Savings Galore!

Last night I was using our garbage disposal. I suddenly felt my sock getting wet. Our garbage disposal completely broke open. Food and water were shooting everywhere under the sink. We installed this garbage disposal a year ago when we moved in. I didn't know this could happen. So, I took pics to show everyone.

I am getting back on board with the coupons. Some weeks I feel discouraged. I spend a lot of time on coupons and planning. It doesn't seem like it always pays off. Today it did! This first receipt was a couple of weeks ago. I am so proud of it. I purchased some laundry detergent and bleach. After coupons my total was 2 cents! Who gets change from a dime? The cashier was like, "2 cents is your total. Do you think you could handle that?" Jeff said I should have asked if they had one of those take a penny, give a penny.

This is my purchases at CVS today. Lately, I am totally obsessed with trying to get laundry detergent for free or under a dollar. Jeff keeps reminding me that we can not eat laundry detergent. But I don't care. I purchased all four detergents and the lip balm for an even $8. The lip balm was $2.99, but you get $2.99 in register rewards towards your next purchase. So, it is kinda like getting it for free. I purchased each detergent for $1.

The following pic is everything I bought at Target today. My grand total after tax $17.52. Plus, I earned a $5 gift card for my next purchase. Before coupons my total was over $40. Did you notice the jeans? I purchased those for $1.42! This was definitely one of most successful trips. Just a quick breakdown-ibuprofen (2 boxes) each free, mouthwash .39, pantyliners (2 pkgs) both free, all purpose cleaner .36, bleach .42, dish soap .64, 2 cans Wolfgang Puck soup both free, Kelloggs cereal $1, frozen juice (3 cans) $1 each, frozen veggies (4 pkgs) .75 each, butter $1.30, Kraft shredded cheese .75 each, Target brand shredded cheese $1.50 each, and Hall's .39 each. I think that sums it up. I am very excited with today's purchases.

Lesson learned

Only a few short days ago I was venting about.......well everything. I was really feeling a urgent need to get out of the house. Last night I went over to my parent's house for about an hour. I was planning on going shopping this evening. However, all of my children (yes, all four) and my husband have been vomiting with constant diarrhea. I just want to say, "Lord, I received the message loud and clear!" I was such a cry baby last week, needing a break and complaining about my husband. Things can always be worse. I should have been more appreciative that I was having a good week. Today I am very blessed that I am healthy to take care of my family. As of this moment I am the only one that is still perfectly fine. Last night was very rough. I finally went to sleep at 5:30a. Every time I would lay down someone would start vomiting, crying or needed help in the bathroom. Jeff is the most sick I have ever seen him. He has not got out of bed yet today, except to use the bathroom. There were moments last night that I had two kids vomiting at the same time. I am so proud of my kids. All of them carried their vomited bowls around the house. Jonah was up all night. He never cried or asked for help. He would just get up, take care of business, and lay back down. When Juliet started vomiting she would go into the bathroom and hug the toilet. That is the only time I would say someone vomiting was cute. I wanted to take her picture. She acted so much like a big kid. Okay, enough vomit talk. Today I feel like we are in survival mode. I have been up since 8:30a cleaning, sanitizing and doing laundry. I have so much laundry. I am really grateful and appreciative for my sister. She brought us groceries today. We have been running on toast and water. She loaded us up on all the necessities. I can tell my patience is starting to run thin, so I continue to pray for more. I know tomorrow will be a new day and everyone will be feeling better.

