Autumn weekend (brought to you by pinterest...)

Here's a brief post with a couple things from our weekend.

As I was walking out the door to the grocery store on Friday, this post popped up on my facebook newsfeed, and I immediately added the necessary items to my shopping list.  C was, of course, curious as to why I was purchasing so many sugary items, so I told her about the project and that we would make the houses sometime over the weekend....which meant that for the next 24 hours she asked every 5 minutes if it was time to make them yet....

oy.

So I finally had to say, we will make them Saturday morning.  Fast forward to Saturday morning at 4:00a.m....and our heat is not working on the coldest night so far, so it is 58* inside our house.  C woke up cold, so I got in bed with her and snuggled to warm her up.  We both fell back asleep until about 7, at which point she woke up and the first thing she said was, "Can we make the houses NOW?????"

We managed to hold her off until we could get some coffee and warm up a bit.  It was a lot of fun and super easy.  I absolutely recommend using graham crackers and the sugar glue from the previously (and now again) linked to post.

Here's what we used for decorations (not the bananas)...

And, here we are in the process...

You can never have too many candy pumpkins, and apparently C's house was at the pumpkin patch.  We each made a house, and here they are all finished...

This was a very simple and fun Autumn project, and I'm so glad that I saw it in time on Friday.  We just might make this a family tradition.

We headed to a church event Saturday night, and I'm always looking for creative ways to display healthy foods...it seems that all the really cute stuff is full of sugar and bad-for-you foods (see above...).   Since I had signed up for a veggie tray, I was thrilled to find a cute idea on pinterest and here is the finished product.

Hope you had a lovely Autumn weekend -- happy Monday!

linking up at Women Living Well

Just a normal day...

I promised a Day in the Life post last time, and so here it is.  These are one of my favorite types of posts to read, both from bloggers I know personally and strangers.  I'm nosy according to some, but I prefer to think of it as just curious about ways to learn from others.  Okay.  I'm just nosy.

It is fun to read about what other people do on a normal day, though, right?  Tell me it's not just me...

So here is a (somewhat) normal Autumn day at our house...

5:30a.m. -- I get up, stumble to the coffee pot to turn it on.  Greg has left for an exercise class, and C is still sleeping so the house is very dark and very quiet.  This is not the time I get up every day...normally I'm dragging myself out of bed around 7, but I'm working on getting back into the routine of getting up earlier because I do enjoy it...once I'm up.  While the elixir of life is brewing, I brush my teeth and light a candle and turn on some soft (coughChristmascough) music.  I enjoy a long time of reading and meditating and remember again why I need to do this more often than once or twice a week. (the getting up early part)

6:40 -- C is awake and calls for me, so I go and give her good morning hugs and kisses and get her settled with some books in her bed.  Our "rule" is that she has to stay in her room until 7:00a.m. in order to give Greg and I some quiet time to read in the mornings.  With the mornings being cooler lately, she prefers to stay in bed rather than play in her room.

6:55 -- I check e-mail quickly, renew some library books due today, and look over my plan for the day.  

7:00 -- C is up and plays with Greg for a little bit before he has to get ready for work.

7:20 -- C watches a movie and eats a biscuit while Greg is getting ready for work and I am making oatmeal for them.  I put a loaf of bread in the bread machine and some fall scented water on to simmer and make the house smell yummy.  Greg and C work on a puzzle while they eat their oatmeal, and since I am trying to eat low-carb, I have Spinach & Red Pepper Quiche and look over my menu plan for the week and then work on cleaning up the kitchen.

8:15 -- Greg leaves for work and I straighten the house while C gets dressed and ready for the day.

8:30 -- C works on starfall.com while I take a shower and get ready.

9:15 -- We are ready to begin school for the day, and C chooses to do some worksheets first.  I have an abundance of books that I select pages from, as well as free pages that I have printed out from online.

9:45 -- C chooses three storybooks for me to read to her, and she feeds Lucy while I pull the bread out to rise.  We snuggle on the couch and read the stories.

10:15 -- Time for a bike ride/walk around the neighborhood for a little bit of fresh air and exercise.

10:30 -- Back home, C washes up and I fix her a snack of fruit and cheese and grab another cup of coffee for myself. :)

10:40 -- We spend some time working on her calendar book and the US State map.

11:00 -- Phonics/Reading time -- C reads to me, and we spend a longer time than usual on this today because we are so close to finishing a lesson and she gets an actual book to read at the end of this lesson so she is excited!  We finish and she reads the first few pages of her book.

11:25 -- I read Little House in the Big Woods out loud to C while she works on a floor puzzle.

11:50 -- We work together on a cutting/gluing puzzle page.

12:10 -- Time to clean-up and make lunch...PBJ and blueberries for C, leftover chicken stir-fry & veggies (no rice) for me.  While we eat, we review her verses and catechism questions for Sunday School.  Afterwards, we cleanup and I start the dishwasher and put a batch of rolls in the bread machine.

1:00 -- Time for C to have free play in her room and listen to a story-tape, and I work on e-mail, etc.  I manage four e-mail accounts and am helping out with an extra one this week.  I also quickly peruse facebook and a few blogs that I follow and then work on writing my own blog post.

2:30 -- We head outside for some fresh air and sunshine.  C plays on her swing-set and runs around for awhile and I flip through some magazines.  We play a little baseball and frisbee, and then she's content to blow bubbles for Lucy to catch while I finish up the magazines.

4:40 -- We go back inside and C plays in the tub for a bit while I straighten the house where needed, fix a cup of coffee, slice the loaf of bread from earlier, and unload the dishwasher.

5:17 -- I wash C's hair and get her out of the tub and dressed in PJ's and help her clean up her room from her earlier playtime, and quickly tidy up the bathroom.

5:40 -- C asks to finish a movie she started this morning, and I say ok since Greg texted to say he is going to be late since he's helping out with a fundraiser golf tournament.  C requests cereal for dinner, despite my offering scrambled eggs.  While she's eating, I get the rolls ready to rise, print a Fall cleaning chart, and a recipe for Apple Butter Muffins.

6:05 -- G texts again to say he is eating dinner at the golf tournament and can bring me some! Yay!  Since I don't have to make dinner, I start on the muffins, and C comes to help.  We also make a batch of pancakes for the freezer.  Afterwards, she goes back to finish her movie and I clean up the kitchen and soak the pans.

7:10 -- C and I clean-up the family room and she gets ready for bed.  I read her some stories in bed and she falls asleep before I finish the 3rd book.

7:35 -- I finish cleaning up the kitchen and print some daily planner pages for next week.  I also change into my PJ's at this point, realizing that even though I DID get dressed today, I was in my PJ's when my husband left for work this morning...doh!

8:00 -- Greg is home and we chat while I eat my dinner (grilled chicken/salad) and then we both work on e-mail, etc.

9:00 -- For the rest of the evening I am working on various computer and paperwork tasks that I want to complete.

11:40 -- I'm falling asleep trying to work on stuff, so I decide to head to bed.  I realize I left the muffins, rolls, and pancakes cooling on the counter, so I put the muffins in a rubbermaid box and cover the others with plastic.  I will separate and freeze them in the morning.  I head to bed and fall asleep within minutes.

Whew!  That was probably waaaaaaay more information that you bargained for, right?  Like I said, some of the elements of our day are typical, but some are not.  I decided to do this on Tuesday of this week, and the last two days have been very different from that day, so don't go thinking that this is what every day looks like for us -- either for the positive or the negative.  It's a good exercise for me to record my time and to see where it is being spent and whether or not I am actually accomplishing anything in a day.

If you're a blogger and have posted a Day in the Life post or if you plan too, leave a link to it in the comments section.  Remember, those are my favorite kinds of posts. :)

linking up at Women Living Well

Catching up...

So I said I was going to take a week or two hiatus from blogging so I could do a bit of traveling...  Well...how about a month and a half...that's almost the same, right?

Since the last post, we've enjoyed a week at the beach with family...

And then a few weeks at home to recover before C and I went on a girls getaway with my mom and sister-in-law to Williamsburg, VA...

The Yankee Candle store Christmas room is where the above picture was taken, and it snows every 4 minutes inside...they both were delighted by this...okay, we all were. 

When we left the store, we needed to remind ourselves that it was only just Autumn, and not quite Christmastime yet...

