90% Coupon Savings

I, Kristina, was very into couponing before we moved to Germany. Since we're back, I'm trying to get back into the swing of it. Here was one of my most successful shopping trips that I had last summer. I'm going to share tips and ways to use coupons in some following posts.

A shopping trip

1 pkg Juicy Fruit gum
3 Pillsbury brownie mixes
1 bag Kroger tortilla chips
1 bag organic baby carrots
4 bags Quaker Quakes rice cakes
2 bags Birds Eye frozen veggies
2 bottles Suave conditioner
2 bottles Suave shampoo
2 Suave deodorants

Final purchase price: $2.88

I was super excited when I got the ad that morning in the mail because I knew it was going to be a great shopping trip. I actually went back the following day and bought a few more brownie mixes,deodorants and shampoos to put in a box for the food pantry. I've decided that this is a way that I can contribute to those who can't even afford good food without breaking my limited grocery budget. I think on that second trip I only spent about $1 to buy 6 items to donate. And everything was a name brand.

Making Vapor Rub

To kick off the new direction, I'm (Kristina) copying a post from Rachel's personal blog.

After I received my order of beeswax from Mountain Rose, I realized I was going to be able to make a lot with it. A pound of beeswax goes a long way for a small family! Today we made homemade vapor rub, and early this summer we are going to make a big batch of lip balm with Nana to share with all my sisters.

I wanted to make two variations of vapor rub - a strong one with camphor for my husband, and a mild one with lavender for the babies. Camphor is very strong and I don't want to use it for the little ones.

I used 8 ounces of olive oil, about 2 ounces of beeswax. I warmed the oil over a double boiler (actually a cheap pot of water and a small bowl I picked up at the thrift store.) The oil goes in the bowl over the gently bowling water, so the oil doesn't burn. Next time I make this, I want to use oil infused with some kind of mint to add extra strength to it - I know we will have a garden full of mint this summer. I melted the beeswax gently in the oil, and took it off the heat as soon as it was melted.

I poured the wax/oil into two tubs - repurposed from butter tubs. A real herbalist probably wouldn't reuse old plastic butter tubs, but what can I say? They were the right size.

Then I added the oil. I used 15 drops of eucalyptus in each tub. I added 10 drops of lavender to the children's tub and 10 drops of camphor to my husband's tub. Since this is my first try, I have no idea whether those ratios will be strong enough and I encourage anyone who wants to try this to experiment and see what works for you. Especially for kids, less is more.

The finished products smell really good. If they don't turn out to be strong enough, I will remelt them.

I used:

Available from Mountain Rose:

White Camphor Oil

Eucalyptus Oil

Lavender Oil

Beeswax

Olive Oil (I bought mine on clearance at the grocery store)

Repurposed:

Butter tubs - metal tins or glass jars would be better

~ Rachel

Slightly New Direction

My friend Rachel and I are taking this blog in a different direction, so instead of my random babbling, there will be more direction. We're going to talk about what I like to call our slightly crunchy parenting ideas, ways to save money as a stay at home mom, creative things to do with your kids, excerpts from the mommy land, blogs we like to read, etc. We hope that you'll be entertained and informed!

Cute Comments on the Baby Sister

#1 is quite the funny man. He's had some pretty amusing comments about my pregnancy.

Him: Where baby come out? Up, up, up out your head?

Me: Umm...no.....

A few days later....

Him: Baby come out up your head or out your bottom?

Me: Bottom

Why elaborate with details? lol. Smart kid though. He's got things figured out about where things enter and exit the body.

The baby was kicking a ton the other day and I said something about it while he was standing by me. He said "Baby sister is trying to get out!"

His theological thoughts on the baby:

"Jesus no live in your tummy. Baby sister lives there. Jesus lives in your heart."

Baby sister is his official name for the baby which works well because we don't have a name for her either at the moment. He has also suggested Melmo (Elmo, when he was obsessed with Elmo) and Sippy (after his water bottle he used to be attached to).

And on Halloween candy and the baby:

"Baby sister likes my candy but she's not out."

Yes, baby sister does indeed like his Halloween candy....

~ Kristina

Bony Butt

This little one must have a very bony butt because she's constantly shoving it up into my lungs! I never had actual pain from when I was pregnant with #1 and his womb antics so this is totally a new thing. I think its her head because I was told at my last appointment that it felt like she was head down and I totally believed that because #2's little knee was the object stabbing me in the side. Well, she must have turned her body inward and her hiney outward and is now using that little bony hiney to torture me. The other day in church during the sermon she stabbed me and I literally jumped. I hope this is not a sign of things to come of torturing poor mommy her whole life. I really hope she decides to turn around again. Her knee was much easier to deal with then her hiney. The only thing that's worked thus far is stretching my torso when she does it and using my hand to push against her backside when she starts ramming it upward.

