Things have settled down. We have an interim teacher, that I'm hoping is going to stay through the end of the year and further. I'm so happy now. I'm not going home exhausted. And its just a better working environment. I still don't know who the new EA is. She still hasn't started, so I'm hoping Monday. I just like the way things are going right now.
I started a new thing at the beginning of the month. I loaded a set amount onto a Publix gift card, and another set amount onto a Kroger gift card. Those two places are where I shop the most, so it makes sense for me to have them. And I used those instead of my debit card while grocery shopping. This helped my budget greatly, in not being able to go over. And once I spent the money it was gone! I have lots of Tide to last me a while, along with dryer sheets, cleaning supplies, tomatoes, cookie mix, stain packets, and more odds and ends. But the best part.. I managed to spend all but 51 cents on my Kroger gift card!! :) I know I still have a few days left, but I'm happy, and I can use what I have in my stockpile for meals on Sun, Mon, and Tues. And I have about $40 at Publix still!
I also found a website that allows me to track my purchases as far as purchase price and percentage off goes. I loaded 125$ on each gift card, at Kroger I purchased around 240$ worth of food, which is a 50% savings. At Publix I purchased around 167$of food. Remember, I still have money left at Publix. But even so, I've saved around 53% there.
Doing this has allowed me to look at what I really need, and not just what is on sale, and try to use up what's in my pantry. With a move around the corner, I don't want to start over, but I also don't want to haul everything to our new place like I did this one. So using up things is what I need to start getting better at.
Anyway, thats an update on what's going on. 49 days till Spring Break!
Friday, January 27, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
It's been one fun week..
I am so thankful for this "snow" day. Granted I do feel they made the best choice. Heading home yesterday after Kroger work was very slippery, and my car did pop up low traction a few times.
School started back on Wednesday, and let me start to tell you how exciting it has been! I knew the EA was going to be leaving, but I had no clue my teacher was going to be taking a medical leave until who knows when.. that means I'm left in the classroom with 7 kids all requiring one on one attention and two subs. It has been an eventful week. But it has also been enjoyable. People have come in and made the classroom look like a classroom. We have bulletin boards up, the schedule has been typed up and made pretty on the wall. We also lost 2 of the kids we had previously. One moved, and the other is being integrated into the classroom. I have had to deal with 4 different subs in the past 5 days. I've needed a break. But I'll honestly say, I'm ready for some normalcy to return to the classroom.
As a side note, I was supposed to leave this month also. I had been applying to the University of Memphis, I got accepted and passed the Nursing test that was required. They called me this summer and told me that I was in. They then called me back a few minutes later and said that since I had been kicked out of a nursing school before, they couldn't accept me. I see know why that worked out the way it did, but it still hurts.
So that's been my eventful 7 days. I'm ready for things to get back to normal.
We also did book the cruise. Royal Caribbean, I'm excited to see the differences. Don't worry powers you will be informed! :) On that note, I'm going to finish the laundry, pack up dinner, and go curl up with my book :)
School started back on Wednesday, and let me start to tell you how exciting it has been! I knew the EA was going to be leaving, but I had no clue my teacher was going to be taking a medical leave until who knows when.. that means I'm left in the classroom with 7 kids all requiring one on one attention and two subs. It has been an eventful week. But it has also been enjoyable. People have come in and made the classroom look like a classroom. We have bulletin boards up, the schedule has been typed up and made pretty on the wall. We also lost 2 of the kids we had previously. One moved, and the other is being integrated into the classroom. I have had to deal with 4 different subs in the past 5 days. I've needed a break. But I'll honestly say, I'm ready for some normalcy to return to the classroom.
As a side note, I was supposed to leave this month also. I had been applying to the University of Memphis, I got accepted and passed the Nursing test that was required. They called me this summer and told me that I was in. They then called me back a few minutes later and said that since I had been kicked out of a nursing school before, they couldn't accept me. I see know why that worked out the way it did, but it still hurts.
