Round Up - Bedroom

Wow this month went pretty fast but I did get a lot accomplished. We were in the bedroom the entire month organizing and decluttering. Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie hosts a monthly organizing round-up. She has made a world of difference in my life. It's like she's holding my hand and motivating me every step of the way. Thank you Laura for being there for me I certainly needed that little push in the right direction.

My bedroom before:
Okay, I'm sure you want to see my bedroom before all the changes. On April 2 I made a video of my bedroom before cleaning up. To view my video go here.

My Linen Closet Makeover:
While doing my clean up of my bedroom I changed the sheets on my bed and wound up cleaning out my linen closet along the way. I posted this makeover with photos on my blog here.

My bedroom Makeover:
Now I'm assuming you want to see what I did this month? Here are the changes.

The place where my cat used to sleep I removed all the blankets and washed them. I was going to break up that wire cube thing and get rid of it but with the advice from Laura I now have my scrapbooks displayed in them along with my wedding photo proofs and an 8 x 11 wedding photo of me and my husband that I need to purchase a frame for. This is what it looks like now.

I cleared off the top of my backboard. What I left was 2 boxes of tissues, 2 alarm clocks and two books. The fan also needs to stay because of the noise. Yes, I sleep with a fan every night. I can't sleep unless I have the humming sound. Did you notice I made the bed? Haven't done that in years. Also who's sleeping on my bed?

It's my cat Diamonds. She now thinks that my bedroom is relaxing and sleeps on the bed during the day. Doesn't she look cozy?

Now, for the sitting area. This is where I have the kids clothes. Yes, they do have closets but when they were little they would empty out all the draws which by the way I'm still having that same problem now that they are dressing themselves. I did have to pick up before I took this photo because they toss out all their clothes every day!

In the big rubber maid boxes I have their summer clothes stored. 2 boxes for girls clothes and 2 boxes of boys clothes. I get hand me downs from my sister-in-law and my best friend. In those black bags way in the back are clothes I need to donate because they no longer fit. This month I started to match their shirts with pants and started to hang their clothes. It's a major job so I'm probably will be doing it still next month while we are in the kids rooms. I'm hoping that by doing the matching it will eliminate those clothes that just don't have matches so I can donate them. I'm also hoping that by going into hanging method that I will free up some draw space.

The draws are a major problem. As I mentioned before the kids like to pull everything out and not put back in. I will fold and fold and make it so neat and then get so frustrated to find a mess a day later. Most days I can't tell if the clothes are on the floor are dirty or clean. So I wind up cleaning everything again. It's a never ending nightmare - Laundry.

Back to the dresser. There are 6 draws in their dresser with 2 little draws on each side of the changing table. By the way, we don't use the changing table any more. I need to figure out something to do with that. The dresser should probably be moved back into the girls room. They no longer climb on it so it's probably safe to put back in their room.

At this time the dresser draws include:
Left draws:
Top - Girls
Middle - boys
Bottom - boys

Right draws:
Top - I have 3 dollar store baskets in this draw. One has dance outfits. Middle basket has boy underwear. Last basket has girl underwear. The baskets are small enough that I have some room in the front of them to put stockings and socks.
Middle - Girl's Clothes
Bottom - Girl's Clothes

Their PJ's are on the first floor in the other changing table that we have. My husband thinks I should bring them up and put them in their draws but I just don't have any room. I'm thinking maybe once I get all their regular clothes matched and on hangers and in their real closets maybe then we will have PJ draws!

Here's my start of matching clothes that are clean. These all match with pants and tops all on one hanger. In the yellow bag I have extra hangers. I have a basket in my laundry room too with loose hangers. I did get rid of all the strange hangers I got from stores and went with all plastic ones that match but are in different colors. No rhyme or reason to the colors though? Any ideas? I have a lot of white ones, a little of the following red, yellow, blue and purple.

I got rid of all the appliances that I had except for this air conditioner. I know I should get rid of it but one year our central air broke in the summer and we had to purchase this window one. I guess I'm just afraid it's going to go out again and we can't afford to purchase another one. This is my oldest daughter, Victoria. She's amazed how nice and neat my bedroom looks. Behind her is my Christmas/Hanukkah box filled with gift wrap and gift bags. Once my closet is cleaned out I'll probably move that there. The box is too big to fit under my bed. Bummer! that's where I have my every day wrap. Of course, this part of Justin's bed still resides in my bedroom. I just don't know what to do with it since it goes to his bed. It just has sharp pieces on it and we are afraid to have it in his room.

