Author Archives: Sara

• I am off today! I will be dropping the kids off with my mother shortly, and she will keep them until tomorrow. Hub and I are going to do something, but we aren’t exactly sure what. Maybe a long country drive. Definitely a good dinner out. Probably some Christmas shopping. Tomorrow we’ll have a bit of time together before I go get the kids and he heads off to a job. Maybe we’ll go to Panera for breakfast.
• While shopping for the finishing touches of my Crappy Day Package, I scored a few of these melamine plates on clearance for $.62 each. I would really like to go and scour Target endcaps across my area to see if I can find more. LOVE them.
Photo from Target.com
• I also bought a second blanket for our bed. Because seriously…screw that shit.
• I was talking to Hub the other day, about how I really just hate the monotony of the gym and how I don’t work hard when I’m there because I am bored. I told him I wish I could somehow feel about my regular work out the way I do about Zumba, which is head over heels in love. It’s challenging. I sweat. I feel my blood pumping. I legitimately need a shower afterward. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me to find some daytime Zumba classes and cancel the gym membership. It was a total “well, duh” moment for me. I mean seriously. Although finding classes during the day without having a gym membership at one of the big fancy gyms that holds classes, is proving to be hard. There are millions in the evenings, but I don’t want to go at night. I need to work out in the morning. So, I don’t know. Do you think I would get as much out of doing a DVD? I really want a class.
• Has anyone else noticed how hard it is to buy Christmas pajamas for boys, once they are over the age of 4? I got the most adorable sets for the girls, and had horrible luck for Bud. Lands End came through for me though. Here is what I got the girls from Gymboree:
Photo from Gymboree.com
And this is what I got for Bud:
Photo from landsend.com
• I ordered my Christmas cards this week, and they will be here soon! I am pleased with how they turned out. I feel ahead of the game this year. We’ll see how long it lasts. We’ll see how many gifts I buy today.

Hub and I moved in together in the fall of 1997, on my 19th birthday to be exact, in to a one bedroom basement apartment on the outskirts of our home town. To say that my parents were not thrilled would be putting it quite mildly. Though my mother had told me on numerous occasions that I was no longer welcome in her home since I refused to follow her stringent rules (this is a very long story for another day—I’ll tell it if you’re interested), when it came time for me to actually leave, she was beyond pissed. I had to get out of there in a hurry, so I packed as much as the back of my Ford Ranger pickup could hold, and I got the hell out of there in one trip. This of course, left me without a bed. My mother said I couldn’t have it anyway, so I guess it is a moot point that it did not fit.

Hub’s mother was much more understanding and supported our move. She purchased and packed many things up for us. Allowed Hub to bring his bed with him, and all of his furniture. Hub may have purchased the furniture on his own, now that I am thinking about it, so maybe it wasn’t a case of her allowing him to bring his stuff. My point though is that she was happy for us, and helped us as much as she could. In the box of items that she had purchased, was a comforter. It was ugly; it sort of reminded me of of that laser photo background from the 80’s. But it was warm and comfortable, and was basically my bed for the 1st 6 months Hub and I lived together. Later, when things cooled down with my parents, I did get my bed, but I kept the comforter.

When we moved in to our house in 1999, FIL bought us a queen sized bed, and we inherited his and MIL’s bedroom set (seeing as how they’d been separated for 25 years at that point). We bought new bedding, of course and cast the old comforter aside. Soon we realized there was a big problem though. It was impossible for Hub and me to share a blanket. He is a blanket hog and I am a cocoon myself in the blanket sort of girl. Constantly, I’d be wrapped up just right, only to have him pull the covers right off of me.

This is when we got a brilliant idea. Separate bedding. Oh yes. For at least 10 year now, Hub and I have used completely separate sets of blankets. He took the old comforter and I took the new. It was a glorious sleeping experience for many years.

I mentioned how we bought new bedding this past weekend—and that was because all of our old stuff was falling apart. It was time. Hub took off the blankets and immediately took them out to the trash. So we bought a really nice set that matches the bedspread I got as a wedding shower gift, and we came home and set it all up. It’s pretty, soft and comfortable. But there is one problem. Now we have to share. I haven’t slept since Saturday.

We’re both kind of at a loss. The end result is going to be for us to buy another blanket, obviously. But I am left wondering how people do this? How do you share your blankets with another person? Is there a magical way to make it work? Educate me people.

It’s maybe not a secret that I love to spend money. I like to think that I hide it well, but if you read through my blog, especially lately, it seems like a never-ending chorus of I bought I bought I bought. It’s true; I like to buy things. I can’t help myself. And what does help me is the small amount of money I have put aside in to my own personal checking account each pay period. This money used to go for things like lunches out, morning coffee and my work wardrobe. I’ve been home a year now, and those expenses have drastically decreased. Yet I keep my stipend. It’s the Saly fun fund! This is the money that allowed me to buy the hair pins, and the new Uggs, the Bath and Body stuff, and my Clinique order. I use this money for my Birchbox as well. And for contests here, pay it forwards, and now, my Crappy Day Package.

