Getting Ready for Baby!

So I’ve been nesting all week and I now have the nursery about 95% functional now. Yes! (We don’t have crib sheets yet, but since baby will be rooming with us for the first couple months, I’m not torn up about it. Just ignore the fact that you can see the mattress in the pictures, mmmkay? Thanks)

I’ve mentioned before that the second bedroom is a nursery/office/crafting room, so we’re a little squished in there, but that’s alright. I’m pretty happy with our little setup and I think I’ve done a pretty good job for being on a tight budget.

Here’s what you see when you walk in (thankfully it’s not the office side – as that’s still a work in progress ;)

I made this wall art several weeks ago and I’ve been so excited to show you! Fun, huh?

**Before anyone decides to freak out on me about hanging things by the crib, these are artist canvases – much lighter than frames AND no glass – and are hung with command strips, so they are harder to simply pull off the wall than if they were hung on nails**

Above the crib is a mobile that I made (I found the idea and tutorial HERE). And it really didn’t take that long, even with attaching all the circles to the string. Gotta love my Silhouette machine and double sided tape! ;)

Turning in to the room you’ll see the hutch we are using as Nathan’s closet and the curtains I refashioned for the room to fit the window (and that happens to be the only window in the room, so I apologize for the bad lighting in the second photo when I’m trying to show you the curtains…)
These are curtains we’ve had since living in California and since they were red (part of my color scheme) and I didn’t want to buy new curtains, I used the 4 panels we had and added length to 2 of them (It’s a REALLY tall window!) by cutting off material from the other 2. (Did that make sense?) To cover the seam (and embellish) I added this fun ribbon – that we also used at my baby shower.

Here’s a quick look at the inside of Nathan’s “closet”. I had registered for the fabric bins at Target and got two at my baby shower (yay!) I bought another two to hold clothes and toys. And I really only managed to fit clothes up to the 3 Month-ish sizes in those 3 bins on the middle shelf. The rest of his (many, many) outfits are in bins underneath the crib and will be switched out as needed.
And Grandma Moffat also made these adorable fabric bins that work perfectly for hats, bibs, socks, and binkies!

And last, but certainly not least, what has become known as the “Diaper Tower” that has been hanging out on top of the hutch. I’ve been scoping out diaper and wipes deals since my second trimester and I’ve gotten some really good ones so far (Pampers and Huggies for $0.12-$0.14 per diaper!). Which results in a current surplus of diapers. But I’m not worried, we’ll go through them soon enough! ;)

Hope you enjoyed the quick tour! :) Among getting things organized in the nursery (I seriously did 3 huge loads of laundry washing all of the baby clothes, towels and blankets – whew!) I’ve also been trying to get those last trouble spots of the apartment all organized (John thinks that soon every item in the apartment will be labeled. Not true. Only most items) and there really isn’t any room left in the freezer – I’ve been experimenting with freezer meals. I have no idea if they’ll turn out, but I like to think that we’ll have food for when after my mom leaves and I’m supposed to figure out this being-a-mom thing on my own, and I’m too afraid to leave the apartment. ;) But the freezer is jam packed. Though that didn’t stop us from buying ice cream two nights ago. Hee hee.

I’ve lost it…

And other news :)
Of course, the fact that I’ve lost it might not be news to you, I think I’m always in a state of constantly working toward insanity…
But why bring it up now? I’ll tell you.
Because I’ve agreed to do this:

(Disclaimer: We aren’t actually registered yet, a work in progress.) What is a Warrior Dash, you might ask? Well, it’s a 5K obstacle course with crazy obstacles. Usually involving large amounts of mud. (Go HERE to find out more) And there’s one in Maryland in May. So John wanted to sign up for it and roped my dad into doing it with him and I thought, “what the heck?! why not?!” And said I’d do it too.
Then I looked at the website. Did you know one of the obstacles is jumping over FIRE?! Eek! My father in law got me burn spray for Christmas (because you know, I’m a danger to myself – and yes, I busted up laughing when I opened it Christmas Day), but I don’t think that’s going to cut it if I’m too tired to make it over those flaming hurdles. EEEEEK!
But you know what? It’s totally (BEYOND totally) out of my comfort zone, and I’m gonna do it anyway. And now that I’ve made it public…well…there’s no going back now! And chances are, if I don’t think I can jump the fire, I think I can go around them. But hey, if I’m going to do this crazy thing, I’m going to do it alllll the way!
So John and I have started training. Push ups are the bane of my existence. But I have managed to keep up with John in other ways. (Because even though I’ve been doing an hour of Zumba every day for the last 3-4 weeks and John hasn’t really done anything since June, he can STILL do more push ups than me!) And thus begins our training saga to become official warriors.
In other news, I think we have found an apartment in Maryland we want to live in when we move. We put in our application on Monday and we are eagerly waiting to hear back from the complex. We had a nice busy trip over the weekend, looking at 8 different apartment complexes before deciding on one. We did get to relax a little bit, we saw my family for dinner on Saturday and had fun being together. We are still waiting on a move in date, but we might get one as soon as tomorrow! Crossing my fingers…
And, because I can, I’m going to tell you that Valentine’s candy is on clearance now and I got lots of Valentine’s candy for cheap today!!! Because when it’s on clearance AND you have coupons…let’s just say I scored big on the Hershey's kisses. MWAH! ;)