So there you have it. My new improved bedroom.

If you want to see more bedroom makeovers please visit I'm an Organizing Junkie's blog.

Come back again next month as we attempt to do the kids rooms.

Meal Plan Monday A Bit Late

I'm a bit stressed! I haven't had a chance to menu plan yet. However, last night when I came home from the supermarket I prepared the following meals below for this week. 2 of the meals I froze and one is in my fridge for today. All meals below are new and never tried yet.

Easy Teriyaki Chicken Freezer Recipe Easy. Mix and Freeze. Hope it tastes good.

Caesar Chicken Casserole Freezer Recipe Tonight's Meal. I had left over spiral pasta from last night's meal that I used for this recipe. When I went to put this meal together I went to my pantry to get the caesar dressing and realized I had only ranch. Yikes. What to do. I ran to my computer and searched for CAESAR SALAD DRESSING and guess what a ton came up. I made my own using that recipe. It made a lot so I saved the rest of the dressing in a container to serve with a salad.

Chicken Marsala Freezer Recipe In my freezer. But I tell you this one smelled so yummy last night I was so tempted to eat it then.

Don't know what else we will have. I have to run now as we're going to the ZOO.

Please go to I'm an Organizing Junkie's website for more meal plans.

Great Buys this Week - CLEANING

Yesterday when I did my weekly trip to CVS I found a Gopher Pick Up and Reaching Tool on sale for $9.99. So I took the plunge and purchased it. I got home and immediately picked up my living room. Oh, my back is going to love this new tool. Also this morning, I showed the kids and they loved it. I used it to pick up all the items on the kitchen floor and gave it to the kids and they put the stuff away. It maybe a novelty item at this time but hey if it gets my kids to pick up this house it's worth the $9.99 I paid for it. The great thing about it too is that it folds up for storage. And while at CVS I purchased a whole bunch of those 3M hooks for my brooms and bookbags. I think I may have to go back to CVS and get more as they are on sale 2 for $5. And if you purchase $15 worth you get $5 back in ECB (Extra Care Bucks) that you can use next time you shop.




Another tool that I purchased this week was the Dirt Devil Broom Vac. I needed a new broom as mine was starting to fall apart. I like the ones which have the attached dust pan so I don't have to bend down to pick up every single cheerio or cracker that the kids drop on the floor. I had a $10 coupon for Linen and Things on a $50 purchase so I got the broom for only $40. I have had it only one day and so far I am liking it. Need to find a place to store it though as it needs to be charged.

My Favorite Things 2008

Credits

Layout of the Day

I received LOTD (Layout of the Day) here for my 2 page layout of Victoria through the years.



Credits

What's your Personality Type?

You Are An INFJ

The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity. Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is. You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience. You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them. In love, you truly see relationships as an opportunity to connect and grow. You enjoy relationships as long as they are improving and changing. You can't stand stagnation. At work, you stay motivated and happy... as long as you are working toward a dream you support. You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher. How you see yourself: Hardworking, ethical, and helpful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Manipulative, weak, and unstable

What's Your Personality Type?

