Delayed Gratification

Our TV is huge!  It's a 55 inch projection screen that is blurry and high maintenance.  You have to take the back off of it to clean the three very large bulbs that give it light.  The electricity that it requires to run has probably cost us quite a bit.  For the first 13 years of our marriage we were a 1 TV household.  This TV became #2.  It was free.  I love free or really cheap things.

Most of our kids friends have had flat screen TVs for a while.  And our kids kept asking when we were going to replace the blurry behemoth.  We kept saying, we have to wait...  They heard that for a year and a half.  They knew we were saving.  We were waiting till prices came down; it's like waiting for the stars to align.  Sure we could have put it on a credit card at any time, but where's the self discipline in that?

Then it happened!  I was walking through the store and low and behold I saw a clearance table.  One with flat screen TV's.  They were all on the wall for 6 months as displays- but they were 30% off.  Being someone who refuses to pay full price for anything, I called my hubby and asked him to research the brand.  He looked it up, and it had 4 out of 5 stars.  I was going to get a 42 inch High Def LCD TV for $250!!! We still had to buy HDMI cables, the mounting brackets, and taxes.  So keep that in mind if you're ever going to purchase one.

It wasn't easy waiting a year and a half to replace the fuzzy monster.  But, to our family, it was a valuable lesson.  It taught our kids that 1. You don't always get what you want right away.  2. You need to save your money.  3. Patience  4.Using that money wisely (sales).  My kids are watching me every day.  They are making tough decisions with their money already.  Yesterday I bought some new pants for our oldest.  He wanted me to buy a shirt to match.  I told him that he had plenty of shirts already and that if he wanted that shirt he could buy it with his lawn mowing money.  He stood there for a while and chose to walk away because he assessed it as a want and not a NEED.  I love passing these things down to my children. Being frugal is a good thing.  They can learn a lot from it.  Delay your gratification and they will delay theirs.

Toddler Prepping

Toddlers are funny people.  They can go from laughing to crying in 30 seconds.  Toddlers are inquisitive, funny, intense, and lovable.  They are truly a gift from God.  They can, however, cause a lot of embarrassment in public.  It seems that, when out and about with a toddler, things that they've never tried before seem fun and interesting to them.  And, we, as parents are caught off guard.  

You can't plan for everything-  I certainly couldn't predict it when one of my kids (then 3 years old) decided to pull his pants down in Wal-mart.  I didn't see it coming when one of my kids licked the glass (at least 4 feet of it) on the deli case at Wegmans.  And, I certainly had no inkling that one of my kids would take a dirty sock, dip it in muddy water - and proceed to suck the water out of the sock and drink it.  Yes, all of these things happened to us.  The more kids you have, the more opportunity for embarrassment.  The things I mention are all "unplanables".  You can't plan on them happening and you have no idea when it's going to happen to you.

But, life with Toddlers has lots of "planables".   You can plan on them happening to you, at least once, if your child is breathing.  Planables are things like, running in the store, telling someone you won't be their friend, pushing, begging for things in the store, and many others.  

Prepping your child before you enter a new situation can make or break your time- where you are going.  So, before we get out of the van, we will tell our kids what is expected of them.  Really, when you think about it, you wouldn't want to be on a new job without knowing what's expected of you.  Yet, we get frustrated with our kids when they don't exhibit the expected behavior.  Right before we get out of the van, I can say, "you are expected to keep your hands to yourself, speak quietly, and stay with me."  I then tell them the positive things that they can do.  For example, "you can help mommy weigh the produce, get items that mommy asks you to get, and if you're a really good listener, we can get a free cookie from the bakery."  Obviously, different rules are used for different locations/tasks.

It is so crucial that when these rules are broken that there is a consequence.  I will not tell you what that consequence should be because each child is different.  Sometimes we used a consequence for a child that did not work and we had to find one that did.  But, the point is, it must be consistent.  

At one point, we had a child who would be good throughout the store and then be grumpy with the bakery lady because the cookie wasn't big enough.   Guess what, no cookie until you can be thankful.  Of course, we had to remind them that was expected before the next trip to the store.  

So hang in there, and remember that they are a new person on the job who needs their instructions, confirmation, consistency, and LOVE.  

Aldi's vs. BJ's list # 3

I have made yet anther trip to BJ's with pen and paper in hand.  I bought several items and compared the prices.  Good news is, I am bringing my total spent down!  And now that I have information charts to help me, it'll get better and better every week.  :-) Aldi's definitely won, hands down, this week! Here's Aldi's vs. BJ's List #3.

Garden Pesto

I had to pull my basil plants out of the ground to beat the coming frost.  I use the basil throughout the summer in our grilling and veggies and then in the fall use the rest to make pesto.  I had 5 full grown basil plants, so I had to get the pesto rolling.  I didn't have walnuts- so I whipped up my own recipe using almonds (which I had on hand).  It's great!- You can also add Parmesan cheese if you want.

Garden Pesto
1 cup almonds
3/4 cup olive oil
3 1/2 cup washed basil leaves
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 tsp. salt
1 head of garlic

Chop the almonds in a blender- remove and put it in a bowl.
then mix the oil, basil, salt, lemon juice, and garlic in the blender.  When it is evenly chopped, add in almonds till it is completely mixed.  If it is not salty enough, add a bit more.  The basil is done.  Enjoy!

Kid Tested- Fluffy Flax Seed Pancakes

I make a huge batch of pancakes every two weeks.  We eat some and put the rest in the freezer.  It is wonderful to have homemade things to hand off to the kids for breakfast.  I am trying to fed my family with things that are more wholesome than what we had been doing.  I find that when I "jump off the cliff" with diet changes, I end up shocking the family and I never stick with it.  So I've taken a regular pancake recipe and tweaked it to add some healthier choices Sugar in the Raw, pure vanilla, and flax seed).  These were fluffy, airy, and filled with flax seed!  Enjoy!  Try them and let me know what you think.

Fluffy Flax Seed Pancakes
5 cups flour
5 Tbsp. Baking Powder
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
10 Tbsp. cooking oil
10 Tbsp. Sugar in the Raw
2 Tbsp. pure vanilla
3 Tbsp. ground flax seed
5 cu. milk
4 eggs
2 1/2 tsp. salt

Mix it all together.  Use an non stick pan or griddle to cook these- no oil needed.  Eat and freeze leftovers.

List 2 for Aldi's vs. BJ's

Hey guys, here's the second installment of Aldi's vs. BJ's.  Click here

ALDI's vs. BJ's

Here is my first installment of Aldi's vs BJ's.  I went shopping last week and kept track of all the prices of things that I purchased at BJ's.  Then, I went to Aldi's with my notebook to write down the prices of comparable- non-name brand things from Aldi's.  I wanted to share my findings with you because- really who has time to do this kind of thing?  I know I don't, but I am a nut, and did it anyway.
Keep in mind that almost all the things at Aldi's are generic; you can't use coupons most of the time.  AT BJ's everything is name brand and, they will actually allow you to combine the BJ's coupons and the manufactures coupons for a double discount.
I will do this again with a different shopping list so you can get a feel for their prices on other things.
That being said, check out my spreadsheet to see who won.  NOTE: the highlighted boxes are the cheaper items.  Spreadsheet