Family Musings

How to Save Money with Coupons - Part 2

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:50:00 +0000

How to Save Money with Coupons - Part 1

Before I go on with the how's of saving money, I'd like to address the very important "why" of saving money. If you will, please allow me some liberty as I re-write on of my favorite passages of scripture, 1 Corinthians 13.1-3.

If I speak in the tongues of coupons and of sales, but have not love, I am only a squeaky cart or a clanging cash register. If I have the gift of savings and can fathom all FLIPs and all sales ads, and if I have a stockpile the size of a mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my stash to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

You see, it does us me no good to spend $8 for $100 worth of groceries if there is no love in ~~our~~ my heart. It does me no good to have 40 cans of green beans, 28 boxes of cereal, and 10 tubes of toothpaste, if I don't also have a giving heart to go along with it.

We are clearly taught by the Bible to be good stewards of our money. This is so that God might be glorified when the world sees that we value God more highly than money or possessions. God receives no glory when we stack coupons so others might see how clever we are with our manufacture, store, peelie, blinkie, and competitor coupons. Instead, God is glorified when we "coupon" in a way that points people to Him.

We are also taught to have a generous spirit. No longer do we live in a time when giving 10% is sufficient. The New Testament calls us to a higher standard, to give sacrificially, regardless of the percentage of income. This means different things to different budgets. Some can give 90% and live off of the remaining 10%. Some might find that giving sacrificially means giving just 5% of their income. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, if you do it without a generous spirit than your gift is not honorable to God.

One way I can give generously using my couponing abilities is to stock up on expensive health and beauty items when they are on sale and I have coupons. Just recently, our church had a missions conference and as one of our local missions projects, toiletry bags were made up for the local men's shelter. Here is a picture of the items I was able to donate. I could have never afforded to buy these at full price, which is at least $50. Instead, I was able to shop wisely and estimate that I spent no more than $5 on all of these items.

You see, saving money in and of itself isn't good enough. Bragging at the end of the year that you saved 92% based on the numbers at the bottom of the receipt isn't sufficient reason to do all of this. Spending so much time clipping coupons that you can't make time for your friends and family is not wise.

Therefore, while I encourage you to spend your money wisely and be a good steward of this resource God has given you (no matter how little or how much you have), I doubly encourage you to see how you can honor God with this skill. Consider using the money you save to support a missionary. Or pass along your surplus to local shelters and food pantries. In this way, we can make "couponing" an endeavor worthy of our calling as Christians.

Whether you eat or drink (or coupon), or whatever you do,

do all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

Giveaway: Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:04:00 +0000

You might have seen these at your store recently and wondered if they were any good. You might have also thought, gee, those are kind of expensive. Well, let me tell you, they are very good if you are looking for a crunchy snack, but they don't have to be expensive. Especially when you can win some for free right here! (Plus there is a $1 printable coupon available online).

You could win the same gift set I was sent (see picture below) just by following the instructions below. Included in the gift set are 1 full size sample of each of 4 flavors, 1 pair of binoculars, 1 stainless steel water bottle, 1 super cool flashlight (just ask Charlotte if you want to know how cool it is), and 1 backpack (that doubles as a great small diaper bag)).

How to Enter: There are four ways to enter and you can do any of them you like, for up to four entries:

Leave a comment telling me you want to win,
Subscribe to my RSS feed, and leave a 2nd comment telling me you did so, or already are subscribed,
Link to my giveaway on your own blog, leaving another comment with the permalink to you post, or
Share this giveaway on Twitter and leave a 5th comment letting me know you did (copy & paste this suggested text: Win a Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters Gift Pack from @FamilyMusings http://bit.ly/thQEx)

That's it. 4 ways to win and 1 lucky winner. This giveaway will end at midnight on Sunday, November15. Read all contest rules here.

Don't miss any of my upcoming giveaways -
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Sponsored by My Blog Spark

Do you feel lonely?

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:50:00 +0000

It seems I've really been confronted lately how lonely it can feel to be a SAHM and with how hard it is to develop deep, meaningful friendships as an adult. There aren't many places to meet other people if you are a SAHM. After all, work outside of the home is the primary time consumer of most adults. So while the rest of the world has a built in place to make friends, SAHMs spend most of their time with the knee-high to a grass-hopper set.

