Have you ever Walgreened?

Back when I was first planning on staying home with Margret I did a lot of research on more frugal ways to live. Cutting back to one salary, plus freelance income, was going to make a big change in our lives and I wanted to do everything I could to cut corners. Since then, John has gotten a better paying job and life has been a little more comfortable, so I've let the frugal living slide. And while we aren't in financial trouble now, I've decided that we could be doing better.

I've started reading several personal finance blogs and I'm loving them. Maybe it's just having a new interest now that I can't think of anything new to do to my house? In any event, I have a ton of blogs bookmarked and later this week I'll do a post about them.

One of my favorites is Money Saving Mom, because the author shows you how to shop at various supermarkets and drug stores to get the biggest bang for your buck. If you are interested in such things, check out her tutorials on CVS and Walgreens.

Walgreens has always had some pretty good deals through the flyer, if you can resist impulse buying while in there. I've never been much of a coupon clipper, but I've learned now that you can combine manufacturer's coupons with Walgreen's coupons and sales and rebates. For instance, I bought a Jane blush for $4.99 that will be free when I send in my rebate. But I also found a $2 off Jane cosmetics coupon that I used at the register, so basically they've just paid me $2 to buy their product.

Also, this week if you buy $10 worth of Proctor & Gamble products, you get a coupon at the register for $4 off your next order. For me it makes sense to write out a list and note which purchases are for rebates, and which sets of products I need to combine to get rebates or money off my next trip. I realized as I sat in my car looking at my receipt that the cashier had forgotten to give me the $4 coupon. So Audrey and I headed back in and got it. Don't mess with my $4.

I managed to do a shopping trip at Walgreen's on Saturday that qualified for March rebates. I think I spent $56 (and these were all things we already use). I'm now due a rebate of about $18, which will be increased by 10% since I requested a gift card. When I get that gift card, I'll use it to buy other products that will generate more rebates. I know it sounds like some kind of scam, but once you organize yourself enough to shop this way you can pretty much avoid paying for much out of pocket. I've restarted a Sunday-only newspaper delivery just to get the coupons. And I've also found some sites where to print coupons online. I don't advocate buying something just because you have a coupon (I buy a lot of store brand stuff) but if there are certain things you like and you can combine a sale with a coupon, you might as well do it.

Today's purchase was about $50 (again, all stuff that we use). I'll check the flyer each week and make some additional trips (usually I buy everything at Kroger -- not the best spending strategy. So my grocery bill should go down while the Walgreen's spending temporarily increases). At the end of April I expect to have another $25 in rebates. At that point I hope to start using the gift card and at-the-register coupons in order to spend very little out-of-pocket. As I told a friend, I expect to be a millionaire by June.

Future millionaires. I hope.

Yesterday we took the girls to the bank to open their first savings accounts (they have college funds, but I wanted a place for things they want down the road). First I found their wallets and their piggy banks and dumped them out. I made up envelopes for "Give" (10%), "Save" (40%) and "Spend" (40%).

I've thought a lot about these percentages. I know I want them to get used to giving away part of their money. But I want them to do it in a meaningful way. We'll work on that. I split the rest between spending and saving, because wouldn't it be awesome if they got used to saving almost half the money they make? I almost made savings 50% of the total, because right now they have quite a bit of money in their wallets. Still, I control when they go out and spend it so it's not like they can grab the keys to the car and go clean out Target's shelves. Which they would.

After I divided everything up, Margret had $55, so $5 is in the giving envelope, $25 goes back into her wallet and $25 was earmarked for the bank. Audrey's totals were very close: $53 with $5 for giving and $24 each in savings and spending. John and I added $25 to each girl's account. The look of elation on Margret's face when I told her the bank would give her extra money just for putting her own money there was priceless. It was also cool to see Audrey and Margret signing signature cards and the backs of the checks we had written to them. No, I do not know why I forgot my camera. But what I really needed was a video camera: I handed Audrey's money to the banker and Audrey said "Don't give her the Jackson; I like that one!" I told her I liked my Jacksons too, but it needed to go.