100 + Things About My Day - Friday

1. We went to Great Adventure.
2. My intention was to just go to the Safari.
3. It was a MOMS Club event I hosted.
4. No one attended but us.
5. It's been happening like that quite often.
6. We had season passes.
7. We arrived about 11.
8. The giraffes blocked the street
9. Justin screamed as he was scared when they passed by our car
10. The kids saw an elephant poop and pee (ill yuck)
11. Reason I wrote that because they can't stop talking about it.
12. "GO" "Go MOM Go" was what I heard the entire hour of the drive. (Justin)
13. "But, Justin I can't go there's a car in front of us." (Me)
14. Say that over and over again.
15. Kids get bored fast while looking at animals.
16. Big birds walked in front of our car (Naomi)
17. Why do Baboons have red buts?
18. Mommy they need band aides for their buts (Victoria)
19. Stop for lunch
20. We had a picnic lunch
21. See a little monkey with a diaper on
22. Trainer said he wasn't potty trained
23. See a big snake
24. Justin scared of all the animals.
25. Cries and screams
26. Girls pose on ceramic animals
27. Get back in car
28. Drive to theme park
29. Get on Credit Card only line
30. Can't purchase season pass parking
31. Drive around for 10 minutes to find a parking spot.
32. Park in regular parking.
33. Push kids in triplet stroller a mile to entrance of park.
34. Pay for Season Pass Parking.
35. Go through security
36. First the kids
37. Then me again.
40. Walk another mile to get to season pass validation.
41. Wait in line for 20 minutes
42. Finally its our turn.
43. I didn't fill out the back of the forms.
44. Fill out 4 forms.
45. Kids needed passes too this year.
46. They are 3 years old.
47. Last year they were free
48. They changed the children age to children under 2 is free
49. Get assigned to a number for our photos.
50. Justin first.
51. He gets the parking pass.
52. Lady hands him his season pass
53. Big mistake.
54. Won't give back to mommy.
55. Naomi gets her photo taken.
56. Lady hands me her pass.
57. Still cant' get Justin's pass.
58. Victoria gets her photo taken.
59. Lady hands me her pass.
60. Still can't get Justin's pass.
61. I get my photo taken.
62. Lady hands me my pass.
63. Lady asks Justin for his pass back.
64. Finally Justin gives it to the lady.
65. I put all passes in my purse.
66. Stand in line for our coupon books.
67. We get 4 books this year
68. Attempt to briefly look through coupon book while pushing the triplet stroller
69. The kids see the Merry Go Round.
70. We wait in line to ride.
71. I put Victoria on a horse but there are no 3 seats together.
72. I walk a little away and start putting Naomi on the horse.
73. Victoria freaks out and starts to cry and tries to get off her horse.
74. I rush back to Victoria to get her down.
75. Try telling the kids we have to wait for the next ride! No 3 seats together.
76. Wait for the next ride.
77. Finally get all 3 kids on the ride.
78. Justin starts screaming he wants to get off.
79. I try to explain to him that he'll be okay as I stand next to him and hold him on the ride.
80. He likes it so much that he wants to go on again.
81. And we do.
83. Now to find a bathroom!
84. Bathrooms are really gross.
85. I hold each kid over the seat.
86. Now, I'm wanting to leave and go to Stacy's for a play date.
87. Time is now 2 pm.
88. Kids start screaming they want to go to Wiggles World.
89. How do they remember this? They went last year but never went on a ride
90. So we go to Wiggles world.
91. They try to go on all the rides.
92. There is only one ride they can go on themselves.
93. All other rides Mommy had to ride with them.
94. Some rides they weren't allowed on as they needed 2 adults.
95. Next Time Nanny will go with us.
96. It's time for another bathroom run.
97. Time to leave. Justin tantrums he wants to go on the roller coaster.
98. Spend 15 minutes trying to get Justin back in the stroller while he screams and cries
99. Eat funnel cake and pretzels on the way out of the park
100. Walk a mile back to the car.
101. Fighting and screaming for the back seat while Mommy puts stroller back in car.
102. Victoria good.
103. Naomi and Justin finally settle who sits where.
104. Mommy buckles everyone in.
105. Drive home.
106. Cook dinner
107. Put kids to bed (time 8 pm).
108. Lay down and fall asleep.
109. Wake up at 12 midnight
110. Check e-mails and post this on blog.
111. Time now 2:45 am
112. Time to go back to sleep.

Freebie Quick Page

Here is a quick page freebie I made using Michaele Burkhart's kit called Girl Grunge. You can see the kit below. Download quick page here.

















Girl Grunge can be purchased here. Right now it is on sale 25% off.

Kits I made

I made these 2 digital kits for SNL 37. You can learn more about SNL 37 here. You can see the other kits made this month here. I have been participating in SNL for a over a year now. I did not participate last month though as I was too busy.

Upcoming Challenges at Deco-Pages

I will be hosting a new challenge for Deco-Pages monthly, beginning May 1st called Gallery Hunt. Do you save pages in your favorites that you are inspired by? You forget to go back to it to scrapalift the page? That's what this one is all about...scraplifting pages from your favs in the deco-pages gallery. I made 2 Quick Pages using Deb Ammerman's kit "Roses for Mom" as a reward for those who participate. Please come join me May 1st at Deco-Pages.

In addition to my challenge there will be 2 other new challenges at Deco-Pages starting May 1st. You can see a sneak peak at these challenges at Deb's blog here and Margie's Blog here.

