Earlier this week I told you how I joined the Grocery Game… well, I found a couple similar sources of the same information…. except it is FREE!

Coupon Mom

Pinching Your Pennies

A Full Cup

Here are just a few to get you started.

Christopher…. that boy is driving me bonkers!! Started today when he came home and told me he had detention for three “refocuses”, or reminders to do better. He got his refocuses because he failed to take his science journal to science class… something that would be easy enough to do had he just paid-a-freaking-attention to the teacher, his classmates, etc. Ended when he was told to get ready for bed without finishing his homework because he still was not done at 7:30 pm. He started at 3 pm and had no more homework than normal, he just played around instead of doing his work.

Outsourcing…. Our Xbox is being held for ransom by the shipping company because the person who made the work order did not understand our last name (not a difficult name… think Smith or Jones or Brown). The name he put on the work order does not rhyme with our name, or start with the same letters. He also got our phone number wrong by two digits. So when the delivery company tried to leave the XBox with Austin, he did not feel right leaving it because the names do not match. Bobby spent close to an hour on the phone with the company trying to straighten it out, without any resolution.

Yesterday afternoon around 3:30 I got a phone call from Austin’s school saying he would be getting an award at an assembly the next day at 1 and said they would love for me to attend. I asked Bobby to take a long lunch so he could come with me, but he opted to work a half day instead. So we get to the gym today at 1 and the very first name called is Austin, for an award for best in his class for fine arts. Nifty. They then proceed to call out names of other students broken down in 4 categories for each subject…. “Outstanding Student Award – Boys”, “Outstanding Student Award – Girls”, “Most improved – Boys”, and finally “Most improved – Girls”. They did all the subjects for 6th grade, and then 7th grade.

At the end of the ceremony, the Dean of Students said he had a surprise for the students. He went on to say that he got some extra grant money and decided that he wanted to award one student from each grade for overall excellence. Someone who maintained great grades, attitude, attendance, and went above and beyond as a citizen of the school.

He then went on to say that the first student awarded has demonstrated excellence in many ways, not only by being a friend to all in his grade, but by being cheerful and courteous at all times. He is the student who at the dances stands in the middle of the gym and rocks out the his air guitar all by himself without a care in the world. The student who demonstrates honesty by returning the snacks to the Dean when the machine accidentally gives him two because he “only paid for one”, the student who is always asking if there is something he can do to help his teachers, his peers, and the Dean.

Bobby and I looked at each other because that kid sounded a LOT like our goofy, care-free, honest little guy, but at the same time there are a LOT of great 6th graders at his school. The Dean went on to say that he could not imagine a more deserving student than Austin to receive the award!

You should have seen my little guy, he was SO proud of himself and his classmates were all so excited! His teacher and I were bawling our eyes out and Bobby stood up to grant his permission for Austin to receive the iPod (since the school will not give a student big ticket items without the parents permission). Since it was so close to the end of the day, the teacher told us to go ahead and take him home with us, and on the way to the car Austin says “You know, my iPod I just bought with my birthday money has a 30 day return policy!” LOL So we went home to get the reciept and took him Best Buy to exchange his iPod for something else. He picked up Guitar Hero III (a game where you play songs on the XBox on a life-sized wireless guitar), he then also got two games for the Wii, Super Smash Brother’s Brawl, and Sonic vs. Mario Olympics, as well as an iTunes gift card.

Right now the three little boys are playing the Smash Brother’s game, even though Matthew has NO clue what he is doing, his brothers keep praising him for doing well.

In other news, Austin and I went back to the Humane Society, and still no Sabin. On the way home we picked up some neon paper to print out some missing signs to hang around the neighborhood. Hope fully we find him soon.

Austin decided back at Christmas time he wanted to save his Christmas money to buy himself a nicer camera, well this week we talked and he decided he would probably use an iPod more than he would a camera, so tomorrow we are heading to Best Buy to let him pick his Nano. That just shows his dedication to saving… he has managed to save over $200! Way to go kiddo!

*Update*

Here is a picture of Austin, age 12, holding his brand new iPod! Way to go kiddo!

[Disclaimer: There is nothing graphic in this video, but the song is a Psalm 23]

Well, in my Hypnobabies community there was a buzz that this woman also used Hypnobabies to aid her in dealing with the intenseness. Just beautiful.

PS. Her little boy was 10 lbs, had a 15 1/2 inch head and a 16 inch chest! Just breathtaking! *Updated* Here is a link to her birthstory in her own words!!

