I’ve received my copy of “Petite Anglaise” and I must say it’s beginning out slowly. I hope that it’ll pick up, and since it’s just page 50ish I am hopeful. I finally spoke to my mother. I gave her the updates that all the family was out to Tennessee, and it’s just mon chou and I here.  My mum has decided it is time to make me feel guilty about keeping mon chou’s grandfather with us, even though he decided not to stay anymore and went with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law to Tennessee. She says “Why is it ok for him to stay there, but not me?” To which I responded “Well it’s different and besides he’s not staying here anymore.” and naturally she goes on to say, “Well, I think his [mon chou] reasoning isn’t fair and he just doesn’t want me there.” What was said, was that mon chou was afraid that we would fight like we did when she stayed here previously. We seem to butt heads and I can’t quite put my finger on it, as to why.  She’s jealous that I live so close to my mother-in-law and she gets to spend time with me. Hardly, we see her maybe once or twice every two weeks, really it’s not that often. My mum isn’t keen on being “replaced”. I think she sees that as something to be jealous of. I don’t understand it, I guess because I am not yet a mother.  It seems as if after I moved out, things changed. I became the person she raised me to be, as did my brother. We both moved out of the small town we came from and are working on our education to make something better for ourselves.  She’s still struggling to let go of us, I think. I just hate when she makes me feel guilty for not allowing her, so to speak, to come here and stay with me for an extended period of time. I love my mum, I do. She’s a great lady and has done great things for my brother and I. She’s been out of work for so long now, it’s driving her nuts and therefore driving me nuts. I have sent out resume’s for her, but I can’t do all the work. I feel like she makes me feel guilty for not doing everything she wants me to do.  Because I’m so far away, somehow in the depth’s of my mind I am able to distance myself from those far away. My emotions aren’t as strong as they normally would be.  We’ve not been as close as we were because, I’ve clung to my husband, like I am supposed to - “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” [Eph. 22: 31]. I don’t know how to make these relationships good. My mother is jealous and I don’t know how I can fix it. Am I doing something wrong??

This is the most awesome cake! I found this by Stumbling. it’s so  amazingly cute! I wish I had the talent to make it, go give this girl your props. She’s quite talented! I finished my grocery shopping today and had a semi-panic attack today. I don’t know why or where it came from, while I was shopping. I did manage to get down to my 150.00 budget for groceries but I didn’t get vegetables which will run me 20.00 and then I bought 50.00 worth of household goods, i.e shampoo, conditoner, shaving cream, and then a new sprinkler so I could water the grass seed I spread around yesterday. So all in all, it was a pretty good trip. Tonight we’re supposed to be going to laser tag but I’m really tired and not feeling up for it.

Later.

I’m quite thrilled with the prospect of a new JM song. I abhor his personality; he’s got the ego the size of a mac truck or perhaps larger, but his voice and music I am absolutely in love with.

And I really love this more:

I become so much more well-spoken and thought provoked during the late night hours. Ah, irony.

Tomorrow I have a few things on my agenda. First the A/C people are stopping by for what they call ‘routine matience’ which translates as to, ‘routine $$$’ and try to make us purchase something although they say the check up is free. I’m always saying no because seriously it’s so expensive. Anywho and then I’m off to grocery shop. I’ve got my list and I’ve been searching online for coupons all day and night. I hope it goes well.

I went to the gym, ran almost the entire time, only problem was my new shoes. So I did 2.3 miles and it feels good, I wasn’t even out of breath, that’s about 32:00 minutes. It was a good run for me and I was listening to “New Moon” by Stephenie Meyer, the second in a trilogy about vampire love. I know it’s sounds really stupid but it’s really lovely and so romantic. I know it sounds crazy but the book is so good it’s hard to stop listening. I’m only listening because I listened to the other one.

Now I’m pooped. More updates soon. Tomorrow night is laser tag with Ryan and my sister-in-law. I’ve never been so it sounds fun.

I find myself longing for a baby. A friend recently found out they’re having a baby boy and I am completely jealous. Honestly, I want a child so badly but I guess it’s not the right time for me to have a child and I do have other things on our plate right now.

Top Ten Foods that should be bought organic:

FRUIT

Peaches
Apples
Strawberries
Nectarines
Pears

VEGETABLES

Spinach
Bell Peppers
Celery
Potatoes
Hot Peppers

I’m not sure how frugal this recipe is but it’s simple and looks delicious as well as very low in calories. I’m planning on making it and getting groceries this weekend as I have Friday and Saturday off.

