I have always prided myself on my ability to juggle multiple things at one time. My mom has always said that I burn both ends of a candle and then attempt to burn the middle too. Well, I like to stay busy, but lately I have had trouble completing my mile long lists. I "write" them in my head, and then usually attack them. But, since I got back from Florida, I have lost my energy. I just want to play with the kids.
Ok, so I cleaned up the playroom and had Andy help me re-arrange the furniture in our bedroom. Oh, and I cleaned our windows and took down the curtains and washed them. After that, I removed the cheap plastic blinds the former owners had and replaced them with roller shades that do a better job of blocking the light so that Andy can sleep now that he is on the third shift. Alright, maybe I have not been a complete slacker, but I did not do what I wanted to do:
1. Arrive home from Florida and put away all the clothes from the suitcases (still not done)
2. Finish all laundry, including fresh sheets on my bed (alright, did the sheets)
3. Clean the bathrooms (does cleaning the toilets count?)
4. Go grocery shopping (Seriously, have had to do this several time, it was like Andy was starving for food by the time we got home; and the baby is eating 6 jars of baby food a day!)
5. Finish painting the dining room (has been unfinished since last November; don't look up anyone)
6. Start painting the finished basement (have had the paint for nearly a year)
7. Weed the flower beds (too hot)
8. Finish organizing the office (the computer sucks me in)
9. Finish sorting BJ's clothing and figure out where I put the shelves to his bookcase (it has only been without shelves since before he was born!)
10. Create Pre-k lessons for my husband to follow with MM so that she continues to progress even though we can not afford daycare this year (does thinking really hard about this count?)
So you see why I just want to sit around and play with the children.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
more semi- frugal moments
While visiting my mother in Florida, I went to a Winn Dixie. I saw a woman who had organized her coupons by category and had a list of products and prices per store. I had an ah-ha moment. My mom and I went through all the coupons she had saved from the Sunday paper down there, and we clipped anything that looked like it could be a deal. In fact, while there, I was able to use coupons to get an $8.99 package of diapers for only $5.49. When I got home, I found a $5 photo album and then bought post-it note tabs to make categories. I made sections for store coupons, dairy, baby, frozen, snacks, toiletries and miscellaneous. I then decided to keep receipts from the stores I go to so that I could look at what I buy and how much. I will make a list of products, prices and stores with the best values. After getting the photo album organized (the sleeves allow me to put coupons in chronological order), I was able to go to Giant and save nearly $50! In addition, Giant has gas bonus points. For every $1 spent, I get a point; after 100 points, I get $0.10 off per gallon of gasoline. After my last visit to the store, I had earned $0.40 off per gallon. Yeah me.
It was fun trying to find things that were both on sale at the store and ones that I had a coupon for. While I am not a coupon queen yet, I am trying to do what I can to save money where-ever possible. I wish that more gluten-free items were on sale and/or I could find any coupons!
I also live close to the Corn Wagon. For those who live nearby, it is well known for great, fresh corn on the cob. Right now their price is 13 for $2.50. I am planning on visiting it tomorrow to stock up on fresh veggies and I think I will see about freezing some of the corn so that we can have corn on the cob in October!
On a side note, the Clinique face lotion that I love, but is a little pricey, is almost half off at the outlets 20 minutes from my house. I bought my small container in February and I still have not finished it. So, it is a semi-frugal, semi-splurge item.
It was fun trying to find things that were both on sale at the store and ones that I had a coupon for. While I am not a coupon queen yet, I am trying to do what I can to save money where-ever possible. I wish that more gluten-free items were on sale and/or I could find any coupons!
I also live close to the Corn Wagon. For those who live nearby, it is well known for great, fresh corn on the cob. Right now their price is 13 for $2.50. I am planning on visiting it tomorrow to stock up on fresh veggies and I think I will see about freezing some of the corn so that we can have corn on the cob in October!
On a side note, the Clinique face lotion that I love, but is a little pricey, is almost half off at the outlets 20 minutes from my house. I bought my small container in February and I still have not finished it. So, it is a semi-frugal, semi-splurge item.
