Pinecone Research

For those of you who have attempted to make money with paid surveys, you know that many of the survey sites are a joke. Pinecone Research is one I have found that is not. While I have not gotten an overload of surveys, they do pay $3 per survey and generally take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. Go ahead and check them out here.

Finding Deals

Although I have many sites that I frequent to find good deals, my favorite as of late is Time 2 Save. If you're interested in finding out what coupons you can match with different store's sales, be sure to check them out. They also have lots of interesting information on other savings as well.
Also, I have learned a lot from the Yahoo group howtoshopforfree about the general ins and outs of couponing. They also have a group on BigTent, but you do have to pay $1 to join that group - the dollar is to prevent the group from being hit by a lot of spammers.

Bye-Bye Sippy Cup

Peter is finally making a switch that he has wanted to make for quite some time now. Several months ago, he noticed that everyone else drank from cups without lids and he would get upset when I gave him his sippy cup. We've tried switching to a big boy cup several times off and on over that time period, but with no luck. Everything in the cup would always end up in a puddle in his seat.
A few days ago, he managed to get Alex's cup that still had some water left in it. He drank it and only spilled a few drops on his shirt. Ever since, I have just let him use a regular cup. It's been a few days now and he still isn't drinking without getting anything on himself, but he'll learn. And he's so excited to finally feel like he's joined the rest of the family in this aspect!

Daily Quiet Time

Up until recently, I have never been a schedule mommy. While I still don't do schedules for many things, there are a few we have added, one of those being nap time / quiet time. Alex quit taking naps some time ago, and Peter and Phillip were not taking their nap at the same time. I have started making Peter stay up a little bit later, putting Phillip down a bit earlier and Alex has to at least lay down and be quiet. He may look at a book if he likes, as long as he is quiet. This way mommy can either have a break or some time to clean in the middle of her day, depending on which is needed most.
It took a few days, but the boys have adjusted to the new routine fairly well. Alex will generally remain quiet for at least an hour and both of the other two go down close to the same time. I do generally put Peter down about 15-20 minutes before Phillip because Peter just can't make it any longer without sleep and Phillip usually isn't finished with lunch yet.
My hardest challenge in all of this, surprisingly, has been keeping Peter awake. Ever since I moved him out of the crib and into a toddler bed, he has put himself down when he wants a nap. That's right, he disappears to his bed and goes to sleep - 100% completely on his own. This is normally an hour or so before I want him to go to sleep. I have to keep an eye on him and if I notice he's left the room, go get him out of his bed.
Now to figure out what to do with my free hour... ;-)

Lessons from Life

The strawberry patch we are working on is providing many opportunities for learning. Just the other day, I walked out to see the boys watering the plants after 2 days of solid rain. When I asked what they were doing, they replied that the plants had not grown any strawberries yet, so obviously they needed more water. I think there will definitely be some patience learned from this, especially since I don't plan on letting the plants produce the first year so they can become well established. ;-)

Free Digital Photo Prints

Just thought I'd take a moment to tell everyone about a new photo printing site I found - and it's completely free! Visit hotprints.com, sign up, and every month you get a credit for a free "hotbook". Yes, I said FREE - this includes free shipping. In my experience, a hotbook normally includes up to 14 photo prints. What's the catch? In the middle of each hotbook, is an 'offer' - an advertisement of some kind. The hotbooks are paid for by these advertisers to get the ads into your hands. Since they are in the middle of the book, they're easily removed, though and then you have 14 free digital prints! How's that for a freebie?

Although still not walking on his own, Peter is joining his big brother, Phillip, in becoming quite a handful. He knows how to open doors, cabinets, and the refrigerator. He climbs on just about anything available - we frequently find him sitting on top of the dining room table. He can open the drawers of both our desks and Uncle David's and his favorite thing to do seems to be to pull everything he can get his hands on into the floor. LOL I guess you don't need to walk to be able to get into everything!

