So the month of only having $500 has already gone to the dogs. I’m going to try this again next month to see if I can glean from my mishaps this month and plan a bit better. I had a cushion of a some money I had made from photoshoots and selling a couple things on craigslist that quickly got depleted as well and here’s our issue:

Childcare
Weekend Spending

Simple and to the point, those are the areas in which we generally over spend. Well, the weekends are overspending whereas the Childcare just happens to be that we’re really awesome busier than all get out this month.

The weather’s been wonderful so we haven’t needed to spend money on entertainment for the kids, really. Just exploring our own back yard. We’ve had a couple playdates where McDonalds was involved but I have coupons to offset it most of the time.

It’s just a big balancing act to get everything in under $500. And I think if I could take the Childcare out of the category I would be able to pull it off WAY easier. But I am going to give it another go in October.

I started the month out keeping track of everything and then it just got messy and I stopped. Which, hello, is probably another reason I’m over already this month.

We did end up doing the Angel Food box which we’ll get this weekend and I’ve gotten gift certificates from a couple of the little things I do (My Points is one of them, I’ve been doing My Points for more than 8 years now and it’s wonderfully easy free money – feel free to name me as the referral if you sign up! jodi @ jodimichelle . com)

I’ve also gotten rebate gift certificates from a couple months ago – pretty much this month has been lucky in a lot of ways. Plus it was the birthday month so there’s tons of freebies and loot that go along with that, too.

October will be better!! I can feel it! (So can my wallet)

I had to quick run into Target yesterday for wipes because, like the toilet paper issue around this house, I also am quite the procrastinator when it comes to keeping the stock of wipes to butt ratio high in this house. Whatever.

So I pull into a parking space, that now I have to calculate where it’s going to be with the new van because the thing is a boat – I’m constantly worried about people denting the sides. Hey, it’s happened. So after the mathmatical decision to park far enough away, we park and then I itch my nose. BUT WAIT! What is that I feel?

A zit. Or maybe two. For crying out loud, I am not 16 any more. Lets just stop this whole oil production please, I am not kidding, cut it out. I take a quick gander in the mirror and decide I can quickly, yes I am going to say it, pop them. They were moist, if it wasn’t gross enough for you. Moist with zit puss! PUSS!

All the while I have no idea if any of the other parked cars around me have occupants and at this point I am praying to Jesus that I am o-so-very-alone in this act. I see something out of the corner of my eye but I’m distracted by the blood careening down my nose that I have to grab the closest absorbent thing to me and wipe my face.

That absorbent thing? A diaper.

I am now sitting in the parking lot of Target, unaware of anyone watching the horror show of this woman popping her zits in the mirror and then WIPING UP THE MESS WIHT A DIAPER.

I waited a good 5 minutes in the car to ensure that anyone sitting around me in other cars would leave or go in the store and not recognize me. Then I went along my merry way buying wipes for the now diaperless butt of my child because I stole the diaper for blood clotting on my zitty nose.

aaron-back-injury, originally uploaded by schaapy.

Ah yes. Where shall I start? So Aaron’s back is screwed up, no? Yea.
He often comes home with a sore back, some times it’s so bad that he can’t walk and after coming home on Friday the pain had intensified to proportions we’d never seen before. We’re currently undertaking a summer of exercise in the fashion of Boot Camp.
No, I’m not kidding.
Tuesday Aaron pushed himself to the max and then decided to suck it up and man it out on Thursday and pushed even harder, which lead to the Friday pain and the emergency Saturday morning adjustment from the chiropractor – which helped, mildly, for about 4 hours.
By this time we’re packed and on our way up north for a weekend away! OH MY WORD! VACATION! TIME WITHOUT THAT DAMN IPHONE!!! Only there’s service up there, and whatever, just shut up.
Well Saturday he was pretty helpless and I was a whiny baby about the whole ordeal because for the love of everything holy – can’t we get a freaking break? I would like to sit on my butt, thankyouverymuch – but now I’m taking care of two kids and a husband in pain – who at this time I thought just needed to suck it up. Men and pain don’t have a very wonderful track record in my book.
ANYWAY … He ends up sleeping while we all go on a boat ride and that was probably my 17th clue that I finally took seriously, albeit, still grumpy about the entire situation.
We get to sleep and he’s actually moving a bit, which to me, looks promising – I’m thinking by morning he’ll feel a bit better and we’ll be on the upswing.
I get woken up by the moaning of someone who I think, and this is not an exaggeration (I wish it was), is in labor. As in, we’re going to push and there are no drugs in my system labor.
Awesome.
I wake up my mom and her husband, Roger – who quickly gets ready and gets us to the hospital – we’re seen fairly soon once we get to the ER and things start moving along in the process of Q&A. The doctor comes in and notes that an MRI would be in our best interest just judging from the tests he ran on strength and whatnot – numbness, all that fun stuff.
And then he sees the little note on Aaron’s chart about his pain – Aaron rated it 11 out of 10.
Aaron finally got pain meds – a pain shot. No idea what was in it and neither one of us cared at that point – good LORD just make it stop already.
As you can see from the MRI scan – there’s a severe slipped disc between his L4 and L5 vertebrae and a piece of the L4 hs actually broken off and is migrating towards the nerves of the spinal cord. This, of course, was all told to us via a doctor and then they showed us the photo.
Throughout the entire ER visit the doctor on call was very upfront with us, mentioning early on the possible (but slight) need for surgery in cases like his. We put it out of the realm of “possible” until just before he left for his MRI.
We were just sitting there and all of sudden he says “I hope I don’t have to have surgery” and the lock came off my mouth and I started babbling about how I felt the same way, and I was just thinking that, and and and.
And this is when it happened, and it didn’t stop happening until after we were home, back in Holland – for about 3 hours. (Time frame from 10am to about 7pm)
All I could see, constantly replaying in my mind was Aaron on his stomach in the middle of the operating table and some stranger just cutting him, cutting him open and then touching his body, INSIDE his body – and missing with the scalpel. That’s all I saw. For hours.
I’m not a very worried person. I’m not prone to freak out easily or stew in advance on a situation for longer than about 10 seconds. This sensation of being so out of my mind helpless and worried and OH MY GOD HIS SPINE. Yup, it’s new for me.
I kept my cool, kept it inside until everything was packed from our vacation and we were in the car ready to go – my mom waves at me and my sunglasses go down – car goes into Drive and I lose it. I mean I lose it. My marbles are all over the floor of the car.
The ride home went well as far as pain goes for Aaron. He was given a second pain shot before we left and that really helped with the bumps and stops on the way home. They all fell asleep at one point which was nice for me, I could finally pick up a marble or two and then drop them all over again and I wasn’t worrying anyone in the process.
We picked up his pain meds but he’s so far gone with out them. This worries me just a little because I don’t really want to wake up to labor sounds again and then not be able to tame them with what we were given. But he’s a champ.
We’ll be meeting with a neurosurgeon on Tuesday and finding out more about the surgery aspect of this, and if it’s really the best option for us – the ER doc thought it would be, without doubt. So we’re going with that until we’re told differently.
I am very aware that this is not a terminal diagnosis. That all this is is a slipped disc that needs correcting. In realistic moments I can convince myself that this will be easy for the most part. He won’t have to learn how to walk all over again and he’s not losing his right arm or anything. Uh huh, I am well aware that my emotions went completely haywire all day today and that the thought of someone cutting my husband near his spine, although trained, really just freaks the beejesus out of me.
Aaron’s an important guy to me. One of THE most important guys in my life, to date. I’m not prepared to have that change in the physical sense and I’m going to let my hormones to continue to throw a hissy-fit until I know, damn well, that I get to hold his hand as we walk out of the next hospital.

They’re DONE!!!
I got the idea here from the trusty Pioneer Woman. Love that site. Anyway … I emailed my dad after I read it on her site and said something like, PLEASE HELP ME! Only I’m sure I sounded less desperate.
It took us 2 afternoons – we built the first two in front in one day and the last one, behind another. I used all repurposed wood we had lying around so this project cost me 1 1/2 box of screws. I am not lying.
This is what I planted:
First two boxes in front are veggies
= Eggplant
= 4 different varieties of tomato
= 2 different varieties of lettuce
= purple pepper
= banana pepper
= summer squash
= yellow beans
The box in the back is “Jessica’s Garden” and she got to pick out her own plant – a strawberry one, then we planted some $1 packs of wildflowers from Target and some Sunflowers from the farmers market.
I recently picked up this book and am learning a TON more about planting – I’m planning on doing some staggering this year for season-round crops. And I might try some trellises for heavier fruits (melons) … lots to learn, this is so much fun!

I don’t know what it is about an outie but it kind of makes me weak in the knees. Some how it’s more kissable, edible, delicious and scrumptious all in one little bundled up package. With toes for dessert. And neck. Lots and lots of neck creases and rolls and baby sweat to suck on.
I love my babies.

All of these wonderful questions take some time and serious consideration to answer – I feel stumped half the time. You’re all awesome.
When do you feel most yourself in your motherhood, your marriage & your home?
In Motherhood – I feel most myself when I’m holding or cradling one of my children. When I know no one else but me is taking of their needs. Like in a bandaid situation, or just after the nap. Those cozy in between moments of sleep and wakeful happiness.
In my marriage – all the time, really. Is that cheesy? I love how “myself” I always feel with Aaron – I never felt that way with any previous boyfriend, was always afraid to actually be myself and I’ve never felt that with him. That, and, early on we had naked nights to ensure the good natured (non sexual) comfort level. (Hi mom!!) Too much? Oh well.
In my home – When my kitchen is clean and I can breathe. Or in my kitchen making a royal mess.
What do you most look forward to in your children’s lives?
This is a tough one because I don’t often look forward. I’ve really had to teach myself how to be happy with what is, right now. Not tomorrow, not in a year. Not in twenty years. So I don’t know, would be the simple answer. I think the whole friends coming over to the house thing when Jessica is in highschool will be a blast and soccer games or sports with the kids will be a lot of fun. Prom. Dating. Etc. I don’t know. It all sounds great. My favorite thing SO FAR, though – I can answer that … with Jessica it keeps happening over and over again, but when this glimpse of a little girl comes out of her toddler shell, or her preschool shell – when something mature and unexpected happens within her and she shares it with me. With Oliver – the connection we’ve had since he was born is out of this world – I look at him from across the room and he could be doing something else, but he’ll see me too – and the world stops. A mama’s boy is a special thing. I’m so glad I got one.
If you were to write and illustrate a children’s book for your kids, what would the story be about and what medium would you use to create the illustations?
I have written a children’s book! It’s sitting in my hard drive just … waiting. It’s a rhyming little thing about the morning and it’s routine. And I’d love to use painting as the medium to illustrate it. That, or some kind of drawing/chalk/pen style. Not sure.
what is your favorite thing to do when you are snowed in?
IT! (haha, who got that one??) Well, kidding aside (or am I?) curling up and watching a movie or catching up on a tv show from dvd with tea. Still in my pj’s and wrapped in a blanket and probably eating some devil chocolate.
What’s the one thing (family and religion aside) that you most absolutely, positively could never ever, in a million years, see your life without? and why?
Another stumper. First thing that came to my mind was underwear because I don’t think I’d ever be comfortable bearing it for the rest of my life, if you know what I mean. Eve ruined that one for me. But after thinking about it and forcing myself to really figure this out – I still don’t know. I think I’d have to say my hearing though. Sight is something wonderful – but I think I cherish hearing more. Hearing my daughters first words and my son’s cry of life. Those are things I’ll never forget. Ever. And to not have the ability to know the milky, husky voice that is Jessica Ranae I wouldn’t be whole. Just wouldn’t.

