Have a Better Life

Our turtles are alive again.

Well although they hibernate during winter they are never really “asleep” but they don’t eat, they don’t move much and it’s very easy to do maintenance once the water only needs to be changed every 4 or 6 weeks. We save on water and food.

Now, that the rain is gone, the sun is out there and the temperatures have raised, our turtles are on the move again. When they hear our voices they start moving around waiting for some food. They are back to life. Now the water change will be done every 2 weeks or even on a weekly basis.

Usually when we clean the aquarium we put the turtles on the backyard so that they spend some time outside the water and walk on hard floor.

Although my kids would like to have another type of pet in the house, like a dog for instance, working full time and being away from home all day leaving a pet at home does not attract me. I must confess turtles are ugly, but it is very easy to take care of them and by the way they don’t bark, they don’t leave hair all over the place, they don’t pee on the carpet so we are fine having turtles only.

Another accident involving military equipment and children happened in my country, this time really close to me.

A boy found a hand grenade on his father’s warehouse and his father told him it was a real grenade but there was no danger because it was empty inside. The boy and his new toy went to a friends house and with one more boy they used the grenade to play. Well, the fuse got out and the grenade exploded hurting one of the boys. Several body injures and both thumbs had to be removed. He is 14 years old and he is a boy that attended the same daycare of my kids, my son once went to his birthday party, so my son is a little shaken with this situation.

I try to use these type of situations to advise my son of the dangers there are. Of course I can’t protect him of everything but I guess he is more aware of the dangers he might face. Of course a grenade is something not easy to find (I guess) in a family house and even if it exist it is probably well hidden but kids are curious and we have to have that in mind, because accidents do happen.

My father was a hunter and always kept the riffle in a place I knew, always unloaded but I knew where the cartridges where, I even watched my father loading the cartridges but I never touched anything. I knew it was dangerous. I guess nowadays with all the movies and video games there are, children are more curious about guns and similar devices no matter the social status.

Media and other services are using this case for, once again, ask everyone with military equipment at home to give it to the authorities to prevent accidents like this one.

Image via Wikipedia

Last week was a success regarding reducing our expenses. Although we know that by the middle of the month our bank balance will be negative, we are making all the efforts to only spend what is strictly necessary.

Although I haven’t done a weekly menu planner yet, during the week we depend only on what we have in the fridge. If I feel like eating a dish for which I don’t have an ingredient at home, I cook something else. First week it worked just fine, no extra expenses on food.

Going to the coffee store only happened once during the weekend because it is a source of extra expenses. Besides two coffees we usually have to buy something for each kid meaning we spend at least $6,5 in each coffee store visit. It sounds like just a few bucks but during the weekend if we go for a cup of coffee at lunch and dinner time we spend at least $26 or more.

Another thing I always do on weekends when we go for a ride is to take a snack and water for the kids, this way when they are hungry or thirsty I always have something for them. This also reduces the expenses with the kids outside the house.

I guess we are doing our best to reduce expenses so let’s see how we do for the rest of the month.

It’s time for spring cleaning so I have to go through a few tasks at home:

• Remove all the clothes that no longer fit my kids and give them away.

• Organize their closet with the clothes that still fit.

• Organize my closet and take out all the really old clothes I no longer use.

• Organize my husband’s closet. Although he keep it organized all year long there are a few clothes that have not been used for ages like some shirts and his wedding outfit (similar to tuxedos). His wedding outfit has been on that closet for almost 15 years and it is time to put it away for real.

• Drawers – my side bed table has three drawers. One of them are of pants and socks the other two have: books, magazines, papers, pens, blueprints I download and print from the web, etc. etc. They really need to be organized.

• Toys:  we have a toy’s room in the basement that really needs to be organized. There are so many toys that the kids don’t use, that no longer fit their ages but we keep them because we feel bad about giving them away. But I know I have to start selecting them, give some away and make other kids happy.

• Library/Computer room: The shelves are full of books and also photos, candles, souvenirs, etc. etc. . I really need to clean it up so that that room can look a little lighter.

• Kitchen: No need to worry about the kitchen, it is always organized.

• Living Room: Like the kitchen this is one of the rooms that have little to organize. Lack of furniture may be the cause.

• Garage: All the stuff we don’t use we put in the garage. Although we have shelves and stuff is more or less organized, there are a few items that have to go to the garbage bin and others may be useful to other people.

Well, I think that’s all!!!

Amy Poehler is well known as actress and comedian and now she hosts an online show called Smart Girls at the Party. She is the co-creator of this online show and counts with Meredith Walker (producer) and Amy Miles (musical director) to bring to us a show with very talented pre-teen girls.

The show is based on an interview where amazing opinions and points of views are expressed by the girls no matter the subject. Most of the time Amy is surprised with the opinions and abilities these young girls show. You will be amazed will the things pre-teen girls can do and say. Some of them have terrific opinions that make us think that sometimes they just need an opportunity to share them.

Each episode is always full of rich ideas, lots of fun and it ends up with a group dance party. Take a look at the Amy Poehler Cozmo Tv Player widget I embed here:

This widget is amazing. Besides playing the Episode it has a Menu that allows us to share it with friends, embed it in another blogs and the greatest feature, at least in my opinion, is the option to share the widget with several Social Media Networks like Facebook, MySpace, Google, Hi5 and many others.

This year, once again, we won’t be able to build our outdoor porch. I have so many ideas for it but I will have to wait to have money to build it. Again this year we are going to install a green cloth porch with a table and chairs where I hope to be able to spend some time during summer. We can’t use ceiling fans because the porch is made of cloth and we can’t adapt the fans there so on really hot days I’ll have to stay indoors or take advantage of the pool.

I won’t have a former porch but I’ll have a beautiful garden, at least I’m trying to. Although we are not in spring yet, some bulbs are already planted as well as strawberries and tomatoes, the last ones in special flower pots I have. I was thinking about growing other vegetables but I don’t want the back garden to look like an agriculture land. Most of the back garden is covered with cement floor so I have little space to grow other products directly on earth, I can only use flower pots for that purpose. Carrots have too deep roots; maybe I can grow lettuce and peppers.

Do you grown your own vegetables in your garden?

Robberies are increasing due to people that don’t want to work lack of jobs and financial difficulties, so we have to be aware of our house weak points and security measures.

Once the front door can’t be open from the outside without a key we never locked it at night, but we hear that burglars can open it with plastic cards (like credit cards) so now as soon as we arrive home the door is locked. At the end of the day the shutters are closed and they are only open again in the morning.

Our back yard faces a pine and eucalyptus field and although we have a brick wall, I’m always afraid that someone might come through the pines and jump the wall. A fence installation would be a solution but we can’t afford it now nor can we afford an alarm.

What I try to think is that if someone wants to enter into our house he will find his way no matter want we have installed. Of course we can make the breakthrough difficult by having security devices but nowadays they always find a away to enter a house.

Do you have an alarm system installed in your house?