Toy Thursday: 100 Sleeps Till Christmas

You may be thinking "no way! It JUST started to cool down" but it's true. Only 100 sleeps until Christmas.

I'm a planner. Some may call me a gift hoarder. When I find a good deal, I buy it, enter it into my gift spreadsheet and put it in a closet. That being said, moving should be fun. It does make it easy for when a birthday comes up. I just pull up the spreadsheet, find something that's appropriate for the birthday boy or girl and wrap it.

I also did something "new" this year. When Target has the "buy X of Y, get a $5 giftcard" deals I snag them up...but I've been saving the giftcards for Black Friday spending. I've got them in an envelope (they don't expire) and this way, I can have a guilt free/bank account free shopping spree at Target the day after Thanksgiving. I'm almost to $200 in giftcards!!

Have you started shopping or saving for Christmas? Has the economy forced you to do anything different this year?

Wash Wednesday: Reusable Grocery Bags

I love my reusable grocery bags (and the .05 per bag that Target takes off of my bill). But have you ever thought about how "icky" it might be?

You use the bags, empty your groceries and put them away. When you go shopping, you grab them, take them to the car and use them again. But have you ever thought about washing them?

I didn't until I read about how many germs are on those bags, and if you think about it, it's true. They sit in the cart, they sit in the car, they get wet...yuck.

So at least once a month (if not more often), run the bags through a HOT wash (and dryer) to be sure to kill the ick.

With flu season coming up fast, the last thing you want is to get sick from your grocery bags.

Food Friday: Natural Peanut Butter Surprise

I use coupons, that's no surprise. So we usually have Jif, Skippy...name brand peanut butter. But when I didn't have a coupon (gasp) I bought Target brand peanut butter. Checked the label, creamy, check. And in the cart it went.

So around 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon, when I realized I haven't eaten lunch yet (the kids were fed their noodles and mini-pizzas but I didn't get any) and knowing that the one soggy Oatmeal Creme pie wasn't going to hold me over until dinner, I went looking for some peanut butter to make a PB&J.

I remembered I had used all of my peanut butter a few weeks ago when I made Peanut Butter Cupcakes.

I grabbed the new jar of all natural Target brand peanut butter, took the seal off and BAM! Peanut oil all over my counter, microwave and a few sippy cups that are plotting to take over my kitchen.

The sippy cups? Well, they deserved it. My counter, dishwasher and floor (it dripped) didn't deserve it. So what's a girl to do? I took rags and cleaned it up and then did a google search. Turns out, all natural peanut butter DOES have the oil separation issue. I'm glad I didn't just pour the rest of the oils off!

I tried to stir it up (it was really oily) and I put it in the fridge (as the jar said). After working my mad google-fu skills, I turned the jar upside down in the fridge to help the oils move to the bottom (which is now the top).

I really like the flavor of the natural peanut butter, and the price was nice too. We'll see if my picky husband likes it too.

Food Friday: Travel Snacks--And A Trusty Jug

As you're well aware, we traveled in the car with three boys under the age of 6.

Granted it was only four hours. But it was four hours. I knew we needed snacks of some sort. Because "it's only four hours" quickly turned in to "it hasn't been four hours?" 20 minutes outside of town our kindergartner asked, "Are we there yet?"

I picked up some snacks before the trip. I knew we'd need something to drink and I was excited to see that individual bottled waters were on sale at Target. I picked up animal crackers and Pringles to munch on. Pringles isn't something we usually purchase but it was in a seal-able container and a little less messy than regular chips. Animal crackers are something everyone can enjoy and aren't as messy as regular cookies. But it wasn't the snacks purchase that ended up surprising me at the end of the trip.

Boy, I was I glad I bought the bottled water. You see, when you're traveling with a kindergartner, you have to be prepared for anything. On the last leg of our trip, 30 miles from the nearest rest area on I-35 (and only 10 minutes since we left a gas station and said "are you sure you don't have to go), he announced, "I have to go potty." Ug.
I said, "Can you hold it?"
"No. I have to go real bad. I can just go in nature," he said, pointing to the farmland. I knew that wasn't going to happen. We were not going to risk ourselves pulling over on a 70 MPH Interstate just to let him tinkle.

So I did what any mom would do. I chugged my water jug empty and handed it to him. "Put your penis" (yes, we use the medical term for reproductive organs in our home) "in the jug and go pee". He laughed, looked at me, and then knew I was serious.

To be honest, I couldn't believe I was saying it. But, a mother has to do what a mother has to do. He giggled the entire time he was going to the bathroom. He handed the pee jug back to me (um, thanks) where I put the lid on and put it in our garbage sack.

So if you're potty training or have small children who really can't hold it, it's always helpful to have a container that can double as a pee jug. You never know when you're going to need it. It's better to have pee in a jug than pee all over the seat, the clothes, the car seat, the kid etc.

Thanks, Target, for having bottled water on sale. If it hadn't been for the sale, I don't think I would have bought it. And we would have a mess on our hands.