I am Mommy

I am the one who you wake up when you are sick or scared.

I am the one who changes your sheets in the middle of the night.

I am the one who comforts you when you have a bad dream.

I am the one who nurses your "boo-boos" back to health.

I am the one who has sat rocking you night after night when you had terrible ear infections.

I am Mommy.

I am the one who makes sure you have clean clothes ready to wear.

I am the one who gives you a bath every night even though you sometimes say you would rather be dirty all the time.

I am the one who brushes your teeth even if you hate it.

I am the one who fixes your hair so it looks like it's "sharked" every morning.

I am the one who wakes up much earlier than I'd like to pack your lunch.

I am the one who most likely packs too much food in your lunch, just in case.

I am Mommy.

I am the one who went through labor for 24 hours and had a rough delivery ending in a c-section.

I am the one who had to have surgery when you were 18 months old due to complications from that c-section.

I am the one they held you next to right after you were born and heard the words "Mrs. Zimmerman, this is your son."

I am the one that told the anesthesiologist I was crying because I was so happy when the tears were flowing just after I laid my eyes on you for the first time.

I am the one who laid in that hospital bed holding you in the middle of the night and through my pain and discomfort was in awe that YOU were my son.

I am Mommy.

I am the one who took you to your Kindergarten class this year one the first day of school, and managed to hold it together while I watched you embark on this new adventure in your childhood.

I am the one who remembered you were just that baby with me in the hospital the other day, or at least it seemed so.

I am the one who now walks you to the cafeteria every morning where you usually find a friend to eat breakfast with and say "Goodbye Mom!"

I am the one who walks away proud that you are doing all these things on your own.

I am Mommy.

I am the one you want when you're sick or sad.

I am the one you ask many questions, some I can't even answer.

I am the one you want to tell when you are excited or happy.

I am the one who gets to hear "I love you Mommy" several times a day.

I am the one who feels a little afraid that these days are going by just a little too fast.

I am Mommy.

I will be the one to help you when you have your first major project.

I will be the one to give you advice when the girls are no longer "yucky".

I will be the one to bid you goodbye when you drive off to take a girl on your first date.

I will be the one in the passenger seat when you learn to drive.

I will be the one cheering you on from the lobby of the DMV while you take your driving test.

I will be the one crying at High School Graduation.

I will be the one in the dorm parking lot with Kleenex and a box of goodies so you can remember home.

I will be the one crying at your wedding because I'll be so proud of the man you've become.

I will be the one in the waiting room at the hospital when you finally get to say I am Daddy.

I am Mommy.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

GDA: Knorr Sides!!

In my Publix, I found the Get A Smart Start savings booklet on a display. There were products such as Ragu and Lipton on the display. The booklet has a coupon in it for .55 off 2 Knorr Sides. They are BOGO this week for $1.49. Use this coupon on 2 sides and you can get each one for .47 each. I stocked up. I hope you do too!

Here is what the booklet looks like:

Free Skinny Cow Ice Cream with Purchase!

I found a great deal!

Lean Cuisine Frozen Entrees are on sale 4 for $10.

You can use any of these coupons listed to save:

-$1/2 Lean Cuisine Entrees, any
-$1/5 Lean Cuisine 5/2/2010 SS Insert (exp 8/1/2010)
-$1/2 Lean Cuisine Market Creations Entree (IE) or Printable (FF)
-$1/2 Lean Cuisine Market Creations 6/20/2010 Parade Magazine (exp 8/31/2010)
-$1/2 Lean Cuisine Varieties (exp 9/6/2010)

Then in the Yellow Advantage Buy Flyer (found in the front of the store) there is the following coupon:

-FREE Skinny Cow Frozen Treats Multipack wyb 4 Lean Cuisine Frozen Entrees

If you buy 4 Lean Cuisines, use 2 $1 off 2 coupons and stack them with the coupon from the yellow Advantage Buy Flyer, you get all of the above for $8! Great Deal!

