Update (sorry!)

Sorry for the lack of updates.
Life has been hectic.
Kiddo has been sick. He's been throwing up nightly for a little while now. We're in process of running a ton of tests to see if we can figure out what's causing him to be so sick. It's so confusing because he's only getting sick at night after he goes to bed. We take all the necessary reflux precautions (no eating 3-4 hours prior to bedtime, etc.) so I hope the tests can give us some results.
Hubby's been on vacation from work this week. It's been nice having him home. We've enjoyed many family activities that we wouldn't normally enjoy together. We all went to see Hop in the movie theater (a very rare treat around here!), hubby & kiddo have went fishing a few times, and we've just been enjoying time as a family. It's nice to be able to have a normal family life, even if it's just for a little while.
We all traveled out of town today to see Kiddo's pediatric orthopedics specialist. The specialist is absolutely amazing. She is very hands-on & is very straight forward with us. We already know most of the things she tells us (like Kiddo can't play any contact sports whatsoever due to his lax joints) but it's nice to be able to go to her & have her know exactly what we're talking about when we say "Kiddo has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome type 2." Seriously, most doctors in our area say something like "I'll have to look that up" when we tell them that.
Anywho, we're in process of getting Kiddo some modified school activities to take the strain off his knees & ankles. He's very unsteady on his knees & ankles and it's due to his joints being lax (he can move his joints in some weird ways). We also found out that Kiddo has lax shoulders, which starts another host of issues we need to watch out for. By the time Kiddo is eighteen & on his own, I think our medical bills will have put a few kids through college.

I've been doing good watching my money. Obviously this week I haven't saved anything due to hubby being on vacation.
I'm also planning my best friends Jack & Jill shower, bridal luncheon, and bachlorette party since I'm her Matron of Honor for her upcoming wedding. It's been fun! I love it! I'm doing things as frugally, but as nicely, as I can. I've been able to make shower raffle gifts out of things I've had laying around the house (things I've won and/or collected over time), I've been able to get the bride-to-be's church hall for the shower for free (even though I'll donate a bit to the church for letting me use the facility), and I'm currently trying to make shower invitations myself on my home computer (hoping it'll be cheaper than purchasing them). I'm really trying! It's a bit harder to do things this way, but it's so much more fun! I'm having a blast!

Sadly, no major contest wins to announce. I'm still waiting for a big wad of cash or a nice, shiny new car to fall into my driveway. Trust me, when it happens I'll tell the world.

I'm off to bed. Five hours on the road today plus a day full of shopping has worn me out.

Update

What a week.

I've been shopping, but I'm proud to say that I've only bought food & a few other necessities. I haven't spent much -- around $50 or so. I was lucky enough to find some amazing meat markdowns on my shopping trip this week so hopefully that keeps us stocked up for a while.

I've also ventured into soap making for my son. If all goes well, I just might try making soap for the three of us to use & stop buying soap from the store. Right now I'm trying an oatmeal soap for Kiddo. I figure the more I can do myself, the less I'll have to rely on the "big man" who runs these stores & imports items from other countries which is slowly stealing American jobs away.

We're a Union family. American jobs are the only way for us. We won't even step foot in our local Home Depot because they hired out-of-state contractors to do the work on that store instead of hiring in-state local workers. I try to avoid Walmart at all costs. 95% of my grocery shopping is done at Kroger. I even buy my gas at Kroger to take advantage of their discount.

For buying the cats stuff, I go to a local health food store & a local pet food store. My cats eat grain-free in an effort to make them healthier.

Anywho, it's just been a heck of a week over here. I apologize for not blogging more. I've been fighting with so many people over so many issues. I hate jumping through hoops. I can't discuss some stuff that's happened yet, though. Let's just say I'm physcially, mentally, and emotionally exhausted & can't wait for these hurdles to be past us so we can get back to some normalcy in our lives.

One thing I can talk about is that my husband's identity is believed to have been stolen. We woke up Friday morning to fraudulent charges on our debit card. We've filed a police report & we're working with our bank to get things reversed. Right now we can't do anything till all the charges clear the account, which may take another couple of days since there isn't nearly enough money in our account to cover the charges that were made. Our debit card has been canceled and blocked by the bank & a new card has been ordered. Ugh, it's just such a headache.

In good news, I got to see my kid brother this weekend. He's home from college on Spring Break. My brother & I are about 8 years apart so we don't have a real close relationship like I'd like to have, but at least we don't hate each other.

Now I need to get back to my duties of laundry, making dinner, cleaning...
Oh, and did I mention we're hoping to have a yard sale in two weeks? Yep, I'm busy.

I've been home for the past two days doing a whole bunch of nothing, which means no shopping!

However, I do need to go to the store tomorrow & hopefully I won't buy anything stupid. I'm currently browsing sale ads & trying to stick to what's on sale and stockpiling a bit as my budget allows. It seems that grocery prices have gone through the roof lately. My budget seems to get tighter as each paycheck comes around.

I guess it makes things a bit tougher when you buy things that coupons aren't common for. Examples are flour, yeast, milk, fresh fruit, meat, etc. Some people are lucky enough to have stores that give discounts/coupons out for those items but, unfortunately, I don't have any stores like that near me. I do most of my grocery shopping at Kroger. Walmart gets very little of my business & I try to shop at the local health food store for things as well. I really wish we would get a Target in this area. Oh, I want a Whole Foods and/or a Trader Joe's too! Ah, maybe one day...

I'm working on getting enough bread loaves frozen so I won't have to make bread for a couple of weeks. You can make bread & freeze it for up to six weeks and the yeast will still be active when you thaw out the bread. I have one loaf of Kiddo's bread frozen already, but seeing as how he eats one loaf a week & the hubby eats 2-3 loaves of bread a week (and I have zero loaves frozen for him) I guess I should get started.

