We're Moving

We have found a place.   Tomorrow we get our keys to the new house.  It will be different renting vs. owning, but we're looking forward to our life starting to calm down a bit.  Currently we drive 45 minutes to work, with the new house we'll be 10 minutes to work.   Whoo... I hear the money savings from gas already.   We won't actually move until the 1st weekend in December, but excited to get things started. 

The girls are looking forward to a new school, must be the gypsy in them.  The good thing is we're close enough to keep in touch with our close friends, so they'll be able to still keep in contact with them.  It will be a change not going to school with their friends, but as I reminded them, my childhood best friend Jenny and I never went to the same school, and have lived out of state for more years than in state, yet we still manage to keep in touch.  True friendships last forever, even if you can't see each other every day. 

Once we move in I'll post pictures.   (Well once we get a camera that works!)   The house is a little larger than our current house, which is nice, however it's 3 bedrooms and a den vs. our current 4.  Little man and Miss K. will share the bunk beds, and Miss A (The oldest) will have her own room.  The den  luckily has doors, and is as long a school bus as the kids say, so that will be our huge play room. 

Hope everyone is doing well. Talk with you soon

Some lessons are harder than others.

Well, as many of you know this last month has been a tough one.  Due to many different reasons, including schedule change at work, bad financial decisions years ago, and the economy we are facing the fact we are going to have to move.  At first I was mad at work, okay maybe a little more than mad, for changing my schedule and costing us such a huge decrease monthly.  We will now need daycare, possibly after school care and will lose my 30% shift differential pay.    We have been trying for so many years to pay off this debt WE ran up, but now have no choice but to file chapter 7.  With my company if we go behind on our bills, we lose our job, and everything we have is with my company.    No job will put us in a worse position.

After having time to reflect on the situation, it's not my works fault, but OURS.  If we had been better stewards with our finances, less materialistic, and planned better, we would have been able to avoid this whole mess.  

I have been proud of how my family has come together, and how they really do know what is important to them.  We've learned that everything we have is really just STUFF and doesn't mean as much as being together as a family.   The girls do know most of what is going on , and realize they will be moving schools at Christmas break.   We struggled on how much to share with them,  but want them to learn from our mistake, reassuring them with the move we will be fine, and there is no need to worry.  They are looking at this more like an adventure it seems, and are looking forward to moving to a new house.   The thought of renting does scare me, as I've never rented, except from family.  Surprise, Arizona has been our home for so many years, and our close friends and support system is here.  It will be hard to move closer to work, but I know the close friends I have, we'll still see.

Prior to this we had started the Dave Ramsey program, and will continue the steps to pay off the vehicle.  Some lessons you have to learn the hard way, but the big thing is to LEARN from it, and not to repeat it.  I have gone through so many feelings, including feeling like a failure, but dwelling on what has already happen won't help the future, except to not repeat it.    Maybe my parents really did know what they were talking about with not putting anything on credit and saving instead of buying all these nice things.  Wish I had listen to you guys sooner.

We are thankful for all the support we have received from friends and family.   We will get through this, and be a stronger family because of it. For now putting it in God's hand, and looking to him to show the path for the future.

Summer 2011

 I can't believe we're half way through summer break.   Part of me wishes the time would speed up for school to start and the other half wishes I could spend all day every day with the kids.    We've stayed pretty busy this summer.    This year we decided to buy the family a pass to Wet N Wild.   We have loved it.  Little man is not to fond of the the wave pool, he calls it the rude waves.   He loves the kiddie area, or the bird pool as he likes to call it.  It is currently 115 degrees in Phoenix, so the water is a refreshing relief.

Little Man having fun at the pool 

We have enjoyed my niece spending most of June with us and her best friend too.  I'm getting a test run of what it's like to have teenagers.  They are great kids and have really helped us out a lot this summer.  The kids even surprised me with cleaning THE WHOLE house without being asked.   I was so happy.  Make a mom proud.

At the beginning of June Miss A went to camp for a week.  Her first long trip away from us .  She had a great time. She came home with Green hair though.  We're hoping she will be able to continue to go in future years.  I think it really helped her realize she is growing up and there are some things she can do on her own.   

Miss A and her friend leaving for camp.

Holding Little Man  

We have had some sad moments this summer.  Mondo's dad Mandy passed away on May 29, 2011after a battle with cancer.   It has been pretty hard on the family and we all love and miss him a lot.   Fathers Day this year was especially hard.   One of my favorite memories of Mandy was when Miss A was little.  As many of you know Mondo's dad is Filipino, however he lived for sometime in Thailand.  This is actually where Mondo was born.     My mother in law Kathi had taught me how to say "Peekaboo" in Tai to my daughter .  So one evening Mandy is over and heard me trying to say peekaboo and was laughing hysterically.   He than tells me that he knows I'm trying to say peekaboo which sounds like "Ja-aye.   Well I'm saying  "Tae" which come  to find out mean poop in Tagalog.   So basically I was saying poop instead of peekaboo.   He found this to be hilarious.  We all got a good laugh and I learned a new word. hee hee .  His last days were spent with all his family around him..    Here are some of my favorite pictures of him. 

04-17-99 Our Wedding Day

Our wedding day.  I love this picture

RIP Mandy

My Bestie Letitia looking good at 9 months pregnant.

On a happier note, one of my best friends Letitia had her son  in June. He is such a cutie.  We are all very excited to watch him grow up.   Little Man has lots to teach him. We are very blessed to have him and the rest of his family as a part of our lives.

Miss K and Mondo

Letitia's Daughter

Miss A and my Friend Barb's daughter

Castles and Coasters

Snow in May

Hurry and take the picture. Snow is COLD!

We took our first family camping trip up north with the Ham family.    We knew it was cooler up north, but did not expect to find snow on the ground when we arrived.   The days were gorgeous, but the nights at 35 degrees were just cold.      The kids were able to go fishing for the first time and Miss K. even caught a fish.

 As you can tell by the picture she was thrilled to hold it up for us.     Here are some other pictures from the trip.

4 of the 7 kids

Our view

Outside the camp ground

Making jewelry

Relaxing to music

Sisterly love

Father and son

Hey mom the cold has made us delirious.

Little Man

Miss A

Strike a pose.

Woods Canyon Lake

Jen and I 

Coupons and Saving Money

Recently I have had several friends and family members ask me about where I am getting my information for coupons.   With the economy we can all save money.   Couponing has become more popular with the Extreme Couponing show. In my opinion a lot of those shows are not following the true store rules.  In many states, they do not allow you to double as many coupons as they do on the show.   Each store has their coupon rules online.  In Arizona Fry’s Grocery Store (Kroger’s)   is one of the major stores and will double (or up to a dollar) only three like kind coupons.  The others will be at face value.   My friend and I are working together to check out the best deals.  One of the most important things is to be very organized and have a good filing system.  Some people use a filing folder with each week lettered, others cut each coupon and put in binder or box.  After time you’ll see what works for you.   It's also good to note that you are not able to copy coupons, this is illegal.  Below is some areas to find savings.     They say if you save more than 50% you're doing well. 

Where to get coupons

Local Sunday and Wednesday Newspaper - Note the .99 cents only store sales these for $1.00

www.coupons.com

www.redplum.com

www.cellfire.com 

www.couponssmart.com

www.sundaycouponpreview.com  - You can normally see what coupons will be in Sunday paper a day or so before it happens.

 Target.com    (Fry’s will let you use Target coupon and manufactures combined)

Check the manufactures website that you use.   Most of them have coupons.

Free Informational Sites

www.thecentsableshoppin.com

www.freebiesforu.com

www.TheFrugalGirls.com

www.livingwellspendingless.com

www.mylitter.com   

www.mysweetsavings.com

www.couponsenseblog.com

Facebook Pages with information

Coupon Sense                                  

Frys Food Store (They give you ad preview on Tuesday)

CVS                                                                    

Lady Savings

FreebiesforU.com

www.mysweetsavings.com

Frugal girls                          

The Treasure Box

Cents’ Able Shoppin!

The Grocery Game                                

My Litter

The coupon clippers

Easter in Texas

This year for Easter my mom, niece and my three children drove out with me to spend time with my sister Amy and her family. 14 hours and three states later we FINALLY arrived in Dalhart, TX.    Where's Dalhart you ask?

It's in the Texas panhandle near the New Mexico/ Oklahoma border.   My middle daughter Miss K said on the way there,  "There is nothing but cows, a lot of fields and places for mom to use the restroom here."    All the coffee and drinks to keep me awake caused us to stop a few times. It was a very long drive, luckily the kids did awesome on the drive there.  Not one time did any of the 4 kids complain.    It really made the drive nice.    If I hear the Justin Beiber CD one more time though,  I might scream.  All kidding a side they really did do great.  I couldn't of asked for better behaved children.

Amy gave us a tour of the town which took about 15 minutes. Coming in to Dalhart there is a stock farm. You will smell it before you see it.  Miss K said, " I know where they get their milk from." She was horrified when she realized they did not produce milk here, but beef. Not something she had really ever thought of before.   Not sure if she'll be eating a hamburger anytime soon.  She said she's sticking to chicken.   I guess I won't tell her where her chicken comes from yet!

 My niece Alexus was surprised how quiet it sounded.   Yes, she's a city girl.    The weather was perfect and the kids enjoyed hanging out with their cousins, including their new cousins Jocey and Micah. Miss A and the others really liked the time they spent at the park and running around. 

Matthew and Miss K walked the back ally looking for treasures with his medal detector.   They found an old earring and other misc. items.  

We had two Easter egg hunts.

Little Man got the hang of it right away.   He was so excited every time he found one.   "Amy I found another one," he yelled.
   He was disappointed to realize he was not able to eat ALL the candy in one day, not that he didn't try.

The older girls helped hide the eggs at the church egg hunt.  They were disappointed they were "too old" for their own hunt, but enjoyed watching the younger children find the eggs.  They were planning with each other how to help the little ones get the most eggs.

We also found out that Amy is Betty Crocker.

She showed me how to make chicken and noodles and cupcakes.   Luckily, her mother in law Debbie has rubbed off on her some, since we know she didn't get her skills from me.hee hee.

He loved the candy

Hopefully next time Mondo will have enough vacation time to join us.   We had a great time hanging out with your family, including Randy's  mom Debbie.  They have a beautiful home and family.   Just wished we lived  closer. We'll be out that way again in 2012, if all goes as planned, on our way to visit my cousins in Arkansas.

Little Man checking out what's in his egg.

Here are some other pictures from our trip.

Amy and I 

Miss L finding some eggs.

Miss A with her cousin

Miss K and her cousin

My nephew and niece

What a cutie!

Cheese 

Miss L and Me