Today's Mercyism

So for whatever reason...maybe because it reached 90 degrees, M got naked and ran through the house! This was funny enough, but then she comes into the kitchen where I'm updating the calendar and making the grocery list and says, "Look at me! I'm puck naked!" That was funny enough, but that wasn't all. Later she finally has underwear on, but nothing else and is in the kitchen shaking her toosh and singing hello kitty only saying kitty over and over with a T instead of the K if you catch me drift. J and I just look at eachother and try to enjoy the innocence.

After nap today, apparently she was calling for me from her bed, but I didn't hear. J did and he went in to check on her and keep her quiet so I could rest. He asked her if it was all right if he crawled in her bed and snuggled a bit and she said, "Yeah sure...cutie bootie!" Ha! We are forever smiles and laughs around here! More of these to come I'm sure.

Brains and Bods

Yesterday went my brain and today went my body! Seriously, thank goodness I'm nearing the end, cause I'm finally feeling the I'm ready to get this over with feeling. Don't get me wrong...I in no way think that I'm ready! Who ever is!

Yesterday, my brain was in another world! I overscheduled the week I'll admit, so its a miracle I made it as far as I did with what little brain I have left. But I forgot to call my sis, which I had every intention of doing...and on a slightly larger social scale, I entirely forgot to pre-arrange supper for the gal I had signed up to bring supper to! I had thought about it off and on all week and even that day, but after naptime, I had no memory of what the rest of my day held.

My hubs asked me to dinner with him, his friend from seminary and his wife, and of course Mercy. So that's all I had on my mind...and on the way there I realized I was supposed to be bringing itsamomthing supper! Ugh! I felt sooooo bad AND I didn't have her phone number in my phone! Thanks to Melissa S. and meandtheboys for hooking me up with her number! Anyway, my original plan had been to get her their fave pizza, some salad, and their fave soda! Bring it over with M so the girls could see eachother and deliver the invite to M's b-day party! Plan B quickly became ordering her fave pizza from her fave place and having it delivered. That worked out cause we could pre-pay, BUT I forgot about tip! And so left them standing with no cash to tip the guy. Ugh. So unsociable am I! A huge I'm sorry to itsamomthing, but I assure you if I'm feeling better after this weekend, M and I will make a trip to your house at your convenience and distract you just a bit from your new motherly duties! We will likely come bearing cookies as well!

So my brainless day yesterday turned into sheer exhaustion last night. J is being sooo good as a hubs and father. He has stepped up and is taking care of both "his girls" as he likes to call us. I basically walked in the door last night from a very nice supper and crawled into bed. I was out cold by 9:30a.m. I really felt bad too, physically. I couldn't get comfortable at all. My back was sore and my "belly" felt like it was pulling at my ribs, so even my ribs hurt. I slept pretty well, but even so, by about 10a.m. I was getting really worn out and lightheaded and so after a shower hopped back in bed till lunch. Then I started feeling headachey and nausious! So I called for J to bring me some kind of protein/sugar to get my blood sugar elevated enough so that I could crawl out of bed. I felt kind of bad for being such a baby...but really this is rare! I was feeling so bad I wasn't sure that I might not just go into labor! But no contractions. M and I made cookies and J put her down for a nap.

I took a nap too AND talked to my sis for a bit. We had a fantastic coupon for a yard cut and trim (weed eating) for only $25, so that guy came while I napped and the yard looks great! After nap, I was still pooped, so I just sat in bed and read. J took M outside and they watered the little garden and played in the water. It was very relaxing to hear my family playing and enjoying a good time and knowing that I was being taken care of too. I read up on laboring and such. Then we had to go to the store! Almost out of juice, milk, and toilet paper! So we all went. J said he and M would go and let me rest, but I couldn't hand over that control. Not to mention, I know where everything is in the store and it would go a lot quicker! Not to mention that I knew it might be good for me just to get out of the house...and I did fine.

We actually moved slowly, but we got out of ALDI with TONS of food (doing a little stocking in lieu of our coming arrival) for less than $90! This still amazes me! Then J grilled and not only did he grill but he prepped the burgers! We had dip from the box sale and chips and the cookies we had made earlier! It was really good. Now I'm about to crawl into bed again! What a crazy day, but I'd like to add that this house continues to remain extremely clean! Thanks mom for helping me get it to a state where it was all clean at once. I really thought if I could ever get it to this state, that maybe it'd be easier to keep it that way. And so far so good!

Girl Fun!

