Nifty Thrifty

A few weeks ago, I was asked to talk in our church Young Women's group (ages 12-18) about money management. As it's a subject I feel particularly passionate about, I jumped at the chance. Since today was the big day, I wore my shwankiest discount/thrifted outfit, brought in items that I'd gotten for free or nearly so thanks to coupons, displayed my favorite finance book, and we discussed principles that hopefully will set them on a path to financial security. The girls were kind enough not to act bored to death, but who knows? I had a great time and could have gone on for hours.

This week I also needed to get some winter gear for Lucy and Ben: Coat, gloves, hat, shoes, boots, the works. It's the first time that we haven't had hand-me-downs or gifts to rely on. So in the spirit of my upcoming presentation, I headed to my go-to location for childrens' items: Le Goodwill. You better believe it. A few months ago, I found three practically new pairs of shoes for Lucy at $2 apiece, so I crossed my fingers that we could recreate the magic and get lucky again. Well, no dice on the shoes and clothes, but I did hit the jackpot on some holiday decor and other crazy items that I couldn't pass up.

Fall garland and pumpkins on our entryway

I struggle with seasonal/holiday decorating, so these pumpkins and garland were just the ticket. Price: 39 cents apiece.

Close-up of the entry table



The finds

Our Goodwill is awesome and stocks brand-new, unsold clothing and household items from Target and other retailers. So for a grand total of $16, I got the following items in mint condition:

• Cute Paula Deen party banners and matching placecards (to be given as early holiday gifts). The best part: They say, "Happy Holidays Y'all"
• Purple and silver hanging foil snowflakes to put around my kitchen light fixture as a sort-of Christmas chandelier decoration.
• Metal utility cup that sticks to my fridge to corral writing utensils.
• Cozy thick wool socks in Ben's size for his winter sledding adventures.
• Another pair of kid safety scissors so Lucy and Ben don't have to tussle over our one other pair.
• Fun gold "Naughty or nice" cocktail napkins, perfect for a holiday party.

All in all, not a bad day. We were there for almost an hour as I sifted through things, but Lucy was a good sport, smelling all the random candles, playing with the toys, and only asking to go to the bathroom twice. She's a fun little shopping buddy. Except when I'm trying to get her to try on winter hats in Target and she runs away, tearing between the displays and hiding under the clothes racks. I ended up just going to Once Upon a Child by myself to get the winter gear. Having never shopped there before, I was amazed at all the adorable, good-quality used kids' stuff. A thrifty gal's dream.

Happy Halloweenie!

Here's the quick rundown on Halloween 2011:

Harry Potter and ladybug. Ben's teacher let him borrow her Gryffindor scarf so he looked legit.

Had a fun Halloween lunch today at a friend's house. She is a homemaker extraordinaire and made delicious soup in homemade pumpkin-shaped breadbowls.

 

 Our kids went out with a few neighborhood friends in a mini entourage. Everyone was kept in line by the amazing Maya (a.k.a. the Princess)

 Lucy tackling her best friend Nolan, who was dressed in a hilarious chicken costume.

Lucy and our next-door-neighbor Traci (Lucy's other best friend). She asks to go over to Traci's every single day, where she gets little cups full of goldfish crackers and hangs out.

The trick-or-treating crew.

 The fam damily.  Andy and I are wearing almost the exact same outfits that we wore on Halloween last year. I think we'll make it a tradition.

 Sorting their loot and separating out the peanut candy from Ben's stash. He still managed to eat the one nut candy and we had to pump him full of Benadryl so his lips wouldn't swell.

Lucy's reaction when anyone tries to touch her candy.

Channeling her inner chipmunk with a Starburst lodged in each cheek.

P.S. In this picture you'll notice the lack of pants and the ladybug attire strewn around the room. Lucy was so wrapped up in trick-or-treating that she didn't make it to the bathroom in time.

All in all, a fun night.

Eagerly Anticipating

I'm in desperate need of a good book and can't wait for this to come out TOMORROW. If you are in search of a fun story and haven't read Matched, go find it at your library. Of course it will be a trilogy, but what's not to love about having something to look forward to? Hunger Games movie, anyone?

For all of us who would be Starbucks junkies if we drank coffee: I give you Choffy. I'm intrigued. No joke. 100% organic brewed CHOCOLATE. Pure ground cacao beans, nothing else. Oh boy, this could be trouble. Maybe Santa will put some in my stocking since I've been good this year.

With the BIG holidays fast approaching, there's no better time use the fabulous red Eiffel Tower cookie cutter that arrived in our mailbox today. Mercí, gran-mere. What a wonderful reminder of our trip. Knowing me and my laziness when it comes to rolled cookies, maybe we'll just drop brownie batter inside instead. Et, voila!

A homemade (dare I say "craft") project that I actually want to attempt. I know, STOP THE PRESSES! As a self-professed non-creative type, the cuteness and simplicity factors united in the perfect combination on this glam kiddo necklace tee. If you are craftalicious (you know who you are), there's also killer no-sew iPhone costume tutorial on the same website that you could probably whip up in the next 30 minutes to be ready for tonight's candy extravaganza. The rest of us might need until next Halloween.

Now I just need to find something to host so I have an excuse to buy this fabulous tiered serving tray.

What are you eagerly anticipating?

Boot Scootin' Boogie

It's officially fall and I can't get enough of riding boots. Is it too much to want a black pair even though there's already a brown pair sitting in my closet? Yes, yes, they say brown is a neutral that goes with everything, but there's just something trés chic about black.

