Giving

For about a year or so, I have been dabbling in coupons.  By no means am I an expert or an "extreme couponer", nor do I really want to be.  I don't dumpster dive for coupon inserts or bother the whole neighborhood for their, I just use what I get from the papers I receive (one at work and one at home) and occasionally I get a nice surprise when friends send coupons my way.  I am a fair weather couponer.  If I have time, I use them.  I will admit, when I don't have a coupon handy and I know I have it at home but still need the item, I cringe some at the few cents I'd save.  I do my best.  I enjoy it sometimes.  I think I've actually helped save my family money on groceries, but I don't keep track of the exact amounts.  For me, I mostly shop at Wal-Mart.  I know, I know....I am not a huge Wal-Mart fan.  It's terribly annoying to go there, they rarely have the specific item you went for, and I'd much rather spend my money locally....that being said, when times are tough, you gotta do what you gotta do.  One cool thing about Wal-Mart is that though they don't double coupons like some stores do, they do price match any other store's ad prices.  So throughout the week, when each stores' ads come out, I go through and circle what I need or might like to buy, check to see if I have correlating coupons and write it all out so I am prepared to shop (and don't take four hours shopping with a crabby three year old).  If I was just a tad bit more organized, I should write down the original price at Wal-Mart for the items I am price matching, but somehow that step always gets forgotten between looking for the correct item and a screaming child.  If I did that, it would certainly give me a better idea of how much I save.  I just know, on a really good shopping trip, I've left with a cart FULL of groceries for $36!

Anyway, I completely digress....  This week one of the local stores is having an amazing deal on Kraft products.  Most shredded cheeses, sliced cheese, chunk cheeses, and salad dressings are $0.99 each if you buy them in sets of 5.  There is also a Catalina from Kraft (coupon that prints at the register) that will print $10.00 savings on your next purchase.  So basically, you spend around $10 and can get 20 items.  I actually bought 56 items (Miracle Whip and Kraft Mayo is on sale for $1.99 and I got four of those, so I ended up short 4 items in my six transactions) for $20.62!!! 

Here is a list of what I bought:
25 x salad dressings
17 x bags of shredded cheese
10 x packs of American cheese slices
4 x Mayo/ Miracle Whip

OK, I know you're probably asking what the freak am I going to do with all this food?!?!  I am going to donate most of it to Salvation Army.  I actually went into this deal with the idea of getting a bunch of items to donate.  I rarely have the financial means to donate a lot of anything and that stinks.  I love the feeling of doing something good.  This deal has given me a great opportunity to do just that!  I am really excited.  I am going to take L down to the Salvation Army this afternoon so he can see that giving to people in need is a wonderful feeling. 

Girl Power

I am one of the least political people.  I mostly choose to be blissfully ignorant.  I hate talking politics, but anymore, with every little thing that happens between the two presidential candidates being shoved in your face 24/7, at some point even the opinion-less start forming opinions.  Here's where I am at right now....

As a woman, I am beginning to feel like women's rights are going back in time.  WTF?!?!  Seriously....WHY?  I just don't get it.  I was really thinking long and hard about this topic this morning while getting ready for work....here are a few things I don't understand/ enrage me....  So, if insurance companies shouldn't cover birth control and the Republicans take office and poo poo Obama's health care plan, who will actually be able afford birth control?  Do these men actually believe we should be having sex ONLY to procreate?  As my cousin says...."Yeah, while out pursuing their usual embodiment of 'family values'".  Couldn't have said it better!  So if women have to pay full price for birth control (or better yet, let's just outlaw birth control....why not right?), abortions are banned and planned parenthood is closed (because of lack of funding)....how will we control population?  I asked myself this morning, "why is this all coming to head seemingly all of a sudden?"  I realize that these ideas have been around forever, but why are they pushing this agenda now, when women are finally becoming more powerful?  Sadly, I think I may have just answered my own question.  It's just all so disturbing.  In my gut, I want to say that people as a collective whole will fight this tooth and nail before any of these situations would come into play, but I keep having this nagging little feeling that there are plenty of people out there who agree or choose to be naive about it.  That is just plain scary.  Probably, more disturbing than anything, is the women who choose to stand behind these politicians.  Honestly, it's just all so bizarre and inconceivable to me.  I'm at a complete loss. 

