Forum Detox

20. Two weeks away from couponing forums-- Done!

I really had no time frame in mind when I jotted down number 20 but figured it would happen over the holidays. Those are such a busy time that I figured watching my online time would be easy. Instead a broken power supply cable led to it happening now.

Two weeks ago I came home to my laptop not charging and see that the cable has exposed wires. NOT GOOD!! Jeff looks at it and said it was toast. Without a cable left me laptopless. Now most of my couponing sites are just in my bookmark list so I really don't know the exact addresses and knew Jeff didn't like me junking up his computer with that stuff. The first couple days were fine and then I realized the great priced replacement was coming from England, with an estimated time of 18 business days for delivery.

So I remember my blog list, mostly since i couldn't post anything planned, like alot of the cooking with Lexie stuff. I remembered this was on the list and decided to start the two weeks. The first few days were fine since I was on Jeff's laptop. Then after a few days it was annoying to be on the laptop(I really like mine)

But the days went and I didn't even notice or miss the forums or deal sites. I still got email updates from my stores I commonly shop at but even those didn't interest me. I also found myself knitting(took a class one night) and reading more.

I did have one site exemption, it's one that does deals normally but the blogger had been in a hit by a car after the fourth of July so there were no coupon deals going there, mostly just her recovery journey.

And I did check one forum for to check a coupon database. I was looking for battery coupons and needed to see when they were published. I didn't feel like flipping through 3 months worth of coupons to see if there were any when it was easy to just check. And I was only checking due to Irene.

And due to the laptop being down and how behind I was on cooking with Lexie posts, I'm just going to ask you take my word on it that I'm trying to be good about it.

Books & Dinner

A bit late but two Saturday's ago we had date night. We were at my in laws and they offered to do dinner and bed with the kids so we could go out. Of course we jumped at the chance. We even knew where we were going-- downtown Niatic.

We first went to both downtown locations of the Book Barn. Books I like are in the store near the dance studio, while Jeff likes to poke around the Main St location. I left with 3 new fiction books and 1 new cookbook(new to me books) Jeff bought a dvd.

Then we went over to the Black Sheep restaurant. I think we were there for almost 2 hours and 2 beers. We've learned to explain to the waitress(or waiter) that we aren't in a rush and a good one is awesome about it. And since I use to wait in college, I tip a bit more when we do this.

Dinner was great, but I only remember part of it since it's been a bit. But the food was good and we had a nice, hot dinner.

Watching what I buy

31. No stockpiling/extra shopping for the month of July--done (sort of)

With the recent move, it was crazy to see what we had tucked away. Even with watching the extras I bought before the move, we still came with 12 boxes of cereal and 20 boxes of pasta, amongst other amounts of things. I even thinned out the medicines and cleaning supplies but still have way too many things.

So I figure I could get through a month without buying anything not needed. Until I saw some sale ads and slipped.

Slip 1-- Cereal sale. A store had a sale on some Kelloggs cereal and I had decent coupons to match. Plus all of my cereal I moved was 75% Lucky Charms and the kids were getting bored with it. I ended up getting 8 boxes, which I still have 6 boxes of since we don't eat cereal every day.

Slip 2-- Razor blades. CVS had a good sale and Extra Care Buck back promo that made the blades I prefer almost 75% off when I added in a coupon. Didn't really need them but they don't go bad.

Slip 3-- Berries. They are in season and I now have a few pounds in my freezer for smoothies.

Slip 4-- Pickling Cucumbers. Same as the berries, except they are pickled in jars-- right now I have 9 still.

Slip 5-- School supplies. Don't need them for us personal, but the Church was doing a drive. And I had Staples Rewards expiring.

So all in all, I don't think this was that bad. Really nothing crazy, no free shampoo(or anything we don't use) because it's free or really large amounts. And it's has helped me see what we truly use and need.

(Disclaimer-- we do use shampoo-- I just use certain brands of items vs whatever is free so I don't chase all the freebies anymore)

Yummy in a Jar

26. Can Something-- Done!

Last year, I found a cool canning blog and tried her recipe for blueberry butter. It sort of worked and I vowed I would to can something again.

Well last summer we had to spruce up our old kitchen to make it show better and that left me limited to what I could really do. And once it was done in the fall, peak fresh, local goodies were limited.

Fast forward to this summer and the fact it seems at the new house there is a farm stand on every street. I even found a local blueberry farm near by. And this meant I was determined to can something.

And I have. I found that Ball canning has some pectin and pickle spice mixes that you can use to make small batches. The jam makes 16 ozs and the pickle mix makes 3 cups of liquid. No large batches of things for me to forget about. I mentioned the strawberry jam a couple posts ago, but I also made 2 batches of blueberry jam. I also made 5 jars of pickles.