Next up is talking about giving and finding a place to donate. At Kroger, you can donate to the Memphis Food Bank right at the register. I'm interested in finding other places where you can make small donations. Please let me know if you have any ideas!

I know. I know.

My blogging is sucking. One relative called me yesterday to make sure I was still alive. So I thought I'd give you a random list of things I've been working on:

• Watching the two doves who have taken up residence in my backyard. Currently they are making out on the deck rail. Or maybe they are just grooming each other.
• Routing for Memphis in the basketball tournament. Sunday's game nearly killed me. I'm hoping tonight's will be not as stressful.
• Taking the girls to John's parents' house for the annual egg hunt while he went to see the Tigers play in Arkansas.
• Coming up with and teaching a little scrapbook project for Margret's Brownie troop. It went amazingly well for something that I came up with just hours before the meeting.
• Proofing and preparing nearly 50 preschool photo packages and delivering them to the school.
• Baking two different kinds of cookies for pizza night tonight with friends.
• Taking the girls out to spend some of their Easter money on a toy. And constantly reminding them to pick up all the little pieces.
• Sitting outside in the backyard while the girls play whenever it has been good weather.
• Shooting an adorable one-year-old at his birthday party. And editing his photos.
• Accepting a spur-of-the-moment invitation to lunch yesterday with a dear friend. Who has her own adorable one-year-old.
• Deciding to take HBO off our satellite package as a way of saving money. We already get Netflix. No need to keep movie channels we never watch.
• Reading lots of blogs on personal finance.
• Checking my bank balance online and finding that the IRS deposited our refund. Woohoo! Then moving it straight to savings.
• Working on layouts for Cupcake Scrapshop (I'll post them next week).
• Booking more photo shoots for the spring (if you are interested in a session, you should call or email me soon. Slots are filling up.)
• Reading to Margret's class. I just love those kids. I told Margret she could invite the whole class to her birthday party.
• Researching minor savings accounts for Margret and Audrey. They have college accounts but I think they need to see the value in saving money. If you have any thoughts on this, please post a comment or email me.
• Finally finding flower girl dresses for my brother's wedding this summer. They are gorgeous.
• Taking Audrey to ballet class. And adding a note to our calendar that her recital is May 21.
• Going to the grocery store. Twice. Once with Audrey dressed as a cat.

And I didn't even cover general cleaning, laundry or meal prep. But I will try to do better with the posting. Sometimes it's good to take a break.

Happy Easter!

Thank goodness the Easter Bunny made it here last night. I'm sure she was very tired from all the running around she does, but she did manage to bring some new movies (Enchanted and Charlotte's Web), books (Junie B. Jones and Happy Easter, Biscuit), Littlest Pet Shop toys, Silly Putty, crayons (the 64-pack with the built-in sharpener) and a bit of candy (Skittles, Starburst and a chocolate bunny). The Lambert girls are perfectly happy with all they received.

Hope your day is a happy one.

Page 69! and 122!

This is Scrapbook Trends annual embellishment idea book. I'm so excited to be in it again because they picked up my very first layout ever. And I love the two that are in this book: one of Audrey and one from our Washington, DC trip last year.

Page 75! and 79!

Check inside for layouts of little Margret and big Margret.

Bracketology, Lambert-style.

First, I'm trying hard to be a good Spring Break mommy. That means taking the kids to the movies (Horton), out to lunch (McDonald's), shopping (for Easter dresses) and just generally trying to make sure they are having a good time. But I really should be working. John is off from work on Friday, which means he is on for childcare. I hope someone remembers to tell him.

After dinner tonight we filled out our basketball brackets. It doesn't matter how old you are or what you know about basketball. In our house, you are expected to participate. John likes to tell the girls the different team mascots as a way to help them differentiate. We did nudge them in certain directions in the first round, but after that, they were on their own. And get this: every last one of us ended with Memphis winning it all.

