Boss Lady Blog

Shopping Like A True Northwest Mom

sabrina — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:25:08 +0100

I would love to be a thrifty shopper, but it’s just not in my jeans. (not a typo). I have however finally found something that I think is going to help me!

One of my Northwest mom friends (at heart) just set me a link to an awesome blog. It’s titled thrifty NW mom and this is the mission: Bargains, coupons and money-saving tips for the Northwest and beyond!

I’ve got to say I come across pretty neat bargains sometimes, but this lady has them all! She seems to be the first in the know and so I’ve become a follower so I can glean these many wonderful shopping bargains. :) I already feel like I’ve saved lots of money and I’ve only used 2 of the deals.

Here are the deals I just got:

FREE Veggie Tales DVD (well almost free, it’s 2.99 for shipping)

$15 credit at the Kodak Gallery…I got a really cute photo ornament for $2.99 (shipping).

Well I just thought you all should know about my savings…let’s see…

Regular price Veggie Tales DVD $15.00 minus $3.00 shipping = $12.00

$15 credit minus $3.00 shipping = $12.00

So I saved $24.00 today….or as Luke would put it I spent $6.00 I might not have otherwise spent today…BUT did I mention I saved $24.00?!

I think I did good. AND did I mention I didn’t have to leave my house in the rain to get these deals? What do you think baby Alyssa? Yes, we did good shopping from home today!

When you wake up in the morning and (it’s Halloween)

sabrina — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:53:21 +0100

it’s a quarter to two, you brush your teeth, chch a chch, chch a chch, you bruch your teeth…AND then you then carve your pumpkins! (you have to be a mom to get that joke/song-sorry it’s corny)

We hadn’t gotten around to carving pumpkins yet so I decided that I better get it done TODAY (Halloween) because the Trick or Treater’s needed some welcoming decorations on our porch.

Evan woke up with a fever so while he took his 4 1/2 hour nap(!) Alyssa and I carved pumpkins. Apparently (from the expression on my face) it was serious business.

As you can tell from the look on her face she was not really into the whole messiness of the pumpkin carving.

She did eventually stick her hand almost in the pumpkin, but did not like the slimy texture when her hand hit the top of the pumpkin goo.

She was however pretty interested in my hand touching the pumpkin gooiness.

I attempted to make an Elmo face, but my pumpkin was damaged and not cooperative and so instead I made one that turned out looking a little like Evan and then I also attempted to make a butterfly…I’ll do better next year. :)

Later in the afternoon we took the kids downtown Duvall to Trick or Treat on Main Street. Alyssa had lots of fun, but we mostly kept Evan in the stroller. It was sort of sad to watch Alyssa see the “scary kids” dressed up in scary masks, etc. She would just stare at them and at one point she grabbed onto my leg and said “Mommy! Scarry! Scarry!” Uh, so sad I hated that part of it. I tried for the most part to shield her from the scary costumes, but you can only do so much when they are all around you. Here are a few cute pictures of us walking around downtown Duvall.

We picked the perfect time to arrive downtown. There was a short break in the rain for the EXACT time we arrived to Trick or Treat! It was awesome!

Most of the stores gave out candy, but there were a couple of places that gave out more. The Duvall Bookstore gave out books! How awesome is that! And the Teressa's Bakery gave out apple fritters and brownies! Yumm! Serendipity Photography, the local photographer, had the studio all dolled up for Halloween and took pictures of the kids in the studio! We pick them up on Friday, I can’t wait to see them. There was even a lady that was dressed up in this huge apron with lots of tiny pockets. She gave Evan a little stuffed animal toy, he was pretty stoked about that.

When we arrived home we took a few pictures…we had to bribe them with candy to smile. I guess it was a fitting bribe for Halloween!

The painted pumpkin below is from our outing to Luke’s work yesterday. The kids dressed up to Trick or Treat at the different eateries in the Common’s and they also had a few fun activities for the kids to do, one which included painting a pumpkin. We forgot to bring our camera! But my the other Microsoft couple we went with took their camera so I’ll have to get those pictures from my friend Stephanie. They also had a professional photographer taking pictures and I’m excited to see that picture too. It has all for of us in it. They actually were supposed to print the pictures and give them to you within an hour, but the printer ran out of ink, so they have to get us the picture on Monday…what’s up with that, ran out of ink?! Makes me laugh.

Alyssa’s Aunt Ashley made her Trick or Treat bag. It’s really super cute. It’s made of Minute Maid drink pouches! She has made a bunch of different kinds (wallets and larger purses) and they are all super cute. Most are lined with matching fabric, cute buttons & ribbon. If you are interested in one let me know and I’ll give you her information. :) Alyssa loves this purse and I’m really glad it’s made of plastic so I can wipe it all down when she has finished off her candy! I went to move it earlier and it’s all sticky from her candy hands. gross.

