Adventures of Beep, Eeep, and Ooup

2010-01-17T21:29:00.002-06:00

I'm (trying) to be back in the blog world! Trying to keep myself accountable for my time and energy.

Today:

1) Will try a new couponing system--don't clip, just date the inserts. Flip through them and write on a post-it note the items I think I would like to use (by now I can tell which coupons will probably have a free or "money making" coupon deal sometime in the future), stick the post-it on the front.

2) Ordered prints for my mom online and had them internationally shipped directly to her in Korea. I have not sent her prints in YEARS because of the barriers/excuses of uploading pics, choosing, ordering, getting them and mailing them myself to save a few dollars, etc. My girlfriend happened to take a bunch of pics and send them to me in a web album and so I was able to order them directly from there!

3) Researched virtual personal assistants (VA's) (see here, for background info, and here are some sites:

Your Man In India

Ask Sunday

Get Friday

You see, researching VA's makes me motivated to just DO those lingering tasks that I have...

4) the usual gamut of cooking, laundry, vacuming, mopping

5) Pilates, and reserved "Jillian Michael's 30 day shred" from the library

6) Church, taught Sunday school with Bruce, Birthday party with girlfriends, bought 10 children's umbrellas and fairy wands (each originally $14!) on clearance for $1 each to use for birthday presents.

2009-07-23T20:35:00.002-05:00

MUSEUMS off the Beaten Path

We are taking a class on utilizing field trips and museums (almost all museums have boxes of artifacts and activities you can check out, or they will come to your school and do a workshop or lecture, and their websites have lesson plans, research collaborations with students, etc. so museums are more than "just" a place for field trips).

In the past week, we have been to:

Spertus Institute of Jewish studies/children's museum
Art Institute
National Mexican Fine Art Museum
Museum of Contemporary Photo
National Vietnam Veteran's Art Museum
Pilsen neighborhood mural tour
DuSable Museum of African Art (Hyde Park right by Obama's house)
Smart Art Museum (U of Chicago campus)
Oriental Institute (Ancient Middle Eastern artifacts, like Mesopotamia and Babylon, etc. part of U of Chicago campus)
Chicago Botanic Gardens
Skokie Holocaust Museum

Needless to say, we are TIRED!

Next week we go to:

ABA Law Museum
Boathouse Museum
Surgical Science Museum
US Post office tour

So you can see these are more of the "lesser known" museums, not the "obvious" science teacher museums like the Field Museum, Science and Industry, Adler Planetarium, Fermi Lab, Argonne National Lab, Garfield Park Conservatory, etc.

And of course, every town and county has a half dozen or so other local historical and nature museums...what a blessing to live so close to so many learning centers!

2009-07-14T20:03:00.003-05:00

Gifted Ed, Sensory Processing Issues

I know I haven't been blogging; I've mostly been updating on Facebook since most (if not all) of my friends are also FB "friends." Basically, our DD has been having lots of interesting insights and developments, we visited my FIL, our house is on the market but we really don't expect to sell (hah!), and we're taking some Ed classes.

Class #1: Gifted Education. Believe it or not, this is not part of the required curriculum and most schools don't have anything about it, teachers aren't trained in it, there is no funding for it (we live under No Child Left Behind, not Every Child Get AHEAD). But this was a fascinating class, and the strategies will be good for all students, not just gifted ones, so it will truly change my teaching.

I highly recommend this book:

"Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom" by Susan Winebrenner. Some authors got permission to adapt the book for early childhood, and I hear it's quite good even though I haven't read it myself.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I can even send you some of the stuff I'm going to use in my honors chem class next year. Would you believe that after 6 years of teaching I've never taught honors? I actually used some of the strategies in Winebrenner's book in my remedial double period Algebra class last year without formal knowledge of them, because my students were having such VAST learning differences.

Class #2: Sensory Processing Disorder, sometimes called Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Absolutely fascinating subject, which I had never heard of before. Often gets misdiagnosed as ADHD or autism. It's not in the DSM but more research is being done and lobbying (if that's the right word) is being done to get it in the DSM and considered official diagnosis so that interventions can be provided. Basically, we have our 5 senses, and also have systems for determining our sense of balance, muscular strength (ex, so you know how much force to exert when lifting a carton of milk), sense of space (why I'm a terrible driver and have trouble merging into traffic, crash into my students all the time), sense of pain (why some women go into labor and have the baby and feel nothing, and why I fuss and moan over my little itchy mosquito bites and boo boos), and internal organs (I think this is like, feeling like you have to use the toilet).

Then for each of the senses, one can have a tendency to seek it and stimulate it (people who crave touch, or need to "get dizzy" by spinning around or riding wild rides, or like hot food HOT and cold food COLD), avoid it (like babies who don't like sitting on grass, or strongly disliking the feel of clothing tags, or disliking food textures, underrespond to stimulus (like people who crash into things a lot and get bruises without noticing), or have trouble modulating response to sensation (are bothered by lights that are too bright, noises that are too loud, get motion sickness, etc.). An absolutely fascinating subject, and I'm only just started the class so I don't know a lot about it. What I find interesting is that I certainly have strong sensory preferences, and so does my husband, and these differences are what sometimes drive each other crazy because we think the other person is being fussy or self-centered or rude or just annoying!

But there seem to be a wealth of websites, parent support groups (there are some on Yahoo! Groups), mainstream-audience books about "the sensory child" and techniques for development. Most of the science behind it comes from the area of Occupational Therapy (for example, how to train someone to put on socks when they scream and absolutely cannot stand the feeling of socks).

A lot of the books we are using are listed here. I read EVERY PAGE of an amazing teaching tools catalog that can be ordered or read online here ; I wrote a huge list of things in the catalog that I can make myself using things I have around the house or can obtain from craft and hardware stores and perhaps Oriental Trading Company!

Here's an easy read from TIME magazine re the subject.

Let me know what you think!

2009-06-06T21:57:00.002-05:00

The Beauty of Thrift

My daughter has needed socks for some time. We only go to places that might sell toddler socks (like Walmart, Target) once or twice a year, and never go to clothing retailers like Sears, Old Navy, Gymboree, etc.

We are so blessed to get ALL of her clothes as free hand-me-downs; I thought it would be ironic to spend $20 on a few packages of socks for her. So I had been waiting for months to get her more socks; her current socks are fine but seem to be getting tighter and fewer each week (by laundry day she is wearing mis-matched socks!).

We went to the Senior Citizens Club garage sale at the park district; for $1, you can fill an entire paper grocery bag! Too bad most of the clothes were...well, cast-offs from senior citizens! But I filled half of my bag with toddler socks from Baby Gap, about 20 pairs. They are wonderful--thick and long with reinforced toes and heels, interesting patterns and colors!

We also found a sandwich bag labelled "Free." In it were 9 tiny balls of yarn, bitty bitty scraps of yarn that loving, thrifty hands carefully re-wound and neatly saved. My daughter loved them and we came home and examined them, threaded them on an embroidery needle, and "sewed" with them on her sewing cards.

Most people would just discard tiny scraps of yarn, but these painstakingly saved bits were so beautiful. They reminded me of my grandma, who saved every single scrap of paper that came into the house (this was Seoul in the 1980's so there wasn't nearly as much print advertising and junk mail as is now), neatly trimmed each one into a square or rectangle, folded it, and placed into an origami box made out of an old calendar page. Sometimes I think my joy of thrift came from living with my grandma during my formative years. We all slept on bedrolls on the floor in a coal-heated room, used chamber pots, and we each had one cup. I used to carefully peel off the stickers I received on my school papers, glue pieces of tape onto them, and use them again.

What about you? What stories about the joy and beauty of thrift do you have to share?

2009-06-06T15:44:00.002-05:00

I am Good at Shopping

Hubby went grocery shopping twice in a row, and I think he realized how expensive groceries have gotten and how big grocery stores are! He spent about 1.5 hours each time, and was overwhelmed by the huge selection, and difficulty with comparison shopping, and ended up spending $100. He has appreciated my couponing for months, but I think up until he went shopping, he secretly believed that I could have shorter shopping trips (like, 20-30 minutes, even though the store is 15 minutes away) and buy just a little of everything (ie, shop for the week like "normal" people) instead of buying large quantities of "random" stuff, and didn't need to chase so many deals.

Well! After his 2 time-consuming, expensive, and lengthy shopping trips, we were very very quickly out of food again (much to his surprise), and so this weekend I resumed shopping. It felt so good--I jumped out of the house while DD napped and went to Jewel, Dominick's, Walgreens, the gas station, and Staples (to pick up a print order). I was gone 2.5 hours.

For groceries alone, I spent a whopping $15 and got:

- $8.80 of first-class stamps
- Sunday paper
- Wacky Mac (colored spiral pasta)
- 6 boxes of freezer bags
- 18 chocolate bars (for prizes, for party favors, for me to eat!! :P)
- 6 packages of recycled paper plates (for our upcoming party)
- 2 frozen pizzas
- 2 packages frozen tortellini
- 4 boxes Lean Pockets (we rarely eat individual frozen convenience meals...but it's the last week of school and our house is on the market...we need easy lunches! At least they come in cardboard and not in a plastic tray)
- 2 packages of frozen whole wheat bake-n-serve rolls
- gum
- 2 bottles of salad dressing

(If this seems impossibly miraculous, I used a lot of "FREE" item coupons I got for buying a chest freezer in February, and the frozen items were Buy One, Get One Free so I got 2 for free.)

YAY! It feels so good to make contributions to the family!

2009-06-02T18:45:00.002-05:00

More Toddler/Big Girl Conversations Today

1) "Why do mommies have nigh-nigh?" Because God made them that way--when a mommy has a baby, the baby can't eat any food, so God made the mommies to have nigh-night to feed the baby. "So babies only have nigh nigh and no food....toddlers have nigh-nigh AND food...big girls only have food!" .....Her first Venn Diagram?!?

2) She likes to take baths with lots of water...and refilling of the water as it gets cold...I try to have all 3 of us use the toilet and THEN flush, even though we have plenty of water from the Great Lakes. I always tell her that God gave us clean water so we don't want to waste it. Today she said: "But there is LOTS of water from the faucet and the sink!! So much water!" and I said, Do you know where the water comes from? "The faucet!" Yes, and the faucet water comes from the lake. And EVERYBODY gets their water from the lake....(her eyes got big here...she never knew this) So if everyone uses too much water, what will happen to the water in the lake? "There won't be any water left!" That's right, so we only want to use just as much water as we need, and not waste too much.

3) "Mommy, animals don't wear clothes, right?" That's right; why do you think that is? "Because they don't have any like we do!" That's right, and they also don't need clothes because they have fur or special skin to keep them warm. We don't have fur, so we need clothes to keep us warm. But some people live in very hot places where it doesn't get cold, so they don't have to wear very many clothes.

4) "Mommy, some animals don't make noise, right? Because they don't have anything in their voice to make noise." That's right, some animals are very quiet. What are some animals that are quiet? "Turtles! and Crabs! and Salamanders! and Octopus! and Rabbits! and..."

5) "Pretend I was Frog, and you were Toad, and you missed me...Pretend I was Frog, and you were Toad, and I was making pasta, and you were making soup...Pretend I was Princess Suriya, and you were Peacock..."

6) "Pretend I was Peter, and you were Jesus, and you told me to come out on the water...Pretend you were Peter, and I couldn't walk at the temple...Pretend I was Moses and you were Pharoah...Pretend you were Moses, and I was Pharoah...Pretend you were Mary, and I was Martha, and Daddy was Lazarus, and he was sick...Pretend I was the hurt man and you were the Samaritan, and we went to the inn and you gave the inn-keeper some money...Pretend I was Jesus praying in the garden and you were the soldier...Pretend I was Gideon, and this is wool, and you were the angel..."

2009-06-01T20:11:00.002-05:00

No Nigh-Nigh Tonight

Slowly, slowly we have been telling our daughter (almost 3) that "only babies and toddlers have nigh-night, big kids don't because they eat food and drink milk." She always said, "But I like nigh-nigh!" I always asked, "Why do you like it?" She used to say "because I do," or "because it's you," but lately I've been getting the feeling it's because she wants to DRINK, not really emotional. She's been asking questions like: "Why does nigh-nigh taste different than milk in a cup?" and saying, "Can I open up your nigh-nigh and pour in some more milk?" And when I asked her why she likes nigh-nigh, she says, "Because it's sweet! Sweeter than milk in a cup!" Aha....

So tonight we asked her if she wanted nigh-nigh, or milk in a cup while I snuggled her. "Milk in a cup with a snuggle!" she said joyously.

While she drank her milk in bed (I know, the cavity police will cringe, but we have to start somewhere), she chatted me away and asked me all kinds of questions. She asked me about why people vote, so we made up some mock voting situations ("Who thinks Oula should skip across the bridge?") and I held up fingers to show the two sides.