More than spending my own money though, I love when the household budget allows for us to buy some things off of our want list. We’ve done pretty well lately, and the holidays are always a good time to spruce the place up a bit. (For the record, we do not use credit cards. At all. We only buy things when we have money to buy them. The end.) We went shopping on Friday night to eyeball some sectionals. We have a sofa and a love seat now, and they are in poor condition. We’ve wanted a sectional for years, but have never taken the plunge. I was planning on something simple; maybe spending about $1500-$1800 for it, and calling it a day. Then we saw this. It is beautiful and so comfortable. And we are in love. It is large; it would fill our living room for sure. But all 5 of us love this sofa like no other.

We left the store on Friday, because weHub isn’t one to make rash spending decisions. We are still mulling it over. It is a lot to spend when we have cats, small children and a psycho dog. But the recliners. And the microsuede. And the beverage holders. We’re still mulling though. There is only one spot it could go, and it would be a tight squeeze. We have a small house, but a large-ish living room. So we’ll see. Hub has a big check coming from a big job he does twice a year. Maybe then.

We spent all day Saturday cleaning and getting ready to rearrange the living room in to the normal winter set-up. Hub rearranged our bedroom, and decided that we just could not live with our bedding another minute. And never mind that we reside in the former nursery/kid’s room that still has Winnie the Pooh prints on the wall, but we need some decent freaking curtains. So off we went to Wal Mart and Target to pick up some things. Curtain rods, curtains, pillows, a new comforter and so on. And as we had a cart full of crap, and 4 children who were getting hungry in tow, we moseyed over to the electronics section and were mesmerized by the TVs. Hub and I like TV a lot. In our down time, after the kids go to bed, we curl up on the couch and watch whatever we have on the TiVo. We’ve been doing this with a 32 inch flat screen for about 5 years now, and Hub has said over and over lately that we need a bigger TV. We looked at a bunch, and ended up deciding on a 50 inch plasma that was on sale for less than smaller TVs were running. There was an issue with my debit card (apparently, I only have a $500 spending limit—we have to call the bank) and Hub didn’t bring his, so we had to take everyone home, and Hub went back. He called me from the car to say that he’d gotten a better deal on a 52 inch 3D TV. Plus 3D glasses. You guys, this is the biggest TV ever. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but just look (don’t mind the crap on the floor; we were still rearranging and tearing things apart):

It’s a really nice TV, but we both feel kind of ridiculous now that it’s here. I mean, who needs such a large television? As a bonus, we can now use the HD service we get for free with our cable package, so there’s that. But man that TV is big. A perfect excuse to buy the giant furniture, in my opinion.

I asked some questions on Saturday. Thanks for playing along! Here are my answers to the same questions.

1. Do you ever let your kids sit in the front seat of the car? What is an appropriate age to sit up front? Would you judge a parent with, say, a 5 year old in the front seat? Hub and I are having something of a debate on this one. He thinks it is no big deal to let Bud ride up front. Bud will be 8 in a few weeks (Ok, like 6 weeks but OMG—8), and is of normal 8-year-old size. He no longer requires a booster seat by weight, but we make him sit in it anyway. Hub always puts the booster in the front, and the airbags auto-shutoff on the passenger side when you weigh less than 100lbs. So, he says it is safe. I disagree, and also, having a flailing almost-8-year-old touching things and talking at me is definitely distracting when he is not in the front seat. Him in my face? Way distracting. Plus there is the Lucy factor. Lu insists that she should be able to do anything that Bud does, and therefore if he rides up front, she expects a turn. (This is what happens when you have children close in age, my friends.) Over my dead body is my 6-year-old sitting up front. I will allow them to sit in front if I happen to pick them up from school. The ride home is 4 blocks.
2. What is your opinion of “best by” or expiration dates? Do you follow them to the letter? Are you a bit lax? I almost never look at an expiration date. And if I do, it is because something seems off. I think most stuff keeps forever. Especially yogurt. I have very low standards when it comes to such things. I don’t budge much on meat though, but that is more of a smell thing than a date.
3. How do you drink your coffee? 99% of the time, I drink it black. I have since I was probably 17? I am one of those strange people who actually likes the taste of coffee, I guess. I do enjoy fancy coffee beverages quite a bit though. Mochas and lattes and frappes and all that jazz. You wouldn’t believe it, but I think McDonalds has one of the best frappes around—better than Starbucks even, and lord knows I love me some Starbucks. If I am getting an iced coffee, it is always with cream and sugar. And on occasion, I will get a hot coffee with cream and sugar but only if the establishment has real cream. No milk (hork), no half and half.
4. What is your favorite kind of cake? Do you like cakes with filling, such as jam? I am a white/yellow cake with buttercream frosting kind of a girl. I love frosting SO MUCH. In fact, my filling of choice in a cake is MORE FROSTING!! Never anything like jam or pudding that will make the cake soggy. Bring on the buttercream. We do have a local bakery here that makes a delicious chocolate cake with a chocolate buttercream frosting. This is what I always get for my birthday because the kids like chocolate, and really, they are a big part of the reason my birthdays are happy.

