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No Title... I'm not that witty today....

Good morning all... long time to write.....

I started my new job at BCBS/WellPoint in July.  Training has been intense, to say the least, and just now getting to do part of my actual job: answering calls.  That has been stressful as well.  Learning a new job is always stressful, learning one that has so much information is even more so.  In a year or so I hope to have all this info in my head that just pours out when I need it, right now most calls I have to reach out for a little extra help to find the answer but that keeps us humble.

Many times in life we try our best to push through things by ourselves.  We never ASK anyone for help; we don't let others know we are having struggles... the Bible teaches we should be humble.  From Insight on the Scriptures Published by the Watchtower Bible Tract Society there is this about the word humility:

A person can achieve a state of humility by reasoning on his relationship to God and to his fellowmen, as outlined in the Bible, and then practicing the principles learned. A Hebrew word, hith·rap·pes′, translated “humble yourself,” means, literally, “stamp yourself down.” It well expresses the action described by the wise writer of Proverbs: “My son, if you have gone surety for your fellowman, . . . if you have been ensnared by the sayings of your mouth, . . . you have come into the palm of your fellowman: Go humble yourself [stamp yourself down] and storm your fellowman with importunities. . . . Deliver yourself.” (Pr 6:1-5) In other words, throw away your pride, acknowledge your mistake, set matters straight, and seek forgiveness. Jesus admonished that a person humble himself before God like a child and that, instead of trying to be prominent, he minister to or serve his brothers.—Mt 18:4; 23:12.

• it-1 pp. 1157-1161
• Humility

Think about that for a minute.  It is humbling to have to ask for help, even if its a new job where you don't know everything but when we do we are doing what God taught us to do for our best interest.  Now, adding to this, it is in our best interest in ALL things.  If, at a new job, you give your best guess because your pride keeps you from wanting to ask for help and that guess is wrong, you could be out of a job.

Ok, my little side bar is done for now...  had actually hopped on to give a quick update...

My daughter and beautiful grandchildren visited for two weeks.  Loved that they were here.  Had a blast getting to know Rennie (Serenity).  She is my daughters' step daughter who she is in the process of adopting.  We haven't had much opportunity to get to know her as they live in FL and us in GA.  She is a blast to have around.  Of our 11 grandchildren only 4 are girls.  She is such fun.  She is 3 and into all thinks pink and purple and any Princess you can name.  I told her one evening if she went to sleep good I would bring her a surprise home... she yelled "I want a purple ONE!!"   She didn't care what the surprise was, as long as it was purple.

Here are a few photos from our day at the park.

Of course, here is my lil guy getting in on feeding the birds:

     He is four already... time flies.

 My daughter and her "babies"

How Rid Yourself Of Facebook Game Notifications With Only a Couple Clicks

So many people complain about game requests.  There are a couple of games I play and sometimes will get rude comments from people about sending them a request.  There is a simple way to turn off these requests so you will not be bothered again.  You will have to do this with each game.

Notice I said game... not PERSON.  So you do a couple clicks for Candy Crush, couple clicks for Farmville, and you are done forever... well at least until next week when a new game is launched. 

First, in your notifications drop down menu find the game request for a game that you don't want to play.

See that little dot I circled right there.... hover over that and you will then see this....

Click Turn Off.

AND LOOK!!

So, that was basically hover click and done!!!  Do this for each game you don't want anything to do with anymore.

Now, if you want to take a few moments and get rid of them all at once.... there is a way.  I will work up a tutorial for that also but not tonight...  there are quite a few steps and I like to be able to give you the screen shots to make it easy.  For now, click do this as they come in on your notifications and you will be game free in no time!!

Tomorrow....

Starts a new work week for me.

A new work week at a new place doing a whole new different job.

It also starts me back at getting up at the crack of dawn after a month of getting to "sleep in" (if you call 7-8 a.m. sleeping in).

Starts me back on a 40 minute one way commute to and from work.

Starts me back to no time to do anything at night but be brain fried.

It's ok.  It's a great blessing.  This job is at a higher rate of pay and offers AFFORDABLE health care after six weeks.

