It's good, but oh, the pain

My dear husband has convinced me it's time to get back into shape. Early in the mornings, after Alyson leaves for school, we're walking and running (right now more walking than running, but I have a feeling that's going to change...), then coming home for a little workout of his own design.
It begins with sprints up our driveway. Have you seen our driveway? Let's put it this way: the movers refused to unload our household goods until they could get a truck to drive the rest of the way up the driveway. It is long and STEEP. We sprint up a couple of times, then the real torture begins. We have to do it backwards. Twice. And just about the time I think I might collapse, we have to do these side-shuffle things up. Today, at the end of it all he 'surprised' me with one more backwards sprint! I almost started crying.
Afterwards he lets me get a drink and check on the boys--I try to sneak in a quick nap on the loveseat before he drags me out to the garage.
The weight bench is usually all set up for me by the time I get out there and we have a weight-lifting session, followed by arm raises, done in cadence--he said it's to increase my "mental toughness" after I started whimpering.....

I tried to lift the broom to sweep today but every muscle in my body resisted.....maybe this could work out to my advantage after all.......

What a difference a week makes

A week ago, we stood in the freezing cold, rain, and wind watching Alyson's track meet.

Fast forward to this past weekend:

We had soccer practice, a track meet, and a ball game all in the gloriously warm sunshine! Aaaah, spring.....

Downside of couponing

You might try things you could have otherwise avoided.

Case in point:

box of Wheat Thins Artisan Cheese Crackers in wisconsin colby flavor-$1.00 each

3 lb bag of gala apples-$2.99

One cracker, bite of apple slice, one cracker, bite of apple slice, one cracker, bite of apple slice, 2 crackers, bite of apple slice, 1 cracker WITH a bite of apple slice.....

you get the point......

Eureka!

Today I went grocery shopping. And I had a breakthrough on my struggles with making this couponing thing work for me. I'm going to try to share it here, but I'm not sure I can articulate it very well.

First, I'll share some of the great deals I got today:

I got all of this for $2.44.

Here is a breakdown of those deals and some other good ones I got:

Vitamin water-FREE

Meow Mix treats-FREE

McCormick spice-FREE

Kraft dressing- .08

Quaker rice cakes-.36

Pringles-.50 ea

4 lb bag of oranges-2.00

pork loin-1.99/lb.

2 6-packs of english muffins-1.99

Kraft American cheese-1.88

Kellogg's cereal-.66

64 oz. Tropicana punch-1.24

and so on.....

But here's what I've been thinking about. There are two major hinderances to my couponing success.

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First, I need to change my mindset. I like having my meals planned out in advance of the week. It takes stress off me when we are running the kids here and there to already know what is for dinner and to already have snacks bought and planned so I don't have to buy them expensive treats on the way.

What I've been doing for a while is sitting down on the weekend with my favorite cookbooks and a Vera Bradley notebook Alyson got me in which I wrote several weeks worth of favorite meals. I look at the calendar, plan the meals according to which nights we'll be home early, late, not at all, etc. THEN make up my commissary list from that.

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And that is what is frustrating me with this couponing. I can't make my menu ahead of time and try to find sales to match. I feel like I'm just buying a bunch of stuff that's cheap but doesn't go together. What I need to do is figure out the sales (with help of the couponing blogs or the grocery game) and THEN make up my menu.

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Which brings me to my next problem:

I do not have enough of a stockpile to really make a bunch of meals out of what I buy on sale with coupons in a single week. I've been reading about the 12-week rule regarding sales, learning that sales trends rotate through a 12-week cycle. I understand this but have only been applying it what is on sale, not how long it'll take me to build up my stockpile. The reality is that if I stick this out for 12 weeks, buying things at their rock-bottom prices, I will have a fully stocked kitchen/pantry/freezer from which I can plan my menus.

But I can't expect to live only on what is on sale right now. And my family doesn't want to! I tried feeding them some of those free cat treats and they flatly refused to eat them. ;-) They're very picky.....

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It's going to cost me more than I want to spend for a little while. But if I can stick this out for another 2 months, I should be very able to plan an interesting and varied menu out of just what I have on stock and what was on sale that week. The key is STICKING IT OUT.

