Couponing For A Cause

As most of you know, I am no where near being an extrovert. As much as I wish I were at times, for some reason God has created me as a pretty quiet, reserved, individual. Sometimes in a moment of weakness, I wonder why God hasn't created me differently. Surely he knows that if I were a more socialable person I would use that to serve Him and minister to others in more ways than I feel comfortable with now. Since I'm in my twenties, maybe the Lord will slowly transform me in the future into someone that is a bit more outgoing, but for now, one of the best ways that I have found that I can minister to others is through couponing. Yes, you read that right, through couponing.

Ever since I was in college I have used coupons on some level, but until the past couple of years it was only to shave a few dollars here and there off of the weekly grocery bill. Now, I know that there are online forums, such as A Full Cup, and coupon clipping services, such as The Coupon Clippers and Cents Off that allow you to order coupons for pennies apiece. With these services and a little elbow grease, it is not difficult for me to save 25% or more off of the weekly grocery trip. I know I've mentioned couponing to others (who shall remain nameless) and their reply was, "But there aren't many coupons for things that I typically buy." This may be true. Maybe you like to eat as natural of a diet as possible--you avoid products with high fructose corn syrup, prefer organics and shutter at the sight of meats cured with nitrates--or maybe you prefer to use toiletries that are free of parabens, pthalates and other kinds of toxic yuckies. I'm in the same boat you are. However, my favorite way to coupon is to get items for free that I might not otherwise use (toiletries, medications, non-perishable foods,etc.) and donate them to one of the local foodbanks. Sure it costs me a few dollars for the coupons I order and it takes me a little bit of time to match up deals at my favorite stores, but knowing that I can donate several hundreds of dollars worth of products every few months to people who really need them completely outweighs any hassle that couponing might bring. I absolutely love being able to tell Bruce that I have a load (as in a trunk FULL) of items that needs to be taken to the food bank ,and I know he comes home after delivering them with a deep feeling of satisfaction and contentment.

For example, this past weekend, I was able to purchase all of the items shown in this picture for absolutely nothing... zero...nada...zilch!



Includes 3 toothbrushes, 2 small boxes of toothpaste, 2 cans of shaving gel, 2 bottles of contact solution, 9 various-sized packages of pads/liners, 10 small first aid kits, 7 bottles of aspirin, 6 bars of soap, 2 bottles of lotion, 5 packages of antiacids, 6 boxes of cotton swabs 10 packages of bandages AND one stick of deodorant. Whew!

By watching the weekly ad at my local Rite-Aid Pharmacy and keeping track of a few prices at my local target, I can use coupons to buy merchandise that otherwise wouldn't be in our budget to donate to others who truly need them. Without coupons and the like, I estimate that what I bought this weekend would have a retail value of $125. I don't know about you, but these days my family might have a hard time finding $125--aside from our tithing to the church--in our weekly budget to donate to a local shelter, foodbank or other charitable organization every month, much less every week. Granted, this isn't something that I do every weekend. Some weekends we have family come to visit us, we may have yardwork to do or I simply may not feel like couponing (gasp!). My point of this post is that almost everybody, no matter if your household income is $50,000 or $150,000, can easily donate to others who are in need without breaking the bank and that even if you are the most painfully shy person in the world you can still minister to others.

I'm A Winner!!!

First off, I must mention that for those of you who don't know me very well, I NEVER win anything--nothing at raffles, as door prizes, on lottery tickets or the slots. Infact, because I am well aware of this misfortune I rarely partake in a raffle or the like unless I know the profits are going directly to a good cause.

Well, the past week, my favorite cloth diaper shop, Kelly's Closet was generous enough to hold a raffle called Fluffy Fundraiser for Haiti Relief. All of the proceeds are going directly to The American Red Cross-Haiti Fund. The first prize was what they called The Big Fluffy Pak. (Fluff is actually a code word for cloth diapers. For example: I may mention to Bruce that I am expecting some fluffy mail to arrive this week and he wouldn't have a clue what I was referring to, but any of you other cloth-diapering mommas out there would know exactly what I was talking about...hehehe.) Anyway, this 'Big Fluffy Pak' included 12 (yes 12!) cloth diapers (3 each of 4 different brands) that values at nearly $300!!! The second, third, fourth and fifth place winners will each receive a gift certificate to Kelly's Closet for the amount of $100.

