An Open Letter to parents of my children's classmates

Dear Parent:


Greetings to you from our family!  I hope this finds you well.


I am writing in response to some recent news that has traveled from my third graders' mouth to my ears.  I felt it might be necessary to inform you that your child is a brat.  In addition, I also thought it might be helpful for you to know that no matter how badly your child treats mine, I refuse to teach my daughters to get back at your child, to treat her the same way, to talk meanly to or about your child.  


If I must be blunt... your child is definitely getting the good end of this situation.  I will never stop teaching my daughters to be kind.  To treat other kids respectfully and as she would like to be treated.  And I will certainly never, ever, find it acceptable for my child to act like your child does not exist.  Now none of this means that I am actively teaching my children to be doormats for your children, however, kindness and acceptance will always win in our family.  


I've heard the phrase "The one who cares the least has the most power in the relationship".  And while that seems to be a very accurate statement about human nature, and my husband and I can pick and choose when it is appropriate to embody that defense mechanism in our own lives, I know that my small daughters are unable to discern the proper times to enact that attitude.  Therefore, even though I really, REALLY want to teach them this horrible truth, I will refrain.  I will also refrain from teaching them to be self-absorbed and only care about how things affect them.  I find it appalling, really, that most grown-ups don't understand the effect that their actions have on the greater picture so I will do my darndest to teach my children that their actions affect all the people around them.  


Again, I find it necessary to point out that your child is really benefiting greatly from my parenting.  Not only does your child get to act however she wants, not only does she only need to care about herself, but MY child will treat your child with respect and kindness regardless of your child's behavior or attitude.  Congratulations on all of the advantages that your child has now and will always have in the future!  She will forever be lucky.


I'm sorry that she won't have the opportunity to build character that will be noticed by others.  I'm sorry that she won't have the opportunity to cultivate meaningful relationships with other people.  I'm sorry that she won't be trusted in her adult life because she hasn't learned to take responsibility for her own actions.  Those are tough prices to pay, but hey -   she's pretty special in third grade, right?  Thats what matters.


So I guess this is really a thank you note.  Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to teach my children these wonderful things.  My heart hurts tremendously and I have shed many tears, but my children are being refined by the fire that your child has lit.  Thank you.

Holy Crap - Did I really just pay $18 for all of this?

Hello there, friends of mine :)  I have been absent for a long time.  No good excuse really, except that I've been getting life back to a routine since school began and I'm painting my kitchen cabinets AGAIN (that would be the third (and final) time in 3 years).


In the hiatus, I have secured a printer that actually is compatible with my computer and I can finally print stuff.  Which has been the excuse I've used for not doing more coupon shopping - I couldn't print the good ones.  Well, no more excuses.  After some trial runs, I finally went for a big(ish) one tonight.  And let me just say - this took a good amount of time to plan, but I executed it perfectly, right down to getting in the car and figuring out that they didn't give me my $5 instant savings on two of my transactions, going back into the store and getting my $10 back (yea for me).


I've been a bit nervous about this whole deal and I have some internal conflicts about it.  I don't normally feed my family some of this stuff as a lot of it is quite sugary, but if I  save for treats/after school snacks, I'm okay with it.  My girls don't snack a lot as it is so I think we're going to be okay.  In addition, I'm going to squirrel some of this away for birthday treats and such.


Here is what I did:

Transaction #1:
2 frosted miniwheats = $2.50/ -> used $1/2 coupon from newspaper insert
3 Kellogg's Fruit Snacks = $2.00/-> used $1/2 from insert & $1/1 printable
3 Poptarts (12pks) = $2.50/ -> used $1/3 from insert
2 Keebler cookies = $2.50/ -> used $1/2 from insert
Total was $19.03: paid with $5.00 catalina + $14.03 in cash
Received $10 catalina (off your next order) for buying 10 participating items
$14.03 out of pocket


Transaction #2: 
2 Pillsbury Grands biscuits = $1.50/ -> used $1/1 printable
2 Pillsbury refrig. cookie dough = $2.50/ -> used $1/2 from insert
4 Pillsbury French Bread Loaves = $1.50/ -> used $1/2 printable + .40/2 from insert
2 Yoplait GoGurts = $1.50/-> used $1/2 printable
Total was $16.05: paid with $10.00 catalina from previous transaction + received $5.00 instant savings for buying 10 participating products (what I went back to the store to get back)
Received $3.00 catalina for buying 6 participating pillsbury products
Received 50 Box Tops for Education
Out of pocket: $1.05


Transaction #3:
2 Yoplait GoGurts = $1.50/ -> used .75/2 from insert
1 Bisquick pourable pancake batter = 1.00/ -> used .50/1
2 Green Giant Fresh Valley Steamers = $1.50/ -> used $1/2 printable
5 Chex Mix = 1.00/ -> used $1/2 printable + .50/2 from insert + .50/1 printable
Received 50 Box Tops for Education
Total was $10.85: paid with $3.00 catalina from previous transaction + received $5.00 instant savings for a total out of pocket of $2.85


Out of pocket for tonight: $17.93


AND I received 130 total Box Tops for Education for the girls' school (100 from the bonuses + 30 from the products - I tried to buy the items that had 2 on them if possible).


