Content by Levi Mcpherson

It’s summertime and the kids are home for vacation. But someone has to pay the mortgage and sadly, that would be YOU.

Not everyone has the luxury of sending their kids off to day camps. Not everyone can afford a nanny. Some of us are working just to pay the bills.

Some of us are putting the safety of our youngest children in the hands of our oldest children. Some of us are brave!

I’ve really tried to raise my children to work as a team. As a large family, the oldest help out with the youngest. It’s part of the joys (and angsts) of being a big group.

And so while my husband and I are away during the day, making money to pay the mortgage and put food on the table, our oldest is home tending to the flock.

He’s passed all of the babysitting courses with first aid training and CPR. He’s got the skills to apply a band-aid or cold compress. But one of the things that we have had to drill in to him is that when they are going in and out, in and out, in and out the back door to play in the backyard, they MUST lock the door. It seems so simple but this has been our biggest safety challenge.

Installing a home security alarm has been effective in breaking this habit. We also put an adt signin front of our house so that people know we have an alarm. We feel better when we’re away knowing that the alarm WILL go off regardless of whether the door is locked or not.



“Constipated People Don’t Give A Crap.”

With school starting again next month, I have to start buying Mini Bugz her new school clothes.  She has to wear “uniform” clothes to school.   White polo shirts with tan or navy blue pants or shorts or capri’s.   She is in PreK again this year, as she doesn’t turn 5 until after September.

When I first found out that she would have to wear uniform clothing to school, I didn’t like it.  But it has grown on me.  Actually she looks kind of cute.  The kids all look so adorable and neatly dressed.   Last year I found her some great polo shirts that had a little puff on the shoulder sleeves, they looked more girly then the men’s polo shirts that her daddy has. So I hope I can find them again this year for her. She still has 5 shirts from last year, but they look worn. Preschool kids get DIRTY. Every single day she would come home from school with the front of her crisp white shirt filthy. Chocolate milk or some kind of juice spilled down the front, grass stains from playing outside etc etc. So they got a lot of washings and a lot of bleachings. She needs new ones.

I seen in the Sunday paper ads that Kohl’s and some other department stores now have the “uniforms” on sale. So this weekend I will be out school shopping for the mini bugz.

Before I say anything else, I want to take this time to thank all of you who read this ole blog and take the time to comment.   Lately I don’t have the time to answer the comments but I do want you all to know that I do read them, and answer them out loud while I sit here lol.  Sometimes I laugh, or nod my head in agreement, but whatever, I just wanted you all to know that.   Once Mini Bugz goes back to school, maybe I wont be so stressed out and slightly insane anymore.   But….Mighty Bugz is now 2 you all know and he is stepping right up to bat and going through the terrible two’s.  He has learned the art of temper tantrums and screaming like he is being murdered when he gets mad.  Heaven help me, I have to go through this all over again.  Sigh.

My oldest son has a playstation 3 and when Mini Bugz goes over there, she loves to play this guitar game he has for his kids. I forget the name of it, but it has a guitar and a drum set. She plays her little heart out the whole time she is there. He suggested that we buy her a playstation of her own for her birthday in October. Geez, she is only 4 yrs old. If we start buying presents that cost that much when she is only 4 whats next? I dunno, we will have to think about it. I kinda like the idea of something that would keep her busy and hold her attention longer than 3 minutes, but is it ok to start buying such expensive gifts at such a young age? What do you guys think? I don’t want to raise a little diva who thinks she is entitled to everything.

Thanks for the article from Rubin Osborne:

Most families that have a family television night will watch something heart-warming or maybe even intense. Our family is a little different. Since there are two teenagers in my family – I’m 17 and my little sister is 13 – we take a rather different approach. Another reason we watch the shows we do is because my mother is constantly traveling for business and my father is always home. I know that sounds backwards, but like I told you, our family is a little different. Anyway, since these are the circumstances, as long as we finish our homework, we’re allowed to watch some interesting shows on cable tv. One show that we always watch together is Disaster Date.

