dreamer
New Member
When my husband FINALLY got his back retro disability pay from VA, we got an SUV, becuz he uses a motorized disability scooter and so do I and we have 3 kids. ACK! The gas pump is SO distressing. But we had to have somewhere to put our scooters and our kids. :-(
Our small town had only one grocery store until this year, but we have our documentation so when husband was at doctor appts at VA we would do a large shopping on base in commissary. That helped. Less than a month ago we got an ALdi here, which I had shopped at when I would be near one for other things and we got our Super WalMart around Valentines Day. It has been GREAT to get those here. Prior, we had to go 25 miles for ANYTHING. I think our Superwalmart has also become THE place to be here, LOL. No matter what time of day or whatever, LOL.
Beccuz husband has been on disability so many many years, we have for years asked for "scholarships" etc for anything we think the kids might want to do. Boy & Girl Scouts offer financial assistance for many things, so my kids were quite active in scouts. Our park district and "special recreaqtion district" also have "schoalrships" and financial assistance, so we have utilyzed those. Both my girls got black belts in Tae Kwon Do that way, and took gymnastics and dance. We also get a half price community pool pass.
We have always gotten the local paper and I keep up with any parades, fireworks, and festivals going on and my kids even enjoy going to "Expos" and all those are always free. We go to parades and fireworks hours early to seek out primo seats and we people watch. I freeze water bottles that we can drink as they melt, and we have spray bottles of water to keep cool, and we bring our own munchies and snacks. Thruout the summer we can usually find fireworks displays for every weekend and also parades for every weekend. We also hang out on our blanket until the other traffic has mostly cleared out to reduce sitting in traffic and simply burning gas going nowhere. Popcorn, grapes and carrot sticks work great as snacks on these outings. (sometimes we freeze the grapes) We also use umbrellas to shade us.
One real nice thing in our park district is a 6 week long day camp- younger kids go 8 am to noon, older kids go 1 pm - 4. One day a week they take the kids to the community pool. The best part is it is only $50 for the entire 6 weeks, Mon-Fri! They also do movies in the park for free on Fridays and on many Saturdays they have special activities for kids that are free. On Wed evenings from 6 till 8 our town square has free concerts in the Gazebo. They have quite a wide variety of music.
Our library also has many many free things going on, reading clubs and craft groups and such.
I have a small wading pool in my yard, I empty it every week to 10 days, and I also have sprinklers for watering the veg and flower garden- and I let the kids do the watering, and my son loves to play under the water spray. We got a small tent at our walmart grand opening for $20 and they love to go in the tent to play cards, board games and sleep in it.
One nite last week, I just did not feel hungry for what I had planned for dinner (I also post a weekly menu- partly so my crew does not eat what is needed to make dinner, and also to guide ME and keep me on track, otherwise, I cannot make up my mind what we are having, and to help me make sure I do stop playing in my gardens in time to prepare dinner, LOL) So- we skipped the meat and we simply had baked potatos and salad, and to my surprise, the kids LOVED it! I made the potatos in the microwave and the house did not get any hotter. I had gotten the salad makings for a special sale price, and the potatos were also on sale...it was a very cheap dinner, and the combo of potato and salad was wonderful.
When we cook out we always make LOTS extra and use the coals to full advantage and then have easy to get meals with the leftovers. I also make huge bowls of all kinds of tossed salads and pasta salads and keep those at the ready for lunches and snacks.
We freeeze a variety of juices, gatorade and sometimes kool aid into popsickles or to make shaved ice.
We started our very first veg garden this year and that has kept me and the kids busy, and has been fun with my son t have him involved in how the vegs grow.
WHile we live in town, we are a rural town, and our yard attracts all kinds of critters. We had a nest of baby bunnnies, and right now we have a quail a cardinal and a nest of wrens. We are near a creek so we get frogs and salamanders, too. This year we set out bird feeders and bird baths and created a humminbird/butterfly garden. The kids have really enjoyed all that as well. We do have a rabbit in the house, and a turtle, and our dog and 3 cats......and the kids love to get the dog playing out in the yard.
All of this costs little and requires little gas etc and sure does keep me and the kids quite busy.
I do hafta say with the price of gas, I sure am glad we are no longer going every week the 5 hours each way to my sons eye surgeon! I just tallied up how much out of pocket that all cost and we had to take a 2nd mortgage on our house (becuz in the midst of it all, I had used credit cards to pay for the gas, hotels etc) It was a staggering amount. 18 months of 3 days a week on the road? UG!
Here is a snack we keep handy a lot---- popcorn, M&Ms, sunflower seeds, raisins, peanuts, broken pretzel sticks and sometimes colored mini marshmallows.
A salad we love is fresh raw spinach, feta cheese, red onions, strawberries (or mandarin oranges) and rasberry vingrette.
A new salad I tried last week was cooked chicken Ramen (I usually do not like ramen) mixed into cole slaw or shredded cabbage mix and topped with sesame ginger dressing and toasted almonds and a few chow mein noodle crispies) - you can also add shredded chicken.
