5 question Friday!

1. Do you know what your REAL hair color is?  I do but due to "aging" I make sure to cover up my real color with some pretty blonde and red highlights

2. Do you plan ahead for summer, or fly by the seat of your pants? I'd like to say that I plan ahead for summer but really...nope!!! 

3. What is your favorite meal to cook?  Beef and noodles (or as my kids say B'noodles)  It's yummy roast beef in broth with homemade noodles and it gets sooo creamy and thick...YUM!!!

4. Do you get offended by not receiving thank yous?  Not at all...in fact I usually feel guilty when I receive them because I never remember to have my kids send them...

5. How did you meet your best friend?  I have several really good friends...not just one "best" friend.  I guess my BEST friend would be my husband because he knows everything about me and still loves me!!!

Organization...well, maybe...sorta

So...we've been trying to get a bit more organized around the house...one thing that has bugged us is that the kids can't figure out how to "reseal" the cereal bags (in the boxes) and the cereal goes stale.  So we bought this nifty little item.  Each canister holds an entire box of cereal and keeps it fresh.  The kids love being able to dispense their own cereal by just turning the handles.  They are even having cereal for snack after school.

We also bought a magnetic knife rack.  It hangs over the stove.  This should make sure we don't cut ourselves with the knives just being stuck in a drawer.  I think it should be safer too since the kids are wanting to help more in the kitchen.

I also bought a magnetic spice rack...I didn't realize it when I bought it but it also came with spices, and I can get free spices for the next 5 years...score!!!!

I bought new canisters (only $15 for the set)  left to right:  salt, sugar, flour, rice

And we bought a food saver vacuum system.  I figured that if we were gonna try to buy food on sale and try to stock up that we should make sure that the food stays good as long as possible.  (plus, it's fun to play with...Adreyn thinks it's AWESOME!!!)

Then I spent a few hours yesterday reorganizing my coupons and putting them in a new binder.  I have ALOT of coupons!!!

We'll see how all of this works...hmmmmmmmmmm

My Stockpile

So, anyone who knows me knows that I've really gotten into using coupons lately.  Yes, I am that crazy lady at the grocery store who buys an entire cart full of groceries and then has a large stack of coupons to go along with them.  And yes, sometimes scanning the coupons takes longer than scanning the items in the cart.  But, lately, I've averaged about a $200 dollar savings every time I go on a big shopping trip.  Just recently, we also got dog food for Molly for FREE!!!!  I am loving figuring out how all this works and get sooo excited when I can stack coupons and get stuff really cheap if not free.  The other day at Kroger just by buying certain items (that I would have bought anyway) I ended up with $17 worth of coupons for money off my next purchase.  I'm also SLOWLY learning the CVS game...but that one is time consuming so I'm taking it very slowly!

Here are some pics of my stockpile...I didn't think I really had much of a stockpile until I realized that I had it stocked numerous places LOL

My new freezer (there's still room...I want to buy more bread and milk to put in there..and we are low on hamburger)

Laundry supplies

Pantry (not even the entire pantry)

Cleaning supplies

Shampoo/conditioner/body wash, hand soap

Toilet paper...this is only about 1/4 of my stock for this (Jason thinks I'm crazy...but we won't run out!)

Our bedroom closet...shampoo and conditioner, meds, deodorant, lotions, body wash, razors etc...

freezer of the fridge/freezer combo in garage  (needs to be stocked up actually LOL)

Freezer in the house...packed full!

Fridge in the house

Cheese drawer...can you tell that we like cheese?????

Anyone wanna come over for dinner????  LOL  Hope you enjoyed the pics!

stuff

So, I've got my new upright freezer filled up!  Today we bought Tristan and Rehanyn new beds, bought new twin mattresses for all the kids, and bought a tempurpedic mattress and foundation for our bed!  Then we bought Jason a new laptop.  Thank God for tax refunds, huh!!!  Now to buckle down and get back to couponing and saving money!!!

5 question Friday!

1. Have you ever forgotten your child in a store or at school?  No, I haven't...however, I have forgotten to unlock the front door so that my oldest could come in the house after she walked home from school...and I forgot because I was sleeping (remember, I work nights) and slept through 2 alarms and my husband calling.  Poor kid was left outside for almost an hour...I felt HORRIBLE!!!

