Down w/the plastic bags part 2

(Read part 1 here.) So I took my homemade produce bags to the store today...

In this pic of veggie booty you can see a plastic store bag. I had only finished 2 at that point! I finished a 3rd last night and hope to polish off a 4th. All the netting for those bags came to less than a dollar and I already had the yarn. I plan on cruising the mega fabric store's clearance bin for some more netting tomorrow. I hope to make at least 2 more bags b/c sometimes I get a bunch of stuff and I know the checkout people hate it when you mix things. I personally like the green better than the pink. One says, foo-foo tu-tu while the other says I'm fresh and green!

My son is a super hero

Don't mess w/me...he can fly! I'm not sure what his other super powers are yet, but I'm thinking it involves screeching at a really high pitch to scare off would-be attackers. He's pretty good at running people ragged, too, so maybe he'd take prisoners and wear them out. I don't know but I'm glad he's on my side! He doesn't even need core strengthening! He'd make a great gymnast, right? As long as it pays for college, kid, you can do whatever you want!

Chemical Dependence part 2

If you are new around here or forgot about Chem. Dep. part one, you might want to read it. Today I am adding part 2! I bought a rosemary mint shampoo bar and used it for the first time today. I LOVED IT b/c: 1) all natural ingredients are good for my hair. 2) don't waste time w/shampoo and conditioner, rising both times. 3) my brain and eyeballs and scalp felt so alive! 4) the smooth texture was so fun...5) overall an easy experience! I had thought of making homemade shampoo, but um, yeah. I'm lazy. This bar cost me less than $5 and it's pretty big. We'll see how long it lasts. I wonder if I can make this soap...oh wait. I forgot. I'm lazy! I'll probably still investigate how to make it though. I might have more time in summer!

We've been challenged!

Over at another blog I read, the writer issued a challenge. (Read about it here.) The challenge is to buy nothing (new!) for all of April. That doesn't include food or anything of course, and you can buy used, which we try to mostly do anyway. But I have been known to see the killer sales of 90% off and splurge on stuff we don't absolutely need, so I accepted the challenge on our behalf. I'm adding the new rule to it that we can only eat out once a week. We've said that for like forever, but we break it all the time! So we'll see how we do...join in if you want!

Why???

Do your kids love weird stuff that bugs you? Did you love something weird as a kid? Mo is into Lawrence Welk right now. I'm not knocking it, it's just unexpected. But then again the kid loves musical instruments of all kinds! He takes great pride in telling us that LW is the conductor. He likes the dancing and claps after every song! That's not the only odd thing - I've already posted before about Mo's fave fuzzy-haired spunky male aerobics instructor. (*Shudder* Do I need to say his name?? He sweats. To oldies music. Got it?) I don't know if I loved anything weird as a kid. Guess I'll have to ask my parents about that...

Color me TOO SLOW!

Does anyone have experience getting crayon off of upholstery?

I have read about using WD40 but I'm scared. This is the back of the stool that sits at our counter, which is plainly visible in the living room. I know the pic doesn't show much, but the yellow crayon is pretty obvious. He said, "I need some paper!" I responded absentmindedly, "Just a minute....", and then a minute later I heard the scratchy sound of a crayon on an upholstered piece of furniture! He wasn't totally at fault! I should have hustled to get the paper and this was the first time he did anything like this. He knew it was wrong and apologized to me. Oh well. It's just stuff, but I'd like to keep it as nice as possible for as long as possible you know? It was a good teaching moment! But please let me know if you've had experience in this dept. The upholstery is pretty rough, not smooth. I tried scraping it off but not much was coming out. Any help would be appreciated!

Phew!

Spring Break is almost over!! We have had some good old fashioned local fun =) It's been weird to not go on some long cross country trip, not that I'm complaining, but it's been a little less stressful for me. We've had some great times at the nearest discovery museum and took a visit to our college alma mater's town. Here's a few photos...

Touch the sturgeon! Mom will just be over here, clinging to the wall...

Mo liked the bed of nails!

It's never too early to party! Happy Birthday Uncle Sam!

Our first time on the indoor ferris wheel! Can you read the sheer joy all over that boy's face?? I have to see if the video turned out, maybe I'll post that and you can hear the happy squeals!

