- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, November 28, 2011
Still in Arizona
Hey everyone! I'm still in Arizona with Nathan. He's getting better every day, but still has at least a few weeks left before he will be back on his feet 100%. I cannot think you all enough for your kind words of encouragement and your prayers. I am so thankful for our support system at home that is allowing me to be here when Nathan needs me most. Our moms are keeping us up-to-date by texting pics and videos of the boys, and I know they're just loving all of the attention from their Gigi, Papa, Nana & Pa. Thanks again for your support!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Not A Typical Thanksgiving
I had planned to write a post for today about how grateful I am for all of our current blessings. About the blessing that it is for Nathan to be in the Army, about how blessed we are to spend Thanksgiving with our extended loved ones, and about how even though Nathan can’t be home for Thanksgiving, we get him for a week and a half at Christmas, so I’m okay with it. I wanted to write about how happy I am to have my two sweet boys with me on Thanksgiving and how thankful we are for our God who loves us and wants us to live a life that prospers.
Then I got a phone call that Nathan was rushed to the ER last night. He has been struggling with some pain in his side and high blood sugar, but I had no idea how serious it was until last night. He nearly fainted in class, and had to receive attention from EMTs, but they weren’t able to stabilize him, so he had to be taken to the ER. I thought that he’d most likely just spend a few hours in the ER and then be sent home to his barracks to recover on his own, but that’s not what happened. Nate called me in tears telling me he was being admitted to the ICU. The ICU. The only experience I have ever had with the ICU involves my grandparents, and none of those experiences ended with a healthy patient leaving the hospital.
So, instead of buying canned pumpkin and preparing a dump cake as I had previously posted, I am on a plane. Instead of spending Deacon’s first Thanksgiving with our families and celebrating all we have to be thankful for, I am missing Deacon’s first Thanksgiving. Instead of hugging my brother-in-law’s neck that just safely returned from Afghanistan, I’ll miss getting to see him at all.
Nathan has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. There is a really good chance this will change all of our plans for the future. He most likely won’t be allowed to stay in the Army. He might never become an Army Chaplain as he planned, and I might not be able to be the stay-at-home mom I’ve been happy to be for the last 9 months.
All of this to say, while I don’t always understand it, or at the time appreciate it, God is faithful. His plan is in full effect in our lives. It would be so easy to think about the things I’m not thankful for. I could be un-thankful for things like missing Deacon’s first Thanksgiving or having to see my husband hooked up to IVs in an ICU, but instead, I’d like to focus on the things I am thankful for.
I am thankful I have two sweet babies, and I’m thankful that God gave me the best daddy and husband in the world to be my partner in bringing them up for His glory. I am thankful that Nathan and I have been blessed with supportive parents that didn’t hesitate for a second last night when they knew I needed to be with my husband. I’m thankful that God has given me a sense of perspective that while we had great plans for our lives that were based around being in the Army, I know that Nathan’s health is the most important thing, and if he never works another day in his life, we will be okay. Most of all, I am so eternally grateful for a God who is unfailing, a God who is unshakable, a God who holds us up when we don’t think we can take another breath. I am grateful for his mercy, his grace and his love. He is our Savior, our Sustainer, and our life-focus. We are ALL so blessed & lucky.
What are you thankful for today?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Pinspired--- Thanksgiving Edition
Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I'm moving Pinspired up a day. Pinterest is the best resource online for recipes. Type in ANYTHING and you'll have tons of options at your fingertips.
I plan to make this Pumpkin Dump Cake for Nathan's family Thanksgiving on Thursday. Doesn't it look delish?
I plan to make this Pumpkin Dump Cake for Nathan's family Thanksgiving on Thursday. Doesn't it look delish?
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Snippets
I have a few snippets to share this Sunday night with some fun iPhone pics thrown in. :)
• I got out Manning's Little People Nativity for him to play with & he saw it for the first time tonight. He grabbed the donkey and said, "Dog? Ruff ruff!" so I said, "No that's a donkey! Donkeys say Hee Haw." He looked at me like I had twelve heads and slowly backed away and put the donkey down. Then he grabbed a sheep and said, "Sheet!" WHO taught him that?! This kind of thing is happening daily. I still don't know how he learned to count to ten!
• I worked a Holiday Bazaar all day yesterday for thirty-one and I had so much fun. It's not hard to sell a product when you really believe in a company & in the products. I'm praying the contacts I made yesterday come to fruition!
• Speaking of thirty-one, I'm planning an awesome Black Friday event, so if you're interested in some deep discounts and giveaways make sure to leave me a comment so I can email you the details!
• Deacon is the happiest, sweetest baby of all time. It's a good thing because he still won't sleep more than a six hour stretch and that's normally from about 7 PM to 1 AM, which means I never sleep more than a three hour stretch and I'm. So. Tired.
• I found out today I'll get to see some family (my aunt, uncle and two cousins) that I didn't know I'd get to see over Thanksgiving and I'm so excited! I miss them!
• Manning is developing quite the personality and his vocabulary is growing daily. He's started saying "okay" after a lot of things, almost like he's asking of what he just said is okay. For example I might say, "Do you want to take a bath?" and he will say "Yeah. Okay?" or I might say "Time for bed!" and he will say, "NO! Okay?" Silly boy.
• Nate will be home in almost exactly one month for over a week. I can't wait. Hopefully he's feeling much better for that visit than he was over Veteran's weekend.
• Pinspired will post on Wednesday this week since Thanksgiving is Thursday, so don't forget to link up!
Have a blessed week!
• I got out Manning's Little People Nativity for him to play with & he saw it for the first time tonight. He grabbed the donkey and said, "Dog? Ruff ruff!" so I said, "No that's a donkey! Donkeys say Hee Haw." He looked at me like I had twelve heads and slowly backed away and put the donkey down. Then he grabbed a sheep and said, "Sheet!" WHO taught him that?! This kind of thing is happening daily. I still don't know how he learned to count to ten!
• I worked a Holiday Bazaar all day yesterday for thirty-one and I had so much fun. It's not hard to sell a product when you really believe in a company & in the products. I'm praying the contacts I made yesterday come to fruition!
• Speaking of thirty-one, I'm planning an awesome Black Friday event, so if you're interested in some deep discounts and giveaways make sure to leave me a comment so I can email you the details!
• Deacon is the happiest, sweetest baby of all time. It's a good thing because he still won't sleep more than a six hour stretch and that's normally from about 7 PM to 1 AM, which means I never sleep more than a three hour stretch and I'm. So. Tired.
• I found out today I'll get to see some family (my aunt, uncle and two cousins) that I didn't know I'd get to see over Thanksgiving and I'm so excited! I miss them!
• Manning is developing quite the personality and his vocabulary is growing daily. He's started saying "okay" after a lot of things, almost like he's asking of what he just said is okay. For example I might say, "Do you want to take a bath?" and he will say "Yeah. Okay?" or I might say "Time for bed!" and he will say, "NO! Okay?" Silly boy.
• Nate will be home in almost exactly one month for over a week. I can't wait. Hopefully he's feeling much better for that visit than he was over Veteran's weekend.
• Pinspired will post on Wednesday this week since Thanksgiving is Thursday, so don't forget to link up!
Have a blessed week!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Women of Faith [Recap 1]
HOW has it already been nearly two weeks since I went to Women of Faith? Time is FLYING.
This was my first time attending Women of Faith and can I just tell you all- I wish it was a week long. I mean, seriously. I wanted MORE. It was so, so good for my heart to hear these Godly women (and man!) speak about how the Lord has worked in their lives in such real and tangible ways. It is one thing to go to church every Sunday and hear the preacher say what we should and shouldn't do etc etc, and that is so important, but to hear these people be so open and honest and emotionally raw about the work of God in their life was just amazing to me.
The first session I attended was Friday night's session and the speaker was Andy Andrews. Andy was so funny and genuine. I loved hearing him speak. He spoke about how our actions affect the world around us, and wowee was his speech powerful. Andy told the story of The Boy Who Changed the World. I had never heard this story, and I was BLOWN AWAY. If you have kids they NEED this book under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. This story is such a perfect reflection of how God equips us for his work in this lifetime and how important it is to listen to that calling.
