HE WHO LAUGHS!

Isaac disappeared on me yesterday and I found him down the hall doing this. Isn't that so cute? He is only 8 months old and he gets around and plays like he is two. He is such a happy, giggly(he is always chuckling at something), observant boy and wants nothing more than to be smiled at. He LOVES his brothers and is even learning to relax and not cringe every time Cael comes near him (although he has reason to most of the time still). He follows his brother around everywhere (they were both in time out at the time of the picture) and plays with what they play with. He is not satisfied with his baby toys. He wants to be all grown up.

We love him and are so glad he decided to come down and be a part of our family. At the time it seemed so hard, with everything else we had going on, but....It's funny how sometimes our greatest trials turn out to be one our greatest blessings (let's wait and see if I am still singing the same tune when he is a teenager).

Isaac......stay sweet and be true to your name. If you do, you will have friends and loved ones wherever you go (Isaac means; "he who laughs," "child of laughter," laughter,".....you get the idea).

Can you say "REBATE" baby?

I am amazing.....that's right, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I have always been a thrifty spender but now that I have learned a few tricks of the trade I have taken it to the extreme. I wonder if Rite-Aid and Walgreen's are even aware that they have me in their employ. That is to say....I get PAID to shop at their store. Month after month money goes into my pocket and I get FREE stuff. Again, FREE. All it takes is a little time and a little effort and VIOLA! Want to know how? Well.....I'll tell ya!

Each month both Rite-Aid and Walgreen's come out with a rebate savings booklet. You pick it up directly at the store. The Walgreen's booklet is pretty straight forward. It flat-out lists the items that are FREE for the month among several other rebated items. If you want to purchase something that is not free but has a rebate, watch the adds throughout the month and you will most likely find the item on sale, at one point, as well as rebated (extra savings). Rite-aid, on the other hand, is not as open about their FREE items. The best way to keep up on them is through their adds each week (add will say.....FREE with single check rebate). They have items that are FREE all month long and items that are only FREE for one week at a time (read the fine print. It will say "only valid XX/XX/XXXX throught X/XX/XXXX." If it does not specify a date then it is valid all month. Make sure you do not buy something FREE with a rebate outside of the dates it is valid for. Otherwise it makes it really hard to return....they think you are trying to scam them....believe me, I know). Just like Walgreen's, Rite-aid also has a whole plothera of item that have month wide rebates that also go on sale throughout the month so be sure not to pay full price just to get a rebate....wait until it is on sale as well.

As far as actually taking care of the rebate form and the $, each store have their own bonus. Rite-aid's can be done on-line. You just have to enter information from your receipt(s) and it's done.....you have your money in about 2 weeks. It's GREAT! Walgreen's has to be sent in and takes a little longer to receive but......if you have your rebate put on a "Walgreen's gift card" you receive and additional 10% of your rebate amount (i.e. if your rebate is $37 you will get that plus $3.70 making your total rebate $40.70. MORE MONEY!). The down side is that can only use the money at Walgreen's but I just use it for next month's rebate items and it all comes out in the wash.

Now.....you still have to pay sales tax for the FREE items. So how do you make money you ask? You add coupons to any of the item you can. For instance......I had a $1.5o off coupon for one toothpastes and $1.00 off coupon for the other. I also had a $1.00 off coupon for each of the bottles of shampoo and conditioner I bought so.....on top of the rebates I had $7.50 of manufacturer's coupons. Hence, the coupons more than covered my sales tax of $4.28. (Now in case you are wondering....not all of the item's I purchased this month were the FREE items. Some of them just had rebates on them but I still got them for free....in the end).

So.......Can you guess how much I paid......or should I say, got paid for all of the items you see above? $1.42 .....well, actually if you subtract the postage stamp I will have to put on the Walgreen's rebate to send it in I will only have made $1.00. I know that may not sound like much but.....think about it again. I GOT PAID $1.00 to pick up all of these items from the store(two bottles of shampoo, two bottles of conditioner, two bottles of hair gel, two tubes of toothpaste, a toothbrush, tums-quick desolve, mineral blush, and 35 days worth of Rob's allergy medicine....and I'm not even done for the month). You can't beat that (and really, if you think you can, let me know. I want to know your savings "secrets" as well).

So......don't miss out on this opportunity. These stores are just banking on the fact that people will forget to turn in their rebate, or loose their receipt, or forget to cash their checks or something. Don't give them the satisfaction. Go out there are take advantage of their generosity. Someone has to so why shouldn't it be you?


For more money saving tips, please contact Melanie @..........just kidding. But no, seriously, if you have any question's e-mail me. I am more than happy to help others save money as well. I figure that when we have to, I mean get to, practice the law of consecration we will all be better off if everyone prepares for it. My new slogan is as follows:

"DON'T PROCRASTINATE THE DAY OF YOUR FREE LOADING......TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE STORES AND NOT YOU FELLOW SAINTS" ;)

Sometimes I kill myself I am so funny! :)

Sometimes I just want to go home

I miss home. Home.........my family, my "happy valley" and the view of Mt. Timpanogos from my parents front porch, my very own townhouse, my comfort zone, my support system, my golds gym (yes, even blasted golds gym), and my less than courteous drivers.

