`

MyLitter - One Deal At A Time

Extreme Couponing, Houston Frugal Living Blog

Home About Contact/PR Coupon Database


What I Love About 2 Year Olds ( repeat after me again, and again)

By 22 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

She eats only the inside of the Oreos

I have a two year old. I love her so much it hurts. She is the center of attention in our home, she is dotted on and loved 24/7 by 8 people older then her. To say she is spoiled is probably a good way of saying it. I am totally OK with this though, she is EXTREMELY self confident and I hope she stays that way.

I just wouldn’t want to marry her. Just saying’…

I cried a lot when my oldest were 2, I cried less when #’s 3-4 were 2, and basically laughed a lot when #’s 5,6 and 7 were 2.

My blogging buddy – sometimes can’t hang!

Yesterday I walked into my bathroom to find my 2 year old on the floor with my liquid blush all over her church dress. “Why do I have liquid blush?” was the first question I asked myself? With my oldest I would have cried and asked “WHY, do you do these things?!”

Today I walked into the bathroom ( this is a theme with 2 year olds, the fascination with bathrooms) and my deodorant was in little pebbles all over the floor and smashed into the rug. She had rubbed it all over her naked belly and under her arms. “Good thinking” I told her as we cleaned it up. At least she tried to get it in the right place…. My oldest did this and not a couponer at the time, I put him in time out because I had to get new deodorant. This time, I just tossed what was left in the trash and grabbed a new one from the pile.

As she and I chatted in her little 2 year old Chinese sounding language, I was sad she was growing up and not too much longer I wouldn’t be cleaning up random weird 2 year old messes. Instead, I have 18 more years of cleaning up toddler, tween, teen and older messes but those are just not as fun.

Poor dog just wants to sleep, not get dressed up!

It is a little exciting to realize it is awfully quiet, and that you have not seen the little one for a few minutes. “Andie?” I yell. I hear cupboard doors slam, and a chair sliding across the floor. “Get out of the candy!”  I yell not even having to walk in the kitchen.

I made a list of things I love about 2 year olds: 

1. You love to try and come in the bathroom with me ALL THE TIME. As long as I have had a 2 year old, I am never lonely in the bathroom.

2. You are so helpful and like to try and change your own diaper, outside, when there is poop in it. INFONT of the neighbors.

3. You always find my bra on the floor in my bedroom or basket and bring it to me in the living room when we have the missionaries over for dinner.

4. You know EXACTLY what you want, when you want it, how you want it, and who is going to get it for you. I love that.

5. You are a little duckling. Whoever gets you out of bed that day, you follow around all day.

6. You watch me get dressed and point to my butt and say “Bum, ewwwww” all the time. I love that, really. After this many kids I have no self esteem anyway.

7. You torture the dog and he likes it.

8. You make your Dad cry when he talks about how much he loves you.

9. You copy everything I do. You try and put on my makeup, my deodorant, my lotion, my bras, my shoes, carry my purse and use my phone. The other kids can’t be bothered with me and you are always there!

10. You have shoes that squeak and can get away with wearing them all day! I want some also, but couldn’t pull it off.

11. You saw your Dad get out of the shower, pointed at him, and started laughing! I think my sides still hurt from laughing with you!

12. You bring your brother his blankie in time out. Even though he was there for making you cry.

As each of my kids hit a different age I find myself saying ” I really love this age” and it is for all different reasons. When they are older it is because of the conversations we can now have, and when they are little it is because of how sweet they are.

I am so grateful to be the Mom of a 2 year old right now. Even if she has ruined a dress, stick of deodorant, and liquid blush in the past 24 hours, that sweet little face makes it all ok!

What do you love about 2 year olds?! 

Invisible Squirrels and Hand Aardvarks – How to get your kids to eat dinner

By 8 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

Each family has techniques, developed over time, how to get small children to eat dinner. Sometimes it involves begging, pleading and threatening. Here in the Ivanovsky household, it involves… The Invisible Squirrel.

The invisible squirrel was “invented” by my parents when they were trying to get any of their 6 kids to eat. The invisible squirrel was preceded by the hand aardvark.

The hand aardvark would show up ( amazingly looking like my Dad’s hand ) and pretend to eat our food if we were not fast enough, thus encouraging us to eat. We all had a really good imagination. But at some point the hand aardvark was phased out and the invisible squirrel took over.

The invisible squirrel has remained the premium way to trick children into eating.

This is how it works: 

First, you have to “introduce” your child to the invisible squirrel. Make up some kind of half way believable story about how there is a crazy invisible squirrel that has been on the lose and eating kids food if they are not quick enough.

You pull the non-eating child close to you, where you are sitting side by side or at least within arms reach. Add some food to your spoon/fork. Then out the fork near the kids mouth, turn your head away and start talking to another person to where you can’t see the spoon/fork.

“I sure hope the invisible squirrel doesn’t come and get this food…”

“I sure hope Andie eats this food before the invisable squirrel gets it…”

Keep holding the fork in front of their mouth until the kid “gets it” and takes a bite. Then as soon as you feel the food gone, whip your head around and yell…

“Oh NO!!! The invisible squirrel just ate Andies food!!!”

Repeat as needed until food is gone.

I promise, you have a non-eater give this a shot. I have had kids as little as 12 months old “get it” and eat a plate of tuna fish. My older kids laugh and laugh, they love even watching the little one smile and think they are so smart eating the food.

Tonight at dinner we had company and so we packed the kids on the bench side of the table. We heard Rush laughing and realized he was trying to feed Andie. I have never been happier I had my phone with me so I could film him trying to feed her! Of course, then he stabs her in the eye with his fork…. but all is good and this video is hysterical!

Plus he still has a little speech issue and so it sounds like:

“I hope da ibidible squeel doesn’t eat Andies Wice!”

OMGosh! I love this kid!

How do you get your kids to eat?

How to make a Harry Potter Wand

By 12 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.


Follow Me on Pinterest

We spent the weekend being crafty. My kids are on a BIG Harry Potter kick, about 5 years behind the times, but loving it none the less. We watched most of the movies in the car on the way to and from California and all over Arizona and Texas this past month. They turn everything from straws. to sticks to  granola bars into magic wands.

I love listening to them and watching the big kids get completely involved and play along. In fact, we have made up a list of our own “Ivanovsky Spells.”

My Favorite? In place of one of the more popular Harry Potter spells “expelliarmus” the Ivanovsky version is “smelly lamas.” I am sure you can see how the rest of them go!

My oldest has a “real” Harry Potter wand he got one year from Santa, it was the pricy kind at $40 that is motion activated. The little kids drug it out and have been fighting I mean sharing it nicely all week. They had a lemonade stand earning $42 and decided to pool the money to buy another wand. Like that is  going to go well…

My crafty 8 year old got online and found many different sets of instructions on how to make a wand. The other kids shook their heads and said “no!” She begged me to help her make one. Since I had just about everything I said sure, and we got started.

You will need: 

  • Glue Gun / Glue Sticks (about 3 large ones for each wand)
  • Craft Paint (we liked metallic and glitter)
  • Construction paper
  • Chop Sticks or wooden dowels
  • Elmers Glue
  • Marble or something to put at the handle end. We found a bag of wedding gems at Walmart for $3.50 that worked perfectly.

Place glue on one side of any color of construction paper.

Take your chop stick and roll from the corner tightly.

When I got to the end, I taped the corner down and we left them to dry.

Now, when they are all dry, you will need to cut off the ends so they are flat.

Working with one end, I filled the end with hot glue and stuck the end of the gem in. I turned it upside down and held it until the glue had set.

The bigger kids started to take notice and thought we might be onto something cool, so they started making their own construction paper tubes!

Once the top was set, I took more hot glue and make rings around the gem and tube reinforcing it even more. I needed them to be sturdy!

This is where your glue gun skills come in handy! If you lived though the craft phase of the 90’s you know what I mean! 🙂

Start from the below your gem/marble and start building up a few layers of glue. I tried to spread it down, and as it would drip I would roll it around, making some kinda funky patterns.

The thickest layers need to be at the top and get thinner as you go towards the bottom. Just keep in mind what a wand might look like with a handle.

Once you have the first 1/2 of the wand done and before the glue cools, use the tip and make designs in the glue. This will give your wand cool dimensions and areas to paint when you are finishing it.

Once the glue has cooled, you will paint a coat of solid black over the wand as a primer.

The black really pulls out all the 3D of the glue. They start looking really cool at this point.

By now, I have all 7 kids making a wand 🙂

Once the black has dried, you can start painting your wand. My kids liked the glitter and metallic paint for theirs. We used gold a lot for the accents.

They took a few coats because of a few mind changes. Plus a few hours of drying time. But once they were done I thought they looked REALLY cool!

The kids were really proud of themselves as well. The big kids were so impressed they wanted to have friends over to make some with them!

These are our finished Harry Potter wands. They are very sturdy and really neat looking! When you feel them it is hard to imagine that they are made of chop sticks, construction paper and hot glue!

I added a few more lines of hot glue at the end on the wands where I painted the gold you can see to give them more of a 3D look then they already had.

For the other end, the kids went out and grabbed a few little rocks and we glued them in. One of the kids use a small gem for theirs, and one of the kids didn’t want anything and I filled the end with hot glue. These really feel like they were made out of wood.

They spent all day playing with them.

One final step that I have not done yet but will when I can get them back is to take a few small drops of black paint and mix it in a lot of water to create a wash. I want to “antique” them some and so I will brush the paint water on and then wipe it off so it creates an antiquing effect.

Cost of a fancy Harry Potter wand: $40  x 7 kids = $280!

Total cost of our Harry Potter wands: $21 for 7!

I am assuming you have a glue gun in those calculations! I had to buy some paint, the gems, and more glue sticks. Total saved = $259. Now if I can just figure out how to make them light up!
Follow Me on Pinterest

October Challenge: Spending Freeze! Living better with less.

By 7 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

My dear friend Ruth over at Living Well Spending Less, has challenged everyone to a spending freeze and I am going to join in.

My purpose is to get a last minute gift fund for Christmas this year and I am hoping that you will join me.

What is a spending freeze? Just what it sounds like. You are DONE, no spending on anything that is NOT a necessity. Eating out? Nope, find something at home, it might be a lot of sandwiches this month! Halloween costumes? Can you recycle from last year and or make something with what you have at home? That quick coffee or shake from the drive through? Not going to do it! I am going to pay myself back this month by NOT spending, and not nickel and dimming my self to death as I feel like I do sometimes.

Will it be hard? YES! Very hard! But I am going to give it 100% and in return I hoping to have an extra $500 by Halloween!!

Don’t worry, I will still be posting great deals, I know that not everyone is ready to join in. But consider giving it a try. Or what about making a few sacrifices and saving $250 this month? You will have that much more to spend in November/December as part of your Christmas budget, or to add to savings.

The coolest thing about this challenge is that you don’t want to feel like you are missing out or sacrificing. It is about finding more with less. When we have done this as a family in the past I have found that it has drawn us closer as a family, made us aware of how MUCH we already have and shown me what was REALLY valuable.

Are you ready? Do you need a day to think about it and get prepared? Thats ok, jump on in this month when you are ready. Each day I will give you a challenge and update. Please comment and let us know how you are doing and how you have saved and made this work.

I am going to track my progress and you can also: 

 Print your own cover for your notebook: Having a notebook will  help you keep track and motivate you in your progress. Plus it is cute!

I had a empty 1/2 inch binder that no one was using and I am making it our family project this month. We are going to all have to work together and I am adding cash to a jar in the kitchen to show the kids how much we are saving.

 

State your commitment!: You have to be committed or you will not stick with it!  If you are married, you will need your spouse on board with you, it isn’t fun to do it all alone. Have a goal, how much do you want to add to your Christmas budget or savings account? Work with each other, make it fun, get the kids involved. Have a family meeting, show them your notebook have them be contributors.

 

The Ground Rules: To make it easier to understand your goals, you need some ground rules. This is something you can even print and put on your fridge for the family to remember what you are doing.

There is no way you can spend NO money! We all have to get gas, fresh food and have some commitments that we already made. But you can spend dramatically less when you commit to doing so.

Make it fun! See what you can really do when you put your mind to it. See what you have at home that you can recycle, reuse and don’t need!

Each family is different: Every family will have different needs and different ideas of what can be cut out. Plus you already probably have prior commitments to what you have to spend. The idea is to STOP spending on what you can and go without. It might be a little uncomfortable but it is a good experience to do so. We plan on ONLY being able to eat from what we have frozen or in the pantry. You might not be able to do that, no biggie, just do what your family can.

There are a few suggestions that can definitely be cut out for the month:

  • Eating at restaurants
  • Starbucks
  • Clothing
  • Hobbies–crafts, golf, etc.
  • Entertainment
  • Toys
  • Toiletries
  • Alc & other vices
  • Lottery Tickets
  • Furniture/Home Decor

Obviously if you run out of toilet paper you should probably get some! But the point/idea is to see what you can cut out and do without or use what you already have.

Let’s make this fun and all work and encourage each other! How much money are we going to save this month!?

Frugal Halloween Table Decorations

By 7 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.


Patricia Lopez from ABC Chanel 13 saw my Dollar Store front door post that I did earlier in the week. She liked it and wanted to do a little segment on decorating for Halloween on a budget and decorating with Dollar Store items.

Patricia came by Wednesday afternoon and we filmed the segment which will air tonight at 4:50pm on Houston’s channel 13. It will also run on Friday morning again.

After filming the front door, we were able to put together a table scape from items Patricia got at the $.99 Only store.


I can’t tell you how much better the selection and style the dollar stores have now then they did even 2 years ago. I try and pick out the more plain items so I have an easier time figuring out what to do with them. Plus I like the Pottery Barn more plain style that I can’t afford!

This table cost $16 and this is what she bought:

  • 3 Table Clothes ( purple, orange, and black)
  • 4 Chargers for place settings
  • 4 Pumpkins to go on chargers
  • 3 Tree picks
  • 1 Set of purple spiders
  • 1 set of pumpkin picks (we pulled them off the picks and used them on the tables)

I think it turned out pretty cool!

Make sure to check out us tonight on ABC 13

Follow Me on Pinterest

Tween Girls Room Makeover!

By 5 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

A few weeks ago, we redid the older girls rooms just a little, well, because they were getting older! They had the same bedding for about 8 years and no storage to speak of for all their little personal things. Plus the little kids were getting into their stuff all the time and it was “not cool.”

I had seen some great cubbies on Pottery Barn Kids site, mostly because I like to torture myself with how cute everything is but completely unaffordable. I had $200 for this project to give them a new room. I asked them to clean it up for you and take a picture and this is what I got above!

They had these sets of cubbies on sale for $132 + $20 shipping, at Pottery Barn Kids and I thought they would look cute with buckets. I needed 2 sets, so $300 just for the cubbies and no buckets.

I knew I could do better and so I ran to IKEA to take a look. I found the TROFAST set you see above for $49.99 each. That was still a lot because I needed 2, but I knew we would have them a long time. The buckets are $4 each, and you need 6 basically to fill it. All said, it was $150 for the cubbies and they were MUCH larger and 1/2 the price as PBK.

