Saving Money...

Saving money is the answer not the question. The question is how do you make it when you are now living on just one income. Over the past 3 months of being the HMIC I have learned many new ways to stretch our dollars. I have just begun to dabble in the art of extreme couponing.

My children LOVE to watch the show about the people who come home with BASKETS full of groceries and leave only paying a few pennies on the dollar. So we decided that we were going to try it. Every Tuesday after dark we walk the neighborhood to see who did not take their free newspaper inside. We collect at least 10 papers for their coupons. I have also found a dollar store that sells the Sunday paper for 1/2 the newsstand price on Mondays so I pick up 10 of these too. We also have a few mailers that come each week with some fun savings inside.

On Wednesday evening we gather all the coupons, organize, and clip. Once the kids go to bed I sit with the newspaper price ads and decide what coupons I am going to use. It is hard in our area to get great savings because NONE of the stores in Las Vegas double coupons like they do on TV. I look for items that are already marked down with my store card and then add the coupon savings ontop of that price.

Today was going to be my first truly extreme trip. My goal to get at least a 50% discount on my entire order with using my store card and coupons. I would be going to both of the major stores next to my house to try and make this happen.

I went to the stores armed with over 180 coupons, and over 300 items on my list. I enlisted the help of Emily since she did not have school today. We set out for the first store, Emily had fun picking out the 15 bags of candy for our trick or treaters. She did tell me that I bought too much, and she would be happy to eat the extras. I think her jaw got bruised when it hit the floor when I told her we needed to get 27 boxes of cereal. Every isle we walked down we looked for deals that were not listed in the paper. Pushing 2 baskets through each store, and adding multiples of many items we had on our list, people looked at us just as they look at the shoppers on the show.

The true excitement started when I got to the register each time. For the first time in over 20 years of shopping, they called for a back up cashier when I came up to the register. I began carefully unloading my baskets, grouping all of the like items together so that the coupons would be easy to sort. Once the last item had been scanned, I handed the clerk my store card. My heart skipped a few beats as I watched the total go down penny by penny. Once the store discount was applied, I handed over my stack of coupons. At one of the stores, the line of people behind me were a bit annoyed as it was close to lunch time and they only had a few items. This annoyance went away when the cashier announced "you saved 51% on your total today" and she said it loud enough that all the people smiled and I even had a few congratulations.

So what did this haul consist of? I find it interesting in watching those shows where they have 3 buckets in their pantry full of razors, make up, or even different deodorants. My baskets were full of items that we already use and even lucky for me the brands we like. My loot included over 20 packages of diapers and wipes, 27 boxes of cereal, 50 cans of soup, and 15 tubes of tooth paste and many more items. In total I came home with over 180 items, and spent less than 50% of the retail price for all of the items :) :) So did my hard work "pay off" you might ask. I spent 3 hours preparing, 3 hours shopping, and saved over $500. This means that I got paid almost $84 per hour for shopping today. That is the highest paying job I have ever had!

3 months and going strong

I realize that I have not been posting as often as I would like. I sat down and realized that it has been 3 months since I made the transition from the HBIC to the HMIC. I am finally starting to feel like I am getting the hang of the new role. I have started to explore so many fun avenues of the HMIC.

My bread maker and I have a new relationship I am glad to see growing. I have had this bread maker for over 10 years and up until last month, I have only used it once. Our previous relationship was one of dust collecting and space hog.

I have found so many fun ways to make bread and with some fun ingredients. I have not bought bread from the store in over a month :) Thom loves it when he comes home and the house is filled with the smell of hot bread, we just have to be careful not to eat the whole loaf in one day. I even put my new found love for making homemade bread and dusted off my ice cream maker for an activity at our church. I entered my chili, chi spice ice cream, and honey oat bread in the cook-off and came home with first place for my ice cream. How fun to know that I have some good cooking skills, I shouldn't questioned that, my whole family has gained weight since I started cooking again :p

As the leaves have begun changing here in Las Vegas and the air has cooled down it feels like fall. I have wanted for many years to take the kids to a pumpkin patch to hunt for the perfect pumpkin. Being as we are not truly in an agricultural area we are limited on the selection of pumpkin patches. We found one that is a seasonal lot were they have a good selection as well as games and bounce house for the kids. Sean, Sarah and Emily took off running climbing on all the piles of pumpkins to find the one they wanted to take home. I am sure that I enjoyed the event more than they did, thanks kids for some great memories!

As we get closer to Halloween I find myself putting all the finishing touches on the costumes for my 3 kids and even Thom and I. We did have one rule for the kids costumes: The pieces must come from the thrift store. Over the 12 years I have been doing costumes for my kids, I have realized that I spend more on a costume than I do on their Christmas outfits all of which are items that they seam to only wear once. I have seen so many cute outfits at the thrift stores and so this was the mission. I am so excited to see these costumes come to life and look forward to posting the pictures of the finished products in a few days.

Staring at the same screen...

I have stared at this screen for over 2 hours, I just can't seem to get out of this funk! I am at a loss here folks how does the world of SAHM's keep from going loony? Facebook has lost it's excitement, my email inbox has lost it's luster, and my iPhone is beginning to turn brown from lack of use :(

I need some inspiration, enlightenment, maybe some excitement I am not sure what I need but a saying my sister used to say is beginning to feel true:
"My name is un-important, I have no friends, and my favorite color is clear"
this is not me! How did I get here? Where did the spontaneous girl who jumps in the car on a Friday and shows up in Northern California unannounced go? I used to come up with the wackiest ideas for meals, family outings, even just a girls night out. Lately I am lucky to find inspiration to not make "mac-n-cheese" for dinner.

My poor husband and family are getting the shortest end of that stick! I mean how many days in a row can you eat a ham and cheese omelet? Wait don't answer that! So here I sit looking for inspiration. I have food network going on the TV, eHow going on one screen, and the Oriental Trading Company catalog in front of me. Please.... something pop off the page and light my fire! I can not subject my family to anymore of the un-exciting HMIC! I think they might soon go on strike.

Learning to pick my battles...

This past week has been a rough one on me. It seemed like every time I turned around I was getting kicked, bitten, squished, tackled, stepped on, scowled at, woken up, hollered at, and man that was just Monday ;p I love my family dearly but this week was not one of those weeks.

I am learning that somethings are just better left alone (not really to fester and grow into a huge grudge where you want to scream at the top of your lungs so hard that your eyes feel like they are going to pop out of their sockets) than to try and deal with them when they happen. I am not sure why I continually put too much on my plate each day. I had NO idea that I would have MORE to do as the HMIC than I had working 2 full time jobs as the HBIC!

I am desperately trying to find a balance between the "silence" and loneliness found between the hours of 8am and 2pm. You know those caused by all the other members of the household that can carry on a real conversation are a work or school and all you are left with are the random babbalings of a two year old and the dogs. I have found it very hard to stay motivated this last week, causing a pile up in the evening of all the things that left untouched (mainly the dishes, laundry, and general house cleaning) and a frantic rush to accomplish as much as I can before my eyelids crash down on each other.

I am blessed to have a family that will try and help around the house. With my daughters it is like pulling a large ox in the opposite direction most times to get them to actually engage in the house work. My husband and brother in law are always willing to lend a hand, I just wish that I could learn to ASK for help BEFORE I am at my wits end. I feel like I am snapping at everyone, and in turn they snap back. This is a VICIOUS cycle that I am going to break and it is starting with me!

So here are the new goals for this week:
1) I am tackling only 1 major house project each day.
2) I will schedule time for me to go out of the house BY MY SELF and turn off my cell phone so I can truly be alone and left to my own devices.
3) I will ASK people to help me in advance or before I am feeling like the red eyed monster is ripping out of my skin.

There you have it, I have a plan! Lets see if I can make it work. I love my family, I don't want them to hate me because I can not keep this HMIC in check. Wish me luck!

Putting the HMIC to the test...

There is always one true test of your skills as the HMIC.... your Mother In Law. I love my MIL I am blessed to have one that does not judge me, she supports me. Thom's mom and step dad came to visit for the Labor Day weekend. I frantically ran through the house, unpacked everything I could and cleaned up all the messes I could before she got here. I moved the kids rooms around to make a place for them to sleep and prayed that I would be able to keep up with everything while we had a house of 8 for 4 days.

I now know why on those '50s shows the kids are in bed so early, it is because the mom's are exhausted and need to go to sleep. My MIL is up before the sun, walks for 30 min, then comes home, makes breakfast for the whole house, and then makes sure everyone is ready for the day. She is nearly always in the kitchen and jumps up anytime someone even looks like they are hungry. By the end of the day she and I both were running on fumes and ready to crawl in a comfy bed to start it all again the next day.

