The Sensible Mom

Food, DIY, Chicago Mom Blogger

Archives for April 2011

Works for Me Wednesday: Haircuts at home

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haircut

We have three boys. They all need haircuts about every 5-6 weeks or so, but do I want to pay $30-$40 to have their hair cut every time in a salon? No. Actually, I can probably count on my hand the number of times we’ve taken one of our boys to get a haircut outside of our home. Instead, whenever we feel their hair is getting a little too long and bushy, my husband kindly sets up shop in our garage and cuts each of the boys’ hair one by one.

haircuts at home

This used to be a drudgery because when our firstborn was little and needed a haircut, he would cry a large part of the time which made the whole process difficult. But Nathan (now 10yrs. old) got over that a long time ago, and we are thrilled that our now youngest, David, has never had a problem getting a haircut. He loves it, and there’s usually a lot of giggling involved.

haircuts at home

Here’s a short list of ways we have saved money on haircuts in the past:

:: Cutting the boys’ hair at home, of course

:: Going to a local cosmetology school and having it cut there. They charge a fraction of the price of a salon, and I’ve noticed that the students seem to take extra care to do a good job. My daughter and I have actually had our hair cut a few times at a local training school with wonderful results. Thanks, Raquel!

:: Waiting a little longer between cuts. This one doesn’t apply a lot to the boys since they get their hair cut at home, but my husband always gets his hair cut at a barber shop, and we save money on his haircuts by waiting a little longer in between cuts.

home haircut

Haircuts at home works for us!

How do your save money on haircuts for your family?

For more WFMW tips and ideas, please visitΒ We are THAT Family!


Sensible Blogging: Purchasing a Domain

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Sensible Blogging

Okay, we’ve talked about where to start when you are thinking about starting a blog, and we’ve talked about the differences between Blogger & WordPress. Now it’s time to talk about the next most important thing to do when you have made your decision about which Blogging platform you want to go with….choosing and buying a domain.

To start off, Β if you are asking yourself what in the world a domain is, I’ll explain. A domain is essentially your web site address. For example, the domain name for this blog is www.thesensiblemom.com. Your domain would be something like www.yourwebsitename.com or .net or .org, etc…..

It’s pretty easy to understand, and once you have the understanding of what a domain is, you need to know where to find out if the domain you want for your site is available and where you can purchase it from. There are plenty of domain registrars out there, but here’s small list to get you started in your search:

Network Solutions (I’ve used them before and was pretty happy.)

GoDaddy (I currently use godaddy for all of my domains – 5 total.)

Namecheap

To find out if the domain you want is available, I suggest doing a search for it in a search engine or typing it directly into the address bar of your browser. Don’t search for it directly on the domain registrar until you are ready to buy. This is because domains seem to have a way of disappearing when you search for them directly on the domain registrar’s website – this is what I’ve read at least. Once you know that the domain name you want is available, go ahead and purchase it from a domain registrar.

If you’ve never purchased a domain before, it might surprise you that the cost is relatively cheap. I pay betwen $8-$12 a year for each of my domains, and I always make sure to use a coupon code! πŸ˜‰ The process to purchase a domain on these sites is pretty straightforward. Although, I’ve noticed that it can be a bit confusing on godaddy.com because of all the “extra” stuff they give you the option to add on. Simply click “No Thanks” to all of the extras.

And that’s it. Once you get through that process, you will own use of a domain for typically 1 year. After that, if you still want to keep that domain, you’ll simply renew it with the domain registrar.

Next week, I will talk about web hosting. Once you have web hosting set up, then you can log into your account with the domain registrar you’ve chosen and change the nameservers for your domain to the nameservers given to you by your web host. That way your domain will point to the server where your fabulous new blog or website is hosted.

If anyone has any specific questions about this process, I’d be happy to answer them in the comments section. Also, if you have purchased your own domain, I’d love to know which domain registrar you use and your experience with them so far. πŸ™‚


Zoo Fun

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zoo fun

Isn’t the zoo one of the best places on earth to visit with your family? I mean, you can create such wonderful memories there, and even though we’ll visit a few times a month now that the weather is warmer, every time is different. We’ll take new pictures, we’ll visit exhibits we didn’t visit the last time we went, we’ll eat lunch in a different spot, or we’ll see an animal doing something we’ve never seen before.

