Grocery Store Deals

OK - If you are reading the title and rolling your eyes, I am right there with you! Please continue on reading ... you'll like this! If you got excited about the title thinking I was going to give you some Harris Teeter tips, forgive me!
Last week at the Teeter we had Super Doubles or something like that where the Teeter will double your coupons up to $1.98. This is a super big deal as those of you on facebook know. I have a number of friends who are very good at the whole coupon thing ... very good at it! I also have a number of friends who post their savings on facebook and/or blog about their shopping experiences.
So ... why am I writing this blog today? Because Monday I needed to go grocery shopping. This is how I do it ... I make my grocery list with the things I need, then I look through the coupons Mom cut out for me (yes, I am 32 years old and my mom still cuts coupons out for me! Thanks Mom!), then I modify my list as needed and hit the store. I got to the Teeter Monday and started in the produce aisle. This is where I first noticed "Carter the Coupon Queen". (The names have been changed to protect the innocent, and honestly I have no idea what her name is.) She had a 3-ring binder with divided laminated pages holding coupons. Please re-read that sentence for effect. It was massive! And why did I notice? Because she was sorting through all of those pages in front of the tomatoes - and I needed tomatoes!!! She moved to the potato section where she was in someone else's way, and finally made her way to the slaw section. Weird I thought, but to each her own.
I ran into this "Carter" again when I remembered I needed green beans and headed back to the canned vegetable aisle. Again, she was just standing in the middle of the aisle looking through her binder. Crazy ... And this happened AGAIN in the pasta aisle. Chick, get out of my way!
Our last encounter was when I was rolling my cart to checkout and she pulled out of the cereal aisle. My cart was completely full and she literally had a couple dressings, and a couple of other items like mustard and maybe some grits or something. We had been at the store AN HOUR! And she had less than 10 items in her cart. Now I am sure when she left there she was leaving with those items for free, or for 54 cents or something, but still, I ask you - is it worth all that? Is that what it takes? Hours and hours to save money on items that you might not have bought in the first place? To each his own ...
Now to my favorite part - - - my personal update! I ended up spending $130 and saving $42 with VIC savings and about $12 dollars in coupons. And my dear friends who are professional shoppers have taught me you always need to take a picture to prove what you are saying is true. In all cases I have seen to date, the items are all stacked neatly on the counter. I don't have time for that - I need to check my facebook - so, I just took 2 pictures of the groceries in the Jeep. As you can see, I also don't have time to clean out my Jeep from the beach trip I took about 3 weeks ago. And yes, if you could see under the potatoes, you'd notice I do indeed have the reusable bags ... I just have a hard time remembering to take them in the store!
Happy Couponing to all!!! :)

Hands-Free!

I LOVE my new Moby wrap ... I feel like I can actually do things now!! And Carly loves it equally ... she snoozes every time I put her in!

Dillon and his Daddy

It's true love ... Happy Father's Day!

Nighttime Essentials

Diet Dr Pepper, monitor #1 and monitor #2!!Carly spent her first night in her crib last night! It was very nice for me, and I can only assume very nice for her! She slept from 9:30pm until 2:30am ... go Carly!
This picture is from a nap today (at night I do put her in a sleep sack!)Look how tiny she looks in that big ole crib!!

"Mommy's Cycle"

Dillon thoroughly enjoys his tricycle, but now he also enjoys "Mommy's cycle"! This morning Dillon and I tried out the bike trailer around the neighborhood and he had an absolute ball! We obviously went a little faster than he goes on his trike, so I am sure he liked that part. But we were not going so fast that he could talk to all the neighbors! I pointed out each time a dog was coming up, and then we said "good morning" to those walking the pups. It was a lot of fun, and I am very excited to be able to have a new activity to do with my Dillon! It's a two seater, so I have probably a year to work up the strength in my legs in anticipation of carting both Dillon and Carly around! Fun fun!!

What's That in Your Ear?

Oh yeah - your eyes are not playing tricks on you! Those are earrings! Dillon noticed right away! I also sported some lip gloss earlier in the day! I know I sound pathetic ... mother of 2 finally puts on earrings ... but it is the little things in life! :) (NOTE: Still wearing stretchy pants in public. There will be another post when that changes!)In other news, Carly Mae is now wearing some things that are not "newborn" ... this is quite exciting! She has a lot of really really cute dresses and I cannot wait to put them on her! Today she wore her first fancy outfit out to eat ... it is a Friday night afterall and her mama was wearing earrings (did I mention that earlier?)
In Dillon news, he had roseola. For all my parent friends who don't know what this is (because I didn't), it starts with a very high fever (102.5 and higher) and lasts a couple of days. This is what Dillon had Friday - Sunday. It can also cause a bacterial infection, hence Dillon's earaches. Then a day or so later, a rash breaks out on the belly. For Dillon, I noticed this Tuesday night, but thought it was because he had been playing outside and was just hot. Anyway, very interesting. No other side effects, and there is no vaccine. I had it as a child ... I guess it's more common than I realized. Kind of scared me when the doctor first said he had roseola, but turns out to be no big deal. We go back to the ENT in 3 weeks - - - hopefully no ear infections between now and then!

