Job Skills

I'm off to my very first day of subbing...ever. I taught elementary art for five years but, it's been over two years since I've been in a classroom. Heaven help the kids. I hope make a pinata is on the sub plans. I can really rock at papier mache.

It's Settled

We're going to be pirates. I found some stuff at the thrift store yesterday that we can turn into costumes. Does anyone have any pirate accessory items?

Halloween Costumes

Adam puts in his request for his birthday parties themes and Halloween costumes early in the year. Now that we are getting closer to the fall, I am ready to start thinking about both those events, which happen to be one day apart.

One quick search on the internet shows why I will have to have the extra time to make or modify our costumes again this year. The only modest costume I was able to find is completely innappropriate for our church trunk or treat.

...although maybe the kids could be the safety outlet covers.

I'm also mortified that this costume, "Robyn da Hood" is considered a plus size costume.
Geez, this model is such a fatty, go on a diet already.
Seriously, I'm getting grossed out just looking at you.

I've got my work cut out for me.

Guess who's rolling over!

Hadley is 3 1/2 mos. This week she really figured out rolling over. The second I put her on her back, she rolls right over to her tummy. She hasn't quite gotten the rolling over from her tummy to her back yet. I can't believe how much she is growing. Tonight I was rocking her and instead of sleeping she was just jabbering to me. I have no idea what she was trying to tell me but, she gave me an earful of her sweet baby talk.

The boy smiles

Adam has been camera shy lately. Tonight he let me get a picture of him. He looks so big to me in this picture. What happened to my little boy?

For those of you who are gamblers: Tomorrow I have a follow up doctor's visit. Adam has to go with me. I am bribing him with all the PEZ he can cram into his mouth if he will just sit outside the room for a few minutes. What are the odds that Adam will stay outside the door while I have my examination? I hope his cheeky smile doesn't see my cheeky smile.

all to save $14

Jared & I have been looking carefully at our budget to see what is needed and what isn't. It's hard to give up those things we have come accustomed to as necessities (even though they really aren't.) It's been frustratingly hard to be a grown up where all our money goes to honor our debts of boring stuff like student loans, hospital bills, diapers, etc. I know we are not unique in our financial situation.

It's been a mixed blessing as it has forced us to get creative in our activities. We've spent more time as a family at our (free) neighborhood pool, reading books, playing games, and just having conversations. We listen to more music and watch less tv, which dramatically changes the dynamic of our home.

It's not always easy to cut back, sometimes just because the forces that be, want you to keep spending. Point in case today. We want to get rid of our home phone service because we have the cell phone. Really, it's silly for us to pay for both when the only time we really use our home phone is when our cell battery is dead. That's an expensive price to pay for forgetfulness!

You'd think I could call and just cancel it. First, I got the new guy. I patiently understand there is a learning curve in every new job. However, after 43 minutes on the phone with him and still not having my situation resolved, I politely asked to speak to a supervisor. We were getting no where and it was obvious it was due to his lack of knowledge of the products/services they offered. That and after numerous times of me spouting off comments, "I want to save money" and "I want to get rid of my home phone" he responded with scripted phrases, "Would you like to add u-verse tv!?" and "Do you use the auto-redial feature on your phone?" I didn't get into the fact we've really cut back on tv and does it really matter if I use auto-redial if I am planning on disconnecting? Speaking of disconnecting -guess who gets disconnected after this lengthy dialogue. I call back. This time I speak to agent that is much more informed and we get it worked out in 10 minutes, which I am thinking was mostly her trying to undo what the other guy did. Somehow he got us on a metro line, which he failed to tell us would change our home phone number. All in all, we found that since we have other services through the same company, completely disconnecting our home phone would eliminate the bundle discount we've been receiving and we'll actually be paying $2 more a month to not have a home phone. This agent was able to downgrade our home phone service and we'll save $14 a month. We no longer have voice mail but, we still have caller id so I can still screen your phone calls.

Mid-Week, ugh

Today, I really felt the "hurt" on not eating out.

I made a Target run this morning, and despite eating a small breakfast at home, Chick-fil-a was beckoning my name. It didn't hurt that the munchkin was making the same suggestion from the backseat. Man, I love those chicken mini's.

I resisted and found a bag of mini croissants at Target instead, which we can use the rest with tomorrow's tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. I thought if I could just make it into the store that I was in the clear. Yet temptation still lurked just inside the walls of Target. Oh Starbucks grande hot chocolate with caramel -- why do you torture me?! Yes, I know you would be delicious with my bag of mini croissants. I have to admit that I did weigh the options. Technically I wasn't going through a drive thru, and technically it was inside a store. (Remember my earlier rule that I could get whatever I wanted it just had to be from the store?) I figured justification wasn't the answer. I also remembered last night when Jared considered watching tv just for 30 minutes because he was just going to be sitting feeding Hadley a bottle. He told me he wasn't going to (and I hope he didn't.) I thought if he could do without so could I. Afterall, it's not like I couldn't have hot chocolate, we have an entire box here at home. It's mid week and I'm starting to feel the crunch of breaking bad habits.