Down w/the plastic produce bags!

I don't have a photo yet b/c my creation is a little embarrassing! I've tested it however and I've deemed it successful. The newest addition to my cloth bag entourage that I take to the grocery store is a re-usable produce bag made of netting! I was talking w/my cousin about how to sew up the edges...I found the netting at a crafts store in the clearance bin! I got 5 diff. pieces for less than $2!! Anyway, they were all the ends, so they were long strips. I didn't think sewing would work. I was originally wondering if I could fold a strip of fabric over the edge and hope the netting would 'stick'. But my cousin suggested threading some yarn or something through the edges - brilliant! My first attempt was using the pink netting and lavender yarn...um, yeah, it looks like something...um...a little too froo-froo-ey and girly!! So I think I will try using the green netting next time. I also wonder about using some fabric strips instead of yarn...might hold up better if I need to wash it. I'll post some pics next time. I laughed out loud after I put my apples in the pink sack! You'll see...

Finally catching up...

Monday - Mo and I made cookies! Not too elaborate but we learned 2 lessons. 1) Do not assume you have the correct measuring cup. If you don't, you will find yourself re-measuring! 2) After eating warm cookies, it's not a great idea to cover you face and begin counting for a game of hide-n-go-seek. Or maybe it is, if you want a chocolate flavored facial scrub!

Have you seen this girl?

It's me!! For St. Patrick's Day we had a dinner party at our house and went to the arcade afterwards. There were 15 people here, 6 of which were kids. We ate pesto pasta, green tortilla roll-ups, salad w/cukes, gr peppers and blue cheese, green chips and green taco dip, green pistachio pudding dessert and we drank green punch! Everything was delicious and it was a super success as potluck dinners go. Those that didn't wear green pinned decorations on =) The arcade was a great cheap place to go for family night! That's me on the skateboard game (note the deep concentration) - I did it twice! I crashed into the wall a lot, but by the second time I was doing a few tricks. I also tried the dancing game...yeah, not so good at that either! That was fun though! Dave tried a bunch of the race car/snowmobile/motorcycle type games. Mo danced around and munched on his animal crackers =) He wanted to play the basketball game but it wasn't working. We spent $3! It seemed silly but for a family date night it was a good time...when was the last time you went to an arcade?

The hot spot

Everyone has a place in their house where the junk gets tossed as you come in the door. Mail, message notes, papers...yada, yada...that's most of our counters! Anyway - we bought this piece of wood for 52 cents and Dave said he could make me a phone stand. So here's our hot spot before and after...
...and a shot of the proud building crew!What's your hot spot? Can you do anything to make it better?

So much to blog about, so little time!

I think I have to split this one up to get all the pics on! The other day it was nice enough to go for a walk in the park/woods...the camera died before we could get a family shot =( Dave's pants are all rolled up so they wouldn't get wet! He seriously was concerned about them getting wet...I just kept teasing him about waiting for a flood! The boys are really cute...ignore the date on the pics. They're wrong, obviously, I've got to fix that!

