Another Museum Day

 In our state, they have what’s called a ZAP tax. That stands for Zoo, Arts, and Parks and the theory is that these taxes help subsidize these activities so they can be nice (and sometimes free!) for the general public. Monday was the quarterly free day at the Museum of Natural History. We have been to the museum several times, but never since they moved to the new building.

I told you before that my elementary-aged kids are off-track, so it ended up being me, Grandpa, Drama Queen, Teach, Crafty, Sport, Scout, Curly, and Baby Doll. We all piled in the van except for the Drama Queen. (She had been waiting in line for 2 hours to checkout at Roberts Going-Out-of- Business sale and she said she would wait for the three people still in line ahead of her and then drive herself downtown…some people will do anything for a bargain! I wonder where she gets that from? Hmmm….)

When we finally got within a mile or so of the museum, we saw signs pointing to the additional parking. This couldn’t be good. But we turned into the lot anyway and hauled the kids to the shuttle stop. This actually turned out really well for us. The shuttle dropped us right at the front door. The driver was so nice he even pulled over and loaded up a few people as they struggled up the hill with their strollers and little ones.

I was so worried that the museum would be crowded! We had been in the old one on free day before and it was so crazy you could hardly get close enough to the exhibits to see inside them. But this new museum was amazing! I’m sure there were hundreds of people scattered around, but we had plenty of room to roam and play.

And I do mean play. Nearly all of the exhibits are interactive. We put together puzzles, looked through a microscope, shook down a small building with a simulated earthquake, and studied the effects of erosion on sand in a huge water table. Sport got a little extra attention because of his scout shirt and we are excited to report that he completed the patch to add to his vest.

In one of the children’s rooms they had a fake stream with fake fish and insects. Scout was absolutely convinced they were real and she refused to touch them! Curly loved the animal puppets except for the eagle. When he put his little hand in it, he started to cry because his hand was too small to make the large wings flap.

Three hours raced by and the only one who wanted to leave was Baby Doll. She was pretty tired of the backpack by then. We enjoyed it so much I am actually thinking of going back with the entire family and PAYING for it…I know, crazy, huh? You all know how cheap I am. But check out all these fun pics we took. Sadly, Teach forgot her good camera so you only get cell phone stuff. If we head back, I’m definitely taking the real camera…and the shuttle.

** Bossy here.  I added two links that give information on free entry days for the rest of the year.  You can also follow NHMU on Twitter.  This museum did not pay or offer any compensation to my mom for her blog today.

Food for Thought - Applesauce

The Dog Walker asked me if I was ever going to do a Food for Thought again since I hadn’t done one for two weeks. And I quote… “It’s my blog and I can do whatever I want!” Then he proceeded to irritate me for at least another hour texting me suggestions of what I needed to post about. So here I am, succumbing to kid pressure once again.

I am not an apple fan. I don’t drink apple juice because it has way too many calories. I know it’s un-American, but I don’t really even like apple pie unless it has a large scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I will occasionally eat an apple if it’s not tart, and I always pass on store-bought applesauce. But I LOVE a dish of freshly-made warm applesauce!

My mom always made applesauce when we were kids. She had an old crank strainer that you tucked into your arm like it was a mixing bowl and she had to crank that thing for hours to get much out of it. We have an updated version that my sweetie believed was still too slow, so he rigged up a drill and now he can strain a dozen quarts of applesauce in about 10 minutes. Of course you have to have a helper who isn’t afraid of being sprayed with the hot pulp when the drill goes a little too fast. We used to have a half dozen apple trees but now we only have two, one red delicious and one that was supposed to be a Green Spire Linden. For a Linden, it sure makes good applesauce!

We have two large stockpots that my sweetie found for $20/each at the old Weinstock's about 20 years ago. (They really are one of the best purchases he ever made even though I gave him crap about it at the time.) Each one will hold a five-gallon bucket full of chopped apples. We like using several varieties just to give us a more flavorful sauce. My favorite kind to add is the Golden Delicious and we generally buy a couple of boxes and mix them in.

I bought my strainer at the local Macey's grocery store for about forty bucks. It can handle all the apple cores and seeds, but not the stems, so I pull out the stems and cut the apples in quarters. Then I toss them in the pot. When the pot is nearly full (leave a little stirring room), I add about 2 cups of water and turn in on medium high. Make sure to stir it often so it doesn’t burn and cook it for about 30 – 40 minutes until the apples are soft.

Let it cool for about another 30 minutes or so before grinding. You want the applesauce to still be hot, especially if you are planning to put it into jars. Otherwise, you have to process it much longer.

My mom always added sugar to her applesauce, but we never do. Since all apples are different, some need sugar and some don’t. It’s just as easy to add it when you are eating it. I like to add a bit of cinnamon and I think I’ve mentioned before that my kids love this warm applesauce served over French Toast. And you don't even need to add ice cream!

Double Discount Days

When Teach was just past 16 years old, she began working at a local grocery store. My sweetie says I can’t tell you the name of the store mostly because Teach and the Drama Queen both still work there. I’m a little sad about that because we are definitely fans of this institution! They treat their workers so well!

When Teach broke her foot playing basketball with me (I should get her to write that story for you), they gave her a couple of months off even though she was part time, and she was even paid for some of it. The girls receive coupons in the mail all the time asking them to try various products or become more familiar with store-brand stuff. They have team meetings where they are often given gift cards or other incentives. They gave out bonuses one year near Christmas time and the Drama Queen got about $300.00!

There are so good to work with schedules and school and even dates. But my favorite part about this store is the extra percentages off food and gas. Employees get an extra 5 cents off gas and they get 10 % off store brands. You know I go through tons of milk! That’s at least 25 cents less per gallon times 12 gallons a week…it adds up!

But my favorite discounts only come a few times each year. Usually right before holidays, their sister store offers what they call Double Discount Days. So instead of getting 10% off everything in the store (except food) we get 20% off. Yesterday was one of those days.

We like to do our Christmas shopping there and I got a huge chunk of it done yesterday. (Can’t tell you any secrets cause my kids read the blog…). We plan other purchases on DDD too. Like my sweetie needed some sandpaper so that he could sand the crack out of our ceramic cooktop. For some crazy reason, Princess thought she would give us all a shock by smacking it with the yardstick like her teachers do in school. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize that "ceramic" meant breakable, and when she was finished, I think she was more shocked than we were. The crack is about 4 inches long…

We also bought a new space heater that looks like a fireplace to go in our downstairs family room. Instead of paying the regular price of $200, we got it for about $100. I’m excited about that because I always freeze when we watch a movie together even when I’m snuggling with my sweetie. I’ll let you know how it works out, since we have a movie party planned for tomorrow night.

But the best thing I bought today was for Baby Doll. Look at these cute little boots! We have had zero success keeping shoes on that girl. I’m hoping she can’t get these off.

Sneak-or-Treat

We had a fun Saturday! It started with Sport’s team winning their last league football team. Now they are off to the playoffs as the number one seed. Yeah, we think it’s cool too. Then my little army got busy and cleared both gardens and cleaned up the backyard. After that we figured it was time to party. My sweetie made us an amazing dinner and we watched Halloween movies and Bossy made a cool 3D Haunted House.

When they put in The Nightmare Before Christmas, my sweetie and I slipped out to go to JC Penneys. I had a good coupon and I managed to get Scout a new shirt and Baby Doll a cute jacket for a grand total of 49 cents! It was a good trip. But somewhere during that timeframe, we had a little discord at home. By the time we got back, Bossy had packed up her family and hit the road.

After a bit of discussion, it turns out that Bossy and the Prima Donna had words and the Dog Walker just had to throw his 2-cents in. Anyway, some apologies were in order. Unfortunately, Bossy was mad enough that she was not answering her phone. That’s when I devised my brilliant beyond brilliant plan. If you read the post about the Dog Walker’s corn maze, you know that Bossy’s family is trying to win their apartment building’s Halloween Lights and Display Contest. The prize is reduced rent for the next month, wouldn’t that be nice?!




