So I have been reading Absolutely Bananas for a while now and while she often makes me laugh, her new “Make Me Laugh Monday” has been upping the ante. I don’t know how often I will participate, but I couldn’t resist this one week.
All of my loyal readers know all about The Challenge (if you are coming for MMLM, go check it out). Well, it now has a theme song.
(it’s not really You Tube week, I will do my own content again tomorrow 
I saw this story on the news last night and just felt the need to share it with the world (or the 3 of you who read my blog). As a cautionary tale if you will. I particularly love Gloria Allred’s (seriously this woman will take any and every “offended woman” case) quote at the end. How she said that with a straight face, I will never know.
I am surrounded by pregnant people. Seriously, they are everywhere. Between my Mom’s club group and MOPS, there is almost a new announcement weekly. Is there something in the water. My friend recently announced on her blog that she is expecting and is looking for only the positive stories of pregnancy and child birth. She should seriously stay away from any woman who has ever given birth cause don’t we just love to tell our pregnancy and birth horror stories. I am not really sure why that is, but I find it to be universal in groups of mommies no matter how well I know them.
So Heather, avert your eyes
You know what else they don’t tell you? That you will love that baby sooo much that you will forget all of it the second she is in your arms. And that you will possibly even want to do it all over again.
This post is for a contest going on right now over at the Parent Bloggers Network. They are partnering with Discovery Health to promote “Deliver Me” a new docu-drama on the Discovery Health Channel. Head over there for info on how to enter.
So I did it. I signed Lily up for kindergarten next year and wrote the enrollment check. We are doing Christian school next year which will require some financial sacrifice, but we are so thrilled with the school, we are all about doing whatever we need to to make this our school home. So I am sure from now until August you will hear me freaking out about this. Actually, not the money, but that my little baby girl is going to kindergarten. Yes, there will be crying and clinging and freaking out. Me, not her. She will be like “See Ya!!” I will be in a heap.
So anyway, I noticed when I was looking over the enrollment info that there is a discount if you pay the whole year upfront by July 1. It isn’t a huge discount, but I am never one to turn down a discount if at all possible. So we will be paying upfront to keep a small amount of the tuition to ourselves. This got me to thinkin. One time I had a medical bill that was quite large. I am pretty sure there was some painful pushing out a child involved. Anyway, when I called to set up a payment plan, the woman told me if I wanted to pay the whole bill upfront, there would be a 20% discount on my amount owed. Bingo! Done and done.
So if you are staring at a large sum of money you owe on a bill, it never hurts to ask if they will reduce the bill if you pay it all in full upfront. I am pretty confident this won’t work on a bill that earns interest cause let’s be honest, they want that interest to accumulate, but I guess you could always ask. The worst they can say is no and you look like an absolute fool
Has this ever worked for you? I am curious to know what kind of bills this works for so I can get put my haggling skills to work. My skills are a little rusty from a winter without garage sales, but the church rummage sale season starts tomorrow so you can bet I will be back in shape soon. That and in line when the clock strikes 9. I am getting a little butterfly in my tummy just thinking about it. Perhaps I need a little more excitement in my life?
For more frugal tips, head over here.
A friend of mine who is also an independent Arbonne consultant recently asked me to review some products from their skincare line. I was all to happy to oblige. Cause I have been dealing with some breakouts lately. Like I am 13 again. What is up with that???? Well, I am happy to report that thanks to Arbonne, they are almost completely gone (I am not going to lie, I have some pesky hold outs).
Arbonne’s products are developed in Switzerland, made with natural ingredients, never tested on animals and formulated without any animal products or by-products. Their products also don’t contain mineral oil, dyes or chemical fragrances. I also can report that they smell good despite the fact they don’t add chemical fragrances. I was given the NutriMinC® RE9® line to try. It is their anti-aging line so I fully expect after I few more months of use I will look 13 again, minus the zits.
Now, I am not going to lie, these products are pricey. Not too bad, just like higher end department store lines. But the upside is they are really concentrated so you don’t need very much each use. Which means, if you do it right, you should be able to make these last a long time. Also if you want to become a consultant yourself, you can get all the products at a discount. You can get your own account for $29 for the first year and $15 each year after that. You can work it just like a Costco membership.
Which brings me to my next point. Arbonne isn’t sold in stores. It is sold by independent consultants. You can be very successful selling for extra income as a stay at home mom if you are interested. My understanding is that it doesn’t take a lot of time and you can make decent money. If you are interested in either the products or being a consultant I would love it if you contacted my friend Adorawho was kind enough to hook me up with the samples. I hear that if you sell enough you get a white Mercedes which beats a pink Cadillac anyday (and buy that I mean no offense to you lovely Mary Kay sales ladies, I love my Mary Kay lipgloss).
Ok, I need to start by saying (although this has nothing to do with anything) that there is nothing more depressing than watching American Idol on “Sing a song from the year you were born” night. Seriously, 1990 David Archuleta??!!!! It is ruining a perfectly good night in which I got carded while out with some girlfriends (I could have kissed her). I went from feeling young and sassy to ridiculously old within a few hours. Seriously “Total Eclipse of the Heart” from the year you were born????!!!!!!!
