Being Frugal

Frugality -Common strategies of frugality include the reduction of waste, curbing costly habits, suppressing instant gratification by means of fiscal self-restraint, seeking efficiency, avoiding traps, defying expensive social norms, embracing free (as in gratis) options, using barter, and staying well-informed about local circumstances and both market and product/service realities.
Or you could just say Frugality = K!

I want to do this post because I am in the mood for blogging - and I think it is a good factual tidbit of K. These pictures are so good at depicting a great quality of his - being frugal! (I will admit he is a little crazy sometimes and really cheap too!!) I have decided that I really like these qualities - mostly because he doesn't really expect it out of me.

This is what I made him for Christmas - this was his only gift from me, and he loves it and uses it everyday. Socks full of rice - he pops them into the microwave in the morning and then into his pockets to keep warm. They can also be used as nunchucks or projectile weapons if in danger.

Here are the shoes his brother bought for him when he came home from his mission - 10.5 yrs ago. He has worn them for a LONG time. I finally convinced him that it was "time" to cast off the old because they were going to start giving him back problems or something. I think he is having a little throw away remorse, but tough crap!! He has had new ones his brother-in-law gave him over 3 years ago sitting and waiting. Now it is there turn to shine!!

SATURDAY

Saturday is the day where I like to do nothing - no really. We used to have projects to do every Saturday - no more because I am lazy. We will be starting projects very soon - and we will no doubt run out of time to finish all we should do.

This Saturday was the kind I don't really like - J started soccer. I had been delaying the inevitable of boys and sports - when I called to register him they said "wow where has he been hiding"!! He IS NOT THAT OLD!! But in the world of sports his late start has forever banned him from professional sports (not that his size would allow it). I am sad to say I am a loud mom, I tried to keep it all in. I even took a book to read - but the first minute in I knew I couldn't. Then I started to get all excited and LOUD!! They were all positive remarks or suggestions - but DANG I couldn't control myself. Maybe next game.

After the game/scrimmage we headed off to visit K at the farm show. I don't get the big whoop about the farm show but maybe it is because I am from CA. It smells - really bad- only when you are anywhere near the cows. It smells so bad the smell sticks in your nose so 4 hours later when you are eating a taco bell salad the cow smell may come back full force, and you feel like you are eating cow dung. Last year I visited the animals first and could not bring myself to eat afterwards. Today we started with the food. Fries, potato, potato donuts, chocolate shake, and ice cream. The PAins are proud of their potatoes and dairy!! The shake was good, but every once in a while it tasted a little like cow. The potato donuts were actually really good.

We did get to see a chick hatch - from first crack of the egg to first attempts at walking. Poor guy was really tired after all the effort to get out. We also saw an awesome chicken that J said looked like a rockstar!! I concur.

Then we had some bath time to get all the stink off.

WOW it's been a while

California was AWESOME!! I mean really 16 days of crazy crazy fun!! Some highlights were K's interview in King City - it was perfect and we were kid free for 3 days. We saw Wicked which was of course wicked. K got to go snowboarding and I got to do some projects with my mom. Kamee took some pics of all the kids that are not yet out - some pics will be on her blog in a couple of days - there is one up now on kamandfam.blogspot.com! We got to kick it with K's fam and mine - tons, and I got to see some old friends!! We did too much to write it all down but we miss everyone and can't wait for our next visit. Celebrating Christmas three times in CA and once in PA wasn't bad either.

Jacob cried for over an hour when we told him we would be leaving soon - I actually thought he was going to barf it was so bad!! Jacob was crying and was buckled in the car when Isaac his cousin who is 6 months older came out crying for a last hug. Spencer said calmly and a little confused, "I already got a hug" While Jacob and Isaac were hugging Roxie came out for a hug too and started to cry. Spencer calmly said "now there are three of them crying!" Spencer is so unaffected - he must be my child!! Jacob had already been crying for a while in the pic of our families below.

I wanted to blog about the day after Thanksgiving when we went to an Amish farm to spend the night with some friends - it was a lot of fun. Here are pics of the kids milking the cow - and let me tell you Spencer wanted to have none of it. His response was "that's gross and no way!!" The lady convinced him to try it.

I have to blog our tithing settlement experience because that cute kid above was at his best. He was a little wild - you know being in the church building for 4 hours straight can make anyone crack. Before we started the Bishop was making small talk here is a dialogue of tithing settlement:

B: S are you going to be good next year?

