Dreams do come true.

As I sit here I am listening to one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, a running dishwasher. Now before you think I've totally gone off my rocker let me give you the history as to why this sound is so sweet.

Hubby and I had always lived in apartments that came fully furnished with dishwashers and it was a wonderful thing indeed. This is because I despise washing dishes beyond any other chore in the world. So when we bought our house one of the requirements was that it had to have a functioning dishwasher in place. This was the case with the house we bought however, a year after moving in the dishwasher broke and it was one hot minute before we were at Home Depot to replace this fine machine. We picked out the model and had it delivered that week with the plan that the young men would also install the beast.

This is not of course what happened. What happened was that the dishwasher was delivered where after inspection they claimed they could not install it because the shut-off valve for the water was more than 50 feet from the unit. This was the worst news because my less than inclined husband then stated he would put it in no big deal. The dishwasher sat in it's new box in my front room for six months. I'm not even making this up. At the six month mark my darling husband did manage to put the dishwasher in the hole where it goes in the kitchen where it sat with the plastic still on it for the next three years.

I threatened him, begged him, told him I was going to hire it out, and refused to wash a dish until the thing was hooked up. He never budged on the matter. He simply stated that he would do it soon and that we would appreciate it more if we had to wait to have one again. It took everything that I have not to nag him every day over the last couple of years.

Well out of the blue when I came home last night he put on his coat and headed to Home Depot to pick up the parts to fix the dishwasher. The wonderful part is that I hadn't even mentioned the dishwasher in several months except to tell him that it would need to be in place before I was home full time.

So now as I sit here and listen to the gentle churn of the water in the dishwasher I'm thankful that although my husband lives in a world without clocks he does eventually do what he says he's gonna do and he does it well.

Do any of you have spouses that live with a different concept of time? Do they just in general drive you nuts sometimes? Sometimes I think mine drives me crazy with the exact intensity that I love him.

Soup is a budget's best friend.

Times are tough all over and no where is that more evident then when you make your way to the grocery store. So I thought I would share with you one of my favorite ways to make my grocery dollar stretch just a little bit further. It comes down to one word SOUP! Soup has got to be one of the most economical ways to feed a large family or to make sure you have leftovers for several days. Soup is filling, comforting, and can make a cheap piece of meat taste wonderful. So over the next month I thought I would share with you some of my favorite budget friendly soup recipes that I have tried and loved.

I'm going to start with one of my favorites Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. Other than the meat that is in the cream of chicken soup this recipe doesn't require any other meat. However, it does taste very meaty. I used a mixed vegetable mix instead of straight broccoli and carrots and they were frozen. I also used a low fat cream cheese to help cut some of the calories but trust me when I say this is very yummy and filling.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cream of chicken soup, diluted as stated on can
• 8 ounces cream cheese, cubed
• 1 package uncle ben chicken and wild rice mix
• 1 medium carrot, chopped or shredded
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
• slivered almond (optional)

Directions

1. Bring rice to boil, then reduce heat& simmer 10 minutes.
2. Add broccoli& carrots.
3. Simmer 5 minutes.
4. Add soup& cream cheese.
5. Stir until melted.
6. Just before serving, top each serving with slivered almonds, if desired.

Let me know what you think of this super easy soup. I think when it was all said and done it cost me a total of $6.00 and offered four large servings.

D day has been established

Well after several very long weeks of work I finally have a few minutes to myself to write. Halloween through Christmas is hell for anyone who works in retail. The hours get longer, the customers get ruder, and the list of to-dos in order to keep everyone in line both at work and at home becomes longer than I care to think about. I have worked in retail longer than I care to admit and frankly I'm done.

My job is actually making me a person that I don't like very much. With the economy being in the state that it is in theft is more rampant than I have ever seen and because of this I have changed my behavior to save my company's assets. I'm judging people based on attitude and looks simply because history tells me they are likely to steal. This is driving me nuts. I have to follow the teenagers around the store like a mother hen simply because the chances that they will take something are higher than I like. The other thing that bothers me is that I take all this theft personally. I know that people are just stealing because they think that there isn't any victims that some large corporation will just eat the loss but it doesn't matter is still burns my butt every time I find an empty package shoved behind something else.

Well at least for me there is an end in site. If fate is on my side and all goes well I will get to leave at the end of January. This is very exciting for me and for my family. We are all looking forward to a more peaceful existence where mommy doesn't come home at midnight upset and not wanting anything but sleep.

So keep your fingers crossed for me that all will go well and I will join the ranks of sahm for a more joyous new year.

Do any of you have work issues that just drive you bonkers?

