase your blog traffic?

2008-11-26T09:48:00.005-05:00

Here’s a way to increase your traffic, ratings and backlinks. If you are concerned with any of these things you will want to participate. All you have to do is follow the directions below.

{Start Copy Here}

Rules:
1. Copy paste from {Start Copy Here} to {End Copy Here}
2. Please link back to the person who tagged you and PASS this tag to many of your friends
3. If you have more than one blog, please post this to all of your blogs, the more the merrier.
4. The use of NO FOLLOW on links is not allowed, Let’s all be fair!
5. Remember to come back here at JENNY TALKS (pls. don’t change this link)and leave the exact post url so I can add you to the master list to help increase our rankings and improve our Technorati Authority.
6. Spread the virus.. oooopps I mean the VIRAL LINKING and happy blogging!

BLOGGERS:

#1. Scraps & Shots #2. Simply Jen 3. This and That 4. Fab & Chic Finds 5.A Slice of Life 6. Jenny Talks 7. Tech Stuff Plus 8. Food on the Table 9. Aussie Talks 10. When Mom Talks 11. M oments of My Life 12. My Crossroads 13. A Life in Bloom 14. Because Life is a Blessing 15. Digiscraptology 16. BLOGSILOG 14. Cherry’s Comfort Zone 15. DigiScrapz: Captured Memories 16. Buzzy Me 17. Fab Finds, Etc. 18. Thinking Out Loud 19. Wishing and Hoping 20. PRC Board Exam Results 21. Jobs Abroad 22. My Blog Portfolio17. Race Corner 18. Mommy Talks. 19. Home and Health 20. All Kinds of Me Stuff 21. Ink Baby Studios 22. The Salad Caper 23. Winding Creek Circle 24. Aggie Scraps 25. Momma Stuff 26. We Are Family 27. Gandacious 28. Busynessworld 29. Folcreative 30. Swanportraits 31. Rumination Under The Clouds 32. Consciously Think 33. Sprawt 34. Healthy Skinny 35. Geekyology 36. When Mom Speaks 37. Rumination 38. Amiable Amy 39. Captured on Time 40. Pit of Gadgetry 41. Me and Mine 42. Little Peanut 43. Creative in Me 44. Around the world 45. Pea in a Pod 46. For the LOVE of Food 47. Music of My Heart 48. It’s Where the Heart Is 49. Blog in to Space 50. A Mothers Horizon 51. Simply me 52. Whats Up 53. Comedy Plus 54. Lovin’ Life 55.Ozzy’s Mom 56. Apple and Candie 57. I was once lost in love 58. Pinay in Love 59. Pau’s Big Thoughts 60. Twisted Angel 61. Hailey’s Beat and Bits 62. Living A’ La Mode 63. Bits and Pieces 64. Honey and Daisy 65. Pinay Ads 66. Great Kingkay 66. It’s Naptime 67. Lisgold 68. Signe Says 69. Thomas Web Links 70. Thomas Travel Tales 71. Nita’s Corner 72. Great Finds and Deals 73. Nita’s Ramblings 74. Batuananons 75. Filipino Online Community 76. Healthy Living and Lifestyle 77. CompTechGadgets 78. Nita’s Random Thoughts 79. Make Money Online 80. Erlinda’s Wandering Thoughts 81. Kitty’s haven 82. This and That 83. Shoppaholic girly 84. My Life in this Wonderful World 85. My Online World 86. Joys in Life 87. Journey in Life 88. Tere’s World 89. Jean’s Live it Up 90. Muzikistah 91. Maharot 92. SUPASTAH! 93.Life is a constant journey 94.Amazingly Me 70. Treeennndddzzz 96. otwarteInfo’s 98. AdventureSage 99. in-Tech Revolution 100. LovingMore 101. From Melissa’s Desk 102. denz Recreational 103. Network of Combined Ideas 104. Sheltered Not Shattered 105. Mommying on the Fly 106. Me, Myself and Darly 107. Stay at Home Mom 108. Harmony in Motion 109. My Happy Thoughts 110. Mommyhood is Thankless 111. Life is Random. SO.I.AM 112.Life’s sweet and spices 113. Rainbow Colored Me 114. My Oweini Life 115. All About Mye Life 116. Is it Bedtime Yet 117. Super Coupon Girl 118. My Life…. My Journey 119. Project Wicked Blogs and Reviews 120. Life According To Me 121. WilStop 122. I Love Pixels 123. Cellulitic Bliss 124. Underneath It All 125. Momstart 126. Pinaymama’s Diary 127. My Heart 4 Him 128. 1StopMom 129. Random Chronicles 130. Maeyonnaise 131.Blessings in Life 132. Survivor Mom 133. Sharing my Thoughts 134. Beautiful Language 135. Medical Updates 136. Living in One Income 137. Mommy Elvz 138. elymac&frendz 139. BeinG mYselF 140. Love’s Haven 141. Coupon Queen of Corning 142. My Life as a SAHM 143. Your Blog here

{END Copy Here}

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Consider yourselves tagged!

Contest on my Other Blog

2008-11-24T16:13:00.001-05:00

Hey everybody! I am having a contest over on my frugal blog. There will be 3 winners and prizes include things such as an Olive Garden gift card, Target gift card and EC credits. You can check it out here: http://couponqueenofcorning.today.com/.

12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!!

2008-11-24T15:12:00.001-05:00

Wow. I found this blog that is giving away some wonderful things. Thoughts from the Mrs were giving away a Hot Wheels track set and yesterday it was one of those dolls that go pee-pee in the potty. LOL. Other toys they are giving away are a Fisher Price basketball hoop, Helmet Heroes and My little Pony. Check out the blog:

As always, if you have a question or comment, let me know.

Yet Another Awesome Giveaway

2008-11-23T12:17:00.001-05:00

It must be the season for contests, because there sure are a lot of them going on right now. Jenny Talks is having an awesome contest right now.

These are the things you can win: Money! (who can't use money? lol), EC credits, and ad spots on blogs. So click on the badge above and go visit Jenny's blog. If you have any questions or concerns, leave me a comment.

WOWSA! What a giveaway!

2008-11-23T00:18:00.001-05:00

I somehow happened to stumble upon an awesome contest. Not only is the contest awesome, there is some great posts on there too. Upon reading further, I realized I had been on this blog in the last week. LOL. I look through so many blogs a week that it is really hard to keep them straight. lol. I looked, and sure enough, there was the blog in my Favorites in my To Be Read folder.

So, anyway, table4five is holding a contest where you can win a $100 gift card to the Home Depot! Wow, that is quite the prize. To get one entry, all you have to do is comment and tell her what you would buy with the gift card. Easy Peasy!!!

Someday I hope to do a contest too (hey, a girl can dream can't she?)

Here's the direct link to the post:
http://table4five.net/2008/11/22/win-a-100-home-depot-gift-card/#comment-165239
Bonne Chance!

Spending Too Much Time on the Computer!!!

2008-11-22T21:54:00.001-05:00

Well I've come to realize that I've been spending too much time on this darn thing. Between trying to get more traffic for my two blogs, writing for Associated Content, and school stuff (I am after all a computer major) I am on this dumb thing ALL THE TIME!! I'm not getting my housework done, nor the homework I should be working on.

So I need to do something to cut down on the time I'm on here - except for school related stuff, of course. So, from now on I will limit myself to an hour for blog related activities, half an hour for checking emails and another half hour for writing AC content. Does this sound like a good plan? Hopefully I can follow this plan. This, of course, will begin tomorrow because I've already went WAY over my allotted time for today! lol.

Making Cookie Dough for Christmas

2008-11-22T21:38:00.001-05:00

Christmas is such a busy time and we have so much to do. So, I'm thinking that I should make up cookie dough and put it in the freezer. Normally I would scoop the dough into balls and then freeze, but I think I would be tempted to go down and sneak them. I think instead that I will just freeze the dough in gallon-sized bags and then thaw them out before I need to make them. I have chocolate chips and I know I have at least 2 pounds of butter, so I think I shall start working on getting them done up this weekend. Then after I get some more butter I will do up some more batches - on the weekend - otherwise hubby will eat them all! lol

Just in Time for Christmas

2008-11-22T16:35:00.002-05:00

I have a new blog look for the holiday season. Do you like it? I found two wonderful blogs that have TONS of free templates on them. The background is from The Cutest Blog on the Block and the heading I made. I am in the process of learning how to make backgrounds, but mine aren't very good yet. So, for the time being I will use backgrounds from the Cutest Blog and from One Cute Blog. One Cute Blog even has headings that match the backgrounds. All you have to do is use photshop or other photo imaging program to customize it to your blog. So go take a look at those blogs, and leave me questions or comments if you have them.

I Found a Great Blog

2008-11-21T08:45:00.002-05:00

I recently found and started subscribing to a new blog, called One Hundred Days to Christmas! Every day the blog writer posts a new challenge that gets you ready for Christmas. Today's challenge was sweeping and mopping the floors. The writer is also holding a contest where you can win a $25 LL Bean gift certificate. That's cool, of course. Hopefully it will help her bring in more traffic and readers. If you'd like to read her blog and sign up for a chance to win, click on the link below.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, let me know.

