January 18, 2010

Scenes from the Week

I appreciate all the sweet words of encouragement in response to my last post. That day, things were pretty grim around here. In some ways, it was a tough week. It was also a good one.

~'Tween hormones have been in full force & effect. Not fun. At all. We've had many (too many) discussions about attitude and choices. This is a critical time in CJ's life, and R & I are feeling the weight of that responsibility. Particularly in the area of her friendships, and what we will/won't allow. I want to stay involved in her life (and know what's going on with her friends), so I'm starting a Bible study for her & a few of her friends. The best part of all is that CJ's eager to start, and the other girls (and their moms!) are excited, too. We'll be using My Best Friend Jesus!: Meditating on God's Truth About True Friendship (Secret Keeper Girl)

~R started his first class. Poor thing, I think it's a bit overwhelming to him. He hasn't been in the classroom in 17 years. I'm so proud of him, though. And I love being able to say that I'm married to a college student!

~I'm constantly looking for new ways to be frugal. I'd forgotten how much menu planning helps me to use all the food. I've thrown in the (paper) towels. I'm researching making my own cleaners after I use what I have. Heck, I'm beginning to feel a wee little bit like Meredith, who wrote this wonderfully insightful post.

~I read an article recently (I think it was in Real Simple, but I'm not certain) about a woman who saved all of her $5 bills.  Every time she got one, she stuffed it in an envelope. Later, she opened a bank account with the money & continued to collect the $5 bills. In something like two years, she'd saved nearly $3,000 for a family vacation. She didn't even feel a pinch. I've decided to give it a try. Of course, I have to adopt a "more cash and less debit card" philosophy, but that's not a bad thing, either.

~I'm curling up with an old friend, Anne of Green Gables.

~American Idol and Project Runway are back!

~I'm taking next week off from work to reorganize my home, to be capped off by a weekend visit with close friends. It's the only reason I'm looking forward to the end of January, which is one of my favorite months.

As you can see, nothing terribly exciting going on here. What's new with you?






5 comments:

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

I love that $5 stash idea. Of course, I rarely use cash because if I have it, I spend it. But right now I have three $5s in my wallet. Maybe I'll start today.

I really like menu planning. It's the shopping that I find to be such drudgery. I haven't posted my menu plans in so long and I have only one word for it: LAZY.

I've been thinking about you guys...I hope you have a good week!

jenmom said...

I am loving that saving the $5 bill idea! My husband and I were just talking the other day about finding a place to through all our change that collects in our pockets and pocket books for a vacation to the mountains.

I am also so with you on the "tween hormone" thing!!!! Our oldest daughter is 12 and the hormones are in high gear!!!! She and I have been butting heads big time and I get so discouraged sometimes feeling like a total failure as a mom! But my husband and I realize that we want to address the heart issues at play and guide her to understand things going on at school and with friends in light of the gospel and what the Lord desires to do in her life.

I just picked up the book "Age of Opportunity" by Paul Tripp from our church's book store yesterday. I'll probably devour it during our 14 hour trip back up north to visit family this next week!

Leah said...

We all have weeks like that, don't we? Grim, yet good? =)

Congrats to R! It'll be interestign to hear his perceptions of college life as a 30- or 40-something!

My most frugal task is making my own laundry soap. Here's the link:
http://southbreezefarm.blogspot.com/2009/07/laundry-soap.html Super easy (and cheap), especially if you already have a good food processor!

We are taking this week off from school so I can get some much-needed work done (for my at-home job). The girls won't have school work to do, but will be helping with meals, taking down Christmas stuff, cleaning drawers and cupboards, and other little organizing jobs instead. Good grief, it seems like the whole house needs a good tidying! Anyway, I say it's a win/win situation!

Confessions From A Work-At-Home Mom said...

I LOVE the idea of stashing away bills of a certain denomination for a rainy day... or, as the case may be if you found thousands of dollars in an envelop, a very sunny day! We don't handle enough cash in our family to make that happen, though; we rely too much on plastic.

~Elizabeth
Confessions From A Working Mom

Deidre said...

Oh, I love that $5 bill idea. I rarely have cash, but this would be something I could do.