Updates from Life

Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.

As you know I haven't been posting much to any of my blogs or the podcast. I have refocused most of my time and energy back where it belongs, to my family. Should time free up again, I hope to spend more time blogging, until then it is time well spent with my children, my husband, and taking care of my home.

We have many projects that are taking up a lot of our time but they have been great family projects. First up is our vegetable garden, while it is small we hope to get enough produce out of it to save some on our grocery bill this season. The kids all picked vegetables they are in charge of and have been diligent in caring for it. Also to their delight we planted some marigolds and sunflowers.

Several weeks ago we constructed a guinea pig home and cat proofed it. We adopted three male guinea pigs that are about a year and a few months old and that have lived together in a 1'x2' cage most of their lives. They were surrendered to a rescue shelter and were not used to being handled (the noted reason for surrendering was because the children wouldn't clean the cage). They are doing smashingly and already are used to their meal schedule and come to our voices. The little one we named Scooby Doo now curls up on my chest and will nap. They have some a long way from the shy and squirmy little guys they were and the children, my husband, and I just love them to pieces.

I have to take a sideline here and rant for a minute. Children should not be the sole responsible party for a pet. Children cannot BE responsible for pets and giving a child a pet does not teach them responsibility. I have seen numerous parents agree to let children have a small pet on the condition that they will take care of it and if they fail the pet will be "gotten rid of". One, this teaches children that parents allow a child to ignore a pet and live in terrible and inhumane conditions (since the parent won't step in) and two, that if they don't want the pet all they have to do is to stop taking care of it and the parents will get rid of it. This is a very tragic and common occurrence and parents who think they are teaching their children lessons of responsibility usually don't realize they are teaching irresponsibility instead. Adults should be in charge of the pet with children assisting parents. Remember, the best way to teach your children is by example. (end rant)

I have been sewing and crocheting quite a bit and trying to get rid of a lot of surplus fabric I have by turning it into rompers and dresses for the littlest girl. My oldest daughter learned to sew recently and has been working on some of her own projects as well. We have even made some cozies for the guinea pigs.

Coupons and shopping trip deals have been taking up several hours every weekend but the money we are saving is worth every penny. It costs enough to feed and care for a family of six as it is and the way grocery and incidental costs are going up it is costing more than ever. Every week we spend time as a family clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, I then organize them and check out the weekly ads. I have found several websites to be invaluable resources in planning my weekly shopping:

Money Saving Mom - (Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart deals as well as a few other good deals)

BeCentsAble - Grocery Gatherings include weekly ads and the coupons that go with them allowing you to either get items free or for pennies on the dollar. They note the best deals for items on sale or with coupons at a long list of stores so you don't have to spend quite so much time keeping track of them on your own when planning your shopping trips.

Those are the two big ones I check. There are many other blogs I am keeping up with and I will share those with you later. I will have a post from my great deals this week to share with you the kinds of things these sites have helped me to accomplish (for example, I got $20 worth of stuff absolutely free yesterday at Wal-Mart). It takes some work, but a penny saved is double that which is earned!

My primary job is to be a great mom and wife and to care for my family and home. While technology is a great passion of mine, it cannot consume my time. I do love teaching people about technology and being an open source evangelist but there are only so many hours in the day and once I have spent 40 hours a week or more away from home my family suffers when I spend another 40 ignoring them at home. I am more than happy to answer questions, share what I know, and link to things I think are truly exceptional, but I don't have time to be a news outlet. ;)  I am keeping up with as much as I can but can't afford to miss out on my family. Thanks for understanding that.