Author: Patchwork Reality

Savers Changes Monday Deal

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 Just a quick note, I stopped into my Savers this morning looking for a few Harry Potter Books on tape that s friend told me were at our local Savers, my kids just  love books on tape!!  I went in and since it was Monday I thought I might snag a few bargains since typically Monday a certain color tag is always 99 cents.  Apparently they have changed Monday to a customer appreciation day and now the whole store is 25% off every Monday. 

Just a heads up, I was not aware of the change until I went it, what is great about this is that they put new items out all day in every department so if you aren’t there at opening waiting in line, you may still be able to get some great deals.
Have fun thrifters!!

Making a Growth Chart…Girls with Tools

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Yep, we are those kind of girls, we get our hands dirty, we grill, and we use power tools.  I have had it in mind for quite some time to make a growth chart of some type that is more than a door or piece for trim that is part of our house.  We are not positive that this is our “forever” house and so I wanted to make a growth chart that was almost like a piece of art to hang on the wall that we could easily take with us if/when we move.

What better project than this for my 6 year old to help me with, we used a square and power saw to cut the board to the proper length…6 feet.  Then I showed her briefly how to use the power wander and she went right to work, and did a great job.

Now we are deciding on a color/pattern/look that we like. Below are some ideas that I like, I will post ours when we finish it!

This one is from growingupvintage on Etsy

This one from growingupvintage on etsy

There are always cute one from Pottery Barn kids…..but I am sure I can beat the price with my DIY skills.

 Super cute, but $129.00!!!

You can check out our finished DIY growth chart here.

Signed up for a local garden plot

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We have always has in our backyard a garden, clearly laid out, with a nice border or fence of some sort, which has produced numerous healthy and great tasting fruits and veggies for our family.  I really enjoy going out at lunch time and picking fresh tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and sometimes peas in June for my salad.  I love watching the kids run out and pick fresh strawberries out of the patch staining their lips and fingers red.

We have a lot that is 1/2 an acre, on this sits our house so the amount on actual space to play is much less, with 4 kids and a small horse of a dog, we are trying a new gardening tactic this year.  This will open up some of the precious green play space for the kids, but still allow us to grow a garden.

I am keeping the strawberry patch and will have some tomatoes in containers on the deck these are the items I can’t have farther than this 1/2 an acre away.

Our city has 2 large spots that they till up and section off into 30 X 30 garden plots.  Each gets a number and is $30.  on May 1st we are allowed to some and plant in our spot.  We will have to carry in all the water that our plants will need.  I think the kids are going to love this, Solomon really likes to garden, he told me once, “gardening is more fun than playing”.   The plot is located just down the hill from our house it will take about 5 minutes to get  there and it is right off the bike path that connects to the kids school and fields where they practice soccer. 

We now have to decide what plants we are going to grow, and how we want to organize our 30 X 30 plot.  I  plan to post a weekly picture of the plot so everyone can see how quickly (hopefully;)) our plants grow! Stay tuned!!!

Old Navy on the Cheap

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I had to take a small break from blogging, our youngest had  her tonsils and adenoids removed and her recovery took some time.  She is now totally healed and hopefully on the road to gaining weight and her blood levels normalizing.

In the mean time I have am still doing well with not buying new clothes, aside from the few categories mentioned here.  This has been a bit a challenge lately with the changing of the seasons and all the great deals popping up and new styles and prints in stores.  Especially for the kids, it would be so much easier to just purchase everything they need in their size at one store in one day and Done.  However, easy is not always the path to conservation and resourcefulness.

That being said, I did partake in the Give and Get sale at Old Navy this past weekend; 30% your entire purchase.  I use a Gap Visa card to pay for many of my eBay retail purchases and also larger purchases that I than pay off when due.  This garners me Gap Rewards that come in $1o increments.  I hoard these until close to the expiration date, thus making the pile rather substantial.

So I printed of my G&G email and took my $100 in rewards that were due to expire the end of May, and bought some essentials and a few items that will be listed in my eBay store.  Raiven got an new pair of shoes that she desperately needed.  I also bought each child a reusable cup and lunch container for our road trip to Montana over spring break.

What do you think I paid for all this loot: ??????

Total:  $16.96!!! 

As I looked over my receipt writing this post, I noticed that the St. Patty’s Days shirts rang up at $7.50, they were supposed to be  $0.97, so I will have to go back and get a refund, which will actually bring my total to a negative amount!!!  Just a tip for Gap and Old Navy when they price kill an item, it will usually end in 97, and most times they have to override the price, so watch to make sure they do this.  I have had to go back a few times, they are always glad to do adjust the price, but I do not like to have to make the extra trip.

Running Shoes….Mizuno’s Run Narrow?!

