February No Spend Challange

It's February, and that means it's time for my annual no spend challenge. I like to do this in February since all the major holidays are past, it's too darn cold to go shopping anyways, and, who am I kidding, it's the shortest month of the year!

Those who know me know I am a frugalista. Yes, that's a word, but don't bother checking your dictionaries. Basically, I like to shop, wear nice clothes, eat good food, dress my kids well, and save money doing it. I'm not one of those beans and rice penny pinchers (though I have nothing against you, I think your self restraint is admirable!) No, I do spend money, but I try to get the most bang for my buck.

Even though my frugalista lifestyle is fabulous, I like to take some time every so often and appreciate what I already have, without feeling the urge that I need to search for that next deal or accumulate more things. For the month of February, I plan to stay off ebay (except to sell, you should check out my awesome auctions launching Thursday, since you’re not on a no spend challenge ;) ), ignore my daily deal sites like mamabaragins, babysteals, and woot.com, and stay out of the stores except to buy items I really need. Yes, I still allow myself to grocery shop. I can’t get through a whole month without fresh fruits and milk, and even though I plan to creatively use up the food in my pantry and freezer, I will still go to Meijers. I’ll be trying to post what I’m making for dinner each night, please use this as a chance NOT to judge our eating habits, lol, (remember I have a 10 month old baby, a job, and it’s the middle of winter here, so warm hearty meals are in the mix) but instead to see how recipes can be creatively altered or cooked with what you have on hand.

I will also be attempting to go the whole 28 days without buying myself any sort of fast food/takeout. I would stay out of restaurants all together, but I happen to know I have a “surprise” planned for me this month, and I am not telling my husband he can’t take me out! I can however control what I make the girls for lunch, and I can make sure to plan ahead for dinners so we don’t end up with nothing to eat.

I’d like to say I will for sure make the 28 days, but I won’t kick myself if I don’t. I would like to see how long I can go though, and have a record in writing so I can try to beat it next year.

Where did January go?

Wow! I can't believe tomorrow's the last day of January. Really very much looking forward to it since my AT&T cable installer is coming. What-what!!! Yes, long story, but comcast is definitely on my poo-poo list. So goodbye Comcast, and comcast email, and phone, and well, everything. If I'm not online tommorrow then you will know something has gone terribly wrong in the install process and I'm sitting in Candace's basement watching tv, since yes, I'd be in withdrawals.

We had a crazy busy weekend. Lots of fun stuff went on. We went to a trivia night last night at Ginny's daughter's school. They had onsite babysitters, so I brought the girls. I figured Clara would last all of 20 minutes, since she's well, Clara, so I didn't bring a bottle or anything. Who needs a bottle when she'll be cruising through the mom buffet? Well, bad mommy. Those were some awesome girlscouts. Clara stayed in there the entire time. Wow! It was nice to have some free fun time with friends for a change. This is getting to be a pattern that I like.

Today I went with the band to a Presbyterian church in Niles to lead service. Super fun. It was like old times, except if old times had been better and more then 5 people had come to a service. I really enjoyed being in church for the first time in a long time.

After church, I decided to punish myself for my lax exercise practices. I'm 3 workouts behind on my EA Sports "game." One was due to my going to Strollerfit to work out with real people on Friday. See, Niki doesn't accept your excuse, that "I already worked out today." If she can't see you sweat and cry, she doesn't believe you picked your butt off the couch. Since I'm OCD I can't stand to have a video game mad at me, so I did the only sane and rational thing possible. I worked out twice. Yes, over 2 hours of workouts, and my body is sore! Good news, I'm only one workout behind now, laugh!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my no spend February challenge!

Coupon Crazy

No cute kid pictures today, since my kids weren't cute. Well, Olivia was, she was beyond sweet, but poor baby Clara was grumpy, snotty, and out of sorts. Yeeesss....create your own fabulous mental picture. I spent most of the day holding Clara, and the parts where she was all snuggly were the best. Poor girl has a nasty cold, and she's pretty much mad at the world.

