Smellyann Strikes Again

Oh, My Dawg, I'm So Excited!!!

...or, How We Spent Our Tax Refund!

        ...or, Man, We Should Be One of Those Couples Who Has To Spend a Million-Dollar Inheritance in 24-Hours Flat!

                   You feel me? But let's move on from these 77 alternate titles and get to the meat of this post.

If you hadn't realized, our federal tax refund hit our bank account yesterday. Here's how we've spent it on the kids and household goods in the day since then:

1. First stop, our local post office. We had to mail five or six packages, including the Progressive Snapshot device I'd never plugged into our Odyssey, Penelope, some video surveillance equipment for a mystery shop I'd (never) done, and the keys to our Virginia Beach house to our realtor back in that town. Plus, I had to buy a roll of stamps. Yes, some of us do still send snail mail. And also, we had to bring our lease in so that we could FINALLY get the keys to our mailbox. It's been 3 weeks, and we still have almost NO mail, save for the little bit that trickles down into our PO Box. Speaking of which, the kids and I went to check it while Rob finished up with the lease business, and there were two cards in it from Aunt Stacey (my sister). She sent cards and money for the two birthday babies, Jack and Sophia, having decided together with me that money was the way to go for our kids' respective birthdays from now on.

2. Next stop, Walmart. We spent a buttload of money on household necessities (and a few un-necessities, but not many) there. And Jack spent his new birthday money on this remote-controlled boat he'd been eyeing for a while.

Sophia spent her birthday money on this horse, which goes with her doll that she'd bought with birthday money from others earlier in the month. Granted, it's not tax money, but it happened yesterday, so I have to tell ya.

Also, Chloë and...

 

 

... Sophia both got new pairs of skates, which was and wasn't a splurge. It wasn't an absolute need, no, but they did need to get more and more varied exercise, and I needed a skating partner! Rob wanted to buy me a bike, too, but I figure I'll keep an eye on Freecycle for that. (Side note: Sophia fell on her butt a million times but is already zooming skillfully around the block. Chloë is still falling, but she'll get there, I'm sure. Soon as she lets go of all the tree branches, that is.)

 

 Other spending at Wally-World included food (absolutely necessary, right?), an iron (Rob had left ours back at the Va Beach house, oops), toilet bowl brushes (because, eww, he forgot those back there, too), a plunger (same story), towels and accessories to match the new shower curtains and mats in both our and the kids' bathrooms (splurge-y), a garbage can (forgot it, too), aaaand new bedding for all three kids (Sophia ruined all the old ones. She does that).

 

 

 

Next up, back at home, I went online to the Florida DMV website because we both need new state licenses, and then we'll need to register Penelope and the motorcycle, and then we'll need to get new insurance policies. (And I still freakin' need to fix the gigantical crack down the middle of my windshield, but that'll keep a li'l longer, won't it? It's been a month and a half already, after all...) But the next appointment - you make 'em online, here - for the DMV isn't until May 6th, so I looked at the docs we'll need for the new licenses. Crap, I need a new Social Security card. So do the kids; ours got stolen, which is not awesome. Lots of other stuff did, too; someone stole our "important papers" lockbox I kept under my desk. Ugh. Anyway. We'll go do that business tomorrow. Of course, they'll want my driver's license, among other things, to get the new card, so now I understand dogs and cats chasing their own tails!

 

 

We don't need cable TV - -haven't had it for years- - but we do need internet service. This is 2013, after all, and we have numerous electronic devices needing wi-fi. Not to mention the fact that our iPhones get crap for signals in the house on the LTE network, or 3G or 4G for the matter, and we don't have a landline. So, we put in about a half-dozen phone calls to Comcast to sign up for supah-fast (and cheap, compared to what we were paying for Cox in VA) cable internet service. We'd have done it sooner, but, ah, that's neither here nor there. It's done now, and they're coming Sunday, and I can't wait, and yeah.

 

 

Next stop, JAFRA, to place an order. I have gotten several from clients that needed fulfilling, plus I plan to start kicking that into high gear, so I needed a few things myself for said purpose. Yeah. I love JAFRA packages. They smell so damn good and always bring promises of buttery soft skin. Mmm, me likey.

 

 

 

Speaking of our iPhones, I've been boosting off my 5's Personal Hotspot to get online and do all the important stuff like tell you on this blahg about that important stuff, and so I had to go on the AT&T website to pay our big, fat bill. That was that. Can't wait to whittle that back down after the Comcast guy comes with our new, um, nothing?

 

 

Speaking of paying the bills, I hopped over to our bank website and put in an extra payment for Penelope, and...

 

 

 

...Elsie, Rob's BMW motorsickle.

 

(Yes, I spelled it that way on porpoise. C'mon, now.)

 

And then, the really exciting stuff started. Well, wait, first dinner. The kids must eat. The husband must eat. I... must nibble. I gained about 10 lbs during our move and realized it even before I got my scale back a week ago to confirm it, so I've been eating very carefully and am already down 4 lbs since then. I was hoping to take it off by my birthday in September, so yay. But what? am I talking about??

 

 

For dinner, after Rob and the kids cleared off the table and cleaned up the kitchen enough for me to cook in it properly, we laid down the new bamboo runner we'd gotten on clearance from Walmart (a minute splurge, yes, but it went with my Fiestaware, and hey, bamboo!) and used the also-clearanced new cloth napkins (hey, reducing paper waste is a good thing). Since we were going fancyish, I decided to make the kids promise promise promise they wouldn't break the wedding crystal we'd gotten from Dr. Lisa and Uncle Faris, and they did pinky-promise, which is as good as gold 'round here. And guess what? The only person who came even close to breaking one was ME. Yup, I'm still the same ol' klutz I always was, rest assured. PS, the candles were Sophie's idear. We are SO decadent. ;P

 

 

I'd gotten this Ninja Chopper from my friend, Yet Another Stephanie, back in VA, but I hadn't put it to good use yet. We had avocados, we had guac mix, and we had tortilla chips, so it was time. And guess what? After a few pulses, we had delicious-ish guacamole. It wasn't the best I've ever had, but compared to the improvised batch I made after Rob and - yes! - the kids quickly polished off this one, it wasn't bad at all. Heh. (Mine wasn't either, but it lacked salt. And lymes. And cilantro. And had too much onion. And tomato. And not enough avocado. Damn, it must've sucked worse than I first rememberated.)

 

 

 

This picture is way washed-out compared to the actual scene, but then I whipped up a pork steak dinner from a recipe I'd gotten on the back of a can of Campbell's chicken broth. There was pasta instead of rice, because that's what I had, and I needed to squeeze fresh juice from oranges rather than use bottled juice, because that's what I had and hello, yummier, but other than that, it was pretty much according to the recipe. Kinda. Anyways. Rob says it was good enough to make again, which is high praise coming from him, but all three kids had upturned noses, the punks. I don't see them doing the whole presentation-is-everything thing on me with hummus and pita, or anything, so humph!

 

 

 

However, Jack and Chloë did enjoy the orange slices in the dinner so well that they requested more for dessert. Um, okay, twist my arm a little bit, why don'tcha.

 

And NOW for the rilly, rilly exciting part!!!

 

(You'd better be sitting down now.)

 

(I mean it.)

 

(Because this is heady, heady stuff, coming up here in a second.)

 

Are you ready?

 

All right.

 

You asked for it.

 

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I bought stuff for homeschooling!!!!!! Yeah, school, baby! I can't WAIT to delve back in and get the kids back on track and have tons and tons and TONS of fun in the process. I love teaching them!!

 

Here's what I bought over at the Homeschool Buyers' Co-op:

 

 

 

All FIVE levels of Latin American Spanish from Rosetta Stone!!! Whoop!! For cheap! I have been wanting RS for aaaaaaaages, ever since I did a mystery shop at one of their kiosks (oops, I'm not supposed to tell you that) and saw how well it works. Chloë started angling for German, and I would have been thrilled with Latin, but we all settled on the LAS after thinking about what would be the most useful in our lives right now. I can not WAIT to get my teeny-weeny little hands on this baby. Sirrusly.

 

 

I usually piece our Science and Social Studies curricula together myself, but this year (starting now), I'm going to get a little help from the award-winning Adaptive Curriculum. I cannot wait to see how that works for us, especially in Social. Science, I've got down, but our Soshe has been a little, well, piecemeal, so I'd like to get it more organized in their brains, y'know?

 

For teaching Grammar rules more concretely, I got us a lifetime passport to Grammaropolis, which looks very promising. Sounds like fun, too!

 

 

For writing and all that goes with that business, I bought us a year's subscription (which is really enough information, with what I got, to last us through the end of high school if I choose) to Brave Writer, a highly rated program about which I've heard nothing but good stuff. Eeeeeek!

 

And now for the reeeeeealllllly exciting part!!!!

 

Can you stand it? I can't!!

 

Because we want the kids to be technologically savvy, and because so much of their work is computer- and internet-based, I have been wanting to get them each their own laptop or tablet for a while. I've been researching and thinking and debating about it; we've had ONE laptop for the kids up 'til now, and it just doesn't work that well when all three kids need to be online to do assignments. With three, I wouldn't need to constantly rotate them out and cut them short on projects - they could all work simultaneously! So after tons more research, I bought them each a Kindle Fire HD 7" tablet on Amazon.com! Wooohoooo, the
y are going to be so stoked, man!

 

 

 

 

Of course, to protect their shiny new electronical toys, I got them each a case in a different color. Jack's is green, because, well, it's his favorite, and I couldn't find a boyish pattern to suit him.

 

 

I think this one will be Chloë's.

Sophia will like this one.

I don't know how much they'll need or use them, but it remains to be seen, so I got them this pack of 6 styli for their Kindle Fire HDs, and also one - yes, just one - wall charger to share. I figure that much we can do on a rotational basis, right?

But I'm still not done outfitting the kids for the coming year. Nope, nope, nope. I did s'more shopping on ye olde Amazon first:

Sophia needs a new queen-sized mattress for the bunk bed she'll now be sharing with Chloë, because we had to leave her old one behind in Portsmouth (doesn't really matter; it was gross). I got her this memory-foam one, which has really good ratings. Remind me to air it out for two days first...

Oh, and for us, I got a new bed frame since Rob left our old one behind at the Virginia Beach house, which sucks because they aren't as cheap as I thought they were. Booger.

For Jack, I picked up a Yamaha keyboard stand (and a new wall charger, since he lost his). Even though he's decided not to pursue lessons for now, the music store folks convinced us to hang onto the keyboard in case one of the kids picks it up. And I can play, albeit slowly and gingerly, so we can all bang around on it for our music lessons in Sweet Pea Academy. It's cheap but comes highly-rated, so I think this one'll do us just faaaahhhhhn.

 

And finally (as you all breathe a sigh of relief, I know), the kids have been doing some growing since last I shopped for summer clothing for them. Especially Sophia; she's now, like, a foot taller than Jack! No lie. She needed a new bathing suit and picked this one out at Sears.

They all needed shorts and tees, so I bought bunches upon bunches of those for each kiddo, too, along with one dressy outfit for each kid. Inexplicably, after making a painstaking order there, Sears canceled several of my items and let the rest go through. Buh-wha-huh? I have to call them. I want those things, dammit! They need 'em! But it'll keep 'til 0900. Which, oh, is four minutes from now. Serendipity, baby!

