See Suzy Spin

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T19:09:00.007-05:00

I sure do love Canada. (And not just because my big sister lives there, either, though that helps.) I figure it is appropriate to write more about our fun trip on a day such as today.

Side note: I know I am a sporadic blogger - please bear with me. I read all these other great blogs in what little spare time I have on Google Reader and then just get overwhelmed at the prospect of being read myself. I don't know why this is. I'll get over it. Besides, I don't have a very big following anyway. Even my mom hardly checks my blog - oh! Busted. Yes I did go there!

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Anyway, just in case any of you readers ever want to recreate our fun adventure (and most likely add to it, if you don't have a baby in tow) here is a daily log of what we did... uh... daily. And the pics are tiny, but click on them if you want to see them bigger.

Day 1 - THE DRIVE.
Holy man! We left NY mid-day on a Thursday to try to avoid some weekend traffic and had planned on being in Ogunquit by at least dinner time. That didn't happen. It rained the entire drive and we had RIDICULOUS traffic, so we just drove pretty much straight through to Acadia National Park and got in at the butt-crack of dawn, like literally. Little Oscar was not pleased. Oh, we did stop briefly in Kittery, ME at the Osh Kosh outlet and got Oz some cool jeans and a little hat. We just had to.

Day 2 - BAD BAD ACADIA
Okay really? Is it going to rain the WHOLE time? (And it pretty much did.) This was the actual date of our anniversary, so I was hoping for sunshine and sparkles, but I got a rainy day, lost in Acadia, and a little boy that was running a temp of 102 degrees cause he was working on popping out some teeth. Sucks. But we made the most of the morning, anyway. We drove around and took snapshots of the beautiful lupines in between rain showers and drove the loopy Loop Road through Acadia. We even stopped for pop-overs at the Jordan Pond Restaurant. We saw Thunder Hole (which really did roar with all the rain) and even had a pleasant rain-free stop at Sand Beach. Cadillac Mountain was a total bomb, though. By the time we drove up to the summit, you could see literally NOTHING. Nice photo finish there. At least the place we stayed had a really nice view of Somes Sound. We drank a bottle of champagne (courtesy of my awesome little brother) while cuddling a feverish 9 month old. Ahh well. Better luck tomorrow!

Day 3 - OFF TO CANADA, OUR NEIGHBOR TO THE NORTH...
But before we headed off (with our now much happier little boy with an additional tooth), we stopped off and spent the morning window shopping in Bar Harbor. We even tried the "Lobster Ice Cream" at Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium. I would not like to recommend this. The homemade blueberry is a much better choice. Seriously.
Speaking of blueberries, on the drive up to New Brunswick, we passed through Columbia, ME and saw the biggest blueberry ever. Actually, it looked more like a giant blue igloo. We just HAD to stop at "Wild Blueberry Land" and get some blueberry something. Not stopping at this crazy kitsch mecca would be something like sacrilege for me. After filling our bellies with a delicious slice of pie and taking a picture of the blueberry kings, we got back on the road and drove the rest of the way to Moncton, New Brunswick. The only other thing to note on this day is the glee the border crossing people get out of seeing my husband's passport picture. It really is that funny. They look at it, then look at him, then look back at the picture and smirk. It happens EVERY time. It's worth crossing borders just to see that expression. And if we are really lucky, they'll actually remark on that gem of a photo.

Anther thing worth mentioning is that not all Tim Horton coffee shops are created equal. (For all of you non-Canadians, Tim's is the equivalent of a - usually - classy version of Duncan Donuts. Well, we went to one just past the border that challenged our ideas. I went in hunting a baby changing table while hubby got a cup of joe. What I found was a large girl around my age with less teeth than manners, who was "cleaning" the bathroom, or just checking off that she had. I asked her about the changing table and she suggested that I change Oscar's diaper on a table in the front because that's what she always does. I must have looked horrified at her, because she then suggested that, better yet, why don't I "change him on the bathroom floor." Yeah. Cause that was going to happen. There is more to this story, but that was my favorite part.
When we finally got to our motel in Moncton, it was late and we discovered ants and freshly used cigarettes in our NON-smoking and "clean" room. We promptly got a free upgrade to a room with a hot tub. As I said before, "bonus!"