Winner from yesterday’s giveaway is Hugh! Congratulations Hugh, email me at jodi at jodimichelle dot come to claim your prize. (Looks like you’re going to have 3 jealous daughters!) I loved this question and reading everyone’s memories. I was surprised (??!!?) at how many of them were focused around elementary school. Funny how certain things make a lasting impression on us. I’ll be doing a little something with all of this after Christmas – secrets, secrets. I think you’ll like it.
Today, oh today. Monday. Allow me to cheer you up a little bit because today we’re giving away one (1) $25 gift card to TJMaxx. Welcome to my happy place. Target is fun, I love you Target, but TJMaxx is delicious. Deals, rows and rows of purses that don’t all look the same and frames. Lots of frames. My favorite aisle in TJMaxx is the aisle with all the food. And, ok – the paper aisle. I collect paper for some reason although much less now than I did when I was younger, I just love paper. (Family who reads this website, that does not give you permission to buy me paper, do not buy me paper. Kisses!)
Twitter this or facebook status update this giveaway link and you get another entry. Who said the magic words? I DID!!
How to win? Answer this: Where is your dream vacation destination?
One entry per IP address. Contest ends tonight at midnight. Open to all.
My dream destination is Greece – and I’d want to stay in one of those houses in Santorini, take a boat ride and sit on the streets taking pictures, sketching and writing. This is my dream destination with Aaron. If I ever get around to it, I’d love to go to Spain alone some day – I have this fantasy about visiting an open street market and I’m wearing a sundress, fun “Spain” strapy shoes, a sun hat and I have this huge woven bag/basket that I’m using to collect all my fresh fruit and finds are the market. I will do this before I die. It’s on my list.
**TJMaxx doesn’t know me. Hi TJMaxx! I love your purses! I’m sponsoring this giveaway because I like to, it makes me happy and it’s fun. Oh, and you’re all worth it. This giftcard will take a little while to get to you though, it’s in the mail to me from MyPoints and allow me to just introduce you all to MyPoints. I get emails from them and all I have to do is click through to their site, and if I shop online I get points too … but I get almost all my giftcards through this – the points accumulate (and it’s free by the way) and then I get to “cash them in” for gift cards. I’ve been doing this for 5 1/2 years now. MyPoints also doesn’t care who I am, they’re not paying me to brag about their awesomeness.

I wrote this as a feature for Raising Peanuts and thought I would put it here for y’all as well. It was posted on her site yesterday – so this is day old bread, you still love me, admit it.
Welcome to our nursery! We’ve had two, one for each child and they’ve been dramatically different mostly because of the rooms they’re in but here is our sons nursery – he’s the baby, 6 months old. This nursery is still very much in use.

Everything in this nursery is on it’s second wind. The crib we had from when our daughter was about a year old, we bought that new – and that was an adventure. I never want to have to shop for a crib again.
The rocking chair is from my fraternal grandparents – it’s their tradition to buy each grandchild a rocking chair as their wedding present. We had it in storage until we moved to this house (I was pregnant with big sis) and have used it in our nurseries ever since. I love the story behind this chair and hope that I can pass it on to Jessica or Oliver when/if they have kids.
The room itself started out as an office, then a guest room and now the nursery. I was infatuated with fish and all things aquatic when I was pregnant with Oliver and made the curtains myself. They’re by no means straight or perfect but thats one of the reasons I love the motif so much. Fish are just funny that way. We thought about painting the pine walls, we have many many walls like this in our house and have painted only one room – it was a process and we just decided not to tackle that. We did however decide to get quite a large rug for the room. It’s hardwood floors are beautiful, but that was too much wood for me.

Here’s how we did the rug: I went to a local carpet shop and only allowed myself to look at the roll-ends (most carpet and flooring centers should have these) I had my dimensions with me so I knew how big the room was – I didn’t really care if the carpet was a certain size, although I knew I wanted it bigger than a little throw rug. When I saw this carpet I immediately loved it. It was blue and white in a wonderful little weave – but the sticker said AS IS and made me a little nervous so I asked about it – apparently there was a little pull in the middle of the whole thing. Problem solved. I bartered on the price until I got it to what I was willing to pay ($200 total) and had them bind the edges so I could use it as a rug and not have to worry about installation. They threw that in the price for me.

Everything else in the nursery is furniture we had in other rooms of the house and all very repurposed. We never owned a changing table in the first nursery – we bought an antique oak dresser that doubled as the changing bed and now is our dresser in the master bedroom. So we lost the changing table and needed to get creative. I did buy another dresser, this time wicker, from my favorite antique store but it smelled of mold so we got rid of it quickly. For a while we were using this puny little coffee table that we had to bend on our knees in order to change a diaper and then, with some friends help, we decided to try this yellow table – pulled from our entry way/mud room and the new changing table was born!

We also bought this at an antique fair. We like us some antiques in this house. The locker is his dresser/storage of bottles, burp cloths, sheets and linens. And the organization underneath the changing table is also due to my very helpful friends. A yellow tub holds toys while 3 red bins hold diapers, blankets and plush toys/overflow. We can also store the unsightly trash bin underneath the table with no issues.

The accesories:
The side table is actually a plant stand that I picked up from my brothers house when he moved and didn’t want it any more. I just repainted it – we store books on the shelves and a basket of nursing essentials. A burp cloth, ointment, tissues, tweezers, nipple shields (for the first few weeks of nursing), a book for me and a bottle of water.

