Lately...

Here's what's been going on lately...

-Finley's 2nd birthday is on Saturday so I've been planning her party. We are having family and a couple of Finley's Huntsville friends over Saturday afternoon for a Minnie Mouse themed party. Decorations, cupcakes, ice cream, gifts..you know the drill ;)I cannot believe she's two years old, but that's a whole other post.

-We took Finley with us over to Ryan and Leighton's house for dinner the other night. She had fun looking at their puppies and showing them what dinnertime is like with a toddler. This just in...Ryan and Leighton put off having kids for another couple of years.

-We went to the mall with Katie and Abby to play in the toy store and have lunch. We love those girls and always have a great time! I cannot wait until this fall when Finley starts MDO and Katie and I can go to lunch kid-free! I wonder what it will be like...

-We got our chandelier for the dining room and hung it. I love it!!! I also ordered the fabric for the chairs and they should be picked up to be covered soon. Once they are returned the dining room will be complete!!! Finally! I'm not sure what room is next.

-Joey and I went out to dinner again with Ryan and Leighton and a bunch of their friends. We had a great time!!! We ended up at Sammy T's which is kind of like Tiki Bob's or the Music Hall (for you Birmingham peeps) except worse...much, much worse.

-Finley spends a lot of her time watching youtube videos. She has become obsessed with 5 or 6 videos of childrens songs and all she wants to do is watch them over and over. Thankfully they are educational.

-Unfortunately, after we had gorgeous weather for several days, it turned cold and rainy and hasn't let up. Finley and I are both ready to get outside again. She is getting a lot of outdoor toys for her birthday so I hope this weekend brings the warm weather back.

-I've been taking Zumba and it is killing me! After I take a class, everything hurts. It's a great workout though. Definitely my favorite exercise class I've ever taken. I even like it better than Crunk Fitness :)

-Joey has been working, playing golf and just being the wonderful husband and father that he always is :)

-We were supposed to go to Bham today to see my friend Tiffany and her little girl, but Finley woke up feeling crummy. We'll reschedule for next week, hopefully. Finley just fell asleep in the floor for about 30 minutes. If Finley Dambro goes to sleep before her naptime then something's up. I hope she feels better by Saturday!

That's about it! We are busy enjoying friends, family and each other :)

25 grocery challenge

Here's what I got...
(1) Huggies diapers ($13.00)
(1) Huggies tub of wipes (FREE)
(1) Febreze Air Effects (1.50)
(2) Mayfield ice cream tubs (2.99/each)
(4) cans Campbell's Great for Cooking soups (.80/each)
(2) Softsoap handsoaps (.29/each)
(2) bags Goldfish crackers (.50/each)
(1) carton eggs ($1.30)
(4) tubs Sabra hummus (.99/each)
(2) Mennen deoderants (.16/each)
(1) Covergirl eye shadow (.49)

Total before sales and coupons: $86.02
Total after sales and coupons: $33.85

As you may have noticed, my $25 a week challenge has been quite a challenge this month. The beach trip, Finley's birthday party, being out of town and poor planning on my part have all been contributors. I have decided to spend only $25/week in the month of April (no matter what)and try to do a stockpile challenge for the month of May. That means I will only buy produce, milk, eggs and bread during the month of May. I know I can do it if I shop wisely in April. It's a great way to force yourself to try new recipes and use those ingredients in your pantry that have been sitting there unused for who knows how long. Wish me luck!

This week we're having...
Baked ziti (I didn't end up making this last week. I think I was going to make it the night I did Zumba and came home so sick and exhausted from the exercise that I told Joey he was on his own. He probably ate cereal)
BBQ grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and corn
Honey chicken stir fry and rice (new recipe!)
Beef stroganoff and broccoli
Leftovers

Happy Couponing!!!

Prayers for Baby Jemma

Please take a minute to say a prayer for the Douglas family. Jason (Daddy), Kim (Mommy, AOII sorority sister, and fellow blogger), Abby (big sis #1), Lyla (big sis #2) and Baby Jemma (strongest 2 week old that ever lived) need your prayers now. Baby Jemma has had complications since her birth two weeks ago. Kim and Jason were told things would get worse before they got better and things are currently "worse". Please pray for a fast and full recovery for Baby Jemma and only good news and progress from here on out. Remember Kim and Jason too. They are dealing with all of this at the hospital while they have 2 little girls at home. SO many people are praying for you guys and thinking about you daily, me included. The Dambros are sending love, thoughts and prayers your way and we can't wait to celebrate the news of Jemma's homecoming :)

To read about Jemma's progress and the hilarious happenings in the Douglas family (seriously, Kim's blog is awesome and always makes me laugh out loud) go to http://mommakimtastic.blogspot.com/

Kindle Book Review: Firefly Lane

My cousin's wife Staci told me about Firefly Lane. It was so good!!!! Truly my favorite kind of book. Not too deep, not too tragic, but it made me laugh out loud and cry. It's the perfect beach read. I'm getting lazy with these book reviews so here is a description from Amazon.

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all — beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success...and loneliness.

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her...how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend....

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship — jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart...and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you — and knows what has the power to hurt you...and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget...one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.

Stuff My Daughter Says

(23 months)

"Where'd it go?"
"Ouch, he stung me!" (from the bumble bee song)
"Yo Ho...Let's go" (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates)
"You scared me!" (when I jump out of one of the rooms along our hallway when she runs past...trust me, she LOVES it)
"No touch"
"I miss you Mama/Dada" (this one is our favorite)
"Dada's at work"
"Mama, where are you?"
"Meeska, Mouska, Mickey Mouse!"
"Clean it up"

Lately, all she wants to do is sing songs. Her favorites are Itsy, Bitsy Spider, ABCs, I Caught Myself a Baby Bumblebee, 3 Little Ducks, this phonics song I found on Youtube and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She can say a lot of the words and she loves to do the hand motions. She won't do it on command, so I'm going to try to secretly tape her singing the words.

You want to know what stuff my daughter does???? Well, today she knocked the fish tank over after I told her repeatedly "No touch!". The counter and sink were covered in fish water. Bleck! Needless to say she got a long time-out for that one. I was literally 2 feet away and I had just turned my back after telling her not to touch Nino when I hear the sound of water sloshing and gravel spilling down into the disposal. She stayed in time-out until I cleaned everything up and I made her come out and apologize to Nino. I could tell she was embarrassed and thought it was ridiculous to apologize to a fish, but he had suffered serious trauma and I felt it was only fair.

25 Grocery Challenge

No picture today...too many frozen things. There were a lot of good deals this week.

Here's what I got...
(1.67) lbs. bananas
(1) package strawberries
(1) head of lettuce
(1) tomato
(3) Pepperidge Farms 3 layer cakes ($1.55/each)
(3) packages Perdue chicken breasts
(1) Visine drops
(1) Visine soothing wipes (FREE)
(2) boxes Weight Watchers ice cream bars
(1) package Weight Watchers ice cream cups
(2) Pillsbury crescent rolls
(1) Philadelphia cooking cream
(1) package Oreos
(1) French's Worcestershire sauce (FREE)
(1) box Publix Frosted Flakes (.50)
(2) boxes Ritz crackers (FREE)

Total before sales and coupons: $86.08
Total after sales and coupons: $38.93

As usual, meat and produce killed me ;) I spent $19.02 on a little over 4 lbs. of chicken, 1 tomato, 1 head of lettuce, 1 package of strawberries and 4 bananas. Geez! I hope chicken breasts go on sale again soon! Last time I bought chicken it was $1.99/lb. Unfortunately I ran out before it went on sale again...a couponer's worst nightmare ;)

This week we're having...
Breakfast for supper
Angel chicken pasta
BLTs and chips
Baked Ziti and garlic bread

We're eating at a friend's house tonight so no cooking for me :) Yay!

Happy Couponing!!!

You're going to a foam party?

(The girls went to a foam party one night at Club La Vela. One of the girls said she would only get knee deep in foam because of STDs.)

Every year from now on I'm going to try to find a group of kids to chaperone on Spring Break. It is a great opportunity to get a free beach trip! The girls were so good. We had absolutely no trouble out of them. I was so relieved! I won't bore you with every little detail of our trip, but there were definitely some highlights. Carrie and I took the kids to Seaside one afternoon. We shopped, ate BBQ for dinner and then laid a blanket on the grass and listened to a band while Finley and Connor played. We had lunch at Pier Park in PCB and did some more shopping. We took long walks and went swimming. We took the kids to the beach one day. The water was too cold for us, but we had fun letting the kids experience the sand. Finley strolled her baby doll up and down the sidewalk in front of our house and we flagged down the ice cream man for a Powderpuff Girl with bubblegum eyes. The weather was perfect so we spent the majority of our time outside, which made Finley happy. We sat on the balcony and blew bubbles and we even took the kids to a nice restaurant. The restaurant idea was kind of a disaster, but lesson learned. It was a great week, but I am so glad to be home! Here are some pics from the trip...

Catherine's 21st!

Goodness, I guess my sister will start drinking since she's now legally allowed to do so ;) Ha! Now that she's 21 she's legally allowed to do everything she's done since she was 16 :) We went to The Olive Branch in Birmingham to celebrate with friends and family. She got to celebrate her actual birthday while on Spring Break. I can't think of a more dangerous combination.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CACK CACK!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Laziness and a beach trip

That is my excuse for not doing very well at Publix today. There were a few things I wanted for the beach that weren't good deals and I've been busy this week so I didn't take much time to plan my trip.

Here's what I got...
(1) $50 BP gas card (I paid $40 for it)
(3) bags Tostitos chips
(1.09) lbs. bananas
(1) tube of Desitin
(1) pack of Huggies wipes (FREE)
(1) loaf of bread
(2) boxes Pillsbury cake mix
(3) boxes Butterball sausage links and patties
(2) boxes Post cereal
(2) boxes Cheerios
(3) bags Bird's Eye frozen vegetables
(2) cartons Voskos Greek yogurt (FREE)
(1) carton of sour cream
(1) package of Jennie O turkey bacon
(1) gallon Publix milk
(1) box Huggies diapers
(1) package of Nutter Butter cookies
(2) packages King's Hawaiian sub snacker rolls
(2) bags Yoplait smoothie mix
(2) Lunchables
(1) roll Publix toilet paper (penny item)

Total before sales and coupons: $165.99
Total after sales and coupons: $100.04

Way over my $100 a month, but that's okay :) I'm going to try not to go to the store for anything other than produce and free stuff for the rest of the month.

Happy Couponing!

This week we're having...
Whatever Joey makes for himself because I'll be at the beach for a week! I leave Friday! Woohoo!!! Spring Break 2011!!! God help us. Carrie and I need all the prayers we can get. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and none of the girls get into any trouble.

Dancing Queen...

Finley found a way to entertain herself while I was in the dressing room :)

WE DID IT!

Sunday was the big day! Joey and I ran our first 10k! I am pretty proud of us :) We ran in the UAH Big Spring Road Race. Our friends Leighton and Ryan ran it with us and I think that made crossing the finish line even better. Everything is better with friends by your side :) It was really hard. I wasn't totally convinced we could finish and I really wanted to run the whole thing. Joey and I both slacked off on our training several times and neither of us had run anywhere near 6.2 miles before the race. Everything people told me about those big races was true. The adrenaline kicks in and helps you along. You get distracted by all the other people there and time goes by really fast. Not having music didn't bother me at all and I was really nervous about that. I think since we had never run that route before and there was plenty of people-watching it helped with the monotony of running. I finished in a little under 1 hour 5 minutes. I think my time was like 1 hour 4 minutes and 45 seconds. Joey was right behind me at 1 hour 10 minutes. I am thrilled that we did it together and I am thrilled that I don't have to do it again...anytime soon that is. My buddy Leighton and I have already signed up for another 10k in May and I'm really looking forward to trying to beat my time. Woo hoo! Go Team Harbro :) I don't think running is my passion, but I enjoyed the 10k so I'll keep doing it until I don't want to do it anymore. Like Forrest Gump.

Run a 10k is officially marked off my "Things to do in 2011" list!!!!!!!

We did it!!!


Can you see the excitement in their faces?


At Fleet Feet picking up our race packets.

Nino Dambro

I'd like to introduce you all to the newest member of our family, a blue Beta fish named Nino (as in Nemo, but Finley calls him Nino) Welcome to the family, Nino.

Can you see him? Maybe a blue fish, a blue background and blue gravel wasn't the best idea.



Nino and Finley

Better than chicken tettrazini???

Yesterday I went in search of a new recipe on allrecipes.com. I came across Angel Chicken Pasta. It sounded simple enough so I clicked on it and immediately noticed that along with the 4.5 star rating, 42,925 people had saved it to their account. I made it today for lunch and it was AMAZING! Restaurant quality, but so quick and easy. Joey said it was his new favorite and he said it was even better than chicken tetrazzini which is the reigning household favorite. This is too good to keep to myself so here is the link to the recipe. It calls for angel hair pasta, but I made it with rigatoni.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Angel-Chicken-Pasta/Detail.aspx

Sorry, my links don't show up if I use a hyperlink :(

New uniform

There's a reason I rarely get out of my faded Old Navy yoga pants and my "washed so many times it's see through" UAB t-shirt, or my uniform as Joey calls it. It's because shopping for clothes makes me...
a.) angry (at designers who only design clothes for girls who are 5'10 and 100 lbs.)
b.) angry (at myself for not being skinnier and taller)
c.) depressed (because I know I will return home with nothing and will have to continue to look like one of those moms who has given up trying to look decent.)
d.) hungry (because when I'm depressed, eating makes me feel better)

I had no choice today. I had to get a pair of shorts for the beach. I took Joey with me for support because I know he will tell me the truth even if it hurts.

