Veggies!

I am a veggie pusher all the way!
I want my kids to have a variety of food whenever possible.
I am quite lucky to have a 4 year old son who loves his veggies, ever since he was little!
He would eat carrots for every meal if I would let him.
My 8 year old daughter is a different story.
She is old enough to know that veggies are taboo among kids!
One day she likes carrots one days she hates them, but I do make her eat them=)

I take advantage of any help I can get though, like for awhile this one brand of canned veggies had Sesame Street characters on them, that made my kids a little bit excited!
Making fun things out of veggies is also a fun idea, as well as having races eating them or how about this fun game www.loveyourveggies.com/games geared toward younger kids!

Thanks Mom Central for the opportunity to spread the word!


What fun afternoon cuddle time with your little friend!

FREE Redbox rental code

The free code this cold and dreary morning is

89ZQJ3

Good for today 3/30/09 only

Go to RedBox to sign up for Monday codes to be texted directly to your phone EVERY Monday!

A Nice Breakfast Treat!

I had the opportunity to get some free products from Eggo.
We tried the new Eggo Bake Shop Twists.

I like to feed my kids healthy things for breakfast, gotta start the day out right, especially on school days!
So I saved these as a weekend treat.
YUMMY=)

We were all excited to try them.
My 4 and 8 year old both enjoyed every bite!

The strawberry was our favorite, because sadly we couldn't find the Apple ones.
I looked at all the stores I regularly shop at and only one place even had them, so we will save our other coupon for when we find the other flavor.
I am sure they will be showing up soon, they are NEW so I am sure that explains it.

If you can't get to the bakery, why not have some bakery in your freezer!

Definitely a treat!

We all need it

We all "need" actually we all don't need it but, we are FORCED to have it and pay ridiculous amounts for it.

car insurance

I could go on and on about it and why I don't like it, BUT I won't.

I will just go on my merry way and pay for it and never get to use it and never get anything back form it, and make others rich from it while I get less rich, and just in case have coverage that I can't use or else I will have to pay more the following months and then I will try to be forced to take it to a place that will do a crappy job fixing it, but since I know my rights i will take it to my friends dads shop and...oh wait I wasn't gonna go there......Night, I must be getting sleepy.

I love Sundays

Wanna know why I love Sundays??

1- I get to go to church and get refreshed
2- The SUNDAY PAPER!!!

I love finding all the good things on Sale.


I especially like our local grocery store and CVS so I can match up coupons and get stuff for FREE!!!

Too bad I will have no time to sit down with my beloved paper tomorrow=(

Just talking about

Due to the nature of Josh's business (ie roofs), he sometimes needs to take pictures and develop them for customers to see. This can be costly depending on how many and how big we need to make the photos for the customer to really be able to see the details Josh needs to explain to them.
Josh just recently said he wished he could find cheap memory sticks that he could put the photos on to give to the customer. And then he decided to start taking my laptop with him in the truck. BOO. We do have a nice PC that is set up in a nice convenient for me to use place, unlike our old house, but still it is MINE=( I miss it. Sometimes I make him leave it for me, just because.

Here they are

Nut is the darker gray one and Fluffy is the light one.
Ethan's is Nut (named him all by himself) and Merci's is Fluffy (she also came up withthis original name!)



They are so tiny and cute, and still have not bit!!!
We are excited to have little creatures to hold.

(Like I said before, we were never able to pet/hold Joey...he even bit through Josh's work gloves)

I am sure I won't be around much this weekend, with a funeral, ice skating lessons, HSM2 play, 2 birthday parties and having people over 2 nights this weekend...yikes.

Nut and Fluffy

Yesterday Ethan and I picked out 2 new dwarf hamsters to surprise Merci.

They are so cute and they don't bite!! Yipee.

Ethan named his Nut and Merci named hers Fluffy.
Pictures soon.

Color does matter

I was recently asked to try/review a Listerine product by Johnsons through MomCentral

Listerine Total Care


www.listerine.com

We currently use Listerine in our home, and even our 8 year old uses it a few times a week.
(it says for children 12+, consult your dentist before giving to your child...my daughter has almost all of her adult teeth already that is why we are ok'd to use)

We use Vanilla Mint currently.
But as soon as we got the PURPLE Total Care we had to try, it is purple it must taste better..right??

Well, it worked for my daughter, I still prefer the Vanilla Mint, BUT since the Total Care provides so many more benefits, I guess I could get used to it=)

Total Care has these wonderful benefits all in one rinse:

• Helping to prevent cavities
• Restoring enamel
• Strengthening teeth
• Killing bad breath germs
• Freshening breath
• Fighting unsightly plaque above the gum line

and the best part is that it is pretty PURPLE=) to the people in this house anyway!

Wordless Wednesday ::Can't wait::

RIP Joey

Last night we burried our furry little friend Joey (our gerbil).
He was an evil little thing, he would attack us when we fed him, and we were never really able to hold him, but he was oh so cute.
And we all loved our Joey.

Merci picked him up and put him into a little Irish Spring soap box and we dug a deep hole. Merci was a champ about it. I let her take my one living flower from my birthday bouquet and place in on his site, just her and him alone.
She came inside with red eyes and tears and a big hug for me.
"I want to go get a new one, " were the first words outta her mouth.
(do I really want to do this again in a few years?? or sooner?)

This morning she again had a breakdown, poor girl.
At 5 Am she came in my room wanting to sleep with us because she was having a dream she was a little mouse...and was dying. Awe=(

On the way to school I was trying to soothe her sad little heart, explaining that as the days go by her sadness will be less and less.

She burst out crying, "It seems like it is getting worse, and he was evil so he isn't going to heaven...waaaahhhhh."

It was at that point I started cracking up laughing, out loud, and I am not usually an out loud laugher.

