School supply shopping for four kids can be a real hand full but I got it done on a relatively good budget. Here are some of the deals I stumbled across that might help you....
Amazon: I am not a fan of cheap backpacks that only last a year. I've paid my dues with the annually purchased character backpacks that have holes and broken straps by the third quarter of the year. I need something tough and durable. I've changed over to spending a bit more to buy a new one every few years (or as needed). This year, Amazon has had a great sale on a good number of backpacks. It is of note to say that if you're child is a picky fashionista, this may or may not be a good option. However, I was able to provide several different color options and purchase an Eastsport backpack for under $20 that had great reviews and could easily move through the elementary to middle school (or even high school) transition without looking "too babyish."
Staples: If you ARE buying a backpack in person, Staples has some great options AND you get 25% off of your school supplies if you buy your backpack there. The durable ones were around $40+ and their character backpacks were very reasonably priced. Here are some other deals
Wood Rulers $.25
Filler paper (Staples wide ruled and college ruled) $.75
Staples composition books $.50
Staples RULED index cards (of note because there is a better deal on unlined elsewhere) $.48
Wescott 12" acrylic ruler (if you must have a see-through one) $1
BIC Comfort grip pens 12 pack (black) $1
Staples brand 4 oz glue $.50
2 pocket folder with fasteners $.17
It's of note that Staples will not only price match but give you 110% price match.
Office Max/Office Depot: I love these guys because of their penny items. My particular penny items included unlined note cards and 2 pocket folders. These items are only a penny with a $5 purchase AND they are limited quantities (usually 10). Other deals worth mentioning.....
This week only: Pink eraser 3 pack $.01 with $5.00 purchase
This week only: Composition books $.01 with $5.00 purchase
This week only: Elmer's 4 oz school glue $.01 with $5.00 purchase
BIC 12 pack of stic pens $.25
Crayola brand markers 8 count $.25
Keep an eye on the ads because the penny items change weekly and it's a great way to tackle some of those more expensive items.
Walmart: It is of note that you can price match any major competitor at Walmart. You may tick off the person behind you in line (and possibly the cashier) but you can. My suggestion is to bring the ads with you (or have them ready on your phone but this is less convenient) and have the items circled for quick access....
One subject notebooks $.17
2 pack pink erasers $.48
24 pack of Cra Z Art crayons $.25
1 inch binders in various colors $.99
I did find dividers back in the office section for $.48 (5 pack) but they sell out fast and you might need to ask about them. Otherwise $.88 dividers
4 pack Kleenex facial tissue $3.48
I have the ability to jump between stores (as they are all close by). I have heard that Target has some great deals as well. Keep your eye on the paper as many have coupons on pens, etc and you can get your pens at an even greater discount. School supply shopping can be done on the cheap but it requires planning and careful execution (and often spreading it out over the course of several weeks to get the best deals).
Happy Hunting Denverites
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Review of the Dragon Boat Festival at Sloane's Lake
I attended the Dragon Boat Festival for the first time on Saturday. While we were only there for about 2.5 hours, I feel like I can give a relatively complete review on what I saw while I saw there. Here goes.....
Parking: I started with this because, well, it's the first thing you have to do. This was, perhaps, my only complaint. Parking was atrocious. Now I'd like to make a few points about it, though. 1-After we got in, we found out we could have gone to Sports Authority Field and shuttled in. I feel like this could have been better advertised but have a feeling that this would have made the parking situation more doable. 2-It's a festival and parking is expected to be wonky. 3-We went on a Saturday afternoon when, I'm guessing, there was a peak number of people. With that said, I think there should be handicapped options available (or better advertised if they already are). I'm betting if we'd have gotten there first thing in the morning, there would have been more available parking.
Staff: All of the staff that we encountered were great. It was watched over carefully by the police and security. There was a first aid tent that was located in a convenient location. No complaints, for sure.
