nail knowledge and high-speed winds.

Andrew and the girls are on their way to gymnastics, and I hung back to put dinner on the table when they get home. Since I really don't need to start cooking for another half hour, I thought I'd enjoy the quiet house for a few minutes. This really never happens around here! Don't get me wrong, I'm rarely in the mood for silence, but it's nice to be able to organize my thoughts and sit quietly with Baby.

We had a pretty good day today. After naps we went outside and I decided to do my nails since it was nice and windy. I can't really blow on my nails without getting lightheaded, so I figured I'd let Mother Nature do the work for me. It's just gorgeous outside this week, and the girls set up a "wace" in the driveway and were having a wonderful time while Mommy manicured.

I am really feeling this pregnancy today. Whew. I'm just so tired and aching everywhere. I can't really imagine two more work-weeks of this. We've mostly stayed in this week, which is really what I need to get through. If we do go out, we keep it short and easy. This morning we were out the door by 8am and we just went to vacuum the car and made a stop at Walmart for a little milk. Easy peasy. The girls like to get out and do things, but at their ages a 15-minute trip to Walmart is as exciting as a plane trip to Rio, so I really don't feel bad. I don't think it's the physical stuff that's bothering me so much as the monotony. But, it sure beats being completely out of commission by 3pm when we overdo it. I'm having a really hard time with the "tv guilt" as the girls are doing a little more screen time than usual lately. Today I made a really good effort to keep it off all day long and just power through, and they really played well and were just angels all day long.

I've gone back to a 100% cash budget lately and we're really enjoying it. My goal is to live on $20 a day and I would say that for the most part, we're succeeding. That's super tough with the way gas prices are right now, but Andrew and I are having fun trying to decide where to use our $20's and prioritizing better. I actually budget $40 a day and try my hardest to just use the $20, so that at the end of the week we can either do something fun or put the remainder of our week's cash into the bank. Right now all of those extra $20's are going into the "Baby Week Fund." When you have people in the house, in the hospital and in the car, it's really hard to keep track of the old checking acccount. I know that with each baby we end up doing a lot of takeout during the first week, and when you combine that with impromptu Target trips and sending people to the store, it's just easier to have a big wad of cash to handle it instead! I think that might be one of my top tips for the first two weeks with a new baby. Cash, cash, cash! We've done it that way with both previous deliveries and boy is it nice to be able to just not think about money and really just concentrate on the important stuff.

As far as the "why" of the cash-based system, I grew up watching Grandma Susie manage her money. She spent so much extra time letting Nina and I count the money, look at the bills, make bank runs, decide how to spend without overspending, things that are so vital to managing a household. When we use a cash system, we can lay it all out and really think about what we need and what we just want. Today at Walmart, I had $24. My list had milk, ground beef, swiffer solution and apple juice. I got 3 gallons of milk at $2.19 each, skipped the swiffer solution because I can clean the kitchen floor fine without it, swapped the juice for yogurt because the girls should be drinking water anyway, agonized over the price of ground beef and went with 2 pounds instead of 3. I never do that. We're very fortunate to be able to just head to the store and shop. But when I work these things out with Lucy and ask her what she thinks we really, really need, she makes great choices. When she sees me put things back and pick things up because I only have $24 on me, she sees that living on a budget isn't something to be ashamed of, but something to be smart about. We may very well end up having to live on $20 a day someday. I can never know what the future holds. If I can do it with two kids, I can do it with three. That kind of example is what creates frugal kids, so we make it work. Swiping my card all the time makes the money look imaginary to the kids, so having the cash has been really interesting for them.

I am still doing other shopping on Amazon, but that works well because I really just get what I need and have a chance to think it through. When I "go shopping," I end up picking things up and getting home only to think, "Huh?' I actually ordered nail polish online yesterday. It does seem odd, but I knew all I wanted was to replace the orange nail polish I'm almost out of. If I do that at Target, I suddenly need new nail files, something for the girls, mascara, jelly beans, whole wheat penne, you get the idea. I'm using Amazon Prime now; not paying shipping AND getting everything here in two days is pretty much changing my life. Love it!

Well, I'm off to use up my pricey ground beef in an Unstuffed Pepper Casserole - some for us, the rest for the freezer! How much do I not want to chop up Bell peppers right now? Yuck. At least my nails are done!