I have totally fished out snacks while cooking to deter the screaming fit my toddler has just to cook in a more peaceful environment (it's still not peaceful, but it is a step closer).
I have let my kids fall asleep in their day clothes.
I suck at teaching my kid math. His dad helps.
I haven't done my own nails in about 6 months.
And I generally just feed my toddler off my plate. She hardly eats anymore so it's easier. She does the bird thing where she eats all day long but never in big portions. I figure it's fewer dishes.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Confession Time
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Love it when they sleep
Okay. My oldest is six. And I still look down at him sleeping and think, "awww... look at him being so peaceful." Though I admit it is easier to admire the newest baby (who is now 16 months old) when she is konked out since she looks like a baby doll.
But when both the kids pass out and it's a decent hour, my husband and I celebrate. We watch them sleep for a minute than watch a movie or talk about random things or whatever.
I am one of those people who gets the most done past sundown. I run around all day picking up disasters, cooking things, homeschooling one, and playing games. I also still have a milk monster who nurses more when she teethes which seems like a lot.
So when the kids are out, it's easier to convarsate without interruptions, to actually organize something without little hands trying to get into it, to finish a craft involving paint, and to watch a movie about a president killing vampires.
But at least once a night, I watch my kids sleep for a few minutes just to see how much they have changed in a day.
Friday, November 16, 2012
A small brag
Okay. My oldest son turned six a few days ago. In light of his growing older and this whole "one thankful post a day" craze on Facebook, I have been thinking a lot about my husband and how much we have all grown in the last eight years we have known each other.
As many of you know, my husband has TBI amongst other things. Part of his TBI is the inability to remember. I never know if he will remember what we ate for lunch or what day it is or even what movie we watched. We joke about it quite a bit. Everyone we know jokes about it to some extent. Amazingly enough, the only area he has never forgotten anything is medicine. Now he used to write himself reminders to call a patient back or test their blood or whatever else medical assistants did, but the moment I read a post on cafemom that asked about a sick child or got a text from a friend at midnight, he knew what the diagnosis was. Then he would look it up to be sure since he is anal like that and he would be right. The only areas I know better than him are the homeopath areas because they do not teach it in the military AND he had no interest until he saw the affect medicine had on people when they abused it.
Now, it used to be whenever I joked about my husband at all, he would get upset. Common response from your average man. He was taking it as a disrespect and to be honest it may have been. He would also get so upset at me reminding him of things. I never thought anything of it. In fact, that was so hard when he started forgetting things. I used to be so scared that he would take our son to the store then forget he brought him and leave him there. You can ask my husband. Well, he may have forgotten... (see, even the jokes come in here).
But now, while I have to remind him of everything, maybe not everything, my husband no longer gets upset. He really does see it as just reminders.
My husband reallyis my rock. My forgetful and sometimes "duck and cover" rock, but my steadfast rock.
Someday I will write a book about him, or about me dealing with his challenges he had gotten from being in the military, or about our marriage and the crazy road we have gone down...
To the bragging part- he has an interview to medical school! My crazy forgetful husband who has a brain for medicine like Dr. House may be a doctor soon. He still has to decide. Whether or not he goes, I am so proud of him. I knew he would get the interview, but it still validates to the world what I have known all along.
I know, this blog is a little all over the place. But I have been mulling over the news since he told me and have been trying to decide what I should say... Still haven't decided.
As many of you know, my husband has TBI amongst other things. Part of his TBI is the inability to remember. I never know if he will remember what we ate for lunch or what day it is or even what movie we watched. We joke about it quite a bit. Everyone we know jokes about it to some extent. Amazingly enough, the only area he has never forgotten anything is medicine. Now he used to write himself reminders to call a patient back or test their blood or whatever else medical assistants did, but the moment I read a post on cafemom that asked about a sick child or got a text from a friend at midnight, he knew what the diagnosis was. Then he would look it up to be sure since he is anal like that and he would be right. The only areas I know better than him are the homeopath areas because they do not teach it in the military AND he had no interest until he saw the affect medicine had on people when they abused it.