I also mentioned yesterday my new love affair with decorated hairpins, and I got a few questions about them, so I thought I would show you how cute they are. I have the most ridiculous fine will not do anything hair you can imagine. So fine that clips do not stay in, or if I can get them to stay, they somehow look wrong. I’ve used plain bobby pins to get my hair out of my face in the past, but really…so boring. So when I came upon the flowered ones a few weeks ago, I went a bit crazy. Then I shopped on etsy last week, and went a bit more crazy. It’s safe to say now that I have a hair pin for every occasion.

Here are the hairpins in all their glory (the elephants are my favorite):

And this is how I use them. Today I have just one black one in, but I also like to criss-cross 2 in the same spot. Sometimes I twist my hair a little bit too. The possibilities are endless.

Saly + hairpins= WIN!

I think that even after NaBloPoMo, I’ll write about the good things from the past week. It’s easy to rant and rave all week long; it’s nice to have a bright spot.

Here are the things that made me happy this week:

* A boatload of free samples from Clinique. I knew I was getting some with my face care order, but I got even more than I bargained for. I love love love free samples.
*My second Birchbox came in the mail. I got chocolate, boob firming cream, nail polish, other lotions and a few more things. It was jam packed this month. Again, sample whore. I love my Birchbox.
*This actually happened last week, but it was the weekend, so it’s moving here. the knitted owl cap I bought for Olivia. I spent $15 on it, but it is so stinking adorable. (You’ve seen the photo…I’m not in the mood to get it off of my phone)
*Decorated hair pins. I bought several at our school’s vendor fair, and then bought several more on Etsy this week. They work so well in my fine and ridiculous hair too. I can’t show you the ones I got without linking you in to my actual transaction, but I will show you when they arrive. They are my new favorite thing, for sure.

What was your good stuff this past week?

Here are some things I would like your thoughts on:

1. Do you ever let your kids sit in the front seat of the car? What is an appropriate age to sit up front? Would you judge a parent with, say, a 5 year old in the front seat?

2. What is your opinion of “best by” or expiration dates? Do you follow them to the letter? Are you a bit lax?

3. How do you drink your coffee?

4. What is your favorite kind of cake? Do you like cakes with filling, such as jam?

Don’t worry, I will answer these questions too, next week.

*As I mentioned yesterday, the kids and I were alone for the evening. We had a rare treat of McDonald’s and we rented a movie, I was disappointed because McDonald’s was out of fountain pop, and they were pouring from 2 litre bottles, but other than that (and the mild profanity in the movie we rented, Gulliver’s Travels) it was a delightful evening.
*We found out yesterday, after carefully arranging our schedules for parent teacher conferences, that 2nd grade teachers would like for parents to bring their children along to the conference. So, that’s nice. And of course, 1st graders are not welcome at their conferences, so everything is totally convenient. /end sarcastic rant
*I very much appreciate all of your skincare advice from last week. I am in the phase of dry skin, to the point of it peeling from my face in sheets, but the meds seem to be working. I bought some Clinique soap and lotion,and it is ok, but I think I like the Target compare to Olay moisturizer better than anything. Ironically, that is what I’ve been using for years.
*Supposedly, the owl bedding has shipped. I am so nervous to see if it is actually what it’s supposed to be.
*I have a piece of Family Information that I am not supposed to know, and that I cannot talk to anyone about. And I only know bits and pieces and I can’t ask any questions. It is kiiiiiiiling me!
*Well, we are 11 days in to Nablopomo, and I have officially run out of things to talk about.

Man, do I love to volunteer at my kids’ school. Not the actual volunteer work, specifically because if I am be honest, that shit is B O R I N G! But I love that I walk through the building to a chorus of “Hello, Mrs. B…!” from students and teachers. People know me. They know my kids. We have lived here, on our street and in our tiny house since 1999, but until last year, we never really felt like we were part of a community. It is nice.