While she was here, we celebrated John's birthday. The kids and I threw together an impromptu surprise party while he was taking a nap. Sarah and I watched a you tube video on how to do a basket weave decoration on cakes and then tried our hands at it. This was so fun to make a birthday cake with Sarah. The surprise went off with out a hitch and the homemade cards and yummy cake were a hit.

I think the hardest part of the visit was the cold reality of Sean's condition. With all the commotion of a house full of people, changes in routine, and just general fun of family visits Sean was beginning to get worn on. He had a meltdown worse that I have experienced to this point. It took over an hour to get him calmed down (luckily I had prelude in G minor on my iphone that calmed him down) and once I could assess the damage he had given himself a bloody nose and some pretty good bruises on his ribs and hips. My in-laws were able to realize that it is not a selfish request from me to have them come to our house instead of us travel to them. I wish we could travel, and hopefully once Sean is a little older we will be able to again. All in all the love and support from both sides of our family have made it possible for Thom and I to give Sean and the girls the love and life they deserve.

Now that all of our summer visitors have come and gone, I think I am safe to say...
I passed the test! My house is still standing, my kids are all healthy, the visitors all had a wonderful time. I think that next year I will have them spaced out just a little more.

Getting in the swing of it..

Just when I think that I am getting the hang of this HMIC gig, I get thrown a curve ball. I was sooo excited this week when my two oldest started back to school. They were on pins and needles to get up Monday morning (Sarah even got out of bed before I did) they rushed through breakfast, and ran out the door to the bus stop. I walked home with my little one in the stroller and thought to myself, how am I going to fill the day? Little did I know that school may go slow as a kid sitting in that chair waiting for the clock to spin and the day to end. For a parent at home trying to get the laundry done, the floors clean, and all the bills paid before the chaos starts again, the school day is not long enough.

I am glad to have the kids in a larger district, they still have P.E, art, music, and library. Those opportunities are huge in the development of these little minds. Sarah came home today to announce that she will be playing the violin in the school's orchestra! I do have my battles to fight in this district, the nonsensical busing system is making me pull my hair out! They have 5 buses that come to our neighborhood, but they can't for some reason get our kids assigned to the bus that goes right by our house, we have to walk Emily over 1/2 mile to the bus stop! What is that all about? I wish I could just drive them (and the 2 girls across the street) to school each day. The problem there lies in the fact that their schools are 10 miles apart and start/end at the same time, I am a good HMIC but I don't think I am that good.

Sean is not adjusting to being home by himself very well. He gets lonely and demands a lot of our attention (he makes up for the lack of adult time by still taking 2 naps, this is when I get as much done as possible) he is beginning to like to sit on my lap and "work" on the computer. I am doing my best to keep him on the schedule he had with his therapist in Globe, he just does not want to sit on the floor and play with mom's toys (I think it is because they are the same ones I just pulled from his room) he wants the bag of toys that he had not played with before and so each appointment was like Christmas for him.

I have learned that I am defiantly not able to do this all on my own. It has been a blessing having my Brother In Law here for the last few weeks. He is always willing to step in and take on anything he can do to help. He plays with the kids, helps with homework, even cooks dinner when things are piling up and can see that I am a little too frazzled to try and come up with something for dinner. I now truly understand why families used to stay close, it took a whole family to keep things together. Thom and I were blessed the last 9 years to have my mom there to lend a hand whenever we needed it, and boy did we take advantage of those extra hands.

I can tell you that the thing I miss the most about being the HBIC was the interaction with adults. I love my children and husband dearly, but I am longing for the day when I find a group here in Vegas that I can slip into. Somewhere I can go and just be Liz, and get away from the daily grind for a few short moments. I know I will find it, I just have to really start looking. When does church volleyball start again???

"Challenge..."

I have felt the last few days that I am on the other end of John Travolta in the movie "Michael" when he sees the bull in the field and yells "Challenge..." This past week has truly tested my patience, my scheduling ability, my adaptability to change, and my will to persevere.

Sometime ago my husband's brother was offered a place to stay with us when ever he was ready to get his life together and make a fresh start. We have all had our challenges in life and sometimes all we need to get back on our feet is that encouraging voice of a brother or sister to keep us on the right path (no offense parents, but sometimes we have to leave some things to the siblings) to improving our own situation. Many things changed in his world and he decided that now was the time to move out West and take us up on the offer. Like always when you try to make something happen fast, it slows down even more. His scheduled Monday evening departure turned into a rushed Wednesday evening departure. Now this alone was not the source of all the stress in my world, that was the good part. John was on the road!