When they cleared that garden today, the Dog Walker brought around all the rest of the cornstalks. Bossy had hoped to take some home for her display, but before she got the chance, Dog Walker had tied them all up in the front yard. It seemed to me that the best way to apologize was to have Prima Donna and Dog Walker sneak over to Bossy’s apartment and leave a bundle of cornstalks on her doorstep.

So we loaded up the van with the nicest bundle we could find and three pumpkins (one personally carved by the Prima Donna) and a letter of apology in a Halloween cup. We drove the ten minutes to her apartment, arriving at about 11:30 PM. We snuck around to her front door, hoping that her lights were still on. They were. Honestly, it was difficult to decide where to put the cornstalks, because they already had such a fun display, but we managed. I snapped a few pics so you could see her amazing job. I’d give her the prize!

Then we tip-toed around to her back door and doorbell-ditched the ceramic mug with the letter and some treats. You should have seen us run for the van! We peeled off just as their door opened. The kids thought it was way fun to “Sneak-or-Treat” someone. Maybe we should just start a new tradition. But next time not something as messy as cornstalks.

Gifts for Scout

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Birthday Suit!

I think I’ve told you before that I try to make a big deal out of birthdays because I almost shared mine with my older brother (his is the 22nd of January and mine is the 25th). Mom grumbled every year about making another cake when we had barely finished the first one. I promised myself that I would never do that to my kids and it’s a good thing because our birthdays are practically on top of each other. 

It’s almost November and that’s another big birthday month for us. Bossy’s is the 1st and the Dog Walker’s is the 4th.  I’ve got them covered for gifts already. The Dog Walker’s was easy because we bought him a Letterman’s jacket and since it was so expensive that is pretty much it.

Grandpa and Taco

Bossy is a little more tricky. Now that she is a mom and on her own, I try to give her things that I know she probably wouldn’t buy for herself. You know, like jewelry or clothes, accessories, that kind of thing. I won’t spoil the surprise since she usually squeezes blog-reading into her day.

My grandson, Taco’s birthday is also this month, but my sweetie LOVES buying little boy toys, so he is covered too. Our last November birthday is Scout. She is turning 6 this year, can you believe it?! She is so grown up for her age since she has all of these older sisters. She would love it if I would just give her makeup and jewelry. I’m much more inclined to look for games and dolls. I’ve been scouring the Internet for some good deals (since you all know how cheap I am!). My typical budget for birthdays this year is $50.00 although in most cases I sneak it up to about $75 (shh, don’t tell sweetie…).

Since I still have about 4 weeks, I have plenty of time to look. What do you think? Should I buy toys or maybe some cute clothes?


Toys drive me crazy because my sweetie has this aversion to throwing anything away. I’m much less sentimental and I get tired of constantly being part of the cleanup crew. I keep saying we just have too much stuff! Check out all of these LPS toys! And these are just Crafty and Princess’s collection. There are more kicking around the house.

Scout loves puzzles and games. They were playing Cootie this morning before she headed off to Kindergarten, but I hate the pieces that are always getting separated. Dare I confess that I have a large box of stranded game and puzzle pieces stashed behind my closet door? I keep telling myself that one of these days I’m going to pull it out and sort it all, but it just doesn’t happen.

So what did you love when you were six? Remember, my budget is only about 50 bucks…OK, 75, but don’t tell sweetie.

What's the Big Deal?

I’ve told you before that I LOVE a bargain! The only way to raise a big family nowadays is to be independently wealthy, be part of a reality TV show, or hunt down bargains. Since I missed out on the independently wealthy thing and no one is pounding down my door to see if I want to be on TV, my only option has been the bargain thing.

When we were first married, nearly every grocery chain on the planet offered double and sometimes even triple coupons. That made the slick coupon ads that come in the newspaper even more valuable. This was in the early ‘80s, before the days of open access to the Internet and online sales. I was pregnant with Bossy and we moved back to my hometown. We were dirt poor and since our parents were all still raising young children, they were not able to help us. Grandma was always careful with money (still is even at 93!) and she agreed to help us collect coupons to help cut our food bill. She made several trips to the post office each day and pulled coupons from the garbage.

Not our actual dump and not my grandma

Our town also had an open dump then about 3 miles outside of town. The idea was that you drove the dump road with all your stinky, yucky garbage in the trunk of your car. When you got to the dump, you drove to the edge, stopped your car, plugged your nose and flung your bags into the pile. Someone came along periodically and threw matches in there to burn everything back. So Grandma and I haunted the dump. We mostly stuck to the edges and pulled bundles of newspaper before the flames could devour them. We ripped open garbage bags and we also hunted for soda pop bottles (5 cents, please!). In later years Grandma gathered aluminum cans, then brought them home and ran over them with her car. About 20 years ago they shut down the dump and brought in a garbage service. My grandma was so sad that day…My 28th anniversary is in a couple of weeks and Grandma still sends up little bags full of coupons she collects and saves just for me.

Last week I was asked to review a coupon site called www.couponchief.com and give an honest opinion. I eagerly logged on and set up an account. That part was easy. I also asked some of my grown up kids, Bossy, Gym Rat, Drama Queen, and Teach to check out the site. Since it is all about online sales, they are way more techno-savvy than me. This site is huge! They have coupon codes for about 15,000 stores all arranged in alphabetical order. I chose several to look at that were places where I might actually place an online order.



I started with Amazon.com. Whenever I need to buy some strange item and I don’t know where to look, I try Amazon first. Coupon codes there would actually be very handy. Sadly, after trying three different codes, they all came back as expired. So I switched to Wal-Mart, but their coupons were for very specific things and I didn’t want to take the time to find whatever they were trying to get me to buy. The last coupon codes I tried were for Lowes and Home Depot. There were also expired or invalid.

So I called the kids to get their input (since obviously I must be doing something wrong). The Gym Rat tried Barnes and Noble and all three codes worked great for him. The Drama Queen was also able to get it to work, but she reminded me that she rarely shops on line. Boss and Teach spent a little time too but got stuck in the same trap as me.

I think this site is a wonderful idea! Sharing coupon codes with other shoppers can save us all a little money and that makes it easier for us to buy more and stimulate the economy. This site actually pays you for your codes as long as you are the first one to make a submission. What I didn’t like was that the codes didn’t automatically delete after they were expired. That means any bozo could get on and make up a code and publish it and then it would never work for anyone! They do have a nice rating system so you can see which coupons worked and which ones didn’t. I would love to have been able to print off some of these coupons so that I could take them to the actual stores. I’m looking forward to using this site in the future since one of my favorite stores, Discount Dance Supply is on their list. I can’t tell you how many pairs of tights I’ve bought for my dancers…even if I only save a buck or two it will definitely be worth looking.

Since www.couponchief.com paid me a small sum for this review, I want you to know that the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Like Shell at Things I Can't Say, I promote Blog With Integrity.

My Tupperware Obsession - part last (I promise!)

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I know you all thought my Tupperware saga was over, but it couldn’t be, because Tupperware has a lifetime warranty and I couldn’t possibly throw anything away that might be worth something (no wait, that’s my sweetie…). Every time I broke a bowl, or the numbers wore off my measuring cup, or the kids took one of my good tumblers out to the sandpile and smashed it with a shovel, I stashed the pieces in a cupboard in my kitchen. Then every couple of years I would host a party, drag out all the broken stuff, and get a huge new pile of Tupperware for free.

Now even though I love Tupperware, I can only use so much of it…but I figured out that it makes a fantastic wedding gift! (Sorry to all my neighbors, now you know that I get all of the gifts for your kids for free…) When we moved onto our street, nearly everyone was in the same stage of life, in our mid to early 30s with elementary-age kids. Now everyone is pushing 50 (except me, I’m only 46), and our kids are getting married and moving on. That makes for at least a dozen wedding gifts a year.

