This was emailed to me recently and for those of you who dont know my political leanings (which is probably all of you), this will definatley show you what it is. I really dont like to talk about politics much because it is a hard issue for most people. You know .. its one of those subjects that you DEFINATELY should not bring up with strangers. But I have to here because for one .. its my blog and for another I really like the message that is being cast in this video. Please watch it to the end if you have the time to. While I dont agree totally with either side on all the issues, this video brings about some interesting comments that has really made me think about who I will vote for.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Mama Cloth
I've been doing this wonderful thing called sewing lately. I finally got a machine that WORKS!!!! Dont ask about the horror stories of the other machine. Im just not going there! But I have found that my new one has some really cool features. It might take me a while to use them all. So what is it that I've been sewing lately, you ask??
Laugh at the duckies I dare you!
These are made with three or four layers. Flannel top, towel terry (from a cheap new towel), fleece, and PUL (polyurithane laminate) on the bottom for waterproofing. I'll tell you that the flannel is such a wonderful feel. So soft. I like these because they are so much easier on the skin than that plastic crap they put in store bought pads. Its cheaper to do this too because you can make them last up to about 10 years if you really take care of them well, and a minimum of 5 years if you dont. Its not unusual for these things to last for a long time.
At a minimum of 5 years you can save about $300 or more depending on how much you use in the way of pads. If you know how to sew, its a lot less expensive to make them than it is to buy them. My materials cost me about $15-20 for the fabric @ 1yd ea, towel, notions etc. I will probably get about 15 or so pads out of the bunch. That comes to about $1.30 each when all the stores are selling them for more than $5 and sometimes more than $10 each pad. Talk about considerable markup!!!! You might be seeing me with an etsy shop soon!
Tell me, would you consider using cloth instead of plastic? Have you used cloth? What did you think about it?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
A Day of Remembrance
Today deserves a post from me. On this day, 7 years ago, the most horrifying thing, in my time, happened on US soil. Terrorists, intending to kill probably tens of thousands, flew planes into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and hoped to hit the Whitehouse. Thanks to a few brave souls, the one intended for the Whitehouse went down in a field instead of the walls of its intended mark. About 3000 people died that fateful day. We all know the story. Id like to tell you mine for that day.
It was what seemed like a normal day. I woke up, helped my husband (fiance at that time) get ready for work and saw him out the door. I decided on this particular morning that I wanted to watch some TV, just to cut the silence in the house, only to find that there had been something really major happening. I watched for only a few minutes before I saw the second tower get hit. We lived in California at the time so by the time I turned on the tv the first tower was already in flames and smoke billowing in the sky. I watched in horror as they showed people scrambling to get out of the buildings and those gaping holes in the buildings and the final fate of the two buildings. I watched as they showed footage of the plane that went down in the field that was meant for the Whitehouse. I watched as they showed more footage of the Pentagon with a HUGE gap in the middle of it.
There was just confusion everywhere. I felt like there was nothing I could do to help any of them, and truly there wasnt much that everyone in the US hadnt already thought of doing. At that very moment tho, there was absolutely nothing that I would have been able to do to help any of it. I tried to call Robert to let him know what was happening but I couldnt get ahold of him. He worked on a construction site and didnt carry his phone with him all the time. Thankfully they had a radio there on the site, so that's how he found out. He came home that evening telling me about what happened, and I let him know that I had been watching it all day long and I filled him in on the bits and pieces. It was a scary and heart wrenching day to just sit and watch and not be able to do anything.
Tell your story about 9/11/01 then post a link here. I would love to know what you were doing on that day.
It was what seemed like a normal day. I woke up, helped my husband (fiance at that time) get ready for work and saw him out the door. I decided on this particular morning that I wanted to watch some TV, just to cut the silence in the house, only to find that there had been something really major happening. I watched for only a few minutes before I saw the second tower get hit. We lived in California at the time so by the time I turned on the tv the first tower was already in flames and smoke billowing in the sky. I watched in horror as they showed people scrambling to get out of the buildings and those gaping holes in the buildings and the final fate of the two buildings. I watched as they showed footage of the plane that went down in the field that was meant for the Whitehouse. I watched as they showed more footage of the Pentagon with a HUGE gap in the middle of it.
There was just confusion everywhere. I felt like there was nothing I could do to help any of them, and truly there wasnt much that everyone in the US hadnt already thought of doing. At that very moment tho, there was absolutely nothing that I would have been able to do to help any of it. I tried to call Robert to let him know what was happening but I couldnt get ahold of him. He worked on a construction site and didnt carry his phone with him all the time. Thankfully they had a radio there on the site, so that's how he found out. He came home that evening telling me about what happened, and I let him know that I had been watching it all day long and I filled him in on the bits and pieces. It was a scary and heart wrenching day to just sit and watch and not be able to do anything.
Tell your story about 9/11/01 then post a link here. I would love to know what you were doing on that day.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Coupons
I have been trying to figure out the whole meal planning and grocery shopping thing for a while now. It got so bad that I just didn't know what to cook for about three months. I think, however, that I am finally out of my slump. I have a list of our regular dinner meals on hand to choose from and I am working on a staple list so that I am not running out of the regulars when I need them the most. But there is something else that I have been trying out lately and it is something that has stumped me for years. You guessed it .. Coupons.
There's been a lot of talk around the blogosphere about the drugstore game and couponing (like that? ... it has become a verb, its not just a noun anymore!). However its still something that eludes me a bit. Organizing them in order to be able to use them without fumbling around trying to find the right one or forgetting to use them at all has been the hardest part. Then there's the whole thing about finding the stuff that you actually use. Wow there's a ton to it. I did have some success on a recent shopping trip. I was able to save about $10 on a bill that should have read $110, so I only spent about $100. I even got things I needed! Milestones right?? I'm working on it tho. Slowly. Just getting to that point where I understand their uses and can get some good stuff is a wonderful feeling.
How about you? Are you using coupons or doing the drugstore game? How successful have you been? Tell me your story.
There's been a lot of talk around the blogosphere about the drugstore game and couponing (like that? ... it has become a verb, its not just a noun anymore!). However its still something that eludes me a bit. Organizing them in order to be able to use them without fumbling around trying to find the right one or forgetting to use them at all has been the hardest part. Then there's the whole thing about finding the stuff that you actually use. Wow there's a ton to it. I did have some success on a recent shopping trip. I was able to save about $10 on a bill that should have read $110, so I only spent about $100. I even got things I needed! Milestones right?? I'm working on it tho. Slowly. Just getting to that point where I understand their uses and can get some good stuff is a wonderful feeling.
How about you? Are you using coupons or doing the drugstore game? How successful have you been? Tell me your story.
Monday, August 18, 2008
What is Rich anyway?
To be perfectly honest .. someone who is wealthy monetarily could be anyone who has more than 50k income per year. I find it really funny that the politicians that vie for our votes in the upcoming election think that wealthy people are only those who are in the top 5%. If that's the case then I must be Dirt poor. For a long time we have lived well under the 30k bracket and are alive and well to tell about it. We even have a house to show for it. Now granted our house might not be the biggest, best, and brightest house in the world, but it has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a functional kitchen, a place to watch TV if we chose and it even has a laundry room (small as it all may be). The Lord is my provider!
However I think that those politicians would be hard pressed to try to live in a place like mine. Its not shabby but it isn't perfect. I wonder how any politician would be able to survive with less than 30k per year income. Would they be able to manage the groceries? or how about making sure that the bills were paid on time? Would they be able to keep the bills low enough that they could pay them every month? Could they live in a small house like mine? I would be interested to see what they would do if they were in my shoes.
However I think that those politicians would be hard pressed to try to live in a place like mine. Its not shabby but it isn't perfect. I wonder how any politician would be able to survive with less than 30k per year income. Would they be able to manage the groceries? or how about making sure that the bills were paid on time? Would they be able to keep the bills low enough that they could pay them every month? Could they live in a small house like mine? I would be interested to see what they would do if they were in my shoes.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
How in the world did I manage that?
1930's Marital scale
I dont get it. I took this test and expected really to get a bad score because I didnt mark a lot of the statements having to do with keeping the house well and looking decent for my husband and yet I still ended up with the highest score they had. How odd. How did you do? www.magatsu.net/maritaltest
 | 76 As a 1930s wife, I am |
I dont get it. I took this test and expected really to get a bad score because I didnt mark a lot of the statements having to do with keeping the house well and looking decent for my husband and yet I still ended up with the highest score they had. How odd. How did you do? www.magatsu.net/maritaltest
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Road Trip!!! and Bento Boxes
Thirty hours of driving, almost 2000 miles, from Arkansas to Northern California. We get to go visit our family in two weeks. I think that we are going to have some fun on this trip. Grandma is taking the boys for the whole time we are there and the hubs and I get a hotel room all to ourself. I am so excited!! This is the first time that I will be away from all the boys for more than a few nights without it being something I had no controll over. The only other time that they have stayed somewhere else was when I was in the hospital with a new baby. So Im looking foreward to this trip. Lots of planning to do!! I am soooo glad we have a DVD player in the car! I think I will put off the whole raw food thing for a while. There's no way I would be able to figure that out and deal with the trip at the same time. I can multi task but when it comes to major things like that, Im a one thing at a time kind of person.
One thing that I have come across that might be helpful to me (and anyone else wanting to save money on lunch) is a thing called Bento Boxes. Its basically a packed lunch that is in a box instead of a bag. The Japanese have been doing this for a very long time and its become fairly popular in the US (but not popular enough that you can find supplies in Walmart yet). I really like the idea because the hubs has been needing to take a lunch with him for work but ends up buying crappy food from convenience stores and the Walmart deli. Theres only so much he can handle that way and Id rather spend the money buying him food that he likes.
I would love to find some supplies that dont come from Japan (or at least something that I wouldnt have to have shipped from Japan) and are fairly cheap. I have gotten a few boxes (Lock and Lock brand boxes) and some of the silicone baking cups (for side items) but I would love to find the soy sauce bottles, containers for dipping sauces, or maybe even some onigiri molds (sticky rice). There's a lot of neat stuff out there for these types of lunches. (If I actually get this going I might even post a pic or two!) The best part is that I can pack a few for our road trip and save a ton on meals!!
One thing that was really cute (and I want one even if none of this works) is the hot dog shapers. They basically are a little mold that has raised parts in them that you press the hot dog into and when you cook the dog it poofs out where the marks were (kind of like when they explode in the microwave). Theres all kinds of shapes, octopus, penguin, faces, you name it. Too much fun.
Okay so now that you are curious you can go to the web and look up either Bento or Obento and find out more about it. There's plenty of blogs out there with more info and there's tons of pics (flickr has a bunch). Its a pretty cool way of saving money and having fun while you are at it. Some people make it a very artistic expression and I find those absolutely wonderful. I love looking at the cool bento's that people make.
One thing that I have come across that might be helpful to me (and anyone else wanting to save money on lunch) is a thing called Bento Boxes. Its basically a packed lunch that is in a box instead of a bag. The Japanese have been doing this for a very long time and its become fairly popular in the US (but not popular enough that you can find supplies in Walmart yet). I really like the idea because the hubs has been needing to take a lunch with him for work but ends up buying crappy food from convenience stores and the Walmart deli. Theres only so much he can handle that way and Id rather spend the money buying him food that he likes.
I would love to find some supplies that dont come from Japan (or at least something that I wouldnt have to have shipped from Japan) and are fairly cheap. I have gotten a few boxes (Lock and Lock brand boxes) and some of the silicone baking cups (for side items) but I would love to find the soy sauce bottles, containers for dipping sauces, or maybe even some onigiri molds (sticky rice). There's a lot of neat stuff out there for these types of lunches. (If I actually get this going I might even post a pic or two!) The best part is that I can pack a few for our road trip and save a ton on meals!!
One thing that was really cute (and I want one even if none of this works) is the hot dog shapers. They basically are a little mold that has raised parts in them that you press the hot dog into and when you cook the dog it poofs out where the marks were (kind of like when they explode in the microwave). Theres all kinds of shapes, octopus, penguin, faces, you name it. Too much fun.
Okay so now that you are curious you can go to the web and look up either Bento or Obento and find out more about it. There's plenty of blogs out there with more info and there's tons of pics (flickr has a bunch). Its a pretty cool way of saving money and having fun while you are at it. Some people make it a very artistic expression and I find those absolutely wonderful. I love looking at the cool bento's that people make.
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