The Princess turned 4!

The princess turned 4, and there was much rejoicing. Finally the Friday that had her birthday came along, making it really her birthday. On the day before her real birth-day, we went with the grand-Ma to the Ringling Bros Circus. It was a blast! Ringling Bros always puts on a fantastic, family friendly show. The kids all were amazed by everything. If you have a chance to go, go see their show! Be sure you get there early, the pre-show is so much fun too! You can try on costumes, walk under the guys on stilts, have a heart attack because you worry they may fall on you, get temporary tattoos, and lots of other stuff.

She always makes the weirdest looks on her face when its time to smile. 

Presents!

Target Deals!! Whoooo HOOOOOO!

I

I just about danced out of Target after this trip. I saved a good amount of money, and the best part was...none of the coupons beeped and the cashier didn't have to struggle with all of them. Even better- the coupons automatically adjusted themselves down for the items that were free (like the crystal light that was $1.97 and I had $2.00 coupons for). Yay! 

There were some things I bought that I didn't have coupons for or a spectacular deal on, but they were things we needed. The tortillas and the big can of enchilada sauce for example. The big can was $2.19 and the tortialls were $1.39. I am trying to put some variety into what we eat and what meat is on sale or what we have on hand. Seeing that we usually have a big bag of frozen chicken in the freezer, I'm attempting chicken enchiladas. 

So I got two Wanka candy bars for .29 cents ($2.39 each, used a target and a manufacturers coupon)

Snyders Pretzels for $1.19 each ($3.19 each, used a target Q and a Manufacturers Q)

2 bags of Goldfish for .75 cents for two (used a $1.00 off 2 catalina with a .75 cents Q)

3 boxes of crystal light fitness- free! (used 3 coupons I got mailed from vocalpoint)

2 cans of Campbells soup for $1.39 a can (used a .50 off Q- needed for hubby's lunch)

4 cans of Cheff Boyardee for .89 cents (used 2 $1.00 off target coupons, and one $1.50 off 4 Q- which somehow gave me just .89 off, still a great deal)

2 cans of Red sauce for .52 cents each (had a .50 off one can Q)

4 bottles of SoBe water for free (used B1G1 free + a .50 off coupon x2)

1 colgate wisp 4 pack for .50 cents (used .50 cents off manufactures Q, .50 off target Q)

1 Kids Aquafresh for .12 cents (target Q+ manufactures Q)

8 ct Bic "clicky pencils- .20 (used $1.00 Q- could of gotten pens for free, but we need more pencils)

Lunchpail $3.99 (has coupons inside plus the $4.69 rebate form)

2 packs of 2 sharpie highlighters- .50 for both (used a $1.00 of 2)

Not to shabby! Saved $28.66, paid $20.02 OOP

I will maybe make one more trip to do the chef boyardee coupons again, and will print the coupons for the Hamberger Helper, since its on sale for $1.25 each.

Vote for us!

We're trying to win free Chikafila!

Vote for us! I even got my hubby to dress up as a cow.

http://apps.facebook.com/chickfila-photo/photos/detail/968

BP Oil Spill

I was reading over at one of my favorite (of many) blogs to read, Marriage Confessions, and she is getting people to donate to the National Wildlife Foundation to help with the oil spill clean-up. I probably have a very un-popular opinion on the whole thing, but here it is:
, 
BP caused this mess. They knew something wasn’t right with their valves/shutoffs and they continued to use them. This whole oily, horrible, disgusting environmental disaster is all BP’s fault. The same BP that I have to go down and pay $3.09 a gallon for gas to drive my kids places. The same BP that makes millions and billions of dollars every year. I don’t think we should be paying money to clean it up. BP should be fully funding all of the costs for any non-profit that is helping clean up the mess. Not us, and not our non-profits.

If I crash my car into someone else's, I pay for their damages. If I crash into their car, and ruin their car seats, I (or my insurance, technically) pay for the cost of replacing their carseats, their car, or whatever else happens to be broken.  I'm responsible for the restitution of what I damaged.

BP is responsible for what they damaged. I don't think our government should be cleaning it up. I think Obama has more important things he needs to be taking care of- unemployment, healthcare, international diplomacy, other such stuff. Again- this oily goopy mess is BP's fault!

We already pay an outrageous amount for gas (and printer ink). When I started driving at 16, gas was about $1.15 or so a gallon. Now it's around $3 a gallon. If BP really wants, they can start a "one penny of every gallon of gas goes towards wildlife clean-up" campaign. That would work for me. We all need to take care of the environment, and if I'm being "forced" (or maybe encouraged is a better word) to separate my recyclables, watch my water usage due to a drought, change out all my fixtures to energy efficacy bulbs and appliances, to do my part to save and be a good steward of what God has given us, I expect everyone at BP, from the people on the platform to the big-wigs in the corporate office, to do their best to protect what is given to them- oil (essentially money and power for their use, and to pass on to us) and the ocean environment.

Yes, my panties are in a wad (well, technically my spanks, to get rid of mommy belly). It's sad when we send thousands of dollars to other countries but can't give a neighbor a helping hand.

And just in case, here's Wiki saying BP caused it and all that. I know Wiki is a horrible, horrible place to find information, but I'll leave the fact finding to those who don't need to cuddle a crying baby. He's crying in sympathy of all those poor, oily birds.

The best laid plans....sometimes just don't work...

I was excited to have a room to use as a school/play room. Was.

Today I got the brilliant idea to move the small kid's card table from the kitchen (where Doorbuster in a walker likes to grab snacks he can't have off of) into the school/play room to hold the extra computer that is sitting on the floor. I figured we had a few toddler games and learning games and they could go on there to keep Princess busy while the older kids worked.

Bad, Bad Idea.

Apparently at the old house, that was Daredevil's computer and has his games on there (ok, it has rollercoaster tycoon 3, which is a big favorite around here), and he wants to play on it. No big deal! Princess has the attention span of a gnat, along with daredevil, so it should be fine!

Again, Bad, Bad Idea.

When the two of them fight it sounds like a bunch of cats hissing and yowling. They don't use words, they grunt, groan, screech, yowl and howl until I (I know, so helpfully) yell "CUT IT OUT! QUIT FIGHTING AND SHARE." it gets quiet for two more seconds and then the yowling starts up again.

(I generally don't put my kids in time out. I think its a bit silly sometimes. I usually put the object that is being argued about in time out.)

So I walked in the room, and click- off goes the computer. "Sorry guys, guess you can't find a way to play with it together, so off it goes."

Of course, to Princess this is the end of the world, which makes me put her in her room (yes..timeout...she needed a nap). She has given up her mid-day nap and you sure can tell she needs one! Did she nap? No. 5 minutes later she was back in her room after going in the front yard to look for her chapstick, wandering all around, and not coming back in when she was told. There is a no-playing-in-the-front-yard-unless-a-parent-is-outside rule.

After some lunch, some playing, some cleaning up, I allowed the computer to be turned back on. Daredevil is happily playing rollercoaster tycoon. Princess walks in the room, scopes out a empty computer, and instead of asking for help with a game or something, shuts it off. (Note, this computer has issues turning on and off, and once its off, its really really really a pain to turn back on). Then she takes the chair and starts the new joy they have found, gliding around the tile floors on the desk chairs.

Sigh. I was hoping for a lovely room with plenty of (semi)productive learning toys and games....I'm not quite sure if I'm there yet. Maybe I should try for some free cubicles on craigslist and divvy the room up. That kind of defeats the purpose of the room though.

For the sake of prosparity, pictures of the room, clean:

Blogging every day..HA!

I knew I was pretty optimistic when I said I'd blog every day (I said that in the beginning, when I created this blog). I also said I was a procrastinator. I procrastinate so much, I keep procrastinating on writing, and it never gets done.

I told you!

I'll get around to writing a really bloggy-post tonight. When I have time. HA-HA!