Hehehe, I found something fun!

I found this little game courtesy of Mommie Mayhem. I thought it looked like fun. Don't be shy, play along.

Here's how it works.

*I will post a wish.

For example, I wish I was rich.

*The next poster grants my wish as a comment. "Ok, now you're rich"

BUT when you grant the wish, you have to ruin it!!

For example, you are rich but you are also Martha Stewart!

*Then you post your wish, and don't forget to check back and see how it was granted.

Isn't this fun??

I'll go first.

I wish I could go on vacation...by myself!

And...GO!

A Rose is a Rose...

I've recently (within the past 2 months) personally known three people in the Seattle Metropolitan area who have named their baby girls "Something" Rose. Each one has a different first name, but all of them have the middle name Rose. We welcome Karla, Natalie and Julia Rose.

This got me thinking, what makes a name mainstream? What throws it out there when it has previously been hidden/forgotten? We all remember the Jennifer's and Jason's from the late 70's early 80's and more recently the Emma's and the Aidan, Jaden, Kaden, Braden and even Taden's (my cousin did this to their child).

But, what makes it such a desireable name? Just when you as a parent to be decide on the perfect name for your little one, you discover that 99% of the babies born of the same sex have the same name! (Ok, I might have just exaggerated a bit.) This was my big fear as my son has an older name and so far, I've not heard that many other kids with the same name. Whew! He won't be one of 5 other kids with the same name in his class.

Just my strange wonderings of the day.

But it was only a hangnail!

So, I had a hangnail. I picked it off just like most of the population does. No big deal right?

WRONG!

Apparently, picking a hangnail opens you up for infection. And not just any infection at that. Infection that can spread into your blood stream and cause the little red line that the nurses were referring to as a streak that travels from the point of the infection (my right thumb) all the way up my arm almost to my elbow bend. I know...all from a friggin hangnail! It even gets better.

The doctor came in and informed me that I had come in "just in time" because if the infection would have gone into my joints, I could have lost my hand! Supposedly this is a common occurrence. I had no idea! She also said that if my white blood cells were too high (they tested me and I was fine thankfully!) that I would have to see a hand surgeon the same day and "have the infection extracted! (read: a big fat hairy needle would have been stuck into my already sore thumb and all the goop would be sucked out!) YUCK and NO THANK YOU!

Because my cell count was good, all I got was a shot of antibiotic and then they gave me 10 days of pills. I'm on day 3 of my antibiotics, the red line is gone from my arm and the infection in my thumb is almost gone too.

Who knew...a hangnail?

What a powerful little annoyance.

Boys are very peculiar creatures.

My son is 4 years old and almost completely riding his 2 wheel bike on his own. He can ride the bike fine once he gets started but he has trouble with the initial take off and the landing. This is an accomplishment that my husband can take 100% credit for. I am way to over protective when it comes to activities that can lead to broken bones and skinned up knees.

That being said; on Monday I had a meeting to attend in the evening. Dear husband and son decided that while I was gone they were going to go ride bikes at the school across the street. They were almost ready to head home when my son decided to mess around with the handle bars, shaking them side to side quickly while still riding. You can see where this is going right? Yup, he fell....hard. I guess he cried a bit, but nothing like he would have if I had been there. He has road rash on his elbow and a bruise on his cheek bone.

When they got home, DH took a picture of the wound so I could see when I got home.

Here's the part I don't understand. My son is proud of the fact that he: 1) got hurt and has a really big scab and 2)only cried when it first happened.

And now he thinks it's "really cool" because it "looks like caramel sauce".

I don't know that I will ever understand.

Yet another GREAT deal!

Total out of pocket (oop)...$14.96!

What does one get for $14.96?

4 boxes Kellogg's brand cereal
6 boxes Eggo waffles
2 boxes fruit snacks (Diego and John Deere)
a gallon of milk
a pound of margarine
2 pounds of ground turkey
a whole roasting chicken
a frozen pizza
a chocolate brownie Clif bar
a bag of Pirate's Booty
a box of Eskimo Pie ice cream bars

How does one purchase all of the above for so little? Coupons paired with sales...that's how!

Our local Top Foods grocery store is having a sale today (through next week Tuesday) on Kellogg branded items, they are priced at 5 for $10. But, if you purchase $20 worth of items (so 10 items) you get a store coupon for $20 off of your next purchase of $20 or more. Basically you get your Kellogg items free!

So, I went in armed with my list and coupons ($1/2 boxes of cereal, $1/2 boxes of Eggo's, $1/2 boxes of fruit snacks) I had 2 of the cereal coupons, 3 of the eggo coupons and one of the fruit snack coupons.

I separated my cart into two transactions.

The first was 4 boxes of cereal, 4 boxes of Eggos and 2 boxes of fruit snacks so I spent exactly $20 before coupons. Add in my coupon savings of $5 and that takes it down to $15, but the Eggos we ringing at $1.99 each that brought me down $.04 more to a grand total oop $14.96.
Out came my $20 off my next purchase coupon. Which I used to pay for my second transaction. :)

The second transaction was for the remaining 2 boxes of Eggos (which I had a coupon for), milk, margarine, ground turkey, chicken, pizza, clif bar, pirates booty, and ice cream bars. The total on this was $20.89. I handed over my $1/2 eggo coupon and my $20 off my next purchase and actually had an overage of $.11 but because the store can't pay you to take groceries, I politely asked the clerk to adjust the price on my $1 off coupon to $.89 to make my total $0.00! I was even complimented by the clerk who said that my use of this coupon was “the most effective she has ever seen!” I felt pretty proud of myself. This is only my second deal afterall.

This is going to be super fun for me as I love a challenge!

WOW! I'm loving coupons today.

All this for only.....wait for it.....$17.43!

I've been reading Money Saving Mom for nearly 5 weeks now and have been awe inspired by her and all of her readers with all of the really great deals that they've found. So, this weekend I decided that I was going to invest a bit of time and energy into seeing how great of a deal I could come up with at our local Walgreens

I purchased a Sunday paper and clipped some coupons and matched some deals and here you have the results. All of what you see pictured for only $17.43! I also received a coupon for $5 off my next purchse. :)

Here's what I bought: 4 boxes of cereal, 3 boxes of Pop Tarts, 2 boxes of Rice Krispy Treats, 3 bottles of Dawn Dish Soap, 2 dozen eggs, 1 box of corn dogs (for lunch today), and a Ring Pop for my son who was fabulous while we shopped. Not too bad if I do say so myself.

Give me an "A" and kudos to my friends.

A is for addiction!

I'm still relatively new to blogging. I've been here for almost 2 months. In said two months, I have become addicted!

* I find myself checking my blog at least three or four times each and every day. I love to see what my new "friends" have to say.

* I find it fascinating that I get to have a glimpse of what other mom's, wives, and friends go through on a day to day basis.

* I love the fact that I can lurk and no one gets to know that I was even there if I don't want them to know.

* I love leaving comments on fellow blogger's posts and seeing their comments when they visit me.

* I love that I get to keep an online journal that I can refer back to years from now and see what was going through my mind and there is no paper "crap" laying around!

But most of all, I love each morning when I sit down with my cup of coffee and read my favorite blogs: MamaNeena, Money Saving Mom, Take life with a grain of chocolate and The Simple Dollar. MamaNeena cracks me up! Money Saving Mom saves me money. Take life...is a great friend and I like to see what she's up to. And Trent at The Simple Dollar just offers great advice for people looking to reduce their debt and save. I start my day off every day with these great friends and I hope you check them out and enjoy them too. Thanks guys for helping me off on the right foot. I don't start a day without you.