Thrifty Thursday #9

Coupons. Oh wonderful money saving coupons. I love you...

Coupon Geek, Frugal Racing Fan Mommy , Coupon Clippin' Mommy , The Coupon Scoop, A Thrifty Mom , Stockpiling Moms showed me that I could sign up for a Betty Crocker $10 coupon booklet that will be mailed to me within 6-8 weeks.

Coupon Geek, Moms by Heart also showed me that Wal-Mart is offering $17 worth of savings in a ConAgra coupon book that will also be mailed to me within 6-8 weeks. I love coupons, so THANK YOU Coupon Geek.

Now, I'm done with the having babies part of my life, but I have family members who have new babies and who are currently expecting new babies. And maybe some other readers could also find this useful. I found on A Thrifty Mom, an excellent link to sign up for FREE baby stuff and money-saving coupons for diapers, magazines, and formula.

I am excited that my Kroger is having its Mega-Sale event this week. Buy 10 participating sale items and get $5 off at check out. I'm so glad that CincySavers has the coupon match ups done so I can save the most money possible for my family. Other sites also did match ups, but I saw it at CincySavers first.

Oooh. My hubby loves Toaster Strudles, and Nickles-n-Dimes just showed me where to get $1 off 1 box. That's awesome. This makes for 2 possibly FREE boxes. Yay! And guess what happens to be in the Mega-Sale???

And according to Facebook, I will be getting a coupon for FREE oreos. I became a fan of Oreo and stalked their page until the contest opened at 3pm on Monday. I got mine! Did you get yours?

Now, I am a sucker for making my kids' birthdays all they can be, so I ordered WC's invites and such from Birthday Express. I didn't want to order, but I looked at Target and Party City with no luck for his construction theme. But Birthday Express was so nice to me. I ordered online, and applied a coupon code for 10% off. I also entered a code for free shipping on orders over $25. Of course I noticed after checkout that the free shipping didn't come off. So I called them and learned I could not double up the coupons. However, they are crediting my card the $5.95 for shipping this time. Isn't that nice??

I have signed up to get free bags before, and so far, I haven't received any yet. Hopefully this deal found by Freebies4Mom and Nickels-n-Dimes will come through. Thanks!

Now I know my FREE sample of Playtex Gentle Glide really isn't saving me all that much money. But I do know that I need "supplies" every month and every penny counts!
Thanks to CouponingFor4 for showing that deal to me!

But the best thing I did by far, I found through A Thrifty Mom. I donated 16 pounds of food to Americans with help from Oscar Mayer Good Mood Mission. And all it cost me was about two minutes of my time. That's it.

AND - I have just been notified that I am the WINNER of a giveaway hosted by CouponingFor4 for Dinners In the Freezer cookbook. I am so looking forward to freezing more meals for my family, to not only save money, but to save me some time, too! Thank you!!

So that's how I've been thrifty this week. What have you been doing??

PS-I received my FREE pair of Lee Jeans that I won this week! I love how they make my booty look! Bonus!

Wednesday's Wishes #6

We all know how addicted to coffee I am, and how much I jut love drinking that stuff. Well what better giveaway to enter than one for a $25 gift card to Starbucks? It's like it's calling out to me! So, I wish to win this giveaway offered by A Day In The Life.

Be Your Best Mom is hosting a giveaway for some great natural products by Three Sisters Herbals. These items would make for a wonderful relaxation gift to either myself, because I deserve it, or to some one else. I hope I win!

Post It Note Tuesday #2

Post It Notes provided by Supah Mommy

The Godzilla Within

My son is less than a month away from being 2 years old. However, his "terribleness" has been going on for what seems like years. He has the cutest face and sweetest smile, neither that will ever be seen on my blog for personal reasons, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
But everywhere he goes, chairs call out in fright...

bathrooms and rolls of toilet paper quiver....

laptops cry out warnings....

toy bins scream in agonizing pain...
clothes (and unfortunately sometimes diapers) peel themselves off of his body to get away...
and toys group together praying they have the same camouflage techniques zebras have.

And even though there are always signs of destruction in his path, I feel so lucky and blessed to have him in my life. After all, he's teaching me patience (an answer to my prayers, I'm sure), making my fingers stronger since I have to press as hard as I possibly can to get the "a" button on the laptop to work, helping me shed unwanted calories by having to always pick up toys and chairs, and showing me how to NOT sweat the small stuff. Thanks, WC. Mommy loves you.