She told me how she cried and cried because another girl took "her" acorn. Some lengthy discussion revealed that the other girl had had it first. I modelled different things she could have done (asked to take turns, find her own acorn, ask the teacher for help if she can't find another acorn on her own, play with something else). I had her try to repeat them back to me, and I said that if she cries and cries, then she doesn't get anything: she doesn't get the acorn, she upsets her friend, and she is sad and not having any fun!

She has been saying things like, "This is the girls club, boys are stinky and yucky and bad" and I tell her that the Bible (which she LOVES) says to love your neighbor, and calling someone stinky and yucky and bad is not loving. So we model saying, "That person is not my favorite," or "I don't want to play with you right now."

She has been saying things like, "Food is yucky/poopy/stinky/pee pee" etc. I say that it's not nice to say that because food is a gift from God, or that there are a lot of hungry people in the world who would love to eat her food and it would hurt their feelings to hear her say that. I say she can say, "I'm not hungry" or "This isn't my favorite" or "I'm all done."

Small steps....I think this summer, when she is away from school for a month, she will go back to being the girl she used to be, the-not-so-Nickelodeon-esque girl we know she can be. I can see changes from months of reinforcement, like:

- Instead of saying "worms are yucky" or "Step on the ant and kill it!" she said, "Don't step on the ant! God made ants!"

- Tonight she said, "Food is not yucky, but I can say, 'This is not fresh.' I can say, 'This is not healthy," or I can say, 'This has too much sugar.' Right, mommy?"

-We listen to books on tape in the car, and she always says, "Louder, please!" instead of starting to wail and whine. She still whines and kicks when she is tired and bored and cranky in the car, but today she was trying so very hard and kept saying, "I want something else that's good..." and I (unprepared with no toys or snacks or interesting new books or tapes) pulled random things out of the glove compartment (pen, flashlight, padlock, emery board...), saying, "How about THIS?" with great enthusiasm. "No, not that, I want something ELSE that's good, something that's a different shape and size and color from that." We repeated this about 17 more times, and she was so patient with me even though I clearly had nothing good or interesting to do.

Hooray for our little girl, who is not so little anymore!

2009-05-31T19:59:00.004-05:00

We're going to try to sell and move!

After a year of commuting H - E double hockey sticks, we are going to list with a realtor and try to sell and move. Last week I met 5 realtors, and we found a realtor we like. Bruce said she is just like me, except in her fifties and blond!

Already I am tired of keeping the house "perfect," and we haven't even listed yet (it should be listed tomorrow morning!). I don't know how people can live with their house listed for months and months...in theory, you're not supposed to have any mess or trash or recycling or anything. So we can cook, but without making any bit of mess or odor at all, we can eat, but without any bit of mess at all...etc.

At least school will be out soon; I think if we're home and get notice of a showing, we can do a quick tidy and then leave. During school, we have to have the whole house ready every single morning when we leave in case someone happens to drop by while we are at work or want to come right after work (so we won't be able to go home!).

Already I know our grocery and eating out budget is going to sky-rocket! The amount of trash we dump in landfills will increase too because piles of sorted recycling and my nifty little plastic bag dryer isn't great for leaving out. Life would be so much easier if one never had to shop, cook, and clean, wouldn't it?

Of course, if we sell, then there's the whole problem of finding a mortgage lender, buying, moving...I know people do this all the time but UGH! What a beast!

In the meantime, we are constantly getting rid of stuff. I decided to get rid of *almost* all my stained, pilly, stretched out clothes...sadly, it's pretty much all of them! I always wonder if I go through clothes faster than most people because I'm so clumsy and spill all the time. I always blame it on the fact that I'm a science teacher and always get snags/chemicals/ highlighter/sharpie/dry-erase marker/pen on myself! Really, 99% of the time it's probably chili or spaghetti sauce because I always wolf my food at my desk while working at the same time!

2009-05-18T14:08:00.003-05:00

Shameless pitch for Craigslist item for sale

(we have furniture and more furniture and canvases for sale too, but I didn't think any of you might be interested!)

I'm kind of sad about the canvases, because they have Bruce's fabulous art on them...oh well! Too big to store!

2009-05-06T21:03:00.002-05:00

Last-minute (okay, late) Mother's Day Gift for 2.99

Yes, I realized if I want to send my mom a gift for mother's day, in Hawaii, it won't make it in time. So I ordered a key-chain watch with a photo of my daughter from artscow for 2.99, including shipping to Hawaii (I just entered her address as the shipping address and mine as the billing; hopefully they won't send her a copy of the invoice that shows I only spent 2.99!)

Go to artscow.com and created your photo key-chain watch, and enter coupon code KEYW299.

Whenver I need last-minute grandparent gifts, I google "artscow codes" and get websites like this one. They also have lots of different credit codes you enter into your account and can use at set times later. Like right now they have credits for coasters, playing cards, jigsaw puzzles...for these you have to also pay shipping which starts at 5.99.

I liked the watch better than playing cards (I think it would be a bit weird to play cards with my daughter on it) and coasters, and it ended up being cheaper anyway. I got one shipped to Hawaii for halmuhnee, another for harabuhjee so he wouldn't feel left out, one shipped to Tenessee for Grandpa John's birthday this weekend (yep, this will also arrive late), and one for a surprise for Father's day for my hubby (this one at least will be on time!).

I suppose I should put a note on my calendar to order something else in 2 weeks for the grandpa's for Father's Day as well.

I love photo gifts but the only problem is that I have to take some good photos to make them!

I used these:

2009-04-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

Dreams

This morning our daughter popped awake and smiled and said she had dreamt that the three of us were all sick in bed and old ladies were taking care of us "for a long time."

Let's hope she doesn't have the gift of prophecy! ;P

She does like to pretend that she is the "hurt man" and that mommy or daddy is the "Good Samaritan." She likes to lie on the couch under the blanket, quietly waiting, and then calls out, "Samaritan! I am hurt! Come help me!"

2009-04-25T09:43:00.003-05:00

Spring is here at last!

Besides the allergies (I even got a sinus infection), and wild n whiny kids, I am going to try to make some dandelion salad and wine!

2009-04-25T09:30:00.005-05:00

More garage sale season!

For $15, we got:

We got this Dora Dollhouse and people PLUS all the additional "sets" that go with it (backyard pieces, bedroom furniture, etc.). I really like it--it's modular, the furniture often "transforms" to be dual-function (breakfast v. dinner, art table v tea party, swing set v. tree house, library v. buffet, etc.). I think the price for the house, people, and all the parts would be a few hundred dollars!

Two huge buckets of LEGO Duplo pieces/cars/animals/people.

A wooden rolling pin, Taboo game, a steel kids lunchbox filled with magnetic letters and numbers.

AND all the toys came in lidded plastic bins for storage! SCORE!

What we also like about bins at garage sales is the bizarre "bonus" pieces that get tossed in:
- a really strange C3PO head on a boat (Bruce took that and said, "That is MINE! I am so taking that to my desk at school)
- a sparkling flashing "princess" bracelet
- an entire set of 10 rubber and "gold" Egyptian pieces: Tutankhamen, Nefertiti, scarab beetles, the sphynx, the pyramids, and a bunch of deity-like things that we don't even know what they are! Bruce and I are "fighting" over this set! We've compromised and put it on our nightstand.
- a rubber hot dog bun (which Oula has been stuffing with the refridgerator letters and numbers, Scrabble-esque)
- miscellaneous unmatched dolls/people/kitty cats with carriers and accessories

Bruce said: "What can't Toys R Us give you all these bonus pieces when you buy things?!"
-

2009-03-16T20:30:00.002-05:00

Some photos from the Japanese Exchange program

(Our guest was the male teacher with the fuschia jacket. He loved Bruce's homebrew, by the way!)

We had a good time downtown.

I loved the ice skating pictures...
like this one
and this one

Stories to come next week when I have spring break...

2009-03-16T19:40:00.003-05:00

Thrift Store!!!

We drive by a thrift store every day on the way to work. We finally decided to stop and look. Amazing selection, funds go to local families in need, but prices were a bit high ($25 for a sweater? $4-8 for children's cardboard puzzles?? Come on!). However, they had lots of items on "winter clearance." I got:

- $1 pink limited blouse
- $1 waterproof Columbia hat
- $1 liz claiborne stretch capris

We looked for toys but didn't see anything too good. Just as we were checking out, Oula found a great toy in its box, sort of under a table--she was very excited about the ponies. It had a $15 price tag so I told her it was a bit too expensive. She was disappointed but did not say a word. While checking out, I asked if the toys were on clearance. They were 75% off!! So we paid $3.75 for it!!!

The box was so big we told Oula we had to put it in the trunk. Oula frowned but again did not say a word. She did not say a word the whole ride home but I did notice she had a furrowed brow. The weather today was gorgeous--60 degrees--so we asked her if she wanted to go to the park. She was quiet for a long time but finally said, "I would like to go home." We rode home in silence, Oula with furrowed brow.

We got home, I unbuckled her, and she finally smiled a HUGE smile and said, "Now we can play with my new toy!! I did not say a single word the whole way home!!!" She was so proud of her self and was jumping for joy!

The toy did not come with any ponies even though 4 ponies are pictured on the box--she must have been disappointed but did not even pout or say anything. She bounced right back--I am so proud of her!

The toy is actually very cool. It plays music (of course),
has magnetic slides the ponies can ride on,
a drink counter with little pony cups filled with little pony juice and little pony straws (and the drink levels rise and fall when the ponies put their magnetic hooves on it),
ponies clip into the ends of the butterfly's antennae and swing around like a carousel,
it came with all the accessories like little rubber pony snorkel masks and little rubber pony fins, and a little bucket and shovel and little plastic sand castle and little plastic sandcastle
mold that fits OVER the little plastic sandcastle, little grass skirts for the ponies...

She did have 2 mini-ponies I bought at McDonald's (just the ponies). I asked her what her ponies names were, and without even missing a beat she announced: "Margo and Spella, and you can be the baby pony named Sokie." All right! What great names!

Needless to say, we had a great evening!

2009-03-07T11:12:00.002-06:00

Consumer Choices = the new class divisions?

We find that a lot of our former friends are no longer really our friends, and what separates us is our consumer choices. Before we were all young adults with new careers. Now they are getting richer and richer as they advance in their careers, while we stay pretty much the same. They don't understand why our house is so crummy, why our car is so nasty and why we only have one car. We don't go out to eat with them for big group lunches and dinners.

I told some of them about couponing but they got a bit bewildered. That is understandable. But now, when I give gifts of goodies obtained by coupon-ing, they don't even say thank you but say, "Oh, you just got those for free." I met up with some old girlfriends from my old small group over Christmas, and I gave each of them a goody bag filled with lip gloss and lotion and nail polish and chocolate. Not one said thank you and they said, "Oh, you just got these for free." One of B's co-workers had a birthday and we gave her a bag filled with lotion and chocolate and spa treatments and she also did not say thank you but said: "I knew this was from you because it's all free stuff." I guess some people think that a gift only has value if you spent a lot of money on it. I won't give them gifts anymore--I work really hard to get those things for free! I have to research, cut coupons, go shopping; and it's not as if there is an infinite supply of these things.Some of these deals are limit 1 or 2 per customer so I have the choice of keeping the nice spa lotion for myself or giving it away.

Another example: B's homebrew -- for a while he would bring a 6-pack of his beer or a bottle of his wine to friends' houses for dinner, but they would just say "oh" and hide it in the garage and never drink it (we finally went back to someone's house again for dinner and went into the garage and took it home again--after all, we especially want the bottles back!).

Oh well--that's another reason I like online coupon boards: they are my virtual friends who understand me!

2009-03-05T12:14:00.002-06:00

I was searching You Tube for my favorite specific BBC periodic table videos. Here they are:

Alkali Metals

Noble Gases

But I also found a video from Tech, Chem 1: dropping alkali metals in Millikan pool
! Ah, nostalgia.

2009-03-04T20:39:00.002-06:00

Busy, HK, Evolution of Dance, Japanese Exchange

Busy!
To make things "worse," B and I have gotten addicted to watching Hell's Kitchen on hulu.
B used to be a line cook at an upscale seafood restaurant in Seattle, so he is totally nodding his head when Chef Ramsey is yelling at their mistakes, and looks at me and says, "See? This is why we need to run our house and kitchen to this standard too....you see...."

Friday is the Faculty talent show, and the math/science dept is doing this dance (with a few adjustments to have less butt-shaking). They did this one last year--it is SOOO funny!

Saturday we're picking up our Japanese exchange guest (a teacher; the students are staying with other students) and he will be staying with us a week. When we signed up we thought this was such a good idea but now we are panicking--what were we thinking? We are worried it's going to be an exhausting week, subjecting our poor guest (who doesn't speak a word of English) to our long commute and to DD waking us all up at 4 am every day.

2009-02-28T21:04:00.002-06:00

Could this be me???

JK. This is Jill Cataldo who is a local coupon queen and does classes at the library, etc. I "met" her through my favorite couponing board (couponers wanted, where I find out about all the amazing Jewel deals). What I like about this picture is that I know exactly where and how she got all of those items.

