Larsens go Pumpkin

 Believe it or not, with all of my enthusiasm for the holiday and my love of all things crafty, I'm not a huge "decorate the house for holidays" sort of girl. Maybe if I had the budget...

The sign was $3 at goodwill, the wreath was free through freecycle, and the jars I had laying around the house...am I cheap? Wait, don't answer that. I know I'm cheap thrifty. I guess I figure that if I'm going to spend money, I'll get something I really *need* like new couches, instead of just something I like.

Still, I have to add a least a few touches.

oops, our house landed on a witch! (I blame the haboob). We've decided it's the wicked-ish witch of the southwest, since all the other directions seem to be taken.

We are awesome.

I got this great idea from a blog who adapted it from Martha Stewart, and it was actually really fun to make in addition to being very easy. Roll paint around the inside of a jar and let it sit on the counter for a few days to dry? I can do that. Of course, I don't own a cricut/sizzix/sillouette/vinyl cutting machine so I had to make do. Black sharpie on masking tape cut out with scissors? That's how we do it in Larsenland.

(and I probably just lost any future debate I might have had about needing one of said vinyl cutting machines. Darn my make-do-with-whatever-craftiness!)

I might put treats or something in them later on, but for now they serve absolutely no function. Except awesomeness. And attractiveness. And you just can't charge for that.

Crayon Frustration

Scotty has been going to preschool twice a week for several months now, and it's a great break for both of us. I am very impressed with all of the things he is learning, and now I REALLY never know what will come out of his mouth. Saturday, it was the Pledge of Allegiance ("One nation, under God, invisible, with justice for all"). Many days it is funny Halloween songs (see this post) or nursery rhymes. This morning, it was crayon frustration.

Me, watching him draw a goldfish: "That is great, Scotty! You drew a great smooth line and even drew a happy face!"
Scotty, with a very sad look on his face: "But my goldfish turned into a sock!"
(it did only have one tail fin, so the boy had a point)

While writing his name, I noticed that the "O" had a tail...so I asked him about it.
Scotty: "That's the ladder for it to stand on because it didn't make it down to the line."
Makes perfect sense to me....

SwagBucks - the tutorial

Swagbucks = google that pays you. A swagbuck (sb) is a point system that you redeem for prizes, the most coveted being the $5 amazon.com giftcard. Using the following steps I earn about 1 giftcard a month, which I put toward diaper delivery (that post is up next). So here it is, step by step, with pictures :)

the homepage (my swagname is MegMagic and I'm an awesome chemist chick)

1. Sign up by clicking here!. It's free, and they give you sb to get you started. Each person picks a "swagname" which is your username and will also be part of your referral code. Like pyramid marketing, the more people who sign up under you, the most sb you earn, so help a girl out ;o) Still, up until this point I had ZERO referrals and was happily earning a giftcard a month all on my own.

2. The dailies. These are things you can do once per day through swagbucks site to earn sb. There are lots of options, but I prefer the quick and easy kind--I want the payoff to be worth my time.

• The Daily Poll (third row down on the left hand column): click here for a quick, one question poll of the day. Doesn't matter which answer you choose, and sometimes they are even entertaining. Worth 1sb. Time commitment = 10 seconds.

the calendar at the bottom right shows which days you have participated, but you can't go back and earn sb for days missed!

• NOSO (No Obligation Special Offers - 6th item down on the left hand column): There are about 5 screens to click through. If something interests you, you can click for more info or to sign up, which will usually earn you more sb. 99% of the time I just click "next" or "skip" until I get to the final screen. Worth 2sb. Time commitment = 30 seconds, depending on how fast things load.

