Books that I read for fun in March 2015

Last year, I spent the last half of the year documenting the books that I read for fun.  I have decided that I need to continue that as reading is important part of how I relax. Books that I read for fun are books that I have not been asked to review and that I have chosen to read, well because I like to read.

After reading a ton in February for fun and mainly because of being sick and therefore not getting much else done, I didn't get as much read in March. However, I did get some things read and so  here is what I read for fun in March.... (Disclaimer: if you click on the book picture, it takes you to the page on Amazon.)



Here are the books I read for fun in:

February 2015 January 2015
Books from 2014

Have you read any good books lately?

Spring Break 2015-- Monday

Well today officially starts Spring Break for the kids and I for this year. We are off school/ work through next Monday. We don't have any plans to go anywhere (why is it that this year it seems like EVERYONE we know is going away for break?). Oh well, that doesn't mean that we are going to have a boring break though. I am going to try to do something fun with the kids each day.

Today, we decided to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and some afternoon gaming fun. I will preface this by saying I do not like Chuck E. Cheese. The mouse is creepy, the games noisy and the food overpriced and not that great. But the kids love it (well Rebecca does) and she wanted to go. To make it a little more enjoyable for Rebecca, we invited her best friend and her friend's sister to come with us. After picking them up at their house, we headed out to Chuck E. Cheese.

Rebecca had a blast running around and playing with her friends. Benjamin just liked running around the restaurant. Jacob was fine before we ate, then after we ate he had a meltdown. I think he was overstimulated with the noise and the flashing lights from the games, etc. He cried for the last 45 minutes we were there.
 

The kids had fun playing all the games. We ordered 2 large pizzas and there was only 4 slices left after the kids ate.  Bill and I had the salad bar (which was expensive!). Overall we spent $60 on food....

  
Rebecca and her friend Amelia danced with Chuck E. Jacob refused to go near the mouse and Audrey (Amelia's sister) ran the other way whenever the mouse came out. She was terrified of it. 

Overall, the kids had fun (for the most part) and so it was worth it to see Rebecca's smile at the end of the day. It hopefully is the start of a good Spring Break at home. 

Father/ Daughter Dance 2015

Saturday night, Rebecca's American Heritage Girl troop was sponsoring a  Father/Daughter dance for the girls in our church and school.  This dance had originally been scheduled for February, however we had to reschedule due to a snow storm that particular weekend. The theme was "Frozen in Time." Rebecca got all dressed up to go with Bill, and she picked out the outfit for Bill to wear. She wanted him to wear a suit! The last time Bill wore his suit was a year ago when he joined the Catholic Church. He reached into his pocket and found Easter candy from last year! LOL

As I was taking their pictures, the boys kept trying to get into the pictures, so I had to take one with them in it as well...

When Bill and Rebecca got back home, they both said they had a blast. There were a ton of people there and the music was good. One of the priests at our parish, Father Vince, was the DJ for the night as the DJ we originally hired wasn't available for our makeup date. I am so glad that Bill and Rebecca had some good father/ daughter time!

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday! I am feeling pretty good today as I got a lot accomplished this past weekend. Of course there are bumps in the road, as Jacob is home from school today with a fever, but we can deal. One of the big things I did this weekend was clean out the boys' toys and I am researching chore charts for Rebecca and Jacob. I am tired of having to yell at them to stop arguing and clean up every night so thought that a chore chart may save my sanity. We shall see. I will share when I put them into place. 

Anyhow, now we are at Monday and I haven't participated in Sandra's "Happy Homemaker Monday" theme in a while, so I thought that is what I would do today....

The Weather outside is::::

It is currently sunny out. It is supposed to get up to 70 degrees today! YAHOO! Hopefully that means the last of the ice/snow will be gone by tonight.

On the breakfast plate this morning:::

I had 2 fried eggs, a sausage patty, and a large serving of cantaloupe, and water. 

As I look outside my window:::

I see sunshine and mud. LOL. I will take the mud because that means the snow has melted.

Right now I am :::

Typing up this post, coming up with a plan B for dinner as I am out of sour cream, and listening to the boys playing and waiting for the washer to stop. 

As I look around the house:::

The house is not in bad shape. I really decluttered the toys this weekend and this morning so it is pretty clean. I need to put dishes away from last night and clean around my desk (which is never ending). 

