I've got sunshine on a cloudy day...

This evening as I came home from work I realized we'd had a few days straight with no rain.  I can't tell you how long it has been since that was the case but I do know this: I planted flowers in front of the house on April 5 and they should be watered at least every other day, more or less, and I've only had to water them four or five times.  So yes, April showers (and then some MASSIVE May ones as well) were in full effect.  For the most part I was grateful for the rain because of how I knew it would make the landscape of our area explode with gorgeous flowers, but there were days it certainly got me down and I could not wait for it to clear up.  I was not alone in this...it felt like the weather is all anyone was talking about for days!

One day I got to my parents' house just as the rain was tapering off. My almost three year old nephew ran to the door, excitedly exclaiming my name.  He kept looking from me to the the umbrellas and then back to me.  My sister explained that he was chomping at the bit to use one. I had a hoodie on so I pulled the hood up, I grabbed his hand and an umbrella, carefully waiting until we had made our way past Dad's car before handing it over.  When I handed it to him, the look on his face is the same look I expect to see when he gets his first car -- he was excited, liberated, so full of joy.  He walked a few steps ahead of me, holding the umbrella and walking with some pep in his step.  I snapped the picture above as he was blissfully unaware, on his little stroll.  Every few seconds he'd turn back and look at me with his incredible grin, then set back about his business. It was one of those "I love being an aunt" times for sure. 

After that walk with him I felt like we'd conquered the rain a little bit.  We had ventured into it and found the joy that was waiting.   Even though we love beautiful sunny days, there was plenty of beauty to be found this day in the rain.  There are plenty of applications for that in my family right now.  The storms we are weathering together are unearthing strength and grace we never knew we had.  There are days it feels like the pain will never end, like the hurt will never stop, but we've become quite good about venturing out into the rain, together.   

dogwood delight!

So, I've always loved dogwood trees.  When I was growing up, there was one in front of my grandparents' house.   The tree was cut down many years ago (I'm guessing it either got unruly, or died...I'm not sure what the story is) but I know there is a picture somewhere of me in my brand new Catholic school uniform standing in front of it.  I loved it.  My parents have both a pink and a white dogwood in front of their house.   Also, being a native Virginian, I of course know that the dogwood is our state flower.  

When I moved into this house I had no clue what the tree in front of the house was. I guess that's the downside of buying in the winter, and not having a whole lot of plant-smarts.  However, I was absolutely pleasantly surprised last week to realize that the huge tree in front of my house is, you guessed it, a white dogwood tree.  It is gorgeous and huge and I smile every time I drive up to the house.  I love love love it.  

I've also been trying to maintain a garden for the first time in my life!  I think it is still too soon to see how successful I will be, but I am very happy so far with how it looks.  The oldest niece was with me when I was buying flowers, which helped dictate the color scheme: pinks and purples and a few white flowers.  You know me....if I was by myself it would just been varying shades of pink.  I think it looks good.  I had to do quite a bit of weeding and remove a huge bush, then I planted and mulched.  There were some challenges with the hose and spigot but those are all taken care of, all is well. 

All in all, I'm very happy with how it looks.  I am also very happy you can see it now, that it is not hidden by my crazy long grass.  See, it takes me some extra time.   When I moved in there was a huge tree right out behind my gate.  It had nothing glorious about it like my dogwood -- it was big and ugly and drops those prickly ball things.  And, it was right up against my gate.  Apparently whoever built the patio and the fence, accomodated the tree.  And the tree continued to grow, and the roots got unruly, and now one of them impedes opening the gate.  I called the property manager, and hoped and prayed this would not be mine to take care of.  Without a problem, they came within the week and it was reduced to a mere stump.  Lovely.  Except....the root is still there, and I can't open my gate all the way.  So, to get the lawnmowe in or out, you basically have to turn it on its side and somehow get it out.  I look absolutely lovely trying to do it myself.  So, I was trying to hold out hope for the stump to get ground and root removed...but the grass was getting crazy.  Today I'd had it, so I managed to get the mower out and cut the grass (after I had to run and get more gas...of course!).  I decided to leave it out for a bit to let it cool down before I had to move it again.  Lo and behold, a neighbor comes by, introduces himself, and asks to use it.  Glad to oblige and trying to make friends with neighbors, I say yes.  The best part?  When he got back he helped me put it in the back yard.  God provides in great ways.  I know it sounds lame but I *hate* dealing with the mower and it was truly a gift to have the help. 

I've got to head out on some errands.  I don't even mind them because I love what I see when I return....my front yard, full of Spring's beauty.  And my home, that feels more mine and more wonderful every day.  

something for nothing

The great thing about couponing is that there is no need to re-invent the wheel. There are people that are doing all the hard work out there, you just need to know where to look. Lucky for me, one of my best friends (Frugal Mom) and her wonderful sister (8isgreat) are blogging and I get to benefit from their coupon smarts! I am a major beginner compared to them so am enjoying learning, and will call randomly to check in with "Frugal Mom" to let her know my coupon adventures. Anyhow, Live Large Spend Less is their bloghome, take a peek!

I headed out to Safeway today to try out two of the deals they outlined for Safeway, and I was successful. Look on their blog for how to get Pledge multi-purpose cleaners, and for Bertolli sauce pouches. This is what I did:

Printed out, per their instructions, coupons for the Pledge, and purchased four of them. After coupons it was $8.76 including tax. $9 in catalinas printed out (you know, the coupons that give you a certain amount of your next purchase?).

I'd also had them price check the Bertolli since the sale signs were not posted for them. Once I was sure of the price (2/$4), I went back to get some.

I'd snagged a pile of the $1 off Bertolli pouches coupons from Giant. I grabbed 8 which should have been $16. I used 8 of coupons, plus $8 of my catalinas.

Tax was .40, so I paid that, and then $8 in catalinas printed out.

On my way to the office I stopped by another Safeway, used another 6 coupons I have, got 6 pouches, used 6 catalinas, paid .30 in tax, got $6 in catalinas.

Now I have $9 in catalinas to use. If I can find more of the coupons, I'll snag more. I'll give some to family and be sure to donate some as well.

So, for $9.46, I have the following:

4 cans of the pledge multisurface
14 pouches of Bertolli sauce.

And $9 in "catalina" which I can spend on anything in the store.

So, basically I've only really spent .46. And, with only spending some more tax money, I can keep rolling the catalinas as long as I have coupons, and increase the amount of sauce. I can also print out the pledge coupons on another computer, and do that deal again.

In more "free" news, in the past week I've gotten the following things free (or VERY close to it) due to coupons -- mostly thanks to double $1 coupon promotions: a box of cous cous, two pair of no nonsense trouser socks, three bottles of salad dressing, two cans of soup, three packs of gum, two cans of pringles, a pack of yoplait yogurt, and two bottles of flavored coffee creamer. That's not even counting my "CVS-ing." There might be more, but I can't remember at the moment.

I have a feeling that by the time I get good at couponing, my family and friends will benefit greatly. Or we'll just be eating a lot of pasta on very clean surfaces.

and how could I forget?

My beloved toasted pine nut cous cous is on sale at Giant for $1.49. This is UNPRECIDENTED, people! Never have I seen it this low. Stocking up like mad at this price!

the bullet points have it again

What I'm loving right now:

• The fact that Laundry Mountain is eroding. I've not had much time home in the past few weeks and a sad byproduct of that was a growing pile of laundry that I gave no attention to. Right now I am listening to the sweet sound of a washer and dryer...washing and drying!
  
• My plants. I'm amassing a small collection and so far I'm loving it. I think I may have squealed loudly this morning when I realized one of them bloomed overnight. I've managed to water and sun most of them in such a way that they thrive, and they make me smile. I've come close to naming them but thought better of it. It would be a slippery slope from there to becoming a cat woman, and since I hate cats, I'm steering clear of that.
  
• Sharing my home with folks I love. Since moving in, I've been able to have people over one by one for a lunch, dinner, or coffee here or there -- maybe once a week. I've loved it. This weekend I managed to host two events here and most of those in attendance had either never been, or hadn't been since I moved in. I had a baby shower for BFF and then my extended family had a housewarming for me. Lots of wonderful people all around, it was fantastic. Had fun showering Kel, and being showered the next day with lots of love and great gifts for my home!
• My grandmother's reaction to the first decorations I put up on the wall. She'd given me these two serving trays a year or two ago when she was doing a big cleaning and sorting. They were wedding presents to her and Grandad and were simple but gorgeous. She asked if I wanted them and I said yes. I never used them in my last house for serving anything, but then I had a vision of hanging them on the wall in my kitchen. They look splendid, and are one of the first things you see when you walk in. I love how they look, and I love how happy it made Nanny to see them there.
• Triple coupons at Bloom this past weekend. Not gonna lie...there's something exciting about making five cents buying scalloped potato mix. And yes, I know that sentence along with the whole "I almost named my plants" comment are not really helping my "I'm not a dork" cause.
  

