Stepping up my game

The economy, layoffs, recession, other big scary financial words...blah blah blah.  It hasn't hit toooo close to home *yet*, but I have been trolling the net looking for $$ saving plans just in case...not to mention, saving money is good, right?  

I have been reading about people who save $$ at CVS pharmacy, and save to the point that they actually *make* money (after rebates and such).  I was pretty bummed that we don't have one of

 those nifty stores in the Tulsa area, but we *do* have an overabundance of Walgreens stores.  Apparently, you can do something similar there combining manufacturer's coupons, store coupons, and there EasySaver rebate program.  

I thought I would give it a try this month and see how it worked out.  I didn't really start until this week, so I missed some really great deals the week before =( Oh well.  Pictured are just a few of the items I have bought there this month, and so far, I have a total net cost of $12.  That includes-

Two Sunday Papers (that I clipped the coupons from that saved me over $15)  -$2 each

Two Glade Sense&Spray air freshener systems - Final cost they pay ME $1.01 after two coupons and rebates

Two 'say yes to carrot' lip balms - They pay me $.60 after two coupons each

Thermacare heat wrap - free after rebate

Starbucks fancy evil chocolate - $1 each after in store and EasySaver coupons

Walgreens Contact Lens Soln.- Free after rebate

Two packs of 40ct. diapers- $10 total after coupon and in store discount (that's $.125 a diaper, outstanding!)

Revlon Spa Foundation - Free after rebate

That is just the beginning.  I got a few other things throughout the month, and now I am waiting on my Walgreens rebate card to arrive in the mail.  They load all my rebates on there, plus 10%.  That covers tax (you still have to pay tax on rebate/manufacturer's coupon items) and then some.  From here on out, I should never have to spend another dime out of pocket at Walgreens as long as I can keep my actual expense at an amount less than the $$ on the card.   They also have some items that print 'register rewards' that you can turn around and spend like cash on your next purchase.  You can't use them to buy the same item you received them on (well, you can, but you won't get another reward), but you CAN spend them on a different item that will give you a reward...then use that reward to buy another of the first item if you so desire!  I will try to update in a few weeks and let you know how this is working out for me =)

This all started because I was searching for some coupons I could print to save on Cascade.  Well, I could only find coupons that would come in the mail, and I needed detergent like yesterday.  

I settled for Palmolive's new 'ECO' variety in a move to save the world...or a few bucks, it was considerably less expensive than other name brands.  Well, it turns out it's cheap for a reason...go figure.  

It cleans alright, but it leaves a nice white film in its stead.  It does wipe right off, but it's not exciting to have more work to do after you thought the work was done!  It does smell VERY nice though while the dishes are running.

In other news, Brookelynn is walking.  About a month ago she began toddling, and now she is quite proficient at getting around upright like the rest of us civilized types.  She really is growing up too fast...she will be a year old in a couple weeks!  It is SO WEIRD to see her chasing after all the other kids at our Bible study group.  She can't keep up yet, but she sure tries hard!  

Barry and I celebrated three years of joyous matrimony last Tuesday.  He came home from work early and we hit a movie and Olive Garden.  It is the first movie we've seen together in the theatre since we saw fireproof with our church.  Before that?  I don't even remember!   It was very nice.  We wrapped up our evening at around 7PM...we really are getting old, lol.  

Off off and away...

Hornets

and I'm not talking basketball, or whatever.

This morning B and I came out to the living room to play, and there was a big red hornet waspy guy on the window. UGH. I can squash about any land locked bug without a second thought, but flying stingy bugs give me a run for my money. Flight overtakes fight and I am outta there. However, this one was in MY living room...how he even got in here (in OCTOBER nonetheless) is a mystery. I went and got the trusy can of suger mega plaster hair spray and a fly swatter for defense and moved the baby to the other side of the room. This sucker was going down.

So I sprayed him for a good 30 seconds straight. His wings were stuck in place, he was white from the cold, and he finally let go and fell over dead...so I thought.

Flash forward to thirty minutes later (after opening a good amount of windows and turning on fans to rid the house of the essence of herbal) and the sucker is crawling back up the window shades right next to me. Freakin terminator bug.

He is now squashed up in the trash can covered with a second layer or aerosol goodness. Now I must attend to the screaming squirrel, ciao

Peas please

So it's been about a month since we started ECing, and it's going quite well. I have changed 4 poopy diapers since we started...and she 'goes' about every day. This is quite nice since we are still doing the cloth diapers!!! I did decide to put her in disposables for the nighttime. To get enough absorbancy with cloth I had to use so many layers that it made her butt a small tower with the rest of her body draping down from the booty apex...uncool. Not to mention she still woke up soaked most mornings. I am on the lookout for a better absorbancy overnight cloth, but until then, one disposable diaper a day is better than 8! We still go through plenty of diapers (between 4 and 10 a day I would say) because if she gets even a little wet, she gets fussy and wants changed. With the disposables, she didn't feel when she was wet and could go three or more hours in one diaper. She pees about every hour, so we change often when I miss the timing for taking little tinklebelle to her teeteepot. Geese, I can't believe how different life is from 6 months ago...I never expected the bulk of my conversation to be about things like potty training, lol.

We still dry most of the laundry outside, and it's going well. There was about a week there that things came to a hault (and I dried about three loads inside) because of the torrential rains thanks to the hurricanes. It was nice and cool, however, and we didn't have to turn the AC back on until this weekend.



The (small) garden is growing well despite the cool weather, above you see the beginnings of a big boy tomato and a green bell pepper!!! We might just have some fruit before the frost sets in =)



Our neighbors (the Greggs) have some great morning glories that have snaked over our fence. There are definitely some forms of vegitation you don't want crawling over the property line, but this has been quite an enjoyable one. Brookelynn likes to grab the flowers when we are putting the laundry out. Speaking of our neighbors, Doug's father passed away this Saturday and the family is under a lot of stress planning two services (One in alabama, one back here). Remember them as they pass through this rough time. Lifepoint will be taking care of food for after the service in Tulsa on Friday, if you want to help let me know!




>>>The Brookelynn Update and brag book<<<


Brookelynn has been learning like crazy the past few weeks. She started getting up on all fours (literally, hands and toes) a few weeks ago...it's quite a sight.

She was getting up in the crawling position too, but all she could do was rock. She has finally discovered how to go forwards the past few days. Sometimes she'll move her knees forward (or walk her feet up under her) and basically fall forwards, other times she almost pulls herself with her hands. I guess it's time to get serious about the baby proofing =)

She LOVES her rocking horse that Grandma Antao got her, she goes crazy on it. We pretty much just hold her upright and she rocks like crazy. She likes to sit up and play now, and can even sit herself up from her belly. Once again, I missed seeing it for the first time (most of her discoveries happen when I'm looking the other way it seems...I glance back and all of the sudden she is upright or on her belley or something else new and exciting).

This is my little ballerina! You get to wear some pretty silly outfits when Chrystal is your mother!

She loves her toys, but the elephant is quickly becoming the front runner for favorite animal. She has a few other elephant things and she goes nuts when she sees them. I guess she's a Republican, like it or not ;-)

We tried peas last week for the first time. I am trying to stay away from all the processed baby foods, these were frozen peas boiled up and blended in the magic bullet. I LOVE my magic bullet, thanks M.I.L.!!! She loved them for about ten minutes, then she was done! Since then, she has learned to finish the whole bowl and she is actually getting most of it in her belly instead of ON it! She also LOVES to drink water from her little cup, sippy or otherwise. She typically drinks out of open top (regular) cups and it is quite a fun sight to see.

Pops (grandpa Bickford) had his 55th birthday this past Sept. 11th (yea, it can be hard to celebrate anything on that day I know) so we brought him dinner. Here he is with his two grandbabies, Sasha and Brookelynn. They are such a handfull =)

Welp, I better go do something productive. I've been trying to use this new card system to get my day organized...and I haven't even opened the box yet today...whoops!

PS- See pictures of Brookelynn and others here!

Of making many diapers there is no end

I am proud to report that most the things I have started are going well!!! The tomatoes and peppers are finally blooming, so we may just have some fruit before the year's out after all!

The only time I've used to dryer this week was to finish off Barry's comforter (he sort of prefers a dry blanket to sleep with) and to fluff/delint the clothes on the cool cycle.

The AC has set happily at 80 and it seems like diapers are always hangin' on the line. I think I will have to put up another clothesline for days like today when I'm trying to do lots of laundry and it's humid outside.



Brookelynn has been enjoying sitting on her potty chair, but that's mostly all she does. She did poop in it again today, after quite a few false gas trips! No pee yet, we will attack that one once we figure out #2...those diapers are waaay worse ;-)

Now for some pictures-


Barry attacking the backyard...it's hard to see, but there were definitely parts that were past my waist and possibly past Barry's as well. Thanks to a push-weedeater, the Savannah has been tamed.

So BJ got married. He showed up, even if he was quite late. The wedding went well, and they had a great honeymoon. Made all the flights, didn't fall off the boat, way to go kiddo! This is my new sister (by-law) Jennie right before the wedding. They got married on a ball field, actually the one BJ played on through high school in Claremore. The gals got ready in the new locker room. We were actually the first 'team' to use it!

This is how I did my hair, kind of an experiment. Long hair is a blessing and a curse you see... theoretically you can 'do so much' with it, but I never know what 'so much' is exactly. It is a lot more raggity here than it was to start with....it was a long night!

They made ball team shirts for everyone in the wedding, even Brookelynn got a mini T.

While they were off cruising, I got to watch Sasha during the day. She had a great time with Brookelynn and taught her lots of cool tricks, like throwing her toys on the ground and hair grabbing =)

In other news, mom has been working on a new company to sell e-cigarettes made by Janty. They have come up with a new way of making the electronics that really seem to mimick the smoking experience without all the bad chemicals and tar in a traditional cigarette. Here is mom 'smoking' at Village Inn in Tulsa. That is really a vapor, not smoke at all! They have inserts for flavors or nicotine. Let me know if you're interested in tryin this out, I will hook you up with her.

That's it for now, Brookelynn is throwing a big fit. Poor girl =(