Tag: shopping

Choosing to Rest

Ever feel overwhelemed by the busyness of life… especially around Christmas?

December 14, 2019

Choosing to Rest

The busyness of life can overwhelm us if we allow it.

Especially when your heart is troubled.

Anybody relate? 

This is the first Christmas season where all the kids have been shopping and I haven’t gone with any of them.  My Daddy passed away one year ago the tenth.  My little tradition of carefully penning the newest addition’s name in glitter glue on a silly felt stocking and adding it to our collection to hang was done by one the of girls this year.  I almost found myself feeling unimportant and stressing out because I wanted to be there…

I’m standing on the floor beam and use my standard line when my gym girls are racing.  On beam that means they end up wobbling and the exercise doesn’t look pretty when you are bouncing and wobbling. “…don’t race.  If you feel wobbly…” I demonstrate so they will laugh and pay attention, doing one passé step and wobbling as I come down “…pause…” I stop with both feet firmly planted “…take a breath to steady you…” I take a deep breath “…and now go on.” I start doing the steps again without the wobble.

This works great for my excited littles at gym.  Sometimes they race because they want to do more and more and more, but really they just need to focus on the task at hand.  They need to control the landing of their foot on the beam so the direction is perfect and they land with confidence.

—BAM—

Life.

It’s the same as walking the beam. 

Don’t race.  That one hit me; don’t we all race when we feel wobbly (overwhelmed)?

Pause.  REST IN JESUS! 

Both feet firmly planted. In the Word – while I’m pausing, I’m resetting by “planting my feet firmly” in the Word.

Take a deep breath.  Worship and pray.

Then you can go on without the wobble. (Worry, feeling of drowning, feeling of uselessness, etc)

Now we take our life and everything whirling around us one step at a time, focusing on each day as it exists, allowing God to control our steps, and we will walk with confidence!

Oversimplified?  Maybe, but that mental picture that God gave me as I was coaching certainly is helping me rest and enjoy this season instead of feel “wobbly” with worry and feeling useless! 

Thank you, Jesus for planting cool visions in my head from sometimes the simplest of things… God uses the simple to confound the wise!

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

The Off-Brands

Teaching the girls to research to make educated food choices at the grocery store.

January 14, 2019

The Off-Brands

What is in a brand?

Kimberly and Jaquline were discussing how they liked a certain Aldi off-brand snack better than the name brand one.  Christina commented that she didn’t remember how much better she liked said off-brand snack over the original until she’d tasted the original again that day.

Honestly, I love the new Aldi store because most of their off-brand stuff is healthier than the name brand it is replacing; one of their colored cereals actually is colored with natural pigments, has less sugar, and contains more vitamins and minerals per ounce than the name brand we could buy elsewhere.

Because of the arrival of this Aldi store, our healthy options seriously improved without demanding more on our budget.  In most cases, we were leaving with more groceries, healthier choices, and a smaller food bill.  A full cart with more than half of it filled with bargain fruits and vegetables?  Oh yes.

We studied some about brands.  In some cases, the girls discovered that only the outside label is changed!  This was surprising.  For several items they researched, the only change between certain off-brands and their competitive name-brand item was seriously a label.

Jaquline heard an ad on the radio station and said, “there’s another name-brand making us think they are better than the store kind because they pay for advertising.”

She’s nine.

They are convinced there is nothing as good as Oreos brand cookies, but then I think there is nothing as good as Christina’s chocolate chip cookies and Louis’ oatmeal cake cookies.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Thoughts on Sunday

Thoughts as Lucas is impressed by dozens of TVs, and talks about “His Baby” and “a real football girl,” and my young ladies are deep in conversation.

December 9, 2018

Thoughts on Sunday

Louis has this gas card that does reward points but you have to spend them at a specific restaurant.  Usually, this ends up being our “date night money” every two or three months.  This time, he said there was a special at one restaurant for kid’s meals and he had enough reward points to cover almost all of the meal.

Cool.  So we went out.  Party of eight.  This was the first time Becky (who, in her new “sweet” wedges she “found” for $4 at a resale shop, is the same height as Christina!) was not assumed to need a kid’s menu.

