3 Grocery Stores

Sometimes trying to grocery shop can be very frustrating... Especially when there are certain products you are looking for. I have found myself having to go to three different grocery stores to try and keep the family happy. I don;t go to each store all in one week, I spread it out, but it sure makes grocery shopping hard!
The cheapest store is fairly close and they carry the lunchables that my daughter likes, but they aren't the best store for everyday shopping because of what they don't carry. The medium priced store is also the closest to our house and they carry the majority of my everyday groceries, but have a very limited selection of the lunches my husband takes to work most days. The third store I have to visit is both the most expensive and the furthest away from home, but they have the largest selection of lunches. So frustrating! Lately it seems like I am actually at the grocery store more because of going somewhere and the store not having what we need.

Double Standard

How do you handle a blatant double standard parents have for adult children? We recently ran across this with my MIL.... She has one set of rules for her daughter (and family) and a different set for us. It's starting to create a strain on my husband because he feels like our little family is unimportant to his Mom and Dad.

Big Airlines

We flew United for a trip we took recently. Our outbound flight from Chicago O'Hare was fine, but we ran into some terribly rude employees and policies on our way home. Because of the baggage fees charged by the airline, all 3 of us used 1 suitcase. We knew the thing was heavy, but had no problems curb checking it in Chicago. The only fee we had to pay was the $23 bag check fee. Coming home, the same suitcase was suddenly 6 pounds too heavy and the airline wanted a $100 fee ON TOP of the $23 we had already paid. The first attendant was so rude... The second attendant at least tried to help when she saw us removing shoes, etc from the bag. The big airlines have tacked so many fees onto everything, that flying somewhere is a chore!

How Rude is too Rude

This past weekend was my birthday. My husband asked what I wanted to do... I told him brunch. His Mom didn't want to do that, she suggested another place. I looked at the menu and vetoed it because the food just didn't sound good to me... it also didn't sound very healthy... Given that I'm pregnant, the place she suggested may sound great in a few weeks, but not right now. Before hubby could talk to his Mom again, his sister called asking what the plan was. He told her brunch and she OFFERED to have everyone over to her house after brunch so that we could all go to her son's baseball game in the afternoon.
Up to now, nothing too rude....
Well, we get to my birthday. We get to the restaurant right on time and hubby's family is no where to be seen. They finally get there 15 minutes later and the first thing said is "Don't you answer your phone!" The story was that they were waiting for us at sister's house even though that plan was never discussed...
Brunch went fine except for the fact that no one talked to me...
As we are leaving the restaurant, MIL announces that she needs to go shopping. She and SIL go to one store. BIL and the nephews go to another. FIL goes with us back to Sister's house. When everyone else finally gets back we find out they went garage sailing too and have more garage sales to go to. I did get invited to the second round of garage sales, but that's not really my thing. We finally get back to SIL's house and I open presents (gift cards... I guess they get an E for effort) and we have cake. Then it's off to nephew's baseball game.
What does it say about where i fit in my hubby's family that they think it's okay to go shopping in the middle of my birthday celebration? They would be furious if we did the same thing to them...

Leftovers

Dinner last night was leftovers...planned leftovers which are different from regular old leftovers... let me explain.
When I was growing up, I hated leftover night (which didn't happen often) because it was just a jumble of little bits of previously really good food reheated in the microwave. Now that I am the one planning out dinners for a family, I understand how important those leftovers came be in the family budget. So, there are some meals in our family menu that I know make too much. When I make these recipes I make sure there is enough for at least 2 full meals and I freeze half of the results. By freeze half of what I make, I know that we don't have to repeat a meal twice in one week and I know that there is a night in the future where cooking will be easy.
One of the tricks I use for planned leftovers is reheating everything in the oven. That helps insure that everything is heated thoroughly and evenly without increasing our exposure to the chemicals released by reheating plastic. I also try to make sure that only one part of the meal is a leftover. If the main course was a planned leftover, I try to pair it with fresh side dishes so that it feels like a brand new meal instead of feeling like leftover night.

Frustration

Right now, I'm wondering if our little girl was really ready for potty training when we started in late January. I thought she was, she really seemed to get it at first, then we back slid a little. We started a sticker chart and that seemed to help for awhile, but now it seems like we are back sliding again. My friends say to just be patient that she'll get it, but my Mom seems to think we should have it down by now. She is a little biased, she's comparing my daughter to my niece, who she thinks is perfect.
I just don't know what to do....

Too Young for Chores

How old were you when your child was first given chores? Our 2 year old has two responsibilities... she helps unload the dishwasher and feed the dog. She was only given these chores because these are things she wants to do anyway. Having her help, allows her to do what she wants only when I want her to....