My Thrifty Finds!

So I got to go to the McKay's Bookstore last night after work and I was there for about an hour and a half but gosh I coulda stayed FOREVER and spent ALOT more money!!

Imagine your local superwalmart. Now, cut off the registers section and all that random stuff at the front (money center, vison center, customer service, whatever) and then also don't imagine anything in the stock room that you don't usually see. Got the idea? Now empty Walmart out and fill it with rows and rows and rows and stacks and stacks and stacks of BEAUTIFUL discounted books! Then, add a big section on the side for DVD's, video games, and gaming systems... and then add a 2nd story, but cut out the center of that floor (so its just a second story around the edges really) and fill that with used CD's. The biggest place ever!!



I was so enthralled.. they had the largest variety I'd ever seen! They had everything from automotive books to novels to collectors books to manga to kids books to anything else in the possible world you could imagine. I went with a specific list of things I wanted and only couldn't find 2 things - but it was okay because I found better things!! The best part is how good the condition of the books and dvd's and things is and how CHEAP everything is!! Here's an examples (something I didn't buy for Brent lol)

Barnes & Noble: $19.95
Amazon.com: $14.95 + shipping
McKays: $7.50

Here's one that REALLY impressed me
Barnes & Noble: $40.00
Amazon.com: $23.40 + Shipping
McKays: $15.00

WOW!! Right? and here's the thing -- these are highly sought after items!! They aren't even Bargain Books!!!

SO Here's what I got:

Brent's gifts will be non-detail obviously.... item number 1 priced normally $18.99, I paid $5. Item number 2 priced normally $19.95, I paid $10. Item number 3 priced normally at $24.95, I paid $7.50. Item number 4 normally priced at $14.95... yeah I paid $1.95!! Total savings of approximately $55. WOW. And here's the thing about this -- I didn't compromise on the things I wanted! Every single thing I bought I was looking for specifically and if I hadn't found it there I was ordering it online! I'd already priced them all online! WOOHOO!! And they don't look used either. If I took off the stickers and didn't tell him that's where I bought it, he'd NEVER know. AWESOME

For Alina we bought 5 of Dora's little life lesson books... I don't remember which titles, I just saw they were Dora and in the bargain section! They're smaller sized books, and paperback... imagine the classic board book size.... like 5 inches by 5 inces or so... and paperback. I can't really find these online but most kids books go for abour $4 a piece on the internet, so we'll say that they'd be that much. The set would then be $20 and I paid $3.50. WOOHOO

Also got her this... but the volume she hasn't seen yet -- I think it's season 2 maybe? I priced it online before for around $15, Brent saw it on sale at Walmart for $10, and I bought it for $7.50!


Man. So I was aware that I'd raked up about $40 worth of purchases and I needed to head home before I went totally broke buying good presents that I didn't need to buy any more of (LOL). I was standing in the checkout line when I saw this from where I was standing: PLAYSTATION 2's!! Ebay price: about $80 right now... EB Games still sells them for $120.... McKays?? $60. Yup. $60. Totally wish I'd known that before I bought almost all of Brent's Christmas presents. MAN! But it's okay, good to know in future!

I have a new favorite place. HAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Way so excited.

A $30 Box

So I ordered Alina's birthday present from Amazon.com. I'm super excited about it - I got it with free shipping and it'll be here on the 18th (just in the nick of time!) so I'm glad it worked out so much!

BUT! Let me tell you something I learned about Amazon's little thingy called "Frusteration Free Packaging."

So, according to Amazon, "Frustration-Free Certified Packages are easy-to-open and come without hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. Frustration-Free Packaging will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging, and what's inside is exactly the same. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without the need for an additional shipping box."

While it sounds nice and eco-friendly... here was my question:
Why does the Frusteration-Free Packaging cost $16.99 when the Retailer Packaging costs $44.99?
WHAT?!!?!? That's right. A whopping $28 difference to opt for the recyclable box!!

So what's the deal? They don't save $28 by eliminating the box... here's my only guess (which nothing on Amazon supports this guess but it's the only explination I can come up with); Alot of boxes are damaged in shipping and in transit. My thought is that these "frusteration free" packages were actually sent in their regular retail boxes but got rained on or smashed or something. So, Amazon does a little test to make sure the product still works, throws out all the extra crap and puts it in a simple box and discounts it and creates a name for it, because no one will buy the smashed boxes anyway.

I simply could not believe that I saved $28 because I took the recycled box. Man, it sure makes Amazon look all eco-friendly and green but my guess is that the fact is they just are selling things they would have to discount because the box got ruined. I remember working at Journeys (Shoes) and having customers - especially at Christmas - get upset if the box was squished or something. There wasn't a scratch on the shoes, they weren't bent or anything, but the customer would want a non-smushed box. They even would buy the wrong size sometimes so that the box looked nicer.

Well, that's my outrageous tale for the day. Tonight I am going to McKay's Used Books for the first time ever. My mother in law goes all the time, and a girl I work with who is in school for teaching swears by this place. Its much like an EB games or clothing thrift store where people trade in their old "gently used" stuff and use store credit to buy new stuff, or you can just buy if you want. It's all used so its discounted alot. I am excited because I want to look for a few books for Brent that I'd been looking at online (for $8 or $10 each which is cheaper than like Barnes&Noble but used is just as good really). It also occured to me that I could buy several books for Alina and give them to her as Christmas presents... and kids books are like 25 to 50 cents each soooo that's a great price for a Christmas present! I'll have to share some of my finds with you all tomorrow!

On the list to look for Alina includes Max & Ruby books (previous post about these) as well as Sesame Street, Dora, and Disney Princess books... maybe some classic kids books... I'll have to see what I find! They also sell DVD's and CD's and Audio books and video games so I'll HAVE to look around and see what they've got and what kinds of prices they have. I'm WAY TOO EXCITED about this!!!

Do you ever think about?

A few nights ago I got in a long conversation about exes with Brent. I don't really know how we got on the subject but the idea of the conversation was generally "what was I thinking?" and "I'm so glad I married you!"

It amazes me when I look back on some of the guys I considered. Some weren't that strong in their faith. Some weren't that attractive (hah!). Some weren't interested in having kids. Some weren't attentive. Some weren't leaders. Some were quiet(LOL). I wonder why I even considered some of the guys that I spent significant time with because I thought he "might be the one"

Today, in retrospect, I am thinking about those past friendships... thinking about the boys that wrote me letters from boot camp or coast guard ships. Wondering what my life would have been like - and then shuddering at the thought. What would me life be without Brent and Alina and Raziel? I can't imagine I'd be any kind of happy. What would life have been like if I'd gone to college for 4 years? Gosh, I'd just be graduating.... no kids for sure.

Because of thinking bout this, I wanted to tell you about how Brent and I met and how amazing it is. We were talking about it last night and surely, I've decided, God loves fairy tales and just wanted to make one out of my life for the pure enjoyment of it.

Brent and I were both online kids when we were in our early teens. We both hung out in Christian chat rooms and talked in AIM to complete strangers. (It was before Facebook got big, remember back then?) We used to chat with people about life, God, and stuff in general. It was in this Christian chat room that we met and chatted some. Brent was told by God very early on that I was the woman that he would marry. Well, being that he was like 13 at the time, Brent freaked out and blocked my AIM and didn't talk to me. He figured he must be going crazy and had made things up in his mind. He changed chat rooms and times he was there to avoid me.

A year or so passes and he comes back to the chat room where we met. He runs into me in this chat room several more times, all the while remember vaugely that "this is the woman you'll marry." He unblocks me on AIM for a time and then freaked himself out because he started to think that maybe it was me (or something like that... I'm not sure why he re-blocked me, I hardly remember this part) When we were 15, we hadn't talked for quite a long time and we'd all but forgotten the existence of eachother. Brent's family was going through a tough time (his parents got divorced a few years later) and Brent confided in this guy he had gotten to know online. This guy suggested that Brent just needed to take a week or so and get out of his house. He offered to have Brent come and visit his family, and mentioned that Brent should get to know his little sister who was about Brent's age and was turning 16 the week he'd be coming to visit. When this guy gave Brent the AIM screen name, it was blocked.

That guy was my brother, David. I was the sister. Brent (at this point having purposefully tried to loose me in the sea of the internet twice or more times and being unsucessful) unblocked my screen name and decided to get to know me. This was around December. By March, when spring break came around and Brent's plan to come visit was still in effect, Brent and I had become very very very close and knew that there was something more there. I didn't know that God had told him years before then that I was going to be his wife, but Brent always remembered.

Today, 7 years later, we are still together and very happy and looking back on it is like reading a fairy tale. We dated for about 3 years and got married on the 3 year anniversary of the day that we met in person. We will be celebrating our 4th year of marriage in March when Judah comes. It amazes me that the decisions that we made were so orchestrated that they brought us to where we are today.

Anyways, I just wanted to talk about it some because it brought to my attention how good of a husband I have... and how much God must love me to have to work that hard to bring him to me.

A few things about pregnancy...

So, I've decided to share a few things I don't like about pregnancy. And, a few things I do like just to be fair.

1) I don't like that middle of the pregnancy section (or really most of mine because I'm rather slender) where people are afraid to ask if you're pregnant or not. Really, if you knew me, you'd know that without a doubt I'm pregnant. But people (customers, strangers at the store, etc) don't know what I normally look like so they aren't sure if I'm fat or pregnant. I hate this.

2) I don't like having to pee first thing in the morning and sometimes during the night too. It's cold outside of my bed. I don't like getting up out of bed. I am always too awake to go right back to sleep, which I hate because I love sleeping.

3)I don't like that I have active babies. Ok, so, it's nice and re-assuring to feel them move from time to time, and it's very happy after I haven't been feeling well or something but gosh if Judah would just give me a break for like an hour I'm sure my breathing would improve.

4) I hate being so forgetful. They say that blood is taken off your brain and focused on the uterus to help support the baby and that makes you forget things more. I don't know if that's just a wives' tale to make excuses for the fact that you have like 18 things to do at any given time, or if its scientific, but I'll claim it.

5) I hate being so tired. I know, the reason I'm tired is because a) I haven't taken my vitamen this morning yet and b) I need to eat more breakfast than a granola bar and c) I stayed up late talking to Brent last night and d) I'm growing a person for goodness sake! it takes some work! but I'm just worn out -- alot. I have less patience and I got so aggrivated with Alina the other day that I yelled at her and I just HATE yelling at her. And the worst part is that I know I was only yelling because she was irritating me and she was only doing that becuase she was hungry and I couldn't cook fast enough. I guess that brings me to #6

6) I hate being stressed and taking it out on the kids. It's not their fault that I didn't sleep well. It's not their fault that I'm hungry. It's not their fault that they're hungry. It's not their fault that I'm trying to handle too many things at once. I shouldn't yell at them or anything.

OK so I really do love being pregnant alot of times. I love bonding with the little person growing in me. I love how close that baby will be to me and how he will trust me before he ever sees my face. I love feeling him move around (sometimes) and I love hearing his heartbeat and seeing his little face or arms or hands or whatever. I love that every ultrasound I've had on every baby has included baby holding a fist up against his/her face. I love that my kids are so different and yet so similar. I love that they come from me, and I love being so proud of that when I'm done with these 9 months. I love being pregnant because I know Alina and Raziel will be fantastic big siblings, and that Alina can't wait to call the baby Dante regardless of how much I say his name is Judah. so it's not all bad, but I am a bit worn out today and thought I'd share about it.

Busy Weekend

After the snow on Saturday, it started warming up so we went to the city's holiday parade with our friends Tamra and Brian (and their kids). The parade didn't start til 6pm (we were told to be there around 4:30 even though we were just watching!) so it was frusterating just sitting around waiting, but awesome once it started. Raziel was out by 6:45 so I laid him in his stroller and let him take a 30 minute nap. Alina got to hang out with Jason, another dad from church, who happens to be very tall (so she could see.) She had a blast - she was waving and saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone, grabbing the candy they threw, she even got to see the horses which she was VERY excited about. It was her first parade and I was so glad she had such a fun time. Jason mentioned to me later that he hadn't had a little one like that at a parade for a very long time and it was really enjoyable for him to experience it with her because it reminded him that it was magical and fun and new and different - not cold and boring. I was so glad that he'd enjoyed holding her so much because she wouldn't come back to me once she got up there with Jason!!

That night we had dinner with Tamra and Brian and ended up staying over until midnight -- not the plan origonally, but the guys worked on their Blazer (SUV) and we made dinner and it just turned into a late-night sort of a thing. Tamra called me the next day and asked what our normal bed-time was because she realized I was grumpy after about 11pm (haha! I was EXHAUSTED and hadn't eaten since 1pm!!!) It was so funny, but I explained how bedtime is normally 8:30 for the kids and I'm rarely up later than 10 so it was a blast to be over there but we agreed to have earlier dinners in future. I'm going to make sure to invite them for dinner sometime in the next week or two so that she doesn't think we didn't enjoy our time there. It's strange to me that I used to stay up until 2am all the time and that was the norm - and now I can't stay up til 1am once without being so tired that my hostess noticed I was grumpy!! Being a mom changes things so much.... but I'm okay with that I think.

Sunday we got to go grocery shopping with our new WIC package and I am so thrilled! WIC never made since to me because the concept was to facilitate families like ours in getting a balanced diet -- but all they gave us was too many eggs, and waaay too much cereal with some milk, cheese, juice, peanut butter and beans mixed in. The new way, we get grains (our choice of bread, tortillas or rice), produce (frozen, canned or fresh), milk (less), eggs (much less!), cheese (also less), juice, and cereal (more, sadly! lol!)

The fact that we choose what breads we want is awesome. We actually get really good stuff to choose from too... it's all whole wheat which is even better because that's the expensive stuff that I can never afford. They also give a dollar amount for fruit and veggies - and I choose from fresh, frozen or canned, and can pick any combination. Sunday, I bought 3 apples, 1 orange, 1 big bag of baby carrots, a can of corn and a can of green beans.... and I get to do that 2 more times this month! I'm really excited because I used to pay so much money for produce and grains every month, and still didn't buy the nice stuff... now that it's all paid for, I can buy really nice veggies and really nice healthy bread and grain and I don't have to pay for it. I'll gladly trade all that for buying a gallon of milk here or there and supplementing my cheese. We also had one tiny little alteration on our peanut butter that is a huge difference! Now, we can buy a 16-18oz jar instead of just a 16oz jar. All the natural peanut butters are 18 oz - so we can get the good stuff now! I'm so excited!

