Giveaway and Update on Life (info in post)

My Frugal Fun Life    is having a giveaway on her blog. It's for 10 awesome RearZ cloth wipes. If you aren't a follower already go see what she's got to say.

I'll be trying to keep up with giveaways and such, especially since I'll have some more time while I'm working nights again (weekends) and staying home with dd in the daytime. I'll be an ALMOST SAHM again. I'm super excited about it and I can't wait to get my schedule changed so I can start having the weekdays to spend with my sweet babylove.

Also, I was reading this thread on Diaperswappers and if you have wic, you should check into getting a moby if they offer them in your state!! I'll be calling my wic office to see if they have them- and if I can get one. :) Nothing like a free wrap to make breastfeeding fun! Maybe they are just realizing that most bf mama's are more likely to babywear too. Whatever their reasons are- they are promoting breastfeeding and I love it!

Diaper Station

I'm getting our diaper station together tonight. I've got so many diapers that they are overflowing and I can't find the ones I want when I want them. I went to Big Lots today and got a 3 drawer shelf and also a new pail for her room. I'll be getting everything together and getting pics of it so I can show it off once it's done. I still have a TON of stuff to do in her room, as we have been using it as our store all until we can get our stuff together and organized. I am ready to get all of our stuff together so that I can put her back in cloth full time- I'm tired of the nasty sposies and I'm really excited to get her enough pockets/aio's to last a couple of days so that I can send them to daycare for her too. I've pretty much decided that I'll wait until I get into the vo-tech for nursing school because it's a difference of about $20,000 from going to the private school that has no wait list- to the vo-tech that has at least a 2 semester wait- I'll be willing to wait- work full time- and save the money to pay the full amount in cash so that there is no more student loans hanging over us. I will also be able to get a bigger car if we wait because I'll be working full time still and we will be able to use my check for savings instead of bills since we don't have rent/utilities anymore.
Well, I'm off to work on our diapers...wish me luck hehe.

CVS IS HERE!!!

I was taking my client to the dentist today and I have seen the 3rd CVS in Tulsa! I can't wait till they get them all open, so that I can start getting in on the good deals. I will be asking a TON of questions on Diaperswappers in the Thrifty forum, I can already tell. I am super excited about it. HEHE Another way to be thrifty. I have made almost 6 bucks by reading emails this week alone, and I think I have $10 on a survey site, but I will have to double check.

Shopping.com

So, I found out about the shopping.com $100-for 100 reviews thing going on in a post from Diaperswappers, and I have all of mine done. I am just waiting till the end so I can get paid. I am super excited about it, and I hope that I get the $ in my paypal. It will help me out a TON! I'll be able to get a few more things and not have to worry about dh getting mad at me for spending money. I'll be on the lookout for some shorties for dd or a skirty. HEHE He will be ticked off if I spend my own money on it.

Enchiladas

Chicken or Beef Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce

For Chicken use Cream of Chicken Soup and Chicken as "Meat"
For Beef use Cream of Mushroom Soup and Ground or Shredded Beef as "Meat"

Meat-as much or as little as you want (I use 4 small or 2 large cans chicken, or 1 lb ground beef)
3 small or 1 lg can of Cream of Soup
1 16 oz container of Sour Cream
20 tortillas (or less if you want more fillings
1 bag cheese...whatever blend you like...I use fine cheddar
1 can ro-tel
chili powder to taste

Mix together 1 1/2 can of soup, 1/2 carton of sour cheese, spices, meat, 1/2 bag of cheese, and rotel
Fill tortillas and roll, placing into your baking dish as you go
Mix remaining soup and sour cream together and place on top of the rolled up tortillas and cover with cheese.
Bake on a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and dish is heated through.

(This is great with chips and salsa...I've even made the inside as a dip for a potluck and heated it alone and served with tortilla chips.)