Alright, I feel better getting that off my chest. On to WFMW. So because of Hannah’s yucky illness, she hasn’t been eating or drinking like normal. Typically my kids are really good poopers. Like daily, you can set a clock by them. So I always know something is off when they miss a day. Hannah was crying and clinging this afternoon and pointing to her diaper and then holding her nose. My wizard-like mommy skills detected that she was constipated (Seriously, when will this kid start talking?).
I knew movement was the best thing to get things moving, but she wouldn’t upwrap herself from me to move around. We had no juice in the house and I didn’t think it would work fast enough anyway. So I laid her down on the floor, massaged her tummy and bicycled her legs. She quieted down and even began laughing a bit. Sure enough within the half hour, BULLSEYE. I will spare you the details, but let’s just say, it was quite obvious while she was cranky. Quite obvious. Moving on…
Actually, not moving on. I really have nothing else to say. Bicycling legs…helps a baby poop. ‘Nough said.
For more helpful tips, head over to Rocks In My Dryer.
Hannah is sick again. She started acting weird yesterday afternoon and soon she was sporting flushed cheeks and a warm forehead. Then while the hubby and I were catching up on a DVR’d Survivor, we started to hear odd noises through the monitor (how did people parent before these things were invented?). By the time midnight rolled around her fever was 102 and she threw up. We changed sheets and clothes, gave her some Motrin and hoped for the best. Needless to say, it was a really long night.
And then today…was a really long day. There is something really sweet about having a sick kid. They get really cuddly and curl up with you on the couch and fall asleep on your chest. Then there is the not so sweet. The whining, the clinging, did I mention the whining. That bad thing about having a sick kid (besides the constant fear that you will catch whatever they have) is that your other kid gets totally neglected.
Lily spent the day watching too much TV, begging mommy to please play with her and trying to stay out my “way too short on sleep” path. At the end of the day, when the hubby got home to give me some relief, I pulled Lily over and snuggled her a bit (probably infecting her in the process).
“Mommy is really sorry I didn’t get to pay you much attention today.”
“That’s OK Mommy, I paid attention to myself.”
So let me be clear, we aren’t big promoters of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. We do them, we just don’t make a huge deal out of them. We have actually been conflicted as to even acknowledge them at all, but for now, we are. So we have a main dish of Jesus’ birth and resurrection with a small side of the make believe costumed people. Do you know what that means? I am the Easter Bunny…if you’re a mom, doesn’t that just blow your mind?!
I still remember discovering my mom was the Easter bunny. While looking for cedar chips to change my hamster’s cage, I stumbled upon a huge cache of candy. Suddenly the pieces all came together. I had suspected due to some rumors around school, but I was saddened nonetheless. So I immediately ran and spoiled it for my younger brother. Cause that is what being the oldest is all about.
So, this morning I awoke at the crack of dawn and put candy all over my living room. Apparently when I was buying candy I thought I had 9 kids cause I have 3 full bags or candy that I didn’t even open. And 5 that are 50% full. And I gave my kids way too much candy. Cause I needed to use up some of these bags. So I wouldn’t eat them (although it is possible I still am sneaking candy out of the kid’s baskets). This is the dark side of CVSing that nobody warns you about.
I am a very sucky Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. I spent the morning telling my kids about the Easter candy that they missed and saying things like, “I think I put a few more over there.” Thankfully my kids were too busy shoving chocolate in their face to notice. I am no better at Santa. After they open a present I say things like, “Yeah I thought you might really like that book….uh I mean Santa thought.”
Thankfully I haven’t had to be Tooth Fairy yet. I will probably trip while sneaking the tooth out from under the pillow, waking up my child who will catch me with the dollar in my hand. Then I will confess the whole thing. Yeah, you should probably keep me away from your children.
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:1-6)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade… (1 Peter 1:3,4)
Yesterday was the first day of spring. Somebody forgot to tell Michigan. Yesterday there was sunshine, green grass, bike riding, sunglasses, and spring coats. Today there was 4″ of snow, accidents, cancellations, shoveling, car scrapers, and bad drivers. We will still be sporting our Easter dresses, albeit shivering while doing so. My brother and sister-in-law are due in, but got stuck in Chicago cause of the snow so they won’t be getting here until tomorrow (which seriously postpones our Wii extravaganza).
I will confess I haven’t thought tons about Easter this year. I have been doing resurrection eggs with Lily which is helping, but I haven’t had a lot of time to even process what I am teaching her. I think it is because Easter has come so early this year that it is all of a sudden here well before I expected it. This is compounded by the fact that we are celebrating Easter service on Saturday night this year since that is when I help lead worship. I am hoping to get a few quiet moments tomorrow before I step on stage to sing to really think about what I am singing.
In some ways, maybe the snow is a blessing.
Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. (Isaiah 1:1 
I hear the Savior say
Thy strength indeed is small
Child of weakness….watch and pray
Find in me….thine all in all
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin hath left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone
For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calvary’s Lamb
And when before thy throne
I stand in Him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat