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One other key is to buy MORE than I need of the items that are on my rock-bottom list. If meat is on sale, I need to buy more than just what I need for that week. If I can get Pringles for .50 cents a can, I need to buy more than one can! (and then hide the rest so they don't get devoured the first two days....)

It may cost me a little bit more, but I am buying enough stuff on sale (nearly everything I bought today was at least 50% off) that it shouldn't cost a lot more overall. And shoot, I am trying to stop spending a thousand dollars a month! Any savings is great!

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Wow--if you've kept reading this far, good for you!

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Now, I have a couple comments for those of you who have access to the commissary. If you don't, you are free to go. :)

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I've been going round and round about whether or not some of these "regular store" sales are any better than going to the commissary. As a friend put it today, the commissary is "comfortable." It's what I know--but is it cheaper?

Yes and no.

Today on one of the grocery game lists, one of the stores offered 85% lean ground beef for 1.99/lb. At the commissary this afternoon, I bought 93% lean ground beef for 1.85/lb! But then, chicken breasts in the civilian store-1.29/lb. Commissary-1.95/lb. I never buy cereal over $2 at the commissary, but sometimes I can get it as low as .50 at the civilian store.

You have to be careful, of course, and I am skeptical of the so-called "savings" they put at the bottom of your receipt in the civilian stores. Just because you use their card and don't pay the 200% inflated price, does not make it a savings. At least not in my book. Often times the 2 for 1 deals just bring an overpriced item back down to reasonable.

Sort of like Aeropostale, for those of you who have teenagers....buy 1 t-shirt for $28 or 2 for $22! yeah, right.....some deal.

Milk is always cheaper at the commissary. I've yet to find it less somewhere else. And eggs. But the commissary bakery dept. never has sales so you can probably get cheaper french bread or rolls somewhere else. Today I got cheaper strawberries at the commissary ($2.50/2 lbs) but got cheaper oranges at the civilian store.

I think what I need to do is make a spread sheet of the commissary prices. I've been saving my receipts for a little while. I'm going to make a list of the items I usually buy and the price I paid for them at the commissary. I need the visual in front of me.

And then I'll really know if I'm saving money.......and I won't make the mistake I did today---$2.21 for one pkg. of english muffins at the commissary and then $1.99 for 2 pkgs. at Super Fresh!

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I'm a slow learner, but I'm getting there....

Budding career?

Jarrett and a friend of his have been playing their music more and more in public lately. They've got a regular gig in town and are getting their names out there. They do some covers of songs but they are really getting to be excellent writers.
This is a video of a song Jarrett wrote one evening while he was playing Legend of Zelda. For those of you with young children, no boys, or just haven't been in the video game world, Zelda is a very popular game about a little hero named Link who is trying to save the princess Zelda.
This is the first verse--he even changed some of the lyrics when they played last week so it didn't actually mention "Link" and the song was even better that way!
As you can see.....his brother is quite enamored of him and his song. We recorded it so Joshua could watch it after Jarrett went back to school. Joshua informed me yesterday, though, that it made him too sad to watch so he doesn't want me to turn it on anymore. He sure does miss his brother.

We recorded it in the basement on a little camera. I hope it's not too dark and the sound is ok.....let me know what you think!

Egg hunting and dinner eating

**Scroll down if you want to start reading at the beginning of the weekend.....

Thankfully, my grown and nearly-grown children all decided to humor me and hunt for eggs with their little brother. To tell the truth, I think they were all secretly glad--more candy and the money in the "special" eggs helped. :)

This year Grandma and Grandad helped Dave hide the eggs. Everyone was glad we had Joshua to keep us young. :)

Grandad taking a break and watching the action

I'm sure there's an egg in there somewhere..........

Success!

We had dinner later in the afternoon. In addition to Jarrett and Mom and Dad G, we had two friends from church over to eat. Rachel is one of Alyson's friends who had to work this weekend while her family was travelling. Brian is a student at Washington Bible college who didn't go home for the holiday. We had a great time with them. Dinner was great--it was fun having so many people around the table!

