Senior Moment

I was offered my very first Senior Citizens Discount today- "excuse me? Seniors discount?" - yes, that's what I said too.
I was shopping at Khol's and they had tons of baby clothes, jewelry and womens clothes for 80%-90% off. Who can resist such deals? Not me.
But not to worry - the entire time I kept my husbands 'look' and his "did you really need that" voice at the forefront of my mind.

"Yes honey, Judah really does need three hoodies he'll be able to wear in a year or two. They're cool hoodies."

Really, I can argue my way through any purchase, but I do try to be smart about what I buy.
Like all the cute clothes that would fit my non-pregnant body that were 90% off - I didn't buy a single one of them. And they were really cute.

So, I took my very well-thought out purchases to the nice Cashier Lady. I knew she was nice right away because she smiled and talked to Judah. Judah wasn't in his most social mood as he'd spent the last hour and a half looking at clearance racks with me. But she made him laugh, and people who do that are nice.

Cashier Lady asks me if I'd like to save 25% off my purchases. Of course I do!
So I asked her how.
And she told me.

If I applied for a Khol's credit card I could save 10% off my bill, and then because it was Senior Citizen Discount Day, I could save an additional 15%.

That's when I said "Excuse me? Seniors Discount?" It's not that I didn't want the additional 15%, but I'm 22, Senior is I think 60... I was concerned and confused. I wanted a mirror.

She told me that they aren't required to check ID, so they offer the Senior Discount to everyone. How cool of them! But tell me, why don't they just call it Citizen Day? Or at the very least Those That Are and Those That Will Be Senior Citizen Day.

But I wasn't going to complain about the discount. So I said sure - sign me up for the card, and give me the 25% off.

I want to just say that Khol's lets you use your card, and then you can pay it off right away, at the store - which is what I'd of done. We don't use credit cards, except for where they save us money, like in this instance.

So anyways, Cashier Lady proceeds to apply for the credit card for me and - long story short - it takes forever. So, she very kindly and generously takes another 10% off my bill!

I got an extra 35% taken off the bill of items that were already at least 80% off the original price. Life is good.

Where to go?

Arizona, April 2006

Helen, Georgia, April 2007

Our third anniversary is coming up, and I need ideas!! We have officially made it our goal to celebrate our anniversary in a different state each year.

Our first anniversary was amazing, crazy and so completely us.
We had tickets to fly anywhere within the USA for free. We were living in Ohio at the time and knew we wanted to go somewhere hot. Phoenix, Arizona, happened to be the only option available for the weekend we were free to go away. So Phoenix it was.
We arrived there on a Friday, rented a car and spent some time in Phoenix, drove to Lake Havasu, slept in the rental car, on Saturday drove to Las Vegas, looked around the city, slept in the rental car again, and then on Sunday drove back to Phoenix. We drove over 800 miles in the three days, had about a $25 budget for food (which we stayed within!) and had SO MUCH FUN! We stopped at anything and everything that looked interesting to us along the way.
So, anniversary number 1 took really hit up three states - Arizona, California and Nevada! Good start to our goal :)

Anniversary number 2 was completely different than the year before. For starters, we had a little tag along :) It was fun though - we went to Helen, GA and rented a gorgeous cabin in the mountains. We discovered a quaint little restaurant that served cool different cheeses to sample, we drove through the mountains - which was miserable as Judah and my ears were popping - Judah screamed, I wanted to. It was a memorable and enjoyable trip, but really low key - which was what we needed at the time!

So this year is anniversary number 3. We want to go somewhere that we can drive to - so like 6-ish hours is our range. We're looking at South Carolina, Florida, Alabama or Tennessee. Judah will be tagging along this year, but he will be easier to do things with, although I'm not really suppose to do a whole lot because of the pregnancy stuff ... so - really, I am looking to see if anyone has any ideas of cool places to visit in one of those four states?
Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks! :)

Yum

Paul enjoys cooking and baking, and the things he does he does *very* well. A few weeks ago he decided he wanted to master Chocolate Chip Cookies. He had no complaints from me!!

