A new routine?

This week my daughter was off of school due to the holiday. So, I decided to use some of my PTO to be with her. For part of it we headed to my sister's house. Every time I go there I come home with some sort of life-changing improvement idea. These ideas include saving money, couponing, building a budget...you get the picture. Well, this time it was an extra bit of desire to have a clean house. Sarah, you say, really? It probably is because my sister is in the process of moving so her normally very clean and de-cluttered house is less cluttered than ever! As you can tell from the title of this blog on my home page I generally can find lots to do besides my housework. Yuck!

I became pregnant 6 months ago, so that 'avoiding housework' feeling has increased even more and of course brought me even more grief than before from hubby. He works 45 hours a week and if you include his 45-minute commute each way he is away from home about 50 hours a week. Since I work 19.5 hours a week right now and only work 10 minutes from home, I'm the obvious choice for the majority of the housework.

So, naturally I discussed my new idea with my BFF right when I returned home and she smartly suggested I look up some help on the Internet. So, I did. I searched things like, "How to maintain a clean house" and "Keeping a clean house". I soon found several blogs and some how-tos for daily maintenance. Several had suggestions from flylady.net so I went there.  In a nutshell she has a "program" that you follow for maintaing a clean house.  Day 1 is simply to shine your sink. So June Bug and I eagerly watched the how-to video and got right to it.

So here it is two dinners, 1 breakfast and one lunch later.

  

My BFF is already eager to hear how things will play out. 

I didn't hear any skepticism in her voice, but if there would have been, I wouldn't have blamed her. Lol

I'm Bored

I’m not really sure what has really kept me away from blogging, but hopefully I’m back (probably not since I composed this way back in January 25!!) I’ve composed today’s blog about 30 times today, but honestly they were all just me examining life - mine to be exact. I think my first blog explained it all. This blog is for me! I need it. To “sort myself out” as my BFF likes to say.

The bottom line is...I’m just plain bored. The truth is we have a TV. Now understandably, we’ve had TVs in the past, but this is the first time we’ve had one permanently seated in our living room in our house of 10 years. We even bought a TV stand for it at IKEA! (One must visit IKEA once a year to buy something, unfortunately I had already made my annual visit a week earlier so sh’ant have bought it).

Now the reason I blame my boredom on my TV is that it has made me into a couch potato. I’m not joking, I'm being unbelievably honest. I caught sight of myself in my full length mirror last night and got really grossed out! So, today I bought a mocha, had a coke, ate pizza (homemade, of course), made cupcakes (ate three, albeit they were mini), and am currently sitting on the couch drinking a beer! Say it with me "c-o-u-c-h   p-o-t-a-t-o". (Here's my view).

I don’t know, maybe I’m doing a last hoorah, but I have not really made a plan, except that I need to make one! You’ve heard about my past “diets”. Let’s see what I’ve been through:

Ediets.com – Expensive and menu too expensive

 “Fat Fallacy” – Loved the purity of the anti-fake “food” but too much self-control involved. Hello, Chocolate is allowed and ENCOURAGED after dinner!

 “Body for Life” - Need a buddy and can’t find one, also exercising 6 times a week, please!

“South Beach” – Great for the first two weeks (for me) but then determining your own number of servings of carbs for continuing your “weight loss” meant for me – I’m sure I can eat them all and not gain weight! Yeah right. Also, too much fake sugar. See “Fat Fallacy” above.

“French Women Don’t Get Fat” Loveable anecdotes about how she got fat in America then came home embarrassed, but again too much self-control involved

“French Don’t Diet Plan” Yes, I’m sure by now you can see why I failed, again. I can’t control myself!

“The Abs Diet” Kinda like Body for Life, but less emphasis on the actual workout and no “Before and After photos” to encourage you to continue!

“The Sonoma Diet” Couldn’t wait for my first glass of wine, but then making my own separate meals was too labor intensive.

It's now May 23 and I'm finally posting this January 25 page. But, guess what, I'm on a new plan. Imagine that! Stay tuned :)

School rules!

I think I could have stayed in school all my life. Today (actually, May 17) I attended Constant Contact’s Boot Camp in Sacramento. What fun! You may not know Constant Contact by name, but chances are they sent many of the emails now in your in box. They are one of the most popular email marketing companies around – and I can see why.

