13 Random Thoughts

My life has been hectic to say the least. So here is a bit of randomness that is bouncing around. Thirteen to be exact.

1. Okay, am I the only one that thinks this piece of toast has a smiley face on it?

2. Yes, that is my son using a piece of corn as a cell phone. He is talking to his peeps.

3. Doesn't everyone wear your sisters slippers, a diaper, sleep shirt and a German hat together? Not everyone can pull this look off you know. And yes, those are the remnants of his breakfast on his face. That is what happens when your sisters get you out of your highchair.

4. This is what the sky looked like the other night. Isn't it beautiful?

5. Little man loves to vacuumm. It isn't plugged in, but he loves it anyway. He is infatuated with the sweeper. Now if I could only teach him to dust.

6. Beautiful flower taken at the Columbus Zoo.

7. Yes, that is my butt. But a much smaller, fit butt. After 30 pounds of weight loss and lots of exercise. Not to toot my own horn. Okay, TOOT TOOT.

8. We made blackened catfish the other night. Turns out we don't reall like catfish, who new?

9. This is what my butt used to look like. I like my new butt. This was only 3 months ago, if you can believe it.

10. This is my oldest and she started select soccer this week.

11. This was her outfit for playing store. She thought this is what you wear to work when you worked at a purse boutique. We played that last week when it rained.

12. She also starts her pottery class this week.

13. I love back to school time, the smell of crayons and new paper. I have always loved this time of year.

This post is linked to Thursday Thirteen.

Where Are My Car Keys?

This is my little stinker. She is cute as can be but can go from being a lovely child to a crazy person who is annoyed with everything in the blink of an eye.

The other morning she was feeling particulary helpful. I was getting ready to leave for work and could not find my car keys. I looked everywhere.

In my car, in the door, my pants pocket from yesterday, my purse, you name it and I looked there. I had finally decided to simply not lock the back door and look again after I came  home from work.

Then my daughter says, "mommy, I put your keys in your bag for you."

I said "what bag monkey?"

"This bag mommy."

Oh, the bag that I never use for work, the diaper bag. Yes, that was helpful. I was super frustrated because it was making me late. But then I had to laugh about it.

I mean, isn't that funny? I was running around like crazy trying to find my keys and she knew where they were all the time.

Being able to laugh about this totally works for me!

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Homemade Bruschetta

Okay, so a food photographer I am not. However, don't let that stop you from trying this.

One of my newest favorite places is Costco, they have this 4 pack of little bruschetta toasts that are delicious. We have been buying them every time we go.

On one of our trip's up north to our friends house, they had served these with this little topping. I ate so many of them that my stomach hurt! They were so yummy.

I decided to try it myself. This is the recipe that I came up with.

1 fresh tomato, diced

1 fresh onion, diced

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon italian season

Mix all together and serve on the bruschetta toast!

I have served this multiple times at parties and it goes super fast, I usually have to make another batch. This is a great way to use up some tomatoes once they start coming in!

This post is lined to Tasty Tuesday.

Pampering Me!

In February my husband and kids got me a half day of pampering at a local spa. However, everyone knows that with 4 kids, you can barely find time to go to the bathroom by yourself, much less to the spa for 4 hours.

So I was finally able to go last week, only 5 months later.

It was heavenly. First I had an hour massage, then a 30 minute facial, then a manicure and then a pedicure. Each one was better than the other. But my favorite was by far the massage.

I was so relaxed that I didn't want to do anything when I got hom with the kiddos! But of course with 4 kids, I had to kick it into gear fast. Yes the fingernails are painted, just a very light whitish clear. I do not like to paint my fingernails. And 4 days later, even that has been removed, it drives me crazy.

Wow, who's old hands are those? My grandmas?

After seeing the price since I had to tip the people that did these wonderful things, this was definately not a frugal thing. However, I enjoyed it none-the-less.

The Men in my Life

This photo is from our trip up north to visit our friends. I love it. I plan on enhancing it and turning it into a black and white and then framing it.