We went to Hollywild Zoo today and let me tell you that was equally or even more fun for mom as it was for M! I don't even think we made it through the whole thing before it was clearly time to go. M fell 2-3 times, and skinned her knee twice (same one). She also had to walk the whole time since I don't have an off roading stroller! We road the safari ride where we fed the animals from the Safari bus. We fed the baby animals and some other ones. We had no idea that the zoo went on and on. Then we discovered the bears, lions, leapords, panthers, tigers...you get the idea! Amazing. We saw camels, rhinos, and even weird little Capybaras (biggest rodents). Wolves, goats, deer, emu, zebras, bison, peacocks...Better than the regular zoo if you ask me and worth the price. We were blessed though that they allowed her to be admitted for free even though she was almost 3 yrs. We will most likely be revisiting this. We even heard the girl lion roar several times! Very exciting.

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Been Tagged!

I love meme's and I'm so out of the loop right now! If I tag someone who has already been tagged, then oops. Sorry...pregnant brain! Enjoy!

1) First thing you wash in the shower? Hair
2) What color is your fav hoodie? baby blue velour goes with the matching pants...so cute for maternity too!
3) Do you plan outfits? Sometimes. My fave right now is the pickles and ice cream tee and the matching pink skirt. To me they only go together!
4) How are you feeling RIGHT now? tired and huge!
5) What's the closest thing to you thats red? A christmas pic of Cuz and M in their t-mas pj's
6) Tell me about the last dream you remember having? Just had a dream that I was being really irritable with M and she was feeling dejected. Pregnancy dreams are really emotional and weird.
7) Did you meet anybody new today? Well, waiters and waitresses. One, liked my pickles and ice cream tee
8) What are you craving right now? thirsty, just thirsty. Been craving carbonated beverages today, but they make me even more thirsty so that doesn't work. Just had watered down grape juice over ice instead.
9) Do you floss? No. almost never, but I should. It's irritating cause I have all these permanent retainers that make it almost impossible to floss a good deal of my teeth, so I usually just don't do it at all.
10) What comes to mind when I say cabbage? you don't want to know...but I'll say the second thing that comes to mind and that's the St. Patricks day parade in new orleans (they throw veggies including lots of cabbage).
11) Are you emotional? More so now than usual.
12) Have you ever counted to 1,000? Oh yeah. I know I used to do counting games alot as a kid...how many licks to get to middle of a tootsie pop...
13) Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? Lick it.
14) Do you like your hair? actually I do today. It annoys me alot, but it is really great hair.
15) Have you ever met a celebrity? I'm sure I have, but I don't really remember it as being a big deal. I met Jars of Clay twice as a teen and thought that was pretty cool.
16) Do you like cottage cheese? Yes. I hate ricotta so I replace it with cottage cheese in recipes, but I love fruit with cottage cheese.
17) What are you listening to right now? the sound of silence, hallelujah
18) How many countries have you visited? 1) Germany 2) Jamaica 3) Mexico 4) and I live in the US 5) and various countries on the way to these...airport stops and what not.
19) Are your parents strict? Yes! Ha!
20) Would you go sky diving? Not sure. Haven't decided that one yet. Did bungee head first in college...not too bad actually.
21) Would you have dinner with George W. Bush? Sure!
22) Would you throw potatoes at him? Nope
23) Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in? My shirt of course, and some my little pony's hair
24) Have you ever been in a castle? Yep...several in Germany. Not as big of a deal really.
25) Do you rent movies often? Yep...Redbox Free Movie Mondays, and wednesdays this month
26) Have you ever made a prank phone call? Oh yeah, the Meyer cousins taught me and the siblings how to do that when we were young. They grew us in so many ways!
27) Do you own a gun? Not anymore, but hubs is a different story. He's a good old southern boy.
28) Can you count backwards from 74? Of course
29) Brown or white eggs? Doesn't matter.
30) Ever been on a train? Yep.
31) Are you too forgiving? Sometimes, but a little less so as I get older. Anyway, is there such things as too forgiving. Didn't Jesus command that of us...what was it 70X7 and so forth?!
32) Do you use Chap-Stick? A good bit. Burt's Bees is my fave, but they've recently sold out to another company so we'll have to see.
33) What is your best friend doing tomorrow? Not sure since it is a holiday. Usually she works on Mondays.
34) Can you use chop sticks? Yes, when I'm not with children.
35) Ever had cream puffs? ? Possibly. I think I know what that is.
36) What was the last CD you bought? who buys CD's? I-tunes baby!
37) Is your hair curly? Nope.. straight.
38) Ever walked into a wall? I believe so.
39) Fav time of the year? Anything other than summer
40) Favorite color? bright pink!
41) Are you sarcastic? Sometimes.
42) Do you have any tattoos? No, but I've gone back and forth on wanting one.
43) Do you sleep with the TV on? No way. Usually can't. my brain has trouble shutting down.
44) What is your favorite animal? Cats
45) Can you hula hoop? Not anymore, but I used to be really good at it as a kid. They aren't conducive to hips if you ask me.

