Category: Household

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Activities Family & Friends Household Ryan

I Love A Good Deal

I went to a pre-consignment sale last night, thanks to a pass from one of my friends.  It had 300 consignors and over 20,000 items!  I found a lot of summer clothes for Ryan and Cole, some toys, and I was able to get my sister a couple items she still needed too. 

Today she came up for a visit, and we ended up going back to the sale, mainly because I saw a tuxedo last night in Ryan’s size.  He is going to be the ring bearer at my older brother’s wedding in July, and it seemed perfect for him, but wanted to make sure it fit before I bought it.

Well, we found it- it was still there.  I stripped Ryan down to his undies, and then put on the pants, buttoned the shirt, and buttoned the jacket (it has a cummerbund, but it was sewn to the jacket, and I didn’t want to break the seam), and it fit perfectly!  If I had set out to find him a tux. at this sale, I know it wouldn’t have happened, but he looked just like a little man in it!  He looked awfully cute, if I may say so.  I’ll post a picture soon of him in his tux!

My sister sat down to nurse in a corner, and the most unusual item caught my eye.  It was a hand made bulletin board, with seven little chalk boards with each day of the week written in French.  It is really pretty, and I just really liked it.  It didn’t strike me as something even a child would use- it is so big.  I don’t even know what to call it- an information center?

Our calendar doesn’t have much space to write all our activities down, and sometimes it just becomes a jumbled mess.  So I liked the idea of writing down what each person has going on each day of the week, and the bulletin board is HUGE!  I can tack things up there I need to take care of for the week, invitations that need R.S.V.P’s too, my to-do-lists-, grocery lists, and of course pictures of the boys.  With some gentle persuasion from my sister, I am now the new owner.

 I am going to give the chalk boards a good cleaning with water, and then polish the wood, and then have Joe hang it up for me, but here is a picture of it:

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It is 46 inches tall and 36 inches wide, and even came with chalk.  It cost a whopping $29- a great deal I think, considering small cork boards at Target are about $20. 

Grand total I spent was under $100 for all the clothes, the tuxedo, toys, and the information center.  Not to bad- now if I can just stay away on Monday, because that is the last day and everything that is left is half price.  🙂

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Household

If I Had Known Then What I Know Now

Today as I was unloading the dishwasher and putting away the dishes, I realized that we have been using the same 3 or 4 dinner plates all the time, and just re-washing them.  I have about 10 other dinner plates, but it seems like they have never seen the light of day.  This is how it goes:

Joe eats breakfast- plate in dishwasher (ok, usually the sink and Heather puts it in dishwasher) Heather eats breakfast puts plate in dishwasher.  Heather eats lunch, puts plate in dishwasher, Joe and Heather eat dinner, two plates go in dishwasher.  Next morning, Heather unloads dishwasher, puts plates on top of the stack, and process starts all over.

It occurred to me I could just start putting the plates at the bottom, but who wants to lift 10 heavy plates to do that?  Then I started looking at my cupboards, and I had to just shake my head.  When we got married almost five years ago, we did the usual gift registry, mainly at Crate & Barrel.  As I looked at 10 ice cream dishes today, 10 milkshake glasses, and 10 margarita glasses, I wondered what was I thinking?

Oh yeah, I remember- it went something like this:

Joe and Heather in Crate & Barrel on a Saturday morning, in 2002

HEATHER: Oh look at the cute ice cream dishes, honey…won’t these be nice for when we have kids?

JOE: What do you mean?

HEATHER: Well, when we have kids, we’ll all have the same nice dishes to eat ice cream in.

JOE: Okay, how many do you think we need?

HEATHER: (not even taking into consideration they are a thin glass that a baby, toddler, and basically any person under the age of 18 would break, by just looking at them): Ten should be good, then we’ll always have enough even if some are in the dishwasher.

(Heather inputs 10 in the scan gun.  Joe and Heather continue down the aisle.)

HEATHER: Look at these adorable milkshake glasses.  These will be perfect for the kids when I make milkshakes for them. 

JOE (assuming the reasoning is the same as it was for the ice cream dishes): Okay, how many do you think we’ll need?

HEATHER: Well, if we have a few kids, and then if they have a few friends over, and then we want one, and then if one breaks, maybe 10 will do it.  I guess we could always get a replacement one if we need it.

(Heather zaps 10 milkshake glasses in the scan gun. Moving on down the aisle)

JOE: Hey, those are pretty cool margarita glasses.

HEATHER (excited he was finally excited about something in the store): Yeah, they are.  Those would be great when we have people over, or have Mexican Food Night.

JOE: Let’s get eight.

HEATHER: Might as well make it 10 in case one breaks. (enters 10 in the scanner)

Back to modern day-

Well needless to say, it will be a cold day in h*** before I would give my kids the glass ice cream dishes, or milkshake glasses.  At least I did consider one of the milkshake glasses may break, but having people over for Mexican Food Night?  I wish I had time to make just myself a margarita- let alone entertain with a Mexican Food Night.

If I knew then what I knew now, we would have skipped Crate & Barrel and went right to the Tupperware kiosk and stocked up on plastic plates, plastic bowls, sippy cups, washcloths (to clean up the ice cream and milkshake messes) and then went to the liquor store to stock up on pre-made margarita mix from the bottle. 

As it stands, everynow and then, I’ll have a dish of ice cream in my ice cream dish, and I have probably made at most, two milkshakes served in the milkshake glasses. I have never hosted a Mexican Food Night, but in the rare event down the road, if Joe and I can ever manage to find some time to pour the pre-made margarita mix from the bottle into the glasses, (salting them would be another bonus), we’ll at least have very nice glasses to drink from, and could each drink 5 before we’d have to stop and wash the glasses again.

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Family & Friends Household Ryan

New Car (finally)!

Joe’s truck was totaled in car accident in late March, after a guy rear-ended him, while Joe was stopped at a red light.   

So after weeks of research, test drives, debates, and changing our minds countless times, we finally went and bought our new car today!  Drum roll…..We are the proud (hint of sarcasm here) owners of a 2006 Ford Taurus! 

I wish I could say we bought something more exciting, like a mini van that I was hoping for, and Joe definitely wanted another truck, but after some extensive soul searching we decided to go the most economical-bang-for-our-buck that we could.  First of all, we never wanted to spend any money on a new car.  We would have been happy for Joe to keep his truck and drive it into the ground.  But, we were forced into this situation, and had to make the best of it.

We were this close to getting a mini van, and then Joe would drive our Jeep Cherokee, but we would have to take on some more debt for a mini van, and after thinking it through, our first priority right now is to get a different house.  Taking on more debt would lower our debt to income ratio, and would probably result in a higher mortgage rate when we buy a new house.  The same situation applied in getting Joe another truck, and since he also drives so much for work, a truck just wouldn’t get that good of gas mileage.  He was just about breaking even with the mile reimbursement his company pays him, so we figured if he could get a more fuel efficient car, then he would actually be making some money to save for repairs to the car, like the reimbursement is meant for.  Also, unless we got the fuller size truck, there would be no way both boys could ride in the truck if needed, and the larger trucks are even be more expensive, and get less gas mileage.

So in the end, the Taurus seemed like a good fit.  We will not have any debt, and it gets about 32-34 miles per gallon on the highway, (Joe’s previous truck was getting about 22 mpg), both boys can fit easily in the back, and there is room for another person in back as well.  It is a program car, meaning it was returned from Hertz as a rental, or a lease from a company, who had it for an employee as a company car.  It only has 25,000 miles on it, and comes with a two year warranty.  So even though it isn’t very exciting, it was the best car for our situation right now.  Here is a stock picture of it (it is a dark silver / light gray color, with light gray interrior):

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As our family grows up, and maybe one day expands, then a mini van may be a better fit, but for now we’ll be content with the Taurus.  Fortunately, we can still haul things in the Jeep, and Joe’s dad, who lives about 10 minutes from us, has two trucks, so at least Joe will still have access to a truck when needed. 

I think the saddest thing in this whole process was Ryan’s reaction.  He LOVED going places with Joe in the truck, whether it was just a quick trip to the hardware store, or over to the grandparent’s house.  He keeps telling everyone that “Dad’s truck got hurt, (or smashed up).”  He also asks “When is Dad’s green truck coming back home?”  He looked pretty disappointed when we came back in the Taurus to pick him up from my dad’s house, and we told him it was Dad’s new car.  He did climb in the Taurus, and looked around, but he still wanted to know where Dad’s truck was.  Maybe one day, we’ll be able to get another truck as well, to keep all the boys around here happy.  🙂

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Breastfeeding Household

New Pajamas!

I am so thrilled!  I have been needing / wanting a new pair of nursing PJ’s.  The ones I have now are pretty ghetto and don’t even match.  The top is a nursing maternity and the bottoms are just a pair of lounge pants.  Since the top is maternity, I get all this extra material wrapped around me at night and I hate it.  I don’t wear nightgowns, because I don’t like the material wrapping around my legs. 

I know I could just wear an old shirt or something, but I hate getting cold at night, and love the nursing pajamas with the slit openings, so I don’t have to lift up my entire shirt and get my back cold. We keep our bedroom pretty cool, so it is not fun to have to flip the covers of your top half, and pull your shirt up to nurse.

So, I have been eyeing a lovely pair of non-maternity nursing pajamas from Expressiva Nursing, for about a month now.  I have to say that I LOVE the clothes from them.  I invested in a few tops when I was still working when I was nursing Ryan.  They can be a bit expensive when not on sale, but they are worth every dime.  They are quality made and look stylish and trendy, without screaming to the world, “Nursing Top!” 

Anyway, they have an adorable pair that I loved, but they are (gulp) $54!  That is a lot for me to justify to spend on PJ’s.  But a few weeks ago, they marked them down to $49- still too much.  Then on a fluke, I looked up their name on e-bay a few days ago- I was looking for a good deal on some nursing tops for my sister, when she has to go back to work, and they had THE pair of the PJ’s I loved, in my size, both the top and the bottom, listed as a buy it now- get this- sit down- you aren’t going to believe this- for $7.99!  No, that isn’t a typo- $7.99!  I paid $7.99 for both pieces, and $6.95 for shipping for a grand total of $14.94! I couldn’t even get a pair of lounge pants and a t-shirt from Old Navy for that.  The only thing the listing said is that they had some complaints about the black tie ribbon leaving a mark on the waist from the dye, but it will wash out.

I received them today, and sure enough, there was a really small black smudge- I would have not even noticed it, if I hadn’t been aware of it.  I washed them and the smudge came out. They are super soft and I absolutely love them!  It is nice to be able to get something special for yourself every now and then, while saving money at the same time.  Here is a picture of them;  🙂

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In case you want to try their nursing clothes, keep an eye on e-bay.  Every few months they will list their close-outs, or irregulars at really good prices.  They also run sales from their regular website, and if you can buy during the “off” season, you can save a bundle. 

Happy nursing, and sweet dreams!

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Cole Family & Friends Household

Vacation and Two New Teeth

Joe has a few days of vacation he has to take, before next month, so he is off for a few days this week.  I used to tell him, I wish I got a vacation and he told me when he gets a vacation, I get a vacation. 

He has been great!  He has gotten up with Ryan & Cole, while I slept in, made breakfast, done lots of laundry, fixed things around the house, and taken me out to dinner.  It has been really nice, and even though you never get a vacation as a mom, this has been the next best thing.  Thank you, honey.

In other exciting news, we are getting our carpet cleaned tomorrow.   We only have carpet upstairs in the bedrooms, hallway, and stairs.  We had new carpet put in a few years ago, and have never had it cleaned, so it was definitely time.  It will be nice to see it all clean again, but we have been moving furniture and trying to clean at the same time, so I will be glad when it is over.  We took down the co-sleeper, since Cole has never really used it. I think we are going to move the crib in our room tomorrow, and try to start working with him on sleeping in his crib, next to our bed. 

Finally, on Sunday, I felt Cole’s upper gum, and his two front teeth were breaking through.  They are about 1/4 of a way in today, so it won’t be long and my little baby will have two new teeth in.  🙂