7 Snow Day Sanity Savers

I live in the south so snow days are like winning the lottery for my boys! My husband and I both grew up in upstate New York as in the Adirondacks and snow days for us did not come as easy as they do for our boys! You just mention the word and schools close. 

I don’t mind snow days ONCE in a while (LOL!) I have three boys, two of them are in high school and follow the traditional school calendar and my youngest is in his last year of elementary and he is on year round calendar, which means he is in school for 9 weeks and then gets three weeks off. We are used to year round schedule as they have been doing it for 7 years now. The downside to having two different school calendars is that it seems like my boys are never in school! Like this year for example, they were all on Christmas break at the same time. Then they all went back to school at the same time. Then just a couple of weeks after that my older two had finals for their first semester classes – they do block scheduling here at the High School so it is like following college classes – so during finals they only went for two half days which were on a Monday and Tuesday so then they were off from Wednesday to the following Wednesday which meant my teens were home for almost a week! Then their first day back they had a 2 hour delay because of the cold. My youngest son is still in school at this time but he stayed home as he was not feeling well. Then he went back to school for one day and then started his three week track out. Then this week he is still tracked out but the older two had a snow day the other day and again today and who knows about tomorrow! What I can tell you is that it almost feels like summer vacation but without all the nice weather.

In the South we do prepare for these so called “snow storms” because you never know what will happen which means even if there is only 2 inches on the ground, you might not be able to drive anywhere because they do not take care of the roads here and I worry about the drivers who have no experience driving in snow and if you live in the north you know what I mean. So it is best to stay put if you can. So I like to prepare myself for “worst case scenario” with a little less “worst” in that scenario.

Here are some of my sanity savers:

1. Go the alcohol store and stock up on your favorites! (don’t judge – my boys like me better when I have a smile on my face)

2. Go through the pantry and fridge and check to see what you already have and them make a list of what you need – be sure to have all the basics such as bread, milk, eggs, juice, etc. I have two teen boys so that is a big list for me! You will want to think about snacks as well – do you like to bake treats? how about popcorn and hot chocolate? I also like to make sure that I have the ingredients to make Belgian waffles, pancakes, bacon and sausage. Make sure to have options for  lunch and dinner as well, think about quick and easy. 

3. Keep the meals quick and easy! 

• In the morning I like to make a big batch of waffles or pancakes and then a side of bacon or sausage and then I just keep them covered and make a buffet style set up along with the fixings for hot chocolate, marshmallows, whipped cream, syrup and I have it all set up for when they wake up (my boys all sleep in until all different hours but basically anywhere between 10 and 1) 
• For lunch I leave that up to them to take care!
• For dinner last night I went to the freezer and took out a white chicken chili and a chicken tortilla soup and put them into crock pots on warm and let them sit out on the counter and again made sure that I had sides to go with all my picky eaters, such as sour cream, cheese, tortillas and chips. There are leftovers that they can have. Tonight’s dinner I prepared after I finished breakfast and that is a turkey breast that I put in the crock pot. All I will have to do is make the sides. So think about simple, and think about left overs. Tomorrow night we will have what I call left over buffet night and we will use up all the leftovers. I also made a batch of cookies which lasted about 10 minutes and a gallon of milk. So I guess (twisting my arm) I will make another batch today.

 

4. Make sure you have sleds or anything that will make them enjoy playing in the snow! 

5. Inventory the outerwear! Make sure you have enough coats, hats, mittens, scarves, boots and snow pants if needed!

6. You will want to set up an area, since winter coats, hats, boots are not a daily occurrence these are items that I have to get out, and I create an area that allows them to bring all the wet clothes and hang to dry and change. You will also want to make sure to leave out enough mittens and hats that they can change out as needed or else throw them in the dryer, I prefer to hang and dry and reuse until the snow event is over then I wash everything and put back into storage. I also leave a towel that I can mop up the wet floor. I try my best to keep the mess contained as best as possible and since I really only have one that plays in the snow anymore it is much easier when they were all out in it I had to use my whole dining room ha!

7. I have to remind myself that the snow days are for creating memories and not being upset that I am constantly having to rearrange my schedule. 

Enjoy the snow!

Michelle

 

 

 

 

5 Simple tips on how to plan NOW for next year!

5 Simple tips on how to plan NOW for next year!

You are probably thinking “How am I supposed to think about next year’s holidays now, much less make a plan” I don’t even know what I am doing tomorrow much less months from now! Well, most of just get by and then the season is over and we rinse and repeat next year. We don’t actually stop to think about what we really want the holidays to be.  We all know that the holidays are a time when we are “supposed” to be focused on what we are thankful for and ways that we can give to others. Now, I am not implying that we don’t enjoy it, but we tend to focus on everything that comes along with the holidays, such as the cooking, the shopping, the cleaning, the wrapping, the house guests, the in-laws. Oh, and let’s not forget the children who were bouncing off the walls with excitement from sugar over load or in my case, I have two teens who decided the holiday break was a good time to “test” the rules! Our everyday tasks don’t go away just because it’s the holidays.  It’s easy to become overwhelmed and before we know it we are stressed and not enjoying the season.  How many of you have told yourself “this is going to be the year that I get it all done. “  How many of us actually get it all done?

A simple way to alleviate some of the madness is to make a plan! This is the perfect time to do it because once the holidays are still fresh in our minds. Then all too soon it’s next year again and it starts all over.  Sounds simple but most of us don’t think about making an actual plan ahead of time.  So, before we forget and we find ourselves feeling the same next year, take some time now to make your plan.

Let’s start with some questions that we can ask ourselves.  I want you to be honest with yourself – not me, but yourself.  Did you enjoy the holidays?  Were you stressed?  Were you always feeling like there wasn’t enough time to get it all done? Did you travel? Did you want to travel? Did you have house guests? Did you want house guests? Some of us get caught up in the Norman Rockefeller images and set unrealistic expectations about the holidays; I don’t want you to do that either. It’s easy to think we can do it all and before we know it the season is over and we are left feeling like, wow, what happened? So, how can we make a plan?

You are going to create some lists so you will need paper and something to write with or you can even create a document on your computer.

1.Create a stress list: Write down everything that is caused you to feel stressed.   Look at this exercise as a way to vent and remember you are the only person who will see this list, so don’t worry about what you write.

Stress List

2.Create a wish list: This list is everything that you WANT to do ~ don’t worry about what you have to do ~ think about what the holidays mean to you. What are your traditions? Is there something new that you would like to do? Involve your family, kids are honest about what they like and don’t. Make the time to ask them and listen. They may want to do things that you haven’t thought of or maybe there is something that you think they enjoy when they really don’t. You might have to come to a compromise on what mom wants and what they want but remember what’s important to you.

Wish List

3.Compare your lists: How much of what is causing you stress is on your wish list? What can you remove from your stress list? Go ahead and cross them off! Yes, there are always going to be some things that cause stress that we can’t take off our list because as much as we all want that  picture perfect holiday and no matter how much planning we do, there will always be some form of stress. You have to decide what you are going to change?  Don’t spend the season trying to make everyone else happy! This can be hard to do especially when it comes to family and all the expectations that everyone has. Sometimes we have let go of the expectations and focus on ourselves and what is best for our situation. If you are spending the season miserable is that really fair to you?
4.Make the plan: This list is going to help you navigate the holiday season! In order to create this list you are going to take your wish list and decide what things you are going to do during the Holidays. I have a list called “Holiday Traditions”. On this list next to each task make notes of what you will need, or anything that will help you accomplish the task. When we are in the midst of chaos we don’t always think or see clearly so any notes that you can make to help, you will be happy you did!

Holiday Traditions

5.Schedule: Get out your calendar (you do have one right? If not, I want you to run, DO NOT WALK, and get one!) I want you to actually “schedule” a time at the beginning of the season (I usually do this the end of September/beginning of October because my list includes Halloween through the New Year) where you can schedule a time to plan out the holiday season using the document that you created as a guide.

