Not Me! Monday

Last week was very hectic so I will recap some of what went on, even though some of it was mentioned in my last post.

I did not become too lazy last week to make a menu plan and shopping list, therefore spending $21 at one store and $64 at another only to come away with about three meals worth of food. I was not doing so well sticking to a $75 weekly grocery budget for weeks only to smash this week into the ground due to being "tired". Not me, I'm always organized with shopping list in hand!

I didn't rush out to buy Easter goodies on Friday afternoon only to find the stores jam packed, and the good candy and chocolate bunnies gone. I did not find out on Saturday that our store was out of spiral sliced hams and instead had to settle on a turkey ham for our Easter dinner.

While slaving in the kitchen for Easter dinner I did not come to find out that I should have also picked up potatoes as the bag I had was wrinkly and growing eyes...and ears, noses, mouths, and legs. I did not peel them and boil them anyway because I wanted potatoes, gosh darn it!

I have not been enticing the children to price their toys which involve many pieces for our garage sale this week. What kind of mommy would want their children to give up their toys just because she finds little pieces all over the house?! That wasn't me at all!

Happy Not Me! Monday! Please share your weekly Not Me! Moments to make me feel better!

Odds & Ends

The children are finally all in bed after a tiring day. Ben is finishing reading up a book and I now have a few free moments to dish out all of our happenings as of late.

I have been busy getting things ready for a garage sale which my mom, aunt, and I are having next week. I have been sorting, organizing, and pricing and already have seven huge boxes of items ready and lots yet to go through. Our garage sales are a hit each year as my mom sells a lot of her excess stockpile that she gets for free or nearly free through couponing. I have a bunch of outgrown kids clothes, books, knick knacks, and a huge box of movies...not to mention a high chair, old kid's school desk, and lots more household items. I'll be taking a before and after photo of the sale as you won't believe how packed full the tables are before and how empty the sale looks after.
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I hope that you all are able to take some time to reflect on the true meaning of the day. It is too easy to get wrapped up in egg hunts, Easter Baskets, and family gatherings and forget that we are rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord and remember the sacrifice that He made for us. We usually go to my Grandma's on Easter to visit with family but with renovations going on at her house we will be keeping the kids away so they don't get into trouble and will just be spending the day together with a small egg hunt in the house for the kids, church, and a ham dinner.
As per my twitter post earlier, I promised a post of why shopping with kids is a big no-no. For anyone who has an almost two year old, I'm sure you can understand. Shopping has not been an enjoyable experience for several months now, ever since Joe realized he could try to get out of the cart, or pull things off the shelves, or scream for something he wants. It doesn't help that Rebecca has had an attitude lately and fights with her younger brothers and demands a treat at the store.

We drove to "the big city" today to do some grocery shopping. At the store Rebecca picked on Jacob, Joe constantly tried to get out of the cart (why are those seat belts not effective in keeping him in?!), and I got so stressed that I couldn't think of anything to buy. Yep, you heard that right, not only did I make the mistake of taking all three kiddos shopping with me but I made the grave mistake of not making a menu or shopping list this week. Gasp!

So anyway, I got to the point that I was exhausted just thinking about continuing the shopping trip so I made a run for a couple dozen eggs, some green beans, and a few other things and decided to check out. At the checkout lane things were going okay, that is, until Joe grabbed the counter and pulled the cart forward, slamming into the man in front of us. He let out a huge "OUCH!" and looked back at me as though he wanted to punch me in the face right then and there. I can't blame him really, it hurts like the dickens when someone slams a cart into your ankle so I also didn't blame him when he paid for his purchase and then walked away muttering. Then Joe ripped the cash register tape out of the register and the cashier ripped it out of his hands, probably thinking him a little brat after the ankle crushing episode she witnessed earlier and I'm fairly certain at this point she thought I was a horrible mother for allowing such a little devil out in public. Sigh. I had wanted to do more shopping but felt defeated so said I just wanted to go home.

Once home I decided to go to our grocery store as we needed the makings for an Easter dinner. I left the kids at home with hubby and went to the store, again without a list, and saw that all the good hams were gone. I had a choice between a huge picnic ham for $30 or turkey ham...so we will be eating turkey ham tomorrow. I wandered the aisles and picked up meal items here and there. I paid $65 and only came away with a few meals worth of food though, so this is the exact reason why I must stick with menu planning and grocery lists. I also went a little overboard with the strawberries as they looked so good and I was craving them so picked up three packages - not realizing that they added up to over 5 lbs. and were over $7! We all love strawberries though so I will chalk it up to a good treat for us.


I did have enough forethought to pick up the above bottle of wine at the grocery store. I'm sipping on it now and can say that it is just what the doctor ordered after a day like today. I don't usually spend $8 for a bottle of wine but it beckoned to me from the shelf and I gravitated to it without thought. It was calling my name! Come on, the back of the bottle says it all:
"Somewhere near the cool shadows of the laundry room, Past the litter box and between the plastic yard toys. This is your time. Time to enjoy a moment to yourself. A moment without the madness. The dishes can wait. Dinner be d---d. Mad Housewife White Zinfandel."

On that note I am off to fill the plastic Easter eggs and spend some time with hubby.

Happy Easter!

Frugal Friday: Hair Cutting at Home

This is fairly common knowledge - it is cheaper for you to cut your families hair than for them to get it cut at a salon or barber.

I am lucky in the fact that my hubby grew up in a home where his mother often cut their hair. Before we were married he had invested in a hair clippers and had been buzzing his own hair, so that continued after we were married. I help trim up any strays or shave his neck but since his hair is kept so short it is easy to maintain. Considering that men's haircuts are $9 here and most men get a cut every 6 weeks or so that is a big savings.

I cut the boys hair too. In the summer months it is a buzz cut which keeps them cool and also makes it easier to wash out all the dirt and sand that they get into while playing. In the winter I will give them a long buzz cut or just trim it shorter every few weeks. They don't have bowl cuts or anything that makes them unstylish. Sometimes I will get creative and experiment with their hair; for awhile Jacob was sporting a faux-hawk which he got rave reviews on. Kids hair cuts are $6-$10 in the area so that is another big savings.

I dabble with Rebecca's hair from time to time but she has had two professional cuts. Once when she got gum stuck in her hair and I was afraid I was going to make her bald and another time when she cut her own hair and had a huge chunk missing in the front. Both times the professional hair stylist was able to correct the mistake and make her hairstyle look cut, not like a corrected mistake. I don't think she would have fared so well in my hands those two times. I consider it money well spent.

I am not brave enough to attempt to trim my own hair, except for the bangs a few times. I do go to a professional. I don't go nearly as often as the average person...around once or twice a year. I get it cut into a semi-short style and then usually let it grow out before getting another new cut. I just went a few weeks ago and spent $18 for a style that I am unhappy with, so it isn't always roses even when you pay someone for a cut. I decided I will be growing my bangs out and once they reach a good length I will go for a new cut. I will be prepared next time with a picture of exactly what I want.

Highlights and coloring. I've done highlights twice before. I was happy with the do-it-yourself cap highlighting kit that I purchased for $8 but it took awhile to pull the hair through the cap and that was fairly annoying to me. I've also done the more blocky type highlights that you just apply and wasn't too happy with the results. Since I have been noticing more grey hairs (gasp...I'm only 27!) I think with my next hair appointment I will be trying professional highlights. I will have to call around to find the most decent price. I also like the lighter (blond) highlights but read that if you are getting lighter highlights in dark hair the upkeep to make it look good is at least every six weeks. If you get a darker highlight, such as a caramel color you can go longer in between applications.

I've read tips that if you live in a town with a beauty school you can get cut, permed, and colored for a very good price. The nearest beauty school is fairly far from here so not a good option for me but if you have one in your area you may want to check it out. Remember that you will have students practicing on you so it can be a good thing...or a very bad thing!

Do you cut your family's hair? Are you a brave soul that even cuts your own hair? Anything that I left out here?

What's Up With Playing House?

(Note: This is not an April Fools Joke post!)
I received our church's newsletter in the mail today and it talked of cohabitation before marriage and the increase of it. I've noticed the same thing myself. It has become acceptable, even within religious circles. While my religion preaches against pre-marital sex and living together before marriage, there is a huge number of parishioners that still do it and think it is okay.

