Can you pay my heating bills Obama?

Remember when you said the following?
"“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said. “That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added."

You were here in Oregon. How come now that you are in the White House you cranked the heat up so much that your advisor said you could grow an orchid in there?

[WASHINGTON — The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”] here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/us/politics/29whitehouse.html?_r=3

We keep our heat at a chilly 63 degrees during the day and 59 at night. Yes we are cold but we can't afford to heat otherwise. Have you heard of sweaters? We wear several. And slippers too.

Lead by example? Not so much. I need to get up and do something active because my nose is cold from sitting around.

Indulge me...

I try very hard not to be a complainer. Really I do. But can I just whine a minute here? It's hard being the brave little toaster all the time.

I've been sewing for 4-5 hours a day during the little ones nap time. Then again when they go to bed. In addition I'm trying to spend at least an hour on answering email and working on Journal Modiste. Oh and the insane CPSIA law that was passed that threatens to shut down all my businesses in one fell swoop, that is taking some time to work through as well.

All of this while doing my normal "chores." You know the really fun ones like: 3-4 loads of laundry a day, budgeting/paying bills, cleaning and directing the kids to clean (ie. Do you call this clean? What about that pile of junk in the corner?), making grocery lists, planning & preparing meals, homeschooling, cuddling various kids, thinking of new ways to make money, trying not to worry about Brian not finding a job, breaking up fights, exercising..... You get it.

Don't get me wrong, I am thankful I have the ability to bring in money while Brian is looking for work. Unemployment just pays our mortgage and heat. Everything else comes from what I can earn. God has been blessing me with orders and is keeping all bills paid and food on our table.

But I'm just a little weary. I'm not a coffee person but I've been relying on it to keep me hopping all day. I'm having trouble turning my mind off a night to sleep and all of my sleeping pills are gone. Whine, whine, whine. Okay done.

This verse is running through my head and it is a comfort to me.

James 1:1-8.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

So I'm going to keep on keeping on and throw the focus off myself and on to serving my family and God. Wow! Who knew blogging could be such good therapy?

What I've been working on...

I did this all week:



Whew, that's a lot of diapers.

The sun will come out tomorrow...

Hey we had sun! So we bundled up and went to the park. I'm thinking Brian had the most fun. He let loose and burned up some energy teeter-tottering and racing Grae on the motorcycles. Here they are in no particular order.

Bizarre

Okay - did anyone else find the "prayer" (and I use the term loosely) by Joseph Lowery during the Inauguration bizarre. He was going forth spewing social justice stuff and then he did the mellow yellow, brown stick around thing. My immediate thought was the "green" toilet rule: "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If's brown, flush it down." Obviously he wasn't refering to that but perhaps the old civil rights song: Big Bill Broonzy Black, Brown And White lyrics. Link here: http://www.lyricstime.com/big-bill-broonzy-black-brown-and-white-lyrics.html

Just weird. Here is exactly what he said:
“We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."

Do we "white" people not embrace what is right? I'm thinking that Obama wants us to all work together regardless of race and this is what is said? Is this the tone he wants to set for the Presidency?

It will be a long 4 years.

An open letter to President Bush

Dear President Bush,
Today is your last day in office and I wanted to take the time to thank you for your service to this country. I wouldn't wish the Presidency on my worst enemy nor do I want my son to pursue that office. I couldn't stand by while my own son was ridiculed, mocked and hated by the people of his own country. If people disagreed with him and were respectful about it, that's one thing, but to call him stupid and want him dead is too much. So thank you for bearing that burden.

Did you find it ironic that people made fun of your intellect? I thought we valued a leader who spoke like us not down to us. I guess none of them have mispronounced a word or gotten a phrase wrong. I want some of what they're drinking. (I'm sure my letter is far from perfect grammatically. Did you know I used the word "dramastically" in a sentence the other day? It isn't even a word but maybe needs to be.) Oh wait, they do get things wrong (Obama visited more states than we have in the Union, sees dead people. Biden tells a wheel chair man to stand up). However we all know that they were "tired" or at least that is what their spokespeople told us. I think the real reason is because they are human and make mistakes. Maybe they forgot that you are human as well. Anyway...

Thank you for loving God and not being ashamed to show it. Thank you for doing all you could to protect those sweet unborn children and the moms who were in a desperate situation to not make a decision they would regret later. I pray, as I'm sure you will, that Obama would remember those unborn children and their mothers with love.

Thank you for showing the world that a powerful man can love his wife and stay faithful to her. Your love for Mrs. Bush is very evident and inspiring. We all can tell she adores you too.

I'm sure you have your regrets. I'm sure you feel you failed in some ways. Again, you are human and I'm confident you did your best with the information given. I make mistakes and bad decisions all the time and am glad that they don't affect the world. I wouldn't want that responsibility.

Anyway, I need to wrap up this letter and tell my kids to clean up their mess and then get dinner made. I hope tomorrow goes well for you and in the coming days, you'll get some time to relax with your family. You earned it.

God bless,
Amy Shearer

So cool

I never had these when I went to the dentist as a child.


She was watching the Disney Channel.

new loves

From pirates to Spiderman

How I get stuff for free....

Since Brian has been chronically unemployed, I've gone back to my first love: couponing for free things.

Here is a picture of a recent haul. Most of this was either completely free, less than $1.00 or they paid me to take it. The girls get the list I generate from The Grocery Game and then sit down to cut coupons. This takes 45 minutes a week.







This mostly works for household items but I get great deals on food too. Since we make most of our meals from scratch, I ignore the convenience food. The kids love cereal and so I stock up when I can get it for less than $2.00 for 15 oz. Right now I'm spending $1.00 - $1.50 at Albertsons for some cereal which makes the girls happy.

I used to match up ads with the coupons on my own and it took a few hours. The Grocery Game does that for me know so it saves time. I would recommend it! She gives out a trial for $1.00 so it's worth it to try it. Be sure to start saving a few weeks of Sunday paper ads before you start, otherwise you will not be able to do many deals.

Oh and if you go to sign up, you can use my email address : amy shearer @ alittle busy .com and I can get some weeks free!

Overheard at my house....

Grae: "Daddy, you're old. We should sell you and get a new one."

Bri: "Thanks Grae."

Me: laughing. "I should blog that."

Grae: "Yes, blog it, blog it. But don't take a picture of my right now."

What am I creating?