… but at times it has felt more like a month!  In addition to the ongoing expense and drama of Lilly’s tooth problem (and there is more drama there than I can put in my little blog), Tech stumbled and tore a ligament in his knee yesterday, and then the van broke down while Eaglewood and I were out shopping in a nearby town.  Thankfully, Eaglewood’s brother, and part-time hero around here, CarDoc came to our rescue (may he be greatly blessed!).  

I haven’t yet decided whether to laugh or to cry, but I’m leaning heavily towards laughing hysterically (and probably a little maniacally).    If things let up just a wee bit, I’ll try to update my ever-expanding list of my current reading material.  If anyone is even remotely interested, I could post a photo of my 59 cent apiece lamps with the shades that I made out of plastic canvas and scrap fabric.  They might just give you a laugh.

I really didn’t mean to disappear for quite so long.  We just had a really busy and difficult week.  Things are getting much better now.  Lilly had a nasty toothache which turned out not to be related to cavities (she didn’t have one), but to some trauma that probably happened to her years ago.  Her dentist was quite puzzled, but did say that she will have to have a root canal.  Poor girl.  She could use some prayer as she is quite nervous about the prospect.

The day that we managed to get Lilly in to see a dentist was also the day that Eaglewood left town on business.  He was only gone for about three days, but since I was dealing with a secondary throat and sinus infection (leftover from the flu of the previous week or so) and Lilly was feeling badly, it made for a more difficult than usual week.  Tech, Flash and even Hulk pitched in a helped out quite a bit.  They are wonderful boys (well, most of the time anyway!).

This would sound like a terrible week to completely rearrange a room wouldn’t it?  Well it was, but we had to since two of those previously mentioned wonderful boys had managed to break a bunk bed!  Since we couldn’t leave the poor dears in a broken bed, we had to clean up their room (which they are often loathe to do in spite of being wonderful otherwise) and drag out the old bunk bed to replace it with two other beds.  When I say “we” in this case, I am referring to the men of the house because I was sick and busy taking care of Lilly and Wildchild (who was up to usually adorable mischief) and couldn’t manage much more than making sure that everyone was fed and reasonably clean anyway.

The good news is that last week is over and it is now THIS week which we are determined will be MUCH better!

We feel reasonably certain that there won’t be any broken beds this week anyway….

It really is!  She’s been encouraging and challenging everyone to cook from scratch, shop wisely, inexpensively and buy in bulk and to keep grocery bills within the dollar amount equivalent to what your family would receive in food stamps.  She made it all sound so simple that I became convinced that anyone could do it, even me!  Since I am a tightwad who already HAS to cook from scratch, our family decided to take up the challenge (okay, there were other factors, too, but those will do for the purpose of this post!). 

So far, so good.  In the past two weeks we have been clipping coupons, trying new recipes and expanding our families shopping horizons a bit.  Bargains have been found, new favorite meals and snacks have been discovered, bills have been reduced and great has been the rejoicing (at least amongst the adults, some of us ARE picky and some family members don’t particularly enjoy change)!

Thanks for the inspiration Milehimama! 

By the way, Milehimama has recently moved to a new location and has an even better site.  Fortunately for the rest of us, she kept all of the old wisdom, recipes, faith and encouragement we had already come to love her for.  If you have a minute, do yourself a favor and check out her new place.  

… we have more beds for boys than we have boy bedroom spaces, we are keeping VERY busy trying to rearrange those beds to fit better (meaning, the boys are trying to figure out how to have a little more Lego building space without resorting to actually leaving the room).

… Lilly and I have both been bitten by the photography bug and we have limited space for the bajillions (that’s a technical term people!) of photos that we have taken, we are now trying to figure out how to deal with Flicker for showing them off.  Please be patient with us, we are feeling a tad incompetent.  This is especially important since my niece got married this past Saturday!!!

… My garden hasn’t actually died yet, I’m keeping busy trying to stay a step or two ahead of their potting needs (ours is a container garden because we rent).  This is a whole new dilemma for someone who’s plants usually get eaten by bunnies or dug up by the dog and small children!  I’m beginning to have some real hope for those little green tomatoes that we have right now.

… our next door neighbors got a new trampoline, Eaglewood and I seldom get to sleep at night these days.  Why?  Well, it seems that these neighbors cannot enjoy jumping on their trampoline unless they are playing there stereo at full blast.  Did I mention that this trampoline is positioned REALLY closely to our bedroom window?  Sigh.

… there are only so many hours in the day and mine are mostly taken with all manner of family stuff (another technical term) these days, I’m not finding as much time to blog lately. I’m not sure that I’m really blogging now.  I may just be sleep typing.

It is no secret that I have ADHD and tend to flit from one thing to another at times.  This is the stuff I’m currently flitting between in my reading.

“The Complete Soapmaker: Tips, Techniques & Recipes for Luxurious Handmade Soaps” by Norma Coney 

      I love the approach that this author takes!  She assures you that there is no need to worry about the mistakes you make because you will make mistakes and you will learn from them.  I like being forgiven for my mistakes before I even make them.

“Sew Easy” by JaneCumberbatch

     This book contains a really delightful collection of 60 different ideas and directions for easy sewing projects. 

“Sweet and Sugarfree: An All-Natural, Fruit-Sweetened Dessert Cookbook” by Karen E. Barkie

     With all of the chaos going on in our lives lately, I haven’t had time to actually try any of the recipes yet, but they really do look wonderful! 

“Container Gardening For Dummies” by Bill Marken & The Editors of the National Gardening Association

     I’m enjoying their from the dirt up approach to gardening.  Since our little garden seems to be doing fairly well this year and has not yet died of any unfortunate accidents (whether bunny, dog, weather, incompetent housewife or child-related  in their origin) it might just be helping!

“The Five-Minute Hair Stylist” by Christine Moodie

     This little book actually managed to have a few ideas that my daughter actually liked AND clear instructions that even I can probably usually follow (unless I get distracted and then all bets are off)!  Yea!

Now that I have actally taken the time to write all of this down, I’m starting to note that there is something of a self-sufficiency trend to what I am reading lately… But don’t give me too much credit, I also have a couple of science fiction books that I am reading when I need something lighter.  What are you reading?