Last post before the Holiday...

Hello all... sorry my posts have been far a few between as of late! I hope you all are ready for Christmas and have the best Holiday season ever.

I am having my last post 2008 be in the words of the irreplaceable Erma Bombeck, my Mom's favorite. I think this sums up everything would want to tell you about my feeling for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Children of Christmas by Erma Bombeck

"There is nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.Not to feel the cold on your bare feet as you rush to the Christmas tree in the living room. Not to have your eyes sparkle at the wonderment of discovery. Not to rip the ribbons off the shiny boxes with such abandon.What happened?When did the cold, bare feet give way to reason and a pair of sensible bedroom slippers? When did the sparkle and the wonderment give way to depression of a long day? When did a box with a shiny ribbon mean an item on the "charge?" A child of Christmas doesn't have to be a toddler or a teen. A child of Christmas is anyone who believes that Kings have birthdays.The Christmases you loved so well are gone. What happened? Maybe they diminished the year you decided to have your Christmas cards printed to send to 1,500 of your "closest friends and dearest obligations." You got too busy to sign your own name. Maybe it was the year you discovered the traditional Christmas tree was a fire hazard and the needles had to be vacuumed every three hours and you traded its holiday aroma for a silver one that revolved, changed colors, played "Silent Night" and snowed on itself.Or the year it got to be too much trouble to sit around the table and put popcorn and cranberries on a string. Possibly you lost your childhood the year you solved your gift problems neatly and coldly with a checkbook.Think about it. It might have been the year you were too rushed to bake and resorted to slice-and-bake with no nonsense. Who needs a bowl to clean -- or lick?Most likely it was the year you were so efficient in paying back all your party obligations. A wonderful little caterer did it for you for $3 per person.Children of Christmas are givers. That's what the day is for. They give thanks, love, gratitude, joy and themselves to one another. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to have children around a tree. It's rather like lighting a candle you've been saving, caroling when your feet are cold, building a fire in a clean grate, grinding tinsel deep into the rug, licking frosting off a beater, giving something you made yourself. It's laughter, being with people you like, and at some time falling to your knees and saying, "Thank You for coming to my birthday party."How sad indeed to awake on Christmas and not be a child. Time, self-pity, apathy, bitterness and exhaustion can take the Christmas out of the child, but you cannot take the child out of Christmas."

So it's official...

As of the end of school this Friday, I am a homeschool mama!

We are pulling my oldest out of Kindergarten at the half way point for several reasons.. the biggest reason being my son HATES school. I mean he lies awake at night, makes himself sick, cries every morning hates school. Yeah, he's 5. My sons teacher has been wonderful, I couldn't of asked for a nicer teacher. She helped us make this decision.. she professionally thinks my guy is not emotionally ready for what school entails, and he is smart enough to understand he's not like the other kids in that way. It also doesn't help that he has been bullied, had his glasses busted, been called names and had his gloves taken away on a freezing cold day on the playground by a bully.

Maybe I am to blame for this, I have stayed home since before he was born and have protected him like a mother lion. My sons have never even had a babysitter outside our family. I have worked hard to protect them, and apparently the world is set up for kids used to day-care, and bullies, and all the rest. This was probably a huge culture shock to my son and I feel very bad for all of the stress and tears it caused. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I don't think 5 year olds should be stressed.

So for the rest of the year, I'm homeschooling my guy. I'm not sure what will happen next year but I will enjoy the time I am getting back with my son. :)

So are you ready for Christmas? I am and am not. I have the $$ ready, but honestly not one gift bought. The DH and I get my in-laws to babysit and take 1 evening and go to maybe 2 stores and buys EVERYTHING at one time. It works for us, it would make others nuts I know!

I have enjoyed decorating and watching Christmas movies with my boys every night. We have made several batches of cookies and have really had a good time so far this year :)

Well, that's all for now.. please leave me comments.. they improve my self esteem :)

Chow

Right around the corner

Hello! Long time no blog! Sorry, sometimes life seems to collapse on me and I just don't have time to post. Sorry about the delay:)

There is an ice storm of sorts here.. it rained almost all night and it's still sprinkling and the temp. is dropping steadily. Not a good mix for our roadways!

My DH is a high school teacher and is home today. I am a really lucky woman because I have a great husband. He helps me out tremendously and loves doing things with our two sons. Heck, after almost 8 years we still actually LIKE to be around one another so I will consider that a blessing too! So many woman I know can't even tolerate their husbands.. I imagine that would make life so hard.

As the title of this blog suggests, Christmas is right around the corner! I really, really adore Christmas time. The decorations, the music and the festive spirit always makes me feel like a 6 year old again. I consider myself extra lucky to be a Mom to young children at this time because the magic is that much more special.

My oldest had his Christmas program last night for school and boy, that was a great time! What is not to love about 60 + 5 year olds singing "Up on a Housetop"? It was wonderful.

Sorry for such a short blog today, but as I said, the DH is home and I am looking forward to spending time with him.. letting him see what I do all day is always a treat!

Laurie

don't you just LOVE winter?

Hello out there, hope this finds you all well.

I am currently taking a break to write this as my 5 year old is home sick. He's been coughing up a storm and has a fever to boot. No fun.

The weatherpeople are calling for a snow storm this afternoon, saying schools will probably let out early so maybe today isn't so bad to be home anywho.

Are there any homeschoolers out there that could throw some advice my way? Unfortunately, my guy is having a very rough time in kindergarten and I hate the idea of him hating school so early.. even I liked kindergarten and I am world famous for my dislike of school at an early age. Ugh.

How is everyone's Christmas shopping going? My one small piece of advice I would give is USE CASH for your holiday spending. So many people I know are still paying off Christmas's from 10 years ago and the gifts have long been broken or outgrown. I know it has been said, many times, many ways, but is really not about how much you spend.. it's how much you care.

Cash is a way of life in my household. I am in charge of the household finances in my kingdom (scary... I know) and earlier this year I actually switched to all cash. We don't use credit cards, debit cards, or even checks anymore. (I got really pissed at checks this summer when the check system a grocery store was using refused our check. It was fun holding up the line while I dug out my debit card. I had to call a phone number to find out the reason and they claimed it was because we "had written too many checks in one day" and to the system it meant fraud and they wouldn't accept anymore checks from our account. (I had written 3 checks that day). I'm sure that system is meant to protect us but I didn't appreciate the embarrassment of the check getting declined.
I also enjoyed how if my my husband used the debit card and forgot to give me the receipt (or if I forgot to enter my own receipt in) the whole budget got screwed up. So I went to all cash.. for everything. I even use money orders for our bills.

Can it be a pain? Sure.. it's much easier to just do everything online or automatic withdrawal, but it is actually a breeze to manage our budget. I set aside a certain amount of cash for everything, groceries, spending, etc. and when it's gone.. it's gone! It has worked really well for us, and we have actually started SAVING money each month. Awesome.

Until next time, keep the home fires burning! (Ideally.. in a contained area)

Giving it the 'ol college try

Hello out there... not sure if anyone will actually READ this.. but a girl can dream, right?

So I am actually really going to try this blog thing out.. I know I posted a few other entries but I gave up rather quickly on it. My source of inspiration is from other people's blogs. I love reading about other stay at home Moms, and how they do things. There is always one problem tho.. I am USUALY left feeling like a slug when I am done with that days entry. I mean, don't get me wrong.. I am pretty darn frugal.. I watch every cent that is spent in our house, but these woman must possess super powers that enable them to go without any sort of luxury or guilty please.

They sew their own clothes (for them and all of their 9 children), bake all their own breads, never, ever go out to eat, farm their own crops, tend to the cattle as their meat supply.. okay.. I am slightly exaggerating here, but from a girl who actually hears Starbucks calling her name from the car.. it's a bit humbling.

So I wanted to make a blog for not so perfect Moms like me.. with all the respect and reverace to the super Moms... you are the wind beneath my wings.

So here we go, lets start off at the Stay at Home Mom's store of choice.. Aldi's!

Now, I grew up in a suburb of Chicago with well off parents and a mother that would of rather shaved her head than go into an Aldi's. My Mom (R.I.P) was not a snob.. she actually had NO idea what it was like not to have the money to pretty much do whatever you wanted. We lived middle class mind you, not like "Cribs" or anything, but I will get into my parents later on this blog and with my therapist.

My point was, I entered the adult world without one clue how to save money, make a budget, save,.. yeah.. what an interesting ride it's been. So when I first "succumbed" to shopping at Aldi's.. I acted like I was going to pick up a welfare check. When I got inside, I found honest to goodness good food at AMAZING prices. I now should do commercials for Aldi's I revere them so much.

Without snorkin ya, and can honestly say I save over $200 a MONTH by doing the majority of my grocery shopping at Aldi's. When i grocery shopped at Walmart (kinda love Walmart too..) I was spending about $400-$450 a month to feed us all (fam of 4 .. all boys but me) Since I made the "Aldi's switch" I spend about $250 a month.

My secret is the flyer they have out by the door.. you can get amazing deals depending on the specials they are offering, and it can actually give you ideas on menu planning.

So far, the only problem I have had with Aldi's food is the spaghetti sauce.. but I make my own usually anyway.. just because I'm 1/2 Italian and feel guilty if don't.