One good thing about today was that I had to go to CVS to get meds, and while I was waiting I got some coupon items I'd been wanting. Yes, I was THAT lady at CVS today. If you saw the extreme coupon show on TLC, I am not that bad, no where near, but I like to have my stockpile.

Today my major stockpile was dishwasher detergent. I bought some of it, oh 2 years ago on a sale and we're finally on the last box. Lucky for me there was another great coupon and sale. I got 30 boxes of detergent today. Original price when rung up $192.00. My out of pocket expense? $18.85. And yes, I will not need detergent for another 2 years.

Also picked up some pop and misc. items in the picture. For all the items besides the detergent I paid $8.75, and that also includes a bag of m&ms not pictured I got Olivia as a bribe to be good. In all fairness, I did have a $10 ECB for taking a survey, and another $10ECB from the previous week, but that was a rolling buck, so no money out of pocket. Oh how I love CVS!!!

Jan 10-16th My Crazy Life

A picture of the kiddo since everyone knows they're the ones you really want to see!

I’ve missed a couple of days of blogging, and I blame only one person, my new personal trainer Niki. After a long, hard day with the girls, I have dinner, throw a load of laundry in the machine, and head down to the computer to do a little web surfing and blog writing. Each night, on my way to the office, I hear Niki’s voice calling me to come do a workout. So of course, I change my clothes, find a water bottle and my equipment, and put in a solid workout. Then I need to shower and change for bed, and by then I am too exhausted to come back to the basement and finish my “me” time.

So how am I so lucky that I now can afford a live in personal trainer? Well, I didn’t win the lottery. Actually, “Niki” is my personal trainer from my new EA Sports game for playstation. A few days after Christmas, I saw this game for sale on Amazon. Since my workouts lately have been pretty much sidelined by a daughter who wants to nap at 10am (right smack dab in the middle of my favorite workout class) and about 2 feet of snow (who really wants to trek out in that?) I decided to spend the money and try it out. And OMG people, I am so glad I did! Let me tell you, this “game” is so much fun. I’m doing the 9 week training program and except for one frustrating workout where I had my arm sensors mixed up, I am love, love, loving it. The best parts? 1. You get an arm band that monitors your heart rate at all times, so you get to see exactly how many calories you burn and 2. You compete against yourself and other computer game people in activities, and you all know how I love to compete. But since I have let you down in the blogging department for my own personal fitness gain, I decided to take one for the team and take one night off to power blog and catch you up for the week :)

Tues/Wed/Thurs
So I pretty much have holed up in my house (see above) to stay warm and stay out of the snow. Yes, there are the forced forays to the grocery store just so my family doesn’t starve, but even those are few and far between. So this week was very exciting as I made an exception to my hermit winter hibernation and went to the mall 3-days-in-a-row!!! Yes, I am just that crazy. This week was Gymbucks redemption, and along with gymbucks I had something I’ve never had, crazy 8 crazy cash. Crazy cash is like a gymbuck in theory, except totally different as you spend it at Crazy 8 ;)

Gymbuck and crazy cash redemption was said to start Thursday. However, as a Gymboree addict and a person with a lot of time on my hands to stalk Gymbo, I knew that the redemption would start a day early for rewards members, which meant I had to get there a day before that to put all my awesome stuff on hold. See, as much as I love Gymboree, there are very few times where I feel comfortable paying full price for their clothes, I like to stalk the sale items instead.

I headed to the mall Tuesday with a print out and a calculator. I got lots of great deals, and even broke my rules and bought a full price dress for Clara for this summer, since it was so adorable, and I felt like it would sell out before markdowns. I thought I would also head to Crazy 8 and do those holds, but, SURPRISE, Crazy 8 has no early redemption period, so I was forced to return the next day for those holds.

I got to Crazy 8 right when it opened, and I was the only person in the whole store. Whoa, that is so not Gymbo. I didn’t know what to do with myself. The sales lady was totally awesome and helped me find my outfits to put on hold. I then headed to Gymbo and picked up my Tues holds (are you still following this incredibly intriguing drama? Then you are a true friend!). I came back to the mall Thursday night with Erin and picked up my final bags from Crazy 8. All told I got 15 complete outfits for the girls and a few completer pieces for other outfits I had bought previously. And the fun I had? Priceless…

Friday
Date Night!!!

Yes, 3 exclamation points. I have not had a date night in a long time. Mostly since I don’t want to inflict my youngest daughter’s sleeping habits on anyone who isn’t related by blood. But we were invited out by friends and I bit the bullet. I had to make about 10 phone calls, but I found a sitter who was available and willing to sit, and who I felt like I could trust. Clara was a wreck before we left; she was cranky, tired, and crying. Of course, guilty mom syndrome kicks in. I told Mike maybe we should just stay home, but since he loves me and knows I needed that time out with him, he told me we were leaving. We didn’t get out of the house until 45 minutes after we were planning, but Mike got Clara to sleep and in her crib by then so I felt better. Olivia was having a grand old time, she told me I could leave and she was fine without me. Gone are the days when Olivia throws a fit when I leave her with a sitter, now she’s glad to see me go!
Long story short, we had a great, awesome, amazing night out. The best part is knowing I can leave Clara, and she won’t self destruct while I’m gone. Now to break my 2 nights out in 10 months record :)

Saturday/Sunday
I’ve been spending most of the weekend mulling a job offer. It pretty much came out of the blue, and it’s an awesome offer, but I am so torn. I love working, but I love being home with my girls too. I would still have days off, but less, and I don’t know if I’m willing to commit to that at this point in time. The flip side of the coin is it’s an offer for a place I’ve worked before. I loved the job, I loved my boss, and I felt like I learned new things every day. I wouldn’t have to spend my weekends grading papers, and the pay has been improved since I held the position, so I would make a very nice wage, and I wouldn’t have to worry about the job being gone in a few months like I do every semester with teaching. What to do, what to do? I even made a chart with pluses and minuses on each side. Yes, I am so 1990’s! If this job was offered to me in a year, 2 years, 3 years???? Can I pass it up knowing it probably will not be available again? Please pray for me to make the right decision for our family.

Jan 10, 2011

Mike and his girls

Growing up, I used to dread Mondays, since it meant going back to school, and later work, after a weekend of fun. I’m thinking as I get older that Mondays aren’t so bad. On Monday, Mike and Olivia go off into the world, and it’s just Clara and I chilling at home. It’s usually quiet, and I tend to get a lot of the things I put off over the weekend done. Clara talks more too, maybe since she has less competition.
Clara’s not walking yet, but she does stand up on her knees. She refuses to pull up on furniture, guess she thinks that’s the lazy baby’s way of learning to walk. She looks so cute on her knees, but I’m in no hurry for her to walk. The whole crawling forward thing already rocked our world; I’ll wait for the walking.
Today when Mike came home Clara crawled as fast as she could through the living room and kitchen to see him. She loves her daddy, and can you blame her? It’s so awesome seeing her face light up when she sees him, makes me love him a little more each time.

Super Snow Day!!

Snow day!
Title pretty much says it all. We ended up with a lot of snow in our area, and we stayed home and enjoyed it all day. Clara wasn’t feeling great, so she stayed snuggled inside with me, and Mike and Olivia played outside until Olivia’s cuffs froze. It was one of those awesome family bonding days, and I’m loving the snow. (disclaimer-Mike did all the shoveling!!)

Wow, had an awesome day today with the girls and a fun night out at the MOPS holiday party! First of all, let me say what a blessing Olivia has been lately. She is my strong willed child, and she can make life tough when she has a bad day. For the past few days however she's been pleasant, helpful, and a joy to be around.
For instance, today we were supposed to meet the strollerfriends group at Jamba Juice for smoothies. Unfortunately, Clara chose that time to have a nap, and we missed the meetup. In the past, Olivia might have gotten upset over this, but today she took it in stride and was very positive about it. It really ended up working out great, since I saw Jessica post on facebook about going to Jimmy Johns (yum!) for lunch and we ended up meeting her and Holly there. We spent the rest of our Friday playing go fish and "baking" food in Olivia's new Princess ice bake oven. I should have known that ice does not bake anything, but hey, they sent a man to the moon, they should have this all figured out, right? Well people, wrong!!! If a sweet and innocent child offers you a concoction from this oven (and they will, since they don't want to eat it) politely take it and scrape it into your napkin. The only thing that saved me from this delicious cake treat was my extra large diet coke from Jimmy Johns :)
In the evening we had our MOPS holiday dinner, and it was so fun. Hanging out with the ladies, eating a lovely hot dinner that I didn't cook, a mixed drink called "The Ashley" and a silly white elephant gift exchange. I actually was quite pleased with my gifts, a yoga/pilates VHS and a book full of nursery rhymes, etc. I can't be too sure about how others felt about their gifts, but there was a very popular purse and a super creepy thing-a-ma-jig. Walking through the knollwood parking lot after the event was an adventure, I heard through the grapevine that at least one of our lovely members (cough, Barb!) took a spill on the ice. Luckily I had Julie and Jodi to wobble next to on the way to the car, so I made it in one piece.

"Black Ice" January 6, 2011

Our Kids Looking Extra Sweet After We Had a 2 Hour Break From Them!!

The Blue Table: Erin, Ginny, Ashley, Tammy, Julie & Chiara

The first and third Thursday of every month during the school year is a MOPS morning. For those who aren't familiar, MOPS stands for mothers of preschoolers, and it's a chance for any mom with a child between the ages of 0 and kindergarten to get together and enjoy a hot breakfast, amazing fellowship, and moving speakers. Today there were 2 special things about MOPS.

1. The food was amazing!!! Orange table, you guys out did yourselves. You have officially set the mark to beat. How do I judge this? My plate was full, and there were still more things I wanted to try. I sat down and liked everything on my plate. Fabu!

2. The speaker was awesome. What a truly moving subject that really touches everyone. I sat mesmerized listening to her and her experiences with infertility, and also her suggestions on how to deal with others who've had or are dealing with this problem. I know it wasn't easy for her to share and I really appreciate her doing so for us.

What I really was thinking about today happened before MOPS, though. I was driving to the meeting and I hit a patch of black ice on the road. Anti-lock brakes going a mile a minute, I swerved into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid hitting the car stopped in front of me at the stop sign. Luckily, there was no traffic coming towards me and I was able to safely stop. I then proceeded towards the meeting at a little slower pace.

As I'm driving, a car behind me decides I'm going to slow, and passes me. In my head I'm yelling, "watch out for the black ice!" but of course they can't hear me.

Isn't life like the black ice? Lots of times in my life everything looks good. I'm cruising along, maybe going a little too fast, and I hit a patch of "ice" My ice could be a financial issue, problems with a friend, depression, you name it. I have few options, hit the car in front of me, swerve into oncoming traffic, or go into the ditch. Sometimes, I get my car righted quickly. Other times, I'm alone and lonely in the ditch waiting for the tow truck. So I'm gonna go a little slower from now on, and just be cautious that the black ice might be there. I'll live my life in an intentional manner, and chose how I will react to situations, instead of allowing my emotions and fears to dictate how I'll deal with them. I may not see every patch of ice, but I can try to stop before I go off the road.

Kid's clothes are driving me crazy!!

As you can see from the above photo, I spent my day starting to prepare for the spring/summer clothes selling season. Washing, ironing, and meticulously scanning each article of clothing in multiple light sources to make sure there are no stains. Then I put the items up for sale and I still worry about missing something.

This year I decided to sell more clothes on eBay, unless I lose my nerve. It's a risk, but I think I can sell them more quickly then taking them to consignment, with all the tagging, hanging, and pinning it entails. I don't know why I do this, I really don't. I could just buy clothes for a decent price at a regular store and donate them to goodwill at the end of the season. It would be 100% less stressful, but then there's a much bigger rush in doing it this way.

Clara went to daycare today, since Wednesdays are usually my day to work. She tried to steal another baby's paci and enjoyed her new found ability to crawl forward to get into as much trouble as possible. We went together to pick up Ms. O and found her dressed up with a fancy hat and boa and sitting at a table with a group of girls having a tea party. The boy in her class who claims he is going to marry her had sopping wet hair (and our high today was somewhere in the 20's). When I asked her teacher what happened she said he put his whole head in the hand washing sink. Luckily for me, Olivia doesn't seem to be interested in this "bad boy" as of yet, we're crossing our fingers that she goes after the quiet, nerdy type in about 20 years, but before that focuses on her studies :)

Ahhhh.....babies

Clara preparing to shop

There's something about a baby that makes people want to stop, smile, make silly faces, and talk in crazy high pitched voices. I love a lot of things about having a young baby, but I think that's the best part.

Clara and I went to the grocery store today. Going in the day time works for us, I spend 2 hours in the morning getting us mentally prepared for shopping, Clara takes a nap, has lunch, and we go. During the week day, there's a lot of "elderly" people at the store. As long as you're patient and don't ram them in the ankles with your cart, they're pretty pleasant. They also love babies. Me, I'm chopped liver, but Clara, she was the belle of Meijer.

Old person, "Oh, aren't you just the sweetest little boy? I bet you help your mom a lot at the store."
Me-thinking if I want to tell them she's a girl, and should I answer back for her from "her" perspective or mine? I mean, she's really not helpful at the store, but she probably thinks she is....
Old person-Off down the aisle because because they weren't talking to me and they had their meaningful conversation with the real star (see chopped liver above)

We spent 2 hours at the store today, and I have to go back tomorrow. Yep, ran out of room in the cart. I guess that's the drawback of going during the week with the sweet old people, no Mike to be my second cart wingman.

January 3rd

Totally pulled a fast one on Olivia today, I feel like I used to when I skipped school when I was 16. Yes, this may be totally lame, but those that have children and have had those beautiful miracles around most/all of the past 2 weeks know how I'm feeling.

Last night, "Olivia, you have school tomorrow, ALL DAY."
Olivia (in whiny 14 year old's voice), "Yes, I know, since Daddy has to go to work."
Me, "Yes he does, yes he does."

Matter of fact, Mike doesn't go back to work until tomorrow, but to save all of our sanity he got up at 6, took Olivia to school, and came home. I was giddy with the thoughts of everything we would accomplish today, and we did go to UPS and the post office to ship Christmas boxes (some say procrastinator but I say spreading out the Christmas cheer) and we finally set up the girl's savings accounts. Maybe they do have a crack at college some day.

Other then that not a whole lot got accomplished. Let's just say Clara is a master at taking up the slack when her sister is not around, and even though it was 2 adults against one the cards were definitely stacked in her favor. :)

New Years Blogging

This post should be titled, "Yes, I know it's the 2nd"

I decided a few weeks ago I wanted to do a 365 blog, where I blog daily, or as close to daily as possible, about our crazy lives for a whole year. I think it will be fun to look back on our daily doings and see how much we change over the year.

Like any good new year's plan, I had to fail immeadiately in the execution. Come on, how relatable would I be if I actually completed my 365 with no slip ups? Instead of leaving you all in suspense about when the first slip up would be, I chose to just start out missing a blog. You're all welcome. Yep, no pins and needles for you, faithful readers. Or should I say reader? ;)

Anyways, here it is, the second day of 2011, and here's my first post. Pretty impressive, isn't it? If you're lucky, I might make another post before day's end, kind of a catch up, but in reality that probably won't happen.