Our Day of Family Fun

Cheesehead has the weekend off. We've been more than a little stressed out lately, so we decided to take the day off and do something fun with the family. We went to Wausau and mostly window shopped.

We got a lot of great ideas for Christmas although I did warn the kids not to expect too much this year. We also went to two of my favorite stores, Goodwill and Salvation Army. Cheesehead doesn't like shopping at these stores, he says they smell. Whatever. I found some GREAT bargains and I am quite pleased with my ability to stick to such a limited budget!

What did I find? Well, at the Salvation Army I found a package of 3 matching ribbon trims edged with lace. I needed to find some quilt binding for an old quilt I am trying to repair, I am hoping I can make these work, I have seen that quilt binding is quite expensive. After buying it I did see that it was not meant for apparel usage so I'm not sure that it was a wise investment of my $3. Any thoughts? I've never made/fixed a quilt before and I want to do the best job possible. I think I'm going to try to find out the quilt's story too. If I ever am able to make any connections about it, I'll share the story with you. I also found a huge pack of fabric paint for only $1.50. While I didn't really need it I was thinking about all of the stains my children manage to get on their clothes. My thought was that I could disguise the stains with something painted over them perhaps.

At the Goodwill I found two matching lampshades for the lamps that are going into the family room. I also found but didn't purchase two matching end tables. Cheesehead was skeptical if I'd actually find the time to refinish them as I envisioned the treasures. I only bought the lampshades. I guess I'll have to keep searching for those end tables.

I have one that he likes downstairs already, but apparently he seems to think they need to match. We searched Fleet Farm for one (that's where I bought the first table), but the tables they sell there are darker than the one we own so they weren't a match either. I'm not sure what the big deal is, I just want them to be big enough to hold a lamp, book, and a drink. I guess I'll have to continue my search and see if any acceptable solutions present themselves.

Cheesehead was just grumbling at me again the other day how I gave away the end tables that match our coffee table. He told me to get rid of them. How was I supposed to know that we were going to move and he'd regret his decision to give them away a couple of years later? What a goofball!

The kids found many new game systems they enjoyed at the used game store. Too bad that's not in our budget. I was supposed to get a free xbox 360 for participating in a bunch of programs last year, but somehow it never materialized even though I held up our end of the bargain. I am hoping to be able to get them a Nintendo Wii someday when the budget allows for it, probably won't be for a couple of years though. I'd buy only the games they had to move to be able to play so they could get some exercise without me having to be such a clock watcher when it comes to their screen time. I'm sick of arguing with them about my 1 hour each game time rule. I even have to fight Cheesehead on this one. He thinks I'm being too strict. I'm just trying to get them to make healthier lifestyle choices.

We also browsed around Best Buy to get some Christmas ideas. Once again they gravitated to the games. Son ran into one of his friends while we were there. They decided to play a game together, I think it was Guitar Hero (?) something like that anyway. Son had never played it before and apparently forgot you not only had to hold down the strings, but you also had to strun the guitar too. OOOPS! He got 0 points and his friend almost hit 20,000. His friend lives fairly close by son says. I asked him why he never asks him over. Son wasn't sure, I assume it's because he's like his dad and likes to have some time to himself when he's at home. He likes to ride the bus when his friend is riding, but is more than happy to skip riding if friend doesn't ride too. They were in Pop Werner together. Son is hoping to get to play on his team if they keep the Packer team for a couple more years. His friend is a year older than him, well a grade ahead anyway.

We did some major grocery shopping at Sam's Club too. Apparently his friend is a member there too since we ran into them there again. Small world, isn't it? Milk was 30 cents less a gallon there than last time I went to Aldi's. I guess it's a good thing I didn't go into Rhinelander this morning before we headed down to Wausau. I had some errands I should have ran, but I decided to wait until Monday instead. Son starts basketball and I decided I'd just run my errands while I wait for him to finish. I think that choice helped us to stick to our budget better anyway. Well, I guess we blew it at Sam's but we did well the rest of the day.

When we got home we were a bit tired from all of that walking around, so we decided to veg out instead of playing the board games I had originally enviosioned. Son just finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at school. Since we own the movie and he doesn't remember ever watching it, we put that on, made some air popped popcorn and settled in under our blankets for a family movie night.

Now we've got a lot of lost work time to make up for, but it was well worth it. It was a nice day. The kids were both even well behaved!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy