Command Center Weekly

Bargains

Left -- Walgreens = 4.43
2 pack kickboards for pool fun for Caroline -- 75% off
Tylenol PM -- on sale plus $1 Walgreens coupon plus $1.00 manu coupon
Dove bars -- BOGO 50% plus $1.00 manu coupon
Lady Speedstick -- BOGO free plus $1.00 manu coupon
Reese's Pumpkins -- .33 each (I'm sure I left the store with three Reese's Pumpkins...Hmmm...)

Right -- CVS -- $2.22
Speedstick -- BOGO free plus $ .75 manu coupon for one and $1.00 CVS coupon for other
Herbel Essenses shampoo and conditioner -- on sale plus $2.00 off 2 manu coupon

TOTAL for both stores: $6.65
Total savings -- $20.01

Decluttering
TO BE CULLED THIS WEEK: TOYS

I have decided to jump on the decluttering bandwagon. I've started reading about some folks decluttering 2008 items in 2008. I'm a little late to join in on that, but I am going to rid my home of ten items per week between now and the end of the year. I'll report back next week on what goes this week. I have also asked my dear husband to reduce his computer museum collection by half. He's working on that right now. This should clear things out of the house some and make room for new items that enter the house for Christmas and new baby.


Menu (I'm flexible with days of the week)
Sunday -- stir fry
Monday -- beef fillets with wild rice and brocolli
Tuesday -- carmelized onion pizza w/chicken, borrowing idea from Courtney at Frugal Foods
Wednesday -- Italian pork chops with potatoes and salad
Thursday -- poppy seed chicken
Friday -- on your own / leftovers
Saturday -- party at friends' home

Daily Show: McCain -- Reformed Maverick

Since we don't have cable, I'm a day behind on The Daily Show. Just wanted to share this for others out who don't have Comedy Central (or Heaven forbid, have it but don't watch John Stewart.)

Facebook

I'm not even close to as addicted to Facebook as many seem to be, but I do check in every day now because so many folks are joining. It is neat to see what old classmates are up to now, and I like to read what new friends are doing on there, too. I added this blog to my Facebook profile, so those of you who prefer Facebook to RSS feeds can subscribe to the Facebook Blog Network using the link on the righthand sidebar.

Pregnancy Journal

September 4, 2008
Last night, John felt the baby move for the first time, and he and I both SAW it move from the outside. Very exciting!!

August 28, 2008
We had our 20-week anatomy ultrasound today. I had listened to the heartbeat before we left so that I wouldn’t be terrified, but of course, I was still nervous. Baby was moving around lots. Caroline was fascinated that the baby was kicking me so much. The tech did comment that I have a low-lying placenta. It is at 1.7 cm, and she said they like to see it at 4 cm. My internet research tells me 2-3 cm is acceptable, though, and that it will most likely move in these next weeks. If it doesn’t, I’d have to have a c-section. I’m OK if it comes to that.

Baby weighs 11 ounces. Heartrate was 153 bpm.

August 13, 2008
We’re pretty open with our news now, as if it isn’t obvious by looking at me. I wore maternity pants this week at 18 weeks. I called and told Nanny yesterday, and she has a quilt she started for my last pregnancy that she will finish for this baby. I was touched by that. My blood pressure was high at this appointment, too. 130/80 last month and this month. Dr. McNelis said they don’t get concerned / medicate until 150s over 100s. She thinks that I have hypertensive tendencies already, and that I am stressed and worried at this point in my pregnancy due to the loss at this time last pregnancy. She said my bp will probably go down once I get past 20 weeks. I stopped and took it at the HEB pharmacy this week and the first time was 112/72. Second time was 107/70. Much better! I believe I’m feeling some flutters, too!

August 1, 2008
John and I went to have an ultrasound last week. I chose that for reassurance instead of having the NT scan done (a test for Downs Syndrome that is pretty inconclusive anyway.) Baby was moving a lot. Heartbeat was 156 bpm. I’m thinking girl. My belly is growing, for sure, so keeping my secret is not working so well. I had lunch with some friends from an old playgroup. One of them asked right away. I told some other friends this week, too. I suppose news will slowly spread as my tummy does.

July 15, 2008
Feeling quite a bit better. Still gag occasionally. Still very tired. But it is all bearable.

We told the Bindels this weekend at a family gathering. It took a few minutes for anyone to notice their shirts, but once they did, everyone was excited for us. Looks like Bindel babies are coming every month from October to March (except February.)

July 10, 2008
Since Dr. McNelis is on maternity leave, I saw on of her partners. It really makes me appreciate my doctor. This other lady was nice, sure, and did her job fine, but I just like Dr. McNelis better. And Dr. McNelis gives me ultrasounds every visit. This lady just used the doppler to check the heartbeat. We do that at home. She did give a count, though, of 156 bpm. Right in the middle of the gender predictions, but she said it’s early for that anyway.

July 9, 2008
I shared our news with my family last week, though the announcement did not go according to my plan. I had ordered a shirt that says “Bun in the Oven” and planned to wear it and see how long it took them to figure it out. Instead, I told daddy and Mary both in tears as I was afraid Sophi had Fifth’s Disease. She did not, and I had my immunity checked and am already immune. That’s something we won’t have to worry about so much now. I told Carlye, too, because I’m announcing to the Bindels this weekend and had a feeling that we may need to coordinate our announcements. We do!  I’m making shirts for Caroline and Georgia to wear to a party at Granda’s house Saturday night.