The Price is Right

Let’s play a game. :)

I went on a total coupon frenzy today. And it was awesome. For the second time since we’ve lived here (which means I don’t get deals this amazing all that often), Jewel (Albertson’s midwest counterpart) came out with “twice the value” coupons in the paper yesterday. That means they will double the value of your coupon, up to $1. eeeeeeee! So exciting, right?

Okay. Just humor me.

So. Here’s what I got today:

Guess what I spent? (I’m going to tell you anyway…but again…just humor me)

For alllllll this stuff I only spent

…

$22.22

Wanna know how much it would have cost without sales and coupons?

$91.68

Isn’t that INSANE?! I mean, seriously!! I can’t believe how expensive things are these days! Once I do the math I have to do a little happy dance, because I seriously just saved almost $70 on this stuff.

Highlights:
Prego Pasta Sauce: $0.87ea
Nivea Lip Care: $0.75ea
Grande Tortilla Chips: $0.50ea
Wishbone Salad Dressing: $0.34ea
Birdseye Frozen Veggies: $0.34ea
Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce: $0.19ea
Greeting Cards: FREE!

It’s been a while, but the Krazy Coupon Lady strikes again!!!!!!!!!

And I really just had to share that with you.

 

Thanks for humoring me ;)

More Pastillage and Family Pictures

I know, I’m amazed I’m back so soon ;)

Here’s an update on the pastillage showpiece we’re working on at school this week. Here are my lovely pieces (some of them, anyway):

Yes. I made those. All by myself :)

Here are more

We’ll be putting our showpieces together tomorrow and Friday. We have to make lots of extra pieces, I just KNOW I’ll be breaking some. (NOT on purpose, by the way)

Here is our awesome kitchen:

I also learned today that you can microwave pastillage. COOL!

And now, to prove that I’m still going to write about other things, here are some lovely pictures that my cousin Kye took of me and John when we were taking family pictures while my family was here last month:

They turned out really good! Aren’t we so CUTE?! ;) It’s our 1-year-and-1-month anniversary today!! ;) I would have the other pictures of the rest of the family, but someone *cough-KYE-cough* FORGOT to bring the CD with the rest of the pictures today ;) Oh well, those will have to come later.

And on another unrelated note – This week I scored $111 of food for less than $15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know. It’s awesome. I’m going back tomorrow to get Bisquik (gotta have it for waffles!!) for $0.49!! Oh yeah. Life is good :)  

Date Night – Hello Cupcake!

So this weekend was John’s turn to plan date night, and when I got home from working at the temple, I was presented with a few options. One of them was to make cupcakes from a book I have called “Hello Cupcake!” – which I LOVE, so naturally, I chose that option. We had lots of ideas to choose from, but we settled on Sunflower Cupcakes!!

And yes, I did let John do stuff ;) He was an expert frosting mixer, cupcake froster and leaf cutter!

The sunflowers were Oreos. Here I am giving them their petals :)

Here they are in the making!

Hard at work

  
So cute!!!

We are now in the process of delivering them to friends. We don’t want to eat them all!!!

Also, because I have been slacking…we had a fabulous day at the beach yesterday with our friends. We went to La Jolla and kayaked (we got to borrow our friends’ kayaks) to the caves and saw sea lions! They were very loud, but really cool to go and see! Then on the way back to the shore, and wave came up and broke behind me and I toppled over and lost my kayak! Oh well… ;) We went to the beach after my annual eye appointment and my eyes were dilated…so it was bright and I couldn’t see very well…thank goodness John came to rescue me!

I also want you to know that I got FIVE bags of goldfish crackers for $1.40. I know. It’s awesome. :)

My New Bags!!!!

My bags are here!!!

you know, the ones i WON :)




So exciting!!! Can't wait to get some mean deals in these bags!!!!!!!!


(am i a dork? yes. but I have new bags! hee hee)

I'm the winner!!!!!!

