The Grocery Game

For those of you who haven't checked it out, you really SHOULD see what Grocery Game is all about. It's a way to slash 50-60% off your grocery bill. I've managed to get mine down to around $55-65 a week! In a nutshell, it's a program that takes sales papers from the stores you shop at, and combines the sale prices/items with coupons found in the Sunday paper. It puts all the items in a nice, organized list that will show you original price, sale price, and which coupon to use, and then shows you the end price, with the percentage saved. For example:

This week at Bi-Lo, Betty Crocker potatos are on sale. These are the boxed potatos that make Au Gratin, Scalloped, etc potatos. The original price is $1.75/box. They are on sale 10/$10, so $1 a box. Then, I add a coupon for $0.35 off a box, which is then doubled by the store. So, $1 minus my doubled coupon ($0.70) is $0.30 a box!! I had four of these coupons, so I bought four boxes of potatos for $1.20, which would normally cost me $7.00!

Check out the website, www.thegrocerygame.com to see if it will work for you. If you sign up, you get a four week trial for $1. The lists are put up every Sunday afternoon for the week. So you'll get four lists for just trying it out, for one dollar! Then, if you decide you like it, it's $10 for two months for one store. If you shop at two stores, the second store is only an additional $5 for two months. I have two store lists, so I pay $15 for two months, at $7.50 a month. And this week alone I had $43 in savings at the grocery store, so it more than paid for my subscription! And please, if you do sign up, list me as a reference, and I'll get credit!

Let me know if it works out for you!!

The Ever Elusive Christmas Card Picture

We've been trying for weeks to get a good picture of Andrew that is worthy of a Christmas card. For those of you who have kids, you know that getting a two-year old, clean, happy, and standing still, all the while looking at the camera and smiling is pretty much a shot in the dark. So here are two pictures I got that I think might just make it to the Christmas card.

Rice O'Mania

First lesson learned: just because he knows the rules, doesn't mean he will follow them.

We have a rice tub that we use as an 'inside sand table' during the cold weather. It's basically a rubbermaid storage container, about 6" deep, that we fill with rice. He has some little shovels, cups, funnels, etc. that he can use to play with. It's actually a great thing, and was cheap. A ten pound bag was around seven bucks, and we had the container lying around, along with cups and stuff. It helps with motor skills, imaginative play, and also teaches them about space (full vs. empty). Love it! Execpt for today. We've tried to teach him that the rice stays IN the bucket....

I put the tub of rice with him in the living room and turned on his TV show, thinking, I'll just vaccum the bedrooms while he does this...HOW MUCH TROUBLE COULD HE GET INTO IN 15 MINUTES.

When I returned, I could not believe what had happened. Almost every since ounce of a TEN POUND bag of rice was on the floor. And honey, I mean it was everywhere. We have hardwood floors, so you can imagine how far that rice went. I said "ANDREW!!!" He looked up at me, in his sweet, innocent face, and said "Uh-oh!" like the rice had jumped out of the bucket on its own free will! I got out the vaccum, and learned my second lesson.

Second lesson learned: You cannot use a vaccum on hardwood floors to pick up rice.

The vaccum only slung a zillion tiny grains of rice to the faraway ends of the earth. I'm still sweeping.

Oh Christmas Tree

We've already decorated the house for Christmas! It's tradition in our family to wait until after Thanksgiving, just out of respect for the turkey, I suppose. However, we don't wait long...usually we wake up the morning after and begin! This year, however, begins a new era of decorating. Last year Andrew wasn't walking or crawling, so we didn't have any issues with the tree. Maybe a few presents got unwrapped pre-Dec. 25th, but no big deal. We decided to try a new idea...

We put a tree in his room, just for him. It's a little 5-footer, a scrawny little thing. He put his ornaments on it, mostly stars and bells. He's allowed to play with those ornaments, take them off, put them on, etc. But the big tree is off limits. So far, it's working. However, that little tree in his room has been 'felled' about three times! We have to figure out how to anchor it to the wall or floor so it won't keep falling!! I'd rather that little tree fall on him than the big one though, so we're going to count blessings on this one!

Here is a RARE picture of mommy with her boy....we've got buckets of pictures with daddy, but a handful with me. You mothers know exactly what I'm talking about! Like men don't know how to use a camera...

The Birthday Boy

LOOK WHO IS TWO!

I know this is oh, about 3 weeks late, but y'all can understand with the holiday craziness! November is a wacky, busy month for us! It actually starts on Halloween (which is a big deal for us, we like to decorate the house!) After Halloween, it's two weeks until Andrew's birthday, and then two weeks after Andrew's birthday is Thanksgiving, and then one month later is Christmas! So you can see how things start to accelerate back in October!

Anyhow, we had a great time at his Go, Diego, Go! party! It was mostly a family affair but some of his little buddies came to see him. As our camera is currently MIA, we don't have any pictures at hand, but I've salvaged a few from emails from family. By far his favorite new toy is his choo-choo...the train table! His Nana and Grandpa spoiled him good, didn't they?