New goals for 2012

50 Goals for 2012
Instead of making a couple of New Year's resolutions I decided to make a list of goals I would like to try and accomplish in 2012. Lets try this again. Some have stayed the same some goals have changed.
1. Be more patient with the kids.
2. Floss everyday.
3. get better at staying ontop of cleaning
4. do more once a month mom cooking.
5. Follow cvs deal scenarios every week.
6. Find a way to exercise regularly.
7. Cut my grocery bill in half with coupons.
8. Re do the bathrooms
9. Finish cleaning/organizing the basement
10. Build my stockpile.
11. Be a better advocate for Eric and Corina.
12. Autism walk 2012
13. Get the kids involved in charity.
14. Continue date nights every other week.
15. keep up with both blogs
16. Continue posting regularly on my blog, and learn how to give my blog a makeover. (Anyone know how?)
17. Spend more individual time with the kids.
18. Stick to a budget.
19. Use Corinas respite care.
20. Spend less money on eating out.
21. Learn how to cook more meals.
22. Plan a family vacation this summer.
23. build a deck
24. paint my bedroom
25. start bartering more.
26. Find a new PCP I love.
27. Decorate our walls throughout our house.
28. Plan one special day per kid during the summer. B
29. Spend a lot of time at the beach this summer.
30. Eat more healthy foods.
31. Take vitamens.
32. Use more coupons.
33. Work with the insurance company to pay for more therapy for Eric
34. Adriana gets braces.
35. Go to church every Sunday.
36. More quality time with the family.
37. Sew more.
38. Use my cricut cake for every birthday.
39. Volunteer more./learn to say no!
40. Say "I Love You" more and give more hugs to all of my loved ones.
41. Start Corina back in dance
42. Older two in sports through the church
43. start a compost bin/rain barrell
44. landscape/raspberry bushes.
45. spend more times on crafts.
46. Organize the house.
47. Go to moms group more.
48. volunteer at church more.
49. Get better at recycling everything that can be recycled.
50. Pay the kindness forward that has been shown to me.

New blog

I have started a new blog for my coupons/money saving tips. This blog will now soley becraft projects recipes/pinterest based.

UGH!!!!!

Since I am home sick stuck in bed I figured now is as ood of time as any to post/ Nothing better to do since there is not much on tv this is the next best thing. One of my babysitting kids has mono. I am starting to think I may have it as well. What a mess my whole body hurts. My throat hurts and I am utterly exhausted. Yesterday my friend Jenny and I went to dinner at Enso. It was amazing. It was so nice to have adult conversation at dinner. I know we eat together as a family and I do talk to Travis but without kids the cnversations usually are a bit nicer. I will say on Christmas eve Travis and I took the kids to applebees they were AMAZING. I never actually stop and think of how well behaved my kids actually are. I know at home they can e monsters but atleast they are good in public. SN: My version of monsters is not normal according to my mom frends.

I was always full of parenting fears. Even though from day one I knew I wanted a big family. I was always afraid I would screw things up. That I would have the wild out of control kids. I have to proudly say I don't sure they can try my patience at times. Like this morning our oldest woke up with an attitude and of course I had to put her in her place. Since then she has helped with lunch and brought me lunch in bed. I really need to take here out one day soon just her and I so she knows how much I appreciate her. She is the one I have the hardest time with. YOunger kids are so much easier to relate to. For instance she has two friends. WHo are siblings. who the one just does not listen the nine year old yells/swears/tries to hit her mom. I let my daughter stay the night over there and she tried coming home with a little attitude. which quickly changed and led her to tell me all the horrible things that girl said/did. Her other friend which I should mention I am friends with both of these parents dyed her 10 year olds hair blonde and lets her wear eyeliner. Granted I do allow Adriana to have a facebook page. We have a lot of family out of state. She does not have free access to it nor does she get on unsupervised. Her friend however is on it all the time. Seeing as I am "friends" with this child I can see what she posts and the thoughts are a lot more grown up then my daughter. Maybe I am being naive of course I do not know everthing in her head. But I never remotley here her talk about those things at all.

