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Happy Mothers Day!

2008-05-09T06:37:00.002-04:00

I'm posting this now because we are leaving for Florida tomorrow....

I want to say Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms, Grandmas, Aunts, Cousins and Friends.

Mothers day is always kind of hard for me. I think if Mom were still here, now that I'm an adult, I'd be able to spoil her rotten. OK, she was already rotten but you get what I'm saying. I just always think of ALL the special things she did for us individually that made us feel like we were the best kid she could have ever had....even though we know Barb was her favorite... ;-). Actually, I asked Mom one time who her favorite was because, you know, she had 5, there HAD to be a favorite. She said "I love you all the same." I, being 16, rolled my eyes and said "Whatever. Tell me who your favorite is!" She then explained that she does love us the same and that she loved all of our own personalities and that we are all each so different. I still didn't believe her. That is until I had my own. I love my own daughters equally. I love that they each have different, unique personalities. I look at Aunt Judy. She reminds me so much of mom. I think because she is "spunky", yes A. Judy, I said "spunky"! I look at her and all of her girls (that includes me and my sisters) and know that she loves them all equally and I can tell how much her girls love her because they all take turns staying the night with her. I'm not sure if it's because they don't want her to be alone or if it's because they just want to be around their mom. Either way, I think that it's great. Though, it may drive Aunt Judy nuts! I have to say, if Mom were still around, I can see me staying the night with her, having popcorn, drinking 7-up or sprite while laying in bed talking and laughing.

Anyway, to all the Mom's out there....HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! LOVE TO YOU ALL!

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love.
- Mildred B. Vermont

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
- Tenneva Jordan

A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
~ Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Anyone who doesn't miss the past never had a mother.
- Gregory Nunn

I love you because you have always taken care of me when I am sick.
- Emily Neighbors (written on a card she made me)

Proverbs 31:10-30

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

2008-05-08T05:29:00.002-04:00

Our neighbors have 2 rabbits. They are cute rabbits. They are friendly rabbits. Problem? They are loose rabbits. We planted a garden this week and the rabbits are picking at it. For weeks now I've been trying to catch the rabbits so that we can take care of them. I prefer to either take them back to the neighbors' house to have them pinned up but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. So here's what happened the other night:

Me: I was dressed in red sweatpants, black shirt, no bra, wet hair, and rubber boots. Yes, very attractive. :-)
I look outside and see that the rabbits are sleeping in our other neighbors driveway.
So Josh and I head out to see if we can grab them so we can cage them and either take them to the neighbors house or take them out into the woods, far far away and drop them off. Anyway, we would get maybe within 6 inches and start to bend down to pick them up and they would take off. This went on for about 5 minutes. At this point I'm determined that we are getting rid of them. Dead or alive. So as Josh stands back by the garage, I get an idea. Trust me, it's not a pretty idea. I decide that I will chase them into the highway. Yes, I know. It's horrible. So here I am in my attractive outfit, with a stick and a rock, shewing the rabbits toward the highway....we get to the highway and the rabbits don't budge. So I think this is an opportune time to pick them up. I bend down to grab the rabbit, then I hear: "HEY, IS THAT YOUR GUYS' RABBITS?" As I looked up to see who was yelling, the rabbit took off behind me. The guy yelling was from across the highway with a whole group of people drinking beer watching me. Remember, Josh is up at the garage so they can't see him. I realize they have been watching me the entire time. I didn't even try to explain. I just gave up. So right now, the rabbits are probably enjoying some cabbage leaves, peppers, cucumbers....

Ooooh, I was sooooo mad!

2008-05-05T07:33:00.002-04:00

Have you ever just wanted a real coke? Not diet, the real thing....

So I was in Walmart buying a microwave. I come out and I see the coke machine. "Hmm, that looks really good..." So I scrounge out a dollar and a quarter. I insert my dollar, which it spit right back at me. I do my best to straighten it out. I insert it again. It spit back out. I straighten, insert, spit out, straighten, insert, Ah Hah! It took it! I insert my quarter. I push the "coca-cola" button. The machine lights up "please insert money". "I DID!" I yelled at the machine. Then I start pushing on all of the buttons. "Please Insert Money" the machine lights up repeatedly. So. Yes, I dug through my purse and got out another $1.25. (I really wanted a coke). I proceed to the Pepsi machine. I insert my dollar, which it gladly accepted. I insert my quarter, which it gladly accepted. Here's where the story takes a huge turn for the worse....
As I'm selecting my Pepsi, A woman and her daughter walk up to the coke machine and as the woman starts digging through her purse for money, her daughter pushes the "coca-cola" button. Guess what?! SHE GETS A FREAKIN' COKE! FOR FREE! At least free for her! What I wanted to do was hit the woman over the head with my bottle of Pepsi and take off with her Coke but I decided that there are some things better left alone....

