Saving Money on Groceries

**UPDATE - IT IS TONIGHT!! Come if it sounds interesting or helpful to you. I would love to see you.

Are you interested in cutting your grocery bill? This lady claims she can teach us how to cut our grocery (including household items) in half! I am skeptical. I am not sure I buy all those things especially since I have been making efforts to improve the health/nutrition of our family meals. But...that said...I am going to have a little class at my house next Tuesday, May 25th at 7:30 pm. Any of you and your friends are welcome.

I have invited Stacey Gill from Grocery Smarts to come teach us. You can check out her blog and see how much she saves and the kinds of things she is buying. She said you can shop at whatever store you like - no need to shop around. Her presentation and website are free. I know that what she is selling is subscriptions to the Sunday newspaper that is loaded with coupons. There is no obligation to buy that. You can still save a lot of money by following her site (and others) that list all the store sales. And there are LOTS of coupons available for free online as well. However, she did tell me she has the lowest price on the newspaper right now.

Any savings is good, right? It is around here these days.

Shoot me an email if you want to come. No pressure, though.

And PS - our neighborhood is hard to get into so remind me to tell you better directions.

Her first haircut

My friend, Alecia, gave Quinn her first haircut. But I am kind of dumb and it was a crazy day so I forgot that I should take pictures of the actual event. It turned out so cute.

A Request for an Update...Here goes

We have had this doctor puppet around for a few years. But Quinn has taken a liking to this puppet. It occurred to me the other day that the reason why she likes this puppet is because it reminds her of Kenyon with his mask on. Most kids probably aren't all that familiar with "the mask."

Lately he hasn't been wearing his mask much. He seems to be doing pretty well.

His biggest complaint - and it is a big one - is the pain in his knees. He really can't walk and stairs are torture. Turns out that the steroids he has been taking have caused some irreversible joint damage. We are a couple months out from seeing Dr. Rosenberg but they really can't do anything for him right now anyway. The plan is to wait until he is off more meds before they do surgery (knee replacements?). He is tapering off his meds but it keeps getting slower and more drawn out. That is discouraging but it will come.

So there you have it. An update on Kenyon. Not much else to say. It is just a s l o w process to get back to good health.

To Our Mothers and Grandmothers

We have been blessed with wonderful examples of mothers/grandmothers. Happy Mother's Day!

This weather is depressing

and I really can't stand it. Especially since a few days ago we were trying to install a new drip system in our garden so that my new strawberries can grow. The mositure has been great but the freezing temps - not so much. I am so excited to have a garden full of strawberries and raspberries and rhubarbBut we have so much yard work to do and the snow is ruining all my plans. I really hope to have tomatoes in next week if the weather will cooperate.

Help Yourself

When Quinn wants a snack - she just helps herself. Of course that means that I have been moving all the things on the lower shelves of the pantry up a little bit higher. She loves to grab a box of goldfish or cereal and a bowl - she prefers the ceramic anthro bowls (kind of particular - don't you think). Then she finds herself a nice spot on the stairs to eat. Or sometimes if she gets tired of that, she smashes them into the carpet. Lovely. But how can you resist that cheesy smile?

OR - I would be willing to move to

New York City. I know most people think I am crazy. And maybe it would be. I know it would be hard to live there with 4 kids but I am kind of in the mood for a challenge. I am definitely in the mood for some city life.

This new show on Bravo  - 9 By Design - has me dreaming of a NYC adventure every week. Check out this family. 7 kids and two parents are amazing designers. They have been building amazing homes in NYC. Of course it would only cost us like 25 million to live in one of their places - but I can dream.
Besides cool architecture, design, and art, I like the show for the look at parenting a large family. Of course they have help and everything is edited, but I am pretty impressed with how they seem to handle 7 children, a crazy business, a reality show, and busy city life - all with a sense of humor. Courtney (the mom) seems so good at mothering. And everyone appears quite happy.