Monday, August 9, 2010
A recipe for Gluten-free Date bars that are super!
My mom found this recipe and forwarded to me. It is super and is loved by those who do not have to have a Gluten-free diet. I hope you like it. I will try to post more recipes in the future.
Gluten-Free Date Bars
3/4 cup gf flour mix: 1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup sweetened rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp unflavored granulated gelatin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract.
1. Adjust rack 1/3 up from bottom & preheat to 375.
2. Line a 9" square pan w/aluminum foil and brush or spread butter over foil.
3. Mix together in medium bowl: flour mix, baking powder, baking soda, gelatin, cinnamon, salt and sugar (first 7 ingredients).
4. Add chopped dates and toss with fingers to coat. Then add nuts and toss with fingers to coat.
5. Beat eggs and vanilla well and add to other ingredients. Stir thoroughly until all dry ingredients have been moistened.
6. Spread dough evenly in prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes. Remove from over. Let stand 10 minutes. Cover with rack and invert.
7. Remove pan and foil. Cover with rack, invert and let cool right side up.
8. Cut into bars or squares.
Gluten-Free Date Bars
3/4 cup gf flour mix: 1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup sweetened rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp unflavored granulated gelatin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract.
1. Adjust rack 1/3 up from bottom & preheat to 375.
2. Line a 9" square pan w/aluminum foil and brush or spread butter over foil.
3. Mix together in medium bowl: flour mix, baking powder, baking soda, gelatin, cinnamon, salt and sugar (first 7 ingredients).
4. Add chopped dates and toss with fingers to coat. Then add nuts and toss with fingers to coat.
5. Beat eggs and vanilla well and add to other ingredients. Stir thoroughly until all dry ingredients have been moistened.
6. Spread dough evenly in prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes. Remove from over. Let stand 10 minutes. Cover with rack and invert.
7. Remove pan and foil. Cover with rack, invert and let cool right side up.
8. Cut into bars or squares.
Storytime Live
While visiting my parents in Florida, my mom, MM, BJ and I had the chance to go to Orlando to see Nick Jr's Storytime Live. MM and BJ loved the music and their favorite characters- Kai-lan, Backyardigans, Wonder Pets and Dora- were the featured stories. In addition to these, there were interludes with Moose A. Moose and Zee D. Bird. There were favorite songs, dances and puzzle time. MM was very happy and BJ "danced" on my lap. It was my first experience with going to a children's only event and must say that they behaved very well for being mostly under seven.
Now, my mom always says to say something pleasant before criticizing, because nothing is all bad, there is always good. And there was, but some things could have been improved upon, especially since they were asking for $28 per person (including for my 7 month old!).
Our adventures began with Moose and Zee doing puzzle time. If they had just had the actor's face covered, it would have helped, but seeing his face and hearing his Urkle voice, made some the the older audience members boo him. Yes, boo him. Why not pre-record the voice of Moose, make the costume cover the actor's face a-la theme park style, and then it would have been great!
The first story was Kai-lan. It was fun and MM really liked the story; however, the speed at which the story was delivered was break-neck! It was almost like they chose a 30 minute story and felt the need to condense it to 20 minutes. Now, I know that children do not have a long attention span, but it was hard to follow the story because everything was done so quickly. There was not easy transitions from one thing to another, it was even hard to understand what they were saying because they were speaking so quickly. Now, I teach language as my profession and if I was was having trouble with it, I am sure that my 3 year old was. If they just slowed the delivery a little, it would have been super.
The second story featured the Backyardigans. The costumes were great but they showed the actors' faces which became an issue when they changed into their costumes for the adventure. If they had just put on a little face make-up to go along with the character they were portraying, it would have helped. Once the Backyardigans were in "Filthyham" it just looked like people in over-sized costumes; you no longer made any connections to Tyron, Uniqua, Pablo, Tasha or Austin. The story was good though.
