Yes, I am an annoying coupon lady now…

Jun 8, 2011 // by Jen // OurBlogs // 1 Comment

I have begun a new adventure…couponing. Once again, I am a little late out of the gate. My mom has been clipping them for years and mailing them to me and my sister and I would chuckle at how silly she was. I had seen her save money growing up but it never sunk in. Until one day my husband came home from work telling about one of his co-workers wives and how she actually got change back for a basket full of toiletries from a local chain pharmacy. Hmmm….maybe there is something to this. The next Sunday I went and bought five newspapers. I sorted and clipped and organized, got myself a binder and everything! I went on my maiden voyage on double coupon day. Lucky me I ran into a friend that has been a couponer for years and she gave me a quick tutorial in the store. I was off!! I wandered through the store and matched sales to the coupons I had. I was finding crazy good deals and I was getting excited. Until it was time to check out. Suddenly I was terrified, what if I did it all wrong? I hadn’t brought enough money in to buy all of it at full price! Luckily all my years of “momming” had prepared for the potential humiliation that often lurked at the register. Heck with it, I’m going in…The woman who rung me up was an angel. Being my first time I had no idea that they only double the first twenty coupons. I put on the doe eyes (unintentionally of course) and I’m pretty sure I started welling up. The woman in line behind me actually suggested she cancel the sale and rering my first twenty coupons and do a seperate transaction. Yes, the lady in line behind me. The cashier gladly went through my purchases and seperated out things with their coupons. Needless to say I have my own regular cashier now. When all was said and done I spent $58.80 and I saved $58.08. I would have saved more than I spent if I hadn’t forgotten two coupons in my purse. That’s $4 I won’t get back….Or will I? Mwahahaha!

Hey, it’s new to me…

May 25, 2011 // by Jen // OurBlogs // Comments Off

So we started a new thing this week at my house. The marble jar. I know what you are thinking: “duh, everyone has already done it, don’t bother running to the patent office Jen”. For me though, I do things as they occur to me, not always when they are popular. For anyone who isn’t familiar, each kid has a jar and as they do a chore or a good deed they are rewarded with a morble in the jar. We actually have assigned values for certain things, basically if you pick up after yourself without having to be told, you get one. If you take the initiative to do more, you get more. If you are misbehaving or caught with your hand…well, anywhere your hand shouldn’t be, marbles are taken away. For my oldest, this totally rocks, My middle, she is cautiously optimistic and the youngest just loves the marbles!

James has taken to cleaning his room daily before being asked and then moving on to another “common room” in the house. Living room one day, yesterday the kitchen. He pulled all of the kitchen chairs into the living room so he could sweep the floor properly. I then mopped it as he straightened up the laundry room. Heavenly. Mary spent a lot of time in her room, but wasn’t complaining as she did it which is new. She did eventually, kind of, finish. She is just a different kind of kid than her bigger, bar setting brother. Matthew, whose enthusiasm is contagious, (sister is immune however) was shuttling first dirty clothes, then clean ones from his drawers to the laundry room. He has his eye on the prize, and he is thinking that volume is the answer to his success. So we need to do a little monitoring for the smaller two but overall I am very happy. Now if I can just get my husband to quell his loanshark impulses to “dump them all and start again!!” every time they start getting rowdy…

One Good Pee Deserves Another…

May 11, 2011 // by Jen // OurBlogs // 5 Comments

I awoke at 5:30 this morning to a sweet little voice calling out “Mommy! My pants are wet!”. It’s my littlest one, Matthew. I begrudgingly roll out of bed, my tempermental back screaming at me all the way. When I first walk in he insists that I pick him up. Knowing my spinal situation wasn’t going to let that happen, I decline. He gave me the look and I consider it, only for a second. His is the bottom of a set of bunkbeds. The look on his face is not enough to block out the vision of myself falling face first into soggy bed linens and then being unable to get up. Sorry little man, you are gonna haul yourself out just like mommy did. My oldest wakes (I think) long enough to ask me what is for dinner, and then he is back out. Now, to peeling off the wet pants and underwear. Again my back is protesting by taking my breath so when I try to speak it sounds as though I’m holding in smoke. My husband, hearing the struggle from our warm comfy bed, decides to “help” by talking to the child. From the bed. If only I had thought of that! As I walk wet things to the laundry room I hear Mary say “Mom, can I take a shower?”. Now, she is no morning person so I know what this means. At least I have a complete peepee load to wash now. Poor kids are both sad and upset and embarrassed. Luckily upon hearing of the second child’s plight Hubby had the good sense to drag up out of bed and help with accident victim number two. Such an awful way to wake up, especially when you consider we did not turn the heat on and the house was sixty-six degrees so wet=very cold. They are both shivering and I’m trying to get the shower running and warmed up at warp speed. I get the first one out and into footy pajamas and my bed. Since daddy has Mary under control I crawl into bed with my little guy and try to salvage just a little more sleep….

Why I Forget Sometimes That Being Married With Two Kids Means I’m Really a Mom of 3!

Oct 21, 2010 // by Lyn // OurBlogs // Comments Off

Just for clarification, I think I have a wonderful husband, who’s also a great father to our children (there, it’s on the record)! However, it’s when I get complacent in such thinking that I am reminded why I have to be a mom, 24-7 (and why I am constantly at my wits end)! For instance, all I really wanted to do last Saturday morning was get on the treadmill then take a shower, and since it was the weekend, not have to squeeze it into a mere 30-minute window! So I felt rather confident (now known as complacent) leaving hubby and the kids downstairs watching cartoons while I got a little “me” time! About an hour later, I returned to a husband comatose on the couch, a daughter asleep on the floor (when it was way too early for her to take a nap), and a son with a guilty look on his face (that’s never good). As I turned to head straight for kitchen clean-up, I found artwork on an unauthorized medium that immediately caught my attention. A random drawing in purple marker over the only spare open space left on a floor already littered with toys, clothes, & my daughter’s leftover breakfast scraps. As my eyes scrambled to search out my son (you remember, the only one conscious with an already guilty expression), I noticed that his artistic endeavors were not limited to one area. It wasn’t one work of art, but apparently his entire collection on display, the whole downstairs his doodling gallery. There were purple scribblings all over the kitchen cabinets, dishwasher, countertops, and continued into the hallway, covering walls and doors. I’ll have to admit, if he was designing a gallery layout he did a good job ensuring a good flow of traffic for viewing his masterpieces. Oh, and did I mention he had used one of my markers…not permanent, but also not good ol’ kid-friendly washable, either. So by gaining an hour to myself (not to do anything I really enjoyed, but for simple mommy maintenance), I ended up losing almost an hour cleaning up the mess created in my absence. Sure I could get upset with my son, who at 5 years old knows better than to draw on anything other than paper, but clearly with both parents occupied, he had to do what was necessary to get the attention he needed (oh, but rest assured, he was still punished)! And yes, I certainly can & was upset with hubby, who failed in the simple task of watching the kids…a task even a tween can do at a reasonable rate. And before he gets any ideas reading this: “No, I’m not going to pay you to watch our kids, Honey!” But in the end, the fault is entirely my own for allowing the rest of my family to fend for themselves unsupervised…what was I thinking?! So just a reminder to anyone who may define themselves as mom of (insert number of kids you have here), remember that your mothering duties, whether it’s your spouse, the family pet, or any other clingy relative, extend far beyond the ones you actually gave birth to, even if they are the only ones that call you “Mom” (at least let’s hope they’re the only ones)!