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True I am a bit behind on some of my posts, the wee one had to have surgery so while she was healing I have not had much time for blogging.

In the midst of training for my marathons and other races this year, it has come time to replace the old pair of trusty duds for a new pair. I have worn many a shoe through my running days. For quite some time I was very happy with my Nike shoes with the Nike+ iPod setup. After I purchased my Garmin watch I realized that I could buy any running shoe on the market, I was no longer tied done with the sensor for my Nikes. (I could have bought a shoe pouch but was too cheap).

So I branched out and bought a pair of Saucony’s, a running partner wore them and had previously worn Nike’s she thought that Saucony shoes were much better.

I have had some luck with these shoes, but lost a few toenails, and am thinking they might be just a bit to narrow. Especially after pounding pavement in the July heat and my feet swelling.

When I wore Nike shoes I was buying them in a wide, and just was at the local sports store yesterday looking for my old friend size 9 Wide and they were MIA.

I had gone for a quick purchase at Old Navy for their Give and Get 30% sale and realized I could get shoes from the Pipelimes site so I ordered these bad girls:

Mizuno Wave Rider 7

These came in a wide, and after Free Shipping and my reward codes I scored them for $20!! I am hoping these will eliminate any toenail damage, they seem to have good reviews and I will have plenty of training miles on them before the first big day!!

It seems that I have a history of trial and error with running shoes, this can be expensive and frustrating.

One thing that helps is to know a little about your feet.

What is your arch type? High? Low? Neutral?

Are you running long distance? You may need a 1/2 size bigger than normal especially if running in the heat.

Do you have wide/narrow feet? If you have wider feet to begin with a wide shoe may help if running long distance?

Do you over/under pronate?

Answer to the above questions can lead you in the direction of a best fit shoe for your feet.

What shoes have you had the best luck with? How did you decide on this shoe?

Marathon Training Tweak

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Sometimes I think the hardest part of training for a marathon is the mental aspect.  It is so easy to talk myself out of running or put it off for later in the day with all the other “tasks” that I need to accomplish.

I am not the type who can go off for a long run, 5 miles or more, without a course in mind or plotted out on mapmyrun.com.  This is for two reasons, one I want my  husband to have an idea of my route so he can bring me water or gels,  if it is a rural route, and if he worries he can check on me.  Two, I need to have an idea in my head of where I start, the path and where the end will be.  This route keeps me focused and gives me purpose beyond running.

Since I have 2 full marathons ahead of me this year I have been thinking about my training regime for these and I think I am going to tweak it a bit from last year.  Typically my training is run Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, off  Thursday or X-train run Friday with my long run on Saturday,  Sunday is literally my day of rest…or laundry, cooking, and kid playing anything I may have put off on Saturday.

I found however, that this gets to be a lot of running and so I am brainstorming  a possible coup on the typical regime with a new plan that my go something like this…run Monday and Tuesday, weights Wednesday, a spinning or bike ride on Thursday,  Friday run and the long run still on Saturday, still Sunday being rest or even a yoga class.

First I think I will be less likely to tire of running especially since we are somewhat rural, the same paths do not offer much excitement, and I am really going to be in training mode through the second marathon in October.  Second, I think that with a bit more cross training I may be stronger in other areas and maybe run faster?!?!

So here would be a typical 5 run                           Here is what I am planning

training schedule for week one                             I will still hit my long run each

of  marathon training:                                               week but add more X-training:

Monday: 3 Miles                                                              Monday: 3 Miles

Tuesday: 4 Miles                                                              Tuesday: 4 Miles

Wednesday: 4 Miles                                                       Wednesday:Strength/Weights

Thursday:Off                                                                    Thursday:Spinning/Bike

Friday: 3 Miles                                                                   Friday:  3 Miles

Saturday: 6 Miles                                                              Saturday: 6 Miles

Sunday: Off                                                                            Sunday: Off/Yoga

So even though it looks like I may be working out more, I will have a diverse training schedule, which will keep me interested and also reduce my risk of injury.  I think this will also give me more schedule flexibility regarding weather and class availability, hitting those long runs on Saturday will still be most essential.

What does your training schedule look like? How about a favorite or essential cross training workout?

Training Tweak

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Sometimes I think the hardest part of training for a marathon is the mental aspect. It is so easy to talk myself out of running or put it off for later in the day with all the other “tasks” that I need to accomplish.

I am not the type who can go off for a long run, 5 miles or more, without a course in mind or plotted out on mapmyrun.com. This is for two reasons, one I want my husband to have an idea of my route so he can bring me water or gels, if it is a rural route, and if he worries he can check on me. Two, I need to have an idea in my head of where I start, the path and where the end will be. This route keeps me focused and gives me purpose beyond running.

Since I have 2 full marathons ahead of me this year I have been thinking about my training regime for these and I think I am going to tweak it a bit from last year. Typically my training is run Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, off Thursday or X-train run Friday with my long run on Saturday, Sunday is literally my day of rest…or laundry, cooking, and kid playing anything I may have put off on Saturday.

I found however, that this gets to be a lot of running and so I am brainstorming a possible coup on the typical regime with a new plan that my go something like this…run Monday and Tuesday, weights Wednesday, a spinning or bike ride on Thursday, Friday run and the long run still on Saturday, still Sunday being rest or even a yoga class.

First I think I will be less likely to tire of running especially since we are somewhat rural, the same paths do not offer much excitement, and I am really going to be in training mode through the second marathon in October. Second, I think that with a bit more cross training I may be stronger in other areas and maybe run faster?!?!

So here would be a typical 5 run Here is what I am planning

training schedule for week one I will still hit my long run each

of marathon training: week but add more X-training:

Monday: 3 Miles Monday: 3 Miles

Tuesday: 4 Miles Tuesday: 4 Miles

Wednesday: 4 Miles Wednesday:Strength/Weights

Thursday:Off Thursday:Spinning/Bike

Friday: 3 Miles Friday: 3 Miles

Saturday: 6 Miles Saturday: 6 Miles

Sunday: Off Sunday: Off/Yoga

So even though it looks like I may be working out more, I will have a diverse training schedule, which will keep me interested and also reduce my risk of injury. I think this will also give me more schedule flexibility regarding weather and class availability, hitting those long runs on Saturday will still be most essential.

What does your training schedule look like? How about a favorite or essential cross training workout

A new friend in the oraganic celery

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Hubby is up in the kitchen chopping and slaving away making soup for dinner.  I hear him say “Hay Tanna look what I found in the celery.”

I hear footsteps, it is quiet for a minute, “Momma come up here quick!”  I then here Tanna’s feet pounding down the stairs, guess she is going to find me first.  “Momma, we found a caterpillar in the celery!!!!”  I hear the the big kids bus roll up outside before I can comment, so I encourage her to share what she found today with the kids as they come in….”WE FOUND This IN THE CELERY” with hand gestures that are sure to win her an Oscar at some later date.

They look in her little plastic bowl…”oh cool”.

Two minutes later Tanna says a little less emphatically “it’s dead.”  

Well at least it lived a pesticide free life and boy was the end exciting.

Can’t wait for the table talk tonight over soup!

Marathons on the Calendar

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I just signed up to run the Med City Marathon on May 29, 2011, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, and the Mankato Marathon on October 22, 2011.

Both of these races will be paced by the Minnesota Pacers, already I am anxious. After running my first full marathon last October in the Mankato Marathon I know the time and effort that goes into training. There is no better feeling that crossing the finish line and knowing that all the effort was worth it…but 2…in one year. I am always trying to challenge myself so instead of making a pace goal I made another race goal. To complete 2 full marathons this year. It will take an immense amount of training. I will post my training plan for the Med City as soon as I get it planned out.

In between marathons I will continue a race per month but probably no more than a 1/2 marathon. Not sure what the training will look like in between also, I may focus more on cross training and maintain one long run per week.

Toddler Thursday at Goodwill

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I walked into my local Goodwill, which I have not been to in quite awhile, I have been frequenting Savers mostly, and the friendly cashier says to me, “Today it Toddler Thursday all kids clothes and toys and 1/2 price.”!!!  I got a little giddy, so I asked what sizes were included thinking that toddler would hopefully go up to 5T which would cover Santanna and Avalon’s sizes, she said all kids clothes up to size 16!! 

This seems like a really great deal, the price points seem to be mostly $4.99, $3.99, $2.49, so these at 50% are a really great deal when you find things like Gap jeans and Gymboree shorts.  I came away with something for most of the kids, now the trick will be to try them on and see if they fit, what does not work I will just list in my ebay store.

One of the great benefits in my  commitment or resolution to buying all pre owned clothing is that they are already pre washed so shrinkage is not an issue, any colors that might have bled or faded heavily are not an issue.  As I said before however, Solomon’s size is a bit tricky I may have to look more to eBay for his wardrobe.

Here are some of my great finds:

For Raiven she picked out the top and the capris I found total cost for outfit $5.49!!!

For Avalon the sandals are new from Target!! The top is from Old Navy and the dot skirt is a Target store band, the skirt reminds me of Mini Boden and was only $1.49!!!

I also got the button down shirt on the left for this skirt if I want to make it a bit more dressy. Total for both tops, skirt and sandals, 7.44!!

This is a major find! It is a boutique baby outfit that is a 2T retail was $68.00 I got it for $7.99...it is too big for A but I am hoping for her birthday it may fit?!?

I may have just found a new Thursday morning habit!