Still alive...

Yes, I'm still alive.

I apologize to those of you who actually read what I write (THANKS!!). It's been a week so far...

Monday, I could hardly get out of bed (didn't feel very good and my back was "out").

Yesterday, I had planned to go to Walmart in the morning (I had been trying to get there since Sunday - we were out of basic necessities: TP, milk, diapers, etc) and finally made it there late yesterday afternoon... dragging myself and my children kicking and screaming - I HATE grocery shopping.

Today has been a do nothing day - one kid had me up til 12am and the other got me up at 4:30am and puked all over me when I pulled her into our bed.

I will get back to the blog SOON - and thanks to Erin for your encouragement to stay random - I'll be making a list of random topics and will start to get them on here ASAP!!

Food for thought: What's something you do to reward yourself? What motivates you to get stuff done?

The Noticer, by Andy Andrews

The Noticer brings the reader to a place of examination of his life using a unique storytelling method. Andy brings the story of Jones to a place where the reader wants to believe what he is reading has actually happened, although nothing confirms nor negates the story to be true. The Noticer brings to light what might happen if one changes his perspective on life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was an easy read – took me about an hour and a half to read it straight through. It caught my attention from page one and kept me interested until the end. I found myself evaluating my own life as i read the story of Jones and his wisdom concerning life and one's perspective on it. This is a book I'll read again and again, as well as one I'll pass on to others to read. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone!

***Note: This book comes out TODAY!! Go get yourself a copy!!***

A week of weekends...

...that's what this week has felt like. And I'm not complaining. Last weekend, I couldn't wait for the weekend to be over. This weekend, I wish it would last longer.

Sorry for the long absence from any type of "randomness". Life has gotten in the way of having time to muse or write or anything.

I got mocked this week about my love of a good deal. My sister and mom about peed their pants when they saw how I organize my coupons - I have a master list of all the coupons I have alphabetized, and my coupons are organized by expiration date. Personally, it works for me. But it made for a good laugh on Wednesday night. Do you organize your coupons or do you have "chaos"? I've tried a number of different organization methods over the years. What have you tried? What works for you? What does work?

Tomorrow is SALE DAY!! I'm headed to Walgreens EARLY tomorrow - maybe I'll convince myself to get my butt out of bed before J leaves for work at 7am - to make sure I can actually get everything I want this week. I tried two different stores twice each (a total of four visits) last week and still didn't get everything I was hoping/planning to get. (I did do pretty well, however, and managed to score some free stuff for my mom to donate to a women's shelter event she was going to at her church today.) I'm super excited about the deals this week. But only at WAGS... CVS isn't so exciting this week - I probably won't even go there. Are you planning any exciting deals/steals this week? What was your best deal last week?

Leave me some feedback as to what types of posts you'd like to see on here: random, money saving, deep, etc. I need some help with direction on here. My brain only does random so often, and then I run out of random topics, so if you have topic suggestions, I'd love to know that too!

I think I've finally figured CVS out!!

I got all of this for $7.27 (started with $7.99ECB and ended up with $10ECB)!!! That should have cost me $69.77 if I had paid full price for it! That's a 90% savings!!!

Inventory...

Have you ever taken the time to actually inventory your house? I've come across a few different articles/comments about this recently, and then J asked me the other day if I had ever inventoried our house.

One of the articles I read recently pointed out the value in taking inventory... when you are in a state of shock (due to something happening to your house), you will have a lot better luck remembering what you had in your house (and convincing the insurance company that you actually had it) if you have an inventory list (preferably with pictures - especially of the larger value items) in a safe location.

Another reason I've recently come across for having an inventory of your house is to understand what you are worth... stay with me on this one. By taking an inventory of all that you own and putting a price tag on it, you know what you have that could be turned into "cash" in case of an emergency. You also have a fairly accurate estimate of what your "hourly salary" is actually worth. (I think you'd have to read the book I read to understand this better, though. It took me a few times of reading it to comprehend what that actually meant.) And thus, you have a better appreciation for things and your time.

