Whew! What a busy day. I worked at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore from 9-2pm. I was only supposed to work until 1 but they were busy and the usual 1-5 guy couldn't be there so I said I'd stay over. I really enjoy working there. I'm hoping that I can still work sometimes over the summer. It would really be nice if I could find a job like that where I got paid.

After I picked them up, I did a quick scramble through the grocery store and then, it was time to get the boys. Yay! I love our time together. I know that life hasn't been very fair to them in some areas but they've done so well with the changes and they really are such good kids.

One bonus to me going to Canada was the short shopping trip for groceries. It made unloading the van tons and tons easier and it sure as heck cut down on the fighting about getting it unloaded. The boys and I had chili dogs as a special treat and just enjoyed the evening together until bedtime. Then, it was a couple of chapters of Percy Jackson and bedtime for the boys.

So, what did I finish? Well, the week, I guess. There wasn't really any time to finish off anything else. That's ok, though. I know that there's always plenty of finishing to be done but sometimes you just have to enjoy what you have.

Yesterday was such a great day. The sun was out. It was a balmy, gorgeous 81 outside and it just energized me. I got so much done! I finished sweeping the boys room. I got the stuffed toys that are going to Haiti all bagged up and had them outside for pick up. I tidied and swept the landing. I planted something like 9 different containers of veggies. I uploaded, labeled and grouped a whole bunch of photos on Flickr. I even went out and got my composter started.

What does that mean for today? It means I'm headed into Hastings to go grocery shopping and to get the boys. My Finish It Friday is that I'm stopping by the vets again. Hemi had ear mites and I strongly suspect that the other kitties to too. I'm taking in ear swabs of the two older kitties and taking Sadie in with me because she needs to be weighed. If nobody has guessed, our kitties are spoiled rotten and loved to death. We want them happy and healthy. They're happy so now I'm working on making sure that they're all healthy.

How about all of you, my loyal and loving readers? What are you going to Finish Up so that your weekend has more freedom to it?

Whew! I was just too tired to write this post yesterday. I tackled something pretty important yesterday. I drove into Hastings and took Hemi(ngway) to the vet. The poor guy had to be fixed. His sister went into heat and we just don't need/want kittens. Since it's about a 30-40 minute drive into Hastings, I decided to spend the day there.

I went out to the Goodwill store and to Walmart. I've been trying to find yard/gardening tools for a good price. No such luck but I did find some good deals on items we do need. I also picked up some more seeds and 9 little baby broccoli plants. I'm hoping that the weather is nice this weekend so we can start working on our garden.

I also went and checked out the new library in Hastings. Oh my goodness, it is so nice! It's so much bigger than their old one. I so wish that I still had my library card from there. They do have free wifi there, though which is super nice for if I need to waste some time in town again. Plus, they have a used bookstore inside! I love used books!

After all of that fun, I picked up my Hemi boy and brought his poor drugged, drunken sailor looking self home. For those of you who knew he was going to the vet, he's just fine. The drugs wore off and he was back to himself today.

Whew! We made it! It's Friday! I wish I could say that I've had a super productive week, but it's just not the case. I did get bits done here and there but not as much as I would have liked. Oh well, sometimes we all have those kinds of weeks. I did have a productive week when it came to some self-realization, though. I haven't decided quite yet if I'll write about that or not.

I will, however, write about what I'm going to finish today. I'm going to be doing something that I'm hoping will relieve some stress for me. Ever since I started having problems with the van, I've been fairly phobic about actually driving it. Well, today, I'm going to confront that fear. I'm actually taking the van into the mechanic's to have them go over it and to tell me what, if anything, needs to be fixed. I say I'm hoping that it will relieve some stress because if the list is too long, I'm going to be fairly freaked out..lol!

After that, I'm going to be running into Grand Ledge to do some quick grocery shopping. I have the boys coming over on Sunday for their Spring break and I have a yummy very kid friendly menu planned but not all of the things I'll need to create it. Plus, I want to pick up some Easter treats for them.

So, wish me luck! I'm so hoping for good news today!

Whew! We made it! It's Friday again and you know what that means. It means we need to wrap things up so that we can enjoy our weekends. I have a long list of things I want to get done today and it starts right here, on the blog. The first thing I want to finish is this post!

After that, I need to:

1. Go to Hastings and drop off empty boxes for Peter/Donna.
2. While there, pick up the boys' things.
3. Pick up the boys.
4. Go to Walmart.
5. Go to Habitat for Humanity to drop off my volunteer form, register for a shift and see what's happening in the ReStore.
6. Go grocery shopping.
7. Put $10 into the gas tank of the van.
8. Drive home and unload everything from the van while ignoring the grumbles from the boys.
   
9. Enjoy a nice night with the boys.

Then, after they're in bed, I need to do some blog work. I have some review information that I need to get out to some Etsy shop owners and companies. All in all, it's going to make for a long day but one that's worth doing.

How about you? What do you need to finish up so you can enjoy your weekend?

Woo! It's Friday again. Ok, I don't know why I'm excited because Friday is really a lot like any other day to me, but I guess I'll be excited for the rest of you. This is going to be just a quick post because I have a busy day ahead of me.

I'm finishing something important today. I'm headed out to Hastings to get a front end alignment and oil change done on the van. This will finish up the latest round of van repairs. I would love to say it's going to end them, but I know better and I wouldn't lie to all of you.

Once I'm done at the mechanic there, I'm going to drive into Ionia. Yep, I know they're nowhere near each other, but sadly the Walmart in Hastings doesn't have the bookshelves I want to pick up. I found some decent ones for a good price and I'm excited to be getting these. I'm going to be putting one in "The Wall" and one (or two) upstairs on the landing. If all goes well, I'll finally be able to get all my books plus some other items put away. Yay!

So, that's what I'm finishing today. If all goes well, I'll be home early enough to write up a couple of posts that are churning around in my head.

Wow, I'm not getting to write this until Friday is nearly finished. I had planned on writing it this morning but had to go into Hastings a few hours earlier than I had planned. Thank goodness Peter texted me and told me that the kids didn't end up having school today. I'm glad that he did because the roads between here and there weren't great and if I'd waited until regular time, they would have been absolutely miserable.

Donna was great and had the boys all ready for us to go when I got there. She's actually really good about that. She seems nice. I haven't gotten to know her super well. I sometimes get the feeling that she's not comfortable being friendly with me. I dunno. Maybe someday we'll all be friends. It would be best for the boys plus it never hurts to have friends, right?

So, the boys and I ran out to Walmart and got what we needed there and then tried to hurry through the grocery store. That didn't quite go as quickly as I'd have liked but we got through pretty quick. The drive back was pretty tense because the roads were just getting worse and worse and I think I've become a bit paranoid about driving the van. I was sure glad when we got back into the driveway. I'm also glad that I spent all that time shoveling over the past two days. Even with all the snow coming down, we pulled right back into the driveway and because of the path I'd shoveled out, we pretty easily got all of the groceries inside and put away.

What did I finish? Well, I'm counting that stressful drive. My other goal is to finish having the tension headache that it gave me. I've popped a couple of tylenol and I'm just waiting for them to kick in. Since it's so late in the day, I'm not going to give you guys an organizing mission. Enjoy your snowday!

I'm late getting this posted, but I do hope that y'all will forgive me. I was talking to Jim and discovered that he has memory that will work in my baby. My poor laptop (my main one) has been down and out since June. I ran a memory test on it last weekend (thanks Justin for sending that to me!) and it failed test after test. Poor thing. I'm hoping that putting new memory in it will take care of the problem. So, that's why I'm late. I was busy jumping around and doing a dance that Jim rocks and is going to send me some new memory for poor lappy.

Now that that's all covered, let me fill you in on what I'm going to be doing today. Step one is that I need to take the van into the shop to have the spark plugs replaced. It's step one of the van makeover. That makeover is going to take more than 28 days but it's an important thing to be doing.

Once I'm back, I need to haul all of the recycling out to the curb. Ok, not all of it. My poor recycling guys would freak. I am putting out 4 trash bags full as well as my green tub. Then, in two weeks when they pick up again, I'll put out at least that same amount.

Then, I'll be heading back into "The Wall" for Day 5 of the Challenge. I'm thrilled with how it's coming along and I can't wait until Monday to show you what I got done in week 1 of the Challenge.

I bet you're wondering what it is I'm actually going to finish today, huh? Well, I'm finishing up some Freecycling. In the past week, I've posted 4 different lots of items and 3 of the 4 lots are going to be picked up tomorrow. I have them all boxed up, but before I head to the shop, I have to put them all out on my front porch to be picked up. I also want to bring Roger's red desk chair in off of the porch.

Do you have a plan on what you're going to finish up tomorrow? If not, here's your challenge: This weekend is the Super Bowl. Are you ready? My challenge for you is to go into your kitchen and open up your cupboards. Are they a disaster? If I asked you for something, could you put your hand right on it? Do you have any expired food in there? I want you to take one cupboard, just one and go through it, getting rid of anything you won't eat (freecycle or food pantry is good here) and anything that isn't safe to eat (trash can, please).

Well, I need to scoot or I won't make it to the shop on time. Have a great day all and make sure you stop back in tomorrow!

Wow, it's only just before 4 and I really want a nap. I think it's a combination of the cold and stress and shopping. It's chilly here, but really that goes without saying. I live in the North, it's s'posed to be chilly. I'm stressed because on my way to the boys' school today, my van stalled out at a stop sign and I don't have a single penny (ok, maybe a single penny) to put towards any repairs it might need. And well, shopping just makes me tired. Today it could be because I made the mistake of going to kmart because it's in the same shopping plaza as the grocery store and well, I was trying to save on gas and driving more in my poor van. The problem is that they don't put things in logical places so I ended up walking from one end of the store to the other more than once to find something.

But, I'm home now, all safe and sound. I had a delicious lunch of deli turkey and swiss cheese w/ some horseradish mustard (and bread..it was a sandwich) and I spoiled myself by buying myself some daisies and carnations and putting them in a vase on my kitchen counter. I love flowers and since they're far too expensive for anyone to send to me, I decided it would be a nice once in a while treat to myself. Luckily for me, I can be just as happy with daisies and carnations as I can with the more expensive roses. I am considering picking myself up some potted tulips on Friday. The grocery store had some gorgeous red ones and I could replant them come spring.

So, that's been my day so far and I still have to tackle something. Today, I know just what it's going to be. It's going to be unloading the groceries from the van and getting them put away. On a cold day like today, it would be much easier (and far more tempting) to stay here in the house. Plus, I must have slept funny the other night because my knee has been bothering me for the past couple of days. That makes hauling bags of things up our small front porch set of stairs, not as much fun as it might be otherwise. Ok, who am I kidding? Hauling bags of groceries isn't fun, but I am thankful that I have stairs to bring them up and groceries to bring up.

Well, I'm off to haul in those groceries. It's not going to get any warmer out and there isn't a magic grocery bringer inner fairy, so it's time to don my coat and scarf and start hauling!

Friday, Friday..Makes me feel fine, makes me happy, makes me shine... Ok, I'm sure those aren't the lyrics to any song known to be in existence but sometimes silly is just what I am and I'm learning to love who I am. It's been a hard road and I know that there are still bumps ahead but one step at a time, I'm learning to love the woman that is me.

Today is going to be one of those busy days and my goal is to just get through it without tweaking my back anymore than I already have this week. I need to be in Hastings by 11:55am to pick the boys up from school. Then, it's off to pick up their things at their Dad's place. I'm going to surprise the boys with lunch at Ponderosa to celebrate Ben's birthday before we start shopping. I need to go to Walmart, the dollar store and the grocery store. I already have a basic shopping list so that's going to help with the controlled chaos of a three store trip.

With any luck, I'll have the three of us back here to the house by 4-4:30pm. I'm hoping to get them to help me to do quite a bit of the unloading because I know hefting too much will have me whimpering. Darned back! My Finish It Friday goal is to have all of the groceries in the house and put away before dinnertime. With any luck, not only will I get that done, but I'll also get our two new to us dining room chairs re-upholstered. Don't worry, I'll be sure to post before and after pics!

Those are my goals for Finish It Friday. What are yours? Do you need help with your cleaning & organizing? If so, keep your eyes here on the blog. Starting next Friday, I'm going to start posting a Finish It Friday challenge.

And here we are, Tuesday..ok, it's really Wednesday, but we're going to pretend that it's still Tuesday, ok? Good..now, as I was saying..here we are, Tuesday and as always, there are tons of things that need to be tackled. Are any of you taking down your decorations and storing them yet? That would be a good tackle, but one that I'm putting off until next week. My decorations are getting a major organizational overhaul and I'm waiting until the boys are back at their dad's to handle it. I got a great deal on the Christmas totes at Meijer's with some Christmas money. I got 2 of them for $8 and I'm going to sort all my Christmas things (or what I can fit into the 2 this year and get another one next year if needed) into Tree Decorations/Other Decorations. Plus, since they're red/green, they'll be easily identifiable next year when I'm looking for the right box. Sheesh, with any luck, by this time next year, there will be no boxes. I don't like storing things in boxes because well, rodents like cardboard (I'm thinking garage storage, not house storage.) and plus, if anything leaks (like a certain barn roof), cardboard gets wet and things get ruined.

Ok, so what did I tackle yesterday? Well, I tackled getting us out of my Grandmother's house for one thing. I love visiting, but I swear it's like a black hole when you're trying to escape. I need warp drive engines or something. (oh my god, that was the geekiest thing to say..someone shoot me now...*grins*) Then, I tackled putting a quart of oil into my van because my father said it was a quart low and father's know best on these things. Then, I tried to pick up a bookcase, but the person wasn't home. Then, I went to the bank and tackled getting some paperwork I needed.