Fast weekend.

Let's just say this was a crazy busy weekend. Lots of house-sprucing, Tiger-watching and socializing. We had a superfun time at Ella's birthday party at Crossfire Commandos. I never thought I'd be so comfortable having my kids strapped into harnesses and sent flying across the room. But the employees there were wonderful, taking special care of Audrey who was completely overwhelmed by the enormity of the music and structures and chaos. She so wanted to participate, but was scared out of her mind. Still, she forged ahead bravely and found that she really could do all the things the other kids were doing. I thought it was a really big moment for her.

Margret was excited beyond belief and was into everything. This is a trampoline where you can jump your little heart out, safely tethered.


Once Audrey had conquered her fear, she was ready for the zipline. The mission was to throw a soft block to the kids who were waiting at the end. Later she told me that she went so slow (the kids had the option of being pushed fast or slow) that she "didn't feel nothing!"

Both girls had a blast and John and I loved watching them have a blast. After they gulped down some pizza and cake, we ran out to meet some friends who were in town for the basketball tournament. What a huge pleasure to stay up for hours talking to them.

On Sunday we had various errands to do and by about 4:30 I was zonked. I'm hoping to last a little longer today, which is the first official day of Margret's spring break. Let the fun begin.

More on Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

I've heard from our area coordinator that someone from the NILMDTS national office would like to do an infant bereavement photography training course in Memphis. I don't have any dates or times, but I would like you to contact me if you think you are interested in joining the organization. The way it works is that you apply to be a member photographer. If you meet the requirements, you are approved and asked to pay an annual $25 fee to offset website expenses. If paying the fee would be a hardship, it can be waived. We have several photographers in Memphis, so you could shadow another photographer before you did a shoot of your own. There's also a wonderful message board available to member photographers where you can learn a ton and ask all the questions you need to.

I believe the training course has been about $29 in other areas. I'm not sure if that would be the same here, but again it's really just to pay for travel expenses for the trainer. So. If it has been on your mind, please send me an email (see address on right) and I'll pass it on.

The final two Hamblies.

First, thanks for all the nice comments. It was wonderful to scrap last weekend and I've enjoyed sharing the work here.

On the 6x12 layout above, I used a small piece of the Brocade paper. Another new pattern that I just love love love. I printed out my text first (it's bulky refuse) and used UpsyDaisy stamps and Making Memories paint to add the butterflies and botanical images.

I've had these photos of Audrey for a while and could never decide what to do with them. Here I used a Raffle Leaf overlay on top of purple cardstock. After I added the photos, I stitched around them with embroidery thread. Since the photos featured purple sparkles on the cupcakes, I used purple sparkly Making Memories letters.

After I had completed each layout last weekend, I put them on the floor and looked at them as a group. My first impression was that I was so happy with the photography in each one. I think you can do a good page with photos that aren't technically perfect, but for me, a really good photo is extra-inspiring. It's usually how a start a page.

So let's discuss: where does your scrapping inspiration come from? A good photo? New goodies from the scrapbook store? A memory? I'd love to hear about it.

And even more Hamblies.

As the mother of two little girls, I'm all about the pink paper.

I used this transparency on white cardstock, along with a Making Memories journaling spot. This pattern is called "Grandma's Wallpaper". And yes, that is Margret playing shuffleboard.

This pattern is Brocade and I love it. My version is paper (but you can also get it in an overlay). I printed out my text (Futura) on an 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock and then added all the elements, including that beautiful piece of giant rick rack that belonged to my grandmother.

On the third day of Hambly.

Here's another piece of that Raffle Leaf that I love so very, very much. You can pick up the pink swirl in the new, smaller rub sheet. I added some velvety AC Thickers letters, a few Prima flowers and my own journaling block.