~ Kristina

Moving a Post - #1 is 2!

I have posts from another blog that I want to move over so here is the first one. Terribly out of chronological order, but what can ya do?

My little guy turned two yesterday. I can't believe that just two short years ago he came into our lives (yes, I know there were 40 weeks before that where he was "in" our life, but you know what I mean). I have a hard time remembering life before he came around.
He is very much a toddler these days. He likes to choose what shirt he wears and tries to stall bed time by saying he's hungry. He can do the motions to a few songs and likes to listen to them over and over again. He's got quite a sense of humor and knows what is funny. He can give puppy and lion kisses. He can say sentences like "There's mommy's car!" which we understand! But he also says things like "I want the sunbutter on my crackers" which we don't understand and only figure out by asking questions until he nods with a nod that says "uh, yeah, what took you so long to understand me?" Then he says lots of words which I will bore you with but I want to document for my records until I write them down somewhere I won't loose them: Mommy, Daddy, crash (for truck), uh-oh, na-na (all done), nay-nay (Aunt Kaitlin), mak (for milk and Uncle Mark), Mimi, Opapa, Granny, Papa, Aunt Glocky (why he can't say Aunt for Kaitlin we have no idea), Nana (his friend Savannah), Anie (Lanie), bar (bear), zoom (plane), ball, cup, eat, more, please, dit-doo (thank you), tutle (turtle), paint, read, draw, car, where is?, what is that?, me, Knock (Knox), oo-ee (monkey), puppies, t.v., music, roll, chip, hot, cold, no, ooohhhhh, wow, side (slide), ice (outside), ish (shoe or fish), asi (raisin), ech (peach), ay-oh (play dough), up... and others. Quite a few are a bunch of nonsense letters strung together, but we understand what they mean because he's consistent in using them. He likes to flip the syllables around, but apparently that's not too weird and he should get past that. He signs some still as well. He's even made up a sign or two. Funny kid.
It's fun to see him learn more things every day. When he opened his birthday presents he was full of "wows" and "ooohhhhs." He loves to read books and will hand you one and say "read!" I think that comes from me reading to him from very, very early on. He's such an easy going kid which I think is going to be to all of our advantages! He still naps well and sleeps well. He hasn't tried to climb out of his crib which I'm very thankful for. Maybe by the end of the summer we'll put him in the toddler bed version of his crib, but for now I'm just going to let him be where he is since he's happy with it. No point changing what's not broken.
He also likes to cook. He insists on helping me cook and bake. He likes to pretend to cook as well. He has an oven and lots of pots and pans to play with. He knows to use a pot holder and to add seasonings. One of his friends got a kitchen for Christmas and he was so excited to play with it when we went over to her house. He was microwaving things, pressing the buttons, etc. It was so funny. He also loves balls. He can dribble a ball and throw one as well. He likes to mow the lawn with his lawn mower. He loves bubbles. He likes drawing (on anything...sigh) and painting. He likes using rubber stamps too. He loves playing with the water hose and trying to drink the bathwater. He wakes up every day saying "Mommy!?!" He likes to jump and play the piano. He love airplanes and his Cozy Coupe. He loves being outside.
He can take off his clothes now. That was a fun after nap time clean up about a week ago. I had no idea he could take off jeans and a long sleeve tee and his diaper. lol. It was sooooo funny.
He's a pretty neat kid and I love spending time with him. I know he's a good kid, but it's also comforting to hear from the people in the nursery that they love taking care of him because he is so easy going. He was over tired one day during MOPS and had a big melt down and the nursery workers called me and they were so confused. They had no idea what was wrong and you could tell they were worried. Turns out he was just really tired from all the fun and was hungry too and just lost it. That was the only time in 2 years I've had to get him. I'm so thankful for an easy kid, but it makes me a little fearful of having another one some day!
Okay that's enough bragging about my baby - for now at least.

Projects!!

Many items are on my to do list these days. One of which is to actually blog and make this worthwhile. Other items include:

Making a pair of baby legs

Sewing curtains for the kids' new room

Making a cute mobile for baby girl

Fixing a cute tractor clock that I got for $1.32 at Hobby Lobby

Keeping notes about this pregnancy

Writing down funny things #1 says

Uploading pics

Posting pics of things I've made

Finally posting items on my etsy site

Making Christmas presents for everyone!

One thing at a time, right?