Click here to see where I've spent my day.

Curse you, Shosh for forwarding me that site! I have literally been reading it all day. Most of you know that I have a great desire to be organized. I also have 4 kids in a small 3 bedroom house (Elisha, Shana, and Jakie share 1 three foot long closet and one 6 drawer dresser. ) It's tight. Very tight.

Over the past few days, before Shosh made me waste my day I even found this site, I became inspired to pare down. Maybe it was the great clothing switcheroo. The great turnover inspires fear in even the hardiest mother. So, today I dropped off 8 (yes, 8) bags of boys' clothing today, and I'm just getting started.

After I read that blog (and seriously wanted to cry. How is that woman so organized? Seriously!) I was inspired. I cleaned out the entertainment center shelves, and tossed all the DVD cases. I put them all in some CD flip book thingies and tucked them into some wicker baskets, along with all the Wii paraphernalia. Tomorrow brings the great organization of my desk area shelving and the closest that holds all my silver and crystal stuff.

I do think that being organized is, to some degree, inborn. Some people have it, some do not. Some do not have it and do not care, other do not have it and have a great desire to have it (what are we having again? Oh yeah, the organizing trait. Maybe it's a gene. I bet in about 5 years, they will have found the gene for organization and will be offering genetic therapy to help you become a better homemaker. Ha)

I, unfortunately, fall into the last category:

Those who do not possess the organized trait but have a great burning desire to be organized.

My mom? Crazy organized. I honestly do not remember my house ever, and I mean EVER, being messy when I was a kid. And we were four kids. And she worked full time. How did that happen? Simple. She possesses the trait. That I do not.

So I am inspired. I am going to clean it out and clean it up.

Wish me luck!

Time to Whip Them into Shape (not literally of course)

So I've decided that my kids are little slackers who don't do a blessed thing in this house. I'm constantly on them to do the things that...well...they should be doing. Make your bed? Put your clothes (shock) in the hamper? C'mon, guys!

So I've instituted the next level in my county jail house...

Chores!

These are hanging up in my kitchen (to my Keshet staff readers-didn't I do a nice job? I feel like we live in Keshet-laminated, velcroed, and hung up in the kitchen!)


Can you guys read it all?

Really, there is no rocket science here. Just put your freaking laundry in the hamper, PLEASE for Pete's sake! (Who is Pete and why is he in my blog post?)

This is week one. So far the little slaves kids are being surprisingly cooperative. But then again, kids like responsibility. And guidelines. And rules. And allowance. Which will most probably be awarded for completion of chores. Speaking of which-who here gives allowance? How much do you give?

I'll keep you all posted...

OK I've seriously, totally, 100% lost my mind

I don't even know why I am humiliating myself this way.

I guess because I think it's kinda funny. When you spend your days doing online tutorials of the bones and muscles of the torso and skull, you get kind of insane. (What's the muscle that allows you to raise and lower your yeah? It runs from the mastoid process to the sternum...)

So my upstairs bathroom sink was draining slowly for the past week or so. I'm sure there's some big ole nasty hairball in there. On Tuesday it stopped draining altogether. Well you all know that I'm cheap thrifty. I'd seen an "As Seen on TV" ad.


I figured...it has to work, right? So I headed out to CVS and bought one With my Extra Care Bucks, have no fear. You don't think I'd actually pay, did you? As I was driving home, I realized that this was a historic moment:

The first time I've bought an As Seen on TV item. Although I've heard that the onion chopper does work really well and I'm contemplating buying it for Pesach.

So I decided to video the inaugural use of an As Seen on TV item.

Seriously. I've lost my mind. I think I should ask everyone to just close their browser, or better yet, I should have some self respect and stop this post altogether. But it seems that I am like a car crash that I can't walk away from so I feel compelled to share this experience with all you, my little bloggy-friends.





And the car crash continues.




I just watched the videos. Seriously? What on earth is my problem? I'm clearly insane.


Oh. And Jacob's really funny. Check out his Bananagrams.


The plumber is currently upstairs fixing my sink.

Pesach is Coming...We're so Happy!

Well kinda.

Why are we so happy you ask?

It certainly cannot be all the cooking and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning .

Nope, it's the company that's coming!

Benjie's sister and her family are coming in from Israel! We haven't seen them in over 5 years!

We haven't met half of their kids, and the ones we did were 2 years old and a baby the last time they were here!

So we are rather excited. Shana is over the moon to have three more girl cousins here to play with! It should be fun and hectic-just the way we like it.

But I still do have to cook and clean, all the while studying for my microbiology midterm, my anatomy lab exam, and my anatomy midterm, which will all be taken the week before Pesach.

