Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder



No, I wasn’t kidnapped by Aliens!

I’m still here!  Although I’ve been absent from the blogging world for a few months, I’ve been present in the physical world (aka “offline”) all along; no alien abduction stories here folks!  Well…there is kind of an alien in this story, but this one’s more like one of those symbionts in that book/movie “The Host”*.

It’s not a real alien….

It’s

 

A

 

Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

homemade pregnancy announcement, thanks to this lady (and Pinterest) for inspiration

 

We’re very happy, but I personally would be a lot happier if I hadn’t spent the last four months with my head in very close proximity to the toilet!  I’m well into the second trimester and thankfully the puking is wearing off.  Note, I said “wearing off”, not “gone completely”.   Is it possible to be allergic to your own baby?  This is definitely worse than the other two**.

 I now have complete sympathy for Princess Kate (love her!).  Not that I didn’t before, but now we’re sisters in sickness!  I wasn’t hospitalized, but there were days there when I hadn’t kept anything solid down in a week and I was too sick to get out of bed to feed the munchkins (don't worry, they know where we keep the snacks, they were not in any danger of starvation!  Scurvy maybe, but not starvation!).  On those days, the thought of being in hospital actually sounded good, but we have really high deductibles on our health insurance and the nearest hospital is a death trap (not literally, it just a small regional medical center and doesn’t come highly recommended), so I sucked it up and got the hubs to stock up on Ensure for me and lots of microwaveable food for him and the munchkins and we hunkered down. 

We all survived and I eventually at my first doctor appointment at 8 weeks I asked for medication.   Usually I don’t even like to take Tylenol or paint my toenails when I’m preggers and there I was begging for evil pharmaceuticals!  Yep, I was pretty desperate.  Please don’t judge (or if you do, please keep it to yourself)! 

So here I am back online and feeling (sorta) fine and mostly back to my usual “saving green by going green” self.   This isn’t my first rodeo, but I do want to try to be more greenie with this new munchkin (didn't have much time for that with the first two when they were tiny), so I’ll share those new things and anything relevant to the bogogreenio lifestyle.

Cheerio!

 

*haven’t seen it yet, but the book was surprisingly good

**which reinforces my husband’s theory that this one’s a boy – I was sick with each of the girls, but most days I could function normally except for occasionally dashing off to go hurl in the nearest  bathroom/ trash can/random parking lot and on one memorable occasion reaching over to a plastic bag on the frontseat while driving at 55 mph on the Expressway...fun times!

Feeding Princess Fussy Pants

As a former fussy eater and Princess Fussy pants of yore, I totally get where Munchkin #1 is coming from in her food choices.  However, as a concerned parent and the person responsible for making sure she doesn’t starve to death, her pickiness definitely makes mealtimes a challenge. 

  Food According to Princess Fussy Pants

1.       Don’t eat anything green, especially broccoli (it’s a small tree ya know!) – exception is green m&ms

2.       All fruits must come out of a can or be pre-peeled by your lady in waiting (aka mommy)

3.       Anything in a cute cartoon-ish shape or that comes in unnatural colors is probably good, but the regular shape/color version is to be avoided (even if it tastes the same)

4.       Burgers are OK, but must not have anything green on it and no toppings except ketchup

5.       Hot dogs, see #4

6.       Cheese makes everything better (except broccoli, see #1)

7.       Above all, anything that is canned or comes pre-made out of a box is superior to homemade

8.       Could probably live for weeks on chocolate milk and chocolate cereal

9.       Reserve the right to change your mind at the drop of a hat – example the recent declaration that chicken nuggets are off the list of acceptable foods

OK to eat	May as well be worms on the plate
Princess shape pasta	Regular spaghetti
Macaroni cheese from a box	Homemade pasta bake
Chef Boyardee anything	Homemade lasagna
Scooby-Doo soup	Chicken soup
Fruit Loops	Cheerios
Goghurt or Danimals	Fruit yoghurt
Fish sticks	Chicken nuggets

 

Good Intentions

 I started out with good intentions.  Honestly I did!  Somewhere along the way we discovered sugary cereals (stupid TV commercials) and chocolate milk (her PEDIATRICIAN suggested this as a way to entice her to drink milk and now she’s hooked).  I was working a demanding new job with two kids under 3 and no support network (we relocated to a new state a few months before munchkin #2 came along), so I was pretty much on my own with a fussy toddler and a baby that didn’t like to sleep.  Sometimes you just have to do what works and figure it out later.  And yes, I'm aware of those saintly moms out there who will declare that their kids "don’t even know what candy tastes like”. Well, they don’t have to live with this little strong-willed whirlwind of emotion and I do, so I don’t think I have to live up to the same standards.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, well the road to sugar dependence and tooth decay is paved with a sleep deprivation and a 2-year old who wanted to rule the roost. 

Things are much better now since I’m not working (hooray!).   I had an epiphany moment last year over her dental bills (evil pediatric dentist saw us coming and she had a huge amount of what I now consider unnecessary treatment on baby teeth.   His name is Dr. Edward Perdue and if you’re in Nashville, don’t send your kids to him whatever you do!) and cut a lot of sugar out of her diet. Along with making some sneaky switch OUTS and reducing sugary snacks and cereals, I’ve sneaked some good things IN.  Or at least, I’m hoping they’re good.  It’s hard to know sometimes because there’s always some new “scientific” study coming out with the latest nutritional advice that contradicts the last study.

 

Sneaky Switch-INS

I’ve been sneaking veggies into every kind of sauce I can think of (grated carrots in spaghetti sauce, green peppers in barbecue chicken, broccoli in chicken parmesan) and making a lot of snack food at home like granola bars and cookies - to which I do sneaky things like use whole wheat flour or honey instead of sugar.  It’s an everyday battle, but I think I’m winning most days; so far she hasn’t starved and she’s even gained a little weight!  Success! 

 

Are you raising a Princess or Prince Fussy Pants? I'd love to hear some of your tricks for warding off starvation!

New Year's Resolutions (Quickie Post)

Hey there and Happy New Year!  Everyone we made it, we’re still here and it’s 2013.  I actually wasn’t totally convinced we’d get here without some giant cataclysm befalling the planet (stupid History Channel!  Must. Stop. Watching. Armageddon shows!!!), so, major PHEW!!!

I decided that occasionally I’m going to throw in some “quickie posts” that don’t take me a whole week to write/edit/find pictures and eventually post.  This here one is the first!  Here I goooooo!

New Year’s Resolutions: I don’t do them.  So there!  I just don’t like New Year – it’s like the death of Christmas and a reminder that we’re all another year older.  I can’t get excited about that.  I was asleep at midnight on 1/1/13 and it’s been that way for at least the last 7 years.   The way I look at, I'm saving planet earth from plastic party hats, streamers and fireworks.  I'm doing the world a favor.  You're welcome mother nature!

 

No resolutions here.  Sorry for the disappointment folks.

The end

'Twas the Season...for Adding a Boatload o Plastic Junk to the Local Landfill

Ding dong, ding dong, Christmas Bells have been ringing and all over the world excited little people woke up on Christmas morning to a world of new stuff that they don’t need and might not even want.  It’s tough putting it into words because I love Christmas, but in your heart you know it too…our children are spoiled and we parents are being blackmailed into buying tons of cr@p to keep the “magic of Christmas” alive.  Yeah, we all know it’s fake, but we buy into it anyway.  Gah!  Well played evil marketing genius!

We started down this road years ago when Munchkin #1 was a wee babbie and now we’re stuck with it.  I am aware that we are being conned, but I am a well-informed sucker and behind the scenes I am doing my best to bring the spirit of BOGOGreenio-ism to the holidays.

