Just another day....

Tomorrow I have another little mini-coupon class. I'm looking forward to it. Today I got all my coupons sorted and now they just need to be cut. I'll get to that tomorrow at some point....it's very daunting when you have over 1,000 coupons to cut and sort and file....oh well, I'll get there. The Food Day has the $10.00 off $50.00 coupons for Safeway and some other good coupons this week. I've not gotten everything sorted yet, but I'm working on it...there are some really good deals out there...I'm still working out the numbers in my head, but I'm pretty sure I've knocked down the Tillamook cheese 2lb brick for about 93 cents. We'll see if I can get it lower than that after I do some more crunching...for that price I might have to get 10 bricks..or rainchecks.

Anyway, I'm much too tired to continue. Days when you just end up falling into bed and actually going to sleep when your head hits the pillow....awe, very rare for me, but I suspect that will be the case tonight! :)

Turkey Chili

We all try to find recipes for leftover turkey that our families will love. So, here's what I did with my turkey this time, or at least part of it anyway:

1 pound or so turkey
1 16oz can tomatoe sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes (these were flavored with garlic, oregano, basil)
1 can of white beans (drained)
1 can of kidney beans (drained)
3/4 cup onion (I sauted this with the turkey)
1 large rounded teaspoon of garlic (again, sauted with the turkey)
1 teaspoon basil
2 1/2 teaspoons of Chili powder
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 teaspoon of salt (I'm estimating here, it may have been less)

um...I think that's it. Anyway, I just put all of that in a pan after I sauted the onions a bit with the turkey and garlic. I let it come to a boil on medium for a few minutes and that's it. It was sooooo good!

Then we had some corn bread with it. To make that I use one box Jiffy corn mix and 1 box yellow cake mix, I follow the package directions for both and just combine them. You have to use a huge pan for this, but just stick it in the oven at about 350 for about 20-30 minutes depending on your oven.

Good dinner. :) I love turkey.

Good people.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27930688

The first story in the article was so uplifting...there are such good people out there. When you move onto the second, be prepared with a box of tissue...actually you might need it with the first.

I'm very grateful for my friends and family. We had a wonderful meal today and we are feeling better. We have so much to be thankful for.

I can't help but think about Susan (my foster mother..mother of choice...take your pick) today. What an amazing woman. She's very often in my thoughts and today especially as I think of how very fortunate I am, and how much I have to be thankful for because of her example. I sure do love you and can't wait to see you again.

I feel so very blessed.

Thanksgiving foiled again...

Last year, just before Thanksgiving we all got sick. I think that it's a tradition actually, for me at least, to get sick on Thanksgiving. I know there was a year at some point way back when that I didn't get sick, but it's been so long ago. Not wanting to break that tradition, we are cancelling Thanksgiving again this year.

I'm totally bummed. I know that Vickie, Jon's mom, understands, but man I feel bad. We are truly sick, no more fevers, but we have a nasty cough lingering that just hurts and makes us feel miserable. I know this is something that we cannot control, but come on...it would be nice to get a break.

I'll still make a nice dinner and we'll still do family things, but we just won't have our extended family over, which bums me out. Not to mention that I don't get to try Vickie's Oatmeal cake...and I was so looking forward to that!

Maybe I'll just hunker down and get ready for Christmas and put up our decorations...it's not too early and it would be a fun thing to do.

Climbers...blah

We all have them. Children who fervently believe they are monkies....today that child for me is Sam. She's been climbing on everything! I just don't even understand the thinking behind some choices. Logically, one would think that if you pulled out a drawer, which was already heavy with cds and dvds, and stood in said drawer and hopped up and down that it would be too much for that cabinet to handle. Well, obviously it was not logical to my 2-year-old. I heard a muffled crash and thought better to not ignore it (Sometimes I sigh thinking of all the times I have to rush out of my seat during the day to tend to an emergency...who needs to actually plan time to work out?) and rushed to see what the damage was. Totally irritated that people can't keep their hands on their own things around here, I was probably stomping toward the disaster. I found Sam crying and saying over and over, "I'm sorry, mommy!" How can I honestly be upset with her? What a sweetheart. She knew she had made the mistake, I just wish that it would have been before she knocked over the entertainment dresser/cabinet. Oh well, who needs electronics anyway? We need simpler times. I just hope no actual damage was done and thank goodness that the TV cord didn't get wrapped up in the mess and came flying off the wall...I shudder to think of it.

Ok, crisis contained and alas, things are reasonably back into their regular position. Off to organize my coupons and play with Alex and Sam.

Twilight take 2

Ok, so I promised my friend I would go to Twilight with her today and I saw it a second time. I told myself that I would look at it new and objectively without thinking constantly about what they were doing differently in the book.

The conclusion is that I love it! It was actually a very good movie, I actually enjoyed Rob's performance better this time and it was so much more a pleasant experience.

I'm thrilled that they are going to do a second movie now. I can't wait! :)

So if you were debating on whether or not to see it from my last post, ingore it and watch this...it was very good, and there were scenes that were very sweet, that I didn't necessarily allow myself to appreciate the first time - I'm sure that was partly due to the screaming girls...(this time there were only older women and some men, but we kept ourselves in check a lot better).

So there.

Twilight 2 cents worth....

Look at me..getting all fancy and putting a picture in my post and everything. That man is just yummy.

Ok, so I saw the movie. I don't know where to begin. First of all, did I like it....sort of. Will I buy the movie when it comes on DVD? Probably.

I thought that Kristen Stewart did a great job protraying Bella. Keep in mind that I LOVE Rob Pattinson...but I didn't necessarily enjoy his interpretation of Edward. Of course, Edward is like, the most classy, wonderful, beautiful vampire man in the known world....and I imagine it would be very hard, if not impossible, for any actor to fill those shoes. Having said that, do I think that he could have still done a better job...absolutely. Is this going to take away from Rob Pattinson as an actor in my eyes? No, not really...I still really like him. There was still something left to be desired, in my opinion (and we all know how desirable Edward is)....sigh.

So, what it comes down to is that I hope that a ton of people go to see this movie and that they make a ton of cash so that the next movies will be absolutely above and beyond what this should have been. There were funny parts, overacted parts that were totally laughable (not in a good way laughable)...like when Edward "smells" Bella for the first time, when I read the book I pictured Edward grimacing, but having a lot more composure than Rob protrayed him in the film, he honestly looked like he was going to barf, but the Edward I think of would never show weakness in that way.

I don't know...it was good...but bad at the same time. I just don't know what to think. Things were sort of thrown out of place a lot. The kiss scene was really good, but again, the book did it so differently and I think that they could have just followed that part a bit better.

It was good, it was just not what I expected. I understand that they have to cut a lot out, but come on....Hollywood should know with this fan base that we'd be willing to sit through an 8 hour movie....well, 6 hours at least. So really they don't need to cut so much out next time. LOL

Blah...I just don't know what to think on this one. I'm at a loss for any more words.

Life list

So, Jon got me something while he was away, and I feel thoughtless that I didn't do the same for him. Anyway, he got me something that was just very me...Hard Rock Hotel PS3 drum sticks. LOL I know it may seem silly to most of you, but I love them! They have flames that go up the sticks. Very nice. I'm looking forward to putting them to the test...maybe they'll help me play better? I seriously doubt it, especially since you have to actually play frequently to get better, but I look forward to giving them a shot anyway.

I never have learned to play an instrument, but this is fun.

So, here's the scoop. I was talking to a friend of mine, Theresa (she helped me with the class, and I'm sure it wouldn't have turned out for the better without her help) and she said that they were doing life lists at their house. I asked her what that meant and she said that everyone was writing down things that they wanted to accomplish in their lifetime, not by a certain date or time (in fact, she said that they purposely didn't put a time limit on these things). I thought this a very interesting thing and remembered that when I was about 14 or 15 I did the same thing, of course, I cannot find that list anywhere, maybe it's in an old journal or something buried or forever lost. I remember on that list I had wanted to be an orthodontist by the time I was 25 (how naive I was then to think I would finish school in that short of a time and a residency) and that I wanted to have read The Book of Mormon, things like that.

Obviously, I'm not an orthodontist. I do work in the dental field, but by no means am close to that goal, or have any desire for that at this point in my life now. I have read The Book of Mormon front to back since that time, but I can only count once that that has happened. I usually skip around and read all over the place depending on my mood, which is pretty sad considering I'm going to be 30 next month...

So, I was thinking about doing a new list. I would like to challenge you to do the same actually because I think that it would be fun. Here's a few things that I can come up with that I don't mind sharing:

Read The Book of Mormon front to back. (I can't put a number on the amount of times to read it, so I'll just leave it at that...I don't know that such a number really could exist anyway.)

Have another baby (Jon would tell you he would rather I forgot about this one, but I just can't. And, since I wanted to be done by the time I was 30, and that is obviously not going to happen, who knows!)

This is really lame and silly, I know, but I can't help putting it on the list because I'm that vain....but get a tummy tuck! LOL (Hey, I don't think that my body was supposed to react as badly as it did when having kids...even my doctor said it was really uncommon.)

I'll probably regret putting this on the list someday, but run a marathon. (This also implies loosing about 50lbs or so....)



Ok, that's enough for now. I've got to get some more things done that don't have to be on any list, they just have to get done...

Whew!

So, it's over. I did it. Although, my voice is nearly gone now. The coupon class was a success. I think people learned something they didn't know before they came. I don't know how much that was, things took a direction I didn't necessarily mean it to, just meaning that I kept letting myself get off track and jumbled around quite a bit trying to touch bases on so many different aspects of couponing. I'm a very one track mind gal and when I get off subject it is hard for me to remember where to jump back on the train to make sense. I'm going to try something a little different. I'm going to get myself organized in the next few weeks, hopefully sooner, so that I can help people copy cat. I'll tell you where I'm going to get my deals, what coupons I use to get my deals so whoever wants to do the same can.

I don't know how successful I'll be at this, mostly because I keep so many things in my head all the time. It's crazy. I can't explain it any other way than I see a number for an item and automatically my mind breaks it down. Instantly I remember what coupon could go with it, where I have it placed and whether or not I can use a doubler with it and whether or not another store has a similar deal...then I break that number down until I can get that item for the least cost to me. But I don't know why my brain works like this, it just does it automatically such that I'm going to have to try very hard to write down the process it takes me to come up with the "deal"....and even now I'm not sure that I'm making sense so that you even know what I'm talking about! ACK! So, I guess instead of saying I got this for this price, I'm going to try to tell you how I came up with that price at all. I've got some figuring to do.

Jon comes home tonight! Yippie! I can't wait to see him. I've missed him. The kids have missed him, too.

Now, I think I'm going to watch part three of Pride and Prejudice...I've never seen it before and am actually enjoying it. I'm thinking of getting Jane Austen's complete works...we'll see.

Oh, and for the record, my foot is killing me! This last August I was racing Austin on a scooter and I fell up the driveway...I know nice, right...who falls UP? Well, I wasn't too smart and wore flip flops while doing this and when I fell I slammed my foot into the driveway and took the skin off all my toes and the top of my foot. I hit the top of my foot so hard and my foot was swollen and black and blue and looked horrible for weeks. I toughed it out and never got it looked at. Since that time, the top of my foot has hurt so badly, at times it has become unbearable and I've taken some old Vicodin left over from an ear infection some time ago. I don't know they can do anything about it since it's been months, but something is seriously wrong with it and I think that I'm going to have to go in now to have it looked at. Since I was standing on my feet for the class tonight it's worse and I took my shoe off and it's swollen..that's not a good sign. I think I have a few Vicodin left which might work even if they are a few years old. I really don't like to take pain meds, but man how...this stinks.

Enough babble for now. I really am a good babbler...hehe.

Last night I read the scripture and prayer myself (naturally since I'm the only one who can read fluently) and our little discussion was quite interesting. It always both validates and surprises me how much my children know about the scriptures. I try, don't always succeed, at quizzing the boys about the scriptures after they are read to see if they have any understanding...last night I informed them before I read that I was going to quiz them so they could prepare and really think about what I was going to read. Here's how the discussion went:

I read: D&C 58: 42-43: "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins - behold, he will confess them and forsake them."

I asked Alex first what he thought that meant and what Heavenly Father wanted us to learn from this scripture, he said, "Um, it means that we need to be great to everyone and be baptised."

Not sure he actually heard the scripture, but getting a really good response nonetheless, I moved on to Austin. He replied, "It means that when we say a naughty word we need to tell Heavenly Father we are really sorry. I always tell him I'm sorry when I say a naughty word. Then He says, 'ok'."

So, wow. I was rather pleased he got something out of that, maybe it's just great teaching on Sister Dube's part, or mine or Jon's, but he got it somewhat. (By the way, the naughty word to which he is referring is "oh my gosh".)

Anyway, I proceeded to tell them that those answers were really great, but that I wanted them to be sure to know that after they said that they were sorry they needed to not do that again and that was what it meant in the scripture to "forsake".

There you have it. It was a very good discussion.