Why and about me

After the past few years and the curve balls life has thrown my and my family. I thought that it was time to start sharing some of the things I have learned :) But first a little about yours truly and the family.  I am a married step-mom of 3 and Love it! No one said that being a step parent was easy but it has many rewarding moments.
My Family
My Husband is unable to work as he has an unknown neurological disorder, the Dr is classifying it as Fibromyalgia as it does fit there 100%, but the Dr thinks there is more to it and I agree, we just cannot find it. My husband lives in never ending nerve pain. medication helps but causes as many issues as it fixes (or more) He does what he can around the house and mentally supports me.
My eldest step daughter (21) is out on her own and handling it well :) I wish that her moving out was better timed but other factors messed that up (we had to move, and could not find a place in our budget with the right # of bedrooms)
My step son (20) is learning how to get a job and be an adult right now, not an easy time for him, but we are doing everything we can to help him (even if that means tough love sometimes). His best friend is staying here more then his home right now due to issues there, so that makes his bedroom TIGHT and tempers can flare for little to no reason (I guess this goes for all of us most of time time right now...)
My youngest step daughter (18) is just starting to look for her first job and has a plan in place to save $ so she and her other half can move out on their own. He also lives with us due to family issues (nothing major just the squabbling that is normal, but can be fixed by removing the new adult :)
Me :)
I have had the nickname smiles as I use them a lot in communication. I tend to be a happy person but that is the outside me, inside I struggle with depression on a daily basis (HUGE thanks to my social worker/counselor Sharon who taught me how to deal with this, or I would be in a mental institution by now LOL) I am finding out how strong I am and am thankful for all my life's lessons I have learned. I cannot say that I have any regrets about my life. This is my second marriage and the first taught me loads! I am a better person now and I hope that he is also (I have not talked with him in any way for a long time) I love to game yes, a girl gamer. pc mostly but I do have a play station so I can play with the kids sometimes, I only own one game for it right now. My current games of choice are Diablo 3 and Sims 3, for the past 2 1/2 months Sims3 with cheats was the only game I could play, I can play Diablo 3 in short segments now (about 45 min is my tops right now). I also love to crochet and have 6 baby blankets to donate to the local children's hospital this holiday season. Other then that work and home are my life, I work full time and have cooking duty most nights (nights that I work I don't do the dishes one of the kids does) I cannot say we do a lot of cleaning but we try to keep the house passable.
In the last year we have had 4 surgery's (yes, four!)  My husband had his knee scoped about July last year, found out that he has some nasty arthritis on the underside of his patella, the dr removed some of the build up and that has helped a little with the pain but mostly the locking up (it would lock and he could not bend it without MAJOR pain) then in December the youngest was having major abdominal pain and we found out that she had a cyst on her spleen so it had to come out (it was about 3 time normal size and weighed about 5 lbs) that was the worst one as she spent 2 1/2 days in the hospital, she now has a nice scar running down her tummy almost to her belly button (we call the scar the exclamation mark) it is about 4 1/2- 5 inches... but she is getting better (it had been pushing on her tummy and making it hard to eat, so she is having to re-train her body). Her healing has been a long road but then again it was a long road getting there, we think that it had been growing for about 4-6 years. The dr did not agree but did not dis-agree... the scar tissue has given her some issues (searing pain anyone?, but thankfully are getting better).Then this July I had eye surgery to re-fix an issue I was born with (my eyes were crossed, so at 9 months old they cut and moved the muscles so I could see normally, this time it was a different set of muscles but that is normal) so I am just getting back to work this coming Friday after not being there for over 2 months (still having issues reading a computer but that is part of why I started this blog to work my eyes) then just last week the eldest had to have her appendix out!  Thankfully hers was able to be done laparoscopicly, so she went back to work Sunday (I am still impressed! when I saw her Fri evening she was in the end of the first 48 hours after and was about to fall asleep standing up, but her incisions looked good no red) . I got my money's worth from the insurance company (sorry guys but this is life some times)

The main reason I wanted a blog was to share my money saving tips and how to cut corners without feeling so strapped. I am currently feeding 5-7 people a night so I plan on 6 every night. and I do it all on bout $100 a week or $400 a month! we usually have leftovers or sandwiches for lunch (fend for yourself) as we have dinner as a family (for the most part) breakfast is cereal and milk simple but good for you. I will get into that more next post this one is already way to long :)