Leslie's Litter

When school starts, that means it's time for the routines to set in, new schedules and activities to begin, and best of all....the weather to cool off and Fall Fun can Begin! I love jeans, sweatshirts, boots, bonfires, apple cider, pumpkin patches, even football.  Give me anything and everything fall!  However, this heat wave does not pair well with warm doughnuts and apple cider - it just makes for bees and overheating.  The pumpkin patches aren't as fun because you don't have on jeans and boots and crisp weather to make it more fun.  The barns stink from the heat when you are trying to feed the cows and enjoy the animals around the farm. This weekend we are going to make our Fall Bucket List and wish for a little chill in a the air so we can enjoy this beautiful season of life we are given.   We will continue to make new goals, improve on our good habits, and find new ways to love each other to the fullest.

This blog was originally started to document different things that we were doing in order to move towards early retirement.  That was years ago before we decided to have our Sweet B.  We planned to work, travel a little, and budget so we could retire and spend the rest of our lives doing whatever we wanted....  Life had other plans, and we now have the best gift of our lives - along with all of the expenses that come with having a child, as well as the want to not work as much so we could spend more time with her. Even with these new diversions, the goal remains - Retire Early, and Enjoy Life.  We have seen so many friends and family that are working into their later years, or who have too little money to actually enjoy their retirement, and even worse - those that never made it to their later years with the chance to retire and relax. Every year we give ourselves a large goal - one that is just enough of out reach to make us stretch for it, but realistic eno...

Now that we are home from vacation, school has started, and extracurricular activities have taken over our life it is time to get back into the swing of grocery shopping and cooking at home. We got home Wednesday night, and since then Bailey and I have worked every day; B has had school, dance, and a soccer game; we have attended a birthday party and visited with family and friends that we missed while we were gone; Sunday School starts today; and there are only a few weekends left that will be nice enough for golf, so off to the course Bailey heads this morning. With all of this going on I have decided to make use of my crock-pot so that we have hot food, with minimal effort in the kitchen.   Saturday morning after the soccer game I ran to the grocery store to purchase a new vegetable that I am doing a review on (a post to come soon) and while I was there I looked at the markdowns to see if there were any good deals.  Luckily they had some great deals on meat.  ...

Over the past few years I have wrote a few draft posts, I have posted and deleted within minutes, I have gone months without even remembering I even had a blog started.... and then over the last 2 weeks that I spent in Ireland I had time to breathe and think about what I really wanted out of life, and how I wanted to be able to share my experiences in life, and those of my amazing child - B. Now that she is 4 (and a HALF) I have more time to do the things in life I enjoy, and not just pushing to get through each day while tending to her every whim.  I want to make sure that I am documenting the great things that we are experience as a family, and as individuals.   This blog is going to continue to be a mash-up of all things Leslie.  The adventures, the mis-adventures, the shopping splurges, the amazing coupon deals, and all of the things that go on in my life, and those of my "Litter"   My Litter has changed in the past few years.  In Februa...