Where The Wild Things Are

I think I’ve finally found an almost useful new hobby…shopping! Okay, so I’ve always loved retail therapy, but now I have a cool new way to do it. I’ve discovered the love of coupons. I know, it seems like a pain, but I’m telling you…when you can get something for nothing (or close to it) it’s almost a high! Take today for instance. I went to Target and in addition to a whole lot of groceries and stuff I didn’t really need, I bought

1 Venus Embrace Razor gift pack (with a travel case, 2 extra blades,
travel can of shave gel, and small tube of lotion
1 Fusion razor (nothing fun with this one )

I could have paid:
$9.44 Venus
7.99 Fusion
_____
17.43

but noooooo

I had a $4.00 off coupon for the Venus and a $2.00 coupon for the Fusion, making my total 11.43. Which really wouldn’t have been bad, but Target also had a promotion where if you bought 2 of these razors, you got a $10 Target gift card instantly. Since I shop at Target a lot, this GC will definitely get used. So basically I spent 1.43 for 2 razors and a few little extras as well!

Then tonight I went to Walgreens. I bought
2 Gillette Fusion Hydragel shave gels $3.33 (x2)
4 Edge Shave gels $2.00 (x4)
2 Skintimate shave gels $2.00 (x2)
1 Gillette 2-in-1 body wash $4.00
__________
$22.66

Walgreens had a promotion going where if you spent $20 on these products, you got a coupon fro $5 off your next order. Again, since I shop at Walgreens a lot, this will get used. That would bring my total to $17.66. Still not a bad deal. But Walgreens also had a coupon in their June Easy Saver Catalog for $1 off each of the Edge and Skintimate shave gels. That brought my total to $11.66. Getting better I had 2 $1.50 off coupons for the Fusion Shave gels (we’re down to $8.66 if you’re following along). I also had 2 $.55 off coupons for the Skintimate making my total $7.56. Not to mention that I had a coupon for a free Gillette body wash. We’re down to 3.56 now. This alone would have rocked my world, but last time I was in Walgreens, a $3 off your next order coupon printed for reasons completely unknown to me so I used that too. My total was now at .56. After tax, I spent just under $2.50 on all that good stuff. I would have paid with the Walgreens gift card I got from doing the rebates last month, but being the oh-so-organized person I am, I left it at home

I’m sure that’s probably very confusing but I love to go to www.moneysavingmom.com and www.hotcouponworld.com and read about all the deals. I’d never know what was going on or which coupons to use if it weren’t for them!!

We’re not getting in as much riding time as I’d like, but with 2 kids and a lot of cold weather/rain I’m not surprised. Last weekend the girls went to Nana’s house so Friday night Joe and I rode together for the first time. We just rode over to McAlister’s for dinner, but it was still a ride!

Saturday we waiting for the weather to warm up a bit and then headed over to Shelbyville. That was by far my longest ride and I really enjoyed it! I haven’t done a lot of 45mph+ riding and I wasn’t sure how I would like it, but I love it We stopped by our riding buddies’ house and showed off my bike a bit then came home. Our group is riding on Sunday but I can’t go because Lauren’s best friend is having her birthday party. *sob* Oh well, riding season is just getting started!

Hmm, guess I didn’t stick to that whole “I’ll blog more often” thing.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure today was one of Lauren’s best days. She got up this morning and found her Easter basket (we do the secular Easter stuff on Saturday and save Easter Sunday as a more reverent day) which included lots of candy, Ariel sunglasses, as pink stuffed pony and a new Bible. Then we bundled up and met our friends Dana, Aiden, and Aaron for an Easter egg hunt. Lauren really wanted Aiden to be there so she was thrilled. They got lots of candy and Lauren won a couple of prizes so that was fun too. We came home and had lunch (pork chops…her favorite) then she had to dress as Princess Jasmine for her best friend’s birthday party. She spent 2 hours with 8 other giggling 6 year olds and came home with all sorts of loot.

After picking Lauren up, we went over to Watson’s and tried out all of their swing sets/play gyms. We ended up buying one that will hopefully be delivered in a week or so. I’m pretty sure this kid thinks life couldn’t get any better…and to be honest, I’m not sure it could! I think the only thing we could have done to make it better is buy her a pony hehehe.

Ever have a week you just don’t want to begin? Well, that’s this week for me. I have to admit I love the freedom of being a stay-at-home mom. I pretty much do what I want, when I want. This week, sadly, won’t be that way. It’s one of those weeks that seems to be packed before it even starts. I have a meeting at 10:30 this morning, and another at 6:30 tonight. Tomorrow I have to be in Tara’s classroom from 9-11, feed her lunch, run to a meeting half an hour away from 12:30-3, come home, get Lauren off the bus and feed her a snack, make dinner and be at another meeting by 7. And those are all for preschool stuff! I also need to meet with the other Daisy Girl Scout leader this week to plan the rest of the semester. I need to wedge a dentist appointment for me, a shot visit for Tara and a vet visit for the dog in there somewhere. Oh yeah and still manage to get the kids to school, fed, bathed, and to bed at the right times, laundry done and the house cleaned. I’m tired and we haven’t even begun! Can I just go back to bed and pretend that this is NOT Monday?

So today totally redeemed the fact that I now own and actually enjoy driving a minivan. I’ve had it for 12 days now and I’m not sure I’d be willing to give it up. I never thought I’d say that!!

Anyway, today I got my first motorcycle (www.theneals.net/jamie if you’re wanting to take a gander). It’s a 2002 V-star 650, black, and sooo cool! I’ve had my permit since September but only have a small amount of driving time under my belt. I can’t wait for it to get warm enough for me to practice! I’m hoping by the end of the summer to have my license and be able to ride at least with Joe. I may still ride with him when our group goes riding but look out summer 2009

Woo hoo! I’m officially a biker chick!

