Money Saving 101

It's Show us Your Life Friday again and today's topic is money saving, my specialty! Where to even begin...

Coupons. I can't say enough about them! I get coupons everywhere- online, Sunday paper, Thursday paper, magazines, stores, anywhere! Snag them any chance you get, and that includes buying more than one paper on Sundays- it really pays off! All You Magazine has tons of great coupons each month, more than enough to pay for the sub. I scored free mascara today with one of those coups! But coupons aren't enough on their own. Watch sales fliers for sales. Sit down with the flyer, go through your coupons, and match up. Often times you can get stuff for free, especially if your store doubles coupons. Don't forget rebates, too! Can't find a coupon? Call or email the company, sweet talk them a bit and they'll send you something (if they're nice). I raved to Purina the other day and they're mailing me some cat food coups, all for telling them I liked their product.

CVS. If you haven't discovered CVS and extra care bucks (ECB), you're missing out! Check out this site for more details, ads, and sometimes coupons. Basically, you look through their sale ad and look for things that you can earn ECBs on. ECBs are good as cash in the store. If you match up your coupons to their sales, a lot of times you can get out of there without spending much at all. There have been times I've walked out with several jugs of Tide, Mentadent toothpaste, Bounty paper towel packs, etc. and paid less than $5. And I still remember walking out with 6 bottles of Dove shampoo that I got for just $3, and earned ECBs to boot! It's worth the drive for me to do my shopping!

Be creative. Learning to be crafty can really pay off! For instance, our sunroom is in desperate need of curtains. Problem is, there are about 20 windows out there and curtains are expensive. However, I've found some gorgeous fabric that I'm going to use to make some, if I ever get back to Fairview! Much cheaper than store bought, plus, they'll be much more stylish! Got a hold in your kids' jeans? Cut them off, turn under the hem and sew. You get a pair of shorts that didn't cost you a dime! Just be sure to cut the legs evenly before you sew...

You can also check out my poor, neglected food blog for ideas on using your deepfreezer to save, crockpot cooking, and menu planning.

But most of all, just live within your means. Do you really need that super cute top at LOFT? Probably not. If you learn to go without wants, you can really save money. For that reason, we don't use credit cards. If we don't have the money for a big shopping trip, we don't go. Simple as that. We'd rather tuck that money away in savings than blow it on piddly things that in the end, don't matter. Sure, I'd LOVE a new car, but I'll drive that ugly, monster of a paid for beast until it won't run anymore just to save us a car payment. Now that's saving money!

The internet is such a wonderful invention

How in the world did we ever get along without it? Seriously?

I remember when we got our first computer. I was in jr. high and it was a beast! We didn't have internet access because that was way back in the day when it very first came out. My brother and I were playing around with it one day and came across an email thing. It popped up a window, had a box that said address, and knowing our friend's address, typed it in along with a message, thinking he'd get it. Obviously he never got it, but back then, we didn't know. I remember that computer had some pretty cool games for back in the day. I still look for them at mom's hoping to come across them. They never got internet access until after I had graduated high school. Back then, it was still a relatively new commodity. We'd never even had internet access in high school, so when we did get it, there wasn't much exciting.

Flash forward to today and I can't imagine what it was like before we had access. I can get pretty much anything I want without leaving the house- a BIG plus when you're not close to any stores. I can keep in touch through email. Surprisingly, I have not joined the Facebook or Myspace bandwagon and have no desire. I'm sure tomorrow when I get my hair done, Keri will hound me to join Facebook- she always does! The internet has just simplified life in so many ways. One of my favorites... requesting library books from home. I can't tell you how much I love that!

Scary morning

Kate's been complaining of her belly off and on for a few weeks, ever since she snuck the French onion dip Easter morning. She'd complain a bit and then she'd feel better. Nothing too worrisome or that needed attention- she's done this all her life. This morning at 5:30, I hear, "Mom!" I go into Kate's room and she says that her belly hurts so bad that she can hardly move. Hmmm. I tell her to try to rest a little more because it was almost time to get up and then we'd see how she felt. At 6:15 when I went in to shut off her alarm, she was still in a lot of pain, notably on her right side. "Kaitlyn, did you eat something at school that you weren't supposed to eat?" She promised that she had not. At this point, I'm skeptical, but a little worried as it had been about 6 months since she'd been doubled over with the side pain. I called the dr. and they wanted her in. At that point, I broke down in tears. I just knew it was her appendix. My mind was racing over what we'd do if it was, because if she needed surgery, we'd want her at Children's, which is an hour and a half from Effingham. What if it was near rupturing? Aaargh!