After Andy spoke we got to worship with Mandisa leading. Mandisa brought it. I didn't watch the season of American Idol that she was on, so I really didn't know much about her prior to this, but I am a fan. Not only am I a fan of the voice, I am a fan of the woman that Mandisa is. In between songs she talked a lot about how God's strength is perfect in our weakness and about how 1 Peter 5:10 says, "...After you have suffered for a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation." This resonated with me so much, because in all honesty, we've been doing some suffering here. It just hasn't been the best time of my life for the past few months, but God's reminder, through Mandisa, was that the suffering is always only temporary, and when we have been through the suffering, we come out on the other end stronger.
Powerful words about a powerful promise. More to come later...
I had the privilege of attending Women of Faith free of charge compliments of World Vision. There was no obligation to blog about my attendance, but I wanted to share about this life-changing weekend with my readers. I provided links as a courtesy.
This was my first time attending Women of Faith and can I just tell you all- I wish it was a week long. I mean, seriously. I wanted MORE. It was so, so good for my heart to hear these Godly women (and man!) speak about how the Lord has worked in their lives in such real and tangible ways. It is one thing to go to church every Sunday and hear the preacher say what we should and shouldn't do etc etc, and that is so important, but to hear these people be so open and honest and emotionally raw about the work of God in their life was just amazing to me.
The first session I attended was Friday night's session and the speaker was Andy Andrews. Andy was so funny and genuine. I loved hearing him speak. He spoke about how our actions affect the world around us, and wowee was his speech powerful. Andy told the story of The Boy Who Changed the World. I had never heard this story, and I was BLOWN AWAY. If you have kids they NEED this book under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. This story is such a perfect reflection of how God equips us for his work in this lifetime and how important it is to listen to that calling.
After Andy spoke we got to worship with Mandisa leading. Mandisa brought it. I didn't watch the season of American Idol that she was on, so I really didn't know much about her prior to this, but I am a fan. Not only am I a fan of the voice, I am a fan of the woman that Mandisa is. In between songs she talked a lot about how God's strength is perfect in our weakness and about how 1 Peter 5:10 says, "...After you have suffered for a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation." This resonated with me so much, because in all honesty, we've been doing some suffering here. It just hasn't been the best time of my life for the past few months, but God's reminder, through Mandisa, was that the suffering is always only temporary, and when we have been through the suffering, we come out on the other end stronger.
Powerful words about a powerful promise. More to come later...
I had the privilege of attending Women of Faith free of charge compliments of World Vision. There was no obligation to blog about my attendance, but I wanted to share about this life-changing weekend with my readers. I provided links as a courtesy.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Pinspired--- Birthday Edition
As I mentioned in my last post, Manning boy turned TWO this week. I could talk for hours about how much joy and learning he has brought into my life, but that's not what today is about. Today is about being Pinspired!
A few months ago I saw this post on sweet Jill's blog and I loved how she had done Amelia's picture with her current loves on it. Then as I was browsing Pinterest one day I saw many more people were doing similar things. I thought it was a great idea for keeping track of where my little love is every year. I want to get this printed and framed each year to display at his birthday parties. Isn't that a fun idea? So, here's my big two year old boy!
Were you Pinspired this week? Link up! Please remember to link to your blog post, not just your blog homepage, and please link back to me in your post! XO
A few months ago I saw this post on sweet Jill's blog and I loved how she had done Amelia's picture with her current loves on it. Then as I was browsing Pinterest one day I saw many more people were doing similar things. I thought it was a great idea for keeping track of where my little love is every year. I want to get this printed and framed each year to display at his birthday parties. Isn't that a fun idea? So, here's my big two year old boy!
Were you Pinspired this week? Link up! Please remember to link to your blog post, not just your blog homepage, and please link back to me in your post! XO
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Catch Up
Does anyone else ever feel like they're in a constant state of playing catch up? I not only can never get ahead, I can never seem to even stay caught up. I wanted to go over what all has been going on since I've been slacking on here.
Halloween
Halloween happened. The boys and I went trunk or treating at Manning's MDO program and then we went to the "Safe Trick-or-Treat" at the mall. They had fun and looked precious, in my opinion.
Nathan came for a visit! He was here for less than 72 hours, but we really enjoyed getting to spend some time together. Nate wasn't feeling well all weekend, and he ended up making a trip to the ER when he returned to Arizona. I was convinced he was having a gallbladder attack, but it turned out he had a really bad kidney infection...more on that later. I didn't really take any pictures except these two phone pics I snapped quickly before Nathan left yesterday. Poor Deacon, the wind took his breath away! :)
Halloween
Halloween happened. The boys and I went trunk or treating at Manning's MDO program and then we went to the "Safe Trick-or-Treat" at the mall. They had fun and looked precious, in my opinion.
At first Manning was a little unsure about wearing a costume. He cheered up when he saw Deacon in his too.
Nathan came for a visit! He was here for less than 72 hours, but we really enjoyed getting to spend some time together. Nate wasn't feeling well all weekend, and he ended up making a trip to the ER when he returned to Arizona. I was convinced he was having a gallbladder attack, but it turned out he had a really bad kidney infection...more on that later. I didn't really take any pictures except these two phone pics I snapped quickly before Nathan left yesterday. Poor Deacon, the wind took his breath away! :)
Thirty-One
I've been so, so busy with thirty-one, which is definitely a huge blessing in our lives right now. Last month I had my top sales month and made over $625 in commission. Pretty awesome for a job that I love and only takes a few nights every month. I also had THREE new consultants sign up under me, so I'm going to promote at least one, but maybe two places this month! SO exciting. I can't say enough about how God has used thirty-one to provide for our family. While I'm on that subject, if you're looking for some great Christmas gifts at affordable prices, my website is mythirtyone.com/kodi. The current special is great! You can't even get a paper gift bag for $1!
Finally, today is Manning's birthday! I cannot believe he is TWO years old already. Time sure flies when you're having fun. :) He's at school right now, but after I pick him up we are going to go get some celebratory cupcakes and have a little photo shoot for his two year post. You guys won't believe some of the things he's saying and doing now. He's a hoot!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
friendly friday- parking lot edition
A few weeks ago I found myself on a Target trip with both boys in the pouring rain. Poor planning was partially to blame, but we needed some things that just couldn't wait, so off we went. As I drove around the parking lot I caught myself silently wishing I could just find a close spot so I could get both boys out of the rain quickly and into a dry cart inside. I saw a man whip into the last close spot just seconds before I rounded the corner and dart in all by himself, and I got a little frustrated. Okay, a lot frustrated and tears stung my eyes. It was just one of those days. I was thinking to myself how selfish it is for him to take the closest spot when he was perfectly capable of walking a little further. He didn't have anyone with him. Heck, he didn't even have any hair to worry about getting soaked.
I shortly realized how silly it was for me to begrudge this man for taking the closest parking spot. How many times had I taken the closest parking spot when I was alone? Often times not even in a hurry...just lazy! Someone please tell me I'm not alone when I say I do the little happy booty shuffle in the driver's seat when I get a great parking spot? From that moment on I vowed that when I'm not with my kids, I'll never take a close spot. A little more exercise from walking further to get to the store is good for me anyway. Maybe I'll save some time for someone in a hurry, maybe I'll help a mom out who is trying to wrangle children on her own, or maybe I'll just give someone a smile on their face and a chance to do the happy booty shuffle in their driver's seat at their good fortune of getting the closest spot.
That's how I'm vowing to be more friendly this Friday. What about you?
Check out more super-friendly ideas at Allison's today!
I shortly realized how silly it was for me to begrudge this man for taking the closest parking spot. How many times had I taken the closest parking spot when I was alone? Often times not even in a hurry...just lazy! Someone please tell me I'm not alone when I say I do the little happy booty shuffle in the driver's seat when I get a great parking spot? From that moment on I vowed that when I'm not with my kids, I'll never take a close spot. A little more exercise from walking further to get to the store is good for me anyway. Maybe I'll save some time for someone in a hurry, maybe I'll help a mom out who is trying to wrangle children on her own, or maybe I'll just give someone a smile on their face and a chance to do the happy booty shuffle in their driver's seat at their good fortune of getting the closest spot.
That's how I'm vowing to be more friendly this Friday. What about you?
Check out more super-friendly ideas at Allison's today!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Pinspired--- BLOG-LEBRITY edition!
You might have read my post that I published on Monday...it was up for about 24 hours and I thought better of it, so it's been removed, but if you read it and reached out to me, THANK YOU. Y'all have no idea how much your words meant to me, and I appreciate your continued prayers.
So, things have been a little heavy this week around here and I completely forgot about Pinspired until about 24 hours ago...Luckily sweet Shannon was here to save the day! I think Shannon and I first connected on twitter, but ladies, her blog is awesome! She's totally famous. A blog-lebrity if you will. It's my privilege to have her guest posting for Pinspired today!
So, things have been a little heavy this week around here and I completely forgot about Pinspired until about 24 hours ago...Luckily sweet Shannon was here to save the day! I think Shannon and I first connected on twitter, but ladies, her blog is awesome! She's totally famous. A blog-lebrity if you will. It's my privilege to have her guest posting for Pinspired today!
Hey girls {and maybe some guys}! Shannon here to takeover, and hopfeully not corrupt Kodi's Pinspired Thursdays too much. I am normally found in my little nook of the Internets called Life After I "Dew" where we talk about babies {mainly mine}, wine {white and from a box}, reality TV {all excpet Real Housewives of ATL} and the occasional sappiness that is motherhood.
I am so honored that Kodi has asked me to guest post today. Kodi and I have bonded over Thirty-One, toddlerhood, reading, and HeyTell, just to name a few. She has such a good heart and I hope to one day meet her in real life as I'm sure we'd be great friends. I am a Pinterest addict, mostly for the recipe boards but I dabble in some of the fashion and arts & craft areas too.
Today I am going to share a recipe, surprise, surprise. You see Pinterest basically acts as my virtual cook book, I've tried quite a few and most have been two thumbs up.
I saw this lasagna soup and it had me at hello. My mom had made a lasagna soup for my birthday last year and it was mmm mmm good so I figured this was either the same or equally as delish.
Well it was different than my mom's as in it was low calorie! Hell to the yeah! It was super easy to make and I think next time I might even try it as a crockpot recipe.
While we were having dinner Jimmy {the husband} said, "this is SO hearty. This is probably so bad for you, right?" And when I said, "nope a cup is only 225 calories" I thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head! So we went ahead and had a breadstick {or two} with it too! YUM-BO!
Thanks again to Kodi for allowing me to be the first {and only so far} Pinspired guest poster. Hopefully we didn't lose anyone along the way!
Thank you so much Shannon. I can't wait to try this soup myself! If you're linking up, PLEASE don't forget to link back to my post and use my pretty Pinspired button on the top right of this page! XO
Sunday, November 6, 2011
The Plague
I was totally tempted to name this post "and then I licked my finger..." but I'm hoping that all three of you will actually read this post, so I refrained. Except, now that I've added this, I guess I didn't refrain.
I planned to write some seriously inspiring stuff today about everything I learned at Women of Faith this weekend, but then the plague hit my house. With about an hour left in the Women of Faith program this weekend I got a text from my MIL, who was babysitting, saying that Manning had vommed. I looked at my mom and she confirmed what I thought, I needed to head home. Yes, he was in perfectly capable hands with my RN MIL, but every sick baby just wants their mama. Heck, I'm 25 and contemplate camping out at my parents' house when I'm sick.
I drove home and walked into a mess. Not my house, for once, because my MIL had been working hard cleaning the house and doing laundry for me, but poor Manning was just a mess. He felt awful and I felt awful for him. I proceeded to feed him saltines and gatorade laced with probiotics, and he seemed to be feeling better after a bath. Then he ralphed again, and headed to bed. He slept all night thanks be to God, but woke up with the most disgusting diaper of all time. Literally. sidebar: Have I ever blogged about my dislike of people over-exaggerating and misusing the word literally? It literally makes me insane. Anyway, he seems to be feeling a little bit better today, but I'm still only feeding him saltines and banana baby food. No judgies. I needed to make a grocery trip today, but I'm sure the general public will appreciate me containing the plague within my home.
With the time change my boys both woke up at 7 instead of 8 and I decided the remedy was to impose a two-nap plan today for both boys. After his morning nap, Deacon vommed. Can I just tell you that as bad as formula smells when you're preparing it, this wasn't an unbearable clean-up, so yay for that. We played a bit, and by that I mean both boys watched Cars because they neither one feel very good, both boys went down for afternoon naps, and I decided to go make myself a fried egg sandwich. As I'm adding Miracle Whip to my bread, laying the slice of cheese on, cracking the egg into the pan etc I managed to somehow, without realizing what I'm doing, lick my finger. I guess I thought I got a little bit of Miracle Whip on it. Nope. Raw egg. So, if I don't come down with the plague, I've only got food poisoning and salmonella to worry about. No biggie.
How was your weekend? :)
I planned to write some seriously inspiring stuff today about everything I learned at Women of Faith this weekend, but then the plague hit my house. With about an hour left in the Women of Faith program this weekend I got a text from my MIL, who was babysitting, saying that Manning had vommed. I looked at my mom and she confirmed what I thought, I needed to head home. Yes, he was in perfectly capable hands with my RN MIL, but every sick baby just wants their mama. Heck, I'm 25 and contemplate camping out at my parents' house when I'm sick.
I drove home and walked into a mess. Not my house, for once, because my MIL had been working hard cleaning the house and doing laundry for me, but poor Manning was just a mess. He felt awful and I felt awful for him. I proceeded to feed him saltines and gatorade laced with probiotics, and he seemed to be feeling better after a bath. Then he ralphed again, and headed to bed. He slept all night thanks be to God, but woke up with the most disgusting diaper of all time. Literally. sidebar: Have I ever blogged about my dislike of people over-exaggerating and misusing the word literally? It literally makes me insane. Anyway, he seems to be feeling a little bit better today, but I'm still only feeding him saltines and banana baby food. No judgies. I needed to make a grocery trip today, but I'm sure the general public will appreciate me containing the plague within my home.
With the time change my boys both woke up at 7 instead of 8 and I decided the remedy was to impose a two-nap plan today for both boys. After his morning nap, Deacon vommed. Can I just tell you that as bad as formula smells when you're preparing it, this wasn't an unbearable clean-up, so yay for that. We played a bit, and by that I mean both boys watched Cars because they neither one feel very good, both boys went down for afternoon naps, and I decided to go make myself a fried egg sandwich. As I'm adding Miracle Whip to my bread, laying the slice of cheese on, cracking the egg into the pan etc I managed to somehow, without realizing what I'm doing, lick my finger. I guess I thought I got a little bit of Miracle Whip on it. Nope. Raw egg. So, if I don't come down with the plague, I've only got food poisoning and salmonella to worry about. No biggie.
How was your weekend? :)
Friday, November 4, 2011
Save $ Shopping Online
I'll be the first person to tell you that I am not awesome at clipping coupons for groceries and household products, but I am able to save a lot of money when I shop online. You might have heard of some or all of these sites, but I've only learned about them from fellow bloggers, so I wanted to share especially for my IRL friends who don't blog!
Flash Sale Sites
Flash sale sites are an AMAZING way to get great deals on products. When you sign up, you will get frequent e-mails from them with their deals, so that can be kind of annoying, but you can unsubscribe from the e-mails and still be a member for the deals. All of these sites listed below are totally free to join, and you actually get a credit for signing up!
Totsy is a great site with a lot of children's products, but they also have a lot of great items for adults, and a lot of great gift ideas.
Right now they have this great activity table for $42 originally $59.99. Wouldn't that be a great Christmas gift for Deacon?
Zulily is another great site for children's items, but they too have items for adults. I got Manning a plasma car for Christmas a few months ago, and I know he will be so excited to see it under the Christmas tree. I *think* they retail around $60 and I paid around $40.