Compared to some of these blogs that I follow, this is nothing, but I consider it respectable AND it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.


Special thanks to mashupmom and Couponing for 4 for the ideas on your blogs!

Yosemite - Day 6: July 28, 2010

editorial note: decided I should finally finish this up.  It will come with a lot fewer photos and links because I'm tired and sick of the photo uploading situation... made a Yosemite photobook online yesterday and it took me ALL.DAY. and I am desperately sick of dealing with the photos.  You can see the photobook here (I think).




Today was our trip to the Valley.  Everything that we read prior to coming out here said that the Valley is very busy and crowded.  And it was.  We had been told by several people in the area that we should at least go see the Ahwhanee Hotel, so after talking with a guy at Glacier Point, we decided to go there for breakfast.  This required us to leave the room early to get down there for our 9:15 reservations.  The goal was 7:15, but we got out at 7:40.  We missed our reservations by 15 minutes, but they seated us without question in their grand dining room.


I have to say, the hotel is beautiful, BUT, because I'm not a visual, artistic, architectural person, the amazingness of the place was a little lost on me.  I could definitely see why people think it is so incredible, however, I would not have missed out on anything if we had skipped it.  And the breakfast, while decent, was not worth the price we paid ($80 for the 5 of us to have the buffet).


After breakfast we parked the car in Yosemite Village and began our walk to find a place to swim in the Merced River.  This was not pleasing to the girls at. all.  This was not a hike in the mountains with areas to explore, this was walking down the road or on a bike path to a place and they were sick of it and none too pleased.  We managed to ignore them well enough to reach our destination and everyone changed into their suits and we got to the beach.


The beach was very rocky and the water was very cold.  That didn't hinder Cornbread and Nodie from doing a little swimming, although they didn't swim for long.  Bugly also got in eventually, but was much more hesitant in doing so.  Skipper and I decided that going into the water to our knees was quite enough.  Cornbread tried to teach the girls how to skip rocks and I don't think he was successful, but he skipped several really well.  At one point Bugly and Skipper had asked him to bring them to a tree in the middle of the river and during the transport Bugly's flip flops came off of her feet and started floating down the river.  Realizing that lost flip flops would equal a barefoot trek back to the car - or a piggy back ride to the car - I took off after them as fast as I could and got much wetter than I originally wanted to in the process.


From the Merced we took a different route back to the car and stopped at a gift shop in the Village to buy some souvenirs.  Nodie's whole life became complete when she was allowed to purchased a small stuffed raccoon (earlier in the week I had told the girls that a souvenir did NOT = a stuffed animal, so she sat in the store for a long time and longingly played with the stuffed animals while the rest of us found our souvenirs... I finally got so sick of her attitude and the crowdedness of the store that I told her to just pick it out and lets go.  Her world brightened and she was happy for the rest of the walk).  We made our way back to the car and out of the valley, with a quick stop to snap some photos of Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan.


On the way back to the car it was decided that Cornbread would take Nodie fishing near the lodge and I would take the other two swimming in the pool.  This plan pleased everyone.  The girls and I hung out at the pool with Grant and Jana and Lane & Josie, while Cornbread and Nodie tried to fish at Bass Lake, but ended up swimming instead.  We all met back at the room for baths and showers and went down to the firepit area for our Farewell dinner.


The girls actually ate some of the dinner this time around as it included a kids buffet, and we sat with the McGraws again and asked them way too personal of questions :)  They are a wonderful family from Iowa whom we really clicked with.  Nodie and Lane (6 1/2) spent the evening climbing the hill and sliding down, Bugly and Josie (4) spent the evening trying to lick each other (and succeeding) and dumping dirt on top of each other (did I just mention they took baths before we went?)  Skipper was in on the Bugly/Josie thing, but also succeeded in getting Daddy to make her the perfect s'more - and then wouldn't eat it or let anyone else eat it.  It was a fun night, we met a few other people, but mainly hung with Grant and Jana.


I had gotten most everything packed before dinner, so we are set to go.  We decided today that we are definitely Yosemite'd out.  Had enough.  Every one of us.  And we're missing our Woof.