A Time of Sadness

My inlaws with their grandchildren two years ago

My mother in law passed away Friday, December 11th in Florida.  She had breast cancer that had spread to her lungs and her lymph nodes and ended up in the hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia.  We were hopeful that she could beat the pneumonia, return home and have more time with us before the cancer got worse....that was not to be.  She passed away knowing she was loved with her son holding her hand.

It's been an incredibly sad and difficult month for us all.  As in most times of sadness though, my husband's family bonded with each other, shared many memories and showed his mom that together we would be ok.

I returned home yesterday after more than a week away from my children.  My husband and father in law will be here on Sunday.  I'm trying today to get my life back in order, finish my tasks to create a somewhat happy Christmas at least for the children, as well as prepare to have my father in law with us for several weeks.  I hope to return to blogging after the new year.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 

Family Time

Here is the four of us at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort Campfire.   This picture was supposed to include Grandma and Grandpa.   It was a strange 2 day trip that we took - the kids had a great time but my husband and I had to work had to produce that...always knowing in the back of our minds that it was supposed to include his mom and dad.  We tried to reschedule and when we couldn't his parents insisted that we give their grandchildren the trip they wanted them to have even without them.

We are still in Florida.   We extended our stay until this coming weekend.  Today we got some good news that my mother inlaw has made a step in the right direction.   We are hopeful and cautiously optimistic that tomorrow will bring another positive step.

We are all tired - physically and emotionally.   My brother in law has been here since the morning we left for Disney (we couldn't have left dad alone so that was a blessing).  Today we decorated the Christmas Tree with my husband's cousins and their husbands after they all visited at the hospital.  Then we all shared a meal prepared by a neighbor along with sandwiches and salads that I picked up from the grocery store.   It was probably the most festive evening we've had so far...not even Thanksgiving was as enjoyable honestly.

I hope to do a bit more decorating tomorrow and take the kids down to the town square in the evening to see all the holiday decorations.  I also need to see if I can get my Christmas cards printed at CVS and do a bit of online shopping as I am now behind schedule....but of course for a more important reason.

Last night my mother in law searched my face as she asked me for the truth....I told her that she needed to keep 'making the climb' and that she would be 'ok'.   I know in my heart that it's not her time yet.....not yet...

A Bit of Time Away

It's been over a week since I've posted.   I am currently on vacation visiting my in-laws in Florida and prior to that was really consumed with getting ready to leave as well as trying to get a jump on some of my holiday shopping, decorating, etc as we won't be home until December 2nd.

We are staying in The Villages - an active adult community between Orlando and Ocala that is incredibly huge and a great place for my inlaws to live as well as for us to visit.   I hope to share a few photos over the weekend of the community and what we have been doing.

We had a nice Thanksgiving although it turned out different than planned.  We ended up moving the 17 person party from my mother in law's home to her neighbors, as hosting it here wouldn't have worked that day.  Those of you that we are close to know that we are facing some family challenges right now so you understand...I don't want to share more publicly out of respect for my family's privacy.    All in all it was a day to be thankful for...a day that we shared with family we don't see often as well as my inlaws friends who weren't able to be with their own families for the day.

I hope this holiday also found all of you healthy, happy and thankful for the blessings in your own live.  I miss blogging this past week, but need to take this time to be here and involved in the moment....blogging can wait until later.

Organized Christmas - 6 Week Countdown to Christmas - Week Three Gifts and Giving & Week 4 Get Cooking

I’m still trying to follow Cynthia Ewer’s Organized Christmas Countdown at Organized Christmas. This is actually Week 4 – Get Cooking Week, but I’m still working on Week 3 – Gifts and Giving Week. My Get Cooking Week isn’t going to happen until we get back from vacation after Thanksgiving. If I can get most of my shopping done by the end of the first week in December I’ll be thrilled. As I said in my last post the point is to keep chipping away at what needs to be done and not stress about being behind.

Tasks I’ve completed in the past two weeks are:

• Purchased Holiday Stamps
• Ordered Photo Calendars for Grandparents (already received)
• Started Selecting Photo’s for the Calendars
• Started Shopping (I’m making some headway here – more to follow)
• Emailed my Sister In-Law for gifts ideas for my Nephew and Niece

Tasks I need to complete this week/weekend are:

• Declutter Décor (remove Halloween and excess regular décor. We won’t be here for Thanksgiving so I’m going to skip decorating for it and will move onto Christmas Décor early)
• Establish Holiday Clothing Needs
• Inventory the Gift Box
• Buy a few supplies for my daughter’s homemade gifts and keep making them
• Get gift ideas for our parents – other than the grandparent type gifts
• Keep Shopping!!!!
• Plan my Baking and Gifts From my Kitchen Lists

Today my daughter has a half day of school and I have a parent teacher conference at 3:40. I’ll be dropping the kids off with my parents at 2pm returning around 5ish for supper with them. My plan is to tackle some shopping before and after the conference. I’ve got some gift cards and coupons to work with so hopefully I can get a lot for less.

Here are some of the deals I am working with:

• Kohl’s – 20% off entire purchase and I have $20.00 in Kohl’s Cash from shopping last week
• Toys R Us - $30.00 in Gift Cards from purchasing Hasbro Games and for purchasing over $75 in merchandise
• Amazon.Com - $20.00 in Gift Cards from Swagbucks

So now I have to get to list making and psyche myself up to head out shopping this afternoon. My goal for this holiday is to have all gifts purchased and wrapped by December 16th. I don’t mind baking and crafting the week before Christmas – I actually enjoy it. But I hate heading to the stores and feeling overwhelmed. I want to enjoy making cookies with the kids, decorating the ‘bird’ tree with the neighbor boys, visiting with family and friends and just appreciating my blessings.

Check out Organized Christmas for great ideas on creating a low stress, high fun, frugal holiday for you and your family.

Links I Liked

Here's a few links that I enjoyed over the past week:

Rachel Anne from Home Sanctuary presents Have Fun with Your Man
Caring for our marriages is vitally important to the foundation of our homes and families. Check out Rachel Anne’s tips on how to connect (or perhaps re-connect) with your man and have some fun.

Stephanie at Keeper of the Home shares her Goals and Plans for a Slower Season
Do you tend to find a slower pace during the fall and winter seasons? I’m yearning to get to that place but it seems for us it won’t be until after the holidays. Stephanie shares her favorite slower paced things to do when the days get colder and we want to stay indoors.

Susanne Myers at Hillbilly Housewife provides some tips on the Perfect Time To Clear Out The Toy Clutter–Tidy Tuesday
Here’s a task we really need to undertake in our house before Christmas comes. I need to get the kids on board to help get rid of some things they don’t use anymore.

If you have any links you liked this week that you'd like to share with me and my readers - from your own blog or others -  please leave the link in a comment.

Menu Plan Monday - November 16th - The Use It Up Before Vacation Week

We’re leaving for vacation next week and I’m trying not to shop this week. My selections are pretty slim and I’m getting very low on meat in the freezer. So I put together a very basic menu using things I have or can ‘create’ from leftovers. I don’t have any recipes or links to share this week as these are either my tried and true or ‘flying by the seat of my pants’ meals.

On another note I’ve been struggling with a few things over the past week – my attitude and sanity being the biggest. I’ve been snapping at everyone, screaming at my kids and dissolving into tears far too easily. I’ve also managed to drag myself into a state of inactivity and am behind on a lot of things that are important to me. This morning I’ve promised myself that I’m going to stay positive this week no matter what kind of challenges I’m facing. I’m going to stay active and take some time for myself to de-stress and recharge before it’s too late and I turn into that raving lunatic mom (yeah you’ve seen her in your own mirror too now haven’t you????). So that said I’m going to post this menu for the week and get off the computer to accomplish some other tasks.

Here’s what we’re eating this week:

Monday – Pasta, Broccoli and Meatballs

Tuesday – Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday – Breakfast for Supper

Thursday – Hamburger Helper, Corn

Friday – Pork Chops, Rice, Green Beans

Saturday – Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli

Sunday – Pork Fried Rice

For more great menu ideas check out Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Monthly Grocery Challenge - November - How Low Can You Go????

Aldi Shopping Trip - $62.48

Yesterday I shopped at Aldi and managed to keep my total to $62.48. With the exception of milk, lunchmeat and a few incidentals I should be able to keep my spending under my $250 dollar target for the month. In addition to grabbing milk, eggs, English muffins, coffee, flour tortillas, frozen juice concentrate, and a few other weekly necessities I stocked up on butter, 5lbs of ground beef, yeast and cheese.

The next week and a half are going to take some careful planning to keep from shopping.   I plan to Christmas shop tomorrow and we are headed to Florida for vacation the following week.   I generally do a Stop and Shop Peapod order to be delivered when I return from vacation but am going to forgo that treat to myself this time.