The Friday 7

You're being treated to an early edition of the Saturday 7, because I'm leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for a girls' weekend! Stay tuned for more details next week.

1. We had a nice, low-key mother's day. Justin and the kids got me beautiful flowers and candy. We had lunch with my family and dinner with his, and celebrated Lucy while we were at it.

Levi made me some handprint art at school and wrapped it in this wrapping paper he designed/colored. Lena made me a couple sweet bookmarks.

2. Last Saturday, Justin and I went to bed at the same time, which is a rarity for us. I looked at the clock as we lay down and noticed it was 12:01. At 12:07 he started snoring. How is that even possible? I hadn't made it out of phase one of my patented six-step-rotisserie-sleep-system yet!

On my back with my arm over my head
On my left side with my right knee pulled into my chest
On my left side with both knees pulled into my chest
On my stomach facing my left
On my stomach facing my right
On my right side with both knees pulled into my chest

It's a complicated process that is often repeated throughout the night . . . and the reason Stella sleeps on Justin's legs and not mine. He falls asleep in minutes and stays relatively still all night. Can't imagine what that must be like!

3. I'm thinking about getting a second job. I mean, I only work two days a week, and I'll be done for the school year in two weeks, so I'm not sure I can call it a "second job," but the point is we're having a hard time making ends meet as is. Which is so frustrating. Justin makes good money. He works at least 40 hours a week. We don't have an extravagant lifestyle. We don't have car payments, cable TV, or iPhones. I never get my nails done, the kids and I outfit our wardrobes entirely through thrift stores and Wal-mart. We rarely drink alcohol, we pay for one streaming service, and I shop for groceries at Daily Deals and Aldi. But it's not enough anymore. School is a big part of it, but it's also stinkin' inflation. My grocery budget is out of control, no matter how much I try to contain it. And we eat cheap! My kids pretty much live off of 79 cent off-brand macaroni, and $1.19 Armour lunchables. Our dinners consist of spaghetti and tacos and sloppy joes. I don't know how else to save money, so the next step is to make more. The problem is that I'm not comfortable leaving Lena and Levi home alone (or with Lucy) all summer. So I need something I can do from home, or something I can do from 4:00 on when Justin gets home. It doesn't need to be full time. Just something supplemental. Anyone have any leads that aren't retail or food service? (I know beggars can't be choosers. I just want to see what else is out there before I settle for retail.)

4. I finished Designated Survivor this week. Wow. That has got to be one of the worst series endings I've ever seen. Almost every character ended up unhappy. After a little googling, I came to the conclusion that they expected to have another season to wrap things up, but their contract didn't get renewed. You know what they say . . . when you go woke, you go broke. Seriously, I can't recommend season 3. It was nasty. I fast forwarded a lot.

5. I was inspired recently to pick up an old book series that I previously loved. It was my absolute favorite in high school and I know I've read it again at least once since then, but it's been many years. And I'm sad to say, it's not as good as I remember! The Cheney Duvall series by Gilbert and Lynn Morris. I read the first three books this week and didn't love them as much as I used to. They're still enjoyable, and there's a great deal of nostalgia involved in them for me. But they're not five-star reads. At least not so far. I do think they get better as the series progresses. And Shiloh Irons will always be one of my top five book boyfriends. 😍 #shilohforever

6. Tonight, Justin had the Sports Banquet at school, so I met up with my cousin and her kids to go to the carnival. We usually do it with the cousin crew, but no one was around tonight, and I'm going to be gone all weekend, so this was our only chance! I hate forking over the $40 for wristbands because Lena is soooo hesitant to do any of the rides, but she did more this year than ever before (which isn't saying much - lol)! Levi loves it all and could've kept going all night (as long as he has his noise cancelling headphones on). Lucy stayed home . . . as per usual.