FIVE IN THE POTTER'S HAND
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Four...
Well, I can tell when I haven't been blogging in a while. I missed blogging on my son's birthday. Mr. Independent turned four last week. He has grown and matured so much since last year. He expresses himself so well. Mr. Independent has turned into a little boy and is no longer a toddler. I look forward to what God has for him in the future. I eagerly anticipate who he is becoming. I love you Mr. Independent...Happy birthday!
Locomotive Learning
Today Miss Precious rolled over onto her tummy...all by herself! She has done it more than once today as well! Pretty soon instead of scooting on her back, she'll be crawling on all fours. Yes, my daughter has figured out that she can get from point A to point B by scooting...on her head. It's a wonder any hair grows on the back of her head...lol! She travels like an inch worm..it is so funny to watch! But. my goodness, she can get far pretty fast. I don't think I could scoot as fast as her without injuring myself.
Sigh...they grow up so fast!
Sigh...they grow up so fast!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Our Mission
Recently I just came to the realization that the year is almost halfway over and I have yet to plan out our homeschooling plan for the FIRST year of school next year. (Yes, I am going to be teaching English too...scary thought based on the above sentence...lol!) I have been praying about how to homeschool my two rambunctious boys and I came across the Charlotte Mason method. So true to my inquisitive and researchful (is that a word?) nature, I checked out some books at my local library. While reading the beginning chapters of "A Charlotte Mason Companion" by Karen Andreola, I came across the foundational mission for wanting to homeschool...
"To bring the human race, family by family, child by child, out of the savage and inhuman desolation where He is not, into the light and warmth and comfort of the presence of God, is no doubt the chief thing we have to do in the world. And this individual work with each child, being the most momentous work in the world, is put into the hands of the wisest, most loving, disciplined and divinely instructed of human beings. Be ye perfect as your Father is perfect, is the perfection of parenthood, perhaps to be attained in its fullness only through parenthood.
The highest duty imposed upon him, it is also the most delicate; and he will have infinite humility, gentleness, love, and sound judgment, if he would present his child to God and the thought of God to the soul of his child."
(page 21 of "A Charlotte Mason Companion excerpted from "Parents and Children" by Charlotte Mason)
How more beautifully and specifically could I put the purpose of educating my children at home? Presenting my children to God and the thought of God to their souls...that is why I want to homeschool!
"To bring the human race, family by family, child by child, out of the savage and inhuman desolation where He is not, into the light and warmth and comfort of the presence of God, is no doubt the chief thing we have to do in the world. And this individual work with each child, being the most momentous work in the world, is put into the hands of the wisest, most loving, disciplined and divinely instructed of human beings. Be ye perfect as your Father is perfect, is the perfection of parenthood, perhaps to be attained in its fullness only through parenthood.
The highest duty imposed upon him, it is also the most delicate; and he will have infinite humility, gentleness, love, and sound judgment, if he would present his child to God and the thought of God to the soul of his child."
(page 21 of "A Charlotte Mason Companion excerpted from "Parents and Children" by Charlotte Mason)
How more beautifully and specifically could I put the purpose of educating my children at home? Presenting my children to God and the thought of God to their souls...that is why I want to homeschool!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Thoughts on Budgeting
I finally got around to tallying our expenditures for April. Here are the numbers for the food:
$535.13 total spent for food
$93.10 total spent EATING OUT (yikes!)
$31.87 total spent on baby items (i.e. DIAPERS)
So I did not achieve my goal for April's food budget. But I only lost by $35.13, which compared to previous months expenses, isn't a lot. I am pretty proud of that number actually!
But here comes the exciting part...(drumroll please)..by shopping the sales and clipping coupons, I saved us $146.81 last month! Wooo-hooooo! And we didn't starve or have to eat junk.
My best couponing deal yet has to be the Coffeemate Creamers and two newspapers I got for a total of $4! Here is how it breaks down:
Coffeemate Creamer 2/$6 store coupon
Two manufacturer's coupons $1 off
At register coupon for $3 off any purchase
Two newspapers for $3 total
GRAND TOTAL OUT OF POCKET SPENT for 4 items...FOUR DOLLARS!!!
Actual amount that I would have spent without coupons?
$11.58
Feeling of satisfaction...PRICELESS! :)
I wasn't sure after beginning this quest for coupons and savings, that spending $1.50 a week on the Sunday paper would be worth it. After two weeks I decided I would buy two papers instead of just one. Those papers have continued to pay for themselves and then some!
Be warned, couponing is addictive and very habit forming. You will find that your eyes are drawn to sale flyers, tags and tickets. You will discover that you are scanning the aisles at the store for catalina coupons. You will find yourself scouring the milk for the neon orange dairy coupons. And last but not least, your kids will be begging you to let them cut out coupons. Which of course you encourage, just not on the ones you will actually use...lol!
I just roughly estimated that if I were being paid to coupon, I would have made approximately $12.23/ hour. Not bad!
$535.13 total spent for food
$93.10 total spent EATING OUT (yikes!)
$31.87 total spent on baby items (i.e. DIAPERS)
So I did not achieve my goal for April's food budget. But I only lost by $35.13, which compared to previous months expenses, isn't a lot. I am pretty proud of that number actually!
But here comes the exciting part...(drumroll please)..by shopping the sales and clipping coupons, I saved us $146.81 last month! Wooo-hooooo! And we didn't starve or have to eat junk.
My best couponing deal yet has to be the Coffeemate Creamers and two newspapers I got for a total of $4! Here is how it breaks down:
Coffeemate Creamer 2/$6 store coupon
Two manufacturer's coupons $1 off
At register coupon for $3 off any purchase
Two newspapers for $3 total
GRAND TOTAL OUT OF POCKET SPENT for 4 items...FOUR DOLLARS!!!
Actual amount that I would have spent without coupons?
$11.58
Feeling of satisfaction...PRICELESS! :)
I wasn't sure after beginning this quest for coupons and savings, that spending $1.50 a week on the Sunday paper would be worth it. After two weeks I decided I would buy two papers instead of just one. Those papers have continued to pay for themselves and then some!
Be warned, couponing is addictive and very habit forming. You will find that your eyes are drawn to sale flyers, tags and tickets. You will discover that you are scanning the aisles at the store for catalina coupons. You will find yourself scouring the milk for the neon orange dairy coupons. And last but not least, your kids will be begging you to let them cut out coupons. Which of course you encourage, just not on the ones you will actually use...lol!
I just roughly estimated that if I were being paid to coupon, I would have made approximately $12.23/ hour. Not bad!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
I'm baaaaack
First of all, let me start of with a yell of celebration. I HAVE MY BLOG BACK!!! The sign in process is a little cumbersome, but I figured out a way to circumnavigate the glitch! YAYYYYYYY!!!!
I can't post much more than this because I have to get to work cleaning. We have an ant infestation and I have exhausted every natural means available to deter them. So we are going to annhilate them. We bought RAID foggers yesterday and we are going to set them off on Saturday while we are visiting my parents. You have to be out of the area for 4 hours and then you have to ventilate for 30 minutes. But I don't care how long it takes just as long as they are all DEAD when we get back. Gross... Hundreds of dead ants, spiders, mites, beetles, etc. Ewwww. But dead ones are better than live ones! Oh yeah, back to the cleaning. You have to make sure that all foodstuffs and dishes are not in the area. So what am I going to be doing today and tomorrow? Taking everything out of my kitchen and trying to find another place for it to safely stay until the nuclear warfare is over. Yay. ( Can you tell how enthused I am about having to take EVERYTHING out of my kitchen? ) Sigh.
So the evacuation awaits me. Gotta go!
I can't post much more than this because I have to get to work cleaning. We have an ant infestation and I have exhausted every natural means available to deter them. So we are going to annhilate them. We bought RAID foggers yesterday and we are going to set them off on Saturday while we are visiting my parents. You have to be out of the area for 4 hours and then you have to ventilate for 30 minutes. But I don't care how long it takes just as long as they are all DEAD when we get back. Gross... Hundreds of dead ants, spiders, mites, beetles, etc. Ewwww. But dead ones are better than live ones! Oh yeah, back to the cleaning. You have to make sure that all foodstuffs and dishes are not in the area. So what am I going to be doing today and tomorrow? Taking everything out of my kitchen and trying to find another place for it to safely stay until the nuclear warfare is over. Yay. ( Can you tell how enthused I am about having to take EVERYTHING out of my kitchen? ) Sigh.
So the evacuation awaits me. Gotta go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)