Feb 20 2011
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coupon savings

Disney in the horizon

We’ve been planning Hayden’s 6th Birthday Disney trip for years it seems! This is it. The big year. Don’t even get me started on how weird it is that I will have a 6 year old and a full time Kindergardener in just a few short months. Man, oh man.

Anyway, a few months back I started doing the grocery game http://www.grocerygame.com/ and have been figuring it out little by little. It makes it super easy on you and all you do is print the list and buy what it tells you to buy and save GILLIONS. 🙂   I always get so excited to see the savings at the bottom because it is just free money out there waiting to be saved! So, I have really buckled down and gotten tight on my grocery spending. Sticking to the list and getting the family involved. I also recently added http://www.stockpilingmoms.com/ to my helpful tips list. Combining the two has been really great and the savings are getting better. I’m still learning and need to get more organized but its fun to know that the money we save can go to the trip we are all eagerly waiting for.

So, for this week my totals are:

Ulta (this was a frivilous trip for me because I really was in need of a bigger makeup bag. My bag that I’ve been using is a tiny one and can’t stay zipped and I can’t even tell you the times it has spilled all over the car and eyeliners are lost in the depths of the under-the-seat zone.  I never buy makeup unless it is for  a silly event that I don’t have the right stuff for, but Ulta had a super cute free gift bag set and I figured I would buy some staples and get the bag.  Plus,  I had a 20% off coupon.

Bronzer -$14 (instore it was on sale for $10)
Lip Gloss – $3.99
20% coupon – $2 off the bronzer
Free gift was $88 value (loaded with 15 fun products)

Total Spent:  $12.98
Total Saved: $90

Second Stop Walgreens. I am a new to walgreens shopper. I only go for the things that are totally free because usually I can pick them up somewhere else that I shop regularly if I need them.

This week totals
We picked out a fun toothbrush and a bag of Kettle Chips. They were out of one of the items we went for but we still got out of their with no money out of pocket!
Total Spent: $0
Total Saved: $6.39
Register Rewards(Can be used like cash for next order) : $14

On to CVS
making a mental note. I should take pictures of the items I get so it can show the amount of stuff I get for the price I pay.

Total: $33.62
CVS giftcard balance: $14.48
Out of pocket Spent: $19.14
Amount Saved: 28.43
Extra care bucks back: $16

Target
Total with tax before Coupons: $12.39
Coupon savings: $10
Reusable bag savings: .10

Total out of pocket: $2.29

Kroger
Total before Coupons: $217.43
Total Saved: $91.11
Amounts Spent: $126.32
MEGA Sale Bonus  Back Bucks: $17

Grand total savings: $225.93

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Feb 10 2011
2 Comments
crafty, hayden, Valentines

Valentines Day Upcycled Blowing Kisses Skirt

This Valentines I had made a commitment to myself that I would NOT buy my girls new clothes to wear for Valentines. But I did want Hayden to have something cute to wear for her school party. I found this idea a while back and made a mental note that it would be the perfect little outfit for her party. Not too fancy for school. Easy to move in (its made out of an old T-shirt) and super cute. Hayden loves wearing skirts so I thought NO problem.

Last week while I was sick, I was pulling all of my big tshirts out day after day to wear. When I pulled out my old great AmeriMcCAIN Hero tshirt, I thought, this is a perfect red for that skirt and I can do without one less giant shirt to sleep or be sick in. Then the days passed and we had church every night this week and the time just got away from me.

Well just like many of the wishful-thinking crafts in my to-do list, I figured this one would go to the “don’t have enough time for it” box. I hate when I find cute ideas, have a reason for them and then don’t have 39 hours in my day to get them done. So last night when we returned from church, we started gathering all the things we needed for the party.

Strike 1: Found a box of leftover valentines from last year  (once again,I  found a super-cute idea for v-day favors too late, We’ll be ready next year though!)
 Strike 2: realized that the roll of cookie dough in my freezer that I had written off buying a replacement for, was indeed gingerbread dough instead of cookie dough .So, I had to whip up a batch of homemade sugar cookies at 12:30am.