Day 4 - NEW DAY, NEW BRUNSWICK
Ahh. Ready for a new day? We were! We got up early to catch sight of the daily tidal bore (bore = crest or wave) at Bore Park. The Bay of Fundy has the biggest tides in the world and we were anxious to get to see what all the hype was about. It is actually pretty cool in theory and I suppose it used to be a really dramatic thing to see the tidal bore come in pre-one-kilometer-long causeway. Now the bore is a bit (pardon my pun) boring. We saw it though (because it's something you just have to do). Anyway, it was a muddy bank and within an hour it was a 25 ft. deep river. That sounds pretty cool, huh?

Then we drove to Shediac for more kitsch - a giant 35 ft. long lobster. Freaking AWESOME. (Why am I so in love with these kind of stops? I don't understand my unholy obsession.) Then on to Parlee Beach, which boasts of having the warmest water north of Virginia. Well, let me tell you, they are liars. It was C.O.L.D. At least we didn't have to pay for anything but gas up till this point!
Magnetic Hill was our next destination. This jive was crazy. It is basically an optical illusion played up for suckers like me. It was pretty cool, though. You park at the bottom of a "hill" and put the car in neutral. Then your car coasts up the hill. It is disorienting. But what is even more disorienting is that all the gift shops around it don't even sell magnets. For real! Whoever did the marketing here really missed the boat. No magnets at fraking Magnetic Hill. Can you even believe it? But what they did have was the best "Beaver Tails" in the universe. If you have never had a beaver tail, I suggest you look into fixing that problem.
The last major thing we did this day was trek over to Hopewell Rocks. This was one of my favorite things on our trip. It really was spectacular. We wanted to see it at low tide so we could "walk the ocean floor" among the rocks. This is where the Bay of Fundy gets it's highest tides - up to 45 feet - and it has literally carved out these "flowerpot" rocks. It was stunning, even in the drizzly overcast weather we had.

Day 5 - SUPERNOVA SCOTIA
We packed up shop and popped back in the vehicle, heading toward Nova Scotia (or "New Scotland") early morning. Our first big destination was Oxford, "blueberry capital of Canada." We obviously can't get enough blueberries. We got lots of blueberry stuff and even saw a cute giant blueberry - it was enough to put a spring in my step.

As we continued into Nova Scotia, we made a lot of side trips. We paused in Truro to catch another tidal bore, hoping it would be a bit more dramatic (we actually missed it by 3 minutes - bummer), and we also stopped in Stewiacke, which is "halfway between the equator and the North Pole." There was a cool park with a giant fiberglass Mastodon, a Fred Flintstone cave house, and a giant polar bear, not to mention tons of totem poles. It was roadside heaven for me. So many photo ops (I can already hear Tim groaning...). After spending (probably) too much time there, we drove the rest of the way to Halifax.
One thing I have to say about Nova Scotia is that when this place gets foggy, you cannot see a dad-blooming thing. Not a thing. I know that this is somewhat portrayed in movies, but it is a bit alarming in person. Like, Tim was driving and we literally could not see but 10 feet in front of us. It was like driving off the edge of the world. Creepy.
When we got to Halifax, we went first to Fairview Cemetery to see the gravestones of the Titanic victims. I bet you think that is morbid! Actually, what is REALLY morbid is finding out why some of the graves only have numbers on them. Those numbers correspond to the order in which the bodies were pulled out of the ocean. Hmm. It was a bit haunting to walk through the site. To lighten our moods, we paused briefly at the grave of J. Dawson, who was the inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio's "Jack" in the movie Titanic. He was number 227. I don't know about you, but "my heart will go on."
Next we visited the Maritime Museum to see the Titanic artifacts they had on display. They have the biggest collection of Titanic stuff. Tim sat on a replica deck lounge chair with Oscar. Also a bit disturbing.
Then we had dinner in the "Jungle Room" at the Economy Shoe Shop. Yes, really.

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On that note, I think I'll stop for the night. This was a stinking long post! Stay tuned for more adventures in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and even good ole Bangor, Maine!

Back Home

2009-06-29T08:07:00.008-05:00

We're home! Boy, it was a crazy vacation. Sometimes I think that Tim and I watch too many episodes of "The Amazing Race" and it reflects in the way we travel. It's just that when I go some place, I don't want to regret not seeing something, so I end up dragging us all over the place and never really "frolicking" anywhere for too long. Or maybe I have a short attention span? Whatever the problem is, we usually come home pretty tired.

