Suddenly Stay @ Home

WFMW- How I made Housework more FUN!

2010-02-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

I don't like to clean. I don't like to fold laundry. If I had my way, I would leave dirty pots soaking in the sink til I needed to cook in them again. I would much rather be lost in a good book than be doing housework. Except now I do both... I get lost in a great story WHILE doing housework and it makes it so much more enjoyable, to the extreme that I find myself looking forward to dishes, or mopping, or folding laundry! How did I accomplish this amazing transformation???? Hypnosis???? Strong Drugs???? Partial lobotomy????

No my friends, nothing quite so drastic as that... I accomplished this life altering (okay, at least SINK altering feat) with the help of my local library and downloadable audio books! I've always listened to audio books in the car. It turned a boring drive into a chance to get lost in a terrific story and have some ME time. Recently my library began offering downloadable audio books that I could load onto my iPod. Now story time could be anytime- in the car or out! Though I find it hard to watch TV and complete my chores, I can easily stick my iPod in my pocket and mop, wash and straighten anything that I need to. It really makes household tasks so much easier, and that definitely WORKS FOR ME!

Fore more great Works for Me Wednesday tips, visit We Are THAT Family.

Thanks to AMAZON.com for providing the photo. I'm trying to do more photos in my posts and their widget makes it easy! If you buy something through their link, I will get a small thank you from them. THANK YOU from me!

A Natural Parenting Village

2010-02-09T06:19:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the February Carnival of Natural Parenting: Love and partners!
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month we're writing about how a co-parent has or has not supported us in our dedication to natural parenting. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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I am super excited that my blog is participating in February's Carnival of Natural Parenting, courtesy of Acacia, who wrote a terrific guest post! Acacia (and pea in the pod), her husband and son live in the Brookside/Waldo area of Kansas City, MO. She is currently a part time stay-at-home-mom who teaches yoga at the Yoga Patch and paints pregnant belly castings and children's murals through her business, Art, Body & Soul. She believes in natural parenting & living and actively being present to her life. You can learn more about Acacia and her business at www.artbodysoul.com. Rumor has it that she may have her very own blog soon- I'll be sure to let you know when that happens! I am hoping to post my very own update one day soon. --Jamie

From the beginning, I was attracted to Natural (aka “Attachment”) Parenting. It creates an environment of security and empowerment for children while they learn to satisfy their needs on their own. But there are criticisms of natural or attachment parenting: it is demanding; it takes too much work; it imposes unrealistic expectations; and it inflicts anxiety on a whole culture of mothers. Sociologists, psychologists, doctors and writers all share the same criticisms.

Natural parenting is not synonymous with parenting alone. It implies nothing about being a supermom, single or not, that takes the world of parenting on her shoulders. After all, who of us gets what we need from just one person?

Natural parenting finds its roots in some of the oldest cultures around the world, many that follow the well-known philosophy “it takes a village to raise a child.” The origin of the saying is thought to come from tribes in Africa like the Nigerian Igbo. Their proverb “Ora na azu nwa” translates to this statement. The Igbo also name their child “Nwa ora” which means child of the community.

Natural parenting calls for this philosophy here in the US, as well. I boldly believe that it is because we often isolate ourselves and take the world on our shoulders with our other responsibilities in life (e.g. work) that the same expectation is assumed to be extended to parenting. What is natural about that? What could be any less fostering of a secure environment that provides for our needs than a parenting philosophy that asks us to do it alone? What favor would we be doing ourselves to take on parenting alone when we are trying to embody an AP philosophy to pass on to our children?

Within my own family, I have the blessing of being supported by generations of natural parenting, back to my grandmother. In the 1960s, before natural childbirth was again breaking into the walls of hospitals, she was demanding natural childbirth. She had three children, and by the time my mother was 9, my grandmother was divorced and raising them alone. She chose breastfeeding while she stayed home but switched to formula when she had to return to work. She raised her children to be independent and strong. Not necessarily with the same gentleness and nurturing as AP encourages, but she was often natural-minded and knew she wanted something different from the norm.

While my grandmother did the groundbreaking for this natural parenting village of ours, her children, including her step daughter, set a strong foundation for an AP legacy. Growing up in my immediate family of four children, we breastfed until we self-weaned, wore cloth diapers and co-slept. My mom stayed at home with us until my youngest sister was 3 years old, and she guided us with open communication, gentle discipline and lots of nurturing. We grew up very secure, loved and fulfilled not just by my parents, but by each other.

Two of my aunts have birthed babies at home, breastfed, cloth diapered, co-slept, and used natural medicine with their own children. Now for my growing family, they have been wonderful resources. I have called on them for advice on homeopathy and, most recently, home birthing.

The way I was raised has been equally extended to our son as it was to me growing up. He sleeps with them when my husband and I are away; his diapering and feeding is the same as we would have it. Breastfeeding was a given when he was born, and supported until we were ready to move on. My parents have been irreplaceable resources for help and advice in all of our parenting challenges. It has been so comforting to know that their advice will often be just what we need because we share the same parenting philosophy.

When my sisters and brother come over, I witness them parenting Everett just as we were parented. I hear them encourage and praise his independent moves but hold him when he needs to be held. They gently discipline when he needs to be disciplined and model behaviors we want to see him express.

Although not part of my direct family, I include my husband’s parents in our natural parenting village because of how they have contributed to Everett’s parenting. They didn’t employ attachment parenting with my husband, Erik, but have been very supportive and respectful of our parenting decisions. They often extend themselves to include our choices into the way they care for our son when he is with them. They provide him with wholesome meals or snacks that are naturally minded (as much as you can expect from a grandma!), they communicate with us on ways we discipline or talk with him, and they have had many an afternoon of holding him through naps because he is so used to sleeping with us.

My biggest supporter above all has been my husband. Erik attended midwife appointments and natural childbirth classes with me. He massaged, soothed, and protected me in the hospital when our son, Everett, was born. We agreed that Everett should not be circumcised, and he supported my choices for selective vaccinations. He supported full-term breastfeeding and snuggled up to our son as much as I did at nighttime. He wore Everett in slings, used nurturing touches, and rocked and cooed him to sleep. I have never seen a more playful and loving side come out of my typically subdued husband.

Erik has managed our finances and worked hard at his jobs so I could stay at home with Everett and afford local and organic foods. He also strives to create balance between work and home. When I had to work a couple days a week for a school year, he stayed home one of those days. “Dad’s day adventures” continue to be a favorite of Everett’s even though Erik works full time.

Erik continues to stand by my side and model the same gentle discipline methods we have begun since Everett was young. We encourage him to express his desires and needs with his words and respond sensitively. We have patience as he makes changes to his behavior that we have modeled, and empower him with choices where it is appropriate. And with each other, we have communicated throughout our parenting journey to decide on what feels right for us and for our son.

I do have to admit, my situation is unusual. It is rare to find so much support in one family, among so many generations. There are natural parenting families all around that do not have such supportive networks, and those same families can feel very successful in natural parenting. But those families also can be looked at as my family, three generations ago. Starting with my grandmother, one woman who knew she wanted something different for her family, we have grown into a village of families that can be counted on for help and support in natural parenting.

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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be updated Feb. 9 with all the carnival links, and all links should be active by noon EST. Go to Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama for the most recently updated list.)