For the last few nights (and for the next few, certainly), I have been mending our beloved “ugly blankets.” These blankets definitely live up to their name. They are cream colored (I think that’s the color they’re supposed to be, although after 30 years it’s really hard to tell anymore) with a brown, black and red plaid pattern on them. I’m not sure what these blankets are made of…it’s almost flannel feeling but not quite as smooth. At one time, there was a rusty brown satin binding that went around the edges. If you look closely enough, you can still see traces of the binding in the stitching.

Why, you ask, am I spending so much time mending 2 hideous 30 year old blankets? Simply put, I love them. These are the closest things to “security blankets” I’ve ever had. When I was little, any time I got sick I had to go to my grandma’s house. My mom had a compromised immune system so in she couldn’t care for me when I was sick. Luckily, my grandma was very willing and able to do so. Each time I was sick, Nana would set me up on the couch with a snack and a drink and cover me up with this ugly blanket. It wasn’t until I was in college (and took the blanket with me) that I realized there were actually 2 ugly blankets. I ended up with both of them. They lay draped over the ends of our loveseats in the family room and are used every night. Joe and I usually each have one (and 1 girl) on our laps while we watch TV at night. He won’t admit it, but I think he likes these ugly blankets almost as much as I do.

All of this nightly use has really taken a toll on them. There are probably at least a dozen holes in each one, some small but many are 3+ inches. Places without holes are visibly worn. I have a feeling that soon I’m going to be sacrificing one blanket to patch the other. When that stops working, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’m going to have a really hard time letting them go. For now I’m not going to think about it…I’m just going to snuggle up under my ugly blanket and feel warm and comforted.

So I’ve decided to really try to blog. I frequently think “oh I’ll blog about that” only to actually begin writing and decide my thoughts were far too boring. I’m quick on the delete key, that’s for certain! Well, I like reading blogs, even if they are the mundane day to day adventures we all have. So now I’m subjecting the world to my own mundane, day to day adventures!

Right now I’m going to make sure I start documenting the books that I read this year. I’m very thankful that I didn’t do this last year, because my list would be pathetic. It would have been filled with Junie B. Jones, Dr. Seuss, and Saddle Club books, and I’m just not sure I could take that kind of embarrassment. I suppose you could say my New Year’s Resolution is to read more, specifically adult books. You could say that if I actually made New Year’s Resolutions

I just (as in not 5 minutes ago) finished reading “Son of a Witch” by Gregory Maguire. This is the sequel to “Wicked” which I loved. “Son…” did not disappoint. While I didn’t find it quite as spellbinding (okay…I know) as “Wicked” I really did enjoy it. For me, the draw of “Wicked” was that it was a play on a familiar story. I liked finding those parallels between the book and “The Wizard of Oz” and seeing how Maguire tied the two together. “Son” is set after Dorothy and the Wizard leave Oz so it’s a completely new story featuring some familiar characters. It does have ties, obviously, back to “Wicked” and “Wizard” but not the same way. I do enjoy Maguire’s writing style and will definitely seek out his other books. I have to say the last line made me grin like a fool. That tied the whole book up in one sentence and I LOVED that!

I’m also reading the first of the Harry Potter books to Lauren. When the books first came out, I worked at Zany Brainy in Mesa. We hosted all sorts of HP parties and premiers when new books came out and I really wanted to be a part of the hype. Unfortunately, I tried repeatedly to read that book and just couldn’t do it. I’d get half a chapter in and decide I was going to die of boredom if I kept going. Now, reading it to Lauren, I am amazed at how interested I am in the book! I have a hard time not sneaking into her room while she is at school and just finishing it But I don’t because I know she’d find out. I’m not sure if we’ll read the second book next or go back to reading the Little House series…quite the shift, I know!

We finished Little House in the Big Woods just after the new year. I think Lauren liked it, but sometimes it’s hard to tell with her. I really enjoyed it, but I expected that. From many trips to Goodwill I have collected all but 2 of the series. Unfortunately, the second book is one that I don’t have, thus the switch to Harry Potter. We have Little House on the Prairie requested at the library, but it hasn’t arrived yet. Soon I hope! We’re probably only a few days away from finishing the HP book and I do want to go back to the LHP books. We’ll see.

I started reading “The Prairie Girls’ Guide to Life” on Monday, much to my husband’s amusement. I guess he doesn’t see me as much of a prairie girl, but I actually do know most of the things in that book so far. I found that fact both exciting and annoying I do think there are a lot of things I will take away from the book, but I expected to be amazed at every page. I suppose my grandma has taught me well. Or maybe I am a prairie girl at heart and just didn’t realize it. The crafty and cooking parts come easy to me…I’m pretty sure panning for gold will be something that I will learn a lot about after finishing this book!

The next book on the horizon for me is “Iron Thunder” by Avi. It is a civil war novel about the battle between The Monitor and The Merrimac. I discovered Avi in one of my Children’s Lit classes at Purdue and really enjoy his style. I never thought I would like historical fiction, but I really seem to do so. I know this book is going to be a quick and easy read and I’m somewhat looking forward to that after finishing “Wicked.”

I find reading to be so addictive. I’m not sure why I allowed myself to go so long without doing much of it! I guess I have been reading, just not for pleasure. I find myself reading texts on childrearing, knitting, sewing, homemaking, etc. And while those are very useful and worthwhile books, they just don’t ignite the passion for literature like a good novel!!