***Microwave Free Zone***

Our Maytag over the range microwave broke down this month. I thought for sure I could fix it. I methodically took it apart to see the inside and started reading about the things that could have gone wrong with it.

I did NOT want to call a repair man. When our washing machine (Maytag) broke down this spring (or was it last?), I called in the repair man and it cost $100.00 for him to come out and let me know that he isn't sure what to repair and it could be a multitude of things. We could try this and that and replace this and that. Well, it was going to be the cost of a small washer to repair it. I opted out of that. I ran out to Lowes, replaced it with a GE top loader that I totally love! The saying "it's so easy even a caveman can do it" completely applies to this washer.

Well, there was no way I was calling a repairman to take care of my microwave, so I called our electrician cousin Phil to borrow a tool so I could test some things in the microwave. That opened an entirely new can of worms. I mistakenly involved men in the process. They took over, took out more screws and pieces and parts. Over the course of a day or two (or three), they tested everything testable inside the microwave down to the door latches. Apparently there isn't anything wrong with it except it doesn't actually heat food.

Really? Because I knew that.

After a few more days, I put the cover back on the microwave and stuffed all of the loose pieces inside and shut the door. There it all sits. To order a knew one is only $300.00. OR I can get just a cheapie counter top one and stuff it away somewhere.

OR, I can be microwave free!

It is a little hard to remember to defrost dinner in the mornings. It is also a bit tough to keep food warm enough for everyone without it drying out. Reheating left overs now takes planning as well. We are doing it though. I admit I miss my microwaved steamed veggies. We all choked down cooked broccoli the other day though and no one complained.

So, we have been microwave free for almost a month now. I think it is really helping our electric bill too. We will see for sure after the next one arrives. I am hoping to find a cheap little microwave that I can hide in the garage and only plug it in when we need it. It will be nice for baseball and hockey players to be able to reheat dinner without using an entire oven and without me having to do it for them. It will also be nice to have when our house guests arrive and we are feeding 4 men and two kids instead of 2 men and 2 kids.

Next on my list it to replace the florescent bulb in my living room with soft white light. I know they are more expensive, but the buzz of a florescent and the unnatural light floating around my children after being exposed to it at school all day bothers me. I think their little brains need a break. I'm willing to pay a little extra for electricity just to know that the stress of florescence is gone. I have LED's in my kitchen ($1 each sent over from China thanks to eBay). The light is wierd and they are falling apart, but the price is right. I know buying them from China is all anti-American to some people, but for my kids, I'll buy my light bulbs where ever I want.

I added a new laundry soap to our lifestyle as well. Sam's Club had a "healthier" version of laundry soap for such a great price, I jumped all over it. I am also going to try and NOT buy dryer sheets after this box is used up. Back to my dryer balls.

As it is, I collect the extra lint from my dryer though to make fire starters. I'm afraid I'll be low on lint once I switch back. On the plus side, I'll be extending the life of the eBay clothes I get the kids. Yep, I totally eBay shop for school clothes. It's such a great feeling to know that we are not adding to waste and not wasting our money. I can get Carly such great pants from eBay that I can't get here in our small town. She can have brand name clothes for a fraction of the price. Jason is warming up to the idea. He is sort of a prima donna prep and its tough for him not to look the part, but I've been able to get him some really great Hollister and Aeropostale t-shirts for next to nothing and he loves them!

My Motto: It's only knew once. Why waste the resources?

Which brings me to a HUGE thank you to my friend Christi who handed down $100's of dollars worth of brand name jeans to my two oldest kiddos! There were enough girls jeans in various shapes and sizes, Carly gave a pair to a friend and we get to mail 3 to my niece Mackenzie! Jason is slowly coming around to wearing his hand-me-overs and wore a great pair of like-new Hollister jeans today.

