Jen's Whimsical Life

I Heart Faces Week 17-Child Entry

2009-05-04T01:25:00.000-07:00

When I saw what the theme was going to be this week, I knew I had to enter!

This is my 7 year old Jacob. This is his cowboy hat that he got from his Grandpa in October. We thought it was going to be "just a phase". So far, it's the longest "phase" we've had in any of our 5 kids. LOL He even asked me last week if he can wear his cowboy hat when he grows up and gets a job. The boy's hardcore about this hat!

If you want to enter this week's contest go HERE.

I Heart Faces Week 12-Child Entry

2009-03-30T01:43:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for Week 12: Pouty Faces. This is my Hailey, just a month ago. I was trying to blog her haircut, she was pouting because I wouldn't quit taking her picture.

(No, this isn't the sooc shot. I edited with Picnik.)

To enter your pouty photo, enter HERE!

I Heart Faces Week 11 Entries

2009-03-22T11:30:00.001-07:00

These are my two entries for Week 11: No Flash of the I Heart Faces contest.

They are of my husband and my oldest daughter from this last weekend at a nearby park.

(see post below this one, if interested)

Adult

Child

Riverfront Park on Saturday

2009-03-22T09:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, we took the kids to Riverfront park.

It has a really cool slide there that is a giant Radio Flyer wagon.

Jacob LOVES the monkey bars and spent most of his time doing those. He's our only one that's light enough and strong enough to make it to the end. And he's proud of that!

Hannah took Hailey down the slide quite a few times. What a sweet sister.

I took Hailey off to watch the ducks in the river while everyone else headed off to play some football.

She enjoyed watching them. We left when a goose came along making lots of racket trying to scare all the other birds away. Bread hog.....

My handsome guy.....

Playing football with the boys.

Really, it's more of a game of "Daddy throws it, they all run for it, wrestle each other for it, and run back without getting tackled. Repeat." But they all have fun.

Laughing at Daddy and the silly boys from the sidelines.

Then, Hailey wanted to join in. Brothers were gentle with her.

Fumble!

Going for the touchdown. Slowly.

We broke from the football game to hunt down some facilities.

We headed to the carousel building.

Inside, we found an antique carousel from 1906.

And a Zoltar! Remember that movie Big in the 80's? I should've unplugged it and popped a quarter in and made wish to be "skinny". I might've woke up a really happy woman this morning! (maybe next time...)

After we left the carousel building, we headed down the street to the Olive Garden.

It's the only Olive Garden in town and we decided to use a giftcard that we were given to get some dessert to take home.

While Daddy was getting the dessert we took some photos across the street.

(basically, mom was practicing with her new camera....)

I think I got some decent shots.

(Thank you Hannah for modeling for me. Oh, and being my daughter.....I love you.)

I scored 100!

2009-03-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

How progressive am I? Not very apparently!

I scored 100/400.
This makes me very conservative.
The average American is 209.5

How progressive are you?

P.s. I am a little proud of that score....btw.

I Heart Faces Week 10-Child Entry

2009-03-15T21:37:00.001-07:00

This is my entry for Week 10-"Green" on the I Heart Faces photo blog.

This is one of my all-time favorite pics of Hailey. The wind was blowing her hair and she thought it was funny. She had such a good time playing in the grass and taste-testing the twigs around her. (Notice the crumbs on her lips.) She was about 11 months old I think.

The Deal Mom

2009-03-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

This is what I've been up to lately....

Come over for a visit!

Top 10

2009-03-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! I made Top Ten this week:) There were so many great entries!

I Heart Faces Week 9-Adult Entry

2009-03-09T13:41:00.001-07:00

This is my entry for Week 9 "Creative Cropping". I wanted the soldier's feet to span the photograph and I wanted a nice, defined area to put the Bible verse. I played with contrast and changed to B & W to give it a more dramatic look.

Straight-out-of-camera shot.

To enter this week's contest, visit
I Heart Faces.

Free graphics.

2009-03-08T13:04:00.001-07:00

I am making these available to anyone that might want them.

You can use this sign on your blog or website to show your support for our troops.

Or you can use these as the wallpaper on your computer if you like.

I am personally using them as a reminder to pray for our troops. Whenever I start my computer and see my desktop, I can pray for them.

You should be able to click on them and it will open a new window. Right-click on them and save them to your hard drive. A link back if possible would be great. Please don't alter them or use them for commercial purchases. You can put them on your commercial site to show your support for our troops, but not profit from them.

Enjoy!

Saturday Sendoff

2009-03-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Why was Hailey trying to take a nap yesterday on these hard, wooden bleachers?

Because yesterday, we got up at 5:00am to drive to Ephrata to see the farewell ceremony for her Uncle Jay.

He's the one right here on the right. He's commanding his batallion on their next deployment to the middle east for 15 months. This is their second deployment there.

I must say, I've never been prouder of my Brother-in-law!
(I didn't realize he was "The Commander". Wow. That's alot of responsibility...)

They had a small parade in honor of the soldiers.

Some men came around and handed us some flags to wave as they went by. The town had yellow ribbons up on the poles down main street.

Please remember to keep them, and all our troops, in your prayers!

We love you Uncle Jay!

I Heart Faces Week 8-entry

2009-03-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

This is my I Heart Faces entry for Week 8....Messy Faces.

This was taken a year ago with a point and shoot. It fits the week's theme perfectly and I just love this pic of my then, 4 year-old son Matthew.

Hannah turns 10!

2009-02-27T23:45:00.001-08:00

My firstborn turned 10 years old yesterday. We celebrated tonight.

She got some money from her grandparents for an iPod and some music to load onto it. We got her an electric razor.

Instead of a cake, she requested "dirt cups". I concocted some flower pots layered with chocolate cake, thin mint ice cream, and topped with crushed fudge filled oreos. Oh, and a gummy worm or two mixed in. They weren't the most attractive things to eat, but they tasted good:)

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Fix-It Friday #4

2009-02-27T10:53:00.000-08:00

This Silly Girl is the Fix It Friday challenge pic this week. This is the SOOC shot.

I edited it using Picnik.

Step #1

I used the blemish remover to remove the scratch on her forehead. (I do this on my kids too.)

Step #2

I changed to a sepia tone, using a dark cream color.

Step #3

I added a vignette around the edges. I adjusted so it wasn't so sharp and overpowering.

Step #4

I sharpened it a tad to bring out her eyes.

I Heart Faces week 7-Adult entry

2009-02-23T00:40:00.001-08:00

This is my entry for the "Adult" category.

I recently enlisted my Father to teach my kids about gun safety. I love this photo. I snapped it as we were talking......

I Heart Faces week 7-Kids entry

2009-02-23T00:04:00.000-08:00

This is my entry for week 7 of the I Heart Faces photo contest in the "Kids" category.

This week's theme is B & W.

Come join the fun and leave me a comment so that I can make sure and see your photo!

Fun Saturday

2009-02-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

Today we set out to do some geocaches. We haven't been geocaching since I was 5 months pregnant with Hailey, so about 2 years.

The first one was a quick snag at a bowling alley near our house. It was in a magnetic key holder on a lightpole in the parking lot.

Our second one was at a residence. It was hidden in one of their bushes near the sidewalk. We snagged a travel bug there as well. We intend on moving him a little West in a couple of weeks.

Third cache was at an old cemetary. We had to jump the fence because there was too much snow to go through the gate. We couldn't find it. Too much snow. ::snort::

Fourth cache was on a hiking trail. We pulled up to the trailhead and decided that there was too much snow to hike the 1/2 mile. But, Hannah spotted a moose! I stalked him for about 20 mins or so. He was up on a ridge so I wasn't too close. I did have a funny moment though where he started kindof running and so I started running back to the car. Turns out he was running with, not towards me. I was having images of being slapped around and knocked over by a moose though as I was running. (g) I'm sure I provided some entertainment for Michael and the kids:)

After we quit harassing the moose we were headed home and spotted some deer going down into a valley. We pulled over and I was able to get a couple of pictures. We could see where they were going into a residential area on the other side of the valley so we drove over there and stalked them some more....

Some of the people lay out corn for the deer. We got to see about 10 of them just strolling through the neighborhood eating dinner.

It was a fun day.

Swagbucks

2009-02-19T14:37:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of Swagbucks?
Moneysavingmom has mentioned it on her blog a few times and I finally decided to join today. Basically it's a search engine that you use when surfing the web. They reward you with swagbucks and then you redeem them for merchandise or giftcards. I figured I might as well earn something for all the surfing that I do!
You can sign up here if you're interested.

Meet.

2009-02-19T11:24:00.000-08:00

Sony.

Michael completely spoiled me for our anniversary. I have been wanting a nice

camera for a few years now but it was just never a priority. I started saving birthday/Christmas money for it this last Christmas but hadn't gotten too far yet. Well, Circut City is going out of business and liquidating and our anniversary was coming....Michael decided that he needed to get me my camera. I protested a little (really!), but he had his mind made up. I had a chance to break it in last week on our roadtrip. And I must say, I'm in love.....:)

I heart faces

2009-02-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

I came across this blog today and thought it'd be fun to participate!

This week's theme is Wonder.

If you want to participate visit I Heart Faces.

Rub-a-dub-dub

2009-02-17T23:48:00.000-08:00

Some pics of Hailey in the tub!

Hailey got a haircut.

2009-02-17T23:33:00.001-08:00

I finally got tired of Hailey's hair being in her face. I'd put it up in hairbands but she was constantly pulling them out so I decided to finally cut it today.

Before

After
What do you think?
P.S. She's not unhappy about her hair. She was tired of me taking her picture.

Yearly dental visit

2009-02-17T23:28:00.000-08:00

Last week the kids visited the dentist. Our new dentist has an ocean theme to the whole office.

A pirate ship for the kids to play on in the waiting room.

Saltwater aquariums in the hallway.

The boys patiently waiting for the dentist to come look at their teeth.

Hailey, cautiously taking it all in.

Enjoying her new toothbrush on the way home.

Some pics from our trip

2009-02-17T23:27:00.000-08:00

Hailey promptly got sleepy and took a nap once we hit the road.

We took a potty break somewhere on Snoqualmie pass. These were the gnomes across the street from the potty. Someday I'll own a gnome and park him next to my front door.

The Seattle skyline at sunset.

Safeco Field. Home of the Seattle Mariners. I couldn't get a good enough shot of Qwest Field home of the Seahawks. Hubby will be bummed.

Friday's Funeral

2009-02-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

After the funeral on Friday, Michael's brother and his family took our family out to lunch. Here are some pics from the parking lot afterwards.

Michael and his big brother Jay.

Michael, Jay, and Jordan.
Jay, Jordan, and Angie.

The funeral went well. It was short but sweet. They ended up providing a chaplain so Michael didn't end up having to speak. He was more emotional than he had expected so he was a little relieved but the chaplain's message that was given was very fruity and wasn't "Christian" but an "Indian" message. Not sure what happened there because he wasn't of indian decent. It dissappointed us that the salvation message wasn't given. Instead we were all told that "he" was still with us....in the trees....in the wind....all around us and we could take comfort in knowing that. But other than that, it was a beautiful service! LOL

A Pond.

2009-02-17T23:25:00.000-08:00

Must throw rocks into it.

It's the law of childhood.

Mom. Will you quit taking pictures already....

P.S. No, I will not.....

Sharp-shootin'

2009-02-17T21:18:00.001-08:00

In October, I asked my Dad if he would pretty please teach the boys about gun safety. I have at least one boy who is pretty much fearless and wanted them to acquire a healthy fear of guns. And my Dad's the bestest sharp-shootin' deputy around. (really!) Couldn't ask for a better teacher!

Dad owns 5 acres, and Saturday seemed like the perfect day to do some shootin'. After some safety lessons on how to hold it and such they harassed the neighbors for half and hour.

Even Hannah got in on it.

They were shooting a black powder rifle. Bang but no bullet.

Then Dad pulled out his big boy. He first shot the tree trunk to demonstrate how much damage the "little" bullet can make. It worked. They have a very healthy fear now:) After that he shot into the dirt so they could try and find the slug. See them running up the hill to find it.

No such luck. It's gone forever.

Thanks Grampa. We had fun!!!

Oh how I love thee.....

2009-02-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

Today, we are heading West of the mountains for Michael's brother's father's funeral tomorrow morning. After the funeral, we are heading up to stay at Dad's house for the weekend.
Saturday is also our 11th anniversary so we are celebrating tomorrow night by going out to dinner. I just wanted to write a quick post to publicly acknowledge my husband and how much I love him.
Aside from God, he has been my provider, my rock, and my best friend through quite alot in our little 11-year marriage. We've been through the death of a parent, a miscarriage, parents divorcing, depression and other mental illnesses in the family, a brother deployed in Iraq, the birth of our 5 children, and 9 moves. He has been there with me through it all. And he has handled what has been thrown at us with bravery, dignity, and strength. I would not have survived it all without him.
Tomorrow he'll be the "chaplain" at his step-father's funeral. He was asked to do so last night. The VA chaplain fell through. He has no time to prepare or study since he's working and traveling today and has college schoolwork to do tonight in the hotel. He's never even done anything like this before....but he's accepted the challenge anyways. That's just him. He's there when you need him. It will ease his brother's burden of not having to look any further and his brother is free to attend to long list of other things that he has to deal with during this time.
So, Happy Anniversary Michael.
I love you and cherish you more than you could ever imagine.

Tag, I'm it!

2009-02-12T06:41:00.001-08:00

I was tagged by De'Etta and thought this was really fun.

Here are the rules.

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder, and post it on your blog.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag four people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

This picture was taken in June or July last year in Albuquerque. I was sitting in the van waiting for Michael who was looking at travel trailers. This is the rain that was on my windshield and it was taken at the top where the tinted glass is. Michael liked it so much that he used it as the wallpaper on his laptop for awhile.

Ok, so I'm going to tag Becky, Mlpinky, Kristine, and Amy.

I feel it....

2009-02-11T09:10:00.001-08:00

Do you?
The $828 billion dollar "wedgie" we all just got yesterday......ouch.
I'm hoping they prove my republican-self wrong, because I've got bills to pay and house to sell sometime in the next year.
**Edited** In my disgust yesterday, I accidentally wrote "million" instead of "billion". I've never had to even think in terms of "billion" before because the number is just so ridiculously high. That's how serious this really is folks......

Matthew's 5th Birthday!

2009-01-27T00:41:00.001-08:00

On January 8th my sweet Matthew had his 5th birthday.

Oh, does time fly!

(he dresses himself and these pants are his favorite. Wears them with any shirt. I have to pry them off of him....why matty?)

Jacob shared his cake with Hailey. Each time she took a bite she would say, "Mmmm."

She doesn't normally do that so I guess she likes chocolate:)

Hannah bought him a wallet and slipped a dollar inside. Here he was trying to figure out how to fold it to get it back inside.

Hailey of couse had to help him with is gifts!

Blessings,

Christmas 2008

2009-01-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve Grammashell made sugar cookies with the kiddos.

Hailey of course had to be in the middle of everyone's turn.

So we gave her a turn.

Hannah strategically placing her cookies to get the most out of a roll.

Shell helping Jay.
(Notice our c'mas eve jammies this year were Seahawks themed.)

Brandon being careful not to burn himself.

All the cool decorations shell had for them to use.

Jay, icing his cookies very carefully.

Matty's snowman.

We distracted the toddle-err with sprinkles. It took alot of concentration to try and pick them up, it was funny watching her.

Our masterpieces:)

My Christmas Angel with sprinkles.

Grampa handing out gifts on Christmas morning.

Brandon, stoked that he got G.I. Joes this year.

Jay, stoked that he got some more Transformers.

My Granny.

Hannah, my sweet girl.

Dad and Shell surprised me with a Kitchenaid mixer. I've wanted one for at least 8 years. It was a nice surprise!

Matthew my pirate.

My lil sis.

(She actually let me take a picture of her which never happens.)

Matthew, enjoying his plunder.

Hannah's snowman. It was only about a foot tall. It was tiny.

Hailey's six-roll open sleigh....

Our trip over to Dad's was a very interesting trip. We had just gotten 3' of snow in Spokane and there was supposed to be more coming, so we high-tailed it out of town earlier than we had originally planned.