Today I am very restless, again. This is so unusual for me. Generally I am very content being home all week. However, today I am very ready to go. Jacob still has pretty nasty diarrhea. He has been laying around most of the day. Leaving the house or having company was not an option. Jeff had to go to his parents house. He took Jonah and Jackson along for the ride. That was such a blessing. Juliet, Jacob and I took a nap. It seemed that in a blink of an eye we were back up from resting and Jeff and the boys were home. I am feeling burnt out. I think just because I have seriously wiped Jacob's behind a million times today, broke up a bazillion arguments, and randomly found food scattered around the house I am needing some alone time. So, Jeff comes in from his parents house. I was sitting at the kitchen counter. I mention to him that I really need a break and I think I may leave. I think my actual words were, "Oh my gosh if I don't leave this house right now I think I will hurt someone. I don't think I have ever needed to get out of this house more!" I secretly wish I had videotaped the whole conversation. His response was, "I mean, where would you go?" My response, "I am just really having visions of me driving to Starbucks, getting a really good cup of coffee, going to Bed Bath & Beyond, doing a little shopping, going by Meijer and picking up a few things." Jeff's response........nothing. He said nothing back. I didn't want to continue talking about it. I thought I had stressed my urgency in the whole situation already. I really wanted him to say, "honey, you really do need a break. Why don't you leave for awhile and I will take care of things here?" But instead I didn't get anything. So, being somewhat of a drama queen laid my head on the counter, forehead down and started sighing, like really loud. The kids and Jeff kept asking me questions. Like my behavior was normal. I think at one point I even popped back up, only to immediately return to head on the counter. Nothing. Then finally Jeff says, "do you think you could get up and help me make dinner?" Yes, I can make dinner. So, I never left the house tonight. I sucked it up, and helped make dinner. Jeff did put the kids to bed. I think it was 9p and he took the boys upstairs to bed. We watched a movie he borrowed from his parents house. Putting the boys to bed was really useless. The three of them watched the entire movie with us from the staircase hidden behind a wall. After the movie, for the hundredth time we took the boys to their room. Guess what I found? I half eaten box of Girl Scout cookies hidden under Jackson's bed. It really never ends. I have to mention the movie we watched tonight was Open Range with Kevin Costner. I really enjoyed it. It was very entertaining. I don't think it was meant to be so funny, but I thought it was. At the end of the movie Kevin Costner's character says to his soon to be wife, "if you are not going to do what I say then how is this going to work?" I laughed so hard. I said that line to Jeff like a million times before he went to bed. He was finally like, "okay, Jackie, got it." It still makes me laugh.
Tomorrow I am hoping I will finally leave the house to do some shopping. Jeff is working all weekend. But I have already prepared him that either tomorrow or Sunday I will be going shopping. I was thinking about this week. Monday I took the kids to story time at the library. Tuesday I took the kids to preschool. Thursday I took Jacob to a doctors appointment. That is it. I am so boring. I really need to get out.

For the first time since having the boys I am bored. I think I am more restless than anything else. I definitely have lots of things I could be doing. I thought I would take a moment to give an update on Jacob. I took him to the doctor and he just has the stomach flu. He is not dehydrated or anything we should be concerned with. My biggest prayer right now is for the other kiddos. I am really praying they don't catch the same bug, because this was a nasty one. I kept all the kids home from school today. That is always such a big decision for me. My thinking is all of the kids have been exposed it is only a matter of time. Hopefully, this time I am proven wrong. Jacob is napping peacefully. Jackson and Jonah are watching Barney. Juliet just emptied all my nicely organized desk drawers. I think most days she keeps me busier than all three boys combined.

I am having a lot of random thoughts today. I decided to share my randomness. Okay.
#1. I have always thought that the heroes of this world are parents with ill children. I have so much respect and sympathy for parents with children that are sick. I was reminded of this morning. My little Jacob is very ill today. The kids all went through their rounds of colds and fevers this winter. However, Jacob started vomiting and uncontrollable diarrhea last night. He says that his legs hurt and he is not walking today. I have been carrying him around the house whenever he wants to go into another room. That has only been a few times. In those moments I thought, 'oh geez, what if this was the norm?' What would we do? Today I am saying special prayers for healthy children.
#2. I woke up today with more wrinkles. The wrinkles are really out of control. I don't understand it. My friends and family members are not experiencing this rapid wrinkle attack like me. Today it is my neck. I remember a long time ago watching this episode of Oprah. An older woman was on there talking about her neck looking horrible. She wore lots of turtlenecks and scarves. I remember thinking this woman is crazy. I will never age like that! Today I understood what the heck she was talking about. I can literally feel a dent where my neck meets my chest. I felt the wrinkle before I looked in the mirror! I thought to myself, 'this is not good!' If you are experiencing this wrinkle issue and have any advice I would LOVE to hear it.
#3. Yesterday I experienced more anger towards my husband than I ever thought was possible. I was so mad I threw my cell phone. I am NOT a thrower. No, I hadn't been drinking. Just thinking back to that moment I can feel the rage. Fire in my arms wanting to hurt him. After this moment I went downstairs grabbed my car keys and drove around trying to calm myself. Let me tell you it took some time. If you saw a crazy mini van squeeling tires yesterday I apologize. Totally joking. Drum roll...what did my husband do??? My husband did not file our homestead exemption. I know exactly what you are thinking. Why didn't I file it? Jeff very rarely handles anything. I do most of the handling (if you know what I mean). But this one thing I asked him to go file. I asked many times. He went to the office to file. I have no idea what happened from that point. He did go. I even asked him several times. Are you sure it has been taken care??? Yes. He reassured me. I thought about it yesterday and called. Yes, I should have called last year instead of asking him. And sure enough not filed. Let me tell you this is not the first time this has happened to us. Or I should say we did this to ourselves. Between Jeff and I we have owned five homes. Two of those homes we failed to file! Instead of our property taxes being $970 for the year, they are $1900! We are the biggest penny pinching people I know. I was just telling Jeff moments before that all my new strategies to save more money. Then this bombshell. Man, it is going to take me awhile to get over this one. Later in the evening Jacob vomited horrible nasty stuff everywhere. Jeff cleaned it all up. I told him we were even. Of course, he blames me for the whole thing. Round and round. At the end of the day I still love him more than anything.
#4 The million dollar question...Where does the day go? Maybe I am spending too much time online? Um, no. Right now, it is 2p and I have not gotten dressed. I get up, make a meal, clean up the meal, do some laundry, make a meal, clean up the meal, do some laundry, hubbie comes home, make another meal, clean up the meal and maybe throw in some more laundry. Yes, we really have that much laundry. Sometimes I secretly wish there was a game show where people do laundry. I know I would win. The craft and intensity of sorting colors adding the soap, it is all so glamorous. I wake up everyday with such high expectations of the day. I make to do lists constantly. I think I have even wrote down 'make to do list'. I am always so optimistic that today will be the day I am soooo productive. Then, bam it is 2:45p and Jeff is pulling into the drive. We don't have cable so I am not watching tv. The only time I sit down is when I am online. Where does all that day go? Today I got up. Started a load of laundry. Made breakfast and cleanup breakfast. Then I truly can't remember what happened next. It was only a couple of hours ago. Somewhere in there Jacob vomited on the rug in the dining room, cleaned that. Then, I remember him vomiting in the living room, cleaned that. I know I worked on the budget. Other then that I am at a loss.

Awesome 33rd Birthday

Today is my 33rd birthday. I am over the top excited about it. Three has been my lucky number for years. I feel very confident this year will be the absolute best so far. I am looking for ideas to stretch myself out of my comfort zone. I really want to enjoy every moment and live my best life this year. I am still going to St. Francis weight loss center. Even though my numbers have not been moving down like I hoped, I am still very excited and confident. Everyday I learn more about myself and more about eating healthy. Earlier in the month I was challenged to do a ten day cleanse. I successfully completed seven full days of the challenge. The challenge eliminated all added sugars, coffee, caffeine, meat, white stuff (bread and pasta) and dairy. Basically I ate a lot of soy products, fruits and veggies. I felt amazing! I learned soooo much in those seven days. I am challenging myself to continue those eating habits more and more. The benefits are significant. I am signed up for the mini marathon again. Training has begun and I am feeling good. I am so eager to see what God has planned for me this year. The kids are getting bigger by the minute and more independent. Life is very good!