Never EVER EVER again

I swear I am NEVER going to comment again on how healthy my family has been. A month or so ago, my mother in law and I were talking about how healthy we all had been for such a long time. I think 3 days went by and I came down with a HORRID head cold that took me nearly 2 weeks to recover from. Three days ago, Lily almost stayed home from school because she had been up the night before with an upset tummy. Nothing came of it, but I let her sleep in the next morning. When she woke up, she exclaimed, "BUT MOMMM! I am FINE! I am line leader today, you HAVE to drive me to school!" So I did. She seemed fine after that. Yesterday, we were out late running errands and had a later dinner at our favorite restaurant, The Silver Diner. As we are about 2 minutes from the restaurant, Sydney tells me that her stomach is really upset. She says she's not going to puke or anything, so I just told her, that she didn't have to eat and she laid down in the booth for a few minutes and then decided to order french toast. She ate all of that and then some. She has been fine ever since. This morning, I wake up and see that Lucas is in our bed. No big surprise there till I walk by his room and see two large wet spots on his bed. Great. I thought he had peed (which he hasn't done in forever) and got into our bed. We JUST washed our bedding the day before. Upon walking in the room, I realize from the smell, it's not pee, but puke that Bentley, our loving golden retriever had cleaned up for me. (GAG!) Much to my surprise, when I went to check Lucas, he hadn't gotten even a tiny bit on him. And aside from walking to our bed, he never made a sound. Poor guy, he has tried so hard today to be better, but he's just not. He has it coming out the other end now. As does Aubrey. I am nauseated, but otherwise ok. I sure hope that this is the end of it and not the begining!

Either way...

Lesson learned.

Under NO circumstances will I EVER state how healthy my family has been!

HOMICIDE!

Right in our own kitchen!

The Killer- Cheeto

Phineas Swimmer Sims was killed in the kitchen by way of un-drowning between the hours of 12:00a.m and 6:00a.m. on the morning of March 11th, 2009. Cheeto Sims will be tried by members of the jury at a later date. Funeral will occur at 4p.m. in the downstairs bathroom of the Sims Family Home. In lieu of flowers, you can send donations to Sims_Nicole@hotmail.com via paypal.

In other words, the cat dumped over the fish bowl and I'll be flushing him after the kids have all had their chance to say goodbye! LOL! The girls have already decided we aren't allowed to get anymore fish.

I want to SHOP!

Why is it that when I want to go out and spend money and buy my kids clothes, I can't? I have searched HIGH AND LOW for clothes for Aubrey and I can't find ANY! I have bought a few things here and there, but they aren't really what I'm looking for. I want one-piece, short-sleeved, pants outfits for her. They have them up to 18 months for boys, but all of the girls are for little babies or dresses! She can't walk yet, so I want her knees covered. I can't even find cheap cotton leggings or pants for her anymore, everyone has put out shorts and capris already! It's a conspiracy I tell ya! I'm making Gerald take me to Kohls and TJMaxx later tonight! I'm determined to find some clothes to fit my baby!

JACKPOT!

Yesterday was an AWESOME day!



First, I had an interview with the parents of a 4 month old little boy. He was absolutely darling! They had interviewed with one other provider before coming over and after our interview they said they'd talk it over that evening and give me a call the next day (today). They left, and I'm not kidding, about 2 minutes after they were gone, my phone rang and it was them. The father said it didn't take them long to decide and they wanted to bring him here! YAY! I am SO excited! I know I've only met them for about 45 minutes, but based on past experiences, they seem like great people. They don't seem to be nitpicky parents, but they do care. They also seemed to be genuinely nice people. He'll be starting care on March 23rd. I can't wait!



Next, the two little ones and I decided to try our hand at Kroger. I researched the ad, gathered my coupons and off we went. Kroger is doing a deal right now where you can get $5 off for buying 10 of a certain item. They let you do this up to 3 times per transaction. You can also use coupons for the items, and if they are .50 or less, they double! I did need to buy 3 things at full price. But, I got 40 items, there are 14 bags of rice cakes and 5 of the baby fruit puffs, that are hard to see in my photo. I spent $44.81. I saved $64.96! That's a 60% savings!

We also stopped back by walgreen's to get my free bottle of body wash and it just so happens that the register printed me out another coupon for ANOTHER free bottle! So I got a bonus deal of buy 1 get 2 free! Can't beat that! I won't bore you with anymore pictures of my Walgreen's loot, but I will tell you that I got over $70 worth of stuff for $28. We won't ever need to buy toothpaste or toilet paper again, I don't think! LOL! And that's not including the rebate I've got coming that should be somewhere around $15-20.

Then we had the perfect ending to my perfect day. It was over 70 degrees outside, so after I put away all the groceries, I took the kids out to play. We sat with the neighbors for well over an hour and Aubrey and Lucas were just in their glory being outside. Aubrey and I came in and took a little catnap on the couch while Gerald grilled us some hotdogs for dinner. It was starting to feel like summer, until I woke up and and the cold front had come in and it was about 50 degrees outside!

All in all, a wonderful day!

Walgreens, my new favorite place to shop!

I went Walgreening again today! It is quite addicting! I'm going to try and list it out similar to the way I did last time. I'll put the cost of the product if I had gone into the store(this is including the sale price, I rarely pay full price for anything so I'm not listing regular price), then my total I paid with coupons and such.


Clorox Wipes 2.50x4 = $10
Clorox Toilet cleaner 2.50x2 = $5.00
Clorox Bathroom cleaner = $2.50
Clorox anywhere spray = $2.50
Cologate Toothpaste = $3.29
Vaseline Lotion = $2.69
Carmex = $2.99
Hotwheels car(not pictured) = $1.29
Paper Towel (for Lily's class) = $0.89
Axe Shampoo = $5.99
Sambucol Cold and flu =$12.99
Wag. Headache Medicine =$2.99
Wag. Allergy Medicine = $3.99
Blink Eye Drops = $7.99

Grand total= $65.10
I used 29.75 in Manufacturer Coupons and Register Rewards Coupons
I paid $35.35
I also still have $8 in register rewards to use AND I bought rebate products this time and have a rebate of $12.97 (+10% for choosing a gift card as my form of payment giving me approx $14.27 in rebates). I will save those for future purchases, so I won't deduct them off my total out of pocket expense. But, for giggles if I did deduct them, my final cost would be $13.08! You can't beat that! That's like buying the cold and flu meds and getting the rest for free!

My goal now is to build up my gift card. Nothing like using free money to get more free stuff! Soon, I'll have this down to a science and I'll hopefully get better at saving my register rewards (just keep an eye on those expirations, they don't last long!) and I won't have much in out of pocket expense

I'm learning!

This is my first time attempting Walgreens deals. I've read and read and read about it, but never sat down to figure it out. I think I've got it now! I wish I had the coupons from the last few weeks, I'd have saved more. I also had to buy a couple of things that weren't deals. I needed a toothbrush and I couldn't wait for a deal since I've been sick and I bought another newspaper, so I could have 2 sets of this weeks coupons.

So here is a rundown of what I bought and the price it would have cost me if I had just walked in the store that day and bought it with no coupons.

Tide HE $5.99
Colgate 3.49
Robin Egg Candy 2.29

Blink Eye Drops 7.99

Reese's Candy 2.99

Sunday paper 2.00

409 Cleaner 2.50

3-Toiletpaper 1.89x3
Toothbrush 2.29

Viactiv 8.49

Infusium Conditioner 5.99

A total of $49.69 +tax

I paid out of pocket $23.85

I saved over $25.84!

I could have done a LOT better if I didn't buy a couple of the things I didn't really need like the candy and stuff, but it was a good deal, and our favorites, so I bought it anyway. I could have also saved more if we had more Walgreens in the area where I could buy in smaller increments. I'm thinking about doing a couple of the deals one more time before the ad ends, but not buying any of the extras so I end up paying very little. I'm also thinking about doing some of the rebates. It won't be an instant savings, but I can build up a giftcard for future purchases, so I really won't have much for out of pocket costs.

My next order of business is to figure out Kroger's deals!

I think I'm going to do my deal shopping on Monday evenings. It gets me out of the house for a while by myself and there's a little thrill that goes with getting something for next to nothing!

My kids hopes and dreams have come true!

SNOW AT LAST! SNOW AT LAST! SNOW AT LAST!

We finally got a couple inches of snow! Of course, school was closed and the children barely made it out of bed before they were outside if you can't tell by the pictures! Who were we to stop them? This is a once in a year (or two or three) opportunity!

So now it has happened. I am officially ready for Spring! It's supposed to be 65* on Friday. I can't wait! :D