My grocery trip.

I usually don't photograph my grocery trips, but this time I felt it was a well rounded trip: things to stockpile and perishables.





20 Boxes of Pop Tarts, 3 Florida Oranges, 5 cans of pineapples, 4 bottles of fabric softener, 8 bottles of oil, 8 cans of Pam, 4 bags of salad, 2 boxes of turkey sausage, 1 package of bacon, 1 dozen eggs, 1 reusable bag, 6 boxes of dish detergent, 1 bag of celery, 1 bunch of bananas, 2 bags of Lay's chips and 1 six pack of paper towels. (Not pictured: 1 box of Scotties tissue)

Things I didn't have coupons for: Pop-tarts (no coupons at all because they are so rare), bags of salad, bananas, celery, oranges.

I will be giving away some of the oil; but it never expires, so it will stockpile nicely; which means I won't have to buy it again for a while--a year, probably.  :) Also, I won't have to spend money on dish detergent for about 6 months (those are 32 count boxes, less than $.09 per load), and my Pam supply is good for about 9 months (pancakes every weekend are good to go!!)

Retail value: $240.66
Saved: $137.82


Total out of pocket spent: $102.84!


That's a 57.6% savings!

First for everything

I've been furloughed from work since 12/30/10, and yesterday I booked our first cruise: Disney Magic to the Easter Caribbean.

Fun times!!!

i heart faces contest entry: head, shoulders, knees and toes

This week's entry is for the "head, shoulder, knees & toes... anything but a face" photo contest over at i heart faces. 

My best friend was feeling down about her self-image and really wanted to get her groove back.... 

I think this did it.  :)

Random Round-up

Our lil’school kid LOVES school! My husband and I have seen a turn-around in (what could have been awful) behavior. We love the new school, too. The teacher is high spirited and super friendly, but keeps the kids in check with rules. The class is very small; our child is 1 of 6 in the class. Each child gets undivided attention from the teacher: A+.

Since school has started, the Hubby and I have had to change our schedules a bit… I go in before dawn, so I am able to pick-up the rug-rat before the after school care starts. My love/hate relationship with this new schedule is slowly growing more to the “love” side. Although, I doubt I will ever like getting up at o’dark-thirty in the morning, I LOVE getting off work after my afternoon snack. :) It is almost like I have added hours to my day because I am able to get so much more accomplished. I even cook dinner!! Don’t worry… you won’t be invited until I know my meals won’t kill anyone. I figured my family has iron stomachs, so they’re good… ;)

I am making some major life changes… it will take quite a while to get them worked out, but we are very excited about these changes and are very much looking forward to them. :) Not at liberty to post too many details, yet…

yay...

bilateral ear infections...

joy. joy.

2-fer

And catching-up from several months of not blogging:

Air Force:
Nope… not gonna happen for me. Am I sad? A little. Am I glad? A little bit more glad than I am sad. I’m not so sure I am cut out to be IN the military. Oh, I could do it. I just don’t want to. I’m spoiled and lazy; and I know this. I know this now more than ever since I couldn’t even lose 10 stinkin’ pounds to make my “goal” weight. Humiliating... but I’m not bitter. I know this wasn’t for me because if it was, I would have chosen it long ago, or I would not have had to jump through my self-imposed fiery hoops to make some lousy weight-loss goal—I would have already BEEN thin enough. Plus, everything happens for a reason (one of my favorite life-mantras); and this didn’t happen for a reason.

Kid’s say the darndest:
My Hubby (singing): “I’m-a-be- I’m-a-be- I’m-a-be”
Our child (singing): “I’m-a-be-bumble-bee-I’m-a-be-bumble-bee”

School:
My kid’s birthday is the last day of the school year cut off: 8/31. Here children have to be 5 before 9/1 to start school. My kid barely made it. We thought about letting our little sponge-of-knowledge sit out the first year. But, back in April we received a letter from the daycare saying the whining was too much and we had 2 weeks to find another sitter. In a scramble we found one that is conveniently located between mine and my husband’s office. Although this daycare is more convenient, there are 16x more kids the same age as our child. So, we thought we would try school this year… School starts 8/12.

Weight-loss:
Well, this is more about NOT being a vegetarian. I guess this is just one more thing I will not be doing this year. I still want to. I KNOW it is tons more healthy for me and I would probably lose weight if I stopped eating beef… well, meat, in general. I’m not good a cooking beans. Everything I try… fails. Miserably. I want to learn how to can/jar fruits and veggies. In my mind, that goes along with being vegetarian—it’s just the next logical step. I’m completely open for someone to help me get started… like send me links to sites that articulate clearly in a step by step way to slowly remove meats and slow add other protein sources. My husband won’t eat a lot of soy meats… so, what else can I do, besides beans?

Ok… enough rambling. It’s time to go soothe my killer sore throat.

Sheesh… it REALLY hurts. :(

Fire cracker

The weather has been too hot to go outside.

There are tar balls on every beach within driving distance.

So, I’ve been hanging out with the wee-one and now we share the same cold.

Lovely.

Seems odd to feel feverish, achy, with a sore throat so sore you can barely swallow.

The chest and sinus congestion are imminent.

Maybe next week will be better.

I have a few maternity session images remaining to edit.

My last wedding is DONE. Until the bride decides she’s ready for her proof book.
(Secretly I hope she never calls me.)

I never get good shots of fireworks. It’s not that I don’t know how.
Oh, no. I know how. I just never bring everything I need, i.e. my tripod.
And between my lap and my husband’s lap our child never finds the “perfect” spot.
But here is my favorite:



I’d like to think that next we I will get better images.
Alas… nothing with ever compare the Independence day of 2009:
National Mall, Washington, D.C.