To All the Women in My Life...

ok, so I'm a complete slacker with the blog lately.. we've gone to the fair, gone boating (tubing, even!), splashed in the backyard kiddie pool & I have several hilarious snapshots of the little guy in his high chair (completely messy, or sleeping, or just being the adorable boy he is).. but I'm going to make you wait just a little longer for those pictures. In the meantime, you can sit back & enjoy with a full heart this very funny email I received. I wish I knew who wrote it. This is dedicated to all the women in my life:

"The Happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; They just make the best of everything that comes along their way."

When you have to visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place.

Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors.
Every stall is occupied.

Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall.
You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants!

The dispenser for the modern "seat covers" (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty.
You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't- so you carefully, but quickly drape
it around your neck, (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!),

You yank down your pants, and assume " The Stance."

In this position your aging, toneless (I should have gone to the gym!!!) thigh muscles begin to shake.
You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold "The Stance".

To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, "Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!"

Your thighs shake more.

You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That
will have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail.

Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work.

The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet.

"Occupied!" you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor.

You lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT.
It is wet of course.

You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late.

Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper- not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try.
You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because, you're certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, "You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get".

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes.

The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for
fear of being dragged in too.

At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat.
You're e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d.

You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.

You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, .....so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting.

You are no longer able to smile politely to them.

A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. Where was that
when you NEEDED it??)

You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, "Here, you just might need this".

As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom.

Annoyed, he asks, "What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?"

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with public restrooms while on vacation...(rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!)

It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse, and hand you Kleenex under the door!

A Friend Is Like A Good Bra...
Hard to Find...
Supportive....
Comfortable...
Always Lifts You Up...
Never Lets You Down
Never Leaves You Hanging
And Is Always Close To Your Heart!!!

Albertsons Trip this Week

I took advantage of some great deals at Albertsons this week! There were, of course, more doubler coupons & a great deal where you purchase $30 in participating products (before coupons) & they give you $15 in catalina coupons off your next order. Everything above was done in two transactions.

transaction #1:
12 boxes of Qtips

$29.36 out of pocket, with a total savings of $17.38
Then, I got $27 in catalinas!

transaction #2:
4 bottles All laundry detergent
12 jars Ragu pasta sauce
carton of soy milk
1 tub of spread
1 jar of peanut butter (got it for free w/ a coupon!)
3 pkgs brown rice
2 bags salad mix
1 bag spinach
bananas, nectarines, plums & grapes
sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers & onions

$30.87 out of pocket (after using my $27 catalinas from the first order),
with a total savings of $83.46
Then, I got $15 in more catalinas!

The only promo items in the 2nd transaction were the laundry detergent & the pasta sauce, I mostly got stuff on my grocery list.
Now, you're probably asking, "Leah, what in the world are you going to do with 4000 plus Qtips??". Well, I was thinking practical Christmas gifts, or we could make snowflake ornaments... lol.. just kidding! Seriously, we'll use them. It will take a while, but I won't need to buy Qtips for a LONG time! Besides, f you happen to have a Qtip emergency, you know who to call. ;)

Total out of pocket: $60.23
Total saved: $100.84
Plus, I still walked away with $15 in catalinas

A Fun Surprise

David & I were gone most of last week, making a trip to California to surprise my stepmom, Debbie, for her birthday. Debbie's birthday was Wednesday & her husband, Jim, said he had a hard time keeping our visit a secret for all these weeks. David & I flew in on Tuesday & Jim picked us up from the airport. Debbie had no idea! It was such a treat to see the huge smile on her face when Jim came home with us! The last time we saw them was in January, before David was even crawling.. now he's walking & babbling away. There were no plans for the week, except to enjoy each others company & catch up. I helped Debbie with some paperwork & David tested the kid-proofness of Grandma's house (he kept us pretty busy!) Jim grilled dinner for us a few nights & we enjoyed beautiful summer weather! It was the perfect time to go to California, as we totally skipped the 107 degree heat at home! yuck! I even had the opportunity to catch up with a couple of friends! We had a wonderful trip & it ended all too soon! I am looking forward to the next opportunity to visit again!

