first date

Today Faith and I had our first date. Jeff and I have started doing this with the kids, and it's been pretty fun to have the one-on-one time.

Faith was so cute all day. She'd say, "Are we going to a date yet?" When it was finally time, she announced to Jeff that she was going to her date. I was planning to take her for a cupcake at the Vintage Cupcake Shoppe - but believe it or not, there was a "sold out" sign on the door and there were no more cupcakes for the day. HUH? Someone's not managing that place very well if they run out with over two hours left during business hours.

So we went to the mall and got cupcakes from the coffee shop instead. They weren't that great, but Faith doesn't care. Then we went to the play area for a while before heading over to Claire's for this:
Yes, those are pierced earrings. She was ecstatic to get pink flowers. It was totally on a whim, and we'll see if I regret my impulsiveness after six weeks of cleaning them three times a day. She was a champ, though. She cried for about three seconds (until I stuck a sucker in her mouth), and then she was thrilled to see her cute earrings in the mirror.

Then we stopped by a booth and bought these for all the kids:
Pillow Pets. As you can see, they all love them. Michael can't stop feeling the soft fur. Faith does whatever Michael does, and Lauren just lays on hers. Michael and Faith have been wanting them for a while, and they were on sale at the booth, so I just gave in. So much for not spending money this week. I still haven't bought any food, though, which was the real goal. (The kids are drinking powdered milk just fine, by the way.)

Don't you love these?
We also rode the train in the mall. Faith kept saying, "I'm so excited! I love the train!" I love having some time just with her. She's my biggest challenge right now. The terrible 2's have nothing on a 3-year-old. But even when I just want to scream in frustration, she's also so cute that I want to fall over laughing. Love that girl.

Shutdown Shmutdown

I just have to say, I don't understand why people were chanting "cut it or shut it." Seriously? You WANT to shut down the government? They must not realize that the things that would be shut down are those that actually MAKE money for the government, while the "essential" functions actually cost millions every day without any revenues made. I'm all for a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility, but the "cut it or shut it" thing just irritated me.

Besides, not that I have any problem with seniors getting their Social Security checks, but I'm just as concerned about families not getting any paychecks. Like mine. We would have been okay, actually - on an ultra-tight budget and not buying groceries (we do have food storage), but okay. But a lot of families I know would not be okay.

I guess in the end, this "close call" is a good motivator for us to manage our finances better and save up a little more. After all, they're gearing up for an even bigger fight in September.

So this week, I'm still not buying any groceries. I put our grocery money towards some debt. Maybe I should do that once a month or so just to have that little extra paid off that much quicker. We'll just eat out of our food storage for one week each month until we're done. It will help me rotate it, too! Look for future posts about how the kids like powdered milk, and powdered eggs and powdered butter. Should be good!

Updates on the Sidebar

Closing Up Shop:
I closed my original etsy shop. I didn't like that the name of it was "csabin." I mean, how exciting is that? And I honestly got really tired of crocheting. I love to crochet, but to crochet what other people wanted was starting to get on my nerves. Add to that, the fact that there are dozens of people on etsy who are crocheting nearly the same things, and will do it for way cheaper, and it just wasn't worth it. I mean, when you consider the cost of the yarn and the time it takes to make a baby dress, I'm making like, $2 an hour. No thank you. If it's for my family or friends, I'll do it in a heartbeat, but strangers? I'm tired of it. (Seriously, if any of you want me to make something for you, I will. I love making stuff for people I know.)

But on the other hand, I opened a new etsy shop! This one has a much better name - Faythie and Lolo. And I've just been going through all those projects I've made and am storing for who-knows-what, and listing them on the site. I do have my name doilies on there, but that will be the only custom crochet I'll do, I think. Except hats. Hats don't take forever like dresses do. So I am still willing to make cute hats for anyone. And I'll probably post my original patterns on that site, too. Patterns are a lot of work to make, but once they're made, they're pretty easy to e-mail to buyers.

Resolutions:
I deleted my 2011 resolutions. I only had three: practice the piano every day; get out of non-mortgage debt; and attend the temple at least once a month. Well, the piano thing lasted one day. And the temple thing lasted one month (although we did go a couple of days ago). And the mortgage thing - we could probably still do that. If this government shutdown is short-lived.

The Bucket List:
Let's face it. I will never run a marathon. Or a half. Or probably even a triathlon. I've decided that the "runner's high" is totally relative. For me, it means not hating every second of running. Yeah, if I'm thinking, "This sucks, this sucks," half the time instead of the whole time I'm running, then I'm on a runner's high. Blech. Deleting that one off my bucket list. And have twins? Nope. Three is enough, thank you. My marriage might not survive another one, much less two more at once.

So there you have it - the answers to the mysteries behind the small changes on my sidebar. I know you were wondering.