 Now, doesn’t that feel great to have a plan all set and ready to go? I hope you will share with me what you thought of this little exercise and I would love to hear from you after next year’s Holidays to see if the plan helped you or not.

 

Enjoy YOUR day!

Michelle

Holiday Traditions – Out with the old in with the new!

Learning to create new traditions while keeping some of the old ones!

We all have our own traditions. What does tradition mean to you?  To me, it means spending time together as a family to celebrate the season.  I have three boys ages 18, 14 and 10. When they were younger the traditions were different. As they have grown the traditions change. It doesn’t matter what we do as long as we do it together. This year I found myself trying to hold onto the past while trying to enjoy the present. (pun intended ha!) Having an 18 year old and our youngest being 10 means it’s not always easy to find a happy medium.  With our oldest being in his senior year of high school sometimes I find myself feeling like this could be the end of our journey with him being at home to share in the everyday life. And with our youngest we’re not sure if he still believes in Santa or not and if he does will this be the last year. We don’t ask our boys if they believe or not. They have never asked us if Santa is real, but they did tell us that they know we are Santa. Our response has always been if you believe then that is all that matters because there is nothing wrong with believing in the magic!  For the longest time we used to joke that our oldest was going to go to college still believing. Ha! They have always been great about not telling their younger brother and allowing him to believe. This season I have felt that this could be the last of “Santa”, which make me sad.  I have enjoyed making the holidays “magical” for my boys.  So, instead of focusing on the past I am focusing on creating new traditions.

I always make the time for our traditions. It is easy to get caught up in all that we have to do during the holiday season and before you know it the holidays are over and we didn’t get to do the things that matter the most.  I make sure that our family traditions are scheduled first and if that means we say no to a holiday party or another event, then we do. Time with my boys is what is the most important because you never get this time back.

Our traditions:

Decorate the tree. This is mandatory.  They each have their own box of ornaments that have been given to them by us and other family members. When my oldest was first born he of course was given his first Christmas ornaments. I started the tradition of getting a Hallmark Ornament with the year on it and then I would write on the box that it came in so that they would always have them.  We have also given them other personalized ornaments that are not from the Hallmark Collection. Our family tree is filled with ornaments that they have made themselves and then ornaments that have been given to them . This tradition is my favorite. I love listening to them talk about the ornaments as they hang them on the tree. I love listening to them talk about their own memories as they decorate. It is the highlight of the season.

Write their wish list. They still write a wish list. They can put whatever they want on it but when it is time to write their letters to Santa they can only choose their top three gifts that they would like Santa to bring. This teaches them that just because it is on a list does not mean they will always get what they want. There is nothing wrong with wishing for things. It also helps them think about what is really important to them without having to tell them you aren’t going to get everything on your list. Yes, they still ALL write letters to Santa. I save those letters and they go in a scrapbook.  I enjoy looking back and reading them.

Count down calendar. I started the calendar when they were younger. Our calendar has candy canes that you pull out each day as you count down. A couple years ago, I did try something new and instead of just pulling a candy cane, there was a little note attached that had an activity to do such as eat breakfast for dinner, movie night, eat dessert first. The boys have always enjoyed that until this year. Again, no one pulled a single candy cane, not one!  Next year instead of doing a countdown calendar we are going to do random acts of kindness for the 24 days. I am looking forward to it. It will be nice to share in teaching them how to give and think of others and not just themselves. I think this will become a family tradition for years to come as it really isn’t something that you can outgrow.

Elf.  Not the Elf on the shelf as we know it now. My mother-in-law shared with me a tradition that she did.  Every year on Thanksgiving after Santa arrived during the parade, “elf” would arrive. You never saw the elf.  He would come and stay until Christmas Eve. He was there to watch and make sure that you were being good and if you were, he would leave you a little treat (usually a Hershey kiss) that you would find when you woke up. If they had been bad that day then he would leave nothing. I started the tradition when our oldest was 4 and have been doing it every year since. That is until a couple of years ago when “Elf on the Shelf” came to be. I thought it would be cute to have an actual elf. So we welcomed our Elf who our youngest named D.J. after Derek Jeter!  Did I mention that I have three boys who play year round baseball?  Ha! We let our youngest name him as it was really a new tradition to an existing tradition but it was something a little different for our youngest as our older two boys no longer believed in Santa. At first it was fun to move him around the house and have them wake up wondering where he was going to be, but after time it wore off on my husband and I. It was so much easier when we couldn’t see our elf as we didn’t have to worry about moving him before we went to bed! As no one wants to wake up to have your child asking you why Elf never moved!  It happened more times than I care to count.  I do “believe” that this will be the last year that Elf will be coming back. I don’t even think our youngest even knew he was in the house – he came and went without any mention of him!

Bake Cookies. Now this is something that I do miss. When they were younger they loved to decorate the cookies and well, today they just like to eat them.  They don’t enjoy baking or any part of decorating so what I have done the past several years is let them each pick a cookie and that is what I make for them. I leave it up to them whether they want to bake with me.

Picture with Santa. That tradition came to a screeching hault years ago because our youngest would never sit on Santa’s lap. He was afraid of Santa, the Easter Bunny and any other costumed character. He was like that for years. I do have a few “Santa” pictures with all three but not many.

Gifts. We started several years ago a tradition that we take the boys shopping so they can get a gift for each other. Each boy has to buy a gift for each brother. It is fun to see how they do it and what they choose. They then have to wrap the gifts. On Christmas Eve they get to exchange them. 

Dinner and Lights. We like to take the boys out to dinner and then go look at lights. When we lived in Virginia, we would take them to a drive though light show. It was so much fun. We would put them in their pj’s and off we would go! We now live in North Carolina and here they don’t have anything like that so we compromise by trying to find different places to look at lights. This year we went to www.lightsontheneuse.com

Food Pantry. We always donate to a food pantry whether the school is collecting items or your local store. During the Buy One Get One Free Sales I like to put some of those items to the side and that is what I donate. It doesn’t cost much extra to do it this way and over time you can build a nice little stash that you can feel good knowing it is going to help someone.

As we say good-bye to some of our “younger” traditions we will be making new ones.  Instead of focusing on ourselves we are going to focus on giving by doing acts of kindness. We all want our children to be kind, giving, thoughtful people and it is easy to tell them that they should do these things but they will truly never understand how meaningful it is to give until they experience it for themselves. I want to be a good role model by showing mine.

Our new traditions that we are going to do in addition to our existing ones:

Serve Thanksgiving dinner to those less fortunate. I waited too long this year to get on a volunteer list. Everything was already full. Next year, I look forward to participating in sharing a new tradition with my boys. We do not have family nearby so we aren’t always with family at Thanksgiving . I think it would be a great experience for all of us to spend the day helping others.

 

Blessing Bags.  I saw this idea online and fell in love with this idea! These bags are for the homeless that we see on the streets. I hate seeing them standing there holding a sign for money, food or anything. In these bags you can put whatever it is that you want, they are just big zip loc bags filled with necessity type of items that are kept in your car. You hand them out when the situation arises. This is an easy way to feel good about helping someone.  We will be putting these together over our Holiday Break. We were supposed to have done these over Thanksgiving but I had gotten sick and was not up to it.

How I clean baseball pants!

I have been washing baseball pants for several years! I have three boys and the oldest being 17 and they all play year round baseball. That means many hours spent trying to get white baseball pants white! This year I said I was going to find a better way to get those pants clean.

I was sitting at a game (shocker, I know!) and asked one of the moms, “why is your son’s pants so white?” like I just got my teeth whitened white? and she said “Fels-naptha” and I said “come again?”
She said it’s a bar of soap that you can get at Walmart for .97. I said “are you kidding?” She said “no”!

The very next day I went to Walmart and bought my soap! For.97 I will try anything. – Here is what it looks like:

I came home and tried it out. I fell in love because it was so easy and it smells so good!

Here is what the pants look like after they take them off and throw them in the laundry room. I am sharing both white and grey pants as I have to wash both. At any given time I have baseball pants “soaking” It feels like the clutter rule – one in one out!

I washed them without any stain treatment so you would understand why I can’t just wash them. Washing them doesn’t even touch the Carolina red clay! This is what they look like after washing with no stain removal.

Next I use the soap. This is what they look like with the soap on them – I let them “sit” for a few hours and then throw them in the wash!

This is the finished product! NICE!

The soap is great for getting the stains out without having to scrub.

Now, when my boys come home covered head to toe in red clay you have to get out the big guns, and for that I recommend using Iron Out. I purchased mine at Walmart (found in the plumbing aisle) This is not for the faint of heart. The fumes will burn all your nose hair! But hey, you will have white baseball pants!

What I do is have them take their uniform off and I wash it just to get the first layer off otherwise what I have found when soaking pants while the clay is still on there is that you end up with a “muck” color. After I wash them once I then let them soak in Iron Out. The directions say soak for 5 minutes but I usually do a couple of hours depending on how bad the “muck” is.

Iron Out is what gets the pants back to “white”. If you have found a better solution or one that is less work I would love for you to share!

We touched our Elf!

Do you have “Elf on the Shelf” in your home? We do! We did not make it through the first day without touching him! Yup!
Elf brought breakfast for the boys. He was sitting on the table waiting for them to wake up. He even left a trail of peppermint kisses!

After breakfast we were cleaning up and without thinking I moved Elf! My youngest looked at me and everyone was like you are not supposed to touch him! I had completely forgotten that part! Major mom fail.

So Elf lay there on the table the rest of the day. During dinner we carefully ate around him.
Then as the boys were cleaning up the kitchen my oldest moved Elf – yes, that is twice in one day! Well by that point my youngest said well I guess he has no more magic powers and my middle son showed him the book where it says he “might” lose his powers.

I then proceeded to google what to do when you touch your Elf as I remembered seeing posts on pinterest about it. I came across this information and decided that we would give it a try.
What to do when elf is touched

You have to take Elf and put him in the freezer over night and then take him out the next morning and put him back in the same spot.

So my youngest put him in the freezer and when he got up the next morning he went straight to the freezer and removed Elf!

That was the magic trick because Elf got his magic powers back and is good to go!

Have you had a similar experience with your Elf? If so, what did you do?

Happy Holidays!
Michelle

Go Ahead, throw a tempur tantrum! (The turkeys won’t mind, really!)

So, over the weekend I had a bit of a ‘temper tantrum’. You know the kind where a 2 year old throws themselves down on the floor of the grocery store for all to see, well that’s what I felt like doing, and kind of did.
Why was I feeling that way? I was overwhelmed due to an unexpected stressful situation that I had to deal with during the month of October. I was behind with everything as in I hadn’t been grocery shopping, hadn’t paid bills, and household chores were growing like my laundry piles. Ironically my laundry seemed to be under control. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. During this time my younger two boys were tracked out. They are in year round schools which means they are in school for 9 weeks and then they get a 3 week break all year long. I finally started to come up for air last week when they went back to school. Then reality set in as it was also two days from my oldest son’s birthday with which I had no idea what we were doing or getting him for a gift. The second half of reality set in which was the reminder that if it is his birthday then that means Thanksgiving is next week! I said to myself “Are you kidding me??” How in the world did this happen? My calendar says it is October 1st! I was having dejavue as I told myself last year that next year (which is right now) was going to be more organized, less chaos, and well you get the idea. We all whisper those little words to ourselves or is that just me? Even with all the planning and preparing, nothing can control the unexpected, as well all know.
Then I had a conversation with my best friend who is Stage IV Brain Cancer and after listening to her give me a pep talk, she said “when I am feeling down, I think about my boys attending my funeral” and that was all I needed to hear. I realized how ridiculous I had been. Complaining about what? What did I really have to complain about? My complaints were meaningless compared to what she faces every day.
It was time for me to take a deep breath, step back away from the situation and do what I do best which is to make a list, and in my case there were multiple lists. I like to call this process a brain dump. This is the only way that I know how to make myself feel like I was in control when things were out of control. I need to focus on the things that I can control and let the rest go, easier said than done. I have to work really hard at letting go. No one can change the past so stop focusing on it.

Are you feeling overwhelmed and out of control? Are the pressures of the holidays starting to build? If you answered yes, then try these steps to see if it might work for you like it did for me. This is not a right or wrong answer. Most importantly is that you recognize what is causing you to feel the way you are. Think about what will make it better for you? What can you do about it? Then take action!

I don’t have all the answers, not even for myself but I can share with you what I did and what works for me:

1. Throw a temper tantrum – go ahead! Give yourself permission to kick, scream, yell, cry, drink, eat, shop or whatever it is to get it out. Sometimes we all need to give ourselves permission to do the things we are “not supposed to do”. No one said you should go to the store, throw yourself down on the floor and kick and scream but it is ok to go somewhere and give yourself a few minutes to come unglued!! Go for it! There is plenty of glue at the store so don’t worry about not being able to “glue” yourself back together! I’ll be there to help you!
2. Brain Dump – This is where you write everything down that is in your head. Find a time where you can spend a few minutes and just write everything that pops into your head (it can be electronically or good old fashioned pen and paper, whatever works for you). Don’t worry about what it is and how you are going to get it done, just write. Write until you can’t think anymore, but leave space because you will always think of more things, always!
I feel much better when I write things out. When I walk around with it all in my head I can’t think, I can’t focus, I can’t sleep, I’m grumpy, I snap at people and I become someone who is not nice to be around. Does that happen to you too? After you’ve gotten everything out of your head go back read what you wrote. Take a deep breath and ask yourself what you can do to help alleviate some of this for yourself?
3. Break your list down into categories if you need to, I had to do this so that I could prioritize better. My categories are household, business, holiday, meals and groceries.
Now that you have your list, it’s time to prioritize, plan and schedule!
a. Highlight the items that need to be done now. Go ahead and put those items on your to-do list
b. For my Holiday list I sat down with my calendar and actually scheduled all the things that I need to do and from there I filled in those things that I would like to do.
c. For the remaining items, I put those on a separate list for another time
Take a deep breath and ask yourself what you can do to help alleviate some of this for yourself? How do you feel? Better? Worse?
It is very easy to get caught up in what we think the Holidays should be, or that we have to live up these expectations of the perfect Holiday. Or maybe we are trying to make everyone else happy when inside it is causing more stress and taking away from enjoying the season. This is not the time to perfect being “perfect” this is all about surviving with a smile on your face and at the end of the day making sure you enjoy it as well. If it does not make you happy, and you are doing it out of obligation then cross it off your list. Do what is right for you and what works for your situation. You will be much happier. Saying No really is gratifying. Try it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Michelle

Happy Fall! Exciting things are happening!!

Exciting things are happening and will be coming to a blog near you very soon with regular content, videos and more! OH and a book, ebook just to name a few!

All the best,

Michelle

“15 Months To Live”

Heather and Lily

Today I am sharing with you a guest post from a Mother who was diagnosed with Cancer. when her daughter was only 3 1/2 months old. She was diagnosed with Mesothelioma; a type of cancer that kills 90-95% of those who have it.

After intense treatment and recovery, she is cancer free! She would like to turn her pain into purpose and become someone that other people can look to for guidance, inspiration, and hope in situations like hers. I realize that you may be thinking her story is not exactly a perfect fit for my blog audience, but I chose to share her journey with you as her story touched my heart. I would like to help her to raise awareness of this horrible little known cancer that is such a deadly killer (and sadly, 100% preventable) and the dangers of asbestos. She first contacted me about guest posting while I was out of town for my Aunt’s funeral who had just passed from Leukemia. My best friend from child hood is currently fighting Stage IV Brain Cancer so Cancer has touched my life.

Let me introduce you to Heather!

“15 Months to Live” by Heather:

One of the worst days of my life took place on November 21, 2005. That day, I was told I had malignant pleural mesothelioma — a quite deadly type of cancer. I got this form of cancer because I was exposed to asbestos 30 years earlier. I was only a child at the time. Along with the news that I had cancer, my doctor told me that my life expectancy was 15 months unless treatment began as soon as possible.

