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We spend a lot of time talking to Emily about finances and the importance of living within your means and given the current state of the economy it doesn’t hurt to think seriously about frugality.  We discovered an article on Extreme Ways to Save.  Hmmm… now let’s not go crazy.  Keeping your eye on the pennies and ignoring the big picture is often a big mistake.  But let’s see what they say:

Turn your car off — while it’s moving

Ummm….no.  Not only do I think this is extremely dangerous but I am about as coordinated as a tap-dancing giraffe.  I can only see smoke, fire, broken engines.

Reuse plastic sandwich bags

Although I actually laughed out loud at my frugal husband when I caught him doing this, I will admit that it is definitely environmentally friendly.  It’s worth the hassle for the environment.  Worth the hassle for $30 a year?  What do you think?

Stop saving money

I think the article needs to be MUCH clearer on this one.  If you read carefully there is a tiny mention of not saving so you can avoid credit cards… OK - I agree with that one.  No one wants to be earning 3% on their savings in the bank while spending 20% on credit card interest.  This article though seems to be giving carte blanche to not save “if you can’t afford it”.  Everyone can afford to save something even if it is only a $1.  I think saving is a discipline and once you get out of the habit it is easy to let go.

Make your own cleaning supplies

This one seems simple enough and a good money saving piece of advice.  Who needs a $12 bottle of pine-sol if vinegar really works just as well.

Stop drinking soda (or another beverage of choice)

Excellent piece of advice.  Soda is full of sugar and a ton of empty calories.  It’s expensive.  Once it’s gone I’ll bet you won’t miss it and neither will your kids.  I’d like to add bottled water to this tip.  There’s nothing wrong with water out of the tap - in fact most bottled water is tap water anyway!

Move back home with your parents, at any age

Ummm…no.  Do I need to elaborate?

Get rid of your carpet

This one make me scratch my head a bit.  Get rid of your carpet and do what?  Have a concrete floor?  It would take an awful long time for $200 a year to pay back the investment of a couple of thousand dollars in tiles or hardwood.

Hold a no-spend month

Very interesting concept.  I am off to read about it on Small Notebook and would love to hear from anyone who has tried it.

Tune in later this week for some saving ideas from us and our readers - anyone have something to suggest?

Introducing the new Wish line of clothing to fit your American Girl Doll!

We are so excited about the new Wish line of clothing for your American Girl Doll. Wish says… make hers come true - and these doll clothes certainly do. We are thrilled that we will have 9 of the new doll outfits in stock by November 15th - just in time for the Holidays.

Because the Wish line is new there are limited amounts of the designs available, so if you know you would like to order any of these outfits please add your email address to the waiting list. The waiting list will be contacted immediately when the clothes arrive. Of course you have no obligation to purchase.

To get on the waiting list click on the words “Email me when back-in-stock” below the “Add to Wishlist” button on the product page.

Click on any of the photos below for more details. 

Are you missing the fun of our new Collector’s Club? Click here to find out more!

Another Emily book review:

Title: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Storyline: Meg Murry is a young girl with a friend named Calvin and a little brother Charles Wallace.  Her Dad has been trying out this fifth dimension in time travel.  Now Meg, with the help of her friend and her brother, has to rescue him.  But can they stand the forces of evil they will encounter on their trip through space. 

Favorite Character: Charles Wallace, Meg’s cute little brother that is the world to poor Meg.

What you most liked: When they get to ride on a strange creature that fly in the fifth and second dimension as well as the third.

What you least liked: When Charles Wallace gets hypnotized by IT and Meg and Calvin have to bring him back to the real world and his real life.

Why you would recommend it to a friend: I loved this book and all young girls of all ages will too.  Cute little Charles and brave Meg will call to your heart. 

 

Check out Sophie’s hair!  Emily must have spent a long time on that “do”!  Lovely Sophie is wearing “Night on the Town” - her favorite outfit!  Marisol is wearing a matching pink version made by a friend.

For more Wordless Wednesday fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Words of wisdom from Michelle…

When my husband and I got engaged, we witnessed a strange phenomenon.  For me, the occasion was mostly filled with well wishes and oohs and ahhs at my gorgeous engagement ring.  My girlfriends and sister immediately began speculating at what kind of wedding dress I would wear and how I would do my hair for the big day.  My husband however, received entirely different responses.  When he shared his news he received jovial, but not quite supportive slaps on the back, accompanied by little gems of wisdom from his married and unmarried friends.  Gems such as, “well, your life is over now!” That’s not to say he didn’t hear positive comments now and then, he did, but not often. 

My husband and I puzzled over this.  It seemed a strange welcome into the married club.  At first we thought, misery loves company, but could all these seemingly happily married men really be that unhappy? It wasn’t until I became a mother that I really understood what was going on.

