TODAY

TODAY

Outside my window a new day I see

and only I can determine,

what kind of day it will be.

I can be busy & sunny,

laughing & gay,

Or boring & cold,

unhappy & gray.

My own state of mind is the

determining key,

for I am the only person

I let myself be.

I can be thoughtful &

do all I can to help,

or be selfish & think

just to myself.

I can enjoy what I do &

make it seem fun,

or gripe & complain &

make it hard on someone.

I can be patient with those

may not understand,

or belittle & hurt them

as much as I can.

But I have faith in myself

& believe what I say,

& I personally intend

to make the best of each day.

author unknown

Charlie Brown

Look who has more hair than Charlie Brown now...barely. :) - Luke 13 mos.

Need to step up my game...*pinch*

After reading lots of status updates on facebook, I realize that we are not fun or exciting when it comes to celebrating St. Patrick's Day. We have Irish in our blood somewhere...but it only shows through when someone, mostly me, is mad. I saw these cupcakes on Fabulessly Frugal last week and printed out the recipe. Today was a perfect excuse to make something full of sugar, that smells delicious and that I can't eat. :) But the kids will love me extra special today, at least until the battle of bedtime ensues - but I'll save that story for another time. For dinner we'll do the green eggs, green pancakes and green orange juice. Hopefully they will actually eat it this year - haha. However, no leprechaun traps or treasure hunts will be set up this year. Maybe next year, I'll step up my game and be a cool mom. Maybe.

Ingredients

• • White cake mix (we used an 18-1/4-ounce box)
  • Food coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)
  • Baking cups
  • Whipped cream (optional)

Instructions

Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly among six small bowls. Following the chart below, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color.

RAINBOW COLOR	DROPS OF FOOD COLORING
Purple	9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue	12 drops
Green	12 drops
Yellow	12 drops
Orange	12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red	18 drops

1. Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order shown. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of a spoon to cover the color underneath.
2. Bake the cupcakes according to your recipe directions. Before serving, remove the paper wrapping, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipped-cream cloud.

They are in the oven as I type this...the smell - pure torture I tell ya!

And The Crazy Lady Contines...

One of my New Year's resolutions was to learn something new every month. In February, I learned how to do the "smokey eye" make-up technique. Once I got the hang of it, it's pretty easy and quick. I do have to say that having good make-up brushes and eyeshadow really does make a difference. Sephora was very knowledgeable and helped me figure out what I needed. It's expensive, but I think it's worth it.

So my next thing to learn is couponing - as evident on a previous post. Although I started in February, it's gonna count for March's "something new" as well because I am still learning quite a bit.

New things I have learned:

1. Don't leave your coupon filer/bin on the top of your car while you're driving. In true Sheri fashion, that's exactly what I did. Of course, I didn't realize it until I got to the store and couldn't find my coupon bin. Praying that I left it in the garage on the workbench, I turned around and headed home. About a mile before home, I noticed little pieces of paper EVERYWHERE. I kept driving, ducking my head - trying to hide my shame. (Really, who's gonna see me?!?...but I did. And turned bright red too.) About 1/2 mile later, there was an empty black recipe/card filing box. Sigh. I flipped a u-turn and headed back to the store. I wouldn't even have went back, but I had the older two kids at home with the pukes, and I needed some Gatorade. Did I stop to pick up the coupons that I worked so hard to clip and file? Nope. I told myself I would stop after I get the kids situated and not puking - but who was I kidding? I was WAY too embarrassed.

2. Round two. Having to redo the whole coupon filing system, I decided to change a few things. I found a card box with a latch that locks (you know, just in case I repeat one of my classic moments). And I also added more categories to make things a little easier to find.

3. I now shop on Mondays. I used to shop on Saturdays because I could leave the kids home. However, with coupons coming in on Sunday, and the grocery ads effective on a Sunday through Saturday cycle, Monday gives me a better chance to get some of the good things while they are still in stock. Take Walgreen's for example. This week they had two really good deals. One was on Men's deodorant. The normal cost for one is 4.98 (a bit inflated compared to Walmart). But the special was BOGO free AND I had 4 coupons for BOBO Free from the manufacturer. What does that mean? Yep, I got eight deodorants for free. I did have to pay tax on the items, but that's a given. The second deal that was really good, was their store brand of diapers. They are originally priced at $8.99 per package. Again, the special was BOGO free. Then, there was a monthly in-store coupon that can be found in their "Infant Care" pamphlet which takes $2 off each package. That means I spent $2.49 on each package. Not too shabby. While I was shopping at Walgreen's, there were others lined up behind me getting the same deals. By the time I checked out, they were already out of stock on some diaper sizes. On some specials, Walgreen's will give you a rain check if they run out of stock, but not all specials. So shopping on Monday keeps out the hassle of rain checks and doesn't put me at the risk of having my manufacturers coupons expire before they get more stock in.

