Tax Time is Here

We got our federal taxes e-filed yesterday and got our MN taxes sent today.

Two questions for anyone who would know:
We didn't need our charitable giving amount to bring down our taxable amount this year; is it to our benefit to write it in there anyway? Same thing with the school money; should I have put the amount we could have used for a subtraction on there?

I even brought some money in from the mail box today. It was from the dental work Melissa had done. The rest should be on Mike's paycheck next week. We have to pay out-of-pocket for her because that dentist isn't part of our dental plan.

All the taco meat I sent with Mike was gone even though it was 1 1/2# more than they said to send. Today I made him some bars. He'll be picking up milk after work tonight, and when he gets home it'll be "tomorrow" and another new month.

The kids are already wondering what's for supper so I suppose I should get busy and find something. Aaron's been eating me out of house and home lately. I predicted around his birthday that he'd be taller than me by the end of this year, and I think that will come true. His foot has grown four sizes in the past 14 months, and he's already passed up Tracy's height from last March. I'll be next.

A Little Here, a Little There

I see I missed yesterday. I must have been too busy. Ah, yes, we were cleaning in the kitchen. Ha! We cleaned for 20 minutes.

Tonight I went to town early and picked up some flowers. One batch for a friend and another batch for a friend's sister who recently lost her baby. She had to deliver a dead baby. I would be so sad and heartbroken.

I sent taco meat to work with Mike as they're having a taco party.

Time to go; Laura just got up from her nap.

A Fun, Quick Supper

I saw the marshmallows and couldn't resist. "Who wants a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich for supper?" I called out. Amazingly enough, I got a chorus of, "I do!" from my four middle children. It wasn't too bad as far as taste; the marshmallows created that same slippery feeling as bananas do, and they probably have just as much sugar as jam. Oh, and we even had them on "store-bought" bread so the treat was so much better. :) Store-bought bread is such a treat to them. I did take a picture but will have to post that tomorrow if I get it loaded onto Mike's computer.

A First Step

Laura took a step tonight, twice.

Another Lazy Day

Aaron and I had dentist appointments today, and I took some of the girls to Awana. Other than that, we had another lazy day around here.

A Lazy Day

We didn't accomplish much today other than rest, trying to get well. Tracy and Aaron did manage to keep me busy with algebra though.

Prayer, Please

Mike's grandmother passed away around midnight. There's a viewing Thursday and he would like the whole family to go down. However, we have sick kids, and my gut feeling says to stay home with them.

You Know Your Kids are Sick When...

...you ask, "Who wants to go to Dairy Queen after church?" and nobody takes the offer.

We left the older three children home from church today because they're sluggish.

A Crab Baby

Yesterday as Mike and I were sitting in our chairs, Laura went booking across the room sideways, like a crab. You have to understand that she doesn't crawl like a "normal" baby. She uses two arms and one leg, but lately she has been using only one arm and one leg because she's been carrying things around the house. Anyway, Mike and I had a good laugh over that; it was fun to laugh. One of these days she's going to decide to walk, I think.

Some STAGGERING Figures

Here's part 2 of my figures--just for going out to eat on the credit card. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but it will do me some good because we've already dropped the amount we've gone out to eat since last year too.

For out to eat figures, part 1--2007, you may go to this post.

This is for 2006: $3,579.91 total, and $1,115.00 of it was just at ONE restaurant. I'm sure they're happy we kept them in business. :)

I don't think I'll do the other categories.

Three Reasons to Pray

1. God Hears
Proverbs 15:29 ...He heareth the prayer of the righteous.

2. God Answers
Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things...

3. God Gives
Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

These are three of the verses Emily and I worked on this week.

It worked!

Thank you, Abbi! :)

Trying to Link

I'm trying to put a link to Abbi's blog.

My Frugal Purchases

Here are my "frugal" purchases today. I bought five boxes of cereal and some hot chocolate for $5.54. I had just told someone recently I didn't buy this kind of cereal anymore, but I told the kids, "It jumped into the cart and said, "Buy me. Your kids will love it if you do."" (They got a kick out of that.) :) Anyway, the hot cocoa was $.19 and the five boxes of cereal were $1.07 each. I was wishing I had had some manufacturer's coupons, but we don't receive coupons. Oh, I forgot to add the oranges in there. I got 8# of oranges for $2.97 also.

AWANA

While heading to Awana tonight, the van was acting strangely. I had left early to do some grocery shopping but decided to pull into the car place instead. We were running solely on battery power. We had a problem at Christmas time also so the rebuilt alternator we got then did no good except get us home. Plus, we have been using the anti-freeze. After many times of me telling them there was something wrong (almost a year,) they finally found the problem in the radiator. What a day to have it happen. I'm so thankful it happened tonight and not tomorrow on the road with six kids in the car. It's FREEZING (about 20 below) out there! I love living in Minnesota. If we don't like the weather one day, we can stick around for a few more and it will change. :)

National Organize Your Desk Day

I saw pictures on my friend's blog and realized I forgot to do this on Monday. (I also need to learn how to link like she does but haven't taken the time.) This morning I spent 10 minutes working on my desk and area and made a little progress. There's still more to do, but something is better than nothing.

Some Treats

Oh, I stopped at the library on the way home last night to pick up books we had ordered. The librarian gave me a container full of cookies she had made. They were quite cute--fortune cookies she had dipped and sprinkled--and lots of fun to eat.

The first "fortune" I opened said:

The best math problem: 1 cross + 3 nails = 4 given

A Missed Day

Last night I actually went to bed instead of blogging. :) It's a good thing I did because Laura was up again. She didn't sleep well at all, and at 3:30 I just gave up and got up with her. I drove to Fargo, ND today for a dentist appointment for Melissa. She got 3 of 12 crowns. Poor girl--it's amazing how different genes are different because she eats the same food the other kids do and their teeth aren't that bad. Mike's sister and her daughter had the same procedure done so even though my teeth are bad I can "blame" this on Mike's side of the family. Ha! :)

I started going through the credit card statements from eating out last year (2006) and got over my total for 2007 before I hit a wrong button and lost my number about half way through the year. Not good, but we're getting better.


I suppose I should get busy and get kids to bed. Aaron's already asleep; I guess he spent most of the day in bed. He has a slight fever and complained of a head ache.

Some STAGGERING Figures

Baby kept me up all night so I grabbed my credit card statements (we pay it off each month.) Mind you, this is just on the credit card. I also use the checkbook, debit card, and once in a while cash.


Gas stations for 2007--$3,667.86

Out to eat for 2007 (This WILL come down!)--$1,043.48
Mike wants me to compare it to 2006 because he thinks it's less.
My problem is that I LOVE going out to eat because I don't have to listen to kids complaining. Anyway...

Grocery stores for 2007--$2,742.71

I'm scared to look through the checking statements, but I may need to do that. It'll boost my grocery numbers up by a LOT.

Jason Came Home

My son visited Grandma all week. As soon as he transfered from Grandma's car to ours, he started talking about Chuck E. Cheese. Grandma took him and his cousin there while they were visiting. He did mention other things that happened, but that was definitely the highlight.
Not much has been happening here today. I did all the dishes and then found one more after everything was done. :) I got some chicken off the bones for a salad or something and got the roast ready for a stew. I'll have to peel and cook a couple carrots before I make that; the carrots are what the kids enjoy most in a pot roast meal so they eat the whole two pounds I put in.
Only two of the kids are asleep and the daddy is too. I suppose we all should head to bed. Good night and have a great weekend!

Ephesians 2:1-10

1. And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2. in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3. among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5. even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6. and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7. that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9. not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before-hand that we should walk in them.