 Concern #1: Holiday overspending – check, I addressed this in my post last week called “I'm Dreaming of a Cheap Christmas”

Concern #2: All the new plastic

NEW Plastic makes me feel sad

 

Every year my wish to not introduce unnecessary new plastic into the world rages against my desire to not be a Grinch at Christmas….usually the Not-Grinchy momma wins and our house becomes home to new Barbies and My Little Ponies galore whose eventual future is unknown, but probably (years from now) will end up their lives in a landfill.   It actually hurts my heart to think of a poor beautiful Barbie being buried with the other trash, but that must be what happens in the end since I’m fairly certain you can’t recycle a Barbie (mixed plastic).



Where DO all the old Barbies go??  "Retirement Home Barbie" enjoys sharing a cup
of tea and a chat with "Older Lady Barbie"

The best I can do is to recycle the packaging as much as possible and eventually try to find a new home for the toys once the munchkins have outgrown them.

Post Christmas Recycling a.       BAD: the plastic “windows” have to go into the trash – boooooo! b.      BAD-ISH: regular wrapping paper cannot be composted (because the ink may be toxic – whatttttt????) so try and  save it to reuse (if not torn to shreds) or use compostable paper* c.       BETTER: boxes are usually cardboard and therefore recyclable once the plastic windows have been peeled off (not too hard to do) d.      BEST:  gift bags, gift boxes and tissue paper are all saved for reuse

In conclusion: if you want your kids to believe in Santa (and really, would Christmas be the same without him?), you have to buy a certain amount of plastic junk…I mean toys, but do your best to not spend a gazillion dollars, try to look for toys with less packaging and reuse or recycle what you can.  Sometimes doing your best is the best you can do J

 

 

Happy Holidays y’all!

 

 

 

 

 

* sadly, compostable wrapping paper is not that easy to find, but here’s a source in Germany

I'm Dreaming of a Cheap Christmas!

I really love Christmas, seriously it’s the only good thing that winter has got going for it in my opinion.  I secretly suspect that Christmas was invented to give us something to do during the long, dark, cold winter.  If not for Christmas, we’d go bonkers shut up inside for 3 months with our nearest and dearest!

I love Christmas trees, decorating, baking, singing carols, spending time with friends and family.  However, I don’t love spending a bajillion dollars on worthless cr@p for said friends and family - this is even more real this year since we're supposed to be saving up for a new(er) car. 

I’d like to keep it simple and only buy gifts for my own kids, plus my nieces and the kid from the Angel Tree.  In my thrifty fantasy it would end there, but for some reason, I feel obliged to give gifts to 18 little monsters delightful 2nd grade classmates, plus one teacher and probably 25 or so girl scouts.  I think my list ends there because we have the mixed blessing of having not much close family, but I’ve seen “neighbor gifts” on Pinterest…thankfully no-one does that on my street (or maybe they do, but they just don’t include us?).  I have a feeling I’m supposed to give something to the mail lady and the person who delivers the newspaper, but I’ve never got into that.  Holy fat guy in a red suit!  Where does it end???

Bah humbug! 

Here are some of my little ways of keeping it real (aka cheap) at Christmas time:

T  Used credit card reward points to get a FREE $100 gift card to Toys R US…major score!

T  Shopped for everything on my list in one day at one "offline" store

o   I’ve done online shopping in other years, but shipping costs were extortionate

o   You can save money by checking online and shopping for different items at different stores, but since we’re so far away from the stores and I only had one morning “sans munchkins” I went all "Supermarket Sweep" and got it all in one place

T  Creatively shopped sale items from the Dear Santa lists – the munchkins are used to making BIG lists and only getting a couple of items*

o   BOGO on My Little Ponies (oh yeah!)

o   Jake and the Neverland Pirates $10 off (now, we’re talkin’!)

o   Popstar Barbies marked down (wooh!)

T  Used a printable coupon for 15% off the only item that wasn’t on sale – Munchkin #1’s Easy Bake Oven

T  Spent some of the grandparent Christmas check to supplement the gift buying

T  I added everything up as I went along and wrote it down

o   so glad I did this because the girl at the checkout was a bit clueless and charged me twice for the most expensive thing in the cart PLUS she didn’t ring up the coupon

o   twenty minutes and a manager’s assistance later, we got it straightened out and they refunded my card - gah!  Thank goodness I was on my own!

o   If I hadn’t known how much it should have been, all my hard work would have been for naught and I would have paid EIGHTY-THREE DOLLARS too much

T  Sent stickers and stamps to Hearts Of Hope instead of buying gifts for all the Girl Scouts

T  Handmade gifts for nieces, school friends and teacher

o   Less candy for the kiddos and less $$ spent for me since all I had to buy was a couple of pieces of felt

 

pattern from funkyfriendsfactory.com

pattern from funkyfriendsfactory.com

 

used my Dollar Tree cookie cutters as templates ;)

Tutorial for this lovely felt gingerbread house is here

T  Don’t buy gifts for people who don’t need anything ie. me and my hubs are not getting anything this year (double bah humbug!)

 All I have to do now is wrap all of the booty from Toys R Us and try not to lose sleep over how much new plastic we've brought into our home…bleh! 

 

BOGOGreenio Tip: Open all of the toys before you wrap them and snip all those flim-flammin’ cable ties and what nots!  It’s a pain in the @$$, but it will be worth it come Christmas morning! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Santa only has so much room on the sleigh, am I right?

Bills - Back To Basics

I’ve been sort of obsessed recently with the idea of getting a “new” car.  The munchkins and I love our little Ford Focus “Fifi” (note: my husband does not share in the love, he drives a gas guzzling behemoth F150 – ‘nuff said), she’s been part of our daily lives for the past nine years and she’s PAID OFF.  Admittedly she’s not the most practical car for a growing family, she has a manual transmission, only three doors and nothing is electric.  In hindsight, the lack of doors was a mistake, but I was a young newlywed and the ticking of my biological clock was only a whisper at that point.  Getting a toddler in and out of the back seat with a nine months pregnant belly did prove a bit of a challenge, but I resisted the urge to trade her for a minivan and valiantly carried on (it’s a British thing – stiff upper lip an’ all)!

munchkin #1 on the 1st day of Kindergarden - Fifi has been there for lots of important moments

Now the call of the minivan has hit me again and this time it’s harder to resist since Fifi is definitely past her prime and there are all sorts of rumblings and vibrations when she starts up on cold mornings.  All my friends have minivans (peer pressure)…imagine what I could do with a minivan (fit bikes in there, half the girl scout troop, any relatives that come to visit etc etc)…what if we have another….wait, let’s not go THERE right  now!!  But you get what I mean, I neeeeeeed a minivan or at least something with more doors.

sexy minivan of my dreams! Yes, there IS something wrong with me!!!

 

With me at home, there really isn’t enough spare cash at the end of the month to afford a car payment so I’ve had to come up with some creative ways to trim expenses out of our budget.  We’re going (dun,dun,dunnnnnnn!) Back To Basics!

GONE

Salon visits – savings approx $75/month on hair + $5 in gas to get to the salon

Sunday newspaper delivery – savings approx $12/month

Cable in the living room – savings approx $10/month

 

ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

Netflix movies by mail – savings approx $10/month

Landline – savings approx $40/month

 

COMBINED

Cell phones – combined both phones on a family plan and came off my pay-as-you-go plan.  This was more a switcharoo than an actual dollar saving, but doing this will allow us to cancel the land line since I now have unlimited calling.*

TOTAL MONTHLY SAVINGS

$152/month – wowzas!!!

 

I plan on saving this money to pay off our student loans two years early next year and then I'll set up an automatic deposit into our savings account in the amount we were paying to those loans…BAM over $300 per month!  My plan is to save up a big wodge of cash towards a down payment on a newer vehicle (hopefully something with more mpgs than a tractor!) of some sort at some point in the next two years.

I thought we lived pretty frugally before I started making all these changes so I’m amazed how much we've been able to cut out of the budget!  Now, what else can we cancel/reduce/cut off...?

 

What “luxuries” have you been able to cut from your budget and what made you do it? 

 

* I resisted the sales lady’s attempt to get me to add a “free” i-phone 4 and stuck with my old and faithful dumb phone and NO CONTRACT - yay me!!

 

Blonde Ambition

I’ve been suffering from Blogger’s block recently…mostly because all my spare time and energy has been going into crafting and trying to keep my house tidy.

 The crafting has been going quite well (see evidence ), but as for the keeping things tidy we all know that I’m never going to have everything in the right place in my house for longer than 7 seconds with the munchkins around.   Undaunted*, I continue to do my best to keep up! 

isn't this fun? You can make them at http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk

 

Anyhoo, back on topic…what was I talking about?

Oh yes, BOGOGreenio beauty and specifically; beautiful hair.

The BOGOGreenio Guide To (Not So) Natural Beauty

The obvious way to be cheap, green and beautiful would be to spend NO MONEY on beauty products and just be happily naturally beautiful.  Unfortunately I’m not quite that hippy dippy and while I do rather lean towards the natural beauty end of the spectrum, I have a few beauty guilty pleasures that I can rationalize into fitting the BOGOGreenio lifestyle. 

Hair is numero uno!

OK, so my hair is one area that’s neither totally cheap nor environmentally friendly as I would like because I (gasp) haven’t been a natural blonde since I was about 13!  So there you have it, my guilty secret is out.

Here’s how I fit blonde into the budget and the philosophy of BOGOGreenio. 

1.       After a 3-year relationship, I recently broke up with my Aveda stylist Tiffany.  It wasn’t her it was me.  Or rather it was me not wanting to spend $100 every 6 weeks.  Tiffany I misssssss youuuuuuuu!  L   One day (when I have a paying job), I’ll come back!

a.       I’ve been coloring my own hair (even bigger gasp) and I’m not unhappy with how it looks although it is currently a tad darker than I’d like.

                                                               i.      I’m proceeding very cautiously with this since I had a home hair adventure go badly wrong on me about 9 years ago and I’ve been wary of it ever since, but my good friend Susan and this lady got me back on track.

                                                             ii.      I’ve been using Loral Feria from Sally’s Beauty Supply.  I only need ¼ of the recommended amount so the bottles I bought will last for quite a long time – total investment about $13.  Score on the BOGO side, but sadly laden with chemicals so a bit of a fail on the GREENIO end of things** L  I am only using a smidgen each time though so hopefully Mother Earth will forgive me!!

b.       I even tried cutting my own hair (using this method) (world’s biggest ever gasp!).  Surprisingly it turned out well. Although it probably helps that my hair is long and therefore cut is not so noticeable.

can you tell?? Compare with my profile picture!

 

2.       I don’t use a lot of products

a.       I invested in a 1 liter bottle of Aveda color correct shampoo about 18 months ago and got free shipping AND some free travel–size products .  There's still about 1/4 of a bottle left – it helps that I don’t have a lot of hair (well, I do, but it’s baby fine hair) , but sometimes less is more ladies!

b.      I don’t shampoo every day

c.       I  put my hair in a bun and let it air dry for naturally wavy locks (a la sock bun) which saves on electricity and heat damage to my hair

Voila!  BOGOGreenio hair in a nutshell.  Stay tuned for more stuff like this coming to a blog near you soon!

 

*undaunted except for the occasional mommy melt down when I just have to scream at the top of my lungs that they are all selfish and don’t love me because if they did they’d pick up their own socks!

** I couldn’t find the exact brand on the goodguide.com, but the highest rating for any Feria product is 5.2 out of 10…NOT GOOD! 



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