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday.

The Zoo

On our way home from our friends, we stopped at the zoo. It was an awesome zoo and we had a blast. We were able to get up really close to the animals. Here are some photos of you to enjoy.

This silverback decided to rest right in front of us. He kept yawning. This guy needs his teeth cleaned!

Going to the zoo with adopted family definately works for me. This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Our Trip

We had a wonderful time visiting our friends. While we have been back for a few days, we have been super busy and this is the very first opportunity that I have had to post something!

I will share some of the photos of our trip!

We played putt-putt, went go-carting, outlet shopping, had a bonfire with smores and just hung out. We had a blast, then on the way home, they went with us and we stopped at the Columbus Zoo. It was an awesome zoo.

Our 4th of July

Here are some photos from the 4th of July. I completely forgot to take photos of the kids (and adults) in the pool! But did get some after the piniata.

And this one is from my mom's the day after the 4th, my little man is eating a cupcake with red icing!

I will be barely visible on my blog for a while. We will be visiting some friends this week. I will post photos when I get back! Enjoy the summer.

Enough?

Ever feel like you are doing enough?

My husband and I had a long talk last night. It was nice to know that we were on the same page, that we both were feeling a little guilty. A little too blessed is another way to describe it.

In what has become desperate financial times for some, has been the exact opposite for us. In the last week and a half, we have purchased new windows and a back door for our house, new tires for my mini-van and today my husband is going to sign for his new car. A car that never in a million years I thought we could afford or have. Add to that the initial money we have shelled out for select soccer for our oldest.

Now to give you some background, our windows in our house are 20 years old and were builders grade when they were installed back then. Some of them don't even open anymore and every winter we have to put up plastic weather proofing and still it is cold, drafty and expensive to warm, so windows are overdue. I cannot wait to have windows that I can open and that fold in easily to clean.

The tires were desparately needed on my van, everytime it rained my van would hydroplain. We knew that we needed to replace them before our trip up north to visit our good friends. Also a must.

Now the car isn't a must, but my husbands car is almost 8 years old, not old I know. However it makes me nervous to have only one car that my whole family can fit into. It has been paid off for a few years and my van was paid off in January. We don't want to ever go back to having 2 car payments. We have had 2 car payments since we have been married 14 years ago and it feels so nice not to have that.

The new SUV my husband might be signing for today is a beauty. It has all kinds of bells and whistles but most importantly it can fit all 6 of us and has a wonderful safety rating.

Last nigth my husband and I sat and started to talk. We were both feeling a little off about these things. We do not understand why we have so much and yet others have so little. Our house is small but we have the money to fix it up (like finishing our basement last year). But there are many with no home at all. And I know that money isn't everything but we also have love, respect, and honesty in our home.

Some have no cars to drive, who cares whether or not they are nice. Some are struggling to feed their family much less have the money for select soccer. And some have broken hearts.

So we have decided to start giving more. To start helping others more. We aren't exactly sure how to go about this yet. But it is in our hearts to do this.

We will open up our home more and be more gracious hosts. And instead of worrying that my kitchen still has the ugly blue countertop (the kitchen re-do is down on the list) or that our ugly mauve carpet is still in parts of our house, I will be thankful that we can host such a gathering. And enjoy our friends and their families.

When we see something at the store that we know someone else might need, we will get it and give it. We will buy someones elses meal, pay for the next person in line at the drive-thru or simply lend an ear. I will start to donate even more of what I have been doing. Whatever it is, we know that we aren't doing enough now.

Anyone else ever feel this way? Or is it just us?

Being able to give is definately a finer thing. This post is linked to Finer Things Friday.

Something Different

For this version of Frugal Friday I thought I would try something new. I thought I would turn the tables. You can leave a comment and post your favorite frugal tip. Or, you can ask me a question about being frugal.

I love when bloggers answer questions so I thought I would open it up for you to ask me something, go ahead, don't be shy.

This post linked to Frugal Friday.