Coupon Sites

For anyone who's interested...here are the sites my friends and I use to search for the best deals.

1) http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
A Christian, homeschooling mom of three who blogs about deals at drug stores (CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid) all over the country. She also posts weekly menu plans, shopping trips, and entries about how they save money (example, they are trying to save to pay 100% down on their house and are more than halfway there in just a year.) She also offers free tutorials on how to get started couponing and CVSing. This site is one of the highest trafficked coupon blogs.

2) http://www.southernsavers.com/
This site is mainly for shoppers who shop at Food Lion, Kroger, Harvey's, etc. She also outlines the weekly deals at CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. I like this one because she describes the exact transactions she plans to do each week. This site also offers previews of the coupons that will be available in each week's Sunday paper.

3) http://www.attentiondealshoppers.com/

4) http://www.iheartcvs.com/
This site describes the best deals at CVS.

5) http://www.couponmom.com/
This site is a little more in-depth and will list all coupon matches at Target, CVS, Walmart, etc, as well as various grocery stores across the country. If you register (for free) on the site, you receive weekly e-mails telling you what printable coupons are available online.

6) http://www.hotcouponworld.com/
I use this site mainly because it has a huge database of all coupons available on the Internet (as well as in the papers). You can find printable Target coupons on this site as well.

7) Printable coupon sites
- http://www.coupons.com/
- http://www.smartsource.com/
- http://www.redplum.com/

Weekly Deals

Sorry...this might be boring, but I am a stay-at-home mom who finds grocery deal-seeking to be an enjoyable challenge. This week was particularly good deal-wise; here are my bests.

Smithfield bacon (2 pkg)- FREE + $1.00 overage

Fiber One yogurt - .75 each

Toothbrushes (3)- FREE

Barilla Whole Grain Pasta - .50 each

Barilla Piccolini - FREE

Gerber Organic babyfood - .13 each

Grands biscuits - .25 each

Dove deodorant - .29 each

Aveeno baby wash - .50

Cling wrap - .69

Candy - FREE

Starkist Tuna pouches - .56 each

Glade soy-based candle - FREE

Earth's Best organic toddler snacks - .52 each

Scented Oil candle refill - FREE

In total this all cost just under $8.00.

Some of this we won't actually use, but it will go into my donation box. I'm waiting for for Thanksgiving and Christmas to roll around so that I can put some of it into the food boxes that our community group puts together.

Menu Block

I am so bored with my recipes right now. Normally Monday is my day to sit down and plan out the week's menu because I go grocery shopping Monday night (by myself! Wahoo!!!! Thanks, Hon!) Lately, it is taking me FOREVER to come up with recipe ideas; I am really just drawing a blank. However, I found something that might help....while reading the Money Saving Mom blog, I checked out the comments following a post about her week's menu plan detailing her intention of making blueberry bran muffins. One of the comments posted a link to a site - http://www.supercook.com/. I just checked it out and it's awesome. Basically, you enter the ingredients that you currently have in your kitchen and it performs a search for all recipes you can make with those ingredients. If you sign up for a (free) account, it will save the ingredients previously entered. If you don't have a particular item at some point, each ingredient is listed with a tiny "x" to click to easily remove it. I entered a whole bunch of stuff in my kitchen - meat, spices, cheese, etc - and it came up with 2,000 recipes I can currently make. Here are some examples: Grilled Chicken with Curry Sauce, Flax 'n Wheat Pancakes, Honey Garlic Glazed Meatballs, and Baked Chicken Wings Hawaiian. This is really going to help me out, especially because I have a tendency to plan a menu and then not feel like making what I planned and improvising something else. I am looking forward to seeing if this helps my menu block!

Toddler Activity Series - Part 1

Although trucks (and trucks alone) have been entertaining Ethan pretty well for the past month or so, I have started to notice that he is getting bored somewhere around the mid-morning mark. We've been getting into more projects - coloring, playdough, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, caterpillars...but I need to add to my repertoire of activities. So here's my attempt to document my search and acquisition of activities to do with toddlers that mimic the "learning through play" that occurs in preschool. (I even went to the library and checked out a book of "Toddler Curriculum", whatever that means. Who knew a two-year old needed an actual curriculum?) If anyone has more ideas to try, feel free to comment on this post and help out in my quest.