I also got the big girls a new duvet cover each. They were $19.99 for the cover and pillow case. I took their old comforter and used that as the duvet and stuffed it inside the new one so I didn’t have to buy a duvet. For $40, it looks like they got all new bedding! Then at the end we tossed in the area rug to match for $19.99 and I am really glad we did. It completed the entire room.

I can’t tell you the difference it made in their room to change the bedding, adding the rug, and the cubbies. It feels like a brand new room and they love it. If I would have known it could have been done for $200, I would have done ti a while ago as I had the money saved from all the stuff I sold on Craigslist this summer!

Also, if you have not eaten at IKEA before you are in for a treat. It is super affordable, the kids meals are $2.49 and this breakfast platter is $.99!!

PLUS, if your IKEA is a franchise, they will match the online price. Mine in Houston is and the cubbies were $59.99 in the store. They are $49.99 online and so they matched that price!

Where do you get kids room things from? Have you scored any deals anywhere? 

What is your favorite animal? (pick one that isn’t on the endangered list!)

By 2 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

I have a kid that is really smart. As a Mom I would love to say that about all my kids, but I am also realistic and some are just smarter then others. I am totally ok with that as they all have things about them that are really cool. I can also admit that I am not really the smartest when it comes to academics either. I am WAY better at the artsy, creative, stuff then the book stuff.

The other day in the car I had a conversation with this child that was a perfect example of why I love them so much.

“Mom, what is your favorite animal? Don’t say I don’t have one, because I know you do, EVERYONE has a favorite animal.”

“Ummmm, well, I don’t know…” I say

“MOMMMM!” they yell.

“O.k. I suppose it would be a Moose, yes I really like Moose.” I tell them. “What’s yours?” I ask.

“My very favorite is a Panda, and I am really disappointed that I did not see any in the wild in China. But I am afraid I am going to have to pick a new favorite animal and be careful that I don’t pick one on the endangered species list.” they say.

“Why is that?” I ask.

“BECAUSE…” they say as if I am an idiot. “How awkward will that be if someone asks me what my favorite animal is and I say a Panda, and they are extinct. Sadly, I am going to have to choose another favorite, one that doesn’t eat 40 pounds of leaves a day.”

When I was a kid, I picked my favorite animal by how cute they were, or what color happened to be my favorite that day, or what animal movie I had just seen. Wow, it sucks to be smart!

Why do 2 year olds point with their middle finger?

By 5 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

Having 7 children I have my own little petrie dish experiment and control group. After this many kids I pretty much know what to expect and what is normal.

I was starting to get concerned when my youngest had not started using her middle finger to point at everything and everyone. Was she behind developmentally?

Every 2 year old goes through this stage of unknowingly offending every person by excitedly pointing out everything possible with the offending finger. I have at least 6 other photos of 6 other children doing the very same thing, in fact most are more… well, offensive!

The thing that is even funnier when it is your 7th child is the reaction of the other 6 children. You have the older ones who know what “giving someone the middle finger” means, find this extremely hilarious and want all their friends to see her do it. Provoking her to point to everything possible when friends are over, so they can all giggle like little girls.  To the middle age group of kids, the 6-9 age range, who don’t know EXACTLY what it means, but know enough that it is BAD. They try to make her stop because they are really embarrassed and know that she is doing something that is wrong. Then there is the 4 year old, who just last year grew out of this stage himself, although he still has yet to find a replacement finger for picking his nose.

My guess is that along with the 2 year old attitude, we don’t call this one “the honey badger” for nothing, they know what they are doing and can get away with it. What freedom! Looks can be deceiving, look at those chubby little hands! How sweet is she?!

No, she knows exactly what she is doing. I didn’t get her marinara for her free cheese stick appetizer at Chili’s, I went with the ranch to dip instead and she is letting me know what she thinks about it. She only looks all sweet and cute.

Why do 2 year old point with their middle finger? Because they can!

Live Auction Today ONLY to Help The Johnson Family

By 4 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

In July, The Johnson Family was on a road trip from Sugar Land TX ( a suburb of Houston) to Utah and Idaho to see family. They were in a horrible car accident in west Texas and tragically their 2 youngest daughters were killed and another daughter is still in critical condition.

Their story has affected me in many ways. The Johnson’s have 6 children and they were making the same drive that I have made many times myself. They were on their way to pick up an older child returning home from a mission for their church. As we were coming home this summer across west Texas in early July, we sadly came across an accident similar to this one that has impacted my husband and I greatly.

TODAY, until 9pm tonight there is an online auction to help this family that you can take a look at HERE.

Each item will be open for bids for 24 hours only!!  The cutoff time for the first round of bids will be August 22 at 9 PM PST.  The highest bidder that has commented at or before 9 PM PST will be the winner!  Please make sure you ONLY bid if you have a PAYPAL account.  Each item has a bid increment dollar amount listed.  When you are bidding make sure you bid in AT LEAST the bid increment noted.   PLEASE make sure your email address is in the comment section for winning notification purposes!!!!   You may bid higher than the bid increment if you would like.  The winners of each auction will be contacted by fabulousfunfinds@yahoo.com.  The winners will need to make their winning ‘donation’ to the paypal account set up for the Johnson Family.

There are some really cute items in this auction! Go HERE and take a look! 

I have a question? Who was the coolest celebrity you ever met?

By 15 Comments By clicking on our links, we might make a SMALL commission - Thanks for the support! See our full DISCLOSURE here.

I dont even care if this photo is fuzzy. Greatest. Moment. Ever. Photo with The Pioneer Woman at Blogher.

Well, except for this moment, The Pioneer Woman taking a photo of my sister 2 years ago.

I have met a few celebrities in my lifetime. Crazy places, unexpectedly, and also expected places like at book signings and on a few sets of TV shows. Many are really cool and nice and some are sadly not very nice and crushed my little heart! I hate being disappointed in what people are really like. Or maybe I caught them on a bad day? Anyway, it is fun to see famous people!

Paul is a pretty good golfer, or was a few years ago ( sorry honey ) we won a lot of really cool trips and things when he played regularly. He once won a trip to Maui, Hawaii from Mercedes Benz to play in the Mercedes Pro Am at the Ritz Carlton. Yeah, let me tell you, that was a REALLY rough trip to go on… 🙂

This was pretty much the coolest thing I had ever had the chance to do at the time, except that when we got to the front desk to check in they said there was an urgent message waiting for us. Of course we panic and are worried about the kids. Turns out my sister totaled our car (and a few other cars) only hours after we had left and my parents were calling to let us know everyone was ok, but we had no car. Well hey, we were in Maui, we can deal with that when we get back.

Later that night I got in the elevator to go down to dinner, when the door opened I had to maneuver around some old guy to get in and stood next to a woman who appeared to be having a seizure. I was concerned and so I kept staring at her and finally asked if she was ok. She mumbled “yes” the door opened and the old guy got off.

“Oh my GAWD!!!” she yelled when the door closed. “I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe it!”

“What?” Totally clueless I asked her.

“Don’t you know who that was?” She yelled at me!

“I have no idea.” I told her.

“CLINT EASTWOOD!!!” She exclaimed and got off on her floor.

I had no idea. I sure didn’t look like the guy I knew as Clint Eastwood! However, I saw him a few more times over that week and it really was. He just, looked, old…. Sorry, he did!

Anyway, that is my “I was on the elevator with Clint Eastwood and didn’t know it story.”

Sometime you will have to remind me to tell you about the Lionel Richie / Eddie Murphy mix up we had that weekend also. That was good times!

Who was the coolest celebrity you ever met? 

Amazon Deals

Click Here for More Amazon Posts

Drug Store Deals

Click Here for More Drug Store Deals

Kroger Deals

Click Here for More Kroger Deals

Latest Freebies

Click Here for More Freebies

Local Deals

Click Here for More Local Deals

Latest Recipes

Click Here for More Recipes