In the move we had to leave a few things behind because they are very time sensitive when it comes to moving...65 fish and 2 fish tanks! You might say that this is not such a big thing to leave behind, they are just fish. Well some of them are "just fish" (not to my hubby they are dear friends who are always glad to see him come home and who have even started breading which goes to show how good he is at keeping fish) and you should throw them in a cooler and drive. This would be true for small fish however our fish live in a 500 gallon tank that is 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide weighing well over 2000 pounds. Before we moved to Las Vegas, we had scheduled to go back to Globe in the middle of August to get the tanks. Last week was that week and so the trek began.

I called my childhood friend to come watch the kids, but that is not exactly what happened. Somehow she convinced me that bringing all the kids (5 kids with all ours combined and the dog) so that mine could see Nana again and hers could see Arizona would be a better idea than her staying at my house with all the kids. With the stress of my brother in law not having arrived in Las Vegas by the time we were supposed to leave, I gave in. We loaded my Routan with all the kids, the dog, food, and lots of blankets and pillows. We attached a small trailer to the back with all the luggage and the items needed to transport the fish home, and at 4:30pm on Thursday we left Vegas. Now we had to leave in the evening, because my mother was flying in from NYC as her first stint as a Carnival Cruise lines physician was finished and she needed a ride home from the airport. As we were driving she messaged and said that they were delayed due to weather. So that meant (since I was surprising her with grandkids now) that I had to stall. So decided to stop at the Hoover Dam. We walked the kids up to the new bypass bridge so they could look down on the dam, then drove over the dam. For some of the kids you could see the shear boredom in their eyes, but hay they were going to have fun, I was in charge!

We got back in the car and headed for Phoenix. We did manage to get to the airport just in time to get inside, surprise my mom, grab her bags, and get back in the car before Midnight. The 2 hour drive from the airport to the old house was nice as we all caught up and tried to stay awake. We got to the old house, unloaded the stack of sleeping kids from the back of the van. Inflated the air beds and crashed. If I had known at that moment that this would be the last ounce of sleep for a few days, I would have made sure my air bed did not have a LEAK in it!

The sun came up and so did my son. Mom and I headed to the grocery store, grabbed some food for the pack of crazy kids and began running the errands needed to get the tanks moved. We drove back to Phoenix to get the truck, drove back to Globe to get the dollies, had my husband calling desperately calling to get bodies to help lift the tank because he was stuck in Las Vegas with cameras down at work and a brother that was still behind schedule. We began tearing the first tank down at 4:00pm, with the help of my oldest kids and 5 guys who were crazy enough to say they would help, we had the first tank loaded in the truck by 7:30pm.

We headed up to the house to tear down the smaller tank, load the truck with the other items that were left at the house and at Midnight we loaded up the van with kids, the truck was loaded with fish and we set out for Las Vegas. Now because I was driving a 12ft Penske truck filled with 2 very large fish tanks (2000 pounds) 65 fish and water (1000 pounds) all the rock, decorations, and other items from our house (1000 pounds) I could not get that truck to stay above 65mph especially if we were going up hill at all. We pushed through as hard as we could, stopping at each major town to get out and stretch. As the sun came up we were just getting to the AZ state line. We crossed the Hoover Dam at 7:00am and pulled in the drive way at 8:00am to unload. Luckily there were 5 guys here in Las Vegas to help unload. I HATE that unloading is always faster than loading!!! In 35 minutes they had the entire truck unloaded, the tank ready for fish and water, and were gone. That took me over 6 hours to load the day before!!! The kids put their suits back on, climbed back inside and began the process of setting up the tank. By 11:30am we had the tank up and fish in their new home! The great news is that we only lost 3 fish in the move and they were not the expensive ones!!!

At this point in time I could no longer keep my eyes open, I took a shower and climbed into bed for some well deserved rest. The kids and Thom spent the afternoon setting up all the filters, feeding the fish and enjoying the new addition to the front room. Late that afternoon the last new addition to the house arrived, John had finally made it to Las Vegas.

Now that everyone was here, and the move was officially complete, we realized that we had to rearrange furniture :( So now the next step begins, move all the furniture, rearrange some rooms and wait for our next house guest to arrive. I am beginning to realize that no matter how well I plan and calendar things, they are just not going to go according to my plan, so here we go... "CHALLENGE!"

