A Bird? A Plane? No! It's Nakey Boy!

This stage in our parenthood has been a long time coming. Ok maybe not “long” but as long as it could be considering we are only talking about 26 months of life lived thus far. The time when our attention shifts from new words, songs, knowledge about numbers and letter to bathroom talk. When the first words that come out of my mouth have to do with doo doo or pee pee stories you know the Potty Training season has begun. School has been promoting potty training for months now and have made sitting on the potty part of their daily schedule; at our house however we’ve neglected being consistent. We felt he wasn’t ready and the last thing we wanted to do was scare him when it came to the bathroom. We’ve had a little potty next to our big one for a while now but the only interest he showed in it was sitting down knowing he could talk me into letting him pull on the toilet paper.
About a month or so ago Moses finally started understand how it all works. At first we would fake “pushing” and have him imitate and then one day he actually pushed something out. I made sure to make the biggest fuss about the littlest poo and showed him how truly proud I was. Ever since then it’s been a slow progression of success. He seems to enjoy pooing at his own house (who doesn’t) and pee peeing at school however we has had some pee pee success at the house. He’s become pretty regular about successfully going #2 every day or every other day at least once at the house. He prefers being “nakey boy” more than ever and surprisingly that seems to help remind him just how quickly he needs to potty.
With all success comes failure and we’ve just entered the forefront of Potty Training laundry. Just this morning he was fully dressed for school with his pants down to his ankles trying to potty before we left the house. I ran into my bedroom for a moment and not a second later I hear “Mommy”’; I run into the bathroom and find pee pee had touches every article of clothing. It not only hit him but hit the big toilet, the bathtub, the rug, and all over the floor. We’ve also experienced the “I’m done pooing now let me jump up, grab my own hiney cheeks and run into my room”. I think my top three phrases a day now are “do you need to go potty” “tell Mommy if you feel it coming” and “hurry to the potty”.
I’ve heard great things about the reward systems and we’ve done it a few times but honestly I think all the positive reaffirmation he gets from us is enough. He always has a big smile after a successful potty break and I only hope it gets better from here. Thankfully the weather is coinciding perfectly with our efforts and hopefully he start spending more weekend in the pool outside as “Nakey Boy”!

I don't need a money tree

Things that are free:



Hanging out with my boys
Laughing with my little sister
Blogging
Running on my treadmill
Pushing the stroller around the block
Reading books on my Kindle (purchased for $0.00)
Reading stories to Moses in the rocking chair
Facebook stalking
Watching cable at my parents house
Deep couch conversations with my girlfriends
Watching the ducks at the lake
Cleaning the house
Dancing in the living room
Playing competitive games on Wii
Talking
Snuggling
Loving


Money is tight but that doesn’t mean I’m bored.

Orange ya' glad I enjoy embarrassing myself

Sometimes when the label of a product gives very specific instructions you should listen; not only are they the inventors of their product but they’ve tested it out one or two times. Last night after getting out of the shower I was looking down at my legs and realized “DANG, I’m pasty”. Most people in their 20’s our digging a seat in the white powdery sand wearing their tiny bikini on spring break while I look out my office window and catch a glimpse of Spring watching the flowers bloom. I will not be poolside this week or even wearing a dress but I know in the coming weeks it will get hot enough to pull out my summer clothes and show off these ghostly beauties.

I remembered having a couple bottles of sunless tanner left over from last year and I thought “Why not!”. The instructions specifically explained the proper steps to get a “summer glow”; apply to clean dry legs, use sparingly around feet/ ankles/ knees, wash hands after use, let dry before getting into clothes. I can say I successfully followed two of the above instructions. I thought I could outsmart the full strength potion by diluting it with regular body lotion; combining the two together would give me about 70% sunless strength, right? So why not rub it all over my feet and knees and gosh it feels so nice why not leave my hands feeling moisturized before bed? I’ll tell you why not—because the people who write the instructions know EXACTLY what they are talking about. Thankfully I was already wearing semi long black slacks that cover my feet when I noticed this mishap however my hands were a different story. I sloshed around a large scoop of salt scrub turning the insides of my fingers raw that took the tint down a few levels. When I get home I’m going to do the same with my feet hoping to get equal results.