We are tiptoeing into the world of (official) homeschooling this year by (me) being dedicated to two days per week of structured school-time.  C learns all day long while she tags along with whatever I am doing, but it is good for me to have these days to set aside and to be intentional with her, and it is good preparation for Kindergarten next year.  

Our days are loosely structured in that we have 8 to 10 subjects/activities to choose from, and we typically get to about 5-7 of those during the times that we have set aside.  We generally spend about 20-30 minutes per activity and then move on to the next thing, with attempts at alternating more active subjects with less active.  My girl has her daddy's metabolism and energy so she is moving constantly.

We are settled back in for awhile and enjoyed a long weekend over Columbus Day...  taking advantage of this beautiful weather and our beautiful city...

This past weekend was also gorgeous, though there is a definite chill in the air with the promise of more to come, and we found time for a family hike on Sunday afternoon...

Here's a picture of us along the trail with some cute little blonde girl we found...

That's a brief update for now...I'm working on A Day in the Life post so that those who are interested can see what homeschool-preschool is like for us with only one child.  It's fun. :)

Stay tuned...

Another Book Review...

Two days in a row, y'all.  I'm on a roll.  A roll that is about to take a week or two hiatus.....  It is what it is. 

A while back, I was given (at my request) this book:

click HERE for more info

I had read or heard others talking about it, and I think what finally sold me on it was my friend Brite's post about it... (maybe I'm imagining it?  I can't seem to find it on her site... Brite, if you find it I'll link to it.)

It would be too strong to say that I didn't like the book or that I didn't get anything out of it.  It was an easy, entertaining read, and Rachel is a delightful author with a witty sense of humor.  But, I didn't really find much in it that was helpful, like everyone else that had read it seemed to.  The difference, I realized, is that most of my friends who were loving this book had 2, 3, 4, or 5+ children...whereas I just have one.  While I am very content in the place where God has put me right now, and I really love being able to focus a lot of my attention on my daughter, it does set us apart.  That is not to say that I am never overwhelmed in my mothering and parenting, or that I don't have crazy days of chaos too, but it's not the same kind of chaos.  (As a side note, this article is a good reminder that whatever stage we are at in our mothering and family size, we are going to feel "maxed out" as God is shaping and molding us.)

So, the best way to sum it up was to say that I simply couldn't relate to a lot of what the author was saying.  I did come away with a few good ideas, but overall I was disappointed and frustrated.

Fast-forward to Mother's Day this year, and my mom sent me this book in the mail:

click HERE for more info

Given that it came during the Spring/Summer when I was not reading much and spending a lot of time outdoors, and the frustration brought on by the previous book, I was not inclined to read it right away, so it sat in my reading bag throughout the summer.  (Sorry, Mom)  Two weeks ago, a friend casually mentioned if I had read any of Rachel Jankovic's books, and I was reminded of the book sitting in my family room. (Thanks, Megan!)  In the midst of a particularly trying week of parenting last week, I started reading it.

To my surprise, relief, and delight, I was able to relate to this book in so many more ways!  (I'm a highlighter when I read my own books, and to give you an idea of the difference, the first book has NO...as in ZERO, ZILCH yellow in it....the blue book....loaded.)

I feel like the first book speaks more to a practical carrying out of mothering and family life which definitely looks different based on size of family and other dynamics.  The second book gets to the heart of mothering, and focuses a LOT on the mother's heart.  In this aspect, we truly all struggle with the same sins and frustrations regardless of how many children we have.  

The book is convicting, and I've found myself wrestling through some sins in my own life that I was ignoring, but it is SO encouraging in that it points you straight to the cross and Jesus' accomplishing it ALL for us.  It's already done....revel in it, delight in it, rejoice in it!

Regardless of where you are in your mothering, I encourage you to give Fit to Burst a chance....  The chapters are short and very easy to read...Even if you read one chapter a day (it might take 5-10 minutes) you'd finish the book in less than 3 weeks, and I guarantee you would be encouraged by it.  

There are lots of portions that I could include (all those places I highlighted!), but the last chapter that I read this morning was especially encouraging and a good reminder for me (after having been whiny about a hard week/stage of parenting), so I will leave you with that...