2. Where did you go on your very first date? (Like...first first, not first with your spouse or current significant other!)  Out to dinner...don't remember where...think it was fast food...and to a movie...don't remember which one...(sounds like I have a great memory, huh???)

3. What's your "silly" fear? (We're not talking water and heights.)  being on an elevator by myself...I force myself to get on elevators alone...but I HATE it!  I just don't wanna end up stuck in that tiny little box suspended on some wires.  I've only ever gotten stuck once for just a couple minutes but it was enough to last me for a long time!  If I have other people in the elevator with me I'm better but still, I'm claustrophobic so it probably wouldn't be good either way if the darn thing got stuck.

4. Confrontation: do you cause it, deal with is as it comes, or run far far away?  I prefer to run away...but due to my job I end up having to deal with it as it comes...and yeah, a couple of times I've caused it

5. Wood floors or carpet?  I prefer wood floors but I have carpet, tile, linoleum (gross), and laminate flooring in my home...someday I'll get my dream home with my wood floors.

So sleepy

I'm so sleepy today...I worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights 7p7a.  For some reason I couldn't sleep most days after working.  Friday I slept about 3 hours, Saturday about 5, Sunday I slept 7 hours or so, but did not feel like I caught up at all.  Today, I went to breakfast with Jason and a friend, we enjoyed ourselves :-)  We came home and quickly straightened up the house because the people who were supposed to come tomorrow to clean the dryer vents decided that they needed to come today instead.  Once we had done that I was completely awake!  Jason left for work, I watched some TV and finally decided to just go to bed and see if I could fall asleep.  I finally drifted off around 1:20 or so...just to be woken by Jason coming home to let the vent people in around 1:45.  I was then WIDE AWAKE!!!  Not Jason's fault, just the way it goes!  I'm gonna take some Tylenol PM this evening and get some good sleep I think!!!!

Things are all going good here.  My upright freezer gets delivered tomorrow!!!!!  Can't wait to get to fill it up!  Isn't that a funny thing to be excited about???  

5 question Friday!

1. Can you drive a stick shift?  Yes...but I might need a little practice.  My first cars were all stick shifts (and yes, it impressed the boys that I was capable of driving them).  My parents cars were automatic transmissions but mine were standard, and I drove a standard transmission car until after I had my first baby.  Then I only drove automatic until the day my sister and I were on the way to my grandmothers funeral in my sister's stick shift car and it was my turn to drive (we were driving from Texas to Iowa) and I forgot to shift and ended up going 50 miles an hour in 2nd gear...she was not impressed...but I did get better quickly and did okay driving the rest of the trip (I think--that trip is kind of blurry because while we were at Grandma's funeral my other grandfather died unexpectedly and we had to rush home to be with our mom).

2. What are two foods you just can't eat?  Seafood....blech!!!!!  and probably mushrooms...I'm pretty picky...I have more than just 2 foods I just can't eat!!

3. Do you buy Girl Scout Cookies? What is your favorite kind? I don't buy them every year but I did this year.  YAY!!!!!  My favorite is Thin Mints and I usually buy the peanut butter ones (Tag-a-longs????) for my husband.

4. How do you pamper yourself?   I get a massage....I have the most awesomest massage therapist ever.  She always makes me feel sooo much better! 

5. What is your nickname and how did you get it?  I don't really have a nickname, I don't think.  But people do call me "T" sometimes.  Growing up my siblings (all younger) called me "Ton-ton",  "Ton-teen", etc but I usually don't answer to those nicknames :-)  I guess, my other nickname would maybe be "Honey" because that is what MY honey calls me!

5 question Friday!

 

1. Have you worn the same outfit more than one day in a row?  Well, I work night shift so technically yes, since whenever I'm at work I'm there "two" days :-)  At home, of course...I love my pj's and stay in them as much as I can and if I don't have to leave the house....well, there you go :-) 

2. If you had to choose any LARGE city to live in, which would it be?  None of them...I like being a suburb family...

3. Fly or drive with the kids on vacation?  Since I have 3 kids...drive...but if money wasn't an issue...I'd probably fly.  It is SOOOOO much faster!!

4. What is your idea of "spring cleaning"?  I'd love to be like my mom and sisters who do a great job of spring cleaning...but, I'm, just, NOT!  I always have great plans for spring cleaning...but they generally go by the wayside due to LIFE. 

5. What is the best book you have ever read?  Hmmm, I don't really have a BEST book ever...I read ALOT and enjoy lots of different books.  I have lots of books that are my "right now" favorites.

Another long week

Time is flying!

This past week we got to deal with our dryer breaking...it still ran, it just didn't heat.  This is NOT a good thing since there are 5 of us in this family.  I worked all weekend so mom was kind enough to let me bring over the laundry and use her dryer on Thursday so we could get caught up before I went to work.  THANKS MOM!!!! 

I had actually a great weekend at work...nothing exciting just a good weekend.  Today I stopped by CVS on the way home and ended up getting $18.05 worth of items for only $0.05!  I was so excited!!!!  Then for Valentines Day Jason and I got the dryer fixed!!!!  Yay!  Now just to get caught up!  Oh, and I made biscuits and gravy for us for breakfast this morning.  It was yummy!  

Tomorrow I have to get up early for a class in Plano (postponed from last week due to the snow).  Then back to work Wednesday and Thursday.  Then, I'm on call Sunday (hopefully I'll get to stay home) then don't work again until next Thursday.  Jason's birthday is Tuesday, Tristan's 2nd grade program is Tuesday, and then we have middle school parent orientation for Adreyn on Wednesday...it's a busy week next week!

Jason is busy this week too.  But we aren't complaining :-)

Really????

Has another week already gone by???  It's been CRAZY here in N.Texas!  The kids haven't been to school since Monday...not because they are sick but because they've had 4 (yes 4) snow days in a row!  Tuesday we had freezing rain for about 12 hours followed by snow.  Then Wednesday it was just really, really cold (didn't get above 20 degrees) and the roads were a bit treacherous (Texas doesn't have salt and snow plows, you know!).  Wednesday was more of the same but they added in rolling blackouts to conserve energy (I never though I'd be thankful for living down the street from an ER and a hospital...I think that's why we didn't actually have blackouts at our house since we are so close to the "priority" places).  I went to work Wednesday...the roads weren't too bad...there were ruts worn in the ice so it was really pretty safe to drive (plus, I used to live/drive in Minnesota...I'm more worried about the other TX drivers than I am about my ability to drive in this stuff).  Got home easily Thursday morning, slept and then back to work Thursday night...still pretty easy to drive into work...other than the other drivers :-).  It started snowing while I was at work and we had accumulated about 3-4 inches by the time I got to drive home.  I got the joy of staying at work until 9am since we had a no-show at work and one other person who had some difficulty getting there (but made it by 9)  I got home around 9:30 or so...the snow had done a great job of covering up the ruts in the ice so once again no one could figure out exactly where to drive...haha.  Got home and started lunch for the kids (chicken and rice...it had to cook for 1.5 hours) while Jason was rotating the tires on his car (he needed to go to work since he had been home with the kids all week.  Jason left for work around 10 or so after many reminders from me to "drive safely".  at 10:45 I got a call from Jason that he was stuck in a subdivision and unable to get out (had to go uphill to get out and couldn't get the momentum he needed because of some crazy people who decided to go for a walk with their dog and baby and stepped out in front of him).  While I was on the phone with him he decided to try one more time (he was using his bluetooth...handsfree calling) and suddenly all I hear him say is "oh, no, oh, no, oh, no"  My heart dropped...but it was fine he just slid around a little bit!  He wasn't able to get out of the subdivison so I piled the kids in the car and off we went to pick up daddy.  Jason ended up walking 2 miles out of the subdivision to one of the main roads so that we could pick him up...we made good time and actually got there to the turn-off just as he trudged up.  On the way back home we got stopped while a truck pulled another vehicle out of the ditch...the one he was pulling out...it had just passed me going the other direction driving about 45 miles an hour.  It looked like he just slid off the road and sideswiped a phone pole...like I said...lots of TX people have no clue how to drive in this stuff!!!!  Glad that I wasn't close by when that happened!  We got home...had lunch and then I got to get to bed and sleep about 4 hours or so.  I'm looking forward to getting back to bed in a little bit and I'm really happy that I don't have to go back to work until Monday! 

It is pretty crazy that it is supposed to snow again tonight but should actually get above freezing tomorrow and sunday...but we are supposed to get more snow next week again...this is crazy weather for Texas!!!!!