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.