Veggie organizing tip

Just wanted to pop in real fast and show you a simple way to fix a problem, that most households have. The stupid veggies that don't go in the fridge.  Instead of having bags of potatoes and onions falling all over the place, just hit the Dollar Tree.
I bought these 2 baskets that fit perfectly into the bottom portion of this storage cart and voila! No more bags of falling veggies, rolling around everywhere.

Your Welcome  ;)

Kitchen Tip - wiping off crumbs

Hey all!

As I was cleaning my kitchen the other day, I realized that the way I clear crumbs off the table, is so much easier then how I used to do it. And I thought it might help you all, as well.

First, get all the dishes & trash off the table.Now, what I used to do, was grab a wet sponge, and swipe it all into my hand carefully, hoping to not get it on the floor. Well not anymore. Instead of using something wet and your hand, just use this. Its soooo much easier to sweep it all into a pile, much like you do when sweeping the floor, then right into the dust pan and into the trash. DONE!

Kool-Aid Playdoh

 

 Have kids who are stuck inside, and Booorrrreeeedddd?  Break out some of those extra packets of Kool-Aid that are laying around and make some Playdoh!!! Very easy, and if stored properly, can last quite a while.

 

   

 Ingredients:

*1 pack of unsweetened Kool-Aid

 *1 1/3 cups of flour

*1/4 cup of salt

*1/2 Teaspoon of Cream of tartar

*1 cup of boiling water

*1 1/2 tablespoons of oil

Directions:

*Mix all the dry ingredients together in medium mixing bowl.

*Add in oil and boiling water. 

*Stir all ingredients together. 

*Once cool to the touch (a few minutes, doesn't take long to cool off) get in there and kneed the dough together with your hands, to fully incorporate all ingredients. 

*PLAY & HAVE FUN!!!!

 

Valentine's decor

Hey all!
Just wanted to pop in and show you my Valentine's Day decor. Everything was purchased at the Dollar Tree, last year. However, I have been there to check out what they have this year, and the flowers and heart pics are all there again this year.

I did see quite a few items for this year that I loved, but we don't go too overboard with valentines day in our house, and funds just weren't allowing me to unnecessarily buy everything I wanted. But I hope this help inspire you to get your own kind of creative going on!


First here we have some magnets that I found this year. I put the bears on the fridge to represent our little family, and added the accessory magnets on the stove door.

 

Next, there was this cute cut-out that I just had to have. But I wasn't sure where to put it. So I just pasted it up on a kitchen cabinet.

Lastly, my little heart vases on top of the TV.  The vases were at Dollar Tree last year, I did not see them this year, but I did see these cute tall shot glass type glasses, with hearts on them, that I thought this same idea would look cute in. The flower bunches and heart pics are there again this year as well.

You might notice the center vase is clear glass beads and some heart shaped ones mixed in as well. I think those were purchased at AC Moore last year, so I'm sure they have something like that again this year too.

 

As I said, we don't go too crazy overboard, but its just the little touches.

Each year I also make goody bags for the girls, for them to get on V-Day. I will post about my haul for that and how I make them.

Thanks, and please share your ideas with me as well! Happy Heart Day!

BBQ Bacon Dip

Hey all!

My daughter made a recipe like this at school last year. It sounded a little strange to me, but we made our own version, to snack on, during a football game. And it was a hit!!  This is a new house favorite of ours, so I thought I'd share it.
I apologize there is not a photo of the actual dip, as I forgot to take one.

Ingredients:
*1 package of Thin Turkey bacon
*1 block of cream cheese
*1 cup of BBQ sauce
*shredded cheddar cheese
*chopped scallions aka green onions

Directions:
*Spread the cream cheese into a shallow casserole dish of small-medium size. We used out glass pie dish.
*Drizzle or spread BBQ sauce over top
*Cook bacon until crispy, then crumble over top of the BBQ sauce (you can opt to use bacon bits for this step if you choose - but we prefer the real bacon flavor)
*Top with shredded cheese and onions
*Heat in microwave for about 1 minute
*Service with chips or crackers of your choice. We used tortilla chips.


Enjoy!

Time Management Tips

Hey all!

I have been noticing lately that a lot of people seem to be talking about how they manage their time.So i thought I would give a few of my tips, on how I make sure that I am always On time or a little early. And how I fit all things into my day to day routine.

