What We Do For Free Things, Sometimes!

 

      I've found all kinds of ways to get free or cheap meals and I'm always looking around for more.  There is Restaurant.com, Groupon,  and Living Social to get a few good meals.  Then there are the coupons you get in the mail.  This was the first time I've had to dress in a costume for food, unless you count getting candy at Halloween.

     So, I know I must have seen some of you at Chick-Fil-A yesterday early evening.  If you weren't there you missed out on a chance for a free meal.  I think it was well worth it,  although I say that now since I didn't see anyone I knew, and hopefully no one I knew saw me.   
   
    We were just going to wear the nose and ears that Chick-Fil-A provides online.  Then I found out that you had to dress head to hoof for a free meal, otherwise you only get a sandwich.  I dug through my closet, but I had only one white skirt.  So, I found an old sheet to make an emergency fast food costume, a pair of pants, using some jogging pants for my pattern.  I didn't even bother with elastic, instead using a large safety pin.  Just to be on the safe side since I've had my pants fall down before,  I wore shorts and a tank underneath.  I mean, it's not like I wanted anyone to see me in that either, but I thought it was better than one of my other undergarments.  I glued scraps of cloth on since pinning didn't work very well. 

   My daughter opted for a white skirt, t shirt and the nose and ears.  She still received the entire meal.  For Aiden he wore an outgrown white dress shirt and some hand me down pants about ten sizes too big.  With some rolling on the pant legs, it all worked fine.  He got the six piece kids meal, plus they handed out cupcakes.

Yep, we all did look a bit silly, and driving across town really worried me.  What if we got into an accident? 


  

     The cow waited in the front for everyone to do their picture opportunities.  Okay, so we did it too.  I mean, I was wearing the
dorkiest outfit, could it get any worse?  I felt sorry for the poor cow, found out it was a girl and she was wearing an ice pack on her back.  She should be paid double time at least for doing that. 
    There were quite a few families that were dressed up and it was fun to see so many different costume ideas.  I had no idea so many people put so much effort into these costumes.  There is also an online costume contest. 
 
      Will I do it again?  Probably, since it wasn't all that much to do the costume and it saved us about $20 dollars.  Plus Aiden had enough of his chicken nugget meal for lunch the next day, and I had most of my order of fries for a snack. 
 

      What about you?  Did you get the free meal?  Will you ever do this to get a free meal?
What are some of the things you do to find free or cheap meals?  Share your ideas!

A Wonderful Thing-Not Only Does It Not Save Money, It Costs Money! Worth Every Cent!

             Well, exciting news "arrived" today via a phone call.  Yep, another grand baby is on it's way.
  I'm very excited and wanted to tell anyone who wants to listen to me rant on and on.

     We are really tipping the scale right now with three boys and one girl.  Seems to happen that way in some families.  With my worst morning sickness pregnancy I had a girl.  Not sure of all the old myths and whether they really work.  Don't think so. 

 

   So here's advice that everyone hates.  Right?  Didn't you hate it when you got a ton of advice and you didn't really want it or know what to do with it?  How about when nobody liked the name you picked.  Every relative, even those you barely knew wanted to tell you who to name the baby after.

 
   For morning sickness, yep, try everything in the book, fennel, mint tea, lavender sachets, crackers, high protein diet, ginger and all the rest.  Bottom line, I have no recollection what worked for me.  I think I was busy being too tired to remember.

   For the babies name, I only ask one thing.  Make sure it's something I can spell and say and if it's a foreign country make sure that it's one of our allies.

For the type of birth, don't listen to anyone, go online and do your own research and come to your own conclusions.  And that includes advice from the doctor, who is most likely a man, and really has no idea what it's like to be pregnant and give birth.

 If you want to save money, and do something healthy, breast feed.  It's a real pain to have to get up in the middle of the night to make a bottle when all you had to do was "whip it out" so to speak.  So, despite it being a healthy option, I really think I did it myself to avoid having to get up in the middle of the night.
Same answer for co sleeping, again, who wants to keep getting up? 