Thank Goodness It's Vacation Time

2008-11-19T22:34:00.002-05:00

I have a break week from school next week and I so need it!!! I'm exhausted. I'm going to get a good night sleep tonight and then tomorrow get caught up on everything I need to do. Of course, the one teacher gave us a big homework assignment to do over break week. Then for my other class, I have to do a Powerpoint presentation on offshoring, read chapter, take chapter quiz, and do a homework paper. Also for this class I have to work on some stuff for my group project - some screen mockups and css stylesheets for our prototype program. So,I have quite a bit to do there.

Then on the home front, I want to get the my filing caught up and make up cookie dough for Christmas and freeze. I also need to get my bedroom cleaned out. We'll see how I actually get done. lol.

Get Paid to Blog!

2008-11-17T11:28:00.006-05:00

I wanted to tell you all about an opportunity that I have taken advantage of and maybe you would like to do so also. I get paid to blog! Really and honestly, I get paid to do something I like to do anyways. You can make $1 per post and get paid for one post a day. Ok. I know what you're saying... That's only $30 a month. Yes, it is. But there is opportunities to earn more. By referring people, you get $5 per referal after they post 10 times. You also get extra for traffic and if your blog has really heavy traffic they will pay you more than the $1 a post. After a certain time period, you can also be approved to have a second blog.

So, $30 a month may not seem like a lot to you, but to me it's quite a bit. I can buy extra food for my stockpile. I can buy myself a nice shirt or pair of pants. I can use the money to pay for my 2-liters of soda every month - I drink about 3 a week - and still have money to put in savings. Or I can use that extra $30 a month to reduce my credit card debt.

The only thing I dislike about the site, is that it is not very customisable. They have TONS of different themes. Some have customizable headings and one of those is what I use. They do not have all the nice widgets like Blogger and other blog sites, but with a little html knowledge and online searching you can customize it to a certain degree. If you decide you would like to start your own blog at the site, and would like me to make you a heading picture, or would like some code to customize your site, please let me know. I would be more than willing to help anyone out.

So, if you would like to see what I blog about, you can go to my blog:
http://couponqueenofcorning.today.com/

Click on this link if you'd like to start blogging for money now!

As usual, if you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Ok. Here are the pictures!

2008-11-16T23:21:00.001-05:00

I admit it. I forgot to come back to my blog last night and post the pictures of the party. Bad me! LOL. Well here they are as promised.

There is a picture of the the little guy before his party and one of him playing with the dump truck that he got as a gift. Then, of course, there is the one of him trying to blow out the candles and one with his face covered in cake.

1st Birthday Party Today!

2008-11-15T20:18:00.001-05:00

Today we had a party for the little guy's 1st birthday. Everything went really well and I think we all had a good time. We bought him a dump truck, and he loved it. We didn't even need to buy him anything else because he loved it so much he wouldn't put it down! lol. We had meatball subs (this is what I make for most parties), Little Guy opened his gifts and then he had his cake and ice cream. He was a mess, but not as bad as his sister was at her first birthday!! LOL. I still need to upload the pictures to my computer later and I will post a few here.

Getting Ready for a Birthday Party for the Little Guy - He's going to be One Years Old!!!!

2008-11-14T16:29:00.002-05:00

Wow. It is truly amazing how time really does fly. My little guy is one today. We are celebrating his birthday tomorrow, so I've been busy cleaning and making the Thomas the Train cake. I couldn't do much for the last week because I was sick and had TONS of work to do for my classes. But, now I am feeling better and ended up staying late to clean and bake the cake.

Today I started decorating the Thomas cake. I will be baking just a normal chocolate cake to go with the Thomas one because the character pans are too small. I have iced the white and black on the cake and just have to do a small bit of yellow and red, and the blue and it will be done. I will post a picture of it when I am done.

So, tonight I still have plenty to do. Here's my list, wish me luck:

while kids take bath - clean sink, toilet, mirror
sweep and mop bathroom
finish up dishes and put away
vacuum living room
finish cake

I will try to write about the party and post some pictures tomorrow night. Until then.

Wow! What a change in the weather!

2008-11-10T15:16:00.002-05:00

Just a couple days ago it was sunny and 70 degrees. Even last night at midnight it was still 42 degrees. Now it is snowing!!! Crazy, crazy weather!!

Here's some pictures of what it looked liked a couple days ago:

Here are some pictures of what it looks like now:

I wonder how bad of a winter we are in for this year. I hope it's not too bad. I don't mind snow, as long as I don't have to go out in it. lol.

How's your weather been lately? Anyone else having weird weather like we've been having here?

Still Sick!

2008-11-09T22:33:00.005-05:00

And the dishes are still waiting! ugghh! I hate when I am sick on the weekends because DH really can't help me out much because he works nights on weekends and has to sleep during most of the day. That means super mom still has to do everything!! The kids seemed to be super whiny and just not on their best behavior - of course! lol.

I was able to get a few things done. We got the living room picked up, clothes taken upstairs (though unfortunately not put away!), stereo and speakers cleaned off and a good vacuuming. While Little Princess was taking a bath I cleaned the toilet and the sink (which I do every time she takes a bath), and also cleaned under the counter because I found mysterious water (still not sure where it came from).

Now I am rally exhausted and just want to crash. But, of course, I can't. I have to work on my homework for my class. It figures that this would be the week she would assign the most work so far! I have 3 things that have to be done by Tuesday.

A two-page report on off-shoring. Of course, I still have to do the research for it, but I could do that in an hour and write it within an hour also.

One question at the end of the chapter that the teacher said would take us about 2 hours. So I figure it's going to take me at least 3!!!! lol

The last thing is to do 2 charts based on something we did last week. I believe this should take less than an hour.

I also need to finish something up for my class tomorrow. I think I will do that first and then work on #2!!! Maybe if I go make some no bake cookies, they will help me stay awake and raise my spirits. I'm really craving chocolate right now!

I Hate Being Sick!!

2008-11-08T19:26:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat yesterday and by the end of the day I was blowing my nose! GGGgggrrrr! This is the not the best weekend for me to get sick. I feel like doing absolutely nothing!!

I have 3 things to work on for my one class - they are due on Tuesday. I should probably finish reading for my other class. Plus the house isn't looking too pretty right now! Quite a few dishes sitting on my counter calling out my name!! In addition, I need to do a lot of cleaning because we are having a birthday party for the little man on Saturday. He will be 1! Believe me. This house is in no condition for people to see it right now! On Wednesday night I will have to bake the cake and on Thursday or Friday decorate it.

Hopefully I start feeling better soon. I can't afford to get too far behind in my classes or even in my housework. If you have any suggestions as to how I can feel better sooner, leave me a comment.

Wow It's Nice Today!!

2008-11-06T16:20:00.002-05:00

In the mail the last few days have been tons of catalogs and ads from store, with toys on sale for Christmas. Who can think about Christmas when it's November 6 and it's almost 70 degrees in upstate NY? Usually this time of the year we are lucky if the high gets to 40 degrees! lol. It's very late for us to be having our Indian summer.Very weird too, since 2 weeks ago it was snowing! Very weird. It's probably a sign that we're in for a bad winter. Can I just hibernate and not go anywhere all winter? lol

When Little Miss wakes up, I am going to take her and the Little Man outside to play in the leaves. Dh and Son are out on our land trying to finish clearing it before winter really does hit us.

How is your weather today?

GET OUT THERE!!!

2008-11-04T09:26:00.001-05:00

NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE VOTING FOR, NO MATTER IF YOU ARE A REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT, OR INDEPENDENT, DON'T FORGET TO GO OUT AND VOTE TODAY!! NO MATTER WHO WINS THE PRESIDENCY, THIS WILL MAKE HISTORY. WE WILL EITHER HAVE AN AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT OR A FEMALE VICE PRESIDENT!! LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD. THOSE WHO DON'T VOTE, DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN.

Too cute!!

2008-11-02T23:20:00.002-05:00

My daughter just turned 2 in August and she is now at that age where she can really start enjoying things. Her last birthday, Halloween and trick or treating and now fall and all the leaves. My husband threw her in a pile of leaves when they were leaving to go to the store today. She loved it! She couldn't stop talking about it for like 5 minutes. Of course, daddy was not too smart and threw her in there BEFORE they went to the store. So there he is trying to brush out the leaves from her hair so they can get in the van. lol. She says more and more every day. She is like a little sponge, just learning so fast. She was pretending she was making pizza for dinner while she was sitting at the kitchen table playing with mommy's measuring cups this afternoon. Too cute. Then she decided she was going to make "cokies" and "pie". LOL.

Lisette

Meal Planning Monday - Nov3 thru Nov9

2008-11-02T23:08:00.002-05:00

Ok. Here is my meal plan for the week.

*Monday*	Tuna patties, vegetable, potatoes
*Tuesday*	Turkey breast, vegetable, stuffing
*Wednesday*	leftovers
Thursday	chili, corn bread
Friday	homemade pizza, salad
Saturday	leftovers
Sunday	chicken and biscuits

I don't always follow the plan to a T, but at least I know that those are the meals that I have ingredients to make and if I don't feel like having something, I can choose one of the other meals. I will be making extra chili to stick in the freezer. I am working on stocking it with meals for those busy days when fast food would have normally been on the menu.

Lisette

Husband went to the grocery store!!!!!!!!