My baby as in my new car!! I have been bitching about my ’00 Ford Windstar for a LOOOOOOOONG time because it probably needed 2x its value in repairs that I was just not willing to pay for. It came down to a few choices… either suck it up and go into debt to fix my van and hope nothing else goes wrong for another 2 years. Suffer without heat, and all the other problems. Or my third and final choice was to trade it in and hope we get a good deal on another car. Well, that deal came along today when I learned that my bank, USAA, would take $3,000 off the purchase price of the van I wanted. They also valued my POS van at $2500 for trade in, which is about $2000-15000 more than what we expected.

Ideally, I would still have liked to wait until both cars were paid off and we had several thousand to put down, however I just cannot imagine putting my new little girl into a car that I cannot trust NOT to break down on me, and lacking heating/cooling.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new baby!! If you had to marry something that you loved this much, I would be a polygamist. I got a 2008 Honda Odyssey EX-L with the optional rear entertainment package. It has so many features I could write pages and pages about all the little things I love.

Here is the stock photo, since I just got it and have not taken pictures yet, and a link to all the features.

All 5 of the young children were healthy, clean, well mannered and the mom, though still being frugal about it, made her purchases with cash, not WIC or a state issued food assistance card. I don’t think the mom had these children because she was too stupid for birth control, they seemed naturally spaced, the youngest child contently nursed from his mother’s breast while being worn in the sling… Oh my, nursing in PUBLIC?? What would the older woman say if she noticed that??

This got me thinking to inappropriate comments I have received, specifically referring to my three sons. I can’t tell you how many times I am asked if I plan on trying for a girl… when did boys become the consultation prize? Did G-d put a child into my womb and say “Sorry, you did not win the prize this time, but take what is behind door number two so you won’t be sent home empty handed”. My usual response is that if we decide to have another it will be to have another baby, not play Russian roulette and only want one specific gender. The most offensive was when I was pregnant, the cashier asked if I knew the gender of the baby (as she is scanning 100% blue clothes, blankets, etc) and when she heard it was another boy she looked at my other two sons and said “Are you guys sad you are having a brother? I mean sisters are so much better, wouldn’t you rather have a sister?” Yeah, because *I* was the one who chose their genders, but come on! My oldest son was hoping for a brother, but my middle son was licking his wounds from being wrong on his guess and at the time was hoping for a sister. Anyways, I digress.

When did society think that the store was an appropriate place to lecture someone about reproduction? Obviously the young mom had read page one of a parenting book if she knew her kids needed to eat. I know people who are not that sophisticated. Also, it is not like this mom was at the drive through window with grubby kids screaming for a soda pop and fried chicken nuggets. If the store was the place to lecture parents on birth control, wouldn’t you think Planned Parenthood would have rented a pagoda at the front of the store? Maybe the wife could look over to her husband and say “honey, can you go pick up paper towels, and while you are on isle 7 get that vasectomy we have been wanting?”

To the woman at the grocery store.. please save your breath, find another medium for your cause. Volunteer at the woman’s shelter, help families in crisis, send an article into the newspaper about the importance of reducing your carbon footprint, or help raise money for a family who has an ailing family member and needs money to pay for cancer treatment. I don’t believe you said what you did out of malice, but it was in bad taste and only served to annoy the mother and other patrons in the store. Cut the mother some slack, her 5 kids were so much better than a lot of families I see with only one child. If you want to see some bad kids, go shop at Walmart, you will be running for the pharmacy section and popping headache medicine faster than you can say “wear a condom”.

To everyone else, think twice before you make “harmless” comments to mothers, our hearts are fragile from countless sleepless nights, an infinite number of kissed boo-boos and “I love you’s”. We have to deal with our children’s tears of disappointment when they don’t get what they want, lose their best friend, break up with their first crush, and get teased by the neighborhood bully.

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Now playing: John Mayer – Dreaming with a Broken Heart
via FoxyTunes

Even cooler were these biotectures called Earthships. These unique homes are made of earth and tires and bottles to make fully self sufficient homes that use about $100 a year in utility costs. These homes are completely independent and use no city utilities. It makes it’s own power, recycles rainwater, takes care of sewage and heats/cools itself.

The next thing they showed was paint that could last for 1,000 years, resists graffiti, mold, and breaks down carbon monoxide emitted from cars. They also showed windows that could control how much sunlight would be allowed through them and green rooftops on skyscrapers (rooftop gardens) which would reduce wastewater put into the sewage system, as well as lower the temperature on the roof and make the air conditioner work more efficient, as well as reducing pollutants in the air.