This and That

I haven't been doing so well at keeping track of my spending or my food journal on here- I hope to be better at it next week. The sattelite guy was at the house today-and I still have to call the phone company again because the service is not working still (2 days later). I hope to have it working by this evening, because I'd love to call my mom tonight. We have misplaced the remotes during the move- so I hope that we find them while we're at the old house tonight. I can't imagine that we don't have them. I am glad that we'll be putting the cable down to a minimum of basic cable only and then when we move back out, there will be no charge for the cable company to come back and turn it all back on for them (in-laws).

I am looking for bread recipes online for a bread machine- I have NEVER used one and I'm looking forward to trying out my mother in laws. She said she has used it only 2 times. I'll have to make some garlic bread to go with spaghetti one night. YUM.

I am looking forward to working part time again instead of full time. Even though I will be gone more than a full time job becaue of school- it's only for 1 year- and it will ensure that I have a good job making good money- and in a field that is high demand. Nursing- I actually wish I had done it when I was a teenager like my mom had suggested, but I was tired of school- can't go back and change it now, but it will all work out.

Tonight, the plan is to get Norrah from the babysitter, drop her off with my sister in law, and head to the old house to finish moving, then come home and go to bed. Working a second shift tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to it. It's about 20 miles on the OTHER side of Tulsa from where we live and I'm going to hit rush hour traffic. BLEH

Work Sucks, Life is good, WE ARE MOVED

Well, almost moved, we have a few more things left to bring over to the house, and cleaning to do, but the biggest part of the move is over. I am very glad too. I am working an extra 5 hours this week-under protest- and not looking forward to the drive to and from my 2nd assignment. I don't necessarily want to work extra, especially since I don't get paid time and a half- so it's of no real benefit for me to work extra hours. I have been working on making my life more simple and I am going to be going into our storage 2 weekends a month and going through the boxes that are in there full of who knows what- and throwing a ton of junk out. I don't want to move it to another house just for it to sit and gather dust and not get used. I am going to go through my clothes and put the ones that don't fit me into storage and once I go down a size I'll donate the ones that are too big, and get the smaller size back out- hopefully it will make me motivated to get into a smaller size. Some of the thrifty things I have been doing lately is- not going to the store-that's a BIG ONE, not looking at FSOT on Diaperswappers, and trying to keep myself of Spot's. I have signed up for InboxDollars and am getting a few cents for reading emails, it's not a LOT but it will add up by Christmas (I HOPE) and I will be able to get something GOOD with the money I'm earning. I've been trying to become an agent on KGB, but I keep missing it by 1 or 2 questions each time. Oh, well...I'll have to get it eventually. I am trying to get it together because once I start working overnight, I'll need something to keep me up, and what better way than by making money.

Saturday Stuff

Past couple of days have been not so good, yet really good. First off, I scored 2 bottles of all free and clear for $6.00-that's 1 dollar more than I normally pay for 1 bottle. And I got to hang out with my sister-in-law and mother in law. Got my Christmas ring fixed cost me $22.00 because I didn't take it in to be checked in December, so my Extended Warranty was voided out, so I had to pay for the stone to be replaced and it to be cleaned and fixed and prongs checked. Not too bad considering.

Not really much going on, just getting ready to move the big stuff out of the house tomorrow and then start cleaning it up since we only have until April 22...and then our first house is not ours anymore.

Swagbucks, KGB, InboxDollars, and NURSING SCHOOL

Yesterday I learned that if I go through all the no obligation offers from swagbucks I'd get 1-4 SB daily! That's right EVERY DAY!!! I got 3 yesterday and 1 today. Also, I got several over the course of the day yesterday for having the sb toolbar. Plus, there were 2 swagcodes that I was able to get in on. YAY!! I also signed up for inboxdollars...which is a survey/paid email site. I hope to be able to make some extra cash by doing this while I'm at work. I really think it's a good idea. I had read on someone elses blog that they work for KGB (542542) and earn so much per answer. I'll be heading over there and trying to work on that while I'm at work. Speaking of work, I'll be cutting my hours down to part time starting on May 17th. That's when I start NURSING SCHOOL!! I am very excited, as this is something that I've been debating on doing for a while. The debate was not whether or not I would do it, but where, as every school around here has at least a 2 semester wait, except for one...and I just happened to stop by there on Monday to see if I could get some info, and volia- as long as I pass the math and reading test on the 4th, I'll be starting on the 17th! It will put my getting a newer car back a few months, but hey, in 1 year I'll be a nurse! I can't wait! It will make working a little bit easier since I'll get more money and that means less hours I'll have to work. I'd love to be a SAHM again but that's not going to be possible for a while so I'll make the best of what I can and try to make up for my going to part time by trying to earn extra while I'm already at work. Off to do more surveys and try to make $$... hehe

ALSO, Check out the Thrifty Page of this blog. It has a free bG OS diaper code on it! And GROCERY COUPONS!

Dyeing Prefolds

I have a ton of prefolds (well not a ton but several) that I'm going to try to dye this weekend (after we're done moving) and I am going to try to make them as bright as possible. I'll post pics to show how I do. I've been wondering about getting some white wool and dying it, to make a pair of longies for Norrah...(I'm not the best knitter HARDLY, I've just started, but I still want to try.) I wonder if I'd dye it the same way or if there is something special that I'd have to do. Hmmm...off to search it and see what I can find. 

Yay for 8 hour days!!

I am so glad that my weekend has passed and I won't have another till the end of May. I worked 13 hours Saturday and Sunday. Norrah was asleep when I left Saturday morning, asleep when I got home Saturday evening, and still asleep when I left Sunday. She was awake when I got home Sunday and I cried when I got to hold her. I missed her SOOO much! She's such a sweetie and gave me TONS of kisses. Since we are in need of some mommy and me time, this afternoon I'm going to take her outside with her bubble gun and we're going to play in the yard. I've been saying for a month that I'm going to church on Sunday-and this Sunday I am going, to the early service at the Lutheran church that my former client went to. I met a lot of really nice people from there and got invited SEVERAL times, so I'm going to get up the nerve to try something new. I haven't been to church since I took my Grandma over a year ago. I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since my Papa died...wow...it doesn't seem like it's been so long. So it's been almost 2 years since I've been to church...I really need to go.

I'm soo gonna start making bread more since my mil has a bread machine...that has NEVER been used!!! I can't believe that she doesn't use it! I think it will probably be one of those things that is coming with us when we move. :D hehe I saw it this morning when I was putting my cereal up.

Norrah got some new outfits this weekend at TRU. MIL and SIL went in there for who knows what...and came out with 5 new outfits and a pair of slippers...the slippers are way too cute! Of course I just saw them but since I didn't buy them then I guess it's ok.

It's supposed to be 80 degrees this week and I am going to enjoy every minute of it. I can't wait to get my stroller from Franklingoose. I am going to take Norrah out for walks when we get it. Plus I got a sleepywrap and I'm going to use it too, when it comes in...WHENEVER that is.

I'll be soon posting an area for recipes and things that I have found to be easy to freeze, cook, cheap, thrifty, ect...

That's about it for this go round...

Monday's Food/Money Journal

For Monday
Breakfast
Corn Checks
2% Milk
OJ

Snack
Dr. Pepper- My "treat"
Fruit Snacks
This is planned for:
Lunch
Ramen Noodle cup
WW Yogurt
Water

Snack
no afternoon snack

Dinner
dh made hamsteak and fried potatoes for dinner...dd LOVES fried potatoes...totally unhealthy and bad for us but It was SOOOO good...

Sunday Spending Journal

I'll be at work all day so I shouldn't spend TOO much...so far I've spent $4.00 on breakfast and that should be all that I do spend. If I do spend more I'll update.

Moving

We have been trying to get moved the whole month of April. It seems like the time is FLYING by and we are never going to get done. We didn't have to get any boxes because I had Mike put all of the boxes we bought the last time we moved into the attic and save them. We are using duct tape instead of the package tape because we already had it at the house. We're moving into my in-laws until we can find a house to buy because renting is eating us alive, and we will sink if we keep it up. We're getting a storage unit and going to move as much as we can in our cars, and my father-in-laws truck so that we don't have to rent a truck. Mike's friend has been helping us pack on Mondays while he's off work. I wish there were a good alternative to a storage unit but it's going to be cheaper to rent a unit instead of a house. I wish that we could just take one weekend and get it all done and overwith and then I wouldn't have to worry about it, but I can't get a stinking day off...working through the week and then working 13 hours Saturday and Sunday both, which just sucks in general, but especially since I'm not doing anything but sitting on this ladies couch playing on the computer. I feel like it's a waste of my time. It actually really is a waste of my time because I don't get paid overtime for it.

