I'm constantly thinking of all that I want to write down somewhere. The wisdom (haha!) I have to bestow upon others. Then I sit down to write and this is what I get: "Dangit! What was I thinking about earlier?" Turns out that as life floods in, my thoughts fly out... before I get to paper or a computer. Hmph.

I've heard many people talk about how different their pregnancies are from one child to the next, but the actual pregnancy aside, being pregnant is different after you have a little munchkin in tow.

- Drinking water all day doesn't work as well because you can't pop into the bathroom at Target with a toddler.
- Naps are restricted to nap time only...

The plan is to keep adding to this list as I realize new intricacies of the 2nd pregnancy. Anyone else have any to add?

So we've been trying to be better at a variety of things related to food: eating healthfully, eating at home, eating what's in the pantry/fridge - rather than getting new, fun stuff at the grocery, etc. Tonight we had a most-delicious (and easy!) dinner, so I thought I'd share. It's not rocket science, but maybe it'll give others a new idea.

Shrimp Stirfry
- We had a TON of cooked rice in the fridge from a party last night. It was white rice. In the future, we'll use brown rice.
- Frozen veggies
- Mini-Shrimp
- Peanut oil
- Sesame oil
- Mushrooms (I'm SO NOT a cook, and don't even know what kind I bought! Haha)
- Coconut oil
- White pepper
- Garlic salt

Because my little one is under 2, and I think he's not supposed to have shrimp and my husband doesn't like mushrooms, the order in which I cooked things, could be made easier. :)

I put a little sesame oil and some peanut oil in a deep, large skillet on medium. I added the frozen veggies and let them cook awhile. Meanwhile in a smaller skillet, I sauteed some cooked mini-shrimp in coconut oil. After a couple of minutes, I added the cooked rice to the veggies and mixed it all up. While all that cooked on medium, I chopped up my mushrooms. When the shrimp looked finished I added them to the rice and veggies to cook together. I added some water so it wouldn't dry out. To season the mixture, I sprinkled some white pepper and garlic salt. Then I sauteed some more shrimp and my mushrooms in more coconut oil in the small skillet. After that looked done, I added that to my serving of the rice. It was a delightful dinner, Munchkin ate his, and hubby said it was one of his favorites that I've made. A winner all around!

When we moved into our current house a few months ago, my husband and I bought a reel mower. Can I tell you? I LOVE IT! We still have a lawn service come every 2 weeks because we aren't good at keeping up with the lawn, but I mow on the off-weeks and my husband does the weed-eating. Why use a reel mower, you ask?
1. It's good exercise. I work up a sweat, but not so much that I'm sore the next day.
2. No air or noise pollution. See this post at Crunchy Domestic Goddess.
3. We save money by doing it ourselves. I'd love to work up to doing the yard every week, but one step at a time. :)

Well, school's out and that means I might stop neglecting Compounding Interests. I don't have anything interesting to post at the minute, but know that there's more to come. :)

Yet another fabulous contest! I didn't even know you could embroider an Ergo!

Check out the adorable blankets at Bubblecakes! Penny Pinching Parent is giving one away here. How can you resist??

I can tell you as a teacher, there are a lot of responsibilities that were once considered prime domain for parents that now rest on the shoulders of your local educator. Just in: paying students to succeed. A pilot program in DC (and Chicago and 1 other city) are paying kids to meet the school requirements: attendance, wearing their uniform, grades, behavior.
Pros:
- It shows kids that we value their education enough to pay them for it.
- Maybe those who drop out or skip class because their family situation is such that they have to work, will be able to stay at school... maybe...
- It might help some motivated students how to manage money.
- It exposes kids to banks who might otherwise only manage their money through Checks Cashed type establishments. (I certainly hope that the bank they are using is fee-free, other than maybe for overdrafts.)
Cons:
- What happens when they want more money?
- Not all are buying dinner out like the article suggests.
- Can you undo a program like this? What happens if the program fails? THEN we expect the students to take their responsibilities seriously again without the cash incentive?
- Bad grades don't cancel out the money they earn just for showing up. I'm pretty sure that if all I do is show up to teach and then play on my computer all day that the money will run out...

So many other questions about this.
What do you all think?

So I was thinking... (always a gamble)
While television is certainly at fault for drawing families away from the dinner table, as are our overly planned afternoons of sports, scouts, and lessons, I think cell phones and email also should shoulder some blame. I talk to my husband everyday on my way home after I pick Baby Boy up from day care. We talk about our days and anything else that wasn't covered in our daily emails. So, when it's time for dinner, there's not always something to talk about. I've actually found myself holding onto information so there's something to discuss at the table.
Agree? Disagree?

When we last left the cloth ledger, I was at $461.84.

Here's the latest:

From a mom at a local diaper chat-
1 used Froggie M Fuzzi Bunz - old style $7
1 used WAHM largish fitted $7

From a different mom, 1 month later:
1 used L Dream Eaze AI2 $12
1 new M old style Fuzzi Bunz w/insert $12

From Nicki's Diapers:
2 Babykicks Hemparoo doublers $10, but I had a gift cert., so, FREE :)

From a local resale shop:
1 used large fitted made from recycled tshirt w/liner $8
2 used large fitted Cuddlebums w/snap-in liners $20
1 new DiaperChange University of Texas pocket $17.95

Total: $545.79

Keep in mind this is all new money, as opposed to me selling diapers that are too small and using that money to size-up (which is one way to go). We plan to keep the diapers to use with our kids in the future. Then if they're worth anything after 3-4 kids, we'll sell them or donate them to Miracle Diapers. So even if our cost of cloth is similar to what we would spend on disposables for 1 kid, we make up the savings for each subsequent kid.