Kmart Double Coupons

So here is my swag from the Kmart double coupon event. Everything I needed to know was thanks to My Frugal Adventures! I have been following several thrifty, money-saving blogs for a couple months now, in order to save on shopping using coupons and great deals.

I know it doesn't look like I got a lot, but I don't use a lot of items that would have been free with the use of the doubled coupons (i.e. store-bought deodorant, household cleaners and deodorizers, etc.). I did have one coupon that expired yesterday (the Kmart store coupon for $5 off a $20 toy purchase), but I just checked with customer service as soon as I got there, and got the 'okay' to use it. I got three My Little Pony toys for Violet for Christmas (retailed at $6.99 each), two Reese's king size (free after 2 coupons), two packs of Trident gum (free after coupon), a Rimmel mascara (free after coupon), and a Cover Girl tinted lip balm ($1 after coupon).

I spent $16.56 for all this, saving me about $30!

Thank goodness for Thursday

Thursday is the best day of the week for me. We go to my grandparents house, about 45-60 minutes away in the suburbs. We leave early (around 8am), and don't leave their house sometimes until 6:30pm.

My grandpa (Opa) runs outside as soon as he sees our car pull up, and grabs DD or DS. We go inside and he pulls out the huge collection of toys they have collected from friends/neighbors, for my kiddos.

My grandma (Oma) usually has lunch already going on the stove, but I always eat breakfast while we're there (saying that DS didn't eat much, but it's really for me). My grandpa takes DD in the stroller, or takes DS for a bike ride.

My kids have the best time; we go for walks, play in the yard, pick fruit from their trees, Oma sets the little inflatable pool up. I spend tons of time eating (because I hardly get a chance any other time), talking to my grandma, reading a small portion of the paper from Sunday (since I never get to otherwise).

I am there taking care of the kids the whole day, but somehow I always feel like Thursday is my day off. :-)

The Love Dare - Day 6

I wasn't quite sure what this day meant exactly:

6 - Patience

Choose today to react to tough circumstances in your marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation. Begin by making a list below of areas where you need to add margin to your schedule. Then list any wrong motivations that you need to release from your life.

Sometimes, especially when things are hectic with the kids, I lose my cool. Or I think about having some free time to myself. But I don't think that's what I really want. I want to be with my children and with my husband, because I love them, and who cares about the other stuff? It's sort of like the laundry that's sitting on our couch, waiting to be folded and put away...yes, it needs to be done, but it's more important to have a fun day with the kids. Laundry can wait.

William's First Movie

Danny and I took William to see his first movie a few weeks ago. We went to see "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur." We did not see the 3D version (I thought it would be too much for him all at once). Oma and Opa watched Violet for us, and we got some popcorn and brought in some drinks. When we first walked in, the previews were already playing, and William said that it was dark. I was worried he wouldn't want to stay, but as soon as we sat down, his eyes never came unglued from the screen. :-) He sat on Danny's lap for half of the movie, and my lap for the other half. He loved it. I thought it was a great movie...the characters were cute, the dinosaurs were a little bit scary (but not too scary), and the story was entertaining, even for adults. Too bad he's too young to see Harry Potter (now THAT'S a movie I want to see!).

The Love Dare - Days 4 & 5

Day 4 of the dare I unfortunately have to pass on; I can't really contact Danny at work unless it's an emergency. But here it is in case you were wondering:

4 - Thoughtfulness

Contact your spouse sometime during the business of the day. Have no agenda other than asking how he or she is doing and if there is anything you could do for them.

So today, instead, I went on to day 5:

5 - Politeness

Ask your spouse to tell you three things that cause him or her to be uncomfortable or irritated with you. You must do so without attacking them or justifying your behavior. This is from their perspective only.

I asked Danny this; I think he thought there was some kind of catch. He wanted to know how I arrived at the number 3 ("why not 5 or 6?"). He also wanted me to tell him 3 things about him. Because I am supposed to be doing this dare in secret, I had to try to come up with a reason why I was asking ("just because"), and also had to get out of telling him 3 things about him, because I felt like that wouldn't be fair.

So, his 3 things were, in order: 1) When I am vague about things with him 2) When I don't tell him everything that is going on with me or with the kids 3) That I have an account on meetup.com.

The whole purpose of the exercise was not to get defensive, but just to listen to what he said. I am not going to defend myself on here, as I don't think that would be fair to what I was supposed to be doing either. I will say, though, that I got a meetup.com account about a month ago, in order to meet other moms and their kids. I have not met anyone, nor gone to any meet-ups. Because it was one of the 3 things he mentioned, as of 5 minutes ago, I logged on and deleted my account. I feel better having done this, because if it really did bother him that much, it wasn't worth it to me.

Outcome: I'm glad he was honest with me, and I didn't end up having to give up the dare. :-) It is sort of strange, but I felt proud of our relationship that the 3 things that bothered him about me were such small things (I don't mean I am belittling how he felt; I actually mean that these are easy things to fix; for example, he didn't say, "We fight too much," or "We don't spend any time together." :-)

The Love Dare - Day 3

Okay, I will be honest: I had to skip yesterday. I didn't start off the day being very nice. We went to the beach, and I was unnecessarily grouchy and negative. I knew right away my Day 3 wasn't going to work, so I decided to put it off for a day.

3 - Selflessness

Whatever you put your time, energy, and money into will become more important to you. It’s hard to care for something you are not investing in. Along with restraining from negative comments, buy your spouse something that says, “I was thinking of you today.”

Today, the kids and I spent the day at my grandparents' house. I bought a half-baked Lou Malnati's pizza (I don't know if I could live anywhere else besides Chicago, for all the great pizza) while we were out there, to surprise Danny with when we got home. He was very hungry, and very surprised. :-) We also got to watch the newest episode of 'True Blood' after the kids were in bed.

Outcome: Pizza was a success!

The Love Dare - Day 2

2 - Kindness

In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.

I successfully refrained from making any negative remarks toward Danny (well, I only saw him for a couple hours today after he got home from work, lol). For my act of kindness, I went down to the kitchen after the kids fell asleep and baked some brownies. Three nights a week, Danny is on the computer playing Warcraft, so he was already in the other room. I took them fresh from the oven and immediately topped them with ice cream and hot fudge. He was really happy about it, as he stopped at the keyboard/microphone for a second. :-)

Outcome: I am really liking this dare, being in a better mood really makes everything that much nicer.