He has found the perfect recipe for these delicious treats (that he keeps hidden in his cell phone... sorry, I can't share it! I don't know it!) These cookies really are VERY yummy though!
He makes a double batch and the shapes them, then sticks them in the freezer. That was his feeble attempt to keep me from eating too many of them :)
But raw cookie dough tastes almost as good as a just baked cookie. And frozen cookie dough doesn't take very long to cook.




The pita bread I made the other night tasted really good! We ate it all before I got a chance to take a picture! But I highly recommend the recipe!!

Would you like Lemon with that?

I don't claim to understand Judah - I just love him. And some days that is harder to do than others. Um, yes. I just publicly said that some days the cute little chunk of fat with blue eyes and 5 1/2 teeth is harder to love on some days than others.

He has some how gotten into a picky eating stage. Tell me - how does a not quite 13 month old know how to wrinkle up his nose at food?! And how does the food he liked yesterday suddenly become worthy of that wrinkled up nose? I don't get it.
But, for today, I seem to of found the fix all for his food - everything he eats is sprinkled in lemon juice. And he loves it. *I did tell you I don't claim to understand him.*
Right now he is eating carrots, chick peas and toast with cream cheese - all marinated in lemon juice. And he thinks it is funny.

Oh - and before I forget, the editing program I use is Microsoft Digital Image Suite Anniversary Edition - I was going to link to it, but Amazon was selling it for $149. I bought it one and a bit years ago for $70, so it must be something different. I have never used any other program, so I couldn't tell you how it compares. I am happy with it.

Little Miss Housewife

I found a recipe HERE for Pita Pockets, so I decided to try to make them myself... the dough is in the process of rising right now (and Judah's down for a nap - so I thought I would post while the opportunity presents itself!)
They look delicious on Tammy's site and on Chelsea's blog, who inspired me to make them :)
I am excited about my home maker attempts, and hope they turn out!! Paul's going to be awhile till he gets home still, so if they're a disaster I'll trash them and he won't even know ;)

I discovered I can do cool stuff like this with our window!! I can't wait till Paul is home during day light hours so I can try it with him - trying to take a good shot of myself is nearly impossible, and getting one of Judah is impossible.

I had an ultra sound on Thursday, here are the two pictures from that.
With ultra sounds being every two weeks I am getting quite a collection of pictures!

A few people have asked me about photography tips. I really only have three:

1. Take lots and lots of pictures. Hopefully a few of them will be keepers!
2. Invest in a good photo editing program. You can make almost any picture look good with some editing.
3. Buy a tripod and use it - I guess that one is only important if you're wanting to be in the pictures yourself, or if you're trying to get close ups of nature.

I took this picture of Judah today - first one is the untouched original, the others are all the same pose, I just used different filters or changed the colors around. I am trying to decide which one is my favorite - I want to get some pictures printed and framed of him :)

My Loves

Tagged!

Amy tagged me!
I need to list 7 strange/weird facts about myself

1. I eat Chick Peas out of the can. Sometimes I add lemon juice and salt.

2. I carry on conversations with Judah as if he is talking to me - "What should I make for supper Judah?" -silent pause- "Oh, really? I was thinking more along the lines of tacos." -silent pause- "Well, we may have had that last week, but they're so yummy!" -silent pause- "Well, I'm the mum, so I get to pick."

3. I usually make our bed just before Paul gets home from work in the evening.

4. I rewrite my grocery list till I think my hand writing looks good.

5. All the hangers in my closet have to be the same color!

6. I make meal plans almost weekly and never stick to them.

7. I don't consider things "on sale" unless they're at least 75% off.

The rules are to link the person who sent this to you and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours. ~Post the rules on your blog~Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself~then tag others.

I can't think of 7 people who haven't done this, so I won't be tagging anyone, but if you want to do this, go ahead!!

Deals!

I really don't spend all my time shopping. I promise.
But Paul decided he wanted guy-time with Judah, and I needed to go to the grocery store, so I thought I would stop off at the mall and see if there were any deals.

