One steal of a deal

I have a new friend, her name is Laina. I met her @ the scrapbook store. She and her darling daughter come in just about every Monday night to create our weekly Monday night Make n take with me. I love visiting & chatting with these two while they create their projects. They are so much fun. Laina has been playing the coupon game for the last 4 months. Her boss had her learn(on company time)the ins & outs of the coupon world. What an awesome deal...she was paid to learn how to save money. She has saved a ton of money & has scored some major deals. You can check her site out here http://abundantfoodsavings.com/
Each week she gives me a mini assignment. I am going to slowly work my way into the saving money while I shop world. The 1st part of my assignment was to go & purchase the Sunday paper. Thanks goodness Arco still had a few left on Monday night.
I went home & clipped all of the coupons for things my family would/could use. While clipping coupons, it made me think of my Grandma Shore. She is always on the look out for deals. Hoping not to bore you but this was my steal of a deal last night. Walgreen's has Oral B toothbrushes for $4.47 with a register rebate of $4.47. There was a coupon for .75 cents off of that toothbrush in the Sunday paper. So I was actaully paid .75 cents to buy that toothbrush. You pay for the toothbrush & get your money right back in the form of a coupon($4.47) to use in the store. I turned around & purchased 10 cans of Pringles (10 for $10.00). I used my $4.47(plus .75 cents.) coupon to buy my Pringles. So far, a toothbrush & a 10 cans of Pringles cost me $4.78. Well when you buy the 10 cans of Pringles, you get another $3.00 register rebate. So with that $3.00, I turned around & purchased a gallon of milk. Thanks y to Laina for the step by step directions on that purchase-lol)So my total for a toothbrush, 10 cans of Pringles & a gallon of milk was $5.27(or close to it). Can you believe that? You should have seen my boys eyes this morning when they laid eyes on the mass amount of Pringles on the kitchen counter. I am sure they thought their mother had lost her marbles.

John worked from home today. On his lunch break, I had him go back to Walgreens with me. This is what we scored today for about $15.00. Not as cheap as the night before because the toilet paper made our bill go a little higher.
3 pkg. of toilet paper
10 more cans of Pringles (yes you read that right)
3 cans of chicken broth
2 bottles of Dawn dish soap
1 box of Kleenex
5 designer Halloween pencils
1 Febreeze plug in
3 Oral B toothbrushes
1 tube of Crest toothpaste.


Okay, here was the big deal of the day(thanks Laina)...Rite Aid has Crest Pro Health toothpaste on sale for $2.69. There was a $1.00 off coupon in the Sunday paper for Crest. So my total for the toothpaste(after the coupon)was $1.89. Then I mailed in a rebate for $2.69 on that same bottle of toothpaste. Crest just paid me about $1.00 to buy their toothpaste. SCORE! That my friends, was the Steal of the day!

I can't wait for my new assignment next week. Thanks for the HOT tips Laina! Keep them coming! Let me know if you try this! I was so excited about the money we saved.

Reminisce

The scrapbook company,Reminisce has a contest going on right now. There are prizes for the winners and a call out for a spot on their Design Team. I was able to play with some of their product on Saturday & this is what I was able to create.

This layout was created using the "My Jungle Safari" collection. I have had this paper for a while. I knew I wanted to create a layout about Brody & the "so big" game he plays with us. Since giraffes are big & tall...I thought this would be perfect! I mounted all of the leaf stickers on cardstock, hand cut them out, inked them, and then placed foam squares behind them to give it some dimension. I added buttons to the giraffes spots & gave him some google eyes for character.










Next, I created a little snowflake mini album! I used the Frosted collection for this project. I loved playing with the gorgeous pattern papers, creative rub-ons & cardstock stickers (all from Reminisce). These photos are from our first family trip to the snow. The mini album is a nice way to showcase your photos from themed events.












I thought this last project would be a fun way to deliver treats to our friends & neighbors. So please make sure you act surprised if you receive one :). I used The Reminisce Boo Bash line for this project. I covered a Gerber Baby Food container(cleaned it out first) with a piece of the Boo Bash pattern paper. I lined the top & bottom with purple rick rack & then hand cut out some ghosts and adhered them to some lollipop sticks that I painted black. I will show you two pictures, one with treats and one w/out! Enjoy!





Wish me luck. The contest ends tomorrow evening @ midnight!
Have a Happy Monday!

Friday Randomness

A few random things from our week.

Brody finally had his 15 month check up with the Dr.. He is 16 months old. He is at the top of the charts for his height, weight, & head circumference. Not a big surprise! He weighed in @ 29 lbs. 1 oz. The Dr. said that he is the size of a 25 month old. I thought it was cute when she said that people need to know how old he is so they don't expect too much from him. He is still a little guy even though his body says otherwise.


I love the picture(above)of him. He loves to sit in his little chair with his blankie & books. It is the only time you can find him sitting in one place. He even had the cabbage patch baby with him on this day! It was so sweet.

It feels good to have all of my excess scrapbook stuff marked & loaded into the car. i am taking it over to Green Tangerines later today for their Trash to Treasure sale. If you are in town, you should check it out. You can score some pretty cool things for killer prices.

John has been playing soccer @ lunch with some guys from Intel. It is a pretty big deal for these grown men. John called home to check on us after lunch. You could hear the excitement in his voice & he asked if I could please tell the boys (when they got home from school)that he had scored a goal during his game. He sounded just as excited as Tanner & Carter are when they score their goals. It was pretty cute!

I finished my Gratitude journal for my November class at Green Tangerines I can't share the whole project until after the class has happened... but I thought I would give you a peek of the cover. I included photos & LOTS of journaling on the inside. I created this journal using the Creative Cafe lucky line. They have this awesome colored chipboard that was used for the base of the book & then I used lots of their pattern papers & cardtock stickers,a transparency & embellishments. So far, each page(LO style) has a theme like family, John, my boys, friends, home, etc...I have always been an avid journal keeper & have been pretty good with the whole blog thing. I have wanted to create a Gratitude journal for some time now. I have wanted a place to record the simple & great things in my life that I am grateful for. Ihe cool thing about this journal is that it is bound with rings so I can add as many pages as I need/want to.

Tanner's teacher called home this week to see what day would work for me as far as helping int he classroom. She then proceeded to tell us that Tanner is a delight to have in her classroom. He is very well behaved & stays on task. It is always great to hear feedback like that. I am so proud of him & his desire to do his best.

The field trip day FINALLY arrived. Garrett, Brody, myself & our friends, Stephanie & Timothy headed up to the Safety Fair. Garrett has talked about this field trip all week. Since all of our boys have gone to the same preschool, this is my 6th year in a row heading out to this Safety Fair. It is a really fun,free morning for the whole family. The kids get to sit in the firetrucks. ambulances, tractors, & police motorcycles. The K-9 unit was out there too. This year, they were able to take a ride in the Cherry Picker & we even saw the helicopter land & take off again...very cool. They have a train ride, huge bubble tables & healthy snacks for the kids. Here are a few of my favorite photos from our morning.










Thank you for all of your kind comments & stories about kids & your adventures @ church. I know it is just a phase, one that i hope comes to a screeching halt :). I appreciate your kind words & support. Have a great weekend! What are your plans?