Just a few months before this fateful day, our daughter Lily was born. The date was August 4, 2005 and it was one of the best days I have ever had. However, I was soon feeling run-down, tired and out of breath. Despite this, I went back to work, believing I was just experiencing after pregnancy symptoms. I was wrong. The feelings persisted. That is when I went to my doctor to have a check-up. He ran a barrage of tests and then gave me the diagnosis. I was horrified. I could not leave my daughter so soon after she was born.

Thankfully, my support group was amazing. My husband and his family were there for me and us. My parents were there for the three of us. Their friends, our friends and even old acquaintances formed a village around us and became an even more special part of my life. We have always had a close-knit community of loved ones, but they really pulled together after my diagnosis and during my treatment. I had to go to Boston to see a mesothelioma doctor and be treated in the city. My parents took Lily in at their South Dakota home — my childhood home. I hated being so far from her, but I knew I needed this treatment if I wanted more than 15 months with her.

The first round of my treatment came on February 2, 2006. The procedure is known as an extrapleural pneumonectomy. In other words, my lung and the tissue around it were removed. I spent the next 18 days in the hospital recovering from that. Two months after that, I was doing radiation and chemotherapy. I was still very sick, but my village had grown. We made new friends in Boston who understood what we were going through better than anyone. We needed them and they needed us.

Back with Lily, my parents were building up their own village. People from long ago, like adults that I used to baby-sit when they were children, were stepping up to help my parents. Words are not enough to express how much I appreciate their help.

Without these people, I would not have had the strength to fight mesothelioma. Today, I am cancer free and living life to its fullest. I spend all of my days with Lily. I cherish every minute of time that I almost lost. I cannot take life for granted. I know all too well that it can change in a moment.

To read more about her journey please click here: www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather

Thank you for reading!

Michelle

10 years ago today…9/11/2001

We all have our own memory of 9/11/2001. What we have taken from that day and learned from is an individual experience based on our own feelings. (as if you needed me to tell you)

On this 10 year anniversary as Bill (hubby) and I are watching the tv and sharing with our boys what our own experiences were that day. At the time we lived in Northern Virginia. Dulles Airport was in our back yard. Bill worked in DC across from the White House. He commuted into the city each day. September 11th, 2001 started out like every other day. I was home with our middle son who was only 2 years old (now 12) and our oldest who was 6 (now 15) and in 1st grade(our youngest who is 8 was not born yet). Bill was at work. I honestly do not remember how I found out, other than it was on tv. I do remember panicking. I tried calling Bill. He did not answer his desk phone. He was working in another building. We did not have cell phones. People were panicking all over. No one felt safe. No one knew what was next. I felt helpless. I knew I had to protect my children but I had no idea what I was protecting them from. The Elementary School went into lock down, we had fighter jets flying over us because they thought the White House was a target. I still was not able to reach Bill. The phone lines were jammed up and calls were not going through. He could not call me either. He had to call his family in NY to call my family in NY to have them call me. I did not get to hear his voice. Everything was happening so fast that details became a distant memory because my feelings were taking over. Bill remembers his walk back to his office as a day he will never forget either. He said the panick on people’s faces, screaming, running because they thought there was a bomb. He said he remembers standing still trying to figure out what he should do. I felt like Everything was happening in slow motion yet it was all happening so fast.

I remember gathering with neighbors and we were all in awe listening to the jets fly over. Paralyzed with fear, a fear that none of us had ever experienced before. It still had not sunk in as to what was really happening.

Bill was stuck in DC trying to get out as was everyone else. No one felt safe no matter where you were. We waited all day for Bill to finally arrive home. As relieved as I was to have him walk through the door, I couldn’t help but feel for all those who were not going to have someone in their family come home safe. Our oldest son’s Elementary School’s Principal lost her son in one of the World Trade Centers.

We were all changed forever.

