The Legend

When we were growing up, we were poor. My dad worked as a police officer and my mom was a secretary for a public school, and neither job afforded us what you would consider to be a lavish lifestyle.

My parents often found themselves struggling just to put food on the table.

I remember hearing my mom tell stories about going to chop wood with my sister and I asleep in the cab of the truck and then driving around knocking on doors until they managed to sell enough to buy a weeks worth of groceries. This was my legend...I don't really remember it, and yet I heard about it often enough to appreciate it. To really feel like this was my history whether I remember it or not.

That, my friends is likely how my children will feel about this epic move.

How we left Delaware while I was 20 weeks pregnant to live with friends until or house sold...

How we moved into a rental house 3 weeks before Christmas and then ended up stuck at the friends'house while we all recovered from the puke bug...

How we brought home baby girl and then the next day, Daddy left for a big business meeting that could mean huge things for his new company...

How we bought our new house and moved with a six week old and a two year old while Daddy's company opened 6 more stores in one month's time...

And how Mommy managed to move and clean the rental with both kids strapped in their car seats with Dora streaming to her smart phone for days on end...the only breaks being to feed the baby or change diapers...

This, people, will be the legend my kids get to live with. Because this is their history...

It's exciting, yes...

But it's seriously exhausting.

The Difference Between a First and Second Baby

Back when I was on my maternity leave with Little Man, I felt all grown up what with the lack of sleep at night and all the breast feeding.

But this second time, I've really learned what a truly responsible, grown woman and kind, generous, extremely giving mother I am.

And oh, so humble.

All the things I ever thought I might never be.

Except the part about being humble.

If there's anything I prise myself in, its my humility.

(sense the sarcasm, people)

I cannot tell you the immense amount of satisfaction that comes with this knowledge.

I am an amazing mother.

And you wanna know what I am basing that knowledge on?

The fact that I have forfeited my round the clock viewing of DIY network for all day episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and my DVR has more Disney Jr. on it than reruns of Parks and Rec.

Yep. Pretty much tipping the scales on Mommy of the Year...

Try not to be too jealous...

Happy Pi Day!

Hope you celebrate in the most appropriate way possible...

With a giant slice of pie!

Credit

Oh Yeah, THAT'S What a Weekend Feels Like

For the last month, Techy has spent almost every weekend working.

Either from his desk in our home office, or in one of the many Verizon stores he oversees.

But this weekend was one of those rare weekends where we had nothing planned and he didn't have to move from his perch on the couch if he didn't feel like it.

And it was glorious.

I probably shouldn't tell you this, but neither of us showered until about 4 pm on Saturday. And that was only so that we could run out and grab dinner without having people sniff our stank.that

Insert pause for a grand reflection: we "go out" as a family. As in the FOUR of us. Applause welcomed. Sunday was more of the same, only Techy had a photo shoot planned after church. Insert pause for a grand reflection: we went to church as a family. Twice now. As in the FOUR of us. Applause welcomed. So yeah, it was a wonderfully fabulous weekend, but for the week we have ahead of us, we needed it. And we appreciated it. Cause who knows when it will happen again!

Mommy Therapy: Couponing Makes a Comeback

When you live on a revolving 3 hour cycle, the days start to blend together.

(For those of you without kids, newborns eat every 3 hrs or so. Meaning you start over every 3 hrs.... It's kinda like Groundhog Day, only 21 hours shorter. Bill Murray would barely get to Ned Ryerson on this kind of cycle.)

All that to say, I have had to find something to entertain myself while Baby Girl naps and Little Man runs circles around the house.

Long story short, I have rediscovered couponing in an amazing way.

And here in Georgia, every Sunday they sell double papers for $1 less than the actual price of 2 papers.

I have spent hours clipping coupons and daydreaming over the sale ads....

And I'm here to tell you that the best deals don't happen at Wal-Mart or Target. They happen at CVS. And Walgreens. And sometimes Kroger or Publix. And then, if your Wal-mart price matches (mine in Delaware never would without me going to customer service and who has time for that????) sometimes you can get glowing sale items at Wally World.

For those of you in Delaware, we didn't have CVS's though, so Walgreens/Happy Harry's is where its at. First of all, every month they have an instore coupon book that you can combine with manufacturers coupons. And then, every week, they run sales that give back register rewards. Meaning, I invest $25 I'm the right items and walk out with $10-15 in RR to use next week. And next week, if I shop RR items with coupons, I can walk out having spent little to no money and still have $10-15 for next weeks sale.

The thing to know: walgreens does not provide a personal id card, but rather, gives register rewards to anyone one per transaction. The catch is that they have a 1 coupon per item policy and RR count as coupons. So if you have 10 items, you can only have 10 coupons per transaction. It's a balancing act, so to speak. A challenge, if you will. But its much more complicated than lining up pieces of wood in a straight line so if you can't do that, (I'm looking at you, Alicia and Chelsea) then this might not be for you.... Also, you may have to battle your ethics about buying things you will never use to get register rewards (I find this easier to do if you already have register rewards and won't be paying anything out of pocket).

CVS, on the other hand, is amazing. You do need a savings card, so that means only one deal per person, but the extra care bucks (CVS's version of RR) don't count towards the coupon total. Double them up and its easy to get amazing deals. Double them up in items that you get extra care bucks back on, and you'll be addicted too.

You'll be getting amazing deals every week.

Like this.

You can thank me later...

Less Than a Week From Now

We close on our new house.

You know, the Georgia one.

And I will finally have a sink all to myself.

And if you think I'm excited about the sink, you should see how excited I am about being able to flush the toilet without waking my toddler up.

And since a lot of you have asked me for pics...

I'll give you a sneak peak.

With the promise of more next week...

Remember When?

Ah, for the good ole days when he just drank butt water and not soapy, sudsy, diarrhea inducing butt water...