Food/Drink: I have to say, this was one of the widest varieties I've seen at an event recently. They passed on some of the traditional carnival/fair food to have a more complete array of appetizing food. There were still funnel cakes and berry kabobs but there was also chicken teriyaki and wobbly coconut drinks. The food is still "fair" prices, though, so bring your pocketbook...and bring cash.
Vendors: I was actually pretty impressed with the level of merchandise they had. Instead of it just being tent after tent of Mary Kay, essential oils sold from home, and other work from home businesses, there were many hand made and unique options. There was a massage tent as well as some tents from Denver's Fox channel and Comedy 103.5.
Entertainment: We got to watch only a portion of the entertainment but it was definitely very neat. The martial arts demonstrations were incredible. The dragon "dances" (as I don't know what they're called) were absolutely amazing to watch. It was a tiny step into a beautiful culture.
Favorites.....
Disciples of Funk were one of my favorites. They were energetic and had so much pop in their step. As a dancer, myself, I love to watch performances and their creativity and funk were enough to get everyone's attention. We were able to watch their performance of dances through the 80s and 90s. The neatest part was that they would show the dances (for those that didn't know how) and encouraged people to join in! Here is a link to their facebook page: Disciples of Funk
My other favorite was the AARP lip sync/karaoke tent. We stood outside this tent over and over singing along with "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Shake it Off", "Let it Go" and other memorable tunes. It was a fun and goofy way to entertain a crowd!
Recommendations: Come early for good parking. Bring cash as most of the vendors don't accept credit cards (at least the ones we visited). Sunscreen, Sunscreen, Sunscreen! (I can't stress this enough with the Denver sun and hot weather) Either bring a parasol/umbrella or find shade regularly and STAY HYDRATED! Have fun!
Parking: I started with this because, well, it's the first thing you have to do. This was, perhaps, my only complaint. Parking was atrocious. Now I'd like to make a few points about it, though. 1-After we got in, we found out we could have gone to Sports Authority Field and shuttled in. I feel like this could have been better advertised but have a feeling that this would have made the parking situation more doable. 2-It's a festival and parking is expected to be wonky. 3-We went on a Saturday afternoon when, I'm guessing, there was a peak number of people. With that said, I think there should be handicapped options available (or better advertised if they already are). I'm betting if we'd have gotten there first thing in the morning, there would have been more available parking.
Staff: All of the staff that we encountered were great. It was watched over carefully by the police and security. There was a first aid tent that was located in a convenient location. No complaints, for sure.
Food/Drink: I have to say, this was one of the widest varieties I've seen at an event recently. They passed on some of the traditional carnival/fair food to have a more complete array of appetizing food. There were still funnel cakes and berry kabobs but there was also chicken teriyaki and wobbly coconut drinks. The food is still "fair" prices, though, so bring your pocketbook...and bring cash.
Vendors: I was actually pretty impressed with the level of merchandise they had. Instead of it just being tent after tent of Mary Kay, essential oils sold from home, and other work from home businesses, there were many hand made and unique options. There was a massage tent as well as some tents from Denver's Fox channel and Comedy 103.5.
Entertainment: We got to watch only a portion of the entertainment but it was definitely very neat. The martial arts demonstrations were incredible. The dragon "dances" (as I don't know what they're called) were absolutely amazing to watch. It was a tiny step into a beautiful culture.
Favorites.....
Disciples of Funk were one of my favorites. They were energetic and had so much pop in their step. As a dancer, myself, I love to watch performances and their creativity and funk were enough to get everyone's attention. We were able to watch their performance of dances through the 80s and 90s. The neatest part was that they would show the dances (for those that didn't know how) and encouraged people to join in! Here is a link to their facebook page: Disciples of Funk
My other favorite was the AARP lip sync/karaoke tent. We stood outside this tent over and over singing along with "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Shake it Off", "Let it Go" and other memorable tunes. It was a fun and goofy way to entertain a crowd!
Recommendations: Come early for good parking. Bring cash as most of the vendors don't accept credit cards (at least the ones we visited). Sunscreen, Sunscreen, Sunscreen! (I can't stress this enough with the Denver sun and hot weather) Either bring a parasol/umbrella or find shade regularly and STAY HYDRATED! Have fun!
Friday, July 29, 2016
Teaching Kids About Fairness
"The only time you should look in someone else's bowl is to make sure they have enough."
I love this quote. I can't repeat it enough to my children.
We are raising our kids in a very entitled culture. They are being groomed from early preschool on to believe that everything needs to be fair. Parents are counting out Easter eggs before hunts to make sure that everyone gets the same amount of eggs. Moms are counting out goldfish to make sure that their children get an exact equal amount. People are expected to buy gifts for both the birthday child and their siblings. Kids are being taught that everything needs to be exactly the same and "fair."
Except that it's not.....
Life is not made up of fair situations. Fair is really quite relative in a vast majority of situations. Instead of counting out Easter eggs before to make sure that everyone gets exactly 10, maybe you should be teaching your child to look around and see if there is someone who's having a difficult time finding eggs and help them find some for their basket. Maybe instead of obsessing over the fact that their friend got three more goldfish, perhaps you should be teaching your child to be thankful that they were given such a fun snack. Instead of making everyone buy your child a gift even though it's not their birthday, maybe you should be teaching them that they can help make their sibling's day special by supporting them. No, they're not too young to understand (most of the time). They are never too young to begin to learn the concept of selflessness, even if they aren't mature enough to practice it yet.
We wonder why the world seems like such a selfish place yet we are grooming our children to believe that they are the center of the universe. We're so concerned with "hurt feelings" and "damaged psyche" that we're actually damaging them more, in the long run, by not preparing them for life. We don't want our first child to be "damaged emotionally" when they get a younger siblings so we overcompensate. Then, as their sibling gets older, we can't figure out why Big Sis is feeling resentment and anger that their extra privileges are now considered unnecessary.
Look, I understand that we all, as parents, want for our children to have a better life than we had. Maybe that means we do many things that our parents did for us and just add on. Maybe that means that we do the polar opposite of what our parents did. It's not a sin to want something better for your children but you need to decide if "better" just means that your child has more things or if "better" means your child gets more time and experiences with you and ultimately turns into a great person because of it. We need to start setting priorities for what "better" is and remember that once our children are grown and out of our house, the rest of the world has to live with them. Not only that, THEY have to know how to live with the rest of the world.
The other part of this statement is about teaching kids to mind their own business. We are so concerned with hurting our kids' feelings that we feel the need to explain everything. Kids are no longer allowed to be told that Mommy's talking to her friend; Mommy now has to explain everything she's talking about with her friend. No...just no. Kids DO have feelings and kids DO deserve explanations on a wide variety of topics but they also need to learn that not everything is their business. They need to learn to "worry about themselves." They need to learn that it's fine to worry about what someone else has IF you're intending to help but if they're concerned about whether or not it's "fair" or not, they need to mind their own business.
Take a step back, the next time you start to worry about what's fair and look at the big picture. What seems "unfair" may just be a good opportunity to teach your kids about life.
I love this quote. I can't repeat it enough to my children.
We are raising our kids in a very entitled culture. They are being groomed from early preschool on to believe that everything needs to be fair. Parents are counting out Easter eggs before hunts to make sure that everyone gets the same amount of eggs. Moms are counting out goldfish to make sure that their children get an exact equal amount. People are expected to buy gifts for both the birthday child and their siblings. Kids are being taught that everything needs to be exactly the same and "fair."
Except that it's not.....
Life is not made up of fair situations. Fair is really quite relative in a vast majority of situations. Instead of counting out Easter eggs before to make sure that everyone gets exactly 10, maybe you should be teaching your child to look around and see if there is someone who's having a difficult time finding eggs and help them find some for their basket. Maybe instead of obsessing over the fact that their friend got three more goldfish, perhaps you should be teaching your child to be thankful that they were given such a fun snack. Instead of making everyone buy your child a gift even though it's not their birthday, maybe you should be teaching them that they can help make their sibling's day special by supporting them. No, they're not too young to understand (most of the time). They are never too young to begin to learn the concept of selflessness, even if they aren't mature enough to practice it yet.
We wonder why the world seems like such a selfish place yet we are grooming our children to believe that they are the center of the universe. We're so concerned with "hurt feelings" and "damaged psyche" that we're actually damaging them more, in the long run, by not preparing them for life. We don't want our first child to be "damaged emotionally" when they get a younger siblings so we overcompensate. Then, as their sibling gets older, we can't figure out why Big Sis is feeling resentment and anger that their extra privileges are now considered unnecessary.
Look, I understand that we all, as parents, want for our children to have a better life than we had. Maybe that means we do many things that our parents did for us and just add on. Maybe that means that we do the polar opposite of what our parents did. It's not a sin to want something better for your children but you need to decide if "better" just means that your child has more things or if "better" means your child gets more time and experiences with you and ultimately turns into a great person because of it. We need to start setting priorities for what "better" is and remember that once our children are grown and out of our house, the rest of the world has to live with them. Not only that, THEY have to know how to live with the rest of the world.
The other part of this statement is about teaching kids to mind their own business. We are so concerned with hurting our kids' feelings that we feel the need to explain everything. Kids are no longer allowed to be told that Mommy's talking to her friend; Mommy now has to explain everything she's talking about with her friend. No...just no. Kids DO have feelings and kids DO deserve explanations on a wide variety of topics but they also need to learn that not everything is their business. They need to learn to "worry about themselves." They need to learn that it's fine to worry about what someone else has IF you're intending to help but if they're concerned about whether or not it's "fair" or not, they need to mind their own business.
Take a step back, the next time you start to worry about what's fair and look at the big picture. What seems "unfair" may just be a good opportunity to teach your kids about life.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Unrealistic Expectations
I develop a tick every time I hear a mom talking about how the tooth fairy is "so expensive." I really do. Just yesterday, I heard, "Well I gave my son $10 for his first tooth and $5 for every tooth thereafter." I hear jokes about inflation. I hear jokes about how 25 cents is nothing to a kid any more. But it's not funny and I'll tell you why....
UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
Oh sure, sure. Tell me how it doesn't matter when they're that young. Tell me how it's not that big of a deal. Of course it's not. It's just a small snowball in a snowstorm. Unfortunately, pile a bunch of those "small snowballs" together and you create a very large one that rolls downhill and causes an avalanche. It truly is something you need to consider.
When you set your kid's expectations at a high level at a very young age, it seems harmless. For instance, when you buy your 5 year old an I Pad for their birthday, it seems like it's not that big of a deal. You tell yourself it's for educational purposes and you promise they'll use it for JUST that. A month later, they're playing "Angry Birds" all day long. But that's not the problem. The real problem is when their next birthday comes around and they want another super expensive toy. You poo-poo on the idea and their response is, "Well how come I got an I Pad for last birthday but you won't get me a cell phone for this birthday?" The cycle continues and they're expecting a brand new sports car for their 16th birthday and a down payment on a house for their 18th birthday. It seriously doesn't stop. What seems like a small snowball builds....
When you set your kids expectations high on the tooth fairy, it seems harmless. I mean, it's only $5 right. Let's just leave out the kids whose parents can't afford to pay $5/tooth who are now wondering what's wrong with them and why the tooth fairy pays less for their teeth because that's a whole different argument. Let's simply discuss how the tooth fairy saga will continue. Your five year old gets paid $10 for their first tooth and $5 for the second. Their birthday comes around and Great Aunt Edna gives them $5 in their birthday card. Now that's a lot for Great Aunt Edna that lives on a fixed income but guess what your five year old thinks: "Man, Great Aunt Edna ONLY gave me $5. " Now you want to teach your kid responsibility. You make a chore chart and tell them they'll get an allowance. What kind of allowance? Well it can't be $5 because they get that JUST for losing teeth. Now you're paying your kid $10-$20 to make their bed and clear the table. It's a vicious cycle. What seems like a small snowball builds.....