2008-11-02T20:50:00.002-05:00

So, this week we are little short on money and trying to squeeze out everything we can from our freezer and pantry. Dh took our 2 year old daughter to the store with him today and bought too much. He spent almost $28 and didn't get much. He bought her Dora yogurt for $2.69 for a 6 pack!! Holy Moly!!! That's pricey, but at least it doesn't have high fructose corn syrup in it, which is a plus. He also got bananas, apples, a yogurt for him for work, 6 pounds of ground beef at $1.99 a pound, whole wheat tortillas and I think that's it.

I hate when he goes to the store. I can go shopping at Aldi's and do so good. I can go in there with $40 and get enough to feed us for more than a week. Right now we are shopping every week to two weeks, but our goal is to start shopping once a month and then just go once a week to get milk and fresh produce. Once a month shopping takes more planning and I need to work on that .

Lisette

Free coloring pages!

2008-10-31T19:55:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to share a great site for all you readers with young children who love to color. My little girl loves to color, but coloring books can be expensive. I like this site because, first of all, it's free. Secondly, I like it because she can pick which ones she wants to color. Check it out for yourself. Just click on the picture below.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!!

2008-10-31T11:14:00.001-04:00

Looking for Guest Blogger

2008-10-30T11:30:00.002-04:00

Would you like to be a guest blogger? I will provide a link to your site in the introduction and a link on the side of my page if I use your post. Please email me at mylifeasasahm at hotmail.com if you are interested.

DO REALLY NEED CABLE?

2008-10-26T14:56:00.001-04:00

Now that baseball is basically over and the Mets did not make it into divisional play, AGAIN, my husband announced that now we could reduce the cable to channels 2-13. This costs about $10 a month, so our cable and Internet will go from being about $100 a month to about $55. With the main channels we can still watch network television and the kids can still watch PBS. Before we cancel it, we will be taping a bunch of the kids favorite shows like Dora, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Backyardigans, etc.

Saving $45 a month is a big deal. That's my highest credit card payment right there. I could be using that to snowball all our debt and get rid of it quicker.

We won't miss cable too much. We spend way too much time staring at the TV anyway, so it will probably be good for us. Plus a lot of shows can be seen online now. I often watch Heroes online because I somehow forget to watch it. I always watch SNL online because I don't want to watch the whole thing, just the political satire. If we start getting bored with network tv, there is always www.Hulu.com which has older movies and tv shows. Also we can run down to the grocery store and rent a movie from the RedBox for $1 a night per movie. http://www.insideredbox.com/

How much money could you save by reducing your cable or canceling it? By the way, most cable companies have some form of the reduced cable for about $10, but you have to ask them about it.

Flickr Tags: cable,cable reduction,saving money,entertainment

Update on our house

2008-10-12T12:42:00.005-04:00

Well we picked out the modular we wanted and got quotes for doing the land improvements. By the time we have our first closing, it will be at least December or January. So they probably will not be able to start doing land improvements until at least March depending on the weather. So, we are looking at not being able to move until at least May or June of next year. GGgggrrr! This apartment is too small for all 5 of us, but we will make do. A benefit to staying here is that our expenses are lower and we can save more money and pay off a lot of our credit cards.

We will be saving as much as we can between now and the end of the year. Of course we also have Christmas coming up, but I have most people done already and just need to buy 2 larger frames, a gift certificate and a gift for my mom. The kids are started and we are only going to spend $100 on each of them. The little ones will probably share some toys - I already bought them a Baby Vsmile to share ... it was originally $39.99 and I paid $15 for it!!!

The trials of building a home

2008-08-31T01:25:00.003-04:00

So, we were given land by my husband's uncle. We were working with a builder who was going to build us a split-level home with a basement for less than $145,000. We were approved for our loan through Rural Development approximately 3 weeks ago and found out we were approved for $172,000. But because of the higher taxes where the land is, we will need to keep the price of the home under $145,000.
After working with these guys for the last month or so, on Monday they told us that they didn't want to go through the Rural Development approval process anymore. Their excuse: something about a requirement with stamped prints that would cost $750-$1000. In NY state, all plans are required to be stamped anyways. So we still don't know what their real problem was. They tried to get us to go through a regular bank for our loan. There is no way we would go with something that would be more expensive. Our payments with Rural development will be $742 a month including taxes and insurance. How could any bank give us that low of an interest rate? Seriously!
So, now we are back to looking for something else. We are currently considering some modulars that are 27' by 52'. We chose this size because we think that because these are less expensive, we will be able to have our basement. We will also be calling the one other contractor that was on the approved list for this county on Monday. We will see what happens. We also still have the choice of buying an existing home. The only problem with that is that real estate around here has not went down. People are not selling their homes and the ones that are for sale are either something we don't want, overpriced, or gets an offer really quickly.
The thing that sucks is that we have to start the whole process again. But, hopefully something will work out soon. This apartment is too small for all of us.

