personal blog
My husband received a Wii for his birthday. We set it up last night and took a Wii fitness test. I am happy to say that I am the fittest person in my family, with my Wii fitness age being 50! The Wii is very fun, I hope I can keep my blogging up, because I think I could get addicted to Wii Tennis!
Yesterday I was sitting at my dining room table reading emails when my 2 year old asked if she could have a sip of my water. There wasn’t much water left in my cup when I handed it to her. I looked in the cup and noticed something unusual.
Then everyone started screaming….
Can you see what is frozen to my ice cube?
Ewwwwww.
I need help. My house is overrun with flies. I do not live on a farm. I do not live near a farm. I live on a military base. A base that has been attacked by flies. As I type this on my porch, flies are everywhere. Yesterday I killed 15 on one window.
My house is not dirty, I am pretty strict about people cleaning up after themselves around here. But even my obsessive cleaning is not enough. How do I get rid of these flies? We scrubbed out our garbage can and they are still there. We seal and bag all of our garbage. We don’t have pets. How do I get rid of these pests? What has worked for you? Please help! I don’t want to be the old lady who swallowed the fly!
For more Friday Show and Tell visit my friend Mary.
Since I have had site problems over the past week, I feel out of sync with the blog. Usually I have an idea of topics I want to cover for the week, but with all the site issues my mind has been elsewhere.
Tonight I went to the grocery store and saved $26 in coupons. My coupon use had dropped significantly over the past few months because most of items I buy are things that don’t have coupons, whole foods, fresh fruit and veggies, milk, etc. Tonight at the commissary the shelves were loaded with coupons for things that were already on my list. I was able to get free razors, body wash, shampoo, and fruit. It was a good night.
A few weeks ago Cascade sent me a sample of their dishwasher detergent to try along with their competitor Electrosol. I happened to be using Palmolive so I was able to compare all three products. I am not a brand name shopper and always purchase the cheapest brand. I thought I was saving money, but I could be wrong.
I have to admit that although I was skeptical at first Cascade blew the other two out of the water. Electrosol came in second, with Palmolive dead last. Now, I didn’t really conduct a scientific experiment, so you might have to do your own research. Basically, when I used Cascade I could put more dishes in the dishwasher and I had less dishes that needed to be rewashed. I also had to remove less food from the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. Since Cascade is usually the most expensive brand, I have to consider several factors to see if it is a better deal.
If I use less water to rinse my dishes before I put them into the dishwasher, can load my dishwasher with more dishes, and have less dishes to rewash after the cycle is done, then I think Cascade is a better buy. But you can bet I will be looking for a coupon!
I also conducted my own test with Ajax and Palmolive dish soap. I had been buying Ajax because it is so cheap. After a few months of using Ajax I realized that I was using more soap to get things clean. Even though Palmolive costs more, I use less to wash dishes, so they end up costing about the same.
Last month I bought a package of Target brand diapers. They were significantly cheaper than any other brand. The problem started when I couldn’t open the tab without ripping it. Then almost every diaper leaked. The ones that didn’t leak fell off because the tabs didn’t stick. I ended up doing laundry after every single night my toddler wore a Target diaper because it leaked onto the sheets. I will definitely not purchase Target brand diapers again.
I am sure that you have noticed the considerable site problems I have had over the past few weeks. My current hosting provider is Web Hosting Pad. I can’t even remember how much we paid for the hosting but it was about the same as many of their competitors. While they are very nice on the phone, they offer little to no help, can’t deliver the guaranteed 99% uptime, and do a poor job of responding to problems.
Suave Shampoo is current $0.45 a bottle at my commissary. There was coupon a few weeks back for $1/2. I was hesitant at first, because $0.45 is really cheap, but my family loves it! They even use it for a body wash. Check your local commissary to see if it is on sale.
UVSkinz, my absolute favorite swim shirt company, is running a July sale, one free swim shirt with every purchase. Their goal is to give away 3000 swim shirts this summer. I am going to order myself a shirt tomorrow. In case you are wondering, I do not make any money from them, I am just passionate about protecting our most valuable treasures from the harmful rays of the sun.
