Most useful presents EVER!

The last few gift giving moments have netted me some awesomeness in the useful and fun department. As the time as passed I've been able to enjoy them more and more.

1 gift was my shotgun. Mossburg 500 in 20ga. I adore it and last time we ventured out for trigger therapy we took clays. I had been too nervouse to try then before but my guy is always my biggest cheerleader and convinced me. Oh my awesome.  So dang fun. And I hit more than I missed. My aim without a scope has massively improved since I discovered the whole cross eye dominant thing.

My other fave gift is my Diamond bow. So stoked. It's a youth/womens so the poundage starts smaller which it great for this girl to build muscles up. It's super light weight, pink camo, dual cams. We are going on the bow hunt this year and I can't wait.

Plus both are dang useful in a SHTF situation. Woot.

First day of school!

My sweet Bug and the teenagers started school today. Niece is a junior and may even try to graduate early. She hasn't really decided. Nephew is in 8th grade. Last year of middle school. Some days he seems so much older and others so young but that is often the case with boys his age on the cusp of manhood. Bug is entering 4th grade. She is now in the upper echelon of school. Those years feel sweet and I want her to enjoy and savor them. The picture is her being silly. I am so proud of her and the young lady she is. All of them are pretty great.

Poor Monkey was pretty sad to see all the kids leave today. She wanted to follow Nephew out the door and cried when we dropped Bug off. Being back to hanging out with just me is not her favorite thing. I am a little sad too. They finally seem to get that this is their home and so all of them have been really great lately.

Well here is hoping the year is great and we can have lots of good grades and happy days.

Birthday fun with Lila!

Today is my 29th birthday! Yay me! Last night my awesome other half took me on a date. We went to a movie. I chose "One Day" because I adore Anne Hathaway. The story also seemed interesting. Of course I had never read the book. I ended up crying my eyes out. Way too emotional of a movie for birthday fun.

Today I was presented with my gifts. All sorts of fun Browning pink & camo stuff for my Durango. Very cute. The pink is also not so overwhelming that my guy hates to drive it. I love it. My seats were getting just a little sunfaded and I was worrying about it. Leave it to my guy to think about the solution in a way I love.

We wanted to shoot today but of course we are under heat advisory and thunderstorm warning. The heat and wet is oppressive and the clouds are ominous in their rolling black waves. Our club is not quite done with the indoor range yet. Sooo home we stay. Eh. I have movies, chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, and my brother in law is making a yummy dinner. Life is good.

* yes that is me in the reflection taking the pic!

Revolver or rifle? How about both?

Yup how about both? I recently posted that my BIL bought a gun. Not just any gun. He bought a Circuit Judge made by Taurus. Yeah honestly I think the idea of a revolver in a rifle just fascinated that kid in side as it really serves no purpose to expand the list of protection weapons. Will it kill a bad guy? I am sure. Shooting 410/45 Colt rounds can do that. But it isn't very practical. Of course BIL is far ahead of us in his stash so practical isn't always the top thing in his mind, haha. He is in love. I think it is funny how he and J.W. both look like little boys in a candy store. I swear they might actually be worse than that. It is cute. They hope to go and play with it next weekend. This weekend he is playing with it by scoping it and getting it just right with a sling and all. I swear if he won the lottery he might not notice.

Got a much needed date!!

Hubby took me out yesterday. I actually felt pretty bad about it at first. He was at work and I was at Wallyworld when the idea popped into my head to ask for a date. I gave him an out because he has been working some major hours 6 days a week since July 4th. He then told me he had already planned to do something with his brother but that he would rather go with me. So brother who was in a really bad mood after getting another bill from the lawyers over the custody battle and a week of failed car shopping for his teenage daughter babysat so we could go out. I felt horrible for that at first because I hate when it feels like Hubby has to choose and BIL needed the time away too. I know I come first so I try not to put him in a spot where that puts him in an uncomfortable situation. To make it up though I told him to go shooting today for as long as he wants with his brother. Once that was said my guilt was eased and I settled into our date. We went and saw the new Transformers movie. I love a good action movie and it did not disappoint. Things moved fast and I loved seeing the different transformers. Of course my brother watched the cartoon as a kid so i used him as an excuse to watch too. Yes my geeky ways are showing through. We were at a casino an decided to play a little on the slots and won just enough to cover our movie. We called that good and left. We are definitely not gamblers. Seeing some of those people playing the $25 minimum tables and the $1 slots like it was water was just weird. Neither of us is one to play big. I can't even imagine how the big Las Vegas tables do things and the people who play them just blow my mind. I think of a few hundred dollars and all the needs I could fill. A few thousand or even a million? Wow. Anyway it was a much needed break from mommyhood and a great time with the love of my life. I feel a lot better now and more open to some things I was resisting.

Teenage girls and car shopping.

Can any activity be more futile? I won't even go into little Monkey and her still nutty sleep patterns!

I did it!!

I finally finished my re-write of chapter 1 on my first book. Uggg........ I put the new and the old up on my facebook if anyone is interested in checking it out. Add me by my email Lila at readlilawilliams dot com!! It has some cussing and a chick gets beat by her husband but she gets some good licks in too and she leaves. I like the new much better than the old but would love some thoughts!

Bikes and Bullets!

This past weekend marked the end of Hubby's time off so we gathered up our girls, our nephew, the quads and decided to go for a ride. We really haven't done any riding locally. Usually we take them with us when we head north for family things as 2 of my husbands sisters live in some wide open country with great places to trail ride. We went to a close area that is mostly a dry lake with a few side trails to keep it gentle for the little one. We had a blast! I got a tiny bit sunburned but my fair skin does that even though the sunscreen. Monkey fell asleep like she usually does. I taught Bug a bit about the driving of one of the 250's which tickled her pink. We saw a few dessert squirrels and lizards.


On the way home we stopped to shoot. Hubby got a new .45ACP that he is in love with! He is an amazing shot so of course hit all his targets. I am doing better and got both of mine as well. Nephew is the proud new owner of a Taurus Judge. He shot as well and did pretty good. He was the main reason we had stopped because he hadn't shot it yet. He is an amazing kid. He is almost 13 and very mature. I think a lot of that comes from his diabetes. He had to grow up and be more aware because his life depended on it. I think his dad taking him hunting pretty much his entire life has also been a big help. He is very weapon aware.


All in all a pretty great Saturday in our desert oasis.

The practical and the impractical.

It is tax season. For most families this means prayers of a return and fear that you will owe the IRS. We have been fairly blessed to not have had an owing year since our marriage. (knock on wood!) This year was no exception however we approached things differently this year. We mad a vow before we even saw the amount that at least 50% was going into the retirement fund. With how things have gone we knew that this was the best thing we could do to plan for the future. Granted if Hubs has his way he will never retire BUT we still need to plan. A lot of couples our age tend to write off retirement. It is so far off and there will be time to save. WRONG. There is no time like right now. Saving is not only for your benefit but for the benefit of your family. We have a relative who has no savings at all and we have seen first hand how putting it off has harmed this person but also every one else in the family. So save save SAVE!!

Of course you also need to let yourself splurge some times as long as it does not negatively impact your financial health. We decided that each of us also deserved something fun after the money went into savings. Every year our returns have gone to pay bills and while we could have put this towards a bill as well we decided to splurge and buy a want rather than a need. Hubs gets his bear hunting trip to Canada. I got my computer that I have always wanted, and the girls got a 14" trampoline. It was wonderful to buy toys for once. I have a hard time spending money, especially on something decadent and unnecessary. Hubs had to push a little, haha, but I am glad he did. It felt good to fill a desire for each of us.

The moral here is that you need to find a balance with the practical and the impractical. You have to plan for your future first and foremost but once you do it is okay to treat yourself a little!

I've happily joined the canning ranks!

Last night I completed my second batch of canning goodness. I've had my pressure cooker/canner since Christmas but had not cracked it open until a couple weeks ago. I am going to go and help my SIL when she goes into the hospital to have her 7th baby. The rest of the kids need watching so I'll go up to help with that and to be there for the first few days after she comes home. SO I got to thinking about meals. I am picky. I mean if you looked up the definition of picky eater my picture would glare at you in technicolor glory. Anyway I figured if I made some things and took them with me then I would know I have food I like. Yes I am that picky.