When I make spaghetti, I make extra pasta and mix that with italian dressing sliced cucmbers, sliced tomatos and onions.
Our small town had only one grocery store until this year, but we have our documentation so when husband was at doctor appts at VA we would do a large shopping on base in commissary. That helped. Less than a month ago we got an ALdi here, which I had shopped at when I would be near one for other things and we got our Super WalMart around Valentines Day. It has been GREAT to get those here. Prior, we had to go 25 miles for ANYTHING. I think our Superwalmart has also become THE place to be here, LOL. No matter what time of day or whatever, LOL.
Beccuz husband has been on disability so many many years, we have for years asked for "scholarships" etc for anything we think the kids might want to do. Boy & Girl Scouts offer financial assistance for many things, so my kids were quite active in scouts. Our park district and "special recreaqtion district" also have "schoalrships" and financial assistance, so we have utilyzed those. Both my girls got black belts in Tae Kwon Do that way, and took gymnastics and dance. We also get a half price community pool pass.
We have always gotten the local paper and I keep up with any parades, fireworks, and festivals going on and my kids even enjoy going to "Expos" and all those are always free. We go to parades and fireworks hours early to seek out primo seats and we people watch. I freeze water bottles that we can drink as they melt, and we have spray bottles of water to keep cool, and we bring our own munchies and snacks. Thruout the summer we can usually find fireworks displays for every weekend and also parades for every weekend. We also hang out on our blanket until the other traffic has mostly cleared out to reduce sitting in traffic and simply burning gas going nowhere. Popcorn, grapes and carrot sticks work great as snacks on these outings. (sometimes we freeze the grapes) We also use umbrellas to shade us.
One real nice thing in our park district is a 6 week long day camp- younger kids go 8 am to noon, older kids go 1 pm - 4. One day a week they take the kids to the community pool. The best part is it is only $50 for the entire 6 weeks, Mon-Fri! They also do movies in the park for free on Fridays and on many Saturdays they have special activities for kids that are free. On Wed evenings from 6 till 8 our town square has free concerts in the Gazebo. They have quite a wide variety of music.
Our library also has many many free things going on, reading clubs and craft groups and such.
I have a small wading pool in my yard, I empty it every week to 10 days, and I also have sprinklers for watering the veg and flower garden- and I let the kids do the watering, and my son loves to play under the water spray. We got a small tent at our walmart grand opening for $20 and they love to go in the tent to play cards, board games and sleep in it.
One nite last week, I just did not feel hungry for what I had planned for dinner (I also post a weekly menu- partly so my crew does not eat what is needed to make dinner, and also to guide ME and keep me on track, otherwise, I cannot make up my mind what we are having, and to help me make sure I do stop playing in my gardens in time to prepare dinner, LOL) So- we skipped the meat and we simply had baked potatos and salad, and to my surprise, the kids LOVED it! I made the potatos in the microwave and the house did not get any hotter. I had gotten the salad makings for a special sale price, and the potatos were also on sale...it was a very cheap dinner, and the combo of potato and salad was wonderful.
When we cook out we always make LOTS extra and use the coals to full advantage and then have easy to get meals with the leftovers. I also make huge bowls of all kinds of tossed salads and pasta salads and keep those at the ready for lunches and snacks.
We freeeze a variety of juices, gatorade and sometimes kool aid into popsickles or to make shaved ice.
We started our very first veg garden this year and that has kept me and the kids busy, and has been fun with my son t have him involved in how the vegs grow.
WHile we live in town, we are a rural town, and our yard attracts all kinds of critters. We had a nest of baby bunnnies, and right now we have a quail a cardinal and a nest of wrens. We are near a creek so we get frogs and salamanders, too. This year we set out bird feeders and bird baths and created a humminbird/butterfly garden. The kids have really enjoyed all that as well. We do have a rabbit in the house, and a turtle, and our dog and 3 cats......and the kids love to get the dog playing out in the yard.
All of this costs little and requires little gas etc and sure does keep me and the kids quite busy.
I do hafta say with the price of gas, I sure am glad we are no longer going every week the 5 hours each way to my sons eye surgeon! I just tallied up how much out of pocket that all cost and we had to take a 2nd mortgage on our house (becuz in the midst of it all, I had used credit cards to pay for the gas, hotels etc) It was a staggering amount. 18 months of 3 days a week on the road? UG!
Here is a snack we keep handy a lot---- popcorn, M&Ms, sunflower seeds, raisins, peanuts, broken pretzel sticks and sometimes colored mini marshmallows.
A salad we love is fresh raw spinach, feta cheese, red onions, strawberries (or mandarin oranges) and rasberry vingrette.
A new salad I tried last week was cooked chicken Ramen (I usually do not like ramen) mixed into cole slaw or shredded cabbage mix and topped with sesame ginger dressing and toasted almonds and a few chow mein noodle crispies) - you can also add shredded chicken.
When I make spaghetti, I make extra pasta and mix that with italian dressing sliced cucmbers, sliced tomatos and onions.
