Diapers = Money In The Bank

 

I saved so much money on diapers today that I had to share with you how I did it because you can do it too! I know that I say this over and over, but couponing really is easy once you get the hang of it. If you've tried and you just don't get it, let me know. I'll be more than happy to help you!

 

Pampers diapers are on sale this week at CVS for $8.99 (regular price $11.99) so I bought four packages.

• With the CVS sale, I'm already saving $3/package. Saved $12.00.
• I had two coupons that expired today for $1.00 off two packages of diapers. Saved $2.00.
• I had a coupon that came out of the CVS kiosk the last time I was in the store for $5.00 off a baby purchase of $25.00 or more. CVS tracks what you buy and they give you coupons toward those items. They are brilliant because it keeps you coming back to their store. I am brilliant because I combine those store coupons with store sales and manufacture coupons to get the most savings that I can. Saved $5.00.
• I had $12.00 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB's) from my previous shopping trip. Saved $12.00.
• Retail price for the four packages of diapers was $47.96.
• I paid $16.96 before taxes.
• I saved $31.00!
• I purchased a total of 125 diapers so that comes out to $0.13/diaper. Retail price would have been $0.38/diaper.

Believe it or not, I can make this deal even better! CVS is running a promotion this week that will give you $10.00 back in ECB's if you spend $30 on Proctor & Gamble items. So, I received another $10 back just for this diaper purchase. So technically, I bought 125 diapers for $6.96 ($16.96 - $10.00) or $.05/diaper. That's just ridiculous!

 

Below are my receipts just to show you that I can't make this stuff up. It's real and it's real easy!

Led By the Spirit

I've debated writing this post for a couple of weeks. It's a delicate subject and I don't want this to be taken as a "look what I did" moment, but rather as a way to share with you what happens when God speaks to me. I believe that God has many ways of to speaking to us here on earth. Some of those ways are more subtle than others. Sometimes we choose to hear Him and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we just miss the moment all together. Sometimes we get the message loud and clear.

A few weekends ago, we went on our annual vacation to Eureka Springs, AR. Our first evening there, we ate dinner at Pizza Hut. We don't know what it is about this Pizza Hut, but we eat there almost every time we visit ... and yet we never eat at the Pizza Hut right down the street from our house. Go figure. Anyway, we were finishing our dinner when I knew that God was beginning to speak to me. Really?! At Pizza Hut?! On our vacation?! I've been blessed to hear from God in the past, but it usually involved praying for someone at church or, let me just be honest, something non-monetary. So as I sit there minding my own business, I'm clearly getting the message that we need to pay for someones dinner in the restaurant. How do I know it was God, you might ask? Because in my past experience, the feeling I get is pretty overwhelming. I get anxious, my heart starts to beat faster, I feel a sense of urgency ... and the excuses start flowing in my mind. I'm just being honest. Sometimes God asks us to do things outside of our comfort zone; therefore, it's easier to come up with an excuse rather than an action.

I didn't even need to look around the restaurant, I knew exactly who's dinner we needed to pay for. While we were waiting on our food, the big girls were coloring, and I was feeding Parker, a family of 9 came in to eat. There were 7 kids and two parents. They looked like a simple farm family. The boys wore overalls and the girls wore homemade dresses. I was intrigued by them, but I didn't think any more about them until I got the feeling. They were the one's we needed to bless. Why, I don't know, but God knew and that's all that mattered.

I looked at Greg and asked him if he thought we needed to pay for anyones dinner in the restaurant. He jokingly said "that family of 100?" I said "yes." He agreed. We've learned not to question each other when it comes to certain things. We are not wealthy by any means so we both know that if it has to do with money then it had to come from God. After all, He will provide. And He did. We were given some extra spending money the day before we left town so we put some of that money toward our dinner and the other family's dinner.

As far as I know, they don't know who paid for their meal. I just asked the manager to tell them "to have a blessed weekend." Come to think of it, we had a pretty blessed weekend ourselves. It's funny how that seems to work out. God is good and for that we are faithful.

I hope this message will help you take the time to listen when God is speaking to you.


Isaiah 1:19 - "If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land"

It's All About Perspective

Tonight, we got wild and crazy!We left an event with panties in the trash, puke on the floor, and people passed out on the drive home. It was unforgettable!

What really happened:

We went to dinner at a friends house and they have two little girls. One of our girls (who will be left unnamed) was too busy playing to go potty and she got a little mess in her panties so we threw them away. Parker spit up on the floor, and two of our three girls fell asleep on the way home. This all happened between the hours of 5:30-8:00pm.

Who says parenting isn't wild and crazy?!

Forever Making Memories

We started our yearly vacations to Eureka Springs, AR, in 2006. During the past 6 years, we've gone as a married couple, we've taken friends, we've gone as a family of 3, a family of 4, and now a family of 5. We've even been with other parents while leaving all the kids at home ... woohoo!

