Free Food!

Okay, so tonight, I went to my relief society activity. There's a lady in my ward that came and taught us about couponing (if that's what you want to call it). It was so freakin' amazing. I learned so much from it. She taught us all these ways to collect coupons and how to use them and everything. Wow. I didn't realize there were so many people out there that are coupon crazy and collect them and use them so much. This lady is a mother of 4 and she's a stay-at-home mom and her husband is a working man with like 2 or 3 jobs I think. She taught us about all of these websites where you can learn the best deals going on and they really keep you up to date on where the best sales are in different stores. She was saying that once she really got into couponing, she went to the store and made a $500 purchase seriously for like $50 I think. Is that even possible? She brought a receipt with her today as proof of her savings. This morning she went shopping and spent $50 and her total savings were about $115. So, I don't know how successful I'll be at this, but I think I might give it a little try and see how I work out because as far as I know, we're not the richest little family in the world and we could use as much savings as we can get! I barely go shopping as it is, but heck, if I can go shopping and save that much, then it's worth it! And I'll build up some food storage.

Just a few things I learned tonight:
1. Where to find coupons: Sunday papers, www.coupons.com, www.couponsinc.com, www.valpak.com, www.coolsavings.com/coupons, family and friends
2. Coupon websites to find sales: www.pinchingyourpennies.com, www.stockpilesrus.com, www.taylortownpreview.com
3. Organizing your coupons: store them in a box, binder, or flexible file. Many make their own binders using a zippered binder filled with photo pages or sports card pages.
4. Avoid using a coupon just because it exists. If there is a coupon for an item that is not a great deal and is not needed, do not use it. Expired coupons can be sent to military bases overseas where they are valid six months past the expiration date.
5. Read the coupons carefully. Most state "one coupon per purchase." Each item bought is a purchase.
6. If there is a sale on meats and they're out, go to the meat counter and ask if they have any more and if they don't, often they'll give you a better price on a better meat.
7. If you shop the farmers' market, go right before it closes because often they'll give you a better deal on the food because they don't want to take it home with them. They want to get rid of it.

Tips of the Trade
*When an item is Buy One Get One Free, often two coupons can be used
*If the coupon says "off any size", it's often more profitable to use it on the smallest size
*If the store is out of an advertised sale item, get a raincheck. Use it later with coupons.
*Keep a list of needed items
*Plan your meals around items in your food storage
*Avoid trips to convenience and corner stores
*Don't shop when hungry. This will reduce impulse buys
*Remember one store does not have the lowest prices on everything
*Check expiration dates on food items, especially when stockpiling.
*Watch for price discrepancies at checkout. Make sure all coupons are deducted.
*Try different brands. Eliminating brand loyalty increases savings.
*Have fun and be proud of the savings!

Ear infections and broken bones

This weekend has been crazy. It seems lately that Jace has been getting sick a lot with teething, etc. It was just about a month ago that teeth 5 and 6 came in and Jace was suffering from it. Well, this weekend, Jace has been even sicker. He was at my mother-in-law's friday and threw up all over her, but I didn't think anything of it because he did it thursday as well and acted like he was fine. Well, friday night we were coming home and he started crying and it wasn't his normal cry. It was his "tired, don't feel well" cry. It's funny how as a parent you start to recognize their different cries. When we got home, I got him undressed and at that moment, he started throwing up all over again. Poor kid. He started fevering as well. One part of me loves having a sick baby because he will just cuddle with me and hug me which he never does. Then, of course, I absolutely hate seeing my child suffer and not relax. Friday night, we didn't get much sleep. Jace woke up about every hour just whimpering because he didn't feel well. When, I went him to get him, he would just be sitting in his crib. He wouldn't lie down. Then, yesterday morning, I skipped our enrichment super saturday to stay with him. Lucky Lance got roped into going to it to help with the nursery (yes, being in the relief society presidency doesn't do much good for Lance.) I took Jace's temperature yesterday because he was just so hot to the touch and his temp was 102.3. That really put me into high gear and I called Lance to come home and we took him to the urgent care. Well, we got there and he still had a high fever despite the fact he had medicine in him. Well, we found out that Jace has his first ear infections in both ears. Poor kid. That would explain why he wouldn't lie down or anything. I can't believe we went a whole 10 months and he never has had one ear infection until now. Also, Jace always always tugs at his ears and the time he does have an infection, he hasn't touched them. Since Jace has been sick, I've pretty much neglected everything to take care of him. Once I get to where I can get started on like the dishes or anything, he starts crying again, so our house has been neglected this weekend. I think his antibiotics may be kicking in finally because he has now been asleep for 4 hours straight. I didn't bother waking him up for church or anything today because I know he needs sleep more than anything right now. Since Jace has been sick, I've really realized how grateful I am to have such a beautiful son and I realize what an impact he's had on my life. I know I probably sound cheesy, but I think my life would be really empty without him and it wouldn't be nearly complete. Being a mom is such a great blessing and I love it.

Just a quick update on me. I've finally lost the crutches...yay! I went to my foot doctor on tuesday and he couldn't understand why I was still walking with a boot. I told him it was because he told me not to walk without it. Well, my foot is all healed as far as the bones go, but that doesn't mean it works right quite yet. There's one tendon in the top of my foot that is still holding me back. It's like right in the spot of my foot where if I go forward to take a step, it absolutely kills. The doctor gave me a shot of steroids to hopefully get my foot working right in that spot. Since I had the shot, I've noticed a huge difference in my foot. Physical therapy isn't as painful and I can walk almost normally with just a boot. I do have to wear a taller shoe to walk normally because the boot is slightly high and it's a little awkward to walk with it because I feel like I'm bouncing as I walk. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll be able to have the boot off. HOPEFULLY!

So, Lance just got home from church and apparently, they had sacrament meeting and then cancelled the rest of church. They just redid the floors in our gym and the fumes are really strong there. Since we're from such a young ward, we have a lot of pregnant ladies in our ward and they didn't want them to be exposed to all the fumes. He just took a ton of time to prepare the gospel doctrine lesson and now he doesn't have to teach it. Lucky and too bad for him at the same time. I don't feel too bad about missing church today now that I know it was cancelled.

I had the chance to update my blog since Jace was sleeping and now I'm going to take more advantage of it and having Lance home by going and loading the dishwasher.

Jace's sleeping habits

The other day we woke up and were getting ready for work. Well, it came time to get Jace up and ready so that we could get out of the house and this is what we woke up to.
I just got the biggest kick out of it. He didn't cry when we layed him down, so we had no idea that he had stuck his legs through the bars on his crib. We took out his crib bumpers because we finally had to lower his mattress since he's about to where he can pull himself all the way up. The expression on his face is funny because he's barely trying to open his eyes to wake up. Poor kid though, had cold legs from them sticking out. We've now learned to peek in on him after he goes to sleep to make sure he isn't doing something completely strange while he sleeps.