Success Day 2 - what a week!

This morning I buttoned some jeans!!! Whoo-hoo!! I mean, they are the boyfriend kind that are supposed to be loose and they look painted on, but I mean - I BUTTONED SOME JEANS! :) Headed to Weight Watchers in 30 minutes ... so far things are going well!!

Success!

This morning I felt like I conquered the world!!! And let me tell you it was a GREAT feeling that lasted approximately 2 1/2 minutes ... let me explain! To back up, Dillon has been very sick. He had a 103 fever Friday while at the beach, so we came home that night and took him to our Doctor's office Saturday morning. Saturday he had a 102.5 fever and Sunday a 102.6 fever. He has a slight ear infection in each ear, but we think there's something else going on as well since he has had quite a few ear infections and never had a constant high fever like that. Saturday Dillon was given a shot of Rocephin, and then we had to take him back Sunday and yesterday for additional ones - poor thing! He did great, as always. He is such an angel; seriously, a perfect child (except when he throws food on the floor and says "oh no, not nice" ... but I digress!)
OK - so back to me! Ha ha ... This morning Dillon had a follow up appointment with the ENT Doctor who put his tubes in in January. 9:20am. Me home alone with the youngins. Me in need of a shower. 7:45am Carly and I wake up. Oh no! The countdown is on! To sum it up, I got Carly fed, Dillon up and watching Sprout TV in my bed, and my rear end in the shower, then got Carly and Dillon dressed and out the door by 9am and in the Doctor office building by 9:18am! WHOO-HOO!! Seriously, that was the biggest accomplishment I have completed since I don't know when. Felt fabulous!
So, why'd it only last 2 minutes? Because when I got there, the receptionist said that whoever scheduled Dillon's appointment scheduled it for NEXT Tuesday ... ugh!!!!! Rescheduled for tomorrow at 2:30. Game on again tomorrow I guess! :)
And to give an update on Dillon - he is acting perfectly fine. In fact, he was almost acting perfectly normal this whole time. He is so resilient. No fever Monday or today. Tomorrow we go see the ENT and then Thursday we are going to see his regular Doctor for a follow up. Hopefully all will be well, and Carly will not get any of this mess!! Will update later in the week when we know more.

First Ever Beach Trip

Mom and I ventured to the beach this past Wednesday. Dillon absolutely loved the water and sand! He was so precious! (As I am sure you can all imagine!) Much like his mama, he was not a fan of the sand on his hands, but other than that, he had a ball! He loved when the water came up over his feet, almost fell over every time the water went back out, had a blast looking for the tiny fish in the tide and had a ball knocking down the sand castles Grandmommy built! Carly had a good time too. She was very content snoozing in the canopy ... almost too content! It was HOT HOT HOT! I think we'll head back this Fall when things cool off a little!!
On the way down! Somebody has their party hat on!Not a great pic of me, but this one cracks me up!Carly in her canopy!Grandmommy and DillonDillon eating his breakfast!Since the Pavilion is gone ...Dillon turning into Poppy!! :)Milk time!Carly in her "new" outfit!

Carly - One Month

Carly had her one month appointment last Tuesday. She is doing very good - growing like a weed! And cute as ever!
Weight - 7 lbs 8 oz
Length - 20.5 inchesNot to compare, but here's Dillon's one month update! :) As you can see below, Dillon and Carly love each other very much still!

Need to Nest!

We put our house on the market in April and yesterday we had our 5th showing. On average, that's roughly one showing a week, which I guess is good, especially "in this economy". BUT - I am soooo ready to move! I mean, I love our house, don't get me wrong. But the thing is, now that we have to be ready at any time to show our house and now that we know we aren't going to be here for that much longer, I don't really feel like it's our house. Dillon's toys are mostly put away, Carly's room is not at all done - all that we did was put the crib and amour up. The paint doesn't match, we hung nothing on the walls, there are no pictures of Carly up in the house ... ugh! I am ready to move! (Have I mentioned that?!)
My initial thought was 6 showings would be a quick sell - - - the 6th showing will be the next one! Maybe lucky number 6! What is your guess for the "lucky" showing number?? Surely by Christmas we'll be in our new home ...