First Week Back

I was happy to be back to work this past week, and it was an amazingly easy week. I now watch two older girls{7,11} after school until there parents get home. Not only do I have all morning to do whatever Max and I want to do or need to do, but I also get payed well. I still have time to do all my Mommy chores and take Max fun places, all while making a little extra money, and who doesn't like extra money?? Of course my first week of work I had to ask to leave early, I didn't have to leave early but I wanted to be to Boo at the Zoo on time on Friday so I asked anyway. They had no problem with it and I was out of their door by 4:30. We grabbed some Taco Bell and headed to the Zoo. It was a little colder than I would've liked for a night of outdoor fun, but I couldn't do anything to help that. I dressed Max up as a cute little tiger and made sure to give him plenty of layers to stay warm. Now, Boo at the Zoo after dark is a special event at the Zoo with limited ticket sales. I feel as though the Zoo gets a little greedy though. Some of the lines for the treats were so long that there was no way a two year old would stand still the entire time, or even for half the line. I would rather pay a little more and have a lot less people there, this year it was just a little too crowded. My next complaint about the event? Well, we all pay for tickets, well not Max this year since he is still under two. But My hubby and I both payed to be there so you would think we would get to enjoy all the perks right? Well, not exactly, some of the people handing out the candy were very rude about the candy that was not theres and would only give candy to kids. Now, if there was a limited amount of candy {I can see the giant boxes behind them, they won't be running out}I would want the kids to get the treats and not me, but if there is enough candy for everyone and I PAYED to be there I think I deserve my candy bar just as much as the little tiger at my side. Of course we never made a big deal of this, just complained as we walked away from the "mean" candy hander outers. I guess I just wanted to feel like a kid again, which I still did since there were many nice treat givers, but it would've been even more fun if everyone let us all participate. All in all the night was a success, we didn't lose anyone and we left with bags full of candy. Now it is time to carve our pumpkins and put the gravestones in the yard, just in time for Halloween. I am excited to continue our fun tomorrow as we trick or treat with our friends, I hope that Max is excited to be a tiger again, and maybe he'll catch on to saying trick or treat, maybe.

Kelly Callahan

What is That Smell?

This all began so innocently {doesn't it always} Max had some sniffles, no big deal, he's a tough guy and he'll be over this little cold in no time.  Then as Max was still just sniffling my hubby got sick, it started with a cold and then it just kept getting worse, ending with him in bed for three days. Finally my hubby was getting better and Max still just had some sniffles, but then it happened, I started to get a cold. I convinced myself it was nothing much and I'd be fine the next day. Well, the next day I woke up with no voice and it felt like I was swallowing razor blades....not good. I went to the doctor which was VERY exhausting as my son tried to break everything in the waiting room, and then proceeded onto putting his hand in the fountain they have and soaking the floor. As I try to tell him to stop everyone looks at me with sad eyes, my little bit of a voice made me sound very sick, so I am sure they felt bad that I was chasing a two year old at the same time as fighting off whatever I had. This is better than them all being annoyed at my little mad man making such a mess and a ton of noise. I think this is why we were called back so fast. Once in the room Max was restless, why would we just sit in this little room? He wanted water, then he needed to was his hands, then he wanted a snack, then he wanted to wash his hands again. Finally the doctor arrived and took a look at me. Max sure didn't like her touching his Mommy, but he got over it. It turns out I had a sinus infection which was causing all my problems. I am prescribed an antibiotic and some cough medicine to cure me and we happily leave the office. I then get to chase my son around the grocery store as we wait for my prescriptions, I really don't see how this takes so long, but we did some laps and eventually I got my medicine. This is when I first noticed it, what was that smell? Everything at the store seemed to smell "off" I figure this is just the store and head to McDonalds to get Max a happy meal, because there is no way I am cooking. We get the happy meal.... and it smells bad. We get home and you guessed it the house smelled bad. I pick up a little, take out the trash, and then have to lie down. It still smells. Turns out one of the symptoms of a sinus infection is that it messes with your taste and smell. Now it makes sense, nothing tastes good to me and everything smells bad, why couldn't it just make everything smell good? I make it through my sick day thanks mostly to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. That night was bad, I couldn't sleep because I felt so awful, the next day was not very nice either. I was surrounded by bad smells and a poor little toddler who was sick of cartoons. Luckily last night when my hubby got home he took Max out to play and give me some time to just rest. Last night was another sleepless night, this time due to my fever. I tried to cool myself off with a wet washcloth, but I think my mom does it better, then I realized I'm the mom now, so I have to fan my own face when I get a high fever. Funny how when you are sick you just want someone to take care of you, does that ever change? I took care of myself and made it through the night. Today I finally feel as though I have turned the corner and am headed for recovery, which is awesome!! I am not 100 percent yet, but wow do I feel better! Its about time, and its good timing, since I am now working tomorrow afternoon, and I have had plans for a fun night on Saturday that I do not want to miss! I just have to do my best to rest while chasing around a toddler. I just hope that I get my normal nose back soon, I am pretty sick of everything smelling and tasting so bad. I want to enjoy my dinner out this Saturday, so I better be able to taste it! { And yes, Max has sniffled his way through all of our sickness, if only we all responded to this "bug"like he did}

Kelly Callahan

Back on Track

Today turned out to be a home day, Max rested and watched cartoons, and Mommy got a chance to sit down and tackle her giant pile of coupons. One thing I know about my coupons is that if I put off sorting and clipping for even a few days I end up putting it off much longer, and before I know it my pile is VERY overwhelming and I just don't want to deal with it. But you know what happens when my coupons are in such chaos? You guessed it, I miss deals, and I DO NOT like to miss out on deals. I need my coupons to be very organized so when I see a sale I can simply look up my coupon and go to the store. As much as I hate not having my coupons easy to access I hate organizing them just as much, one week at a time is not bad, but when you are three weeks behind it is quite a large task. But today was the perfect day to deal with my stack. My hubby was home sick, Max was resting, trying to avoid getting sick, and then there was me.... what else was I going to do? As I started to tackle the pile it seemed to be going by pretty fast. As I looked at the clock I realized I must just be in my "coupon zone" because this was taking much longer than I thought. Either way I eventually reached the bottom of the stack and it felt great to know that all my coupons had there spot in my little binder {okay, really big binder} I am now ready to see the ads on Sunday and get my new coupons. It is very easy to get out of the "couponing" lifestyle. It does take time and patience, and if you get behind, or it has been awhile since you have saved a lot at the store, it is easy to just let the pile grow out of control. But I just knew that I can NOT go to the store and pay full price, last week I saved 52 % and that didn't even seem good enough for me. So I know if I tried to shop without my coupons I sure wouldn't buy much. I think my trip to Rite Aid reminded me how important it was to me to get my great deals, so I knew I had to make myself sit down and get myself organized. I am also getting back on track, or I guess just on a track, with my work out plan. For once I think I might actually stick to it. I joined the gym as planned when we moved and guess what? I have been going!! I know its crazy, but true. Max has even gotten used to the child care there, sometimes he wants to stay and play when I come to get him. I have been going two to three times a week, which is WAY better than not going at all. As long as I can keep myself on track I think I will be looking better by.... well lets just say by next summer I won't dread going to the pool. That gives me a long time to reach my goal, and if I reach it early I'll just be even more happy with myself. Now, if I can just coupon my way through Max's second birthday party we will be in good shape {still can't believe he will be two!} I look forward to another week of sales and coupons, and my last week without a job. Things are going well ever since our move, and I sue hope they just keep getting better, who wouldn't?

Kelly Callahan

Gotta Love Rite Aid

I am sure I am not the only one with a weekly habit. Some people go to starbucks or maybe let themselves eat out once a week. But what is one of my favorite little habits? My weekly trips to Rite Aid. Now, before I began my little coupon habit I never went to Rite Aid, I mean, why would I, everything cost more there, and they don't have a lot. But as soon as I figured out there "UP Rewards" I was hooked. For example, last week I had a great coupon for covergirl makeup, so of course I stocked up, I ended up spending a total of nine dollars on 4 eye liners, 2 eye shadows, one foundation, and three powders, oh and a pack of pez that Max wouldn't put down {my trips are always at least a dollar more if Max is with me} as my receipt printed I also got a ten dollar "UP" reward, so I spent nine, but they gave me back ten. Now to some people this doesn't equal free, but for me it works out great because I know I will be back the next week to get the new deals and I will have ten dollars to use towards whatever I buy in the store. So with my ten dollar "UP" reward I came back this week to take advantage of all of there products that were "free" after the UP reward. I got, hand sanitizer, Burts Bees cough drops, one pack of cold medicine, throat spray, nasal mist, and an assortment of other cold and flu products. I knew I would eventually need these things as the winter hit, so I figured I would buy them now. I ended up spending 20 dollars {this may sound like a lot, but the cold medicine alone is usually 12 dollars, and Max was with me so he had to get his juice} So before you wonder why I think this was a good deal I will add in that I got $21.50 back in UP rewards to spend next week. So to me I may have spent 20 dollars this week, but next week I have 20 dollars to spend on whatever is on sale, or whatever I may need that I can buy there. As long as you keep up with their weekly sales and remember to use your rewards you can end up with a nice weekly cycle of free to next to nothing buys. Some weeks will be better than others, like this week was just okay, I may have got a lot but I still spent 20 bucks, but next week I hope to get a lot and spent under a dollar, since I will be using a large reward.  I can't tell you why I have so much fun doing this every week, maybe I am crazy, but if it keeps me happy then I will keep heading to Rite Aid. Actually, the only thing I miss about my apartment is that I had a Rite Aid a couple blocks away, and now I have to go to Boulder just to get my deals, it seems Walgreens has taken over Westminster and left no room for my favorite drug store. Who knew one day I would look forward to my little trips to Rite Aid, but once I started having so much fun with my coupons on my groceries I guess this was bound to happen. I am sure Rite Aid counts on people never using their rewards or letting them expire, but they are out of luck with me, I will be there every week, so they better get used to it.

