Easter Baskets

I always start shopping for Easter Basket items in the Fall. It's hard to remember to do sometimes because Christmas is on my mind at the same time.

I love to get in on the end of the summer clearance sales. I almost always include a new swim suit, goggles and other themed items in the kids Easter Baskets. I normally shop online clearance sales at The Children's Place, Old Navy, and the Disney Store. I love online sales especially when there is a promotion for a percentage off and/or free shipping. I often get nice swimsuits for under $5 and flip flops for under $2.

I like to fill Easter Baskets with things I would normally need to purchase anyway (maybe a new summer outfit/sandals).

I try to shop for Easter basket fillers in advance (I use the same principle for Christmas stocking stuffers, too). You can keep a basket or bag in the corner of a closet for storing these types of items found throughout the year. Keep an eye out for small games and toys in clearance bins at the grocery store, at dollar stores, and during any stops to thrift stores or yard sales.

I also like to save some of the school supply items that we get so cheap in August just for filling Easter Baskets. It is just about Easter time when the glue sticks, crayons and markers are needing to be refreshed.

It wouldn't be Easter without some of the typical Easter candy so our kids get a few jelly beans a few m&m's and a chocolate bunny. Sometimes a silver dollar or 50 cent piece is hidden in a plastic egg! Kids love a little pocket change!

The contents vary from year to year but we always have:
- Bubbles
- A little chocolate
- Toy (a ball for him, fingernail polish or earrings for her)
- Summer outfit or swimsuit
- Religious item so that they remember why we celebrate. I find religious items at Deseret Book or at etsy online, search by LDS.
- Card game

I received an Easter Basket even into my teenage years. I loved it. My mom always did the Holidays really good! Once we outgrew the basket with all the goodies we would find a chocolate bunny and a small gift on our dresser when we awoke on Easter morning. For teenagers: movie tickets, journal, gift card, something personal, something religious.

Suggestions on what others do would be great.

Happy Day!

Our Primary had an Activity Day at the Temple on Saturday. The kids had a fun time being with their friends. They had a mini temple grounds tour and some special thoughts and stories about the temple. Then they all got to touch the temple so the "temple could touch them". We love to be at the temple and on the temple grounds. We can't wait for the Gilbert Temple to be built so close to our home!

After the temple we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa. During our visit we decided to go to dinner together where Aunt Melanie met up with us at Matta's for some yummy Mexican Food. My kids are "cheap" dates. All I order for them is one side of rice and one side of beans. They split that and then eat chips and salsa. Yummy! It was fun to get Grandma and Grandpa's undivided attention:)

We brought home some yummy Matta's hot salsa as a surprise for Daddy who had worked all day. (Matta's salsa is his favorite). He doesn't typically work on Saturday but needed to catch up on several projects with deadlines coming up.

Oh, regarding that awful thing called the IRS and the first three to do items on my previous post. Well, on Friday evening the deal was if we owed taxes Mig Mister and I were having a date at Taco Bell using their value menu. If we got a refund we could pick a better place.


We ate at Carrabba's and had great company with us! Woo Hoo! What a relief.

Busy

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Can't think of blog posts!

A lot on my mind.

1. Taxes
2. Taxes
3. Taxes
4. Spring Cleaning
5. Tending to my new garden. Making sure the squash plants are getting pollinated...something I'll post about later. A new thing for me!
6. Feeding the citrus trees
7. Feeding miracle grow to all our many plants
8. Trimming all our bushes
9. Hosting Big Mister's family for Spring Break. Cooking, cleaning, cooking, cleaning while they were here. But, I loved it.
10. Cleaning out the pantry.
11. Coupon shopping to catch all the deals I want.
12. Worrying about the poor lady I rear ended yesterday in our truck. It was very minor. No damage to our truck. A tiny scratch on her car. We were going ZERO mph. How could I do such a stupid thing???
13. Worrying about getting our van repaired because Big Mister did the same thing about one month ago...he rear ended someone on the way home from work. Crazy, right?
14. Thinking about the fact that there is only about seven weeks of school left. I'd better hurry and get all my projects done. My list is rather lengthy.
15. What to make for dinner? I have been thrown off schedule with my menu planning and it really cramps my style!

We're getting our taxes done Friday so I can cross the first three items off my list. Whew!

We thank God that no one was hurt in our fender benders.

Hoping that life calms down a little around here. You too?

Mummy Madness

The kids remember a couple of years ago when we had a mummy wrapping contest in October for a Monday evening family activity. Every once in a while they'll say, "do you remember when you wrapped us up like mummies? "Let's do it again".

We did it again the other night. We had a contest to see who could be done the fastest (mom or dad) and whose tissue would stay wrapped the longest.

