michelejo.com

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  • Our Journey to Homeschooling

    Reposted from: secularhomeschool.com santanvalley.com When  I was in college, I worked in a small-town ice cream shop. One of my  co-workers was a 16 year old girl who was homeschooled–and her five siblings were also homeschooled! They seemed so “normal” (not at all like the images I conjured in my head when hearing the phrase…

  • Challenge Update

    While I have not sewn anything for the little kids yet in 2012, I’ve refrained from buying much.  I got out their summer clothes from last year and most still fit!  Dakota had outgrown his shirts in length, so I splurged and bought him eight t-shirts (mostly Angry Birds and Nintendo) at Wal-Mart.  $6 each…

  • Budget Recap

    Ahhhhh, we did SO much better in March than we had any month in recent history.  We still slightly exceeded our projections, but those projections included having over $1k left over to save or put toward a large purchase, so we basically just created less savings for ourselves. I did have quite a bit leftover…

  • Minimalism – First Steps and a Plan

    In light of starting paleo/primal, it seemed natural to start in the pantry, with food, so my good friend helped me tackle that first.  We had so much to get rid of–rice, pastas, baking mixes, canned and bottled items that aren’t paleo-friendly, etc.   My friend’s family isn’t paleo (yet!! LOL) so she was kind enough to take it…

  • Minimalism – The Reasoning

    We moved from California to Arizona in 2005 and our belongings filled  a moving vanliner that typically can move three families’ worth of goods.  The movers told us that homeschoolers always have too many books, but the massive amount of stuff we had was crazy.  Too late to save the $23k we spent on that…

  • Well it’s true…

    My favorite WW-friendly cream cheese has been discontinued.  So have the WW sugar-free candies I loved.  Apparently sugar alcohols are now included in the carb counts for Points PLUS™ so these products are no longer being manufactured.  I didn’t get this from an official source; it’s just a deduction I’ve made looking at the facts. …

  • It’s time to get real…

    I’ll admit it, I’m the last person I ever thought might be able to embrace a primal lifestyle.  Really.  I have been aware of this style of eating since as early as 2004/2005.  I always thought it was crazy. I was raised on Burger King, McDonald’s, Chef Boyaradee, Kraft Mac n Cheese, Spaghettios and abundant…

  • Trying not to look before I leap

    My awesome and amazing friend Shirley is coming over tomorrow morning to help me clean out my pantry.  She offered to help me re-organize some problem areas in my house, as a birthday present.  She offered to spend more than one day helping me.  Now that’s friendship!  😀  I think this might be the best…

  • No-spend month in June?

    I eluded to this when I updated my Sew-it-All Challenge page but I recently realized I’ve been medicating myself with shopping these past few months, a lot.  In an effort to reign all of that in (luckily I tend to stick to only buying things we really need…I just haven’t spaced purchases out like I…

  • Sometimes you just need your mom…or someone who understands you.

    This post has two parts.  This is the first and the second can be found here. A week ago today (as in last Tuesday) was the two month anniversary of my mom’s death. I got through the day fairly well, likely because it was a busy day between a playdate at McDonald’s (with my fabulous…