Friday's Funny Phrases #6

After banging her toe on the chair, "Mommy. I hurt my pinkalicious toe." I guess she LOVES that book!

"Daddy, let's play hide-and-seek. You can hide anywhere you want. You can hide upstairs or in the piano room." - AZ

Thrifty Thursday #8

With my latest Kroger shopping experience, I saved 34%. Yay! I took the total from $172.16 down to $112.69. That's a savings of $59.47 this week. I got a FREE 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk and a FREE Gatorade. Felt good!

In the massive redecorating project of my bedroom, that's still in progress, I had to stop by Michael's and pick up a few picture frames and some mats. Using two coupons, I was able to save enough money that equaled one FREE 5x7 frame and two FREE mats. I love saving money!

Hopefully I can make it out to Target this week, too, because I've learned from Moms by Heart, Couponing for 4, and Luvin' Great Deals that I can get a FREE Nivea body wash using the $1 Target store coupon and the $2 coupon from the 1/3 Red Plum (as well as the ad for Big Lots from this week).

And while I'm at Target, thanks to Moms by Heart, Couponing for 4 and Nickels-n-Dimes, I can get some ALL detergent for just $.50 thanks to Big Lots ad, Target's price matching, and the $2 off coupon from the 1/3 Red Plum insert.

Another find for Target is from Moms by Heart and Coupon Geek for Huggies Pure and Natural Diapers. Now, I am not a Huggies fan, but how can I resist $5.50 savings on a pack of diapers? Short answer: I can't.

With the redecorating project still going on in my bedroom, I've learned that I need a few more black and white pictures for some of my frames. It's a good thing I learned from Moms by Heart and Coupon Geek all about the 50 FREE prints I can get from CVS. Yahooo!

Now this one is my absolute favorite - thanks to Frugal Mom Knows Best, I won Thomas Splish, Splash, Splosh DVD. WC is going to LOVE this when he opens it for his soon-to-be birthday, and I love that it was free to me! Thank you so much Frugal Mom Knows Best!

And what else goes along with birthdays? Decorations, of course. I'm so glad that The Coupon Scoop,Luscious Deals, and A Thrifty Mom each showed me a $10 off $30 purchase for Party City. Looks like I'll be headed there for invites and such for WC's 2nd birthday party. And if I have money to spare, I'll grab a few items for AZ's 4th birthday party, too.

My Inner Party Planning Goddess

The party planner within has taken over! I've been thinking about WC's upcoming 2nd birthday for a while now, and I think I've finally settled on his theme. I REALLY wish now that I wouldn't have made his theme last year trains because right now he's LOVIN' him some Thomas the Tank Engine. It turned out so cute, though, right?


So instead, I guess we're going with a construction theme this year. He equally adores his Tonka dump truck. He plays with this thing for what seems like hours. In fact, he and AZ will take turns riding in it and pushing one another. So, I think he'll like this theme. Here's my inspiration for his birthday cake and decorations this year.

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I am sure he's going to love it.

The next party I'm planning for is my sister's baby shower! And she's having a boy! After seeing cupcake towers and inspiration from Imperfectly Beautiful, a blog I highly recommend you follow by the way, I've been so excited about making one for the baby shower.
I love the ribbons around the boxes on this one...

and the colors in this one....

And why stop there? Something like this would be soooo cute for AZ's 4th birthday. I'm definitely thinking she'll have the Pinkalicious theme.

This is all going to be so much fun!

Post It Note Tuesday #1

Post It Notes provided by Supah Mommy

My New Drawers of Happiness

Now if you read my post from a couple of days ago about how my junk drawer has turned into my drawer of happiness, then you may be thinking that I've been doing some more organizing. Nope. These drawers of happiness are all thanks to Victoria's Secret. I had not bought pretty undies for myself in such a long time. I have been wearing old, and I mean OLD, Hanes Her Way undies for the last 10 or more years. Well I happened to walk by Victoria's Secret and saw that their semi-annual sale was going on. And now I love my undies, my lacy trimmed cheeky undies. These are my new drawers of happiness. And I haven't heard any complaints from my hubby, either.

Friday's Funny Phrases #5

While cleaning my house, I told AZ that I needed to go fold her clothes and put them away. She says, "Mommy, I'll help you clean your toes."

This is not a phrase, but I've learned that WC knows how to imitate squirrels. I had some Dove dark chocolate on the desk, forgot about them, got up, and walked away. He ran over to the chair, climbed up, and started eating those chocolates, foil wrapper and all.

My Drawer of Happiness

In my kitchen, just to the right of the fridge, is a drawer that taunts me. It's what I call "the junk drawer," and it drives me crazy. Every time I need to get the scissors or whatever else there is that doesn't really have a place, I have to spend 5 minutes digging through this drawer. Well this past weekend, I'd finally had enough.

I randomly saw part of an episode of Rachel Ray some time last week, and she was talking about how to organize a jewelry drawer with boxes. Now, I don't have a jewelry drawer, but I adapted this idea for my junk drawer. I cut open easy mac boxes, girl scout cookie boxes, oatmeal boxes, and other types of boxes so that the entire drawer space was used. Then I put all the pens in a box, scissors and paperclips and chip clips in a box, my husband's "stuff" in a box, etc., etc., etc.

Now when I need thumbtacks or a pen or my scissors, I can open the drawer and just pull whatever it is right out. My junk drawer has transformed into a drawer of happiness. I find this drawer peaceful and full of contentment. It makes me smile.

I wanted to post a picture of my lovely drawer, but I cannot find the battery charger for my camera, and therefore cannot get the pictures off of my camera. And my camera is full, so I cannot even take a picture of my organizational skills. Looks like I'll need to keep on organizing in order to find that charger.

What do SAHMs do all day?

Thanks to my mom's group, I came across this article from the Washington Post. If you are a SAHM or WAHM and you have friends who do NOT have kids, I highly suggest reading this. It took all of my will power not to forward this on to some of my girlfriends, but I feel good knowing I can post it on here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Washington Post article on SAHMs

One Day I Hope You Have a Kid JUST LIKE YOU

One day I hope you have a kid JUST...LIKE...YOU. Now I don't recall ever actually hearing those words, but I'll bet my bank account (as small as it is) that both of my parents thought this at least once when I was a child. And I know for a fact that my MIL thought those words about my husband, especially since she's told me many stories about his ornery childhood days. Well, I cannot believe I am going to say this about my almost two year old, but ONE DAY I HOPE WC HAS A BOY JUST LIKE HIM!

WC is so special to me, as is AZ and all kids to their parents. But I tell you what -there are days when I'll text JD at work and tell him that his son is going to be put up for adoption by the end of the day. **KIDDING** WC now requires that our kitchen drawers and closet doors become childproofed. He's almost two years old for crying out loud. Shouldn't we be past this stage? Nope. It seems he's only getting harder and harder. Just the other day we had to remove all of the VHS tapes and DVDs from the entertainment center so that he'd leave them alone. Of course I also had to take out the actual shelves, too, because then he played with those. And then I had to remove the pegs the shelves were sitting on because he tried taking those out and ended up putting one in his mouth. So now at least when he opens the bi-fold closet doors he loves oh so much to play with, tapes and DVDs are going to fall out on top of him. Then maybe he'll run away and not pinch his little fingers off in the actual doors.

But then, I look at him and AZ sitting there on their pillows (to keep them from eating the television) watching Veggie Tales, and I think, I hope they have kids just like them. They are the sweetest, most beautiful, warm-hearted, sensitive, loving little kids on the planet with the most explosive, unique personalities any mother could wish for. I love them.

Friday's Funny Phrases #4

So my husband helps AZ go to the potty the other night. Nothing unusual about that scenario. What is unusual, is that he actually came up to me and said Honey I have something you can put in your funny phrase Friday on your blog. What!? I'm thrilled that, #1 he's reading my blog, #2 he's helping me contribute content to my blog, and #3 he's the best husband on the planet! He helped AZ go poop on the potty! So this is the story he tells me:

AZ was trying to poop, and pushing really hard. She was having a tough time with this one. She looks up at him and says, "Daddy, you do it for me." He told her he couldn't, and she wanted to know why. He explained that it was inside her body. So, she asked him to pull it out.

I know. It's gross. But to me it's sweet at the same time. I can imagine her looking up with her big blue/grey eyes and asking for help. Imagine Puss in Boots from Shrek. Those big eyes.


