A Moment of Materialism

It makes me feel like a complete consumerist but I love buying my children little things, and do so often enough that we have a spot in our Dave Ramsey inspired montly budget for it. The picture is a gathering of things I've purchased them in the past couple weeks; a little mechanical toy car that goes on it's own when you push it, plastic bracelets from the thrift store, a $1 pin wheel from Walmart, a pot holder loom from our local yarn store.  They didn't need any of it in the least, we have lots of stuff at home.  I don't do it all the time, and if it doesn't fit in our budget that month for whatever reason I have no problem stopping.  But it makes me smile to see my little one interested in the bracelets at the thrift store, and so I pull a couple off the peg and present them to her right then.  My expressive love language must be gifts, and for my receptive love language, I like to receive words of affirmation. More on the 5 Love Languages here.
Not at all food related, but it's a regular part of our little family that tickles me so I thought I'd share.

Other things to buy this week- mostly food related and more necessary than another plastic car

• This is the last week to sign up for Jenny's Online Cooking Class- how to cook traditional foods.   It starts June 1st! And you have lifetime access to the videos and materials, so if you're planning a vacation for this time, you can just run it later this summer when it works for you.You can read more about how I think this would be a great summer learning opportunity here, or read what Jenny says about it and sign up here.

• Not something to buy- but I just started with Paperback Swap and I'm addicted!  My mother-in-law had told me about it months ago, but I hadn't signed up because I really don't like standing in line at the post office. But  I found out that based on the book, they know how much it weighs and you can just print postage right from their program and mail from home.  That is easy! I'm sure I'm not the only one who has accumulated books that I don't need or want any more.  Just trade them out for books you do want, like these that I recommend about food :)    Sign up here

• And I'm running low on coconut oil again and this week it's down below $40/gallon (my target price, though a couple times a year it goes below $30/gallon) for expeller pressed (buy here).  They're also having a 2-for-$19.99 16 ounce raw extra virgin organic coconut oil (here), which is what I use in smoothies and for oil pulling. And use referral code 5682145 for a free book on the benefits of coconut oil if you're a first time customer!

*these are all affiliate/referral links, but I think they're good deals anyway and wanted to share