Now, it used to be whenever I joked about my husband at all, he would get upset. Common response from your average man. He was taking it as a disrespect and to be honest it may have been. He would also get so upset at me reminding him of things. I never thought anything of it. In fact, that was so hard when he started forgetting things. I used to be so scared that he would take our son to the store then forget he brought him and leave him there. You can ask my husband. Well, he may have forgotten... (see, even the jokes come in here).
But now, while I have to remind him of everything, maybe not everything, my husband no longer gets upset. He really does see it as just reminders.
My husband reallyis my rock. My forgetful and sometimes "duck and cover" rock, but my steadfast rock.
Someday I will write a book about him, or about me dealing with his challenges he had gotten from being in the military, or about our marriage and the crazy road we have gone down...
To the bragging part- he has an interview to medical school! My crazy forgetful husband who has a brain for medicine like Dr. House may be a doctor soon. He still has to decide. Whether or not he goes, I am so proud of him. I knew he would get the interview, but it still validates to the world what I have known all along.
I know, this blog is a little all over the place. But I have been mulling over the news since he told me and have been trying to decide what I should say... Still haven't decided.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Amber Teething Necklaces
I am in love. They are cute and functional and ones made for children are made with safety in mind.
They work wonders.
Not everyone agrees. We were not going to buy one at all. We heard about them but since we had never heard of them before The Raspberry joined us, we were hesitant. But her teeth started coming in and our favorite homeopathic remedies we used with our son were not working. We refused to buy any brands with chemicals because she is our baby and we are pretty anti-chemical (unless it's mohair dye). But then people we knew in real life started having their babies wear them and we asked tons of questions. One friend had a spare to get rid of and our baby girl was happy again within a few hours of it being put on.
So does science back it up? Strictly speaking, no. No one has done any major studies. However, I will recommend this to anyone who hylands teething tablets do not work for.
Sadly, ours has lost it's juice. It happens. Glad to say those teething tablets work now. I still want a new necklace.
They work wonders.
Not everyone agrees. We were not going to buy one at all. We heard about them but since we had never heard of them before The Raspberry joined us, we were hesitant. But her teeth started coming in and our favorite homeopathic remedies we used with our son were not working. We refused to buy any brands with chemicals because she is our baby and we are pretty anti-chemical (unless it's mohair dye). But then people we knew in real life started having their babies wear them and we asked tons of questions. One friend had a spare to get rid of and our baby girl was happy again within a few hours of it being put on.
So does science back it up? Strictly speaking, no. No one has done any major studies. However, I will recommend this to anyone who hylands teething tablets do not work for.
Sadly, ours has lost it's juice. It happens. Glad to say those teething tablets work now. I still want a new necklace.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Organization
Okay, admittedly, most of my house is unorganized right now. Also, it's always a little unorganized. My husband says it's messy and I say it's lived in... Normally, it's not that bad. I have two or three hotspots as the Flylady calls it.
However, since Raspberry came along, my house is always on the verge of us wishing a tornado came through so someone else could clean it. Flylady has been wonderful, but she should teach my baby girl about the fifteen minute rule.
Okay, back to organizing... I totally love organizing things. I find peace in seeing a mess, envisioning something, buying the stuff I need, and making it all fit.
My hall closet is not very big. It's my utilitarian closet holding everything from meds to towels to shampoo to toilet paper. As I started couponing, my needs of space have expanded. My hall closet used to fit more including sheets and blankets, but alas I moved those. It started getting to where after a shopping trip, my hubs and I threw stuff in there and shut the door quick. Stuff would clatter and fall and I would pray it stayed closed as my raspberry demanded her next meal.
So I did it. I opened the closet and looked at my disaster. I stared and wondered how more boxes could help. And I googled it. Once again, hip2save rescued me. She showed how she used a shoe organizer to do create space. I love those things! I have 4 now, and one is dedicated to yarn alone.
So a Walmart trip and a morning later, I hung my fourth shoe organizer on the closet door and emptied one shelf. I tossed all things that were expired and not used in years. I started filling my shoe organizer with toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoos, deodorants, etc. I even organized all meds except my husbands which were already in a box. It's awesome. Almost three weeks later and still organized.
I want to start in on another area, but am awaiting my hubs orders as to what is next...
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Couponing: Organization
Okay, a lot people organize their coupons in different ways. I do what is most common, sort of.
I have two three ring binders. One huge one with the storage for pens and stuff. That is my main one. Inside that, I have dividers and baseball card holders. My dividers have 12 sections and I use 11 of them. Some people use more, some use less. My sections are as follows: Refrigerated goods, frozen goods, baking isle, cereal isle, seasonings, canned/boxed goods, ready to eat foods, beauty products, health products, cleaning products, and all else. Okay, so obviously yogurt goes in the fridge and chex goes in the cereal, but to make it easier, I have noticed that most stores keep a lot of items on the same isles. So you will find kids gummy snacks in the cereal isle, therefore in my binder it goes in the cereal section. Vitamins go in the health whereas deoderant goes in the beauty. Simple enough. You can find what works best for you if you decide to do this.
My other binder is much smaller. It's a five-star as well, but it doesn't zip, it's has a cloth edge where the bindings are, and it comes with paper and dividers. Two of the dividers have a thing so you can slide in normal papers and it has a part to hold 3x5 cards. Three of the dividers are kind of like manilla envelopes. I use the two dividers for when I prep and plan to go to a store. So I go through all of my coupons (I will explain this in the next post) and pick out what I am going to use. The printed list I make (you don't have to print) goes in the main part and the coupons all go in the 3x5 part. The other sections will be for store coupons. Such as Walgreens, Target, and restaurant coupons I get.
Another organization method I have seen is using one of the small old fashion organizers that fans out. They sell them now specifically for couponers or you can buy one for 3x5 cards or whatever. A lot of people in my town use those it seems like.
The last type of organization I have seen is the full on file holder. It's where you take a filing cabinet with several files. The drop in ones with the hooks are used for months. The individual files hold magazines and coupon inserts. The people use them put the name and date on them.
The only thing I can stress to help cut back on time when going through this is to keep a master list. If you have a gadget handy, there are apps to store information. I have a coupons app on mine (not the coupons.com app which will let you browse and send coupons to your e-mail) that tells me when mine are going to expire or have expired. It seems like a hassle, but believe me, this saves time. I'm not sure if you need to do this if you do the huge filing cabinet, but I would assume most do. There's also excel or just a piece of paper.
All you really need is a way to glance quickly at said list and see if you have a coupon. It's so much easier than seeing an unadvertised sale and flipping through your binder wondering where you put it. It's also much easier when you plan your outings and shaves some time off (it doesn't make completely easy).
I do this so when I have time at a store, I can bring in both binders and really browse. I also have the option of only looking for things on my list when things are tight. You don't need two binders. Everything works slightly different for everyone and you will get your groove after a few weeks (or in my case, a few months since I had to figure it out on my own).
I have two three ring binders. One huge one with the storage for pens and stuff. That is my main one. Inside that, I have dividers and baseball card holders. My dividers have 12 sections and I use 11 of them. Some people use more, some use less. My sections are as follows: Refrigerated goods, frozen goods, baking isle, cereal isle, seasonings, canned/boxed goods, ready to eat foods, beauty products, health products, cleaning products, and all else. Okay, so obviously yogurt goes in the fridge and chex goes in the cereal, but to make it easier, I have noticed that most stores keep a lot of items on the same isles. So you will find kids gummy snacks in the cereal isle, therefore in my binder it goes in the cereal section. Vitamins go in the health whereas deoderant goes in the beauty. Simple enough. You can find what works best for you if you decide to do this.
My other binder is much smaller. It's a five-star as well, but it doesn't zip, it's has a cloth edge where the bindings are, and it comes with paper and dividers. Two of the dividers have a thing so you can slide in normal papers and it has a part to hold 3x5 cards. Three of the dividers are kind of like manilla envelopes. I use the two dividers for when I prep and plan to go to a store. So I go through all of my coupons (I will explain this in the next post) and pick out what I am going to use. The printed list I make (you don't have to print) goes in the main part and the coupons all go in the 3x5 part. The other sections will be for store coupons. Such as Walgreens, Target, and restaurant coupons I get.
Another organization method I have seen is using one of the small old fashion organizers that fans out. They sell them now specifically for couponers or you can buy one for 3x5 cards or whatever. A lot of people in my town use those it seems like.
The last type of organization I have seen is the full on file holder. It's where you take a filing cabinet with several files. The drop in ones with the hooks are used for months. The individual files hold magazines and coupon inserts. The people use them put the name and date on them.
The only thing I can stress to help cut back on time when going through this is to keep a master list. If you have a gadget handy, there are apps to store information. I have a coupons app on mine (not the coupons.com app which will let you browse and send coupons to your e-mail) that tells me when mine are going to expire or have expired. It seems like a hassle, but believe me, this saves time. I'm not sure if you need to do this if you do the huge filing cabinet, but I would assume most do. There's also excel or just a piece of paper.
All you really need is a way to glance quickly at said list and see if you have a coupon. It's so much easier than seeing an unadvertised sale and flipping through your binder wondering where you put it. It's also much easier when you plan your outings and shaves some time off (it doesn't make completely easy).
I do this so when I have time at a store, I can bring in both binders and really browse. I also have the option of only looking for things on my list when things are tight. You don't need two binders. Everything works slightly different for everyone and you will get your groove after a few weeks (or in my case, a few months since I had to figure it out on my own).
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Couponing: How to Get Started
Okay, I am a jump all in a project, fail, and either change a few things or stop doing it all together type of gal. I have over the last couple of years learn to slow down. I am also not the type of girl to just do it without learning from tons of other people. I seriously use Google like it's a drug to find out information and I research everything from better ways to store yarn to seeing how people organize things like coupons.
I did the same thing when I started couponing. I already owned a printer, but I bought more ink. I set it up and I started printing things like a mad woman. But I didn't buy anything to organize it or figure out how to best use them. I just did it. I went to a few stores with all my coupons and literally went through each isle for hours before realizing that I was spending more money than before and some items with coupons were still more expensive than the store brand. I went back home and did more research.
I am still not perfect, but I have a system now. So, I am going to help those of you who have been asking me questions start couponing. Those who live near me can still actually see me do this in person or ask for me to help.
In order to coupon, you need coupons. Where do you get them? Well, pretty much everywhere. Here is a list of where I get mine:
coupons.com is a great starting point. You print them out. You can download their free app and send coupons to your e-mail to print out. You can get e-mails with new coupons they have. And they have a ton. When you get the e-mail, there are often several links, I would click on each one if you want multiples or to make sure that you can get certain ones IF YOU HAVE the time and patience. I usually just click on the link with an item I want at that moment and leave the rest alone.
Groceries you may have might have coupons on them. Also cleaning supplies sometimes come with coupons.
Facebook pages for favorite brands will often post coupons that you can either print out or they will mail it to you. Those go quick so don't be surprised if you see the tab and it's already empty.
Products websites also have coupons from time to time. Also, if you join their club (or whatever they like to call it) they will e-mail you telling you they have them available.
savingstar.com will send coupons directly to your membership card to selected stores. They work differently than other coupons. Rather than take the money off right then and there, they send it to you after the purchase has been made once you save over $5. We chose paypal since we already have that set up and we use it. Once you save up more than $5, they send you an e-mail and you click a button to have it sent.
Newspapers is another obvious way to go. Where I live, our towns newspaper does NOT have coupons. You can, however, find some in the major cities newspapers. I have heard of them being sold at local gas stations, but I have not actually wanted to wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to check it out. A friend here has several of those papers sent to her house and she sells the ones she doesn't use to friends. She has a whole system set up for it. I personally drive out to a city about half an hour away and buy one there every Sunday. This is an awesome store that I will talk about later, but I do my shopping while I am there as well.
All You Magazine (sold at Walmart only) also has coupons in it. You can actually open it up and one of the first pages has a list of the coupons available so you can decide if you want to buy one or more than one.
Stores websites that I use or their Sunday ad also have have coupons. These include Target, Walmart, Harris Teeter, and many more.
Tomorrow's post is going to be about how to store these coupons that you just printed or bought. There are many more places to get coupons, these are just the places I use to get coupons. Don't worry, you do NOT have to use every coupon you get. Oh, and if you want to, you can set up a seperate account to learn about deals and get coupons via e-mail. I didn't. But my e-mail does fill up rather quickly.
I did the same thing when I started couponing. I already owned a printer, but I bought more ink. I set it up and I started printing things like a mad woman. But I didn't buy anything to organize it or figure out how to best use them. I just did it. I went to a few stores with all my coupons and literally went through each isle for hours before realizing that I was spending more money than before and some items with coupons were still more expensive than the store brand. I went back home and did more research.
I am still not perfect, but I have a system now. So, I am going to help those of you who have been asking me questions start couponing. Those who live near me can still actually see me do this in person or ask for me to help.
In order to coupon, you need coupons. Where do you get them? Well, pretty much everywhere. Here is a list of where I get mine:
coupons.com is a great starting point. You print them out. You can download their free app and send coupons to your e-mail to print out. You can get e-mails with new coupons they have. And they have a ton. When you get the e-mail, there are often several links, I would click on each one if you want multiples or to make sure that you can get certain ones IF YOU HAVE the time and patience. I usually just click on the link with an item I want at that moment and leave the rest alone.
Groceries you may have might have coupons on them. Also cleaning supplies sometimes come with coupons.
Facebook pages for favorite brands will often post coupons that you can either print out or they will mail it to you. Those go quick so don't be surprised if you see the tab and it's already empty.
Products websites also have coupons from time to time. Also, if you join their club (or whatever they like to call it) they will e-mail you telling you they have them available.
savingstar.com will send coupons directly to your membership card to selected stores. They work differently than other coupons. Rather than take the money off right then and there, they send it to you after the purchase has been made once you save over $5. We chose paypal since we already have that set up and we use it. Once you save up more than $5, they send you an e-mail and you click a button to have it sent.
Newspapers is another obvious way to go. Where I live, our towns newspaper does NOT have coupons. You can, however, find some in the major cities newspapers. I have heard of them being sold at local gas stations, but I have not actually wanted to wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to check it out. A friend here has several of those papers sent to her house and she sells the ones she doesn't use to friends. She has a whole system set up for it. I personally drive out to a city about half an hour away and buy one there every Sunday. This is an awesome store that I will talk about later, but I do my shopping while I am there as well.
All You Magazine (sold at Walmart only) also has coupons in it. You can actually open it up and one of the first pages has a list of the coupons available so you can decide if you want to buy one or more than one.
Stores websites that I use or their Sunday ad also have have coupons. These include Target, Walmart, Harris Teeter, and many more.
Tomorrow's post is going to be about how to store these coupons that you just printed or bought. There are many more places to get coupons, these are just the places I use to get coupons. Don't worry, you do NOT have to use every coupon you get. Oh, and if you want to, you can set up a seperate account to learn about deals and get coupons via e-mail. I didn't. But my e-mail does fill up rather quickly.
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