ARG

Just found out that certain brands of TACO SEASONING like this one that I stocked up on when they were on sale in September...

have MILK in them in the form of whey.

INGREDIENTS:
SPICES (INCLUDING CHILI PEPPER, CUMIN, OREGANO, AND RED PEPPER), ONION, WHEY SOLIDS (MILK), SALT, SUGAR, PAPRIKA, GARLIC, POTATO STARCH, AND CITRIC ACID.

I forget sometimes to read ingredients lists on items that should NOT have dairy in them! (Like deli meat... yep. in the form of lactic acid or sodium lactate). ARG.

No wonder this little monkey has felt a little more like this lately.

Sam's PIRATE Party

As you may recall, I have a little guy who turned 4 in November. We had the COOLEST Pirate Party for him! Here's some of the decor (that I scored for 80% off at Michaels...)


We enlisted two pirates to help (aka my brother Jake and his friend Jared)
First, the kids decorated pirate tambourines. I had drawn a pirate girl or boy on one plate and their names on the other plate. Jared oversaw this activity.
Thanks Jared!
Jake was just waiting for kids to line up for the treasure toss.
While Jared ran the WALKING THE PLANK game.
Sam loved walking the plank.
Poor planning on my part. I thought these games would take about 30 minutes and then I would do an activity with them. Well... it was more like 15.
We gathered our little pirates and practiced saying "ARG!" and making hooks with our hands, "jumping" from ship to ship, "crawling" around to find treasure... etc.
Basically anything I could think of that would take up time. We listened to "A Pirate Says Arrrrrr!" (fabulous song) as well as some Pirates of the Caribbean music.
Then came Pin the Patch on the Pirate
Sam went first
And our pirate was covered with patches by the end of the game.
We still had a little time to kill before cupcakes and presents, so we played more treasure toss (in the background of this pic), walking the plank, and playing with our tunnel.
Time for cupcakes!This fam pic is so-so... but it's the only one of all three of us. (Z slept through most of the party)
The kiddos loved these chocolate cupcakes...
... especially this cute little girl. She's the one with the same allergies as Zack. This was the very first birthday party she's ever been to where she could eat the cupcakes! She took a few very small bites and then told me that she wanted to take it home and eat a little bit all day long. How cute that she wanted to make it last!
After presents... well... we still had about 15 minutes left. So, I read them a pirate book that Sam opened from Marley. (Phfew! Thanks for saving me, Marcie!)
Then, we acted out the book.
With gusto.
Zack woke up and wasn't so sure about all these people in his house...
After acting out the book, we played hokey pokey.
Sam got really into it.
All in all, it was quite fun. Happy birthday, little PIRATE!

Money Tip #1

As many of you know, I just presented to our ward and neighborhood on budgeting and personal finance. My head is teeming with facts, tips, and advice.... so I thought I would share a tip each day or two days so that anyone interested can incorporate them into your financial life as well.

So, here we go.

Money Tip #1

CREATE A MONTHLY FINANCIAL MAP.

Basically, this is a sheet of paper that tracks your monthly automatic withdrawals, deposits, payments, etc. It tells you exactly

WHAT and
HOW MUCH
comes out of
WHERE and
WHEN.

Mine looks something like this

1 - mortgage (checking) $1000
2 - questar (checking) $30
7 - auto (checking) $300
9 - amex bill (checking) $500
15 - payday (savings) +$2000
19 - comcast (amex) $80
25 - verizon (checking) $80
28 - student loan (checking) $200
30 - payday (savings) +$2000

Obviously, I changed the info and numbers, but you get the idea.

So, make one today. Keep it on your desk, by your computer, in your office or wherever you pay bills. No longer wonder when something will hit what account, etc. Do it now!

I even uploaded my worksheet into a google document. Just click, print out, and fill out. You're one step closer to good money management. You know where your money is going.

"It's almost impossible to live within your means if you have no idea where your money is going." June Walbert, financial planner

The Unspoken Visiting Teaching Rule

Visiting Teaching visits should last between 30 - 60 minutes.


This rule was shattered last night when I didn't get home until 9:45pm. The culprit? My companion. Arg.


(I know I have so much to post. Maybe I should just ignore it all and start fresh since Bel already posted about Christmas... ???)

Budgeting and Personal Finance.... HELP!

(Disclaimer: I have already asked for and received so many WONDERFUL tips via email from so many of you frugal and financially responsible people out there, so thanks!)

I have been asked to head up our "relief society meeting" this month (aka enrichment) on Budgeting and Personal Finance with an emphasis on both the importance of budgeting (and how) and how to save more and spend less.

So, blogger friends, any ideas? I would love to hear what works for you and your family, how you handle finances, who does the budgeting, if you use a budget - what you use, ideas how to spend less and/or save more... etc! Leave a comment or email me...

The presentation is in 11 days!

Oh, and it's supposed to be FORTY minutes long... HELP!

Brothers

Think they look anything alike? I don't!

Matt Multi-tasking

Me: "You're multi-tasking! Wow! This doesn't happen very often, so I better document it!"

Then, Matt gave me THIS look. :)

Cute boys reading books with Daddy. Frankly, we don't see much of him these days with the current deal he's been working on, so the boys always attack him when he's around. This was one such moment...

A BRILLIANT Idea

We just discovered that Sam loves alfredo sauce. On pasta. On spinach alfredo pizza. Any way he can get it. Since there are about three things now that Sam loves to eat and alfredo sauce is at least somewhat healthy (somewhat... dairy, right?), I've added it to our regular rotation.

Last night
Sam: Mom, I just had a brilliant idea. (Yes, he said brilliant.) You know what would be the BEST cookies?
Me: What?
Sam: RASPBERRY ALFREDO COOKIES

plus






Equals deliciousness.

Don't you agree? (You should also agree with the fact that I will do ANYTHING on the planet to avoid cleaning my bathrooms, including posting this silly story!)

Date with my Monkey

On Saturday, this little monkey and I are going on a date to Christmas Around the World, mostly to see this fabulous and oh-so-talented little lady (who also started her own blog - how cool is that?!?!). Some additional details on this gal. She is wicked smahhhht, crafty, beautiful, friendly, down-to-earth, fun, silly, athletic, sweet, etc. One of my favorite people, actually. And she used to be one of my laurels when I was in the YW in Boston. And she just happened to make the folk dance team.

I think afterwards we might have to stop at Sammy's Cafe (or as Sam calls it - MY cafe!) for a pie shake...
Should be fun! (I've only been there twice and the first time was almost a year ago...!)

If not there, definitely Cosmo's. Earnestly Chocolate here I come.

Because I want to WIN

one of THESE...

And you should just check out this cute blog.