After Five and a Half Years

Matt and I designed and built our own home. This was a process that I loved and sometimes hated, but I learned a lot. One of the things I learned is that EVERYTHING costs more than you plan. By the time Matt and I were putting the finishing touches on our home we were plain ol' out of money.

No money, no funny.

So, we chose to live without the built-ins in the family room and knew that we could always add them at a later date. We never assumed that the later date would come soooo much later...five and a half years to be precise. But really, when do you ever want to lay down extra cash for built-ins when their are vacations to plan? :)

That being said, we received our tax refund this year and designated it to go to these beauties. I think that I appreciate them even more after all of our waiting. What do you think?

Changes the look of the whole room, huh?





Please ignore the finger prints on the fireplace. They are not the point of the picture, but they do come with the house. ;)

8 months and growing

At my last OB appointment, I was still measuring three weeks ahead of schedule and so I have my ultrasound tomorrow to see just how big this baby really is. Everyone keeps telling me that my belly looks so small, but the reality is, I have a freakishly long torso and so this little one has a lot of space inside my abdomen without pushing too far out.

Translation...he is up in my throat and down to my knees at the same time. :)

I will let you know what we learn.

13 Years Ago

I promised God that I would do my best to love him forever...

and I am so glad that I did.

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today, I do not want to be a mother...

I slept horribly last night.

In my house, an overly tired mommy equals a crazy mommy.

Unfortunately, when I tried to take a nap, all I heard from my older boys was fighting, and boy oh boy did I ever storm out of my room in an angry fit. I yelled (very loudly) at both of them and sent them to the garage for a time-out. I think perhaps that I was the one who needed a time-out. Anyway, Anne came to find me about 10 minutes later and she had written me a note on her small whiteboard.

It said, "I love you mommy. I know that you are having a bad day and that sometimes you just get angry. Love, Anne"

Oh man!!! How can I be their mother? They are so impressionable and so willing to please me (most of the time) and today I just want to be left alone. I don't want to be in charge of nurturing and disciplining and teaching their sweet minds. And I really don't want to be pregnant. Sorry baby boy, but today I am done with the aches, and the awkwardness, and the fat that has accumulated all over my body.

Tomorrow is a new day and I am sure I will feel much better about my willingness to mother, but for today? I just don't want to do it.

For Those of You Who are Overwhelmed by Coupons

***UPDATE***
I found another link for an additional Huggies Coupon. You can print this one twice as well and you don't have to scroll through any coupons to find it. So go save yourself some money!

I have a really easy one that you can do.

I promise.

Huggies Diapers currently has a coupon for $3.00 off a single package of any huggies diapers.

Even if you don't match it up with any type of sale, this is still a FABULOUS coupon. So, go here to print it. Go right now because it will go fast.

Also, you can print it twice. The first time you will have to find it amidst the other coupons...it was on page three for me. Then, after you have printed it, click your back button two or three times to get you back to the coupon page. The coupon will have then moved to the very last page. Click on it and print it again.

You can do this...I promise. So, what are you waiting for? Go save some money on diapers...my favorite kind of diapers, BTW. :)

Yesterday

I bought 36 boxes of Post Cereal, mostly Honey Bunches of Oats, and the manufacturer PAID ME 36 cents to do it! This even included the taxes.

Do I hear a woot woot???

How did I do this you ask?

Rather then give you the breakdown, I will just send you to one of my favorite couponing sites. Even if you don't have any coupons, you can still get yourself some cereal for 79 cents a box. Go here to see how.

Free groceries make me happy. :)

Road Trip

Today I am heading out on a road trip with some of the best women on the planet. We are going to have a fabulous time relaxing, laughing, eating, sharing our inner-most, and seeing a hilarious comedian.

I am so excited!

Pray for me that my legs don't swell too badly from the long car drive...

S t R i P e S

We are doing some serious room rearranging in preparation for this new baby boy. Philip's room is going to be the nursery, Anne's room is going to be Philip's, James' room is going to be Anne's, and Michael and James are going to share Michael's room. Whew! That's a lot of furniture to move...especially when stairs are involved.

I have started with the nursery. Here is the before...sorry it is a little dark.

It was a pale mint green and I was ready for a change.

I also wanted to do some custom painting, but I didn't want to spend the money on a custom paint job. So, I borrowed a laser level from a friend and started taping. Then I taped and taped and taped some more.




Here is my practice strip to make sure that all of the taping was really going to work. Notice the lack of light outside. I started this wall at 8:30 am and finished it at 1:00am the next morning. Mind you, I have small children that needed my help throughout the day, but still...it was a LOT of work.

The tricky thing about taping is that when you paint over the top of the tape, the paint tends to leak underneath leaving teeny tiny imperfections in the line.
In order to minimize these leaks:
1. I painted the color I wanted the stripe to be
2. I taped over said color
3. I repainted the same color over the tape
4. I then painted the new color that I wanted to butt up next to the stripe...two coats for good measure
5. I peeled the tape off to see my beautiful new stripes...make sure you do this as soon as possible or else the tape doesn't come off the wall very easily. Trust me...
6. I touched up said stripes with a foam brush because some paint still leaked under the tape...and because I am a little anal retentive that way :)



The finished product. I absolutely LOVE it!!!

My Coupon Deal This Week

This week I bought the four packs of Hunt's Snack Pack Pudding for 27 cents each. Hopefully they will be enjoyed as much as this one was last August.

Cruise Extravaganza: Part 2 or Carol's Modesty and Decorum Go Out the Window

Day 3: Grand Cayman

We decided to spend the day in Grand Cayman at a little known beach called Cemetery Beach. It is on the very north side of Seven Mile Beach, but it has no facilities and therefore very few people...just our kind of place. The snorkeling was supposed to be fabulous, so we packed up our gear and met our friends for a beautiful day in the sun...at least that was the plan.

I caught a picture of Matt before he had a chance to do one of his silly poses...ummm yummy.

Always the goof ball...work it baby, work it.

Grand Cayman turned out to be a very windy day, which stirred up the waves enough to create little to no visibility in the way of snorkeling. Matt went out with the guys, but all of the stirred up dirt and sand in the water made snorkeling very disorienting and not fun at all. I stayed on the beach with the other wives during this time and enjoyed the sun.

When the guys got back, Matt and I were feeling like today had kind of been a bust because of the wind. That's when we realized that the wind was creating some really fun waves that were crashing against the beach. We headed out into the ocean and enjoyed natures own "wave pool".

It was so. much. fun!

We laughed and laughed as we tried to time the waves correctly and jump them so that they wouldn't bury over our heads. I, being the thrill seeker in the group, headed over to an area of beach that consistently got bigger waves. I had a grand time and was grateful for the wind.

After a while, we decided to get out and head back into town. I went to exit the ocean as well, but since I was in the rougher area, a wave caught me just right and I ended up being pummeled into the ground instead. I wasn't hurt at all, but every time I tried to stand up another wave would crash me into the ground. We were with our friends Mike and Cassie and they had four other friends with them as well, so I had quite the audience to my misfortune/embarrassment.

Matt came over by me and kept saying, "Just stand up." I was laughing so hard at myself because I knew that I looked ridiculous, but I just couldn't get my balance long enough to heave my pregnant self out of the water. At some point in the pounding it became very clear that all of me was not inside of my swimsuit. So, a wave would hit me, I would try to put myself back into my suit and stand up, but another wave would crash into me before I could do it. I finally had to let go of my modesty and just stand up as soon as I was finished being pummeled. Well, stand up I did and weren't all of my onlookers surprised when they got an eyeful of me.

The left side of my swimsuit bottoms were completely lodged in my hiney, giving the lovely illusion of a thong, while my top was twisted into oblivion above my big pregnant belly. Luckily, my boobs did not come out... I don't think that I have ever laughed so hard at myself before. I am just grateful that no one had a camera out to capture my moment of "hotness".

Before the "event"

Needless to say, I don't think we will ever forget this day in Grand Cayman.