What is a 'good' parent?

I know this post is off-concept for my blog, but it's something that's been on my mind so I thought I'd share.

Last week I was fortunate to sit down and spend some time catching up with a friend who has twin girls who are exactly, and I mean born on the same day exactly, as Mason.  While they were playing we noticed a number of similarities in our parenting styles and had a brief discussion of what it means to be a good parent.

Then a couple days later I saw a video of a Dad who was reacting to a disrespectful post his daughter put on her Facebook wall.  At the end he took out a gun and shot her laptop.  I will say that it was the second time his daughter had done something like that, and I agree with consequences, but the way he dealt with it and the whole gun thing really didn't sit well with me.  The video has, of course, generated a ton of attention (feel free to read about it & view the video here)

  

The whole notion of how to be a good parent constantly rattles around my head.  I grew up with divorced parents who remarried and each had children in their second marriages.  I benefitted from this because I was able to experience different family dynamics and parenting styles and from these I've come up with some very specific ideas of what I do and do not want for my children mostly based on how I felt while I was growing up.

Last minute Valentine ideas

I just realized Valentine's day is on Tuesday.  I have Mason's class Valentines ready but I haven't thought about what to do for anyone at home!

I'm definitely going to create my own version of this card I saw on Pinterest for DH.   

source:  stylemepretty.com via Pinterest

I love the 'two halves make a whole' idea, but I'll use the red paper left over from my Superhero Valentines to create the half hearts and put them on a blank note card.  Then I'll write him a little love letter inside.  You could easily create something like this on your computer and then print it onto cardstock yourself.

Why I love being Thrifty

Over Christmas one of my brothers made the comment that I was 'thrifty'.  He meant it as a compliment because I do my best to find the best deal possible but it would be easy to take it the wrong way because there's often a stigma attached to people who seek out lower prices as  being cheap.   In my view there's a huge difference between being cheap (spending as little as possible and sacrificing quality to do so) and being thrifty.  Don't get me wrong, as you know I'm all for picking things up at the dollar store, especially when there's little to no difference in the quality of a product when you buy it for four times as much somewhere else OR when the quality itself makes little to no difference! 
If I really step back and look at why this is important to me, the most fundamental reason is because when my son was born I became a stay-at-home-mom who was completely dependent on DH to support us.  Out of respect for how hard he works to give us a beautiful life, I do my best to not waste the money he earns but I also don't want to feel like I can't buy something because I didn't earn the money myself.  From those two competing forces was born a deep-seated need to get things at the lowest prices possible.

At this point I'm completely addicted to being thrifty.  It's really like gambling in the sense that you sometimes stumble upon something that makes you feel like you hit the jackpot and then you want to keep searching for the next unbelievable find.

I'll give you a couple examples, in the last month (or so) I've picked up the following items.  Most of the pictures are close approximations to give you a visual and aren't the 'actual' ones I bought:

A black Hogan purse (retails $600-$1000) - I bought it for $35 at a consignment store.  Looks similar to this Chloe Heloise but it has a little less detail on the body of the bag:

BodyRockTV - 30 Day Challenge: Week 4... the verdict is in.

I'm completely sold on BodyRockTV.  It's an amazing way to add exercise to a busy day and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in getting in shape.  So... I'm going to share my before and after pics with you.  I'm doing it reluctantly, but I'm so impressed with the results after only four weeks that I think the pictures will tell a better story than anything I can write.

Superhero Valentines

In October on Pinterest I saw cute little Hallowe'en packages to hand out at school that looked like Frankenstein, vampires and monsters.  I wasn't able to make them in time for Mason so I thought Valentine's Day would be a perfect time to try my own version.

Superhero Valentine

Mason is in a class full of boys so the whole Valentine's thing in the traditional spirit simply won't work, so what better than wishing them a 'Super' valentine with a superhero-inspired package!