Simple ways to save money shopping

If you are like me, and always looking for easy ways to save money, whether it is on food, gas, clothing, school clothes, school supplies then you know that it can also be very overwhelming and time consuming. If you prepare and plan ahead your pocketbook will thank you later!
Here are a few examples of how I am saving based on my recent shopping trips.
1. Walgreens
1. Colgate sensitive toothpaste 4 oz $4.99 – $4.00 register reward = I paid .99
2. Dial body wash 16 oz. $3.99 – $3.00 reward = I paid .99
3. 2 Kellogg’s keebler cookies and 2 Rice krispie treats 4/$10 – $5 reward = 4/$5 and I used two $1.00 coupons – $2.00 = so in the end I paid 4/$3.00
And I earned $12 in register rewards so that is free money I can use on my next shopping trip!
2. Dicks
The dreaded sneaker shopping! This is always a pocketbook drainer! I had a $10 reward certificate and coupons to use so we started out there to see what their prices were~ All 3 of my boys wanted reezigs and I said I wasn’t going to pay those prices unless I can get a really good discount.
So I bought 4 pairs of sneakers and 1 pair of baseball pants (adult size) all for $204.90 after taxes.
Pair #1 was $56.99, Pair #2 was $64.99, Pair #3 was $74.98 and pair #4 was $39.99 and the pants were $24.99 so that is $262 rounded up before tax and I used $70 in coupons! So that made the sneakers more reasonable! When the boys were younger I did not invest in their shoes because they were always growing which they still are, but it does pay to buy a better quality shoe because they are so hard on them now so I do what I can to make them last a little longer!
3.Old Navy
Had a special on their jeans for $10 and for every 20$ you spent you earned $10 so I purchased 4 pairs of jeans @ $10 each and two boy t-shirts so my total came to $53.49 and then I used a coupon for 10$ off a $50 purchase so that brought my purchase down to 43.49 and I earned 20$ in super cash to use on my next purchase!
4. Walgreens (This wasn’t for school shopping but Hurricane Irene shopping!)
1. Duracell batteries on sale for $9.99 for 16 pack and if you purchase two packs you earned $5 in register reward so and I had two .75$ coupons = ($9.99 + $9.99 = $19.98 before tax – 5$ rewards = $14.98 before tax – $1.50 = $13.48 before tax for 32 batteries
2. Dawn dish soap (10.3 oz) on sale with in store coupon for .99 and I had 3 $.50 coupons so I bought 3 for $1.47 total before tax
3. Scrubbing bubble bathroom cleaner on sale 2/7$ and I used a $1 coupon = 2/6$
4. M&M’s 2 (11.4 oz) bags on sale 2/5$ and received $1.00 in register reward I had 2 $1 coupons so I paid 2$ for two bags
I used my $12 register rewards to pay for this shopping trip and I earned another $6.00 in register rewards!
I do a lot of shopping at Kohl’s as well, because they offer Kohl’s Cash. What this means is that for every $50 you spend you earn $10 Kohl’s Cash. I only shop the clearance racks when they are running Kohl’s cash. They are also always sending coupons. So on top of earning Kohl’s cash, I am always using an additional coupon to save even more. Since I am only shopping on the clearance racks you can get a lot for very little money. This is where I buy most of the boys t-shirts and shorts because they sell Adiddas and Nike and you can get some really great buys! I never pay full price for their athletic clothing. I will share an example the next time I shop there.
I also pay attention to the different drug stores that have pharmacies. They will run specials if you transfer a new or existing prescription and you will earn a gift card. Recently, I earned a $20 gift card to Harris Teeter for a script that I paid my $10 co-pay on. After paying my co-pay, I still had $10 worth of credit to spend on groceries for the boys.
Kerr Drugg was also running another special but they offered a $25 gift card. I paid $10 co-pay and earned $15.00!
So if you pay attention you can find some great deals.
I know it may sound a little confusing which is why I have tried to break it down but if you. Pay attention to the sales, cut your coupons, match your coupons up with the sales, and you can get some good deals especially when you earn register rewards on top of that!
If you would like to find out more on how I use coupons read here:

http://wp.me/pFL53-2a
Happy Shopping!
Michelle