Progress

I'm blogging right now because the idea of packing another box is just so unappealing. I've packed so many today, so many over the last few weeks really, but today in particular. I finished packing three boxes before the kids got up,well Pax was up which is why I was up. I packed another handful between errands, meals, snack times and nursing. Then after the boys were asleep for their naps I really started to get going. Considering I have mostly small boxes to work with right now I am doing pretty well. Pantry is 90%, Bathroom is 90%, Kitchen is 90%. Keep in mind that our bathroom has two large linen closets so there is a lot to do there. I took everything out of our closet that could be boxes. (Pax' bed and dresser stayed of course)

I just have nothing left to give tonight. Obscure is bringing over some larger boxes tonight and tomorrow I'm heading to our coffee shop to pick some up. I went in tonight to let them know I'd be needing them.

Tonight might have actually been our last cooked meal in the house. We'd rather eat out and keep the kitchen "clean" and pack as much as possible . Plus there are boxes all over the dinning room and kitchen right now. From where I sit I can see 30+ liquor boxes (sadly none of them have liquor in them). So tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday we are eating out. Saturday we will have pizza and beer with all our helpers, and Wednesday and Sunday I managed to accidentally get friends to volunteer to bring us food. Breakfast and lunch should be pretty easy to still make here but I did just pack the toaster and I forgot to pick up milk today. Bummer guess I'll have to get creative tomorrow morning. I could do smoothies with frozen fruit and yogurt and that would use up the last of the juice (thank goodness) and the kids could either have eggs (which don't seem to agree with Pax) or pancakes, the kind you just add water, but I may have packed those, hmm.

I do have a running list of essentials to keep with us as the move gets messy. I have a lot of staple foods such as muffins, granola bars, trail mix, pb, bread, garbage bags, paper goods, toilet paper...you get the idea. Tomorrow when I pick up milk I grab some water bottles and pop for all our helpers (beer too!).

Demand has been a helper....some of the time. I found a nice font that writes bubbles letters so I printed out signs for moving day to mark each room "boys room" , "playroom", etc. Then Demand got to color them all for me. Today she loaded all of the uneeded silverware into a freezer bag for me. This is all an upgrade from last week when she was going to help me sort all the kids clothes into separate bags. Instead of helping she decided she had to inspect each piece of clothing with a fake candle first. Not so much help. Anti-help really.

Anyway, that's where we are. Tomorrow is the final walk through and Wednesday we close. Getting so close!

Second Greatest Day of the Year

For the last four years as part of my birthday gift, I get to take a Saturday off and head to a super-awesome city wide garage sale with Tiger. It's a part of my birthday gift because the big garage sale is usually the weekend of my birthday. Anyway, it has become my second favorite day of the year (#1 is German Fest which is in June).

The night before we print out the maps make a list of sizes and wants and then plan our attack. One forseen aspect of the "day off" is that I have to get up early. Wicked early. I left the house today at 6:40am and let me tell you I was near tears when Pax was pulling his stunts at 3:30, 4, 5am. Not cool buddy.

Anyway, I stopped for coffee for both Tiger and I and met her at her house by 7:15am. See the garage sales open at 8am but the last two years I've been there at 7:30am when they are setting up and have gotten some crazy deals. CRAZY!

Oh, and I just want to point out, in case you are wondering, I didn't get junk or unneeded items and I didn't load up on toys. I got wonderful deals on things we would otherwise purchase at full price. I was so proud of my finds so I figured out how much money I spent and then add up everything I bought (not prices just counted items)

Here's what I got.

41 pieces of clothing (only 5 were for me the rest for our ever growing children). This includes the most adorable dress coat for Demand. Grey and Black with matching beret. Mr. Sloth has wanted one for his little French girl for some time. So cute!
3 pairs shoes for Demand
1 pair of water shoes for Demand
1 pair of ice skates
3 pinatas + Candy. One will be used for Demands b-day party, the other two for a rainy day. I couldn't pass up for $0.50/each. Oh, and the candy is only three weeks old and still bagged.
10 children's hangers. It was on my list for the new house anyway.
1 large framed picture of the building of the Eiffel Tower. I am having trouble finding a similar picture online, but know that this isn't a generic Eiffel Tower pictures. It's four pictures of the progression of the erection of the Eiffel Tower and I want to add that this is a high quality framed picture not just something from Wal-Mart.
2 beautiful silver candle sticks
2 sets of Speedo Water Wings. Really good quality, fabric covered inflatables.
1 gorgeous Easter Decoration
5 Crate and Barrel style serving dishes
2 unused Target Party Platter
3 Toys. One of which is for Pax's birthday and one is for his crib. All three educational
3 Strawberry Shortcake figurines for Demand's Birthday Cake.
1 Board Game. "Clue!" I have asked for this game for my birthday and Christmas for years. For two dollars, this deluxe set was mine! Happy Birthday to me!
1 light up Planetarium (homeschool expense)
1 Pottery Barn style silverware caddy
21 childrens books
3 extra large wall maps. I had just decided to get some for our new homeschool room. What a find!
1 crib foam wedge (for when we have another gassy baby)
1 bag of hand/finger puppets
1 and in a twist of irony I bought a small Marian icon at an Episcopal Church sale.

and last, but best this house. I found it a couple hours into shopping and couldn't believe it was available. I bought it immediately for $15. I knew it was Pottery Barn Kids. I knew it was worth more than $15 and I KNEW Demand would love it as a birthday gift for her new bedroom. When I got home I looked up the actual price......$149.

And with that I reveal the grand total. All together I spent (drum roll, please)


<$137!! That's less than what the playhouse actually costs! Not only did I get a ton of needed clothes and shoes but I got homeschool supplies, birthday party supplies, and birthday gifts. What a deal!

In addition to my savings I'm proud of myself for not loading up on toys this year. Gosh it's so tempting to see what you know is a $30 toy on sale for $1, but that doesn't mean we need it. I have no problem buying books though and guess what. The kids were just as excited for a bag of books as they would have been for toys.

Thanks for listening to my exciting news. Luckily you can stop reading now, while Mr. Sloth has to hear about it for days.

Off the Hook

Since the day we met Mr. Sloth has cursed me for having a birthday so closes to Mother's Day as if I had a choice in the matter. (I guess I was two weeks early but I assure you, if I broke my mother's water on purpose I know I had no idea what I was doing) This year he got a break. Last month when he surprised me with the house he let me know that it was my Mother's Day gift and Birthday gift. I knew he was planning something wonderful for my birthday and I don't have the courage to ask what it was since I'll never see it. :(

One of the reasons Mr. Sloth liked me when I was dating was that I didn't care if he didn't get me gifts. I really didn't. Gosh I was just happy to be dating him, wasn't that enough? And now, on Mother's Day, isn't it enough that I have three kids? Can I really throw a tantrum if I don't get a foot spa and a hand made four year old art project? So not only did I head into Mother's Day knowing that I wasn't getting a present, per se, but with less than 24 hours notice I found out I would be spending Mother's Day doing a top to bottom clean of the house.

Now, before you start a riot, please make note of this. I am a practical person who likes practical gifts. The two things I ask for and dream of most is a) more sleep and b) just one day to clean the house. On Mother's Day I got both. I slept in until 9am. (Mr. Sloth was not so lucky as Demand woke him up at 5:15am wondering if they could make me breakfast. Yikes!). Then we were off to Mass. After Mass Pax decided to take a nap so he slept in his crib while I put on my cleaning clothes and Mr. Sloth carted "Thing One and Thing Two" off for some lunch. After lunch Mr. Sloth picked up Pax and I didn't see them again until 5:30pm.

I had four hours to myself to clean the house as much as I please. I also managed to have one....or two margaritas, some chips and guac, and a nap before heading of to my mother in laws for dinner.

Oh, and before I forget, Demands gift.....She greeted me first thing in the morning with a handmade card and a rock. Yes, a rock. Hand picked from our front yard. She could barely sleep the night before she was so excited to give it to me. She and Mr. Sloth also made me breakfast, which, of all the Mother's Day gifts I actually regret. See I don't eat breakfast and while I love breakfast foods and I'll eat it if it's served to me what I didn't like was the 45 minutes it took me to clean the kitchen later that day. I would have much rather stuck with my morning coffee thank you. (So much grease!)

Later that night, once the kids were asleep we watched, "The Kings Speech" which was fantastic. As it ended around 11pm I realized that I hadn't bought the Sunday Papers yet. Mr. Sloth made on finally push for Mother's Day and went to the gas station at 11:11PM at night to get me my three news papers. Hoorah!

He had one last wave of guilt when I complained this morning of the missing coupons but it turns out the coupons were seriously lacking this week, it wasn't just Mr. Sloth (whew). It is good that I discovered that it wasn't just the papers he bought because I have a serious mental issue with loosing things and it drives Mr. Sloth up a wall. I can't stand to have something lost. I will literally lose sleep and spend countless hours searching for something even if its seriously gone. (Mr. Sloth lost his wallet in January and I still scope out the church parking lot every time I drive through it). I must have spent a collective hour this morning searching through the same stack of papers looking for more coupons.

(sigh) Mr. Sloth is a saint.

Oh, and I had some great deals at Walgreen's tonight. I saved $21 and spent $8, all on necessities. Toilet paper, deodorant, Kleenex.... so much fun.

Tomorrow Mr. Sloth and I are heading to a baseball game. He somehow managed to make it my birthday present for another year. Clever guy, he is. This week is going to fly by. This last lovely week until.....my birthday. :(

7 Quick Takes

I've been meaning on jumping on board this 7 quick takes business. This is the week I guess.



1. Sadness and Gratitude. My cousins' three week old baby died suddenly yesterday. The air has been a bit heavy ever since. Turns out my stone cold heart has some emotion left afterall, and my tear ducts might still work. Not only are we grieving with and for them but we're grateful for what... who we have with us. All of a sudden the children smell a bit sweeter and their whining isn't quite as unnerving. Prayers requested of course. God's will is perfect, but not comprehensible.

2. 3 Weeks from today we move. Days like today when Happy screamed bloody murder and shook the locked door while I tried putting Pax to sleep I couldn't wait until there are two entire floors between the playroom and the nursery and not six inches. We're still working on finding a renter but we have some time.

3. Couponing. I made some good progress this week. Slow and steady. I went through the grocery store twice (so I could double more coupons) and saved 45% the first time and 50% the second time, spending a little over $100 total. Since I'm working on the stockpile (sounds so unBiblical) it's going to take a while to see a real cost decrease. I'm 90% done organizing the coupons I have and I'm ordering some Sunday papers through a special offer later this week. I have to confess that I already have a couponing injury. The scissors have rubbed a cut onto my hand from clipping so many coupons.

4. "A Well Trained Mind" is the book I'm currently reading. We love what we're learning about creating a classical education at home. Turns out my instincts for teaching Demand were correct.

5. YouTube. I've been watching couponing videos on youtube while the kids sleep and/or I'm cleaning up the kitchen. I'm learning a lot and it keeps me motivated. I think I finally found a hobby Mr. Sloth can support. Although I did tell him that if I ever ask him to video tape me couponing in the grocery store to ask me to stop couponing.

6. Boxes. Here and there I've been finding a few moments to fill a few boxes. Thankfully a lot of our stuff is naturally stored in containers making the move a bit easier. We've been getting a lot of boxes in the mail too. I recently received a music program for Demand's Kindergarten curriculum, a number of new books for fun and for reference and an Easter package from Mena and Papa. (Who knew bubbles could be so fun?)

7. The kids. Pax is crawling, did I mention that? It kind of just happened slowly. Today he used me to stand up and when I called Mr. Sloth, he said Pax does that all the time with him. Third kid syndrome I guess. Demand is really plowing through books now and so proud of herself. She's also entering a phase where she wants to play alone a lot so she's looking forward to her new bedroom. Happy; we've had some really great days with Happy this week. He's learning a lot more and saying a lot more. Today is not one of those great days however. I have a feeling Demand woke him up about an hour and a half too early this morning. She woke everyone up about an hour and a half early today.

There you go 7 insights into the Sloth home this week. Check out Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes.

Out of Control

A little over a month ago I was talking to my sister-in-law (Hi!) about couponing. She created a monster! First I started with one grocery store, and after saving $40+ a week and saving $0.35/ PER GALLON of gas, I was hooked! Within a week I found out that a few of my friends were crazy couponers and got some advice from them as well as watching a few youtube videos to learn the tricks and know-hows.

Last night I did my first Walgreens trip. I "bought" two latex gloves, on Tylenol Precise Pain Cream, a travel size deodorant, and dishsoap, and I paid........$1.47!! And most of that was tax. I was a bit disappointed that they were out of the razors I was looking for because they would have been free as well. One of my homeschooling friends enlightened me to all the free things she gets on a regular basis. She never pays for toothpaste, razors, toothbrushes, dental floss, peanut butter and never pays more than $1 for brand name cereal or bread. She is my new idol. In addition to all that I have discovered that I rarely have to pay for milk, eggs, or cheese-its (which we love!)