Canellini Bean and Tuna Salad
Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tarragon vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp drived oregan leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt

Salad

4 cups broccoli cuts ( the origional recipe says frozen but I hate frozen foods and it’s cheaper but the taste isn’t good.)
2 cans (19oz each) canellini beans, drained ( also you can use garbanzo, or black beans)
2 cans (6oz each) tuna in water, drained
Lettuce if desired
1/2 cup shredded carrot

Directions:

Make dressing with ingredients and shake well.

Cook broccoli as directed on the package, if you get the frozen kind. I’ll steam mine.
Mix in a large bowl, beans and tuna, toss gently to coat, sprinklie with carrot.

Calories: 290
Total Fat: 8g
Sodium: 630mg
Dietary Fiber 9g

So as you can see I have a new layout. I am too busy with myself and life to design my own thing. It was fun for a time but now I really don’t have the energy to continue the attempt, or bad attempt to make my own. Let’s leave it to the professionals.

We left Tennesee early Friday morning and made our first pit stop in North Carolina. It was very pretty and I have pictures but I haven’t uploaded them yet. I’m still recovering.  We, or should I say, Ryan drove most of the trip and he was fighting a head cold. I was just so completely tired and exhausted I couldn’t do it. I did drive for about 4 hours, while Ryan tried to finish uploading an audiobook onto my laptop and then transfer onto my ipod so that I could plug it into the tape-deck converter. It’s all very confusing because I don’t have a cd player in my car. It’s fun right?  We did finish the first audiobook, which by the way, even though I thought it was stupid after I learned the premise, was really realy really good. I’m stuck on the series now it’s called “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer.  You should check it out.

We slowly made it into Florida and the last 4 hours were oh so brutal because those four turned into 6. Why? Because we stood at a standsill for 2 hours, moving absolutely no where. Eventually people began getting out of their cars, walking around and some were even playing basketball. Several people pulled over to the side of the rode and let their dogs out. I still haven’t found out what the problem was and there was nothing on the radio to suggest a problem. I felt like something out of a movie when everyone exits their car and looks up into the sky. I told Ryan “Has the rapture happend?, Why are we still here??” was what I said as panic set in. I get stur crazy. Finally we began to move and saw absolutely nothing that would create a backup on the interstate for 2 hours. We managed to get home at 11:00pm after leaving Tennessee at 6:30am! It was a long day.
Yesterday we (me, mother-in-law, and Tara as well as two kids that my mother-in-law was babysitting for a friend) went to do some outlet mall shopping. I got a watch ( finally!), new running shoes and some new socks that are supposed to keep your feet cool and I’m quite excited about that.

On a new note I am going to try and take this blog on a new level of being frugal. Living in Florida is expensive! We’ve been spending $300.00 and up on a month of groceries. My new goal is to spend only $150.00 a month, which would be a savings of at least $1800.00 a year! When you figure things out like that it all makes cents (hahaha). ‘

By the way I’ve gotten 3 tomatoes and 2 bell peppers from my garden.

We are still in northern Tennessee and we will be staying around until Friday, where we must go back home. Oh yes! I forgot to mention that I’ve decided to take a Speech Pathology class this summer however there are a few problems, aren’t there always problems for me? First, since I applied to Uni as a bachelor’s degree candidate, so I have to now enroll as a non-degree seeking student since this class and others are pre-requisites for Speech Therapy. So I have to prove that I’ve received my Bachelor’s and send them a fax so that I can register as the non-degree seeking student. I’m waiting on this to happen. I’ve contacted the Uni SEVERAL times email and phone but to no avail. I want to register for classes, it started Monday. I wanted to hurry up and get this wrapped up so I don’t have anything to worry about. It’s never easy for me. Back to school I go.

So since I’ve lost everything, as I thought it was my fault and not Wordpress’ fault, I eneded up deleting everything but that’s okay. I can just start over. I like the ability to start over. It’s refreshing and frees you from something you perhaps wish you hadn’t said or done. With that being said I think that the focus of my blog is going to be different and perhaps I can draw more people to read what I have to say. I am very interested in comments to be left and things to be said. I love to learn and hope that I can grow with some readers

A friend Stumbled this to me, this is near my area! - A Florida substitute teacher says his job disappeared after doing a magic trick in front of his students.

Substitute teacher Jim Piculas made a toothpick disappear, then reappear in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land O’ Lakes, Florida. The Pasco County School District says there were several other performance issues, but none compared to his "wizardry.""I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, ‘Jim, we have a huge issue. You can’t take any more assignments. You need to come in right away.’ I said, ‘Well, Pat, can you explain this to me?’ ‘You’ve been accused of wizardry,’" Piculas explained.The assistant superintendent with the district said Piculas had other issues, like not following lesson plans and allowing students to play on unapproved computers.Piculas said he’s concerned the incident may prevent him from getting future jobs.

Errr…lost everything. Be back later.