A Thank You to my Husband — Lactating Girl at The Adventures of Lactating Girl thanks her husband for keeping her grounded and giving her unwavering support in the face of discouragement from within and without. (@lactatinggirl)
My Reverse Traditional Husband In the Wild — Paige at Baby Dust Diaries gives us a lesson on how dads in the wild parent their young. Can you guess which male animal actually nurses its young? (@babydust)
February Carnival of Natural Parenting — TopHat at The Bee in Your Bonnet tells us how the patience of a partner can make a difficult breastfeeding relationship succeed. (@TopHat8855)
Parenting Together — For Alison at BluebirdMama and her husband, parenting is simply an extension of the way they live. (@childbearing)
If We Had A MIllion Dollars — Melodie at Breastfeeding Moms Unite! and her husband would both agree to be crunchier parents if they had a million dollars to ease the way. (@bfmom)
February Carnival of Natural Parenting: Co-Parents — Dionna at Code Name: Mama has written a letter to her husband, thanking him for his incredible support in every aspect of their natural parenting journey. (@CodeNameMama)
Natural Parenting Fathers — Sarah at Natural Parenting is balancing being all there for her son with being present for her husband. (@considereden)
Just Wonderful: Love and Partners and Natural Parenting — Zoey at Good Goog let her husband lead her to babywearing and cosleeping. (@zoeyspeak)
All that stuff I don't get comes so easy to him — The Grumbles is taking this opportunity to say thank you to her husband for his mad parenting skills. (@thegrumbles)
The Power of Having a Supportive Co-Parent — Chrystal at Happy Mothering and her husband started with vaccinations and moved on from there. (@HappyMothering)
February Carnival of Natural Parenting: Love and partners — Lauren at Hobo Mama makes do with babbling incoherently about how her husband practices natural parenting in such an effortless fashion, with bonus video. (@Hobo_Mama)
Love and Partners — Mrs Green at Little Green Blog shares her husband's moving account of her birth story, and his testament to the power of a woman. (@myzerowaste)
labor support... — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children is thankful that her partner has provided her immeasurable labor support through each of their last three unassisted homebirths (and will again for their upcoming fourth!).
What co-parent? On prams, routines, ideals, sickness, and finding my way alone. — Ruth at Look Left of the Pleiades describes life without a present co-parent: making new choices and taking care of things herself. (@brightravenmum)
Parenting With Support — How many people can say that their husband talked them into cloth diapering? Darcel at The Mahogany Way can! (@MahoganyWayMama)
Co-Parenting Support — Summer at Mama2Mama Tips knows the importance of being supported in the face of criticism. (@mama2mamatips)
Natural Parenting Carnival: Love and Partners — pchanner at A Mom's Fresh Start has been blessed with an incredibly involved partner. Her husband loves to take part in every aspect of parenting! (@pchanner)
Daddy's Little Girls — Kate Wicker at Momopoly finds her husband right at home in a tangle of girls. (@Momopoly)
How do I love my parenting partner? Let me count the ways. — Sybil at Musings of a Milk Maker is thankful that she and her partner co-parent fluidly and gracefully. (@mamamilkers)
Interview with a Daddy — NavelgazingBajan brings us a highly amusing peek into her husband's perspective.
Being Supported in Natural Parenting — Sarah at OneStarryNight has witnessed both ends of the parenting spectrum, and is grateful she found a father who is comfortable with natural parenting. (@starrymom)
Moments in time: a love letter — Arwyn at Raising My Boychick will make you cry with the beautiful way she describes the complete relationship between father and child. (@RaisingBoychick)
Natural parenting converts — Jen at Recovering Procrastinator brought her reluctant husband around to cloth diapers, bed sharing, and time-ins as a discipline method. (@jenwestpfahl)
Breastfeeding Father — Amber Strocel at Strocel.com describes how her husband helped her overcome the breastfeeding challenges she encountered with her premature daughter. (@AmberStrocel)
A Natural Parenting Village — Acacia from Art, Body & Soul, in a guest post for Jamie at Suddenly Stay at Home, broadens the term "coparents" to embrace supportive extended family on both sides. (@SuddnlyStyAtHme)
A Natural Dad — Shana at Tales of Minor Interest doesn't have a husband who merely supports her — she has a husband just as dedicated to natural parenting as she is.
Love and Support From My (sometimes pantsless) Man — Joni Rae at Tales of a Kitchen Witch Momma describes life with the sometimes bumbling but always lovable Pantsless Man. (@kitchenwitch)
G-O-T-E-A-M! — Jessica at This Is Worthwhile made sure her future husband agreed with her parenting choices early in their dating. (@tisworthwhile)
how we come to parenthood — Michelle at womanseekingmother dances with her husband around the subject of cosleeping. (@seekingmother)

Update from the break room...

2010-02-01T18:42:00.000-05:00

So hello bloggy friends. Welcome to the quickest blog post EVAH! I am really, really enjoying my job. The people here are super nice and the environment is very fun. I don't feel like I am coming to work every day! Leaving the baby stinks, but coming home to him is oh so sweet. This is going to sound corny, but because we don't have the same quantity of time together, I work harder to make the quality of that time much better. I am much more apt to stop whatever housework I am doing to sit down and read a book since I know that my time with him is finite. The fact is, my time with him, at this age and stage, was always finite, I am just more aware of that now.

My weekend was nice and it was good to get time away from the job. I now remember what Mondays are like... ug...

I am working very hard to keep up to date with my bloggy reading and I am super excited to have a guest post coming up for you guys- my first participation in a carnival, and I'm not even the one posting!!! Stay tuned...

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go!

2010-01-24T21:27:00.000-05:00

So tomorrow is my first day. I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to do it all, but for now, I'm mostly excited. I really don't know what to expect tomorrow- I think a lot of paperwork, maybe a tour?? I'm looking forward to being out of the house all by myself and having some time to think and feel productive! I'm not looking forward to leaving my boy and not looking forward to hearing my husband complain about how difficult he was all day long! I am kind of looking forward to him realizing what I was dealing with every day.

I should have spent the rest of my week last week making sure that my house was spotless and my clothes were all ironed and ready to go. I didn't do that. The best I got was making a notebook for relevant household information, including a master calendar showing where I'll be when and who will be here to watch Tyler. It also has a list of daily tasks for me to focus on so I stay ahead of the mess. Thanks to my mom, I am pretty much caught up on laundry. She came over to help me fold! I spent Thursday and Friday relishing the last few days of stay at home "freedom", wearing yoga pants all day on Friday and spending lots of time playing with the kiddo. And shopping for a few new things for work!

I feel a little like it's the first day of school tomorrow. I had a dream last night that I overslept for my first day. That just can't happen! Here's to hoping and to starting a new chapter- still stay at home, but working too- hopefully the best of both worlds!

I had a dream last night that I was

Getting Ready to Go Back to Work: Energy UP!

2010-01-20T12:49:00.000-05:00

Around the beginning of the year, I was sick and tired of always being sick and tired. I knew that I wanted to make more changes so that I had more energy and wasn't always feeling sluggish and like I wanted to go back to bed. My back constantly felt tight- my muscles always felt on edge and my mood did too. I decided enough was enough and I needed to make some changes. When the new job came along and I knew that my sleep was going to decrease, I realized that I needed to get serious about these changes.

So what were my huge changes? I've really only accomplished two... there's a third that I'd like to work on, but we'll see. The first two that are really working for me- drinking more water and getting more exercise. The third that I would like to work on is cutting out a lot of the refined sugar from my diet. I am trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies, but the ice cream in the freezer keeps calling my name. My husband has a HUGE sweet tooth, so we always have M&Ms, cookies and ice cream in the house. And I apparently have NO will power, so I'm still eating way too much of said M&Ms, cookies and ice cream. Any ideas of what works for you in that situation?

Here's what IS working for me, though- more water and more exercise. On the more water front- I HATE drinking water. HATE it. I don't know why- just not my favorite thing. There are times that I will have a LONG drink of water and think, "Wow, that's really good!" and yet when I get thirsty, I am far more likely to grab a soft drink or worse yet, eat something. I have to trick myself into getting enough to drink. Target recently had Sobe flavored water on sale. They have a zero calorie version, so I stocked up. There was a peelie coupon on the water- buy 5 get 2 free, so I think that I ended up paying about $5 for 21 bottles when it was all said and done. I know that all of those plastic bottles are not great for the environment, so here is my compromise: I drink the flavored water from the bottle, then I refill the bottle with water and drink that. That's 5 cups of water right there. Then I refill the bottle with water again and mix in come Crystal Light or Benefiber drink mix, so I'm not drinking plain water. Now I'm up to 7.5 cups, and that's pretty good for me. If there are hours left in the day, I might fill the bottle up with plain water again. I can bring the bottle with my anywhere I go throughout the day and it comes to bed with me so if I wake up in the night, I have something to drink. The next morning, the bottle gets recycled and I start fresh with a new bottle. I can really tell the difference in my energy level when I am well hydrated.

The other thing that helps me have more energy is getting more exercise. This is so much easier said than done! I was having a really hard time waking up in the morning. I found myself feeling grumpy and just really annoyed at the fact that I was someplace other than in bed! My muscles were very sore and tight. I could wake myself off with a strong cup of coffee or a Diet Coke, but I was not thrilled that I was so dependent on a drug to perk me up! My son LOVES to watch Baby Einstein- he begs and begs to watch and though I'm not thrilled with him spending a ton of time in front of the TV, we have a new morning routine that makes both of us happy. He gets to watch baby Einstein and I get a few minutes to wake up! I am fortunate in that I have a lap top. I either put Einstein on the computer of TV for my son. Then, whatever he's not using, I use to access Exercise TV. There are a TON of workouts available On Demand through my cable company, many of them only 10 minutes long. I can find 10 minutes to improve my mood and energy level for the entire day! The great news is that their workouts are also available on-line. I can find one for whatever muscle group I feel like working- lower body, upper body, abs or just general stretching- and it's free and there when I want it. When I'm done, even with that little short 10 minute burst, my muscles feel looser. I feel awake and ready to start my day. I'm slowly getting addicted! Last night I wanted more so I did a whole 20 minute yoga routine right before I went to bed. I slept GREAT and felt better when I got up this morning. I am hoping that if when I continue this when I go back to work, I'll continue to feel better and have more energy.

This is also part of Works for Me Wednesday. You can see more WFMW Tips at We are THAT Family.

You can see the first in this very informal series here: Getting Ready to Go Back to Work: Stocking the Freezer.

Getting Ready to Go Back to Work: Stocking the Freezer

2010-01-18T22:24:00.000-05:00

I spent Saturday cooking. If you want to get technical, I spent Friday shopping and Saturday and Sunday cooking and cleaning like a mad woman. I decided that it would be a good idea to stock the freezer with some go to meals that I could put into play if I needed something on the fly. I visited Once a Month Mom, browsed through the January recipes, thought buffalo chicken pasta was something I'd like to try and jumped right into making 16 servings. In for a penny, in for a pound, I also decided to make mandarin orange chicken rice. I've been wanting to try Erin's Enchilada recipe for a while now, so I figured I'd triple it and freeze those bad boys, even though that's not a freezer recipe. I had about 2.5 pounds to ground turkey in the freezer and thought that needed to be made into chili. Finally, I wanted to put together and freeze three meat loaves.

I would love to tell you that things went great and I have a freezer full of nutritious, yummy meals for my family, but I'm not sure that's the case. We tried the rice dish and it was not exactly everything I hoped it would be. This is due, at least in part, to poor execution of what might be a perfectly fine recipe. After I spent all of Saturday afternoon cooking, washing, freezing, mixing and WORKING REALLY HARD, then eating a disappointing first freezer dish, I was feeling a little down, especially since we had two more dinners worth of that dish hanging out in our freezer and four servings going home with my mom. It was at this point that my husband asked me why I had bothered with all that, he would gladly just eat burgers and pasta three nights a week. I'm actually pretty proud that I didn't completely loose it at this point. But I didn't. And the real verdict is still out on the whole experience since we haven't eaten all of the foods yet. So we'll see...