And while our children can be joyful and entertaining, they aren't yet able to discuss the most recent elections, the pastor's Sunday sermon, or what is happening in the neighborhood in the same way as a fellow adult can.

Personally, since I've moved to Lakeland, I've started to make close friendships with two other SAHMs. Unfortunately, they both moved out of state within 6 months of us really beginning to connect. And, while I keep up with both of them through Facebook and our respective blogs, it just isn't the same as sitting next to one of them on the park bench while our kids go down the slide together.

Though some days I feel like my life borders lonely-town, I'm not totally lonely. I have MOPs, my blog (and all you wonderful commenters), the ladies in my adult Bible Study at church, and a playgroup that I am involved in. Each of these groups/things/people help to keep me connected to something other than Sprout or Nick Jr.

But yet, something is missing.

I need a best mom friend. Someone who maybe has parented a toddler or is in the midst of it and understands how it feels to count the seconds until the husband walks in the front door after a particularly trying day. Someone who believes that home should be a warm, inviting place even if there are granola bar crumbs on the floor and the furniture hasn't seen a feather duster in six months.

Fellow moms, I know I am not alone with my questions. Remember how I said this issue has been coming up a lot lately? Well, I received the following statistics in a recent email from Mom Central Consulting.

A surprising majority of Moms (60%) feel lonely and unsupported in their day-to-day lives and turn online to form new friendships based on shared interests, life events and parenting support.
4 out of 5 Moms feel they lack enough friends in their lives.
40% report not having a best friend.
60% of Moms have made new online friends by connecting around shared passions, life stories, and parenting issues.
Over 30% have turned the connection into a lasting offline friendship.
1 in 3 Moms report feeling able to share things with online friends that they do not share with offline friends. (To view the complete results of this study, click here.)

I can personally relate to all of these statistics, especially the last one. It just seems easier some times to write my thoughts down here on in a Facebook status update and send them out into cyber space. I don't expect anyone to respond so there is no risk of personal rejection. Whereas, if I sat down, face to face with someone, and shared these same lonely feelings, I might get rebuffed or create discomfort in the person I am talking too.

So here's my question -

How do you find a best friend? How far out there do I need to put myself before someone will be willing to reciprocate with their own feelings and dreams and troubles?

Yoplait Giveaway Winner

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0000

I completely blanked that I had a giveaway back in the beginning of September (might have something to do with the birth of Mary about that time!).

So, tonight, I asked Random.org to find a winner for me:

True Random Number Generator

Min: Max:

Result: 56

And the winner is Blakesmom, who shares that her snacking weakness is ice cream. I know my husband can relate to that, especially if it is cookies and cream flavored!

Congratulations Cherice. Make sure you send me your mailing address so we can get your prize pack out to you as soon as possible.

My Mom's Scrapbook - Part 13

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:19:00 +0000

We are now at the end of my journey through the scrapbook my mom made for me as a bridal shower gift some 11 1/2 years ago. Here are the last two pages from my wonderful book and they are all about my husband, Bruce.

You can see there was a time when he actually had hair, and I had bangs! Yikes! What was I thinking?

Bruce and I went on a lot of dates to Disney because it was free (his dad works there) and there were a wide variety of things to do. One thing we rarely did though was go out to eat. I can count on the 2 fingers the number of times Bruce took me to eat at a restaurant (not counting meals at Disney). Yep folks, 2 times. That is all it took to court me. And, one of those times was the night he proposed. We went to Chili's. Yummy.

Since one of the reasons I am sharing the scrapbook here is to tell some of the back story to the pages my mom put together, I thought it would be interesting to share how Bruce and I met. Bruce is a way better story tell (he really should write this blog, ya'll!), so I asked him to tell the story in his own words:

Jennifer's mom was a substitute teacher at our high school, and I used to avoid school work by chatting it up with subs. One day, I was talking with a sub about my other classes and she said her daughter was in my world history honors course.

It wasn't until the start of the new semester, when our teacher Dr. Vossler, forced us all to move to new seats in the classroom, that I actually met Jennifer. I ended up sitting near her. I was like, "Hey, I met your mom." And Jennifer was like, "Argh." And I was like, "We're gonna get married one day." And she was like, "Are you making fun of me?" And I was like, "No, and by the way, did you know that I astral-project myself to another planet sometimes?" And she was like, "There's something about this guy that I like." And the rest was like history--in history class.

Yep. He said "astral-project." And he wonders why I wasn't immediately throwing myself at his feet to get married. Maybe someday I'll get him to write out the rest of the story so I can make sure my corrections to it are preserved for posterity.

Mary's Midday Naps

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:32:00 +0000

Sorry for my longish absence from Family Musings. I've been busy with play, Facebooking, therapy, and napping. There are so many things I want to share but when I sit down to write them out, my brain is too tired to make them, funny, clever, or sometimes, even intelligible.

So in the mean time, while you wait for me to get my act together, I'll just share this picture of Mary taking her midday nap today.

And yes, I normally put her on her tummy on the floor for this nap. Don't all babies nap peacefully on the floor?

Delicious Moments Facebook Contest

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Guess what! I am one of 15 finalists in the Delicious Moments video Facebook Contest. That means if I get enough votes, I will win $10,000 towards a dream family vacation. And you can help. Would you please go to http://apps.facebook.com/delicious-moments/ and vote for my video? My video is titled "The Truth." And that is what you will see on my video - the brutally honest truth about what I would probably do with an extra 30 minutes in my day.

You only get to vote 1 time in this contest, which ends on November 9th. And you will need a Facebook account. If you vote for me, I promise to send you a postcard while I am on my dream vacation... just make sure you tell me that you voted for me so I know who my friends are. :)

Time For New Clothes

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:24:00 +0000

Charlotte has been wearing size 18 month clothing since she was about 20 months old. She has always been on the tiny side so I didn't anticipate moving her out of those clothes for quite some time. And that time is now. Not because she gained a lot of weight, but because she is getting taller and well, her head is getting bigger

Yep. Big surprise there. I am raising a daughter with a big head. I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with all of the people in her life who tell her how smart she is. That can't be it.

She won't tolerate pulling tight shirts over her head very well so I have no pictures of that, but I can show you that she is getting taller.

First piece of evidence:

When she first wore this outfit at 20 months, it dragged on the ground. Now, well, yeah, you can see for yourself.

And as an aside... I was planning this post yesterday because I have finally switched Charlotte into her 24 month wardrobe (except for some pants, she still has an itsy-bisty waist). While working on that project, I had few gifts for Mary to put away, including some clothing. I thought I was all done when I found one more outfit. Since I didn't feel like getting the 9 month clothing box out, I just put it on top of the dresser to deal with later.

Then, this morning, when Charlotte came down stairs, all I could do was laugh.

Because Bruce thought the new 9-month outfit was Charlotte's new pajamas. And they fit!

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:19:00 +0000

I don't normally link to giveaways on other blogs, but this one I'd have to link to even if I didn't earn an entry.

The creator of Grosgrain Fabulous is an amazing costume designer and this year, for Halloween, designed a Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set.

You have to see it to believe it!

Really, go take a look.

And remember, when you see pictures of Charlotte's scrubs costume (unless we win the Grosgrain giveaway of course), don't laugh. Please.

Twins???

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:25:00 +0000

I've thought since the beginning that Mary was the spitting image of Charlotte when Charlotte was a newborn. And several people who were around for Charlotte's early months agree. What do you think? Which baby is in the first picture and which in the second?

Update on Mary's Therapy with Pictures

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:50:00 +0000

I must be a mom-blogger. Because I took my camera to therapy today so I could get pictures of Mary with her physical and speech therapists, just so I could put them on my blog.

Well that, and this blog is my scrapbook of their lives because I just don't have time nor space for a lot of stickers and paper.

Mary had her first actual physical therapy session this morning, after the evaluation on Monday. Antoinette (pictured left) is her lovely physical therapist and she seems to really enjoy Mary. Below are some pictures of the various exercises she does with Mary's tiny body. Mary's arms are stretched and her joints are flexed. The basic treatment idea for hypotonis, as I understand it, is to provide sensory input to Mary's nerves and muscles to "wake them up" so to speak.

Antoinette has also recommended we had a second physical therapy session to our weekly schedule. So we are going to try that and see if it helps her improve. I also learned today that at some point the sessions will become more hands on for me and that I'll spend more time learning new exercises and stretches as well as practicing our current ones.

