Oh how I love me some bargain shopping!

If there's one thing I love, it's a great sale. Doesn't matter if it's shoes, clothing or groceries.....if I can score a good deal it makes me giddy!

Smith's, one of our local chain grocery stores was having a most incredible sale. I'd never do my regular shopping at Smiths, but I tell you what...I almost ALWAYS buy my meat there as well as their sale items, because if you stock up when the meats and other items are on sale, you can save soooooooooooooooooooooo much money, and with a family of 7 and only one real income, you gotta make that dollar stretch!

I was so excited about last nights scores that I had to actually take a photo of it. Here we have:

6 boxes of cereal - $1 each
15 Lean Cuisine Frozen Dinners - $1.50 each
1 big roll of Brawny paper towel $1.00 (I'd have definitely bought more but they were out!)
8 bottles of apple juice - $1.00 each
6 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks $1.50 each
2 bottles of Cattleman's BBQ sauce - $1.00 each
6 tubs of Huggies baby wipes - $2.00 each
4 - 3 packs of Irish Spring soap - $1.00 each
2 bottles of Clorox Bleach - $1.00 each
5 bottles of Softsoap hand soap - $1.00 each
5 bottles of Clorox disenfecting wipes - $1.50 each
3 boxes of Ghiradelli Brownie mix - $1.50 each
4 bottles of Lysol all purpose cleaner - $1.50 each
5 bottles of Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner - $1.50 each
3 bottles of Welch's Squeezable Grape Jelly - $1.50 each
2 boxes of Sunshine Cheezit's - $1.50 each
6 - 12 pack boxes of Hunt's Pudding packs - $2.00 each
2 bottles of Softscrub sink cleaner - $2.00 each
5 bottles of Suavitel Fabric Softener (My favorite!) - $2.00 each
1 box of Hostess Cupcakes (Blech - Tess' treat for helping me shop)
6 - 8oz packages of shredded cheese - $1.50 each
Bananas & Apples - I can't remember how much they were.

In total guess how much I spent....

Take a wild, wild guess.....

For all of that I spent $157.22!

My savings were $152.52. Can you believe that! My savings were nearly 50%.

Gosh I love me a good bargain!

Lee Family Video Portrait

Picture {not so} Perfect!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! So I had this great time taking photos of the kids today, and for the millionth time, I've royally screwed up my settings and ended up with a bunch of so-so photos, a bunch of useless photos yet thankfully a handful of decent photos. You would think after time and time again of ending up with what could have been perfect photos, that I would think to check my settings. Well, ummmmm....nope, I don't. I must have had something jacked up from when I took some firework photos. Sheesh....I should just learn to shoot with auto! HA HA! I guess it's a good thing that nobody actually pays me to take photos, cause I think I'd have a lot of unhappy customers!

Anyhow, here are a few of my favorites from the day. I can't believe how big my kids are getting. I must be getting old!

Oh and for kicks, here is one of me and T that Bryan took for us. Again, jacked up settings, so Tracey is washed out, and I just love how I look about 5 mos. prego, but all in all....not a bad photo. Thanks Bryan!!!

Enjoy!

Random thoughts for today...

* I really hate mowing our lawn. Really. Our lawnmower sucks total shiz but I can't be bothered to spend money on a new one.
* I wonder how far I ran this morning. I'm kind of scared that I have my big run in 2 weeks.
* I love my husband, and I'm so grateful for all he does....including getting my fat hiney outta bed in the morning to go running.
* So much to do today....so much to do. Gotta finish putting the sexy in the house before David & Marcianne come over. I know it doesn't really matter, but it's kind of nice to have the push to get odds and ends finished up.
* Poor bubba...why does he have a cold. Oh yea...cause the girls'' friends came over with their nasty colds and couldn't keep their hands off of the baby.
* What kind of salad am I going to make?

Sometimes being a mom requires some creativity!

Wow...sometimes being a mom is challenging. Especially when it comes to fickle eaters. Some days Aaron loves a sandwich. Some days he does not. Some days it's the only choice for food cause I haven't been shopping in awhile, or I HAVE just been shopping and the vultures think that if they don't eat the good stuff right away, they aren't going to get any. Well, this just so happened to be one of those "you'd better eat a sandwich or you're going to be hungry" kind of days.