For the month of May the kit used for the Quick Page rewards is Roses for Mom by Deb Ammerman pictured below. This kit includes: 11 - 12x12 Backgrounds,1 Ribbon, 2 Gel Borders,3 Deco Gel Trims, 1 Doiley, 4 Tape Tabs, 1 Frame, 1 little rose, 1 Frayed Fabric Journal Box, 1 Photo Anchor with brad, 2 Rose Bunches, 2 Rose Stamps, 2 Tags, Gel Titles - Each in light green, dark green and pink: Mother,
Mom, Daughter, Sister, Friend, And 2 Quick Pages. To purchase Roses for Mom please click on image below and it will bring you to Deco-Pages store.

Menu Plan Monday

I've been a bit stressed and haven't had a chance to do my menu planning. Sorry. I did have recipes planned just didn't post my menu. This past week I did some shopping and when I got home my mom was watching the kids so I decided to try some freezer meals. I only planned 2 though. I prepared the meals with the marinade and froze the meat.

Monday - Caribbean Jerk Chicken Freezer recipe (I froze my meat from last week with the marinade. Trying this tonight. So far the house is really smelling yummy). and Sour Cream Chicken Quiche. (I have pillsbury pie crust that I'm going to use for this and chicken in a can.)
Tues - Bacon Wrapped Garlic Chicken with Cream Cheese Freezer Recipe. (This too I prepared last week so it's in my freezer uncooked need to remember to take it out and put it in the fridge to defrost tonight).
Wed - Salsa Joes Freezer Recipe (This I did not prepare ahead of time. I'm hoping my husband didn't eat the salsa I picked up for this recipe. If he did something else will be prepared instead)
Thurs - Potato and Egg Casserole (I purchased 2 dozen eggs last week as I got them really cheap with coupons so need to use that up before they expire)
Fri - Sweet Potato Salad and Juicy Steak
Sat - Kathy's Delicious Whole Slow Cooker Chicken over rice. (This recipe I use at least once a month so it's tried and true)
Sun- Left overs

Thank you Laura from I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday. For more recipes and meal plans go here.

Quick Page Challenge Freebie

You can get this quick page without my photos and journaling here. It is made by Retro Designs. There are 2 quick pages to choose from and if you use it in a layout and upload to the gallery you can get the other quick page for participating.

Our Tree

Credits

CT Girl Grunge by Michaele Burkhart

Credits

CT - Peachy Keen by Deb Ammerman

Peachy Keen by Deb Ammerman can be purchased here.

Here are 2 layouts I did using the above kit by Deb Ammerman.

I love to take photos of birds in my backyard. Now with my new camera I can get up and personal with them. Here's a bird I took this past week. I'm not sure if it is a Raven or not. I searched the internet to find out.

This is my youngest daughter Naomi. This month she got some hives on her body. We still do not know what she was allergic to.

My Linen Closet

Since we are in the bedroom this month I decided to tackle my linen closet. Here is the before photo. Notice how everything is like all over the place. I dreaded opening up the door as I was afraid something would fall out.

I've been reading tons of organizing blogs, books and websites and they said that the best thing to do is to take everything out and start over again. So here is the pile of stuff that was taken out from the closet.

Here is the after photo. I labeled all the shelves. Top shelves are for king size (our bed) middle shelves are for queen size (Justin) and crib size (Girls). There is 2 baskets too on the 3rd shelf down the one which looks like swiss cheese as it has those holes in them. I got them at CVS get this for only 25 cents each on clearance. Unfortunately, they had only 2 left but if they had more I would have purchased more. At the very bottom I put in a basket that holds my vacuum pieces and the big box now holds the MOMS Club Scrapbooks. These scrapbooks were in my bedroom on the floor next to the cats cube type box that he slept in. I so miss my cat.
What's left? 2 big bags filled for donation.

And a bag and half filled with garbage. Oh, while I was getting rid of these bags of garbage I also got rid of some things in my bedroom. Still working on it but it's beginning to look a bit neater.

Check out more bedroom clutter advice at I'm an Organizing Junkie here.

Tips for Saving Money in the Grocery Store

I wrote this article for the MOMS Club newsletter but wanted to share it with all my blog friends.

