The Active Family

My stepson is 12, nearly 13, and began 7th grade yesterday. I felt terrible for him as he also started school with his first ever pimple!

I noticed the redness on Monday, and just figured it was a bug bite from his weekend camping trip, but Noooooo. That bad boy grew into a full fledged whitie by the next morning. We tried every home remedy I could remember, toothpaste, honey, dove soap.

It did look a bit better on Wednesday, but I caught him rummaging through my makeup looking for concealer! I nixed that, telling him that plastering make up over it will definately make things worse, and he’ll be teased relentlessly. So far, no one has made any comments to him, and he reported that the girl he likes also had a bit of a skin problem today! At least he’ll be empathetic.

So it’s a rough start to 7th grade. I certainly don’t miss the days of acne, body odor, and bad hair days.

Err…well, the bad hair days still haven’t left the scene, but that’s what elastics are for!

Today I sent my daughter to Kindergarten. She, of course, did fine. I however didn’t fare so well!

I mostly held it together while the kids were getting on the bus, but as I started walking up the stairs I started crying so hard I could barely see. I can’t even rationalize why I was crying! Of course I was sad to see her go, and all day is a lot for a 5 year old, but I still can’t pick out one good reason for the tears.

I think I’m just an emotional sob!  I told my husband he should put in for the day off now, for when my baby goes to school the first time. Who cares if that is 3 years from now?

Anyway, I cried so much my eyes are still puffy. I had to take a nap because I was so drained…

Wait a second… I worked out, took a nap, read a magazine….hmmmmm…..

Maybe this won’t be so bad after all!!!

I can’t get over the sheer number of homes for sale and rent around here. We were coming back from a family cookout yesterday and it seemed like every third house had a for sale sign on it.

To me that is a true measure of how bad this economy is getting. If people are trying to sell their homes in such a down market, when they are likely to “lose” money on the value, they must be truly in a hard place. I know people sure are looking at my husband and I as crazy that we aren’t taking advantage of the down market as first time buyers, but to be honest, I’m a bit nervous to. We haven’t bought a home because it is out of our means, and we are doing a pretty good job of living within our means at this point.

Not to say we don’t WANT a home. I sure am sick of living in an apartment! But there is room enough for us, it is close to good schools, and we live in a decent neighborhood. We make our rent and bills and are able to still take a vacation each year. Why would we change that? I certainly don’t want to go back to the days of paycheck to paycheck, just so I can say we “own” a house.

Regardless, I know there are people all over the country in financial hurt right now. Perhaps selling their home is the best they can do. If YOU happen to be selling now, or even buying, best of luck to you! We’ll be waiting out the big storm just yet.

Also, don’t mind the plug, movers New York can help you move should you need some burly men with funny accents to move your baby grand.

Teehee.

I spent today at my parent’s house, and decided to be a good little doobie and work on cleaning up the basement. It has been my father’s pet project for years, and walking downstairs, I figured out why it’s taking him so long!

My parents are serious pack rats. Actually, my entire extended family are all, or were all, serious pack rats. Just walking past the stacks of boxes (most of which are empty, my dad has a box fetish) and seeing all of the junk piled made me want to run for the hills. Instead, I chose a section that wasn’t too ominous and dug in. I already knew my dad’s organization system so I figured whatever I could get done would be of some help.

Man. You aren’t going to believe what I came across! I found my great-grandmother’s sideboard, which is still in really great condition, 8 (yes, old sleeping bags, one of which was someone’s from WWII, a kitchen table complete with leaf extender, 2 coffee tables from the seventies, and…..

:insert drumroll:

A Victrola.

No Freakin Lie. I nearly passed out from the dust on top, but it looks like it is in pretty good condition, with just a little love needed. I can’t believe it! I’ve only seen these things in a museum, and never expected to come across one in my parent’s basement.

I have noooo idea what they plan on doing with it, or the ancient pedal driven sewing machine I also came across, but you can be sure I’ll be making noise if they ever try to get rid of it, unless it is to me! I’m a lover of antiques, and I sure would love to start my collection with family heirlooms.

I have never been so happy that my parent’s never throw anything away!

But the will to see her children again allowed her to live.

This is one of the best stories I have seen come through the pipeline in a long time. After leaving her job as a waitress last Wednesday, a woman by the name Amber Pennell stopped at a store, and was headed home when her truck went off the road, plunging more than 80 feet into a brush filled ravine.

The fact that she survived the crash is incredible enough. Add in that she wasn’t found for 5 days, and you have a miracle on your hands. How could a person withstand a crash like that, with a fractured skull, dehydration, and hypothermia?

The answer is both simple and complicated. She wanted to see her children again.

Any mother worth her salt will read that story and know EXACTLY how Amber felt. I’ve had nightmares before of being in a life or death situation, and doing everything in my power to be with my kids. I can’t imagine actually being IN the situation. There most certainly was an angel on her shoulder.

Most mothers I know would say they would die for their children. I know I would. I also know that being with my children is integral to my living, and I too would do anything I could to see them, and be with them again.

Amber, all the best wishes in your recovery. Your children will grow up knowing that your love for them is so strong it can get you through absolutely anything.

