I came across a hilarious project. It's a reshelving project. Basically, you go into your local bookstore, find the copies of "1984", remove them from the shelf (in fiction) and put up a note in their places, stating "these books have been re-shelved to the CURRENT EVENTS section" and then move the books accordingly. You can print out the note, plus bookmarks to stick in each book, stating that they have been moved.

I think it's hilarious.

Ministry of Reshelving.

Besides reshelving "1984" I'm all for getting Blockbuster to move some of their videos. Seriously -- I was looking through the COMEDY section one day and found SOUND OF MUSIC. I couldn't believe it. I asked the guy - he looked it up in the system and said, "Yep! That's where it goes!"

I'm wondering -- what part of escaping the Nazi's is supposed to be comedic? My head is STILL spinning on that one!!

We have had to reorganize our budget recently. With the addition of the baby, our expenses have gone up a little bit. Plus, I now have a lady who comes a couple times a week to help out so I can get some other work done that requires more concentration than I can muster with 7 children around clamoring for my attention! (For instance, when I'm paying the bills...)

Those few hours a week have been a great help to me! But we have had to really work it into our budget. We have done some debt consolidation but we really needed to evaluate our whole budget and expenses.

One thing I've done is really limit the number of shopping trips I take. For instance, instead of going to the grocery store twice a week and Costco every week, we take two trips to Costco per month - and then we have just one small trip to the grocery store every week, and pick up milk during the week as needed. (That's the one thing we ALWAYS run out of!)

Making a big pot of brown rice a few times a week also helps - it is so much healthier than bread, and so much cheaper, too. It goes great with just about everything. So it's a good "filler" food to add to our meals. Plus, I don't really like to give the kids too much wheat - so it's a much better choice all the way around.

When the kids have done extra work, instead of paying them, we let them pick out a movie at Blockbuster (we have a monthly thing where we get unlimited movies.)

I think it is really important for large families to really look at where the money is going - and better ways it could be used. Large families really need to focus on efficiency with everything, including time, space, AND money. One good place for info on this kind of thing is: Basics of Organizing which has helped me a lot.

I am so glad the weather is improving. We've been going to the park almost every day - the kids have made friends with our new neighbors. We are getting to know our neighborhood much better.

I got so tired of being cooped up!

The trees here are budding, in the most beautiful colors. And lots of daffodils everywhere. The kids have found what they call "yard onions" which are really baby garlics sprouting up everywhere. I had them dig some up yesterday to spice our dinner. That was fun!

I love springtime!

My baby is doing so great! He is almost crawling now - just 5 1/2 months old! He tries to speak, but we have no idea what he's saying yet. We were recently visiting relatives and their dog kept trying to lick his face - then whenever he saw the dog after that, he would stick out his tongue - it was so cute!

He is such a happy, bubbly little guy. His older siblings are in love with him as much now as he was the day he was born - it's so cool!