My Loot....Do you like the retro carpet?

As I child I can remember the Avon Lady coming up the driveway.  She was a sweet lady, my best friend’s grandmother and she is still selling to this day.  As a kid  I loved the free samples especially and felt grown up playing with them.

Now I am proud to say that I am an Avon lady.  Who would have thought it? Not me. I hate selling things (Girl Scout cookies are the exception).  I have had so much fun lately getting my new Avon books, that I thought I would try it myself.  The products are great and the prices are in my comfort zone.

I am also aware that most of you know that I did not even wear make-up until  I was 25 or 26.  I know that gives me less than 10 years experience with the beauty care industry… but I learn fast and Avon is much more than just make-up.  Cute little hand lotions to give to your kids teachers, easy gift ideas that everyone loves and of course the exhilaration of opening up a new package of something without breaking the bank!

To save money, time and trees I’m hoping to do a lot of my business online, but nothing can replace the classic Avon books so I will be using those as well. I’m thinking of offering an incentive to return old books to me for recycling, so my eco-self feels better.  What do you think?

Here is my store link:   YourAvon.com/amcclelland

I will also have a link on my Facebook homepage and you can always call or email me direct!

I promise not to bug you  I just want you to know that I am here!  I also vow never to wear panty hose rolled up to my knees.  I’ m not dissing this look, however, I am aiming to be a sophisticated Avon lady.

Thanks!

The Wicked Witch Was Awesome!

Last Wednesday night hubby and I took the kids to see the 70th Anniversary Screening of The Wizard of Oz (in high definition) no less!  Meg saw this movie when she was about five years old, but the other three have never seen it.  As Meg is playing a Munchkin in a local The Wizard of Oz production, we have been talking a lot about the characters and plot around the house and  Mita, Enu and Elle have had no idea of what we were talking about!

The movie was wonderful, of course, as it is a classic.   I’m not much of a techy, but the  quality did seem better than the old TV version I used to watch as a kid.

The first time Meg saw the movie I watched her carefully when the movie turned from black and white to color.  Meg’s look of amazement was something I will always remember and I wanted to watch the other girls looks as well.  I was wondering how I was going to watch three faces at the same time.  Meg solved this for me when she blew the surprise when I overheard her telling Mita  how the film goes from black and white to color.  Enu was sitting far from me besides Hubby and I couldn’t watch her face. So I watched Elle and I was not disappointed!

As Dorothy opens the door into Munchkin land and the screen fills with color, Elle’s jaw drops and she says,”WHAT!”.  too cute and a magical memory I will always have, along with Mita crying up a storm when Dorothy is held captive in the Witch’s castle.  Enu was so happy with the bag of candy gorp I gave each of them, she would have been willing to watch movies all night.  With Meg mouthing the words and dancing in her seat, we were all very happy.

On the way home I told the girls about the times when Uncle Josh and I were little and we would watch Oz and then go out into the woods during the commercials to be scared!  Those flying monkeys are creepy looking, even now!  We were softies I guess, because they weren’t scared (after Harry Potter and Narnia it’s hard to scare kids with monkeys!)

Good memories that we will remember forever, or at least I will!  Elle wore a blue-checked shirt on Thursday and really wants Meg to play Dorothy, or as she calls her “that nice girl.”

I’m to lazy to edit Meg’s eyes and she thinks they look cool anyway!

I have a new look.  Not a personal make-over (still waiting for Oprah to call), but a blog make-over.  FireMom helped me today and showed her technical style off with my blog and my Twitter account.  Thank you FireMom!  Be sure to watch her vlogs on MomTV this week.

Tell me what you think of my new design!

September 11th will always be a day Americans will remember for a terrorist attack on US soil. My dear friend has blogged  about one of 9/11’s victims today.

While we as a family recognize the seriousness of this date, we also have started celebrating September 11th as the Ethiopian New Year.  Enkutatash is celebrated as the new year for Ethiopia.  If you want to get all smart on the subject check this out.

Since Hubby has a crazy work week we celebrated last Wednesday with Ethiopian food cooked by ME, believe it or not! I made Doro Wat (spicy chicken) and red lentils with fresh injera (bread) that I picked up in Columbus for the occasion.

Today the girls took some Ethiopian activities and some Ethiopian sweet bread to share with their classmates.

Doro Wat in the pot cooking.

Look at me cooking!

Mita and Elle at our Ethiopian table setting (no utensils!)

Enu with our Ethiopian Saba doll we bought the girls.

Meg with the Saba book.

Hubby with a full mouth!

The kids loved the dinner and ate and ate and ate!  I love having an Ethiopian-American family.  The heritage and culture of Ethiopia are amazing to experience and I encourage all of you to try some Ethiopian food sometime!  Remember if you want it to not burn off your mouth order “alecha” not “wat”!

