Outrageous Buys and Sells

Brad and I are generally pretty frugal people, but, this year have had a couple of outrageous purchases. The first was a block of cheese for $6/lb. And no, it wasn’t some fancy cheese that merited the price, it was just our everyday sharp cheddar. We about choked when we realized what we had paid.

The second, was a Star Wars Lego set for $100. I think Legos are great, but not for $100 and not when it’s something you put together and then just look at it. (This occurred in one of the rare moments when I took my kids to the store and actually allowed their arguments to persuade me. Spencer actually paid $50 towards this. Ouch!)

We did have an Ebay sell to balance out our losses. Brad purchased a Hewlett Packard Business Consultant II calculator in 1993 for around $60. It’s been laying around the house for years without use and so he decided to give Ebay a try and got a whopping $305.00! The only explanation is that the exact calculator is discontinued and some view it as a collectors item. So, look around your house- you may strike it rich with the push of a button.

Fine Arts Night

This evening, the three boys and I went to Fine Arts Night at their elementary school. It's a really fun celebration of fine arts the school has a tradition of putting on. Local artists come and share their talents such as live bands, vocals, piano, pottery, drawing, weaving, mimes, etc. And, the entire school is decorated with the childrens artwork.

The kids really enjoyed the mimes, painting ceramic, and showing me their work. I really enjoyed being with them and was so pleased with their willingness to stay after and pitch in with the clean up. It's amazing how time changes things. When these three were all little, taking them all by myself somewhere was a huge chore and extremely exhausting. Now, we're finally to a stage where it's totally manageable and enjoyable to take them places. I love it. Here are a few photos of the evening.

My big project this week was refinishing the dresser below. My parents bought this 30 years ago when my sister Jennifer was born. My older sister Amie used it for her first three kids and then gave it to me. It was a dark brown color that didn't match anything else in the room, so after nine years, I've finally gotten around to painting it. And it looks so much better!

And, of course, Lucy missed me while I was gone, repeating for half an hour, "I want mommy. I want mommy. Where's mommy?..." Brad had her call me on the cell phone, but she needed a little extra time when I got home. So, I let her stay up while I put the knobs on the dresser. I still find myself staring at her in awe and amazement so often, thinking, "I can't believe you're really mine." I'm so grateful to finally have my little girl. I adore her. I love her radiant face, her pigtails, and all the bright colored clothing I get to dress her in.

A bird's eye view...

Yesterday, when Brad came home from work, he decided to clean the leaves out of the gutters. One by one, the rest of us ended up on the roof as well. Little Lu didn’t have any fear of climbing up and down the ladder and exploring the rooftop. She wants to be in on all the action around here. I'm glad the kids are adventurous as long as they're safe about it (which was questionable on the roof!).







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Hurray for Charlie!

Today marks a monumental day for Charles Frederick Halverson. He lost his first tooth! (Actually, his first teeth). Here’s the low down. This morning as Spencer and Sawyer were leaving for school, Charlie was trying to tie dental floss around his loose teeth, hoping to slam a door and have them come out. He kept getting really frustrated because the dental floss wouldn’t stay on his teeth.

After listening to his cries long enough, I said, “Charlie, I don’t think the dental floss thing really works. I think people just say it does. It would probably be better just to wiggle it around with your finger.” But, he really wanted to use the dental floss, so I tied it around his tooth again. The next thing I heard was, “Mom, my tooth came out!”

I couldn’t believe it. He had given the dental floss a little tug and voila! the tooth was out. It hardly even hurt. So, I said, “Well, do you want to tie it around the other loose tooth and see if that one comes out too?” Sure enough, the dental floss worked like a charm. Charlie’s an old pro now. We can’t wait for Spencer and Sawyer to get home to tell them all about it. And, we really hope the tooth fairy remembers this time.

tooth one

and two
the culprit
packaged for the tooth fairy
let's call Dad!


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Screen Free

We had a nice Spring break here at home and today the kids are back in school. I want to catch up a little on what we did this week. The big accomplishment was “going screen free.” I came up with the idea and was able to get the family on board with a little coercion and some monetary gains- i.e. the boys all got new roller blades.