You can give me a speech on how I'm exaggerating and I accept your opinion, wholeheartedly. Let me know ten years from now, though, how it turned out. And please, please, please spare me the "I don't know how my kid got such an entitled little attitude" speech down the line....I tried to warn you about the avalanche before it began.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Police
Now that I'm all caught up on my blogging, I'm going to talk to you about something that I find to be rather important..... the planned assault on police officers that seems to be taking place. This isn't about black lives matter or white lives matter or latino lives matter or anything else. I do believe that all lives matter. I do believe that there are a whole lot of televised/youtubed videos that don't show the whole story. This is all a topic for another, much longer discussion.
What I'm talking about today is planned assaults on police officers. It is NEVER okay. Do I believe there are probably "bad" police officers? Yes. I believe that there are "bad" people in nearly every profession on the planet. There are "bad" priests that assault children but the majority of priests are good men. There are "bad" teachers that assault children but the majority of teachers are good people. There are "bad" businessmen, trash men, waiters, managers, doctors, dentists, nannies, veterinarians, celebrities, athletes and everything else on the planet but the MAJORITY are not bad people. The myth that all police officers are bad is misleading and just plain wrong.
If you had any clue what most of these officers dealt with on a daily basis, you'd be amazed at how much they can endure. If you understood what they dealt with, you'd know that it is in their training and experience to be extremely cautious. The vast majority of times (and you can google REAL statistics to see this), if you simply follow what an officer says to do, nothing out of the ordinary will take place. I cannot stress enough the importance of the first part of that, though..... follow what the officer says. Police men and women deal with some truly terrible people. You may not mean anything by reaching for your pocket but they may have had someone an hour before that "innocently" reach for their pocket and draw a weapon. You see, what you think is nothing can often be a very big "something." Listen to their directions. It's that simple.
If you are one of the people planning an assault on an officer, I'd like to ask you the following: why? Are you basing your anger on lies? Are you truly looking at the situations or are you just feeding into the media hype? I say this all the time and I will say it again: educate yourself. Truly read from all sources and learn. Don't just read from one site or one book; read from an abundance of sources and perspectives. You'll learn that the media is just there for ratings.
To the police men and women out there, I'd like to say the following: Thank you. Thank you for your service to our community. Thank you for shielding victims. Thank you for running toward danger when the rest of us are running away. Thank you for being at the car accident. Thank you for helping that abuse victim. Thank you for everything that you do to keep our community safe.
What I'm talking about today is planned assaults on police officers. It is NEVER okay. Do I believe there are probably "bad" police officers? Yes. I believe that there are "bad" people in nearly every profession on the planet. There are "bad" priests that assault children but the majority of priests are good men. There are "bad" teachers that assault children but the majority of teachers are good people. There are "bad" businessmen, trash men, waiters, managers, doctors, dentists, nannies, veterinarians, celebrities, athletes and everything else on the planet but the MAJORITY are not bad people. The myth that all police officers are bad is misleading and just plain wrong.
If you had any clue what most of these officers dealt with on a daily basis, you'd be amazed at how much they can endure. If you understood what they dealt with, you'd know that it is in their training and experience to be extremely cautious. The vast majority of times (and you can google REAL statistics to see this), if you simply follow what an officer says to do, nothing out of the ordinary will take place. I cannot stress enough the importance of the first part of that, though..... follow what the officer says. Police men and women deal with some truly terrible people. You may not mean anything by reaching for your pocket but they may have had someone an hour before that "innocently" reach for their pocket and draw a weapon. You see, what you think is nothing can often be a very big "something." Listen to their directions. It's that simple.
If you are one of the people planning an assault on an officer, I'd like to ask you the following: why? Are you basing your anger on lies? Are you truly looking at the situations or are you just feeding into the media hype? I say this all the time and I will say it again: educate yourself. Truly read from all sources and learn. Don't just read from one site or one book; read from an abundance of sources and perspectives. You'll learn that the media is just there for ratings.