Payback is a pain in the butt...

They always tell you when you are growing up "I hope you have a child just like you!" Not only did I have one child that is EXACTLY like me, I have 2 of them. I love my daughters so much, but tonight I just wanted to flick them!

Thom and I decided to take the kids to the M&M World down on the Las Vegas strip. This was supposed to be just a daddy daughter date for him and Emily but I decided to crash the party. I should have just stuck to the original plan (that would have saved a bunch of headache) and stayed home with the other 2 kids.

We arrived on the strip and the kids got excited, they were in awe of the opulence of the MGM Grand hotel and casino, the lion habitat and the roller coaster at New York New York. We navigated our way down the sidewalk through the sea of people and characters that lined the outsides of the shops and casinos. We arrived at the door to the M&M World and the sparkle in their eyes was just precious. This is the point that you should take a picture because that is as cute as they get, from here the green eyed monster appears and all you want to do is lock them in a closet until they are 30.

We made it just in time for the last show of the 3D movie they show on the 3rd floor of the land of M&Ms. I was presently surprised when even Sean put on the glasses(played with them is more like it) and watched the show. We then ventured out into the store to get pictures with all the life sized M&Ms. Hunting for each color to make sure they took a picture inform of all of them.

After we had wandered each of the floors, the kids discovered the "fill your own M&M bag" station. WARNING if the price of an item is not CLEARLY posted, run far far away from that area, do not purchase! The kids were given the green light to get "a few" M&Ms in their bag.

Before we knew it Sarah had a bag so full of M&Ms she could not get the twist tie around the top. It was at this time that I heard the faintest voice coming from an employee saying "they are mmmmm.99 per pound please pour slowly" I turned to Thom to clarify did he say $12.99 per pound?? Thom said that he was not sure he though they said $4.99. Looking at the massive bag of candy in Sarah's hand, I prayed it was the lesser of the two. We made our way to the check out stand and the clerk said "wow are you ready for this total, you are aware that the candy is $12.99 per pound."

This is the point at which I flash back to my child hood, grabbing anything in site when my parents took us places with out a care in the world for the price. My darling husband was wonderful at keeping his calm (when I knew full well he wanted to throw the bag of candy at the back wall of the store and walk out of the store) looked at his daughters with eyes that only a father can and said "I hope you enjoy those M&Ms because that is all the chocolate you get for the year."

I never knew how hard it was for my parents to "swipe that card" each time one of the kids just "had to have" that toy or candy or jacket. I never respected the sacrifices they made so that we could have a happy child hood. Now I TOTALLY understand the look on their face every time we asked for something that was a little outrageous. I guess as parents we have to walk that fine line between spoiling our children rotten, and depriving them of any of the nice things in life. I don't want and never have raised my kids to believe that money grows on trees. But today it defiantly hit home that it is probably not the smartest parenting decision for me to not stop them when they are going overboard. No matter how big the scene will be in the store. I am just going to have to work on this one folks.

Why can't they just get it together...

I am for the first time ever dreading going to the grocery store. I love to shop, it does not mean if it is for clothes, shoes, even shopping for office products excites me. I don't know if it is just the time it takes to find the best bargain or the fact that NONE of these chain stores can get their acts together!

How hard is it really? I spent 30 minutes the last time I went to the store to get some items for dinner (chicken, rolls, gravy) walking each and every isle MULTIPLE times. It is simply exhausting!

When I walk into a Wal-Mart, Safeway, even Dollar Tree I want to walk to isle #4 and find the Kool-aid, not the paper towels. It is hard enough to find your way around a new neighborhood when you move. Your hometown stores should just keep things where they belong.

So I guess I am off to wander the isles of the local grocery store. I never made shopping lists in the past because I could just walk in get what I wanted and walk out. Now I not only make a list of what I need, but what isle I found it in so I can remember where I have been.

I think this just might work...

Well we have reached the end of the first week of the challenge board. I have tried in the past to work with my kids on keeping up on house work and taking care of themselves with no luck. This week has been a totally different experience! Each day the kids would race to see who could get their stuff done first, and even got onto me when I had not checked off their daily tasks. They are both coming up with more rewards for the board and trying to figure out how many days they will have to save up to cash in for rewards.

