Coupons

I'm starting to looking in to couponing a little more. I needed to put this post here so I can remember which sites I've subscribed to!! Hopefully this will help someone out there as well!

A Full Cup
Mr. Cheap Stuff
choystercash
SMASH, Save Money & Stay Home
Kroger.com
ShortCuts.com
Budget Saving Mom
Nickels-N-Dimes

There are others that I'm forgetting right now. I'll post them as I remember. :-)

Mom & Girls Picture

After Rebekah's First Communion. I am so glad to have an updated "Mom & Girls" picture. :-)

8

For Sarah...

8 things I'm looking forward to...
1. Rebekah's First Communion on Sunday!!!
2. Whole Community Assembly on Sunday so I can learn about the Liturgy of the Hours
3. Diocese Live on Friday (1380 AM @ 3:10 PM) for "Ask the Deacon" cause that's when I call in and win stuff!! LOL
4. Bill graduating in December as an RN
5. The day I wake up with enough energy to take on the world
6. The end of a successful Relevant Radio pledge drive-- let's get back to regular programming
7. CRHP on Monday - I'm starting to like those ladies. ;-)
8. Heaven

8 things I did yesterday...
1. Taught school
2. Took Becka to violin lessons
3. Went to McDonalds after violin lessons
4. Went to Humane Society after McDonalds
5. Learned that Taffy had gotten run over (hence the trip to the Humane Society)
6. Make baked penne for dinner
7. Watched Becka play Mario Party
8. Finished 1 Maccabees

8 things I wish I could do...
1. Decide what I want to be when I grow up
2. Go to school for #1 or accept that I'm already doing it
3. Wake up with enough energy to take on the world
4. Get my house clean and keep it that way
5. Find some self-discipline for #4
6. Be "drug-free and proud" forever
7. Have more kids (oops)
8. Remember stuff better

8 shows I am currently watching...
1. are we talking live productions? none at the moment.
2. you mean TV???
3. I'm supposed to come up with 8 TV shows?
4. During the off-season?? I only watch football during football season!
5. You have got to be kidding me!!
6. Does Weather Channel Local on the 8s count?
7. er...what's on...
8. I'm at the computer not a TV

I'm supposed to tag 8 people now, so if 8 people have actually read this, then go for it.

If it ain't broke don't fix it

Everybody knows that saying, don't they? I guess in the case of which I am about to address it is more of a case of "if it ain't broke, or it at least works a little, don't break it while trying to 'fix' it."

I recently changed psychiatric practices. My former doctor did a fine job of writing prescriptions, but she couldn't stay awake during appointments. No joke. She would, seriously, nod off while I was in her office. Oh my. I never really liked her anyway, so I finally (after 2+ years), I went searching for someone who would stay awake!

I found a very nice practice. There are many providers there and it was very easy to get an appointment as a new patient. I met with the intake nurse and she ordered some labs to see if there was anything that could be causing some of my symptoms other than me just being crazy. LOL The labs did indicate that I have some other "stuff" going on so I see a specialist tomorrow.

The next appointment, I met with the nurse practitioner who I will be seeing more regularly. This woman wants to start me on new medication right away.
Um...do I really NEED more or different meds? The stuff I'm on right now works pretty well. It doesn't solve all of my problems, but it keeps my head on straight...most of the time. ;-) I just want someone who is awake enough to write for refills.

So I drop $30 co-pay on a bottle of the new stuff. They didn't have samples available at the office that day. Well, it was a big waste of money. That stuff made me ill. I did fine for the first few hours after the first dose. Then it wiped me out and I couldn't function. I was on the couch the rest of the day. Feeling light-headed, dizzy, whatever isn't ever fun. I tried it another day or two with smaller doses, but it wasn't going to work out.
SO I call the nurse & tell her. She didn't seem to have a problem with me dropping it.

I go back for my next visit. She doesn't remember anything that we'd talked about at the previous visit or on the phone. She is awake, though. She decides that I should try a different medicine. I'd taken it 9 years ago so maybe it is what I need now. er...whatever... I asked for samples this time. The stuff isn't in generic and I didn't want to throw another $30 away for nothing. Good thing too!!!

