Family Spam

In this day and age, it's not uncommon to get hundreds of spam emails a day, or get the occasional Farmville requests from your "friends" on Facebook. I'm used to the Nigerian prince asking for my credit card information, and Virginia Blood services begging me like a starving vampire. But there is a point when spam has crossed the line...

thanks, Mom.

Crazy Coupon Lady

My mother is the frugal queen. Growing up, I'm pretty sure I never once ate an item that was bought at full price unless I was visiting a friend for dinner. To this day, I have never had to buy a toiletry item (with the exception of toilet paper...there are some things I splurge on) and every time I visit Target, I walk the perimeter of the store first because that's where you find the clearance items.

Every Sunday in my childhood, one "lucky" child got to go shopping with Mom after church. The three children in the house took turns being the gopher for their mother in the grocery store and being bored out of their minds while walking every. single. aisle. Somehow I ended up going with my mother the majority of weeks. So much for rotating. When I complained, I was often met with, "It's Mother-daughter bonding time." from my mother and, "Well, you're the girl." from my father. Rough life. There is nothing quite like being a ten year old who has to go through the cashier line by yourself to by feminine pads, toothpaste, and hair dye, because their mother has already gone through and can only use so many coupons in one transaction. I can't decide if those events made me more or less self-conscious.

I have seen "Extreme Couponers," and I can fortunately say that I have never had to dig through my neighbor's trash to find coupons (though I'm sure the thought has passed her mind) and I never had to push more than one cart through a store. thank goodness.

What I'm about to admit makes my mother very happy. She has been able to bond with my sister-in-law over marriage and babies and now she has finally found something to bond with me over.

I am an extreme couponer.

I am fairly new to admitting it, but it does feel like I conquered the world when I walk out of the store with a free product!

Check out my freebies so far:

There are certain ground rules I have set for myself when I set out on these shopping adventures:

1. I will not buy anything I will not use or cannot give away/donate. I will not be buying an hair dye in the near future. (Yes mom, even if it's free)

2. I will not extreme coupon if time and gas cost more than the items I purchase. Nowadays, the internet has made it super easy to coupon, they do the math for you! (my favorite site right now is moneysavingmom.com) I refuse to walk up and down EVERY aisle.

3. I will only extreme coupon for fun. I will always coupon, but I will only hunt down the crazy deals if I enjoy it. If it every becomes more of a hassle than an adventure, I'm out.

When I told my mother my new found game, she responded, "It's about time." That's my mother. I wouldn't have expected anything less.

Well, Mom, thanks for the lessons taught in the 15 grocery store trips every Sunday years ago. I would have never thought that those days of penance would turn into days of fun.

I guess it's only appropriate that this post is written on my parent's anniversary. Maybe extreme couponing is the secret to their marriage! ;) Happy 29 years, Mom and Dad.

Sister Love

Having two older brothers and no sisters, I grew up in a predominately male household. I loved my childhood and have no few complaints (When playing live action Ninja Turtles with my siblings, I was only ever allowed to play the part of April. I'm still bitter.) I enjoyed playing on an all-male baseball team, playing GI Joes in our basement (with the dubious thought that someone would later play Barbies with me), and building forts with my brothers. I probably could have cared less for being a dummy so my brother Rob could show off his wrestling skills he learned in PE. I can't say being the “robber” in a weird game of “Cops and Robbers” where Stephen tied me to his desk chair, blindfolded me and ran away was the most fun I ever had. And being shoved in a trashcan and forced to sing Oscar the Grouch’s, “I love Trash” before I was let out definitely wasn't one of the highlights of my younger years. However, looking back now, I have to say, those moments sure created character. Right?

I couldn't be more thankful for the relationships I have with my siblings. Don't get me wrong, there were years where we could care less about each other, and my brother's would do anything not to be seen with me. Those times are long gone, for the most part. I love spending the weekends baking and carving crazy Disney sculptures with Rob, or renovating Stephan's house while singing Disney music. Life is good.

You know what's even cooler? My big brothers are married! Female interaction! Girly movies, shopping trips, girly drinks, conversation that doesn't always involve poop. (Don't get me wrong, poop is in my daily vocabulary, but it's nice to act classy every now and again.) Sarah and Caroline are amazing. They have amazing decorating skills, give me lots of babies to play with, find me great bargains, and most importantly, they think I'm cool. (I got them to drink the Kool-Aid...how else would they have agreed to join this crazy family?

My sister's are there for me time and time again, and they frequently do pretty amazing things for me without even a blink. For example, check out this pretty snazzy North Face jacket Sarah bought me.

I'm twice her size, and she still looks out for me at Goodwill outlet. It takes girl power to always be on the lookout for a deal for someone else. That's the snazziest apparel item I own!

A few weeks ago, Caroline came over, looked at my recliner, and proceeded to proudly say, “I am going to reupholster this chair!”

I had reupholstered this chair over a year ago and recently bought a new couch. My living room is slowly becoming pretty chic but that green recliner stuck out like a sore thumb.

So who was I to stop a pregnant lady with a mission?

At girl's night the next week, she covered my chair for me, never once asking for my help. The girl is pretty rockin'. If she didn't already have an amazing talent for photography, and a job doing it, I would encourage her to explore a side job in upholstery.

Thanks for the snazzy new chair, Caroline! More importantly, thanks for putting up with me talking poop with your husband. I love you. (after reading this book, you don't think you're post are that long, do you?)

I'm going to repay my sister-in-law for all their love with free items I get now that I'm an extreme couponer...stay tuned!