Here's what I wish that I would have done differently before attempting this whole process:

I would have made each of the recipes once prior to trying to cook enough of said recipe to feed a small army, or one family four times over. Although the recipes looked good one the sites, I don't really have any idea if we like buffalo chicken pasta or mandarin orange chicken. Trying one meal's worth would have been a lot better than experimenting with four meals worth. Also knowing what a normal version of the recipe looked like would have made a quadrupled version seem less strange. A lot of my difficulty came from not trusting the recipe. For example, the buffalo chicken recipe calls for one cup of hot sauce. This seemed all well and good until I realized that hot sauce, i.e. Tabasco sauce comes in 2 oz containers. Surely I was not supposed to add FOUR containers of hot sauce to my recipe??? Plus THREE bottles of ranch dressing??? It all seemed perfectly normal there on the page, but in my kitchen, it seemed a lot stranger.

I would have begged, borrowed or stole some seriously BIG pots. I had to boil my pasta in two batches because it didn't all fit in my biggest pot. I also had to delay cooking some of the other items because they didn't fit in my smaller pots. When you're cooking a bag and a half of rice in about 11 cups of liquid, you need a big pot. If someone else is helping you with your cooking day, ask to borrow their biggest pots. If you're going it alone, borrow what you can from friends or neighbors.

Finally, I would NOT have tried to do so many recipes in one day. I completely blame Once a Month Mom for making it look SO easy! It seems so organized in the excel spreadsheets and step by step instructions, but it's a lot of work, especially if you're used to cooking for a few people. I would have gone for one or two recipes, not FIVE!

Here's what went well:

My grocery store had bone-in, skin-on split breasts for $1.69 per pound. This is a decent price around here, so I bought a ton. Not enough, it turns out, to finish all my recipes, resulting in a frantic run to the grocery store and a second round of chicken cooking. But this is about what went RIGHT. I took the skin off the chicken on Friday night and put the chicken in my 4 quart slow cooker insert, then put the whole thing in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I turned it on as soon as I got up and my chicken was waiting for me at nap time (1 pm), ready to be picked from the bones and shredded. I did things exactly like Stephanie explains in this post from A Year of Slow Cooking. It was a great way to cook a lot of chicken with very little effort. I wasn't even home while the chicken was cooking.

The chili... it was yummy... I borrowed a bit from the enchilada spices and used the same combination in the chili. It came together very nicely and my husband didn't realize that it was turkey, not beef. SCORE!

The best part of the day was frantically tweeting "Help! @onceamonth mom, does hot sauce = tabasco?? 1 cup?? I'm halfway though the buffalo chicken pasta recipe!" and then actually getting a reply, yes, that's right. Very cool technology!

So that's it. Don't do what I did with the whole freezer cooking thing. Get your feet a little wet before diving right on in... and then let me know what went well for you, because it turns out I need a little help!

A super HUGE, really BIG, WOW I'm EXCITED decision!

2010-01-17T22:34:00.000-05:00

So this past week was a whirlwind of interviews for me! I literally lost count. I think, but don't quote me, that I had two in-person interviews and a phone interview Monday, one interview Tuesday, another phone interview Wednesday, and an interview Friday. Four in person interviews and two phone interviews in five days is A LOT. Each interview requires its own research and follow up emails and consideration and wow was I tired of talking about myself. First and foremost, let me express how absolutely blessed I was to be considered for each and every one of these positions. The job market is terrible right now, especially in depressed Florida. For me to get this much interest was AMAZING. I had calls back from resumes that were submitted six weeks ago. I also got a call back from a company I interviewed with in early November. They had another position open and wanted me to consider that. I was also fortunate enough to have a few offers to consider.

I was most excited about a job in the publishing industry selling textbooks to college professors and working with various universities to get those textbooks adopted. The position included a company car, decent salary and very generous bonus, paid annually. It also included a fair amount of travel, unfortunately. The manager I interviewed with told me that during my first year, I would be out in the field all day, then have about three hours of work to do when I got home at night. I was ready for the challenge- I know that I can do that work. Then I started thinking about all the work I already have to do around here at night. And how I've left my child overnight exactly one time and wasn't all that thrilled about it. Pursuing this opportunity meant letting this opportunity pass me by. And I realized that I wasn't willing to give up that possibility for this possibility. So I stepped out of the interview process and decided to move ahead with that "I think that I might be nuts" job- the one that requires working til almost 2 am and pays a pittance, but allows me to be home with my child almost all day, provides medical benefits, and allows for advancement.

A few other things factored into my decision. First of all, I recently remembered a conversation I had with a co-worker before I was laid off. I was lamenting the cost of the childcare and how I hated leaving my child everyday to come to work. I said to her, verbatim, "I wish that I could just find a job in a call center working nights so that I could keep the baby during the day and Matt [husband] could keep him at night. I know I wouldn't make as much money, but we wouldn't have to pay for childcare, so that would make up for some of it." Here I am, about a year later, with the very opportunity I wanted when I was working a "real" job! The thought process then went something like this- "You have the opportunity to have exactly what you said you wanted so shut up and be happy with that you moron." (I'm so nice to myself, huh. That's my interview question answer to what is your biggest weakness- I'm too hard on myself, just in case you were wondering.) In this case though, I think that the whole moron comment was deserved. When I was working a full time job, I wished for this job. That says something, right?

Second, I thought about what I would tell a friend if she told me that she were considering what I was considering- working a job with slightly unconventional hours in order to have more time to spend with her child. I would tell that friend that I thought she was an awesome mom to be willing to do that for her child. I would do everything I could to help support her and make things easier for her during this transition. I did, in fact, have a friend who took a job at Target working very early mornings so that she would be home in the afternoons when her husband worked. At the time, she felt that the job was not necessarily the best use of her talents, but was willing to do it anyway since it meant that she could be with her daughter. I thought it was fantastic and bought every red accessory I could find to coordinate with her new uniform. If I was willing to do that for a friend, why couldn't I be that supportive of myself? No good reason that I could think of, so I got behind that plan!

Finally, I thought of my own childhood. It was just my mom and me, so she always worked- she didn't have another option. I was always well-cared for and my mom did everything she could to make sure that she was there for important events and school programs and whatever. At the same time, there were many, many days that I came in second to an important project at work. She will admit to you today that there were times that she put work ahead of me. There were nights when she did not get home until very, very late and I was the one who made dinner for us both. I'm not sitting here crying a river or anything- my childhood was far, far better than many others. At the same time, I knew that I came in second to her job. And I didn't want that for my child. I wanted to be able to tell him, "You were so important to me that I chose to put you first and be with you instead of pursuing my career," which is really what it comes down to, right? I am sure that when he is a teenager he will claim that I made the complete wrong choice and ruined his life completely, but for right now, this seems like the right choice.

So that's my super HUGE, really BIG, WOW I'm EXCITED decision. I'm going to take the "I think that I might be nuts" job. And I am choosing to be really excited and focus on the positives of this job. I'm going to be excited about the cafeteria! Because I've never worked anywhere with a cafeteria before! And the employee discount! And the company store! And how easy I think that the job will be! I'm, for the most part, ignoring the late hours, weekends, holidays, pay and other crappy parts of the job. Quite honestly, I don't know how I'm going to do it. I wouldn't know how I was going to do any other job, though, so that's not any different. I also didn't know how I would manage when I had the baby and had to go back to work, and I figured that out, so I'm having a little faith that I'll somehow manage this too. Because I want to. Not because I HAVE to and I had no other option, but because **I** decided that this is what **I** want- for myself, for my family and for my child. I've made the decision and I'm owning it. Since I had NO say when I became "Suddenly Stay @ Home", to at least have some control in this decision is nice. I am feeling incredibly blessed to have this option- to have the job offer and to have the financial means the accept this, even though it's not the highest paying option. I recognize that this was not an option my mom ever had, or an option that a lot of other people have today, and I am grateful.

And I'm not truly ignoring the challenge of it all. I spent the weekend stocking the freezer with meals for when I go back. I've made some changes since the New Year which will hopefully boost my energy level even on little sleep. I will be spending the week tweaking some other things around here to make things run more smoothly without my constant attention. And streamlining- lots and lots of streamlining! I hope to share these things with you in the week to come, but we'll see... the best laid plans and all.

By the way, just a little disclaimer, this was the right choice for me and for my family. I completely acknowledge and recognize that this might not be the right choice for another woman and another family. I would not dream of judging another mom who did choose to take a traditional (9-5) job and enroll her child(ren) in day care or another child care arrangement. I hope that this post in no way makes you feel bad if that's the choice that you made- this is just my choice that I am choosing to be EXCITED about today and might blow up in face tomorrow.

I was published on Parent Hacks!

2010-01-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

Check out Parent Hacks tips today- Jaimie??? That's ME!!!! WOO HOO! I sent in that tip forever ago and kind of forgot about it. And then I got an email today saying that it was up. How exciting! How's that for validation for a stay at home mommy! I'm so thrilled- thanks Parent Hacks! (Although is it just me or did they knock me for feeding my kid trans-fat loaded Ritz crackers???? Maybe I'm reading too much into it...)

So here's my super secret Parent Hack for the day... I read this in a book at the library and thought it was a little silly, but it was cheap and easy so I decided to try it... Get clothes pins. The really old an ones like these with no springs would be great- less pieces to break off and go into little mouthes. I got the wooden ones with the spring in them at Target for less than $2 and we have more than enough clothes pins for a long time of play. Anyway, once you have your clothes pins, get a container- the book recommended an empty 2 liter soda container. I used an old rubbermaid 2 quart jug that we had on hand. Show your child how to fit the clothes pins through the small opening and then let them go to town. I know it sounds silly, but my 16 month old was fascinated by the way the clothes pins plunked to the bottom. We got more advanced and started counting the clothes pins too... a little beyond him, but keeps ME more entertained. Seriously, this kept him entertained longer than some of the Christmas toys he got. Try it- I bet your kid will like it too! :-)

In other news, when I finally come to terms with this whole, "I will be working nights," thing, my child doesn't nap and I'm asleep in the chair watching TV about 8 pm... does not bode well, but I am forging on! More on that in a future post... maybe.... thanks for reading. Good night!

I think that I might be nuts...

2010-01-09T21:37:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me in real life are going, "Ya think, really????" as if I've just announced that the world, is in fact, round.

My latest nutty idea??? Taking a job that pays less that unemployment for the first 7 weeks of training, then pays about half of the low end jobs that I've been considering and trying to get. I'm thinking about taking a job that would require me to work until 1:15 AM. (Yes, you read that right.) The same job doesn't recognize any holidays except Christmas. I would be required to work weekends. Every weekend.

So where's the upside? The HUGE benefit and the only real reason that I even applied for this position is that I wouldn't start working until 4:45 pm. That would mean the entire day with my child, then handing him off to daddy to go to work. This seems better than handing him off to relative strangers to go to work, which is what daycare feels like at this point. I could spend all day with him and not have to pay for childcare. That means, though, that I would be getting home at 1:30 am, if I'm lucky, and getting to bed by 2 am, then being back up with him at 6:30 am, again if I'm lucky and he sleeps that long. I would have to be super disciplined to sleep when he napped (if I'm lucky) in the afternoons. WAY too many, "if I'm lucky" disclaimers in there!!!

I would have two days off during the week, but be working weekends. I am thinking that we would have all day Saturday and Sunday to do family things since I would not have to be to work until 4:45. My husband and I would have two nights to spend together after the baby went to bed- my days off, basically. I know that some of this down time will be devoted to sleep too, though. This schedule would mean no more blogging and less drug-store gaming (getting stuff free at CVS and Walgreens). I would have to get super organized when it came to housekeeping, making lists and setting a schedule so that my husband can pick up where I leave off, because I cannot do as much as I do now and work too. And the sad part is I don't feel like I keep up with it all that well now! I think that if I took this job, I would do some once a month cooking deals too so that our freezer was well stocked with pre-made (hopefully healthy) meals. (BTW, side note, if you are looking for some scheduling tips/ routine for household chores, check out Totally Together Journal. Stephanie O'Dea of slow cooking fame blogs about how to get a routine going for your house, and it just started Jan 1. Plenty of time to catch up!)

The other HUGE upside is health insurance that starts the first of the month after I do. In this case, that means February 1. We are still on COBRA and still only paying 35% of the premium, thanks to the new laws that they've enacted. I am grateful for that, of course, except that my old company changed plans for 2010 and switched to something that involved an employer funded Health Savings Account and a VERY high ($7500 for the family) deductible before the health insurance actually pays on red cent. Except that when you're on COBRA, and no longer technically an employee of the company, you don't get the employer funded HSA. Which means that if any of us go to the doctor for anything other than a well-baby or well-woman exam, we pay out of pocket until we hit that lovely $7500 number. Then and only then do they start footing any portion of the bill. That means that if we were to have another child, we would pay for all of it ourselves. I know that people do this, but we are just not in a position to come up with those funds ourselves. With the new job, we'd have better coverage for about the same cost. Still not the best situation considering how little I'd be making, but better than now, I think. It at least puts the idea of another child on back on the table, something that's important to us.

I also know that this is a job that I can do without having to try too hard. It's customer service and I know that I am going to deal with angry customers, but it's not sales, not preparing detailed sales presentations, not having to follow up, not having to call on prospects day in and day out. It would be a lot of following scripts, hopefully a lot of handling routine calls, stuff that would not be a stretch for me, compared to what I used to do. After dealing with the illogic, non-sensical tantrums of a 16 month old who doesn't talk, an irate customer or two should be fairly easy, right??? ;-) Part of me wonders if I am so attracted to this position because I am afraid to fail at something more challenging. I was used to going into a job and being good at it right away- quickly being a top performer. With my last position, the one that I lost, I wasn't good at it immediately. There were times that I was downright bad at it and in danger of being terminated for lack of performance. I found my groove eventually, but then the market turned and everyone was bad at the job, relatively speaking! I think that the whole experience, then being laid off on top of that, has really shaken my confidence in myself and my abilities. I don't want to take this position just because I am afraid to try to do something else.

Finally, though this is an entry level position and I've more than entered the work force, thank you, it is with a big company in the area who promotes from within. That means that if I took this position, it would almost definitely lead to other things within the company- other things that I could not get unless I took this position. I kind of fell into a sales job after college and since I had one sales job, it wasn't hard to get another, then another, and now all I've done is sales. I like sales, don't get me wrong, but there are other places that I think I might be able to better use my skills. The problem, though, is convincing a prospective employer of that when all you've ever done in sales. This position would kind of give me a clean slate with this company and let me move into other areas, like training or compliance.

So that's my dilemma right now. I'm considering taking all the positives of being a SAHM and combining them with the positives of being a working mom. (I can't wait to get to use my very own semi-private bathroom stall! I'd also get a 30 minute meal break all to myself!!!) The flip side of that, though, is all the negatives of being a SAHM PLUS all the negatives of being a working mom. It would be a strain, no question, and I am very concerned about being the kind of mom I want to be and the kind of wife that I want to be on that little sleep, not to mention that little time to myself. I really wonder if I can handle working AND being the primary caregiver for our son. Working and having a child is a lot to manage when someone else cares for the child 8-10 hours a day. Remove that other caregiver from the equation and it becomes a lot for one person. (I know that my husband would have the baby for 8+ hours every night, but the baby would be asleep for all but 3-4 hours of that time.) I would loose any down time I had after bedtime since I would generally be working during that time.

I welcome to thoughts and ideas from anyone who actually managed to make it all the way to the bottom of this very long and winding blog post. Part of the perks of having your very own blog is that you get to type things out, right??? ;-)

(BTW, did Blogger move the spell check function for posts or am I just really tired tonight? I apologize in advance for any errors, I cannot find the silly button!)

How to support an unemployed friend

2009-12-28T14:53:00.001-05:00

With the current unemployment rate almost 10% nationwide and MUCH, MUCH higher in certain areas, chances are, you know someone who is unemployed. My experience with unemployment is surprising to me. I thought that I would always be able to find some kind of job. I even gave a very inspiring speech to my coworkers (when I still had coworkers) that no matter what happened with our company, we would be okay, because we were strong women and would land on our feet. Turned out to me true for them- me, I'm still struggling to find my footing. The reality for me right now is that I need to find a job- more accurately I need to find a paycheck and health benefits. And it's NOT easy- said job needs to provide enough income in order to provide child care for my 15 month old and still something to take home at the end of the week. I'm struggling with the idea that I am not "worth" enough to an employer to be able to help support my family. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with my child and spend the time with him, no question, but I am still struggling. And chances are, if you know someone who is unemployed, even if they were laid off from a job they HATED, they are struggling with it too. So here's my advice on how you can help them during this time:

Write a letter of recommendation- If you are in a position to write them a letter of recommendation, do it. If you offer and they decline, do it anyway. You never know when your friend might actually need it for a potential employer or maybe they will just need a reminder of their good qualities on a bad day.

Recognize that staying home has its challenges too- In talking to one of my former co-workers about our lives post layoff, she commented on my "easy life". She found another position with our old company that required her to work crazy hours and commute more than an hour each way. I realize that her situation was less than ideal and I don't know if I would want to trade places with her, but the idea that I was on easy street since I was home taking care of my then nine month old was offensive to me. Whether you have a child or not, looking for a job is WORK. Taking care of a house and a family is WORK. Don't assume that your unemployed friend sits around sipping fruity drinks or catching up on Oprah and whine about having to go to work all day. I assure you, your unemployed friend would trade places with you.

Offer childcare- if your unemployed friend has kids, offer to entertain the kid(s) for a few hours. I cannot job search while my son is awake. I cannot make follow up calls to potential employers with him in the background, screaming. I cannot research prospective companies while he is around. I would *LOVE* if someone offered to entertain him for an hour or two, even for me just to get my thoughts together. Offer more than once if you are turned down. Sometimes people are afraid to admit that they can't do it all. (Hello, my name is Jamie and I can't do it all.)

Don't brag about your raise. If you just got a raise at work and maybe also landed a part-time job that you can do on off hours from your house, I as your unemployed friend am maybe not the one to gush to about that. I am happy for you, really, but at the same time, I am here just looking for one little job. The fact that you have TWO just doesn't seem fair at this point in the game. But really, I'm happy for you...

Don't badmouth people who accept unemployment benefits- before I became unemployed, I had a friend who blasted her brother-in-law for accepting unemployment benefits. It went something like this: "I would never collect unemployment, I could always go out and at least get a job waiting tables or something that would pay more than unemployment!" This whole experience for me has been incredibly humbling. You don't really know what it's like until you've experienced it for yourself, so be careful about criticizing the choices that other people make, especially in front of your unemployed friend.

