Mommin' It Up!

June 3, 2008

Sole Saga: My Love/Hate Relationship with Shoes

Before I had children, as a professional young woman, I loved shoes. Open-toed, high-heeled, strappy, and always keee-ute!

As a stay-at-home-mom, I still love shoes. Especially those fashionable, outfit-making shoes that make me feel like hot stuff when I slip them on. Problem is, I rarely have the occasion to do so, and when I do, my feet hurt. When I was pregnant with Joshua, my arches fell, and my feet are quite a bit flatter than they use to be. So “normal” shoes really hurt my feet, and going barefoot is worse than wearing heels. So, most days you will see me in shoes like this:

Or this:

They’re so comfortable, and I soooo love them. But let’s face it, they’re not that cute. And I do miss the cute ones. ‘Cause I love shoes.

But I also hate shoes.

When you have a family, shoes become clutter. To try and combat this, I have a tub in the corner of my living room, which I have ~~nerdily~~ cleverly dubbed “The Shoe Box”. I know, I’m brilliant. The Shoe Box works great, when people put their shoes in it. Problem: I’m the only “people” that puts my shoes in it. So, I find shoes here:

(in the closed seat of our old school desk)

And here:

And here:

(my shoe is there because Joshua loooves to get my colorful shoes out and play with them. I swear!!)

And here (with perfect accessory, sparkly toy Cinderella phone):

And when I get tired of tripping over them, I return them to their home, here:

Yikes!! Looks like it’s time to get rid of some shoes…but I love shoes…maybe we’ll just get a bigger Shoe Box!

(Hey you know what rhymes with shoes? Reviews! And I just posted a new one over at Reviewin’ It Up! SO go check it out!)

June 1, 2008June 1, 2008

Weekly Winners, May 25-31

Hosted By Sarcastic Mom
All photos taken with my Sony Alpha DSLR 300k.

This week we had MORE BUBBLES! Who doesn’t love bubbles?

Sophie looking graceful

Dinoco or else!

Bubble Eye

So handsome! It was cool enough for a jacket at the end of May!

Just to prove to you my kids aren’t the ONLY subject I am capable of photographing…

One of our Gerber daisies having a bad hair day

What’s cuter than a kitten trying to escape from a football helmet?

Ok, maybe this:

Thanks for indulging me! For more beautiful, amazing photographic feats, check out Weekly Winners at Sarcastic Mom!

May 31, 2008

CVS, You Complete Me!

Dear CVS,
You complete me. I think you are my retail soulmate. Seriously, you had me at “ExtraCare Pays You Back.” I heart you. I really, really, do. Even though you really hurt me a couple of months ago when you stopped printing CRTs (coupons at the bottom of my receipt) for me, I STILL love you. Although the lack of CRTs at the bottom of my receipt does sting, it eases the pain every week when you send me fabulous coupons on Thursdays. Like this week, the Ellin Lavar coupon and the Viactiv coupon really helped me score some sweet deals. And then there’s the fact that you let me pay, not with real, actual dollars, but with ExtraCare Bucks – well CVS, that gets me EVERY TIME!! You know I can’t stay mad at you! We go together like shampoo & condtioner. Which I now have about a year’s supply of.
So, CVS, keep those email coupons comin’. Don’t go breakin’ my heart.

xoxo,
Jenny
P.S. See you tomorrow. Or maybe tonight.

Ok, I just had to get that out of my system. Here’s what I got at CVS this week!! First up: we went in for peanut butter and found a MASSIVE 90% off clearance bin at my favorite CVS! They had Glade Scented Oil Candle refill packs for 32 cents!! Yay!! We also scored an Airborne day & night pack for $1.29, and a calculator for 15 cents! Woot! Here’s how it broke down:

Seven jars of Skippy at $1.50 each: $10.50 (3 ECB back when you buy $10 worth)
Revlon nail polish $3.99 (3 ECBs back)
Four GSOC refills at 32 cents each: $1.28
Airborne: $1.29
Calculator: 15 cents
Total= $17.21
I used a CVS $5/$15 coupon and $11.48 in ECBs and paid 87 cents cash and got back 6 ECBs! I was thrilled with all the peanut butter and great clearance stuff!

The next transaction was courtesy of one of those great email coupons CVS sent me: $4 off Viactiv flavor glides. These are a May monthly ECB deal, you get 3 back when you buy one. I also bought some Playskool cups to finish up the Playskool deal (buy $20 get 5 ECBs) which I had started earlier in the week.

One Viactiv at $8.99
One pack Playskool wash & toss cups $3.59
One Playskool insulated cup $3.99
total $16.57
I used a CVS $5/$15 coupon and a $2 off CVS brand coupon (my cashier rounded me up! So nice! I was going to get some playskool wipes also which would have made it $10 but they were all out.)
I also used the $4 off Viactiv CVS coupon and a $2 off Viactiv manufacturer’s coupon
I paid with $3 ECbs and 75 cents cash and got back 8 ECBs! Yippee!!

My best transaction of the week was this one, thanks to that $5/2 Ellin Lavar hair care products coupon CVS emailed me! Ellin Lavar is also a May montly ECB deal – buy one, get 2 ECB. So here’s what I got!

One Ellin Lavar shampoo and one conditioner at 2/$10
Two Sobe Life waters $2
Two Excedrins $1.99 each
total $15.98
I used: CVS $5/$15 coupon
CVS $5/2 Ellin Lavar coupon
Two $2 off Excedrin coupons (adjusted to $1.99)
One B1G1 Free Sobe coupon
One $1/2 Sobe Walgreens coupon (my CVS accepts competitor’s q’s)

Total = $0
I paid 35 cents tax and got back 5 ECBS! 4 for the Ellin Lavar, and 1 for the Sobe. WOOHOOO!! Didn’t use any ECBs, got back FIVE!

Then, because I had more coupons, I went back and did the exact same transaction later. I loves makin’ CVS money!!

That’s all for me this week, I won’t bore you with the details of how I used ECBs to buy milk and Mountain Dew. 🙂

For more amazing CVSers, visit CVS Superstars at the Centsible Sawyer! And for more coupn-crazy moms, check out Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom!