My How Life Can Change....

       2021....One of my last updates on this blog was in 2017. I was just starting to homeschool my youngest. I had four other kids in public school showing livestock with the school FFA chapter. Now...three have graduated, two are in college, and the last in public school is showing pigs with FFA, and my youngest is still homeschooled and now showing pigs also with 4H.

       Life has also changed as I'm living as a single mom. My husband made some choice four years ago that weren't the healthiest for our marriage. He had an affair. He moved out....not because I told him to, but because I think he was going to start a life with the person. I didn't do what he thought I would. I ran to God. My relationship with God was being strengthened in the two years before I found out and I didn't know why....well now I do. I had to learn how to forgive....truly forgive, and how to love unconditionally. I am a changed person. My husband still hasn't decided what he wants, so we are separated. I don't know what the outcome will be but I am a completely transparent person. I'm not standing still anymore...I'm moving forward with my life. SO......

      I'm a 4H mom, Tarleton State University mom, Lamar University Mom, and future ranch owner.

Stay tuned....you never know what I'll pull out of my hat!

2017 Brings New Adventures

            SO.....2017 is closing in and we're on the last leg of 2016. It's been a crazy year that has ended quicker than I thought. We moved, drastic changes with my oldest son...not the easiest situation, but God has complete control of it. And I'm back on track with y walk with God. We started going to a new church. It's young, but right where I need to be and God is using it as the vehicle to get my husband and kids in church. WOOHOO!!!!
    
           NOW....2017.....This is where the homeschooling adventure begins.
My youngest miracle is in second grade. He's attending the elementary school his brother and sister went to about 10 years ago. I loved this school!!! Always great teachers, they learned and did well. Never had any problems. Now...it's to the point where they want all children diagnosed with SOMETHING. My youngest is a bit of a daydreamer, but he's smart, and he's a boy...which means he's gonna think some things are boring. Reading and math. His teacher is bent and determined that he is inattentive ADHD. So, he was tested. HE'S NOT!!! I finally decided after the way I saw her crush his little spirit talking about him that I would start more seriously looking into homeschooling him. I've started purchasing curriculum, and when he leaves for Christmas break, he won't go back.
         God has put people in my life who have homeschooled their children and they are helping me learn and get started. He's not thrilled about it, but I know it's the best thing for him. I've gotten my husband on board and I'm super excited for this new adventure. I'm also going to be posting more on my blog to help keep me accountable for a more frugal lifestyle. We've got three of the older four in FFA in public school and they are raising pigs to show. So the money is tighter, so my frugality has to grow. I'll be posting my Five Frugal Things randomly like I've seen and love to read on The Non Consumer Advocate. I also started reading a new blog, The Fundamental Home. It's a good Christian read.
       SO until next post y'all.....
          

Trying New Things

So We moved!!!

Thank God! Out of that house that was never mine!

When I moved in with my now husband, it was the house he lived in with his ex wife. There was so much evil that happened in that house. And I could feel it. Now we are in our new rent house. It's an older house and has lots of history. It is a friend of mine's grandmother's house. It's so peaceful! Such great feeling here. I sleep better. I FEEL better!

I've been drinking my plexus and taking my supplements and able to do more!

I'm cleaning the house and doing laundry and COOKING! 

Life is so good!

New Year...New Mission

      I've been following Rory Feek's blog This Life I Live and his blogs on his courageous and beautiful wife Joey's battle with cancer. It makes me look at my life and the people around me. My husband that completes me and my kids that are more important to me than even breath. I'm going to start giving even more of myself and my time to my husband, my kids and making our life better. And when I can I will chronicle all of this on my blog. So that when I look back on it I can smile and relive my memories. Or my kids can. 

Spring Clean Up....in November!

      So it has started! I am starting to take control of my life again...and all that implies. Which includes my house. For so long I just felt so overwhelmed that I would let things just sit. But I'm ready for things to change. 

       ALSO....we are looking into buying land. We've decided when we retire from being first responders we wanna get into raising show animals. Livestock. So we need to purchase land. So...we need to save money. So looking into cutting bills out, I realized if I can clean the storage room out at our house I could get rid of the storage unit I have and save us $100 a month. 

     I started last week with my two daughters. We got about 8 boxes unloaded and thrown away. We'll be back at it next weekend. Hopefully we can get a bigger area cleaned out. 

WISH ME LUCK!!!!

Look And See Wednesday

    Ok it's actually Thursday, but this was my LAST DAY SHIFT of my work cycle! I'm off SEVEN DAYS NOW! WOOHOO!!!

     So....here's the fridge 

As you can see the ground meat has been used. I made a large batch of poor man's hamburger helper. Poor mans hamburger helper consists of ground beef and shells and cheese. It was TASTY! Even my finicky bonus son liked it. He has truly eaten great all week. It's been a really good week. Yesterday(Tuesday) I made a chocolate pie to replace the pumpkin pie that was steadily being eaten. And as you can tell...it's half gone itself. Lol

      And no...I still haven't cleaned the bottom of the fridge. Yes...I'll take care of that tomorrow. On an exciting note...

My diva daughter went to a sewing camp this week at a local sewing machine and fabric store. They made tag quilts. She has finished the quilt top. 

This was her first time EVER following a pattern and sewing on a machine. I think it looks awesome. Sewing is a skill I want her to learn early in life by people who are masters of this skill because I had to teach myself and I only started in the last 10 years. One more pic...

See....diva....until next time friends!

Tuesday Results

        Ok! TOTAL ACCOMPLISHMENT! Monday night I told my husband we were gonna start actually eating the leftovers we always accumulate because we are throwing LOTS of money away when we let it go to waste. And with all the new expenses I've taken on since my father died (funeral and headstone at grave), we can't afford to throw money away anymore. 

      SO....I'm extremely excited to report that I remembered my lunch that I prepped Monday night and only spent change getting a large drink that always lasts the majority of my shift! I even brought home what I didn't finish and put it back in the fridge to eat later. 

       My husband gave me the rundown of his day off and mentioned that he and our boys didn't eat the goulash leftovers for lunch because his ex father in law(we're still friends with him) took him and the boys to lunch for helping him haul some things. That meant that supper preparation suddenly was reduced to me heating the leftovers! I thought about cooking a small amount to add to the leftovers but my husband thought we had enough. Unfortunately it turns out there was only enought to feed five. So after plating up supper for the three kids at home and my husband I heated myself a package of ramen noodles to eat. I keep it as a standby for my five year old. Then we all enjoyed ice cream cups AND...I went ahead and made a chocolate pie!!! I'm on a roll people!!!

       So here's what the ice box looks like now...

So the gallon of milk is almost gone and the pumpkin pie is being enjoyed. Also the can soft drinks are dwindling and all left over food has been eaten. My husband also drank two of his gatorades while mowing grass today. We saw a deal for give at the grocery store and jumped on it since we knew he would be mowing a few this week. And we've been able to maintain order on the fridge door too! Yyyaaaaaayyyy!!!!

       Stay tuned for more tomorrow!!!!