You might ask how this system works, it is very much like being an employee. Your job duties (challenges) are laid out very concisely and we had an orientation meeting where we went over the job descriptions and my expectations for them. There is a monetary amount tied to each challenge and the best part is that they have to pay me and my hubby if we have to do any of their challenges. Man I wish I had made my employees pay me when I had to finish a project(or sometimes completely redo a project) that they got paid to do.

The part that made me have hope that this time the challenge system will stick was when the girls brought their new friends over to have a movie night tonight. They were actually excited to show them their boards and how much they have earned. Sarah even asked if she could have an Italian Soda with her sundae tonight and said "I would like to buy an Italian soda please mom, I will have the $2 as soon as I get paid." That felt soooooo good! I am not sure how long this is going to last but we will wait and see!

The challenge chart

Well it took me 3 days but it is up and working! The best part is that the kids are excited that they can see what they are working for and are even asking how they can earn more challenge money!

How did I find the time?

I have come to the realization that there truly are not enough hours in the day! I am not sure how I managed to work a full time job running a doctor's office, a part time job (OK it was a full time job too but was only supposed to be a part time job) as an assistant to the director of a dance studio, keep up a house, and raise 3 kids. It is official I must have been CRAZY!

I have spent the last two weeks trying to set up our new house. My days have been filled with what feels to be less than organized chaos! I have frantically unpacked boxes trying to find a new home for all the items inside the boxes. I am cooking 3 meals (and multiple snacks) each day for the family and figuring out that by the time I get done with one meal it is time to start working on the next. I spend copious amounts of time with a broom or vacuum in my hand chasing down the worlds fastest two year old.

I am learning the art of timing the laundry with the shower and dishwasher schedule which may seam like a small feat but with 5 people and 1 water heater, the water heater will always win! I try to spend time with my kids doing things that are fun and get them moving (though i know they would rather be in front of facebook or youtube)each day. Then in the few quiet moments I have each day I sit down to work on closing out the accounts receivable and accounts payable for my families company. All the while all I hope for is that by midnight I am able to climb into bed pull the covers over my head and pray that my son sleeps through the night. The words to that song "It's only Monday Mr. Mom" keep playing over in my head, and I only find it funny because that truly is the reality of a HMIC, and somehow we get up each morning and do it all over again.

I am very grateful and humbled for this time in my life, I just want to put some more organization to the chaos. So here is the goal for Monday:
1) Make a family calendar (either electronic or on a push board)
2) Create the new "challenges chart" (we don't call them chores in our house we call them challenges because when you overcome a challenge there is a reward)
3) Come up with a "daily schedule" in an attempt to have things make sense.

I know going into this goal that part of it is an exercise in futility as I work with my loving two year old but what have I got to loose, my sanity is slowly fading either way.

Missing my friend...

Today is a sad day at our house. Our family dog Grammie went missing. My husband brought her and her sister Tonie home to be our family dogs when they were just 8 weeks old back in 2003. She was one of the best dogs I had ever had. She never barked at people and even protected baby Sean as he grew. Sean and Grammie had a bond like only a boy and his dog can have. She would make this whiny cry any time Sean got hurt and he learned to imitate this whine. It did take us a while but we realized that he would make this noise any time she came into the room and when he hugged her would also make this sound. He began to let out this loving whine anytime he would love on any of his stuffed animals too.

I thought that she was adjusting to the move as well as any animal could. She would explore the house, the yard and even some of the neighbors yards (hopefully not leaving them messes to clean up) but would always come home after about 15 minutes of exploration. This morning as we were taking out the trash and getting our day started Grammie did her normal neighborhood rounds. Unfortunately this time she did not come home. I drove around the neighborhood shaking her treats out the window and calling her name with no results finding her.

Unfortunately it has been more than 12 hours now and she still has not come home. We are making fliers to put up around our neighborhood and watching some websites for "Lost Dogs" in the Las Vegas area. I hope that if she has found a new home that they care for her as well as we did. She is very missed and any prayers for her safe return are defiantly welcome.

I guess this just reminds all of us that you never know how much you cared for something or someone until they are gone. Hold tight to all you love and those around you that love you. Hug people, tell them you love them, and never take any moments you make for granted! We are blessed by the people and yes even the animals that come into our lives.

What is in this cupboard...