You really need to Meal Plan. Since I grocery shop weekly I plan my
meals every Monday and try to shop on Tuesday. The meals are
planned around what is on sale at the grocery store that week. I
use legal size envelopes for my shopping list. I divide it up into
categories such as health and beauty, cleaning supplies, Meats,
produce, etc. I only purchase items that are on sale and if I have
coupons I try to stockpile nonperishable items. Like for example:
This week Shoprite has Purex Laundry detergent on sale for 1.99.
I had coupons for $1.00. You are allowed to purchase 4 and use 4 coupons. So for $4.00 I got 4 Purex laundry detergent. Now, since this is the only detergent I use I will
either make 2 orders or go back during the week a 2nd time to buy
another 4. I need to purchase enough so I won't run out and have to
be forced to pay $5 a bottle when it is not on sale. They will go
on sale again but not for months later.

Okay, where do you get coupons for items that you use? I get one
paper delivered to my house. After looking at the coupons on Sunday if I notice that there are a lot of coupons in that Sunday paper that I use I will go to the store and pick
up another 3 papers. I have also asked my in-laws and parents to save
their coupon inserts so when they come to visit they give me their
inserts and I cut out everything. Why everything? I make 2 piles. One
for items I use and one pile for items that I'm going to swap/trade/give away.

I belong to coupon_Exchange at yahoo groups where you send and
receive potlucks of coupons each week in a round robin type fashion.
This is how I get different amounts on coupons from other states.
So say for example: In NJ we get $1.00 off on 3 boxes of General
Mills Cereal. Well, in another state they may get $1 off just one
box of General Mills Cereal. So you can save more by having coupons
from other states because you won't have to purchase so many boxes
of cereal.

Another way I have found recently is to write to all the companies
that you frequently purchase products from. I recently wrote a
letter to Heinz via e-mail saying how great their ketchup was and
that my children use it on everything. I then asked them if they
had any coupons for their loyal customers and then a couple days
later I received some coupons for Heinz ketchup in the mail.
Another example was I wrote a complaint letter to Johnson & Son
about Fantastik Oxypower. I normally purchase Fantastik Heavy Duty.
My husband purchased the Oxypower one and I complained as it didn't
do such a great job and in the mail I received a coupon for a free
fantastik. I have a notebook where I write down which companies I
have contacted and I try to do at least one a week.

I also was finding it hard to find coupons for products that I use
on a daily basis. Like for example: every week my husband wants
this 4c Totally Light Energy Rush powdered drink. I searched e-bay
and found buy one get one free coupons. Yes, I did purchase 20
coupons for $2 but get this! These coupons are good until May 30
and for every week I've been purchasing one of his drinks and
getting the 4C lemonaide for the kids free! These boxes are
typically $5.50 or more. So I am saving $110.00 minus the $2 I
spent on them so that's $108 in savings on our drinks alone. So the
little amount I spent on ebay is well worth the savings in whole.

Another place I get coupons from is Hot Coupon World . You have
to sign up and join but it's free. Once you post a couple of times
you then will have access to the trading section. This is a great
place to learn all about couponing and you can even trade and make
up wishlists. I've gotten tons of coupons through trading for items
that I do use. One thing I have learned from this sight is the
advantage of shopping at CVS. Okay, I have gone there before but
never knew that you can earn free things. I'm still a novice at CVS
but I have done some really good deals on shampoos, toothpastes,
razors, soda and other things. At CVS they have special items each
week that you earn ECB (Extra Care Bucks) when you are a member and
these ECB's can be used on anything on your next trip. They do
expire so you need to go back within a month to use them.

I also read many blogs. My favorite 2 are Free-bates and Money Saving Mom. They give some great tips on saving money and even post what to purchase to get the best deals at various stores such as CVS, Walgreens and Riteaide.

How do I sort my coupons? You can read my article here.

What Kind of Thinker Are You

Your Thinking is Concrete and Sequential

You are precise, orderly, and realistic. You tend to get to the point and get things done. Difficult, detailed work is easy for you. You take things step by step. Time limits aren't a problem for you either. You work well with deadlines. What does drive you crazy is any sort of task that isn't precisely laid out. You don't like anything to be ambiguous. You prefer to deal with the facts at hand.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

MOMS Club Regional Luncheon

Credits

Music in My Life - Dining Room Photo

The piano is in my dining room. I did this page for a challenge. The them was music.

