I went to the store the other day and Oaklen convinced me to buy a coconut. I have never had one and thought it would be fun to try something new, especially since Oaklen had an interest in it and could be a learning experience. Well, I didn't realize that it would be a learning experience for all of us...
We decided to open and eat it tonight. We looked on youtube to learn how to open it and felt confident that it was easy as pie (er, coconut pie.) I struggled, to get it open. It cracked fairly easily but pulling it apart was the challenge. Oaklen said a prayer that we could get it open and the boys had quite the laugh watching me grunt with all my strength to pry it open.
Finally we called in the big guns (Darrell) and he opened it with his golden touch. To our dismay the opened coconut was moldy! Salem took a drink of the water/juice and Darrell tried a bite of the non-moldy part. It was gross and fermented! We threw the whole thing in the garbage. Did we waste $1.49? I'm not sure, it may have been worth the lessons learned:
* No impulse buying - don't give in to your kid's requests at the store, stick to the list.
* Do your research before you buy - I didn't know how to pick the right one.
* Prayers are answered - we finally got the darn thing open, though we should have "blessed" it and maybe it wouldn't have been moldy. :)
*Strength and perseverance will get you through - My strength was challenged and Darrell's strength got it open.
* You can find fun family moments at unexpected times - Although the outcome was disappointing, the act of learning how to open and opening the coconut was a fun family experience.
* Youtube is informational - It's amazing how much you can learn from how-to clips.
* Have more than one learning resource - Although the youtube clip that we watched was informational, it would have been better for us to look at a couple different clips and generate their ideas too.
* Looks are deceiving - That coconut looked good but was rotten!
* How-to videos look easy but may not be - Usually how-to videos teach someone how to do something under the best circumstances. That coconut was probably hard to open since it was too old. Sometimes the expert doesn't realize to mention a few points because he's so used to doing it.
Now, there must be an object lesson in this somewhere that I can use for school or church. Any ideas?
Showing posts with label confessions of a housewife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confessions of a housewife. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Urban Pioneer
If you want to get a glimpse of what the pioneers had to deal with, lug your big garbage cans out to the street during a snow storm. Geez that was tough work! I'm glad though, that I had a nice warm snow parka & hood with thick gloves and boots. I wouldn't have survived back in the good ol' days...
Monday, June 15, 2009
Monday morning date night
My Dearest Sani Taire,
I just finished my date with you. Oh how I love you so much! I look forward to our weekly dates and always dress in my best evening gown.
I loved the way you handled yourself as we waltzed in the dining room and as you helped me up each and every step. You were so gallant when we encountered the light saber fighting child who wouldn't dare let us touch his legos. I was happy that you weren't jealous as I foxtrotted with Mr. Broom and did the cha cha with Mike Mop. You were so kind to let the 3 year old push you around as I talked with Dust-in. You're so good with children.
I love the way we get dirty. Sani, you are quite powerful. Thanks for such a good time. You always make me feel good after our date. My house lingers of traces of you and makes me smile. See you next week, I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and don't worry about sending me a return note, I already know how I turn you on!
Sincerely,
Your mistress Heather
I just finished my date with you. Oh how I love you so much! I look forward to our weekly dates and always dress in my best evening gown.
I loved the way you handled yourself as we waltzed in the dining room and as you helped me up each and every step. You were so gallant when we encountered the light saber fighting child who wouldn't dare let us touch his legos. I was happy that you weren't jealous as I foxtrotted with Mr. Broom and did the cha cha with Mike Mop. You were so kind to let the 3 year old push you around as I talked with Dust-in. You're so good with children.
I love the way we get dirty. Sani, you are quite powerful. Thanks for such a good time. You always make me feel good after our date. My house lingers of traces of you and makes me smile. See you next week, I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and don't worry about sending me a return note, I already know how I turn you on!
Sincerely,
Your mistress Heather
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
I'm flying with flylady
For over 4 months, I have been following a cleaning routine in my house and it's actually working!
Some of you already know about this feat that I've taken on and I promised that I'd blog about it. I figured it would be a good thing to blog about (finally) in January since everyone is setting goals and this could help many people with their goals.