Rachel and Joshie hamming it up

Full dinner table

I can't let this weekend go by without acknowledging how blessed we were to be able to be together. Thank you, Mom and Dad G, for coming out to spend a cold, wet day in the rain watching your granddaughter and for putting up with all the noisy craziness that goes on in this family! We loved having you. And thank you to Jarrett for doing some Chapel Hill shopping for us so we can all be sporting the newest in NCAA championship gear! :)

But most of all, I am thankful to my Savior. For what was done for me, a sinner, thousands of years ago. As much as I love my family, the kind of love He has for me is unfathomable. The tomb could not hold Him, the Deceiver has not power over Him. He wants me to know that and rely on Him. Just as He didn't leave Mary waiting and wondering long, He won't leave me waiting. He is ready to intervene with heavenly strength at my very request. I accept Him and I love Him. And I eagerly await what "no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Easter pictures

Easter morning we all went to church together. Thankfully the sun was out and it was quite a bit warmer than Saturday! Here are all the kids in their Sunday best:

I have no answer for this photo. He stated to me that he wanted to pose like that, and he did. I think Dave may be worried about his future.....

After church we came home and played outside a bit. Played catch, jumped on the trampoline, just enjoyed being together.

Where is photoshop when you need it???

Easter weekend

Where do I start? We had a wonderful weekend filled with family and friends and even a bit of sunshine!

Dave's parents flew in Friday afternoon. We were delighted to have them, as it's been quite a little while since we've gotten to spend time with them! We had a low-key Friday night and Saturday morning went to pick Jarrett up at the airport on our way to Alyson's track meet in Baltimore City.

Saturday was a ROUGH day. It was pouring rain, windy, and FREEZING COLD. The meet was a mess. They weren't prepared for the weather and events started running later and later until finally they cancelled the rest of the field events. Alyson was so wet by the time she was done that she looked like she had been through the carwash without a car. I'm surprised she doesn't have pneumonia.

Great news, though! She placed 4th (out of 16) on triple jump, which is the first time she's ever competed that event! She also placed 2nd in her heat on the 100m hurdles and 3rd in her heat on the 400m hurdles. Long jump was one of the events that was cancelled, so she got out of that. This picture:

made the front page of the school's website. :)
Joshua had a wonderful weekend with all of his family home. He told me more than once that when Jarrett is finished with college, he's moving home!! He loves having everyone together. He had great fun with his grandparents, too, playing games, doing puzzles, and Grandma even talked him into reading to her a little bit.

Coupon deal for the commissary

For those of you who have access to the commissary and have been clipping your coupons, here is a great deal you can snag on shampoo!
I clipped a coupon for $1.75 off 3 Suave products. Our commissary currently has the shampoo marked at .69. I bought three, used my coupon, and ended up getting them all for 32 cents! 11 cents a bottle is NOT a bad deal--especially when you have someone in the house who uses A LOT of shampoo!

Headlines

Some headlines we read this morning:

TARNATION

BLUE HEAVEN

A BIG SHINY BOW

HEAD OVER HEELS

BACK ON TOP

HE GOT IT

What a great night. :)

And I must say I am so thankful we homeschool! After watching the game, then watching the highlights and discussion, then the post-game interviews, then online coverage of Franklin Street, we got to bed FAR into this morning. Poor Alyson had to be on the bus at 6:30. Hope she's staying awake! I imagine the adrenaline is helping a bit with that.

J has strict orders to go shopping for us before he comes up this weekend. We're gonna be sportin' some new championship gear!!!

It all comes down to this....

I've gotten a couple of emails today wondering why I hadn't posted anything lately on our incredible, conquering, no. 1 Tarheels and their domination of the NCAA tournament!

Well, to be honest, there are a couple of people (ahem...Gina...) who have hinted that they skip over my posts about Carolina so I thought I ought to give everyone a break.

But make no bones about it,
we are ready for tonight!

