The other side

So, I’ve whined quite a bit (mostly in my head, but still) about all of the thankless jobs that I do around here. I get so frustrated because nothing that I do lasts at all. The kitchen will have to be cleaned tomorrow, the laundry, the grocery shopping, etc, etc, etc.  I tend to be pretty envious of my dear husband for some of the jobs he does because they are noticeable and they last. The lastest example is our floors. He has busted his butt to rip out the carpet in our house and install new laminate floors. The job is dirty, backbreaking and exhausting, but it also has the thrill of doing something yourself and everyone walks in and “Ohs” and “Ahs” over this incredible accomplishment.  This Sunday, however, I took note of all of the thankless jobs that my husband does. He finished the floor in his closet, went to Lowe’s, picked me up my Sunday papers, installed the grid in my second garden, replaced the broken toilet seat and changed out all of the burnt out light bulbs in our house (which was most of them). It occurred to me that no one was going to walk into his closet just to admire the floor or walk out of the bathroom and congratulate him on an amazingly placed toiled seat or walk into the house and exclaim, “Wow, you did a great job lighting the place today!” So thanks, babe, for all the things that you do. I really appreciate it!

Why I’m always tired..

I had several optional titles for this post like, “why I always feel like a chicken with my head cut off” or “Why it feels like I never accomplish anything” or just, “A Day in the Life of a Tired Mom”. I’ve experienced a lot of frustration lately by how exhausted I always feel and how messy the house always is, so I decided to log my activity for a day, if for no other reason than to remind myself of all that I do accomplish on a regular basis. (Even if no one else can tell!)

Emptied the diaper genie, took out the trash, fixed Tori’s milk, let the dogs out of their kennels, changed Tori, changed Taryn, Nursed Tarn, Fixed Tori more milk, Fixed Taryn breakfast, Watered the garden, Fixed Tori breakfast, Changed Tori, Emptied the dishwasher, Sorted clothes, Put a load on to wash, Put up Tori’s clean clothes, Cleaned off the dining room table, Put up a load of clothes, Put a load on to wash, Picked up the living room, Picked up the media room, Put load of clothes up, Put load on to wash, Picked up the Kitchen, Put a load of clothes up, Put load on to wash, Changed Taryn, Picked up the master bathroom (which was FULL of stuff dumped from the bedroom while the floors were being done), Picked up the girls room, Changed sheets on both of the girls beds, Put up load of clothes, Put load on the wash, Changed Tori, Organized coupons, Went to the store, Went to Petco, Changed Taryn, Unloaded groceries and put away, Fixed both girls dinner, Fed Taryn, Changed the girls for bed, Nursed Taryn, Shaved both dogs, Took a shower and some benadryl and CRASHED!!!

That was my day. Granted, I don’t groom the dogs or go to the store everyday, but I do generally feel like I go and go and go and it doesn’t really matter because most of the things that I do are things are going to have to be done the next day and the next and the next.

The good news is that I’m taking today off! The hubby is working from home today and I am hightailing it out of here. The last time I had a day off it was back in November when I went to RenFest, so I am very excited. I’m getting a long overdue pedicure and then I’m going to have a nice lunch somewhere (possibly alone, but that’s ok) and then I’m going to the movies. Not sure what I’m seeing, but its not really important.

Friday Fill in

Sorry, I haven’t posted in so long. My blog is a little young for me to abandon it so quickly (even if temporarily), but I’ve been in a funk. Thanks to wynk for giving me an easy post to get back in the groove.

1. I love springtime in Texas! (Especially since my new garden is doing wonderfully!)
2. Coffee and biscotti are foods I love to eat for breakfast. (The biscotti is rare, but the coffee is everyday)
3. It seems I’m always searching for a purpose.
4. Snuggling is a great way to end the day.
5. I think I need a nap!
6. My grandmother’s cocoa and biscuits is what I’ve been craving lately.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to shopping with my sister and mom, tomorrow my plans include a wedding shower in Lake Jackson and Sunday, I want to enjoy my visit in Beaumont with the in-laws.

CVS sales- stock up on baby stuff!

Total Value: $122.74

Total OOP: $6.43

Saved $116.31 or 95%

Spent 49.45 in ECB; Made 38 in ECB

Great shopping day!

TOTAL OOP: $21.64!!

Total Value: $126.13

Total Saved: $104.49 or 83%

(and I made $6.79 ECBs and a coupon for free cereal!)

First I went to CVS

1st transaction

2 6-packs Glucerna Shakes @ 10.49 each

Used 2 $10 off coupons from the Glucerna website. (See Money Saving Mom for details)

Paid 98 cents OOP

Made $4 ECB!

2nd transaction

5 CVS Rapid Release Pain 24ct capsules (April deal)

1 Chocolate Bar (random filler)

1 Charms Blow pop (random filler)

$4/20 CVS coupon (just register or update your email at cvs.com)

Used 14.97 ECB+ 2.00 ECB + 19 cents OOP

Received $19.95 in ECB (made 2.79 in ECB)

Walgreens

1 box Glucerna Cereal @ 4.49

2 Softsoap handwashes @ .99 each (with instore coupon)

Used $1.50 coupon for the cereal from a sticker on the top of the shakes that I bought at CVS

Used $5 Register Rewards

Walgreens owed me a dime after the transactions

Received a coupon for a free Glucerna cereal and a coupon for 1.50/2 shakes, bars or cereal

Then I went to Kroger.

They are having a great sale where if you buy 10 participating products, then you get $5 off at the register (with a limit of 3 instant rebates per transaction)

Everything shown except the eggs and packages of chicken were included in that sale.

1 carton of eggs

2 packages Tyson boneless chicken breast (Kroger sale- Buy 1 Get 1 Free + $1.00/1 from SS 1/06)

4 packages Betty Crocker Pouch Cookie Mix ( 4 $.50/1 from 3/16 SS)

3 boxes Betty Crocker Muffin Mix (3 $0.50/1 from 3/16 SS)

3 Pilsbury Crescent Rolls 4-5 count (3 $.30/1 from 3/16 SS)

2 Pilsbury Pizza Crust + 1 French Loaf (2 $.50/2 from 3/16 SS)

4 Pilsbury Buttermilk Biscuits 4 count (2 $.30/2 from 3/16 SS)

1 Excedrin Extra Strength 10 count (1 $2.00/1 from 3/2 RP *my kroger does not allow overage so this counted as $1/1)

2 New York Texas Garlic Toast ($.40/1 from1/27 RP)

1 Keebler Fudge Shoppe ($.40/1 from 4/6 RP *came in the mail yesterday)

4 Kraft Block Cheese

4 Peter Pan Peanut Butter 18 oz.

Kroger savings: $28.11

Coupons: $24.70

Kroger Bonus Coupons: $8.00

Total Savings: $60.81

Total Paid: $20.57

March CVS Wrapup

Total Value: $816.91

Total OOP: $104.04

Total Saved: $712.87 or 87%

All in all, it was more out of pocket than I would have preferred to have spent, but I didn’t “figure it out” until about halfway through them month. Still, $26 a week isn’t bad for diapers, wipes, toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and everything else.

I’d love to hear your stats if you track them!

Hours later and I’m still giggling about it

In my never ending quest to lose weight, I have discovered a new exercise class that I actually enjoy. The class is called Zumba and its a blast. The class is latin dance with a hip hop feel, its fast paced and feels more like club dancing than exercising. When I first started, I loved the music, but I felt like an idiot because I couldn’t keep up and I was all over the place. You have to understand, coordinated I am not. I’m the type of person that trips on nothing and falls on my face. I’ve always felt too tall and gangly and when I dance, I feel like my body is not really under my control- my limbs are flailing all over the place and I tend to look like this woman (just not so skinny!) I finally found a system for enjoying this dance class, though. I found a really big pillar and I make sure to position myself behind it so that I can’t see my spastic movements and I try to pretend that I look like the instructor (coordination-wise and body-wise; she’s hot!) and that I’m at home dancing in my living room. This allows me to have fun and let loose and get a really good workout. After class yesterday, the other women and I were all talking and one woman actually asked if I had previous dance experience! HA! HAHAHAHA! Yup, still makes me giggle. Apparently dancing like no one’s watching makes up for looking like Elaine on Seinfeld.

Gotta love free diapers!

It’s a great time to stock up on Pampers!

Total Value: $40.50

OOP: $0.54

ECB earned: 4.99

There are several Pampers coupons floating around. There were a couple in the P&G insert from 3/2. Also, if you buy Cheerios there is a $1.50 coupon on the back. (Randall’s has an in store coupon for 4/$4 General Mills cereals, so if you use that you can make $2.00 by buying cereal!) If you sign up at Pampers.com they will send you coupons in the mail (probably not in time for this deal, but they are always good to have on hand). Even without coupons, $8.99 for a package of diapers or pullups isn’t bad especially combined with ECBs!

My mall shopping trip

When you have 2 young kids, you hardly ever go to the mall. I brought Taryn in for her 8 month pictures (they’ll be up as soon as I can scan them!) and I did a little shopping for myself while I was there. Here’s what I got.

At Libby Lu, I got a free Hanna Montana CD for my cousin thanks to this coupon. At Bath and Body works, I spent around $3 on some travel body spray for me and used this coupon to get a free gift bag worth $10. At Victoria Secrets, I bought myself some sparkly eye shadow and eye liner on sale for $10 and received a full sized body scrub thanks to this coupon. Have I mentioned that I love coupons?

Absence makes the heart grow fonder…

Oh, how I love CVS. Let me count the ways… Or at least show you my deals for today! I enjoyed my week off, but it was nice to get back to making money for getting free stuff today!

7 Softsoap Spa Bodywashes

1 Cayenne Pepper

(In two transactions- used 3 ($1.00/1 Softsoap from 3/9 SS) and 4 ($1.50/1 Softsoap from 3/30)+ 2(5/15 CVS coupons)

OOP: $0.00

ECB spent: 16.81

ECB Earned: $34.93 MADE $18.12

3rd trip (not shown)

2 Softsoap Spa Bodywashes

2 boxes Cheez-It

used 1 (5/15 CVS coupon)

OOP: $1.99

ECB spent: 8.99

ECB earned: 12.98 MADE $2.00!