Fried Mommy Brain

Still Desperately Clinging (and a little update)

A piece of ice cream cake leftover from my 30th birthday last month is still sitting in my freezer. I can't bring myself to eat it--nor can I bring myself to throw it out. Apparently I still have not accepted my new age yet <sigh> As long as a piece of that cake is still in my possession, I will forever teeter on the edge of being 29. It's delusional but comforting.  I am choosing to not analyze it any further.  End of story <period>

Things have been quiet here. Just plucking along with daily life as always. Matt was out to sea again for 10 days. He was home briefly yesterday before leaving at 3:30am this morning to go in for one of those 24 to 36 hour type shifts.  It really was pretty effortless to float back into the flying solo mode and nothing too eventful really happened. For that I am most grateful. Oh sure, all the girls got sick, but it was just a chest cold, some fevers..no biggie.  Unless you slam us with a stomach virus, I am beyond caring at this point. Once you have multiple children--one or more of whom are in school--you realize you just gotta let go a little and just deal.  So life went on.  We had three parties in one weekend--one of which I, once again, hosted.  A great weekend was had by all and we enjoyed some great time with friends.  The following week was just the same ole, same ole of school and errands and holiday shopping.  Jules did have a breath taking strings concert--yet another Matt had to miss (he has yet to see her perform actually) but otherwise it was pretty quiet.  I really didn't hit any snags until this past weekend.

This past weekend. One that was supposed to be filled with some time with friends again and some good ole smut reading (currently reading the latest in the Masters of Time series.yummy and demanding of my full attention) but alas two kiddos were sick enough to warrant canceling plans.  So I found myself, yeah with some shopping left to do and as always, some laundry and all, but I really had some downtime on my hands. Not good. Not good at all. "Kids, get in the car, Momma's gonna go buy some paint!"

So by Saturday morning my sunroom was ripped apart. The antique piano and bookcase moved (thank you weight lifting--some muscle came in handy for that one), pictures taken down, painters tape put up.  It was time to rock and roll.

Ok, so now you're asking, what color covered the horribly barren cream colored walls of my sunroom?  A pale buttery yellow?  A nice subtle sky blue perhaps. Maybe even a nice neutrally pleasing ivory or tan? Yeah..ok. Ummm no.

My walls from floor to vaulted ceiling are now a bright, bold, rust red. 

I did leave the trim and doors white though.

But this is where I ran into a snag.  I really wanted a rust red color. I did.  But after I spent 1 1/2 hours climbing up and down a ladder to do the first coat on just the first wall, I stepped back and said "Oh...my..God..I don't know if I like this!"  I stepped back into my green living room to view it from another angle and said "Oh God! Oh God! I really don't know if I like this!" and proceeded to have a melt down.  There I am, with hours of work ahead of me, alone trying to do this. What the hell was I thinking?!  My oldest had abandoned me to stay a friend's house for the weekend, so while trying to paint I was also dealing with the two younder kiddos and now I don't know if I like the color of the 2 gallons of paint I had bought? Well shit.  Up the creek without a paddle type of shit. 

Did I mention I was also pmsing? Like horribly?  Like one second I was punching a wall cursing and the next crying?  Yeah don't ever paint on a pms weekend. It's just a really, really bad idea.  A getting a new haircut or dying your hair when you're hormonal type of bad idea. Just don't do it.

But I couldn't very well go out and buy more paint at that exact moment. And it's not in my nature to just stop a project and leave it be. So what did I do? I put in 10 more hours to paint and finish the job. 2 coats on all walls and the kind of detail work that involves a tiny painter's brush and getting up on that last rung of the ladder that says "do not sit or stand here".  Hey, I'm short and I had to get up to the vaulted ceiling somehow to make sure my line was exactly precise. 

I will say this. I love the color on a cloudy day or at night. Bold is not the issue. Bold is what I like and what I wanted. But it's the tone of this rusty red that is bothering me. It just has a touch too much orange and in a room that gets so much natural light, the tone changes numerous times during the day.  So now I'm on the fence.  I may very well buy a sample can of a deeper red after the holidays and paint some swatches on the walls. But we'll see. It could grow on me, too. Is it for everyone? Certainly not. Years from now a potential buyer could walk in and throw up a little in their mouths at the very sight.  But I don't care right now. I need color in my life so sue me if my rooms don't flow seamlessly. Each room, I am determined, will have it's own feel when you enter. I am actually starting to understand why historic homes had so many doors on each room. Oh people say it was to maximize heating and cooling back when all you had were fireplaces and a summer breeze but let's be honest.  Historic homes were known to sport a colonial blue in one room, mustard yellow in another, bold red in another and a tone of gold in yet another.  Doors were not there to maximize heating and cooling. They were there to soften the blow of the assaulting change in color from room to room.

The room is completely back together now. Actually I started "demo" on Saturday morning and by Sunday afternoon everything was back in place.  I will be the first to say painting is not a lifelong commitment. Who cares if you don't like it? Redo it. One weekend of hard work and some blisters and a room can change drastically.  No biggie. But once again I state: Do not do it during PMS week.  It's just a very bad idea.  I do dread redoing it if I should so choose to. I really do loathe painting. I just like the after product.

This week I am just mentally preparing myself for our trek back to the ole homestate for our annual holiday visit with family. I love seeing everyone but I absolutely can not stand the preparation that goes into getting there, the actual trip itself, or the ride home and unpacking. I'm not sure how much longer we will be doing this on an annual basis. Unfortunately, almost our entire family is there so we feel a strong obligation to carry on the tradition regardless of the toll it takes on us. It seems that is the price you pay when you chose to move away from everyone to live out your adult life.  I am sure the three children and the car sick dog greatly influences our feelings on the whole matter though.

That pretty much sums up what has been going on here. As always, I plan to do a huge Review of 2009 post as I normally do but who knows? I might even do another before then if the mood should so strike.

If I do not check in prior to the holidays, I wish all my readers a most healthy, safe and happy holiday season!  And make sure to remember a few things as you celebrate: No hitting the egg nog and driving.  Smile and say "thank you" when someone hands you the dreaded fruit cake gift--the person's feelings are more important than your honesty. And make sure you grab the one you love--or some hot random stranger--and get a good kiss in under the missletoe.  I wish you all the best and hope you have a most fabulous holiday!

And lastly, I know you must be curious so I'll go post a before and after of the sunroom.  (Opinions are welcome as long as they are ones saying the room looks great.) 

 

 

That Nasty Business of a Milestone Birthday

Ok. Here it is. I'm just going to say it. I've ignored it long enough. I'm just going to put on my big girl panties and declare it once and for all. No more putting it off.

I turned 30 last Monday. 

I am 30 years old.

Oh man.....that just made me a little sick to my stomach.

Before any of you say it. Yeah, I know. There are worse ages to be. 30 is the new 20. Age is just a number. Embrace this decade of self assurance and confidence. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Yeah, well to that I say: poo. Poo on it all.  30. Dear freakin lord..How the hell did that happen?!  I suppose we all say that as we age though.  We say how it feels like just yesterday that our biggest problem was how to get that all important note to our best friend in class or wondering if we'd have the car on Friday night.  But I swear to you. It really was just yesterday.

Wasn't it?

So here I am...30 years old. 3 kiddos, an amazing husband, a mortgage, three pets, a mini van (dear God a mini van), living the sometimes montaneous and yet wonderfully glorious surburban soccer mom life. I know I blessed. Please don't think I am ungrateful. I know there are others my age not even near wanting what I have let alone actually beginning to build what we have in our lives.  I would never encourage any young person out there to go ahead and do what we did when we did. Don't get me wrong, we wouldn't change a thing, but it was not an easy beginning to our adult lives.  However, I do feel so very blessed we have already accomplished all we have and there is no denying it kicks ass to have a really mature, really helpful pre teen in the house--it makes my job easier ten fold.  I try to focus on all we have accomplished in our 20's when this age thing begins to give me a panic attack.  But I realized this is the first time in my life I will actually miss a decade of my life. My 20's was a pretty rocking time.  Unconventional at times, yes, but really, really awesome at the same time.

