A Lesson in Savings

As a mother of three and an income of one there are some things we have to save up for. With that said, my hubby and I have tried for several months to take a trip home . 

 Alabama. The kids were so excited and it just never worked out. Some times due to finances, bad timing for his work, in expected circumstances etc. 

While laying down one night trying to sleep my mind started going 90 to nothing! ( I am sure all you moms feel my pain!) 

Anyways I came up with a brainstorm (these usually scare my hubby) 

And I decided we were going to start a Vaca Fund. 

This is from our loose change we have when I find money in the dryer, when we have a few dollars or when we want to buy a new DVD we throw it in there instead.

I ran the concept to the kids and thought this was a good way to teach them that it takes hard work and saving to do certain things.

Also we are trying to go when it would mean more to our families.

Anyeays the girls were so excited about the idea and wanted to pitch in! Each girl has an wearing jar, this is where they receive money for helping out around the house without being asked. Or when they go a day with out fighting back etc 

They each wanted to count their hard and decide how much to contribute. Here they are in action! 

The hubby and I and my dad has added change found, couple bucks here and there and then last night I decided I would count up to see what we have collected after week one  after about an hour of seperating, counting, rolling and all that good stuff we have saved about $100!

I think this is going to be a great lesson for the girls and ourselves! I am thinking about what our next saving up will be for after our vaca finally come to life! 

What would you do? 

Lip Gloss vs. Laptop Round 3

Recap:

Round One:

Lip gloss 1 Laptop 0

Round Two:

Lip gloss 2 Laptop 0

Round Three:

Well we have purchased a external keyboard and an external hard drive.

I have spent several days compressing files and moving them to the external hard drive. Not a easy task for someone who has countless pictures from her biz, school and photo. 

Not to mention the files I have with ALL my school work back dated to Dec 2011 and then all my music,blogs... the list goes on as you can tell.

The external hard drive is a saving grace and though I can not use the keyboard totally yet I can use some. Though it is still a matter of time before it fries my motherboard.

In the mean time my sister was a lifesaver and sent her old computer down for me to use.

YAY!

Bad news....

I have no internet at the house, as it is only a mobile hotspot off my biz phone...

Thus meaning I still have to manage the laptop to use the internet or take a trip to the local library to get any research done for school.

Luckily my phone is a smart phone and I am able to do a lot of biz work via phone.

We have decided to put off buying a new PC or laptop for a while since I have these other options now and I am perfectly content with taking time to make the best choice for all of endeavors in life.

SO...our next step?

Hooking up internet to the house. :( 

Lip gloss: 3 

Laptop: 0

I think we have a winner folks! 

Lip gloss though tiny can have quite a punch when it comes to electronics.

Lip Gloss vs Laptop Round 2

Recap from round one:

Lipgloss was smeared all over my key board

Not as easy to clean up as I thought

Lip gloss 1 Keyboard 0

Round Two:

After my morning of unsuccessful cleaning the keyboard, I texted my grandma to ask my uncle about the problem. She referred me to my dad instead 

So I calk good old super dad to the rescue!

My instructions were to:

1. Price and external keyboard

2: price an external hard drive.

3. Call to see how much it would be to repair mine.

When I got off the phone with him I called several places in town to see what it was going to run me, how long they would need it, and if they could suggest another fix.

I was not so thrilled to hear that EVERY place needed my computer for 3 to 5 weeks and could cost almost as much as it would be to buy a new one AND then tell me that is IF they could even find the parts for it. 

This was not what I wanted to hear seeing my computer is many thing to be and a daily need. 

1. I am an ONLINE student. A computer is the #1 supply for class.

2. I now freelance through the paper so this makes it my job at stake too. 

3. I have WtP which is slowly getting busier thanks to FB.

They DID however tell me that the external hard drive and bypass of the internal keyboard was a good idea.

That would buy me time to make a decision. 

Lipgloss 2: Laptop 0

See what's next in Round 3.. 

Will the laptop step up.. or will it continue to be beaten.  .

Lip Gloss Vs. Laptop Round One

Leave it to my luck to wake up this morning to find lip gloss all over my laptop keyboard!

This mamma was not a happy camper but having 3 kids and ALL girls I have taken make out and off of 1001 things or so it seems. 

Figured no biggie it is the keyboard and it was a thick gloss so it would be an easy clean up.

HAHAHAHAHA!

WRONG!

I wiped it up with a paper towel thinking it would be fine.

Guess what lip gloss is a sticky mess! 

I thought I could get over the sticky mess and go about working on homework business stuff. 

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

WRONG AGAIN!

Come to find out my keys do not work right! 

 

Wanna know what happens next? Stay tuned for Round Two!

Happy 4th!

Happy Fourth! Huge thanks to all the men and women who have made sacrifices to give us a reason to celebrate our freedom today!
Hope everyone is safe and has a great time!
We will be taking the kids to a local park to celebrate the big day as I will be working for the newspaper there!
More on that to come but anyways enjoy!

Peanut Butter Fudge..

When we lived in Alabama my mother-in-law would make peanut butter fudge. I had never had it until she made it for me the first time and let me just say KT was heavenly! 

It is a huge family hit and she could never make just one batch but always had to make several for all of her kids yo have their own pan! Yes my friends it is THAT good! 

Since we no longer live in close enough distance for this scrumcious treat I decided the other day to find an recipe so I could continue the traction here with mg girls. 

So Sunday after non while my kids were pool side and I was hired of tanning I set out to good old Google and found a 4 ingredient recipe and set out to try and remake the infamous fugde my mother in law shared with us.

Now I will share it with you! 

What you need:

2 cups of Sugar

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup peanut butter

1tsp. Vanilla

 What to do:

Combine sugar and milk in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. 

Continue to boil for about 2 and a half minutes.

Remove from heat

Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until just mixed

 Pour in greased pan (smaller the pan thicker the fudge) 

Let cool and set. 

Then cut and serve!

Simple right!

*note: 

I used a lil more peanut butter for mine for an extra peanut butter taste

Also I would boil the milk and sugar a lil longer to better dissolve the sugar so it isn't grainy

Here are some pictures of the process!

Enjoy!

Operation Brace Face: Phase Five & Six

These last 2 or tho appointments have not been very eventful so I thoughted I'd add them together. 

Back at the end of May we went to the office to have the expander checked to see where we were at with the magic key, needless to say we no longer had to turn it that she had widen her mouth enough! Great news for us because it is a pain.... literally!

 Bad news: they wouldn't take it out yet. 

They want to keep the jaw expanded while they try and close up the Madonna gap she has acquired while widening her upper jaw..  

So they placed a chain on bands on her two front teeth and the color choice was purple! 

We went back yesterday to find out that theu still wont take out the expander! 

Big disappointment for her because she has a tooth growing in and the expander has a bar blocking it from coming in correctly. 

He said one more month is all we had left while we worked on the gaps with the 4 front teeth.

She had it all planned out to do patriotic colors for the 4th but since now they placed a chain to connect all 4 brackets one is all she got so the color was black!.

Hopefully when theu remove the expander next appoinment they will add more btackets and wr can really start seeing the benifits ;)

Fun in the Sun: Weekend Recap

Well we have had a pretty relaxed weekend here. 

Park, pool and sun about sums it up for us ;) 

Here's some pics!