The kids love it and we have fun watching them walk around using their imaginations as they act like mummies!

Wednesday's Story

Just as Christmas was over in December 2006 Big Mister and I were feeling unsettled (mostly me!!) We loved our house and neighborhood. We had not talked about moving, nor considered it. However, I kept getting the feeling like we needed to move. We needed to make a change and do it immediately. If we hurried we could still sell our house for a great price. I was feeling the need to lower our house debt. We wanted to downsize our mortgage most of all (among other reasons).

To be certain we were not following our "wants", we both received blessings from Big Mister's dad to help us in our decision. It was, after all, not the best time to be putting a house on the market. On the flip side, we felt like we could get a great deal on a new home.

We moved forward after much fasting and prayer with our decision to move. We knew we were supposed to make this change in our lives. Without a doubt, we knew it.

By January 18, 2007 our house was on the market. We were moving. We had already purchased another home. We were very excited!

January 2007 brought us the beginning of this crazy market where houses were taking forever to sell. Most of our neighbors would say things like, "good luck, hope you can sell your house!". I knew we would sell our house. I had no doubts.

In prayer we had expressed our worry over two mortgages and we said that we could handle it for six months without financial difficulties. But that was it. We couldn't go any longer.

At the end of February we closed on our new home. Still no buyer for the home we were living in. We couldn't even move. Our new home sat empty....just waiting for us.

We had lots of lookers, but no takers.

Every time we began to panic or doubt we remembered the confirmation we had received to make this change in our lives. It was very, very difficult. We worried. We fretted. We prayed, prayed and prayed some more. We questioned ourselves and wondered if we made the right decision. But each time we questioned our decision we remembered we had received confirmation. We had to remember that we had received the answer once. We didn't need to receive the answer one hundred times!

April came. Still no buyer.

We began moving items into our new home. But, when can we begin to live there? We were already "gone" from our old neighborhood, so to speak.

May came. Still no buyer.

The day after Mother's Day we moved into our new home and left our other home vacant and on the market. Everyone warned us not to vacate our home because homes sell better when they are staged. We just couldn't do it any longer. We went ahead and moved everything out.

June came. Still no buyer.

We had to stop by the house a couple of time every week to water plants, sweep and hose things down, etc. It was hot. We were tired and we just wanted to be rid of the house. Hopes were raised by potential buyers who all fell through.

The heat of July came. Still no buyer.

Oh, no. Another round of panic set in. This process was much more difficult to go through than words can explain. We must escape. We decided to take the kids on a short trip to Disneyland as we had annual passes that were about to expire.

When we escaped to Disneyland and put our minds at ease for a period of time, the call came from our Realtor. We had an offer. Hooray! But it was about $50,000 under our asking price. No way. We wouldn't do it. Not even in that current market.

We returned home and countered their offer. They countered back and we accepted. We were thrilled. We just wanted it over with.
This was a very long six months.

But the miracle of it all is that we did have six months. He did answer our prayers. We closed 182 days after our home went on the market.

I would not trade this faith building experience for anything. Often times, when teaching our children about fasting, prayer and faith we bring this experience up. They remember it all too well. Every prayer for all those months was, "please help us sell our house quickly".

The sell may not have come as quickly as we had hoped but it came just in time....just as we had been promised.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Big Mister's Dad celebrated his 70th Birthday on St. Patrick's Day. Grandpa and his twin brother had a fun picnic birthday party at the park. I love these parties where we get to see long lost family members from far away lands come to help celebrate.

We have a winner!

Flag Football season has ended and all the boys were awarded a medal.

For the boys, this prize makes the weekly practices and Saturday games all worth while.

The medals almost did not happen due to budget cut backs, but they decided to go ahead with purchasing them and we are so glad they did. This made a bunch of kids very happy!

Laughing at myself

As I was leaving the store today I reached in my purse, grabbed my sunglasses and put them on.

I felt a little off balance and blurry-eyed but figured it's because I needed to eat lunch. I loaded my groceries, put my cart away in the proper slot, smiled at a few people and went on my merry way.

Such odd looks coming back at me. Hmmm. Maybe they are looking at my beautiful earrings? Or is it my funny looking pony tailed hair?

I began driving down the road and was about half way home. At a stop light I grabbed my lip gloss and adjusted the rear view mirror so I could see where my lips were.

Horrified! Why didn't those nice strangers tell me what they were really looking at. How come I didn't realize that my my sunglasses had one lens missing? HELLO!!!!! No wonder I was feeling like a dizzy duck!

I laughed the rest of the way home. What those people must have thought about that crazy lady. Well, people, maybe I was doing it on purpose just to see your reaction.