If you see us at McD's later, I'm still sticking to the program. I am hoping that my frequent patronage of previous drive thru visits have earned my kids some free play time.

I'm my new favorite restauarant

I've done really well at eating at home. Tonight I made an awesome meal from my friend's Summer's blog. I modified a few things based what I had on hand. Summer calls this a Hawaiian meal. I have dubbed it the diabetes starter kit because there is a ton of sugar in all of it, which is why it is so delicious.

Check out her blog first to see the real way to do it. Here are my modifications. You are supposed to use sweetened condensed milk in the coconut bread. A full can cost over $1.50 but, you only need 3 tbs of it. I didn't have any use for the rest of it right now and didn't want to spend the money when I would only need a small amount. I know, I am a cheapskate. I just upped the sugar I had on hand, and it still tasted amazing.

Hawaiian Coconut Bread:
This stuff is amazing!!
1 pkg. of Sis. Shubert's yeast rolls
10 oz. of Coconut Milk (buy two 13 oz cans total if you plan on making rice too)
1 cup white sugar
1-2 tbsp brown sugar
* mix coconut milk & sugar together and pour over rolls. Cook in oven per package directions. This makes a ton of milk, I just used the extra for the rice.

Coconut Rice
1 pkg. boil in bag rice
1 quart of coconut milk & water (I used 1 new can, the remainder from the rolls that already had sugar added & finished the rest of the quart off with water)
dash of salt
* cook rice in coconut milk, water, & salt

Grilled Pineapple:
Check out Summer's Blog for directions.

Chicken Kabobs:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Lawry's (liquid) Teriyaki marinade (already includes pineapple juice used in Summer's Recipe)
1 pineapple (I used some of the grilled pineapple from above)
1 pepper (and any other veggies you like: squash, red onion, mushrooms, etc)
2 TB brown sugar *optional

Cut chicken breasts into chunks and add to marinade & sugar for 3 hours. Cut pineapples and vegetables into chunks and skewer, alternating with chicken. Grill until chicken is cooked through.

*Instead of grilling kabobs & pineapple I just threw them on a cookie sheet lined with foil. I cooked it at 350 until chicken was done about 15-20 minutes.

I can't wait to eat this for lunch tomorrow! It sure makes eating at home easier.

Cutting Back

Jared & I have realized that there are things that are sucking our time & our money away from us. We've each challenged ourselves to cut back on a personal "excess" this week. Jared decided he was not going to watch any tv for an entire week. (I can't help but notice this isn't on a UFC week.) I don't watch tv the same way Jared does. I rarely sit down and just watch tv. The tv may be on but, I'm folding laundry, feeding kids, doing dishes, etc. So for me, it's not such a time-sucker. I'm trying to support him in his efforts and watch it less as well. Really, in the summer most things are re-runs anyway. It's sad that we still watch something that we've seen before, could quote lines from the episode, and predict the ending. It's been nice to not have the background noise of the tv while we are eating dinner or doing other family things together. Jared has already noticed that he has more time to things then he previously thought he did.

I am a fast food addict, mostly for it's convenience and my desire to get out the house once a day. My challenge is to not eat out for an entire week. Not even a quick Dr. Pepper from McDonald's. (Which by the way, the new one at Heritage Trace charges $1.99 for a large DP.) I've decided I can still have any food/drink I want but, I've got to go to the store and buy it. I'm embarrassed to say that I spent $46.19 on food & drinks at fast food places last week. It was always $5-$10 a time, but it adds up. It seems to me to be a ridiculous amount when you consider that's a little less than half our grocery budget for the week. I know sometimes it's necessary to eat on the road but, my goal this week is to do better about planning ahead so we can eat something at home, or something from home on the road. I'm trying to do better about planning actual activities instead of using the drive-thru as an excuse to get out of the house. If I can make it an entire week Jared is going to take me to a nice dinner this weekend for date night.

I changed my mind...

Adam ran up to me today and told me very seriously, "Mom, I changed my mind." I asked him, "about what?" His reply, "I don't want to be a policeman anymore, I want to be a tow-truck man!" For a boy that loves his hotwheels, and recently checked out 3 books from Grandma Ann's library about tow trucks, it probably sounds like a dream job for a 4 year old.

Hadley @ 3 months

Hadley turned 3 months on Aug. 7. Here's the newest picture of her. As usual, Adam has no interest in picture taking these days. I'm not up on her exact height & weight but, I know she's growing. She's still on the small side weight wise but, has gotten long. This week she's discovered she has feet and loves to grab for them. She's pretty much replaced her pacifier with sucking her thumb. Hadley has started to get into looking at toys, and loves her bouncy seat that has the toys she can grab and kick at. It seems like once she hit 3 mos. she started becoming more aware of her environment. I can't believe she's already 3 mos.

