Thank you

You know what birthday parties mean? Thank you cards! And lots of 'em.  Coen had a total of fourteen people/families give him wonderful, fun, and thoughtful gifts this year for his 7th birthday.
Do I have money to go buy thank you cards? No!
So here's a quick and easy way to make thank you cards with a personal touch.

Take come coloring book pages, or free hand drawings that your kid made (or better yet, have them draw something for the occasion) and cut them out into small, card size squares or rectangles. Frame them on colored paper that brings out the color in the drawing or picture and paste them on colored paper cut into card size.  Then you write the message on white paper, cut that out and paste it on the inside part of the card.  There you have it!

Coen's turned out lovely.

p.s. We save all of Lucy's drawings done on big paper at daycare and use them for wrapping paper!

Breakdown at Betty Brinn's

So on Saturday, a school picnic got cancelled due to rain and the though of keeping our two children occupied and away from each other (every time they were in a room alone a scream of "MOMMY!" or "DADDY!" or "He hit me!" or "She won't leave me alone" erupted) indoors all morning.  My parents had purchased recently a Betty Brinn's Children's museum family membership and put mine and Tad's names on it.
 Off we went to visit the Children's Museum. (Or the Children's Merneezum, as Coen used to call it) for FREE!!  We went up to the desk, as we always do and the the clerk looked at us and her computer screen and then told me we'd need to pay for one adult.
What?!
Immediately I panicked.  I should have taken a deep breath and assessed the situation, but I had two impatient kids and just enough on my check card for one more round of groceries before we get paid again.
I told her in a controlled voice that we'd gotten in before on my parents' card, no problem. But she informed me that this is for grandparents and one caregiver only and my husband and I were clearly two caregivers. 
"You're still getting a really good deal", she said to me.
"We don't have any money." I said like a petulant child
I called my mom
She spoke to the clerk like a mom does when she's sticking up for her daughter who is upset.
They ended up letting us in "just this time". I was embarrassed about raising a stink. But I figured, 'oh well, I won't see her again today anyway.'
So off we went venturing around the museum.  We went to the body exhibit. And who was there dusting off the exhibit structures but my good friend from the desk. Dang it!
We went over to the pretend/town area. Who was there picking up garbage but my friend again! Sheesh!
When we went downstairs to have a snack, there she was, sweeping the foyer.  My son engaged her in conversation and and pointed out how similar her hair was to his mommy's. "Mommy, come here!" he yelled to me, "Look at your hairs!"  She smiled at me indulgently. I felt like an ass.
Oh well, at least we didn't have to pay.

Star Wars Party

So my baby boy turned 7 today.  I can NOT believe I have a seven year old boy. How did this happen?!  Yesterday we threw him a Star Wars Party. I let him choose seven friends to invite (we had 8 come) to his party. I was first of all, pleased he chose two kids from his new 1st grade class, and 2nd of all pleased that he chose 2 girls to come!
I told parents they could drop off (never have had a party like that before) so we had 10 children (including ours) in our house for 2 hours--just Tad and I in charge.  Because of that, I had an agenda-down to the minute for the party.  Here it was:
The kids arrived and until everyone arrived, we had them play in the playroom.
Once everyone was there, I gathered them around and presented each kid with a pretzel rod light saber. I gave them a speech about them being the weapon of a Jedi but how Jedis are peaceful, etc..  They also drank "Jawa Juice" punch made of 7-up, blue kool-aid and rainbow sherbet. 
After they ate their light sabers we went outside to play "Jedi Says" (Simon says)
Then I had them gather round the picnic table and gave each kid a small pot.  They painted the pots (silver, green, blue, purple and yellow) and then each scooped soil into their pots. Then I handed out Black-Eyed Susan seeds, telling them they were magical seeds for a flower that grows on the forest moon of Endor.  The pollen makes people invisible and Ewoks use them to hide from enemies. I told them that they'd never been planted on Earth so I wasn't sure if they'd work.  They planted and watered their seeds and then held their hands aloft, using The Force to make them work, when they grow.
After this Tad engaged the kids in a wild game that he and Coen have lately been playing (of their invention) where Tad launches balls at Coen who tries to get them away with his hands and makeshift light saber. They loved that.
Then it was cake time.  A Baskin Robbins ice cream cake.  And presents.  Tad looked up at me during the presents and said "Eighteen minutes to go!"  They had just enough time to resume playroom play when all parents arrived for pick up.  It was a success.  We were proud.
The cake was the most expensive part of the party- $31.00
The decorations, materials for the light sabers - $10.00
The juice - $3.00

It was a $44.00 success and Coen had a great time!

Burritos, delicious they were.

 Just a note: yesterday's post got posted this morning!  Oops.

