I don’t bring my lunch to work often enough to justify a pretty lunchbag, but I really want one! So, I’m going to make a deal with myself. If I can bring my lunch 3 times a week for the next month, I can get a pretty lunchbag. That’s only 12 lunches. I can handle packing 12 lunches (right?). But it will save me at least $60 over the course of that month, so then I could justify buying one (or two or three) of these:

1. Eco Friendly Reusable Lunch Sack Bag
2. Koko Insulated Lunch Tote ~ Jenn Funky Floral
3. Insulated Lunch Purse – Black and Grey with a Band of Lemon Yellow
4. Shinzi Katoh Double Deck Bento Box ~ Hungry Bee
5. Set of 3 reusable snack bags
6. Built NY Gourmet Getaway
7. Take -a- Long Cutlery Wrap — Black and White Flower
8. Lime and White Damask Lunch Bag Tote – Zippered closure

I will let you know how it goes!

I was excited to take my nieces to a “Something on Ice” show and thought back to when my dad took me to some “Fairy on Ice” thing when I was a kid. Then I remembered the stupid fairy flashlight I begged him to buy me because all the kids had something that glowed in the dark. That stupid flashlight was probably $10! In 1990!

Plan ahead and bring your souvenirs!

The party store had cheap glow-in-the-dark rings, toys and jewelry and the girls were thrilled! They gave out extras to other little girls sitting nearby. 

Last year, I took Dakota to a dinosaur show (Jacquelyn was too scared to go with us) and I brought a dinosaur coloring book, dinosaur stickers, a toy dinosaur and dinosaur “eggs” (candies) for her during the show. I gave her dinosaur pajamas (that were way too big for her!) after the show to sleep in. Everything was at Target, and the toy dinosaur was exactly the same one they were hawking at the show (but $9 less!).

With a little pre-planning, you can avoid the begging, pleading and tears over show junk. Here are some ideas for items you can bring with you to shows, zoos, and amusement parks:

• toys
• coloring books and crayons
• candy
• shirts or slippers
• glow-in-the-dark stuff
• stickers
• hair accessories
• hats

Also, if you’re taking a little girl to Disneyland, you should be aware that the trend is to dress up as a princess. There are even little beauty parlors in the park that will do hair and make-up! My sisters arrive at the park prepared with princess dresses from Target and save a bundle over buying dresses in the park.

I had a few holiday stamps left over from my holiday cards last year. And then I found a bunch of 41 cent holiday stamps from a couple years ago. When I had to send a couple packages recently, I decided I’d use up the old stamps since I figured I would never use them otherwise. Both packages I sent with holiday stamps arrived just fine.

Also, I found a neat calculator that you can use to help you use up your old stamps. You can put in all the different types of stamps you have and the required postage, and it will tell you how many of each stamp to use… pretty handy, huh? You won’t use more stamps than you need!

Oh… and I realize that Liz Lemon is not a real person. I did not send her a package with holiday stamp postage. BUT, if I *did* send her a package it would probably be something awesome. Like ham. Or Spanx.