Go, Aiden!

I'm posting this for the benefit of family members who are not able to come to little Aiden's promotions for Tae Kwon Do. He's been practicing faithfully three times a week for almost a year now and has moved through white, white stripe, yellow, yellow stripe, and now just promoted to his green belt! I got a little video of him performing his form and breaking his board before the panel of black belt judges. (nothing is wrong with your computer, the video has no sound) So proud of this kid!

Getting ready to be called up to break the board.

Hope the video works! Enjoy!

The House Fairy

I don't think I've ever had an original idea, but I'm very good at taking hold of the good ideas of other people and making them work in my own life. Many of my "great ideas" have come from my mom. One, in particular, keeps my children enthused without fail: visits from the House Fairy.

The House Fairy is a distant cousin of the Tooth Fairy, and she comes to reward children whose rooms are tidy and whose beds are made. She leaves a small treat on the child's pillow, anything from a small bag of chips or a candybar to a sheet of stickers or a cool pen. Usually it's something edible at our house.

I would much rather reward children for good behavior than punish them for bad. I also would much rather have clean bedrooms than disaster areas, and I don't subscribe to "just shutting the doors". Our children are expected to have beds made and rooms tidied before coming down in the morning for scripture study, but during the week "tidy" gets a little more loosely interpreted. All I have to say when I see that things need a boost is, "I heard the House Fairy may be paying a visit today." That's it. They know exactly what this means, and they want in on the loot. And it's so much easier than nagging.

Sometimes I will do a spot check and say, "I don't know if the House Fairy will think this is good enough. Better be sure!" Or, "I'd go and remake that bed if I were you before the House Fairy gets here." They wait anxiously for her arrival, and subsequent approval. I never let them see her, of course. She must be protected. And when my children say, "Mom, can you put the candy on our beds now?" I reply, "Do I look like the House Fairy?"

This was one of my favorite inventions of my mother. It was an easy score for me too, since I was OCD on the cleanliness spectrum. We were also rewarded for having our chores done, and I remember July mornings before Summer Band, sweeping the wrap-around porch of our three story NJ house before the humidity was too oppressive. My favorite House Fairy gifts were the packs of cheese and crackers with the little red knife. My least favorite was the package of Cabbage Patch Kid briefs (GRANNY PANTIES) in shades of purple, pink, and yellow, right before my freshman year of high school. Let me tell you about changing in the locker room for gym class, being one of the only little tiny (Mormon) white girls amidst a sea of Yolanda's and Taniqua's when your mother buys you Cabbage Patch Kid briefs. Yeah. Talk about Fear Factor. Well, I'll tell you another time.

The important thing here is that children can be coaxed into having clean bedrooms with a little visit from the House Fairy. It works wonders, and I'd be glad to give her your address if you'd like. Tell the kids she's coming, and stand back to be amazed!

Whoooo-Hooooo!

What a high! I put the kids to bed tonight and made my trip out to the grocery store for some coupon extravaganza fun. Yeah, baby.

So I know you all want to know how I did, but before I tell you, let me let you in on a little secret: If you have multiple coupons for the same items (like you want to get 5 Fantastics, and you have 5 coupons for Fantastic), many stores will only double ONE of those coupons. So, my savings in prior weeks should have been a lot higher, and once I found this out, I was peeved! I called my sister with my coupon emergency and she tipped me off to two tricks:

1. Pick a cashier that is male or a young teen girl. They don't follow the rules as much as the middle-aged females that are bitter and jealous of your savings. They tend to want you to save money, and they like to feel that they helped you. Male cashiers don't pretend to have as much loyalty to a grocery store chain. Of course, this is all stereotyped, and I will deny that I told you, but I have found much higher coupon saving success in my experience with male cashiers, and my sister verified that she, too, has found this to be true. You're taking a chance, but there it is.

2. Separate your products into multiple orders. If they will only double your coupon once for your 5 Fantastics, then have them ring up 5 separate orders, and then you win! This seems like a pain, but the thrill is worth it, trust me. Especially since this week, Fantastic is FREE!! (And I actually got 6.) But that's what I did. I took my cart and separated it into three sections and when I had 3 coupons for something, I put one product in each section and then I had the cashier ring up 3 different orders to maximize my savings. Yeah, baby.

So, this week was exciting because I got lots of household cleaners. LOTS. More than a year's worth. Plus, 4 shampoos/conditioners (the GOOD kind, ladies. The generics are just too expensive!), cat litter, 2 bags of cat food, toilet paper, and my favorite savings was packs of Bic Soleil disposable razors that normally sell for $8.99....I got them for $.99 each. Three packs of them. Whoo-hoo! Lots of food. And of course, there's the bummer of milk, butter, and bread that I had to pay full price for. And now for the results?

I spent $80.01 for $291.23 worth of groceries! Savings of $211.22!! Yeah, baby!!

