Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Hehehe!!!

Rachel just rolled from her back to her belly!!!

She has been going the other way for a while now...but today on her 5 month birthday is her first time back to belly! Woohoo!!! What a big girl!!!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Rough night

I really wanted to get on here last night and write about this...but I didn't figure it would make it any better.

We've been completely blessed for the last 2 months with two beautiful daughters who have been sleeping completely through the night. Then last week at some point it all came to a halt. And they've both been getting up at least twice in the night.

As always, it takes us a good week or so to decide to put the brakes on, get a little meaner (to ourselves mostly) and get Molly to sleep through the night, in her own bed, alone. So last night was the night.

Richard and I got to bed around 11:30.

First wake up: Miss Rachel - 1:30am. I went in to nurse her back down.
In the meantime: Miss Molly wakes up. Rich got up with her and she needed to go potty. That's tough for us because she has recently learned the potty. But can't do it on her own yet. And while we want to encourage NOT peeing her pull-up at night, it's really tough when she has to go a lot. Because it means we're up a lot. Anywho, he put her back down but by the time I was done nursing, she was up again.

I'm not exactly sure of all the details on the next 2 hours...but it included Rich going back to bed, Molly going potty 2 more times - really, and one time just pretending, and me sitting outside of her door as she screamed for me to come to bed with her. Each time she would come to the hallway, I would carry her back to her bed.

As I sat out on the floor wishing I could be sleeping, I had several thoughts run through my head. Many including how scared I would probably be too if someone was sitting outside my door with a tummy rumbling as loudly as mine was then. - And if my body will ever just give up and decide it doesn't really need as much sleep as it thinks it does. That would make life easier too. -

And then just before 3:30am I thought how thankful I am that I have a daughter that's so polite that after all this time of screaming at me to join her in bed, finally comes to the door and says, "Just go to bed, Mommy!!! Go away! Go to Daddy's bed!!! Good night!!!" shuts the door, and gets into her bed. LOL

It was really nice to have been given that permission!

I stayed for 15 more minutes just to be sure. I was still hearing her move occassionally.

So at 3:45 I got back to bed.

At 4:15 Miss Rachel is awake again. I go take care of her...Get back to bed after getting her to sleep and hear her cry again. I went back to check on her and she was asleep. Back to bed I go.

Then Molly's up again...it takes me 30 minutes to keep her in bed this time. Not quite as bad.

I get back to bed around 5am. And Rich apologizes and wishes that I get sleep soon. I did the same for him. He said he was uncomfy. I asked if I could do anything and he said it was the temperature...so no. I told him he could go stand in the hallway for 30 minutes...it cools you down nicely. And you don't have to worry about getting TOO cold because the frustration of having to do it warms you up to a nice level temperature. ;)

Then at 6:30 Rachel wakes again. Whew! I go take care of her and get back to bed just in time to get back to sleep and hear the alarm buzzing at 7am. Of course, he has a snooze plan where he hits snooze for about 30 minutes or so...but still. I tell him that he should probably just turn it off and go to work late and get some sleep for a while. He said he couldn't but went 30 minutes late and has skipped his lunch break. I hope he's doing ok.

Rachel woke up around 8:15 and was just chatting herself up while he was leaving. So he brought her to me and she snuggled with me and went back to sleep until around 8:45 when Molly woke up.

You can only imagine how bad I'm already getting baby fever this time!!! Ha!....(Sarcasm!)

Wow! Let's hope for a better night tomorrow!!!

Dillons Finds 3/22/10

Here's what I found at Dillon's the other day:

















These toys were on clearance...I'm not sure how good of a deal they actually were at these prices..but they fit in my budget for Easter gifts...so it worked.

3 - Etcha Sketches: $2.50 each
3 - Slinky Pets: $2.50 each
3 - Poof Pal Amphibians: $1.40 each
Fisher Price Blocks: $4.50
= $19.20

Quaker Rice Cakes: $2.75

5 - 3lb bags of Chicken Tenderloins: $4.98 each
= $24.90

Kroger Cookies: $1.38 (Not a great deal...but we're out of cookies, so I had to get some. I went with intentions of stocking up on the Keebler ones for $1.48 plus coupons...and was quickly reminded that that was only a 1-day sale. :( )

2 - Irish Spring Soap 3 pk: $1.00
Coupon: $.50
Multiplied: $.50
= $1.00 (or $.50 each)

4 - Pace Picante Sauce: $2.49 each
Coupon: $.40
Multiplied: $.40
Coupon: $.40
Multiplied: $.40
= $8.36 (or $2.09 each)

4 - Classico Spaghetti Sauce: $1.49 each
Coupon: $1.00
Coupon: $1.00
= $3.96 ($.99 each)

6 - Mott's Apple Juice: $.99 each
= $5.94

8 - Del Monte Diced Tomatoes: $.49 each
= $3.92

Add Tax: $5.03
Cash Paid: $81.53
Except I didn't pay cash, I paid with a community rewards gift card, so I also sent $4.08 to my church. :)

Didn't get anything free this go round...but I did get a little better stocked up on several things at about the lowest price possible given the coupons I had on hand.

Walgreens Finds 3/23/10

Here's what I got yesterday at Walgreens:
3 - Huggies: $8.99 each
Coupon: $3.00
Coupon: $3.00
Coupon: $3.00
= $17.97 (or $5.99 each)

Add tax: $1.70
Cash paid: $19.67

Plus I received $5.00 in Register Rewards on my next purchase for buying 3 making them $4.32 each.

Grand total at Walgreens: $14.67

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Target Finds 3/23/10

This is what I bought at Target today:














In detail:
4 - Del Monte Fruit Chillers: $2.00 each (aka - Molly's Ice Cream!)
Coupon: $1.00
Coupon: $1.00
Coupon: $1.00
Coupon: $1.00
= $4.00 (or $1.00 each)

Toy Story: $22.99
Coupon: $10.00
Toy Story 2: $22.99
Coupon: $10.00
Instant $10.00 savings when you buy Toy Story and Toy Story 2!
= $15.98 (or $7.99 each)
PLUS each of them have a free movie ticket (up to $8.50) to see Toy Story 3 this summer.
Including that, I profitted $1.02 (or $.51 each.)

Bandaids: $1.82
Store Coupon: $1.00
= $.82

(Just so you know and don't think I'm Bandaid crazy...I've been buying so many bandaids lately because I found there is a Mail-In Rebate for Princess and the Frog available through Bandaid. Buy 2 Bandaid boxes and the movie and you get $5 back. I have a two-year old so .82 cent Bandaids are VERY nice...plus it brings my Princess and the Frog movies down to a whopping $5.99 each.) :-D I have to get one more box of Bandaids before I'm gold...but my printer messed up printing the coupon today so I have to print my last coupon from a different computer. So I have to get motivated to put my other computer back together to get it. LOL....oh the dilemma!

Anyway...

Add tax: $2.82
Cash paid: $23.62
Don't forget the $8.50 movie tickets....

Grand total: $6.62
WOOHOO! I take that as a win!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Target Finds 3/16/10

Here's what I got at Target - the grand total seems high, but when you regard the types of items I got, the savings is pretty nice:

Description:

Easy-Ups: $8.50
Coupon: $1.50
= $7.00

Molly Shirt: $4.00
Molly Shorts: $5.00
Molly Shorts: $3.00
3 - Molly Shirt: $3.00 each
2 - Rachel Shirt: $3.00 each
2 - Rachel Shorts: $3.00 each
Coupon: $5 wyb $30 worth kids apparel
= $28 (or $2.80 each)

2 - Princess and the Frog DVD: $15.99
Coupon: $5
Coupon: $5
= $21.98 (or $10.99 each)

Kid's Crest Toothbrush: $1.69
Store Coupon: $1.00
Coupon: $.50
= $.19

Align Supplement: $29.49
Store Coupon: $3.00
Coupon: $5.00
= $21.49

Neosporin Pump: $3.54
2 - Bandaid: $1.82 each
Store Coupon: $1.00 (Bandaid)
Store Coupon: $1.00 (Bandaid)
Coupon: $3.00 wyb Neo & Bandaid
= $2.18 (or $.73 each)

Pictureka Game: $7.54 (I've seen these full price for $20+)

2 - Frosted Mini Wheats: $2.50 each
Coupon: $1.50 wyb 2
= $3.50 (or $1.75 each)

2 - Poptarts: $2.50 each
Coupon: $1 wyb 2
= $4.00 (or $2.00 each)

***Receive $5.00 Target Gift Card WYB 4 Kellogg's Products***

Add tax: $6.03
Cash Paid: $101.76

Grand Total at Target: $101.76 + $5.00 Gift Card!!!

Although it would have been even better if they had in stock a couple other things I had on my list like
the kid's toothpaste they would have PAID ME $.51 to have or
the 2 Johnson's buddy bars that they would have PAID ME $.06 to have or
the 2 packs of Rayovac batteries that they would have given me for FREE! or
if they had different sizes of the $3.00 Circo mix and match sets so I wouldn't have had to buy the $4.00 shirt and $5.00 shorts.

Then my total would have been $97.97 + $5.00 gift card (yeah, that's $3.79 less than I actually spent, and I would have had 5 more items in my picture!)
Stink on out of stock products! ;)

Walgreens Finds 3/16/10

Yesterday I went shopping at Walgreens and Target. Neither was EXTREMELY impressive, but Walgreens would have been had I not decided I needed Easter gifts for my nieces and nephews.
At Walgreens I got this:


Let me explain in a little more detail what's there and what I paid for it:

1st Transaction:

Colgate Toothpaste: $3.99
Coupon: $1.00
Tax: $.25
Cash paid: $3.24
However they gave me a $4.00 Register Rewards for my next purchase, making that a $.76 money maker.

2nd Transaction:

Colgate Toothpaste: $3.99
Coupon: $.75
Tax: $.25
Cash paid: $3.49
However they gave me a $4.00 RR off my next purchase, making that a $.51 money maker.

I could have stopped there and would have made $1.27 PROFIT for the day. But I didn't...

3rd Transaction:

3 - Kleenex: $1.49 each
Store Coupon: $.60 each
Coupon: $.50 wyb 3
= $2.17 (or $.72 each)

Frosted Flakes: $1.99
Rice Krispies: $1.99
Coupon: $1.00 wyb 2
= $2.98 (or $1.49 each)

2 - 1/2 Gal Milk: $1.39 each
Coupon: $1.00 wyb cereal
Coupon: $1.00 wyb cereal
= $.78 (or $.39 each)

Reese's Dark Chocolate: $.89
Store Coupon: $.40
Coupon: $.55
= FREE + $.06 profit

My shopping list stopped there and had I followed that I would have spent $4.60 on those 10 items. It's crazy because normally I would have spent that much just on the cereal!

But I went ahead and picked up some cheap-o Easter bag stuffers for my nieces and nephews...and since there are so many of them, even cheap stuff adds up quickly! So I also got:

9 - Easter Sacks: $.25 each
Chocolate Eggs: $.99
Crispy Eggs: $.99
8 - Glitter Silly Putty Eggs: $.50 each
4 - Duck Bubble Necklaces: $.50 each
= $10.23

Then I used that $8.00 in RR that I received on my first two transactions.
Add Tax: $1.27
Cash Paid: $9.37

Grand Total Paid Out of Pocket for Walgreen's: $16.10

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!

So I was just looking back over my last several posts and thinking how long ago they were and how TINY Molly was!

So anyway, we've had a baby since my last post. She's everything I could hope for in a baby. Perfect little sweetheart. Her name is Rachel Marie. You will get to see pictures of her soon I hope! (if you haven't via other portals already. ;) )

Anyway...the thought that got me to come back to my blog was my urge to be more frugal. I've been working with coupons and sales for about the last month or so and working on getting a nice stockpile of things we normally use. And this actually all started with a huge desire to get some debt paid off more quickly and stop feeling so frustrated by having to limit my frivilous shopping so often.

So...there are lots of blogs out in blogland that will match up available coupons with sale ads at various stores. And those are what I spend time browsing through. What I plan to start doing here is posting exactly what I buy and the deals I get. That's what my next posts will be. Hope you enjoy my deal finds as much as I do!