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Archive for January, 2009

Locked my husband out of the house

January 30th, 2009 at 06:30 pm

So yesterday my husband comes home rather late. Seems he stopped at target to pick up some deodorant, thats all he needed but he stopped at the clearance aisles since he was there.

He comes in with just the deodorant and says he needs to go back to the car to bring something in.

Through the storm door I see him wrangling a rather large item out of the car. I think to myself, some sort of shelves, or desk, something to help in the living room tangle of mismatched holders of junk, or for the garage, that place could use organization (throw out all the garbage and there would be plenty of room, but I digress)

As he comes closer I see it is a box larger than my oldest with some sort of colorful graphic on the front, a kids item? Maybe shelves for their rooms?

Then he says it is a table hockey game...

I literally locked the door and walked away.

"But I always wanted one of these" he called after me.

For those of you who do not know we live in a small house, 3 bedrooms yes, but with 6 of us, the fact that the house is pretty much just 3 bedrooms, a small kitchen and a small living room, not to mention the smallness of said bedrooms, life is a bit cramped.

So I left him out in the cold with his giant hockey game.

"But BIL and I used to love playing this kind of game together" I heard him calling.

Then as JC headed to find out what all the comotion was, I heard him get quiet, he was trying to convince JC to unlock the door for him! I put a stop to that.

"It is a small hockey table, it wont take up much space!" came a new plea

I proceeded to serve up dinner for the kids.

"It is really cold out here" (you would think growing up in PA he would have thicker blood)

Then finally silence, as I began eating dinner with the kids, I noticed no new complaints from outside.

"Wait just let me explain" came a voice from right behind me.

Seems he decided to sneak in another door!

I contimplated making a run for the car and starting a new life, but then I remembered how badly the car was cluttered as well.

I let him talk instead.

Apparently he bought it as a present for the nieces and nephews, who live in a 3 bedroom BIG house. Which is ok, then he told me the price, which was nice.

The deodorant was on sale too.

google and print

January 29th, 2009 at 05:51 pm

The Girl Scouts are gearing up for World Thinking Day by studying up on Pakistan.

So far we built a model home, colored pictures of the prime ministers house, learned a bit about the culture and dress.

Next week we will be making a head scarf and decorating it with jewels.

I printed a few details about Girl Guides there, and am printing a

Text is map and Link is http://www.cbrd.co.uk/reference/international/img/pak/map1.gif
map and 'hello' in Urdu.

The other half of my morning is googling and printing info for my Cub scout. He is earning his 'citizenship belt loop'. So he has to make a poster about what makes a good citizen. He asked for the pledge, a flag, and a recycle symbol. I insisted he have something about voting as well.

You can do anything with google and a printer Smile

The artist(s) in the family

January 28th, 2009 at 08:33 pm

I am holding a very nice crayon drawing of a flower.

JC traced a mirror shaped like a flower, then she shaded it..really with crayon. IT has dark 'highlights' on the bottom of the leaves, and a line through the stem that sorta makes it look more real. Or at least like real art anyway.

Kinda neat, since I have no artistic talent I am often amazed by little things.

GMC meanwhile did a self portrait...with orange skin. and a miniature head compared to the rest of the body, first glance it looks like a cartoon of a shrunken head skit or something, and he comments 'I made the feet really big I guess' whitch is true, about as big as his legs, but still goes to show what a kid thinks of. The body is also a box, nearly perfect square, fingers are lines. cute picture. (JC did one earlier, her head was huge, almost as big as the rest of the body combined, less boxy)

Yesterday while working on valentines I had two thoughts.

1. UE is cute, he made a 'valentine Clementine'. because when he tried to cut out hearts they looked more like clementines (the look like scraps of orange paper really, but hey why not)

2. When do grown ups cut? When was the last time you needed to cut a shape out? I iumagine scrapbookers, and of course teachers of the very young do quite frequently. BUt my husband in computers, as far as I can tell only opens packages, or cuts labels. No fancy shapes. And looking at the jobs of all the folk I know....no special need to cut out hearts or lions in the computer field, pastors, grocery work, baking, electrical repair, medical records, nurses, masonry, ...