The weekend preceeding my birthday was spent in another town at Jules soccer tournament. 12 hours, actually, spent watching her games over a two day period.  I was bummed it fell the way it did and totally cut into anything I might have wanted to do but honestly, the games were just nail biting. They were some of the best I have seen.  Our girl's team made it to the final championship game on Sunday and only lost by 1 point to a team whose average player was actually 2 years older than our average player.  We had a rough start to her season--she was placed on a team with a....well...difficult coach. By that I don't mean just a dedicated, demanding coach but rather, a downright degrading one--one of those coaches who makes you cringe and you realize your child's self esteem went out the window at the first practice.  But after a nasty ordeal with some of the higher ups of the league, we were able to switch her team and I am grateful each day that we did. Her new coach is just an amazing man who truly knows the importance of coaching children of this age.  What a fantastic end to her season!

But the main notable event of my birthday weekend was the arrival of our next door neighbor's baby girl. Their first.  I visited her briefly in the hospital inbetween games and loved how I now had someone with whom I could live vicariously.  You know...snuggle and coo over the baby then hand them back over so I can go sleep my solid 6 hours.  I think I am finally understanding why grandparents I know say they love that stage in their lives...all the mushy love and cuddling with none of the responsiblity for the day to day wear and tear of child rearing.  Lil Ava was born perfect and beautiful and I look forward to seeing her grow.  And each year we'll get to celebrate our birthday weekends together. I'm sure we'll have some bitching celebrations when she's older..

Ok, so how did I spend my actual birthday?  Well, my one wish was to wake up and not feel old.  Just please don't let me awaken and feel like I have one foot in the grave.  It's so cliche to say but so true--be careful what you wish for. I awoke on the morning of my 30th birthday to a freakin zit in the middle of my forehead.  Ok, I didn't need to feel like I was 14 again!  So not funny.

My birthday morning arrived and I sent the older two kiddos off to school. Matt was at work.  I got bombarded with Facebook messages and I was feeling the love when I happened to catch something out of the corner of my eye through my office window.  I got up hesitantly and went to push back the curtains. What. The. Hell?!  It looked like some cross between a birthday celebration and mischief night in my front yard!  Signs telling the world I was now an old lady were all over my yard, streamers were all over my trees, bushes and grass.  I went outside and oh dear God, my van was written on and only the rain the night before made it so the van only whispered my age instead of screaming it. It was Jules who told me, "Mom, look inside..."  Oh yeah...confetti...30's confetti..all over the inside of my van complete with a "30 sucks" lollipop.  As soon as I saw the confetti I knew who had done it because that friend had also sent me not one, not two, but three cards in the mail filled with the stuff. Stuff I am still finding in my house a week later.  Upon finding a confession card on my front fence, it was confirmed--my good friend from our old town and a mutual friend of ours who actually just helped me a throw a surprise party for the first friend had been hard at work at midnight while I slept peacefully and ignorantly unaware inside.  Was Matt in on it? Oh of course...someone had to leave the van unlocked.  All I can say to that is Jersey girls live for paybacks. They are oh so sweet.

Later on that day, I treated Madi and myself to lunch at our favorite local dairy and even included a stop at a local house that was featured on a season of Ghost Hunters.  I arrived home and just kinda hung out until Matt arrived home.  Jules didn't get home until later that day due to her after school drama club.  She came in beaming ear to ear because out of roughly 100 students who tried out for a speaking part in this year's play, she was one of the 15 or so who actually received a role.  Not bad for a first year drama student.  We loaded up the van and headed out to dinner. We had a really nice time overall..no tantrums or sibling fights.  We arrived home and I was then showered with gifts. My family went completely overboard this year and I can honestly say I loved every last thing....even the royal blue cult style Snuggie Madi insisted on buying for me.  Three year olds--once they have an idea in their heads, just try and sway them.  But you parents know how it is--sometimes you have to smile and pretend you like a gift to save your child's pride and feelings. This year though I can honestly say I adored every last thing from my weight lifting gloves to my book lights to my Ab Fab DVD's to my new MP3 with armband holder.  The phonecalls continued past the girls' bedtime and I sat back to realize I had anticipated a feeling of depression on my birthday-that it would be like any other day.  I sat back and realized I was really happy. Just really, really happy. 

