Bah, Halloween!

Well, this post probably won't make me very popular, but that's life!

I've pretty much decided I can do without Halloween. It isn't what it used to be when I was a child - fun and games. I have fond memories of our neighbor across the street having a little party on her back porch for all the neighborhood children with cookies and punch, in the days when you could do such things w/o fear of what might be in those homemade treats. Now, it seems it's all about who can outdo who with the creepy stuff. We went into Michael's recently and couldn't go down an aisle it seemed w/o something ghoulish staring us in the face - just what the little ones need to see, eh? The worst was this pair dressed in wedding garments and one was decapitated and holding its head. As you walked by they began to emit horrible sounds and scared the children something awful. Mr. A kept repeating - it's creepy, it's creepy!

Sigh.

Wal-mart and Target weren't much better this year. If they could just keep all that stuff in one part of the store (NOT BY THE TOYS), and you knew which part to avoid, that would be great, but now that wouldn't put the most $$ in the retailer's pocketbook, would it?

Down the street, there's quite a display and while we were out looking at houses recently, we pulled up and the one across the street from the one we were going to see had a decapitated head on a stake in the front yard. Nice.

We considered putting out a sign this year that said "No Scary Costumes" but instead we just decided to avoid the whole mess and CKB and I will be going out tonight for dinner, yes, just the two of us! Our lovely babysitter will be here with the children and the porch light will be OFF. The children can dress up as princesses and knights any day of the year. Who needs Halloween? Not I.

A gorgeous fall afternoon

Well, if your a/c has to stop working properly, I suppose fall is as good a time as any. Ours is running, but not cooling - may be time for more freon...they're supposed to come out and check it. Until then, we've been instructed to not run it at all. Eek! Don't they know we have 4 small children and a pregnant lady in the house? This is a house w/o good cross air currents as well, but we're trying by leaving the front door wide open and the windows on the back of the house open as well. We're getting a slight breeze and thankfully it's not THAT hot today. Whew!

However, at lunchtime I needed a break and loaded up the crew for an outing and hopefully a bit of cooler air in the car for a short while. We decided to also see if a new local park had been completed since the last time we drove past it. After a quick stop at the post office, we drove by the park and hooray, it looked ready for play! So, just down the way a little farther we picked up hamburgers and headed back to the park. Sadly, no picnic tables, so we ate in the car and then hopped out to enjoy the new playground. The breeze today is WON-DER-FUL and COOOOL - just what we need considering our a/c woes. The playground is definitely for bigger children and I felt pretty much okay w/the older 3 on it, but there were too many gaps and so forth for Mr. A in my opinion. Did that stop him? No. He wanted to get up there w/his brother and sisters naturally. So, what's a 6 mos. pregnant mama to do? Sigh. I'm sure CKB would've had a heart attack if he'd been there (well, if he'd been there, HE'D have been doing what I'm about to confess doing), but I did carefully climb up the steps with Mr. A to make sure he made it to the top of the slide safely - instructed him to sit and wait - slowly walked back down and went to the bottom of said slide and after taking his picture (of course), told him he could come on down!

Now, you'd think once would be enough right? Ha ha. No. Of course not! Mr. A was ready to go again, but this time he wanted to do the twirly slide. Ack. I wasn't too thrilled about him going down that one alone...I took him up, looked at it and how far down it was and decided the best thing would be for me to take him down on my lap. Yes, I know. I shouldn't have. But, it's done now. He enjoyed it and I told him no more playground, we could go and swing and that was it. Thankfully he didn't fuss - he's good like that. So, he sat on a big boy swing and I sat next to him on a swing and gave him a gentle push now and then. After a while, the older 3 came over to swing a bit too and then I gave them the "final slide" call and they all ran to go down one more slide before we left and then headed to the car. It was a beautiful afternoon - the weather is absolutely gorgeous - nice breeze, perfect temp. - oh to have many more fall days like this before winter comes.