You get the idea. Cutting is not really much of an adult skill (unless you work with small children) So why does it bother me that my son is subpar in that area? (though improving with all the heart practice he is getting this week)

Back from the void

January 27th, 2009 at 08:21 pm

My computer was down! My wonderful husband spent many swearing sessions to fix it. I don't know much about computers but I do know a good swear fest will fix em if done right (I for example cannot seem to fix them no matter how much swearing I do, alas I must not know all the good words)

So I am back from the void. This time using Google Chrome.

I have nothing interesting to say, but I am back to say it nonetheless Smile

Spending log:
Jan 22:
Target 13.86 not sure I didn't spend it
Lowes: 11.94 stuff for my cabinets (they are great!)
Electric bill: 57.33 (rather high .... stupid Wii)
Jan 26th:
BJs: 137.26 food
Food Lion: 102.80 (lotta food)
Restaurant: 18.21 (was double that before the coupons)

previous for January: 726.40

Dec final*: 908.65

Things I wouldn't buy even if I were in the mood

January 23rd, 2009 at 06:05 pm

No offense is intended to the makers, buyers, sellers, or even folk actually interested in these items, I am just saying...

Text is veagan valentine and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=cat1_gallery_3&listing_id=19956555
veagan valentine Sorry I am fond of chocolate, though it is for a good cause, or at leas a cause, I didn't research this stuff.

Text is felt teething rings and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=cat1_gallery_14&listing_id=19957895
felt teething rings


umm felt? in the mouth? that just sounds so...yucky or at least fuzzy, I am all for natural, but felt?

Text is vinal VHS and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=cat1_gallery_17&listing_id=19926005
vinal VHS

I guess if you can't part with your worthless VCR you could give it to the kids along with these? But why encourage a kid to hang on to a dead tech?

Text is pull toy and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_4&listing_id=19822089
pull toy

No pic on this one, do you see what that rabbit is doing?

Text is



Why not get real acorns?

and finally, [url=http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14987529]doll body bag and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_14&listing_id=18454640




Why not get real acorns?

and final...



It is a body bag for a doll, how morbid do you want kids playtime to be!
All done with pictures, enjoy!

If I were in a buying mood

January 22nd, 2009 at 08:36 pm

This is cute!

Text is MissPrettyPretty playhouse and Link is http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6117191
MissPrettyPretty playhouse



What kid wouldn't love a custom playhouse, and what mom wouldn't love the fold-ability of simple cloth and a card table!

And of course you need some mail to go in that mailbox!

Text is mailbag and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_2&listing_id=18004789
mailbag

Then for a baby this is beautiful!

Text is stacking toy and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19695054
stacking toy

For the older kid in the family a challenge:
Text is Pzzlblox and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19162353
Pzzlblox


Now any nursing mother knows at some point baby gets bored with just looking at you (or worse the inside of a blanket) so here is one idea:
Text is nursing necklace and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_15&listing_id=20058623
nursing necklace

I am cheap, I just let her play with the necklace I always wear, happens to be strong cord stands up to pulling, not wooden decorations though.

For the pretend eco momma
Text is doll diaper and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19162353
doll diaper



and of course a
Text is set of wipes and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=cat1_gallery_20&listing_id=20020188
set of wipes

(yes the diapers are on JCs wish list)

For the spy in the family:
Text is secret decoder and Link is http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=cat1_gallery_13&listing_id=19987487
secret decoder

(I actually might look at this for GMC...

OK I really have to stop...Though if you want you can find anything on there, from wooden phones (really you want wooden toys, but modern electronics?) Chess sets for thousands of dollars or $25, felt food, handmade stuffed animals, dolls, and blocks.
And finally done with pictures

The reason Wookies use bowcasters (maybe)

January 22nd, 2009 at 07:24 pm

So over at Cracked they were making fun of fantasy weapons. And yes they still use bad language, so just for the fun of it we will skip the link. (yes I emailed them, no they don't care, family gals are not their target audience)

Anyway They, and many others, wanted to know why with the tech availible in the Star Wars universe would a Wookie use a bow caster (uses energy to launch quills)

I think I know. It is the same reason why my kids are writing. The Wookie planet used crossbows when the empire found them. All adults were well versed in the use of a crossbow, earning the right to carry one was a coming of age event for young wookies. So rather than change centuries of habit, the empire gave them a better crossbow.

My kids are learning to write, in an age where the tech for typing on your phone is more used than an actual signature.

