pony tails and piggy tails

i'm probably the last to think of this but...i'm new to the girl stuff.

i think this will be a neat and simple way to store hair elastics.

binder rings

they come in all different sizes

and

the elastic is easily accessible -

you don't have to pull them all off to get to the one you want.

more money in my pocket

i do love to save $. in both senses-to spend less and to put it away, but right now, i'm talking about spending less. i think lately we have all been cutting back and making some changes to our spending habits.

back when gas was over $4 a gallon we really felt the crunch. now with gas prices down we've been able to relax a bit but it has changed my thinking. i'm tired of $ flying out the door. i want to pay the utility company as little of my $ as possible.

so, these are some things i've changed here.

*canceled the data service on my cell. it was nice. i loved getting my emails and access to the internet but i don't need it and didn't use it very often. that saved me $600/year!!!

*changed our cable service. i changed to a simpler package. the dad lost his sports channels (he still has the internet ;)) and the kids lost some cartoon channels (not enough though!). we went from $600/year to $180-$240/year!- i did keep the dvr-we can't live w/out that!

*i drive less. i try to combine as many trips as possible rather than running out every day. this also keeps me out of the stores and ya know what happens when your wandering around target, somehow you wind up spending $80+ dollars and have no idea what happened.

*the other day oprah did a show about saving $. one of the ladies on the show talked about unplugging electronics. so we are trying that this month. it will be interesting to see if it makes a difference. and, we are leaving lights off.

*we are trying not to eat out! i enjoy eating out, but i hate when the bill comes. the food was never as good once you see how much you are paying for it(okay, sometimes it was still good!). with our little family we can spend as much on one meal out as we do on one weeks worth of groceries.-my boys like steak-it's in their blood.

*we use the library. i go online and reserve movies and the dad picks them up on his way home. it's free! and when we watch the movie we pop our own popcorn in the air popper. we started doing that way back when we found out about all those chemicals in microwave popcorn. we like it better anyway! and it is so much cheaper.

so these are the things we are trying and doing but i would really love to hear what you have done. i would love to know what works for you -maybe it would work for me too. so please share. i'll post any ideas you give me so the masses can benefit too (all 5 of you).

tasty little burger

i've come to really enjoy my burger! we are lucky and able to eat good beef on a regular basis. the dads father and brothers are in the kobe style beef business and we have benefited from their work. his parents always bring us a large supply of our favorite cuts when they come and his brother sent him a large shipment on his birthday. you haven't had a burger till you've had it kobe style! it truly is yummy!

recently i ate at a fudruckers, good burgers, but i decided that the best burger would be a kobe style burger on a fudrucker bun! have you ever had those yummy buns? fresh baked, soft and fluffy! that would be the burger!

i hope you're eating something yummy!

staying on task!

this is the chart i use with my boys every morning. we started using it several years ago after a family home evening lesson on family responsibilities. this chart has been very helpful. when they get distracted(which happens often) i just ask them what is left for them to do on their chart and they know what they need to do. the whole thing is laminated (love my laminator!) and each tag is attached with a piece of velcro and on the reverse side is a happy face sticker, so as they finish each task they flip it over. they started using it probably around the age of 2 or 3 and were able to follow along. in those days i was much more involved of course but it got them started doing it on their own. now they are responsible for everything including making their bed (it's not always beautiful but they are getting it down-i just go back and straighten it after they have left)

i guess it's time to get out the master and make thing 3 one of her own. as crazy as it is i'll catch her making her bed some mornings-better keep that going while she enjoys it! (she just pulls all of the blankets up flat on her little toddler bed, but the first day i found it like that i was very confused and even though she said she had done it i had to ask everyone else in the house if they had done it for her and then i still didn't believe she had done it until i caught her doing it one day!-children are so much smarter than we realize!)

do you have any little trick to keep your kids on task?

the gobble bag

my mother read about this idea online and decided to do a craft activity for lainakay's birthday. so we all got bags and painted a face on it-this is my sorry face-no artistic talent here. but the concept is that the bag gobbles up what the kids don't clean up before going to bed. then they lose the toy for a week. if it is returned to them and left out again then perhaps the toy is not so important and can be given away. so we will try it and see how it works.