happily random

My life in a nutshell

The days are so full! This week my older 3 have been attending Vacation Bible School, which means driving them into town each morning. While they're at VBS, I run a couple of errands with two 3 year olds & a 2 year old in tow (so it's not exactly a quick process) and then take them to the park. After I pick up the kids from VBS, we head to a local school for free lunch (the schools provide breakfasts and lunches for free to kids all summer) and then home for naps. Somewhere in there I squeeze in lunch for myself while the younger 3 nap. When they wake up, we have snacks and I try to do a little housework before dinner. Then it's dinner and bed and I crash on the couch wondering what in the world I did all day.

Family Happenings

It's been quite the week for our household. I guess the biggest news is that our family has increased by two: Scott & Mason. They are my identical-twin, 3-year-old nephews and will be living with us for an indefinite period. And I thought four kids was a challenge. Now we have six kids age eight and under: 8, 6, 4, 3, 3 & 2. Survivor has NOTHING on me.

Scott & Mason arrived on Sunday morning with my mom, who picked them up in Houston from their mother. They are very sweet little guys with good hearts and are fitting in very well with our wild bunch. They wrestle and play Star Wars with the boys and follow after Rebekah wherever she goes. They seem happy to be here even though they miss their mom, especially at bedtime. Meals are quite exciting as you can see. We need more chairs so Joel & I can eat with them! Joel has plans to build a bench to help accomodate more kids, but he has been working on a place for everyone to sleep for the last 6 weeks. With the cathedral ceiling in our boys' room, we thought it would be the perfect place for a loft. So our boys sleep in the loft and Scott & Mason sleep in bunk beds. That situation also saves floor space in their room.

Six kids in one house is very... eventful. Yesterday Rebekah cut her toe on a door at Del Taco where we had gone for lunch. Tyler got bonked in the head and clamped down his jaw and chipped his front tooth. Lucas lost tooth #4 (he is now completely without front teeth! Bottom and top!). Grandmother (my mom) left for home. Scott bonked his eyebrow and now has a bit of a shiner. I'm hoping for a much less exciting day today!

Rebekah's 8 and it's snowing!

My oldest daughter turned eight yesterday. She just loves playing Webkinz on the computer and she love horses with spots, so imagine my delight when I found this spotted horse Webkinz for her. In the 12 hours since she's gotten it, she's already managed to name her Polka Dot and buy her a bath tub... online that is. The rest of her birthday loot included a Barbie butterfly fairy, a model horse that she can paint and a magic box. We learned a magic trick this morning and she's been astounding everyone in the house with her magical abilities.

I made her dinner and dessert of choice to celebrate her day: "Daddy's Favorite Chicken" (which is basically what the kids' call my fried chicken because it is Daddy's favorite) & strawberry cupcakes. I even got a little creative and made cupcake flowers using marshmellows and colored sugar. They were a big hit, as you can see from Sammy's face.

Oh, and I thought I would mention, the blouse that Rebekah is wearing... she made it herself! With a little help from Grandma, of course.

It's nearly summer, but the weather here shows no evidence of that; we woke up to snow this morning. It was just 36 degrees at 7 a.m., and has finally topped 40 at 9 a.m. Along with everyone else here in North Idaho, I'm dreaming of warmer days and sunny skies. If you live somewhere with a warmer climate, could you please send a little heat our way? I would be completely content with 70 degrees!

June 8 Match-ups

Walgreens

Page 2: Electrasol $2.99 - $1 ESR - 75¢/1 MQ = $1.24 ea

Page 4: Reynold’s Foil 89¢ ea (with in-ad coupon) - 55¢/1 MQ = 34¢ ea

Page 4: Off! PowerPad Mosquito Lamp $8.99 - $1 IVC x 2 - BOGO IP = $3.50 ea

Page 12: Nivea for Men 2/$10 - $5 RR - $1/1 IP x 2 = 2/$3

Page 12: Brut products 50% off - $1/1 MQ (4/6/08 SS) shave gel is reported to be $1.19 so minus the $1/1 MQ, they’re 19¢

Page 19: Band-aids 99¢ - $1/1 MQ (4-27-08 SS or 5-18-08 SS) = Free!

Free all month: Maalox Chewables: $2/1 IVC - $2/1 MQ (6-1-08 SS) = Free

RiteAid

Exterior Ad Wrap: Buy Brita Replacement Filters, Get Brita Slim Pitcher Free: there is a $1/1 Replacement Filters & a $5/1 Brita Pitcher IP, use both to get $6 off your total. Just sign up at Filter for Good & you can print 2 of each.

Page 1: Dove Chocolate 2/$5 – BOGO IP - $1.50/1 MQ (5/11/08 SS) = 50¢ ea *YMMV as to whether they’ll let you use the $1.50/1 MQ too

Page 11: Electrasol $3.49 - $1.50 SCR - 75¢/1 MQ = 75¢ ea

Page 11: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails $1.99 - $1/1 SCR - $1 RA Q (from myriteaid.com) – Free!

Page 11: G.U.M. Floss 2/$4 - $1/2 SCR - 55¢/1 MQ x 2 = 95¢ ea

Page 2: Visine $3.99 - $2/1 SCR - $2/1 MQ = Free

Fred Meyer

½ Gallon Milk, Chocolate Milk & Orange Juice: 5/$5 with in-ad coupon

C&H 5 lb Sugar: $1.99 with in-ad coupon - 55¢/1 IP = $1.44 ea

Abbreviations

IVC – Instant Value Coupon (Walgreens Coupon from the EasySaver Catalogue)

ESR – EasySaver Rebate (Walgreens Rebate Program)

7-Day Q – In-ad Coupon from Walgreens ad

SCR – Single Check Rebate (RiteAid Rebate Program)

MQ – Manufacturer’s Coupon

BOGO – Buy one get one free

Peelies – Coupons on boxes that peel off

RA – RiteAid

Q – Coupon

MIR – Manufacturer’s Mail-In Rebate

OOP – Out of Pocket

SS – SmartSource Coupon Insert

P&G – Proctor & Gamble coupon insert

YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary

IP - Internet Printable coupon (usually you can print 2 of these)

Hmmm...