Oh, shit, I totally forgot one more big splurge! Well, not like, a boat big, but Shamu big. *Ahem*

 

Yep. We're going to Orlando on Monday and Tuesday! Rob still has a little bit more time (a month, maybe) on Active Duty, so that means he and three dependents still get in for fah-reeeee at Anheuser-Busch parks through their ongoing Here's to the Heroes Salute program.  That leaves one kid out, so I bought another ticket, along with our parking pass, dine-all-day passes for Rob and the kids (I'll nibble and graze meagerly), and a stroller rental voucher. I can't wait, and the kids are ecstatic! (The stroller is mostly for Jack, who still has trouble walking sometimes, especially for long periods of time, thanks to his tight Achilles tendons, and also to keep the kid out of the sun here and there, and also in case we want it to carry things around the park without holding them.) Can't wait to see the shows, can't wait to see Shamu, can't wait to see my babies' faces when they get to feed a fish or two to the dolphins. Wheeee! That'll be Monday.

I think we'll do this on Tuesday, but we might not. I don't know yet. We'll see. Maybe we'll just come home Tuesday, or we might hang out with my online friend, Gloria, whom I've not yet met, or maybe we'll... hm. I don't know! Suggestions?

NOW I'm finished.

I have some mystery shops to go do today, along with my doctor's appointment for this thing growing on my chin, soooo.... whew! This post took forEVER to write.

Fin.

P.S. I'm such a liar. That's not all. HAHAHA. The cats got new beds and litter to poop in - LOTS of litter.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you've got bits & pieces rattling around in the ol' noggin to share with Mrs. 4444 and friends today! I have quite a few, so take a load off and stay awhile, won't you?

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I've got new news, so pop on over to this post if you want to know what big changes are afoot in my (and my older daughter's) lives!

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Likewise, I'd love your input on my Aloha Friday question for this week, which is here! Let me know if you have an AF post this week, too, so I can be sure to check it out!

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I've been playing around with the new Jafra color collection lately, so I'm experimenting with some new looks instead of my usual standby, which is closest to the bottom right in this collage. Which do you like best?

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Chloë, my oldest, was looking particularly adorable today, so I snapped this photo of her and then played around with it in Picasa by Google. I can't claim credit for those curls, which she gets from her daddy. His hair looks just like this when he's not, well, in the Navy for 19 years!

 

Chloë wanted a makeover, so we played around with some of my make-up on her for a little while Thursday evening. What do you think about make-up on a 10-year-old? Totally wrong, or okay if it's just for fun, like this? Obviously, we don't do this very often, but I think it's fine once in a blue moon, for kicks.

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Speaking of Jafra, I've been painting my nails with our wonderful lacquers faithfully, and they're actually growing and not breaking! I have paper-thin nails normally, and they break easily. My sister's nails are long and strong, so I sent her this picture on Facebook. Yeah. We bonded over nails. What can I say; she's a cosmetologist!

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Sophia and Jack have been having so much fun with their Kiwi Crates over the past few months, that I finally relented and renewed their subscription after being asked approximately 8700 times. They worked on it a bit Thursday evening and made parrots and treasure boxes. Can you guess the theme? Yep. Next we'll be making pirate hats and eye patches to go with them. Fun!

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After nearly two years of trying to get a table to our local Melting Pot's Girls' Night Out, I finally scored us a table - at 10:30 PM! It ended up working out to be a good time, albeit very late, because my friend Tabby and I had preview tickets for the movie American Reunion, the American Pie sequel, the same night. So for seven hours, I was out with first Tabby, and then Tab, and two of my "Turtle Friends," Saritah and Jenny From the Block at dinner. And oh, my gosh, I laughed so hard and often during both events. The movie was hysterical from start to finish, and we had ourselves a hilarious time at dinner, too. I hope we don't have to wait another couple years to do it again!

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Our tax refund check came in recently - well, partially, anyway, as the IRS denied Chloë as our child based on a clerical error on their part, argh - so Rob and I got some very necessary new tires for his motorcycle, Elsie, and my Odyssey, Penelope. The tire appointment was supposed to take about two hours, so I asked Jenny From the Block to keep our kiddos while we were there. I just wasn't up to deal with the boredom whining, basically! She agreed, so in the end, Rob and I decided to venture out together on his motorcycle for the first time, to use one of our Groupon-like certificates for a local Thai restaurant which we'd never tried. We were the only people there for quite a while, as you can see, but it certainly wasn't because of the food quality!

Our meal was excellent, although mine was spicier than I expected. I can't do spicy, and not just because of my sensitive gastric bypass pouch; I never could handle it. I just don't have the stomach - or tongue! - for it, sad to say. Still, it was good. But better than that was the fun of riding around on the back of the BMW with Rob! I had so much fun! I was a little scared, sure, but it was a breathlessly-exhilarating kind of fun. I hope we get another chance to do that again soon, too!

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So pretty much other than the pictures and details of Jack's birthday party, I'm all caught up now on my blahggy show-and-telling. I really ought to do that, especially since it'll be time to show Sophia's birthday party pictures in another week! On Friday the 13th, my youngest child will turn seven! We'll have her, 9-year-old Jack, and 10½-year-old Chloë. It' to face the music: my family is aging out of the "little kid" stage. I guess we're pretty well established by now, huh?

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And now to leave you with my old standby, a Cute Kid Quote. As you may or may not know, in my previous existence as a singleton, I was a marine biologist, studying shark feeding behaviour. My kids know all about that, and for whatever reason, it comes up frequently. Anyway, Thursday afternoon, we were driving around, when Jack suddenly asked what a car's muffler was for. Before I could answer, Sophia snapped at him, "She doesn't know! She's not a car biologist! It's not like she dives into cars!" I had quite a chuckle over that one! These kids. They kill me.

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On that note, thanks for stopping by, and have a fabulous weekend!

Fin.

Saturday 9: You Were Meant For Me

 

The link is here, in case you're playing along late like me!

1. Have you ever felt that you were “made” for someone or some purpose?

Yes, sure. My husband and I have long believed that God led us to each other and that we belong together. Our marriage has been, at times, tumultuous, but I wouldn't know what to do without him.

2. What do you do when you have a problem that you can't do anything about it?

I talk to my husband. And then my dad, and sometimes my sister.  My dad always has advice for me. Sometimes I even follow it.

3. If marijuana were to be legalized, do you think it should be taxed?

This isn't something I've ever given pause to consider. I suppose it will be, anyway, except for those using it for medical reasons.

4. What is one thing you should never do on a first date?

Shit your pants.

5. If someone (at gunpoint) forced you to receive a portrait tattoo of someone, who would it be?

Well, I guess that would be up to them, wouldn't it? I mean, I wouldn't have to be forced too hard to have a portrait done of someone I love, like my kids or Hubs, but I really wouldn't love to have Hitler immortalized on my skin.

6. Is tomorrow going to be a good day?

Only time will tell.

7. Anything fabulous happen to you last night?

I went to an overnight lock-in at a local YMCA with my older daughter for Girl Scouts. She had a lot of fun, and it was nice to get some time together, just the two of us (well, and 100 other Girl Scouts).

8. For a few years in a row, you receive a nice tax refund: do you make an adjustment with your payroll deduction so they’ll take less, or do you leave it that way so that you can continue to receive the big check every spring?

I know it's smarter to change the payroll deduction, but we seem to do better with the big check. So I guess we'll leave it that way.

9. When was the last time you had butterflies in your stomach?

On Thursday morning. We laid my grandpa to rest that day. Approaching the funeral home, I had them.

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444 is the brainpower behind Friday Fragments, so be sure and link up with her if you're in pieces this week!

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So, despite the fact that:

 - We still have some fleas and our natural solution (sprinkling diatomaceous earth everywhere) isn't working well,

- we still don't have AC in the house OR in my van,

- last year's housefly problem has returned,

- pigeons have invaded our attic, and

- my bipolar meds are in need of tweaking, apparently, because my moods are all over the map lately,

I'm having a pretty decent week. I'm feeling happy, content, and grateful for my wonderful life. It's not a feeling I've experienced often in my mixed-up life, so I'm holding onto it this time with all my might.

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Our monthly Bunco night was Wednesday, and I was the "host" (although it's always held at T's house now). These are the prizes I brought, and they were pretty well received. I love getting Bunco prizes and always put a lot of thought into it. I actually kicked butt this month and won TWO prizes, so I brought home the chunky red necklace from Torrid that I liked, and the Salt Water Taffy that my kiddos had been eyeing since I picked it up. Steph subbed in this month and snagged a couple herself!

Btw, see those cards with the elephants on them, near the top left? Made with real elephant poop. Awesome, right? :D

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Speaking of Bunco, I wore this pendant that I reviewed on my giveaway blog, Fishing and Wishing, and it got raves! Check it out if you'd like one for yourself. ;)

And not only that, but I'm thisclose to my goal weight and very definitely plan to reach it by the time I hit the 1½-year post-gastric bypass-surgery mark on the 26th, so my new figure got a lot of attention at Bunco night, too. I purposely dressed up in my LBD (Little Black Dress) to show it off a little, hee.  Two of the other ladies were talking, and they told me that I should be a spokesperson for the surgery! Another one even called me "skinny," which is, like, the awesomest compliment I can get right now.

Love those girls, MWAH!

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I had my 18-month follow-up with my surgeon (Dr. C, thank goodness; I think the other guy is a complete @$$) this morning, and he was full of praise for my progress.

He doesn't want me to lose much more at all, actually. I'm at about 152.5 lbs, and he'd like to see me go no lower than 150 lbs, even though I'm only 5'2" and my "ideal" BMI-chart weight is about 125 lbs. He said that a frame that can hold 341 lbs (I know!! Shame on me) just would not look good at 125, and I would probably feel terrible. I asked him to elaborate on that, and he just said I'd feel completely miserable. (Wouldn't I like to test that theory, though?!)

So, I know I will go substantially lower than 150 when I get my jiggles and stuff cut off, which I plan to start doing as soon as our still-outstanding tax refund comes in, but maybe the 120s aren't the destiny for me. Eh. I got called a "MILF" by two hot guys recently, so what more do I need?! :D

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Oh, also, I asked Dr. C. about the fact that almost every time I stand up, I get so light-headed that I almost black out. It's a major nuisance. I wasn't sure it was related to the weight loss, but he confirmed that it definitely is and is very common.

The problem?

My blood pressure is too low.

Which is a switch, considering I used to be on meds for my very HIGH pressures.

The solution?

I need to add more muscle mass, since I've lost a considerable amount of that, to help bulk up my weakened blood vessels, and I have to add more salt to my diet. (You don't hear that often, eh?) And hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, of course, which I am always conscious of, but it's especially hard in the current heat.

He promised that it would stop when my weight loss finally levels off, and that is one thing I am looking forward to. Having to stop and hold on to something for 10-20 seconds every time I get up is a major pain in my arse!

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Tonight was fun. With the Amazon.com gift cards I've been racking up with my Swagbucks, I was able to get a free Ice Cream Maker, and it arrived last night. Rob went out for the extra ingredients we needed tonight, and we made some awesome organic vanilla soft serve. I can't really have any, but I did steal a few spoonfuls of the finished product. Oh, my stars, it is GOOD. GOOD!!! Next time, I forewarned them that we'll be making me some sugar-free strawberry sorbet, so Mama can actually enjoy some frozen goodness. I can't wait!

