Mum has moved - month 1

Ok so you all knew that mum was moving to Kampala to be a full-time missionary because I mentioned as much in my last post, but what you may be wondering is, how am I doing with that? (or if you're not wondering, humor me and pretend you are so I can continue with this blog post...)
It's been a month to the day that I last posted and a lot has happened, but I'll skip the boring parts and just mention a few highlights.
March 3 - Mum left and Chris came home from work early to hang out with me and the kids so I wouldn't grieve alone when she left mid-afternoon that day
March 7 - first day of grocery shopping all by myself with the kiddos - yes, sippy cups and free samples made this a not-so-horrible experience
March 13 - a date you probably all hated as it was daylight savings day and if you have little ones, you hate it all the more because it totally throws their little bodies for a loop while they adjust to a new time schedule - lame!
March 14 - Spring Break begins and we kick it off with a nice visit from my Dad and Lupe and an order of Papa Johns pizza (gotta love that $5.99 large one-topping pizza on mondays - carryout only though)
March 15 - prep work for painting
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day - we all wore something green but all we did for fun was paint
March 18 - still painting (2nd coat)
March 19 - finished painting and beginning to work on the chair rail (the molding that goes around the middle of the wall)
March 21 - not such a big day for me, but a big day for my little brother (I say little but really he's a 6ft and 27 yrs old) as he bought his first new car - Fiat 500 - congrats Daniel!
March 24 - a/c went out and we had a guy come out to fix it... a new coil and hundreds of dollars later, we have cool air flowing again upstairs.
March 25 - a special day as it is the last chemo treatment for my mother-in-law! What a woman to have made it through this very trying time. She will have surgery to follow-up this summer, but it's almost over for her and we, as her family, are so grateful.

Now in all this I've realized that GROCERIES COST A LOT, that TIME IS PRECIOUS and I'm really not that great at managing it sometimes, and that strangely I LIKE A CHALLENGE. So with all that in mind I've decided to pursue some solutions to these things. I'm going to start using coupons when I can, shop smart using sales and deals, I'm going to try a "homemaking binder" (which if you're not familiar with this term refers to a binder that includes monthly to-do lists and schedules and grocery/meal planning and things of that nature), and I'm going to figure out the best darn way to do this and then pass along any tips I find along the way to you! (aren't you feeling lucky! ha ha!)
So I have no idea how often I will post of my homemaking adventures but never-the-less I hope you'll enjoy reading about my victorious moments and my disasters as I know I will have both.

On that note, I'll leave you with my first tip... a link to a blog I've been reading from another mom who has some great ideas about streamlining the homemaking adventure.




Mum, I'm missing you like crazy!