If you haven't heard of flylady, then you're in for a treat. Flylady is a woman named Marla Cilley who came up with a great way to keep CHAOS out of your life. (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome.) Not only is it a cleaning routine but it's a different way of thinking and looking at yourself and your household.
I heard of flylady a few years back and apparently was not ready for it. I thought she was too pushy since I didn't understand everything. All I knew was that she had a flylady yahoo group. I subscribed to get daily emails reminding me to clean certain things but I felt like that was too much pestering so I just unsubscribed and forgot about it.
Last summer I was talking with my friend Jodie and she asked me if I had heard of flylady or read flylady's book called Sink Reflections. I didn't know that she had a book! Jodie gave me her testimonial of flylady's book so it gave me enough courage to try flylady again. I checked it out from the library in July and couldn't get past chapter 1 since I felt the pestering again. Finally I picked up the book again towards the end of August and finished reading it within a week.
When summer was over and Salem started Kindergarten, I figured that then would be a good time to start a new routine. As many people say, 27 days makes a habit so I challenged myself to keep the house clean for 27 days in a row. I didn't even tell anyone what I was doing, not even Darrell. (Although I'm sure he noticed the difference.) I successfully kept my habit and have been keeping it ever since.
Okay, now you want to know the details right? I really suggest that you read the book since flylady says it so much better than I do, but here are some things that I picked up:
* Go Shine Your Sink - The name of the book "Sink Reflections" talks about going to shine your sink. I like that she doesn't just say "go do the dishes." She thinks of the positive end result of cleaning your kitchen and dishes. You get a nice shiny sink and you are supposed to keep the sink shiny. (I first was frustrated with this one since I have an old yellow sink that doesn't get very shiny, but over time I've learned to be happy with my sink and happy with myself.) Also, every room needs it's own "shiny sink," a focal point to keep clean like your dining room table, or the top of your dresser.
* Flying - She got her name "flylady" because she likes fly fishing. That was her nickname before she started doing cleaning routines and now it has just stuck with her. Later she and others came up with an acronym. FLY = Finally Loving Yourself. With this program you'll be FLYing and feel great about yourself and your house. I've (thankfully) had good self esteem over the years but I must say that I do feel better about myself when my house is clean and I am "put together." She emphasizes with her routines that we need to take care of ourselves, not just our household and family. The morning routines and bedtime routines include things other than just cleaning. She wants you to get up and get dressed with laced-up shoes, and make sure your hair & make-up are done before doing anything else. You can't make your house feel good if you don't feel good about yourself. (I thought that some of that was a little silly but I notice that when I'm dressed and ready to go for the day I more able and willing to do things and have more energy.)
* Don't be a martyr - This philosophy I have to repeat many times. She talks about forgetting about all the "crap" that you are doing for everyone in the house, and the complaint that "you are the only one" doing the chores, blah blah blah. Stop whining, and quit being a martyr. Just do your chores happily and when you get going on your routines, your family will soon follow suit. This may mean that you'll have to do more than the rest of the family for a while but I've realized that it's so much easier to do this than wait around for something to get done so you can do the next task. This has eliminated bottlenecks.
* Laundry...see it through - Don't even start a load of laundry if you can't finish it that day by putting it away in the drawers. I have kept up on my laundry and it's been great; the only downfall is that Oaklen wants to wear his orange sweatshirt every day since it's always clean! :)
* Weekly home blessing - Each Monday I do a "Weekly Home Blessing." This is just an hour of my time and I am able to dust, vacuum, sweep & mop the entire house. I feel so good after it's done. I don't worry so much about the floors the rest of the week since I know that they get cleaned at least once a week.
* Housework done incorrectly still blesses my family - Flylady teaches you to stop being a perfectionist. Here are three examples: 1. Since I know that I clean the floors every week, I can allow my children to help with the cleaning on other days. I ask Salem to sweep the floor and Oaklen to help with the dustpan. They are still learning and don't really do a fantastic job yet but it's okay because it at least got the floor a little cleaner than it was. 2. When I do my vacuuming, I don't move a ton of furniture around like a perfectionist would. If there is a toy in the way, then I just push it aside with my vacuum. I leave the deep cleaning to when I do the zone cleaning. 3. I never made my bed before doing the flylady program (yes Mom...shocker, I know.) because I guess I was being too much of a perfectionist. It bothered me that it wasn't going to look great so I just didn't bother with it. Now I make my bed every morning and some times the bed looks great, other times the blankets could use a little more straightening but that's okay, at least it got made.
