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Mom Confessions - Popcorn for Breakfast, anyone??

There are so many things I feel bad about as a parent. But I realize more and more that guilt is wasted energy. I think I need to purge my feelings of complete parent failure.

When you have 3 kids - the game changes. You are outnumbered and out witted pretty much every day of the week. When I head out to the grocery store with all 3 girls in tow - people tend to stare like the Duggars just walked in. I haven't had a good night's sleep in years, but I remember it fondly. And many mornings I walk into work with a big toothpaste stain on my shirt from having to physically hold down my 2 year old and brush her teeth.

I work full time. My day usually starts at 6. Or 6:30. All depends on how many times I hit the snooze button before finally managing to crawl out of bed. I usually have to remove a few little kid body parts first. A foot in my face. A knee in my back. Yes - most nights they sleep with me. Why? The hell if I know.

CommentaThon - 50 Comments in 7 Days!

I am going to promote a little in this post. I just had an amazing week! I participated in a CommentaThon and I loved it!


I got to read such a variety of blogs. So many stories out there. Some made me cried. Many made me laugh. Some made me think...What a freaking awesome idea!!


How does it work?


Well it's all thanks to Blogelina. Tanya is the girl behind the curtain of this wonderful site. You will find everything you ever needed to know about blogging on her site. This site has truly helped me in a thousand smalls ways. 

25 Ways to Save Hundreds Each Year

Stop buying bottled water. On average a 24 pack of bottled water is $3.99. If your family goes through even just 1 pack per week – that equals $207.48 per year. I purchased a water pitcher with a filter for $18.18 on Amazon. I purchase a new filter every 3 months – which runs me about $6 dollars for a total cost of $24 per year. Add that $24 to the $18.18 I already spent and my total cost for the year is $42.18. So I just saved $165.30 by eliminating the cost of buying bottled water.

Saved: $165.30 per year 

Savings Trips 9/12/2013 - CVS and Walgreens - $134.39 Worth of Product for $57.80!!

The amount of stores, savings, coupons...it's endless. I regularly read the Krazy Coupon Lady's blog to see what store match-ups are going on each week. A match-up is matching what the store has on sale with what coupons are available. 

The Krazy Coupon Lady features every store under the sun it seems...and there is tons of great information, resources and links. But I am going to keep it much simpler. Each week I will feature of few of my own shopping trips - what coupons I used and how much I saved. Simple trips that you can make today to the store(s) and snag the same savings I did. I am not going to break down every store and every item on sale. But I will definitely share some awesome deals and savings with you all as often as I can - and keep it as basic and easy as I can. 

I shop in Virginia - and the stores I frequent the most are:

My Daughter Was Born With A Cleft Lip - Our Journey - Part One

I have been struggling with the right words and the right way to start this series. I think because in a lot of ways this topic is hard to discuss. Because there have been really hard moments. But of course the joy…the best moments always outweigh the bad.

If your child is born with a birth defect, you are instantly haunted. Haunted by every moment of the past 9 months. Wondering why this happened? What went wrong? What defining moment changed it all?

I didn’t know I was pregnant those first few weeks. Makayla wasn’t planned. I was 21 years old. So I knew there had been a few glasses of wine and a few cigarettes those first few weeks before I knew.

I thought about the fact that I dyed my hair when I was 6 months pregnant. I thought about going on that teacup ride at the carnival. It wasn’t a fast ride…but??

You analyze every second because deep down you feel overwhelmed by the guilt. Because for you it’s not really what went wrong…it's what did you do wrong?

All The Things We Do Wrong - Fun and Surprising Facts

I came across an article a few weeks ago. It was all about how to apply your make-up – and I realized I was doing it all wrong. I had my “duh” moments as I continued to read the article. And then I started to really think about all the things we do day in and day out. And then I wondered how many other things I was doing wrong? Surprisingly (Not surprising at all) I was doing many things incorrectly. And you may be, too.

Mascara – I LOVE MASCARA! It’s one of the few make-up products I spend a little extra for. The best mascara in the world for me is Benefit Cosmetics They're Real Mascara.
You can snag it from Amazon for around $26.00 dollars. Which is obviously pricier than your drug store. But this mascara gives me the WOW effect I love. And it lasts a long time – it’s doesn’t get gunky and gross as quickly as cheaper brands do.