WE get there and they go pretty in depth into her history from last fall when she was seen for the side pain that prompted the ultrasound. Dr. B. was out so we had to see the nurse pract. and it was a little frustrating that she didn't know her history like Dr. B. would. They asked her if she'd had any dairy and from her response, I immediately knew she wasn't telling the truth. She HAD been eating dairy at school. Bingo! She felt around on her belly and determined that she did not have appendicitis- the pain was more in her kidney area (I thought that was on your back?). She ordered a urinalysis to check for blood or infection and because Preston had strep last week, a throat culture, both of which came back negative. She put her back on her Pepcid and said that she'd leave a note for Dr. B when she comes back in the morning, and if she feels any additional tests need to be run, that she'd call. I was hoping they'd do some bloodwork to at least see if that was normal, but they didn't, even though I heard the NP say to the nurse that she needed bloodwork (they'd left the door open). Maybe it was another girl, maybe she can't order that. Who knows...

Needless to say, I wasn't very happy that Kate was out of school, that she'd scared me so badly, and that all of this was because she'd eaten dairy. She is on strict orders NOT to eat any dairy so that we can see if the pain goes away. I guess that' one good reason to be excited about school being out in a few weeks- she won't be sneaking any dairy.

Preston lost his 2nd tooth today at school! He wanted to lose his first one there because you get a little tooth shaped necklace to put your tooth in. Well, he got his little necklace!

He swings, he hits...

Last night was Preston's first baseball practice for the season. After a rocky time the first year he wanted to play (only wanted to play in the dirt), we took last summer off. This year, he's physically and mentally ready to play. He had a great time yesterday! He hit the ball really well- he can really wallop that thing to the outfield! He still needs to work on his catching, but I think he and the other boys had more fun chasing after the grounders to see who would be the first one to get it than anything else! It was so funny seeing those boys go at breakneck speed after the ball, they'd all slide in a pile and see who got the ball! Note to self... next time, make sure he wears play jeans to practice. I was very proud of him! He paid attention, didn't play around, and had fun. He has practice again on Saturday if it doesn't rain, which it's supposed to. I can't wait for his games to start!

Keep on doing what you do

I was reading in a magazine recently an article on free time (or something like it). It had a quick snippet about a new mom whose husband offered to take the baby for a while so that the mom could relax. When dad and baby returned home, he was shocked to see a pile of finished thank you notes that his wife had done while they were away instead of doing nothing. It talked about how downtime doesn't necessarily mean that you have to veg out and do nothing, but should be defined by doing things that you want to do and how you feel when you're doing them. For that mom, she enjoyed doing the thank you notes, so it wasn't work, it was downtime. After I read that article, I really saw that in myself.

I have all day Monday and Friday to myself. Those are MY days. I use those days to do what I want. Sometimes, and those days are rare, I will sit and do little- I'll get online, play spider solitaire, etc. Most days, however, are quite constructive. Today, I ventured up into the attic. A few weeks ago, you could barely move up there. It was a MESS. Today, I finally got it straightened up. I condensed half-full boxes and totes. I organized where boxes and totes were. I dug out more for the garage sale. I got all of my garage sale stuff in one section and even brought some down to get ready. Some might look at that and think I was busy working. I thoroughly enjoyed being up there, going through stuff, reminiscing, and straightening stuff up. I have some empty totes up there, so I might find some more time to take stuff out of boxes and put into totes. Not work, fun! I didn't end up sitting down until 2:00 this afternoon, but instead of feeling like I had no time, I felt like I'd used every minute wisely.

That's also a big difference between Christopher and myself. On his downtime, he sits, watches movies or plays computer games. If he has to do something during this time, he's not too happy about it. I'd rather keep busy and do things that I like. That's also why I have about 10 different projects going at any given time. Problem is, I just need to actually finish them!

Snap. Crackle, Pop

Rice Crispies?

Nope. Those would be the ever-present sounds that my ear make.

My ear SNAPS. Ever since I got the tube, if conditions are just right, my eardrum will snap like a rubber band, resulting in a loud twang with a melodic tone. It's quite loud and not very pleasant feeling.