We left town in the afternoon on Saturday. So, that meant that we'd be crossing over the mountain pass at around 8 pm. We stopped in Ellensberg to eat dinner and check the weather reports. They were reporting snow on the pass, but no snow chains required, so we decided to head over instead of stay the night.

Well. Let's just say that we are still thanking the Lord that he kept us safe that night. There was more than just "snow" there were blizzard conditions. And when we got to the summit, we literally could not see in front of us and had to come to a stop with some semi's and other cars. The semi in front of us decided to go ahead and keep driving, so I told Michael to follow him and we were off. (I reasoned that if he went over the edge we'd have enough time to stop and not follow him over....snort)

We literally followed that semi's tailights for 40 miles until we were over the pass. If he had not been there, we would have slept on the side of the road at the top of the mountain. I had packed our van in case that happened, so we were prepared, but still, who wants to sleep on the side of the highway? In a blizzard?

Anyways, we had a....

We had an hour delay going back over because they were doing avalanche clearing but no other big events. And it was a beautiful trip:)

Blessings,

Woohoo!

2009-01-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm still working on our Christmas post complete with pics but....it's long.

But, I wanted to share my banner that I got for my new etsy shop!

I haven't opened shop yet, but will very soon!

And of course I'll post here when I open:)

Here's a sneak peek:

Blessings!

Christmas around our house (The end.)

2009-01-18T13:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been on a blogging hiatus for a month now. I decided it's time to update and to start posting regularly again! Here are the rest of the pics from "Christmas around our house" series. It was cute short due to an unexpected trip to Dad's house early because of the great blizzard of 2008. I'm still recovering.....

(just kidding)

Here's the gingerbread house that the kids did this year.

These were the Christmas decorations in our bathroom this year. We don't usually decorate the bathroom for Christmas but we have a dresser in there as storage and so it lent itself....

This is our Nativity set. My Mom gave it to us for our first Christmas. I love how the light overhead gave it a heavenly glow.

This year we attempted to do Advent. We stalled out but I hope to do it again next year with a couple of changes. I sortof sprung it on Michael at the last minute and he just wasn't prepared. I didn't do a "traditional" advent wreath or holder due to cost and I simply wanted to make this tradition our own. These are some crystal taper holders that I picked up at the dollar store. They are star-shaped which I thought was very appropriate for the occasion:)

Walking in our Winter Wonderland...

2008-12-18T23:11:00.000-08:00

Of course Michael and the kids had to go play in it:)

Hailey was a little timid at first.

But Daddy coaxed her out.

The obligatory snowball fight.

And she got him good!

Fallen and can't get up....(Isn't my snow baby cute?!)

Daddy to the rescue. Whew!

Then right after, Brandon got both feet stuck in the snow and actually lost his boots. We decided to call it a day....

(P.s. Thanks Daddy's work for letting him have the day off to play with us!)

We have snow!

2008-12-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Let it snow?

2008-12-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas around our house (Part #2)

2008-12-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

About 3 years ago my Gramps bought the kids a Lionel train for Christmas.

It comes out at Christmas time and lives under our tree.

The kids each took turns "driving" it....

(It's still MY turn!)

Matthew loves the train.

Jake.

Brandon.

Hannah. First born, always goes last:)

And round #2. "It's my turn again!"

Blessings!

Christmas around our house (Part #1)

2008-12-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

So, I thought it'd be fun to share a few things around our house that make it "Christmas". Here are some of our favorite ornaments on our tree.....

This is an ornament that Michael made for his mother in grade school. She has since passed away so this is one of his most prized posessions. We put it as high as it can go on the tree and hopefully it will survive 5 kids....

This is one that Michael received about 5 years ago from his cousin. It's a pic of him and his mom on Christmas morning a couple of months before he turned 2 years old....another favorite of his. Isn't is precious?!

This is one example of the 5 "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments that we have. Grammy always makes sure that they get a really nice one for their first one.

We also have an assortment of handmade ones from our kiddos. This is one that Hannah did in Kindergarten in PS.

The one Matthew did in Sunday School in Phoenix.

And one of Brandon from Awana in Phoenix. (Oh, we sure miss Mrs. Mohler!)

Then one that my mom got for me when she went to Hawaii.....

One from my friend Becky when we were bowling on the highschool team together. (Sorry for the glare, this one was really hard to photograph!)

And then you have the "hobby/commercial" category. Michael collects Monopoly games and when these came out in the last few years, of course he had to get a couple.

Last year I decided that we really had enough Christmas ornaments, our tree is FULL, so we've decided to not do the commercial ones anymore. The kids each have a good set to get them started when they are married. We're just doing sentimentals and every year I hope to do a photo frame of each of them. Then, they can take their set with them and I'll have a tree full of pics of my kids when they are gone:) I wish I would've started earlier....oh well!

Blessings!

Christmas Giveaways!

2008-12-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

Wow, there are a ton of great bloggie giveaways going on right now! Here are a few, iffin' you want to enter as well:)

Mercedes has one for a Flip Camera (videocamera)

Surving the Stores has a pretty bracelet up for grabs.

Jenn @ One House Schoolroom is hosting a

today's is for a Couponizer! Click above to enter:)

Bay Area Mommy-nomics has a Revitalift package! (Hey, I'm turning 30 soon-too soon and this just might come in handy:)

Ellen @ Thrifty and Chic has a super cute Purse to giveaway from Marie & Madeline Studios.

Good luck!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

2008-11-24T02:08:00.000-08:00

So, in my quest for a cool apron pattern the other night I came across this lady's blog. Jenny has some really neato projects for the Christmas season and I thought they might spark someone's interest:) Plus, her blog is just like super-cool! You should visit her:)

Here is a really pretty advent calendar. It also includes the dangle tags which can be printed out and used as gift tags. Directions for this found here.

Here are 2 Christmas ornie patterns that are just too cute! They look pretty simple and I am *so* going to make some of these. Directions for the star and the scottie.

Ok, and here's what happens when you combine the stars, scotties, and dangles with some pretty ribbons. A really pretty Christmas garland! This one was made by Elizabeth, a reader of Jennys' blog.

And, if you're looking for a fairly simple and quick gift this year you might want to try these coaster sets. They can be done in any color combo of course. Directions found here.

Blessings!

Super cute!

2008-11-22T01:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have been really feeling the urge to go and get all full-blown domestic on my family. The Holy Spirit is continuing to turn my attention and creativeness h-o-m-e. And, because I am just so in love with all things vintage and nostalgic I was searching tonight for an apron pattern online. In the spirit of Christmas I thought you all might like this project as well:)
You can find the simple instructions here.
These would be great in a giftbasket for Christmas!

P.S. Martha Stewart has a line of Christmas ornaments out at K-Mart this year that are kitchen related.
Blessings!

Christmas 2008

2008-11-18T18:46:00.000-08:00

This is our 2008 Christmas pic...we got it done last night at Sears.

We made the shirts last week for "art". We bought t-shirts at Michael's, they were on sale for $2/each and $.69 acrylic paints. The kids used their handprints to form the trees and their fingerprints to do the ornaments. For the stars on top, I cut a star in a half of a potato and used it as a stamp. If you want to do this project you could get real fancy and use glittery fabric paints and/or jewels and even add words. If you decide to do this, post it on your blog and come leave me a comment so I can see yours as well:)

Blessings,

2008-11-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

Mercedes over on Common Sense With Money has a pretty neat giveaway going on right now. She's giving away 5 of these greenbean casserole giftsets.

Drop by to throw your name in the mix!

Blessings,

Because I'm still bent over the election....

2008-11-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

This was an email that I received today.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Fellow Business Executives,
As the CFO of this business that employs 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.
To compensate for these increases, I figure that our Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them by about 8%. But, since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off eight of our employees instead.
This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go. So, this is what I did. I strolled through our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided that these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem.
These folks wanted change; I gave it to them.
If you have any better ideas, please let me know.
Sincerely,

2008-11-11T03:49:00.000-08:00

So, I'm up late (or early?) with some sickies. Hailey just got done throwing up, I'm hoping she goes back to sleep....Matty's here on the couch with a stuffy nose and cough. Anyways, I'm here cruising on eBay and check out what I found!