What I also think is funny is how I bought all those same things but only 1-2 of each, of if we did buy more, we've eaten them all or given them away. I don't know what she does with her excess inventory--she writes about donating, but she is also obviously keeping a very organized stockpile. Maybe she sells them at a big garage sale in the summer?

And then I realized I started couponing around January of last year, after my dear friend Katie told me about the trial subscription to the Grocery Game (that got me started but now I can figure out the deals without the GG using coupon boards, etc.) I started getting the Tribune, and I was so excited when I paid 77 cents for toothpaste. Now I only get toothpaste if it's "negative" by at least 50 cents or a dollar, not even if it's free!

But yep, I've got them all--the Healthy Choice soup, the Vive Pro shampoo, the Star vinegars (bottom left, round glass bottles), Ronzoni, Orville Redenbacher...Some of them are really old deals, almost over a year old! I feel nostalgic, like I am looking at an old photograph and remembering past events with pleasure. I really do love couponing--it's so fun for me. Well, if you're going to have a hobby, it might as well be a productive one! Better than playing minesweeper or something (not that there's anything wrong with minesweeper, I would just rather go grocery shopping instead!).

2009-02-08T20:41:00.003-06:00

Freezer, Warm Weather, Misc.

I juiced a bunch of produce today! I LOVE fresh juice; I'd drink a liter a day if I could. It would be difficult to chew up all those veggies, but we drank the 3-4 cups of juice lickety split!

I also steamed and sauteed a lot of veggies to reheat for dinners and pack in lunches throughout the week.

I made O a toy "computer." She played with it for about 10 minutes and then was done.

She set up a doll hospital. Her doll's names (left to right) are Shriya, Ida, George, and Boodabada. She LOVES Ida, whom we got at a thrift store along with Shriya. I actually went online and bought her 2 more "Idas" (actually Baby Kate from the PBS Arthur series) off Ebay and are hiding them in the closet in case Ida #1 disappears. B's students make these blankets using card looms every year in art class and these are some of the ones no one takes home.

I found some more things while dumpster diving; The human body toy is interesting; it has all the organs (they're squishy) and you are supposed to take them out and put them back in again. I always wanted a nutcracker! One of my girlfriends is from Germany and says she knew her husband (who was an American in the military in Germany) was "the one" because he gave her a huge wooden nutcracker for Christmas. I can't wait until spring!! Everyone cleans our their garages and interesting and bizarre things abound on the curbsides (making for very interesting evening strolls), people move out of the apartment buildings on our block, etc. Once I got all these rock samples. When we lived in Hawaii, everyone would "trade" items on trash day! My dream is to have a pickup truck and go to al l the ritzy neighborhoods on odd-size trash day and open a hip boutique.

And then...another one of my dreams was fulfilled: we bought a chest freezer today!! I've always wanted one but always thought we didn't really NEED to store extra food, didn't have any where to put it, etc.

But Jewel every year has a deal where they sell you a freezer for $150, and then give you what they call $150 worth of coupons for free frozen items (ie, free bag of frozen veggies, free cheesecake, free pizza, etc.) which I can combine with Buy 1 Get 1 deals, etc. to get even MORE free food.

Anyway, through couponing I realized that, if I had a freezer, I could probably get my grocery bill down to $50 a MONTH or less if I were good at planning because I could stock up on items when they are free or "negative." For example, last summer there was a deal on frozen veggies where you could buy 10 boxes for $7 and get $10 back and keep rolling your transactions. I could only buy 6 boxes of veggies because any more wouldn't fit in our freezer, so since then I have been wishing I had a freezer. Or, there were all these meat coupons around Thanksgiving for $7 off any turkey, $7 off any ham, so I just bought the smallest possible turkeys and ham for $7 or less (and these were still about 10 pounds, plenty big for the 3 of us!) and got them for free. Had I a freezer, I could have bought multiple free turkeys or hams.

Anyway, today I couldn't resist and got another 10 cans of soup and also did this deal: Buy 5 Nabisco cookies and Dean's milk (which is hormone-free), get $5 back.

So I bought 5 $1 boxes of whole grain Teddy grahams plus $3.99 milk = 8.99
I used $3 of coupons for the cookies = 5.99, and then I got $5 back! I could have rolled this again and gotten more milk and froze it, but we already had 2 gallons at home.

I smile when I remember when B was a bachelor and his entire house was empty of food except for exactly 6 days of frozen food from Trader Joe's. Then we got married and we would eat frozen broccoli and spaghetti and oatmeal from Aldi and we used Suave and Equate brand petroleum jelly. Now, we live like this and spend less money: today for breakfast we had blue cheese and brie and sour dough rolls and honeydew and grapes and blueberries and fancy coffee! For lunch we had roast beef and fancy greens and sauteed bell peppers. And we donated boxes of cereal and boxes of crackers and boxes of cocoa and popcorn and cans of soup to the food pantry. And don't get me started on our fancy toiletries from drugstore couponing, and my amazing gift baskets for all occaisions...

Praise God for coupons and the internet and friends who share good deals!

2009-02-07T12:22:00.003-06:00

Shopping Saturday

I spent $17 and got:

20 cans of Healthy Choice soup
8 boxes of trans-fat free microwave popcorn (for school and food pantry, and self! I love popcorn. )
10 boxes of cocoa (ditto)
4 boxes of whole grain fusili
1 box kashi granola bars
5 lb oranges
broccoli
onions
milk
whipped cream cheese
2 boxes of jello
kitchen matches
1 bag frozen veggies

The food pantry said they are COMPLETELY OUT OF FOOD! I think more and more people must be using it, since I know our church donates lots and lots. On the other hand, our school had its annual food drive and they usually get 13,000 items but this year they only got 5,000 items.

I am tempted to get more soup this week since
1) I like the Healthy Choice (low sodium, low fat, no MSG, etc.)
2) It's quick dinner
3) It's good for donating
4) It's "negative" because the deal is I buy 10 cans at a dollar each, use as many coupons as I can get my mitts on, and I get back a $10 coupon on your next order.

2009-02-05T02:40:00.003-06:00

Old Pics: Christmas Visitors

2009-02-05T02:32:00.003-06:00

That's My Girl"Writing" on Daddy's Papers

Looking for "Something good for Todd-deh-lers"

2009-02-05T02:17:00.006-06:00

Pretty old Photos (Fall 2008)
I tried canning grapes! We didn't read a cook book, just internet sites. We juiced some, but didn't boil them before hand, and we dumped the pulp from the juicer in as well (the grayish stuff on top), and after processing, we let it sit and slowly cool overnight (husband's idea, I stubbornly recall! ;OP). They tasted fine but looked funny.

Then we checked out some canning books and I canned nectarines when I had the day off for Rosh Hashanah; juiced some, but boiled the pieces in sugar water/juice, then processed and cooled. Fantastic, we gave some away at Christmas, and (four months later) we are down to one jar.

It didn't really save us any money since the jars cost $1.69 each and I couldn't find them anywhere except Michaels, and I bought 4 extra jars that I didn't use but they have since gotten mixed up with USED jars that we washed so I basically wasted 4 new jars because I can't tell which ones are which. And all the books said to obviously use new lids each time, but to also use new jars because of the risk of tiny cracks, so it seems sort of wasteful in terms of jars.

I think it took us about 4 hours to do each fruit so the savings-per-minute really went down. It probably would have been easier if I'd had tools like jar tongs (I had to manipulate them in the boiling water using a ladle and towels and my fingers!) and a big enough pot (ours wasn't big enough so we couldn't fully cover them with boiling water, nor could we fully put the lid on the top). And I doubt there's any nutrition left in the fruit after all that boiling. Still, it was fun to eat and feel like I was such a prairie home-maker. I really would prefer a dehydrator instead!

And look how handsome my hubby is!!! ;P

2009-02-03T20:30:00.002-06:00

MENUS this week (I know, it's already Tuesday night)

Feeling bad about not eating enough vegetables, we bought a bunch and have been devouring them. Our pattern is: eat lots of vegetable 3-5 days after shopping, then eat meager amounts of frozen veggies, then don't eat any until we go shopping again...

Breakfasts: mostly PB-banana smoothies, toast w cheese
Lunch: leftovers, fruit
Snacks: Whole Grain Poptarts (with mercury-laden HFCS; doh!), cheese sticks, pre-packaged muffins (sugary but at least trans fat and HFCS free!), pretzels.

Dinner:
Had on Monday: Vegetarian fajitas (bell pepper, onion, beans, whole wheat tortillas), blanched spinach
Tuesday: Korean style "pot roast" (cooked with turnip, potato, carrot, soy sauce, ginger, honey, rice vinegar)

I'm at a loss for the rest of the week.

Definitely spinach dip quiche (the spinach dip I froze actually thaws well, and makes really good quiche), probably another vegetarian taco night, maybe a lentil soup and kale night. My most favorite thing is fresh carrot + miscellaneous (ie, apple or kale or tomato or beet) juice so we also got 6 pounds of carrots to juice.

In text, our menus look so great but we nearly killed ourselves trying to cook on Monday night! Poor daughter was sad and cranky that we weren't playing with her because we were cooking Monday's dinner and Tuesday's dinner, and I just thought--"To heck with this, let's just have more quality time and eat frozen and canned foods more often." Even today, with dinner already in the crock pot and ready to be scooped into plastic tubs for lunch, cleaning up dinner and packing lunches still took husband a good half an hour. Sometimes I feel like all my time is consumed with cooking, eating, and cleaning up after cooking, and then packing lunches, cleaning up lunch dishes...I do love to cook but it sure takes up a lot of time.

On the plus side, I think I have only bought lunch 4-5 times this entire year so far, and only on days where I didn't pack a very good or big lunch (like, a sleeve of crackers and a can of soup tossed in my bag). Most of my co-workers buy their lunch every single day--I understand because it is so tiring to pack and clean up my lunch every day but it sure isn't worth the money!

The cafeteria menu isn't too bad and only costs $2.75 (2.25 plus milk for students), but I actually eat double-sized lunches because I'm so hyper and still nursing (although I probably should train myself to eat less because the amount of food I eat is sort of ridiculous). Plus they serve it to you using 4 different styrofoam bowls (one for your mushy peas, another for your canned peaches, another for your corn bread, another for your macaroni...), all on top of a styrofoam tray. Maybe I'll try to bring my own dishes ala No Impact Man and see where that gets me.

2009-01-25T20:58:00.002-06:00

Vitamin D

Is anyone confused as I am? The new recommendations have increased for kids. Should I be supplementing daughter? What about myself? And my husband?

I sure don't drink a quart of milk (contains 400 IU) a day, nor eat fish, and in the winter I sure don't get any sun.

2009-01-19T19:17:00.002-06:00

Menu Planning Monday (NOT)

I am NOT a menu planner! We just eat whatever is the most perishable and is taking up the most room in the freezer.

Here is what we ATE today:

Breakfast:
-pear/yogurt smoothies
-toast and cream cheese
-cheese sticks

Lunch:
- (parents) Baked beans, asparagus, turkey bites
- (daughter) Kimbap, carrots, tofu, seaweed, turkey bites

(usually we try to all the same thing but daughter did NOT like this batch of baked beans because I forgot and put peppercorns in it and she got a big bite!! Ugh...now she will be afraid to eat beans for months...oh well!)

Snacks:
- I introduced hummus; she was eager to try it but didn't like it. She ate a few tablespoons of whole chick peas, though.
- cereal for mommy
- popcorn for daddy
- yogurt

Dinner:
- rice, tofu, carrots, asparagus

Yes, we all eat different things from each other! We also tend to eat the same thing for days in a row.

For example, tomorrow we go back to work and here is our typical menu:

Breakfast:
- daddy eats cereal or toast as soon as he wakes up; makes coffee to go in a thermos
- mommy and daughter eat cereal or yogurt or cheese sticks or toast or frozen waffles or fruit or pop tarts or bagels or whatever in the car (sometimes I pack drinks for us as well)

Lunch:
- daddy and mommy usually have a big tub of beans or soup in one tub, then some veggies in another tub, then some rice or bread or crackers in another, maybe some fruits in another tub, maybe some vitamins in another tub for daddy so he remembers to take them, maybe a yogurt or some chocolate. I really want to get those stainless steel stacking metal lunch carriers from India with 4-5 tiers but they cost over $20 each and we'd need 6 of them in case we don't have time to wash the dishes or want to pack 2-days of lunch in advance!

Tomorrow daddy and mommy are having ham sandwiches ("real" carved ham that we baked, asiago rolls), bbq beans, homemade miscellaneous pickles (we like to use turmeric and rice vinegar), and chocolate.

Daughter tends to eat a "second breakfast" when she gets to school so I usually pack her a lunch and a half, and then she eats most of her "dinner" in the car on the way home. So I packed her a "bento box" with:

Ham
Asparagus
Carrot coins
chick peas

and then a tub with
rice
tofu
myul-chee (tiny salty crispy anchovies; they are about 1mm x 4 mm)
bonito sprinkled on top

2 yogurts

And then in MY lunch, I pack daughter's after school snack/dinner so that she gets presented with "new" food. As soon as she sees me, she smiles and says, "I want something from your bag!" Lately this has been fruit, juice, more yogurt, string cheese, pop tarts (basically things that I don't have to slice and put in tupperware since I've had enough of that). I can't wait until she is old enough to eat nuts well and let that be a staple of her snack life instead of starches or dairy. Nuts require no prep, no packing, no cooking, I can just leave a can in the car!

