Hooray for Heat!

I think they're a little happy about heat. Yesterday hit the high 90s for the first time in ages! Can you tell they were excited? I came home to these smiley faces, shorts, pigtails, and bare legs from Ellie in only a onesie. Sleeping wasn't so great, I have to admit, so today the AC is on! I love my smiley kids!!!

My dream, realized

I am very much not fond of the bushes in front of our house. Yuck! I've been saying since we moved in a few years ago, that I couldn't wait to chop the bushes down. Let me explain. We've got 3 equally hideous structures resembling foliage front and center of our house, each of them completely different than the other, and each beyond unruly. You know the kind of evergreen that is REALLY prickly and has strange, little grayish-green-what-look-like-berries that under normal circumstances isn't that bad? Well, when said evergreen takes up 72 sf, it becomes less than attractive. This particular beauty you see here, is a different type of evergreen that grows upward, but gone untrimmed, becomes too heavy to stand upright and is tied together with twine. In between the coniferous beauties, lies a deciduous-nothing-special bush, that grows abundantly each year, despite being trimmed to nothingness each year, and looks more like mini trees with weeds coming out of the branches. Again I say YUCK! The funny part is, I've been dreaming of chopping these things up (well, removing them actually, but let's take it one step at a time) for so long now, and apparently discussing it so much, that the hubs bought me a hedge trimmer for Christmas. While that might horrify your average reader, I was delighted!

Saturday I treated myself to realizing a dream. However, it was much harder than one might think. It looks nowhere near good yet, but at least now it somewhat looks like a work in progress. I had to abandon my work partway through the 72-square footer, before my arms fell off! That's okay, though, it felt good to actually be able to do some yard work for a change. This is the year I have a date with landscaping.... I think.... More dreams.

That's hot!

16 Going on 16

At 16 months, Ellie is mastering the art of walking in heels...

That's my girlie girl. Dainty resides in our family at last!

Future athlete?

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This is going to be a great summer!

A Year Ago

I'm on a picture organization mission. My pic files have never been so organized! Hurrah! You are the lucky benefactors of my mission. This is from April, a year ago.

I'd like to point out 2 things in this picture.

1. Thumb sucking. Still happening a year later.
2. Dad pants. I am in love with these fleece plaid babies. Did I mention they have elastic ankles?
   

Look at baby doll's angelic little smile. She's still got it. I'm shocked by the LACK of hair. Seriously. There is an infinitely larger amount of hair a year later. Hard to believe this was pre-surgery, not that you can really tell in this picture...

Lunch Lessons

Perhaps it's because I'm feeling frugal with the threat of a husband losing his job, thank-you-very-much-layoffs, but I LOVE money-saving tips. Whether or not I use them, I still love finding more tips and ways to save. I have become some strange sort of coupon fiend. Not to say that I'm always good at being disciplined....

Like movies? Check out Redbox rental. They have machines in McDonald's, and some grocery stores, and they've started popping up at Walgreens too. I LOVE REDBOX! And I just discovered you can reserve your movies online and not be missing the title you're after when you get to the machine. It's a dollar a day! Never again should anyone rent a $5 movie at blockbuster or on cable!

The Entertainment Book. I knew I needed glasses this year, and low-and-behold, the entertainment book had a coupon for $125 off a complete pair. For a $20 book, it paid itself off times 6 in one purchase. But they have everyday 2-for-1 deals too, for restaurants and attractions, discount movie tickets, car washes, and online purchases. It is way worth it. You just have to be careful not to go places or buy things just because you have a coupon.

Target coupons. You can probably get them online too, but Target mailers have tons of coupons. I rejoice whenever it arrives, because there are always coupons for diapers and wipes and such (my biggest expenditure) and you can double up target coupons and manufacturer coupons.

Christmas decorations, or anything seasonal. Watch Target after Christmas for amazing clearances. This year I happened to be in the store when Christmas clearance was at 50% off. I didn't buy anything. The next day I went back and it had just been changed to 75% off, and I stocked up like crazy! (along with everyone else in the tri-state area, it seemed)

Mid-winter or mid-week getaways. I discovered a resort we love in our frigid state was offering amazing deals for winter getaways - when no one really wants to leave the comforts of their toasty warm houses. A room that is normally $199, in the mid-week and in winter, was $99. (we're going on this getaway in a couple weeks, in fact). But what? It's April you say? Doesn't matter - may as well still call it winter...

Sign up. If there are certain brands you ALWAYS use for certain things, sign up for online accounts. I'm very choosy about this, so I don't end up on millions of mailing lists, but signing up for Pampers, Huggies, Luvs, etc is excellent. Lots of coupons come your way. Definitely sign up for whatever brand baby formula you use. Nestle Good Start offers $11 rebate checks when your baby is a newborn. Very depressing, however, when $11 rebates decrease to $3 and $1! But use them while you can.

And so my lunch break has come to an end. And so my pearls of wisdom must too. Maybe I'll motivate myself to have more Lunch Lessons. I love giving advice, but only when warranted. If I do it here, people can ignore it if they detest advice. So ha!

What's the deal with Arby's?

Is every Arby's out there the oldest Arby's you've ever seen? It ocurred to me while waiting in the adjacent Taco Bell drive through (Taco Bell is one of my vices - shut up, you know you like it too), that I was looking at an Arby's that probably hasn't ever been updated beyond some fresh paint. Then I started realizing EVERY Arby's looks like something straight out of the 70s. How do they do it? Every chain around reinvents itself every so often, but not Arby's. I guess all it takes is thinly shaved something resembling roast beef. But I sure do love it! Shout out to my oldest bro, who loves Arby's dearly!