Animal cookies

I was eating frosted animal cookies today...and you know what... The white ones taste better.

The problem with going to the store

In efforts to save money, Jeff does most of the shopping. He runs after wendys or occasionally on a day off to pick up only the things we have to have ie milk and bread. He does also get the weekly sale items that are too good to pass up (like the chocolate chex for 1.48 a box he got today). With Jeff doing the shopping we end up with no real food in the house. You end up lacking food ideas when you dont have cream or chix, sour cream, cheese, etc. So I went and wondered down each isle looking for things that we dont have and need. I managed to get out of the store not having spent too much.

But then today happened. Lets have hamburgers.....ok easy. When you actually have food in the house hamburgers isnt easy any more. Suddenly there are toppings. Well we have onion to caramelize, and bacon would be good on top too, oh and a jalapeno, tomato, lettuce, cheese, and all on grilled toast (since we dont have ham buns). Well it becomes a production ending up with a 20-30 point burger that could rival even Carl Jrs finniest.

Dont get me wrong, Im not complaining about making dinner for my family, but an 88cent box of hamburger helper and steamed broccoli or pancakes have far less clean up then a real meal. You are probably thinking Im crazy to complain about the normal hamburger toppings, but when you dont have them cause bacon, onions, jalapenos arent something to waste money on, and the lettuce and tomatoes are usually all gone on the days we decided on hamburgers - you begin to appreciate things like that.

Ok crazy little rant over. On another note we got the hospital and surgeon bills totalling just about 4500. It took them less then two weeks to send those out. We have decided to pull out our tiny 401 k which after fees and taxes will give us enough to just pay off the surgeon and the new computer. Then well just figure out how to pay the hospital something each month. Jeff and I are very pleasently suprised at the churches new employment provident living site. It is far better then the old one and seems to have more jobs posted. Maybe something will come from that.

Christmas and Newyears

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A long time

Well life is crazy and I have to admit slightly depressing. I started watching a baby named Cash to help pay for the new computer (ours is infected and keeps crashing and is trying to steal my identity, but hey now I have no excuse to not blog more). He is a very sweet 2-3 month old, but there is an added stress to watching another child. Along with Cash there was my personal information being stolen (with a bit of help from my stupidity)but nothing has happened and I have contacted who needs to be contacted so no one can do anything with my information. Next there was the fact that Tim told me he was fired and until his first check comes from the army I will not get any child support. OK 600 dollars I needed-gone. Then Jeff went to the hospital and had his appendix out. He is doing fine and though he has no appitite he is recovering well. After calling and finding out for sure our insurance wont cover it- and getting estimates from everyone we are looking at about 5000-6000 dollars. Im trying not to think about it until the bills start comming. I just cant imagin why the sergon alone is charging 1900 for 40 minutes of work... Next I took Jack in for his six month well check and low and behold he hasnt gained any weight and I need to begin weaning him and need to shove food down his throat. Needless to say weaning is hard enough but knowing he hasnt been getting what he needs for the last month or more makes this soo much harder. He hates formula and after a nursing we can only get like 2 oz down him and that is with the occasional help of a medicine dropper.

So summery: Im tending a baby, we still have no money or job, Tim is still a punk, Jeff had an appendisitis, we are now in debt to the hospital, and Jack has been listed as borderline failure to thrive. I can say that I have had alot of love and support from family and our wonderful ward. Your prayers will continue to be appriciated.

Snow

As many of you know, I spent a good six winters in Rexburg ID. A huge shock to a California girls system and definitally an experience. I have also spent two winters in Utah this being my third. Well I have never seen as much snow dump at once as it did the last day and a half. Our deck has about 15 inches on it ( and that isnt even all of it since it is more protected). My boys are sick, but even if they werent I cant let them out as I think Blake would drowned in the snow in our yard. Last winter we had less snow then SLC and Provo and so I wasnt expecting anythng like this. I am grateful for the bus and my husband who has been shoveling, and who stops at the Walmart after Wendys, that I can spend my day inside hiding from what the winter has to offer. Hopefully in a day or two the roads will be drivable again and I can venture out. We will have to take the boys sledding- if even at the little hill at the new park. I took pictures but you cant really see the level of the situation. Everything just comes out white. The sheriffs have gone on the news to tell people to not drive South of Santaquin today. I pray Jeff will be safe as he goes up north today.

Things lately

Brock:

He is reading like a champ. It actually amazes me how well he does. He now spells out thing he wants that Blake cant have like going "OUT" or having "GUM" and so forth. He is doing great at school and loves it tons. His class just did a mini play where he was a very cool Indian. He didnt wear a shirt and had face paint.

Blake:

He is talking great and now can say Orange Julius and Diego very well. I personally am very sick of Diego, but it keeps Blake quiet and happy. He is our family character. His facial expressions are classic and keep us entertained. He loves family prayer and makes Daddy say many prayers before bed (a delay technique I think).

Jack:

He is snotty like the rest of us, but for him it means eating less. He wants to be happy but is miserable. His fever only lasted a day and so I am happy it isnt something horrible. He rolls around like he owns the place and has started pulling his knees to his chest (while laying on his stomach) and then pushing his body forward. He is only 4.5 months!!! What am I going to do? I try to discourage it. I am just afraid he will be crawling in a month.

Jeff:

Interview after interview and nothing. Lately the interviewers say that hundreds of people are applying for each job. That doesnt encourage me much. Jeff just hung christmas lights on the house. It took him a whole afternoon. Well they worked for about two hours and the dumb walmart lights stopped working (they were brandnew). The Lowes lights from our old house are working great. He is going to take them down and return them. He was sooo proud of how the house looked and now we have non lit up lights on the house.

Katie:

Same ol Same ol. I have decided I am now taking donations to the Katie and Jeff fund. Any takers? Ah well just thought I'd try. I just found out Tim joined the army. He leaves in Jan for 5 months and then will move shortly after next summer. This poses a whole new things to worry about. How will visitation work and so forth. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Halloween and some of my craziness

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