To the police men and women out there, I'd like to say the following: Thank you. Thank you for your service to our community. Thank you for shielding victims. Thank you for running toward danger when the rest of us are running away. Thank you for being at the car accident. Thank you for helping that abuse victim. Thank you for everything that you do to keep our community safe.
A Small List of Things You Don't Have to Provide Your Children
As it seems that people are confused about what they "have" to provide to their children, I am going to provide you with a brief list of things you do NOT have to provide to your kids. I'd like to light the way on the path of truth and understanding on this topic that seems to be befuddling to some.
1. A car when they turn 16.
2. A down payment on their first home
3. A cell phone
4. A cell phone plan
5. An Ipad or comparable tablet
6. Designer shoes
7. Designer clothes
8. Unearned allowance (i.e. money they're given without chores being done)
9. Allowance of ANY kind
10. A TV in their bedroom
11. A TV in your car to entertain them while you drive
12. Your phone to watch when they're out and you need to entertain them
13. Your phone to watch at home
14. Happy Meals
15. Professionally done nails
16. An entire play room of toys
17. Every single day after school activities
18. Name brand cereal
19. Tickets to opening weekend of every single movie that comes out
20. ANYTHING when a tantrum is done to get it.
This is just a start but you get the idea. Your children are not entitled to these things. In fact, you are just encouraging the entitlement attitude when you give in to their every whim because you don't want to hear them cry. You are not REQUIRED to give them any of these things. Should you choose to do so, fine but please don't feel pressured.
Stop Trashing the Parks
To anyone that attends public parks, state parks and national parks:
I am by no means an avid environmentalist. However, I am disgusted by the amount of trash people feel okay with leaving in parks. It's one thing to throw an apple core down (though you need to remember that leaving your food around makes the animals think that's a feeding zone). I can cope with that because it's, at least, biodegradable and not directly harmful to the environment. Want to spit out your sesame seed casings on the ground while you hike? Fine. Again, not directly harmful to the environment.
What I do NOT accept is trashing the parks. While fishing the other day, I cleaned up an entire bag of trash left in one little space. Did I plan to do that? No. When I saw the space, though, it killed me. Not only did people leave their wrappers, cans and big gulp cups out there but there were also diapers and wipes. Seriously. If you need to change a diaper while you are at a park, walk your happy ass to a trash can and THROW IT AWAY.
The parks are NOT your personal trash can. Stop trashing them!
If you don't have the sense of common decency to clean up after yourself, then stay out of the parks. If you can't fish without leaving behind a full trash bag of crap, don't fish. If you can't take your child to a park without leaving your diapers laying around, don't go. If you can't hike without throwing your trash out as you go, don't hike.
Be respectful of the state in which you live and stop being a punk!
End of rant.
I am by no means an avid environmentalist. However, I am disgusted by the amount of trash people feel okay with leaving in parks. It's one thing to throw an apple core down (though you need to remember that leaving your food around makes the animals think that's a feeding zone). I can cope with that because it's, at least, biodegradable and not directly harmful to the environment. Want to spit out your sesame seed casings on the ground while you hike? Fine. Again, not directly harmful to the environment.
What I do NOT accept is trashing the parks. While fishing the other day, I cleaned up an entire bag of trash left in one little space. Did I plan to do that? No. When I saw the space, though, it killed me. Not only did people leave their wrappers, cans and big gulp cups out there but there were also diapers and wipes. Seriously. If you need to change a diaper while you are at a park, walk your happy ass to a trash can and THROW IT AWAY.
The parks are NOT your personal trash can. Stop trashing them!
If you don't have the sense of common decency to clean up after yourself, then stay out of the parks. If you can't fish without leaving behind a full trash bag of crap, don't fish. If you can't take your child to a park without leaving your diapers laying around, don't go. If you can't hike without throwing your trash out as you go, don't hike.
Be respectful of the state in which you live and stop being a punk!
End of rant.
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