Playing House

2008-05-01T06:14:00.002-04:00

Emily came up wih the great idea for all of us to play house. She said she wanted each of us to play each other. I was Emily, Josh was Erin, Emily was me, and Erin was Josh. This is how it went:

Emily aka Mom: "It's time to clean your room."

Me aka Emily: "I DON'T WANNA CLEAN MY ROOM! I WANT TO WATCH SPONGEBOB!" Then I break out into tears and a lot of whining.

Josh aka Erin: He just walks up and pinches me.

Me aka Emily: "MOM!!!!! ERIN PINCHED ME!!!!"
Erin aka Dad: She didn't know what to do so she just stood and watched.

Emily aka Mom: "Ok, if you want to cry you go right ahead!" Then she goes and gets my flip flop and smacks me with it. (Let me just say I've never hit my kids with a flip flop!)

Me aka Emily: I run to Emily's room and grab her guitar and run back into the living room and while strumming on the guitar loudly...."YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE MY ONLY SUNSHINE!!!"

Josh aka Erin: Starts dancing around the living room attempting to sing along with me.

Terri aka Emily: I toss the guitar on the floor..."MOM HEY MOM! WATCH ME DO A HEAD STAND!" This is where it all went downhill and we decided we shouldn't play house anymore.

The girls look at us like we are nuts. Josh tells the girls it's time to get ready for bed. Their reply:

The girls in unison: "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO BED!......"

<----- Coupons to the left

2008-04-30T06:53:00.011-04:00

I wanted to make note of some new coupons that I added. I was able to print off 2 each of these by refreshing the page as they were printing.

Walmart sells Zantac for $3.98 giving you a $1.02 overage!

I believe that Walmart sells their Silk Soymilk for $2.50 for 1/2 gallon making it .25 each!

Sometimes Walmart has their Kashi cereals for $2.00 each making them free! I plan to use my coupons for the granola bars.

The Johnson's Buddies coupons prints out $1.00 off ANY Johnson's product. Walmart sells the Johnson's Buddies for .98 cents giving you a .02 cent overage. I buy these for the girls and also have some packed for our camping trip for Me and Josh to use. They are great if you like watermelon scent!

Brrrrr!!!!

2008-04-28T13:57:00.001-04:00

I am freezing!!!!!!! I cannot believe last week we hit 80*'s and today I have the heat on in the house! I cannot wait until we get to Florida in a couple weeks!

TAX REBATE CHECKS

2008-04-28T13:30:00.005-04:00

Here is some info regarding the tax rebate checks:

The IRS said all checks for those who filed tax returns on time are scheduled to be deposited or mailed by July 11. The direct deposits and the paper checks are being processed by the last two digits of a taxpayers' Social Security number.

For people receiving direct deposits, those with a Social Security number ending in 00 to 20 will have their economic stimulus payment deposited to their bank account by May 2.

Those with Social Security numbers ending in 21 to 75 will get their direct deposits by May 9 and those with Social Security numbers ending in 76 to 99 getting their deposits by May 16.

Read the whole article HERE

Kroger deals this week until Thursday May 1st.

2008-04-28T06:19:00.003-04:00

Sargento Cheese: $1.99 each, use
1.00 off 2 coupon HERE Total each $1.49.

Old El Paso Refried Beans, Enchilada Sauce or Taco Shells $1.00 each: Use a
.55 cent coupon HERE Total: .45 cents.

General Mills cereal $1.50 each when you purchase four:
<------Use Chex coupon to the left for .75 cents off of 1. Total .75 cents
Use $1.00 coupon off of 1 box of Fiber One cereal HERE Total: .50 cents
Use .80 cent coupon off of 2 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars HERE for a total of $2.20 for 2 boxes.
Total for 2 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of granola bars: $3.45

So by using coupons you get:

2 bags of shredded cheese
2 boxes of cereal
Old El Paso product of choice
2 boxes of granola bars

For a total of: $6.88

Shake, Rattle and Oh Crap!

