1065. School for her + WebKinz for him
1066. Itouch game together.
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Sibling Sweetness Melts My Heart
One particular day, I entered my living room on two different occassions. I found THE MAN with his sister(s).
1065. School for her + WebKinz for him
1066. Itouch game together.
1065. School for her + WebKinz for him
1066. Itouch game together.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Favorite Things....Recycle Bank
Recyclebank is..........
Awesome, great, best thing since sliced bread....well maybe I wouldn't go that far.
But pretty terrific. And definitely one of my favorite tools these days.
I wouldn't say I am a tree hugger.
I don't get all crazy if I see recyclables in the dumpster, BUT I do like to do my part.
When God put Adam and Eve in the garden they were instructed to care for it.
I just see recycling as my part of being a good steward of God's Creation.
So, after we were married and had child #1 aka Fun Girl, maybe after child #2 aka Hockey Player I started wanting to recycle more. We did the aluminum cans. (Hello--Money there!! and the kids were all over the change and so was I). I started saving newspapers and dropping them off at the local grocery store.
Hubby wasn't a big fan of having "trash" around.
I bought trash cans to sort.
Not really buying it.
Child #3 aka Little Princess entered the world.
SHE. DID. NOT. LIKE. sleeping in her bed.
Forget about napping there.
She liked the sling.
She liked touching me.
She liked being near me.
She was a Momma's girl!
Ahhhh, how sweet. How wonderful....
Yeah, but every once in a while it is nice to NOT BE TOUCHED!
The only other place she was willing to nap was in the car seat in a moving vehicle!
So I started brain storming. I was all past the first - second child we gonna do this by the book to get her to sleep in her bed. It was survival. It was what ever will work for the now planning time.
So I created a schedule.
A schedule of activities that needed/could be needed to be done every week.
Each activity was assigned a day.
Do you see where I am going with this??
We went for a daily drive every day during nap time. Oh yeah!!
Once a week we went to the library that had a drive through and on the way was the local recycling facility. Oh yeah!!
How could Hubby complain about recycling that was dumped every week? ! ?
Hockey Player and Fun Girl would help to dump the containers, that is if they hadn't fallen asleep.
If they were still awake, then we might stop at the park before going home. It was amazing during that time period, how many errands I could come up with that required me to be out every day. Of course, that was before the gas prices went up. We won't discuss how un-ecological I was to be out driving every day of the week. Because the choice was to save gas or sanity.
Sanity won out!
Then Little Princess grew a bit more and the daily napping trips were no more.
By then I was recycling and Hubby was not impressed.
Somewhere in there I had to give up my weekly trip to the library with a drive thru. That is such an amazing perk for a library to have if you have nappers in the car. With this trip gone, I had no where to drop off my recycling. I couldn't justify the gas anymore.
Sad sigh!
The recycling stopped.
Couple more kids added... #4 and #5 and I am thinking we are going to have to get a second dumpster. A notice comes in the paper. A new trial service is being offered through our trash company.
RECYCLEBANK !
The best part, they supply the container.
No wait, the really BEST Part:
NO SORTING
Yep you read that right.
NO SORTING!
You just toss all your recycling in the bin.
Amazing.
No bins, no pile up.
How could Hubby refuse?
He humored me.
I signed up.
Initially it was like $4 a month.
Points are earned based on weight.
Points are cashed in for rewards...coupons, gift cards, ecards
That first year, I pulled in rewards worth more than we spent!
Hubby was sold.
Of course, the first year on deals like that are pretty awesome.
But honestly, I still pull out some pretty good rewards each year.
Now, I accumulate gift cards to use for just that gifts.
Hello Christmas shopping without the shopping.
As time has passed, they have, also, opened up their site to those who don't use them for curb side recycling. You can download apps and track your own recycling and earn points. There are educational opportunities, videos and activities that may be completed to earn additional points. This has been helpful when trying to teach my children about the various environmental actions they can take to be more Eco-minded. I want my kids to recycle. But I, also, want them to take note that turning off the water and lights when not in use are important actions as well. They enjoy the games, activities, as do I, and they definitely enjoy the benefits of the rewards it brings home. For Dad's Bud last year, he needed to complete some environmental tasks for his Cub Scouts awards. It was great to sit down with him at the computer and take him through various videos and tutorials about Recycle Bank itself and ways we could care for our planet and environment and all from the comfort of our home. No running the car across town to ask questions.
Awesome, great, best thing since sliced bread....well maybe I wouldn't go that far.
But pretty terrific. And definitely one of my favorite tools these days.
I wouldn't say I am a tree hugger.
I don't get all crazy if I see recyclables in the dumpster, BUT I do like to do my part.
When God put Adam and Eve in the garden they were instructed to care for it.
I just see recycling as my part of being a good steward of God's Creation.
So, after we were married and had child #1 aka Fun Girl, maybe after child #2 aka Hockey Player I started wanting to recycle more. We did the aluminum cans. (Hello--Money there!! and the kids were all over the change and so was I). I started saving newspapers and dropping them off at the local grocery store.
Hubby wasn't a big fan of having "trash" around.
I bought trash cans to sort.
Not really buying it.
Child #3 aka Little Princess entered the world.
SHE. DID. NOT. LIKE. sleeping in her bed.
Forget about napping there.
She liked the sling.
She liked touching me.
She liked being near me.
She was a Momma's girl!
Ahhhh, how sweet. How wonderful....
Yeah, but every once in a while it is nice to NOT BE TOUCHED!
The only other place she was willing to nap was in the car seat in a moving vehicle!
So I started brain storming. I was all past the first - second child we gonna do this by the book to get her to sleep in her bed. It was survival. It was what ever will work for the now planning time.
So I created a schedule.
A schedule of activities that needed/could be needed to be done every week.
Each activity was assigned a day.
Do you see where I am going with this??
We went for a daily drive every day during nap time. Oh yeah!!
Once a week we went to the library that had a drive through and on the way was the local recycling facility. Oh yeah!!
How could Hubby complain about recycling that was dumped every week? ! ?
Hockey Player and Fun Girl would help to dump the containers, that is if they hadn't fallen asleep.
If they were still awake, then we might stop at the park before going home. It was amazing during that time period, how many errands I could come up with that required me to be out every day. Of course, that was before the gas prices went up. We won't discuss how un-ecological I was to be out driving every day of the week. Because the choice was to save gas or sanity.
Sanity won out!
Then Little Princess grew a bit more and the daily napping trips were no more.
By then I was recycling and Hubby was not impressed.
Somewhere in there I had to give up my weekly trip to the library with a drive thru. That is such an amazing perk for a library to have if you have nappers in the car. With this trip gone, I had no where to drop off my recycling. I couldn't justify the gas anymore.
Sad sigh!
The recycling stopped.
Couple more kids added... #4 and #5 and I am thinking we are going to have to get a second dumpster. A notice comes in the paper. A new trial service is being offered through our trash company.
RECYCLEBANK !
The best part, they supply the container.
No wait, the really BEST Part:
NO SORTING
Yep you read that right.
NO SORTING!
You just toss all your recycling in the bin.
Amazing.
No bins, no pile up.
How could Hubby refuse?
He humored me.
I signed up.
Initially it was like $4 a month.
Points are earned based on weight.
Points are cashed in for rewards...coupons, gift cards, ecards
That first year, I pulled in rewards worth more than we spent!
Hubby was sold.
Of course, the first year on deals like that are pretty awesome.
But honestly, I still pull out some pretty good rewards each year.
Now, I accumulate gift cards to use for just that gifts.
Hello Christmas shopping without the shopping.
As time has passed, they have, also, opened up their site to those who don't use them for curb side recycling. You can download apps and track your own recycling and earn points. There are educational opportunities, videos and activities that may be completed to earn additional points. This has been helpful when trying to teach my children about the various environmental actions they can take to be more Eco-minded. I want my kids to recycle. But I, also, want them to take note that turning off the water and lights when not in use are important actions as well. They enjoy the games, activities, as do I, and they definitely enjoy the benefits of the rewards it brings home. For Dad's Bud last year, he needed to complete some environmental tasks for his Cub Scouts awards. It was great to sit down with him at the computer and take him through various videos and tutorials about Recycle Bank itself and ways we could care for our planet and environment and all from the comfort of our home. No running the car across town to ask questions.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
What is it with Wednesdays?
Last week it was all about language. This week, Daddy's Buddy asks me about Grandma when she died. Did we put her in a box and she died or did we put her in the ground and she died? I had to explain, she died in her sleep at HOME, then she went to a funeral home, they put her in a nice box called a casket and then put her in the ground. AHHH, that is how it works.
