From Working Mom to WORKING Mom!

Well, I know it has been a while. We are in the full fledged "Terrible Twos" or what I used to call "Terrific Twos." Even I am having a hard time calling it the terrific twos this time around!  He is 200% stubborn and 100% a heavy weight. There is child-proof and then there is Isaiah proof. I am finding not many things are Isaiah proof. We have had to re-do many of our child-proofing techniques in our home. The child-proof knobs on our doors now have duct tape on them because he has figured out if he hits at it long enough the will eventually come off. Our sliding glass doors now have an extra double bolt lock on them because he knew how to unlock the regular lock (not hard) and went outside whenever he wants.

Even with all these extra measures in place brand new toys are still quickly dismantled at an alarmingly fast rate. Our car seats (in both cars) have been broken (granted the construction of the seats are ridiculous - styrofoam under the cushion) - seats that lasted just fine when his older brother used it. So, we bought a new car seat. One that will grow with him as it turns into a booster seat. The first day we used it. He unbuckled the harness buckle......REALLY???!

You Would Think I Would Learn


I received a couple of coupons in the mail for one of the grocery stores in town so I decided to go to the store and use them. I only had a couple of things to get....bringing the kids will be fine.  The kids were good. Noah helped put stuff in cart. Isaiah wanted to grab things as he always does but nothing I am not used to. As we neared the cash registers he was getting a bit antsy. Now let me back up. The cart he was in was the old-school type of cart where you open the front of the cart so the cashier can take all the groceries out.  As I pushed the cart to the counter, Isaiah decided to stand up and grab all of the toys and walk on the groceries. I grabbed him to get him down....but not without a fight. He wanted those toys, however I Mom won that battle. Score 1 for Mom.

I proceeded to give the cashier the coupon mailer (the whole reason we went to this store) and the cashier told me I could only use the coupons if the rest of the items I purchased equaled $10 (excluding the items with coupons). So I told her the items I would be leaving and taking - there was many BOGO free coupons so I wasn't going to get two if I couldn't get one for free. Not a big deal...things are still going pretty well. The cashier continued to unload the cart and as she picked up the box of spaghetti noodles the box opened and ALL the noodles fell to the floor, along with my jaw.  As I am totally embarrassed and just wanting to get out of there the two year-old proceeds to pick the noodles up and throw them in the air....it's a party after all!!  Well we got out of there pretty quickly after that (well after he decided to run away with an item we needed to pay for and I had to chase him down). I said after that trip. NEVER AGAIN.

How quickly I forget....because I did it again, yesterday. Things were going along fine until the kids wanted to help unload the cart. Wouldn't you know an entire jar of spaghetti sauce was dropped and splattered ALL OVER THE FLOOR.

Seriously, that is the last time. Never again...until later today when I have to run to Walgreens - they can't get it to too much trouble there.....right?!

To think we are only 2 months into being two and I know three does not hold much promise....oiy....I may have to join a support group.

I am reading a book called Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman's Guide to True Contentment by Linda Dillow. I was able to download it for FREE on my Amazon Kindle 3 the other day and am SO glad I did!! This book seriously had me captivated within the first two sentences. I thought I would share with you a few excerpts that caught my eye.

• Never allow yourself to complain about anything - not even the weather.
• Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
• Never compare your lot with another's.
• Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
• Never dwell on tomorrow - remember that [tomorrow] is God's, not ours.

So, today I am trying to figure out this whole thing about living frugally. I have been reading other peoples blogs and although they all have offered a ton of great information about couponing, getting free stuff, making a "workable budget" Frankly, I am overwhelmed. I need a step by step map. Videos are great and webinars are great, but I don't have time for that. I need to read a step by step process and be able to apply it. As I sit here and read, I have children interrupting me and wanting to play. As I am sure many others can agree, we don't have time to sit for long periods to figure it out.

As I was typing, this I thought, stop your belly-aching and search for it! I am SURE there is stuff on the internet to figure it out. So I jumped on over to Moneysavingmom.com where I have been reading many of her posts. She has a series called 31 Days To A Better Grocery Budget. I read Day 1 of the series about stop making excuses and just do it! So, that is what I am going to do.... My thought, if I put it in writing, I am obligating myself to do it. And when I do it, my husband will love me more than ever for saving money. So, GAME ON!