I've got to stop buying shampoo.

The Grocery Game can certainly be addictive and sometimes I need to remind myself that I don't have to go after every deal. Although I'm pretty excited that I got those two bottles of Vive completely free. Nevertheless, I spent some time organizing the closet in my bathroom and was a little surprised to see how much shampoo and conditioner I have. I think I'll hold off buying more, unless I can get it for less than $.50. I also have a good stash of body wash, razors, shaving gel and deodorant. I could use more toothpaste.

I had good shopping trips this past week. I went to Kroger three times; twice to take advantage of their mega sale and once to get stuff for Audrey's party. Sadly, there are no coupons for bagged ice and watermelon, so that trip was not so great for savings. Overall I spent $160 on $335 worth of food (52% savings). I made two trips to Walgreen's (we ran out of trashbags after the toy purge so one trip was just to get more of those). I spent $33 on $69, with some rebates coming back. Looking back at my July spending, it's higher than I'd like. But I finally feel like I have a good stockpile, so I'm expecting August's spending to go down. If I can resist the shampoo.

I know there is a big misconception that coupon users buy lots of processed, unhealthy food. So I thought I'd give you a rundown on the types of meals we've had for the last few weeks. We usually eat cereal for breakfast, and Audrey likes to have a frozen waffle most days. John normally buys his lunch and the girls and I eat at home. I usually have a coupon for lunchmeat (I love Healthy Ones brand) and I was able to purchase a bunch of coupons for my favorite 100% whole wheat bread, so I mostly have turkey sandwiches. This summer I've had coupons for Sun Chips and Baked Lays Cracker Crisps, so I've had those along with fruit. Margret likes PB&J, fruit, Goldfish or graham crackers and sometimes a few cookies (always bought with coupons) or some treat I've made (brownies, chocolate chip banana bread). Audrey eats the same, but she prefers a piece of cheese over the PB&J.

I do buy treats like fruit rollups and the girls get them for one of their two daily snacks. The other snack is normally a more healthy choice, like fruit or yogurt.

For dinner recently we've had:

• chicken, sweet potato and black bean quesadillas
• citrus chicken, broccoli, smashed potatoes
• skillet lasagna, salad
• garlic lime chicken, mac & cheese
• homemade pepperoni pizza
• hot dogs, baked beans, peaches
  
• sauteed chicken on a big salad
• steak, broccoli, smashed potatoes, watermelon
  
• chicken tacos with rice (tonight)
  

We normally have leftovers one night and eat out one night (and we try to use coupons at restaurants). Some nights we have breakfast for dinner. And I do try to use fresh ingredients whenever possible, and to also have fruit on the table (watermelon and peaches have been poplar this year). The girls don't always eat what we do (that's why there are chicken nuggets and corn dogs in the freezer) but I can count on them to eat broccoli every week. So that's something I buy no matter how much it costs.

I have bought a lot of ice cream and frozen treats lately, but I will dole them out slowly. We might do a special dessert a few times a week, but a lot of the time there is no dessert or just some fruit.

We could certainly improve our eating habits, but overall I'm satisfied with the quality of food I buy each week. Since I save $30-40 with coupons, I feel like that's money well spent on fresh produce and I try not to skimp there. And leftover night is usually a treat -- lots of good things that we've enjoyed and that won't go into the trash. We have some waste, but less than we used to.

I'm always looking for new recipes that are simple and healthy. Anyone want to post one or point us in the direction of good websites?

Money Saving Mom sale.

Money Saving Mom is one of my favorite blogs (I check in a few times a day to look for good deals and money saving tips). Today Crystal is having a blowout of a sale on a great package of info. It's over $100 worth of money-saving ebooks, homemaking helps, and encouragement for only $5.97!

What makes this deal so good is that this ebook package includes the ecourse Supermarket Savings 101--this course alone is worth much more than $5.97 and will teach you how to drastically reduce your grocery bill. You'll learn how to cut your grocery bill by up to 50% or more and have fun saving money at the same time!

Go here to read more about this offer. But hurry: the price goes up tomorrow--get this money-saving ebook package at a ridiculously low price while you can!

Baby cousin.

He's not our baby cousin. He's the cousin of this guy. And both are seriously cute. This little dude was not much of a smiler, but some babies aren't. In fact, he was a bit suspicious of me and my camera. That's okay. I think suspicious babies are supersmart because they are already trying to figure out the world. Nothing wrong with that.

We purged.

On the spur of the moment yesterday we decided to toy purge. This is when we drag all of the toys to the den, put them in like piles (Barbies, dolls, games, dress up, etc.) and then start going through in order to reduce the mayhem.

