Better Safe, Than Sorry

Today was our first day that the temperature flirted with 60 degrees!  In Michigan it is a big, big deal.  We spent the entire day outside, literally.  From about 9:45AM until 7:15PM.  We even ate our lunch and dinner outside.  It was that nice of a day.  I cleaned and mulched my neglected flower beds.  My husband played with his cars, of course.  The girls rode bikes and ran around all day.  I knew from our wonderful meterologists that the temp was going to be warm, but I totally forgot the most important thing–sunscreen!  My poor fair skinned beauties got their cheeks, noses, and foreheads sunburned.  I am usually very diligent about sunscreen, but I totally forgot because it is spring, not summer.  Not an excuse for exposing them to future skin damage, but like my children’s natural consequences, I won’t forget tomorrow or ever again.  That is until next spring, I hope not anyways.  So, please learn from my misfortune, and lather up you and yours in a healthy layer of skin protection.  From now on my children will be sporting these lovely hats and lots of sunscreen.

FYI:  During a lifetime, 70% of total sun exposure occurs before the age of 17, this is why it is important to protect your child’s skin today to teach them to preserve their skin tomorrow. The skin has a memory, and damage caused by the sun during childhood is irreversible, cumulative and often only revealed during adulthood.

This post contributed to the Group Writing Project sponsored by MammaBlogga.

 

Happy Birthday Princess!

It is so hard to imagine what my life would be without my little ballerina princess!  I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to be her mom.  I never really knew real unconditional love until her. 

 

Eat Local Because Big Binder Says So…

 

My good friend over there at the Big Binder household loves this area!  She is an expert on this city.  She knows almost everything there is to know about the river city and she didn’t even grow up here!  I have some friends, you know who you are, who have lived here all of their lives and don’t have the info that this lady has.  She is passionate for this city and wants to make everyone else think so too.  She contacted almost every area producer, distributor, manufacturer that she could find and begged kindly asked for some donations in exchange for her putting their generous name out in the world wide web for all to see.  She is wanting to share all of her great giveaways with all of you.  Please check out her postings on Eat Local and make sure to leave a comment.  You might win a fabulous prize from one of our locals.  I totally want the T-shirt.  Those Cheese Kurls are one of my favorite snacks, so cheesy!  She has also challenged me to an Eat Local Meme.  I do love to cook and I love finding yummy things to eat for my family.  So this weekend this Good Idea Momma will be making some eat local meals.  I will share them with you as well as the recipes and where I got the local yummy things.  I will even get some food critics (my family) to share their take on the meal.   So stay tuned for an update.  So while you’re patiently salivating for my next post, head on over and comment.

 

My Hanna Andersson Addiction

 

Sorry for not writing lately, but I’ve been a little distracted and busy.  In the process of cleaning and de-cluttering my house, I’ve become addicted to Ebay.  (I’m sure that there is a 12 step program out there somewhere!)  Not necessarily in the buying of stuff, although I do sometimes do, but selling of stuff.  This has been an awesome way to make a little extra money for this SAHM.  Before I started selling my wordly goods, I did a bit of shopping.  So much so that I was put on Ebay probation in my house.  I was told I had to start selling or my husband threatened that he would change passwords on me.  Who would do such a mean thing?  We came to an understanding that I would only shop with my existing Paypal funds and all was well in our household.  When I started selling, I had no idea of the goldmine that I had cluttered around my house.  I knew that I had some nice things, but I had no idea that my over consumerism was someone else’s treasure.  It is amazing what other people will shop for in the privacy of their own home! 

I will admit that I am a bit of a clothes snob.  I like my children to wear nice clothes.  A few years back, I stumbled upon a little clothing company called Hanna Andersson.  I cannot say enough about their clothes.  To me they are super cute, made of 100% cotton, comfortable, and wash up amazing!  They rarely stain due to the quality of their clothes.  I swear that they get softer with every wash!  Did I mention how cute they are? 

What is even a better thing about hannas is their outstanding resale value.  I can get what I pay for and more for all of the hannas my children wear.  To me, I don’t mind spending a little bit more on clothes that I know will repay themselves after my children wear them.  I buy most of my hannas from other sellers on Ebay since I don’t have a retail store in my area.  (BTW, this is probably a good thing) I too like to shop in my pajamas.  The internet is a wonderful thing for SAHM’s.  Not too far down the road in Michigan City, IN there is an outlet.  The outlet has fantastic deals!  I sometimes would have to make a pit-stop on the way to visit my sister in Chicago.  But now that she no longer lives in Chicago, I now have to think of more creative ways to get to the outlet.  A 2-1/2 hour car ride to go shopping is not a fun trip for my young children, nor should it be!  Hanna also has a mail order catalog and an online store.  Also, twice a year they have the best markdown sales ever! 

This coat, for instance, I paid around $10 for it three years ago on Ebay for my first child.  I sold it this year for $50 on Ebay and this is my second child wearing it.  How is that for appreciation?! 

Besides children’s clothing,  our household sells some of our childhood toys (my husband’s mother saved all of his Hotwheels collection and Transformers from the 80’s), car parts (he enjoys tinkering in the garage, tinkering being a major understatement), baby toys and books.  It is honestly amazing what other people will buy!  Just look around your home at the things that you think might bring some cash your way.  Go www.ebay.com and search to see if anyone else is selling things that you have.  If they are, check out what they are selling it for, especially the shipping.  You don’t want to charge too much that no one will bid or charge too little and lose money.  You typically will not get more than you paid for, but it is more than if you threw it away or donated it.  Also, for the month of September, Ebay is having a fee sale.  Typically they charge a minimum of $0.40 to list an item.  This month, there are no insertion fees as long as your starting bid is less than $9.99 and you add a gallery picture (a thumbnail size pic).  Ebay is super user friendly and will literally walk you through the selling steps.  Just try it! 

To me, Ebay is like a boutique garage sale.  You get other people’s used things without having to drive all over town arguing over pennies!  If you don’t like the price, don’t bid.  Simple.