2008-04-18T07:08:00.003-04:00

Ok, this might be a little too much information but it's too funny not to share.

Here comes the information: I pretty much sleep in the nude. Well, except socks. Mainly because it's comfortable. I can't stand to have something that's going to make me feel like I'm being suffocated. So this morning Josh says as the alarm goes off "I've got to leave a little early today!" And then I realized his lunch wasn't made. So I hop out of bed, get to the kitchen and start making his lunch. He comes in from letting the dog out and then it happened. The earthquake. I'm sure most of you felt it. Anyway, you would think being a mother the first thing I would think of was my children, but oh no. My first thought: "OH CRAP! I'M NAKED! If the house goes down, they'll find me naked!" Now I know why Mom always said to be sure to wear clean underwear....or even SOME underwear!

PS: Yes, I realize I will get hell for this post... :-)

Saving $$ while Eating Out

2008-04-16T13:26:00.006-04:00

So I see an offer that states: Purchase a $25 gift certificate for only $5 using a coupon code (for online purchases) and get an extra $10 gift certificate free. I'm thinking "yeah right.." But you know me. I just HAD to see if it was legit. So I go to restaurant.com and check it out. To make this post short, I did as the website asked, used the coupon code I was provided and paid $5.00 for A $35.00 gift certificate that you print from home. So I printed mine out. It looked legit but was thinking..."What if they don't accept it?" So I called Colorado Steakhouse. Yep, they take them! So, if you would like to purchase $35.00 in restaurant gift certificates (You print out the $25.00 gift certificate and then they email you with the other one to print out from home)for $5.00 then do the following:

Go to their website: restaurant.com

Choose your destination: I chose Bloomington but you can choose wherever you like

In the "enter discount code" section, type: TASTE

It will then take the discount off making your total for a $25.00 gift certificate $5.00.

After purchasing you will be asked to take a short survey (mine was 3 questions). Take the survey to get your other $10.00 gift certificate emailed to you.

Pretty cool, huh?

Lead by example

2008-04-15T07:19:00.003-04:00

Mom was a homemaker most of what I remember and only worked when it was needed. I look at "mom's" today. We are so different. We pretty much have things handed to us (that is if we take it). We live in a society that says if you don't have the money, use credit and deal with it later. When I was younger, if we didn't have the money Mom would say "sorry, we don't have the money". And I didn't argue. Mainly because if I argued I probably would have got my mouth smacked! Anyway, I look back and think about all the things that I learned from my Mom and Dad. I think I'm pretty lucky. I remember when we were on vacation and we were walking. I found a nickel on the ground. I picked it up because I thought it was a quarter. When I saw that it was a nickel, I tossed it back on the ground. Mom said "What was that?" I said "It was JUST a nickel." I thought Mom was going to beat me. She made me go back and get it. I'll never forget that lesson. I'm trying to teach those same lessons to my girls. You know you have to be proud when your 3 year old says "Look what I made for Aunt Vickie!" and I look at it and it's a rectangular shape with what looked like bar codes. I said "Erin, what is it?" She looked at me like I was stupid and said "It's a coupon!" That showed me right there that our children learn from example. I hope that we are setting good examples for our children and that someday they will look back and laugh at some of the things we did but also laugh at themselves because they are doing those exact same things.

Coupons

2008-04-14T09:41:00.005-04:00

$1.00 off 1 jar Vlasic Pickles, Relish or Peppers expires 12/31/08: CLICK HERE

O-Cello Sponges and cleaning aids: CLICK HERE

$1.00 off Motrin: CLICK HERE

$3.00 off Woolite Rug Stick: CLICK HERE

$7.00 off Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner: CLICK HERE

$1.00 off Windex: CLICK HERE

$2.00 off Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal: CLICK HERE

$1.00 off any Pledge product: CLICK HERE

Mr. Clean coupons: CLICK HERE

Nescafe' Tasters Choice instant coffee coupon: CLICK HERE

FREE SAMPLES!

2008-04-13T08:00:00.010-04:00

California Cosmetics: Click here

Unifiber: here

Biospot Flea and Tick Control (3 month supply!): here

Kohl's $5.00 gift card free!: here

Gold Bond skin therapy lotion: here

Caress exotic oil body wash: here

Coffe-Mate (free large bottle!): here

FREE SCOTCH-BRITE TOILET SCRUBBER WITH BLEACH STARTER KIT

2008-04-11T14:56:00.004-04:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE FREE STUFF! Copy and paste the following link to get your coupon for a free Scotch-Brite disposable Toilet Scrubber with Bleach Starter Kit. You do not need to sign up for anything and can print as many as you need. I printed three!
Hurry because the coupons expire May 15th!

For your FREE Scotch-Brite toilet scrubber: CLICK HERE

Also for a coupon for $1.50 off refills: CLICK HERE

What day is it?

2008-04-09T06:57:00.003-04:00

Let me just say that since I started staying home I am completely lost as to what day it is. Not having to write the date all the time has completely got me lost. I was sitting here thinking it was Tuesday. Then my mouse accidentally moved over in front of the time and it said "Wednesday"! Well that stinks. I just lost a day this week! Oh well.

I spoke with the daycare. It looks like I'm going to work there Monday's and Wednesdays. I'm not sure when I'm going to start yet. I am looking forward to it and I think it will be good for the girls to be able to play with their friends from daycare at least 2 days a week AND since I'm working there we will not have to pay for them to attend the days I work. This will be some extra spending money this summer when we want to go running.

Ok, gotta get Emily up for school.

Oh yeah...Monday I did 10 loads of laundry! That's ridiculous! At least I think it was Monday.....

2008-04-07T21:18:00.008-04:00

OK, people keep asking me how I am saving money on groceries by using coupons. Instead of going into huge detail, I'll just walk you through what I do and give you the links to the coupons. First thing you will want to do is sign up for a free yahoo email account. When you sign up to print the coupons you will get all kinds of junk mail. BUT make sure you check the junk mail because you WILL get other coupons via your email. The first thing I do is check the ads. This week Kroger has a huge deal going on. They have a "mega event" sale. This means that they have select products that you can mix and match and when you purchase 10 items they will take $5.00 off your purchase. This means that the items that they have marked down to $1.00 if you purchase 10 of the participating items it will turn out to .50 cents each item because they will take the $5.00 off. They also have items for $1.00, $1.50 and $2.00 (after the $5.00 rebate). You can only use the $5.00 rebate 3 times per transaction. This means you can get 30 of the participating items and Kroger will take $15.00 off of your bill. If you check out their ad and try to match up coupons you can get some really good deals...some even free! Well. Now that I've confused you, I'm going to try to make it easy for you...

Remember: The prices I put down first are the prices AFTER you get the $5.00 off your order.

Also: I still am unable to get my links to post correctly so you will have to copy and paste the link. If you need help doing so, email me.

French's mustard: .50 cents each on sale. Kroger doubles their coupons up to .50 cents so grab 2! After coupon: http://www.frenchsfoods.com/
total cost: FREE!

Scott tissues: $1.00 on sale. Purchase 2 to use coupon. After coupon: http://www.scottbrand.com/us/offers/coupon/index.asp
total cost: .50 each!

Knorr Lipton Sides: .50 each on sale. Purchase 2. After coupon for $1.00 off:
http://us.knorr.com/ecoupons.asp
total cost: Free!

Betty Crocker Cookie Mix: (2) 1.00 each on sale. Print Coupon (you can actually print 2) http://www.boxtops4education.com/Coupons/
total cost: .40 each

Gatorade: Purchase 2 to make a total of 10 items and they will be .50 cents each.

Your total for your ten items is: $2.80.

so for $2.80 you got:

2 French's mustard
2 Betty Crocker cookie mixes
2 Large bottles of Gatorade
2 Lipton Sides
2 Scott Towell's

Now, I know that this isn't the best senario but it at least gives you an idea on how I find the savings. Unfortunately I couldn't find a whole lot of coupons to match up with Krogers ad this week but the deals are still pretty good without coupons. Go to http://www.kroger.com to view their ads.

Golden Girl

2008-04-01T12:43:00.006-04:00

This is Erin enjoying her time home. She's watching "The Golden Girls".

I Love CVS!

2008-04-01T12:34:00.003-04:00

Look at what I got at CVS for a total of .18 cents!

I used a $4.00 off $20.00 coupon
I also had $30.45 in Extra Care Bucks from previous orders.

I love CVS!

I've got gas

2008-03-26T12:30:00.002-04:00

A full tank to be exact! The truck was completely empty...well enough to get me to town to fill it. The total cost was $72.22. That's ridiculous! I've decided that I'm getting a horse. I don't think Emily will have a problem with me picking her up at school on a horse. Do you? OR, a mo-ped. One equipped with a sidecar.

