Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford
Here we are!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
May the road rise up to meet you.
We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with some friends, Irish food (corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, Irish soda bread, Irish cream cake) and Irish music (U2). Daniel had lots of fun at kindergarten because they have been seeing little green footprints in the week leading up to St. Patrick's Day. On the actual day, the class went on a hunt around school to find the leprechaun, but when they got back to their classroom, the room was "all messed up." Daniel said his heart was beating fast because he was just a little bit worried. The floor rug was turned crooked and the room was messy. There was a pot of gold chocolate coins waiting for them (but no leprechaun). Michael made sure to wear green and his luck that day was a rolling backpack that finally fell apart beyond use. His old backpack was in shambles and yet he refused a new one because of the sentimental feelings he had for it. Yay, he doesn't look like he has a bad mom anymore!
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Out of the Mouth of... Daniel
Tonight we saw that the neighbor boys were practicing their batting in the front yard. They finally got some wiffle balls instead of using baseballs! (The neighborhood was starting to get nervous... ) So Tim said something out loud like, "they got some wiffle balls." Then Daniel walked up to me and quietly asked if he could have some for his snack tonight. I asked, "some what?" He answered, "some waffle balls." Ha, leggo my eggo!
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Dear God, I am requesting a ponytail like I Dream of Jeannie...
...because it's going to take a lot of magic to clean my living room!
Do not be anxious about anything (like dust and Legos), but in everything...
...by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. (Did you see that one little request up there at the top?)
And the PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding (and 6 & 10 year old boys), will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Semi-Annual Walmart Shopping Trip
This might sound blasphemous to some of you, but I seriously do not like shopping at Walmart (gasp!). In fact, I go out of my way to avoid shopping there. If you remember from an earlier post, I calculated that my savings had to be at least $6 over what I would pay elsewhere for the same thing. And I am really starting to think that $6 is well spent elsewhere. What prompted me to shop somewhere I can't stand? I was taking a risk. You see, I had a shopping list that required things from a grocery store, fabric store, hardware store, office store and drug store. So I took a risk that Walmart might actually have these things in stock. I know they have shelves and price tags in the store for the things on my list, but the gamble here is whether or not they actually have the product. Besides, so many people rave about their savings and love of the store. I don't think the California stores are anything like the midwest stores. Someone told me the stores in the midwest are all clean and nice (kind of like our Targets) and not at all trashy and dirty like these.
It is mid-morning, the boys are in school, and I am BY MYSELF! This should be easy! First up, a USB drive for Michael's school project. The USB drives are located in a locked glass cabinet. The electronics counter is vacant, so I visit the photo counter. The guy walks to the aisle and says, "oh it is locked." Like I didn't tell him that when I said "Can someone please open a cabinet for me?" So he gets his keys and then realizes that he doesn't have the keys to that particular cabinet. He tells me to wait a moment while he finds the electronics guy, and then they both come back to unlock the cabinet. USB drive... check! Next up, some denim iron-on patches. Almost all my boys' jeans have holes in the knees. The patches will hold us through until shorts season. Yay, Walmart has the "other" denim color, but not the faded denim color. Just an empty hangar on the wall. Patches... half a check! Next up, Legos for a birthday gift. Do you know that Walmart does not sell Legos?!? At least, last week they did not. Seriously, no Legos?? Even the Walgreens down the block sells Legos!! Ugh! Next up, hair gel. I walked up and down the hair product aisle about 5 times. Where is the hair gel? Where are half the hair products for that matter? I asked the girl stocking the aisle (and blocking about 2/3's of all the product with her cart and not offering to move or even taking a hint for that matter) where all their hair products were. She said they were restructuring the layout and would have more in about two weeks. Seriously? No hair gel? In Walmart? Sigh... I am starting to really hate Walmart. Next up, some flour. YES! They have flour in stock! Next up, I look for an outlet plate. Score! 24 cents! Finally on the list, some Sudaphed... no score. Just an empty display.
So I still had to go to Target after all.
After I got home, I grabbed all the bags and just set them on the floor in my bedroom. It was lunch time and Daniel and I were hungry. After a while, Daniel said, "Mom, Mickey is chewing on something." I couldn't find anything so I told him it was probably something stuck on his paw. After a while longer, Daniel said again, "Mom, Mickey looks like he is trying to eat something, but I can't see anything." Mickey's snout was all white and pasty looking. He had white paste over his mouth, and his chest and paws were covered in something sticky. I went to the kitchen and the trash cans were all secure. I went to the boys' bedrooms and nothing was chewed up there (other than the pencil remnants from last week). I went to my bedroom. There on the floor was a chewed open white plastic Walmart bag. Beside that, there was the flour bag laying on its side with the front torn off and flour spilling out. Did anyone expect dogs to eat flour? Do I really need one more thing to clean up? Can I find a way to blame this on Walmart?
Sigh!
This might sound blasphemous to some of you, but I seriously do not like shopping at Walmart (gasp!). In fact, I go out of my way to avoid shopping there. If you remember from an earlier post, I calculated that my savings had to be at least $6 over what I would pay elsewhere for the same thing. And I am really starting to think that $6 is well spent elsewhere. What prompted me to shop somewhere I can't stand? I was taking a risk. You see, I had a shopping list that required things from a grocery store, fabric store, hardware store, office store and drug store. So I took a risk that Walmart might actually have these things in stock. I know they have shelves and price tags in the store for the things on my list, but the gamble here is whether or not they actually have the product. Besides, so many people rave about their savings and love of the store. I don't think the California stores are anything like the midwest stores. Someone told me the stores in the midwest are all clean and nice (kind of like our Targets) and not at all trashy and dirty like these.
It is mid-morning, the boys are in school, and I am BY MYSELF! This should be easy! First up, a USB drive for Michael's school project. The USB drives are located in a locked glass cabinet. The electronics counter is vacant, so I visit the photo counter. The guy walks to the aisle and says, "oh it is locked." Like I didn't tell him that when I said "Can someone please open a cabinet for me?" So he gets his keys and then realizes that he doesn't have the keys to that particular cabinet. He tells me to wait a moment while he finds the electronics guy, and then they both come back to unlock the cabinet. USB drive... check! Next up, some denim iron-on patches. Almost all my boys' jeans have holes in the knees. The patches will hold us through until shorts season. Yay, Walmart has the "other" denim color, but not the faded denim color. Just an empty hangar on the wall. Patches... half a check! Next up, Legos for a birthday gift. Do you know that Walmart does not sell Legos?!? At least, last week they did not. Seriously, no Legos?? Even the Walgreens down the block sells Legos!! Ugh! Next up, hair gel. I walked up and down the hair product aisle about 5 times. Where is the hair gel? Where are half the hair products for that matter? I asked the girl stocking the aisle (and blocking about 2/3's of all the product with her cart and not offering to move or even taking a hint for that matter) where all their hair products were. She said they were restructuring the layout and would have more in about two weeks. Seriously? No hair gel? In Walmart? Sigh... I am starting to really hate Walmart. Next up, some flour. YES! They have flour in stock! Next up, I look for an outlet plate. Score! 24 cents! Finally on the list, some Sudaphed... no score. Just an empty display.
So I still had to go to Target after all.
After I got home, I grabbed all the bags and just set them on the floor in my bedroom. It was lunch time and Daniel and I were hungry. After a while, Daniel said, "Mom, Mickey is chewing on something." I couldn't find anything so I told him it was probably something stuck on his paw. After a while longer, Daniel said again, "Mom, Mickey looks like he is trying to eat something, but I can't see anything." Mickey's snout was all white and pasty looking. He had white paste over his mouth, and his chest and paws were covered in something sticky. I went to the kitchen and the trash cans were all secure. I went to the boys' bedrooms and nothing was chewed up there (other than the pencil remnants from last week). I went to my bedroom. There on the floor was a chewed open white plastic Walmart bag. Beside that, there was the flour bag laying on its side with the front torn off and flour spilling out. Did anyone expect dogs to eat flour? Do I really need one more thing to clean up? Can I find a way to blame this on Walmart?
Sigh!
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