I’ve been writing an awful lot about vacations this summer, at a time when a lot of people are trying to make their next mortgage bill. Trust me, we aren’t well off by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, our finances are pretty tight right now.

Although, to be honest, they are tight on purpose. We are steadily paying down the last of our debt, and at the same time, putting aside “living money”. My husband and I came up with the term when we saw how close we were getting to the end of debt, and how we were making so much more than before, yet we weren’t enjoying our life much.

We decided last year that we were going to make time for family vacations. We reworked our budget, and figured that if we live fairly tight for the year, we can easily fit in one “budget” vacation, and one “budget” DISNEY vacation a year, maybe every two for the latter. Of course, a budget Disney vacation is still pretty darn expensive!

What we are trying to get across here is that even though the economy is in the hole, there is no reason why you can’t add some spice. If you can take care of your bills, and are frugal, you can have some really great family time. We may not be talking luxury vacations perhaps, but there is something to be said about rewarding your hard work with some down time.

When researching vacations, I am a bit commando. I search site after site, request ridiculous amounts of guides and email newsletters, and I am relentless when it comes to discounts. My husband has learned not to ask about details until I am ready to tell him, as my plans change frequently until I am satisfied I have found the best deal.  There are plenty of resources out there to help you find the perfect vacation for your budget! The real key is to be as flexible as possible, and don’t get your heart set on something until you are sure you can truly afford it.

Have Fun!

Man, I’ve blown it big time this week. I’ve hit fast food places more times this week than I have all summer, and I’ve been sampling waaay too many sweets at work. Not only that, but I’ve barely been working out, and I slept through my Pilates class this week!

The kicker is, I KNOW that I’m sabotaging myself, and I feel like absolutel CRAP after I eat so much junk. I just can’t seem to stop! I can make all kinds of excuses, but the fact is I’m just completely burnt out from this summer, and I have pretty much stopped cooking at home. I know once the fall arrives I’ll be back to my old self, but when that time comes, I’ll now be dealing with a few extra pounds, instead of celebrating my loss over the summer.

I’ve been toying with the idea of trying some OTC weight loss stuff, but I know in my heart they don’t DO anything except waste my money. It is just soooo hard sometimes to hold myself accountable!

I’ve decided to set really small goals for myself to build up my self esteem a little. I’m going to literally break down my days in half. My goal for the first half of the day is to eat a good solid breakfast, paying attention to how many calories I’m taking in. My goal for the second half is to get 30 minutes of exercise in, and to also track my calories.

Hopefully I can retrain my mind to reject the crap and crave the good stuff.

I hereby call for an investigation into McD’s fries. I swear to god there is crack in there somewhere. Even when they taste nasty I still eat the whole damn thing!!!!

Anyone else having a rough time? Unload on me and we can get back on the wagon together.

While reading one of my fellow ChattyWomen’s posts, I was intrigued by her mention of progesterone, and decided to look into the topic more.

I was quite surprised that progesterone effects far more than just reproductive issues. The site also details how it helps with stress levels and weightloss.  While I generally don’t recommend using “artificial” weightloss aids, this one seems to have some promise.

First off the progesterone is a topical cream, so you have a lot more control over the amount you use versus a pill. You can also adjust how much you use, and when, depending on how you are feeling. One thing that caught my eye was that women who have higher estrogen levels tend to eat right and exercise, yet still don’t lose the weight. That is me in a nutshell! It really got me wondering if this could help with some of my issues.

And the topper? It also supposedly helps the female “libido”….wooohooo!

I received an email from one of my subscriptions today that was too great to keep to myself. It detailed a bunch of truly great lunch ideas for elementary school age kids.

The lunches made great use of the “laptop lunchbox“, which I happen to already have. While pricey, it gives you the ability to portion food appropriately, as well as keep foods separated from each other (which for younger kids seems to be a “thing”). What was really great about the lunches was the recipes could easily be mixed and matched depending on individual tastes.

I won’t copy/paste, obviously, but here are some of the better ideas:

• mini whole wheat bagels with pbj
• mini whole grain waffles and hard boiled egg slices
• ham and cheese roll ups speared through with pretzel sticks
• mini muffin and veggie strips
• string cheese and whole grain crackers

While there are a ton more, this should give you an idea about what the article included. I was really pleased with the kid-friendly, and pretty darn healthy lunches!

Healthy School Lunches

I know a few of my fellow Chatty Women focus on finances and various ways to save money. I’ve learned some incredible tips from them already! I thought I’d share my most recent form of savings, since I got some great deals.

Those who have read previous posts probably know that I work for Starbucks, which is a great company to work for! They really have wonderful programs that help save their employees money. I recently received information about new companies involved in our savings program. It just so happened to be the same insurance company that I have our renter’s insurance through. I called my agent and was able to save a decent amount AND was able to upgrade my life insurance at no extra cost!! Talk about a savings.

The next thing I did was to do an auto insurance comparison. Since Massachusetts recently allowed car insurance to be competitive, great deals have been popping up all over the place. Turns out I already HAD a really low premium, so I didn’t have to switch. I count this as a pseudo-savings as I didn’t have to come up with a down payment for a new insurance!

I highly recommend looking into your company for deals they may have with other companies. You never know what you might be able to save on!