Don't know who to tab...hmmm...I tag BETH C., and ? I'll fill in some more later.

Baby's Shower

Nothing like a whole bunch of pictures of yourself! And at 8.5 months pregnant! I just laugh at my faces! What??!! Still I wish I had taken a pic of everyone that was there. I don't know what I was thinking? Except that I forgot my camera anyway. So, here are the pics from my SIL who threw the shower. Maybe I'll get some from my mom too! Fun times. Thanks to all who came, you will never know how much it meant to me just to have you there...and the little ones that came with their moms! You guys are great!

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Life's little "jokes"

I finally got the kitchen clean! O.K. let me rephrase, I'm down to 2 loads of laundry and the cabinets are wiped down and the dishes are done...

ALL IN TIME TO MAKE DINNER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

If my kitchen ever gets clean...

If my kitchen ever gets clean...

I swear I'll be oh so tempted to sleep in the middle of it directly on the floor!

I'll be tempted never to cook or dirty a dish again!

I'll be tempted to continue to wear the same thing day in and out so that I never have to use the washer again! (yes that's in the kitchen too).

I've been standing for a good bit more than 2 hours today in the kitchen doing dishes, and laundry and fixing dinner. After dinner, I made rice crispy treats to attempt to use the marshmallows that seem to be i excess around here as I purchased them for potty training and M didn't like them. So now, I not only have the bit of dishes that were left over from all my initial hard work, I have the dishes I dirty to prepare dinner and to eat dinner, AND the ones I used to make treats afterwards.

I spilled spinach, cheese, and bits of rice crispy treats on the floor (those things I know for sure). I'm in the middle of the laundry still, so I have a good 2-3 loads left of laundry on the floor as well. Not to mention the space directly in front of the fridge has been inundated with spills of various grossness over the last several days that will desperately require a mopping! Then there's the huge, massive, biggest one I ever remember doing, spill that happened last weekend that has left remnants on my wall and cabinets. The one's I just recently went to all the trouble to magic eraser! It was a giant glass full of red fruit punch. Though I initially cleaned it, the magic eraser or paint may be my only hope for completely erasing its existence! Oh AND M decided that a little pen on the floor never hurt anyone...had a little trouble with discipline today! Too much sugar I suspect...I should have listened to those motherly voices in my head when I allowed her to have an entire mini fruit by the foot. I was suspect, and now I know.

My feet are tired even as I type this and they are off the ground! ugh. long day of cleaning ahead tomorrow I suspect. We shall see. A mother's work is never done.

On the home front, I think M is getting past the really bad part of this recent allergy/cold thing. Thank goodness, no fever today means she can go to school tomorrow!

Pickin Strawberries!

We did this today too! I love my friend Reese and we love our mommies too! And go figure, they love eachother! So thanks for the idea Ms. Brooke...and for less than $2. That's our kinda fun!

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Big Day for the Grocery Game

This is not the "Grocery Game" as you would find it online. This is the one I get to play in my neck of the woods. Every other week or so is the Box Sale. I think technically it is called the Sidewalk Sale and it takes place at Sav-More across from K-mart.

I enjoy this type of shopping because it's like the thrill of the chase! BUT...I'm pregnant...very...and so carrying a box of any weight and bulk is impossible at this point. I finally was able to recruit my hubs to come with my brother and I. SIL came over and kept the kids and off we went. Getting J out of bed that early on Saturday might have been a feat, but he agreed and willingly rolled out of bed a hair before 8am.

We almost turned back and gave up though cause we got stuck in very slow traffic trying to get there because of a house being moved. See, there is no point in getting there late. In fact, we were aiming to be early to get a good jockeying position, but turns out we walked up just in time to get our boxes as the guy is saying "Go!"

And off the crowd goes! Down the aisle in a major hurry. Well, as soon as I prompted him that "Go means Go!" He was off! I tried to stay near and around him to help him get the good stuff, but truth is...he didn't need my help. He Did Awesome! He filled a box faster than I've ever seen! So I told him to leave it with me on the side lines (I'm wearing a bright pink shirt mind you) and I quickly shoved another box into his hands! And off he goes some more!

While he is filling another box, I sort and repack the initial box, getting rid of anything I have too much of already or things that are grossly expired. Then he comes with another full box and I send him away with another empty box. In the meantime, I spot bro cause he's wearing a purple LSU shirt and holler his nickname "K". That works. His box is overflowing so I offer to keep his box and send him out again with another box.

Finally we meet back together and sort through and pack all the boxes. Some things are pointless to keep, but mostly it was one of the best box sales I've ever been to. Wait till you see the pics and the list! K got 1 1/2 boxes and J and I got 2 1/2 boxes! All in all, j and I spent $15.00 That's all!

Here are the Pics:
Here's the List!:

2--Quaker Toasted Oatmeal Cereals
1 box Sesame Breadsticks
1 box generic Apple Jacks
1 canister swiss mocha mix
2 bags of Aunt Jemima buttermilk Cornmeal mixes
3 glass bottles of Iced Leaf Tea
4 snack packs of sugar free vanilla pudding
3 32oz organic juices (2 grape, 1 cherry)
1 package of Rice Crackers
1 package of Quaker rice cakes
1 large bag of confectioner's sugar
1 large bag of light brown sugar (Crystal)
1 box of Domino brand dark brown sugar
1 package of Chocolate Chunck Cookies (not pictured cause we were eating them with lunch)
2 bags of Bud's Best Butter Cookies (J's fave!)
1 big bag of flour
1 box of Krusteaz lemon bars (not pictured cause I sent them w/SIL for shower next weekend)
1 Family Size Grits individual packets
4 boxes of generic Ritz
1 box Royal brand No bake cheesecake mix
1 box Kashi Organic Apple Harvest Cereal
2 boxes of Zatarans version of Shake and Bake
1 big box of mini fruit roll ups
2 boxes of Martha White Corn Muffin Mixes
2 HUGE bags of Planters Peanuts in Shell
1 Santa Fe bowl from Taco Bell
2 dip bowls from Taco Bell
2 BBQ seasonings
3 Kakame lunch cups
1 box of Quaker Oatmeal Apples and Cinnamon
1 box of Quaker Oatmeal Strawberries and Cream
1 canister of Almond Butter (yum)
1 big can of Dole Pineapple chunks
1 can of Chili beans
1 big bag of Super Bubble--gum
3 jello mixes
1 jello pudding mixes
1 box Alpen cereal
3 boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes (scalloped, roasted...)
2 boxes of Kraft white cheddar shells macaroni
4 boxes of various types of rice
3 cans of Chef Boyardee
2 boxes of Orville Reddenbacker Butter Microwave Popcorn
2 boxes of Pringles brand Wheat stix
1 huge can of Del Monte whole tomatoes
1 canister of Sponge Bob Peanut Butter?
1 can of syrup
1 thing of McCormick roasting rub
1 packet of Zatarains red beans and rice
2-2 packs of Ready Serve Rice
1 packet of Egg Drop Soup
1 bag of Gluten Free Pancake mix
AND a very nice wine cork remover

ALL FOR $15!!!

More "Isms"

Today M's teacher gave me another story that she thought I ought to know and most likely post about my Oh So Precious almost 3 yr old. Apparently a few weeks ago she (M) was telling a story about getting in trouble. "Mommy was really angry!" Ms. Julie says, "Did you get a spankin?" "Yep," says M. "Did you cry?" "Nope. I remained strong!" (truth be told it is rare that she cries when I get onto her). But who taught her "remain strong?" I mean really! Ha!

Also today, we are in the library. This particular library has a good number of kid computers and games. M finds an empty one that is already going (cause she really doesn't know quite how to do all this yet). She's got the hang of the head phones though, cause she immediately discovers those and puts them on. She is so cute sitting there in a row with several other little girls at computers. I feel comfortable enough to scope out some books while she explores this when I hear very loudly, "Huh? What did you say Pooh?!" She is talking very loudly back at the computer and those around her especially the adults are tickled and snickering. So cute moment. Not as funny sounding as I retype it, so it may have been one of those you had to be there moments.

Later today I can hear her playing make believe princess school in her room. This is new. Never heard this one today. She says the only ones there with her at school are her friend Reese and her Cuz S. At least she's excited that he is a prince. She says that Reese is her sister princess and Cuz is her brother the prince! She continues to address them as if they are there (in imagination). In fact, she drags me to the room to "see" Cuz. She even tells me and points to where he is sitting. I was impressed. Imaginary friends are supposed to be a higher level of learning!

Then, I just over hear her telling her daddy during post dinner "Daddy will you play in my room"--time, she says, "Daddy, I'm gonna be a snowman. Can you build me?" This is so cute. For one, where did this come from? What a fun idea. And funny the way she put it all together and verbalized. She always keeps us laughing.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

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The Care Fair

Seriously, this name sounds like something out of a Care Bears show that M would watch. Infact, I think we did or still do have an episode on VHS about the Care Fair Scare! Ha! But I'm sure that wasn't the intent of our most recent adventure.

So here's the scoop. A Shout Out to my SIL for reminding us about it and encouraging me and M to still go regardless of the fact that it was hot, on a Saturday, I'm hugely preggers, and hubs was home sick. We all went and it was worth our while.

The Brushy Creek Assembly of God (I think this is right) is a church directly across the street from Century Park. Those of you that read this and visit Century Park have most likely seen the big sign out front about free groceries on Wednesdays 5:30-6:30pm. Well, they put out fliers about the Care Fair that they were to have on Saturday May 3rd from 10am till about noon. It advertised that the first 500 families represented would receive a box of free groceries. Well, seeing as our cupboard was almost to empty this month and there was a major freeze on any spending period, this was appealing to me...AND since my brother recently lost his job, this was equally appealing to my SIL. We decided we'd go and see.

On top of the free grocery perk, there were advertised free haircuts, free face painting, free hotdogs, free inflatable games...and the list went on with the very active word being free of course.

On Saturday, M and I headed that direction about 9:15am. not knowing what to expect as far as the number of people that would be there. She wanted Mickey Mouse Pancakes for b'fast, but as hubs was still sleeping, and the cupboard was just about bare, we took our $3 and some change. I ate cereal at the house and she got a donut and brought her own juice. I got some coffee. We headed through the drive through at DD and then on to century park. When we parked, there was already quite a line. we ate, made potty, played a little and then headed to claim our place in line.

Now when you have a 2 yr. old you know that waiting in line is not the easiest thing to do, but God and M gave me a bit of a break that day cause she did really well almost all day...and there were several lines!

They allowed people in in groupings. Mainly cause they forced you to hear a gospel presentation before you could wander around to all the free stuff. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about all that, because I certainly can't complain! Everything was free...AND they didn't ask for all my contact info so they could come knocking on my door, calling, or sending unbelievable amounts of mail.

The presentation lacked quality and theology that I prefer, but my background is such that most of such things would. Seminary degree, varying larger church atmospheres...And you know I appreciated it all the same. The theological things were more blaring to me, but those actually came more in the music and lyrics. "There's a blessing in the room tonight...is it yours?" "there's a place were RELIGION never dies!" Still M loved the Sisters in Motion and enjoyed dancing with her momma to the music (ah the freedom that children find in that--no inhibitions).

Then we're off! On to the ticket for groceries! On to booths about Free Medical Care, some things that didn't really apply to me, AND a free diapers booth! M doesn't need them, but they gave me some for baby boy! Hallelujah! Then we checked out the fire truck, ambulance, motorcycles, and the police men. M really liked the police badge sticker! Off to the free hot dogs! Free chips and bag of cookies! Free beverage! And M spots the face painting. Now this is VERY high on her priority list! So she gets 2 hearts on one cheek and a free balloon that has to be blue please. It has a big star on it that says Jesus' light shines on me!



She decides she absolutely does want a hair cut, so we wait in line for this. The gals were from the Greenville Tech and the teacher was there. Talk about meeting a demand! Wow! so we wait! And this is where her naptime starts to catch up with us, but she managed to remain distracted with lunch. She gets a hair cut that is shorter than i'd like, but a VERY GOOD CUT actually. I was pleasantly surprised considering how little she cooperated AND the wind that had picked up. Yes...this was all in a row outside!

Now for our box of food. When I say they had plenty, they must have cause we basically were at the end of the line when all was said and done and they carried a box to my car AND I was able to get a free loaf of bread. I nice loaf, not some mediocre hand me down left over loaf. All FREE!
AND on top of it all, they told me to please come back, that on Wednesdays they do the free groceries and diapers, and the family is allowed to do that once a month! They didn't care who I was or my socio-economic status. They didn't care that I don't really qualify for lower income but I'm barely making it in middle class. All they cared about was that I cared enough for my family to be there, and get help.

This is something you don't see alot. I dare go into pointing fingers cause we are all guilty I assure you! They gave because they loved. They did this most likely because they felt led by God to act out in social justice in much the same way that Jesus did. I was blessed to be a recipient, and I hope to be reminded and blessed to be a giver in the future. It's not always easy. The people all around me were all soooo different! Older feeble people who probably had trouble with the month to month, lots of young families with strollers full! And all in between. I was blessed to be amongst them. I feel like Jesus was probably there in the midst as well. How much the forced presentation did or did not reach would be hard to say and I could really break it down and do free consulting, but what does speak is that they are reaching out to the community. Not just once for this fair, but consistently on a weekly and monthly basis.

Captian Poo's

Seriously, very close to our condo was this sign and restaurant/bar "Captain Poo's". Uh...what do you do with that?! I wish I had a pic. I wanted to get one of hubs by the sign but he chickened out at the last minute!

Our mini-vacation was nice. We have our word of mouth ways of finding very inexpensive if not free ways of taking regular getaways with eachother. God has always provided us these small luxuries so that J and I can keep up our relationship.