Reminiscing:

Laughing at myself reminds me of a time in my father's life when we had a really good laugh. He was an author and lecturer and was at a speaking engagement. Half way through his speech there was a short break. After the break my very distinguished looking father walks back up a few stairs to the podium. He had on a nice suit and tie and shiny cowboy boots.

Out the back of his pants was a trail of toilet paper many feet long.

Oblivious to what was going on he began his speech. My mom was there but before she got to him one of his friends helped him out. He continued without a pause. After he was finished speaking we told him what had happened. He just smiled his grizzly bear smile and laughed a deep belly laugh....just as he always did. SO FUNNY!

If asked to share his most embarrassing moment this experience would certainly top the list.

Crazy Hair Day

Little Mister loves having little tiny pony tails in his hair for Crazy Hair Day at school. Little Miss wanted a ratted mess!

We have since cut Little Misses hair so we won't be doing this style again anytime soon.

It's hip to be Thrifty!

Fabric Softeners and Dryer usage:






I love Downy but it can be really pricey, even with the sales price matched with a coupon. If I purchase it, this is how I use it.

After each use I top off the Downy container with water. I keep doing this until just before the liquid becomes clear.

You can also use the Downy as is until half full. Then fill all the way back up with water and use until empty.

Either way you are stretching your dollar and doubling the amount of Downy. It works great and still leaves clothes smelling nice when watered down a bit.

Another way to save on fabric softener is by applying a small amount of liquid fabric softener to an old sock or wash cloth, then toss it into the dryer with the wet clothes. Just press part of the sock or wash cloth right over the opening of the softener bottle, tip the bottle over enough for a small amount of softener (size of a quarter), to be deposited onto the sock. Keep reusing it. You can easily keep track of a sock by tying it around the neck of the softener bottle.








Bounce sheets work just as well when only 1/2 sheet (or even 1/4 sheet) is used. They can also be used again for a second or third batch. Stretch your dollar and double your box.

Before throwing away a fabric softener sheet, use them to dust the TV and computer screens which helps to eliminate static and helps keep dust from resettling. They also work great for cleaning blinds and a myriad of other things found HERE.









Another option: Vinegar
When doing laundry, use vinegar in the rinse cycle instead of fabric softener. This deodorizes laundry and softens it too. The clothes do not smell like vinegar.










Dryer Balls

I am just making my very first dryer ball. The dryer ball bounces around in the dryer to soften clothes and absorb static cling. I have heard that dryer balls work really well and have been around for a very long time. A great alternative to chemical products. You can find the instructions for making them Here. I'll report back on how they work.










The 'ol clothes line is back in full swing! For towels you can hang to dry on the line and then throw them in the dryer for about 5 minutes to soften. Using the clothesline will dramatically cut down your electricity bill....but we all know that!!!!!














Drying Racks
I love these! A small investment in a dryer rack and you can get your money back on electricity savings in one month! You can set them on the back porch in full sun to dry your clothes quickly. For softening towels, once dry, put them in the dryer for a quick fluff if desired.


It's funny how we accept the need for all kinds of specialized products, and sometimes use them to excess. I love simple and thrifty alternatives. Maybe no fabric softener at all :)

Wednesday's Story

When Big Mister was young he played the part of the "Cowardly Lion" in the Wizard of Oz. We were dating when I first heard his rendition. His mom coerced him into singing for his date. I laughed so hard. Occasionally I will ask him to perform for others and he eventually obliges. I still laugh. He doesn't like to do it very often.

Word has gotten out in our neighborhood that Big Mister has a hidden lion talent. The boys in the scout troop have been begging to hear this talent.

Big Mister has quite an affection for team ASU FOOTBALL. No other team can even come close, in his opinion. There are a few staunch U of A FOOTBALL fans in our neighborhood (even though they really schooled elsewhere hee hee!). At least Big Mister did go to ASU.

The bet was on. A couple of scouts were to buy Big Mister a milk shake if ASU won. If U of A won then Big Mister must perform the Cowardly Lion song in the neighborhood park. The boys could invite anyone they wanted.

ASU lost. Big Mister must pay up.

I was not prepared the evening of the performance and hurried out of the house with my camera phone rather than the real camera. However, one of the boys mom's recorded this beautiful rendition for your listening pleasure (I am totally being sarcastic).

Big Mister had a Wildcat and some U of A "A's" pinned to his shirt, covering up his ASU Sun Devil logo. That was tough to do!

You can hear Big Mister paying up his debt HERE.

After you listen you can decide if he should audition for American Idol. Oh, shoot. He's over the age limit!!!