Here are a few pics from our outing - I amazingly managed to grab the camera on our way out the door today - I usually *want* to take it, but don't want to have to keep up with it when I know I'll be busy w/the children (read: Mr. A is a handful and a half), so I was glad to have it today and snap a few pics of the children enjoying the day and the new playground we found.

Here's Mr. A hollering into the megaphone that in turn would output his voice up at the top of the playground where his sister was listening - thankfully this part was down on the ground level!



Here is a shot of all 4 children sitting still for a few seconds :)





And, as if it's not hard enough to get a decent picture of all 4 sitting still, I had to go and try for a shot of them on the swings...with the swings moving!



Here's Mr. A waiting for me to let him come down the slide - he's a good little guy to wait, isn't he? :) He listens to his mama most of the time!





And here we have the death defying twirly slide...don't be too mad at me CKB, I'm ok and baby girl is kicking away as I sit and type this - I think she enjoyed the activity - whew - I'm a tad tired now though - pitiful, eh? :)



If the weather is nice where you are, get out there, it probably won't last long!

A new sickness

Well, yes, of the germy kind, unfortunately. It seems we got over that last cold mess and were well for a week or two and then we were hit again. Sigh. I guess it's that time of the year. Ugh. Mr. E finished up the antibiotics and seems to be improving, but it takes a full 10 days to a week for it to do its thing so we'll see. In the meantime, Mr. A developed a lovely runny nose - blah - and Miss A started talking about a sore throat and now sounds something like a small Darth Vader as she breathes with all the congestion - yay - Miss E, who I thought had escaped it this time around, just asked me where a full kleenex box was...sigh. Well, maybe we'll all get well and stay well longer this time.

Now, for the new sickness...fabric...not that I didn't already have it to some degree, but it was for dresses for the girls and I'd buy 2-4 yards of a particular fabric and then not have time to make the dress(es) - so I have quite a collection of large pieces of fabric. My attention of late has been toward baby quilts however and I've been looking at quite a few quilting sites and blogs for inspiration and it seems a lot of quilters purchase fat quarters and/or smaller cuts of fabrics they like and put them into their "stash". Hmm. Just what I need. Yesterday, however, I was in the fabric store and needed to get more of the floral fabric I've been working with and picked up a few other goodies to have on hand and to try along w/those pinks and browns (no, I haven't given up on it completely). So...my collection or "stash" has grown a bit, but thankfully in smaller quantities overall. Each cut is 1/2 yard except for the floral - I went ahead and got a yard of it. I like it a lot. Now to find a place to "stash" the "stash" - ha ha.

I voted today....have you?

What an election year, eh?

Well, today the crew and I headed off to the early voting location and hoped for a short line and a smooth outing. We were blessed with both. There were about 10 people in line and we were probably only in there about 10 mn. Yay! The line of voting machines were arranged such that the one at the end was by a wall so I had the children, except Mr. A, sit by the wall while I voted and then we were off on our way again sporting our "My Vote Counted" stickers proudly. A woman asked as we were leaving the building if we had all voted, to which I replied that I wished they all could! We've been talking about the importance of exercising our right to vote and they understand what a great responsibility they have to look forward to in the future - Miss E is already counting the years to see when she'll be able to vote for the first time for president.

Have you voted yet?

Baby Quilt Possibly Taking a Different Turn

Well, I just wasn't feeling it w/the fabrics I have been working with. Perhaps it was just a matter of trying to use too many "busy" fabrics at the same time...

Anyway, I kept looking at a couple of the other fabrics I purchased awhile back, but hadn't been incorporating thus far and decided to play with them today and I think I may go with the new color scheme instead.

Here's what I've done so far.



Feels more "baby girl" to me anyway...perhaps the pinks and browns will have to wait for something when she is bigger or be used for something for her big sisters. We'll see.

Now to decide about placement...whether to alternate the different 4 patches or put a solid color square between and alternate...so many possibilities. Here are a few examples I played with earlier today. None of these incorporate putting solid squares in since I hadn't cut any at the time...

Poetry by Miss A

This past weekend was our annual meeting at Fellowship PBC and we enjoyed a blessed meeting.

Sunday we had just arrived on the church grounds and Miss A asked if I wanted to hear a poem she'd made up on the drive.

Of course :)

Here 'tis:

I'm not 7.
You're not 8.
If you wear it,
you are great!

- Miss A

Now, what does that mean, you ask?

:)

Miss A is 6 years old. She was wearing a dress that was size 7.
Miss E is 7 years old. She was wearing a dress that was size 8.

Think about it :)

I told her she was very clever :) For those of you with little girls, you know that often the size that matches their age is not very long. We often buy dresses a size or sometimes 2 sizes larger to get more length. And a poetess is born....

Baby quilt moving along....somewhat

Well, I actually did some sewing :) Yay!

I put together a couple of 4 patches yesterday...just a couple, but it's a start.

I'm starting to think that I need some solid squares or at least a very subtle tone on tone for the alternating squares in the quilt or it's just going to be too much/busy.

So...yes, you guessed it, a trip to the fabric shop is in order...I'm so sad about that ;) (insert a tad of sarcasm here)

So...maybe I'll take in my 4 patches with me and see what I can find that will complement the shades of pink (or maybe cream, thanks for your input AmandaJean) in the fabrics I'm using and then we'll see where things take us.

That's it for now...here are the actual sewn blocks that are done at this point. We'll see where they end up in the end product....





Yes, I know the one in the middle has issues - I didn't line that one up too well in the center...maybe I'll undo it and redo it....maybe. The first one shown is my favorite. :)

Tomatoes in October...almost November? Why yes, in Texas, of course!

Well, the saga of the tomato plants continues. I don't know that it's really a saga, per se, but a strange tale to be sure.

A long time ago in a backyard far away from most of our readers...a hopeful family purchased 3 tomato plant containers (each with 6 plants...in hindsight said family would think they should've just gotten larger plants and only one of each type...you know what they say about hindsight...anyway...). This hopeful family also purchased some lovely soil and planned to try growing 3 different types of tomatoes...in buckets...on the back porch...because they didn't want to dig holes in the yard (it's a rental house....).

Anyway...buckets were filled with soil and plants were gently planted and watered. The watering went on for awhile and then slowly tapered off as the plants were forgotten during busy times for the family.

What happened, you ask, to the other 5 plants of each type? Well, the lady of the family couldn't bear to just toss them out and didn't have any more large buckets so she dug holes in the yard after all...gasp...and planted them in the back corner of the yard to see what would happen with them. They were watered once, maybe twice.

Months went by and nary a tomato was ever seen on the tomatoes in the buckets. Recently, however, the family noticed that the tomato plants that were just planted out of a sense of guilt over tossing them, had grown....a lot...and upon closer inspection they found that there were tomatoes growing on the plants...quite a few tomatoes....amazing!

These plants that had been left to themselves and whatever rain the Lord chose to bless them with were healthier and hardier than the bucket tomatoes. Interesting.

Today, Miss E, the eldest child of the family and the lady of the family headed back to check on the tomato plants on a whim and what do you think they found?

Well....this.....



and....



these!



They had to pick the green one since the limb of the tomato plant that it was on had been broken in a recent rainstorm and it wouldn't last long before rotting - maybe it'll ripen up, they thought...or perhaps they'll try fried green tomatoes....perhaps...

So...you just never know what's going to happen, do you?

Mr. E update

Mr. E had dose #1 of his antibiotic in the parking lot after we got his prescription - I didn't want to wait and give it to him at home, before bed!

We gave him some cough medicine before bed, which I try not to do unless he has a cough that's really bothering him. And, I'm thrilled to report he slept through the night and I only heard him coughing once....CKB might've heard him more, I'll have to check with him, but either he didn't cough more or I slept right through it (it's been known to happen!).

So, Day 2 of his medicine just went down the hatch...now to remember to take it with us tomorrow when we're at the annual meeting at Fellowship!

Ah yes, and Mr. A's nose started running this morning...here we go again....

Mr. E is under the weather, but sure doesn't act it!

Mr. E has had an on again/off again cough and tad bit of sniffles for awhile now, but last night the cough just persisted and persisted to the point of him getting up in the night a couple of times. Time to finally go and see what the dr. had to say. Thankfully I was able to get a sitter on short notice and didn't have to take the other children to the germ-infested doctor office. Yay!

The doctor couldn't definitively say if it was or was not allergies...or anything else for that matter. She did prescribe antibiotic for him since it could be the early stages of a sinus infection and apparently bronchitis and walking pneumonia are going around - oh fun!

Lord willing, the medicine will clear this congestion up and Mr. E can sleep w/o coughing all night very soon. Somehow, Mr. A has been able to sleep through all the coughing - I don't know how, but I'm thankful for it!

The weather has turned nice and cool since yesterday afternoon - yay, fall is here, fall is here! There is even a little color showing in some of the trees. Nothing like some parts of the country, but we'll take what we can get here!

Despite all the missed sleep and coughing off and on, Mr. E is his regular ol' self - children are so incredibly resilient!

Baby Quilt - some progress

Well, since I was out of town for a long weekend there wasn't much progress on the baby quilt.

However, I have played around with the fabrics a bit and cut some squares.

At first, I was envisioning straight patchwork, no borders between squares, just 4" squares all in a row.

Then I cut a bunch of 4.5" squares to get ready to start and when I tried lining them up beside each other, I just didn't like the colors together. Sigh.

So...I thought maybe I'd use the brown(s) as "accents" and border the 4" squares w/thin brown strips so I laid out one of the brown fat quarters and laid a few of the 4" pink tone fabrics on top to simulate the effect and I didn't like that too much either.



I know, hard to please, but I want to realllly like this quilt, I mean, it will be some work to put it together and I envision baby girl having it around for a long time!

So...I thought maybe I'd try making some 4 patch blocks and seeing how that would look, so I cut some more squares from the leftover pieces I had and started liking things a little more at this point. Here are a few "idea" blocks I laid out when I was playing around w/the smaller squares.



So...now I think MAYBE I'll alternate 4 patch blocks with the larger 4" squares of a single fabric and see how that looks....

Maybe tonight I'll sew up a few of the 4 patches and we'll go from there.

Anyone have any thoughts?

A good trip

This past Thursday we took off on our trip to TN. We stopped at the rest stop at the TX/AR border and everyone got a little energy out - the weather was wonderful and we enjoyed taking a short break from sitting in the car.





















We arrived at my parents' house at about 6:30 p.m. - Dad had picked up Papa John's pizza for dinner and it was a welcome meal to our van full of weary travelers (CKB and I being the weariest :) ). If you recall, we don't have Papa John's close to us right now and it'd probably been a year since we've had PJ pizza - yum!



Friday we enjoyed a relaxing day and then prepared for evening services. We made it just in time after fighting our way through some unexpected traffic delays. My sister and her family got there ahead of us after driving over from East TN that day. Evening services were very good - CKB preached and we were blessed to be in the hearing.

Saturday morning my sister's husband, who is also an elder, preached. We are not all together often and we enjoyed hearing the message God laid on his heart as well.

Saturday evening we enjoyed hot dogs and hamburgers a la Dad/Grandpa as he rolled out the grill for one last hurrah this year. Afterward we had a mini-birthday celebration for one of our nieces who just turned 5. To see all of their crew, check out the blog link on the righthand side of this blog for Foothills Valley.

Here are all the cousins minus 2

Here is the missing child from my sister's 3


My brother and his family came over for a short visit before the children went to bed also and everyone enjoyed seeing the youngest cousin for a bit. She seemed to enjoy all the chaos and took it in stride.

And a pic with the youngest cousin (at the moment - our baby is due in January and my brother's family will grow by 1 come April). Miss A was thrilled to hold her baby cousin, Miss N.





All the little girls took awhile to settle down that night - too much excitement :) They finally went to sleep and the grownups headed off to bed as well.

Sunday morning was a wonderful blessing to us all. CKB preached first and spoke on the body and bread. My brother-in-law preached next on the blood and wine. Can you see where we're going here? Elder Camp followed and spoke on the foot washing service. Yes, you are right, the communion service followed. Elder Camp mentioned that he'd never been in a communion service before with so many young children and what a blessing the children are in the church. Amen and Amen. We were indeed blessed in the service.

Later, after a meal together in the lunchroom, we packed up the remaining items and got back on the highway again. My sister and her family headed out shortly afterward - their journey was to be about 7 hours; ours 9. I'm thankful to report that they arrived home safely as did we (at 11:30 p.m.). Our weary bodies were very glad to be back home and ready to fall into our beds to sleep.

It was a good trip...tiring...but worth every moment of tiredness.

CKB went back to work yesterday (Monday) and we rested here, not getting much done. At naptime/quiet time, Mr. A went down for his nap, Miss E went to practice piano, Miss A and Mr. E played quiet games and I laid down for awhile...which ended up being a much needed 3 hour nap. I feel much more rested now, but unfortunately CKB is now under the weather and home from work today (Tuesday). Lord willing, it will be a short lived illness.

It's good to be home.

**Well, I never got around to finishing this yesterday (Tues.), and it's now Wed. CKB went back to work today and feels some better - yay - after fighting the garage door last night after it got off track when I raised and then tried to lower it w/the remote after putting out the garbage bin. Ugh. CKB prevailed and it is fixed. I'm so thankful for a husband who knows how to fix things!

I'll leave you now with some pics of the mini-birthday celebration this past weekend. Oh yes, and my brother-in-law celebrated his bday on Sunday, but with all the hectic-ness of the day, I forgot to wish him a "Happy Birthday" - so "Happy Birthday!!!!"


Here's the bday girl - just recently turned 5!

Miss C



Another Miss C and Mr. E


Mr. A


Mr. C


Miss E and Miss A

Miles to go before I rest

It seems.

We're taking a trip. I might be misremembering, but I don't think we've taken a "pack the suitcase and stay the night" trip since this past January. Wow. That's a long time for us. I won't tell you part of the reason why I figured that out...ahem...it just might have something to do w/never having completely unpacked the suitcase...no worries, just brochures and such, but still...sigh.

Anyway!

I have all the children packed pretty much - just need to add diapers and wipes along with making sure the Pack 'n Play is ready to go (not sure if Mr. A is even going to fit into it any more, but it's going).

Now, for my stuff. Ack. The fun that comes with the third trimester of pregnancy - what fits today just may not fit tomorrow. We're going to be at a church meeting so I need 3 dresses (one for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). Hopefully I can find 3 that still fit at this point.

I am not a fan of maternity clothes and am always so glad to get back into my regular clothes :) , but that will have to wait a few months more.

I have no idea where all of this stuff is going to go in the car tomorrow, but I'm sure CKB will figure something out...he always does. I remember trips as a child in the big ol' Chevy Station Wagon with my feet resting on the giant orange cooler the whole way from TN to TX each summer. I'm sure the children will survive a similar trip if we need to put them in and then pile everything around them. Hopefully noone will need a potty break too soon and have to be pried out of the car like a bunch of sardines. Hee hee. Right about now I wish I was a cartoonist...but alas, I cannot draw well at all.

I digress...a lot.

It may be quiet here in blogland for the next few days...do not worry, Lord willing we'll be in good company enjoying the preached word of God and good fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as my natural brother and sister and their families who will also be there.

Until later.....

I've been tagged!

By a sweet lady over at Life in Wakefield!


We'll see what I can come up with...hmmmm.

1. I was born on an island.

2. I had 8 permanent teeth pulled when I was a teenager. (Don't worry, I still have plenty of teeth left :) )

3. My favorite color is red.

4. I took violin lessons for many years.

5. I was engaged for less than 3 months! (Married almost 9 years now!)

6. I've traveled overseas and visited 4 countries in Europe.

7. I reallllly like ice cream.


Now, let's see, who to tag next.....

http://teaching2manydiligently.blogspot.com/

http://amandadeardorff.blogspot.com/

http://thegriffinfamilyherald.blogspot.com/

http://jessicasquiltingcorner.blogspot.com/

Yes, I know that's only 4, but my sister beat me to a few folks :) Have fun!

So tired ... baby quilt update 2

I don't know what it is, but there have been a few days lately when I've just felt exhausted. Today, I can understand. CKB preached in Waco yesterday so it was a longer day with the travel. Easier than the Madisonville trip, but still time in the car.

This morning was filled with errands - oil change for the van, dry cleaning to drop off, cleaning out the van, meeting the realtor to see a house, stopping at Michael's for a new rotary cutter (and you wondered why I hadn't put up any progress on the quilt!), and a quick trip in Wallyworld for a few things - whew!

I *do* have all the fabric I've purchased so far washed and ironed, neatly folded and draped over the sewing machine...waiting. Soon...soon....soon...I hope to get to it.

Until then....

The Coupon Experiment - results

Well, after a much longer than I'd like grocery trip, I came home with bags of groceries and a crew of tired helpers. I then had to find time to fill in all the little blanks on my spreadsheet - deciphering the receipt was the first challenge - thankfully I'd had the foresight to take a copy of the spreadsheet w/me to write in prices - yay me!

I had cut out coupons for things we usually get (granted sometimes we got the store brand of these items, but for that day we were getting what the coupon said as far as brand goes and making a note of prices on comparable store brands when they were available).

The receipt was about a mile long after all the coupons went in and were doubled and/or tripled (mostly doubled) as well as all the "Kroger Savings" from using my Kroger card. Just a note on that...apparently if I hadn't had my card with me, my bill would've been $29.42 greater than it was...why this is necessary, I don't know. Brand loyalty is the answer I suppose - come to our store, get our card, use it, save money. Whatever. The card is free, so it's not a big deal, just seems a tad silly.

Ok, back to the groceries.

There are only a few things that felt like "really good deals". I did not get toothpaste for a penny or anything like that, so don't get too excited.

One example of a "good buy" (I think) was a coupon for any Suave product, Buy 1, get 2nd $1.00 off. So, I looked at the shampoo and the size that is not the "family size" was on sale at Kroger for $.88, so I picked up 2 and used the coupon on them which made the shampoos 2/$.76 - pretty good, I thought.

The only other one that really stood out was for Fleischmann's yeast strips (3 packages on a strip) - coupon was for $.45 off 1 strip. The price for the yeast was $1.89/strip. The coupon was doubled = $.90 so the resulting price was $.99 instead of the $1.89. Of course, this felt like a good deal until I looked at the regular price for the Kroger brand of yeast and it was regularly $.99 - not a big deal after all, eh?

So....the results.....I bought about 18 different products in varying amounts depending on the coupon and quantity of coupons for each item.

The total for all items using the coupons was $98.36
The total for all items if I had NOT used the coupons would have been $129.75
The total using coupons for all items that were name brands and buying the store brand for those that had a store brand would have been $115.90

I think that about covers it. I may have missed something here or there, but I think it's fairly accurate.

The moral of the story (for me, anyway) appears to be - if you're going to buy a name brand of something and you have a coupon - use it.

If you don't have a coupon and it's something on your list of things to get, buy it - unless there's a store brand you haven't tried that's cheaper, then you might want to give it a chance. If there isn't a store brand and you want/need the item, go for it.

If you're buying a name brand of something AND it's on sale AND you have a coupon - yay for you!


One of the only things I've really noticed a big difference in with store brand vs. name brands is canned corn. The store brand I tried had cloudy water and the corn just didn't look good and fresh - the Green Giant or whatever name brand had nice clear water and the corn looked appetizing. Just an example. This would be different for everyone, of course.

Do I plan to go crazy with coupons in the coming days, weeks, months? No. This was a lot of time for one little trip in which I didn't even get all the things we typically need in a week...like milk...anyone ever see milk coupons? :) Anyway, this trip was all about the coupons I had and this little experiment. The rest is for another trip.

Do I plan to sign up for the Grocery Game again or some such list? No.

Do I plan to visit 15 stores to get all the "best deals" and free toothpaste for life? Well....no.

Do I plan to at least flip through the coupons and cut out ones for name brand items we do typically purchase and TRY to remember them when I go to the store AND to get them out of my purse once I get there? Yes.

All things in moderation - if y'all get free toothpaste for a year - well, I'm thrilled for you and only ask that you think of me and all my kiddos whose teeth are dropping out (for natural reasons of growing up, mind you!) - then send us a tube ;)

The tooth is out!

Well, Miss A has been telling me how she's had to push her tooth back in place on occasion so I told CKB the time was probably nigh for it to come out.

Tonight during dinner she took a bite of a roll that was on the tougher side of things and exclaimed "OW!" causing us to take a good look at the tooth again. Yes, tooth extraction was to begin immediately following dinner.

Everyone crowded round in the bathroom to watch (Mr. A happily played in the bath, none the wiser that anything was going on over by the sink) as CKB pulled Miss A's first tooth! She made one little sound of surprise and it was out! No tears at all!
(except maybe the ones that welled up in my eyes...hey, I'm pregnant and it's my baby we're talking about here!).

She's one tough cookie!

Congratulations Miss A on losing your first tooth and being such a brave girl in the process!

Baby Quilt Update

Well, I washed the first group of fabrics and they're ready to go, but I just wasn't ready to start. Not enough inspiration with those, I guess.


So...after my OB appointment this morning, I had a little extra time before I had to be back to take the babysitter home and stopped in a local quilt shop. TONS of fabrics to look at in there - I could still be there, but I had to hurry. I picked up some more fat quarters to work with and I think after these are washed up, I'll be ready to go!

Here's a peek:

(can you see all 8 here?)


(and a couple more - I seem to detect a pink/brown theme.....)


And a few just for fun to keep on hand.



Stay tuned....the washing machine just needed one more thing to wash around here ;)

The Coupon Experiment - part 2

Awhile back I decided to sign up for the Grocery Game trial on their site - it cost $1 and I figured it might be worthwhile to see what all the hoopla was about. I found quickly that it wasn't for me - I barely have enough time to get to the grocery store once a week, and this was going to require me hitting about 3-4 stores to get all 'deals' and such. Cancelled!!!

So, this week I decided to try something different. I went through the coupons we had from the past couple of Sunday papers and cut out the ones for things we typically buy. Granted, a lot of things that I typically buy are the store brand and in the past I've found that even w/the coupon the store brand is still cheaper than the name brand. So...I'm going to shop at Kroger - home of the double and triple coupons and see how it goes just on those items I cut coupons for. Miss E doesn't know it yet, but she's to be my assistant and record prices on a spreadsheet I made. Yes, a spreadsheet, I like them..it's a sickness...kind of like being drawn to the office supply aisle to look at all the neat pens and such...ahem... anyway...back to coupons.

So, we'll see how it goes. I'll be sure to fill you in.
My quandry is wondering if the prices at Kroger even w/the double/triple/etc. coupons will beat the regular prices at Wal-mart. So, yes, I'll have to do a Wal-mart trip as well to compare. Fun. But, after this, I should have a good idea and in the future I'll know if it'd be worth it overall to fool with this and I can take a quick look at the fabric they have at Wal-mart while I'm there - WIN WIN :)

If this happens today after Miss E's piano lesson, it'll be some kind of miracle. I don't know why, but last night I was falling asleep sitting on the couch at 9:30 p.m.! I was in bed by 10:30 p.m. and up around 7 a.m. and still can't shake the feeling of being extremely tired. Maybe my iron level is low...that happens sometimes during pregnancy...better put spinach on the grocery list!

Back later....with the results...hopefully!

Baby Quilt - a first!

Ok, this is something I've been wanting to do since we found out we were having Miss E many years ago!

Miss Baby is due in January, so I figure I have time to try to make a quilt for her BEFORE she's born and if all goes well, I'll backtrack and make one for each of the children.