This is my "dream" car for our PK (post-kid) years. It's a 1954

Nash Metropolitan Convertible and a darn cute one at that!

I don't know if you can see it or not, but there's a "turn key" on the back spare tire so it looks like one of those old windup toy cars. This is just one of the cutest things I've ever seen:)

Ok, off to get Matty some meds....goodnight!

2008-11-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

Where have I been? Well, I've been busy:) Week before last me and the kidlets were staying at my Dad and Michelle's house for a visit. We had a blast! They have 5 acres and the kids had such a great time having all that room to run around. I also returned home with 2/3 of my boys shaved near bald. Matthew wanted to be "bald" like grampa and asked him to cut his hair, Brandon followed suit. Jake refused. He loves his hair too much! He's the one that uses daddy's mousse and cologne. LOL We also had a campfire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for s'mores. Did I mention we had a great time?!
The night we got home Michael spoiled us all by fixing a delicious roast complete with potatoes and carrots and caramel apples for dessert. He even had the house clean and got some "honey-do's" done for me while I was gone. What a great guy!
Since we've been home we've been getting caught up with school and trying to get back into the swing of things.
I also added another quilt project to my table. No pattern, I'm trying to replicate a painting from Ebay as a wallhanging quilt and it has to be done by Christmas! That's occupying my evenings:) I'll post pics as soon as I find my camera. It's been missing since the move. I've been using Hannah's sometimes but mostly just forget to take pictures. Sorry for the photoless blog posts.
Blessings!

Vote....then pray!

2008-11-03T15:32:00.000-08:00

We voted today. Now it's time to pray.

Rite Aid

2008-10-19T06:14:00.000-07:00

So, you all know I've taken to shopping at Walgreens for all of our household items and toiletries. I've spent the about same amount that I've always had in my budget which is $70/month but I've stockpiled and have at least 3 month's worth of stuff. In fact, I'm not even stepping foot in there the next 3 weeks as we just don't need anything! (And I've seen the ad scans on Hot Coupon World, nothing that makes my skirt fly up.)
But, I have found a new store that I'll have to keep my eye on. Rite Aid. As far as I know they are in the Northwestern states but I haven't checked. Anyways, they had a sale last week containing a bunch of "Free after Rebate" items. Of course I had to go. Here's how it went down.

Bic Comfort 3 Razors $2.99Used $2 MC$.99
Lizard Lips chapstick $.99FAR
Triaminic $3.99FAR
NeilMed Neti Pot $10.99Used $3 MC$3.00 overage after rebate
Softlips $2.99FAR
Little Colds Little Noses $3.99FAR
Lypsyl Lip Moisturizer $1.99FAR
Sucrets $2.99FAR+ $1.50 MIR$1.50 Overage
Bee MD cough drops $2.49FAR
Excedrin Express Gels $3.99FAR
Total oop after all rebates: $.46
99% Savings!
I meant to post this earlier in the week so ya'll could do this if you wanted to but I was sick. There were a ton more FAR items, I showed restraint:) I should have bought some more medicine though, seeing as how we could have used it this week!

Something Smells Strange....

2008-10-16T22:57:00.001-07:00

So, this last weekend I did something very strange. Strange for me that is. I got all dom-es-tick and decided to do some baking.

My family kept asking each other "What is she doing in there? What is that smell? Do you think she's making a dessert? What's she doing in there again?"

It was actually quite comical. Kindof like animals in an unfamiliar habitat, pacing around, hearing new sounds, smelling new smells.

Sad but true.

So, you wanna' know what got them all excited?

(Click on them for the recipe)

Pumpkin Muffins

These were pretty good. The kids really enjoyed them. I personally like the pumpkin bread recipe below a little better so I might try and make cupcakes out of it next time.

Sugared Pumpkin Seeds

These were super-duper good! We've always done the regular salt and roast but these are YUMMY! Try them. You won't be disappointed! I wish you could just buy the raw seeds somewhere without having to buy the pumpkin. We like them that much:)

Pumpkin Bread

This was a good recipe. Has lots of flavor. I altered slightly by using whole wheat flour only, adding buttermilk instead of orange juice, and adding walnuts.

I've got 2 more pumpkins that I'm hoping to get cut up and put in the freezer today and the seeds roasted. Housework is in need of some serious attention though since I've been sick for a week and Michael's now been down for 3 days.....

Enjoy!

God's answer to our economic woes....

2008-10-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Blessings!

Feelin' groovy!

2008-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm feeling a ton better! Hailey is feeling better. Yesterday was "day 4" for us, I was still running a 101* temp, I thought it was never gonna' end! Now Michael has gotten it though. Poor guy. He has a mandatory teleconference to be at tomorrow morning but is coming home straight after. It's a pretty wicked bug. I hope it's not an indication of what this Winter will be like....ugh.

Me sick...

2008-10-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to head West of the mountains to Gramma-sit for my Dad until Sunday then stay couple of days to visit my Dad. Sunday night I started not feeling very well, went to bed early to get a good night's sleep instead of packing for the trip. Monday I was sick with the flu....or so I thought. Yesterday I woke up with full-blown tonsilitis and a 103.5* fever. Michael came home yesterday from work and I was in bed all day. Today I feel a tad better, but not much, my throat is still very swollen and hurts. Haven't taken a temp but have been taking Dayquil and Nyquil around the clock. I'm debating on whether or not to go to the Doctor. Last time I had this, they said there was nothing they could do since it was probably viral. The kids are soo bummed. They want so badly to see Grampa and Michelle! Please pray that this will pass and that we can head over that way next week for a visit. Thanks.

Great post!

2008-10-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

Shannon over at Rocks in my dryer has a very good post about what she hopes that her children will learn from our current economic troubles. She really has some great points.

Blessings!

Change can be good...

2008-10-05T03:37:00.000-07:00

I smile at every person I see in our neighborhood, even though I feel like crying.

This actually is a new neighborhood. We have to get used to a new place, new people, and create a new routine one more time.

When my kids have cried over moving again, I’ve let my tears flow with them and then I’ve rightfully said, “It’s o.k. to be sad. Just remember to accept the good that will surely come.”

In saying those words to my crying children, I’m really saying those words to myself...

"Remember to keep your heart open to the little whispers of joy that will come; because there is a God who loves us, and He is near."

He doesn’t give us change to punish, He gives us change to grow us into the type of person who can more fully understand and appreciate Him.

There is a method to His ways. They always lead us back to Him, and if we let them, they also lead us to see the people around us as He sees them, and to appreciate the plan He has laid out for us with His Son at the center.

That is His pattern every time; in every change, and in every new beginning.

And when I remember this truth, I can take my kids by the hand and help them wave to the new neighbors too, or have fun with them as we memorize a new phone number or figure out a new grocery store or try a new restaurant.

If I am a leader to my kids, it is because I know there is One greater who is leading me. If I plan for their futures, it is because I know He has a bright future out there for them.

If I teach and prepare them to take care of themselves as they grow, it is because in the growing there is joy and satisfaction and good.

I believe that there is One greater who is leading me. Also, a husband who stands beside me and partners in that understanding.

Good things can happen in our family even through the mess of new starts and the confusion of losing that which is friendly and familiar.

We can still plan for a bright future, and we can revel in a past that has brought friendship, happiness, and growth to us and to our children.

New neighbors, new friends, new stores, new patterns of daily life, all of it means something; and that something is important and eternal.

Blessings!

Just a reminder!

2008-10-02T01:38:00.000-07:00

The VP debates are on tomorrow night...

I'm trying not to get too political on here but you get an idea of where I stand.

Blessings!

Legos and noses don't mix!

2008-09-30T02:11:00.000-07:00

So, I forgot to include this story from last week. On Thursday night I noticed that Hailey had some stuff around the edge of her nose. I assumed that it was from her poking her finger up there. She's been doing that lately and thinks she's pretty funny because the kids laugh at her when she does it. (argh...) Anyways, I investigated further and she had a lego stuck up her nose. Thankfully me and Michael were able to get it out quickly and I didn't have to make a trip to the ER. All legos were confiscated and will be returned to their rightful owner in about a year or two....we've had a standing "no lego" rule in our household until Hailey is about 2 1/2 or 3. Somehow one of the boys convinced their uncle Jay to get them for him that weekend we arrived in Wa. and they stayed with him. I really shouldn't have let him keep them since he broke our "rule" but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and told him he could keep them as long as they were kept picked up. After many, many times of reminding him to pick them up and then the nose incident I had to make the decision to take them away....So Michelle and/or Grampa if you read this, please no legos for Christmas. Even if they bat their cute little eyelashes and try to convince you they can have them. Just say no!