Credits

Coupon Organizing Upgrade

In January I started out with my blue book coupon organizer. It got so full with all the coupons I've been purchasing, getting from friends and family and trading. So while shopping at Target or was it Walmart I can't remember. I picked up another book in a different color. I now have my blue book with food items such as cans, veggies, snacks, drinks, dairy, frozen. My brown/green book is now with my cleaning products and health and beauty products. I left the blue book with the different stores in the back so if I get any rainchecks I can just check the store that I'm going into to see if I have anything I need to use. Here is what my books look like. They are actual photo albums that are like 8 x 8 in size that have 2 pockets on each side.

Like in my blue book I added tabs to the pages using my Round Tab punch from Stampin' Up. The tab punch is only 15.95. I sell Stampin' Up so if anyone wants to order it please let me know. The tabs in my brown book I did in 3 different colors. Brown for health and beauty and green for cleaning products and I don't know if you can see but way in the back I have yellow for batteries it's behind the tissues tab. I stapled the tabs to the plastic pages. I wrote on both sides of the tab which works out great when the book is open in my cart I can quickly go from one category to the next without closing the book.

My blue book still have the blue tabs. I may have to redo them in like blue and brown so I can tell the difference between dairy and frozen but for now I left them all in blue.

The spirals are great because get this I can store my pen in the binding. I love this because I need a pen for crossing off my shopping list. And yes those Pilot G-2 pens are my favorites.

Here is how I plan my shopping trips. I take a large envelope and I write on the top which store I am going to. Here is an example of my Shoprite envelope for this week (it's still a work in progress). I sit with the store flyer. I write on the outside what is on sale and what I want to buy. I then search for my coupons and stick them inside my envelope so when it's time to go to the store I just grab my envelope and go. There are times when I take the entire binder like yesterday when one of the stores where I don't usually shop at had triple coupons. So I took both books with me and saved $120 in coupons. My final out of pocket was $75 which is totally good for me since my shopping has always been $200 a week and that's using coupons. So I'm doing much better. Back to the envelope below. I also put boxes on the bottom for dairy, produce and meat. I write what's on sale and plan my meals around what I had written in those boxes.

Happy Coupon Shopping.

Garage Entry - Laundry Room

In December my husband built us this wall unit in my laundry room. As we enter the house my kids would hand me their coats and I would hang them up since they could not reach on the wall unit. Finally I got my husband to put up these hooks on the wall so now the kids can hang up their own coats. The problem we had then was the shoes. The shoes were being placed sometimes in the cubby holes to the right or sometimes just left on the floor because shoes seemed to accumulate and not fit in the cubby holes any more. Here is what it looked like before. I had my shoes there and a basket which somehow managed to get into my laundry room. It was in our bedroom holding their socks but now it's empty. Will use it for something else.

I took the shoe rack from my bedroom and yes, I did just dump all my shoes in a pile in my closet. Will have to get back to that when I get a chance. But for now, this is what it looks like now. I just hope the kids can keep track of their shoes now. It's been another week when we were missing a shoe and the frantic looking for it before heading out in the morning is a big stressful event. We did find the missing shoe which was placed in the toy box by mistake.

Cat Nap

Check out where my cat likes to sleep. Yes, that is one of those dollar store little baskets. She is all scrunched up in that little basket. The basket is right in front of my external hard drive and right behind my laptop computer. She likes the heat from the external hard drive.

Credits

My Master Bedroom

This is a video of my master bedroom. Please note I did not clean it. This is the before and actually what it looks like most days. I have some trouble with the kids now that they are dressing themselves.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more bedroom roundups.

March - Round Up

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

I took out from the library The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. Well, I didn't know how big this book was until I went to pick it up at the library. It is over 900 pages! A text book! I am a very slow reader and the library only gives you 3 weeks to read it. So I read about 100 pages and then skipped around the index and read here and there. When it was time for it to be due back I tried to renew it but someone else wanted it so I couldn't renew it. So off it went back to the library. What did I learn from it. There wasn't much since I didn't read the entire thing. I did like the food recipes she had in there and some of the kids craft things.