So apparently the way my brain works is when things go wrong, that’s when I need to make things harder on myself instead of just saying, “Eh, wear something red to school. ” That would have been strike 3, and striking out is not an option for this Mamma . It was after the last pan of cookies came out of the oven that I decided…”that skirt can’t be too hard!?” Plus, I’ve already got the t-shirt washed and ready. So up to the sewing machine I went. The tutorial said it would take about 30 minutes. AWESOME!

Well it didn’t take 30 minutes, BUT, I’m very pleased with the result and so glad that I stuck to my guns and didn’t buy anything “Valentines-y” and now my little Hayden gets to wear something special made by me on this day of celebrating Love. And to top it off, the white hearts that are reverse appliqued (sewed underneath the skirt) are from my PawPaw’s old tshirt. When my Granny died, I inherited her sewing machine and much of her sewing supplies. In her stash was a stack of tshirts that she had cut up from his track meets. I’m glad I finally found a purpose for one of them. I think she would be proud to see how I was able to make use of them.
Hayden was very excited to see her new skirt and get to wear it to her Valentines party. I finished a new design of a hairbow I had been working on. It went well with the colors for today.

XOXO,

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Jan 31 2011
2 Comments
sick family

crashing and burning

Last week was excessive, to say the least.  Excessive laundry, excessive whining, excessive exhaustion, excessive baths, excessive puking, excessive mommy-is-flatout-whooped days.  The one good thing that was excessive was the extra cuddles that I got from all my babies dropping like flies to the nasty stomach flu. Oh it was bad. It was beyond bad.

So since my last post, we had a major recovery day on Monday. Tuesday I decided to keep Hayden home from school because I figured she would just mope around and not eat and just be more of a hassel than a benefit. Plus I didn’t want her picking anything up at school, with her lowered immunities. Wednesday she was feeling awesome. Ready to go back to school. She woke up, had a little toast, got dressed, I got dressed. The twins, who up until now we thought were still sleeping, started calling for me with tearful cries. This did not alarm me because they do that nearly every morning. So I hurried upstairs to do a quick change of clothes, pullup, and off to school and opened their door………

A quick glance around the room and I knew my morning and most of my day just flew out the window. Preslyn and Ella both had what looked like shoulder pads of puke all over them, in their hair, and all in their beds and carpet. I immediatly felt so sad for them, because we never heard them throwing up in the night, or calling out for us. They must have just thrown up in their sleep and then waited. I felt terrible. So a quick call to Bj and he found a new ride for Hayden to school and my deep cleaning/disenfecting began. First with baths, then some cuddles, then more puke, then the first of 7 loads of laundry, then movies for the girls while i began the massive cleanup. More movies, a few crackers and gatorade, a little nap (instigated by them, not even me–they both came whining to me to turn off their movie because they were soooo tired and wanted to sleep) , more laundry, got a ride for Hayden, more cleaning…PawPaw arrived with carpet steamer and solution, chicken noodle soup and more gatorade. Then I steamed the carpets. 

I must admit. I am kind of addicted to steaming my carpets. Watching the dirty water pour out into the sink is so wonderful! My carpets look and smell refreshed and I love it. Its encouraging me to get the last of our boxes sorted and unpacked so that I can free up the remaining carpets and steam those as well before I have to give the steamer back to my Uncle and Aunt. Maybe I’ll even take down my Christmas stuff while I’m at it 😉 (hush! January has been hectic)

Anyway, the week was spent cleaning, laundering and cuddling. I kept thinking I was going to survive without catching it. No such luck. Friday night it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was in bed all day Friday leading up to the “crash”. I felt lousy and was hoping by laying low I’d keep it at bay. WRONG. Sadly, that day was also a juicing day for my fast so I had little to nothing inside me and the “crash” left me severely dehydrated. BJ and I had a miserable night of sleep with me tossing and turning and moaning of achy legs and a rolling stomach. I stayed in bed all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Then we went to a quarterly prayer meeting for our church and helped lead worship. It was fantastic. Just what this sick body needed. It was also the last day of our fast and I perfect way to close it out.

This morning we all woke up for our typical Monday morning and found out that Dad now had joined in on the fun. Thus the sickness is complete. It has made its full circle with all of us.

Here’s hoping February starts off with less action!  I’m off to steam something.