2008-09-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

The last few days.... Michael got his final grades back for his first set of classes. A 95% and a 97%. Woohoo! Good job Honey!
We had a pretty leisurely weekend. Yesterday we went to the mall so Michael could get a new Seahawks hat. He's back in the land of Hawks....someone help me!
After that we took the kids to the park. Our emergency room kid, Jake, decided to give us a scare. He was hanging on a bar and decided to let go and sortof jump down the the ground. The structure is made of logs by-the-way. Anyways, he sortof let go and scraped his back up pretty good going down. He had a place next to his spine that immediately bubbled up sortof like he had a pea under his skin. It flattened out after about 15 minutes but you could tell there was fluid under the skin. I spent about 2 hours worrying that he had leaked spinal fluid or something and that's what the bubble was, my imagination was getting the best of me. It finally dawned on me that if he had ruptured a disc, we'd KNOW it. We kept ice on for awhile and he's a little bruised but he's fine. Back to his antics:)
We didn't make it to a church today. I'm still aclimating. We've got 2 picked out to try and we're going to make a good effort to go to one next week. I've got phone numbers for Michael to call and "interview" the Pastors. Hopefully one will work out very quickly and we can start going regularly again. First step is to GO though. LOL
We got some housework done today. Played some games. I took Hannah out for a "girls" night. Walgreens (my pick)and Walmart (her pick). We got deals and got to look at "girly" things that we don't usually get to do with the others in tow. I did my final Walgreens run for the month. I almost stayed on budget, which is $35 bi-weekly for household/toiletries. We have quite the stockpile of shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash, bodywash, and Febreze. I've gotten a sneak peek at the next 2 week's ads and I'm going to stock up a little on cleaning supplies and we should be good for awhile and I can hopefully start saving up some of my budget money! I've been able to lower my grocery/household budget even further down to $350 month/$175 bi-weekly. That's pretty much the best I can do though. With one still in diapers and 7 mouths to feed, I think I'm doing good!
Our "first" week of school went good last week. We didn't do Science or History so that we could concentrate on the core subjects but we're starting our full load this week. Neat things ahead!
Blessings!

The Christian Alphabet

2008-09-24T01:43:00.000-07:00

Although things are not perfect

Because of trial or pain

Continue in thanksgiving

Do not begin to blame

Even when times are hard

Fierce winds are bound to blow

God is forever able

Hold on to what you know

Imagine life without His love

Joy would cease to be

Keep thanking Him for all things

L ove imparts to thee

Move out of "Camp Complaining"

No weapon that is known

On Earth can yield can the power

Praise can do alone

Quit looking at the future

Redeem the time at hand

Start everyday with worship

To thank is a command

Until we see Him coming

Victorious in the sky

We'll run the race with gratitude

eXalting God most high

Yes, there will be good times and yes some will be bad

but....

Zion waits in glory, where none are ever sad!

(Author unknown)

Blessings!

The last few days....

2008-09-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

What we've been up to..This weekend Michael had his finals for his first set of classes. He has yet to get his grades back but he's done really good so far and I have no doubts about his final projects. He's pulled 90's in both classes. Pretty good for someone who hasn't been in school for 12 years huh! I'm so proud of him:)
Me and the kids pretty much hung out. I did our grocery shopping on Friday night and did a Walgreens run on Saturday. I've started losing my hair again. I think it's triggered by stress. Anyways, they were running a sale on their rogaine B1G1 free so I took advantage of it.
I got all my supplies unpacked and ready to go for that wedding gift that I'm working on. I'm actually using a different fabric than I had originally planned. Me and Hannah agreed that the other one was more "her". I'm trying to get started on it this week. Will take pics to let you keep up with my progress:)
This weekend I also started applying online at a store called Fred Meyer. Kindof an "upscale" Walmart. I have yet to finish my application though. Truth be told, I'm a little scared. I've not been to a job interview in 5 years and that was a piece of cake since I was actually referred by a manager to work there since it was a previous employer. I was basically hired before I walked in. Anyways, I'm a little scared but am going to suck it up and get it done this week.
We started back to school yesterday. Schools here start in September so we're not too far behind. We're doing good so far. Introducing Hannah to the new way of doing things. Remember I started school with the boys a couple of months ago when Hannah was at Gram's house? She's liking it so far. I'm encouraged and ready to cruise....
Well, that's about it!
Blessings!

Cutie patootie alert!

2008-09-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

Now WHAT is cuter than pigtails on a little girl?

Not much!

Blessings!

2008-09-19T00:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, there just seems to be alot of sadness recently! A very sweet lady from our church in Az. just passed away yesterday from cancer. She worked with the "cubbies" in AWANA and was one of Jacob and Matthew's leaders. Please pray for their family during this time. She's in a much better place at the feet of Jesus but I'm sure that they are missing her terribly! She was an incredibly sweet lady and had the greatest joy that just radiated from her face. I'll always remember her smile. Blessings!

Blah, blah, blog....

2008-09-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend Michael got my new bookcase put together. Now, I need to unpack all our school stuff so we can get started. That is my big project for tomorrow. I was supposed to do it today but got sidetracked unpacking other things and a sick kid. Matthew was running a fever. Hannah's not feeling well tonight. I hope it isn't ::too:: yucky and passes quickly!
The appliance man came today and fixed our dryer. When we moved in the dryer was taking 4 hours to dry a load of clothes. I do about 2-3 loads a day and I couldn't handle that! Turns out there was a bird that had nested in the pipe from the dryer to the outside. It was completely cloggged with lint and the bird's nest. It's fixed now and working great:)
I'm back into my groove of cooking regularly again. Made a spin off of a recipe that I got from one of Crystal's ebooks. The original recipe is called "Ritzy Chicken" since it uses Ritz type crackers in it. Mine is now called "Chicken Crock-pot Pie". It's sortof like a chicken pot pie but much tastier and not a pie. LOL. And of course it's made in the crockpot. I served it with mashed potatoes. Most everyone liked it. Tomorrow is homemade chicken noodle soup w/homemade bread.
I've got a wallhanging quilt that I need to get started on here soon. It's for a girl in our church in Phx. She's getting married in January. Shhh. Almerry don't tell! Almerry's designing and sewing her dress. Gotta' brag on ya' girl! I'm going to post pics on here after I get started. She doesn't read the blog. It's my favorite thing to give for a wedding gift though. Personalized with names and wedding date. So pretty:)One of these days I'll get around to doing one for ME.
I've been looking online and in the newspaper for a job. It's so hard when you can only work nights. We'll see what God provides:)
Well, that's the extent of my exciting life!
Blessings!

Weekly Walgreens trip

2008-09-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

I did my weekly Walgreen's run tonight. Did pretty good! Stocked up on cold medicine for the winter:) Here's the breakdown...
Transaction #1
3 Robitussin $3.99 each--$11.97
Minus 3 $3.00 coupons--$9.00
Total oop w/tax--$4.00
Register Rewards earned $10.00
$6.00 overage!

Transaction #2
2 Dimetapp $3.99 each--$7.98
1 Robitussin $3.99
Crest Pro Health mouthwash $4.49
Minus 2 $3.00 coupons--$6.00
Total w/tax--$13.87
Register Rewards earned $14.50
$.63 overage!

Transaction #3
Chemistry shampoo $7.99
2 Visine eyedrops $3.99 each--$7.98
2 Sunsilk hair mousses B1G1--$4.29
Excedrin Rapid gels $3.99
Revlon nailpolish $4.49
dog toy $2.00
Scunci hairbands $.75
Minus coupons totaling $11.00
Minus RR $20.00
Total w/tax $3.52

Total oop tonight: $21.39
RR Earned: $24.50
RR Used: $20.00 ($4.50 left!)
Rebates Earned: $18.44
Net cost: $1.55 overage!

Blessings!