When I returned the above book I decided to take out finally a regular book with a regular story. I've been reading so many self help about organizing I figured it was about time I finally relaxed and read something enjoyable. So with recommendation from a friend I took out Escape by Carolyn Jessop. It is over 400 pages long. In one week I read over 100 pages. I've been trying to read at night and I think today I'm going to the gym and just going to walk in the treadmill so I can read more. The book is about a woman who is about my age. Actually she's only 2 years older than me. She tells about her childhood as she grew up in a polygamous family and how she escaped the FLDS Church. Hopefully I will finish the book before it's due back. Wish me luck.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

Well, my husband now has me watching Lost. Now, I never watched it before so as I'm watching this season my husband is filling me in on everything. It's a little hard to get into and since my husband is talking a lot throughout it I'm not so sure I'm enjoying it. I don't have time to watch the other seasons. As a matter of fact, we used to have a membership to netflix and since my life has had not much little extra time I just this month cancelled it. Oh, it wasn't because I didn't love netflix. It was because I just had not time to watch the movies that came in the mail and since our financial situation is getting worse we had to cut some of our extra spending. When my time frees up and we have more money we will definitely be going back to netflix.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

1. My niece Alexa had her birthday at gymnastics studio. She turned 5. Her birthday isn't until April but they had her party in March because for her birthday she's going to Disney World.

2. Easter was also celebrated. We went to a restaurant with my family. It was a buffet dinner which turned out to be quite expensive. $70 for just my husband and I and the food wasn't even good. Luckily the kids weren't charged since they ate really nothing but the pasta and dessert. Next year my husband wants us to host it so we don't have to pay that large price for a crappy dinner.

3. We did 2 Egg Hunts. One was with the MOM's Club. It was held at Stacy's house again. It was 50 degrees outside. The kids had a blast. The 2nd egg hunt was where I work. The kids had fun finding eggs that were filled with Wacky Money. They were a little disappointed that candy was not in the eggs but they did have a fun time looking for the eggs.

4. The kids went bowling for the first time. It was the longest game. It took 2 1/2 hours. We had 10 children from the MOMS Club that went. I think the kids enjoyed it though. Naomi did the best score, then Justin, then Victoria. My niece Amanda also went with us.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

My friend had a baby on my birthday last month. When I saw her mom at the dancing school that my daughter and her daughters take I gave her money so she could order out pizza for her twins. I am not the best cook and thought it would be better than not giving her anything. Every little bit helps.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

In March the kids got runny noses. Nothing to be concerned about, however, at the end of the month both me and my husband got some type of cold. The kind where your head feels like it's going to explode and the nose just drips! Yuck! Luckily with all the stock piling I did of tissues we had enough to get through.

My grandmother started to have some spotting. They did some tests and she had laparoscopy surgery last week. We were all concerned due to her age (78). She is now home and we are waiting results of the scrapping that they did. Please pray that everything is okay.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

Egg Hunts and Bowling (See above)

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

There is way too many new recipes that I have tried. You can see all of them and my reviews on my menu plan monday posts.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

I didn't really make any special purchases this month, however, I am using CVS more for my health and beauty products and cleaning products. I used them so much this winter that yesterday I earned $8.25 in extra care bucks. Not bad for just shopping there often. I stopped getting my HABBA and Cleaning from the regular supermarket. I'm still spending as much as I had but doing lots of stockpiling. I so do not need any more razors and or shampoo and toothpaste for a very long time. Hopefully, since I purchased so much in March that my April spending will be cut down a bit. Wishful thinking.

What were this month's disappointments?

I never got to my closets like I had hoped. Since I am following I'm an Organizing Junkie's monthly challenges. This month they were working on the dining room. Since my dining room didn't need anything done to it I wanted to do my closets. Well, when I went off to work and the kids had off from school my mom actually went through my closets and cleaned 2 of them. No she didn't get rid of anything. She just took everything out. Grouped everything together and then put it back in. I will post a photo soon. I unfortunately, don't think I have a before photo though.

What were my accomplishments this month?

39 digital pages done for March. It's not bad of a total but a lot less than I normally do. I just had so much going on in March that time just flew.

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Backup your digital pictures to cd/dvd and upload them to an online site or two for an extra backup. Send the links to the online albums to friends and family.

Choose photos (or digital layouts) to be printed out and get that done while you are thinking about it.

Make sure your scrapbooking area is cleaned up and organized. Put away new purchases (or organize your hard drive if you are a digi scrapper)

Look over the calendar for the coming month and make note of upcoming events you will want to capture for your scrapbooks.

You can find the roundup at Katie the Scrapbook Lady's blog.