NOSO start page

 3. Search wins. I try to get at least 1 search win per day, but it depends on how much I'm using my computer. Basically, it's like google. The results aren't quite as good, so if I have something tricky or specific, I use google. For a basic query, swagbucks pays me so I'm happier :o) Just start typing in the search bar at the top of the homepage, or click the search tab in the lefthand column. Search wins can be any value, but are generally between 5-15 sb. Time commitment = less than 2 minutes. I'm not that patient. By 2 minutes I've either found what I'm looking for, have tweaked my search query a few times, or get bored. If I don't win now, I might try again later. Fridays are the best days for search wins because they are "Mega Swagbucks Fridays" - meaning, search wins can be a lot more rewarding. I routinely win 17, 24, or once I even got 50 sb from a single Friday search. Good luck!

i won while i was waiting for these pictures to load to my blog

4. But what do I DO with my swagbucks? This is the best part. Check out the swagstore (located under the "redeem" drop down menu across the top of the homepage). There are tons of prizes, which usually don't impress me much, but I'm a big fan of the $5 amazon.com gift card. Earn 450 sb, click to redeem it, confirm your order (you'll get a confirmation email) and the code will appear in your swagbucks account with 2 weeks.

my favorite prize. Don't have enough to redeem it because I just ordered one yesterday...

 

5. Swagcodes: these are unpredictable but a great bonus. Some days the site puts of 10 codes, sometimes a week will pass with nothing. The best way to find codes is to like swagbucks on facebook, have a swidget on your blog (scroll all the way down and you'll see what I'm talking about!) or know where to find one, and try a swagcode friendly site like swagbuckstricks. These places will notify you either on your facebook feed, when you click a button, or even send you texts when a new code is posted. Sometimes they give you the code straight up, sometimes it's a link to where to find it in a blogpost, and sometimes it's a scavenger hunt. Generally, if it takes more than 2 steps it's not worth my time, but feel free :) For more info on finding swagcodes or what to do with them, click here.

see the swagcode box under my nice little picture? swagcodes are always one long word

6. But I want more! I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with - how can I earn more? There are plenty of other ways, and I've tried most of them at one point in time, so if you are wondering feel free to ask. 

• SURVEYS give you anywhere from 5-150 sb at a time and they'll tell you upfront how much its worth, BUT you have to qualify. I usually spend at least 5 minutes answering questions just to be told I DON'T qualify. Out of pity they give you 1 sb for trying (up to 5 per day) but that's not very useful. It is probably worth it to complete sections of your survey profile.

the "trusted surveys" homepage tells you what is available for you

• COUPONS if you are a couponer, you can find some decent coupons through the swagbucks site, both printable and electronic (they load to your shopper's card) and each coupon you save or print and then use is worth 10sb. There is quite a delay (like 2 months) before coupon sb show up in your account, but there are usually bonuses for using a certain amount of coupons per month.

coupons for printing or electronic use, usually the same as coupons.com or kroger

• SWAGBUCKS TV you can click to watch videos and as your time accrues you earn sb, usually in 3sb increments. Occasionally I'll pull up a video or two while I'm waiting for something to load.

your "swagbuck meter" in the upper right hand corner tells you how close you are to earning sb. It saves from previous times so you don't have to watch consecutively.

• TASKS change from time to time in complexity and point value. Sometimes they are interesting but often they are more complicated than they appear and can take a lot of time. Swagbucks has changed their system so you can earn a few sb for each page of the task, instead of having to make it through 10 pages for a big payout.  If I am close to a reward and really hoping to earn it before my next diaper shipment is headed out, I'll do a task to make up the difference.

• INVITE FRIENDS: like I said, it works just fine by yourself, but the more people you refer who actually use the site, the more you earn. You can refer friends through your referral link, through a button like this, or through the invite friends tab on the homepage. When you do it that way, you can connect through facebook, and you can earn an extra sb a day (just once) for inviting someone whether they join or not. Easy bucks, but I try not to bug people so I rarely use it ;o)

Well, if that's not information overload, I don't know what is. Good luck, and happy swagbucking!
Have any tricks of your own? I'd love to hear them!

"I Know Everything Now!"

The Scottish never ends around here. A few gems from the past 24 hours.

Scene 1: Our fabulously green backyard.
Scotty is running around in circles on the lawn playing a variety of games with a friend. Because the Diamondbacks are currently in the NL playoffs, Scotty has taken to cheering for himself, baseball style. Alyssa gets in on the action by clapping along.
"Let's go, Scotty-d-backs, *clap*clap*clap clap clap*" he yells, waving his bat in the air (he bats left, by the way). "Throw the ball to me, mama!"
He swings, connects, and sends the ball flying....two feet away.
"I get to run!" he yells, taking off, while I pretend to chase him. "Look how far I made it, mama!" he says when I don't catch him. "I'm safe on the first endzone!"