(Those pictures are from my shutterbug-in-training, Chloë.)

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I had two free passes to see Toy Story 3, so I bought two more tickets and took the kids to see it at the local theater today. What a great flick! I actually cried my eyes out at the end. The kids loved it, too, and they talked about it all evening. Have you seen it?

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That's it. I didn't record any Cute Kid Quotes this week; hopefully I'll get some for next time!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Fin.

Wednesday Running: Steals, Deals, And Doctor Appointments

Today is Thursday. Sophie is home sick from school with a very upset tummy, poor thing. She came home yesterday and threw up all over. She felt fine this morning, so I sent her to school, but then they called and said she kept running back and forth to the bathroom. Rob went and picked her up, and they said to keep her home tomorrow, too. Poor thing! This Baby Kevin plush from the movie Up! arrived in the mail while she was relaxing on the couch, so I gave it to her for a little sicky present. She loves birds and the snipes from the movie, so it instantly cheered her up. She told me, "I'm the snipe mama!" before she ran with her new toy back to the couch. Incidentally, I got this free - for just the cost of s/h - through Disney Movie Rewards. You should join - the kids have another upcoming free surprise from there, too!

So, I had planned to spend the entire day cleaning, but between the migraine I'm nursing and Sophia being home, I haven't gotten much accomplished at all. I really need to mop the floors, since it's been raining and the dog has been tracking muddy paw prints everywhere... but first, I'll share about yesterday with you. Might as well, since the dog seems to have the runs or something, too! She has been in and out, in and out, and there is nothing worse than mopping the floor only to have it dirtied right up again. Right?

Let's begin:

 

On my way out to do errands, I didn't feel like doing my hair, AND I found these long-forgotten huge gold hoop earrings in my sock drawer. I normally never wear earrings anymore, even though I have four holes in each ear, because I keep having allergic reactions to every pair. Even silver and gold ones. My ears get all gross, and that's the end of that. So just for kicks, I decided to try again and wear these huge earrings with my hair pulled back into a tiny ponytail. This is a horrible iPhone self-pic, but really, it didn't look too bad! A fact that was confirmed when I went downstairs and Rob did a double-take, telling me, "You really are beautiful, you know that?" I melted, of course. No, I don't know that.

The first thing I did was run out to the Navy base to get my tuberculosis test started. If you've never had one, they inject some fluid under the skin on your forearm and then "read" the test two days later. I have to get it done before I can submit my subbing documents, a fact which escaped me last week when I went to go get fingerprinted. The fingerprinting has to be done last, so I still need to go out there tomorrow and do that after getting my TB test finished. The procedure was quick and painless. The nurse-receptionist at the immunizations clinic LOVED my earrings, asked me to give them to her (jokingly, but I should have because they weighed a freaking ton), and told me they looked great on me. I'll have to wear them more often!

Feeling confident about my appearance after two compliments in a row, I headed to CVS to shop the weekly deals, which I'll show you by transaction:

#1: EARinse, which was on sale for $7.99, normally $9.99. I didn't have any ECBs from last week, so I paid the $7.99 OOP, but I got $7.99 back in ECBs for #2. Plus, we can really use this, since Rob and the kids often have problems with their ears.

#2: Almay Smart Balance Foundation, normally $13.99, on sale for $9.99. I had a $2 MQ (manufacturer's coupon) and the $7.99 ECBs from #1, making this free! I just paid 50¢ OOP for tax.

#3: I paid just 68¢ OOP for all this:

• 5 cans BumbleBee Chunk Lite Tuna, regularly $1.79 each, on sale for 49¢ each. I had a $1 off 5 MQ
• Almay Intense i-Color mascara plus FREE bonus eyeliner pencil, regularly $7.99, on sale for $5.99. I had a $2 MQ
• Colgate MaxFresh toothpaste, regularly $3.29, on sale for $2.99. I had a 75¢ MQ
• PowerBar Strawberry Energy Gel Blasts, regularly $1.69, on sale for $1.50

Plus, I had a $3 CVS coupon for the Almay that stacked with the MQ, which spit out from the red in-store machine (look for it and scan your CVS card every time you go, for more coupons. Yesterday, I scanned my card and got a coupon for $5 off $15 order, but it expires Saturday, so I'll have to go back to use it!) I also had $6 ECBs from #2, making the total just 18¢ plus tax = 68¢. And I got $1.50 in ECBs for #4 from the PowerBar Blasts, and another $2 ECBs from the Almay make-up and $2 ECB from the toothpaste.

#4: This one was a little bit of a bust. This Physician's Formula Bamboo Silk face powder is normally $9.99 and was supposed to be on sale for $6.99. I had $5.50 in ECBs from #3, which should have made this ten-dollar powder just a buck and a half, but it didn't ring up at the sale price. I didn't realize, so I paid the $4.99, but I will return it tomorrow and hopefully get it for the sale price. Good thing the CVS is on the way home from the Navy base where I'll get my TB test read!  This transaction gave me back $5 ECBs for #5.

#5 - #8: This actually represents four different transactions. The Air Wick Freshmatic Ultra is normally priced $12.99, but they were on sale for $5.99, and I had two $5 MQs! I got these $13 machines for just 99¢ each!! Sweet. And like I've mentioned before, we can definitely use a lot of air fresheners 'round here to cover up the various pet odors going on.

The Renpure Organic shampoos and conditioners were on sale for $4.99, down from $6.99 normally. I paid full (sale) price, since I had no MQs, but there was a try-me-free MIR (Mail-in Rebate) form on each one that I sent in yesterday. I could have gotten more, lots more, but I didn't know if there was a limit on them. None was mentioned on the MIR form, but I don't want to chance it. So, four free bottles, at least! Chloë uses sh & cond like crazy, so I will stockpile all that I can for cheap or free.

After 8 transactions in a row (although I always let the other customers jump ahead of me when I do that, so they don't have to wait in line forever behind me, rolling their eyes), I could tell the cashier was getting tired. However, she was as nice as could be through it all, and I appreciated it. CVS always has the nicest employees!

In contrast, I went to Walgreens after that, and the cashier couldn't have been a bigger beyotch. She was so snotty to me, telling me I had to get everything in one transaction. I was like, "Um, why?" She told me, "That's just the way we do it." I told her no, it's not, so she called a manager over, who had no problem with me splitting it up. Puh-lease! She just didn't want to deal with the hassle. But I did things my way, and it was cool, so here's what I got:

#1: Theraflu Daytime and Nighttime Severe Cold & Cough, normally $6.49 each, on sale for $5 each. I had two $2 MQs, making my total $6. I had no Register Rewards (RRs) from last time, so that's what I paid. Not the greatest deal, but I saved $6.98, so it's okay. With all the illnesses running rampant in this area - and this house, currently - it's a good idea to be stocking up on this stuff. Plus I got $5 in RRs for #2.

 

 #2: I paid $4.12 OOP for the above, saving $15:

• (2) Tylenol Cold Multi-Symptom Rapid Release Gels, normally $7.49 each, on sale for $4.99 each. I had two $2 MQs, making them $2.99 each
• Goody Ouchless Hair elastics (which Chloë goes through in abundance, since she takes them out and never puts them back where they belong), normally $3.99, on sale for $2.99
• I had $5 in RRs from #1, making my total $4.12 with tax!
• The Tylenol spit out $3 in RRs and the Goody bands spit out $2 in RRs, for #3

#3: I paid just $5.57 OOP for all the above, a savings of $48.40:

• Kellogg's Smart Start cereal 17.5-oz cereal, normally ??, on sale for $2.50. I had a $1MQ
• Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate with Almond bar, normally $2.59, on sale for $1.50. I had a $1-off-2 SQ (Walgreens Store Coupon)
• Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter bar, normally $2.59, on sale for $1.50, minus the SQ above. (I confess, I had a piece of this, and OMG, it was so good. I threw it up, though, so I gave the rest to the kids!)
• (8) various Right Guard deodorants for Rob, normally $3.19 each, on sale for BOGO. I had four $2-off-2 MQs
• (2) Trident Layers Gum (great for the Tooth Fairy!), normally ??, on sale for 99¢. I had two 75¢ MQs
• Excedrin Extra Strength gel tabs, normally $4.99, on sale for $2.50. I had a FREE product MQ
• (2) Excedrin Extra Strengh Caplets, normally $4.99, on sale for $2.50 each. I had two $2 MQs
• Plus I had $5 in RRs from #2, making my OOP total just $5.57! Not bad at all.

Does anybody actually read all that? Just curious.

After that, I headed to Farm Fresh to get my money order for fingerprinting on Friday, along with a half-gallon of skim milk. I need that for my protein shakes. I had just had to dump out half of a full gallon of skim that went bad, which is so upsetting. I got the milk for free at Walmart, but still. Waste is waste, and I hate it!!  It was also double-dollar Wednesday at Farm Fresh, but there were no deals with which I was impressed, so I skipped it.

Back in the car (another silly iPhone self-portrait), I headed out to Portsmouth to the Naval hospital there, for my second consult with the plastic surgeon. He had told me to come back and talk with him when I decided whether I wanted the abdominoplasty (not free) or the panniculectomy (free). Rob and I opted to use some of our tax money to do the abdominoplasty, since it really wasn't that much money, and I would get much, much better results.

Dr. T. told me that in order to schedule the surgery, I would need to lose a minimum of 15-20 pounds, but to lose as much as I possibly could before the surgery, for best results. Since he's scheduling about a month out before the actual surgery takes place, I plan to lose the minimum, go back and schedule the surgery (and PAY, so that the money isn't sitting there, waiting to be used for something else), and then keep losing more weight in the meantime.  The 15-20 pounds isn't daunting to me at all, even when I consider the monthlong stall I just got through. I am going to keep pounding back the protein shakes - and not much else - along with exercise.

Dr. T. also said he wants me to start power walking 30 minutes every other day (I'll have to start tomorrow, I guess), and get up to an hour daily. And he wants me to do strength training, too. I guess the Wii Fit isn't cutting it! He told me about iFitness, an awesome iPhone app that tells you not only how to do all the weight machines and exercises at the gym (which is free for me to go to on base; the bases just aren't close to our house), but also how to use your own body for weight training at home. He has an iPhone too, so he showed me the app, and it really is great. It's only $1.99, so I bought it and will begin using it right away!

We talked about doing other work in the future. I'm really not going to turn into a plastic surgery junkie - I promise - but after losing so much weight, things really just don't look good underneath the clothes! My boobs are hideous, and my arms could be a weapon if I over-jiggle them. Dr. T. said that he could do my boobs anytime I wanted (he even used the word "boobs," twice, hehe), but that I should be at my absolute lowest weight possible for the arms. He said it's his least favorite surgery, because there's no way to hide the scars. Honestly, though, I truly don't care about scars - I just hate the excessive jiggling going on! I already have a ton of scars, so they don't bother me. I'm not trying to pose for Playboy here, after all.

He offered to look at my butt, but I told him I don't care about a butt lift, because I can't see it! Hee. I would do my thighs too, if I could, because they are gross, too. However, all this (the arms, legs and boobs) can wait at least another year, if there's enough money from our next tax refund. I'm in no hurry. It's the belly that absolutely drives me nuts when I look in the mirror. I HATE IT!!

