Billys Unemployment Update

Billy went Thursday and applied for Unemployment. His Bosses at work had told all of the people that got laid off that they were taking their vacation time! Arrgghh! Not Fair at all!! But Billy and a few other guys decided that they were going to go down to the unemployment office and file anyway. He went w/ his best friend Scott that works w/ him. Billy said that He was concerned w/ the lady who was helping him because she looked very Stern lol But after he explained all that was going on and showed her his pay check stubs from where they cut him hours And the fact that he was on vacation last week w/ No pay so she actually Back dated his application to where his "Waiting week" is actually already done! Thank you God!! And he gets to collect unemployment pay! Praise God. He gets $$!!! I'm so Thankful to God. I Still hope that he gets to go Back to work after only 1 week of lay off though.

Didn't Get the job. But I feel better today

I have to admit that yesterday when I found out that they gave the job to someone else and I didn't even Get an interview I was really upset. But then I stopped and thought about it. I asked God to let his will be done when I applied for the job. And His Will was done so why was I so upset? I felt ashamed of myself. I asked God to take over and then I was upset when he did. That's not right. So I started looking for the Good in not getting that job. I did find some. If ( Big if) I sub Everyday I will actually make MORE money subbing then if I was working F/T And if I need to take the kids to the Dr or whatever I can just tell the Sect I can't Sub that day. Or if Shelbies class is having a party or field trip I can go. I'm actually Happy about that! Plus I can help out in her class if/ when they need it. Of course my First priority will be to Substitute to make some Money. But it'll be nice to just be able to tell them no when I can. I'm looking forward to the first few days/Week or so of school having the house to myself! Whhooooo Hoooooo! *giggle*

Bible Verse that is helping me.

My mom gave me this flip calander Years ago and I still use it. July 15th had a Wonderful verse on it. I haven't even turned the pages to the correct date yet.

Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you, Be not dismayed for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will Help you, I will uphold you with my Victorious right hand.

I keep reading this over and over everytime I go by the kitchen window. It's helping me so much.

Well it happened

Billy came home last night and told me that they were closing the plant next week. And that it's supposed to be just 1 week. But they were/ Are having a meeting w/ the managment today to find out more. I have to admit that I had a bit of a melt down last night. I was just so scared and upset and Mad! Very mad! BIlly is such a hard working and dedicated guy. he works hard everyday and doesn't do things half ass. So this pisses me off so badly that the management is treating everyone especailly Billy this way. It's just poor management! I'm trying So hard not to worry about money. His pay check was only $142.00 this week! And friday he won't get a check at all! NOTHING!! And because the plant will be closed he won't get a Check then either! I want to go Postal on them! I want Billy to find a new job So bad.
Please God help me to keep the faith that everything will be ok.

Had myself a Little Hissy Fit

Last night as I was adding up the Check book I found out that Billys Paycheck wasn't Nearly what I had thought it was. It was Only $140.00 for the Whole week! I was just sick. So I threw me a little fit. I threw things and yelled and stomped around. Poor Billy was just looking at me like i'd lost it. He didn't say a word, just let me get it out. I told him that I Know that God will provide for us. I just needed to let it out a little and have me a little hissy fit. I did feel better afterwards.

Rumors.

More rumors are swirling around Billys work. My cousin K works there too and now he's saying that he's heard that they are going to Shut the plant down for 2 weeks. And make everyone take their vacation then! Ummm What Sucks so horribly about that is that they don't get paid when they take vacation! So that would mean NO money! No check for 2 weeks! OMG h ow are we going to do that? K also said that he wouldn't be suprised if they didn't close the plant forever very soon. I Know that God has Everything under control and i'm trying So hard not to worry. God Please help us.

HELP! How do I Lower My Grocery Bill?

I am So used to spending around $100.00 a week on groceries. And now that Billys hours have been cut there is NO way I can keep spending that much. NONE!
Today I went and bought groceries since we were out of about everything due to camping. I went to a store called Aldi. If you're not familier with it it's a store that is a Lot cheaper then most stores. I spent $47.00 there and then went to a regular grocery to get the things I needed there. Like my Gain and fruity pebbles for sam lol. I spent $26.00 or so there. That still seems like so much money! I'm trying so hard. Aldi doesn't take coupons as it's a "Knock off" kinda store. Canned veggies are 34 cents, Milk is a Lot cheaper then Walmart etc.. but some of their stuff is not as good as regular grocery. I don't know What to do to lower my grocery bill. I know it'll go down some when the kids are in school because now i'm buying ham and other lunch stuff. But I need to figure something out Now! I need to figure out how i'm going to pay bills And buy groceries on about $180.00 a WEEK! God help me. Anyone have any ideas?

