Tomorrow is October 1st....

... and I have a challenge for myself that I am starting, a challenge that I have been inspired to do by reading a LOT of grocery-coupon related blogs. Just seeing how some women can save hundreds and hundreds of dollars each month by using coupons and shopping the deals has had a huge impact on me lately. Being that we are now a single income family for the first time in five years, we really do need to save money.

One thing I do realize though is that those women that are blogging and are able to only spend maybe $30 on groceries a week have been building up a stockpile of food for a long time and are now in the position to be able to spend only $30 a week on groceries. I know that wont be possible for me at first, therefore I have set myself a goal of $75 a week for groceries and stockpiling and $15 for eating out once a week if we want to as of this week.

For instance, I went to two stores last night (due to the new sales starting today and this I had planned to buy last week) and I spent $43.47 at one store but my out of pocket expense (OoPE) was only $22.23 after coupons and Club Card Savings. Not too bad! And this was with two unplanned items that I bought, a $5.50 bottle of white wine and $3 cheetos that the son screamed for and me, the bad mommy, gave in :o(

At Vons I got:

2 x Campbells Select Harves Soup for $0.77 each after coupons.

1 x Campbell Soup at hand for $0.34 after coupon

2 x Campbell Microwavable soups for $1.69 each after coupons.

Birdseye light sauces Broccoli (steamers) for $0.50 after coupon.

Yoplaid Delights four count for $1.79 after coupon

YoPlus light four count for $1.25 after coupon

Digiorno Flatbread melt pizza for $2.00 after coupon

Dial liquid handsoap for FREE after coupon

Zone protein bar for FREE after coupon

Sara Lee Whole Wheat bread for $0.99 after coupon.

Then of course the wine and the chips.... totalling to $43.47 but OoPE was only $22.23! Not too bad.

Then I went to Ralphs and they are having their Mega deals where you buy 10 participating items and get $5 instantly off your grocery bill. They have the Easy Mac and Cheese microwave bowls for 10 for $10 and they are in this deal and therefore I got 10 of them for $10, instantly $5 off so 10 for $5 or $0.50 each!! I spent $48.59 at Ralphs but not all was coupons since I needed milk, eggs and I got the kids icecream as I had promised LAST week, lol, plus a stead that was on sale. Here is my Ralphs shopping though:

Rhodes Rolls warm and serve, $1.99 after coupon

2 x Kellog Poptarts Strawberry glace, $0.98 each after coupon

2 x Pringles snacks, $1.00 each after coupon

Garlic bread, $1.50 after coupon

10 x Kraft Mac and Cheese, $0.50 after instant in store rebate

Non coupon items:

Ralphs Fries, $2.00

Ralphs large eggs, $1.79

2 x small hagen daz ice cream, $1.25 each (4/$5)

1 x small Starbucks Ice cream, $1.00 (3/$3)

Ralphs milk, $1.99

Chuck Steak, $4.11

Spiderman coloring book, $0.50

Totalling to $48.59 before coupons and Ralphs card, OoPE, $26.79

So since this was last weeks expence I am not going to count that in my new challenge of $75 grocery money expence, but it totaled to $92.06 but OoPE was only $49.02 which makes it 47% savings all together! Not too bad.

THESE ARE LAST WEEKS DEALS THOUGH AND NEW DEALS START AT THE STORES TODAY. RALPHS STILL HAS THEIR MEGA DEAL BUT I DON'T KNOW IF THE MAC AND CHEESE IS STILL 10/$10.

Well that is it for today... I will let you know about my other savings as I get on with my challenge...

for those of us in Southern California....

.. I found few coupon blogs that are specific to our stores! There they match up the deals and coupons to get the best deal.

Ralphs... http://www.themommytrade.com/category/ralphs/

Vons ... http://www.saveathomemommy.com/search/label/Vons%2FSafeway

Albertsons ... http://www.saveathomemommy.com/search/label/Albertsons

All settled in.... life after military housing.

Today marks almost the two week mark of moving into the "new" place. It sure has been difficult but fun at the same time. I love it here, absolutely love it and can not wait for the hubby to come home and see it for him self. The kids are enjoying the huge play-area that is supposed to be a living room, but the dining room is so big that I fit my dining table and my couch and everything that goes with it in it! Not to bad. I am 90% unpacked, have hung stuff up except my pictures. I seem to have no clue where to hang them up for some reason.

Moving out of military housing into the civilian world has been an adjustment though, but an adjustment that I am fairly enjoying. When you live in military housing you do not have to worry about anything, nada, zipp! We get a housing allowance but when you live in housing it goes straight to the military again but instead you get to live in the house basically free of charge. All we had to pay for was cable and phone service but we also chose to pay for our own internet. We do not pay for any utilities at all in housing. You can take a shower as long as you want, have all the lights running at the same time all day long if you want etc. BUT is that right? Does it mean just because you are not paying for it that you should not think about conserving energy and water?

