Friday, July 31, 2009

big changes

Steve and I found out that we will be expecting a baby next March! We're really excited about it, and for this next phase of our lives. I'm sure it will be a big change, but after over 6 years of marriage it's about time :) We'd appreciate your prayers throughout the next several months.

Some frequently asked questions: How am I feeling? Pretty good! I've been taking naps almost every day which is highly unusual for me, but I'm thankful that I've been able to take it easy so far as well as still do and keep up with everything that is on my plate right now.

Are we hoping for a boy or a girl? I'm still letting it sink in that there's a baby in there! :) And we really would be fine with either. Although I have an easier time with girl names that I like, so that probably means that we'll have a boy... :) But if it's possible we will be finding out the sex before the birth.

Monday, July 27, 2009

more couponing

I don't know why it makes me so excited, but I love to see the % savings that they print on the receipt and today I saved 51% on a pretty large grocery trip! :) I ended up saving $62 between sales and coupons, getting many items completely free. I am happy to tote around my little coupon book for the occasional $62 savings!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

29

Steve turns 29 today. Last year of being a 20-something for him. We celebrated by going to pick up some delicious doughnuts and as we were on our way home he realized that his license expires today. So we ran over to renew it. Little did he know that he'd have to complete a vision test to get it renewed. When the lady called him over to the vision Steve looked back at me with a look of shock, surprise and a little terror mixed in. For the past several years I've been asking him to go to the eye doctor but he doesn't think he'd wear glasses even if he got them so he's been getting by. So after a couple of attempts he passed the vision test and now he feels validated that his eyes are pretty good :) I was laughing like crazy at him taking the test, cause I knew he was sweating a little bit and trying his darndest to see the letters on his left-hand side. But now he's got another 6 years before he has to worry about another vision test. Look out if you see my husband coming at you! (just kidding, a little. it's only his left eye that he has a little trouble with...) Now we're off to grab a bbq dinner in a little bit!

Monday, July 13, 2009

St Louis

We were in St. Louis over the weekend for a friend's wedding and had a great trip. We drove over on Friday, and the wedding was Saturday afternoon, so we had Saturday evening and Sunday to see the city.

On Saturday evening we walked from our hotel down to the arch. It turned out that it was also the weekend of the All Star game in town, so there were a lot of activities going on and tons of people. As we walked to the arch someone stopped me and asked me a question. It sounded like she asked "Are you going to the grow concert?" I just smiled even though I really didn't understand what she said and said, "no, sorry". As we got closer to the arch it became clear that something was going on, everything was closed off and they were checking people's bags. I asked a security guard what was going on and he told us that we were right on time to see Sheryl Crow give a free concert. Kinda cool, and definitely unexpected. So we stayed for a bit as we checked out the arch. (again, I'm irked that I'm using our old camera that is breaking down!!)


On Sunday we headed to the St. Louis zoo. It was fun, and we ended up leaving just as it started to pour rain. Perfect timing.





Bronchitis, Sinusitis and some other sitis

That's what I've got. I have felt bad for almost two weeks and on Friday I felt like I was going to die from the pressure in my head, so I called my doctor. The quickest that anyone could see me was first thing today (Monday) so I made an appointment and thought that I could cancel it if I felt better. I did start to feel better over the weekend, but my throat was still pretty sore so I went ahead and went to the doctor first thing today. He told me it wasn't pneumonia yet but just a bad case of bronchitis and to watch it carefully. Super glad I went :)

Anyway, we went to St. Louis over the weekend, and I'll post pictures of that as soon as I get all of my medication sorted out, haha. We had a really fun time at a friend's wedding, and then just seeing the sights of the city. Fun weekend.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

more stories

Steve usually takes care of most of the outside work around the house. He's much better at it than I am, and he enjoys doing it. He has a pair of shoes that he leaves outside most of the time, and I think it's really gross, but he just leaves them by the back patio and puts them on to walk around in the mud. This morning right after he woke up he went out to turn the sprinklers on he noticed that the toe was wet and squishy but no big surprise, they've been sitting outside. Then later he went back outside to turn the sprinklers off, and noticed that the toe was still wet and squishy. He took the shoe off and shook it out, and out fell a small frog. Ewww.

case in point

My last post I explained that I was kinda getting into coupon clipping. I just got back from the store where my coupons up to $2 were being doubled. My original total was $44.32 I saved $22 using coupons making my total only $22.32! Crazy :)

Monday, July 6, 2009

I'm becomming one of those people...

Years ago I was a newly married grad student, doing my best to make ends meet. I wouldn't say we struggled to make ends meet, but we did eat Tuna Helper meals several times per week. (I still get slightly gaggy on tuna casserole) I shopped in the discount stores and knew the prices of things I purchased regularly, we rarely ate out, and if we did it was fast-food. Then we both started working full-time and had a little breathing room. We still are both pretty frugal in general, but having 2 salaries enabled us to relax a bit, and I stopped driving across town to get the best deal because my time had become more valuable when I didn't have such a flexible schedule to do grocery shopping. However in all of this I was never a coupon clipper. I even remember seeing someone out shopping with their coupon organizer and laughing a little at how much time she must be investing to save... what... 30 cents per visit? How could that be worth it?

Then as I learned that I would be losing my job I started looking into ways to cut back on our monthly costs a bit. I knew I could do better on my grocery bill if I just paid a little more attention each week. And I started clipping coupons :) I honestly never thought I would. I went into it telling myself that I'd do a bit of it and if it looked worth it I'd keep with it. I was definitely willing to throw in the towel if it appeared to not be worth my time. I subscribed to a few blogs listing deal updates, stopped by the store to buy the paper each Sunday, and bought a coupon organizer. I seriously am starting to become one of those people.

But the kicker was last week when I went by a grocery store where I knew a good sale was going on. I made my list of things that I could get on sale, plus the coupons, and stock up on these items for very cheap. So there I was walking around with my coupon organizer in the seat of the cart. My cart was filled with tons of boxes of cereal, gat orade, ice cream and yogurt. And that's it. Only those 4 items in large quantities. I then notice one of my neighbors in the aisle with me and we talked for a bit. I felt funny about the contents of my cart but just laughed about it. Hopefully I don't need to explain that we do in fact eat more than cereal and ice cream during our week. I'm definitely becoming one of those people... it's a bit scary :) But now I'm thinking it's kind of fun and we're definitely saving money! And who knew they sold coupons on E bay!! Yeah, I'm off the deep end now :)

Saturday, July 4, 2009

fireworks

Ok, so fireworks have gotten so much cooler than they were when I was little! I love the 3d cubes, the smiley faces, and all of the variety! When I was little, it was like, that one was blue, that one was loud, etc. So much cooler now.

happy 4th

This is quite a rainy 4th of July here in central Indiana. We decided to do an indoor day and saw a movie and then went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. I've been sick the last few days so we came home and I promptly fell asleep on the couch which was great because I haven't been sleeping at night lately (not unusual for me). I think that I'm on the mend, hopefully. At least the rain has provided a break in the heat and humidity!

So pretty uneventful 4th for us. It is super nice to have an extra day of the weekend. Happy Independence Day!!

And, if anyone is interested, Steve is selling his drum kit. Contact us if you or anyone you know is interested :)