Appointments or get togethers:

1 - Don't overbook yourself.
If you were invited to 2 parties, at the same time, the best way to time manage it, is to just pick one party and decline the invite for the other.I tend to apply the first come, first serve rule. I am still an advocate for the old time rules of giving your guests plenty of time to plan to make it to your party. I always send invite 2-3 weeks ahead of time. And I apply the same for receiving invites as well.  Now if I have a party at 1pm and another at 5pm, I accept both, but advise the later party I might be a little late, but will be there.

2 - Make a definite accept or decline to the invite.
This is for a few reasons. First off, its just polite. i can't stand when people say they "might", because then I end up sitting around waiting for them and trying to plan my day around whether or not I think they will show up. Secondly, it allows you to plan your day around the get together you have set up. And if you can't commit, well, you must not like that person very much. (sorry but this is how it comes across)

Day to Day routine and life: (these tips are geared more towards the working mom)

1 -  Know the part of your day that MUST be scheduled, and work around that. 
I work from 9-5:30 and pick up the kids from school on my 30 minute lunch break. Anything else AT ALL, must be done after 6pm. No if's and's or but's.

2 - Don't try to "fit in" things, unless absolutely needed. 
By this, I mean, don't try to fit in an hour appointment, while on your hour lunch break. Just schedule it for another day/ time/ or take the day off work and fit it in there.

3 - If you have kids, your house is never going to be perfectly clean - get over it! (unless you can afford a maid)
I have tried many many times to schedule cleaning, but that doesn't always work. Especially if you worked all day and have dance classes to get to, and dinner, and maybe errands. UGH  Just clean when you can..........and if your kids are being lazy, have THEM pick up THEIR mess. Saves you cleaning time. (For real, i analyze the mess int he house and only about 10% of it is mine)


That is as far as I will go, because then we would be leading into cleaning tips, and that's a while nother story. Lets face it, cleaning takes up most of our free time. (again - unless you can afford a maid).
To sum it up, my time management is best when I don't try to overdo things. If I have 10 mins to fit in a trip to a store, before a family gathering, I won't do it. If someone asks me to do something and I don't 100% want to, I will nicely decline - otherwise, I am trying to fit it in and that would just be rude. I personally don't like feeling like someone "fit me in".
I another way, I guess its all about knowing what you are capable of and learning what is more important, and letting some other things go. Figure out what NEEDS to be done now, and what can wait a little bit.  It's all about self control!

DITL - Mom got sick

Hey all!

So yesterday, about 4:30, I started to get really dizzy. At first I thought it was from looking the computer all day, but I couldn't shake it. So once I was done working, I ended up having to lay down. But the little nap I tried to take, didn't work. I continued to lie there for about 2 hrs before attempting to get up. Once I got up, the room was spinning. I couldn't even take a bit of anything other then bread.
Finally I decided to go lay down upstairs...closer to the bathroom. Again, I couldn't move. Just lying there, half awake, listening to everything going on downstairs.
Then about 3:30am, I woke up, dizziness gone and I was able to snack more on my drink and crackers. Oddly enough, I was able to fall back to sleep too.
Brian decided to let me sleep in - Just in case. So I allowed it. I didn't try to get up. But when I did, this is what i woke up to.

But I am perplexed on if I should be upset because he was working on his daughters school project, which is why no cleaning got done. 

The Story of Us

Hey all!
 I have been on a bit of a writers block lately. I think its just because there isn't much going on in our house lately, due to it being winter and all - I apologize. And each time I make a recipe, I forget to take pics and to me, recipes are pointless without pictures.

But, I recently do an MS update on my husband Brian, so i don't really mention too much. This leads me to this blocg subject...The Story of us.

My husband Brian and I met in Feb. 1997, under some not so nice circumstances. My cousins son had passed away of SIDS, and my mom rushed over to my families house to help console and do what needed to be done. In the meantime, my uncle and cousin bother worked at Jiffy Lube, and a friend of theirs, was taking over and working extra hour for them, to ensure they could be with the family. That guy was Brian.

Brian was friends with my aunt and uncle, and hung out with them a few times a week. And my aunt also had other family memebers living there as well, so there were always people coming and going.

With the few visitations during funeral planning, I realized how much I missed hanging out with my cousins, who were closer to my age. So, since I was not working at the time, and had my own car, I began to hang out over there on a daily basis. I was not aware, but Brian was watching me from afar.
now at this time, I was 19 and he was 30. Therefore, i was in no way looking at him like that. I was just there for the fun and laughs, with my oldest BFF's.

