You're invited

If you're reading this then you are invited to a playdate at my house on Thursday. We have a swingset, kid pool, and slip-n-slide as well as plenty of room to spread out. I'm planning on starting at 10am and you need to bring a brown bag lunch, blanket or chairs to sit on, and swim stuff for the kids. If you need directions email me. Also, if you have a friend or neighbor that would like to come please bring them too! One last hoorah (sp?) before the kids go back to school, I hope to see you Thursday.

It's tagging time in TN

Yes it's that time of year again to pull out all of the clothes your kids have out grown and all those toys they don't play with anymore and make a little money!! Hey with gas prices going up, food prices going up, and everything else, this is a great way to help with those added expenses. My friend Brea (yes I talk about her alot but hey she gets GREAT deals) does a sale twice a year and hands down it is the BEST sale north of Nashville (I'd actually say probably in the state). This fall she will not only have the regular consignor stuff; she will also have over $900,000 in new boutique as well as new Gymboree at 60-80% off. So go over to this site to get your number, drop off starts August 1! Oh and if you post about the sale on your site she'll enter you in a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to the sale...read more here.

Do you have a blue dot?

One of the things that I loved most about White House was getting the city paper each week. I loved reading about the new things coming to town, events taking place, and also that they listed who got arrested that week. Ha! Since moving to H'ville I've missed getting a city paper even though I knew they had one. Well I was talking to my friend Beth the other day and she told me how to get one....you need a blue dot on your mailbox! Apparently you just have to go by Star News, request a blue dot, and they'll start delivering your paper for free. It's funny because before she told me that I never noticed the dots on the mailboxes but since then I see them ALL the time. I have yet to get my dot but I'm going to soon. Do you have a blue dot?

You know it's a "fun" day when

you've gone through 3 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers! Oh and FYI...it still takes ALOT of elbow grease to get dry erase marker off the wall :) One day I'll think back and laugh, just not today!

Cow Appreciation Day

We had so much fun on Friday! We were joined at Chick-Fil-A by Beth and her crew for our FREE dinner and then out for the chicken dance. All together between the 2 of us there was 11 people in our group. Unfortunately we didn't have the largest group but it was still fun. Inside while eating they had a balloon guy making balloons for the kids and then outside was a little cow train. This is definitely going to be an annual tradition!!

A GREAT idea

I really wanted to put up a picture but seeing as though I'm technically challenged you'll just have to use the link and see for yourself. I saw this discussed over on this site and wanted to share it with you. I think this is a great idea, especially if you go to crowded places. especially having small kids who don't know their phone number let alone my cell number this would be great to have at those places I consider a little scary....zoo, amusement park, play ground, even ball parks. Check it out and tell me what you think.

who am I?

**warning this is probable going to be a long post** And I hope it makes sense. Sometimes I have a hard time articulating into words what my mind is thinking.

I seem to be in a weird place lately where I'm not quite sure who I am. Let me explain. After some thought I've come to the realization that I have never in my life stopped long enough to figure out who Sarah is. I mean I know I'm a daughter, sister, friend, Christian, wife, and mother (it all happened in that order) but as far as fundamentally who am I at the core.

Lets start at the beginning. For as long as I can remember I've been a sister but that in and of itself is different~my little sister has Downs. This means that for as long as I can remember I too have been a mother of sorts. I've always been expected to help out and even before I started school would have to go to my sister's "school" for therapy with her. I'd help in the classroom and with the other kids...this was life. Then as I got older and JH and HS came around I was then responsible for my sister, making sure she got off the bus, giving medicine, feeding, etc. When it came time for my first car I couldn't just think of myself and what I wanted I too had to make sure my sister could get in and out of it easily and also that a wheelchair would fit in the trunk. So as you can see I just wasn't able to be a "normal" teenager.

Just before graduation (1999) is when I met Jeremy and also the time frame that I started working in pharmacy; I never went to college just straight to work. This is the time of my life though that I look at as the fun times. I think some of that has to do with the fact I was able to do what I wanted and was no longer expected to take care of my sister as I had before. It was also during this time that I began going to church for the first time in my life, I accepted Jesus as my Saviour, and also got involved in a Connect group for the first time ever. I can honestly say that it was during this time I started making true friends as well as became very involved in serving at the church.

Then in 2001, Jeremy proposed and life since then has happened REALLY fast. I'll break it down in years just to make it easier:

2002-bought our first house and got married
2003-quit my job I'd been at for 4 years and took off for 5 months
2004-had a miscarriage and then got pregnant again 4 months later
2005-had Gracie
2006-had Carleigh
2007-Jeremy changed jobs, our Connect group quit meeting, and we sold out house
2008-bought new house and had Harrison
(I look back now and realize that during this time life was a whirlwind)

Throughout this time I wondered "when am I going to feel like an adult?" Well let me just tell you it hit me like a ton of bricks the other day. I was cleaning the house and getting the girls lunch when something inside of me said yep now you're an adult. I think this is when I realized I was in a new phase, in unchartered waters. Since then to be honest I've found that I'm not happy with myself. I'm not the wife, mom, or homemaker I dreamed of being. I'm not connected like I was even just a year ago. And to make matters worse I'm a size that I'm not comfortable with. The latter shouldn't be a big deal but as most women know when other parts of your life aren't in order the last thing you want is to look in the mirror and not like what you see.

So all this to say, I have no idea who I am but I'm trying to figure it out. Please pray for me as I embark on this new journey and head into this new phase of my life...whatever it might be.

Role Call

It's been awhile since I've done this so I thought it was a good time to find out who is reading my blog. So if you're reading this will you please leave me a comment so I know who is reading. It's funny to talk to people and hear them say "oh yeah I read your blog" but not know it because they never comment. Just this once at least please leave me a comment...THANKS!!

B1G1 coupons

I like to think of myself as a pretty intelligent person but I've gotten stumped with this one. First let me say that I do understand how a B1G1 coupon works (you buy an item and get another of the same item free) but it's when you combine it with a store sale of B1G1 that's getting me. If the store has the item B1G1 and you have a B1G1 coupon then do you really buy 1 and get 2 free? Please help me, my brain is failing on this one.

My silly girl

Need I say more?!? And yes she's asleep under the bed.

Harrison's Hippo

I cannot believe it's taken me this long for this post but I'm just now downloading the pictures. A HUGE thank you to Alison at Maggie Moo's Mom for these A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E burp cloths. Alison is the sister of my friend Brea and at Brea's last sale we started talking about making something special for Harrison. After thinking about it for a little bit I decided on a hippo and Ali was more than agreeable to comply. I think she did a wonderful job and have truly enjoyed these burp cloths. They are one of a kind, soft, large, and wash well. She also made him a T-shirt but I intentionally had her make it big so that he could wear it longer so that will be featured in a later post. If you need a gift for a baby shower of even just some cute clothes for you own little ones check out her site and see the awesome things she's creating.

Not just for babies

I just don't know what is wrong with me but I seriously think I have my days and nights mixed up. I could stay up ALL night except I know that Harrison is going to have to eat so I make myself go to bed. Then I just lay there until almost midnight (sometimes later) because I just can't go to sleep. The worst thing is that in the morning I'm so sleepy that I want to sleep until 10 but the girls have been getting up closer to 8. Two hours may not seem like much but when it's sleep it most definitely is. Am I the only one who has dealt with this?

Cow Appreciation Day

Calling ALL SAHM.....July 11 is Cow Appreciation Day @ Chick-Fil-A!!

I spoke with the owner of the Rivergate location today thanking him for reminding me via his sign about the upcoming event and he gave me even better news. For those of you who are not familiar with Cow Appreciation Day it is a day that you dress like a cow, go to Chick-Fil-A, and get FREE food!!! Now for the better news, Todd was telling me that this year he's teamed up with Doug from 94.1 The Fish to do a block party from 6-8pm with the highlight of the night being the world's largest chicken dance at 7:20pm. Now I know that this might be late for some kids but Todd also told me that who ever has the largest group there to do the chicken dance, Chick-Fil-A will go and provide lunch for the entire office with Doug doing the DJing. I did ask and Todd assured me that if a group of SAHM was the largest group they would do it for us as well. So now I'm asking~Are you with me??!?!!?? I am totally serious about this so if you're in email me. If you're a crafty person and would like to help with outfits let me know, maybe we can all get together one day next week to put it all together. I've seen others do it in the past and it can be as easy as taping spots on your clothes. Come on don't be a chicken!! :)

Also if you are in and have a blog would you please post this on there too. The more people we can get the better!! I hope to see you there.

Diaper Deal of the YEAR!!

This has got to be the BEST diaper deal I have ever seen. It took me a little while but I was able to do it just as this site said and here's what I got (you're not going to believe it):

12 Jumbo packs of diapers (4 each of sizes 2,3,and 4)
2 boxes of breast milk storage bags (25 in each box)
1 box of 12 condoms (hey we like them close but not THAT close :))
1 bottle of bug spray
1 mens deodorant
1 package of Skittles

And my total.........................................................................................................................................



37.68!!!!! (this includes tax!) it would have been even cheaper but I didn't have the pharmacy coupon the first time so I had to pay a little more.

So here's how it works, you buy 3 packages of the Walgreens brand jumbo diapers (make sure and get the Jumbo and NOT the Mega). They are on sale this week for $5.99 but then there is a $5/2 coupon in the EasySaver book (these are located right when you walk in with the weekly ads) and also a $2/1 coupon in the coupon pamphlet they give you for INQUIRING about their pharmacy discount plan. It doesn't make sense but when you use the EasySaver one it actually takes $2.50 off each package and then the other one also take an additional $2 off each one. After tax your total for 3 packages of diapers is $5.58 and you will also get a Register Reward for $5!! So you can get approximately, depending on the size, 100+ diapers for $5.

Now here's what I learned while trying to get this to work

#1. not all stores have the pharmacy coupon. The one on IL does and New Shackle said they would get them by the end of the week @ the latest. Lesley at the NS store is super sweet so if you need help ask for her.
#2.you can not roll the RR into your next purchase of diapers because their system is setup to not print another RR for the same thing. I did 4 separate transactions for the diapers and then used the RR for the other items.
#3.you can only use 1 RR per transaction. This means I did a total of 8 transactions but that's ok!
#4.don't tear out the coupons. Because they are Walgreens coupons they don't have to put them in their drawer so they can just scan them and you can keep them to do more transactions.

A big thanks to Brea who told me about the deal and also received several calls as I tried to get it all figured out.