Wordless Wednesday- Hot Fun in the Summertime!

Not Me Monday!

It's not me who's glad that Not Me Monday's remind me it's monday!

It's not me who sat around and played warcraft instead of unpacking boxes.

It's not me that has a garage filled with stuff to put away.

It's not me who wants to toss it on the lawn and have a garage sale.

It's not me who got mad and sort of lost it this morning because Princess has been my shadow for the past three days going "mommy, mommy, mommy" excessively, and making it impossible to get anything at all done. It wasn't me who was also angry at the kids for leaving all of the transformer DVD's on the floor...the very expensive, vintage seasons of transformers. The impossible to find ones on ebay. Yeah.

It wasn't me who also got angry because after being asked the whole weekend when we were going back to the water park, and being told Monday morning (then tomorrow morning- then eat your breakfast and we are leaving), that after being told 3 or 4 times to get on their swimsuits and go, only one child was dressed and ready to go. The one who asked the most, wasn't even slightly ready. UGH.

It isn't me who needs an afternoon to recharge. Nope, not me.

It isn't me who took everyone walking up the street for the $7.77 family taco meal, and listened to HUBBY whine the most about the .7 mile walk. It wasn't be who lets my kids ride their scooters without helmets (I'll find them for next time).

Why I don't buy Ice Cream

Daredevil: "Can I have some ice cream?"

Me: "No."

Daredevil: "But we have some."

Me: "No, not right now. In an hour or two." (we ate lunch an hour ago)

Princess: "Can I have ice cream?"

Me: "No- in an hour or two you can."

Daredevil: "But we have some ice cream in the freezer."

Princess: "Yeah! It's right there!"

Daredevil: "Can I have ice cream?"

Me: "No, No ice cream."

Daredevil: "But there's some right there, in the fridge. So can we have some?"

Princess: "I want some ice cream!"

Daredevil: "But you said we could have some."

Me: "I said NO! No ice cream! We just had lunch, we are NOT. HAVING. ICE CREAM."

Daredevil: "Can we have ice cream?"


Sigh........

Doorbuster fusses-
Princess says "He wants chocolate." then "He wants juice."

Daredevil: "Can I have ice cream, please?"

Moving Moving Moving, get those peeps a moving...

We've made it (most of the way) into our new place.

I was going to go over and sort through all the kid's toys and the random junk that's left, but unfortunately, my children have prevented me from doing that. It's not that they tied me down and wouldn't let me leave the house, it's just a pain to take doorbuster with me, and then actually try to get stuff done.

I could leave him, but the amount of time I'd be gone just wouldn't go well with him. He's a spoiled baby! Well- he's well loved. You can't spoil a baby by giving them too much attention, you can only spoil them by leaving them on the shelf to rot. He isn't one who likes bottles at all, and on the rare occasions he cries, he gets hysterical, turns beet red, and gushes tears like his little heart has broken. You wouldn't want that to happen, right? Neither do I. And neither do his siblings, who will all start up with "He's CRYING Mom! Crying! MOM! HE'S CRYING HE WANTS YOU!!! Mom! MOM! He's CRYING!!" Because when he cries, it's the end of the world!

So hubby, (who must really love me to put up with all this moving) is going back and forth, bagging up all the toys and things and bringing them here so I can sort through them in the garage as the mood strikes. I think I'm going to bring in what we need and use, and after about 6 months, I'll have a yard sale for whatever we haven't used yet.

We rented a u-haul to move all the big belongings so we would be done with the major stuff. I figure it makes the most sense money wise to make one trip with it and then return it. I think that the gas we've used driving back and forth for all this extra stuff probably equals what we would of spent (maybe more) if we would of just made one other trip. Of course, not moving is much cheaper!

Being a straight out SAHM is interesting. I have no idea how I managed all this stuff while working at the same time. Well, I have an idea, nothing was ever done very well! I'm slightly disappointed, I thought I'd be eating bon bons by now! No one ever told me I had to do things like laundry, and mopping floors. Yetch! My hubby jokingly (jokingly because he values his head) said now I don't have an excuse for not having dinner done and the house clean. Very funny!

The kids are all adjusting nicely to the new place. Now that their stuff is here and organized a bit, they are more comfortable. Daredevil had a bit of a meltdown today because he wanted farmer boys, and our old house was more fun because we got to go out to eat. I agree with him, I very badly would of loved some farmer boys, but taking a family of 7 out to eat is expensive, and at Farmer boys it'd probably run around $40.00 or so. Now, one person doesn't eat quite yet, but its like feeding 3 adults and 3 kids. Which is expensive! As long as we are only going out ONE time to eat (and eating as cheaply as possible that one time) we are good budget wise. And once every utilities quits needing a deposit, things will be much, much easier. Eating at home more has been an adjustment to all of us. It's worth it though! I'm sure once we are all moved in and settled and can go places more, all the kids will be happier (even if we have to eat a lot of pbj sandwiches).

It's the final countdown!

Today we pay the last of our monies and get the keys to the new house. Yay! We still aren't really packed, I filled 13 boxes worth of stuff from just downstairs, and don't really have the willpower to do the upstairs. I figure once we move the big furniture (big being, too big to fit in the van, since we've moved so much we don't own a lot of terribly big furniture), then we will deal with the stuff that's left.

The princess's room is completely trashed with toys everywhere. I don't think I'll be packing that up until she is at the other house- then I can go through it without her around to watch what I give away. She has princess dresses that are so well loved they are in tatters, and it's time to give them a rest. Especially when she has plenty of new ones to wear!

Moving with 4 kids (well 5 technically, since my stepdaughter is here), is harder then I thought it would be. Every time I get something packed up and ready to go, it is quickly unpacked, rummaged through, or they spend hours begging for whatever I packed in the box. Even if they hadn't played with it for months and months, as soon as they see it, they need it right then and now.

Of course, now comes fitting all the stuff that was here, into the new place. It's 145 sq ft bigger, but has a tiny bit less storage. I keep reminding myself that I can leave things in the garage and take them in the house as we need them, but I am dreading having a garage filled with boxes and boxes of stuff. Well, I supposed I can always have a garage sale and just sell everything that's left in there in siz months. Except I'd have to send hubby and the kids away while I did it, or they would spend their time bringing everything back in the house.

Genius's biggest complaint is that he has to share a room again. He has only not shared a room for a whole year, and for a large part of that year, they slept in the same room! He doesn't quite realize his computer is going to be out in the playroom/bonus room area, and he wont be able to hide away in his room anymore. (gee, that makes me so sad- not!).

Not Me Monday

It's not my family that thinks a BBQ is more important then a stove or oven.

It's not my family who's been completely lazy these past few weeks, getting up at 9:00, going to bed at 10, and generally just laying around

It's not me who doesn't want to pack, I just want them to magically pack themselves.

It's not me who is missing their printer, for all the coupon deals! It's not me who will be going to buy more ink. It's not us who owned 5 printers, all of them with no ink (I've paired it down to one!).

Finding my inner sloth

I thought making the transition from WAHM, to SAHM would be easy.

It's not like I went to an office or anything, had a commute, had to be places on time, or had to get really dressed.

Yet now, here I am sitting in my nightgown. This seems to be a regular thing now. I don't know if it's just taking advantage of not having to get up, dressed, and moving; or just being lazy.

You'd think I'd know since I'm the one sitting here!

Hubby is also home, he took a month off of work to help move. He only had 6 weeks of vacation time, a month of sick time, and a week or two of personal time. His last vacation was a year ago, when he took a week off to (you guessed it!) move- and he had to go back in and work for 3 of those vacation days. I think this will be a pretty easy move- we have almost two weeks of having both places. No rushing to get it done completely over the weekend.

Of course, that's hoping I get off my lazy behind, and get dressed and start packing!

I love shopping for free!

Thanks to my Kohl's bucks, and an awesome sale!

Wordless Wednesday

Summertime, and the living's easy....

Help! I'm drowning in too much stuff!

Now that the time has come to start packing, or to start thinking about packing, it's time to start the big sort! I'm sorting things into piles- to keep, to sell, to freecycle, to toss. Things that don't sell go to freecycle if they don't sell within a week.

I find it funny that everyone claims with 4 kids you must have a big house. We moved from a 2 bedroom, 1 bath into this 4 bedroom, 2 bath. I love the two bathrooms. But the bedrooms...everyone ends up in the living room, or in one of the kid's rooms upstairs. Two of the bedrooms have kind of evolved into stuff holding rooms. They are almost like giant closets. My goal is to get rid of 90% of it in one way or another.

We are looking for a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a bonus room/extra living room/something of that sort. Then maybe I can have a living room that is not completely trashed with toys everywhere. It all goes back to the same thing, we have entirely too much stuff for everyone to pick up! It usually falls on me to do the cleaning and picking up, and as much as I try to get everyone to help, it usually goes badly.

And don't get me started on the toys that are never, ever, played with, just left out. You put them away, far far away, and they get dragged out to sit on the floor. Maybe someday my kids will be interior decorators and can stage things all over the floor of some house. Then I can look back fondly on the things that just sit out everywhere.

I'd like to have a lovely nice new place with less stuff to manage, so we can spend more time with each other, and our friends. Hopefully I can accomplish that!

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons!

My Target Deals:

Pampers Wipes- $2.39 w/ $2.00 coupon from 6/6= $.39 each
Pampers Wipes- $2.39 w/ $2.00 coupon from 6/6= $.39 each
Pampers Wipes- $2.54 w/ $2.00 coupon from 6/6= $.54 each (wanted a tub)

Lysol Liquid Pourable- On sale for $1.89 each
bought two and used a $1.00 off 2 coupon from 6/6- $1.39 each

Scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner extender thingy (Used deal off moneysavingmom.com- go look there for details!!)- Got the Sprayer ($8.69- $5.00 off manufacturer coupon, plus a get a $5.00 gift card target coupon from sometime in May- they paid me to buy this) then got a free refill with a buy starter sprayer get refill for free.

Popchips- $2.79. Didn't have any coupons for this, but boy are they good!
Spegetti O's- $.89 each x2 cans- Target is cheapest with these

Wishbone dressing- $1.49 each, bought two and used a $1.25 off two coupon from a may insert, $.87 each.

Cambells Soup- On clearance for $1.60 each, with a $1.00 off two coupon (4 cans, 2 coupons)

Progresso Soup- On clearance at $1.38 each, used a $1.10 off 3 coupon

Old El Paso Refried beans- $1.09 per can (should of waited for a sale, but needed them for lunch) used a $.50 off one can printable- bought two cans.

Del Monte Fruit Tubes- On clearance for $1.31- used $1.00 off printable from www.moneysavingmom.com for the total of $.31

Eggo Waffles on sale for $1.75, used a $1.00 printable from MSM.

Satin Care Shaving gel- bought one in the travel section for $.99, used a $.55 off coupon for it to be $.44. Will bring the rest of my coupons and do this deal again.


So my total before coupons was around $47.00- after coupons $22.46, so around a 50% savings. Then I used $16.34 in gift cards left over from the huggies deal, for a grand total of $7.85 out of pocket, with a $5.00 gift card for next time.

Not too shabby! Still working on getting that initial price down, and not buying things I don't have a coupon for!

I was a bit bummed too, the $4.00 off Olay Effects coupon would make them $1.50 each, not free. I was hoping to get those and the body bars for free. I'll hang onto them until I find a place to get them for free or less then a $1 each, since I don't need body wash right now.

Not Me Monday!

It wasn't my child who was walking around at my mom's wedding with two champagne glasses and a necklace on his head to make antennae.




It wasn't me who fed the baby a rib.

I'd like to make my self believe, that planet earth turns, slowly

Just in case you have no clue about the title. I love that song.

Things have been crazy busy around here. Blackout days for our Disneyland passes (had to hurry and get a few more visits in), end of the school work to finish up, my mom got married, I got fired from my job (blessing in disguise I tell you), and just life in general, make it hard to sit and think of things to write about.

But, now I will have plenty of time for eating bon-bons and wearing mo-mos and slippers, or alternately, wearing heels and pearls and making 4 course meals. You pick your stereotype.

It will be interesting to not have to worry about returning emails, answering the phone, whether or not the neighbors picked up their trash or threw it into the dumpster, to not have to worry about co-workers, meetings, or advertising. For the first time since 2002, I am a 100% completely SAHM.

And it's really, really weird. I keep thinking of work-related things. Things that don't matter anymore. Things that aren't my responsibility. Since I worked from home, and I pretty much was on-call 24/7, I'm sure it will take some adjusting.

On another interesting note, I am also a perspective renter for the first time ever. As an apartment manager, I have always worked places that gave me free or reduced rent (mostly free). So now comes the interesting part- budgeting for rent and utilities, and of course, finding a house that we like to budget for in the first place. I have seen several places, and I can tell you, its amazing what sort of things you find from city to city in your price range.

What an interesting journey this will be!