More adventures in couponing

I totally promise not to turn my blog into a coupon blog, but I wanted to let people know about a deal that you can get on the new UP dvd in case you were thinking you would get it for your kids for Christmas. Unless you are like my cousin's wife Kathy that finished her shopping in like July. Seriously, why must you show us up that way? :)

In Utah, the blu-ray combo pack is on sale at Target for $19.99. It might not be advertised that way, but Leslie bought copies for both of us today at that price, so price check it and then get pushy and annoying and tell them that you KNOW for a fact that the Ft. Union store in Utah is selling them at that price and then they will think that you are crazy and they will be right, but you will get your movie for way cheaper than it was originally priced.

OR if you are new to couponing and are not yet prepared to sacrifice your pride in that way for $8 (i think mine was sold for like $2), you could just go to Wal-mart in the first place and pay $19.96 for it. I find it amusing that they maintain their place as the low price leader with a $.03 margin.

The blu-ray combo pack includes a blu-ray copy, a DVD copy, a digital copy and a bonus disc so I've started buying the blu-rays even though I don't have a blu-ray player. Maybe some day...

Ok, so go to Target or Wal-mart, get your UP blu-ray combo pack and take a copy of the $10.00 off coupon that you can print HERE. (you'll have to install coupon printing software to your computer and you HAVE to buy the blu-ray combo)

This will make your movie only $10. Nice.

There are also several mail in rebates available if you have that kind of patience and since there are 2 proofs of purchase on the box and you can send in copies of your receipts, you can use 2 and possibly get your movie for free.

This one is for buy two Kernel Seasonings, get a $5 rebate
These are $2 each at K-mart. There used to be a $1 off one coupon floating around on the web, but I can't find it now. If you can't find a coupon, I wouldn't use this one unless you really actually wanted the Kernel Seasonings.

This one is for buy one pasta, get a $4 rebate
Here is a link for coupons.com where you can print a $1 of 2 coupon.
The Ronzoni spaghetti is at Target for like a little over a dollar each. I think Leslie said it came to $.62 a box with the coupon. (note- look for the smallest, cheapest boxes that you think you'll actually use, it's cheaper that way and I'm all about cheap)

This one is a buy 2 Bird's Eye family favorites, get a $5 rebate
Here is a link for $1 off Bird's Eye.
You can also access the coupon directly from the Bird's Eye website HERE. I don't know how much these normally are, but I'd hold out for a sale before I bought them.

You've got until after Christmas for the rebates so you can wait to open the movie (i've already opened mine to pull the codes off, my kids won't notice ;)* and wait for things to go on sale to make the most of your coupons.

Ok, hopefully someone will appreciate that, other than Leslie and me. Even if you only print the $10.00 off coupon, you're getting a good deal. Have fun! My job here is done. I will lay off the coupons.


*One year, we gave my dad Sea Biscuit for Christmas, but none of us had seen it, so we opened it and watched it before we gave it to him, unbeknownst to him. I felt kinda bad. I wonder if he ever noticed....

Adventures in couponing

Special K was on sale this week at Target. I paid an average of about $.75 a box for it and I bought 16 boxes... so far. Not only did it feel good to stock up on our family's favorite cereal, it also provided us with some fun this afternoon.

Couponing: it saves you money AND it's super fun!

Technical Difficulties

Fact: Charlie is a boy.

If we didn't have good old anatomy to rely on for that information, one would be able to deduct as much from his obsession with buttons. He LOVES anything with buttons, specifically electronic equipment, and will defend his possession of every remote control and telephone with all his little baby power. He's found that his most effective means of keeping charge of the remote is (ironically enough) to scream.... like a girl.

The computer is his favorite. Whenever we get on the computer, he crawls on over, pulls himself up to it and starts trying to sneak in his little hand underneath ours. He also likes to take his sharp little nails and pull the keys off. I'm still missing one of my 'Ctrl' buttons.

So anyway, a while back, I was using our laptop upstairs before bed. In a moment of all too common exhaustion and absentmindedness, I left the computer upstairs... on the floor... open and then went to bed. The next day, Charlie had gone missing so I went looking for him and found him upstairs, sitting on said computer. I have no idea how long he had the computer at his disposal or how many buttons and combination of buttons he pushed before I found him, but he did some funky stuff to this computer. Brent spent a while trying to undo it all, but there were a couple things we just couldn't figure out the most annoying of which was that I couldn't log into my google account, meaning no email, no blog, no fun. I had talked to Brent about expediting the planned purchase of a new computer just so that I could access my accounts. I think he started to love me more for the mere proposal of the idea.

So all this time, I've been locked out of my blog, unable to tell you all about how sick I was or how sick my kids have been or how mean the doctor at the quick care was or how I've hardly left the house in weeks and I'm starting to get cabin fever. Come to think of it, it's probably all for the best. I've been super whiny. And then my mom came up to help me yesterday and asked if I'd tried to log onto my google account using Internet Explorer instead of Firefox.

My mom is a freaking genius.

And so I'm back. I just have to use a different browser and all is right in the world again.

And since I don't ACTUALLY have anything to blog about, I'll just post some awesome photos that the amazingly talented Brooke took of my family right before we become stricken with every virus known to Utah this season. Seriously, I have no idea how she made us look so good. It's us, only a lot more attractive than we are in real life. I like these black and white ones of my kids because they just look like my kids are supposed to look.

Head over HERE to oliverminiej photography and HERE to check out more. Thanks Brooke! You are officially my hero.

p.s. uploading photos to posts using IE is lame and inconvenient. boo. oh well, at least it's possible.

at my house today...

