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Monday, March 26, 2007

Break Time!

Taking a Blogger Break.

Catch you later!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

MMMMM

Birthday Cake is the BEST!!

 
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Scooter!

He really liked his new scooter tricycle! He took it with to wrestling practice tonight to play with it in the halls at school!
 
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Bathtub Paints!

He was excited about this present!!
 
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Sorting the M & M's

First step was sorting all the colors out.
 
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Frosting!!

We didn't quite use all the frosting on the cake so he had to finish it up!!

 
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Rainbow Cake!

 
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Happy 3rd Birthday Zander!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Mail Call

I used to look forward to the mail cause I used to get a lot of my Ebay payments that way. Well for the last few years, I'd say I get paid via Paypal by 95% of my customers. So the mail wasn't as exciting to get.

Well now I've been doing coupon trades & such & have been running to my mailbox daily. Also all those rebate checks too. And now I also have started to email companies to compliment them on their products, granted I like the product they put out!

So here's what I've gotten in the mail lately:

~~$10 MIR check from Evenflo for breastpump I bought at Target & sold on Ebay.
~~12 stamps from a trade
~~15 stamps from a trade
~~Potluck of coupons from a trade
~~US Weekly Magazine
~~Walgreen's gift cards for $50./Feb (I do 2 of these a month & haven't gotten the other one yet although they were mailed on the same day.
~~Banquet rebate check $4.99
~~Gold N Plump $8 in coupons (this was the chicken I bought on sale at Cashwise a few weeks ago. I was really never sure how to make chicken & when it comes in a bag & you just stick it in the oven, well it can't get any easier. So I emailed them & told them that. Got some nice coupons today for it!

OOPS

The clinic called me today & said we missed an appointment this morning. It was for Zander's 3 yr well child visit. OOPS. I guess I never wrote it down on the calendar. She rescheduled us for Fri morning. Well then he'll *officially* be three!!

On another note, this sounds like a MUCH better retirement plan than what we are currently doing. I wonder if this is the plan my brother Mitch is on?!?!?

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now
be worth $49.00.
If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left

With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all
the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, You would have had $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.
It's called the 401-Keg Plan

Saturday, March 10, 2007

CRAZY HAIR DAY!

 


This past week was Lutheran School's Week so the kids had LOTS of events happening all week. Monday was CLASH & CRAZY HAIR day! Here's Lexi in some wild hair! And check the background out, that's what this place looks like on a normal day!! I can never keep up around here!!

They also had Jersey Day, Superhero Day, Blue & Gold Day, & Hat & Scarf day. Tuesday was Parents Day so I took the kids and had lunch with Nick & Lexi. Then Phil came at noon on his lunch break & had lunch with Nick. Nick didn't eat with us, he wanted to eat with daddy. So we sat with them.
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CLASH Day!

 
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Sunday, March 04, 2007

Stockpile

I took this earlier this week. Just a very small sampling of what I get. For all of this, I paid $3.43.

 
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MMM Dairy Queen Cake!

The Old Man turned 40!!

 
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The Rug Rats

 
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Old Country Buffet

The following pictures are from when we went out to eat for Phil's Birthday.

 
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Zach & his hat

Didn't stay on him very long!

 
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100th Day of School

Lexi got these glasses from school, it was their 100th day of School Party!

 
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Me & Ashley

 
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MMMM LEMONS

 
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Saturday, March 03, 2007

Grocery Deals at Hy-Vee Today!

I stopped at Hy-Vee today & my savings was about 50%. Not my best but I walked out with a lot of stuff for $28.00!

Here are the highlights:

~Banquet Dinner 1.79/ FREE after coupon
~Calzone Hot Pocket $2.00 / FREE after coupon
~Campbell's Tomato & Chicken Noodle Soup .58/can / .48/can After coupon (I bought this cause I also had a coupon for FREE Pepperidge Bread but guess what? Hy-Vee doesn't carry Pepperidge Farms bread! I didn't feel like putting the soup away so I still bought it.
~Jell-O 3 packages 3/$1.00 less $1.00 coupon = FREE
~Orville Redenbacher Popcorn 2/$5 less $1 coupon = $4.
~Sprite 2 liter $1.25 = FREE after purchase of 2 Orville R popcorn
~Ritz Bits P Butter Crackers 3.49 x 2 = 6.98 less 3.10 Cub Foods coupon = 3.88/2
Spaghettios 5/3.00 less .40/2. Bought 14, used 7 coupons = .40/can
~Lil Sizzlers .99/each, bought 10, only thing I didn't have a coupon for but great price!!
~Individual string cheese used Cub coupon & saved .64

That's all folks ;-)

Oh wait, I did a separate transaction for cheese. Kraft cheese on sale for 1.89 x 2 & 1.77 for some chunk cheese. Also had $1/3. I did this because if you buy 2 packs of the Kraft singles, you can mail away for a Free Spiderman towel, just pay 1.99 s/h. Well, guess what, I bought the wrong flippin' size of cheese! Augh. Will have to try again after we eat all THIS cheese up!! And I thought I was organized. Ya right.

