Weekend Update 2/19

So, I missed my weekend update last weekend (it was only the 2nd week, typical me) but I'm back at it this week.

Cleaning & Organizing
I still feel good about this. Even though the week before Valentine's Day was super busy I was able to keep the house from completely falling apart. I still had a lot to catch up on but it didn't take as long as it could have. It was mostly putting things away.

My daughter's birthday is this Saturday and we are having a sleepover. Today we worked on getting the house ready. I didn't feel totally frantic and overwhelmed. I know what is going to happen this week so today I was able to do some extra stuff because I know the basics are going to be taken care of.

Time
Pretty good here, too. We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow and we still needed a gift. I was tempted to wait until tomorrow after church and pick up a gift. I thought ahead, though, and realized that would just be pushing it too much so I put the kids in the car tonight and we got the gift. This is going to allow us to be much more relaxed in the couple hours between church and the party.

Family
Eh, could be better. My husband and I went to dinner on Sunday night and a movie on Monday (a really bad movie, by the way, Just Go With It, we walked out) to celebrate Valentine's Day.

I realized I'm a really good mom when the kids are behaving. When they are displaying their worst behavior is what I need to work on. I'm trying to figure out how to control my emotions when the kids are pushing my buttons. Last night my daughter was just whining at me again and again and I just left the room. It allowed me to get away and showed her I won't tolerate her treating me like that. I can't always walk away, though.

Food
Last weekend was so crazy, I didn't get to posting my meal plan. I had a rough idea of what I was going to do and did ok. I was able to use up some food we had in the freezer. (I always love that. I feel so proud of myself because I was able to use that food instead of it going to waste. That's pathetic.)

Being Green
A friend sent her kids to my house so she could get her hair done and they brought their lunch, in plastic bags. I could not throw the plastic bags away. Plastic takes forever to break down. So, it was a pain in the rear but I washed out those bags and put them in my stash. Nothing spectaular but I feel every little bit helps.

Money
This one was a little trickier. I went to Kohl's and Target to check their Valentine's clearance. I was hoping to get a couple Valentine's towels for the kitchen and bathroom. I don't decorate very much and like the way novelty towels and placemats let me decorate without much effort. I know clearance and sales items are a huge problem for me. Send me a coupon and you've got me. So, I bought more than the towels. Of course, I can justify all of it. Some of it will be for goody bags for the kids birthdays. Some of it is for my daughter's party this weekend. I just put the Valentine's placemats away and don't have any to put out now. I found darling ones with birthday cakes that we can use each of our birthday months. My problem is that I beat myself up for buying these things because they aren't absolutely necessary. I guess I feel like it's my job to make our money work. We are in some debt and I feel like we shouldn't spend money on anything that's not absolutely necessary. (I'm the only one in the house that feels this way, by the way.) We each get a little spending money every week and I have to remind myself that it's ok to spend it on these kinds of things. (Man, I've got issues.)

Knowing I was going to blog about money made me think twice about several items I picked up. I saw a watch with a pink band that I liked. (Pink is my favorite color.) Of course, it was super marked down. I didn't love it, but it was cute. I put it back!! That's not something I've always done. I think, "it's such a good price" and end up with a bunch of stuff I don't need. Yea for me. How is it I'm in my late 30's and I'm still struggling with this so much?