After trying on at least 10 pairs of shorts at 4 different stores, I finally had some luck at Ann Taylor Loft. Hallelujah!!!!! I found shorts that fit like a glove:) The length was perfect. They also had these scoopneck t-shirts that had the perfect "scoop" and were really soft.

I'll probably have to get the shirts hemmed. Yes, I get my shirts hemmed. See, I'm really lucky. I'm too short to wear regular clothes and I'm too tall to wear Petites. Petite shirts are too high up and regular shirts go down below my butt. I get to pay for clothes and then pay to get them altered. Awesome. I also have to get my pants hemmed. The best is when I get them hemmed and they have to take so much material off the bottom that they aren't bootcut or flare anymore. So awesome.

I'm feeling better though because shorts are the hardest thing for me to find, even harder to find than jeans, so the worst is over :)

I'm the 3rd best dressed in my family of 3. I'm just trying to surpass Joey. A woman should dress better than her husband, right?

Enough complaining for now. I hope everyone one has a great weekend!!!

I love it when a plan comes together.

I learned a valuable lesson from my mommy friends before I had Finley. They told me to buy Finley's clothes for each season a year in advance because everything is usually at least 50% off once the season is over. So last summer I bought Finley some clothes for this summer at 50% off or more. I was scared to death when I did it that I wouldn't be able to estimate her size and would end up with a bunch of clothes that didn't fit. Since we are headed to the beach next week, I decided to pull everything out and see what fit. Everything fit perfectly!!! I was so excited!!! I'll have to hem the dress because she is short like her mama, but I expected to do that anyway. Here she is modeling one of her dresses I got last year. It was regularly $34.99, but I got it for $8.75.



Here are the other things I got...



Total before sales: $216.98
Total after sales: $89.98

The birthday hat outfit is reversible too!

I love it when a plan comes together :)

Speaking of plans, I had big plans for Finley and I to go to the library and the park, but she woke up with a runny nose and watery eyes, so I think we'll stay home and rest. She's in a good mood, but she isn't eating much and can't breathe. She will take a drink of juice and then open her mouth and gasp because she can't breath through her nose. So sad :( Thankfully, no fever so I'm hoping it will pass quickly. She is in the other room singing her ABCs and talking on my cell phone so she must not feel too bad.

25 Grocery Challenge

I don't have a picture today because we've got friends coming over this morning, I have to go read to the kids around lunch, etc. Busy day today!

Here's what I got...
(2) bags New York bagel chips
(1) bag Ruffles potato chips
(1) box Kellogg's Special K
(2) boxes Uncle Ben's Boil a Bag rice
(2) boxes of Ritz crackers
(2) bags of Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers
(1) package of Publix stick butter
(3) Stouffer's Easy Express skillet meals
(1) bottle Publix rubbing alcohol
(1) bottle Publix cocoa butter lotion
(1) bottle Publix hand sanitizer
(4) packages Tai Pei frozen dinners
(1) carton of Publix eggs
(2) ears of corn
(1) package of strawberries
(4) cans of Old Orchard frozen juice
(1) package pork sirloin cutlets
(2.41) lbs. bananas
(1.87) lbs. Fuji apples
(6) cartons of Yoplait yogurt
(1) 1/2 gallon Publix milk
(1) 8pk. Powerade
(2) packages Kraft cheese singles

Total before sales and coupons: $110.47
Total after sales and coupons: $48.58

Decent week...I had to get yogurt, stick butter and cereal even though they weren't great deals. I was glad to get some frozen dinners for those nights I just don't feel like cooking. I was able to get some free stuff with my Publix Baby Club coupons and we're stocked up on crackers for Finley. Obviously, I went way over my $25, but I'm won't be shopping next week so that's how I'm justifying it ;)

Here's what we're having this week...
Oven-roasted pulled pork sandwiches with grilled corn on the cob
Yankee pot roast (Stouffer skillet meal)
Parmesan crusted chicken in philly cream sauce with rice and salad
Skillet lasagna
Leftovers

I'm trying out some new recipes this week. If they turn out good I'll share them.

Happy Couponing!!!