My husband, who is well on the road to recovery (that is a topic for another post) has decided it is time to jump on the health train. I am excited because for years he has tried to jump in front the health train and derail it! As he attempts to rid his body of all the nastiness he has put in it over the years, his intake of fresh fruits and veggies has skyrocketed. The cool thing is that he has put me in charge of his diet. I would like to get him to about 75% raw foods but that is going to take some work. He is giving up soda, which is a big deal, and is decreasing his caffeine intake significantly. I would love to hear from any of you who eat super healthy, advice is appreciated and welcomed!
I made my kids a smoothie today. It consisted of carrots, bananas, whole orange, whole apple, whole nectarine, whole pear, frozen strawberries, and vanilla yogurt. They loved it. Even my pickiest of picky eaters downed his portion and asked for seconds. Tomorrow I think I will throw in some flax, spinach, and wheat germ. I think they had their entire requirement for fruits and veggies in one meal!
Calling all homeschoolers, it is time to start planning for the next school year! I know there are some really motivated moms who have already started school, but for the rest of us… take some time each day to plan for the upcoming year. What character traits do you plan on working on this year? What does your schedule look like, daily, weekly, monthly? When are you going to clean and get the housework done? How many days off will you take at Christmas? The time to start thinking about these things is now! Start the school year off right and with a plan!
We had a great time on our trip this weekend. My neighbor had twins on Monday and is already home from the hospital. I saw one of the babies tonight, so tiny and precious. Have you ever been so behind on something that you don’t want to even begin to start up again? I have a few of those areas in my life. I have stopped reading my chronological bible and started reading Isaiah, Proverbs and Luke. I am reading Isaiah because my friend in WV is reading Isaiah, so I like to be prepared when she calls me with a verse. My kids are getting old. I can’t believe I have a child that will be able to drive in less than a year! Today I realized that my four year old can swim, and not just dog paddle. For a child that lives with endless irrational fears, I am shocked that she swims like a fish, has never had a swim lesson in her life and only has access to pools three months out of the year. I need to start exercising again. My energy level has been down and I think it is because I am not exercising.
We are taking a quick road trip this weekend. I’ll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend!
Just in case you wanted to see a recent picture of me, I’ll leave you with one for the road.
Did I mention that I don’t like to be rained on and I am not that big a fan of photos either!
Confession time… my kids dislike fruit and vegetables. Each child has a few favorites, but as a whole they squirm and grimace when something green in color is set in front of them. It is my goal to change this in my kids. I want them to like most fruits and veggies, and actually smile when they see a piece of broccoli on their plate. I have, in the past, hid fruits and veggies in other foods in an attempt to trick them into eating the good stuff. It has worked, but they haven’t developed a taste for all things healthy.
So, I have developed a plan. I am going to pay my children to try new foods. Laugh at me if you will, but I think my idea might work. Each day I introduce a few fruits and vegetables. If they try the food I pay them a dime. Yes I am cheap, my oldest kids actually laughed when I told them about the pay out, but it is working.
I made up a list with my kids names at the top and the fruits and veggies down the left side. When they try a food we put either a y (like it) or n (don’t like it) in the box under their name. I can keep track of which foods were tried and I now have a running list of healthy foods my kids like or dislike. Some of the items on the list are foods we eat regularly but certain kids don’t ever try them. Others are items I never buy because I don’t like them. My husband was excited about this plan until I informed him that grown-ups don’t get paid for trying new foods.
Our first food was yellow pepper. My child who loves yellow peppers was excited to earn an easy dime. The other kids were not as enthused.
Last night we tried sweet potato and broccoli. The broccoli was a big thumbs up, but the sweet potato was not a winner.
Today for lunch we tried strawberries and blueberries. My kids eat a lot of strawberries in smoothies, but don’t eat fresh ones very often. The blueberries were a big, big flop. No one liked them. At least they will eat the blueberries in smoothies. The strawberries earned a thumbs up.
We are heading out of town for the weekend so there will probably be little new foods tried, but I plan to start up again when we return home on Monday. If you are interesting in bribing your kids to try new foods, you can download my check-off chart.