Hockey Player then asks, "Don't they drain all the blood out of the body and replace it with a preservative?"
A lot of oooohs and yucks.
"Yes and sometimes no," I replied shaking my head the whole time.
Little Princess pipes in with, "Unless they want to be cremated and turned into ashes."
Daddy's Buddy adds, "If they don't want to be in their dead body for the rest of their life."
Hysteria breaks out.
In their dead body for the rest of their life....
repeated over and over and loads of laughter
At this time, I am in the Pizza Hut drive through, at the window and can't stop laughing. I have to explain to the lady in the window about last week and the current conversation. She starts to laugh pretty good over being in the dead body for the rest of your life. I mean seriously, how do the kids come up with these things?
But it doesn't stop there. Flutter Nutter is giving me trouble with wearing his seat belt proper. I decide drastic measures must be used. I very calmly inform him, I do not want to buy a casket for Christmas. I do not want to spend Christmas crying. Would he please sit properly in the car?
He did for all of 5 minutes. To which I sounded off and told him, "Fine, you die, I am not buying you a head stone. I refuse to buy you a head stone for Christmas." He shaped up and sat all good in his seat and seatbelt. Who knew. Having a head stone is important !
Then coming home from church Flutter Nutter is being all super silly and disobedient, AGAIN.
I am done and tired. I am not letting them take you to the funeral home. I don't want a Christmas funeral. I will just leave you by the side of the road if you get killed. Shaped up and sat like he was supposed to. FLutter Nutter did respond with, "Cool." Not exactly what I was looking to hear. Hockey Player quickly responded with, "Not cool, cause then people would think you had been murdered."
Time to change the subject..."Let's go look at Christmas lights!"
Hockey Player then asks, "Don't they drain all the blood out of the body and replace it with a preservative?"
A lot of oooohs and yucks.
"Yes and sometimes no," I replied shaking my head the whole time.
Little Princess pipes in with, "Unless they want to be cremated and turned into ashes."
Daddy's Buddy adds, "If they don't want to be in their dead body for the rest of their life."
Hysteria breaks out.
In their dead body for the rest of their life....
repeated over and over and loads of laughter
At this time, I am in the Pizza Hut drive through, at the window and can't stop laughing. I have to explain to the lady in the window about last week and the current conversation. She starts to laugh pretty good over being in the dead body for the rest of your life. I mean seriously, how do the kids come up with these things?
But it doesn't stop there. Flutter Nutter is giving me trouble with wearing his seat belt proper. I decide drastic measures must be used. I very calmly inform him, I do not want to buy a casket for Christmas. I do not want to spend Christmas crying. Would he please sit properly in the car?
He did for all of 5 minutes. To which I sounded off and told him, "Fine, you die, I am not buying you a head stone. I refuse to buy you a head stone for Christmas." He shaped up and sat all good in his seat and seatbelt. Who knew. Having a head stone is important !
Then coming home from church Flutter Nutter is being all super silly and disobedient, AGAIN.
I am done and tired. I am not letting them take you to the funeral home. I don't want a Christmas funeral. I will just leave you by the side of the road if you get killed. Shaped up and sat like he was supposed to. FLutter Nutter did respond with, "Cool." Not exactly what I was looking to hear. Hockey Player quickly responded with, "Not cool, cause then people would think you had been murdered."
Time to change the subject..."Let's go look at Christmas lights!"
Nintendo Mario and K'Nex Meet! !
Oh my goodness I am soo excited! This year, I am way behind on my Christmas shopping. No time, no ideas, until tonight! I made myself do some shopping and looking around tonight. Look what I found ! !
K'Nex Mario Kart sets. My gamer/builder is going to love this ! Good thing he doesn't know about my blog. Well he knows about it...but he doesn't go online yet. If you are one of the big siblings reading this, "ZIP YOUR LIPS AND CLOSE DOWN YOUR WINDOWS!" No sharing what you know.
K'Nex Mario Kart sets. My gamer/builder is going to love this ! Good thing he doesn't know about my blog. Well he knows about it...but he doesn't go online yet. If you are one of the big siblings reading this, "ZIP YOUR LIPS AND CLOSE DOWN YOUR WINDOWS!" No sharing what you know.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Bedtime is at 7 tonight!
It was the safest and best thing to do tonight. They were hyper and nuts!
I let Hockey Player and Little Princess stay up till 8. But only cause they figured out really quick I was done. So with the two littlest in bed, where hopefully no harm can come to them, and the middle two wisely choosing their rooms. I decided I needed a little therapy. The best part is it might work as a really good deterant for the remainder of the holiday season. What crazy pictures can I post of them for my own personal humor and recovery!
Enjoy~
(NOTE: you might want to click pause on my music player down below)
I let Hockey Player and Little Princess stay up till 8. But only cause they figured out really quick I was done. So with the two littlest in bed, where hopefully no harm can come to them, and the middle two wisely choosing their rooms. I decided I needed a little therapy. The best part is it might work as a really good deterant for the remainder of the holiday season. What crazy pictures can I post of them for my own personal humor and recovery!
Enjoy~
(NOTE: you might want to click pause on my music player down below)
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Couponing Thrill sure can make a rough day better!
I haven't been to Walgreens much since they dropped the Easy Saver Rebate program.
It doesn't help that the Walgreens that works into my regular route, the people are really grouchy and dislike coupons. I just dread going in there. I do try my best to smile and be cheerful, but it is a real downer and decreases the thrill of a deal when you have to work with people who are not pleased to see the stack of coupons.
But in spite of all that I did dare to venture to Walgreens. I needed a prescription 2 days ago and well, it was time to just get it done. I didn't take a picture. I would have had chaos on my hand. My kiddos would have seen all the goodies and begged, pleaded and bugged me for the next couple of days for the treats I bought. But I will do a quick a run down.
I spent out of pocket $94.57! I stocked up on a bunch of allergy medicine and pain reliever, which means I get reimbursed by flexible spending account. That total is $64.92. So in all I spent $30.65.
First I picked up my waiting prescription (more on that later) and the Walgreens coloring book. Lots of good children's products coupons in there. Best part you don't have to surrender these coupons when making the purchase. They are Walgreen's coupons so you can hold onto them till they expire. You can pair them up with manufacturer coupons and sales for some pretty awesome deals. (Right now that includes the children's Listerine rinses and Benadryl).
Like I said I stocked up on allergy medicine.
I have to keep Benadryl on hand in multiple places for my food allergic child.
My daughter will be switching to Zyrtec later when she finishes up the other stuff she has. So that will make two of us taking Zyrtec. Gotta stock up when there are deals. This time around I got $7 Register Rewards for each purchase. Woohoo! Plus I had a Manufacturer Coupon for $4 off. I like to go to this website to look for medicine coupons. There I found $2 off of Zyrtec as well.
I also stocked up on the Tylenol buy one get one free. Paired up with coupons, a good deal there.
I also did the kids Listerine deal. I had a buy one get one free Q plus after the fact I got RR as well.
Dental floss was on sale and if you used the in-ad coupon to make it 99 cents and paired that up with Manufacturer coupon even better. Buy 3 and you get a Register Reward as well.
I gobbled up some of the Rimmel makeup with my coupons from All You magazine. I am finding makeup, nail polish and the like make really good "tween"/early teenager gifts. With Fun Mom being 13 as well as her friends, they are all experimenting with makeup goodies. So when I get them for free or almost free, I get really excited.
I stocked up on the scotch tape deal. Christmas is just around the corner. My kids like to wrap presents and tape is used up real quick. So this was a great time to stock up.
I also snagged a bunch of the scotch envelopes. They are great for various mailings, but I also use them sometimes for stuff I sale on ebay, so this helps keep my shipping costs down.
I also am trying to make good of the Goody Ouchless hair products. These are great for Operation Christmas Child, Christmas stockings and birthday gift fillers. Also helps to replace what my hubby vaccuums up, as he won't pick them up when the girls (rolling my eyes) "unknowningly" drop them on the floor.
I also snagged a bunch of Orbit gum and misc. candy that was clearanced. About now I start thinking ahead to Christmas stockings. Cause the kids behaved while I was gone and showered as well, I grabbed some sweets for my sweets to say thank you. All bought with register rewards. I also picked up a few goodies for Fun Mom's friends, who have birthdays lined up between now and eternity.
So that is what I got for $30.65 after all the coupons and register rewards I spent and my flexible spending account.
What I also didn't mention is I bounce my prescriptions around to whoever is offering the best deal if you transfer your scipt. So I did that this week with Walgreens and they gave me a $25 check to spend in the store. So if I add that into my savings that total is $173.72.
Best part is I still have $11.00 in Register Rewards to spend!!
Ah the thrill. Sure turns a bumpy evening into a little happier place of mind. The day went well, but on Thursdays it seems I have two that must fall apart for 2 hours in the evening. It drives my NUTS! At the end of the two hours they are fine.
It doesn't help that the Walgreens that works into my regular route, the people are really grouchy and dislike coupons. I just dread going in there. I do try my best to smile and be cheerful, but it is a real downer and decreases the thrill of a deal when you have to work with people who are not pleased to see the stack of coupons.
But in spite of all that I did dare to venture to Walgreens. I needed a prescription 2 days ago and well, it was time to just get it done. I didn't take a picture. I would have had chaos on my hand. My kiddos would have seen all the goodies and begged, pleaded and bugged me for the next couple of days for the treats I bought. But I will do a quick a run down.
I spent out of pocket $94.57! I stocked up on a bunch of allergy medicine and pain reliever, which means I get reimbursed by flexible spending account. That total is $64.92. So in all I spent $30.65.
First I picked up my waiting prescription (more on that later) and the Walgreens coloring book. Lots of good children's products coupons in there. Best part you don't have to surrender these coupons when making the purchase. They are Walgreen's coupons so you can hold onto them till they expire. You can pair them up with manufacturer coupons and sales for some pretty awesome deals. (Right now that includes the children's Listerine rinses and Benadryl).
Like I said I stocked up on allergy medicine.
I have to keep Benadryl on hand in multiple places for my food allergic child.
My daughter will be switching to Zyrtec later when she finishes up the other stuff she has. So that will make two of us taking Zyrtec. Gotta stock up when there are deals. This time around I got $7 Register Rewards for each purchase. Woohoo! Plus I had a Manufacturer Coupon for $4 off. I like to go to this website to look for medicine coupons. There I found $2 off of Zyrtec as well.
I also stocked up on the Tylenol buy one get one free. Paired up with coupons, a good deal there.
I also did the kids Listerine deal. I had a buy one get one free Q plus after the fact I got RR as well.
Dental floss was on sale and if you used the in-ad coupon to make it 99 cents and paired that up with Manufacturer coupon even better. Buy 3 and you get a Register Reward as well.
I gobbled up some of the Rimmel makeup with my coupons from All You magazine. I am finding makeup, nail polish and the like make really good "tween"/early teenager gifts. With Fun Mom being 13 as well as her friends, they are all experimenting with makeup goodies. So when I get them for free or almost free, I get really excited.
I stocked up on the scotch tape deal. Christmas is just around the corner. My kids like to wrap presents and tape is used up real quick. So this was a great time to stock up.
I also snagged a bunch of the scotch envelopes. They are great for various mailings, but I also use them sometimes for stuff I sale on ebay, so this helps keep my shipping costs down.
I also am trying to make good of the Goody Ouchless hair products. These are great for Operation Christmas Child, Christmas stockings and birthday gift fillers. Also helps to replace what my hubby vaccuums up, as he won't pick them up when the girls (rolling my eyes) "unknowningly" drop them on the floor.
I also snagged a bunch of Orbit gum and misc. candy that was clearanced. About now I start thinking ahead to Christmas stockings. Cause the kids behaved while I was gone and showered as well, I grabbed some sweets for my sweets to say thank you. All bought with register rewards. I also picked up a few goodies for Fun Mom's friends, who have birthdays lined up between now and eternity.
So that is what I got for $30.65 after all the coupons and register rewards I spent and my flexible spending account.
What I also didn't mention is I bounce my prescriptions around to whoever is offering the best deal if you transfer your scipt. So I did that this week with Walgreens and they gave me a $25 check to spend in the store. So if I add that into my savings that total is $173.72.
Best part is I still have $11.00 in Register Rewards to spend!!
Ah the thrill. Sure turns a bumpy evening into a little happier place of mind. The day went well, but on Thursdays it seems I have two that must fall apart for 2 hours in the evening. It drives my NUTS! At the end of the two hours they are fine.
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