After an intermission, it was time for the Wonder Pets. From the advertising on Nick Jr. I knew that I would be seeing puppeteers. I was prepared for that; however, the advertising made you think that the puppets were much larger. Perhaps if we were in the first 10 rows, it would have been better, but once you got up a little, all you could really focus on were the puppeteers pushing their puppets around. The story was good, but the puppeteers were too distracting. Even MM, when telling her father about it later, said that they were not the real Wonder Pets but pretend Wonder Pets! It was going to be a huge leap anyway, so why not make the puppets larger or find shorter puppeteers?
The final story was Dora. It was great; could have been slower, but it was not as fast as Kai-lan. MM loved it and the audience did too. They loved Swiper the Fox and Map. The production did a good job making the audience feel like they were seeing an episode of Dora. The show ended with a dance finale with most of the characters on stage (some of the actors did double duty so not all characters could be on stage). When it ended, we were able to quickly leave the theater and find the bathrooms.
We decided to use the bathrooms before heading back on the road; not wishing to push our luck with the recently potty trained MM. While in the bathroom, MM suddenly began playing with a Wonder Pet doll. Neither Mom or I knew where she had gotten it from. We asked several people, but could not find it's owner. So we cleaned it off with wipes to be on the safe side and let her have it. She has since played with it every time she watches the Wonder Pets on Nick. After the bathroom break, we got her a Storytime Live bag to remember the experience and then headed out into 98 degree Orlando heat.
Overall, the experience was good. It is a shame that they did not show this to a test audience of children before they headed out. Maybe they did, but I bet you that they did not ask the right questions!
Now, my mom always says to say something pleasant before criticizing, because nothing is all bad, there is always good. And there was, but some things could have been improved upon, especially since they were asking for $28 per person (including for my 7 month old!).
Our adventures began with Moose and Zee doing puzzle time. If they had just had the actor's face covered, it would have helped, but seeing his face and hearing his Urkle voice, made some the the older audience members boo him. Yes, boo him. Why not pre-record the voice of Moose, make the costume cover the actor's face a-la theme park style, and then it would have been great!
The first story was Kai-lan. It was fun and MM really liked the story; however, the speed at which the story was delivered was break-neck! It was almost like they chose a 30 minute story and felt the need to condense it to 20 minutes. Now, I know that children do not have a long attention span, but it was hard to follow the story because everything was done so quickly. There was not easy transitions from one thing to another, it was even hard to understand what they were saying because they were speaking so quickly. Now, I teach language as my profession and if I was was having trouble with it, I am sure that my 3 year old was. If they just slowed the delivery a little, it would have been super.
The second story featured the Backyardigans. The costumes were great but they showed the actors' faces which became an issue when they changed into their costumes for the adventure. If they had just put on a little face make-up to go along with the character they were portraying, it would have helped. Once the Backyardigans were in "Filthyham" it just looked like people in over-sized costumes; you no longer made any connections to Tyron, Uniqua, Pablo, Tasha or Austin. The story was good though.
After an intermission, it was time for the Wonder Pets. From the advertising on Nick Jr. I knew that I would be seeing puppeteers. I was prepared for that; however, the advertising made you think that the puppets were much larger. Perhaps if we were in the first 10 rows, it would have been better, but once you got up a little, all you could really focus on were the puppeteers pushing their puppets around. The story was good, but the puppeteers were too distracting. Even MM, when telling her father about it later, said that they were not the real Wonder Pets but pretend Wonder Pets! It was going to be a huge leap anyway, so why not make the puppets larger or find shorter puppeteers?
The final story was Dora. It was great; could have been slower, but it was not as fast as Kai-lan. MM loved it and the audience did too. They loved Swiper the Fox and Map. The production did a good job making the audience feel like they were seeing an episode of Dora. The show ended with a dance finale with most of the characters on stage (some of the actors did double duty so not all characters could be on stage). When it ended, we were able to quickly leave the theater and find the bathrooms.
We decided to use the bathrooms before heading back on the road; not wishing to push our luck with the recently potty trained MM. While in the bathroom, MM suddenly began playing with a Wonder Pet doll. Neither Mom or I knew where she had gotten it from. We asked several people, but could not find it's owner. So we cleaned it off with wipes to be on the safe side and let her have it. She has since played with it every time she watches the Wonder Pets on Nick. After the bathroom break, we got her a Storytime Live bag to remember the experience and then headed out into 98 degree Orlando heat.