Aiden is begging me not to go back to work and not to make him go back to school.  Oh well, he has a lot of "school" to look forward to.  I am looking into putting him into Pre-K ... not sure about that.  I like that where he is at he is only a mile from his daddy.  If he goes to Pre-K that would bus him he would be close to an hour from where we work.  Checking to see if there is a Pre-K near where we work that he could attend.

Something To Save Money

     Hey ya'll, I'm checking this out and you should too.  With many of the stores offering free shipping or low cost shipping this might be a great thing!  Plus, since I live in the boonies, I'll save on gas if I have the mail man bring it!   Let me know what ya'll think.  I'm headed there now. 

When It Rains... It Pours....

Or in our case...  it floods.

I had had a stiff neck off and on for a couple of weeks.  A week ago Wednesday I awoke with excruciating pain.  Having no insurance I got in a hot shower thinking it would loosen it up and I would take a muscle relaxer also.  By the time I was out of the shower it was WORSE... shooting down my left arm... with my mom's history of heart disease that scared me.

Hubby took me to the ER.  They came back with a diagnosis of a compressed disc in my neck pinching a nerve AND two bone spurs PRESSING on my spinal cord... I need to see a neurosurgeon asap for surgery however since I am uninsured they wouldn't refer me to one as it would be several thousand dollars up front.  It is so great to live in the "greatest country in the world".  They sent me home with pain meds (even though morphine in the ER did NOTHING), a round of steroids, muscle relaxers and three days off from work.   I didn't need to miss work.   We live last pay to to last pay day... you know... you are never quite caught up.  You rob Peter to pay Paul and next month Paul to pay Peter and both of them are seriously upset with your methods.

So, I did some research a few days later and decided to see a chiropractor.  Surprised at the response I got from some people and surprised when I asked to have my films sent over to the chiropractor I was told because it wasn't a medical doctor I would have to pay $25 to get them!!!  THAT is a whole other crappy issue.

So, chiropractor confirmed I have issues.  Could use some decompression therapy ($500 up front for the year... let me get that out of my pocket) however, I will more than likely have to have surgery at some point because the spurs are not going to disappear.  I am having a few adjustments, two more this coming week and one the week after to see if I find any relief in my numb and painful left arm/hand.  If not then I will have to see about getting to a surgeon soon to avoid permanent nerve damage per the chiropractor. 

So... when I go back to work... I am laid off.   They will not fight my unemployment but that hit hard.  My income was the main income for our family.  We barely make it on both our incomes and how we are going to get by on way less.... well  prayer after prayer is going up.  

I am trying to stay positive.  I am taking steps to help my health and our situation.  I started doing T-Tapp.  I will do an entire post on this exercise program soon.  BUT let me say that I have done the exercises three days this week and twice I started them in pain and felt BETTER when I finished.  It is only a 15 minute workout but very effective.  

Another positive step I am taking is getting back into couponing.  Yesterday I realized we were low on toilet paper and laundry soap.  I got  text from Dollar General about a $5 off $25 in cleaning/paper products yesterday only.  So, I pulled up their ad, found out what products were on sale, did a bit of digging on the company websites and coupon blogs to find match up coupons, printed my $5 coupon and when hubby got home from work we ran to Dollar General.

I got:

2 - 6 packs of Sparkle papertowels.  ON SALE $4. ( i printed 2 coupons for $1 each from Clipping 2 Save Making them $3/6 pack or .50/roll.

1 - 15 pack of Scott toilet paper.  ON SALE for $10 (signed up for emails at the Scott site for a $1 printable coupon) making it $9

1 - Bonus size Extra Detergent $5. (had a .75 cent coupon) Making it 4.25

1 - Snuggle Fabric Softner $3

So my pre-tax total was $26.
Minus my $5 Q= $21
Minus my $3.75 = $17.25

My total savings including the sale price: $ 10.75  and I am set on tp, papertowel and laundry soap for probably 2 months or more which saves last minute trips to the super expensive little store a mile from the house.

My next step is to get back to menu planning/couponing for groceries.  That is at the top of my to-do for Monday.

The Past Week, Upcoming Weeks... Attempting Organization.