On Tuesday of this week, AZ was up from her nap (which was really just quiet time in her room because she never sleeps anymore. Not.Ever.) and she got a clementine orange, two actually, for snack. I peeled them and put them in a bowl for her. She likes to break the pieces apart herself. The next thing I know, she's put a slice of orange in between her two big toes of her right foot. She looks right at me and says, "Mommy, I'm eating it with my monkey toes." And she continued to eat the entire rest of her oranges this way. As well as the oranges she had with dinner. And WC got in on this action too. Only he took a half chewed orange OUT of his mouth, put it in between his toes, and said, "Mommy toes."


WC was playing in the toy bin container. You know. The container that's supposed to help keep my family room organized with all the toys inside of it? WC dumps all the toys out so he can play with the container. Stinker. Anyway, he's playing in the empty container, and it begins to fall over. Mid-fall he yells, "Timber!"

Thrifty Thursday #7

Last week while grocery shopping, Wholly Guacamole was marked down to 10/$10. Since they didn't have any, I got a rain check. Guess what I found when I opened my Sunday paper coupons today? A coupon for $1 off Wholly Guacamole. And since I have 2 papers, I'll certainly get 2 FREE packs of Wholly Guacamole. Yum.

One of my resolutions is to save at least 30% on each grocery bill this year. Last week, my savings was 28%. I didn't hit my 30% mark, but that's not too bad, especially since I forgot to print out all the newly stocked coupons. I'm pretty sure I would have hit 30%, had I remembered those online coupons. Maybe next time. But I did get a FREE Pediasure and a FREE Kikkoman soy sauce. That's good, right?

A penny saved is a penny earned, and a penny earned is a penny earned! You Data helps me collect a few cents every week or so. So far this week I have collected $.20 to be directly deposited into my paypal account. It's only a few cents, but every bit helps.

I signed up for a free sample of Teekanne tea. I've been trying to cut back on the caffeine lately, and I think it comes decaf. Whew. Thanks Coupon Geek.

I also signed up for a free sample of Ivon Mog Gourmet Apple. I personally chose the walnut-cranberry apple, but they all looked absolutely delish! Thanks go out (in no particular order) to Ms. Frugality , Stockpiling Moms, MoJoSavings, Couponingfor4 for this yummy deal.

Wanted: A Good Mother

I was thinking today about how being a mom is sometimes really hard. It seriously is the HARDEST job on the planet. So that got me wondering what sort of job description there would be for the title Mom. And here goes...

Job Title: Mom

Requirements: Must be able to survive on limited hours of sleep, and be able to sustain this for at least 18 years.

Must not be grossed out by snot, boogers, pee, poop, vomit, chewed up food, slobber, or other various fluids that may be shot out of your child.

Must learn to be very flexible.

Must be able to eat your pre-baby having words, such as, "I will never let my child survive on milk alone. I will never let my child sleep in my bed. I will never spank my child. I will never laugh when disciplining my child. I will never skip more than 2 nights in a row of bath time. I will never hurry up reading books with my child. I will never let my child sleep with more than 2 stuffed animals."

Must be able to look at a mess in it's face and be the first to blink.

Must be willing to repeat yourself over and over and over again.

Must be able to restrain your child while he/she's getting a shot.

Must have the ability to distinguish if your child is teething, tired, hungry, or sick.

Must be able to wake up and do it all again tomorrow.

Recommendations: Have a loving, caring, understanding, willing-to-help spouse.

Compensations: smiles, giggles, laughter, hugs, kisses, snuggles

No previous experience required.

My 2nd Blog Award

I cannot believe it! I got another blog award! Yay! I am so excited that people are actually reading my blog. I'm in shock! But so thankful!! I got this award from Misadventures of Mom of 3. Thank you, Misadventures of Mom of 3!

Here are the award's rules:
~Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
~Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
~Link to the nominees within your post.
~Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
~Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Here are some more blogs who I'd like to share this award with:
10 Feet of Trouble
Bloggin 2 Noggin
Coupon Clippin' Mommy
Moms By Heart
My Cup 2 Yours
Once Upon A Mommy
Random Musings from a (Formerly) Pregnant Chick
She Saved
Simply Married
Stockpiling Moms

Congrats, winners!