Afterward, I drove home to relieve Rob, who had stayed home to get the kids off the bus for me. I got home in plenty of time to do that, though. When Sophia came home, she was really not feeling well, and she threw up a bunch when we put her on the couch. Poor sweetheart. The kids have all had it this week. We opted to skip dance class for the second day in a row, in order to stay home and let everyone relax.

Chloë started working on her homework, but she could only do a little bit, having forgotten most of it at school! The living room really needed to be picked up, as there were toys and books all over the place, so she took care of that while I helped Jack with the three days of homework he had to do last night. He had stayed home on Tuesday, and never did his HW on Monday, since he wasn't well then. He griped a whole bunch about all the work, and it took 2 or 3 hours, but we got it done.

After the homework - and dinner - were all taken care of, we ran out for a Target run. I needed to get quite a few things, including the pink bins that the stuff above was pictured on, to hold all the toiletry stockpiling! I got a lot more than this (the Soap Buddies, priced at 99¢, were free after the two $1 MQs for any Johnson's baby product; the Renu contact solution, travel size, was 59¢ after $1 MQ. I wear contacts almost every day, so these were a must-have for me), but I didn't get a chance to photo everything. Two deals I missed out on were 8 (!!) of the Scotch Fur Fighter Rollers, priced at $3.99 on sale; I had 8 $4 MQs, but the cashier wouldn't accept them. Bah. Also, Gillette Body Wash 8.4 oz, is on sale for $1.99, and I had two $4-off-2 MQs, which would have gotten me four free, but they were all out. Bah again! Hopefully I can make it over there sometime this week to get those.

I wanted to check out the $5 kids' DVD section for another new DVD or two for the kids' collection. They were on sale for $4.75, so I picked up three: Jumanji, The Swan Princess, and Little Women. Jack and Sophia are watching The Swan Princess right now; Soap is thrilled that the princess's first name is our last name!

Also while there, I needed to return three of the five pairs of jeans (all Mossimo) that I just bought for Rob. They run big and looked ridiculous on him. I bought them off Target.com, but the exchange was no problem once we got a receipt printed out from the in-store kiosk. I found two pairs of Levis jeans in his size, on sale for $19.99, so I picked them up. They're not the color he likes, but he'll just have to deal! He's really small, so his size is hard to find, and they didn't have any left in his color. I hit the clearance rack, too, and got him THREE pairs of khakis for less than 20 bucks! I was sleeping when he came home and tried everything on, so I didn't get to see how they fit. Maybe tonight.

My OOP at Target should have been about $95, but I only ended up spending $59 after all the gift cards I had from the recent deals there, along with a $25 gift card I had for redeeming my MyPoints! Make sure you sign up with them and click on all the emails you get, because I really rack up the points that way, along with using them for the online shopping I do. Love my MyPoints! (I don't know how to post a referral link from them, or else I would. Tell 'em I sent ya!)

After a quick run to the bank to deposit a mystery shopping paycheck and my rebate from Coors Light for the free Thanksgiving turkey, we were home at last. The kids went right to bed, but Sophie came down around 2300. She had napped after throwing up, so she couldn't sleep. I cuddled with her on the couch, and I played her lullabyes on my iPhone's iPod. It put me to sleep, so I was happy when I woke up after a little while and found her snoozing in my arms contentedly. We were still there, sleeping soundly, when Rob came home from work a little later, but sometime during the night, she got up and went to sleep with her daddy. When I asked her why she moved this morning, she told me, "Because I love my mommy AND my daddy." Aww. ♥

Fin.

 

 
  

  

 

 

 

Stuff We Did & Stuff We Got

So I'm way behind on this blahg lately, but I'm going to try and play a little quick catch-up. It's 0530 and I ran out of sleep about an hour ago. Don't know what's up with that lately, but at least I got some.

The packages have been rolling in from the shopping spree I've taken with our tax refund, so I've been taking pictures just for the sheer sake of showing you our mail. I know that's a "filler" type of thing to post, but hey, it's fun for me, so there.

You may remember that I wasn't able to buy the starter set of four steak knives for Rob when I was shopping at Williams-Sonoma the other day?  Well, I still really wanted to get some for him, because mine were the crappy Kmart ones I'd gotten for my first apartment, and they have long since outlasted their usefulness. I ended up finding a great deal here on these knives, a set of 8 Wusthof Emerilware steak knives that arrived just 2 or 3 days later!

They are certainly not the cream of the crop when it comes to Wusthof knives, but believe-you-me, they are very sharp - a fact I realized all too well when I sliced through my left middle finger a few hours ago, using one! They're huge, too, and they are really nice knives compared to the ones from which we come. He's happy with them, I think. I hope.

And, they came with this bonus knife and scissors sharpener, also from Wusthof! So, really, a great deal from Cutlery & More. I recommend them.

The packages from Target have been rolling in as well, all in separate shipments of course.  These are Sophia's new winter boots. I can not keep that kid shod; her feet are two sizes bigger than Chloë's already! (And she is 3½ years younger; it's crazy.) Sophia LOVES these boots and wears them every chance she gets. They're quite cute on her, not that you can really tell from this picture. Chloë is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her new boots and questions me about when that might happen at least twice a day.

Sophia also loves her new coat, which is replacement for the purple one that was two sizes too small and finally bit the dust on the zipper front a week or two ago. She looks so cozy in it! 

Don't let the face fool you; she's also thrilled with her new hat that matches the coat and boots. Couldn't find it on the Target site; guess I nabbed one of the last ones already. Normally I wouldn't buy a hat that I could just knit myself - but not for the price I paid for it!

I picked up this little hat for Chloë on the cheap, just because I knew she would enjoy it. And she does; I have a couple pictures of her cheesing really big with it on, but I told her to give me some "attitude" for this picture, and this is what I got!

I found a lot of really good deals at Target.com on jammies for the kids, which all three of them desperately needed. Okay, maybe not desperately, but they have all been outgrowing the jammies like they're going out of style lately, and they needed some really warm sets for the cold winter we're having this year. Even Jack has been putting holes in the feet of his sleepers.  And since my OCD bugs out when they come down wearing mismatched sets, my goal with this shopping "trip" was to buy all blanket sleepers and gowns, so there would be no chance of that! And yes, Sophia and Chloë are both wearing the exact same jammies in a 5T. I don't know what I'm going to do with their clothes, since Sophie is quickly moving into the 5Ts and Chloë clearly isn't ready to give up that size yet, when all her 6s and 7s hang off her tiny little frame. Pretty soon, Soap will pass her up, there, too!

I don't know what it LOOKS like is happening here, but Jack was seriously protesting this shot. "Gross!! Girls!! Don't kiss me! Sisters can't marry their brothers!" It was pretty funny.

Yup, not gonna lie, I totally told them to do that, just for shits and giggles.

♥ Sisters ♥

We were just being silly. I told Jack to pretend he was their baby. The girls love to play "baby," so they really got into this one! Don't they all just look so cozy and warm in their jammies, though? Sophia keeps telling us how much she loves all her new jammies, because they are so soft and fuzzy. I'm glad they keep her nice and toasty.

Jack's pile is the biggest, because I finally got rid of all his 2T jammies! He could still kind of wear some of the pants and shorts sets, but really, he's almost seven, and I'm tired of seeing them. They'll go to Luke's closet now.

 

More OCD: I had to rearrange the piles so that the top pair of jammies had a similar level of busy-ness on them. Sophia's pile is nowhere near as neat anymore. She keeps unfolding them, looking through them all, and changing jammies several times before deciding on the pair to wear for the night. 

Okay, that's enough of the pajamas.

Jack, before his Saturday afternoon haircut. He is changing. His hair isn't nearly as blond as it used to be, and his eyes - like Sophie's - are heading more toward the brown than hazel. At least brown is a real color!

For as much of a pain in the neck challenge this kid can sometimes be, he can be equally sweet and adorable on the other side.  I never do his hair like that, but I thought it looked cute that night. And those jammies - love them on him!

So, there's a new rebate out for $15 on three Olay rebate products. I used Alice.com to get three face washes for under $5 each, making this a moneymaker for me. The body washes are even cheaper, but they were out of stock when I ordered, and I was too impatient to wait. So if you feel like doing this deal, get thee to Alice! Like the knives, my order from Alice came two-three days later! And shipping is free!

How cute is that little tush?? I like it. Rob needed jeans, so I bought him five pairs off the Target site. Three Mossimo, and two Levis. Normally he sticks strictly to Levi's 505 or 550, but I thought we'd try to branch out a little. Well, I was wrong. The Mossimo's - all three - were way wrong on him, but the two pair of Levi's (not a numbered variety, so I don't know what they were) looked good. He keeps telling me, "NOW do you see why I say Levi's are my brand???" Yeah. I do.

On Saturday afternoon, we went down to the Oceanfront for a lunch mystery shop. As soon as we turned the corner in our neighborhood, we spied this blimp! I don't know if the kids had ever seen a blimp in real life before, so they were pretty excited about it. We watched it travel in front of us, and then next of us, for most of the way down to the beach. It turned out to be an advertising blimp for DirectTV, and the kids were confused as to why there was TV playing on a blimp. But it was a little bit of fun for them, anyway.

At lunch: "These cheese sticks are good, Daddy!!"

We ordered the cannoli for dessert, and I confess, I took a couple licks of the filling. Mmm... cannoli. Good stuff. I've even had a few Girl Scout cookies, too. But it's all good: I finally broke through that month-long plateau and lost two more pounds, so I'm officially in the 170s! And I'm the "thinnest" Rob has ever seen me. Not that I'd call myself thin, but I have been called a skinny bitch by a friend, and oh, I liked it! Nine more pounds 'til I'm at my college weight!

After lunch, we had to rush-rush-rush back over to our side of town, which was made difficult by all the construction and detours going on down at the beach, for the kids' haircuts. Jack and Sophie were getting shaggy, so I had made appointments for them the other day. Chloë's hair was in need of a deep, thorough conditioning, so I decided to ask if they would take care of her at the same time, and they agreed. I tell you what, this boy never looks cuter than when he is sitting there getting his hair cut! And everyone admires him and says how adorable he looks, too. 

Not the best pic of his new hair, but he didn't want me to take it! The blue on his forehead is not a bruise, but leftover from the Blue & Gold banquet. Complaining or no, he's such a cutie little guy. ♥

Sophia was next. At first, she was reluctant and clingy to both her father and me, but soon she warmed up to Tommy and sat down in the chair for him. Phew, I'm glad it wasn't a problem. And then she really got into it, and I could tell she was enjoying the primping and attention. I asked her, "Do you feel pretty?" and she nodded enthusiastically. Catch her checking herself out in the mirror!

She loved getting a blow-out and kept admiring herself with her new cut. I'm just glad to have the ends evened up a bit; they were so lopsided!

While Tommy took care of the Littles, Chloë was on the other side of the salon, getting her hair conditioned. She is always begging me to straighten her hair, but I don't like to do it because (1) it just doesn't look right on her and (2) I don't want to damage her fine hair. Oh, and (3) it takes forever! So when she asked the hairdresser if she would straighten her hair and the stylist agreed, I figured it was okay since I didn't have to do it myself! Chloë was headed to a sleepover at her best friend's house for her birthday later in the day, and she really wanted to show Sammy her straightened hair. She squealed with delight when Mommy said she could do it!