Boy oh boy was I met with some moans and groans.....UNTIL.....(insert little boy humor here)....we decided to make "Dinosaur Pee Poo sandwiches". That's right, peanut butter is a great substitute for dinosaur poo and honey surely makes a great substitute for dinosaur pee. What makes it even better is when you are making the sandwich and hold the honey behind the toy dinosaur when your squeezing it onto the bread and include really great sound effects as well!

Yeah....what I do to get a kid to eat! I just didn't bargain for having to eat the sandwich like a dog!

A funny little Aaron-ism...

I tell ya...this boy kills me. The things he comes up with just keep me giggling. I always thought he was going to be this totally serious and shy kid, but we can't go anywhere without him making conversation with someone walking down the street or a cashier or a kid at the park. Even at the movies yesterday he was all excited when some 13 year old ish boy sat next to him. Anyhow, here is a page about one of his funny little thought processes. I have to say...the kid is kinda clever! Click on the photo if you want to read the journaling!

Have a great day!

Dude...what happened to you?

Poor Aaron....he got bit by a mosquito on his face. Again. And again. And again. Well actually, the entire right side of his body was attacked for some odd reason. The poor kid honest to goodness looks like a dog with fleas, sitting there scratching away, from the top of his head clear down to his right foot. He thinks he looks funny. I think he looks like he got punched in the eye. Ahhhhhh.....the not so pleasant perks of summer.

Got a little scrappy today!

I guess I'm feeling the pangs of not being at CHA this time. Maybe I'm trying to drown my sadness in scrappyness, which works great for me. This afternoon Maddison and I sat down to do a little scrappy business while Sarah was at a birthday party. It was Maddisons first official page (and she's 13....egads...what kind of scrappy mommy am I?) and she is hooked. She's already plotting out pages to work on tomorrow which makes me happy. I just need to get her hooked up with a little corner in my scrappy room so that she doesn't have to scrap on the rolling cart that holds my Expression. Bless her heart...no where to put her legs....all hunched over.

She's got her little work of art all tucked away so I'll have to photograph it tomorrow. Here's the diddy that I worked on....the "E" page for my A-Z book. I know, I know....it's kind of a stretch for "E" and all, but hey, it's a funny little tid bit that I want to remember. Aaron. That silly boy. So insistent that his eyes are TOAD!

WRMK Summer CHA Sneak Peek!

Oh be still my heart! I dare say that I'm the luckiest girl on the planet, designing for the most incredible manufacturer and group of people! You can only imagine my squeal of delight today when I received the pdf of the summer releases for CHA!

So without further adeu......the WRMK 2008 Summer Collections...(Just click on the link to view the entire catalog!)

2008 Summer Catalog

What happens when momma feels like shiz....

Okay, so it surely brought a smile to my face and made me laugh quite literally out loud.

This is what happens when the momma is barely functioning and a 3.5 year old is left to entertain himself.

A Little Scrappy Goodness....

Here's the most recent layout that I have made for my A-Z album. Here's my "Q" page...a little re-done by my sweet Aaron. I had some great blingy flourishes coming out of the heart on the top but he pulled them off and decided to add them to the centers of my flowers. I was too lazy re-create them so it stays as is. He also took a red pen and doodled on the photo, the little munch.

I'm about 5 pages behind on my album now so I'd better get scrapping!

One, two.....THREE...FOUR!

and 5....no make that 6 of us....sicker than dogs.

It all began last Wed. afternoon. I felt fine! I felt perfect! In fact, I had been working in the yard all morning, splitting the ten million and fifty iris that we have. I decided to take a quick break and pop on the computer when I said to myself..."I feel like I'm gonna throw up!" Sure enough 10 min. later I was tossing all my cookies. Then Thurs. the baby decided he'd like his turn. He was such a star and conveniently threw up 3 times outside, so it was an easy fix of just spraying off the sidewalk.

We all felt decent by Sat., so I begged Tracey to take me on a date. We ended up taking JM which was probably a good thing since he fooled us into thinking that he was all better and surprised us with a fountain of yuck while sitting in his car seat. I can only imagine how bad Maddison would freak out if she had to take care of that!

Then like clockwork during the night...almost to the hour exactly, first Tessa, then Maddison then Sarah...all upstairs....sick as can be. Oh and for kicks I thought I'd have another go at it as well!

Tracey was trying to be the tough guy and held out until Sunday afternoon.

All the while Aaron...the little nut....bouncing off the walls while we are all slabbed out looking like death warmed over.

Plus side? I am temporarily 6 pounds less than I weighed a few days ago! If only it were that easy to keep it off....but alas once I eat and re-hydrate I'm sure I'll be back up there. As for now, I'll enjoy looking at my scale weighing me at 165! :0)

It's all over....he's walking now!

We kept telling JM that he needed to be walking by his first birthday, but he was being a stubborn little monkey and decided he wanted to be the later-gater of the family for walking. Almost a month "late" to the day he decided that walking was better than his monkey crawl. Last Sunday he figured it out. It's amazing how quickly he's improved over the past 5 days and is now actually turning corners and stuff.

I finally bugged my hubby enough to get this video put together of his first steps. So here you go.....little JM.....my walking man.

Ouch! Feeling the pain of mouth stuff!

Oh my goodness. Why do mouths cost so much to maintain. You'd think that our whole life purpose right now is to pay dentists and orthodontists every extra cent that comes our way.

Truly!

Here's the skinny....

Tracey: Getting a root canal on Monday and a crown $600 ish
Me: Need a crown...too stubborn to fork out the bucks to do it. $0.00
Maddison: Braces: $2,265, needs 2 fillings sometime in the near futuure $60
Sarah: Starting braces...not paying in full right away, but will have a nice $2,400 bill. And get this....her mouth is a far more complex and complicated case than Maddisons. Who'd a thunk?!?! Sarah, also having 2 fillings when Maddison has hers.....$10 (We'll have finally met that deductible at least! :0) )
Tessa: Bless the girl and her good teeth
Aaron: Oh man...do we even want to go there.....7 crowns, 3 root canals $1,100 + whatever the hospital portion is. At least $500 to meet our deductible.
JM: He's not allowed to get any more teeth. He can function on his 4 thank you very much!

Seriously! Do you not know how much FUN stuff we could do with what we are paying out for all of this oral crap! **sigh**

When I make my world...we're not having mouths. Just think, we'll all be skinny cause we wont be able to eat!!!!

So yeah....if you come over for dinner any time soon and we're having ramen noodles, you'll understand. Maybe if you're lucky I'll even mix it up with a can of cream of mushroom soup! After all, I've got a case of the stuff in the basement!

All I can say is.......WOW!

I guess there is something to be said for not owning a scale. You don't become prisoner to it and obsessive about every little ounce gained or lost.

I can't remember when our scale broke but overnight I went from registering 184 pounds to 240. Wow! What on Earth did I eat that night?

So I finally had to cave and buy another scale so that I could weigh myself for the end of The Biggest Loser contest that I'm participating in at CreativeXpress. This morning I got in my nakies and jumped on the scale expecting to be around 177, since the last time I weighed myself at the gym in the morning a couple of weeks ago, I was 179 - in shorty shorts and a tank top.

I was crossing my fingers for 175 since I've been working so hard running. Imagine my delight and surprise when that baby weighed me in at 171! I was so excited I had to take a photo after I showered. I was a little stumped at how I could gain a few pounds by showering, until I remembered that my hair was soaking wet and well, uh, yeah....my camera body alone weighs 1.5 pounds, not to mention the lense! HA HA~!

What do I attribute my success over the past few weeks to?

1 - not focusing on the parts of my body that I don't love yet. Taking time to really appreciate the areas that make me feel sexy which are my arms and my lower legs.