I'm Home

I'm so glad to be home from our vacation but i'm going to miss being at the lake too. We had such a great time. We went to my grandpas 90th B-day party Sunday after Church and then we headed back home and got stuff together and headed to the lake. It seems like it took Forever to get everything together and get there. So we Finally get to our camping site and start setting up. Thank God everything worked great on the camper. Last year the Air cond didn't want to work to well but Billy found out that it was because a Dirt dober had built a big nest in it and as soon as he got rid of that it worked great.
Sunday night we played cards w/ my cousin lisa and her DH T and my other cousin K and his wife lisa. Yep gets confusing. lol. We played Phase 10 card game it's So much fun but omg my family gets Very competitive! No one likes to lose! lol. I think we didn't get in bed till around 1:00 am. Then monday we got up around 9:00 am or so and we all started makeing plans for the day. We decided to go out on the boats. We had 2 pontoon boats and my Dads bass boat. With us all we had 27 people! We all went and rode the boats around and headed to "The rock' The Rock is a HUGE Rock on the shore of the lake that we Love to jump off of. It's HUGELY out of the water. I can't even tell you how high it is but let's just say it's VERY high. Nose bleed high lol. I jumped 1 time and that was it for me. It about killed my ears because you go So deep in the water your ears pop. Well at least mine did. and After last years Triple ear infection I didn't want to get to much water in my ears.
Sam was a little Stunt man though, he jumped off that rock Over and Over again. Not the least bit scared at all. Of course Everyone who jumped had life jackets on. It was so much fun.
We went out on the boats everyday. and went to the rock everyday.
Thursday was a Miserable day though. It got So H O T! It got up to 107 degrees! It was so sickening. everyone stayed in the campers as much as we could to stay cool. We watched movies alot and played cards.
I was just so thankful to God that BIlly had a good time. He almost went home monday afternoon because he was so worried about $$ that he thought about going home and working tuesday and wednesday and then coming back to the lake Wed night. But he decided that he didn't want to after all. It means that Billy won't get a Pay check at ALL next week. NO money at all. :( makes me sick. but I know we'll be Ok. we've got plenty of food etc.. so we're fine.
I was ready to come home yesterday. So ready. I'm just tired. Tired of using a camper bathroom where my knees almost touch the shower stall in front of me. Tried of sleeping in a bed that my head almost touched the head board when my Feet touch the foot board! I'm 5'4 and Billy is 6'1 so you can guess how good he slept lol. Poor guy. Now comes the fun part * note the scarsam* doing all the laundry. It took for what seemed like Forever just to get everything out of the camper. It's funny becuase i've got so much stuff left over. I was so worried about not having enough food and snacks for the kids and Billy and I but we had More then enough. so now the kids have plenty of snacks for next week. Yeah!
We got Billys first Check yesterday from his new hours and O M G it is next to nothing! a LOT less then before. Just makes me So mad and sick
My cousin K works where Billy does and he was talking about the situation out there the other night when we were playing cards it depressed me so bad. I was in tears. his hours didn't get cut because he's in a differant dept then Billy. He was saying something about the rumor going around about them closing the plant for 2 weeks soon. And about the plant closing for Good soon. I know that God has it all in control and i'm trying so hard not to worry but it's hard not to. Especially when we don't know if he's going to have a job next week or 2 days from now.

Dang! It costs a Fortune to go camping!

Well to buy stuff to Go camping anyway. lol. I went to Aldis and got a few things. I spent $70.00 there! Eek! And then ran to walmart to get the things I couldn't get at aldis. I spent over $120.00 there! But I bought 2 folding chairs and shampoo etc.. Stuff we needed. So I can understand why it cost so much but still Dang! I'm trying soooo hard to hold on to the money we have and not spend so much but when you're away camping it's hard and Very expensive to run to the store and get something. So we always get extra lunch meat and chips :) Gotta have lots of tortilla chips and dip to eat while sitting in the Cool camper watching DVD's LOL. Plus sunscreen and swim stuff for the kids too. I can't Wait to go!!! We're actually going Sunday afternoon now instead of Monday like we thought. Since Billy is off sunday we decided to go ahead and go. I'm glad. We have my grandpas birthday party after Church sunday though. He's turning 90 years old! wow! I just hope he's around for a lot more years.

Called the School about my Application

Well I broke down this morning and called the school about my application that I put in for a job. I was Nervous! I hate doing things like that lol.
So I got ahold of the receptionest and she told me that the princapal hadn't done Anything about the applications yet. Arrgghh! Apparently she's out of town for 2 weeks in training! I'm just impatient about this! I want to know! well at least she hasn't made any decisions yet. That's good!

