Love the Advertising!

I can't go without acknowledging this. The advertising on my blog is great. I mention diapers in my blog, suddenly diaper adds appear. So they missed the mark on children's diapers and advertise adult diapers, but hey, I have older friends. Then there is my mention of how my children destroy tents. Poof, tent companies are advertising on my blog. Great! Just what I need! A reminder to buy a new tent. The good thing is that I am not supposed to click on the advertisements on my own blog, so there is no pressure for me to try a fourth tent in my house.

Picture This

After reading my blog on "Picture Days", my friend was in shock that I was not ordering any pictures of my Kindergartener? When she asked why, I explained it was out of my budget. She asked if I was serious? Over at Starbucks, I explained my current financial situation, and she proceeded to say, she wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing I couldn't get the milestone Kindergarten picture. Before I knew it, I had $40 in my hand, and I was heading back to school to make sure photos were taken. Of course my son's hair was way past a haircut and sticking up and the collar of his shirt was wet from him chewing on it, but hey that's what is all about isn't it? Remembering the days when I couldn't afford the haircut and he sucked on the collars of his shirts. 2007, Age 5, right?

May I spell that for you....

When ordering at Starbucks I spell it out, that's Liza, L-I-Z-A. On occasion I get the, "I can spell Liza look." How hard is Liza, really. It is all phonetic, right? You would be surprised at the variations I have learned from my Starbucks coffee drinking days. Here's the list: Lisa, Laisa, Laysa, Lieza, Leeza, Eliza, Leisa, Leiza, Lysa and today, a first-FLIZA. Fliza your grande latte is ready... Is that even a name? I did a search on 20,000 names and there is not a one FLIZA. I did get a link to search for Fliza, but nothing came up. So there you have it. May I spell that for you....

*Just a note- When I did spellcheck, can you guess which words were highlighted?

Petitions for Cats

Last Sunday my seven year old was filling out prayer cards for Cats "with child" at church asking for "forgiveness." I am positive she had know idea what she was filling out. I had to try my best to keep a straight face during communion as I was watching her do this. Anyway, all was forgotten, until this morning, when I found a cat standing outside the window of her bedroom (which happens to be a fenced in yard). Had the cat heard of her prayer request?

I thought it would be great to get a picture of the cat standing at the window for my blog, but when I came back with the camera, the cat saw me and leaped onto the fence and into our neighbor's yard. I wonder if the cat sensed my true feelings? I am not a pet person. And if I were a pet person I would probably choose a dog over a cat. I am not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that cats like to leave dead rodents on doorsteps (although I suppose if you live in Laguna Beach that is a good thing) or that they creep me out by the way they seem to appear out of nowhere. Or was it that the cats my family had used my beanbag chair as a litter box and were constantly puking up hairballs and grass? Who knows? I just don't like cats. So I guess that makes my own daughter asking forgiveness for cats even funnier. Hopefully, this does not mean she wants a cat? I better say a prayer for that.

Negotiating the Budget

I am already negotiating the budget with myself. That loaf of bread I was going to bake... is it worth the time and effort in my busy life? Well, in order to come to a rational decision, I had to put it in perspective. A loaf of bread costs $2-$4. I have all the ingredients to make a recipe that yields two loaves. That would save my budget a hit of anywhere from $4-$8. Now here's the other scenario I have to consider, my supply of now 35 diapers is depleted, do I have the ingredients to whip up a batch of diapers? The answer is: NO! Knead I say more?

Home on a Budget: A Real Life Experiment

I read somewhere (a magazine, but I can't remember which one) that a family of six only spent $400 a month on their food budget. Since I usually include diapers, laundry detergent and other household items in the grocery budget for my own family of six, I find it hard to believe this is possible, but then again, there are people that survive on much less. So now, I am going to try an experiment: Can my family of six survive the next ten days on $257.11 (which happens to be all we have until we get paid on the thirteenth?) If one family of six can survive a whole month with $400 for food, we should be able to make it ten days on $257.11.

I am starting this experiment with about a 1/4 of a tank of gas, so a gas fill up is inevitable, given that I drive three children to three different schools everyday and have soccer four days a week and youth group one day a week, unless I call on a lot of friends, I will need gas. We could walk, but there is a time constraint that would make it virtually impossible to make it to all schools on time. Another must-have is my toddler is in diapers and we only have about thirty-six diapers left, and at less than four a day, that may be pushing the lifespan of a diaper, or may send him into early potty training. I have about one and half packages of wipe refills. I will need to be extremely conservative during diaper duty, or I will be using the hose method to clean him off. Oh, and milk is essential, because my toddler still drinks about half of his diet in cups of milk. We go through about 3-4 gallons a week.

Luckily, I have some staple items on hand: pasta, flour, Bisquick, two dozen eggs, sugar, muffin mix, oatmeal, Starbucks coffee beans (thanks to a gift card) and of course brownies! Now, my husband has already tapped into the budget for his must- haves: $15 for heart medication, $11.05 for dry cleaning (as he has a business trip on the tenth of October) and $22.01 for a pair of pants as he has gained about twenty pounds over the past few months and none of his dress pants fit him. I am sure he will appreciate me telling the world, but I figure I can not cut any corners with this experiment. He also needs a haircut, which he will get in Long Beach (near his office) for $10 which includes the tip. Luckily, for our sake, he has a company vehicle, which includes gas, so that is one expense we do not have. We would have been really screwed if our budget had to allow for about ten days of gas commuting to and from Long Beach.

So, where are we financially? $199.05. That will bring us down to less than $20 a day. If Rachel Ray can do restaurants on $40 a day, I am sure I can be thrifty enough to feed a family of six at home on $20 a day, right? I just need to look for the deals, like the notebooks I found, 10 for $1. They weren't Mead notebooks, but they work well enough. And the good news is, I will have carryover from today as I am sure I will not have to spend any money, because we have leftover lasagna and leftover Crab Chowder in the refrigerator, as well as a Spinach salad from Costco. Dinner is served. Although, I will need bread for tomorrow, but I have yeast! I better start making the dough. I will keep everyone posted on how we are doing throughout the ten days. Here's to making it work! What other choice have I got?

Sound the Alarm!

Sounds like an appropriate title given the fact that our smoke detectors went off this morning while I was in the shower (too much steam.) The good news is they work well, meaning they are loud enough to wake all of my children. How great for me on a school morning of all days. Almost as if God interfered and said, "I will give you a hand waking your children," giving me a much needed break from all the moaning and whining about being too tired to get out of bed or not wanting to get dressed. I got none of that with an ear piercing alarm!

Since my kids were up and dressed in a matter of minutes, I managed to get child number one off to school early. Yeah! And now I have a little time before child number two needs to be at school, forty minutes, which is just enough time to do a little writing. Maybe my prayer for more time has been answered? Oh, I spoke too soon, my children are calling. "Mom, I need...."

So much for the time I thought I had this morning. Two and half hours later I am back! Now I am beginning to think that alarm was an omen, warning me that I am running out of time. For just what, I am not sure, but I just have a feeling? Maybe the alarm is a reminder that I am running out of time to write the proposal to Starbucks for "Mothering Heights" that I should have had finished the other day and now I am promising myself I will have finished within the hour. Or maybe it was to remind me to write that bestseller before I hit my impending financial doom? Who knows, but I will definitely take it as my sign to hit the starting line right now!