my humble apologies

It seems I've jumped the gun.
Not literally, of course.

I've received an overwhelming response regarding my recent blog change. And by overwhelming, I of course mean 4 people have spoken... they want their Queen back.

/sigh

Normally I am not so indecisive... and I can be quite stubborn. But I have a feeling that they are right.
So... I will be moving back to Queen of the Creek effective immediately. I will be doing some cleaning up - incorporating some of the ideas I had for you, me & them.

I am very sorry for any confusion, inconvenience, or whiplash... but won't you please come back to Queen of the Creek?  I PROMISE I won't pull any stunts like this again. PROMISE!!

P.S. The giveaway for a Target gift card?! Still going. I will consider ANY and ALL comments from the day I posted it, from either blog - as an entry! So, comment away!

Muchas gracias!

Your amiga loca,
Jaime

an invitiation / lanscaping stuff

I opened up my email this morning to a note from Heather... in that email was an invitation to join a blog project she has going on.





It allows my blog to be critiqued anonymously by peers in the blogging community. I LOVE this idea. [Even though all I have to do is call my mom, and she'll tell me what she thinks in a snap. Note: she prefers the old blog! lol]

I think this is a great chance to see if I made a smart move by switching from Queen of the Creek to you, me & them. *I* think it was a good idea... I have a vision and plan for this new blog. =)

Anyway... Heather has a few spots left, if you are interested in hearing what others like about your blog.
Check out the post here.

In other news, the husband and the oldest kid worked their butts off in the backyard yesterday! We now have a completed sprinkler and drip system installed!! NO MORE WATERING OUR TREES BY HAND!

Here's a pic of our news trees... They were free, from our local electrical company. All I had to do was attend a tree workshop!

This one has grown at least 2 feet in the past 2 months. They are fast growing, thornless Mesquite trees. Perfect for our desert!

So, we are finally making progress on the backyard project. And when I say "we" I truly mean the dynamic duo, Marcos & Alex. I just supervise. ;)

if there were such a place...

The husband and I took our shopping list and headed out yesterday afternoon. We needed to hit Costco, Fry's (our local grocery store), and the gas station.

My goal was to spend no more than $150 on groceries... I went over by $23.
But that's what happens when the husband tags along. He is a perpetual saboteur.

Here's where I mention the SAVINGS.

 With our coupons and our store card, we saved over $90. That's a decent savings!  Also, on gas?! We had 883 fuel points, so I was able to fill up my Van's for $0.80 off per gallon... We paid $3.13 a gallon! Nice savings there!

When all was said and done, I got everything we needed (and then some). Once we got home, the kids and I proceeded to put things away and pre-package snacks and re-package chips, meat, etc.

Re-Package.... Now that's a thought! Re-packing into clear containers or baggies always lets you see what you have left. This is a good idea, especially when it's time to go shopping again. You will only have to purchase what you really need.

I bought a box of 50 snack baggies... and filled every single one of them up, plus 20 additional I had on hand. For the kids' snacks, I portioned out Vanilla Wafers, pretzels, cheese popcorn, and Ritz crackers. They know that they cannot just grab food whenever they want... that we have a plan they have to follow.  If there is more week, at the end of the food, they are stuck with ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner. {hey, it's kinda preparing them for college, right?!}  We spent about 30 minutes, with all of us working at it. Time well spent, I say!

My pantry is so unorganized right now, but while I have the energy today, I will go in and get it back to the way I like it - everything in its place!

No more standing inside the pantry... trying to figure out what they can have. Between the menu plan and the prepackaging, they should be sitting pretty.

Speaking of 'inside the pantry'... take a gander at our ketchup:

Do you buy the HUGE can from Costco? We started doing it recently... it's SOOO cheap and very easy to re-packaged into old bottles (that sounds weird. they are already used up ketchup bottles, clean!). =)
Sometimes shopping at the warehouse stores is really the best way to go... Especially when I am feeding a six-pack!

Okay - off to organize that pantry now. And to lock it when I am done with it. hehe.

five!

My child... my baby... the kid I waited so long to have, who arrived too early...is getting old. He is five. He has been five since December, but I think it has finally hit me.

With older kids in the home, I realize that there are times we treat Nic older than we should. We need more 1:1 playtime with the kiddo. He has such an imagination and such a personality.

I talked it over with my husband yesterday and decided that we needed a game plan, something that will allow us to spend some good, productive fun time with Nic before he starts Kindergarten in August.

I set about searching for fun, low-cost ideas. I have five thought up so far that I wanted to share.

One of my best girl friends, Stacey, will be taking her brood next week and asked if Nic and I wanted to join in on the fun. The last time we went to the Zoo was with Stacey and her much younger brood, almost FOUR years ago. I have pictures to prove it.

Nic loves animals... I cannot wait to see his face when he gets to see them all again!

Cost: Free (Stacey is a member and can bring guests!)

We have some mini-owls in the field adjacent to our sub-division. They actually create their boroughs out there, but come up to the road and stare at you as you drive by.  We are going to take Nic out and there and see if we can find any of them, take pictures and then come back home to try and identify them. In the process, we can learn more about owls.

Cost: Free

We totally owe Nic a trip to the Science Museum. It's been ages since we last went. We plan to take the light rail downtown and spend the day letting him play in all of the child friendly exhibits. To try and awaken the nerd in him! ;)  

Cost: Low

--> Did you know that Bank of America has a program called Museums on Us®?

It's a great program...if we are able to go this weekend, we could actually get in FREE!

What's more fun than a spontaneous picnic?

Of course, I will have it planned out - but won't provide Nic the details. We will pack all of Nic's favorite lunch items and take him to a local park for a feast built for a five year old!

Cost: Free (I already have the food on hand!

Finally... probably my most favorite thing. Nic has been facinated by volcanos for like...forever (thank you, Backyardigans!). We are going to learn about volcanos... and then I am going to set it up for the husband and Nic to build their OWN.

Cost: Low (building and craft supplies)

So that's it... five things to do with my five year old! We are shooting to get all of the items done by end of month! And then it will be time to find five MORE things to do.