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I Feel Like BLAH

We are at home and finally settled in ... sort of. We dont have very many things in the house yet and havent had a solid income as of yet. That part really sucks. Its one thing to move without anything, knowing that you'll have something waiting for you when you get there (ie money to buy the things you need or the stuff you need in storage) but its another thing all together when you move and dont have those things available to you.

We've had a little bit of money here and there, so it hasnt been extremely hard, but it's still hard. I think the worst part is the fact that we should have had money coming in by now. The hubs was supposed to start working the monday after we arrived but because of paperwork being delayed, he didnt actually start until last week. So we've been without a steady paycheck for almost a month now and dont get his regular paycheck until the 9th.

So here's the part where I feel like BLAH ... I cant do anything! I cant even go into town to take the boys to the park because I dont want to use up all my gas before we get payed. I cant go to my bible study, or to the grocery store, or to friends houses. It's so frustrating just sitting here at home with nothing to do but wash dishes because that's the only thing in the house. I cant even wash our laundry because we dont have a washing machine and its driving me NUTS!

Im just hoping that things go quickly the next two weeks. We are very lucky on the one hand tho, to have our house still. God is very gracious in the fact that he didnt allow our house to sell. Also the people who rented our house were not able to keep up with the payments and so we had to evict them on short notice (which was still a decent amount of time). This worked to our advantage because we had to be back on short notice (or so we thought).

So, after all the rushing to pack stuff up and to get here, I am now sitting idle. Dont get me wrong, Im extremely happy to be back. I feel like I am finally home. However, I hate to just be sitting here not able to do anything. Got any ideas? Maybe you can help me cure my boredom. Let me know if you do.

Two Days Left!

We have two days left before we hit the highway out of town. We should be back in Arkansas before anyone can say "Bobs your uncle". Truly, I miss my home. I miss the green, my house, the fact that I can pay my bills every month *ON TIME!*, even the humidity in the summer. I cant stand the dry heat of California, and never really have to be honest with you.

It was nice to be able to come back and be with our families for the amount of time we were here, but its time to go home now. There were a lot of reasons we moved in the first place, and it turns out that some of those things are still there. As a family, we just dont fit in to the views and ways of the people here in California. Our ideals and beliefs dont mesh with those around us. Even those who believe in the same things we do.

Im curious to see how things have changed in Arkansas over these last few months. Its strange how things can change so quickly in such a short time. I hope that this has been a move for the better, even tho it has cost us a bundle. Sometimes God has to move you PHYSICALLY out of the way for him to do the work he needs to do. Its almost like how I have to put my little boys in a separate room completely so I can vacuume the one Im in. Its a good thing in the end because I get the cleaning done and the boys get to use a fresh room to play in once Im done.

And Back Again

Not back to blogging just yet, but back to Arkansas. It turns out that even with a transfer within the same company, California is just WAY too expensive for us. We can't support our family on the same budget as we could in Arkansas (as if that wasn't obvious). We would literally have to double our income in order to live in California, and that's just not an option right now.

I wish in a lot of ways that we had not moved to begin with, but it was something that needed to happen. Sometimes in life, you have to take a step away from things for them to change. Im almost positive that this was the case for us. Altho it is a very costly move, we are willing to pay the price. That's not saying that we have the funds availible right now but that will come. We will be making a very simple move right now and we will come back for the remainder of our things when we've accumulated enough money to get a uhaul to move the rest of our belongings. This move however will be our final long distance move for a long time I believe. Unless the Lord calls us to move in another direction, I believe that Arkansas will be our permanent home.

The benefit to that is that Arkansas is much cheeper on almost everything. Sure they have a 9% sales tax on food, but at least I can afford to buy food there! The price of registering my vehicle wont be astronomical, my mortgage is super cheep, gas is cheeper, and college is cheeper. When I can pay ALL of my bills in Arkansas for the same price that I would be paying for RENT in California, I know Im doing well.

It might be a while yet before I get a chance to post again, but know that I love you all and I look foreward to blogging again when things settle down. Who knows, I might even have a more productive blog once we get back. ;)

This Blog is on Hold

This blog is on hold until life events pan out.

Once a Year Shopping

Over on Frugal Hacks they posted an article about Shopping Once a Year. I wanted to give my thoughts about it. I had read the article that DL had read. It was about a couple that shopped only once a year for things that they could store. They didnt buy perishables in bulk of course but the idea is to stay out of the grocery stores and to save money by not spending it on the items that are impulse purchases. They started out slow and worked their way up to a year's worth of food.

My husband and I looked at the article and actually thought about trying it. We got so far as to write out the list of things that we use on a regular basis to see how much it would cost if we were to buy enough for the year. It would have been a little more than $1000, and it would have taken us a few months to gather the cash to buy all those things. I had also looked at the possibility of working our way up to the big once a year shopping trip. Shopping for one month at a time for three months, then for three months at a time, then six months, and then for one year.

We also looked at the fact that because we were still young, things would change drastically in a year. We only had one child at the time. There was always the possibility that we would have another child. There was always the possibility of our jobs not working out or having to move and having to start over again. Now granted this idea would work if it was just the job, but what would happen if we had to move to a smaller home (or across the country, as our hometown was 2000 miles away)? Then we would have been stuck with a lot of food and no where to put it.

Things like spices, canned goods, and cleaning supplies are good to have on hand, but I think that you could do just as well with coupons and get the things you need. People have been known to get a lot of items (enough to store for the year) for either very cheap or free by using coupons at the drugstores. It's just a matter of preference.

Personally, I like to buy a few items in bulk (because I have a large family now) to last a few months so Im not constantly in the store trying to get those items. Its not very fun to have to buy a box of pancake mix every time you want to make pancakes. So instead of buying that at the grocery store, I buy it at Sams Club and get a large bag of the mix to last me a month. (We really like pancakes here!)

What's your thoughts on Shopping Once a Year?

Homesick

Im feeling just a wee bit homesick this week. I keep seeing pictures of my home and the town I lived in. Six years really is a long time to live somewhere. Essentially, I have lived one third of my life there. My sons have lived all their lives there. It was quite daunting to move back after such a long time away from my hometown. Im glad to be back and to have more people around me, but I long for the lush green of my Arkansas Summers.

I got just a glimpse of the beautiful color before we moved and was able to get a few pictures of it. So, inspired by this post by KimC, here are a few pictures for you. These pictures are off my front porch and they were taken at the end of April before it bloomed completely.