Tip for kids’ DVDs

Have you noticed that kids’ DVDs have a million previews on them? And on some they are difficult if not impossible to skip? Here’s the solution:

Burn a copy of it (for only your own use of course) but leave off the previews and title menus and everything but the feature film. That way you pop it in and your movie starts immediately. No hitting menu or fast-forward or even play.

Bonus: If your kids scratch the living daylights out of the DVD or smear peanut butter on it or otherwise render it unplayable, you still have the original tucked safely away to make a new copy.

Thanks to a college friend for the idea and a twitter friend for a tweet that reminded me to share it with you all.

 

My buy local challenge

Trish Van Pilsum has gotten me thinking about shopping local. She featured the 3/50 project on her blog last week and had a sad but lovely post about a devistating fire at FIVE local businesses. I had heard of this project before but didn’t really do anything about it. But I want to give it a try.

Black Sheep cappuccino

I don’t know if I can spend $50 a month at only three stores but I’m going to aim to spend $50 a month at local independentally owned businesses. And I’ll keep a running tally here on this post. So we’ll kick it off with the Black Sheep Coffee Cafe, where I am sitting as I type this. Oh, and I’m going to count the Punch Pizza we had this week too.

** Want to try this yourself? If you blog about it, leave a link in the comments. Because I’m still looking for a user-friendly non-java linky widget. Anyone wanna help a linky newbie out? **

2/17. Punch Pizza, St. Paul, Minn. $14.77. Dinner for fam: 2 pizzas, small salad, focacia bread and one soda. (we had a coupon. woot.)
2/20. Black Sheep, South St. Paul, Minn. $14ish. Mommy time: soup, panini, iced tea, cupcake and chai tea.

 

The movie is free, but the popcorn …

Mark and I took the kiddos to their first real movie today. Shrek 3 was showing as part of the Regal Cinema’s Free Family Film Festival.Both kids love Shrek 2 and I though a free showingwould be a good time to test Connor’s ability to sit it through awhole movie.

The theater (in Eagan) has arm rests that push up out of the way,which was nice for squirmy kids. The four of us used three seats, andthe kids sat together part of the time, rested their heads in our lapspart of the time, etc, without disturbing anyone else. Also, we sat atthe break between the lower and upper sections, and because Connor’shead doesn’t come up past the seats in front of us, he was able to walkaround a tiny bit.

He did seem to be getting restless halfway through, and Mark lookedover with puppy dog eyes and mouthed “I’m hungry” so I forked over thewallet. Not sure what the GIANT popcorn (that the kids nearly polishedoff) and the nachos cost but I’m sure this didn’t turn out to be aseconomical an outing as I expected. But we all enjoyed the movie andenjoyed seeing it together, so it was well worth it.

Other Twin Cities theaters have cheap or free morning movies for kids this summer:
Lakeville 21
Kerasotes (Coon Rapids, Inver Grove Heights, Minneapolis)
Marcus Theaters (Oakdale, Elk River, Hastings, Rosemount, Shakopee)

I’m betting there are more. Anyone know of any?

 

furlough fun

I was off work for a week, and the rest of the family was gone for three of those days. So, what did I do? Not blog obviously!

The day the kids left I never even got out of my PJs. I read a whole book that day (Kiss) and finished another (Deader Than a Doornail) the night before.

I got my first LendAround movie (No Country for Old Men). It works really slick. You just request what you want and theowner mails it to you. When you are done, you click a link and it tellsyou to either send it back (and gives you the return address) or tellsyou to keep it until someone else requests it. I assume the ownerdecides which option to give you. If you don’t send the packaging, justthe DVD like Netflix does, it’s only a normal stamp to mail. I also watched Twilight, which was not nearly as good as the books.

I went skiing with my sister and her husband at Welch Village and managed not to break anything. They were good teachers but I’m not a good learner. I’ve been skiing three other times and I seem to get worse each time. I forgot to bring the camera. We went for a fish dinner at House of Coates in Coates, Minn., after and were pretty impressed with it.

I started volutneering at Neighbors, a local agency that “strives to reduce poverty, promote self sufficiency, and build community.” I worked three hours in the Clothes Closet on Saturday. It’s a thrift store, which is their main source of income to support their other services. I plan to volunteer once a month.

We also got to visit our dear friends Gillian and Kyle and their little girls for an afternoon and evening, and they cooked us a lovely dinner. Connor ate pickles, olives, beets and coleslaw. All firsts for him.

 

to do: lend/borrow videos instead of renting

I learned about LendAround two days ago on Unclutter. I signed up for the waiting list and got “invited” by the owner yesterday. I have listed all my DVDs and invited a few friends that I see often, though you can do this all through mail too. (I sent the invitation through LendAround’s facebook app, but you can’t see my whole collection on facebook, just the 10 most recently entered, which all happen to be kids’ movies) If you want an invitation, let me know. (They can be sent by e-mail too, not just facebook.) Here’s the low down on what it is from their Web page:

LendAround is a project to encourage us all to stop hoarding stuff we own, and start lending it to each other.

LendAround is a free web tool that helps people to borrow things from their friends — starting with DVDs.

It lets you keep track of what you own, what you’ve borrowed, and who from.

You choose who you trust, and you choose what to list.

You’re in control all the time. If a friend asks to borrow something of yours, saying yes is always optional.

 

to do: Christmas shopping

The whole fam went to the Mall of America a weeks or so ago. I think the only things we bought were boots for the kids and a book for Connor for Christmas. Grace insisted on the Disney Princess boots and I gave in even though they are close to the ugliest footwear I have ever seen in my life. And the bottoms light up. Yuck. (Also, we had lunch and Grace got to go on three rides, mostly free because we found an all-day band lying on a bench.)

Tangent alert: While there, I saw the new American Girl store and knew better than to ask to go in. I read all the books when I was a kid. Well, all the ones available at the time, which was maybe two dozen. I think there are hundreds now. I have a look-alike Felicity and some homemade look-alike clothes. So I get the American Girl thing. But why oh why oh why would you pay $20 to have someone braid your doll’s hair at the store’s doll salon? This is a really nicely done story on the store that’s worth checking out.

The day after Thanksgiving, I got to do some alone shopping while Mark and the kids were at Gramma and Grampa W’s house. Same amount of time as the mall excursion (about three hours), but I bought a suit for Mark to wear in Becky’s wedding, two gifts each for Mark, Connor, Grace, our niece and our nephew, a sweater and mitten clips for Grace and Connor, and a bunch of scrapbooking stuff for me. And because it was all on sale, or bought with a coupon or second-hand, I paid about half what it would have all cost full-price and new.

The following day, still sans family, I did some all-local shopping with Lauren. We hit nearly every store on Grand Ave. We had coupons for that too, thanks to the Blue Sky Guide. I got gifts for Connor, my dad, sister, brother-in-law-to-be and a friend whose name I drew in a gift exchange.

What a difference kids make, eh?

 

Oh, the bargains! Be still my heart.

This post was written a week ago but I finally can get the photos of the camera:

Friday I did my grocery shopping — alone! — at Target and used lots of good coupons. I hit a CVS on Friday and then Walgreens on Saturday/Sunday (at midnight so I got last week’s deals, waited for the time change, then bought this week’s deals). I got four 12-packs of Pepsi and the stuff below for 54.70.

It’s all worth about $150 though I’m not going to detail the breakdown this time. The only thing we probably won’t use is the Dimetapp but I got more back in rebates than I paid for it, and I’ll add it to the food shelf bag. The gel inserts were a splurge. They cost $9 (regular $15) but I wanted to try them because my feet are always sore.

At work, the Features Department was having one of its periodic sales of stuff it gets sent by PR companies and the like. The money goes to a local program for young minority journalists called Three Sixty Journalism. It’s part book sale, part silent auction. I won a box full of art supplies that will become gifts or treats for $25

and bought these books and CDs for $35

YIPEE

 

things that make you go ‘GRR’

At Target on Tuesday, we bought a new tent because the zipper on ours is totally shot; diapers; three shirts, two pairs of paints and two pairs of shoes for Mark to wear to the convention (and whenever he needs to look halfway decent. Spent about $250. The next day, I get a 10% coupon in the mail because I’d reached my Target Visa rewards total. GRR

Yesterday I tried to reattach the rearview mirror in the car. But it was too hot out and the glue just kept running and wouldn’t hold the button. So I had to clean it all off and will have to try again when it’s not so hot. GRR

Yesterday on the way to work I stocked up on Pepsi products and Pedia Sure and a few odds and ends at Walgreens, all on sale. Spent $75. Got to work, checked my blog reader, and saw the Walgreens issued an online coupon for $10 off when you spend $40 good only for today and tomorrow. I could have waited, printed two coupons, broke my order in two and saved $15 plus added in $5 extra worth of stuff free. GRR

Today my dad was over installing our new bathroom sink. He asked for drill bits. Remember how I expertly organized our tools the other week? Well, I couldn’t find the case of bits anywhere today. Did they get up and walk out of the toolbox? GRR

While I was reading to Grace this morning, Connor dumped an entire, newly opened box of Kleenex in the toilet. GRR

 

To do: Save money AND give to charity

Here’s a report of my first try at the Drug Store Game, which I learned about from my friend Lucrecia.

I bought:
One tube of Crest for $2.49, minus a $1 coupons, with a $1.50 rebate = -.01
Two small bottles of Dawn for $1.76, minus two 50 cents coupons = 0.76
Two small tube of Colgate for $5.98, minus a $1.50 coupon and a $1 coupon, with a $4 rebate = 0.48
One bottle of Kids Advil for $5.79, minus a $1 coupon, with a $5.79 rebate = -1.00
One Oral B toothbrush for $2.49, minus a $1 coupon, with a $1.50 rebate = -0.01

Then I had a coupon for $2 off a $10 purchase. So I got $18.51 worth of products for free, plus and extra $1.78 in rebates.

The only thing I actually needed was the Colgate so the rest is going to the food shelf, along with two boxes of instant oatmeal I got for free today at Cub (they were buy 1, get 2 free).

I later went to a second CVS and got (not pictured):

Two bottles of Pert Plus for $3.69 (buy 1, get 1 free), minus two $2 coupons = -.31
Four sticks of Sure for $5.88 (also buy 1, get 1), minus three $1 coupons = $2.88
Two folders for $.50 (half price)
Two 5-subject notebooks for $4.99 (buy 1, get 1)
Glue sticks for $.99 (regular $1.79)
And again, a coupon for $2 off the total purchase.

So, $32.92 worth of products for $8.07. And I have a mail-in rebate for $5 off the school supplies (from this week’s ads). I probably spent about $1.50 in gas going out of my way. So all that for about $4, less than the cost of one of the notebooks. I will keep one deodorant and the school supplies, and the food shelf will get the two shampoos and other three deodorants.

I based my choices on posts by Erin at Coupon Cravings, Gina at Mommy Making Money, and Alyssa at Keeping the Kingdom First. Check them out if you’re interesting in trying the game. They also tipped me off to a few Internet coupons, including the $2 off one. The remainder of my coupons were from this month’s Procter and Gamble ad.

 

Mom or daughter?

Here’s a fun little game that Mark made. In these photos pairs, which is Grace and which is me? Mark made them b/w and a little “rough” so the colorings, etc., wouldn’t give away the time period.