Allow me to explain.
Joshua's out of work. We all know that. I think I broadcasted that a couple months ago. Yes, he's receiving unemployment, and technically he is still employed just not getting paid. He & his dad own an electrical business, and they are bidding jobs left & right. But no real work since December which means no income; however, they were just awarded a job out in Wilmington!! Woohoo! That's the good news. The bad news is that the whole job (general contractor, electrical, plumbing, etc.) was 10% over the owner's budget. So if all the subcontractors can find ways to reduce the costs (like in Joshua's case, finding materials & supplies, lighting fixtures, etc., that cost less than what was in the prints or specs) then the job will go on. If not, the owner may choose to rebid the job, hoping for a lower bid to come through. Or the owner could hold out for 6 months to a year, saving money, before allowing the job to start. So while he did win a job, technically it's not a done deal.
Anyhow, I digress.
My point is that with Joshua being out of work, I have been digging deep finding ways to save and/or make money. I was already participating in several online survey & point/rewards-earning websites, which have been great to supplement our income. Now, however, it's "go" time. I've done quite a lot of research on doing things home-made, as in the homemade laundry detergent post from a couple weeks ago. Also registered for more survey sites, been printing coupons left & right and honing my CVS-ing expertise. I've also signed up to be a mystery shopper with two reputable companies and will start my first shop next weekend! While the overall potential addition to our income is not much, every little bit certainly helps.
We are still buying groceries through Angel Food Ministries and 
purchased two regular boxes & one fruit/vegetable box. Here is the fruit/vegetable box picture. This month, it really seemed like we got our money's worth! Cantaloupe, head of cabbage, 5lb bag potatoes, 5 lb bag sweet potatoes, mango, 2 garlic bulbs, bag of apples, bag of oranges, 4 tangerines, 4 granny smith apples, bag of onions & a bag of carrots. The only other produce that I had planned for our monthly menu, which I will need to buy, are celery & bell pepper. Well, I do have a couple coupons for a fresh Del Monte pineapple, so I will probably invest in that. I mean, seriously, how often do you find a coupon for produce? And Joshua and I absolutely LOVE fresh pineapple!! The kids haven't acquired the taste yet, which is fine because it means there's more for me!
purchased two regular boxes & one fruit/vegetable box. Here is the fruit/vegetable box picture. This month, it really seemed like we got our money's worth! Cantaloupe, head of cabbage, 5lb bag potatoes, 5 lb bag sweet potatoes, mango, 2 garlic bulbs, bag of apples, bag of oranges, 4 tangerines, 4 granny smith apples, bag of onions & a bag of carrots. The only other produce that I had planned for our monthly menu, which I will need to buy, are celery & bell pepper. Well, I do have a couple coupons for a fresh Del Monte pineapple, so I will probably invest in that. I mean, seriously, how often do you find a coupon for produce? And Joshua and I absolutely LOVE fresh pineapple!! The kids haven't acquired the taste yet, which is fine because it means there's more for me!
I have also discovered the art of cooking once a month, thanks in part to Tricia and Cortney at OnceaMonthMom. So when I came home with the AFM order, I went ahead & put away everything, except most of the meats, and I started cooking. I spent a total of 6 hours or so in the kitchen and I absolute enjoyed every minute! Joshua took Daniel to his (Joshua's) dad's house and stayed all afternoon. Raelee helped me a bit in the kitchen but got bored after 30 minutes. She spent the rest of the afternoon playing quietly *gasp!* by herself *double gasp!! * (if you know anything about Raelee, it's that she's a "Mommy's girl" and has been glued to my hip since birth). Here she is wearing her chef's hat, apron, oven mit, pot holder & cup towel, ready for work. I know, simply adorable!
But I really, really did enjoy cooking. I wasn't rushed or stressed. I went at my own pace. I didn't know exactly what I was doing, having never cooked so many meals at one time. I made 10 freezer meals. And I didn't even cook all the meats! There's still plenty of food from the AFM order that I just put into the freezer rather than cooking it up. So while I didn't cook a month's worth of food, it was a blessing because I didn't have to worry about "what's for dinner" when I came home from work this week. I just took something out of the freezer, thawed it overnight in the fridge, and popped it in the oven or in a saucepan when I came home from work. Joshua also helped out a couple nights this week and heated dinner up so it was ready when I came home--on those nights his parents had kept the kids during the day so I picked them up after work, which put me home about 6pm and we were able to immediately sit down to a home-cooked meal.
We've also committed to a full-blown garden this year. We tried one several years ago, but the area of our yard that we used had a huge tree that provided way too much shade, and the only things that survived were the tomato & bell pepper plants, as well as a raspberry bush (which Joshua eventually mowed over). Last year, we did some container gardening, and that just wasn't too successful because we had so much rain and the plants ended up drowning in the end. I made some mistakes, too, like not drilling drain holes in the bottom or sides of the containers, so it wasn't exactly the rain's fault! :)
So, in addition to researching on saving/making money, I've done research on gardening for dummies. We also have a friend at church who is an organic scientist/gardener and he's given a WHOLE lot of tips that have helped empower us so we at least feel like we know what we're getting into. In fact, he's supposed to come over Tuesday night to take
a look at our garden area and give us some pointers. Speaking of garden area, here it is. We moved all the kids' play equipment to another part of the house. The grass under the play equipment was dead since it was covered with mulch, so it made the most sense to put our garden here instead of tilling up the ground somewhere else. We bought picket fence material at Lowe's, and got a bargain because it was buy 5 8'-length fences, get the 6th for free! And we only needed 7 pieces for a 24'x24' garden section because we used the dog pen as one side and the back deck as the other side. We already had 4'x4 posts that were extra from when we built the deck, and had the exact number of posts to build the fence. All we needed to buy was the hardware to make a gate. Everything worked out just as though it was meant to be! Joshua worked on the fence mostly during the day and as of this evening it's complete! He went ahead & poured some quikrete into the posts on each side of the gate to ensure that they don't come loose.
a look at our garden area and give us some pointers. Speaking of garden area, here it is. We moved all the kids' play equipment to another part of the house. The grass under the play equipment was dead since it was covered with mulch, so it made the most sense to put our garden here instead of tilling up the ground somewhere else. We bought picket fence material at Lowe's, and got a bargain because it was buy 5 8'-length fences, get the 6th for free! And we only needed 7 pieces for a 24'x24' garden section because we used the dog pen as one side and the back deck as the other side. We already had 4'x4 posts that were extra from when we built the deck, and had the exact number of posts to build the fence. All we needed to buy was the hardware to make a gate. Everything worked out just as though it was meant to be! Joshua worked on the fence mostly during the day and as of this evening it's complete! He went ahead & poured some quikrete into the posts on each side of the gate to ensure that they don't come loose.In preparation for our garden, we planted some stuff indoors in little peat pots. All the seeds came right up, but as this is still a trial & error test for us, we made some mistakes with planting the indoor seedlings. I did just fine planting the peas, 2 or 3 seeds a pot, but really overdid it on the cabbage, cauliflower & broccoli. In fact, I accidentally poured an entire packet of seeds into one little pot! So we had a miniature-sized jungle growing.
And unfortunately, the thicket of seedlings was just too thick, and all the cabbage, cauliflower & broccoli have died off. But I have more seed packets, so I will just try again and replant those, knowing now that I only need 3 or so seeds per peat pot!
While it may seem like I am some sort of "super mom" working on all these tasks, I am far from it. I am VERY embarrassed to say that the dishes have been neglected for the past few days. Here's the dishes from this past Thursday.
<---This is just a day and half or so of dishes. But I had placed laundry on the priority list, and was folding the many loads of laundry Joshua had kindly been washing for the past couple of days (he washes & dries but refuses to fold & put away, saying he doesn't know my "system" :) So I focused on the laundry, folding a load or two each night. Which meant the dishes didn't do themselves, and so here's what they looked like before I started on this post.---> 
Yikes! Joshua unloaded the dishwasher, then left to go to Target because we saw that Bolt was on sale for $14.99 at Target earlier, so he went to purchase it (I knew I had seen a coupon online, so we didn't buy it when we were at Target earlier; instead, came home, put our purchases away, ate dinner, put the kids to bed, then I printed up the coupon & he took it with him to buy the movie). Anyhow, I wanted to do an updated this evening, so I actually worked on dishes while uploading all the pictures into this post! I like to upload the pictures first because they take awhile.Another project we have started is remodeling our kitchen & dining room. We remodeled the dining room several years ago, but it didn't turn out the way we wanted, so we decided to try again and remodel the kitchen while we're at it. While in town today, we picked up a gallon of paint to start on the cabinets, fireplace mantel & built-in cabinet. Joshua took everything off the built-in and will start there first.
If you had seen the dining room when we first moved in, you would have made changes, too! There had the darkest, ugliest paneling on the walls, black carpet (yes, black carpet in a dining room) and the sliding glass door didn't close all the way. To make a long story short, everything had to go. We pulled up the carpet, which, by the way, was three layers: the ugly black carpet on top of ugly brown carpet on top of ugly brown linoleum. I cringe just thinking about it. Joshua laid down vinyl tiles on the floor, and we took down the sliding glass door, replacing it with French doors (love them!). Rather than taking down the paneling and putting up sheetrock, I found a paintable wallpaper. My mother-in-law helped me put it up, and Joshua did the painting. It was a pain in the keister because it required using an oil-based primer, which stunk to high heaven and was impossible to clean off the rollers & brushes, and then a special pink-tinted primer before doing the red paint. The top color was done with a special roller to create a marbled effect, but Joshua was in a hurry to get it done, and chose not to use the glaze that the instructions required. So the marbled effect didn't work out right. Joshua painted the built-in cabinet and the fireplace mantel a pale yellow. and the fireplace a lime green color. Overall, it didn't look bad, but we weren't really satisfied with the results.
