See What I Mean?!

I wrote here about Hunter going through an asserting-his-independence-phase recently.

This morning I found him sleeping on the floor. He had pulled out his favorite "baba" shirt (one from Grandma Bessey) out from the dirty clothes (after I told him that it was too dirty to wear anymore) and put it on.

Now this is all very minor compared to the other things that have been occurring around here lately. And I certainly don't mind if he wants to sleep on the floor, in a dirty shirt - that's a battle I can concede. Hopefully, little things like this will make him feel more in control and he will stop some of the other uglier behaviors he's picked up.

Mommyhood Lessons

This is kind of a long post, so feel free to ignore it, but it sure was cathartic to write. I actually wrote it last night, but my internet went down and I was unable to post it then.



Hunter has been going through a difficult phase the last couple of weeks. Couple that with Fred working A LOT and studying for the LSAT several hours a day and you have one very exhausted mama (which would be me).

Hunter has been asserting his independence with unprecedented vigor. He has gone from a kiddo that is really good most of the time to a kiddo who is really difficult most of the time. I know this phase will pass and on the other side, I will have my wonderful, sweet child again. I’ve read many times that when children go through difficult phases it usually coincides with a developmental leap as well. Let me just say that after the last couple of weeks, Hunter better be a genius after all this. ; )

I still love the little guy to the ends of universe, don’t get me wrong – even with all the challenges right now, I wouldn’t trade being his mom for anything. I would however, trade a few of his behaviors for no great sum. Poor Grant has taken the brunt of it physically while I have taken the brunt of it emotionally and mentally. I’ve tried every solution that I and many others, can think of and none of them have helped much. There is always a temporary reprieve, but then the ‘tude comes roaring back with even more gusto. I think this is something that I am just going to have to endure, hold my ground, and eventually it will pass.

I’ve tried allowing him more freedom – yes, you can blow milk bubbles all over the table; no, you don’t have to be strapped in the grocery cart; yes, you can eat a pint of blueberries for dinner (and nothing else). But the ensuing chaos that is created from his new freedoms stresses me out and it does nothing to curb his bad behaviors, which leaves me, well, back to the beginning – exhausted!

And here is where I found myself tonight. Tired and ready to be done with the day hours before bedtime. Fred, working late, but probably not as late as last night (which was 3am, so earlier shouldn’t be too difficult). Grant went down to bed and there was still another hour before Hunter’s bedtime, which seemed like an eternity. I confessed to Hunter that I was so tired and wanted to sleep. He made his sad puppy eyes and said “I know mama, I know. Come sleep in my bed”. He then held my hand and led me into his bed, tucked me in and even gave me Mickey and blankie to cuddle. He then read books to me and told me he loved me. Then turned out the light and closed the door.

As I laid in his bed admiring the glow-in-the-dark stars we had made together, I was grateful that my sweet little guy had returned to me when I needed it most. I was grateful that he wasn’t upset with me for not allowing him to go to the park today or sending him to time out, or even (gasp!) yelling at him.. I was grateful that when he saw that I was in need, he took care of me the best that he knew how. Maybe my sweet little kiddo is still in there somewhere.

While he definitely can stand to learn about a thing or two about obedience and kindness, there is sure a lot that I can learn from him. Every morning I wake up still reeling from the drama the day before and bracing myself for what surely lies ahead. Hunter wakes up, happy that it’s a new day and excited for whatever it holds. I let my frustrations bubble and simmer inside of me, making it very difficult to forgive, forget and move on. Clearly, Hunter has no problem with this, his compassion came billowing out toward me this evening after I had been upset with him much of the day.

Hmmmmm, I guess I’m the one that could stand to learn a lesson or two (or ten!). Tomorrow’s a new day – here’s to making it better than today.

Rite Aid and Target Deals

I took Hunter with me on my Monday morning shopping spree today. He did very well, except for one little incident at Target where he was trying to play with the credit card machine and almost fell out of the cart - yikes!

At Rite Aid I got:

(2 bottles of Lysol Wipes, 4 Pilot Pens (Fred's favorite), 4 composition notebooks, 8 D batteries, 4 AA batteries, 1 toothpaste and 1 bottle of Tylenol)

I spent $17.50 out of pocket, but will receive a $5 rebate for the batteries, $2 rebate for the pens, $2 rebate for the Tylenol, and a $2.49 rebate for the toothpaste. So, after rebates, I will have spent $6.01 (that's how much the 4 pack of AA batteries would've cost)! Original Price: $52.28 (yikes!)


At Target I got:

(2 mini loaves whole grain bread, 2 bottles shaving cream (more art for Hunter!), 2 bottles baby wash, 2 bags of skittles, 2+ lbs of bananas, 1 mini watermelon, 2 travel size Hungry Hungry Hippos, 2 cups Honey Nut Cheerios cereal, 2 travel size toothpaste, 1 Bounce Dryer bar (so excited to use this!), and 2 baby bottles)

I spent $8.22 on all of this, originally it would've cost $39.84. Target has been really hot lately with all their web coupons. I love the baby ones they came out with this week and am looking forward to using a couple of them again next week (once the shelves are re-stocked!). Speaking of shelves, I turned onto the cereal aisle to find a woman clearing the shelf of the individual Honey Nut Cheerios cups. I walked up, grabbed my 2 that I was planning on buying and watched her continue to fill her cart and empty the shelf of every single one. She did not leave any for anyone else, and this was at 8:15 in the morning. And the web coupons are good until 9/12 - there is plenty of time to stock up and still allow others to get some too. There are going to be a lot of sad shoppers today who are trying to get a few free cups of cereal only to find an empty shelf. SO Rude! I just don't get it. Anyways...

I also hit up Walgreens, not because there was anything there that I really wanted to get, but I had some Register Rewards that were expiring and I needed to use them, so I got some printer ink - I've been printing too many coupons! :o) Walgreens' sale this week was pretty disappointing so I just picked up my ink, talked with my favorite cashier, grabbed my free photos and left.

All in all, a great morning of shopping :o)

Who Says You Have To Play By The Rules?

Today was the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication and so Amber went to the morning session. Hunter was asking to play games all morning but could not until Grant went down for his morning nap. I lifted Hunter up to the "restricted section" of his room where we store all of the games he can't play with on his own, or at least we don't let him, and he picked out "Harry Potter Scene It?" I let him set up the game as he wanted, because of course I'm not going to try and teach him the rules when he's three, and this is what we got. All of the player pieces in the middle of the board instead of on the outside track and the House Points cards lined up around the room. It's not in this picture but all of the question cards ended up strewn around the area right next to the computer desk. Then Hunter looked at it for a little and decided he'd had his fun and that it was time to clean up. So he picked everything up and put it all back right where it belonged. We had fun without the rules, so who needs 'em? At least when you're three, right?

Birthday Boy!

("Happy Birthday Grant!")

We had a fun day celebrating our little guy. We are so grateful that he is part of our family here on earth. We know his being here is a complete miracle and are so grateful that we have been blessed to have him in our home. I can't imagine life without him. He brings pure joy into our house. Thanks for being such a sweet kid, Grant! We love you.

(I'll post details about today over in the kiddos blog tomorrow - I've got lots of fun pictures and videos. If you don't have access to our private blog, but would like to, please e-mail me and I'll send you an invitation)

Target Freebies and Cheapies

Target has some great web coupons out right now, so I decided to make the trek up to our nearest Super Target (10 minutes away). I know, I'm super spoiled because this is farthest I ever have to drive to shop. I don't make it to Target every week, but because of the great web coupons and needing to get some toys for Grant's first birthday I headed out today.

Here's what I got (minus the toys for Grant)

2 cartons soy milk, 2 bottles french vanilla coffee creamer, 2 bags skittles, 3 ears corn, 2 small loaves of whole grain bread, 3 apples, 5 bananas, 3 pouches tuna, 2 cups honey nut cheerios, 2 travel size shampoo and conditioner, and 1 first aid kit

I spent $9.55. Originally it would've cost $23.82. The corn wasn't a great deal ($.33 each), but Hunter really wanted it and how can you say no to a child when he's begging for vegetables. I'm lactose intolerant and drink soy milk all the time - with the $.50 target coupon it's the cheapest way to buy it. I will be super sad when the coupons expire this weekend. I love when Target releases coupons for produce and bread - it's great to get deals on healthy food that we need. The coffee creamer I bought on a whim because it was only $.15 each after coupons - it will make yummy smoothies and french toast :o) I wanted to pick up more travel size items for free, but they were cleared out of several of the items I wanted. Oh well, there's always next week.

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

On Tuesday I made this:

in an attempt to suction out a small Styrofoam ball that Hunter had stuck up his nose. (Fun huh?!) It didn't work and we had to visit the Dr.

But, this little contraption worked great to clean out the inside of our computer and our refrigerator coils (they were duuuuuusty!) Now I have a 2 less things on my mental to-do list. Thanks, Hunter (I think...)

Book Review: Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

I finished reading the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch a few weeks ago, but failed to write a post about it until now. I really enjoyed this book. It's short, it's sweet and light, but thought provoking at the same time.

Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer at a very young age leaving behind a wife and 3 young children. This book is full of little gems that remind you of what is important in this life. Reading it fills you with a desire to make the most of your life and to treasure every moment. The whole book is very inspirational. I also liked it because it has lots of short chapters, which is great for me because I never seem to be able to carve out a long amount of time to sit and read.

I definitely recommend this book - it's no literary great, but it is definitely worth your time. My Grade: B+

More great Albies Deals

You all may be very sick of all my grocery deals posts. But, I'm gonna keep hitting you over the head with them because I want to make coupon converts out of you. Okay?!

Albertson's is in the process of changing over to AFS and has a lot of products marked down so that they can clear the shelves for the new brands. I didn't take a lot of time to browse through the store today because I had the kiddos and Hunter was already hard enough to keep track of (he was running up and down the aisles "Super Fast just like Dash"). But, I did get some great deals on baby products. As far as I could tell, all of the Baby Basics brand (Albertson's baby brand) items were all 50% off! Lots of Pampers and Huggies items were marked down t0o (27% - random!), which I thought was odd because, surely, AFS carries those products (I guess we'll see). I picked up a few baby things - I wanted to get more, but I didn't want to clear the shelves. I got some baby food even though I've been making my own, because they were clearanced and I had a coupon, so I figured the minimal extra cost was worth the convenience. If you need diapers, wipes etc I suggest heading to Albertson's ASAP to get in on these deals before they're gone.

I also snagged 4 boxes of Post cereals, for which a Catalina started today. I was at the store by 10am and already most of the Post Selects were gone! I sure hope they were gone because lots of people had already come in and not because a couple people came and hoarded a bunch.

Anyways, here's a picture of what I got:

I paid $9.17 (that's basically how much the diapers would've cost). Originally this would have cost $43.13. I did 2 transactions and used my $5 Kraft Catalina and my $3 Post Catalina to pay for most of the second transaction.

I am really well stocked on diapers now - I need to stop buying them. But, I just keep getting such great deals that it's hard to pass up. It's hard for me to pass up any good deal - I'm pretty much addicted :o)

Kraft Freebies at Albies

This week is another amazing week for Grocery deals. Smith's has a great sale on Kelloggs items, which combined with coupons and the Fuel for School rebate, means that you can actually make money shopping there. We already did the rebate, so I just picked up 2 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of fruit snacks for $.50 each.

Albertson's also has a great deal running this week which allows you to make money. When you buy $25 of Kraft products you get a $5 Catalina and a $20 MIR form - so everything is essentially free. It turns into a money maker when you use coupons because you still get the full $20 rebate. And they have a great Post cereal sale going on that let me get 4 free boxes of cereal! Well enough blabbing, here's a picture of what I got at Albertson's today:

2 pizzas, 1 flat bread sandwich, 2 boxes breaded fish fillets, 4 boxes of cereal, 12 puddings, 2 boxes of crackers, 24 bottles of water

I paid $22.30 out of pocket. But, I received a $5 Catalina and will get $20 back from the rebate. So, I ended up making $2.70 profit! Original price of all this was $77.04. I didn't even use any of my $5 Catalinas from last week's sale to pay for it. Sound too good to be true? Here's the proof:

How fun is that?!

Harnessing The Mighty Power of the Electron - The Easiest Way to Polish Sterling Silver

I love sterling silver jewelry, but hate how it oxidizes. Most of my sterling silver I keep in air tight storage so that they go decades without tarnishing. But, I happen to have a favorite plumeria flower ring from Hawaii that is sterling silver. This ring never leaves my finger which means after a couple of months it looks more like pewter than it does silver.

