Livestrong Challenge Austin 2009

My internet was down for 2 days! I was going crazy. I could access my blog on my phone but I couldn't upload a picture so I was especially upset about missing my Sunday post. The good news is that Monty(my hubby)is finally home. hooray! The kids and I were pleasantly surprised when he came home a bit early last night. I wasn't expecting him for another hour or so and as I was coming out of Harrison's room he was almost to the top of the stairs and I almost pushed him back down them. He was exhausted so I didn't get to hear too much about his trip but he did show me a few pictures.

 I don't think I mentioned it but he was in Texas for the Livestrong Challenge. He has been biking for years and is a huge Lance Armstrong fan so he was thrilled to have the chance to go down to Austin and ride in the 2009 Livestrong Challenge. He left on Wed. with his brother, mom and pops and they arrived in Austin on Friday morning. He told me that there were tons of people there but it was surprisingly calm and orderly. He got registered and went around to visit the different vendors stands. He was super excited to go to Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop which is owned by Lance and the women's breast cancer awareness tent.

 We have had some close calls with cancer and this is a cause that is very dear to our hearts. We really hope to take the whole family down next year so we all can be involved. Monty ran in the 5k run on Saturday morning along with about 2500 other people. He finished in just under 25 minutes and was able to relax the rest of the day as the bike portion didn't start until the next day. Sunday morning came early as they had to check in at 7 a.m. for the 8 o'clock start. He biked the 45 miles in 2 hours and 40 minutes. It wasn't a race so each entrant kept their own times but he was pretty happy with his time. He stopped a few times to help his brother who had a horrible time with cramping and at one point couldn't even bend his leg. They both pulled through and crossed the finish line. I am so proud of them both.

 As I said before, Chloe and I want to go next year and do at least the bike portion. The challenge is open to all ages and they have everything from a 5k walk/run to a 90mile bike race. The only problem we might encounter is that each entrant is required to come up with a $250 donation to enter. I guess if we have a year, it shouldn't be too hard.

 Hope you all are having a great week!    

Time for a challenge

My husband left on Wednesday for Texas. This is the first time he has been gone for more than a day and to tell you the truth, I was pretty nervous about him leaving. It is strange how dependent you can become on a person. I spent an entire afternoon worrying about him going and wondering what I was going to do while he was gone. I am a 30 year old mother of 2 and I was worried that I would be lost without my husband around. I suppose that is a good thing but none the less it is strange and silly that I felt so helpless.
 So here I am, two days into it and things are great. Of course, most of you out there could have probably told me that I was worried over nothing. It has been nice actually, having him gone. I have been able to spend a lot of time with the kids and we have had a really good time. Chloe and I had stayed up kinda late watching tv last night and had a sleepover in my bed. I forgot how much that kid kicks and punches while she sleeps. She is pretty strong for such a small girl. She of course wanted to sleep in there again tonight but she had to promise to at least start out on the far, far side of the bed.
 I have been reminded in the past few days of how much fun my daughter is. Although she has attitude for days sometimes, she really is a great kid and I love hanging out with her. I really need to get better at telling her that. My technique is way off. I'm afraid I'm always using my crazy mom voice and getting on to her for things instead of telling her how proud of her I am and encouraging her. I vow to get better! Starting tomorrow!
 We actually are going to a pumpkin patch tomorrow to pick out our pumkins and then we are going to come home and carve them before heading to Chattanooga to see Nemo on Ice. I can't believe the tickets cost so much money! Fortunately, Monty's brother was able to get us a discount on the tickets. I think Harrison is gonna love it and Chloe seems pretty excited too. I'm glad shes not too old for this stuff just yet. I know I probably only have a year or two left before she doesn't want to do anything with us anymore. I remember when my older sister started that and I just didn't understand it. I don't remember ever feeling that way. I always liked spending time with the family. Of course my parents probably have a different story. I need to call my mom and get the scoop on how much of a pain I was at 11 years old but it is late and I need to get to bed. Busy day tomorrow!

Firty-one

Yesterday was my birthday and according to my son I turned "firty-one". It is a strange feeling to be thirty-one. Not barely thirty,still pushing or rather clinging to that late 20s thing but actually in my thirties. This may take a while to get used to. The kids gave me their handmade cards after dinner and I love seeing their proud faces when they give me things they make. it makes my heart swell up and I get this warm, heavy feeling in my chest. I guess that is what true love is. Well more than true love, a mothers love. nothing in this world compares to this feeling. I am so lucky.

Hand Cramps

So I am trying to get off the ground with my couponing. I have a binder loaded with baseball card inserts,divider tabs,scissors & pens. Now all I need is to fill it with my coupons. I have clipped and cut and sorted for what seems like hours and this pile of inserts doesn't seem to get any smaller. My hand is KILLING me. Wish I could work these scissors with both hands. I guess thats what I get for not clipping them from the beginning. I think I got a little ahead of myself when I decided to start clipping coupons "for real" because I started buying 2 and 3 papers a weekend, pulling the inserts out and then stacking them in places that I would inevitably forget about until Sunday would roll around again and I would go buy more. At this point, I still was unsure what to do with all of these coupons but boy was I excited to have them.