Nikki, whom I've mentioned before, is the speech therapist we've been seeing since Mary was 9 days old. Obviously, we are not dealing with whether or not Mary can talk yet, but anything related to the mouth falls under her treatment umbrella. She too works to stimulate the nerves and muscles in Mary's mouth. While my stated therapy goal (on the intake paperwork) is exclusive breastfeeding, I've been learning that addressing Mary's hyptonia from an oral perspective is also about making her ready for eating solid foods and for speech. I want my girls to learn sign language, but not because they can't talk!

Here is an analogy to understand how Mary's mouth is working right now. Have you ever ever realized how much work our cheeks do to keep the food in between the teeth. I hadn't. Think about the last time you had dental work and they numbed your mouth. Remember how hard it is to eat while you are still numb? How food spills out of your mouth and you can't really control it. Well, that is how it is for Mary, sort of. I mean, she isn't eating solid food, but her tongue, cheek, and jaw muscles have a hard time moving the milk to the back of her mouth for swallowing.

In the pictures below Nikki is stretching Mary's cheek and then providing stimulation to the inside of her mouth. In the third picture is the reward - Mary's sucking on Nikki's finger. I'll be adding the use of a dental stimulator (think baby toothbrush, like the kind that fits on the end of your finger) to our own at home sessions as well.

Nikki and I had a hard conversation today about whether or not to pursue exclusive breastfeeding as Mary's therapy goal or just stick with the bottle. The conversation isn't finished yet and I still have a lot of thinking to do. Also, of course, I need to talk to Bruce about our therapy goals because I am not raising Mary in a vacuum. My whole family is affected by these decisions.

In no way was Nikki discouraging towards my initial stated goal of exclusive breastfeeding. But I think she is trying to guide me towards a more realistic understanding of what may or may not be possible for Mary in the short term. She encouraged me to take this decision week by week for now. And we also discussed some new techniques for encouraging Mary to latch and develop positive associations with the breast.

Zombie Painter???

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Nah, no zombies here... just a little girl happy to be painting a bird house for Daddy.

For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit

5 Minutes for Mom
Extraordinary Mothers
Momspective
Look What Mom Found
Wordless Wednesday
7 Clown Circus - Wordful Wednesday
Ordinary and Awesome - Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Hypotonia and Micrognathia

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:12:00 +0000

It has been a few weeks since I posted an update about Mary. In that time, we have continued to visit a speech therapist once a week as well as practicing some oral exercises at home to strengthen her mouth muscles.

Additionally, Mary went to her one-month well baby visit. At that visit, the doctor diagnosed her with hypotonia, which basically means she has low-tone in her muscles. This results in delayed milestones and possibly delayed speech. We really won't know what affect, if any, this could have on Mary for the long term. The doctor also gave us an additional referral for physical therapy and we followed through on that just a few days later.

The physical therapy (PT) evaluation went well and I was happy to confirm that Mary has just a mild case of hyptonia. We don't know the cause (and may never), but we do believe that with additional exercises, time, and motivation, this is something that we can over come. For those of you who know and love Mary, please don't stress yourself out trying to Google hypotonia. It won't make you feel good and could put dread in your heart about what might never be. We are just going to take this one day at a time and since Mary isn't supposed to roll over, crawl, or walk yet, we are still right on track. :)

For now then, we are visiting a speech and a physical therapist once a week and augmenting that at home with techniques designed to wake up the nerves in Mary's body. We do cheek pinches and stretches, tongue tickling, joint compressions, and I'll be adding baby massage this week as well.

Some of you will be wondering about Mary's nursing too. As of right now, she isn't. I am still pumping 7-9 times a day and giving her breast milk in a bottle. She still dribbles milk when she is tired (from working to drink) and we've had no success breastfeeding yet. I've tried a nipple shield several times, but, even after manual compressions to get let down, it is too much work for her. Coming straight to the breast to nurse has had better results so far, but still no real latching or nutritive sucking.

Oh, and the other diagnosis Mary received was micrognathia. Basically, this means the doctor feels her jaw is smaller than expected for the size of her head. No treatment for this, and we expect her jaw to catch up with the rest of her by puberty. (I don't think this will affect nursing though based on my online reading.)

