I have been honored this weekend to be featured on two other blogs! Amanda at Serenity Now featured my post about The Shape of a Mother and Sassy Sites featured my tips for achieving a “fake” clean house in about 10 minutes. Please pay a visit to these blogs, both are full of great ideas for moms!
Stuffed Crabs
Sorry to disappoint, but this is not a recipe. It’s the next FREE Christmas gift in my How Many Christmas Gifts Can I Make for the Kids Without Spending Any Money? challenge to myself.
This time I cheated. Kind of. My moth-in-law graciously let me go through the piles of clothes she was getting ready to donate to Goodwill and snag a few (dozen) items to use as fabric.
Like this sweater. I felt REALLY bad cutting this, it was a very nice name-brand sweater from an expensive store, but it didn’t fit anyone in our family, so I guess re-purposing it is the next best thing.
Sorry for the hazy pics, we desperately need a new camera!
I have been wanting to make some steamed crab toys for a while. We are originally from Baltimore and steamed crabs are just part of our culture. I thought it would be adorable to make some for our kids.
I drew a template for myself on card stock. (Then I re-drew the claw about 5 more times until I finally got it right.)
You can download the PDF pattern at the top of my sidebar.
I cut out the pieces and used them as a guide to cut fabric from the sleeves of the sweater.
(See I felt so guilty that I could only bring myself to use the sleeves.)
Pieced together:
I used a contrasting thread (gold because the Maryland colors are red, yellow, and black) and stitched around each piece to prevent it from unraveling.
I also used polyfil to stuff the claws
Then I sewed the pieces to the shell and stuffed it with more polyfil. I added black eyes with a fabric marker in keeping with the Maryland colors.
I made two of them (one for each kiddo) and put them in a basket lined with newspaper with a mallet we had lying around.
I was tempted to make more just to fill up the basket, but how many pretend steamed crabs does a kid really need?
I am in love with them.
And even more in love with the fact that they were free.
These crab toys sell for $9 each, so that adds another $18 to my total savings. (They are pretty stinking adorable though, and make me want to do a blue crab version)
That brings my total savings up to $194!
If you get a minute, check out my other no-cost gifts:
How To Earn a Free Trip To Disney World
Nicholas’ first trip to Disney, 2008
Once again, I freely admit to being cheap. Like, ridiculously cheap, but I prefer to look at it as being a “good steward of our finances.”
A little back story: We used to live in Florida and have been trying to get back for a visit ever since Abby was born, but money and Eddie’s lack of extra vacation time after taking paternity leave have kept us from going. I am making it my goal to get down there by this time next year spending as little money as humanly possible.
First sign up for a Disney Rewards Visa card. This is the only credit card we use. Use it instead of your ATM card for all of your everyday purchases and pay off the balance at the end of the month. This way you won’t rack up credit card debt and you will earn Disney Dollars. You earn $1 for every $100 you spend normally, but they run deals periodically where you can quadruple your points during certain weeks, etc. Just pay attention to those little fliers they send you in the mail.
In less than 2 years we’ve earned almost 300 Disney dollars, which is enough to pay for a day at the Magic Kingdom for our family. We have friends who have earned A LOT more than that. (I think they make their car payment and mortgage payment on the card every month and then just pay off the balance) You also get discounted merchandise at the Disney store. The more you earn the better because when you cash in your points they send you a gift card that you can use on anything from tickets to food in Disney World.
Next, sign up for the Holiday Inn’s Priority Club Rewards program. Why Holiday Inn? First, because there is a Holiday Inn located in Downtown Disney. Second there will also be Holiday Inns and even better Holiday Inn Expresses (more important because they will cost us less points), along the way for us to stop as we drive (yes, drive it’s way cheaper than buying four plane tickets and we won’t have to pay for a rental car once we get to Florida) from Pennsylvania to Orlando. Third, because we can earn lots of extra points with the way that their program is set up. Finally, the hotel in Orlando allows kids under 12 to eat for free.
Eddie signed up for the Holiday Inn rewards before this business trip and is racking up points that we don’t have to pay for because his company is paying for the hotels he is staying in while traveling for work. We can also earn points by doing our online shopping through their virtual “mall.” (I gave our family members the log-in information as well to help us earn points since my mom and grandmom are avid online shoppers and don’t mind helping.) If we pay for those online purchases with the Disney Visa we earn more Disney Dollars as well as hotel points. Double Whammy!