2008-01-04T02:34:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about how to save more money. I would like to do a no spend month but I think that this is not feasible especially with little ones. What I will do instead is to really think about a purchase before I buy.

Ask myself these questions:
Do I really need it?
Do I have something I can use at home instead?

I'm really debating buying a laptop. I know that I could really use it for school work, especially when ds doesn't want to sleep anywhere except my arms. I am taking 2 internet classes and both rely heavily on computers. I would rather not spend the money as much as I could use one. I think for the time being we will wait. I will need Office 2007 and that will be at least $200 so it may be best that I do not buy one. Maybe after we get income taxes back. There may be some good sales then too.

I think staying home saves us quite a bit of money. We don't buy much and we don't end up spending money on food. I want to start shopping by myself (or with one kid only) beginning next week. Hopefully they will have some good sales. I've heard that there will be a lot of coupons in this week's paper - so hopefully they will be good ones.

Clearane

2008-01-04T02:20:00.000-05:00

It is now winter clearance time and I am finding awesome deals not only for the little ones but also for our 9 yr old. I know that what I buy now cheap helps us later. I got so many clothes last week for them for little money that it is almost crazy how well I did.
Here's some highlights:
pair of sandals for me 1.40
socks for me - 9 pairs total 6.00
ds (7 weeks)
size 12 mos long sleeve shirts 2.00
summer shirts 1.00
sleeper size 6-9mos 3.00
summer jumpers 2.50
winter pant set 3.00
dd (17 mos)
2 dresses (2T and 3T) 6.00 each
shorts for this summer 1.00
shirts $1-$2
ds (9 yrs)
zip up sweatshirt $7
turtleneck $2

Will be going back to Kohl's after the 14th when Raychel and Ryan find out what they are having. Buy the baby a few things cheaply.

trying to keep it all together

2008-01-02T04:12:00.000-05:00

Been struggling lately to get things done lately. Mostly because baby doesn't like to sleep in bassinet. :( Would love to be able to get stuff done but it's just not happening. Right now he is in my arms sleeping while I'm on the laptop. I have a feeling this is going to come in very handy especially when classes begin.

Dh starts a new job tomorrow. He goes in at 7 am. Hopefully he will be able to wake up in time. I'm sure he will.
He will be taking somewhat of a paycut, but it will allow him to take classes towards his associates degree. Once he is trained he will be working weekends, so if need be I could always go back to work - though i don't see that happening anytime soon.

I will be working on a new budget since dh will be making less - mostly because no OT. I just need to find the time to do it.

My new years resolutions:

1. Lose weight :
- my goal is 5 pounds a week.50 pounds total.
2. Make dinner at home - allow eat out day a month
3. get organized

2008-01-01T16:35:00.000-05:00

Article recapping the strike that has plagued our lives for the past half year.......

D-R workers make headlines in '07
Published: Monday, December 31, 2007 8:38 PM CSTE-mail this story Print this page
Editor's note: This is the final installment in a look back on the top seven news stories for 2007. Today's edition focuses on the strike at the Dresser-Rand Painted Post facility.BY Sarah Grossmansgrossman@the-leader.com

PAINTED POST More than half of the 415 employees who walked out of Dresser-Rand's Painted Post facility are now back to work, but the struggle between the union and the company is far from over.The effects of the 16-week strike and the subsequent process of getting union members back to the factory floor continues. And its effects are far reaching.“A work stoppage of this magnitude has a direct impact on the employee, employer, and community,” said Dan Meisner, director of Human Resources. “Nobody wins in this type of situation.”

Striking members stood outside the facility from Aug. 4 to Nov. 29 while their families stressed over bills, unsure of how long the strike would last.“When (salaries and overtime) get taken away and members are forced to live on unemployment, that will have an effect on families,” said Steve Coates, president of the Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine, and Furniture Local 313 union. “They will pinch pennies and kids won't get everything they want and the community suffers as well because there isn't any money for anything.”As for the company, D-R estimated the work stoppage cost $20 million in the third quarter. Also, D-R pulled its application to the Hornell-Corning Steuben County Empire Zone that detailed plans for a $3 million expansion that may have led to 50 new hires.

But even though the picket signs are no longer visible, many struggles remain.“This experience has destroyed the relationship between the company and the union,” Coates said. “It will take a long time to heal.”Recently, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that eight of the union's 11 claims that D-R committed unfair labor practices were insufficient. As a result, members who have not been called back will have to wait until the company finds positions for them. Union members are given preference.