My friend Caroline brought me her Baby Beats doppler just a few days before I found out I was pregnant. John and I have been listening to the heartbeat every night now for a couple of weeks. I am so glad to have that! Dr. McNelis had her baby last week, so I’ll see one of her partners at my appointment tomorrow.

I’m still wearing my regular clothes, but I sure look fat in them. I think anyone who is paying attention probably has this pregnancy pegged already. They’re being kind and not saying anything, though.

June 20, 2008
Doctor’s Appointment today
Weight: holding steady – even after that cruise! 
B/P: 102/68
Dating per ultrasound: 9 weeks 5 days (EDD Jan 19)
I am really, really tired all the time. Caroline is in a sometimes-napping stage. When she doesn’t nap, I let her watch TV while I snooze for an hour or so. It helps. I find I can get more done in the mornings if I take it slowly, so my plan for the next couple of weeks is to stay home in the mornings – slowly doing whatever chores I have to do and doing some activities with Caroline. Then I have her signed up for an afternoon camp from 1:30 to 4:30 every day next week. (I’m just going to sign her up one week at a time.) That will give me the chance to nap without parking her in front of the TV and will keep her awake and active so that she’ll go to bed at a decent hour. Naps are nice, but staying up until 9:30 or 10 p.m. is not.

June 16, 2008
Actually, the morning sickness hasn’t been that bad at all, at least not compared to my past two pregnancies. I’ve thrown up four times, I think. I’ll get a wave of nausea every now and then, but I’m not throwing up. I’m tired, but I am resting. We went on a family cruise last week, which was just great timing. I booked it right before I found out I was pregnant, knowing there was a possibility I’d be pregnant on the cruise. I figured – a vacation where I can nap every day, be waited on for every meal, and have no housework would be a great first trimester treat. It was! We had a great time. I did tell our tablemates a few days in to the cruise that I was pregnant. A mom was cruising with her teenaged daughters, one of whom ordered a virgin strawberry daiquiri two separate times – to be served a regular alcoholic daiquiri both times. I confessed that I’d sure like to order a virgin drink for myself but that I just couldn’t take the risk of having the order messed up.

I’ve been going to the doctor every week or so for ultrasound checks – for reassurance. The baby is measuring a bit behind my original due date per my cycle (January 15). We’ve seen a strong heartbeat, though, so my doctor isn’t concerned. She said she’ll give me a firm due date at my next appointment.

May 16, 2008
Brush teeth. Chat on phone with friend. I feel it coming…gotta get off the phone. Uh, uh, gag, uh…And so the “morning sickness” begins again.

May 9, 2008
You know you’re pregnant when you buy three Costco items not on your list just because you liked the samples.

I took a pregnancy test yesterday morning and began my plan for telling John (who happened to be working from home all day.) It was fun to carry my secret around those few hours. Caroline and I played in the morning. Then we ran some errands. When we got home, we baked brownies, and I went and took a digital pregnancy test. I used a cookie cutter to cut a brownie into a positive sign, handed it and the digital test with PREGNANT on it to Caroline, and asked her to take them to her daddy. He took them. Caroline said, “Look, it’s a cross.” I added that it is also a plus sign or a positive sign. John agreed. He ate the brownie. Caroline handed him the test, and he said, “That’s mommy’s.”

And then he turned back to his computer.

I left the room not knowing what was going on. Was he upset? I gave myself a moment to calm down, and then I just went in the bedroom and asked him, “What’s up with you?” He was puzzled. I had to explain everything to him, and then he got it! He didn’t even look at the pregnancy test. He thought Caroline was playing store and bringing him something to check out.

I called my doctor to make sure continuing to workout is fine. It is, but I need to keep my heartrate below 140. I’ll still walk on the treadmill for 30-45 minutes, I’ll just slow down my pace and use no incline. I made a doctor’s appointment for seven weeks. My estimated due date is January 15.

I feel a bit silly now with how down I got over not being pregnant “already” after three months. I was being such a fatalist. I’m so happy to be cutting out the wine and cutting down on the diet cokes!

And I just read that Michelle Duggar is due to birth her 18th child the same month I will. It does seem odd to me that she announced her pregnancy to the whole world (via The Today Show) at just six weeks.

Happy (belated) Birthday, John McCain

And to commemorate yesterday's special day, look here for a few things YOUNGER THAN JOHN MCCAIN.

(Alaska, home of vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin, is younger than John McCain.)

Coming January 2009!

GIG 'EM!

I found Jesus at Walmart

I make my way into Walmart about once a year, and that occasion happened to fall this week. I was specifically looking for a KidSongs dvd since my sister told me she has seen them at Wally World for $1. We've checked out the two copies our library has a couple of times, so I figured if we could own our own for a buck, I'd make my annual trip to that store. I did find this dvd for $1, and also stumbled upon a Jesus Action Figure for only $14.99. I'd seen them and laughed at them at Terra Toys before, but I *was* in Walmart, so the subliminal messages got to me and I bought it.