One of my biggest pet peaves is kids spending too much time watching the T.V., playing the computer or video games, and basically not using their mind or body to be productive. I’m not against T.V., videos, etc., but I think there’s a tendency for media to become misused because it’s so easily accessible. My intention in going “screen free” was to eliminate the “I’m bored and can’t think of anything else to do, so can I just plop down in front of a screen?” or “I’m busy and don’t want to deal with you right now, so watch this show.” I found that was creeping into our daily routines too often. So, now, when those same issues come up, we know the screen isn’t an option and we fill that space of time with something else such as: roller blading, riding bikes, swimming, drawing, painting, playing a board game, building forts, playing outside, with chalk, play dough, cooking, reading, using Legos, etc. Using these little bits of time, here and there in productive ways, will ultimately, yield better fruit.

Nowadays, there are screens, screens, everywhere, from televisions, to computers, Ipods, cell phones, black berries, handheld video games, etc. They can totally bombard your life. I see so many teenagers so enraptured in this stuff at inappropriate times, (like when I’m teaching my Sunday school lesson), that I’m passionate about keeping it at bay. I want my kids to be technologically savvy, but also know there’s life beyond screens and be well versed in that as well.

We haven’t completely eliminated screens from our lives, but we’re taking more control of when and how they are used. We’re hoping that after our two-month trial period, we will have developed new habits and reverting back to the screen won’t be as enticing. (My fingers are crossed).

I want us all to be more conscious of how we spend our time. And use it to develop a talent, exercise, learn something new, etc., which will make us all more interesting individuals. I find that so many kids these days seem to be duds (the eyes glazed over look)- meaning, they are really good at text messaging, pushing buttons, using technology, but have a hard time carrying on an intelligent conversation, looking people in the eyes, and being engaging. I really want my kids to be interested in the world around them, and interesting people. I believe if we use our time wisely, in productive ways, they will be.

On a personal note, my big accomplishment this week was sanding down and refinishing our kitchen table. After eight years of use, our kitchen table was looking fairly junkie. The finish had worn off and marker, pen, and other stuff had seeped into the wood. Rather than buy a new table, I decided to refinish it. We borrowed an electric sander from a friend and I made the mistake of thinking it would be just fine to sand it in the middle of the kitchen, contrary to Brad’s advice to do it outside. So, after getting the sanding done, I got to spend the next two days, getting all the dust out of the house, which had blanketed every surface. I put three coats of stain and five coats of polyurethane, so I think it’s good to go for another eight years.

Spongebob Still Lives!

Our children are in the category of “those without pets/pet deprived” (or any other combination of words that gives a horrible impression and evokes sympathy)- all due to their parents. So, to try and compensate, we have been “pet sitters” on several occasions. One of our favorite pets is a fish named Spongebob, who belongs to our good friends and neighbors, the Ebbens. Spongebob is getting close to holding a longevity record for fish, with seven years under his belt. Each time Jackie has asked us to “pet sit”, she assures me that if anything happens to Spongebob, not to worry, because he’s had a long life and they wouldn’t really miss him that much. So hear goes the story…

I came into the kitchen this morning to find Lucy sitting on the counter by the fish tank with one of her board books. She had turned to a page with a gold fish on it, which resembled Spongebob and was trying to get Spongebob to take notice. She was saying something like, I need to put this fish in there with that fish…” And, “The fish has an ouwie and I need to kiss him…” Then she started singing the Sunbeam song to the fish and was jabbering up a storm. It all looked innocent and cute until I looked in the fish tank and saw an unusually large amount of fish food floating around in the water and settling down on the rocks. Then Lucy chimed “Mommy, I fed the fish.” I looked in the fish food container and thought, you sure did! The container was completely empty!

Never having owned a fish, I wondered how serious of a problem this really was? Spongebob seemed to be in fish heaven with the smorgasbord. (Okay, so it wasn’t really a smorgasbord since there was only one type of food served, but it sounds better that way). Anyway, the fish was swimming around opening and closing its mouth nonstop. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I couldn’t bear to think of Spongebob kicking the bucket on my watch- even if he had outlived all his friends and family. I can appreciate a life well lived! So, I scooped him out and placed him in another container while I lovingly cleaned his tank. He’s back in now and seems to be doing fine. So, hopefully Lucy will continue to admire him, but from a distance. Long live Spongebob!

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The joy of reading

(Okay, so I know it’s overkill on the pictures, but I loved them all and I know at a minimum, my mom will enjoy them!)

One of my favorite things to see is Brad reading with the kids. We’ve made books and reading a priority since the children were babies. Many times, the only thing that would calm our restless toddlers down was a story. Then, they could sit for several minutes, mesmerized by what they saw and heard. The biggest problem was me falling asleep after reading to them for a few minutes. When I could feel my eyes starting to close I’d say, “Okay, now let’s all take a little rest…” Which, of course never worked very well. I was always amazed at the magical effect books had on my little ones.

Spencer is a voracious reader and Sawyer has followed his lead. They love to curl up with a good book and read for hours. When Sawyer was in kindergarten, he and I started having read- a- thons while Spencer was at school. I’m not a night person, so I read with the kids during the day and Brad reads with them at night. I hope they continue the pattern we’ve set and become lifelong readers.

I love picking up a good book and leaving my “reality” for a time to explore other places, people, time periods, ideas, etc. I love to continually be learning. Generally, I gravitate to non-fiction books because I feel there are so many things to learn about that I’ve missed along the way. But, I can also really enjoy a good novel. I got totally wrapped up in the Harry Potter series when Spencer started reading it. He really likes it when I read what he’s reading and always asks where I’m at in the book.

I also love it when we've had a family read aloud book. One of my favorite memories is Brad reading Where the Red Fern Grows to all of us as we cuddled together on the couch in our junkie little apartment in Illinois when we were waiting for our house to be built. That was something pleasant to look forward to every night. The kids loved it too.

Another benefit to reading is that it keeps our lively children quiet. Brad came home one night to find all of us reading separately and said, “Wow, this is great. It feels like we live in a library.” Sometimes the long stretch of quiet is so therapeutic. We both rejoice when another of our children learns to read because we know our home and car rides will be much more peaceful.

Expectations...

Managing expectations has definitely been an ongoing learning process for me- especially when it comes to my children. I don’t know how many “talks” we’ve had or how many “incentive programs” we’ve created (which work for a time) before we’re back to the same old habits. I have learned to simplify and only expect two or three things from each child per day. And, when those things happen, I feel like we’ve been successful. When they don’t, tension starts to build. Here’s a perfect example:

My expectation

My reality

The worst is when we talk about it the night before and they smile and nod their heads in agreement and then in the morning before they leave for school, I ask, "is your room clean?" and they smile and say "yes" and then I walk upstairs after they leave and see that nothing has changed, their rooms are still a disaster. And now we have to have an "honesty" talk. But how can you stay mad when you come back downstairs to this cute little face and realize how quickly they grow up.

What are they going to remember about being in our home? Are they going to always think of me with a scowl on my face, lecturing them. Or, will they know I did my best to teach them and also took plenty of time to love and enjoy them?

I remember when Spencer and Sawyer were little writing in my journal that my biggest challenge with Sawyer was getting him to sit in the highchair at mealtime and changing his diaper while he wildly moved around. Now, it's keeping their rooms clean and practicing the piano. There will always be something. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep the proper perspective through it all. Especially with my "neat freak" tendencies....

Haircuts

I've been cutting Brad's hair since we got married. He refuses to go to anyone else saying, "nobody can do as good a job as you..." I've definitely made my mistakes, but we're just glad he still hair some hair left to cut. I cut the kids hair as well, usually with some complaining on their part. We've done lots of "incentivizing" over the years on haircut day. They are all suckers for sugar, so if they have a good attitude they usually get a treat. If not, we threaten that they'll have to go down the street to Great Clips and pay for their own haircuts. Since they don't earn hardly any money each month, that usually quiets them up. This last haircutting session, everybody was great- no complaining. I couldn't figure out what was going on but didn't want to upset the positive karma by asking. Let's hear it for my clean cut boys (or boybies, as I call them)!