History Program I am looking at for my kids

I am looking at this History curriculum for my High Schoolers. I am nervous about buying curriculum without actually putting my hands on it. Have any of you readers used this book? Do you like it?

2011 is here and Already I am busier than ever

So far the weather in Oklahoma has been good to us, a little cool but we aren't iced in......yet!

I found a really nice website for handcrafted jewelry that everyone should check out http://www.seronedesignshandcraftedjewelry.com/default.html There are some lovely pieces here and such a wonderful person to deal with. Give her some business!

I started coaching gymnastics. I feel like a little girl again! The one sport I always wanted to do when I was a kid and I am coaching it now! Wow! I am excited, because next year I might get to coach the level 2 competitive team. That is exciting!! I get a GREAT workout about 3 days a week also! Think lifting kids over your head about 30 times in an hour for 3-4 hours at a time!! Oh yeah THAT is a workout!! Vault and beam are less of a workout than bars and floor so I try to give myself a short rest between the tough workouts! I am also getting a little flexibility back. I stretch 3-4 times on the nights I am coaching, seeing as I have that many classes. I have also been using the chin up bar at home. Don't get me wrong, when I do it the CHIN up bar magically turns into a HAIR up bar, because I am lucky to get my hair to touch the bar (good thing big hair is back in style)!

If you haven't already check out my etsy page http://www.etsy.com/shop/pandamom8
You might find a good Valentine's Day gift there!!

2010 is drawing to an end!!

I love New Year's Eve and this year should be particularly fun!! We will be spending it with some great friends! Money is a little tight so I don't think I will be able to swing the usual fireworks this and it has been quite dry so it might not be that great of an idea anyway!! We are talking about making marshmallow guns though, if I can come up with the pvc pipe to do it!

I have been working on my Etsy shop adding items. It has been slow going but I have had a few sales to get me started off. I have created a new coupon just for those of you that follow my blog it is..........wait are you REALLY following or just reading. Go on over there and click the follow button; go on it isn't that difficult!! Ok now that I got you all honest here's the coupon allyblog . Enter that code at checkout and you will recieve 25% off your purchase!!

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!!

Paybox.me

I know I have posted about this before, but I am doing it again! I just went to the site and took a survey or two and realized that my account balance is over $300. I am watching this to see where is goes, but I am pretty sure that I am going to have over $300 to spend when this is all over with. Kinda excited about the possibilities. If it doesn't do anything then I haven't lost anything by filling out some surverys and giving some feedback.

If you want in on this action go to this link....

http://www.paybox.me/r/alyeenlim

Good Deals

I had to take a sick little boy to the Dr. today and while I was waiting to be told that I was about to spend $100 on his medicines, I found turkeys on sale for $0.50 a lb!! I was all over that!!! I bought two turkeys!! I have 3 turkeys in the freezer now, because we got a ham for Christmas from Brent's office. I am feeling pretty darn good about this $1 a day thing right now!! I just hope that I can keep it up!!!

New Year's is right around the corner!!

Christmas was wonderful at our house!! We enjoyed time together and good food. When the evening hit we read about the birth of Christ and took some time to reflect! Great times make wonderful memories!

I received one item for Christmas that I am really excited about and just had to share. This book is wonderful!! Yes Team365 there is a recipe for Men's aftershave!! I will look it up for you!! My girls' received 2 kits for making their own mineral make up. One is just for eyeshadow the other is for everything except, eyeliner, mascara, and lip products. We are really excited about digging into some of the recipes and trying this out. If you would like to see the kits the girls received look at this link http://www.tkbtrading.com/category.php?category_id=69 . I bought the EZ Eyeshadow Kit and the Mineral Make Up Kit. From the reviews, we should be set on eyeshadow for a very long time!!

Every year we work very hard to make sure the kids' gifts are things that will make them better people and/or develop their talents. Just as the Wisemen brought the infant Jesus useful herbs and oils. We try to do the same. My useful gift this year was bags for my midwifery supplies (I am sure that was partly because my husband is tired of kicking around my supplies all over our room and bathroom). I am excited to get those things organized!!

As we are heading into the New Year I am finding myself looking seriously at my goals and intentions for 2011. We will see some growth and changes in our family this year. We have one getting ready to start college, one starting the youth program at church, one getting baptized and one that will start driving. In the middle of all of that I will be learning what preteen boys need emotionally, spiritually and physically to keep them out of trouble. It seems time flies!! I am sooo not ready to not have babies but it looks like it is to late for that, they are all big kids now!! Besides the $1 a day challenge, I am working on midwifery studies, getting a child graduated from homeschooling, preparing 2 children to start high school in the next 2-3 years, and tutoring a very reluctant reader. I am going to learn to make my own cosmetics, and I have an idea for a book (which is really low on my list actually). I am hoping to keep my blog updated at the very least weekly. Wow, that seems like a lot!! I am so thankful for the 2 young adult girls I have to help out with carting kids around and other projects.

I sure hope that the Holidays were wonderful for everyone and that as the last days of 2010 draw to a close you find yourself counting blessings, successes and memories of the year and that you have many more to look forward to in 2011.

Christmas Eve 2010

Well this is it! I am trying to stay out of the kitchen because I have a nasty head cold and I don't want to contaminate any of the goodies!! I was sooo geared up to make candies and goodies this year and now I am having to let my teenagers do it all.

Last night I sat down and brain stormed some dinner ideas to go along with the $1 a day grocery challenge. I really think this is doable. Now I have to admit that I am spending a $1 a day per person on groceries and then I will spend more on storage items to stock my pantry something that has gone undone for the last 6 years after we depleted alot of our storage preparing for a job loss or move (thankfully it was a move).

I found an awesome PDF file today on how to survive during an emergency. The title is "The time to Build the Cellar is Before the Storm" you can download it here http://www.justpeace.org/allinone.pdf .
There is even a list of basic food items for a 30 day supply for a family of 4. A great place to start your food storage!!

I am determined to do a garden this year!! I am looking into combining two methods of gardening; Squarefoot and Lasagna Gardening. I am optimistic that I will have a beautiful garden this year!! (I hope!)

Some thoughts that I have had on the $1 a day challenge are:

1. Lots of casseroles with meat spread thin throughout
2. Hitting the yesterday grind sales at our local grocery store to get meat cheap.
3. Making sure I get the paper on Wed. We only have 2 grocery stores and a Walmart in our town so the sales are going to be very important to making this happen.
4. Keeping things basic. The K.I.S.S. rule applies!!

If you haven't already noticed, there is a link in the side bar to join the $1 a day grocery challenge. If you are interested please join us. There are about 17 families nationwide now participating!! The more the merrier!!