Spokane fun

2008-09-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Michael took us down to the Spokane city park on the Spokane river. It was beautiful.

Big brother, little sister....

I tried for a Christmas card pic. They weren't very cooperative. This was the best I could do:) It's decent!

The clan, heading to the slide. (I didn't get a pic of the slide, next time!)

The clocktower. The kids kept chanting "Save the clocktower!". You know, off of Back to the Future...people around us were laughing.

Some cool looking structure on our way back to the car. I love architecture and thought this was a cool shot.

Blessings!

Pics from our Move

2008-09-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

Day 1

(Packing, cleaning, and driving from Albuquerque-Farmington, NM)

Jake, taking it easy while everyone else cleans and packs up the truck. Bum!

Day 2

(Farmington, NM-Salt Lake City, UT)

Hannah and Layla. My Co-pilots.

SW Colorado.

SW Colorado.

"Hole 'n the Rock"-Somewhere, Utah

"Wilson's Arch"-Somewhere, Utah

Day 3

(Salt Lake City, UT-Helena, MT)

Hailey, so happy to be out of her carseat! At a hotel in Helena, Mt.

Day 4

(Helena, MT-Spokane, WA)

Hailey. Manic from being in her carseat for 1,400 miles....

Most of these pics were taken by Hannah with her new camera. I took the one of her when we were stopped at a light.

I'll try to get some pics of our new place. Haven't had time to do that yet.

Blessings!

Hailey, 16 months

2008-09-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic of Hailey that Hannah took last week. I just love the smile on her face!

Blessings!

Cute alert!

2008-09-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

Alicia over on Posy Gets Cozy has a new kit for 3 Christmas ornaments on sale. Check them out, they are cute-cute-CUTE! Blessings!

Anne Jackson

2008-09-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

"Union 76. Gone. But not forgotten."

I just got done watching the memorial service for Officer Jackson on King5.com. Our news over here has barely mentioned it, much less shown the service. Knuckleheads. Anyways, I was fine until they did that part of the ceremony. Wow. If you've never heard it before, you should listen sometime. The dispatcher says over the microphone the officer's call sign. No reply. Repeats it 3 or 4 times. No replies. Then she says, "Union 76. Gone. But not forgotten." It's really moving. Please continue your prayers for the families of all the vicitms. Also, for the officers and their families. I know that it's hit the officers really hard...notice I'm home, not at Dad's.

2008-09-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

We're still busy unpacking and getting things in order. Our apartment is...how shall I say....cozy:) I "knew" it would be. But knowing it, and the reality of it are two very different things. It's definately tested my creativity! My step-momma calls me "The little old lady who lives in a shoe.....box." That just about sums it up:) Really though, I'm just thankful to have a place to live and it's really beautiful up here. I missed it. The apartment thing is temporary and I'm trusting the Lord to see us through all that's going on.
In other news, I'm back to my bargain-hunting ways. Tomorrow I plan on hitting Walgreens. If everything works out I'll get $40 worth of stuff for around $8. I'm still scoping out the best grocery store(s). Tomorrow night I'll try real hard to get those pics up that I promised you last weekend. We're going to a really cool place tomorrow and I want to add that in too.
We were going to start school back up on Monday but the kids and I are going over to visit my Dad instead. Michael's going to be out of town for training so we're going to sneak over there.After that, we'll start school and I'll be looking for a job:)
Blessings!

Please pray!

2008-09-03T08:18:00.001-07:00

I don't know if you all have seen this story on your local news, here's a link to the story but 6 people were killed in a shooting spree yesterday up here in Washington. The man was mentally ill. 1 person that died was a Sheriff's deputy, some others were "random" people, 2 construction workers and a guy just driving down the freeway. Please pray for the families of these people. This is our "hometown" area and I can actually picture the places that these things happened in my mind. My heart is just so broken....

We're here!

2008-09-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well, we're here! We're slowly getting unpacked. My brother-in-law met us here on Friday and helped Michael unload the moving truck. Then he took the 4 older kids to his house for the weekend to allow me and Michael to hunt down furniture and get things in shape around here. They had a blast at their house and it was such a blessing for us. Next thing on my "list" is to find a p/t job. I'm also tossing up starting my cleaning biz again. We'll see. Blessings!

We're off!

2008-08-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

Well, as of last night. We stayed last night in Farmington, NM. Tonight we're in Salt Lake City. Tomorrow, Helena Mt. then onto Spokane. Please pray for safety and all that good stuff. We're all incredibly tired and a bit snappy with each other but have had a good trip so far. Hannah's been snapping tons of pics with her new camera that she saved up for. Will post those sometime next week. I've never driven through Colorado or Utah or Montana for that matter so we've been taking tons of pictures. Beautiful places:) Take care!

Goodbye...

2008-08-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

This has been the week of "goodbyes". I'm slowly saying goodbye to our belongings, we said goodbye to Opie, now we're saying goodbye to family....

Wednesday, my Mom drove over from Phx. We then headed down to my Grandma and Grandpa's house to pick up the boys that have been there the last 2 weeks.

We spent time with Gram, Gramps, and my Aunt Sheree.

And we said a final "Goodbye" to my Gramps. For those of you who don't know already, he's got terminal lung cancer. He tried some low doses of chemo. but he's just not strong enough to handle it. We probably won't see him again in person....

De'Etta recently posted on her blog about God sending her a "hug" just when she needed it. Here's was my "hug" from God in the midst of so many "goodbyes".

Blessings!

Opie

2008-08-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

We want you back.
Love,
Mom

Goodbye...

2008-08-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

Our dog Opie went home with a new family today....

We'll miss you Opster.

Love, Mom

Fun contests!

2008-08-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

I came across these contests today. I thought I'd share them here with you, my loyal readers:)Mountain Morning Air has a drawing for a free quilt book and blocks.Accidental Life is having a "Blogiversary" drawing for a blog makeover.Coupon Mom is having a drawing for a free couponizer.3 Princesses Momma is having a drawing for a free coupon management system."Good luck!"

I Married a Couponholic!

2008-08-18T19:06:00.001-07:00

I heard about this article on Money Saving Mom 's blog but it is so hilarious and spot-on that I wanted to share with you guys. Blessings!

Friday's quick trip

2008-08-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

to Albertson's. They are running a sale where you get and extra $8 off the already "sale" price when you buy 8 of the participating items. Just so happens that alot of the items also have coupons at Coupons.com and Betty Crocker.com. I snagged $44.oo worth of groceries for $14.50. Still stocking up on snacks for our move and the first weeks in Wa.

The yogurt drinks were a first for us. Hailey doesn't eat as much as the other kids did, she's always too busy to eat, so I've got to get as much in her as I can when I can. So, I got the idea sneak these drinkable yogurts in her bottles to up the calorie/vitamin count. So far, she's doing well with them.

Blessings!

I am in tears....

2008-08-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

I just checked my email one last time to see if anyone wanted to buy anything. A very kind lady responded to an ad for these pictures that I put up for sale tonight.

She's buying two paintings from Hannah. Hannah's been begging me all day to let her post some of her art on Craig's list to sell. My Gram had her in art classes for the 2 months that she was there. It only added fuel to the artistic fire in her. That apple certainly does not fall far from this tree!

Blessings!

I need a nap!

2008-08-14T13:04:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness. I'm sooo tired. I stayed up late posting a bazillion things on Craig's list last night. Then started getting phone calls at 7:15am. I've been literally attached to my computer and cell phone answering people all day. We secured an apartment in Spokane yesterday. I reserved the Budget truck yesterday. My lawyer requested $5,000 yesterday so we had to figure out how to get that to him. Now, I've gotta figure out the "legs" of our trip up there so I can reserve hotels. Off to do that now:) Blessings!

Another Wag's deal....almost free toothpaste!

2008-08-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

I was going to add this deal to my Wag's list last night but the Aquafresh site wasn't working properly so I couldn't see if there were coupons or not.

Aquafresh deal:
Ad coupon for B1G1 free
2 for $2.19
2 $.75/1 coupons from here
Final price: 2 for $.69 or $.35 each!

Blessings!

Bad hair day...