* Zones - I mentioned zone cleaning. Each week she has a different zone to clean. Week 1 is a certain section of the house, week 2 is a different section. This allows you to do your "spring cleaning" all year long, but in manageable baby steps.
* Set the timer - If you think that you don't have time to clean, then set the timer for 10 minutes and see how much you can get done. It's amazing how much you can do when you dedicate your time to it and not get side-tracked.
* Babysteps - It didn't take your house a day to get cluttered so it's not going to take a day to get it clean. Doing baby steps by cleaning & tackling a little bit at a time will help free yourself of the clutter.
* Fling boogie - Along with the baby steps, and setting the timer, she talks about doing "fling boogies." Get a garbage sack and go through a drawer, closet or whatever and get rid of 27 things. Set the timer while you do this and don't look back. You'll accumulate 27 things to get rid of in no time.
* Does it make you happy? Does it bless your life? - When it comes time to getting rid of things, ask yourself "Does it make me happy? Does it bless my life or family?" If the answer is yes, then you may keep it. If it's "no" then fling it. I've struggled with what to do with Salem's artwork and school papers. One of her suggestions is that if you have 20 of the same type of thing, it won't be as valuable in years to come. If you only save a few precious papers then they will be treasured a lot more.
Last but not least...I'm not perfect - I've been nervous to blog about this subject because I'm announcing to the world that my house is "clean." I don't want any of you to come to my house with a white glove and get nit-picky about my so-called clean house. I'm only human and I try my best. I have made amazing progress and feel good about what I am doing. My challenge will be when the new baby comes. I wonder how this will effect my routines, but I promise I will keep trying and flying!
If you made it through this blog post, then good job! I wish you all the best of luck in your flying!
Some of you already know about this feat that I've taken on and I promised that I'd blog about it. I figured it would be a good thing to blog about (finally) in January since everyone is setting goals and this could help many people with their goals.
If you haven't heard of flylady, then you're in for a treat. Flylady is a woman named Marla Cilley who came up with a great way to keep CHAOS out of your life. (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome.) Not only is it a cleaning routine but it's a different way of thinking and looking at yourself and your household.
I heard of flylady a few years back and apparently was not ready for it. I thought she was too pushy since I didn't understand everything. All I knew was that she had a flylady yahoo group. I subscribed to get daily emails reminding me to clean certain things but I felt like that was too much pestering so I just unsubscribed and forgot about it.
Last summer I was talking with my friend Jodie and she asked me if I had heard of flylady or read flylady's book called Sink Reflections. I didn't know that she had a book! Jodie gave me her testimonial of flylady's book so it gave me enough courage to try flylady again. I checked it out from the library in July and couldn't get past chapter 1 since I felt the pestering again. Finally I picked up the book again towards the end of August and finished reading it within a week.
When summer was over and Salem started Kindergarten, I figured that then would be a good time to start a new routine. As many people say, 27 days makes a habit so I challenged myself to keep the house clean for 27 days in a row. I didn't even tell anyone what I was doing, not even Darrell. (Although I'm sure he noticed the difference.) I successfully kept my habit and have been keeping it ever since.
Okay, now you want to know the details right? I really suggest that you read the book since flylady says it so much better than I do, but here are some things that I picked up:
* Go Shine Your Sink - The name of the book "Sink Reflections" talks about going to shine your sink. I like that she doesn't just say "go do the dishes." She thinks of the positive end result of cleaning your kitchen and dishes. You get a nice shiny sink and you are supposed to keep the sink shiny. (I first was frustrated with this one since I have an old yellow sink that doesn't get very shiny, but over time I've learned to be happy with my sink and happy with myself.) Also, every room needs it's own "shiny sink," a focal point to keep clean like your dining room table, or the top of your dresser.