We try to do it twice a year, before their spring/summer birthdays and again before Christmas. We have a lot of relatives, so our girls are blessed with abundance. Which is great. But we live in a small-ish house and toys can overwhelm it if we let them. We're a little late for the spring purge.

We've been doing this since Margret was little. And we've always involved them in the process. I think it's important that they choose what they want to keep and what to give away. We only have a few rules:

1) Keep whatever you truly love (and we did let Margret keep a Fisher-Price school bus that is meant for toddlers, even though we thought for sure she wouldn't still want it. She did.).
2) Give away the things you don't love, so someone else can love them (I was touched by the way the girls would suddenly get happy if we suggested that a certain thing go to a younger friend).

We tried different approaches with different things. I laid out some of the dress-up stuff and asked them to come pick out four purses each. They did it easily and the rest went into the give away pile. We had a few arguments over things, but not many. And sometimes we sent the girls off to work on side projects (they "tested" the box of markers so we could throw out the bad ones) and we furtively worked through a few piles on our own. Funny how you can't find any McDonald's toys in the house anymore. I lost count of the number of trash bags that went out the door.

I worked alone on going through the art supplies, of which we have many. But I actually enjoy going through them and ditching the old paint and ripped papers that somehow never make to the garbage can on their own. I also made sure all the plastic boxes were clearly labeled (crayons, pencils, stickers, stamps and ink, markers, etc.). I ruthlessly dug through the crayons to pull out the broken, naked and poor quality ones and set aside a bag of them. If anyone out there uses crayons for craft projects (candle making? collage?), please let me know and I'll send you a handful. Seriously. I would be happy to put them in the mail to you. Leave a comment or email me.

We started this grand project around 11 or so, and finished at 10p. Yeah. It took that long. We did stop for lunch, and we went out to dinner and gave the kids baths, so there were breaks. And we continued to work organizing the playroom after the girls went to bed. But John and I were both into it, and this morning he said when he looked at the girls' room and the playroom he didn't want to throw up. I agree.

Make sure you live today.

I'm so sad to hear that Randy Pausch died early today. But I'm so happy to know that he had such an impact on this world. Get some tissues and watch this video.

Hot tips for school supplies.

I just found out about this list showing various prices on school supplies -- very cool!
Hot Coupon World School Supply list.

Here is a post that is not about food.

Just wanted to say that yesterday was a triple treat for me: after I finished editing a photo session, I laid down in bed and read some more of my current book. After dinner, I met my dear friend, Toni, at the bargain theatre to see "Made of Honor". I haven't been to a non-kid movie in a while and there were some very funny parts. Plus I got to see Toni (who needs to go see a chick flick with me at least once a month). Then, when I got home, John and I watched another episode of Battlestar Galactica.

Let that sink in, people: I read a book, went to a movie and watched a favorite TV show. All in one day.

Details of my shopping trip.

Jessica asked me in the comments on the previous post to give more details about what I bought during the Kroger sale yesterday morning. Since I made my own list and didn't get info from the Grocery Game on this one (I'm not allowed to share GG deals), I'd be happy to!

My coupons have all come from the Sunday inserts. I get one paper delivered at home, and frequently buy 1-3 more papers, depending on how good the coupons are. When I get the Kroger flyer in the mail on Tuesdays, I do a quick check to see if there are any items I might be able to order coupons for. So here is what I picked up yesterday (coupons and final prices in parentheses). Remember, getting $5 off ten items is like getting a $.50 discount on every item.

$1.50 items
1 Frank's Red Hot sauce ($.50 off, doubled to $1 = free)
1 Daisy sour cream ($.50 off, doubled to $1 = free)
1 Cattlemen's BBQ sauce ($.75 off = $.25)

$2 items
4 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit rollups ($.50 off 2, doubled to $1 = $1 each)
1 Capri Sun lemonade (no coupon; $1.50)
4 pints of Dove ice cream (4 $1 off 1 = $.50 each)
10 Edwards pie singles (5 $1 off 2 = $1 each)
1 Cheetos (no coupon; $1.50)
1 Betty Crocker Warm Delight minis ($.50 off, doubled to $1 = $.50)
1 Heinz ketchup (no coupon; $1.50)

$2.50 items
2 Windex (2 $.75 off = $1.25 each)

$3.00 items
1 Hebrew National franks ($.75 off = $1.75)
2 Pledge furniture polish (buy one get one free, plus $1 off = $1 each)

Total $101.56
Kroger card savings $31.70
Coupon savings $38.53
My cost $31.33

For every ten items I bought from selected categories I got $5 off at the register, and I bought 30 items for $15 off (the limit is 30 items at a time). And you have to buy in groups of ten to get the savings (i.e.: if you buy 29 items, you get $10 off, if you buy 30 you get $15 off).

