The Case of the Green Poop

My poor baby, Cam, has had green snotty looking poop accompanied by a small fever for over a week now! I took him to the doc last Thursday and was told that he had a stomach virus. He was supposed to get shots yesterday after it had cleared up. But, it had not, although his poop had started to look closer to normal. So, doc had me take home a stool sample kit to collect the poo.

She never told me what she thought it might be,but the kit said it was a test kit for pathogens and parasites! The thought of my baby having some kind of parasite really freaks me out! To make it all worse the poop has turned back to its slimy snotty consistency that it was last week and he still has a small fever! AND, we will not have the test results for a week!

Other then the strange poo and little bit of a fever, he seems to be doing fine. Still his smiley happy self. But, a mommy has a right to worry!

Great Shopping trip and Aidan's fantastic Snack Basket!

I wanted to share with you how i go about my grocery shopping trips. Like many of you i usually make a list before going out. This time around I kept track of my list on my refrigerator and marked things down as I started to run out of them, or as I thought of things I needed. After making my list I scanned the newspaper and Internet for coupons for some of the items I needed and then looked over my local grocery stores weekly ads to see who had the best deals for the items on my list. This week was Albertson's.

I like Albertson's when I need to buy meat because they usually have some good specials. Check out these great deals I got!

Not only was their ground beef $1.99/lb but some packs had a $3 off manager special coupon on it! the 3 packs I bought were a little over 3lbs a piece, after the coupons I ended up getting 11.1lbs for $13.20 (That's $1.19/lb!) There drumsticks were also a great deal at $0.69/lb so I bought 10.51lbs for $7.25!



Now as many of you may now, Albertson's will usually triple coupons up to $.39 and double up to $.50. Well not only did they have great buy one get one free specials on biscuits, but I also had some $.40 coupons which they doubled. I ended up getting 4 buttery flaky biscuits, 4 small rolls of croissants, 4 small grands biscuits and 3 small rolls of cinnamon rolls for only $11.72 instead of $19.49! Which i could have used more of the coupons for this purchase if I had them but i decided to go ahead and buy more then i had coupons for since they were bogo!




You really don't have to be an extreme couponer to get some great deals!

I find it amazing how, when presented with options, a child can make good decisions... er, well at least mine has been recently.

Introducing: Aidan's fantastic Snack Basket!



I started this when Aidan was three, but made the mistake of keeping it where he could reach it. After only a couple of days I woke up to open snacks all over the house!

I decided to try it again recently and now i keep it where he can not reach. In the basket I have many healthy snacks, such as: apples, granola bars, fruit cups, pop corn and baggies of dried fruits and nuts... I also have a couple not so healthy snacks, one little baggy has a lolly pop and tootsie roll in it, or chips. The great thing about the snack basket is Aidan gets to make his own decisions, within reason, but he also learns to make healthier choices. The Healthy snacks are a little bigger and more filling, so, no matter how tempting it may be to grab the candy, he knows those two small pieces are not going to fill him up and he may need to pick something better like the bag of fruits and nuts.

Cheap and Free Ways to Make Money off your Art: Etsy

Often times I am asked about where I sell my work, many people are surprised that I rarely, if ever show work locally any more. I find that local shows and art fairs, although fun and a great way to meet fellow artists and art lovers, are just too time consuming for some one like me. With all the commitments I currently have selling online is really the best way for me to get my art out there.

I am incredibly fond of Etsy.com for many reasons. Namely for the sense of community it has. Many artisans are very friendly and encouraging and they want each other to succeed. There is such a wide variety of crafts and art that it draws a wide range of buyers, many of which are looking for stylish unique hand-made items. I tend to often times be afraid of doing something new for fear of failure. The fact that so many people are wanting to see something different makes it easier to get past that fear and do things that I may not have tried before. plus when you do make something, even though it may take some time to sell, you get positive feedback from your work through people "liking" your items or making your shop a favorite, or even adding your item to a treasury. That kind of positive reinforcement really helps you keep going when sales are down.

Etsy only costs $.20 per listing making it affordable to get started on an artists budget. And you get to keep your listing up for 4 months!

One of the downsides to Etsy are the amount of sales. You have to be patient and wait it out until you see any action. You also have to keep listing items on a regular basis. If you only list a couple and wait until the listing ends your item will get buried under months of other listings causing you to get very little exposure. On the same token, if you list a lot of items all at once the same thing will happen. Many people will suggest listing at least once per week, this is good advice. I would recommend listing your work as often as possible, even once per day if you can, to keep people looking at your stuff and to keep your shop fresh with new and interesting items.