So, after getting a new cutting mat (the one I had was ruined in one of our many moves) and some inspiration from a couple of quilt blogs, as well as a trip to the fabric store to look around and pick up some fat quarters to possibly incorporate in the quilt, I think I'm ready to begin! Also, a big thanks to a new blogging friend who has answered a lot of my questions recently - thanks Jessica!

The plan is to make it a patchwork quilt...I picked up some random fat quarters - just went down the row and picked some that I liked, not necessarily planning to use them all together. As of right now, I'm leaning toward using the top two in the picture...somehow I'm drawn to pink/brown combinations these days. Only problem is the selection was not as extensive at the Jo-Ann I visited in fat quarters for these colors. I'm going to try to visit a Hancock Fabrics soon and see what they might have to go with these. We'll see. I'll try to keep y'all updated on my progress if anyone's interested and hopefully y'all knowing about this will help keep me on track!

What's been going on?

Well, we've been busy, what else is new?

Mr. E has been busy mastering tying his shoelaces and does a great job!




Miss A has a loose tooth! Her first! She's extremely excited! (picture to come when the tooth comes out).

Miss E has been helping out by wiping down the table and vacuuming under the dining room table each night - she is such a tremendous help!

Miss A and Mr. A found a new form of transportation to enjoy...



And, every year the children get to each choose one ornament to add to our collection and this year we picked them out early. We were at Hobby Lobby looking for buttons for some dresses I plan to make for the girls (incidentally their button selection is tiny and we didn't find any buttons to match the dress fabric), but we did see the aisles of Christmas decorations and took a brief look. Mr. E found one he really liked and since the selection will only diminish as the days tick away toward Christmas, we went back the following day and went ahead and got it. While there, the girls and Mr. A chose ornaments as well. I found one I liked too and while I don't always get a new one each year, it's mainly something for the children to do, I went ahead and got it for CKB and I.

I'll share theirs later on....

And tonight we decided to have dinner out at a local Italian restaurant. After tasting the mozzarella cheese sticks, Mr. E proclaimed: "Well, there are a few reasons I don't like these. First, I don't like the taste. Secondly, the cheese is stretchy. And, third, I thought it was onion."

Hmm, seems he knows how to express himself quite well...at age 4!

Stay tuned for a new project I'm about to begin.

Why some of today's youth are overweight.

I have the answer. It's not all the tv and video games, it's the bus driver's fault!

Yep!

Today I had the unfortunate timing that landed me right behind the neighborhood school bus. This bus, I kid you not, stopped at every other house.

Why, on earth, did these children need to be let off right at their houses? I didn't notice anyone limping. Just 3 separate children being let off right in front of their houses.

When I was a kid (boy does that make me sound old!), we walked all the way around the block to the other side to get to the bus stop. If we weren't on time, TOUGH.

Anyway! Just thought y'all would want to know that it isn't junk food, it isn't tv, it isn't video games...it's the bus driver's fault! ;)

And before anyone rants at me, I will say that if my children were in public schools AND riding one of those lovely monstrosities known as a school bus, I would be thrilled if my children were dropped at my door - for their safety's sake. If they weren't, I'd be one of those moms who walks to the bus stop and waits for my children. So, I guess it's not all that bad that they're getting dropped at their doors...just made for some interesting reminiscing today as I waited....and waited...and worked the braked in the minivan repeatedly...and well, you get the point.

'nuf said

Something a little different this morning - Another Apron Giveaway

This giveaway is for the Black, Red and White apron seen above.
TO ENTER, visit The Apronista for details!
Best wishes!

Poll Results on Labeling School Supplies

Well, the poll ended finally and the results are in:

Of the 17 folks who voted (where were the rest of you?) -

Do you label ALL of your child's "school supplies"
Yes, I label everything, every last pencil 4 (23%)
I just label the box 5 (29%)
No, I don't label anything 8 (47%)


So, I'm in the minority on this one - figures :) I voted "Yes, I label everything" so I guess I'm a little Type A!

What a surprise :)