Look What I Got For Valentines Day!

An outlet you say? What is so great about that? Well you know how the plumber always has leaky toilet, and the landscapers yard never gets enough attention and so on.
Well the electrician's wife has to wait for an outlet. If a friend calls and needs help with an electrical problem, he is always great about going over and spending several hours to help them out. For some reason it is just not the same at home. Do I sound like I am complaining? I am not. I just think it is funny how this seems to happen. Not just my husband but many people do the same thing. I guess when you come home from work you want to leave it behind and not keep doing it at home.


The only outlet in this space.

One Christmas when my husband got a call from a friend to help with his wife's kitchen lighting. He hurried to the rescue to help them out. I thought to myself well that was easy to get him to do that. How could we improve this kitchen. Oh I know. I hate plugging my appliances in in that corner. If I want to use more than one I have to unplug the cell phone. (that is not my cell phone BTW, it is Marks work phone. I still do not have one. Can you believe it?) There just is not a lot of room to have multiple appliances and stretch a mixer over for a right handed operator.

So on v-day when he said he forgot to get me something I was prepared. That is just fine. You can put an outlet in the kitchen for me!


This is so wonderful. Now I feel like I have room to use my appliances. I can not wait to try out my Bosch in this spot.


Here he is cutting out the hole for the outlet. He had to crawl under the house in the crawl space to bring power to this spot. Spiders and dust and such. What a guy! I sure do love my DIY guy. On a frugal note total OOP FREE! He got all the parts from a demo at work! It would have cost over $200 to have someone else do it. He even cleaned up the mess when he was done! Wahoo!

I love, love, love my new outlet! Thanks honey.

A Little Slow

Well this little boy has been a little slow when it comes to baby milestones. Slow to get teeth, slow to crawl, slow to come into the world, (that's right 1 week late, I had to be induced a week after my due date), and slow to get chubby. Wait he still isn't very chubby.
Now at 12 1/2 months he is finally started to do a traditional crawl. He has been doing the cute little belly scoot for 3 months now. He still reverts back to it but is starting the favor the traditional crawl.

I am hoping that this is a sign that he will be a careful thinker or something. Who knows. What a sweet boy he is. He is pretty cuddly. When I hold him he will lay his head on my shoulder and pat my arm. It is really sweet.

Oh The Mess

This cute little boy seems to make more messes than his brother ever did. It is amazing how quickly he can tear things apart. Well it is pretty much inevitable that he is going to get into my kitchen drawers. So I have filled this one with kid friendly items that he can play with.

If You Are Not Couponing YOU SHOULD

Total Retail Value $220.28
I paid $18.75

58 items Average .32 each

Here is how it works

I did this is 5 different transactions.

This is assuming you buy in groups of 10.

Nature Valley Sweet & Salty granola bars 7.4 oz. 1.50
Coupon .50/1 SS-1/4

Purchase
BUY (3) GET $1.50
BUY (4) GET $2.50
BUY (5) OR MORE & GET $3.50

Final Price .65 a box

Betty Crocker Fruit Roll Ups 1.00
Coupon .50/2

Purchase
BUY (3) GET $1.50
BUY (4) GET $2.50
BUY (5) OR MORE & GET $3.50

Final .05 each

Cheerios Snack Mix 7.5-8 oz. 1.00
Coupon .50/1 SS-1/25 or .60/1
Final .40-.50

Chex Mix 7-8 oz 1.00
1.00/1 printable
FREE

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls 1.00
Coupon .30/1 SS-1/4 SS-2/8
Final.70


Pillsbury Grands biscuits .25
Coupon .30/2 SS-2/8 or .50/2
Final .10

Progresso Soup .50
Coupon .50/2 SS-1/4 SS-2/8
Final .25


Remember this is mix and match so you can buy 4 soups and 6 biscuits to make 10.

Frenectomy

Frenectomy: A frenum is a fold of tissue or muscle connecting the lips cheek or tongue to the jawbone. A frenectomy is the removal of one of these folds of tissue.

Both of my boys have had frenums that attached in a way the kept a bit of a gap b/t their front teeth. This bugged me a little and I have considered having it clipped in order for the teeth to not have a gap. I decided I would not put my children through such a treatment for my vanity.

At age 18 mo or so the Oot fell on the rock in our entry and tore his frenum. I few weeks later the gap b/t his teeth was gone.

Tonight the little bear fell while climbing on daddy and you guessed it tore his frenum. That little space will be gone in not time.