We have a zoo membership that has definitely paid for itself long, long ago. And there are many other reasons I like the zoo:

:: Free exercise. Hello walking for 2.5 hours!

:: It’s educational. The last time we went Nathan thought I was so smart because I knew all the animal names. Um, Mommy was simply reading the signs, son. I need to encourage this more the next time we go. πŸ™‚ But it’s a great home schooling field trip!

:: Pictures, pictures, pictures.

:: The zoo is open 365 days a year, so, you can bundle up and go when it’s cold or enjoy the zoo in warmer weather.

:: They sell those over-priced plastic animals that the kids love.

:: Since we are members, we get discounts!

:: Zoo picnic lunches. The best. I love lunch time at the zoo. We eat outside on nice days and inside on colder days. We always pack our lunches which makes lunch time more fun and memorable.

:: It’s free whenever we go. No extra money out of pocket for tickets with a membership. Even parking is free! Except for the gas. πŸ™

The only part I don’t like about the zoo is visiting the monkey/ape house. I’ve watched Animal Planet and the stories about the monkeys/apes that go crazy and mutilate human beings. Scary. I get a little nervous about these creatures whenever we visit the ape house. I don’t like them looking at me. At all. Stop it!

Scary Gorilla!

And now for some more friendly zoo pics:

zoo

peeking

happy

 

fab four

What’s your favorite part about the zoo?


Mom & Son Night

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sock hop

While our family has made it a habit to allow each one of the kids to have a “Day Out with Dad” every month where normally one day out of the week Ruben takes one of the three oldest kids out for some father/son or daddy/daughter time, I have finally gotten around to having a fun Mom & Son time with our four year old, Isaac.

On Friday night we went to a Mom & Son sock hop (and no I didn’t dress up in a skirt or slick my sons hair back like the other moms! :-))Β through our local park district. Β It was SO much fun. And it wasn’t fun because of the embarrassing music that was playing or getting to watch other moms dance silly with their boys. It was fun, memorable, and a gift to this mom’s heart because I got to spend one-on-one time with my wild, lovable, and overly-emotional little guy, Isaac.

We started the night out waiting for the party to begin.Β waiting for the sock hop

And we watched as other moms arrived with their boys and wildness ensued. I felt totally at home watching all those other little boys run circles around their moms and act just as wild as mine do every day. God did make them special, didn’t He? I love my boys.

Then we checked in and got our picture taken.

After that we ate popcorn, lemonade, strawberries, and grapes. I was impressed that there was fresh fruit. I think whoever coordinated this event (probably a mom) knew that us moms wouldn’t want the kids to be full of junk food all night long. Good thinking. Isaac loved the grapes.

the sock hop

While we ate, I kept asking Isaac if he wanted to “dance.” It was wonderful seeing all of those moms (some of them with two boys!) wildly dancing and laughing along to the old-time music. Isaac replied, “No.” many, many times, so, we settled for the guitar craft table instead. He loved it.

 

Guitar CraftGuitar Craft

After we made the guitar craft, Isaac saw the other boys doing the limbo, and then he was ready to participate! Sorry, no picture! (I took one, but it didn’t upload to my computer with the other pics??)

After one time under the limbo pole because he wasn’t up for a second try, Isaac was thrilled to find that dessert was ready! Isaac has the biggest appetite for junk food of anyone in our family, and he was eye-balling the cookies that had been covered and set far back on the counter almost until we had first arrived.
cookie time

After the cookies, he was finally ready to dance! Again, no pics because by that time my camera battery was dying. πŸ™ But dance we did! That is if you can call swinging a four-year-old wildly from side to side dancing.

All in all, it was an amazing night with my favorite four-year-old in the world. I’ll never forget it. And I’ll leave you will a little video of our night.