She loved it, but Rob and I both agree that with straight hair, she looks witchy, weird, and wrong. What do you think? Of course, last night after her bath, she was SO upset when it went back to curly and no one at school would see it straight. Them's the breaks, kiddo!

After the haircuts, we ran over to Chloë's friend Brett's house to collect the cookies from that morning's booth sale that I manged to get out of. We did three booths this weekend, and none of them went fantastically well, but we did okay. I'm glad to have that done and over with until next weekend!  Waiting at home were a few more small packages, including my new USB port hub that I traded points for as a prize on my survey website.  Usually I do a gift card for Rob with those points, but I really needed this hub. Everything is a USB these days!

I have been searching for a portable DVD player in the $50 range, because the last two we had (both Coby brand) broke shortly after getting them, and we haven't had one in the car in a long while. I can't tell you how invaluable such a thing is with three kids who spend a lot of time in the car, especially when we go sit at dance class, so I really, really wanted to get one with the tax money! They were so excited to try it out, and it works really well. I checked Amazon and all the other usual places, and this guy runs about $80-90, but I found it it my price range, new, on eBay! Yeehaw.

Missing, somehow, from the "packages" pictures is my new House Party package. Yep, I'm doing another House Party, this time for Arnold's Sandwich Thins. Stephanie and Tabitha got the same House Party, too! Theirs, I believe, are going to be next weekend (although I haven't been officially invited yet?!), but I can't do mine until mid-March because of the cookie sale. Hopefully this House Party will be a lot less lame than the DiGiorno one!

After hurriedly getting an excited Chloë off to Sammy's house for her sleepover, we headed out to a Norfolk mall for another mystery shop. This time, for dinner. Somehow, after eating a big lunch not too recently, Jack and Sophia were starving and scarfed down their spaghetti. Sophia couldn't wait to run over to the play place; she kept telling us about "all the fun" she was missing!

At first, Jack wanted to go hang out over by the arcade games with Daddy, but they soon joined us after he realized he wasn't getting any money to play them. Boy those two kids spazzed out, along with all the other little ones in the play area. It was a lot of fun watching them run around, jumping, and just burning off all that extra energy. I can't wait until it gets warm enough to do it outside again!

It was so funny when Sophia - and then other little boys and girls who were bigger but younger - came over to keep helping Jack climb on top of the clam shell. Here he is getting a much-needed boost!

After the play area, I wanted to walk around the mall for a minute and see if I could find any good deals. We were looking at the cell phone case kiosk for iPhone protectors, and Sophia and Jack were still horsing around. They were amped up from running in the play place, and they hadn't quite settled down yet. I knew it was going to be bad when Sophia accidentally shoved Jack into the corner of the kiosk, and it hit him right in the head. He started screaming, and I took him over to the side to get a closer look at it. Yep, the blood was pouring out. Rob says it wasn't much, but it was more than a little bit, to me. He was crying really hard, and I could tell it hurt a lot.

We went home then, and I convinced a reluctant Rob to take him to the ER, as a precaution. It was still bleeding, and we've had problems in the past with head wounds for Jack, so off they went. It turned out to be just a little hole - along with a nice goose egg - that they put a little antibiotic cream on and sent him home. I'm glad it's nothing, but I'm also glad we had it checked out right away, just in case.

I don't know if it's because of the good bump on the noggin he took on Saturday night, or because he's coming down with a nasty cold, but Jack literally slept the entire day away on Sunday. He woke up here and there to complain of thirst and/or a headache, but he always went quickly back to sleep. Heavy sleep. And I've been listening to him snoring away on the couch next to me, all night long. He's completely zonked out. So we may be keeping him home today. It's just about 0700, time for them to wake up for school, so I'll find out in a few minutes... 

So! Now I think we're all caught up. Onto another busy week! Hope yours is a good one.

Fin. 
  
 
 

 
 
  
  
  
  
  

 
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
 
  

 

 

  
 
  

 

Like It's Going Out Of Style

{Forewarning, this is gonna be a super-long post. Grag a drink and put your feet up.}

Spending money, that is... We got our big ol' tax refund Friday, and I've been paying bills and doing some (very necessary) shopping. I'm going to rub the magnetic strip right off my debit card soon!

The kids worked on addressing their valentines Thursday night, as they all had Valentine's Day parties in their respective classes on Friday. Did I ever show you their cards? Let me know if I didn't and you want to see them. I got a set of 25 free V-day photo cards (4x8") for each of them, from SeeHere, and they turned out really well, except that the words weren't printed on Chloë's cards for some reason, and she had to write them in. Jack complained about addressing his envelopes at first, because I made him read the names to me intstead of just copying them down. He's a very lazy reader. Who knows how much he can actually read? He pretends he can't, when really it's "don't wanna try." Today he asked me, "What does 'Sprint' mean?" after seeing it written, when no one had told him what it said, so I know he he can read words longer than 3-letters! He acts like he can't, though.

Sophia only wrote about four of her envelopes out, before she got bored and started drawing pictures instead, and then she gave up entirely after two of those. She's a mirror-image left-handed writer, so I always have to guide her to go from left to right instead of the reverse, and then face her letters the correct way. She still couldn't do it, so I wrote it out for her and told her to copy. We're hoping that she'll figure it out during her kindergarten year. I still think it's really cool, though. I'm ambidextrous, and when I write left-handed, I write mirror-image, too. Otherwise, it's not nearly as neat. Like Leonardo da Vinci!

I just practiced. Actually, it's just as neat going both ways. But I haven't done it in a long time; I used to try to write lefty a lot more often and could do much better. But who cares?

I didn't get a picture of Chloë writing hers, because it was too dark where she was sitting, but she gave me this Valentine on Wednesday. I absolutely freaking love it!! If you can't read it, it says "Dear Mom, I sure love you. You rule. You're my girl. Mom, u r mine. You're my true love. You have a ♥ of gold. Ask me something. Tell dad I love him. Email me. Got love? Love, Chloë" Is that cute, or what??!  Sadly, the kids picked off and ate all the glued-on candy hearts shortly after I took the picture, but at least I have this!

So I never went to bed that night, because I was too amped up about finally paying some bills when the refund came in at midnight - together with Rob's mid-month pay. All that $$ was so exciting to me, and I couldn't wait to pay the bills! Everything is paid for, and we're still well in the black. I made several phone calls and managed to get many late and over-limit fees removed if I paid in full, and stuff like that, so it was kind of fun seeing how I could whittle down the amounts.

And then, around 0600 or so, I went to pay our car insurance premium. It renews this month, so I was looking over the documents. The amount actually went way down, so I was trying to figure out why, when I came across the driver history section. There, I found two incidents listed under my name for 2009, for speeding - and I hadn't gotten any tickets!! I was incensed, I tell ya. I immediately called up Progressive, who told me that they had just pulled up that information from the state to get our new rate, and that it was coming directly from them.

The hell you say! So then I had to wait three more hours (well, I took Rob's say-so that they didn't open 'til 0900, when really I found out later they'd opened at 0800. Buggers), all antsy and irritated, before the DMV opened. Imagine my surprise when they told me that not only do I NOT have three points on my license, but I had three PLUS points for my good driving record, soon-to-be four plus points when the 2009 record hits! I made her reiterate it three times before I took her word for it and hung up.

Back to Progressive. The lady (and I use that term loosely) I spoke to gave me the brush-off, telling me that their information was from the state, and that's all there was to it, buh-bye.

Back to DMV. I talked to someone new, who told me the same thing as the first person, and that sometimes the insurance companies get their information from other sources than DMV, but that they were the actual-true-real-deal authority, and I definitely didn't have any points on my license. (I knew for a fact that I didn't get those tickets, because for the first one, I had JUST had major surgery and was still heavily drugged, and the second one happened in North Carolina, and I definitely was not there in June, but still! It was very ... bewildering, this whole thing.)

Progressive again. I asked straight-away to speak to a manager, and that person came on the phone immediately, as sweet as could be. I gave her my story, and a few minutes later we discovered that they had my license number wrong for the record inquiry! What a huge relief that was, ... we were thinking my identity had been stolen, although fat luck to that person trying to use my credit! Heh. The manager pretty much bent over backward apologizing for the mistake and the rude person I'd talked to prior to that, and then she went over everything with a fine-toothed comb to make sure we were getting all the discounts we should be getting. We weren't, because we hadn't gone paperless yet, so of course I immediately agreed to that. After that and the error fixing, the premium went down another hundred bucks or so. Sweet! (It initially went down because a lot of Rob's accidents finally fell of their three-year record. Yes, he's had a lot of ... driving issues. ::snort::)

So. That out of the way, and Rob was just back from getting the card for taking his motorcycle safety class, way back months ago. He lost the card, and he couldn't go take his road test without it. Why he waited all these months to get a new one is beyond me, but let's not go there. We've had words.

I wanted to go out shopping after that, so he went with me. He'll go get his road test on Tuesday, hopefully.

Our first stop was at Walgreens, to pick up the developed pictures from the kids' disposable cameras. I haven't looked at them yet; Rob ran in to get them. Apparently a lot of them were cruddy, and he got credit back for those (do you know you don't have to pay for bad pictures? Just give them the ones you don't want, and ask for credit). They're from our two trips to Great Wolf Lodge last year. Then there was this photo collage - no clue why it won't scan properly - that I got free for Valentine's Day. Did you get one? Sign up for emails from Walgreens Photo! Or read those deal blogs; the code was on there, too. Anyway, this one is, of course, all the pix from Jack's Derby, and it's just in time, too, as we really need to start his family scrapbook for Tiger Cubs. This will be his first entry!

We went to Target after that and got lots and lots of great deals! I took smaller photos of individual deals, to break it down for you, but I never got around to posting about that last night. If you're interested in knowing, I can still do that.

It was funny, because I overheard someone saying, "She's doing the same thing we're doing," in one of the aisles. So I looked up, smiling, and asked her if she was a couponer. She was, so I asked her if she read the coupon blogs. She did, so I asked her if she reads "Hip 2 Save" (look it up on Swagbucks!) - and she does!  We, um, high-fived each other in the aisle. Rob just shook his head and called me a dork. It's true. I totally am.

We spent way too long shopping the deals at Target - I'd somehow wanted to go there, Walgreens, CVS, and out to lunch for a mystery shop before he had to go to work, ha! - and he was checking his watch every five seconds at the end. I ended up getting him home about 15 minutes late, oops. 

I still had about three hours before the kids were due home, but I knew that wasn't enough time to go out and do the mega-grocery shopping trip I wanted to do at Walmart. I've been printing out loads of internet coupons, and they were all set to expire Saturday. I didn't want them to go to waste. But there wasn't time.

And then I remembered Chloë's Valentine's Day dance as school! I only just found out about it on Thursday night, when she was in tears about not going. Huh??? I told her I would go to the school and buy her a ticket, and I'm so glad I remembered at 1400, because they were not sold at the door. 

At the school, they told me all about the dance, because I knew no details. It was from 1900-2100 (rather late for 3rd-5th graders, don't you think?), and parents were absolutely NOT invited, along with younger or older siblings. Humph. Some kids would dress up like debutantes, some would dress way down, and everywhere in between. Chloë wanted to wear her pink gown from iPOP, so we were just hopeful it would still fit. (It's a 4T, and although she is eight, she mostly wears a 5T. As does her 4yo sister!)

