We Are Still Alive! ........

Barely!!!!!!! Ha! It feels like that anyway. Karlton just finished up his night shift at the Nuclear plant today. It was suppose to go the beginning of the year , but then they started talking about wanting to have the shut down finished before Christmas, and then it became the 10th and all of a sudden it was over. I am happy it is OVER but a bit worried again, because that would have been 3 more 72 hrs. worth of paychecks. :0( . Now we are back to square one..... Praying and asking the Lord every day for work. The Nuclear Plant did ask Karlton if he wanted to work another shut down in March. But my word, March is a long time from now!

With Karlton working 72 hrs from 6pm to 6:30 am. I had to pull double duty!!! Felt like Triple duty!! The kids really gave it to me for all they had! They have tested me like I have never been tested before! ALL OF THEM!!! It got so bad that one day this week I walked around with a paddle in my hand daring anyone to cross me! Karlton asked me if I was losing it... I said " Ya think!" We got to see Karlton from 4pm to 4:45 pm while he got ready for work. So it will be nice to have him around again... more. Poor Lilee thought he never came home anymore, she was so confused asking where her daddy was at now! Lol ! When he came home today at 2pm. she asked, " daddy what are you doing here?" I was on my way out the door to get the 2 from Elementary and I asked, "do you want to come with me or stay with daddy?" Guess which one she picked???? He is working tomorrow (for his Company) and taking the 2 older boys to help him. Yay!!!! That is the most of a break I have had in 5 weeks. Ahhhhhh! So me and the little ones are going shopping! Getting out of this house! I am going to get my stress reliever.... STARBUCKS!!!! Nothing better then that combination.... For me anyway! ;0)

So what I have I been up to you ask?????? Thanks for asking BTW ;0)........... I have been making tons of pretty little Tutu's in all colors and sizes and Hats..... LOTS AND LOTS OF HATS!!!! I have been staying up to midnight trying to finish my tutu orders. I only have 3 more to go and then I am taking a break from tutu's until after Christmas! Because of all these hats and tutu's I was single handed-ly able to by my kids Christmas presents this yr. I am very happy about that since I have always depended upon Karlton to work extra or take side jobs to come up with the money for Christmas gifts. I put my own sweat into it this yr. It feels really good too! But I didn't really single handed-ly do it! I am sending a big shout out to everyone who has purchased my hats and tutu's. Thank YOU all soooo much! Thank YOU LORD!!! I prayed everyday that he would send me customers so that my kids would not be with out Christmas presents under the tree this yr. They would have had something .....trust me! But.... it wouldn't have been what they wanted! They still don't have as much this year but I am satisfied with what they are getting!! Its good for them to learn to deal in hard times just like everyone else!BTW...... I only have 3 Christmas Hat sets left, better check and see if there is one you want because they will not last long. You can go here to see which ones are left http://cutiepatutu.blogspot.com/ I am now working on Valentines Day CREATIONS! Brain storming anyway!

Speaking of Christmas presents .......... I got some awesome deals this yr! I got the big boys an Xbox 360 for $199.00 but the deal was I got a $100 Wal-mart gift card when I bought it for FREE. It was a 3 day deal that I just could not pass up. So I took that $100 and bought their games that I got on sale too. I think I ended up getting 6 games for under $100. Not bad at all! So I spent $200 for 2 kids Christmas gifts. averaging out to $100 a piece. I think that is pretty good. I bought Sara Ava a doll house that was on Sale but it came with a free family van that was a $25 value. I hardly spent anything on Lilee but got everything on her list. Toys R Us had a great deal one weekend. I bought her a baby that crawls for $4.99. It was a $30 doll. I had bought another doll and got that one for 1/2 off. But it ended up being being more than 80 % off. I finished up their stocking stuffers today. So they are all done. I am so relieved to have that behind me! Maybe I won't have panic attacks this year! :0)

I am still couponing away!!!! I hope you all are too!!! I want to hear about some good deals that you all have been finding and let me know how your coupon deals are coming!!! I went to Harris Teeter today and forgot to give the girl my Vic card and when she rang up everything it was $120. I about had a heart attack because I have not seen this much of a grocery bill since May. But, then I found my card and handed it to her and it went down to $57.00, that was before the coupons! Then I handed her my stack of Q's and ended up paying $38.00. Not Bad huh!!?? So I saved $82.00 that is more that 62% savings. I actually got a lot of stuff too. Here are some of the deals..... Bayer aspirin for .57 cents, Bread for .24 cents, PB for .26 cents, 6 pk. of apple sauce for .50 cents. Oh yeah.... and shredded cheese for .46 cents. I bought a few of ea. of these items to I stocked up!!!!

I had to coach 2 basketball games this week by All by myself.... Ack!!! Poor kids...... we lost both games of course! Karlton will be back for this weeks games! Hallelujah!!!!! Pray that these poor kids win a game this yr. They lost every single one last yr. Even the really close ones and the over time games. Ahhhhhhh! We are off to a bad start again................

I am still running!!!! I FINALLY made it to 3 miles today for the first time! :0D I can't believe I actually did it! I have been running 6.5 mo. now. I would have never dreamed I would have made it this far! I though I would have had to run for a yr. or 2 before I could run that distance. I ran 14.6 miles total this week, best so far. It was so nice and sunny yesterday and it felt good to run! Today was cold and yucky and only going to get worse! My mood changes with the weather and the seasons!!! Trust me!! I am a SUMMER GIRL!!! I love heat, green, green leaves on the trees, flowers, and SUNSHINE, oh yeah and daylight that last! I get so down in the winter time!!! But yesterday...... was a nice break for me, it felt good to PRETEND it was spring already! I know the winter is not even here yet...... :0(

The kids are all doing well! We have been pretty healthy for the most part! PTL!!!!!!!!! Joel has been excepted into Eagles because of his good grades!! And Jordan was named a Junior Scholar for making the top 12 highest grade on a SAT test out of the 8th grade. I think these are practice test for when they are in High School, which he will be in next yr. Waaaaaa!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!! We did!! We stayed home and I cooked it all! Yes.... even the gross turkey! If you follow me on Face Book you know what I am talking about! I had a hard time with prepping the turkey, I totally grossed out! Next Year Karlton gets to clean that nasty raw bird! But it still turned out pretty yummy and I got a really clean kitchen afterward! I cleaned it 3 times! ;0) Josiah did help me cook some, but he only cooks what he wants to. We got Karlton up to carve the turkey and he ate with us and then went back to bed. I was glad that he was able to have Thanksgiving with us and that we did not leave him alone!

I think that is everything that has been going on around here! Hopefully I will be taking some picture of more then just hats and tutu's soon.... like my kids!

Hope I did not bore you all to death with all this ranting!!!!!