So drastic measures need to be taken. The week(s) before Pesach will require surgeon-like precision and organization.

This calls for another Excel spreadsheet. Many of you know of my great love for (a) excel and (b) lists. In my opinion, there is nothing in life that cannot be accomplished with a good list in excel. I've made one every year, and I just updated it for this year.

So then I got to thinking...most of my little bloggy's readers are people who might benefit from this list I was specifically thinking of all my deal counselor boys whom I know are slaving away cleaning for Pesach even as I type!

So I figured, what the heck...or "what the hecky heck" as my lovely children have taken to saying. Where on earth they learned that I cannot imagine..Must. nip. such. language. in. the. bud.

But I digress (as usual). I figured...what the hecky heck? I might as well share said spreadsheet with all you lovely readers.

A few notes:
I do NOT spring clean.
I do not clean most of my second floor-my kids never eat upstairs and my cleaning lady cleans upstairs every week.
I do NOT wash all my toys. My kids are not 2 years old and gnawing on teether biscuits while building with Duplos.
I do NOT go crazy.

So here you go.... Pesach in a spreadsheet. It has about 5 years on it, with various menus and shopping lists. Feel free to make my exact menus. They were tasty. Click here to download.

And try not to hyperventilate.

You Would Think I Would Have Learned a Lesson

Why?

Why have I not learned my lesson? I have blogged about THIS before.

My hatred of ironing.

I push it off. And push it off.

Until I'mstartingschoolonWednesdayandgettingatoothpulledtomorrowandifitdoesn'thappennowit'sneverhappening.





Yes. I ironed about 40 dress shirts, 10 pairs of pants, and one highly annoying pleated uniform skirt today.

At least I had good decorating shows in my DVR.

What's that word

that means "to take responsibility? It starts with a "c" and I keep thinking "compliance" but I know that's not it.

Either way, a few nights ago I watched the A&E show "Hoarders" on TV. Oh My Heavens I almost passed out. Firstly, Mommy, DO NOT CLICK THAT LINK. You will have a nervous breakdown. Of course, watching the show made me want to clean house. You all know that my house is basically clean. But my closets could be neater. So.

OH! I remembered the word. It does not start with C. It is ACCOUNTABILITY. So in the spirit of both accountability and my twitchiness from watching Hoarders, I have made a list of that which needs to be done in my house. Obviously, I don't expect it to be done in one day. Or two. But the way I see it, if I do two tasks per day, my house should be loverly within about two weeks.

So I hereby give you my list of what needs to be done:

1. Clean Dovi's closet
2. Clean ESJ's closet
3. Clean out ESJ's toys/books in their room/pack up baby books
4. Clean MY closet
5. Clean out/prepare to donate my clothes
6. Clean out under my bed (moe Benjie's old shoes than anything-prepare to donate)
7. Clean out hall closet-mostly kids' out of season clothes
8. Clean out coat closet
9. File the past 2 months of paperwork/prepare to archive 2009 (it IS December, folks)
10. Organize toy closet (Sunday with kids?)
11. Organize silver closet (I have this closet in my den in which I keep my silver and other Judaic stuff for Shabbos. It's a mess)
12. Straighten Living Room bookshelves DONE THIS MORNING
13. Clean out under den couch (probably enough toys to entertain a small child for a week)
14. Organize meat pots and pans cabinet
15. Re-organize basement now that we cleaned out my Dad's stuff-everything got shoeved around when we brought his entire apartment back here in Sepetember, and now that we cleaned it out and sorted everything, we went from 20 boxes to 4. So I need to straighten out everything.
16. Straighten out entertainment unit. The decorative items aren't so decorative when they are messy and cluttered.

I'll check in as I'm progressing! Off to the pots and pans now, my dears. Let me tell you folks, it seems a heck of a lot less daunting now that I've assigned myself a bunch of small little tasks that can be done in under 20 minutes each, except for the kids' rooms which are scary.

Join me! Let's be all organize-y together!

I wonder how many people are doing the same thing after watching that show. I guess it was a good thing, then?

Dinner Success!

I don't generally do this, but I figure I'll share with you all a great dinner success I had yesterday. It's not often that we have a dinner that

(a) everyone likes
(b) is reasonably healthy
(c) is not insanely expensive
(d) is not Wacky Mac (which btw folks, can be gotten for $.58 a box at Wal-Mart. It's $1.08/box regular price, and there are $1/2 coupons that you can buy on eBay. Click here to go there and buy some. Always looking out for my bloggy readers)

Generally
(a) would be pasta
(b) would not be pasta
(c) would be Ken's Diner
(d) would be pasta

So there you have it.