* Flying - She got her name "flylady" because she likes fly fishing. That was her nickname before she started doing cleaning routines and now it has just stuck with her. Later she and others came up with an acronym. FLY = Finally Loving Yourself. With this program you'll be FLYing and feel great about yourself and your house. I've (thankfully) had good self esteem over the years but I must say that I do feel better about myself when my house is clean and I am "put together." She emphasizes with her routines that we need to take care of ourselves, not just our household and family. The morning routines and bedtime routines include things other than just cleaning. She wants you to get up and get dressed with laced-up shoes, and make sure your hair & make-up are done before doing anything else. You can't make your house feel good if you don't feel good about yourself. (I thought that some of that was a little silly but I notice that when I'm dressed and ready to go for the day I more able and willing to do things and have more energy.)
* Don't be a martyr - This philosophy I have to repeat many times. She talks about forgetting about all the "crap" that you are doing for everyone in the house, and the complaint that "you are the only one" doing the chores, blah blah blah. Stop whining, and quit being a martyr. Just do your chores happily and when you get going on your routines, your family will soon follow suit. This may mean that you'll have to do more than the rest of the family for a while but I've realized that it's so much easier to do this than wait around for something to get done so you can do the next task. This has eliminated bottlenecks.
* Laundry...see it through - Don't even start a load of laundry if you can't finish it that day by putting it away in the drawers. I have kept up on my laundry and it's been great; the only downfall is that Oaklen wants to wear his orange sweatshirt every day since it's always clean! :)
* Weekly home blessing - Each Monday I do a "Weekly Home Blessing." This is just an hour of my time and I am able to dust, vacuum, sweep & mop the entire house. I feel so good after it's done. I don't worry so much about the floors the rest of the week since I know that they get cleaned at least once a week.
* Housework done incorrectly still blesses my family - Flylady teaches you to stop being a perfectionist. Here are three examples: 1. Since I know that I clean the floors every week, I can allow my children to help with the cleaning on other days. I ask Salem to sweep the floor and Oaklen to help with the dustpan. They are still learning and don't really do a fantastic job yet but it's okay because it at least got the floor a little cleaner than it was. 2. When I do my vacuuming, I don't move a ton of furniture around like a perfectionist would. If there is a toy in the way, then I just push it aside with my vacuum. I leave the deep cleaning to when I do the zone cleaning. 3. I never made my bed before doing the flylady program (yes Mom...shocker, I know.) because I guess I was being too much of a perfectionist. It bothered me that it wasn't going to look great so I just didn't bother with it. Now I make my bed every morning and some times the bed looks great, other times the blankets could use a little more straightening but that's okay, at least it got made.
* Zones - I mentioned zone cleaning. Each week she has a different zone to clean. Week 1 is a certain section of the house, week 2 is a different section. This allows you to do your "spring cleaning" all year long, but in manageable baby steps.
* Set the timer - If you think that you don't have time to clean, then set the timer for 10 minutes and see how much you can get done. It's amazing how much you can do when you dedicate your time to it and not get side-tracked.
* Babysteps - It didn't take your house a day to get cluttered so it's not going to take a day to get it clean. Doing baby steps by cleaning & tackling a little bit at a time will help free yourself of the clutter.
* Fling boogie - Along with the baby steps, and setting the timer, she talks about doing "fling boogies." Get a garbage sack and go through a drawer, closet or whatever and get rid of 27 things. Set the timer while you do this and don't look back. You'll accumulate 27 things to get rid of in no time.
* Does it make you happy? Does it bless your life? - When it comes time to getting rid of things, ask yourself "Does it make me happy? Does it bless my life or family?" If the answer is yes, then you may keep it. If it's "no" then fling it. I've struggled with what to do with Salem's artwork and school papers. One of her suggestions is that if you have 20 of the same type of thing, it won't be as valuable in years to come. If you only save a few precious papers then they will be treasured a lot more.
Last but not least...I'm not perfect - I've been nervous to blog about this subject because I'm announcing to the world that my house is "clean." I don't want any of you to come to my house with a white glove and get nit-picky about my so-called clean house. I'm only human and I try my best. I have made amazing progress and feel good about what I am doing. My challenge will be when the new baby comes. I wonder how this will effect my routines, but I promise I will keep trying and flying!
