Thursday, January 31, 2008

Yes, I am still here

Just wanted to say that I am still here, just busy and recouperating(sp?). Last week I slipped and tore the ligaments of my left ankle. The first two days I took it easy putting my foot up to bring down the swelling. Now I am just playing catch up on all my household chores. I have mountains upon mountains of clothes I need to iron. I didn't get to them since the doctor wanted me to be off my feet as much as possible. She said it could be six weeks until my foot heals. Yikes! Does she not know that I am a busy woman. I don't think my ankle knew :P

On a side note I just finished reading Mother. I will have to post a short review. I will just say it was such a great book, it will go on my favorite book list.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

What is their defense? A Child's Life?!

As I was driving home yesterday I surfed the stations of the radio (rarely do I do this) and I came upon a talk show. They were discussing a pill that was shown to reduce the chances of breast cancer, endometriosis (sp?), and so many other womanly problems. It sounded great but this pill was an abortion pill developed in France. Many Pro Life proponents of the country got them to pull it out of the public. Pro choice people were upset (radio station personalities). Everything they were saying did not make sense but what really got me and made me turn off the radio was the following. I can't quote them but this is close. 'this pill saves the lives of many women who otherwise would die trying to get an illegal abortion and what do the pro life proponents have as a defense? An unborn child's life?! This is a child at 1o weeks, most abortions occurs at about 10-12wks.

Yes, they said that and he chuckled. He then went on to say that many of us promote adoption instead of abortion but that most children stay in orphanages and foster homes.


I know that putting up children up for adoption is not the answer. The answer lays in educating parents on how to go about sex education at home. None of the artificial contraceptives are 100% effective. The only thing that effective is abstinence. We need to teach our children to love life as a gift from God.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Maxwell Conference Weekend

Like in my Purpose entry I had mentioned that I want to grow in spririt and as a wife and mother. So this weekend I was fortuante enough to attend a conference featuring the Maxwell family of Kansas. I was so blessed and encouraged beyond words by their testimonies and seminars. The seminars were divided by men, ladies, young men and young ladies. I of course attended the ladies' seminar given by Teri Maxwell. If you are not familiar with the Maxwell's I would encourage you to visit their web site at Titus2 .
On Friday night the whole family (minus married son Nathan) delighted us with music and personal testimonies. Then mom and dad spoke of the great blessing homeschooling is.

On Saturday the conference began with a "Managers of their Homes" seminar for moms. Which was great since I struggle with order in my home. The next seminar was given by both Teri and Steve, and to be honest was my favorite. The title, "Keeping our Children's Hearts". I believe that as Christians this is what we struggle with the most. It is not just about raising good kids, but about keeping their hearts turned toward us until marriage. (Malachi 4:6)

I would recommend any one who has a chance to attend this wonderful conference. I purchased many of their books (some as Christmas gifts with money hubby gave me and others at the conference). I will later post a review on the book "Keeping our Children's Hearts: Our Vital Priority", which promises to be a good one.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Purpose

As I was reading other people's blogs I noticed that they all pretty much had a theme. Crystal also recommends that you keep to a theme, so I began thinking about it. I listed some of the things that I am interested in to help me narrow my blog to a theme (or themes).

This is my short list :)

Learning to share the hope that is within me (defending the faith)

My children

Cooking (baking especially)

Living a healthy lifestyle

Learning to be a good steward of the gifts the Lord has given me

Reading & Learning

After much thought and prayer I have decided that everything is kind of related into two categories Faith and Family. So that will be my focus. At this point all of my reading is geared towards how to be a better wife and mother. I want to expand that into books on Faith (since I have departed from it since I was a teen and I want to regain all the time lost). I will soon begin writing book and movie reviews pertaining to my growth as a Catholic wife and mother.

I hope you will join me on my journey.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Financial Shape in 2008

Crystal at Money saving Mom, has been encouraging all of us ladies to get our financial house in order. I have decided to join her since we are trying to get out of debt and believe this program will greatly benefit our mission. Blogging about our goals and progress will keep me accountable (yes I need a lot of motivation and accountability :))Our first mission was to set a budget we could live with. Today we need to think of our short and long term goals.

So here are our short term goals.

Pay off our debt by summer
Have an emergency fund (at least 3 months worth of expenses, if not 6) by the end of summer.
Save for a down payment on a house. (we're hoping to buy a home by the end of the year)

Long term goals
Pay off the house in 15 years (sooner if possible)
Build my husband's business
Live off of my husband's salary, so that I can stay home (we're hoping to do this in 3yrs)

I would welcome any prayer so that we can meet our goals.

The Perez Family

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Super Saturday Savings

Well this week I did not do much shopping. We went to Costco 2 wks. ago and so we are pretty much stocked. Also, there hasn't been too many great sales around here. We did however go to Old Navy and took advantage of the sales. We got the boys 7 tops each, my hubby got 4 shirts, only 2 were on sale, and we got our new niece a cute little outfit. Why is it that there is always cute little things for girls and we have to be on the look out for cute boy clothes? Hopefully the Lord will bless us with a little girl soon :) For all that we spent about $78. Which was excellent since we had $100 in our clothing budget.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Frugal Friday

I am joining Crystal at Biblical Womanhood for Frugal Friday. I am new to all this frugality, but since I really want to buy a home I need to start and like they say 'every little penny helps'. One thing we began doing at home was unplugging any appliance we would not be using. For example we unplugged the microwave and toaster oven, since we don't use them that often. We also stopped using a night light for the boys and just pulled the curtains back a bit so light from outside could come in. We did this the last three months and the savings were between $5-$10 a months, over a year it could easily be $60-$120. Not much but it is a start.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Make your Home a Haven

I am joining Crytal over at Biblical Womanhood on Making your home a Haven Challenge. I am always struggling to keep a tidy home. I hope that with this I am more motivated. I work outside the home at this time and I am always so tired. I hope that by focusing on one area a day my house is more of a home. So to keep me accountable here is my to do list. It is a bit short but at times even this short list can be overwhelming.

Monday
  • Do 1-2 loads of laundry (depending on availability w/our apt. complex washers)
  • Clean 1 shelf in our hall closet (we have two large closets in the hall)
  • Clean out fridge (this was a Sat. job but we went w/ hubby to a job site)
  • Work on LAF article.

Since I'm at work I won't be able to get to my list until I get home so I will post later on my progress and hopefully completion.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Menu Monday

After reading through crystals supermarket course Supermarket Savings I have stuck to making a menu. This has really helped in two ways; one is that I know what's for dinner, which is a time saver and it has helped me by keeping me on track with my budget. Sure it takes some time to plan the menu, make a shopping list, look through the stores' ads, and cut coupons but in the long run it saves you lots of money. Also once you get the hang of it, it isn't that much time.
So to keep me accountable I am posting my menu.

Breakfast is usually cereal, baked oatmeal, waffles, or pancakes w/ milk and fruit.
Lunch-leftovers, soup, sandwich, or Lean cuisine (I got them on sale this week)
Dinner
Sun. Enchiladas w/ rice
Mon.-Salmon w/ steamed rice and veggies
Tue.-Pork Chops, veggies, homemade rolls
Wed.- Spinach Quesadillas
Thurs.Lasagna (I usually put some spinach with the cheese for added veggie boost)
Fri.-Tuna sandwiches
Sat.-Soup

I usually have a simple tossed salad with our dinner.

Friday, January 4, 2008

The Union of husband and wife





Five years ago today my husband and I were united in Holy Matrimony. I cannot believe how blessed we have been in these 5 years.







Trinity Household's Budget

I believe we have finally worked out our budget. This will change from time to time, since my husband gets extra jobs around this time because of the rain (he's a roofer and even though he cannot work in the rain he gets lots of jobs afterwards). All his extra money will go into paying off our debt, our savings, and for unexpected emergencies (like this summer when our car was stolen, 2wks later my fil passed away, and 2wks after that our truck was stolen w/ hubby's tools, car seats, stroller, and all our bedding :( God provides and we have been able to replace almost everything (the police found the truck but everything was gone, our insurance covered all the damage, I was so happy that I had full coverage all we paid was the deductible. Now how did I get off topic? Here is a glimpse to our budget.
Tithe 10%
Rent 800
Laundry $20 (we rent so we have to use the coin machines)
Utilities (gas, electrical, residential phone) $105
Cable & DSL $105
Groceries $180
Household products $20
Car payment (I so regret this purchase) $500
Gas for car $100 (it might be higher since prices are going up)
Insurance for 2 autos $178
Car maintenance & Registration $50
Nanny(my mom watches over the boys when my husband has to work) $200
Gifts $25
Debt $500 (this includes small balances on cr. cards, which will be paid off next month, my student loans one of which will be paid in 2 months, and some dental work my husband had done that insurance didn't cover.

So there you have it our budget. If anyone has any tips or suggestions on how to cut down in some areas we would be happy to hear it.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy 2008

well, life has been pretty busy around here and my vacation is almost over. My husband and I have been working on our goals for 2008. Here are my goals:
  1. Build a better relationship with the Lord. Some things I will be doing is reading the bible so as to finish it by the end of the year. Begining family worship and reflecting on Sunday readings with the family.
  2. Build a better relationship with my husband, by having daily talks, daily prayer, try and set up a monthly date, and attend an annual retreat.
  3. Train the children in the way they should go, by finish watching "Raising Godly Children" by the Bradrick family, implement what was learned in "Raising Happy Children...Teach them Virtues, and focus one virtue a week.
  4. Focus on health, by drinking more water, incorporating more fruits and veggies, take daily multivitamin, lose 30lbs., cook with more organic foods.
  5. Get our financial health in order. We are working on a budget(this is the most difficult for us, I will post it later), we are trying to get out of debt.

My son just woke up so I must cut this entry short. I will try to add our budget soon. Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Day.