*Deep Breath* & *Sigh of relief*

Well, We're not moving. That's the cause of my sigh of relief. After a long heart to heart with my husband, we've decided we will not be moving in with the MIL. I'm so excited. I love my MIL, but don't want to move for more reasons than I can mention. I was emotional and bitter about the whole situation to begin with and finally my husband finally agreed he felt the same way. I'm so excited! We get to stay in our house! :D Yippeeee! The weather has proved to be more spring like as of late and it's very nice. The wind, however, I could live without. Today the high is supposed to be in the upper 70s, but 30 mph wind gusts...yikes! I about got my finger chopped off by my flying-through-the-air screen door this morning, so not cool. Oh a separate note I'm pumped for this upcoming weekend! It's gonna be crazy busy but will be eventful. There's no school on Friday due to Good Friday. Amber and Ryan are coming to visit Friday night! Saturday is the PTO's Walk-A-Thon. Afterwards is the county Easter Egg hunt! Gonna take the kiddos fishing Saturday afternoon if the weather permits. Sunday is Easter! Wow....busy busy, but looking forward to it. Today I'm getting the crazy house back in order. Tonight is PTO work night for the walk-a-thon preparation. All three kids have been weird with throwing up randomly. Dakota last night decided to get diarrhea also...fun. Tomorrow is the classroom Easter Parties, Dakota's dr appt, and more PTO stuff....Friday hopefully nothing but tidying up and preparing for a crazy weekend. I'm looking forward to it and have been for quite some time!

On a side note, we finally got a PS3. We had been taking care of Nick's PS3 while he was in Iraq and Boot camp and SOI, etc...for the last 2 years, but he decided to take it with him to Springfield this week. Prime opportunity to get one of our own. Pat and I took the kids up north to Dollar Tree for some random Easter things yesterday and Scott met us there. On our way home Dakota threw up almost non-stop in the car...yummy. We got home and Scott turned on the PS3 to unwind a little while I made dinner: Shake n Bake Pork Chops, Mac & Cheese, Green Beans. Scott played some more while Dakota and I dyed Easter Eggs, despite him throwing up, he felt fine. Today he is staying home from school. I'm taking the truck to get tires put on and cleaning house. So that's my crazy life as of right now....

Shoutout!

I wanted to give my friend Amber a SHOUTOUT and a huge "Thank you" for dressin' up my blog! She did a fantastic job :). Go check out her pretty blog!

Walking on eggshells

Today is Monday. That in itself has its downfalls. Not only is it Monday, but it's also March 22nd. Today rent is due. I took my last rent check to my landlord this morning. She wasn't home so I left her a message to call me about it being our last month here. I wanna cry. In the next 4 weeks I have to move in with the MIL. I know I keep saying it's gonna be worth it in the end. We're gonna have a house of our own in due time....that doesn't change the fact that I wanna whine like a little girl. I DONT WANNA! I want to find a way to make it work without moving in with her. I want money to grow on trees and the lottery so we can do it without this dreaded step. I'm being unrealistic though I realize. I'm going to miss out on my "freedoms" while living with her. Such as being able to sleep in and not be judged for it. Taking a day off from laundry b/c I can. Being able come and go as I please without feeling like I'm walking on eggshells. I know everyone has their problems. Mine are pretty trivial to some...but this is a huge problem for me. No more privacy. If I wanna walk to the fridge in the middle of the night butt ass naked...I won't be able to. Not that you all needed to know I do that, but still its my point. This is going to be a long ordeal. I'm going to do everything in my power to make my stay there pleasant and as quick as possible. I'm going to keep a calendar and mark off days. I have no desire to stay past 18 months and hope to be out sooner. But I have to be realistic too. 12 months to save and 6 months to build. I can do it. I also don't want to ruin the relationship I have with my MIL. We're great friends and I don't want to jeopardize that. Becky is another major issue. I can always avoid her b/c she doesn't come to my house unless invited. She's going to be at her mothers very often....oh joy. Luckily my mom and dad have moved to Blue Mound and I imagine I will be there frequently........lol. So after the move I will have this blog to keep me sane. I plan to vent about my frustrations frequently from now on. 30 days left in the house of our own......I'm going to enjoy every min of it!

Change

Change is good? Pocket change is good. A different hairstyle is usually good. Moving in with your MIL....idk.