M is with her Nani and Pop and is having such a good time that she doesn't want to speak with me on the phone for fear that she will have to come home! Ha! Fun to see vacation through your childs eyes even when you aren't with them. We saw things that we new she would have loved! We saw an alligator the one night we went out to eat. We saw numerous rather large jelly fish on the beach! We picked up sea shells and some sand for her (she's never even been to the beach!). One night there was a green tree frog hangin out at our front door! We knew she'd love that too! J even found a shark tooth in our scavenging for sea shells!

Mostly we just relaxed! I made J wait on me more than usual. Though I cooked a bit, I didn't do dishes. He made us a candlelight dessert on the screened in porch on night. We took naps everyday--long ones! we tried to sleep later than usual and had some success with that the second day. We day dreamed about the fantastic beach houses! Ones you only see in movies and such!

It was relaxing. J even did all the driving which is good with me being oh so pregnant. I know that was hard on him, so I'm extra appreciative. We are still enjoying a bit of vacation even though we're back in town and he's at work during the day. M is still with her Nani and Pop in North Carolina, so it is much quieter around here and there are no demands as far as schedule and time. I've done a whole lot of reading and not much else today. I'm bout to finish getting ready for the day (note that it is already 3pm) and then run to the bank and pick up a very few groceries to get us by till the end of the month!

Tomorrow is J's b-day but we have birthing class so our celebration will likely be Thursday or thereafter. Can't wait to tell you about all those surprises!

Make Ready the Way!

Well the "nursery" is coming along. I'm sure many of you that have been to my house are very curious about this since we live in a 2 bed/1 bath Mill House. We actually quite enjoy our house and though we seriously entertained the idea of moving, we found that staying put was our best option for now and I'm o.k. with that. I hate moving anyway! I mean seriously...I've done it all my life!

So, baby boy's room will now be in what used to be the dining room. We are working on the stackable washer and dryer swap so that we can make room for a small eat in kitchen space. Not my most favorite cause It may cramp the kitchen just a bit, but I'm going to do my best to keep the space very clutter free and simplistic (not to mention clean). That will make me feel a bit more relaxed about it all.

I love baby boy's room! We have arranged the furniture and mom is well on her way to finishing the bedding. I wish I could say that I helped, and I did, but my help has been minimal. I am so grateful to have family that can help out in such big ways. I know I am blessed!

We did really well on rearrangements and getting things that we needed to really make the room and rearrangement of the rest of the house a success. In fact, even though I consider my mom quite young, she managed to qualify for the senior citizen tuesday Goodwill 20% off! I'd call it a coincidence, but I don't really believe in those. We arranged and rearranged and decided that we needed a bookshelf for the den so that we could use the big cubed bookcase for babe's room with colored cubes for storage. What did we find at Goodwill? A bookcase at $15 (plus 20% off). We knew that we would need a twin size bed frame for the mattress and box spring that we will be "storing" for mom and dad (and using for when they stay) and we found one for $8. Then mom says check the back aisle, you never know what you'll find as the guy from the stock room is bringing out new stuff that is dented special from wal-mart. Sure enough he had just placed on the shelf the very thing that I said I wanted to get M for her b-day! What?!

You know the fisher price Easy Link system that hooks into your computer and allows the child to place the character in its spot and it takes them to that secure web page! Well it's for 3 and up and this would be a good bonding thing for her and her daddy since he's the computer guy! It was still in the package and every piece was there but the mouse pad (and who cares about that!) $6.40! That's all. So I have gotten M's present. Awesome!

I will post pics when we are finished or at least almost finished with baby boy's room. I love how itsamomthing posted pics and a run down on cost. I may try that as well. It may be a little while as I do have to figure out how to do a slip cover for the rocker I got for his room. never done it before, but can't be too hard.

The Stuff of Today

I've gotten back into the Tightwad Gazette. There are a hundred and one things in there and with my limited memory I have to revisit it. We are in a crunch this month simply cause too many expensive things fell in one month. A little more planning certainly would have helped but some of it just couldn't be avoided. So, we absent--mindedly closed our eyes and prayed that we'd make it to the end of the month so that we could revisit our budget for the next month. Now we are rolling on fumes for the remainder of the month and even have a beach trip planned.

Lucky for us vacation to me and hubs means sleeping alot and taking baths and enjoying the silence that is typically hard to come by. We'll enjoy God's creation as well since we'll be at the beach and all. I suppose we'll bring our own food since we are on budget restriction. That'll take annoying extra planning but will certainly be worth it in the end.