The one thing I have learned about unpacking is that I had no idea what was in my cupboards! I decided that I would unpack my kitchen first when we moved into our new home. I never thought I would say this but I am SICK of eating out! I can't believe that I just said that, I am the queen of "too tired to cook" nights. When I worked bankers hours we ate out every day for lunch and having 2 very active dancer daughters take out was on the table at least 3 nights a week. I am thinking that since that was a personal choice it did not bother me as much. However being forced to eat fast food, take out, or pizza delivery for every meal because you can't find the pots and pans gets old.

When I walked into our new home and saw the stacks and stacks of boxes in the kitchen I knew where my challenge was to begin. They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and being that I had not lived under the same roof as my husband for nearly a month, it was time to tackle the kitchen and have a home cooked meal. I had NO IDEA where to start! There were plastic tubs and cardboard boxes EVERYWHERE! I did not realize that I had soooo much kitchen stuff (I should have known that I had too much stuff when at our last house, there were 4 boxes of kitchen stuff left in the garage that I could not fit inside the cabinets) and had no clue how I would make it all fit.

It was time to dive in, I started unpacking each box and it almost felt like Christmas in July. Each time I opened a box it was a mystery what would be inside, would it be canned goods or bake ware? I began making stacks of dishes on the floor since I got tired of moving them from shelf to shelf as I tired to make everything fit in the cupboards. The part that baffled me was when I discovered that I had multiples of many items, I somehow ended up with 4 sets of mixing bowls and funnier yet, they were 2 sets of exact duplicates. My husband came out into the area where I was stacking and re-stacking and said "Liz just go to bed" my response was "I can't sleep knowing that I have to eat take out for breakfast!"

By the time I looked at a clock it was nearly 2 in the morning and I was still unpacking kitchen boxes. I decided that I would take on the rest of the boxes in the morning since I had at lease unpacked the dishes and the cereals. All in all it took me 2 days to unpack, organize, and decorate my kitchen.

This morning I decided that it was time to start using some of the food that I had just unpacked. I am wondering how long it will take my family to get sick of Rice-a-Roni as a side dish (somehow I acquired 35 boxes of different flavors) or cupcakes as desert (there are over 20 different cake mixes in the pantry) but we are going to give it a go. I spent a few minutes cruising some recipe websites to try and decide some different ways to use some of this food. I have made some food goals for myself this month.
Goals for August:
1)I will not purchase any non perishable foods this month.
2)I will not eat out more than 2 meals per week this month.

I am sure that the clerks at Vons and Smiths are going to know me by name before the end of this month (I don't know that this is a bad thing, all the waiters in Globe, AZ know me by name and preferred dish) but I am up for a challenge. I am sure that my husband will be happy with some savings in our check book, lets just see if he can handle my creative cooking. I am sure that I will be calling his mom for a lot of different ideas.

Monday goes downhill...

Today was the first Monday of this new adventure and I had a plan! I was feeling pretty much like a "fish out of water" not having my regular Monday routine. There were no schedules to review, no production goals to review with my staff, no emails to return, not even a text message from a family member to respond too. I decided that today would be an experiment in running errands with 3 kids in tow.

I spent a few minutes over a bowl of frosted mini wheat's looking over yesterday's paper and deciding if there were any coupons that might suit the shopping list. Please let me tell you I have NEVER clipped a coupon before in my life! Not because there is anything wrong with using a coupon, it is just that I never made the time for using these little savings devices. My son had fun spreading all the pages of the Sunday paper from one end of the den to the other.

The manager in me then opened the iCal app on my new iPhone and started the "to do list" for the day:
1) Clip coupons
2) Clean up kids
3) Enroll kids in school
4) Go school shopping
5) Drop off transfer paperwork for Sean
6) Eat Lunch
7) See a new Vegas Site for kids
8) Put Sean down for nap
9) Pay Bills
10) Make Dinner
I am not sure what made me think that I could accomplish everything on my Monday list, but I was determined to try! I already had the coupons cut, and the kids cleaned up and we set off. This is where it all goes down hill! I try to be a calm person and when dealing with adults they know that when the boss starts to get red in the face, back off! When dealing with kids, when the adult gets red in the face, they say lets get ice cream! This does not fit into the "to do list" and has not been scheduled, and therefore makes me crazy.

I had all the destinations in the navigation in the van and had a plan, or so I thought! By the time we were done going from school to school, the kids were so hungry you would have thought I had not fed them in days. So we had to re-arrange the locations on the navigation to move up the lunch stop. Because my oldest daughter Sarah is now in Junior High, she felt that she had to buy one of everything cute and stylish in the "Back to School" isle despite the fact that she was told by the school twice that all she needed was a planner, a pencil, a notebook, and a backpack. I managed to get food into the kids, the school supplies taken care of and set off to try and get back on track.

