The Hammies

Sometime in late November, Moose went to the shop with The Bob one Saturday. The Bob called me on the way home to let me know that he and Moose had caught a mouse. Like I would be thrilled with that? Anyway, they were brininging it home. I repeat - they were bringing it home! At this point, Fep is having a major meltdown as she is quite germaphobic. And I've told them many, many a time how much I hate rodents because they a little germy, disease carrying vermin. While Fep is melting down, The Bob and I have a phone conversation that reads something like this:

ME: You cannot bring that mouse home!

The Bob: But Moose really kind of fell it love with it. He thinks it's cute. {ME: Whatever.}

ME: You cannot bring that mouse in this house.

The Bob: We'll let it go outside. I just can't kill it. Moose likes it too much.

ME: If you let it go outside, it will just find it's way INSIDE!

The Bob: Well, I've got to go now.

ME: Don't you bring that mouse home. Don't you bring that mouse home. Don't you (click).

I get off the phone, and Fep has gotten her science book out to show me all the dangers of mice. My sister-in-law is at my house finding everything quite amusing. Shortly, The Bob and Moose come through the door.

ME: Did you bring the mouse?

The Bob: No. We let it out in the parking lot at the church up the road. It can be a church mouse.

Me: (giggling at his pun...)

So, Fep and I are happy, but Moose is NOT. Somehow it gets brought to his attention that maybe he could get a hamster for Christmas. He's all over that. All over it. So, Moose did indeed get a hamster for Christmas. Not one hamster, but two. The Bob...he usually goes above and beyond like that. I thought the new would wear off like when we got ducks. Like when we got rabbits. Like when we got Rupert. But, nope. Here we are weeks and weeks out, and Moose still loves those hammies. I call them The Hammies. He doesn't argue or complain when it's time to clean their cage. And I've about supervised doing it enough that he can do it all by himself. Fep, she doesn't love the The Hammies so much. The germaphobe in her just won't let her. Me, I think they are quite cute. I, too, find them a little germy, but a little wash of the hands or a little hand sanitizer after messing with them and I'm fine. I guess it's obvious where Fep gets her germaphobia :) So, without further adeiu, I give you The Hammies:

Behold the Bean

This is a re-post of a post from my former blogging days. I'll re-post some other things from those days later on. Anyway, I love beans. In particular, I love black beans. Love them. This is very frugal as it was a recipe by Joni McCoy of Miserly Moms that I tweaked a bit to fit my palate:

Black Beans & Rice
2 cans black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 large diced onion
1/2 T. minced garlic
1 T. oregano
1 cup of chicken stock

Mix all the above and cook in crock pot for at least 6 hours. With a slotted spoon, serve up some of those beans over rice. Especially yummy if you top with a little cheese, a little sour cream, and homemade or fresh salsa.

The boy does look a lot like me...

It's funny how it goes with your children. I hear everything from top to bottom. "Oh, Moose looks just like The Bob." Or " Moose looks just like his Momma." "Fep looks just like The Bob." And so on. I will say it seems that usually the person saying whichever child it is looks like The Bob, well, they're in his family. And I'm not saying anything against The Bob's family. I'm just sayin'. I personally think that our children are a real mixture. Fep has her Daddy's blond hair, the color of her Daddy's eyes, but her Momma's nose and lips. Moose has his Daddy's round head, but has his Momma's eyes. And it's those eyes that get me. I ran across a picture of Moose and me the other day, and I have to say with those eyes he looks a lot like ME. That's what I think anyway. And I know the day is coming, soon I'm sure, that I'll hear, "That Moose looks just like his Daddy."

And... Yep, it's all in the eyes.

Saving Moolah

Phoebe has a money saving linky post going. I've not had time to read but a couple of ideas from others, so mine may duplicate. Also, let me preface this by saying that I know that I've not arrived in frugalness. I don't even want to say what I spend each week on groceries. So, I won't. Just know that I'm no Gayle at Grocery Cart Challenge or Phoebe for that matter. However, after thoughts rambling through my head these are my ideas:

*Order off the $1 Menu at fast foot places. After joining Weight Watchers, I have found that I am now quite satisfied from the Wendy's $1 Jr. Burger as I would be from ordering the regular sized Wendy's Single.

*I shop at Aldi when I can. I don't shop there every week as I live 25-30 miles from there, but a couple of times a month I stop in and shop and stock up there. If you don't have an Aldi, maybe you have a Save A Lot? If you don't have either, well....I don't know...

*You can cut back on the amount of detergent you use when washing clothes or running your dishwasher. And I have not noticed any difference whatsoever in doing so. I can see that my clothes are still getting good and clean, and nobody has told me yet that I stink.

*The fact that it's on sale does not necessarily mean that you should buy it. Are you really saving money if it's something that you don't need? Now, I know there is a flip side to this coin. There are a lot of CVS Shoppers who have this huge honking stock of stuff. That's not necessarily what I'm talking about. I know you put a lot of time researching and doing that, and you walk away with everything almost for free. This is what I'm talking about:
There is a clothing store not far from me going out of business. Everything is way way marked down. The clothes horse wannabe in me wanted to stop in and take a look. I know a look would end in a purchase. So, even though there were probably some killer deals, I've not been. Why? Because I don't NEED a thing. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. If I don't NEED anything, why buy no matter how good the deal? Do you get the picture of the emphasis being on NEED?

So, there are my measly ideas. Again, I've far to go in frugalness, but I'm always working at it :)

Room Love

Don't decorate with manly things. The deer above the fire place had it's time.
The family picture makes a much nicer presentation than Mr. Deer, I think.
Accessorize with things from people you love.
Mr. Bird is from my friend Heathahlee who I happen to love very much.This tassel was made by Susie Harris. I got it specifically to go with the bird, and I love it.

Finally, looking back at the picture of the fireplace with the family picture (not the deer), I notice a book in the bottom right corner.

It's a Book I love.

For more ideas, much better than my own:

Once Upon a Time...

Man, oh man. Am I glad to be back! This is my attempt at blogging for the second time around. Lets sum it up in a story to see where I've been and to see where I'm going:

Once upon a time, Kat had a blog. Kat loved her blog very, very much. She tried to keep up with other bloggers. She tried to impress other bloggers. She tried to entice other bloggers leaving comments here and there knowing it would help build her own blog. One day the Lord convicted Kat that her blog was an (gasp) idol. She spent far too much time thinking about it, far too much time looking at it, and far too much time working on it. Kat decided with tears (literal tears) that the blog must go. And so it did. It took a long time to get that blog out of her system. She would often ask The Bob for another blog. Those conversations usually didn't go very well to say the least. For The Bob knew what the blog idol had once been in Kat's life. The Bob, he's wise. So eventually over time, Kat began to release all of her bloggy feelings. For the most part. But one thing that Kat kept thinking about was the one good thing that came out of blogging. When she blogged, she was very reflective. She noticed things more. She noticed her children more. She noticed simple pleasures more. Her blog was in a sense a little scrapbook, a little online journal. That's what Kat never quit missing. So months went by, and Kat conjured up the nerve to ask The Bob again, and without hesitation, without anything but a smile, he said yes. And so now the story of this blog will begin. Reflections. That's all it will be. The joys of life from my view. No self promoting. No comment leaving to get traffic. Just my little online journal. If people show up, fantastic. If not, that's fantastic too.

Man, oh man. It's good to be back :)