My husband, my daughter, and I have all read the first two books in the Eragon series. We love them and we were very excited to hear that a movie was being created from young Paolini’s Fantasy novels. Since this movie was rated PG my husband and I ventured out on our own to view it – we screen all movies, especially PG and up before the children are allowed to watch them.

These marshmellow pops were an idea I found in a magazine and we modified it a bit to make smores marshmellow pops.
Step by step I will go through this very simple process. You will be very pleased at how easy this treat is to make.

First you will need these supplies:

• Melting chocolate
• Large Marshmellows
• Gram Crachers (I prefer cinnamon)
• popcycle sticks, lollypop sticks, or short scewers
• Sandwich baggies (the kind without the zip-lock)
• Twist ties

We purchased some chocolate pieces made for melting and candy making. They were easy to find in our grocers baking section near the chocolate chips.

I don’t have a double broiler – I have never needed one. I just use a pot on top of a pot on my stove. I simmer water in the bottom pot and then set a slightly bigger pot on top of it with my chocolate pieces in it. You can melt them in the microwave but the chocolate hardens so fast that I find it works better to just keep it warm on my homemade double broiler.

Make sure to stir your chocolate a lot while it is melted. You don’t have to stir it constantly just make sure you stir it often.
While you wait for your chocolate to melt get your large marshmellows ready. Take popcycle sticks, short scewers, or lollypop sticks (if you can find them) and push a marshmellow onto each one.
When your chocolate is completely melted you will want to dip your marshmellow-on-a-stick into the chocolate. Use a spoon to help cover the marshmellow completely with chocolate.Have your crushed cinnamon or regular gram crackers ready. As soon as your marshmellow is covered with chocolate you will need to coat it in the gram cracker crumbs. The easiest way to do this is to have the crumbs in a bowl where you can grab some and sprinkle them over your chocolate covered marshmellow. Yes, some of the chocolate will drip into the crumbs but that is okay.

Stand your finished pop in a short and thin glass like this:

The chocolate will harden quick but if you want it super quick you can put the pops in the freezer for 2 or 3 minutes.
We use cheap sandwich baggies to cover them with when the chocolate hardens. Then we twist tie them with some twist ties that our grocers deli workers gave to us (we have a great grocery store!) The finished product looks like this.

Here is a photo of a basket full of them:

We made 17 of these in 30 miniutes. They are so easy and the kids loved helping. Even Matthew (3) was able to help make some.

Next we are making hot cocoa cones. These are really cool and so easy! Photo’s and recipe to come tomorrow.

Every few months the cloth diapering question comes up, either on another blog, from a customer or potention customer, or from friends who see me cloth diapering and are curious. They usually come all at once and then months go by with nothing and then the questions start up again. Our baby store, CubbysKids.com sells cloth diapers so I will try to be thorough here and answer a lot of questions and relay our families experiences with cloth diapering over the past 8 years.

Ben in his Fuzzi Bunz and PlatyPaws shoes

We have tried a variety of cloth diapers in our children’s history. We have done the Wal-Mart pre-folds, pins, and Gerber covers, we have tried DSQ (diaper service quality) prefolds. We have tried DSQ all in one diapers (meaning it is a complete diaper in one piece with a water proof outer), we have tried pocket diapers, flap diapers, fitteds, one size fits all, and pre-folds with Snappi’s. We have snap and aplix (Velcro) diapers and we have colored, all white, and printed diapers. For our pocket diapers we have tried hemp and micro-terry inserts as well as folded pre-folds as inserts. I am going to list each system we have tried and the pros and cons for each system

Department store prefolds, Gerber style covers, and pins.

A very inexpensive and trustworthy system. These diapers washed easily, rarely leaked (except at night) and were easy to use. We had very little money when I purchased these and I got a decent 2 day stash for the same price as about 3 packs of diapers. They lasted for months until the Gerber covers started to give way. There were a few negative aspects of this system. Although the prefolds themselves seemed to hold up well the Gerber covers were not so sturdy. After only a couple of months they started to crack and deteriorate. They also left red lines on Joe, although it never seemed to bother him it did bother me. I also hated scrubbing, rinsing, and dunking the pooey diapers. It didn’t gross me out so much as it annoyed me. I just didn’t like the extra time it took. Also, they were bulky making Joe’s pants look a little awkward.

We went back to disposables after about a year or so when we could afford a
bit more.

Fast forward through two more disposable using children.

The Navy decided to grant my husband a place in a wonderful program that
would take him from enlisted to officer. This program was a blessing and is wonderful for my husbands and our family’s future but the training process has left us with a dwindled paycheck for quite a few years.

While doing an internet search to find a better pre-fold cover I ran across
Fuzzi Bunz. I immediately decided that this was the system I would
purchase. I had made some money by selling things on eBay and decided that
I would use those funds to purchase my very first 12 pack with hemp inserts.

Fuzzi Bunz

This system is truly easy. Inserts making adding absorbancy to suit your child easy and you can choose between terry, hemp, and flannel inserts (hemp or terry inserts work the best) They are trim, come in cute colors, and are made with the softest custom milled micro-fleece inner. This micro-fleece wicks moisture away from your baby’s skin so that he will stay dry meaning less diaper rashes and more comfort. This micro-fleece also releases poo easily making poo clean-ups much easier. Dropping poo in the toilet before washing means no scrubbing, dunking, or nasty wringing out needs to be done. Anything that won’t come off of your diaper will disolve quickly in your washing machine. Fuzzi Bunz are super trim and will fit nicely under your baby’s clothes. These diapers have snap closures making adjusting them to fit your baby super easy. One size will last your child up to 6 months! Fuzzi Bunz are sturdy and can hold up for up to two years of use meaning one size can go through 3 or 4 children. They also have excellent resale value meaning you can retreive much of your money back when you are finished using them by selling them on an auction site like eBay or even in your local news paper’s classified section.

The cons – Fuzzi Bunz are $17.95 a piece and come with an absorbant terry insert. Hemp inserts are around $4 more. They are multi-sized meaning you must replace them when your child grows out of the size he is in. The company isn’t always easy to work with. Although it was started by a stay-at-home mom who still runs it, it has grown so large that customer service isn’t always what it should be making it hard for retailers to correct their customer’s defective diaper problems or answer their questions.

After using Fuzzi Bunz for a while I decided that I would add cloth diapers to
the store that I was intent on opening within that year. As it turned out,
Fuzzi Bunz ended up being my first product followed by Happy Heiny’s, Wonderoos (no longer being made), and Rumpsters.

Happy Heiny’s

These are super diapers for bigger babies. You can get a pack of 3 for $47.25. These are pocket diapers so you can choose what kind of insert you want to use (hemp, terry, or flannel), and you can add more absorbancy by doubling up on your inserts. Happy Heiny’s are just as easy to use as Fuzzi Bunz but come with an aplix (Velcro) closure instead of snaps. This makes for quick changes and easy adjusting to fit your growing baby and most dad’s prefer the aplix to snaps because it just seems easier. They come in a variety of colors and adorable prints. The manufacturer’s customer service is EXCELLENT and their resale value is high.

The cons to Happy Heiny’s – their price is still a bit high considering that they don’t come with inserts, those must be purchased separately. They don’t seem to fit smaller babies as well as they do chunkier babies. Happy Heiny’s prints, while completely adorable, tend to leak and wick a bit so they can only be worn for short periods of time by most babies. These diapers left red marks on my son every so often but it wasn’t bad – still, I didn’t like it.

Rumpsters

Rumpsters are my new favorite. They are super trim and a true all in one diaper, meaning there are no pockets to stuff or covers needed. The inners are made of hemp and fleece which is highly absorbant and soft to the touch. They wash and dry completely and easily and come in a variety of colors with your choice of snaps or velcro. The sizes are such that you can purchase one with a higher rise if you have a tall and thin baby, too. The Rumspters company is so easy to work with. I love how the owner is so involved in the everyday nitty gritty of her company and will go out of her way to help out her retailers. Not only is she helpful but she is very nice.

Rumpsters has but one obvious drawback. Their price. They are $23.99 a piece. This is steap! Even as a retailer these diapers are quite expensive. I have had to put myself on my layaway program in order to afford them but, in my opinion, they are completely worth it. One other drawback is that although Rumpsters keeps a few diapers in stock that can ship immediately the shipping time on custom orders can take a while. These can take up to 2 months because the diapers are custom made, snaps or velcro, according to what the retailer needs for their customer. This wouldn’t effect a customer who was on a layway program or had a baby yet to be born, but for somebody who wants their diapers now this is a major frowner. We will be remeding this problem for our store in a few months time when we will keep a selected colors in stock in velcro and snap right in our store.

Wonderoos are a one sized pocket diaper that are not being made anymore. The only reason I am reviewing them here is that you can still find them used on eBay and in some diapering stores. Besides the cute colors they came in and the fact that they would fit your baby from newborn through potty training I do not have anything good to say about these diapers. I had so many Wonderoo’s returned to our store because of defects and such. Some people love Wonderoo’s but I haven’t run across many of them. My advice would be to stay away from them.

BumGenius! diapers are very good if you are looking for a one sized cloth diaper. They need inserts but are not considered a pocket diaper. They are trim from the newborn size up through potty training and although they are not as cute as Fuzzi Bunz or Rumpsters they do the trick.

The cons – The insert doesn’t dump out as easily as Fuzzi Bunz or Happy Heiny’s. Sometime it is necessary to get your hands yucky to get it out. I really don’t like this but I realize that for some people the one-size aspect makes the added work worth it.

DSQ ALL IN ONE

Diaper Service Quality all in ones are cheap, real cheap. I think you can find them for as little as $9 or $10 a piece (we can get these if you want them and at a discount, just let us know). They need no extra pieces and work fine. They are also decently trim for a cloth diaper. You can get preemie sizes through super-toddler (up to 45 lbs!) and they are super durable, made to withstand repeated industrial washings. They have a safe snap-tape closure leaving chance that a snap could detatch and potentially choke Baby out of the question. These diapers are manufactured by stay-at-home moms and grandmoms.
The cons – although I was impressed with their absorbancy for such a cheap aio, they do need to be changed a little more than some of the other cloth diapers we have mentioned here. The fabric on the inside is similar to a prefold making the inner bleachable but causing there to be a little more work needed to get the poo off after Baby does a stinky. Even still, price wise these are the best aio cloth diapers out there that we have tried.

Diaper Service Quality (DSQ) fitteds and pre-folds are great, too, and cheap. The fitteds are very much like the aio’s mentioned above but they do need pins or Snappi’s, and a cover. The DSQ pre-folds are of a higher quality than anything you can get at a department store. They look, feel, and hold up ten times better. They come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses and can be purchased in bleached or unbleached. The difference in chinese and indian prefolds is the durability and feel. Chinese prefolds will last longer but Indian prefolds are much softer. Both work just fine.
The cons – well, there are several pieces, they aren’t as trim (fitteds are a little trimmer than prefolds) and they must be rinsed and scrubbed after Baby pooeys. To get a cover that is worth the work you have to spend more money making them not as cheap as they once were. Gerber covers will work fine with these but they just don’t hold up well to repeat washings. You will have to expect to replace your covers every couple of months.

Every diaper and accessory mentioned above can be purchased form us except for
bumGenius and Wonderoos. We don’t have everything listed in our store or in
stock but we can get them for you fairly quickly and some of the items we can
get for you at a discount. Just contact us!

Common cloth diaper questions answered.

How many diapers should we keep on hand?
This really depends on you and your babies needs. How many diapers your baby will go through in a day and how often you want to wash your diapers is something only you know. We wash a load of diapers every 24 to 48 hours, therefor our diaper stash is about 15 diapers. For those parents who only want to wash diapers ever 3 to 4 days we recommend about 24 diapers. At night you may need diaper doublers or extra inserts. We stuff our baby’s pocket diapers with two or three inserts and add doublers to the all in one diapers because he is heavy wetter so we have more inserts and doublers than diapers in our diaper stash.

Are cloth diapers easy to wash and how should I dry them?
Cloth diapers are just as easy to wash as the rest of your laundry. When you change your babies diaper knock of any solid poo into the toilet, softer new baby poo will dissolve easily in your washing machine. A thorough rinsing is not necessary unless you won’t be washing your diapers for many days. You may choose to keep soiled diapers in a wet pail (a diaper pail filled with water and dissolved detergent) or in a dry pail with a tight fitting lid, whatever your personal preference. We use a dry pail. Always wash your cloth diapers, inserts, and wipees by themselves. Don’t mix them in with the rest of your laundry. Doing this may cause the fibers to wear down quickly and they may become less absorbant. I dry our cloth diapers in the dryer on hot. I have never had a problem doing this and my 20 mo old’s daily washed diapers are still holding up just fine. Many people like to hang their cloth diapers to dry. This is fine also if you live in an area with much sun, whatever your personal preference.

What kind of detergent should I use?
When choosing a detergent to use on your washable diapers you need to take a few things into consideration. How sensitive is your babies skin? What kind of washer do you have? We use whatever cheap detergent we can get. Cheap detergents work well and usually don’t leave a filmy buildup that may cause leaks. Many natural or free and clear detergents will leave a build up on your diapers causing them to be less absorbant. However, some people use natural and free and clear detergents just fine. You will have to find the detergent and washing system that works well for you. NEVER USE FABRIC SOFTENER ON YOUR CLOTH DIAPERS! They will leak if you do this. Bleaching is fine with only certain diapers like prefolds.

What about diaper rash?
Many diaper rash creams can stain your diapers or leave a film on them causing them to repel instead of absorb. I prefer plain old baby powder. A harmless diaper rash cream recipe is to make a paste with water and J&J medicated powder with cornstarch and zinc oxide. If you must use another diaper rash cream you should probably use a disposable liner for your cloth diapers. The good thing about cloth diapers is your baby is less likely to have diaper rash! You may never need to use diaper rash cream!

Will the cloth diapers stain?
Cloth diapers do stain every so often. With you baby trying new foods all the time you never know what is going to end up staining your diapers. The good news here is just about all cloth diaper stains will come out, either with repeat washings or sun bleaching. Lay your diapers out in the sun for a few hours and like magic your diaper stains should disappear! You might also want to try a lemon juice water mixture on your diapers before you lay them out in the sun. This may help with tough stains.

How long before my cloth diapers fall apart?
I haven’t had any of my cloth diapers fall apart. This isn’t to say it won’t happen but it isn’t likely. I have never needed a snap replaced or new elastic. There are occasions where you might have a cloth diaper that doesn’t look or wear like the others in your stash. If this is the case you may have a defective diaper that needs to be exchanged.

Do cloth diapers work well overnight?
Just about everybody, no matter how heavy the wetting, can find an overnight cloth diapering system that works well. Adding inserts or doublers will almost always do the trick. You can also try stuffing your pockets with a prefold. You will have to see what works for you.

My diaper is leaking or wicking! Why?
Leaking and wicking can be caused by many different things. What detergent are you using? Many natural or free and clear detergents can leave a build up on your diapers causing them to repell instead of absorb. It may take several washes in a different detergent to rid your diapers of this build up. Are you using dryer sheets in your dryer? Even if you don’t use dryer sheets in your diapers loads they may still be leaving a film on your diapers. When you use a dryer sheet in a regular load sometimes you can get a build up in your dryer and it may transfer to your diapers. Did you wash and dry your diapers on HOT several times before their initial use? You want to tighten up those fibers before you put your new cloth diapers on your baby. This way they will absorb well and are less likely to leak. You can relate this to a new towel. New towels, as I am sure you know, don’t absorb well until they have been washed and dried several times. This process is the same for your cloth diapers. Putting 1/4 cup of vinegar, baking soda, or calgon WATER softener can help release any detergent build up as well. Don’t forget to check the size of the diaper. If your baby has grown he might be thinner in the legs and might need a smaller diaper or he might be bigger causing the diaper to leak out the front meaning that he needs a bigger diaper.

How do I convince my husband to give cloth diapering our baby a try?
This one is easy. Tell him what you spend on diapers a month. Remind him that the money you are spending on diapers is being flushed down the toilet. You can never reuse the disposable diapers and once a disposable has been used it has to be trashed. Then, tell him how much it would cost to purchase a stash of cloth diapers. Look at the figures and they will explain how quickly your cloth diapers will pay themselves off. Also, cloth diapers are resellable. Many cloth diaper stores, including ours, will purchase your diapers back from you. Show him the more modern cloth diapers available now and explain that they are just as easy to use as disposables.

Why are most all in one modern cloth diapers so expensive?
Most of these newer modern all in one cloth diapers are made by work at home moms who are doing their best to supplement their income and stay at home with their children at the same time. The outer layer on all in one diapers must be coated with some kind of waterproof material. Between the two the cost of these diapers is somewhat high. The time and energy that goes into making these diapers and the fabric and notions required causes these more modern diapers to be more expensive. They are, however, much more convenient than the pins and prefolds Grandma used and they hold a pretty good resale value as well. In the end they may not seem so pricy after all!

Do you have more questions? Ask us! We are happy to help!

I am home from church today – Ben (almost 2) is sick and, although he is in a good mood, the bug he has caused my 4 year old nephew to get pnumonia so I am not taking any chances on getting any other children sick. Ben really needs his rest anyway and I am not sure it would be a good idea to drag him out into the cold weather.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine (butter flavored
  Crisco can replace 1/2 cup of the butter for a very nice flavor and
  texture)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (if you want)

Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. In a different bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat flour mixture into butter mixture a little at a time until combined. Add your chocolate chips and nuts (if desired). Drop rounded table spoon sized mounds onto a cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each cookie. You don’t want to place them too close together so take your time. Bake at 375 for 7 to 8 minutes
until edges start to brown. Let cool on cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack or a counter covered in wax paper. When completely cool you can place them in an air tight container.

Egg Nogg Cookies

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 and 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups softened butter
• 1/2 cup eggnog
• 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 Tbsp ground nutmeg

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmega and mix well. Set aside the flour mixture while you cream sugar and butter in a separate bowl. Add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks
and beat at medium speed until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed just until combined and be sure not over mix. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto un-greased baking sheets 1 ” apart. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes at 300 in a pre-heated oven until edges start to turn brown and IMMEDIATELY transfer them to cool on a wax paper covered counter to cool this is KEY to having an Egg Nogg Cookie that is not falling apart!

Also, there are a few flavored egg noggs that might taste good in these cookies. I think flavored coffee creamers might be tasty in these as an egg nogg substitue, as well.

Vanderhoos

Oooh, these are the absolute best, melt-in-your-mouth, sweet, crumbly, and gooey filled cookies you will every find and, NO, I will not be giving out the recipe – SORRY, my mother and grandmother would kill me!!! This recipe is family secret. You can find similar recipes
on the internet under divinity but I will assure you that it is not the same. I actually had a very sweet lady get angry and call me names once because I wouldn’t give her the recipe and she rarely talked to me after the fact. That is how unbelievably delicious these cookies are.