Driving home in the car, Caroline pushed the button on his back several times. "I love him!" she cooed. Jesus AF recites John 3:16 and also tells the story of the miracle of loaves and fishes. After a few tellings, Caroline told me she didn't like Jesus's voice.

Now, for those of you thinking Walmart was selling Jesus, Amanda. Your beloved Target wouldn't do that. Notice the link above -- Target sells Jesus, too. Anything to make a buck, man. And I don't know that it's all that noble to sell Jesus to the masses.

How many Amanda Fowles are there?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 2 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I already knew there was another Amanda Fowle. I search Bindel, too, and found there is one Amanda Bindel. Now, is that me since I do use the name on occasion? I doubt it. So I guess even if I changed my name I wouldn't be the one and only.

Find it at the LIBRARY!

As a child living outside of a small-town city limits, I did not have access to a public library. I talked my mom a few times into taking me to the Vidor Public Library (which even now has no internet presence), but I couldn't check anything out because I didn't have a library card. The whole library world just seemed like such a cosmopolitan thing that I fantasized about it. (Yeah, I've always been a nerd.) So of course, I got into the whole library thing. I worked at the library in college. I considered becoming a librarian (until I volunteered in one shelving books.) I've find the right role for libraries in my life now, though, as a mother.

Caroline and I make a weekly (sometimes more) journey to the library. We enjoy the library's programs, like story-times, guest appearances (we saw Mother Goose and several kids' singers this summer), book check-out, cd check-out, dvd check-out. And now we've discovered another fun item to borrow from the library -- ART PRINTS!

At the Cedar Park Public Library, you can check out prints of artwork for one month at a time. I just rearranged our wall hangings and had empty space above the fireplace. Not any more! My plan is to expose Caroline to a different piece of art each month. Our first acquisition? Look at my blog header -- Mary Cassatt's Breakfast in Bed. I plan to switch out our fireplace painting each month. How's that for frugal and educational?

Now, some of you astute readers are saying to yourself. "Um...you live in Austin, not Cedar Park." Right you are! I prefer the CP library to the APL branches near us, so I got a TexShare card that allows me to get library cards of other public libraries in Texas. It's a beautiful system!

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Stayed up last night to finish it. Really enjoyed it. Read only if you want a good, hard cry!

Will continue my Hot Picoult Summer with whatever of hers (if anything) I can find available at the library this week. I can't remember and can't figure out which digits on my library card constitute my library id to put the one and only book that is currently available on hold.

Drugstore Deals

My favorite deals for this week:

Target
The Target at 1431 and 183 had their Suave soaps on clearance for $1.27. I had a buy one get one free coupon and a 50 cent off one coupon. I wasn't sure if I could use both, but the cashier took them. So, I got two yummy (Peony scented) Suave shower soaps, .77 for both!

Same store had Real Solutions Organic shampoo and condition with free after rebate hang tags. They are normally $4.99 each, so one free shampoo; one free conditioner. Or technically, since it is a mail-in rebate that I have to send a SASE, .42 each.

Walgreens
Nabisco crackers (Premium Saltines and Ritz) are on sale 2 for $4. There's a .75 off two coupon in Sunday's paper. Plus, if you buy $10 worth, you'll get $3 in Register Rewards. I bought six for $10, used my coupon, and got my $3 back. Comes to $1.04 per box of crackers. Caroline and I eat this for snacks often.

Olay body washes, Secret deodorant, and a few other brands are on sale 3 for $10. Plus, if you buy $10 worth, you get $3 in Register Rewards (or buy $20 worth and get $7.) Coupons are out for most of the items. I bought an Olay Botanicals body wash that I had a $2 coupon for, an Olay Ribbons body wash that I had a $1.50 coupon for, and a Secret deodorant that I had a .50 coupon for. I got the $3 back bringing my per item cost for each soap and the deodorant to $1.

Finally, Walgreens has Pert Plus shampoo free after rebate this month (up to $4 something). I had a $2 off coupon for that, so I'll make $2 after rebate. (Consider that $2 blown on the treat I bought for Caroline and me for our post-swim/post-Walgreens snack.) They also have an organic shampoo and conditioner free after rebate, too, for August. I'll pick that up later this month.

I should be set on body wash for awhile since I stocked up on several during the free after ECB deal at CVS a few months ago. I still have some of that left. Caroline has been "showering" while I get dressed lately, though, and she tends to use a bit too much. It might not last as long as I think.

Summer Reading and Watching

I like easy summer reading that reads like a made-for-TV movie. I've found that with my summer author -- Jodi Picoult. Her novels, by her own description, are plot and character driven. I started with The Pact on our vacation. I just finished Plain Truth.

The Pact involves a teenage boy on trial for murdering his girlfriend in a supposed botched suicide pact. Plain Truth is about an Amish teen's trial for murdering her newborn after hiding her pregnancy. I have My Sister's Keeper coming from paperbackswap soon, and I have a few others of her books on lists to read this summer before my book clubs pick back up.

On the viewing front, I've Netflixed the Little House on the Prairie television series, and Caroline and I are snuggling up watching it together in the late afternoons/early evenings. We are both enjoying it. This show has such a special place in my heart. My mom and sister and I always watched it together, and my dad always had comments about Michael Landon's crying at every situation he could. Caroline enjoys "the little girls show," and I feel it is a bit better than the other alternatives on TV. With nine seasons of about twenty episodes each, this should occupy us for quite a while. By the time we finish watching the series, I think Caroline will be ready for me to start reading aloud to her from the Laura Ingalls Wilder's series.

$10 from Ebates (for me and for you!)

I've mentioned ebates on my blog before. It's a shopping portal that pays you back a percentage of the money you spend shopping online. I've made $99.52 since joining over a year ago. No work on my part -- just go to ebates.com and click the links or search the products on their site. You get four percent back from Target purchases (that's the big one for me.) There are tons of other stores, too. I just bought some new bras and got six percent of my purchase back. The cash back can go into your paypal account or you can receive a check. Right now, if you sign up using this link and make your first purchase before August 14, you'll get a $10 bonus and so will I.

Give it a try!

Montessori Mondays with Mommy Life

I have realized that I need some new blogging material.
I see (from my little spy sitemeter) that most hits I get via searches are Montessori-related.
I have become inspired this week to plan my at-home-time with Caroline a bit more.

So, this week, I'm joining in Mommy Life's Montessori Monday.

Montessori Concept: The Prepared Environment
I'm quite proud of the prepared, child-friendly environment I've created at home for Caroline. She has the Learning Tower to help her see and help with kitchen tasks, several child-sized tables and chairs throughout the house, adjusted light switches that she can reach, step stools in bathrooms, and child-accessible snacks so she can serve herself.

I've realized recently, though, that I've become lax in preparing her environment with activities. I believe it is important for children to be able to entertain themselves, but I think I've gone a bit too far with leaving her to her own devices too much of the time recently.

I've decided that each week, I'll come up with a few activities that I will have on-hand to explore with her or for her to explore independently. Granted, not all of these fit with Montessori philosophy. My fit with that is in the idea of preparing her environment and with some of the categories.

Rhyme -- Humpty Dumpty
Sensory Activity --crush egg shells
Craft Activity -- glue egg shells on picture of Humpty Dumpty
Academic Activity -- tracing r and o with sandpaper letters
Catechism -- The Parable of the Sower (Matt 13: 1-9) -- collect seeds from various fruits, trees, and veggies; view and discuss The Sower
Fine Motor -- sort and count seeds
Practical Life -- choosing and putting on own shirt

Drugstore Deals

CVS has Charmin Ultra on sale for $5.99 per 12 big rolls and Bounty Basic for $5.49 for 8 rolls -- both good prices according to my records. The great deal, though, is if you buy $20 worth of the products (Duracell batteries are also included) you get $10 in ECB back. They had this sale on a few weeks ago, and I went on Monday to make my purchase -- they were sold out already! I did get a rain check that I hadn't used yet, but since I didn't want to miss this week's deal, I hit CVS before church this morning. To make my deal even sweeter, I used a $5 off $25 coupon I had (I seem to get one every week with my CVS receipts). I added a small CVS brand hand sanitizer for my purse to get my total up. All in all, I got 36 big rolls of toilet paper and 8 rolls of paper towels for $8.46 -- 19 cents per roll!!

Another good CVS deal this week that I didn't need to take advantage of (since I have a year's worth of laundry detergent already from the last sale):
All detergents are on sale buy one get one free. Regular price is 6.50. There are two coupons in today's paper -- one for $1.50 off and one for $.50 off. So, if you need some All, you can get it for $2.25 per 32 load bottle -- seven cents per load.

Happy shopping!

Family Cruisin'

By request, here's a recap of our family vacation.

We drove to League City Sunday and spent the night with my dad so that we could get to Galveston early. We were there in line at the earliest recommended time of noon and waited in line about forty-five minutes or so. Then we boarded the boat to a party atmosphere hearing the refrain "You're on vacation now!" We looked around the boat a bit before heading to the Lido deck for a buffet lunch, complete with dessert. Then we checked out our room -- just the basics: a king sized bed and a pull-down twin bed (that was only used as a climbing toy), a desk/vanity combination, a TV perched in a corner, and a wall of closets. The bathroom is small and functional with shower, sink, and toilet. (TIP: splurge on the Schick Intuition razor so you aren't trying to balance and keep shaving cream on your legs standing in a small shower in a moving boat.)

The cliche about eating on cruises is true. We woke up, ate, played, ate, rested, ate . . . We ate in the main dining room for breakfast on mornings at sea (since it was open later.) On port days, we ate the breakfast buffet. We ate lunch at the grill or buffet every day but the last sea day when we ate in the main dining room. The main dining room is so much nicer -- full menu. Appetizer, entree, and dessert. Full service. Really nice. We ate dinner there every night, of course, but dinner is also served at the grill and buffet on the Lido deck. Here's what I remember of my dinner choices. Typically, you have about five choices for each, appetizer, entree, and dessert.

