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AStableBeginning

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Posts posted by AStableBeginning

    Household chores you loathe - what's the worst for you?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I'm right there with you. Laundry is the bane of my existence. I don't mind the washing part - that's easy. It's the folding and putting away that kills me. Mainly because all of us have way too many clothes (especially the kids) and there's not enough room to put everything away neatly.

     

    Did I write this? You took the words right out of my mouth.

    I feel like we're inherently unlikable

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     

     

    It's the same way for pretty much any sport/competitive league. Don't give those parents the satisfaction of knowing it bothers you.

     

    I know where you are coming from and have felt it this year. Unfortunately, it stinks but I agree don't let the parents see you upset. I have experienced another mom from our sister gym critiquing my child's bar performance at a big meet. I have her play by play on video because they did not see me standing there. When my child faulted and took a step, they cheered!

     

    Just keep building your child up and do not let anyone else's jealousy stand in your way. Hugs!

    Large families on a budget-eating healthy?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I would live to have the recipe too.

     

    Also, do any of you have athletes? How are you feeding them? My gymnast has a high metabolism and needs greater quantities of protein, fruit, etc. to stay fueled for practices and to maintain weight. Currently she eats breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon (Pre-workout) snack, break snack at the gym, and dinner. I would love to know how you feed your athlete on a budget?

    Large families on a budget-eating healthy?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I think I do pretty well. I have a family of 6. Three athletic teen boys (with the appetites to prove it!) and a little dd. It is important to me that we eat all organic: meats, eggs, and the dirty dozen.

     

    I shop at five different stores.

     

    1. Trader Joes. We get many of the dirty dozen veggies here: celery, carrots (not sure these are dirty dozen or just the cheapest here), tomatoes, apples. We also buy organic plain whole-fat yogurt, organic peanut butter, organic jelly, organic ketchup, organic cheeses.

     

    2. Joe Randazzo's: a local fruit and veggie place. I get our "clean fifteen" here: oranges, grapefruit, etc, etc, etc. Whatever I can find. I usually spend $30/week here for a FULL cart of veggies/fruits.

     

    3. Aldi. We get some snack foods here. Salsa, crackers. We also get frozen broccoli here. We usually spend about $15/week here.

     

    4. Meat store. This is not an organic place. But, they sell Amish raised, no horomones, antibiotics, free range, grass fed meats. I spend about $25/week here.

     

    5. Sam's Club - We get Ziploc Bags, Tunafish, Toilet paper, and foil here. Add another $5/week.

     

    I get our eggs and milk delivered. Eggs cost $18/week (6 dozen at $3/dozen). Milk is $8/week (one gallon) - not organic, but a local dairy that I trust.

     

    I get grains/beans from a food coop. Ends up costing us $20/week on average, I think.

     

    We never have meat as our main food. Here is our menu for the week.

     

    1. Sausage, squash, carmelized onions, and rice. Everyone loved it!

    2. Flank steak stir fry with rice. Steamed broccoli. salad.

    3. Tacos - cheese, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, cheese, avacado, salsa, meat (1 pound)

    4. Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, steamed veggies.

    5. Pizza (homemade crust and sauce)

    6. Black Beans with rice/salsa/onions/mushrooms/cheese, etc

    7. BLTs (homemade bread), HUGE salad, steamed veggies

     

    Next week, we'll have our chicken week! We roast a couple chickens. Meat the first night. CHicken salad the second (with cut up carrots, celery, onions, grapes, apples etc). Split pea soup the third.

     

    My kids often joke that we don't have food, we have ingredients!! I guess it's true.

     

     

    Can I ask how you are getting the items in #5 for just $5/week?

    Disney World, What is the Appeal?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     

    I personally wouldn't go into debt for a Disney vacation, but its definitely something worth saving and splurging on a bit.

     

    We are going to WDW for the second time in September. My current 6yr old was only 4 months when we traveled across country our first time. We have since added another daughter who will be 4 yrs old by the time we go. We are staying on site and have the dining plan with character dining. All of the girls are excited to go from the 16 yr old and down.

     

    Disney is truly magical and well worth the money expenditure for our family.

     

     

    Is Tapestry of Grace worth the $$ and work involved?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I love TOG. I like the flexibility if offers. Every week, I can choose to focus on history, literature or activities and I can vary the level my kids are working at. I love, love the teacher notes and discussion outlines. I have a picture in my head of all of us sitting around the table having wonderful discussions, with all of our subjects integrated and spanning all of grade levels. TOG is the easiest program I have found for making that picture reasonably possible.

     

    :iagree: I have this same vision!

    Is Tapestry of Grace worth the $$ and work involved?

    in K-8 Curriculum Board

    Posted

    I can't talk you into it or out of it as I am in the same valley of decision myself! But I can say I am leaning heavily towards it. I feel it's financially attainable because you can buy the ebooks by unit and that's only $45! If I plan right, I can order books from amazon, eBay and request from the library as we go. I know for a fact I can't buy the whole shebang up front. I'm ok with that though because I wouldn't want to sink that much money into something and then realize its not exactly what we needed. I found some really great TOG planning/notebooking tutorials and ideas on YouTube and I'm really inspired to get started on it and its not even fall yet. ;)

     

    do you mind sharing them? We will be starting Yr. 3 in August so I would love to start taking a look at them. Thanks!

    Ugh. Gallbladder issues. I don't know what to do.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    FInd a doctor, and make an appt asap. That may be a few weeks. In the meantime, pray that you don't have another attack!

     

    I had my gallbladder removed when my 3rd daughter was 8months old. I suffered through the attacks for 3 months because i was not presenting with the right symptoms or pain location. I eventually ended up having it removed. Ironically, the same daughter had her gallbladder removed when she was 5 yrs old. Again it was a struggle to get the doctors to run the tests.

     

    Currently, 6 year old is starting to show signs of inflammation...

    refinancing - how long did it take for you?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    We started the process of refinancing our mortgage in mid-October. We just wanted to take advantage of the low interest rate we were offered and we changed our loan from a 30 to a 15 year. After we sent in our paperwork, which we didn't delay on, we never heard back from the bank unless I contact them. It was like pulling teeth to find out what the next step was. Our appraisal went well and the value of our house went up considerably. I don't know if all that matters, but should a refinance take this long?

     

    Our bank called us today to see if we were still interested in moving forward with the refinance. Uh, yeah, of course! My DH was pretty much like, "Why are you even asking us this? We thought everything was moving along?"

     

    It's going on 3 months now of playing the waiting game. Is this normal?? According to the bank they "can't" tell us how much longer it will be. I just don't get it. We already have our loan through them, our credit is fine, the appraisal went well, so what gives?? How hard is it to just change our interest rate, the length of our loan, and to print out a new payment book? Am I missing something here?

     

    We are in the same boat. Our lender told us the rates would be lower in Jan. we are supposed to close at the end of this month...I hope :)

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