I did get samples. The first day was AWFUL!!! I haven't felt that anxious, irritable, etc. in a very long time. I recognized the feelings and knew that I had to really watch my behavior. It was a very difficult day for me. I called the nurse to tell her that I was already giving up on this one, but she wasn't available and didn't return my call. I decided to give it another shot. The next day wasn't so bad. Neither was the next. The fourth day was TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!! I could not stand it! I think it was worse than the first day! I called and left a message for the nurse again.

Turns out that the nurse returned my call a few minutes after I had left for a meeting. I called to leave another message today and the operator made me call the pharmacy line because it was related to medication. I left a message on the pharmacy line expressing my frustrations with having to call them since their machine basically just asked about needing refills!!!!

I have gone back to the medicine I'd been taking for quite a while that was doing its job. I'd rather have a lack of motivation and insomnia that all of the other stuff that came with the other meds!!!

I am looking forward to meeting with the specialist tomorrow. If I've got other physical issues to take care of, then we need not mess around with my current meds until we've addresses those, wouldn't you think????

*sigh* I am quite frustrated. I'd hate to go back to the old doctor, but she found the drugs that worked, tweaked them as necessary, and told me to come back in 6 months. I've seen these new people 3 times in 2 months. I hate changing psych doctors. It's such a pain.

Pete

Bill decided to name the new vehicle "Pete". I'm sure that's original. LOL Anyway, poor Pete is sick. My friend knew "he" had a little leak, but she didn't realize the problems "he" had. Bill says that one of the reasons he decided to drive Pete instead of letting me have the key was so that he could drive it around for a while and see if anything went wrong. He also didn't want to have to "deep clean" more than one vehicle if we ended up with a third after Jill gets her license (still quite a way off for that!).
Kinda a bummer to have Pete with our friends at First Stop, but I'm glad that we are getting this taken care of now before we ended up in a "crisis" situation. We've had car issues many, many times. When I started driving, I thought that it wouldn't hurt for me to become an auto mechanic so that I could work on my own car. I didn't. Perhaps I had a good idea after all.

Mom-ism of the week

Not that I typically have "mom-isms" on my blog, but this cracked me up!! I was talking on the phone to one of my friends yesterday. (SIDE NOTE TO TEENAGERS, Talking on the phone to friends is still possible and an acceptable behavior. Too many of you text instead of talk!)
ANYWAY- at one point she said, "Off of the bed in the high heels!!" She was talking to her 3 y/o daughter. It just cracked me up!! The idea of this precious little girl jumping on her mom's bed in high heels! LOL.
It brought joy to my heart.

PT Cruising

We are now owners of a PT Cruiser. :-) My friend was getting a "new" car, so she sold us her "old" car which is now our "new" car. My children had gotten into the habit of "counting" PT Cruisers as we drive around town. They are not allowed to count the silver one in the driveway!!
Sounds like Bill is going to be the primary driver, though. How sad. I'm slightly bummed. At least he fixed the seat in the Sentra so I don't have WAY back anymore!
He's been driving our friend's car lately. She is in Africa, so we are keeping her car while she's gone.
We figure that we'll eventually get another vehicle, perhaps a new minivan. If we got a new minivan, I'd be the driver, so we'll just get Bill settled into the "new" car now.
That was a bit of rambling.

Jill got her permit and has driven a little bit. I doubt that she will ever drive with me in the car. I don't think I would be a very good driving instructor. I am way to jumpy for that! Nothing against Jill. I'm sure she WILL be an excellent driver.
I get to call the insurance company tomorrow and make those changes on our policy. Adding a new vehicle. Adding a new driver to the "old" vehicle.

Fun times.

Another thought about blogging

Blogging in my world can be so difficult at times! Not necessarily this specific blog page. This is Jennifer's Thought. Only one thought at a time. Let's not get crazy. However, my other blog is more thoughtFULL. I have a post stuck in my head, but just haven't "had time" to sit down and develop it enough to post for my readers. The number of readers seems to be growing, so I want to having something worth reading! This blog...whatever. Frozen pizza, Kroger bags, etc. Not very deep thinking there! Ah well, at least I feel like I have contributed to the cyber world today.
Thanks for reading, Sarah! :-)

Blogging

So I do a little bit of blogging here and there. It is true. It is incredibly informal. But do I ever REALLY expect people to read these? It always kinda catches me off guard when someone mentions my blog- "She has a blog" or "I saw that on your blog" or even "He has a link to your blog on his blog." Gotta watch out for these things! Of course, I'm the one who posts the link on my facebook page periodically. Guess I shouldn't be too surprised! If I don't want people to know what I am thinking, I can just quit posting things, right? ;-)

Fish on Friday

This is my first Lent as a Catholic. Giving up meat on Friday seemed like an easy enough task. We don't eat a lot of meat around here anyway, no big deal, right?

WRONG!! I did well the first week or two. Every week I was thinking toward Friday night supper- eat something meatless at home, or go to the Fish Fry at the church. However, breakfast and lunch didn't always come to mind...especially when not at home. Now, I NEVER have meat as part of my breakfast at home. However, one Friday, we needed to take Jill to school. On the way home, we grabbed some McDonalds. My standard McDonalds breakfast, SAUSAGE Egg McMuffin with Cheese. Didn't think about the sausage error until it was totally eaten. The kids had pancakes. They laughed at me once we realized the mistake. Another week we were hungry on the way home from something and picked up Burger King for lunch. Oops.

After that, I've drawn a fish on my hand each Thursday night to remind myself throughout the day on Friday that it is Friday! :-) During our recent band trip, I set my phone to buzz me throughout the day as a reminder to stay away from meat. I figured that if I was away from home, I would be more likely to forget. Thanks to the fish on my hand & the buzzing from my phone, I remembered.

The Friday night of the band trip, the band was taken to a sports bar to watch the
U of L Men's Basketball Game (we were with the Women's Team who is headed to the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!). Anyway -- meatless at a sports bar, eh? Hmm...er... I hate onion rings. Potato skins have bacon (not tasty without it, JMHO). No fried mozzerella on the menu. No fish sandwiches either (no surprise there). Lettuce hasn't been nice to me lately so a salad was out of the question. My sister said, "Oh, just forget about it for today." No way. I wasn't going to mess up on purpose!! There was pizza on the menu. It was listed with meat on it, but they gladly left it off for me. :-)

Band trip

I've just come back from my first band trip since 1995. My sister recruited me to be a part of the U of L pep band for the Women's Basketball Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight games. The Women are headed to the Final Four! Yay! Anyway, I'm not really a U of L fan, but it was a nice trip. At 30, I certainly wasn't the oldest on the trip! I did feel old the first day when we had to show our IDs at the airport. I have a horizontal license = over 21. A bunch of the "kids" had vertical IDs. Hee hee. A fellow named Jim plays the tuba. He's 72.

I'm posting more about this on anotherblogfromjennifer, but thought I'd post SOMETHING here. It just seemed right. Back to the other blog now...

Thoughtless...football...pizza

Seems that I have had somewhat of a drought in my thought postings. That is so sad. I really don't have anything blog-worthy thoughts at the moment either...but maybe this post will develop??

I guess the most "exciting" news of the day is the dream I had last night. I was playing football & scored 3 touchdowns!! Folks kept fumbling near the goal line and I just kept scooping up the ball and running it in. The sad thing was that no one really acknowledged my accomplishments...except the scoreboard. After the game the team was in a huddle and I felt very small. T.O. and other NFL players (whose identities where fuzzier) were giving pep talks. Still...no one acknowledge that I was the one who won the game for us. Oh well.

The next scene in the dream was me trying to cook frozen pizzas at home. We have a few different brands of pizza in our freezer. You would think that you should cook all frozen pizzas the same way. NO! They are all different...this is very annoying.
*One brand is "preheat the oven then come back and set your pizza directly on the rack."
*One brand is "no need to preheat just stick the pizza on the rack."
*Then you have "Preheat and stick the pizza in the oven on a pan."
*My least favorite is "Preheat the oven WITH THE PAN INSIDE, then put the pizza on the preheated pan." This last one often messes me up cause I just turn the oven on and let it preheat (without paying attention to which brand I am fixing). Then I go to put the pizza in and realize that I didn't preheat the pan! SO- often I just go try to find one of the other brands of pizza that doesn't need a preheated pan.
*The other "issue" I have with these pizzas is that they don't all preheat to the same temperature! What is the deal?!?! Isn't frozen pizza...frozen pizza? Why all of the confusion?
*Today we ate little pizzas that can be cooked in the oven...or microwave. We were hungry and opted for the microwave.

Well, this confusion will not deter me from buying frozen pizza though!!

And how does "winning a football game without recognition" relate to "standing in front of my open oven containing two different brands of pizza trying to make sense of it"?? Maybe it represents the life of a mom. Figuring out the pizza puzzle without anyone acknowledging that this is more complicated than it looks! er...maybe they aren't related at all. After that big game, I was hungry. *shrug*

And now I am, again, thoughtless...yet hungry for pizza wishing that it was football season.

Pewsitter Petition to Withhold Communion

http://www.pewsitter.com/petition/

Happy Advent!

Click on the pictures to see your Advent Card!
I hope everyone has a great Advent!!

Photos

Bill & Jennifer go to prom!


Our Poor Van after 10/10 wreck


Neleh & Rebekah, Halloween


Jill at Kings Island


16TH and 8TH cookie cake! (my first cookie cake ever!)


Neleh at Camp on her 6th Birthday


The family at the Bluegrass Fair

Consumer Christmas has begun

In response to my recent facebook status, a friend emailed me this comment:
"I am simply appalled by the junk being marketed to young children this Christmas season. I haven’t seen it this bad in years."

*sigh* Thankfully, my kids only watch TV on Saturday mornings...of course those hours are PACKED with toy commercials. But I'm sure that Nickelodeon, Disney, and whatever other annoying channels are out there put it in front of you all of the time. Nick and Disney are locked on my TV. ;-) Those shows bug the heck out of me (with the exception of SpongeBob, which we have on DVD.) Our kids aren't allowed to watch during the week anyway.

The only thing that Neleh has told anyone she wants for Christmas is an "Alive Cub." My mother-in-law went to ToysRUs to look for one and couldn't find it. I looked it up online. Those things are $50!! MIL said that she was probably going to get it for Neleh, despite the cost, if that's all she wants.

Becka hasn't told anybody anything that she really wants for her birthday (Thursday) or Christmas and it bugs people!! They've got to know what she WANTS. Hey, if she doesn't WANT anything, aren't we doing something right around here?

Bill's family is slowly phasing the gift-giving out of Christmas...adults don't exchange gifts anymore and the kids draw names.
Mom, my sisters and I still do exchange gifts. The "best" gifts are those that they figure out that I want/need without me telling them. It's fun for us that way. That's just what I think.

Trick-Or-Treating

This year, I got to stay home and give out candy while Bill went out with the girls. I was somewhat excited about this opportunity. It is fun to see what the other kids are dressed as. I wore a long black dress with heavy eye makeup. A lot of the little girls thought I looked pretty. :-) One little girl asked me if it was a costume. I said, "Or, I might just dress like this everyday. You just don't know, do you?" I don't think she was satisfied with that answer, but I was. :-)

I'm one of those folks who won't give you any candy until you say, "Trick or Treat." I stare the kids right in the eye until they say it. One kid came up and said, "Give me Twix." Er...that's not exactly right!


I was disappointed in the traffic that my candy bowl got. I started off just giving our one or two pieces at a time. I ended up giving out 5 pieces at a time to empty out the bowl a little! I had a book outside with me and was actually able to read a bit. I also got bored. At one point, I went inside and made a cup of coffee to warm my hands. I didn't miss a single kid. *sigh* You know, I appreciate what the churches and other organizations do with their "Truck or Treat" events. I think they are very nice and you can sure get a lot of candy really quickly at those things! However, it takes away from the neighborhood. My mom once said that Trick-O-Treat was a "treat" to the folks who gave out candy to see the neighborhood kids all dressed up. It's a great way to get out of the house and say "hello" to your neighbor down the street that you may only see once a year.

There weren't really any exceptional costumes that came by my house. The Joker and Batman came together...hmm...