As with every other year, Thanksgiving quickly followed my birthday and with that came the arrival of my parents.  We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with them, and Matt and I were able to sneak out not just for our annual 4:30am Black Friday date but also a dinner and movie date (we saw New Moon..duh, what else?).

So I've been 30 for over week. How does it feel?  As I sit here jamming out to some hardcore rock music--the kind I keep having to turn down in the van because of it's explicit lyrics--I have to say, I don't feel any different.  I didn't automatically gain any old age wisdom, I didn't gain any new aches or pains, and although I swear my crow's feet became more defined, I am guessing that is just a head trip. 

How do I feel about where I am at this point in my life?  I had always thought 30 would be great. Being that I became a mother at a very young, I was always striving to gain respect and to be taken seriously. You would be amazed at the preconceptions and judgements a young mother endures.  I looked forward to the day I could declare I was an age that was a little more universally accepted as one meaning you had learned a thing or two in life.  An age when one took what you had to say a little more seriously because it held a little more weight.  Now here I am--30 years old--and I'd rather not be.  25 sounds good. It sounds real good. I don't like that in 5 years I'd be considered advanced maternal age if I were to conceive. I don't like knowing I am past my biological prime.  I don't like knowing that from here on out, working out will show less results and that more money has to be budgeted towards anti wrinkle cream or botox injections.  I honestly thought by 30 I would have four kiddos running crazy in the house, be enrolling back into college to get another piece of paper for my wall, and would have some better idea what I truly wanted to do outside of my life as a wife and mother.  Instead I sit here and realize our parental lives will probably only include three children and the idea of going back to school right now leaves a sour feeling in my throat much like a bout of horrible acid reflux. And I can't even tell you what I'd give to be able to sit in my pj pants all day sipping on coffee and getting paid to write.  That sounds real nice right about now but it also has the ring of a person who says they are going to Hollywood to become an actor. What are the odds?  Its time to think of something more practical to do outside of the home.

For the next year I plan to declare and cling to the ideal that 30 really isn't that far out from the 20's decade. 30 is as close to 29 as 28, damn it.  I will cling to that for dear life because I know come next year, when 31 comes and goes, that I'll be comfortably IN the 30's decade and there will just be no going back at that point.

I'm signing off to for now.  I, once again, make an empty promise to try and be better about posting here.  However, it's now time to go sprinkle the Metamucil in my morning coffee and rub some Ben Gay on my knees because it's cold outside and I am predicting rain.  Good God maybe I should just take up knitting and spend my days bitching about my medical ailments.

<sigh> 30.  Dear Lord.........

 

 

Want To See a SAHM Go Insane?

Want to see a stay-at-home-mom go a little insane? A little nutty? A little drooling from her mouth while rocking herself in the corner style behavior?  Yeah...throw in a stubborn storm that actually caused schools to shut down and make sure it coincides with a teacher conference staff only work day and the Veteran's Day holiday.  Dear Lord. My girls have been off from school since Monday and the weather has forced us to remain inside the whole time. Help me....

Ok the first two days, I gotta give them credit, they were amazing.  They played nicely. They didn't draw blood. And no one even received a time out.  But they can only be locked inside this house together for so long before good behavior is out the window and they are threatening each other's lives.  And oh man..we still have the rest of today to get through as well as tomorrow. 

What have I been doing to survive?  Ha, cleaning like mad (because somehow it releases frustration) and hiding and seeking escapsim through reading of course.  I have almost finished the Masters of Time series by Brenda Joyce. I am just waiting on the last book right now from the library.  I refuse to fret, though, as I finish up the last 15 pages of her next to last book--because I still have Ward's new Fallen Angels book to read--Covet.  And what adds to my feeling of "all will be ok in the world as long as I have a good story to read", I just found a local smut dealer via craigslist. Good lord, this woman has over 280 books--over 280 paranormal romance books.  I about keeled over and died with a smile on my face when I found her listing.  I wrote to her and low and behold, she has several that were on my "to buy" list.  I'm currently waiting to see what kind of deal I can strike. I've made out like a bandit so far with my quest to own the entire Anita Blake series by Hamilton--hell I've gotten the first 14 books for a mere $30.  Why anyone in their right mind would sell such a valued collection is beyond me. But hey, the outcome of someone else's foolish behavior is my gain, right?    Me thinks momma is gonna need smut holder bookcase #2 soon.

I did manage to fit in a few work-outs during this God awful unrelenting session of rain and that story idea I spoke of the other day continues to haunt me. I think I just need to steal the girls' laptop and hide away in my locked bedroom with some good music and just type before I go insane from it.  The idea won't go away and I find myself daydreaming of it during my every day tasks.  Probably a sign I need to get it out of my system. 

Since Matt has returned home from deployment, I have wanted, desperately, a weekend of quiet--of nothing to do and no where to be.  Given the weather, Jules soccer tournament was canceled and now here we are....nothing to do, no where to be. And I am going freakin looney. There are now paint samples all over my house because, damn it, if I have to spend another winter inside here, I better have freakin color on my walls. Good lordie I hate white walls.

The only other happenings was a dental visit for all four of us girls--we all passed with flying colors and I have just about made it to the big 3-0 without a single cavity. I can't complain.  This coming week, Jules and I have an eye dr's appt.  It appears our girl needs some reading glasses. Believe me, I am just glad she's not blind as a bat like her mother!  I hope none of our girls get that curse.

With any luck, I'll have more exciting happenings to report next week because right now we're just pretty much been sitting around staring at each other.  This rain has got to stop.....

 

How to Throw Together a Dinner

Dinner11112009

Matt and I were wracking our brains tonight for dinner. We had some leftover steak pieces. We had egg noodles. We had beef broth.  So close to a classic Beef Stroganoff recipe but missing a few key ingredients (like ack, mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup and sour cream).  So what do you do when that happens?  Wing it, baby.....

I made a roux by melting 1/2 stick of butter in a small saucepan and slowly whisking in 3 to 4T of flour to create a smooth thickening agent.  I then added a few pats of cream cheese and stirred until melted. 

Then I heated up the canned beef broth in another saucepan and added some splashes of red wine. After slowly whisking in the roux, I added some spices like pepper and garlic.  Then I stirred until slightly thickened. 

Finally, I added already grilled steak pieces that had been cut very small and thin--and just poured it all over the buttered egg noodles. We served buttered biscuits, lettuce with Italian dressing and warm tomato slices with butter and parm that had been top boiled--all on the side.  Not bad, not bad.

My Last Coupon Post

Coupon11112009

Today marks 2 months since I began my obsessive couponing which I have shared in length here on this site.  Today will also be my last coupon post on this blog as I have begun a coupon specific site elsewhere. If you are still interested in reading about my deals, please leave me a comment or message me for the link.

Now the question is..has it been worth my time?  Has it been worth stopping at multiple stores?  Well, given that I am now practically matching sales and coupons in my sleep and the stores I frequent are no more than 2 miles from my home, I have to say "yes" before even crunching numbers. After crunching the numbers, I have to say "hell yes!" 

Before sales and coupons, my total for the 2 months worth of items I have shown here on this site would have been $727.47. After just in store sales, $527.80.  After using coupons?  $176.19, baby! That is a savings of $551.28 in just 2 months!  I am absolutely blown away by this.  Now, with that said, of course I would never have spent the local store's full prices for the items I bought--they are insanely inflated. I would have bought my items at Target or Walmart where things generally run from a few cents to $1 or $2 cheaper depending.  I have noticed as I learn the prices of my common purchases, however, that the discount stores are not beating the sale prices at our local stores by very much anymore.  And they can't come close to competing on a sale and super double or triples week.  The main lesson and key here? Know your prices at all the places you shop. 

I actually didn't blog about a few deals I managed--on a few things like DVD rebates and Halloween candy. By not including those in my totals, I probably came pretty close to adjusting the final totals accurately to what they would have been had I shopped exclusively at discount food stores.

My last picture posted here shows what I managed today--$83.34 for $15.04.  It includes 6 free boxes of tissues, 100% bottles of Ocean Spray for 88 cents, 6 packs of free popcorn, and 19 cent boxes of Cheez its to name a few. All by just clipping coupons brought to my home and matching them with the deals for this week.  I will continue my obsession/hobby/habit but I will now resume to writing strictly about my personal life on this site.

 

At It Again

Coupon11102009

$16.69 for $4.26

Tomorrow marks 2 months since I began my couponing obsession. I will post my total savings once I do up the tally and then, most likely, I will stop posting here about my deals and leave this to be my family/personal life only blog.  However, if you are interested in reading in depth about exactly how I am managing to do this, leave me a comment or a message and I'll send you a link to the new blog I created just for couponing deals.

Taking Advantage of the Quiet....

Today is a rare day when I sit back and think, "Hmm I could have a couple more kiddos".  It's almost 10:30am and it's a day off of school for our girls--teacher conferences.  I expected to be woken up with the sun with a raging headache and listen to the girls fight until it was Madi's nap time.  I expected to be hoarse and half drunk by noon.  But lookie there...10:30am and I am feeling unusually peppy and perky.  Jules slept over a friend's house, I stayed in bed until 8am and Alyssa and Madilyn haven't fought once and have, infact, played happily all morning together. I begin to question it and then stop myself...don't question a good thing. Roll with it.   Man if each day could be like this, this whole stay at home mom thing would be a piece of cake.

It has been weeks since I posted anything close to a normal blog entry. Look what happens when Matt returns home from deployment--I virtually stop blogging except to share my coupon deals.  I do profusely apologize for that. Its not like my family and my life haven't provided me with plenty of things to write about--because they have--I have just found myself avoiding sitting down to write about them all.  Blogging is not the only area that has taken a back seat.  I haven't dabbled at all in fiction writing either--not even a quick romance scene has left my fingertips.  I'm not sure why that is but it worries me that I'd have to send Matt away to play Navy if I ever wanted to try and write for real.  He certainly doesn't stand in my way--actually quite the opposite-he is quite supportive. But I find myself just wanting to curl up on the couch with him and I avoid putting on some rocking music to let the words write themselves  I think I worry about totally neglecting him. It was one thing to limit my writing to when the girls went to bed while he was gone on deployment. As long as I didn't write during the day, they were cared for. But I get into a mode of not wanting anyone to talk to me or interrupt me when writing so I think I fear totally ignoring Matt if I try to start up again.  I did, however, get hit with a possible fiction idea the other week while randomly driving along on an errand. I saw an entire scene just play out in my head and I have become more and more excited about it.  I'd love to see if I could do something with it.  There are a lot of holes but sometimes those holes fill themselves in once you get rocking and rolling.

In other happenings...this past weekend was our fourth weekend of hosting out of town guests as well as our fourth party--all since Matt arrived home mid August.  His family has been in twice, my whole family once and good family friends of ours came in the most recently. As far as parties we tackled a surprise baby shower, a large Chief gathering, Alyssa's 7th birthday sleepover and again most recently, a surprise birthday party for a good friend.   I am quite proud of myself that I haven't stressed out (not too much anyway) and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone. Matt and I do truly love to entertain and feel very lucky to have a home and yard that allows us to do so like we have.  And man, we make quite the team--we can set up and clean up in record time so that an hour after a huge shin-dig I dare you find evidence that anything even happened.  I do admit to one explosion of "losing my cool" (as Matt so tactfully put it) this past weekend but it was very short lived.   Although we did panic a little when our one weekend guest became violently ill shortly after arriving and ended up in the ER--food poisoning. Let it be known that he had not eaten here yet, but, rather, had eaten on the road. We had a lot of bonding time with his wife and baby girl (who was such an angel--she had just met us for the first time and yet allowed the girls and I to babysit her without a protest), but we barely saw him at all.  We now refer to the whole experience as the "tainted donut incident of 2009" since it appears he became ill after eating at a Dunkin Donuts on the way here.

Sunday, after our out of town guests left, we promptly began cleaning up and decorating for the next event--the surprise party for my friend.  That went off beautifully--the only hitch being the guest of honor was an hour later than we had planned so that by the time she arrived, I was threatening Matt's life if he didn't fire up the grill and feed me. Damn it, I had starved myself all day just to be able to pig out at the party.  We all had a fantastic time and realized that even if you only get three families together, if those three families each have multiple amounts of children, you get one hell of a party going.  It was a great time and I will definitely look back on it fondly.  What did I get for my friend as her birthday present?  A friend who is among the few that truly got me through deployment?  Only the best....the boxset of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward.  It's just a gift that keeps on giving, baby....

Soccer has started to wind down for us finally. Alyssa played her final games this past Saturday and Jules will finish up this weekend.  Our lives have been consummed with the sport and I can only wonder what it'll be like when we add Madi to the mix in a couple of years.  I am really happy with how the seasons are ending though--they both played incredibly well. Alyssa is still a speed demon and Jules has shown a jaw dropping amount of improvement. I almost bite my nails down to nubs now at her games--they are so intense and fun to watch.  She's even taken over a few times as goalie and man, to watch that girl dive and roll with a ball--very cool.  Course she has also ended up with a variety of injuries every week, but hey, if you're not getting banged up once in a while, you're not giving 110%. 

I briefly mentioned yesterday about the appointment I had coming up later in the day.  I had the ole lovely yearly woman exam.  God how I loathe those appts. I suppose we all do though. Damn necessary evil and all that.  It was all rather routine and I was in and out in about an hour. Not bad, not bad. The nurse did find it necessary to bring up the "big birthday" I have coming up this month which prompted me to quickly explain we "shall not speak of such things".  Before I knew it, I was back in my van pigging out on the BBQ chips and grahmn crackers I had brought with me and was arriving home to dinner waiting for me. Matt proceeded to serve me food for a good three hours until my stomach was do distended, I looked about 6 months along.

It is now 11:30am as I wrap up this entry, and after several phonecalls and breaks to bring down more toys from the closet, the girls are still playing together nicely.  I feel like I am in some sort of Twilight Zone....

 

 

Coupon Deals for 11/9/2009

Couponsale1192009

$27.54 before sales and coupons. $25.33 after sales. After coupons that were tripled and all just clipped from the paper? $5.49.  Yep, I went four times this week to the store one mile up the road who is tripling their coupons for a week. Was it worth it?  Absolutely. I managed $151.30 worth of groceries and household supplies for $22.20.  That's a savings of almost 86%.  Later this week will mark 2 months since I have started this obsession. I can't wait to add up my totals!

I did find, however, that today's trip was a bit more difficult. Not because of sale and coupon matching--I have that down to a science now and it's a piece of cake.  It wasn't because of Madilyn either because our short stops there has become one of her favorite things to do because, duh, they have shopping carts her size and free balloons and cookies.  It was because I am so hungry that I felt weak and sick to my stomach.  Why?  Fasting. Lovely 12 hour fasting in preps for my every two year cholesterol blood test later today that isn't scheduled until 5:20pm and is in another town.  I won't be able to eat again until 7pm.  I am beginning to get a headache, feel like my stomach is eating itself and am surprised I haven't actually thrown up yet.  But you know what keeps it all in perspective? Knowing that there are people--children--who feel this way every second of their lives.  I need to just suck it up and deal for the day. 

We had quite the exciting weekend and when I get more than a moment to sit down, I'll compose a catch up post--promise :)

Too Good Not to Share

Coupon1162009

I am sure most of you are sick of couponing talk. Where are my stories of Madi's latest antics? Where are my book reviews? Where are my latest "you have GOT to be kidding me!" moments?  I realize I have been horrible in posting. As I type this, we are actually gearing up for our fourth weekend of hosting out of state guests in our home. We've been entertaining left and right with weekend guests and parties and any downtime seems to be spent at the soccer field or just trying not to let the house go to crap. I also try to make sure the girls are atleast partially dressed and fed.

However, this deal was just too good to not share.  For anyone wondering if couponing can really pay off, I am here to say, hell yeah! I bought all of this pictured above--all $24.74 worth for <drumroll> 68 cents. Yeah you read that right, 68 cents.  How? Simply clipping the coupons from the flyer sent to me and printing two more off a company website. It took virtually no time at all and I redeemed them at the store right up the street.  So yep, I am addicted and I have made the time in my life to do this, but really..can you blame me? ;)

I will try to resume normal blogging next week. There is just ohhh so much to catch up on.

Couponing for 11/5/2009

Coupon1152009

Another successful shopping day!  $40 worth before sales. $27.69 after in store sales. After coupons? $5.07