I will openly admit that I am not completely satisfied with Obama's presidency so far.  Like I previously said, I mostly shy away from thinking about this stuff, but I am smart enough to know that our country isn't in much better of a situation than we were four years ago.  I am sure there are about a million people to blame for this, but being the president, you take on the majority of the blame whether it's your fault or you are still busy cleaning up someone else's mess.  I realize that the economy and state of the US is not something that is easily fixed and there probably isn't a right answer.  I will also say that there isn't going to be a president that will make everyone happy.  There are tough decisions to be made and there will always be people who disagree.   Last election, I voted for Obama and I will vote for him again, mostly because his competition scares the bejeezus out of me!  Seems that being a voting American, you are always forced with the decision to vote for the lesser of two evils. 
 

Birthday Review and True Blood Finale (SPOLIER ALERT)

My 33 birthday has come and gone.  I think 33 means I'm officially in my mid-thirties?  Oh that doesn't sound great.  We will say that 34 begins mid-thirties.  My mom took A, L, and I out for dinner on Wednesday at PF Changs....yum!  We went on Wed. because that was the day A had off.  A and his parents got me an amazing new Nikon Coolpix AW100. 

It's a waterproof and shockproof camera.  I have a Fuji waterproof camera, but man is it a piece of crap.  Aaron got it for me two birthdays ago.  Originally, I had a apple green one (LOVE the color) and I took a ton of pics with it and it was always with me when we went swimming.  It didn't take great pictures out of the water, so I stuck to my hand big Panasonic camera.  Not even a year after getting it, it got watered logged real bad so we sent it in.  It was still under warranty.  Probably 6-8 months later, I FINALLY got a new camera.  It is navy.  Anyway, took it to Hilton Head with me this year and all of a sudden a few of the pixels blacked out.  Now there's a big blog of black in the middle of the screen (thankfully it didn't effect the quality of the pictures).  This new Nikon is really sweet!  It is actually 4 mega pixels greater than my big camera!  The best part is that it takes really nice pictures out of the water, now I can just carry one camera rather than two!  I love it!  Can't wait to go swimming to try it out underwater! 

Whoa....I completely digressed.  Anyhow...my birthday was really nice.  A really amazing friend of mine brought me some beautiful dahlias from her garden to me at work and gave me a gift card for my absolute favorite store!  I was so excited.  The girls at work got me a butterscotch cream pie...yum!  I actually decided I wanted to cook my own dinner (I have a bunch of veggies that I am trying to use up!)  My mom and one of our family friends came over for dinner and then we went to shopping to use my gift certificate!  On Saturday, my dad and his girlfriend came over for dinner and looked at pics from Hilton Head and played with Linc.  Overall, it was a great birthday!

So you are probably wondering why I lumped my birthday and True Blood into one post.  As you all probably know, True Blood is one of my favorite shows and I never get tired of swooning over Alexander Skarsgard (who by the way celebrated his birthday a day after mine!!)  I like to think that the awesome True Blood finale was my (and Alexander's) birthday gift!  This season was a little shaky in my opinion.  I know it's a common complaint with the show, but it never bothered me too much till this season....there are just way too many little plots to follow.  This year I have to say I completely didn't understand the need for the whole Terry plot with the Ifrit  .  Also, I'm glad to see that Lafayette is back to his normal fabulous self, I don't really know that I get the whole seeing Jesus with his lips sewn together tangent.  I would have REALLY liked to see Christopher Meloni's character stay alive a lot longer (and had some steamy scenes....come on!)  Some of the story lines were really slow.  But ultimately, I think they pulled it together fairly well at the end.  I love the idea as Eric as a hero (duh....I love anything Eric).  Him telling Noah that she had to be nice to Pam and Tara because they are family was awesome!  I love the idea of Luna shifting into Reverend Newlin, great twist!  The orgasmic fairy birth was too funny and Bill turning into Billith was the ultimate crazy!  LOVE!  But sometimes, it's the little things that I appreciate the most about True Blood, such as the picture of Russell and Steve Newlin holding Emma in puppy form in Steve's bedroom.  Awesome!  This episode was the perfect mix of funny, scary and gross (best gross moment was Sam, as a fly, flew into Roslyn's mouth and shifting back to human causing her to burst into a bloody mess of goo!)  Gotta give it to those writers, I will be on the edge of my seat waiting for summer and the next season of True Blood! 

Back to Reality

While I'd love to still be on vacation, admittedly I am glad to be home.  If I could just take the mattress on my bed with me on vacation, I may never miss home!  I have to say, I've never really felt the desire to move someplace warm and sunny like I did this vacation.  I always think of the more practical things like, if I were to move to say Hilton Head, I'd still have to work and wouldn't have time to get to the beach like we do while on vacation.  Or the cost of living is so high, I probably would live in a little shack and wouldn't have a swimming pool, etc...  Hahaha.  Ever the practical thinker.  But really, the more I think about it, the better it sounds.  I am sure I could find SOME time for the beach...you know, every chance I get.  And we sneak into a few resorts pools when we are on vacation, why couldn't we do it if we lived there?  ;) 

Every day I was there, I'd look up at the beautiful blue sky and the beach and thank God I was there.  I just felt so thankful to just be sitting on the beach relaxing with my family and having a good time.  Our vacation really was great.  I will admit that I was a little nervous about literally EVERYONE being there and how it would all work out, but I was pleasantly surprised.  The vacation was virtually drama free (OK, there was a little drama here and there, but really, who would we be without ANY drama???)  L was *mostly* good....we did have two days where he refused naps and was REALLY crabby, but I figure 2 out of 7 days wasn't too bad.  He had a blast swimming in the ocean and pool and loved that his grandparents (minus my dad) and aunts and uncles were all there, as well as some family friends who doted on him.  He always had someone to play with or bother!  Because there were so many people around, it actually allowed A and I to have a bit of a break (as well as my mom).  A and I's vow renewal ceremony went very smoothly and was quite beautiful.  It was so great having everyone there to celebrate with us.  It was very relaxed and laid back and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.  We had a big pizza party outside afterwards (we ordered a ton of Mellow Mushroom pizzas http://www.mellowmushroom.com/  They were all delicious!!!) and then went up to our condo for cupcakes and ice cream.  We even decided on a whim to take the party to the pool at 10pm!  I love night swimming and we all had a blast.  L was in HOG HEAVEN (the original idea was to get L wore out, but really it worked in reverse)!!!  The weather all week was so nice (we had a teeny bit of rain, but it was in the evening) we couldn't part with a day to go to Savannah.  I was a little bummed, but really, I just couldn't justify giving up a beach day!  Shockingly, we barely did any shopping.  The three of us hit the outlet malls one evening, but strictly to the stores we were waiting all year to go to.  I had the biggest disappointment of the vacation shopping at the GAP outlet...hahahah....they used to have a HUGE women's section including the GAP Body underwear.  Apparently, the GAP kids outlet store closed and they moved it into the adult store.  Boo.  I suppose if that is the biggest disappointment of my vacation, we can call it a success! 

   

Getting Old....Feeling Young

I know everyone tells you that getting old is so awful.  Up until recently, I never really gave much thought to it.  I don't know if it's my upcoming birthday or what has me thinking about getting older, but suddenly I'm struck with a bad case of missing my more youthful days.  Usually, when this mood strikes me, I long for my college days.  I never really think back and miss my high school days, but suddenly I am thinking how cool it would be to be 17 again.  OK, maybe cool is the wrong word.  I doubt even knowing what I know now would make me cool at 17, but it would be fun.  I miss my swimming days.  I was watching this fun video the US Olympic swim team did yesterday and all the girls were on the bus singing and it made me miss that.  I miss being in shape and swimming nonstop.  It was just all so new and exciting to me.  And it was relaxing.  Whenever I was stressed (like I had any real stress at that age!  hahaha), jumping in the pool and swimming it out made me feel so much better.  Maybe another reason this is all coming up for me is that finally I am getting some relief with my shoulder.  Someday, I'd really like to get back in the pool.  I miss it desperately.  The idea is so exciting, but scary at the same time. 

Sometimes, I just can't completely believe that I am almost 33 years old, a mom, and a wife!  There was so much more I wanted to do with my life before I became an ADULT.  Ugh...that dirty word.  I feel like I was forced to grow up so fast when I had cancer.  The beginning years of my twenty's were difficult.  Suddenly, I was pushed into a very grown up role.  I don't feel like I rushed into getting married or having a child (jeez, I wanted to start my family years before I actually did!), but I definitely grew up faster after having faced my mortality.

Maybe what I need to do is find my carefree, youthful self again.  By no means is 33 old!  As things are falling into place with my shoulder, I am feeling like I need to make some changes...I am on the brink of something big, possibilities I had begun to think were never going to be possible.  I just need to have the courage to step out of my comfort zone and take some chances.  I have lived through so many negative experiences....maybe it's time for some positive changes!!!  

Olympic Sized Crush

I don't know too many women out there that don't appreciate the men's olympic swim teams....at least a little bit.  Maybe I have an extra love for them because I used to be a swimmer.  I can appreciate more than their looks because I know how hard you train to swim so fast and look that way!  But lets be honest here, those guys are hot.  Swimmers have the best bodies.  They are usually pretty tall too.  Swimming works all the muscles in your body, so it is no surprise they are really fit everywhere, but their awesome shoulders and backs are the best. 

