Amazing deal!

If you have kiddos that are into the book series Skippyjon Jones, RUN to Kohl's!!! They have the books AND plush characters for only $2.50 each!!! Now, their stock is EXTREMELY limited but Z was able to get two books (the only two they had left) and two plush characters last night. They do have some of the plush cuties left online for the same price, and if you use the code free2ship, shipping is free! Here is what we got:

Amazing site!

Check out this site, Javi Sports! They have some super cool things for your vehicle, like mirror covers, decals and floor mats!

Some great deals yesterday

Yesterday we hit Super Target to return some clothes I had ordered for Ty. (Target clothes are cut ALOT different than most stores.......most stores he is wearing a size L......well, Target shirts that are L are WAY too big on him!) They had the shirts in the store, but the dino pj pants we could only get online, and of course all of the size Medium were OOS. :(  Anyhoo, I was able to get the correct size for the shirts, and also got him a pair of jeans. (which I need to return for a correct size......I swear I hate buying clothes for that boy sometimes!) I was looking through the winter stuff (gloves and hats) and they were all marked 70% off!! I got him several pairs of gloves and two pairs of long johns; a pair for this winter and a pair for next winter. The gloves were .50! When we were leaving I walked past the ladies winter things and got myself 2 pairs of gloves for .60 total!! I didn't see any winter stuff for Chase, but I did find him a REALLY cute hat/mitten set online for under $5......I love mittens for him instead of gloves but they are SO hard to find in his size. I was shocked I found them online, in his size AND at a great price!! And they are made my Columbia so they should hold up really well.......

If you haven't checked out Target for their clearance stuff, I highly recommend it!!!!!!

My new love

Ok, so this is probably going to be a "silly" post, but I just have to share my new love with everyone!

Yes, my new love is a vacuum!! You see, when Z and I first got married I purchased our first vacuum together. It was just a regular Hoover vacuum, nothing fancy or special. Within 6 months it stopped working. Considering we had a Sheltie, lab mix and a cat I figured we would need a slightly better vacuum so I purchased a more expensive one with more bells and whistles than the first one. Well, within 6-7 months it too stopped working properly. After going through 2 vacuums a year for 2 years, I knew it was time to get serious. In comes the Dyson. Some friends of mine on a pet forum raved about the Dyson Animal, how it was wonderful for pet hair and everything else!! And even though it cost more, it was supposed to be worth the money. Also, we had our first baby on the way, so we HAD to have clean carpets for the little one! So in November 2003 (Black Friday, to be exact) Z got his Christmas bonus and we bought our Dyson Animal. $500 was a HUGE amount of money to shell out at once, but this vacuum was supposed to be the sh*t! 8 years and another kiddo later, that bad boy proved to be the BEST money we had ever spent!!! We most definitely got our moneys worth (and then some!) out of her!! But now, I hate to say, she has seen better days, and it was time to *gulp* replace her. Last year at this time we started to buy the Dyson DC25 (exclusive to Target) but money was tight (as usual) and we decided to put it off until this year. It turns out it was a GREAT idea to wait!! We got an AMAZING tax return this year so the $500 was doable.....but, Target now has the DC25 on sale!!! When you purchase it, you get a Target gift card for $100!!!! Last night we went to Target and when Z took it off the shelf and put in under the cart, I felt all giddy inside and actually giggled a little.....I couldn't believe this beauty was going to be ours!! And yes like I said, I know it's silly to feel this way about a vacuum.....but how can you NOT fall in love with this.......

Just........ahhhh.  I can not get over just how easy this beauty is to maneuver.....and the carpets are SO clean and soft to walk on!! (which says alot about the nasty carpet in this house...) Ok, I think I need to go spend more time with my new love.......I do want to say thank you to my old girl, she was an amazing vacuum and so good to us for such a long time. Thank you for getting us hooked on the Dyson!!!

Officially done shopping for Christmas!!

Other than a few stocking stuffers (the traditional mini m&m tubes and a few small things) we are done!! Ty has been done (even though we still keep picking things up for him.....but we are putting things away for his birthday, which is a few weeks after Christmas) and as of this morning Chase is now done!! Yesterday morning I ordered a really cute pair of Mickey footie pj's for Chase and this morning I found a Mickey table and chairs set that I had been wanting to get him.....well, I wanted to get him a small table and chair set like Ty had years ago, but the plain tables were almost $30!! I got him a Mickey table and chairs for $20 shipped!!! We'll get our layaway out in a few weeks, and then i'll get the fun of wrapping all of it......I love wrapping!!!!

Today I got all of our Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail out. Some will go inside of some goodie boxes I hope to get out this week. I just love this time of year!!

Yesterday's excursion....

Yesterday was Z's day off, so we decided to get some shopping done together. After we dropped Ty off at school, we went and got a bite to eat and then hit Kroger. I love when they have a good sale going.....they had some awesome deals in their buy 10 participating items get $5 off sale. After Kroger's we headed to West Knoxville to go to Michael's and A.C.Moore. (we wanted to see if we could find something special for Ty for doing so well in school. He LOVES dinosaurs and we wanted to find him something cool that had to do with those....) We found him a cool dinosaur skeleton puzzle that we decided to just put away for Christmas. We also found Chase a super cute tiny metal school bus that goes when you pull back on it. (he LOVES school buses!) I also got a few pieces of scrapbook paper I needed. We left there and went to A.C. Moore. I think i like that store better than Michael's! At Michael's we found a really cool T-Rex dino, but it was $5.99. We thought about getting it, but decided to wait. Well, I am so glad we waited!! They exact same dino was at A.C. Moore, and was cheaper AND on sale!! We got it for under $4!!! We also got him a really cool 3D T-Rex Bookmark that we ended up giving to him yesterday for doing well in school....the other things we put away for Christmas!!

Oh, and the T-Rex dino we got.....Z added a small little eyelet to it, and made it a Christmas ornament!! The Christmas Place had a T-Rex ornament, but was sold out and didn't think they would get anymore in before the holidays, and most other ornaments I found were geared more towards smaller children. Z got the idea to make him the ornament as soon as he saw the T-Rex!!




How cool is that?!?!? He absolutely loved it!!!!!!!!!!

A rough day.....*edited*

...for the most part, anyway. It's been a week since Licky left us. When I was sitting at Ty's school waiting for him to come out I started thinking about how that time last week is when she passed away. Made my heart hurt for her. :( The house still feels so empty without her. I keep waiting to hear her bark when we get back from being out. And I can still smell her in the house, but it's not a stinky dog smell. I miss having a dog around so much.......once we are out of this house we will add a new family member.

So today was an "interesting" day, to say the least. It started with me not being able to find my cellphone. Ty and I looked all over for it before I took him to school but had no luck finding it. I got some change together so I could use a payphone to call Z to let him know I didn't have it. (we don't have a house phone anymore, as there was no point to having it when we never used it) I stopped to get gas and then took Ty to school. I knew there was a payphone at Weigel's, so I headed there. They wanted $1 to make a 10 minute call!!! OMG, I couldn't believe it!!! Needless to say, I didn't use the payphone. Before I left to take Ty I had posted on Facebook about losing my phone. Well, once I got home I posted again about still not finding it and how expensive the payphone was. I went to get laundry started when I heard my phone ringing!! I started listening really hard for where the sound was coming from......and then I knew; the darn thing was in the diaper bag the whole time!!!! But my bestest bestie had called me to help me find my phone.....I swear I never even thought to ask someone to call me to help me find it!! Talk about a blonde moment! Also, poor Chase wasn't feeling well and I wanted to see if he should be seen by a doctor or not and not having my phone I was worried if he got worse I wouldn't have a way to call anyone. I was also worried if Ty's school needed to get ahold of me I wouldn't get the calls.

So once I had my phone found and some calls made (and Chase started feeling better), we went and did a little shopping. We went to Target first, as they sometimes have a better selection of clothes for Ty. Well they had swimming trunks, but they were still marked $9! Walmart had them for $6, so I decided to just wait and get them from there. I was about to leave when I saw something that I had been searching for for a looonnnggg time......footie pj's for Ty...and at a decent price as well!!! I squealed so loud when I saw them!!! I picked up a pair for him, and i'm hoping to go back and get him at least 2 more pairs. When we left there we went to Walmart and I got Chase a pair of sweatpants and went looking for swimming trunks for Ty. (I was at a different Walmart than we normally shop and they sometimes have a different selection...and higher prices!! ) I saw some super cute Spongebob trunks, which were marked $6. I picked up a few other things and went to check out. Well, when the lady was ringing up my things, she scanned the trunks and said "Oh, you got a great deal on those!!" and I said "yeah, $6 is really cheap..." and she said "No, they rang up $4!!" I was so excited!!! I'm sooo glad I held off on buying him new swimming trunks!! Now I need to get pics of him in his new trunks and his footies!!! Oh, and to add to the fun blondness for the day, when Chase and I got back from shopping I got him out and locked the van then closed my door....with the keys still in it!! I had to call Z to come get the van unlocked and to let us in the house. Once again.....

The main reason I got him new trunks now is because we have company coming down and they are going to get a hotel that has a pool so Ty and Chase can swim. He's really excited about it!!!

If you love Christmas time...

I highly recommend the store Christmas Place! They are located in Pigeon Forge, which is about 20-25 minutes away from us. In all the years we have been going to PF, we never went in. Well, I was looking online for a certain ornament for Chase and their site popped up! I not only found the ornament I was looking for, but it was on sale! I also found some really cute LED photo frames that were also on sale. They did have an ornament I was going to order for Ty, but it was out of stock. So I talked to Z and he said to just order what I found online and we would go into the Christmas Place store on his next day off. (this past Thursday) Well, Thursday morning we went to the store.....and all I can say is, if you have never been and are ever able to go, you need to GO!!! They have everything you could ever imagine for the holidays!! And to be honest, yes some things were a little pricey, but for the most part their prices were not that bad! (and you know what a cheapskate I am.....) And this place was HUGE!!! Every time we thought we had seen everything, we ended up going into a new section! And the employee's were so friendly and helpful. We spent almost 2 hours looking at everything!! We ended up getting an ornament for Ty (not the one we wanted though, as they were not only sold out online but at the store. he is SO into dinosaurs and they had a T-Rex ornament but it was not in stock....we ended up getting him the Stegosaurus) and I got an ornament that goes with what I call Chase. It's an adorable baby monkey (looks like a baby in a monkey costume!) and on the belly it says "Little Monkey". (for Ty I have a pickle ornament, since i've called him my little pickle since before he was born)

Well, once we got home I put the ornaments away so the boys wouldn't see them. Later that evening, UPS came and brought me what I had ordered from Christmas Place online!! I was so shocked to get it so fast! I absolutely loved the ornament for Chase (a school bus....he LOVES them!!) and the picture frames are so adorable.......plus they sent me a free snowflake ornament!! Now I can't wait to get our Christmas decorations up!!!



The frames look super bright because they have glitter on them to look like snow....can't wait to put pics in them and light them up!!!

Back to school shopping

Well, I think we are just about done with back to school stuff! This weekend is tax free shopping, and boy were the stores packed!! We got him several pairs of shorts, some tshirts, new undies and socks. He didn't need a new backpack, since we got him a new one this past January.....and he still has shoes so he didn't need those, either. We got his other supplies earlier this week, so we *should* be all set!! He has 2-3 pairs of jeans that still fit, so we'll hold off on getting more when the weather turns colder. Now all that's left to pay is the fee they ask for every year. Oh, and today in the mail he got a postcard to let us know who his second grade teacher is!!! Next Thursday his school is having an open house so we can see the classroom and meet his teacher, plus take his supplies in......I tell ya, he is SO excited about going back to school!!!

New kitchen table

I forgot to post about the new kitchen table we got! Since we moved the table we had was just way too big for the kitchen, so I asked Z about downsizing the table and he said maybe income tax time. Well, this week Kmart had a super cute (and affordable!) table and chair set on sale! Z picked it up yesterday on his way home from work and we put it up last night: (ignore the radio stand next to the freezer in the pic....we had to move it to make room for the freezer, and I have no idea where we will put it! LOL)



It's so much smaller than what we had, but is just perfect for the four of us! I did keep one of the older chairs to use for Chase's booster seat, and the cushions on the seats now are just temporary until I can get some new ones. :)

Some grocery deals

To try and be a little more upbeat, I should mention the great grocery deals we got this weekend. Kroger has a special going on where you buy 10 participating items you get $5 off. (can mix or match things) and this past Saturday we really cleaned up. They have Orville Redenbacher popcorn for $1.49. Right where the popcorn is there is a small machine thingie attached to the shelf that had coupons for .55 off when you bought one 3 pack of Orville popcorn.......that made the popcorn .94 a box. They also had the Krusteaz cookie box mixes (the ones I have raved about) on sale for .99. Attached to the Chocolate Chunk cookie boxes (and one of the Snickerdoodle boxes) are coupons for .55 off......that made the cookie mixes .44 a box! I know i've gone on and on about how good the Krusteaz cookies are, but I just can't get over how good they taste for being a cookie mix!! The only cookie I didn't care for was their peanut butter. (and anything peanut butter is my favorite!) But the sugar, chocolate chunk and snickerdoodle are amazingly yummy. And SO darn simple to make!! Just one egg and a stick of butter! I don't know how Krusteaz has managed to make a cookie mix taste so good, but they have. The one thing we have done differently is with the chocolate chunk.....I run the mix through a sifter to remove the chocolate chunks they use and replace them with my own chocolate chips (either Tollhouse or Gheridelli chips). Don't get me wrong, I love their chocolate chunks, but I prefer the other chips added.

Anyhoo, Krogers has the same sale going on this week as well. We ended up actually saving more than we spent on Saturday! I think we spent a little over $50 and saved close to $70! If you have a Krogers near you, you really need to check out their sale this week. :)