Change of Scenery

When I woke up this morning and looked out my window, this was my view.


I burst into song from my high school play Oklahoma -

Oh, what a beautiful morming.
Oh, what a beautiful day.
I've gota beautiful feeling,
Everything's going my way.

What a perfect view.

Can anybody guess where I was or what I might have been doing there?

Vacating

Hard to believe that after 7 long months, the end is finally here.

It feels like just yesterday that we found out, but yet I can't remember what it felt like to not know the end was near.


Hard to believe a few short weeks ago this place was a thriving warehouse, filled with long-time employees doing the job they had been doing for year after year after year. Now they are all gone. Some have been lucky, and already found new jobs. Some are still searching. Some are taking some time for themselves.

The building has been quiet for the past month. I have only been working a few hours each week. After next week, it will all be over. The Atlanta Rite-Aid Distribution Center will officially be closed, forever.

The halls are empty.


The warehouse is empty


Everything is gone.


Many economists say that our economy will go through an economic crisis every seven-eight years, and that at times it is even necessary, essential, and a positive thing. Let me tell you, there is nothing positive about watching your friends and coworkers walk away from the jobs they have had their entire adult life. There is nothing positive about seeing them hug, cry and say goodbye to the people they have worked along side by side for 20-30+ years. It is heart-wrenching. I don't care if I live long enough to see this "cycle of economic downturn" transpire a dozen more times in my life, I will never forget this recession and this time in our country's history, because I witnessed first hand the devastating effect it has had on so many people's lives.

As for me personally, I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. I will miss working. I enjoyed my job. I was good at it. But right now I need to be at home. I need to enjoy that part of my life more. Working full-time is so hard when you are also a full-time mother. The two clash in so many ways. And we have been blessed beyond measure that we are finally at a place financially where I don't HAVE to work anymore. Next fall, after the kids start back to school, I will most likely try to find something part-time, just to keep me busy so I don't go crazy.

But for now, after next week, I will no longer be employed. That feels weird to say. But the time is here. My hope and prayers are with all those that have lost their jobs, that they find the perfect new job for them, that they will be able to get through this difficult time, that they will not suffer financially. May God bless them and give them peace, for they were good people, and deserve his blessings and the peace that only He can give them.

Good-Bye Rite-Aid.

I Shouldn't Brag, BUT

When you are this good at something, it is hard to keep it to yourself.

For once in my life, my tendency to be slightly (okay, maybe not slightly, more like extremely) obsessive compulsive is finally paying off - literally.

My mind has a weird way of focusing in on something that sparks my interest, and once I have gotten it in my head, I have a hard time shifting focus to anything else. There have been many times when this "habit" if you will, has just about driven me crazy. But not now, not with my new OCD obsession of couponing.

Yeah, I know. You know I am into it. I have been couponing hard for about six months now, and I could not be happier with my success.

And just to show off how good I am getting at this, check out my latest conquest


So, all said and done, this pile before sales and coupons would have cost me about $250. But I only paid, (drumroll please) . . .

$21.17! That is a savings of about 92%.

That's right folks. Told you I was good.

And just for effect, here is everything I got -

12 Duncan Hines Cake Mixes
3 Pillsbury Brownie Mixes
4 Pillsbury Frostings
14 Domino Brown Sugar boxes
2 Domino Confectioner's sugar boxes
8 bottles McCormick Ground Cinnamon
16 packs McCormick brown gravy mixes
4 cans Eagle Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Karo Syrup
2 bottles Crisco Butter Spray
1 Bottle Crisco Baking Spray
6 Martha White Muffin Mixes
1 Fleischmann Yeast strip
8 cans Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
8 cans Swanson chicken broth
6 cans Hunt's Tomatoes
4 jars Ragu Pasta Sauce
4 jars Ragu Pizza Sauce
4 boxes Uncle Ben's Wild Rice
4 jars Mt. Olive Relish
8 bottles French's Worchesteshire sauce
2 jars Dole Pineapple slices
4 Tony's Frozen Pizza
1 Mrs. Smith Apple Pie
1 box Eggo Waffles
2 bottles Welch's Grape Juice
4 packs Mentos Gum
3 boxes Little Debbie Cupcakes

Now, of course, you know my family isn't surviving off of frozen pizza and chocolate cake, even though they would if I would let them. Everything I buy now gets added to my stockpile that continues to grow and grow. And we chose our weekly menu around what we already have, so then I can use my weekly grocery budget to buy things at the lowest price when they are available.