Is it a lot of work? Yes, for now, but that's because there is a lot to learn. I'm trying to only learn one bit at a time though. I spend about two nights a week on it. I started with our grocery store doing the coupons on double coupon days, and buying things on sale. For every $50 I spend at that store I get $0.05 off a gallon of gas. I'm now learning on working the Walgreens system as well as how to collect coupons. I have to admit, it's actually pretty fun. Sunday I get the paper, actually I get three because you get more coupons and you'll get your $3 back easily. Then I spend the next night or two clipping coupons, looking through flyers and checking my handy couponing websites.

Since we're moving in three weeks (YIKES!) It's nice to be saving money. Oh, another way we are saving money at the grocery store is that we gave up juice. Demand who normally chooses water has three cavities! Happy on the other hand LOVES juice and that 's all he wants if it's available. He's already genetically prone to cavities so I don't' want to encourage it. The only way to get him to stop drinking juice is to not have it in the house. So sadly we have no juice and if we do we can't let him know we have it. It's just as well, Mr. Sloth recently read an article on juice and apparently the fiber in fruit helps regulate the sugar absorption in fruit but juice doesn't have the fiber just the sugar and that is super-concentrated.

Another change in our grocery shopping is hopefully going to be healthier foods. Mr. Sloth and I want to take the moving opportunity to change a few habits, including better eating. We eat lots of healthy food, but we eat lots of unhealthy food too. Let's just say they know us at "Smashburger".

Other than couponing I'm trying to pack (but failing) trying to keep the house clean (epic fail) and trying to homeschool (err, it's Preschool right?). Actually this move is perfecting timing as far as homeschooling goes. We'll spend the summer finishing Demands Reading and Math program just in time to start Kindergarten/1st grade in September. I've already started to collect some of the materials and I have a homeschool conference in the beginning of June. Three months "should" be enough time to set up the homeschool room and gather all the materials. Hopefully the move goes as planned and doesn't get postponed. (Please, God!)

Clearly I have a lot to do and should wrap this up. Till next time....

Funky Monkey Theology

I decided to mix up snack time a bit today and make semi-healthy milkshakes for the kids. I made Funky Monkey Milkshakes. (Funky Monkey was the name of a coffee drink I used to get all the time when Mr.Sloth and I were dating. Ah, memories!)

I mixed ice cream with protein powder, chocolate syrup, a banana, and peanut butter. When I called upstairs to Happy and mentioned ice cream he came bolting down the stairs. Not having had many non-sippy cups, giving Happy a glass and a straw was going to be tricky, I knew that much. Between Happy's instincts to tilt a cup up and drink and his new stage of "I want to do it myself" an epic battle began and the life lessons started flowing. I kept trying to help him hold the cup correctly but he refused and said "I do it". Finally in an attempt to save his cute little outfit from doom I took his cup and said he could only have it if I helped him.

Oh, the choices!! Did he choose the milkshake or refuse to eat with help?? It was at this point when I thought, "Geesh kid, I'm trying to help you have a yummy treat, why won't you just listen to me?"

Ah-ha! That's when it dawned on me that God is always trying to give us good things, things that will makes us happy, things we may not even have thought of before, but in my, er, our stubbornness we try and do everything ourselves and end up making a mess of things.

Happy finally resorted me helping him and once he complied and figured out the basics I let him do it himself. A few minutes later, much to my surprise, Happy looked at me and said, "You do it?". He wanted me to help him again. He realized that when, "Mommy hold the cup, I get more milkshake faster. "

Life lessons are exhausting. I should let God put me down for a nap.

Comings and Goings

We're moving! Most of you know, but some may not. One day I was preparing to live in our townhome another year and a few days later we put an offer in on a house. It feels as crazy as it sounds. Not only are we moving, but we're moving in 5 weeks and we still have to find a renter for this place. This past week has been in sane with the realization that the Sloths will finally get a bigger home, but with Holy Week here, life is beyond crazy.

So if you don't hear from me in the next month, I'm cleaning, packing, painting, organizing, and of course I'm still mothering, nursing, wifeing, and above all else, praying.

Since we have to put our house up for rent I had to get the place clean enough for pictures, wanna see? Looks can be deceiving, in many of the pictures the mess is just out of screen. The kitchen is really that clean though. Mr. Sloth and I have been marveling at it since yesterday afternoon. So much so, we refuse to use it anymore. You can't really tell how clean the laundry room is but we could barely move in there so Mr. Sloth was pleasantly surprised when he came home for lunch today.

When Pax wakes up from his nap I'll work on our room next, but I may have pictures of that somewhere already.

TTFN