So that's been my eventful 7 days. I'm ready for things to get back to normal.
We also did book the cruise. Royal Caribbean, I'm excited to see the differences. Don't worry powers you will be informed! :) On that note, I'm going to finish the laundry, pack up dinner, and go curl up with my book :)
Monday, December 26, 2011
More updates to the changes 2012 holds
Well a few things have gone on.
Kenneth and I have decided on a floor plan for a house that we like. It would be ideal if we could get another bedroom, but I've looked through so many floor plans, this had more of everything we wanted, than the others. I love the kitchen and how it looks out onto the living room, a big plus! The master is secluded, and has a decent size closet. Its a 2 car garage, and it also has storage space in the back of the garage for my deep freezer I've been wanting. The kids bedrooms are on the same level as ours, but are on the other side of the house. And the washer and dryer place is a room!! :) So now if we can just get certain things to line up, we might be in a house by the end of 2012!
We've also decided that we are going on a cruise for spring break this year. I've traveled on Carnival many times, but I've always wanted to go on Royal Caribbean. I really want to do a 7 day, but I remember how crazy the driving part is. So we opted to do a 5 day. We haven't booked it yet, waiting on hubby to get home to discuss it, but I'm partial to it!
So excited about this upcoming year, and all that it holds! Off to get ready for work, and then when I come home, its taco soup. . it smells so good!! :)
Kenneth and I have decided on a floor plan for a house that we like. It would be ideal if we could get another bedroom, but I've looked through so many floor plans, this had more of everything we wanted, than the others. I love the kitchen and how it looks out onto the living room, a big plus! The master is secluded, and has a decent size closet. Its a 2 car garage, and it also has storage space in the back of the garage for my deep freezer I've been wanting. The kids bedrooms are on the same level as ours, but are on the other side of the house. And the washer and dryer place is a room!! :) So now if we can just get certain things to line up, we might be in a house by the end of 2012!
We've also decided that we are going on a cruise for spring break this year. I've traveled on Carnival many times, but I've always wanted to go on Royal Caribbean. I really want to do a 7 day, but I remember how crazy the driving part is. So we opted to do a 5 day. We haven't booked it yet, waiting on hubby to get home to discuss it, but I'm partial to it!
So excited about this upcoming year, and all that it holds! Off to get ready for work, and then when I come home, its taco soup. . it smells so good!! :)
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Changes in 2012..
I can't believe how quickly 2011 has gone! In 11 days its going to be 2012!
2011 has been very uneventful. I mean if you compare it to 2010! Kenneth and I did do several trips and even moved, but life really is on a standstill for us. 2012 is going to be full of changes.. or so I'm hoping. Hopefully Kenneth will get a new job, and I can get accepted into nursing school.
I can't believe its been 5 years since I've been kicked out of nursing school. I have applied to 3 different schools for nursing school. So I'm hoping one of them will accept me. Unfortunately, this means a move is probably in a our future.
I'm dreading returning to school in January. My school job, is going to a nightmare! The other EA in our room, got a job in a high school. Me and her do most of the work, and without her there, (its going to be boring and a lot of responsibility is going to fall onto me.) Something I'm not looking forward to. I know they will ask me to do bus duty, something I've decided I'm not doing. I'm not waking up at 525 each morning, getting to school at 640 and dealing with kids from then till 250, then going to kroger from 430 to whenever.. Not happening!
Kenneth and I also finally have gotten enough money saved up for a down payment on a house!! I've been looking at a few houses on websites, and I have to say, I like our options! Now to just figure out what part of the state we will be getting. Hopefully an email in May will determine it all.
Christmas is going to be very interesting this year, we are going to try to fit both families in. Kenneth is off this year, and it falls on the weekend. I haven't decorated or put up a tree or anything this year. The move exhausted me, and I'm finally starting to get my energy back. I will say this, I'm more excited about everyone opening up there gifts and seeing there reactions! :)
I'm baking tomorrow, making cinammon bread to be exact. I'm very excited about trying this recipe. Hopefully my in-laws like it, considering I'm making enough for everyone! :) Everyone have a Merry Christmas!!
