Wednesday Wishes #16

The Seattle Smiths Wishful Wednesday topic this week is all about diet. I wish I had never-ending funds to donate to ______charity.

This is a topic I've actually thought of on many occasions. I would definitely donate to the Susan G. Koman foundation. I strongly feel that cancer is something we can find a cure for, and so many people suffer from cancer or know someone who has/is, that I'd gladly donate to them regularly if I could.

My husband and I have always talked about starting a scholarship fund for students who pay their own way through college - for whatever reason that may be. Of course I don't know the details of how we'd work that out, but if we won the lottery, we'd figure it out.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital would also get donations from our family. When AZ was a week old, she spent a week there because she had MRSA staph infection. Though it cost us a lot of money, even with insurance, the staff there was incredibly friendly and always willing to console me through my ever-flowing tears and emotions, and they answered all of my questions so that I could understand what was going on. Plus, AZ has been to the ER there when she needed an anti-nausea medication because she couldn't even keep water down. AND WC got stitches in their ER. They would get lots of donations.

And because Cincinnati Shriner's Hospitals for Children is where we've been going for almost a year for WC's burns, they'd also get a TON of our donations. We've been going there for so long now, and everyone is always so nice and attentive. And we've not had to pay a penny for WC's care. Shriner's Hospitals for Children is an amazing organization. There's no end date for WC's visits there, as of yet, so in my heart they are quite a deserving hospital to receive donations. Plus, WC gets to pick a gift at the end of each visit. How nice is that!

I also feel that the Ronald McDonald House is a charity worth donating to. My family, on multiple occasions, has had to stay at the Ronald McDonald House when different family members have been in the hospital. That charity would get our donations.

What charities would you donate to?

Post It Note Tuesday #13

It's Post It Note Tuesday time, so stop on over at Supah Mommy's place to link up and check out all the excitement!

A Lot of Catchin' Up To Do

I have been unbelievably laaaaazy with my blog over the last few days. I don't know why I'm in a funk, but I'm about to bombard my blog with one GIGANTIC post to try and catch up. Hope you don't mind.

I missed Thankful Thursday, and there are always things to be thankful for. So here's my Thursday post a day late...





Thank you, dear daughter, for getting up at 6:30am. Seriously. You need to sleep in until 8am please.

Thank you, husband. You know what you did.

Thank you, Dish, for sending out our new receiver. Only, the smart card didn't work and I had to figure all of that out over the phone. And I lost everything that had been recorded, including Disney shows we no longer get because we cut our cable back. And why am I missing channels? Not a fan of yours at the moment. Can you tell?

Thank you, self, for the horrible mood you've been in lately. What the hell? I'm not even PMSing - I don't think.

Thank you, weather, for being gorgeous one day and then only in the 40s the next. Love having to explain to my children that it's too cold to play outside when we've been able to enjoy the outside so much lately.

Thank you, kids, for being so much fun to play with. It really is fun when we get to play outside.

Thank you, guy at Home Depot who helped me load hundreds of pounds of sand into my trunk. My kids better know how much I love them. A woman who must keep her house clean AND who buys sand for her children. Those two things do not go together.

Thank you, Mom, for sending the kids the cutest Easter gifts.

Thank you, family, for an amazing Easter weekend. Was that really just last week?

For more Thank Yous, you should go check out Our Imperfect Life and The Daily Dribbles.

And now for today. There is the neatest thing going on. It's the


hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom. You really should go check them out. Join in the party, maybe find some new blogs and people to adore, and quite possibly even win a few prizes along the way.
I'd personally like to win any of the following prizes in no particular order: 15, 23, 31, 32, 37, 39, 49, 52, 55, 61, 70, 71, 73, 74, 87, 88, 100, 107, usc3, usc8, usc15, usc32, usc35, usc36, usc37, usc39, usc40, usc41, usc44. Thank you all for donating such awesome prizes!

Wanna know what I'd like to win? Then go check 'em out! There are AMAZING prizes out there. What a fabulous way to find other blogs to love!

Happy Ultimate Blog Party!

And I can't forget Friday Follow.
sponsored by and hosted by Midday Escapades, One 2 Try, and Hearts Make Families.

To join in this fun, Link up your blog and URL using the MckLinky below. You only need to do this on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops. Them grab the Friday Follow button and put it in your post. Follow those fabulous hostesses mentioned up there, and start finding blogs you want to follow. Please remember to comment on new blogs you find that you are from Friday Follow. And, to be nice, follow your new followers back.







Happy Friday Follow!

Ok. I think that about sums up my post today. I'm looking forward to meeting lots of new bloggers! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wednesday Wishes #15

The Seattle Smiths Wishful Wednesday topic this week is all about diet. I wish I had the willpower to stay on one particular diet and it would be...


I can honestly say that I've never been on a diet program, and I probably never will be. I LOVE food, and I won't deny myself a taste of something, so diets don't exist for me. I do, however, wish that I could stick to a workout program.

I definitely have 15-20 extra poundage that I'd like to lose, and I know if I exercised on a regular basis that it would come off. I've done various pilates programs, and I saw results, but those ended when I got pregnant with AZ. I've also tried the P90X workout program, and it kicked my butt - and not in a good way. Those workouts are at least an hour a day, and though I saw results in my arms almost immediately, it was too time consuming for my schedule. I know I sound lazy, but I was driving myself crazy with no down time. And working out is NOT down time.

So, I'm on the hunt for a workout program that works for me in my schedule. I just put some 10-minute workout videos in my instant queue on Netflix, so we'll see how those go. And I'll also be getting the 30 day shred Jillian Michaels DVD soon, too. Gotta love Netflix. What workouts have you done where you've gotten noticeable results?

Do you have any other wishes this week?

Post-It Note Tuesday #12

It's Post It Note Tuesday time, so stop on over at Supah Mommy's place to link up and check out all the excitement!

Have a Wonderful Easter Weekend!

Glitter Graphics & Comments

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Easter weekend surrounded by family and friends.


Glitter Graphics & Comments

Thrifty Thursday #15

I spent most of my adolescent years in the southern part of Georgia. I was not a stranger to rifles and I was very aware of hunting season. I've seen my fair share of deer, and they weren't pretty like Bambi. I don't have anything against my hunting friends, but never in a million years would I have suspected that I could be a hunter. Me? No way. However, I have recently discovered my predator within. My prey, you ask? The GROCERY STORE.

In my ever growing and expanding world of couponing and finding good deals, I have come to the realization that couponers and shopping have many similarities to the hunter and hunted, the predator and prey. As the couponing-good-deal-hunter, I stalk various blogs and coupon sites to get coupons and learn about the unbeatable deals. I compare. I calculate. I wait until just the right moment. Then I pounce.

I finally went to the grocery store for a big run again. I hadn't gone grocery shopping, except for milk and produce, since the last Kroger Mega Sale. During this sale, including buying things that weren't part of this sale (like about 20lbs of meat, 4 gallons of milk, yogurt, produce, etc.), I bought $347.13 worth of groceries for $182.53. I saved $164.60, or 47%, or my total amount spent. Not too bad, but I was a little disappointed that I spent more than I saved. Like when a hunter doesn't get the size buck he's looking for after waiting in the hunting stands all day. This trip also included 14 lbs of FREE cat litter, a FREE bottle of vitamin water, and FREE Helluva Good dip, as well as some money makers. And I made $2.25 when I bought pasta, tuna, and that bottle of water. All in all, I'd say I walked away a winner. I successfully walked away with awesome deals, and I've replenished and added to my stockpile.

And the good thing about what I do? My hunting season never ends!

Wednesday Wishes #14

The Seattle Smiths topic this week is about Easter. I wish I could re-live one Easter memory from my childhood, and it would be the Easter that... I don't remember a lot about Easter from my childhood, but I do remember when I was really young that we'd go to church as a family. Then we'd come home from church and the Easter Bunny would have magically left our Easter baskets out for us while we were gone. Now I know that my dad just church left early or came to church late. And our baskets would be full of goodies. That's really my only Easter memory as a kid.

Now that I'm a parent, I'd like to start family traditions with my kids, and leave them with wonderful memories of their childhoods. My kids will be surrounded by their favorite cousins, "Oma" and "Pawpaw", two uncles and an aunt this Easter weekend. I'm putting together cute little Easter baskets for them for Easter day. We're going on an Easter Egg hunt on Saturday at my daughter's preschool, which includes some crafts and refreshments. That night we'll have a big dinner with everyone. I'm wishing for it to be a wonderful Easter weekend.

I have a couple other wishes this week, too. I finally found and signed up for some graduate hours, 3 semester hours to be precise. So my first wish is that I get through these hours quickly and pass the classes. Gotta love trying to keep my teaching licence up to date, though I'm not currently teaching. I also wish that the class I want to sign up for my 4th semester hour doesn't get cancelled.

Coupon elves. I wish there was something such as coupon elves that could cut and sort my coupons for me. That sure would be nice.

And I have a giveaway wish! The Bragging Mommy is hosting the cutest giveaway for Pillow Pets! AZ actually got one of these when she was a baby. It's a giraffe, and we LOVE it! I would really love winning the snuggly puppy for my son!

Guessing All The Way is also hosting a giveaway for a Dream Baby Retractable Gate, and I'd love to win this for either our playroom stairs or one of my pregnant sisters!

Do you have any wishes this week?

Post It Note Tuesday #11

It's Post It Note Tuesday time, so stop on over at Supah Mommy's place to link up and check out all the excitement!

Friday's Funny Phrases #10 with some FF#3

So, while the kids were eating dinner at the table one night, the husband and I are unloading the dishwasher. AZ says, "Daddy's not supposed to do the dishes. Just Mommy. Daddy is supposed to be at the computer." I've never laughed so hard! Apparently AZ has learned that Mommy does most of the cleaning around here. Thanks for recognizing all of Mommy's hard work, sweet AZ, even if it is in your own way.

Since visiting my pregnant sister, AZ has been obsessed with babies coming out of the belly. She says to me, "Mommy there's a little mommy in my belly, and it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger and will break my belly." I tried explaining to her that she was too little to have a baby in her belly, and that Mommy and Daddy want her to have a college education and a husband before getting a baby in her belly. She agreed. :) It's a deal.

Those were just a couple of funnies I remember from the week. I know there were more, but "mommy-brain" buried them deep enough I can't recall them at the moment.

And let's not forget that it's FRIDAY! Yay! Time for another Friday Follow MEME! This is such a great way to find new blogs to love and get new followers at the same time!

If you want to join the fun, this is what you need to do:
*Use the McLinky below to link up your blog. This will link you up to ALL the blogs that have this McLinky.
*Follow the first three hostesses below: Midday Escapades, One 2 Try, and Hearts Make Families.
*Create a post on your blog with the Friday Follow Button and sponsor button.
*Peruse through the blog list to find some you like and follow them. Be sure to leave a comment letting the blogger know you are from Friday Follow.
*And finally, if you get new followers from Friday Follow, be sure to follow them back.

Sponsored by: Be sure to put the sponsor button in this post and on your sidebar for a chance to win $100! Three winners, during the week of March 26- April 2, 2010 will be chosen at random via random.org and the Friday Follow Link System. If you win, you'll be notified by email and have 24 hours to claim your $100 cash prize. The prize is payable by Paypal or by a check from Vitality Products. This contest is open to US and Canada residents and ends at midnight on April 2, 2010. I'm sure hoping to win this one! Good luck to you, too!