The water spigot hangers I found on etsy (http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=10631996) and we use them to hang hats, jackets or other trinkets for wall decoration doubled as storage.


The art in the room – I bought a couple things from etsy; this and this. The YIELD sign I got, you guess it, from my favorite antique store.
The red bins we’re using for storage underneath the changing table are from ikea same with the added lighting.
I made the blanket for the crib and I swapped crib bumpers with a girlfriend because the one we had for Jessica’s crib was made to fit the older style cribs (which we had – we were using my husbands childhood crib at first) and the fabric we chose didn’t go well in the new room.

And thats our nursery. The furniture has been a few different ways but I love how it’s set up right now. I envision this being a room to grow up in – and easy to change directions and themes as he gets older.

This is a can of worms I have not opened here on this website for personal reasons. The subject I’m about to discuss (rant on) is volatile, I’ve come to learn, and it’s not my intention to spew my viewpoints in this arena on anyone because I believe that if you’re doing what’s right for your family, then you’re doing what’s right.
I’ll get into this a little later – but this is what’s coming; medicine, vaccinations, chiropractors and in general – health. After spending a good 7 hours in the ER with Jessica yesterday there are a few things I just have to say out loud – and it’s happening here.
I’m not an all or nothing person when it comes to this stuff, which I feel is the general consensus of most people who make these decisions for their family (again, if it’s the right decision for your family then it’s the right decision) it just doesn’t feel right to me to be one or the other. I need balance in this arena and I need guidance. The two main things missing from ALL of my medical experiences to date. Guidance does not me “Do this or else” and Balance does not mean “Lets just see how it goes”.
I know my body better than anyone else, I don’t want to be told to put something into it that I’m not OK with and I don’t want to have to lie about NOT doing it if my medical doctors think it’s the best plan of action. I want you to understand me and listen to me. I want you to care that even though you have book knowledge of how our wonderful bodies operate – I have true knowledge of how MY body operates – and that’s a beautiful thing.
In that same right – I am the driver in the car that is my children’s health and wellness – I want the doctors I choose to surround myself with to be the co-pilots. You’re absolutely right, I do not know everything. Don’t want to, actually. I respect and appreciate the time you’ve put into learning about children and their unique needs. HOWEVER, again, these are MY children. I spend every single hour of every single day with them. We do not smoke, we have no pets, we’re healthy folks for the most part. My child is not the chart infront of you – her name is Jessica, his name is Oliver. They are breathing people sitting on my lap in your office.
And I am the mother. I am the last say here – I will not lie to you about their health but I will not be bullied into treatment I do not think is necessary – and infact I think it’s detrimental to their health over all. We’re a family who looks at the whole picture not just the piece of the pie that’s infront of you for 25 minutes once a year.
Enter vaccinations. People, listen to me. This is our decision – not the decision you should make, your parents made or your neighbors says you’re crazy NOT to make. Jessica is vaccinated, she’s had everything but the chicken pots vaccination – we delayed them – but she has them. Oliver is not. We’re not saying no to them this time around, not 100%, but we’re saying Not Right Now, and very possibly Not Ever.
We also see a chiropractor for all our main health issues – we take nutrition and adjust our diet (which means cutting alot of the crap out most of the time) to get better when we’re sick instead of swallowing over the counter meds or filling prescriptions. We are not against prescriptions – but we believe they’re overused, for our personal liking.
There’s more to this, I’ll continue this rant later – but I’m off to see another doctor – the 4th in the past 3 days, this time we’re looking at Oliver and I’m just praying that they’re willing to focus on the “now” of why we’re in the office, not the “when” of his vaccinations. Can’t we just stand together as parents and medical professionals and talk – decide and discuss the health of our children TOGETHER instead of blindly bowing under their supposed power to tell on us? I think this is a fear that has driven so many of the mistakes I feel have been made in our medical lives. We’re scared. And I’m so done, I am so sick of being scared of the people who are supposed to take care of us.

Bingo roller
Vine decal
Retro Canisters
Water facet knob <--- I bought these, I'm going to use them as hooks in my kids' rooms. You know, for the coats, sweatshirts and misc stuff they accumulate that some how would just look better on a hook? Yeah, that.
Growing hearts decal
kids labels
Covet:Chest
Toy Chest
Chair
Lounge Chair