Today I am going to blog about my new Olympic crush (by the way, I had to find a new one because my old Olympic crush retired from swimming...Aaron Peirsol), James Magnussen. He's Australian.  That alone says a lot about his hotness!  Love the accent!  The only major downfall to my crush is that he's ridiculously young, 21 years young.  Makes me feel a little cougar-ish.  I had a friend tell me that age is insignifcant when crushing on celebrities, so I guess I'm cool.  Hahahahaha.

He swims freestyle.  His nickname is "The Missile".  Currently, he holds the world record in the 100m freestyle without one of those swim suits that they decided were illegal.  It appears pre-Olympics, he was pretty sure of himself and basically promised the Australian public a gold medal.  He ended up getting a silver medal in the 100m free....Nathan Adrian, an American, beat him by the smallest margin you can beat someone by, .01 of a second.  He didn't really swim much better in any of his other events.  He got a bronze in one of the relay teams.  Apparently, he was overwhelmed by the whole Olympic atmosphere.  Was he a little (or a lot) cocky before getting to London?  Absolutely.  Did he act a little immature when being interviewed about the relay getting bronze?  Yeah, probably.  But let's face it, this guy is only 21 years old.  If he sets his mind to it and learns from his mistakes, I'm guessing he's going to be pretty formidable in the next Olympics.  Until then, us old ladies swooning over him are left to look him up on facebook.  Hahaha.  Yeah, that doesn't make me sound desperately pathetic at all, right?  Ahhh....who cares!?!?

Lazy Me

I've definitely been lazy on the blog front this week.  I figured I didn't really feel like whining nonstop on my blog.  To make a long story extremely short (basically saving you lots of complaining), I have been having these awful lower back/ hip pains for the last week now and still have no idea why.  Daily calls to my Dr. and a trip to the ER last night have weeded out a few things it is NOT, but I am still walking like a 90 yr old lady and make lots of weird faces trying not to swear/ cry every time I get up.  Ugh....swear to God, if it's not one thing, it's a freaking 'nother.  Boo. 

We are getting closer to VACATION!  I am getting ridiculously excited!!!  I am so hilariously anal...we have ten days before we leave and I already have stuff gathered to pack.  Hahaha!  Who packs weeks before vacation?  Oh yeah, me.  I've had my lists made since last Friday.  God, I freaking LOVE lists.  I am tempted to rummage through my terribly cluttered and not at all organized paperwork to find my lists from last year.  I feel like I am forgetting stuff.  I think it's just so weird that we have so much LESS to pack with L out of a crib, high chair, stroller, diapers, bottles, etc.  For the past three years, we've been packed up to our noses with all the baby junk, I feel like I am forgetting things without it!  I am such a planner, having that "crap, what did I forget" feeling is making me a little crazy! 

I guess I am finishing this post a few days after I started it!  Oops.  Now we have seven days till vacation.  It's getting to be crunch time!  Today I took a minute to re-write my lists because they have been in my purse for a week already and look old and used.  See?  I was not lying about oddly anal about everything.  One of my favorite things to do as we get a little closer, is divide my "to do" list into days.  It makes the list seem less overwhelming that way.  And I have exactly what I need to do already scheduled for each day....I'm not left floundering or forgetting to do something.  It's really crazy, but it makes me feel a lot better! 

I had my post-op appointment with my surgeon yesterday.  He was very impressed with how well I am healing.  He said that if this was the first surgery I had ever had on my shoulder, he would have been impressed, but seeing that it's the fourth one, he said I was doing amazing!  Not like I didn't already know that :)!  I told him that I was so excited and amazed with the results, I could kiss him.  He said "what the heck" and gave me a giant hug!  That was pretty sweet!  I really have to give some credit to my aquatic therapy sessions in helping with my speedy recovery.  I love getting into the pool and working it out.  When I see those dumb colored rubber bands for normal physical therapy, I want to run screaming.  But in the pool, I feel so relaxed and I dig the whole no impact part of it.  Just this week, we moved my weights up two more of those little foam circles.  I gotta say, WOAH!  Two foam circles makes a world of difference in difficulty!  But at the same time, it feels GREAT knowing I can do it!

In a nutshell, that's what's happening with me.....I made some really cute sandals and tonight my mom and I are tie dying, so maybe soon I will post some pictures of my latest crafts!!!