Kindness-round 2

Long time...no blog. Life has been its normal, crazy self. I am trying to keep up with the boys & their homework, school projects, soccer practices/games, soccer pictures, cub scouts, play dates & work projects. And on top of that, I am trying to keep a clean house & maintain my sanity. Some days are definitely better than others. Last Sunday was not one of the better days. We went to church (like we do every Sunday) & Brody literally lasted about 10 minutes before the shrieking started. He is just so loud & doesn't stop once he gets going. John took him out to the foyer to see if he could get him to be quiet. So I am sitting there with Tanner, Carter, & Garrett. I noticed that Garrett has scooted down to the end of the pew & then I realized that the Sacrament tray was coming. I whispered to Tanner, asking him to slide down by Garrett(but not too close). Garrett was totally on to him & started to say in a loud voice "Tanner, I don't need your help & started leaning into Tanner like he wanted him to move. Again, he is not being quiet & he is starting to get louder at this point. Is that even possible? Oh, yes it is. The Sacrament tray(with the water) is @ our pew & Tanner is on stand by to help, just in case. The young man holding the sacrament tray continues to hold it to make sure that Garrett doesn't spill it. This clearly annoys Garrett & so he decides it is time to have a tug of war competition with this poor young boy & the Sacrament tray. I am pretty sure my face was totally red out of embarrassment. We finally get Garrett to back down & sit still. Two minutes later he is saying (in a totally loud voice) that he has to go to the bathroom to poop. Mind you, he has already been twice in a 10 minute period. I tell him he needs to wait. Well that wasn't working for his escape plan so he lays down & says in an even louder voice "I have to poop NOW". At this point, I am so done! I can feel the tears beginning to well up in my eyes. I take Garrett out & decide to call it an afternoon. Well, while I was out in the foyer, with tears in my eyes. My good friend Kristin(who is also a Mom to 4 boys) had come out with one of her sons. She could tell that I was upset. She then told me that they thought Brody & his screaming was cute. She said "it always sounds louder to the parents." She was trying to make me feel better & at that point, I was really just DONE. John headed back into the meeting with Garrett. Brody & I headed home. Brody fell asleep one minute into our car ride home. Can you say tired.

The whole reason I blog about this little incident is because I wanted to share what my sweet friend Kristin did. Later that evening, Kristin showed up on my porch with a cute little bucket filled with candy.

She then explained that she couldn't find her fortune cookie recipe that afternoon but she had included some little fortunes tucked in with the candy. She had taken the time to print little thoughts/quotes out that had to do with motherhood. Reading those little slips of paper made me cry(cause that's what I do best)& realize how important my role in these little boys lives are. We are going to have hard days mixed in with the good days. I am so grateful for the chance I get to start over each new day...a do over. Kristin, thank you for thinking of me & making me smile. I will never forget your kindness & I may even attempt to try Sacrament meeting again next week :).

I'll share a few of my favorite quotes from the candy bucket.
"Being a full time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs...since the payment is pure love".

"It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't".

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers".

"Raising children is like making pancakes. You mess the first one up and the rest turn out good".

12 years ago...

12 years ago today, I married my sweetheart...my best friend. In the 12 years that we have been married, we have lived in two apartments, attended college (mostly night school), we had one lost(never found)wedding ring, graduated from college, owned 4 different cars, won a free trip to Hawaii, moved away from the city that we both grew up in, purchased our first home, had four children, only two ER trips with the four children in 9 years(not bad), steered clear of owning pets (I know I will have to cave one of these days), owned many dirt bikes & quads, moved away from family, 2 different jobs for John, 4 different jobs for Raimi, experienced the passing of John's Mom. Last but not least, we have made(& are still making) hundreds of memories that will last a life time. Through the years we have experienced great joy (and some sadness). I can't even begin to imagine this journey with out John by my side. I am grateful for the man that he is. He works so hard to provide for our family & for that I am so very grateful. He is wonderful hubby & an even better Father. Happy 12th anniversary sweetie. I Love you!

On a side note, it was so much fun reading your "kindness" posts. Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful stories. I loved each one! In honor of our 12th anniversary, I will be doing something nice for the friend who left the 12th post. That lucky friend is....Laurie H.. Congrats Laurie. I will see you next week sometime. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Kindness

So I show up to work last night for a meeting at Green Tangerines. My cute friend(partner in crime), Brandigirl says to me "I have a surprise for you in my car"! I am thinking: "What? No way! I LOVE surprises"! She comes back into the store carrying this...

How stinkin' awesome is this? I honestly thought she had all of our CHA pictures on CD for me(don't get me wrong,that would have been awesome too)-LOL! She had created two of these pieces of art earlier this summer for her best friends weddings. She had posted them on her blog & I left her a comment telling her how much I loved them & that my 12th wedding anniversary was coming up in September. Okay...I was so joking. She totally surprised me. Brandi made one for John & I, for our anniversary! I LOVE it!!!! Brandi, I can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me. I have had a smile on my face all morning. You made my day, my month, heck... you made my year :). I was so bummed that I couldn't blog about it last night. I couldn't get a decent photo of it with my camera. It was midnight-LOL!
Brandi, you ROCK! Thank you for being such a kind, thoughtful, creative friend! Love you!

So this has got me thinking...kindness & thoughtfulness really do go a LONG way! Leave a comment telling me something nice that someone has done for you. You know, something that left a smile on your face all day long. One lucky winner will in turn, receive something nice from me! Can't wait to hear all about your kind friends & family members.

Make n Take

This is one of my favorite parts about my job...Monday Night make n take. You can usually find me @ the store every Monday night. We alternate projects every week. Sometimes we make cards, or a layout, mini books, & even altered projects. It provides our customers with an opportunity to try new products, to learn new techniques or to make something that they might not ever make on their own.
For all of my local friends...Look what we are creating(click on link to see parts of the project) for the Monday Night Make n Take @ Green Tangerines tonight. This Back to school layout(12 X 12) includes 5 spots for photos. We are using the new KI school line. I love all of the yummy colors in this collection...perfect for all of those Back to School photos. I will be @ Green Tangerines from 5 to 8 pm this evening. Everything is prepped & ready for you, all you need to bring are some scissors & your adhesive. Hope to see you there.

Avocado/Corn Salsa


Time to share another yummy recipe! I found this one while blog hopping last week.

Avocado/Corn Salsa
4 medium tomatoes - chopped
3 avocados - chopped
1/2 bunch of green onions - chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro - chopped
1 can of white corn - drained
1 can of black beans (or black eyed peas) - drained
1 pkg. of dry Good Seasonings Italian dressing.

Mix all ingredients together & chill over night. Serve with tortilla chips.

** We aren't huge cilantro fans. I used about a 1/4 of the bunch & it tasted great. I put the salsa on top of rice cakes & it was heavenly. Enjoy!

September 11, 2001
We will remember

This is a day that will be etched in my mind forever. My heart has been heavy today. I thought about that tragic day...all day long. I remember being @ home with Tanner who was 2 & Carter who was exactly 6 months old to the day. I sat on our family room floor with my babies, watching the news & just sobbing, uncontrollably. I was scared, nervous, & mad. So many emotions. Tanner & Carter just recently learned about Sept. 11th, the Twin Towers & all that happened on that day. They had watched a documentary one night with john while I was teaching a class. The next morning, while we were eating breakfast, they told me all about what they had watched. They wanted to know why it had happened. I got so emotional just talking to them about it. I was a little apprehensive at first. Being the Mother Hen that I am, I want to protect them from the bad things in the world. On the flip side, I wanted them to know that there were so many hero's that risked their lives to save others on that day. I also wanted them to know how very lucky we are to be Americans. I am so grateful for the men & women who serve our country on a daily basis. Grateful for their sacrifices to protect me & my family so we can carry on with our lives. I will remember this day forever & never forget those who put their lives on the line. I loved seeing our flag (in the picture above) rise above the sea of smoke & ashes on that day. Those colors never looked more beautiful! It gave me hope.

happy

This boy makes me happy! We may have really LONG days filled with: climbing on the counters, dancing on the kitchen table, getting in the tub fully dressed & Turing on the water all by himself (when he just got out of the tub 10 minutes before), screaming at the top of his lungs for no reason(his newest trick), dumping the(full) salt shaker onto to the "just swept" kitchen floor, jumping on Mom & Dad's bed, unfolding the clothes right behind me as I am folding the clean laundry. This is our typical day @ home. As John was putting Brody to bed tonight, I received my kisses from him. I thought he was done & then he smiled @ me one more time & blew me a kiss. It was so stinkin' cute. Talk about melting my heart. Those moments erase the long days like today & make me happy to know that there is always a new adventure tomorrow.

It's BACK

Yep, that's right, soccer Saturdays are here again. The men in my life could not be any more excited about the season. We got up bright & early to start our day with a 9am game. John rolled out of bed this morning & said "I am so tired. I didn't get very much sleep last night. I was too excited about the games today". My husband is too funny & way into this soccer thing! I then told him that I didn't have any problems sleeping through the night :). Tanner's select team had the 9 am game & they had a rough start to their season. They lost with a 5 to 1 final score. It broke their hearts. They played in several tournaments over the summer & did very well. They hardly lost a game. When you watch the video below, Tanner is # 14 (the top left of the screen) in green. He has the ball, looses it for a second, gets the ball back & has an awesome pass & his friend T nails it right into the goal (our only goal). It was very exciting!

Don't forget to pause the music & don't have your sound up too loud. WARNING**Excited Mom screaming...what can I say? I was proud of my boy!



Carter had a 10 am game & John is the coach. Tanner, Brody & I were a little late, about 15 minutes. By the time we showed up, Carter's team had already scored 5 goals. Holy smokes, those boys were on fire. I guess they made a goal in the 1st 30 seconds of the game. The forwards went right down the field, Carter passed it to his team mate P & he kicked it right into the goal. The final score ended up being 9 to 0. All of the boys rotated positions & lots of them scored goals today. It was so exciting & a great way to start the season off.

We are so proud of our boys & for their love of the game.

Friday Randomness

I am liking these random posts. Kind of an easy way to re-cap our week! Here we go & not in any particular order.

Wa-hoooooo! I won!I won! I just found out that I won a give away from Teresa Collins. I won a set of her 8 X 8 papers just by posting a comment on her blog. I am so excited. I love Teresa's collections. I've already mentioned this but just wanted to say it again. She was super nice when Brandi & I met her @ CHA! She was so personable & so chatty! It is always so nice to run into people like that! Thanks Teresa!


Garrett received his 1st black eye last Sunday. All four of the boys were running around the island in the kitchen. They were enjoying a great game of chase. They were laughing, being loud & just having a ton of fun. Garrett was running full speed & went to turn his head to see who was hot on his tail. Unfortunately, he turned @ the wrong time & ran smack dab into the corner of the counter! OUCH!!!! I have never seen something get so big, so fast. I took this picture yesterday & it now looks like he has make up on. A really bad make up job for that matter-lol!


Don't tell my Mom, but I have been listening to Christmas music this week. We had a family tradition while growing up. We wouldn't listen to Christmas music until we had had our Thanksgiving dinner @ Gram & Gramps Shores. We would then listen to to our favorite Christmas songs in the car, on our way home. I have tried to abide by this tradition but have failed miserably over the last three years. I was enjoying the Marshmallow World song by Dean Martin. Nothing like Christmas music when it is 103 degrees outside-HA!

Tanner was elected by his classmates yesterday to represent his 4th grade class as a student council member. He had to give a speech & everything. My favorite part of the speech is when he says, "I am Tan-Man, your go to man". He is very excited about representing his class & being a big part of his schools community. Ever since Tanner was a little(energizer bunny, bundle of non-stop energy) boy, my Mom has always said that he will either be an attorney, a darn good used car salesman, or the President of the Untied States. He does a great job negotiating & speaking in public. He may be a chip off the old block. My kindergarten teacher told my Mom @ my teacher conference that I was "Socially Gifted". I am pretty sure it was code for "talks too much".