On our part of the block, we all "dress up" to give out candy. So, probably, the most creative costume I saw was our neighbor dressed as a Hershey's Kiss...not sure if that was the type of candy she was passing out or not, though. ;-)

Again, I appreciate what the Trunk-or-Treat folks are trying to do, but I think people should stop and consider visiting with their neighbors once a year, October 31.

Swimming Lessons...ack

Neleh is taking swimming lessons again this fall. Last Wednesday, we went to swimming, dried off, ran by McDonalds for some chicken nuggets before heading to Mass at Mary Queen.

Neleh is 6 years old. Neleh has been taking swimming lessons for a few years now. When she was younger, she would NOT get in the pool with a "boy teacher." Now that she is 6, she should participate in swimming lessons no matter who the teacher is. No more of this song and dance about boy teachers. Or not.

We had a sub yesterday and the sub was a boy. When I saw him from across the pool I thought, "Oh no. Please let her go anyway." Nope.
She saw him and said "It's a boy teacher. I'm not swimming."
*sigh* "Yes, Neleh. You are a big 6-year old now. You can do it." Not happening.
So, Rebekah & I went to the other side of the pool, where the swimming class is. Neleh reluctantly follows. Rebekah & I have a seat on the bleacher to watch the class. Neleh sits too.
"Neleh, you need to get in the pool with your class." No.
"Neleh, you need to at least sit on the side of the pool with your class." No.
"Neleh, you can at least sit at the pool on the other side of the rope from your teacher, yet next to your class." (This was closer to the shallow end where family swim was taking place.) Nope.
"Well, I'm going to sit here and read my book while you decide to swim."
"Maybe I'll jump in at the end."
"Whatever. I'm going to sit here and read my book now." (I'm reading Playing for Pizza, by John Grisham. Good book!) Rebekah and I got out our books and read.

I have "suffered" through this trial time and time again with her! What do I do this time? She's a little bit older now and perhaps things should be handled differently than before. So, I prayed to the Blessed Mother Mary & the Saints to give me guidance! (I'm getting the hang of this Catholic stuff!)

We sat there for 30 minutes reading. Neleh sat there for 30 minutes not doing anything. The lesson is 45 minutes long. After the 30 minutes were up I gave her an offer, "Neleh, you either join your class or you pay for the lesson. That's $4. I'll give you one minute to make your choice." I watched the clock. She wasn't thrilled with either option. She didn't make a choice. As I always tell them, "No decision is a decision. You have chosen to pay for the lesson. You will owe me $4 when we get home. Let's go." So we packed up and head to the locker room.

About halfway there, I mention that her decision has also forfeited the trip to McDonalds. I had not told them that we were going to McD's like last week, but I had already decided that we were going to. She was very upset with this. "You didn't tell me that! I'll swim!" Nope. Too late. She cried.

I was thankful that I received answers to my prayers! I hope a lesson was learned. She DID pay me for the time when we got home. Perhaps the lesson was "Time is money." Perhaps the lesson was "You should do your best because you never know when you will be rewarded or not." *shrug* I don't know. Time will only tell if this disciplinary action made a difference.

Today we had our Homeschool Co-op, Learning Zone. Neleh behaved very well, even though I was the teacher. Somehow she got it into her head that since she had behaved we should go to McDonalds. This is a very tempting thing to do since Thursdays are kinda crazy for us (LZ, drop of Jill, Soccer) and there really isn't any time to eat. But instead of going to McD or any other "eating place" we went to WalMart and bought some peanut butter crackers. They didn't really complain, but I figured a trip to a drive thru would send the wrong message.

Like I said, hard to say if any of this parenting will "work." Guess we'll see next time a boy teacher shows up at swimming lessons...

Fireworks

A couple of the churches in our neighborhood have decided that this is THE weekend to have loud outdoor concerts and fireworks. I could hear Jars of Clay just fine from my porch. Not sure how much tickets were, but I didn't need them.
The fireworks show last night was very enjoyable...except for one thing.
TREES! Why can't people shoot off fireworks for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentines Day? There aren't nearly as many leaves to block my view! Why, if there weren't so many leaves around, I could probably have seen the whole show last night, instead of just the high ones.
You know why I like watching fireworks from my house instead of going? 'Cause I LOVE the delay in sound vs. light. It took "one one-thousand" last night between seeing the thing explode and then to hear it. So whenever I saw one of the little ones that is REALLY LOUD, I knew to cover my ears before the sound reached me. I think that is SO COOL! I've known that sound waves are slower than light waves. Everyone learns that with thunderstorms. Yet, I am still so excited about such things when I discover them again and again. Ah, the wonders of creation! I'm hearing really loud music from outside right now. Could that be the REALLY LOUD sound of tonight's outdoor concert? Guess we shouldn't plan to go to bed early. Those fireworks will just keep us up anyway.
The first year one of these churches did this, it irritated me!!! They should stick notes on the doors of all the houses within a mile, "WARNING: Fireworks will start at 10:00PM tonight. Be prepared." Last night, the emergency vehicles came around our neighborhood (police, fire...). I wondered if someone had wrecked their car while watching the fireworks. Everything must have been ok, cause they left soon after. I did think I saw the blinking lights at an intersection nearby. Whatever. That's neither here nor there.

My kids were excited earlier that they were going to go to this carnival sponsored by this local church. They got there with their friend to find out that there is a $25 admission fee!! My comments on that will be kept to myself.

Back to my original subject:

PLEASE shoot more fireworks for the holidays that don't include leaves on trees. Besides, it gets darker at those times of the year. You can get the show started earlier!!

ACK! The stress of coordinating schedules

I am very thankful that we are a homeschooling family. This gives us a lot of flexibility with our schedules and activites. Only one problem, the activities in which we would like to participate are not so flexible. 4:30 is when you need to be there. 5:30 is when you leave. No flexbility there.

Anyhow, I've double-booked my taxi cab service again. Everyday we pick up Jill at the bus stop around 3:45. We then take her to her babysitting job. We are typically home around 4:15. Jill gets off between 5:15 & 6:30, depending on which day it is. I try to schedule around those times. As I mentioned a moment ago, some activities don't have flexibility built in.

Soccer. I gave Rebekah & Neleh a "list" of activities from which they could choose their favorite. This would be the ONE they participated in. Becka chose soccer. We'd missed the LYSA deadline, so we signed up for a team with the YMCA. Last season, we practiced twice a week with 2 games on the weekends! This year, one practice a week, one game a weekend! AND it's a lot closer to the house!! I thought I had chosen a team with a Friday afternoon practice.
Swimming. Neleh chose swimming as her activity. I wanted them to be able to participate in the YMCA's Homeschool Gym & Swim program, but it overlaps the Jill transportation time. So I signed her up for swimming lessons. Now that she is 6, she has to participate in the afternoon lessons. No more school time lessons for kids who should be at school. So I went online and registered her for Tues/Th lessons from 4:45 - 5:30.

PROBLEM! I email the soccer coordinator to make sure I know when Becka's practices are. I learn that they are on THURSDAYS AT 4:30-5:30! Hmm...this is a problem. I could drop Jill off at babysitting around 4:00, make it to soccer in plenty of time, but then have to rush down the street to swimming lessons and be a few minutes late. THEN, having to leave Neleh at swimming lessons to go back to soccer to get Becka early so we could go back to the Y and pick up Neleh. *whew* I'd asked a few friends if they'd be willing to help, but I hadn't heard anything back. STRESS OUT TIME!!!

The more I thought of this situation, they more troubled I became. I looked online and there aren't any open soccer teams at feasible times. The one available team practices during the Jill transportation window. What am I going to do??

*light bulb above head* Maybe I could change swimming lessons? So I go to the website and discover one lesson block that might work for us. However, it is during the Wednesday Jill transportation time. Hmm...on Wednesdays Jill can go to church with her client's family. We were planning to go to Mass all together. BUT since it looks like we have no other option, everybody wins. I think Jill wants to still go to GROW to see her friends.

Jill gets to go to GROW

Rebekah gets to go to soccer (without just being dropped off and picked up in a hurry)

Neleh gets to go to swimming lessons (without Mom abandoning her for a while!)
And I don't have to drive myself crazy!! Just a lot of driving...but not totally crazy.