Dave's Job

This story starts out w/an elementary ELL teacher in our district being killed in a car accident. My 6th grade teacher was killed in a car accident on the way to school, so when I saw the news I felt for the kids right away. I told Dave that I felt called to go in and teach those kids for the rest of the school year, especially b/c I have that certification and I can identify w/the kids. He contacted HR and what not, and was told to call them at such and such number on such and such day. He called. They told him that the spot was filled by a long-term sub, which makes sense from their standpoint, paying no benefits and all. But then they told Dave that he is being moved b/c he is the only one in the district certified pre-K bilingual (I am too, but I'm not working!). As in, you will not be working at the same school next year. The same school where he has been for the whole time we have lived here (5 yrs? 6? I can't remember!). The same school where his best friend and our neighbor works right next store. The same school where he finally organized the curriculum, finally feels like he belongs, finally bought some new materials for the students...that school. Next year he will be doing a split position. Half time at the pre-K school, teaching in the bilingual program and half time at the high school. I came home and he was so upset...when he subbed in elementary classes, he hated it! "She said she's not my friend anymore!" The whining, the putzing in the bathroom, the crying, the simple activities...not his style. For him, high school is not much better! That and he's never taught in the bilingual program. He was angry, feeling like it wasn't fair and he wanted to fight it, but didn't know if that was possible. (It's not.) I didn't feel as upset...I thought maybe there was a way I could do the pre-K and he could do the HS. Dave always said he'd give his right arm to be home w/Mo! I also thought it was pretty cool that the 2 schools are a parking lot away and he wouldn't waste a lunch hour traveling. Not only that but since we have one car now, being a traveling teacher is not really do-able. Anyway, we found out that the only way for me to get the pre-K job would be for the district to post it and I'd apply. There would be a chance that someone else could get it and both Dave and I could lose out. Not cool. Yeah, so for now, I guess we're over it. I mean it certainly isn't what we wanted but as I've said before, we know God's will is going to be done. Dave knows of the pre-K principal and has heard good things. He knows some of the HS teachers b/c they are my former co-workers! I could go on ranting about this, but what's the point? I'm sorry I left everyone hanging about this earlier. It was Dave's news and he didn't want it told right away. Thanks for praying about it! We would appreciate your continued prayers. There's been other stuff going on, but I haven't been up to writing. My next post will be less bitter I promise!

Crawling out of a hole

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Do you ever think stuff just sucks so bad you don't want to do anything? Yeah, it's hard to write in a blog called the good life when you don't feel like anything good happens. I have so many updates and stuff to say that I will probably be posting a bunch of stuff in a short time. First, I need to talk about the good stuff so you will come back and read the 'not fair' junk that caused my pout-y absence. Life is good b/c I have an adorable son who loves music and talks to Jesus while he falls asleep. I have a hot hubby who wraps his long arms all the way around me while I cry. He says, "I don't know," when I ask WHY?? but he doesn't stop holding me. We love having people over to our house and we have so many friends here that we consider family. This town has lots of stuff for us to do! Life is good b/c Dave has a job in a good district. We love our van but still think it's cool that we can walk to church and the grocery store, even when it's only 35* out. Life is good b/c I have a place to hang laundry in the sunny 40* weather, even if the neighbors think I'm daft. The sun streams in our front windows and reminds us that we love the 4 seasons here, but most of all we love the fact that they change, better later than never! Life is good b/c I am working my dream job. My son loves going to church and dancing to the music. He's getting used to the preschool "big boy" class, and every teacher there is so kind to him. We can't believe we have come so far on our journey to achieve a bunch of stuff we dreamed about. We look at our wedding pics or the first pics of our house and the other stuff doesn't seem so bad. Not only that, but we know God cares for us. He is faithful to us in providing for our needs. He gives direction through His word and a way for us to be blameless, pure and whole. I was reminded of that this weekend. Instead of grousing around about how it's not fair, I started thinking about God's reaction to my tantrums and rants. He's done so much for us, I can hardly complain. Sometimes it just takes me a second to realize what is all in front of me. A new perspective, a new focus...I promise I will update again. I know people have been asking about Dave's job situation so I will start w/that next time. But please, if you feel like pouting, take a minute to give thanks for the other stuff, the people, the blessings. I hope it will help turn your attitude around like it did mine!

Don't burst our bubbles!

It's a beautiful day for learning to blow bubbles...now go chase them!

PS - I promise an updated post w/details this weekend...we're wasting daylight right now!

Prayer Request

We found out some info about Dave's job situation for next year. It's not ideal and it's not official, so I hesitate to explain it all right now, but please pray about it. God's will is going to be done in the end, but right now we are stuck thinking in terms of what we want and don't want. Our minds are swirling with ideas of how things might change and for me especially, that's hard. It's no secret that I get pretty anxious if things aren't planned, or go according to plan! How have I survived 30 years like this? Well, the first 20 were mostly spent getting zits and eating a lot of chocolate! The last 10-11 have been spent relying on God. Anyway - thanks for praying for us!

Could you do it?

$60 a week for 2 people on groceries. That's $240 a month! In our house we are easily spending upwards of $300 a month, but we eat a lot of meat. That and we're trying to ditch the convenience foods. As most of you know, I'm not really much of a cook. So the whole make it from scratch thing is new to me! But I'm trying. The article talks about eating a lot of fruits and veggies which is something we have been improving on. I'm not asking anyone to reveal their food budgets, but do you think you could change your diet to reflect the tips in the article? Could you live on less?