I tried to find a coupon for everything, although I did buy a few things without that I need now (Cheetos and Capri Sun for Audrey's party, Heinz ketchup). Yes, I stocked up on ice cream and pie slices. They don't exactly make for a healthy dinner, but we do have dessert a few times a week and those will last us for several months (plus I'm going to give some to my neighbor who gives me her coupon inserts). I also bought things I don't need yet (the Frank's Hot Sauce was free) and things I already have plenty of (Pledge and Windex, but they don't go bad so I don't mind stocking up).

The key to this kind of shopping is to be flexible (try a different brand if you can get it cheap) and to think ahead. If you see a great deal, buy multiples of it (keep expiration dates in mind, though). I hear that peanut butter will soon be on sale and you can believe I'll be buying several jars at a time. I've already stocked up on salad dressing, pasta, pasta sauce, cleaners, health & beauty items, mac 'n cheese, cereal, meat and chicken. Once you start to have a good stash, you'll see your grocery bill drop. Because all you'll need each week is fresh produce, milk and perhaps a new stockpile of one of your staples.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions. Just email or leave a comment.

So today.

I did manage to eat yesterday. John met us at McDonald's for the girls' weekly (or so) outing and I had a big salad. For dinner I made citrus chicken, potatoes, broccoli. I made plain chicken for the girls (saute boneless tenders in equal amounts of butter and olive oil) and they pronounced it the "best chicken ever!" Which is pretty good considering they had already had McNuggets earlier.

And here's some more about food: yesterday I got the Kroger flyer for the sale that starts today. They are having a big, big sale (buy 10 items, get $5 at the register) and I had coupons for a lot of the stuff. So with tactical precision, I made out a list last night and got up at 6a to go hunting. I mean shopping. I came home with 30 items from the sale (the max you can get with one trip) plus two free 20 oz. Cokes (I enter codes at mycokerewards.com and get coupons for free drinks). I spent $31 and saved $70. Yep. Over $100 worth of food for a mere $31. Because I have already stocked up on meat this week, I anticipate my Sunday shopping trip to be very light. Probably just milk and produce. And more Diet Coke.

I am not hungry.

It is so freakin' hot here that I really have no appetite. Yesterday afternoon I filled up the baby pool in the backyard for the girls and John and I sat on the deck and talked. And talked some more. And then we talked again. We finally headed into the house around 7p and we were not hungry. I certainly did not feel like trying out a new recipe for citrus chicken at 7p. So we defrosted some hotdogs and I cut up fresh peaches that were so divine that I finally had the desire to eat again. I managed to make a loaf of banana chocolate chip bread earlier (gotta do something with those old bananas), so we had some of that. It was a perfect summer meal.

Now it's morning (9:21a) and I still haven't eaten breakfast. Because I am not hungry.
At all.

Oh Baby, baby.

I feel so lucky.

I get to take photos like this. Sigh.

The little fella didn't open his eyes during the shoot, but it was okay. His personality was still there.

He was just adorable and his mom and dad were great. As usual I went to their house and started rearranging furniture so I could catch the good light. And it was really good light.

I want to kiss this photo. Repeatedly.

And his mom seemed to really like this one. Me too. See how lucky I am to have such a great job?

I might as well use this time to let you know I've developed a new photo package. In the past I've had the Newborn shoot, which is $85 and includes a disk and online show, for babies up to four weeks old. I also have the Family shoot, which is $200 with a disk, an online show and a hardbound printed book, and that covers the whole family. Now I'm adding the Baby's First Year shoot. For $125 you get a baby-focused disk of photos and an online show. I'll include some photos with parents and siblings, but the main subject is a baby between four weeks and 13 months. By the way, hardbound books of any session are available for an additional charge.

I'll be making additional changes to my website soon and I'm still booking for the fall. I'd love to hear from you...

It was worth going out in the heat.

I started reading some frugal blogs that mentioned good buys at Wal-Mart, and I knew backpacks and lunch boxes were on sale, so we loaded up the minivan and headed over. After gift cards, sales, coupons and some cash from the girls to buy a toy each, we spent $32 on:

• two lunch boxes
• one backpack (Margret had her eye on one at TJ Maxx)
• two pairs of athletic shoes (for the girls)
• eight jars/bags of pasta sauce
• one pound of bacon
• two expo markers, four packs of pencils and two erasers
• a Ken doll and some clothes
• a special Barbie doll that probably isn't worth the $16 shelf price
  

Yes, it was worth going out. And yes, it's still hot. Or humid. Whatever.

Sunday ramblings.