And Finally, here is some more stuff you should know about Disney World:
1. They don’t care if you bring your own food into the parks. I wouldn’t pack a picnic or anything, but their policy is very loose.
2. You can purchase special event tickets to things like the Not So Scary Halloween Party and Very Merry Christmas Party for about $50 (normal adult price for the Magic Kingdom is $82) and get special limited access to the Magic Kingdom during those events. That means cheaper admission, no lines, and special events like parades, trick or treating, and snow and free hot chocolate on main street. We have been to both of these events and highly recommend either one.
3. Downtown Disney has a free 3,000 square foot play area with Legos and huge Lego statues.
4. There is an entire website, MouseSavers.com, dedicated to sharing good deals at Disney World.
5. Some Disney area restaurants like Tod English’s Bluezoo and the House of Blues participate in Restaurant.com. When restaurant.com runs their frequent 80% off sales you can get a $25 gift certificate for $2.
There you have it. You totally can take your family to Disney World without spending tons of money just by making your daily purchases work a little harder for you. And I intend to.
Disney World has given us some great family memories and I want to include Abby in the tradition.
I was not compensated by Disney or the Holiday Inn, just trying to spread the love 🙂
My Nervous Breakdown
It was bound to happen eventually. Eddie is scheduled to come back for his first “visit” home in two or three days. (He is traveling for work for the next three months, but is able to come home for a few days periodically.) Unfortunately I did not quite make it through this first three weeks without him before going into crazy-lady-with-hormones-worse-than-when-I-was-nine-months-pregnant-melt-down mode. It has been extremely stressful trying to file all the paperwork for the dissolution of my business, work several evenings a week, schedule Nicholas’ appointments for play therapy, occupational therapy, special ed teachers, preschool orientations and meet the teacher days, doctor’s appointments, and do all of the normal day-to-day stuff that Eddie usually helps me with.
This morning I might have cried hysterically because my daughter misplaced her sippy cup full of juice. I might have turned off the tv and forced Nichols to search frantically with me while he was crying tears of his own because he felt like he was being punished. (When he came back to me crying and holding a plastic soda bottle from our toy kitchen and said “Here mommy, I found a drink for you.” I realized I was being slightly ridiculous and let him go back to watching Toy Story.) I might have called Eddie screaming and crying about how not finding the sippy cup was going to lead to juice stains on the furniture, cockroaches, and people in Hazmat suits taping off our house as a contaminated area while clouds of green smoke came out of the chimney.
He might have tried to comfort me by telling me that he had scheduled a cleaning lady to come give us an estimate this morning so I wouldn’t have to be so overwhelmed. (Believe me, I know, that’s why I married him.) I might have responded to that by screaming “WHAT?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!!!” I might have told him that I could not possibly let a woman who cleans houses for a living see our house in its current state of disarray. I might have yelled and screamed and cried until he offered to try to reschedule the appointment so that I would have time to clean for the cleaning lady.
I might have also yelled at my son and forced him to leave my bedroom because he moved the blanket on my bed about six inches after I told him not to touch it because I had placed it a certain way to cover a stain on the comforter since I can not possibly have the cleaning lady think that we are messy when she does come. I might have also told him it was just too bad that his toy train went under the hutch in the dining room and I guessed Thomas was gone for good. I might have made my daughter go back in her crib only an hour after she woke up and let her cry while I frantically threw boxes (from my new dinnerware that arrived yesterday) into the garage and the suitcase from the kids’ weekend with their grandparents that was still siting on the kitchen table into my closet.
I might have done those things this morning. Maybe. But if I did those things I know it would have been ridiculous because of all these things I have to be thankful for:
1. My husband is only gone because he has a well-paying job that supports our family.
2. We are getting a cleaning lady
3. We have had lots of help these past few weeks from family and friends
4. I got to have some time to myself this weekend
5. We are all healthy
6. The house is only messy because we have a lot of stuff (toys, clothes, food, etc.)
7. Abby slept through the night last night
8. We are making slow but steady progress on the potty training front
9. The medical debt that was caused by a mistake with Abby’s insurance is finally paid off
10. The team Eddie is working with put in LOTS of overtime over the past few weeks specifically so that he will be able to make it home on Thursday for our anniversary. It’s looking promising.
