I Waited Too Long

Christmas shopping has been fairly stress-free this year. I've been using the Amazon.com gift cards I racked up through Swagbucks, so we aren't really paying for much. But, as luck has it, the one item Tortilla wants is becoming impossible to find.
She wants an Easy Bake Ultimate Oven. She's already talking about how we will no longer need to buy birthday cakes because she will make them all. I had it "saved" in  my cart through Amazon, but, apparently I'm a little too thrifty.  As I waited to see if the price would drop below $39.99 closer to Black Friday, it suddenly was out of stock. Now it's back on the site for.... wait for it... $52. (The other day it was $63!) I am not shelling out that much for a pretend oven, even if you can make cakes and pretzels in it. I don't care if my gift cards would cover the $52. Not doing it. Kohl's doesn't carry it. Toys R Us was out. I ordered the oven from another retailer, and if the price on Amazon drops, I'll return the other one. These cakes better be delicious!

Where Are the Leftovers?

I'm not ashamed to admit that for several years I've been making two separate dinners: one for my daughters, one for Hubby and me. They were so picky that making one meal for all six of us was a huge waste of food. Dinner with four is so hectic that it becomes easier for us to eat later. Most of the time we're so busy handling refills, etc. that we don't get to enjoy our meal. Lately, though, I've been trying to encourage my daughters to try new foods... meaning the same things we will be eating later. It's so much easier to pop in a casserole or a crockpot meal that will feed everyone, rather than try to figure out two different meals.
It's been an interesting experiment. They're not excited by acorn squash, but they devour spaghetti squash. Three of them like my white chicken chili and all of them ate pot roast and some asked for seconds. Hubby and I are glad they're trying new things, but it means we no longer have the luxury of taking leftovers for lunch the next day. Hubby was really trying to ration his pot roast serving so he would have something left for lunch. I think we had a small container of chili leftover, compared to the huge bowl of leftovers when just Hubby and I ate it.
So what does this mean? I'm going to have to calculate larger servings when I cook so we can still reap the benefits of leftovers.

What Do You Do With Your Clothes?

I've written before about how great the clothing sale is that's put on by my moms of multiples group. We hold it two times a year and we all tend to unload a lot of clothes and bring in some extra cash. Unfortunately, no one currently wants to head up the ginormous work of coordinating the spring sale. No dates have been locked in and it's looking like the spring sale is a no go. Bummer!
I have four Rubbermaid bins and one garbage bag full of clothes and toys just waiting to be sold. Have any of you sold children's clothes through Ebay? Is it worth my time? How do I figure in shipping costs? I'm seriously considering going the Ebay route with roughly 20 items to see if it works. 
Have any of you gone to a local consignment shop? I'm not sure how I feel about consignment since most stores give you a date to pick up whatever hasn't sold. I've read good and bad things about Once Upon a Child, which gives you cash on the spot. Anyone have an opinion?
A group called Just Between Friends hosts a sale twice a year near my home. The commission structure is similar to my moms of multiples group, but their "suggested pricing guide" is pretty high. I price my thing to sell and make a little bit of money to boot. I don't expect to be rolling in cash after the sales. 
To be clear: I do donate to local charities. A lot. As I prepare for the sale I make a few piles: things to pass on to friends, things to donate to the charity that has me on speed dial and things to sell. Right before our sale last month I gave one bag of clothes to a mom with triplets and donated four bags to the aforementioned charity. I like donating and knowing the clothes will either help a friend or help a charity. Still, there are some items I have that are in excellent condition and could definitely bring in some much needed cash to our bank account. (And just for the record, I don't donate stained, icky clothes. I currently have two bags in the basement to donate that are full of hats, jeans and tops, all in great condition. I tend to donate the items that seem too tedious to tag for the sales).
So, anyone?! I'm open to suggestions on how to bring in a little extra income for the "higher end" items that my girls have outgrown.

My How Times Have Changed

As part of the nightly homework in kindergarten, we are required to read together. This is not a big deal because my daughters love books. We started out letting each of them pick a book and reading to them one on one. For their birthday I gave them the complete set of Ramona books, so we have been working our way through those. (We actually read Beezus and Ramona about a year ago). 
You can tell the books were not written recently. The language is a little more proper than what we use today and every now and then my girls have to ask "what does that mean?" In one of the books I had censor what I was reading because Ramona was intent on proving that her dad was the Tooth Fairy. Not all of my girls have lost their first tooth so I'm not ready to spoil the magic.

We are currently reading Ramona and Her Father. I really struggled with last night's chapter. This book mentions quite often that Ramona's father smokes. After dinner he'll ask Ramona to get him an ashtray. Last night's chapter focused on his smoking and kept describing the smoke rings that he would blow. Ramona and Beezus spent the chapter trying to convince their dad to quit his habit. Let's face it, if this book were written today I'm pretty sure all references to Mr. Quimby's smoking would have been removed. It certainly never came up in the movie based on the books. 
Hubby and I don't smoke. No one in our family smokes, although he and I grew up around grandparents who smoked... a lot. I'm sure my daughters have seen people smoking when we're out and about, but it's never been an issue. I ended up using last night's chapter as a stepping stone to a bigger conversation: why you shouldn't smoke. It was a little bit much for them to comprehend, but I just couldn't read that chapter without making a point. I knew someday I would have to start addressing these issues, I was just a bit surprised that Ramona Q. initiated the conversation.

DST, Ruining My Routine Once Again

I used to love "falling back." Turning the clocks back an hour meant an extra hour of sleep. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way with children. I have never once enjoyed an extra hour of sleep with my girls around. Yesterday they slept until what would have been 7:30 am just the day before. Today, they were up before the alarm for school. The last few weeks have been great. It's been dark until about 7 am or so, and I've had to wake them up for school. Now that we have set the clocks back an hour, I'll be lucky if they make it to 6:30 am! The sun is now up earlier and I guess we will be, too! One of these days my daughters will understand the luxury of sleeping in. Until then, I'll just have to hope they continue to whisper when they wake up.

The Winners Are...

The three winners of the Shutterfly giveaway are:

• Heather
• Ashamuhlee
• mmunford2000

If you have not received an email from me within the next 24 hours with your promo code, PLEASE contact me! Thanks to everyone who entered.

She Picked a Twizzler?!

Until recently, I was a major chocoholic (chocaholic?!). My mom loved chocolate, so, naturally, I loved it, too. This, of course, became an issue around first grade when we learned I was allergic to caffeine (although now-a-days, doctors would say I have an "intolerance," not an allergy). Over the years I learned how much I could eat without becoming sick.
I used to need chocolate on hand at all times. I would buy bags of the miniature chocolate bars so if I had a craving I could cure it. One little mini and I was good. Two made  my stomach hurt. I can't remember the last time I wanted chocolate, so it has been quite some time since we've had bags of mini chocs in the house.
Last night was a chocoholics dream... Halloween. Almost every house gave out chocolate. My girls surprised me. Early in the day they said "If we're really good can we have one piece of candy after we trick or treat?" One?! Yes. When we came home I let them go through their buckets and pick out one piece of candy. Tortilla picked a mini box of Milk Duds (mmmmm), Sue Sue picked an mini Almond Joy (ick, coconut?), Roo picked a mini Twix (my fav, especially when frozen) and Cakes picked a Twizzler. What?! Heck no. I told her to pick something better. There's nothing wrong with Twizzlers. When I was pregnant and not really keeping down anything I could keep down Twizzlers. But honestly, if you're shown 50+ pieces of candy and told to pick one, why would you pick a Twizzler?! Cakes picked again and decided on a Twix. Good girl. Unfortunately, as I went through the candy bags I realized they had received two, count 'em TWO Twix and those were just eaten by Roo and Cakes. Sigh. Well, at least Hubby has a plethora of his favorite... Almond Joy.
Time is running out to enter my Shutterfly giveaway!