As for costumes. Alyssa received this frilly skirt, wings & hair bow for her birthday and although she is in love with Cinderella, we decided that since for now she does not even know that Cinderella costumes exist, we’d just have her wear what we already have and know she loves wearing! I’m sure that everything will be different in picking out a costume next year. Most people thought Evan was a frog, but nope, he was a turtle. My sister allowed me to borrow it for Evan this year. I’ll have to get a picture of him crawling in it, it’s really cute. The costume also has cute feet slippers, but they kept falling off so we didn’t put them on because we didn’t want to loose them while we were out.

My how they have changed in just one year!

We didn’t really have any hard core rules about candy this year. We let her have a reasonable amount AND she shared a reasonable amount with us- hehe. Luke and Alyssa went through all the candy (that is, all that was not previously eaten during the course of today) and counted up 23 pieces. And I will admit that several times throughout this evening Luke and I looked at Alyssa and then at each other and laughed. Yep, candy does really make kids hyper! We have some of her Halloween candy craziness on video, it’s hilarious. We’ll have to post it soon.

And like last year, the night ended with Alyssa on the kitchen floor, except this year she opted for candy over grapes!

Cereal

sabrina — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:11:34 +0100

Quote of the Day:

Scene: Luke is sitting at the table feeding himself and Alyssa a bowl of cereal meanwhile also holding Evan and feeding him raisins. When he looks away to feed Evan a raisin Alyssa takes the discarded plastic milk tab from the newly opened milk carton and dipps it into the milk in Luke’s cereal.

Luke (annoyed): “Alyssa stop sticking stuff in my cereal!”

Sabrina sits across the table watching and laughing.

Watching the Grass Grow

sabrina — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:14:02 +0100

We’re coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my Island Living blog post. I’m sure you won’t need to reference it as you have all my old blogs memorized. ;)

Quick summary:

It rained

We found a cute little pond in our backyard

The pond came into our bedroom, not so cute anymore

New Carpet

Begun the adventures of LANDSCAPING

Thus bringing you current…we’re still on the landscaping part. Here are some recap pictures. I’ll try to make it entertaining. ;)

Once upon a time in a far off place…I mean, it all began a long long time ago.

NOVEMBER 2008

Excavator…………………………..french drain……………………………Easter dirt hill

Boring pictures of the yard…humor me this is for my parents. It gets better…

Random man standing on 22 Tons of rock…wait is that my husband? Who’s that midget in the purple? 22Tons really? How much did that cost? A Ton! lol, I crack myself up, I know Carrie is laughing at least, she likes “corny” jokes.

APRIL 2009

Excavator man (AKA our awesome neighbor!)

May 2009

Deer in our backyard (yes, I did have to include the deer)

On to Luke’s favorite part of the landscaping….Rock Raking!

He’s like, I hate rock raking…I wish Alyssa was older.

Take notice of the picture below it’s going to look so different in a a few scrolls…

Such cuties. This is how girls rake rocks, with their leg tilted out and arm extended.

I have a rake! It’s plastic and is absolutely useless, but it’s awesome!

SEPTEMBER 2009

This is Luke right before he made a “dirt angel” in that pile of mulch. It was awesome. I think we have it on video.

Luke attempting to make wheel barrowing rocks fun….good job honey, doing good.

Awwwww, look how nice that looks. :) Rakes and mulch can do wonders huh? :) lol

Okay here comes the grass…….

Day 7 after planting seed:

Day 8 - We were surprised how much it grew in just a couple of hours.

Day 15

OCTOBER 2009

Day 18…and we’re done. :)

There are a few holes, but we’ll patch them up with seed and they’ll be like new. :)

Thanks for sticking in there, good job, it wasn’t that boring was it? Parents, see we can grow pretty children and pretty grass! Same amount of effort, nice results. :)

Kirby How I Love Thee, Yet I Don’t Own Thee

sabrina — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:09:56 +0100

I SO want a Kirby vacuum cleaner. But sheesh, do they have to be so expensive?!

I heard through the Microsoft employee Duvall email list that the Kirby sales team was in town. I was so excited! Since I heard this news, it’s been about 2 months. I was beginning to think they had skipped over our house…but then he arrived. And boy was it an experience.

My friend Stepfanie, a Kirby owner, happened to be over at my house hanging out when he arrived. Stepfanie and I opened the door to the beginning of the sales pitch and when he said something about Kirby I interrupted with,

“OH! I’ve been waiting for you to arrive! I totally want a Kirby, but I can’t get one right now. But definitely come back in 2 years and then I think I can totally buy one from you!”

I’m not sure if it was my interruptive comment that freaked him out or the fact that Luke had just arrived home from work and given him the “Who is this man in my driveway” look. Luke said the guy had this surprised look in his eye when he realized the man who had just stared him down lived in the very house he was approaching with his sales pitch. I have to give him credit for still going ahead with his sales pitch.

But with all the commotion he started to stutter and my SLP radar went off.

He started 3-4 times to tell me about this trip he was trying to earn and that this was his first day, yada, yada, yada. I started to feel really bad, but with Luke home there was no way he would be allowed in to do a demonstration. Sorry guy, you just chose the wrong time to come. Husbands & Kirby’s don’t get along, it’s the whole small loan thing for a vacuum cleaner. But give me a couple of years and I think I can save enough money to get one! I almost wanted to see if he would trade a few speech therapy sessions for one! That would have been awesome. If he had only come a half hour sooner, my friend and I would have been suckers for his demonstration! hehe

Credit Card Declined

sabrina — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:51:15 +0100

How much do you never want to hear those words come from a cashier making eye contact with you?!

I was at Old Navy returning something…yes Grandma, I know big surprise. haha

The cashier asked me if I would like my return in cash or back on my debit card. I chose debit card because I didn’t need the cash. He ran my card then looked straight into my eyes and said those frightful words, “I’m sorry your card has been declined.” An earlier conversation popped into my head:

When I told Luke I was going shopping to buy a gift for $100 he said jokingly said, “Oh bummer, we only have $98 in our checking account.” I smiled and said “I’ll just use our American Express card then.” “Oh, bummer, we only have $98 left on our credit too.”

So when this happened I was thinking? Was he serious?!

Then reality hit me and although this was impossible for my card to be declined I gave the cashier a funny look, said “really?! for a return? Is that possible?” He shrugged and didn’t say much. I handed him my American Express card and asked him to put it on that card instead. He swiped it and said “I’m sorry this card has also been declined.”

Seriously?! He just stood there looking at me straight in the face.

I was trying to keep my cool, but there was another customer standing by and I’m pretty sure all he heard was that my card was being declined. I took off my coat to cool my recent flash sweat that swept over me. Then I asked him to get a manager.

The manager arrived and said, “Oh, this happened a few weeks ago too, just give her cash.” What does that mean?!

There was no remorse for embarrassing me or stating clearly that it was their machines that were messing up. All the while my kids were in the cart making a ruckus so I just promptly took my cash and left.

I go home and tell my neighbor, Melissa 2, this story. She responds with an equally crazy story. It goes something like this.

She is out to dinner at a local sit down restaurant with her family and an older couple that they are acquaintances with. They get to the end of the meal and the waiter brings her card and the check back and says those frightful words, “I’m sorry your card has been declined.” She is of course flabbergasted, but is also quick on her feet so she attempts to laugh it off and say that she’s sure she has another card that will work. MEANWHILE this acquaintance couple offers to pay for their meal. So now she is really feeling embarrassed. A few more seconds go by and THEN the waiter hands her her check and card and says, “Oh, I was just kidding.” WHAT?! Just kidding? Seriously? She said that they were so busy talking with that other couple that they hadn’t even made small talk with the waiter, so this joke was just out of the blue. That is so not funny.

Do you have a similar story? Do share!

3rd Annual Moldy Pumpkin Patch

sabrina — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:40:25 +0100

We did it again.

We waited until the last week to venture to the pumpkin patch.

We had good intentions of getting pumpkins a few weeks ago when we were at the corn maze, but you heard how that turned out.

This was one of the first non-rainy day since, so we jumped on the chance to go.

We walked and walked (sound familiar?) until we finally found a pumpkin big enough for the kids to sit on that was NOT moldy! lol

Evan was by far the most photogenic. He wins the Foust family photo award today! These are the first few pictures we have of him that has him smiling WITHOUT his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He’s sporting 4 teeth now…Luke enduringly calls him “my little molerat.” And what a cute one at that.

Here’s our attempt at a picture of the both of them! LOL, so funny, ah well.

Alyssa’s hair is so crazy because it was in pigtails, but she pulled them out right before we arrived.

Can you see all of the moldy pieces of pumpkins in the background?! hehe

On the ride home Luke gave Evan an apple to gnaw on to keep him entertained. This is his new thing, he loves to eat apples! When we got home Luke was carrying him in and talking about his apple. Then Evan started to say “Apple!” He has actually said apple before, but he hasn’t said it in a while and now it sounds totally different than the way he used to say it. Here’s the video: (Oh and near the end you can actually hear him saying it and not Alyssa!)

Twilight Saga and Beyond

sabrina — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:53:58 +0100

My lovely friend Christa, an avid reader and writer of young adult literature, recently started a blog of book reviews for young readers.

I love the purpose of her website:

"To give reading recommendations and appropriate caution for readers who desire to honor God with what they put before their eyes."

She's done a fabulous job with the reviews and I highly recommend you add her to your bookmarks or blogroll…especially if you have young readers in your household and don’t have time to pre-read books your kids want to read.

I know the Twilight Series are VERY popular and she has great reviews of them, her newest review is of Breaking Dawn.

Her site is called: YA For The Wise

http://yaforthewise.blogspot.com/

What you will find on her site:

1. A accurate rating of the book (remember the ratings are targeted for young adult readers)

2. Summary & breakdown of specific questionable details about the book

It’s A Muffin!

sabrina — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:37:49 +0100

Luke and Alyssa watching a movie:

Alyssa: Woah! It’s a muffin!

Luke: No, it’s actually a jellyfish

Alyssa: Oh Jelly…fish

Marry, Mary

sabrina — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:31:28 +0100

I was reading Cinderella to Alyssa…once again.

We got to the end of the book and I said, “Then the prince married Cinderella…”

Alyssa: Who’s Mary?! Where’s the Married?