Monday I went to the OB and they said everything looks great and normal, so that's fantastic. They're keeping to my duedate for now (sigh). It would have to be the week of my anniversary and birthday. Poor kid (LOL). I ran a few errands and came back home right when Brent was putting the kids down for their nap. We wrapped the christmas presents we had for the kids, and put them under the tree. When Alina got up from her nap she was SOOOO excited. She has guesses about every single thing that was wrapped (all wrong, of course). It was adorable, I was so excited that she's enjoying this already so much. We're going to buy a bunch of little presents at the dollar tree and let her open one every day till Christmas so that she can count down the days in a tangible way. Brent did this one year as a kid and never forgot it.

I'm making the kids their ornaments this year. Becca has some glass ornament kits that she won't be using and she volunteered to give them to me. I am so excited about this because I'm getting REALLY good at painting cartoon type charaters and I plan to make a tinkerbell one for Alina and a Tigger one for Raziel.

Last night, we lit a fire in the fireplace. (it's cold here and my central heat and air doesn't work.) We run space heaters in the kids rooms at night and one in our room too because its just waay too cold not to. Since we've started that Alina has slept perfectly (with her new yellow pacie). Anyways, Alina was very excited about the fireplace and called her daddy to come and watch the fire with her while I made dinner. Brent thought this was so sweet he came and sat with her for 30 minutes before he put her in bed. It was adorable, watching them all snuggled up in front of the fire.


That's all I have worth mentioning for the weekend.

Saturday Snow Day

Saturday was SUPER cold at our house and we got quite a bit of snow!! Alina and Raziel were sooo excited that we got up before 8am, bundled up and played in the snow. I took a bunch of pictures to show you the fun we had.


Alina's all bundled up and ready to go play - sporting the adorable princess hat she got from Baba last year along with her knitted fleece-lined mittens from Nana & Poppa Huggins, also last year.

We got ALOT of snow for us.

I had to share this photo of the top half of my backyard... this belongs on a Christmas card!

Raziel was very unsure as to what was up with the bundling and the cold and his inability to walk around really. He looked at it for quite a while.


Then he sat down and looked at it some more.




Alina showed him that snow was fun, and she was excited about it. He kicked his feet some but still didn't move.


Alina knew just what to do. She picked up the snow in her hands and showed it to him.

And, in good ol Raziel fashion
it went promptly into his mouth. LOL!


Alina only wanted to do one thing (after she'd thrown a few snowballs at me) and that was build a snowman. She was so excited and knew exactly what to do. She told me we needed sticks for arms and we needed eyes and a nose and a mouth and buttons. So, we used the wretched Jolly Rancher candy that choked her a few weeks ago for the eyes, a peppermint stick for his nose and black beans for his mouth and buttons. Alina was VERY proud that she made the head herself.




We played for about 2 hours before they got grumpy. I was so glad we got up and played in it because it melted by that afternoon when Brent got home. I hope it snows again sometime when he's home to play too.

Thursday... pretty dull

Today has been pretty dull and typical... I slept really well last night and woke up refreshed this morning which was nice. Brent took kid-duty and let me paint for a few hours yesterday evening and I started on a portrait of Boots (Dora the Explorer's friend) for Alina's birthday/Christmas. After that I soaked in the tub for about an hour and crawled into a warm bed. It was lovely. This morning I felt rested and revived. I got to work 10 minutes early. I did all my work dilligently and worked hard. I was rather irritated because my co-worker went out to distribute flyers and his 2 hour trip turned into 5 hours because his car broke down (brakes quit) and his mother needed to go to the doctor... but that's life sometimes. It left me pretty busy this afternoon but I'm not even to where I'm upset about it really. I budgeted some and made sure we had all the right bills paid, and how much we'd have for Christmas spending when we get paid next, etc.... it's been a typical day. I can't wait to go home to the kids and hang out with them and Brent. He drove all the way home (30 mins each way) on his one hour lunch today just to call me on his phone, which he'd forgotten this morning. He said I'd sounded sad that he'd forgotten his phone in the morning and he wanted to talk to me, even for just a few minutes. I was very happy. It's funny to me how tiny little things can make me feel so wonderful sometimes, but it's just the fact that he pays that much attention to me and I love it. Well, I just realised I should've paid the sitter today and I forgot to so let me go call her... sorry it's not an intersting post! I just felt like I should post something!