Plum District is a site for moms, by moms. This site is similar to groupon in that it's divided up by area, but you can often make purchases online. For example, today's deal in Kansas City is $10 for $20 worth of toys at yoyo.com, so even if Kansas City isn't local, you can still take advantage of the Kansas City deal. Yoyo.com sells my favorite toy brand, Melissa & Doug, so I could get Manning twice as many goodies for the price! Like these puzzles on yoyo.com for $19.99 for a set of three- but I'd get them for only $10!
One King's Lane is a flash sale site that features mostly items for the home, but I was able to get a ton of goodies from erincondren.com on this site a few months ago. Right now they have these adorable kids bath towels for $49 regularly $110. You can have high quality, designer items for cheaper than you can buy a similar item at Target!
Ebates is different than a flash sale site. It's a great way to save on almost any website you shop on. For example, when I wanted to order Manning a pair of my favorite, TOMs shoes, I simply went to ebates.com, typed TOMs in the search box and clicked their link to the TOMs website. The day I did it they were offering a 5.5% return on TOMs.com, so after I made my purchase on TOMs website, 5.5% of my purchase was put into my account on ebates. Then, every so often, ebates will mail me a check! Seriously! How easy is that?
Swagbucks is super easy to use too. It's just a search engine, but you earn "swag bucks" when you complete searches online. After you've earned so many "swag bucks" you can cash them in for things like gift cards etc in the "swag store".
Amazon Mom is a great way to save on everyday items you need as a mom. You can "subscribe and save" to items such as formula, diapers, baby food etc and save 20% as well as have it delivered to your door for free. How nice is that to not drag the kids out for diapers at Wal-Mart or Target? So, if I know that I need a case of size 5 Huggies every two weeks, I simply subscribe to that item, and Amazon does the rest. It's also EXTREMELY easy to cancel or modify your subscriptions, so there's no reason to be apprehensive about signing up!
Groceries- I recently learned that my local grocer- Hy-Vee- offers online shopping. Y'all. This has saved me SO much time and money. They charge a small fee ($10) and they do the shopping and deliver it to your house. I figure that I save the $10 by taking the time outside of the pressure of the store to find the best deals, not spending the gas money to drive across town, and I only buy the things I need because I don't have the temptation of walking past the ice cream aisle. :) I live in a SMALL city of about 70,000, so there's a good chance that your grocery store offers this service too! We live in a digital age! Google your local chain grocery stores, and see if you could be saving yourself this money and hassle too!
I'm linking up with Kristen at We Are THAT Family for Works-for-Me Wednesday!
*Most of the links above are referral links. I could earn a reward if you sign up for any of these services through my link. I know that it's a very expensive time of year and I wanted to write a post to share these money savers with you. If I earn some referral credit from it, that's just an added bonus. I have never and will never share something on this blog that I don't believe in, regardless of what could be in it for me.*
Flash Sale Sites
Flash sale sites are an AMAZING way to get great deals on products. When you sign up, you will get frequent e-mails from them with their deals, so that can be kind of annoying, but you can unsubscribe from the e-mails and still be a member for the deals. All of these sites listed below are totally free to join, and you actually get a credit for signing up!
Totsy is a great site with a lot of children's products, but they also have a lot of great items for adults, and a lot of great gift ideas.
Right now they have this great activity table for $42 originally $59.99. Wouldn't that be a great Christmas gift for Deacon?
Zulily is another great site for children's items, but they too have items for adults. I got Manning a plasma car for Christmas a few months ago, and I know he will be so excited to see it under the Christmas tree. I *think* they retail around $60 and I paid around $40.
Plum District is a site for moms, by moms. This site is similar to groupon in that it's divided up by area, but you can often make purchases online. For example, today's deal in Kansas City is $10 for $20 worth of toys at yoyo.com, so even if Kansas City isn't local, you can still take advantage of the Kansas City deal. Yoyo.com sells my favorite toy brand, Melissa & Doug, so I could get Manning twice as many goodies for the price! Like these puzzles on yoyo.com for $19.99 for a set of three- but I'd get them for only $10!
One King's Lane is a flash sale site that features mostly items for the home, but I was able to get a ton of goodies from erincondren.com on this site a few months ago. Right now they have these adorable kids bath towels for $49 regularly $110. You can have high quality, designer items for cheaper than you can buy a similar item at Target!