I have to admit that I did not think about it while living in housing, and here in CA you definitely need to think about this stuff. Water is scares and electricity is not cheap. I used to not think about this stuff but now, since we have to pay for our own utilities I am becoming the biggest cheapo and usually do not have the lights on unless I need to, or the anything. Even during our heat-wave here a week ago I didn't even turn the A/C on, lol. I'm becoming more aware of my environment, even teaching my children about saving energy and such. Princess P likes to open up the fridge and stand in-front of it for what seems to be hours choosing what she wants. I tell her every time that she can not do that, she needs to make her decision before she opens up the fridge what she is wanting and get it out fast! She is finally getting it, which makes me super happy. I love this feeling of being so aware of my surrounding and actually caring. I never did before, I never have had to since where I come from we do not have to think about this stuff. In Iceland there is abundance of cheap energy and water, even hot water we do not have to think about.

So yes, this is life after military housing and I love it! My husband is still not completely on board with me on this one, he liked not having to think about how long of a shower he took or the energy he is spending but he still hasn't seen this place and I believe, once he sees this house, once he is home and actually here he will feel the same as me.

Well I have to get the kids ready for a playgroup so I am off... hope you all are having a terrific Tuesday!

Moving day....

Well today is the day, the day I move all by myself (well with help of few good friends also, thank God). It's the day that I have been waiting for for the past month or so with excitement and joy but why I am I not feeling it? Why am I burdened with guilt, guilt due to the fact that I am doing this without my husband here? It just all dawned on my last night, as I sat in my living-room, overflowed with all the things that once occupied the third story and part of the second story of this house, that he was missing out on the great feeling of leaving this place. He is not only missing out on important dates in our lives, like Princess P's 4th birthday, halloween, our 5th anniversary etc., but he is also missing out on sleeping the first night in a new house with us. He is missing out on seeing the joy in the kids eyes as they run around the new house, the back yard (though not big it is bigger than we have right now), the joy of something new! All will be gone from our minds when he returns home and he will be left alone with the newness feeling in his mind. I started bawling last night just thinking about it, which made me come to the conclusion that aunt flow must be around the corner, lol. Would be SO typical that she would show up today of all days!

Beside that, beside my guilt and my utterly emotional state of mind last night, I am feeling good about this. I saw it as a token of good luck yesterday that as I drove from the bank where I picked up the check for our first months rent, my all time favorite song in this world started playing on the radio (Oil and Water by Incubus). Not only that, straight after that song was over another Incubus song was played, on the same radio station which I thought was pretty odd, but it was the song that Princess P calls daddy's song, or Anna Molly! Every time she hears that song she says it is daddy's song and yesterday was no exception. She even shouted, "Mamma, that is daddy's song! I am so happy now mamma" and had a HUGE smile on her face. I am taking all this as a sign that for once I am doing something right for all of us, that maybe, just maybe this can be the start of something good and something going right for once in our lives. Hopefully, it will turn out at least okay, can't be worse than this three story house for sure.

Here is the lyrics to the song Oil and Water by Incubus and it just always hits some nerve in me because it describes my relationship with my husband to the tee... we are like oil and water but no matter what, we will work it out, we will make it mix, regardless of our differences. I think we have proved that in the past. Maybe that is why I love this song so much and to me, it was the perfect time to hear it yesterday and it made me cry as I drove from the bank as I said, to the new house picking up the keys. As Incubus says though, it will mix... we will make it happen...

You and I are like oil and water
And we've been trying, trying, trying
Ohhhhhhh... to mix it up.

We've been dancing on a volcano
And we've been crying, crying, crying
Over blackened soles

Babe, this wouldn’t be the first time
It will not be the last time
There is no parasol that could shelter this weather

I've been smiling with anchors on my shoulders
And I’ve been dying, dying, dying
Ohhhhhhh... to let them go!

Babe, this wouldn’t be the first time
It will not be the last time
There is no parasol that could shelter this weather

Babe, this wouldn’t be the first time
It will not be the last time
We've been trying to believe everything would get better!

We've been lying to each other
Hey! Babe! Let's just call it, call it, call it
Ohhhhhhhh.... what it is!

Oil and water... (wouldn't be the first time)
Oil and water... (wouldn't be the first time)
Oil and water... (wouldn't be the first time)
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooo

The Wonders of Taking the TV away from the little ones!

As stated in last post, the kids behaved really badly yesterday so TV and computer (yes, both my kids now know how to work the computer and they play games on nickjr.com all the time) were taken away from them. I decided this morning to let them watch Curious George while eating breakfast but when I saw that they were just mindlessly watching and not even touching their breakfast I nipped that in the butt asap. Wonder what the kids did then....... this.......

They have been outside playing since... it is awesome and I can not WAIT for the new house and having them play outside more often. Unfortunately, as you can see, my little "yard"/patio area is all concrete slab. It gets REALLY hot out here when the sun is shining, which in San Diego is 95% of the year! Today however, it is still cloudy at 10am and therefore they are outside. It is wonderful, I love it, it is so good for them, much better than friggin TV! Of course there is an occasional accident or a fight and they come running in crying but I just tell them to go back out, lol.

For me, today I will continue to pack up the house, pack more kitchen stuff and more food items as I will be getting the keys in two days! I can not wait but I also know next week will get expensive due to a lot of eating out, lol. I think I am going to go tomorrow and buy more frozen pizza and stuff that I do not have to "cook" more than place in the microwave or the oven.