S: NEVER!!

time lapses

S: You have a big nose!! (notice S was not being addressed by B - it just came out of the blue)Parent: Please don't say that it is not nice.

B: pause, yeah

time lapses

S: You have a BIG nose!!

B: pause yeah, we are trying to convince my son he has one too

time lapses

B: are you a full tithe payer S

S: NO!!

Parents: Lets get the heck out of here!! Bishop is awesome and Spencer thinks he is a comedian!

internet is back on!!

You would think that not having the Internet wouldn't be a big deal. It drove me crazy - mostly because I felt removed from my financial situation - I really, really like to get near the $5 in the bank range. It is an invigorating challenge to see how poor we can be!! Now moving on - this week was a busy one. We (DeAnn and I)went to Towson for fun on Tue and on Thursday we embarked on another journey to Baltimore. J didn't go to school (bad mom) and we hit Port Discovery!! It was a blast of course!! After Port Discovery we were feeling empowered with knowledge that our husbands wouldn't be home till late, and tired children. So we hit Trader Joe's (dang I got some good cookies), we drove thru Burger King to tame the beasts, and last but not least partied like rock stars in IKEA!! In my excitement to start the partying after putting the kids in the childcare (1 1/2 hours) I raised both arms and let out a wooo wooo!! The lady in the childcare gave me a look reserved for bad moms like me. Who cares - the kids were so good all day but the break was much needed!!
We crossed the Nile

We went surfing in the water room

We got trapped in huge bubbles

We played in a 3 story climb zone

The kids served us rubbery food

This little guy didn't like the food so he puked up a ton in the restaurant

We crushed pennies with our bear hands (kind of)


We pretty much acted like crazy fools and had a great time!!

12 inches

12 inches doesn't sound like a lot when you think of it in terms of chewing bubble tape or something. But when it comes to growing your hair out - it takes a long time!! I was ready to cut it off because it had no style to it and it was driving me crazy. So off my hair goes to locks for love and here to stay for a while is short and easy hair. My friend Lisa cut my hair in DeAnn's kitchen in like 20 minutes - what a talent! I LOVE IT!!

Halloween has come and gone

I am being ragged on about my lack of blogging, so I will do a lame but informational blog. Now I will be able to show my face at church. Here are the boys with cool things grandma sent them!!

You should all feel bad for my kids. Their mom is sooo cheap - I refused to buy costumes so S was originally going to in his pj's. Then we were at the neighbors and they went shopping in their box o stuff. J ended up being a fisherman and S a skeleton. It was really so much fun going trick or treating with the kids - they are the best ages right now. Excited to go and can walk on their own!!

One day I was walking by and I saw this. I guess the boys thought she had more important work to do than just sit around with her friends.

Last but not least - it seems like ages ago but J got a really bad cold and the virus attacked his tongue. Poor guy he couldn't eat anything but shakes for 2 days, and he didn't talk for 4. I kind of found the no talking to be enjoyable sometimes. I felt so bad for him - he slept with his tongue sticking out all night.

Spider-man is here to stay

Children go through phases - I understand that it is absolutely normal. J goes through obsessions - he was introduced to Spider-man the Christmas right before his second birthday and he has not been able to let go. He still talks about Spider-man all the time. He used to ask where he was in the BOM. When I babysit any friends kids their little girls talk of Spider-man for days after hanging out with J. This year is no different - for school he brought home a family project of dressing a paper bear for Halloween. Can you guess what we dressed our bear as? He is cool none the less. (behind J are my cabinets - Julie I will get u a better pic one day) K really loved those ears - not!! (It was J's project and that is what he wanted to do for the ears)

We also had fun carving pumpkins - I guess we are a little early, but if I don't do it now I tend to forget. It was a lot of fun - S just mostly watched cause he thought it was gross to get pumpkin guts all over himself. J loved it as usual and he did his pumpkin all by himself.

K was sharing the guts with S.

I think J looks a lot like his pumpkin. Maybe it was a self portrait.

S trying to show his fangs.

Here is a picture of pretty much the whole floor - a little glimpse was all I could give before because there was a huge mess of tools etc. Now it is clean and the furniture is back - it probably looks a little empty to you but that is how I like it :)!!