One of the new designs that I'm crazy about is a sheet of ATC-sized blocks. You can cut them out and make them into ATCs or cut just a few and make a border on a layout, like this. I made a pocket behind the photo for some journaling, and added Heidi Swapp chipboard letters for the title. Easy peasy. And thank you, Leslie, for having the perfect color wall so I could match my paper.

Hambly, day two.

Also new in the Hambly line are houndstooth papers and overlays. And may I just say that I love them?

I used the paper in this layout, with an orange mat around the photo (it's more vibrant in person). The "art in your pocket" title will come out as a rub (the version I got is a transparency prototype). I also used a circle stamp I got from Creating Keepsake's December kit of the month. An aside: I got that kit back in December and used a few pieces. Last month I discovered that they had sent doubles of some stamps and none of others. I emailed them, and within about a week I had all the replacements. Thanks, CK!

During our trip to The Children's Museum last month, Margret dressed up as a shark. An adorable shark. We tried getting her to say "candygram", but I think the humor was lost on her.

Anyhoo. I used the houndstooth overlay here, ripping it (make a small snip with the scissors where you want to start tearing and just hope for the best) to get the jaggy edge. I added Heidi Swapp chipboard letters and some Paper Studio screw brads. And I was done. Look for more Hamblies tomorrow.

A happy scrap day.

After a few months of very little scrapping, I decided that I wanted and needed to scrap yesterday. I had a package of brand new, sweet smelling Hambly and I really wanted to play with it.

While the rest of the family did whatever, I happily sat at my desk with a pile of photos and got to work. By about 5p, I had ten new layouts. I don't think I've ever done ten layouts in one day before. Even better, I truly love them all. Nine of them will be sent over to my Hambly gallery; one is just for me. How about if I show you two a day for the next five days? Okey dokey.

This is the only non-Hambly in the bunch. The photos are from last Thanksgiving. We encouraged John's dad to tell us some stories from his childhood and he was happy to oblige. Margret and her cousin Joe were so into what he was saying. And I was too! Sometimes it feels a little intrusive to pull out a camera in these circumstances, but I knew it must be documented. I think Margret will love having this layout years from now.

Hambly has a new design out called Raffle Leaf, and I am seriously in love. It's a 12x12 design but here I've cut it to 8.5x11. In the coming days you'll see this paper in a few more colors. It's freakin' awesome. The little swirl above the left photo will come out as a rub-on in a few weeks. Hambly is releasing a smaller size sheet of rubs in new designs. Again. Awesome stuff. Additionally, I've used a Collage Press journaling card and some Love, Elsie ribbon. I had actually saved that little scrap because I thought it was too cute to toss. While working on this layout I knew that I had to use that particular piece. And I found it.

I'm telling you; it was a good scrappy day.

Our first snowman.

Meet Lumpy. He's the first snowman I've ever made in Memphis. I grew up in Maryland and we didn't get much snow there, either. So I was surprised that my snowman-making skills weren't more rusty. Once we discovered that the snow was sticky, we got straight to work. Of course, the temperature was rising quickly so we called to one of our neighbors who was outside and made him come look at it. I don't have much hope that he'll be around past noon, but rest assured that he will be immortalized in a scrapbook page.

I'm so glad I didn't plant anything last weekend.

Even though the weather was wonderful last weekend, I knew that it was still too early to plant. A neighborhood garden expert says don't plant anything until April 15, because you just never know. I think she may be on to something.

Here's how my barn looked this morning:

You can see it got a little windy last night.

This is my crepe myrtle, which I meant to prune last weekend, and then I thought I'd get to it this week. But I didn't. Sorry, myrtle.

This is a beautiful little Japanese maple right by our front door. It's probably totally freaked out about all that snow on it.

These are my brand new icicles. I can't remember ever having icicles in Memphis before.

Here's the swingset. You know, the place where my children happily played, barefoot, just a mere seven days ago?

Finally, this is my favorite place to sit in the backyard. It's an Adirondack chair made out of recycled milk cartons. I've had it for years and I love it. It needs washing but you never have to sand or paint it. But I don't think I'll be sitting there today.

Seven Random and Weird things about me.

Paula has tagged me. I need to post seven weird and random things, and then tag seven other bloggers.

1. I have a toenail that is permanently split down the middle and grows in two separate pieces.
2. I can sing back-up to "Midnight Train to Georgia".
3. I can't sleep if the closet door is open.
4. I have five siblings, yet I am an only child.
5. I have one credit card that I have completely memorized so I don't have to pull it out when I want to order online.
6. Except for my wedding rings, I don't really like to wear jewelry.
7. I hate to blow my nose when other people are in the room. I believe it to be a private act.

Feel free to tag yourself, but I'm also tagging:
Roxi
Megan
Mandydake
wendy reed
Steph
Michelle
Liz

But Liz can pass if she wants, because she's days away from having a baby!

For Mandy.

I don't think I ever posted my February Cupcake Scrapshop layouts; I think I just did a sneak peek. So here they are, for Mandy:

I really love to do 6x12 layouts, like above.




Thanks for looking!

Today,

Remember the glorious weather I posted about last weekend? We don't have that right now. It's snowing. A lot. Margret already had a scheduled half day, and after Audrey and I finished up the preschool photo shoot we met up with some other moms and kids at Taco Bell. For three hours. And it was fabulous. The kids played in a giant playroom that had a door. Which meant that moms could talk without hearing all the crazed noise.

By about 4p, we were all home (including John), drinking hot chocolate and watching the big flakes come down. Soon we'll eat an early dinner, get into our pajamas and watch a movie together. Yea, us!

March Cupcake.

Here are a few things I did with the latest kit from Cupcake Scrapshop. One note: I somehow grabbed that piece of red patterned paper below, but it is not in the March kit. But there are lots of other luscious pieces you could use.


This is a 7gypsies book that I'll use to document some favorite Mommy/daughter recipes.


The girls love that I did a layout about our recent trip to the Children's Museum. They love the pretend grocery store. Have you noticed I do a lot of layouts about food?

Ack! I just saw that this kit is sold out. But you can check the site on March 15 for a preview of next month's kit. It's sure to be wonderful.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Alert.

As of right now, The Today Show will be running a story about a Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep family and photographer on Wednesday morning, probably in the 8:30a half hour. They sometimes put video on the site, and if so I'll link it here.

If you are not familiar with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, let me explain. It's a volunteer organization of professional photographers who provide photo services to families who have lost a newborn. When a baby is stillborn or born with conditions that are incompatible with life, professional photos can be one of the few keepsakes of that baby's short life. We photographers do our best to provide beautiful images as a way to help families heal from these tragic losses. It's such a difficult subject and some people find it morbid. I've done several sessions myself and frankly I just don't even know how to talk about the experiences. I just know that once I found out about the organization, I couldn't not do it.

So I hope you'll get a chance to learn more about the organization and how it can help. Because you never know if someone around you will need it.

ETA: You can see the segment by clicking here. But get some tissues first.

Goals.

My dear, dear Margret, who is smarter than you and me put together, sometimes has trouble staying on task. We see this at home, and we've heard it from her teachers. I think that she is just so interested in everything going on, and that she has a wonderful imagination and it's just too hard to have to focus on only one thing. It's a curse, I tell you.

This morning I had to keep telling her to get her clothes on but she was more interested in seeing who had the higher delegate counts in the primary races (the tv is usually tuned to The Today Show in the morning). I love that she wants to know everything about the world, but it is maddening trying to get her ready for school.

So on Sunday I came up with an idea to try to help her. I said that each of us should pick one goal for the week and then we can all help each other with our goals. Audrey wanted to learn to spell new words, so I have a journal for her and she picks a word and I spell it out for her. Who knows if it will stick, but she may be learning something in the process.