Tonight I made an oldy-but-goody that I have not made in like forever.

Meat Manicotti. (which does involve pasta but is not a bog ole pot of noodles with parmasean cheese which my children claim to be their favorite dinner in the entire universe. Stinkers)

Stop, stop, all ye of little faith. It's really, really yummy.

Here's what you need:

1 pound ground beef
1 egg
1 1/2 tb seasoned bread crumbs
1 1/2 tb onion soup mix
1 tb ketchup
1 box manicotti noodles
1 can cranberry sauce
1 bottle marinara sauce (or if you're like me and don't have any, maybe a can of diced tomatoes, a can or two of tomato sauce, and some italian seasoning)
1 tb water

Mix together ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, onion soup mix, and ketchup. Stuff raw noodles with ground beef mixture. Lay in sprayed 9 x13 pan. Mix marinara, water, and cranberry sauce. Pour over noodles. Cover and bake at 350 for about an hour or so.

Yummers!

Everyone ate it. Should I take a picture? Frankly, it's not so lovely. I think I'll ruin the yumminess of the recipe by including a kinda-ugly looking picture.

So trust me. It's yummers. Everyone loved it.

Make it.

Go forth and manicotti.

Bye for now!

Do I get to take a deep breath now?

Woah. Time to put the brakes on here.

You might have noticed that my postings have been a bit...spotty? irregular? the past week or so. Let me explain.

Camp ended for the kids.

School started for me.

Dovi went to Orlando.

Dovi started school.

ESJ start school today.

Holy cow has it been busy in this here house.

Let me tell you, it's mighty hard to go to school four days a week when your kids are home. Correction. It's downright impossible. For the past two weeks, I have had college girls galore in and out of my house for a few hours here and a few hours there so I can dash my tired, overwhelmed self to my biology and chemistry classes.

And oh yeah, in between running to and from class, I'm supposed to be entertaining said children, keeping house, reading said chemistry and biology books, studying for biology and chemistry quizzes, and generally keeping it together.

I do not have it together.

Case(s) in point:

• Laundry is piling up (clean, but not folded).
  
• Coupons are flying through my house (I just spent about three hours organizing the coupon stash. It was getting scary. Downright terrifying).
  
• I have not been to Jewel in five days! (deep breaths. deep cleansing breaths. I'm in catalina and deal withdrawal. Must. get. Jewel. fix. tomorrow. must. get. Jewel. fix. tomorrow).
  
• I have not been to the fruit store in two weeks! (bought on sale items at Jewel).
  
• I just paid $28 in overdue fees to the library (and still owe another $20 on my card. I did not have the desire to pay $48 in overdue fees at one time. So my card is still on restriction. I took out Cecilia Ahern and Jane Green books on Shana's card. hee hee)
• A small animal (one of my children, perhaps?) could eat a meal off the floor of my car.
• I have not had Shabbos guests in two weeks. And I'm not sure I have it in me to cook for MY family this week, let alone someone else's, and my kids are starting a mutiny for guests. ( ok it seems that some people-that means you, Shosh and Benjie, think that I was wrangling for an invite here. Ahem. I was not. I merely meant that I need to get myself in gear and start entertaining again. But I do thank the lovely people who must have heard the desperation in this post and took pity upon my starving family and invited us for lunch. Looking forward to it :) )
  

But all is becoming well in my little home world. The fearsome threesome starts school. My house will remain clean. I will not need to pay a minor fortune to babysitters. I will have time to run errands sans 6 little helping hands (stay at home moms who shop with your kids, I tip my shaitel to you. My kids are 7 and it still gives me the shakes to shop with those little buggers). Routine will return to our home.

If you haven't noticed, I thrive on routine. Order. Normalcy.

Without order, my mental health suffers. I get stressed. Ornery. Crabby.

Here's to hoping that sanity returns.

Anyone who'd like to come over, say, around 4:30pm to help with homework, let me know.

My $18 Desk Area/If It's the Spring You'll Find Me Spray Painting on My Front Lawn

A few weeks ago (oh who am I kidding-on Thursday-I have major instant gratification issues) I decided that I wanted a little desk in my den. My laptop currently lives on my sofa, and frankly, it was only a matter of time before one of us bumped it onto the floor. So I decided I wanted a petite desk. I only had 30 inches of wall to deal with, so I knew it would be tight.

I found one that was pretty nice at Target, but I did not feel like spending $100. I've been crazy thrifty recently-at some point in the near term I'll tell y'all about my $15 grocery shopping. For the entire week. Including 6 pounds of ground beef and a bag of Tilapia.