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Jan 25 2011
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cleaning 11, crafty, hayden, sick day

rain on a green tin roof

Last night around 6pm is when it started. The first of 10-12 episodes of hurling. My poor Hayden. It hit her like a ton of bricks and wouldn’t let up until the wee hours of the morning. I slept on the couch so I could hear her when she needed me.

Let me tell ya, bolting awake to the sound of your child calling for you or already throwing up is not the number one way I prefer to be awoken…and not once but multiple times. My heart hurt for her as I watched her whole body turn red as the blood rushed through her pale skin. I held her hair and rubbed her and felt horrible. Every time she finished she would raise her head up and tears were just rolling down her bright red cheeks. My heart ached to take the pain from her.

So this morning, came and went and we slept in. The rain falling softly on our tin roof was just what the doctor ordered. I heard the twins wake up and start their gymnastics match in their room that quickly had to come to a halt. Those monkeys! They were starting to rearrange the furniture and had literally ever single toy they owned out and scattered all over the room.

I dragged myself off the couch and up to find out what awaited me. A limp little Hayden, still in her bed. Poor girl. That is a sign right there, because she is normally the first to wake up every day, rain or shine, school day or not.

So the toast was made, the juice started, Leapster to the rescue, along with magnet dolls and a couple of books. Sick day had begun. Once I had her settled for a bit, on to the disaster that awaited. At least it had bought me a few extra winks of much needed sleep!

I decided instead of just cleaning up, it would be a reorganizing and purging day. So we spent the greater part of the day sorting toys in to piles, finding missing pieces, rearranging, putting toys in the attic that were no longer age appropriate and boxing up others that were going to be given away.

The girls were on board with the concept. Most of the time. Ella kept asking me why we were giving some toys away. I told her they had too many and couldn’t even play with all of them. Some little girls would love to have some of their toys that they no longer played with. So she replied in a worried voice, “But how do you know we are giving us toys away???” It totally caught me by surprise and made me laugh and reply, ” Well, because I’m the one giving them away.”

I have also been wanting to shorten their curtains for months now. Our windows in this house are a strange size and nearly impossible to find curtains that fit. I didn’t want to buy new ones, since they had only been used for the year we were at our past home. Instead they have just been hanging, not looking “right” but just serving their purpose to darken the room. So today seemed like a good day to get that type of project done, since it had been a declared sick day and I didn’t have any pressing work to get done. (I had done all that in between Hayden’s episodes last night, before I finally crashed around 2am, thinking the worst was behind us.)

So, my rainy day/sick day project is now complete! The room is reorganized, lighter on the toy-front, cleaned and vacuumed.

Before

After

I put together my own recipe for spaghetti sauce and it was delish (recipe to come later), served it with a fabulous salad, loaded with veggies, homemade dressing (also to come later)and wheat pasta. Kids are bathed and tucked in their beds and now the sick day is officially over.
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Jan 24 2011
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Uncategorized

Check our our left sidebar!!!

You can click each link and VOTE!!!

Thank you 😉

Jan 13 2011
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daniel fast, God

Day 4- Daniel Fast

Yesterday was really hard. I did a lot of stuff, run a bunch of errands with the twins, so I could feel the fatigue on my body and mind by the middle of the day. By the time dinner rolled around i had a killer headache, that was basically immobilizing. I took a tylenol and my bible to the bath and soaked while I waited for it to pass. I found myself very frusterated because I couldn’t believe that after 3 days even with eating, that my body NEEDED those foods that are so “fulfilling” that I wasn’t eating. I kept praying that what my body was lacking, God would replenish with himself. I was frustrated that detoxing was stealing my joy, my attitude, my family time. As soon as I got all those emotions under control, the headache went away and I felt like I had overcome an obstacle. It was so liberating.

The Bible reading has been wonderful as well. I keep finding myself wanting to read more and do more research and digging. Instead of it feeling like something to check off my to-do list, I feel like it is exhilerating and liberating. And I get excited to see what God is going to show me next and what I am going to learn. When I find myself getting restless during the day or “crashing” I have been putting on different types of praise and worship and just letting myself soak in God’s presence.