I gugess what I am saying is being a very young mother of four. I appreciate my children and think we are on track for a great life. I know I may complain about my husband/family but they Are truly amazing and the loves of my life. I guess I better go to bed. Cold medicine has kicked in enough rambling from me for the day. Hopefully I will have more craft related posts tomorrow. Hopefully the skating rink has wifi.

Another day another post.

I think I am doing wonderful at posting. Today I was in a freezer meal swap at my frind Jenny's It was great. This month was the first time I actually like all of the meals. I made chicken tortilla soup. Hopefully they like it.I think its ok but people seem to like it and I typically have all the ingredients in the house. Here is the recipe with a few minor adjustments.

Chicken tortilla soup
Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (10 ounce) can chunk chicken 1
(15 ounce) can black beans 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, drained
Directions
Open the cans of corn, chicken broth, chunk chicken, black beans, and diced tomatoes with green chilies. Pour everything into a large saucepan or stock pot. Simmer over medium heat until chicken is heated through.

I added a can of cream of chicken soup. Now that I reread this I realized that I did not drain the corn and only put one can of chicken broth. I still think it looked/tasted good. crap hopefully they like it.

2011 goals end results.

50 Goals for 2011
Instead of making a couple of New Year's resolutions, I decided to make a list of goals I would like to try and accomplish in 2011.
1. Be more patient with the kids. **********
2. Floss everyday.
3. Follow fly lady so my house can stay clean.
4. do more once a month mom cooking.************
5. Follow cvs deal scenarios every week. ***********
6. Find a way to exercise regularly.**********
7. Cut my grocery bill in half with coupons.
8. Re do the kids rooms**********************8
9. Finish rearranging kitchen cabinets**********
10. Build my stockpile.***************************
11. Be a better advocate for Eric and Corina.**
12. Autism walk 2011
13. Get the kids involved in charity.
14. Continue date nights every other week.*************
15. NKOTB concert!!!
16. Continue posting regularly on my blog, and learn how to give my blog a makeover. (Anyone know how?)
17. Spend more individual time with the kids. *****
18. Stick to a budget.
19. Use Corinas respite care.
20. Spend less money on eating out.*************
21. Learn how to cook more meals.********************
22. Plan a family vacation this summer.
23. Save money for vegas.
24. Convince travis to go to vegas.
25. Renew our wedding vows. 10 years :)
26. Find a new PCP I love.
27. Decorate our walls throughout our house.***********
28. Plan one special day per kid during the summer. Big plans :)*********
29. Spend a lot of time at the beach this summer.
30. Eat more healthy foods.
31. Take vitamens.
32. Use more coupons.*************************
33. Work with the insurance company to pay for more therapy for Eric
34. Adriana gets braces.
35. Go to church every Sunday.*********
36. More quality time with the family.******************
37. Sew more.
38. Use my cricut cake for every birthday.
39. Volunteer more. *************************
40. Say "I Love You" more and give more hugs to all of my loved ones. *******
41. Start Corina back in gymnastics.
42. Older two in sports through the church
43. Take more pictures.******************
44. scrapbook all the pictures.
45. spend more times on crafts. ********
46. Organize the house.
47. Go to moms group more.******************
48. volunteer at church more.
49. Get better at recycling everything that can be recycled.**************
50. Pay the kindness forward that has been shown to me. *********

26 out of 50 is not as well as I had intended but I also did not think we would be buying a house essentially ruining all summer/vacation plans.I will beginn working on a list for 2012 and see how muchI can accomplish then. Atleast today was a wonderful day. Travis and I talked some things out and hopefully are on the road to happiness again.

Still upset from last night...

But who honestly cares life moves on right. I am up bright and early waiting for my babysitting kids to get here. I did stay up last night and take down the christmas tree,started cleaning the basement and cried a little more. One of those times where I wish I was the old me and not feeling defeated all the time.

Time for somethings that make me happy. Today I will share some christmas pictures and how we look on a daily basis thank God pictures only show the out side. Well here goes nothing.For some reason it is not letting me upload I will try again soon. Maybe I can post a picture off of my pinterest lets se if that works.




This is what my kids woke up to on Christmas morning. The kds loved it Travis said I was a dork and it was pointless oh well they all ate it right. Can't please everyone.



