Coupons.com

For a few months now, I've not been doing couponing at all. Money is tight so it seems wasteful to even go so far as buying the newspapers in order to get coupons for things I already have a huge supply of. I don't need more toothpaste, deodorant, or air freshener. They raised the price on our Sunday paper to $2, which means that most weeks the paper won't pay for itself based only on the grocery coupons.

But lately, supplies of a few things have been running low. Also, Christmas is coming so I'd like to stock up on a few things to give as gifts. So I've been thinking that I might start back up. A nice compromise for me is to print out coupons online. Some of our local stores take them now, and even though I'm paying for ink and paper, I'm not spending as much time on the process of finding what I need. I print them out only as I use them. All in all, it seems to be working. I will still occasionally buy the paper (when I know there's a high dollar coupon for something I actually need). But I'm not doing it every week. The thing to remember about all this is that you have to do what works for YOU, which isn't always the same thing as what works for everyone else.

My son the stunt man.

When Caly got home from her trip, she wanted to try out the new features of the bunk bed that we'd added while she was out of town. She hadn't seen the bucket so she immediately climbed up in the top bunk to pull something up. Quinn climbed up with her and then started trying to climb up on the rails so he could jump down on the mattress. Caly told he NO, and he started fussing and said, "He hit me! Quinn hit me!" He learned to say that a few months ago because when Zoe would say it, she'd get attention. So he told Caly that Quinn had hit him. She said, "Really?" as if it were a real possibility. And he proceeded to demonstrate. He threw a punch (closed fist) at his own chin, but stunt man style, just missing it... and yelled "Whoa!" and fell down on a pile of pillows as if it had really knocked him down. It was hillarious. He's such a ham.

Eric Carle

I have a fondness for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. When Quinn was born, he had several outfits with phrases from the book on them. He was so cute, and we all joked around about how, just like his shirts and the book said, he was always 'still hungry'. My boy had a BIG appetite and was always wanting to nurse. While Caly was on her vacation, she was able to go to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. So of course, she wanted to look at the first edition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She was surprised to find that the museum has three first editions. A first edition of the picture book as she knew it and a first edition of this hand-crafted version made of felts and fabrics with the text in both braille and printed words. She described how the colors were more muted but still there. The third first edition had no colors, pictures, or printed text at all. Instead, the pages had been embossed with different textures to make up the caterpillar and illustrations. She said the pages were huge, so that you'd be able to feel all the details of the story, and the text was all braille. She said she just wanted to hug Eric Carle when she saw it. I kind of want to, too.

Caly is home!

She had a great trip and really loved getting to know her family. We only see them every 4 or 5 years so she didn't have a good feel for who they were. It was really fun to hear her tell stories about them. I spend most summers living with my cousins when I was her age, so it was neat for me to hear how they'd changed or how they were just as I remember them. She really wants to keep the connection and visit them more often, or have them come and visit us. I'd like that too. It's hard being so far from the people you grew up with.

I'll try to post a pic or two once I download them from her camera. Hopefully they all came out. It's a new camera that we bought for a steal but I don't know how good of a picture it takes.

I need to do some things.

Probably I should start with taking a shower, and then maybe follow that by dishes, laundry, cleaning up the toys that are everywhere, oh and sorting through all those stacks of paper covering all available surfaces might be a good idea.

But man am I ever feeling lazy today. I'm gonna chug some caffiene and take that shower and then see if I can work up the energy to be even vaguely productive. All I really want to do is sit at the computer and maybe eat a slice of pumpkin pie. We don't even have pie, though. Add shopping to the list.

The long lost pictures.

At long last, here are the pictures of the bunk beds we built. Like I said, it's really more of a loft bed. The bottom mattress will be on the floor.

We put in a pulley system for Zoe to bring toys up to the top bunk, so she doesn't have to carry things while climbing on the ladder.
The walls are made with dry erase board. In the top bunk there are dividers so it looks a lot like the panels in a comic book.

There's a hose that runs behind the bed from one corner of the top bunk to the opposite corner of the bottom bunk so they can whisper to each other.

We put green fabric on the ceiling of the bottom bunk so that Quinn wouldn't just be staring up at plywood. We also added a hook for a bucket to keep the markers in.