So the color scheme is going to change quite dramatically. I still like the red, but that will be an accent color instead of a wall color. The fireplace will change from green to red to add some "pop" to the room. We're going to put up backer-board along the bottom third of the walls, and I'm going to do a crackle finish on the b-board. I've got plenty of experience doing crackle finishes, so I will make a point to do that project myself. The top 2/3 of the wall will be plain, although I'd like to put up a chair rail and wallpaper boarder along the top of the b-board. Did you know that our Lowe's no longer carries wallpaper? Seriously! You can preorder wallpaper from quite a selection of cataloges they now have, but that's it. I was highly disappointed the other day when I had gone to Lowe's to look at wallpaper borders. Oh well, that just means I get to go to the wallpaper store in Kinston! (I love any excuse to shop, can you tell?!)
The paint color for the walls & cabinets in the dining room will remain neutral colors: Cincinnatian Hotel Briggs Beige and Del Coronado Tequila for the crackle finish on the b-board; Del Coronado Tequila for the wall color; and Light Raffia for the cabinets. Essentially, beige of various colors for everything! I scanned the paint sample,
but this scanned image REALLY doesn't do justice to the actual colors; I mean, the Light Raffia looks pink here! I promise you that it isn't!! So since all the paint colors are neutral (I promise they really are!) that's why I chose to stick to the red as an accent color. By accent color, I mean it will be in the wallpaper border, the fireplace, curtains, placemats, etc. And if I ever get tired of the red, I can change it to navy, green, baby powder blue, or whatever else I have in mind. :)
So while I was typing some of this, Joshua had already repainted the built-in cabinet! See pictue above. Can you tell a difference? Still a light color, but instead of being pale yellow, it is pale beige. Much better! At least, in my opinion.
Okay, wow, does my husband love me or what? As I was just commenting about the new paint color on the built-in, he had already pulled out the Kilz and started priming the cabinet doors for the built-in!
I love my husband!!We had never painted the doors on the built-in, mostly because we just weren't happy with the dining room's initial results, so they stayed their original walnut stained-color, hence the need to prime them now. We're keeping the french doors (again, love those!) but will replace the vinyl tiles on the floor with ceramic tile. We bought the ceramic tile at Lowe's last summer; they were on sale for $0.58/sq ft, and we just couldn't pass up the awesome deal! We will extend the cermamic tile into the hallway and bathroom, too.
We also have plans to repaint the outside of the house. I picked out two paint colors today and will just have to narrow it down--it'll be either Fisherman's Net or Cliveden Gray Morning. The colors are almost identical, just different brands, and Fisherman's Net is ever-so-slightly lighter in color. They're greenish-grey, very soft, still a color but treating as a neutral, and a far cry from the poo-colored brown that's currently on our house! Here's the two paint colors (center color on both paint samples).
Anyhow, life goes on in our family! There's always one project or another going on. Many a day doesn't pass by that I wish I could just be a stay-at-home mom. Maybe then I could really knock out some projects! And yet, as busy as our little family is, I've decided to make it busier. I am going to start a blog for business. Well, it might generate some income, but mostly it's to get my voice heard. I've got this blog, but it's just to help update friends & family on how we're doing. My friend Melissa created a Bargain blog, which was the first I had ever heard about such a thing. And that got the wheels moving in my head. I am following several other blogs--friends as well as "how to" type blogs (see list on left panel). And it's been eating away at me to start something similar to the "how to" blogs. So my theme will be trying to fit everything into my busy life--full time everything, basically! Wife, mom, employee, gardening, crafter, scrapbooker, photographer, bargain-hunter, and so on. Yeah, I'm well-aware that there's probably similar blogs out there, but maybe I can help someone out, or at least help myself out in the process! I'll post the future blog's web address once I get it created and have everything finalized.
And, good news here, as I close this blog, believe it or not the dishwasher is loaded & ready to go!! Loaded it up inbetween uploading the photos to this post. Now that, at least, is an accomplishment!
Raelee recently confiscated a stuffed teddy bear that Joshua gave me for Valentine's a few years ago. He has become her best friend. She helps him say his prayers at night, ensures he has a seat at the dinner table, and even takes him potty! Hey, whatever works, right? 