In my own home, I feel like I could be doing so much more to reduce my carbon footprints, yes I use CFL bulbs in almost all my light fixtures. We recycle and we have replaced all our old appliances with new energy star appliances. We use a HE washer and dryer to reduce the water I use, and we use cloth diapers on the baby. I am in the process of switching to all natural cleaning products and laundry soap to reduce the amounts of pollutants I put in the sewer. I know I could do SO MUCH MORE. I have all the supplies to build a clothesline, yet I still don’t have one because my backyard is so smelly from the lack of grass and overabundance of dog pee. I also don’t have a garden because again the dogs make the back yard unpleasant. I also could not justify the cost of a new tankless water heater, so we did go for a more efficient one than the old one, however I think the only way we will ever have higher efficient home is to start fresh and build our own home where we can recycle rainwater for landscaping, incorporate solar panels into the design, have a tankless water heater, use CFL, all energy star appliances, and possibly geothermal heating, cooling.

I think with a little more planning we all could take baby steps to reduce our carbon footprint and all live a little greener with tiny little changes that make less of an impact on our day to day living, but a great impact on the amount of strain on the planet.

The newest zip program, SecureZIP is a very simple download, and for a limited time can be downloaded for free; this is the full version, not a trial version. Secure Zip encrypts and compresses files for fast and secure transfer, this program is great for business projects, sensitive files that may have personal information like a social security number or banking information, or anything that you would not want to fall into the wrong hands. This data security program is also great for protecting your own personal files stored on your hard drives, portable media, or laptops. SecureZIP – The next generation of ZIP.

Within two minutes of submitting my email address, SecureZip was downloaded and two minutes later was registered and up and running. The program is easy to use and is also integrated into Outlook Express which makes it super simple to email encrypted files. You also want to check out SecureZIP’s impressive review over at PC Magazine.com, they made 4 1/2 marks out of five marks, and have great raves.

Check this program out, it is a great asset in total data security.

When I was almost 17 I was able to convince my parents to try again, this time at a private Driver’s Training School. I passed with flying colors, however when I took the test I failed… of course the woman who failed me kept saying in a snotty voice “I never drove a B-M-W when I was a teen“, and then at the very last maneuver said I failed for not signaling when I changed lanes, even though the road was widening and I merged right before the lanes actually divided into two lanes. Second time was a charm, new tester and I only was docked 6 points for not being able to parallel park.

I love the idea of a Driver’s Ed DVD that a teenager or adult studying to take the exam for their license, I feel one can never be too safe on the road and any kind of training they can get is positive. It would even make a good refresher for someone who has moved to a different climate and may not know how to handle emergency situations for driving in snow, ice, rain, or other emergency situations.

And of course I cannot mention being prepared in emergency situations and not mention the importance of an emergency auto kit, I own two, one for each vehicle, as well as a small tool set with screwdrivers, ratchets, pliers, etc. and a first aid kit. The nice thing about the above kit, is it combines a lot of the items in my above three kits into one, making it a very handy, all inclusive must have for EVERY vehicle.

*This is a sponsored post.

This website makes it easier to browse for Country Artists, rock, hip hop, jazz, metal, grunge, etc. 2,000 bands have already signed up and is easy to browse for genre of music or search for a band, and listen just by clicking on their profile. This website is a lot more user friendly than the music section of myspace, and great for producers to find hot new talent for these people to break into the recording business.

I honestly expected to click on these profiles and find bad karaoke, or American Idol rejects, but so far all the bands/artists I have listened to sound really good, professional and I really hope they get their big break!

*This is a sponsored post.

People who will especially benefit from medical alert jewelry are those with allergies (medication, food, insect), any kind of heart, kidney, breathing, seizure, blood, or memory (Alzheimer’s) disorder. Anyone with an impairment, such as hearing, sight or mental, or communication (Tourette’s Syndrome). Anyone with diabetes, cancer, hypertension, a high stroke risk, a transplant or implant, any rare disorder, or special needs children. Anyone on blood thinners, participating in a clinical medication trial, or anyone who takes multiple medications.

Since this jewelry is beautiful and comes in many different types of precious quality medals, and styles (bracelets, necklaces, pendants, watches, and many more) and offer Free personalized engraving, this is jewelry you will be proud to wear because they are both stylish, and could potentially save your life.

*This is a sponsored post.

The club that is getting all the attention is Cherry Street Live, at 4501 E. Virginia Ave. in Glendale, CO. The neat thing about this club, is that it is in the same location as a historic club in the 80′s and 90′s called the Bangles.

There is a lot of great stuff about Cherry Street Live, which is a giant 3 level club with 2 separate bars, a VIP section, and ample parking. Wednesday nights are Back 2 Bangles night, with beer being either free or $1 depending on the original price, or $4 shots of Jager.

Don’t miss out on January 31st, when Bangles will be having a Slayer after party.

*This is a paid post.