October 2010 - The Sensible Mom

Design and The Designer

Written by Sandra on October 31, 2010 ·

I’m taking a week off of doing our Proverbs 31 Bible study and instead posting on something that has been on my mind for the last few months.

As many of you know, I’m studying to become a web designer and in doing so, I’m learning just how much hard work it takes to put a web site together that is both user friendly and visually appealing. A good web site doesn’t just “happen.” It takes a lot of time of time, skill, effort, and an eye for design to get the job done. We’ve all been to good and bad web sites, and because of this we can appreciate when a site has a great design. It makes the content more attractive and more likely to be read.

Well, I have often found myself leaving school and driving home in awe of God as I look at the the design He has created around me. The sun, sky, clouds, trees, fields, people…..all so wonderfully and masterfully designed for His pleasure and our benefit. Seeing all of the design around me which the Lord has so powerfully spoken forth is amazing. He is the Great Designer indeed.

All of this (earth, space, time, plants, animals, stars, you, me….) didn’t just “happen.” No. There is a Creator and a masterful Designer in it all.

I’ve found a song that makes my heart worship the Lord and reminds me of how awesome a designer He is, too. Take a listen…..

Thank you, Jesus, for speaking this world in existence and sustaining it with Your powerful hand. Studying design has made me see with fresh eyes the design You have brought forth around me.

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Super Savings Saturday: Jewel Trip!

Written by Sandra on October 30, 2010 ·

I’m very excited to share this week’s Super Savings Saturday with you guys! As you can tell from the (colorful) picture, we bought quite a lot of plastic dishes this week.

I actually wouldn’t have stumbled upon this great deal if I had not recently read an article on bisphenol A (aka BPA-which is a chemical used to produce hard plastics). I had heard of BPA before and there was a huge concern over it a few years ago because of it being used to make baby bottles (hence the reason you can now find many BPA FREE bottles on the shelves), but I hadn’t given hard thought about it being in our every day plasticware….in the plastic bowls, plates, and cups that we use for our children every day.

The article (which can be found in All You Magazine) really made me think because it states that many studies have “linked BPA to reproductive abnormalities, breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, and learning and behavioral disorders in children.” Wow. That’ll cause concern in a mother’s heart.

The article goes on to state that in order to minimize consumption of BPA, avoid using plastics with the number 7 on them and from my own research, you should also avoid plastics with the number 3. You can usually find out which number is on your plastics by taking a look at bottom of the plasticware.

We did and while most of our dishes had a 5 on them, we did have a few bowls with a 7 on them. We decided to stop using them all because even some with a 5 on them weren’t in the best shape anymore.

Over the next few days, we quickly realized how inconvenient it was not to use these plastic dishes for the kids anymore so we decided to make a quick trip to Jewel to try to find some BPA free dishes. Why Jewel? Because I didn’t want to pay alot for a whole new set of dishes, and I had catalinas left over from the sales they were running a few weeks ago. Those would help to keep the cost low.

But I wasn’t expecting that we would hit the jackpot! We found a ton of platic plates, bowls, and cups made by Crayola that are BPA FREE, microwaveable, and dishwasher safe. On clearance! For only $0.37 each! Thank the Lord.

We ended up paying $1.31 out of pocket for all the dishes and some Imodium (which was on clearance as well, but not pictured) . I used $15 in catalina coupons and a $5.00 Jewel gift card that I had.

We are now set with plastic dishes for awhile. I’m giving some away at Christmas time, and I put about half away for when we need them later on down the line. And there were still plenty left on the shelves at Jewel. You may want to see if your local Jewel carries these, too.

Did you grab any great deals this week?

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Legoland Fun

Written by Sandra on October 29, 2010 · 2 Comments

We were able to purchase tickets for Legoland for about 75% off from a local Radio Station in our area. Since we were able to get them so cheap and we’d never been there before, we decided to take the kids last Saturday. We learned two things. One, you can build some amazing things with legos like lifesize giraffes and tigers. And two, do not go to Legoland on a Saturday.

Here’s a peek at our fun day.

The best part, I think, was a 4-D movie that we watched. It was about 20 minutes long and sooo cooool. It was like the Lego movie characters were right in front of you, and when the wind blew in the movie, we’d also feel “wind” (aka fans blowing) or when water sprayed….we also felt water. Not quite like the movie, though. The movie character was spraying a fireman’s waterhose at us; I felt a couple drips on my forehead as a result, but I’m not complaining!

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Friday Freebies

Written by Sandra on October 29, 2010 ·

This is a good one. Burger King is offering FREE coffee every Friday in November. You get a 12 oz. cup of Seattle’s Best Coffee for free during Breakfast hours. No purchase necessary. No coupon needed. These are the Friday dates you can stop by for your coffee:

Nov. 5th
Nov. 12
Nov. 19
Nov. 26 (You may need this one since this day is Black Friday!)

I’ll see you next month sweet coffee…

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Thrifty Thursday: Frugal halloween tracts

Written by Sandra on October 28, 2010 · 3 Comments

Halloween. What to do with it as a Christian? Well…there are differing opinions. Some Christians would say that even though halloween has satanic roots, it is harmless today if you’re simply dressing your child up and walking them up and down the neighborhood to load up on candy.

Others opt not to celebrate it at all and turn off their lights on that day in the hopes that Jason or Freddie Kruegger don’t show up on their doorstep.

Where do we stand? Somewhere in the middle. We don’t celebrate halloween in our family. (And for anyone who is wondering, my children will not be scarred for life because of it.) My husband and I personally don’t demonize the day because every day belongs to the Lord. We have simply let our children know that we don’t celebrate this day and why.

And actually, I think the retail stores may be doing a better job of us at instilling the idea in our children that halloween isn’t something to be celebrated with their 5 foot moving tarantulas, goblins, and bloody masks. They don’t find those things to be friendly or humorous.

No, we’ll stay home on halloween, but we will keep our lights ON. We will welcome trick or treaters, and we will give them GOOD candy. And by “good candy” I don’t mean healthy, of course, but instead I mean the “good kind.” That means there will be no small baggies filled with candy corn passed out here!

We know we have to give out the good stuff because we are passing it out along with a tract lovingly homemade by Breanna, our eight year old daughter. Take a look.

It’s simple, free, and it comes with something of more value than gold in this life. God’s Word.

I decided to put only two verses inside of our pumpkins in the hopes that they’ll actually be read and reminded that Jesus loves them and died for them and if they receive Christ as their Savior, they will have their sins forgiven and eternal life with Him.

We are giving these out with good candy because well….it’s the same as when you leave a tract at a restaurant with the tip tucked inside, you want to leave a good tip with the tract in order to leave a fragrant aroma of who Christians are. Only Jesus can open eyes and save, but we can “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” by leaving a proper tip and giving out the good stuff on halloween.

What does your family do for halloween?

For more Thrifty Thursday ideas, please visit the Coupon Teacher!

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