Savey Shopper!

I love watches and am very particular to how they look and what features are on the watch. I really rely on the watch having a date displayed, and also like the watch to have an easy clasp to take on and off. Surprisingly it is hard to find those two features on one watch and for it to be attractive on my wrist. I had been looking around for the perfect watch for about a year, since 2009 actually. In 2010 I started seeing watches in a pretty rose gold metal. I really liked this new trend and kept an eye out for my perfect watch to also now be in rose gold color. This was getting harder to find.

Around the fall of 2010, I was at the mall with my friend, Julie, and we walk past the store window display at the Fossil store. The watch on display caught my eye. I went inside to try it on and see how much it was. This watch had all the features I was looking for, and it fit nicely on my wrist! Only the watch was $105 bucks. It was not too expensive, but expensive enough to where I had to wait and budget for that, or look online for the same watch at a cheaper price. Until then, I kept an eye out for other watches I may like. No other watch was as good at the Fossil watch I was saving up for.

Andrew and I have been credit card free for 3 years or more and have been really good with budgeting and using an "envelope system" that we learned from Dave Ramsey. (That's a whole other blog to talk about that!) With this envelope system we budget our money every 2 weeks and work in items we are wanting to get, by moving amounts around and cutting back. My watch was now this item that we needed to fit into the budget and save up $105. In the mean time we also looked on Ebay and Amazon websites for the watch to be sold for less. Seems like I would get close to getting this watch and then other items came into play that were more important to pay for and budget out...like getting our trees in the front yard chopped down...that pushed my watch money back even more!

So August rolls around and the watch is on amazon.com for $89 I couldn't believe it! I was so excited and it had free shipping! Andrew said let's get this now, and order it for your birthday! It was a perfect time to finally get my pretty, rose gold, watch with easy to use clasp, and date display!

A few years back I was shopping at Marshall's discount department store and saw a Kenneth Cole watch that I liked. The price tag mentions how much the item regularly was sold for and then the discounted price that Marshall's is selling it for. This particular watch was regularly $195 and selling for $29. I bought the watch then and there, I didn't have to wait to budget my money for that Savey Shopper find!

Fish Murderer

(photo found online, this is not a photo of my actual fish. it looked like this fish)

I wake up with Kara and do our morning routine of getting her a cup of juice or milk, make a sandwhich for Andrew to take to work, let the dog outside and feed the beta fish. One morning however the fish was laying very still on the bottom of the bowl...I fed it anyway and decided to check on it in a little bit after I did a few other things around the house. Well, fast forward to the evening time, I had forgotten all about the fish and quickly went over to the bowl to still find our fish lying on the bottom of the bowl? I thought fish floated on thier back when they die? Why was this fish at the bottom? I was pretty sure it was dead, either way.

So here is how it played out on my Facebook Page. I made a post on my wall,
"My Beta Fish sank? It didn't float like other fish? Why is it dead? and why did it sink? :(

My friends wrote back in response:

OLIVIA: Are you sure it's dead?

ME: Lol well if it was alive...then it got a rude awaking as i let it swim down the toilet drain. Oops! Never had a fish sink to the bottom before...always seem to float when they die? Mr. Fish wasn't moving at all.

KIM: Maybe he was napping? LOL 

ME: I feel so bad now...I just murdered a fish...Karas fish!? It had to hace been dead? The beta was on its side not moving and I wiggled the bowl and feed it...no reaction from the fish.

                        KIM: Don't feel bad. I'm sure it was dead.

ME: At least Kara doesn't even realize what happened. It will be fine and we can get a diff one tomorrow. Each morning it is routine to say hi to the fish with her and feed it…

then on a side post about not wanting to do dishes....

        Carmel: did your beta die of accidental detergent spillage?

        Me:  No? I think i used a sponge this time when i cleaned the bowl out and changed its water...it

       was the only difference that I did that could of killed Mr. Fish.

        Carmel:How clean is your sponge?

        Me: Prob had remnants of soap on it...poisoning my fish? I feel like I'm on trial here?! I admit 

        it...I am a fish Murderer!

        Carmel: haha no worries, kara won't know the difference!

Strangley, the night beforehand, I had a dream about the fish. I actually dreamt that I had a freshly cleaned fish bowl and went to put my fish back in to find there were two blue beta fish in the bowl...? I knew if I left them together they'ld fight and went to get another bowl and fill with water...this dream was so detailed...then i grab one fish and it had a bite out of its side and the other one was dead. Woke up and didn't know why I even dreamt that...and now fast forward to tonight...my fish in reality is dead and I want to get another blue beta to replace it.

Strange how we can dream about something and it only makes sense later on when we look back on it and try to interpret it. Sometimes it is sort of a premonition dream, like this dream was.

The Transportation Museum!

 The Train wheel is almost as tall as Andrew! Some were even taller than him on other train models.

Took Kara to the Transportation Museum the other day. She is a big fan of a kids T.V. show, Thomas the Train. In her eyes all trains are named Thomas based on the show and story books that we read. So when we went walking through the Museum and saw all the old trains, she kept on saying, "Hi Thomas!" and "look a green Thomas, and a red Thomas!" We tried explaining to her these are all trains and not all are named Thomas. That didn't register much with our 2 1/2 year old. The rest of the day she continued calling all the trains Thomas!  It was cute.

Then in the lower half of the Museum there is a section being built and set up as a completly new area. ONLY it is at a stand still for the most part. The building of this new area is not getting finished because the museum only can build as they are funded and volunteers or donations come in. Clever bit on their part is to have a kids train ride for people to ride around in the new section. Basically showing us what will be there in the future and how it is not all finished. This yanks on peoples heart strings in hopes for them to leave donations. If the kids train ride was not in that area, then people wouldn't even see that part and want to donate. So we rode on the kids train and looked at all the new area and how it wasn't being finished.

Then we went inside where the Cars are all kept on display. The old fashioned cars are mostly from Hollywood and displayed here in Missouri?! I don't know the connection with LA and St Louis how these are here and not on display back in California instead? For instance there is the Black old fashioned car called a 1967 Ghia. Next to the Ghia is a cardboard cutout of Dean Martin, along with a back drop of an old hotel that was used in a movie of his.

Then there is the Wacky looking Firetruck that use to be used as a promo vehicle for the LA Fire Department. The "Fire Bug" it is called and was driven in parades and around LA as a funky promotion bit for the LAFD. Why is it here in St. Louis at the Transportation Museum? I don't really know.

One of the cars on display I have never seen anywhere else and is so pretty in its sparkly red paint! I LOVE THIS CAR! This car is called, DiDia 1960. I love the curved back windshield and the wheels that match in Red. I love the fins, and the car as a whole. This is one unique car. I am glad these photos came out good enough to show its sparkle. I took these photos with my cell phone!

Kara!!!

(NOTE: blog was written on 07/21/2011 never posted it)

Kara is so fascinating to watch grow in to a little girl. She is learning to count and knows her ABCs, she speaks in 5 word sentences, and the cutest of all, she says, “please and thanks Momma” Kara also says, “I sorry” when she knows she was bad. That’s her cuteness buffer from not being able to be mad at her; I just have to know that she isn’t “bad” she just didn’t know any better.

For instance, the day, she had a pen and drew on our sofa cushions! I told her NO!! Kara, that is very bad! Only use pen on paper! Do not draw on the furniture…She says, “I sorry momma” and later that day she would see the sofa and point to it, saying, “Bad! Bad” I just would tell her, “yes I know that IS bad and we don’t draw on furniture. Ok? And you can only use pen on paper. I love you, and you are not in trouble.” I want to let her understand that I am not mad at her for doing that, and she does know that it was bad to have used the pen on the cushions.

The other day I was getting dressed and I am putting on my makeup, and Kara is behind me counting, “1,2,3…1,2,3” I wasn’t sure what it was she was counting and I turn around and she looks up at me, grins, and stops counting…I turn back to finish getting ready and she starts counting again? I then realize my underwear had black polka-dots as a pattern and she was standing behind me, counting all the dots. So hilarious!

Now that she is two years old, Kara speaks in complete sentences and is getting easier to communicate with, in knowing what she is saying. This morning, Andrew came home from buying a spool of twine at Lowe’s. He needs the twine to tie up all the branches we are trimming away for the yard waste to be picked up on Wednesday. Yard waste comes each Wednesday to pick up trimmings from the curb and like for it to be bundled up with twine. Andrew gave the twine to Kara to look at and told her this was twine. She says, “Ooh, Twine!” Our dog was by Kara and she says, “Look Duke, I have twine!” it was a funny 5 word sentence she said. I really don’t even think Kara knows what twine is… or what it was for, she just was an excited two year old with a spool of twine in her hands.