Target Deals

Went to Target today. Was there yesterday as well. Walgreens yesterday too (but only to grab milk!!). Phil says I go there 5x/week, but this week was only 3. My average is twice. I go in the beginning of the week after the ad comes out & then later in the week for new deals that get posted that I missed. So I shoot for twice/week. They love me there....and my purse that beeps all the time! Have I posted about that damn purse??

I bought a purse online from Coldwater Creek. Big old bag. Almost too big but holds my coupon folders & a couple of diapers & wipes. So I got it & had trouble with it setting off the siren at Target as I would enter. Then I think it did it at Walgreens once or twice but then stopped. Then it was just Target. I took everything possible out that it could have been. I got sick of it & emailed the company to ask if maybe there was something in the purse that would be causing this. They said they'd send me out a new purse & to keep the old one. So I got the new one & guess what?? I can walk into Target w/o alarming everyone! BUT......now this 2nd purse sets off the alarms at Walgreen's every flippin' time!! And they already know me......they don't need a siren announcing my arrival!!

Ok, so where was I? Oh yes, the Target deals. I got some good coupons in the mail today via trading I did. Huggies wipes were on sale this week (thanks to the coupon board cause I would have missed this. Target ad shows Pampers wipes, but if you read the smaller print, it also states Huggies on sale. Who reads that small print?) so I bought a few more tubs. I still have some more coupons, but I think I have enough wipes to last until Zachy is out of diapers!!! Seriously. Well maybe not, considering sometimes we go through 3 or 4 wipes at ONE diaper change when he has a blow out!

Ok, so they were on sale for $2/tub & I had coupons for 2.50/2. So I bought 6 tubs for $12 less coupons of 2.50 x 3 = 4.50 for 6 tubs. Or .75/tub. My best price yet. I should of used all my coupons before they expire I guess. I thought $1.14/tub was a good price, then I thought $1.00 was good. I'm pretty sure .75 is good, but I know someone will come along & give a better price that they got!

Also at Target today they had Kellogg's Nutri-grain Cereal bars marked down to 2.19. I had $1. coupons and used the 7 I had. So I got them for 1.19/box!! And earlier in the week or last week I thought I did good when they were on sale 2/$5 less my $1 coupon paying $1.50/box! Across the street at HyVee they were 2.99. We are well stocked with these things but it's something I can finally get Zach to eat for breakfast. Have I mentioned how picky he is?? I tried some new Strawberry Yougart ones & mmmm I even liked them!

They also had Motts Applesauce on sale for 1.52 for a 6 pack. Had a 1.25/3 coupon for that. Brought the price down to $1.10/6 pack.

Lexi was with & a good shopper today so I picked up the clearance .73 lip gloss for her ;-)

More on Target in the post below....

Dove Pro Age Deals

Target has a special running for a few more weeks. You buy 2 of their Pro Age items & you get a $5 gift card. Well I've been busy making coupon trades & got a bunch of good stuff in the mail today! To see the coupons that other areas of the country get....man we get ripped around here!!! Anyhow, someone said they had the DOVE coupons to trade for something that I had. So I got them today & headed to Target.

I got the following:

(1) Dove 4 bar soap 3.99
(3) Dove Body Wash 3.69 x 3 = 11.07
(4) Dove Deodorant 3.69 x 4 = 14.76

Total was 29.82. I used $1 coupons x 8, so down to 21.82 & got $20.00 in gift cards. So total for ALL of the above was 1.82 + tax. Except she charged me for 2 soaps and 2 body wash's so got charged an extra .30. I didn't realize until I got home. The cashier wasn't sure what she was doing as she had never done the gift card deal before. So I wasn't watching too closely as there was a manager helping her so I thought they were doing it right. Oh well, .30...I can live with that!!

I have 2 deodorant coupons & 2 soap/body wash coupons so will go back for 4 more.

Only question here, I **think** I'm too young for these products. You've seen the commercials, the Dove Pro Age is targeted for the more mature audience. Mother's Day Presents for my mom & mother-in-law maybe?!?! heheheheh Although at a 1.00/bar of soap, I'm tempted to try that myself & see what's so wonderful about it!!! (I ended up paying $.12/bar!!! Heck that is even cheaper than the Zest I just bought & thought I did good with that at .21/bar.)

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Two Sets of TWINS???