Discontent will never change the world.  If you want your work to have a lasting impact on the world, define yourself with gratitude............Gratitude is like that.  It transforms.  It is such a force that it cannot coexist with selfishness, with discouragement, with discontent.  When you are thankful for what God gave you to do, you are fit to do it..............Gratitude enable us to do our daily work as unto the Lord.  It makes the little things that we do every day an offering to God.  When we do the dishes, when we correct the children, when we mop the floors, when we sort out the clothes and clean out the basement.  When we do all these little things full of gratitude, we are making a difference in the kingdom of God.  

In our church, at the conclusion of each worship service, we sing the "Gloria Patri" with our hands raised.  We lift our hands in a gesture of lifting our worship up to God, but also a gesture of lifting the work of our hands up to Him.  Asking Him to use the things that we do in the course of the week for the kingdom.  We lift up the hands that have been in the sink with the dishes, hands that have been fixing hair and buttoning pants, hands that have been wiping off the table and driving to school, hands that have been changing diapers and tickling tummies, hands that have been busy holding other hands.

These hands, this work, Lord, take them.  And when I look down our row at church, I see that God has multiplied the work of our hands.  All these little hands raised to Him.  Offering up their coloring and schoolwork.  Offering up their staying in bed at nap time.  Offering up their laughter, their joy, and their lives.  And I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is nothing better or more powerful that I could be doing with my hands.

Book Review & Quick Summer Recap...

Summertime finds me spending more time outside and less time inside which translates to less time spent reading and blogging.  You may have noticed my lack of presence during the summer?

That being said, I am wading back into reading and have updated my Books tab at the top of this page.  I will try to keep it current...

This summer was very much characterized by rain and clouds, but we were able to spend ample amounts of time hanging out at the pool, traveled several times to visit with family, attend weddings and birthday parties, and enjoyed working in our little garden.

We switched over to raised beds this year and currently we have two 4x4 boxes.  This is a small start towards my dream of basically "gardening" our entire back yard.  I would love to have fruit trees and bushes, and lots of garden boxes all over.

In the Spring a crazy person took over my being and decided to start running, something I have always hated.  Everyone said that in order to stick with it you need to sign up for a race, so I did.  I ran/walked (it was about 1/2 - 2/3 walking) my first 5K in June.  It was a great experience and pushed me to continue trying to run.  I have since discovered that I prefer running intervals and have more fun doing that.  I am much more likely to get out there an do it if it's something I enjoy so I've been working through an interval training program for the last several weeks.

The running led to a quest for healthier eating, which led to starting a low-carb program, which led to whole foods, which led to real foods, which has opened up a huge, gigantic vat of information on holistic living, organic food, etc, etc.  I think I have been avoiding this path for a while because I was overwhelmed by it and felt like innocence was bliss.  Sadly and thankfully, I am at a place where I can no longer ignore it, so I am diving in, researching and learning as much as I can and trying to do the best that I can with the resources that are available to me.  This has led to me requesting all sorts of books from all over my state, and the people at my library probably roll their eyes every time I come in to pick up my next stack of books that have come in...

All of this has inspired several posts that are still floating around in my head, but as we head into Fall and Winter, I hope to get back into regular blogging.  

For today, I leave you with a brief book review...

Click HERE for more info

I recently read a blog post that contained links to several books regarding food, specifically real, whole foods and eating organic, etc.  This was one of the books.  I took it with me on a trip to visit family, and devoured it in less than 2 hours while sitting around listening to other conversations.  It is a very easy read, and the writing as well as the illustrations are very entertaining.  

Once you get past the introductions, of which there are three, the rest of the book is broken into 3 sections:

• What should I eat?  
• What kind of food should I eat?
• How should I eat?

The answers to these questions, and the guidelines for eating can be easily summed up in seven words:

• Eat Food.  Mostly Plants.  Not Too Much.

From here, the author gives a collection of 83 "rules" for eating.  Some are what you might call no-brainers, some really make you think, some might disgust you, some might seem silly...  For each rule, there is a brief explanation.

A few of my favorites are:

• Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
• Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.
• Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
• Have a glass of wine with dinner.
• Pay more, eat less.
• Try to spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it.
• Treat treats as treats.  (no snacks, no seconds, so sweets - except on days that begin with "S")
• Break the rules once in awhile.