My current desire for an inventory is to rid myself of unwanted items that are sitting around in storage. I know I have a lot of STUFF that I never use, never see, and probably won't have a use/need for in the next 5 years. By taking inventory of my house, I can easily identify these items and relocate them to the garage sale pile. (By the way, in case you're interested and live in the greater Warsaw, IN area, we're having a garage sale Memorial Day weekend - lots of baby stuff, books, and random household stuff - send me an email if you want more details/directions/etc.) My rules of thumb for putting stuff in the garage sale is as follows: 1. It's a seasonal item that I didn't use the last season it was appropriate to have used it; 2. It's not seasonal and I haven't used it in 6 months; 3. I have a duplicate (or multiples) of the item; 4. I don't want to move it - I'm hoping to move in the next 5 years; and 5. I have no need for the item and I am tired of staring at it.

I've already started weeding through the kids' clothes (I still have a ways to go there - this is probably the hardest part), and I finished weeding through the books in the den (with Jason's help). I'm hoping to get to the front closet/storage closet this week and our bedroom. I'm probably going to be trying to sell a few larger ticket items on Craigslist and/or prior to the sale to see if I can make a better profit.

Once I'm done garage sale weeding, I'll probably take the camera out and start working on that inventory list for insurance and self-value purposes. It's always good to know you're covered, even if things don't really hold a huge value in your life.

Have you ever inventoried your house? What are your rules of thumb for garage sales? Do you have yearly, bi-yearly, occasional garage sales? How often do you weed your closets and book shelves?

Bored...

yup. i'm bored. it's not like i don't have anything to do... i'm sure i could find something to occupy my time this afternoon. it's more like i haven't stopped "going" for over a week now (and i was sick the week before that), and i finally have some breathing room. in fact, i haven't even gotten out of my pjs today. i read a book this morning, have checked my blog reader and email too many times already today.

i didn't really get to see my husband at all yesterday since he didn't get home from work til 1030pm last night, so i'm hoping he'll be home sooner than later tonight (and i'm looking forward to him being home the next three days)!
maybe we'll get to catch up on some shows this weekend - we are probably close to three weeks behind on some of our shows we watch... thank goodness for dvr and on demand...

i think i'm going to play dollies with jenny this afternoon. not one of my more favorite things to do (i enjoy watching her play more than actually interacting myself). but she'll enjoy it.

i think she isn't napping like i thought. i keep hearing strange noises from the bedroom... i'd better go check... then i think i'm going to watch some old school OTH on soapnet.... have a great rest of your day!

scratch that... OTH is over... time for some gilmore girls dvds!

Easter lays an egg...

So, finding time to actually sit down and put all my thoughts on Easter in a post has been difficult.

My kids are on two different napping schedules thanks to a weekend away and then having been gone all morning, so I haven’t had a “break” to sit and write. (Actually, I just glanced at the clock and realized that that isn’t completely true. I put the littlest little down for a nap an hour ago, and the biggest little just got up from her nap, so I guess I technically had an hour to myself, although I was so busy fighting the computer and grabbing some lunch I didn’t realize it!) Thankfully, Jenny can entertain herself for a bit while I attempted to upchuck my brain on paper re: Easter. (At least I hope so!)

Growing up, it was fairly easy to “plan” for Easter. I knew what a “normal” Easter would/should look like. Dad would go to church really early in the morning, leaving the rest of us to rush around getting ready. We almost always had new Easter clothes (at least my sister and I did since our birthdays are really close to Easter). We would always be late to the Sunrise service at church, since Dad was already there and wasn’t home to help Mom get the rest of us around. After the Sunrise service we had breakfast at church – pancakes and super yummy sausage! At 10am (the Sunrise service was at 8am), we had the Easter worship service – it was usually a little bit longer than a normal Sunday morning service, but since it started an hour earlier, we still got out of church early. Lunch was a variation of things over the years: lunch at home, lunch with my Dad’s family, lunch with my Mom’s family, lunch at a restaurant, etc. Sunday evening was usually back at church for an Easter Cantata or drama.

No extras – bunnies, baskets, eggs, etc – just church and family and predictability. We all knew Mom was going to be in a bad mood Easter morning, just like being at church for all the services was a given. Even when I started dating J, Easter wasn’t all that different. For some reason, Easter was the one holiday that didn’t HAVE to be with a specific side of the family, and that lunch didn’t really matter what it was or who it was with.

So, in comes this Easter. Since J works Sundays, I had invited his parents and sister & her husband to join us at our home for the day, hoping that J would be able to come home for lunch and enjoy some time with his family. (I also figured that they would be able to come down earlier in the weekend so he’d have time to spend with them while he wasn’t working, too.) So, imagine my surprise when he told me that we were going to his sister’s for Easter, if he could get the day off. Then, he informed me that he had been planning on going to Michigan for the weekend, regardless of if he had Sunday off, since he and his dad were going to the Michigan spring game (although, I found out later than my FIL didn’t know this was happening til he was told about it, too), and that he guessed the kids and I could probably go up too.

(I’m having trouble staying focused on this, since Jenny is playing with her dolls on the other end of the room. She is so cute to watch – her interactions with her dollies are very enlightening to how she sees me interact with her and David!)

Back to Easter. I had already bought my ham, but since it was in the freezer, I figured it would be nice to go up to Michigan and spend some time with my in-laws (whom I love and get along with). The one thing that was bothering me, however, was that J had mentioned that we weren’t planning to go to church on Easter. He explained that he was thinking of me and the kids – not wanting to cause us to have to get up so early and not having to mess with trying to figure out another church’s nursery system. I told him that I didn’t care what time we had to get up, we were going to church on Easter. Period. And if he wanted to avoid the “new church on Easter” situation, we could stop in Battle Creek on our way to Grand Rapids and attend my parents’ church – which we attend whenever we visit them (and I grew up at). Thankfully, when I talked to my MIL, she had already resolved the situation with my SIL, and we were planning to attend my SIL & BIL’s church in Grand Rapids.

So why on Easter morning was I DREADING going to church? I literally was arguing with God about it most of the two hour drive to church. All of a sudden, I was very upset that Easter wasn’t happening at our house & our church. And I don’t think it was a jealous thing. I really wasn’t upset that we were spending Easter with my in-laws. I was mostly upset about the church-thing, I think. I really didn’t like the fact that we were going to a church that we’ve only been to once before, and it’s a rather large church (one of my not-so-favorite things about a church). I was praying/arguing with God – “Why am I so against going to church today? This is supposed to be about You, not me. Change my heart – help me to be ‘happy’ about being in Your House today.”

I think part of the issue was the fact that my reason behind attending church is due to the verse in Hebrews that says “do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together” – fellowshipping with other believers. But, when you visit a church that you don’t know anybody there, is that really fulfilling the purpose of church? I’m still not completely sure why I was so agitated, but I had a hard time snapping out of it. Honestly, until church was over and we were in the restaurant for lunch, I didn’t really relax – I was on edge the whole time.

On the way home, later that night, I was talking to J about my experience with church that morning. By the time I made it to the service (thanks to the circles I was forced to jump through to get the kids checked in to their various areas & needing to feed David), I was slightly on edge. I had noticed that he, too, seemed tense throughout the service, so I asked him what he thought about it. He wasn’t tense as much as he just wasn’t comfortable due to the volume of the worship. (You couldn’t really hear yourself sing, due to the band/choir/worship leaders/etc.) He said that he had enjoyed various parts of the service. In reality, it was a very nice service, and I shouldn’t have been agitated, but I was. God and I spent a lot of time together during the service – me apologizing for my attitude and asking for a better one, and Him speaking to me through the sermon.

It really wasn’t a bad Easter. In fact, other than my church agitation, it was a GREAT Easter. I got to spend some quality time with my in-laws. I was able to sit in a worship service that truly brought God glory. And I left Michigan with the desire to go back sooner than later. I’m still not resolved about my weirdness about church, but I’m leaving this Easter behind with a good taste in my mouth – literally (I discovered Coconut Hershey’s Kisses) and figuratively.

What are you taking forward with you from this Easter? What are some of your Easter traditions? What's your favorite Easter candy?

Abbreviations explained...

Since I used some abbreviations in the last post, here are some keys for those of you who may not be familiar with them...

Here's the family relations key:

MIL = mother-in-law
FIL = father-in-law
SIL = sister-in-law
BIL = brother-in-law

Here's the key for the shopping abbreviations:

WAGS = Walgreens
OOP = out of pocket (total cash paid)
ECB = extra care bucks (earn at CVS with frequent shopper card)
RR = register rewards (print with receipt when you buy specific items - also called catalina)

Hope that's helpful! Check out blogs such as www.moneysavingmom.com and www.frugaliciousmommy.com for other helpful tips and deals! Let me know if you have any other questions!!

And here are the pictures and break-down of what I actually ended up with!

I decided not to do Walmart when I got there and started working through my list, so all I got there was a 3 Musketeers (free with coupon, $.05 OOP for tax) and our monthly WIC purchases (free groceries since we are "poor" according to the government).

