Addictions aren't always bad.....right?

Yep...I admit it. I have a new addiction...COUPON SHOPPING! Yes, I have become one of those women who shops with a large binder full of coupons. It's as if I figured juggling a 3-year old and an (almost) 2-year old while grocery shopping wasn't quite challenging enough. A good friend swore by coupon shopping (thanks for all your help Kerstin!), and like many, I just wasn't interested at first. It just seemed so overwhelming and time-consuming, and I just couldn't see how clipping a couple of coupons good for 50 cents off was really going to save me any money. I can now shamelessly say how wrong I was, and I can't imagine shopping any other way! I got really grumpy the other day that I had to pay $3.99 for a package of string cheese....why didn't I have a coupon for that! Grrr...

I have been coupon shopping for just over a month, and really have to restrain myself from artfully arranging my purchases every week, and taking pictures. I can't believe how much I can get for how little! Here are a couple of examples. The two pictures below represent two separate shopping trips in the last few weeks. For ALL of the items in each grouping, I spent less than $50. That's over $200 worth of items in each photo. Not bad for a rookie!



In the last month, I have gone from basically NO food storage (unless man can survive on oats and rice alone!) to having a closet overflowing with extra items, that we will be using over the next several months. I have accumulated a year's supply of many items such as laundry soap, dish soap, ketchup, toothpaste, body wash, razors, and Children's Tylenol. For my entire year+ supply of laundry soap, my out of pocket cost is about $10. I LOVE IT!

I have become a total coupon dork, and have no problem admitting that sometimes I open this closet just to admire. I will also admit (since we're all friends here) that it's difficult for me to take naps on Sunday anymore. That's the day all the coupons come in the paper, and I look forward to it all week! Wow....if that didn't just make me sound like a middle-aged Mormon mommy, I don't know what will. Sigh.....

Life-SAVER????

Today was kind of a breakthrough day....for a couple of reasons. When Nathan saw Matthew enjoying some mini M&M's he started hysterically begging for the same candy. Of course I gave him one, since all Nathan ever does with new foods that he's curious about is carry them around for a while. No need to worry that he's allergic to milk....he won't eat it anyway! Wrong....he quickly ate it, much to my surprise! That is such a big deal in our house!! And he loved it! And of course he wanted more! Well, the last thing I wanted was a life-threatening allergic reaction on my hands, so I tried to find something in the pantry to distract him that he could safely have. Ahhhh...Lifesavers! He loves to hold those because they look like wheels. The most he's ever done before is lick them a time or two. So he was immediatly placated with a "wheel candy." Again, much to my surprise, he ate that too!! And of course he wanted more! So I gave him another one, and went about my business.

It was music to my ears when I heard all three kids running around the living room, playing and laughing together.....until that turned into quite a different sound from Nathan. He came running over to the room I was in making this horrible gagging sound. I immediately figured out what had happened, and tried not to panic. Fortunately, I could tell that he was able to breathe, but still turned him over and tried to beat the offending Lifesaver out of him. It didn't go easily, but ended up going down the pipe after about 10 seconds. Nathan immediately says, "There....that's better." All I could do was lock him in a tight hug and relish the feel of him breathing easily. Life-SAVERS??? The name seems a bit ironic to me.....

What do you get.....

What do you get when you cross the following:

The Couch...

The Vacuum...

And a silly boy named Matthew?

The answer is:

Is that the saddest picture or what? He honestly looks like he can't quite figure out what happened....or why his mouth feels so funny! Breaks my heart.....sigh. That's what we get when we have a little guy who watches his older siblings play and rough house with Daddy....and thinks he can keep right up! He went tumbling right off the couch, and tried to make out with the vacuum handle. Fortunately, it looked a lot better the next day! : )