This trip was no exception to the physical drain. Actually though, being that we had Oz in tow, it made us reevaluate the worth in getting him out of the car seat to stop and see something. That saved some of our energy and time between stops. And the stops we made took longer and we lingered more to be fair to our little one. We also had to call it a night WAY sooner than we usually do. We tried to be at our "resting" destinations by around 8-ish so Oscar could crawl around and get a bath in before bedtime.

Speaking of Oscar, he is a champion traveler. He was really great for the whole trip. We had a scare in Maine, at the beginning of the trip, when he had a temp. of 102 and was pretty miserable for most of the day on the 19th. Turns out that little buddy was cranking out a tooth and it was hurting him something fierce. He was like a little rag doll. We almost decided to spend the rest of the trip there in Bar Harbor. But the next day he was fine and we continued our journey. He got a bit attached to his soother this trip, though. That may prove to be a problem later on. But seriously, you couldn't ask for a better 9 month old than my little monkey. He gave the sweetest toothy grins to everyone we met and had a great time having both momma and daddy all to himself.

So about the trip - we put in over 2,400 miles! (Yes, you read that right...) We drove up through Bar Harbor, Maine and stayed there for two nights, then on to New Brunswick, Canada. We stayed in Moncton for two nights (our motel even had a hot tub! bonus!) and then we drove to Nova Scotia and stayed in Truro for a night. We spent the day in Halifax and then drove to Pictou to catch the late ferry to Prince Edward Island, where we stayed for two nights. After that, we began our trek homeward and drove halfway to Bangor, Maine where we stayed for our last night before driving the rest of the way home. We saw so many things. For the little time we had, plus the rain we got almost every day, we really made the most of our road trip.

I'll get started on some pictures so you can see what an adventure we had, reader! For now, enjoy these...

Yummy!

2009-06-14T09:01:00.003-05:00

Holy rusted metal, batman. These are the cutest! This is the sweetest Happy Meal ever. It's cupcake buns, brownie burgers, and freaking sugar cookie fries!!! For real. Too bad we will be out of town and not near an oven on father's day, because I L.O.V.E. these! Bakerella, you have outdone yourself once again. If you haven't visited her blog yet, maybe you should.

Word's Out!

2009-06-14T08:42:00.002-05:00

Sweet! Now I don't have to keep it secret anymore. I can yell it at the top of my lungs!!! Rach is PREGNANT! YAY! (I yelled when she told me, too. I'm just being consistent here.)

I am so excited. Rachel has been such a close friend for most of my life - she's practically a sister to me. I'm thrilled about this next stage in her life and her marriage (a big fat 7 years now - congrats!!!). I can't wait to meet the newest Holohan! Leave them love messages here at the newest daddy's blog...

A Decade of True Love

2009-06-12T08:55:00.005-05:00

Well, next weekend Timmy and I (plus the munchkin) are headed out on an anniversary vacation/road trip/adventure. We have to be uber thrifty, but I am stoked about it! What better way to celebrate a whole decade of our love than to take a long drive through someplace insanely gorgeous (and relatively untouched) and to explore it in our "Tim and Suzy" way. Our plan is to drive up to Acadia in Maine, then meander our way up New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy area, then head over to Nova Scotia and see Halifax and Cape Breton. If there is time and sufficient funds, we would also like to pop over to Prince Edward Island. I think it is going to be heaven!

So I'm all researched up and getting our picnicking gear together. (I hear there is even a way to cook food off of your car engine! That may be an adventure in itself...) We're still looking for the cheapest accommodations humanly possible - unfortunately we don't have a tent big enough for a pack'n'play. But I've squirreled away a little bit of cushion cash for this monumental occasion and I'm hoping it goes farther than I think it will. It's time to break open the loose change jar!

But you know, it's fitting to be traveling this way. We've always had JUST enough. I think it makes us appreciate what we have more so than the folks who stay in fancy hotels and eat with silver dessert forks. Half the fun is in the journey, right? I love to research and find out just how far we can stretch. That's the stuff memories are made from.

So wish us bon voyage! I hope to have memories and picture to share (and time to post all of them)!

Happy Graduation Beck

2009-06-01T08:09:00.003-05:00

Graduation chocolate pops. Cause I am the best sister EVER.
And yes, those are white candy tassels - white for an English masters degree.

Thanks as always for the inspiration, Bakerella! (If you have never seen her blog, you totally should. I LOVE it. It makes me actually like being in the kitchen. And for me, that is certainly saying something.

Coming Soon...

2009-05-29T08:43:00.005-05:00

Oh yeah! I'm 'bout to have a house full! First these folks - my big sis and her sweet daughter and hubby all the way from Canada. (Isn't this a fabulous photo?!? Seriously my new favorite.)

And then these folks - little brother and my parents. (Ha - Andy is going to be SO mad that I used this picture... muhaahaa.)

We have LOTS to celebrate (especially my sister's brand new master's degree! Yay!) and so we'll be keeping pretty busy the next few weeks. I foresee lots of photos, baby kisses, family tourism, hugs, hair-pulling, pizza, "Dora the Explorer", cooking and fire alarms, interesting discussions, and maybe even some double dates with Beck and Jerry (if we're lucky and Diva and Poppa "volunteer" to watch the little ones). Should be fun!

My "Mom" Jeans

2009-05-28T08:29:00.003-05:00

I've had a certain pair of jeans ever since Oz was born (I'm even wearing them now) that I may choose to abandon very soon... thanks RookieMoms.com and SNL for helping me to realize my fashion faux pas! I think I'll go change my clothes RIGHT NOW.

Another Cool Video...

2009-05-15T14:34:00.002-05:00

...saw this on Bliss and I LOVE it. I wish I could be as creative!

Life Update

2009-05-04T21:10:00.002-05:00

It's 10pm and I should be in bed. If I had my hubby to cuddle with and a little boy asleep in HIS OWN room, I'd probably be there now, counting some sheep. But tonight I'm here in Virginia visiting my folks while Tim is away on business. Oscar is asleep in the guest room where I will soon join him, or at least try to without waking him, and where I will wake up every time he stirs. For some reason, when Tim is away, I feel such an intense burden of responsibility. It is so intense that I literally lose sleep and never quite feel comfortable. It's not so much during the day hours, just primarily during the evening hours. I have the HARDEST time making decisions about Oscar's night time routine and I sometimes just sit there and stare blankly. It's like things just aren't quite right. You know the feeling? It's like you are wearing shoes on the wrong feet - they are the right size and everything and you're able to put them on but they are just twisted enough to annoy your toes. I am really thankful to my folks for letting me crash their place though. I needed to be in a different setting to keep me from hibernating. Seriously, if it was up to me, I'd eat Special K cereal for every meal and lounge about in my yoga pants all day. (Of course I'd dress and bathe the kiddo and feed him properly and all that...) This post is making me sound pathetic. I'm not pathetic - just lazy and unmotivated, I guess? I don't know, but I'm really hoping for some sunshine tomorrow. I think a good dose of vitamin D would do me a world of good. We'll see. I guess I'll go try to count some sheep now.

Thirty Things - #3

2009-04-30T15:17:00.002-05:00

Sepia Grad Grrrl
Originally uploaded by peachicken.

Another thing I'm proud of is my education. In fact, I am VERY proud of it. I worked dang hard to get where I am. (Now if anyone wanted to grant me $19,000 to finish paying off my school debt, that would be appreciated greatly.) I was thinking about my education, today especially, when I chatted with my little brother about a horrible test he took this morning and how relieved he was when it was over. Daggum. I don't miss those days. Even though I miss the atmosphere and I really enjoyed taking certain classes, I wouldn't ever want to go back. I have a BA in Humanities and in English with minors in Theater Arts and in Biblical Studies. I also have a masters in Library and Information Science. So... I'm done. I did consider (recently) going back to get certified as a school librarian, but that would mean more money and more tests. Who wants any of that?!? I would, however, consider taking horticulture classes for a master gardener degree, but that would be just for me - not for a profession. And to graduate as a master gardener, you probably wouldn't have to wear those dorky robes and a strange cap. You'd probably graduate in a pair of work overalls and garden gloves. That would be more my style now anyway.

