After what amounted to 2 weeks in bed (more on that momentarily) with the back injury and now a kidney stone, my house is a major disaster area. Dishes, laundry, dust bunnies and other filth haven’t been touched in way too long. Obviously this needs to be rectified, quickly! So that’s my lofty goal for the week. What’s yours?
Archive for September, 2009
Where am I?
10
Sep
Laid up with a very, very bad back problem and nothing but ibuprofen since I can’t afford to go to the doctor. I would give just about anything for some muscle relaxers right now! It’s been a week since I’ve been down and if it doesn’t start getting better faster I am going to lose it.
We’ll return to regularly scheduled programming when I’m able to sit up again. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Fun Stuff Friday — Blogs
04
Sep
Funny blogs can sometimes turn my day around. If you need a pick me up, check out one of these:
What funny blogs do you like? I can always use a little more humor in my day!
#19!?!?!
03
Sep
Michelle Duggar is pregnant with her 19th child. Which bothers me in ways it shouldn’t…I hate when people judge me because I have more than the average 2.3 children. I think people should be able to have any number of children they want as long as they can care for them. So why did I get so upset?
I’m jealous. Do I want 19 kids of my own? Absolutely not. But there was a time, not so long ago, when I thought I might not have any children. And then, there was all of the stuff I went through to have my second child. And that bitterness lives on. Infertility and miscarriage isn’t something I’ve put behind me even though I have declared myself done having children. Even though the little girl currently napping in her crib was the #3 we always hoped for but certainly never expected to be surprised with. Even though we now have everything we ever wanted for our family. And I am not sure I will ever get over that pain, remembering what it was like when someone announced their pregnancy…or even better, “forgot” to announce it to me because they wanted to spare me the pain and then sent me a mass e-mail announcing the sex of the baby. I even had a mini-breakdown when I heard Britney Spears was pregnant…after all, I was doing everything right. I was in a stable relationship, I was a good mom to the child I had, I was settled down, yada yada yada. It seemed so unfair and it was a very dark time in my life.
And truthfully, I’d still have more. If I could provide for them. If we had family locally who could pitch in and help now and then. If I thought my uterus would hold up. If pregnancy wasn’t so miserable. There are many reasons why I’ve decided I don’t want any more, yet if everything fell into place just right I’d do it again. My children are a huge blessing to me. A joy every day, even with the difficulties of teething, potty training, and homework rebellion. And if it “just happened” we’d muddle through and be thrilled to pieces to have another little person in our family. But for so many reasons I’ve set my limit at 3 and I’m mourning that just a little bit as I watch my last baby grow up.
From what I’ve seen, the Duggars are great parents. Michelle and Jim Bob are both patient, loving, and involved. They have the means to take care of their family without resorting to government aid (which is more than I can say for myself at this moment in time) and their children are all respectful and well-behaved. Sure, they do things I don’t personally agree with, but so do some of my friends. I don’t judge them because they do the things that work for their family, so why the visceral reaction to the Duggars? It’s jealousy, plain and simple.
I’m going to put my green-eyed monster away and just be happy for them. Because I do agree with them on one point…every child is a blessing who deserves to be loved.
Thrifty Thursday — Couponing Links
03
Sep
Online resources for couponing are abundant. There are people out there who find the deals and post them often days before the sales start, so any “I don’t have time to figure it all out.” excuse is not valid. Trust me, it doesn’t take a lot of time! Over the past several weeks I’ve found quite a few places that I like to go to get info and learn new tricks. Here’s a few:
- Hot Coupon World — This site has forums, coupon databases, link to sites where you can print your own, etc. It has good info, but can be overwhelming for newbies.
- Taking Stock — This is a blog by a Raleigh N&O reporter. It’s a lot of local information on couponing. And because I had a hard time figuring out how to do an RSS feed (I am RSS stupid) for my blog reader, I’ll just link you up to that, too. And if you want even more access to info, you can follow her on Twitter @sue_stock. Look in the left hand column for links to some basic information on couponing in this area.
- Southern Savers — This blog has lots of deals for Southern grocery stores. She’ll lay out all of the deals for you…all you have to do is find the coupons in your super-organized coupon folder. There are also some good posts about getting started.
Those three sites alone give me pretty much all of the information I need to plan shopping trips to maximize my savings. I don’t spend more than a few minutes scanning the sale papers each week because most of the good deals are spelled out on those sites. That means my couponing time investment is in clipping and organizing on Sunday nights. (Or whenever I get to it…sometimes Tuesday afternoon!) That doesn’t take more than a couple of hours if I have no interruptions. And it’s well worth the time if you’re looking for an easy way to save some money!
