I've always known I'm not a morning person (really, I think mornings should start about 10 am!!) but it seems this week has been a bit worse than regular weeks. I had thought the changes that I made would be helping the situation. I'm still going to bed around my normal time - between 10 and 11 most nights - but in the morning I just can't seem to find enough energy to get much of anything done. Most days I've been doing a workout of some kind, whether it is going to the gym, doing my Wii Fit (Free Step is my FAVORITE if you can't tell!), or I've also been going walking with my Opa.
But I'm still having a really hard time sleeping. I wake up several times at night, then in the morning I don't have any energy until around 10 or 11 and usually end up dozing off in my recliner :( I'm tempted to talk to my doc about if I can take anything to help me sleep - just for a little while. I'd prefer home remedies, but none of those have been working so far either.
My daughter has a 4 day weekend from school. We've been getting a lot done today -the first day off. The kids insisted on making me 'breakfast in bed' except I don't eat breakfast - I usually have a breakfast shake, so that's what they made for me :) Then, being the nice mommy I am, I put them to work.
I have started an allowance system for the kids, but they have to earn the money, and they can only earn $0.50 each per day. For Beau, she can do things like help with laundry, take out the garbage, do all her homework with out us nagging her to do it, put dishes away, and take care of the recycling. For Scrappy, he can earn his by practicing writing his letters, doing quiet reading with me or daddy through 2 books, clean up his toys, and put the silverware away. I give them what they've earned for the day and they each have a jar to put it in.
Once a week, the kids have Payday and can take their money out of the jar and divide it up. Each one has a Save, Donate, and Spend envelope. Scrappy doesn't earn as much as Beau, so his percentages are 30, 10, and 60. Beau is a little older and is also working on earning money through helping other people also. I gave her a little more leeway and let her determine her amounts. She chose 50, 10, and 40. When they have enough in their Save envelopes, we will go to the bank to buy savings bonds. They can choose where they would like to donate their money to. Beau wants to donate her to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation when we do our annual Great Strides walk. Scrappy, on the other hand, wants to use his to buy items for our local Humane Society. (His current ambition is to be a vet.) The kids can choose what to spend their money on, but they must discuss with us first. Scrappy had gotten a LeapsterGS from Nana and Papa for Christmas, so he is saving for some new games for it, particularly SpongeBob. Beau really doesn't have a goal set for hers. She has mentioned maybe a new game for our Wii system or gift cards for her Nook that Nana and Papa got for her.
Today the kids got a little extra since I kept them busy. We cleaned the kitchen and started on the catch-all mess in the dining room. I let them watch a movie for a little while during lunch before we went to the store. The lady looked at me funny since all I bought was chicken. I couldn't turn down $0.89/lb for quarters and $1.68/lb for boneless, skinless breasts. The breasts are for Opa and the quarters are for us. I cooked the quarters in my roaster for a couple hours this afternoon, then the kids helped to separate the meat from the skins and bones. That is going to be cooking overnight and part of tomorrow to concentrate it, then will go into the fridge until Monday when we do our next batch of canning. I decided I just want to do pints since I can do either 7 quarts or 18 pints in a batch. Easy math. Besides, a quart of meat is too much to use at one time.
An update on my efforts:
- On my attempt at frugality: I've been sticking with it! I really think the meal planning is paying off. We have NOT been eating out and all of our dinners are done at a decent time
- On my weight loss: I am down another 1 1/2 pounds this week - yay!! Keeping busy, walking, and no fast food has really paid off!
The kids wanted pizza tonight, so I made it work in the plan. We had some pizza crust mixes in the cupboard, so we made pepperoni and mushroom. I suppose it would be easiest to make a couple big pizzas, but the kids like having their own pizzas. As a result, we end up making 4 pizzas each time. But that's ok because everyone gets exactly what they'll eat. Next time I'm going to try to make bread machine pizza crust.
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