What I'm not loving right now:

• People I love going through horribly painful things. Obvi not going to elaborate here, but there is much hurt and sadness going on and it is so difficult to watch/experience. Definitely not loving it.
  

CVS week 1 and 2

Delving into coupon world and the land of CVS-ing, I'm learning, is going to take some organization and a little extra time. I've spent more money than budgeted for groceries, to get certain things stocked up. My house is still in the getting set up stages, and I'm continually finding I don't have certain things.

I plan on keeping a running tally of my CVS-ing here. I am by no means as good as anyone whose blog I've seen that does this, but I'm loving the getting something for nothing situation! One thing I plan to remember is that unless what I buy is something that I, or friends or family, can use I will not buy it. I don't need to fill my house with crap...or at least any MORE crap! I'm also not planning on itemizing cost/coupons used (and where I got them) like some other folks do. I just want a record of all the stuff I am getting along the way.

So:

Trip #1 - bought:

3 boxes of cereal (Cin. Toast Crunch/Honey Nut Cheerios, Fiber One)
2 bottles of palmolive
1 shick quatro razor
1 colgate max toothpaste

After coupons (manufacturer and a $4 welcome to CVS one) = $20

I got $15 in Extra Care Bucks from that purchase.


Trip #2 - bought:

1 Irish Spring body wash
1 bic razor w/refills
1 set of 4 refills

After coupons and ECBs = $.13

I got $11 in ECB back from the purchase.


Clearly I need a little work on this, since I "lost" 4 bucks in the mix. If I had felt super committed to it, I would have snagged another $2 coupon for the razor refills from a friend or something, but I didn't feel like putting the effort into it. I will work on making up the difference with coupons in the next few weeks.

The tally right now is $43 worth of products for $20.13

on my mind - the good, the bad, the random

Thoughts I'm thinking

• Cancer sucks. Got word this week of another young family starting a battle with this nasty disease. Please pray for this wife/mother of 8 and her family (very close knit extended family as well) as they begin this fight.
  
• I'm glad I got my house when I did. I still check the listings (habit). Nothing this good really seems to have come up since I bought. God totally had a hand in this. So grateful.
• The teens I work with are pretty awesome. Sometimes their joy and imagination catches me off guard and brings such a smile to my face.
• This whole couponing adventure will be interesting...it is such a game to see what great prices you can get. Loving it.
• While it was so odd to have a snow day and wear shorts in the same week, I loved last week. My feet are rejoicing when they are reacquainted with their BFF, flip flops
• I'm going to Sarasota in May and I cannot wait. I got a great fare and can't wait for my week in the sun. It is later in the year than usual, due to exciting stuff like Kel's baby and Tiff's wedding, but I know it will come at the perfect time.
• Not having cable/any digital reception is much easier than I thought. DVDs (from friends, fam, and RedBox), Hulu, and networks showing online have made it fairly painless.
• Daylight savings time is not helpful to the already insomniatic.
  

a beautiful day in the neighborhood

As March begins, we finally got the snow people had been hoping for. We hadn't had any to speak of, really, since the day I closed on the house (1/28). The prediction of snow yesterday allowed me a more relaxed afternoon since we called off our evening meeting at work. After Mass and errands, I picked up my four year old niece for a few hours of hangout time at my house. We made muffins which is our favorite project to do together. I get the kind that uses just water which a) makes it easy to fix them and b) makes it safe for her to do what she'd do anyhow...dip her finger into the bowl to taste the batter. While they were baking we drank hot cocoa and then watched a little Dora. Love it! When I took her home I hung out with Michelle and fam for a few hours and enjoyed a chili dinner with them. Good times.

Actually, the reason I wanted to write today had nothing to do with yesterday. The snow ended up falling last night and started sticking at some point after midnight. When I woke up this morning and looked outside, I realized that the front sidewalk had been shoveled. It is a small effort (the snow is powdery and the amount of sidewalk that is "mine" is tiny) but I think it is a huge gesture. It says to me that the person who did it -- my neighbors to the right or the left, not sure -- isn't just out to do what they need to do for themselves. They took an extra effort to do something for the good of others. I may be reading into it but what it does tell me is that they weren't being selfish -- and that's a rarity in Northern VA! When I went out to shovel my front walk and clear off my car, the neighbor from the house diagonal from me who I'd met before, walked over to chat. She chastised me for not having hat and gloves on; I did explain I'd just been walking out to turn on the car and was going back in to put those on. Before we were done talking, she wanted to make sure I had a shovel and salt/de-icer. Again, a small gesture, but the concern and desire to help was touching. My sweet elderly next door neighbor to the right stopped to talk as I was shoveling, and through his broken English told me that he thinks that snow days are a lot of work. Which is true, but I also think that snow days show you what kind of people your neighbors are. And today I learned that mine are good, and that makes me very happy.

and also...