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When Bossy first got out of school, she was looking for a little part-time job and I persuaded her to become a Tupperware lady so I could buy all my stuff at a discount. That worked for about six months until she got tired of it. Then for about the last seven or eight years I have called the same Tupperware lady and she has come over and taken all my broken stuff and we have scheduled a party and we both come away happy, because you know my super-overachiever self can never do anything halfway.

Last summer I made my biannual call to her and I was stunned to hear that she was no longer selling Tupperware, but that she had started her own business selling bags and purses (the traitor!). So I shut my Tupperware cupboard and let the broken pieces accumulate for another year. Sadly though, my gift box was dwindling and I’m afraid my last couple of weddings got pretty lousy gifts. I also had so much broken stuff it was falling out of the cupboard. This prompted a visit on the Internet to find a new Tupperware lady. I was surprised to see some names I recognized from the old days (which if you are counting, are about 20 years ago).

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The first name I called was Bossy’s old manager, but I was not impressed with her people skills…her leave-my-$150.00-worth-of-broken-stuff-on-her-porch-and-she-might-get- back-to-me attitude, that is if somebody didn’t steal it first. So I headed back to the Internet to look for more names. This time I spotted another name I remembered from the early days…my nemesis! She and I were always in the running for the top sales and recruiting honors. Did I dare call her? Would she remember me? After a couple of days brooding over these questions, I finally sent her an e-mail and she agreed to come to my house. I mentioned that I had sold Tupperware in the past and left her my name.

When she rang the bell, my heart began to beat wildly…which is so stupid! I wasn’t afraid of her. I opened the door to her friendly smile and she introduced herself. Like an idiot, I said, “I’m pretty sure we already know each other.” Then she said, “I wondered if that was you!” and that was the end of it. Like two old friends, we sorted through my stuff and I got tons of new things to fill my gift box. Then she asked me to host a party, and what could I say? We booked a date a couple of weeks from now and then she asked me that hard question…Tupperware at my own discount? Where do I sign?

Friday Freebies: JCP Clearance

If you stopped by my blog last week, you know I had a fantastic mail day. I don’t want to brag or anything, but Bossy, Teach, Baby Doll and I took a bunch of those coupons and headed over to JC Penney. Ok, maybe I do want to brag…we took my $25.00 worth of coupons, plus the coupons in the ad, and I headed out the door with two huge bags full of clothes! Here are the final results:

Baby Doll – yellow t-shirt, green jacket, flowered stretch pants, yellow/pink sleeper
Curly – blue printed t-shirt
Scout – four pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pink leggings, 1 pair of pink yoga pants, 2 printed t-shirts
Sport – 5 printed t-shirts
Crafty – 2 black pairs of yoga pants, a pair of jeans, a pair of stretch pants
Prima Donna – 4 printed t-shirts, black ruffled skirt
Princess – 1 pair of pink sweats, 1 pair of blue yoga pants and 1 pair of black yoga pants
I also bought Taco 2 printed t-shirts for his birthday.

I walked out the door with all of this stuff for about $65.00. I love shopping clearance deals and we pick up things now for back-to-school in the fall. I know we might be a bit behind the trends this way, but most styles don’t change that much and we just look for basic things like tees and jeans that are always classics. Most stores are clearancing right now; preparing for the summer looks. That means you can buy coats and jackets, long-sleeved shirts, and warmer things for practically nothing (at JCP they are 80% off).

A couple of weeks ago we bought a half dozen beautiful Dockers sweaters for my sweetie at 90% off. They cost me less than $4.00 each. I even bought my Baby Doll a swimsuit at Target for $5.00. It was last season’s style, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care. Maybe I should ask her…

Good Deed

One thing I’ve definitely learned after having all these kids is that it’s much easier to go to the grocery store by myself. It’s not that the kids beg for things…they learn early on that if they ask there is NO WAY I will buy that particular item. It’s simply that trying to get everyone inside the store and then into a cart, and then contained while I figure out what I need to buy can be incredibly difficult. 

Cars from '08 Sport is asleep and I can't find one to show.  Bailed out by this fun blog.

Unfortunately, sometimes I have to take my entourage with me. Today was one of those days. Smith’s had an amazing deal on Cheerios and I had 23 coupons! (Not that it’s important to the story, but I got 4 boxes of 14 oz Cheerios for $3.30! That’s less than a dollar a box and each box also had a free pull-back racer in it…you can’t go wrong with a free car.) So I drag Scout, Curly, and Baby Doll all to the store. 

 The minute we enter the doors they are both running for the Car Cart. That suits me fine since I can at least keep them somewhat contained inside the car without a leash. I snap Baby Doll’s car seat in and we head to the huge cereal display. I proceed to load 36 boxes of Cheerios into my cart. Car Carts are great except that they have smaller baskets so I can’t get as much in there as I’d like, but I manage. 

Soon we are rolling slowly toward the bakery for our free cookies. (After all the Easter candy, I managed to shake my head when the bakery girl offered me one.) I toss in 4 loaves of bread, a couple of bags of bagels and some rolls for supper. We bypass the produce since we are already stopping every few feet to pick up a box of cereal or loaf of bread that kamikazed to the floor. Somehow I squeeze in a couple of gallons of milk and we head to the checkout.

I open my purse to pull out my coupons and necessaries. That’s when I realize my sweetie has the Fresh Values card in his wallet. I know, you are thinking, "No problem, just type in your phone number." But it’s not that easy. Teach works at Smiths so I have an amazing employee card that gives me an extra 10% off the Kroger products. That’s when I remember that Teach is out in the Fuel Center. I fire off a text, hoping that she has left her wallet in the Customer Service area and I can get her card and use it. 

Somebody pulls into the lane behind me and I look up to suggest that they move ahead since I’m not really ready yet. I’m pleasantly surprised to see Sterling, a friend of Teach’s who worked with her until only recently when he transferred to another store. I smile, "Hey, how are you doing?" I notice he is buying cereal and since I’m not using all my coupons I offer him some. He gladly takes them and I move aside my overstuffed cart to let him go first. We chat for a minute and then a new text comes in from Teach. Yes, she has her purse, but it is with her across the parking lot in the Fuel Center. That means I have to park my cart and drag all three kids across the parking lot to get her card before I can check out, and Curly has fallen asleep. 

As I’m contemplating my fate, I notice that Sterling is nearly finished with his transaction. He thanks me again for the coupons then he turns to leave. My desperation made me bold, "Hey Sterling," I call. He turns back to me, all smiles. "Could you do me a favor?" I beg. "Sure," he responds. "Could you run over to fuel and get Teach’s Fresh Values card for me?" He pushes his cart to the side. "No problem," he says and sprints out of the store. I barely had time to send Teach a text before she responded with one saying that he had the card and was on his way back. It only took him about 3 minutes tops, but Sterling, I just want you to know that you saved my day! Thanks for being such a great guy! You can have my coupons anytime.

Friday Freebies: Half-Price Pizza

Several years ago we made a trip to San Francisco. It was our first major trip with the kids and they were so excited! We stayed the first night in Reno where somebody nicely backed into our van and drove off without letting anyone know. Then we drove through the mountains and finally down into California. We stayed in the suburbs of San Francisco in Burlingame where we found some fun activities like the PEZ Museum and just down the street we found a little café that sold the most amazing crepes! 

 We spent most of our time in San Francisco proper, visiting Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, and the Aquarium of the Bay. (Don’t forget to buy your City Passes!) Each time we drove down into the city, we looked for the huge statue of the Bow and Arrow. That was how we got our bearings and knew where we were. 

One night we decided to go downtown and find a place to eat. My sweetie was driving and somehow we missed the turn and we could not find the Bow and Arrow anywhere! We drove around and around and it got later and later. The kids were tired and hungry. We were panicked and lost but of course we couldn’t tell them that. Suddenly I spotted a pizza place on my side if the road. "Here we are!" I said loudly. The kids perked right up. "Mountain Mike’s?" my sweetie prompted. I nodded my head vigorously. "Yup! Put on your shoes, it’s time to eat." He eased our oversized van into the parking lot. It was pretty late so we easily found a nice pull-through. As we unloaded the kids we had no idea what we were getting in to. 

I’d never heard of Mt. Mike’s and I had no idea of quality or price. I did know I was tired of driving around and my sweetie never objected to pizza. The prices were reasonable by California standards and we all enjoyed some of the best pizza we had ever tasted. We did eventually make it back to the hotel without ever finding the Bow and Arrow. Flash forward to about six months ago. We discovered that they actually built a couple of Mountain Mike’s in our valley!  **editor's note: I told Mom a month ago the Mountain Mike's by our house went out of business.  There is now only one in our valley**

They have a huge 20" pizza that would never fit in my fridge, but it doesn’t have to because the kids devour it in about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, we don’t go out for pizza very often because of the price. Then one day my son mentioned that he and a friend had tried out the buffet and thought it was amazing. So we started watching for a good coupon. When we finally found one we headed down there on a Monday for lunch. After we ordered our pizza, we saw a huge sign that read, "Half Price Pizza – All Day Monday. Dine in Only." That has become one of our favorite places to take the kids. I can get a huge 20" pizza for $12.50. It only takes 3 of those to feed our rather large family including the grandkids and like I said before, the pizza is some of the best we have ever tasted! Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Friday Freebies: Cheap Vacations

We have a big van that we use for church and vacations. It has 12 seats and a large cargo area in the back. We stuff that clear full of bags and coolers and pillows, chips and cookies and bread. We always tailgate on every vacation. It’s a great way to save lots of money on the road. 

One of my favorite places on the planet is Disneyland. We made our first trip there in 2007. My sweetie was doing some extra consulting work and we had saved up enough for a whole week in sunny California. We wanted this to be the trip of a lifetime for our kids since we wouldn’t likely be able to afford another one for at least a decade. We headed out on a hot August day. Our first stop was the San Diego Zoo. The kids enjoyed seeing the animals for the most part, except that the giraffes don’t seem to have any sense at all. It was definitely a hot day, but I don’t care how thirsty I am, the urine from another creature would not be my idea of an acceptable drink. Unfortunately, the giraffe didn’t see it that way. Maybe he thought it was a hose. My kids were totally appalled. 



It was a little crazy, but our schedule forced us to visit SeaWorld that same afternoon. Even though they were a little tired from all the walking at the zoo, the kids loved the Shamu show and were excited to see the dolphins next. We got great seats and were right on the edge of the "splash zone." My little Scout was only two years old and she was so excited about everything. She stood up on her seat so she could see better but her foot slipped and she tumbled out of my reach and down the metal benches. I scooped her up, but it was too late, the blood poured from beneath her lower lip. I grabbed a SeaWorld bucket hat and applied pressure to get the bleeding to stop, but it was pretty obvious that she was going to need stitches. Great…here we were in an unknown city, on a weekend, and who knew what kind of insurance hassles we’d have to deal with.

I remembered seeing the first aid station on our way into the park and I headed there. My sweetie and oldest daughters rounded up the other kids and tried to keep them occupied (he only lost Crafty, so I guess that wasn’t too bad…fortunately she was located within about 10 minutes by a kind grandmotherly-type who helped her find her family). We arrived at the aid station only to find that other than a piece of clean gauze and an address, they were no help at all. They pointed out the row of taxis waiting out front, and with Scout clutched tightly in my arms, I headed for the first one in line. Pressing the gauze firmly to her still bleeding chin, I gave them the address. Can you believe this guy actually drove me in circles first, running up the tab while my two-year-old bled on his seat? What should have been a two-minute cab ride actually cost me $20.00! 

