Busy Day!

Today was Kindergarten Olympics for Lexi. I forgot my camera ;-( They did a bunch of different activities & at the end they all got a medal for their great work. Tomorrow is the last day of school for Lexi & Nick. Pretty much a fun day with games & snacks!

Tonight was Nick's first baseball game. They only play 5 innings & have 17 players. Nick got to play almost 4 innings & batted twice. He played 1st base the first two innings & made a double play...which I missed. I was looking under the table for something! His first time at bat he struck out & the second time he walked. There wasn't a whole lot of hitting. Mostly strike outs & walks.

The 3rd & part of 4th inning Nick got to pitch. He struck a couple out but gave up a lot of walks.

Between him & Lexi, we'll be at the ball park 4 out of 7 days a week! Nick has most practices on Sun & Tues nights and game nights are Wednesday's. We'll actually be traveling this year, not all the games are here in Courtland so that will be fun. And Monday nights is T-ball for Lexi. Her first night is Monday.

Peacock!

It was much prettier in person! I should of gone closer to the fence I guess. oh well.

 

Billy Goats

Neither one would feed the Billy Goats. They just threw the corn in the cage!

 

 

The Boys & I.....

We tried....

 

YEP...........

 

I'm COOL!

 

Caterpillar!

Video shot the other day...

Breaking out of his Shell

The boys are outside playing & Phil is in the garage working. I heard a beep & figured Gary our neighbor drove by. Sure enough he did. A few seconds later I hear Zander yell "HI GARY!" He is usually so shy but has started saying Hi now to him.

Then I hear him yell at "Gary, why did you beeped at me?"

Gary said something but I didn't hear what he said!!

Beeped...he says it as beepp ed. Not sure how to type it but it sounds funny when he says it!

Poll....

There was (what I found!) interesting poll on the coupon board I belong to. The question was "What's your household income"

0-30k 9%
30-50k 21%
50-75k 25%
75-100k 16%
100k + 28%

The highest percent went to over 100k! I find it interesting because it dispells the myth that only poorer people coupon.

Ok, time to go through the 8 bags I have of stuff that needs to be added to my stockpile!! Yikes!!! Time for more shelving and or bins!

Future Occupation??

I'm secretly hoping one of my boys will go into the plumbing business.

Wholly crap. We got the bill today from when he came out here a couple of weeks ago. I had to call & ask what their hourly rate was because the labor charges were $170. (total bill was over $200.) and he was here for an hour & 1/2!! They said that they charge $68/hour & we were billed for 2 1/2 hours. Ok, well he wasn't here 2 1/2 hours! Got here about 8:30 & Phil said left at 9:59. But I guess we have to pay for the drive out here (ok, that adds 20 mins, or 30 if you drive slow) and she said he had to clean a machine so it's ready for the next person. He had some sewer machine thing he used & so I guess that was 30 mins of cleaning?? Ya right.

And I heard the damn toilet running again today, not sure what the heck is going on but think we'll have to live with that as long as it's not leaking........

oh, speaking of leaks. The guy that fixed the sink at the lake cabin said that bill is $50 but guess what...it's STILL leaking!!! So not sure if I want to pay that yet. He was there twice already & still can't get it fixed!! He claims we need a new faucet, which is fine if that will stop the leaking!!

So I'm thinking my boy's would make a real nice living if they decided to go into the plumbing business. I might encourage that!!

Weekend News

We went to the lake this weekend & found out our paddle boat was stolen or something. It's gone. Everyone was sad about that, especially the kids. I guess nothing like this has happened there before. We have no idea what happened to it. Our neighbors were there until Wed & it was still there & we got there on Friday & it was gone. So sometime between then it was taken or floated away? We kind of doubt that but who knows.

Zander had a great time fishing & caught lots of sunnies. It's fun in the beginning of the season when the fish actually BITE!!

There are 13 days of school left, anyone counting yet!?!?!

Fishing Opener!

We are heading to the lake tonight & hopefully will catch some fish on this fishing opener weekend!!

Phil is working until 7 tonight so it will be later by the time we get over there.

Our leak is fixed, so the plumber says. $50 later, we will see. He also suggested we get a new faucet. (sink at the lake). We'll see if we can find a cheap one but that's part of the leaking problem too I guess.

Zachary had his 18 mo check up this morning. 75% for weight & 90th or 95% for height. He is 28.5 pounds & 35 inches tall.

Hit Walgreen's again this morning. My 7th visit this week! It's one hot deal this week!

Nick had his spring show at school last night. He DID sing. Lexi watched it earlier in the week at school & reported to me that Nick didn't sing. I think she was talking about the song where it was just the girls singing & the boys didn't do much that song. But it was nice to hear her report on her older brother! LOL

So I may be checking in over the weekend or I might not. Depends if I can get a connection or not. Last weekend when we were there it said connected but it didn't connect to the internet. Wierd. So hopefully who ever was there the weekend I did get a signal will be there again this weekend cause we know Phil & Nick have to check on their fantasy baseball teams!! That's the first thing Nick does in the morning & when he gets home from school. YahooSports.Com What did Phil DO to that kid??

Walgreen's Trip!

I went to Mankato today. My main reason was to pick up coupons from my source. She had an appt downtown & was gonna leave them in her van. I get there & she left a note on the window for me.......sorry Lisa I was in a hurry when we left & forgot the coupons.

UGH UGH UGH. There were a bunch of coupons I wanted to use this week & I don't know if I'll get over there again to pick them up before Sat. So mad!

So anyhow, I went to see Ashley & took her to Walgreen's with me. I had some coupons to use & so got some stuff for her since my stockpile is full. We did 3 transactions because of the deal this week. If you buy 9 certain Proctor & Gamble items, you get $20 back. I had everything in order......so I thought. One transaction went wrong when I noticed one item was missing so Ashley had to quick go grab another eyeliner. Then in the last order, her shampoo was the wrong size so we had to cancel that order & start over. But in the end, we left the store with 33 items (hairspray, gel, moouse, razors, eye shadow, blush, eye liner, lipgloss, lightbulbs, maxi pads etc..) and I paid $7.60 for all of it & will get back $6.57 of that from the monthly rebate & oh yeah......I also have $50 in cash coupons to use on my next shopping trip there!! So basically I walked out with ALL that stuff AND a store credit of $48.97!!!!! That had to of been my BEST trip yet!!!

I think Ashley had fun seeing the COUPON QUEEN in action!! (that is what my new name here in the house is, Phil & Nick like to tease me about it all the time!!)

Cover Girl Make Up

If you need a good deal on something, let me know ASAP! I can get it pretty cheap this week. So I'm takin' orders!! E-mail me!

EWWWW GROOOOSSSS YUCKKKKK

Phil, Z, Z, & I went over to the lake today to do a little spring cleaning. I had talked to the guy on Monday & he said he'd have the leak fixed by Friday, so I thought well it's Thursday, hopefully it's fixed.

So we head over & it didn't look like anyone was in there but then from the outside it looked like he opened up one area to take a peek. So we try it out & the faucet is leaking right away. So no cleaning of the kitchen won't be happening today! I called again when we got home but the mailbox is FULL. Great.

So we vacuumed & cleaned what we could. Last week I had saw evidence of mice remind you. But I never smelt anything & according to Phil, I have *THE* best nose, I smell any & EVERYTHING! Today we get there & I immediately said it stunk in the kitchen. Phil said it was just the musty smell & we started opening up to air it out.

So I'm busy cleaning in the porch & go to the garbage & look in & see some fuzzy's...like lint from the dryer. Pretty big for that. I was about to suck it up w/ the vaccum & then noticed.........EWWWWWWWWWWWWW DEAD Frickin' MICE!!! I start freaking out of course. Phil was right there, looked in & then chucked the garbage out into the road! Oh great, now dead mice in the ROAD! There were FOUR little buggers. They were small too & I commented on that & Phil said well ya, they've been there for awhile!! EWWW EWWW EWWWWW I can NOT STAND MICE! AND, this is even worse, I was there last weekend, sitting in the chair right across from the garbage & NEVER even noticed. Thank god or I REALLY would of freaked by myself!! Phil said they've been there awhile that they don't even smell anymore! LOL So I was scared to even go into the kitchen to clean but he said that smell is just musty & I think he's right cause we had that last year too. Wierd how I didn't smell it last weekend.

So Phil thinks one mouse fell/jumped into the garbage & got stuck in there & cried for his friends to come help. They joined his death bed as they couldn't get back out of the garbage! What a way to die, huh?!?! Phil said that was ideal, he didn't even have to pick them up, just threw out the garbage. And yes, we threw away the garbage can as well!!! There must of been something sweet in there (gee, think the kids left a candy wrapper or something in there?) from last year that lured them in!!

Wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight.........gotta get that fuzz ball image out of my head!!!

Yeah!!

Well it's a new month & I'm working on our budget/envelopes. I'm proud to say that I'm seeing my couponing pay off! I haven't posted many of my deals on this site anymore as I belong to another site that is more appropriate for it. So in case you were wondering if I was still doing it, you bet I am! Getting some recruits too as one of my family members...cough cough...we won't say any names, but I guess they signed up on that site to see what I'm doing, or to get good deals too, one or the other!

And another family member likes to shop with me now too, to use my coupons or to see how I do it?? I'm not sure yet!! I think I have her stocked on Olay soap though. You need to come over & see what else you need! Oh, and dumb we paid $1.16 for that Raisan Bran when now we can get a couple of boxes FREE.

So anyhow, I decided to lower my $400 grocery tab to $300 this month & see how I do. April I could of got by for about $250. but then the last day I managed to spend $35, so I spent $285. And the freezer is FULL. FULL FULL FULL

And in my misc (previously called toiletries but it's oh so much more than just that!) fund I was giving myself $200/mo but this month got by on about $100. MISC is everything. Hair cuts, toiletries, stamps, photos, diapers, pretty much everything I buy at Target, Walgreen's, Walmart, Kmart, etc... that is not food! I was proud of this one considering I stocked up on diapers & laundry detergent! I should be good on detergent for at least 9 mos. if I figured right. (BTW, not cheap detergent either, TIDE! I got it for $3.25/bottle which is a stock up price for me!)

Ok, so where does the extra money go? Well it looks like we have to up our monthly gas/oil change envelope. Price of gas has gone up so we need to raise that one a bit. Course it figures...I got by on a tank of gas for a month (that tells you I'm not going ANYWHERE!) and now when I do start to go more, the price goes up!!

Busy doing lake laundry tonight. We are going on Friday for our first night of the season. So all the bedding is getting washed. I'm sure I'll check in from there this weekend!

40 or 4????

I'm not sure what is going on. But since the old man hit 40, he has lost his memory. TWICE, not once, but TWICE this week (and mind you it's only WED), I've opened the microwave to cook something & there is already something in it. The first time was some leftover BBQ. He put it in there for supper & I didn't find it until the next morning.

Tonight I was going to put a bag of steamfresh corn in the microwave for supper. Guess what I found?? A bag of steamfresh corn! No idea when that is from....I don't think it was lunch. Was it lunch yesterday??

SO it's either the hitting of the big 40 doing this to him or else I'm gonna say he's gonna tell me he got distracted by the kids.

Plumbing Issues...

Well we have the plumber at our house right now fixing this & that. We have 4 things on the list for him to take care of. Hopefully nothing serious.

And the caretaker at the lake called yesterday & said he'd get those leaks there fixed this week too. So hopefully we'll be able to get over there this weekend & do all the spring clean up! Grandma need something to do this weekend?!?!