New school year beginning with a few twists

Well, this is not my ankle.  It's worse.  It's my son's.  How I wish I could take this injury from him and make it mine.  Being 15 is hard enough without dealing with surgery, physical therapy, casts, walking boots, crutches, pain medicine, and not being able to enjoy all the physical things I take for granted.  But he has been a pretty good sport.  School starts in 10 days and we are trying to figure out how he will navigate a high school hall full of students when he is worried that someone will bump into him.  Ugh.  I know it could be so much worse, but still.

Along with his new school year, my husband and I both work at a university and our new school year starts the day before his does.  New class of incoming students, some returning familiar faces.  New school year means another chance at new year's resolutions.  I want to get back on track with Weight Watchers and healthy eating.  I won't say diet.  Healthy eating is all I really need to lose those last few pounds and feel better.  I'm just stubborn. 

 I'm also tossing around the idea of training for a half marathon.  One of my friends has done two this year.  She survived.  I knew she would, but watching her go through it has made it seem more possible for me. I'm still not sure if I really want to - but I know I am not totally against it.  Whatever that means.  Anyway, tonight we run a 5k called the Midnight Streak.  It starts at 11pm and it's a pretty fun, laid back atmosphere.  Just right for us not too serious runners.

We will see what happens next.

Homeland from 3-16-11

 Spent $14.77 - Saved $36.47  Pretty good when you consider that there are 5 packages of meat in that purchase!

Back to blogging - and couponing

I'm back to couponing again.  We are saving a TON on groceries!  I have been posting to my facebook page, but want a way to track spending/savings better, so here I am again.

I follow the Consumer Queen blog.  She is local and posts the deals and coupons that I can actually do.  So far, I'm couponing at Homeland, CVS and Walgreen's.  I hope to add Wal-Mart and Target soon.

Tonight for dinner we are having a meal with ingredients purchased with coupons.  Ronzoni pasta was FREE, Johnsonville Italian Sausage was $2.29, Bertolli Pasta Sauce was $1.25 each (used 2).  Steamed broccoli $0.99, part of a package of frozen asparagus $0.99.  Total cost for the meal for 4 people was $6.77 or $1.69 each.  We will have enough for leftovers too - yay!

I plan to post pictures of shopping trips & receipts to track savings and spending.

Helpers in the kitchen

The shih tzus went to the groomers today - they look so much better!  It is so hot here, and their short haircuts must feel good!

I was in a mood to try a new recipe today.  I made rice pudding for the first time in my life.  Really.  I loved it, C loved the first two bites, DH tried it and said "there should be plenty for you", H wouldn't even try it!  The dogs "helped" me clean up the kitchen.  Here's Landry helping with the dishes:

Landry doing pre wash

Baron was on crumb duty by the sink:

Baron

Duchess was on crumb duty by the stove:

Duchess with her pink hair bows

Taking time off this week!

I'm taking off this week from work to stay home with the kiddos and hang out with them before school starts.  We also have a to-do list for the week.
Monday - Sr. schedule pick up day for H, Dr appt for C
Tuesday - oil change, housekeeper comes, make groomer appt for shih tzus
Wednesday - chill
Thursday - Middle School schedule pick up day for C
Friday - go see the cousins in Arkansas
Sat - hang out with the cousins
Sun - come back home

We need our Shih Tzu doggies to look like this again:

Baron

Duchess

Not like this

Saturday night with the twins

We got to have our nieces spend the night with us again this Saturday.  We went out to eat at a buffet place, and they fell asleep on the way - they looked so sweet!  They were great as usual and as we were leaving the restaurant, an older lady sitting at a table close to us complimented us on having such well behaved kids!  Our boys were very helpful with their cousins, getting them dessert, etc. They are great kids!

We also went back to school shopping and got plenty of Nike shorts & tee shirts for H and C.  It was tax free weekend here in OK and the stores were packed!  We watched the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid - it was ok, not too great. 

Oh, somehow I am following my own blog.  That's pretty stupid, but I can't figure out how to undo it.

Moved my blog

OK, so it looks like I have posted several times today, but really I just re-started my blog on Blogger from Wordpress.  I just like the layouts better.  I'm sure my DH will tease me about the girly girl looking layout, but I'm happy!  I'm also going to try to post pictures every time, that seems to make writing easier.  I'm married to my best friend and fellow Disney Freak.  We call him the Disney Dude.  He has a blog here if you want to follow him.  We have no Disney trips planned in the near future, but went twice last year.