Young Love
Post Published: 17 May 2010A couple of weeks ago my 5 year old had his first girlfriend and got married all in one week! Now don’t panic and don’t think that I was advocating for this, but it was pretty cute. A few months before, Miss S’s mom had told me that it was her daughter’s pattern to change “boyfriends” on a weekly basis. I joked that it must not have been my son’s week yet. So two weeks ago when I was picking my son up from school, Miss S announced to me that my son was her boyfriend. Then, only 2 days later on Cinco De Mayo, again when I was picking up my son, she announced that they had gotten married! My son seemed content with this arrangement and when the spring carnival rolled around on Friday, they even shared a train ride together.
Now it is amazing what a couple days apart can do because on Monday when I picked up my son from school he told me “Miss S says that Mr. C is her boyfriend and that she is going to marry him. That’s no fair!” he said with tears in his eyes. Here he was rejected by only his second love (I am his first sweetheart of course)! I reassured him that it would be ok, just as another little girl from his class, Miss M came up to us and told us that he was her boyfriend now because they like to play together. His face perked up and a smile came to his face. You can’t beat young love can you?
A Mother’s Day Fit For A Queen!
Post Published: 11 May 2010
A few years back, when I was the mom of 2 little boys, The Times News ran an article on a group of women created for moms of all boys that call themselves “It’s Good To Be The Queen”. I have had great pleasure since being the “Queen” of the house and the boys know that is my role and that they are my princes.
It all started early in the week when I picked up my middle son from Pre-K and he announced that he had made something special for me and that his teacher had wrapped it. He showed me the lovely wrapping paper and proceeded to hide it in his room for Sunday. Sure enough, Sunday morning at 6:45am he came into my room and asked if I was awake and excitedly told me happy mother’s day and that he wanted to give me my surprise. He climbed into bed with me and watched me open it. It was a old cd case that now held a picture of him with a frame of recycled paper they made in school, and on the inside there was a picture he had drawn of him and I. “Do you love it? I worked really hard on it. Isn’t it beautiful? You can put it on your desk at work!” I can’t tell you how special I felt to see how excited he was to make my day special.
When his older brother got up about 30 minutes later he too wished me a happy mother’s day immediately and told me they had other surprises, but that everyone had to be up and ready before I found out what they were. Once dad and little brother were up and dressed, that is when I was presented with their projects they had built the day before at “Lowe’s Build & Grow Clinic”. Three flower pots with geraniums for in my sunroom! That is when dad suggested they take me to IHOP for breakfast and I can tell you that there was no disagreement on my part. After a week of wind, snow and rain, the day was beautiful and sunny. What more could a mom ask for?
That evening as I finally decided I needed to put away the 4 loads of laundry I had been procrastinating about, I can tell you that I got the laundry put away in what seemed record time and just felt so blessed to have my wonderful family! I have to say I truly felt like the queen of the house. I hope that the rest of you moms out there had as wonderful a day as I and felt appreciated too. It really makes the long nights, early mornings, and loads of laundry worth it.
New Recall On Infant’s & Children’s Tylenol & Motrin Products!
Post Published: 03 May 2010There has been a voluntary recall put out on many infant & children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl. Go here to read information on the recall. I had some children’s Motrin on the list and called the number listed on this site. I was asked for information off of the bottles of medication and they took information from me to send me a check to reimburse the value of the affected product. They told me to expect it to take 4-6 weeks for a check to arrive. They then instructed me to throw away the products.
Is Anyone Looking For Deals This Week?
Post Published: 26 April 2010
The picture you see above is from my trip through Target late this afternoon so any of the deals you see here are good until Saturday night. I spent $12.73 and saved $51.92 for a savings of 80%. How did I do this?
The Off Clips are $7.99 each. I used a B1G1 manufacturer’s internet printable coupon, a $2/1 manufacturer’s internet printable coupon, and 2 $2/1 Target internet printable coupons which made them 99 cents a piece.
The Reveal light bulbs are on sale for $2 a pack (4bulbs per pack). I used 4 $1.50/1 Target internet printable coupons which made them 50 cents a piece.
The Rimmel eyshadow was free using a manufacturer’s coupon for 1 free item which saved me $3.59.
The Rimmel nailpolish is $3.41. I used a $2/1 Target coupon and a $1/1 coupon making it 41 cents.
The Tresemme Fresh Start dry shampoo and Refreshing Mist is $3.99. I used a B1G1manufacturer’s coupon and a $2/1 manufacturer’s coupon making them 99 cents each. I think this product is awesome for moms that are on the run and can use this product to get an extra day out of our hair without wet shampooing and re-styling . It was a lifesaver for me when I was in the hospital over spring break!
The John Frieda shampoo is on sale for $4.31 and I used a $2.50/1 manufacturer’s internet printable coupon, which made it $1.72.
The John Frieda conditioner is on sale for $4.49 and I used a $2.50/1 manufacturer’s internet printable coupon, which made it $1.99.
The Carefree pantiliners (22ct) are 99 cents a package and I used 8 $1/1 manufacturer’s coupons which made them free. You can use a coupon that is more than the product and the cashier can adjust the value of the coupon.
I read about the deal on the Off Clips, light bulbs, and Tresemme on some of the coupon blogs you see in my links on the right and found the other deals myself.
Some of you are recognizing me in the store when you see me and are saying hi and/or asking me questions. I love meeting you and am more than happy to help if I can. Please leave me comments if there is something you would like to see more about on here or on any questions you have. You can also e-mail me at missmomspeak@live.com and follow me on Twitter under missmomspeak. The links on the right to the coupon blogs and places to print coupons are a great resource to help you keep an eye out for deals and coupons.
A Tantrum Of Bananariffic Proportion!
Post Published: 21 April 2010What mom or anyone for that matter likes tantrums? Anyway, it seems that my 21 month old has reached his tantrum phase and at a much younger age than my older 2 boys. I am hoping that means it will pass faster, but in the meanwhile I am having to figure out how to deal with these tantrums. I have never been one to give into tantrums and it tends to make me more adamant about not giving in to whatever that tantrum is about. However, I fear I have made some mistakes this time. My son loves bananas. That in of itself doesn’t sound like a problem does it? That is what I thought initially. A few weeks ago we were in the grocery store and he saw I had put some bananas into our cart. I had hidden them under some of my other stuff, but he saw them when I was unloading things on the checkout aisle. He immediately began saying “nanna, nanna, nanna” and as his urgency increased and he started to cry so I decided I would just let him have one. I mean it wasn’t like he was freaking out over getting candy right? I have to try to hide the bananas at home or he is constantly wanting one. Then at both my mother-in-law’s house and at Costco last week, I gave in and let him have a banana when he saw them and started his tantrums.
If you are wondering why giving him a banana whenever he sees one is a problem, this morning the answer to my question of whether I should give in to him was answered loud and clear. We were walking through the store when he spotted bananas and immediately wanted one even though he had just had one for breakfast. I didn’t need to buy bananas so I diverted his attention. That is until we got to the checkout lane. You see, the lady ahead of us had bananas and he decided he wanted one. His pleading started and soon progressed into tears and screams. The woman even commented she was shocked that all his fuss was over wanting a banana. This time I stood my ground and he did not get a banana. He screamed all the way out of the store and getting him buckled into his car seat was not an easy task. He continued to cry and scream all the way home! How firm a stand do you take on tantrums and does it depend on what the tantrum is about? I am now convinced that giving in even to a banana is not the message I want to send.
Sandal weather?
Post Published: 14 April 2010It is beautiful out today and I am hoping I can break out my sandals. How are your feet after being hidden in socks all winter? The following is a post I put on Mom Speak last summer, but was lost with the updating of the blogs. I hope this helps you get your feet ready for those sandals!
How To Deal With Those Cracked Heels
How many of us moms have dry, cracked heels? Lets face it, we are constantly on the run and often don’t have a lot of time for ourselves. If you are like me, you want to be able to slip on and off shoes as quickly as possible, but it can be daunting when you have to look at those nasty cracked heels. I have to start out by saying that the cure I am going to share with you is not my own. It is one I read on another mom blog a few years back and so I am just passing it along.
The only two things that you will need are Aquaphor (or a generic version ), and some old socks. The best time of day to do this is in the evening or right before bed. All you have to do is slather the Aquaphor all over your feet and put your old socks on over top. The socks will help it to soak into your feet and save the mess of you getting it all over. Now let me warn you that starting out you may have to do this every night for 1-2 weeks to get the situation under control. Don’t give up too quickly and stick with it. After that initial few weeks of every day, you should be able to go to a couple of times a week. Once your feet are feeling soft again and the cracks are gone, it is good to stick with it at least once a week. I find that I have to remind myself of this during the winter when my feet are covered in socks and I’m not looking at them so much.
You will also be amazed how well Aquaphor works on a baby’s or child’s eczema, dry skin and even on diaper rash so don’t feel guilty about buying a big tub of it!
Huge Quaker Sale!
Post Published: 14 April 2010For any of you coupon followers out there, Albertson’s and Smith’s have a huge Quaker sale that started this morning and goes until next Wednesday morning. With the right coupons, this sale is “stock up” worthy! Smith’s sale is $5 for 5 if you use your preferred card, in which I sweetened the deal by adding $2/2, $1/1, and $3/5 coupons to my purchases. My youngest is in training to learn couponing at a nice ripe age of 21 months and so he came along to help. We left Smith’s with 10 boxes of cereal and 35 boxes of oatmeal (they are for friends and family and not all for us) for $6.70 out of pocket and saved $175.60!