• I was out the door at 7:30 this morning to hit up Walgreen's for school supplies. After a trip to Target after that, I have about 85% of what I need for the next two years for both girls, plus a few extras of some items. So far, I've spent about $45 (with another $10 or so on gift cards). Our school charges $30 for a pre-pack, which works out to $120 for the next two years. Thank you, Grocery Game.
  
• Since I had my grocery list ready I went to Kroger too, where I spent $135 on $211 worth of stuff. I bought lots of meat for the freezer and I worked out some good deals on razors. We shall be very smooth and full of protein for the next few weeks.
• When I was unpacking the car this morning I got to see my neighbor. Hi, Jennifer!
  
• If you are thinking about PaperBackSwap but haven't joined yet, go take a look. My mom signed up through the link to the right and has already had three books requested. As soon as those are received by the requesters, she'll have credits to order three free books. When she has ten books listed she'll get another two credits, so two more free books. Remember, you only pay the postage for books that have been requested from you. When you request a book, it's completely free.
  
• I've spent the rest of the morning organizing coupons and all the sales flyers that have landed on my desk. Now that I have almost finished the school shopping, and I have most of what I need for Audrey's birthday party this weekend, I'm thinking about Christmas. I usually completely blow the budget at Christmas time, so I'm thinking I might be able to start buying a few gifts a week now and it won't be so bad. My plan is to take out some cash from my business account and keep that in an envelope in my purse. We'll see.
• It is freakin' hot here today. Or humid. Or something. Something that is not good. Something that I am growing weary of.
  
• Even so, I'm considering taking the girls to Wal-Mart to buy their backpacks. I don't love Wal-Mart but they have some gift cards and instead of buying toys, they get to buy backpacks and lunch boxes. Is that mean? I don't really care because I can't bear the thought of more plastic in the house. We need to toy purge. Soon.
  
• I'm almost finished The Glass Castle. It's horrifying and fascinating at the same time.
• I had the pleasure of meeting two families yesterday for photo shoots. One had three kids; one had a four-month-old. Both were extremely nice and fun to meet. I'll get started on the editing process tomorrow.
• Did I mention it's hot? Or humid?
• Audrey's birthday was last month, but because we were traveling we delayed her birthday til this coming Saturday. Did you know that when a five-year-old has to wait a month for her party that she is still considered the "birthday girl" for that entire month? And that being the "birthday girl" means you get all sorts of rights and privileges? And that a month of this can wear a mom out?
• This day is flying by. I'm going to go figure out what to do with the rest of it.
  

Oh, beautiful Hambly.

Even though I'm no longer on the Hambly design team, Allison sent me a packet of some of the latest stuff they are showing off at CHA (an industry trade show, which I will get to some day, I promise you, Paula, Vivian, Sarah and Kimber. And Sarah and Francine.).

I managed to keep my drool off this pile of loveliness and I really can't wait to dive in. I have a big stack of photos that need scrapping, but I seem to have a lack of time. I have a baby shoot to edit (some of my best pics ever) and two more shoots happening on Saturday, which means two more shoots to edit. I love the photo-taking part of my job; it seems to just fly by. But the editing part takes time, along with some quiet so I can concentrate and not miss any steps. That is usually in short supply. At least for the next three weeks. I'm so excited about school starting because I'll actually be able to edit photos in peace.

I miss scrapping. I miss submitting and the thrill of getting an email requesting a layout. Mostly I just miss the creative process. I miss losing myself in putting a page together. I will get back to it. I promise.

I am a reader.

After a fabulous lunch yesterday with my fabulous friend, Echelle, I am finally energized about selecting some books to read. I used to read all the time. Then I had children and eventually gave up my spot in a book club. And I've missed reading. People magazine can only fill the gap for so long.

But I'm also picky about my books. I can't do a lot of the popular formula fiction stuff. I need my books to have a literary bent. I don't mind unusual writing styles, but I need a good plot and characters (at least one) to whom I'm sympathetic.

On the advice of another friend (Aimee), I joined PaperBack Swap last week and started listing books. It's a free service; once you list ten books you get credits so that you can start requesting books (they list both paperbacks and hardcovers). But even if you don't have ten books to list, start adding what you have. If someone requests a book, you'll get a credit right away (I've only listed eight books but three have been requested so I already have three credits). Once someone requests your book, you can print out a mailing label from the site (with or without postage) and you pay the mailing costs. The book doesn't return to you -- it belongs to the requester. Then when you request a book, it gets sent to you for free and it belongs to you. Once you read it, you can always add it back to your list and send it off somewhere else. To get started, you can click the link to the right. Remember, it's free to sign up and all you pay for is postage for requested books. So far I've used Media Mail rates at the post office and have spent about $2.25 a book for hardcovers.

So once I started posting books and getting requests, I started searching for books to request. And I was totally overwhelmed. It's like I put all this pressure on myself to select the perfect book, because reading used to be so important to me. And then I couldn't choose. I froze. I've tried looking for recommendations in several magazines I get, but I was still at a loss to make the decision. I even started stumbling around Shelfari, looking for ideas from my friends' lists (Shelfari is a free place to list books you've read, are reading, or have read, and to write reviews. You can connect to other friends and see their lists; feel free to search for me there.). But nothing was clicking.

Then I had lunch with Echelle, a modern day working mom/goddess, and she started reeling off book titles. Oh, thank goodness for Echelle. She told me about "Those Who Save Us", which a mutual friend loaned her. And she mentioned loving "The Corrections", the book once placed on Oprah's Book Club until the author asked for it to be removed. So I had John get in touch with the friend who has the first book, and I requested the second on PBSwap. For good measure, yesterday at the library I picked up "The Glass Castle", a book recommended a while ago by my friend, Erin.

So now I have a queue of three whole books to read! I cannot tell you how exciting this is. Now the challenge is carving out reading time. Since we've cut out HBO on our satellite, I do spend less time watching tv (plus we have those Battlestar Galatica disks arriving from Netflix on a regular basis). And some days I'm able to coax the kids into going out into the backyard in the late afternoon. That's probably my favorite time to read. And of course, school will be starting soon and I'll have to fill those quiet hours with some type of activity other than eating bon-bons. Of course, maybe I can eat the bon-bons and read at the same time?

Tell me what you're reading right now; maybe I'll add it to my own list.

House Smart.

Check out the new post.

Canvas On Demand.

I've added yet another link to the right; this one's for Canvas On Demand. They take your digital photo and print it on stretched canvas (up to 40x60 inches). I took one of my favorite photos of Margret and got a sample done (a perk of being a photographer). I loved it so much that I ordered one of Audrey too.

This is a service that I offer for my clients (the prices you see on the consumer site are the same ones that I charge), but you can also order directly from my link. The order form is easy to use and they ship pretty quickly. So order one up for yourself, or feel free to ask me for help.

ETA: the size above is about 16x20.

Motherhood.

I've always enjoyed Keri Smith's blog and her exploration of creativity. She recently had a baby and she wrote a lovely post about the complexity of becoming a mom. I can't link to the exact post, but if you click here, just look for the July 9 post titled "truthful things about being an artist and a mother, (for amanda)".

One more.

Tonight I'm going through images and picking out some personal things to print and, eventually, scrapbook. I upload all my photos to iPhoto and I keep a folder marked "to print". At some point I'll scroll through the last few hundred photos and I'll start pulling some into the print folder. After I've selected everything I want, I pull them all into Photoshop and do a little tweaking. Then they get uploaded to a local photo processor. Most of the time I do the upload at night because it takes a while. Then I pick them up and put them into my ever-growing pile of photos to be scrapped. I swear I'm getting closer to actually doing something with them.

Anyhoo. I found this image and when I first looked at it I saw that the color balance was wrong. I could do a lot of messing around to get it right, or I could just make it a b&w, since the exposure was fine. And now I think it is a totally sweet reminder of my brother's happy day. (click to make the image larger).

Conversation.

Me: Audrey, what kind of car do you want when you grow up?

Audrey: A Dodge.

Me: What color?

Audrey: Purple.

Me: Do you want Uncle Steve to paint it for you?

Audrey: No, I'll paint it.

Me: Well, you should probably let Uncle Steve do it. 'Cause if you just whip out a paint brush and start slapping it on it probably won't look so good.

Audrey: I will get blue tape and put tape on it first.

Me: Oh. Okay. Good luck with that.

Time for the numbers.

I feel like I've spent a ton of money this week. We had two doc visit co-pays ($40), babysitting charges ($35), a quick trip to Target for peanut butter and cookies ($5, but free on a gift card), a trip to Kroger to make dinner Saturday for friends coming over ($21, but $29 shelf price), a quarterly visit from the pest control guy ($45) and a trip to the bargain theatre ($7.50). And today I got up early to start checking the flyers for bargain school supplies. Here's what I've spent today:

Kroger
Shelf: $123
I paid: $77
39%

Walgreen's
Shelf: $109
I paid: $46
58%

I stockpiled a few things at Kroger, but I mostly bought fresh fruits and vegetables. I have lots of great meals planned this week.

I had to go to two different Walgreen's to get what I needed, and about $20 of that is for school supplies. I'd say I have about three-fourths of what I need for the next two years for each girl, and I'm beating the $30 pre-pack price for sure. Walgreen's will have more of what I need next week and I'm hoping Target will bust out their sale soon.

I made one additional trip today, to World Market. I saw in their flyer that they had a great price on olive oil, which I really need. It was $10 for two liters. But when I got there, they were out. Bummer. But then I read a sign that said I could substitute two one-liter bottles of the World Market brand for the same price. Perfect. And they gave me a free tote bag. So I think it was worth the trip.

And I'm hoping this will be a less expensive week overall. The girls will go to MDO one day and I have lunch planned with a friend. Other than that, I mostly just plan to get some work done.

Apparently I had a very good time.

Click here.

Kid Station.

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment. And since the friend who usually trades babysitting time with me had already watched the girls this week and she was working anyway, I had to find an alternative. I remembered that we have a drop-in babysitting service in town called Kid Station. So I checked them out.

I read through the whole site, filled out the necessary forms and did the online registration. I also called and made a reservation for Friday morning. It was a little time-consuming but not hard. And on Friday morning I dropped off the girls. I had to sign them in with a password that I had created, and give an approximate pick-up time. I sent snacks and drinks (although Kid Station does have snacks on hand) and kissed my girlies, who were already mesmerized by the sight of the giant kid habitrail structure just waiting for them.

I saw my doctor and went back to pick them up, about two hours later. They charge by the minute (so you don't pay for three hours if your kids have been there two hours and three minutes) and my total was about $35 (which included a one-time $10 registration fee). Clearly it's not the cheapest option, but the girls had so much fun there that they didn't want to leave (they hadn't had a chance to use the Wii yet). And for on-demand babysitting, I'm not sure Kid Station can be beat. You can make a reservation, or you can just show up.

I've got photo shoot coming up during the week at the end of the month, and I have already promised the girls another trip there. They cannot wait.

Another crafty girl.

My friend and neighbor, Jennifer, is incredibly crafty. Check out her Half Full Martini blog and her Etsy site. One of her posts mentions that all July orders will receive extra goodies. If you need to spice up your scrapbooking layouts with some adorable tags, Jennifer is your girl.

Girl art.

One of the absolute best things about having kids is their artwork. I truly love everything they create (and I've saved way too much of it). Just this week we have been gifted with these two creations:

Margret drew this for John, in honor of his birthday. He hasn't seen the real version of it yet, so I hope he acts surprised. I just think it is wonderful. Especially that short tie.

A few days ago, Audrey left this on my desk. It is a picture of me, walking two dogs and a cat. I especially like my skinny legs. Please note that Audrey included her signature in the top box.

I'm hoping these will spur my own creativity. I desperately want to do some scrapping, but I have some business stuff that I need to tend to first. But I'm getting closer.

Crafty girl.

My friend, Erin Fudge, who has the best last name ever, has a new crafty blog: Fresh Fudge. Take a look and see what's she cooked up. I think her candle holders are lovely, and her coffee table is outstanding.

Happy Birthday, sweetie! (a day late).

I just didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday. I did remember John's birthday and we gave him a big present before dinner (a lap desk made to hold a laptop computer), and I made brownies in the afternoon so we could have brownie sundaes for dessert (Margret's idea). John said it was a great day all around.

We also did a bunch of errands and took Audrey to her doc appointment. The poor kid had to get four shots to complete her green sheet for kindergarten. I leaned over and held her hands while Margret had her nose about a millimeter from the action. The first shot made Audrey's eyes get pretty big. The second caused her face to crumple. Tears came with the third and fourth shots. But she was great about staying still and I held her for a few minutes after (with a few tears in my eyes). And then I pulled out lollipops. By the time she had picked out stickers, she was skipping out of the office.

As usual, she has refused any Tylenol or Motrin, preferring to tough it out. And this morning she has limped around a bit -- it's obvious the injection sites are tender. Again, she doesn't want any pain relief. Crazy. But she should be feeling better soon.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get laundry done and organize school supplies. I could buy the prepack kits from school, but with my super-shopping abilities I think I can beat the $30 price. This morning I picked up 150-sheet packs of notebook paper for $.39, and folders for $.18 each at Walgreen's. I've also seen a sneak peek of next week's flyer and I will be heading back early Sunday. The deals are coming!

Re-entry.

This weekend was a pleasant one. Since we got back to town on Friday, a holiday, it seemed like there were no expectations of us. I appreciated that. We've unpacked, done laundry and cleaned up the house. I did a photo shoot. We cooked meals at home. We took John out for an early birthday lunch today. I've gone through a mound of business and personal paperwork. I've pulled together the necessary papers for registering the girls for school. I've updated our calendar. I've packed up several things that need to go to the Post Office tomorrow. We watched two episodes of "The Baby Borrowers", the best reality show I've ever seen. And of course, I went shopping.