Thirty Things - #2

2009-04-30T14:49:00.001-05:00

Little Charmer
Originally uploaded by peachicken.

Continuing with my list, I'm sure you saw this one coming... One of the major accomplishments of my life has to be my little boy. Wow. It's crazy because he has only been outside of me for 7 months, but honestly I can't remember life without the little monkey. Oscar is so great. I love looking at him and seeing things he does that remind me of myself. (That is the narcissist in me coming out...) And I melt when he looks at me like I am the only person in the whole world. He has me wrapped around his tiny little fingers. When he gives me that huge gummy grin (that my hubby says Oz got from me) I just feel ten feet tall. How wild is it that I helped create this little soul?!?

Thirty Things - #1

2009-04-27T17:29:00.003-05:00

Good Lovin'
Originally uploaded by peachicken.

Anyway, I'll start with my number one - I have another big milestone coming up as well as the birth date. Hubby and I will be celebrating our 10 years of marriage. Holy cow, for real. Just writing that makes me impressed - I hope you are impressed too, reader. That is something I am proud of and something that reveals a chunk of who I am. I am in love with my husband. Our relationship helps to define who I am as a person. So if you know him, you know a piece of me. He is my very best friend, my lover, the father of my kiddo, my travel companion (this pic was one of our trips - Philly - so much fun!), my partner in crime, my personal assistant (!), and my muse.

Pretty good way to start the list of thirty, I think.

Entering The "Middle Ages"

2009-04-25T12:52:00.006-05:00

This is the year all of my peers turn the big 3.0. (actually, three good friends of mine are all very soon to turn 30, as in within the next few weeks) and it really has me thinking about the arrival of my own 30th birthday and what that means to me. (Number 30 is a big one in that it has a zero in it. All the zero birthdays tend to be milestones.) It's not that I'm dramatically fretting it; I think I will quite enjoy the looks on people's faces when I tell them I'm 30. Especially considering that I still get the funky "teenage-pregnancy" look or the "youthful nanny" look sometimes when I tote Oz around... it's also difficult to be in a profession that is symbolized by older women. It will be great when the people who are actually bold enough to ASK are immediately hushed into silence. Last week, I swear I was asked at least 3 times. That could give anyone a complex.

So, I'm gonna be thirty soon. Time for a life evaluation. I wish I could take the "Unraveling" e-course to really force me to do some soul searching and explore how I see myself and the rest of the world through a camera lens, but alas, I am poor. So, I'm gonna try to write about thirty things I like about myself in the next few weeks. (Reader, I hope you don't find these posts narcissistic - this is more of an exercise for me than reading materials for you. Sorry.)

So get ready...

Fun With Feist

2009-04-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

Oscar in Oklahoma

2009-04-09T11:04:00.002-05:00

(Here is the song I just wrote about... Elizabeth Mitchell is singing this version. Love it!)

Winter's Come and Gone

2009-04-08T22:18:00.003-05:00

Oh man. I found a new favorite song! It's by Gillian Welch, but I first heard it being sung by Elizabeth Mitchell (both versions are BEAU-tiful). Here are the lyrics so you can understand why I am in love with it. I'm thinking of doing an animoto video with this song...

Oh little red bird
Come to my window sill
Been so lonesome
Shaking that morning chill
Oh little red bird
Open your mouth and say
Been so lonesome
Just about flown away

So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so

Oh little blue bird
Pearly feather breast
Five cold nickels all I got left
Oh little blue bird
What am I gonna do
Five cold nickels
Ain't gonna see me through

So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so

Oh little black bird
On my wire line
Dark as trouble
In this heart of mine
Poor little black bird
Sings a worried song
Dark as trouble
'Til winter's come and gone

So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so

So long now I've been out
In the rain and snow
But winter's come and gone
A little bird told me so

Miss Me?

2009-04-07T19:04:00.002-05:00

Yes, I've been in the mire lately! See my shoes? There are muddy with it. I'm breaking out though, yes sir. Spring is around the corner and I am ready for it. I even planted some pansies on Sunday. Lately my moods have just been completely dictated by the weather, so I know that I am in dire need of vitamin D. (Is that even a real thing?) Maybe I should do what my little brother does and go get some artificial sunlight - yes, I know about your Hollywood Tan addiction... Anyway, this girl is ready for picnics and sunshine and flowers and parks and open breezy windows.

I don't have much to complain about, otherwise. I'm still 20+ pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight (drats!) and my hair is falling out (stupid hormones!) and I've been putting in a bunch of extra hours at the library (and clipping coupons) and I have a bit of a cold, so that isn't fun. Speaking of colds, every time I get a cold the first thing I lose is my voice. Right now, I'm an alto. Soon, I'll be a Joan Rivers. It's coming. But so is Easter. I've been doing that lately; it's part of my Suzy therapy - ending things on a positive note.

Hmmm. I've been redecorating lately. I suppose that is the only thing to do when you get into a big funky blue. (That rhymed. Rhymes are usually jolly.) Oscar is soon to be mobile, so I've been wondering for a while what we could do to make our home a bit safer and more open. But I want the room to still look like us and not a giant nursery. So anyway, we bought some end tables off Craig's List and we're temporarily retiring the coffee table. But to make the room look right, we had to totally rearrange. Now I want to paint the living room a mocha color. I think that would make me happier. Mocha reminds me of chocolate. Chocolate is delicious. See? I'm happy already.

I got a new computer. She's incredible, but she is a Mac so I don't understand her yet. We look at each other, but we have not bonded. My other computer even has a name. Her name is Shelia. I should give the Mac a name. Maybe then we'll see eye to eye. Any suggestions of a name? It can't be one I wouldn't be able to spell. I'm already confused enough. Seriously, she's really a pretty computer. She should have a pretty name. Maybe Annabelle? I wish Annabelle (or whatever her name will be) was compatable with Paint Shop Pro. I really don't want to be forced into learning slick Photoshop. I know I just need to do it. Like giving she-mac a name. Maybe her name should start with an "i." Isabelle?

That's all I've got. Thanks for listening. I'll leave you with a happy thought... Dancing happy polkadotted bunnies.

Cover Boy

2009-03-29T18:35:00.002-05:00

I'm so very proud! My little guy just won the local photo contest. He was on the front page of the newspaper, even. Hot dog. What a cutie pie. Oscar was picked out of a whole slew of munchkins and was the top winner! (Click on the picture to read the article.)

Philadelphia Flower Show Video

2009-03-25T21:29:00.001-05:00

Philly Flower Show

2009-03-24T07:55:00.004-05:00

Me & My Guy
Originally uploaded by peachicken.

Yes. I am delinquent in posting about this. This was literally 3 weeks ago. But I have lots of reasons for my delinquency... the main one being the little person in the picture here. (He makes me prioritize.)

This was taken at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Tim knew I desperately needed a dose of spring, so he submerged me in an incredible flora overload. I can't tell you how much I needed it! It was so nice to stroll around an entire convention center indoor garden full of flower lovers and vendors and even a petting zoo for little ones! Yeah, even a petting zoo. Oscar got to meet his first bunny and his first dove. (There were other critters, but they were napping when Oz was ready to meet up.)

I finally finished posting all the pictures from the show yesterday. You can click this link to get to the set of them. Try viewing the slideshow. It's a bit more fun. I may try to do an animoto video if I get inspired later. Just getting the pictures up was a feat in itself for me! Anyway, if you need a dose of spring, check out the pictures. I'm quite proud of a number of them.

(I'm also quite proud of my kiddo. He did so well on our little day trip! It was a 2 hour car ride there and then a return trip, plus spending a whole day out. He didn't fuss once! He's gonna be a good traveler like his folks, I hope.)

Monday Melody

2009-03-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

So cool.

A Monday Melody

2009-03-09T10:49:00.002-05:00

I really like this song by The Paper Raincoat. If you want to check out more of their music, they have a myspace page that has a couple of their other super cute songs on it. I saw Alex Wong in concert with Vienna Teng and he is an incredible musician. What a happy surprise to stumble upon this group!

Oh Yes I Did.

2009-03-08T18:07:00.003-05:00

I am a savvy little lady.

I've been working really hard on cost conservation ever since the hubby and I decided that I would stay home with Oscar and give up my job at the library. Since then, I've gotten a somewhat part time job at another library picking up weekend hours, we've cut back on lots of extraneous things, and I've been cutting coupons. Oh yes. I've been coupon cutting. And it is really starting to make a difference! (I'm very proud of myself, if you can't already tell...) We saved about $15 bucks off our last grocery bill.