Did my secret desire cause my children to fall and cut their mouths? Weird huh.

The only problem is those two front teeth are really close together so we really have to stay on top of flossing to prevent decay in that area.

Ahhh

"This is why you do not buy nice furniture when you have kids." Mark

I guess my 3 yr old wants to see how patient I can be or maybe how creatiVe I can be with punishment.

While eating lunch he took the back end of his spoon and carved this master piece into my dinning room table. Oh right before this incident he switched me bowls, (mine being the mama bear size and his the baby bear size) and started eating my lunch. I want a whole bunch he said. He did not eat it all BTW.

So for the next week he will be eating all meals in the kitchen by himself.

Restitution

Thanks to those of you that left your advice for the shopplifting incident. After much talking about right and wrong and buying and stealing and what happens to people who steal, we took the candy back. He apploigized for taking it from the store and then purchased it with the money from his money bank.

I am not sure if he really learned his lesson or not. He hide the candy from me, but I am not sure if it was he knew he should not have taken it, or he figured his mom would not let him have the candy.

I did not let him have the candy after we purchased it and told him next time if he wanted some he would have to let me know.

Today at the grocery store he wanted to buy the motorcycle guy and motorcycle that he had brought into the store. He put it on the belt and asked the lady to scan it.
So I wonder does he or doesn't he have this one figured out?
I will have to be sure to watch him more carefully, in case this lesson did not sink in.

Valentines Day / Shoplifter

Our Valentines day is review.

8:00 Mark wakes to go play basketball in the stake men's tournament.

8:30 I am awakened by my cute little boys, I get the little one dressed.

9:00 I make some heart shaped love pancakes and hash browns for breakfast.

9:30 Daddy returns to announce that they they won their game and will be playing again at 11:30.

9:45 We eat breakfast.

10:15 I check my email, google reader and get the updates for the day.

11:00 I clean up breakfast while the little boys watch a snowmobile movie. Mark is off to basketball.

11:30 I get my 3 yr old dressed and ready for the day. He gets a time out for wetting his pull up over night and he has to clean up the puzzle pieces all over the living room before we go.

11:45 We go to watch daddy play basketball. They have a pretty close game and win in over time.

12:30 They play another game, while I chat with some friends about, freezer meals, laundry, coupons and the v-day special at Old Navy.
Meanwhile the baby is getting really tired of sitting on my lap and my 3 yr old is running loose in the halls. He gets his feelings hurt and comes running into the gym crying b/c the 6 yr old girls don't want to play with him.

2:00 The game is over they won the Stake championship. Yeah! Wow did we really just spend over two hours here. No wonder I am hungry. The baby takes a bottle and falls asleep as we head to Old Navy.

2:10 We arrive at Old Navy. I pick out a $10 sports bra, 5.30 after shmalentine and tax. Uh ya I have been wearing the same one since high school.) Long over due for a new one. We find out the $5 Shmalentine cards can be used only one per transaction and expire today so we go and pick out a cute $6 polo 4T. Use our second Shmalantine gift card and pay 1.06 for the polo. For more on this see my fabuless post.

2:50 Arrive home again and feed the boys left overs for lunch. Mark takes a shower and falls asleep.

3:10 I check my email/reader and hear the Oot opening something under the table. I ask him what he is doing. He ignores me. I say, uh-oh. Which he knows means. You made a bad choice and will now get a time out. He quickly gets out from under the table and says I do not want a time out. I spot the object he was trying to open lying under the table. I tin of mints from Old Navy. Which I did not purchase today. I grab the mints and talk to my son about where they came from.

4:00 I head upstairs to find my husband sleeping. I ask him what he thinks we should do about our little shoplifter. We discuss it and then talk to him about it.

4:10 I frantically try to get the house straightened up better and our babysitter arrives. We checked movie times on fandango and tried to decide if we wanted to see a movie. I give the babysitter instructions and we are off to dinner.

5:00 We arrive at our restaurant down town. We decide to do the v-day special 4 course meal. Mark has Tomato Basil soup, spinach salad, tenderloin with risotto, and marionberry cheese cake. I had Crab Bisque, spinach salad, Rouland Chicken with garlic potato's, and chocolate lava cake. Mark made sure to order different things than me so we couls try each others. It was a nice dinner. We talked about our properties, some of our tenants, the housing market, what if we would have known the future of the market what we would have done differently, my coupon ventures, the movie 7 pounds, (which I highly recommend), our food of course and other random things.

