Purex Triple Action liquid detergent

I am usually a detergent snob- if you come to my house you will see a lot of Tide. I think it's because that is what I remember growing up and I enjoy the scents and think it works well. Recently I was able to try Purex's new Triple action liquid detergent. I was impressed! It worked for me just as well as the other brands and it is CHEAPER! Who isn't looking for a way to save money these days? My bit thing with detergent is always the scents. This product comes in five scents I can't wait to go to the store and smell them all. They also have a free and clear option for those of you with kids who need a more gentle detergent. I am sold I will continue buying this product. I will probably keep my Tide but when I can't find a sale on it I will be looking to use this product!

* Purex provided a free sample of their Triple Action laundry detergent so I could write a review. However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own

survey site

This is a survey site I have joined. I am getting ready to test my first product with them they don't send me a lot of emails (maybe 2 a month?? ) Like I said this is the first product I get to test but they thought I should invite my friends so if anyone is interested here is the link "Join SheSpeaks and take a quick survey to see if you qualify for a new program. SheSpeaks is a community powered by women who love to get the latest scoop and share what's hot. It's free to join and if you participate regularly in our community you might just get something free delivered to your door. Click here to join: https://www.shespeaks.com/secure/join_now/survey/139503"

Cool App

Ok so I had a terrible experience with Disneystore.com. I had received a gift card from the Disney rewards program and for some reason their website didn't like it so they charged my credit card. I was also mad because I had ordered a set for each one of the kids and two weeks after the order they informed my that Kiah's did not ship. So I was pretty upset. I emailed them three times and after five phone calls with nothing getting solved (each of these calls lasting about 20-30 minutes) I remembered something I had read in Reader's Digest about a new app called GRIPE, now I do not have a smart phone but you can use apps on facebook. I did not know this until about 3 months ago. What you do is you say what your problem is and with who AND what you want them to do to fix it. And somehow they link it to your facebook friends and their friends or something. The company then has 48 hours to resolve your issue. If it meets your expectations it doesn't get launched but if it does it said in my case 56,000 people would hear that they shouldn't shop here. AMAZING. Within MINUTES of posting it I had a phone call they could not get it figured out from there the next morning I got another phone call they had credited my credit card back and let me keep the pajamas. This was exactly what I had asked for. I thank GRIPE for fighting my case for me and I am thankful that the disney store did end up giving me what I asked for. I just want people who read this to know that the disneystore operators I some of the nicest phone operators I had ever had to deal with. I was very frustrated and they were very nice and Tried to help although they couldn't get it to work out for me. Will I shop with them again? Probably not online since this did take up about 6 hours of my life. But I am glad for the fact that it all worked out in the end. I think anyone who has a problem should use this site. I was VERY VERY impressed. Did ya'll notice I learned how to use the link thing on my blogs? So excited by that I have been meaning to use that for a long time!!

Had such a great weekend! Spent it with my friend Jessica in Wichita, we got to stay at a nice house for free (thanks to the people involved with that SOOO MUCH!) and we did a lot of shopping. We ended the trip with a visit to Old Navy because I had won a party from one of the companies that I do projects with. This one has become my very favorite of all of them lately as they have allowed me to host some awesome parties. The company is Crowdtap if you would like to sign up let me know and I will send you an invite you. Tonight's party was for us to find out more about Old Navy's winter products. First we decided to go for the whole ski bunny look. I LOVED the new Techno hats that Old Navy has you can plug your MP3 Player into them and they have built in ear buds or something. Plus these hats come in the awesomest brightest colors ever. I also tried on a pair of their fleece pants and they were so warm and cozy. Probably the higlight of my first outfit though was the vest. It was the brightest pink and so not puffy I don't own a vest because of puffing issues but this vest did not have that. The second outfit we tried on was our outdoors'y outfits. We grabbed plaid shirts from the men's department and were suprised by how nice they looked on us girls! Then we found some boots that were REALLY warm. I think Jessica even got to do a sales pitch to a few customers on how comfortable and warm the boots were. We all got to take home a sweater and pair of jeans for our time. I didn't realize Old Navy had so many different cuts of jeans, not only styles but different waist lengths. I just wish I would have figured out that part BEFORE we left the store. We all also go a scarf and I am excite to wear mine! THANK YOU OLD NAVY AND CROWDTAP for such an awesome time!!!!!

Dec 3rd

One month off from my blog wow this always seems to happen when I get busy! My mailbox has been full of goodies lately, I have also been picked to host a lot of parties lately. I have never ever had this many so it's been a bit crazy but I enjoy all the free stuff I usually get and I also enjoy getting to give people free stuff. My latest party was for the new Smurfs movie. I wasn't that impressed with what I got (as incentive which was basically nothing) but it was still fun to have friends over and do a few fun projects with the kids. We had a bunch of blue food (yummy blue popcorn) and the kids made some smurfs hats. I can't wait to get that picture loaded. The company who allowed me to have this party is AWESOME I have also been able to host two Old Navy "parties" where I got to get myself and a friend old navy gear, last time it was active wear and this time (next weekend) I get to take three people with me to get a free sweater, pair of pants and a scarf. How fun is that. I never buy new clothes for myself so I love being able to go shopping and it's going to be girls weekend for me and a friend and I am SOOO excited to get to spend some time with her and get to know her better. If you are interested in the company, I only hold the name out because if you ask me to sign you up I get some points, but I LOVE this company!!!

GIVEAWAY blog!!!

Ok first I have to say how fun it has been to get Mega Bloks- I have always wanted to get my kids some but just never thought of it when I was in a store. We had them at our old church and the kids loved them. Fast forward to last week when I got ten sets of the sent to me because I am a Insider Mom Network Leader for the town (county??) of Meade. I can not believe how much fun my kids all three of them have had with the blocks. There were only 24 in the bag and they have all spent hours playing with them (it is enough blocks for one kid not enough when more than one gets involved!!) I think this is totally going to be one of Justus's Christmas gifts. I hate getting toys for the kids but he wants to play with them all the time!

Today in my mail box I got some fun things I would like to share. I got a huggies onsie for entering my codes on their website- if you use huggies sign up for this it is totally worth it I don't like sweepstakes but I know one of the blogs I follow she's won a ton of things. I am content to let my points add up and get 25 dollar gift cards. I have gotten two so far. I got 2 20% off payless codes (I am giving one of these away) I got the cold touch kleenex sample pack. Kids got some Tom's of Maine Tooth paste- I posted about this on facebook did anyone try to get it? I got two bounce bars I am supposed to give one away. I LOVE these bars they say they last two months but mine lasts much longer. I will be giving this prize to someone in meade, topeka, wichita, or atwood area as I don't think I will be visiting anywhere else in the near future. The last prize is a $10 off shutterfly w/free shipping card for one friend. I am excited about Shutterfly this year as I am getting to host Shutterfly house party. So excited! If you haven't already sign up for houseparty.com to host your own parties. They have gotten pretty popular in the past few months so it's harder to win but still fun to try. Ok how to enter, just post on my facebook status which prizes you would like to win AND what laundry soap is your favorite. Drawing will be held tomorrow after AWANA so you can enter until then I will be doing a couple of reminders on facebook. Good luck!

Best freebie I've gotten in a long time

So I just received one of the best products for free that I have ever gotten. I belong to a site that is heavily involved with Old Navy, I have heard about many of their products before they are on the web so when they recently asked about what clothes I like to wear- I loved their active wear line. I have tried to get picked to test several items for them but this was the first time I won! I got to get a pair of compression pants for myself plus a shirt. The fun part was I got to give the same (compression pants and top) to a friend. I didn't have to think long to know that I wanted to give my extra coupon to my mom. She was my partner when we did P90X back when I found out I was pregnant with Karis. We actually did that workout in 90 days- now with three kids I am not sure how I EVER made it. But it was something we can always say we did. My mother-in-law had to pick up the outfits for us so we shopped on line and then she took a couple pictures to make sure she got the right ones. The one thing that I had a problem with (if ordering online) is the size chart. At any other store I am a 8-10 so 8-10 on ON website was a medium I really wasn't sure I needed a M (I thought a L) but went with the size chart. Well the size chart did not fit so I had to have my mom-in-law to go back. I do think they look nice and they do compress. I just don't wear clothes like that too often out in public but I know when I do my Turbo Fire workout I will totally look just as hot as the other people doing the work out. No jiggle now lol

PAM Cooking Spray

I was excited to get in the mail last week a new 9X13 pan with a nice spatula from PAM they also sent coupons for me for a free bottle of PAM and a free can of tomatoes. I am excited to try these out!

PAM Cooking Spray: Thanks PAM for my free can of cooking spray! Click here to download a $0.50 off coupon for the new #PAM http://bit.ly/mRLqKj *I received a free sample courtesy of Smiley360

Today's mail

Today was another great mail day, actually it was a great fed-ex day because they are the ones that brought the big bag but if you have me on facebook you already saw the chips. I got this package because Frito-Lay is celebrating their Casa Grande they are working on lowering their carbon footprint- and recycle 75% of their water and have reduced their dependency on natural gas by 80%. They also send less than 1% of their waste to a landfill being able to recycle almost everything. I am always leary of these kind of companies and want to know, is this "helping the enviroment" costing me any money as a consumer? But I think they are doing a great job and I will enjoy my free chips!

I have talked about vocalpoint in the past and encouraged readers to sign up, however if you haven't here is a coupon you may want to log on and snatch. I do not know how much this item will cost in the store but am hoping this will be close to free when purchased www.Vocalpoint.com/BeTheFirstCoupon
ok I'm trying to add a picture but it's not working. So they have changed stuff enough I don't knw how to add one. This is a new Vicks product and they want you to be the first to try it. Which means if you are in SW KS they want you to be the first to see if any stores carry it and wonder aimlessly looking for a product that can be hard to find..it does happen I try to save "new product" coupons for trips to Wichita or Topeka.

I also did great today at dollar general- got all sorts of gardening stuff for next year and some toys, also some shoes for all the females in the household, a couple of things that can be used for Christmas and a couple that can be used for baby showers. Did I "need" everything I bought... probably not but I keep updated on our money all month and we are way under budget (not meaning we have to spend more but I knew it was ok to spend 25 bucks) so it was fun but now I HAVE to get to work. kids are sleeping, run is done for the day it is time to get the basement clean!!!

happy monday mailbox

I haven't posted in awhile and not sure how long I will- I haven't heard that very many people read and no one made comment when I stopped so it's kind of sad. :( I am still saving money and getting all sorts of freebies but I like to share and want you guys to be as excited as me when you go to the mail each day.

Today was a great day for a Monday- I got W! magazine- I really can't stand this magazine and am happy that I will only get it two more months. I got Working Mother (I mentioned this one on a previous blog and on facebook) I haven't read any of them yet so I don't know how I feel about it. I get Ranger Rick and Big Backyard each month because I track how fast it gets to the post office. The kids love these two. Kjell got another 5 hr energy- I posted about this one as well. I also got a small box of kleenex- this was a facebook promotion that you send a free box to a friend- (thanks mom!) I got some toothpaste- I posted this freebie online as well- it comes from walmart. 2 huggies size 4 diapers from Sam's (also posted about this one) Plus a $10 off any $10 purchase at JCPennies- this is because I am a card holder. I also got a free product to rate and test all moms need to sign up for this there is ONE "survey" to do so they know how old your kids are then they just let you know if you fit you also get a monthly e-mail of all the toys/products that the testers thought were awesome. This is the first product I have tested. I do not think it is awesome. but it was free and looks like it retails for about 30 bucks I can't tell because the products web page is all in Japanese . here is that website. http://www.ptpamedia.com/homepage PLEase let me know if this website is helping anyone- I have a LOT to do in any given day and I don't want just be writing to an empty cyber space!!

Can I save you 120 bucks this year??

I think I can, do you have satellite? Do you have internet, do you have a home phone??? Call your companies for your monthly services (especially if you always pay on time) and say something like this! Hey I just really wanted to let you know I enjoy being a customer of _____ I am having some issues financially right now and I really don't want to cut back I was just wondering if there is anything you can do for me. Usually you can get at least 5 bucks a month knocked off one time I even got 10 dollars knocked off by a 5 minute phone call. Where else can you make $120 bucks in five minutes... legally?? Give it a try I'd love to hear any success stories (or even failed attempts) oh and if you do fail? Just call next week someone will give you a discount.

Another fun thing to do is sign up to receive emails from your favorite resturants. I am just thinking of this because Justus's birthday is next week. ESPECIALLy if you live in a bigger city because you can go out to eat every night for at least two weeks! Here are some names of places I am thinking of that send you something, Red Robin, On The boarder, Famous Daves, ice cream places Baskin Robbins (alright a Dodge City one!) Sonic, Kmart (for kids also Toys-r-us) there are a lot more if you are a fan of a restaurant just sign up. buffalo wildwings YUMMY cake!! TGIFridays... ok I'm making myself hungry and I need to get to work so there ya have it for today. Tomorrow I'm going to try to write about how we managed to pay off 10K in 8 months on one income...

PARTY DAY

Well my back aches my feet hurt and there are a ton of dishes to wash, YUP it was party day. I think it went rather well. We got to hold and feel (and take home) so many different MAM products thanks to Child's Play Party (check them out on facebook) I learned so much I need to have another kid! MAM makes bottles that can self sanitize in the microwave in three minutes (that was pretty cool) glow in the dark pacifiers, cool things for baby's teeth including fun toothbrushes for babies and toddlers and teethers. This was one of the best freebies I have gotten in a long time. I enjoyed so much learning about so many new products, but also as the breastfeeding peer counselor in town and just being a mom of young kids I know so many people who are pregnant or just had babies. It was so nice to be able to give them something. Everyone seems to be having money issues now and I always want to talk about freebies that I get, well it sure was fun tonight to be able to give away so many goodies to friends!!

Huge Party!!

