Patrick gets a hair cut.

Finally got the kid a haircut!

He went with Beiber inspired layering and I said OK to a three blue foils.  So he is rock some blue hair for the Fall Season.  His fav. baseball team is the cubs, his fav football team is the Dolphins and Stagg HS's colors are Blue and Orange.  So I guess it works. Now what do you call his hand guestures.  He isn't trying to flash gang signs, he's not down with the rap and the hip hop, LOL he is doing the heavy metal rock out, but I think he is actually flashing ASL for I love you. 

Think how much he is going to love this picture when he is 15. :-D

Happy Friday Night!  Hope you are rocking out tonight too!

Officially Busiest Weekend of October!

This is Anna's pumpkin, the picture of it is here mostly just for ambiance.  It's also a before-shot.  Tonight we ran over to Wal-Mart to get crafty supplies to turn this nice pumpkin which only cost $2.49 into her much beloved fav book character "Oliva"  Glen Oaks school is having a pumpkin decorating contest for their students.  The rules only require that you can't carve the pumpkin and it has to represent a character from a book. Today I googled "Olivia Book Character Pumpkin" and found a school that had a similar contest.  You can check out all their great work when you click this link. 

Tomorrow I have a Ladies Afternoon Shopping Event over at Trio Bar & Grill . Trio has some nice appetizers and I like my fellow vendors so it's a nice afternoon once a month AND they have free Wi-Fi so I bring my trusty lappy.  In my opinion this is plenty to have going on  for a Friday night, but this is the crazy busy weekend--so we also have Cub Scout Pack Night.  Bryce loves to go. Me personally, I get overwhelmed with just my 3 kids, so pack night is a lot of boys.  Honestly, the Den Leaders are awesome, they do a great job just because they care.

Saturday I've got a home taste-testing with a great host and then I am hoping to be able to swing by and see my newest team member.  On the home front, The Man is looking to golf, natch.  But I think I've talked him into going on Sunday. 

Sunday I'm looking forward to St. Patricia's Oktoberfest Vendor Craft Fair  I'll be there at my table and my sister-in-law is coming for backup so I can work and the kids can enjoy the fair.  Psst, free games for the kids! Anytime the kids can go to an event and have fun without me having to spend a bunch is great.  I have found that over the last few years we've skipped many fun activities due to cost.  It doesn't seem like a bad deal to spend $18 for a day at a water park, but then when you times it by 3 or 5 for all of us to go there goes the budget. A family activity can easily cost $100 or more so we don't do much. 

Cost is typically why our 'date nights' are few and far between. When you add the cost of a sitter and the cost for dinner some place nice, ouch!  It's great that deal sites like Living Social, Groupon and Plum District have arrived. Another way I've found to make getting out more affordable is mystery shopping. What's that you say?  Secret Shop? 

Yes.  I go on assignment to various locations and I pose as an average shopper.  After the shop I submit and online reports.  In return, I get a bit of money for my time and if it is a restaurant shop, I get reimbursed for the meal.  Bonus part is that 9 times out of 10, the company wants you to go with a guest.  Guest= Date Night or a much needed night out to catch up with a friend. Being located in Chicagoland is a huge bonus as there are so many secret or mystery shopping opportunities to be had.  I've got a nice lunch planned with The Man coming up  I have to leave it at that, I have to keep my anonymity. 

Are you interested in secret/mystery shopping?  Comment if you have any questions!  I'm happy to share what I've found and the best place to start is Mystery Shop Providers of North America you can look here for shops in your area.  You sign up with the companies doing the shops individually and there isn't a fee to become a shopper.

Running the Chicago Marathon, 9 months pregnant? Hey!

Last year I ran the Chicago Marathon on 10-10-10. I'm a former Tinley Park High School Cross Country Runner and even though I was lousy in HS, running stuck and doing the Chicago Marathon was on my bucket list, and the date last year was sublime.

I *had* to run and I had to finish the damn thing once I started it. It was a crummy run, I was working full time in the 2 months leading up to the race and didn't get in quality training as a result. But I finished, I walked most of the 2nd half of the race. I had ginormous blisters, but I had my bragging rights for life. Right?

And then here comes the big story this year, Women gives birth after running Chicago Marathon 39 weeks Pregnant. Well great. Just what marathoners and woman who have ever been pregnant need. A totally overacheiver. So not cool! I want my bragging rights. I ran a marathon, that's 26.2 miles of body taxing, mental fortitude toughness. I could hardly walk the next day. I've been pregnant, growing a human for 9 months, it's hard work. I don't appreciate someone coming along doing both with aplomb. It's bad for pregnant women, it's bad for long distance running. Makes this stuff look easy, common place.

I don't know about you, but life can be hard, full of stress. I need my props! So for the record, how do I feel about women running marathons while growing humans? Not cool. Don't give 110%, give like 75%. Stick with 1/2 marathons (13.1 miles) and make someone rub your feet and give you chocolate when you finish. Let's keep that curve intacted, we dont' want people saying :

"Hey nice shirt, did you run the marathon?"
"Why yes I did..."
"Did ya finish?"
"Yep, yes I did!"
"So were you, like pregnant? That would be really hard, to do it while pregnant."
"Well, no, I wasn't pregnant, but it was still really difficult, I hit a wall."
"Oh sure, it's not easy, but I figure if a someone who was 9 months pregnant can do it, it must not be that big a deal."
"Grr. Arg...Ack"

Heaven on 163rd & Lagrange Road

Last month I severed my ties with my iPhone.  Well, I should rephrase.  Last month I severed my ties with my cell phone service.  I still have my iPhone, and it still does wondrous things such as, play music, act as my kindle and allows me to play games--I just can't text or play Words With Friends on it anymore.  After many contentious years together,  My provider and I came to an impasse and we agreed to disagree on how expensive the service cost.  I am now without a cell phone. Couple nice bonuses with that are that I don't have to worry about getting a TWD  (Texting While Driving) ticket and we have $130 per month more in the budget.

Which leads me to Heaven or more specifically what Heaven must be if Heaven was a Fitness Facility.  In the words of Ned Stark (and Tom Skilling) "Winter is coming." I hate winter and am actively seeking out winter survival techniques now.  That lead me to begin a search for a Fitness Center.  Currently I have a one-month membership at a small, local bare-bones gym that I won at a craft show.  Before deciding to move forward with that gym, I decided to tour a couple other locations.  I toured one nearby Fitness Center which is affiliated with a hospital.  It was very nice, posh really, and filled with lots of ah...septuagenarians.  Which is awesome! Rock on to them for working out.  However, the whole retirement home atmosphere was too much for my already fragile ego and I forged onward.

Yesterday I had to spend the entire day in the car doing errands and acting as an unregulated taxicab.  After spending the morning driving around a dodging cars with texting drivers,   I went to Lifetime Fitness in Orland Park to tour the facility and see if I could get a free guest pass to test drive the equipment.   It was amazing.  Spacious, open 24/7, nice staff, peaceful and not full of people around lunchtime.  Indoor pool, outdoor pool, free towels everywhere and wait for it, a kids' club. 

Heck there is even a climbing wall.  Not that I have any desire to climb a wall.  Wait, I may take that back.  I've climbed enough walls figuratively, might be fun to do it, literally!  Especially with the kids, which you can do there! Did I mention that the women's locker room is sparkly clean.  Yes, yes, it is.  Nothing like a really clean locker room.

I need to join, for my mental health this winter.  Also I like to think it will help me focus on growing my business.  Anyone know if health club membership is a business write-off?

Yes, right now, as the primary member of this household AKA Girl Who Juggles Bills; I'm running the numbers and trying to see how I can get myself a membership ASAP and what I've come up with is that a membership would be less than half the cost of our recently canceled cell phone service.

Trying to soak in nature from the car.

Need Help! What is this? Cooking Conundrum

Is it a fruit?  Is it a vegetable?  I thought it might be some sort of squash?  Is anyone familiar with this?  I want to see how to prepare it, but am not sure what I am working with here.  Thanks for the help!!

You've Been Ghosted!

After  a wonderfully motivating and inspiring* Success Event last night, I came home to find this note at our front door accompanied with a treat bag of candy and a print out of a Ghost saying Boo.

You've Been Ghosted!
(abridged version because I don't feel like retyping the whole thing) 
Keep Ghosting It Forward!

"The Phantom ghost has come around
To leave you goodies I see you have found.
If you do not wish a curse to fall
Continue this greeting, this ghostly call.

First, post this ghost where it can be seen
On a door or window until Halloween.
This will keep ghosts from visiting again.

Make 3 treats, 3 ghost, 3 notes --just like this.
Take them to 3 neighbors who may have been missed.
Don't let them see you, be sneaky, no doubt.

Happy Halloween!  Keep Ghosting it Forward to 3 people within 1 day!" 

Click here to get the details to start ghosting in your haunted hood!

Now when it comes to anything of a chain-letter nature, for example, those emails that promise money to show up magically if you forward said email to 10 people in 10 minutes; I can't delete or throw those away fast enough.  In this case, however, I'm going to go ahead and participate.  Why? Cause my little half-demon kids were so tickled to get ghosted and are excited about the mystery of it all.  Most of my time these days is spent, cleaning up, dropping off, and politely asking children to take showers*and I am parched for a dose of fun.  So I am grabbing on to this chance to have some good old-fashioned family fun, call me the Clark Griswold of Halloween.

*The Internet needs a shorthand for when someone is being tongue in cheek.  should we start putting TIC after wording such as we all tend to do with LOL?  IMO (in my opinion) I think we should.

Once in a while, it's good to be selfish.

Selling Tastefully Simple is like farming.  Our busiest times of year are spring and fall. Now that  October has arrived with a glorious not-a-cloud-in-the-sky Sunday, a quick review of my schedule shows that I am booked up every Sunday into December. Therefore, today I am being selfish and calling this day:  All about Me Day. 

I'm wearing my favorite PJ bottoms.  I've got a pile of coupon inserts from today's Chicago Tribune and my scissors handy, the most current Women's Day magazine, and I rented the first DVD in the Dexter TV series from Blockbuster. (only 49 cents to rent on Sundays).  Later I am going to take some time and read. 

Right now I am reading The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.  It's a bit of a departure from my typical to be read (TBR) pile of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy reading, but I was wandering a used book store and it put me in a nostalgic mood.

 As part of my Christmas Challenge, I visited Bookies Paperbacks over in Beverly to check out their kids books selections.  Did I buy any kids books?   No, I bought two books for myself.  In any case, let me share with you what I liked about Bookies. First, Bookies is filled with the alluring scent of old books. Secondly, they have a public bathroom. Thirdly, they have a really nice variety of gently used and some new kids books which are shelved by reading level.  Often when shopping secondhand, you begin to feel that the amount of time needed to sort through disorganized piles of goods is not worth the savings. This is not the case at Bookies, which is good, because there are only 84 more days until Christmas. 

Last night I was at Jewel where they had on clearance blanket throws for $1.24 each.  Yes, I know, a crazy good deal and a great gift for almost anyone. I reached over to grab five, and then I stopped and remembered my challenge.  This, I thought to myself, is going to be harder that I suspected.

My Christmas Mission: Operation Preowned Xmas

I've been mulling something over, and I am ready to commit.  As you all know, I'm like super green.  Neon Green, so green the Sierra Club calls me for advice on how to reduce their carbon footprint.  In all fairness though, my greenness is, in a large part, due to a lack of green backs!

What I have decided to do, as part of my green initiative, is not purchase anything new for Christmas.  Everything we give this year will be preowned/used/swapped for/crafted. I will be going to resale shops, hanging on etsy, ebay, paperback swap, thredup and so forth.   To keep me on track and on target, I am setting down some for my challenge and will post updates and picks on how it goes. 

What about the people I give gifts to this year?  How are they going to take getting someone else's treasures as a gift?  Good point.  On my side of the family, they won't mind--they are all pretty crunchy. My kids?  To be honest, let's see if they notice!  The man?  really he shouldn't get any gifts anyway as he has a well documented history of buying everything he wants and then asking me to return whatever I get him. For everyone else, I will have to make sure to put more time and effort into picking a gift than I would normally and that is why this is a challenge, right?  Can't make it too easy.

Rules:
1. Buy no new stuff for Christmas.  Would something NIB purchased off Ebay be OK?  I say yes because it isn't new from the store.  It is still preowned.
2. What about crafts?  If it is a craft that is primarily re purposed then yes it is OK.
3. What about making a craft?  Same as purchasing a complete craft.
4. What about like giving cookies?  This is a great question, I am going to say that if I am making cookies to send to school or b/cause I am going somewhere this isn't a 'gift' and doesn't count.

Am I missing anything?  Let me know!  Do you know of a great resale shop?  Brick & Mortar or Virtual?  LMK!

The hardest part will be not doing Black Friday.  Oh I am so going to miss BF this year.  :-(

And so how was your Tuesday?

If I was a crafty sort of girl, I would make a couple of these and use them around the house.  This was the featured craft project in my Martha Stewart email today.  Everyday there is some amazing and allegedly 'easy' craft.  Easy for Martha Stewart perhaps.  For me, no so much. 

Today I was mentally exhausted all day from the pleading, bargaining, and crying from Miss. Anna who was not happy about her consequences from the scratches all over the TV incident of yesterday.  According to Anna, who's story changed several time over the course of the evening and today, she didn't draw on the TV.  Anna was frustrated with some part of the Wii game she was playing on Sunday and scratched the Wii remote on the TV.  According to her, we never told her not to take objects and scrape/rub them against the TV screen. 

Long night, and Anna was one sad panda



The weather was meh again, so I went for a run and enjoyed the cool weather.  On my run I made a mental note to go check out the local resale (and antiques) shop. I've been making said mental note for about 8 years now. Today was different!  I actually went it, it was a perfect storm.  I had dropped Anna off at Brownies and the store was opened and as I drove by, debating on stopping, I saw people walking into the store.  So I figured, I could go in and check it out, without being the only shopper in the store, less pressure, since I have no extra money to purchase anything. 

I thought of it more as a nice opportunity to daydream about my Coffee Shop/Thrift Store.  What I learned was, as far as I could tell a bunch of different people have a small section of the resale shop and what they resale varies widely.  I also came to the conclusion that the owners of the shop should not smoke in or near the store for a couple of reasons:
1. It's tacky and doesn't speak highly of the goods in the store if you have a few large ashtrays on a ledge at eye level right outside the door to the business.
2. Used stuff is already not going to have the brand new smell, why compound it with the smell of cigarettes.

I still enjoyed my store daydreaming and came up with a few notes for my store.
1. no cigarette smells.
2. Unlike this location, I will allow returns for store credit.
3. I will have a public bathroom.* 
*not that I needed to use one,I am just of the opinion that if you are going to have a store, I am sure the store has a bathroom, so why not keep it decent enough for shoppers to use.

There were also many notices that the store employees hidden cameras to deter thieves. As a potential shopper, after 3 notices, I'm just starting to think you don't trust me.

Did I find any of my garage sale items at the local shop?  Not yet, though I wouldn't be surprised!  I practically gave away some items that would definitely have fit right in with the shop.

Another day is over, The Man is snoring, and all the kids are asleep. What's on the agenda tomorrow?  I'm doing a secret shop at a local sandwich chain!

This picture has nothing to do with anything above, I'm still reading the latest from George RR Martin and Jaime Lannister is my current favorite redemptive character. :-D 



Man Sometimes being the Mom Sucks

Someone in my house drew on the TV screen with a pencil.  I spent a few minutes searching my brain trying to recall when we had a preschooler visiting because surely no child in this house still draws on surfaces that are clearly not for drawing upon.

Yet someone did draw on the TV screen.  The not cheap old school TV but a TV with some sort of matte looking screen.  I bet you are wondering why would a second grader deface the awesome magical device that bring in to our home such amazing shows as Victorious, iCarly, and Dan the Dino.  You are no alone.  I don't know either.

I do know that someone who is in 2nd grade, knows better than to scribble on a TV or a wall or a table or in books.  So that someone is going to have to learn about the sort of consequences one might face when one decides to engage in property defacing.

Most unfortunately for both of us today, I am well aware of what the most effective consequence is for this behavior. The 2nd grader in question, who has been writing lists and using a calculator to figure out exactly how many books she can get with her $18 at the book fair this week, is not going to go to the book fair.

Some people are going to be miserable today.  The second grader who is going to miss the bookfair and me, I know this must be done and we'll both be better for it in the long run. 

It still sucks. 

1. With that, I'm heading out for  run in the rain because I can!  And then I will have to head over to the Jewel and figure out what I'm making for dinner.  I'm feeling like a pork & root veggie stew would be quite nice today!