Until later,

crazymom!

Starting out fresh!

First off, I want to thank everyone who read and commented on the post below this one. I know it has been more than a month since I wrote it and no, I did not leave my husband, we are working on getting things back together. Just wanted to get that out before I started this blog :-)

It has been a while, and life has been stressful in the past month and a half. Thankfully, my post earlier had the effect that I was hoping for. My husband finally realized (though sooner he should have) that I mean business and that was it. There is no turning back this time around, we are committed and we are going to work this out, but being that we are more than 3000 miles apart until December is making things really tough. I mean, when there is a glitch in any marriage it is tough but this separation is making it hundred times worse. Not only the fact that I feel like I am out of the loop, but also the fact that I can not see how he is trying to make things right. Remember when I said that I was not going to fix this, that it is up to HIM to fix it? Well, being the person that I am, the person that has a great need to be in control and an even bigger need to know what the plan is makes things horrible for me, lol. There is part of me that wished that I didn't say that, that I would have just given him MY plan on how to fix it but then again what would that do? What would that teach him? Nothing! It would only teach him that he would get everything handed to him when it comes to our relationship and I really do not want that to be the case. This is something HE needs to work on.

What is making me frustrated these days though is that I do not feel included in that plan, or planning some how. He specifically hasn't told me HOW he plans to fix this other than he has agreed to see a councilor when he gets back to San Diego. In the mean time, it's a waiting game and it is KILLING me. I have little patience when it comes to life, lol. He knows that, everyone who knows me knows that. It is unbelievable that I have as much patience as I do towards children but that is where my patience ends. My patience is running thin these days, but that might have other cause than our relationship problems.

Being a military wife is, I think, one of the hardest jobs on this planet. Yes, there are many other jobs out there that are hard but having to be away from your loved one for ungodly long period of time is deteriorating to ones soul. It can beat you down when you least expect it, make you feel worthless and above all helpless. I don't know how often, after talking to Jay on the phone, I just wanted to curl up and cry because I can not be there to comfort my husband when he is in need.

It is also mind-blowing how ones imagination can start running with you when you husband doesn't respond to your emails asap as he always does during the work day, then to find out that their email server is down so they get bounced back to you. Sometimes I think, "Why do I do it to myself, start thinking the worst" when I fully know that their email server is sketchy at best!

Then there is of course, the fact how much I loath the fact that I am here alone with the kids, with no help from him, no one to comfort ME when I am in need after a stressful day. I so would have needed as little as a hug today. My kids are definitely missing their daddy and between constantly asking me if we can go to the airplane now and see daddy from Alex and then Penny replying to him, "No Alex, mamma doesn't have money" both kills me and of course makes me laugh. I can not wait for the day that I no longer live next to the airport (one more week!) because the above question I get every time Alex sees an airplane and well, being that San Diego airport is a rather busy airport you can imagine how often that is during the day!

In a week though, we will move, we will be living further away from the airport and not be in the flight path anymore. We will have a house with a yard, a single story house for that matter and I can not wait!

Well it is getting late. The mimosa I had earlier sure is making me tired but then again, before I had that I did clean the third floor bathroom, lol... so now I only have two more full bathrooms to clean and one half.

good night my friends... I truly hope you haven't given up on me and will try to do this more often.

it's been a while....

... like always. I guess, when one is vacationing one has an excuse why not blogging so much. Not that staying for two months in one place can be called a vacation, but still. Me and the kids arrived in the States yesterday afternoon. I have to say, that morning flight from Iceland to Boston was HEAVEN compared to the afternoon flight. We left Iceland at 10.30am and landed in Boston 11.45am (four hour time difference). It used to be that we were flying out of Iceland at 5pm and then arriving in the States around 6.30pm, which, if you take into consideration the time difference would take it close to midnight! This morning flight was so much better. We got to at least spend some quality time with The Hubby aka Daddy. Unfortunately, he could not spend the night with us since he had night duty, where he had to be stand guard by the ship, armed and everything. I have a hard time seeing The Hubby with a gun on him, lol. The peaceful Hubby that I have standing there with a gun... priceless. Princess P and Mr. Man were so happy to see their daddy, and so was the Crazy Mama too, especially after the shower (wink, wink). Princess P got to go to Applebees and get her mac and cheese, broccoli and chips like she had been dreaming of for months now. Mr. Man didn't want to let go of Daddy's hand, which Crazy Mom thought was AWESOME! Mr. Man has not let go of my hand in two months, and no one, not even amma (grandma) could hold his hand if I was around. It was a nice change when he went for my hand last night but then figured out that Daddy was here so he let go of it and said "No, hold Daddy's hand!" ahhh.. the sweet sweet bliss of emotions that ran through me. Like a huge stone brick was lifted of me! Too bad, like I said, Daddy couldn't stay with us and wont see us again until Friday.

Well, this Crazy Mom is driving today to see Grammy with the kids until Friday when we drive up again to see Daddy for the weekend. I bid you farewell. I am going to take a short nap while the kids watch their beloved cartoons that they have not seen in two months.