Back to School Buying Splurge
Wednesday my son goes back to school. This, in itself, is cause for celebration. Part of me loved summertime, getting to sleep in (a little) going to the free summer movies, stuff like that. But I am definitely ready for school to start.
We did our school supply shopping last week, including a new backpack. It occured to me, as we were looking at the wall-of-backpacks at Target, that this is a splurge I never had. Noah doesn’t need a backpack. He has a perfectly good orange backpack from last year with it’s own insulated lunchbox and water bottle. It’s in great shape (really, how much wear and tear does a kindergarten inflict) and perfectly usable. But for me, it’s more about faking creating some sort of back-to-school excitement for him. So I waste $15 on a new backpack, and $12 on a new Batman lunch bag. I draw the line at the $12 Superman thermos thingy.
We didn’t get new backpacks each school year. It was an expense deemed to frivolous to waste money on. Sure, we could buy one with our own saved up money if we wanted to but I usually chose not too (my purse/bag addiction began much later in life). Money was tight and my parents were very careful with the spending.
So do I do it because I didn’t get to or because he really wants it? I’m not sure. I think my husband and I have done a pretty good job of balancing the money thing with the kids. I like being able to buy them surprises every once in awhile, just because (small stuff, like a Transformer) but I don’t want them to expect it. Of course they still ask.
Last week we were actually at the mall (really, I only go to the mall about 3 times a year – better for the budget). I had promised them we would make our first-ever trip to Build-A-Bear this summer. After dropping $60 on a dog named Patch dressed in a Batman outfit and a koala bear named Superman dressed in firefighter gear (my daughters) they still wanted to go in the Disney store. Since we don’t get there often I wanted to oblige but dreaded the inevitable "Can we get this?" whine (coupled with the clasped hands, pleading eyes and the "puuuuhhhhleeeeeasssse"). So we stood outside the store and I said in my firm mommy voice. "We will go in, but the moment I hear ‘can I have’ or ‘will you buy’ we are LEAVING. You are allowed to say ‘This is really cool. Can I put it on my birthday list?’ but THAT IS IT!"
And guess what? It worked. Of course my 3yr old wanted to add about 30 different items to her birthday list but not once did one of them utter the dreaded words. Ah! I’m going to have to remember this one!
Photo Hunt – Pets
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Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
It’s too hard to pick just one photo of my adorable Snickers. Yes, these are old. She is now 11 and has a lot more gray (like her owners). My husband and I got her when we first graduated from college (couldn’t have pets in married student housing). I had never had a dog, my husband had always had dogs. He assured me that basset hounds were the laziest dogs ever. WRONG! Of course he picked the most lively of the litter but I have since heard plenty of other stories. (A few of ours are below.)
Just a few weeks old. Aren’t those the cutest puppy eyes?
She liked to stick her head in things as much as possible.
She would eat the sandwich right out of your hand and drink the soda right out of your cup.
I could tell Snickers stories all day as she is a mischevious soul. She has swallowed more socks than I can count (they always come back out – one way or another). We once had someone tell us that swallowing socks could kill her and if she ever did that we should take her to vet right away. Um, right. I’d be bankrupt. She’s swallowed batteries (nothing bigger than a AA). She got my husbands wallet once and ate $300. He "collected" about $200 back 🙂 Don’t ask. She’s chewed up more remotes and glasses than I care to count.
She could stand on her hind legs and pull stuff off of the kitchen counter so you couldn’t ever keep anything edible out. Just ask my uncle who saw his bagel disappear in the time it took him to turn around and get a knife out of the drawer.
She once got into the pantry and got an entire box of Little Debbies. She apparently was too full to eat them all so she hid the rest around the house. In the middle of the night we heard her chewing on one of the plastic wrappers (trying to get it open). We took it away and went back to sleep. Five minutes later she was back with another one. We confiscated 4 of them that night and found more the next morning stuffed in couch cushions.
She would sit underneath my son’s highchair watching him eat, waiting for an opportunity to lunge and clean off the plate which of course would make Noah cry. I finally had to start putting her outside when I fed him.
She has mellowed considerably in her old age. We had to amputate her tail a couple of years ago because she had a cyst that burst and wouldn’t heal. I’ve spent enough on that dog in her lifetime to purchase new car but you can’t help but love her.
Come in out of the heat
Welcome to my little neck of the woods desert and our home, part of BooMama’s Blog Tour of Homes. I’ll get right to the pics because that’s the fun part, but the story of our house is below.
The front door – I hate the color – it’s like poop brown. I wanted to paint it a really dark brick red but the Home Owner’s Association said no. So I’m searching for a different suitable "earth tone" which is apparently acceptable. Alternately I’m looking for a rock that is the right shade of brick red so I can mail it to the HOA and show them that it is, indeed, an earth tone. The little metal basket on the left is where my friend Stacey leaves me secret notes and the occasional batch of brownies. She’s the best.
This is the kitchen – the hub of the home. You will notice that my house is very colorful. I don’t think there is a white wall in the place – except for inside the kids closets (even my closet is painted). This kitchen table is my favorite piece of furniture – on loan from the in-laws, the chairs from hubby’s Grandma. This is where the four of us eat most of our meals. This is the first house where I’ve really liked my kitchen cabinets – they’re maple.
The family room which is where we do a lot of hanging out. The leather couches are one of the smartest purchases we’ve ever made when child #1 was about 9 months old. I love that I can just wipe them down when the get spilled on. One note, however, bite marks in leather do not go away. So I now have an imprint of my darling daughter’s mouth ingrained in my couch for prosperity. I just changed out the pillows this month to brighten up the room. The photography on the walls is all stuff I took on my college trip to Europe.
The overstuffed den. Located in this room are 4 (yes, 4) computers. Ridiculous I know but the kids love to play computer games and an extra computer solves the squabbles. It’s a really cheap thing that my brillant hubby put together with left over parts so we spent no money on it I usually blog from the front desk on my laptop but if both kids are on the computer during the day I move around to the back desk which is hubby’s. This is also my scrapbooking room – the area on the right. Then add 3 overflowing book shelves to the mix. We’ve thought of putting french doors on the room so that we don’t always have to look at the mess, but then I’m afraid it would feel REALLY cramped then.
The BONUS image. Had a hard time deciding. But since my bedroom pics were posted recently I decided to go for the dining room. This pine table was also a hand me down from my inlaws when we moved into our first house 11 years ago. With the leaves in it seats 10 which we often have. Just this summer I finally finished stripping off the old stain and getting it looking really great. Spray painted 2 sets of chairs black to replace the original ones which broke long ago. Photography on the walls is stuff from our travels. In the foreground you get a glimpse of my FAVORITE chair in the house. A Denmarket chair I found for $95 at a second hand store, so comfy.
As BooMama said in the guidelines for this little adventure, "humble gratitude for what God has graciously provided…that’s what we’re after". And God has been beyond amazing in providing for our family. As I’ve mentioned in some of my posts, my husband and I really got intense about handling our finances correctly and getting out of debt about 5 years ago. (This in itself is a great story and deserving of another post later.) In short, we are out of debt except for our house and have an emergency fund and are blessed to be in the situation we are in. As our pastor always says, "You can’t outgive God." As we have been faithful with the handling of the money he entrusts to us and committed in tithing back to him he has heaped the blessings on us.
This is our third house in the 6 years since we moved back to Phoenix. The first one I imagined us living in for many years…we didn’t quite make it 3 years. The second one I imagined us living in many years. After we moved in I told everyone who would listen "I’m not moving again." I told this to my husband repeatedly when he would bring home flyers from the house down the street and show me what it was selling for (like a month after we moved in). Well, never say never ladies. The housing market in Phoenix went ABSOLUTELY NUTS! Suddenly our house was worth $100k more than what we paid for it. Hm, that will make you think won’t it? But of course so was every other house in the area and I wasn’t about to sell my house just to get a different house with the same payment.
So instead we went a little further west where home prices were cheaper and bought a new construction that would take 10 months to build. We waited to sell the current house (because we didn’t want to have to move an extra time) and prayed that the market wouldn’t plummet in the meantime. It didn’t, it just kept going up and up. By the time we finally sold our house it had doubled in value in the 2 years we owned it. We kept out some of the extra money for all of the things we’d need to do to the new house like landscaping, etc. And took the rest of it and paid down the new mortgage as much as we could.
Our plan, unless God changes it, is to have this house paid off within 2 years. By the age of 35 we’ll be completely debt free. Imagine the ways we can serve God’s kingdom then. Look out! We are both really excited about the possibilities.
We’ve said all along that it’s not our house, it’s God’s house. However he sees fit to use it, we’ll use it. We love having people over. Just two nights ago we hosted a bunch of the just-promoted youth members and their parents for the salad course of a progressive dinner.
I can imagine us here for many years and would love to say " I’ll never move again" but I know better. But I can’t imagine us every going back to having a house payment once it’s paid off. I am continually amazed at how good God is but feel like I shouldn’t be cuz he is just THAT awesome!
You can read more about the moving in adventure in the beginning of my blog.
Remember to head over to BooMama’s for more home tours.
Thursday Thirteen – Homes
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| Thirteen Things ABOUT THE HOMES I’VE LIVED IN
1. Two years in a college dorm room, first year with Kelley, second with Nikki. Had a blast – lots of practical jokes and good friends. Way too many late nights! Not technically a "home" but it was my first experience being on my own 1200 miles from home. |
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Works For Me Wednesday – Cleaning Windows/Mirrors
It’s another edition of Shannon’s Works-For-Me Wednesday. Head over to her blog for links to a ton of ideas. The list usually hits well over 100 participants by the end of the day.
My tip for this week is for cleaning windows and mirrors. I grew weary of the generic window cleaners leaving my bathroom mirrors all streaky no matter how hard I tried to shine them up. So I’ve started using vinegar. I put about 1/4 c. vinegar (which is super cheap) in a spray bottle and fill the rest with water.
Next, instead of a rag, use crumpled up newspaper. Very shiny. Works great on windows too. I had actually forgotten this but when my friend and I used to wash cars at my grandma’s retirement community every weekend it was great to just use newspaper. Your hands do get a little messy with the newsprint so I usually do the mirror before I clean the sink.
Works for me!
P.S. Don’t forget that Friday is BooMama’s Bloggy Tour of Homes.
The Cricket Hunter
My husband has a super-power. It’s not super strength or the ability to fly or something really useful like that. No, he has supersonic hearing. This is another one of those things now listed in the "How did I date you for 4 years and not realize this until we were married" column (along with his golf addiction).
You’d think supersonic hearing would be useful. No need for a baby monitor, he would hear the slightest cry and rush to the aid of the infant. Right? Uh, no. It seems that somehow the supersonic hearing got mixed in with the normal male selective hearing so he’s able to turn it off and on for crying babies and requests to do the dishes at will.
Only digital clocks are allowed in our house. The others "tick too loud". Seriously, the sound of the hands moving around the clock drive him insane. Now I know there are some clocks that tick loud but we’re not talking about those. We’re talking about normal clocks. I had a small travel alarm clock that was inside a case buried at the bottom of my stuffed-to-overflowing sock drawer and he could hear it. He couldn’t find it, but he could hear it. And it drove him nuts. "Can’t you hear that?" he asked, amazed that I couldn’t. I finally found the offending clock and removed the batteries. Supersonic hearing.
I owned a watch once that ticked too loud. Oh, it was okay for normal wear, but I couldn’t wear it to bed because if my arm was to close to his head it would keep him awake. Supersonic hearing.
We sleep with a noise machine on every night, the fan going (even in the dead of winter) and most nights he also has ear plugs in. Supersonic hearing.
And apparently, I chew too loud. This is VERY disconcerting. I will admit that somehow my parents failed in the "chew with your mouth closed" manner teaching and this is a poor habit that I have. But again, this goes in the "why didn’t you ever say anything during the 4 years we were dating" category. The poor man suffered through hundreds of meals listening to me chomp away on my food, completely oblivous to the fact that I was driving him crazy.
So after many years I am better. Granted, not perfect, but better. But it’s not good enough. HE CAN STILL HEAR ME CHEWING….inside my mouth….he can hear me move food around for more chewing…with my lips sealed. Seriously, we’ll be sitting on the couch watching TV and if I’m eating he will leave the room! Supersonic hearing.
And now, the worst time of the year is upon us….CRICKET SEASON. No, not the wicket and ball variety, the creepy, crawly, CHIRPY variety. Very CHIRPY. And so was born the Cricket Hunter. Each night when the sun finally fades and darkness falls, the chirping begins. Slowly at first, then, like some sort of chorale society more join crickets join the happy little chorus. And he stalks them. He follows the sounds. He taps on walls, he climbs on the counters, he opens cupboards, he crawls under desks. All in search of the elusive chirping. He sprays, he swats and he hunts. After all, there’s not much else he can do WITH ALL THAT NOISE going on. Supersonic hearing.
Two nights ago I went to bed before he did. As I laid my weary head on the pillow I heard it, "chirp, chirp, chirp". It was in the wall, right behind our bed. "Oh is he going to be mad" I thought to myself. Ten minutes later I could take it no longer. I rolled over, found some ear plugs and stuck them in. Supersonic hearing….maybe it’s catching.
Photo Hunt – Action
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Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants. |
Wow, I just don’t take too many action shots I guess. I thought this one was pretty good as a lot of the kids are moving. I love the expression on my son’s face (in yellow on right).
Thursday Thirteen
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| Thirteen Things I LIKE About Me (not trying to be vain, just look for the good instead of the bad.I’ve already done the 13 I don’t so I figured I should do this one.)
1. I have SUPER thick hair that is a really pretty brown and tends to get some natural highlights in the summer. There’s a little gray mixed in there too. |
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Works For Me Wednesday – Purse Storage
Hi, my name is Julie and I have a purse addiction.
I can say this without shame because I supply my addiction from thrift stores and clearance racks. Of all my purses I don’t think I’ve paid over $10 for more than 1 or 2 of them (the Kate Spade knock off from NYC and the Gucci knock off fom Mexico). Most of them have been in the $5 range.
They were piled on my closet floor, spilling out of the shelf underneath my clothes and stuck under the bed. I was desperate for a better solution so I turned to the wasted space inside my closet abovethe sliding closet doors. My first attempt was with hooks but it didn’t work so well. They hung down too far and were too hard to get down.
So Stacey helped me with this brillant idea. I bought 3 of these shelves from Target (by ClosetMaid) that can be hung either the way I have them or like a regular shelf (flat on top). They are PERFECT. I can reach the purses, I can see everything so I use them more often and they were super easy to hang up. All for $36. If purses aren’t your problem it would work great for other things as well. Might as well use all the space you have.
Hop on over to Shannon’s to see all the other WFMW ideas.
One Mom's Lifesong 