Today I'm excited to announce that I got a lot of things done on my to do list! I did feel a little frustrated that many of the chores left me stuck in the house when it was quite a nice day outside. Thankfully, my parents came in town and felt like taking M outside to play. I managed to actually do every dish in the house (mind you I have no dishwasher). I did a good deal of laundry, unfortunately it has to be put up now! I'm quite certain I would have finished the laundry entirely except to find out that something is up with the washer--boo--and it is leaking a bit of water (nothing huge--yet).

I made dinner...tacos, refried beans, spanish rice, tea, and made from scratch chocolate chip cookies! AND almost all of the ingredients minus the tea, splenda, meat, cheese, and sugar came from the box sale. I got the taco shells, refried beans, spanish rice, chocolate chips, flour...at the $6 box sale! So lets just say that the entire dinner was CHEAP! And there are tons of cookies leftover and tortillas for chicken enchiladas another day! Hallelujah!

I collected the things of M's that were scattered around the house and was amazed at how many things there actually were, and dumped them in her room intending to tackle that cleaning project another day, but hey, why not now. So her room is almost clean except for hanging up a few things.

Tomorrow I'm excited to say that hopefully baby boy will have some semblance of a room. Mom says she's at my disposal for getting that ready and you know I'm anxious! Ready to get my nest in order. So, hopefully I actually have something to report tomorrow!

Still amazed at ALDI prices on milk and other things. Because money is tight right this minute I opted for the frozen juice instead of in the plastic containers. I found 100% apple juice that reconstitutes to 64 oz (the normal size of the plastic containers) for a mere 89 cents. yahoo! so we got two and one milk at $2.85 Love ALDI...or should I saw I re-love it! ha!

Not According to Plan

This is going to be one of those posts that I am sure I will hate tomorrow, but here is the deal...things did not go according to my plan today! I laugh at myself even as I type that cause Who's plan is it really anyway.

Yeah I know. But here goes. The one day M is sound asleep and not waking up early, I have to wake her up early to get her ready for school quickly so that we can have b'fast with daddy before he goes out of town. We still run late, so she is at school late. I'm way behind on getting ready for the amazingly overscheduled day ahead. I finally shower but don't really get to fix my hair. ugh. I'm thinking I'll get the chance later but never really do.

I rush out the door to get J to work to meet his ride to the airport, something I hadn't planned on doing which threw kind of a wrench in one of my later plans (a birthday surprise for him). Then realized I would need some kind of lunch snack to get me through my facial that was scheduled at noon till about 1:30. Then I'm in a mad rush to get home, pack up a bunch of things for the surprise--my hair is a mess now cause of the way she did the facial. The facial was nice, but not very relaxing really cause the gal talked the entire time, left the light on bright, no music...It was her first day back after like 4 weeks. At least it was good conversation, but I think I could really have used relaxation more at this point.

So I'm packing up stuff to go to the surprise and can't find much of what I need (never can when you are in a hurry). My mom came to help and thank goodness she did cause M was in a bit of a wild mood and was pretty hard to keep up with. In the end, I was a bit disappointed with both the decision that I had to make ALONE (not good at this anyway), I wasn't as thrilled with some of the product or the price. I may just be being hard on the whole thing cause I'm pregnant.

Then off to dinner where in my bro reports that he's been laid off! what! geez! AND my mom is obviously equally tired and none to thrilled about watching M any longer. I scarf down dinner in the midst of trying to maintain some semblance of order with my 2 year old. Mom and dad SURPRISE head back out of town cause they have to be back...wasn't expecting that.

At this point I am physically and emotionally worn out and have no relief cause I know that I'm am going it alone cause J is out of town for the next 4 days AGAIN. I'm on the verge of tears due to exhaustion, fatigue, pregnancy, loneliness, you name it. Get M to cooperate long enough to head for the shower/bath together, and do the bed time routine. Put her to bed (taking me far too long really), and realizing that one blankie may have been left at the mall and that I forgot to brush her teeth. Now it is 9pm and I'm too tired to dry my own hair before I go to bed.

That is just too much for a gal this pregnant! Thankfully I had the help that I did. Anticipation does sometimes let you down though. Things can't always be as we would like. Hopefully in the end it'll all work out perfectly!

I need a break. So, night night.

$40 + haircut!

Yikes! Ya'll know how "frugal" I am. I was in desperate need of a haircut, but could go a bit longer without a color job. So I thought I'd just go to the gal I usually get my hair done with and just do a cut. That shouldn't be too bad. Now, bear in mind that I dont usually pay to have my hair done, cause I find it hard to spend 100 dollars on myself. But my mom gets fed up with my hair before I do (which is nice to have someone looking out for me! ha!). And often she foots the bill.

I know...I'm a grown woman and I should absolutely be paying for my own hair. I'm aware. Anywho, so I go in for the haircut. I have cash in hand thinking I have plenty to pay for hair and tip and have some leftover for my eyebrows. Ha! I paid for my hair and tip and had $5 leftover. Not enough for a splurge on eyebrows!

So what do we think? To get a really good haircut, is this a good price?! I did the shampoo, cut, and style--LOVE IT BTW! Just curious if I was on another planet thinking it'd be about $25.

Check out my new digs!

Seriously, I made these pant on a whim. didn't have much to lose as I wouldn't have worn them as is, so I tried to alter them. They would have looked different in my mind (the opening will be on the outsides of the legs next time), but they still turned out really cute! I'm offering to do something similar on TeederToddlers if you wanna check it out. Otherwise, I just wanted to show my readers the fun maternity pants I get to wear for a little while longer. Thanks to MIL for buying me the pants at her local yard sale! A little ingenuity gave me another pair of maternity pants...and very posh too I might add. M calls them fancy pants!

New Orleans Box Sale Meal

Couldn't think of anything to make for dinner. Had to be chicken cause that was the only thawed meat in the house. Nothing sounded spectacular to me, AND I had a time crunch cause we had a long morning which led to a late nap, which led to a late wake up time, so dinner preparation was crunched.

I look in the pantry, see the box of Tony's Cacheres Red Beans and Rice so that sounds pretty good. And us being from New Orleans, I knew that J would like that. Wish I had some sausage to put in it, but had to make due with chicken.

Boil the one large chicken breast for about 20 min. whilst preparing the red beans and rice. Get that going and decide to add more rice cause I like it thick, not soupy. When the chicken is ready I cut it up and put it in to simmer with the rest of the seasonings for the remainder of its cook time.

Then...what goes with red beans and rice. Well, greens, of which I have none. AND corn bread. Now this I can do! I've never made cornbread in the iron skillet before but it is my favorite way, so I decide to give it a try. I pull out the package of Martha White Corn Meal that I also got at the box sale. I follow the recipe and voila! It comes out perfectly!

M helped the whole time which I enjoy but find somewhat frustrating when I'm in a bit of a hurry. Still I know she loves to cook with her mom so I really can't complain.

Then I had to make tea, cause you can't have that kind of cooking without tea! wish I'd had something green, but oh well. Good thing we do vitamins! Ha!

Seriously, when all is said and done I swear the entire meal cost less that $2 total AND we had left overs! alot! So hey I fed my family for about a dollar tonight! That's what I'm saying. Course you'll have to add in the hot dog that M opted for after trying the red beans and rice. I was proud cause at least she tried it...and several bites too.

Saving Money

It's stocking up time again for us. We aren't picky about shampoo around here...I mean not too picky. We don't use prell cause I've felt softer brooms than my hair after using it. We don't use Pantene cause my hair looks and feels fantastic after the first use and then proceeds to looking like a wet noodle. But besides those two, we aren't picky. BUT what I have found is that VO5 tends to be the best bang for the buck. Even if we have to buy some in a pinch cause we forgot, it tends to run around a buck!

RIGHT NOW IT IS ON SALE AT CVS FOR 65 CENTS! This is as cheap as I've ever seen it! I usually buy it when it hits what I consider rock bottom at 77 cents! Ha! I will be stocking up ASAP.

I hit the box sale again on Saturday--thank you bro for going with me. K and I went together since I am nearly 30wks pregnant and shouldn't be lifting. J stayed and watched M and my SIL stayed and watched their son, whom we call on this blog "Cuz".

It was a little crazier than I remember even the last time I went! I swear, when they reminded us of the rules and then said go, people actually ran down the aisle! What?! Still, K and I got a box each. Not as many canned veggies as I needed and not too much cereal, but some. I always look for certain things...juice, fruity snacks, diapers, cereal, canned veggies. That's really about it. then everything else is extra. If we have room in our pantry, I will likely go back in about a month. It's every two weeks provided the weather holds since it is outside. I'll be out of town 2 weekends from now (yahoo!), but that's alright. Take advantage of this! There is usually a lot of baking type things like flour, cornmeal, baking soda, chocolate chips.......the list goes on.

I went to ALDI tonight to get the bare minimum to get through till payday Monday night. It was awesome. I've been on a Bloom kick cause I like doing the scanner myself as I go. That keeps my tally running with tax and all, but the prices are significantly more than ALDI and/or Walmart. Still I use the $10 off coupons and that has helped. I bought a gallon of milk for $2.85! That is amazing! seriously! it's $4 and something at bloom! What?! O.K. so I may have to make my switch back. I mean, everyone would like their money to buy them more things.

My friend over at itsamomthing reminded me of a very awesome site to check out if you haven't already www.moneysavingmom.com She mostly deals with CVS deals, which is great for me since I can walk across the street to do this shopping! check this out if you haven't already.