Little Lovelies

A few things worth celebrating:

~Over the weekend southern CA finally got a much needed rainstorm. The boys all wanted to go to the park anyway, and what the heck, we did. We headed out during only a light rain, and stayed till the downpour returned, running back to the car with wet baby in tow. It was delightful, I have to say.

~Conor has discovered storybooks! (And Nana, we can't find our copy of Goodnight, Moon anywhere. Or Pajama Time!)

~The flower seeds that Luisa sent me over the summer are blooming like mad!

~Lyndsay wrote a really great subjective voice narrative about a rabbit, that almost made her cry as she read it to me. (She has such a soft heart for animals.)

"There had been an unusual amount of snow. It was sad to see the small rabbit having such a terrible time digging down deep enough to get to any of the dried grasses and the small limbs of the bushes it had to eat that winter. The trap snapped shut...

The jaws of that rusty old trap caught the fragile bunny's hind leg, causing him to panic with pain. He tried and tried to escape, but after a few minutes the innocent victim's leg started bleeding from the intense pressure of the sharp teeth of the trap. He was exhausted from the lack of food and all energy that he had stored was quickly disappearing because of the futile struggle. He decided to use the very last bit of energy he could muster up for one last hope of getting out alive. He took a deep breath to calm down his panicing lungs and started kicking, jumping, and running, but that poor bunny's last attempt failed. Not being able to move, he laid down and closed his little eyes, and was never able to open them again."


~Dylan and Aiden are walking around the house chanting happily, "Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species!" and I think I've finally got it!

~Aiden is reading Little House in the Big Woods, and is loving it. This is good since last year in public school dampened his interest in books. Here is his illustration from today's reading:

~I wish I could put a video on here of Lyndsay reciting the Declaration of Independence. It's such a powerful document anyway, but to hear your 13 year old recite it from memory is almost more than a mother can take. Talk about tears!

It's the little things that make a Mama happy in her heart!

"Easy Like a Sunday Morning"?

Since when is there anything easy about a Sunday morning? No woman trying to get her kids out the door for church wrote these lyrics, I can promise you that. Holy frijoles, Batman! I'd like to smack Lionel Richie.

This is what happens when you forget that babies should not have nuts before the age of 2, and your 13 month old eats (and then spits out!) a tiny, eensie weensie piece of a walnut. This is what he looks like about 45 minutes later, and what sends Mom rushing to the grocery store on Sunday morning for Benadryl (don't worry, gals, I had a coupon!) It took all day long for the swelling to go all the way down. Poor baby! Awful, I know.

The Lamb

I had the rare opportunity to travel to Peru a few years ago. I was traveling with a man I was dating at the time, and a humanitarian group that he was leading from the States. Because of his knowledge of and involvement with the country, we were able to see Peru more intimately than most tourists, traveling to places that few get to see. Yes, I hiked Machu Picchu, but I also visited with native tribes living deep in the Amazon rainforest, and at 10,000 feet in elevation in remote parts of the Andes mountains. The experience made a delible impression upon me, like permanent ink on the tissues of my heart. I never want to forget the smudged, brown faces, piercing black eyes and the broad white smiles of little Peruvian children, dressed in torn and ragged sweaters and pants donated by Americans, shoeless, and filthy, but shining brighter than the sun at midday with happiness that few of us will ever understand.


While we were in the Andes, making plans to build greenhouses for the tribe that lived there, to teach them how to grow food inside during cold months and thus provide more adequately for their families, one of the men in the group got a craving for lamb. Fresh lamb. The people in the mountains are shepherds, leaving their young children alone during the day, while the adults and older children take the flock to pasture in the high hills of the beautiful terrain. This man wanted to taste lamb from the mountains in Peru, and asked, through a translator, if he could purchase one. The arrangement was made, and a lamb was sold for $50 American money, a fortune to these people. The lamb was separated from its mother, the two of them bleating their agonizing goodbyes, but once away, he became quiet. He was laid on his side, and his four legs were tied together with rope. And there he stayed throughout the day, until dinner time approached. He never made a sound. He laid perfectly still, eyes open, mouth quiet.

When the time came, and work was done for the day, this man, seeing only dinner, came to the lamb and prepared to slaughter it. It was a difficult scene for someone like me, raised by animal activists and vegetarians, and loving the creatures as I do. The lamb kept its eyes open, looked into the man's eyes, and never made a sound as his throat was slit, and his blood was spilt. He gave his life freely, without struggle or complaint, with perfect submission. I wept. It was a stunning object lesson. It has haunted my mind since that day, so much so that I have refrained from speaking of it for fear that it might desecrate the sacredness of the experience.

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth." Isaiah 53:7

Today, this Sabbath day, I am filled with gratitude for another sacrifice, the Supreme sacrifice, of One who went like a lamb to the slaughter.

Coupon Tutorial

My cute sister just wrote up a brilliant basic couponing tutorial on her blog here. So those of you who are interested, read it carefully and go for it! I'd love to hear about your savings! Hannah just bought $140 worth of groceries and only paid $.95!!! Not dollars, cents! Whoo--hoo!