Have you ever seen Disaster Date? If not, you have to see it. It’s really funny. How it works is that someone sets up their friend on a disaster date. The person they’re meeting is an actor that has been informed on what this friend hates the most about the opposite sex. For example, if a girl thinks she’s going to meet a guy and she hates guys that slurp, he will purposely slurp. But it gets much more daring than that. You might see accusations of passed gas, people losing their temper, and other odd and unexpected acts in the middle of a restaurant. All I can say is, watch it!

Guest post written by Liz Brooks:

Every Wednesday night my family and I gather around our living room coffee table for game night. We have a cupboard full of board games and try to rotate whichever game we play out each week as to add some variety in. I’d say it’s a replacement for watching TV together, except there’s no good TV on Wednesday night and we watch TV together on Thursday nights.

A tried and true favorite of ours is Trivial Pursuit. We have a couple of versions of it, but by now I think all of us have the questions and answers memorized. Another favorite is Scene It, which we also have multiple versions of, but the Disney movies one is the best.

Last time we played I had to turn the TV up so loud just to hear the sound in a clip from “Peter Pan.” My daughter told me to turn it down but I couldn’t hear it otherwise. The next day she sent me a link via e-mail of miracle ear locations and I’m considering getting a hearing aid. Doing so could be for the best, so I don’t get berated every time we play Scene It from now on.

Not much to talk about lately.  Same ole stuff day in and day out.  It’s been really super hot down here.  Even the water in the pool is bathtub warm and we don’t even have a pool heater.

My youngest sister and her kids went back to PA today.  I am going to miss her a lot.  It’s nice when she is down here, even though she does get on my nerves sometimes, I do love her.   Her kids are teenagers now and they are really starting to grow on me.  I like them around.

So, today because it was so hot outside I stayed in the house for the most part and just fiddled around the house doing this and that, and during my breaks I played around on my computer.

I wasn’t really looking for spice racks but that is what caught my eye today. I think I found the mother load of kitchen spice racks.

So I spent an hour looking at all the cool spice racks, and even a wall spice rack, at
spiceracksource.com. They have a huge variety to choose from. Of course I was looking for stainless steel and black, to go with my kitchen theme. They have TONS. I am loving it. I haven’t been able to decide which one I want in my kitchen yet, but I have it narrowed down to 3 and I know when it is in my kitchen it will be perfect spice rack for my kitchen!

I made an appointment for an eye exam tomorrow afternoon.   I am tired of not being able to see right.   I have known for a long time that I need bifocals to read, and about 5 or 6 years ago, I did get a pair.  I took them back a week later and just got my regular prescription lenses.  It was awful.   I would love to wear contacts again, but the last time I tried it was a disaster, as I couldn’t read in them.  I remember just getting my new contacts and going out with my husband to eat.  I opened the menu and couldn’t read a darn thing on it.  Since I was wearing contacts I couldn’t very well just take them out at the table to read the menu and then put them back in.

I was told today that I could just get a pair of reading glasses to wear when I am wearing my contacts and just put them on to read something then take them back off.  I sure hope this is true, as I would love to not wear glasses again.  I will find out tomorrow.   But whatever the case, I do know I need to get my eyes examined and get stronger lenses.   I find myself squinting even with my glasses on.  Sucks to get older that is for sure.  I am worried that once I get the new lenses I will see in the mirror that I actually do need wrinkle cream.

It’s supposed to be super hot this weekend, so I am thinking we will be spending most of the time outside by the pool. Other then the eye appointment, I don’t see us doing too much more. Just too hot.

Today I am house cleaning. It is very hot and humid outside and at the present moment, it is raining. Mini Bugz is in her bed being punished and the baby is in his high chair while I mop the floors. I am right now taking a break. I got the kitchen and dinning room mopped and I am soaking wet from sweat. I swear even with the a/c kicking full force I still feel like I am living in a metal building. It wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t working my butt off. So I will take this 5 minute break to cool off a bit, then get back to the house cleaning.

Oh and Mini Bug is being punished because of her behavior. I asked her to please pick up all her toys, I asked her about 20 times to please pick up her toys from the living room and put them back in her own room. She ignored me. When I raised my voice the last time (thinking maybe she didn’t hear me the other 19 times) she started singing over my voice. She is getting a bit too big for her bitches. So off to bed she had to go. School starts next month and I am counting the days….