I got a phone call today that I wasn't expecting. About a month ago or so I saw a note up at the gas station from some one in Courtland looking for someone to watch her kids part time. I thought I would look into it & ended up leaving a message. I never got a call back & then totally forget about it.

Well today the lady called. Took me a second to remember what she was talking about! After talking for a little bit I asked her where in Courtland she lived & here it's just down the street!

Her & her husband are both teachers in Mankato & it sounds like they have been having daycare issues for awhile. I remember back when I was just pregnant with Zachary & had a garage sale they stopped by. I had thought then of mentioning that I could help out if they ever needed it. At that time, they had daycare in New Ulm so would drive from Courtland to New Ulm to Mankato to New Ulm & then home to Courtland. A LOT of extra driving. Well then I guess their daycare in New Ulm closed so they had looked in Nicollet & Mankato but didn't have any luck so a SIL is helping them now. She comes in the morning to pick the boys up & takes them to her house in Lake Crystal. So now they are driving to Mankato then to Lake Crystal to pick the boys up & then home to Courtland. Still extra driving. So with me being right down the street, I'm sure that sounds ideal to them!

Well so they would like a full time person, but also would use two part-time people if that works. I think whatever works they will take!

The ideal thing for me is that they are both school teachers. So NO SUMMERS. And all the holiday vacations, spring break etc... The hours would be 7:15- 4:00. About 9 hours a day. I guess when I thought of PT I was thinking maybe just a few hours day. But this could work out too. I'm thinking I will try it & just do 2 days a week. If it is working out, maybe I'll do 3 days. We'll see.

I haven't been doing much on Ebay the last couple of months so this would be a good way to make up for that loss income. I think I've finally gotten burnt out on it. Didn't think it would happen, but it has. I'll still do it, but not selling as much as I had in the past. And do you know how much daycares get these days? Wow. Just a couple of days/week is all I need to do! The rates have gone up since I quit working that's for sure! I seriously wonder how some people do it. Does it REALLY pay to work after paying for daycare? And the stress of it. I felt really bad for this lady. I remember those days of dealing with daycare, finding a decent one, openings for both kids, dealing with not having daycare because of sickness or vacation, having to plan my vacation days around hers etc....the call today brought back all those things I'm so glad I don't have to deal with anymore!!

So, I'll give her a call this weekend I think & talk some more & tell her I could try it & see how it works for us. They have 2 boys pretty much the SAME age as Zander & Zachary. Her oldest turns 3 next week (Zander turns 3 in 2 weeks, so they are only a week apart) & the youngest she said is 18 mos. Zachary is almost 16 mos, so about 2 mos apart for those two.

It would be like having TWO sets of TWINS to watch. 18 mos & 3 yrs!!! YIKES!! That part is scary too!! But then again, my boys would probably LOVE someone else in the house to play with besides each other. Could be good for the both of them.

Oh & the other thing is that the dad graduated with my brother so I know him & he knows my family. That always helps when you are trying to find someone to watch your kids. (Dave Wilfahrt). She also mentioned that his mom is dealing with cancer right now. Is that Barb Wilfahrt mom? Did you know that? So the SIL watching the kids now has to go to the hospital alot & so it's been hard to watch the boys for her too. So I think any help I can give now until school is out would really help them out.

Listen to the WOMAN I say!!

So Phil was scheduled to work today from 3 pm - 3 am. We heard on the radio that MN Dot was planning on closing some state highways but they had yet to announce which ones & when.

So Phil thought he better leave earlier to make sure he got to work. So he left about 1:20. I suggested to him that maybe you should CALL work first. See what they are suggesting. Maybe they are telling out of town employees to stay home or maybe god forbid they SHUT down the plant? Anyhow, a call wouldn't hurt, WOULD IT?? Ya right, Phil make a phone call?? Who am I kidding??

So he left & the phone rings a short time later. Guess who it is?? KRAFT calling. They are shutting down the plant & there is no work today or tomorrow. So I had to call him on the cell phone to turn around & come home. He got probably about 2 miles out of Courtland. Said the roads weren't that bad. He had planned on staying in town too since he had to go back in at 11 tomorrow. So much for the 20 hours of overtime this week. Bummer on that!

So all you males reading, just remember to LISTEN TO THE WOMAN.

No School on Thursday!

I got a call from Arizona tonight to tell me to keep the kids up later since there wasn't going to be any school tomorrow.

Kids were already in bed so no staying up later for them!!

A Snow Day......what SAHM's LOVE to hear!!!! That also means no wrestling practice which is good for me since Phil is on afternoons & I would of had to take all of them by myself. They get bored after awhile so it gets to be long.

We are suppose to get more snow & how much is always the question. Nothing is happening right now (midnight) so we'll see what happens overnight. We BETTER get something to make it worthwhile for them to stay home!!