I am so excited to get to host a HUGE party this weekend. Being a family on a budget I cringe every time someone invites me to a cooking party, tupperware party, jewelry party etc. I so want to go and hang out with my friends but it's saying NO always to things like this that we will get our house paid off in 7 years. So I'm always bummed when I hear about them and then end up feeling bad, that is the main reason I LOVE hosting parties. I get to host a party through Child's Play Party (check out their facebook page and sign up) for about 10 ok we will probably have 15 moms there. We get to have a blast learning more about baby's teething, eating and sucking this weekend. These are all MAM products (check out their facebook page) and did you know how many different things they make?? I didn't! I get to give out bottles, pacifiers, toothbrushes, teethers And for everyone that comes it is totally FREE. How fun is that? I get to hand out $30 plus in free goodies. And all they have to do is show up!

Today I'm making the punch (since it's kind of supposed to be set up like a baby shower) and I will be making sugar cookies tomorrow. I have so much fun doing this and I'd like to thank Child's Play for letting me host my first party with them. If they are all this good I would love to do MANY more and maybe even get to come to some that my friends host so sign up today!!! (if you want to see a picture of what I got scroll down a couple of posts, that is not even all of it!

A freebie for my readers

Today I got I got a sample of Taylor Swift's new perfume...

I also signed up for a book club that I got two free books and a $1.00 check ... odd probably shouldn't have done that now I'll get mail all the time from them and hopefully I don't open them or they will cost a lot

I also got a NIIIICE check for $100 from one of my survey sites, I can't tell how long I've been saving for this because they only let me back up a year and I haven't done anything in the last year. I like this site because it combined two of my favorite sites into one when I was trying to lower the amounts of surveys I did. If anyone is interested in becoming a member of this one just let me know. My laptop is broken but I know I have tested several products for them as well in the last year

Ok now here is where you can get your freebieI got a free five hour energy shot today in the mail and they would like to share one with you. Just go to www.buy5hour.com. that's all it says it takes and you will get your own in the mail. :) Enjoy

Another fun mail day

Well today was another great day for my mailbox.

Justus was super excited to get a birthday card from Geoffery and Toys-R-US it comes with a $3 off any $3 purchase. Head to their website to sign your kids up. I think the max number of kids they let you have signed up is three though. We always let the kids pick out something for around $10 for this gift they love it because it is the ONLY time I will ever take them near a Toys-R-US.

I got a swiffer 360 duster from Vocalpoint.com this is a website everyone needs to sign up for they send freebies several times a year. I can't say what all I have gotten from then because I haven't kept track in the past. I guess I'll add that too the plan for 2012 also got some $2.00 off any swiffer dust and shine product if anyone would like me to send them one just let me know I have 3.

I got two checks today from a couple of survey sites I am a member of. The first was for $10 from Synovate check out their site they are only open to new members at certain times and they are open now. last year I hit the jackpot with them. I tested like 10 products for them- this year though this is only my second check so I've made 20 bucks from them. They send about 1-2 surveys a week so they will not bombard you with surveys that is one reason you don't make money very fast but to me that's ok.

I got another check for another company Mindfieldonline.com it was for $21 it says I have been with them since 2005 and made 106 dollars. That breaks down to 17 dollars a year... lol not very much. However the "problem" with them is I rarely get asked to take a survey and if I do they fill up fast I am often behind on my emails and they are closed already. I don't see not getting many offers as a bad thing because they don't fill up my inbox if that makes sense. Some companies send you 10 + emails a day and you don't qualify for any but you just wasted that much time. That's why companies like these stay on my keep list instead of being deleted.

I also got 2 more checks for Enfagrow formula these will go straight onto ebay- I made 3.50 on these last time and 5.25 the time before that. DO NOT throw your formula "checks" away sell them on ebay. Make your shipping cover the stamp and start your bids at .01 you WILL make some money.

I also got some sears photo coupons but those will go in the trash that place was such a rip off when we went last time. Hope this helps you guys make a little bit of money :)

Yesterday's freebies

OH.MY.GOODNESS yesterday I hit the mother load of all freebies. I got lucky by being online at the right time to get picked to host a party I had already been turned down for. It had to be shipped to my mom's post office for some weird reason and the box was so big she couldn't fit it in her car! She had to open the box and dump it all in her trunk. I am the lucky host of a MAM Rock-A-Bye baby party. I am so super excited to host this party since I am at the age in my life where bottles and teethers and toothbrushes are very important to me. (I may need to have another child soon to use the bottles!) I am the breastfeeding peer counselor so I know a TON of moms that have babies and a lot that have babies on the way so I am happy to be able to get together with a bunch of friends and give them stuff. Thank you MAM for letting us test your products. My friends are so excited! As soon as we opened my hostess package Karis wanted the teether open and it hasn't been out of her reach at home in the last 12 hours! If anyone is interested in coming to this party and they haven't been invited just let me know! I won this party from childsplayparty.com this is the first party I have had for them, it looks like they are fairly new. If you are interested in hosting parties one of the best sites to check out it houseparty.com. I have hosted several parties for them in the past four years. It's always fun to have an excuse to have people over.

PINECONE

Ok Saturday in the mail I got two free magazines. Fitness and Parenting the Younger Years. Today I got my little sample of toothpaste and scope from Walmart- I do believe this is the sample I blogged about in the past! I thought I got something else but I have already forgotten.

Today however I'd like to focus on well my favorite survey site. It is called Pinecone research and they are by far my favorite. Why? Because you qualify for every survey you take. About once a week you will get a household survey to fill out, these usually seem pretty random and all over the place but I have decided it is because they have a handful of surveys for the week and they want to know if you fit good with any of them. If you don't you don't get a survey if you do. You take the survey and get THREE DOLLARS for every survey. That may not sound like a lot of money but in survey land it really is. These surveys can be rather lengthy 15-25 mins but you won't get kicked out midway for not qualifying and sometimes they go faster. They are always about new products and if you fit what they are looking for you may get to test the product and then fill a survey out about it and receive another three dollars. So far this year I have made 48 dollars and tested one product. Since moving to Meade I have not tested near as many products as a did in Atwood I did change my PO box address to my street address and then tested the very next time I took a survey so Meade people use your street address to register. They are also pretty exclusive they only allow new people in at certain times this week is one of those times. :) here is the link to register http://www.pineconeresearch.com/signup/ds647.aspx

freebies

Yesterday I got $17 worth of glade product coupons.

Today I got a free product to try for a week with the family - I can't say what it is but I would say it retails for about 5-7 dollars. I am not sure what survey site it is from since I have about 12 I never know who is sending me what until they send the follow up survey.

I also got 10 free postage stamps in the mail. I work for a company that sends me mail and then the day I get it I call it in and they keep track of how long it takes to get here. They only need one person in per zipcode so if any of my readers outside of Meade are interested let me know. I don't really feel it's worth it some days it takes me 5 minutes to enter the stuff and sometimes I don't get anything which is great. The kids enjoy getting Ranger Rick and another kid magazine like that plus national geographic each month.. and it supports the post office and since that is my mom's livelihood I do it to support her. I just don't really see it as being enough of a payment but if you like receiving catalogs anyways you may enjoy it, most of mine goes straight into the recycling bin each day.

I have been pretty bummed this last week as it just seems everyone is struggling financially, I wish I could help more, I mean it's only so far a couple postage stamps or a free sample toothpaste can go. I just wanted to remind people if you don't have health insurance through yours or our spouse's job and your kids are also uninsured, in Kansas PLEASE look into getting on Healthwave. It is actually really great insurance we have had it for our kids since Kjell has only ever gotten a plan for himself through his job and to get the family on was like 800 bucks a month. If you qualify DO it. We actually make "too much" for the limit now but we still get to have it we just have to pay 20 dollars a month. I don't think you can beat that price. There are also other programs available for women and children (ages birth to five or pregnant women) it is called WIC, they give you checks each month for certain foods and that can help out a lot. If you don't have much money in savings you may also qualify for food stamps. Times are hard and you should feel any shame in taking advantage of the products that are there for you. At least that is how I feel about it.

online shopping

Nothing free in the mail today, but I did get a package that I ordered and it reminded me of a website I always check out before I order online. before placing any orders go to retailmenot.com and see if they have any specials for the site that you are ordering sometimes they won't but sometimes you get lucky and they do. Also- before you buy ANYTHING on line create an ebates account and they give you a percentage back (in form of a check sent every 3 months) it's not a lot if you don't shop on line that much my last check was for almost $7 the hard thing is to remember to USE the site... I just realized with my last order... I didn't!

Also thanks to being in the right place at the right time and increasing the writing on this blog I got picked to host another party! I am so excited it is a MAM party and I have the details but I have to get ready to go to work so I won't be able to post about it today. I will be needing ten moms to come and I think I already have seen interest from 6 or 7 I will probably invite 12 because I'm sure someone will end up not being able to come or have a sick kid or something. :)

my feelings about credit cards

Well today was kind of a bummer of a mail day. I got a free Martha Stewart Living magazine and the rest was mostly junk- but that's ok we also learned that Kjell is going to win the Publisher's ClearingHouse 100 million dollar prize just like everyone else in town. So we will be counting on that money coming in soon. ;) The biggest bummer was today was the day that I got TWO credit card bills. We only have two credit cards that we use so to get them both on the same day... not so fun.

So as a money saver- I just thought I'd throw out there how I view credit cards. Use them if you can and only if you know how. I know a lot of people who can not use them who if they see a 299 dollar chair that is screaming their name if they were a CC user they would buy it, but if they had cash they wouldn't even think twice. Those kind of people don't need credit cards and that is fine they are not for everyone. I like credit cards because they pay me. I only use a card that has no annual fees, and ones that "pay me back" in cash. Right now we have a discover card and a chase freedom card. I like it when they do the 5% back- which both of these companies do (on certain items changes every few months. ) The discover card only makes you .25% up to a certain amount if it's not their 5% back promotion so that is the only time we use it. Chase is 1% back on everything and 5% back on certain items. Here is the most important part of Credit card usage. YOU HAVE TO PAY THE WHOLE PAYMENT DUE EACH MONTH. I can not say that any louder. :) Take for example my newest bill if I pay in full this month I'm done paying if I pay the minimum I will have it payed off in.... 17 years. Never pay the minimum!!! That is probably enough about CC if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

what to do what to do

Ok so when we bought our house Kjell and I got into more debt than ever before. Some people would say "aw it's a house payment debt is good" but sorry to me I hate any kind of debt so the goal in our family is to pay off a 30 year loan in 7. (we better since our adjustable rates kick in in seven years and can raise our rate by 2% a year. I love our loan company ING because when I called in they said here is the amount to pay off the house in 30 years. (of course they are going to give that to me) and then they said- and here is the amount to get it paid off in seven.. I was surprised they gave it to me without me asking. They said well we are in the business of giving loans not owning homes so we want to help you as much as we can. OK long story short we started out with a 60K loan and wanted to do something special every time we got 10K paid off. Because we truly sacrifice in other ways- hardly ever eating out, limited shopping, garage sale for clothes etc. So Next month we will hit our first 10K off and I was wanting help finding a way to celebrate for our family. I had thought eating out at a nicer restaurant with the family but I just didn't feel that was "special" enough. So I wanted some ideas. Kjell thought maybe we should start with an eating out meal and then progress a bit more each time we hit another 10K however I have no ideas of what to do. I know some people can't post to the blog so feel free to post on facebook! Thanks! Oh yeah we know what we are doing when we get it all paid off. going on a big family vacation because... well we never have unless it was with our parents minus a trip we got to take when we went to CA for a wedding a few years back but we had major help paying for our airline tickets.

am I an extreme couponer

I was asked am I an extreme couponer and my answer would have to be no I am not. The main reason for this is that I live in such a small town that does not even double coupons (yet! I'm still working on my courage to go talk to the manager to get a double day going) and we have basically three very limited places to buy groceries at. Now would I be an extreme couponer if say I lived in Independence MO like we did when we first got married. I would look over three sales papers and figure out which places have the best deals (with coupons and sales) and then pick up the rest of what we needed at Aldi. I do not have that luxury any longer and am only able to make it to Dodge or Liberal about once every two months and so I can only REALLY coupon shop then. Now do I stock up on items when there is a good sale BY GOLLY YES!!! My biggest things I stock up on are cereal (anything at or under $1.50 a box is a great price) I also stock up when diapers are on sale. (if you are a coupon shopper, and I think I have said this before you want to Almost always buy the smallest package to get the most out of your coupon. ) When I can get diapers on sale at 8.99 is when I usually buy them. But do I go crazy, no and since that stupid TV show came out I can't ever get a tube of toothpaste anymore.

I think you should buy what you need and know what you can use. When they have toothpaste at dillons I want to go in with my TWO 50 cent coupons and get my 88 cent toothpaste for FREE because dillons doubles but anymore I go in and all the toothpaste is GONE because somewhere someone needs 30 tubes of toothpaste and that gives them a rush. Now I know some people donate these to homeless shelters and that is a GREAT idea but seeing that show on tv where it looks like people have their own little stores that bothers me. Maybe it shouldn't but I see it more as hoarding than actually saving. If I have that many items I am sure I can find someone who could use them more than me having 30 enter item here sitting on a shelf.

How does it affect the economy- well companies like it because you are buying their product with your coupon. Stores don't mind doubling because they hope you will buy other items if they can pull you in.

Some of you who want to start couponing may ask how do I get coupons- best answer if you know someone who gets the Sunday paper just ask if they use their coupons- we have never bought a Sunday paper but we have family or friends who are willing to save them for us every week. Get one or two of these people and you are pretty well set. Another GREAT place to go is to the recycling center and look through sunday papers. Somedays you will find some someday maybe not but it's worth a shot.

survey site

Well in my mailbox today I only got free return address labels. I was excited to get some cute ones from St. Jude's hospital.