That being said, I walked to and from school today on my lunch break for my volunteer shift in the rain. This was not an overly fun experience as it was about 45 degrees and raining, but with Hub’s truck in the shop he needed to use my car for the day. No biggie. And really I was dreading it, but it wasn’t horrible. We live about 4 suburban blocks from the school and it took me maybe 15 minutes each way. If it weren’t for the rain and the wind blowing my umbrella every which way, it probably would have been delightful. What a concept, walking to get somewhere instead of just for mindless exercise. I should do it more often.

I have no segue…

I was reading through my archives earlier today. Man, was I ever funny back when I was pregnant. What happened to that girl? Maybe it was because pregnancy makes me a raging bitch, and bitchiness=funny. I don’t know. I also found a post where I talked about our washer breaking, and going out to buy a front loading washer. I remember the circumstances. I remember FIL and I mopping water in the basement forEVER. But as for a front loader? We did not get one. We have the exact same washer we’ve always had. So we must have had it repaired? And cancelled our purchase? But I do not remember any of this!! And now I’m all disappointed like, damn, I could have had a front loading washer.

Random transition line about kids…

Hub has a huge job scheduled tonight, and is leaving shortly to work all night. The kids and I are on our own for the evening, so we are going to first do my patented 1 hour cleaning blitz, which is where I set the timer for an hour, and we all clean furiously for that time and when the hour is up, providing everyone has worked their hardest, we are done. It’s an easy way to make chores fun. And then, we are going to do a campout in the living room, complete with another one of my patented items, microwave popcorn with m&ms mixed in. Seriously. You would think I Was some sort of gourmet chef the way the kids go on and on about it. We will watch a movie and sleep on the air mattress and have a great time. This is the way to start a long weekend.

I’ve long said that 3 is the worst age of toddlerhood. I’ve never had many problems at age 2, but age 3, it just blows up. It has now occurred to me that before Liv, I had no idea what I was talking about. Bud and Lucy’s time of being 3, even if I combined their tantrums and bullshit, pale in massive proportion to what I deal with from Liv on a daily basis. I have always been the person wide eyed in the grocery store, at the child having a meltdown that the parent is seemingly powerless to stop. I’ve always been the one thinking to myself something along the lines of “damn, control your child!”. I should have known better. The tables have turned.

Olivia has always been a force to be reckoned with. She has been strong willed from the time she was an infant, fighting to the death to get her own way. Now, she is an extremely verbal 3-year-old who thinks that she is on par in all levels with her older brother and sister. I think too, because she has spent so much time one on one with grown-ups, that she also thinks she is something of a grown-up herself. So of course, when she doesn’t get to do what she wants, it is an all out battle.

Here is a typical conversation with Olivia, usually happening minutes before dinner time.

Liv: Mom, can I have a apple bar?
Me: No, we’re going to eat in a few minutes.
Liv: Please can I have a apple baaaar?
Me: Olivia, I said no. It’s dinner time.
Liv: But I said pleeeeaaase!!
Me: No.
Liv: Apple Bar!
Me: …
Liv: Apple Bar!!
Me: …
Liv: AAAAAple Bar!!!
AAAAAAAPPPPPPLE BAR!!
APPLE! BAR!
APPLEBAR!
AAAAAAAPLE BAAAAAAAR!!
Me: Olivia, I told you no. Now please sit down for dinner.
Liv: Well fine then, I’m not talking to you.

She is beyond infuriating, and I’m having a really hard time keeping my fury in check. We have tried everything: taking things away, time outs, carrying her to her bed, removing her from stores and dinner tables. You name it, we have done it and she does not care—not one single iota. And I am at a loss as to what to do with her anymore. Am I to just ride out this hurricane? When she is not being a raging hellbeast, she is really quite delightful. She loves to help with any chore, she likes to just converse with me, sit and read books, and do puzzles. She is quite a puzzle wiz, actually. But the second she feels like the slightest injustice has been performed, it is over and there is usually no going back.

So here’s my question. Are there any tried and true methods for disciplining an ornery 3-year-old? What about other forms of distraction? I feel as though I’ve exhausted all of my resources and I am starting to question whether the problem is me, and not her. Granted, I’ve never had this happen before, but still. Or maybe she just has, and always will have a strong personality. And if that is true, well, God help us all.

We finally have all 3. Liv’s is the only one I am happy with, FYI. BUT, this is why we don’t spend a lot of money on school photos. They generally suck, am I right?

So here is Bud. He is not usually so, how do you say, crazy, in the eyes. But there is some serious possessioncrazy going on here.

Here is Lu. Her hair was sleek and gorgeous before she left on picture day morning. She maybe had a run in with a wild animal. Maybe a real owl! Who knows.

And here is Olivia, the devil in disguise. And that is a whole post for another day. Being cute keeps her out of trouble more than you would think.