4. Shop in the first half of the morning. The stores are less crowded and the cashiers are generally still happy, which means they work with you better. Also, because I have to take the 2 younger ones with me - I get home home from all my shopping just in time for lunch.

5. Free childcare at a grocery store is AWESOME! Although Luke is still too young, Hannah loves to "go play at Fred Meyers". It gives her a break and allows me to concentrate a little better (not to mention the vegetables and bread don't get squished near as often).

6. Book mark printable and e-coupon websites. It makes life much easier. Also, find a coupon blog that is based in your area - let them do all the hard work. One that is based in Boise is http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/. Not only do they make it easy for you to stay organized, but they also create lists of coupons for each Sunday insert, in alphabetical order. Why is this so awesome? Say you find something on clearance, and you remember seeing a coupon for the said clearance item in one of the inserts. But you didn't clip it, and you can't remember the date of the insert it was in. No problem - you can just go to your list and find it. So you save a little bit more money and time was not wasted. The reason why I recommend finding a blog based in your area/state - is because some deals are regional. Fabulessly Frugal is great about posting the current weekly deals. They also code the deals, letting me know how good the deals are (better than wholesale, better than most coupon scenarios, or lowest price ever/time to stock up). These lists are also printable, so all I have to do is pull the coupons on the items I need from the list. This saves me a lot of time - and takes the hassle out of it.

7. Time. At first, I wasn't sure what to expect. But now that I have been doing this for almost a month, I have a better grasp. It takes me about an hour to clip and file the coupons from the Sunday inserts and look at the grocery ads. I should mention, I don't clip all of coupons, just ones that I think I will need. Then every night, I check a couple coupon blogs to see if there are any finds or freebies - and that takes maybe 5 mins a day. As far as shopping - I went to 3 stores today. Walgreen's, Winco, and Fred Meyers. I was gone for 2 hours and 45 minutes - and that's with carting 2 kids around and in and out of car seats. So it's less than four hours a week, including the time I would already spend on shopping if I didn't clip coupons.

So what did I get this week?

Items I had coupons for:

10 cans of corn

10 cans of green beans

2 DiGiorno Pizzas

1 tub of Land O'Lakes margarine

1 (6ct) Danimals yogurt

3lbs ground beef

4 pkgs of diapers

4 (1 lb) pkgs of spaghetti noodles

8 (26oz) jars of Ragu spaghetti sauce

2 cans Campbell's Harvest Select Soup

1 (20oz) French's Mustard

4 (5ct) pkgs Better Oats instant oatmeal

3 (8oz) cans of tomato sauce)

2 (36ct) Reynolds muffin tin liners

2 (64oz) V8 splash juice

2 (8.2oz) tubes of Crest toothpaste

2 (travel size) tubes of Crest toothpaste

1 (24oz) Del Monte Ketchup

2 pkgs Betty Crocker Cake mix

1 (24ct) case of Top Ramen (great for food storage/72 hour kits)

4 (20oz) cans of Del Monte pineapple tidbits

5 (13oz) boxes of Post Selects Great Grains cereal

2 (12ct) pks of Double Roll toilet paper

1 (21oz) dial Nurtiskin lotion

8 Right Guard Total Defense Men's deodorant (Well Trace is set for the next year lol)

1 (24 servings) MiO - flavored water enhancer

Also the things I bought, which I didn't have coupons for:

Fish tank filter

tomatoes

head of lettuce

fish food

apple butter

100ct - sandwich baggies

Total cost: $219.69

What I spent: $106.85

What I saved: $112.84

Now that's just over 50% in savings. Happy me! Not bad for 4 hours a week.

Proud Mama Bear - Firstborn Cub

Warning - you should know that this post is all about bragging. It spews praises of goodness and admiration. I can't help it. I am proud of my kids, and every once in a while - I need to write it down. :)

-------------------------------------

From the beginning, as she made her entrance into this world, Aleana has always known what she does and doesn't want. All 9 lbs 3oz of her came on her own terms... sunny side up, hand, not head first (arm was raised above her head). She was my sometimes-snuggle-er. She would cuddle if she needed loves, but if not - forget about it because she had more important things to do. If she didn't want to sleep - she didn't - for HOURS at a time. She figured out that if she cried hard enough, she'd puke - and to her that meant a ticket out of the crib (took us a while to figure that one out...). She didn't want to nurse (and oh how I tried for 3 very long months). Apparently she didn't like the regular formula either. Nope, she had to have the soy stuff. (Bleck - you thought regular spit-up/projectile vomit was bad - that soy stuff is nasty!) She couldn't stand bananas. She crawled at 5 1/2 months and took her first steps when she was 10 months because she wasn't about to be held back.

Blink...

Aleana walked in the door from school yesterday. She set her coat and back pack down, and started playing with her baby brother. As I watched Luke's eyes light up and Aleana beam, I was taken back. How did she get so big? How did she turn into this caring daughter, sister, and friend?

As I was reminiscing, my heart began to swell. She is such a good kid, and to her own credit I might add. From my limited years of motherhood, even I know that there are some things that you just can't teach.

1.) Her sheer determination, for example. She sets her mind to something - and doesn't let anything get in the way. Take student council. She ran last year and lost. Her hopes were set pretty high, so when she didn't get voted in, I figured it was a hard lesson for her to learn. But I found it interesting that she didn't show much emotion - no crying. Heck, I know if I ever had the guts to put myself out there (which I never ever did) and run for student council, and then lost - I would be devastated. I was wrong about what lesson she learned, because this year she dusted off her knees and ran again. And then lost, again. This time, the only thing she voiced her thoughts on were her feelings about the person who beat her. She thought "he won just because he was the only boy running". Well, at least she learned one lesson: Yes Aleana, boys are stupid - and they will be for YEARS to come. And when you forget - I will just have to remind you. :) That's it. No tears. No sadness. Although, there was just a little bit of anger. (Honestly? I was relieved - just so I know she takes after me in at least something.)

2.) She is quietly stubborn and will work at something until she gets it right. And she has to do it her on her terms. When we were living in Colorado, she decided she wanted to run for a cross-country running group called the Land Sharks. She wasn't conditioned for it, but it's what she wanted to do. I tried to warn her that it would be hard, since she wasn't used to running long distance. Although I should not have been surprised, I was, when at her first meet she ran the whole two miles without stopping. I asked her why she didn't stop to take a breather, she said "Because I didn't want to stop".

Crazy kid - wish I had your discipline.

3.) She is a huge help with taking care of her siblings. She a natural "mother hen" so I have to reign her in sometimes, but in general, I am amazed. She willingly plays with the little two kids when she gets home from school. And by willingly, I mean - it's her idea. If I am in a bind, and need her help - I usually only have to ask once. (Well except when it comes to changing Hannah's diaper...then I need to get a little stern - but who willingly wants to change a 3 yr old's poopy diaper because the said kid refuses to be potty-trained? I don't. Why would Aleana want to?)

4.) Aleana has a bright mind. She won the spelling bee again this year for her entire school. So off to the multi-school spelling bee we went. After four long hours of sitting and waiting and then spelling - she placed second. Second place! She spelled words like guttural and salmonella. (And so you know, I had to run the spell checker on those words just now). She got out on the word "rescind" because she thought they meant "resend". Bummer.

After it was all said and done, her teacher and the principal who both came to support her, walked up and gave their congratulations. They were amazed at the words she spelled. Her teacher, Ms. Kolbrecki then asked me how hard I had to work with her on the spelling words. She was surprised when I told her I didn't. I left it up to Aleana. I want my kids to learn - but I am not going to cram it down their throats. Every kid has their pace and Aleana just happens to be a self-starter. I can't take credit for how hard she had practiced - it was all her. I figure if it was that important to her (which it was), she would put in the hard work to study and learn. The teacher and principal exchanged looks. Not too sure if they were amazed at Aleana or just disagreeing with my parental teaching approach. Judge if they want, but it works with Aleana and that's what counts.

Her work ethic is certainly applied at school. She just got her report card and is in the top of her class. Ms. Kolbrecki included this note in the report: "Aleana is the consummate student! I have never in my 12 years of teaching met a student with such a high work ethic and zest for learning. What makes Aleana even more intriguing is that she doesn't flaunt her intellect or talent. She is a quiet, hard working, and kind student. I have so enjoyed getting to know her this year. She is doing a fabulous job on her P.A.C.E. project [research paper] as well. Her writing ability is stellar, and I'm enjoying getting to know the two women she chose to write about. Again this trimester, Aleana has been reading quite a bit. She has earned 78 additional AR points, which puts her in the 335 range of points. Incredible!! What a fantastic student you are Aleana!! She has really stepped up her participation in class discussions as well. Her questions are very thoughtful and inquisitive and I am enjoying her contributions." Man those words made this mama bear proud and a little teary-eyed.