Now how to apply it? First off don’t pump the wand in and out of the bottle. It makes the mascara dry out faster. You should just twist the wand around inside the tube. Wipe any excess mascara off the wand when you remove it. Start at the base of your lashes and sweep the wand up and down, applying 2-3 coats.

Homemade Pizza Recipe for Family Pizza Night

As I say with all my baking adventures – I don’t go by looks, I go by taste. I try to really do all my baking on Sunday and get everything prepared for the week. So it takes a lot of time and effort. I don’t end up with perfectly round pizzas or exact replicas of Hot Pockets. But I come pretty close – and the taste is amazing!

I will honestly say homemade pizza is the best pizza I ever had! The kids love it! My boyfriend loves it. My daughter's friends all love to come over for pizza night. We actually prefer this to any pizza chain anywhere!

I spend roughly $5 dollars on ingredients to make two pizzas. Before, on a Friday night I would spend at least $20 on pizza delivery. But this pizza is made fresh, the kids love to help make it - and you just saved a minimum of $15 dollars.

So for us, every Friday is Family Pizza Night.

The Taboo of Government Assistance

 Photo Credit: Kevin H.

So I have wanted to write this post for awhile. I just don't want anyone to ever feel like they can't get help if they ever need it. Some bloggers I have read in the past have put a taboo on government assistance and it upsets me because sometimes that is the only resource a person has. And they shouldn't feel shame or guilt for taking that assistance.

I definitely have some coupon and budget bloggers that I love. I read them faithfully and I have saved a lot of money over the years. But more than once they have talked about government assistance. How they have never gone on assistance and how they used budgeting and coupons to stay afloat. And that they knew God would take care of them, so they didn’t want to get any kind of assistance.

Spinach and Cheese Smothered Chicken and Mushrooms Recipe

I was a little intimidated by this recipe at first. It seemed like a lot was going on at once – but it turned out to be much easier than I had imagined. Not to mention the taste. The spinach and cheese gave the chicken a spinach dip taste. The mushrooms were amazing. So so good. And I managed to do it all in about 30mins.

Chicken Breast

4-5 Boneless Breasts (I use only 3 usually. We use the leftover spinach for a dip)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 Cup or 5 slices of Mozzarella Cheese

Ebates - Earn Cash Back Every Time You Shop Online

When I first started using the Ebates site, I wondered; “WHY DIDN’T I DO THIS YEARS AGO??!!” 

Ah well, we live and learn. Ebates is so simple and easy to use. I even taught my mother-in-law how to use it. She tends to be an online shopoholic around the holidays. I finally showed her that she could be getting cash back for all that online spending.

So, walk the easy steps with me. Click here to go to Ebates.com. Then click Sign Up in the top left hand corner. They are only asking the basics, no credit card or banking information is required. They pay you, not the other way around…I promise. 

Once you have created an account, go ahead and login. Then click My Account in the top right corner.  Your account section will show you all your information as well as your cash back earnings. To the left you will see a list of things you can do to your account. If you have not selected your cash back payment method yet, go ahead and do that now. And you can always come back and change it at any time.

Kids, Schedules...Chaos

People have always emphasized the importance of organization and schedules when it comes to children. This is super great in theory. And even mastered by many. God bless them – I tip my hat to them. Because when you throw together a 1 year old, a 3 year old and a 7 year old – I barely keep my sanity much less a schedule.

Maybe it’s just me. But my girls are all different. They have different temperaments, different likes and dislikes and are on different schedules. My oldest is in bed by 9 and she is gone all day. My 3 year old is full of energy, never wants to eat anything, likes to beat up her baby sister, and doesn’t want to share a toy at all…and so on and so on. The baby likes to do nothing but eat when she can. She is a chunky monkey. She also doesn’t nap well because if she takes even an hour nap, she never wants to go to bed at night. But try to keep a 1 year old awake all day and tell me how that turns out.

Basically my life is blissful chaos. And most days I am okay with this because I know it will all be over in the blink of an eye. And despite sleep deprivation, I know I will miss these days.

Free Kid's Printables

School Express - Free worksheet printables covering reading, writiing, science, math and more. You can also print reward certificates, coloring pages and educational game worksheets.

