Souvenirs

I do not do souvenirs in the traditional sense. I avoid souvenir shops as much as my kids will let me because I have no patience for buying “stuff” just to remind me where I’ve been. For that, I have memories. . .and lots of photographs to jog my memory.

However, that doesn’t mean we don’t shop when we’re on vacation! This has become more pointed now that we live in the middle of nowhere. If we’re lucky enough to be near a Trader Joe’s, our “souvenir” of choice is 2 or 3 canvas shopping bags full of goodies for our pantry. On our Texas trip, we happened to stumble into a Cost Plus World Market for the first time ever. Oh my goodness! That was fun. Among other things, we picked up a couple stocking stuffers to put away until St. Nicholas Day and some interesting new beers for Larry to try. And I found a couple of things that had been on my shopping list for a long time, and now using them will remind me of our trip.

No more serving salad with our fingers (or a pair of stainless serving spoons, when we had guests)! Yes, I know that’s a small bowl of salad. . .most of our kids will only take the bare minimum of their leafy greens.

And a new rug for the kitchen door! We had been using the blue and white rug we bought for our bathroom as newlyweds (our townhouse had a surprisingly large bathroom), but its rubber backing gave up the last time I threw it in the washer. What a mess, but after a few weeks of using a beach towel for wet shoes we now have a cheery new rug.

I (heart) shoes

I admit that LOVE is an overstatement. . .but I do really like a good pair of shoes! Actually, I need good shoes or I pay, both in my feet and my back. However, it can be challenging to find a well-fitting pair of real leather shoes that I can afford (and that aren’t Grandma shoes). Enter Shoebuy.com. They offer oodles of styles from quality brands, including a selection of widths beyond my wildest dreams (read: they have shoes that are even wider than my feet). Shipping AND return shipping are free–even if it takes two or three tries to get the right shoe (or more than three, I assume, but I’ve not had to do that yet). Signing up for their email list will get you regular coupons (including an occasional 20% off), which are in addition to 10% off if you’ve ordered in the past 60 days. Prices aren’t in the discount store range, but if you are used to paying for quality shoes I think you will be pleased with what Shoebuy has to offer.

Updates & other random thoughts

Thankfully Larry seems to be back to normal now, although he’s had to work hard to stay awake. It seems that the doctor told him NO caffeine, as that weakens the muscle (?) between esophagus and stomach, allowing the acid to escape. We’ll see how long this lasts! He’s also taking a handful of medications; please don’t ask me what they are.

All of the kids are more-or-less healthy, and busy tracking mud into the house. I should have given up mopping for Lent; every time I mop the kitchen it gets mucked up again in less time than it took to clean it. <sigh> And if red mud on gray tile weren’t bad enough, there’s also the occasional muddy bootprints going down the newly carpeted stairs to boyland the basement.

Thank you for the sewing compliments! It’s my main attempt to help keep my sanity; I only wish there were more hours in a day so that I could be more sane.

Tonight the two older boys go to their first 4-H meeting; we missed last month because no one told us when or where to show up. Unfortunately the meeting is at 7pm and Larry has adult instruction tonight, so it will be a second late night in a row for the short people. Some of them will really be feeling it too; after getting to bed late last night (after church) I found some of them up before the sun this morning, watching PBS Kids. I was not amused. . .

Today was a good mail day. . .no bills, just the local paper and a large box of chocolate from my dear friend Lauri! Thank you Lauri!

American Girl has free shipping through Sunday (March 16). . .the girl ordered some paper dolls with the last of her birthday money, and I also picked up a few clearance items to stuff her stocking come December. Now to intercept the UPS man and get those items out of the box before she notices!

We’ve been reading a lot about Ancient Greece in history lately, using The Story of the World. We haven’t done many projects lately (not that we usually do many, but in the interest of catching up after moving we’ve done even less), but at the library this week I found books on Greek food and on crafts of ancient Greece. I let the kids do some of the background reading and then pick their own project; lost boy #1 is currently making Greek Christmas cookies (which makes me wonder how I’m going to get in the kitchen to fix dinner tonight, but that’s beside the point). Lost boy #2 and the girl both chose craft projects; of course we need to buy some supplies before they can start! I think he is making a paper mache pot (vase?) and she is making clay beads. . .stay tuned for pictures.

Punkin-Butt

It seems to be human nature to be quicker to criticize poor service than to praise good service. However, I’d like to start sharing my positive experiences, and encourage you to do the same. Today I’d like to recommend Punkin-Butt for anyone who is looking for cloth diapering supplies. . .

As a bit of background: we’ve used cloth diapers on the three youngest lost boys. I wanted to use them all along, but when I was expecting our lost boy #1, others discouraged me from using cloth. I did later use cloth with him for awhile, but at that time there wasn’t much information available. I couldn’t afford the super-expensive diapers and the covers I bought were prone to leak. So when I got pregnant (and all-day sick) with #2, I gave up on cloth diapers. The girl was born a mere 15 months after lost boy #2, and it wasn’t until lost boy #3 was about a year old that I caught my breath and researched cloth diapers again. Wow! Either cloth options really exploded over those five years, or it was just the growth of the internet that made information and diapers more readily available. I jumped back into cloth wholeheartedly and haven’t looked back, only using disposables when I am under the weather long term (morning sickness, c-section recovery) or on trips (though I have traveled with cloth occasionally~it depends on where we go & how long we are gone).

Anyhow, while I have sewn a few diapers, it’s really not my thing. It seems to me a bit tedious to stitch up a fitted diaper that will be, well, used as a diaper. I’m also never sure if those nooks and crannies are really getting clean in the laundry. So instead, I have become a happy repeat customer at Punkin-Butt. Their service is always prompt and they carry all my favorite diapering supplies: Chinese prefolds, Bummis Whisper Pants, and the amazing Snappi. I also use the wet bags, although I use them to line the same cheap diaper pail I bought for lost boy #1. They carry a full range of other cloth diapers and accessories as well; these just happen to be the ones I like to use.