Random Thoughts

This is totally random, but last night I made chicken noodle soup, partly because my sweet girl wasn't feeling well, and partly because it was a rainy, gloomy day. I accidentally over salted it. Not a ton, but enough to give it more of a kick than it should have. Here's the thing: all day long, I crave salty stuff. SALT! And I am thrilled to pieces with my too-salty soup! I ate so much at dinner last night that I made myself sick, and the next hour or so will tell if I've done the same with the leftovers today! And score! I'm totally getting tons of veggies, lean chicken and homemade broth (simmered overnight for maximum benefit) and SALT! Also, the gloomy weather and disapproving look of my midwife is making me crave coffee in the middle of the day. 'Cause I'm a rebel.

Today I'm attempting to create our new budget.  There has already been one panicky call to the husband to ask, "why are you making LESS money than before we left two years ago?!" And the answer, of course, is TAXES. Gag.  The thing about budgeting when we move a lot is that each time, the things that are covered, reimbursed, or considered a normal living expense, change. Then you factor in state taxes, changes in commute length (fuel), and the things you don't necessarily see, like a thriving garden that means we don't have to buy produce for six months of the year (unfortunately, we did not make it part of our deal with the landscaper that he would plant and maintain a garden indefinitely... must make a note of that....).  So here I am, putting my ever-changing puzzle together again and praying that none of the kids need shoes for the foreseeable future :)

Note to Grandma: As of this writing, everyone has enough clothes.  Just sayin'.

(although Brenna could use some dress shoes)

Speaking of clothes, because of the wonky timing when we moved home, we arrived on a Tuesday, and that Sunday, Brian left for a week in Omaha. While he was gone, I was hanging up his shirts and felt inspired to count them, as it seemed there was an unreasonable number. 55. FIFTY-FIVE! Add to that, we had not yet done laundry from the trip home (came home to a leaking washing machine. woohoo!) and of course, he had a weeks' worth of shirts with him on his trip. All told, I'd guess he has 70 or 75 shirts. And at least half have his company logo on them, because they really like to give out shirts. I suppose if everyone stopped drooling, pulling, grabbing, and otherwise mangling my shirts, I might have somewhere close to that number... or not. I think I have about ten. All but one of them are stained. Poor me. Anyway, the point of this (there really is one, I promise!) is that I tried to find tutorials for repurposing men's shirts and could only find a couple, nothing that really struck me. So if you know of something cool (like I remember, years ago, coming across a little girl dress tutorial, but couldn't find it) I'd love a heads up!

So my son is officially getting to the age where he notices me doing things that are weird.  Luckily, I don't think he's embarrassed per say, but oh, it's coming! One of those recent ones is how often I ask my kids "Y'all ready for this?! Dunh, duh dunh duh dunh dunh duh!" And Nathan looks at me like I'm possibly insane. I keep having flashbacks to my mom dancing, I'm pretty sure with the sole intention of embarrassing me, in clothing stores that played rap. I'm pretty sure I know what my face looked like now... and why she kept doing it!

And so I'll leave you with this fine piece of entertainment: