Another project completed!

Having company is truly a great motivator for getting projects done. I know that I absolutely don't have to get things done for my friends and family to come visit, but sometimes that is just the kick I need to get things done. :-) So, my friend and her family motivated us and now my inlaws are coming in a couple of weeks. Truth be told, we decided that we were tired of having things half done and want to keep going and finish things up.....including unpacking the few boxes left in our closet from when we moved in almost 4 years ago!! Obviously we must not need what is in those boxes!! Although, I did just get some tent poles out of one for a tent the boys have been wanting to play in. :-)

Anyway, back to the project. Today I scraped up the remainder of the old sticky tiles in our house (the pantry) and my husband got the new ones installed. There were two layers of tiles hidden under a piece of carpet in the pantry.

Here is a before shot (this was an old picture that I found because I didn't technically take a before shot today, so I don't have a great shot of the floor)...

and here it is now!

Also, I finally got the drawers painted and I've been promising my dad I'd take pictures!
Before (if you look closely near the pantry door, you can see where we had stopped the installation of the new flooring)...

After...

Oh, and here is a picture of the light in the pantry. Before doing work in the kitchen, we had to walk in and pull a string to turn the light on (you can see it in the first picture above). My dad helped us get a switch outside the pantry to operate the light . What a brilliant concept, right?? :-)
Slowly we are getting things done around here and every little bit that we accomplish feels good....especially when I can look at it and know we did it ourselves!! :-)

Thanksgiving Feast....

On the 22nd, Logan and I joined Lucas at school for their Thanksgiving Feast! When we got there, the kids were all in a circle playing "pass the turkey". When the music stopped playing, if you were holding the turkey, you were supposed to stand up and say, "I'm a turkey. Gobble, gobble!". To watch Lucas participate without prompting was so much fun. Him sitting quietly and participating without a teacher right beside him (there were 2 kids between him and the teacher) is HUGE progress for him. In the past, I've watched as they've physically made him do the motions to a song to get him to participate. Now, I won't say that he doesn't have his moments still, he most certainly does....but he is really making huge progress and I'm proud of him. His screaming is far less than it once was, too. Here are a few pictures of our day!

Playing pin the feathers on the turkey.

It's coming together....

We just have the finishing touches left to do on the room in the basement we've been working on. My inlaws will be here for Christmas and we are going to try our best to have it done (except for the crown molding....have to replenish the funds!) before they arrive. Once Christmas is over, we'll work on moving the school stuff down there and it will be our new school room! I'm super excited! Right now we just use the dining room. I have a large cabinet in Logan's room and a small cabinet in the dining room, but I hate running between the two places all the time. Anyway, go to the post here for pictures of the basement before and how it was up until recently. And here are a few pictures of the way it is now! :-) I know it is not perfect, but I love looking at this room and knowing that we did it ourselves!!

The proof is in the picture....

It's that time of year again! You know, the time of year to start thinking about Christmas cards. Yes, I still send out Christmas cards, though my list is a lot smaller than it used to be. These days, my list mostly includes only family. Looking back at our Christmas pictures is always a fun way to see just how much our boys have grown. Check it out for yourself!!

Here is our 2007 card...
our 2008 card...
and here is our 2009 card!Getting that perfect shot is always a challenge when kids are involved. For the 2007 picture, getting the boys in the shot with the whole tree in the frame and no strangers in there, too....yeah, not an easy task. I was practically laying on the ground while my husband tried to hurry me along because I was in the way. In 2008, I just pulled some shots of the boys that I loved and in 2009 I went for that perfect family shot. I won't even begin to tell you how many shots it took for me to get just one that I was happy with! :-)

So, this year I'm not real sure what we will do, but I have certainly been thinking...and looking! Shutterfly has tons of cute cards to choose from! There are sooo many choices out there, but I'm really liking this one! Or maybe this one, or this one, or this one! So many cute choices, for sure!! Next up, calendars!! This will be the 3rd year that I will put a calendar together with pictures of the boys for my husband to have at work. :-)

Full disclosure: Shutterfly will be compensating me for this post by providing me with 50 free holiday cards!

Tonight, I'm sleeping in the "closet"...

Tonight the boys were put to bed a bit early and I went to get dinner at Wegmans from their $6 meal options for myself and my husband. We had just finished our meal and I was refilling my drink when something in me decided to look up the stairs. We have a cabinet at the top that we keep extra blankets and towels in, essentially our linen closet. Well, I noticed the door was open on the cabinet so I turned the light on to get a better look. The following is what I found.....

Hmmm. I don't recall having a camouflaged blanket with planes on it.

Wait....could that be a boy sticking out of the cabinet??




By golly it is a boy! And when we tried to wake him, he just found another "comfortable" (??) position. :-)


Also note, upon looking at these pictures on my laptop instead of the little screen on the camera, I discovered that Lucas not only likes to use the cabinet for sleeping purposes, but also to store empty paper towel rolls!

Ramblings....

Sorry I've been MIA. We were super busy working on projects around the house preparing for a friend and her family to stay with us. They were here for almost two weeks and have now headed to visit family for a few weeks before heading back to this area to settle into their first home! We've been friends since 8th grade when we both lived in TX. It is amazing to me that both of our husbands joined the military (different branches), yet here we are both settling down in VA.

Speaking of the projects around the house, I will be sharing pics soon. I just haven't taken the time to take pictures. We finally got the drawers in the kitchen painted and we have just about finished the room in the basement! Super excited about that because it will be our homeschool room!

While our friends were staying with us, we went to Mt. Vernon for their Fall Harvest Festival. The boys really enjoy going and the weather was perfect! The boys enjoyed running through the hay bale maze, playing corn cob darts, hay rides, and more!







Lucas especially loved spinning in circles in the barn, riding the shuttle bus, and saying "cheese" for the camera!



And most recently, they enjoyed dressing up as Luigi and Robbie Rotten while scouring the neighborhood for candy! :-)

Some funnies....

There have been a few things lately that Lucas has said that I knew I had to remember to add to the blog. Tonight Logan said something that had us laughing, too! :-)


A few weeks ago, we bought Lucas a sock monkey on clearance for $5. Truth be told, I think I wanted it more than he did. Anyway, he keeps asking if we have a "shoe monkey", too!

This one is something that he has been saying for a while and I keep forgetting to share. He LOVES Mr. Potato Head. Honestly, I wasn't sure how he would do with them, because he STILL puts things in his mouth. However, they have them at school and he was doing well with them there, so he got one from the Easter bunny this past Easter. I'm sure you all know that Mr. Potato Head has a little compartment to store all the pieces in. Well, Lucas loves to take things apart, so he is constantly taking the door to that compartment off. Then he can't find it and he wanders around saying, "Where did the butt door go?".

Speaking of butts.....tonight, we were all laying in my bed snuggling and I told Logan to stop picking at his butt (the boy has some sensory issues and can't stand things to be bunched up). Anyway, his response was, "Well, it is that season you know!". I said, "There's a season for butt picking? I knew there was a strawberry picking season, but I didn't know about the butt picking one." He said that indeed there is one and today was it. Oh my!

He likes it, he likes it!!

Lucas LOVES the show Lazy Town. Thing is, it was on all last year and through the summer, but it isn't on any more. Luckily, I have some recorded episodes for him. You can't find toys for it at the store, but I've been keeping my eye out on e-bay and just found him a Robbie Rotten (the one he is wearing in the video) and a Sportacus costume (2 of the main characters). I'm not sure, but I think he likes it!

Oh, and sorry for the loud Weather Bug alert. It decided to warn me of flash floods and coastal flooding right in the middle of my video. :-)

Somebody stop me!!

Seriously, it might be a problem! I went to Safeway again last night....

Transaction #1:
1 pkg. OreIda southern style hashbrowns = $3 (reg. 3.50)
1 pkg. OreIda curly fries = $3 (reg. 3.50)
2 pkgs. OreIda tater tots = $6 (reg. 7.00)
6 small containers Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, these have 5 in them, I think = $6 (reg. 11.34)

Total before tax and coupons = $18

-$4.04 OreIda Safeway coupon ($1.01 each times 4)
-$6.00 OreIda manf. coupon ($3 each times 2)
-$3.00 Pillsbury coupons ($1 off of 2 times 3)

Total after tax and coupons = $5.31

Club card savings of $7.34, coupon savings of $9.00 for a total savings of 80%!! Plus, I got $3 off future purchase by purchasing 6 Pillsbury items.

Transaction #2:
2 small containers Grand biscuits, 5 biscuits per can = $1.98
4 small containers Pillsbury crescent rolls, 4 rolls per can = $4.00 (reg. 6.76)
1 container Rocky Road ice cream (my husband's request) = $3.99 (reg. 4.99)

Total before tax and coupons = $9.97

-$2.00 Pillsbury Crescent rolls ($1 off of 2 times 2)
-$1.00 Pillsbury Crescent rolls ($1 off of 2)
-$3.00 (coupon from Pillsbury purchase on transaction #1)
-$0.75 Lucerne ice cream coupon

Total after tax and coupons = $3.45

Club card savings of $3.76, coupon savings of $6.75 for a total savings of 77%!! Plus, I got another $3 off future purchase by purchasing 6 Pillsbury items.

Transaction #3:
4 bottles Pepsi, 2 liters = $3.96 (reg. 7.96)
1 Amp energy drink = $1.19

Total before tax and coupons = $5.15

-$3.00 (coupon from Pillsbury purchase on transaction #2)
-$1.19 (free Amp when you buy 4 bottles, 2 liter, of Pepsi)

Total after tax and coupons = $1.06

Club card savings of $4.00, coupon savings of $4.19 for a total savings of 89%!!

So, my total for the entire trip was $9.82!! Now, looking at this week's sale at Safeway I'm thinking I may get some Toaster Strudels as a treat for Logan (he likes the ones with eggs) and after coupon, they will be 88 cents. Also if I can find creamer in the flavor that my husband likes, those will be free after coupon!

Adding to the invenotry.....

Super excited about my Safeway trip today! And, in case you are asking yourself, "Gee. Didn't she post an inventory of her pantry and freezer to use up what she has instead of buying more?". Well, the answer is yes and no. I seriously can't pass up a good deal. As long as I know we'll use it and we have the money to buy it, I go ahead. Now, if there are no more good deals for a while, I'll steer clear of the store.....LOL! The Pillsbury stuff was actually better than free and the OreIda stuff was 49 cents each. The Triscuit and Wheat thins I had coupons to try them for free by signing up at Kraft First Taste. They periodically send you coupons for free products. The fish after coupons was $2.99. I guess that isn't super cheap considering it is only 2 filets, but it makes for a super fast, healthy, relatively inexpensive meal.

My purchase:

Safeway mayo (no coupon used) = $1.99
2 containers Velveeta easy Mac (no coupon used) = $2.50
1 box Triscuit thins = $3
1 box Wheat thin stix = $3
2 packs Ore Ida steam and mash = $6
2 packs Pillsbury Grand biscuits (the small packs) = $2
2 packs Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (the small packs) = $2
2 packs Pillsbury crescent rolls (the small packs) = $2
3 pound beef brisket = $11.73
1 pack Waterfront bistro Tilapia = $6.99

Total before coupons and tax = $41.21

-$0.30 e coupon for biscuits
-$0.30 e coupon for biscuits
-$0.50 e coupon for crescent rolls
-$0.50 e coupon for crescent rolls
-$0.40 e coupon for cinnamon rolls (not sure why only one came off)
-$2.00 e coupon for Rancher's Reserve meat
-$2.00 paper coupon for Rancher's Reserve meat
-$2.00 e coupon for fish
-$2.00 paper coupon for fish
-$3.00 (two) paper coupons for OreIda steam and mash
-$1.00 off 2 paper coupon for biscuits
-$1.00 off 2 paper coupon for crescent rolls
-$1.00 off 2 paper coupon for cinnamon rolls
-$3.59 on Tricuits (made 59 cents here)
-$3.59 on Wheat things (made 59 cents again)
-$1.01 store coupon for OreIda
-$1.01 store coupon for OreIda

Total with tax after coupons = $16.79

I saved $13.70 with club card savings, $17.18 with coupons, for a total of $34.92 saved. That's a savings of 69%!!

I also got the $3 catalina for next shopping trip for the Pillsbury purchase. I applied that catalina in my next transaction for 2 pieces of cake for dessert, making them $2.10!

My dad brought me some marinade for brisket when he came to help with the kitchen and I've really been wanting to try them. I'm pretty cheap when it comes to buying meat, but I'm super excited with my deal on it today!! Yay!

I pretty much get all my coupon matching info from The Krazy Coupon Lady. Seriously, you need to check her out!!