williamsfamily07

I have added a new link to my blog.  I have added PBS Kids.  For those of you with children or grandchildren or watch children in your home this website is great from what I have seen.  There are games, videos, coloring pages to print off.

Lydia is into Curious George and Elmo right now, so I am able to find activities for her that have those 2 characters in them. She is still a little young for the games on the computer, but I can print off the pictures to print and see what activities I can do with her.  

I hope you will share what you liked on this website or what you use.  

It has been busy in our household.  We are still waiting on baby to join us.  Baby should be joining us any day.  In the mean time I am working on making sure everything is ready around the house.  

We also went together with another family from the church to buy a pig.  We spent part of Sunday evening putting sausage, ham, pone has, liver, and pork chops in freezer bags and then put them in our freezer and deep freeze.  We had some ham last evening for dinner, it was very good. Donald and Lydia are the only 2 who eat the pone has in our home.   

I have also been busy with Odesk.  I have an ongoing job with one company, which is great.  I have another company that gets with me when they have something they need help with.  Then I am interviewing with another possible job on Odesk.  I know, that sounds like a lot, but it is an answer to our prayers.   It allows me to stay home with Lydia and the baby when it arrives, yet help the family out.  Also, with the jobs I am either working on or interviewing with I am able to, for the most part, work it around what is going on with the family.  This is helpful because if something comes up I can take a break and do what needs to be done either around the house, for the family or help Donald at church as needed.  But also, I can do as much work as I have time for.  I am thankful that God has allowed me to find Odesk.

Lydia has been trying to help dress herself these days.  She has figured out how to put her socks on and has become really good at the.  She is trying to put her pants on.  She is still working on that as she tries to put both legs in 1 pant leg.  She is also trying to say her A,B,C’s.  She has gotten the first 3 letters.  Also, she is trying to say her numbers and has gotten 1, 2, 3 down, especially if we are doing something and counting to 3, she will join us.   

We have also been busy packing things we don’t need right now so we can move once the baby comes.  Since my husband has a new pastorate we will be moving to the parsonage.  We have been driving back and forth since the beginning of December.  I am ready to move closer, it will be nice with 2 children to get to church and for any activities.  Then once the baby has arrived all we have to move is the major furniture and things we needed while we are still at the current place.  Thankfully people from the church are going to help us move our furniture.  

I am counting down the days for many things.

We are expecting our 2nd child anytime between now and about Feb. 7, 2010 and moving by the end of February closer to my husbands job.  While all that is going on we are packing (both for the hospital and to move) and I am working on Odesk.    I think I have a few things on my plate.  

My husband is a pastor and the church we are at now has a parsonage we will be moving into.  We currently live about 30 minutes from the church, so as he makes trips to the office he has been taking things we don’t need right now or for awhile or haven’t used in awhile up with him to the house.  Then once the baby is born we will finish the move with the things we have been using and still need to use. 

Getting an exact move date has been difficult since we don’t know when the baby will actually come.  As usual there is the due date, but babies decide when they want to come.  

We have a 22 month old who I will be working with during the transition of moving and having a baby all about the same time - that should be fun while working for Odesk at the same time.  

Odesk is working well for the family at the moment.  Like I said in previous post, you have to be patient, but if you keep at it you can get a job.  I took some time off between September and January and jumped right in to get some work.  It took me a couple of weeks to get going on the jobs, but I am up and going now.  I have mostly had 1 time jobs, but have finally landed continuous job re-writing articles.  They pay by the article I rewrite and I only have to re-write a minimum of 3 a day, but can re-write as many as I want in a day, which is nice.  I am also looking for other jobs as well to supplement the article job.  

Odesk is to help us have a little more income while I am able to stay home.  Being able to stay home will allow me to raise the children without taking them to a sitter or daycare, not that there is anything wrong with either one, be there for my husband if he needs my help and yet help pay bills or save money for things like birthdays, Christmas, other little extra’s, etc.  Hourly work you know you will be getting paid the following week after work - same day of the week and time, but the fixed jobs you get paid within a week of them posting the money, so that money can be available at various times of the week, so there could be steady income if you get enough jobs lined up right.  

I like doing both the hourly and the fixed jobs as it brings in a variety of jobs, but keeps the money coming in to help the family.  

I just wanted to share what was going on with our family and what we were up to. 

As I said in my blog last week Odesk is a good site to work for.  I have been happy with the work I have completed on the site.  I would recommend it to anyone who wants to work at home. 

You can set your prices.  This can be tough at the beginning to know how to set your hourly rate and how to work with fixed rates.  This does take some time.  With the site you are the one who is working on finding a job for you and what you will get paid.  You need to make sure it is worth your time and effort, do not short change yourself.  This is like on any job, you want to make sure that you get what you are worth.  Unlike working in other jobs, you only work when there is work, so it helps the companies you are working for, but it also allows you to work with your schedule as well.  You can pick what your hours are and how that meets what the companies need. 

It can take awhile to find jobs to get started.  Some of them when you read their descriptions will say they are willing to hire those who need to get started, those are always good to get started with to build up your hours worked, etc.  But do not look for just those types of jobs.  I would also recommend only applying for jobs that are of interest to you.  If you have to real interest in the job, do not apply, it waste your time, the companies time and takes up one of the jobs you could apply for.  Be willing to apply for a variety of fixed and hourly jobs.  The hourly only gets paid at certain times while the fixed jobs can pay you once you have completed the job, so this helps money coming in at different times.  

I also checked with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and they are a legitimate company. 

I have also found that Odesk has your best interest.  For example, on Monday I applied for a job on Odesk and they sent me an email back saying that one of the jobs I applied did not follow the Terms of Service, so they were going to end that job for me to keep me from having any problems and gave me back a credit for the job.  With Odesk, the number of test you take on the site, etc. determines how many jobs you can apply for within a weeks time.  The most jobs is 20 jobs, so I was credit one of my jobs to apply for.  Now, as you start jobs or the companies let you know they won’t be needing you that is taken off your list and you start to get closer to having your 20 back.  Also, as your week begins (it doesn’t necessarily mean on Monday, it is when you start with Odesk) your number starts to grow.  

One of the things you also want to consider is feedback scores.  You want to receive good feedback scores.  Other companies can look at those to decide if they want to hire you, so make sure you are doing your best on this.  You also give feedback scores, which is nice.  It helps the company know how to work with you and others, but lets them know if you appreciate something they have done.  

This works great for me being that I am stay at home mom.  I can work this around what I need to do around the house, running errands, children to the doctors office and being able to spend time with Lydia and baby to come.  

Also, like other temporary agencies there is a referral program, so if you are interested let me know and I will be happy to help you get started.  

Feel free to let me know if you have questions or comments, I would love to hear them and help you out if I can.   

Since I am a stay at home mom I work on trying to make the income that comes in work the best for us.  Also, I want and enjoy being a stay at home mother.  One thing I can do is work on Odesk and it helps bring in a little extra money to help us with the little things.  We use it to buy the groceries that we need between major shopping visits, gas for the cars or the extra little meals we might eat out. 

Odesk is an online job search, different from Career Builders, etc., in the sense the company you work for will pay for Odesk which then pays you.  There are jobs that are paid hourly and jobs that are fixed rates in a sense you get paid a certain amount for the work you do.  In 4 months of working for them in 2009 I made about $541.00, which isn’t bad for not working a lot and for only working for 4 months.  You have several different options to receive payment. 

If you are interested in working for odesk let me know and I will be happy to refer you to the site to try it out.   

Have you ever thought about checking out the food and clothes outlet stores in your area?  They can be really helpful and useful. 

These outlet stores can save you money, they can sometimes have great deals.  There are several types of outlet stores.  You can always talk to people who live in your area to see what they may know about.  Some of the people you know may actually work at those stores as well, which can actually help you know when certain types of foods and deals are. 

For example there might be bread outlet stores.  These have day old bread (or maybe a little older).  This bread is still good, but just can’t be sold in the regular stores anymore.  You can always freeze the bread until you need it.  They may also have English Muffins which can be used for personal pizzas (which I talked about in another post here on the blog).  You can also use bread for croutons.  Also, with new types of bread coming out you can come up with all kinds of ideas.  For example, I heard of using that new pita type bread that is sliced in half poked with holes can be used for french toast.  

Another example, poultry outlets.  If you have poultry factories in your area there may be an outlet.  These items might be things they can not take to the stores for some reason or not able to get rid of, but still good.  We have gotten 40 lbs of chicken for $24 (before taxes).  What a deal.  

Also, there are stores that will take good food that stores order too much of and you can buy things at a lower cost.  There is a store in our area that I can get good name brand spices for .50 (cents) - $1.00 for a bottle of spices used to bake.  

Also, while pregnant I found that I bought most of my pregnancy clothes at places like Goodwill, etc.  Pregnancy clothes are things you do not wear for a long period of time, so why buy a lot of new clothes that sit in the closet until the next time I use them.  This is also good to get play clothes for your children, if they are going to get dirty, why get all the new clothes dirty.   

Also, if you watch your local papers, watch TV, or listen to the radio you might find these places as well.  Also, keep your eyes open while driving, you might find something as well.

Feel free to share any other ideas you may have.      

As I have mentioned before I am working on my meal planning for our family.  I haven’t quite gotten to the point I have gotten 1 or 2 weeks planned yet, but am slowly thinking about how I can make a meal that I can use for several meals.  Now this may mean we use the main or side dish(es) for multiple meal exactly like they are or it may mean I can use the leftovers in other types of meals later on in the week.  The leftovers are good for Lydia and I to have at lunch when my husband is gone, to send for my husband’s lunch or on the weekends for one of the meals.  There are many times that some foods are much better after they have had a chance to sit the fridge and marinate for awhile.

Today I am going to fix meatloaf for our evening meal.  I am going to fix it in the crock pot so that I can get it started and then leave it so I can do other things around the house.  I can then take the leftover meatloaf and crumble it up and use for meat on individual pizzas or leave it as is and use for sandwiches for the rest of the week.  I can add leftover rice from another meal to go as the side dish with the meatloaf this evening.  Also, with it in the crock pot I can still keep it warm without over cooking it and it will be ready whenever my husband gets home from work and I can still have dinner ready for our entire family.  

I am also going to try to use my crock pot for more meals as well in the future.  With the coming of a new addition to the family I figure it will be a good way to still fix a meal and still get things done around the house and take care of 2 little ones.

How many of you use your crock pot for meals?  What is the reason for using your crock pot?  Do you have a favorite recipe you like to use in your crock pot?   

One of the things I am working on this year is meal planning and trying to plan ahead when it comes to meals.  The main meal of the day is the meal I am going to work on planning.  Now, usually that will be dinner, the evening meal, but can change depending on what day it is and what my husbands schedule is.  This is where meal planning comes in handy, because I know what I am going to fix and don’t have to think about it.   

There are many benefits to meal planning.  I would like to share some of them with you:

• It can help with planning the grocery list
• It can help use what you have, especially if you stockpile, wisely
• It can also be helpful if you have a crazy schedule one week or a certain day of the week every week 

Right now my meal planning is based around leftovers or multiple ways to use a food item that I may make extra of.  I am fixing extra of some items so that I have leftovers to use for various other meals.  This is a way that is helpful since my husband is gone for lunch most days during the week.  It is also good when my husband is home for a short time  between work events.  Being that my husband is a pastor he may be in the office and visit during the day and then have only 1-2 hours before he may have an evening meeting or function to attend.  Having some of these leftovers I can reheat or even fix a different way and then still have a delicious meal that is healthy.  Also, sometimes when I have been running errands and get home and get Lydia down for a nap leftovers are nice to have to do a quick fix meal and then put her down. 

The other day I made English Muffin Pizza’s.  The recipe is:

 Ingredients:

English Muffins
Pizza Sauce (you can even use tomato sauce)
Meat of your choice (have it cooked completely)
Vegetables of your choice (cut up and ready to put on)
Cheese
Any other toppings of your choice

Directions:
Split the English Muffins
Put the pizza/tomato sauce on
Place toppings of your choice on split English Muffins
Put in a 350 degree oven and cook until cheese melts

I had leftover hamburger meat from the pizza, so for lunch today I put barbeque sauce in the hamburger and we had barbeque sandwiches.  I knew I would have some leftover meat left and figured I could either make more pizzas with it or find another way to use it for another meal.  

Many times leftovers are better after they have had a chance to sit in the refrigerator for a day or two as well, depending on the dish.  

Do any of you have any ideas to share?  As I work on my meal planning and leftovers I will be sharing them with you.  Lydia and I had the rest of the pizzas for lunch on Thursday.  Also, having a little bit of the leftovers is good for when you get the munchies and don’t want a lot to eat, but just something to satisfy your hunger.   

I have added 2 more links to my blog.  Both of these blogs are for those who are looking for a variety of Christian resources.  The 2 links are In Touch Ministry (Charles Stanley) and David Jeremiah.

Both of these ministries are both Biblically sound ministries.   They have various areas you can visit that will help you.  These would be good if you want additional resources for your own devotional time with God.  Also, if you want to either watch them on TV or on their website along with notes from their sermons and other devotionals that may be helpful or supplements to your private time with God.

I have added a new link to my blog.  It is the Dino Series.  The DINO Series is a Mountain Bike off road racing and trail running races held in Indiana.  My cousins own and operate this Series.  When I lived in Indiana I would help them when they were near where I lived.  They have a variety of types of races.  They have people who travel from around the United States who come and race.  They have a variety of age groups, so it isn’t just for adults.  Their older two children participate in the races as well.  Visit the website and if you know anyone who would be interested feel free to let them know.

Also, a quick note about pogo.com (free games).  I use the Trival Pursuit and Scabble games along with Yahtzee and Monopoly.  The Trival Pursuit and Scrabble are good for those who want to keep up on and work on their triva and words.  This is a great way to do it if you don’t have anyone who wants to play with you.  Some of these games you are playing with others and sometimes it is just you, it all depends on the game.

Again, I hope you find the links I have included on this blog helpful or interesting.