Here are the Cookies

Here are the pictures of the cookie tray I promised. I noticed that most of what was left was the crispy rice things and sugar cookies. Oh well. I made a pan of fudge that Tracy and Aaron have been enjoying today but forgot to send with Mike.
We're having pizzas for supper. They were supposed to be homemade, but the dough didn't turn out. I added some water and am running it through the bread machine again. It looks better now. We'll have to make "dessert" pizza.
I've been working on my scrapbooking today.

AWANA

Tonight we went to AWANA. As we drove into town, we washed the van (which we had just washed Sunday on our way home) because it got terribly salty driving the icy roads yesterday morning. We dropped Melissa off at Cubbies where the three and four year olds and some five year olds who haven't started kindergarten go. She said her verse very well because she has a star in her book, I noticed. Tracy took Aaron with her because they were having popcorn and it was a good bribe. Emily's learning more and more verses and can out-say me now, I'm sure. I'll have to work on that...
I didn't get the picture card loaded onto the computer before Mike shut his off so I'll have to try to do that tomorrow. I took a picture of the tray of cookies when it came home too because there were several left; usually the tray gets wiped out. (Normally there's more chocolate stuff though.)
Thanks for visiting, and have a great evening!

Cookies

I survived my jury duty; the case resolved on its own. The judge called us in anyway and thanked us for coming. I'm wiped out from getting up so early and driving on icy roads.

Tonight I'm making several cookies for Mike to take to work tomorrow and share. If I remember, I'll snap a picture of the tray and post it in the morning.

A Castle

Tracy received this puzzle from a friend, and she, Aaron, and Mike completed it this evening. Melissa had to join the fun.

A 6th Birthday

Emily had her 6th birthday and here a couple pictures. From us she got a Rubix Cube, and tonight she and I are going to go to a Creative Memories workshop and get her Christmas pictures put into her album.

Tomorrow I've been called for jury duty so that should prove to be an interesting twist to the day. Ugh...I'm not looking forward to it.

Tax Time is Coming

We were thinking about taxes tonight so did some preliminary figuring. We should get back enough to do our kitchen remodel and pay back the kids for our propane for the year. We don't have any debt to pay down so it seems like our money should be able to stretch farther than it does throughout the year. I really think most of it is in groceries which is why I've started my tracker at the grocery stores. I do need to change things with that tracking because we buy most of our milk at the gas station. Maybe next month...

Have a great weekend! We're heading out of town to celebrate a birthday and drop a child off at Grandma's house.

Psalm 33:1-5

1. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.
2. Praise the Lord with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
3. Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
4. For the word of the Lord is right, And all His work is done in truth.
5. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

My Frugal Purchases

Here are my special purchases from today. The sugar was $.99, the pudding $.19, the egg noodles $.39, the chow mein noodles $.59, the cheese $1.00 (I bought around 14 of these as it's $2.00 a pound compared to the normal around $5.00 per pound,) the pizzas were 6/$10.00 which is a good buy up here and a quick, easy, and well-liked meal, and the peanut butter was my prize purchase. I got 24 of them as it was only $.99; it's the brand my kids like the best though I don't normally cater to their tastes unless the prices are similar. I will pay about 10 cents more for it. I'm not sure why I put the chocolate milk in the picture. It wasn't really a "frugal" purchase, but it was cheaper than the price of white milk (and tasted good!)

Grocery Shopping

I enjoy looking at the pictures people post of their "frugal buys" so thought I'd do the same with mine from today. I'm also going to try and post a running total of money spent on groceries for the month because I spend WAY TOO MUCH. Maybe having to write it for the world to see will make me become more aware. I'll post the pictures later after I kick the kids off the other computer and will try to get my running total started sometime. :)

Finger Paint

Here's the recipe I used for the finger paint the girls used yesterday.

1/2 cup corn starch and 3 Tablespoons sugar

Mix corn starch and sugar together in saucepan. Add 2 cups cold water to corn starch mixture and mix a little more. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to clear and thicken (about 5 minutes,) stirring constantly. Remove from stove, cool, and pour into plastic cups. You can add a little food coloring and a drop of detergent to each cup.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a great 2008!