Remember Me?

Hi, I'm the person who started this blog, and then never takes the time to update it??? Sorry about that. March has been a crazy month, but it's almost behind us now. It's springtime, and the warm sun is...MELTING THE SILLY SNOW we got over the weekend! Yuck! But at least it was here one day, gone the next...leaving a muddy mess in it's wake. Let's hope the springtime sun shines for real and drys things out.

To catch up, my last post indicates we were going to the RV show. We went with our neighbors from the campground, and had alot of fun. We walked thru over 50 campers, from pop ups to the big motor homes. Quite different than our little 20 year old model. All the new ones have flat screen TVs and Aerobeds!! (even the pull out couches have Aerobeds!). Anyway, we were just looking. I did find a model I liked, but that's a conversation for next year (or maybe the next year...).

The next weekend, Olivia and I went to Springfield. My best friend, Penny, and her daughter Megan came up from St Louis and we had a great time. We let the girls swim and play at the hotel on Saturday and on Sunday we went through the Illinois State Museum. I actually used to live 1/2 block from the place and didn't even know it was there! (I didn't do much museum visiting back in those days). It was fun, educational, and my favorite part...FREE! Olivia's class was discussing fossils, so she thought it was extra great. I only wish Megan and Penny lived closer. The girls love playing together and I miss my friend.

We were able to get out and check out our camper the next weekend. We found that the tile floor in the kitchen had cracked, so Lafayette laid down some new peel & sticks. He had to take out the booth in the kitchen to do the floor and it made so much more room, we decided to leave it out! We put in an island with drop leaves and two bar stools. We get more storage and the kitchen area isn't so crowded. We were able to rake up the yard and burn some leaves on a beautiful 65 degree Saturday, but that's all we had time for. And unfortunately, the weather hasn't been decent since. Hopefully we'll get out this weekend and get some cleaning done, and are hoping that Easter weekend is warm enough to stay out there.

Last week was the school book fair, of which I was the co-chairperson. It's always fun, but always CRAZY. We provide a free dinner on Thursday night (gondolas, chips and cookie) and always plan for about 200 people. We served 200 people in 40 minutes!!! So we had to run and buy more food. We ended up serving 300 people and sales for the fair were great! It was also parent teacher conferences last week. Olivia was disappointed to discover that "C" in math is still sticking around. She got one "B" and the rest were "A's", so just that math keeps her off the honor roll. But she's got a great attitude and will just keep on trying! They did a speech screening for some pronunciation issues, but didn't find any major problems. She's going to join and intervention group to work on her r's and a couple other sounds.

This past Saturday was our "cookie booth" at Kroger. In about 4 1/2 hours, we sold 240 boxes of cookies! I'm so proud of our girls! Throughout the whole month that we sold cookies, the girls sold over 1500 boxes of cookies, earning over $800 for our troop!! WOOHOO!! Way to go, girls! That money will pay membership dues and all our troop activities until cookie time next year. But did I mention I'm SO GLAD it's over?? If someone asks me for one more box of Thin Mints, I think I'll scream!! One funny thing is that on Saturday, when one girl went to the bathroom, they ALL went together! (Do girls really start that this early??)

Financial Peace University is going good. 5 weeks down, 8 to go! I've learned alot, have written a budget, and am trying the "envelope" system of paying for things. This means carrying around cash that has been divided into categories (food, gas, entertainment, etc) to pay for things. The theory behind it is that you will actually spend less money if you pay cash for things instead of swiping the debit card. We'll see! Once the envelope is empty, there's no more money for that category until the next month! (Hmmmm, interesting concept!)

The low carb diet to control my diabetes is going so-so. Some good days, some not so good. But I'm hoping that I'm making the right choices more days than not, and eventually it will become a habit to eat the right things. I'm such an emotional eater and my schedule combined with some need for comfort has led me to fast food more times than I should have lately, but things should slow down more and I vow to do some better planning! I went to the second half of the diabetes education class and was startled to learn that an apple the size of a tennis ball is the correct serving size. Who has seen an apple that small, lately?? Geez!

So, that about catches you up on things. Let's hope April has nice warm days and the camping can begin. I'm looking forward to a visit from my Uncle Kenny and cousin, Cindy from Seattle later in the month. No job prospects for Lafayette, yet. Until Caterpillar picks back up, this area is going to be really slow. Please keep my friend, Kim, in your prayers during her ongoing battle with cancer.

I promise to write again soon!