For examples of an Etsy shop check out mine HERE.

Rover Rally

Here are some pictures from Rover Rally in March. I didn't take many paintings with me since it was such a small event and only 3hrs long. But, we had a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and said hi to us.

My Fallout with Fast Food

Well, I have finally had it! I recently had to go through my finances to figure out where our money is going. You see, with the impending birth of our son, Camden, Eric and i decided to save as much money as we could just in case I had to be away from work longer then we planned. I was making 2/3 our household income so the thought of me no longer receiving my cushy pay checks was kind of terrifying. We were glad to be well prepared because, sure enough, I had to leave work a month earlier then we expected. I was placed on bed rest.

This actually worked out to our advantage. We were able to figure out how to make it on just Eric's income and I hardly had to touch my savings (I did spend some on Christmas tho). Then, I don't know what happened, I received my income tax return and I guess between that, getting board sitting around the house on bed rest then recovering from the c-section and Eric not being able to work for almost a whole pay period (the time he took of for the baby's birth happened to land in the same pay period as the death of his sister Laurie. It was a crazy and emotional two weeks for us). i started to see our savings dwindle. Some of it was out of my control, but other factors were well within my control! I have been spending too much. After looking over where the money had gone I was able to see that about half went to bills, the pay period Eric did not work also happened to be the one we pay rent with. And sometimes i will pay the bills with the savings before payday with the intent that we will put it back when the paycheck comes in. This did not always happen. Some went to baby stuff and clothes for me since my maternity clothes are becoming to big and much of my regular clothes are still too small. But a larger chunk then i expected went to fast food!

It has been so easy to succumb to the temptation of the drive through when I am finally able to get out and about. But it is something I need to get under control for several reasons.

1) It costs much more then eating at home.

2) I am trying to loose this baby weight and all that fatty goodness is not helping.

and 3) While nursing, it is not good for a growing baby or a 4 yr old boy!

I have decided to put a stop to it! It is my goal to stop eating fast food and here is how I am going to do it. You see, I have been spending approximately $100 a month on eating out. That is $50 every two weeks! So, for every 2 weeks I can go without going through a drive through I will reward my self with a $25 credit toward shopping for new clothes, shoes, or treating myself to a trip to the salon. As with many of us, I love shopping! And now that I am able to be a stay at home mom and I don't have to wear a uniform to work every day, it is nice to make my self look good. If I go through even one drive through, or order one pizza I do not get that credit. I can then spend those credits when ever I feel like going shopping. This will help me save half of what I was spending on junk food!

Here is how I am going to accomplish it:

1) I have bought healthy snack items for us, I places some in the diaper bag and some in the car so if we get hungry when we are out we have something to hold us over

2) I am not leaving the house so often. I found that by leaving the house every day we are tempted to spend more money where ever we go. By combining trips and keeping a list of what we need and errands and then only leaving the house once or twice a week I am limiting my exposure to that temptation to spend anywhere.

3) Make sure we eat before leaving the house. Sometimes i get in such a hurry to get out and do what I need to do that I end up relying on the drive-through as a time saver.

Well, I started this Monday and so far so good. Lets hope I can keep it up, Wish me luck!

My goals as a stay at ome mom and professional artist

OK, so i have found that being home day in and day out can cause lack of motivation. Yes, it was so much easier to feel a need to get up and ready in the morning when I know I had to be at work in a couple of hours. But now I am in charge of my own schedule which makes it easy to just say "It's OK to go back to bed for a couple hours, it's not like I HAVE to work" or "I can clean the house tomorrow, it's not like this is my only day off for the week"

Yes, working from home is much more difficult then dropping the kids off at daycare and going to an actual job. first of all you have to motivate yourself and remain disciplined. Second you have to actually get work done while jumping away from that work to care for two kids and keeping a house in order. For example, as I type this I am using one hand to type and another to feed Camden who demands to be fed every 2 hours. If I'm lucky he will go to sleep after eating and being changed and my oldest, Aidan, will stay upstairs and play giving me the time I need to take care of business and cook dinner.

Now, over the past two months I have found that the baby likes to sleep all morning... the only problem is so do I. However, if Camden sleeps all morning and Aidan is content to eat breakfast and then watch his morning cartoons this should be the perfect time to get some work done.

So, my goal is to start getting up after Cam's morning feeding, take a shower, get dressed and maybe even put some makeup on. the theory is that after all that I will be ready to start my day and get some work done as opposed to sleeping till 10 or 11 in the morning then feeling crummy that half my day is gone and I accomplished nothing. After a week or so I may even be able to incorporate a morning workout in my wake-up routine.