My ear CRACKLES. For 5 straight weeks now. When I tip my head, crackle. When I get up from sitting, crackle. There's fluid in there that doesn't seem to be draining, but thankfully is not becoming infected, either. When I saw my ENT 3 weeks ago, he was unconcerned.

My ear POPS. Every ear pops. My left ear pops just a handful of time each day. My right ear pops around 200 times a day, down from the 500 or so times a day before I got the tube. It popped constantly, and that's no exaggeration. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying that was/is.

My good ear (left) rings constantly, and that's pretty annoying, too. I swear, if I hadn't already dealt with my ears my entire life, I think I'd go crazy from it.

Family game weekend

It was a pretty dreary weekend. It has rained since Thursday night, and it's still supposed to rain tomorrow. We're not talking little showers, we're talking about downpours. YUCK! Since it was pretty yucky, we played games.

Saturday afternoon, we all played Life. Poor Preston, he just wasn't patient enough, and can't count money, so he was really rambunctious. I usually let him play without money, but he insisted... It was fun (and I won). That night we went to Hillsboro with mom to see How to Train Your Dragon. It was better than I thought it would be, but I was more preoccupied with Preston. He's been really fidgety and wild lately. I don't know what his deal is. But after his third bathroom trip, a trip to get a new cup because his got a hole in it, and having to take him out because he would not stop bouncing on the seat, I took him out for the rest of the show (we only missed 15 minutes). My child may have been bouncy and wild, but at least I wasn't the parent of the one year old that cried almost the entire movie (and they didn't take him out) or the parent in front of us that was screaming at her son for making her mad during the movie.

This morning, Kate came up with a game show and asked Preston and I to be the contestants. I go downstairs and she has a stage all set up and on a footstool, she has Guess Who Extra set up. She got on her fancy Christmas dress and was the host while Preston and I played. We had sound effects and the works! After lunch, they wanted to play Monopoly, so we all sat down and played. Christopher is a major mono. player and is big into bargaining! Kate caught on quickly, and poor Preston fell prey to her bargaining skills- "Preston, I'll give you Mediterranean for North Carolina." They tired of that game pretty quickly, but we had some good laughs! We even played Horse-opoly at Granny and Pa's tonight. That lasted less than monopoly did. Kate realized that giving me $1000 for a $200 horse was crazy and snuck around and stole my money, then they went crazy stealing everyone's money and giving everyone's cards away, so we quit.

I was SO hoping the guys would start on our floor this weekend, but that didn't happen. Keith won't be able to be in the field this week with all of the rain, so it would be a perfect time to get everything laid at least so that Christopher and I could finish it. I got mad at Christopher for not asking his dad and said that the 3 foot tall pile of wood would be sitting in our dining room until June when Keith is done planting.

How we met

It's Show us your life time over at Kelly's Korner again! This week it's how you met your husband/fiance.

Christopher and I grew up in the same town our entire lives. When you live in a little hole in the wall town, you know everyone. He was a year ahead of me in school. During high school, we never even spoke to each other. He was on the wrestling team and I was a stat girl, but still, there was nothing there. I remember that a friend of a friend of mine thought he was SO hot, and everyday after we ate lunch, we had to go to the gym to watch him while he was in P.E. Again, nothing there.

During my freshman year of college, we were both attending KC, a small community college and we ended up in the same art class. The class was paired up for a project and my partner and I had to build a geodesic dome. On the day of the project, we had to cut chicken wire to build our dome, and it was NOT a fun task. Our hands were getting cut up, and I guess we were being girly about it, because he came over and offered to cut it for us.

A few weeks later after the course was over, I was out with a friend "cruising" when we decided to stop and park in McDonald's parking lot for a while. A guy that we knew pulled up in his truck so we went over to talk to him and Christopher was riding with him. He called me over to chat and we hit it off. I think it was a week or two before we actually went out, and for the life of me, I can't remember what we did. I think we just rode around town. Seriously, how lame is that? But it's, Van, and there's absolutely nothing to do anyway.

That first night, we found out that we were both going to be attending Illinois State that August, which was 2 hours away. I had several friends that were attending ISU, but it was neat that he was going to be there, too. No long distance relationship for us. The rest, my friends, is history.

Dumpster diving

We set off this morning to pick up our flooring. We made it to Lumber Liquidators without getting lost, so that's always a good thing! Thank goodness for Mapquest! Jess wasn't kidding when she said the showroom was no bigger than our living room! It had so many neat flooring samples on display. Even though some were really neat, I'm too partial to oak to ever buy something like them. We went around back to have them load the wood. When it came time to strap the bundles in, we found out that tie straps were not going to keep the wood from flying out the back end of the truck. Christopher mentioned that it would be nice if we had a sheet of plywood, which we didn't have. I turned around, saw some large cardboard boxes in a dumpster, and suggested he get them, and he did! It took a bit of digging before he found one that was smaller than a refrigerator, but it worked like a charm! We made it all the way from St. Louis without any issues!

It took both of us to carry each bundle into the house- all 20 of them! The 3 foot high pile is now sitting in the dining room waiting to be installed after it has acclimated. It smells so good in there! Kind of like a fresh Christmas tree, but not quite. Christopher says it smells like a lumber yard... I can't wait to get that flooring down!

On the mend

Preston had to stay home from school again because of the strep. He'll be back to school tomorrow since it's been 24 hours. I really like spending time with Pres when he's home sick. I don't like him feeling bad, but I do love the one on one time together. It makes me really miss those preschool days and having him home.

He felt much better today and got a little stir crazy. After lunch I took him outside to let him blow off a little steam. He wanted to get under the sun room, so I opened it up and he took out both toy lawn mowers and we had to walk all around the yard mowing. Man, did that kill my back bending over to push that thing! He pranced all over the back yard with the mower for quite a while before he started digging in the ashes of the brush pile and I made him come inside.

Tomorrow, Christopher and I are off to St. Louis to pick up our flooring. I can't wait! Who knows when it will actually be installed, though. It's supposed to rain starting tomorrow afternoon, through the weekend, so if Keith won't be in the field, they might get a wild hair and decide to do it right away. Yikes!

And the verdict is...

Strep.

Yeah... We did NOT see that one coming! Seriously! And after all the times Kate had strep, I thought I could see it coming a mile away, but obviously not. I took Preston in today for his ears, expecting a quick, uneventful trip and a script for some Biaxin. She looked in his ears and they were fine (more on that in a minute). She looked in his throat and asked if his throat had been hurting. No. Headaches? No. Belly aches? No. Just the temp which was now gone. His poor tonsils were all but touching, yet they weren't red or pus covered. They did a strep test and were back in less than 2 minutes because it was already positive. When she told me that, I was speechless. For once, speechless. She put him on a pretty hefty dose of Zithromax and hopefully this will be the last time strep rears its ugly head.

So onto the ears. The left ear was perfect. She looked in the right ear, the one he'd been complaining about, and she looked around for a long time. I figured she was being extra thorough and was going to confirm our suspicions. The good news is that there was no active infection that she could see, no fluid and no inflammation, but wants us to continue 7 days with the Floxin. The bad news is that his eardrum is distorted. She seemed concerned and asked if we had a follow-up planned with his ENT, which we did, but not until October. I have NO clue what this means. Obviously it's something new as she's looked in his ears hundreds of times and has never commented on this before. So I'll be calling Dr. S. in the morning to see if he thinks it needs immediate attention or can wait until October. It is ALWAYS something with his ears...

It's been a rough day. Between waiting 1 1/2 hours to be seen (even with an appt), the hour's worth of driving, and the shock of strep, I'm beat. I can only pray that Preston does not fall prey to strep like Kate did when she was in kindergarten. After her first bout she spent the next few months on antibiotics for either her throat, her ears, or pneumonia that she couldn't fight because her body was fighting her golf ball sized tonsils (no joke, you can ask Dr. S.) that were blocking about 95% of her airway. I asked Dr. S. if he'd remove his tonsils back in June when he had his adenoids out so we could have it all done in one fell swoop, but no such luck. I will NOT be a happy mamma if he has to have surgery again. We know it's very possible that they'll have to go in and remove his tubes if they don't fall out next spring, but a tonsillectomy...

Beatles cakes, anyone?

A Beatles party calls for Beatles cakes, right? Being the accomplished cake baker that I am (cough, cough), I sought out to make the perfect Beatles themed cakes! I made two of the above cake that is made after Ringo's bass drum. You can't see the sides, but they are grey and black striped just like his. These were chocolate and delicious!
Here you can see the sides of the drum cake. The Strawberry Fields cake was inspired by Ashley. It had a homemade strawberry filling and Annette got all fancy and sliced the strawberries out and fanned them over the top! And I was just going to plop them on there! I didn't try this one as I'm not a strawberry fan, but everyone said it was really good!
This cake was my absolute favorite. I'd been planning it for months and just could not wait to start on it! Obviously, it's Here Comes the Sun.
On the side, I piped the lyrics to resemble grass growing in the spring. It's only fitting to have a cake like this on such a gorgeous spring day! But the creme de la creme, the piece de resistance (I know I botched that French up...) was the surprise waiting inside...
Six glorious layers of rainbow colored cake! A bright, sunny spring cake deserves nothing less than a rainbow inside.

Happy Birthday times two!

Here is our newly turned 11 year old Wednesday morning as she was opening presents. She was so excited to get them that she forgot to brush her hair! That's Kate!

Last night was the big surprise party that has been in the works for months. I'm proud to say that it went off without a hitch and she was definitely surprised! I had Ashley come over so that we'd have an excuse to go down there without raising suspicions. Everyone had their cars hidden (in the garage, over the hill, behind a wooden fence). She had no clue! She had a great time and it was really nice! It was just my family since we decided to split up the parties again, so it was really relaxed not having so many people!
Glen wanted to help Kate open her gifts, and she gladly let him help- or more like open them all! Now, had Preston asked to help, she would have told him no!

Silly Glen!

Time to blow out the candles!

Today we had the party that she knew about. It was a big Beatles themed party. We couldn't find any Beatles balloons, so she improvised, cutting apples out and taping them to the balloons!
Here she is getting Beatles Rock Band. She has been SO excited about this game since we played it down at dad's in January! Too bad she's grounded from video games, still!
Blowing out her candles again. You can always count on Grandma Lou to be in the background making some sort of face! That seems to be her designated seat, so she's always in the cake picture! This party was just Christopher's family and it was nice and relaxing, too. I was able to sit and visit and enjoy our guests instead of going non-stop.

Poor Preston is still running a temp with the ear infection. I called after-hours again today in hopes that Dr. H. would call in a script, but since his temp didn't shoot up overnight, she felt that he would be OK waiting until tomorrow. Actually, she wanted us to come in at 11:00, but that party was at noon, so that wasn't an option. So tomorrow we will go in. Sigh. And to top it all off, my good ear (the one without a tube) kept me up all night and has been bothering me all day. When I laid down with Preston tonight, it started hurting a lot more. It might not be a fun night.

Here we go again...

Nothing has ever been easy with Preston and his ears. He suffers chronic, drug-resistant infections, gets tubes, does well and they fall out. Goes right back into chronic infections, gets tubes, and this go around, isn't doing so well. This marks infection number 3 for this set of tubes, and he's only had them since June.

He woke up yesterday morning complaining that his ear hurt (the right one as always). As many times as I hear this, you just have to brush them off the first time he complains. Seriously, if I had a nickel for every time he's said they hurt... But not long after that, he said it hurt so bad that he couldn't sit up. I got out the drops, put them in, and sent him to school. He came home with a 101 temp. Nice... He still had a 100 temp this morning, and since we were having Kate's surprise party tonight, I didn't know what to do (pictures and post to come tomorrow). I was almost 100% certain that it was his ear since there were no other symptoms, and he wasn't even complaining of his ear. I called Dee and she came over with the otoscope and sure enough, that tube was draining some lovely pus. I called the after hours line hoping they'd call in some Biaxin, but they want me to wait another 24 hours to see if the fever will go away with the Floxin drops. That hasn't happened before... So... I have to call back around 10 in the morning and hopefully Dr. H. will call in a script. We have 20 people coming at noon for Kate's 2nd party, so I really can't drive over to Effingham for an office visit.

Yeah, this is frustrating. Yes, I feel guilty because the poor kid got my bad ears and I don't foresee this problem ending anytime soon if my ears are any indication. The poor guy can't catch a break. I know it could be much worse, but come on, how many ear infections does a child with tubes have to get?

BUSTED!

It happened. I've been found out. I knew that girl was sneaky!

When Kate lost her last tooth back in Feb., she said she hoped it would come out when I didn't know so that she could put it under her pillow and see if the tooth fairy really was real. That didn't happen since it fell out while sledding. Well... Kate pulled another tooth last night after I put her to bed. She snuck downstairs, got a bag for her tooth, and put it under her pillow. This morning, she was wide awake when I went in to turn off her alarm. She showed me the missing tooth and I thought, "Oh, no..." At first she couldn't find the tooth (or money). She said that maybe she was real since the tooth was gone. I thought to myself, "Maybe I can run up, sneak a dollar from under the bed." No going. She enlisted Preston's help in looking and came down the stairs before I found a dollar. "The tooth fairy is a FAKE!" she says as she dangles the bag in front of my face. BUSTED! What made it worse was that Preston was right there to witness it all.