Here's another tip for the frugal among you, just because it is too good not to share. I know some people would opt not to eat out at all, whereas I am limiting how often I go out and trying to be thrifty when I do. So, here's a great tip for folks like me: if there is a store or restaurant you like, sign up for whatever club they've got going on. Usually there's something you can sign up for on their website. I was headed to Chevys the other night and saw they had a club, so I joined. Within minutes I had an email for a free appetizer. Love it!

fantastic family and tasty tilapia

My blogs as of late have all become so house-y and money-y. It is just a reflection of what is going on in my life right now. Something I know my friends whose blogs consist of mostly stuff related to their kids definitely understand. Part of this is a function of it being what is consuming me right now, another part is that it is easier to write about. I still want to post about the "week of pro-life awesome" from January and I'd love to say a few things of the Lent related sort, but this is easier. I'm going to have to make more of an effort with those things because they are posts that should be written. But not today.

Last night I had my first dinner guests: my parents. There a few things I'm a little dorky about when it comes to the house. I wanted my first undertaking with my Kitchen-Aid to be an Irish Soda Bread (Nanny's recipe, naturally), and I wanted my first dinner guests to be my parents. I bought this house on my own but I could not have done it without them. They provided our college educations to us which means that I don't have a school loan to pay right now. If I did, I wouldn't have been able to do this. They let me live with them at no cost for six months so that I could save more money and would not be at the mercy of a lease when I finally found the right house. Additionally, they've helped furnish the house with stuff they no longer needed. Without it my house would look much different. For that and for the love they've always shown, I'm grateful, and it was important to me to have them be my first real dinner guests.

Deciding what to cook was a bit of a challenge. I consider myself a decent cook but have not spent much time expanding my repertoire. This presents a little difficulty on a Friday in Lent. I have two basic seafood meals: salmon or pesto pasta with shrimp. I decided on salmon. Mom forgot this and made salmon for Dad on Wednesday. I know better than to attempt making something Mom did just a few days ago -- because she'll always have made it better! I then thought I'd have the pasta but opted against it; it is a staple in our family and we have it often. I opted to have tilapia because I've prepared it before (just very simply with onions and tomatoes, served with cous cous) and most people like it. So, I had planned on making Brown Butter Sauteed Tilapia with Pistachios. Until I saw how expensive shelled pistachios were. Not that my parents aren't worth it -- but they'd hate for me to spend that much when there could be a suitable substitute. So I picked up some almond slivers which were half price, plus they had a .50 coupon that could be doubled...so, it was about $1.25 for a nice sized bag instead of $9 for the pistachios. The tilapia was on sale as well. When I got home I poked around for some recipes that I could bake, and combined a few to come up with a REALLY yummy recipe. It was SO easy to make. I took a piece of tilapia, rolled it in flour, dipped it a lemon/egg white combo, then rolled it in a mixture of crumbled sliced almonds and parsley. Baked at 425 for about 15 minutes or so. It worked well because I could prepare it and put it in the fridge until it needed to go in the oven whereas the other recipes would have me cooking it on the stove, which is not as enjoyable when you have company. I served it with an orzo medley recipe from the Trader Joes cookbook, and some broccoli. Dessert was strawberry shortcake using the bisquick recipe. I got great deals on everything and it was all easy to make but it tasted really great. The tilapia will certainly be something I whip up often particularly since I can make a single serving very easily.

My parents enjoyed the meal which made me happy. Michelle and Alexia came over and boy does my niece love my new house! It is still a novelty to her that I live close by, in a house that is new to her. It was fun to have her help assembling the strawberry shortcake and she was so proud serving it with me.

It was, all in all, a great night and I was so excited to share my house and my joy with those I love. Today, I'll give Nanny one of the loaves of Irish Soda Bread and although it isn't as good as hers I know she'll love that her eldest granddaughter made it in her new house and wanted to share it with her. There is something so wonderful about the independence that comes with having my own place and at the same time the new and different ways it allows me to connect with those I love.