Belated Easter Bunny

These Easter pics of Michael are on the Nelson's blog. I don't have copies, but I wanted to share.

House of Order--it feels good.

I have felt like I've done more than usual today. But, you almost would not be able to tell. I actually have this comic strip cut out and on my fridge. I'm sure many people can relate.

Today we pulled out new silverware!!! This nice set of silverware was given to us as a wedding gift, and it's been sitting in a box since. NOT because I didn't love it, but because we already had some junky, used silverware, and I insisted on being frugal and using them until they were all used up. Well, they've reached that point. I actually had one piece SNAP in half, just as a plastic fork would. Unbelievable! Anyway, I really like our new silverware. There's a lot of it though. Now we have two different sizes of spoons and forks, and some fancy serving spoons. Time to invite YOU over for dinner.

And of course, you can't pull out the new stuff without thoroughly cleaning their new home. Which led to cleaning out the fridge. Cleaning up papers. Storing big baby toys away in the closet. And officially packing away the bottles and other little baby items.

Next on the to-do list--clean my carpets. If any of my readers happen to have a rug-doctor coupon you don't want, feel free to share.

Toodles.

Dear Blog Readers

We love you.
And, here's a picture of Michael's first artwork. He did this all by himself, wouldn't let us hold the sticky pad or reposition the pencil.


And, Michael broke his jaw. Here he is with a bandage.

Just kidding. It's a head band thing...

Mid Sneeze

Good Deal #1

Alright! I know it sounds crazy, but I've been waiting all week for this shopping trip. Safeway is having a Living Well Promotion where when you buy $30 of qualifying products in a single transaction, you'll receive a coupon for $10 off your next order. As usual, the $30 total is before manufacturer coupons are applied. So, I have put together a decent shopping list, but am in no rush considering our fridge is full and the promotion goes on until the beginning of May. Here is part one of my shopping trip:

Total Paid: $21.31

Savings of 58%

And if any of you know how much that BIG box of Huggies cost, this was a deal! First I applied a $10 off coupon from a previous promotion last month. I had a $1.50 coupon for Huggies, and the Kashi item was FREE with the coupon I requested from their website. The price before coupons of those two items easily topped $30, so another $10 off coupon printed for me to take home, just so I can use it on shopping trip part 2.

COMMENT if you LOVE a good deal!!!!

To be continued...

Until we meet again

If you've been to our apartment before, you will remember our set of matching, orange chairs. Aren't they lovely? While Richard and I were engaged we accumulated a lot of used furniture from and people in the ward, which basically filled up our entire apartment. I am SO grateful for it all, despite the fact that none of it really matched. But I'm no interior designer anyway. 

Our first apartment in Provo had shaggy green carpet (Richard's favorite), with dark brown, wood slated walls, and the kitchen linoleum was also a green pattern. Top that off with the orange chairs, and a few pictures and you've got a pretty radical/retro apartment setting. At first we hated it. The color combination made us want to puke! But, we couldn't afford anything else, and certainly didn't want to sit on the floor so we kept them. 

And then fell in love.

We joked about them so much that they actually became loved by us. They were actually pretty comfortable, the only problem was we could never sit together in them and you know how "newlywed" couples always want to cuddle. So when we were offered a couch by our neighbors here in Seattle, we bounced at the opportunity. 

Here is Michael on the couch. 

But alas, the couch and two chairs made our apartment much too crowded and I didn't like the cluttered feeling so I hesitantly posted our 2 orange chairs on Craigslist under free. How sad of me to assume that no one would want these chairs, even if they were free. They were gone very quickly.

It's hard to adjust. 

I wonder what setting they're in now.

Goodbye my orange chairs.

Out of the Ordinary

I've done two things this week that I have not done in a long time. OR maybe I should say, I haven't done two things this week that I have been doing for a long time. 

1. Not gotten on my Facebook. Actually, I deleted my account so it was less tempting. I was on it too much among other reasons. Although, I've found that I'm replacing the "facebook" time with blog time though, which was not my intention. Michael needs more attention from me, I think. 

2. Haven't worn makeup. This is just because I've been lazy, but I haven't really cared. No makeup saves money in the end, right? Although, I did get a killer deal on mascara this week at Walgreens. 

Speaking of great deals, today I got a rebate check in the mail from Organix, a shampoo/conditioner line.
They still have the rebate forms on some of the products at (Seattle) Target when I went in this last week. So, if you're in there this week, check on it. Free -minus postage isn't bad at all. I almost considered getting another one and having my check mailed to my neighbors, because it's only one per household. But, I guess that isn't really honest. 

Other cool things I've scored, are free magazine subscriptions, a bread pan for $1, Free product coupons from Pepperidge Farms and Del Monte. Yeah, I guess that's about it for now.

Tata

Utah Trip

We went to Utah for Richard's sister's wedding. It was wonderful and beautiful. Then the rest of the week was meeting with old friends, eating out, shopping, playing, BANG, and all that fun stuff.
Here's some of the family

Cousins Adam and Michael. Adam is adorable! It's crazy to what one year can do to kids. They are so big, and play much better with each other than they did then.

I think it's funny how Adam's face doesn't seem to change in either of these pictures. Michael just wanted me to hold him.

I was pretty lazy at taking pictures over our vacation. I don't think I got any pictures of our newest niece, Jamie. But I did get a few pictures/video to embarrass Suzy. 

Great Deals and Easter Jars

For Easter, I wanted to make something cute to hand out to my neighbors. Layla had the idea of Easter Jars. We used ModPodge to glue decorative paper on the top of the lids and give it a nice shine. Then I also glued ribbon around the rings. And last of all, filled the jars with lots of chocolatey goodness. I'm excited to hand them out! 

I definitely had to take advantage of Albertson's cereal deal this week. These cereals are $1.57 a box when you buy 2. Or pay $2.07 when you buy one. I had two coupons for $1/2. And then I bought one more box at the regular price, to total 5 boxes of cereal and I'll tell you why in a second. 

My total came to $8.35. 

Then I applied my two coupons. My new total is $6.35.

A Catalina coupon for $5.00 off my next grocery order was triggered when I bought 5 boxes of Post cereal. That's equivalent to making my order only $1.35. That's .27 CENTS PER BOX!

Anyway, I immediately went and bought a bag of flour for $4.99 with my coupon--and got a penny back. 

It was a good shopping trip.