She cracks us up all of the time with moments like these!

It's a Coupon Craze!

(NOTE: this blog is from early August, I came across in my blogs to edit and never posted)

I finally checked out the Extreme Couponing T.V. Show. These coupon peeps are crazy. OK, I get that they are buying a shopping cart of groceries worth $246 for only $6 or so after paying for most with coupons...BUT! Do you REALLY NEED 46 boxes of cereal stashed under your bed? One lady on that show does! She's a coupon freak! Now some items she bought with coupons is useful like all the mens deodorant for her 3 teens and a husband in the house, fine go stock up! But the shelf lined with canned soup and under the bed stash of cereal boxes? hmmm. I think if she and other coupon peeps are hording the items and bought these only because of the coupon, they should donate most of these items to the local food pantry! Save aside about 10 boxes and give the rest away! Seriously!

So now I am joining the coupon craze, but keeping my sanity at the same time. I am inspired by these coupon clippers, but still look at the item I am buying to know if I really will use it? or will I buy it only because the coupon is in my hands? I was happy to be rung up the last shopping trip and I was just over $100 and handed over the coupons to the clerk and the final total was $92.63. Now, it is not the final total of $6 or so dollars, but I am a coupon rookie and still figuring out the game.

Here is what I learned so far. Schnucks Grocery stores has double coupons automatically that apply only to 40 cents or less...So if I have a yogurt coupon to save 35 cents, then it will ring up as 70 cents off! the yogurts are 58 cents or less to begin with?! Great deal. At our Shop-N-Save stores there are every Thursdays you get $10 off $50 or more spent on groceries. A trick to this would have to be spending the first $50 or so dollars on one bill and recieve the $10 off...then ring up the other half of the groceries for a second bill of $50 total to get another $10 off. My groceries will then save $20 off a $100 total.

The other day I had a box of Toasters Strudels in my freezer. The back of the box had a coupon for FREE Orange Juice, up to a value of $4 any brand. This was a huge coupon for me! I usually buy O.J. that is about $2-$3 never get the O.J. that is over $4. Sometimes I just don't buy O.J. because it is too expensive. So I went to Target to pick out the most expensive O.J. I could find. It was pretty fancy, the jug has a flip top lid to pour and a nice gripping handle to hold the jug as I pour...the O.J. is pulp free to be able to sip through Kara's sippy cup conviently and not get clogged, and it was a nice, family size portion of Juice! Guess, just guess how much this Orange Juice was?!!? The brand Tropicana, and it is 100% pure and natural, "Never from Concentrate" it reads on the jug. This juice was four dollors and sixty-four cents. I hand over my coupon for $4 off, paying just 64 cents for this FANCY O.J. This so far has been my favorite coupon so far. If one is able to actually have a "Favorite Coupon". HAHA

The Trickle Down Effect

(NOTE: This post is from March 2011 I never finished it and found in my blogs to edit...)

Thanks to the trickle down effect, I got to work on time! I would have actually been an hour late this year. In past years for both the "fall back" and "spring forward" I have been good to switch my clocks in the house the night before as I am getting ready for bed. This year I completely forgot about the time change. I even had to be at work this morning at 7am, meaning that I wake up at O-dark thirty! The only reason I even woke up this morning was from my cell phone alarm going off.

Here is how it played out. Usually my cell phone is in the kitchen being charged overnight and plugged in. I don't usually use an alarm setting on my phone. Last Friday I was walking around the lake with my friend, Carissa. She is 9 months pregnant and ready to give birth any day now. Walking around the lake was to help get labor encouraged but it didn't work. Knowing that she is going to call me any day now, saying she is going into labor; I just knew to keep my cell close to me. So because of this I have actually had my cell charging overnight in my room and decided to try my cell alarm. With daylight savings time switching on my cell automatically it turned over to the correct time. I woke to the alarm and saw it was "4:30" being actually 5:30! I was an hour early to wake but at the same time on time to wake at the 5:30 real time. So I hop out of bed, get ready and go into work!

If it weren't for my prego friends due date being so close, I would have not charged my phone in my room. And because of it being charged in my room I happened to set the alarm, which I never do on my cell. Then I was on time to work. If non of this occurred, then I would have been an hour late to work! See how it all trickles down to it all connecting like this?! Pretty neat.