So before the sick invaded our lives I made a huge batch of Spaghetti sauce. I used a couple scoops and made us some stuffed pasta shells and the rest went into 6 quart jars. I called one of my besties, Maggy, to walk me through it as she and my other best gal pal, Gracie, have walked this mine riddled path before. So she walks me through it and a couple hours later I have 6 beautifully sealed jars of spaghetti sauce heaven.

Last night I once again made a giant batch of food in my 8 quart pot. I decided to do tortilla soup this time. It turned out genius. 6 jars of this and it is just awesome. I didn't even call for help this time though as I was getting the child in bed and heard the occasional click I was petrified I would go down stairs and find broken bottles. My food luck held however and pretty jars doth a canner make!

Next I plan to try Chili. I've cleared a whole cupboard of my kitchen and plan too fill it with all sorts of yummy goodies.

The joys and fails of my holiday week!

I had a roller coaster week. Christmas eve we let the girls each open a present and then we got them to bed. Santa came that night and we woke to gifts galore. Bug was in heaven but poor Squeak was overwhelmed. I think she opened two things before she just sat and stared at all the packages, lol. Hubby bought me my shelf-reliance system which rocked the world, lol. We spent most of the weekend letting the girls play and watching tv or playing games, it was great.

Then Monday happened. I went to the store for groceries and to spend the rest of my Christmas money. When we got home I pulled Squeak from her car seat and took her and a couple bags of groceries into the house from my Durango parked in the garage. When I came back out for more stuff there was an entire gallon of milk on the ground spreading it's liquid goodness. Knowing the stench that would follow if I didn't clean it up I hopped into my SUV to move it and pulled forward. Guess who forgot to close the rear hatch and pulled her garage door apart while ripping the rear wiper off? ME!!! Yeah, it was great. I called a garage repair dude and proceeded to wash/sweep the milk out of the garage. I called the hubs to warn him so he could get the mad out before he saw me and decided to bury me in our back yard. The garage guy came and said we were screwed and needed a completely new door. There went $1200. Hubs just thinks it is funny as hell and ribs me all the time.

The next day I got to see one of my brothers for the first time in months. He and I are very close so I was excited to see him. He lovingly filled me in on his life and mutual friends and all the family gossip I hadn't heard. We hung out, played games, and took the girls to the park. It was nice.

NYE was approaching and knowing how my father loves to see Bug and at the Brother's prodding I arraigned for Bug to spend NYE with my brother, father, and step-mother. I think that was pretty big of me seeing as how my father has nothing but critisism on how we are raising the girls. He hates the LDS chirch and feels we are doing a bad thing by raising the girls LDS. He also has huge issues with me staying home with the girls and seems to assume I do nothing but sit on my butt and expect the Hubs to make money and then come home and take care of the house and girls too. I swear it has to be a miracle neither girls is dead since I do nothing for them or our little family. I also invited everyone to our house to celebrate Squeak turning 1. His first comment after the invitation was, "Who's going to be there?" See if my adoptive mother (his former wife) and my siblings from her or my LDS in-laws were going to be here then he would avoid it at all costs because he doesn't want to catch the evily contagious Mormon bug. I said "No one but us." meaning my little foursome, my brother, and my father and step-mother. He agreed to a breakfast for Squeak. So he came. I planned it as a breakfast so we could all hang out, play games, do whatever. It was the first time he had my brother and I (his only children) in the same place in about a year. HA. Shame on me for hoping. He ran out of here faster than I could blink. I don't think he was even here two hours. He throws a fit about how I don't make an effort, about how the girls are raised, about my laziness, about how he wants a relationship with me but I put up a wall. So I do make an extra effort and he throws it in my face. I guess the effort is only acceptable if it is his way and his terms. Uggg..... WHATEVER.

Then the good! My Mom came in that evening with her amazing guy. We played games and ate dinner and talked. It was exactly what I had hoped for with the earlier get together. The next morning Squeak opened her presents from Grandma and had a ton of fun. My Mom left for home and we watched movies, played, and I read some of my new book stash.

So overall there were some awesome highs, some crappy lows, and a bunch of moments in-between. Overall the week was amazing. In a 10 day period Hubs was home for 7. We laughed and enjoyed our rare time as a family. I cried a bit but I am a crier so it was all good.

Happy Holidays

Hope everyones holidays are happy and safe! Talk to you all in a few days!