There were! Amazing deals! I spent three hours in five stores. Here's what I found:

JCPENNY'S

All winter boots reg. $60 - $150 for $10!!! Sadly, they only had size 5, 6 and 7 remaining. I'm a 9.
Winter hat, scarf and mitt sets reg $20 for $3.97
Tons and tons of womens clothing for 75% or more off original price.
Womens formal dresses all for $9.97
Some mens and baby clothing for 75% off

SEARS
All clearance items an additional 30% off
A lot of jewelry was marked down 75% (plus the additional 30% off)
Novelty gift items were 60% off (plus the additional 30% off)

AMERICAN GREETINGS
All Greeting Cards are $1!
Christmas and Halloween items are 90% off
Picture frames, decorative ornaments, packaged greeting cards, music cds, journals, address books and candles are 75% off
Valentine items are 75% off
Wall and desk calendars are all $1

PAC SUN
All clearance items are 70% off the lowest ticketed price

Almost 20 Weeks

Friend in the Mirror

Expressions

These pictures were taken at breakfast. Right now he's eating lunch, and for the first time ever has his own bowl and spoon sitting on his high chair tray - he is eating carrots, bananas and gold fish. He's greatly enjoying sending the bowl flying from one end of his high chair to the other.
I am enjoying the giggles.

Before & After

This picture really doesn't do the disgusting-ness of the 'before' chair justice - in fact the seat actually looks pretty decent. But don't let it fool you! All of those cream colored seats are stained quite nastily - so I am finally doing something about it!

Favorite Hang-Outs

At lunch time Judah loves to sit facing our back porch. We've put dried bread crumbs out hoping he can see the birds and squirrels, but they're sneaky and come when he's not around. Despite the lack of wildlife Judah thinks it's so much fun to watch the trees and feel a light breeze while he chows down on his food.


For playtime he is trapped in the living room. As if that weren't a small enough area for him he chooses to sit underneath the tv stand. He brings in a couple toys at a time and has a blast.

Resemblance of You

If you click on the picture it will become enlarged.

A Lesson Learned

A hungry pregnant woman should not go to the grocery store on her own. I went out at 9 (Gotta love 24 hour Wal-Mart!) to grab milk, some bananas and some carrot sticks. And I ended up buying a ridiculous amount of food... the strawberries were on sale and I could almost taste them in my mouth. The lime tequila chicken wings were calling my name. The rice milk (which I haven't had in over a year) suddenly was something I needed *right away.* (I opened it in the car and drank some as soon as I got in!) Then there were the digestive cookies, the Macaroni and Cheese, the yogurt, the orange juice, the hamburgers, the chicken breasts, the avocados, the kiwi ... seriously - the list doesn't stop. What was suppose to be a quick trip to the store to grab a couple of items turned into an all out grocery shopping trip. Which in a way is good... because now we don't need *anything* at all for quite a while. But when we do need something it'll be more milk, bananas and carrot sticks - the things that go the fastest. And the things that got me in this situation in the first place. Maybe it'll mean that Paul will run out for those items for me next time?! :)

Attack!

Our last night at our apartment we got a little sticker silly - Judah found a sheet of stickers buried who-knows-where and brought them over to me with a grin on his face.
How could I not cover his body with stickers?
That started the Sticker War and soon all three of us were covered in stickers =) Good times.

Judah's Party!

I know I have been MIA for awhile now... we officially moved into our house on Monday - by "we" I mean Paul and two friends =) If you plan on moving, I suggest finding a reason to be put on bed rest ;)

Anyways, we've had a fun and busy week. Last Friday we decided that we'd have a small party for Judah - we invited two of our friends over that evening - Judah's adopted uncles - and had pizza, wings and root beer floats. Judah slept through it all.
We woke him up and he was so unimpressed. He was actually pretty boring. But don't tell him I said that! Our gifts for him had been moved over to the house already, so he only had one gift to open - from his Aunt Essie.

Here he is pretending to care:


He really was completely bored! His uncle Adam helped him rip the package open. It took awhile (about 5 minutes! Does not take after me when it comes to presents!)

He finally got it opened, but was more impressed with the piece of paper he managed to tear from the wrapping paper.
He finally *got* that it was a sippy cup! He loves sippy cups!

Like I said - totally unimpressed with his present!
His birthday cake - Angel food cake with *real* whipping cream and strawberries (because that's what *I* wanted to eat!)
Totally unimpressed with his cake.
Though he was creative with his sippy cup.
That was about all he ate or dug into his cake. He is such a tidy boy!

What we should have done at the beginning of this all - maybe he'd of had a bit more energy ;)