Explosion

Root Beer + Explosion = Very Bad Results

Big Mister, much to my dislike, brought home a bottle of Sprite for Little Mister and a bottle of Root Beer for Little Miss yesterday. Fortunately, these tasty beverage treats are rare.

As I was finishing up the dinner dishes I realized that the kids had disappeared. Just then I heard Little Miss crying. Little Mister quickly ran in to tell us that her root beer had exploded in the downstairs bathroom. (We really think it was his idea but he won't own up to it.)

Hate to admit it, but I was fuming!!! Why would they do such a crazy thing? Was it really true? Was I really going to find root beer everywhere in the bathroom?

Yes, I was.

I found Little Miss hiding in the corner of the bath tub all covered with the sticky mess. She now knows what happens when you shake a bottle of root beer then open the cap. She will never do that again.

Root Beer was everywhere. Walls. Floors. Mirrors. Towels. Rugs. Toilet. Tub. Shower curtain. Baseboards.

About an hour later I had a super clean, stripped down bathroom. I'm sure a year from now I'll still find a sticky patch now and again. That stuff seems to seep through anything.

Now, no more pop in the house, I shout!!!!

Don't forget to vote March 10th

Gilbert City elections are Tuesday.

Mayor and two City Council seats are up for vote.

If you are not sure who to vote for please consider my cousin, Lonnie Stradling for one of the council seats. He is a very fiscally responsible which is needed in this economy.

Wednesday's Story

Bartering or Trading Services is very "hot" in this down economy.

Trade what you have for what you need! Bartering/Trading Services is back in full swing!

What is bartering: An exchange in which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods and/or services, without the use of money.

Something easy. I participate in a babysitting swap three Friday evenings out of the month. The second Friday is my night to babysit. Therefore, the first and third Friday's we have free from 6 - 10 p.m. The fourth Friday of the month is an off night. This trade saves us $25 - $30 per evening out. It works well for everyone involved. Until a few weeks ago I didn't even realize that I was participating in bartering/trading services. But it is!

What skill/service do you have that you could offer in a bartering situation?

In a meeting about bartering that I attended last week the presenter spoke about how she really wanted her child to attend "the best" preschool in her town. The cost was $183/mo. She knew she did not want to pay that amount. She put her mind to work and decided she would give the teacher a call and offer a trade in services. She went out on a limb....and it worked perfectly.

She began the conversation by praising the preschool and the teacher about all the wonderful things she had heard and researched. This teacher had multiple degrees and was very experienced. She expressed how much she wanted her children to attend. Then she did it. She asked. "Would you be interested in trading services? I am very good on the computer and would be willing to offer my skills in exchange for preschool tuition". The teacher said she was very interested and then they set up a time to meet. This presenter was thrilled!

The arrangement was made. Come to find out the teacher hated doing the computer work. She was behind and also desired new forms, scheduling, certificates, etc. The teacher would offer tuition for free in exchange for 12 hours per month of computer work. A match was perfectly made. The presenter said this arrangement went on for five years putting three children through preschool. At $183/mo for 5 years, that's a total savings of $10,980.

What can you trade? Think about it. Here are some ideas:

Babysitting
Salon services
Sewing
Cake decorating
Cooking classes for kids
Canning
Baking
Weekly newsletter
Computer skills
Piano (any instrument) lessons
Weekly dinner service
Use of your bounce house
Pool maintenance
Gardening skills
Marketing skills
Tax preparation
Personal Training
Preschool co-op
Photography/Video services
Photography lessons
Singing lessons
Art lessons
Bookkeeping/Accounting services
Web page design
Blog page set up
Appliance repair
Handyman repairs
Tutoring
Electrical work
Landscaping
Hair cut/color
Make up instruction
Photoshop instruction and/or work
Catering
Dental/Orthodontics
Housekeeping
Use of your pool for swimming lessons - your kids get them for free
Massage sessions
Interior design
Pet grooming
Dance instruction

The list could go on and on.

Steps to Trading Services:

1) Identify the skill/service/product you want to trade.
- Be specific in what you can and are willing to offer.

2) Identify why this skill/service/product is of value.
- Communicate the "added-value" that your skill/service provides.

3) Identify the monetary value of your skill/service/product.
- Do your homework! Communicate the cost-savings available to both parties.

4) Outline a plan for trading your skill/service.
- Be prepared with a detailed plan which ensures services offered and expectations are clear.
- Assume nothing. Agree on the specifics in advance, in writing if needed, and make sure that nobody has unreasonable expectations.
- Take the time to communicate.

5) Be Flexible
- Open the door for dialogue and make adjustments as needed.

Don't be afraid to ask. You could potentially save yourself a lot of money!!