In my little teeny tiny mind I think President Obama should give each tax paying adult a check for $30,000 and watch it stimulate the economy better than any stimulus package he can think of. Seriously - $60K in the house of Cali Girl would go a long way and would stimulate the economy with us finishing our basement and taking a vacation – pretty sure other households would do similar things with all that money. What would you do with $30K per adult in your house?
I’m a realist; I know that won’t happen. …So here at the house of Cali Girl we are doing out best to stimulate the economy without a fun little check from the government.
My Valentine’s Day gift to the hubs was a lobster dinner. We don’t believe in going out to dinner for lobster, so we buy it at the local grocery store and steam it ourselves and light a gazillion candles to get rid of the boiling seafood rank smell. It’s as easy as can be and delish. We both had an abundant and decadent amount of lobster – two 2 pound lobster each. Yikes, but hey we wanted to stimulate the economy! The hubs ate his dripping in butter and I ate mine with lemon only, which was a new experience for me…but my abundant tush needs to squeeze into a bathing suit on May 1st and that was only 8 points of lobster! Aside from my 11 month old bundle of joy crying and whining while we were trying to finish our dinner together, it was a lovely meal.
My Valentine (aka the hubs) bought me a laptop. It started out as a mini laptop (have you seen these cute little things?), then went to a regular size for $50 more, then ended with a Dell laptop because they were having a sale. You see…we really do want to do our part in stimulating the economy, so we upgraded. The hubs was very sweet and upgraded even further to get me a pink laptop. Thank you, my dear Valentine! I will look at its oh so girly color and smile and giggle when I see my big burly hubs using it.
Valentine’s Day weekend also greeted us with a new closet system from Easy Closets.com. When planned for a walk-in closet in our master bedroom when we built our house, but never finished it. We have his and hers reach in closets, so the walk-in was never a priority. It became a priority and now we have a beautiful closet system. When it’s finished, I’ll post some photos. Of course you know this means that I will have to further stimulate the economy and buy some lovely clothes to fill it up!
Lobsters, Laptops and Closets Oh My
Posted by Fratzels Labels: healthy living, Holiday, Marriage, Politics
Little Man's preschool teacher, bless her heart, tries so hard when it comes to educating the kids around holidays. Yesterday was MLK Day, and Little Man must have had a lesson on it at school that day. He woke this morning telling us that if your skin was a different color you couldn't eat in restaurants. He believes that to be a current day thing. When I tried to explain to him that it was a long time ago, he was adamant that it was happening now and that Miss Fran knows all.
Now I find myself in a battle of wondering what is and isn't age appropriate. When I asked my son what dreidel was in December, he told me it was "a Jewish." Sometimes I think kids are too young to understand the depth of things. When I taught first grade we read the age appropriate books (according to scholastic) on MLK, talked about our visual differences and did an art project celebrating MLK. My conversation did not delve any deeper than "we are all the same on the inside." So, should a 3 year need to understand that our country used to have horribly insane and incomprehensible rules that made people sit in the back of the bus based on their skin color? I gotta say "no" on this one. I think he is way too young to comprehend it. Perhaps a lesson on what's the same and what's different would have been more appropriate at his age. I say let me and his teachers in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade further educate them on the day.
...thank goodness! I had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas 4 times, but boy am I wiped out.
We had our own little family Christmas on December 20th. Little Man was thrilled that Santa listened to him and came to our house early. He was vague in what he asked for, so he was pleased with everything. The toy he loved the most came from the $1 bin at Wal-Mart. Mental note for next year: only buy from $1 bins. Ladybug could have cared less about the whole thing.
We flew to Cali on December 24th. It was an 18 hour day. That's a long day for anyone to go through and Little Man was no exception. The hubs is now looking into some legal way to tranquilize himself or Little Man before our trip to Cali in November. Ladybug, per her personality, went with the flow.
We had 6 days in Cali of pure, un-restfulfamily fun time. 2 of those days 25 family members were together. 25 people in a small house makes for a very hectic time for the hosts; I know because my mother hosted one of the events. My father says it's not happening again - next time, he will take everyone out to eat. I suggested my wedding reception venue and charging people the $$$ per head. Is that tacky for a family Christmas? Cash bar? Sounds okay to me and only fair for the people that host it all the time - and somone else has to set-up, cook and clean up. Perfect.
While in Cali we went to LegoLand. It was a a good time, but a really long drive (3 hours) in a motorhome with 6 adults and 4 kids. Sound like fun? It wasn't too bad. We all made it in one piece and most slept on the ride home.
We flew back on December 31st. It was a 14 hour day of travel, and still very difficutl for a 3.5 year old boy. He just can't handle being over-tired. He was cranky and difficult to manage.
The New Year was greeted by the back of my eyelids. I am back to work and still feel like I am recovering.
Happy 2009!
I walked into my dark house last night and my mood was brightened by the arrival of my Pink Christmas package. Its arrival let me forget my lack of power for a moment. I opened the box right away and put the beautifully wrapped gift under my tree. There is sits waiting anxiously for me to open it. I'm so excited.
At the bottom of the mailing box I found a necklace. I wasn't certain if it was for me or if it fell into the bottom of the box by mistake. When I got to work this morning an email was waiting for me - she wanted me to have the necklace early! So sweet. I love Pink Christmas!
I need to plan carefully for next year. I'm not super crafty, so I fear that my Pink Christmas gift (which should be safely in Cali by now) won't be up to par. Next year will be different. I will scour crafty peoples' wares for the perfect gift(s) for next eyar.
When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.
Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.
When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.
Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.
Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum.. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.
Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, “Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?”
And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.
Little Man's Letter to the Guy in Red:
Dear Santa Claus,
Please can you go put presents at Grandma and Pappa's and Timmy's house? Please bring the presents to my house early. We will have Christmas at my house on December 20th. Can you bring them for that day?
Please bring me Team Geotrax High Flying Airport and the Team Geotrax Blast-Through Barn. I would also like the barn from Word World. Please bring Team Geotrax. It is my favorite. I love Team Geotrax.
I have been a good boy this year. I have been trying to listen to my Mommy and Daddy. I have been trying to eat my food. I have been tying to put Team Geotrax upstairs so it's not messy. I have been praying to Jesus and have been thankful everyday because Jesus goes in my heart. Amen.
Thank you, Santa. I love you.
Seriously...I thought I had this in the bag! I read Designher Momma's post about her Christmas Card Failure Contest and got super excited. I mean, it has been a real problem getting a Christmas card photo every year for the past 4 years. I totally and completely expected this year to follow suit - I mean how could I not? With a precocious 3 1/2 year old and an 8 month old - it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Then photo day came last weekend. I feed both kids then bathed them first thing in the morning. Bellies full, hair clean and holiday garb donned we got down to business. We took about 15 photos before we found the right one. I was shocked and amazed. I don't expect to win this contest, but I am posting it here so that you, my 3 readers, can enter should you have the perfect photos for this fab contest.
Here's my sampling. We chose the last one.
Phewwww! I just took a huge “to do” off my list. Every child that I need to buy Christmas presents for has been scratched off my list. I profited from Little Man’s accident AFLAC sent us money for the collar bone incident. While it did what it was supposed to and repaid me for the $160 the accident cost me in doctors’ visits, new button-up shirts, and the “you’re a brave boy” present, that money was already considered out of the picture and spent. What that means is that the $345 they sent was fair game.
It came at the perfect time! Toys-r-Us released their big toy book and it included many sale items. Online, there were many items with free shipping. With the exception of one item, I got it all with free shipping!!! I love online shopping!
It’s going to be a game Christmas for Little Man. He’s not really into building anything other than Geotrax, and he’s got plenty of that (according to hubs…there’s always room for more Geotrax – just wait until Ladybug is ready for Barbie, hubs!). I bought him several little games that I think he will enjoy.
Don’t Spill the Beans,
Honey Bee Tree and the classic memory game are some that I found. There are other things too, but these stand out in my memory.
Ladybug was a bit more difficult. She’s already got so many toys from when Little Man was her age. It’s hard to justify buying more of the same type of toys. I bought her a hairbow holder (so cute) and a
baby doll by tidoo; it got great reviews. The developmental therapists at work told me a doll would be a perfect present for her age; she can practice washing it, combing its hair and pointing out body parts.
I still need to buy for both sets of parents. I am also questions stocking gifts. I bought them for the kids (thank you dollar section at Target), but am wondering whether or not to buy them for me and hubs. I think Little Man is at the age where he will notice if we don’t get something from Santa. I may just buy a bottle of wine and a few other little things that I will end up buying for us anyway. What do you do? Do you buy fill your stocking and the stocking of your hubs?
If you're looking for another way to save money check out these Lowes Coupons including a Printable Lowes Coupon
Happy Halloween from Little Man and Ladybug!
Our rocket!
Our ladybug!