Kroger
Shelf price: $143
I paid: $75
49%

Walgreen's
Shelf price: $29
I paid: $11
60%

I will need to make a Kroger stop tomorrow to pick up more milk, which more expensive than gas right now. At least I have a $3.50 coupon for any purchase that I can use. And Audrey has her five-year-old doc appointment in the afternoon. I've explained that there will be shots, and they will hurt, but then they will stop hurting. Afterward, we'll stop by the school and pick up supply lists. I'm eager to start the back-to-school shopping.

I feel very rested even though I've accomplished so much this weekend. I have a few big things to get through this week, and I'm hopeful I can get back to scrapping at the end of the week. Wish me luck.

Guess what we've been up to?

It's been a lot. We packed up the minivan last week and headed 1000 miles east to my hometown. My brother was getting married and we couldn't wait to get there. We also used the time to have a mini-vacation.

Here are the girls practicing their flower girl duties. We thought we had plenty of time to make it to the rehearsal, but we ended up being 45 minutes late, due to heavy traffic. So right before the wedding, the girls practiced again.

My brother, the handsome groom, with his lovely bride. This is the last of my four brothers to get married (my one sister is also married) and I must say I had a feeling of contentment that all my siblings are so well matched. I wouldn't trade any of my in-laws.

This is Dave. I very easily talked him into a recessional surprise. Dave, a former bandmate of my brother, was the pianist at the wedding. All I did was mention how cool it would be if he could slip a few bars of "Play that Funky Music, White Boy" into the recessional. You know, something subtle. Especially since the Episcopal church has some pretty stiff standards for wedding music. So as the happily married couple walked down the aisle, Dave slammed out the tune and quietly went back to classical. It was a riot. Even the priest laughed.

If I'd remembered to pull out my camera, this is the part where I would show you photos of the lazy day spent at my Dad and stepmom's place. They live on a farm, with plenty of room to roam and plenty to do. But I just sat and talked to relatives while other people watched my kids. Perfect.

On Monday, my brother (not the one that got married; the one we stayed with) fired up his RV and we headed toward the beach with his whole family. It was a really fun trip and we spent most of the day at Frontier Town.

One of my favorite parts was watching a native American family explain their culture's dance tradition. I was so glad Audrey wanted her photo taken with the chief, Laughing Wolf. The girls also got a chance to shoot bows and arrows.

After our train ride (which included a hold-up!), we panned for gold. It is harder than you think to pan for gold. But we kept at it and ended up with a bit of pyrite to take home.

Poor John. Margret had to punish him for all those Sundays he watches football. We also got to see a can-can show (complete with interruptions by the town drunk!), watch the rodeo, eat some very good ice cream, buy cowboy hats and get deputized by the sheriff after a hold-up at the bank.

And since we were so close to the beach, we decided to go stick our feet in it.

No matter how careful you are, there's always that one wave that gets you. Luckily, I brought changes of clothes for the girls. I did not, however, bring one for me. My pants were still dampish an hour later when we stopped for pizza.

It was hard to pack up and say goodbye on Tuesday, but we did. And went to Washington, DC, to visit my aunt and uncle. It took us longer than planned (that dang traffic) and after dinner we walked over to Iwo Jima. Which is really much larger than you expect it to be.

And then we walked over to the carillion, which wasn't playing but still interesting.

The next day we hit the Metro and went to the new-ish National Museum of the American Indian. First, the architecture is just beautiful. And we tried to cover as much of it as we could. I don't think we missed much.

After lunch at the cafeteria (one of the most interesting and diverse I've seen -- John got a bison burger), we took a few photos in the lobby. For a change, the girls were all about posing for me.

We also headed to the National Air and Space Museum. John and I had both been as kids, and even though it's not as up to date as the American Indian, it was still pretty cool. We went back to our hotel for a rest and met my aunt and uncle for dinner at the hotel. Despite all the cool things we did and saw I can honestly say my favorite part of the whole trip was just spending time talking to my relatives.

We left Thursday morning and got back into Tennessee, where we stayed at a hotel for the night and swam in the cold pool. By Friday afternoon we were back at home and now we are trying to settle back into regular life. Let's see how it goes.

I love special events.

A few years ago, shortly after I got my DSLR camera, I went to a friend's baby shower. As I little favor to her, I took lots of photos of the event. It was great fun for me and I hope I was able to capture that happy day, through the details and the people there. Later, another friend who was at that shower asked me to come photograph her husband's surprise birthday party. That led to other contacts that led to other jobs and so my "event photography" package was born.

I have to admit that I love photographing parties. I stay just behind the scenes and I look for all the visual things that make the event special. Recently I had the great honor of photographing the surprise 50th wedding anniversary party of a friend's parents. I've known this family for awhile and I adore them. How could I not do it?