This is Travis and the kids on Christmas eve.He actually wore the hat and had fun with it. The kids really enjoyed it. Its amazing how bi polar our marriage can be. I hwish he would just talk to me and let me know whats bothering him. I do love my family very much and want to make sure we all stay together and happy. We can't go on unhappy its not fair to the kids. Well onto my favorite picture of all.

When things look great on the outside they are a disaster on the inside. THe kids and I stayed home and had a great day. Then Travis comes homes gets upset with me for something I did not think was an issue which leads to everyone upset and crying. Saying to me that he has not gone to darts in awhile because he was trying to want to spend time with us but apparently its not working. From everyone elses point of view we have a great marriage we trust eachother 100 percent which we do it's just not as great when you look deeper into our marriage. I try my hardest to keep it from the kids sadly its not working. I am not sure what to do anymore keep pretending things are great keep being a pta board member volunteer at the school all the time or active in the moms group. I do it because I am appreciated at home I can do no right I never do enough. Can I just quit everything stay home and cry al day because somedays I swear thats what my husband wants.

Sometimes I think I need therapy sadly we do not have insurance I may try and use some of our flexpay money or possibly call out priest. Then again thats where our perfect on the outside will crumble down. Which I am sue my husband will not appreciate. Sorry not much of a positive note today. I did go to the score and score some deals on christmas decorations from next year. I also hooked up the new wii and danced with the kids a good chunk of the afternoon. EVen with the neighbor kids here proving I am indeed a "cool mom" I suppose I better get off here and start working on the basement. My babysitting kids will be here all day tomorrow which leaves me no room to clean then. I am hoping a friend comes and visits tomorrow. I could really use someone to talk to.

Christmas!!!

Christmas is over. Which means tomorrow I will be cleaning/putting toys together fun stuff. I know my last post was a little negative. It was a rough night. Things are a little better for now. Keep your fingers crossed that it lasts.
Best present by far this year was a picture frame collage that Amanda made me.Not the the kind where you put a couple pictures in. I will update and put a picture on when I am not on Adriana's laptdp. While looking at it I could not help but think How the heck did she get all of these pictures. She looks at me and says I took them off your facebook. I know my page is private but it still suprises me that your "friends" on facebook can take and have your pictures printed.
I am really trying to get batter at blogging. Its not as easy as people think. Hopefully now while she's at school I can sneak on her laptop and get some blogging done. I am not too sure how much my husband will like the fact that I can now lay in bed with a computer.he'll get over it right? Ok onto pinterest posts. Here are a few things I have been doing lately.


These are grinch cookies. I made them for a cookie swap. I participated with a friend of mine. We swapped 66 cookies. It made making a cookie platter for Travis' work pretty easy. They all went over well. The kids loved them we will be making these again. More then likely for St Patricks day. I loved how simple they were. Here is the recipe for anyone intersted.

Grinch Cookies Recipe
INGREDIENTS:

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
6 to 8 drops green food color
1 egg
1 cup creme de menthe baking chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, extract, food color and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks.

2. Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

What a day

So today for me has been awful. First of all I decided to have my first floor painted. Which I have to say I love. My husband on the otherhand was less then thriled. He always tells me if you want to have it done then go ahead. So I did well apparently he has an issue with it. Needless to say he is sound asleep and I am the one awake stressed and awake. I have no idea if its the time of year but I feel like I can never do enough. Nothing is ever right. When did we start living seperate lives? The biggest problem is when did I become ok with it?

Other than today Life has been full of ups and downs. Luckily mostly ups. I do still get in way over my head and overbook myself. Possibly to avoid being lonely. Great news I have an amazing new addiction called Pinterest. It is so much easier then blogging for me. I even have a boar for projects I have completed. Which I have great intentions of later posting to my blog. I would also like to figure out a way to get it going so it looks as good as other peoples blogs.

Tomorrow well..... Technically today because it is almost four in the morning and I am still awake only god knows why. Anyhow tomorrow is the day my kitchen gets panited. which means I can finally decorate the house and hopefully be motivated to keep it clean. I struggle with that and am starting to think I am depressed. Now is the time where I wish I had insurance and could get into a Dr's and find out forsure.