Baby news

So I had my 30 week ob appointment this morning. Baby girl is still a girl. She is growing just like she should and is very active. Baby weighs just over 3 lbs--right where she should be for her gestational age. Currently she is breech--Dr isn't worried because I've got another 10 weeks until she is due and she will be a repeat Csection. Speaking of, I was hoping to get my CSection scheduled today, but I have to wait another 2 weeks to find out when my surgery will be. I was very disappointed with my sonographer at this appointment. I didn't get the lady I LOVE, I had the other girl who rushed through it and didn't explain anything. And she only gave me 3 pics this time! Very disappointing. I'm hoping to get the 3D pics I got today scanned to the computer this weekend and get them posted soon.

Kmart double deals

I feel like I hit the jackpot this week at Kmart. Here's a quick rundown of what I was able to get--and only paid $11 and some change out of pocket (total pre coupons was almost $100):
10 boxes of Special K cereal
3 boxes of Rice Krispies
2 boxes of Fruit Loops
4 bottles of 34 oz Ajax dish soap
5 bags of Temptations cat treats
2 bags of 10 count Tide Stain Booster packs
4 cans of cream of chicken soup
2 Speed Stick deoderants for Casey
2 boxes of Ziploc Evolve gallon size storage bags
a new toy puppy for Kaylin
I'm sure I'm missing something but can't remember what it might be. I ended up making 2 trips to Kmart this week as I had an extensive list of things to get for free.

Blogging

Mommy and Kaylin picking apples this past weekend



Baby girl's nursery (well, side of it)


Man, my time has really started slipping by me. I'm not sure where the last month has gone, but I'm going to try to get back into blogging. September has been a super busy month. Went to see Casey's family in Ohio for a few days, work, and preparation for baby's arrival in 9 weeks have really made the month FLY BY. Not to mention Kaylin's schedule. The nursery is about 99% completed now, just the finishing touches--a great feeling. Kaylin has activities Mon, Tues, and Fri mornings so these days just fly by. I'm also trying to work 2 days/week for the next few weeks to save some extra money/stock up on food & toiletries before baby's arrival.



I've started the journey of cloth diapering with Kaylin. Started with her in hopes of getting her interest in potty training more, but my plan has backfired. She just tells me "no" when I ask her if she needs to go and screams bloody murder when I try to get her to sit on the potty. Oh well, she is only 19 months old after all. Guess I need to get used to the thought of having 2 littles in diapers. My plan is to keep Kaylin in the cloth until she is potty trained and then switch baby to them--hopefully by the time baby is 5-6 months old (if not sooner).

Weekly shopping, part 2

So I finished my shopping for the week this morning. I did AWESOME if I don't say so myself. Kaylin was good, until we got to Meijer--ran into naptime and so she was very crabby.

My first stop was at KMart for double coupon deals. Unfortunately, being the end of the week the deals were slim, but I still managed to do awesome. Here's what I got 2 Secret deoderant sticks--$3.99 each, 2 AJAX 31 oz dish soaps--$1.99 each, 2 boxes Rice Krispies & 2 boxes Frosted Flakes--4/$9 promo, 1 Aveeno baby wash--$4.79. I had a $3/$20 KMart coupon for edibles/consumables, 2 $2 off Secret deoderant each doubled to $4 each, 2 $1 off AJAX dishsoap doubled to $2 each, 2 $1 off Rice Krispies doubled to $2 each, 1 $1 off any 2 boxes of Kelloggs cereal doubled to $2, and 1 $2 off any Aveno product doubled to $4. I ended up spending $1.53 OOP AND then got a $5 KMart gift card for the Kelloggs cereal promo. I did have some issues w/the promo, but the store manager ended up giving me the gift card after all and I didnt have to submit for the MIR. THANK YOU!!!!

My next stop was Target. Not a big list here, just needed razors. I did the buy 2 Venus Embrace razors get $5 GC deal. I got 2 razors @ $7.94 each, used 2 $2 off coupons. Bought 2 Satin Care shave gel and used 2 of my buy 1 embrace get a free shave gel. I also picked up 4 cups of single serve Honey Nut Cheerios @ $1 each and used 4 $1/1 coupons for them. My total OOP at Target was 12.75 and got a $5 GC back.

My last stop was Meijer for groceries. I managed to stay way under my $50 weekly budget and only spend $39.66 OOP. I am going to try to hit Meijer on Saturday to get some bananas as they will be $.29/lb.

So total for the weekly shopping was $66.15between both Kmart trips, Target, Shop N Save, and Meijer. I ended up saving in coupons alone $83.66. And I got $10 in gift cards between Target and Kmart.

what is wrong with our society

So I was at a local grocery store this evening on my way home to pick up some free milk and meat from last weeks Kraft foods deal and saw the most frustrating thing. The 2 women in front of me in the checkout lane had a cart full of crap--YES CRAP, Pepsi, frozen pizzas, and candy AND PAID FOR IT WITH A LINK CARD!!!! What is wrong with our society??? Shouldn't there be regulations on what public aid money can buy? Like healthy food, not CRAP. And it wasn't like they were women who had small children, probably in their 40's to 50's. I mean seriously??? I thought public aid was to benefit the public, not let people eat crap which has no nutritional value. I am all for food stamps, public aid FOR PEOPLE WHO REALLY NEED IT. Not for fat old women who are buying crap with it with NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE. Seriously....WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR SOCIETY?????

Kaylin had her 1st 'official' haircut today. My mom and I have been trimming her hair since she was probably 5 months old, but it was looking WAYYYY too much like a mullet and was in desperate need of a professional cut. Besides, daddy isn't always good at pulling her hair up and out of her eyes, so most days I worked I would come home and her hair would be to where she couldn't see. Poor child. So she and I went and had our hair cut today. My wonderful hair stylist, Karen, did an awesome job with her. Kaylin is now sporting bangs and what resembles a bob cut. Unfortunately for me, Kaylin has been way too crabby to snap any pics of the new cut today, so hopefully in the next day or two, she is happier and I can pull the camera out and snap away. The sad thing is my baby doesn't look like a baby anymore. She now looks like a big girl. Oh well, I guess she can't stay little forever.

Free Groceries

So I made a quick run to Shop N Save tonight to get my $25 worth of free groceries thanks to Kraft Foods. I am going to make 2 more stops this week for another $25 each trip as my mom still works and can have personal mail delivered to her job. She has graciously agreed to let me send a MIR to her at work as well as one to my dad at my parents house. Who pass up $75 worth of free groceries?
I'm also trying to work on some Kelloggs deals as they have a buy 10 in participating items, get a $10 MIR. I just found out today that Morning Star products are included in the deal, so I'm thinking I'll be able to get some very cheap protein using my coupons and MIR.

Baking Day 1 & 2 (part 1)

So I have made 5 loaves of zucchini bread, and a zucchini oatmeal cake. I have another zucchini to pick up from work today and will be slowly baking with on my next few days off. Kaylin was such a big helper today, stirring and mixing ingredients for the bread.

Baking Day

So my wonderful manager gave me an enormous zucchini yesterday so I have proclaimed today BAKING DAY at my house. I probably have close to 8 cups of shredded zucchini--yes all from 1 zucchini--to use. We are going to make 2 loaves of zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, and a zucchini oatmeal cake. Depending on where I am with the zucchini after those are baked I might make a chocolate zucchini cake as well. Thankfully my mom is in town to help with the baking/cleanup/Kaylin entertainment departments. I'll post a pic of the zucchini as well as what we bake with recipes for each later today.

Baby

So I had my 22 week appt yesterday w/the obstetrician. Had another sonogram since baby wasn't big enough at my 18 week appt to see if she was indeed a boy or girl, IT'S A GIRL!!! I'm so thrilled. The office was very busy when I went in yesterday afternoon so I had to wait until after I saw doctor for the sonogram, but it was well worth the wait. Karen, the sonographer I LOVE, didn't have an appointment for awhile so she asked me if she cared if she just 'played around' with me. Heck no, she spent a good 20 plus minutes doing ultrasound. Do you really think I was going to pass up seeing my new little one? She sent me home with a ton of pictures of baby girl. I've got a few posted on facebook but not all of them. It was so amazing to see the baby moving on the screen. And I was able to find out what body parts I am feeling when I feel all the movement because Karen showed me exactly how baby girl is lying. Right now she is kinda transverse. Her head is on my right side w/her feet tucked up. Her butt is on my left side, which I figured because I can feel that pushing up into the top of my uterus A LOT. I've got little hands and feet on the right side, which makes sense to all the movement I have felt the last few weeks. This is most likely my last baby so I am enjoying and cherishing each and every moment I have being pregnant. This is why I was so excited yesterday when I got a LONG ultrasound session.

I go back to the doctor in 4 weeks, then after that appointment I'm already due for every 2 week appointments. Where has the time gone? Before I know it, it'll be the end of October and I'll be back to weekly appointments and then baby girl will be here.

I have a name picked out i absolutely love, but Casey told me last night he doesn't like it because it sounds like a lizard's name. I'm hoping I can talk him into liking it or loving it, after all I am the one carrying her, delivering her, and nourishing her now and after she is born. The name will be kept a surprise until baby girl is born so you will just have to be patient like I am for December.

Potty Training

We have been working on potty training, very casually, for the past few weeks. For who knows how long now Kaylin has wanted to be in the bathroom checking out what goes on, with me, Casey, my mom--pretty much anyone who would let her in the bathroom with her. About 6 weeks ago Kaylin started waking up from her nap dry. I decided to get a potty chair at that time so she could get used to sitting on it. We started, very casually. She started sitting on the potty in her clothes when someone was going to the bathroom, mostly me though as daddy doesn't sit on the potty. I decided a few weeks ago to have her sit on the potty w/o a diaper on before bathtime as she was in there with me as the tub filled up. When she started waking up dry from her naps I started thinking about getting 'serious' with her a bit more. Last week she woke up from bedtime (12 hours or more) dry. Thats when I decided, ok, we are going to sit on the potty first thing when she wakes up to see if we could get anything. She LOVES to sit on the potty. I have started sitting her on first thing in the morning, right after naps, and before bath time. We have had success the past 3 days at least once a day going in the potty. This morning I put her on the potty, told her lets go potty, started singing her song I made up,and she went on command (well I want to think on command). She then stood up, pointed in the potty, and had a look on her face like "look what I just did, aren't you so proud of me Mommy?" Hopefully I can have luck after naptime today as well.
I have been hoping for months that I could get her potty trained before December when her sister/brother comes along. Now I'm starting to think I can possibly have her out of diapers and only 1 in diapers at a time.

lol funny part 2

APPLICATION FOR A NIGHT OUT WITH THE GIRLS
Name of Girlfriend/Fiancé/Partner/Wife:
I’m going out.
Signed: (me) _____________________________

lol funny part 1

APPLICATION FOR A NIGHT OUT WITH THE BOYS
Name of Boyfriend/Fiancé/Husband:
I request permission for a leave of absence from the highest authority in my life for the following period:
Time of return
Date: Time of departure: NOT to exceed:
Should permission be granted, I do solemnly swear to only visit the locations stated below, at the stated times. I agree to refrain from hitting on or flirting with other women. I shall not even speak to another female, except as expressly permitted in writing below. I will not turn off my mobile after two pints, nor shall I consume above the allowed volume of alcohol without first phoning for a taxi AND calling you for a verbal waiver of said alcohol allowance. I understand that even if permission is granted to go out, my girlfriend/fiancé/wife retains the right to be pissed off with me the following week for no valid reason whatsoever.
Amount of alcohol allowed (units) Beer Wine Liquor Total
Locations to be visited
Females with whom conversation
is permitted
IMPORTANT – STRIPPER CLAUSE: Not withstanding the female contact permitted above, I promise to refrain from coming within one hundred (100) feet of a stripper or exotic dancer. Violation of this Stripper Clause shall be grounds for immediate termination of the relationship.
I acknowledge my position in life. I know who wears the trousers in our relationship, and I agree it’s not me. I promise to abide by your rules & regulations. I understand that this is going to cost me a fortune in chocolates & flowers. You reserve the right to obtain and use my credit cards whenever you wish to do so. I hereby promise to take you on an unlimited shopping spree, should I not return home by the approved time. On my way home, I will not pick a fight with any stranger, nor shall I conduct in depth discussions with the said entity. Upon my return home, I promise not to urinate anywhere other than in the toilet. In addition, I will refrain from waking you up, breathing my vile breath in your face, and attempting to breed like a (drunken) rabbit.
I declare that to the best of my knowledge (of which I have none compared to my BETTER half), the above information is correct.
Signed - Boyfriend/Fiancé/Husband:
Request is: APPROVED DENIED
This decision is not negotiable. If approved, cut permission slip below and carry at all times.
􀀅……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Permission for my boyfriend/fiancé/husband to be away for the following period of time:
Date: Time of departure: Time of return:
Signed – Girlfriend/Fiancé/Wife:
Location: From: To:
Location: From: To:
Location: From: To:

bad day

So the city counsel failed to pass the emergency ordinances to save 36 police jobs and 31 firefighter jobs tonight. They did this because they didn't want to use money allocated to build a 1/2 mile strip of new sidewalk to pay city employees. Now there will be over 100 city employees not reporting to work starting Sunday. If you live in Springfield CALL YOUR ALDERMAN AND COMPLAIN!!! This is a HUGE public safety issue. There will be firehouses closing, meaning an increase in response time for fires and medical emergencies. This means there will be less police on the streets, increasing response times to emergencies. And I'm sure an increase in crime in our city. I hope the 3 alderman who voted no because they want the 1/2 mile of sidewalk enjoy that sidewalk and can sleep at night knowing there will be over 100 people unable to pay bills, provide for their families, and help the city go further in debt by increasing the unemployment rate. All over 1/2 mile of sidewalk.
This means for me I have to go back to work full time starting Monday, not a thing I am looking forward to. I have a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach knowing I'm not going to be home with Kaylin every day like I have been these past 18 months. At least we are one of the lucky families who are able to get health insurance from other than my job or the job Casey just lost and that I can go back to work full time hours and provide for my family. I'm not supposed to be working full time, I'm supposed to be at home caring for my baby.

possibly more than free Morning Star Veggie patties at Target

There is a new $2/2 Morning Star Veggie patties coupon on www.target.com. Rumor has it they are marked under $2 a package at Target. I've got some (a ton) of $2/1 coupons I picked up a few weeks ago at Meijer making for some FREE veggie patties. Once I verify the actual price on the patties at the local Target I will repost about the sweet deal. And if it is indeed true, I'll share some coupons with anyone who would want them because I have over 10 and won't need that many boxes of veggie patties.

2009 Coupon Insert Schedule

http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/articles/2009-coupon-insert-schedule/

Found this while Kaylin is watching Barney and thought it could be helpful.

Future uncertainty

My day just went from bad to worse. So Casey got notice today he will be laid off as of July 25th. This is NOT what we need right now. This comes after I almost set the house on fire, TWICE cooking today. Needless to say I ordered pizza for dinner since I didn't want to use the stove or oven (which are still an absolute mess) and didn't want to succeed in burning the house down the 3rd time I cooked today.
The good thing is Casey thinks the layoff will not happen after all, and if it does, it will be very short term. I HATE our Mayor!!! As of the 25th if C loses his job, I get to go back to working full time hours and C gets to stay at home with K. Not a good situation for any of us. There is no way he can take care of her 4-5 days a week, he can't handle 2 days a week the way it is. I'm going to be a basketcase if I have to start working full time out of the house again because I haven't been away from Kaylin that much, EVER. And she's 17 months old now. I worked 32hrs/wk in June and THAT SUCKED. I don't want to have to work 40hrs/wk. I think I need some REALLY good chocolate after today.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful dads out there. Especially my own father, and my husband, wonderful father to Kaylin.
Kaylin made her daddy a stepping stone with her handprints in it. He won't get it until tomorrow since he is working today and we just made it today. I'm kinda behind on things. Woops.
Kaylin totally freaked out when I put her hands in the wet cement. Screaming the whole time and tears running down her face. Poor baby has such a mean mom. It was well worth it, and I cant wait to see what Casey says about it when he sees in in the morning.

I need to vent

So YEA! Our fence is finally being put up. But now we are having major drama with neighbors because of where our property lines really are as opposed to where people think they are. The 'weird' neighbors are okay about everything. The freaky man that does their yardwork actually mowed their lawn and not ours for once. The 'normal' and nice neighbors are kinda being butts about it though. Sorry. The guy who built the house they live in built an extra wide house on a not so wide lot. All the lots on our street are 60 ft wide and I swear the house next to ours is 40 ft wide. No kidding. Our normal neighbors have been mowing about 6 feet our our property since they moved in last year, even after we all measured the both properties to see where the lines really are. So now the posts are set and they are mad. The house they own is only like 6 or 7 ft from their property line. Ours is 14 ft from the propert line. We are having the fence put 6 inches or so INSIDE our line due to city regulations. They are throwing a fit because the posts are so close to their house. Well, too *%#^@(! bad that the guy who built the house built a house too big for the lot it's on!!!!!! They are saying there has to be 16 ft between houses due to city regulations. And there are about 21 or so feet between the houses. Sorry for your inconvenience, but I want my property that I am paying over 1 grand a month for back. I'll let you have a few feet but you can pay me some big bucks for it!!!

I feel better.

pampers deal at CVS

check out www.dealseekingmom.com for a STEAL on pampers starting tomorrow, June 7th at CVS. thanks Tara for the information on the sale.

My freakout

So Casey decided to inform me today that there is an extremely high chance of him being laid off because the City of Spfld is like some $9 MILLION dollars in deficit in the budget. So I'm totally freaking out about this because I NEED health insurance. I'm not so worried about the finances because I can work full time hours and bank some serious cash working per diem, but NOT a SINGLE insurance company is going to give me maternity coverage being pregnant. WTF will I do? Kaylin's birth was over $30,000 because she was a C Section and baby #2 will be the same. Where will I get that kind of money without health insurance??? We will lose EVERYTHING. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Please keep us in your prayers until our lovely mayor figures out what the heck he is doing with the budget.

Sarah

Update on big girl bed

Well Kaylin has been in her new bed for over a week now and is doing great. She's sleeping later and later in the morning in her room and is almost back to sleeping until 7 30. Now if only I could sleep in with her. Unfortunately I have been up for work at 6 30 all week, so today (my day off) I was up at 6 30. Ugghh. Oh well, I can't have everything. At least she is in her own room FINALLY

KMart to double coupons again

YEA!!!! I'M SUPER EXCITED. Kmart will have double coupons up to $2 again starting Sunday. Just in time for the new coupons for the month in the paper. I will definitely be buying 3-4 papers Sunday. check out hip2save.blogspot.com as she will have free deals from Kmart posted there by Friday.

Big girl bed

Kaylin's big girl bed was delivered on Tuesday. It's been a rough few days for us all since we got it. She doesn't like to go to sleep in it...she still wants to fall asleep in mommy & daddy's bed WITH mommy. I'm trying to do baby steps to get her used to falling asleep by herself in HER bed, NOT mine. I know with baby #2 he/she WILL NOT be in our bed and will cry it out even if I have to kick Casey out of the house to get him/her there. And I mean falling asleep on his/her own in his/her own bed.
I found the quilt I want for Kaylin's bed, I just have to be patient and wait for it to go on sale. Of course I couldn't find one at Target, or somewhere cheap. No, I had to fall in love with one from Pottery Barn. And of course when I found fell in love with it, it was on sale. But do you think it was on sale the next day when I showed it to Casey to get his approval. Oh, no, that would have been too easy and I refuse to pay full price AND shipping/handling costs to get it to my house. So here I sit waiting, patiently. And let me tell you, pregnant women DO NOT have much patience.

Well it's been way too long since I have been on here and done any posts. April and May have just gotten away from me. We were gone from May 1-12 in Florida for a much needed family vacation. We were crazy and decided to drive, yes, with a 15 month old. Kaylin did pretty well being stuck in the car for 2 days each way. We took her to Disney and she had a blast seeing all the characters. Unfortunately I did not get as many pictures on vacation as I would have liked to, but I didn't want to feel tied to the camera. When we got back from vacation we went and bought Kaylin a big girl bed as she is going to be a big sister this winter. We had intended to just buy the boxspring/mattress combo but found a daybed we LOVE so got that instead. I had every intention of putting the mattresses in our office for the summer for my mom to sleep on when she is up here in June babysitting for us, but oh well. Kaylin isn't consistently sleeping in her room yet so it will all work out. The new bed is being delivered tomorrow afternoon so I am very excited/frantic that I will have the office cleared out for the crib (which will become the new baby's room this winter) and will have all Kaylin's stuff moved around/furniture out by the time the new bed is delivered.

