1. It seems that a couple of my blogging friends are using lists in their posts. I like it. It’s neat and organized. I think I’ll try it. My absence here can be explained by an addiction to Facebook. For real.

2. We had a very nice Christmas with a only a few snags (I had the flu earlier in the week and some packages arrived the day after Christmas). Etta had a great time opening gifts and has been playing hard ever since. We celebrated with my family over the weekend and spent the actual Christmas Day here at home. I don’t think I’d ever been home for Christmas in my life until this year. It was nice. But different

3. We had a very nice master closet (7×10′) but I decided to mess with it and make it better. The last 2 nights have been spent sleeping in Etta’s room or on the floor because our bed is covered in clothes. Although the organizer installation won’t be complete tonight (we still need to purchase a few more pieces), I’m hoping that most of the clothes will be returned to the closet and I’ll be able to sleep in my own bed.

4. Nap time has been trying lately. Our little girl is growing up and her body is adjusting and stomping our beautiful schedule all to shit. I think we’re moving away from 2 naps a day, but she’s still not quite ready for one nap. I tried to keep her up today and she almost fell asleep in her lunch.

5. I don’t have to return to the office until January 13th, although I do have some work to do at home. Right now, January 13th seems like a LONG way away.

6. We spent $13k on a new furnace. It’s sort of nice and it’s saving us a bundle every month, but it’s not heating our house evenly and this is bugging me. We need them to come back out and fix it.

Until next time…

d.

Holiday Greetings 2008

Make a Smilebox postcard

Etta’s First Birthday

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Birthday, Etta Lee

Grammie & Etta on her 1st birthday

Again, neglect with the blog. My little one has grown up so quickly in the last year and you can’t blame me for wanting to spend all of my time with her instead of writing here.

The Etta Lee update: We celebrated Etta’s first birthday on Monday with both sets of Grandparents and her friend Adam. We had an Abby Cadabby theme and chocolate cake. Etta had fun opening her gifts, including many books, musical instruments, and a tricycle. Etta is almost 18lbs (still a little tyke), but tall for her weight. She’s walking up to 15 steps or so at a time. She skipped baby food and has been eating grown up food for about 4 months now because she doesn’t want to eat anything off a spoon. Give her a pork chop, cooked carrots, and some ice cream and she’s in heaven. She drinks whole milk. She still takes 2 naps a day (1.5 hours in the morning and 2-2.5 in the evening) and sleeps from 7pm-6am or more. She enjoys going to the sitter 2 days a week and playing with other kids. (Her mom really enjoy the 5 days a week that she is able to be home with Etta. ) Etta can say da-da, buh-bye, hi, and uh-oh. She can also parrot back several other words and phrases. This morning she repeated “cough cough” after her daddy. She has 4 teeth and another 2 breaking through — joy. She’s had her first plane ride. She’s still wearing cloth diapers. She loves Elmo, blocks, her walker wagon, and playing under the tents she and her daddy build in the bedroom.

I’m back to work 2 full days a week plus a few hours from home. It’s a change after being home for almost a year. I can’t say that I really missed work, but I do enjoy it now that I’m back. I’m hoping to make some progress in my quilting soon, and have started to learn how to knit. I’m still addicted to reality television, including Project Runway. I want a dress form for Christmas, please. I’m hoping that Etta and I will go to Europe next summer and maybe Bill will want to tag along. I think we should camp more. My sister is moving down here this weekend, and I’m excited that Etta will have an Aunt who takes her shopping and lets her eat ice cream for lunch. I sometimes like to write what I’m thinking, even if the thoughts are disjointed and not very deep. I really should make more of an effort to write here, especially since this blog is 7 years old. It deserves better.

A trip to CVS

So here’s Etta Lee playing with a glass bowl. You can find a whole set of pictures on flickr.

I went shopping at CVS today:

CVS Deal #1:
I bought:
Gillete Fusion Razor – $9.99
Schick Quattro Titanium Refill – $9.49
Huggies Jumbo Supreme – $7.99
Listerine Smart Rinse – $3.49
CVS Baby Wipes (160 ct) – $3.99
Huggies Bath/Body Wash – $3.49
2 candy bars – $1.00
Total = $39.44 + tax

I used the following coupons:
$4.00 off Gillette manufactures coupon
$2.00 off Schick man.
$2.00 off Huggies CVS coupon
$1.00 off Huggies man.
$1.00 off Huggies bath man.
$1.00 off Listerine man.
$5 off purchase of $30 CVS coupon

Then I used $19.38 (10.00 + 9.38) in ECBs (Extra Care Bucks) that I had earned in the past.

TOTAL OUT OF POCKET: $4.06

I earned the following ECBs:
$4 Gillette
$5 Schick
$3.49 Listerine
$2 Huggies Bath
Total: $14.49 in ECBs to use toward future purchase.

Then I went in again:
CVS Deal #2:

Huggies Jumbo Supreme – $7.99
Huggies Wipes 232 count – $7.99
Listerine Smart Rinse – $3.49
CVS Cotton Swabs – $3.79
12 pack of Scott tissue – $5.99
2 pack of teethers – $2.99
Total: $32.24

I used the following coupons:
$1 off Huggies man. coupon
$.50 of Huggies wipes man.
$5 off $25 purchase CVS

And paid with the following ECBs: $2 + $3.49 + $4 + $5 + 7.58 = $22.07

Total out of pocket: $3.67

And I earned the following ECBs:
$3.49 LIsterine
$2 Cotton Swabs
$2 Huggies wipes
$7.49 to use in the future

So, grand total out of pocket was $7.73 and I have another $7.49 for next time. I had it all planned out to spend less than $1 total out of pocket for both transactions, but they never have everything that I’m looking for and then I have to substitute things on the fly and do the math while I’m searching.

A good resource on how to do this is A Full Cup.

Cool, eh>

New bunny dress

I made Etta Lee this cute bunny dress. Isn’t it adorable? I took the bunny on the fabric and enlarged it and appliqued it to the dress. I used bias tape to hem the dress. There’s a zipper up the back (which I apparently put in wrong, but my momma is going to teach me how to do it right).

I can’t wait for Etta to wear this to church. Too cute!! And I’m so happy to have finished something I’ve started!

Grandpa’s Book List

Grandpa Wayne is helping Etta Lee & RJ build their Little Golden Book collections. This is a list for him to keep track of what books they have.

Etta’s books:

• 101 Dalmations
• Bambi
• Bambi: Friend of the Forest
• Cars
• Frosty the Snowman
• The Grand and Wonderful Day (Pooh)
• Jingle Bells
• Jungle Book
• The Little Red Caboose
• My Little Golden Book About God
• The Monster at the end of this Book
• Noah’s Ark
• Peter Pan
• The Poky Little Puppy
• Scamp: The Adventures of a Little Puppy
• Thomas Breaks a Promise
• Three Little Pigs
• Tickle Me: My Name is Elmo
• Toy Story 2
• VeggiTales: Where’s God When I’m S-Scared?
• Where Do Kisses Come From?

RJ’s books:

• Peter Pan

6 months

Click through to see more pictures of Etta Lee at 6 months.

We had an active week. We spent Easter at Grammie’s house and then Grammie and Luna came here for a week. We stayed pretty busy and even went on Etta’s first overnight vacation to Lancaster. We saw lots of pretty quilts, bought some great fabrics, and Etta swam in a big pool for the first time.

We’re past the 6 month point now. Etta has not only mastered rolling over, but she has figured out that it’s a means of motoring and that she can get somewhere by rolling over and over. She’s clonked her head a couple of times, but she’s a tough cookie. She’s had a few bites of banana, but I’m skipping baby food and not giving her solids until she wants them. She’s teething hard and puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. She’s extremely communicative and tells us when she is hungry or wet or bored. She’s pretty easy to read. I swear she can say the word, “HI!” already.

A meme from Nan:

Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog, including an illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere.

This was hard, but I think most moms would agree:

The smiles make everything worth it.

A trip to CVS

Here’s Etta Lee at Grammie’s house on Tuesday morning before we drove back home through an ice storm. We’re fine, but I don’t want to talk about it. Ugh.

So, I’ve discovered CVS. Let me introduce you to the wonder.

I’ve always shopped at CVS for my prescriptions and when formula is on sale, but this was my first planned trip. Because of where I live, I’ll only get to CVS once a week. After this initial trip, I hope to not have to pay much OOP (out of pocket) anymore (most people who do this spent no more than $1 each trip after the initial trip).

I went in armed with a list and my coupons.

Today I purchased:
1 Dawn ultra (25c mfg) = 72c
6 12 packs of Pepsi products – 2.99*6 = 17.94
4 2L Pepsi products – 3 for $4 plus 1 free Dew
1 can 25.7oz Similac formula ($5 formula check) = 17.99
2 Mach3 Razors (2 * $3 mfg)= 9.98
5 colgate advance (50c, 75c, 1.00, 1.50)= 11.20
They didn’t have everything I wanted, like the other razors that were on sale, but they will be on sale next week, too.

I used $2/10 ($2 off a $10 purchase )and $5/15 and got .01c off for scanning my triple ECB coupon.

Total OOP (OutOfPocket) = $56.35
ECB (ExtraCareBucks) earned = $24.95 (2*$5 Mach3 = $14.95 Colgate). You can use these like cash next purchase!
I also got $2.50 off CVS purchase of $10 for next time.

In the end, I figure I’m only out $28.90, which is only a couple bucks more than the formula would usually cost! And formula is something that we have to buy anyway. This is what makes shopping at CVS so amazing. Plus, we put it on Discover for the cashback and we also get UPromise cash back. Sure, we bought a few things we don’t need, but they WERE FREE!! The razors and the toothpaste actually earned me money! They are paying me to shop at CVS!

YAY! I can’t wait to plan the next trip.

Today Miss Etta went to visit her pediatrician. She was a little show off, shrieking and jabbering for the doctor. She rolled over for her and wanted to walk right off the exam table. Etta weighs 13 lb 4 oz and is 25″ tall.

The picture above is with our new Hotsling pouch. It’s really nice for quick ins/outs and it makes us look cool, too.