$10 in Schwan's Food Delivered for FREE

I just ordered 2 steaks to be delivered to my front door. How much did I pay? Absolutely nothing! Go check out this blog post ASAP to see if they'll deliver to you too!

$10 in Schwan's Food Delivered FREE

I've never actually ordered from Schwan's before, but I recognize that yellow truck & have heard their food is pretty good. I'll keep you posted about the free steaks. :)

Using Coupons Pays Off!

A few months ago, I started getting more serious about using coupons in order to save more money. Boy, has it really paid off! Combining coupons with sales (& Albertson's doubler coupons), I've been able to stock up our pantry (including the freezer) for about the same I was already spending on groceries. Our 40+ boxes of cereal that I purchased a few months ago have been dwindling down, so last night, we stopped at Albertson's to take advantage of another deal.

Our total out-of-pocket cost was $31.37.

That's for everything you see in the picture:
17 boxes of cereal
10 boxes of macaroni & cheese
5 pints of ice cream (those ended up being FREE!)
7 pkgs shredded cheese (I freeze them for pizza or taco night)
2 gallons milk
2 2-liters of Coke
2 tubs sour cream

According to the sales receipts, I saved $122.77!! In addition to the immediate coupon savings, we received a printout coupon at the register to save $2 on our next order. Also, with all the cereal we purchased, we will be receiving a $10 rebate in the mail from Kellogg's. woo hoo!

A Video of David

Check out this video of our little man from Sunday!

More 4th of July Photos

I love the contrast of the prom dress with the tank

yeah, we thought we'd let David light off a few... NOT!we let him eat them instead (just kidding! it's an empty box!)

they look so innocent don't they...

...not for long! See who the instigator is this time?

Independence Day

We had a fantastic, fun-filled 3 day weekend celebrating the 4th of July! It all started off Thursday with a bonfire @ Tammy & Latu's, including a dip in the hot tub. We let David have some fun with lots of splashing, of course. He didn't have a s'more, but David did stuff his mouth full with a giant marshmallow.. it was pretty funny! Friday we took some time to get things done @ home & prepare for Saturday's BBQ with friends. We started off the fourth by heading to downtown Ridgefield, where there was a parade & a whole day full of festivities. Not only was it Independence day, but Ridgefield is celebrating it's 100th year in 2009. It was a great parade with lots of tractors, classic cars & the local high school band (yes, there was a marching horn.. I checked). I loved the opportunity to experience the small town charm of the city we live in. It's small, but not too small. Ridgefield has big plans to grow with more housing developments coming in down the road & rumors of a grocery store & cinema in the near future! This is such a funny thing to me since I grew up in the Sacramento area & there were no less than 3 grocery stores within walking distance of our home. Now, I'm driving about 6 miles to get to the grocery store (or anywhere, for that matter) But I've gotten off track...
David spent much of the parade on his Daddy's shoulders, conducting music & pointing to new & different things. It was a lot of fun with no sunburns! YAY! We then joined up with friends for a nice relaxing afternoon & evening. There was BBQ, a kiddie pool, David's splash/sprinkler toy, bubbles, games with friends, a little nap & of course, fireworks. This is a cute quote that a friend posted on the 4th of July:

Erma Bombeck..."You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is PATRIOTISM."

Mall Playland

I've been a slacker in getting these cute pictures up on the blog. These are from the beginning of June.

A few months back Ashley & I walked the mall in the morning. We took advantage of the light traffic of shoppers & let the boys play in the mall Playland. They had a lot of fun playing on the cars, going down the slide & hanging out together. Kids being kids.

Visit with the Coates

We had such fun a couple weeks ago when Jamin's best friend, BJ & his wife, Lindsay stayed with us for a few days. We explored Portland & showed them the temple, made pizza & watched movies, relaxed for Father's Day & explored Seattle for a day. It was a busy & fun extended weekend! Thanks so much guys for making the trip! We can't wait to visit you again!