When I became pregnant with my daughter Maggie, I was overwhelmed with joy and expectation.  I had it all planned out!  My husband and I loved to go out with friends, we loved to vacation, and a baby was just going to add to the fun.  We’d get a babysitter once a weekend so we could have date night.  We’d take two vacations a year.  One for the family, and one just for the two of us.  When I would share my plans with single friends, they would nod in agreement, and promise to visit all the time once the baby was born.  My married with children friends had slightly different responses. 

I’ll never forget how, after I detailed my plan to my then boss (mother of three) she just smiled slightly and said “really, that’s a nice plan”.  She was almost smug and I have to say it irritated me!  Why couldn’t I have it all?  Other people, strangers mostly, began to disperse the “gems of wisdom” that were so generously bestowed on my husband during our engagement. 

Some gems, I supposed at the time, were meant to be helpful.  “Get your rest now, you won’t get any sleep once the baby is born”.  That was a favorite of mine.  Like you can actually save up sleep tokens.  Other gems focused on my body.  Generally it’s considered rude to comment on people’s size, especially strangers.  However, when you are pregnant it seems as though the rules of etiquette no longer need to be followed.  Strangers would reach out and touch my belly without asking.  HELLO PERSONAL SPACE!! And touching my enormous belly was always followed by heartwarming comments.  Comments such as “wow, you are huge!!”, “are you sure it’s not twins?”, or my favorite “you look terrible”.  I’m not entirely certain, but I’m pretty sure that if I tried these comments on non-pregnant women I’d be considered pretty rude.  And finally, the return of “your life is over!!”

I now understood the frustration that my husband felt when he was told over and over that his life was over.  “you’ll never sleep again”, “you’ll never go out again”, “say hello to sweatpants, and goodbye to victoria’s secret”.  It was relentless.  I once again was forced to wonder why people weren’t more supportive!  Why did people want us to be unhappy?

I have three children now, and I think I finally know the answer. 

After Maggie was born, things changed.  Single friends slowly stopped calling to see if we could meet for drinks.  There was no more staying out until 2am.  There was no more sleeping in on the weekends.  In fact, just as people had warned, there was very little sleep at all!  We didn’t take that family vacation until 3 years later, and 5 years later, we still haven’t taken a trip without the children.  My life as I knew it was over, just like “they” said. 

However, the part that everyone forgot to add to their gems of wisdom was that a new exciting life was just beginning.  I don’t stay out until 2am, or sleep in on the weekends.  I do very little for myself, in fact these days showering every day is a luxury!  But the truth is I don’t want to do those things anymore (except maybe shower).  Sure, partly because I’m always tired (a state that your body quickly adjusts to), but partly because I would much rather curl up on my bed with my three lovely munchkins and read Go Dog Go!! for the fifteenth time this week.  My life as a single childless woman was over, and my new life as a wife and a mother had begun. 

So were the people with “gems of wisdom” really trying to make us feel bad about our decisions?  I don’t think so.  I think they were, in their own way, saying welcome to the club.  Not the misery club as it would first appear, but the rest of your life club.  They just forgot to add to the “your life is over” gem that a new fulfilling and exciting life full of unimaginable love and emotion is about to begin.  So the next time I’m about to embark on a life changing event, and someone passes on a valuable gem of knowledge, I will smile and say “aren’t I lucky”.

The Chicago Sun-Times have got a video tour on thier site of the new Chicago AG store.  Check it out.  http://www.suntimes.com/business/1197409,CST-FIN-girl02web-w.article

If you visit please let us know what you think.

Michelle sent me this photo of her lot for Wordless Wednesday.  They are waiting for Daddy to get home from work.  I love the fact that you can only just see Tommy’s head but you can also see his tiny smeary hand-print on the glass.  I also love that Abby the dog is part of the action.  For more Wordless Wednesday Fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

American Girl Place Chicago opens this weekend as we previously reported.  The store will be bigger and better than before.  It is a 52,000 sq. ft. all new store at Water Tower Place in Chicago.  Since the original store opened in 1998, 13 million visitors have passed through the doors - quite amazing really.  The new store will have all the attractions you’d expect from AG including a café, photo studio and doll hair salon.

We won’t be able to visit but please let us have your views on whether you like the store.

We just heard that the Kit movie is due to be released on DVD.  Its coming out soon and we’ve been told by familyVideo.com that they will ship DVD on 28th October.  Look out for it!

When I came across this blog and saw the photo of the tee-shirt pictured above I couldn’t believe that it was a home made item.  And the thought that I could actually make something as cool and personalized as this?  Impossible.  Well, wait just a minute… when I read the detailed step-by-step instructions from Andrea McMann, I thought, I could do this!

I am already planning to work with my sister when we are together in a few weeks to create one for our Mum for a Holiday gift.  All of her grand-children together.  My brother’s (should be born any day now) twins will have to wait and make an appearance on next years tee.