I did Walgreens last night, and somehow I miscalculated a few things... I should have been able to do the following: 2 toothbrushes, 2 Chapsticks, 3 Coffee-Mate liquid creamers, four bags of Hershey's candy, and 2 packs of Scunci hair elastics for $4.08 (plus a $5 MIR - making $.92 on the whole trip). Instead, I ran the transactions wrong and ended up with... 4 bags of Hershey's candy, 2 Coffee-Mate creamers, 4 packs of Scunci elastics, 2 Chapsticks, and 2 toothbrushes for $9.71 (plus a $5 MIR, so a total of $4.71 paid).


















CVS went better this morning than WAGS did last night, although I had to make an adjustment in the store since they were out of one of the toothpastes I was planning on getting. I had planned to buy: two tubes of one type of toothpaste and one tube of another type of toothpaste, a coupon booklet, two Pert Plus shampoos, one Softsoap body wash, one Pantene shampoo and one conditioner, and two Scrubbin' Bubbles starter kit (on sale a few weeks ago - had to get a raincheck) all for $4.27 OOP and with $4.99 ECB left (I started with $3.49 ECB from last week). The SB starter kits were still out and the coupon book didn't have the coupon I wanted in it, so I ended up with: one Softsoap body wash, both Pantene products, two Pert Plus shampoos, two tubes of toothpaste, and a chocolate creme egg (I needed filler for one of the transactions, and it was the cheapest thing I could find at the counter) all for $6.91 OOP with $7.99 ECB left. Hopefully, I'll be able to shop next week without having to spend any OOP!!














Hope you're having better luck with your deals this week... I'm still learning. I can't wait til a shopping trip actually calculates exactly as I plan!

(Easter recap is coming... just waiting for the littles to nap!)

Back from vacay...

Vacay Recap

I had a really nice weekend, albeit, I would have liked to have a longer one (we were gone Thurs PM through Sun PM). Unlike many people, I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my in-laws. We managed to cram a LOT into such a little amount of time - spending time with my MIL and FIL, hanging with my sis & her BF, golfing (J & me), visiting J's grandparents, basketball with old friends (J & FIL), UM spring football game/scrimmage (J & FIL), Mickey D's - complete with Happy Meal and Play Place (littles, me, and MIL), attempted egg hunt at grocery store (littles, me, and MIL), egg hunt in house (Jenny), church in GR with SIL and BIL, lunch at Papa Vino's in GR, another egg hunt (Jenny), hanging with SIL & BIL at their house. Somehow, in the midst of all the activity, we also managed to get some rest (yay for MIL taking care of littles in AM to let me and J sleep in)!!

Today's plans

But, now we're back to yucky, rainy Monday... and I had such high hopes for today. I actually sat down last night before I went to bed (albeit it was actually around 245am this morning) and made a "schedule" of all the things I wanted to get accomplished today and when I wanted to get it done. And, had it not been raining, I might have actually left the house this morning (maybe), but it's nasty and cold outside, so I gave J some cash to pick up bread (we're completely out since I haven't been to the bread store in a month or so - and Mondays are $.59 loaf day), and I think we MIGHT make a trip into WAGS later (I have a coupon for candy that expires today and I have a feeling I can probably get a good deal on it since Easter was yesterday). All of the other errands are being postponed til later in the week - please no rain tomorrow!!!

Money Makin' Mommy

I have GREAT plans for CVS, WAGS, and Walmart this week - lots of goodies for little money!! Not including any Easter candy I buy (hopefully really cheap), I plan to spend $9.10 OOP and end up with $4RR and $4.99ECB when I'm all done at all three stores... and I will end up with LOTS of freebies! Here's a rundown of what I'm hoping to get...

CVS: Pantene shampoo, Pantene conditioner, Softsoap Scrub Body Wash, two Scrubbin' Bubbles Starter Kits, two tubes of Colgate Sensitive toothpaste, a ReInventing Beauty magazine (coupons in it), a tube of Colgate Visibly White toothpaste, two bottles of Pert Plus (11 items for $4.27 OOP with $4.99 ECB left)

WAGS: two tubes of Total toothpaste, four packages of Scunci hair elastics, Chapstick, two CoffeeMate liquid creamers, four bags of Hershey's candy, up to eight bags of Wonka jellybeans (21 items for $3.29 plus price of candy with $4RR left and $5 MIR)

Walmart: four travel size Axe products, three boxes of Kotex pantyliners, four 2pk of Olay bar soap, four Marcol products (15 items for $1.54 OOP)

Hopefully all the stores are stocked and my transactions will work the way I'm hoping they will!!