So, the past week has been... another week.  Friday lil Man had his ear surgery done.  Had tubes put in.  Was a bit more pain afterward because he had an infection in one ear.  Two days later, however, he is back to his old self.  

I have been writing much more down in my planner so that I can hopefully keep up with what is due when and stuff for Aiden's school.  Still slipping on some things, as usual, but it is helping a bit to have it in writing where I can see it.  As nerdy as I am a paper planner is helping me.  I do put some things that I do not want to forget into my phone calendar and schedule a reminder to pop up or text to me.  This, however, also means that I have to remember to turn the ringer on my phone after I leave work.  The actual writing of something down is very helpful.  

I want to purchase an Erin Condren Life Planner .  I have been drooling over them for weeks. Here is a link to a great review by another blogger.  Kalyn @ Love. Laughter. Happily Ever After.   Her review told me two things.  1.  I NEED an EC Planner and 2.  I'm not alone in this obsession.   Everyone says they are well worth the $50 plus price tag, and they very well may be but right now it is not in our budget.  So, for now I am holding out for a sale or coupon offer and using what I have on hand which is an UnCalendar .  This is how I am tweaking my uncalendar until I achieve my EC Planner goal.

This planner has some awesome pro's to it.  I use my Sharpie Fine Point Pens so I can make things "pop" out at me.  The paper in the planner is nice and thick so there is no bleed through at all.  The Sharpie pens really are great because they do not bleed through most papers anyways.  

One of the first things I did was to give it some pockets.   I used some file folders I had on hand that were decorative and some tape to put a pocket in the front and the back.  That is one of the features of the Erin Condren I fell in love with... the pocket.  Until I have the money saved to get my Erin Condren I can at least get used to utilizing a pocket.  Right?  The folders I have on hand are similar to these .  I guess I could have used regular plain ones to make pockets but why not be cute?




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Babysteps....

Yes, months.  I have been lax.  Sorry.

I became a working mom.  It's not that I haven't been a working mom before, however, this is the first time I have been a working mom with a toddler.  Daycare.  Chores at home after work.  Meal cooking when I feel like coming home and going straight to bed.  I suck at this.  When I worked when my older kids were home I had kids to help with the chores.  I lived 10 minutes from work and was home by 4:30 at the latest.  Now I am at least 40 minutes away (sometimes longer depending on traffic) and I am blessed if I get home by 6.  

When I come in the door at six do I feel like cooking?  Nope.  Hubby had arranged it so he gets home an hour before me and he could "get started".  He works outside in the heat all day.  Does he feel like starting dinner?  Nope.

So, my goal after months of struggling is to get some kind of organization going on before I totally go completely insane!  

I need to:
     Get rid of clutter.
     Get a schedule going. 
     Follow said schedule like my life depends on it.
     Meal plan.
     Get back into the couponing routine to save us money.
     Exercise so I feel better and rid myself of weight.  Again.
     Figure out how to get hubby on board with all of this so it's a team effort.

I want to:
     Move my blog to WordPress.  Debating on that whole endeavor.
     Write more.
     Work on my novel.
     Bible study DAILY.    *** the most important one!

So, the next few weeks (I wish I could accomplish this in days because I know once everything is organized things will go smoother, but I also know trying to do it all in days would be setting myself up for failure) I will blog about trying to pull all the raveling strings of my life together and maybe get a blanket... or at least a pot holder.  

Maybe using my blog will help with accountability.  Maybe it will help some other struggling mom find answers in my failures.  I know some of the things I might try won't work for us.  I know it will be a journey to find what works.

What worked great was me working while hubby was Mr. Mom... now THAT was nice!  I came home to a clean house and if I told him what to start he would have it started for dinner and he did the dishes too!  Unfortunately I do not make enough for him to be stay at home Mr. Mom all the time.   Maybe someday.

So, I have read tons by FlyLady and her schedules and organizing ideas.  I have known about her for YEARS.  I NEED to implement her ideas!  She says it all starts with baby-steps   So, there is my "plan"....baby-step to a more organized, calmer life.

Time Flies....

He is growing much to quickly.

He turned four last week.