Extreme Couponing?

As I may have mentioned, my family is broke as a joke, and that was before the Hubs had his work accident and has been home for 2 weeks. I have been obsessed with the TLC show Extreme Couponing for a while now, but have been too overwhelmed to really get a start at it. Now I am so overwhelmed by the fact my slowly growing grooming business is our sole source of income that I feel like I HAVE TO start NOW so I can make sure I can feed us all and pay the bills. 

I really feel that each year we get a little more frugal, a little more self sufficient, but the reality is we kill ourselves to break even every month, which most people do, I know. I'm pretty sure we are all in the 99% around here. The bottom line is, I want to be working out of my home, homeschooling my kids, with the Hubs right there with me. I put in an application to go back to Petco in a moment of desperation this morning after learning we will, in fact, have to get a lawyer and fight for the Hubs workman comp claim. Not that Petco isn't a great place, I sure loved all the people I worked with, but it would kill me a little to go back to working for someone else again.

So, after 5 hours of lying in bed and crying (as I mentioned a few days ago, I am not exactly on firm mental and emotional ground) I got up, showered, dressed, and helped the Hubs on the several ideas we have in the works for work at home income and to get more business in the shop. We figure if we get enough little trickles of money coming in from places, it will fill the bucket as fast as a soul sucking job outside the house. 

Enter Extreme Couponing. I must figure it out. Now. Today. The freezer will be empty next week and I need to fill it up as cheaply as possible. So if anyone reading this has suggestions, tips, sites...anything PLEASE comment. I need all the help I can get.

Occupy Mordor

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/311041_10150353591712875_630742874_8236432_1182662968_n.jpg

Hobbits are the 99%

Pumpkin Masterpieces

I have been getting busier every month in my shop Lucky Dog Grooming and thought what better way to advertise on the cheap than with Lucky Dog jack-o-lanterns! I'm pretty proud, they were my first attempt at fancy pumpkin carving.

Profound Dark

I must admit, this latest bout with depression took me lower than I have ever been. I feel like all I have done in the past few months has been yell or cry. I got out of bed everyday, showered, dressed, took care of my kids and Dad, groomed dogs and went back to bed the second the Hubs came home from work. I couldn't even meditate, and every prayer became a sobbing mess.

With the help of my sweet husband, a new doctor, and a therapist, I feel like I am coming back to myself. I have been concentrating on my fiction writing projects in the last month, and it has given my the confidence to return to the blog. The Hubs and I even started a new blog and a YouTube channel about our geeky gaming interests. He is off work due to injuring his shoulder at work(which, by the way his boss it trying to deny his workmans comp. claim, even though there was a witness to the accident) and needed a project. Here are the links if you have interest in gaming. 

The Couple of Geeks blog

The Couple of Geeks YouTube Channel
If not, I hope to be back here more. I was in a dark, dark place and could not see or feel the Magick in my life, let alone write about it. I have a death grip on it now, and am hopefully am moving back to a place where I do not have to hold on so tightly.
Brightest Blessings

Healing List for 7/21/11

Please send Reiki, prayers, or simply positive and healing thoughts to this list.

To include yourself or others on the list, simply post the names in the comments.

*****

Kathy E. in Summitville IN

The Edwards family

Sam, Jennifer,and the Finan family

Byron in Ft. Wayne

Gina in Indy

Caylee Marie Anthony

Hunter the cocker spaniel diagnosed with detatched retina

Gavi

The Monument Fire Pets and the efforts of volunteers to reunite pets and parents

Chris P. in Indiana, recovering from Spinal surgery 

Serena Weicht, Dorothy Heard, and family

Lauren Spierer, family, and all those searching for her

special note for the horses and dogs being used in the search

Tom, Joyce, Doris, Alverita, Chuy, Rose, and Bob and all those affected by the southern Arizona wildfires

 US "Darkhorse" 3rd Battalion 5th Marines and their families. They are fighting it out in Afghanistan and have lost 9 Marines in 4 days. 

Wordless Wednesday

As promised, Fairies, Sprites, and Lights at Minnetrista!

So much...so little

I have been in a real funk lately, and I am having a hell of a time shaking it. After much wallowing in self-pity, them kicking my own ass for it, and in depth prayer and Reading I think I might know why. I have so many things I want to do, and because I am so scattered I get none of them done. 

I don't mean housework, home school, kids raising, or my grooming salon, although I often with I had more hours of the day to work on those things as well. I have so many things I want to do. So many creations that are banging around in my head. It's like they are all rushing to the exit at the same time and getting jumbled up, so nothing can really get out.

I want to craft, and have a lot of really great ideas. I am so in love with crochet right now it's ridiculous, and I sit and dream about leading my newly formed Stitch 'n Bitch group to making Prayer shawls, chemo caps, and other charity projects, all the while filling orders in my Etsy shop. The reality is if I get 5 rows of a project done I feel like I accomplished something, and have 0 crochet items in my pitifully empty Etsy shop. 

I like to make jewelry, and I am slowly learning to sew. Again, daydreams of making clothes for the kids and myself, and more Etsy sales, when I actually make maybe 1 project a month or less.

What I really wish and long and pine to do is write. I started this blog to have an outlet to write, even if it's not fiction, which I love. Even here, I have had stops and starts, and weeks with maybe one post. I have a mostly done manuscript, outlines for two other projects, short stories, and a good start on a Pagan parenting book. 

My problem is I can't finish anything. 

When I have the desire to write, I have no time, and months go by without one new word written on any manuscript. When I have some free time, I have 100 other projects I want to do, and crafting in front of the T.V. is much more relaxing than trying to coax writing out of the creative jumble in my head.

So, I am going to try something new, something very anti-Hippie.

I am going to make a plan, a creative plan. I am going to start today, and make a list of the things I want to do, with writing right there at the top. I am going to then put them in priority, and make a schedule for myself to get some crap done! Since I had my oldest daughter, I have taught myself to be a housekeeper, instead of a shovel the place out before company shows up person. I did this with scheduling, which is very against my nature. I have the house broken down into zones, and zones broken into jobs. One zone per day, plus dishes and laundry, and the house is still cluttered, but company ready with maybe a 5 minute "zamboni" to clear things off.

I am going to try to expand this scheduling concept into other parts of my life, and hopefully have as much success. I am hoping to use the blog to make myself accountable for the things I want to do, and hoping that my blog will improve with action, as making this blog something special, and a part of the Pagan online community is pretty high on the priority list.

H.W.