Miscellany | Homeschooling, Baby Minimalism, My Boots, Calli, Tilapia...
Mr. FG sent me this MSN article about homeschooling, written by a mom who used to be quite skeptical about it until she gave it a try. It's an interesting read, I think.
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Rachel Jonat of The Minimalist Mom recently wrote an ebook about navigating the first year of a baby's life without filling your house will baby paraphernalia. The bulk of the book is written by Rachel herself, but there's a foreword by Rachel Meeks of Small Notebook (she's one of my favorite bloggers!), and contributions by MoneySavingMom, FrugalBabe and Frugal Mama.
Oh! And, um, one of the contributions is from yours truly. I wrote a little essay about how I learned to savor my babies (I didn't actually learn that until Lisey was born, but you can read all about that in the book.) It was fun to write about something a little different from the frugal fare I usually serve up here.
You can buy the book for $9.95, and if it saves you from one extra outfit or piece of baby paraphernalia, it'll pay for itself handily. 😉 I didn't agree with everything I read in the book, but I think you'll find, as I do, that reading a book on minimalism inspires you to pare down a bit, even if you're not going to go whole-hog minimalist.
That's probably not a good way to describe minimalism, huh?
Anyway, if you're in the baby phase of life, this book could definitely help you save money and space. Oh, and I've written a handful of posts about frugality and babies.
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Speaking of babies, would you like to see a few photos of my niece Calli? The only pictures I've shared with you before were from the story of her birth and she's changed quite a bit since then!
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Remember my equestrian boots from L.L. Bean?
I got an email from Ebates yesterday letting me know that you can get a $10 gift card when you spend $50 or more at L.L. Bean. Also, if you sign up for an Ebates account and shop L.L. Bean through Ebates, you'll get an extra 2% cash back. And L.L. Bean offers free shipping every day.
As I mentioned in my original post, these aren't cheap boots, but they do come with L.L. Bean's great lifetime guarantee and they're made of real leather.
One caveat...if you've got wide-ish feet but slim calves, don't order the wide width! I tried that and my calves were swimming in the boots (the whole boot is wider in the wide size). So I switched to the regular width, and after wearing them a few times, the leather has stretched nicely and my feet aren't feeling squished.
(P.S. These are the Deerfield Equestrian boots in black.)
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If you haven't made the Asian-Glazed Tilapia recipe I've shared, you totally should. I'm no fish fan, but even I like to have seconds of this. When we had it for lunch yesterday, I was reminded just how tasty this dish is.
Ok! I think that's all I've got to share with you today. Have a lovely Wednesday, k?
I'm going to try for that myself. If I get a quieter, more at-home day than I did yesterday (which was mostly spent out running errands) that should go a long way.
Errands=grumpy Kristen.
(Tell me I'm not the only one!)
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Today's 365 post:The Squishy Tree
Joshua's 365 post: More Ocarina!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure for more details.
I need to try that tilapia dish. Looks yummy! Do you buy the bag of frozen tilapia at Aldi's?
Yup, I sure do!
NO you are the only one who can get a bit grumpy doing errands!!! I put mine off until I can't any longer. I like being at home in my comfort zone!!!!!!! 🙂
Don't you just love babies, especially when you are not dealing with that stage of childhood in your own home!! Gonna give the fish a try. Living in the south, our fish dish is usually deep fried and battered. Not very healthy, but good.
Yes! Other people's babies are THE AWESOME.
I run errands on Thursdays after we are done at co-op. We live out in the country so running into town each day is not practical. Plus, since we live in the country, going to town once a week is a real treat!
Kristen,
Where do you buy your talapia fish fillets? Are they fresh or frozen? Are they from Aldi? If so, have you tried their frozen flounder? How was the flounder in comparison?
Thanks.
I buy the frozen bag at Aldi. I haven't tried their flounder, so I can't compare the two, but the tilapia tastes just like tilapia from anywhere else.
I love-love-love the feeling of errands being done, and that's what motivates me to do them. The same with household chores, although I've been slacking off lately. I think it's time for a nice spring cleaning.
You're not the only one!!! Driving from place to place and shopping sucks the life out of me. I like to throw in a little treat for myself (some good chocolate, or I bring a tasty travel mug of chai) to make it a little better 🙂
My goodness, what a revelation! How come after 10 years of motherhood, 4 children and waaaaaay too many errands to keep track of, did I not think of this? A thermos of chai and some white chocolate or caramel squares will be joining me on my next shopping trip. Thank you so much for sharing your strategy Sarah.
The tilapia looks really good. I haven't tried that kind of fish, yet. Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂
you are not alone...errands are the worst, especially when the list is long and there are many stops. i especially struggle to do errands on my days off from work since those are some of the precious and few moments i get with hubbie (he works second shift like Mr. FG, and i work traditional shift.)
Cute boots 🙂
I'm not a fan of errands and only do them at certain times of the day to avoid encountering other people out doing errands. My favorite way to do errands is riding my bike to do all of them but since I'm a fair-weather bike rider, I'll have to wait. We're off to a very cold spring in Portland (OR) and I just encountered snow on my morning "chicks with sticks" power walk!
You're definitely not the only one 🙂 I'm putting off my errands as long as possible but I think that I'm on borrowed time at this point *grin*
Have a great day though, errands or no errands!
My errand day is the one day I drop my son at my MIL's for the day. I start out excited for my big day of alone time and errands, but by about the third stop I'm frustrated, tired and hungry! So I always start out gung-ho and then get VERY grumpy! And it's always like that! LOL But I did have a good find this morning, I had to go somewhere not on my usual route and was able to swing by the Lebanese bakery - they had day old HUGE loaves of bread for .50 and 10 packs of awesome hoagie rolls for .99. Score!
You are not the only one, errands make me grumpy and take up precious time.
Ugh! Errands are the worst. I try to get them done during the week on the way home from work so that I'm not a total crab on the weekend. Love a misc. post C:
Funny - I just got back from running Errands with my three kids (5 and under), and am really quite grumpy. Glad to know I'm not the only one!
Calli is such a beautiful baby!
Kristen, thanks for sharing photos of Calli. I don't know anyone with babies at the moment, except for me and Sean is just coming up to 20 months at that. He's still very cute and baby like and I'm savoring every last minute of it.
When I looked at Calli I was struck by how she has one of those faces that you can see what the older child version of herself will look like. Very captivating 🙂
Btw, I love reading your blog (and Small Notebook) when I get the grumps. It reminds me to contemplate the "cheerful" part of your subtitle (and the "simple" part of Rachel's). Do any blogs do that for you?
Well, I'll say that I like errands. I did a bunch this morning, and I love the accomplishment of getting a bunch of things off my list. 🙂
And I want to tell you that I love your tilapia recipe. I first made it a month or two ago, and then again recently. It's such an easy way to prepare fish, and it's so good. Thank you!
Oh, it's nice to know that there's books out there focused on minimalism as it pertains to baby stuff. I'm no minimalist by any means, but I did discover that *gasp* I don't really need newborn clothes, and that a diaper and a bunch of blankets are the best alternatives for convenience and simplicity.