This was definitely a lighter read than a lot of the other books I have acquired on the topic, but I enjoyed it, learned from, and definitely recommend reading it.  My favorite illustration is on the page following Rule #13, "Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle."  It is most amusing, but you'll have to get the book and look at it for yourself.

homemade body wrap (the follow-up post)

So, if you read yesterday's post, you now know that I did not have quite the adventure...

Ahem.

I am cheap.  There I said it...  Cheap is not always better.  I repeat, NOT. ALWAYS. BETTER.  In this case, definitely NOT. BETTER.

I looked online for recipes for wraps and found many, but did not have some of the ingredients needed, so I found some substitutions...since I didn't have clay, the mixture was watery so I decided to use towels for applying it, and since it was GREEN, I decided disposable paper towels would be best, just in case.  This all worked great, aside from the solution dripping down my entire body (instead of just my stomach) and generally getting all over everything in the room.

The primary ingredient in these things is salt (of some form or another)...Such a concentrated amount of salt meant that the drips left white residue everywhere.  My legs looked like some form of a diseased zebra...

I tried another mixture as well, which had coffee grounds as the main ingredient...do you have any idea how messy coffee grounds can be?

source

And, in all my coordinated-saran-wrapping of myself, I somehow managed to completely wrap one of my legs WITHOUT putting the coffee grounds in the wrap...  yeah...that's going to be effective.

And that blade strip on the saran wrap box...that thing is sharp, y'all.  ouch.

So, I finally get everything in place, all saran wrap is secure and I'm dressed in an old T-shirt and running shorts and I definitely realize that I need to use the bathroom....but seeing as I just spent 45 minutes wrapping myself up, that's just not going to happen until after the next 45 minutes of soaking is finished...

No problem, I'll just go sit down and rest, drink some more water as suggested, and do a few things online.

So...I had wrapped my legs pretty well...with multiple layers of wrap...which is MADE to stick to itself...

Do I even need to tell you how well walking went?!?

Or maybe I should describe to you my 4 year old daughter's face when she saw me....?

No.  You have imaginations.  Anything you could come up with is probably closer to accurate than I care to reveal.

So, I make it to the other end of the house, get settled on the couch with the laptop, reach for my water bottle, because despite my previously mentioned needs, I am thirsty after all that work, and realize that my water bottle is at the other end of the house...where it will remain for the next 45 minutes while I try to block out the fact that I simultaneously have conflicting needs.

At this point, I realize the predicament I am in and succomb to the giggles I have been suppressing.  And write the blog post you all enjoyed yesterday.

Blog post finished, a few e-mails taken care of, and my soaking time is up, time to go figure out how to unwrap....

......................

Except that I have had a WARM laptop sitting on my saran-wrapped lap for the past 45 minutes.....

.......................

Yeah....it stuck...and the saran-wrap had pretty much melted to itself.  The saran wrap that had the coffee grounds in it....

I did manage to make it back to the "scene of the crime" and I did manage to get all of the saran wrap and goop off of my body, and I did manage to clean up the room before my husband came home from work...

....and I will NOT be trying the home-wrap-system again.  EVER.

EVER.

As for the benefits of the wrap...I have yet to realize any.  During the process of the wrap itself, I did lose about 2 pounds, but I'm pretty sure that was from all of the effort exerted in the process.  And I drank at least that much in water yesterday.  I was mildly thirsty throughout the day yesterday, but last night I could not seem to quench my thirst, so perhaps that was the salt helping me to detox.  I felt normal all day yesterday until I got in bed and then my entire body (joints) hurt and I had trouble getting comfortable...whether or not it was connected I do not know, but thankfully it eased and I was able to sleep.  Today I have not noticed any difference although I have continued to drink lots of water.

Never a dull moment around here.

Not Me Monday...

A friend of mine from high school often posts very amusing "Not Me Monday" posts, and I couldn't help but think of that this morning... 

I did not get the (not so) brilliant idea to have a spa-day at home and try making my own body wrap...

I did not make some weird looking green and brown concoction of household ingredients and spread it on my body...