The clinic patched her up and we headed back to SeaWorld. It was nearly closing time and we were able to make only one quick stop to see the sea cows; we missed the rest of the park. Other than that, our vacation was magical and surprisingly affordable.  As always, I'm the ultimate cheapskate, so before we left I started looking for discounts to make the cost of taking ten of us to Disneyland just a little cheaper.   *Editor's Note: Bossy and her family stayed at home to take care of the dog and 6-month-old Burrito.*

We had used City Passes on a trip to San Francisco, so that is where I started. City Pass makes little booklets full of coupons for various cities and I was excited to find that they made one for Southern California. The prices have gone up a little since we used them in 2007, but they are still an excellent way for families to see the sites. An adult book costs $276.00 dollars and includes a three-day park hopper pass for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park. It also includes admission to Universal Studios Hollywood, SeaWorld, and the San Diego Zoo. A child pass includes the same but only costs $229.00.

I purchased tickets for everyone on-line. I recommend Hotwire for your hotels and when you want to go out to eat, check the back of your phone book in your room. Many of them have coupons for random restaurants. You can also check with the front desk for coupons and other deals. I’ve even been known to bring coupons from our newspapers at home on vacation. Usually other states will honor these prices if you present the coupon. Leave me a comment and let me hear your other ideas for saving money on vacation.

Friday Freebies: Haircuts

I started cutting my sweetie’s hair before we were married and I’m happy to say that no one has cut his hair since. He seems very happy with my services, but my kids…not so much. When Bossy was little she actually wanted a mullet. (Although she is in denial about this fact and says she remembers something about the Gym Rat spitting gum in her hair?)  Billy Ray Cyrus was in his heyday and both boys and girls wanted to copy that style. 

Billy Ray and Bossy

Once when the Gym Rat was about 8 years old I tried to get the shaved look on the back of his neck without a razor. What a disaster! He went to school that day (of course, he couldn’t see the back of his neck) and he came home in tears. Some of the kids had laughed at his goofy haircut. So even on our very tight budget, I scraped up some grocery money and took him somewhere to get it fixed. 

My girls were laughing about a Family Home Evening we had when Bossy was about 15 where I "taught" the kids to cut each other’s hair. I’m not recommending this activity unless you have plenty of money to take them all to the salon to get them fixed. Oh yeah, and make sure it’s summer so they don’t have school the next day. (Actually it wasn’t that bad…my kids were very careful because they knew that they were next in line.) So they all breathed a sigh of relief when we started getting these amazingly cool e-mails from the Supercuts training studio every couple of weeks. They invite us over for free haircuts! By now you know me well enough to know that I have a hard time turning down anything that’s free. 

So every couple of months I gather up the kids and we drive for about 20 minutes and then entertain ourselves in the waiting room until it is time for us to get that free makeover. We have been attending this class for about ten years now and we are hardly ever disappointed with the results. It seems that Supercuts retrains every new stylist that joins their company even if they have 20 years in the business, and they do these classes all over the US. 

One Thursday night, Princess and Prima Donna were playing quietly in their room. Princess was about six and Prima Donna around four. The fact that they were so quiet should have given me a clue, but I was helping the older kids with homework and completely oblivious. Eventually the two girls presented themselves. Princess was carrying a pair of scissors, and Prima Donna was sporting a new haircut. She was totally chopped! I don’t think a single hair on her head was longer than an inch and a half. Not that they were uniform by any stretch. I tried not to come unglued but I was losing it fast. The only thing that kept me sane at all was the fact that we had already planned to attend free haircuts the following day. 

When we showed up at the studio, Melissa, the lady in charge, started laughing. "Who did it?" she chuckled. Our very quiet and shy Princess was not about to confess, but she did blush a nice shade of pink. "We’ll do our best, but no promises," Melissa added. "This is going to take months to grow out." Princess watched rather anxiously as they carefully trimmed Prima Donna’s hair to a more uniform length. They didn’t want to take off much because she was nearly bald in some places already. Prima Donna took it all in stride…what was a little hair? It would grow back. After they had finished shaping her hair into an extremely short pixie cut, I did something that was either totally brilliant or extremely mean; I’m still not sure which. I had them put Princess in the chair and give her the exact same haircut.

Masks added to protect the "innocent."