I would like to think that I have done a pretty good job of adjusting to life here in Washington. Most days, I don't even think about where I am or how life is different. I have learned to cope without a lot of things and learned to live with even more. I have successfully bitten my tongue several times when "Utah Mormons" were being attacked and have even learned to like SOME of the people who have done the attacking (note, the "SOME".....by the way, Mom and Dad Gillespie.....don't worry, I was not thinking about you guys when I made this comment even though I do hear never ceasing negative comments about me and my fellow Utah Mormons).

Sweet home [Utah Valley], where the skies are so blue.......sweet home [Utah Valley] ..... I'm coming home to you.

If you can't tell, I'm feeling a little home sick. I am sure it's a combination of a few things: winter blues, white trash neighbors and the ever present cigarette smoke that follows them (side note: for FHE yesterday we took cookies around to neighbors....one of which was sitting on the couch with her children totally doped up....thick tongue, slurred speech and everything...HOME SWEET HOME), never seeing my husband, my children have no place run and play and no regular friends to play with (they miss Sundays at Grandma and Grandpa Hardings), to name a few.

But......there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. Warm weather has to be here soon (although we have had VERY few days of it) and we are moving to a house (it has a fenced back yard and everything....."adios children, see you in a few hours.......hurry, lock the door). It is NOT in a white trash neighborhood (just the opposite, it is on what is so affectionately called "snob hill," and hopefully there will be children there for my kids to play with whom I will ALLOW my children to play with.

I'll let you know when the sun comes out........until then, don't expect any "happy" posts. Just Kidding.

Are you sure they all have the same daddy?

"Are you sure they all have the same daddy?" You would not believe how often I hear those words. I know......it sounds funny right? (but what is not funny is that where we live, our oh so ghetto apartment, that is not all that uncommon......sad, I know.)

It is true to say that each of our children are so very different in their looks. Here's the run down. Gabe has blond hair, green eyes and a yellowish skin tone (that produces a nice golden tan in the summer). Cael......like his mommy, has red hair, blue eyes and the pale-est, red-est skin tone ever (that produces no such tan in the summer). Isaac has dark brown hair, creamy brown eyes and olive, olive skin (we have yet to see what will happen in the summer but I can already say that if he were not my offspring....I would envy and covet and might actually dislike him for it).

So....you are going to have to judge for yourself. (If I had a picture of our former mailman I would post it for comparison....but sadly, I don't).

On another note.......putting these three in the bathtub together was quite a wild adventure. One that I may not repeat for quite some time, if ever (I just wanted to save time and hot water. Thanks goes to my father for teaching me to be so frugally minded).

Gabe and Cael could not control themselves (yeah right) and were splashing me to the point of sopping-wettedness (do you like my made up word). Isaac, who is just now sitting up on his own, has not quite mastered the skill of the slippery bath tub and was sliding all over the place. The fact that he was trying to grab anything he could reach (which included toys, wash rags, and yes....the older boys "little boy parts") didn't help that fact. Gabe and Cael thought all of this was a riot and...........you guessed it, splashed some more. So.....all in all, for the sake of a little extra time and money (and a really cute picture), I ended up with an extra bath myself, a lake on the floor, and a hoarse voice from all the yelling. Not fun......not fun at all.

Some days you gotta dance!

Some days you gotta dance- Dixie Chicks
Some days you gotta dance
Live it up when you get the chance
cause when the world doesn't make no sense
And you're feeling just a little to tense
Gotta loosen up those chains and dance

I once had a roommate (Stephanie) dub this as my "theme song." Little did she know that her statement would inspire me over and over again, oh so many years later.

I LOVE TO DANCE! It has to be one of the most fun and invigorating things I can think of. Just to let go of ones self and body and enjoy the movement.
Life can be soooooo stressful sometimes and I let it get to me far too often. I am a time bomb on the verge of going off at any given moment of the day. Unfortunately, my children usually receive the brunt of the explosion and I am left to clean up the mess. But........sometimes.........just sometimes I remember Stephanie's words ("this is totally your theme song") and I am moved to action.
My children love it! I have tried really hard to pass this love of mine on to my offspring and anyone who know Gabe knows that, at least in his case, it worked. The kid has moves no one can duplicate.

So......in times of stress, or depression, or when mom just needs to lighten up and remember there is more to life that dirty laundry(or clean that has to be folded and put away), toilet cleaning, diaper changing, and bills, we DANCE! We GROOVE! We "SHIMMY" to anything from ACE of BASE to BOB MARLEY and the world doesn't seem so bad anymore . It must be the only time my children see that mommy is more than the wicked witch of the west.
So.....Stephanie.....thanks for inspiring me to always remember to "loosen up......and dance."

Okay, so the picture stinks (I don't know the first thing about picture taking...and don't even claim to) but it was taken this morning while we jammed out to "Pop Goes the World" by Men without hats (from the 80's or early 90's...I don't know which but it is a fabulous song!). Even Isaac joined in.