Orangutan - The Toothless Wonder!

That day has come. The miraculous first tooth to fall out at Zoo Suburbia. What an event! Ok, so it was two weeks ago while I was still on bloggy vacay but no one said blog fodder had an expiration date.

For starters she was delighted to find out it was loose right before her dental appointment. She made a point to ask Dr. K how loose was it and when could she expect it to fall out. When he assured her that it would be "VERY soon," she began to interrogate Lion and I about Tooth Fairy procedures.

Since this was the Tooth Fairy's first tooth at our house we turned to wiser and more experienced parents around us to find out what the Fairy's going rate was. Thank you Facebook for being a limitless source of wisdom! It seemed that the going rate was one dollar. However, the Zookeeper heard rumblings in other arenas of five, ten and even twenty dollar rewards being given for the first extraction.

This is when the Tooth Fairy's name was changed to Recession Fairy. Responses soon evened out to the dollar. But how could any really GOOD tooth fairy just fold up a one dollar bill and tuck it under a pillow? To my Orangutan, a dollar bill is one step above paper and her sister eats paper so what good is that?

And that's when it dawned on me. At this age, it's not the actual monetary value that counts. It's the quantity! I could slug a bag full of nickels and she would be giddy! I had a plan!

The tooth hung on. And hung on. And waved to me every time she smiled. I begged, pleaded, cajoled and even sterilized my needle nose pliers in hopes of getting in there while she was alseep. Please just pull that thing so it will stop flopping around!! And then one evening she went to Lion and said, "Hey Daddy. Do you think this is ready to come out?"

"I don't know. Why don't you go get me a tissue and I'll check?"

Now why didn't I think of that? But wait, I DID!! Seven times in three days!! But her daddy suggested it soooo...

And then it was done! One little flick and the tooth was out. And promptly dropped on the floor and lost under the couch where the wild things are. I kid you not! All that prep and anticipation and now we didn't even have a tooth to show for it. Fifteen minutes later we found the flashlight with batteries (a whole different post!) just as Lion found the tooth. O was careful to tuck it tenderly in a ziplock bag and make sure it was well sealed. It was the only night all summer I haven't had to argue with her to go to bed.

The alarm went off the next morning and Lion and I rolled over and hit the snooze button. Yawn. Stretch. Mumble something incoherent. Snuggle back into the pillows for nine more minutes. Sit bolt upright in bed and gasp, "We forgot to Tooth Fairy!!"

Thump, bump, bang, bounce. Stub toe on garage door on the way out to the change tray in the van. Speak an unplesant foreign language for a few minutes while I try to unblear my contacts to count out change. Slide through the kitchen to the paper drawer and extract a ziplock bag to drop the change in. Try to open the bedroom door without waking Marmie because she WILL rat me out. Tiptoe across squeaky floorboards and make the switch very carefully. Back out of the room and stash the evidence for posterity (why I have yet to figure out). And wait.

And wait.

Two hours later she woke up. Five minutes later she stopped talking to herself in her bed and remembered that she was supposed to be checking on something. Squeals of glee finally erupted just as Lion pulled out of the driveway to go to work.

Two quarters, three dimes, and four nickels are the going rate for the Tooth Fairy. Apparently though that might have still been too much. She tipped the Marmoset a nickel for being a lookout.

This evening I was sitting here goofing off and she came to me with, "I'm sure of it Mom! This tooth is loose too!"

Marmie, don't count on a tip this time. The Recession Fairy is back.

Mom Tip #63: Parenting Knows no Limits.

It is a whole new day at Zoo Suburbia. A day I never even imagined much less anticipated. Ladies and Gentlemen. Loyal Readers. Friends.

Lion and I are paying for poop.

Soak that in for a minute (or maybe not). We are paying for poop. Those of you who have been with the Zoo for a while know that Rhino is being particularly hard headed about the potty training issue. He turns four in a month and there is still no real consistency to his pottying except that you are consistently confused, frustrated, exasperated and beaten down.

Last night we may have had a break through. He was sitting on my lap and "broke wind" (that is such a weird phrase!) and suddenly jumped up and said, "Mom, I gotta go poop." Well, run like the wind little man! Fly away to the potty!

And he did his thing! Woo Hoo and Party at the Zoo! I made a HUGE deal of it and gave out celebration marshmallows and was all excited. Lion called and I let Rhino deliver the news and we had another celebration on the phone and Lion said those magic words, "I'll bring a surprise home for you!" And then he forgot.

Resourceful Lion that he is he took Rhino to the Lion's Den and snagged some pennies out of the change bowl. Then the wheeling and dealing started. "Hey Dad? If I pee and poop in the potty some more can I have more monies?" Sure pal! A penny for the pees and two pennies for the poops.

I have a working score card upstairs. I swear everytime he takes a sip of juice he is going to the bathroom to squeeze out two drops. Who would have ever imagined that I would pay for poop?

How much do you suppose this little trick would cost me?

Mom Tip Monday: Stretching your Fridge

And I don't mean by packing it full of leftovers that will turn into your third grader's science experiment in the next month! I mean making what is in there go further. I know I kind of blended budgeting and menu planning last week but I want to focus a little more on that budgeting part this week.

Two weeks in a row now I have managed to cook once and make at least three meals out of what I made. And for both weeks the starter was only $10. Have I gotten your attention now? Would you like to know how I did it? Of course you would! Because if you could feed your family for 3 days on $15 (including sides and extras) who wouldn't do it?

Week #1.
I made a four pound beef roast (which I got on sale for $10) on Sunday. I dropped it in a pot of beef stock and let it simmer all day. I know it's not the traditional way to cook a roast but I had a plan because I had my menu laid out ahead of time. I made some mashed potatoes and steamed veggies to go with it (all pantry items at my house) and we were set.

Monday - I took the reserved beef stock, now thoroughly flavored from the onion soup spices (also a pantry item) I had added to the roast, and sliced two Spanish onions ($1.50) into it and again let it simmer away. I made some homemade bread to go with it - but even that is only a few dollars at the grocery store if baking isn't your forte. Day Two!

Wednesday - The leftover roast itself was up for grabs. I pulled it off into pieces and put it to (everyone together now) simmer with a bottle of barbecue sauce ($2.59). We served it on the rolls I had thought to make with half of the bread dough and had dinner for Day Three.

Thursday - If you can believe it, Beloved took leftover BBQ for lunch, and we had leftover soup for dinner.

I fed my family for four days on $14.

Week #2
Sunday - Baked chicken ($10) with trimmings.

Monday - Rigatoni with chicken, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichokes and spinach. (This is a Zookeeper original so you may need to play with it a little to get the flavors you like.)

Rigatoni & Chicken
1 box rigatoni
2 cups chopped chicken
1 jar sundried tomatoes (reserve oil)
1 cup mushrooms (or less to taste)
1 sm jar artichoke hearts (drain and rinse)
2 cups fresh spinach
2 Tbsp four
1 cup chicken bullion
1/2 cup milk

In a large skillet toss together chicken, tomatoes, artichokes, and mushrooms and heat through. At the same time prepare rigatoni according to package directions. When meat and veggies are heated through remove to a bowl. In your skillet add reserved tomato oil and blend with flour to create roux. Whisk in bullion and bring to a boil. Whisk in milk and allow to thicken. Toss chicken and veggies in sauce, add spinach and allow to rest over low heat while draining pasta. Toss all together or serve by spooning sauce over pasta.


Tuesday - Chicken veggie and noodle soup.

The chicken didn't get me as far because there wasn't as much concentrated meat to work with but I still managed to get out with the $10 chicken and emptying my pantry.

There are a million meals you can make with leftovers like this. Pita pockets for lunches in place of those $7 fast food meals that you (and your behind) don't really like anyway. Grab a flour tortilla, a leaf of lettuce and some thinly sliced roast beef with your favorite dressing or some tomatoes and you have an easy and cheap beef wrap. Chik-fil-A makes the most wonderful chicken wraps. But imagine how much you could save making them at home from LEFTOVERS? It's not a dirty word if you know how to say it!

I haven't had any takers on the Pantry Challenge yet so if you stumbled across something this week that had you saying, "Hmmm?" pass it over. I don't have a mission for Mom Tip Monday for next week so if you have a challenge for me feel free to zip it to me at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com and I'll be happy to give you my two cents.

Have a great week and happy leftovers to all of you! Your wallet will thank you!

Ahhh! The Gift of Giving Back!

Day 5! To those of you playing along, sorry I haven't been able to comment much this week. There's this whole thing about an Orangutan's birthday today? Yeah. It's kind of thrown me off a little! Happy Birthday Orangutan! Your Zookeeper loves you! I'll be back on track tomorrow after the chocolate cake wears off.

So now. On to Day 5!

Sponsors: Day Five Blog Party Question is Brought to you by Baby Pop and Chic Covers
VIP BLOGS to visit are Parent Reviewers , Mom Most Traveled, Mommy Zabs, MomStart, HipposToes, Run DMT

But that's not what you wanted to know is it? You want to know what the question is and how can this loony twist it up! Well, I'm not messing with it today (I don't think!).

Today, make a blog post about what you do to give back during the holidays. Do you volunteer your time? If so, please tell us where. What do you do to teach your children the true meaning of the holidays?

Our family does not formally donate our time to charities during the holidays. My children love to donate anything and anyway they can though. The magic sound of the Salvation Army bell brings little palms out of no where for any and all spare change we can find. The trip to the fire house is an annual highlight and every year before we leave, I choke up to hear them say Thank You. To their heroes.

I'm even more proud of them if we have a trip to the airport during the holiday seasons. They keep their eyes peeled for the ladies and gentlemen in the "polka dot" suits so that they can personally say Thank You. I can't even count the number of smiles that they have given out that way. And not just to the troops but to the people who see them doing so. Tucker makes it a point to find anyone in any kind of uniform - even the porters - and say thank you.

Molly goes through her toys every year looking for something to give to the “little boys and girls who don’t get Christmas.” This year she is already planning on weeding out her books. We also enjoy gathering gifts for Angel Tree families when we can and the Toys for Tots campaign is on our To Do list.

I am very proud of my children when it comes to the holiday spirit. They are always friendly and kind to people they meet but during the holiday season they seem to find extra smiles. And not because of the looming presence of Santa or the gifts. I seldom have to prompt them to use please’s and thank you’s. They just seem to pick up the spirit from people around them and bounce it back.

And now I have to go wipe my face and blow my nose. I never said I was above sentimentality!

A Moment of Brutal Honesty!

I am not sure if you are all aware or not but times are tough! Yeah I know! Newsflash from a moron! But I AM going somewhere with this so bear with me. Or move on - that's an option too.

Here is what I am saying. Go for the freebies. My daughter's best friend has a birthday this weekend and I had no gift or a ton of available funds to get a gift. So of course, I was stressing. Then a package arrived on my doorstep yesterday. A few months back I entered a contest on BlogHer. Sure enough I won, forgot that I had entered and suddenly yesterday my prize showed up. It is a write your own Pop Up book kit.

Can we say, "ROCK ON!!" Birthday party problem solved! And of course as always happens when out of the ordinary things happen to me I started thinking. Maybe I should become a product reviewer! Those people get freebies all the time. And usually they get something to giveaway too. So I would get free stuff that I can use, I would get to make people happy and I could drive traffic to any old site I wanted. This of course only happening if I am super successful at my reviewing and people start to look to me as the authority on Mom stuff!

It dawned on me that I have already done one review for Playskool for a Noodleboro game. In my researching to see what it takes to start a review blog, I came across some advice to review things that you already have in your home. I have plenty I could review!

So here I go. I am launching myself out into the world of product review blindly and hoping for some great goodies. It won't be on The Zoo's page however. But there is going to be a link both here and at The Bowl if you want to know what my opinions are.

Wish me luck! And send free stuff!!