6:25 We still had not decided if we wanted to go to a movie. We drive around and I call FAndango getting more movie and showtime options. The movie we thought we wanted to see did not start until 7:35 what will we do for an hour? We finally decided on a movie and got tickets then drove over to Costco to walk around, but they were closed so we got gas and headed back to the theatre.

7:00 We park at the theatre and I check the movie tickets and it actually starts at 7:15 so we go ahead and go in. Good thing we didn't walk around Costco.

7:15-9:30 We watch, He's Just Not That Into You. We did not like it that much. Bummer.

9:45 I take the babysitter home and Mark puts the baby to bed.

10:15 Mark has a bowl of ice cream and sit down to watch TV. I come over to make this post. So that is the day. Intriguing I know.

What to do about our shoplifter? Any ideas? Has this happened to you? Is he too young to know better (3 1/2)?

Ant Angela

This weekend I was talking about my brother Tanner and the Oot overheard.

Him: Tanner is my Uncle. I have a new Uncle. What is his name mom?
Me: Cesar
Him: Oh ya Cesar. He is married to my Aunt Angela. She is an Aunt, but not an Ant that is a bug.

I thought this was so cute!

1 Year Old

I can not believe my baby is already 1 year. It went by so fast. He is such a sweet little boy. We are so blessed to have him in our family.



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Is Walmart Good For America?

People who know me know that I do not shop at Wal-Mart. Why? I often get this question, and I do not think I am good at answering it. If I have told you some of my reasons I likely sited some facts from the documentary
Is Walmart Good for America?

It is a documentary done by Frontline. Frontline is a very subjective program offered by PBS I love them because they always show both sides of a story and leave conclusions up to the viewer. This documentary aired back in Nov 2004. I always want to tell people go watch this video and then you will understand what I am talking about.

Well tonight I found the documentary. Check it out and decide for yourself. If you still want to shop there I will not judge you, but at least you will understand why I choose not to.

Oops Look What I Did.

I just posted my coupon blog posts on my personal blog. I guess we can see what has taken over my life at 11:22 pm. Oh I am still having fun, and saving lots of money. My food storage is growing in leaps and bounds. It is been really great. I just have to keep reminding myself everything in moderation. Oh and I don't have to do everything! If you are interested in couponing go to the blog. I think I have said that like three times before. I am really tired. I need to get off of my coupon high and go to bed.

Shopko

It seems that Shopko gets overlooked. I noticed in this weeks add that they have a rebate program. News to me. I also notice that you could get 8 razors for $1.98. I had almost forgotten about it until I read Thrifty Mom's post. She gives all the details on the razors plus a few other good deals.

Are You Ready For This?

Woo Hoo. Albertsons is doubling coupons again! Starting Wed. Looks like there are four coupons on the front page. Go here to take a sneak peek. Thanks Thrifty Soaper. Check her out for a few deal ideas.
I am looking at getting.....

Totinos Pizza Rolls
$1.00
$1/2 HERE
Use double
Final FREE

Oh but wait it says DO NOT DOUBLE OR TRIPLE

It seems like last time they doubled some of my printalbes that said that. Was that a mistake? I can not remember that was also the week of the Pampers deal and the spend $30 get $15. That was a crazy week. Anyone remember? What happened with your printables that read DO NOT DOUBLE OR TRIPLE? The add says that they would match the price of the coupon, does that mean it doesn't matter if it says DO NOT DOUBLE OR TRIPLE or did my checker just make a mistake, or is my memory just blocking it out due to all the stress I experienced doing multiple transactions? Anyone?

Crunch N' Munch

$1.00
$1.00/2 HERE
double
Free

I am having trouble printing this one. Anyone have any luck?
If you can not get it to print either use

Crunch ‘n Munch, any 12 oz. box or larger .35/1 (2-28-09) SS-1/18

Then it will cost .30 if you double


L'Oreal Kids shampoo, conditioner, or 2 in 1 9 oz.
$1.99
use L’Oréal Kids Product, any .75/1 RP-1/4
double
Cost .50

Suave shampoo or conditioner 15 oz. - Limit 6
Use .97 in-ad store coupon.
Also use: Suave Hair Care Product, any .50/2 RP-11/16 and RP-1/11
Double
Final-.94 for 2

*WARNING* Last time there were many people hording the adds with the coupons so some stores put them behind the counter at CS or just ran out.

Here is a preview of PYP so you can start making your list. Let me know if you see any good or free deals.