Ebates is different than a flash sale site. It's a great way to save on almost any website you shop on. For example, when I wanted to order Manning a pair of my favorite, TOMs shoes, I simply went to ebates.com, typed TOMs in the search box and clicked their link to the TOMs website. The day I did it they were offering a 5.5% return on TOMs.com, so after I made my purchase on TOMs website, 5.5% of my purchase was put into my account on ebates. Then, every so often, ebates will mail me a check! Seriously! How easy is that?
Swagbucks is super easy to use too. It's just a search engine, but you earn "swag bucks" when you complete searches online. After you've earned so many "swag bucks" you can cash them in for things like gift cards etc in the "swag store".
Amazon Mom is a great way to save on everyday items you need as a mom. You can "subscribe and save" to items such as formula, diapers, baby food etc and save 20% as well as have it delivered to your door for free. How nice is that to not drag the kids out for diapers at Wal-Mart or Target? So, if I know that I need a case of size 5 Huggies every two weeks, I simply subscribe to that item, and Amazon does the rest. It's also EXTREMELY easy to cancel or modify your subscriptions, so there's no reason to be apprehensive about signing up!
Groceries- I recently learned that my local grocer- Hy-Vee- offers online shopping. Y'all. This has saved me SO much time and money. They charge a small fee ($10) and they do the shopping and deliver it to your house. I figure that I save the $10 by taking the time outside of the pressure of the store to find the best deals, not spending the gas money to drive across town, and I only buy the things I need because I don't have the temptation of walking past the ice cream aisle. :) I live in a SMALL city of about 70,000, so there's a good chance that your grocery store offers this service too! We live in a digital age! Google your local chain grocery stores, and see if you could be saving yourself this money and hassle too!
I'm linking up with Kristen at We Are THAT Family for Works-for-Me Wednesday!
*Most of the links above are referral links. I could earn a reward if you sign up for any of these services through my link. I know that it's a very expensive time of year and I wanted to write a post to share these money savers with you. If I earn some referral credit from it, that's just an added bonus. I have never and will never share something on this blog that I don't believe in, regardless of what could be in it for me.*
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Pinspired--- A few words...
I don't have too much to say about today's Pinspired post. I'll let the pins do my talking.
*Please don't forget to link to my blog by using the Pinspired banner on the right hand side of my page!*
*Please don't forget to link to my blog by using the Pinspired banner on the right hand side of my page!*
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
A few thoughts...
Happy November! I have some things to share with you...
- I've teamed up with iPods from Cohen for a fundraiser this month. If you need any thirty-one products this month, please visit my website, click on "My Events" and you'll see the iPods from Cohen party. Click on "Shop Now" and support this great cause. :)
- The boys and I had a great Halloween and I'll have some pictures soon. We Trick-or-Treated in the mall since it was just me and a double stroller this year. I think that Manning had fun, and he got lots of candy! I guess I'll have to help him eat it! ;)
- I picked up Manning's school pictures at Mother's Day Out today, and they are hysterical to me. I'll post them soon, after I share them with all of our important family members! I cannot believe how much of a rip-off the company was though. Their prices were outrageous in my opinion! I think it has something to do with them printing off tons of sheets and you just keep the ones you decide to buy- that cannot be cost efficient for the customer.
- It's officially Manning's birthday month. I cannot believe he will be two years old in just two short weeks. We have a busy two weeks coming up! I'm going to Women of Faith this Friday evening and Saturday, which I'm SO excited about, and our realtor is hosting an open house at our house on Sunday! Next weekend Nathan gets to come home for almost three days (70 hours to be exact) and we are all so excited to see each other. Nathan and Manning haven't seen each other since July 1st, and Deacon and I haven't seen Nate since we visited him over Labor Day weekend.
- Deacon is a crawling FOOL. He can crawl laps through the house in no time flat. He now has four teeth on bottom and three on top! He is still a happy, easy baby. He has found his voice, and can be very loud with his squeals. Sometimes he squeals so loudly he makes himself jump! haha
Hopefully my next post will have more pictures! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