Margret has a big goal: to earn a Webkin from school by reading books and taking AR tests on them. We broke down that goal and showed her she will need to take two AR tests a week to earn enough points by the end of the school year. She brings home two books from the school library every week, plus we can get others from the public library, so this shouldn't be a hard goal. The only difficult part is finding time for her to take the tests at school. She has to remember to ask her teacher, and there has to be time during the day to fit it in.

Last night I had her read one of her school books and she took it with her this morning. I hope she remembers to ask her teacher for the test.

My goal is to scrape and clean all the windows in the house. As you may recall, I cleaned all the outsides last week. Now I'm trying to scrape the remains of the previous owner's paint and shine them up. On Monday, it took about an hour to clean one window (while I helped Margret with math homework and spelled words for Audrey). So I'm not so sure I'm going to meet my goal. But at least take a look and tell me it looks good.

In the shot above I focused on the window. Below, I focused on the house across the street.

It looks good, right? Please tell me it looks good. No, I don't have a before shot. But trust me. I worked hard. And I need some encouragement!

John still hasn't picked a goal yet, even though we are all bugging him about it. Now I'm thinking his goal should be to help me scrape windows...

Preschool portraits.

Audrey has many talents (including opera singing as detailed below). Today she assisted me as I took portraits of several of the kids at her school. Ranging in age from six months to four years, the kids are generally pretty good at picture-taking time. But there are a few who need some extra coaxing, and Audrey was just the person to do it. In addition to sitting so I could get the light right, she also made funny faces and held up props while I was shooting. Now, she has not grasped the concept that I do not want her jumping up and down and holding on to me, but for the most part she was helpful. Even at the end when she handed out Hershey's kisses and stickers to the bigger kids.

We've got two more sessions this week. I hope they go as smoothly as today's.

Fresh air.

After the nasty February weather, we were happily surprised by the beginning of March. Saturday and Sunday were glorious. Sunny and 73 degrees. My favorite combination. Since we have been neglecting our yard for months (we have some big shady trees who don't like to give up all their leaves until very late in winter) we decided to get out the rakes and get to work.

And I'm always amazed at how good the yard looks when we rake it. I shouldn't be surprised, because it happens every year, but I still am. The backyard is big, and even though we did do some interim raking, it took us all day Saturday and part of Sunday to finish it. We whipped through the front yard on Sunday. The girls and I are looking forward to adding some spring flowers soon.

After the bulk of the work was done (John wanted to wrestle a giant weed into submission) I got out the camera. It's been too long since I took some pics just for fun. I also knew I wanted to remember what a great time the girls had this weekend. John and I constantly lament that our kids don't have the great freedom to run wild like we did as kids. So anytime they can get some free play in the backyard, I'm all for it.

And they really did have a wonderful time. Especially on the swings. Margret can fly on her swing and Audrey has finally figured out how to get the red swing to move without waiting for a push.
While I was trying to get some shots, Audrey decided to sing me an opera. Which she did beautifully.

I'm so lucky to have such talented kids. Don't you think?

I'm tagging myself. And you.

My friend, Vivian, wrote a list of random things that make her happy and someone in the comments said she should tag others to do the same. I'm not waiting for Vivian to tag me; I'm doing it myself. And then I'm tagging you. List as few or as many as you'd like.

Random list of things that make me happy.
• the long-sleeved Nike t-shirt that Toni gave me that I wear at least three times a week
• a giant cup of hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows, sometimes right before bed
• taking a quick peek at photos from a session with a three-month-old baby I did yesterday
• picking up chicken salad and spicy tomato soup from LaBaguette for lunch
• the big wall calendar we now use to keep track of our lives
• dinner out every Saturday with the whole family
• a clean studio
• reading Domino magazine in the car in the few minutes before I pick up the girls from school
• the daffodils starting to bloom in our backyard
• making cookies or pumpkin bars or some other baked thing
• my electric blanket
• the girls playing quietly and happily
• butter

Surprise!

A while ago I was contacted by Cocoa Daisy and asked to be their guest designer for March. Very, very exciting for me. Here are a few of my layouts, and you can see the rest here.