Since buying a Sunday paper and cutting coupons out of it is not really my style, I've found other ways of exploring savings. I've been reading a couple of good freebie blogs that have really made a difference in how I shop. Here are my favorites that I've got on RSS feed...

The Freebie Blogger - So good. I'm waiting on a couple of great samples coming my way - everything from Sephora nail polish to a fancy bag of tea every month. I also enter lots of giveaways. Every Wednesday there is a whole assortment. Unfortunately, I never win things so whatever with that. But maybe, just maybe I'll win that cute pair of kiddie shoes, so I enter anyway. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.

STL Mommy - This is the cutest blog. This chic is awesome, too. She saves so much money that it is almost ridiculous. I love her weekly "Goodie Bag" posts with all kinds of free samples and whatnot. She's based in St. Louis so she gets way better deals at her grocery stores and whatnot, so those posts don't apply to me, but she has opened my eyes to the goodness of Walgreens. I have joined the cult of pharmacy markets. CVS is next. (I NEVER thought I'd say that or type that. Wow.)

Mummy Deals - She says "there's a difference in living and living well..." Quite right. This chick is so great. She has a series of posts lately designed for "newbies" to the frugal living that are so informative and helpful. I think I remember her writing that she spends about $50 bucks a week for her family of 3. If I could do that up here in NY, I'd deserve a medal. Even though there is no way (short of food stamps) that I'd ever get our weekly grocery bill that low, she has fabulous tips in how to limit spending and get free fun stuff. Did you know that Redbox (the DVD kiosk at the grocery store) has free movie Mondays? And that you can call 1-800-free411 instead of the regular 411 and not get charged? Oh yeah. I'm a fan of Mummy Deals.

So, today Tim and I went shopping with a mission. We went in to Walgreens armed with a pile of printed out coupons from coupons.com and a list of the specific deals we were going in to buy. We ended up saving about $50 bucks off our immediate total with $12 dollars coming back in rebates and getting a $10 off "Register Reward" for the next time we shop. Boo yah. And we got more than $155 dollars worth of merch. (I only plan on getting better at this...) One of the savings I'm particularly proud of is getting three bags of really good Huggies diapers for basically $5 dollars. That is 120 diapers or about three weeks worth. That right there was completely worth the time spent coupon cutting. (The bags were $10 bucks each, with a $10 "Register Reward" for buying three and I had 3 coupons for $5 off.) So are you impressed? See, I haven't been blogging, but I've certainly kept busy!

Coraline

2009-03-05T12:43:00.004-05:00

I've been waiting for MONTHS to see this flick and I finally got to go see it in 3D this past weekend with some girlfriends. (Yeah, this mama doesn't get out much, so even if the movie sucked, I was just glad to be out on the town!) Coraline is a Neil Gaiman book, suitable for about 5th to 6th grade, that is probably one of my favorite things he's written. *If Gaiman's name sounds familiar to you, it's because he just won the Newbery Award for The Graveyard Book that I wrote about a few posts back. It was a decent read, but I think Coraline is WAY better.

On the whole, I loved the screen adaptation. I've always been a huge fan of Tim Burton, and the guy that directed many of Burton's films, Henry Selick, did this movie. It was very Burtonesque. And the 3D effect was incredible - okay, awe inspiring! It was a feeding frenzy for eyes that have been too long stuck at home. Thank you so much oh husband of mine for Oscar sitting and letting me go out with the girls! What a good man I've got.

The only qualm I had with the movie was a Hollywoodation that my friend Teresa actually pointed out. (It's been a while since I read Coraline, so forgive my memory here...) The movie introduced a character named Whyborn (for "why were you born") that became a companion to Coraline. He ends up helping to save Coraline from the "other mother" in the end, which makes Coraline a weaker character than she actually was in the novel itself. In the book, Coraline doesn't need some boy to rescue her. Hollywood, I shake my finger at you. But regardless of this addition, I still really enjoyed the movie and will most likely own it when it comes out.

Here's to future girl's night outs! Thanks Mary and Teresa for going out to play with me! (And if you want to make a scary "other mother" picture of yourself like mine, go here...)