My teenagers (that’s a scary reality!) are sitting all dressed up at one side of the table with Jillian and Jaquline in their Sunday best across from them.  Louis and Kimberly sat across from me and Lucas was sandwiched between the wall, me, and Becky (wise waitress to give us the corner wall).  The three older girls have been working odd jobs to raise “Christmas money” (and saved “birthday money” so they can buy presents).  When they went shopping yesterday, they bought Christmas presents from several resale shops and a few small “scores” for themselves.  Kimberly was wearing her new pair of beautiful triangle clip-on earrings that complimented her stone cross necklace and her favorite dress and pumps (another “sweet find” from a clearance rack last year that she purposefully bought one size too big and can now fit).  She looked so like a young lady.  I love how my girls are growing into young ladies.  (It’s also a bit overwhelming to realize each of these three are sporting make-up, high heels, and share at least one adult size with me.)

Lucas couldn’t get over one thing… the restaurant had dozens on TV screens and five games going at the same time.  Lucas must have counted those TVs fifty times.  One fellow patron periodically would glance and smile at Lucas after he would gasp, “look, more football!  One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eleven!”

“Mom!” Lucas exclaims as we walk to the bathroom, passing the other side of the restaurant and multiple other TVs, “more football!”  This amuses the few tables we are passing.  Lucas gasps, “a real football girl!”  (This is as he notices our server wearing a football jersey – she’s had it the whole time.)  One gentleman asks Lucas if he’s about to be a big brother.  “Oh yes, this is my baby I get to keep.” Lucas taps on my belly.  He asks if Lucas wants a brother or sister.  Lucas says very seriously, “I want this baby to grow big and come out.  This is my baby I get to keep.”

His baby.  Lucas is so excited about not having to leave “His Baby” at church.  Back to our seat and he’s counting TVs and football games all the way there…

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Dress Shopping

Dress Shopping for my eldest girl’s first dance. “I’m Losing My Mind!”

September 30, 2018

Dress Shopping

The alternate title to today’s blog could be: AHHHHHHH!!  I have a teenage girl going to a dance!  I’m losing my mind!  (Yelled like the Dad in “Signs” as they are chasing the “Wolfington Brothers” out of the yard.)

Granted, she will be fifteen when she’s going.  (YIKES!)

And, yes, that picture of her is my favorite.  She dresses up and wins “best dressed,” but she’s way more at home in jeans, t-shirt, clean face, and some weapon strapped to her (jacket in the picture because it was literally freezing).  So “I’m going to a homecoming dance” seems really foreign.  (This is the same kid who built all of the Lord of the Rings weapons from wood 4 years ago… Gimli’s ax, Gandolf’s staff, Legolas’ bow, Aragon’s sword, etc.)

I’m a bit irritated that we allowed her to go thinking she could have an adult chaperone and the school doesn’t allow a parent or uncle to attend.  (They will have to deal with Mom & 5 younger siblings watching every episode of “Torchlighters” and “The Greatest Adventure Stories” in the parking lot in the van – and likely having their own dance party like we do when waiting for her at CAP.)

You know, I’m just an overprotective parent who doesn’t like the idea of dropping a non-driving teen off at an unknown school 45 minutes from her house in an area that has no local cabs.  I always had an “exit strategy” when I went somewhere by myself and unknown.  Granted, I never had to use it, but always had it preplanned.

Since I can’t rent an apache helicopter for the night, my kiddie-loaded van will have to do.

Back to the shopping.

I’m not much into shopping – or thought I wasn’t.  I go in with a list and nothing else touches my buggy.  It better be on the list next time.  Today, the list includes three burning words “Christina’s green dress.”  (I should write to Professor VonDrake: Dear Doctor, HHHEEEEELLLLPPPP!)

Six thrift stores, lots of very helpful ladies, and almost three hours later, we find it – of course, at the place we originally thought would be most likely to have it.  (Thank you, Betty Griffin Thrift!)  Not only did we find the perfect dress, but also found the perfect shoes to go with it and a pair of sneakers for two who needed sneakers… and dresses & shoes were half off.  (Thank you, Jesus!)  Becky even found a “snake light” with gator-colored lamps and it was also half-off! (I instantly thought Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark and some snake-headed apparatus, but it seems “snake light” means the lamps are attached to the stand with bendable metal.)  We have been looking for a lamp for the dining room for a little over a year and a half.  I’m very happy leaving decorating up to Becky because she always finds stuff that Louis approves of.  (My attempts at interior decoration resemble the outcome of Doris Day’s frustration when redecorating “Rex Stetson’s” apartment in “Pillow Talk.”)