I probably won't have much to say about this unless I get cranky and need to whine about full-time, exclusive pumping. That is tiring. But it is a small thing to ensure that Mary has the food that God designed specifically for her.

My Mom's Scrapbook - Part 12

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:50:00 +0000

College! While my mom didn't actually come to college with me, she managed to know all my friends names and favorite foods, and made sure to include them in this scrapbook that she gave me and that I am now sharing here.

The group of friends I had in college were great. Actually, they still are! In this first picture, I can say that I am still in touch with all but 3 of the people in it. After 11 years I think that is pretty good. Though, I have Facebook to thank for that. Without Facebook I would't know where at least 2 of them were.

You may be wondering what BSU stands for. No, it isn't the initials of my college. BSU stands for Baptist Student Union, the student organization I spent the most amount of time with during my days at the U. And that girl next to me, her name is Amy. She went on to become the Maid of Honor at my wedding. And then we lost touch. And now we are back in touch. Thanks Facebook!

I was surrounded by talented people in college. Some of them got together and formed a music group called "Sincerely His." I think they mostly did covers, but were working on some of their own music when they had creative differences and broke up. Now, if any of you former Sincerely His members are reading this and I got it wrong, let me know.

Just before my Sophomore year of college, on my way home from South Dakota, I stopped in North Carolina to attend the national BSU meeting at Ridgecrest. Pictured with me is my friend Dracey. She practically lived in my dorm room for the second half of my freshman year and then we went on to become roommates in the upstairs apartment of the BSU building. Sadly, we had too much of a good thing, and like many friendships hit some rough patches. But now, we are friends again and I am excited to share that Dracey is going to become a momma real soon!

(A group shot of the Miami BSU on a mountain in North Carolina)

And the top of this last page is oddly blank. I have no idea what my mom intended to put there. But, again, I am out to eat with my friends. I am pretty sure both of the restaurant photos were taken at Swenson's across the street from the University of Miami. They must have had decent food if we went there so often, or at least cheap food.

Where did you hang out with all of your friends while you were in college?

Gap Casting Call

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:38:00 +0000

I think Charlotte is the most adorable toddler in the world. So, I entered 5 photos of her into the Gap Casting Call.

Won't you go and cast a vote for her each day until November 17? Thanks!

Here are the photos I submitted, all taken within the last month or so.

Which one is your favorite?

Ducks & Pumpkins - 2009 Duck Edition

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:50:00 +0000

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here are the duck pictures...

Remember I said Minda and Fischer joined us? Now I have photographic proof since I didn't get any decent pictures of Fischer yesterday. Totally my fault though, because clearly he is wonderfully photogenic!

We don't go to visit the ducks without some sort of yeasty offering. Fischer liked it too. (So did Charlotte, she never gets white bread so it is a treat for her.)

And here is the only half-way decent picture of Charlotte from our duck feeding excursion.

And here is why. After about 5 minutes, it became clear that protecting our children from the giant swans was more important than taking pictures! I have never seen them as aggressive as they were today.

Ducks & Pumpkins - 2009 Pumpkin Edition

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:50:00 +0000

Last year, I took Charlotte to play in a local pumpkin patch and feed the ducks with our long lost friends Cayman and Jackie. I decided to take Charlotte back this year, along with Mary, to play among the pumpkins.

When we arrived, after losing a shoes first, Charlotte decided the pumpkins needed to be rearranged. Good thing most of them were "too heavy!" for her.

Did you know pumpkins make cool drums? Especially orange and white striped pumpkins. Or so Charlotte says.

Time for the annual blessing of the pumpkins...

More drumming and more declaring, "mine! mine!" God forbid another child, even her friend Fischer, try to play with one of "her" pumpkins.

I really wanted to get a great shot of Charlotte looking right into the camera amidst this great field of pumpkins... this is what I got instead. Repeatedly. The girl won't sit still!

Oh wait! There is her face! But not for long... she was on a mission to tire mommy out!

Finally! A child that can't run away and carry pumpkins to new spots.

Good thing I have a new, faster camera... Charlotte stayed here for .03 seconds!

Charlotte's mind moves as fast as her little body and this small gourd was both a tree and an umbrella. So creative!

