Well It has been a long while since I have blogged... not since the beginning of February when I started back to work and the crazy schedule of running that small little office in the corner of the Bay.
There were suppose to be 2 of us working the office, myself as the office leader and then another employee so that I didn't have to work 7 days a week.
I was given a first year to begin with and I didn't mind because I was told she was top of the class and wouldn't have a problem with working on her own.
Now she was a fantastic person except for one thing... She was older than me and ran her own business on the side and therefore thought that she should have the same rights as I did as office leader and said as much to me one day when there was a client waiting. So needless to say they moved her offices and she did well in an office where there was a supervisor there all the time.
Next they gave me for the weekends the Lady who use to run the office there and they couldn't get her into the computer properly so after 2 days she said she would not come back after another dramatic blow up in front of clients over it. It left me wondering why I get all the dramatic ones.
After that I told them I would work all the extra hours except for the day when I had to go to office leader meetings and thank heavens for my sister working that day or I don't know what I would of done.
It took a lot of hard work, but I have made it so that next year that office qualifies to be a 2 person office and so a LOT less Drama too, I hope. But it did mean that I had very little time left over from working up to 12 hour days so I spent it with my family and sleeping hence the ignoring of the blog and most of the rest of the world wide universe.
I am sure everyone understands.
Then after Tax season ended I thought I can find time to take pictures and get back into everything but that did not happen either.
Since then we have had a couple of serious situations happen.
One I can not talk about on here and we hope is finally over and going to move past.
The Second is more recent and I am not prepared to talk about yet. It is hard and painful but like everything else I have gone through I will survive it. When the time is right I will open up but for now it has to be something that my family works through privately.
That brings me to now.
I was flipping through some of my favorite pages on facebook when I came across the photo challenge called "All Boys" and I realized that I missed holding my camera and sharing my little bubble of a world on the blog.
Is that weird? Maybe, but it some how makes life a little easier when I share it because I realize it is not as bad as I feel it is some days.
So I started with pictures of our Family Home Evening treat which was Smores!
Our Lesson was on being able to work together through anything and smores seemed like the best treat that also helped demonstrate the point of the lesson.
A family is a group of people put together and when life starts heating up we can either puff up individually and it can all fall apart, or we can work together and come out closer than before.
It was yummy!
Then this week is the first week of the older boys learning how to work a meal plan and budget.
We came to a shocking realization that in just 5 years Ben is going to be heading on a mission and followed shortly after by Josh.
I started looking at the skills they need to know and learn in that time.
One of them was the ability to make a meal plan, shop for the supplies on a small budget and still enjoy good home made food.
Ben's chose Tuesday to be his day and he really got into the challenge when it came to going through my recipe books and finding meals he would like.
He was not as keen when I told him he had a total of $40 to spend on the 2 meals he was doing for his day.
Really a small budget for feeding a family of 8 but I figure his budget compared when he goes on his mission would be equally as meager.
It was tough and he had to compromise a few name brand products for generic ones ( All except the bacon.. which he says you should only use high quality because it is the most important ingredient). And the best part was he stayed about $9 under the budget so he bought a few extra items and made smoothies for everyone when we came home from shopping that night.
Tuesday morning after papers he got to work on his breakfast and it was yummy.
It is a breakfast Sandwich called "Warm Bacon and Egg Salad Stuffed Pitas" that he found in an old Pilsbury Halloween magazine I bought back in 2002
INGREDIENTS: 6 hard boiled eggs peeled and chopped, 1/4 cup real bacon bits, 1/3 cup purchased Alfredo sauce, 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 2 6" pita pockets cut in half
DIRECTIONS: 1. mix all the ingredients expect the pita pockets in a bowl and mix well. Spoon mixture into Pita halves. 2. Wrap each sandwich in plastic or wax paper and microwave on high for 20-30 seconds or until warm. Enjoy.
Dinner was super easy and Ben found the idea in the same magazine as breakfast only more simplified and easy. Tasty too and reminded the kids of going to Arby's but for a fraction of the cost.
It is called "Hot Roast Beef Sandwich with French Onion Cheddar Sauce"
INGREDIENTS: Kaiser Roll (They said onion one but Ben chose whole wheat instead), Sliced deli roast beaf warmed up, Cheese Whiz or similar, dry onion soup mix
DIRECTIONS: Warm Cheeze Whiz in microwave, add a spoonful of soup mix stir. Toast Bun top with warm beef and cheese mixture and enjoy.
It was a tasty day!
Also on the fun scale was watching Cloe enjoy her new nail polish kit that she picked out as a reward for being so brave when she had to go the hospital for stitches when Tommy and her decided to try and cut open their freezies with a knife when they couldn't find their safety scissors.
She has made even her brother wear nail polish for a day, while changing her nails 3 to 4 times a day.
The cutest though was when I walked in on her last night painting her toes.
Make sure you check out her bandaid wrap on her hand there too as she is also applying those herself as well. Make me a little sad at how independent she is getting and so very proud of her at the same time.
My baby is not a baby anymore.
How have all of you been. Post a Hi, or something.
Have a Great day no matter what trials come your way.