Waitresses only write down orders long enough to input them in a computer (actually if they are as lazy as I was they only write it down for big orders, everyone else gets a pretend squiggle as I memorized the order) Pretty soon the waitress 'book' will be a computer pad (that can scan your CC when done)

Adults text rather than talk (And who still writes a letter?) Kids in 3rd grade are required to have calculators for class (what write down math are you crazy?)

But unlike the Wookie world that had the empire tech brought on them by surprise (or not, I don't really know that much) My kids will grow with the tech, and wont need high tech ancient weapons (except in fantasy)

Though I expect at some point in the future,kiddie games will teach texting rather than handwriting writing.

New ad theory

January 21st, 2009 at 04:58 pm

So last night we finally watched TV again, sort of. We were watching some Tivo'd episodes (Big Bang Theory, and Psyche).

Of course if you have Tivo (or a friend with TiVo), you know commercials are no longer watched. Instead you fast forward through them, getting right back to your show.

So I wonder, just when are advertisers going to realize this and start putting together ads that work in fast motion? Though at the same time maybe they already have, from repetitive images to logos that stay onscreen, I actually can tell you what was advertised last night. (or rather 2 months ago)

-MnMs went with the old green sex myth for a new 'luxury' line.
-some car or another thinks 29MPG is energy efficient.
-Some beer brand won an award.
-Somebody doesn't like Dole
-they don't like Obama either
-Target stole the Mr Wizard intro and made it red.


In over two hours of TV viewing, that's all I got..but MnMs must be happy.

spending catch up

January 20th, 2009 at 09:25 pm

See this is why I hate keeping track, I always forget, and then I have to go back and see when I last put stuff in, and then put in all the new stuff.

good thing we don't spend that often, but really more than enough.

Oh plus I read the recent post brought up about food spending and I wondered just how much we spend on food now compared to then.

I think I will go with all spending this month, and then next month just food. Too much trouble to separate now.

This week we are trying to buy for two weeks worth at Trader Joes, and then alternate TJs and Food Lion weeks.
(no we can't skip one or the other)

Spending log:
Jan 19th: 75.18 (TJs)
Jan 16th: 23.55 (scouts)
Jan 14th: 146.36 BJs (food)
Jan 13th: 41 food lion (exactly 41?)
Jan 12: 11.08 USPS mailing stuff
56.58 Trader Joes

previous for January: 372.65

Dec final*: 908.65

Snow!

January 20th, 2009 at 05:15 pm

It snowed last night,
It snowed last night
the snow bears had a pillow fight


That was the song I sang ever time it snowed when I was a kid, I am surprised I remembered it since living in Charlotte I rarely see snow!

ANd Last night it snowed, the first of 2009 as GMC informed me this morning.

UE says we need to get a Christmas tree to go with the snow.

GMC also had a conversation with UE about how we needed to play in the snow, not with the Wii because the Wii will be here tomorrow, but the snow will melt soon!

Last night as the weather station called for the snow, folks geared up to buy milk and bread and eggs, as all folk do before 'emergencies'. Not because you can't drive (in general the roads are fine once the sun comes up, or before) but because School is canceled and everyone needs to make french toast with the kids Smile. OR at least we hope they take advantage of all that bread and milk and eggs to do something fun. Maybe we are weird, but unless it is shopping day we generally have milk, and bread and eggs a-plenty.

ALl 4 kids made it outside, and I decided we have got to start stocking some cream, makes much better hot chocolate than 1% milk.

No nap, many ramblings, kids selling

January 19th, 2009 at 08:44 pm

I was rather expecting UE to stop napping, he is 3 and sleeps plenty at night. But EL has decided to give hers up right along with him! She is 7 months, way to young for it. And I am rather frustrated with my afternoons. I miss my alone time.

_______________
We have a Wii... For Christmas we talked about asking for one as a joint gift, then read up on how difficult they can be to find, and said we didn't need the aggravation nor want to put that chore on anyone else.

It seems MIL found out and decided to find one for us.

So we have a new toy. I haven't watched TV since Smile. Lego Star Wars is the perfect game to play while nursing, not to hard, not to much movement, and one or two levels can be finished while she snuggles down for the night.

I also tried the Wii age tester from the sports pack and found out I was 80 years old! Then after trying every day (for a long time) I made it to 30, and called it quits, I figure if I keep going it will go back up, so I stopped playing that one.

______________
The scouts had their derby, and I discovered how annoying it is when someone doesn't show up..the fellow with the scale didn't show. Now if you have been in a derby you know the car needs to be less than 5 oz, and if yours is 2 it will be creamed by my 5 oz car, not worth racing even. So we couldn't start till we had one.

We now own one.

I also heard a comment from someone about organization would help...now since I delegated the task of bringing the scale, what exactly was I supposed to do short of doing it all myself? I also delegated the task of making the 'chart' for the double elimination show up on the screen, I didn't know it was simple, but the message never made it to me, so that task had to be solved the day of the derby.

Not that I had no help, I had more help for this event than ever before, just a few key issues were missing.

I almost laughed when one person said they wanted to know what was taking so long for the awards, I kinda wonder how they think the kids names get on there? wave a magic wand? the Cubmaster and I sit down and scribble furiously while they ate hot dogs..not my fault if you eat fast. (and extra thanks to the lady who brought the hot dogs!)

BTW GMC won Smile

(well his daddy's car was faster, but GMC was the fastest kid car)
____________

I just had three kids come to my door to sell candy. They said they were saving up to buy a guinea pig! I bought a lollypop for 50 cents They asked for a quarter. but it was all pennies so I overpaid Smile.

I also had a comment on my '10 year old with job' blog post by a young girl, I deleted it because it had her name and phone number and I don't think those should be posted online. I sent her a nice email suggesting she not post personal info online and find a trusted adult to help her come up with a way to make money.

I think this is the true sign of the times, and I like it. I would rather see kids hawking candy than thinking a DS or cell phone is an automatic right for all 10 year olds.

_________________

EL can Moo! sortof. If you ask her what a cow says, about 75% of the time she says 'oooo' which is close enough for me, and really cute. This would be the earliest any of my kids 'talked'. But it is just a moo (without the M).

How do you choose your Kiva loans?

January 15th, 2009 at 07:15 pm

I know many folk on SA enjoy helping folk out with Kiva loans, and I wondered how others choose the loan recipients?

Last time I choose a

Text is woman and Link is http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50799
woman who had a decent plan, and most importantly only needed $25 to fill the loan. It was paid back (on time btw)and so I went to try another loan.

And I again had to figure out who to pick...

This time I had 25 in kiva credit (from the original loan being repaid) and 25 in paypal. So I made two loans

one to a
Text is group and Link is http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=83314
group

and one to a
Text is woman in retail and Link is http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=81698&_tpos=9&_tpg=1
woman in retail

I still really don't know how to pick, but I do know they were not full. So if you happen to be on your way to Kiva anytime soon, and have no better reason to pick loans, feel free to pick those two so the money will come back sooner.

That is a cool gadgett

January 14th, 2009 at 05:39 pm

I like gadgets, I like toys, my disdain of buying new fads is not because I don't like any of them, it is because I know I don't have time, money or space for all of them.

And I am OK with that.

So yes I do see how cool that new toy is, and sure I could play with it. But no I am not buying one.

Tell you what how about you bring your toy over here, we all check it out and have fun together?

Oh you have meetings/school/work/everything else in the way of visiting.

Sorry we will miss you, well enjoy your toy.

Oh you have meetings/work/school/everything else in the way of playing with it.....

Sorry. Well at least you can say you have that toy. I can't say that.

Lunch break over.

Christmas Cabinets

January 12th, 2009 at 08:27 pm

I have new kitchen cabinets!

Sortof, they are in my living room, stacked on top of each other and covered with a blanket so they don't get dinged up, but I have them.

We pooled most of the Christmas cash we were given and used it to buy cabinets to fill the hole on the far side of my kitchen. Right now the recess has a bench in it and is 91.5 inches long.

without paying for customization we can't get 91.5 inch long cabinets.

so my ingenious husband found a long 'utility' cabinet (that look just like the other cabinets we already have) and one 30 tall cabinet that he is going to hang on it's side. Which still leaves 7.5 inches of wall space.

My husband wants to put up a 3inch spacer on either side and 1.5 inch one in the middle.

Which is ok, but....that is 7.5 inches of space I could be using!

I dunno if I want a shelf (which he can easily do) or the spacers (which would prolly look more 'polished').

Since we are rather busy (CE meeting tonight, Scouts Tomorrow, have to make derby cars, and set up Friday plus games, Derby Saturday, Christmas trip with nephews Sunday) I have time to make up my mind.


Spending log:
Jan 10th: 23.44 target
previous for January: 349.21
Dec final*: 908.65


You may wonder why there is no cabinet listed on spending..it was cash, I don't keep track of cash..because I usually don't have that much, so it is 'fun money' Though I think (there were a lot of numbers thrown around) it was less than $200 for all the stuff.

you lost your gimick

January 9th, 2009 at 07:00 pm

Polaroid is coming out with a 'new' insta print camera.

It is $200 for grainy low res photos printed on special peper.

But it is as instant as the old kind. Except without the shaking. Now I know as well as you that shaking the Polaroid did nothing useful (and may have harmed the photo) but it felt good to do something while waiting for the magic picture to appear.

The new camera wont need shaking, and in fact from what I can tell you have to leave the whole camera along for the minute it takes to print a picture.

I like the concept of instant pictures (in fact I could use some to make 'licenses' for the Scout Pinewood Derby next weekend) but I can't see paying that much for grainy pictures.

Not when I can take great photos with my camera then print them on sticker paper myself so much easier.

Though my printer wont be at the derby...

Anyway, Poloroid seems to have lost it's gimmick. Maybe instead of trying to get a fast printer they should try to make better quality shakeable photos....Even if they made the pictures print by having to shake the camera.. (the more you shake more it prints....)

New (to me) computer

January 7th, 2009 at 08:51 pm

My wonderful husband decided to use some of his poker money for a new computer, which means I got the old one. So he took all the important stuff out of his and put it into mine. I am sure if I payed attention I would appreciate all the changes more, but being the non computer geek I just notice the thing works.

Then all the new parts came last night and husband got to play with putting his computer together, I was abed long before he finished so I don't know how it all went, but I hope it works. He was like a kid all excited about his new toys. I suppose all those numbers and letters he was throwing around meant good things, I supplied the appropriate 'ooh' at the right times (at least I tried), but I couldn't tell anything about it if I tried.

Though I think he said his new video card is faster than my laptop.

Spending log:
Jan 5th: $89.13 food
house gas: $89.47 (technically a bill)
Water bill: 22.70
Jan 7th: $91.05 (the gas CC payment)

Previous:
Jan: 56.86
Dec final*: 908.65

Err what was I supposed to do again?

January 5th, 2009 at 07:57 pm

You ever procrastinate something for so long you forgot what it was you were avoiding doing?

I have a todo list a mile long, and in general I do several important things on it every day. And find very interesting reasons to rationalize why I don't do others.

It is those others that I have been avoiding that I woke up this morning and said I was going to do something about...and here I am with no good reason not to do them, and I can't remember what they were!

Oh I am so good at this procrastination thing!

You know why there was no gas for the car listed last month? because my husband had been using a credit card, one that I don't know how to pay, nor receive notice of a due date....Not that I don't have a wonderful responsible husband, just that... he is about as good at procrastinating as I am. Dunno what I am supposed to do with that.

And what ever happened to refinancing the house? No idea, no bank will call us back..that makes you feel a bit depressed banks don't want our business?


January Spending log:
1st and 2nd -$0
Sat 3rd - 31.50 bowling with scouts
Sun 4th - 25.36 gas for car (err?)

Dec final*: 908.65

*bills not included

Things going all wrong

January 2nd, 2009 at 06:13 pm

First, I have company coming over today for crafts and grilled cheese, yet I have no bread...

Second, I spoke with the church about doing a class for the 4th and 5th graders and thought it was all worked out that the church would pay for pins and books, watched them put a new line in the budget to pay for it, and proceeded to advertise to my scouts that they could come to the free class starting next Wednesday. After repeated emails asking if the teacher was selected and all was set, I get an email, yesterday saying they will not be paying for books and have not ordered them (which isn't surprising since they did not advertise the class in church at ALL)

Third, UE wont nap, and he needs it

Fourth, I am cold and cranky and it is raining.

oh and fifth, JC is being an absolute brat, and it is her friend coming today...Total brat, brattiest of brats. really, sometimes I wonder if I am the worst mother on the planet with the kids as proof.