I guess we're still football fans at heart here in Larsenland.



Scene 2: the kitchen table
Scotty is doing his "homework" for preschool, which involves reciting some poems and nursery rhymes, and writing his name 5 times by himself. What used to take lots of attention and help from mama now gets done in seconds, and amazingly well.
"Scotty, look how much you've learned since you started school," I said, showing him some of his best letters and tracings.
"I know!" he exclaimed excitedly, "I know EVERYTHING now!"

And I am just beginning to learn how much you can love someone who makes your head spin :o)

Coming Full Circle

Life is full of twists, turns, and unexpected dips. Over the past few months, many things have reappeared in my life, running a parallel course that makes me remember who I was the last time I charted that course.

In high school I was a member of the dance company for three years, after missing company by 1 point as a freshman. During those four years I got to know my dance teacher very well--her husband was even my calculus teacher! When I returned home in the summer after college I visited her students and taught them a beginning dance routine. Years later, when I student taught at my former high school, I got to show her pictures of my adorable little boy. She retired that year, and was killed in a car accident in August 2010. We staged a tribute concert for her last February and the money we raised was used to fund a dance education scholarship for a graduating company member. Last week I had the privilege of attending the dedication of a beautiful dance room that now bears her name. The building was constructed in 2003, so I never got to enjoy it, but I worked along side her in the year leading up to construction; for my AP statistics class I did a study of dance programs in our district and discovered that we had the largest program (nearly double the amount of dancers) and 1/8th the dancing space of any other school.

This is a perfect tribute to her years of hard work.

Rounding another curve, I find this:

We affectionately termed it "The Cottage." I would look out the windows as friends and family approached for the first time, smiles plastered over the terror in their eyes. They always let out a sigh of relief when I opened the door: "It's actually really nice on the inside!" In reality, that was only a half truth. Compared to the outside, four standing interior walls would have been reassuring. Before moving in 2 weeks before Scotty was born, we laid laminate flooring over the flood damaged concrete. We had new carpet installed in the bedroom. And we conquered a serious case of mold with bleach, mold-inhibitor paint, mold-prevention drywall (yes, we DRYWALLED) in Scotty's room. Which was also the only closet in the house. (He is still disturbed by the idea that he lived in our closet.....)

We lived in The Cottage for 2 years, through the addition of a power pole in the backyard (the day I returned home from the hospital after a rough delivery!), a constant battle with roots in the pipes, and semi-annual "pour stuff down all the drains in the house to prevent additional buildup." If we forgot our semi-annual ritual.....well, let's just say it all came up the tub. Which had only one handle that would stay attached. We kept rebuilding the pipe, reattaching the handle, and making it look nice--but by the end we resorted to showering with a handy pair of pliers to turn the water on and off. The first year we battled the chest high weeds in the backyard with a borrowed rototiller and spread seed by the bucket. Nothing grew, except more weeds. And maybe rocks. The next summer I pulled weeds in the front yard by hand, spread seed and fertilizer, and carefully watered. Obsessively watered. Nothing grew. Except for some patches of grass in the backyard!

Getting a power pole in the backyard right after Scotty was born

We graduated from school, packed up the house, and moved to Arizona. I had mixed emotions, as the prospect of a "real" house was so enticing, but the friends, neighbors, and memories were hard to leave behind. After we left, the original historic adobe walls went from structurally sound but really ugly and peeling to a built in fan letting the drafts through. The house had seen enough, held enough, and needed to go. It was condemned by the city a year after we left and, finally, met its demise.

The view from the front street, looking down the walk to the front door

Part of me wants to stand on this pile of rubbish and raise my arms in triumph.
We conquered that house!
We tamed the wild beast!
 And part of me feels like I could sift my memories out of the dust like pictures. Our first night as a family of three. Scotty's first smile. His first laugh. He would crawl around and push his toys down the radically sloped floors. He learned to pull himself up on the child-danger of an exposed furnace. I can still hear him clicking around the wood floor wearing a pear of my high heels. I can't begin to count the number of baths in that old pink tub, or the times I found myself on hands and knees scrubbing the floor.

Driving the pink tub

We may have conquered the Cottage, but it still feels like an old friend, and a part of me, the part of me that paints life into beautiful soft focus, will miss it.