Hi everyone. We have a nice long vacation. We started off in Springfield, Co for a few days visiting my dad’s side of the family. It was nice but really dry. I haven’t seen it this dry in years. I remember now why they call it dry land farming out there and am yet again given full appreciation why the pioneer women went insane.

We then went to Mike’s folks in Estes Park. We were able to stay in their rental house next door so that was nice. We did some fun stuff and some work. Mike’s dad had back surgery so Mike asked if they needed help with anything. He ended up building a 60 ft. retaining wall for their front yard. The best part is he was just doing it to help them out but they ended up giving him $500 for doing it! Our trip was paid for!

What’s funny is I was praying before we left that God would send the money for me to go back to the hormone doc (a new one) and have my thyroid and hormones checked again.
Even though I do have medicare it doesn’t cover everything so we will have $200-$400 out of pocket to pay. I was excited to see that prayer answered!

After Estes we down to Lafayette to see my mom’s folks. We then went camping with them, mom’s brother and his wife and all the cousins. We went up the Poudre Valley by Ft. Collins and spent 4 days and 3 nights. It was fun and now a week later I almost have all the black out of our clothes! LOL

Here’s some pictures of the trip. Enjoy! Tawra

U. Jack (mom’s brother) attacking mom, once again, with the water gun.

U. Jack and BJ going on an ATV ride. The highlight of BJ’s trip!

All of us gathered around the fire. Actually it was the middle of the day and we were all following the shade so we wouldn’t get fried by the sun.

the kids playing on the bumper boats in Estes.

BJ, Elly and David at Rocky Mountain National Park. (My favorite place on earth!

Mike and BJ took and Dad and son hike to Mills lake.

Me.

We just spent the past 4 days packing and loading up my son and his family to move. They are now camping out in a trailer in Tawra’s backyard for a couple of weeks until they close on their new house.

Moving can be one of the most stressful things a person can do. I usually don’t push our products that much but after this weekend I thought I might mention that if you are thinking of moving and haven’t moved in a long time you might think about getting our Moving on a Dime e book that comes in the collection of e books for some ideas to help make moving less hair raising. It really can help you know what to do and what not to do.
There are a lot of people moving this time of year so here are a few tips out of the book to help you or someone you are helping to move.

1. When you decide to move immediately start decluttering and pack all but the necessities away. You need to do it anyway so do it now. If you are selling your house this will help it sell and will make it easier for you to clean when you have to show it. Don’t wait until the day everyone comes to load the truck to start packing those things way back in the kitchen cabinets that you only use once a year. That all should be packed at this point.

2. The minute you have a closing date or a firm date to move, reserve your moving van. Don’t wait until the day before you need it or the week before you need it. Chances are they won’t have a truck left this time of year.

3. Start using up the food you have and buy as little as you can between now and moving day. The week before you move plan exactly what you are going to use for meals until you leave and get the rest like can goods and nonperishables packed up.

4. 1-2 weeks before you move a call on utilities and make arrangements for your mail.

5. 1-2 weeks ahead of time make up your “kits”. Have a “kit” or a box for things that you will need the last days you are in your home and the to keep with you the first day you move into your new house. Things like toilet paper, soap, a few towels, cleaning supplies, handful of tools, light bulbs, paper plates, cups and paper towels, first aid kit. Your vacuum if you will have to clean first thing. Sheets so you can make up the beds first thing instead of at the end of a long tiring day. Think through what you think your family will need. I’m afraid I don’t have room to list it all here.

6. If you are going to have helpers then plan on what snacks, meals or drinks you will need for them.

These ideas are just the tip of the ice berg but hope they help make what can be a stressful time a little easier. This moving “mom” is now going to collapse on the couch for a few days until we have to move them once again from the storage shed to their new home. Jill :)

PS If you can afford them Pods or that type of thing are wonderful.

PSPS Tawra moved exactly one year ago this week. No wonder I’m an expert at moving!!!!