For example, the Duncan Hines cake mixes. I don't need 12 cake mixes right now. But I got those completely free, so of course I am going to get as many as I have coupons for and keep them in my stockpile for when I do need them. Get the point?

So, if you need a cake mix, some brown sugar, or just about anything else, give me a call. I'm sure I have some on hand!

Sick of Fall

Been keeping up with me on Facebook lately? Then you probably already know.

We are sick

AGAIN.

This fall - I am sick of it.

I hope it feels as bad as we have been feeling.

Shame on you fall. Shame on you.

And even though I am sick of this fall, there is no antibiotic to cure that.

So, instead we are all on antibiotics to treat our strep that has struck our house again.

First, Colin, then me, then Donny, now Philip.

Madilyn is the only one who is safe. Who knew that having a bone mass and being treated long term with antibiotics would actually keep her healthy through all this other mess.

Take a gander at my kitchen counter


Thank you, Rite-Aid for your wonderful $3 generic drugs. Who knew there was a perk for working for a drug company?

Now if we only had a doctor in the family.

And Philip has been officially diagnosed with asthma as well. He now has a preventative inhaler that he has to use twice a day, which hopefully over time will reduce his need to use the albuterol inhaler to treat his actual "attacks", which for Philip involves uncontrollable coughing which leads to him not being able to breath, which eventually leads to him throwing up. It is not a pleasant cycle people.

And, as if that is not enough, he has an appointment with an ENT on Thursday to see about getting his tonsils taken out. His left tonsil is so big it literally bulges out of the back of his throat. It looks like you could just reach back there and pluck it out. I wish it was that easy. Poor little guy has really been having a rough go of it lately. This is his fourth round of antibiotics since the end of July, plus he had pneumonia back in April, so the guy has not been healthy. So, hopefully we can get his tonsils out and get this asthma thing under control, and we can stop going to the doctor every other day.

Unless, of course, we can ever get that doctor in the family. If Donny could find a woman that is a pediatrician, I might not be opposed to him taking another wife.

The Big Reveal

Every year, come October 1st, I find myself asking my children over, and over, and over , and yet over again -

What do you want to be for Halloween?

And over, and over, and over, and yet, over again, I get the same reply -

I don't know.

Me, personally, I am a fan of the homemade costume. Store bought costumes are so generic and cheap-looking. My children, however, don't always share the same sentiments. And as the days turn to weeks, and we find ourselves looking trick-or-treaters in the eye with no prospective costume lined up, store bought will always get us by in a pinch.

For weeks, I have been throwing out costume ideas, and no one wanted to catch any of them. Finally, I threw out a pitch Madilyn was willing to go after, and the costume turned out to be a homerun!

Introducing - Queen Candy Corn




Now as Queen, Madilyn rules over all Candydom, riding the land of sour-pusses and bitter apples, and spreading sweetness and cavities, I mean candy, throughout all the land.

And what Queen could rule without her Brave Knight to protect her from evil




So Brave and Strong! (And thank you, Target, for providing us with this magical sword that convinced one little 4-year old that being a Brave Knight would be awesome! Otherwise, we might still be standing in the costume aisle.)

Now Colin, he's so tricky. He had convinced himself that he was too old to dress up, and thought he should be able to just go trick-or-treating as himself. And as scary as he alone can be at times, no respectable trick-or-treater goes as ones-self. So, forced to make a decision, after my attempt at pitching out strike after strike after strike, he decided to buy his generic Star Wars costume, and is supposed to be Obi-Wan.


Hey, I'm just glad he smiled for the picture. That, in itself, was a Halloween Miracle. And remember, he is supposed to be Obi-Wan, because soon you will asking yourself -

What Changed here?

Spooky Tradition

Halloween would not be complete at our house without our annual Halloween Feast.

We dine on delicious meaty Bat Wings, crunchy Monster Buggers dipped in day-old Witch Vomit, and fleshy Mummy Toes.



Yummy!

You Better Not Pull Down Their Underwear!

Trick - Or - Treat

Smell My Feet

Give me Something Good to Eat

If you don't, I don't Care

I'll Pull Down Your Under. . .No, you won't, and don't you dare say that when you go trick-or-treating.

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating, even though it was drizzling rain all night and much colder than we had anticipated.





Now, I'm sure you are wondering what happened to Obi-Wan? Well, apparently, the force was not with him, and he decided to go as a Cub Scout instead. My guess is that being a Cub Scout is as close to NOT being in costume as Colin could get away with, hence, he wanted to go as a Cub Scout.

Here is the Cub Scout before trick-or-treating


And here is the Cub Scout after trick-or-treating


I have nothing more to say on that.

And the Brave Knight, after a long night of protecting the Queen,


He says Good Night, Halloween.

Boo-rrific Party!

Costumes, Candy, cooler weather, and celebrations could only mean one thing -

It's HALLOWEEN!

We kicked off our spooky weekend with a party at Philip's school on Friday afternoon. Thanks to one little child in the class who, for some reason unbeknownst to me, is part of a religion that does not believe in celebrating anything, even birthdays, and much less the day of the DEAD, we had our party after school, which meant, YIPEE, we ALL got to go! So much fun!!

The party was a huge success. There was a costume fashion show, games, and cupcake decorating. All the kids had a great time, and the 4-year olds were all so cute.






Madilyn's sweet BFF Melissa tagged along as well, because, really, how can you expect a 10-year old to go to a Pre-K party without a friend.


They would never admit it, but the big kids had a great time, too!


Philip's teacher, Ms. Nicole, with her Knight, in shining armor.


Spooktacular!

Keeping you "In the Know"

It has been brought to my attention that I have neglected to keep you updated on how Madilyn is doing. My neglect obviously is because she is doing great.

She had a post-op follow-up visit with both her doctors a month ago, and they both agree that she is doing great. Dr. Fabregas took X-rays, and it looks like the healing inside the bone has already begun. He said we should be able to see what will look like a spider-web inside the bone, which over time will become more and more dense. They will do additional X-rays in a couple of months to see how the inside of the bone is looking.

Dr. Shore, a great doctor in my opinion, wants her to continue on her antibiotics for at least six months. He did more bloodwork, which all came back great. Her SED rate was at a nine, which means there is no inflammation in her system.

A funny thing, well, kind of depending on how you look at it - on the way to see Dr. Shore, Madilyn asked if he would want to do blood work again. I told her I was sure he would. Her response - "I don't know why Dr. Shore likes my blood so much. Everytime I see him, he is obsessed with getting my blood." So I tried to explain to her why it was important for him to take her blood, and she just really didn't care. Her response - "Whatever. I just don't even care anymore. I'm not even going to cry this time, because I am just over it. If he wants my blood, let him have it."

What I can say, she is a trooper!

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of the residual damage




Quite a lovely little scar, isn't it? She doesn't seem to mind it, though. The clavicle bone is twice the size as the left side, and you can see how it protrudes. But Madilyn feels fine now, doesn't have any pain at all, and is doing great.

And, your welcome for the update!

Freaky Fright-Day

Thought I would take you back in time a few years to Halloween 2006. This was our first year living in Newnan. Madilyn was 7, Colin was five, and Philip was 1, and boy, were they cute!!

Sheriff Colin had come to town to arrest Frankenstein's monster, who had been set free by the hyper-active Alabama Cheerleader.








I love looking at these pictures. Some things I noticed - Madilyn still had bangs, Philip really was still a baby, and so cute!, and Colin was camera-friendly. I was cracking up at all his faces. The kid really got into character.

So much fun!