Hair Cut Time

Every time I'm pregnant my hair grows ridiculously fast. Even though Hadley is almost 3 mos. old, my hair is so thick I can't do anything with it. It's been so hot that I've been pulling it up into a pony tail. Which is not a style if you do it every day, and you are over 30. (No offense to other guilty parties.) My sister came for a visit with adorable hair, and it's been giving me the urge to go do something to mine. The only thing holding me back is choosing the wrong style. As evidence: here's the hairstyle I not only chose but, paid for immediately after having Adam.

Exhibit A:
Keep in mind, this is the styled (a.k.a "winged") version of this hairstyle.

Exhibit B:This is the everyday version of this hairstyle.

Which reminds me a lot of the hairstyle Juliette Lewis had during
the 1999 movie "The Other Sister"If you are my friend now, stop laughing. If you were my friend four years ago, you're fired. You should have had an intervention. It's obvious I can't be trusted.

Look alike?

While I was at the store last week, a stranger told me that "my kids looked so much a like." While I see a few minor similarities, I don't see a strong resemblance between Adam & Hadley. Adam has always been all boy, big, red head, dimples, and brown eyes. Hadley on the other hand is petite, brown hair, with blue eyes. I see red undertones in her hair, and she has dimples when she smiles but, overall I think they look completely different. I decided to dig out some baby pictures of both of them, and I think their baby pictures look very similar. So maybe they'll turn out looking like they belong to the same family as Hadley gets older.

Adam

Hadley

Jean Jacket Tutorial

I've had some friends ask, so here's directions on how to make your own jean jacket -

This project can be super cheap, or really expensive. You need a lot of different fabrics, ribbons, and thread. If you are a crafter you've probably got stuff that will work laying around your house. If you have to go buy all that stuff for this one project, it can get pricey. I got Hadley's jean jacket at a garage sale for $1. I've also gotten them at kid's resale shops like kid to kid for under $5. I sew a lot on this project. If you don't plan on washing this, just whip out the glue gun. It will be faster, easier, cheaper, and with far less cursing.

Materials:

- Jean jacket

- 4 coordinating fabrics - 1/8 yard each, or fat quarters. You really only need four 6 x 6" scraps but, since the smallest amount you can buy is 1/8 yard - that will be the cheapest if you don't have scraps laying around

- double sided fusible webbing - approximately 1/3 yard

- ball fringe - 1 yard or less

- Ribbon - various colors, various sizes

- Buttons or flowers for embellishments

- Blue thread that matches your jean jacket

- Thread(s) that coordinates to your color of fabric

Directions:

Step 1: Take a piece of paper and cut your big shape (that will fit onto the back of your jacket.) I did an irregular shape, while Maegan did a large rectangle. (I'm sure she'll have pictures on her blog as soon as it's done.) Then I randomly cut it into 4 pieces. These are your templates for your fabric. Be sure to label the pieces 1-4, so you know where they go later.

Step 2: Take your paper templates, and lay it on top of your fusible webbing. Cut out your fusible webbing slightly larger than your paper template (about 1/4" inch on all sides.)
Step 3: Iron your fusible webbing onto the back of your fabric. Do not peel the backing yet.

Step 4: Trim the extra fabric off so that you have a piece of fused lined fabric that is slightly larger than your paper template.

Step 5: Cut your fused fabric so it is exactly the size of your template. (There are different ways to do the last few steps, if you are an experienced sewer/crafter you can probably figure out a faster way)

Step 6: Cut out all your 4 pieces of fused fabric. Peel the backing paper off. Arrange on the back of your jacket, and iron in place. It's okay if there are small gaps between the fabrics. Get them as close as possible, keeping in mind your ribbon will cover minor imperfections.

Step 7: Blue thread should be in your bobbin, coordinating color for your top thread. Sew all your fused pieces of fabric down right at the edge.

Step 8: Look through your ribbons & embellishments & scraps. Arrange pieces to your liking. For ribbon, cut a skinny strip from the double sided fusible webbing. Iron fusible web to back of ribbon, remove backing paper, and iron to the jacket. When all pieces are done, sew edges of ribbon to jacket. Bobbin thread should be blue to match jacket, while top thread should coordinate with ribbon. Get ready to change the top thread a lot! Be prepared to change your needle at least once as you'll probably sacrifice one needle sewing on denim.

Note: fusible webbing will not hold down the ribbon permanently -- but it should help keep it in place long enough for you to sew it. If you are using the glue gun, just skip the fusible webbing stuff on the ribbon.

Step 9: Sew/hot glue ball fringe to underside of collar. Don't mess with the fusible webbing, it doesn't stick that well to fringe.

Step 10: For embellishments on front pockets -- these will have to be hand sewn on. See next post: pink fringe on front left pocket, and pink dots/orange ribbon on front pockets. Use blue thread if you don't want it to be seen, or use a coordinating color of thread if you want it to stand out.

Jean Jacket

These pictures don't do this project justice. It's so cute in person. This is an easy project but, time consuming because you have to switch to different colors of thread so often. Hadley won't be able to wear this until next fall. I was showing my friend Maegan how to make one so it was just easier to make mine as we went along.