On today's to do list:::

Menu plan

Blog

Write at least 1 book review

1 load of laundry (washed, dried, folded and put away)

Work on chore charts for kids

Currently reading:::

Nothing right now. I have 4 books that I have finished that I need to review. Look for those review later this week! 

On the TV:::

I have 2 episodes of "Chasing Life" to watch to be caught up.

I also will be DVRing "Bringing Up Bates" and "19 Kids and Counting"    

On the menu this week:::

Italian sausage, baked beans and salad

chicken enchiladas and spanish rice and salad

spaghetti and meat sauce

fish, baked potatoes, mac and cheese and broccoli

cajun chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn

????

????

What am I creating at the moment:::

Chore charts for the kiddos

Favorite photo from the camera: 

  

           Prayers, Inspirational quotes or devotionals:::

Praying for those who are sick both physically and mentally. 

Hope everyone has a great week!   

  

Life happenings....

Life goes on....I think I am FINALLY at a point where I feel like I am no longer trying to play catch up from being sick. Now I just feel like I am running 100,000 miles an hour 24/7. But that is just how life is I guess.

Let's see what has been going on:

I am back to work to my normal work hours mostly. I say mostly because there was an extra hour in a shift due to in service, there was a day off due to a snow day, and there was no school this past Friday for teacher in service day. Add in my snack shopping duties and I am back pretty much like I was before I got sick and had my kidney stone surgery. Oh and did I mention that we have had record numbers of kids the last week....makes for a tiring work shift!

I have been tutoring at least 3 days week. I am tutoring my adult neighbor who needs to improve his spelling and writing skills in order to get into the career path he wants to be in. It is pretty easy for me, however it does take 3 hours out of my week.

There has been a lot of extra things I have had to plan a head for for my kids, including Jacob had snack week (which involves sending snacks into his preschool class for the whole class, and I cannot send any milk products in due to an allergy). Rebecca had 4 different dress down days to plan for (mission dress down, spring picture day, pajama day and AHG uniform day). I had to take Benjamin to speech and to a WIC appointment. I have had to take 2 cakes to school each of the last 2 Fridays for fish dinners.

Oh and throw in an American Heritage Girls meeting into the mix as well. That was fun as it was the first time the troop wore their uniforms to the meeting and they were all so excited to do so including Rebecca.

Bill has been working A LOT of hours (it is winter tournament time) and so that adds another level of craziness to our schedule. Yesterday he was gone most of the day to Columbus to cover state wrestling tournament and he went to visit his mother to check in on her. About a week and a half ago, she fell down a set of marble staircase at a theater and broke a bone in her neck, her shoulder, a couple of ribs and her kneecap. She is very lucky to have only had that happen, as she is 83 years old. He stopped by to see how she was doing and surprisingly, Bill said she is doing very well, all things considered. 

With all of this going on and the everyday business of life (cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc) we have been crazy busy around here and looks like things will continue on that path for the foreseeable future...At least it keeps life interesting!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Update on how things are going with me

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I am so glad that February has come and gone. I really don't want to deal with that kind of month again for a long time. The sad thing is that I know so many people in real life and in the world of blogging who have gone through bad months or are facing challenges.

I still am not into a good rhythm with my recovery from my kidney stone surgery and the flu. The weather has continued to wreak havoc on things. We have had numerous meetings in regards to Benjamin and just the regular things of getting back to work, daily household tasks, tutoring, etc. that keeps my life interesting and always on the go. But I thought I would just do a quick update as to what is going on...

Personally, I am feeling almost 100%. I am back at work everyday, as of this week. Although today we had a snow day so I have the day off. The students, their parents, my coworkers and my boss were really glad to see me back, which makes me feel good.  Work has been crazy busy...we had 48 kids from K-8 and 12 preschool kids after school yesterday. To give you an idea when I started working there 5 years ago, we thought a big day was 20 kids total for preschool through 8th grade. But that is a good thing I guess....means job security. 

Physically, I am only drinking water, water with lemon and an occasional Sprite. I am really trying to make sure I drink a lot of water, which is hard for me. But if it means that is lessens my chances of having to go through kidney stones again then I am all for it. 

As of weight loss.....well I have fallen off the bandwagon. I really need to find motivation to get back on track. It is so hard since I am a stress eater and this past month has been on stress filled thing after another. When I weighed myself this morning I was up 3 lbs! Blah! 

So needless to say, personally I am glad that February is over and March is here. Hopefully this month will be better for me and so many others that I know that had a bad February.