So instead of wallowing in completely unwarranted self-pity I am going to try to just wait patiently because in a few hours my grandmother will be here and tomorrow one of my dearest old friends is coming to help and Thursday I might just get to finally see my husband again.
I Heart Thrift Stores
Anyone who doesn’t regularly shop at thrift stores is dumb. There, I said it. If you like throwing away money, be my guest. I do not. I am extremely frugal and probably would still be a tightwad even if I had millions of dollars burning a hole in my pocket.
Here’s why:
These are some of the items I’ve picked up over the past week or so at ReSource York and Goodwill
I paid a grand total of $25 for this stuff. That’s actually a little steep for me (I told you I’m cheap.) but still not bad considering what it’s worth. One of my favorite things to do is look up what stuff I got at thrift stores and yard sales is worth, it might be a sad hobby but I enjoy it nonetheless.
The wooden train was $8 at Goodwill and the little wooden toolbox was $2. I bought them to give to Nicholas for Gotcha Day next month. (the day we celebrate the anniversary of his adoption) The train is hand-crafted, brand new, and has an artisan’s initials on the bottom. When I looked up wooden pull trains I found this one listed for $175! I had a hard time pricing wooden tool boxes without tools, so I’m estimating a $10 value for that.
I paid $10 for my antiqued white mirror at ReSource. It’s very heavy, in perfect condition and is going to look awesome in our downstairs powder room over the pedestal sink I bought from Craigslist. Overstock.com has this one on sale for $168.
The woven balls were $1 each at Goodwill. They are each a decent size. It was on my projects to try list to attempt making some of these, but since they were only a dollar I just bought them. Cute for fall decorating and super trendy right now, even Target sells these balls for substantially more than that. The regular price for two mini woven balls at Target is $16, although they are on sale right now. Hmmm…$11 on sale for two miniatures ones or $2 for two full-sized. Hard choice.
I got my white ceramic soup tureen for $3. Granted, it did not come with a lid (That’s ok I plan to use it for decoration anyway since I already have a white ceramic tureen, also from Goodwill, that came with a ladle and a lid) but considering that Williams-Sonoma sells this tureen for $139 I still think it’s a pretty awesome deal.
That means I got over $500 worth of stuff for $25 this week. I don’t know why anyone would pay over $500 for that dinky little pile of stuff, but apparently people do. Not me, though.
Thank you, thrift stores!
7 Ways to Fake a Clean House
Are you ready to fake it? (A clean house, that is…)
My in-laws have taken the kids for the weekend!!! Woo-hoo. I am excited to get some projects done, spend this evening with friends, and give the house the thorough cleaning it so desperately needs.
I should preface this by saying that I used to be a clean freak. The first year we got married Edie and I would spend about 3 hours every Sunday afternoon cleaning the house from top to bottom, even if it didn’t need it. Windows, baseboards, everything. Now that we are parents we do not have the luxury of time to do those types of cleanings. (Plus we realize they were a little overboard.) Sadly, I can no longer live up to my old standard of clean most of the time.
As I was cleaning the kitchen for real this morning I laughed to myself about all of the times I have had to “fake clean” my house. Every week since January Nicholas has had two Early Intervention appointments in our home. I would always do a quick fake-out before one of his teachers came over. I also usually do it if we are having a last-minute play date or if we decide to invite friends over to watch a movie or play board games after the kids go to sleep.
So here are my tips for achieving a “fake clean” house in about 10 minutes:
You will need these:
I am not endorsing any of these particular brands, they just happen to be brands we have in our home.
1. Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, but don’t turn it on if someone is coming over soon- it’s noisy and having a clean sink and no running dishwasher gives the impression that you keep your sink clean (which I am totally guilty of not doing, like, AT ALL)
2. Wipe down the counters in the kitchen and main bathroom with baby wipes. Baby wipes are cheaper than disinfecting wipes like Lysol and Clorox and they don’t leave a chemical smell that says “I just cleaned up because you were coming over” (of course my house always smells like diapers anyway, so I doubt anyone would be able to tell the difference)
3. Squirt toothpaste in the toilet and swirl it around with the toilet brush. I know this sounds bizarre, but toothpaste is made for cleaning the enamel on your teeth and your porcelain toilet isn’t that much different. Plus, again it does not leave a chemical smell, just the impression that you keep your bathroom clean like that all the time. (which of course I totally do. um, not.)
