My Target Halloween went 90% off this morning..wahoo! So, you know I’m a bit obsessed with urns. How could I pass this up?? (it’s big! even though it doesn’t look like it in the pic) I’m thinking I could turn the skull to other side and spray paint right over the red jewels..what do you think? A $25 urn for $2.50?

gluttony [ˈglʌtənɪ]: n.  derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down or swallow, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, intoxicants or wealth items to the point of waste.

My son came home from his “fall” party last week with armloads. Of candy, frosted donuts, pencils, bubbles, spider rings, bead bracelets, glow in the dark paraphernalia and some sweet parents and grandparents had made some of the cutest buckets and goodie bags and Halloween crafts you have ever seen, probably spending hours on them. And he tossed them aside like they were yesterday’s graded worksheets.

It gave me a little pit in my stomach.

My daughter’s mirror broke this weekend when it fell off the back of the door. (7 years bad luck??) She just kind of shrugged and said, “you only paid a dollar for it at a yard sale, right?”

gulp.

Another daughter left her coat at school. My husband told her she needed to remember to bring it home or she would have to use her money to pay for a new one. She didn’t see why that was necessary because Grandma gave it to her for her birthday….we didn’t pay for it. Besides she had another one she could use…

mom headache.

I think of my Grandpa. How he tells us about Christmas’ during the Great Depression. How he got an 8 pack of crayons and a tablet of paper and spent all day coloring and was happy as a lark. My Grandma that saves every ziploc bag and container and washes them out and re-uses them again and again.

What they must think of kids today..

You know I love thrifting and deals and upcycling, but 10 cent boxes of crayons and coats for $1 at yard sales have come back to bite in this regard. We take full credit for what we teach our children and I know it begins with us…my husband and I have talked and want to change some things around here, especially with the holidays coming up. What should be the simple, most thankful, most worshipful time of the year sometimes turns out to be the most gluttonous.

but I would love to hear from you..can I ask you a few questions?

What are some successes you’ve had with teaching your kids about the value of a dollar?

With the holidays..do you do the 3 gifts? Or how do you keep things as simple as possible?

What about gifts from aunts/uncles/cousins/grandmas/grandpas/etc, etc.??

Do your kids pay for their own clothes?

Do you serve others together as a family?

Any other thoughts?

Thank you…

 

*if you didn’t catch the Barnes and Nobles coupon last week, here is Lego City Advent Calendar for $29.99. Best deal I can find! Thanks to Richella, my boys now love this!

*also at Amazon, they are doing their Buy 2, Get 1 Free video game deal! Works on all platforms: wii, playstation, xbox, ds, etc.

* Through tonight! 40 free prints if you upload your photos to Walgreens.com and enter code DRUGSTORE40 at checkout and choose to pick them up in the store.

*Taste of Home is having their $5 book sale! Some of my best recipes come from them…

* a $10 off $30 purchase coupon at Bath & Body Works (warning! if you are in firefox, for some reason opening this coupon makes my ff crash. It works fine in Internet Explorer…hmmm.)

* a $10 off $25 coupon at JcPenney for this weekend.

happy shopping! 53 days until Christmas…

“How vain it is to sit down to write

when you have not stood up to live!”

~ Henry David Thoreau

pic source

*Michaels has an additional 20% off your entire purchase coupon, including sale items! Good through Friday…

*Target has Nintendo 3DS for $169.99, but then you get a $25 gift card with it! Offer good online and in stores.

*Printable 25% coupon off at Old Navy, or use onsave25 at checkout online. I believe this is on top of the add’l 30% off clearance in the stores~ updated for Friday: today, if you have an Old Navy card, they are having their stuff and save event and you’ll get an additional 40% off of your items, including the clearance that is already 30% off! Tomorrow, it will go back down to 30% off, as it is online right now.

* Barnes & Noble has a printable coupon: 40% off an educational toy or game. Can you say Legos??

* Toys R Us has Buy 1, Get 1 Free Little Tikes toys (up to $24.99)

* Yankee candle has a coupon for buy 2 candles, get 2 free, or enter Q4B2G2 online to get the deal.

* Eddie Bauer has an add’l 30% off clearance, plus use code BHGNOV for an add’l 20% off of that and free shipping!

have fun!

photo source

*one of my readers {thank you, Kayla Rath!} gave me heads up that Southwest and AirTran are having their $35 flight sales!

* I have received lots of questions about photoshop elements~ Amazon has Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 on sale for $79.50  and then there is a $20 rebate on the same page, making it $59.50. Best price I’ve seen~please let us know in the comments if you know of a better deal. There are tutorials and actions all over the internet for this photo software. I have PSE 4.0~I love it, but it may be time for an upgrade…

*Also at Amazon…the magazine All You (6-month subscription) is on sale for one week: $6 for a 6 month subscription. Many get this magazine just for the coupons that come inside every month~they will easily pay for this subscription. I used to get through one of the coupon websites, but this is a fantastic deal.

* It’s over. Jos A Bank has their Buy 1, Get 2 Free! sale going on right now~this is our favorite sale for this store. My husband’s father introduced him to these shirts: if you hate ironing, the traveler’s collection shirts are the BEST. With this sale, they end up being about $30 a dress shirt, but they are worth every penny. His still look like brand new a year and a half later. Wall Street Journal also named them the best overall wrinkle resistant dress shirt.

Have fun~

It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, so we loaded the kids up for a Sunday drive.

I’m with Yanet today over at 3 Sun Kissed Boys!

~come on over and see our “spooky” mantel downstairs!

 from the blog Desiring God, by Rachel Jankovic