If you made it through this blog post, then good job! I wish you all the best of luck in your flying!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
I only have eyes for...onions
Just when I thought I had everything I ever needed, Darrell goes and gets me something amazing! :)
One of the Christmas presents that I received from Darrell is a pair of pink swim goggles. (You're thinking huh? Heather doesn't really swim that much.) Well I don't swim often, but I do cut onions often! My eyes can't bear the onion fumes, they make my eyes water, so Darrell bought me pink onion goggles! I've tried holding a match in my mouth (it's supposed to eat up the gaseous fumes before it gets to my eyes), holding water in my mouth, going as fast as I can, using a food processor, etc. Nothing has worked as well as the goggles!
Last week I took a picture of how silly yet cool I look wearing the onion goggles. Enjoy the goofy picture, especially my puffy pregnant face.
One of the Christmas presents that I received from Darrell is a pair of pink swim goggles. (You're thinking huh? Heather doesn't really swim that much.) Well I don't swim often, but I do cut onions often! My eyes can't bear the onion fumes, they make my eyes water, so Darrell bought me pink onion goggles! I've tried holding a match in my mouth (it's supposed to eat up the gaseous fumes before it gets to my eyes), holding water in my mouth, going as fast as I can, using a food processor, etc. Nothing has worked as well as the goggles!
Last week I took a picture of how silly yet cool I look wearing the onion goggles. Enjoy the goofy picture, especially my puffy pregnant face.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The end of my KitchenAid era
When Darrell and I were registering for our wedding, he insisted that we register for a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. He said "to be a true Hendriksen, you have to own a KitchenAid." I thought "Whatever, I don't really understand the whole big whoop over them but okay, I'll register for it, I doubt anyone would be able to buy it for us since it's pretty pricey."
Sure enough, when it was Thanksgiving time (we were still engaged) and we had our annual Hendriksen family Thanksgiving dinner, all of Darrell's aunts started bringing in their KitchenAid mixers into the church to use for mixing & mashing the potatoes! I was amazed that they would literally bring their heavy duty mixer just for that, couldn't they use an easy-to-transport hand mixer? I figured there must be something cool about these mixers.
Later in January, while at work, my boss & co-workers asked me to step into my executive boss's office. There on the desk was a huge wrapped wedding gift. I opened it up and it was the KitchenAid mixer that we had registered for. I couldn't believe it! My mouth dropped open since I didn't expect such a large gift from them. (The standard wedding gift at my office was a basket full of various odd & ends & kitchen gadgets.) My executive boss, who was a single lady and could afford such a gift, just looked at me, smiled and said "you deserve this." That was a nice pat on my back.
I've grown to enjoy the KitchenAid. I liked being able to go get another ingredient from the pantry while the mixer is still mixing. The dough hook is, of course, great for making bread. It has served my family well for over six years.
This past year and a half I have tried (desperately) to make bread for my family. I've always wanted to make bread regularly and am now I'm doing it, but I still would like to perfect my technique and get a nice fluffy whole wheat bread. With my KitchenAid I could only put in a maximum of 6 cups of whole wheat flour (8 cups white flour.) That meant I could only make 2 small loaves of bread at a time, and I'd have to be making bread every few days.
I bought a huge stainless steel bowl($1 at DI) and started making bread by hand so that I could make 6 loaves of bread instead of just two. (I'd freeze 4-5 loaves.)
My family had outgrown our 4 1/2 quart KitchenAid mixer and I wanted something bigger. I was introduced to the Bosch Mixers and fell in love. (Sorry KitchenAid.) I watched a video comparing the Bosch to a KitchenAid for making bread and the Bosch won victoriously. I immediately wanted a Bosch mixer but since they were pricey I needed to "save up" to buy the mixer. (I thought that I'd do that just like Darrell did to save up for his guitar.) I made a spreadsheet (who knew?) to figure out how much I needed to save and entered the info whenever I made a few extra dollars (selling things, birthday money, babysitting, substituting a dance class.)
I was holding out for a brand new model, but this weekend I found a refurbished Bosch Mixer with a warranty from a reputable local store so I decided to purchase that one instead of saving a lot more money for a new one.
I put my KitchenAid up for sale on KSL and Craigslist and sold it today. It was a little hard for me to let go as I was giving the mixer to the lady who bought it. It's an end of an era for me. It was my learning mixer, and I've had fun memories with my boys making food using the mixer. I feel old now that I've upgraded to a bigger mixer, I'm in a new stage in my life.
I feel like I'm still a "true Hendriksen" even though I no longer own a KitchenAid, hopefully the family won't disown me. :)
My quest for bread perfection still awaits me, but I feel that I'm getting closer all the time.
Sure enough, when it was Thanksgiving time (we were still engaged) and we had our annual Hendriksen family Thanksgiving dinner, all of Darrell's aunts started bringing in their KitchenAid mixers into the church to use for mixing & mashing the potatoes! I was amazed that they would literally bring their heavy duty mixer just for that, couldn't they use an easy-to-transport hand mixer? I figured there must be something cool about these mixers.
Later in January, while at work, my boss & co-workers asked me to step into my executive boss's office. There on the desk was a huge wrapped wedding gift. I opened it up and it was the KitchenAid mixer that we had registered for. I couldn't believe it! My mouth dropped open since I didn't expect such a large gift from them. (The standard wedding gift at my office was a basket full of various odd & ends & kitchen gadgets.) My executive boss, who was a single lady and could afford such a gift, just looked at me, smiled and said "you deserve this." That was a nice pat on my back.
I've grown to enjoy the KitchenAid. I liked being able to go get another ingredient from the pantry while the mixer is still mixing. The dough hook is, of course, great for making bread. It has served my family well for over six years.
This past year and a half I have tried (desperately) to make bread for my family. I've always wanted to make bread regularly and am now I'm doing it, but I still would like to perfect my technique and get a nice fluffy whole wheat bread. With my KitchenAid I could only put in a maximum of 6 cups of whole wheat flour (8 cups white flour.) That meant I could only make 2 small loaves of bread at a time, and I'd have to be making bread every few days.
I bought a huge stainless steel bowl($1 at DI) and started making bread by hand so that I could make 6 loaves of bread instead of just two. (I'd freeze 4-5 loaves.)
My family had outgrown our 4 1/2 quart KitchenAid mixer and I wanted something bigger. I was introduced to the Bosch Mixers and fell in love. (Sorry KitchenAid.) I watched a video comparing the Bosch to a KitchenAid for making bread and the Bosch won victoriously. I immediately wanted a Bosch mixer but since they were pricey I needed to "save up" to buy the mixer. (I thought that I'd do that just like Darrell did to save up for his guitar.) I made a spreadsheet (who knew?) to figure out how much I needed to save and entered the info whenever I made a few extra dollars (selling things, birthday money, babysitting, substituting a dance class.)
I was holding out for a brand new model, but this weekend I found a refurbished Bosch Mixer with a warranty from a reputable local store so I decided to purchase that one instead of saving a lot more money for a new one.
I put my KitchenAid up for sale on KSL and Craigslist and sold it today. It was a little hard for me to let go as I was giving the mixer to the lady who bought it. It's an end of an era for me. It was my learning mixer, and I've had fun memories with my boys making food using the mixer. I feel old now that I've upgraded to a bigger mixer, I'm in a new stage in my life.
I feel like I'm still a "true Hendriksen" even though I no longer own a KitchenAid, hopefully the family won't disown me. :)
My quest for bread perfection still awaits me, but I feel that I'm getting closer all the time.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Ironic things
What things in your life are ironic? Here are some paradoxes in mine:* Salem won't eat the big regular Sunkist oranges yet he loves clementines or the canned mandarin oranges.
* My kids waking up even earlier than normal on a Saturday morning when we could have slept in, then the next day having to wake them up to get up for church.
* Laundry - I think I should get rid of clothes to cut down on the amount of laundry I do but if I got rid of the clothes I'd have to do more laundry because I'd have less clothes.
* Thinking you're completely ready to leave the house for an event, then suddenly scurrying the last 5 minutes to get ready.
* Unintentionally going a whole day without using the microwave, yet when the microwave is now not working, wanting to use it for everything!
* Going hours without using electricity, then when the power goes out thinking that we can't do anything because we have no electricity.
* One of my children not caring about a certain toy until the other child has it and he must play with it right now!
* Being too tired to go to bed.
* I don't eat hamburgers (with a big hunk of meat) but I'll usually eat sloppy joes.
* I subscribe to many email newsletters but hardly ever open any. My inbox has over 1300 unread messages.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Grocery shopping is bad for my blood pressure
I now know why they have blood pressure machines at the grocery store. It's for all those people trying to figure out their convoluted sales!
I went to Albertsons today because there were some great deals. I ended up saving over $150 (53%) + and an extra $30 off, but I always wonder if it's worth all the stress. I could just feel my heart hurting and my blood pressure raising as we went through the store.
Like I said, the sales are quite convoluted...buy 10 of these items and save $2 at checkout, buy $10 worth of these items and you'll get $3, and don't forget about buying $50 worth of these items within the next month and you could get a $10 coupon on your next order. It's unbelievable! I think the store really wants you to make a mistake or miscount so you'll still buy the items but not actually get the discount.
I was thankful that I found a "drive cart" at the store so Oaklen & Salem could ride in there. I'm also thankful that both seats in the "car" part of the cart had a steering wheel. That way the boys wouldn't fight over it. I debated going later in the day so Darrell could be with the boys and I'd go by myself, but I wanted to get it done in the morning.
My blood pressure goes up when I grocery shop for the following reasons:
1. I'm always nervous that the boys are going to "melt" at the store and I won't be able to make it through. We had quite a few screams in the aisles but it was great at the end in the produce section since they had a little TV monitor advertising fresh vegetables and how to cook them. It was suddenly silence in the cart! :) They liked watching that so I took advantage of that moment and stopped to finally figure out the coupons that I had used.
2. The sales are so crazy that I have to keep counting the number of items that I got in order to get the discount at checkout. Usually at the end I have to run to another aisle to get one more thing to make it 10 items or $10 worth.
3. The checkout today actually went rather smoothly but I'm always afraid that I'm not going to get the discount, coupon won't scan, etc. Guess how long my receipt was? Over 5 feet 4 inches! I put the bottom on the ground and held it up, it was taller than me! (Most of that was from the string cheese that they had to scan individually.)
4. Today was a "stock-up" day so I got lots of items and my cart was overflowing. I was hoping that I could make it through with just one cart and luckily I did.
And here's the clencher...would I do this all again? Absolutely! I have created a monster, but I can't NOT do it! :)
I went to Albertsons today because there were some great deals. I ended up saving over $150 (53%) + and an extra $30 off, but I always wonder if it's worth all the stress. I could just feel my heart hurting and my blood pressure raising as we went through the store.
Like I said, the sales are quite convoluted...buy 10 of these items and save $2 at checkout, buy $10 worth of these items and you'll get $3, and don't forget about buying $50 worth of these items within the next month and you could get a $10 coupon on your next order. It's unbelievable! I think the store really wants you to make a mistake or miscount so you'll still buy the items but not actually get the discount.
I was thankful that I found a "drive cart" at the store so Oaklen & Salem could ride in there. I'm also thankful that both seats in the "car" part of the cart had a steering wheel. That way the boys wouldn't fight over it. I debated going later in the day so Darrell could be with the boys and I'd go by myself, but I wanted to get it done in the morning.
My blood pressure goes up when I grocery shop for the following reasons:
1. I'm always nervous that the boys are going to "melt" at the store and I won't be able to make it through. We had quite a few screams in the aisles but it was great at the end in the produce section since they had a little TV monitor advertising fresh vegetables and how to cook them. It was suddenly silence in the cart! :) They liked watching that so I took advantage of that moment and stopped to finally figure out the coupons that I had used.
2. The sales are so crazy that I have to keep counting the number of items that I got in order to get the discount at checkout. Usually at the end I have to run to another aisle to get one more thing to make it 10 items or $10 worth.
3. The checkout today actually went rather smoothly but I'm always afraid that I'm not going to get the discount, coupon won't scan, etc. Guess how long my receipt was? Over 5 feet 4 inches! I put the bottom on the ground and held it up, it was taller than me! (Most of that was from the string cheese that they had to scan individually.)
4. Today was a "stock-up" day so I got lots of items and my cart was overflowing. I was hoping that I could make it through with just one cart and luckily I did.
And here's the clencher...would I do this all again? Absolutely! I have created a monster, but I can't NOT do it! :)
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