Turning off our Satelite

I'm going to call friday or Saturday and Turn it all off. It's a luxury that we can't afford anymore. I Hate to! Oh so so so badly but we pay around $60.00 a Month or so for it. yikes! That's money I could use for groceries or something else. We've had it since Sam was 1 so about 8 years. I'm spoiled for sure. Especailly on Saturday and sundays at home when all that is on regular TV is sports. Yuck! i'm not a big sports fan unless it's Razorback sports lol. The kids are Really going to hate this. They are so used to watching Tv whenever they want. Oh well they have movies. They'll get used to it and so will I.. Right?
I'm hoping that as soon as I start working either F/T or subbing we can get it back. Gosh I hate this.

I also found out that Billy is only getting paid for 36 hours a week NOT the 40 I thought he was getting paid. I just cried! I don't know what we're going to do. Wait yes I do . Leave it to God and we'll be Ok.

Getting Ready for Vacation

I'm Ready! I wish we could go Now! Seriously though I still need to get things ready, I need to Clean out the camper which means Vacuuming Everything! The beds and floors you name it. I vacuum it. Plus then stock it with the stuff we'll need. I don't usually leave stuff in there all the time because of bugs and mice. YUCK! I haven't Seen any mice this year and i'm Praying that there aren't any. But we live in the country and mice are part of it. but still.. YUCK!
I want to buy a Fry daddy deep fryer this year. We have a BIG deep fryer but it's to big to take And it takes Forever to heat up. Since I don't cook in the camper I need stuff to take that I can fix fast and so I can contribute to the family meals. Everyone in our family that goes camping w/ us cooks somthing and brings it to One of the camper sites and we all eat together. Man we have some BIG meals! I would be happy with sandwiches etc. but nope, not some of my family. They want Roast and Chicken ench. etc.. it's crazy. But since I don't cook in my camper I have to find somthing to cook. I Can cook in my camper but our camper is so old that I'm scared to use the gas lol, it'd probably be fine but i'm a big chicken. lmao. We mostly eat Sandwiches and stuff like that for lunches. We take sandwich stuff and chips and dip. yum! We also taking lots of water this year. My parents have a newer camper and they are getting a filter for their faucet in their camper so we get thier water jugs they used to take. lol. I'm taking a Bunch of jugs of water and i'm making KoolAide and Tea instead of buying lots of pop. The kids get a pop and then put it down to go play and forget about it and when they come back thirsty they forget they had a pop already and get another one and it's a vicious cycle lol. With lots of pop wasted! So we're getting lots of Koolaide! Better then pop anyway. I'm just so ready to go. I Love where we camp. It's so nice and shady. we can go Trout fishing and swimming and out on the boats. ahhh. Let's go!

My Parents are Home~

I am sooo happy. My Mom and Dad are back home from their trip. They got home last night at about 10:00 pm. Funny but I knew I missed them because i'm so used to either Seeing them everyday or at least talking to them everyday and Today when I saw my Dad I started crying. It hit me just How much I had missed them. My mom had some Beautiful pictures to show me of the rockies and Montana etc.. I can't Wait till she gets the pictures back from walmart. Shelbie rather snottly told them that they were Not doing that Ever again lol She Really missed my dad. Alot! They are the Bestest buddies. I know they had a Great time and they are really glad to be home.

Yard Sale went Great!

I am Totally Exhausted but the yard sale today went Great. We had a LOT of people come by and I sold almost Everything that I took out there. I am giving away a trash bag of clothes to the salvation army but they are pretty used clothes so I was pretty sure they wouldn't sell anyway, But I got them Out of our storage building LOL I sold the play house for $40.00, The Bunk bed for $30.00 and the stroller for $10.00. Oh and the Changing table for $10.00 Whoo Hoo! I ended up making about $145.00! Praise God.
I'm so tired though, I only got about 2 hours sleep last night. I just couldnt' sleep and then Both kids got in bed with us about 2:00 am! I'm hoping for an Early bed time for me tonight. *Yawn*

Yikes, I've been Tagged! Thanks Michelle

I've been tagged...some fun!This is from another blogger who tagged me to do it! At the end, I am going to tag three more bloggers to do it.
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME: 1. Losing my Children and Billy, 2) Snakes! 3) Heights!
THREE PEOPLE WHO MAKE ME LAUGH: 1: Billy, Shelbie and Sam
THREE THINGS I LOVE: 1) God 2) Billy 3) My Kids!!
THREE THINGS I HATE: 1) Bullies! 2) Being Fat!! 3) Child molesters!
THREE THINGS I DON’T UNDERSTAND: 1) Math 2) Fashion 3) My kids sometimes lol
THREE THINGS ON MY DESK: 1) BBQ Sunflower seeds YUM!! 2) My Checkbook, 3) Paper
THREE THINGS I’M DOING RIGHT NOW: 1) Typing this 2) Listening to Shelbie Whine!! arrgghh! 3) listening to "The Nanny" on TV
THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE: 1) See my Husband Saved 2) See my Children Grown 3) Lose this weight!
THREE THINGS I CAN DO: 1) Make Yummy Chicken enchilidas 2) Make my kids Laugh 3) Make Billy Very Happy * Hubba Hubba *
THREE WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY PERSONALITY: 1) Kind, 2) Funny 3) Loving
THREE THINGS I CAN’T DO: 1) Forget what certain Dr did to me 2) Lose weight 3) Sew
THREE THINGS I THINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN T0: 1) God 2) Your Children 3) Your husband
THREE THINGS I DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO EVER: 1) Politicans 2) Satan 3) Mean People!
THREE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FOODS: 1) Chinese! 2) BBQ 3) Fried Chicken
THREE THINGS I’D LIKE TO LEARN: 1) To Sew 2) More patience 3) To Dance
THREE BEVERAGES I DRINK REGULARLY: 1) Diet Dr. Pepper 2) Coffee 3) Water
THREE SHOWS I WATCHED WHEN I WAS A KID: 1) Bugs Bunny 2) Smurfs 3) Wrestleing

CRAP! They Cut Billys work Hours!

Dang it! I'm so ticked off! I Hate the company BIlly works for! Hate it!!!
Months ago there were rumors going around about them Cutting everyones hours but they had a meeting w/ everyone and Told them they weren't going to do it. Then BAM yesterday they did! Instead of Billy working 12 hour shifts 2 days on 3 off and then vice versa he's only going to be working Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays! 12 hours but i'm not sure if they will be only paying him for 36 hours or 40! I'm just sick. Just when things were going SO much better for us $$ wise! Now I know though the reason we couldn't find a Car we really wanted, God didn't want us to get one. He knew this was going to happen. Thank you God. Because if we did have a car payment we'd Really be screwed! I'm also so Thankful to God that we don't have any credit card payments etc. Praise God. Billy seems to be Ok w/ it. I mean he's Not happy that they cut his hours but Thank God he's not depressed. I was Really worried about that. He can get Very moody about stuff like that. Plus he can work for his friend D on his days off. I still have No idea what is going on with the job I applied for. I've not gotten any calls from them yet. This would be such a blessing if I could get this job. $$ wise. I'm trying so hard to leave it in God's hands on whether I get it or not. I know I can Sub as much as I can or at least as much as they will call me at least. I could proably get a job just about anywhere but I Need one where I can be off with the kids since I don't have anyone who can watch the kids when they're off school.
I just wish that Billy could find a better job. But there are only so many jobs out there that he'd qualify for.
Please God let them change Back to 12 hour shifts soon. Please.

Up After Midnight!

Shelbie that is! That little toot would Not go to sleep for anything last night. I gave her a shower because she had been outside playing and got filthy! Well she got mad because I made her take her shower when she really wanted to watch a movie. she's gotten Way to good at throwing fits and getting Very mouthy lately! She refused to be still in the shower and kept yelling at me that she hated me so she got a little swat on the butt! Got her attention anyway.
After her shower I put her to bed and let her watch TV for a little bit. That seems to be the only way to get her to sleep in her own bed. well last night it didn't work. Nothing did! I thought she was going to be awake all night! we finally just gave up and put her in Our bed. It still took her over 30 min to go to sleep. I don't know what her problem was. she wanted to sleep late this morning but Sams therapist was supposed to come at 9:00 am so I made shelbie and Sam both get up at 7:30 am. I hope this will make her sleep tonight.
Sams therapist ended up calling and canceling todays appt. She thought that her son had Strep throat. Sams had a Great week so it's ok that she canceled. Thank you God. Man I need a Nap right now. *yawn*

Ever heard " Paying for your Raising?"