So then we had to talk about how animals don't really go to heaven and hell......and all that hoopla.

I think we may go get a new little pet tonight...why not, I have the food and bedding and all the stuff for one anyway.

Monday FREE Red Box Rental

The Free rental code for today 3/16/08 is

2GR4N8

Check out RedBox for more details

My CVS shop was amazing!!

I am so excited to tell you about my CVS shop this morning.
If you have a CVS near you and you don't know the CVS secret check out

I started with 6 ECB (Extra Care Bucks)

My first transaction was:
*2 Cadbury creme eggs 2/$1 (this $1 went toward the $15 Hershey ECB deal)
*1 Irish Spring Body Wash w/ .50 coupon 3/15S
*I Colgate MaxWhite w/ .75 coupon 3/15S

Total OOP after coupons & ECBS ($6 ECB I already had)
$1.88 (I earned $7.98 in ECB's)

My second transaction was:
*1 bag of bliss chocolates (non Easter section) w/ $1.00 coupon internet
*6 bags if $1.88 candy (3 Hershey kisses 3 Reeses eggs) w/2 $1.50 off 3 bags 1 internet one 3/15S

Total OOP after coupons and ECB ($7.98 from previous transaction)
$2.80 (I earned $5 ECB's)

Why did I need all that candy......
Some for me! and some for kids school and some for church donation!!

Gerbil dilema

Our gerbil, Joey seems to be dying. It is pretty obvious. He can barely walk, he falls over, we think he is blind too. We have never been able to touch the thing, it would attack. We can now. It is so sad to see, he is really skinny and you can see he is having a hard time breathing.

What do we do?? My daughter is having a very hard time watching him like this, as I am too. Will a vet even put a gerbil to sleep and it it gonna cost me a ton of $? My mom said to put him outside in his cage maybe it would speed up his death, that seems kinda mean to me...but so is making him die slowly.

Oh, the drama....

Do we go buy another right away? I mean we do have the cage, the food etc??

This is why I don't having pets.

What do you think?

Teaching teen about $

I have heard about these wonderful debit cards just for teens.
Such an innovative way to teach our kids about being responsible with money.

I wasn't taught this as a teen and it really hurt the way I learned about money and spending habits. I will not allow the same thing to happen with my kids.

These cards are definitely something I hope are around for awhile, I don;t think my 8 year old needs one, but it won't be long.

Maybe my husband should look into getting one for me!! LOL.

The Current Card by Discover
www.currentbydiscover.com
is one of the debit cards out there just for teens

Parents are able to set spending limits, restrict merchant categories (I REALLY like this option), parents are able to have access to their child's account and can also get email or text alerts.

There are so many other great advantages too, coupons, ways to earn flier miles and cash back, education for the teens on Discovers website and some great security features too!

Even some really cool designs to choose from=)

A second look at middle school

I am not sure if I have mentioned it but I work one day a week at a middle school. It is a special after school program. We (my brothers girl friend and I) teach ceramics. My brother and his girlfriend own a ceramics shop, so this was s job she acquired and needed some help with.

We usually have between 10 and 15 kids (and a few seniors from the senior center) and boy is it chaotic..."I need this color, I need a new brush, what do I do next?", all coming at you from all sides.

Coleen (brothers girlfriend) was sick today so I volunteered to do class by myself today...HAHA.

It wasn't so bad...doing all the work...but the kids are a different story.

These kids, these horrible kids. When I want to cry and go home to my kids, you know they are horrible, because I do enjoy the time away from my own kids, since it isn't very often (need a breather ya know).

So how many of you are married to the boy you were chasing when you were 13?
I thought so!

I really hope to pass on to my daughter the understanding that there is no reason to worry about boys when you are so young. Have fun, have friends, but seriously BACK OFF.
There haven;t been any conversations about sex that I have heard, and believe me they are not shy about what they talk about. But non stop banter about who is going out with who etc, etc.

And why is it the girls who need weight loss supplements, and proactive, have to put everyone and anyone down?? I have no problem with these girls that look like that but I am just saying, give it up.

I came home and begged Merci to never be like these girls. I held her (which is no easy task at her height and weight compared to mine) and I look at her deep in her eyes and begged her to not be like them.

These girls were wretched and boy oh boy was I ready to come home tonight.

But am also very glad I get to see what these kids are like so I can be sure to raise my daughter to NOT be like them. A chance to see what goes on out there is a good thing when I have a daughter who will be in this stage before I know it.

Taking it all in and adjusting

We have been on OUR new home for almost 2 months now!!
It all seems so unreal, when I walk into the house or pull in the driveway or wake up in a weird room etc.
I am sure you know the feeling I am talking about, not a bad one, just weird!

Some things I DO like:
#1 it is OURS!
#2 the yard that we will be able to use in a few more weeks!
#3 so much potential, working on that slowly but surely!
#4 a bigger bathroom
#5 a bigger kitchen
#4 an extra bedroom (office/work area for kids)
#6 a driveway that doesn't move when you walk on it (our other one was severely cracked up)

Some things I Do NOT like:

#1 the wall colors, white isn't horrible, jut not pretty, chartreuse is just ick

#2 light colored tiles...mopping and sweeping are getting old real fast
#3 the ancient furnace, saving up for that
#4 no AC Summer might not be real fun for me...saving up for that too
#5 icky basement...but BIG and lots of potential...icky just for now
#6 smaller hot water tank which means everyone runs out of hot water no matter how short/long their showers are...kinda interested in tankless water heater prices
#7 the list goes on here too...but not complaining just mentioning. We have many years here to fix all of this and make it better=)

I am extremely grateful for this house and love it no matter it's flaws.

Happy 2 months of knowing you house!!