As far as my “summer glow” goes; I think I’ll stick with taking tons of Vitamin D supplements and start eating carrots by the bag!

A tale of couponing and crazed women.

Normally Sunday morning or mid afternoon I like to pick up a Sunday paper to clip coupons. Thanks to FrugalCouponLiving.com I knew this past week the P&G coupon insert was expected to be in the paper; for all of you non- couponers it’s special because it only comes out every couple months and contains great coupons for many P&G products.
That afternoon at my mom’s house I noticed she was missing her P&G and when I asked her about it she swore up and down it was not there. She insisted coming with me to Publix to exchange her paper for one with the insert. Due to the Academy Awards we didn’t go to Publix until 9pm and once we started shifting through the papers we noticed something; half the papers were missing the Smart Source and the other half was missing both inserts. Not one paper had the P&G insert. I knew it was in there because not only did the FCL preview say it but I physically saw it that morning at my MIL house.
We brought the manager over and explained to her the situation only to find out something I feared; crazy couponers. Supposedly evil women who need to many boxes of pasta or get a sick thrill out of stealing to say they’ve saved money crazy if this is you then you should really rethink your thievery for the sake of a good spend/ save ratio women go up to the papers and steal out the inserts. Yeah you heard me…stealing coupons! I know it happens but I didn’t think it was this extreme….well…it gets worse.
We drive over to the Wendy’s parking lot knowing they have newspaper stands and found out all the papers are gone. We headed into the gas station next store and found out all their coupon inserts have been removed as well. At this point it’s not about saving the $5 worth of coupons but the curiosity of wondering WHERE ARE THE INSERTS has crept into our minds and we’ve unstoppable. We drive to two more gas stations in the area and find the same thing; Sunday paper with no coupons! It was getting late and after looking at each other and admitting our craziness we drove out separate ways home.
At this point I can only describe the story like the movie Willy Wonka; the part when all the kids are opening their chocolates and no one is finding the Golden Ticket. We’ve opened so many newspapers and no inserts could be found. Then Charley opens his chocolate bar in front of all his family with anticipation this it’s the one.
As I drove home I thought to myself how amazing it would be to pull into the last gas station on my route and find two papers with both inserts. I walk to the back of the store and grab all the papers they have left; I start shuffling through and find…. Nothing. Just like Charley I’m golden ticketless. However my mother is like the next part of the movie when she spots one more outside news stand and gives it a try. She puts her money in and opens the handle. Not only are their newspapers but she finds two newspaper filled with inserts. She is Charley, she has the golden ticket!
She calls me and all we can do is laugh; I turned my car around and met her half way between our houses to collect my beloved paper.
Originally the title was referring to the coupon stealers but as I re over what I just wrote it could go both ways…..

Peak-a-boo

I'm scrubbing the crud out of my shower for my sister’s stay this weekend…


I’m talking about red being the hottest color at the Academy Awards this year…

I’m sitting out on my parents screened in back porch with a table set for 5 ½ tasting a steak better (and cheaper) than anything I’ve ever tasted in a restaurant…

I’m clipping competitor and feeling a revived love for saving money…

I’m slouched over half awake walking down the hallway holding the hand of a little boy who thinks it’s a good idea to get out of bed 10 times during the night and jiggle his parent’s door handle until they wake up…

I’m adjusting to this new normal that is so foreign yet incredible familiar…

I’m tearing up at the thought of one of the best women I know becoming a mother…

I’m writing up and calculating then recalculating budgets

I’m opening the windows and enjoying the spring night’s breeze…

 ….I’m still here, living life.