One day, my cousin came home from work and was telling me how I was the topic of converstaion at work, because Brian liked me. I fluffed it off as "guy talk" and let it go. But my cousin kept bringing this up to me, then my uncle verified it,  and told me how since I started coming around, Brian was there a lot more as well.

I thought it was cool that an older guy thought I was cute...but kinda creepy at the same time. He was nothing like I had been falling for in the past. But I allowed the flirtations in. Once night me and my cousin went to his place to watch a movie. Not long after the movie started, she fell asleep and we went outside to talk. We talked for almost 3 hrs about everything and anything. I soon realized that he was not some older perv, he was just a guy looking to have a girlfriend or friend who had a good head on their shoulders and had real goals in life.He was already married and realized what he did and didn't want now, and our paths were parallel, which made us click.

After a few weeks of casually hanging out in groups, he finally decided to kiss me good night. And it didn't freak me out. I allowed all to carry on as is, and see what happened.


We did hit some bumbs in the road, early on in our relationship, but we found that we worked through them well together. We did not attack each other over our stresses. It oddly brouhgt us closer.

Over the next couple years, we did our thing as a dating couple. We made the final decision to get an apartment together. So brian moved into my bedroom at my parents apartment for a few months, while we both saved money for our first place.

We lived together for about 2 yrs. and even got engaged. But not long after that, I started thinking that our life paths were not as in line as I thought. he seems to want to party like a 20 yrs old and I was the 20yr old who wanted to grow up. We ended up splitting, and I moved into my own place for a while. We tried to keep our relationship casual, but that didn't last long, before we just stopped talking.

About 6 months later, I had to call him for something mail related. He sounded happy to hear from me and wanted to see me.  We fell right into the pattern again, and realized we DID want to be together. He then moved back in with me, into my place. About the same time, he deicded to take a trip to NE, where he grew up. He hasn't spoken to his family in almost 5 yrs. While on this trip, he stopped home. He proceeded to introduce me as his fiance. OH REALLY??

Let the wedding planning begin. And it was ON this time! I made sure he was sure. Things went very well through the wedding planning, no stresses.

Immediately, we started trying to have a baby. Three months later, we found we were expecting. So it was time to move. We only moved down the street and to another apartment, but a 2BR this time.

Oct. 2003, Madison was born. She was perfect. She was the best baby.

And SHE was everything to my new husband. After almost 2 yrs of ups & downs, we ended up being defeated and went to counseling. While during this stretch, we had a few more life changes we had to deal with together. Things which again, brought us together and made us stronger.

His father's health was failing, and in the beginning of 2006 his father passed away. I stood right by my husband side, as his father took his last breath. While on this trip though...I forgot to pack one very important thing.  About 2 weeks later, I had suspicions and took a pregnancy test.......positive.
The news was unsettling to us both. We were going through marriage counseling, we weren't planning on this. We don't want to have a baby to fix things.  Unfortunately, it was hard to be exicted at the time.

7 weeks later, we went for our first ultrasound.....TWINS! Really???  OMG....NOOOO.....
For some reason, this excited Brian more. I on the other hand, was freaking out. But yet again...we came together and dealt with it together -- as team.  Dec.2006, Ava & Isabel were born. Again, 2 perfect little babies.

From this point forward, it was all about the our girls.

For the next 7 yrs, we lived our lives -- taking kids to school, running errands, bought a house, got new jobs -- life!  However, there were still a lot of ups & downs. it got to the point, where I felt like I was always down and didn't know what my purpose was anymore.

In Nov. 2012 - Brian went for a check up, because his health was failing. He was tired all the time and getting migraines constantly. It was just making him miserable. He was diagnosed with high blood pressure. We got it under control and all was fine.

In Nov. 2013 -- Brian lost vision in his one eye at work, for a brief moment, and his blood pressure meds seems to not be working too well. His doctor ordered him to the ER. His bp at this point was at about 200. They did all kinds of testing and couldn't find a casue, but got it under control. While there he has an MRI done, and was told "There is a lesion on your frontal lobe. Looks like it might be MS, but we can't dianose that yet. Control your bp for 6 mos. and have a new MRI done."  Really???  They just told him he might have a serious life long condition, but they can't be for sure for 6 mos.???  WTH?????? So, over the fall and winter of 2013, we came together as a family - just the 5 of us.  No outside opinions. Just enjoying OUR family unit. Life was good.

