Weekend is over.

Had a great weekend. Of course Breanna was gone and that always makes me sad. I got to spend Friday with my mom shopping and lunch. Dad also met us for lunch so that was a bonus. Saturday Cameron and I spent the day with the folks and decided to cook out the weather was so nice. We had hamburgers (no turkey, beef...lol), hot dogs, sausage, baked beans, chili and broccoli slaw. It was so yummy! My friend Cindy brought an Oreo Cake, we barely had room for a piece of that. I can not wait until every day is sunny and we can eat every meal outside, starting with coffee in our rockers. Sunday was full of just rain. Can't complain I guess, God is just getting the ground ready for those veggies we are going to plant. Cooked a big Sunday dinner of pork roast, honey glazed carrots, loaded mashed potatoes, corn, heated up those baked beans and finished off the broccoli slaw. Mom and Dad came and ate, Cameron acts like a toddler when my dad comes over. It's like my dad has never seen anything in the house and he has to show him everything and never wants him to leave. Four days of school this week and next week is Spring Break. I'm looking forward to that, but of course Bre' will be gone for 9 whole days UGH! I'll just have to make the most of things with Cameron. Gonna plan our PARENTS group picnic today, it will be next Wednesday for the whole family. If you are in the area get in touch to join us. I've got to get things in order for child support today. October I turned in about $8,000 in medical receipts and finally got notice of review in the mail Saturday. I probably have another $5,000 to turn in. Every time we get to this point I get so mad at the situation. Such a shame to miss out on your child's life because of money. If you have a child that you don't watch grow up, I just want you to know you are truly missing out on tons of blessings. Enough said. Well I need to get things going around here and make this a productive day. Hope everyone has a blessed day and remember to thank God for your blessings.

Just a good day, what can I say?!

Today was a good day! I took the kids to school so Cameron could take his Science Project without breaking his neck on the bus. This was a treat for them, it amazes me how much a child looks forward to riding the bus until they have to ride it, lol. While driving to work, Kevin called me and he got called into work. I love it when God provides extra income. Since our income tax has been delayed due to the bio-mom thinking as usual the rules don't apply to her, my job situation has changed and I've moved to two days a week and hopefully this summer it will be three and Kevin has picked up a few extra hours here and there. Cameron called me while I was at work today to tell me that he only missed two on his spelling test and got and 86. I am so proud of him. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not amazed. When I got home we took Breanna to get her picture made with the Easter Bunny. Of course Cameron didn't want his taken...he's thinks he is too old. We had a really good evening as a family hanging out together. I will be sad this weekend since Breanna has to go on her visit. I plan on keeping busy with Cameron and doing some Spring Cleaning.

Do you ever have leftover BBQ? When I do I usually freeze it for later. Here is an quick, easy, cheap and yummy recipe the whole family will love.

BBQ Pita Pizzas

Pita Bread

Leftover BBQ

BBQ Sauce

Shredded Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take Pita Bread and brush lightly with BBQ Sauce, add leftover BBQ and top with Shredded Cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes until Pita is crispy and cheese is melted.

This is a bargain meal. I buy the Pita Bread with the grocery store marks it down (paid $1.19 for a pack of 6) and keep it in the freezer until I get ready to use it. The BBQ was leftover and the BBQ Sauce was already in the fridge, so no extra cost involved there. I bought a pack of Shredded Cheese for $1.79 and didn't even use but half of the package (so some for another day). Basically we ate for less that $3.00 tonight....AWESOME!

Little tired but I survived.

Well it has been a good day. When Kevin woke up we completed Day 3 & 4 of our spring cleaning schedule. I'm so glad to have even more done than I thought we would. I'll be doing more this weekend and in the next two weeks we should be finished with the inside and we can move to the outside. Hopefully just in time for some warm weather. Can't really complain today was really nice. I didn't get to enjoy much of it because I had a lot I wanted to do. But just think of all the relaxing I can get used to for the rest of spring and summer. Anyway, looks like the rain is moving in.

Tonight I made a chicken pot pie and instead of using crust, I made stove top stuffing and spread over the top. Everyone loved it! I had a friend that used to make hers this way and I wanted to try to make a 100% pantry meal and I certainly did. Time to rotate some products off the shelf.

Everyone has just relaxed this evening and we are about to head to church. So thankful to be going to church...NO ONE IS SICK, YEA! I really hate it when I can't go to church, I'm telling you I really miss it when I don't go. So I guess I'll get off here and get the gang in the car.

All Before 9 AM

I love productive days...kids off to school, I purged my old coupons, clipped all my new ones and filed them away (major job), went through today's grocery store ads and made my grocery list. Now for working on all this mail and deciding what is junk and looking at the budget. Whew, I hope I make it through the day...there is laundry that needs to be done (what's new?). Kevin is sleeping in...so I'm hoping when he gets up we will start on the Spring Cleaning and I can have these other things complete.

Bright and early...only it's not so bright

Well I woke up at 3:20 am and finally decided to get out bed at 4:30 am. I gave it my best effort to go back to sleep but it just wouldn't happen. So I thought I'd be productive and sort through all my unread emails. It amazes me at how many emails a person can receive. Made me some coffee and got my Cinnamon Raisin and Cranberry bread in the toaster, which will be really good with a little bit of peanut butter spread on it. I have an hour until the kids have to get up to go to school. I think I'm just going to enjoy my coffee and toast and make my grocery list until then. Hopefully if Kevin is up for it, we will move our spring cleaning up a day and get some of it knocked out today. I'll have to keep you posted on what productive task we decide on.

Spring Cleaning Schedule

I set this schedule up based on our busy life. I've split it up in workable days and involved each family member where I feel they need to participate. I've just listed areas in the house that I feel could be accomplished easily and not make us feel overwhelmed with our busy schedule.

After each day is finished, we are looking at that particular area and making a list of all repairs and improvements that might be needed. I feel that if we do this then everything looks as though we can actually get to it. I hope this is helpful to you and gives you a way to keep the family involved. By the way, when we are done inside I have a plan for outside as well. I will post when the time comes.

Day 1 - Family
Master Bathroom
Family Bathroom

Day 2 - Pammy & Breanna
Sort Breanna's Clothes

Day 3 - Kevin
Sort Kevin's Clothes

Day 4 - Pammy
Sort Pam's Clothes

Day 5 - Pammy & Cameron
Sort Cameron's Clothes

Day 6 - Kevin & Pammy
Master Closet

Day 7 - Pammy, Kevin & Cameron
Cameron's Bedroom

Day 8 - Pammy & Kevin (I would include Breanna but she will be gone)
Breanna's Bedroom

Day 9 - Kevin & Pammy
Kitchen Cabinets

Day 10- Family
Kitchen
Living Room

Day 11 - Kevin & Pammy
Master Bedroom

Full Speed Ahead

Worked today and it was so great. We moved into our new offices at the Thrift Store/Training Center. It is going to be so nice to interact with the public a little. Of course bookkeeping doesn't need much public contact, kinda speaks for itself, lol. It will be good when all is settled in and the new system is set up and going strong. God is blessing the ministry so much and I'm so happy to be a part of it. Growing faster than every imagined.

Came home just in time for the kids to get home. Cameron jumped right on his homework and told me all about his field trip to the Science Theater. Breanna came home and went right to work at cleaning up her room (this seems to be a never-ending job). Cameron did his chore of emptying the dishwasher and then washed the ones that didn't come clean, while I fixed dinner; tacos and cheesy spanish rice. Since there wasn't but a few dirty dishes he offered to wash those (wonder what happened to him today at the Science Theater?). Breanna and I spent the next two hours going through her clothes as the first step in spring cleaning her room. I got 1 tote and 2 large garbage bags of clothes to get rid of. Believe it or not she has plenty left in her closet and drawers. The kids had a bowl of ice cream for a snack and then got ready for bed.