By request, here are links to the Ethiopian recipes I  used the other night.  If you try it, let me know how it turned out!  Some of the spices have to be bought in a specialty store, or Amazon!  Doro Wat ,  Mesir Wat (red lentils).

It has been a great summer. We have gone from extremely busy to extremely bored in a matter of days.  We have camped, swam, hiked and biked.  Hubby, Meg and Mita have golfed it up and we all had a great time at King’s Island, playing license plate bingo (still need North Dakota and Hawaii), and at Ethiopian Culture Camp.  I have taken countless pictures of the summer and I made a Photo Book with a few of them.  Of course after I ordered the book I realized that I left out all pictures from King’s Island.  I hate it when I do that.  You can see the book here at my Shutterfly Site.

In looking at the pictures I have noticed something.  I am always in the back.  Most of the pictures are of my kids from behind.  It made me think of my role as a mom.  Always in the back, coaching them on, nagging at behavior, watching their successes and watching them fall off  bikes.  Here are a few of the pictures I am talking about:

When we were up at Geneva on the Lake and I was at the end of the bike line I started thinking about how symbolic it was for our family.  Obviously, I’m not the biker Hubby is and I don’t like to lead, so the end of the line is my comfort zone. But  it also lets me see my entire family. I don’t have to worry about where they are or what they are doing because I see everything.  Hubby leads the way and encourages them to go faster, protects them at crossings and is the adventure leader of the family.  I get to stop and walk with them when they are tired or fall.  I can yell out encouragements and  accolades (a few nags as well) when they need them.

One day I want to do an album of my kids growing up with all the pictures from behind.  A mom’s view of her family growing up, learning and starting their lives.

We all like to be in the front every once in a while, but my few years bringing up the back will fly by and I plan on enjoying every minute of it!

School started last week and I am behind in keeping you posted!  Here are the pictures  I took after they got home on the first day.  I forgot my camera that morning, as I am getting older by the second and forgetting everything!

Meg started the Fourth Grade, Mita is in the Third and Enu is in the Second grade.  Three in a row, won’t high school be grand for our family!

Elle started pre-school last Tuesday and is very excited to report that she was line leader on Thursday!

September is a great stock-up month.  I have this issue withclearances, I see something on clearance and I think I need it or I come up with an idea to use it for the next year.  This has saved me money over the years, but it can also be a bit of a clutter problem (ask Hubby).  This year my goal is to not clutter up, but buy responsibly.  So far, so good. I got Elle’s next years safetyswim vest for $13 with free shipping from Land’s End and Stainless Steel water bottles on sale with $2 shipping.  I am trying to cut out the cheap plastic… but steel is pricey!  I thought I would share a few of my go-to places for saving money and starting on Christmas and Birthday gifts for the next year.

Check out the Dollar General and you can get kites, bubbles and more for around $0.30.  K-Mart often has bathing suits for under $5 so I can stock up for next year.  Disney.com has really nice beach towels for super cheap.  Of course school supplies are just screaming to be picked up and stored away for the cold winter months.  Towards the end of September you may find great buys on backpacks, water bottles and more high-end school items.  These can make great Christmas or Birthday  gifts!  The big wheeled back packs aren’t often great for school but make good overnight suitcases.

Land’s End has a lot of free shipping offers right now and their swimsuits are on sale as well.  Soon they will have all those cool back packs and lunches boxes on clearance! I bought all of my girls backpacks from there in colors that will stay “cool” for a few years.  I have not bought Meg a backpack since the First Grade (she’s in 4th this year, Yikes!)  and it is still going strong.   Mita and Enu also have Land’s End back packs that are in their second year of use.  I learned early to not buy characters or really trendy backpacks and lunch boxes and it has saved me a lot of money.  This  year I will be eyeing deals for Elle’s Kindergarden back pack (sob sob).

I don’t do the while “school shopping” thing.  It is still warm when school starts and the kids grow overnight, as you well know!  Jeans, long sleeves T’s and shoes will hit great prices once the Holiday items come out (October!).  TheChildrensPlace.comhas a flat shipping rate of $5 and monster sales for shirts especially.  They have great quality clothes and are pretty affordable.  Beware of the bright T shirts with Hibicus flowers on them though, they bleed horribly which is unusual for them.  Hopefully it is an odd occurance!

To save money and to be green, I have re-usable sandwhich bags and buy snacks in bulk.  Those 100 calerie packs have some much packaging.  A re-usable 4 oz. Rubbermaid or Tupperware container hold is a great way to save on pakaging and is usually about 1 serving size or 100 calories.  I like to find my sandwhich bags on Etsy.com.  Don’t baulk at the prices…you will get your money back. I am using the same bags I bought last year and believe me they are used a lot!

Before buying anything on-line I do a google search for coupon codes.  This normally works pretty well and cuts down prices and often shipping costs.

This is what I do in September to save money.  Now give me your secrets!

Photo Credit