Kelly Callahan

Leafing a little Late

Okay, usually when you look at a picture of the beautiful aspens changing color it does not include snow. Well too bad, my picture does. We love to go look at the changing colors every fall, but we always seem to remember how much we love this about one week too late. Last year we didn't have snow, but we could tell that we missed a lot of the leaves {the bare trees were a dead giveaway} So this year as we headed towards Mt.Evans and we began to see the snow fall we realized we had done it again, we came a little late. As the visibility started to diminish we were worried that even if some leaves were still on the trees we weren't going to be able to see them. The snow started to slow and as we made our turn to towards the mountain we were happy we decided to brave the weather and continue with our tradition. It was so nice to see the bright leaves of the aspens up against the freshly fallen snow. It turns out we saw something even more beautiful by being a week off schedule. We weren't the only ones up there either, there were tons of people pulled over and snapping pictures {they probably laughed when they saw the only camera I had was the one on my phone, but I can't find my camera charger, so it had to do} We had a nice relaxing drive through the mountains and Max slept the whole way{I'm sure when he woke up he was wondering if we had gotten out and done something fun without him, since when we got home he seemed confused about our little drive to nowhere}. As we were starting our trip home Max did wake up in time to see the snow falling, this made me very excited for the snow to make its way down to our house, because Max is going to love playing in a backyard full of it! We topped of a great day by having dinner at our favorite BBQ joint, where I got plenty of "glares" from the older couple next to us. Once Max was asleep we watched the movie that I rented last Tuesday and called it a night. So as it turned out we did ourselves a favor by being a week late on our adventure. We got to do "leafing" a whole new way, and it was great. Sometimes the best days can be created out of nowhere, and yesterday we sure created a good one.

Kelly Callahan

Rain without the Umbrella

I think last night was one of the first times I REALLY realized I was actually living in my house. As the rain was falling and the dog needed outside, all I had to do was open the door and wait for her to come back. This may not seem very special but this was not always so easy. I would have to make sure I was dressed warm enough for the weather, get my shoes, find the umbrella, and walk down three flights of stairs only to stand in the rain and wind and wait for my dog to do her business. As I looked out at our yard I was so happy to be here. It has only been three weeks, but it seems I can't even remember not pulling out of my own driveway or simply walking in my front door with all my groceries. I think its that I don't need to remember the bad things of our old living situation, I might as well just be very happy with where we are now. Not only do I love my yard and my driveway, I also love my new location. I am now closer to everything I love to do with Max. My new location is also better for my new job. I knew everything would be better once we moved, and here's proof : Just two weeks after moving in I got a job offer. It is only part time, but it pays well, and it won't stop Max and I from doing everything we like to do. We are happily getting used to our new life in a house. It is amazing to think that somehow we had all of this stuff around me crammed into a two bedroom apartment.... because we are still wanting more space. There are only two boxes left in the house, they are my "junk" boxes, you know that junk you can't get rid of but you also don't have a good place to put it {more like hide it}. The third bedroom still needs some organizing, but overall the home is put together, which is great. As the rain continues today I look forward to watching the snow fall in the backyard, and it is nice to know I won't have to get all bundled up to take the dog out anymore, she can brave it on her own now. Sometimes small things make you realize how happy you are about the big changes in you life, and last night the rain helped me see how happy I really was about this move.

Kelly Callahan