4. Throw any other clutter that is in the bathroom (potty chair, step stool, bath toys, etc) into the tub and pull the shower curtain closed
5. Close all of the bedroom doors.
6. Throw the toys that have scattered all over the living room into a plastic bin.
7. Spray Febreze or Oust.
If I have time I also wipe down the bathroom mirror and the living room window. If I have time. I usually do not.
Mostly it just makes me feel better to give the impression that I am capable of keeping the house clean while two toddlers are living in it. I’m not. But at least by giving the illusion of a clean house my son’s teachers and therapists won’t be able to blame his issues on his environment (not that they would) and our friends don’t have to see the clutter and curdled milk in sippy cups that have become our reality.
The Shape of a Mother
Before I got pregnant I was thin. I was in good shape. I had perky boobs.
Yep. This was me:
That was the day before we got married. And this was me, 2 years later, four months pregnant (and very nauseated):
and then at some point in the pregnancy, I turned into a “balloon”…
term used with heavy sarcasm in response to a media article.
Eight months pregnant at my baby shower (that’s my mom behind me)
I also find it interesting that although these pictures were only taken 4 months apart, I look about 10 years older. Guess I was maturing. (stop laughing.)
I also find it interesting that although these pictures were only taken 4 months apart, I look about 10 years older. Guess I was maturing. (stop laughing.)
and much to my dismay, the balloon never deflated. No matter what I did.
Eat healthier, nope.
Weight Watchers, nope.
Richard Simmons, nope.
Pilates, nope.
Zumba, nope.
Got a CT scan and blood work done to check my thyroid level and blood sugar.
They’re normal.
Talked to the doctor. He said I won’t be able to lose weight until I can get more sleep and have less stress in my life.
Ha! That’s hilarious, doc. Guess that’s why there is such a thing as “mom jeans.” Because most moms have bodies like my new one.
It’s a pretty average body, I guess, but for a long time, I’ve felt fat.
I think that’s weird, because I know if I saw someone my size (which is a size 10 or 12) on the street I would not think “Oh, my. That lady is FAT!”
But when you have spent a lifetime in a body like my old one, this new one feels exactly that.
If I wouldn’t think it about a stranger on the street, why do I think it when I look in the mirror? I don’t like doing that.
And I don’t like seeing old friends for the first time in a while and imagining them thinking, “She’s really let herself go.”
And I don’t like thinking that our new friends probably just assume that I’m lazy and overeat.
Because I’m not. And I don’t. And they probably aren’t even thinking that anyway. And it annoys me. Because I never thought that my body image and my self-image were that intertwined. That I was that shallow.
And articles like this one in the media don’t help. Don’t bother clicking on it, I shall summarize:
They called a mother of 4 who weighed 165 a “blimp” and a “balloon” and said if she didn’t drop 40 pounds quickly, she was at serious risk for a fatal heart attack.
Because don’t you know that we are all supposed to weigh 125 pounds? (For the record, I weighed 138 pounds in my “before” pictures and that light blue dress is a size 4.)
Yeah, well. All I know is that I weigh about the same as the woman in that article in every one of those post-baby pictures and my doctor isn’t concerned. And my husband still thinks I’m attractive.
So why do I care? Don’t know, but I do.
Although recently I did find a little bit of encouragement in the media.
It’s a website called The Shape of a Mother and it celebrates the imperfections that bearing children leaves on the female body.
And there is also a website called Operation Beautiful (thanks for sharing Mary Joy!) which is a movement to help women transform their body image and see themselves as beautiful. Which is important.
Because going from this:
to this
is a lot harder than it seems.
*Note: The Shape of a Mother does contain nudity. I do not consider it to be in a pornographic sense, but rather a form of artistic expression. Consider yourself warned. I am not recommending it to anyone under the age of 18, or to men, or to anyone reading this post at work (and if you are, get back to work!) or to women who have not had children because it just might scare the living daylights out of you 😛
UPDATE: Apparently I am not the only woman with these body issues (duh!) but wouldn’t you know that Mary Joy over at Seeds of Encouragement Sewn With Grace tackled this very issue the day after I wrote this post. That’s Uncanny. I am adding the information that she provided about Operation Beautiful into the body of my post.