Have you visited any pumpkin patches yet?

How To Paint A Pumpkin - Toddler Style

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:50:00 +0000

Start with an eager toddler and a clean, white pumpkin...

Carefully dip your clean paint brush into the first color...

Then dip your next brush into the second color...

Spend a few moments keeping your colors separate and neat, like Mommy tells you too...

And then throw all caution to the wind and just go crazy with mixing the colors...

If you follow these directions very carefully, you can end up with a masterpiece just like this...

For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit

5 Minutes for Mom
Extraordinary Mothers
Momspective
Look What Mom Found
Wordless Wednesday
7 Clown Circus - Wordful Wednesday
Ordinary and Awesome - Mostly Wordless Wednesday

Just Hanging Out

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:47:00 +0000

Charlotte gets excited every time I tell her that Mary can sit in her lap. This morning, Charlotte wanted to just lay down with Mary and this is what we ended up with.

Oh, and this is as close to matching outfits as we get right now. They are both in blue.

How I Save Money with Coupons - Part 1

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:50:00 +0000

I have been asked several time recently how I manage to find such great deals at grocery and drugstores. And the answer is always the same. I combine coupons with store sales to get the best deal possible. It isn't rocket science and it doesn't have to be scary. But it does take a small investment of time.

I'd been thinking about sharing my tips here for a while and then a few nights ago, I went to a class on how to use coupons. The teacher is obviously a mega-couponer with a few years experience and no babies or toddlers at home. But, in my opinion, she gave the class too much information considering most of the attendees were coupon novices. So, now, I want to share my ideas with my friends near and far so you can bring down your grocery budget without having to buy 200 boxes of cereal.

Today, I'll just share a few tips to get you started. Let me know if you have any questions.

First, and most obvious, buy a Sunday newspaper for the coupons. Actually, buy 2. The best way to turn a good sale into a great sale is to have 2 of every coupon. Most people don't know that if cereal is on sale B1G1 free, you can use 2 coupons. So if the cereal is normally $4.49/box and it is on sale for B1G1F, when you add 2 $1 off coupons, you can get your cereal for $1.25/box. That is a savings of $7.49!

Sure, you can get 10 papers and try to clip the same coupon 10 times, but how many of you are like me with small children and just don't have the time, space, or energy to organize 20 boxes of cereal when you come home from the grocery store?

Second, your coupons will do you no good if they just sit in a pile waiting to be forgotten. Now that you have 2 copies of all the coupons, you need a way to organize them. There are several ways to do this and each personality will prefer a different way. Personally, I don't have time to clip everything (you know, those 2 adorable girls take up a lot of time!), so I keep my coupon inserts whole and file them by date.

By date you might ask? How do you know the date for the coupon inserts? Well, if you look at the folded edge of the insert, you will see the date printed on it. I typically re-write it on the front of the insert to make flipping through my folder easier. Each week's coupons go into a clear page protector inside a 3-ring binder. Then, I only clip the coupons I need, as I need them. This saves me time and my sanity. Because seriously, I don't have a dog, and we won't be getting one any time soon.

And my final tip for the day, become familiar with the websites that match up the coupons and the sales for you. There are people out there on the world wide web who have a great mind for these things, so I say, let them do all of the hard work. They enjoy it, and it helps you save money. Don't waste your own time trying to figure out if you have a coupon in your binder for that bottle of V-8, just go to your favorite deal website and let them tell you what week or insert it came in.

So that you don't get overwhelmed with sites either, here are three my favorite websites/blogs for coupon/sale matchups:
Fiddledeedee! (She posts Publix matchups each week, but as a friend pointed out recently, does miss some deals)
I Heart Publix (lots of emphasis on rebates here as well and there is a lot of information not directly related to coupons, but still helpful for saving money)
Money Saving Mom (shares deals for CVS, Walgreens, Target, Kroger, Save-A-Lot, and lots of other stores so no one around the country is left out)

Do you have any specific questions? What do you want to know about becoming a couponer and better steward of your money?

First Fall Playdate

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:50:00 +0000

Yay! The weather has finally given us a glimmer of Fall here in FL. I know it is fleeting, but we took advantage of it and met some friends at a local park for the first playdate of Fall.

Swings and bright blue skies are a great combination!

Follow the leader... anyone else surprised that Charlotte isn't in the front?

This is Charlotte telling me she is scared to get on a toy dragon that I had just seen her sitting on a few moments earlier.

I told Charlotte to say 'cheese' for the camera and instead she decided to pretend she had her own camera and was taking my picture.

But lest I think she was going to stand still for too long, she made a mad dash for the gate. Fortunately, we are working on obedience and she stopped when she got to the gate.

Given the chance, she will always swing.

And that's it... time to go home!

Remembering Year(s) Gone By

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:50:00 +0000

Amazingly enough, Charlotte seems to be adjusting to having a new baby sister very well. Or so I have been telling everyone.

But then, we found her the other day trying to fit back into the Baby Bjorn. :)

Bruce and I used to wear her in the Baby Bjorn everywhere! It must have felt like a second home to her. I guess she was trying to relive her youth. :)

3 months old at a construction site...

At Sea World later that same month...

Showing our friend Carolyn around Disney at 7 months old...

And fast asleep at 13 months old, also at Disney.

I can remember lots of other times she hung out in my Baby Bjorn, but I just didn't make it a habit to take my camera to the grocery store, the drug store, or for one of my walks around the neighborhood.

What did you first child try to get back into when baby number 2 came along?

The Pumpkiniest Cookies Ever!

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:50:00 +0000

This week I was feeling in the mood to bake and stumbled upon a recipe for Positively Pumpkin Cookies. Boy am I glad I did. These are super-duper yummy and you can really taste the pumpkin in them. I can't say for sure but that might have something to do with me adding more pumpkin than the recipe called for - almost 1 whole can instead of 1 whole cup.

Oops! But what a happy accident! When they came out, I even decided to get fancy and put the icing in a baggie to make ~~pretty~~ designs on top. I should have let Charlotte help with that part, but she was busy throwing a fit about something.

In FL, we need all the help we can get to experience Fall. Baking cookies like this and drinking Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks is my trick.

What are you doing to make it feel more like Fall?

My Mom's Scrapbook - Part 11

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Missions has always been important to me. I went on a couple of trips with my youth group as a teenager and continued that when I went to college. After my freshman year of college, I applied to do a 10 week summer missions trip through the FL Baptist Convention. They sent me to South Dakota with 3 other students from USF. I was the lone UM student that summer.

Before we left, there was a commissioning ceremony at Lake Yale, a Baptist campground in FL. This is where I met Christian and Matt of my team. Vickie couldn't make it, so one of her friends stood in for this picture. I'm the short one in the group.

I was very blessed to have so many people who loved me come to the commissioning service. In the top picture on this page are my friends Michelle and Mandy from high school as well as a former Sunday School teacher, and youth group leader. Oh, and my mom is in the picture too. :)

My summer in South Dakota was a mixed one. Fortunately, my team got along really well with one another, but not so much with the man in charge of us. He was grouchy and didn't seem to have his heart in it. I found out just this past year that he resigned shortly after we left at the request of the association. It was good to know all these years later even, that it wasn't us, but him.

My new life in Lakeland comes with a funny coincidence related to that summer too. I was sitting in my adult woman's Bible study class one Sunday morning when the substitute teacher mentioned her summer in South Dakota doing missions work from an RV. I had already thought her voice sounded familiar so I asked, "Did you work with 4 college students that summer?" "Yes," she said. to which I replied, "I was one of them!"

Garnett and her husband Charlie had spent most of the summer with us helping coordinate and organize our various activites with area churches, and now, 12 years later, here she was teaching my new Bible study class. She loves to tell the story about how we met to anyone who will listen. I don't think there is a soul at our church that doesn't know how Garnett and I met all those years ago in South Dakota.

Next week (or whenever I get the post written), I'll share a little about my 4 years at the University of Miami before I wrap up this trip down memory lane.

Wordless Wednesday

junk@brucesabin.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:19:00 +0000

I promise, Charlotte did this all on her own!

For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit

5 Minutes for Mom
Extraordinary Mothers
Momspective
Look What Mom Found
Wordless Wednesday
7 Clown Circus - Wordful Wednesday
Ordinary and Awesome - Mostly Wordless Wednesday