Everyone, with the possible exception of Lizzy, is sick. My kids are tired and whiny and clingy and so am I. I imagine that if Brent were home, he would be too. He stopped answering his phone at work mid-afternoon. I think he's avoiding my complaining. I've spent the past several hours teetering and tottering between loving that my kids want me to hold them and cuddle with them and wanting to drug them and put them to bed so that I don't have to.



As previously hinted to, Lizzy seems to be comparatively healthy. I'm not sure if she really is or if she's just not bugged by being sick, but whatever. She's my helper in training. She was feeding Charlie mac & cheese complete with choo! choo! noises. What a pro.



Jane has spent most of her day curled up on the floor in a blanket watching whatever was on tv, including HGTV. I took the opportunity to introduce her to Candice Olson, design goddess. Never too young to start brain washing them, right?

And now the day is coming to an end and even though we're all still wearing pajamas and our hair is a mess and we've all done our fair share of crying, it's been ok. As a mom, it feels good to get through days like today. It's empowering to imagine things being as miserable as they can get and then facing the misery and making it through relatively unscathed. And Brent just called to tell me that he's coming home a little early. Life is hard, but life is good.

Hey Emily! Look!

At one of the boutiques where I sell my hair clips, someone was selling these really neat cake plates. (that doesn't sound right. aren't you NOT supposed to start sentences with a preposition? is 'at' a preposition? so many questions that will go unanswered. maybe jane can teach me when she gets there.)

I was going to buy one, but the crafter in me took over before I got to the register. I noticed that they weren't actual cake plates, but rather normal plates that had been affixed atop glass dishes/candle sticks to create a serving dish. 'Crafty Laura' declared with great confidence "Don't buy it! I can make those and I can make them cuter."

She was very convincing and she totally delivered.




I bought the candle sticks on clearance from Target (my happy place) and have been looking for the right plates to complete the look. My friend, Emily gave me the brown one for my birthday. I should have taken a photo of it when it was full of home made caramel apples drizzled in chocolate and crusted with toffee. I was ill after eating them all, but as you can imagine, they were worth every bite. I still want to get a little statue of some sort to put in the middle of the plate so that I can cover the spot where the adhesive shows through.



And the final cost for this low budget, high style renovation?

I've been watching too much HGTV and I'm also not telling. I found the blue plate at a shop in Gardner Village when I was there on Saturday for witches night out. Yes, I went to witches night out. It was intense. It was also really fun. I didn't dress like a witch, but I WAS coerced into doing the macarena with dozens of women who were. Not my proudest moment, but I have no regrets. I was caught up in the excitement and splurged on the plate, which totally broke the budget even though I used my coupon that I won by picking the right potion. It was Witch Hazel, go figure.

I really like them. I'm kind of obsessed with serving pieces lately because, you know, I need them for all the fabulous dinner parties I'm always throwing.

That was a joke. The only dinner parties I throw involve me, my husband, our kids and the actual throwing of food.

Allow me to introduce you to Brent's family

Yes, it's true. Brent has a family. A large one. It's hard for them to squeeze themselves onto the blog because we see them very little compared to the amount of time we spend with my family. And by "my family" I mean Leslie and her kids.

It's a little tricky getting the Stringham family together since there are a total of 6 kids and 21 grandkids, I think. Brent's parents always seem to be out and about babysitting grandkids, going to dance recitals, flag football games, soccer games, birthday parties, holding girls' night out and on and on. They are definitely devoted and busy grandparents. They've been getting together once a month for a full blown family home evening and last Monday we were invited to their friends' farm to pick pumpkins and cornstalks. I was all over that like white on rice since you know how I feel about pumpkin patches.

First, my kids all looking very much like themselves...



Charlie, a little dazed and confused and ready for bed.



Lizzy, a little awkward and anti social and looking like a ragamuffin.



Jane, being silly and putting on a show for anyone that will watch. She fell in love with a pumpkin.



Brent's mom, Grammy. All the kids love their Grammy.



Brent's sister and her family. Excuse me, one of Brent's sisters and her family, there ARE 5 of them.



Melissa and Jane. We love Melissa. She's an awesome babysitter and an awesome ballerina and Jane idolizes her. We all think they look alike too so I wanted to get a picture of them together.



Sister, Shelli (in true Shelli form) and Brent's dad. Brent looks just like his dad only a little watered down and (a lot) less tall. We have actually had people come to us and say that "they saw a man looking like Brent, only older at a McDonald's close to our house and it was so weird." If you have a similar experience, yes, that would be Brent's dad.



Shelli's son, Ethan. He's a football player, can you tell?



Almost all the kids. We were missing about 4. I love Taylor sticking up in the back. He has a counterpart, Spencer, but he was one of the missing ones.



Lexi is growing up too fast for me. I use her age to judge how old I am. This is what she looked like at my wedding reception...



Jessica, Lexi and Melissa, I'm old. Make it stop!



It was getting dark, but I wanted a photo of me at the pumpkin patch and as usual, Jane was more than willing to strike a pose with me.

Needless to say, it was a fun evening and now we have lots of corn stalk debris in the van and a very festive doorway:

Over the Weekend...

A box of Cheerios must have exploded in our kitchen.



This is what happens in our house when our two year old is left alone for more than 5 minutes. When I saw the mess, I had to laugh since I recalled that a few minutes earlier, Lizzy yelled up the stairs...

"i making a messy!!!!"

I'll be responding promptly next time.


In other news, Lizzy was attacked by a Fruit Roll-up.



I'll be really glad when the people at the Fruit Roll-up factory stop putting dye all over their fruity, chewy, mouthwateringly delicious product and then encouraging small children to lick them. I suppose that the easy way avoid this would be to just not buy the Fruit Roll-ups in the first place. I didn't used to, until I started couponing and since then I can get them for so stinking cheap that I can't help myself. Instead of paying with traditional currency, I pay for them indirectly via soap, water and laundry detergent.