Activity Village - Free printables, coloring pages, craft cutouts and more. 

The Crafty Crow - Fun craft ideas and printables. Tons of DIY activities, holiday themes and more.


Education.com - Tons of worksheets for math, reading, writing, science, social studies and many more.

Crayola Coloring Pages - Great coloring pages like School Days, Animals, Holidays and more.

How to Score Make-Up For Cheap and For Free

Natural beauty is just that…beautiful. But we all like to enhance ourselves a little. 

However, I no longer pay retail for any makeup or nail polish. In fact, 99% of the time I get them for free.

How? Simpler than you think actually. It’s all about making your local drugstore work for you. Most of us have a CVS, Walgreens or Rite Aid that we shop at. Each store offers different incentives, coupons, deals and more. 

CVS – Offers Extrabuck rewards every week on different products. 99% percent of the time one of those products is make-up. Extrabucks are like free money to spend in the store. They are used just like coupons. $3 in Extrabucks equals $3 off your purchase.

Earning an Income With eBay

Sell Your Stuff:

I have read articles and eBooks on how to make a living with eBay. It is definitely feasible – but it takes a lot of time and effort. It can be a long road before you are making serious profit. And even then, there are no guarantees with eBay. 

However, while I won’t recommend you and your spouse quit your job today – you can make some cash and make it fairly quickly.

The days of a typical yard sale are behind us it seems. Of course they still occur, and you can definitely have one. But making real money requires you to really sell each item. That is almost impossible to do at a typical yard sale. 

But on eBay you can create ads for each item and truly SELL them to your customers. 

But how?

Childhood Burns - What To Do

So tonight I was going for Worst Mother of the Year - and I won. I had just poured a cup of coffee. I passed my youngest daughter Zoe in the dining room as I went into the living room. I sat my coffee down on and end table and sat down beside it on the couch. In that 10 seconds Zoe came from the dining room to the living room and grabbed the coffee cup.The hot coffee spilled all over her.

Of course she started screaming and we started scrambling. Dustin was pulling her clothes off and I ran into the bathroom and started a cool bath.

Zoe continued to sob as I put her into the cool water - and it broke my heart. I took a moment to examine the burns. Her skin was extremely red - that raw red. It made me hurt just to look at it.

We didn’t have any antibiotic ointment or aloe Vera, so I sent Dustin to the store. I managed to get some Tylenol in Zoe - and then I tried to think of anything to ease her pain.

Inbox Dollars - Get Paid To Read Your Emails

My mom actually turned me on to this site. She told me about it for years, but I never gave it a try until recently.

I don’t like any money makers online that take a whole lot of effort – because the truth is none of us are making big money from these sites. So the easier the better.

Inbox Dollars is pretty simple and straightforward. Click the banner and join for free now.

Signup is simple. Just the basics. Once completed, there are several ways to earn cash right away. Take surveys, download the toolbar, and connect with the site via Facebook.

Free Music

iTunes Store

Every week I check out what is free in the iTunes store. Just click the Free on iTunes link on the right hand side of the iTunes store.

There are featured songs for free each week. They vary – it could be any singer, genre or group. You will find top of the chart singers and incredible up and coming. iTunes is great because you preview the song before downloading it. I have fallen in love with so many songs I found for free on iTunes. I have discovered new artists and bands that I love. 

You can also find free TV shows, apps, books and more offered up each week.

How to Have a Child's Birthday on a Budget

So next week my daughter Leah will turn 3! I am very excited about this because Leah has been the definition of the terrible twos. I love her to death and she can be the sweetest little angel in the world. But five minutes later she can be biting her sister, throwing food all over the place or toys off the balcony. She is a red head and has the temper to go with it. So I guess I am hoping she will mellow out a bit once the big 3 hits. Probably just wishful thinking on my part. Leah is the middle child and she fights fiercely for attention. So I think we may have our hands full for years to come with little Miss Leah :)

Blueberry Muffins with Sweet Crumb Topping Recipe

 

I consider myself a muffin connoisseur. Basically…I really LOVE muffins. Blueberry being my absolute favorite. This recipe is to die for good. Of course you can make it without the sugary crumb topping – but why would you want to do that??

Muffins

1 ½ cups flour

¾ cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil