Successful Sunday

Free samples were interesting. Guess we were too early and had too hungry of kids. They were hilarious and had a great time. We met the guy who runs free samples. He's quite the salesman. After collecting all the samples we could, we were out of there. I've become hooked on their mini bagels. The kids love them too. Cinnamon is my favorite. It seems to be hit or miss on deals there. Some things are a decent price for the quantity, but I am not convinced it is the best way to shop. You have to drop at least at least $100+ each time. Everything is $9+. We haven't purchased much from there. I am not certain we will renew our membership. We bought some chicken breasts, 4 lbs for $10. I found some mini dinner rolls for $2.18. I thought they would be perfect for mini burgers this week. Mini items seem to work quite well with kids. They are able to eat the entire portion when it is mini to start with. Sunny D is a good price and my kids enjoy it for a treat. We are usually a water/milk family. I don't buy juice too often, only for their lunches at school. That is something I began last year. The school gets money for the pouches. They are expensive when you think of how little juice is in the 10 pouches combined. Seven always purchased a milk from school with his lunch. That costs even more, but was better for him. When Six started school, he would come home with the milk not even opened. He either couldn't open it, didn't get time to drink it, or could not finish. Needless to say, I switched them to juice pouches.

Our trip was fine, we only spent $30. I don't think we've ever spent $100 there, except when we purchased our membership. Zinnia seems to get better deals with their coupons, we did not. We canceled the higher membership. We did not use any of its perks in the past 8 months. Not worth the extra money for our family. We would make use of the coupons they sent Zinnia, but not those sent to us. Anyway, it was an adventure out on a Saturday afternoon.

My progress in this house is continuing. We went through the kids rooms and took out baskets full of items. I just don't know how the toys multiply up there, but they do. The area outside of the bedrooms is almost completely clear of all items. Ready for the new ideas I have for that space! The computer in the living room is working out, but everyone wants more computer time on a regular basis. It hasn't even been a week yet, maybe the novelty will wear off.

The basement still looks great. Four has impressed me with all she is packing away for the garage sale in April. I am happy she is ready to part with certain items and surprised by her other choices. Her room still seems full to me, but I am sure it is because of the extra bed in there. I think it will come down next summer, after Memorial day weekend when we plan to have a large group of company over. It doesn't seem worth the time and effort of taking it down when we will be using it in the spring.

I am beginning to fund raise for new totes. N is against buying anymore totes. For years, I was not allowed to buy more totes. We didn't need them until recently. We bought two from Menards with the rebate we received in the mail. I am not sure why he's against totes. It's a family thing. Uncle T agrees with N. They keep everything organized. I think I changed his mind after our flood and everything in totes was fine. They are on sale with a mail in rebate. I hate those, but may cave if I can squeeze the money from his budget next week. I also need a new calendar for the fridge.

Today I cleaned my closet and straightened things. I found a shirt I had bought for Six for when he turned six. I forgot all about it. It will be a great discovery for him this week.

One pile of scrapbooks are ready to go to the basement. I need a new tote for these. I will always keep scrapbooks in totes and nothing else. Only one was destroyed in the flood and that was frustrating enough. Only one end was destroyed, I was able to save almost all of the book.

More totes and money to clean the carpets are on my wish list. Hard to have a wish list with Christmas around the corner. I did get ahead of the game and order my pictures for our Christmas card and three photo books today. The books were buy one, get two free. So excited to have that project done. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to make one book. 20 pages, I fit 97 pictures in the book for myself. The uploading to the website is very time consuming, along with picture placement, layout and background selection. Thus, it is done early. Next to write our letter and make the cards. Zinnia and I are going to make our cards this year. I have to check and see how many cards I have already. Use up those numbers first. We are still surviving without a printer. I believe I will hit Staples to print the letter. Last year I had my own paper courtesy of Mum. I am not sure what is in the Christmas boxes now. We will pull that stuff out soon enough.

N had a late shift yesterday. We went to church last night so he could sleep in this morning. Six and Four were not the best behaved. It was frustrating, but I tried not to let it get to me. I took away privileges when we got home. I hope it worked, they seemed disappointed and sorry. I also had them work. This working for 25 cents is really helping me out. Six washed the dishes, not many in numbers. I did find one that needed to be done again, but other than that one he did pretty well. Seven swept and mopped the kitchen floor. Again, it wasn't that bad, but he was very helpful. Four did whatever I asked. She's such a great helper. I've heard it from others, too.

My next issue to figure out are parent teacher conferences. Have to figure out how to get N and I there without kids. It's still a work in progress. Tomorrow I'll head to church and get the crafts together for the lesson plans. Chicken enchiladas are on the menu tomorrow night. Chicken in the crock-pot will make it easier.

Successful Sunday, hopefully more on Monday!