One of the survey sites I use a lot has openings right now. It is usually closed but they are looking for new members. I have been with them a long time (long enough I don't remember my user name so I can't see my history for how much money I've made ) Well since i can't log in the only thing I can tell you is this year I know I have made $10 not a whole lot of money but they also aren't pushy only getting maybe 1 or 2 surveys a week, I know in the past i have gotten to try a lot of products for them. boy this one just sounds fun doesn't it.... sorry for some reason I can't find my log in stuff... grrr. anyway it really is good lol here it is.

https://www.globalopinionpanels.com/landing5?lang=en_US&sourceid=1135&cid=3661

Also another blogger I follow that I won a prize from this week so I figured it was time to give a shout out is: www.mommieswithcents.com I try to enter all her giveaways and have won.... 4 I think in the last year. This time i won a velco bulletin board. I've won a book, a whole bunch of kids lip gloss and makeup kits, a book, and some toiletries. I've never won the products I really wanted to win but it's still fun to win.

Fun mailbox monday- first giveaway!!!

My mail was full of good stuff today! I was excited to get some freebies. I got a 6oz bag of Purina Beneful dog food from Walmart- we don't have a dog but the kids love taking dog food to Topeka and feeding Grandpa and Grandma's dogs when we go!

I got my Santa card for Kiah today in the mail. I posted this freebie on my facebook wall, not sure if it is still available. I LOVE tinyprints and once again they didn't let me down. Still trying to figure out when Kiah should get this I was thinking maybe the Sunday after Thanksgiving.. (if I don't lose it before then!)

Also got a Woman's Day magazine in the mail somehow I have a free subscription until April 2013! Nice

I got a coupon for a free can of cat food which I need since a cat has adopted us to be it's feeding family. I used to have like five bags of samples for cats but he's ate all of those so I may actually have to break down and buy my own bag.

I also got 2 $5.00 coupons for Enfagrow toddler formula. I will try selling these on ebay never have tried selling the toddler kind I'll get back to you on how well I do. I always start them at a penny and then have shipping at 44 cents to cover my stamp only once has something gone for the penny.

OK NOW for the giveaway. I'm gonna go with five winners and each person can have UP TO 3 coupons. Often companies send me a great value coupon and then several a bit lower value coupons to pass out and I've been slacking so here is the giveaway. Open for 24 hours, I will just take the responses as I get them- if I get any... we shall see. Here are your choices

I have FIVE 50 cents off one package of Glad OdorShield with Febreze Freshness trash bags, vocalpoint sent me a sample bag I never thought I'd say a trash bag smell great! but they do

just remember if you use these at Dillons they double so it would really be like a dollar off. got them from vocal point in a cute little trash can container

I have TWO 55 cents off One 64 oz bottle or One 8 pack of 6.75 oz juice boxes of any flavor Mott's for Tots. Also vocal point the kids got a juice box in the mail. They thought that was pretty good, they have 40% less sugar and I could tell but the kids both loved it! May have been cuz it was free and in the mail?? also from vocal point

Ok I have THREE $1.00 off any Fresh Express Bagged Salad also from vocal point. I got this with a free bag clipper and a free coupon for me.

Lastly since I don't have a dog my dog food came with three coupons they are all different so let me know if you want 1, 2 or # 3

#1 Buy one bag purina beneful dog food any size get one 10 oz bag free

#2 Save $2.00 on any one bag of Purina Beneful Dog food (just a tip when you have coupons buy the smallest size you will get more bang for your coupon!!)

#3 Save $1.50 on any package of Purina Beneful Snackin Slices dog snacks. any size

there ya have it. I will contact winners and then ask for you mailing address.

Hope and the ultimate freebie

This update is a bit different than the ones I have written in the last week, but one I feel I need to write. Yesterday an old friend of mine decided to take his own life and it has hit me very hard because of some of the conversations I was able to have with him at least ten years ago. He was looking for hope all those years back and I just feel he was still looking for hope until yesterday when he decided he didn't have anymore. It makes my heart hurt, I hurt for his family, I hurt for his kids, and I hurt for him in those final moments. I just can't imagine having no hope or feeling so very very alone. Unable to sleep last night I thought a lot about my hope and where it comes from so this morning I felt I had to read one of my favorite passages in the Bible Psalms 139:1-18

"O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up, you know my every thought when far away.

You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am.

You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.

You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know!

I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night-

but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous- and how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable!

I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand, And when I wake up in the morning you are still with me."

And this is when I understood why I am able to have hope- why I don't feel alone. I've been given the ultimate freebie ever a relationship with Jesus Christ. This wasn't something I deserved, it doesn't make me better than anyone, it shows that I am a SINNER (All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23) But the same God who loved me in these verses in Psalms is the same God that sent His son to earth to die on a cross for all the ugly things I have done. (For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in Him will not parish but have everlasting life. John 3 16) All I had to do was "sign up" so to speak in my freebies terminology - admit my sin and admit my need for a savior without Christ I am nothing. (For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift from God not of works so that no one can boast Eph 2:8-9) . The Christian life isn't easy it's hard, and it doesn't make you rich, or healthy. But when you are poor you can see God's hand and when you are sick you can see God's hand and when you are alone.....and when you feel alone...... You know that God is watching over you, God is walking with you, He's been there with you since you were in your momma's tummy how amazing is that. And He CARES about us, no matter how messed up we are. But He's not a God who is going to push and shove His way in, nope He is polite and stands and the door of your heart and knocks. He gives me hope in the hard time, and He gives me hope of a future. And no matter how many good freebies come in the mail nothing can beat that. I just wish that my friend would have seen this, I pray that God's peace will be on his family and his kids as they deal with this loss.

score samples if you are pregnant or have a new baby

Well today my sample was free shampoo (told you I'll never have to buy it again!) It was Garnier Fructis Anti-Dandruff shampoo, the little pack has about 2-3 usages in it. Anyways as I was walking to get my mail a friend stopped me because she had gotten a can of formula in the mail today and that is what got me thinking about my topic for today. Freebies for new moms
Here is a website to check out https://www.babiesonline.com/offers/ skim through them but the highlights at least to me are the two free magazine subscriptions. I LOOOOVE these two magazines they are short and informative exactly what a mom needs. I am now trying to clip out any breast-feeding articles any of them have but since Karis is one I no longer get them! But they usually had some very good articles plus some coupons sometimes. The other two that I would sign up for are the Pampers and Huggies sites. They want you to buy their product so they will send some high value coupons. The gerber one is good too. They send you formula "checks" (coupons) which I have sold on ebay before and probably made about 40bucks doing that this last year. And if you think you are going to formula feed you can check the enfamil one- or check it anyways you get a cute bag. I always saved all the formula I got and put it in a spot in case I died. I know that sounds silly but I wanted to make sure if I passed away and my breast-feeding infant was left with just their daddy he would be able to find at least a months worth of formula in the house.