Today I feel much better, my legs are feeling achy and fatigued and I’m focusing on not overduing myself physically. We have worship practice tonight and I want to be functioning by then 🙂  We are doing juices only today so praying for strength and endurance.  I know that God is doing something in me because I typically let the stress of the day really bog me down and let it exhaust me. But yesterday when I picked Hayden up from school she asked me when we got in the car why I was so happy? I was a little taken back because I didn’t “feel” happy, but I must have been giving that off. And that was something I was really excited about. Instead of letting her see my tiredness, God was radiating through me, because I don’t really feel like I was outwardly happy, but my heart was. Today when I dropped her off she told me “I’m really happy today.” What a testimony of God through me and being mirrored in my child. I know that that is not me at all and is completely 100% God.
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Jan 11 2011
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nomorerack.com

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They load new deals every day at noon and the deals go crazy fast so get signed up and then wait for the next days deals to start!
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Jan 10 2011
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daniel fast

Day 1- Daniel Fast

Today was the start of our 21 day fast. It was exciting to start something as a family like this. The girls were fasting movies, tv and video games today. All favorites of Hayden. She asked me several times to watch a movie or play her Leapster and then when I reminded her about her fast she quickly remembered and we would do a devotional or talk about God or say a prayer together. Her devotion for the day was reading verses about John baptising Jesus. (Matthew 3:13-17) She questioned me about baptism and we talked about it and its importance.

After we talked a while, she told us that she wanted to be baptised just like Jesus. I was so happy to hear this because it was her own prompting and nothing from us. Hayden has such a tender heart and I know God has great things in store for her even as  a child.

Our reading was in Genesis 7 and I guess I have never read this closely enough to grasp that they brought on more than just one pair of every animal onto the ark. But for the animals that were clean (for eating) and sacrificing they brought 7 pairs. Interesting factoid.
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Jan 10 2011
3 Comments
fasting

Approaching the starting gate

I feel like I have game day jitters. Like I would as I’d line up in my lane for a race at a track meet. I’m PUMPED! I am literally on pins and needles.

Bj and I have been feeling the urgency to participate in a 21 day fast that many churches are participating in starting today and running through Jan. 30.   I have been reading up on different types of fasting and ways to participate as a family and have found a really great plan that I think will work for us. We are expecting big things this year and I feel like this is an amazing way to kick off this year. This is the first time that either of us have fasted together since we have been married. Already we have seen God opening a door that we have been believing for, almost a year now. I feel like it is God confirming to us that if we will step out in Faith, He is right there waiting for us. I can only imagine the things He is going to reveal to us and our family during this time and from here on out.

We are going to be doing a version of the daniel fast, alternating between days with food and days without any. The girls are doing a modified fast since they are too young to do completely without food. They are doing a schedule that I found at the awake21.org website under the resources for children. Their diet will be altered as far as no sugar, sweets, etc. But their main fasting will be from movies, tv, video games, etc.  It is amazing what I found at that website! Bible reading schedules during the fast, worksheets for children, suggested fasting methods, etc. Check it out if you have any questions about fasting.
We are also doing a social media fast. So I will not be posting on facebook during this time. I have decided to blog through our fast, but have not decided whether to post the blogs while it is ongoing on to post them after. I want to document this time in our lives for sure.

If you think of us during this time, just be in prayer with us. We are really excited to experience what God has for us and look forward to sharing with you the experiences that we have!

Here is an amazing quote that was in some of the fasting literature I’ve been reading….I love it!

The tendency of fire is to go out;
watch the fire on the altar of your heart.
Anyone who has tended a fireplace knows
that it needs to be stirred up occasionally.

– William Booth

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Jan 07 2011
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recipe

Food Network

The other day my mom called and told me to turn on my Food Network channel quickly, I did and saw a fabulous Roasted artichoke salad being prepared. My taste buds literally started watering, so I went online and checked out the recipe from the Barefoot Contessa and made it today for lunch. BJ is not a fan of artichokes so he picked something else for lunch and I figured that was a good time to try out this recipe.

The girls and I loved it!! So great for a light lunch, plus it had so many hidden healthy veggies in it. I also added some sun-dried tomatos. It was a hit! I think it would be great as a salad at a party or shower.

Try it and let me know what you think!
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