In the interest of taking time for myself so that I am more refreshed to give quality time back to my family, I have picked up (some) gardening again. I am starting out small as I am still pretty busy and don't want to get too frustrated with it and quit.
So far I have been working on a strawberry bed. For this year, I am thinking I will probably work on that and one other thing... I don't plan on the strawberries producing this year, as I plan to trim any flowers to allow the plant the time and energy to get itself well established. I haven't completely decided what one other thing I want to plant, but know I need to do something since the boys will get impatient with working on a garden that is not growing anything... ;-)
While out putting the strawberry plants in the ground yesterday, Alex grew extremely distressed when I pulled the "strawberry" markers out of the pots. He was afraid the plants would forget they were supposed to grow strawberries... LOL

Bi-Lo Deals Week of 3/10-3/16

My favorite deals this week at Bi-Lo include Free Country Crock spread and $0.25 Bertolli Pasta sauce - I am personally hoping to get 20 jars of the latter. Why 20 jars? Well.... the next 20 times my family and I need pasta sauce, I will have paid $0.25 a jar instead of paying the $1+ they normally cost. The key to couponing is to combine a good sale with a coupon (hopefully in a store that doubles, such as Bi-Lo or Publix) and then stock up - as much as you can use before the next sale or before it expires, whichever comes first.
For those of you that live in Florida, I know the rules are different. While I don't understand much about it, I do know that most Florida stores own themselves instead of being owned by corporate and therefore, they get to make their own rules.

Country Crock spread is BOGO this week, which will make it $1 and the 3/7 Red Plum Inserts have coupons for $0.50/1. Bi-Lo doubles all coupons $0.60 and under which makes this item free! You may have to pay a few pennies for tax, but this is definitely a good deal!

Bertolli Pasta sauce is on sale BOGO as well making it $1.45 a jar. The 2/14 Red Plum Inserts have coupons for $0.60/1 which, again, will double making it $0.25 a jar plus tax.

There are also some pretty good sales on meat this week, including ground chuck at $1.99 a lb. For more sales information, feel free to check out A Full Cup where there are forums for most of the stores out there and lots of great deals to be found!

Half Off at Diapers.com

There is a great deal going on right now at diapers.com - $25 off $50 for new customers. If you don't have a little one in diapers, there are many other things you can get at diapers.com including cleaning supplies.

Check it out here.

1) Add the items you wish to purchase to your cart. Your total needs to be over $49 for free shipping.

2) Enter code HEAL2810 (referral code) for $10 off your order.

3) After placing your order, submit for a free subscription to Parenting Magazine ($14.97 value) or receive a $14.97 rebate in the mail. (It took about a month for mine to arrive.) For more information on the rebate, click here.

I personally did this deal for some CHEAP diapers for Peter... Any of you that have children in diapers know that saving money on diapers is definitely something to love!

Free Kashi Sample

Get a delicious sample of Kashi cereal or a granola bar FREE here.

FlyLady

Most of you reading this are probably a lot better at keeping your homes organized than I am. There was a time when I did not struggle in this area, but I have definitely had difficulty with it since having a family of my own. I usually have so many coals in the fire, this one seems to get left behind.
I have found a system that helps with keeping your home organized and does not require you to spend hours each day doing it. In fact, if done correctly, this should help you realize that a few minutes here or there is really all it takes to keep your home in order.
If you're interested, take a peek at Flylady's website.

My apologies in advance if this post seems a little scattered...

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the many duties of a wife and mother and how one is supposed to accomplish them all or pick and choose what gets done and what doesn't. I have sought some help and advice from people I know and books I am reading. While I am still working things out in my mind, here are some of the things I have learned.

1) The only way to get done what needs to be done is to focus your life around Christ. Make him the center and prioritize what He would rather you do.

2) Some things are not going to get done. Decide what is most important and let the rest go.

3) People are always more important than things. If my children or my husband need my attention while I am doing housework, I will give them my attention... the housework will be there when I get back. ;-)

4) I absolutely MUST make time to give back to myself each day... spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. This is something I have really struglled with, but have also been finding that when I am not making time for myself each day, I actually accomplish less, feel miserable and usually make those around me miserable as well.

A couple of books I highly recommend are Heart of a Handmaiden by Cathy Corle and Taking Care of the Me in Mommy by Lisa Welchel.

It's looking as though Nate may have to make a decision between work and school very soon. The 3-month bid for a new schedule is coming up soon and the company has recently decided that with this new schedule, they will no longer be allowing schedule exemptions for school. In a nutshell, that means that if Nate doesn't get the schedule he bids on or one very similar to it, he will either lose his job or have to quit school.
Ultimately, we are hoping he gets the schedule he's bidding on, so we don't have to make that decision, but are also going to start looking into another job just in case. We would appreciate your prayers on this matter.
Thanks!

Sorry for no new updates again... The family apparently picked up a some kind of virus from our visits to the ER with Phillip and I think now we're finally just about all over it.
Phillip is back to normal - praise the Lord! He is running, jumping and all over the place with no talk of pain in his leg any longer. That puts many of mommy's fears to rest.