The Tallest Man
Today I miss my husband and our kids miss their daddy.
He’s away for the next three months or so, but I believe that he was sent on this trip to help us remember and appreciate all of the things he is to us….
Like a loving and committed husband
and a man who agreed to father a child he had not conceived
and does it SO well
the one who keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously
and uses his example to show his daughter what she deserves from a man
a man with a strong commitment to his family
and a stronger commitment to his faith
Abraham Lincoln said, “No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.” Eddie, you’re the tallest man I know.
We love you!
To read other encouraging stories visit Mary’s blog hop:
Temp-Tations
Yes, my husband is away for a few weeks, but get your mind out of the gutter.
I have been having a HORRIBLE time over the past week while Eddie is away, neither of the kids is sleeping well at all because their routine has been interrupted and Nicholas’ attachment and behavior issues are here with a vengeance. He also suffers from chronic constipation whenever his routine is interrupted. (Last year we had to take him to the ER because he started having colon spasms after Eddie & I took a weekend get away at the beach.)That combined with the “normal” routine of scheduling his OT, special ed, play therapy, preschool, and doctor’s appointments, plus I am going to be serving on the steering committee for mom n me again this year, I’m working a few nights a week and now have to take the kids with me…you get the idea.
Anyway, today I treated myself (because I thought I deserved it) and gave in to “Temp-tations.” (That’s the name of the product.) I do not have any affiliation with the company, I just really love their stuff.
I ordered new dinnerware! I got 2 of the above sets in black.
It was about time too, since we are still using our old, chipped, super-cheap Target dinnerware from college.
Temp-Tations is a line of affordable hand-painted stoneware that is oven, microwave, freezer, and dishwasher safe. I have a few other pieces already and LOVE them. It is only available from QVC, so a lot of people haven’t caught on yet. We have a QVC outlet not far from here and I have even found some pieces there at even better prices that I’ve given as gifts.
I’m not normally one to order products off the TV, but I do love my Temp-Tations.
You can see their whole line and place orders on the QVC website.
Just to give you an idea of how affordable it is, you can get this entire set for under $50:
There. The secret’s out. Now you can get some too. I can’t wait until my dinnerware comes next week! The black is going to look so chic in our new kitchen! 😀
Why didn’t anybody tell me it was EASY to make homemade jam?
This morning I woke up to two hungry kids and a problem, the blueberries were squishy. Let’s be real, I totally fed them Poptarts with actual blueberries on the side, it’s not like I was planning to attempt something homemade this morning.
But like I have said a hundred times, I am cheap, and I also lived with my Mommom for several years while I was in college. As a child of the Great Depression, she thought the worst sin in the world was to let food go to waste. Blueberries are expensive. (unless you pick your own, but we didn’t go blueberry picking this year.)They weren’t moldy or anything, just really too squishy to eat.
So I looked up a recipe for homemade jam. I do not come from a family that does any canning or jam-making of any kind, so I was shocked to discover this “recipe” via Google:
(I’m paraphrasing)
1. Mix 2/3 cup of sugar in for every 1 cup of berries.
2. Squish the berries & sugar together (I used a potato masher)
3. Cook it, stirring occasionally, until it looks like jam.
Seriously?! All I had to do is add sugar and cook it? Why didn’t anybody tell me this before? I am seeing a whole new world of jam-making open up before my very eyes.
For comparison, this is the list of ingredients for the Smucker’s strawberry fruit spread that was in my fridge:
strawberries, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, pectin, citric acid, grape juice concentrate, and natural flavors
um…or I could eliminate 6 (two being corn syrup & high fructose corn syrup)and just go with berries & sugar.
Now, I don’t know about that whole canning business, so for now, I am just using one old pasta sauce jar and only making small amounts (like 2 cups at a time)but that is plenty for our little family for the time being. Just be sure to refrigerate the jar after it cools and try to use it within a week or so if you aren’t doing the whole canning process.
It only took 10 minutes and I even did it with a baby on my hip and let her help me stir occasionally. (You know, just to be extra Walton-y)
Happy jam-making!
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