Thrifty

I'm not always thrifty, actually it's hard to be thrifty when we are in the middle of a move and trying to get our bills caught up and paid off. I hope that soon...we will be debt free or only have a few debts instead of all of our money going to pay this or that. I'd like to have some to put up and sget an emergency fund set up. This is important for us because my husband was told in Febuary that he was going to be laid off as of June 1st...then July 21st...now they are going to take another position for his whole group and he is not losing his job...which I'm TOTALLY thankful for, but it made me realize that we REALLY need an emergency fund and we do need something in place for a just in case. I'm very thankful for Franklingoose because I know that no matter what happens, Norrah will have a good Christmas this year. I'm glad that I will be able to get her some great toys and not have to actually pay money out of pocket for them, especially since she will know what's going on this time. Monday I will be starting a daily spending journal and also a daily food journal. I'm hoping to get the hang of this blogging thing and make mine look as awesome as some of the others that I've seen.

I have a Plan!

I am super excited because I have a PLAN!! I just wrote out the checks that will pay off 2 of my credit cards! I made a payment over the phone (dang $11 fees!) but I mistyped the numbers to my checking account in there last month-which resulted in my account being suspended and a returned charge on my account...banging head against the wall...so I got THAT taken care of today, but I am just really tired of having to mess with them and their outrageous fees and rates. I am going to pay $25. EVERY WEEK until May 14th, at which time I'm going to take out 1/2 of the balance, and then another week of $25, then on the 28th----- THE REMAINING BALANCE!!! ALL DONE! YEAH! WHOOOO HOOOO!!!! I've had this monkey on my back for a while and I'm going to be done with it in 2 months!! I can't believe it! I am going to the post office today to get a package-no idea what it is- and going to get a book of stamps and stop at the dollar store and get envelopes and get them already made out so all I have to do is drop them in the box on Monday mornings.

Now my other plan: WEIGHT WATCHERS.
I've got 70-90 pounds to lose. I'd love to lose 70 by December, when we go on vacation, and then the last 20 pounds when I get back. I'm going to have the mirena taken out in January 2011, so I'd really like to lose and THEN get pregnant. Since I'm so overweight and was when I got pregnant with Norrah, I'd like to try and be smaller when I get pregnant this time. I hope it takes care of some of my medical issues. The ones that I'm having now and the ones that I get during pregnancy. My medical issues include: PCOS-controlled by Metformin, Hypertension-controlled by medicine, metabolic syndrome-no meds-and during pregnancy because I'm hypertensive already-preeclampsia and prediabetes-which the Metformin helps with.
I'm 27 and on high blood pressure medicine. I came to the realization that if I don't do something NOW about this I'm not going to make it to see my little girl graduate high school. It would be selfish if I didn't at least try to lose the weight, especially before I try to get pregnant a second time.

The First One

This is the very first blog entry, so let me tell you about myself. I'm Lacee-a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. I go by many more names, but those are the ones I'm most proud of. I am married to Mike-35- since September 08, 2007. We were married on my Grandparents last (57th!) anniversary. My daughter is Norrah, she was born at 12:32 via C-section on April 29, 2009.
I have a younger brother, Bryan, and a younger sister, Raven. Bryan is married to Jennifer, and they have 2 girls. Makayla is 5 and is a fireball! Savannah is 18 months old and she is going to be one of the funniest kids I've ever met. She's already a NUT!

I started this blog to keep a record of my journey from soggy to crunchy, spendy to thrifty, and most important to me-overweight to healthy. I hope that if you read this you will gain something from me and I hope that I can help someone in someway.

This is my journey...