C heck out how proud he is of his mom as he is trying out a new breakfast cookie we got at the Albertson’s sale!
Did You Know?
Post Published: 06 April 2010Did you know that with our struggling economy that our schools in Idaho are facing a financial/budget crisis? About a week and a half ago I heard that they were looking at changing the school calendar next year due to budget cuts. Then a week ago yesterday, I heard on the radio and read in the newspaper that the Twin Falls School District was holding a school board meeting open to the public and parents on April 5th at 7pm at Canyon Ridge High School. They were inviting people to attend to learn about the budget crisis, listen to changes they were considering and to listen to concerns, questions, and suggestions from the public. It was at dinner that night that I told my husband about the meeting and we discussed whether I should go. Fast forward to our dinner last night, and here at 6:30 I realized the meeting was in 30 minutes. I had been at work all day, had just finished making dinner and wasn’t even done eating. However, we decided I should go so we could be informed about the changes and how it was going to affect our children. I rushed with my husband’s help to get the dishes cleared and I headed to the meeting.
This was going to be the first school board meeting I had attended. On my way there I thought about what the meeting would be like and wondered how many people were going to be there. As I entered the school just a few minutes before the meeting I didn’t see a lot of people coming in. I made my way to the auditorium and picked up a prepared handout of information and the agenda. When I opened the door to the auditorium at 6:55pm I couldn’t believe that there was only a handful of people there. They waited until 7pm and the meeting was started with a mere 40 people in attendance. I was shocked. In a school district with an enrollment of 7 635 students there was only 40 people!
Do you know what changes we face? $3.57 million has to be cut from the general fund of the TFSD budget. The different funds were explained to that people could understand what things could not be changed to accomplish this. Right now the strategies they are looking at to accomplish this are as follows:
1) Furloughed days for all employees to create a condensed calendar that will take out 17 days in the school year. School would not start until after Labor Day and would get out before Memorial Day weekend.
2) Suspend/reduce computer purchases
3) Suspend textbook purchases
4) A salary schedule adjustment for all employees that would move to the State salary schedule
5) The possibility of a 4 day school week (Gooding went to this last fall and they said this really hasn’t been that effective in saving that large amount of money)
6) Reduce activity and athletic expenditures by 10% at all levels
They mentioned a few other possibilities, but these are the ones that seemed to be key. How will these changes affect you and your children?
I was born and raised in Canada and moved to the US right before I turned 21. I was raised to be informed and of my responsibility to vote. I became a US citizen 3 years ago because of my children, as I realized that without citizenship I could not vote on key issues that would be affecting them. That is why I attended the meeting last night. I am sure that as parents become of the changes being made to accomplish the budget cuts to our schools that many are going to be upset and have definite opinions on these changes and so my big question is why there weren’t more parents at the meeting. I
Keeping It Real
Post Published: 26 March 2010So last week was spring break for our boys. Unfortunately on Tuesday I had to go to the ER with the worst pain I had ever been in. Six hours later I was diagnosed with Diverticulitis and admitted to the hospital. This meant my husband had to take time off work to be home with the boys. I wasn’t released until Friday afternoon. However, because of my stockpiling, I did not have to worry about them having food to eat. They hung out in the backyard with dad and tore out a rotted portion of our deck and started rebuilding it. There was lots of dirt and power tools, so great fun was had by all and they did just fine without me.
On the way home from the hospital, my husband and I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my vast array of medications only to hear that the total was going to be $145.00 and this was after our prescription insurance!! Now while the number made our eyes pop, what made things manageable, was we had lots of food at home that we were able to take that amount of cash out of our weekly budget to cover the medications and roll with it. I know we face the medical bills from last week, but know we can handle it with the money I am saving on couponing. It also helped when I did go to the store to pick up the yogurt and egg whites to follow my special diet this week as I need a low residue diet while my stomach heals, and with the amount of antibiotics I am on, I need to eat yogurt daily. In the picture you see below, I was able to get all of the yogurt you see, egg whites, taco shells, and taco seasoning (the taco shells and seasoning is for my husband and boys) for $11.50 with my coupons. I guess the point I am making is that my learning how to use coupons and shop in a whole new way keeps blessing us over and over as we face daily life in a difficult economy.
Out Of The Mouths Of Babes – Weeee!
Post Published: 21 March 2010The other day I had to run down to the basement to our store room to get some items for dinner. I had left the gate open behind me as I was going straight down and back up again so I figured I would be fast enough that my 20 month old wouldn’t see it open. Wrong! As I was coming out of the store room I heard a “Weeeeeeee!”. As I rounded the corner I saw him sliding down the stairs on his tummy and as he saw me he said “Uh Oh”!. He knew he was busted, but at least the fun had lasted for a minute.
