Frugal family Fun

So recently we upped our weekly allowance for 'entertainment' to $25.....which is becoming really big spenders since we started at zero, then upped it to $10, and just recently after almost two years to $25. For those not familiar with our budget system we use envelopes and we have set amount for each category and we pull out the money each week and put it into the respective envelopes. We have envelopes for clothing, entertainment, gifts, food, and Jared and I each get spending money. We have a sinking savings account/envelope system for house and car money for repairs and maintenance items.

Anyway on to the point of the story. I wanted to make sure Jared and I were still taking the time to go out on dates since we have neglected that for a while and thus the increase, we are trying to do an adult only date once per month. This past weekend though we had a nice family weekend and had alot of fun for $25.

First on saturday was the air zoo. General admission is free and Jared already has a yearly pass. So we paid for Lillian and I to get the Jr.Co-Pilot ride pass for $7 each. We also took my niece and nephew who turns 5 in a few days (this was out of the gift fund for those interested since it was for his birthday LOL) and met some friends and their son. Then we went out to dinner with a gift certificate we had gotten for Christmas and ended up owing $10 which came out of the grocery fund because every once in a while we get crazy frivalous with the budget LOL.

Sunday Lillian and I went to church while Jared went to a clients house to earn a bit more money to go towards our debt snowball! After church we went tubing at a park her that requests a $1 donation per person. We had alot of fun that was $3 well spent, we will definately go again I cant believe I didnt know about it before. After tubing we grabbed a $6 hot and ready pizza for Jared and Lillian and stopped by the library for a free movie rental. What better way to warm up than pizza and a movie.......of course tubing was hard work so I am pretty sure we were all sweaty by that point.

So all in all we had $14+3+6=$23 plus to be fair we spent $14 out of the gift fund and $10 from grocery.......still a winning weekend in my book-----and our pocket book!

Dr. Lillian

Lillian latest claim is that she wants to be a doctor but only after she goes to little girl school and then big girl school and goes to college and plays and is a princess too......oh and dont forget wanting to be an animal doctor LOL.

She has been wanting to play doctor alot and she uses little scraps of paper or whatever she finds around imrpovising. I told her she could save up money to buy a kit and she agreed she wanted to. As she was again pretending and I thought about it I realized those little kits are 10-20 dollars for junk when we have plenty of realistic stuff around here. I had just received a stethoscope in the mail that I had ordered because I wanted to try listening to my own lungs for signs of problems brewing. I asked her if she wanted to make one out of some stuff and she was very excited.

So her 'official' kit contents for now are:
box of bandaids, nasal spray, bottle of homeopathic teething tablets (all empty)
gauze pad & an ace bandage
medicine droppers and cups
and empty plastic syringe that just had saline in it
the plastic part of an inhaler without medicine cylinder
a little device you breathe into that I no longer use for treatments
and of course the stethoscope

She has all her accessories in a little zip up bag and carries it around with her stethoscope its too cute. I have two roles that I have to pretend I either get to be the broken girl or the sick girl! She uses her stethoscope to listen to everything from your head to your ankle and then normally you have to drink 'really yucky medicine' and get a shot that will 'only hurt a little bit'.

This morning I got to be the sick girl so I decided to act like I was afraid of the doctor and I told her that she had to explain everything to me so I wouldnt be scared. I was very impressed with her logic when it came time for me to blow into the little breathing treatment thing. She said "you need to this so you can get more air in and you will feel better" which is such a good thought pattern for her little age I thought. I dont believe its because of my lung disease or treatments because we never talk about that stuff just that I have to do my medicine so I dont get sick. Sometimes I forget that all this pretend play can actually teach them something.

RAOK's

One of my goals for the new year was to do a random act of kindness per month. I said some would be small, some may be big, some I would share and some I would not. I feel that you dilute the full benefits of your RAOK by 'telling' about it if you are doing it in a way to show off which I am not and is why I am not going to tell everythign all the time. I do think it is so fun to help others and hope that by blogging about it others may want to join me in doing some RAOK and starting a ripple effect.


I will always try to post one that doesnt cost money because usually those are the best ones. Maybe I will do one of each per month.


February

Tonight I did a really fun RAOK. It was our first night of a growth group for church called Looking Up that another lady and I started it is for people dealing with chronic illnesses or supporting others who are. It was a small group and one guy came in looking to be in so much pain and he was talking softly and said he apologized but at the next group he would be a 180degree different and more up to talking. He said he had been without his neurontin for his epilepsy and his lyrica for his fibromyalgia for almost two days and would be out until saturday because of some insurance snafu's. They have no money at all, living with friends, disabled, older, etc. After the group I offered to drive to the pharmacy with him and buy him two days worth of medication. So I am going to rest easy tonight knowing that he wont have a seizure and can hopefully get a bit of sleep.


January

I paid for the couple behind me's sandwich and soup at subway......they were so cute how could I not?

I saw my neighbors garage door was up and went to put it down for her and check on her since all her lights were on and found her (100 years old) wrestling with her back door. She could not get it open because of the weather it was sort of 'stuck' and her son was coming in to town at midnight, her plan if she couldnt get the door open was to stay up waiting for him. She was so worried she would be a mess the next day or fall asleep and have him locked out. I was so happy I decided to go over there.

Bendaroooooooooooo

Lillian has been asking for bendaroo's for about forever. Must be from commercials at daycare or maybe one of the kids talking about them. A long time ago I bought assorted pack pipe cleaners and she decided those were bendaroos which I was more than happy to let her assume. Every time we go to walgreens she sees the 'real deal' and asks for them though. Well Grandma Becky with her 'crazy gift insight' that she always seems to have got Lillian bendaroos--the real deal not Mom's cheap pipe cleaners for crafts LOL. We are oh, so, not a talented artistic family......don't take my word for it here's the proof.....but it was fun.

What you can't tell what they are...shame on you...there is the dragonfly, the birdcage with a yellow and pink bird in it (since smashed by Lillian), the candy cane which Lillian has put on the tree so it can 'be a real one', assorted rings, and the lollipop----oddly none of the artists are claiming their creations and prefer to be anonymous *grins*.

Nicole's 2009 Year In Review

For me not just having 'a' resolution but a plan for the direction I want and goals are better. Checking in regularly helped too via my 'groundhog resolution' plan of checking in each month on 1/1, 2/2 etc. Overall I am very pleased with myself, this is probably the best I have ever done.

2009 Overall Goals:

Maintain my lungs - Improved actually *clapping*

get in better shape - so so, some parts yes, some parts no

Read more - I completed 16 non-fiction books

Be a better wife - Have definately come a long way

Find a church - Joined, baptized & involved

Read at least some of my new bible - Read New testament & portions of Old

2009 Health Specific Goals:

Up my workout routine to 5 days - not there yet

Start jogging again (with my Knees permission) - tons of problems they declined permission

Be evaluated for Tiger-2 clinical trial drug study- done (decided it was a no-go)

Improve my nebulzer routine using hyper tonic saline & add more airway clearance - done

More efficient & compliant way to wash/sanitize my nebulizers (since I use 6-8 a day)- done

buy masks for cleaning, dusting, etc - done (need to use them ALL the time though)

buy allergen bedding and pillows - done (need new covers dont like the old ones)

Start eliminating alot scented products - done (well with what is reasonable)