After breakfast, she asked me to tell her the truth, so I told her. She's eleven after all, it had to happen sooner or later, and really, she pretty much knew. I made her promise that she would not ruin this for Preston since he's only lost one tooth. She asked about the Easter bunny, but I wouldn't budge on that one.

Sorry for no birthday pictures yesterday. I spent the whole day painting our shed and I was just exhausted. I'll have tons this weekend, though, so I'll make up for my laziness! She did have a really great birthday, and they've been having a blast with her new Zhu Zhu Pet accessories. Saturday is the big surprise party so I'm getting cakes ready today to take down to dad's tomorrow. Hopefully we can pull this off!

Hard to believe

It's hard for me to believe that eleven years ago at this time, I was sitting in the hospital. Labor hadn't started yet, but I was only 3 cm away from being ready to deliver. All of our family was there. We laughed, we joked, we had a great time. It was Dee's birthday, so there was extra reason to celebrate. Would there be another birthday on the 13th?

I was scared. The first time you become a mom is life changing. You don't go back to who you were before. No matter how old you are, you grow up in an instant. Another life now depends on you. I was excited. I was finally going to meet this little girl that I'd felt wiggling inside of me. I wondered who she would look like, how big she would be, and if she'd be an easy baby. I was starving. Making a soon-to-be laboring mom go without food is BAD. Thankfully the second go-round, I made sure they let me eat!

At around 11:00, I was 8cm. My dr. was called in and "because it is getting late" he decided he'd break my water. That's when labor began. Up to that point, there was nothing- just my cervix melting away with a measly little contraction here and there. Now things were in full force, and I was in pain. HOLY COW! I was bound and determined to not have an epidural. There was NO way that anyone was coming near me with that needle. At 11:50, I was ready to push, and finally, the pain let up. Pushing wasn't easy thanks to Kate deciding that she wanted come out looking to the sky. Let's put it bluntly... she was stuck. Only after deciding to go with vacuum assistance was she able to come out.

At 12:28 a.m., just 28 minutes shy of sharing her Grammy's birthday, Kate was born. She was so tiny- all 6 pounds, 3 ounces of her. She looked like her daddy. She had no hair except for a ridge at the nape of her neck- like a baby mullet. She had a big cone head and a nice red circle from where the vacuum attached. She was perfect. She was mine.

It's hard to think that 11 years have already passed. I was going through stuff in the attic yesterday and came across a tote of her outgrown clothes that I'd saved. I went through, looking at all the cute dresses and remembering when she wore them. Through the Halloween costumes, through the preschool t-shirts, through the ballet leotards and shoes. Then at the very bottom were her preemie clothes- the only ones that fit her right after birth. Tears came. It was hard to think that the girl that is nearing my height was that tiny just a few short years ago. Those years flew by so quickly. I wish that for just one day, I could have that little baby back. I wouldn't put her down for an instant. My baby grew up. In three hours, she will be 11.

A day of accomplishments

It seems that I have very few days where it's just me, where I don't have anything planned. Today was one of those days, and it was fabulous. I didn't find time to sit down until 2:00 because I was so busy, but I got so much done! I got the goodies for the treat bags- not an easy task when the guests range from 1 month to 9 years. I washed all the windows in the house. I ventured into the attic in search of cake pans (didn't find them) and ended up going through totes and boxes, getting rid of stuff, and came up with 4 empty totes! I cleaned the grill. But best of all.......... I ordered our wood flooring! YEEEEEEESSSSSSS! Finally, we get to say good-bye to the UGLY pink carpet! Hallelujah! No, I'm not excited at all... Only thing is, the Fenton store is out-of-stock in what we bought, and it doesn't say anywhere when they'll get it in. I guess I'll call tomorrow. I just can't wait!

Tomorrow is going to be a whirlwind. So not a good day to be babysitting Gracie because I really need the whole day. I have to bake cupcakes. I have to wrap presents. I have to dust. Too much to do with too little time.

Trivia anyone?

Jess asked us a few weeks ago to be on a team with her and some friends for a trivia night fundraiser for Relay For Life. We decided to go for it. I went to school with Megan, our team's sponsor, and her husband Heath, who was also on our team. Two others couldn't find a sitter so we were short, but we had a blast! We were the youngest team there, but I think we definitely had the most fun! We started off with a bang and in the lead. The first round of questions were cancer facts, and thanks to Christopher, our resident aficionado of oncology, we got all ten correct! We were sure we'd do fantastically, but after that first round, it was a quick downhill slide! It was sad! We came in about 4th or 5th out of 8 teams. By the end, I gave up on our score! But we did have a great time, won some funny door prizes, like Jess' bottle of body wash! We joked that if we do it again next year, we'll have someone wear a headset, and have someone out in the car on their phone looking up answers on the web and relaying them back to us!

Today we had lunch at Keith and Dee's for her birthday. Her birthday is Tuesday and Kate's is Wednesday, so we have a busy birthday week. I still can't fathom Kate turning 11. Seriously. Eleven? I have so much to do this week to get ready. I'm going to finish up treat bags tomorrow and wash windows. I need to straighten up the basement, but I know as soon as I straighten toys, Gracie will undo them. It's supposed to be nice this week so maybe I can keep her outside!

Shelby

It's been a sad week for Kate this week. Her good friend Shelby's mom was killed early Sunday morning in a car accident. Kate came home from school Tuesday upset with the news. She really feels for Shelby. I really feel badly for her as well. I can't imagine losing a mother at the age of 10, especially with all that the next few years will bring. I pray that she can find something positive in such a horrible situation.

Kate came home today and within seconds of being in the car, broke down into sobs. They learned today that Shelby will be moving to Ramsey and that tomorrow will be her last day at their school. It will also be her first day back since this happened. Kate was SO incredibly upset. She said that almost everyone in class had been crying all day since they learned that she would be leaving. It was all I could do to keep from crying. I hate that she has to go through this, but I hate even more what Shelby is going through.

Tomorrow they are having a going away party for Shelby. I really pray for her strength tomorrow as it won't be easy. Going back after such a loss is hard enough. Going back and having to say good-bye to all of your friends is even harder. We went out tonight and bought Shelby some note cards and a journal so that she can keep in touch. The journal has a page in the front where she can write everyone's address and phone number, and I told Kate to have everyone write their info. in it. I hope that when she leaves school tomorrow, that she knows how many great friends she has, and that they are all there for her.

Please pray for Shelby. Such a sweet little girl.

Fabulous!

It's no secret that I dislike Wal-Mart. I can't stand it. But it's pretty much the only place to shop, so I have no choice. Jess was telling me over the weekend about finding Nancy Drew books on Wal-Mart's site, so I thought I'd check it out. Not only did I find the ND books that I was looking for (and for less than the bookstore), I found the ones that Amazon claims are out of print! Score! I snagged a few for Kate's birthday. She loves Nancy Drew!

What I also found was their photo page. Oh. My. Gosh! Why did I not find this sooner? I can upload my pictures and have them in the store an hour later! I can even pay in-store! Holy cow! When I was working on Kate's pictures yesterday, I needed some pictures that I'd not yet printed. I got online, uploaded them, and was back to working on her album without skipping a beat! You can't beat 9 cent prints, either! I'm currently uploading all of my other pictures to print. I"m going to LOVE this!

I've been busy

I have been busy.

Pictures had been piling up by the hundreds. Literally. Kate's, Preston's, new house, old house, vacation. All needed to be scrapped to their specific home. The kids each needed a new album before I could do anything, so I ordered Kate a new one since her pictures were the farthest behind. It came Monday. I spent Monday night, Tuesday morning, afternoon, and evening, and all morning today working. I went from being a year behind on hers, to being caught up to Christmas. Phew! Busy, busy!

Happy Easter!

Here are my 2 little bunnies before heading out to church. It was such a beautiful morning! No jackets needed! It's been a long time since we've had a nice, warm (and dry) Easter! The Easter bunny left the kids their baskets which they tore into bright and early! Apparently, the Easter bunny lied- and they weren't happy! Their aunt always makes a personalized Easter bunny letter and mails it to them each year. It said that he was going to bring them lots of chocolate. Well, when you have 2 children that can't eat dairy, the E.B. doesn't bring any. After church we went out to Keith and Dee's for lunch.
Here are the eggs we colored earlier this week. Aren't they cute? The kids wanted pictures of each individual egg. They had to settle for a group picture! And what do you do with Easter eggs once Easter is over?
You throw them! Christopher started this tradition at our old house and it is by far their favorite! We used to throw them in the field behind our house, but since we have neighbors behind us, we take them and throw them in the field behind Keith and Dee's. You'd think they'd bust, but most all of them survive the toss. It's always fun to go out into the field, even after Keith has planted his beans or corn, and find a surviving egg months later!
Preston hunting eggs!
Check out Miss Kate's boots! She was too lazy to put on her tennis shoes, and I wouldn't let her wear her church shoes, so she wore her woods-going boots.

After Christmas in April (you don't even want to know...) we went home to spend 30 minutes putting everything away. Then it was off to Granny and Pa's. We had a great time there and I got to snuggle my little Cooper for a long time. He is SUCH a sweet little guy, and so snuggly! There was another egg hunt and more Easter goodies, and of course, Granny's delicious food! I'll be enjoying leftovers this week!

Our weekend so far

Today we all got together at Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ed's for Easter. The kids always have such a great time there. We all do, really! This was our first Easter with 3 babies, all within a month of each other. Above is Kate, Isabela, Addison, Abigail and Preston. Preston was less than thrilled to have Abbie leaning on him!

It was warm enough to go outside for the egg hunt this year, but it was muddy! We had an inch of rain last night and it was sloppy, but the kids didn't mind at all!
The kids and their eggs- all 100 of them! We already have more candy than we know what to do with and Easter isn't even here yet!

Backing up a bit, the kids spent the day with Granny yesterday while I went to Effingham for my ENT appointment. They had a lot of fun and spent the entire day outside. They were a grubby mess when I picked them up, but they had a great time and Granny and Pa did, too! My appointment went really well. The tube is still exactly like it is supposed to be, and he said that it will be there through summer- most likely 18 months from start to finish. That will be next spring. I can only hope! It's been fabulous not having infections! Preston and I both go back in Oct.

The icemaker is now "fixed." I can't really say what it is, in reference to the way Christopher rigged it, but it is no longer broken. He used what looks to be the plastic thing on a pair of socks, used super glue and Quick Steel. The good news... we no longer have to pay to have it fixed. The bad news... we can no longer use the dispenser in the door or else it could break again and then we would have to pay to have it fixed. Seriously, why didn't he get it fixed last year when it happened the first time? Men!

Rollercoasters

I hate rollercoasters. I will not ride one. Even a log ride is too rollercoastery for me. It should go without saying that I also hate when my days go from really good to really bad, really fast. Yeah, another one of those days...

Today started out really well. The weather was fabulous again- 81, and I started the day off with the windows and doors opened bright and early. Preston did have me up at 5:30 when he decided he was ready for the day, but that's minor. The kids were excited about it being nice, so we went outside pretty early and just played. We all enjoyed ourselves. Jess called at 11:30 and was ready for our photo shoot with the girls, so we loaded up and headed out to Sonomon's cabin. I got some darling shots of the girls and the kids had fun exploring. They found a horseshoe and a deer antler. They couldn't have been happier. Then I picked up lunch and they had a picnic in their clubhouse outside. It was a really fun day!

My mom had asked if the kids wanted to stay tonight, and they both said that they did. I dropped them off around 4:30 and came home to enjoy some quiet time. Christopher and I enjoyed a quiet evening until I went to take a shower. Part of the refrigerator broke off again and this time it can't be found. It broke off a year ago and Christopher used J.B. Weld to put it back on. Well, it's broken and missing. He knew 100% that the kids had done it and hid the part, and made me call them. Well, that just opened a whole new can of worms. Preston started crying and would not stay. Had I not called, he would have been fine. I go to pick him up, and Kate was unsure if she wanted to stay. She got upset and started crying, which made my mom cry because she was upset that the kids didn't want to stay with her. The same thing happened in July when Preston wanted to come home because he had an ear infection. Since then, neither of them will stay anywhere. Now, I'm left to call Sears and have them come to fix it because he won't. Had Christopher had them fix it the RIGHT way last year, this would not have happened.

I"m just frustrated right now. Too much on my plate. I still don't have the kids' Easter stuff, don't have Sarah and Gracie's Easter stuff (don't even get me started...). I have to go to the ENT tomorrow, have to buy groceries, have to make food for this weekend. I still need to buy Kate's birthday gifts. I still need to buy party supplies. Nothing is getting done. I need a break.