I did not then proceed to attempt to wrap my body in saran wrap...

source

I did not use an entire roll of paper towels and saran wrap in said process...

I did not also manage to cover my entire bathroom sink and floor with previously mentioned green and brown goop....

I did not get everything situated only to discover that I had to use the bathroom...

I am not typing this blog post still wrapped in saran wrap wondering how I'm going to get it all off on my own, still needing to go to the bathroom, and laughing hysterically at another one of my crazy adventures...

Oh no, definitely not me.  In fact, that couldn't possibly be me...

I would rather just pay the big $$ to buy the wrap kits or go to the spa like normal people......


(there will most likely be a follow-up post....stay tuned....)

Four...

It was birthday week around here last week and we had so much fun.  There are lots of things to say and lots of pictures to show, but that will have to wait for another day.  Today's post is for the birthday survey that I started last year.  The answers are amusing, as always.

To get us started though, here is how to eat a birthday donut...

How old are you today?  Four!  

What is your favorite color? Bluish-greenish and Pink and Purple

What is your favorite toy? Barbie Legos

What is your favorite fruit? Watermelon

What is your favorite TV show? Daniel Tiger & Elmo’s World

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Olives

What is your favorite outfit? My play dress-up

What is your favorite game? Chutes & Ladders

What is your favorite snack? Cake & Ice Cream

What is your favorite animal? Puppies and Cats

What is your favorite song? Neighborhood Noise

What is your favorite book? Bugs!

Who is your best friend? Gwendolyn

What is your favorite cereal? Chocolate chip

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike

What is your favorite drink? Sprite!

What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Pooh Bear

What is your favorite breakfast? Cereal and Oatmeal

What do you want to be when you grow up? A Mommy!

Where is your favorite place to eat out? Donut Shop

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Make a craft

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Play bugs and monsters

What is your favorite thing to do with your friends? swim

Where is your favorite place to visit? Children's Museum and Aquarium

What do you love about going to Grandy & Grandma Rie's house? Lots of new toys

What do you love about going to Grandpa & Grammy's house? The train

What is your favorite thing to play? Children's museum car

What thing do you most dislike doing? Taking a nap!

What would you do if you could stay up all night? Play

Where would you go if you could go anywhere in the world? Children's Museum

What makes you happy? Hitting the baseball

What make you sad? That you don’t let me do anything!

What do you wish you could do? Drive your car

What made this the best birthday ever? Having balloons

Here is the birthday girl with her self-designed birthday cake...
yes, it had enough sugar to last ALL of us for a year or more.
Happy Birthday sweet girl! :)

back by popular demand...

Franklin and his mad swimming skills....

For the couponers...

I mentioned in my last update post that I was getting back into couponing...  I haven't decided if I will stick with it or call it quits for good, but for now I am pressing on.  Trips like my most recent one to Target definitely make it hard to quit.  These are pictures from a short trip for some easy bargains.  This trip didn't require too much planning.

I used a lot of Target store coupons available on Target's website...most, if not all, of the Target store coupons state "limit one per transaction," even though you can print two per computer. Several months ago when I was shopping and using some of these coupons, I had separated my items into separate transactions to account for this.  The cashier said that it was no problem for her to ring them all on one transaction and still use all of my coupons.  I went into this trip thinking that was this particular store's policy, only to discover (from a very impatient cashier) that it apparently is a cashier's choice as to whether or not they will accept it. For this trip, it only affected my deal for the dog treats, so it wasn't a big deal to just separate everything into two transactions, and the dog treats were still a good deal.  

When I first started couponing in 2008-2009, it was easy to get free stuff ALL the time...it wasn't always the healthiest, though.  Now, I'm finding that the freebies are rare, and even rarer are the healthy and nutritious freebies, so my personal goal is just to find a price that is cheaper that I would pay at Aldi, Walmart, or Costco, and for the whole trip, I like to see my total savings amount higher than my total = I saved more than I spent.

The (hopefully) brief breakdown on this transaction is as follows:

Bananas - $0.24 EACH...I thought I still had a valid mobile coupon for $1.00/1.00 or more, but I didn't and we needed some bananas, so I paid more for them than I would at Aldi but my last bunch from Aldi never turned yellow..................