2008-08-12T00:09:00.000-07:00

Walgreen's deals for 8/10-8/16

2008-08-11T23:26:00.000-07:00

I'm a little slow getting these up. We're scrambling trying to get an apartment and pack/sell things so we can be out of here by the 26th. Good times!
Another WAGS Diaper deal:
B1G1 50% off
2 packages for $11.98
Easy Saver coupon $5/2
Pharmacy book coupon $2/pk (takes $2 off each)
$2.98 for 2 jumbo packs

Physicians Formula deal:
Physicians Formula 40% off
Use $6/1 $5/1 $3/1 coupons
found at the cosmetics counters.

Covergirl deal:
Cover Girl Eye Cosmetics B1G1 free
2 $1/1 mfg coupons from 8/10 insert
Cheap!

Neutrogena cosmetics deal:
B1G1 50% off
$1/1 coupons from here Also, if you spend $30,
you get a $10 RR!

Nice 'n Easy deal:
On sale B1G1 50% off
B1G1 Free coupon from 8/03 insert
2 for 1/2 the price of 1!

Bic Soleil deal:
Sale $5.99
Easy Saver Coupon $2
$2 off 1 mfg coupon from 8/10 insert
Final Price: $1.99

Oxy deal:
Buy 1 for $4.99 get 1 free
2 $1/1 mfg coupons from 8/10
Final price: 2/$2.99

Lysol toilet bowl deal:
Buy 1 for $2.79 get 1 free
2 $.50/1 mfg coupons from here
Final price: 2/$1.79

Hershey's Bliss deal:
On sale for 2/$6
Get 4 bags for $12
Easy saver coupon for $2 off 2
Easy saver rebate of $5.00 when you buy $10 of hershey's
Print 2 $1 off 1 here and another 2 here
Free plus $1 overage with coupons and rebates!

Bic Pens deal:
On sale 2/$1.00
Use $1 off 2 Bic Stationary Products from 8/03 or print somehere

Blessings!

100 Days and Nights...

2008-08-11T01:18:00.000-07:00

These are public service commercials that Abq is airing this Summer. I thought my Dad would get a kick out of them:)

Blessings!

KMart deals for 8/10-8/16

2008-08-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

Kmart Deals this I see this week.
Bic pens 2/$1, buy 4 for $2, use 2 $1/2 MFG coupons from last week's newspaper insert to get them free!
Covergirl Aquacurrent, Trublend, or mascara B1G1 FREE. Buy 1 Trublend loose mineral powder and 1 Trublend blush, use 1 B1G1 Free MFG coupon from recent insert to get them both free! There were also some $1 off any Covergirl product MFG coupons in today's insert to to use on other products or on more of the products on the B1G1 sale.
Blessings!

Walgreens coupon submission order

2008-08-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

Here's some info. that will definately help you avoid any problems playing the Walgreens Game.

Submit your coupons to the cashier in this order:

MFG coupons, including RR's

BOGO MFG coupons

Easy Saver coupons

Store coupons

Blessings!

This is info. straight from a WAG manager. Hope this helps someone!

Frugal Friday...Super Cheap Laundry Soap

2008-08-08T00:03:00.000-07:00

I've been sitting on this post for about 2 months now. I originally got the idea from De'Etta's blog a few months ago. But, I wanted to give this a try before I started recommending this to everyone.

I'm a believer now, and I whole-heartedly recommend that you do this!

Recipe:

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup Washing Soda

1 Cup grated Ivory soap

1 Cup Baking Soda (optional)

Now, don't just go and make the 3 or 4 cups. These are just proportions. Make a bunch since you've got everything out already:)

Mix equal amounts of the ingredients above and whirl them in a blender or large cuisenart. If you don't have one of those appliances (like me), use a pastry cutter to "cut" in the Ivory soap and mix well.

Use 1-3 TB in each washload, depending on how soiled they are.

Really. 1-3 TB, that's it. I know it's tempting to get out your measuring CUPS and not your spoons....just trust me.

You will end up with clean-smelling, not perfume-smelling laundry, that doesn't even NEED a fabric softener. I still use the 'ol sheets in the dryer, but you don't HAVE to. We have really hard water in the SW, so it's just habit to use them.

Don't be alarmed when you don't see any sudzing-action going on. Suds don't clean your clothes.

Repeat after me, "Suds don't clean my clothes..."

Thank you. Now, don't you feel better?

This is also virtually allergy free so it is perfect for sensitive skin too!

Cost Breakdown:

Borax (aprox. $3.29 at Walmart)

Washing Soda (aprox. $3.79 at the grocery store)

Ivory soap (3 bars for $1 at the Dollar Store, buy 6 bars)

The cost should be around $.02-$.03 per load, depending on how much the supplies cost in your area, and how much you use per load. Store-bought detergent can cost anywhere from $.12 a load for a lower-end brand like Fab to almost $.23 a load for a high-end brand like Tide X2.

Talk about major savings!

Fels Naptha or Zote soapbars are also commonly used and can be found in the laundry-care aisle at the store. I'm also seeing online that people use almost any kind of bar soap. I'd caution against using one with moisturizers in it like a Caress bar. I make soap from "scratch" and those "moisturizers" are really unsapponified oils. You don't want to be putting oils on your clothes!

Try it and let me know what you think!
Blessings!

P.s. For those of you with HE washing machines, this should be safe for you to use. This detergent is non-sudzing so you shouldn't end up with a laundry room full of suds:)

Oh my wow!

2008-08-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

I seriously almost just choked on my taco!
I had 60 hits on here yesterday and about 30 today!
I've never had more than like 5 hits in a day before, and those are my friends. They're required to read my blog.
Just kidding guys! I love you for it though:)
Blessings!

P.s. Becky, I'm sorry to use your OMW! but that's all I could think of after I choked on my taco.

Walgreens

2008-08-07T01:11:00.000-07:00

This was the Walgreen's run from this weekend.

$112 for $45.65

I don't need to buy toiletries, cleaning supplies, cereals, or snacks for at least 2-3 months now:)
Blessings!

The great diaper/grocery run

2008-08-07T01:03:00.000-07:00

I never got to post pics because I lost my camera but this is the great diaper/grocery run from the weekend before last.

I spent $125 of my $225 budget.

And I got 7 months worth of diapers....woot-double-woot-double-woot-woot-wooh!

(a family friend used to say that...)

This was my best deal, I think. These packages were $.05 each on an instore clearance. Kids toothbrushes that suction cup to the counter. These are going in the Christmas closet for stockings:)

A sad tale of woe...

2008-08-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, well that was a little dramatic.

But, I've been dramatic lately, why change now?

Whoever said "Change is a good thing"....they obviously never moved 10 times in 10 1/2 years.

But that's not what this post is about. Please, keep reading:)

This is a beautiful baby blanket that I've been knitting on and off for like the last 4 months or so.

It's for a baby that is due in November.

I made a "push" last week to get it done. I got about 3/4 of the way done that fateful night.

Until my ball of yarn ran out.

I had more, don't worry. That's not the sad part.

So, like I was saying before I rudely interrupted myself, I got 3/4 of the way done.

Really I only had about 4 more inches left, so maybe I was further than 3/4.

Anyways, I laid it out to examine my beautiful workmanship, and see how much more I had left to do.

Isn't it pretty?!

That's when I saw it.

IT.

It, was a dropped stitch wayyyy back about 1/4 of the way into the blanket.

I sat, jaw dropped, for like 20 mins trying to figure out how I could fix it without ripping it all out.

Sadly I frogged the whole thing.

I was not knitting that whole thing again.

Instead I'm crocheting it, since I am much faster at crocheting.

Here's the pattern from Posy gets Cozy that I chose to do if you want to take a peek.

I'm already about 1/4 of the way done with the main part.

I'll keep you posted on the whole sad, twisted tale.....

Freebies in the mail!

2008-08-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have a post with a video clip of Hailey marinating or processing or something. Hopefully it turns out! In the meantime I thought I'd give you all some "photo" love. I lost my camera for a few days, so I'm a tad behind. Wanna' know where I found it? In my knitting basket....under my coupon stuff. LOL You can see where my priorities have been lately:)

These are some of the freebies I've received in the mail this last week.

McGruff trading cards. These are going in the Christmas closet for stockings.

A full-size box of Uncle Ben's Ready Rice and Betty Crocker Warm Delights. Yummy!

