Thursday, June 30, 2011

Reminisce

I love to reminisce.  I like to sit around with my brothers and talk and laugh about our childhoods.  I like to reminisce about my wedding, and remember the feeling I had or how gorgeous the beach was that day.  I just like to remember the good things in my life.  Today, I’m taking a look back again. 
On this date, five years ago, I went on a first date.  The last first date I’d ever go on.  If you had asked me that day where I saw myself in five years, I might have wondered about where I’d live and what I’d be doing for a living.  I never would have imagined that I would be married to the guy I was on the date with, and that we’d have a precious baby girl.  God knew what he was doing that day, even if I didn’t. 
I knew it was different from that first date, though.  In the past, my first dates had all pretty much been the typical dinner and a movie.  I’m not knocking them, there’s nothing wrong with that.  But, this one stood out, because he had put way more thought into than anyone had ever done for me before.  He told me to wear jeans, and closed toed shoes.  That’s all he’d tell me.  So, when the time we’d agreed on came, I was sitting on my couch wearing jeans, a tank top, and tennis shoes.  I looked out the window when I heard his truck pull up.  He paused before he got out, and headed up the stairs to my apartment.  I would later find out that he was pausing to swig some Listerine.  When I answered the door, he was looking handsome as usual, and holding a vase with a single flower.  I kept that flower for months, on the dash of my car. 
First, he took me horseback riding.  I’ve always loved horses.  I owned one at the time, but it was back home and I was away at college.  I was riding a sweet old horse named B.J, and he was on a spirited (and poorly trained) horse named Chico.  I had actually forgotten their names for awhile, but it came back to me this morning.  We had a great time riding out by the lake, and talking, and yodeling.  Okay, it was me who did the yodeling.  I’m still not sure what possessed me to do that on a first date, but obviously it worked out in my favor.  When we left there, he took me to Texas Roadhouse.  He sure knew the way to my heart; horses and a steak dinner.  Since it was the weekend before the 4th of July, there were fireworks stands everywhere, so we decided to stop and get some.  We drove to the outskirts of town on a quiet road, and shot them off and then sat on the tailgate and talked and talked.  The lightning bugs were out, and the fireworks had really thrown them off, because they were really sporadic and spastic after that.  Then, when he took me home, he high-fived me.  He was so smooth, even back then.  I realized he was a little nervous, so I made fun of him, and made him give me a hug. 
It was a great date, with a great guy.  And now, five years later, he’s just as much fun as he was then. 

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Saving Money

I’ve been entertaining the idea of couponing.  After I started researching this a little and trying to learn about it, I’ve been hearing people talk about it everywhere.  I’m not very good at it.  That’s probably because I’m not dedicated enough, as in I haven’t even subscribed to the Sunday paper yet.  I’ve collected a few coupons, read a couple couponing blogs and have scored a few good deals though. 
I have, however, figured out a way to better afford diapers.  We use diapers a lot around our house.  And, we don’t buy the cheap Walmart brand diapers.  Not that we have anything against them, they just don’t fit Dinah very well.  In fact, through trial and error, we have discovered that Pampers are the only brand that fit her just right.  We have far fewer leaks, and in turn, go through far fewer diapers when we use them. 
When Dinah was just a few weeks old, someone told me about Amazon Mom.    It’s free to sign up, and you get 15% off, plus free shipping.  Then, I signed up for Subscribe & Save.  You just put in the frequency you want the item sent (I do one shipment per month), and they automatically charge your credit/debit card and ship your items.  And, you get an extra 15% off.  So, by doing this, I save 30% and get our diapers shipped to our house for free.  I don’t run out, and I don’t have to worry about getting low.  They recently discontinued the package size that I was subscribed to, and I ended up with a bigger package so I may have plenty when it’s time for my next shipment.  It’s no problem though; I can just skip a shipment.   Instead of paying $32.50 at Walmart for a pack of 152, I can pay the same price and get a pack of 204.  Ah, but it gets better. 
Through reading the couponing blogs, I learned about Swagbucks.  Swagbucks is a loyalty program/search engine.  You earn points for searching just like you would use Google.  There are also other ways to earn points (or swagbucks), like NOSO (no obligation special offers), surveys, daily polls, and bonus codes, etc.  Then, you can cash in your points for prizes.  I’ve heard the $5 Amazon gift card is the best deal (for 450 sb).  You can also get points for referrals.  If you refer someone, like I did with the link above, they will match the first 1000 sb your friend earns from searching.  So, last month, I had two $5 Amazon gift cards to apply to my diaper order.  In the end, I bought a box of 204 diapers (originally priced $45.99) for under $23.   
What tricks do you use to save money?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Nine Months

Wow.  Have I been a slacker about posting lately, or what? I don’t suppose it matters.  I have no good reason to be writing a blog anyway, except that I just felt like it one day.  Maybe someday I’ll say something entertaining.  Wouldn’t that be nice? I’m a strong supporter of entertaining blogs. 
Anyway, my daughter is 9 months old now, so I thought it fitting to dedicate a post to her.  Okay, so this blog is largely dedicated to her in general, but I am of the mindset that there can never be too much Dinah.  She’s kind of wonderful. 
She seems to do something new every other day.  At this point in her life, she has been pulling up on things for quite awhile.  She walks around furniture, or by pushing something in front of her. 
She crawls everywhere, and climbs on everything.  Last week, she got her 2nd tooth.  This week, she started waving.  And, can I just say, cutest thing ever? I love it.  We’d been trying to get her to do it, and she would hold her hand up, but hadn’t gotten the waving part yet.  Then one morning, it just clicked.  She started waving at everything: a box of crackers, the coffee table, us.  Now, she uses it to her favor whenever possible.  If we try to get on to her for something, she waves.  She waves at people in the grocery store, and tries to get the attention of everyone there…and it generally works. 
She’s starting to eat some finger foods.  I really started giving her things to eat on her own when she decided one day the pureed food I was giving her was boring, and refused to eat.  I gave her some crackers and cantaloupe instead, and she devoured it. 
And, she keeps trying to stand on her own…although, she has not been successful yet. 
 Now, if I could just get her to say “Mama.” 

Friday, June 10, 2011

The New Stylist

Four years ago, while my husband and I were just dating, he convinced me to cut his hair.  I’d never cut anyone’s hair before, and that kind of thing has never been my strong suit, but he wanted me to give it a shot.  So I did.  It took 2 hours to complete, because I would start cutting, then freak out.  He would take the clippers from my hand and turn them off, then put his hands on my shoulders, look me in the eye, and assure me I was doing fine.  After several episodes of that, and with my roommate at my side as an advisor, I finally finished.  And, it turned out fine.  I’ve been cutting his hair ever since.  I’m not great, but you can’t beat it for the price. 
Personally, I like to get my hair cut every 4-6 weeks.  I learned long ago that I do not look good with hair past shoulder length.  The longer it gets the stringier and flatter it looks.  I just hate spending the money for a haircut though.  I think I need it, but I can think of so many more important ways I could use that money.  It becomes a battle in my head each and every time. 
Last week, I cut Dean’s hair like I’ve been doing every few weeks for the past four years.  And then, I convinced him to cut mine.  I had complete trust in him.  He has a good eye for detail, and he’s a perfectionist, and he’s just good with his hands.  So, after a two minute YouTube video tutorial, I gave him a pair of scissors and let him loose.  The end result:

(I should’ve taken before and after pics.  It was shoulder-length when he started.)    

Do I have an amazing husband or what?    

Oh, and he’s pretty handsome too. 

Okay, I’ll stop…


For now.