Take the Quiz here!

Here a chick, there a chick...

 

Here we are, on our start to the Doherty farm: chickens! We picked them up on Tuesday and are on our way to having farm-fresh eggs.... eventually. The kids are enthralled by our new additions and would play with them constantly if I would let them. The first photo they are in what I would call a "chick ball" as we didn't have our heat light set up for them yet when I took this one and they were a little chilled. There are a total of 10 of these little gals and guys (hoping for lots of gals!). They have happily taken up residence in a closet in our home, mostly to keep them warm and to keep them safe from the cat!

We have just finished our first week of summer break, although I use the term 'summer' very loosely. It's been downright cold as the thermometer has yet to break 60 all week. Chilly and rainy all week long. Yikes! But we have made the best of it with a trip to Mobius Kids (the children's museum in Spokane), Jump-A-Lot (an indoor jump palace) and a couple visits with Grandma. Oh, and my stepdad is visiting from Southern California, so the kids have had some kind of wrestling match with him every night. I just with he would have brought some sunshine with him! Oh well, I'm sure I'll be complaining about the heat in a month!

Catch-ups & Match-ups

Well, it's officially Summer Break. The kids had their last day of school on Thursday last week. Quite the exciting day as the fire alarm went off just as the kids were arriving for school! It wasn't a drill either. I'm told that it was set off by a smoke machine that was being used for the performance that night. So we spent the first 20 minutes of the last day of school out on the playground. Like I said, quite the day.

Rebekah is officially graduated from 2nd grade and Lucas is no longer a kindergartener. They both had a great year with fantastic teachers.

I am so ready for summer break. No more running around. My plan is to become a hermit in my home. LOL. Not to mention saving money on gasoline. I know it's higher in other parts of the country, but the $3.74 a gallon I paid to fill my 33 gallon gas tank nearly gives me a stroke when it tops out at $100 and isn't even full! Goodness.

The Doherty home is under some serious construction right now with the building of a loft in the boys' room. Since we don't currently have the money to build on, we're building up! The boys' room has very high ceilings and Joel is building a loft a level up where the boys' beds will go. That will leave their floor clear for play, hence more room without more rooms! Having a husband who is contractor sure has it's perks. The framing and electrical are complete (we had to add some lights up top), but the ladder/stairway, drywalling and railing still need completing.

Well, here below are my bargain matchups for this week. One of my best deals last week was an unadvertised sale at Fred Meyer. While there to get milk, I discovered their Hebrew National Hot Dogs, the only hot dogs my husband will eat, were on sale 2/$5! The very cool thing was that I just did a trade on Hot Coupon World for eleven $1/1 Hebrew National coupons. So I scored 11 packages of hot dogs for $16.50, about the regular price of three!

Walgreens 6/1/08

Page 1: Dr Pepper 12-pack 4/$11 - $3 RR - $1/2 IP x 2 = 4/$6

Page 16: Twizzlers $4/4 - $1/4 IVC = 4/$3

If your WAG has the Hershey's MegaMovie marked Twizzlers (mine has them on the rainbow ones), each of the Twizzlers has 3 points. They're on sale 4/$3 again with the IVCs. You need 15 points for one movie ticket, with a limit 4 per household. Basically you would get a movie ticket for less than $4 plus candy!

RiteAid

Page 5: O.B. Tampons 2/$5 - $1/2 SCR - $1/1 MQ (found in front of product at Safeway & Albertsons) - $1 each

Page 8: Samy i Stylers $4.49 - $4.49 - $2 RA Q (attached the PDF to this email) = $2 Profit

Page 11: Glade Wisp Flameless Candle $7.99 - $3 SCR - $5 IP = 1¢ profit

Page 12: Head & Shoulders 2/$8 - $4/2 SCR – $4 BOGO MQ (P&G 6/1) = Free!

Page 12: Aquafresh Advanced $2.49 - $2.49 SCR - $2.49 MIR (if you have a form) = $2.49 Profit!

Page 12: Clairol Natural Instincts Hair Color $5.99 - $1.99 SCR - $4 MQ (P&G 6/1) = Free!

Page 12: Dawn Dishwashing Liquid 89¢ - 25¢/1 MQ (P&G 6/1) = 64¢

Target

Page 24: Buy 2 Razors or Cartridges, get a $10 Gift Card: Gillette Fuzion Razor $9.44 x 2 - $4/1 MQ (P&G 6/1) x 2 = $10.88 OOP and get a $10 GC back!

Page 28: Hershey’s Bliss 2/$5 – BOGO MQ (5/4/08 SS - $1/1 MQ (All You Magazine, May 2008) = 75¢ ea

Page 28: Dove Chocolate 2/$5 – BOGO IP - $1.50/1 MQ (5/11/08 SS) = 50¢ ea

Abbrevations

IVC – Instant Value Coupon (Walgreens Coupon from the EasySaver Catalogue)

ESR – EasySaver Rebate (Walgreens Rebate Program)

7-Day Q – In-ad Coupon from Walgreens ad

SCR – Single Check Rebate (RiteAid Rebate Program)

MQ – Manufacturer’s Coupon

BOGO – Buy one get one free

Peelies – Coupons on boxes that peel off

RA – RiteAid

Q – Coupon

MIR – Manufacturer’s Mail-In Rebate

OOP – Out of Pocket

P&G – Proctor & Gamble coupon insert

SS - SmartSource insert