Overall, the experience was good. It is a shame that they did not show this to a test audience of children before they headed out. Maybe they did, but I bet you that they did not ask the right questions!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Why I dislike Capital One
About five years ago, Capital One offered me an amazing deal: $10,000 at 6.99% and $6,000 at 8.99% locked in and would never go up as long as I did not become more than 30 late in a payment. What a deal! I consolidated some of my foolish credit card balances and finished paying a loan that was at 9.99%. Once I had the amounts on my card (and still had a balance before), I stopped making purchases because new purchases would be at 19.99%. I steadily paid down the amount on the card and did not use the card at all for over a year when they changed my purchase rate to 29.99%. Well, no worries, I cut up the card to make sure I would never use it even by accident. I got the balance down by $4,000, I got a call from Capital One saying that they had reviewed my account and decided to drop my credit limit to within $400 of what I had paid the card down to. So, knowing the debt to credit ratio issue and my credit score, I was mad, but also knowing that if I closed the card, it also impacted my credit score, I decided to pay even more on the card to get the balance down. With last week's payment, the card balance came down to under $10,000. I was very happy because it gave me $7,000 available credit and it looks much better for my credit score. Three days after my payment, I got a call from Capital One and they told me that they were reducing my available credit to $10,200! In one fell swoop, they took away my wonderful debt to income ratio and made it look like I had maxed out my card! Oh, and two months ago I got a notice that they were going to give me an annual fee of $39!
Now, I am not an angel and I have forgotten to pay the card and been up to a week late a few times, but have never gotten even close to 30 days late. I have started to pay online so that I did not have to rely on the mail because if it got to them a day late, I got to pay a $39 late charge. However, whenever I get any head-way on the balance, they do this to me. I have not used the card in five years and this is my punishment.
So, if you have Capital One and you pay off your balance each month, expect to get an annual fee. If you have Capital One card and you do not use it anymore because you are paying off the balance, expect them to take away your available credit each time you reach a reasonable available credit amount. I am beginning to think I will focus as much attention as possible on getting rid of my balance with Capital One and only use my credit union credit card. My credit union has never been underhanded in anyway. Once I get my finances under control (Andy just got a full time job, yeah!), I am thinking cash only from now on.
Now, to compound things, insurance companies look at your credit score to determine your premium. Due to my husband's two accidents in three years, my 23 year association with Erie Insurance came to an abrupt end. I had to shop for car insurance with a husband who had two accidents within three years and now my credit score just took a hit! Needless to say I am very unhappy. I have decided to go with Allstate, but am getting nailed with a premium that is twice as much as I paid before. I decided not to go with Progressive because they hold any accident (even ones you were not responsible for) against you. My husband was stopped in his tanker truck and a car lost control of his car and went under the tanker; Progressive is holding that accident against Andy even though he did not do anything and did not get charged.
I know the economy is slow, but come on!
Now, I am not an angel and I have forgotten to pay the card and been up to a week late a few times, but have never gotten even close to 30 days late. I have started to pay online so that I did not have to rely on the mail because if it got to them a day late, I got to pay a $39 late charge. However, whenever I get any head-way on the balance, they do this to me. I have not used the card in five years and this is my punishment.
So, if you have Capital One and you pay off your balance each month, expect to get an annual fee. If you have Capital One card and you do not use it anymore because you are paying off the balance, expect them to take away your available credit each time you reach a reasonable available credit amount. I am beginning to think I will focus as much attention as possible on getting rid of my balance with Capital One and only use my credit union credit card. My credit union has never been underhanded in anyway. Once I get my finances under control (Andy just got a full time job, yeah!), I am thinking cash only from now on.
Now, to compound things, insurance companies look at your credit score to determine your premium. Due to my husband's two accidents in three years, my 23 year association with Erie Insurance came to an abrupt end. I had to shop for car insurance with a husband who had two accidents within three years and now my credit score just took a hit! Needless to say I am very unhappy. I have decided to go with Allstate, but am getting nailed with a premium that is twice as much as I paid before. I decided not to go with Progressive because they hold any accident (even ones you were not responsible for) against you. My husband was stopped in his tanker truck and a car lost control of his car and went under the tanker; Progressive is holding that accident against Andy even though he did not do anything and did not get charged.
I know the economy is slow, but come on!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Close call
As I stated in a previous blog, I am visiting my parents in Florida. What I did not state was that they live in a place called The Villages. It is a community of 55+, active adults. Most things can be accessed by golf carts and they have every imaginable activity to fill one's days. My parents love it here; I am getting bored. The one activity that I can do with two small children is go to the family pool which is about 1.5 miles away. I have met several families with children close to my children's ages which has been nice.
The other day I was talking to another mother whose children were close in age to MM. Her son was working on swimming under water and her daughter was still in water wings. During the course of our conversation, MM and her daughter were swimming near each other and playing well together. The other woman's daughter then decided to remove her water-wings because she was staying close to us on the steps. All was going well until she slipped off the final step; however, neither of us noticed her going under. I saw her but did not see her. I do not know what made me ask my daughter if she was ok (she was floating in her full body swimmy), but when I did, the other mother noticed her daughter.
The girl had inhaled some water, but not a lot. Her mom held her almost upside down and pounded on her back and the little girl immediately began to cry. She was bright red while she was crying, but then became quite pale. The other mother is a nurse so she knew immediately what to do; thankfully because no one else at the pool seemed to notice anything was wrong. MM was upset because the other mom had bumped into her while trying to get to her daughter so I had an upset daughter while trying to be helpful. Needless to say, everyone was upset and we all decided to call it a day.
I went to the pool today and the little girl and her brother were there with their grandparents. I spoke to the grandparents about the aftermath and agreed that it would have been so easy for the little girl to have been under longer. I was just very happy that not only was she ok, but she wanted to go back to the pool and was happy to play again with MM. I did not ask, but I had a feeling that her mother would have liked to super glue the swimmies onto her arms.
I will say this experience has really made me want to bubble wrap my children! I am very nervous about having all the responsibility for the safety of my children. What if I am distracted and my daughter goes under as well? What if the baby's floaty flips over and I am unable to save him? Where is that line of being careful but not so careful that you stifle? I do not remember having all these types of fears about the world around me until I had children. I am not as adventurous as I once was because I am now more worried. Perhaps I have found the secret of the perceived maturity of others: have children and become more cautious!
The other day I was talking to another mother whose children were close in age to MM. Her son was working on swimming under water and her daughter was still in water wings. During the course of our conversation, MM and her daughter were swimming near each other and playing well together. The other woman's daughter then decided to remove her water-wings because she was staying close to us on the steps. All was going well until she slipped off the final step; however, neither of us noticed her going under. I saw her but did not see her. I do not know what made me ask my daughter if she was ok (she was floating in her full body swimmy), but when I did, the other mother noticed her daughter.
The girl had inhaled some water, but not a lot. Her mom held her almost upside down and pounded on her back and the little girl immediately began to cry. She was bright red while she was crying, but then became quite pale. The other mother is a nurse so she knew immediately what to do; thankfully because no one else at the pool seemed to notice anything was wrong. MM was upset because the other mom had bumped into her while trying to get to her daughter so I had an upset daughter while trying to be helpful. Needless to say, everyone was upset and we all decided to call it a day.
I went to the pool today and the little girl and her brother were there with their grandparents. I spoke to the grandparents about the aftermath and agreed that it would have been so easy for the little girl to have been under longer. I was just very happy that not only was she ok, but she wanted to go back to the pool and was happy to play again with MM. I did not ask, but I had a feeling that her mother would have liked to super glue the swimmies onto her arms.
I will say this experience has really made me want to bubble wrap my children! I am very nervous about having all the responsibility for the safety of my children. What if I am distracted and my daughter goes under as well? What if the baby's floaty flips over and I am unable to save him? Where is that line of being careful but not so careful that you stifle? I do not remember having all these types of fears about the world around me until I had children. I am not as adventurous as I once was because I am now more worried. Perhaps I have found the secret of the perceived maturity of others: have children and become more cautious!
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