My dinner choices:
Monday

• shrimp appetizer
• steak and baked potato
• chocolate melting cake with vanilla ice cream (this is incredible and was on the "classics" menu every night. The mom and daughter at our table ordered it every night but one. It is that good. The top layer is chocolate cake, but just underneath that is warm melted chocolate, almost like cake batter.)

Tuesday -- this was the formal night. John wore a suit. I wore a black cocktail dress. Caroline wore her Easter dress.

• mixed green salad and tropical fruit plate (you can order two appetizers)
• lobster and shrimp
• (I can't remember dessert...I think I had the chocolate melting cake again)

Wednesday

• strawberry bisque -- it was like eating a smoothie from a bowl with a spoon
  
• chicken with pasta in mushroom cream sauce
• apple pie with ice cream

Thursday

• Caesar salad -- worst thing I ate on the trip -- too anchovy-ee
  
• Chateaubriand
• Grand Marnier souffle

Friday

• french onion soup
• veal parmigiana
• baked alaska

The kids program is phenomenal! We registered and went to a quick orientation the first night there and got the schedule. Lots of crafts, face paining, music and games, and some general toy time. They have programs for kids from two up to teens, with 2-5 year olds being together. Caroline had a great time and asked to go often. The hours run from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. with closures for meal preparation. (You can pay for sitting services after 10 p.m.) We put Caroline in after lunch most days, but we did put her in one morning and one evening. We were paged that evening at 8:15 when our little princess turned into a pumpkin. She told them she wanted to go to bed but refused to lie down on the pillows they had set up in a corner. She's not a party animal, my girl.

During the two days at sea, we walked around the boat and decks, swam, read in the sun, played putt-putt, napped, worked out (me, once; John, several times), and ate, of course.

On the port day in Progresso, Mexico, we took a bus into town and shopped. In Cozumel, we snorkeled. Caroline went with us, wearing a life jacket we brought from home. We took turns snorkeling alone while the other held on to Caroline in the ocean. At the second stop, though, after a few minutes of snorkeling, she decided she wanted back in the boat, so an older couple who was along just for the glass-bottomed boat-ride pampered her while we snorkeled.

We aren't night owls, and REST was a goal of our trip, so we turned in early each night. They had several movie channels, so we watched a few movies: Mad Money with Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes; National Treasure with Nicholas Cage (which I really enjoyed), and Jumper. Not cruise specific, but I read Jodi Picoult's The Pact and enjoyed it. I've added the rest of her books to my library and paperbackswap lists.

It was a fabulous vacation. We had fun; we rested; we were pampered. All that I had hoped for.

If you plan on cruising, be sure to check out the forums on Cruise Critic beforehand.

I didn't take many pictures -- You can see some here.

Party like it's 1999

Smell is such a memory trigger. Today I used part of my mother's day gift card to Avant Salon and Spa and had a facial. I was a regular at Avant back in my high-tech days -- back when John and I were DINKS -- dual income with no kids (and before I gave up 2/3 of my income to became a teacher / grad school student). I haven't been there in, oh, eight years, I guess. Just walking into that unique Aveda smell brought back memories of those indulgent days. Dinners in nice restaurants. Happy hours. Expensive wine. And suits and shoes. Haircuts and highlights and facials.

And I missed them.

Maybe I'm not the frugal, crunchy mom I thought I was.

Robot Party

If you have spoken to my daughter in the past two months, she has told you (be you friend, family, or checker at a store) that she was having a robot party. That is the theme she chose herself. I am not the crafty type, but there aren't a lot of ready-made robot stuff out there. I had to get a little creative.

Invitations
I took silver note cards and cut right angles out of each side at the top, creating a head for a robot. I put google eyes on that, glued a piece of metallic pipe cleaner in a v-shape to the top for antennae, and added a pink pipe cleaner smile.

Decorations
I bought party supplies on the wedding aisle -- silver plates and napkins and table cover. We had metallic party hats in various colors. For the table decorations, I bought styrofoam shapes at Hobby Lobby, used toothpicks to create my robots, spray painted them silver, and added eyes and antennae. They turned out really cute.

Cake
I tossed around a few ideas for the cake -- square cakes stacked on top of each other, as in a layer cake, creating a three dimensional robot; a rectangular cake with the head cut out as I did with the invitations, a square cake head with a rectangular cake body for a two-d robot. I decided on cupcakes for ease of cutting and serving. I mixed white icing with a few squirts from a tube of black decorator's icing to create a gray icing. I used metallic silver and gold cups, and I laid out the cupcakes to form the shape of a robot. It wasn't perfect, but it worked.

All in all, I think the little robot theme worked just fine.

*The vinyl banner pictured above was ordered online before Caroline's first birthday party. We've used it three times now (and loaned it to a friend named Caroline once, too.) I consider it a good buy since it will be used many times over the next several years. I don't remember exact numbers or websites, but I paid less than $20 shipped for it (in 2006).

How we spent the evening...

(well, about a half hour of it)
We were under a tornado warning tonight -- with a radar tracking it right over our neighborhood. John pulled Caroline out of her bed, and I set up the powder bathroom floor with pillows for all of us. Caroline slept through the whole thing!

Friday Night Videos

Two commercials that made me laugh-out-loud.

Glad Force Flex Bags

The Most Sophisticated Technology

Drugstore Deals

Walgreens:
I got all this for $1.78!!