CVS and Kmart trip, round 1

I'll start off saying I didn't do as well as I would have liked to today on my trips but did pretty good still.
I started off at CVS and bought 2 Aveeno lotions for $6 each and 2 Aveeno night time lotions for $7 each. I also got a Crest toothpaste for $2.88. I had hoped to use a $10/3 and $2/1 Aveeno coupon but the $10/3 would not ring up for some reason. Thankfully I had 3 more Aveeno $2/1 coupons I was able to use. I used a $.75 off my crest toothpaste. I ended up spending $7.40 oop and making $12 in ECB's so ended up making money today--not as much as I had hoped to. Oh well.
Then it was on to Kmart. By the time I made it here Kaylin was getting crabby so I wasn't able to really use my time wisely. I ended up spending $46.32 oop but saved $45.06 with coupons and sale prices. Won't go over every thing I bought--just the good baby deals. Huggies and Pampers jumbo packs are on sale for $9.99 this week INCLUDING Huggies Overnights which I have NEVER seen on sale. This weeks paper (Chicago Tribune) had a $2/1 for the overnights so saved $4 on each pack. I scored some free Kotex pantyliners and free Quaker Rice Cakes. I had a $5/$50 purchase coupon from signing up for Kmart emails I used as well. I plan on making at least 2 or 3 more trips to Kmart this week to stock up on diapers. Huggies for $6.99 and Pampers for $7.99 is unheard of anymore.
I'm sure Casey will be thrilled at my stockpile of stuff. I thought about taking a picture of everything I got today but decided I didn't want to unpack stuff twice. Maybe next time.
Happy shopping this week!!

CVS week of 4/19

I've got a pretty good plan on making over $10 at CVS this week thanks to http://hip2save.blogspot.com and www.dealseekingmom.com . Check out these 2 blogs to see what kind of deals you can find. I'll post these when I post my Kmart deals Sunday or Monday.

K-Mart double coupons 4/19 to 4/25

So Kmart is having their double coupons deals again. And for once one of the Springfield stores (on Clearlake) is honoring this deal. I called the store today and spoke with the manager about the deal/stipulations. Here is the rundown. You can use manufactures coupons, both from newspapers/magazines/store AND internet printable coupons as well. They will double the price on the coupons up to $2/coupon. So a $2 off coupon becomes a $4 off coupon. You can only use 25 coupons/day. They have some good sale prices this coming week as well as every day prices. I am heading there tomorrow with a friend so I can use the most amount of coupons in the least amount of trips there. Check out http://hip2save.blogspot.com for the low down. Click on her link on the right side marked Kmart for the details and for a $5 off $50 purchase. I'll try to post tomorrow or Monday my deals that I score at Kmart this week. What a WONDERFUL way to stock up on stuff I need anyway for free or next to free.

Free Earthbound Farm Organic Tote

YEA! I tried to win one of these totes last week but wasn't one of the first 10,000 people. This week I was. Go here http://ebfarm.com/AboutUs/SustainYourselfSustainThePlanet/index.aspx to try to snatch one for yourself. Thanks moneysavingmom.com for the info.

Happy Easter

We had an absolutely amazing church service today. I had chills all over my body as I felt the spirit with us in the santuary. It was so awesome to see the church full of people celebrating the resurection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Thankfully Kaylin doesn't understand the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, etc yet as we dropped the ball with the Firefighters egg hunt. Casey swore up and down it was yesterday but when we got to the Lake Club yesterday we found out it was the weekend before. Glad we didn't have a disappointed little girl. Next year we will have to be more prepared.
God Bless on this day of celebration!

CVSing

I did pretty good at CVS this week thanks to the sales, coupons, and ECB's I had. I did 2 transactions to minimize my OOP this week. My first transaction was for Skintimate shave gel. It's priced at $3.49, get $3.49 back in ECB's. I paid with $2.99 ECB's and paid $0.54 OOP and got the $3.49 in ECB's back. My next transaction was for Huggies and Johnson & Johnson baby stuff. I had planned on buying 4 mega pack of wipes @ $5 each and using 4 $0.75 coupons but unfortunately the store only had 2. I picked up the 2 and also a jumbo pack of diapers for $10 (no coupon though). I also got a J&J bubble bath/body wash for $3 and used a $1 coupon and picked up another baby shampoo for $3 and used a $1.50 coupon. I had a $5 off $25 coupon, and $10.49 in ECB's. I ended up paying 7 OOP for 2 wipes, 1 diapers, and 2 body products. And I got $10 back for the baby product purchase and $1.50 from my winter spending. Not a bad day.

Big girl

She's deep in thought about something important I think. Or annoyed the camera is out once again. Not sure which it is. I think she is mad at me for what I have done to her life...

Must add blog

LOVE LOVE LOVE http://hip2save.blogspot.com. I think it's one of the best sites out there to help me find the freebies and next to free stuff. Check it out.

The look regarding going into the snow

Snow in March, Seriously?!?!?

So we woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland this morning. Nice, but IT'S ALMOST APRIL!!! Seriously. I want to be out in the yard planting flowers and mowing the grass. Not shoveling snow. And may I add, the snow is that wet, heavy stuff. It's now melting. At a rapid rate. And we are supposed to have rain all day Tuesday. Seriously. I'm pretty sure my basement won't be dry if we lose any power. Which I am afraid might happen with the 5 inches of snow that fell last night and more rain coming this week. Seriously. It's spring, not winter anymore.

Walgreens & CVS week

I did pretty good at Walgreens and CVS on Sunday. I did better at Walgreens. Bought over $20 worth of stuff and only paid $2.88 out of pocket and got $10 in RR back. Bought over $40 at CVS and paid $14ish out of pocket, but got $10 back in ECB's. I was out of ECB's so I can't complain about the CVSing this week. Check out www.moneysavingmom.com for all the Walgreen's and CVS deals for the week. Still have to make it to the grocery store and Target this week.

IT'S FINALLY NICE OUTSIDE!!! We haven't been inside much the past week because Kaylin loves to be outside. I mean LOVES. She throws a fit when we have to come inside. I'm keeping her inside this morning because I have to catch up on this and housework. I have a pile the size of a mountain of clean laundry that needs to be folded and put away. Ugghhh...I'd rather be outside too. Can't wait until I can start gardening again.

Couponing

So I have found some excellent coupons online this week. However, I'm sad because there was an article in our local newspaper SJ-R about stores not honoring internet coupons anymore. Here is the link to the article if you are interested---
http://www.sj-r.com/features/x2081097191/Kathyn-Rem-Internet-coupons-clipped.
I can say I will use internet coupons where I can until I am told by NO store in Springfield that they are valid anymore. I haven't done a lot of shopping this week, but have managed to get the following deals
Walgreens-6 jumbo packs Huggies diapers (various sizes) for $32 out of pocket. Got 2 catalinas for $10 each thus making each pack of diapers $5.33 each FOR HUGGIES!! used the following coupons $5/1 and $3/1 from www.coupons.com
Target--5 packs of Huggies wipes (184 count) for $5. Used 5 $5/1 coupons from www.coupons.com. Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo for $1.70. Used a $1.50 coupon that was mailed to me from the company some time ago that was getting ready to expire.
I have a few more coupons for the $5/1 that I plan on using at Target for more baby wipes, but I bought everything they had today with my coupons. You can only print a coupon 2 times per computer/printer so you may ask "how did she get so many?" I have lots of willing and able friends who printed some for me. I am now stocked up for a very long time on baby supplies. Yippie!!
Like Yo-Plus yogurt?
Heather at www.freebies4mom.com has a link on her site that enables you to print $1.50/1 and $1/1 for yo-plus. Usually runs $2/pack so this is a pretty good coupon, so I am hoping that some store has them on sale under this price before May so I can score free yogurt!
Be sure to check out www.babycheapskate.com for the link to Old Navy--they have a new thing where every Thursday you have the option of winning a pretty large coupon. This week (tomorrow) the coupons are rumored to be $75 off a $100 purchase and $50 off a $100 purchase. I'm going to hopefully stay up late enough tonight to try to score myself one of these big discounts so I can purchase some new summer clothing for the family.