I'm planning on going through some mail and do some filing tonight. Gotta check all my list and make sure I'm on schedule for everything coming up. I will be posting my Spring Cleaning Schedule on here to give everyone and idea of how we do it so perhaps it can help them get started. Good Luck! Be Determined! Don't Give Up! (that was more for myself, I gotta get this stuff done)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Well last Saturday we made a deal with the kids that if they would help us kick off our spring cleaning then we would treat them to a movie and pizza. For the first step of our spring cleaning we started with the master bathroom and main bathroom. We emptied it out completely and cleaned it from top to bottom. Everything got done; ceilings, walls, floor, tub, toilet and cabinet for both bathrooms and it was reorganized. The kids hung in there and helped as best they could. Breanna and I got ready and went to a baby shower, while Kevin and Cameron got ready. We headed to check out the latest movie (bargain saver time) release; Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This was a cute movie and everyone in the family enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend going to see it, especially as a family. Afterwards we headed to Cici's for some unlimited pizza. After a few stops by the store we headed home for bed. It would have been a perfect day except Breanna woke up at 11 pm throwing up and continued to do so up until 6:30 am Sunday morning. Needless to say it wasn't a fun night. We went through 3 sets of bed clothes and numerous blanket. Don't you just love laundry???? Well after making her rest and slowly eat and drink, thankfully she was able to go to school on Monday.

Back On Track

Okay, lots has really happened and I just got to fill you in.

Well January finished with more sickness that seems to be lasting in spurts throughout the household.

February proved to be very loving. Kevin and Breanna attend the Father/Daughter Dance at her school. Cameron and I celebrated by having dinner at one of his favorite restaurants; Biba's Italian Restaurant. This proved to be a good trip because I was able to mimic his favorite dish; Tortellini Gabrielle the following week for dinner. Yum and what a savings.

March so far has just been more sickness and getting in to the spring cleaning thing. Although the most eventful moment is when we filed out taxes only to find out that Kevin's ex-wife just up and decided the rules don't apply to her and claimed Breanna. So with a lawyer on standby and the IRS working on the investigation, we will just wait for that refund. It really amazes me at how she continues to find excuses and ways to justify her illegal and odd behavior. Of course the icing on the cake for this is that instead of being Kevin's fault, she decided the blame should be on me this time. I hope it is worth it, the IRS Agent I spoke with said she could face not only paying back what she got, penalties, interest and perjury charges. Not likely jail time if she cooperates (that is kind of funny).

Oh, I almost forgot two of the biggest changes in our life. With Kevin's support I have begun a support group at our church. It is called P.A.R.E.N.T.S. (Praying and Reaching Everyone's Needs Through Support). We have been meeting every Wednesday since February and just this past week decided to meet the 1st and 3rd Wednesday's of the month (everyone is so busy). This is support/fellowship group for parents of children that may have a learning, mental or health issue. I really felt led to do this since all three of these issues are dealt with in our household and in the last 11 years I have basically not found any group that could just listen or offer advice on situations they have been through. We really wanted to be broad since we don't know what the community need really is, or what God has in store. We want everyone to feel welcome, even if you don't have a child with any issues we feel that daily parenting issues can cause enough grief and maybe just the average parent might want to be a part of our group also. Let me know if you are interested and I will get our information to you.

The next important factor in our life is that God is providing wonderful opportunities for the charity I've been working for the past year. Due to accepted grants, I have gone from 1 day a week to 2 days a week. And hopefully if we get the other grant we applied for it will allow me to work 3 days a week starting some time in the summer. I'm really excited about what I'll be doing and know it is for God. I'm also excited about getting a paycheck. YEA!

Well that should pretty much catch you up on things. I'm sure I left a lot out but I'm planning to really push myself and start this up again...3 times a charm, LOL!