There are several weeks of summer left and a lot of you are just now thinking about going on vacation or dreaming about it. As the whole world now knows we just got back but as much fun as we had and as nice of trip as it was I was totally wiped out. Those of you with CFS and MF or other illness know how draining a road trip can be.

Well, I had a couple of ideas of for those of you who physically can’t or financial are trying to be careful could do that won’t wear you out or eat a big hole in your budget.

First I looked up the word vacation in the dictionary. It means: a time of respite from something or a scheduled period during which activity is suspended. After reading this I realized that you don’t really need to even leave home to have a vacation but a vacation is mainly having a break from your normal activities.

That got me to thinking what that would mean for me. I would get up when I want (or when the kids woke up) but not rush into normal daily activities. It would me a leisurely breakfast and everyone getting dressed when they wanted. I wouldn’t put on make up and dad wouldn’t need to shave. Maybe dad could take the kids swimming for awhile and mom could curl up with a good book, do a fun craft or sewing project or nothing at all. Then mom could do something with the kids the next day to give dad a break. Then one day the whole family could do something together like go on a hike or picnic.

It you have some money for vacation but not a lot you could treat yourselves to a movie, bowling, roller skating or something like that. We have even driven to a town just a few miles away from us before and spent 3 days and 2 nights in a hotel that was great fun. The kids played in the pool all day and we just relaxed and watched them. The expense was only 2 nights in a motel and very little gas.

I guess what I’m saying is that a vacation doesn’t have to be a trip to Disneyland or Sea World or several nights in hotels and an expensive road trip to be fun. It doesn’t even need to be fun but could be just a time of relaxation and to refresh yourself and that can be accomplished by staying at home and having a change of pace, what ever that is for you. Jill

As most of you know by now we are home. We had such a nice time. All of my family lives in Colorado so we spent the week with them. Half of it was spent camping in the mountains with the whole family. We had more fun. My nieces, sister in law, mom and nephew in laws treated us like royalty. They did all the cooking and setting up the camp and won’t let us lift a finger. I can’t thank them enough for all the work they did to make it such a great time. I know you are reading this so I am sending you my thanks and love.

Some things I learned on the trip:

A small stream, lots of rocks and branches can entertain kids for hours especially if they are allowed to fall in, get wet and get as dirty as as they want.

God does provide and keeps His promise concerning tithing. When I was helping my oldest grandson pack for the trip we found out he had out grown most of his clothes. We had almost nothing to take on the trip and since it was the day before we left we really didn’t have time to go buy anything. We had to make do. When we arrived my nephew and niece’s husband asked if we could use any clothes, they had just gone through their closets and had mounds of clothes most in my grandson’s size. He has enough to last him summer and winter for a whole year or more.
The Bible says God provides for our needs even before we ask and that is the truth.

Another thing I learned was that if you drive 60 -65 mph instead of 70 -75 mph that you can save about 6-8 gallons of gas driving between Wichita and Denver. :)

All in all we had a wonderful time. I wish I wasn’t so tired from my vacation ( HA! HA!) so I could tell you more but I think Tawra may have some interesting pictures or will be adding her two cents to this later. Thanks again to my special family, Jill

P.S. Friday, Sat, and Sun. they are having a special rebate sale at Ace Hardware. They have a lot of free things like fertilizer spikes, Fuel system cleaner, liquid nails, glass cleaner, stain sticks, rust stop for grills, and many other things that are super buys for 99 cents like Dow bathroom cleaner, Shout, Fantastik, Fix a Flat, insect repellent (normally 3.99), poly rope (normally 6.99) and much more. It might be worth checking out. I usually go on Friday morning because sometimes they can sell out of things.

