Robin's Nest

Good morning! I woke to a dusting of snow that has since accumulated to several inches. Perfect wet snow for building a snowman once the little ones get dressed and are ready for the cold! Today will be a fun wet day! We finished our morning lessons and breakfast and cabin fever hits early each day so this will be a welcome change to Dad making us stay in out of the weather.  My husband grew up in California so as a child snow was not a playtime adventure!   But I grew up in Michigan and this kind of weather was a blast! Now we don't have a sled or a sledding hill out here on the plains but snow is still fun! And absolutely no reason to stay cooped up inside..   They will be soaking wet in a few minutes and a hot bath will be waiting! And quiet time will follow.... I hope!   It is my goal today to finish the taxes and send them in. My procrastination and disorganization has cost me a lot in lost refunds and buying duplications of stuff we alr...

Today was to be the big day but a couple of little ones did not feel well.  But that is ok I stopped in at the place we were planning to go so I could get an idea of the cost to expect....and maybe a park is a better idea lol. I remember the first two birthdays for this little one. She had no reaction to anything for either birthday. Even though she had been to every celebration this family has had. There has always been an emotional disconnect. For her third birthday we had a bit larger celebration as her bio grandma had been released from prison so she wanted to make up for lost years and events. Again it was as though she was not the guest of honor. By her fourth birthday she got the hang of the cake but the singing made her cry. Her fifth birthday was celebrated at preschool by giving others small gifts..giving came naturally to her. We kept today to just us and she was thrilled just getting cupcakes with candles. Gifts were nice but she really didn't play with them just ...

This has been a really busy week at work. Plenty of openings for workers and the weird thing is that none of our open positions are listed on the website.. oh well working short is now the norm anyway. So being organized is even more important than it used to be. Getting off early on Sunday is so helpful. Especially when we are low on slushies syrup, chocolate syrup, and meals are not planned for the week yet.  So first on the menu to make is oven fried chicken Super easy and delicious! This was made with homemade shake on coating, popped in the oven, 40 minutes later and it is ready to serve. I started with homemade bread crumbs, seasoned, added some extra parsley, a little sugar and a little paprika. It had to be good the little ones who are very picky about chicken on a stick (chicken legs) gobbled it up! The last two pieces were all I got a picture of! And they were gone before I started dessert. Tonight we had brownies for dessert. I have been wanting to make these for...

Tomorrow is my first day back for the new work week.. it is hard to get motivated when I did not get much done around here this weekend. (Thursday and Friday are my weekend).  The laundry is piled high and the dishes are right along with it.  I feel lazy for sure! But the upside is that I can make a list at work and try to get one thing caught up each night. My work on the pantry was pushed not only to the back burner but right off the stove lol! Now that assessors have done their part my DH came up with a to do list that he thought was priority. So after discussing it we decided that the most important item was to put the wire for the stucco over the wrap that he has put on the house...for the third time. The winds here are pretty strong in the spring and in the winter and in the fall ...well I guess all the time but we do get some nice days that are good for working on the house and yard. I do get frustrated that when I am home a lot of times DH tends to kick back and watc...

Another week started and another admit that didn't get completed actually it didn't even get started. Patient arrived along with meds...no directions though. Oh well such is a day in my world... One of the hospice nurses arrived to check on a few of her patients that live with us and she asked what I was doing.. at that moment I had been checking some of the five year old's school work and getting more ready for her. It was then she shared that she too had home schooled her kids. Of course I thought that was way cool! Then she shared that her daughter had found a site that was for preschool homeschool curriculum "ABC Jesus loves me" bible based and free! I hurried home from work today so DH could get some outside work done. While he worked on the yard the kids and I made pizza bagels and played, unbeknownst to any of us one of our cats gave birth to four kittens in the laundry room lol! So four little grey kittens Joined the farm! We found later last night...

Well today is the big day.  The DH was afraid we were not being taxed appropriately so he's called the county assessors to come out and measure the house. So we have been scrambling to get stuff picked up since we tend to let the wind do what it will with stuff we leave outside. Over the winter even more stuff gets blown around and well generally it is pretty bad out there.  The assessor arrived and it turns out they had to measure every out building as well as the house. The good news is that we don't get taxed on it for another 18 months or so. Even then it will be at 80% of the assessed value. I can hear the little ones up stairs fussing at each other, but there isn't any blood curdling screams yet so I will stay at the kitchen table.....and wait. Maybe I will go hang the last of the laundry. Well at least what is done for today. It feels so good to have weather that allows line drying again! My electric bill will appreciate the break! Each spring and fall the JBF s...

For weeks...no maybe months I have felt a strong desire to clean all my cupboards and list all my pantry items and quantities so I can shop more wisely. Well today was the day I at least got started with the process. The pantry seemed like the easiest place to start. Unbelievable the amount things that I found that have been purchased again because I could not find them in the first place.  So now that I have started a running list I hope I can continue until I have tallied everything in the pantry. Once I finish that task, and it may take a week or more, I plan to continue with the freezers. I am sure this will really cut down on our grocery bill. If I can accomplish this I will move on to other areas of my life that are in a shambles! My ultimate goal is to be able to work part time rather than full time and enjoy the two littlest kids and our grandkids. I really enjoy my job but it will soon come to an end any way so I want to be prepared. It is supposed to be a nice day t...

Well really it sort of is I did start with the refrigerator in our kitchen. I emptied what needed to go and wiped down two shelves. That is about all I will get done today. We have meat that needs to be ground into hamburger and I will spend another half hour trying to find the adapter piece for my kitchen aid mixer.  Today is a no school day... church and playing for them, work and cleaning for me and DH is doing outside work. I am really working diligently to pay off all our debt so getting homeschool materials at the lowest price possible is important to me. This week did not see any bill paid completely off but this is the third month in a row I have not dipped into our LOC at the bank.  That is really good for me anyway. I plan to sell stuff at a garage sale, but I am struggling. Here is my dilemma our church started having a yard sale each spring to raise money for missions. So each spring that I have thought I would sell some stuff to raise money to pay down my debt...