Then, best of all, the boys and I tackled using up a gift card that we had gotten for Christmas. I think I mentioned here that Jim had given us a Celebration Cinemas gift pack as part of our Christmas gift. Well, we loved using it yesterday! We used $15 of the gift card to get our tickets to go see Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakal and then another $4.50 of it to get us 2 large sodas to share. We got 2 because the gift pack included a buy one/get one coupon on the sodas. Then, we used the popcorn bucket and filled it up once for during the movie and then once for at home, except the boys ate it all on the way home! The movie was great, better than the first one, in all of our opinions. We still have most of the coupon pack and 50c left on our gift card. I don't know when I'll have the money for us to all go again, but it was a wonderful treat and I'm so thankful for friends who gave us something that we could all love and do as a family.

After the movie, it was off to Meijers for a quick grocery run and then finally back to the house, where I tackled getting us all inside and the trash out to the curb. Roger tackled giving the kitties food and water and then we all relaxed. Not a bad day of small tackles, if you ask me!

It's Tuesday and boy has it been a long one! I was up at 6am this morning to meet up with Peter to take Ben into the doctor. I did make it to their place by 7:15 and Peter rushed us right out the door. The roads were kinda slick this morning and so was their parking lot! I slipped about 4 feet out their door and Ben laughed all the way to the car. Little turkey.

The appointment went well. The doctor checked out Ben's legs and did some x-rays. She thinks that surgery might be a good idea for Ben's right leg. She also said that more physical therapy as well as wearing a leg immobilizer at night. Peter wants to rush into surgery but I'd rather explore alternative options instead of doing surgery. Peter used time and money as an excuse, but that's precisely why we carry extra insurance on him and I could take him to appointments plus let's face it, the surgery could cost more and be far more time intensive as far as therapy goes. Luckily for me, the doctor doesn't make surgery appointments the first meeting and she feels that extra therapy and such won't hurt to try at all.

After the appointment (which kept us at her office for just over 2 hours), we drove on back. Peter dropped Ben and I off at the apartment to get my van and I took Ben back to school. After signing him in, I hung out with him for about 15 minutes until his class got in from recess. I spent a few minutes talking to his teacher and then popped over to tell Roger that I'd see him at his party on Thursday. It's going to be a lot of trips to Hastings because they need to be in school on Friday because Ben has 2 tests that day. Poor kid.

Then, it was off to the dollar store and then the grocery store. As usual, the groceries took me almost 2 hours. It may go faster if I didn't stop to talk to so many random strangers. ;) Then, I used my grocery receipt to get 25c off a gallon of gas at their gas station and then drove on home. Did I mention in all of this that it was freezing cold today? Brrrrrrrrr!

Sadly, our house here has some serious air leaks and I haven't had the money to get plastic to cover up the windows. I've been trying other creative means though and they've been partially effective. After getting back, I decided to take a nap but our upstairs only has 1 heat vent and it seems pretty ineffective. I was so cold that I couldn't fall asleep! I'm going to have to get out our small space heaters and take them upstairs to take the chill off the bedrooms before we go to sleep at night.

I did eventually go outside and unloaded most of the groceries from the van. I'll snag the rest of them tomorrow. I was just too dang cold and honestly, exhausted to handle all of them today. I did get those inside and then I did something I'd been meaning to do for about the last month. I actually got about half of the fridge totally cleared out. Ugh..how do they get so full of stuff? By the time I was done, my trash bag was full and it was so heavy that I had to carry the whole trash can to the porch, open our outdoor trashcan and then (after tying the bag closed) tip the whole trashcan over the rail so the bag fell out into the outdoor can! But, my fridge looks much nicer and isn't full of spoiled food. Yay! Now, I only have to do the other half.

Tomorrow, I have to go into Lansing and then spend a big chunk of time baking cookies for teacher gifts. Plus, if all goes well, I'm hoping to be able to get the rest of the presents wrapped. I do wish I could find Grandma's bell and Alex's gift. I know they're here. I just don't remember where the heck I sat them down at!

Okie, time for me to try to get some extra sleep. It's going to be a crazy week and tomorrow is only the halfway point!

Well, this is late and I don't have my pretty picture! I store all of those images on a separate drive and of course, I don't have it downstairs with me. Ahh well. I did tackle something today, though! I drove over to Hastings and visited the Secretary of State's Office. While there, I applied for my enhanced driver's license and switched the address on my van registration. I also stopped into the kids' school and dropped off Ben's glasses because he left them here on their nightstand. A quick stop off at the grocery store, a couple of hours of kgb work and I'd say I had a fairly productive day. :)