On Thursday, Jake was not feeling well. He came to my house and rested. Later in the day, he felt better. I took him and Patsy to the library, where they enjoyed the puppets and checked out books. You may notice, he was wearing his Mario outfit. He was so cute, and got a lot of interested glances as he travelled through the building, heading upstairs to the children’s section.
They have a large assortment of adorable puppets.
We had some friends come down and go to church with us today. We had them over for lunch afterwards. We served tacos. I made home-made refried beans, some cookies and Patsy made Rice Krispie treats. They brought shredded cheese, which was really helpful, as I was running a little low (until they generously left the rest of the bag). I did a lot of other cooking this week, and used up a lot of random items, but I’ll cover that when I post about the March Low-budget challenge. The second 2 weeks will be over tomorrow night, so I plan to post then, or sometime Tuesday.
I rode over 15 miles on the exercise bikes at the YMCA this week in 3 different sessions. On Friday, Rob and I took Patsy, Jake, Michaela and Alissa swimming at the Y while Ja’Ana had her dance class. I love the fact that we are using our membership so much.
The girls practiced their guitars this week for a couple of hours. They used chord sheets we had. Alissa recently started up lessons, and Ja’Ana had some lessons a while back. So, they played away, and the soothing sounds of guitar chords filled the house on a few mornings. They were so cute. They would choose a song. Ja’Ana would start off, playing all or most of the chords called for. When Alissa got to the chords she knew, she would dramatically strum that chord until J moved on. Both of them were singing, sometimes in the correct key, and sometimes not. They had so much fun, and although there were a few false starts, they sounded good to me.
We ran off coloring sheets for the younger kids to color. Jake worked on some craft kits he had not finished at Christmas on the day he was sick, while I did school with the big girls. He also played Legos for hours while here. Patsy worked on her embroidery some this weekend. Ja’Ana cleaned house again for money towards her summer church activities. I worked extra again this week. The extra hours are available for just for a short time, which is nearing an end, but I have a plan for the extra money, so am glad to get it. So, we came out of the week earning more than we spent, which is always a triumph.
I’m really enjoying all of the bulbs that have popped up, and started to bloom, in our yard. There are several kinds and colors. They are so pretty.
Love it when a library has a good children’s program. Wish I lived near a YMCA, there’s a beautiful one in Bay City, but that’s 70 miles away. There’s some wonderful tutorials on YouTube for guitar. Lots of musicians love to share their knowledge. Bless them! Love the daffodils! Have a wonderful week!
Hugs
Jane
Because Jake is special needs, he has resistance to changes. So, my big plan is to take him down to the library many times, so that he will be receptive to the summer reading program. I know it will be great and by then, he will enjoy going there. This was the first time that he actually wanted to go, so–yea. Making progress. Because I am his personal support worker through DD services, I do things with him to meet some of his goals, such as community involvement, academics at his level (he can read, which is awesome), and other things. It is pleasant work, for sure, because there’s lots of time for fun auntie stuff as well.
The Mario outfit is just adorable! Our SIL name is Mario and kids always want to play Mario with him which he thinks is hilarious. What a nice surprise to have all those bulbs coming up at your new house.
We had a bad storm Wednesday night and a huge limb came down and knocked the top rail off a whole side of our chain link fence. Our SIL and daughter came over on Saturday and helped put the fence back together. They also blew leaves out of some flower beds and ran the mower over them to chop them. I was the toddler chaser and I was wiped out when they left! They both got a little ride on the mower with Daddy so they were beaming after that. The help was a huge blessing to us and saved a lot of money I am sure. I made a crockpot full of chili and ran a loaf of fresh bread in the bread machine for lunch. It was so good after working outside in the cold.
We made a menu and only purchased groceries that were needed for they wee for a total of $35. At the end of this week we will have used up the 100% disability and go to 60% so I am watching pennies carefully. We are debt free and will manage fine if we are careful.
How nice for them to come and help. That sounds like you had a really nice day out of it, too.
It sounds like your grocery budget is really working for you. We are in the same boat–going to be fine, but needing to be careful right now. Like I said before, we can always find a way to spend $ later if we save “too much” for summer. I’m sure you feel the same. It is always hard to go down in income, isn’t it, and takes some thinking. I’m glad your husband is doing well.
Jake is so cute in his Mario outfit. My nephew LOVES Mario and insists on going as him for Halloween for the past 4 years. His bedroom is also mario themed and his favorite clothing is all Mario related. 😉 That does look like a wonderful library and I really like their puppet tree. 🙂 The girls look like they are enjoying themselves playing guitar. I would love to be there to hear them. Be blessed!
Thanks, Debbie. I think he is really, really cute, too. That’s an auntie for you:)
Just got all caught up with you. Glad that you’re doing so very well on your challenges. I think my husband is getting tired of my particular challenge days. He’s taken me out to eat twice this week, lol. I am glad Jake wasn’t sick. Love guitar music but have no patience with learning to play it. Thankfully John plays very well!
That’s funny! That’s something my husband would do–either go get something “good” or take us out to eat. So far, he’s been pretty patient, but this has only gone on for almost 3 weeks. I have noticed he has been pulling meat from the freezer and cooking it himself. Thankfully, there’s plenty in there at this time.
I’m sure you enjoy your husband’s guitar playing. I really enjoy the soothing sounds of the girls strumming, even if they don’t always get it exactly right yet.