Giving away possessions

According to the dude who does our taxes, we give away 350% more of our income than the average American. Why do we do this and why don't other people?
First of all, we are compelled by compassion to improve the lives of other people, both here and around the world. We sponsor two different children right now; Fiona, a 9 year old Ugandan and a boy whom we call Eric who lives in Rwanda. We feel as if we live alongside Fiona, who is the oldest of five children, as we have sponsored her for 5 years. We write letters back and forth, send pictures of ourselves and our families, and have a good idea of how each other live. Through Compassion International, anyone can have the same experience. It costs $32/month. For us, $32 is practically the change we find in our cars, but for Fiona it means food for her and her family, a uniform so she can attend school, shoes and clothes and an education. The reason we sponsor children is because our dollar stretches so much further in another nation. The boy we sponsor lives in war-torn, poverty-stricken Rwanda. We don't know too much about him yet except that one or both of his parents were killed in the genocide that wiped out 800,000 - one million people (approximately 20% of the Rwandan population).
Giving money or possessions away, and even doing without things we want (like a brand new car!) create a different perspective on money and make me realize what I truly value. We have made the decision to forgo buying a brand new car and save ourselves about $5000. The money we could have spent on a shiny, nice-smelling new vehicle will now go to help victims of abuse, slavery, and crime through one of our favorite organizations called International Justice Mission. And I will be more than content driving a car that is 3 or 4 years old that is in perfect working condition.

Looking for a new car

I am seriously soooo annoyed at how long car shopping takes! Currently, I drive a supercute VW Beetle which suits my personality well (as my husband says, "It's cute and curvy, just like you!") but unfortunately, our family is growing out of this small vehicle. We have to position Chloe's carseat in the middle because her legs don't fit behind the driver or passenger seats. This is not really the safest thing considering the middle is not even a real seat! We use the latches from the other two seats to secure her in, but still, we really should just find a new option.
Saturday I went to a Pampered Chef party hosted by some friends and since C was with Daddy, I went car shopping. I was seriously there for two hours!!! I test drove a Ford Fusion, had them take my car for a drive and give me their trade-in price, filled out some paperwork for a loan approval and did lots of sitting around waiting for them to "let me know" about prices and loans and stuff. The salesman pursuaded me to take the car home for an extended test drive, talk prices over with Will and return on Monday (with a check in hand preferably). We decided that the price of the car was more than we wanted to spend (by about $5,000) so we'll just keep looking. I'm test driving this one today http://tinyurl.com/cuqqnx
This Fusion has almost 40K miles, which is a lot, but the price is really good, they'll take my car for a trade-in, and the best part is, it's PURPLE!

Hopefully I can find a quality car soon and use my time to have fun with my kid!

Fillin' up the fridge

Today's post is all about grocery shopping.

Now, with a 1 and 1/2 year old, timing is everything. We were seriously all out of groceries in this house and since yesterday was payday, C and I decided to venture to Super Target with the purpose of filling up the fridge. The best time to go grocery shopping is either in the morning around 10am (so you arrive at home for lunchtime) or after nap so C can have her snack while riding nicely (and quietly) in the cart so Mommy doesn't lose concentration while bargain hunting. We left around 9:45am, which is a perfect time for us. The store is not too busy, people are still refreshed from their morning coffee, and the carts are relatively clean. First stop: produce. Why do I always forget that if C sees me putting grapes in the cart, she needs one immediately? So, of course, I cave in and give her a few grapes (feeling guilty that I am technically stealing). Thankfully, Super Target gives a free kid's size cookie to our little bundles to keep them content for the next 10 minutes - God bless them, really. So she gets the cookie and I continue shopping in peace. As we ventured through the store, C did an amazing job of talking to passerbys and muching on her snacks. She got out of the cart about 10 min. before we left to have a wander around the "doggie" section, making sure to point out every picture of a dog she spotted.

I AM THE WOMAN!!! I saved over $25 in sales and by using coupons. I tend to be quite frugal when it comes to spending (afterall, we live on one income). Each week, I write a menu of our daily meals and then below it, write the list of the things we need to buy at the store. I make most of our food from scratch (yorkshire puddings, cookies, soups of several varieties, bread, lasagnas, etc.) and we eat a lot of fruits, veggies, and cheese. I try to keep in mind the idea of knowing where my food and its ingredients come from. As a result, we save a lot of money by buying fresh foods rather than packaged or processed foods and hopefully we're healthier for it!

I will conclude today's post by advising grocery shopping when your child is well-rested and can be entertained with snacks & toys in order to aviod the meltdown and becoming "that parent."

I'm going to take this opportunity to share with you about the joy of Sesame Street. C loves anything with those cute little monsters! Books, videos, hair accessories, and most of all, her "Ocar" t-shirt! The funny thing is, she fell in love with Sesame Street when I bought a few books from the $1 section at Target. Of course, I had to do my best to replicate the voices, and anytime I say "Now SCRAM!", she cracks up laughing! We recently upgraded our internet speed so we can now watch the videos from sesamestreet.org - much to C's delight.

In sickness and in health

We finally got through the worst of C's nasty virus and the four canine teeth have finally popped! Last week was rough! While sitting in the rocking chair, holding a crying toddler, I was having visions of when she was three and four months old and my bottom was permanently indented on the coushin of the chair. I took her to the doctor last Wednesday and we discovered that she had ulcers in her mouth - so that explained the rancid breath! She could have had hand, foot and mouth or some other virus that causes ulcers (otherwise known as canker sores). On top of the sores, she was also cutting four incisors!! Eating was absolutely out of the question and because she was so uncomfortable, sleeping was not an option either.
My husband, being the blessing that he is, rescued me from insanity on Thursday afternoon. I got to go to the Y for a bodyflow class. Bodyflow is a combination of yoga, pilates, tai chi and the last 7ish minutes of the class is guided meditation/relaxation. It was exactly what I needed after being couped up with a sick baby since Monday.
Our weekend ended on a high note! My mom took C to her house Saturday morning and my husband and I met up with some friends during the afternoon and then headed to downtown to enjoy a live performance of "A Prairie Home Companion." I know it sounds lame and considering we were two of very few young people in the audience, mabye we are, but it was soooo much fun! This was our second time going (yes, we like it that much!) and it is high quailty entertainment. We got to sleep in Sun. morning and then went to pick up C who was busy playing with Papa (which is what she calls both grandma and grandpa).

Wow, I can't believe I started a blog! This will be a fun new adventure learning how to do all this stuff!!!