Many things I already knew based on my use of it over the last few years, but the class certainly built upon my knowledge. I can’t wait to incorporate all its many tools and features into enticing my clients into reading and opening and engaging them into opening my company’s emails. It even makes me feel like I want to start a business all of my own just to see how I could build a company just by using this amazing tool all by my self.

You never know…

Chicks are here!

Two days ago my BFF mentioned that I never blog any more. I don’t really know why I don’t. I have the Internet now (via Hubby’s mobile hotspot) and most evenings I know he wouldn’t mind the distraction, but honestly, I think it’s just that my life hasn’t really been that interesting. Nothing new, nothing exciting, not even much cooking in the kitchen, barely knitted all winter and the garden has been hibernating over the winter. But somehow I decided that things are exciting enough to write two paragraphs.

The exciting news – we have baby chicks. We bought four, but sadly one passed just 15 hours after we got them. I think I took it worse than June Bug, but Hubby buried it and we continue with three. Their names are Dixie, Sally and Jacob. I chose Dixie’s name and June Bug chose Sally and Jacob. Sally and Jacob are Rhode Island Reds. Dixie is black but I’m not sure what type of chick she/he is. It’s so sweet to hear their quiet little peeps most of the day. They’re in the dining room in a cardboard box with a heat lamp for now. In about four weeks I guess they can move outdoors. Honestly, I think I’ll miss them.

Even bigger news is that I want to have a baby – and even better, Hubby has agreed to help (that’s pretty important, I guess lol)! I’m not even posting today’s edition of the blog on facebook, since I don’t want to get anyone too excited. I’ve done so much “googling” on ways to prevent my last pre-term pregnancy that I’m about googled out. What I’ve learned for the most part is eat healthy, take my pre-natal vitamins and some extra folic acid and try not to get too stressed out! I’ll post more about my eating regimen soon. Hopefully my post will be due to the fact that I’m actually pregnant since eating according to this regimen as I am right now (not pregnant) is causing me jeans to get a little too tight – ugh!

It's Never Like It Is On TV

So, it’s been ages since I wrote here. I wasn’t even sure if my blog still existed, but so far it lives on. My latest hobby has not been knitting or gardening or even avoiding housework (It’s true, this new hobby has even encouraged me to be tidier, it’s a revelation). Let me explain.

It’s couponing. I know what you’re thinking, “Are you ‘Extreme Couponing’ like on those shows?” Well, no and yes. I’ve seen the shows and honestly they were certainly the motivating factor, but frankly my family doesn’t need 40 boxes of cereal, 100 candy bars and 30 packages of hot cocoa mix even if they’re freakishly cheap!

It all started with attending a “couponing class” put on by the SacBee a few weeks ago, which honestly was really just a big push for subscribing to the SacBee (yes, I subscribed to two copies every Sunday lol at $.77 an issue, though), but it did give us a heads up to an awesome website they sponsor – sacbee.grocerysmarts.com. It’s our local go-to for price matchup-ups for our local stores (Safeway, Save-mart, Raley’s and Wal-Mart) and a few pharmacies (Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aide and Target).

Here’s how it works. Basically when you get the Sunday paper there are coupons in one of three different coupon inserts – Smartsource (SS), Red Plub (RP) and Proctor & Gamble (PG). The grocerysmarts website literally takes the local ad prices for the week and matches whatever current coupons are available in these coupon inserts (and some other sources, I’ll explain later) to alert you to the best prices around (3-star, 4-star, 5-star, Free and better than free – you get paid to buy it!). Technically, you don’t even have to clip the coupons until you’re ready to use them. You just see what the best deal for the week is from their list and you go back to your coupon inserts and clip them then. Also there’s a coupon database at hotcouponworld.com so if there’s a killer price at the store (close-out or clearance or something) on an item you don’t see a coupon match-up for and isn’t listed in the local ad, you might be able to find a coupon for it on their website and print a coupon from the source it mentions. A smart phone is useful for this, so you’re not searching through all your inserts forever while standing in the store!

I don’t want to overwhelm you with all the other great little tips for now. Let me just tell you about my two shopping trips this week.

At CVS

Finish Power Dishwasher Detergent

Reg. Price $6.39

Sale Price $2.99

Plus $.75 coupon

Final price $2.24

Carnation Evaporated Milk

Reg. Price $1.79

Sale Price $.88

Plus $.50/2 coupon

Final price $.63 per can

I had three coupons so I bought six cans!

At Rite Aide

Halls 25-30 Count Cough Drops

Reg. Price $2.69

Sale Price $1.50

Plus $1/2 coupon

Plus Rite Aid +Up $1/2

Final price $.50 per package

I had three coupons so I bought six packages! I would have bought eight since there was the availability for a maximum of 4 +up rewards, but I only had three manufacturer coupons. (BTW, I had three coupons since I found a Sunday paper in my local starbucks and snagged the inserts that week).

Wrigley’s Gum

Reg. Price $1.29

Sale Price $1

Plus Rite Aid +Up $1

Final price Free!

(I’ll explain how this works later)

Orbit Gum

Reg. Price $1.29

Sale Price $1

Plus $.25 coupon

Plus Rite Aid +Up $1

Final price $.25 money maker!

(I’ll explain how this works later)

So there are two morals to my first post about couponing.

One, if you only subscribe to or get one newspaper (one set of coupons), you will only be able to buy one (or maybe two) items for that killer price match-up, but if you subscribe to more or can get your hands on additional papers or set of coupon inserts, you’ll have better buying power to “stockpile” for when your family needs the items you would normally have to buy at full price when they need them.

Moral two, couponing is going to take a lot of patience. The killer rock-bottom prices don’t happen on everything all at once. Like right now lots of baking things are on rock-bottom sale and there are plenty of coupons floating around. In summer, lots of condiments and those types of things will be on rock-bottom sale. The key is to buy enough to last your family for the time until the items go on rock-bottom sale again. Most things if you aren’t brand-biased (choosey about the brands you use), go on rock-bottom sale every three months. For example, I have never bought Finish detergent (over 6 bucks, no way!), but since it was on such a sale and I had a coupon, it was way cheaper than my normally cheaper Cascade! Same goes for Halls cough drops. I used to always buy the store brand or go to the dollar store, which seemed cheaper. I doubt the Rite Aide store brand or the ones at the dollar store are ever going to be 50 cents a bag! 

So for now, part of my weekly grocery budget is going towards normal sale stuff like meats and produce and a small portion is being devoted to stockpiling just one or two things a week. It may not sound like much savings, but you gotta start somewhere. Not as exciting as “Extreme Couponing” but life is never like it is on TV, right?

I can feel it coming

I've been knitting like a mad woman and summer's not even over! A jacket and hat for my friend Leslie's baby (yes Leslie who had a baby last year about this time!) - which got completed so quickly I had to start something else. It's a cabled jacket for June Bug that I'm dying to show you. More writing and pics soon!

Where does the time go?

Too long to mention it all, but here's a few highlights. Knitting has come to a complete standstill. Gardening has sped up like a freight train and cooking had been a chore - until three weeks ago. Let me explain. I visited my aunt recently and she lent me a book I'd seen in the Sac Bee, Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson. It was the first book on her shelf and it called to me the minute I set eyes on it. It's almost as if it knew it'd have a fabulous home with me. Now my aunt warned me that she hadn't attempted the recipe since the starter alone needed about 5 days to feed and nourish. But, I still didn't start right away. I wanted to read the whole recipe, again and again. (It's just my way). Well, that took about two weeks. (Remember that night time ritual I picked up from my mother-in-law?) Hubby was getting antsy and my tummy was starting to grumble too. Ok, I was finally ready. Mix 2 1/2 lbs of white bread flour and a 2 1/2 lbs whole wheat flour into a 5 lb mix of ... 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wheat flour, big whoop. Then grab a single handful put it in a small glass bowl add a little water, stir, cover with a cloth and come back tomorrow. Boring.

And that's how it began. More later don't worry. (my sis is clamoring that I've been in the computer "all night")

Did I mention that I downloaded a fun little app for June Bug to "make" donuts. She loves it. Well, what do you think happened next? We had to make some "real" donuts. Actually, I've never made them. Nope just never really wanted to. Sure I WANTED to, but I also didn't want to have to buy bigger jeans! No worries, Hubby was going somewhere the next day where he could take all the "un-eatens". Thank goodness!

I still ate 6. Oh well they were small.