The Salvation Rush

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Jennifer

The other day I had 20 minutes to spare between finishing swim practice and picking up Caroline from school. The Salvation Army store is a couple of blocks from both locations so I decided to go in. I usually like to visit these types of stores any chance I get when I don’t have kids once every couple of months. Some of my favorites are the Habitat for Humanity Store, Goodwill, and the Salvation Army.

I like to search and find “diamonds in the rough.” My husband thinks I just find “rough.” I know he hates getting the call at work, “Hey, what are you doing for lunch? I’d love for you to meet me at the Habitat store and see a bookcase.” I know what he hears is, “Hey, what are you doing for lunch? I need you to come and transport this rickety piece of junk home, sand it, paint it, and haul it up a flight of stairs for me.”

I have never been a big garage sale shopper. It makes me uncomfortable to actually know who I’m buying from. I hate the whole bargaining procedure at garage sales. How about five dollars? Can you do three fifty? what about four dollars? Drives me crazy so I just avoid it all together.

I have just started venturing into estate sales. On Friday morning Caroline and I went riffling through someone’s house. I came out with a $4 mirror that’s destined for our guest room. Somehow knowing the previous owner is dead is a lot more comforting to me than actually having an encounter with the current living owner.

So there I was browsing my local Salvation Army store, minding my own business, when an announcement was made, “Shoppers, for the next hour, everything in the store is half off.”

“Yes, books are included.”

“Yes, children’s clothing is included.”

“Yes, furniture is included.”

Apparently the term everything is a little unclear to some people.

People started dashing around like crazy – grabbing shopping carts, flinging clothes into their baskets, yanking clothes on and off their children. It was pretty unbelievable. I admit I was almost on my way out the door when the announcement was made. But since everything was half off it necessitated me taking a second trip around the store. I ended up taking home 3 books. I mean, I had to, they were on sale.

3 books: $2.79

No Sanding, no painting, no hauling for hubby : priceless

Limit?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Jennifer

I wonder if the weight limit listed is just for the one sitting in the car or does it include those sitting on top of the car too?

Close Your Eyes Kiddos

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Jennifer

Last week I was walking through Toys R Us looking for the cheapest perfect birthday gift for Andrew’s classmate. Cherishing the alone time I was having, I decided to walk around and get some ideas for Caroline’s birthday. She will be two next month and loves Elmo. I’ve been thinking about doing an Elmo party for her so I went in search of all things Elmo.

I came to the party aisle and stopped dead in my tracks. Something was immediately disturbing to me. How can they make this? What cruel people think this is appropriate?

Yes, folks, an Elmo pinata.

Just think about it for a moment.

Elmo, the adorable, cuddly, lovable friend of your child’s getting his body bashed with a bat.

Imagine the terror that will strike in the minds of little kids when they witness this.

Shouldn’t this product come with a label? In the event that you use incredibly poor judgement and decide to have this at your child’s birthday party, you will be required to pay for 3 years of therapy.

I’m pretty sure we will pass on this and just opt for the Elmo napkins and plates.

James Joyce Knows Motherhood

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Jennifer

“A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”
— Agatha Christie

such a beautiful quote on motherhood

yesterday my day was more like this quote

“Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world, a mother’s love is not.”
— James Joyce

emphasis on the dunghill

I came back from work yesterday, said goodbye to the babysitter, and told my daughter I needed to “go potty.” Yes, I am a grown woman who says “go potty” probably 20 times a day – even in reference to myself.

Caroline took off like a rocket towards my bathroom. She grabbed the kid potty out from under the sink and set it on the floor. We are not potty training her. She just found the potty stored under there one day and takes it out every once in awhile.

She took off her pants and made it clear she wanted to take off her diaper. I helped her, humoring her since I needed to change her diaper anyway. She wanted to take her shirt off but I refused. Just for the record, no one else takes their shirt off here when going to the bathroom.

I realized I didn’t have a clean diaper so I walked around the corner to get one.

When I walked back in I found this…

At first my eyes to brain connection wasn’t working. I couldn’t figure out what the pile was on the ground. When I suddenly made the connection…

Oh Sh*t!

LITERALLY!

I calmly grabbed her, cleaned her up – this included taking off her shirt which was now dirty (I should have listened to her about taking off her shirt), her dirty socks (she had managed to run all around the room in the 5 seconds I was gone), and her body.

I cleaned up the mess and put her down for her nap.

All rather calmly if I do say so myself.

An hour later I found another pile of it in my the closet……on the carpet.

Trix

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Jennifer

First I screamed.

Then I grabbed my camera.

My Very First Giveaway!

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Jennifer

I thought the best way to celebrate my first guest posting was to have my first giveaway. When I told my husband he said, “Wait a minute…shouldn’t we think about this.” I told him to relax and not to worry. It’s not like I was planning on giving away our car or even his flannel pj’s…although on second thought. No, no I’ll stick with the plan.

What I am giving away is one completed coupon box of activity cards.

The winner will receive 48 activity cards, 3 pencils, 1 pencil sharpener, and 1 eraser.

In case you are not familiar with my activity coupon box, go here to read about my idea.

Here are the ways you can enter:

1 entry if you make a comment on this post

1 additional entry if you are a follower (leave a comment to let me know)

*You have until Sunday Jan 16 to enter*

Thanks and good luck to everyone!

O so Many

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Jennifer

This is what breakfast at our house looked like the other day

3 different kids

3 different breakfast cereals

Mom taking a solo trip to the grocery store…definitely needed

Like mother, like daughter

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Jennifer

What’s a 22 month old to do when waiting in Walmart?

Why it must be to find out what Jennifer Aniston is up to?

Christmas Pics: A Little Late

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Jennifer

I realize this is late but I figure better late than never.We managed to decorate our house a bit for Christmas so I thought I’d show you some of the pictures and a few of the activities we did.

Here’s our Christmas mantle. I decided to go with a red, silver, and blue theme. I thought those colors might be a nice change from the typical red and green. The JOY letters were stuck on the wall until they came crashing down one night at 3 am. They have been sitting on the mantle ever since. I bought them at JoAnn’s, painted them red, and modge podged them with glitter.I took a frame and hung snowflakes in it. I placed it next to my Pier 1 glitter trees. Boy oh boy I wish my sister still worked there. The only thing I bought bedsides the JOY letters were the blue ornaments.

These are a couple of branches I took and spray painted white. I hung various blue ornaments from the branches. I placed some white and silver Mardi Gras beads inside the jar to keep the branches stable. Here’s our cheap and easy Christmas card display. I wanted to create this elaborate yarn and metal display that I have floating around in my head but it never happened so I’ll keep that in mind for next year.

I took a 3M Command Strip (which failed to keep my JOY letters up) and placed them on the wall. I took strips of ribbon, punched a hole at the top, and hung the strips. We then hung the cards with clothespins.Getting ready to visit Santa. Alex was feeling very sick that day so only Caroline and Andrew went. Turns out they were only willing to look at him and neither one would go close to Santa.Making gingerbread houses – yes, it’s a pre-made kit, they loved it

Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas as a family.Who knew I had six chins?

The Action Nativity SetA wise man watching from the trees, ready to attackEvery day Andrew would move the figures around and have a whisper dialogue with them. I desperately tried to hear some specifics but never could get close enough. All I know is that one day the wise men were on their sides, the animals were on top of the stable, and baby Jesus was behind the trees.Family photo I took of everyone before we went into the ICE exhibit in Grapevine.Hope your holidays were wonderful!