First things, first, though.

Hello, what's this??

I'm gonna get you, sucka!

Is that not the most gorgeous mixer you have ever seen?! When Williams-Sonoma emailed me and said this special-edition KitchenAid mixer was on sale for this weekend, oooh, I wanted it baaad. Rob was out somewhere at the time, I think at Wal-Mart getting stuff like a new headlight for my van, when I got the email. He had asked me if I wanted anything for Valentine's Day, but we agreed that, well, he's buying me yet ANOTHER surgery, and I'm getting him five pairs of (cute and sexy, we hope) jeans, and that would just be swell. But then, hey, wait a minute, this mixer that I've been eyeballing for the last, oh, 70,000 years is on SALE, and hello, it's RED!!! I ♥ red. 

So, we texted back and forth, and I batted my lashes electronically as hard as I could, and he kept saying, "we'll see." We'll see, we'll see. Aaaghhhh! 

Well, he tried to buy me the mixer right there at Wal-mart, but they didn't have it. Aw, so sweet.

The entire time he was gone, I sat at my computer and gazed at the pretty picture. And, well, I shopped around for it at Amazon and the Navy Exchange site, too, but only Williams-Sonoma had THAT one and THAT price. I coudn't put it out of my mind.

And then, I had this dinner mystery shop to do Friday night, before Chloë's dance. I swear I didn't plan that it that way, because I'd had the shop for two weeks, but it just so happened to be right down the road from the Williams-Sonoma actual physical STORE, people!! So, all innocent and just checking, I called up the store to see if they carried that mixer, the one on sale, you know the RED one - and they did. But they only had two left, and they were flying out the door, so I better hurry if I wanted one. 

I wanted one.

I called Rob and told him. He said, "Okay, get it." Wooooot!!!!!!!! I love that guy. All we've talked about is paying off this and paying off that and making lists of the things the kids need and he needs ... but he let me have this one splurge that I really, really don't deserve.

Except that I do. Because I use my mixer a lot, and it has recently gone to mixer heaven, and I've been bereft without it. I mean, I've been mixing by HAND people, and I have early arthritis! Poor, poor me, I know. It's not that bad. But it does hurt.

So, we stopped at WS, and I ran in and asked for the mixer, and they just looked at me like I was nuts. Which I am, but that's beside the point. Turns out, they only had the one on display left, and the couldn't find the box for it. So I had to wait and wait, all the while anxiously watching the time, because we were going to be late for the dance.

While I waited, I looked around, and of course my eyes lit upon the lemon poppy seed quickbread mix that Rob absolutely adores. Aha! The first thing I will make in my mixer, a little thank-you present for Hubs. And then I wandered over to the Wüsthof knives, to see what Rob was missing from his Wüsthof collection that I've been amassing for him over the years. He loves those knives, man. 

Well, he really wants a cleaver, I think, but I just don't see a lot of meat chopping happening in our kitchen. And, we're still using the same crappy set of steak knives that I got when I moved into my first apartment a dozen years ago, a Kmart special, so I have been wanting to get those for him. Only, have you ever priced a set of Wüsthof steak knives? I have. Not so cheap.

But... I found the Gourmet set of four, which is still a nice knife, but not as hefty or, well, good, as the rest of their knives, at a workable price point. I decided to get a set of four for him now, and then another set of four down the road, and then we could always upgrade further in the future. Right? Only, they didn't have any in stock, except for the two that were on display. Big bummer, I really wanted to surprise him with those.

I was still excited, though. The salesman carried out my new mixer to the car, and the kids haven't stopped talking about it. They're just as excited about it as I am (well, probably not)! It really is a beautiful sight to behold. Thank you, my love!!!

Then we went to dinner. I'd told the salesman to call me if they found the other two knives, as I would be just down the road, but they never called. Still haven't. Ah, well. Dinner was fun. The kids ate really well, even Jack, which surprised me since it was Tex-Mex. The girls always like a quesadilla, but you never know what - or if - Jack will eat. Besides chips. He's always good for chips.

So he asked for an all-chicken burrito. No cheese, no tomatoes, no lettuce, NOTHING but chicken. When they served our food and he bit into his burrito, he instantly started sobbing because everything was on it. Argh. I brought it back and reiterated, JUST CHICKEN (dammit)!

When it came back out, I thought he might eat two bites and then be done, but no! He scarfed the entire, adult-sized burrito down in five minutes flat. Boy was hungry. Mom was thrilled. 

Back at home, we got Chloë dressed as quickly as possible. I'd already made her take a shower, so her hair would be clean and curly, but she decided she wanted an updo for her "ball," as she called it. (A ball! At eight! How cute.)  She wanted a bun, plus one of the headbands I'd made. Sho' thing, sweetness. When she asked for a little make-up, I was hesitant, as that's something we reserve for dance recitals only. But then I figured, oh, why not? What would it hurt? 

I always love putting mascara on her. She's got her father's amazing lashes, and BOING, they just pop right out with mascara.  Can you see?

While my lovely little lady searched for her tights, I had to do some spot-cleaning on her dress. There were brown streaks and dots all over it. It's been hanging in my closet since iPOP two years ago, so who knows what happened to it?? Probably Sophia, she likes to hang out in there. Fortunately, everything came right out with just a little water, and it didn't leave water stains. Doesn't she look like a little princess? She said she felt like one, too.

At the dance, after she walked in, I could hear people murmuring everywhere, "Look at Chloë! Look at Chloë!" and she glided around, obviously feeling like the belle of the ball. She felt very special, I just know she did. I grabbed this quick photo with her two teachers (she's team-taught), who were busy running the concessions (oops, forgot to give Chloë any money for snacks), and then she was off. I barely got a chance to kiss her good-bye, tell her to have fun, or remind her to call me if she needed me! She was just off, into the dance, without a wave.

My big girl.

Meanwhile, I drove the Littles home. Sophia was crying because she just wanted to stay and watch, and the more I explained that neither one of us were allowed there, the harder she sobbed. Which was all it took, because on the drive home, I got more than a little teary-eyed myself. My oldest daughter's first real dance...!!! In ten years, she'll be in college. Make it stop, make it slow down!!

Back at home, the Littles and I had at ton of work to do. The house, as usual, was a disaster, and I wanted it cleaned up for two reasons: I had to pick up cookies the next day and needed the space, and Linda would be coming to babysit them while I did so. I hate having people over to a messy house!

After taking the new mixer out of the box and admiring it while they had some dessert (just candy from their school parties), and then admiring it for a few minutes longer, we got down to business. I swept the floors while they cleaned up toys, and we got everything cleared out, put away, and cleaned up. Except the kitchen and bathroom, which I never did get to last night. Oh, well, c'est la vie.

Finally, it was time to pick up Chloë. Actually, who am I kidding, the time flew by in a blink. Two hours really isn't that long when you have two other kids to keep you busy! Still, I was excited to go see the girl-child and hear all about the dance.

I couldn't find a parking spot, so we parked in the middle of the (what I call a) "go-way" and dashed in to get her. Lots of people were leaving, so I had to hurry. I couldn't find her, and then I ran into the cafeteria ballroom and saw her with a group of people dancing, mid-twirl. Great! Only, then she stopped and started chewing on her shawl thingy. I can't think of what it's called... Wrap, duh. Her wrap.

And then I got closer, and I could see the tears. She was crying!! Oh, no!! I ran in, grabbed her by the shoulders and rushed her out, away from the crowd, to a far corner. The whole time I was telling her, "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry in front of everyone, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay," because I thought she was just having an I-need-my-mommy moment, and maybe she would rather be a big girl in public, but my baby in private, you know?

Plus I didn't want her mascara all over her face in front of everyone. 

Except what I didn't know was, she was hurt! Someone had accidentally just hit her in the throat while they were dancing, but I didn't see that. She was clutching her neck and trying to keep from sobbing, poor thing. I calmed her down, we shook it off, and turned to face the teachers who were coming over to check on her. All was well, I assured them, and then we dashed back out to the car before someone keyed it. I was parked BAD. Not badly. Just BAD.

Otherwise, the dance was great, and she really enjoyed herself! She had asked me if she could have a date if a boy asked her, but I had told her no, she was too young for that. So on the way to the dance, she told me she was hoping that a certain boy would be there. I asked if she liked him. Yes... Did she like him like him? Yes!! Oh, my gosh, my daughter likes a boy!  I have to see this kid. Oh! I just realized, I could check him out in last year's yearbook. Oh, please let him be cute. ;)  I told her that it was all right if she danced with a boy, but absolutely no kissing!

So I found out after, this particular boy was not at the dance, and she was disappointed, but she did dance with two other boys. She even held hands with one - and he's a fourth grader!! I was beside myself. This growing up stuff is crazy. One minute they're saying, "ew, boys are gross," and the next, they're holding hands and dancing. Oh, I could cry just thinking about it. Too late, I am!!

Man. What a big night.

Everyone, especially Mommy, was exhausted when we got home, so the kids went right to bed. And then I did, too. Zzzzzzz

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I know this is really long, and I haven't even done Saturday yet. I thought about breaking it up into two separate posts, but hey, I'm on a roll here. If I stop, I'll probably go take a break and then never come back. So this here is your intermission. You go take a break; I'll be here when you get back. Ready? Go!

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Saturday.

Thank God the kids were up late and were really tired, because I hadn't slept the night before, and I was exhausted. I was barely aware of Rob coming home from work that night, and leaving for work again the next morning. Poor guy. I slept like the dead, for twelve straight hours. Thankfully, the kids slept in, too, so no harm done.

At ten, they woke me up, all excited because Miss Linda was coming. They had seen her on Bunco night, but then they were too involved with Tabitha's puppy and the toys to really pay much attention to her after that. They didn't want breakfast, they didn't want to get dressed - they just wanted Linda!

I was still tired and moving really slowly, so I hadn't gotten any further cleaning done by the time she showed up three hours later. I really didn't care, though. Hope she didn't!

I had an appointment way out in EBF Chesapeake to get to, for picking up the cookies for our troop, so I didn't really chat with her much. I expected to be gone two, maybe three hours, judging from how it went last year.

I was so wrong!! This year's team was super-organized and efficient. I was back home within an hour, and the drive itself took more than 20 minutes. Maybe 25! They asked my troop number, told me where to back up to, and loaded my van. I signed my papers and that was it. I was off!

Linda offered to help me unload the cookies from the van, and so of course I wasn't about to turn her down. I hope she wasn't just being polite! I carried the boxes from the van to the house, and she and the kids carried them into the office and organized them by type. Last year, they were all jumbled, and it was crazy trying to fill orders. And this isn't even half of them - the rest are on the other side. I ordered 79 cases, so hopefully they'll do well at booth sales. Our first one is this coming Friday night.

Then she asked me if I wanted this bookshelf that she had in her truck, that a friend was selling. Did I want it? The price was really good, and it's exactly what I have been wanting for their books for ages now! I paid maybe 30% of the cost, and it's in excellent condition. The kids absolutely love it and set right to work filling it with their books. I'm just so excited to have the books out of the cramped cabinet and actually on display for them to see what they have!

Then I shooed Linda away, because the kids and I had a lot of things to go do. Our first stop was to get gas, because both my "change oil" light and "get gas" light were on in the van. Glug, glug, glug, that was a quick pit stop. We drove 'round the corner to the place where I like to get Vanna's oil changed, but they were packed solid. He told me it would be a long wait, so I said, sayonara bitches! Not really, I just said I'd come back Monday morning. No time to waste!

We went back to Target after that, because I hadn't gotten one of my canvas bags, containing a bunch of TP wipes and the catfood my girlies were starving for. Also, the cashier had charged me double for the light bulbs. We took care of that, and then of course all three of the kids needed to use the bathroom. At least it was all taken care of at once this time!

On to Wal-Mart. I did a shopping trip like I've never done before. I brought my entire coupon box, instead of just the ones I needed, because Wal-mart doesn't really run a regular grocery ad (that I know of, anyway), so I had no clue what deals I would find. And I wanted to use up as many of those internet printables as I could. So, we went section by section through my coupon box - except for toiletries and cleaning supplies, which I'm stocking up well on at the drug stores - and spent literally EIGHT HOURS at the store, grocery shopping. We filled FIVE carts, averaging about $200 per cart (before coupons)! 

I only did this for two reasons: our food supply was super-low, and we actually had the money for once to do it. So, it was time to get that stockpile really going. 

The first thing we did was go to the eyecare place. Jack's glasses are all kinds of crooked, and I wanted them to fix 'em. But they were really busy, and I figured we could go back later. I thought we'd be in the store maybe three hours - definitely not eight! Oh, my word.

Then we hit the deli. Jack has been asking for turkey sandwiches for his school lunches, because he has been sick to death of PB&J and refusing to eat them. We haven't had the money for deli meat, so I kept having to tell him, "next time, buddy," when I went shopping. At the deli, we ordered a ton of food. Turkey pastrami for me (four pounds, for freezing, because it's so cheap and I love it so much!), and they let us eat a piece to taste. Chloë loved it, so I'm glad I got the four pounds, because Rob loves it, too. Then I saw the bologna. The kids have never in their lives tried it before, so I had no clue whether they would like it. They tried it; Chloë thought it was disgusting (uh-huh), but Jack and Sophia absolutely loved it. So a pound of that, then ham for Rob, and then some mozzarella (girls' choice) and meunster (mine) to top things off. Yum!

While we were at the deli, my kids made a friend with a little girl they'd never seen before. She was very friendly, and they were instant pals. They played a game of make-believe while their parents all ordered from the deli, and everyone around watched them with sweet smiles on their faces. It was really cute.

I started texting Rob when my cart was half-full, because he was supposed to have gotten off work already, and I knew I would need him to join us at the store. My cart was overflowing, and still no Rob. Hurry, hurry! He finally showed up, but I forgot to have him take Jack to get his glasses fixed, because Chloë really needed to go potty again. She was going to explode, I think! Naturally, all the kids had to go at the same time, again.

I shopped and shopped, coupon by coupon. When Rob first got there, we were in the dairy section. I was buying up all the yogurt in the place; my kids eat it like, well, like it's going out of style! And there were lots of great deals. Good prices, of course, are the only thing that bring me into Walmart. He kept telling me, there was no way I was going to fit it all in the fridge and freezer. We have a deep freezer too, but it's a smallish one. 

"Not going to get it all in."

"Oh, I'll get it in."

Then we went to do the freezer stuff. And the meat. And his cart started overflowing, too. 

"Not going to get it all in."

"Oh, I'll get it in!"

When his cart was full, I sent him and a now-sleeping Sophia to buy that stuff and keep it out in the car - it's cold enough - and then come back and keep shopping. A lady stopped me and said, "Hey, are you selling cookies this year?" I was all, "Huh? Who are you?" and then she explained she was a neighbor who had bought from us last year, and she'd recognized Chloë and then me. We hadn't gotten to her street yet, and she was waiting for us. That was cool. I gave her my number, so hopefully she'll call today and order a bunch!

We kept shopping, and shopping, until all the coupon categories were gone through, and we had four carts full (not including the stuff in the car from the fifth one)! It was quite a trip getting up to the cash register. I sent him to go get six huge bins for storing our stockpile, since all we have is one lousy little pantry that doesn't hold too much. While he was gone, a man in the next line was eyeballing my carts and watching me unload it all. He seemed relieved when I said something to the cashier about my husband bringing another cart, and he said, "Oh, good, I was worried you had done all that by yourself!"

Well, Rob came back after that man left, and then he had to go back and get something else we thought we'd forgotten (but hadn't, and then we bought it twice). The man returned and came up to me, saying, "I came back in to help you, because it's a lot of work..." I told him my husband would be right back, but thank you, that's very sweet!

Rob thought it was creepy. 

I didn't get creepy vibes from him at all, but I coudn't tell if he was hitting on me or just being nice. Was it weird??

Anyway. We spent a buttload of money, but we saved a good deal with all those coupons, too. I apologized to the two women behind us for taking so long, but they were really sweet and wished us a good night. Then began the ordeal of getting everything into the van, the second time it had been packed full that day. My back was absolutely aching, so Rob let me sit it out while he packed it up. When we set off, we started for home and then he remembered his truck! Oops, we hadn't driven over together, so I had to go back.

On the way home, I praised the children up and down for their absolutely wonderful behavior. I mean, eight hours at the grocery store is pretty darn outrageous, but they behaved like absolute angels!! They were so good, and I thanked them and told them I was so proud of them. I could tell they were pleased with themselves.

 
 
  
The kids, of course, were absolutely starving out of their minds, and they were freezing, too. Especially Jack. He was too cold to walk to the kitchen and had to be carried. Too cold to eat his soup and needed a straw. Poor guy was miserable. I could relate. They all ate a pretty good dinner and then went down to the couch to watch G-Force while we put away groceries. Sophia was wide awake, having napped at the store, but Jack and Chloë were out like a light in just a few minutes.

It took three hours, but I filled the six bins and reorganized the whole pantry, so now we have a real, working stockpile. From now on, I can just buy stuff that's free or almost free! Our bins are full, and they are labeled according to what's inside for easy access. I hope this all works out and isn't more trouble than it's worth.

After I put all the dry goods away, Rob finally brought in the cold stuff. My eyes went wide. I had definitely overbought! Definitely.

"You're never going to get it all in."

But guess what?

I got it in.

Fin.

P.S. Yes, I was proud of myself and did the happy dance. It was a lot of work! 
  
 
  

Friday Fragments

Unload those brain farts one fragment at a time over at Mrs. 4444's place every Friday. Link up here if you're joining in!

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Those little suns I put in between each fragment have never been more important to me than they are this week. We are having the most hideous, cold, snowy winter ever! At least in our seven years here. When did I move back to Syracuse?? At least here, I get a tiny little bit of sunshine.

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Seems I ruffled a few feathers with my Stinky Meatface fragment last week! I meant no offense, of course - and Rob is not the first carnivore I've been with since I stopped eating four-leggeds (and like I may or may not have said, went veggie and full-on vegan at certain points) 15 years ago, but he is the first one with whom I've had the meatface problem. So I did a quick Swagbucks search for the phenomenon, and found this link (see #4). Or you can read this one, if you're of a like mind... but don't shoot the messenger! :D

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In approximately ONE HOUR, we will be receiving our tax refund in excess of 7Gs!! With that money, I will be excitedly paying for my abdominoplasty, and paying off in full two credit cards, the long-standing debt for emergently treating our late bunny Bounce (should have saved our money, he died anyway), the loan for my new computer, and paying down some more debt. Plus I'm going to go on two shopping sprees: one for clothes (the kids need PJs, and Sophia's winter coat JUST bit the dust AND is two sizes too small. It's like the Grinch's heart of outerwear) and one for groceries. All at deep discounts, if you know me. ;)

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Do any of you have Windows 7? Can you help me out? I'm having an annoying problem with posting pictures to my blog, as well as other applications where I have to go back and browse for pictures multiple times: instead of browsing to wherever I left off, it goes back to the main page of applications. This drives me seriously insane and wastes a lot of time clicking!

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Jack uses the word "butthole" a lot. He is, after all, a nearly-seven-year-old BOY. So the kids were highly amused earlier when I accidentally referred to one of their current favorite movies, "Cloudy With a Chance of Buttholes"!

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Which brings me to our cute kid quotes of the week (or at least the ones I remembered to record in my iPhone):

I was telling Sophia what our charity does (making layettes for angel babies), and she remarked, "Booties?! Booties aren't little socks, they're little BUTTS!"

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Sophia got a scratch-and-sniff sticker from her dance class teacher, and she thrust it in my face, demanding, "Smell it, Mom!" I did so, and she asked me what it smelled like. I replied that it smelled like chocolate, but Jack disagreed: "No, it smells like raccoon farts!"

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Jack asked me, "Mommy, why did you buy red glasses?"

Before I could say anything, Chloë smartly opined, "Probably because they were the cheapest pair she could find."

Yeah... she was right! Hee, I hope my thriftiness rubs off on the kids.

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Chloë was freaking out about yet another thing (she has her mother's extreme Type A personality, I'm afraid), and I chastised her, "Chloë, relax! Calm down. You need to learn to relax."

She snapped back, "I can't learn to relax! I need to go to relax school!"

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I sent Jack down to the living room to Swiffer up the floor. He fetched the Swiffer and then I heard him say, in a gruff voice, "You're going DOWN, mud!"

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That's it for me this week. We have a crazy busy weekend coming up (and Rob is working all day Saturday, ugh!) so I hope I'm alive to post again next Friday!

Fin.

 

My MIL Rocks!

So I never got to post this yesterday, because I was doing my monthly online charity crochet thing and was too tired when I finished. Here we go...

Since Thursday, I've been having weird side-effects from my Side-Effexor, which helps control my bipolar disorder. Usually when I miss a dose or take it a few hours late (which I try never to do after the one or two times I have!), I not only become rapidly depressed and/or suicidal (hey, I'm an open book), but I have physical symptoms as well. Every time I move even the slightest bit, I get these weird shocks and twinges in my brain and upper body, and they don't stop when I stop moving. They interfere greatly in my daily functioning and throw me completely off balance.

Anyway, for some reason, that started (minus the depression/suicidal ideation - none of that, thank God) on Thursday and continues 'til now. The shocks are major and extremely disruptive. I HATE it and am really not looking forward to the day when I actually have to get off Effexor. BUT, I have not missed any of my meds, and have taken them completely on time, so I don't know what the deal is!

Also, I've been sobbing uncontrollably over every little thing. I mean, really, over non-things! The first time was watching Martha Stewart yesterday. She made a pretty greeting card, and I just burst into tears. Then, an audience member on her show was asking Martha's fitness trainer about pregnancy exercises, and I couldn't stop crying. WTH is that?! I'm crying right now just remembering it!

About eleventeen more times yesterday, I cried at the drop of a hat over who-knows-what. I couldn't even tell you. I do know that even though I'm sans uterus and one ovary now, I still get the hormonal changes and surges every month from my remaining ovary (TMI? Sorry). So, I attributed all the crying to that. It was - and remains - pretty ridiculous, though.

And to top it all off, I've come down with that cold! And so, it's been a very trying few days for me. But we'll get back to that.

In the afternoon, the mailman brought a delightful and completely unexpected package from my MIL. The first two things I pulled out were some lovely crocheted sets for CARE Package! Unfortunately, I don't have pictures for you, because I packaged them up and put them away already, and forgot to take them. But let me tell you, Rob's mom does beautiful work, and this was no exception!

 

The next goody in the box was Chloë's Valentine's Day Dollar Tree ad! I didn't even think to look for it yet, but it's OUT. So run, don't walk to your nearest Dollar Tree and pick up an ad; she's in there! Now both of my girls have had nationwide ads. Pretty cool, yes?

That wasn't it, though! She also sent an order for 10 boxes of cookies to send to our Gift of Caring organization, the USO for overseas military! Awesome, awesome - and it brings her total Gift of Caring sales up to 28 boxes! Go Chlo!! (For those who are interested, according to Rob, he can ship the boxes for free to Iraq or Afghanistan, so no worries about paying the shipping costs!) 

And there were the usual Box Tops and Campbell's soups labels for the kids' school, which help raise money for equipment and supplies.  Thanks, Mom! Great package, it made my day - really!!

In the evening, I had to once again make the drive up to Hampton's Sentara Careplex hospital campus. But this time, I was going to their Health and Fitness Center for a consult with a trainer. I was NOT looking forward. Not that I don't plan to exercise; I do! But for one thing, I am most definitely NOT a gym person. You either are or you aren't, according to the shrink who gave us our surgery class on Monday, and it's fine if you're not. You just have to figure out what you like to do. For another thing, I physically can not do much right now, because of the many-times-mentioned nerve damage in my back. I'm good for a maximum of two minutes in a vertical position right now.

The first thing I did, after finally tracking down my training guru, T., was inform her that I've been sobbing all day for no reason and to expect it to happen again. Which it did. Several times. Hello, embarrassing!

Then we sat and talked for a half-hour about all the expectations, goals, and exercises I can and must do after surgery, including the stretches I can start right away. I actually learned a few things, despite my snobbish "I'm a biologist and I know this stuff" attitude going in. Same thing with the nutritionist. But as Rob and I like to say, "I do fish," so I need to quit doing that and realize there are always going to be people who know more than me, particularly if that's their specialty!

T. was great. She was tiny and perky, and just exactly what I'd love to look like when I lose all my weight. Fat chance of that (seriously, she was as big as my pinky)! But she was also intelligent and knowledgeable, and that's something I can always respect and admire, of course. Plus she was nice, and not the "I'm in such good shape, and you are a mega fat ass and gross and I can't even stand to be in the same room with you" type that some gym-people definitely are!

Anyway, we made a list of all the kinds of exercise I like to do and have done in the past and will start doing again as soon as I'm able. Wanna see my list? No? Well, I'm gonna share that puppy anyway because I can do that:

• Wii Fit (okay, so I don't actually have one and haven't ever done it, but Stephanie and my sister are loving theirs, and I plan to get one just as soon as we are able to swing it)
• Walking - We have this big ol' family-room-taking-up fancy-schmancy treadmill, and I really should take advantage of it. It's easy, it's low-impact, and I can do it while watching TV, listening to my iPod, or even reading a magazine. And I can start immediately.

• Rollerblading - More often than not, in college, I could be found blading around campus, and to and from work. I love it. I can't run for doody, but man I can skate! And I have a good pair waiting for me in the shoe box by the front door, so yay! Free!

• (Windsor) Pilates - I used to do these before and after I had Sophia, and I got pretty good at it. Don't know why I stopped, but since I have all the stuff, I shall start it up again.
• Yoga - Love me some yoga; same descriptor as the Pilates.
• Biking - I used to ride my last summer after college, every day to work. My legs were fantastic then! I don't have a bike to ride now, but maybe by summer I'll be ready to get on one. 'Sides, the bike I rode in Miami was a men's bike borrowed from my  housemate, so maybe I can just ride Rob's. If he can bear it; it's his pride and joy. Hmm, maybe not...
• Swimming. Y'all know I LOVE to swim, right? I tried going to the Rec Center down the road when my back started getting really bad, thinking the no-impact swimming would be great for it. I was wrong; it still wrenched up after just half a lap. So I can do some exercises in the water for resistance, and when my back is stronger, try laps again.
• CORE workout, on the exercise ball - I own the whole set and actually like it, but I didn't really keep up with it. I'm ready to give it another go.
• Kickboxing - just kidding. Me? Yeah, right. But who knows?
• Stretching and Weight Lifting - I don't actually love this, but I am required by my docs to start doing it. And strength training, as we know, is just as important as cardio. We have 5- and 20-lb weights, and besides, I could always use water bottles or cans of soup.

So that's my list. It's not a short list, so I definitely should be able to find something fun to do a minimum of 4 days a week, and there's enough variation there to keep me interested. If you have back pain-friendly suggestions for me, let's hear 'em? [I've never actually been on an elliptical trainer, so if you're going to say that, my answer will be "I don't know" if it will hurt me. Everyone, but everyone, tells me to try it - but I am NOT a gym person! ;) ]

I was back home two hours after I left, feeling better about the fitness thing and more ready than ever to have this surgery and get started on my new life! And what's more, though what I really wanted for dinner was a grilled chicken sandwich from Wendy's - and even had Rob's approval to get one - I resisted the urge and went home to see what I could find for dinner. No more fast food for me for the rest of my life. Ever, ever, ever. Does Subway count? Pizza? Panera??! Moe's? (Yeah, Moe's counts, because I can't have rice anymore.) I ended up having a Healthy Choice sweet and sour chicken entrée, and it wasn't half bad. It had rice too, though, so I can't have that either!

 

After I ate, Sophie insisted I take her picture with one of the Wall-E posters that came with their DVD. So, here's that... and see? Her hair is starting to grow out. It's pretty shaggy looking right now (not unlike mine), so she could stand a trim.

I spent the rest of the evening on my crochet thing online, and while I was there, I started a new craft I'll show you below. When I finished, I knitted about four rows on my green baby sweater - it's finally starting to look like one now - before putting on my CPAP and conking out for the night.

The kids woke us up earlier than I would have liked this morning, and I was definitely sicker. Major cold symptoms, and I had a sore throat and huge, swollen glands. Which made me think a string of four-letter words that would make you blush if you'd heard 'em. I started praying like crazy for that to go away before Monday, because they'd postpone my surgery for sure if I showed up like that. No fever though, thank goodness!

I didn't last very long, between being sick, not having had enough sleep, and the weird twinginess from my Side-Effexor, before I headed back to the couch for a good three-hour nap. I don't know how restful it was, though, because I was plagued with horrible nightmares as I have been for several days now. (And according to an extensive internet search tonight, that's another Effexor thing! Gah!)

I felt even worse, so I chugged a bunch of OJ, and then Rob brewed me some hot tea with lemon. The prayers were in full force! And before I knew it, the gland swelling had actually started to go down, and I was feeling better and breathing easier.

We were supposed to go out and have a tax-return shop this afternoon - I usually do ours, but it pays very well and we could use the extra money - but I canceled it. Just didn't feel like going. They called me later, though, and will let me do it after I've recovered.

Anyway, the only other thing on my schedule for today was selling cookies with Miss Chlo, and since I'm bound and determined to help her meet her 172-box goal by tomorrow night, I wasn't missing it!

We stayed out for two hours and only managed to sell another 20 boxes. She was really getting frustrated, I could tell. Poor kid. She is really trying hard out there, and so many people are saying 'no' this year. It's the economy, stupid! I figured, hey, Girl Scout cookies, everyone loves those! But not so much, not this year! She has managed to sell 117 boxes so far, though, which is 69% of her goal. Awesome job, my baby! We'll go out again tomorrow and try like the dickens to make up the rest of it. And as troop cookie chair, I can always fill out her order to make it to 172 (why that number? because she'll get a cookie credit that pays for her registration for next year) and use the extra boxes when we continue selling after the Initial Order is due, and at booth sales. Not stressing it. Much.

Mucho cleaning was in session when Curly Sue and I returned home. The kids have been cleaning their room ALL DAY yesterday and today, and they are STILL not clean.  Why? Because the are unsupervised while doing it, which just doesn't work for them. Our kids need to be told "do this, pick up that, put those away, throw it in the garbage, etc." or they just won't get it done. They'll play instead, or just sit there, or go to sleep! When it's me telling them to clean, I sit there with them and do that. Daddy, no. Since the goal is to have this house looking decent before Julie comes, they better get on the ball tomorrow! But I doubt she'll care either way, so again, not stressing it. Much.

As for me, I went upstairs too, to delve into the laundry. No surprise there, we had a huge mountain of it to fold and put away. Rob's been washing and drying it for me (us), but that's as far as he goes! I sat there for a couple hours folding it and putting as much away as my back could tolerate;  the kids will help me with the rest tomorrow, I suppose.

I had the brilliant idear to send Rob out for Panera for our dinner. Who knows if I'll ever be able to partake of the loveliness that is Panera again? And so, it was my Last Supper before Fat Me kicks the bucket and New Me emerges. And behold, it was good. Very, very good. I savored it for as long as I could.

 

This is the latest side project that I've been working on today: hand-sewn felt hearts with fiberfill stuffing. Why? I'm going to make a mobile or something for a Valentine's Day decoration for the kids. Not quite sure yet. The kids are having a ball with the hearts alone, so I hope they really love what I end up doing.  Cute, no?

Sorry this was so long. I'll leave you alone now and go back to my knitting and heart-sewing. Hope you're having a swell weekend!

Fin.

Color Me Crazy

I'm doing our taxes online right now. There are extra considerations this year, because in addition to Rob's income, subsidizing CARE Package, and mystery shopping, there have been considerable expenses for Chloë acting and modeling schtuff.

First, I attempted to use TurboTax's Freedom program thingy, which allows military folks to e-file federal and state returns for free. Their site would either not log me in at all, or it would log in and then just sit there staring at me, blaring its "error on page" announcement over and over. I tried rebooting. I had Rob do it on his computer. It was obviously the site. This was last night. When it was still happening today, I gave up.

Then I went back to IRS.gov and chose a different program, free for military filers (I think this may be my mistake, no? You get what you pay for, after all). But I chose H&R Block's TaxCut program, which you'd think to be reputable enough. I've spent 2.5 hours on it now, calculating and pluggin in numbers and entering this and that, and each time I get to the end, there are about 10 errors I can't figure out how to fix. I went through the whole return twice, then I had Rob go through it, then I decided to give up and print and mail the damn thing, all the while saying a host of four-letter-words far worse than that. (The children are napping now, thankfully, and were kept upstairs away from their mother beforehand.) Well, it's 28 pages. I'm not keen on wasting 28 pages of environment if there is another way to do it, so I went through the return a fourth damn time and finally corrected 8 of the errors. Then a ninth. And now I've found the 10th, but it won't... freaking... click... on... the... damn... "next"... button!!!

You know in the classic cartoons, when it's usually one animal chasing another but sometimes Elmer Fudd or a similar toon dude is careering after some creature, only to be repeatedly thwarted by a myriad of creative, um, thwarts? And then the predator finally gives up, er, well, has gone mad, and his tongue is hanging out, and he's running around in circles, bopping himself with a hammer or some such, and stars are circling above his head?

Yeah. That's about how I feel right now. HELP!!!!

Fin.