However, Meisner said some members could wait years before positions reopen. The company is currently operating close to pre-strike employment levels and continues to assess its needs on a daily basis, he said.In the mean time, the union's leadership is still seeking a more suitable contract for its members.“We plan to continue the fight and to maintain what we have and get a fair agreement,” Coates said.

Employees currently working at the plant are subject to the terms of the company's last proposed contract which is similar to one voted down by 93 percent of the union membership on Aug. 3.Negotiations will likely be renewed after the first of the year, Coates said.He also remained positive about the results the strike had on the union's membership.
“If anything, the company has made this union stronger,” he said.He explained that the company's goal was to divide and break the union. However, members did not want to throw other members “under the bus” and stuck together. In the end, only 13 of its 415 members crossed the picket line, he said.“Members who have gone back to work continue to support the others and are willing to continue to try to get a fair contract for everyone for as long as it takes,” said Glenn Painter, chief plant steward. “The Local 313 is recognized by the International as one of the most united unions.”

Current happenings

2007-12-20T23:59:00.000-05:00

Well dh is technically still on strike.... almost been 5 months!! This company still doesn't want to negotiate and it should be clear to everyone now that it wasn't about the contract - it's all about breaking the union.

Though we did get some good news - Dh just got a job making about a $1 less an hour but no overtime. He starts on Jan 2. Thank goodness because he hadn't been called back to work yet (they've been on strike since August, union proposed to work under the old contract, company denied, then the company a week later called an impasse = which means that they could call back who they wanted, when they wanted and the employees would be working under the last proposed contract - which essentially was the contract proposed in August). They took back about half the workers so far but the people in there say it is a very bad environment. (you have to ask to go PEE!!!). So he's glad to be out of there. He will be training during 1st shift for a few months and then will be working 7pm-7am Fri, Sat and Sun and getting paud for 40 hours. This is actually great becuase he will be able to take classes to get his associate degree. And if we need me to go back to work we would only need a sitter when he has classes. So, we will have about $500 bring home a week that I will now have to budget. - down from about $700 (he worked OT whenever he could) If it gets tough I will either go back to work or maybe babysit a kid or two. Also have been looking for ways to reduce our spending.

Today I decided to continue taking classes this semester too. I had been working on my associates for computer information technology and had to take the fall off to have our new little guy. I already have a bachelors in history but that's the worse major unless you're going to teach. Plus I've always like computers and feel that that's the job market I need to be in. I'm going to take 2 internet courses for now until dh gets on his normal weekend schedule. I will be deferring my school loans so this will reduce our montly payments by $140.

The baby has been sleeping better - we've been putting him in this little baby seat to sleep for now. Starting next week I will start trying to put him in the bassinet. I want to get him sleeping in it before dh goes to work. I have to say though when I do get him to sleep he does sleep quite a while. I fed him around 8pm last night and laid him down around 8:30. He slept until 3!!! I was amazed. Of course, I didn't get much extra sleep because I didn't go to bed until late. There's just so much to do, plus sometimes I just need quiet time on the computer. We will be paying off what little cc debt we aquired for Xmas (about $150 - all else was cash this year) when we get income taxes back in spring and that will help our budget tremendously. $500 a week seems so low for income in our budget but I know I was making so much less than that when it was just me and ds - about $250 a week - and did just fine. Of course now we have student loan debt, an extra cell phone line (we don't have a home phone) and other debt. Of course with 5 of us now it would be more expensive. More diapers, food, etc.

October budget and goals

2007-10-04T00:14:00.000-04:00

Ok. Our savings goal for October is at least $675. We depleted our EF account and need to build that back up. I've already transferred $300 to our high-yield savings account so now we have $321 in there. I also scheduled to have $25 a week transferred no matter what. I plan on adding the rest by the end of the month.

Grocery budget for October is $70 a week. This includes household and baby products. Luckily we will be receiving WIC, at least for a little while. So that will help with food and formula. I also got 7 free cans of formula from someone through Freecycle. I would highly recommend signing up for freecycle in your area. You can list things you want to get rid of and other people do the same. So that is $280 for the month, but I will list as $300 because I have some coupons for things we use all the time that expire at the end of month, so I will be spending a little bit more right now.

Still on strike

2007-10-04T00:02:00.000-04:00

Well it has now been 2 months since this strike began. 61 days!!!
Dh began receiving unemployment a few weeks ago. He also got the retro unemployment due to the law that the state passed on Aug 15. So, with that and the $300 striker bonus we are doing ok. With the retro we bought a double stroller and car seat, so we are now ready for this baby. Well, as ready as we can be. We are still going to stick to the $60 weekly budget for groceries and household items (this includes diapers) plus an extra $10 a week onto gift card to pay for diapers and formula after the baby is born.

I am really getting sick of all the negativity towards the strikers. Absolutely sick!!!! I really just don't even care if Dh goes back to work there or not. He plans on taking classes up again in January to get his associates as a chem tech. The company are outsourcing some of their work to France, so there is a chance that they will get approved to be displaced workers. Which will mean if they don't let them go back he can go back to school for 2 years and still get his unemployment. I don't have any problem with that. With the $350 or so from unemployment we would only need about $300 more a week and benefits. I would just go get a job. That really should be no problem. Of course there are tons of jobs recently that I would qualify for so hopefully it will still be like that then. Let Dh stay home most of the time (would need sitter only when he had classes and bowling league) and he can do a large percentage of the housework and cleaning. I'll go back to working full time. No prob. Role reversal!!!

So we will see how long this strike lasts. IF it lasts too long after this baby is born and does not look like they will get the extended benefits then he will just seek employment elsewhere.

Monday, August 13

2007-08-13T13:16:00.001-04:00

The strike continues. Dh is driving me crazy! When he is home he isn't doing anything. He has a list of things that he needs to get done but yet he'd rather be watching tv or sleeping, etc. UUGGHHH!!! It's been over a week now that he hasn't been working and I'm ready for him to go back to work. The union will be meeting with DR officials on Wednesday, but who knows if they will actually negotiate or just set a time to negotiate. Supposedly they have had 2 seperate incidences where the ambulance had to go to DR and from what someone said the scabs are doing a lot of cleaning the floor. The machines may not work when the guys return but hey the floor will be sooo clean you can eat off them. lol.
Just trying to get things cleaned and organized for Kiersten's first birthday party on Sunday. Hard to believe she is almost a year old! It's going so quick. wow.
Today's To-Do List:
1. Go mail book
2. Wash dishes
3. Clean counters / stove / table
4. Sweep and mop kitchen
5. Organize kitchen closet
6. Sweep and mop bathroom
7. go get eggs and bread

2007-08-07T15:05:00.001-04:00

Today's to do list:
1. freeze casserole
2. pick up livingroom
3. sweep kitchen
4. wash dishes
5. wash Kiersten's clothes
6. Put away my clothes
7. Put away towels
Hopefully I can finish it all.. especially with dh being home...

Husband on strike

2007-08-07T14:56:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, the guys went on strike on the 4th. We will be ok. I went through and made it so we were only paying the minimums on the bills and I figured out a meal schedule for the whole month. I have $60 a week schedule for food, diapers and anything else we may need. We should be ok for all paper products and cleansing products for at least a month. I stocked up pretty well last month. To make a little extra money I put some of my textbooks online to sell and I plan on putting some Burger King toys on Ebay within the next few days. I have some more books I may list. And hopefully I can get some mystery shops this month.

2007-07-18T16:55:00.000-04:00

- Working on getting dinner started while dd is sleeping. I'm going to cook up extra chicken so I can make chicken broccoli alfredo tonight and chicken quesadillas another night.
- Just looked through bills and set some bills back up that I had to take out last week. Had to skip a few payments that we normally make once a week because DH had a really bad check. Scheduled a transfer of $20 into our high yield savings account for tomorrow. Updated my budget because I know I have to get diapers and wipies tomorrow and that will def go over $30 budget. Looking at saving to buy a freezer along with EF fund of at least $500.. and CHristmas .. and a house... UUGGGHHH
- Going to do my meal planning tonight so that we can go shopping tomorrow night while DH is working.

To do list for Wednesday

2007-07-18T00:55:00.000-04:00

TO DO:
- put away dishes
- sweep and mop kitchen
- vacuum livingroom
- wash dishes
- wash my clothes
- clean mirror
- cut up and freeze chicken
- clean off desk
- figure bills
Hopefully I can get it all done!! :)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

2007-07-18T00:49:00.000-04:00

So, today was our 1 year anniversary. Of course DH and I really didn't do anything because he had to work tonight and we're broke until Thursday. But we plan on going to dinner and a movie this weekend if all works out. Didn't get a lot done today but that's okay. Tomorrow will be a new day. I got some dishes done, picked up the livingroom and cleaned the kitchen.

Intro

2007-07-18T00:45:00.000-04:00

Intro to ME!
I am now a stay-at-home mom to a 9 year old and an 11-month old. Soon we will be having a little boy - in November. I am 30 years old and married to a wonderful man. We live in the southern tier of New York State. I am trying to save money and be frugal so that we can buy a house. So I am sure there will be alot on here about my struggles with that. And of course with the struggles of being a SAHM. When you've worked all your life, it is definitely different not working, but I am adapting.
Lisette