Anyway, things are finally settling down from the holiday season and we're getting into a groove with me home now. The money is a little tighter than I'd like it to be, and we may have to do some more cuts to make it stretch a little more. We're also trying to save for a big family thing this year, because B is old enough to enjoy it and we want to do it before D gets too old to enjoy it. We're not really worried about E yet. Hubby also wants to do something for our anniversary this year since it will be our 5th wedding anniversary. I don't really want to do anything, except maybe have both sets of parents keep the kids for the weekend and let us just be by ourselves. Sleep would be a nice gift. :)
B is a potty trained princess now! I still haven't quite gotten brave enough to let her go to bed at night with just panties on (I make her wear a night-time pull up), but she is a pro in Dora undies during the day time. She can wipe herself (except for when she's done #2) but she can't get the paper herself yet. Baby steps though. She's been great. She even handles a 2 hour car ride or a trip to the store without having an accident.
I haven't been quite as crafty as I thought I might be, but that's mainly because being crafty costs money that I don't have right now. I did make an Easter wreath for my door this year.
I am very happy with it. I actually did it the way that you are technically "supposed" to do them - using a wire work wreath form. It definitely looks more even than the others I've done. I'd love to make one for football season this year, but we'll see how that works out.
I don't know if I've said it or not, but I started selling Avon to see if that could help bring in some money, but it really hasn't done anything spectacular (not that I expected it to do that). In all reality, I am not cut out to sell a product to someone. I was not gifted with the ability to put myself out there. I've always been a more "behind the scenes" kind of person when it comes to a job. The position I left at work was a good one for me because I didn't have to deal with too many people face to face. When I had to deal with banks and sites on different issues, I just emailed. It was great. I WAS gifted with wonderful articulation when it comes to writing and emailing, so I was always able to get my point across without too many episodes of miscommunication. I really wish there was something I could do at home (maybe from my computer) that I could maybe invest an hour or two per day and just make a little side money (oh, and it would have to be legit). The problem with it is that I wouldn't always know when those two hours would work out AND I don't know many job opportunities there are that would fit my circumstances. When I sat down and started thinking about how I'd make money with Avon, I realized that it is darn near impossible for me to have a thriving business with it. Yeah, I might be able to make a little extra $30-$50 every now and then, but that's about it. I don't know enough people and as I mentioned before, I'm not cut out to be the kind of person who goes out and pushes a product. If I wanted to have Avon replace the job I left, I'd have to sell over $1400 worth of product EVERY TWO WEEKS to come close to what I made - which wasn't all that much, so don't think it's a lot. According to Avon, the average customer spends about $25 per order. I don't know who their average customer is, but my average customers only spend about $15 per order. But, to give the benefit of the doubt, if I wanted to sell that much stuff, I'd have to have around 55-60 customers - again, EVERY TWO WEEKS. Of course, I never expected this to be a replacement job. After all, if this was going to be a replacement job, I would have to be willing to pour 40+ hours a week into it and I'd probably have to have the girls in daycare because there's not way I can pour 40+ hours a week into a job and be able to be a SAHM too. So, I'm a little irked with them for it. I've had some regular customers though, so as long as it's not actually costing me money, I'll continue to sell it. If it gets to the point where I'm coming out of my own money every campaign, then I'll have to re-evaluate.
Speaking of work... I have a prayer request. I can't go into a lot of detail about it because this is a public blog and I don't know how many people who work with my hubby might see it. Just know that I covet your prayers for him right now. He's dealing with a lot of stress and frustration and I don't know how to help. I am trying to be there for him as much as I can and I support him 100%. We're trying to seek God's guidance but it's not as clear as we'd hope.
Switching gears again...
I made cupcakes for D's class party on Valentine's Day. Now that I'm a SAHM, I can try to be a better school parent. Hey, it's a thought, right? Anyway, going with the theme of love and pink and chocolate, I made strawberry cupcakes with homemade chocolate buttercream icing. Sounds yummy, but I was actually not as pleased with them. The cupcakes were fine, but I didn't really like the icing. I need to hunt up another recipe to see if they'd taste any different.
D's class party went well. He racked up on the candy, of course. I was able to talk to his teacher about upcoming things. They are planning a trip to the state capitol in May, so I'll be headed there too.
Right after Valentine's Day was Mardi Gras week for the kids here. I don't really understand the big deal with Mardi Gras. To me it seems like just an excuse for people to party and get inebriated with various drinks and/or other things. Oh, and to spend ungodly amounts of money to wear a formal dress or tux that you have to have cleaned the very next day because of how gross it got at a ball. Now, to be fair, not all the societies have that reputation (thank goodness!). Hubby and I went to the Juno Ball last year and I felt it was very respectable - at least, it was while we were there. Anyway, so this year for Mardi Gras, the school system decided to be out all week instead of the normal 3 days. Hubby was out of town for work, so we took the opportunity to head up to my parents' house to visit and be of some assistance with my grandmothers. We had a great time. D was able to do his "How to be a Pirate in 7 days or less" book with GranGran and he managed to convince GranDad to start building him a fort/tree house thing.
Wow, this post is getting long. :) Well, that really about catches everything up anyway. There's not a lot of other stuff going on right now. Oh wait, yeah there is... We've been visiting the First Baptist Church in our area for almost a year now. We haven't been going every single Sunday and Wednesday, but we've been a lot. The people there are really nice and we really like the pastor. After much thought and prayer about it, I decided to move my membership there. We'd visited other churches in the area too, but I had not moved my letter from FBCF yet. So, this will be my first church move as a Christian. Before Sunday, I had been a member of FBCF ever since I became a Christian 17 years ago. I was the only one to move my letter, but that's mainly because hubby is Catholic and I don't know exactly how that works on that end. I've never asked him to convert to being Southern Baptist for me because I know that he understands and believes in the same basic Christian principles that I do. Because of that, I don't care how he chooses to worship. Now, he has gone to church with me every time I've gone and he's even gone by himself on occasion. He says he enjoys going to that church with me and I'm okay with that. If you're a Christian, I don't really see how it matters where you choose to worship and if you've been one "denomination" and you start going to another, why does that make you change? I don't know. I would not ask him to join the church with me unless he wanted to do so and in my opinion, even if he did join it, it wouldn't make him any less of a Catholic.
I digress.... I joined the church on Sunday and I look forward to having my family there, growing in God. I'm also hoping to join the choir because I do so love to sing! :)
Okay, that actually does it for now. Maybe I can manage to post a little more often than every 2 months.
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