But I digress.

So I wanted a desk. I am cheap.

On Friday, I was at a thrift store, hunting for plates for my kitchen wall (oh yeah, I need to show you a picture of a decoupaged plate I made. With a tutorial from here. I {heart} this blog).

Then I saw her. She wasn't much to look at, but she was the perfect size. Dumped the plates on a shelf (heck this thrift store is such a disaster I'm sure no one noticed). I looked at her price.

$15.

But she was (a) light wood and (b) mission style.

But she was $15 and the right size so I knew I could make it work.

I decided to cover the mission spindly things with tufted upholstered panels. I found 2 old canvases in my scary slasher basement that fir PERFECTLY, as well as some brown fabric and some fiberfill. I couldn't find the batting, so just artfully arranged the fiberfill :) Then I tufted the panels with some $.88 for two buttons from Wal Mart. I'm considering asking the guys at work if they have any beadboard that they can cut to fit-and I'll remove the panels. But they work for now.

All I needed to buy were 2 buttons and 2 cans of black spray paint.

After I painted it black, I decoupaged a toile P on the top of the desk and put on about 5 coats of poly to protect the whole thing.

Then I "shopped the house" and found an unused black shelf in the basement, another canvas that I upholstered to use as a bulletin board, an unused lamp, and a little flower pot that I painted black and embellished to use as a pencil cup.

I forgot to take before pictures until I was mid-primer spray. So ignore the odd gray primer marks.



I am not a fan of the mission style. Apologies to anyone I offend.


And now...the great reveal. It turned out even better than I had hoped!




Opinions on the upholstered panels? Unsure.

But overall, for $18? Can't beat it!

And then I found a blog carnival. Go over to Southern Hospitality to see what other thifty decorators are doing...

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Pesach...

OK here we go....

Observe...the paper goods shelf. I don't use any paper goods during the year, but it seems impossible to escape this time of year...

my broom that my sister told me I don't need to throw away! I've always bought a new broom every year. But Rebecca (the silver polishing G-ddess) told me that I don't need to. Yay! I love me my fancy-pants broom :)

The kitchen table post-lunch. Note the free Windex. Also please notice the random food items scattered about. That is after I screamed like a lunatic asked my kids nicely and calmly to please, for the love of G-d, to leave the chametz items on the table. Or Mommy will blow steam out of her ears.

My shelves over my sink. Do you notice my very-stylish linoleum over my counters? Adhered with nothing but the best clear packing tape money can buy. And do you see the bea-yoo-tee-ful brown and white transferware-esque pitcher? $2.99 folks, TJ Maxx. It's amazing what happiness that little guy has brought me.

Ahh my stove looks so lovely all shiny with tinfoil. Not.

Do you see how ENORMOUS that pot is? It is FILLED with chicken soup! The first year I was buying Pesach kitchen supplies, a dear friend told me that I couldn't buy a pot that was too big. I'm not sure. I believe that we should be able to bathe my nephew in that pot.


Chicken, anyone? Roasted, Duck Sauce, or Lemon? Oh and those were some repulsive hairy chickens. Took me 45 minutes to skin and clean. Ewwww.

Ahem. For all you who think I am Suzie Homemaker, I bring you the mountain of 12 pairs of boys' dress pants and 32 (yes, 32. I'm not exaggerating. I've been the recipient of lots and lots of lovely hand-me-downs. Nothing makes my heart beat faster than a bag of hand me down clothing) dress shirts that I had to iron. Because I had neglected to iron for...ummm...the past month and a half?

Ahhh....looking a little better.

Getting there...
Only took me four hours! (Don't worry, not four hours straight. We also ate dinner and I ran some errands. I am on a quest to buy popsicle molds for Pesach. It seems that I am a few weeks to early. I went to like six stores. No one had anything! Every other summer item was available. But not popsicle molds. I'm bummed)

And now some random pictures of some cute kids. Which is lucky that they are cute because I almost killed them when they acted like I was torturing them by OMG! expecting them to (gasp) clean up their toys. I know. I'm a horrible, evil mother.

In Which My Sister Teaches Me How to Polish Silver

So last night I was chatting on the phone with my sister (what else is new) while getting ready to polish my silver. I was complaining to her that I feel that my silver does not get really shiny, no matter what I do. And that it really ticks me off because I paid like $16 for my darned silver polish.

Then I told her that I was settling down at the table to polish.

"You're doing WHAT?" asked Rebecca

"I'm at the table to polish" I replied

"But how do you rinse your sponge and your silver as you're going along?" She asked

"I let it all sit and then rinse at the end. And the sponge? Oh I dip it in water" I responded.

Now anyone who knows how to polish silver is rolling their eyes at my stupidity.

"No, silly, you need to rinse each piece immediately. And you need to constantly wash out your sponge, otherwise you're just transferring the tarnish you just took off right back onto the piece!"

Oh.

I stood at the sink.

I polished.

I rinsed.

Waddaya know! After twelve years of marriage and much dull silver, I am the proud owner of some shiny candlesticks and kiddush cups.

I feel kinda dorky.

I apologize by the way to everyone for all my boring housekeeping posts. But it IS a week before Pesach and I'm a tad distracted.

So far here's where I'm holding:

Basement Fridge cleaned
Basement Freezer cleaned
Stockpile reorganized and ready for covering. But first I need to take pictures of my 38 cases of kids' water bottles that I got for free to share with you guys.
Silver Polished
Shopping Done (still need to buy a tablecloth for the kitchen. Oops.)
Baked Goods Made (thanks, Michelle for graciously letting me use your Pesach kitchen! It was a lifesaver)
Car vacuumed. Let me tell you, that was one nasty car.
Kids' rooms cleaned
Purse emptied

To Do:

Kids need to clean out their backpacks today after school
Turn over kitchen (Saturday night and Sunday)
COOK
Get paper goods order
COOK
Kasher Silver
COOK
Drink Slurpees without touching them (I always have a big craving for Slurpees-half Coke, half Sprite-try it-it's the best-while cooking and cleaning for Pesach. I put them on the floor and dramatically lean over while holding my arms out to the side like a bird and drink!)
COOK
Pick up all my guests at the airport-woooohoooooooo
COOK
COOK
COOK
COOK

Happy Week Before Pesach Everyone!!

And one more excellent deal

If you (or you know someone) are going to be in the vicinity of North and Elston, Stanley's Fruit Market (on the corner of North and Elston) has romaine lettuce for $.49 a bag!

I am set for both seders and all my salads for Passover for $6!

I figure I haven't given you all any good deals for a while...

Soooo....

Here goes. I will admit that this isn't the most thrilling of topics for most people, but some of you might enjoy it.

Sale at Dominicks:

Buy any Windex, Pledge, or Scrubbing Bubbles between 3/27 and 4/19

Buy 2 get 1.50 catalina towards a future purchase
Buy 3 get 3 catalina towards a future purchase
Buy 4 or more get $5 catalina towards a future purchase.

Additionally, as of yesterday, the Pledge Multisurface Spray (blue can) is ALSO giving you a $1 catalina for each can you buy.

There is ALSO a printable coupon for $2 off a bottle of Pledge Multisurface spray here. You will have to register but you can select not to get emails-I also have an extra email address that I use for all things coupon related on line. You can print the coupon two times per computer-arrow back after the first time you print. If you have two computers (or can harass your hubby at work-something I do all the time would never ever do) you can print four coupons. There were also coupons in recent ad circulars.

Here's what you'd do:

Buy 4 Pledge Multisurface Sprays @ 3.99 each = 15.96 + tax
Less your coupons (4 @$2 each) = $7.96 + tax
Pay the $7.96 + tax (here in lovely Chicago that would equal out to $8.77)
Get 4 $1 catalinas towards a future purchase and 1 $5 catalina towards a future purchase.
The coupons will print out of the little catalina machine next to the scanner.
Pay $8.77, get back $9-you will MAKE $.23!!

Additionally, yesterday, all types of Windex, which is also included in the $5 catalina deal was on sale (BOGO) Buy One Get One. Not sure if it still is today-but when you go get your Pledge you can check it out :). If you are a coupon clipper, there were coupons in recent circulars.
Otherwise, here's the story:

Buy 4 Windex @4.49 BOGO = $8.98 + tax
Less any coupons if you have them (I had some .75 ones and some $1 ones)
Pay at most $9.90, get $5 catalina-so you'll pay $1.22 per bottle, less if you have coupons.
I was unable to find any current internet printable coupons. Sorry!
But even without coupons it's still a good deal.

The Latest

Dovi is sooooo much better.

We kinda sorta helped him along in the bathroom department, and he had his Dovi twinkle in his eye back by about 6pm. Assuming he sleeps well overnight and wakes up in good spirits in the morning we are cautiously optimistic about sending him back to school tomorrow.

Elisha is fine. He's had two doses of antibiotics already and will have one more in the morning and will hopefully go to school on time too.

Here's to hoping for a calm, quiet normal week in which I repaint my bathroom.

You know me. Dovi stress = home redecorating.