Then I'll wash our ridiculous number of tupperware containers and for dinner we'll probably have "clean out the fridge night" and have (you guessed it): more asparagus, BBQ beans, tofu, rice....

Lunch the rest of the week will be more sandwiches and hummus since we have all that ham.

What about dinners the rest of the week? Here's my best guesses:
- lentil soup with leftover ham bone
- omelet night
- rice night (topped with tofu, veggies, oil, brewer's yeast, bonito, etc.)
- hummus night?
- nacho/taco soup night? (I've never made this but it sounds easy enough)

Definitely not as organized as some moms but this way I don't have to plan; I just buy food at good prices and then eat up what's most perishable first. I feel like we waste very, very little food (just a few tablespoons per meal).

2009-01-19T13:01:00.001-06:00

I love Dumpster Diving.

We got this braided jute rug. It looks AWESOME in our living room.

2009-01-18T06:11:00.002-06:00

I love the Internet!

I just looked up:
- can we cook Turban squash? (Yes you can; we got one for decorative purposes in the fall--not sure if it will taste good! We tried cooking jack-o-lantern pumpkin which did not taste good at all--woody and dry and blah)
- can you freeze spinach dip? (the sour cream gets funky so alas, not really)
- can you freeze watermelon and cantaloupe and pineapple? (yes, but cover in their own juices and eat the melons slightly frozen still)

2009-01-15T22:32:00.002-06:00

Cold Day!

We had no school today due to cold (-24 F with windchill; when I was in high school, we had a -70 F day!)

We got the call at 5:30 AM, I swept and mopped and I graded for 4-ish hours. We tried going to the Field Museum since we have been reading "Curious George gets a Medal" and Curious George goes to a dinosaur museum, daughter has been asking to go to a museum. I wasn't 100% up for a big outing downtown but I thought, "Seize the Day." But once on the highway the traffic was poor and there was an alert saying it would take 1.5 hours to get downtown. So we got off the nearest exit and went to....Chuck E Cheese!!!

I was afraid it was going to be a big noisy commercial nightmare, but it was very clean and quiet and we spent $4 and had a GREAT time! DD loved the carousel and clutched to the pole so tightly, grinning HUGELY. I made us all do all the various photo booths that print out "ID cards" or "drawing portraits", etc. so I got some mom souveniers for me! We did some ball tossing and choo choo train and tip the duck games and got her a hot pink metallic tarantula, which she loves. She was talking about her experience at the "indoor playground" all afternoon: "I saw...I saw...a FAN BICYCLE!" (a ride that is like a bicycle but has a fake rainbow colored helicopter blade thing that spins at the top). "I was going to get into the car ride but it was too noisy!" (a Bob the Builder car)

In my lifetime I have had unique experiences at Chuck E Cheese--I had my 5th birthday at Showbiz Pizza, then at Tech I had a summer job as an RA for a gifted robotics program for high schoolers and we toured the research and design center, and we went to the place for fun afterwards. I had my 22nd birthday there as well. I also ran into my dad there once by chance--ask me about it in person sometime!

Then we all took a 3 hour nap, ate nothing but frozen chicken pot pie and pop tarts (my weakness--at least they are whole grain!! and I only paid 25 cents a box for them) and canned soup and nectarines I canned in October (I still have to post my pics of my beautiful canned nectarines) because no one felt cooking and cleaning.

We went to the library to get more CDs and books on tape and puzzles and toys and games (we go 1-2 times a week), and then got another call that there's no school tomorrow either! Hooray! So B and I stayed up and watched "The Fifth Element" with Bruce Willis for free on www.hulu.com (it was great; to quote MY Bruce, it was "way before its time").

Now its time for sleeping!

2009-01-12T19:20:00.001-06:00

TRAVEL WILL BECOME EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND MAY BECOME NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.

Snow Day???

2009-01-05T20:39:00.002-06:00

Scholastic $1 book sale for Teachers and Homeschoolers
(good stuff, I just bought 4 books to use for Algebra class, and about 11 books to use with DD!)

2009-01-05T15:21:00.001-06:00

Oh yeah

After Emily's visit, I realized that DD is potty trained, and really has been for about a month! We were nervous about taking her out without diapers but she is just fine! Hooray!

2009-01-03T12:31:00.002-06:00

Is living on 44k a year impressive?

Don't a lot of you do better than that already? If I subtract our tithe, that's about how much we live on per year as well. On the other hand, they are a family of 7, not 3!

2009-01-01T11:37:00.002-06:00

Edit to previous post--I have finally gotten myself to RELAX and not worry about all the things I have to do (of course, having had 2 weeks of vacation to DO all the things and chores, and then to RELAX--these help tremendously!).

When I'm back to work I confess I get so stressed out and find it hard to completely enjoy my child and I find myself distracted while playing with her, but I don't feel like it means I don't love my child and am a bad mother because after all--I'm out of the house 10 hours a day and have 2-3 hours of work to do after DD goes to bed, not to mention the shopping and cooking and cleaning and laundry and bills...

2008-12-26T17:25:00.002-06:00

"Toddler" Computer Games

I confess--I get tired of reading to DD and playing with dolls on the floor and playing ring around the rosy. So much for wanting to be a SAHM--I can't even be a SAHM for one week! Reading the toddler Bible for for 1-3 hours a day is enough for me. I think Amy had a post once on not being resigned to a life of pushing trains on the floor. Today I was curious, so I found a bunch of Fisher-Price ones that drill through the alphabet, animals, etc.

But then I found these! DH and I were loving these; DD wasn't quite so interested. (She liked this one where you guess who is knocking at the door)

Make your own Jackson Pollack art.

This one is just amazing.

2008-12-25T08:33:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Last night I tried making a cake but our oven is out of whack because the outside got burnt to a black crisp in 10 minutes!

So DH went to Trader Joe's and bought a $5 cake and we sang Happy Birthday, Jesus!

2008-12-25T08:32:00.000-06:00

Too much time on your hands? Try this!

2008-12-23T14:03:00.003-06:00

Thrift Store Finds

Hot Pink Leather toddler boots!
Fleeces galore (100% wool pink coat!)
Blocks, interchangable animals, a purse for me

2008-12-23T13:59:00.002-06:00

Can we say, "Developmental Explosion?"

2008-12-19T08:23:00.004-06:00

I love Seasons!

Contrast the picture from a month ago with the picture from today.
A snow day instead of the last day of school before winter break! What a great gift!

2008-12-17T14:49:00.003-06:00

Get me to a Thrift Store ASAP

my Hispanic boys wear the most amazing T-shirts
embroidered flames...embroidered!!!
houndstooth skulls...houndstooth!!!!
paisley shimmering dragons with argyle toenails...paisley and argyle!!!!!

ACH! true genius! I must have these!! they have no idea! they just go to the hipster store and buy!

Ah, foolish youth!

2008-12-16T21:17:00.002-06:00

Confession

We eat Burger King about once a week when I have to work late. Toddler loves it because she can get macaroni and cheese and milk and I suppose Whoppers for mom and dad aren't THAT bad, are they??

I also love onion rings, which O had for the first time yesterday. When she saw them she shouted: "O's! O's for Oula! I want to eat some O's!"

2008-12-16T21:15:00.003-06:00

A perk of being a science teacher

I had to mail my parents a card and photos via Air Mail. I literally have no opportunity to go to the post office ever, and when I was selling some books on Amazon I thought about getting stamps.com service and a scale but we can't print from our dying computer anymore so printing postage was not an option.

I weighed my parents' letter on the electronic balance in the chemical stock room. 65 grams, used google to convert to ounces, and used the usps website to calculate the postage!

2008-12-08T19:28:00.001-06:00

Changes in Oxford Dictionary

2008-11-19T03:47:00.003-06:00

Remember how I wanted a toddler chair?

Well, we found some on the curb on recycling day! (Only a year later!)

Our DD might even be "chaired out."

2008-11-19T03:41:00.004-06:00

A Wild Pixie Party (fairy costumes optional)

2008-11-19T03:36:00.005-06:00

My Beautiful Ladybug (look how much she's grown! I can hardly recognize her here..and here and here)
(on the other hand, I hardly recognize myself... )

2008-11-12T20:25:00.001-06:00

Need a Toddler Hands-on Nativity Set

Any recommendations?

Maybe I can make my own out of bean bags or something??? (In all my copious spare time) Or maybe print out some paper doll templates on line?

2008-11-09T20:06:00.003-06:00

What Everyone is Getting for Christmas this Year

Photo Ornaments from Artscow.com (I used a referral link so if you do sign up, I can get some photo credits too! Thanks, Amy!). When you sign up you get some ridiculous number of free prints and free photo books. And you can order photo ornaments, as many as you want, different kinds, multiple different orders, and use the code ORNAMENT199 to get them for 1.99 each, including shipping. So I plan to order one to ship to my dad in Hawaii, one to be shipped to my Father in Law in Tennessee, one to ship to my sister in Detroit, B's Aunt in Ohio, to my friend Katie in Cali (JK)...and if you think it's vain to send someone an ornament of yourself, upload a pic of a VanGogh print or a really nerdy but attractive scientific graph from your husband's research! Wouldn't that be really, really funny??? For 1.99, that's cheaper than sending a photo card and paying for the stamp!!! !!! !!! So I expect ornaments from all of you....JK

2008-11-08T00:14:00.002-06:00

It's 12:14 am and I am average 5 hours of sleep a night...

...just spent 4 hours making 2 quizzes and part of a web quest
...i still have to finish the web quest, make my syllabus, word list, test, vocab activity, back up activities for misbehaving students, 2 more quizzes, and review guide...and assign groups...

and this is for just ONE class!
i have another class too!

i really hate being a teacher sometimes

if i 'm going to do this much work at least i could either make more money or get some thanks! instead everything about my personal and family life suffers.

2008-10-30T21:48:00.003-05:00

I just spent 2 hours writing subplans

(Let alone putting the materials together in a folder!)
Daughter's school closes early tomorrow, so I had to take a 1/2 personal day to go pick her up at 10:30, take her to lunch, if she falls asleep in the car then sit in the car until B is done with school, then go to my school and pick up my papers since Quarter grades are due Monday at 8 AM. MONDAY! It means we HAVE to work over the weekend!

From my own days as a sub, and seeing the affect/abilities of some subs (esp since we scrape the bottom of the sub pool on Fridays), here are my plans for one class. Some teachers just put a stack of worksheets on the counter and that's it, but most subs don't have good classroom management issues and the kids lie to them up oneside and down the other and feign illnesses and emergencies of all sorts and the sub is not sure what to do!

Introduce yourself.
Take attendance-I don't keep a strict seating chart since there are 30 desks and only 17 students and usually 3-7 of them are absent; they should be in the right approximate seats, though.

Confidential Information:

If Buggy Boo seems anxious / angry/frustrated and seems to be escalating in his negative mood, you can quietly ask him if he would like to go to the resource room per 6 as well. He doesn’t have to, but it’s an avenue for him to have a quiet place to go to.

If Carry Carol is uncontrollably hyper (not just your typical student shenanigans), he can also go to the resource room per 6. He has been really good lately, though.

Tell Diddly Dee to go to his resource room right away for periods 5-6 to make up work (he has been absent)

I. Tell the students they will be going down to Computer Lab E by the library for BOTH PERIODS 5 and 6 (we are NOT going to their usual computer lab in 233) and they can do any of 3 things:
1) work on Classzone.com on the computer (they will have to write down their score for each assignment, like 2.6 or 3.1 and show you their score on their screen, then have you sign their paper. They will turn this paper in to you).
2) Work on missing HW and turn them into you (you will hand out sheets showing what work is still missing)
3) Work on the extra credit puzzles (provided)

II. Tell them they must work on one of these 3 things. If they are not doing these things you should write their names down and tell them they are getting a warning from me (they get 3 strikes per week, then a detention with me)

III. Tell them that at the END OF 6th Period, NOT the end of 5th period, if everyone has been good, they may go on YouTube, etc. for the last 5 minutes of 6th period (NOT 5th period).

IV. Remind them that there is NO EATING or DRINKING at all in the computer lab, and no iPods or headphones.

V. Hand out missing assignment sheets.

VI. Tell them to take all their things down to Computer Lab E.

VII. Make sure to close and lock the door behind you, and hang the sign "Mrs. Pattie's class went to Computer Lab E" on the door.

These students should walk down to the computer lab with the class, but then continue on to the library (right next to computer lab) for making up tests. Make sure they understand that they should return to the computer lab when done with tests. They will leave their tests with the proctor in the library.
Nohemi Melendez
Will Donald
Alex Winnick

These students MAY go to their resource room (122 or 116) per 6 if they request: Eddy Edee and Fina Funk. There is technically no teacher available in their resource room Period 5 but if they are having an “emergency” the teachers are having lunch in the dept. office and Eddy knows where that is and will sometimes go sit there and quietly work. We don’t encourage this, though, so ask him to wait until 6th period unless he is really feeling extreme.

Then take the class down to Computer Lab E. They should bring all their things with them since we will not be returning to the classroom.

If any student goes on YouTube or is not using the computer properly, have them logout immeidately and work on task #2 (missing work) or #3 (extra credit) above.

I wouldn’t let anyone leave the lab during class since they get the passing period break and they don’t need any materials from their locker to work on #1 or #3, and can always borrow a book from #2. They will come up with lots of reasons why they have to leave (and then sneakily try to go to the vending machines, or go to their “locker” but be gone for half an hour; they should get marked as a cut if they are gone for more than 10 minutes).

During the passing period between 5-6 students may take a break if they have been good (if a student has not been good, you can quietly tell them, “I am giving you a warning, and you have lost your privilege to go on break and have to sit here with me during passing period”), but be sure to mark any absences or tardies to 6th period!

Periodically remind the students that they need to have you sign off on their Classzone.com scores. If students finish all their classzone assignments, and have “nothing to do,” remind them they should do #2 or #3. They tend to finish one task and then sit there surfing the internet or socializing until you notice them, saying “I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next”

Feel free to move/separate students from each other if they are off task.

Watch out for computer vandalism like removing keyboard keys, unplugging equipment, etc.

Confiscate any ipods/phones at first sight and take to the Dean’s office after class.

If students have computer issues, the computer lab Help ladies are right there and can assist. Feel free to ask the computer lab ladies for computer assistance as well for an extra set of adult hands for all the kids (“Help! I can’t login! Help! My computer froze! Help! Where did my screen go?? Help, why can’t I click??”). They are wonderful.

At the end of the period, be sure to collect any work/classzone scores from the students. I also have a bag of fruit snacks, each student can take one on their way out.

If you aren’t sure of anything, ask Really Reliable—he is very capable, mature, and trustworthy. He can run emergency errands for you as well (ie, you forgot your worksheets in the classroom—send Really up to ask another math/science teacher in 225 to go get them, etc., or you are not sure if a student is telling the truth about a fire drill in the next 10 minutes, you could whisper to Really, “Is this true?”)

Don’t be nervous—these can be fun and engaging kids who want to learn, but they have extremely individualized needs and can either be angelic or LOUD and hyper and rude to each other!!!! Esp on Halloween Friday for a shortened day!!

2008-10-25T19:19:00.003-05:00

Exercise!

I have not regularly exercised in about 3 years; we walk (sometimes), but not for long.
Well check this out: free online workout videos! www.exercisetv.tv
Now I really have no excuses (well, they don't play on our computer because flash player doesn't work, and the sound doesn't work on my laptop, but I can do them without sound, right?)

2008-10-23T20:39:00.002-05:00

The Trouble with Staying in a Hotel

1) It's 8:40 and no sign of sleepiness on the part of O. Last night she fell asleep 6 times but woke up every time one of us moved or turned on the light or water, etc.
2) We've eaten nothing but packaged non-perishable food, like applesauce and cold canned soup and crackers and tuna. O has not eaten "dinner" but instead has snacked on some dry frosted mini wheats (at least they are whole wheat!), chocolate (my other confession; I keep her quiet in the store by giving her chocolate...one of these days I promise to not give her chocolate and let her have a temper tantrum in the store and then leave. It will have to be a day I don't actually need anything so we can leave right away), and spirulina tablets. Sometimes I just feel like such a failure as a mom! But I know I can improve and will try to be better!

2008-10-22T08:16:00.002-05:00

Confession for today (I got more coming)

1) Baby uses plastic containers for EVERYTHING she eats off of. She used to use glass bottles when she was an infant, but she's been using clear plastic sippy cups since (DUH!) probably filled with bisphenol A or whatever. UGH! I use plastic tupperware for our lunches too--maybe I should buy more glass pyrex containers and bring those to lunch everyday? Oh, but they are so heavy! And they break!

2) I just ordered some homeopathic organic toddler "go to sleep" drops with valerian and chamomile, etc. (other people recommended Benadryl--do they even make that for babies???). She goes to sleep at 9 PM (only by me lying next to her in her bed for an hour) and wakes up at 4 AM (B gets up with her and she cries to nurse for an hour until we all give up, and she will sometimes take milk or music or toys instead, but never back to sleep!). Our other options are to "train" her to stay in her bed and/or room until the sun comes up (I've seen print ads for a nightlight that has a moon and sun and the parents set it so that it flips to "sun" at a certain time)--but isn't the only way to do that is to lock her in her room and let her scream and cry all morning until she "gets it." I'm actually looking forward to Daylight Savings Time ending--maybe she will start to go to bed around 8 PM (but hopefully not wake up at 3 AM!).

2008-10-21T11:35:00.002-05:00

Confession of the Day

I bought a Swiffer system while on sale at CVS ($2 for a mop system and duster). I swore I wouldn't because it's gadget-y. But our floors are never, ever clean--my socks are disgusting, we vaccuum and mop and mop and there are still layers of grit on the floor, our socks are still disgusting, we can't launder mops so we have to throw them out and buy new ones.

I tried the Swiffer starter system--I used one dry cloth on the entire house, and one wet cloth on the entire house (since that's all that the starter kit comes with; then I have to buy overpriced refills!).

But WOW!!!!! For the first time in 4 years, I feel like my floors are CLEAN! They are actually shining and sparkling! My socks are clean! Is it wrong to say, "Praise God for overpriced gadgets that ruin the planet?"

2008-10-19T18:08:00.001-05:00

Maybe we're crazy...

But B has conferences on Wed night until 9 PM, AND on Thursday night until 9 PM. We only have one car. He has no one to carpool with.

So instead of renting a car, or instead of Oula and I staying late in the library/McD for 2 nights in a row until he is done, we booked a motel near school for 2 nights! Mini vacation....? Is this genius, or are we crazy?

2008-10-19T16:40:00.000-05:00

What do you think about this (homogenized cow milk)?

http://agardenofblessings.blogspot.com/2008/10/homogenized-milk-not-so-good.html

2008-10-15T12:32:00.003-05:00

Okay, scratch last post

After about 10 minutes she was done with "shows". We played some more, but poor thing started a series of crying hysterically b/c her mouth hurts and she was hungry but it hurt too much to eat anything so she was so frustrated...poor thing!! She is drinking some chicken broth but that's about it. We tried rice, mac and cheese, milk, yogurt, bananas...She is also nursing ("the sick child will take the breast when all other nourishment is refused..." LLL) but there's not a whole lot in there and I didn't want to let her chomp on me all day because I'll get cracks and mastitis, and that's the last thing I need! Pretty much whenever she gets sick I get mastitis.

I finally forced some orajel and tylenol into her mouth and walked her in the stoller for 1/2 an hour in the rain and she finally conked out.

Now the dilema is whether or not to take her to school tomorrow since they said they would take her since she doesn't have a fever...it's not really polite to the other teachers or kids to have to deal with a cranky/in pain baby all day...

2008-10-15T07:54:00.003-05:00

Hand Foot and Mouth

Poor O has HFM! She is crying b/c it hurts to eat anything! I am home with her today. We painted, played, and tried breakfast. She has not watched many DVDs (maybe 20 min every 2 weeks) since we got home from vacation, but she is so miserable I decided to indulge her and help her forget her misery (I know when I am sick I am too tired to even read and want to just
watch movies). I tried to have her watch a DVD on plate tectonics and continental drift, but she got a bit bored after 15 minutes! ;P So she is watching Usborn Fun with French.

2008-10-04T19:32:00.003-05:00

DILEMA: Toddler Flu Shot or Not?

Well, I think I know what most of you will say (which ones will say no and which ones will say it probably doesn't matter either way)! ;P But I still want to know.

We do have the issue of toddler being in daycare and both of us working in a public school filled with teenagers who wash their hands once a day, maybe if they feel like it.
I have also had a flu shot every year since I was 15 so maybe my immune system is so crippled now that I have to get the flu shot or else die (although sometimes I wish I could get the flu and escape the world and do nothing but lie in bed and watch movies and take sleep-inducing medicines! /JK. We all had "24 hr flu" when baby was about 8 months old and took turns sleeping on the floor in the bathroom next to the toilet. Poor daughter was on her hands and knees rocking on a changing pad and puking all night, and we stayed up to make sure she didn
t asphyxiate. It wasn't pleasant.).

2008-10-03T10:21:00.000-05:00

Student Responses of the Day

Q: How is the rock cycle like recycling plastic?
"It keeps going and never, ever, ever stops at all."

Q: Is the Rock cycle a perfect circle? Explain.
"No, and no, no, because they Just do not do that."

Q: How can we classify metamorphic rocks?
"I think that it was fun to match the rocks."

Q: Describe the formation of sedimentary rocks.
"Sedimentary rocks are cool!!!"

And then a student asked me (very seriously):
"Are lichen the same thing as werewolves?"
Because he was completely serious, I responded very seriously:

"No, lichen are a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and a plant, while werewolves are mythical creatures that turn ferocious during full moons."

2008-09-30T14:27:00.003-05:00

Today is Rosh Hashanah; I had the day off but for some reason B doesn't, so he took O into school and I had a day to myself!!! Here's what I did:

-graded papers for 3 hours
-did 2 loads of laundry, folded, put away
-changed the bedsheets
-mopped
-washed and unloaded dishes
-did some paperwork
- made a bunch of medical appts/checkups
-washed the windows (inside and out)
-rode my bike to the mall and wandered around, marveling at the prices (ex: $58 for a camisole tank, $108 for a juicy Coutre velour sweatshirt)
- baked 2 loaves of whole wheat banana carrot bread
- made carrot juice
- drank my carrot juice
- went to the library and got a bunch of books on tape and puzzles for oula, got some other books to read in my copious spare time (ha ha!)

still want to do
- PSAT prep (ugh)
- cook dinner (gorditas!)
- update budget
-clean up my coupons
-pack lunches and breakfasts for tomorrow

The PSAT prep and budget probably won't happen but that's okay. All in all I had a productive day!

2008-09-28T13:41:00.003-05:00

Tithing -- what about retirement?

We tithe on our gross salary.

Don't laugh, but neither Bruce nor I realized until a week ago (after 9 years of teaching for B, 5 for me!) that 10% of our salary is automatically put in the Teacher's Retirement System of IL (which is being mismanaged by our dear Gov. Blagojevich and is under funded and will probably collapse by the time we retire, but what can you do).

So 10% of our salary goes to tithe, another 10% to Rod Blagojevich's friends, another 20% or so to taxes. Ouch! If we save for retirement on top of that according to various retirement calculators' recommendations, that would be another 30%. If we saved for Oula's college according to various private college calc's rec's, that would probably be another 20% on top of that. Which all adds up to 90% of our salaries, leaving us 10% to live on. HAH!

Last year we did okay because I didn't have the TRS portion taken out and I guess that money went to daycare so we were the same financially before Oula was born.

This year I was so confused as to why my paychecks were so small and I realized it was because of the TRS deduction. I'm not sure how we'll do financially with both the TRS deduction and Oula's daycare...maybe we won't be able to save money for retirement (since we don't trust TRS and the amount of pension you get is not very much anyway)?

Anyway, so my question is: on how do we tithe on the money that gets sent to TRS, and in theory we receive later during retirement? How do we tithe on it later as well?

2008-09-28T13:31:00.003-05:00

Happy Weekend

While recovering from being sick, I ran around being frugal:

1) Used my new vision benefits to get an eye exam, contact and glasses fitting, and 3 boxes (9 pairs) of contacts for $7!
2) I used zennioptical.com to get 2 pairs of hip glasses for $32 ($8 glasses, 4.95 shipping, plus
I got the Anti-reflective coating for another 4.95)
3) I sold a bunch of books through cash4books.net (they will pay good prices--and they pay for FedEx shipping--for Pitman, Apostol, Mechanical Universe, Vibrations and Waves, etc.! I know, why on earth do I still have these?!)
4) I also sold a bunch of books on Amazon but the shipping ended up being more than the shipping allowance Amazon provides (one I had to ship internationally for $25 and I had sold the book for $12! Oops! No more international shipping for me!) so it wasn't quite a good deal.
5) We dropped our landline from ATT and use MagicJack.com for $40 a YEAR.
6) I did a mega-mega-mega Jewel expedition and got over $500 for $39.40. I didn't do a grand total of inventory or pics, but I got about
40 cans of Progresso soup
30 cans of vegetarian refried beans
, 20 boxes of cheerios
, 3 family size (4lb!) frozen lasagnas
, 3 bags of salad
, 24 multi-packs (8 packs) of yogurt (yes, that's a lot of yogurt)
, fruit snacks to give out at Halloween
, 3 loaves of bread
, 3 packages almonds
, 6 bottles of wine
, 3 salad dressings
, 6 packages of tortillas
, 4 boxes of rice
, 6 bag of frozen veg (I'd have gotten more but they wouldn't have fit in our freezer!)
, some other stuff
,etc.

This deal is crazy--it's "buy $25 of General Mills, get a $10 coupon on your next order." But the $25 is on the regular price, not sale price. So the Progresso soup costs $2.88 regular, but is on sale for .99, so I only need to buy 9 cans * 2.88 = 25.92, but only pay 9 * 8.90 (minus all the coupons I might have), and I get $10 for my next transaction. So in theory I could get an infinite number of soups! It's so crazy.

Jewel has deals like this about every 2 weeks; we will never go hungry again!

2008-09-18T20:31:00.000-05:00

Long Post -- Catching Up

1) After yesterday’s market news, B and I decided I should go out and load up the pantry. I went to an Indian grocery store at 8:30 PM and got a gallon of oil, 20 pounds of rice, 30 pounds of various Indian lentils, 20 pounds of whole wheat flour. Today we’re going to ALDI to get some powdered and canned milk, and then to Trader Joe’s to get several bottles of spirulina tablets (Oula eats them like “candy”!).

What about you? What are you doing (if anything)?

2) What surprised me is that I spent about $70 on all that food, which we estimate could last us 3-4 months if we needed to (even longer if we had a garden and some chickens). So in theory we could feed a family of 3 for $20 a month!

3) I also went to Jewel for a MEGA coupon run! I spent $13 and got:

- 2 packages of dry erase markers
- milk
- organic eggs
- 6 multi-packs of yogurt
- 3 glade candles
- 4 glade plug ins (for my classrooms, for housewarming gifts?)
- 6 canisters of peanuts
- 3 bottles of Fuze white tea
- 3 bags of Green Giant frozen veggies

I was REALLY excited since just the markers and eggs would have cost $13! I am thinking of going back to get more yogurt and Fuze.

4) Our hour – plus commute is annoying, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be moving any time soon. Not a single person has even come to see our place. Every night I have to pack our breakfasts for the car, and our lunches, and Oula’s after school snacks for the car, since we are spending about 2-3 hours per day in the car. We have books on tape, but by the end we’re all exhausted and cranky and Oula is usually screaming. Poor thing.

5) We had ants. We tried “Combat” style traps, boric acid, an exterminator, and finally bay leaves. After the bay leaves, no sign of ants. Perhaps the other things finally worked.

6)I think Oula likes our new pastor—she runs up to the front for children’s sermon, and the two of them dance together after church every Sunday.

7) Oula loves to read her Zondervan kids Bible for hours and hours. We finally got a CD of Bible stories and she likes to listen to that. She asks deep questions: “’Cause why Jesus? Why Jesus?” and Bruce explains: “Because we needed help. Because he loves us.” “Jesus is always with me,” she says, even though I never really told her that. On vacation, we drove over the mountains once and saw a brilliant vista with clouds and she shouted and pointed: “There’s Jesus! Over there!” Once when we read the story of Adam and Eve and the fall, we read, “God said, ‘where are you Adam?’” and she started to bawl, a deep, sorrowful wail. “Where are you Adam?” she choked with grief. Her faith and understanding of God is so deep and beautiful. She prays such beautiful prayers for her friends, or she will retell a story during her prayer, like the entire story of Gideon and the fleece or Mary and Martha and Jesus over for dinner, or Samson and Delilah (Delilah confuses her—she is used to “nice ladies” in stories and she can’t come to terms on why Delilah cut off all of Samson’s hair). Tonight she said “God gave us boo-ful (beautiful) grapes in a bowl, and corn on a plate, and rice in a bowl, and milk in a cup!”

8) Potty training: ha ha. I stopped trying. Week nights are too exhausting. Weekends, she will sit on it for no end reading books and chattering away but she has never GONE on the potty. I have her watch me use the toiled up close and she is still amazed at what happens; I really don’t think she GETS it.

9) Nursing: she still loves it! I imposed a rule that she only gets to nurse in the morning, before naptime on weekends, after school on weekdays, and before bed. She sure loves to nurse! It’s so fun! At the state fair, we were at the petting zoo and some newborn piglets were nursing and I said, “look, they are having nigh-nigh.” She looked and then explained very seriously to the 5 and 6 year olds around her that the piglets were “having nigh nigh.” We like to check out these Smithsonian animal books out of the library and they often show the animals nursing and she loves to find them and say, “he’s having nigh nigh!”

10) Conversation: is oh so fun. I’ve got to start writing things down. She picks up everything; she talks about her ring-tailed lemur (which she keeps in her “purse,”) and beluga whale and uses the words liquid and fluid and traffic and all kinds of fun things.

11) Tired: I am very.

12) Working: the quintessential 2-income family trap where we didn’t have time to shop and so ate out 4 times last week because I had to work until 9 PM two nights. I do like my new school a lot but we don’t get a lot of un-scheduled time (our meetings start at 7:40 am, we teach until 3:30 pm with 6 assignments plus an advisory).

13) Spending: I have had to spend a lot more money for my job than I am used to. For example, they give us a loaner laptop but we have to buy the cover, case, bag, mouse, external storage, speakers, remote, numeric keypad, etc. I bought my own copy machine b/c we are not allowed to make our own copies and have to put in orders days in advance.

14) Montessori: I think oula likes it. Sadly, I actually have no idea. I am used to dropping her off and visiting at lunch and picking her up and knowing her routine and friends, but now B drops her off and picks her up since his work day is shorter than mine, and so I have no idea what is going on at school. B says she is “in the zone” whenever he picks her up and it’s really good for her. I like being able to pack her lunch (albeit in plastic, probably bisphenol A laden Tupperware).

15) Salsa: our church is having a salsa dance party on Saturday!

16) Dehydrator: I want one.

17) Another child: we are ambivalent. We like the idea of two lovely Oulas running around and playing. Everyone who has multiple kids says it’s so easy because they play together and so you don’t have to spend the whole day singing itsy bitsy spider with your lonesome only child. Also, I don’t want Oula to have to grown up and potentially take care of elderly Bruce, elderly me, elderly childless aunt, elderly childless uncle, halmuhnee, harabuhjee, grandpa, and, if she’s married, all her in-laws…

On the other hand, we don’t feel like re-lving the past two years of exhaustion and constant stress and fighting. I invested so much energy into raising Oula and I am afraid I won’t be able to do it for a second one. And, having 2 kids in daycare would erode most of the benefit of my working, but we really don’t think it’s wise to live off of only B’s salary. And, to be honest, it’s nice to be “on” with my life a little; it’s nice to be able to go on bike rides and talk on the phone and have some friends again. I was away from Oula maybe about 2 hours (besides working) for the past 2 years. I was always nursing and pumping and couldn’t go anywhere. And, to be honest, I am finally starting to like my body and don’t really feel like going through pregnancy and size D cups again. And what if we had another child but we didn’t like him/her as much as we like Oula??

Why couldn’t Oula just have a cousin who lived next door that we could have sleep over and be like our own child? ;P

18) Bike trailer: we got one and use it a lot, like to go to church. Our dream is to move near work and use it for commuting as well.

19) I should get to work and do my grades since it’s 8:30 PM and I am very sleep deprived and think I have a sinus infection!

2008-09-02T20:47:00.002-05:00

Our house is listed for sale! Pray that we can sell and move (we're not holding our breath). Our commute is killing us since O's new school is 15 minutes out of the way now. On the plus side, she LOVES her new school! Email me if you want to see our MLS number.

2008-08-23T13:14:00.003-05:00

I am so frustrated and angry and upset about 2 things:

-nap time (lack of)
-potty training (lack of)

2008-08-14T20:36:00.002-05:00

We're back from vacation!
Pics are here http://picasaweb.google.com/rubypeanut/July2008Vacation

I don't know what it is, but our budget always seems to be out of whack for a while after a vacation. I think it's because we don't shop before the vacation b/c we're trying to empty out the fridge, so we eat out a lot before vacation, then of course we have to eat out a lot on vacation, and then when we come home the fridge is empty so we have to stock up again and also end up eating out a lot because we're going through vacation withdrawal. Oh well!

2008-06-20T16:17:00.002-05:00

My father in law is in town. We had planned a glorious summer weekend in Chicago, to take him to the Botanic Gardens, Ravinia outdoor concert series to hear Willie Nelson, an architechtural riverboat tour, Navy Pier, Grant Park, Arlington Race Track (horses).

Instead, the forecast for today tomorrow Sunday = thunderstorms.

Instead, we are going to indoor arena football....and need to think of something else to do (and I think the men have been sitting around his hotel room chatting and drinking whiskey for 4 hours).

2008-06-19T12:51:00.000-05:00

Anemia Part II

So I went to Whole Foods today; couldn't bring myself to get the Floradix Laura recommended, spent a ridiculous amount on sprulina anyway (O used to love it in her milk let's hope she stlll does). As soon as I checked out it occurred to me that I should shop online and buy spirulina in bulk. At WF I bought 90 grams for $13.99 or $73 a pound, a quick google search gave me $21 a pound. Oops! ! Oh well. I'm still not used to searching for things online as a default. Anyone buy bulk supplements on line before and have any recommendations for suppliers?

Our local newspaper ran a plea for a dying boy who has some rare disease who needs very rare AB positive blood (he can't take others because his immune system is so weak) for an operation on June 26 (my birthday). I'm AB positive. Maybe I should glug the Floradix in hopes of being able to help save this boy in time...

2008-06-18T14:51:00.001-05:00

Financially, this has been one of those "ouch" months for us....thankfully we are so frugal and always have the cash. We had some car repairs, then the fence payment, and then the condo association voted to have everyone replace the front windows within 5 years. Replacing the front windows costs over $3,000, which we just wrote a check for (ouch!). On the plus side, our front window has been fogged since we got married so it will be nice to at last be able to look out my front window!

(We have very low assessments in our association, so when things like this come up we pay out of pocket. I actually prefer this method because I'd rather have control over my money instead of gradually giving it to the association over the years.)

More ouches:

End of the year and interns and graduations and people leaving and weddings and celebrations means lots of parties, lots of dutch meals out at restaurants, lots of lots of driving and gas. (Thankfully, we haven't had to pay for any gifts because I make everyone gift bags filled with chocolates and fancy toiletries.) We only go to about half the parties we are invited to (last weekend we had at least 5 invites!). The alternative is to just sit at home twiddling our thumbs and not celebrating with any of our friends.

Because we only have one car, but have had some unusual scheduling issues, Bruce has been taking taxis to work at $40+tip each way. On the other hand, 10 taxi rides = the car repair we just paid for! ;P

Bruce's dad is coming to visit, which is great. I have been researching free festivals and events, but they are all the week before he comes or the week after, not during! Drat! We'll manage though, with employee and teacher discounts and coupons and such. I was so surprised at how much entertainment prices had increased. For example, a few years ago B and I went on an architechtural tour of Chicago along the river. It was fantastic, and only $13. Well, now the same tour costs $34. SUPER OUCH! The Art Institute used to be "Free/Donate what you like" but is now $12 a person. OUCH! The hotels in the area used to be around $100 a night, but are now around $160+ (just to stay and silly suburban Chicago in a Super 8 or Motel 6!). OUCH! Parking at the Botanic Gardens used to be $9, now is $15. And the list goes on and on...

On the Flip Side, here are some Savings:

I eventually found a great deal ($111 a night) on the hotel for B's dad using my entertainment book. It was much cheaper than using my AAA discount!

I found a free clinic for a TB test I have to take for work (saved $34).

I was going to order transcripts, but remembered that my old employer still had them on file so I asked them to mail them back to me (saved $27).

B was going to go to Lowe's and spend several hundred dollars on home repair supplies, but I thought to do some google searches for coupons. I registered on their site to get a 10% coupon, and a $10 off $25. I also bought some 20% off coupons from ebay.

We haven't had to do any grocery or gift shopping because I had so much stockpiled from previous couponing expeditions.

2008-06-18T14:48:00.001-05:00

Big News

1) I quit my job; got a few more weeks to go
2) I got a new job , teaching HS again but at a different school than before
3) We are going to try to fix up our place, sell our place, move to a new place (no huge rush, though since everyone keeps telling us it's a slow housing market)
4) O is going to start Montessori in the fall

Pros

1) We're going to try to go camping in Wyoming/Colorado for at least 5 weeks this summer
2) My new job is across the street from B's job so we'll be on the same calendar and his school feeds into mine
3) We're going to save over $4,000 a year in childcare
4) If/when we do move, we'll save on commuting costs (15 miles one way) and time
5) When O gets older, she'll go to school with us!
6) New district is not on the North Shore so it has a very different attitude, culture, etc. I like it already. (For example, if a student gets all the questions wrong on a test, they get an F. At my old school, I'd have to tutor the student during lunch and after school and provide alternate individualized personalized instruction and assessment and give them infinite second chances and document everything....I might do these at the new school, but I don't HAVE to, if the student really got an F, they got an F and we move on from there.)
7) I LOVE O's new school (more on this later)
8) We're going to save almost $2,000 a year in health insurance because my new health insurance is really really cheap and good
9) My new school has GREAT lunch menus (quality of food is important to me...it's an indicator of the values of an institution)
10) I get to teach math and science instead of just science
11) B is really, really, ridiculously happy about the whole thing...he finally admitted to a friend who asked, "Why is she going back to teaching?" "Because I've been begging her for the past 2 years."