I am gonna sign off for now, but I'm sure to be typing away again soon.. right now my boys are whispering and that is NEVER a good sign.

lyfe in general

No, I didn't forget to use my spell checker.. I guess this is my feeble attempt to fit in with the "cool kids" of today in blogging. I get text messages that honestly, I have to read about 10 times before I understand what they are trying to tell me. It reminds me of the licence plate game I used to play with my Mom when I was a kid on long car rides.

It occurred to me the other day that I am now, truly, an adult. How is that possible? I take my son to kindergarten and although I went to school quite far from here, the feel is the same and I think "wasn't I JUST here?" Wasn't it just a short time ago I was being driven to school with my new backpack?

Time seems to go sooo sloooooooowly when we are kids. The summer seemed like it was a year in itself. Now I sneeze and 4 years have gone by.

My oldest, as I have stated, has started kindergarten and is gone from 8-3 everyday and my youngest goes to pre-school M-F from 9-11. There is 2 hours where, if I'm not babysitting, I HAVE NO KIDS. I thought this would be awesome, I could get a ton done or perhaps stare at the wall uninterrupted for the two hours. Instead, I find the house eerily quiet and me turning on "A baby story" on TLC, remembering back to the days this all seemed so far away. Anyone else ever get concerned in our line of work about job security? I mean, next year there will be no kids to watch during the day. I have been home since I became pregnant with my oldest due to complications and I'll admit.. the idea of my title of SAHM not existing anymore scares the crud outta me.

Quick thought...

Everyone always asks me "what do you do all day?" My question to them is, how do you do what I do AND work?! I am busy from 5:30am- 9pm with cleaning, dressing, bathing, cooking, driving, school work, etc.

But I wouldn't trade it for the world :)

I guess thats called job satisfaction.

Now... who do I talk to about my pay....

My maiden voyage...

Hello Internet land! This is my very first blog ever.. I actually read about this in "Woman's Day" today ( a HUGE guilty pleasure of mine) and thought "why not?".

A little about myself, I am 30 year old, married for 7 years to my best friend, and have 2 boys who I adore. I am NOT what society thinks of when they think Stay at home Mom. I play drums in an all girl rock band, I have tattoos (2... not huge ones or anything...) I wear jeans and tee- shirts as a rule, and nothing about me is "girly". But, I love cooking, baking, discount shopping (I LOVE Aldi's.. you will see this as we go), going to the park, etc. So as a rule, I don't fit in anywhere lol.

I decided to call this "Tales from the laundry room" because I believe to spend 85-90% of my life in mine. I live with all boys with the exception of one dog and laundry is not a chore really.. more of a way of life.

As I am typing this, I am on hold with the Il tollway authority. They have sent me a violation notice in error, as I have the sacred i-pass. They are trying to tell me I should give them over $200.00 for MISSED tolls. Now, I have the sacred i-pass, so this can be corrected if I ever get taken off hold, but what if I didn't? Apparently they tack on a $20 fine for each missed toll, wait like a year and total them all up and send you a notice. Then, according to the letter, you have 21 days to pay, or go to a hearing in Downers Grove, and if you don't pay, they SUSPEND YOUR LICENCE!!! So bbasically your broke= your toast. Now I know people who had a DUI who did not get their licence suspended. God Bless the State of IL.

In other news, my oldest started kindergarten this year, this last Monday to be exact. This is killing me. He likes school, enjoys the activities, enjoys his new friends and I AM so happy for him but I MISS him!!!!! Thank goodness for his younger brother still being at home with me, but still.. the house is SUPER quiet and I find myself remembering a time when I thought how much I needed a break because the baby took up all my time. What I wouldn't give to be that busy again! Yikes! What am I gonna be like when they go off to college?

The first day I watched as other mothers kissed their children goodbye and walked off the playground like it was nothing, as I fought back tears and smiled at my son, who looked so big to me in his new outfit and backpack. He was excited and proud.. and maybe a little nervous so I didn't think bursting into tears and sobbing uncontrollably would be a fantastic mom move. I just couldn't belive the little baby whose hand wraped perfectly around my finger, who I was afraid to put down so I literaly held him 24 hours a day for the first 2 weeks, was old enough to start school.

As I watched him wave and smile at me as he walked in the building with his class, I realized this was a first of firsts. There will be many first days of school ahead, first dates, first school dances, first time out with the car. I am blessed as he is able to do these things, and I am blessed that he has a life time of excitement ahead of him. The things he will see in this life!

I took my youngest hand, when home, and got out the Winnie the Pooh reciveing blanket he came home from the hospital in. The "baby smell" fainly lingered. Sgh.. Mom was right. Time stops for no one, so enjoy every moment. I'm gonna sign off now, because I have a date to enjoy some time with my youngest :)