Here’s a great article that just came out on how we save on our grocery bill. A couple of the facts are wrong like most grocery bills should only be going up $50 a month not year and mom had 1 girl and 1 boy not two daughters. Other than that it’s great!Tawra

http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/21076364.html?page=1&c=y

P.S. We are home and mom or I will blog later.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO COULDN’T GET THE ARTICLE. The links should be fixed now. Sorry! Tawra

I am closing down the blog for a bit and getting ready to meet Tawra and all in Colorado. We will as she said be gone until about June 24th. Will miss chatting with you guys. If you get too lonely or are having blog withdrawals you might check out our archives. We post new comments to those all the time so you might enjoy reading some new tips or just enjoy reading some old favorites.
I hope you are blessed with a great week ahead. Bye for now. Jill :)

Check out the comments under Good Morning America. There are a couple of good tips left by Robin there and I want your ideas too. Jill

We have had a few people asking us about Good Morning America. They said for us to call them when we get home from vacation and they will let us know where, when, what and how, it is all going to happen. Trust me the minute Tawra sets the phone down from talking to them she will immediately call me and probably at the same time will be posting the news on the blog. :). Thanks for asking. We have come so close to something like this before so we are holding our breathe. We just pray that we will be able to cope with it physically when it happens because some of these things are so exhausting for us but it will all work out the way it is suppose to in the end. Jill

Buster (my granddog) had another itching attack last night. Some of you who have been with the blog probably already know about Buster and his itching problems. Well after an hour of him laying on the bed next to me scratching and chewing then chewing and scratching, I remembered Tawra saying the vet said to give him some Benadryl (sp?). Thank goodness I had some but then the question was how much do you give a small dog? I decided that 1/4 a teaspoon couldn’t hurt anybody even a small dog and gave it to him.

Finally it kicked in an I fell asleep (no I didn’t take some too). I woke up 2 hours later, got up, went to the bathroom and came back.Halfway backI noticed Buster hadn’t followed me into there as usual. There he was spread out on the floor not moving a muscle. I came unglued. I don’t do well in emergencies. I just knew I had killed him by o.d.ing him on Benadryl. I started frantically shaking him and calling “Buster, Buster wake up”. He wouldn’t wake up. I was so scared and then I looked down and here was one eye open looking at me as if to say “Lady what is your problem, it’s the middle of the night and you should be sleeping”. He then rolled over, stretched and went back to sleep. I on the other hand was now wide awake. Hours later I finally dozed only to be awaken with a good morning lick. I opened one eye looked at him and said “Buster I”m so glad you are alive”. :)

What a nice way to wake up each morning, turning to someone you love; a spouse, child or even yourself and telling them “I’m so glad you are alive”. We all make the mistake of taking the small but important things for granted sometimes don’t we?

Tip:
Here is something special you can make for that very special dog in your life. Take 3 old socks, tie or sew the ends together and then braid them for a dog chew toy. It’s especially good to have a lot of these on hand for those new puppies who are always chewing on everything.

Recipe:

For you dog and non dog lovers alike here is some ideas to spruce up those hot “dogs” and hamburgers that you will be grilling for the 4th.

Have a hot dog and hamburger buffet. Instead of just having the usual ketchup, mustard and onions teach your “dogs” some new tricks with these different toppings:

Mexican dogs: guacamole and tomatoes or jalapeño peppers, salsa, and cheese

Italian dogs: fresh basil, garlic, tomato and mozzarella cheese

Greek dogs: sun dried tomatoes (check our recipe in Dining on a Dime on how to make your own), crumbled feta cheese and chopped black olives.

American dogs: Bar B Q sauce, fried onion rings or corn relish with crumbled bacon.

You can use all these same ideas on hamburgers. Just place bowls of everything out for people to help themselves and to make their own special “dog”. Don’t forget the usual too like lettuce, tomato, pickle, cheese and onion.

They are really dog gone good! (Now you see what lack of sleep does to my brain :) Jill

Robin asked if the pudding on the Mile High Cake should be instant or cook and serve. My mistake for not putting that in, it should be instant. Sorry about that. Jill