G meaning Gotta screen it first.

What is it about kids these days that make people think they are not capable of not being greedy? While I, along with my two siblings, were quite the greedy children my children have surprised me with being the opposite. Yes, they do expect gifts for birthdays and such, only because we have accidentally trained them this way, but when they only get one or two they are forever thankful for it.

Although we don’t participate in the whole Santa thing, we usually overdo Christmas. We set out with a list of what to buy for which child and we end up coming back with much more stuff than we set out for. We buy goofy little toys for the baby too, which he inevitably throws aside so he can play with the boxes they came in. As it always turns out, we end up spending $100 or more for boxes because they toys that came in them were just needless decoration to our youngest. This has been the case with each of our 5 children during their babyhood.

A few months ago my husband and I got this crazy notion in our heads to forgo Christmas gifts this year to focus on Christ and our family or maybe we will find a needy family and focus on serving this year. We talked to the kids about it and let them know what to expect this upcoming holiday season. We told them that we might go rent a cabin somewhere for a couple of days and just hang out together and enjoy each other. Unsure of what response we thought we might receive we were quite surprised when the three oldest were completely in favor of this idea. The two youngest aren’t really old enough to understand any of it but Matthew (3) did get excited along with the others.
Explaining this decision to extended family got us very mixed reactions, none of which were favorable. Many of our relatives actually feel sorry for my kids. They are under the assumption that my older children, ages 6, 8, and 11, can’t understand fully what they are agreeing to and will wake up on Christmas morning to no gifts and feel the truth of what my husband and I did to them.
Is it really that hard to believe that kids can actually not be greedy? Our kids have everything they need plus an endless supply of things they don’t need. We have been blessed abundantly and our kids are some of the happiest children I have ever known. The idea of giving is more exciting to them than getting. I see this as I watch them give away their own stuff to visitors, adults and children. They don’t want anybody to leave our home empty handed. I honestly have no idea where they get this from but I want to keep it growing.
I love to give to my children. I want so badly to be able to run out to the toy stores and buy them every toy they ever wanted. More than that however, I want to give them a gift greater than anything we could ever purchase. I want to give them the gift of a giving heart. I don’t want to overshadow that with needless stuff that will clutter our home, minds, and hearts.

It is true that the less you have the less you want. I could never imagine wanting all the stuff I have now when we were first married. We had to scrounge around in the car for change to buy milk and bread. A couch was a dream of mine. Any decent couch would do, just something to put in my completely empty living room. After many years of marriage, a large wrap around couch, a lounge chair, and a rocking chair my desires changed a bit. A big screen TV was next on our list along with nice speakers, a new computer, and an X-Box. I would never have dreamed of these things during those newlywed years but not long ago they seemed very important all of the sudden. We just weren’t happy with what we had ~ we wanted MORE.
Now, with 5 children and one on the way and a house full of un-needed stuff we have decided that we are absolutely GREEDY! What are we teaching our children? Are we teaching them to be giving instead of greedy? Nope. We are teaching them that a 65″ TV isn’t a bad idea although there are families that could have used that money to keep from having to skip meals.

I am rambling but my point is that kids aren’t going to die because they don’t receive Christmas gifts. The truth is they might learn to live for a more joyous purpose.

I want a smaller house. I told my husband this the other night and he looked at me as if I had gone mad. Right now we live in a decent sized 4 bedroom house with a living room, dining room, recreation room, large laundry room, and two bathrooms. We live here with our 5 kids plus the one due in May. Our house is 100 years old and has great bones. I wouldn’t call it beautiful but it is very nice and does the job of sheltering us perfectly.
I still want a smaller house. My idea of a good sized house is a master bedroom, a room for the boys, a room for the girls, a dining room (only so that we can seat our family together at meals) a living room (big enough for our couch, table, sewing machine and computer), a laundry room, and one or two bathrooms. A nice sized storage area would be helpful, too. My store inventory does need a place to live.

Yes, this does sound big but we have more than this now and every room is completely full of furniture. It all just feels like too much. I would really love to downsize, get rid of stuff, and live in closer quarters so I can be closer to my children all day, everyday.
My dear husband tells me to get used to it, that this is the smallest house we will have from now on. YECK!

Why is it lately that I feel the need to simplify everything? Smaller house, pre-made frozen meals (homemade), and reduction of junk. Maybe this is just part of my nesting this time around or maybe I am just wanting a simpler, cheaper, easier life.
I want so badly just to throw stuff away. I look at something out of place and my first thought is “toss it”. I cannot exactly do that – it would end up costing us more money in the long run, but I am just tired of having so much stuff with no where to put it all. I feel like a smaller house would force us to get rid of those things we really don’t need. It would cause us to have to re-evaluate our “need” standard.
My husband is in the Navy so we will be selling this house in just over a year and shortly after we will be moving across the country again. Maybe our next house will be the house of my dreams, maybe not. I am satisfied that God will put us where He wants us and I will be happy with it.
I am not really complaining, just having some feelings about our material surroundings. God has blessed our family with so much and I don’t want to clutter and suffocate that with stuff we don’t need.

Has this ever happened to you?
You are sitting with your family, young children and all, watching a new classic that you remember loving as a child, when suddenly you burst out making crazy noises drawing much confused attention to yourself. While doing this you are up searching for the remote, simply trying to turn the screen off, but you can’t do it fast enough so you continue screeching and dancing around like a crazy person until you can get to the TV’s power button.
Yes, I have done this. Many of you with children already know why.
It has come to my attention in the last year or so that not all movies I remember watching as a child are appropriate for my children. I also have learned that my memory is horrible as I don’t really recall much about these movies, only that I like them. My parents were somewhat sheltering so I have been completely surprised at what I was allowed to watch and even more surprised that my husband saw these flicks as a child as well.
I have come to the conclusion that my memory isn’t enough and I have to go back to screening everything that I haven’t seen in the last few years, that or perfect my attention diverting dance of lunacy.
And, just a tip here, “Short Circuit” and “Spaceballs”, both which I saw around age 11, are NOT appropriate for children, no matter how fond a memory you have of them.

I LOVE Frugal Fridays on Biblical Womanhood’s awesome blog. This one may not be popular. For years it wasn’t a popular idea in our family either. Over time, and with more children filling our house and better ideas of how we wanted to spend our days, the idea of no TV became much more ideal for us.

I wrote a blog on no TV a while back. It talked about our turning point when it came to television which had little, if nothing, to do with saving money. We have noticed since then how much money we actually save – and not just on cable alone! Let me explain.

Cable and satellite subscriptions aren’t cheap ($30 – $60 is average from what we have seen). You end up getting roped in to channels you didn’t know you had to have and when you miss a good show on a station that you don’t subscribe to you feel jipped.
Set aside the cost of the actual subscription. What about the commercials? You didn’t know you needed all that stuff to make your life more pleasant, did you? That special spatuala, that neat juicer that promises to make you 50 lbs lighter in 3 weeks, and the duster sent down from heaven itself so you could sit back and watch Opera while it cleans your house for you.
The truth is that the spatula broke the third time you used it, the juicer is covered with cobwebs on top of your refrigerator and the magic duster is in the babies toy box, collecting dust with all those other toys you saw on TV and just had to get him.

Turning off your TV can literally save you thousands a year.

If you are struggling with turning off your TV try this website. Trash Your TV can help you in your decision to cut those thick TV strings. They offer information and statistics to help you make the right choice for your family and tips to help families overcome TV’s addictive effects. Just give it a try!

Co-ops are groups of people who get together to buy bulk from manufacturers to get a discounted price. Sometimes the discount isn’t great but much of the time you can get great items for close to wholesale pricing!