Medium News

1) B's dad is coming into town tomorrow
2) Our church hired a gay (celibate) pastor; he'll be starting later this summer
3) I think B finally understands some of the reasons why I wanted to homeschool/SAHM...for example, O used to love going to the doctor and never cried during shots (can you believe it?) but at school they read a book about going to the doctor and the book said that going to the doctor can be scary and shots hurt, so O was crying and crying in anticipation of the scary doctor. Another example: O used to love ants but all a sudden started yelling "ANT! KILL IT!" and trying to step on them. She may have started this on her own, but B attributes it to daycare. B also watched "Super Size Me" and doesn't want her to eat "poison" anymore.
4) We are in mega-decluttering phase (or trying to be....gosh it's hard to get rid of my "precious" belongings!)
5) We checked a bunch of Cooper Edens and Eloise Wilkins out of the library; O loves the pictures and LOVES the poetry! I thought she wouldn't be able to understand the poems, but it's all about the cadences; I think she "gets" poetry; she points to the pictures accompanying each poem and says, "Can we listen to the one about the frog?" or whatever the picture is. "Listen again? Listen again?" She can't get enough poetry.
6) I had various check-ups; I'm still anemic as usual. Is anemia "true" or is it one of those products of a male-oriented medical profession? Like the blanket diagnosis that "all breast fed babies need iron supplements" (yeah, right). It seems like almost every woman I know is "anemic," and the nurse said most menstruating women are actually anemic. Hmm! Let me know your thoughts! I'm also low in Vitamin D, which I thought was interesting since I spend so much time outside. Maybe if I took more iron I wouldn't be so tired all the time? Worth the $3.99 in iron supplements to find out!
7) We finally got around to night weaning O since B is on vacation and can "afford" to sacrifice sleep by helping her go back to sleep on her own.
8) I still haven't had my period (since 2005!) so my mid-wife thought we should probably begin some diagnostics even though I am still nursing. We have been around lots of cute babies lately so I think B is starting to yearn for another one (instead of being averse to it).
9) Stopped the CSAs; the second shipment was about the same size as first, lovely food, including sunchokes which we roasted and were really delicious. We may start again next year but right now we're so busy (it's been crazy busy; I had to interview and fill out district paper work and background checks and appointments and visit new daycares/schools and shuttle back and forth from current work to new work in a taxi because we only have one car, etc.) that we were just trying to eat it all really fast before the vegetables spoiled, which I think defeats a lot of the pleasure of a CSA.

2008-06-09T14:42:00.001-05:00

Really, Really, Really Bad Lipstick Color Names
(so bad I found the time to post this entry)

(no wonder their parent company's stock is less than a dollar...at least you get the point that the product is supposed to stay on your lip! But who wants to have fawn fur on the lips? And Lasting Peony just is not sexy. And Bare Maximum? Why not just say: "Pay money for an invisible product!")

Infinite Raspberry
Continuous Rouge
Keep Blushing
Endless Spice
Perpetual Pink
Lasting Peony
Enduring Rose
Constantly Coral
Forever Scarlet
Eternal Petal
Bare Maximum
Eternally Tan
Ultimate Wine
Timeless Nude
Non-Stop Cherry
Everlasting Rum
Always Sienna
On-Going Flame
Faithful Fawn
True Chocolate

2008-05-25T15:32:00.003-05:00

Need Budget Advice

How should I record the expenditure of a large amount of money (almost $2,000, ouch!) for the new fence?

1) Should I plop it into our monthly expenditure calculator under one of the categories?
2) Should I divide the $2,000 out over 12 months and dump it in each month?
3) Should I keep a separate section for "unusual large expenses (ie, this is why we keep our large "emergency fund)" and tally that up at the end of the fiscal year?

I'm voting for option #3. What do you think?

2008-05-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

Garage Sale!

We had fantastic weather for our nine-family townhome association garage sale! All the children (5 of them) played outside merrily for 8 hours, playing with all the giant piles of toys and books and eating lots of fun snacks.

Our house is even more of a disaster than before because we just shoved everything back inside and haven't had time to put it all away. We also sold a desk with drawers and the changing table without having replacement furniture, so we dumped everything that was in and on those furnitures on the floor. So all of DD's clothes are on the floor. All of the office items are on the floor. Our house is SUCH a disaster! Ugh!

On the plus, side, we made $300 and have room to get new-to-us furniture. Highlights of the day:

B sold a bunch of pottery at $1 each, and sold his giant 2-ft high vase for $10. He decided to sign up for another pottery class this summer and hold a ceramics sale at the end of the summer.

The shampoo, flushable wipes, and pain meds I got from couponing were gone before we even officially opened.
People would not calculate the cost per ounce/unit. Any item priced at a dollar went fast, whereas an item priced over a dollar had a hard time selling. For example, people grabbed allergy medication at $1 for box of 5 (retails around $3), but no one touched vitamins priced at $4 for a pack of 200 (retails around $15)

I sold all the weird clothes my mom has sent me
I sold a brand-new "Prada" clutch my mom sent me years ago for $30
A couple months ago on recycling day I trashpicked a box on the curb that contained of a couple hundred Chinese satin coin purses. I sold dozens at 50 cents each. Pure profit!

Nobody wanted any of B's theology and spritual growth and history of Israel books. ;P
A lady stole a $1 orchid. I thought it was too funny. She stuffed it in a paper bag and held it really tightly and I kept asking her if she needed an extra bag. "No, no," she insisted. "Are you sure?" "Yes, yes, I'm fine."

I bought 4 pairs of shoes for DD at $1 each (too bad she wore the Target shoes already! I would have returned them!).
I bought DD a stepstool for 25 cents.
I bought a new package of Dryel for $1; I was just going to buy a new kit for around $20.
I bought 2 books on homeschooling and Montessori methods for 50 cents each.

2008-05-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

CSA

We decided to try a CSA order from http://www.freshpicks.com/.

This is a little different because it's a third party distributor/consolidator. They deliver to our house. The ony other CSA programs around here would mean we'd have to drive over an hour into the "hip" part of the city (where "hip" people create more demand for CSA) in order to pickup.

We ordered a "double" box every 2 weeks at $32 an order. Our first CSA share came. Beautiful produce, nice variety:

- asparagus
-a grapefruit-sized cantalope
-watercress
-carrots
-chives
-green garlic (kind of like green onions)
-mushrooms
-rhubarb

However, to be honest, I was disappointed in how little produce we got for our $32. There was about a pound of each, so we are paying about $4 a pound.
Chives are more like a garnish, I tried to figure out if/how we could eat the tops of the carrot but ended up discarding them, the watercress was completely wilted the next day and I tried eating them in a salad but they were so bitter so we just discarded them too.

We made:
- quiche with the mushrooms and garlic
- rhubarb compote
- steamed the asparagus and ate it with canned beans and crackers last night (oh, the irony)
- roasted the carrots and ate it with the quiche
- made potato salad with non-CSA potatoes and mixed the chives in

and so in 3 days we had eaten the entire order except for the cantalope.

Am I off in my perception that I didn't get much for my $32? I guess I had expected it to last until the next delivery 2 weeks later so maybe my expectations were out of line. The $32 ended up being a third of our grocery expenditures for the entire month; I can do so much better using coupons, so we'd basically be spending money as a "ministry" to support our local farmers and for aesthetic purposes (ie, we feel good about ourselves and "hip" if we have a CSA delivery). DH is really excited about it from "support local farmer as ministry" standpoint, whereas personally I'd rather put the money toward other things.

Any thoughts?

2008-05-21T14:03:00.000-05:00

Little Suburbia Part II

Yup, we live in a pretty nice town.

2008-05-21T14:00:00.000-05:00

Little Suburbia

We always argue about moving somewhere more exotic with mountains and oceans. But then, there is something to be said for simple suburbia. I was going to get rid of this picnic basket, but then I thought I should use it for a picnic!

2008-05-20T14:36:00.000-05:00

A simple Solution

I cannot bear to throw away resealable baggies. I know my "savings perminute" from washing and re-use are very low. I know that, to bephilosophically consistent, I should also wash and reuse plastic containersand bottles (and I would except the clutter would quickly overwhelm...I dosneakily keep a few), or better yet, be like No Impact Man and refuse touse them. But in the meantime, I keep them. They are useful for freezingportioned quantities of excess vegetables and fruits and meat. We dodeplete our stock when we give leftovers to guests or package goodies asgifts, and because I don't reuse ones that contained meat. We use about 20when we travel.I finally used one of daughter's toys to create a baggie drying rack. Can anyone read the label on one of the baggies?

2008-05-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

Shoes Part II

Here are the Made-in-China beauties

And here are the too-big Children's Place gems...look, they match her outfit!

2008-05-19T13:46:00.002-05:00

Shoes

We have been blessed with many hand-me-downs, but were finally running outof toddler shoes. We squeezed her feet into her current pair until shecried "Too tight!" every time she saw them, then let her wear inappropriateshoes to school (sandals in 40 degree rainy weather, or her fancy pinkleather Nordstrom made in Italy dress shoes--I feel so guilty that we gotthem as pristine hand-me-downs and we ruined them by letting her wear themto school, the sandbox, the park, the mud...ruining their pristinecondition to pass along with someone else. Oh, the guilt!) while we hopedfor new hand-me-downs or a garage sale / thrift store find.

After weeks ofno luck, I finally broke down and bought shoes online at night at theChildren's Place for $4-5 each. Since they had flat rate shipping, I wentahead and bought 4 pairs in increasing sizes. After 2 weeks the new shoesfinally arrived. Unfortunately, even the smallest size shoe was still toobig! She wore them to school 2 days and the teachers hinted that they weretoo big, and finally the teachers said that she had to have differentshoes.

So we put away the four boxes of new, too big shoes, and last night we allwent to Target and actually shopped for something new together with ourdaughter for the first time. So many beautiful shoes! Where were theseshoes when I was a child? She tried on various pairs, saying "This one tootight," or "This one too big." Who knows if they actually were too tight ortoo big, but somehow she rejected them until we settled on a pair. Theywere $14.99, only the second piece of new, full-price clothing we've boughtfor our daughter (the first was an SPF 50 swimsuit for our summer trip lastyear).

Part of the fun of buying new shoes is getting to wear them home. Sincethey were banded together, daddy carried her like a princess with her newslippers to the cashier. Mommy carried the old dirty shoes in the box.Daddy slipped the white shoe off so the cashier could scan it, and thenslipped it back on. He proudly carried his baby with one hand while heswiped his credit card with the other. He carried her over the rainyparking lot puddles to the car so her new shoes wouldn't get dirty.

As we left the store, Daddy smiled and said, "Capitalization and corporations and these Made-in-China shoes are evil, but it's still so muchfun to buy your daughter a new pair of shoes."

2008-05-19T11:35:00.001-05:00

BTW, in case my blog seems strange this week, I'm experimenting with pre-scheduling the posting dates/times, but they may not necessarily be posted in a logical conceptual order! Bear with me!

2008-05-18T13:52:00.000-05:00

Revelation
Did you know that Dr. Seuss's ABC (the original version, not the board bookversion) works perfectly if each page is sung to the tune of the ABC song?"...and her red rhinocerOS!"

2008-05-16T14:45:00.000-05:00

His and Hers CVS

Guess which side has the products mommy got with coupons, and guess which side daddy got with coupons?
Total cost for everything: $1 sales tax.

2008-05-16T13:50:00.002-05:00

I took the day off today...my first since January 1, 2008. My goal was to tame the clutter...
Help! We are having a garage sale tomorrow, and I'm completely overwhelmed.

2008-05-14T11:22:00.001-05:00

The Egg Pan Dilema

We love scrambled eggs.
We used to have a teflon pan. As careful as we tried to be, the teflon always started to flake off. Boo Teflon in blood!
We got an overpriced aluminum calphalon pan. As careful as we tried to be, the non-stick coating always started to flake off and scratches/dents occured in the Al surface. BOO Al in blood!
We got a stainless steel pan. About a quarter inch of egg sticks each time. It's disgusting.
We have been microwaving single beaten eggs in little porcelain bowls. This method works all right, but we have to scrub out lots of little porcelain bowls now, and they turn out a wee bit rubbery. We'd prefer to scramble eggs in a pan.
We tried eating only boiled eggs but we really like scrambled eggs.
We've discussed the seasoned cast-iron pan and are doubtful that we are skillful enough to make it work.
We are considering buying another new teflon pan (and here we are trying to accumulate less STUFF and spend money!) and starting the vicious cycle again (b/c in another month, the Teflon will start to flake off...)

Any advice would be much appreciated.

2008-05-14T11:16:00.001-05:00

What I've Been Up To

Fighting fatigue...always feeling tired...

Coordinating and Preparing for our Inagaural Annual Condo Association Garage Sale (it's forecasted to rain...drat...)

Updating our Family Records for ourselves, and for our Executor in case we die (not to be confused with an Executioner...)

Thinking about potty training but not having the energy to sit with baby and keep her entertained on the potty for hours a day

2008-05-09T09:50:00.002-05:00

"The Jewel Game"

From looking at the various couponing mom websites (such as http://www.moneysavingmom.com/), you may have gathered that one can get a lot of s-t-u-f-f from mass retailers, esp chain drug stores. You may find yourself wondering: how man razors and deoderant and toothpastes and shampoos and body wash does one need? People say they play the "CVS game" because it's so easy to stock up on such items.

Well I feel like I have now mastered the "Jewel game" , which means we can now get free food. Pretty much all the time. And not just overpackaged junk food, but (slightly) packaged regular food (Jewel is owned by Super Value, so I think similar deals take place in other grocery chains as well. I know ACME and Shaw's often have similar deals).

I am going to keep this post a bit general; feel free to comment if you want more specifics such order of presenting coupons, "rolling" transactions, extending one's customized avenu offers, etc.

Example 1: this week there is a deal on General Mills food, 10 for $10 for cereal, granola bars, etc.
Jewel has a system of "hidden" electronic coupons linked to one's preferred card on their site valled the "avenu." (http://avenu.jewelosco.com/).

On my avenu, I had electronic coupons for $1 off Brand A of cereal. This makes Brand A of cereal free.

I also have coupons for $0.50 off Brand A of cereal. This means I have 50 cents overage when I buy Brand A using my preferred card and coupon, and overage gets subtracted from my total bill so it applies to other food items I get (like produce, meat, etc.).

On my avenu, I also have electronic coupons for $1.25 off of Brand B of granola bars. This means I already have 25 cents overage when I buy Brand B. If I also have coupons, I have more overage.

Example 2: I had $1 off avenu for multi-pack of yogurt. I had a $1.25 off coupon. The yogurt was $2.25. I got it for free.

Example 3: There are weekly deals like this: "Buy $20 of these participating products, get $10 back." Already, this is a great deal because you are getting the food for 1/2 off. However, here is the key: the $20 you have to get up applies to the REGULAR price on the items, not the sale price!

This week some fancy brand of eggs were included in the offer. The regular price of eggs = $4.25 (ridiculous). The sale price = $3 (also ridiculous, but what can you do).

Buy 5 eggs = $4.25 x 5 = $21.25 to get up to the $20 promotional threshhold.
However, because they are on sale, they only ring up as $15. With the $10 back, already I'm up to 67% savings.
I had 5 x $0.75 coupons (they were blinkies on display right under the eggs): $15 - $3.75 = $11.25

I pay for this but get a $10 catalina coupon for my next order, making the price $1.25. One can also look at this as the price = $11.25, but the price of my next order is $10 less (it doesn't matter which way you think of it, just pick one way and be consistent. Some deals are $10 off instantly instead of $10 on your next order so these are easier to manage).

Jewel doesn't mind if I do multiple orders of $20 and "roll" my $10 catalina into the next one (it helps if it's not too busy in the store, however).

A second transaction could be this:
Buy 7 peanut butter = $2.99 x 7 = $20.93 to get up to the $20 promo threshhold.
However, because they are on sale for $2, they only ring up as $14.
Use coupons if you have them, and use the $10 from the previous transaction.
Another $10 coupon will print out at the end.
Repeat for canned tomatoes...repeat for whole grain pasta...etc.

You don't have to do an entire order of just eggs, just PB, just tomatoes, you can mix and match, I just used these examples for simplicity.

Granted, the food isn't locally grown or 100% free of packaging and in this case it's not organic (but organic deals do arise), but it's food, it's decent food.

So yesterday I got about 40 items, including: cereal, granola bars, whole wheat pasta, peanut butter, eggs, whipped cream (mommy's treat), yogurt, canned tomato.

The register price was about $160 and I only spent $10. That's about 25 cents per item, where the average retail price was about $4 per item! That's 94% savings! I was so excited and proud I couldn't fall asleep!

I do make spreadsheets to plan these shopping trips; this is partly because I am a nerd and I like spreadsheets and partly because I don't like surprises and want to make sure I know exactly what I will be buying and what my final total is going to be. For example, I don't want to be stuck at the register with a total of -$3.60 (this used to happen to me when I first started couponing) and then I'd get flustered and have to grab a bunch of junk from the magazine/candy rack behind the register to fill in the $3.60.

2008-05-08T15:02:00.001-05:00

Lest you think I'm so noble and free from the consumerist world...

My other idea was to be a balloon artist (daughter is crazy about balloons, she would think she had THE coolest mom in town!!)
There are sooo many kids w parents at the gazillion parks in the area, I would just show up at the park w DD and a balloon hat and make balloons for all the kids as they ran around me squealing w delight, and I'd chat up all the parents and hand out my card and offer my services at their next birthday party...people in my town spend ridiculous amounts of money on b-day parties and I'd be capitalizing on that...oh...WWJD....like Cheryl's dilema on charging market prices for wedding services...

2008-05-08T10:23:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know anything about Waldorf education? I read the Wikipedia articles on it and will dig around in the mothering.com commune for a while, but wanted to see if anyone else had done some research and formed some thoughts.

2008-05-06T09:36:00.000-05:00

Poll: Would you give up your right to vote for a million dollars?

The sad and self-revealing thing is (Matt, close your eyes! I don't want you to think less of me! JK), I am so un-involved in politics and I feel like my vote is so insignificant in my area anyway. I really do feel like my vote is so useless; it just seems like so many things I vote for loses (just like all my favorite products always get discontinued...I am just an unusual bird, I guess), from things ranging to the school logo to the lunch menu to the local circuit judge to the State Senator.

So I think that I would give up my personal right, or at least be extremely tempted to, but only if U.S. citizens in general still all had the right to vote and it was only my own single piddly vote being removed, and if the offer weren't being extended to every one else (for example, I wouldn't want the U.S. government to offer a "stimulus incentive" to all citizens asking them to give up their right to vote for a million dollars, causing them to essentially silence the voice of the poor through bribery and cause rampant inflation as they printed more money to pay off the million dollars...)

And of course, if the question said, "Would you wish for a world where no one had the right to vote for a million dollars, I would say, "no way!" So really, I guess this reveals me to be a hypocrite--I want to keep the voting system, but I want to be lazy and not have to vote or work anymore, even though the noble thing of course is to participate!

2008-05-03T22:10:00.000-05:00

Oh, yes, here is our post-Doo-Doh ritual.

2008-05-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

My, how we've grown!

This picture was taken almost exactly a year ago (Zoom in, she's so cute!)

2008-05-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

Pics Continued

Our library has toys.
She likes to put the puppies in "Circle Time."

After years, and the fence falling down every winter after a heavy snow, our condo association got a new fence.
You can see the old fence on the left.

The new fence makes our back "yard" look huge!
It's cedar and smells wonderful.
The contrast with the old fence wood in the planters is stark.

2008-05-03T21:54:00.000-05:00

Thought it was Time for Some Pics

Have you ever found 4 dozen roses?

Or a ridiculous number of grapes (and tried making wine, but it tased terrible?)?

Her favorite food is Doo-Doh

She thinks the flip-around LCD screen is hilarious.

2008-05-02T14:00:00.002-05:00

The Friday List
A weekly compilation of articles

1) U.S Presidential Candidates' Stand on Oil

2) Recession Diet Just One Way to Tighten Belt

I think this article can be summed up by this sad story:

As the compromises mount, people are even coming up with clever schemes to hide their cost-cutting.

Holly Levitsky, a 56-year-old supermarket cashier in Cleveland, buys a brand of steak sauce called Briargate for 85 cents and surreptitiously pours it into an A1 steak sauce bottle she keeps at home. "My husband can’t even tell the difference," she said.

It is sad that the media is portraying frugality as deceiving one's husband by buying an off-brand convenience item (most likely laden w HFCS) to substitute for an even more overpriced convenience item.

Why should people have to HIDE their cost-cutting? Why should frugality be something one should be ashamed of? I actually find good tips from my co-workers who deride "other people who are so cheap, they do this...they buy day old bread from Jimmy John's for 50 cents instead of buying the full-price sandwich." So guess what I do when Oula wants a snack at the train station and I forgot to bring one? We go to Jimmy John's and buy a loaf of day old bread (really soft still) for 50 cents! At the train station, a man was discarding his newspaper in the trash and a lady asked him if she could please have the classified section if he was done with the paper? He gave her a dirty look and said, "You can BUY the newspaper yourself right over there." The powers that be have brainwashed us into thinking that spending full price is noble and patriotic...don't get me started or the next minute I'll be marching up the Washington Mall with a bull horn...

3) Genex Finance suggests making money on higher oil costs
I think it's funny that Genex-ers "need" their own specific financial advice.

4) Elite Korean Schools Forging Ivy League Skills

5) Bento Obsession
Sometimes it's hard to pack good lunches every day. This site is fun and inspires me to pack better lunches!

(see link at left for Egg Molds

6) Is Your Child's Sunscreen Doing More Harm than Good?

2008-04-30T11:15:00.000-05:00

Tips: Oldies But Goodies

Reminder #1: Always keep a list of things to look out for when garage sale / retail sale shopping!

We just hit our first g-sale of the year and got the following things on our list:

- sleeping bag (brand new! Wow!)
- bucket for mopping
- blocks for toddler
- sweaters for B (cashmere and wool)
- br_s for me; Liz Claiborn (I decided I am now an adult, a working woman, and need to graduate from the tube-like sacks I usually don...too much information...)
- wool hats for B

Reminder #2: Ask around before you buy anything

- My $8 watch broke. Before I bought a new $8 watch, I mentioned to my friend that I needed a watch. She said she had a watch she could give me. It's Timex w a leather band (now that I am now an adult, a working woman, I guess I should graduate from the $8 plastic toy watch!)

- I graduated from a wallet to a clutch (now that I am adult, a working woman, carrying coupons and rainchecks and catalinas and receipts, I guess I should carry a clutch...don't ask me to give up my Jansport for a purse, though! I gave my wallet to B, who, now that he is a grown man, needed to graduate from his velcro fabric surfer dude wallet that had rips and holes in it...That wallet almost caused riots when casually displayed during faculty meeting...). I used a clutch someone had given me for my high school graduation and I had never used. Since it was so old, the zipper pull had corroded a little and the zipper head (? is that what it's called) ripped right off. I looked for one at the g-sale but didn't see one I liked. I mentioned to my friend that I needed one; she said she had TONS of wacko knock-offs that her Asian mother sends her (I can relate...remember the rhinestone tarantula camisole?) and she brought one for me. It's knock-off Burberry in slightly wild colors which makes it even cooler! (even hipper than real Burberry, it's even MORE hip to have wacko Asian knock-offs, don't you think? It keeps people wondering if you are absolutely clueless about fashion or just so hip that you are out of their league...JK).

2008-04-25T09:41:00.001-05:00

Here's a post about feeling out of touch for being frugal. B and I feel out of touch with pretty much everyone we know, not just for being frugal, but for caring about social justice and the environment (beyond tossing our aquafina bottles into a recycling bin while wearing Prada high heels and feeling good about recycling....oh! I'm so judgemental!). I pretty much always feel lonely and like I don't have any thing I can talk about to any of my friends. They ask me what's going on, and I scan through everything I'm thinking of in my head (composting, foraging for wild mushrooms, building a solar oven, quitting now and retiring to central Ohio on a $50k house on 5 acres, couponing, the Omnivore's Dilema--thanks,Amy!, emergency and disaster preparedness stockpiling, dumpster diving...) and I know I just can't get into any of the topics so I just say, "oh, the same, we're doing just fine."

Here was my comment:

Thank you for sharing. I also feel way, way out of touch, esp among my co-workers. I feel isolated because I don't go out to eat with them, because I can't talk about shopping and purses and HDTV. I have learned to smile and nod at most social gatherings; I used to try to help my friends by talking about cloth diapering and making my own food and couponing and shopping thrift stores, but they would freak out and sometimes not want to be my friend anymore. Sometimes we wonder if we should move to a city with more people like us, but at least we can connect and "Be Thrifty Like Us!" On the flip side, I also feel isolated from these frugal mom groups sometimes because I am working, my baby is in commercial daycare, we don't homeschool.

2008-04-15T08:15:00.001-05:00

The world intelligentsia has been asleep at the wheel.

This was a REAL shock to me--I hadn't realized our consumption of fuel (driving demand for grain-based ethanol) is causing major global food supply issues, riots, deaths! (And I doubt this article would appear in the U.S. press, we don't want to face the truth.) I wouldn't be surprised if every mile driven can be directly correlated to so many hunger-related deaths...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/04/14/ccview114.xml