Caden is also a clothes re-user. He school shopped in his brother's closet before we called the neighbor over to do the same. He was able to score a bunch of polo's and T-shirts. The jeans are another story. Caden and Jason do not, in any way, have the same body type. Caden will never be able to use Jason's old jeans in the same time scale that Jason did. Caden's got a bit of a booty on him, despite that he is slimming up and losing weight. I don't believe he will ever be rid of the GB (ghetto butt), but that will work to his advantage when he is older. He did get rid of his pudgy baby belly though. He is able to wear the same size jeans as last year (which would be awesome if they didn't all have huge holes in the knees).

I have recently joined in the cheaper shopping for myself. I scored a free NEW pair of jeans last week in a size that fits. I had a coupon for 30% off kids clothes and a $19.00 reward card to Fred Meyer. I found a great pair of juniors jeans that were on sale for $19.99. Essentially, when it was all said and done, its like they paid ME to take the jeans. Woo Hoo!

Now, I've got to find Jay some jeans that fit. He has lost a ton of weight and has been working out like a mad man and I think he must be down two pant sizes. I as well, have been losing a lot of weight. I've gone through almost two sizes that I've had sitting in my closet. I have two more pair that I want to fit into before I really go shopping for new clothes. I think I'll have to get my dress pants tailored soon too. I've been going on interviews and each time I put on dress pants, they are bigger than before. Once I get a job and get through the last size in my closet ---It's shopping time! I'll have to give some of the second hand boutiques in our town a chance.

SCHOOL 2011-2012

Class of 2020!

Caden began the 4th grade this year. I gave him one extra day of summer, and he stayed home the first day of school due to stomach cramps. I don't know what was wrong, it lasted two days, but by Friday, he was up bright and early and ready to go to school. His teacher is very nice and he was excited that he was so smart. He truly loves being smart. Its so funny to listen to him have conversations, even when they are with himself, because he uses words that most people do not use in everyday language. He is also very excited to be in student council again. Here's to my little member of the Class of 2020! May he have an incredible year of school and start his journey towards becoming the President of the United States! (He says it all of the time)

Class of 2018!

Okay, this is NOT a picture from the first day of school. She looked cute that day, of course, but she was very excited on the second day. She had on adorable jeans we grabbed from eBay and a sweatshirt Jason and I bargain shopped for at an outlet mall in MN. I gave her a choice of school shoes and when it came down to it, besides the green chucks Jason and I also picked out for her (at the AWESOME Converse outlet), she chose some Adidas sandals. I loved her casual look for the 6th grade and her first week of middle school. She is happy with her team, the kids her locker is near, the friends she eats lunch with and has gym with, the new friends in her home-ec. We organized her folders, labeled everything to help her out, and bought her a student planner. One teacher sent home a questionnaire where the student had to write about her weaknesses and struggles. Carly liked this because she could tell the teacher about her struggles with reading and remembering. So proud of my 11 year old!

Class of 2015!

My high school freshman. He wouldn't even sit for a decent picture. Geesh. He didn't want to take a backpack, but had to because he needed to take gym clothes, notebooks, and a binder with him. When he got home, he had a little to complain about. Mostly about the English teacher. He wanted our cousin as a teacher, but it didn't happen. I will head in on Monday and try and switch his schedule around. I packed the kiddos lunches, but Jason decided to take the extra 5$ I had given him for more food and he headed out to Taco Bell with a new driver. I am VERY upset about it and I know he knows this inside, but I also know he will try to get away with something like this again. I have decided NOT to give him lunch money again and then there will be no need for him to leave campus. As a freshman, he does not need to leave until 2nd semester. He certainly doesn't need to leave without me knowing ahead of time. This year will be full of struggles and pain. He will have a lot of decisions to make this year that will come out of know where. He will make mistakes without knowing they were mistakes and he will make them knowingly. I will be there and love him through it all.

My Quote of the Year: I've never had a 14 year old son before.

Our Charlie Brown Christmas

I called this year a Charlie Brown Christmas. Money was almost nonexistent. We pulled out our quite small fake tree and I let Carly and Caden decorate it. I have never been a "professional decorator" type. I've always wanted my tree to reflect a little bit of all of us. There are ornaments that reflect my husband, like multiple sports themed ones and a jeep. Those, I don't love. In fact, those are the ones I wish I could lose, but in the grand scheme of things . . . I don't care. If it makes the kids happy putting them up and driving me nuts. Its cute that they put this big ugly eagle on a football at the top and front of the tree. By big, I mean grapefruit big. Seriously.

Then there are the ornaments I bought the kids year after year that remind me of them. All of the bells remind me of my little girl, along with a few ladies that hang on the tree. Then there are the cute little wooden ornaments that remind me of Cade. And many ornaments that are Jason's - mostly airplanes and some hockey or baseball characters, and Peter Pan. I think that may be his favorite too.

Then there are things that make me happy. I love ornaments that look like candy. I don't know why, it just seems whimsical and child-like. Lollipops & rock candy among my favorite. I also love my ornaments that look old and in your basic red & tan colors and are fabric, wood, or metal.

Carly calls it an I SPY tree. So this year it became a game.

"I spy 15 Santa Clauses"

"I spy -- snowmen"

"There are 3 new ornaments, what are they?"

I feel much better about the chaotic display on my tree now. It is interesting and colorful and full of things that make each person happy. How could I not love it? I laugh to myself and think that it looks like Happiness threw up all over the tree. This year, as Christmas day went on, it got more and more filled up. Every bow that could be saved ended up on the tree too. It is also now full of envelopes and "coupon" books.

Which brings me back to Charlie Brown Christmas. I challenged all of the kids to think of 4 things they could do for each other and make coupons. Carly thought of making each coupon a punch card with 3 punches. Both she and Caden made coupon books with a total of 12 coupons. They listed things like, "Make a treat for me," "Leave me alone," & "Play a game with me." Jason didn't partake in this, but he picked out great gifts for his siblings. They took thought and were very loved upon opening.

Jay and I also contributed coupon books for each child.

Some of the coupons were:

1 itunes song download

lunch date with mom/dad

driving lesson (for Jason)

girls/guys day out

help clean my room

I am hoping that this will actually save us money in the long run. The kids ask for lunch out every time we leave the house. Now I will ask them if they will be willing to turn in their coupon for it. Because there are only 3 of them in their pack, they may realize that it is not that important to head over for fast or deli food. The same goes for iTunes. They are always asking to buy a song or download an app. I know I could just buy them gift cards, but that comes out of my account anyway. And it is tough keeping track of who has used up what when I enter them all into the same iTunes account. This way, I can ask them how important it is for them to have this song. Are they willing to use one of their coupons for it? They each got 4 of those.

It is important that we get down and dirty with this frugal lifestyle we should be living. We should not be sacrificing good meals just to purchase things we can do without.

Which brings me to my eBay infatuation. I love shopping for brand name clothes for the kids on eBay. I have been able to get Carly some great stuff. She loves watching the mail for her "new" clothes. She is really good about passing on her old stuff too so she never has too much sitting around here. She has been growing so much lately, really filling out, so she has gone from an 8/10 to a 10/12. I even had to get her a new coat because her arms were getting too long for her favorite green Columbia. But we grabbed a black Old Navy coat for $25.00. SO HAPPY about the price and she got an adorable hat and scarf that match perfect from Grandma Trish for Christmas.

I have tried to buy Jason clothes on eBay too. He isn't fond of used clothes but I don't care. Carly and Caden got him a great new Hollister shirt there and he loves it. I make sure that the items I bid on never cost more that comparable item would cost new. If I get a t-shirt, it better not be more than 6 dollars including shipping.

But BUT but, I need to stop looking for good deals now because we don't need them. That 6 dollars could be used other places. I just love the fact that I can get what the kids need at such great prices and I am reusing items not buying new.

So, I went from Christmas to eBay.