Archives for March 2008

AI Top 8 Guys

March 4, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

I thought tonight was a really good night. Really enjoyed hearing some of the 80’s. You know, I’m thinking the 60’s and 70’s may have been rough for some of them because they were born, oh, in the NINETIES! Anyway, my favorites from tonight:

David Archuleta – He is just awesome. I would agree with Simon though that he should have stayed at the piano. I think he sounded better there.

David Hernandez – I thought it was pretty strong for being a Celine Dion song.

David Cook – It was awesome what he did with that song. I still stand by my opinion on his hair but the song was awesome.

Michael Johns – I really liked the song and he did well but I felt like he was a bit forgettable unfortunately.

Jason Castro – Probably my favorite performance of his yet. And I agree again with Simon that he says he keeps getting better.

Luke must go this week. I felt he was the weakest. And somewhere in there Chikeze and Danny fell in there. Of course, after seeing Danny’s Christmas video, I can see my dislike of his personality from the get-go is well supported. I REALLY do not want him in the top 12 although I think vocally he deserves it more than Luke.

I’m getting old

March 3, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

Wow, these Walgreens deals have me busy this week. I went back today after work and then again after the girls went to bed. What do I keep getting? The Oil of Olay bar soap, Venus Razor and Herbal Essence shampoo. I now have TWELVE bottles of shampoo and conditioner along with all the other shampoo and conditioner I have built up. I think it’s time to give some away. Wow. The lady at the register actually recognized me tonight and remarked on the fact I had left the girls at home. Yeah, I think I’ve been too much. The thing about Walgreens is there is no limit. So I could do the deals twice a day every day this week if I wanted. The only thing holding me back from NOT doing that is I ran out of coupons for the things on sale so the deals aren’t quite as sweet. So tonight I ended up with $12 RR and needed to spend it on something. I didn’t really want to roll it into any more of the deals because my coupons had run out so Heather and I decided I should get something “fun”. After combing the aisles you know what I did with my $12? I bought Splenda, Comet, coloring books and Magic Erasers. Yeah, I’m getting old.

Kindergarten Registration

March 3, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

Wednesday is the official day. I go and register Emma for kindergarten. I know I’m going to be such a cry baby about this whole thing. I was even thinking the other day that Emma won’t be with Lexi and I at lunchtime anymore. When Scott is off, she won’t be around to go run errands with us. It makes me teary eyed thinking of it!

So here’s my big stress points with this whole thing.

#1 Lunch. I have no idea why this makes me nervous but it does. I just keep picturing her having trouble putting her straw in a Caprisun and being too shy to ask for help. And then she doesn’t eat and she’s starving when she gets home and she tells me she what happened and then I realize she’s starving because she hasn’t eaten ALL DAY. Yeah, I know I’m freakin out a bit but I just want to be there to help her. As aggravating as it is to be asked 30 times a day to do something for her, I’m really, really going to miss it. OMG, I’m crying! See, this is not going to be good. It’s FIVE MONTHS before school starts and I’M CRYING. People tell me there are lunch workers and parents and teachers that will help so I’m trying to calm myself.

#2 Transportation. I’m stressing a bit about all the driving I’m going to have to do with Lexi in one place and Emma in another and all at different times during the day. I’ve thought about the bus but then I REALLY stress thinking of news stories of bus accidents. I don’t understand why there are no seatbelts in those things! For now, the bus is out. Emma wants no part in it and really I don’t either for now. We’re three minutes away from the school and Scott will be able to help out doing the driving so I’m just going with it for now. Maybe if she had an older girl in the neighborhood that could look out for her, I’d be ok. I know that has nothing to do with bus accidents but I don’t know, I just can’t handle the bus thing right now.

#3 What she’ll encounter. I’m nervous about what she’ll learn from other students that may have a bad family deal and rub off a bad attitude or maybe some bad words off on Emma. I know she’s just going to have to deal with that and learn to cope because one day she’ll be in the big, bad world and have to learn it eventually but I just don’t know if I’m ready for all these conversations we’re probably going to have to have. And I know I’m probably stressing about middle school and not kindergarten but I’m just being honest here.

And then there’s the whole school shooting/bomb thing that I think every parent must at least think about. It’s scary and it’s real.

#4 The crack of dawn morning. I have no idea how we are going to get up early enough for Emma to be at school. Right now we all roll out of bed around 8 for them to be at preschool by 9 and getting to school at 7:30 right now just sounds painful. I know we just have to go to bed earlier and get up earlier but I like my late nights, people.

#5 Lexi by herself. Lexi is really going to miss Emma. She will be in preschool but after school, she won’t know what to do with herself. Lexi can go into her own little world but most of the time. Emma and Lexi are attached at the hip. There’s definitely going to be some adjustment there.

Yes, I’ve thought about homeschooling. I know I just can’t do it with my job. I’m not that much of a supermom. If I quit working, I may think more seriously about it but even then I’m so not equipped to teach Emma. I know we have one of the best schools you can have and I’m proud of that looking forward to her learning but I don’t know. I think I would be happy with Emma home for just a little longer.

For your viewing pleasure (or not)…pictures from Zuma

March 3, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

Let’s celebrate

March 2, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

…I got my house cleaned today. Like wash the floors and clean the shower kind of cleaning. It is the LAST thing I wanted to do after church and dinner at Longhorn’s (Flo’s filet–yum). But I sucked it up and did it because I knew with Scott working the next two days, it just wasn’t going to happen and it NEEDED to. So yay for that. I rewarded myself by spending TWO hours CVS and Walgreens shopping after church tonight with Heather and topping it off with a Frosty.

Sunday Scripture

March 2, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

I’ve always loved this verse, but while reading through the entire chapter and now understanding the history of the Jews, it really brought on a whole new meaning. This is at a time when they probably didn’t think God cared about them and God was just saying, I know what I’m doing and I love you!

CVS Monthly and 3/2-3/8 Deals and Walgreens 3/2-3/8

March 2, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

Alrighty folks, if you ever want to get into the CVS thing, this is the week to do it! Please check out all the details on the deals at moneysavingmom.com but this is what I got and paid $0 oop thanks to a gift card and the $5/15 coupon out.

I did mine in 4 transactions. I had to do mine a certain way because of the ECBs I had so you may not need to do yours quite this way.

5 Colgates
2 Oral B toothbrushes
2 $.50 2 $.75 1 $1 Colgate Coupons
2 $2 Oral B coupons
$5/15 coupon
$12.98 in ECBs
Total $1.94
Paid with gift card
Earned $25 in ECBs (should have, not sure if I did now that I look at my receipts)

2 Gillette Mach 3 Razors
1 Pain Patch
3 Lip Balms
2 $3 Gillette Coupons
$5/15 coupon
$14.95 in ECBs from previous transaction
Total $1.48
Paid with gift card
Earned $21 ECBs

2 Charmin (I worked this transaction b/c we need toilet paper and it was on sale for $5.99)
1 lip balm
2 .25 Charmin coupons
$13.97 ECBs
Total .57
Paid with gift card
Earned $2.99 ECBs

2 Excedrin
2 $3 coupons
$5/15 coupon
Used $10 ECB
Total .42
Paid with gift card
Earned $10 ECBs

Even without the gift card, I would have only paid $4.31 oop. In total, I saved $100.

As for Walgreens, I didn’t plan it too well so I paid more oop than I wanted. If you check moneysavingmom.com, I did both razor deals, 6 Herbal Essences and the Olay Bar Soap. I ended up paying about $15 oop but I have $13 left. I just didn’t plan that too well and since you can’t use the razor RR to pay for the other one, I was stuck. Anyway, think about that one before you do it.

So much for an easygoing day

March 1, 2008 by Amy Leave a Comment

Well, that didn’t turn out AT ALL like I planned. Scott called this morning to remind me that they girls had a birthday party to go to. And you know what that means…last minute trip to Target for a gift. We got out and did that around 11 and then headed over to the church for the block party going on there. The girls didn’t really want to leave but they were excited to go to the party. We went to a place called Zuma. Sort of like a Chuck E. Cheese with putt-putt, bumper boats and go-carts. The girls had a lot of fun but they didn’t really get to play with the birthday girl that much so just the four of us were running around together. It actually was sort of nice now that I think of it. If someone could have removed about half the people there, we’d have been alright.

So after that, we headed back to the church. I was just going to drop Scott off and let him help clean the block party up but we ended up staying. And S was there and Emma and her went down the blow-up slide more times than I can count. And Lexi and I hung out watching them eating popcorn and cotton candy. By the time we were done there, it was dinnertime and Mom invited us over for lasagna. I was craving Longhorn’s steak but I can’t pass up a free meal. So by the time Scott got over there, ate and helped Dad move around a few things, it was bedtime when we got home. The girls got a bath and were out pretty quickly.

Needless to say, my house did not get clean AGAIN. Since I was sick last week, that’s two weeks now I haven’t done really good cleaning. I hate to do it on a Sunday and I’m so worn out since I’m still fighting this bronchitis but it looks like I might have to do some cleaning tomorrow. I can’t handle this mess!