Total damage at all 6 shops combined: 20 pencils, 2 expo markers, a sharpie, some crayons, 5 red pens, a school box, four pairs of shoes (three sneakers, one dress), five shirts, two skirts, one pair of shorts, formal dress, standing snake lamp, 5 extra bulbs, and one extra bowl (matched our current set).  This ran us $38.  I love thrift store shopping!

The girls used their own money to buy things like: a Barbie doll, two birthday gifts for Christina, four baby stuffed animals, a wallet, toys for the “Treasure box” at Sunday School, and some assorted other items.

Lucas was happy, showing everyone his “new shoes” through the last three stores.

I’ve discovered I do enjoy shopping, when I’m hunting something specific and spending time with my children.  I certainly enjoy family time – even if the other girls are all constantly teasing Christina and a wee voice in my brain is screaming, “I’m not ready for a going-out teenager!”

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

School Supplies

School supplies on a budget – our methods

August 31, 2018

School Shopping

Lots of people do school shopping in late July or August, just before school starts.

Since we do school year-round, I’m constantly replacing school supplies by stopping in at my favorite thrift shops and scooping up extra pencils, notebooks, erasers, or expo markers (the most commonly used items in our school).

I do try to take advantage of the school sales that pop up at the end of school supply shopping months.

Take notebooks: one independent writer in our home goes through an average of five single-subject notebooks a year!  (That’s not a lot when you consider that each notebook usually has 70 pages.)  Our history, science, and most upper math courses require a paragraph or page of written work.  Grammar practice is to edit said paragraphs or pages and rewrite them correctly.  So we use a lot of paper.  I prefer to use notebooks because they keep all the papers together and they are easier to carry than loose leaf paper (we often do work in remote locations).  This year I have four independent writers and one still using training paper (the ones from tablets with three-line-spaces).  But my training-writer is writing times tables and measures this year.  She will need one or two notebooks.  I always add one extra for each student because I would rather have extra than to buy them at 4 to 10 times the sale price!  (Most of us homeschool on a budget, don’t we?)

Oh, yes, another trick I learned was to buy college-ruled notebooks because you get extra lines at the bottom.  (Silly, but it also makes you write smaller thus more work ends up on one page.)

We bought 22 notebooks this year!  Staples & Officemax both claimed the “normal” price for a college-ruled store-brand notebook with 70 pages was $2.49.  I know Walmart has them for $1.20 or so and the thrift shops have partially used ones for $0.50. They were on sale for $0.25, usually I can find them for $0.10, but this year if someone had them super cheap, I missed that sale.  Shopping the sales essentially saved us $20.90 just on notebooks.  (The receipts claimed we “Saved” way more, but I base my savings off the cheapest normal price, not the inflated office supply store price.)

Pencils, erasers, markers, rulers, and other assorted small things I usually buy from thrift stores because you can get a lot more used items less expensive than the sale price on new ones.  Rebeccah does Sunday School and likes to buy cute craft stuff for it, which is also less expensive (and a much larger collection for choose from) at the thrift stores.

Backpacks are another thrift store buy.  I generally choose to spend less than five dollars on a backpack.  Someone’s hand-me-down from last year often has a lot of wear left in it.  We use backpacks for school stuff, travel bags (you can only carry what you can fit in your backpack), and overnight bags for Grandma’s house trips.  Even Lucas has a backpack (a cute smaller Cars one we found for a dollar at a thrift store).  He’s funny, when we’re headed to drop off at college, I’ll say “grab your school stuff.”  (Generally, a writing tablet or book)  Lucas puts two books (usually two the bigger girls have been reading – lately a favorite has been Prince Caspian), his crayon box, and his tablet in his backpack and will say “I’m ready for my school!”  His backpack swallows him!

We have learned to use the before-school sales to help keep our expenses low yet still get the items we like to use.  (Filler paper is cheaper than using notebooks, but I’ve learned notebooks are neater and easier.)  The older girls need computer paper for some college assignments and CAP work, so we also tend to buy computer paper during the sales times as they will have some super mail-in rebate offer or something.

The coolest part of shopping for school supplies is the practical math lessons that go along with it!  (I can find lessons in everything!)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

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