I think the next item is some salsa. And I'm saving some 4 oz jars for a batch of apple butter in the fall-- yummy!

(I mention Ball products but I'm not getting anything to do so. I've actually given them some money this summer for all the jars and stuff I needed to do this)

Baking with Lexie Update

I have been baking with Lexie at least once a week. The past few weeks we've done a couple things. Lexie helped smash the strawberries for jam. And then helped clean the sugar measuring cup by licking it.

Today, she helped shape the pizza dough for dinner. Since I was grilling the pizza she was not able to help put the toppings on. And since it was close to 100 degrees out today, I wasn't even letting her on the deck to watch.

In both cases, she refused to try the end product. In both cases she loved the products that made up the final product but still won't eat it. So those who say cooking with your kids helps them eat more needs to meet Lexie.

Hopefully the next projects go better. I'm going to think of things she'll be willing to eat and participate more in making.

July's Date Night

July's date night was sort of a whole weekend. We had a good friends' wedding this past weekend. And since I was in the wedding party, we decided to stay at the hotel that was near the events. The tots went to my in laws on Friday morning so Jeff and I kinda had all weekend to hang out.

Friday afternoon, we ran some exciting errands-- Lowes and Toys R Us. I had my nails done in Warwick and we needed a couple things at these stores. Then we checked into the hotel. I had to help with flowers and Jeff had to pick up a wedding guest, so we were divided for a bit. But we ended up having a nice dinner together, with 2 other couples, at the rehearsal dinner.

Saturday was a bit of a crazy day. The mornings of weddings are busy for the women involved. Jeff came by when it was safe, but i think it was more for the entertainment of seeing us get prepped vs spending quality time with me. Once the troll showed up, I didn't get to see Jeff really for awhile-- the service and pictures. It wasn't until I was formally introduced at the reception that I was able to relax in my bridesmaid duties.

The reception was great. We got to catch up with some friends during dinner. A dance or two on the floor. And best of all, no tots to come home too. We could stay up late since we knew check out wasn't until 11 am.

Sunday was the end of the weekend, but we went out with a bang. We went to Cardi's to order Lexie's new bedroom furniture. Sadly, even without the kids we still end up doing things for them. But it was nice to look around without them climbing over everything like when we bought our mattress last spring. And I got to order what I want Lexie to have, no arguing with her about the really "princessy" type sets.

Cars 2

6. Aiden's First Movie--done

This may seem like an odd goal but here's some of the backstory. When Lexie was an infant, I would take her to the baby pictures at the movie theaters. These were adult movies, but with lower sound and house lights on. There would be areas for changing diapers or stroller parking. I took her to three movies by the time she was 9-10 mths olds-- Iron Man, Mamma Mia and a romantic comedy I don't remember the name of. Mamma Mia was the last one because she had become too mobile to sit through it, even though she stopped every time they sang. We took a brake from the movies until Toy Story 3 came out last year. She loves ts and loved the movie theater. She still knows which theater we went to and "see toy story on big tee tee" (She has trouble with the v's) But when we went, Aiden was not at the age of seeing a movie so he stayed home with Jeff.

For the past few weeks(possibly a couple months) every time something Cars 2 related shows up on TV, Lexie states "Aiden loves cars. We go see." So this led me to realize that Aiden's never seen a movie. I kinda knew I wanted to take the kids to see Cars, but a. not by myself and b. not around the holiday or opening week. Yesterday I saw an ad for the new Pooh movie and realized that would be out on Friday, possible cutting into Cars showings. I also checked to see that Tuesdays are still discount days at the movies. So Jeff was able to get out of work in time for us to catch a 4:50 show(Jeff wanted to see the movie as much as Lexie did).

Snacks for the show, yes I found all the Cars related goodies to load my bag with. But we ended up getting popcorn since it was dinner time. Aiden did have a juice box which I think both of us wore a bit of.

The biggest TV Aiden has ever seen.

While the beginning of the movie went fine, the fun of sitting still and eating over priced popcorn wore off. Aiden saw another tot wandering around and that was it. He was off exploring. And I let him. Now before everyone thinks I'm a bad parent, let me just say the theater had about 12 people in them, one of the families had the other wandering tot. And no one was sitting in the lower level. And Aiden was just walking around and wasn't really making a ton of noise. Lexie was mad that she couldn't be with mommy but that was short lived. Not sure what Jeff did but when I looked up a bit later, they were happily chilling.

So Aiden saw his first movie and probably his once a year movie since I don't think I'll take him again for awhile. Any other movie will just have to be seen at home for awhile.