Is it March already??

Hoo Hah. Is anyone else disoriented? Between huge snowbanks and frigid cold (in March, for crying out loud!), daylight savings time and the school year whizzing by, I'm still not sure what's going on. At any rate, we had a good week/weekend! I did 2 workouts (thanks Jason for power walking in the mall!) and we took a Friday adventure to a neighboring burg. It was a little bit of a dud for the kids, but we had a good lunch! I watched some friends' older boy and Mo loved doing things w/him, but hoo hah, it was crazy how they had this evil plan to go in different directions at the library! It was practice for having more than one, I guess. Well, I don't have a lot to talk about today - just a question...we are hoping to have a family night dinner at our house on St. Patrick's Day. Any cool ideas for a green/Irish food? Keep in mind that I don't really cook! K.I.S.S!

Wha...?

California has declared homeschooling illegal, unless the primary teacher is state certified. No more plain old mommies and daddies teaching their own kids. Check out the article from Fox News. Some people are worried b/c CA tends to be a trend-setter for such laws. They don't have a teaching certificate and vehemently oppose their children being thrown into a traditional school setting. I just find it odd - what does the state have to gain by doing this? Most of you know my own personal feelings about homeschooling. I don't think it's for me (and I have a teaching certificate!). In general, however, I am not against it, assuming it's done right. That's a big long discussion for another time. Either way, this 'law' makes me squirm. How does it make you feel? Your thoughts?

It's true. And I'm not happy about it.

In case you live under a rock,
click here.

SAY IT AIN'T SO....

We may look happy in this old pic, but we just heard....
IS #4 RETIRING???

Those of you that know me, know Brett Favre is my boyfriend. Dave even knows it! Some of you may have been told that Sarah C is also seeing him. I don't know what's up w/that, but if the rumor news that is ALL over the TV is true, then it is a sad day for the NFL. A true player of the game, a hero, a man whose life has had many twists and turns will be missed on the gridiron. Every fan knew this was going to happen eventually, but that doesn't make it easier to handle. I'll probably post again soon...*sniff*...

How can we make it?

We wanted to make Simpsons T-shirts for Mo and Daddy today, but we couldn't find the shirts. So Mo did an art project and I made Tamale Pie and guacamole - yum, yum! Even out-of-season avocadoes could not ruin that! We've also been getting into the 'exercise lady' who is on before Sesame Street! Mo kept repeating, "Lengthen...lengthen...now the into the jack knife...lengthen..." He's more in shape than I am!!

It's a Rock!

So I was thinking of how to wrap up this weekend and I realized I shared a lot of times w/my friends this weekend. Some good, some not so good...There's a lot going on in my friends' lives and for once I feel like we don't have much going on! I've been praying for a bunch of friends who have been going through some stuff lately...and the topic of the day that Elmo is thinking about is friends. I love this one b/c his friend Zoe keeps coming around w/her pet rock, Rocco, and she tells Elmo all about the things they do together. "But Zoe, it's just a ROCK! UGH!" Sorry, to see Elmo sooo disgusted just cracks me up! Anyway - that all got me thinking about the friends that I have had for the LONGEST time. Dave and I were talking about this the other day...the friend I have had for the longest time has been my 4th grade penpal! We don't write as much as we used to and we've only met in person a few times, but we've been friends the longest (in case you can't do the math, that's like 18 years!!!). The other friend I've know the longest is my girl Dawn, who I've known since the summer before high school (almost 12 years). We shared an apartment in college...I've got to find some of those pics. You would laugh...we've got some stories, too, of course. How long have you known some of your friends? Would it be weird to be friends w/someone you never met? Dave didn't think he could be friends w/someone he never met. We just watched a movie called Sweet Land about a mail order bride from Germany who comes to the US right after WWI. (It was really sweet! No action, no junk, a little comedy, but just a sweet movie about a love between two people...) It got us talking about how people used to do stuff like that all the time! Oh man, this post is really rambling. Sorry! I wanted to put up some pictures but the camera is out in the van. I'm not going out in the sleet to get it so you'll just have to wait!