I figure it's a southern thing. lol But that is Exactly what i'm doing with Shelbie. OMG that kid is a Pistol!
Last night while we were shooting off fireworks Other people where shooting them off around us too. Some Behind us about 3 houses away and some beside us about 5 houses away. Well shelbie got to thinking that we were having a Contest with the other people over who had the best fireworks. They would shoot some pretty ones off and my Sweet little girl would YELL " OH yeah, Well we can do better than that Buddy! We'll kick your heineys" So we'd shoot some off and then she'd yell " Take that You stinking People!! See we beat you" Everyone in our family was Rolling laughing so hard!! I am positive that the other people couldnt' hear h er but OMG I was laughing so hard. She was just so sure that we were having a contest and we were going to win, no matter What! LOL

Had a Great 4th Of July

Yesterday was so much fun. We went to our community 4th of july party during the day and my MILs that night.
The community had horseshoe pitching tournament and kids games. We used to have these Years ago but they quit having them for some reason. So this year was the first time in years. They were a bit unorganized but that was ok. I think next year will be alot better. I know a couple of women who were over the kids games are going to do it alot differant next year and I may help them with that. Billy came in 4th place in the horseshoe pitching. He would have done better but he hadn't had much time to practice. He likes it though and had fun.
That night we had supper at my Inlaws and My BIL and his Friend came and brought his friends niece and nephew and another friend. We had a great supper and then shot off a LOT of fireworks. it was Awsome! Jas bought about $150.00 worth of fireworks and we had almost $40.00 worth. Jas's friend is an ametur photograhpher and he took Lots of pictures of the kids and everyone and some Fantastic pictures of the fireworks. He's supposed to send me some via Email .I can't wait to see them all.
We had such a great time. But boy i'm Still tired today. lol.

My Parents are in California.

I talked to my Dad last night at about 7:00 pm and they were only about 2 hours away from my Great Aunts house in or Near Vacaville.
Well my mom called today and they were there safe and sound. Thank you God.
They got there at about 7:00 pm. I don't know about the time differance between here and there so sounds like good time to me. They were all relaxing and just enjoying time with family that they haven't seen in soooo long.
I guess one of my Dads cousins wanted to take them up to see the Redwoods but my mom didn't want to go. She said that she'd had enough riding in a car for awhile lol. They are supposed to leave to come back home in a few days or so. They want to go see the Grand Canyon and Mount rushmore on their way home. Sounds like soo much fun! I wish I could have gone.

Ok Jen (EC) I'm ready to go now. My bag is all packed! lol
We need to pick up Jen (veggiemom) on our way though. Lol

Our Yard Sale Sucked!

I am sooo Tired! I got up at 5:00 am and then got the kids up and dressed and headed down to Billys Aunts house for the Yard sale. I had the Bunk bed in the back of the truck and I decided that I wanted to go ahead and sell the kids Play house too. :( It's the cutest Log cabin playhouse by little tikes and they had so much fun in it when they were smaller but over the last year they've not wanted to play in it. It's like giving up a small piece of their baby hood. :(
So we get down there and set that stuff up and we already had a Yard saler there at 5:30! Talk about a bit to early! But that's ok. he bought a few things from Auntie. From then till about 12:00 we had a few customers. It was hit and miss. I think Auntie made around $75.00 or so and I only made....... Get this..... $ 7.20! Yep a Whole Whopping $7.20! Didn't even pay for the freaking Ad I put in the paper! But Billys Aunt paid me for that :)
We decided that we're going to have another yard sale next saturday at a near by town. There is a place right on the main highway that people have yard sales and it Usually does really good. Our Church has had 2 Sales there and done Really great. Billys Uncle asked the Owner there if we could have our sale there next Sat and she was all for it! Yeah! I'm Praying sooo hard that we do Fantasic there. I Seriously need to get rid of this stuff. Billy is irritated that it takes up so much space in the storage building but i'm not about to just give away or Throw away a Like New Bunk bed, changing table, stroller and Play house! My MIL said that if I would sell her stuff at the yard sale this coming Sat that she would take care of the kids for me. Sounds like a Great trade to me. Lol Sam and shelbie were both soooo bored today.
But on a Great note there was a yard sale at the house right across from Billys Aunts and O M G she had Awsome clothes for 25 CENTS! I got Abercrombie & Fitch tops for a Quarter! Ebay here I come! lol
I got Sam a few nice shirts too. 2 With the Tags still on them! Wow! I paid a Dollar for those but Heck the price Tag on them was for $15.95 and $ 12.95!
Can't beat that with a stick. lol.
So all my stuff except for the bed and play house is still down at Billys Aunts house. They have a Huge trailer that we put all the stuff on and that way Billys Uncle can just pull it over to the new yard sale site and we can go from there.
I'm Really hopeing that this works and I can 1) Get rid of a Bunch of stuff and 2) Make some extra Money. That would be so great.