This time last week

We took the kids for a whirlwind tour of NYC! One day in the city. We had a blast. Kids saw Times Square, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and rode two ferries, buses and subway. What a great adventure. It was a lot of late night driving for the grown ups, but worth it!

Beauty and Life

Today is beautiful! The sun is shining, light wind, and a cloudless sky...with temps at 70 degrees. Perfect in my opinion!

I have a few minutes to post about us! At the end of August, we had Hurricane Irene come. Our home is usually quite safe in these storms, and this one was no exception. (We have been working hard to support the many in our communities that were devastated).

But, since the opportunity was there (School delayed, no work for me, etc), the two kids and I left Mr. Snippity here while we went to visit Jedi girl on the other side of the state. It was a good move. We were able to have good weather and a fun time. We got there so quickly, that we had to wait for school to let out! Princess Leia's dad took us over to visit the horses at the clinic.I am not really a "horse person", but I am pretty sure that crocs and flip flops are NOT the ideal riding shoes :)

Then, we waited very very patiently:

And here was our Girl!

The rest of the weekend was kind of a blur. I vaguely recall PetSmart, Old Navy, Krispy Kreme and Ikea in there somewhere :)

Thanks to http://smartbutnotwise.blogspot.com for letting us crash with her for a long weekend! We are getting ready to go visit again soon...and I will be looking for the Hot N Fresh sign! :)

Still Here

I'm still here! Keeping up with my everyday challenges takes a good bit of my time, so blogging has to take a back seat.

Work is a big one! Taking good care of 5 infant/toddler/young preschoolers is a lot of hard work, and naptimes are not consistant. That makes it even harder to get routine tasks done.

All that said...I'll be back...at some point...probably sporadically for a while.

Losing a girl

I know, I am always complaining about teenage drama. I guess I am going to get a little bit of a break from all of that. Jedi girl is leaving me to go live with her father. They live about 5-6 hours away from us.

I'm still processing how I feel about all the changes. We are down to a few days before the move, and the tensions are high.

I never once dreamed in these last 15 years that this would happen.

Freecycle

Does anyone use this service in their community?

I have been a subscriber to the freecycle group for about 2 years now. I've seen lots of random items posted...but nothing that has been useful to me. Until recently, that is. Mr. Snippity & I had been looking for a bedframe. We have a king size bed, but were using a queen size frame that had been made to work since we were reluctant to spend such a large chunk of money. Last week, I saw a post for the king size frame. Emailed the contact. Waited and waited. Figured I wasn't quick enough to score the deal. Finally, the person emailed me back, and I was the first one to claim it! I had to send the Mr and his dad to do the pickup, as it is a BIG bed. Now, my room feels 'fancy' as my 7 year old said! Of course, putting a new bed frame in meant I had to *clean* the room too...so it is fancy and CLEAN! :)

Now, if anyone has a matching dresser...I'm your girl!

Wants

My teenager has a terrible case of the "I want's!". Let me start by pointing out that she is almost 15 years old and has: a cell phone (not a smartphone), an ipod (a few years old), a laptop computer (a few years old). I'm going on a 13 hour car ride, and I want a new $300-$500 tablet computer to take on the ride.

Recent conversation :

"I don't have the cell phone I wanted, I don't have the ipod I wanted, My laptop won't work unless it is plugged in and keys fall off...it's all crap!

Here's what she doesn't have: A job. And that's why she will not get any of those new things any time soon.

Music at McD's

This morning, I was splurging on a fast food breakfast for the kids(dollar menu!) It was a last minute decision since Jedi boy had some 'assessments' today. We get to McD's (the only fast food breakfast choice in my town). There are about 6 guys in line ahead of us. My kids go sit at a table and are waiting patiently (seriously!) and keeping the childcare baby happy. One of the guys in the line makes a comment to me about how good the kids are...(I know!?!?!? Right?) So we strike up the 'are you from around here' talk. (Since we live in a touristy area, we have this conversation often!) It turns out these guys are a Christian rock band and are filming a video on the sand dunes. I was chatting with their lead vocalist. Since the food service was kind of slow, we had plenty of time to converse. Long story short...he gave us one of his band's cd's. Once we were back in the car, we had time to listen to two songs before we got to the school. I like it!

I came home and looked them up online. It appears that this group is on the road to being a well known group...they've played with some big acts. You can check out the band for yourself...Love Like Gravity. I'm rocking out to their CD right now :)

Melva

I still have 1 living great grandmother. She and I are not particularly close, but I have some fond memories. She is my father's grandmother.

She has had cancer in the past and has been living in a nursing facility first for rehabilitation after surgery and then due to her Alzheimers. Now her cancer has returned and she in in the hospital listed as terminal.

She has her children and some grandchildren and other family at the hospital with her, and they say she is resting, but not really responding to them much.

I'm sad...

Bargains at HT

Harris Teeter has been doing super doubles this week. I've gone twice so far.
My favorite deals were:
Ziploc XXL bags (pack of 3)for free {I love these bags!}
Ziploc sandwich and freezer bags for 1.50 each
HV Ranch dressing double packets for .95 each
16oz Coffee Creamer for .39
2 pounds frozen broccoli florets 1.75
Pudding cup snack pack (4 pack) for .50 each
French's honey mustard dipping sauce for free (new item for us...tried it tonight...it is good!)
Coke 2 liters for 1.17

I don't always do great keeping up with my coupons, but even if I do this once or twice a year, it still saves some $$$!