Understand if your unemployed friend is a little grumpy and be willing to give a little more than you're getting right now. Looking for a job is emotionally draining. There's a lot of rejection and it wears on a person. Your unemployed friend is going to be cranky and needs your understanding and support right now.

Happy Job Hunting!

Recipes that I've made Recently

2009-12-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Because I am so sure that you are just DYING to know what comes out of my kitchen! These have been a pretty big hit at my house lately, so I thought I would share.

Pumpkin Coconut Chocolate Chip Bars

My friend Jessica brought these to a soup party that she orchestrated (everyone brings a different kind of soup, swap leftovers at the end of the night- genius!). The other women there were being all demure, or else were just full from soup, and left half of their bars sitting on their plate. I, on the other hand, ate every last bite of my bar, and would have happily eaten the rest of the pan! The good news is that these are somewhat healthy, but don't taste it at all. My husband said that they taste like Seven Layer Magic Bars, but they're missing the half cup of butter called for in that recipe- he didn't realize it at all!

Ingredients
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg or vegan egg substitute equivalent
1 can pumpkin
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 – 1/2 cup shredded coconut
Directions
Mix sugar, applesauce, egg, and pumpkin until well blended.
Stir in flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and chocolate chips.
Pour into a prepared 13 x 9 inch pan. Spread it out evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle on the coconut.
Bake at 350° for 25 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan completely before cutting into bars. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Italian Beef for Sandwiches

In a completely unrelated recipe, I made this for dinner tonight and my husband approved! I served the beef on hard rolls with provolone cheese. I bought sweet peppers to roast and throw in there too, but that just didn't happen today. I have plenty leftover, hopefully to freeze and serve for dinner another night. Here's my version of the recipe:

About 1-1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp onion salt

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 bay leaf

1/2 small pkg (.7 oz) dry Italian-style salad dressing mix

3 lb chuck roast

Directions:

Place beef in slow cooker. I used 2 qt size and it was perfect. Pour water in bottom of the slow cooker. Pour spices on top of beef, then turn beef over. Cover, and cook on low for 10-12 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. Just before serving, pour off juices into a gravy separator. Allow fat to rise to the top, then pour juices back into the slow cooker. Shred meat with a fork and serve on hard rolls.

A Second Chance?

2009-12-04T22:03:00.000-05:00

So do you remember the BIG INTERVIEW that I had back in August? The job where I felt like things were just falling into place left and right? My husband was actually supportive of me taking the job. I found a day care center for our son that we were both at least considering. The 4 week training program for the position just happened to be located less than an hour from my in-laws, meaning that instead of leaving my son and not seeing him for close to a month, I would be able to finagle bringing him WITH me and letting them have some serious grandparent bonding time. I would also be able to sneak in some mommy time there too. Of course, I thought that I would actually LIKE the work and even be good at it, but that all just seems secondary to all of the other concerns. And then it just became the job that I didn't get.

I reread the post I wrote about not getting the job, and it's kind of funny that I put on such a brave face. In the real world, there was no brave face. I was desperate for something to work out with the job. I felt like I could not possibly continue as things were for a single second more. I really just felt like I was floundering with the whole stay at home thing and that we were floundering without my income, or more specifically, the income that I would have gotten if I'd gotten the job. There were some seriously dark days in there and some serious feelings of not being good enough. Looking back now, I'm not really sure WHAT changed, but somehow, I got through it.

Fast forward three and a half months, and the same company is posting for the same position in a neighboring city- the city where I actually live. I actually got a call from a recruiter based on my Monster resume listing and when I told her I'd interviewed with them already, she said that she could not represent me with that company. I decided that if she thought I was a possible candidate for the position, then maybe I really am. So I went to the company's website directly, found the position and applied. Then I e-mailed the recruiter I worked with last time and told her that I was interested in the position. And then I heard nothing. So when the baby finally took a decent nap yesterday, I called and left her a message asking about the next step. Apparently, this is the key to getting an interview with this company, because a few hours later, I got a call from the local manager here (different local manager from last time) scheduling me for a phone screen on Monday. WOO HOO!

So now I'm trying to become uber-prepared for the 30 minute phone screen- whatever that is going to be. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but my little optimistic self wants to believe that I was somehow meant to have these last few months with the baby before going back to work and this was just the way things were meant to work out. If not, it just feels like a cruel trick to get my hopes up again and then just have nothing come of it. We'll see- keep your fingers crossed for me at 8:30 Monday morning. We'll see where it goes from there...

How to save money on Christmas Photos

2009-11-24T12:48:00.000-05:00

When baby T was born, we dutifully signed up for the JC Penney Photo club, since we figured we'd be having his photo taken a lot. I was completely freaked out by the first photo shoot- Christmas shots with my 6-week old and husband. I wasn't sure what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well they handled everything. I didn't really like having to stand there and pick my photos right then while trying to bounce a fussy baby, but we made it through and got some semi decent shots. His Easter shots were okay too, but nothing to write home about. His one year photos, though, were a mess! I had trouble scheduling the photo session since I wanted to go in the same day. Their on line service doesn't allow you to do that and no one from the THREE studios I called felt the need to call me back. Ug. When we finally did get in, the photographer was less than enthusiastic and the shots that we got were mediocre at best. My husband wanted to be in charge of choosing the images and print package we got, so we spent a lot more than I wanted for mediocre photos. To add further insult to injury, when I went to pick the photos up, the woman at the studio was so incredibly rude. I've never been chastised quite that was as an adult, and certainly never as a paying customer. The entire experience left me looking for a better alternative to high priced mall photos.

I checked out a few professional photographer's packages and found them to be a little too pricy for our budget right now. All I wanted was for someone to take decent photos of us and give me the images- with all the various sites out there for photos, I didn't need someone to print them for me. It was off to Craig's list for me, where I was able to find a student photographer who was willing to meet us at an area park and spend some time taking photos of the three of us. She would provide a CD of edited images and all right to the pictures. For $35. If I wanted her to come to our home, she would bring a second student (for safety reasons- smart girl!) and charge $50. Two photographers for $50, in my own home! Perfect! We had our photo session in the park a few days ago and I already have my images. There are some amazing shots of our son- candid and smiling! It was far less stressful than trying to get him to stay still in the studio and I didn't have to deal with rude people. Homerun!

WFMW- Pandora internet radio

2009-11-18T13:54:00.000-05:00

LOOK MOM, NEW BLOG POST! (Haha- it's been two whole weeks!!!!)

I'm not sure how I missed out on this whole pandora thing for so long. It's AMAZING. My father-in-law mentioned it the other night since my brother-in-law set things up for him. I'm kind of sick of every single song on my iPod, so I thought I'd give it a try too. AMAZING! Go to here now and set up your own account. (DISCLOSURE: I get nothing if you click on that link. You get great FREE music!)

Here's how it works... simply tell Pandora your favorite song or musician and it will create an entire radio station around your selection. As long as you're connected to the internet, you've got your own personal station. You can add artists or songs to your initial selection to get more variety. You can also tell it if it plays a song you don't like and it will NEVER play that song again.

Here's where it gets really cool though... if you have a fancy phone with internet capability (i.e. BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm Pre), you can go to www.pandora.com from your phone and get the same stations you've set up on your home computer on your phone. It does warn, though, that the amount of data exchanged is HUGE, so you need to make sure that you have an unlimited data plan. My husband says it also can be a drain on your battery. My phone (and probably yours too) has a headphone jack, so I can listen to the music on my phone OR I can plug my phone into the AUX slot on the car and have my own personal radio.

I've even set up my 14 month old with his own radio station. I've nixed anything too annoying, so we mostly get mellow, fun songs. With my phone, if there are not any headphones plugged in, the songs will just play over the phone's speakers. I threw the phone in the side of the jogging stroller today while we were out and it was nice for him to have tunes to jam to while mommy was running!

There are a few ads that run from time to time, but they are infrequent and SHORT. I am more than happy to hear a few ads to get free music! Pandora works for me!

For more WFMW tips, visit We Are THAT Family.

Christmas Gifts that don't break the bank!

2009-11-04T21:20:00.000-05:00

Kaley over at Cha-Ching on a Shoestring is posting a series about how she'll be spending less than $50 on Christmas this year, basically by using all the great resources she's accumulated through the year. This has really inspired me to start looking for ways to save without scrooging this Christmas. Here's what I've done:

Cashed in my Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards. Swagbucks is a site that allows you to search and earn "Swagbucks" just for searching the net! If you're not yet a member, I encourage you to join by clicking on the banner above. You'll be on your way to your own Amazon gift card in no time, and I'll get a little bonus in my Swagbuck account too. (Thanks.)
Cashed in my "MyPoints" for Amazon gift cards. MyPoints is a site that lets you earn points by reading emails that they send and visiting various sites. You can also earn points through shopping with MyPoints and even printing coupons! I like that I can not only earn points, but that I also learn about new websites that I might not otherwise have come across. (If you join through the link above, I'll get a one time referral bonus. Thank you.)
One of those new sites that I found through MyPoints, was Early Moments. They are offering membership into their Baby Einstein Playful Discoveries program. You pay only $4.99 for shipping and receive 2 high quality board books, a cloth book, music CD, tote bag and Playful Discoveries Cards. There's no obligation to buy anything else. I ordered this for our little guy a few weeks ago, with every intention of putting it under the tree for him. I received the package today, but half the contents were lost in transit! I called their customer service department and they said that they will be sending me an entire new package. They were easy to deal with and I have high hopes going forward. I know that there is some controversy around Baby Einstein, but we enjoy their DVDs *sparingly*. We also have another Baby Einstein touch and feel type board book that baby T enjoys. If you have a baby on your Christmas list, this is a $5 gift that will feel like a lot more! By the way, I don't get anything if you order from the above link.
I am seriously thinking about buying a Leap Frog Tag Junior system for baby T. Coupon Carol has the details on how to get one at Target for under $15. It seems like a good price, but I don't know a whole lot about the toy itself. Anyone else know anything about this toy?

What are your plans for the holidays? How are you making the most of every penny this year?

Walgreens MONEY MAKERS this week/ month!

2009-11-04T20:59:00.000-05:00

So I haven't been doing the whole Walgreens thing lately. I decided that I'm a CVS girl and that's that. I don't have room for two drugstores in my life. Then I got news of some fantastic deals at Walgreens this week and I'm sucked right back in! Here's the scoop:

Deal # 1- Almay One Coat Mascara

These are ringing up differently at various stores, but here's how it worked for me: Buy One mascara at $6.99, get the second free. The shelf stated that Almay items are buy one, get one 50% off, but they rang up buy one, get one free. There is a $4 off coupon in the monthly Walgreens coupon book. Since you are buying two items, they should take $8 off, for $1.01 overage. You need to have something else to buy as they will not actually give you cash back. At my store, the coupon didn't work when the cashier scanned it, but he entered it manually with no problem. This is the deal that I was expecting when I went into the store, but then, when I checked out, I also got $5 RR! I paid $0.97 for two mascaras and a Diet Coke, and got $5 RR back! WOO HOO! This deal should work through Saturday. (Thanks to Coupon Cravings for the details. Crazy Coupon Carol also has information on the $5 RR.)

Deal #2- Lubriderm Daily Moisture Lotion

With my newfound $5RR windfall, I headed back to Walgreens today to do this deal (also thanks to Coupon Cravings):

Buy three 6 ounce bottles Lubriderm Fragrance Free Daily Moisture Lotion at $3.79 each. Use three- $2 off coupons from the 10/11 Redplum insert or printable here, get $8 RR! There is also a $1 off Walgreens coupon available in the Diabetes & You Magazine, but I couldn't find this in my store. Even without those coupons, I still got free lotion + $2.63 overage in RR. My hands are so chapped these days, due to constant washing, so I am thrilled to have such a high quality lotion to use and even more thrilled that it was FREE. This deal should work all month long.

Happy Shopping!

You get as good as you give.

2009-11-02T10:34:00.000-05:00

One of my biggest struggles as a SAHM is the lack of recognition that I receive. I'm not looking for a purple heart or anything- this isn't Iraq or Afghanistan, I know. BUT it's also not like my one year old son says, "Gee mom, thanks for changing my diaper for the tenth time today. It really feels great when I'm not all wet." Nope, instead I carry him, kicking and screaming, into the bedroom, pin him down, rip off the old diaper and strap on the new one while trying to make sure that he doesn't wriggle his way off the bed.

My husband is much more likely to ask why something DOESN'T get done than appreciate something that DOES. I spent a good chunk of my son's nap time last week mopping the miles of tile that we have in this house. It took two dirty water buckets, but I got ALL the tile clean at one time. First time since we moved in about 10 months ago, I'm embarrassed to admit. The next morning when I woke up, I really enjoyed seeing ALL the tile clean- no dog drool, no crumbs ANYWHERE. I asked my husband, "Don't the floors look nice, hon?" His response? "Let me go look at them- yeah, I guess so." He was there while I was mopping- it's not like he came home and I expected him to notice- he knew that I had mopped the floors. And yet instead of just giving me the praise or recognition that I was looking for, he felt the need to actually inspect the floors.

We had a little discussion a few days later where he accused me of not being supportive. He was probably right- I probably could have been more kind in what I said, but there are times when I feel like I've got nothing else to give. I've mopped, cooked, cleaned, wiped, changed and laundered til I'm blue in the face and it seems like no one notices. I certainly don't get a paycheck at the end of the week for a job well done. And there are times that I just feel like I cannot possibly do ANOTHER thing. So when my husband needed me to be supportive, and I was feeling completely unsupported and unencouraged, I told him, "Sometimes you get as good as you give."

Then came yesterday's message at church. The reading:

Matthew 5:3-10 (New International Version)

³"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
⁵Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
⁷Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(from Biblegateway)

Now, I'm not exactly sure that Jesus was talking to the SAHM when he said all this, but it sure spoke to this SAHM. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers." It looks like I was right- you really DO get as good as you give.

And it's even more powerful when you read it in The Message:

Matthew 5:3-10 (The Message)

³"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

⁴"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

⁵"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

⁶"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

⁷"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.

⁸"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

⁹"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

(Still from Biblegateway)

"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for." Strong stuff there I think. And maybe not a paycheck, but something I'm banking on this week.

The division of labor

2009-10-31T19:19:00.001-04:00

All fellow bloggers, I need some perspective here. Talk to me about the division of labor at your house- you work at home, your spouse works somewhere else. What does he handle as far as child care, cooking, laundry, housework? How do you manage to get time for yourself while still making sure that all the other needs of the house are attended to? Who gets up in the night if the kiddos wake up? Who puts them to bed?

Bonus round: how did you determine who would do what? Did it just flow naturally, involve some discussion? Compromise?

Link back to your own blog posts dealing with these issues or leave me some tips and tricks in the comments. Thanks!

Edited to add some posts related to the above topic...

Rookie Moms- You May Already be at 50-50

The Simple Dollar- When One Partner is Self Employed

Equally Shared Parenting An entire website, complete with blog and soon to be released book, devoted to the idea of 50/50 parenting.

In Defense of Cry It Out/ the Ferber Method

2009-10-27T22:18:00.000-04:00

If you told me before I actually had a child that I would be writing a blog post defending the practice of crying it out, I would have laughed. I had no intention of sitting outside my child's bedroom door listening to him wail a la Mad About You. I read books while I was pregnant about mothers being genetically predispositioned to respond to their infant's cries. I read The Happiest Baby on the Block, which points out that babies in the womb are held and fed 24-7, so it is impossible to “spoil” a newborn by holding them too much, or feeding them too often. This all worked well for us- I was the mom who kept having to check the baby because it seemed that he just never did anything but sleep. The pediatrician had to tell me to quit waking him up to feed him. He slept through the night without us really having to do anything, which was a huge blessing since I was working at that time. We had to get up at 6 am for work. If the baby woke up at 5, I could walk into his room, tell him it wasn't time to wake up yet, and he would go back to sleep. (Keep reading- don't hate me just yet...)

Then we hit six months or so. Teeth started coming in, the baby could sit up on his own and I wasn't working anymore. The grandparents were visiting and the baby woke up at 4 am. I jumped out of bed and ran into his room, wanting to make sure that he didn't wake the visiting grandparents. I figured his teeth must be bothering him, or he must be hungry, so I nursed him, and he went back to sleep. Perfect- no problem, no crying it out. This became our routine for a while... and then several weeks... and then I couldn't remember the last time he slept through the night. He would wake up about 4 and I would nurse him, but then he stopped going back to sleep. He'd look at me after nursing for close to an hour and be ready to play, to start his day. He wasn't napping well during this time either, so we were both bleary eyed and quite cranky. I am not proud of my parenting skills during that time. I was getting very little sleep, barely functioning. I was constantly fighting with my husband and on edge all the time. I literally could not function with the amount of sleep we were getting, and I can't imagine it was much fun for the baby either.

Enter Dr. Ferber, the supposed sleep expert. I went to the library and checked out the latest edition of his book. I am by no means an expert on the subject, but the major points that I remember from the book made a lot more sense that I thought they would. Teaching children good sleep habits, including being able to fall asleep on their own if they wake during the night, is an invaluable skill. Children should be able to fall asleep on their own and stay asleep all night long. The Ferber Method (or what I remember of the method from a read a few months back) advocates training your child to fall asleep on their own gradually, yes, by allowing them to cry it out (CIO). It's actually a lot more humane than I thought before actually reading the book. The idea is to let the child know that you as the parent are there, but that they need to fall asleep without your intervention. On the first night of Ferberization, you allow the child to cry it out for a short amount of time (as little as a few minutes, I think- going off memory here) and then go back into the room and comfort them. The amounts of time that you allow the child to cry it out gradually increases until he or she falls asleep. The child is never left to cry without parental contact for more than 30 minutes.

So we embarked on our Dr. Ferber journey. The next night when baby T. woke up, I went into his bedroom, made sure that he was not wet, hurt, or otherwise in need of something, then explained that it was still nighttime and he needed to go back to sleep. Then I would set the kitchen timer, glue myself to a chair right outside his bedroom door, and read Dr. Ferber. I would go in after the recommended time, remind the baby that he was okay and that it was time to sleep. And then I would curse Dr. Ferber. What the hell did he know anyway?? There were nights that I HATED the man, his book, life in general. It was torture to sit there and listen to baby T cry. All I wanted to do was go in there, pick him up and do whatever I possible could to make him stop. But I'd tried that- I'd tried letting him get up in the middle of the night, nursing him, rocking him, walking him, begging him, and it got us nowhere. So he cried. It was miserable.

The longest baby T ever cried was two hours. He woke up at 3 am and I went in to him and told him that he needed to go back to sleep- it was still night time. I was in his room again at 3:30, again at 4 and again at 4:30. According to Dr. Ferber, 5 am is morning, so at 5, baby T got to come out. It was a huge relief. I think, but don't quote me, I nursed him and he went back to sleep. It had been a L O N G night for us both. The next night, it only took three times of me going in there to remind him it was night time and he fell back to sleep on his own. More progress was made the following night when I didn't have to go in more than once. We finally slept through the night again.

I'm not going to claim that thing have been perfect since then. Baby T still doesn't have a great nap schedule. To be honest, he's been waking up again in the middle of the night. When we were on vacation, there were nights that he was up every two hours. There are nights though, that he does sleep through, and on the nights that he wakes up, I can explain to him that it's time to sleep and he generally settles himself back down. I am a very proud mamma when I hear him cry out in the middle of the night, then hear him turn on his musical glowworm and settle himself back to sleep without needing me at all. We are both getting more sleep and the difference in baby T is amazing. He laughs more, has fewer meltdowns and is actually less clumsy then when he wasn't sleeping.

So where is this post coming from? Well, it's actually in response to a post written by Hobo Mama, in which she argues against CIO. I like Hobo Mama, I agree with a lot of her posts, and I don't think she's necessarily wrong about this. I just know that for us, not using CIO was not working. After reading her post this morning, I felt like a bad mom. When I put my child down for his nap and he cried, and I let him, I felt like a bad mom. The alternate title of this post could be, “Why and How I am not a bad mother even though I let my kid cry it out.” I hope that maybe, for someone else, the post will serve as the “What and How you are not a bad mother either even if you let your kid cry it out” post. My purpose in writing is NOT to attack Hobo Mama, Attachment Parenting or those who choose not to use the CIO method, it's simply to say, that didn't work for us, and this did. Also, me feeling like a bad mother is not the fault of Hobo Mama- I get to a place of self doubt without a ride from anyone else, thanks.

Hobo Mama's main point, in bold, is, “Believe your baby has something of value to say to you.” I'm right there with her on that one- I don't think that baby T cries just for kicks and giggles. I believe that when he cries, it's because he has something to express and that's his only way to do it. That being said, I'm not convinced that when he cries when I put him down to sleep, it means that he needs me to be right there in the room with him. I think it's just as possible that he's saying, “I'm tired (or overtired) and I'm mad that I need to sleep. I want to play. I don't want to stop and take a nap.” I feel this way as an adult. I know how much sleep I need in order to be healthy, to be a good mom and good wife. And yet, I constantly rationalize staying up just a few more minutes to finish a blog post, or read one more chapter, or finish some household task that I'm convinced needs to be done at 11 pm. I would LOVE to be one of those people who survives on four hours of sleep every night. I know that's not me, and honestly, sometimes that makes me mad. I don't want to go to bed. Isn't it possible that my son feels the same way? Couldn't this be what he's communicating with his cries? And isn't it my job as his mother, his GOOD mother, to make sure that he sleeps, that he gets what he needs?

So if we've established that my child needs sleep, then why not get him sleep without the crying? I've tried! I promise I've tried! I've tried rocking, nursing, driving, walking, begging, bribing and praying the child to sleep. I've tried sitting in his room with him. I've tried rubbing his back in the crib. I've tried music. We have a solid bedtime routing with stories and cuddles. We use the lavender bath soap. We tried co-sleeping and it wasn't for us- for any of us, baby included. If he falls asleep nursing and I try to put him into the crib, he wakes up MAD. Same deal with the car. He won't sit still anymore for me to rock him. The begging and bribing seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The best and fastest way to get him to sleep is to leave him in his crib to get mad about having to sleep in the first place. After he makes his feelings known on the subject, he generally settles himself down for a nap. Sleeping at night has fortunately come a lot easier for us and these days he goes down at night without much fuss, thankfully.

To conclude this VERY LONG blog post, I just want to say that this is what worked for us- maybe it will work for you too, maybe not. This is what allowed me to provide sleep for my child when nothing else I did seemed to be working. My “baby” is now thirteen months old and was about eight months old when I started letting him cry it out. My feeling about letting a newborn cry it out are very different. In no way would I advocate leaving a hungry baby or wet baby to cry it out. I knew/ know that my child's basic needs were met before concluding that what he truly needed was sleep.

The Lost Update Tidbits...

2009-10-24T20:56:00.000-04:00

Okay, so a few more updates that I forgot with the original update post.

I won a $25 Starbucks gift card with the Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards Program! WOO HOO! My in-laws were nice enough to buy diapers and wipes for us to use while we were there, which meant that we didn't have to worry about fitting them in the suitcase. I entered one of the codes that was on the package of wipes, then decided to play just one instant win game. And then I instantly won! WOO HOO! If you need codes for points, check out Cha-Ching on a Shoestring for a great head start. (I will attempt to reign in my excessive use of exclamation points in future posts, but no promises! Especially where FREE!!!!! coffee is concerned!!!!!!)

Speaking of diapers, did you order your diaper sample from WalMart yet? Go here and you can request a sample of size 4 or 5 Pampers Extra Protection. It looks like they are marketing these as nighttime diapers. (via CFO and Cha-Ching on a Shoestring) Don't forget this tip from Parent Hacks about beefing up daytime diapers, if you run into a problem. I also just learned that you can dab some vaporub on a panty liner and stick it in your kid's crib in order to ease night time congestion. Actual complete directions here. Gotta love the blogosphere!

I made an ABC Wrap (Asian Style Baby Carrier) or Mei Tai baby carrier to take on our trip with us. HIGHLY recommend it! I have NO idea why I didn't have one of these when my child was smaller, actually LIKED to be carried and didn't weigh as much as a baby elephant. You can find the directions to make your own at www.WearYourBaby.com. It's seriously easy- buy a piece of fleece at the fabric store, bring it home, make a few cuts and instant baby carrier! The cost is great too- about $10 AND I had enough fabric left over to make a sleeve for my laptop. I found the directions as well as a helpful diagram at Hobo Mama. If you have more money than crafty skills, you can buy your own wrap at Kozy Carrier. I would actually LOVE to buy one of these- they come in great colors and styles. Maybe for the next baby. They also have great (and FREE) demonstrations of how to use this type of baby carrier. I would love to try carrying our baby on our back, but we haven't gotten there yet. The carrier was great for the airport, when I couldn't have baby T in the stroller. It was also used at the train station when I could not put him down for fear of him running off the platform. I also had weird morbid thoughts of the plane crashing and being able to carry my baby hands free while evacuating the plane. Gotta love the way my crazy mind works.

Speaking of the plane, I was a little annoyed when flight attendants came by after the little safety demonstration and mentioned specifically to me, with the baby, that I needed to place my own oxygen mask over my face before attempting to assist him with his. Really, I mean, who doesn't know that at this point??? Then I realized that if something were to happen, there is no way in hell that I'd worry about my own stinking mask if my baby couldn't breath. I know that makes no sense, I know that if I pass out in the process of getting his mask on, we're both in trouble, but every day, EVERY DAY, his mask gets put on before I worry about mine. I make something for him to eat and feed him. I eat whatever he doesn't and maybe something else that I throw together before he moves onto the next thing. I get him dressed and then take two minutes to throw some horrible sweat pant/ tee shirt combination on before he starts pulling down all the clothes in the bedroom closet. It might be time to listen to the flight attendant...

That's all I've got. I hope to see you all back here soon- no more going a month without posting!

Product and Recipe Review-Slow Cooker Orange Chicken Recipe

2009-10-23T12:30:00.000-04:00

I've made this Orange Chicken from the Year of Slow Cooking site twice now. Basically, you dredge small pieces of chicken in flour, then brown the chicken in a skillet. The browned chicken gets cooked in an orange sauce in the slow cooker (apparently that's what all the cool kids are calling CrockPots these days!). Here's my experience with the recipe, as well as a review of my new(ish) slow cooker.

The first time, it was not great. I made some changes to the recipe- I was afraid of making it too salty, so I really held back on the amount of salt that I added. I also went light on the brown sugar, convincing myself when I tasted it, that the sauce was sweet enough without the entire three tablespoons called for in the recipe. When it came time to cook the chicken, though- I did it exactly as directed- low for six hours in a four quart cooker. The finished product needed more salt and was not quite sweet enough. I tried to help the situation by adding salt and white sugar to the chicken while in the slow cooker and it did improve the taste somewhat. The worst part of the whole thing, though, was that my chicken was dry inside. I frequently have this problem when I cook chicken in the slow cooker. I do not understand how chicken cooked while submerged in liquid can somehow come out dry, but I manage to do it way too often. I ate the chicken- it was okay, but not great... hubs was not hungry for dinner that night and the leftovers got left in the fridge when we left for almost two weeks. Oops...

The recipe calls for half a can of orange juice concentrate. This meant that I still had half a can of OJ concentrate in my freezer. That, coupled with the desire to make good on this recipe, made me try again. This time, though, I used more salt and the full amount of sugar in the sauce. I tried to keep my chicken chunks larger to help with the dryness. I used a two quart cooker and cooked the chicken for about three hours on LOW. Since the chicken is browned before it goes into the slow cooker, it cooked through with no problem. The resulting dish was much improved! Hubs liked it almost as much as the pre-made stuff in the freezer section of Costco- he just said that it was not as sweet. I might have to bump that brown sugar even more! I just polished off the leftovers for dinner tonight and I must say that it was yummy, even reheated. It has the comfort food feel of take out Chinese food and will be making an appearance on our menu on a regular basis.

By the way, Stephanie O'Dea, the author of A Year of SlowCooking blog, has also written a book- Make it Fast, Cook it Slow. It's getting fantastic reviews around the blogosphere and based on Stephanie's writing on her blog, I would imagine that it's fantastic.

I've been cooking in a new slow cooker these days- I got one for my birthday. I was lucky enough to pick out whichever model I wanted, and the one that I chose was this one:

Hamilton Beach 33134 3-in-1 Slow Cooker with 2-, 4-, and 6-Quart Crocks

The big selling point was that this slow cooker comes with three removable crocks- a two quart, a four quart and a six quart. I previously used CrockPot brand slow cooker that was five quarts or so. It was a great slow cooker, but there were times that I needed MORE space and it was a PAIN to clean. I actually received it for my birthday exactly 10 years ago. It still works perfectly, but it was time for an upgrade. Enter the new Hamilton Beach slow cooker. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when I opened the box. The inserts are round. From the picture, I thought they were oval and I had visions of cooking a turkey in the slow cooker laid out breast up just like you would in a roasting pan. That's not going to happen in this slow cooker- chicken cooked on a beer can, sure- the six quart insert is plenty tall. I decided to give it a chance. I was pleased that the three inserts stacked neatly inside of each other, with the one lid that fits all three neatly on top, so this new slow cooker fit in the same space as my old CrockPot. The inserts are super easy to clean- so much nicer than trying to clean the inside of the cooker without submerging the heating element. I've used all three sizes inserts in the few months that I've had it and I must admit that the two quart is my favorite for right now. It seems to be the perfect size when I need to reheat a frozen roast or cook something for just the two of us. I'm glad, though, that I have the option of the larger inserts for a large butt roast or a big batch of stew. I'm also glad that I won't have to invest in another slow cooker when our family gets larger and I'm cooking larger volumes of food. If this one lasts for another ten plus years, I have a feeling that we're going to need the four and six quart inserts!

They also make a snazzy snazzy stainless steel version of this slow cooker. I thought about and debated getting this one, but I just couldn't justify spending an additional $30 or so for an appliance that was going to spend most of its time behind closed doors. Nothing else in our kitchen is stainless either, so it wasn't like it needed to match or something.

(Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you purchase any of the products listed above, I will receive a very small portion of that sale. I think. Maybe. Want to try it and help me find out?? Come on??? Please??? ;-))

The Mother of All Update Posts

2009-10-22T20:25:00.000-04:00

This poor little lonely blog hasn't been updated once this month! It makes me sad that I haven't had more time to write and that I don't have more to say. Believe it or not, I have several half written posts saved as drafts here, but I just don't feel like they're complete enough on their own. I'll try to expand some of them and cover others here in one big update post.

Our son took his very first airplane ride! He did great and I hope to have a post here soon with our travel experiences. We had a great time with my husband's family! It was great to be around extended family and gave me a taste of what life would be like if we lived closer to extended family. I would seriously consider moving if we were not so rooted here.

I went on another job interview. I've really come to hate interviewing. In an interview, you are basically opening yourself up to judgement, something I don't deal with very well. I have tried to live my life without regretting any of the decisions I've made- instead choosing to believe that all those choices that I've made- good or bad- are what got me to where I am, and that's a pretty good place. Still, it's hard to keep justifying the philosophy degree I thought was so fantastic at the time, as well as the various career choices I've made along that way. I would LOVE to go back and get that pharmacy degree that my mom was pushing!

In other interviewing news, I am convinced that just like guys don't like girls who are too into them, interviewers prefer candidates who don't show they want the position too much. I was not 100% sure that the position I interviewed for was something that I wanted, but I wanted to at least talk to them about the opportunity. I was very honest in the interview and told the interviewer that I wasn't sure about the position or the fact that it was 100% commission. At that point, she seemed to push for me to continue the interview process, even though I was very much leaning towards this NOT being the position for me. On the other hand, during the last interview that I went on, I was very eager about the position and felt very strongly that it was a great fit and I didn't get the job. Didn't even get the third interview. Act as if you don't need or want the job, and you just might get it!

The basil died during my time away. It is my position that I cannot be held responsible for its passing as I was not here during the time of its demise. I have purchased new seeds from the dollar bin at Target and will hopefully be cultivating new basil in the next few days.

The tomato and green pepper I subsequently planted, also seem to be on the way out. They were doing well before I left on my trip- green and healthy with a tomato already growing on the tomato plant. They survived while I was gone, but I noticed that something seemed to be eating the leaves of the plant. I sprayed both the tomato and the green pepper plants with a dish soap solution- read it on the internet. Now most of the leaves on the tomato plant are dead and falling off. The green pepper kind of closed in on itself and then the leaves fell off. I'm not sure if I somehow killed it with the dish soap or if the recent cold snap we had here did the plants in. I'm still holding out hope that they will somehow come back, but it's not looking good. :-( I still want to be a mom who grows things, so I'm going to do a little more research on gardening in Florida and see if I can't get something together for the next planting season.

I am loving the posts that Trent is doing over at the Simple Dollar on the Ethical Frugality. This is something that I've struggled with- how far is too far to get something for free or discounted? Is it wrong to use each of our computers to print a high dollar coupon- getting a total of four for our house instead of two? Is it wrong to use my mom's address in addition to my own for mail in rebates? He hasn't addressed any of these questions directly, but his insight on the other topics has been interesting to say the least. I'm still hoping that he'll address couponing at some point. In the meantime, Chief Family Officer weighs in on the topic here and here.

Okay... I think that covers most of the excitement for the past month or so... my intent is to get this up and write another post to be scheduled for tomorrow... you know what they say about intentions though! We'll see how it goes.

WFMW- Watering Hanging Plants

2009-09-23T09:14:00.001-04:00

Oooh!!!! I have a WFMW tip!!!! That actually WORKS!!!! I'm so excited!!!!

Last week, I was determined to morph myself into a mom who can grow stuff, so I bought a basil plant for my kitchen and a tomato plant for outside. A spider nearly derailed my plans, but I persevered, overcame, rose above and got that tomato planted! I also added a pepper plant for good measure.

The basil is hanging in my kitchen right in front of my face, where hopefully I can't forget to water it and turn it into an amazing dried vestige of its former self. So there I was, dutifully watering my baby basil when my husband pointed out that there was a hole in the bottom of the pot. I knew that- I put it there for drainage, and I was prepared to put a small bucket under the pot to catch the run off. We did that, and it worked fine, but a few days later I was dumping a cup into the sink. A cup with ice cubes... and then a light bulb went off... if I just threw a couple of ice cubes into the plant each day, they would melt slowly, watering the plant without causing all that run off through the bottom of the pot. So that's what I did. I now throw a couple of cubes to the basil each night. The soil is moist but I've yet to have any water run out of the bottom of the pot. That works for me!

For more great tips, visit We Are THAT Family. Thanks for reading!

Kudos to Publix and Kraft!

2009-09-18T20:51:00.000-04:00

Do you remember a few weeks ago when my Kraft Full Plate rebate submission went to the wrong address due to the bar coding on the recycled envelope I used? I was really upset at the thought that I missed out on $30 in gift cards due to my own silliness, trying to be frugal and green all at the same time? I went ahead and resubmitted my submission with a note letting the Kraft people know what happened. I used a clean envelope this time, and I hoped that they would take pity on me and send the gift cards even though my submission didn't make it by the cut off date on the rebate form. Guess what? They did! I received my gift cards in the mail today!

I'm already a pretty loyal Publix shopper, even when the cashiers get huffy with me about my coupons. I also feel pretty positive about the Kraft family of products, though I wish that they would stop using high fructose corn syrup. I can tell you though, the fact that these companies honored my rebate request even though I didn't quite meet the guidelines goes a long, long way towards building brand loyalty.

Thanks to whomever made the decision to honor my rebate!

This is why I don't garden.

2009-09-17T14:53:00.000-04:00

So I went to Lowes yesterday and very optimistically bought a lovely basil plant and a grape tomato plant. We live in Florida, land of the HOT stickiness, so apparently planting things this time of year is not as strange as it sounds. My husband gives me crap about my "gardening" skills because I managed to dry my lovely lavender and other herbs before I even harvested them. (In other words, I left them out in the hot Florida sun with no water and they shriveled up and died. The lavender smelled amazing though, even all dried and dead.) Anywho, I bought a basil plant yesterday and a lovely INDOOR hanging planter for it. We already had the plant hook there and I figured that hanging the basil would keep it away from baby hands and doggie noses. It also keeps the plant right in front of my face and increases the likelihood that I will not kill it. The basil seems pretty happy in its new home.

Today was for the tomato. I would love to grow the tomato indoors too, away from pesky bugs and lizards and frogs and the other Outside Things, but apparently this is not an option with vegetables. I repurposed a lovely patio pot for my little tomato plant and was all about planting it this afternoon while the baby slept. I even braved my way all the way down to the edge of the yard to grab a bag of potting soil left back there from the last gardening adventure. There appeared to be a large spider at the top of the soil, but I shook the bag around a bit and he didn't move, so I went ahead and dumped the soil into the pot. The spider got lost in the shuffle and I didn't give him too much thought since he was dead. Uh huh. Until he wasn't dead anymore and came to the top of the pot! YIKES! This guy is HUGE and he moves FAST. I generally think that spiders are pretty cool and they eat other bugs, so that's a plus. I would go out of my way to save a spider and its web if I could. But this guy, he is a little harder to love... he's BIG... and scary... I think that he could maybe kill me... and now I've brought him from the tippy back of the yard right up next to the house. Great. I'm gonna have nightmares...

I think that I maybe need to accept that I am not a gardener and resign myself to paying for overpriced, lesser quality tomatoes... stay tuned for the next episode of Jamie vs. the spider.