Here are a few "we support Carolina" moments:

• Jarrett watched the Final 4 game Saturday night in the Dean Dome with several thousand other Carolina fans
• we all wore Carolina blue to church yesterday. Of course, that would have been much more effective had we still been living in North Carolina, but it was fun
• Nick wore UNC pajama pants, Air Jordans in UNC colors, 2 UNC t-shirts, a UNC hat, and crazy blue UNC hair to youth group last night (weird but eye-catching...)
• Alyson wore a UNC Basketball No. 50 t-shirt to school today
• Jarrett begged to get off work an hour early so he doesn't miss the first half (he gets to!)
• we're baking little Tarheel cookies today

We were talking about this being the greatest way to go out. Not only making it to the championship game, but giving the fans the most possible games to watch in a single season! They have played as many games as they could have--probably just because they know how much we love watching them! ;-)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some of my favorite images.....

Some of the most-loved names in Carolina basketball having a good time

One Player of the Year dunking over the other Player of the Year

And a little bit of perspective on all this "save Detroit" hype from one of my favorite sports writers:

April 5, 2009
By Adam Lucas
DETROIT--One of the major storylines--and perhaps the primary storyline--for Monday night's championship game will be Michigan State trying to lift the spirits of the state of Michigan.
"There's a storm in the city of Detroit, and we're trying to bring some sunlight to it," Spartan point guard Kalin Lucas said.
Of course, that storyline ignores the fact that there are also hard economic times in other parts of America. Charlotte's banking industry has been severely impacted, and Roy Williams's son, Scott--a former UNC player--lost his job in that field.
Credit MSU coach Tom Izzo for keeping a better perspective on the importance of one basketball game than some members of the media. "There's a lot of cities right now that have problems," Izzo said. "But this is ours. This is our big city in the state. So that's why I think it's a little more meaningful for those of us that are from around here."
Williams, however, isn't ready to institute his own Detroit stimulus package just yet.
"I do realize they have a cause," Williams said. "Well, we also have a cause. We want to win a national championship. And if you would tell me that if Michigan State wins, it's going to satisfy the nation's economy, then I'd say, `Let's stay poor for a little while longer.'"

Let's Go Tarheels!!!

Coupon Deal

Yesterday I had to run into Shoppers to get some supplies for the AWANA Achiever's Outing that is going on today. I bought my cake mix and frosting with coupons, of course, but I came across a really great deal in the process.

The Shoppers near me is offering double coupons up to a dollar this weekend. In addition, they had all their Post cereals on sale for 2 for $4. In ANOTHER addition, they had a retailer coupon in their ad for another dollar off, which, when doubled, made the cereals 2 for $2. I brought one from my ad at home and got another one out of the ad they had in the store. I just happened to have a coupon for $1 off two Honey Comb cereals, which, of course was doubled. So I got all this:

for $2!

Had I planned better, and brought my envelope of cereal coupons from home, I could have gotten all 4 for free! Still, 50 cents a box isn't a bad deal.

It was the first time I had to press to get my coupons accepted. I had to explain to the cashier that the reason I was able to use two coupons on each box was because one was a retailer coupon and one was a manufacturer's coupon. I could see why they maybe wouldn't have honored doubling both, but they did and I was happy!

Still plugging away, and getting a little bit better each time...

I ran out of color printer ink this week. That cartridge went fast! Good thing Walgreens was offering free after rebate printer cardridge refills. Thanks, Lori! :)

Brotherly Love...

Our little Joshie has an infatuation with his older brother, Nick. Oh, he loves all of his siblings, but Nick holds a special place in his heart. He dresses like Nick, follows Nick around, brags about Nick to his friends ("see that big kid over there? That's my brother Nick. He's awesome!").

This morning while Nick and Joshua were eating breakfast, Nick was reading the back of the cereal box out loud. It was a list of 18 things to do before you turn 18. Joshua sat there listening quietly, I think contemplating the feasibility of completing those tasks in the next 13 years. Most of them were pretty tough. Except for one. He's already got that one checked off.

Nick:

1. Ride the world's biggest rollercoaster.

2. Bungee jump

3. Score the winning goal

4. Win an award

5. Learn an instrument

6. Go backstage at a concert

7. Meet your favorite person..........

Joshua:

I already did. That's you.

:)