Ding, ding!

Wow, the kids were in rare form this morning. I have yet to determine if it was me being less patient, or them being crazy. We are going to error on the side of them being crazy. Every few seconds there was a different argument to be quashed or fight over a hair product (yes, welcome to the world of girls). Wowza, I am exhausted and I just got up. It is going to be a busy day!
Zumba fridays are one of my fav's so I am looking forward to that, however after the emotional conflict this morning part of me just wants to go crawl back in bed and let Lou run the house. Im sure I will go as it is my release for the morning. I will feel accomplished "shaking what my momma gave me" afterward.
Lou plays a game each morning where she thinks she needs second breakfast at about 8:15. ( I know Amy, some people arent up for another hour, little lone eating a first breakfast, whatever) She will tell me what she wants and I get it for her. When she comes to eat it (almost every time without fail) she claims that is not what she wanted and so usually takes a bite and is done. Huge pet peeve, food wasting. I am not getting her something different today and I hear her spoon happily clanging against her bowl so, food score, Lou 0- me 1. Boom! Let the games begin.
After literally walking Alli through picking up her room and getting ready I did not have time to pack her lunch. So, she did it. I loved that. She is totally capable and I made sure she put great stuff in there. This might be a regular occurance now that I know she can totally do this. Lunch score Alli 0- me 1, boom again.
Rant over!

Woman on the Edge

3-6pm are not great hours for me. The human inside has been dictating what smells good, looks good, ect. This poses a problem when cooking for the family b/c it is not getting done. I will eat a hamburger patty but cannot prepare it right now. Fried chicken sounds good but I will not go buy a bucket. Any other type of chicken is horrid. I had to have C air freshen the room one night because I could smell lingering chicken smells from dinner, bleck!

In other news, the Tri City Herald is ticking me off. We get one paper everyday (in theory) and two extras on Sunday. My carrier has fallen down on the job ever since there was snow on the ground. I think we are going on two weeks now. Geesh! I have probably gotten my paper half of the time in the last two weeks. My repeated calls to the herald have had no resolution. So, I have a call into a manager today we will see how that goes. I will have to hold back the inner witch as I can get hostile with bad service.....be a good witness.....be a good witness.... be a good witness. Rant over~!

C had " the talk" with our 7 year old last night. I texted my bestie and said, "kill me now". I just disappear when convos like that come up. So thankful that he is poised to handle conversations like that becuase I am so not! As I walked thru the room at one point I hear something about HIV and Alli gasp and say, " Is mommy going to die?" Time out, did he somehow say that I had HIV? Wowza. Come to find out he was talking about why Gods plan for marriage and that got somehow on the topic of STD's. Heavy and not my department.

I am decorating a cake with my bestie today for her sons birthday. Slightly nervous because it is a Mario Bros. theme and well, I am not sure how talented we are to be honest. I guess I will take pictures of it and if we fail.....Costco cakes are $15 right?

blogger fast

Not really, but it feels like I have been fasting from blogging. I have been coming to terms with the impending human that I am harboring. It was not real to me until last week when we had and ultrasound and I saw a heartbeat. Wowza, I am really doing this. I truly thought that we were done with the baby stage. I sold or gave away everything that I had collected over the years. Chris is totally stoked. I have never seen him so excited about us having a child. He is treating me like a princess (rightly so).
When I am pregnant I feel incredibly special. I had forgotten this a bit. I love having a baby inside and eagerly await the feeling of him/her kicking. Rivaling a close second is the nursing piece. Love love. So excited for these things.

Current likes/ passions:

Family time/ game night
Eclipse.....its out!
Meat
Anything fried lately
Bruno Mars
Crossview
Small group
Superwoman/ supergirl (lol)
my droid phone
my three girls
my friends
zumba
chocolate
the baby!
our home, very blessed
couponing
Christmas shopping
Craft Warehouse

Black Friday

So, yesterday was the BEST black friday I have ever sported through. We did not start till 6am, which is a bit late for us, but wowza it paid off in spades. The lines were non existent, products we were after were still there, and no drama going on around me. So this could mean one of three things:
1. Starting an hour later really makes a huge difference!
2. The icy roads will keeps shoppers home.
or
3. The economy is so horrid that people were simply not out spending yesterday.

I hope it was one of the first two. I know that rule #3 did not apply to Toy'R'US as C worked from 9-1am "babysitting" the shoppers. Some people straight up cut the line while others were waiting for hours. C totally told them to "do the right thing"! Love it! Love him, he is hilarious! I got some good deals. I really didnt see amazing things in the ads to be honest. My highlight was eating at Famous Daves and watching the movie Unstoppable. Very suspensful!

4

I know not many people read my blog so here is the scuttle butt (as my MIL would say). Im pregnant, knocked up, harboring a human, have a bun in the oven, am "with child" . Chris and I are expecting the next addition to our family in June or July. I will know more details next week and update then. Here are some answers for the questions that are now coming to your mind:

Q: I thought you were done.?
A: We were, God had a different plan. This is our unexpected blessing!