I have used traditional silver polishes on it for years, but with all it's crevasses and grooves it takes forever to polish it all (and I go through A LOT of Q-tips doing it). About a year ago I discovered a great method for cleaning sterling silver anything - it is the fastest and easiest that I've found.

Here's what ya do:

Gather the items that you want to de-tarnish. Do a surface cleaning on them - for me that means using a toothpick to get all the lotion gunk out of the crevasses of my ring.

Line an appropriately sized pan with aluminum foil - shiny side up. For me and my little ring, a small bowl will do. If you're polishing silver flatware you will want to use a 9x13 pan.

Bring to boil enough water to submerge your silver objects. For my ring it only takes about a cup. I do this in the microwave because it's faster than the stove top, during the summer it doesn't heat up my kitchen and it gives the inside of my microwave a nice little steam bath which loosens up all the crud and I can take 30 seconds to wipe it out when I'm done.

While the water is coming to a boil, pour table salt onto the aluminum foil. I don't have an exact amount for you - Just make a thin layer of salt along the entire bottom of the dish that you're using.

Place all of your silver into the dish. Once the water is boiling, pour it over the silver. Allow to sit for 20 minutes.

It has been too many years since my last in-organic chemistry class to tell you the science behind this method. But, I know it has something to do with ions moving stuff around. Basically, electrons do all the dirty work while you sit back and relax (hah!).

After 20 minutes, check on your silver. You will notice a dark ring on the aluminum foil - that's all the "tarnish" molecules that have been magically removed from your silver and deposited onto the foil.

If your silver is heavily tarnished it may take several soakings before your silver is looking like new. But, the great part is that it requires very little work for you. If your silver still is tarnished after 1 soaking, discard the water and foil and start all over again. It takes just a couple of minutes to set it all up. It sure beats polishing it all by hand. Especially if you have lots of tarnished silver - this method takes the same amount of time no matter how much you have.

Here's a shot of my ring before (sorry the picture is blurry - I'm no photographer and my camera is pretty pathetic too)

And here's an after shot:

The difference is pretty subtle in the pictures, but in real life it is more pronounced - my ring looks almost new.

If you take time to do some research I'm sure that you can find out the actual science behind all this and it would be a great lesson for the kiddos and show some science in action.

Get other great tips and tricks over at We are THAT Family's Works for Me Wednesdays

Marathon Shopping Day

I am on complete shopping overload this week. Smith's is doubling coupons (unlimited!), Albertson's has multiple sets of double coupons and a smokin' hot sale, Rite Aid and Walgreens both had tons of free after rebate and RR offers. And I went to all of them yesterday, and Target too! I actually went to Smith's 3 times because I kept reading about new hot double coupon deals. In all I went to the store 7 times yesterday! And I had a great time doing it (well, until my last transaction at Albertson's and the catalina didn't print, then I just wanted to be done!) I brought my SIL along with me to Walgreens and Rite Aid first thing this morning. These 2 stores are not the best place for a newbie couponer to start out, but the deals were so great that I wanted to share the love. She had a great time and is totally hooked.

I was so excited about all this Sunday night that I hardly slept at all. I am such a grocery geek - I get an adrenaline rush just thinking about all the money I'm going to save.

So, how'd I do? I think I did pretty good. I don't get multiple copies of the paper so I wasn't able to get as great of deals as a lot of other people, but I'm happy with my success. I didn't take pictures of it all because I just wanted to get it all home and put away.

In total I spent $83.94 yesterday on $270.77 worth of groceries. I will get $38.74 back in rebates, so accounting for that, I spent $45.20. Plus, I still have $30 in catalinas and $8 in Register Rewards to spend later. Once I use those, I will have spent $45.20 on $308.77 worth of products! That's a savings of $263.57, or 85%! I spent about 3 1/2 hours in the stores (and driving) and about another hour or so planning everything out. So, saving over $263 is a pretty good return on my investment - about $58 / hour.

I did take a few pictures...

Here's what I got at Rite Aid: I spent $16.50, but will get back $31.75 in rebates, so I actually made $15.25 shopping there (Love it!). Rite Aid has really had amazing deals the last few weeks. And the employees at my store are super friendly. They even had all of the free after rebate items on 1 shelf right at the front of the store - so convenient!


At Walgreens I got:
I spent $8.74, but I still have $8 in RR to spend in the next 2 weeks. (btw, the green bottles are shampoo and conditioner)

In one of my trips to Smith's I got:

I spent $4.33 (that's less than the deodorant costs normally!) Smith's was crazy yesterday. I went at 6am and there were already dozens of hard core couponers there. When I went in the evening, it was a mad house. I don't think Smith's had any idea what they were getting themselves into when they announced they were doubling coupons. I saw a lot of empty shelves - they were not prepared for this, especially with the P&G promotion running concurrently. But, I hope they do it again, because, my goodness, it was so much fun seeing that total just plummet as they scanned the coupons.

It's days like today that make all the time I spend clipping, filling and planning worth it. I truly do enjoy it all - it has become a hobby for me. But, even the hard core grocery geeks need to take a break, so I'm not going to the store at all today. I know, not much of a break. But, Wednesday starts a new sale cycle for Smith's and Albertson's and you never know what great deals it's going to bring :o)

Confessions...

A couple of weeks ago, as I was preparing a Young Women lesson on Scripture Study, I fell asleep while reading my scriptures (and got a big spot of green ink on my sheets from my scripture marking pen)


Sometimes I go so long in between vacuuming my carpet that my kids' hair picks up little pieces of debris when they're playing around on the floor.


I justify buying junk food (like Easy Mac) by the fact that I got it for free. As if that makes it any healthier.


A week ago, my son cut his own hair with his scissors. Unfortunately it really doesn't look all that different from when I cut it myself.

Charming Disneyland Paris Picture

How wonderful is this?

My Best Shopping Excursion Ever!

It was another blissfully successful morning of deal shopping. Check it out:

At Rite Aid I got:


And a BIC Triumph Roller Pen (Fred was really excited about it and opened it up before I took a picture), for $15.68. Which isn't really that great of a deal. The real story here is in the rebates. I will be getting back $9.95 for the mascara, $4.00 for the Herbal Essence shampoo and conditioner, $2.00 for the BIC pen, $2.00 for the Neutrogena make up. So, after rebates, I ending up making a $2.27 profit! Regular price was $51.24. How sweet is that?! Big thanks to Hip2Save for compiling such a great Rite Aid shopping list.

At Walgreens, I got:

for $4.99. Which again, isn't a great deal, but I will get a $3.99 rebate for the head band. So, that brings my total down to $1.00. Regular price for this was $17.48.

We got Albertson's Double Coupons in the paper yesterday, so I made another run to Albetson's and was totally surprised by the Palmolive dish soap deal I stumbled upon. I was able to get 4 bottles for $.68 total! Here's everything that I got:

for $3.08! Regual price was $30.61.

Between the three stores, in total, I spent $1.81 on $99.33 worth of merchandise - that's 98% savings! I think this may be my best shopping excursion yet!

Albertson's - 87% savings!

Even without doubles this week's Albertson's sale is pretty HOT! Check out what I got today:

16 double rolls of toilet paper (32 regular rolls)

4 rolls paper towels

1 gal Nursery water

12 cups Mott's applesauce

3 boxes Wet Ones hand wipes (72 wipes)

5 packets Ranch Dressing Mix

10 disposable latex gloves

for $6.82! Original Price on all this: $55.72. Oooooh yeah. Love it!

There are a few more things that I will probably go back to get on Monday. I'm still hoping that there will be doubles in this Sunday's paper, even thought the rumors are that there won't be. I'll wait and see. If not, I'll still head in Monday because they have some pretty good deals going on that I'd like to get in on. Plus, I think I'd like more Ranch packets - we go through a lot of those and at $.70 a piece, you can't beat it!

Family Reading Time

I have a ever growing and never shrinking list of books that I want to read. The list never shrinks because I have a really hard time fitting book reading into my days. I can only pack so many things into my day and book reading, unfortunately lands towards the bottom of the to-do list. Usually most of my reading occurs late at night (and early into the morning) the night before the book is due back to the library.