2011 has been very uneventful. I mean if you compare it to 2010! Kenneth and I did do several trips and even moved, but life really is on a standstill for us. 2012 is going to be full of changes.. or so I'm hoping. Hopefully Kenneth will get a new job, and I can get accepted into nursing school.
I can't believe its been 5 years since I've been kicked out of nursing school. I have applied to 3 different schools for nursing school. So I'm hoping one of them will accept me. Unfortunately, this means a move is probably in a our future.
I'm dreading returning to school in January. My school job, is going to a nightmare! The other EA in our room, got a job in a high school. Me and her do most of the work, and without her there, (its going to be boring and a lot of responsibility is going to fall onto me.) Something I'm not looking forward to. I know they will ask me to do bus duty, something I've decided I'm not doing. I'm not waking up at 525 each morning, getting to school at 640 and dealing with kids from then till 250, then going to kroger from 430 to whenever.. Not happening!
Kenneth and I also finally have gotten enough money saved up for a down payment on a house!! I've been looking at a few houses on websites, and I have to say, I like our options! Now to just figure out what part of the state we will be getting. Hopefully an email in May will determine it all.
Christmas is going to be very interesting this year, we are going to try to fit both families in. Kenneth is off this year, and it falls on the weekend. I haven't decorated or put up a tree or anything this year. The move exhausted me, and I'm finally starting to get my energy back. I will say this, I'm more excited about everyone opening up there gifts and seeing there reactions! :)
I'm baking tomorrow, making cinammon bread to be exact. I'm very excited about trying this recipe. Hopefully my in-laws like it, considering I'm making enough for everyone! :) Everyone have a Merry Christmas!!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Once again..
where has the month gone!!
My sisters and I decided to carve pumpkins the last time she was in town. It was a grand old time. Getting all of us together makes me think about where things will be in about 5 to 10 years. Maybe we will still all be together carving our kids pumpkins! It also gave my sister a time to try my pretzel bites, which turned out good. Christi helped make the homemade honey mustard dressing and they were gone as quick as we set them on the table!
Next was the murder mystery party with our Sunday School class. This was a lot of fun since it involved pirates this go around. I was a well known gold dealer, and Kenneth was a treasure hunter. As you can see from the facebook photos he pulls off a great pirate ;) The party was much harder to figure out than last year, but didn't drag on as long, which was good because by 9 o'clock I was falling asleep! Only 4 people guessed right, and I would have been one, but I changed my answer at the last second! :( We also visited with his parents that weekend who came in to see the Titans parade on the Colts. It was also the first time they saw our new apartment!
We just got back from a weekend trip to South Carolina. We went to visit Lauren & G.A. and the girls. It had been a little over a year since the last time we saw them, so we figured this would be good. It was great seeing the girls, and also seeing their house. We also went to the South Carolina vs Florida game which was a lot of fun! Then we came back here, and had a low key day of doing lots of nothing.
We did see the movie Tower Heist. It was a good movie! Little cuss words and language that makes you go say why?! But very good reasons and thoughts behind it! Made a meal plan for this week, hoping I can get back in the swing of things and get my grocery budget under control since I've been slacking the past month or so! :) I'm off to bed, school and kroger work tomorrow! Been nice being off :)
My sisters and I decided to carve pumpkins the last time she was in town. It was a grand old time. Getting all of us together makes me think about where things will be in about 5 to 10 years. Maybe we will still all be together carving our kids pumpkins! It also gave my sister a time to try my pretzel bites, which turned out good. Christi helped make the homemade honey mustard dressing and they were gone as quick as we set them on the table!
Next was the murder mystery party with our Sunday School class. This was a lot of fun since it involved pirates this go around. I was a well known gold dealer, and Kenneth was a treasure hunter. As you can see from the facebook photos he pulls off a great pirate ;) The party was much harder to figure out than last year, but didn't drag on as long, which was good because by 9 o'clock I was falling asleep! Only 4 people guessed right, and I would have been one, but I changed my answer at the last second! :( We also visited with his parents that weekend who came in to see the Titans parade on the Colts. It was also the first time they saw our new apartment!
We just got back from a weekend trip to South Carolina. We went to visit Lauren & G.A. and the girls. It had been a little over a year since the last time we saw them, so we figured this would be good. It was great seeing the girls, and also seeing their house. We also went to the South Carolina vs Florida game which was a lot of fun! Then we came back here, and had a low key day of doing lots of nothing.
We did see the movie Tower Heist. It was a good movie! Little cuss words and language that makes you go say why?! But very good reasons and thoughts behind it! Made a meal plan for this week, hoping I can get back in the swing of things and get my grocery budget under control since I've been slacking the past month or so! :) I'm off to bed, school and kroger work tomorrow! Been nice being off :)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Since the last post..
We have moved into our new apartments, and its semi looking like a home. I promise pictures will come. The closet is done, the bedroom is looking less like a war zone, the bathroom cabnets need to be rearranged, pictures need to be hung, and my rack for pots needs to be hung, but other than that it is liveable. We did order a new desk, so we spent yesterday putting that together, and I have to say, it looks quite nice!
Kenneth has bipassed the age of 25 and turned 26 :) We spent the weekend in Memphis. The girls ran errands with his mom, and the boys went to play golf. It was a perfect weekend for that, and it seemed like they had a wonderful time! I got Kenneth a customized Titans hoodie, it is a little too small for him, so he has gonna kick it on that P90X! :) It might also help if we get organized again and stop eating out. I have cooked a grand total of 2 times these past 2 weeks we have lived here. But we have been taking our lunches to work :)
I am cutting back on the number of hours I work at Kroger. I have to maintain 18 hours a week, but I told her I can't work past 9 anymore. I have to set 3 alarms to make sure I get up in the mornings, which I know isn't good. I look forward to Wednesday and Friday afternoon, when I can take naps, but recently I haven't been able to do that because of trying to get this place in an organized fashion. Kenneth also has a new shift at work, and I don't have to be home to make him dinner, since he gets only a 30 minute, and isn't able to leave the call center for long. But he also gets off at 8 instead of 9:15.
We have the murder mystery party next weekend, so that will be a lot of fun. Its based on a pirates theme, so I'm trying to think of a costume for that. Pictures of that will come later. :) I know Powers is interested in them!
Alrighty, I've gotta get moving, because I have to be at work early from now on! :/ Lets hope this schedule change helps me.
Kenneth has bipassed the age of 25 and turned 26 :) We spent the weekend in Memphis. The girls ran errands with his mom, and the boys went to play golf. It was a perfect weekend for that, and it seemed like they had a wonderful time! I got Kenneth a customized Titans hoodie, it is a little too small for him, so he has gonna kick it on that P90X! :) It might also help if we get organized again and stop eating out. I have cooked a grand total of 2 times these past 2 weeks we have lived here. But we have been taking our lunches to work :)
I am cutting back on the number of hours I work at Kroger. I have to maintain 18 hours a week, but I told her I can't work past 9 anymore. I have to set 3 alarms to make sure I get up in the mornings, which I know isn't good. I look forward to Wednesday and Friday afternoon, when I can take naps, but recently I haven't been able to do that because of trying to get this place in an organized fashion. Kenneth also has a new shift at work, and I don't have to be home to make him dinner, since he gets only a 30 minute, and isn't able to leave the call center for long. But he also gets off at 8 instead of 9:15.
We have the murder mystery party next weekend, so that will be a lot of fun. Its based on a pirates theme, so I'm trying to think of a costume for that. Pictures of that will come later. :) I know Powers is interested in them!
Alrighty, I've gotta get moving, because I have to be at work early from now on! :/ Lets hope this schedule change helps me.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Our New Apartment!
The people at Westbury Farms are AMAZING people! I haven't received this type of customer service since I first walked into a Publix!! :) So anyway, after looking at these apartments since mid-July I'm sure they will be happy when we move in! We have taken my mom by there 3 times, Kenneth and I have toured about 7 to 10 times, his mother has seen it, and the list goes on. Well as you guys might be aware we did have an apartment available for move in on Sept 23. It had everything we.. I wanted. It had a garden tub, 1 bedroom, extra storage on the patio, and faced south east (that's for Kenneth and his Direct TV). The only thing it was lacking was the 3rd vaulted ceiling which I absolutely wanted!
So from the moment we signed the lease for the 2nd floor option we kept calling them about every 2 to 3 days asking if they had a 3rd floor one bedroom opening up. I finally resort myself to the fact I wasn't getting my vaulted ceilings and we go in there on a Sat, to ask some sort of question and they tell us one of the managers is moving to a 2 bedroom and her apartment is on the 3rd floor.. but move in would have to be Oct 14.. at the earliest. I look at Kenneth and I'm like I WILL TAKE IT!
Haha.. but first we check with our old apartment to see how much it would cost to stay there an extra 2 weeks.. that would be around $700.. I'm like what?! That's for half the month there and we still have to factor in Westbury will want half of our rent there also. So I start thinking.. what about putting things in storage and moving in with my parents. Which is the route we ended up taking. When I calculated it all up our rent for this month would have been close to $1200 and that's not including a moving truck! We've managed to cut that in half!
We get a call from them on Tuesday telling us that the cleaners have come and its looking like move in will be this Saturday! All is what we have to do is find a time to come in and sign the new lease. When we do this, I find out they have hired an outside cleaning company to clean our apartment, just so we can get in faster! How amazing is that! That leads me to this. Kenneth and I thought we should do something special for them since they have been so accommodating and thoughtful to us!
So take a look at this!
It's trail mix!! I got a little creative this week.. I think its cuz I've had so much time on my hands, but I was trying to figure out what to do and a blog came across this! I made my own twist on it, and added candy corn, pretzels, cheerios, cheese-its, reese's pieces, and cashews.. I can't find my stash of M&Ms but if I could they would be in there too! I think it should be something they all enjoy.
So from the moment we signed the lease for the 2nd floor option we kept calling them about every 2 to 3 days asking if they had a 3rd floor one bedroom opening up. I finally resort myself to the fact I wasn't getting my vaulted ceilings and we go in there on a Sat, to ask some sort of question and they tell us one of the managers is moving to a 2 bedroom and her apartment is on the 3rd floor.. but move in would have to be Oct 14.. at the earliest. I look at Kenneth and I'm like I WILL TAKE IT!
Haha.. but first we check with our old apartment to see how much it would cost to stay there an extra 2 weeks.. that would be around $700.. I'm like what?! That's for half the month there and we still have to factor in Westbury will want half of our rent there also. So I start thinking.. what about putting things in storage and moving in with my parents. Which is the route we ended up taking. When I calculated it all up our rent for this month would have been close to $1200 and that's not including a moving truck! We've managed to cut that in half!
We get a call from them on Tuesday telling us that the cleaners have come and its looking like move in will be this Saturday! All is what we have to do is find a time to come in and sign the new lease. When we do this, I find out they have hired an outside cleaning company to clean our apartment, just so we can get in faster! How amazing is that! That leads me to this. Kenneth and I thought we should do something special for them since they have been so accommodating and thoughtful to us!
So take a look at this!
It's trail mix!! I got a little creative this week.. I think its cuz I've had so much time on my hands, but I was trying to figure out what to do and a blog came across this! I made my own twist on it, and added candy corn, pretzels, cheerios, cheese-its, reese's pieces, and cashews.. I can't find my stash of M&Ms but if I could they would be in there too! I think it should be something they all enjoy.
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