Why Can't Monday Be Funday?!

What is it about Mondays that automatically make them "bad" days?

Why can't they be fun days?! Why do I always feel all droopy and blah each Monday and not excited for another week to begin?

Let me know when you figure that out.

This Monday is about grocery shopping, cleaning up after the weekend, and figuring out what to do with "the 2 year old that wouldn't nap". Instead of struggle with him EVERY afternoon, ALL afternoon, I've decided to let go of nap time. Ugh. I know. Nap time is a wonderful thing cherished by tired mothers all over the world (I think). It now has been reborn into "quiet room time" which doesn't last quite as long as the blissful nap time.

So now we need new things to do that aren't just - let's watch Pixar movies all day.

Hayden's new activity? Piano lessons! No he won't be playing Mozart or Chopin in 2 months, but he can almost find middle C! He's usually about 2 keys off - He always points out E. Maybe I should have started with E, haha. Once we go over where middle C is for a minute, I let him pound away. Then he starts playing his own stuff, humming the notes as he plays them. Or does little scales down the piano (hitting each note and humming it). It's cute.

Last year I bought the toddler busy day book which has hundreds of activities to do with your toddler. I pulled the book out last week, and so for we're 0 for 2. The first activity was to take a tube (I used an older poster tube), tie it too the stairwell or lean against the couch and roll tennis balls or whatever through it. Supposedly this was supposed to be hours of entertainment. Hayden was offended that I had dismantled his "drum" (the poster tube) for use in this activity. He ripped it off the stairwell and ran off with it. So much for that.


The second activity was to make little "garages" for his cars in different colors. I took an old coke box and wrapped it in green construction paper. He initially just wanted to smash the box...uh huh. Since I wasn't about to let 5 minutes (equivalent to a day of someone w/o kids) of my hard work be ruined by Haydenzilla, I pushed him away and showed him how to put his cars in and out. He immediately wanted it to be a tunnel, NOT a garage. Ok...I opened the end of the box and voila! A tunnel. I don't consider this a raging success. The activity was supposed to be colored garages to match up with colored cars. Now it's just a tunnel and we've forgotten all about the color part.

Eh, oh well. I'll be sure to post any successful activities I find. I think the "tunnel" will find it's way to the trash tonight.

I've learned that my grocery shopping is most successful (and easiest on our budget) if I bring cash. For the last week I had just used the debit card, reasoning it was basically the same thing. But there's something about cold, hard cash that makes you want to spend less. Especially if I know that whatever if left over is mine to spend how I like. It's nice to have a little cash to buy the family a treat or get that little something we've wanted but don't really need.

Last week I knew I had X dollars to spend, but since I didn't have it in cash I approximated, and even overspent because "we needed it". I know that if I had been using cash, I wouldn't have done that. It's so easy to overspend when you're just swiping that little card over and over.

Also, I didn't use my calculator when I went shopping last week, and overspent by 20 bucks! I love calculating how much I'm spending, because often I'm under budget which allows me to buy extras. It also shows me that maybe the "special" expensive ingredient I'm buying for one recipe, isn't worth the money, or maybe I don't need that extra junk I threw in the cart.

Today I was back to cash, even though it's annoying to drive to the bank and withdraw it. I under spent by 13 bucks and liked coming out with cash. I've definitely learned that for me, cash is a must. I just don't budget wisely without it.

Does anyone else get "swipe happy" with the debit/credit card, or is it just me?

Well, the house is finally quiet and both kids are down or quiet - time to relax.