Products I never have to buy

I never have to buy toothpaste, deodorant or shampoo (and conditioner) These are some of the most widely out their freebies I get them ALL the time. Today I got a "sample" of Degree deodorant-these samples last 2 to 3 months. And that is about how often the deals come up. They also sent a $1.00 coupon just in case I would NEED to purchase. These are also good if you don't use them yourself to throw into Operation Christmas child boxes, and donate to homeless shelters. Here is a CREST sample for you all. It comes to you from a site http://www.frugalfritzie.com , the main reason I follow her site is she lets you know the weekly Dillon's best deals and the prices match those in Kansas!

here is the link

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent.aspx?id=99800

walmart has great free samples this is actually where I started getting any free samples Mom is the Post Master in Fowler and a lady kept getting stuff from Walmart and she asked how. So the rest is history.

Just an FYI for new freebie seekers. They DO run out. Don't complain there will be more hopefully you will get them. I see so many distasteful comments on facebook (the company's sites) when people don't get them and it's like sheesh they don't have to give you anything!

today's freebie

In my happy mailbox today was a HUGE W magazine I mean it has over 400 pages. To me though W spells waste of time. I have learned since starting to do freebies just because it is free doesn't mean you have to have it. (especially when it comes to magazines because I am always getting them free. Like today there is a freebie for 8 free issues of Working Mom magazine doesn't interest me because I am able to stay home so I will pass it up, also this week I passed up on Field and Stream and some other outdoors living thing. NOT my thing. Anyways if any working moms or just moms want this magazine here is the link

https://www.valuemags.com/freeoffer/freeoffer.asp?offer=WorkingMother-RDC

how to get freebies fast

" The recession won't be over till we raise a generation that knows how to live on what they got"

I got this quote off of one of the blogs I follow money saving mom. Think it's perfect except we spent more than we got with buying our house. Some people call that "good debt" but all debt gets me pretty down in the dumps.

Anyways freebie today was 2 free size four diapers from Costco... oh I was going to tell you guys if you start signing up for freebies make sure you have an auto fill saved on your computer. That way usually you just start typing your name and it comes up you hit the tab button and MOST or all of the form is filled out. I can fill most out in less than 5-10 seconds.

oops there was good stuff

this happens often I get things in the mail and don't consider them good stuff! lol today Kjell got his SKI magazine that we get free for the rest of this year. Not sure what company provided us that. And I got $10 off any $25 purchase at JCPenny. I just got their Credit Card when we moved into our house and this is the third $10 they sent. I have only used it to buy curtains. I just treat it as a payment so I make sure to PAY OFF IN FULL at the end of each month. :)

Another money saving tip

Ok I just titled this something that is impossible because it is my first money saving tip but we will just look past that and move on. My readership is up my a whopping 0% so that's good. :) Oh well maybe readership will pick up or maybe I'm destined to talk to myself only out on the world wide web.

Anyone who knows me knows I try to make my dollar stretch. I love numbers always have and my goal each month is to make sure we spend less than we earn (what a concept huh government??) NEWAYS! When we lived in Spring Hill Kjell got a speeding ticket so he got a job at Sonic to pay it off. He started coming home with lots of cash from tips and thus was born the envelop system (not to confused with the other envelop system that also requires... envelops.) These envelops all have a category Car insurance, car tags, Christmas, one for each kid for college, house insurance, house taxes, home repairs, new car fund (wish this one grew faster) oh and FUN which the purpose of this money changes every time we hit 100 bucks. With all my survey money they go in the envelops in 10 dollar pay outs, when we have more money at the end of the month after all the bills are paid, our tithe has been taken out also the monthly amount that is taken out for house taxes, car and house ins (more on that another day) if there is money left over we divide that by three 1/3 goes to paying off the house 1/3 goes towards a new car and 1/3 goes towards the envelops. They used to get money put into them faster but this is just an example, you could have any different category you want just make sure you have a bit of record keeping on this because obviously you don't want to keep all that money in the house and end up taking it to the bank at times I just put it into savings and then just have track of how much is in each "envelop" on the envelop. This is perfect for when say our car tags are due and we owe 260 bucks but with the envelop system I've saved 220 for it this year which means the only added expense this month is 40 dollars.

If you have any questions just let me know. It made sense to me but I've done it for 7 years.

wwooo hoooo!

My mail wasn't all up when we left town today but did have a nice coupon from Victoria's secret. Not sure how I got on their mailing list. It is for a free pair of panties! I got one last month too. These are the best if you don't want to shop you just go in get them and hand the coupon to the cashier and you are done. Can't beat free!

trying something new

Ok well I'm not going to promise anything but I would like to help some of my friends figure out ways to earn some extra cash and maybe even have some fun freebies show up in the mail. Instead of me researching what is out there and telling you when they are available I'm going to try to let you know about all the goodies I get in my mailbox each day and tell you where you may be able to get some fun stuff too.

Yesterday's mail included two $25.00 Spa Finder gift certificates I received these as a prize from a survey company my history with this company is-this company deals in points I have had a lifelong point total of almost 35,000 points with those points I have bought 2 phones with an answering machine attached, and an advanced weather system clock. Right now I have about 10,000 of those 35,000 points left to spend on something their prize catalog is HUGE everyone should be able to find something. I have been with this company since 2005. So obviously the money is not made quickly. I would say I get about 2 or 3 survey opportunities each week, if you don't win they give you a token for the game they have and you always win, usually 25 points. If you want more information on this company let me know and I will get you referred for opportunity number 1. I have deleted a lot of the survey companies I have had in the past because I didn't think I made money fast enough the only reason here is that they don't give you millions of opportunities (2 to 3 surveys a week is not much) but that means they aren't pesky and filling your in box all the time.

Today I got a check for $20 from another company. I can't tell how long I have been with them it looks like since 2008 since that time I have made $132.00 this company sends a lot more surveys but it's all cash which I think are the best kind. My last check came Aug 1st so sometimes you can make money pretty fast if you qualify. If you do not qualify for a survey you can try to "win" points I've won once since 2008 or they will donate to the Red Cross I think it's 5 or 10 cents. Ask about this one it is opportunity number 2 if I refer you (or you later refer others) you get $1. Kind of nice

Also in my mail today was a bag clip and a coupon for a free bag of Fresh Express Bagged Salad plus 3 $1.00 coupons for my friends (friends I need to remember to pass these out when I have them!!!) This is from a very fun company called Vocal Point. (go to vocalpoint.com) It is more of a "mom site" but they always have new products that companies want to get out there and talked about. They are always free but you have to make sure you are quick to sign up when they have giveaways because they are very popular. Probably in the last 30 days I've gotten a glad trash bag and a Mott's juice box for the kids. I don't always get this many but it's fun to have the cool packages come in the mail. The trash bag came in a cardboard trash can!

My last fun freebie today was from Target 2 size 4 huggies diapers plus $1.50 off coupon. I find out about these freebies on sites such as www.freebies4mom.com. I have my google reader programed for these sites and I try to get on once or twice a day to pick up on some freebies.

Now I do dedicate about an hour a day to this. Somedays I don't do anything but other days I do. I love football season because I can go all week without doing my emails and do them all while watching football. If you want to start dappling though this is a good start!

Any feedback would be great!

So much running through my head

So when I got married and someone would ask me "how many children do you want?" the answer was always 3. Three is plenty, I would have even told you that after we had number 2. I wanted three children. Then we were surprised to find ourselves pregnant with number 3 oh about nine months before we planned to start trying. And then the number four popped into my mind. I think four is the perfect number of children for our family. Lately though I have been reading a lot on a "Biblical approach to family" and my mind is going crazy. I got this information from some very conservative Christian groups, not saying that that is bad or good I'm just telling you were the information comes from. These people believe in moms place is at home with her kids, homeschooling, and wives submitting to their husbands. And no birth control, your number of children is totally up to how God sees fit. Wow totally opposite the world right now! Here's where I stand on those- I LOVE being at home with my kids, I know some moms work and that is the fit for them so I don't want anyone to feel I'm judging their way of life on this, this is all just me trying to figure out where I see myself in my life with my family :) Everything is crazy combobulated in my mind so I doubt there is any room in my head to judge! I could never homeschool my kids- I don't have the patience, I am working on my patience but I don't have enough of it yet or do I see that happening in the near future and I think we live in a great small community with great teachers and I don't feel right now that I have a need for this. 3) I know submitting to my husband is the correct way to do things it is just way hard... so yeah working o that one too. That leaves us with #4 - Kjell and I were talking this over today if we started giving everything over to God as far as our next child..... we could possibly have TEN more kids. Here I am thinking I'm almost done and I could have 13 children. I just about passed out just thinking about it. I don't know what kind of jobs most of these women's husbands have but I can NOT get maternity insurance for less than 650 a month and am not on Kjell's plan since he is a teacher. I would never want money to stand in the way of having more children but it is just a thought I have had. My #2 concern is most drs try to limit your c-sections guessing my dr wouldn't appreciate me trying to have 10 more c-sections since no one within a 3 hour radius would be willing to preform a VBAC. #3 I don't want to drive an industrial sized van, could we ever go anywhere??

All of these minus the true health concern seem pretty petty but the main concern I have and where I wish God would just "write it on the wall" is I want to be a foster parent. I haven't convinced Kjell this is the way to go and I'm in no hurry. The advice I once got in one of my college classes ( I was a criminal justice major ) was to make sure as a foster parent your own kids are older than the foster ones so that your kids can help them do better things rather than the foster kids teaching your kids to do bad things. I want babies, I want toddlers I want young kids, so my question is where does God want me? I was seriously considering after my next pregnancy (which we have set for next summer lol we will see how God sees fit on that one) of having my tubes tied. I just don't know anymore. The "next duggers??" So just rambling and trying to sort things out.

Ask and you Shall recieve

Well I've been trying to get my office/scrapbooking room organized. It has kind of been the go to room for things that we don't know where they fit or belong in this house to end up in and yesterday I found all the stuff from my first job after college. Right out of college I worked with inner city young life in Kansas City, I was in intern so I had to write a ton of papers on what I did and who I interacted with. Then I found a letter that I have kept for the last almost ten years now. It was a letter written from a kid who I had worked with in California when I worked at a camp called MayMac the summer before my senior year of college. This kid was rough, YOUNG but rough, most would see him as a thug, gang banger, but he grabbed my heart from day one. Long story short we talked for several months and I encouraged him to find the right friends, and to ask himself (this was the time frame where the WWJD bracelets were really popular) What would Reesey Do? (that was what they called me, and honestly the kids wouldn't have known what Jesus would do because they didn't know Him) One day his e-mail no longer worked and I lost contact with him two years later I got an e-mail from him out of the blue telling me how he had changed his life, he had joined the football team, he had a B average and he said thanks for believing in him, besides my love letters from Kjell this was the best letter I have ever received in my life

The letter made me cry because lately I have felt really useless. I LOVE being able to stay at home home with the kids, but some days I feel like a big failure when Justus and Kiah fight for the 100th time in the day and I just LOSE it. I just don't always feel like I'm making an impact, at least not as large as the one I used to make when I was working with Young Life. So this morning during my devotions I asked God to use me today. We decided to go see my grandma this morning and I don't usually take my cell phone with me because I want to just spend time with her, and an hour later when I get to the car I have a message from one of the ladies I work with, they had been trying to get ahold of me, they had called every phone I had, come by the house and didn't know where I was ( I felt really loved ) for those of you who don't know I am the breast-feeding peer counselor for Meade, Gray, and Clark County. They had a new mom who needed someone to come out and help her she was at her wits end and in a lot of pain. My coworkers wanted to know if I could go. I said I'd see I rounded up a babysitter, it went something like this "can you babysit today" "yes when" "does now work?" and I hit the road and was flying out to see this new mom and that is when it hit me. I'd asked to used by God today and He was going to use me. I knew this probably wasn't exactly the way I had though of when I asked him to use me, because I had been thinking more in a "spiritual" sense but I knew God could use me in every situation He gave me. I knew my goal was to be an encouragement. When I got to this new mom's house I got to just get to know her and how she was doing and then I got to help her for the first time in SIX days experience breast feeding with no pain. When she was done she just sighed and I could just see relief wash through her. Then I got to hold the tiniest (ok all my kids where over 8 lbs so a 6 pound baby to me is something TINY) baby for awhile and just let this mom know she was doing a GREAT job. See this baby had the same problem that I had had when Kiah was born, something easy to fix but hard for a first time mom to get figured out on their own. I love being able to make an impact in someone's life. See a nurse 5 years ago gave me the gift by helping me out, and now I was able to help someone else out. Thank you God for letting me be used today, it was SOOOOO fun

What Do you DOOO all day

Ok if anyone reading this is a stay at home mom, I'm sure they have heard this line before. Frankly stay at home mom's seem to get a pretty bad rap, like we are lazy or just couldn't work outside of the home or something. But really some of us actually signed up for this job and LOVE it. But let me tell you what a "mommy sick day" is like. See there is no such thing as a mommy sick day, I wish! I woke up at 5 with a terrible sore throat and my body felt like it had been hit by a truck (I do say this last part was self induced as I started a new program in my workout schedule yesterday but that is besides the point) I took some Tylenol and prayed this was one of those days the kids would sleep in. But by 7 20 (and I know some of my momma friends will see this as sleeping in but when I'm wanting a sick day... it's not. I heard a crying baby and I walk into her room and she's once again standing up and she looks at me crying and says momma. Ok so it's early but she just called me momma for the very first time so I am TOtally not mad. So I take her into my bed and by 7:40 here comes Justus. The problem with letting Justus into the bed is he has not figured out that self control is important when one is crawling over someone in the bed, after a few knees to my head throat and chest area he is finally in the bed. Then by 8:01 (she knows she has to stay in bed until 8) In comes big sister and thus starts the fighting over anything and everything for the day.

I still don't feel good but I know the kiddos must have breakfast, but this morning Kiah has decided she wants a tea party. So I tell her she can take care of the details (like using the fridge water and ice machine to make the "tea and sugar" no problems there until I hear her shouting "Justus spilled his tea!!!" Now these cups are tiny when I walk into the kitchen I'm not sure how he spilled at least three cups worth out onto the floor and all over the table and yesterday's mail that never got put away.. but he does. Luckily the rest of breakfast goes off without a hitch.

Next step is getting the kids dressed which used to be easy until Karis refuses to lay still during a diaper change. I thought it was boys who liked to wiggle but I have gotten pretty good at keeping a diaper in tact when I have half of a baby facing me and a little booty staring up at me instead of the nice calm collected child I thought I was going to have! I can no longer use the changing table to change her clothes but rather have to sit on a chair holding her and trying not to let her wiggle out of my arms.

The next hour there was peace, ok I admit it, Tinkerbell and her little fairy friends helped the older two and a nap helped the youngest but I had a letter I had to get out to someone and had to find my wallet before our 11 o'clock drs appointment.

We actually made it to the dr in Fowler with 15 minutes to spare. I guess we are always so late anymore I wanted to make sure to get there on time. So we stopped into the post office to see my mom for a couple minutes and then went over to the clinic where Karis tipped the scales at 18 lbs 11 oz for her 9 month old checkup. Did I mention this was her first baby check up since her 6 week one, yeah but number three it's just harder to get to the doctor. (she is up to date on her shots though we can do those at the health department) I think over the sound of Kiah and Justus screaming like banshees and whacking as hard on the keyboard they brought into the room and throwing each other on the floor and all that stuff. I found out that Karis probably has allergies, the words tubes in her ears, zertec, cat-scan, Vaseline, antibiotic all came up but yeah I don't remember much of what happened because frankly I couldn't hear over the roar.

Then I got a couple minutes break by taking the big kids do the park so I could nurse Karis in the van. We then proceeded to Neon 57 which I love but today I was not a huge fan. When you walk in at 11 45 and are not able to get out of there until 1 o'clock it's just not that much fun. Not too much happened in there just a few melt downs by Kiah because she wanted an ice-cream cone and.. ooops I said NO.... Rushed back to Meade dropped Kiah off at school and was excited for a little bit of a relaxing afternoon until I started smelling something. Knowing that one of the kids had a dirty diaper. Well the good news was it wasn't Justus. The bad news was when I got to Karis I picked her up and her jeans squesed I know this isn't a word but that is what they did. I knew I was in trouble. I knew I was about to see what three days without a bowel movement looked like and frankly I was wanting my sick day just about then right then.... please.... Got her to her room without incident but then realized the poop had spread up her onsie. Thank the GOOD Lord that I had put her in a button down the front onsie and this mess wasn't going to have to go over her head. However it didn't matter by the time I had gotten the jeans off of the little one there was poop all over her room. I got her and her poopy diaper into the bath got the diaper off then ran some water. It took ten minutes just to get the water clean so I could run it there was poop everywhere. And now I had it all over my shirt.

Justus starts getting naked and the two take a bath together, I go and grab the changing pad off out of Karis's room so I can clean that while watching the kids. Had to scrub it three times with two different cleaning supplies before most of it came out. Finally get the kids out of the tub (unwillingly ) dressed (unwillingly) and laying down for a nap (unwillingly) put a load of laundry in and then decide instead of taking a nap and letting all these things run through my mind I should post on my blog because frankly I haven't and also no way no matter how sore my throat is our how much my body aches I can't nap because I don't want to miss Kiah when the bus comes.

So if you ever ask me (which doesn't happen anymore with three) or you ever think of asking any stay at home mom "What do you Do all day?" and they just smile at you, and move on. Don't get offended they probably would have much rather slapped ya in the face and said, "how was your last sick day?"

Not making this my new year's resolution

So last year I decided to keep track of all my survey rewards and all my fun freebies. I think I did almost 100% on documenting my rewards for my surveys but with the move to Meade I totally fell off the bandwagon as far as recording my freebies. I think it's because I leave my laptop upstairs and forgot to log in. So I hope to do that this year but I thought maybe I would put my freebies in on this blog. We will see if that happens.

I have also done great with getting rid of e-mails from some companies that I had gotten on a mailing list of or even some of my surveys. I discovered I had WAY. Too. Many. For the last week I have been able to go to bed and have no new emails which is a first in a very long time so I think I am on track with that. Now I just have to refigure into what to do with that time. And there was a LOT of time on the computer. I am hoping to read more books this year. Attempt a new workout program. Which I did ten minutes of today and the only good that came out of it was a HUGE appetite. So that part wasn't helpful. In all actuality I'm not sure how much more free time I will receive as we just purchased a house. Kind of made for a crazy Christmas break trying to plan all of that, thinking we had lost the house and then getting told we had it and needed to hurry and secure a loan and want to close on Feb 14th. Kjell really liked the house, I really liked not having any debt but we had both said if the right house came along and it was priced where we thought it should be we would go forth. (I should have known Kjell could find something so quickly so I could have saved a bit more for a down payment but that is in the past now!) After he refell down the stairs yesterday we are all ready to get out of this house! lol not really but the stair are scary.

So today I've been working on getting all of our paper work in. We found a 30 year loan that is locked in on an interest rate for the first seven years and then it can change so it's a fairly low rate, but I plan to have the house paid off in seven years. Yes Kjell and I and the kids are entering into a seven year spending freeze. Not really but close enough. I was very excited with the loan I found until I started reading reviews today and there were a LOT of complaints but mostly about people trying to refinance. Our rate is low and I have no interest in having the loan long enough to refinance so I hope this all works out..I just pray that God gets us through this. Everything else happened so smoothly I'd appreciate this going smoothly as well!

The kids are growing up so fast. Kiah is going to learn to read this semester at school she is totally ready and has been making attempts already at home. We still do our four preschool papers a couple times a week at home we are supposed to do them everyday but life is too busy for that! Justus and Kiah fight like cats and dogs, Kiah is a great tattler too. I saw her the other day throw Justus to the ground and then he hit her in retaliation and he told on her. I have to be very careful and very patient with these two. I am reading a good book on raising children biblically I don't remember what it is called and it is upstairs and if I walk up the stairs I risk waking up Justus. I am also reading a book called Money, Possessions and Eternity. By Alcorn. Another very good book. I should have had this book read through before the house purchase and allowed Kjell to read it but it's too late for that now! :)

Justus is finally starting to talk more. This morning he asked me where daddy was because it's his first day back to school. Justus also tries to get on the bus with Kiah so he can go to school and even kisses me goodbye. Next year will be hard when Kiah is gone all day.

Karis is working on teeth and thinking she is big enough to sit up but her body hasn't allowed her to yet. It will be very soon. She is the smiliest child I have ever seen. She just makes everyone around her happy. She rarely cries and is content to sit in her swing (and actually perfers it to almost everything else ) during the day.

No you didn't get a Christmas card from me, but yes you should have. My pictures got "lost in the mail" The company gave me my money back but of course I got a great deal on them so they are out nothing today I asked them to resend the pictures we will see if it happens.

Oh and for today's freebies. I got a Kids' Pork Cookbook from the national pork board, and a tour wrap for my gold clubs, because I have golf clubs (nope) anyways that was from golf digest. Plus I cashed out one of my surveys and received 20 dollars in my pay pal account.