Alex is a Difference Maker and pinterest projects

Alex was chosen by his teacher to be the Difference Maker for his class for this quarter! We were invited to the assembly and told not to tell Alex. Glen couldn't make it, so I went alone.

At the assembly, they had live bagpipe music (for St. Patrick's Day). The piper even spoke briefly on St. Patrick (who was born in Wales, by the way) and Ireland. I really enjoyed that...

...also Josh Mauga (New York Jets #53) spoke on following your dreams (it was touching when he got a bit choked up about it)...

...and the Difference Makers received their recognition. Alex didn't know he had received it beforehand and didn't know I was on the bleachers. The little startled look he gave when he noticed me was funny.

Afterwards I was waiting for Alex to come by when a mother I didn't recognize told me that she knew that last year Alex had made a difference to her son. I was really happy for that unsolicited endorsement (not that I needed it as I already know that Alex really is a nice, helpful boy). Congratulations Alex.

Last Sunday we skyped with Andrew for the first time. I really like it better than using the speaker phone. I love technology! Andrew continues to do well.

I made my spring and Easter wood blocks this past week (it was past time to take down my valentine's blocks). I really like my spring set, but I don't like the Easter set, so I might redo them somehow:

 
I forgot to post that I made the Lemon Brownie recipe I saw on Pinterest for a family dinner, and we really liked it. http://rita-may-recipes.blogspot.com/search/label/cake 


I also tried the yellow underarm stain remover recipe I found at:
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/11/goodbye-to-yellow-armpit-stains.html
The results were disappointing...but that might be my well water at work--or maybe my stains were too old, because it certainly worked for Jillee when she tried it and posted about it. Maybe mine need several treatments.

Then there's the scrabble tile coasters that I learned about here:
http://scrabble.wonderhowto.com/blog/word-nerds-unite-planning-scrabble-themed-wedding-0116783/
and the instructions from here:
http://www.casasugar.com/DIY-Scrabble-Coasters-1058442

Then there's the pretzel crusted peanut butter cookie candy brownie bars I'm going to make for stamping tomorrow:
http://blog.babygizmo.com/2012/02/ultimate-pretzel-crusted-peanut-butter-cookie-candy-brownie-bars/

Payday is next Tuesday, and I'm going to try something new with my budgeting. I like using my debit card, but the "experts" say that, for security reasons, you really shouldn't use debit cards at gas stations and grocery stores--which includes stores like Walmart (which is where I use my debit card 99% of the time, so where do I use my debit card now? I heard you have to be careful about ATMs as well).

I know someone whose debit info was stolen twice in the last few months and she's pretty sure it was at a local gas station, so I switched to using my credit card. We pay off our credit card in full each month, but it's been hard for me to keep track of my spending since the money doesn't come out of my account immediately. I know I could just pay closer attention and deduct the credit card purchases from my check register immediately, but I decided I'm going to try another route since I'd been toying with the idea for a year or two now.

Cash envelopes is a method touted by many. You supposedly spend less when using cash rather than plastic. I'm not really interested in trying cash except for my grocery store/Wal-mart purchases. This site below allows you to print off and make your own envelopes that also have a place for receipts, as well as a register on the front so you can write down your purchases, if you choose, on the outside of your envelope. We'll see how it goes.
http://www.todaysnest.typepad.com/todays-nest/2010/09/todays-money-budgeting-with-cash-envelopes.html

the template, back, and front of the envelope