Today's activity was finger painting with whipped cream. I only bought one can and depending on how you look at it, I either should or should not have bought more whipped cream. It went pretty fast and Ethan was asking for more when it was gone. I resorted to throwing some chocolate chips into the "finger paint" and have him practice "fine motor skills" by trying to pick them up (don't you love how that Teacher Speak has not disappeared from my vocabulary?).

Can you guess what came after this activity? Yep, a bath!

And then mopping the floor...and walls...and table...and booster seat...

He looks pretty happy though, doesn't he? Activity #1 - Success!!

In Memoriam

These are Dave's favorite shorts. I hate these shorts. However, like a good wife, I have held myself back from secretly throwing them away.

Imagine my joy when I entered the bathroom and saw this sight.

Oh, Detestable Shorts, may you rest in peace.

Dave the HandyMAN!!!

Short little entry just to praise my husband...

Dave does not generally enjoy doing handy things around the house. Partly because most of the tasks are new to him and partly because he finds it time-consuming. BUT....I am just so excited at what he has done around the house this week!!!

1) replaced a dead-bolt
2) installed child safety locks on the bathroom cabinets (YEA! Our kids aren't in danger of being poisoned by cleaning supplies any more!)
3) searched high and low in various hardware stores for a way to repair our broken silverware drawer that has been sitting on our kitchen counter for a week. He finally found it and will be fixing it this weekend, I'm sure.

Not to mention that when I come home from Bible Study/Girl's Night, he has taken out all the trash in the entire house, cleaned up the toys, cleaned up the kitchen and done a great job fathering the boys. And when I ask how the boys were, the response is always "Wonderful".

Thanks dear!!!

Lesson #2 in Boyhood: Bugs

Ethan and I were having a grand old time outside today drawing on the sidewalk, blowing bubbles, driving trucks around when along came a caterpillar. I knew instantly that Ethan would be fascinated so I ignored the internal cringe and picked it up and let it crawl on me. Then passed it to him ("Gentle! Gentle! Don't squish it!") so it could crawl on him.

He handled that caterpillar with much care and then decided it needed to go for a ride on one of his trucks.

And then the next moment, it was flying through the air into oblivion which of course, greatly distressed him since I'm pretty positive he didn't mean it to completely disappear. He ran off into the ankle high grass looking for it, but of course, it was nowhere to be found. But, in any case, he's a true boy. After the caterpillar was gone, he suddenly noticed the ants. I guess I'll be getting over my bugphobia pretty quickly.

Pulling My Hair Out

Right now I am thoroughly enjoying the peace and quiet of naptime. Today has been an extremely trying day with my clearly-almost-two-year-old. Let me just give you an example....

During lunch, Ethan (who is now eating directly at the table with no tray attached to his booster seat) kept putting his legs on the table. At first, I put his leg back under the table and said, "Please don't put your legs on the table." A few minutes later, he did it again. I told him again, "Don't put your leg on the table". So what does he do? He picks up his foot, touches his toe to the table, and looks directly at me. Seriously??? Further discipline ensued...

His other favorite thing to do today has been to flat out ignore me and instead sing to himself so he apparently drowns at my voice. Oh, and? When I'm talking to him about what he's doing wrong, he chatters and points at random things in the room. So maddening!!!!

If I wasn't trying to train him to behave properly and obey me, I would almost think it was funny...almost.

Deep Creek Lake Vacation

Some vacation pictures in no particular order....

Dave driving our ghetto boat that conked out on us a few times. Smelling gas fumes while in the middle of a lake is never a good thing.

Noelle, Ethan and Sadie arranged themselves on the couch to read one morning. They really get along very well.
Noah got his first introduction to sand and lake...he's not entirely sure about either, or about whether I should have let him sit by himself.

One of many rainy day activities (it rained off and on for 3 days)

Ethan didn't want to get wet, but apparently didn't mind rubbing rocks in his hair.

Hiking at Swallow Falls State Park.

Dave trying to acclimate Ethan to the water. Throwing rocks seemed to be the favorite activity.

6 Months Old

Has it really been that long? 6 month check-up today for Noah...I had my 3 cups of coffee in preparation for what I knew would be a energy-requiring (read: exhausting) experience. Oh man...we made it about 30 minutes with two happy boys and then it went downhill as Ethan quickly got bored. I had brought trucks and books for him to play with but for some reason they just were not holding his attention this morning, nor was anything else in the exam room. My ears still hurt from the echo of Ethan's shrieks of boredom. Noah, on the other hand, was perfectly content to sit and observe Ethan's delirious meltdown. Very entertaining to a 6 month old.

Stats on his growth: He weighs 15 lbs 7 oz (25th percentile), is 25 inches long (5th percentile) and his head is 42 cm around (10 percentile). I still think it's funny how I go in there each visit expecting to be told that Noah is sooo much larger than Ethan and it's always anticlimatic when he's about the same or a little smaller. So, he's a healthy boy. I was again reassured that the amount of formula he's drinking is fine. Doctor also told me he hoped Noah was eating at the same time as the rest of the family and that I should be giving him more table food. Thus far, I have been much much less ambitious about making my own babyfood than I was with Ethan and have instead bought it because it's just that much easier and quicker. My life feels like it runs on fast-forward sometimes. Noah's only issue (and Ethan's too) is his eczema so we have another prescription to try as well as a suggestion to put Aquaphor on it. I even got samples (FREE!) for Aquaphor baby bath. Nice! And then the shots....oh man, I will never get over it. The poor baby! At least it's over quickly.

Next visit isn't for 3 months...I hope. And now I'm off to take a nap...

Mom Update

I really appreciate everyone's support and prayers, both here in Winchester and elsewhere. I know that my parents have felt encouraged from where they are as well.

Here's what's going on...the doctors were able to determine the location of the blood clot that caused the stroke, but they do not think the problem originated in her brain. The current theory is that it probably originated around her heart since she has some heart issues. Eventually this means that she will need to have open heart surgery to fix the problem.

She was moved from ICU down to a regular floor in the hospital on Sunday and will be moving to the rehab floor either today or tomorrow. Mom's pretty determined and has been working on flexing her muscles and getting around on her own. When I talked to her today, she said that the therapist had been in and two of her tasks were opening a bag of bread and putting peanut butter on crackers. She said it was pretty hard, but she is very excited to get on with the rehab because she knows that it's the only thing that will get her back to normal. Right now her concern is that her IV site (on her numb arm) got infected, so now she has to be on antibiotics and they switched the IV to her good arm.

My dad seems to be doing better too...yesterday, there were a lot of visitors to the hospital and he said they laughed for hours. Food has been pouring in and my brother Stephen's comment on Facebook said something about having enough food until Mom comes home and retires. Dad has been praising Stephen for how well he has maintained the house with cleaning, laundry, etc. David is currently away at camp for the week so I think that has freed Dad up too.

So that's it...vacation pictures to come for my next post, I think.

My Mom's Situation

Vacation pictures and stories to come later...right now, this is more important.

Some of you already know, but for those who don't, here's the story. My family could really appreciate your prayers.

Friday morning, my mom, who turned 50 a few months ago, had a stroke. Luckily, she was with my dad, grandparents, brothers and sister-in-law, who is a nurse, so they recognized what was happening within about 20 minutes and had an ambulance take her to the hospital immediately. Mom's left arm and leg were completely numb, the left side of her face was drooping and she couldn't talk. The doctors determined (and forgive my lack of medical terminology here) that it was not the kind of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain, but more likely the kind caused by a blood clot. The reason for this was that her symptoms started to improve slightly; had she been bleeding in her brain, the symptoms would have gotten progressively worse. After two CAT scans, they couldn't find any bleeding or clots, but opted to treat her as though she had had a stroke anyway. She was given a blood thinner and has been in the ICU for the weekend for observation and more testing. This morning, after another CAT scan, they were able to find the place in her brain where a blood clot had caused the stroke.

Right now, her speech has returned, but she has little sensation in her left arm and leg. She's pretty discouraged and worried about what her physical condition will be, but at the same time ready to get moving on all the physical therapy that awaits her. She is a very determined woman and I have absolutely no doubt that she will work extremely hard to get better so that she can do the things she loves to do (and get out of the hospital).

So that's what's going on...I'll update you as I know more (Nick or Matt: feel free to add to this when it shows up on Facebook). Thanks for all your prayers and support of my family in Kutztown. It really means a lot to me to hear about so many people who are praying for her!