Q: Are you excited?
A: Yes~!

Q: How are the girls doing with the news?
A: Are you kidding? They are three little mama's. They are thrilled to say the least. The only quam with it all is that Leilani wants to maintain the rank of "baby". I will get back to you on how that all pans out.

Q: Will you move to a bigger house?
A: Not sure. We are always looking but would love to be able to stay in our neighborhood and in our little home.

Q: Are you crazy?
A: Most certainly.

Q: How is Chris dealing?
A: Honestly, he has been amazing. More endearing and excited than I have ever seen him when I am "with child".

Q: Will you find out what you are having?
A: Have you met Chris and I? There is no way we could wait to know, far too impatient.

Q: How are you (me) doing?
A: Blessed. Hard to explain my feelings right now. I feel extremely blessed to be given this opportunity again. I will say that I am a bit guarded in my excitement. Since this was a surprise to me, I dont completely believe it. For those of you who know me, I am a planner. So when there was this new plan, I dont completely believe it. Next week I should get to hear the heartbeat and I will be real to me then. I grieved being done with children for the last two years. For the most part I was not wanting another (tho there were times) but truly just grieving never getting to feel a baby inside me again. Never nursing another little infant. Never getting up at all hours of the night with a newborn (was happy but still grieved that one). Anywho, I had litterally just moved to a place where I was at peace with this stuff. And now I will be a mother again. Praise God for entrusting me with another life. I am sure blessed.

So, there is the news. I will post on facebook about this after my first appointment next week. Prayers for health and safety would be greatly appreciated.
Jaimie and MB (mystery baby)

Safeway Coupon Book Scandal

So about a week and a half ago there was an amazing coupon book that came out at Safeway stores. This book had tons of manufacturers coupons in it and my couponers heart went pitter pat at the thought of doubling these great things. Well, some couponers (no names mentioned) (mainly becuase I dont have their names because I would so call them out) ruined for the rest of us because they went in and grabbed handfuls of books at a time. This left none for the rest of us when we went to get the books.

Safeway was quite miffed when they caught on to what was happening. They even said people had "stolen" the book. Not sure, but I am pretty sure that taking something "free" cant be called stealing, but who am I? Anywho, I got one book before they ran out. My couponer compadre and I continued to check back at Safeway and see if they had gotten any books in but to no avail. Stink. And the people at Safeway were even a bit rude about it. Oh well.

Well last week my friends husband texted her a link that said, " Run to not walk to Safeway and get your coupon book now." So we did just that. Left everything and went to get the books. Well, when we got there they did not have any. So we called said husband back and he had looked at an old post, so he had sent us on a wild goose chase. We will not name names here either, but I will say that said husbands name rhymes with Gone Barker. Im just sayin'.

Fastforward to my friends husband who works in Pendelton (same as above). He was terrified of us and rightly so. In an effort to redeem himself he brought a surprise home. Guess what is NOT pillaged at Safeway in Pendelton.....coupon books. So he scored us some and we continued on our merry way. AND, the local Safeways now have the coupon books in but are limiting people to one each and you have to go to customer service to procure it. Worth it!

So, today I used said coupon books and got:

4 Fudge Brownie Mixes

12 cans of Green Giant Vegetables

10 jars of Ragu sauce

for

$3 OOP, killer deal

I had to reorganize my pantry to accomodate such purchases but praise God for "problems" like that. I am really blessed!

Retro Repost: Rules of Black Friday!

It is almost that time of year again. BLACK FRIDAY. Be still my heart. The women of my family love this day and practically treat it as a sport. Here are the rules that I came up with a couple years ago after some mega frustrating experiences:

1. Do not buy things that are not on sale. They will be there tomorrow and there is no reason to stand in long lines for stuff like that.

2. Do not get a cart unless your purchase calls for it. they are too big to maneuver and in large crowds you end up with a traffic jam situation.

3. Decide who will be the place holder upon entering the store. Put that person in line and then go get what you need and bring it to them. Warn the other shoppers around you that you are merely a placeholder and others will be bringing their stuff to you. People are usually cool with you doing this.

4. Cut the weak link from the herd. If you give people fair warning about where you are in the line progression and they do not make it back by the time you are at checkout....leave them. They need to just fend for themselves. Brutal, I know.

5. For the love, if you have a cart take it with you. Do not leave it in the middle of an aisle. Nothing drives me more crazy than people who detach from the cart for a side conversation thus causing a traffic jam. Costco shoppers are notorious for this.

6. If you are not sure if you want to buy the on sale item, get it anyway and bring it back if you change your mind. At least you will have gotten it at the sale price if you decide to keep it.

7. NEW RULE! (Thanks Kelly) Sweet mercy people, if you cant find childcare for black Friday, dont go. I hate few things more than seeing little children out in the cold at 0"dark hundred with their parents. And on a harsh note, I dont want to hear you children screaming at 4am and you being a horrible parent to them at that hour....well ever. Stay home!