Woo hoo!!!!

I won an online giveaway! YES!!

Wanna know what I won? Of course you do.

I won REUSABLE BAGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Am I a dork? Yes. But I'm totally okay with it)

*Side story - my mom totally uses reusable bags and I remember as a teenager making fun of her and feeling ridiculously goofy when she would make me give the bags to the baggers at the store. Now I totally use them. Don't worry, I've been turning into my mom since I was about 12. :) *

I won them from The Krazy Coupon Lady!!!! Love. Love, love. :) They just came out with these bags with their cute logo on it. I was one of 10 winners, but my name showed up first!!! How cool is THAT?!

With all the couponing that I do, I brought home a lot of plastic bags each week. Yuky. So I invested in a few reusable bags at Walgreens (but ONLY because they were on sale - 3 for $1!! hee hee). But for the bigger trips, 3-4 bags wasn't cutting it. I even mentioned to John today about getting more. NOW I DON'T HAVE TO! I've never won an online giveaway before! I had to email them with my contact info and I already got a message saying my bags were getting shipped off today! I am SO EXCITED!

And while we're talking about it, I just want you to know that I got (among other things) hamburger helper for $0.25ea, clean and clear face wash for $0.49, 4-pks of razors for free to $0.99ea and for the first time since I've been here, our Albertsons DOUBLED coupons!

Ahhhhh, love it.

Okay, i'm done ;)

So my husband thinks I'm crazy...part 2

but this time, it's crazy awesome

Oh yeah.



Wanna know why?



Okay, I tell you

We went to the store today and came home with this:

Guess what we spent.



Go on, guess!! Keep in mind that cereal usually goes for about $3-$5 a box. Laundry detergent, $8-$10 each. Fiber One granola bars...I don't remember...but it's expensive.


But also remember that I am a couponer. :)

What you see is $129.55 worth of product. Crazy I know.




We spent $46.09.


Oh yeah. Am I good or WHAT?!!??!??!?! I've even got John actually impressed!! :) Wahoo!!

So all of this yummy food meant serious reorganization of the pantry. We know have a "food storage corner" in the bedroom.

Can you say, not enough space? ;)

Oh, look, there's the pasta I got for $0.25! Awwww ;) (i know, i know, i'm crazy)

Somewhat unrelated:
We also have been having a problem with flies in the apartment. We can't figure out why, we keep the balcony door and window open, but we use the screens. We don't know how the bugs are getting in here!!!! So we also got a fly swatter, at John's request. We got home and while I was trying to put the groceries away, John was shouting battle cries against the flies. He did get one here ;)


Totally unrelated:
I GOT A CRICUT MACHINE!!!!!!! An early birthday present from the parental units :) LOVE THEM! LOVE IT! I've already made adorable (if I do say so myself) thank you cards for the many people that need thanking in my life. But I'm not going to show you a picture of them yet because I'm going to wait till their recipients get them. I want it to be a surprise. But then I will show you :)

Now on to the many (yay!) projects I must get done...including finding a place to live in Chicago. Eek!! It's getting so close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's kind of awkward...

...to sit on a travel pillow. You know, the kind you put around your neck. It's my makeshift donut seat. And while I'm grateful that I have a way to sit...it's still uncomfortable. Ahhh...wonderful will be the day I can sit normally!!!

never thought i'd ever say something to that effect...

Anyway, John had to leave for school early this afternoon and today is his long day...which means a very long day for me at home. So i've scrapbooked the rest of the Disney trip (the Monsters Inc. pages are SO CUTE!), done a heat pack on my 'wound', had a little baked potato for dinner, and got totally beat twice by Jason in Ticket to Ride online. I can't even believe it. The first time he won by 2 points, the second by 1. Injustice.

So now you get to hear my ramblings in my boredom ;)
(in answer to my aunt Michelle's comment on my last post...yes...we, or I, have dull moments. sometimes.)

I would like you all to know that this is my second day without nausea medicine!! And I feel pretty much normal (mostly)!! I'm finally back into a normal eating schedule and that's such a relief. I do like food. And I'm off my crutches. Don't worry Jennifer, we'll keep them and you can play with them when you come to visit. ;) I still walk kinda funny, but hey, at least I'm walking.

I saw Fiddler on the Roof for the first time this weekend. It was really good, though I must say I thought the end was kinda lame. They all get kicked out of their homes and the movie ENDS?! Awwww....

I need a non-fiction book for May. I'm kind of thinking of reading MRSA Secrets Revealed, but I don't think I really want to think more about MRSA than I really have to. I wonder what John is reading... I read "The Last Lecture" for April. Sooooo good. Among my fiction was "The Secret Benedict Society" (all three books). Tomorrow "The Red Pyramid" is released!!! (Same author as Percy Jackson) SO excited!!!!!!!

Since I'm not comfortable driving again just yet, John was nice enough to drive me around to do a couple errands before he went off to school. And I'd like you all to know that I had another couponing triumph! :) $20 for $50 of product. oh yeah. more conquests to come.

And now I suppose we settle back into a routine from all of our craziness and vacations. John is almost done with his second semester (abt. 2 weeks left) and so things are going to get slightly stressful I imagine, but he's a smart cookie so I think everything will be okay.

AHHH! And we've got to get those Mother's Day cards out!!! Don't worry mommies! We won't forget you! ;)

So my husband thinks I'm crazy...

...well, in part, that's true ;)

But THAT'S why they call us Krazy Coupon Ladies!! :)

Yes, I went to the store again for some serious save-age. (notice how I couldn't spell it as one word? yeah...savage? not exactly what I was going for)

Highlights!!
salad dressing - $0.29 each!!!!
ziplock bags - $0.87 each!!!!

and by now we have a LOT of cereal hanging out on the top of our fridge...try...11 boxes. but i haven't paid more than $1.50 for any of them. yessss...and no I did not get them all at once.

so i come home today with about 7 boxes of granola bars, 3 boxes of cereal, and 8 or 9 boxes of ziplock bags. john doesn't bother putting the stuff away (it's probably better that way)...he leaves all the organizing to me. What with the remaining 13 or 14 boxes of pasta we still have in the pantry...it's a little squeeeeshed in there!

But anyway, I know not everyone gets as excited as I do about my couponing adventures as I do, so I do have a little more fun news.

We're signing up for an amateur photography contest!! It's put on by the Mission Trails Regional park, so the pictures have to be taken there, but last month we went hiking on the trails and took our pictures we're going to enter. With a little touch up...voila! ready to enter!! So here are our entries (we're each submitting 2):

John's
"A Yellow March Morning"

"Good Morning"

Ashley's
"In The Stillness"
"One Bright Afternoon"

The best of show gets a $100 prize!!! wish us luck!!! We'll find out the winners on May 23!!!

Couponing TRIUMPH!!!

Okay. I just have to tell you all:

I got $60 worth of food for

...

(drumroll please)

...

$14.50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing? Yes, I know, I'm still excited about it and I got back 2 hours ago.

And that is just the beginning!!

Now I will tell you some of the awesome things I got and stocked up on (don't worry, I'm not going to tell you everything I got on my shopping trip...):

Progresso Soup (normally $2.49) for $.50
Ronzoni Pasta (normally $2.29) for $.25 - $.50
Revlon Lip Gloss (LOVE!!! *ahem* normally $8.49) for *approx* $3
Bumblebee Tuna (normally $1.69) for $.80

Okay, so with all of my savings and couponing techniques (such as stacking and rolling catalinas), I purchased

$157.14 worth of food...for...

(drumrollllllll)

$53.02!!!!!! (excluding tax ha ha)

Did I score or WHAT?! (now, I realize that as a novice couponer, some of you experts out there can do better. but for my first time...I think I did pretty well!) I saved over $100!!!!!!! I'm so proud of myself :)

And this is what our couch looked like after I clipped all the coupons I'd ordered in the mail:


And then spent the afternoon organizing them all nice in my BYU binder :) (and yes, I know I have way too much time on my hands, but at least I'm making a worthwhile use of it!!)

:D

For Michelle :)

Don't worry everyone, as soon as I get the rest of the pictures from a friend, I will post about the Sham Rock and Roll party :)

But first!
I must blog about my first real couponing triumph. And this post is for my Aunt Michelle because she is my couponing idol. I hope I can save money like her someday ;)

SO. Albertson's weekly ad came in the mail this week and they were having a 3 day sale for whatever reason and had some store coupons listed. One of them was to get Nabisco snack crackers for $1.69 each (limit 3).

THEN I learned from the Krazy Coupon Lady (see that site on the blog list - LOVE! So helpful!) that if you became a facebook fan of wheat thins, you could print a coupon to get $1 off a box of wheat thins! BUT you could only print one. SO, I finagled (ooo, good word, yes?) the system and learned I could print a total of 2 on my computer if they were printed on different days...and then I got my third one by using John's computer :)

SO I had three separate coupons for $1 off a box! I went to the store, got my wheat thins, used the store coupon AND my manufacturer's coupons and got my wheat thins for $.69 EACH!

I am so excited!! I hope you are proud of me, Michelle ;)