On a related-note: We're quickly approaching our fifth Ohio winter and I still haven't invested in real snow boots. Perhaps it's some form of denial/wishful thinking that the the climate will somehow magically transform so such hard-core gear is not necessary. My trusty rain boots dutifully keep out the slush, but leave my tootsies chilly. In years past, I've just worn thin slippers inside my boots over my socks to stay warm. But recently at Old Navy I discovered some turquoise fleece rain boot liners that will solve the problem perfectly and look something like this.

Et, voila!

Welly Warmers. I can't wait to use them. I take that back - actually, I can.

To snow and Ohio's notorious "wintry mix": Don't visit the Midwest for a long, long time this year. May we have at least a few more weeks of glorious fall weather, pretty please?

What are you doing to bask in fall glory? I have a sister who looks forward to pulling out her sweaters each year. Another sister and I, on the other hand, see how far into the season we can last until we break down and are forced to wear socks. Are you excited to bundle up and hunker down for winter?

Newest MWP Interview - "Meredith"

My newest interview is now on the Mormon Women Project website.

Synopsis: After 15 years of marriage, Meredith's husband came out as gay and requested a divorce. She talks about how her husband's announcement motivated to turn to God to know how to proceed. She is working hard to do what is best for her children and to love her ex-husband.

This was one of my most unique interviews to date, for a number of reasons:

1. Meredith nominated herself for the MWP. I volunteered to follow up and examine a topic thats's prevalent in contemporary society.

2. This was my second interview where the subject wishes to keep her identity private. The situation makes me even more thoughtful in my questions and editing. Although this time I was privy to her personal information, she chose to remain anonymous to protect her young children, who aren't aware yet of their father's sexual orientation.

3. I came into the interview armed with a list of questions, but only had to ask a few of them. Meredith was so thoroughly prepared that she covered every point I wanted to address and made my job very easy. I thank her for sharing her candid perspective on what can be a very sensitive issue.

Back to School, Back to School

Scenes from Ben's first day of school on Tuesday: Waiting for the bus with shoeless Lucy Haws and her Thomas the Train book.

Lucy got a taste of Ben being gone full-time when he spent the second week in August in Utah with Andy's parents. She really misses him and asks at least ten times every day, "Where Ben?"

She now flies solo in the double stroller. It's such a dream to push that I prefer it over the single for taking walks. I'm sure people see us and wonder if I forgot my other kid at home.

Getting on the bus like an old pro. He rode the bus for kindergarten last year and has the same bus driver, so it was familiar territory. We still walk him to the bus in the morning, but he asked us to not meet him in the afternoon so he can make the 30-second walk home by himself. Independence and stretching boundaries and all that. Personally, I'm thrilled that I don't have to panic about being on the corner when the bus arrives or they won't let him off, like last year. We had many a close call, rushing home from errands.

Ben seems to like his teacher, he says lunch is his favorite party of the day, and one of his favorite friends from last year is in his new class. The teacher gave all the kids the homework of learning to tie their shoes. Ben doesn't own any tie shoes, so I can't decide if we should stick with Velcro as long as possible to avoid the hassle or to just bite the bullet and buy some tie shoes so as not to prolong the inevitable.

I still can't believe Ben's a first grader. As my sister asked me tonight, "Is he getting old or are you?" I'd like to think the former. :)

It's Going Swimmingly

After two sessions of swimming lessons, Ben finally conquered his fear of putting his face in the water and learned to float on his front and back. Hooray!

The first set of lessons was a bust because his teacher just let the kids play the whole time and didn't actually help them float or make them put their faces in the water. I'm not typically a diva mom and understand there are lots of kids to teach, but after three days of this, I finally went to the instructors and asked if they could please focus on helping him float, whether with kickboards, noodles, holding him up, ANYTHING!!! Nothing changed and I was really frustrated by the end of the week. But besides the shocking lack of instruction, much of it also had to do with the power struggle between my desire for Ben to learn to swim and his desire to game the system. If the teachers said to do bobs, he'd wait until they went underwater and then only go in up to his neck. If they said to float on his tummy, he'd just kind of walk forward and fall into the water, never putting his face in. I wanted to strangle him.

Our parks and rec department is very strict about only allowing each child one set of lessons per summer because of high demand. But I took a chance and went in to ask for a second lesson, happy to pay for more. They at first denied my request, but when I explained my dissatisfaction with the first week, they let us in and actually didn't charge us for the second round. This week the teachers were great and he made tons of progress. It didn't hurt that I resorted to bribery on the third day - a set of Pokemon cards if he'd float. He'd conquered the back float on his own when we went to a waterpark the week before, but it was the front float that still bedeviled us. I knew he could do it, he was just choosing not to. Lo and behold, that day he did it! Today he happily swam with his friends at the Y pool, and even though he's still a bit timid, at least I know he won't drown.

Sadly, it took us six years to reach this milestone. Lucy is a major water baby and happily jumps off the side into the pool. My one-year-old niece is already in baby swim classes and my three-year-old niece has been swimming for two years now and is a little fish with her own goggles and swim cap. At least he won't be shown up by them when we see them next week when we get together for a family wedding. I don't know if Ben could bear the humiliation. Sometimes embarassment is also a good motivator.

Were you an early swimmer or are you still not a big fan of the water?