2 - Exercising in the morning and for greater lengths of time. I've heard it time and time again that exercising in the morning is far more beneficial than in the evening, but didn't really realize what a difference it would make. Since I've been waking up early to go running with Tracey I feel more energized all day long and am quite certain that it gives my metabolism a great kick start each day. And it's not rocket science that it takes approximately 25 minutes of an elevated heart rate to burn up all of the "ready energy" in your system. Until you burn up that energy you don't even begin to touch your reserves (fat), so I think running, running, running has helped me tap into those resources that my body has so graciously stored up for me! On average I'm exercising for 40 - 60 min. 4 - 5x a week! Well except for yesterday, we actually ran SIX MILES in about 75 minutes.

3 - Eating more fresh fruits and veggis. I admit it. I don't eat great. I could certainly do much, much better and plan to as I'm starting my new eating plan - the 3 Hour Diet, which makes SO much sense and doesn't restrict you from ANYTHING at all. And sheesh...what's better than eating every 3 hours? But anyway, I've turned to snacking on raw vegetables rather than going for something junky. I think it helps for sure!

4 - Walking more. Ever since I accidentally backed up into a trucks trailer hitch in my brand new van, I have decided to always park where I can pull through the spot. That almost always means parking out where I have to walk a little farther. I know thats only a small thing, but I think all of those extra steps add up for sure!

I'm starting my eating plan this week, once I totally finish reading my book, so honestly, I expect to be down another 10 pounds by the 2nd week of August! I thought my goal weight was going to be 160, but now......I'm shooting for 155!!!!

Pyrotechnic Fun

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.....nothing says the 4th of July, quite like dropping a wad of hard earned cash on a box of relatively lame fireworks. All be it lame to most adults, the sparkly fun of fire is surely magical to kids, and that in turn is magical to the parents!

What a riot it was last night, as we watched Aaron, Tessa and their cousin Quinton prancing around like they had sparks in their pants screaming at the top of their lungs "DANCING IN THE FIREWORKS, DANCING IN THE FIREWORKS", over and over and over and over and over! Sure it probably annoyed the bejeebies outta anyone in earshot, but I couldn't help but sit and giggle to myself, watching these three kids create the memories of childhood. I wouldn't doubt a bit if years down the road the experiences of last night turns into a "do you remember that year when......".

So here you have it....fireworks....oh and if you think that photo says Lee, you're right! It does! (Isn't Maddison a brain child....being able to spell our last name backward!)

Who's that boy?

Well I did it. I finally caved and agreed to let Tracey cut JM shaggy locks. I guess I felt bad for the kid cause he kept clawing at his bangs trying to get them out of his face so he could see. I don't know what my hesitations in cutting his hair were other than I knew that he would instantly become a big boy.....just one step farther away from my little baby. (I know, I know....I need to let go).

So Tracey set to work and did an amazing job, considering the source was so wiggly!

So here you have it.....meet JM....the big boy.

Beauty Eh?

So I've been quite scrappy this week in my spare moments here and there, and have been able to complete 16 pages for mini albums for my friend Jenn, that will be hosting 4 girls in the Miss Utah pageant next week. Jen has been working hard as well to complete some pre-made pages for these girls to simply drop photos from their experiences at the competition into.

I've really had a blast coming up with these pages, mostly because I've been digging in my stash to see what I had on hand that would make the pages! Thanks to DTL and my forever huge stack of white cardstock, I didn't end up cutting into a lot of 12x12 paper - thus the white background on most of them.

Thanks Jenn for letting me help you! I hope your beauty queens will like the albums!

RNG V3 has arrived!

It's so exciting for me to see the amazing response that Tracey's RNG35 adapter has had in the indy film makers market.

Yesterday (well, late last night) he officially released version 3. We've already had 2 sales this morning (no, make that FOUR!), which is good since I took Aaron to the dentist yesterday and he's going to be having $1,100 worth of dental work done next month....and that is not even including the hospital bill. UGH! Not to mention that my sweet Maddi girl finally started her orthodontic work this morning. I'm so proud of her and how well she did getting her spacers and impressions.

So yeah....if you're reading this....buy a V3. They're freakin' AWESOME! Take action in helping to pay for my kids' medical bills! :0) You know you wanna!

Oh and just cause it fits in theme with this post....here is a layout that I recently did featuring my hot hubby and the RNFNG!