Saving Money and Tooth Fairy Money

Can I just say 18 times that I *love* my friends (and family and husband)? : ) 

Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends, Love my friends!
heehee, I think I like the number 18-my old post office box when I was growing up, my old phone number growing up (ended with 1818), the number of times I got parking tickets...just kidding! : )


Anyway, yesterday I was sitting in the floor folding clothes telling Ches that the kids needed spring clothes-you know, those clothes you wear between winter and summer (seriously-not sweaters, long sleeves, and closed-toe shoes, but not spaghetti straps and short shorts with sandals)  Like..capris that fold up and button, and short sleeves and little sweaters and stuff.  And..guess what my magical, perfect, God-chose-him-for-me-husband said?  Ok..guess!


"I think you need a trip to Branson."  (the most wonderful words he speaks..besides I love you, heehee)  I looked at him, and wholeheartedly agreed. ; )  He said I should go tomorrow (today!).  I said that sounded great! (Yipee!)


I cleaned the kids' closets all day yesterday pulling too-small clothes, and making Mary Claire try on scads of clothes to see if they'd make it another year.  She has a love/hate relationship with clothes (where I'm concerned)-she loves them, she hates to try them on.  Anyway, I made a list of what they needed, printed coupons, gathered mailed sale ads, and set my alarm.  I had to shower early, get the copies at the school made early, and head east (well, northeast!), since it's a two-hour drive.


I made great time, and got started.  I met a friend for lunch (the manager at Gymboree-we met years ago at Gap-literally, like maybe 8 or 9 years ago?  I don't even remember.  Anyway, she had this superbly awesome pen-a Bic fine point accountant pen..they used to have blue lids and a little silver clip, I'm assuming to clip to your shirt, haha!  Ok, so anyway, I made over her pen, and she gave it to me-so sweet! and helped me find my new favorite jeans that lasted almost five years.  She also sent me to find my next favorites..Lucky's! : )  We've been friends-and sharing our fave pens and clothes-ever since!)  Anyway, I shopped the day away, didn't bathroom break from 10:30am till 10pm, so I think I was busy. : )


They had AMAZiNG sales.  Really, I caught store sales, and I had printed out coupons for all of them, so in some stores I got 30-40% off the entire store, and then I had 20% off my entire purchase (Cha-ching!).  Really...in Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, Gap-it was awesome!


I guess you have to be flexible and plan around the sales.  And, I'm pretty flexible.  I can apparently plan and leave in a day's notice.  I did plan to be home by 4 or 4:30, but I move into a time machine in Gymboree, and it takes me hours to plan matching outfits, and if they don't have all my matching sizes, we have to call other stores to get stuff shipped to my house.  Fun stuff.


Okay, so I get home, the kids jump all over the bags, open and sort clothes, tell me what they like the best, we read bedtime stories (so glad I made it!) and then Clay tells me he's lost a tooth again! (I think this is the 14th)  Ches tells him it's his last, that the tooth fairy quits coming when you're ten.  He gets all sad (yes, I think he fully understands the Process), and I feel so sorry for him, give Ches the eye (but he did let me go shopping today..), and I tell Clay that he should just try it.


He asks to write the tooth fairy a letter, and disappears into my bedroom with the computer.  The next time I see him, he has a mistake-free (spell-proofed!) letter, edges scalloped with a punch, and the letter is so grown up.  When did he go and grow up on me?  In the last 20 minutes?


I took a picture, since sometimes the tooth fairy takes the tooth/letters since she was told to remove things a couple years ago. ; ) He went to bed with hope that she'd leave either a $5 or an Easter egg hunt help (umm..what?) for him.  I sure hope she doesn't let him down-he has big expectations.

Here is the text if you can't read it (since I am so tech-saavy I can copy from Word!):

Dear Tooth Fairy,

         This is my last tooth that I will have you handle. I am sincerely sorry, but your job is done for me. I wish you luck on your never-ending journey of taking children’s teeth, while giving them money. All Tooth Fairys started out in Europe, then came to America somehow. When I grow up, I may not believe in you. I will pass you on to my children and my grandchildren. I will always remember the  magic, and fun of the Tooth Fairy, meaning….. You!!