It is a sticky subject for me to talk about. How can I preach of the wrongs of these activities without ultimately judging those who do them? As my pastor preached, we can not make decisions for other people but we must promote our faith and the teachings of our church. I can be against pre-marital sex but that doesn't mean I hate those who choose it. I can be against divorce but that doesn't mean I dis-like those who are divorced. I can be against abortion but not hate the mother who had one. What it really means is that I am pro-marriage and pro-life and I will take a stand for it. It is not a personal crusade against anyone.

So let me preface this by saying that if you are living with someone out of marriage that is your choice. It doesn't mean you are a horrible person. I am against living together before marriage but I am not against you.

I, personally, don't get "living together". Granted, I can see why those who are not Christian may see it as okay, because if you don't follow the words of the Bible then there really is no reason to get married, except for the legal aspect of it. That is not what I am addressing today. What I don't "get" is how Christians who go to church and walk the walk can accept this as okay. I get that we all sin and pre-marital sex or cohabitation is just another sin, but it is an accepted one in so many circles. I know lying is bad and I may lie sometimes but I don't accept it and pass it off as okay since everyone is doing it. When did this stop being wrong?

Not only that, I don't see what the point is. If you love someone enough to live with them, why not love them enough to marry them? I was reading one of those tabloid magazines a few months back and they were interviewing one of the couples from the Bachelor. When asked if they had plans for marriage the woman answered that "She wanted to get to know him more to make sure that this guy was the right fit for her son before committing to marriage." That's a smart thing if you have a child, to make sure the man you are dating is right for your family. But...it went on to say that they are living together. So she doesn't know him well enough to see if he would be a good fit but he can live with her while she finds out?! Things like that make you go hmmm.

The risks of cohabitation are never presented in any form in our society, but the data is obvious. Less than half of cohabitating couples even marry. 40% of cohabitating households include children. The average duration of cohabitation is 1.3 years. Women are likely to cohabitate only once and that with the person they subsequetly marry; men are more likely to cohabitate with a series of partners. Divorce rate is much higher for people who cohabitate.

Cohabiters value independence and economic equality; whereas married persons generally value interdependence and the exchange of resources. These ideas can cause problems if the cohabiters do eventually end up marrying.

The reasons given by most people who live together before marriage:

*Fear or disbelief in long-term commitment

*Desire to test the relationship

*Independence

*Avoid Divorce (you know, "test the car before buying it" theory)

These are all reasons given by Christians. The fact is, more than half of all first marriages are preceded by cohabitation and it is done almost equally by both Christian and non. We Christians no longer have a foothold on better marriages as our cohabitation and divorce rates are just as high as non-Christians. In my circle of friends it is more common to find someone who has slept with/lived with a partner before marriage than one who has not. I don't go asking this kind of information (and would really prefer not to know!) but it is common knowledge because it is something that is talked about freely like the weather these days.

Yes, marriage is a huge commitment. One not to be taken lightly in the least. But living together to test things out will not improve your relationship or make your marriage stronger. Quite frankly, I think the majority of us who are married can attest to the fact that there are some very hard times within a marriage and the only thing keeping us together during those times may be the sole fact that we made the commitment to one another and are married. Without that commitment, it is just too easy to leave the relationship during the bad times. The statistics prove that living together before marriage can/does hurt your marriage as the divorce rates are much higher.

Is it just that "playing house" is the cool thing to do these days? Should we test drive the car for a few years before deciding to buy? Is it not, in a sense, keeping us in limbo in life as it is an illusion of togetherness but in essence it means you are neither single nor married?

Your thoughts on this growing trend?

Wholesome Wednesday: Exercising When You Have Kids

I've found it to be difficult to get into an exercise routine since having children. I just don't have the time to do jumping jacks, touching my finger to my toes, running on a treadmill, and doing push ups. Okay, I lied. I've found that if you really want to do something you will find time for it. I don't like doing those types of exercises so I just don't.

I do like to move my body though. Whether it be running in the yard with the kids, taking a long walk, walking the dog at a brisk pace, or going up and down the steps with countless baskets of laundry to put away I like to get that kind of workout. And it works. I seriously believe that in our day to day life we are able to get adequate exercise to mantain a healthy lifestyle by doing our everyday things. We don't need a separate machine to help us stay in shape. Granted, our lifestyles are not so "natural" as they were 100 years ago. There is less physical labor and a lot of desk jobs or other work that depends more on the mind than the body. I can see how someone who sits behind a desk for 8 hours a day could have a need to go "sweat it out at the gym". But I am speaking for myself here and I think that as a mother to three active children and a homemaker with a home to take care of I should be able to get enough exercise within my daily routines.

I think I do for the most part. Mopping a floor, vacuuming a room or two, hauling laundry baskets up and down the steps, lifting toddlers, scrubbing bathtubs, and all the other various jobs that I do throughout the day are burning calories and getting my heart rate going. Not to mention that digging in the garden, raking leaves, pushing kids on swings, chasing children down, walking dogs, and taking long strolls throughout the neighborhood are all very vigorous activities.

These are all things that can be done with a child, or two, or three. It is easy to get into the mindset that the only productive exercise is the hard workout in the gym or on the exercise equipment in your home but I find that as long as you are moving about and getting things done you are exercising. These things can be done with your children so that they too are getting adequate exercise. Just today I took a very long walk around the walking trail and the great thing about getting your kids to join in is that it wears them out and turns down their energy level for awhile. Both boys fell asleep when we returned home and slept for over an hour which was blissful!

Our bodies don't have to suffer just because we are busy with little kiddos all day. We can truly turn our daily activities into our exercise and kill two birds with one stone.

What do you do to exercise while at home with your children?

Pretty Yourself Up

I have felt like crud lately. It's probably because I have been dealing with the creepy cruddy cold that the kids and I have had but just looking in the mirror made me feel more cruddy - because I looked like it as well.

Don't get me wrong, I've never been one of those ladies who look as though they just walked out of a magazine page. No where close to it. I hate to admit it but I am "one of those moms" who tends to think "Why get prettied up just to spend all day with kids?". There have been times that I have taken more care of my appearance and I liked how I felt. It is the same mentality of getting dressed and out of your pajamas in the morning even if you are going to stay at home all day, just so that you will feel ready for your day and not laze about. So goes putting a little effort into your appearance...get prettied up for the day so that you will feel pretty. Just because I am home all day doesn't mean I need to look and feel like crud.

Today I woke up and wanted to feel like a normal human being again. I straightened my hair (can I just admit that I am soooooo tired of my frizzy curly hair?!) and put makeup on. I wasn't going anywhere special today, just to the grocery store with the kids, but I felt better about myself. And my plan is to do this every day this week. To see if it improves my mood.

What I could really use is a wardrobe overhaul. I have nothing to "dress up" in. It seems to constantly be jeans and a sweatshirt or t-shirt for me. Throw in a sweater here or there and call it complete. Boring!! It is so hard for me to find clothes that I like and that I can afford and that I don't ruin. I'm a klutz like that and get bleach stains or food stains on almost all my favorite clothes within the first or second wearing of the item. Whether it is my fault or a child wiping their sticky paws on me, stains on my clothing seem to be the bane of my existence. So I feel really bad looking at a blouse or skirt to buy knowing that it may be money wasted once I ruin it. Sigh.

At least this week my hair and make-up will be looking good and hopefully I will be feeling good this week because of it!

How do you brighten up your mood when you feel and look down in the dumps?

Being sick for a week did not throw me for a loop. I am always on top of my game when it comes to everything so I did not do things quite unusual, such as:

When I went to return a Redbox movie rental I did not disregard the directions on how to return it with the arrow pointing a certain way but rather in my cold induced fog just jam the case into the machine and then push it in harder when it didn't go in, only to get the darn DVD stuck in the machine with no way to push it in or pull it out. It wasn't I who had to go to the service desk to explain my predicament and have the lady ask in a rude tone "if I put it in per the directions". Nope, wasn't me at all that did that!

I did not serve my family frozen pizza one night and pizza rolls the next night. I know how that is complete and utter crap and food like that doesn't even pass through our door, much less be served two nights in a row in our household. Not me and my house!

When I called to cancel my daughter's dentist appointment due to her cold I did not get everyone situated in preparation for the call. Phone conversations are not a difficult task in this household so I did not arrange things so that this call would go well, even deciding to keep the toddler happy on my hip as I made the call. Once I was on the phone explaining that we would need to reschedule the appointment my toddler did not start into a loud coughing fit right in my ear (and the phone!). I did not have to repeatably ask her to repeat herself and we did not end our phone call as quickly as possible. Not me...no problems with phone conversations in this house!

Happy Not Me! Monday!