So, this evening Bruce and I were watching our West Wing re-runs that we typically watch in the evenings, and I was using Google Reader to check up on several blogs that I like to read. I thought to myself, "I'll check over at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer (which is the blog for Kelly's Closet and all of its sister stores) to see if they've posted the winners of the Fluffy Fundraiser raffle."--not at all thinking that I would even win one of the five prizes they were giving. When I saw the winners names, I nearly. had. a. stroke. My name and order number were next to the Grand Prize Big Fluffy Pak! I nearly screamed with joy, but I quickly remembered my baby is sleeping just down the hallway so instead I stepped out into the garage and called my mother shortly after midnight to wake her up and tell her the good news. (Sorry again about waking you Mom...I knew only you would understand my excitement.) I'm getting 12 brand-new cloth diapers to add to my (Brinley's) stash. Two of the four brands that I am getting I have never tried so I am particularly excited about receiving those.

Well, I hope you all are having a fantastic weekend. I know I am. We've had beautiful, warm, sunny weather and now I have some fluffy mail on the way to me. God is great!

Oh, and just in case you are interested in seeing the blog post on The Cloth Diaper Whisperer concerning the winnings, I'd be glad to share it with you. Simply click on the graphic below:

Yippee For Video

Now that Christmas is over and behind us, I've spent a good chunk of time this weekend at the computer trying to figure out a new way to get videos that I have taken of Brinley and such and upload them to Blogger to share with all of you. For some reason, for the past few months, Blogger has made it difficult for me to upload the videos from my iPhone that I have saved on the laptop and load directly to my blog. So...after doing a little experimination, I am so happy to share with you that I have found a way to upload videos to my blog by uploading them to youTube first, and then embedding the html code of the video on youTube into the html code of the blog entry at Blogger. The only downside is that it seems to take a good half-hour to upload a 2 minute video. At this point though, that doesn't really matter to me...I'm just thankful that I'm able to share video again. It makes me feel like even though we are several hundred miles away from most of you, you are still able to have a glimpse into our home, our lives and our hearts.

With that said, I have either created new posts or added video to existing posts dated 01.13.2010, 12.24.09, and 10.24.09. If you have a few moments, you may want to scroll through the past few months and make sure you haven't missed anything. Until next time...

"O", "Bye" (translation: Hello, Goodbye)

This afternoon while I was in the kitchen starting to get things together for dinner I heard Brinley babbling away. I knew she was sitting at the kitchen table in one of the 'big chairs' but when I turned around and peeked over the bar I never thought I would find her holding the phone upto her right ear jibbering away. Brinley usually isn't much of a babbler so I had to stop what I was doing for a moment and soak it all in. While this all happening, I got the idea to call Bruce at work from my cell phone and tell him to call our landline. He did, and I let Brinley have one phone and I had the other. By this time, she really didn't have much interest in holding the phone but she still did 'talk' to her daddy. Here is a clip of what I caught on video:



Then, later that evening, as Bruce and I were cleaning up after dinner Brinley decided she wanted to sit at the kitchen table in the 'big chair' again. This time, Bruce was able to witness exactly what I had earlier in the day--she started babbling away. If you listen to the video that I've posted below you will hear her say 'o' (hello) and 'bye'. I think she started to get the hang of saying 'o' at the beginning of her 'conversation and 'bye' at the end.

Celebrating Christmas In Memphis

The weekend before Christmas, we headed to the Memphis area to spend a few days with Bruce's family and have 'Christmas' with them. Here are a few pictures from our weekend with them:

Brinley 'reading' a book before we exchange presents.

Brinley opening one of her gifts from Grandpa 'Jet' and Grandma 'Pet'.

What a pretty dolly!

Brinley playing with her puzzle pieces and other new toys from Grandpa 'Jet' and Grandma 'Pet'.

Brinley playing with A'Pexi's leash after a walk around the neighborhood while Grandma 'Pet' tries to read her a story.

Brinley showing Grandma 'Pet' that she knows how to build a tower with her blocks.

Grandpa 'Jet' trying to tickle Brinley.

Christmas Eve

When I was growing up, we had a small tradition in our house that Mom and Dad would let my brother and I open ONE present on Christmas Eve. So, while we were celebrating our first Christmas with a little one in 2008, we decided to continue this tradition in our family and let Brinley open one of her gifts. As you will notice in the video, she is at the stage where she thinks that any box around is something for her to sit or stand on. Silly girl...

Yesterday Ended With A Bang...Or Should I Say A Pop?

Yes...this would be Brinley's souvenir from the E.R.

Yesterday began like any other day. Brinley and I got up at...well, I won't even admit what time she let me sleep in 'til. We had our 'brunch', and then got ready so that we could go out and run some errands while Bruce was working over-time. Our first stop was Babies 'R Us to exchange a few things. After once again spending too much time--and money--in there we proceeded to Hallmark and then to SuperTarget to do our grocery shopping. I called Bruce while we were on our way home (about 4ish) to see how his day had been and what time he would be leaving work. (Don't worry, we weren't on a busy highway or anything. It was very rural roads...remember, we live out in the boonies now.) Bruce said that he was trying to wrap things up there at work for the day so that he could leave soon. Brinley and I proceeded home and when we got there, unloaded all our goodies and groceries. Anyone that has children knows this is a good 30-45 minute project when you have a toddler 'helping' you.

Bruce arrived shortly after Brinley and I were finished putting everything away. I immediately put him to work grilling hotdogs for supper while I started heating up the chili and got out all the yummy toppings. After Bruce finished grilling the hotdogs and had brought them in the house, I started making our plates and taking things over to the table. While this was going on, Bruce was playing with Brinley to keep her occupied while I was tying up all the loose ends for dinner. I wasn't watching them at this time, but all of a sudden I hear Brinley start crying. As any of you know that have been around us for an extended period of time, Brinley is some-what of a 'high-maintenance' baby , so to hear her fuss or cry isn't anything unusual, but after she kept carrying on even after we sat her in her high chair I started thinking something was really wrong. I asked Bruce why she started crying in the first place (remember, I wasn't watching them), and he said that he had pulled her up by her hands (which we have both done before numerous times and now know is a big no-no for little ones). He mentioned that when he did that, he thought he had heard something pop but just assumed it was one of her joints popping normally. At this time, Brinley is still carrying on and so after Bruce got finished inhaling his hotdogs I grabbed the diaper bag and we decided to head out to the Emergency Room at Providence Hospital, a Catholic hospital in Mobile. While in the car, Brinley settled down. Infact, she either fell asleep from crying or passed out because of the pain, but if we hit a bump in the road or if I took a deep breath (she was wrapped up in my lap because I didn't want to be forcing her arms through the straps of her carseat) she would flinch like it hurt her. When we finally arrived at the E.R. (which is one downside of living out in the middle of nowhere is that we are a good 25+ minutes away from Providence), we were relieved to see only two other people in the waiting area which meant that as soon as Bruce finished handing over the insurance card and signing a few papers, Brinley was able to be seen. (I have to mention, it was definitely the shortest time I've ever had to wait at the E.R.) When we got back to the triage area, we told the nurse what happened and that we suspected that one or both of Brinley's shoulders were dislocated because when her arms were moved even the slightest bit, she began crying out again. The nurse mentioned that it might actually be a dislocated elbow, and that the doctor would be in to look at it. After the doctor came in and felt her arm, he did a little 'tweaking' and then we were asked to wait in a recovery area. He said if it was infact her elbow that had been dislocated she should start to move it around again after 10 minutes or so. Sure enough, after several minutes, Brinley started to use that arm to rub her eyes and point to things in the room. After the doctor checked her over again and we were given our discharge papers, we were able to go home and resume our evening.

Once we made it home, Brinley acted as though nothing ever happened. She and I had a late dinner, she and Bruce played in the living room while I tidied up the kitchen and then it was bath, bottle and bed.


Brinley and her baby doll snuggled up in their pajamas and watching a movie together this evening.

After doing a little research on dislocated elbows in toddlers today, I learned that it most commonly happens to the left arm of baby girls inbetweeen the ages of 1 and 3--which fits Brinley to a 't'. Now that Brinley has had a dislocated elbow once, she is at a disposition of it happening again. Infact, my mother has told me that I had a dislocated elbow several times when I was a toddler, and that they really had to be careful with my arms--such as when they were holding my hands, putting my arms through shirts, etc. When children reach the age of 5, a dislocated elbow is less common because usually the bones and ligaments are finished growing and formed and aren't as loose as they were before.

So...that was our Friday night excitement. So far it has been a wet, cold weekend, and by looking at the forecast it seems like it will continue to be that way. The only upside to this weather is it is absolutely perfect for sipping cocoa and watching Christmas movies infront of a roaring fire. Unfortunately I have a little one that doesn't quite understand why she can't go outside to play when it is cold and raining...