Kids are like bottomless pits!!

School has been officially out for a little over a week now and I am finding myself in the grocery store about 4 times per week! How is it when school is in session my kids eat a good breakfast at home, lunch at school (sometimes cafeteria food or a home lunch), a snack after school, dinner, and then one last snack before bedtime. Now the kids wake up, eat breakfast, then a snack, another snack, lunch, snack again, one more snack, dinner, snack, snack, snack.....HELP!!! They are costing me way more with them being home. They are VERY active and are limited to a minimum amount of TV time so weight or health problems are not an issue. They are always doing something so there is little time for boredom. I may have to take on a part time job to feed them! What is so bad is I am finding myself munching more. The worse part of all is that all the "healthy" foods are so expensive so I am purchasing things that are less costly so that I can maintain some kind of budget. Does anyone have any good ideas for some low cost snacks that are still somewhat healthy?

Free Samples... YES!!!

Look at all the FREE samples I got today in the mail (8 in all)!! My hubby knows he needs to stop giving me a hard time because I do not have to keep running the store to spend $$ on health and beauty and household items. Leave a comment and let us know who the sensible one is. I will enter your name twice for the FREE gift card contest!

Oh no she didn't!

Today I (Sheliza) went to volunteer at my older daughter's school. My task of the day was "book collection". The object of the task was, well... to collect books. Not too bad I thought. I also had to deliver some books to classrooms and I heard the dreaded sound... the school bell. Within a matter of seconds, the hallways were overrun with mobs of students. I was with a couple other moms at the time. We carefully stood on the side to clear ourselves from getting run over. There was a nice girl that I have seen many times (at the carpool pickup line) and she was standing behind me. She does not know me but I am sure she was aware that I was an adult. All of a sudden she starts spewing four letter words about the book cart being in the way. My mouth as well as the other moms' mouths dropped in disbelief. I am not living under a rock someplace that I do not face the facts that kids use curse words, but this time I was shocked that they were blatantly being used in front of adults willingly without a care in the world. Later that day my husband accompanied me to go pick the girls up from school. I was back at the middle school once again. There were two girls walking right by our car and they said the 'F' word at least 3 times and even looked at us in our faces! Girls are so much bolder than boys, it's unbelievable! My husband was so outraged. He immediately told both daughters that if he ever heard another parent say that they heard his child cursing in front of adults, they better be prepared to fight. I let the girls know that they would also need to be prepared to lose the fight! When we were kids, we thought we were big and bad if we said 'hell', but we definitely knew better than to say it in front of a grown up! Too bad things aren't that way anymore. Apparently the word 'respect' has been pulled from the dictionary. Very pathetic.

Stay-at-home moms may become extinct!

I was watching the evening news last night and the anchor was talking about (what other than) the sticker shock we are facing for gas and groceries. We all are seeing how expensive it is to fill up our vehicles and it seems to burn faster than ever! Then they talked about corn. I guess I never realized just how much corn is so much a part of virtually everything we eat and drink with the exception of fresh fruit and vegetables. Corn is used in the form of corn syrup as a sweetener... corn is fed to the chickens that lay eggs than we cook and bake with...corn is fed to the cows that produce the milk we pay 4 bucks a gallon for... many products contain corn (snacks, cereal, etc...) and then there is ethanol . It is said that gas will most likely go up to $4 a gallon this Summer. Looks like no relief anytime soon. I know that I continue to shop according to sales and combining coupons to help cut back. I even shop 2-3 grocery stores (all located next to each other) to stretch my dollars. I know it is hard for working people to do that. Speaking of which, if these costs stay this way for years to come, does this mean the stay-at-home mom will have to go find a job outside of the home to help support their family? What do you think?

MiniVan Makeover

Can you believe it, Minivans are coming out with three television equipped with satellite service. This will be marketed as "a mother's dream". The pitch is that kids will be entertained watching television and keeping quiet. Is this the real mothers dream or another way to separate conversation between parents and children. Instead of hearing your children ask "Are we there yet", mothers will hear peace and quiet. Yeah right. What did we do when we were growing before technology took over? We had actual conversation. I can understand if you were going on a very long road trip, having a television would not be a bad idea. On a normal day-to-day running to school, activities, errands, etc.., it seems unnecessary to need the TV on the whole time (let's not even get into the video games!) Maybe I am just too old-fashioned! Parents, you would be surprised what your child has to talk about.