My next stop was to the DES office to drop off the transfer application for my son's SSI payments (we were informed that he was autistic less than a year ago and have been wading through the joys of special needs and moving to a new state, we are starting all over again) to get him enrolled in all the programs here in Nevada. I am not very familiar with state assistance programs. I have been blessed to be the one paying into the system more than using the system over the course of my adult life. I drove all over East Las Vegas trying to find this office, and finally pulled into the correct parking lot. I unpacked the kids for the 6th time this morning. Please do not take this the wrong way but I felt like I was walking onto a movie set, the building was an old grocery store that had been converted into a DES building. On the front door was a sign that said "avoid the line, apply online" I was not prepared for what came next. We walked inside and there were over 150 people in chairs, standing in lines, and all with paperwork in their hands. There was a voice overhead calling another person to door #2 and stating final call please come to door #2. I decided to heed the instructions on the door, we went back to the car and decided to apply online.

Since my entire day had been taken off track it was time to go find something that the kids would like to do. I followed Flamingo Rd toward my house and ran into "The Strip" hoping that there would be something close and free for the kids to enjoy. I remember reading that the fountains at the Bellagio run every 30 min in the afternoon and decided that would be today's outing. I navigated my way to a parking lot (thank you to the hotels for not charging for parking) and unpacked the kids again. We felt like salmon swimming upstream as we crossed all the streets and by ways to get a spot in the shade to watch the fountains dance to the music. The girls were not as impressed as I had hoped, however the intense concentration from Sean was worth all the heat and crowds we had to endure.

It was time to try and head home to get something on the table for dinner before Thom came home from work. I was 3 blocks from the house when I get a text:
"I will be a few more hours with this install, a trailer got flipped and today has been downhill from there." Wow! That was exactly how my day had felt! I told the kids to warm up the left over pizza from last night and I decided it was time to just zone out. The best part of the night was that Sean calmly and quietly climbed into bed by himself.

When Thom finally got home, he was so tired all he could do was make a cup of coffee. I knew that he had a rough day. I did not go into depth about my trials of the day, I did not feel like playing the who's day was worse game. However when he looked at me at 9:00 pm and said, I am out of coffee, I almost lost it! I guess we will do it all over again tomorrow, where are those damn coupons...

It is much harder than it looks...

It has been nearly a week now that I have been unpacking. It took my mom and I over 3 weeks of 14 hour days to pair down, donate, discard, and pack our respective houses as we prepared for moving. I had hopped to have more of my life in order by this point. I am discovering that the packing up of and old life is easier than the opening of a new one.

I decided to take my kids to the local pool this afternoon. Let me just say we never had pools this nice where I grew up! My oldest daughter Sarah asked me a question and I replied "go as the lifeguard they will know, I have never been here before" to which she replied "I am scared too!" It was at that moment that it hit me, what we all took to be a "new adventure" would actually be a test of our bravery. I guess that all the moving I did as a child prepared me for this move. My children are now looking to me for guidance on how to meet new people, make new friends, heck just find their way around the neighborhood. I tell you what, meeting new people is much easier in a controlled environment (the board room, a classroom, even a place of worship) than in the open public.

Here we go, lets put on that brave face and just say hello, that is a good start. So everyone please remember that if you see someone walking around with that "I have no idea" look on their face, ask them if they need help, I can assure you the gesture will be welcomed even if they decline the offer.

Ready...Set...Go...

From HBIC to HMIC
It was about a year ago this time that my husband and I got the news that our youngest child was autistic. Within a few weeks of that news my husband quit his day job and began staying home with our son and two daughters.

I can not believe it took me almost a year to realize how jealous I was that I was the one missing all the milestones Sean was making. I have worked 40+ hours a week since I was at least 16 years old. Over the past 12 years and the birth of 3 kids I have tried to juggle it all work, home, family time, dance class, and alone time.

When my family faced another change it was decided that it was my turn to leave the corporate world behind. Come with me as I leave the HBIC (Head Babe In Charge) behind and become the HMIC (Head Mom In Charge) and learn to put my management degree to work for our house. I may not do it the way the experts say to, but I am going to find a way to make this all work.