Vans Waffles - $0.99 after a manufacturer's coupon

Fruttare Bars - $1.49 after a target and manufacturer's coupon stack  (these are really yummy!!)

handsoap - $0.39 after a target coupon

paper towel - $0.49 after a target coupon

hydrogen peroxide - $0.02 after a target coupon 

baby shampoo - $0.49 each after a target coupon

And then my second transaction:

For the details...I will not list items that are already listed in the previous transaction...

All detergent (10 pacs) - $0.99 ea after manufacturer's coupons

Dog treats - $0.82 each after a Target and manufacturer's coupon stack

Hair detangler - $0.32 ea after a Target coupon

SO -- $32.62 worth of items for $12.87...  

Downsizing...

We've been wanting to get a garden in this year, but for one reason or another we were delayed.  Finally, I was able to get some boxes together for raised beds, and we purchased and planted some veggies yesterday!  We're on a smaller scale this year as we're trying the beds...I hope to add two more...one to begin some fall plants, and one for composting.

This first box is what I am calling the "salsa box" as it contains 4 tomato plants, 4 pepper plants, and basil seeds.  I can almost taste the fresh salsa right now.

The second box has cucumbers and beans...  and, those are my mums from last year that are growing quite heartily this summer!  Hopefully they will be beautiful enough to put on the porch this fall.

Some other "growth" around the yard includes...

very colorful zininas

chives...post trim

LOTS of roses

We're also enjoying the rosemary bush hedge, a newly blooming pink geranium, lavender, parsley, and strawberry plants.  Pictures of those soon?  Perhaps.

Stay tuned for future posts and watch our garden grow. 

Franklin...

We're enjoying getting to know our little turtle and learning his patterns.  He has some pretty funny antics that I especially enjoy.  After he did not eat for the first 5 days that we had him, we all still get pretty excited when he attacks his food.  Currently he is rejecting all food except for dried shrimp, and I haven't had the heart to make him get hungry enough for the other stuff yet.  But, I will have to soon, because he does need a balanced diet. And, C has agreed to let his name be Franklin...I may or may not have shown her old youtube videos of the Franklin cartoons to influence her decision.

Here are some videos of lil' Frankie boy enjoying his supper tonight... 

(my apologies for the poor quality...our camera is almost 9 years old.)

In Review...

My poor little neglected blog.  Every week starts out with good intentions...3 posts this week, so many things to share.  And then life happens...and blogging drops further and further into the abyss of items-left-unchecked-on-my-to-do-list.  I'm finding myself pulling away from the computer more and more and some days barely check-in at all.  It's a good thing and I'm okay with it.  But, it means my blog is neglected.

So, here's a massive (random) update for those who keep up with us here...it has to be massive as it will probably be months before I do it again. 

I have willingly and exuberantly welcomed a reptile into my home.  Shocking, I know.  But, this is probably the ONLY kind of reptile I would be interested in housing because they move slow enough to catch should they escape.  We had been planning to get an aquarium for quite some time (although with fish), given C's affinity for ALL THINGS WATER.  (Marine Biologist in the making, yes?  She's going to be GMa's ticket to finally get up close with the dolphins, I think.)  But, after rescuing this little guy from impending doom in the Bi-Lo parking lot, we decided to go ahead and get the aquarium and hope that he responded well...if not, the aquarium is re-usable.  (Yes, that is how two frugal-minded first-borns make these sorts of decisions.)

Who knew he would be SO fond of hiding in the plants -- we think he thinks we can't see him....  I'm sure it feels just like home because everyone knows there are neon pink plants growing in ponds all over the Southeast.  (I went for cheap, not realistic.)  

He's really responded quite well to the new digs and finally (after 5 days) is eating well! (Turtle pellets and dried shrimp pieces, anyone?!?)  He is developing some patterns which amuse me greatly.  As soon as the shades are pulled in the evening, he positions himself in the plants and promptly goes to sleep.  Once the shades are raised and/or heat lamp is turned on in the morning, he goes to his rock for sun-bathing.  He is really ridiculously cute...for a reptile.  C is delighted with him, and gives him a new name everyday.  I think I've finally convinced her that we should stick with boy names...today he is Kelly.  