Scott and I are at a point in our lives where we would like to own a home. We would like to own land. We would like to own SOMETHING! We're getting older, our kids are growing up quickly. We would like to be able to own something before they move out. So...with that said Scott and I have decided we need to save some major dough to buy a lot or land and build a house which is cheaper than buying a house around here even with this stupid economy....esp when I have a very handy husband ;). We've figured the lot we want costs around $12000, foundation for house around $5000, then all the building materials. How on earth are we going to be able to save over $20000!? Move in with the MIL. That's about the only thing we can figure out. Doing that will save us $6000/year in rent and 4000/year in utilities! That's 10,000! Yahoo....how are we going to get the other 10k!? Scott can get building materials through work....that is gonna save a lot of money. Scott spends roughly 14000/year on GAS!!!!!!!!!!! OMG....that is a scary scary number....We could get him a cheap clunker car to drive to work and spend half that in gas at the most and save over 7000/year! SO...now we're up to 17000 with a goal of 20000 in 1 year. Now we won't be able to afford to buy land until a year from whenever we move in with the MIL...so that leaves atleast 6 months for building time....so in 18 months we could have a home on a lot we want, own it and not be paying mortgage or rent!? Yes, you understood me correctly! BUT this 18 months of living with the MIL will not go by quickly. I was in tears last night thinking about it. I'm dreading that part. Of course the savings acct balance would be well worth it and esp for such a short time period. 18 months is hardly any time at all. I am dreading BECKY! She practically lives there anyway and I enjoy being able to "go home" to avoid her when visiting at MILs. She bitches constantly at my kids and not being able to just storm out the door and never return bothers me....bc that will be home for awhile. As you can see the Becky situation is very stressful. If it weren't for trying to avoid her I would be packing up boxes right now and calling the utility companies to schedule shutoff, but I'm a little reserved and hesitant about HER. Yes I know she constantly ruins my days/weekends whatever and I cuss everytime I see her stupid van in town....am I going to let her ruin my LIFE ...!? I think NOT. If it means putting on a fake smile and griding my teeth into non-existance while shes around for the next 18 months then so be it. It may require therapy or AA but I can do it. I think! Help me out!

Its Thursday!!!!

Hey ya'll its Thursday!

Ketchup!

So A Daddy tomato, mommy tomato, and baby tomato are walking down the street. The baby falls behind and the mom struts back to him hits him and says "KETCHUP" or "Catch up!" whichever. That is the theme for todays post....playing Ketchup.

A lot has happened in the last month....got tax money back which was a relief, quit smoking, finished the decluttering, Haelie turned 5 months, Colton learned to tie his shoes and Dakota's nickname is Darlin'....etc....nothing majorly exciting though. I'm anxious for spring like you wouldn't believe, but everyone around here is. The weather has been incredibly crappy. Cold and wet! It's a muddy mess outside whenever it does thaw out every few days....I started some garden plants indoors a few weeks ago in hopes to bait that nice weather in....kinda backfired. Now I have plants that really need to be outside now and its too cold....that figures, just my luck. Oh well I guess. Anywho...I'm actually kinda sorta keeping up on my housework....eek lol. There isn't really anything "post worthy" here other than to let you loyal readers know I haven't forgotten about you and I will remember to check in with you every now and then. To tide you over here's a FOOL PROOF recipe for Stuffed Jalapenos! MMMMMMM!

Stuffed Jalapenos

1# fresh Jalapenos
1-8oz pkg Cream Cheese, softened
1# Bacon (preferably not thick cut)
Sharp Knife
Cutting Board
Baking sheet
Spoons

Rinse jalapenos well!** and cut off stem and cut in half lengthwise, remove innards with spoon. Spoon enough cream cheese into each pepper half to fill. Take uncooked bacon and cut in half. Wrap stuffed pepper halves with a 1/2 slice of bacon trying to cover all the cream cheese (its not a big deal if it doesn't completely get covered). Place bacon wrapped jalapenos on baking sheet and place in 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until bacon is done....Watch them after about 20 mins.

Okay so this recipe isn't entirely FOOL PROOF persay, b/c it does involve a ton of grease leftover from the bacon cooking which can cause a nasty fire, but otherwise....lol I hope you enjoy these, they are great snacks that I will be making a LOT!!!!!!!

**The better you wash them the less spicy they are......just fyi