Wal-Mart Deals beginning 6/17

I visited www.couponmom.com and found this on their database for Walmart. You can visit there too for other savings. This is a great, free database to use. I use it specifically for Wal-Mart deals. If you buy multiple papers this is a great way to stock up on some free or very cheap items and build your stockpile. The date with the abbreviation (SS, RP) are the specific insert in which you'll find the coupon. 03/07 RP means the coupon will be found in the March 7th Red Plum. You can read up on coupon lingo here.

Here is the list organized by amount saved. Click here to get your list. Then after you shop, tell me how much you saved!

In the Blink of An Eye

My Dear Sweet Boy Austin,

Tomorrow you are going to come home. You've been in Jacksonville with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days and I've missed you so. I've missed your sweet hugs and kisses and even when you've tormented the dog just a little too much for the day. I miss parenting you (even when you don't make good choices), and spraying you down with the hose in the back yard on these hot days. When you get home tomorrow (thanks to Grams and Mr. Oscar) I can promise you that I will shower you with lots of hugs and kisses.

While you've been gone I cleaned out your room. You have far more toys than I could ever dreamed of having when I was a kid. Too many in fact. It's a lot easier to get rid of things when you aren't around. :) You'll understand one day when you have your own kids. When I told you that I was going to do this, you told me to give your trains away to the children who don't have toys. You told me that you are too old for Thomas, Percy, Diesel 10 and Annie and Clarabel. No longer were you going to fly Harold to the rescue or set up your track to run your trains on. Part of me was glad to get rid of some of the clutter, but the other part of me felt a little sad. Where did my little boy go? He has been replaced by the boy who pretends to be Indiana Jones with an imaginary whip chasing away all the bad guys, who is Bumblebee defeating the Decepticons, or who is Luke Skywalker defeating Darth Vader. My little boy is becoming a big boy. It really feels like yesterday that I was mashing up bananas in rice cereal for your breakfast and nursing you at 3AM. It feels like it was just a few minutes ago that I was up with you all night because you were teething. Wasn't it just recently I had to pack your diaper bag? Now we usually don't have to worry about taking a change of clothes when we're out and about. I feel like I blinked my eyes and all of a sudden before me stands a big boy.

You've started reading. How did that happen? How did I have such a smart child? People think that because your mommy is a teacher I must have taught you how to read. I disagree. You my son are one of the smartest little people I know. You only have to have a word read to you once or twice and you know it. Do you remember when you were about 18 months old and we were on the way to daycare and all of a sudden you were singing the ABC's... perfectly? I almost ran off the road. In your sweet words you told me that you learned it from your teacher at school. You really surprise me sometimes.

Now you are going to start Kindergarten in just about 5 weeks. I can't believe it. One huge perk to teaching is that I get to take you with me to school. Mommy worked really hard to get a teaching job at our neighborhood school and the Lord allowed it to happen. Not many working moms can look out their windows and see their child's classroom. There are some things you need to know about the first day of school. I will make sure you have everything you need; your backpack, your supplies, your clothes washed and neat, and your lunch packed. Then I will drop you off in your classroom. Mommy is going to cry. Not because I'm sad. I will be crying because I am proud. I am so proud that in your five years you have become the boy that you have. I will give you a kiss while you're still young enough to let me. Then I will go. We already have our special finger wave picked out in case we see each other in the hall. After school is over I will pick you up. Then you can tell me all about your day.

Oh my sweet boy... as your daddy and I parent you to become a responsible young man we are proud of the boy we see. But I can't help to wonder why it all must go by so fast. Just as quickly as we've gotten to kindergarten, we are going to get to Middle School and then High School. Before I know it, I'll be the mom in the dorm parking lot with a box of kleenex. But as time goes and I have to let you go little by little, know that I love you. You often ask me if I'll love you no matter what... and I will, always. No matter what. I am so thankful that God gave you to me to mother. I am so blessed to have a sweet, caring, adventurous, energetic, smart, and fun kid to call my own. I love you to the moon and back my sweet boy... even if you are becoming a man in the blink of my eye.

Love,

Mommy

More on Stockpiling and Brand Loyalty

First, let's discuss Stockpiling. You may be asking yourself why on earth you would want to stockpile. There are several sides of the issue to consider.

Maybe you don't have too many people to buy for. Maybe you are single. Maybe you have 8 kids, a husband and 3 dogs. Maybe you are an empty-nester and it's just you and your husband. Due to the varying sizes of families, I wrote my first post about newspapers and stockpiling to get you to think about what it consumed in your home. If you are single, you do not need to stockpile 20 or more bottles of detergent. Furthermore if you have 8 kids and do 40 loads of laundry a week, you would want more than 2 bottles stockpiled. Make sense? You stockpile according to your family's needs. I've gotten a deal before where I bought thirty boxes of pasta before because I got it for about 10 cents a box. A coworker explained to me that there's no way she could stockpile like that because she and her husband could never consume that much. Well, that's fine. But why couldn't you buy 2 boxes of pasta for 10 cents a box? It's about purchasing the amount you need for your family.

Now that we've talked about HOW MUCH you should stockpile, let's talk about why. We are in a state of the economy that stinks. I keep hearing on the news that it is going to continue to stink for a while. Even if your employment isn't in trouble now, it might be later. No matter your source of income, it could be reduced for a number of reasons. If you practice stockpiling and become a well versed, seasoned couponer you will have a stockpile on hand that would allow you to cut out grocery shopping for a while. You may even be able to only buy the items you can get for free for some time until you are able to increase your income again. Another side of stockpiling involves financial crisis. Maybe your income wasn't reduced, but any of us could experience some kind of financial woe. Maybe something in your home needs a repair that can't wait and it's going to cost a great deal of money. It could be possible that a large unexpected medical expense comes into your family. Well, if you are stockpiled then you can stick to just the free items for a month or two, have the groceries on hand that you need and shop from your stockpile. Wouldn't it be helpful to have the stockpile on hand?

On a side note, you might be thinking about your storage space at this point. I am going to discuss that in another post.

Let's talk about brand loyalty. Honestly, you will maximize your savings if you are not brand loyal. Generics are not always cheaper when it comes to couponing. So you may have to reprogram your thinking when it comes to brand loyalty. Now you may think, I love Tropicana Orange Juice. I don't care if another brand is free, I am going to buy Tropicana Orange Juice. Okay, fine. But are there other things that you can let go of brand loyalty with? Does it honestly matter what brand of shaving cream, or laundry detergent, or canned vegetables you purchase? You are going to be purchasing name brand items when you coupon anyway. If you are insistent about brand loyalty (my husband wants me to buy only Heinz Ketchup), you are going to have to become even more focused and wait for your brand of item to go on sale. It will, but you may miss out on other deals in the process. So it's time to re-program your thinking a little.

You might be thinking, I hate ____. I am not buying it because it's on sale. What's the point of keeping around food my family won't eat. This is not about just buying things because they are on sale. Your family might not eat junk food. Well, you don't have to buy a box of cookies because they are on sale. You look at the sales for the week and you only buy what your family will eat. This is not some kind of method to just buy things because they are cheap. I have tried some items because they were free. Sometimes my family enjoys them and other times we don't. However, I am not going out and purchasing diet Pepsi when my husband is a diet Coke drinker. I hope that clears up some doubts you may have in your mind about this process.

I wrote this post hoping that everyone would be able to clear their minds of some doubts you may have about the couponing process. Remember, you buy what you need for the size of your household, keep your mind open about brands, and purchase items that would actually be consumed in your household. Most importantly you stockpile to help your household's financial standing.

BUT! I need dog food and it isn't on sale!! ARGH!

No need to be frustrated. There will be times that you need an item that is not on sale. This will happen more often while you are building a stockpile.

What you need to do is utilize the Coupon Database. Type in the item you need, for example Dog Food. You could even type in a brand name. For example, Alpo. If there are coupons available anywhere for that item, they will be listed in the forum. Then, at the VERY LEAST, you can purchase the item at full price and use a coupon on that item.

I am SUPER DUPER excited about this database. Sometimes there are things I forget to buy when I'm focusing on all these sales and I am happy to know that I have this database to help me out!