This is no good for many reasons. I am none too happy the next morning. I often don't get it finished and have to pay a late fee (it's only $.10 / day, but still, annoying). My kids don't see me reading, so I'm not setting a good example for them. And the books I read are much less enjoyable when I read them in this stress packed manner.

So, I've decided that we are going to family (really just me and the kids) reading time each day. We always read a couple books to our kids before nap and bed times. But, this will be a time where they can sit and "read" to themselves and I can read my books. I have a 3 year old and a 11 month old, so really not much reading is occurring for them, but it's more about the habit right now.

The 11 month old goes into the play pen with some board books and quite books. He really enjoys himself a lot actually. It's quite cute watching him turn the pages and look through the books. My 3 year old gets a book and sits with me on the couch. I settle in to read my book while my 3 year old runs back and forth to his room grabbing more books as he finishes one. Reading time will usually last anywhere from 20 - 30 minutes. I was quite surprised that both my kids' attention spans lasted this long, I expected 10 minutes to go by and both of them begging to do something else.

We've been doing this in the late morning, after my little one wakes up from his morning nap and before lunch time. It seems to work pretty well. We go the park in the mornings, so my 3 year old has most of his sillies worked out and is able to sit quietly for a while. And my little guy is always pretty chill when he wakes up, so he's happy sitting in the play pen and not necessarily wanting to roam around and get into mischief.

We've done this for several days now and it has been wonderful. I'm almost done with my current book and it's not even due for another week!

I know this is really nothing new - I'm sure a lot of you do this in your own homes. But, it is new to me and I love it. This works for our family. Find out what works for other families over at We Are THAT Family's Works for Me Wednesday Carnival.

Donation Time Again

Over the last month or so, I've collected the following items for FREE:

5 packages of Kotex
6 Toothbrushes
4 Foss
5 Deodorant
1 Contact solution
2 BBQ sauce
1 Shampoo / Conditioner

All were free through coupons or mail in rebates (or a combination of the 2, in which case they were money makers!). Retail on all this is close to $40! I don't really need any of these products, so I'm going to drop them off at the Food Bank here in Provo some time this week. I get warm fuzzies just thinking about it :o)

You can see the stash of stuff that I got for free and donated last time here.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Review

Harry Potter love runs deep in my family - my sisters and cousins combined have read the books too many times to count (although they do keep track and are quite proud of it). The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as I am a big Harry Potter fan as well.

The movies will never be as good as the books and shouldn't be compared to one another. They are 2 different mediums and lend themselves to different types of storytelling. I've always tried to view the movies as a works completely separate from the books. This objectivity usually leads me to think very highly of the movies, despite their differences from the books. But, this movie left me a little disappointed.

It is clear that the movie's attention is focusing on 3 aspects of the book: the emerging adolescent affection of Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione; Draco's journey as a new Death Eater; and the relationship of Dumblebore and Harry Potter, and with it Dumbledore's legacy.

I think that the movie portrayed the complexities of adolescent relationships - love, crushes, friends, competition, heart break, anger etc very well. And I enjoyed that part of the movie. There was great character development and I feel that it set the stage very well for the 7th movie. But, I feel that the rest of it was very lacking.

Dumbledore and Harry's journey to learn all that they can about Voldemort and the Horcruxes should have been the main focus of the movie. The hours that they spent together unraveling the mystery of Voldemort, and thereby strengthening their relationship, makes the ending all that more tragic. Simply showing one of the memories and moving on with very little discussion of its significance is not adequate.

Judging by the plot elements from the book that were either omitted or left in the movie and the cinematography, it is clear that David Yates wanted the focus of the movie to be on Dumbledore. And yet there were many missed opportunities to do this. More of the plot should've focused on Dumbledore and Harry as they work together to determine what all of the Horcruxes are. Because there is very little discussion between Harry and Dumbledore, Harry is just an observer. He views the memories that Dumbledore has collected, is instructed by Dumbledore to get one more and that's it. Because Harry isn't involved in the discovery process, we as the audience aren't either. There is nothing to draw us in. We aren't there in the room with them as they figure out what makes Voldemort tick.

Because the movie focuses so little on Dumbledore and Harry's time together, the ending is not very climatic. There is no great loss because there was no great gain to begin with. You have to spend time developing a relationship if there is to be any emotional effect when that relationship is ended. Yes, the movie can only be so long and things have to be cut to achieve this. But, I feel that the movie missed a huge theme in the book and that left the movie feeling very hollow. Plus, there was that strange scene at the Burrow that was not in the book and seemed to come out of left field. Surely that scene could've been sacrificed to obtain more character development for Dumbledore and Harry.

Additionally, less time should've been spent on showcasing the CGI - yes, we know you can make amazing computer generated images, we get it. But, really at the end of the day, it is meaningless. I don't pay money to sit and watch synthetic images on a large screen. First and foremost, the movie must tell a story and I don't feel that this movie told the story very well.

I know that when books are adapted to movies, not all the material makes it to the silver screen. Story lines that don't serve the theme of the movie must be cut in order to produce a cohesive work. I am not looking for the movie to be a prefect re-creation of the book. But, in this case, the movie did not adequately communicate a theme that it was clearly trying to.

I do have to say, that this would be one of the harder HP books to turn in to a movie. There is a lot of exposition, which makes a compelling book, but would make a very boring movie. I don't know exactly how this should've been handled. But, I do know that what was portrayed in the movie was lacking real depth.

Bottom line - the movie was just o.k. It is always wonderful to visit the world of Harry Potter and I automatically like the movies for bringing me there. But, this movie left me disappointed. It failed to tell the story that I know it was trying to tell.

This post is very long, and really, I could go on for a while longer, but won't. If you made it to the end of this review, you must really want to hear what I have to say about Harry Potter. Either that, or you completely disagree with what I have to say and are seething at my audacity of criticising a Harry Potter movie. If it's the latter, I have a feeling, I'll be hearing about it.

What Do You Spend Your Money On? Things or Experiences?

Money has been very tight in our house lately and we've taken a very close look at where our money is being spent. This has been such a valuable learning experience for our family. I cannot even begin to enumerate all of the lessons we have learned over the last few years.

Earlier this year, I set a goal to spend less money on things and more money on experiences. We fill our lives with too many things - clothes, movies, furniture, cars, jewelry, decorations, toys, electronics etc. And in reality those things do very little to make us happy, and we definitely can't take them with us into our next life. Sure they are fun, but they don't bring us any lasting joy. What does bring us lasting joy, and will forever be a part of us, is experiences and memories with our friends and family.

With this in mind, I'm trying to put my money into those things that really matter. Rather than buying Hunter a bunch of toys that he really doesn't need for his birthday, we put his birthday money from Grandparents and great-Grandparents toward a trip to Disneyland. And let me tell you, those 3 magical days at Disneyland are more valuable than a house full of toys.

This year, when my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I couldn't think of anything. I honestly hadn't thought about what I wanted at all. That has never happened to me. I did need a new diaper bag, and so she got me a new one (note to all you new mothers out there: do not buy a white diaper bag, even if it is absolutely adorable with it's pink and white polka dot interior and black accents - it will be filthy in one day flat!) What I did want for my birthday was the ability to do fun activities with my family, activities that we really can't afford right now. So, I'm spending my birthday money on arts and crafts supplies for Hunter, trips to water parks and museums for the whole family. The memories from these experiences are worth so much more to me than any thing I could buy.

And, speaking of my birthday, my favorite part of the day didn't require any money at all. Fred had my brother and sister-in-law babysit the kids while we took a walk up Provo Canyon. We walked and talked. We sat on rocks by the river listening to the peaceful flow of water and discussing grand ideas. He picked me a bouquet of wildflowers as we walked back out of the canyon. It was truly magical and it didn't cost a dime. Sometimes the most valuable experiences in life are the simplest ones.

Next time you go to plunk money down on something, ask yourself if it is just a thing, or if it is an experience. If it's just a thing, think about what experience or memory that money could buy instead. Decide which you want more. You may be surprised how many things you realize that would trade in for lifelong memories and experiences.

Smith's and Albertson's Shopping Trips

This week's sale at Smith's blows Albertson's sale out of the water! Even taking into account double coupons at Albertson's, I would shop at Smith's over Albertson's this week. Smith's sale is huge - there are so many participating items (a lot aren't even listed in the add) and the sale is on items that aren't complete junk, like a lot of the Albertson's sale items are.

I did make a couple trips to Albertson's today though. They have a great deal going on with Fiber One products. You won't hear a lot of buzz about the deal on any deal blogs, because most of them don't get excited unless cereal is less than $1.00 a box. But, usually the cereal that is that cheap is complete junk, and I don't buy it. So, when our family's favorite cereal was on sale, I just had to jump on it. Here's what I got at Albertson's today:



I paid $15.44, original price: $63 (Do keep in mind that Albertson's regular prices are very inflated). And I feel great about what I bought. Sometimes, I come away from a great deal knowing that I saved a ton but also feeling like I spent my money on second rate items. But, not today. I absolutely love fresh salsa, and it was free after doubled coupons. We love the cereal and granola bars. I use Dijon mustard and pineapple all the time. The only thing that I wasn't over the moon about was the Fiber One toaster pastries, but they were so cheap, that I decided that I could live with it (at least they have a good amount of fiber right?!)


And now for Smith's. I got:


For $19.30, Original Price: $42.16. I only spent around $7 for the 10 items in the promotion: cream cheese, gum, yogurt, salad dressing, water, cheese, and jelly. The package of blueberries is HUGE (but a great deal) and we will be eating blueberries on pretty much everything for the next few days. I had BOGO coupons for the Jones soda, and I am drinking it while blogging and it is heavenly! I will definitely be making a second trip to Smith's this week - there were so many things in the promotion that I didn't know about, I wasn't prepared for them. I'll have to go again sometime when I have more time and can browse and find the best deals.

Fun with Shaving Cream and Food Coloring

Today, Hunter and I made these pictures, using shaving cream and food coloring:

Pretty cool huh?! We got this activity from the Family Fun Magazine (No, I don't work for them, I just really love their magazine). Hunter had such a great time making these and it was the perfect use for all of my free shaving cream. We'll definitely have to do it again - I just have to wait for Walgreens to give me more free shaving cream ;)

Happy 7-11 day!

We got out Free Slurpees! Did you?

Fun Things in This Month's Family Fun Magazine

I absolutely love my subscription to Family Fun Magazine. Some month's issues are better than others, and this month happens to be one of the better ones - there are so many activities and crafts that I am so excited to try out. They have a few of them available on-line - not all of them though and in fact some of my favorite ones from this month aren't. But, here's some good ones that are available on-line:

Ribbon Pillow (so cute - I'll have to wait on this one until a daughter comes along though)

The Fomerator (I can already hear Hunter sqealing with laughter)

Back Yard Water Park

Think Fast! Brain Boosters (my kids aren't old enought for these yet, but I will definitely use them some day)

There are a lot more great crafts, activities, organizational tips, traditions etc in this month's issue. It is only $10 for a year subscription - it's so worth it! There are so many great things to do with your kids and a lot of helpful hints that will make your life easier.

Another free Amazon Gift Card

I just got another free $5 Amazon Gift Card through Swagbucks! I got my first one about a month and a half ago. At this rate, I'll probably have $30 in Amazon gift cards by Christmas time - for free! So sweet. Fred's using it now too, so hopefully he'll be able to get a nice stash as well. From the looks of things around the blogosphere, we earn them at a pretty slow rate, but that's o.k. - every little bit helps. If you wanna earn free gift cards for searching the web, like you do anyways, click on the banner below and you can sign up.

Great Shopping Day

Today I actually had the car and I sure made the most out of it. I went to Albertson's twice, Kmart and Target. Phew, I'm beat! But just check out what I got at KMart:

Almost $70 worth of toys and games for $20.18! All of their clearance toys have an additional 50% discount off the clearance prices! The selection wasn't great, but I found a few things that I new the boys would like. The Pictureka card games were only $.99 after a $5 coupon from coupons.com. Some of the stuff is for now, other is for later (Christmas), and some we'll give away. Ahhhhh, how I love a good bargain.

At Albertson's I got:

for less than $2! (I can't find the receipts, grrr, so I can't give you the exact amount). The cookie dough was a last minute swap out - they were all out of Stain Stick - I guess I underestimated the hotness of that sale.

I love coming away from a day of shopping thinking about how much I saved instead of how much I spent.