As ugly as they are, get a recliner that rocks and turns and of course, reclines.  That was our best friend for the first few months.  There are less obtrusive models, check it out.

Remember this, the baby is going to be technologically smarter than you, accept that fact. 

For equipment, remember, babies really only need you, and you need something to catch the babies poo.  Just about everything else is extra.  The baby doesn't care if the room has a theme, or if his undershirt was used before.  They don't care if you bathe them in the kitchen sink, or a fancy baby tub.  Toys that are handy are those that keep the baby busy long enough for you to shower or use the toilet.  Just about anything and any toy is "educational" for a baby.  They've never seen anything before, so they are happy even with measuring spoons.

Remember,  on the toughest of "nights" with your baby, you can't send the baby back, postage paid or overnight delivery.  The stork does not do pick-ups.

Don't forget, you know that your baby is the cutest, sweetest, most clever, and of course the smartest baby in the world.  It's not something most parents announce.  We don't want to hurt other peoples feelings.  Let them think the same thing about their own baby.

Congratulations to the new parents to be, and may the pregnancy, birth,
and the baby all be a healthy and happy experience.  I know you will make
wonderful parents. 




If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands? ~Milton Berle

Try Using Cloth Napkins

  


Hate these polyester napkins

 When you hear the word "cloth napkins", what images come to mind?  Is it a picture of being in a restaurant?  Or maybe a special holiday and your having company.  Most people have different ideas when they think about cloth napkins. 

What I'm going to tell you is this.   "Wipe" all those images and ideas out of your head, and think of cloth napkins, and cloth in general in a whole new light.    

    
When you sit down to dinner, do you grab a stack of paper napkins? 

When you make lunch, do you grab a paper towel?  How about a spill? 

A spider?  A cover on your plate in the microwave?

It's such an easy thing to do, it's a habit that most all of us have been doing our whole life.  It's a fairly easy habit to break though.
We switched to cloth a couple of years ago.  It seems so normal that now it seems weird to use paper.   It wasn't quite that way in the very beginning.  We started out slow, just a basket of napkins on the counter.  Once the paper towels and napkins ran out, that was it, we didn't run out and buy more. 




Okay, gotta admit, these are
really ugly!

Using cloth doesn't have to be fancy unless you want it to be.  You can even start out with some nice clean rags, or old dishcloths or towels. You can buy a $5 batch of washcloths.  I've found a few sets in a thrift store that were brand new.  What you are doing is changing your habit.  Every time you go to grab a napkin, grab some cloth instead.

   I already had quite a few napkins saved up over the years.  They were just taking space for no apparent reason.  Why do we keep them around taking up space if we hardly ever use them?  I still keep a few that aren't for everyday use.

 
   


These white cotton washcloths
are used exclusively for the little one.


     I use smaller ones for the baby, he doesn't think twice about using them, it's all he's known.  Although it can be a bit embarrassing in a restaurant, when he looks at the paper napkins like they're some foreign object, and then proceeds to shred it up. 

   


 Add it up, how many paper products do you buy to wipe your hands, mouth or floor?  Cloth napkins don't take up much space in the washer.  I throw mine in with the dish towels and dish cloths.  

   Start a little at a time.  You will find a few things that defy the logic of using cloth.  Like draining fried foods such as bacon.  I used to drain them on paper towels but it is okay to use lint free cloth for such things.  I very rarely cook those items, so I did find a easy cheap solution.  It was sitting right in my kitchen drawer, again, taking up space.  Coffee filters, I had two packages of those, and I don't use them for coffee.  You can find them at a dollar store, and there are so many uses. 

This is just a very easy way to save a little bit, and it can be fun if you like to sew or you find great deals on pretty napkins. 

  

    

To learn how to fold napkins, Click Here 

 I very rarely do these, but it is nice to know how once in a while.  I mostly use a basket or a regular napkin holder.