So now I have them clipped and somewhat organized but I still have to stuff them all in their individual little sleeves. What I really want to do is put the whole mess away and go to bed. Alas, I must soldier on if I want to hit the stores this week. It seems a little daunting to think about matching all of the coupons with what is on sale and trying to decide what stores are worth hitting up. With a toddler in tow, the fewer the stops the better. I really don't have to do much work now that I have discovered two amazing websites. The ladies at http://www.southernsavers.com/ & http://www.time2saveworkshops.com/ pretty much do all of the work for me. All I have to do is click a few buttons and they have all the latest sales matched up with what coupons work and there are even links to printable ones. They even give you scenarios showing the best way to use your coupons at the drugstores where you can get things for free almost every week.

I am still trying to get a system going for my drugstore coupons. I think I may get a smaller accordian file since I will probably only have a handful in there from week to week and just keep my binder for my grocery stores. Now the big problem is what to do with all of these inserts I haven't cut yet. I even found some in the garage the other day. Can't tell you how they got there or how long they were there because they were expired. Such a waste. Looking forward though, I will figure this out and hopefully soon I can share with you some amazing savings!

What do you use to organize your coupons?

What I Love About Sundays

Chloe performed with her dance team at the Apple Festival this year. It was soooo cold! We definately were not prepared for it but we had a good time anyway. They had just about every kind of apple available fixed every way possible.There were lots of other good treats as well. I was hoping to try a fried twinkie before we left but I was so cold all I could think about was getting home and into some cozy sweats. I don't think we are going to actually have a fall this year. I think it has skipped on into winter and that makes me sad. The months of September,October & November are my favorites mostly for the weather. Oh well, I guess we will just have to make the most of it. I will miss my flip-flops though.

What I Love About Sundays

 Chloe and her buddy Leah decided to go "ghost hunting" and came down the stairs in their all black get-ups. I remember doing crazy things like this when I was her age. She cracks me up.

new name

So I foinally decided on a name for my little cake business. I'm not telling just yet as I'm still working out the details with the website and liscensing but I will let you all know soon! It is such a relief to have finally decided on something. I'm not kidding, I used to spend hours at night unable to fall asleep because I couldn't stop thinking about it. I have little notes strewn everywhere with names and ideas on them.
I'm sure Monty is just glad I finally stopped asking him what he thought of them. There were many nights that I wld wake him from a deep sleep with my newest revelation of the most perfect name for a bakery. He would sleepily say that sounds good and go back to sleep never recalling the conversation the next day.
Anyhow, I'm trying to get a logo designed and will hopefully get that website up soon. I will be sure to let you all know when I'm done.Have a great day!

What I Love about Sundays

cake,cake,cake

   I had two cake orders this week and they kept me busy. They were both on the creative side which I love. It gives me a chance to try new things. Our good friends Aaron and Sarah had me do an army theme cake for little Landon. He is all about the G I Joe stuff right now and his face upon seeing the cake was priceless. His jaw literally dropped to the floor. He goes "WOW that's a cool cake!" He is so cute. That really is the best part of the job to me. I love being able to bring little bits of joy to others in the form of cake. I had a wedding cake to deliver this afternoon. The couple had a destination wedding and were celebrating with a reception for the friends and family who couldn't make the wedding. They seemed to be a fun couple and wanted a cake that "didn't really look like a wedding cake,"  so I did a 3 tier square with lots of circles in the wedding colors. I was really happy with the way it turned out. Hopefully they enjoyed it as well. I didn't get home from delivering it until 8 this evening. I had to stop by RiteAid to get some free stuff before weekely sale was over. I was able to get a fusion power razor,scope outlast toothpaste and an oralB toothbrush for free after coupons and rebates. I am getting quite addicted to this freebie game. lol. A neighbor stopped by earlier and I laughed while explaining what I was doing surrounded by piles of coupons, envelopes and a huge paper cutter. Monty said "yep, this is married life. This is what we do." I was cracking up.

     

 We had a minor setback this afternoon when I was about to leave. I noticed that my keys were not in fact on the hook where they belong. I searched and searched and I finally found them in the back seat...of my locked car. I was less than thrilled. It only took an hour for a locksmith to get there. an HOUR. What if I had locked the cakes in the car? They would have been a melted mess. I have got to find my spare set. once the guy finally did show up he no more than stepped out of his van and put what looked like a huge blood pressure pump in my door and my alarm was going off. Glorious! and all I had owed this man who saved the day was 40 dollars. wait, what!? 40 bucks you say? oh yes, he made 40 dollars in less than five minutes. I told monty we had to get one of those pumps!

I'm still here!

Please don't give up on me. I know I haven't posted in over a week. It has been insane around here. Harrison was sick then Chloe was sick and I have had 6 last minute cake orders. Two of which are due this weekend and the others are for a wedding next weekend. Yikes. I haven't had time to do anything but bake. I actually had to miss one of Chloe's performances for the first time. Turns out,tonight was the last game of the season. She made sure to lay on the guilt really thick. She loves to give me a hard time. I really hope I can carve out some one on one time with her soon. My friend Laura invited me to see Casting Crowns in Chattanooga on the 10th and I think ill ask her if she would like to go. It would be fun to have a girls night. She has been working so hard lately. I feel bad for her. She has so much homework every night and doesn't get home from practice until 5:30 and games until 9:30. I don't miss that at all. Anyhow, enough of that for today.I'm going to try to get some pics uploaded soon. Lots of cakes and cookies and cupcakes. Yum. Hope you all have been doing well and I promise not to stay gone that long again!