Walgreens has a deal this week -- buy 3 of certain items, get $4 in Register Rewards; buy 4, get $6; buy 5 to 8, get $10; buy 9 or more; get $20. The Ivory bar soap is not part of the deal but is on sale for .99. I had coupons for everything else!

Cascade -- 2 for $5 plus $1 off two coupon
Charmin wipes -- $1.99 (Walgreens coupon)
Covergirl Nail Polish (all CG, buy one, get one 50% off at Walgreens) plus $2.50 off two coupon
Crest Pro Health 2 for $5 (I bought one) plus $3 off coupon
Swiffer 2 for $7 plus $1 off two coupon

There are lots more items included on the list plus coupons for many of those items.

CVS:
I didn't find as many *great* CVS deals this week, but there are some nice treats.

Physicians Formula OrganicWear makeup is on sale buy one, get one 50% off. Since I just decided to reduce the parabens I'm putting on my body, this was great timing! Not cheap, but something I wanted anyway.

Whitman's Sampler (normally 8.99) is on sale for $3.99 with your CVS card. Today's paper has a $2 off coupon.

From my garden

It is so cool for me to write that -- my garden!

I've tried planting things -- bell peppers, tomotoes -- in the past, but they grew to be the size of my thumb. This year, John made me a really nice garden area, and I've planted the usual bell peppers and cucumbers, but I added some spinach, lettuce, and spring mix. Honestly, I had no idea that spring mix grew all together. I just thought that bag I'd sometimes buy was a mixture of several *different* plants. When my spring mix started growing, I was so excited. It actually looked like something you'd eat. (The peppers and cucumber aren't nearly there yet.)

This evening, I cut some of my spring mix and made a little salad for our dinner (I did have to supplement with some bagged salad, too, but the picture is all from my garden.)

I am learning the ways of the dirt, though. I clipped the veggies, washed them off, and patted them dry. Then I put them in a bowl and snapped this picture. After that, I discovered a tiny little inchworm creaping along the leaves. Since I had planned a different protein for our dinner, I soaked the leaves in water to drown any other living creatures before rinsing and patting dry again.

Drugstore Deals

This is a tricky week, in a good way, as the monthly sales are ending and starting in addition to new weekly deals. At Walgreens, you can use both the April and May EasySaver deals until tomorrow, 4/28. At CVS, the May deals will start on the 1st, so you can wrap up your April deals this week.

Here are some high points:
Walgreens
Con-Agra foods, buy $10, get a $5 rebate (May)
* I bought
--2 Orville Redenbacker popcorns for $5
-- 3 Hunt's Snack-Pack pudding 4 packs for $3
-- 4 cans Butterball chicken broth for $2

Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil is on sale 4 for $3. I am waiting on some coupon trades to arrive in the mail early this week for $.55 of each, making them 20 cents per roll.

April Deal ending this week -- free after rebate on Colgate 360 toothbrush + $1/off coupon in today's paper = $1 profit

CVS
The Softsoap deal has changed up a bit -- a bigger size and price, still free after ECB. There is a dollar coupon in today's paper, making for a $1 profit.

All (brand) detergents are buy one, get one. I am stocked up on detergent, but I peeked at the shelf anyway. The Small & Mighty free and clear had a tag for $1.59 (normal price is 6.49). That can't be right, I thought, but I stuck two in my basket. I had a $1/off coupon, too! I had the checker verify the price before she started scanning, and sure enough, on clearance for $1.59 minus my $1 coupon. Now, I did not get the second one free. Sure, I could have complained and had her fix that, but I felt like it was a good deal -- 4 cents / load, compared to my price point of 13 cents/load. If any are left tomorrow, I'll get two more and see if they'll honor the buy one get one since I don't have another coupon.

The CVS generic of Neosporin with pain-relief is on for buy two (3.99 each) get $5 in ECB. I need one for my purse now that skinned knee season is upon us, so I bought those and got my ECB.

Links
I've found two sites really helpful in planning ahead and getting ideas for savings:
Hot Coupon World and Slick Deals (forum). Check those out. For next week, I'll gather some links to my favorite frugal bloggers.

Friday Night Videos

I don't get to watch much SNL these days, but the Jeopardy parodies were fabulous. Funny or Die has them. (If you haven't seen the Landlord video on Funny or Die, check that out, too.)

Drugstore Deals

CVS has improved upon their Speedstick deal from earlier this month, now offering it free after ECBs. I plan to get a few more later this week.

Walgreens April Easy Saver has a $5 rebate on a $10 purchase of Garnier products. I has several $2/off coupons plus an in-store $2/off coupon on hair color. I bought one hair color (7.99 - 2 coupon - 2 coupon = 3.99) and one hair conditioning masque (3.99 - 2 coupon = 1.99) Total out-of-pocket after $5 rebate = $.98)

My best deals this week are not from the drugstores, though, but from HEB.

(good only until 4/22, so hurry!)
Diet Coke (and other coke products) 12 packs
3 for $11
in-store coupon for buy 3 12 px, get a 24 px free
That makes 5 12 px for $11
GREAT DEAL (and if you sign up for mycokerewards, you're halfway to a free 12 pack with this purchase.)

Feline Pine Cat Litter (one of our two choice brands) is $4.99. There is a $3 in-store coupon, making it $1.99. There's also a mail-in rebate. I'll save that for a non-coupon purchase, though.

Friday Night Videos

I managed to remember to post videos two weeks in a row. :-) Here are some funnies for this week.

IT'S RAINING MCCAIN


And Colbert Report News Flash: White Men to Decide this Election
So, we get the EdWords from John Edwards on how to get the white male vote
(Since we don't have cable, I don't get to watch the Colbert Report much, but we were at a hotel last night and I got to watch and enjoy.)

Workout Update

Last week, my gym offered a free class on fitness and nutrition, and they were raffling off some personal training sessions. I'm a lucky girl on stuff like that, so I figured I'd go, maybe learn something, maybe get something for free. Well, honestly, I didn't learn anything and I didn't win, either. They did offer a discounted rate on their training, though, so I gave in to the marketing pressure and hired a personal trainer for twelve sessions. I've been working out for a couple of months now, and I'm just not feeling as fabulous as I did that first week or so. I think I've just been going through the motions without pushing myself. I met with my trainer today. She started with the measurements, and let me just say, OHMYGOSHDOIEVERNEEDTOGETMYBUTTINGEAR! The truth is humiliating!

Anyway, I'll be sore tomorrow, I know. My plan is to go with two sessions a week with her, at least for the first few weeks. I may stretch it to once a week after a few gos if I want to make the twelve session last a bit longer.

Drugstore Deals versus Costco Stock-up

I remember one of the first tips I read about couponing / bargain shopping was to have a target price list for the things you regularly buy. I know I already mentioned that it's important NOT to be brand loyal, but I do have a few things I prefer to be loyal on. Diet Cokes -- that's a must. Charmin toilet paper is strongly preferred. Bounty paper towels are preferred but are not a must. And my detergent must be stink-free -- I don't care what brand, but it must not have scents and dyes. (It is amazing how I didn't even notice the smells until I switched to scent-free. Now, I occasionally fine other people's clothing offensive.)

I'm slowly compiling my list, but since I often buy some of these things in bulk at Costco and they do not take manufacturer coupons, I needed to do some research there to determine if CVS / Walgreens / others were offering good deals. So today, while I enjoyed a lovely ladies' luncheon after church, John trudged through Costo with Caroline and my spiral notebook recording a few prices for me. (Thank you! Love you!)

Costco Price
* price to stockpile other sale / coupon deals
------
12 ct. BIG rolls Bounty paper towels................$16.99 (regularly see $2/off cpn)
*less than $1.25 per big roll (YIKES!! We don't use paper towels that often as I try to use washcloths mostly in the kitchen and cloth napkins at meals and rags for cleaning. But still -- I think I'll work on cutting back even more on the paper towels.)

30 rolls Charmin Ultra toilet paper.................$17.99 (regularly see $2/off cpn)
*less than 53 cents per big roll

Kirkland Free and Clear, 96 loads....................$12.99
*anything well below $.135 per load.

Diet Coke (32 12 oz cans) ...........................$ 8.09
*$3 or less per 12-pack

----
Last week, Walgreens had a sale on their Coke products, four for $12 / buy four get $2 register rewards, so I stocked up on diet cokes last week. (yes, I realize if I plan to skimp on paper towels that it would make sense to cut out the diet cokes, and I know I had tried that in the fall. I'm really enjoying my vices for a few months here, so cut me some slack!) Between Walgreens, CVS, and Target, I should be able to get my diet cokes at less than $3/pack anytime.

This week, Walgreens has their All detergents (including Free and Clear, regularly ~$6.50) on sale for $3.99. Plus, if you buy six select Unilever products (including All) you get $6 in Register Rewards, making the detergent $2.99 for a 2x ultra doing 32 loads. That came to $.093 per load, so I bought all they had. :-)

Walgreens is also offering their Charmin Ultra toilet paper (six rolls) 2 / $6. (Bounty is also on sale but didn't work out for a better deal.) I had a coupon for $1 off one pack and another coupon for .25 off one pack. I bought two packs, totalling twelve rolls, for $4.75 after coupon, which came to $.395 per roll. I only bought the two rolls as I only had the two coupons (and I think there was a limit anyway.)

All in all, nothing FREE this week, but some good deals. Oh, and CVS brand diapers and pull-ups are buy one get one free this week. So I got two 26 packs of pull-ups (Caroline still wears one at night, even though she's dry about 1/3 of the time the next morning...maybe we'll be out of pull-ups soon) for $8.99. I like that these just have pictures of little girls and not princesses or other characters, too. Added bonus for Ms. Anti-Marketing-Aimed-at-Tots.

I also used the Walgreens coupon for two Crest toothpastes for $3 and coupled it with a $1 / off two manufacturer coupon I had, getting two toothpastes for .75 each. I have quite a bit of toothpaste here already, so I'm donating those, along with some shampoo and conditioner I got on sale, to a mission our church serves. In my reading about working the CVS/Walgreens deals, I see lots of encouragement to donate your deals because, really, I don't need to stockpile more than a few months worth of stuff, right? :-)

Friday Night Videos

Who knows if I'm cool and savvy enough to do this EVERY week, but *this* week, I have some videos to share.
I love Hillary! (I especially like the part that starts at 4:32) but I realize that we, the press, are a mighy sword.


and

I *heart* Weird Al!


And check out this one, too,"White and Nerdy"

Totally unrelated, I know, but videos that made me laugh a lot and cry a little this week.

What color is your sun?

Watercoloring with Caroline this afternoon, I realized that we all really do see the world differently. I was creating a lovely watercolor landscape (trying to get across the idea of rinsing the brush in the water between colors) when I started to add a sun to my painting. A yellow sun. I narrated as I drew the sun but was quickly cut off with the directive that I should be using orange. The moon is yellow; the sun is orange. Now, I disagree, seeing for myself that the moon is white, and the sun is yellow, but I can see her point. I vividly remember disagreeing with my kindergarten teacher over the color of trees. We were given coloring pages, poorly mimeographed so that the words were hardly legible. Each item on the page was labeled with a color. The label for the tree trunks was totally illegible, save for the first letter B. Well, I knew that one and didn't need to ask for clarification. Tree trunks are black. My teacher disagreed with me (as she so often did. I could probably write a years' worth of blog entries about my kindergarten challenges.) I grew up surrounded by pine trees, which certainly have black trunks. If she wanted brown trunks, she should have made better copies or moved herself somewhere north.

So, I decided not to argue with my daughter about the orange-ness of the sun. And I'll never take away her chair just because she doesn't sit in it or ridicule her for finding a clever shortcut for a ridiculously mundane task1. (But enough of my own K-bitterness.)

1 - In kindergarten, EVERY SINGLE DAY, we had to write our numbers on Big Chief tablets. It just took FOREVER. I just hated writing those numbers, over and over again. One day, I realized what a waste writing the tens digit for all the teens was, since it was the same number over and over,1-0, 1-1, 1-2... and that tens digit was just a line after all. I got out my ruler, drew a line right down the page, and then proceeded to add the second digit to all the teens. Pretty smart, I think. My teacher did not agree.

Drugstore Deals

This week's deal
-- free toothpaste
Location
-- Walgreen's (also right on the corner. right across from the CVS mentioned last week)
Details
-- Aquafresh on sale this week $2 / each
-- had two different coupons on file -- $1 / off Aquafresh Extreme Clean; $1 / Aquafresh Advanced
-- bought one of each
-- Walgreen's is offering an EasySaver mail-in rebate off of one Aquafresh purchase (up to 3.99 value) this month, so at the end of the month, I'll compile this receipt with any other rebate items I buy this month and get my $2 back.

FREE TOOTHPASTE!

Fun with Doll Pins

I try to introduce the upcoming week's Gospel reading to Caroline in some way the prior week, and this week's reading is the walk to Emmaus. As a youth, we had an annual weekend retreat / conference named Hot Hearts after this event (and a quick google search shows that it is still going on.)

Caroline and I used some doll pins I had bought during that Joanne's moving clearance sale months ago and made a few people (or disciples as was our original intent.) The day we made them, I mentioned that I'd need to look online again to figure out how to make them stand on their own as ours were not very stable.

The next day, I told her the story of the men walking and talking about the resurrection, then being joined by Jesus. I had picked out a few heart stickers to give her as I read the part about their "hearts burn(ing) within us." She had the men prance about, and Jesus join them. Then I handed her a heart sticker to put on her shirt. She moved as if to put it on the doll pin, and I told her that would be fine. Then she put it on the bottom of the pin, sticky side up, and told me that "Now he can stand up."

Out of the minds of babes! Why didn't I think of that?

FREE!

I am a non-competative (meaning, not-too-serious) player in the coupon game. I did my $1 one month trial with the Grocery Game to get the gist of the strategies, but I am not a die-hard stock-piler or a coupon-junkie. I must admit, though, that there are weeks that I get the adrenalin rush. AND THIS IS ONE OF THOSE WEEKS!

Softsoap Spa Radiant $4.99 at CVS -- buy one, get $4.99 ECB = FREE -- limit five
I had a coupon for $1.00 off and for $1.50 off

Speed Stick 2 for $5 and get $3 ECB = $1 each
I had coupons for $1.00 off one and $.75 off two

So, the above cost me, minus ECB plus coupons, -$.25. That means I MADE 25 cents buying this stuff! I suppose technically, the gas to the corner may have cost that (but both stops were in route somewhere I was going anyway).

A few tips on making couponing and the drugstores work for you:
-- clip the Sunday coupons every week for any product (regardless of brand) that you might need
-- live near both a CVS and Walgreens (you'll have to make multiple trips to get your ECBs and rebates to work for you.)
-- match your coupons with the drugstore sales fliers
-- don't be brand loyal
-- keep track of what you can get for free or really cheap (and stock up on those items during that time.) According to the Grocery Game, the sales and coupons run with a regular routine, so, for instance, March is the time to stock up on soap and deodorant. Perhaps, April will be shampoo and conditioner, etc. The Grocery Game tracks all of that for you, so it is definitely worth the trial.

HAPPY SHOPPING!