Food for thought

I'm going to be posting about Easter later... but first I want to know: Was your Easter what you expected? Was it better, worse, or just different? What was your favorite part? What did you like least? How did you celebrate? Do you have any Easter traditions?

Unplugged and sick...

So, I have been "unplugged" since Friday afternoon... so I haven't had a chance to keep up on my emails, blogs, or anything else.

Saturday, I ended up opting for a happy family instead of a day off, so the whole family went shopping with Grandma. It was a nice day and I actually found some clothes that fit me. However, I had gone to bed Friday night with a sore throat and it didn't go away during our shopping trip. By the time we got home, all I wanted to do was sleep. So I slept on the couch, while David screamed on the floor (I slept through the whole thing).

I was sick on Sunday - my normal unplugged day - but managed to go to church, rescue our new neighbor, and attend a birthday party for our new neighbor's little girl.

This morning, I woke up sick again. I managed to stay in bed til 11ish, but still didn't feel very good - I crashed on the couch all day. So, this is the first time I've been on the computer since Friday afternoon...

Don't know how much I'll be on the rest of the week - we've got a pretty "busy" week planned... Story Time tomorrow, nothing on Wednesday yet, Thursday is David's 6mo checkup and then we're heading to the in-laws for the weekend, where I probably won't be online too much. So, it's probably going to be a slow blogging week...

What are you up to this week? Do you do anything special for Holy Week? Are you planning on doing any unplugging this week/weekend? Have a GREAT Easter if I don't "see" you before then - I'll try to blog at least once more before then...

Green or brown??

I did it!! I made it through all my emails and blog posts (in my reader) in under 1.5 hours!!! Hooray!! It's amazing how fast I can make it through all my online stuff (even when my computer is slower than molasses) if I keep on top of all of it!

I get a day off tomorrow!!! My mom is coming down to take me shopping for my birthday (was three weeks ago), and we're leaving the kiddos home with Daddy!! I doubt he's as thrilled about this as I am, but he didn't argue (too much) when I told him! :) Yay for a day off!!

So I started my garden this week. I'd been wanting to start it for awhile, but hadn't decided how I was going to do it. Last year, being VERY preggo, we did a "flower pot" garden on the patio, which would have worked, except I was so preggo, that I didn't take very good care of it, and we weren't able to harvest all that much from it - we harvested a few tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, and beans. This year, I'm using the leftover seeds from last year, using the seed starters I bought last year (and didn't end up using) and the left over planting soil, and I started my plants inside! :) I have lots of zucchini, cucumbers, and lettuce started, along with some pumpkins, beans, peas, and onions. I'm still waiting on my tomato seeds (free from Campbells) to arrive so I can start my tomato plants.








































I feel like I should write some more, but I'm not really sure what to write about, and the littles need some Mommy lovin', so I'm going to bid you all adeiu...

But before I go, some "food" for thought... Do you have a garden? What do you plant? Do you plant in the ground? In a box? In flower pots? Are you trying anything new out this year in your garden? What is your favorite home-grown produce? I'm salivating just at the anticipation of your responses! Happy gardening! :)

I need to blog...

Yesterday, I took the "day off" from being on the computer... I finally started checking my email last night at 8oclock when we sat down to watch Lie to Me and Idol Results... I only made it through a portion of my emails and blog reader before my battery died on my lap top, so I had a BUNCH waiting for me today.

Today, I decided to get all my "to-do" list done (or at least most of it) before getting on the computer, and then Id (sorry about the grammar nono here - my oldest little was pushing buttons and I cannot use the apostrophe key right now - I do not have time to fix it now, either)... crap, now I do not remember what I was going to say!! Anyways... three hours later, or maybe more like five hours (thanks to some interruptions - #1 and #2 littles), I am finally through my email in one account and through my blog reader... all caught up!

(Back from yet another interruption...)

So, as I was trying to say... I really need to blog (oops... found another key I cannot use right now...), write, etc, but due to life, I cannot (grr... I really need to stop trying to use conjuctions). I will try to find some time later, after the littles go to bed... hopefully they will both sleep tonight - and in their own beds!!

See you soon!