Will I ever forgive myself?

Drew has been a Panther soccer player for the last 2 years. Soccer has brought so much joy to Drew and she happens to be quite good at it too... We love her team cause the girls are great, a mixture from her old school and from Seaview. Her coaches are the best in the league and all the parents are so nice. We have enjoyed getting to know and developing relationships with them over the last couple of years.

Well May is the time to sign them up again. Returning players can sign up from May 6th-May 27th and on May 29th the doors open for any new players to the league. Typically there is a big line up real early in the morning to get new players on the team of the parents choosing.

So yesterday morning I checked my email like I usually do. Their was an email from Drew's coach about the uniforms. As soon as I opened the email it hit me right in the pit of my stomach. I FORGOT TO SIGN DREW UP!!!!!! I quickly scrambled to check the date and was crushed to realize that the time to guarantee her spot on the Panthers had passed. After scrambling for a few minutes Drew and Clint were out the door to go get in line to hopefully sign her up on the Panthers again. I kept telling myself "This has to work out!". Well, it didn't. Drew called me about 1/2 later and said "I didn't get on the team" My thoughts were "NO, this can't be true!" Then I actually said to her "You're lying." (I know, pretty terrible to say to my 9 year old) So after drilling her to find out whether or not she was pulling my leg she explained how it all went down and how she's now on another team with a girl she used to go to school with.

I felt absolutely terrible and had to talk to Clint to see from his perspective how she was handling the whole thing. Lets just say she took it a lot better then her Mom who was in a mess of tears at this point. Clint kept reminding me that God is in control and maybe this new team is where she is supposed to be. I'm trying to keep my faith in that but still feel terrible that this happened do to my forgetfulness and procrastination. I really felt like the worst mother in the world. I especially feel this cause now that we are homeschooling it is supposed to be a huge priority to keep the relationships the kids have with their friends from public school and this soccer team was a HUGE way for us to do that.

At this point Drew is fine with the change but will gladly take a spot on the Panthers if one opens up. Her coach is seeing what he can do to get her back but I'm not sure if that will happen. I'm am trying really hard to forgive myself and trust that God will have Drew on the team where she is supposed to be. I'm also taking this as a lesson learned... Right after I got off the phone with Drew and Clint I drove straight to the rec center to sign Lilly up for a class and as soon as I got home I signed Drew up for summer camp at LBC. (2 things I had been meaning to do along with signing up for soccer)

I am very thankful that my sweet Drew has forgiven me...

I'M PUMPED!!!

The words of my wild two year old...

When we were working in the garden on Friday Gus got super excited at one point and was running up and down the garden walkway jumping and spinning and then he stopped and looked at me and exclaimed in a loud growling voice "I'M PUMPED!!!" It was so cute I had to run right in the house and take a pick of him before his mood changed so I could remember it forever.

Speaking of being pumped...

I'm pumped the garden is finished!

I'm also pumped about my latest trip to the grocery store!

All this cost $24.15 Total savings of $83.52

I'm also pumped we are going camping this weekend!!! But you'll have to wait until next week for those picks.

Huge savings again on trip # 2

I'll be the first to admit this couponing thing can be addicting...but at least it's good for my family! This morning when I woke up I decided the deals are just to good to pass up and one more trip would be worth it. I got all this...

For $7.19

My total savings was $60.26

Sara commented on my last post and had a great questions that I figure I'll just answer here in case anyone else is wondering. Her question was- Do you find that your buying stuff you normally wouldn't?

The answer to that is not at all. I actually pass up a lot of great deals because its on things I wouldn't normally buy. However the sure amount of what I buy is not something I have normally done but the couponing thing is all about stocking up. Some of you might be thinking why in the world do you need 6 mayo's, 6 BBQ sauces, 6 boxes of crackers or 10 packs of hot dogs?!?! Well my family uses all those things and I'm not gonna have to buy any of them for MONTHS. We typically don't use a ton of BBQ sauce but this summer at our Birthday Bash we will be BBQing chicken for about 100 people and all those sauces that I paid $0.00 for will really come in handy. As for all the hot dogs, we will make use of those on our camping trips and summer BBQ plans.

The other thing you might be thinking is what about all the other stuff you use like dairy, meat and produce? Don't worry people we are not living off crackers and cereal. I am just showing the stuff I bought from one store this week. Here are a some of the other deals I got this week.

FREE Milk and eggs from Food Emporium (no purchase necessary)
FREE Strawberries from Safeway (w/ $10 purchase) I bought some of there great produce and pasta deals to reach $10
Awesome deals on Apples (.68lb), Bananas (.59lb), Salad (.50 a bag), pineapple (1.98 each) and so much more at Fred Meyer's.

As for meat, we already have a pretty good stock of that so I haven't been purchasing even the really great deals but Amber Red has got some awesome deals on meat and will hopefully post about it soon.

So ladies, don't be afraid of the couponing world. It is time consuming, but well worth it!!!

Check out the two blogs listed HERE on Amber red's blog.

Sara- to answer your other question about living on the island... you really need to have access to most of the major grocery stores to go full bore but you can still get the most bang for your buck by couponing and deal seeking at your own local grocery store.

$$$ Money Saving MADDNESS!!!

I have joined the world of the crazy couponers and I am SOOOOOO happy I did. (special thanks to Amber Red for getting me hooked and showing me the ropes) I just got home from Albertsons and I got ALL this...

...for only $11.59

( 4 Kraft Mayo's, 2 boxes Wheat thins, 3 boxes Ritz crackers, 4 BBQ sauces, 4 packs of hot dogs, 10 yogurts, 2 velveeta mac and cheeses, 2 boxes pasta salad, 2 salad dressings, and 1 four pack of fresh baked cinamon rolls)

I was SHOCKED...the guy in line behind me was SHOCKED...I came home and my Husband was SHOCKED...and extremely proud of me too! It feels absolutely awesome to save my family so much money. I have been watching the adds and couponing for a couple of weeks and I can honestly say I have cut our grocery budget in 1/2 AT LEAST. (it will take a bit more time of doing this to know the exact savings for sure) Here is the break down of my Albertsons saving in case you are curious.

Albertsons preferred card savings = $35.44 (all you have to do is look at the weekly store adds)

Albertsons coupons savings = $13.73 (all you have to do is clip the coupons in the weekly store adds)

Manufacture coupon savings = $20.50 (clipping from sunday paper and printing off online)

Total Savings = $69.67 (+ they gave me a $2 off coupon for my next trip)

Here is a further break down of what I paid for each item

Kraft Mayo= $.25 each

Wheat thins = $.99 each

Ritz= $.88 each

Hot dogs= $.14 1/2 each

BBQ sauce = -$.30 (Believe it or not they paid me to take these home)

Yogurt= $.29 each

Pasta salad = $.70 each

Salad dressing = -$.31 each (yep, they paid me to take these home too)

Velveeta mac and cheese= $.70 each

Cinamon rolls= $.99

PS- Even if you don't want to clip coupons... Fred Meyer's is having a rockin' good sale this week that is worth the trip. HUGE savings on Butter, Cheese, TP and much more. No coupon needed!!! You can pick up the store add at the front of the store.

The wise words of Drew

Yesterday Lilly was being disobedient and Clint was in the other room having a chat with her about it. Drew and I were listening to the whole thing and she turned to me and said.

"You know this wouldn't be happening if Adam and Eve hadn't ate that apple. It's the truth!"