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.