New cars & stuff!

It's been a great week so far.  Let's start with the cars.  My 2007 Ford Escape has been great for the last 2 1/2 years.  But, it now needed about $1000 worth of work.  Rich's truck literally fell apart so we were down to only 1 vehicle.  Since I am currently working an hour away, that's a problem.  Also, my 6 cylinder was eating gas like you wouldn't believe!  So, we went to the local Ford dealer and traded it in.  We went from this:



To this for me:

And this for Rich:

The dealer gave us enough for my Escape to cover both vehicles, plates, taxes, and we get a check for $243! 

I also got my bingo prize in the mail today for our last round of ILCS bingo.  Vicky sent me Little House Needleworks' "Ye Olde Coffee House" .  Quite appropriate!!

I got the wings almost finished on the first of my Petite Christmas Angels:

I've put it up to work on my March ornament.  Everything will get put up pretty soon since I have a model coming that needs to be stitched VERY quickly!

Now, for the best part of this week.  I've been hired by a company called Wyzant Tutoring.  I've passed all my certification tests, submitted my profile for the parents, and I'm waiting on final approval.  As of April 1, I can start accepting students for tutoring. The best part is that my fee will be $35 an hour.  I get 60% to start and will eventually go up to 80%.  My fee will also increase as I get more experience.  I CAN QUIT WORKING FOR OFFICE TEAM!!!!  Yeah!!!! 

So, that's my week so far.  How was yours?

Stash box winner

And the winner is:  Marta!!!  Marta, email me your address and I'll get it out to you one day this week.

This week in our life

It's been a fun week!  Lots of work, lots of math problems, lots of stitching!

Stash Box

I will be drawing names for the next recipient of the stash box later tonight.  So far I have listed:

Vickie H
Cindy B
Marta

Anyone else who would like to be in the drawing please comment here by 6pm CST.


FunBites

We received our new FunBites cutter in the mail this week for us to review.  It is awesome!  We love to make Bento box lunches and this makes it fun and easy to do.  Mariah snatched it up and used it immediately to cut her toast into small hearts.  It is safe and easy for even kids to use!  As I said, ours is the heart-shaped cutter and consists of a curved blade cutter and a matching popper to pop the pieces out.  Use it on meat & cheese stacks, fruit, grilled cheese sandwiches, or anything else you want to be bite-sized and fun to eat!  Here's the link to the website to check them out.  I'm going to be purchasing the square cutter next.  http://www.funbites.com/collections/all  If you'd like to make a purchase, Funbites has provided a coupon code to use at checkout for free shipping: MarchMadness

Math

We've been concentrating on time and money this week.  That's pretty much all we've been doing for schoolwork.  Mariah's been 'shopping' in the house, paying for everything she wants to use, eat, or drink.  She's gettin better at money, but we still have a very long ways to go on time!

Stitching

I haven't gotten much stitching done this week.  By the time I get home from work, I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open!  Here are progress pics for this week:

Petite Christmas Angels:

Coffee Angel (the border on the right side is almost done - only 4 more squares):

February House (I got the border fixed and a bit of the house itself done):

Angel of Cross Stitch: 

St. Patrick's Day piece:

There's no picture of my shawl, I only got 1 row done this week.  I've decided the heck with the rotation and the heck with my diet.  I'm going to stitch on whatever strikes my fancy and I'm going to eat what I want.  With the amount of stress I've been under lately I've actually put on 10 lbs with having given up rice, potatoes, bread, and pasta!  So, I'm just going to be careful with what I eat and try to do more walking and exercise. 

I did get a bit of good news this week.  After figuring out our bills for the month, I discovered that we will have just under $500 a month leftover every month out of Rich & Mariah's SS checks.  That gives us that much for gas & groceries for the month without me working at all.  So, when my assignment ends (hopefully, soon), I won't be taking anymore unless they are close by and short term assignments.  Between what Rich picks up in scrap, mowing lawns, and taking furniture that he finds to the consignment store, and what I sell on Etsy & Amazon, I can stay home for a bit.  We are going to pack up the house, get rid of what we don't want, and try to get it sold by summer.  Then we're moving down around St. Louis, but on the IL side - probably somewhere around Alton.  I will try to find a job as a teacher's aide and tutor once we get down there.  Yeah!!!

Last, but not least

My sister, Janice, has just become a consultant for Thirty-One. For anyone who hasn't heard of them, they are these awesome bags, purses, organizers, etc, that are sold out of your home at parties like Tupperware.  I'm having a party on March 18, two weeks from today.  If anyone would like to order, book a party (in person or online), or just like some more info, here's the link:  www.mythirtyone.com/jziems
Janice & I will both appreciate the business!!!

Well, I'm off to make ice cream cone cupcakes for a fundraiser in town today.  Talk to y'all later!