And now I'm off to get dinner ready to go into the crockpot tomorrow. I'm hoping that if I get dinner started tonight that it'll encourage me to get other things done tomorrow... like making bread.

Today's purchases...

Holding myself accountable:

At Kroger:
Pack of chicken legs for dinner. A meal for my family under $2? You bet I'm gonna pick it up!
Bag of organic whole wheat flour for Seth's bread. Yes, I can buy the other stuff, but I try to keep his diet as organic as possible.
Total spent: $5.80

At a local health food store:
Two big cans of cat food. Smokie, my eldest cat, has no teeth so she gets a meal of soft food every day so I can make sure she's eating. Would you believe buying the bigger cans at the health food store is cheaper than buying the individual cans at Walmart? Makes me feel good!
Big bag of yeast. This is the only store that sells this particular size of yeast & it's cheaper to buy it this way.
Coconut milk dessert bars for Kiddo. A need? Not necessarily. A treat for him? Definitely. He hardly ever gets things like that. It came with 8 bars in a pack, so they should easily last him at least that many nights.
A bag of organic gummy bears. Again, a treat. Not necessarily a need. Of course, Kiddo thinks he needs everything in the health food store.
Total spent: $20.60

Please don't smack my hand for buying Kiddo some goodies. I promise that he hardly ever gets goodies like this... maybe once every other month or so. I'd just rather make him goodies than buy them, you know?

Want versus need.

Okay, so we finally paid off our family car that we bought new when my now seven year old son was an infant...

So, now our next goal is to get a bigger, newer family car & let the hubby have the car we just paid off. The hubby's car is just a car that gets him from point A to point B. It does its job, but I'm worried it'll die beyond reasonable repair before the end of the year. It's already in need of new tires & a welding job in order to pass state inspection this year.

I keep trying to win a car, but since that's not happening it looks like I'll just have to save up & buy another car.

I figured up that if we pinch pennies really tightly & the hubby keeps working like he is now, we can save up enough money for a newer car in a few months. I'm hoping to get the newer car before kiddo starts second grade in the fall.

So, this is where you all come in.
You're going to hold me accountable for the money I spend on frivolous things... you know, things we don't need. Obviously food & gas for the cars are necessities and that's where the majority of my budget goes every week. But, lately I've been guilty of buying a pizza to bring home for dinner or something else like that. I know that the small things add up, so I figure if I write it down I can smack myself if I do something naughty.

Help me achieve my goals! Give me a good smack on the (virtual) hand whenever I'm naughty. It'll take me a little while to get going, but I'm hopeful that we can do it.

So now I need to figure up my wants versus my needs.
Kiddo is outgrowing every pair of pants he owns. My kid needs clothes, right? Not many, of course, but enough to get him through about a week (I do his laundry once a week).
Thankfully it looks like his summer stuff from last year should fit him this year. I *might* have to buy new shorts, but I won't know that for a little while yet. It's too cold for shorts right now, anyways.
The hubby keeps ripping holes in his work pants & there are a couple of pairs that are beyond repair...

This may be harder than I thought.
BUT, I can do it!
Please let me succeed...

Early birthday present

Kiddo's early birthday present...

Thomas & Friends LIVE on stage!

He LOVED it! We traveled over 2 hours to go see this, but it was so worth it.

We spent the entire day out as a family. We shopped till we dropped & then went to see Thomas. It was such a cute show!

We sat about 2/3 of the way back in the theater & no flash photography was allowed, but I think my pictures came out pretty good regardless.

I know it's odd that my kid is almost seven and still loves Thomas, but I think a lot of that comes from the fact that his daddy works on the railroad. Thomas is on television one day a week in our area & he always screams with joy when he realizes it's time for his weekly Thomas episode.

A few more pictures from our show for your enjoyment...

Sickness abounds.

Well, we've survived our turn with the flu, which turned into an upper respiratory infection. Makes me wonder if Kiddo had a mutated version of H1N1 since he can't get the actual H1N1 virus again since he's already had it.

Either way, we're on the road to feeling better. I had to get Kiddo an antibiotic which I really don't like to do, but his doctor felt it was necessary.

Kiddo has a birthday coming up in less than two weeks. He'll be seven years old! It doesn't seem like he should be that old already. Time really does fly by when you have kids.

I have a surprise early birthday gift for Kiddo. I can't wait to see his face when he sees his surprise! I'll definitely post about it when we get back.

Kiddo was also enrolled into speech therapy this week. According to his school he has a frontal lisp. The husband isn't too happy about it, but I feel like it'll help Kiddo more than it'll hurt him. He'll start therapy in about a week so hopefully it all goes well. Kiddo isn't thrilled about being in therapy, but I've tried to explain to him that if he works hard & does what he's told then he'll be out of therapy sooner than he thinks.

The husband & I have been talking about enrolling Kiddo into the private Christian school for the next school year. It's really hard to get in to this school so I don't know if we'll be successful or not. The tuition isn't too bad (around $4000 yearly) & I really think it would help him out. Not only do I think he'll get a better quality of education at the other school but I think it'll help keep him healthier as well. Just since Christmas we've dealt with two rounds of bronchitis, scarlet fever, strep throat, the flu, an upper respiratory infection, and a parasite with Kiddo. I understand that kids get sick, especially in public schools, but I just think it's a bit ridiculous.

I suppose I better get my butt in gear. My to-do list seems like it's a mile long today & sitting on my butt isn't helping the list get any smaller.