A few weekends ago was our 2012 trip, and the first time that Parker went with us (outside of the womb). We had a great time despite the light rain and sleet for 2 of the 3 days. We stayed at the same cabins (Morrell Mountain), ate at the same underground breakfast place with the same waitress (Mud Street Cafe), and went to the same place for a carmel apple ... or two (Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory). It's always a relaxing weekend in a peaceful place surrounded by nice people. What more could you ask for?!


Here are some pics of this year's trip:

Bailey and Lou eating at Mud Street. Don't worry, that's orange juice in the coffee cups. The wait staff there is brilliant ... no spills!. They are sharing a gigantic banana and strawberry muffin. Yum!

Lou, Bailey, Parker, and I shopping. Did I mention it sleeted most of the time. Brrr! Parker is asleep inside a backpack carrier, zipped up in my coat. She had it made!

Lou, Greg, and Bailey with the Crescent Hotel in the background. The girls loved the hotel (aka walking up 4 flights of very old stairs) so we had to visit it twice (aka walk the stairs a lot).

Parker checking out the stairs inside our cabin. These girls love stairs!

 ___________________________________________________________________

Flashback to our 2011 trip with the Chesser's and Moore's. Since this was an adults only trip, we must have been too busy relaxing to take pics:

Me and Dawn - both pregnant with our third kids!

Flashback to our 2010 trip with the Chesser's:

Lou on the same stairs two years before Parker's picture above

Greg, Bailey, Lou, and I at the Crescent Hotel

Craig, Owen, Bailey, Dawn, Cole, Me, Lou, and Greg

Lou and Bailey splashing in the bath time at the cabin

Flashback to our 2008 trip with the Hood's:

Greg, Bailey, and Me

Kris & Jared (pre kids). They look so young and vibrant!

Looking through these pictures brought back some great memories. I'm already looking forward to next year's trip to Eureka!

I will never forget my parents taking us on family vacations each summer while growing up. I didn't know the importance of those trips until I had a family of my own. Now, I cherish the times that we "get away" from the everyday routine and get to be together. We are blessed!

The Time Has Come

This is a follow up to the post Wait Gain that I wrote a little over a year ago on Sept 25th, 2011. In that post, I was very open about my weight before pregnancy and during my 3 pregnancies that occurred within 3 1/2 years. You can read that post here.

This is the part where I hold myself accountable to that post. Gulp!

I weighed around 175 pounds when I delivered Parker on Feb 2nd of this year. That means that I gained a total of 21 pounds with pregnancy #3. Parker is just over 8 months old and I now weigh 156 pounds. This means that I've lost a total of 19 pounds (almost all that I gained) since she was born. Not bad, but still not anywhere near my goal of my pre-pregnancy weight of 133 lbs. I want to reach this goal because, as I stated before, my healthy weight for my height should be between 125-135 pounds. I've run some and we play soccer every week, but I haven't been 100% dedicated to working out ... until now. This weekend we are setting up our Gold's Gym Weight Set in our garage. Do know what that means?!

That means that...

1. I will have no excuse not to get back in shape.
2. I will work hard.
3. My husband and I will work out together because we are a team.
4. I will prove to myself and society that you can get back in shape after having 3 kids.
5. I will not become a statistic. I had Gestational Diabetes with two of my three pregnancies and statistics say that I'm highly likely to get full blown Diabetes within 5 years of that diagnosis. I'm at an even higher risk of getting diabetes because I already have Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and diabetes runs in my family. I will prove them wrong.
6. I will be an example for my three girls.
7. I will encourage my other mom friends who are also struggling to lose the baby weight.
8. I will do my best to reach my goal, but I also realize that my goal may change along the way. I know that my body is different now so I may be in the shape that I want to be in before I reach 133 pounds. To me, it's not about the number, it's about feeling good and being happy with how I look.
9. I will eat better, exercise more, and lose weight the healthy way. I will not deprive myself of Ice Cream or Pumpkin Spice Cappuchino if I really want them. Moderation is key!
10. I will need encouragement.
11. I will not give up!

To be continued ... sometime in the future ... when I'm back in shape!

SIDE NOTE to all of the women reading this: These numbers, goals, pounds are MINE. This is for MY body type, not yours. Please don't compare yourself to me. Realize your own numbers, set your own goals, and lose your own pounds. We can do this!

Playroom For Our Girls

The girls, along with mom and dad, are pretty excited about how the play room in our new home turned out. The walls are painted gray with a pink accent area above the window and above the cut out on the opposite wall. The piece of art has each of the girls names, nicknames, and birth dates on it.

What are those seats, you ask? Those are auditorium seats that we found at On The Corner Resale on 15th Street in Tulsa. They were rescued from Wilson Middle School before it was torn down. Are they bolted to the floor, you ask? Why yes, yes they are. Was that an easy process, you ask? No, not really. But, it was worth it! A special thanks to our good friends, the Hood's, for helping us install them.

These seats actually started our trend to put something vintage in every room of our house. Thanks to months of construction on the BA Expressway, I drove past these seats for a few weeks before mentioning them to Greg. I thought it might be a hard sell trying to convince him to actually bolt something to the floor inside our house. I should have know - he loved the idea. We originally planned to purchase 3 seats for our 3 girls, then we upped it to 5 for each member of our family, then we settled on 6 so that the girls and their friends would all have a seat to enjoy. The girls like to read books there now, but we envision a media/movie room when the girls get a little bigger.

The distressed cabinet to the left of the chairs (seen in the first picture) was made to look old, but it's not. We bought it last Spring at Hobby Lobby. It's filled with paper, coloring books, crayons, etc. The dresser to the right of the seats (also seen in the first picture) was made by my dad when he was in college. It was in my room as a child and it was painted white and purple. At our old house it was in our dining room and painted red and white. Now it's in the girls playroom and it's painted gray and white with pink glass flower shaped knobs. Come to think of it, this piece came way before the chairs so it was our first real vintage piece. (wink, wink at my dad)

On the other side of the room is a black armoire that's currently holding some electronics on the top (that the kids can't get to) and play clothes and kids DVDs on the bottom. There is a bookshelf loaded with books just behind the armoire. A special thanks to our good friends, the Chesser's, for giving the girls this bookshelf.

And last, but not least, my secret and well hidden girly side, purchased these white ruffle tulle curtains. Everyone that has seen them has been shocked that I actually bought these, but I thought that the room needed something soft to offset the metal chairs, gray dresser and walls, and black furniture. Don't tell anyone, but I love these curtains!





Custom Artwork

I've talked about my brother and sister in law's store in Fayetteville, AR, before, but in case you missed it ... it's AWESOME! They opened The Mustache: Goods & Wears on Block St about a year and a half ago and the store is booming. So well, in fact, that they opened a second location in Bentonville, AR, about a month ago. You can check out their store at www.shopthemustache.com or their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/mustachegw.

Besides the obvious plug, I say all of that to tell you that The Mustache is where I first heard about Lindsey Kelley Art. Lindsey lives in Fayetteville and she makes and sales artwork for the store and other places. You can visit her facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LindseyKelleyArt. I contacted Lindsey via email (kelley.lindsey@gmail.com), shared my ideas with her, and then let her do her thing. My biggest advice to you if you are thinking about having some of this artwork made for your home is to not limit her artistic ability. She knows what she's doing so just give her the words and let her do the rest! She is very talented and we are extremely happy with our artwork.


Piece #1: My grandmother (who loved Cardinals) passed away in March of 2011. She used to always say "I love you more" after we said I love you to her. It quickly became her signature quote, so my brother and sister in law had this piece of artwork made for us (and one for my mom and cousin) for Christmas last year. Of course, it made us cry. This piece is 2 feet tall x 1 1/2 feet wide, and it hangs in our living room.

Piece #2: This mustache is the logo for my brother's store, and it was drawn by a good friend of ours so we just had to have it in our home. This piece was a gift from my parents, and they have one just like it at their house. Yes, I realize that not everyone wants a mustache in there home ... but, we do! This piece is 1 foot tall x 2 feet wide, and it hangs over our front door to give everyone a smile as they leave our happy home.

Piece #3: We just had to have another mustache. But this time we went a little bigger. This piece is 2 feet tall x 4 feet wide, and it hangs in our bedroom.

Piece #4: I love a good worship song, and one day at church these lyrics really stuck out to me. These are words that I want to live by and I want my family to live by, so we chose this piece to keep us focused on what is important in life. This piece is 2 feet tall x 1 1/2 feet wide, and it hangs in our living room.

Piece #5: These are lyrics that Greg chose from a song. I just heard the song about a week ago, well after this piece was made. I must say, he chose his lyrics well. This piece is 2 feet tall x 4 feet wide, and it hangs in our dining room.

Piece #6: Isaiah 40:31 is my favorite Bible verse of all time. It's uplifting and motivational, and I love being reminded of it every day when I see this art. This piece is just over 3 feet tall x 2 1/2 feet wide, and it hangs in our hallway.

Piece #7: I love this one for obvious reasons. It lists each of the girls names, nicknames, and birth dates. It's awesome! This piece is 2 feet tall x 4 feet wide, and it hangs in the girls playroom.

As you can see from these pieces, Lindsey can do just about anything that you ask for. They can be all black and white, include a little bit of color, or be all color. It's really your choice. These pieces are all printed on canvases. We love the distressed look of the art. It really fits our style ... if we even have a style. :)