Friday, May 30, 2014

That time I flashed my underpants in the parking lot at Costco..



 

So! So

 I have been making my monthly treks to Costco to pay homage to their low prices.

On this particular trip, I had the baby with me. I was feeling deucedly excited about my bounty as I walked from the store through the parking lot to my car.

When, all the sudden, my elastic waist band maxi skirt (the skirt version of yoga pants) started slipping. Huh. All the sudden it was pulled down to mid thigh. What the heck?! I started pulling at it trying to get it back up, but it won't come back up! I couldn't figure out what had happened.

I was standing in the Costco parking lot in my underpants! With my skirt hovering around my knees!

I am freaking out! I can't get it back up! I try to hurry to my car, but that makes it worse! It starts going lower!

Finally, I realize the bottom of it is caught in the shopping cart wheel, and as I push the cart forward the skirt goes lower (can you picture this?)

So I start frantically trying to get it out, but it's stuck! An old man walks by! Luckily he seems kind of out of it (it is a weekday during the day, and all the senior citizens are out at Costco), and pays no notice to me.

I am still trying to get my skirt out, and I squat down so I can heft it up over my cute underpants granny panties. So I am squatting by the bottom of the shopping cart, trying to cover myself with my skirt, while simultaneously trying to get it out of the cart wheel. At this point I am just trying to rip it out because I really don't care if the skirt rips, I just want to get out of the middle of the parking lot.

Baby is sitting in the cart smiling and cooing and totally unaware of my distress.

Finally, I back up and get the skirt untangled, and I pull it up and for safety reasons I tuck the bottom into the waistband (super cool.)

Who ever said "maxi skirts" are more "modest"?

Katie

PS. Miraculously the skirt is fine!Can't say the same for my pride...


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Weekly Spending Report 5.16.14 - 5.24.14

We had a busy weekend! My big boy had a birthday (Memorial Day weekend is a great time for that!) and we had a big picnic to celebrate. My son's birthday parties are proof you do not need a big hoopla for kids to have fun- every year we have a picnic outside. We invite family, a few friends, and we let him choose the dinner. This year we picked up a slip n slide for $10 and that and wiffle ball were the source of entertainment for kids (and adults) alike!

On to the Weekly Spending Report:

Groceries: $48.52
Gasoline: $87.86

Takeout: $45.74

Other:
Toys for kid's birthday (from 2nd Hand Store): $36.00
Diapers: $21.56
Birth Control Product: $138.09
Toilet Paper: $32.51
Gifts/Slip n Slide/Other: 67.66
Bills: 129.90

Total for Week: $607.84


Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Weekly Spending Report 5.9.14-5.16.14 And Thoughts of My Year in the Compact So Far

Weekly Spending Report:

Groceries: 79.67
Total for Month: 217.17
Gasoline: 21.11
TFM: 139.95
Takeout: 0.00
TFM: 0.00 :)
Other:
Laundry Det. : 3.00
Plants and Garden Junk: 44.56
Netflix: 7.99
Beer Store: 48.99 (they discontinued my favorite cider in the US.)
Kindle Books: 5.00

Total For Week: 210.32

I am almost at the half way point in the year since I pledged to do the Compact. Time has flown! I really think everyone should take this on.

I decided to join the Compact mostly for Environmental/Social reasons- the impact of producing new things on people and the planet. I also joined it for the economic advantage- I am currently living out my dream of staying home with our baby and kid.

 I have learned it is very easy to get almost anything you need second hand, especially with the internet. Even though we did not enforce the compact on the rest of the family, my husband is pretty much a part of it and we have bought almost all of the things for our children second hand.

I have also learned thus far that there is very little you actually need to buy new, and there is also very little you need to buy to be happy. Beyond food, clothing, and shelter happiness is much more a state of mind than something you can find in accumulating stuff. The compact has become a great tool to make me stop and think before I buy something, because I cannot buy it new. It has prevented me from buying a lot of useless crap.




