Long Time No Blog

Wow, it has been a long time. Things have been busy, but there hasn't been that much to talk about. I'm telling you, it's just January. Blah January. At least we only have a few more days of this month and then we can move on to February. I was starting to get so excited that I only had a few patches of snow in my yard over the weekend. Then it snowed over 16 inches in 24 hours so now we are back to the "winter wonderland". It sure looks pretty though. I hope it melts fast though because we are dying to get out and go to the park.

Here are just a couple of things that have been going on:

• Adele had an ear infection and is still not sleeping all night consistently. I have been having trouble sleeping myself lately so this has made things worse for me. She finally (almost!) reached 20 lbs (19.5 to be exact) and the Dr. said that it would be just fine to turn her car seat around. Hooray, another babyhood milestone. It is just so much easier to adjust the car seat when it is forward facing and it is so much easier for all the kids to get in the car when it is facing forward.



• I hosted a Pampered Chef party at my house about a week ago and it was a lot of fun. I ended up having a selling total of $500 so I was able to get a bunch of free bonuses. I can't wait for all the stuff to arrive. Thanks to everyone who came to the party and double thanks to everyone who bought stuff. (And thanks to Keri for helping me reach the 500 goal!)
  


• We are excited that our tax forms are coming in so we can submit our taxes, get our refund and finish paying for our kitchen remodel. (We gotta get it in early before the government completely runs out of money....)



• We we went to the traditional ward chili cook-off/pinewood derby activity last weekend. It is so funny to see how "into" it the guys get about the racing of the cars. Kent was pretty excited to build his car. He did a lot of work on it and even decoupaged it to look like a brick wall. He drilled holes in it and put a bunch of fishing sinkers inside. It weighed 8 ounces. Kent put characters from Super Mario Brothers on the top and I nicknamed it the "Mario Mobile". For as un-aerodynamic as it was, we were very very surprised that it actually went really fast. In fact, the "Mario Mobile" won the most races and was pronounced the winner. It was pretty cool. The kids, who are very into all things Mario, were very excited every time he won a race.
  

The Underwear Bandana

Adele is at "that age" where she is constantly into everything. She has earned the nickname "The Re-distributor" because she is always moving things from their rightful locations to other locations. The other day I found her like this:

Yep, that's a pair of Hanes around her neck. They are clean, just FYI.

And yes, that is a dinner knife she is holding. I am guessing she kiped it from the dishwasher when I wasn't looking. The dishwasher is her second favorite place to play. Her #1 favorite "off-limits" place to play: The toilet. And she just figured out how to open the lid. This kid must be supervised at all times. Kind of like pretty much all 1 year olds I guess.

Coupon Tragedy

I went to Albertson's on Monday to get some more of the things that were in last week's ad. I had gone on Saturday and they were out of all the things I wanted. I put my coupon book and Adele in the cart and then I realized that the seat belt was broken. I moved her to another cart but I accidentally left my notebook in the original cart. I went to look for all the items on my list and they were out of every one of them so I ditched my cart and left. I got home and realized I didn't have my precious coupon book. I drove BACK to Albertson's and looked all over the place. I even walked through the whole store peering into people's carts to see if someone had picked up the cart with my book. I thought I was losing my mind. Finally I gave up and left my phone number and the description of my lost item with the customer service desk. About an hour later they called me. They had found my coupon book outside in a cart that was in the cart return. I was so relieved. I have done a LOT of work to get that coupon book organized and I would have been so sad to lose it.

Coupon-A-Rama

I am so excited about Albertson's ads this week! I went there and got so many deals I just had to share.

Here's what I got:


2 32 oz. cheese blocks $4.99 ea.
bananas $.69 per pound
oranges $.33 per pound
boneless chicken breasts $1.88 per pound
2 23 oz. Frosted Mini-Spooners cereal $1.27 ea.
2 boxes fruit snacks, $.75 ea.
3 boxes Cheerios $1.00 ea.
3 32 oz. jars grape jam $1.17 ea.
1 24 oz. pkg frozen veggies $.25
2 boxes frozen veggies $.34 each
4 6-packs Trix yogurt $.75 each
2 pkgs. real butter $1.49 each

AND


2 Pantene shampoos, 2 Pantene conditioners: $.17 ea.
2 Aquafresh toothbrushes: Free
2 pkgs. Stayfree $1.oo ea.
2 Tag deodorants $.67 ea.
2 Crest premium toothpastes $.50 ea.
2 Tide 64 loads detergent $4.99 ea.
1 Dawn dish soap $.75
1 Cascade diswasher detergent $2.00
8 giant-roll pack Bounty paper towels $4.75
2 Lysol sanitizing wipes $1.50 ea.

Plus I saved an additional 6 dollars from doubling 6 1 dollar coupons.

All in all, I spent $64.35. Not bad for a day's work. And I have to admit that I spent more time getting ready for this shopping trip than I ever have. There were SO many deals and SO many coupons it took awhile but it was SO FUN seeing my total going down, down, down every time they scanned my coupons.

Now, I must vow to not buy ANY MORE cleaning or hygiene items for 3-6 months because I am PREEEETY sure I have enough to last at least a year.

Even if you don't clip coupons, you can get a LOT of great deals at Albertson's this week.

You can also print free coupons from these websites:
http://grocerysmarts.coupons.smartsource.com/WEB/index.aspx?Link=235ZMFJDIS36M
http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=12812&zid=dl89&nid=10

And this site can help you organize your grocery list and match the available coupons with the sales:
http://www.grocerysmarts.com/utah/lists/indexg84rcm.php?s84mi2

The Return of the Inner Blogging Voice

Just a few short hours ago I said that my IBV hadn't been talking to me much lately. I was stuck inside the house and didn't really have much going on. It is amazing what a little middle-of-the night puking can do to get that IBV all revved up. Remember how I mentioned that I had a stomach bug over the weekend? I quarantined myself from pretty much everyone as much as possible and I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe my family didn't get exposed. But I was wrong. Last night Ian got up and came in my room. He does this sometimes when he has a bad dream. He said that his stomach hurt but that it was just a dream. Then he went back to bed and proceeded to puke in his bed. (It is a wonderful developmental milestone when kids become old enough and smart enough to actually make it to the toilet when they are sick.) At least most of it got on one blanket and his sheets and bedspread were spared. This happened at 2 a.m. and I knew that I'd be up for at least a few hours of repeated sick episodes. Finally at 5:00 a.m. after 3 or 4 (I can't remember now) more heaving episodes, 2 times through Primary CD #2, Ian finally went to sleep.

Today I have to say, he is faring much better than I am. You'd never know he was up for 3 hours puking. He's running around full speed and begging me to play with him. I on the other hand can barely connect two synapses in my brain and I am struggling to have patience with the 2 kiddos I have at home. I am declaring today to be "Mandatory Nap Day" for anyone who is at home. Maybe Ian will hit a wall sometime today and actually sleep. I think I hit MY wall about 1 minute after I got up this morning.

And, of course, since the Universe is so cruel sometimes, Adele slept like an angel last night. She has been waking up and crying a lot at night lately but last night: ANGEL. It figures.

This is a picture of a germ. It does bear a very close resemblance to something else in this discussion though so I thought it was the PERFECT illustration for this post.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/germ4c.gif

Photo highlights of 2008

Better late than never right?

(My personal favorite)

(Elise's head)

I can't wait to see what we do THIS year!

Random January

Blech. That is what I have to say about January. It is cold, it is gray and I hate not being able to take the kids to outside to play. I hate being stuck in the house.

My inner blogging voice hasn't been talking to me much. I keep thinking I need to post something but I am uninspired. I have hardly left the house for a week. I have been to the store on some great couponing errands, so that has provided me with enough excitement to sustain me for awhile. I have saved over 25 dollars with coupons this month already. (Wa-hoo!)

The kids are back in school now so at least THEIR brains are engaged in something exciting besides Mario Kart.

I have made a new goal this year to find something new to do. I have really been feeling lately (ok, well, for a long time actually) that there is something missing in my life and I really want to find something new to try. I feel kind of like I am trapped at home a lot and don't have a lot of time where I can do things without the kids. I really want to find a class to take, or a very part time job or something. If anyone has any great ideas, feel free to offer suggestions.

I can finally say that I have read a Jane Austen novel. I love all the movies but had a harder time getting into the books. I got Persuasion for Christmas and since I caught a stomach bug over the weekend I had a chance to finish it. I have to admit that I like the movie better. The book just meanders forever and keeps introducing new people and you just WANT them to admit their feelings. And they don't. Until the last 5 pages. And then they are in love and it is over. At least in the movie you can SEE how they look at each other and feel the WANT. I guess it is hard to feel THE WANT in the book. I don't think I will gear up to read Pride and Prejudice for awhile (if EVER.) I love the BBC 6 hour movie but if the MOVIE is 6 hours I can only imagine how long it would take me to get through that one.