Work Sucks

Well readers I didn't plan on being away from writing so long. I know a week really isn't all that long but it feels like longer. However this is one of the busiest seasons for my company and this week my schedule has been crazy. Next week isn't looking any better. So I do appologize for my absence and hopefully will have time on Sunday morning to write. I hope everyone has a wonderfully happy Halloween.

Just Thinking

Sunday used to be the day for thoughtful reflection both at looking back at the previous week as well as looking ahead to the next weeks tasks. Since having children and working so much though my Sundays have often been filled with all the household chores that I haven't the time or energy for during the week. My thoughts are most often...what's for dinner? should I go to the store now or after the kids go to bed?, and will I ever get this laundry done? I rarely have the opportunity to just sit and think anymore.

However, last night before I went to bed I read an article in Real Simple that stuck with me. Being the early riser that my daughter has the habit of making me be I was able to think a bit over the first cup of coffee for the morning.

The article was about what people's hopes were for the United States. As I read through the responses I was struck by the vast differences in what people where hoping for in the near and not so near future of our nation. It ranged from the personal "I want my husband home safe from Iraq", to the profound "I want a world without hate". It got me thinking about the world that my children are looking to inherit and what I personally was doing to make it a better place.

I will be the first to admit (and I have many supporters of this fact) that I am not a perfect person in any aspect of my life. I am sometime judgemental, selfish, and stubborn. Thankfully these personality traits are small and don't often show themselves. However they are there and I think can often stand in my way of being a better person. The world as it is right now is not the one that I had dreamed I would be raising my children in and at one point almost prevented me from having my beautiful babies.

I want to be the best person I can be and there are things that I need to do to make that happen. I want to volunteer more, give back more, live a greener life, and teach my children to be better people.

My hope for our great nation is that we regain a sense of community and through that community we rebuild or devastated cities and towns. We once again have reasons to be patriotic (don't blast me I love my country I just don't like it right now). We move in common directions to becoming greener, live well without unnecessary extravagance, give back to those who need it, and offer hands up instead of hand outs. I want to know my neighbors as well as I know my online friends. I want my children to give of themselves willingly because it is just a part of them without regret. I want my children to help change the world by being less selfish, judgemental, and stubborn.

These are my thoughts on this quiet (so far) Sunday morning.

What are your thoughts and hopes for the future of the US and our world? I would love to hear them.

Website Thursday

In these economically challenging times often one of the first budget cut is charitable giving. Some days it's hard enough to pay your bills let alone give money away no matter how worthy the cause. There are however ways to donate that require no financial commitment or even require you to do little more than surf the net as you have always done.

Google one of the largest search engines currently in use and has formed EcoSearch a internet search engine with a cause. EcoSearch donates money for each search that is done from their homepage to non-profits that are dedicated to supporting and improving the environment. The list of the charities that they contribute to as well as their mission is here. They claim that if one million people search twice a day, $15 million dollars will go to green initiatives in a year.

Doing a quick search on EcoSearch verses Google's home search leads to identical results.

So why not switch over and save the environment one search at a time.

Where's My Tattoo?

So on one of the rare moments that hubby and I actually have the opportunity to lay in bed and talk my son decides to join us. Hilarity then ensues. I was laying on my stomach and had a loose fitting shirt on (this description is to give you the situation) and my son, who loves to jump, jumps on my back. Normally this would just end up being a game of "ride the mommy horse" and he would laugh and giggle saying giddy-up but on this particular night he took particular interest in my tattoo that is on my back between my shoulder blades.

He first was startled when he saw it which was odd because he has seen it before but tonight he really noticed it and traced it with his fingers. He is currently learning shapes and the conversation went something like this:

Son: You have a circle mommy!

Me: Yes I do...it's my tattoo.

Son: Tattoooooo?

Me: Yes, Do you want to see Daddy's Tattoo?

Son: Yep

I push up my hubby's shirt sleeve where he has a Celtic sun tattooed.

Son: Daddy has a circle too.

Me: Yes he does.

My son then starts to inspect he's arms and tummy.

Son: Hey where's my tattoo?

Me: Honey, you don't have one it's only for bigger people.

He then gets down off the bed and goes into his play room and returns with his box of crayons. Selecting a blue crayon (his favorite color) he starts to draw on himself all the while saying he wants a blue tattoo. Thank goodness crayons won't really draw on skin. After much laughter on the part of his father and I we finally distracted him enough to draw his "tattoo" on a piece of paper.

I'm not sure where his sudden interest came from but it provided us with a great deal of laughter for the evening.

If you have tattoos have you're children found them interesting? How did you talk to them about them? I'd love to know.