Friday, May 16, 2014

What I'm Reading 4.16.14

 My sister (the librarian) told me I would love this book, and I have to concur. She knows me well! This is possibly the best book I've read all year.





The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I laughed so hard! This is a book by an Australian author about a man with Asperger's (who does not realize he has it) who decides it's time to find a wife. Right now, it is only $1.99 on kindle, but it is quite popular so you can probably find it at your local library!

If you like the Big Bang Theory, you will probably like this book.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Weekly Spending Report 5.1.14-5.11.14

Seeing  goals from last month help me set some more "realistic" goals this month. To reiterate, my 3 target areas right now are groceries, gasoline, and takeout, since they are the 3 expenses I can (most) easily control.

Monthly goals:
Groceries: 400.00
Gasoline: 175.00
Takeout: 50.00


Housing: 900.00
Groceries: 137.50 (Costco)
Gasoline: 118.84

Takeout: 0.00 !!!
Other: 
 Kindle Books: 7.53
The Honest Company: 54.59
Staples (Printer ink and paper): 72.37 (uh, so expensive!)
Free Cards S&H:  7.37
Beer Store: 42.35 (In Pennsylvania, you can only by beer by the case. PA has "state" liquor stores, which are pretty much the communist version of alcohol sales.)

Total for Week: 1340.55


Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there :)



Thursday, May 8, 2014

It's Screen Free Week- How we Limit Screen Time

It is "Screen Free" Week. We are not screen free, but I figured it was the time to address mine and my family's feelings on screen time.




 I am not anti-technology, I love the internet and I think used in the right way and as a tool screens are great. I do think that too much of a good thing is pretty much always not good.

The baby is a baby so obviously he has no screen time yet, but here is how we deal with our older son.

I think the number 1 way to reduce your child's screen time is to have less screens. The other thing is obvious too- monkey see monkey do. If you are always on a screen, your kid will want to be too. 
I try to limit my screen time in front of my kids.

I see a lot of people on their smart phones all the time, and consequently that is what their kids want to do too.

Mike and I do not have smart phones so this is a non-issue for us.

My 7 year old has not once asked for a cell phone (yet).

In our house we have a desktop computer in the living room, a kindle, an ipad, a laptop, and a tv with a Wii hooked up to it (no channels).

The kindle is solely mine for reading, and the laptop is my husband's for work. The desktop is in a communal area with a password, so my son needs to ask us to log him on, same for the ipad. That is big, because he can't access them without us He is allowed a maximum of 2 hours on any of the screens per day, and he has to earn this through good behavior. We use a stick system much like this one: how to negotiate screen time.

My husband and I made the decision that we will not permit any hand held devices, and the ipad does not leave the house. That means when we go to a store, restaurant, etc.- my son does not watch anything or play with anything electronic. He is expected to sit at a table and eat with us. In the car we do audio books or we listen to music, i.e. no screens.

Does this always make us popular with our kid? No! But at the end of the day, if you want to limit screen time, you have to learn to say "no" and deal with being the "meanest" mom. :)


Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Weekly Spending Report 4.25.14-4.30.14

It has been a while- our family was enjoying a vacation at a cabin in the woods :) I will hopefully be able to share some pictures soon!

Family selfie @ cabin


Before I get into the Weekly Spending Report, I need to draw attention to the situation in Nigeria, where their was 276 girls kidnapped from their school. This is horrific and I just saw this article that my country is getting involved - US Joins Hunt to Bring Back Our Girls

Now that that serious stuff is out- onto my weekly Spending Report. I can't believe April has come and gone already!

Groceries: 25.04
Gas: 53.40
Takeout: $19.00 - this is slightly shameful- it was all spent at one place at a Chick Fil A. Fast food aint cheap.
Kindle Books/Ultimate Homemaking Bundle: 49.50
I will do a post about this later

Grocery Total For Month of April: 438.17 (goal was 400.00)

Takeout/Dine Out Total for Month of April: 67.43 (I think the goal was 35?)

Gasoline Total for Month of April: 184.12 (Goal was 180.00)\

Total Spending for Month of April:  2201.65