Feb. 2014, we went to the Auto Show. Now over the past few month he was complaining of pain but not really pain, in his knee. I figured, he would need knee surgry soon. But when he took Advil, he was fine. After the auto show, we were walking through the city, back to the car, and he was having to stop every 20 feet or so to rest. About half way to the car, he just collapsed in the middle of the parking lot. His leg just gave out on him. But no pain.we got the car and just went home. Oddly, this didn't happened again.

May 2014 - it was time to see a nuerologist and get the MRI re-done. By now...he is limping 100% of the time and barely sleeping. And with the research he has done, he is convinced he DOES have MS. Sure enough...he now has lesions all up and down his spine - its multiple sclerosis. He was also in the middle of his first "flare up". He needed to start meds right away and ended up on steroid for 3 days. At this point, I knew that I needed to be there for my husband. Any other bull shit that was making me think otherwise, just went out the window. That tells me that this is where I need to be and he needs me.  And I'll be damned if I am not there for him.

It's been 7 months now. I have watched this man who used to work so hard, and constantly play with his kids...turn into a man who now can't run errands alone, has had to demote himself and cut back his hours at a job he loves, and have to rely on other people way more then he wants to. I watch this man painfully inject himself 3 times a week, to keep his illness from getting worse...although...its still getting worse slowly.

I look back at the last 18 yrs and all we have been through together, and am damn proud to say we have come a long way, and are still together. I'm not going anywhere. We are a team and WE can do this!

 

Grocery shop smarter and cheaper

Hey all!
I have been asked a lot how I get things so cheap and how I keep my grocery bill low. So I thought I would share with you, a few of my tips, on how to grocery shop cheaper, which is smarter.

1 - Don't be brand specific. This is one thing I preach all the time! Being loyal to a certain brand is how you find it harder to lower that grocery bill. You may like Sargento shredded cheddar and pay over $3 or $4 a package, but why not try another brand (the one on sale) for about $2- $3 a package?
Keep in mind that almost everything in the grocery store, has a long list of different brands that make that same thing. At least ONE of those brands will be on sale each and every week. When I shop, I shop by price all the time. 

2 - Value size packages are not always better. yes it might be cheaper per use or per serving, but...are you REALLY going to use/eat all of that before the next pay check? Unless you have a family of 6 or more, value packs are OK in the long run, but if you have to live paycheck to paycheck, its not worth the extra money.

3 - Buy ONLY what you need. This goes along with the value sized. If you aren't going to use it/need it before the next pay check, don't waste money on it now. You may need that extra $5 for meds when the little ones get sick in a few days. I have seen that if the food is there, it will be eaten - whether there is really hunger present or not. I found that my kids "boredom ate" less, when there was less food in the house, which in turn made them eat more of their actual meals.

4 - If the store has a store card, make sure you have one!!!! I have found that, if a store has a store card, they list the  "with card" price first, and the real price tends to be smaller. If you don't have a store card, your bill will be higher!

5 - If you can, make a list. I try to do this all the time, but don't always. And that's because, I get paid twice a month. After each check, I do a "big grocery haul". This is usually about $150-$200 for our family of 5 (depending on if the kids are in school or not, since we pack lunches). Now I admit, that most of those groceries are gone within a week. But instead of doing another "big grocery" trip, I make smaller trips, and this is where my list making works for me. I will think of things we need for the next few days, look to see what I already have that I can use, and make a list. Then when I get to the store, I buy only what is on that list. (unless I see something that is REALLY cheap that we will need)

Hope these tips help you lower your grocery bill a little. Thanks!

Memory issues with MS

Hey all!

Just wanted to share with you the newest on the MS venture with Brian.

We now have the short term memory issue as a side effect. he mentioned a while back that he thought he was having issues with it, but its come to the surface now and noticeable, to others.

For example, the other day, our kids ran through the house with snow on their shoes, and he was about to tell them to be careful. I stopped him and said they were going out back. He said OK. He was talking WITH me. About 10 minutes later, he went out to check on them and spoke WITH them about having fun. No more then 5 minutes later, he came to me and asked where they were.

Another example, he told the twins to pick out a game and he would play with them. He threw a pillow on the floor to get comfy. 2 minutes later, he grabbed a blanket to lay on the couch. I asked if he forgot he told them he would play and game and he just looked at me and shook his head Yes. I didn't reply. In that moment I knew that he now knows I am seeing what is going on and he can't hide it anymore.

It may seem like a little thing, and i should be able to just let it go. And I try. I stop myself a lot and just back off. But its a learning process and change of thinking for me as well.

See, over the last 12 yrs, most of the time, Brian would always just do things on purpose to make me mad, or forget things I tell him  mainly because he didn't care enough to really listen to me. So after all those years of knowing he was just being a butt, its hard for me to not immediately snap back with "I already told you that, weren't you listening???".  It's not always his fault now, and sometimes he just really forgets.

Its kind of ironic because he used to call me a nag. But now, I kinda of NEED to be a nag for him.

Well, nothing more to report on this. Just wanted to give an update, for any other care takers out there, to either see what you may need to keep an eye out for, or to help you feel like you are not alone.

Organizational Goals

Hey all!

Part of my New Years resolution was to keep up on my organizing of my home. I know that when I post organizing ideas and tips and what I did, it makes it look like my house is clean. HA HA HA I have 3 lazy children and a husband....when I DO clean, it stays that way for about an hour. And I am not ashamed, because I know I am not alone. There are just not enough hours in the day for 2 working parents in a household of 5 people.

So I thought I would share with you my before "issues". Then in a few weeks or a month, I can show you what I got to resolve the issues and post pictured of the after.

OH, but first, I forgot that I did handle one already over the weekend.

So, in this cabinet shown below, is where we keep some of our food items. Typically we also keep our onions and potatoes on the bottom area.  And we tend to just throw the bags under there, then they fall all over, and it can be hard to keep the doors closed.

 So...I hit Dollar tree and within the first few feet of the store, I was done with my project. Yay!! As they say at Staples "that was easy".

Moving onto the areas that still need to be addressed.

First my shelf in the living room. When I first got this, it was all nice and neat (I will post the blog below that shows that organization haul). And then we began to re purpose a few of the shelves and its just a mess these days. Also the bins I got a year ago, are not really what I need, for the purpose I use them for. SIGH  This is actually a 6 foot high 5 shelf unit. We have books on the bottom, then the next up we have fabric bins which are no longer working (again, see other blog post below), and then there are these 2 shelves.  Its mostly games and a few air freshers. I WILL figure this one out.

Also we have my desk. If you follow me, you know that I work from home, which is why I have so much on my desk. Its not really just a catch all type of central hub, I DO clean it up every few days. But I admit, I don't open all the mail and file it away as soon as I get it, as I would in a perfect world. That file holder I have is way to small for what I use it for. And the cubby underneath where my kids just put things, when I tell them to clean up...SMH.  I am currently researching file holder that also has an underneath bin (vertical and horizontal in one), and I want to get a decorative thing to put the mail pile in, until I file it. I can't wait until I get it figured out.

Lastly...this one is mostly my fault, but its OK. Up until Christmas, we only had 2 couch blankets for 5 of us. One was not big enough for adults, and the other was a for real comforter...on the couch...  So, people finally got the hint and we got 3 new couch blankets for Christmas.

However.....I don't have a place for them. And I don't like just folding them and putting them over the back of the couch. They don't all match the theme I have going. So...I want a blanket basket. There is one at Target that matches our shoe bin (see linked post below) exactly, but is round. But its also $40....which is not an amount I can just drop on a bin. There are others I like as well, but all seem to run about $30 for something durable. So that is another thing being worked on.

I know that seems like a lot of talking about what I want to do, and there aren't any after pics, but its coming. And maybe you all can share some of your organizing tricks you might use for any of these areas in your home, with me?  Until next time......


Post: organizing-can-make-daily-pick-ups easier

THE KIDS ARE BACK IN SCHOOL - WOO HOO!!!

I have to admit, my kids weren't too too bad this time around. I think its partly because my husband is home more, so he was able to take them out a couple time, and partly because the holidays feel in the middle of the weeks. But I am sooooo glad it over...and not for your typical reasons either.

Yes, the kids can stop now with the 20 questions of "What are we doing today?" "Are we going anywhere today?" "Can we go anywhere today?"  UGH   But we can all get back to our normal routine.

I am learning that your body gets used to your routine. And since I really haven't had a routine the last few weeks, I have been achy and sore for no good reason. Today alone, I have been awake since 5:30am with pain. I took some medicine first thing today and it still not working.I am hoping I just need to get moving & I will feel better.

Along with the body aches from not really doing anything, my chores have been lack.I was getting up either right before I had to log in for work, or getting up whenever and not really have time or energy to get stuff done. Then as I sit there on the couch, thinking of all I need to get done, I was also thinking "WHY? WHY do I HAVE to do the laundry right now? I don't. So I won't."  And on the couch I continued to sit.

You might wonder why I didn't just get up and go do something....well, doing something typically costs money. Nuff said.

So last night, after sitting in the couch for 3 hrs, i finally got up. I had stuff I really did HAVE to do. I made the lunches, did the dishes, cleaned off the table. I felt so good about it, I wanted to keep going. But it was 11pm and 7am was creeping up quickly. But still...

This morning, I HAD to get up. I HAD to get out of the house. When I was done dropping off the kids, I couldn't just sit and watch TV. I HAVE to work today, so therefore I HAD to clean off my desk.

Normal life....oh how I have missed you.

Sincerely,
A mom with no kids in the house right now at 9am.

2014 in Review

I know I did this backwards. I already posted my 2015 resolutions, and now I want to do a year in review. Oh well, deal with it.
All in all, 2014 wasn't the best year. For the few years leading up to it, life was going pretty steady. Nothing overly good but nothing bad. I knew it was bound to end. And 2014 is when it started to turn. But I'll be damned to allow it to continue in 2015. I need the steady calm back!

Winter of 2014 wasn't very eventful. We were in a lull of friendships, and the weather was horrible. It seemed to snow every week. And I am deathly afraid to drive on snow, so if the roads are covered and its night time, you will find me in my house.  Then in February, we hit the Philadelphia Auto Show, to browse, because we knew we were on our path to a new car soon. However, that day is forever etched in our minds as the beginning of it. Brian was having trouble walking, and having trouble explaining to me why. On the way back to the car, walking through the city, he collapsed. leg gave out under him and he fell to the ground. No pain, no break, no clue why. However, it didn't happen again.

Through the spring, he realized he was having more and more trouble walking for long amounts of time, but was plowing through his full time work hours anyway. 

In May, he was due to have a new MRI done, from November 2013 during a trip to the ER for high blood pressure. They confirmed he has Multiple Sclerosis. At the same time, he was in the middle of his first "flare up". Of course, this happens, right after diagnosis and you panic that the disease is progressing really fast. He did a treatment that kick started him out of it, and was able to manage it again.
Again, right about the same time, we find out that his 25 yr old son finally graduated college....via Facebook. Brian was informed that this was happening (mind you the kid has been in college for 6 yrs and barely speaks to his father), wasn't not invited, and we also found out his mother was here for the event, from Florida.....did not try to see her granddaughters. WELL WELL WELL.  After speaking with his ex wife about stopping the child support now, she gave him the run around, which ultimately ended with us getting a lawyer. No other choice. She was now playing us and the system...FOR A 25 YR OLD!!!!  Meanwhile we have 3 elementary age kids at home. I'm done...no more Mister Nice Guys.

In the meantime, at the end of summer, we DID get that new car. We needed to. our cars were getting too old and needing repairs that, now with Brian's medical bills piling up, we could not longer afford on a whim. We needed something reliable. So that was a nice fun break from it all there. then it was back to real life...back to school, back to dance, and back to court!

WE WON!! Finally!!!!  Judge ordered the child support to end effective Dec. 15th. But all the excitement, didn't last for long. Brian's health started getting bad again. He was having to call out of work more, and leave work early more, and pretty much crawling in the door when he got home. Ended up on another steroid treatment - which did not do ANYTHING but put his blood pressure through the roof, which lead to doc visits every few days for monitoring, which also lead to a forced weeks vacation - which later we found out was put in as short term disability aka not his full real paycheck. That spiraled into, him not making enough to cover his weekly child support obligation.   Then after Thanksgiving, he ended up in the ER again with a new side effect from the MS - vertigo. Great.
After that, he decided he needed to step down from his manager position, and go part time. Mind you....ITS DECEMBER WITH 3 LITTLE KIDS. Ya know what I mean.  So, December pretty much sucked for us. With the child support still coming out and his hours not being enough to cover it, he pretty much was working for NOTHING. but the part time hours, are helping him feel much better. Still can't walk very well, but he is not paralyzed every day and I feel OK leaving him alone. We just live day to day with his disease, as it can change from hour to hour too.
On New years eve, we found out that a close family member was in a car accident with his kids. They kids are OK, but he did suffer from head trauma. He is home now, but is on a road to recovery.

On a good note, we think the child support is finally and completely DONE!!!

Point blank....2014 can kiss my ass!