Sincerely,

                                                  Clay Jones

What to do.  What to do.  And he wants her to write him back. Cough, cough.

Green Things

Ahh...a day at home (mostly!).  Ethan had his first day back to school, and Clay spent the night with Gigi last night.  Mary Claire was home with me.  By 9am, she was a little fidgety and wanted to call a friend.  She had company and they played well till 2:30!  I made use of my time-there was so much to do, and I'm not done.
I did lots of laundry, put most of it away (except for upstairs).  I cleaned my desk, checked to see if all my bills were paid.  And, I realized I'd never gotten a mobile phone bill, and it was due today!  I didn't know exactly how much it'd be, but I didn't want it late.  I paid a few more dollars that it was the past two months (online), and called it good.  I don't want to pay a hefty late fee-that's wasted money!
Then, I finished cleaning the back of my room, put away the wrapping paper (so I'm slow), and worked on some monogramming for a friend.  There were two blankets, both so precious!  I'm super happy with them.  I'd say I'm slowly getting better.. (or it's those amazing new fonts and appliques that I've gotten!)

isn't it just scrumptious? : )  And it turned out so much bigger than I thought it'd be!

Then, I cleaned up that machine, and traded it out for my sewing machine.  I had been looking at Ches' poor office chair pad.  It's pathetic really.  I guess I've just been too busy to do anything about it, but with the clean workspace, and all the blinds open, the sun, no one to (currently) care for..I just decided to recover his chair cushion!
To the amateur (like me, ha!), it might seem like a small task, but it took a really long time.  I kept having to make changes, round the corners, make the hanging ties (4!), to get it just right.  I'm really pleased with it now, but I do it in love.  Ches is so good to me, and he deserves a decent chair.  Here are the afters:
(notice the lack of befores?  Embarrassing.)

I'm sure you don't know, but our theme is pale turquoise/chocolate giraffe-mine is the same print.  Our office drapes are the chocolate with turq. dots (the opposite).  Will we ever be back in the office?

So, after all the sewing (and then more cleaning!), I organized my magazines, and vow not to renew any subscriptions for at least 6 months, or until I've read all the bagged ones I haven't even opened.  It's sad.  And I love reading, love decor, love new recipes, and love those little questionnaires that tell me what to improve on, ha-but really-I'm so behind.  Maybe that's why I still have tons of lime green?  I'm working on that. : 
(I found my Pottery Barn furniture guide and fabric samples under a stack of magazines!)

So, then when I found out Natalie had piano at 3, I ran her home, then we went out (to spend Mary Claire's tooth fairy money!).  I'm soo glad the tooth fairy remembered to come on the first night-sometimes she's super-forgetful, or her wings are broken, or her wand is being repaired.  We don't have the best tooth fairy.  Anyway, she came through, and we shopped.
Mary Claire also learned the value of a coupon today!  She had five dollars to spend, and the little "Dress Designer" kit that she wanted (a glorified notebook with heads and shadow bodies, 6 tiny markers, and some dress ideas) was $6.99.  Since we had the coupon (always!), it was 40% off, and she left with change to spare. : )  Yay, coupons!


Then we got some groceries, dropped off some pants to be hemmed (the girls in our family seem to have short legs..), and came home to start dinner.  We had yummy chicken enchiladas and black beans (love them!), and Ches said I should make them more often!  Except that the kids don't eat them so well, and I just don't believe in making them a separate dinner.  How will they ever learn to expand their palate?  I mean, I don't make weird foods.  They are normal (chicken, cheese, tortillas-not liver or cow tongue by golly!).  We are going to have to make snack less cool.  We usually have a dessert for bedtime snack (or ice cream, go-gurt, cereal, crackers, popcorn, etc.).  Maybe if we switched back to fruits and veggies, they'd eat dinner better.  (maybe?)


We also started another game of Monopoly-it's in season around here!  Even Ethan wanted to play, bought property, won money at Free Parking, and paid some rent (sad face).  His whole goal was to have green money (twenties), and own green property, and he finally got the chance.  He bought North Carolina, and was ecstatic!  Sometimes just being with kids is enough to make you appreciate the tiny things! : )


I put away all of the Christmas tree ornaments (most have their own boxes = time consuming), and Ches took down the tree.  I wasn't looking forward to the job, but I'm so thankful it's done.  I love January for it's cleaning and cleanliness.  I love a clean slate and fresh emptiness.  Now, to put away the kids' trees, and all the other red and green stuff!


What are you cleaning?

Hem Your Day in Prayer

Another Crafty Day! : )
I started this morning, making more thank you cards.  I stamped, and punched, and made tags with ribbons:

Next, I mounted them on the cards:

Then, I had to fill a couple in-we are so blessed that our friends are giving to our team, Mary Claire's Friends Who Care-even online! : )  They get super-expensive, and I'd much rather make them-so cute!
This morning, I made copies at the school, didn't even get to see my kiddos : ( then went by the church to get started on the books/envelopes.  And what to my wondering eyes did appear...but my long-lost friends!  They were up front getting ready to say the rosary together.  Sweet Becky came back to invite me to pray with them-I couldn't even tell who they were up there.  The church is dark in the afternoons, but I don't need much light-there's plenty coming through the stained glass.  ..Anyway!  I went up, and they had already gone through their prayer intentions, and they made me laugh (if that's not wrong?)!  They had prayed for everything-so they said I was covered!  Then (since there were five of us), we gave thanks between each decade-and they pray FAST!  Whew-I thought I was fast, but they were tongue-twisting me!  It was good to pray together-there is always strength in numbers. : )


So, then I finished the books, got some lunch, and went back to Hobby Lobby today after seeing how amazingly sewing occupied my kids-they LoVeD it!  I got a few more colors of embroidery thread, more needles (with bigger eyes!), and a sewing kit for Mary Claire-I was planning to buy the little things, but it was just easier (and cheaper!) to get a little sewing kit (and it came in PiNk!).  So..we used it all again today!  I was most surprised how Clay got into it.  We just all sat in my bedroom floor, listened to music, and sewed.  Even Ethan sewed stitches!

Here is Ethan and his "pillow".  He did the green stitches on the white felt, then asked me to sew on pom-poms: The green is him, the orange is Clay, and Mary Claire is blue (so sweet!), then he wanted me to make a pillow so he could stuff it!  He plans to use it for his beanie baby Elephant to sleep on (yes, he decided this on his own!):

(This was later, he was over in the corner, cutting up fabric with Mary Claire's new scissors)

This is Clay's pillow he made for Mary Claire's Polly Pockets-so sweet of him, and he made the pillow, stuffed it, closed it, made the blue lines, then wove the green in-so detailed!  I only helped him thread his needle once, and helped him tie a couple knots.  (This tells me Mary Claire will be so advanced in a year!):

(Don't you love how you get all these close-up looks at my carpet??) heehee
So, then we had dinner, Ches took Clay to baseball practice (first game tomorrow!), and I watched Ethan swim, while I closed up Mary Claire's next cupcake.  She's decided to give the Practice Cupcake to her teacher, so she wanted to get hers done. She did everything else, but asked me to close up the brown cakey top to the cupcake wrapper:

I forgot to tell you that Clay lost a tooth today-a Big Boy tooth!  He told me it was loose last night, but since he's my oldest, I wasn't sure it was a tooth that was supposed to come out.  I told him to leave it alone!  Well, he pulled it at school.  He learned at GT yesterday all about stock, and told me he wants to save his money and buy Wal-Mart stock!  That is an expense I can get behind. : )  So, all this evening was about the Tooth Fairy. (!)  We've totally covered this, but he figures he'll get more this way (I think).  He made her a new wand, magnets to carry metal teeth (!), a string with handle (to slide down from lamps), and wrote her a letter:

Then, he stayed up (since it was Friday), and made her a pillow, bed, and blanket, and sewed them all together:

Can you see the tiny bed?  He said she's only the size of a nickel, and Mary Claire argued she's Polly Pocket size, then they argued over how she carries money. Clay says she uses her magic wand to shrink things down.  He had this pile of stuff to put under his pillow (what a job for me!), so I had him put the "kit" in a Ziploc, just so she doesn't "forget" anything!  And since our tooth fairy is Super Forgetful, I have a huge document on my computer that *hopefully* will remind me!


So, then the kids went to bed, and I continued my next project: the matching hairbows!  I think I told you I ordered the ribbon last week, and now it's time to get down to business.  The JDRF Walk to Cure is next Saturday, so Chop-Chop!  We picked turquoise with zebra, so here's our bow:

I

I usually make them bigger, but I've had a few girls register to walk since I ordered ribbon, so I've had to shorten them each a tiny bit so there's enough matching ribbon!  My goal is 20 bows, so let's see where I am in a week..  I think I've made three turquoise, and one zebra = that's a lot left to do!


 

What does the tooth fairy look like?

I have to say, I haven't been quite as sick. Maybe controlling lunch/afternoon snack has helped?  And pretzels taste awesome too.  Right when you put them in your mouth and the salt hits your tongue (saltiest side down!), mmm...good.  Only for now, I know.
I made taco salad last night, and the meat was frozen, so I had to thaw it in the microwave.  By the time I opened the door to the micro, it was STiNKy!  I called Ches in, since I wasn't sure if it was my sense of hyper-active smell or nasty meat.  It was definitely the meat!  We ended up using refried beans and no meat.  I just couldn't make more.  Ethan was yelling, "It smells like snakes!" (as if he knows what snakes smell like?)  Now, I'm not so hungry for meat. :P
Clay's appointment went fine yesterday, and he's staying at only 10 milligrams-the lowest dose.  I'm happy with it, and I feel we are seeing enough of a difference, so why go higher?  It was a short meeting, and I was planning for the whole hour-but it was quick!
Mary Claire had a dentist appointment today and got two teeth pulled.  AOOOOA  See the A's?  Those are the ones she had pulled.   The two teeth to the outside of her top front four.  They were beautiful, perfect teeth, but they needed to come out.  Her xrays showed that the teeth coming in were at severe angles (even I could see that), and it was due to the teeth that we had pulled.  They were baby teeth and would've come out when she was 9 or 10 anyway.  (They were much longer than I thought they'd be!)  She's getting braces in a month or two, and we are getting ready.  We still need to start her speech therapy to stop her tongue thrusting (on her front teeth, and pushing her palate up so high!).  We'll get there, and when we are done-it'll be worth it.  (Try to remind me when we get there!)
Anyway, she took it like a pro.  She wasn't nervous, and I'd prepped her beforehand.  She wanted to know honestly what they were going to do, so I told her.  I knew she could take it.  When they were giving the shots, they told her they were putting magic balloons on that would pinch and pull at her gums (Ha.).  She said she knew it was shots. I asked her if she told them, and she said no.  She just let them think she was fooled.  What a big girl!  She was a little tired when she came out, but one milkshake later, she was in a much better mood!  Now she's had dinner, and the "sockets" are all dried up, and I think she's fine.
Now there's just the tooth fairy to deal with... She wrote a note asking the tooth fairy if she could keep her teeth, and she asked what the tooth fairy looks like.  Umm..what do you say to that?  Sometimes the tooth fairy writes her notes, but what to write..?  And how much do you pay for two big, pulled teeth?  We haven't had any teeth out in a long time!  And then the money will burn a hole in her pocket till she gets to spend it.  Ahh, childhood!
I'm still doing fine.  Waking up in the night with a dry mouth, so I'm drinking at least a bottle of water in the night (yep, causing further waking!), but I have to stay hydrated.  I think it's my heat vent right over my face above my bed!  I have a love/hate relationship with it-I love the hot air, hate having my face all dried out.  Dilemma.  So, I keep drinking.  Hey..maybe that's causing my premature wrinkling!  Aha!
Seriously-what does the tooth fairy look like?