Anyone out there know how to remove nasty disgusting green circa 1955 bathroom vanities and install pedestal sinks? If you do and feel the burning desire to help out a stressed out mama, drop me a line :)

But barring someone coming to help me (K, if you're reading this, isn't Y just DYING to come over???), I hope to merely paint the tile and walls, which will start me on the way to ridding the bathroom of the scary green-ness. Trust me. It's not a nice green.

Here's to hoping, folks!

Taming the kid paper clutter

If you're anything like me, you have a nemesis in your life:

Paper.

My kids bring home insane amounts of paper from school every day. Worksheets, spelling lists, worksheets, forms, worksheets, coloring sheets, and worksheets. You get the idea.

I also have like 8 million papers for our home life.

And the P Family for Dummies binder. Which will be discussed at a later date.

I felt like everywhere I looked, there were more papers piled up. Papers that could not be filed away because they were being actively used. But they didn't need to be lying on my kitchen counter messing up my periodically every so often neat kitchen.

I really want this.It's from Ballard and soooo pretty. But it's also $100. So that's out. I also want the entire Ballard catalog, but that's a whole other story.

So I got to thinking. I need places to put each kids' papers.

OK, file folders. I've seen pretty file folders in the store. But they are like $10 for 5. No way!

I was in the dollar store buying my four Sunday papers to clip coupons , and I saw a package of pretty scrapbook paper for $1 (obviously, it's the dollar store. Everything's $1. It's utopia.) I got to thinking. I currently have file folders at home. Why don't I decoupage this pretty paper on them?

So I did.

I made five of them. Why five, you ask? (woah, this is creepy. My curser has disappeared. I can still type but I don't know where I am. odd) Because I had six pieces of paper. And I needed one piece to decoupage...

the front of the file holder. I had this file folder holder from when I had my office-in-a-closet-which-became-a-crap-pile. But it was black. So I spray painted it cream and decoupaged a little bit of paper on the front to cover the ugly part.

I love it! It's sitting on the corner of my counter. Each kid has a folder, plus a general folder, plus a slot to slide in the P Family for Dummies binder. It's not the gorgeous Ballard thingy, but it cost me $1 in scrap book paper and has solved such a big annoyance in my house.

If you're not crafty you could do the same thing, minus the decoupaging and spray painting.

But that wouldn't be as fun, now, would it?

Ahhh the camera works...

So today you're getting pictures of my ever so growing stockpile of food and toiletries in my basement thanks to my recent insanity couponing ways.

The first thing I did was clear off all three shelving units and move them into this little alcove in the scary slasher basement. I also reassembled this wire drawer tower thingy I had gotten from Ikea like ten years ago. It originally held Dovi's toys, but has held many different items as the years have gone by. Now it's holding the toiletry store. I'm not joking.

So here you are!


A general picture of everything

Yes, that's 58 boxes of cereal. We've gone through about 30 so far. I think there were 80 when we started out after the crazy sale. And that's after donating 50 boxes to the food pantry. Top shelf is random food items that I only have one of. Oh and eight boxes of popcorn that I got for free yesterday.


A better view-the bottom shelves are food items and condiments-manwich (twelve cans for $1-we go through at least two cans every other week-it's like our favorite dinner!), tomato sauce, syrup, peanut butter, pasta etc etc etc. Top shelves are snacks-fruit rolls, chex mix, south beach bars, pudding, crackers, and cookies.

Another closeup

On the top shelf are seven bags of wipes, second shelf is cleaning supplies, third is paper goods, fourth is soda, and bottom shelf/wall is Dovi formula. Just got a delivery yesterday so there's a ton there.

The toiletry store.
Top is toilet paper
Top bin is toothpaste and mouthwash
Second bin is medicine/first aid/eye drops/ointment
Third bin is deodorant and something else
Fourth bin is personal care-cotton balls, razors, etc.
Fifth bin is broken-any idea how to reattach a glider thingy? Well first I'd need to find it.
Sixth bin is shampoo
Seventh bin is soaps (I have like 20 of the Johnson's Buddies Soaps-my kid will be using them until their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs!)
Eighth bin is feminine stuff.

I'm sooooo proud.
It took me a few hours but it seriously makes me twitch with joy just looking at it.

All This Can Be Yours

For $8 Pretend Dollars

That would be:

8 Johnson's Buddies soaps for the ungrateful hoodlums kids
6 boxes of Kleenex (my only non-thrifty indulgence-the cube boxes of tissues. I know, Shosh. The insanity!!)
1 Kids Colgate Toothpaste
5 3 packs of Irish Spring Soap (only 4 are pictured because Benjie snagged one before I could get the picture)
1 travel pack Excedrin
3 bottles of Softsoap
L'Oreal Foundation
L'Oreal lip gloss
(close your eye, CSS guys) 2 packs...ahem...feminine care products
1 bottle eye drops for The Boy ($9 on its own!!)
2 Right Guard Deodorants for Benjie
1 large bottle Head and Shoulders
1 bottle Garnier shampoo
2 bottles Triaminic
2 boxes Johnson and Johnson's gauze pads with Neosporin built in
1 box Zucol cold lozenges
2 packages Revlon (or is it L'Oreal?) facial cleansing towelettes

And I say pretend because that money was paid with my gift card to CVS from the insane prescription filling madness in our house.

In the spirit of full disclosure I must say that I did pay $36 out of pocket at Walgreens. But I got back $10 towards a future purchase and will be getting back $32 in Mail In Rebates. So it's actually that Walgreens paid me $6 to take a bunch of stuff out of the store.


Don't all my free products look all happy and luxurious reclining on my bed? Oh let's look at them again. And revel in the fact that I actually made my bed this morning.

When The Dovi is Sick

The Momma does organize.

I have told Benjie many a time-when the house is clean and organized, my heart is happy and peaceful.

Well my den has been a sty recently.

It seems that it was not enough of a sty to...ummm...get my butt off the couch in the evening to clean it. But it irked me. But I suffer form inertia in the evenings. And said intertia extends to my lack of desire to organize the scary slasher basement. It's so scary. And a disaster.

So yesterday, I was home with the fake strepalicious Dovi. And I am inspired to clean and organize in the daytime.

So...here is the toy/office closet before. Toys on shelves, home office in those lovely white file thingies on the bottom. Ahh the joys of your youngest(s) being 6 and understanding to not go in the files.



It makes me twitchy just looking at the disaster and precariously balanced piles of paper. A full view of the disaster

Aack. That's all I can say. Oh and Dovi? He stayed in his pjs all day. And watched Blues Clues (yes, he's 11. Shut up. He has FD. Blue makes him happy. Deal with it) no less than six of the eight hours we were home. In my defense, I did make him sit and read for ten minutes, and he played Wii for a while. But otherwise? What you see in the picture is what you get.

Oh by the way-do you like my red walls? Painted them myself. Took (I'm not joking here) FIVE coats of that red paint on top of tinted primer. The fugly paneling just sucked up that paint. And there are still places that it's not even. But remember? inertia? Obviously doesn't bug me enough to y'know, bring the paint can back up and deal with it.


And now....after THREE, yes THREE hours of cleaning/organizing. You see all the file drawers? Empty. I archived all 2008 into four banker boxes which are currently sitting at the door to the basement waiting for Benjie to shlep them down to the basement. Umm honey?

I

am

happy.

Look! Look how organized it is!! You know it was bad when your cleaning lady thanks you for cleaning it up.


Ahhh. Am happy. very happy. Cue the triumphant music. After the ingrateful hoodlums children got home from school I lectured them about how I had spent THREE HOURS cleaning up their toys and they'd darn better keep. it. neat. We'll see how long that lasts.


Oh and I wouldn't leave you without a craft. Looks pretty snazzy, no? I do like my little plaque-y guy I made with $2 of Dollar Tree stuff, some tissue paper, ribbon, paint, mod podge, and hot glue. Not bad if I might say so myself.

RIP

The list of dead items today in Casa P:


Do you know what that is? It's our ice maker. It's been dead since the summer. I am too cheap to pay the repairman to come out to deal with just a dead ice maker. But now, we have another dead appliance:


The dairy dishwasher is not working. And that, my dears, is tragic. It's a portable one that we hook up to the sink at night. And it's not draining. I jinxed myself-my sister wanted a recommendation for a new portable dishwasher, and I'm all like "We've had ours for six years and never had a problem", all cocky like. Not two months later, the sucker isn't draining. So the repairman is in my kitchen dealing with it. And he's then going to figure out the ice maker issue. We don't mess around with dishwashers here. For those of you who have the space, and keep kosher, thus needing two dishwashers, I still highly recommend this one. It was not expensive at all, and in my typical immediate gratification way, bought it at Abt and had them load it in the back of my van, and made Benjie and his dad drag it up the stairs after I backed the van onto the front lawn and up to the front steps. Which also brings to mind when I drove the enormous green beast as opposed to my civilized little Sienna and put a sofa in the back. And then my friend Karen and I, all Lucy and Ethel like, dragged that sucker into the house. It only got stuck in the front door for a short period of time.





What is this dead item, you may ask? Why, it's Dovi's extremely expensive feeding pump. Why is it dead (or currently temporarily dead, we're hoping it revives itself, lest I have to call for service on it) you wonder? Lesson to learn: It is not a good idea to forget the delicately calibrated feeding pump in the car overnight. When it is below zero outside. The pump will not be happy. It's currently wrapped in a kitchen towel trying to revive itself.





Uh oh....yes, Finny Two seems to have met the same untimely death as Finny. Like Elisha said, Finny was a good fish. He always listened. He did seem to be slightly less agoraphobic than the original Finny, but he was very naughty when it was time to change his water. He is currently lying in state in his little tank, covered in a kitchen towel, stinking up my kitchen, waiting for Benjie to come home to flush him down the toilet run a Finny Two Memorial Service for the children.

Don't come here. It's not safe for anyone.

But on a happier note, I paid $4.49 at Jewel for my groceries. Thanks to my insane cereal endeavor last week. Anyone who mocked me, top that.

Sara's Spectacular Shopping Days

OK everyone, I'm so darned proud of my recent shopping endeavors that you all need to read about them.

This will be HIGHLY boring for all my trusty camp counselor readers. But all you married women, enjoy. Mostly Shosh, who is my trusty partner in crime.

Ready? Set? OK here we go...


JEWEL

Jewel is running a promo-buy $30 in P&G products, get $15 in catalina coupons for a future purpose, plus if you spend $25 in baby products you get another $5-for a total of $20 in catalinas.

Yesterday, I bought like 8 boxes of Gushers (pushover mom that I am), 2 packs of wipes, a bottle of Pantene, and a bottle of Dawn. Paid $26 (after coupons), got $15.

Today, bought 6 packs of wipes, got it down to $29 with coupons (wipes have bad coupons), used my $15 from yesterday, so I paid $16 out of pocket (tax was $3!!) and got back $20 in catalinas. In other words, today, Jewel paid me $4 to buy 6 packages of wipes. Which I would have bought anyway.

TARGET

Remember my $10 gift card that I got for my antibiotic purchase (which btw cost me $4)so I used it tonight.

I bought:

4 bottles of Suave shampoo (2 on sale for $.89, 2 for $1.77)
2 Johnsons Buddies Soaps ($.97 each)
1 20 ct Electrosol tabs ($3.25)
1 Eye Drop for Dovi ($10.49-ouch!-hidden cost of Dovi again...)

Coupons:
2 $.75/2 Suave shampoos
2 $1/1 Johnsons coupons
1 $2.50/1 Electrosol coupon
1 $1.50 Genteal coupon
$10 gift card

I paid $4 out of pocket!
Not bad considering that Dovi needs eye drops...

WALGREENS (now this is the awesome part...)

OK I transferred a prescription there because I wanted to take advantage of the $25 gift card offer with a transferred prescription. Do this. Often. I got $25 at CVS last month.

So I paid $10 for my prescription that I needed anyway and got $25 to spend. Yay.

First I bought:

2 Maalox tabs, on sale $2/10 and get a $5 catalina coupon toward your next purchase.
I had a $4/2 coupon. The lovely cashier was like "Ooh ooh I have a $3 coupon here! Let's see if it works". It did. I paid $3.23 on my gift card and got back $5.

Then I bought:

6 Quaker instant oatmeals (Shana's favorite breakfast) @ $1.99 each
6 Hunts tomato sauces @ $1/3
4 boxes of tissues @ $.89 each
1 Revlon eye shadow @4.99
1 Garnier shampoo @ $.99
2 Garnier gels (for Benjie's luscious locks) @ $.99 each
2 boxes of Splenda @ $2.99 each
4 Reeses's Whipps bars @ $1/2
1 Electrosol @ $3.49

I used the following coupons:

6 $1 Quaker
2 $1/3 Hunts
1 $1 Revlon
3 $1 Garnier
2 $3 Splenda
2 $1/2 Reeses Whipps
1 $2.50 Electrosol

Total paid on my gift card? $11.98. Of which I will get back $8.50 from Walgreens mail in rebates for the eye shadow and the Electrosol. So let's say I spent $3.50.

Then I went back again and bought

6 more Hunts
4 more Garnier shampoos
2 more Splendas

used same coupons, paid $1.32 on the gift card. That was less than tax!

So yes, Amy, mock me. But Shana is set for her oatmeal for the next few months. And it was free.

Speaking of which I need to find another Walgreens with the oatmeal in stock so I can get 3 boxes for $1 (I have 3 more $1 off coupons, and I got a catalina for another $2/3 boxes...)

And I still have $8 left on my gift card!

I'm a little pleased.