I've also received the Gun safety video, a Tampax kit, a necklace from Lean Cuisine, and two booklets of coupons so far. Brandon checks the mail and came in laughing his head off because we're getting food in the mail now.

Blessings!

Clip of Hailey saying "Thank You"

2008-08-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hailey likes to help me unload the dishwasher. I always tell her "thank you" when she hands me something. She's started telling me "thank you" now when she hands me something. (Scroll down and pause the music player at the bottom of my blog first so you can hear her.)Here's a clip:

Super great deal update

2008-08-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

So, my grocery store was out of the cereals that were on sale that I also had the MFG coupons for. So, I didn't get to do the super great deal of the year today. I still did ok, though. I ended up with 5 boxes of cereal, didn't have MFG coupons for them so they ended up $5, and 5 boxes of Cheezits for $7.50. With my $10 rebate, they are still a really good deal, just not the deal I was hoping to do today. Oh well, can't win them all right?Blessings!
Just HOW much cereal do you really need anyway? ::snort::

The Walgreens Game

2008-08-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

As you all know, Walgreens is a store that I now frequent for the super great deals!

Ever want to know how to do it?

Here are my tips for playing "The Walgreens Game" so you can begin to take advantage of the great deals too!

First off, Walgreen's has their regular weekly sale ad - usually not super great prices but the coupons in
there can be used in addition to any MFG coupons you may have for additional savings.

Walgreens also has a monthly "rebate booklet" that contains all the rebates for the month, PLUS money-saving coupons
in it, which can be used in addition to MFG coupons. The booklet is called the Easy Saver Catalog.
These catalogs are located on the rack with the weekly ads in your store. Grab a few, you might need them!

The ES Catalog has rebate listings for items purchased at Walgreens. This means, there are opportunities for you to
purchase a product and get $X back just for buying that item! You simply save your receipts for the qualifying purchase and
submit the rebates online to get your money back! And, if you request the money to be loaded on a Walgreens Card instead
of them sedning you a check, you'll get a 10% bonus just for doing that!

An example this month from the ES Catalog is Pert Plus Shampoo. My store has it for sale for $3.79. I used a $2.00 MFG coupon
on it making it $1.79. There is a rebate available in the ES Catalog for up to $4.29. They'll refund me the $3.79, the
original price (+10% on my card) making it an overage of $2.38! Basically, I "made" $2.38 for buying the shampoo:)

Here's REALLY GOOD tip that I came across this last week. As soon as you get home from your shopping trip, go online
and enter the receipt codes on your rebate eligible purchases. Don't click "submit". (You may have other purchases
that you want to make when a new ad comes out that month, and you can only submit rebates once per month.)
At the end of the month they will automatically process your rebates. By doing this you don't have to worry about
forgetting to submit them or losing your receipt. I just lost a rebate from last month because I went to enter it
on the 3rd and they had to be submitted by the 2nd. Argh! Don't make my same mistake.

Walgreens also does something called Register Rewards (RR). These are MFG coupons that print out with your store
receipt, when you buy certain products. The can be used just like cash on your next order.

An example right now is the Kellogg's promotion that if you purchase 4 boxes of Smart Start for $10, you get a $5 RR - so very cheap cereal!
You can use these RR's on your next purchase. The only catch with these is you can't "roll" the RR's, meaning, you cannot pay with a RR on
more cereal and get another RR for it. You CAN, however, pay with a RR from a different promotion (i.e., Poptarts, Clean & Clear)
and get another RR. Register Rewards are considered MFG coupons in the register's software. It is also setup to not accept a greater
number or MFG coupons than there are items in your order. If you run into this problem, simply throw a couple of really cheap items
on there to "up" your number of items.

~~~~~~~~~~Edit~~~~~~~~~~~`

Submit your coupons to the cashier in this order:

MFG coupons, including RR's

BOGO MFG coupons

Easy Saver coupons

Store coupons

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enjoy your shopping trips at Walgreens!

Blessings!

Free film developing!

2008-08-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

Just a head's up. Walgreen's has a promo. tomorrow where you can get 1 roll of film developed for FREE:) So, if you have 1 laying around tomorrow would be a good day to develop it! Blessings,

Please pray

2008-08-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

I'm calling on all my peeps (my 5 regulars, LOL) to please pray for us. We were going to give our 30-day notice with our landlord last week, being that it was the end of the month, and Michael's boss told us to "hold off". He has some loose ends to tie up before he gives us the go ahead to move. Anyways, over the weekend Michael was emailed by 2 different companies here in Abq that wanted him to fill out some paperwork so they can get him in for interviews. One even called him on the phone today to make sure he got the paperwork over the weekend and see when they can expect it back. One is for a "plant manager" and one is a "selling branch manager". Both sound like legitimate jobs and might even be decent paying (I can only hope!). Please, please, please, pray that if this is what God wants for us that we'll KNOW and know soon! This is the only real interest he's received in the last 3 months but with the timing it looks like maybe Washington isn't in our future???? Thanks!

Walgreen's trip on Sunday

2008-08-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

I hit 3 Walgreen's stores on Sunday night. I do multiple stores because there are 3 within 10 mins of me and I do mulitiple transactions and people get annoyed waiting behind you:)Anyways, here's the breakdown of what I did. I'll post other possible deals in the next post.

#1) 4 Kellogg's Smart Start Cereals Total: $10.00Used: 2 $1/2 couponsPaid: $8.00Get back: $5 register rewardNet cost: $3 or $.75 each!

#2) 4 Kellogg's Stawberry Rice Crispie Cereals
Total: $10.00
Used: 2 $1/2 coupons
Paid: $8.00
Get back: $5 register reward
Net cost: $3 or $.75 each!

#3) 5 Kellogg's Poptarts
Total: $10.00
Used: 2 $1/2 coupons
Paid: $8.00
Get back: $5 register reward
Net cost: $3 or $.60 each!

#4) 5 Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies
Total: $10.00
Used: 2 $1/2 coupons
Paid: $8.00
Get back: $5 register reward
Net cost: $3 or $.60 each!

#5) 5 Kellogg's Rice Crispie Treats 4 Kellogg's Special K Cereals
Total: $20.00
Used: 4 $1/2 coupons
Paid: $16.00
Got back: 2 $5 register rewards
Net cost: $6 or $.66 each!

#6) 3 Colgate toothpastes on sale $2.99 each1 Irish Spring bodywash on sale $3.992 Lady Speedsticks on sale $1.992 Irish Spring 3 packs on sale $1.993 caramels for $1(I'll explain this below)
Total: $23.33
Used: $5.35 in coupons and $15.00 register rewardsPaid: $2.98 oopGot back: $10 register rewardNet cost: $7.98

#7) 2 Glade candles on sale $1.99 each1 Windex wipes on sale $2.501 Windex multisurface cleaner on sale $2.502 Dawn dishsoaps on sale $.99 each1 Pert Plus shampoo $3.792 Scrubbing Bubbles cleaners on sale 2/$52 Colorsilk Haircolorings on sale 2/$52 Rightguard deodorants on sale B1G1 free at $3.291 Caramel for $.34 (again, I'll explain below)Total: $32.27Used: $11.00 in coupons and $20.00 in register rewardsPaid: $1.27 oopRebates claimed: $6.60Net cost: $14.67

So, my total out-of-pocket for this run, money I debited from our checking account was $52.25, for $112 worth of stuff. ANDI still have $5 in register rewards left and I'm expecting $6.60 in rebates.

The reason I bought the caramels is because everything I bought, I used a mf coupon on. The register is set to not accept a greater number of coupons than the number of items in your order and the register rewards are mf coupons. So, if you run into this situation, add a couple of really cheap items to "up" your number of items.

Get your coupons!

2008-08-03T14:03:00.001-07:00

Walgreen's has a pretty good ad this week from what I can see so far. I haven't actually figured out any deals yet but if you can get your hands on some Sunday papers today or at least the coupons from them you should get some great deals! I'll let you know some deals in the next couple of days but get those coupons!
P.s. A free place to pick some coupons up sometimes is the recycling bins that you might have around town. Our grocery store has them on the side of their building and I scored some from there yesterday:) Most people just throw theirs out!