Monday, August 10, 2009

Storms! & a few randoms...

WOW- last night my mom, Ryan, my brother & cousin (& Maeve of course) all went to the fair. I had heard Sunday is the best day to go- less crowds- and it's true! The fairgrounds were practically empty! We walked around for about 45 minutes looking at the animals (which Maeve loved- a huge turn around from last year when she had a breakdown in the horse barn). Right about when we made it to the chicken barns we all looked at the sky and noticed it had gotten super dark, super fast. RIGHT when my mom said we should probably start walking back so we don't get stuck in a barn in the rain it started POURING. Sooooo yes- we were trapped in the goat barn- we chose the goats over the chickens... yuck. It was pretty awful. The animals were going nuts because of the storm and I was getting a bit nervous myself- the winds were SO strong and the clouds were looking funny- not your average storm. To say the least I got a bit claustrophobic in the barn and visions of the movie "Twister" were swirling in my head (no pun intended). After about 15 minutes of being stuck with the goats, Ryan decided he was going to sprint all the way to the car, drive around to the nearest exit and pick us up- I was all for it. About 20 minutes later we were rescued by Ryan- thank GOD- I couldn't take the smells or the heat anymore! Driving home, we listened to the radio, and sure enough a tornado had touched down in Jackson county (apparently it ripped a roof off a middle school!?). And as we pulled up to the house, I was pretty darn sure the tornado ripped through our back yard. ALL of Maeve's giant, HEAVY outdoor toys were not only blow into the neighbors yard, but they were all torn apart!!! WTH??? I thought those things were supposed to be indestructible! Our screens on the windows had also blown off- and our back patio was a nightmare- all the chairs were flipped and the table was upside down. Really- gusty winds??? I think not- it was definitely a twister... or so I'm telling people :) Here are a couple of pics of Maeves destroyed toys...



Okay now starts my random ramblings...
1st- Maeve is going on an eating strike. And to say the least, its driving me a bit crazy. I don't want to say I'm cheap- so I will say that I'm frugal- therefore, wasted food irks me like no other. EVERY SINGLE MEAL Maeve not only doesn't eat her food but she makes a horrible mess with it- yogurt goes in her hair, grapes are thrown on the floor, peanut butter and jelly is smashed on her tray, you get the picture. Anyways my question is- how do I get my child to eat????????? And here's the scary part- I've cut down a LOT on her snacking because I was sure that was the reason she wasn't eating her meals. Snacks are now very strict and planned out... for example- she will get a little cup of goldfish around 10 AM or so and a yogurt at 4 PM. You'd think a growing girl would be starving when meal time rolls around, but nope... she drinks (thank goodness) but the food she couldn't care less about. HELP ME OUT!!!! Really- its getting on my last nerve buying food, food and more food all to be thrown out (or thrown on the floor).



2nd random rambling- I am just about 25 weeks preggo- which means 3 more weeks until I am in my 3rd trimester- thank GOD?! There's a part of me that wants to be DONE, DONE, DONE. And another part of me is reminded of how BAD my labor was and how hard waking up with a newborn is. So in a way, November is coming too fast- in another way, it can't get here soon enough. My belly is HUGE. People are blown away that I still have about 3 months left (I am staying optimistic- hoping I will go early again!). My maternity clothes are digging into my stomach- and as much as I am reassured that you carry girls and boys differently and THAT'S why my stomach is the size of a hot air balloon, I am still pretty hesitant and concerned that I am carrying a 10 lb. turkey. In that case- I will demand a c-section- Maeve did enough damage and she was a teeny 6 lb-er.




3rd Random Rambling: Not sure if you're getting sick of all my talk about saving money but its really become more than just saving money- its almost like a hobby now. I truly enjoy spending my Sunday nights clipping and organizing and figuring out meals and deals for the week. I've noticed since I really got into couponing our grocery bills gone WAY DOWN, and I've been cooking a lot more- we've also been enjoying a much broader range of foods. Not only am I addicted to a good deal- but now that Ryan has seen the fruits of my labor (again no pun intended! haha Ang- you're going to love this post) he's all into it as well! He prints me oodles of coupons, using all the Culligan computers and he is more than willing to watch Maeve on Sunday afternoons while I stock up the pantry. Anyways, with all that said- I thought I should add in another great find this week at Meijers.

Danimals crush cups & smoothies (I opted for the smoothies- thinking I could easily pour those into a sippy?) are 2/4.00 this week (or 2.00 a piece- you don't have to get 2 to get the deal- does that make sense?)

Anyways, if you were GOOD clippers yesterday and clipped the 1.00 off Danimals yogurt coupon you'll be all set! Take THAT coupon, combine it with the Meijer Mealbox coupon and get your free yogurt!

Here's the math:
Danimals yogurt on sale for 2.00
Mejier coupon 1.00
Danimal manufactor coupon 1.00
= free.

I got 6 copies of the free press yesterday because of the great Kraft cheese coupons (those are SO hard to come by and we use a TON of cheese so I broke down and spent the 10 bucks on the papers (which have already paid for themselves...:). So yeah, guess who has a fridge full of danimal smoothies??? Maeve better like 'em! :)

UPDATE*** after a yogurt disaster at lunch time I thought of a new idea for the smoothie things- I poured it in a sippy and thinned it WAY out with milk- Maeve LOVED it- no mess & the best part??? SHE ATE YOGURT (although she thinks it was strawberry milk :) Now I want MORRRRE coupons for MORRRRE yogurt!

ALSO- Applesauce is .35 cents a pack when you do this coupon combo- scour the internet for a .50 off Motts Applesauce coupon (I would give you the link but I CANNOT find it!!!!!! I got these coupons a few days ago off of some website- so I KNOW they're out there!) combine the Motts coupon with another Motts Meijer Mealbox coupon and get your super cheap applesauce!

Here's the math:
(you have to get 2 packs to do this!)
1 pack of Motts applesauce 1.85 each, for 2= 3.70

-(2) 50 cent off Motts Internet coupon (which doubles to a dollar!) 2.00
-(1) 1.00 off Motts Meijer Mealbox coupon
=70 cents for 2 packs (or 35 cents a pack)

5 comments:

k and j said...

LOOK at that belly ahhh! Love it. You might just have a bigger baby this time, therefore a bigger belly! A boy belly! I was HUGE. I am not as big this time but I am sure I will catch right up to where I was with Griff :) Oh and I can't help ya with the eating. Griffin is TERRIBLE.

Jessica Perry said...

Jordan is on a food strike as well. And I, just like you, hate wasting food/money! If you get any good tips to get them to eat, pass them along and I'll do the same! BTW, I love the deals you post about. We consider ourselves very "frugal" too:)

Unknown said...

haha GOOD jessica! I am SO glad you're using the tips! It will save you SO MUCH MONEY!!! It takes a little while to get the hang of it (took me months!) and to get a really good stock pile of coupons going but once you get it- its AWESOME!!! Our grocery bill averages about 50 a week- and that's breakfast/lunch/dinner! And like I said, we eat different things every night! If you need any help or the links to anything just let me know!!

Becky said...

Don't worry about the eating! Kerith goes on and off with eating (more off than on) and I have been so concerned about her eating habits but I just took her for her 2 year appt and the doctor said she was fine. Just keep putting a variety of foods on their plates (save them for later if they dont eat them) and just keep doing what you're doing. So, that's what I've been doing. :) I don't really have any good tips except, keep doing what you're doing and save it if she doesn't eat it.

The Paulk's said...

I agree not to stress about the eating thing. One suggestion maybe is to give her drinks AFTER meals. I found that Riley would get so full from milk that she wouldn't wat as much. Now both kids get breakfast, snack at 9:30, lunch, snack at 3 and dinner at 5:30. Seems to work for us. But, she'll eat when she's hungry and she does't look like she's starving :).

I got the Danimals yesterday too! Lots of good deals this week. I was thrilled that I spent a whopping 15.00 for the WHOLE week on groceries, however, I plan on stocking up on some stuff so I will probably use my whole $40 budget! We'll see...