Welcome to the 50th edition of:
Monday, 15 August 2011
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Speaking of feeling happy, am I the only one who's ready to start wearing scarfs again?
Why OH why does this picture have to be blurry, I just LOVE it.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Happy BACK to SCHOOL everyone.
Here are some pics of my kiddos on the first day of school, like always. Big B, used to be as small as Dino D seven years ago when we moved in this house, and I have a pic of them right there in that spot every year. Hurry someone hand me a tissue, I'm bawling over here. How the heck did they grow so fast? Princess was still in my tummy when we moved here, now she's off to 1st grade. Dino D is going into pre-k, and mommy will be alone. I am despite the sadness, and tears, VERY much looking forward to ME time finally after 13 years of non stop kids by my side every moment of the day, EVERY moment I tell you. In fact the little one STILL sleeps with me. Oh boy!!
At the end of the post I want to share with you how I got my kids to be responsible shoppers. It was awesome, and I highly suggest you try it too. :)
I may be their mother, but DANG they are the cutest things ever. I love you kiddos.
My one and only princess.
My boys, trouble all around.
Yup he had to change his shirt, when Dad got home, and showed him the shirt my friend from Cali sent him, he did a quick switcheroo, and was ready for school. Gotta say that shirt ROCKS.
Since Dino doesn't start school for another week, he insisted on doing his studies anyway. Boys, and crayons, the funniest thing ever. At least he finally gave in to holding the crayon the right way, lol.
Ok, so are you ready for my story about shopping with the kids.
It's easy, I gave him a budget, in my case I gave him $150 bucks to spend.
Mind you this may seem like a lot, or a little depending on who you ask, but I thought it was a perfect number and he should be able to buy enough clothes with that amount. If he was careful.
So we went from I NEED these amazing high top skater shoes, and a pair of school shoes, and an extra pair just in case, TO.....
finding a really great pair of Puma tennis shoes, on clearance for $50, and I got another pair for half off, YAY... The other pair was for dad, so he didn't need to pay for those, lol.
We went from checking out Macy's and Abercombie and wanting a pair of jeans from there, BUT not wanting to spend another $60, TO....
finding the perfect fit skinny jeans at OLD NAVY for $10.00. Score, he got 2 pairs, and a shirt, for half of what it would have cost at the other places.
I also got him to go shop at Platos Closet, a trendy goodwill kind of place. He scored on a couple shirts there, and another pair of awesome skinny jeans.
He stocked up on some cool shirts at Target too, so all in all a success.
Lesson learned, he could care less about labels, YES, and he doesn't mind second hand clothes, YES, and even though we could totally afford to shop at more expensive places, we'd rather NOT, and spend our money on other things.
So NO new backpacks, NO way. ONLY one pair of new shoes. The only new clothes they got were things they really needed, NOT wanted, which is a big difference. I love my kids. They are awesome, and I think I've taught them pretty well so far.
What about you, do you go all out for back to school shopping? Do you feel bad shopping clearance, sale, and second hand stores? What if you COULD afford it, would you still be frugal, or would you be happy to buy at those expensive places?
Today I am sharing a yummy recipe over at a dear friends blog.
Would you like to know what this is?
Then make your way over to this blog to find out!!
p.s. that header is courtesy of the lovely Agape Love Designs, just sayin!!
Lakshmi was gracious enough to have me over today, and I knew the perfect thing to share.
Since I am ASSUMING most of you lovelies don't know what Lemon Pickle is, he he. I thought it would be perfect to share it on her blog first. At least there will be a few who know about all the yumminess that a good SPICY pickle brings to a meal.
Lakshmi is a super talented clothing designer, working to create fabulous Indian outfits, that are so pretty. I highly urge you to go say HI to her, and let her know Bella sent you.
Now go check out my recipe for:
Monday, 8 August 2011
Welcome to the 49th edition of:
I'm totally happy you are here, you can link up below, just make sure to grab a button will ya!!
Today was our first day back to school. My kids were so excited! I hope that excitement continues the whole year, he he. Can't wait to show you guys some pics, they were so adorable. I'm just quickly popping in to put up the party, and then I'm passing out. I think I'm catching a cold, my throat hurts, and I feel crummy, and I'm just really super tired.
Has anyone else had a tough time with back to school? I don't know how some of you continue to be super bloggers, super mommies, super wives, and still stay sane. The past couple weeks have been incredibly hectic for me, and I must say my kids def came first, and my blog just had to take a back seat there for a bit. Hopefully I get back in the swing of things here soon. My little Dino D, is still home for another 2 weeks, and then I'm free for a good 6 hours every day. Hopefully I can hang on until then, lol.
How do you manage juggling it all?
Tell me please, and in in the mean time, link up and show me what you got. Can't wait to see it all!!
Today was our first day back to school. My kids were so excited! I hope that excitement continues the whole year, he he. Can't wait to show you guys some pics, they were so adorable. I'm just quickly popping in to put up the party, and then I'm passing out. I think I'm catching a cold, my throat hurts, and I feel crummy, and I'm just really super tired.
Has anyone else had a tough time with back to school? I don't know how some of you continue to be super bloggers, super mommies, super wives, and still stay sane. The past couple weeks have been incredibly hectic for me, and I must say my kids def came first, and my blog just had to take a back seat there for a bit. Hopefully I get back in the swing of things here soon. My little Dino D, is still home for another 2 weeks, and then I'm free for a good 6 hours every day. Hopefully I can hang on until then, lol.
How do you manage juggling it all?
Tell me please, and in in the mean time, link up and show me what you got. Can't wait to see it all!!
Friday, 5 August 2011
This summer flew by for us. Just the other day I was contemplating going on another vacation before school started, and before I knew it, there was only one week left of summer. I'm not really sure how it went by so fast, but it did, and while I'm excited for school to start back up, I'm also worried. This will be the first year ALL my kids are in school. I'm worried that without a schedule, without a chore chart, without teaching my kids about responsibility, I might get stuck having even more work to do, despite the fact they are all in school. I'm afraid that afternoons are going to be a zoo around here, when everyone gets home, and that the house will look like a tornado struck it by 6pm every day.
I'm also worried that another year might go by of me constantly trying to clean house, and never getting anywhere. I'm worried that I will end up making my kids beds, putting their laundry away, picking up their toys, and being cranky because they never do it. I'm worried, but very hopeful that this year will be different. I've been searching for an online chore chart for a while. One that is a free online job chart, one that is easy to use, and flexible. This past week, I found one. Which is also my newest sponsor.
Here's how I made it work for my family.
Above you can see an example of what the kids DAILY responsibilities are. I know it looks like a lot, but with my kids I need to be super technical. I need to be specific, that taking a shower, INCLUDES putting a towel away, or wiping down the sink, or toilet after they use the bathroom. I also tried to include things like morning workouts, practicing their music, and of COURSE studying, homework, and their Kumon DAILY.
For the most part these activities get minimal allowance, only 5cents per activity. With a couple earning 50cents, like KUMON, and GOOD BEHAVIOR at school. Those are very important and I expect that they are done everyday.
I've decided that in order for them to pick extra jobs and earn extra money, they MUST earn at least $2.75 out of the possible $3.05 out of their daily total. This pretty much ensures that if they skip out on the big ones, LIKE homework, they won't make their daily goal. Therefor won't be able to make extra money, and also won't be able to purchase free time, play time, etc.
This kind of balances itself out, IF they do their daily chores, and responsibilities, then they can trade it in for computer time, play time, etc. There really won't be extra money left over, unless they are very disciplined.
There are spots where you can enter extra jobs for each child, BUT I choose to just add an EXTRA WORK child. This is where I added all the extra jobs that are available to complete everyday. I like doing it like this, because I can customize jobs on specific days, or even once a month. Then they log in each day and see whats available that day. If I were to assign extra jobs per child, by checking the EXTRA JOBS tab, then I can't specify when or how often these extra jobs can be done.
This is where they can make a bunch of extra money. YES a bunch, as in something like $575.00 of cash up for grabs every month. As of now, at least, I may add more as I think of activities.
Now let me explain. My thoughts are simple. This is probably how much money it would cost me every month if I were to hire a housekeeper to clean every week, AT LEAST! Either that or I do the work myself, which I always end up doing by the way. If I offer to pay them instead, I'm REALLY hoping that they will be inspired to help out, without me asking them. My goal is to make them realize that hard work, PAYS off. That if you go out of your way to work hard, or do extra that you should be appreciated, and my way to show them that is by paying them. Just saying thank you, simply doesn't work, trust me I've tried, lol.
Ok, now before you go think I'm totally crazy for paying these kids so much money, let me explain my last part of this system. While I want them to earn well, I want them to understand that in life things cost money, and that they need to be aware of these things, even at a young age. I tell you what, I'm pretty fed up with hearing them say something ONLY costs $50.00. If I make them budget for certain things, like UTILITIES, MORTGAGE, CAR, GAS, FOOD, just like in real life, then they might be more aware how hard it is to EARN money and they might be more careful when they want to spend it too.
I'm thinking I will make it something simple, but cute. Literally send them bills every month, that they are responsible to pay for.
This is TOTAL for all three kids. No matter what somehow they need to come up with the money, even if only one kid pays for everything. Then we will discuss how it felt to do all the work, and what it means to be responsible for someone else, in this case their brother or sister.
Mortgage - $125.00 total
Utilites - $20.00
Car - $10.00
Gas - $5.00
Food - $40.00
Total Bills $200.00 a month
That leaves them potential of making $375 a month, divided between 3 kids, that's $125 a month.
NOT BAD if you ask me!!
I will expect them to put 35% of their earnings in savings. The rest is theirs to spend, OR save.
SO there you have it, my MASTER PLAN. I know it was a lot to take in, but I plan on creating a paper version of this too, just to make it a bit easier VISUALLY to see what needs to be done everyday. Then each night they can log in to their JOB CHART, and get payed for what they did.
I am very eager to see how this system works for us, and will keep you updated.
Remember this is MY way of using it for my family. You can customize this so many ways to make it work for your family, and best of all its FREE.
Go check it out, and teach those kids some responsibility. I think this is awesome.
P.S. Don't call me crazy, but I also think this is a PERFECT solution for a moms everyday chores as well, even for eating healthy, and working out. I plan on seeing how I can make it work to keep myself on track as well, let's see. Reward yourself accordingly, maybe go get your nails done, a massage, or go clothes shopping. Trust me, this is not only for kids.
Go start yours today!!
This review was on behalf of my PAYED sponsor, My Job Chart. While they are a payed sponsor on my blog, they have not payed me for the opinions in this review. This was my personal experience in using this site, and I personally highly recommend it.
Monday, 1 August 2011
Welcome to the 48th edition of:
I'm totally happy you are here, you can link up below, just make sure to grab a button will ya!!
So this week I wanted to share with you my DECK. My huge DECK. This deck was one of the things I loved when we bought this house, it's HUGE, and it's perfect for entertaining. Although I've found that in the south there are ONLY 3 days in the year when you can actually sit outside and enjoy such a deck. Ok, just kidding, maybe 5 days total, but seriously, in the summer, its SOOOOOO hot, and there are a million bugs out, just waiting to eat you alive. In the winter it's to dang cold. Yup I totally skipped over the other seasons, can't even recall right now if you can hang out then, but since my deck looked like crap, I didn't want anyone out there anyway, SAD.
So the time finally came, in the middle of the sweltering heat, to clean my deck. I am pretty sure it was easily 150 degrees this day, which meant I got to lose 10 lbs in the process, pretty cool hugh, lol.
Good job Big B. I love FREE labor. He easily saved me a hundred bucks.
Here a couple pics of the side of my house, equally neglected, a weeping willow tree, my backyard woods, and a spider eating a wasp, you go spidey!!
Dino (my tortoise, which is actually a girl) came out to play too. We had fun taking pics of her.
I'm so ashamed to show these pics, I had a MESS growing in those pots, that used to be filled with beautiful flowers, and plants. Gosh, this past year I neglected my garden so badly, and I feel so bad about it, and hope that I can get it looking good again soon.
Some more pics of the way the deck used to look. Oh and do you see my curry plants. I've managed to keep them ALIVE, thats good. My orchids, are SO SAD, but bless their hearts they too are clinging on to life, so I promised them I would never let them go like that again.
THE BEFORE
So this week I wanted to share with you my DECK. My huge DECK. This deck was one of the things I loved when we bought this house, it's HUGE, and it's perfect for entertaining. Although I've found that in the south there are ONLY 3 days in the year when you can actually sit outside and enjoy such a deck. Ok, just kidding, maybe 5 days total, but seriously, in the summer, its SOOOOOO hot, and there are a million bugs out, just waiting to eat you alive. In the winter it's to dang cold. Yup I totally skipped over the other seasons, can't even recall right now if you can hang out then, but since my deck looked like crap, I didn't want anyone out there anyway, SAD.
So the time finally came, in the middle of the sweltering heat, to clean my deck. I am pretty sure it was easily 150 degrees this day, which meant I got to lose 10 lbs in the process, pretty cool hugh, lol.
My tools, a broom, a FAN, bug spray, gloves, a HAT, and my hands.
OOOPS, almost forgot, you need 3 kids too. My oldest cleaned out the gutters, woo hoo, while my youngest swept ever so eagerly with a grill brush, lol. The princess, well she posed for a picture, and the went inside to relax, he he.
Dino (my tortoise, which is actually a girl) came out to play too. We had fun taking pics of her.
I'm so ashamed to show these pics, I had a MESS growing in those pots, that used to be filled with beautiful flowers, and plants. Gosh, this past year I neglected my garden so badly, and I feel so bad about it, and hope that I can get it looking good again soon.
THE BEFORE
After a long day I am glad to say that at least things are looking clean. No more wild grass and weeds growing all over the place, no more leafs turning into mulch on my deck.
THE AFTER
Now it's time to go buy some flowers, he he.
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I'm so excited to see what you all have been up to this week.
Make sure to grab a button, up above, or sidebar, and let your friends know you party with us.
I appreciate all the help I can get spreading the word about my weekly party.
Speaking of parties, don't forget to link up all your PARTY related posts to
Oh can I quickly tell you that this Wednesday I will have a couple awesome things to share with all of you, including a sneak at some of my sponsors for my big ONE year bloggy celebration where I will be sharing all things GREEN, and ECO FRIENDLY, products I want to share with you, including a few from some of my dear friends who are also going along with the theme, and I am so happy about that.
I also will be announcing a new party that will take place every Wednesday, RIGHT HERE.
FEEL GOOD
WEDNESDAYS
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BELLA BEFORE AND AFTER
(cute button to come, he he)
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