When I'm photographing an event, I look for some defining image that will be the beginning of the online slide show I create. I don't give out disks for events; instead I load them on to a website where friends and families can view and order prints. The daughter of the honored couple was able to find a photo of their wedding cake and she worked with a baker to duplicate it. This will be my opening shot.

The couple's son-in-law printed up dozens of cards with facts from 50 years ago, and left them scattered all over the house. These were such a great visual; I took photos of several of them.

I also try to move around the party area and get lots of shots of the guests; close-up and at a distance.

And of course I always stake out a great spot when there's something special happening. Once people know I'm the "official" photographer they usually make way.

When I know where the action is going to occur, I get set up for the exposure and I keep snapping. I won't use all the photos from the series, but I will get a few that will have what I want.

Most events include food, and food is such a memorable aspect of a party. I like to remind people what they ate. The food at this party was fantastic.

Sometimes I include a blurry shot, especially if it shows great emotion. This party was full of happiness and I want to make sure that shows through.

Of course, I'm always looking for the artistic shot. I usually don't set it up; I just observe what's going on.

Most of my shots from this party were candids. I don't like to interrupt to make people pose, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show the bride and groom with relatives now and then (in the framed picture).

I like to have some kind of ending shot and I do often set these up. Several guests were leaving, but I made the happy couple stand in the doorway a little longer and told them to keep waving. This is a sweet way to get a photo of them together and to round out the slide show.

If you've got an event coming up in the Memphis area and need a photographer, just let me know.

I have never laughed so much at a shoot before.

I can't even begin to explain how much fun this family was. One daughter had given a family shoot gift certificate to her mom for Christmas. The shoot included the parents (in the middle), one daughter and her family (in white) and the other daughter and her family (in the black). I drove out to the country to the parents' place this spring on a chilly day.

I immediately felt at home because I received a lot of ribbing right from the start. That's always a good sign. I like to have fun during a shoot.

Their property is beautiful and meaningful to all of them. Years from now they'll recall the fun they had here when they look at the photos. I like it when a picture can evoke sounds and feelings (can't you just hear a little fish jumping in this pond?). I love this photo because all the grandkids wanted a shot with their grandparents. They each wanted a portrait alone with their grandparents, too. Clearly they all adore each other.

And even though it was a bit cold out, everyone wanted a photo with everyone else. This sister had to have photos with her nieces and nephew. The other sister did the same thing. Both sisters wanted photos with both parents, and individually with each parent. Couples were photographed together, as well as moms with their own kids and dads with them too. It was wonderful watching them all interact. And they were so nice they invited me to lunch. Now that's a good client.

More fun.

Right after I had Margret, I wished I was young enough to have four kids. I thought being a mother was the most wonderful thing. Then I came to my senses and remembered that I really only wanted two kids.

And then I met this family. They were so much fun. I had photographed the youngest at Audrey's daycare and the mom called me for a full family session. I was delighted.

I totally love this, even with the little boy not looking at the camera. If I were this family, this would have been my holiday card.

With four active kids, it's important to let them have some fun. I had the idea to let them toss leaves and they were way into it.

I also like to ask kids to help me pose the family, and I ask them who they want to be photographed with. This smart girl wanted a picture with her mom.

And sometimes you just have to let kids be kids. I think this is one of the coolest kids I've ever met.

June Grocery Game totals.

Wow. I've been at this for about three months, which is the amount of time the Grocery Game says to give it before you see great savings. Here's what I've got:

Kroger:
Shelf price: $660
Spent: $372
43% savings

Walgreen's:
Shelf price: $307
Spent: $140
54% savings

Last month I spent almost $500 at Kroger, but I only spent $72 at Walgreen's. Still, I'm spending less overall and that's the whole goal. One thing that I haven't consistently tracked is our dining out budget. But I'm sure we have reduced that as well. We used to go out every Saturday night, plus another night, plus a weekend lunch and possibly more because we didn't have anything to eat in the house. Now we still do our Saturday night dinner, but we rarely go out for any other meals, because we always have food. And we've learned to cut back on those meals by only getting water to drink and using coupons whenever possible.

With food prices rising, as well as gas, have you done anything to help your family cut costs? I'd love to hear about it -- please leave a comment!

Fun for the whole family.

Sometimes I have the pleasure (and hard work) of photographing an extended family. I love it because I get to explore more relationships among the people present, but it's harder because I have more combinations of people to work with. It can get chaotic.

This is two sisters with their parents, their grandmother and their husbands and children. One sister lives in another state, so it's a special occasion when they are all together.

I was very glad the sisters wanted a photo with their grandmother. I would have insisted upon it if they hadn't.

I also loved this shot of four generations from one family.

But this one may be my very favorite, the sisters with their daughters. I have to think that years from now they will all treasure this one.