Speaking of changes in C's room (that is where the aquarium landed)...we made the switch from the toddler bed to the BIG bed.  It's been a great transition and everyone LOVES it.

It does mean, however, that we are without a bed in our guest room until we replace it, although at present I am working on The Great Book Purge of 2013, so the entire guest room floor is covered with piles of books while I sort and rearrange. (Exaggeration?  Sadly, no.)

Having taken in two baseball games so far this season, and the influence of her best-bud Andrew (who adores baseball...and all things sports, really), C has decided that she wants to be a baseball girl...  

Game face.  Oh, and yes, those ARE her Sunday dress shoes...  She's also been dressing herself lately.  Our system is that I choose the outfits (or we choose them together) when we're going somewhere, and on the days we stay home she choose them all by herself.  

Summer is almost here...for reals this time.  Much to my own amazement, I gave in and purchased Roo-Cups for us to take on our adventures to the pool, fountains, etc this summer.  $0.25 refills, which includes slushees...  Here's to a summer of entirely too much sugar...but oh-so-much-fun.  

Speaking of fountains, we did make our way there this week and had a lovely time...with the multiple school groups that were also there.  I am a magnet for school groups, which is hard to avoid during the month of May in a town with so much great stuff to do.  I don't mind the groups -- I'm glad the kids get to have a good time.  I mind that I go all nazi-mama when there's that many kids and freak out about losing MY kid in the crowd.  Lessons in faith.

C is growing up too fast and her imagination is really coming alive...and she's strong enough to put into action the thoughts in her head.  So, yesterday she took her stuffed animals on a train ride to Mississippi.

Life has been exceptionally busy lately and I'm looking forward to the "lazy days" of summer...it is a tremendous privilege to be home with C and to enjoy this time with her.  It is going by so fast.  We've enjoyed many play dates this spring with friends from church and also some new friends as I get to know the ladies from my moms group.  C is enjoying meeting their kids as well.

Greg and I have both been running with a goal of 3 times/week.  We don't run together for two reasons -- childcare and I would greatly slow him down.  He completed his first 5K in April, and I have signed up for my first at the end of June.  I'm at week 5 of C25K, but have had to take a week off due to being sick.  Having to call the paramedics out to the track because I'm coughing so much I can't breathe just doesn't seem worth it.  Guess I'm not a real runner...yet.

We thought after Greg got his MBA in 2009 we were done with school, but in the back of our minds, we knew that wasn't true, and so 2013 finds us back at school again for the next 3 years.  I am overwhelmed as I try to support him in his studies, so I can only imagine how overwhelmed he must feel.  But, that is usually how things begin, so hopefully it will even out soon...like in 2016...when he's done.  

So far we have not put in a garden this year, and it's looking like we probably will not...apart from a few things that I have in containers (flowers/herbs).  I really want to switch over to raised beds, so we may begin making that transition and try to do some fall gardening.  I may give in and put a few tomato/pepper plants in pots though...

C has surprised us with beginning to read...so we're practicing and working through some lessons.  How crazy is it that she is old enough to be talking, much less reading?!?

I'm back into couponing and am finding it to be more beneficial than before.  Most of my coupons are coming from the internet this time around and several new programs.  SO far I'm staying away from the "Drug store game" and just going for Bi-Lo, Publix, Target, and Walmart.  The Ibotta app is fantastic, and I'm loving Target mobile coupons as well as their new Cartwheel program.  It's a lot to keep up with and I'm trying to keep it all in check, but so far it's good.  I'm pleasantly surprised at the natural/organic coupons that are becoming more readily available.  I'm mostly a "perimeter" shopper, so being able to save on those things is really helpful!

Next week, we will celebrate our 9th anniversary.  Hard to believe we are old enough to be married that long!  No big plans this year, but we're scheming about next year....

And lastly, our church is updating our photo directory, so we got a new family picture out of the deal.  It's a blessing to have multiple talented photographer friends...credit for this one goes to Willa.

Summer 2013 looks to be quite full with school for G, a cousin's wedding, visiting family, weekend beach trip, C's 4th bday and family in town, trips to the pool, activities at church, a GMa's 90th bday, week at the beach, and Fall will be here before we know it and we'll be diving into the world of pre-school activities.  

The many faces of...