He also has a curtain that opens and closes so that he can have a private area. The fabric is sheer but with the lights on the outside it's hard for us to see in and easy for him to see out. We used the same type of fabric on the tent for Zoe, but in a lighter color to let in more light. The curtain fits behind the ladder when you pull it back.

We also left one wall off the bottom bunk so that he can see out the window and have a bit more light.

His dry erase board doesn't have dividers so it's perfect for bigger projects. So far that's mostly large scribbles but Zaven and Caly have both been adding drawings of their own. We're using washable markers that they clean up with windex on a cloth. That way there aren't fumes or the risk of them accidently ruining their blankets or clothes.

All in all, they really like it. It's more of a play area than a bed for Zoe, but Quinn sleeps in there quite nicely. I'm going to add lights, but I want something battery operated until I'm sure that Quinn is old enough to understand not to pull on the wires, bite them, etc. I also want LED because they use a lot less electricity and don't get hot. I actually bought a couple of those push-button ones that you stick on the wall, but Quinn won't quit taking them apart. He loves anything that lights up.

A busy, busy world

When I was a kid, I had a copy of Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World. I loved that book. But who knew the title would be so apt for my life? Since I last posted, I've been running about a hundred errands and also going on a few road trips. Caly and my mom are on vacation together visiting my extended family in New England. Last weekend I drove them to the airport... in Nashville, TN, about a four and a half hour drive in the wrong direction. Why? Well, it was going to be a couple hundred dollars cheaper and also they could only get a direct flight from Nashville. All the other flights had 3 or 4 (or more) hour layovers. Since they're only going to be there for a week, they didn't want to spend two of those days stuck in an airport. So last weekend I drove them down to Nashville, got a room for the night, and had a day to myself to explore... only I was feeling kind of yucky and it was raining the whole time. I mostly just did a little shopping and a lot of slow driving towards home. But it was nice to be on my own. I've always enjoyed time alone. I think that's the one thing that's hard as a parent. Time alone is much more rare. I'll be driving back there on Saturday to pick them up. I'm looking forward to it, although this time I won't be spending the night. But it'll be nice to see them again. It's only been a few days but I miss Caly. And somehow, it's different for my mom to be half-way across the country instead of only an hour away. I don't see her often, but I know that I can. Right now, I can't. So I miss her too, even though I wouldn't actually have seen her during the week anyway.

In other news, my computer is in it's death throws. It's been in bad shape forever. In fact, a few months ago I bought all the parts for a new one and even assembled it. But the power source was defective so I had to send it back for a new one. I got the new one... and it's still sitting in the box. I want to do it when Quinn isn't around because I DON'T want him to know how to open the computer case, or even that it can be opened. On the other hand, I do want Zaven and Caly to be there. They love gadgets and making your own computer and hooking it up falls into the nirvana category for them. The problem with all that is that there never is time when they're home and not busy but Quinn isn't home. But things are coming to a head so I may have to break down and do it on my own. We'll see. I'm hoping I can make this one hang on long enough for me to move over all my important files (read, pictures of my kids) before it quits. I back it up every now and then, but I'm always afraid I missed something.

We also finished the bunk bed. It looks fabulous. Technically, it's a loft bed. We just have a second mattress under the loft. Right now the bottom mattress is a toddler sized one. Quinn is still in diapers so we're going to wait until he's dry all night before putting in the non-plastic-covered mattress. But other than that it's done. I even made a curtain for him and a tent to go on the top bunk just for an added precaution. Quinn is fearless and I'm certain he'd be happy to try to walk one of the railings or something like that. But with the tent on, there's no chance of that. He calls it, "Climbing the tree," when he goes up to the top bunk. Zoe has staked that out as her own, although she won't actually stay in it all night. We're going to add a few small LED lights for her up there so it won't be as scary. The problem is she likes to sleep with the light on if she's in a bed by herself, but Quinn can't fall asleep with a light on. Plus, if we leave the door to their room open then the light bothers me. But she'll adjust eventually. It may take a while, but it'll happen. I should be able to post the pictures tomorrow. We'll see if the computer cooperates.