I am making huge progress in my scrapbook room. Green Tangerines is having another Trash to Treasure sale @ the end of this month. The deal is, you bring your unwanted supplies/tools/stamps etc.. with a price marked on them. They will sell your stuff for you & the money you make is put towards a store credit that you can spend in store. The last time I did this, I earned about $170.00. It is an awesome way to unload your stash. So instead of just tidying my scrapbook room, I have cleaned out every corner,leaving me with this...




It feels good to unload & purge. As I do, I keep telling myself that I can probably scrapbook/paper craft for the rest of my life without purchasing another thing :). I know that will never happen, I love shopping for scrapbook supplies way too much for that :). I will post an "after picture", once everything has been put back in it's rightful home. Maybe there will even be paint on the walls.

As I have been cleaning my scrapbook room, I have had the itch to scrapbook. I have decided that I am going to work my way through all of the class kits(from my teaching days @ Memories)that I have been hoarding for the last 5 years. It might not be the newest stuff but the pages are still cute. These kits will allow me to create some quick pages. In the last two days, I have created 4 layouts & 6 cards! Not bad.

Brody is waving HI & BYE to anyone & everyone. It is so stinkin' cute(most of the time). We were in Wal*Mart this morning. We were standing @ the check out counter & I took 5 steps away from him to grab something. In those 5 seconds, he had lifted the one gallon jug of milk off of the conveyor belt & then proceeded to drop it on the floor. Thank goodness the plastic jug stayed in tack & no milk was spilt. But after he dropped it, he just smiled & waved @ me. What a little stinker.

Garrett has been taking his shirts off, turning them inside out & then putting it back on... backwards. I asked him why he keeps doing this? He said "the tag is tickling me". I wish I had tags that tickled instead of itched-LOL!


Soccer season officially starts tomorrow. We can kiss our Saturdays goodbye. You know, we wouldn't trade it for the world. The boys LOVE soccer & we love to watch them play. I think John is more excited than the boys are about the games tomorrow. We have 9 & 10 am games-thank goodness. Hopefully it will stay cool until we are off the fields. Have I mentioned that I can't wait for Fall & cooler weather?


Did you know that Grandparents Day is this Sunday? I was able to get every one's cards off in the mail yesterday. I hope they arrive tomorrow, just in time for Sunday. I am so thankful for all of my grandparents. I was lucky enough to grow up with lots of Grandma's & Grandpa's. I am lucky enough to still have 3 Grandma's & A Grandpa still around. I am so glad my boys have Great Grandparents. Grandparents were a new thing for John when we got married. All of his grandparents had died before he had the chance to get to know them. We got married and instantly, he had 3 Grandma's & 2 Grandpa's. He thought that was so very cool. In the early days of our marriage, John rode a street bike to & from work. He loved that the gas was cheap(back then) & that he could get to & from work easily. Once I became pregnant with Tanner, he decided to sell his bike. He realized that he was going to be a Dad & needed to stick around to see his son grow up & to be able to provide for him. Having a wife wasn't enough for him ;-). When my Grandma Shore had heard that he had sold his bike, she showed up with an envelope with John's name on it. Inside that envelope was $100.00. If you know my Grandma, you know she is anti-motorcycles. Anyways, my point is, John thinks that it is so great to have Grandparents that are wonderful & that are there for you in a heartbeat. I hope all of the Grandparents in our lives have a wonderful day! We LOVE you!

Carter received another %100 on his spelling test today. He has a perfect spelling record this year. I am so proud of him. He has passed the pre-test every Monday with a %100. He gets the challenge list(the harder words). Way to go Carter!

WOW! I didn't mean for my Randomness to be a book -LOL!
Have a great weekend!

How Many of ME!

My maiden name:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 7 or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I found this on Lizzie's blog. Kind of fun! There are one or fewer with my married name. The odds went a little higher with my maiden name!