Yesterday we used our Chipotle gift card.  All four of us piled in the care after work/school/daycare and drove to Chipotle. The kids giggled, trying to say the name of the restaurant and Tad and I held hands while he drove.

I had brought Lucy's spaghettios from home (she doesn't like Mexican, my picky girl.)  We got in line and ordered and Lucy asserted that she wanted the RESTAURANT'S spaghettios and not ones from home. While she wasn't looking, the wonderful staff of Chipotle put her spaghettios in a chipotle bowl and garnished it with shredded cheese. Lucy was none the wiser.  We ate our dinner and headed home with leftovers. 

After Lucy was in bed Tad, Coen, and I made popcorn and poured beverages and together cozied up on the couch and watched The Empire Strikes Back. We have been reading the original Star Wars books with Coen and when he finishes, we let him watch the movie with us after bedtime.

This is a wonderful free form of entertainment....letting your kid stay up past bedtime and watch a movie cuddling with mom and dad. 

Gratitude

After Wednesday's frustration with all the work that goes into living/eating simply, yesterday a really nice thing happened.

My coworker Diana came up to me with two gift cards. One to Noodles and one to Chipotle.  She told me she heard about my situation, and hadn't known. So I told her about Tad's schooling and how excited we are about it. Then I thanked her for the gift cards. She said they weren't from her. They were from someone who wished to remain anonymous. For now.  Wow.

I can't even begin to describe what a gift that was.  My plan for tonight was to take the three pounds of chicken thighs out of the freezer to thaw and then spend tonight making crock-pot Chicken Cacciatore.  The last thing I wanted to do tonight (after having made hummus and tabbouleh for a dinner party Sunday afternoon, African peanut stew for dinner Monday and Tuesday, chicken nuggets and another noodle dish for my kids who don't like African stew, potato leek soup on Tuesday for Wednesday and Thursday, homemade spaghettios for my daughter who won't eat potato leek soup, not to mention baked banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, and pretzel light sabers)....the last thing I wanted to do tonight was to MAKE MORE FOOD!

So thank you thank you anonymous donor, from the very bottom of my heart, and also from my brain--who needs a break--because I don't WANT chicken cacciatore on a Friday  night. I don't want to prepare or even REHEAT anything on a Friday night. So thanks to you...we are going to pick up some burritos from Chipotle tomorrow and I am going to breathe a big, happy sigh of relief.

Blogitive

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I am keeping pretty positive about this whole thing.  And if you know me, personally, you know that I am a positive person overall.
But I have to say, as of late, I feel like my entire life is ALL FOOD.
I am shopping for food, preparing food, making food, cooking food, packaging food, freezing food, thawing food, thinking about recipes and coupons and grocery store fliers and sales. I am stirring it, mashing it, recycling it...not to mention eating it.
    Sheesh!

I do realize that part of the problem is that I have yet to get into a groove. I realized that if I make a huge dinner on Sunday (when I have time), it can last Monday through Wednesday even and then I don't have to do anything but reheat.  Also, it is warm-ish so there are a lot of bananas, zucchinis and tomatoes that are suddenly going bad and have to be baked, mashed or cooked into a bread or a sauce or a cookie and then frozen for later. I will have this down to a science by winter.

I also realize that it is Coen's birthday weekend and also three school events to which I have to bring food in the next seven days. That will not always be the case, of course.

I'm sick of food.  But alas, dinner time will come and I will eat again.    As a matter of fact, I'll sign off now to have a snack.  And I'm telling you all about it. I'll think neither positively or negatively...just blogitively.

Going over

Well, I did my grocery shopping today and it came to $93.08.  Now, obviously that is almost $20.00 more than I'm supposed to be spending on my groceries BUT... besides this week's meals, I also had to shop for Coen's TWO birthday parties, an all school picnic (potluck), an all school meeting (bring a dish), and family coming over for dinner on Sunday.  Oh and it was our turn this week to contribute to Coen's school snack.

So subtract $5.00 for two cantaloupes for school.
Subtract $11.00 for three cases of soda for Coen's family birthday party Sunday.
Subtract $9.00 for the grilling stuff I would not have otherwise bought for the family coming over

That brings my total to $68.08.  So there.

 They are re-organizing and re-doing the entire pick-n-save on State Street in Wauwatosa.  I used to be able to whip through that store and get my groceries got in 30 minutes flat.  Now, with my new, calculator, grocery store savings flyer and organized list system, it is taking me an hour to shop.  And today! Today, the honey was in the soap aisle, the bread was in the cheese aisle, the tomato sauce was in the boxed food aisle and the baking supplies were in the cereal aisle!  It was like a scavenger hunt trying to get my groceries.  It took me almost an hour and a half!  But I was backtracking and hunting and laughing and one of the Pick-n-Save employees told me I had the right attitude.  I should hope so!