Off to Europe

The Imp is off her crutches.  The doctor gave her the go-ahead to leave her crutches at home as she heads off to France and Spain with a church group to World Youth Day.  The doctor asked her to walk on her foot.  She nearly fell over.  So he sent us to physical therapy.  The guy there was awesome.  She spent an hour and a half at PT learning to walk.  Her ankle is what is giving her the most discomfort.  All the tendons/muscles are so tight.  She also got this super neat device that sends electrical impulses to her foot to help the pain.  There are 4 electrodes that she tapes to her foot and then turns on a little machine (the size of an ipod).  She says it really helps.  She goes back for another session today.  She'll have her boot on her foot to provide support and protection while in Europe.  She's just so happy to be able to carry things.  She's been packing the last few days and just getting things from one stack to another was a chore.  She slept without the boot, too.  So all looks good.
We have a send off Mass tonight.  The bishop will be there to celebrate it.  Then a potluck dinner and then home to bed to be at the airport at 5:30 am.  Fortunately, we live very close to the airport.  Now I just have to be able to send my two girls off to a foreign country.  It's hard letting go.  And I know they're in good hands, and I know they are basically level-headed and tend to make really good decisions.  I don't know if I could let them go if that weren't all true.  But, I'll be awfully glad when I go to the airport on August 22 and pick them up.
Have tons to do today.  But Hubby's off so all is good.

And What Do We Learn From This Children?

The Imp makes me laugh. All the time. She truly has an aversion to the outdoors.  The hot, humid air aggravates her asthma.  Bugs are, well, beyond annoying. Snakes (which we have even in suburbia), are horrid. And she hates to sweat. Last week she was reading an article in the newspaper about a group of teens attacked by a bear. The teens were in Alaska for some sort of survival training and they were on their own at its culmination.  She read the story aloud to me and then says, "And what did we learn form this children? Never, ever go into nature!"
The girls are starting to pack for their trip to France and Spain for World Youth Day. The Imp realizes she only needs to bring the right shoe of every pair as her left foot is broken. All of a sudden her entire face lights up and she exclaims that she can now take twice as many different shoes.  They have to pack light and limiting her shoe selection to just 4 was killing her. She really loves shoes.
We spent Tuesday cleaning out her closet. 2 full bags of trash (primarily old school stuff) and 4 full bags of give-away. She gave away an entire wardrobe of clothes...T-shirts, casual shirts, blouses, dresses, slacks, jeans, shorts...the whole shebang. Her room is not the big. I'm still not sure how she had so much stuff in there.  We didn't even get to her desk.  Took the give-aways to Goodwill yesterday.  Could have a yard sale, but not for a while with all the other stuff we're doing and we really have no place to store the bags until then.
A friend of mine brought a no-bake cheesecake type of dessert to our house awhile back. Everyone loved it.  I don't really like making crusts, so I made the recipe and just spooned the concoction into individual dishes.  I got some fresh blueberries and strawberries.  So for dessert we had this wonderful cheesecake that everyone got to pile high with fruit. The best part was having the fruit out, so after eating the fruit with the top layer of cheesecake, you could put more fruit in for the second half.  The recipe is soooo easy.  1 package of light cream cheese, 1 container of light cool whip, and 1/3 cup of sugar.  Beat the cream cheese and sugar.  Fold in the cool whip.  Chill. A great summer treat.

Extreme Couponing

I've used coupons for grocery shopping most of my adult life.  There are many coupons I don't use because the brand is more expensive (even with a coupon) than my normal product.  I don't spend much on cosmetics, but I use those coupons when I want to buy the good stuff.  Cosmetic coupons are often more than $1 off. I view 'couponing' as a way to save a little money, and recognize it as a company's way to get me to try their product and possibly build some customer loyalty. I take advantage of  BOGO if it's a product I use, but rarely pick up more than the 2 items (one I pay for and the free one).  True, I have little storage space to take advantage of BOGO, but to me buying 10 and getting 10 for free is a misuse of the system.  With the advent of the reality show "Extreme Couponing" grocery stores are having to alter their policies because people are expecting (yes expecting) to go into a store and come out with paying under $5 for $300 or so of groceries.  I guess I understand the challenge is figuring out HOW to do it...like a logic problem.  But seriously, someone IS paying for those groceries.  Didn't they learn the maxim "There's no such as a free lunch"? I've only seen snippets of the show, but it often shows these women (and I've only seen women, although I'm sure there are some men) storing rooms full of stuff.  One women said if her storage shelves (her entire basement had utility storage shelves that were full of products, carefully organized) got more then 1 item deep used, she'd start to panic about running out.  This sounds like an OCD thing or a hoarder mindset more than good use of finances.  20 jars of peanut butter for a family of 4. Even peanut butter expires.  No way they'll use those.  The best story was a woman who routinely uses the BOGO so she can contribute to a local food bank.  To me, that's an awesome way to utilize capitalism.  I guess I view the extreme couponers as people trying to 'get away' with something...looking for loopholes.  And historically, once loopholes are exploited on a large scale, inane rules follow to try to block the loopholes and we end up with our current tax laws.  I just keep thinking "Balance.  Balance.  Balance."  Extreme anything is dangerous.

The Singer and the Imp went to a wedding this past weekend.  The Singer was asked to sing 'Ave Maria'.  Oh, I enjoyed listening to her practice. The bride and groom are super wonderful people (I wanted to say kids, but I guess 25 year old people don't like being called kids).  They had a Toms reception.  Toms is a shoe company that donates a pair of shoes to people who need them (usually a third world country) for every pair you buy.  The shoes are not cheap $50-$100, but are super comfortable and getting a pair for $50 translates into $25 per pair...just one is going to someone else. Everyone was to wear Toms to the reception.  What a great idea.  The opposite of the "me, me, me" attitude shown on many of the bridal shows.  To me, companies like Toms, are examples of capitalism at its best.  Yes, the company makes money, but it also is providing serious help to those in need, and the consumer can decide whether to participate or not.  The girls both have Toms.  I've help buy them those shoes as they've argued the charitable aspect of the purchase.  Seeing how well the shoes last makes us all feel good about the shoes going to those in need.  Coincidentally, there was a newspaper article about these BOGO for charity companies on the day of the couple's wedding.

I finally finished the girls' sewing projects.  The Imp's dress and the Singer's top came out looking good. Now if I can only get my top finished.  I also had a few repair jobs for the girls, like replacing a bad zipper.  I hate zippers.

The Imp had her senior pictures taken.  They all turned out great.  How on earth am I to decide which prints to get?  What a problem, I know.  After sitting for her senior pictures, she promptly went and cut off 12 inches of her hair to give to Locks of Love. But she's beautiful with short or long hair and more importantly, she's beautiful within.