So today has been a whirlwind and it's only 4 pm. Had to work this morning and then had my annual MD appointment this afternoon. I HATE HAVING TO WAIT 1 1/2 HOURS IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR A 5 SECOND EXAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a waste of my time. I could have been home with my tot and hubby but no, I couldn't. We are looking at getting a security system for the house because I just don't feel safe at home when Casey is working. I get home from above MD appointment and barely get time to change before the 1st guy gets here to look at the house. Not to mention that little Miss Thing hasn't napped since early in the day and is a tad bit CRABBY. NO crabby isn't the word to describe it. She was beyond tired by the time the guy left that she screamed for what seemed like eternity until her little lungs gave out and she fell asleep..Ahh peace and quiet. The house all to myself. No one to bother me, for at least an hour until she and hubby get up from the nap they are taking together. I'm going to take this time to do NOTHING......

March Weather

So we have officially had the 1st tornado in Springfield for the year. THANKFULLY it was on the west side of town and we live on the north side of town. Looking back the really scary thing is I was on the west side of town just before it hit, I mean JUST BEFORE. As I got home with Kaylin from church the sirens started going off. It was gorgeous at home so I couldn't figure out what was going on. Until Casey called and told me to get to the basement, there was a spotted tornado down over by where he is working today. Of course, the really severe weather only happens when he is at work and I am home with the baby and 2 cats. ALL ALONE. I ran over to my neighbor's house and Kyle was home thankfully and came over with his little dog Katie to keep us company. I am so glad it has been nice out because we all have cabin fever here, but can the storms just stay away for a while longer???

Free baby wipes--too good to be true???

There are some awesome coupons for Huggies products online--$5/1 gentle care product and $3/1 natural fit product. Target has their Huggies baby wipes on sale for $5.50 through today. I've heard rumors that people are able to use the $5 coupon on the wipes getting them for $.50 for the big packs. Wish me luck as I try this today. I'm running low on wipes and this would be an awesome way for me to stock up and save some major money. I'm patiently waiting for tomorrow to be here because rumor is Walgreens has Huggies diapers on sale for $10 a jumbo pack, spend $30 in Kimberly Clark (Huggies diapers, etc) and get $10 register rewards. I could use this sale to get 3 pack of diapers for $21 out of pocket and get $10 back--3 packs of diapers for $11!!! NO WAY!!!

500 pound diapers

So Kaylin has been sick since Tuesday and hasn't really been drinking much, especially at night. I took her to the pediatrician yesterday and found out she has an ear infection. I kinda knew this because the night before we ended up in the ED at 1 am. NOT what you want to be doing at 1 am, as you know if you are a mommy. The ED doc said he thought she was getting one, but didn't want to start her on anything because she didn't have one yet. Good thinking doc, because I would NOT have given her an antibiotic unless she had a full blown ear infection. Anyway, last night Kaylin decided to down her 8 ounces of milk and then some. Me, not being the smartest one, didn't change her diaper into a bigger size after she drank the bottle. So I ended up with a 500 pound diaper full of urine this morning. At least I caught it in time and she didn't leak through to my sheets, mattress pad, AND mattress (like last time). She just leaked through the sheets. Maybe I will learn my lesson one of these days and try to get her back into her own bed. That someday when I finally get the alarm system for the house--more to come on that later.

Welcome to my blog

Well I finally decided to join the world of blogging. I'm not sure where this blog is going to go yet, but I know it will be my outlet when I need a break. For those who don't know me, I married my husband, Casey in 2006. We got married and shortly thereafter bought our first house. Within the first 6 months of being married I was pregnant with my beautiful little girl, Kaylin, who just turned 1 in February. Crazy way to start a marriage and family. After I had Kaylin (KayKay), I decided to take a break from the working world. I work on average 2 days a week as an RN Case Manager and devote the rest of my time to raising Kaylin with her daddy. Living on a limited budget, I have found I am very creative when it comes to finances. I follow Heather at www.freebies4mom.com, Crystal at www.moneysavingmom.com, and Angie at www.babycheapskate.com almost on a daily basis. These 3 women have taught me so much over the past year. A big thank you goes out to them and foremost to God as without him nothing is possible.