Speaking of school...Emily has a talent contest April 1st. She has decided to play her guitar and sing "You Are My Sunshine." Emily is very excited about this.
(for those of you who don't know.....she doesn't know how to play the guitar...) :-)

2008-03-18T13:02:00.003-04:00

I know, it looks like a tornado hit her room!

Emily's Room Before:

And 2 hours later.....

Check out my deals!

2008-03-18T12:55:00.005-04:00

So this is what I got at Kroger:
I had coupons for Colgate toothpaste (6) $1.00 coupons
Johnson's buddies coupons: (4) $1.00 coupons
Campbell's Soup At Hand: (1)$2.00 coupon
Colgate toothbrushes: (4) $1.00 coupons

Kroger had their toothpaste and toothbrushes 10 for $10.00
Their Campbell's soup was $1.65
Their Johnson's buddies were $.99 each.

Total cost: $0.00!

I got all of this for free!

Monday

2008-03-18T06:21:00.002-04:00

Monday was the first day of my "new job" staying home with the kids. It was also Emily's first day of being able to get onto the school bus from home. She was so excited about this. This is how her first day of riding the bus from home went:

Mom: "Emily, are your shoes on?"
Emily: "Yep!"
Mom: "Ok, I see the bus heading past the house, which means he will be coming back by here in about 5 minutes....you need to be waiting by the door watching for him to pull up."
Emily: "Ok!"
Mom...about 5 minutes later.."Have you seen it yet?"
Emily: "nope."
Emily...about 2 minutes later..."Uh, Mom, the bus just passed our house..."
Mom: "Did he stop?"
Emily: "nope."
Mom...with a big sigh and a little aggravated..."Ok, let's get in the van..."
Emily: "I AM SO MAD AT MY NEW BUS DRIVER!"
Mom...as we end up 2 cars behind Emily's bus: "Hey look Emily! It's your bus!"
Emily...with a mean look on her face..: "IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

So last night I called the bus driver to remind him to pick us up:

Me: "This is Terri Neighbors. I just wanted to remind you to pick my daughter up in the morning.:
Bus Driver: "Oh I thought it was supposed to be Monday morning."
Me: "This was Monday morning."
Bus Driver: "Oh, I stopped but she wasn't waiting by the high-way. Didn't you hear me honk?"
Me: "WAITING BY THE HIGH-WAY? SHE HAS TO BE WAITING BY THE HIGH-WAY?"
Bus Driver: "Oh yes, the high-way is too bad in that area for the bus to sit and wait too long."
Me...realizing that it was pointless: "Oh, OK, I didn't realize. We will be waiting by the high-way in the morning."

Forecast this morning: Lots and Lots of rain.

Does Terri have an umbrella? Nope.

Mom My Ride

2008-03-13T14:56:00.000-04:00

I think I'm going to submit my van....What do ya think?

For the record, it was negative

2008-03-13T14:38:00.004-04:00

So I go to the store to purchase a pregnancy test. No, we're not trying but the last 2 months I've had these really weird symptoms similar to the ones when I was pregnant with Emily and Erin. Anyhow, I decide to take a pregnancy test so I go to the store. I got to the aisle and see a sign that says they keep their pregnancy tests behind the counter, which means you have to ask the cashier to get it for you. I don't know why but I really didn't want anyone that knew me to know that I was getting a pregnancy test. So I wait until there isn't anyone in line and I go up and ask the cashier is a low voice "I suppose I need a pregnancy test..." She says Ok and grabs her key to open the door where they are kept. Meanwhile people start lining up behind me. The cashier stands up and says "we are out up here, hold on a second"...and instead of going to the back to get one herself she yells to the back of the store "JUDY WILL YOU BRING ME UP SOME PREGNANCY TESTS? WE ARE COMPLETELY OUT." I waited until Judy (who knows me from frequenting the store)to bring up the pregnancy tests. The cashier rings me up, I pay and head out the door with my pregnancy test thinking to myself "Is there a sign above my head that screams 'TARGET ME?'"

Tackle It Tuesday

2008-03-11T08:09:00.002-04:00

1. Call Emily's bus driver to schedule him to start picking her up next Monday.
2. Call about gravel for the driveway.
3. Schedule eye appointments.

Nothing too exciting!