To sum it up? Aleana is just a great kid, and I am so blessed to be her mother. The Lord knew what I needed. Hopefully I can be the mother she needs...although I still can't convince her that bananas are good for her health. :)

Happy Unbirthday to Me Version 2.0

I just turned 16 years old and I was too busy to be bothered enough for a "sweet 16" birthday party. Basketball was, by far, like way more important. Duh! Then, of course, there was work and school - and I guess it just really wasn't that big of a deal to me. I wasn't sad about it. To be honest, it really had not crossed my mind all that much. So fast forward about a month later- I had started dating a boy that I had a crush on for-like-ever. Sigh. Really - I think I started liking him about a few months before...but time for a teen seems to move so tortuously slow. And hey, just because I didn't have a big shin-dig for my birthday doesn't mean I couldn't enjoy the newly acquired privilege of dating. I had, after all, just turned 16. It was THE magical number I had been waiting for, for at least the 4 previous birthdays. Who needs a party when one can date?

Sixteen sounds so young now, doesn't it?

Anyway this boy, along with my brother, had invited me to go bowling after I got off work. A real date! I called my parents from the Root Beer Stand (best place to work as a teenager by the way) and asked if it was okay. They were fine with it - but instructed me to check-in at home first. The normal standard stuff. Plus I wanted to get changed out of my stinky-smelled-like-chili fries w/cheese work clothes. Those chili fries with cheese (I like mine with extra cheese and some El Pato sauce) may be the best tasting greasy food on the planet, but it's really not as attractive to smell like them.

Aaron and the boyfriend came and picked me up after I had finished my portion of closing the Root Beer Stand. As we pulled up to the house, I noticed all the lights were off. Why didn't Aaron turn on the outside lights when he left to pick me up? No big deal - having lived there my entire life, it's not like I couldn't find the door. As I opened the door - I was immediately "greeted" by a bright-white-newly shaved/bald-headed guy, let's call him Mr. Magoo. And by "greeted" - I mean Mr. Magoo jumped out from nowhere - yelling "SURPRISE" right in my face. My first thought, in the brief moment of confusion, was to overcome the strong desire to repeatedly smack some hair back on that shiny head. Then the lights came on and I as looked around and saw my friends, it all started to make sense. It was my very own surprise party. And not just any surprise party - but a surprise UNbirthday party. Who gets those? Me. Not many people can say that. It was awesome. It was waaaaay better than any old generic "sweet 16" party. I felt special.

Yesterday was my 3 month mark since the surgery. I have officially lost 62 lbs. (That's 248 sticks of butter, just in case you wanted a more pleasant visual.) It feels good. Up until 3 weeks ago - I got such a thrill going and shopping in my own closet. I have been able to wear things that I haven't worn in 6 years. But now I have undergrown (I know it's not a real word) all of my clothes. Talk about a great feeling!

On Monday, Aleana came home from school and brought in the mail. I started sorting through the normal stuff. Bills. Junk mail. More bills. Then there was an envelope addressed to yours truly, from my parents. In my mind I was thinking - what could this be? I already got my birthday card - and so did Hannah and Luke. Trace's birthday isn't for another week. So I opened it up and it was a card. For me. I read it, and started to cry. Aleana, curious as to why I was having a sudden episode of "allergies", pulled the card from my hands. Upon reading it, she was just more confused. My parents sent me a card that said something about luck having nothing to do with my hard work. Taped to the inside of the card was money. Cold hard cash - with a hand written note that told me to go buy some new clothes. Money to buy clothes. For me. It was so touching and unexpected. The wave of emotions was just as unexpected. Happy tears. Happy that they thought of me, happy that I could shop, happy that I am accomplishing something positive on this weight-loss journey. It's always nice to get something in the mail these days that doesn't require me to pay out money - but to get a gift on an UNbirthday kind of day?

My parents did it again.

Surprise happy unbirthday to me 2.0 :)

ps - Thanks Mom and Dad. I spent the money already. I shopped at Maurice's. I am liking their clothes this season. Or maybe it's just that I am liking that they actually fit on me now.