July's Life

So, July was the month of zero stress in our house...NOT!!!

Oh my, where to begin? How about on July 1st? Here are some of the "fun" things we dealt with:

July 1st - Dad was informed that his company was taking away his position and with it, $1.50 an hour of pay, oh and they were going to cut his bonuses in half. Which would result in $500 less a month NET.

July 1st, 2nd - Dad applies EVERYWHERE he can think of for a better job. One that is not small, family owned, and one with benefits that don't cost more than $500 monthly as well.

June-July - Mom begins having terrible stomach pains, enough to take her breath away and to prompt her to go to the doctor, even though now we REALLY can't afford it.

July 15th-ish - Buddy Boy decides he will NOT eat anything except for grapes, fries and chocolate chips...oh and his soy milk. Seriously, he eats NOTHING else, except at church where he eats bread.

July 17th - Mom has an ultrasound and is told she'll get results that night. Except they don't come...the doctor refuses to return phone calls, messages, etc for two weeks. Oh yeah, Munchkin cries all day because it turns out Mom is NOT pregnant:-)

July 24th - Dad goes to his company "party" to get his last bonus check, only they decide they're not going to give them out yet. They're gonna dangle it for him a little longer.

July 28th - Mom finally gets results. Gallstones, most likely gonna need surgery. Unfortunately, didn't get results before Dad was "in-between" jobs, so can't schedule a thing until we're insured again.

July 28th - The computer is fried after the power goes out and short circuits the entire thing.

July 29th - The appraiser guy who was supposed to call weeks ago doesn't until now, and so the refinance dude doesn't check employment until today, Dad's ONLY day of being unemployed. Doesn't look good to them!

July 30th - The digital camera decides if the computer goes, it's going too. I don't blame it...I want out too!:-)

There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears. However, we tried to make the best of it and still have some fun.

Family Home Evening Talent Show:


Mom and Munchkin belting out some show tunes.


Didn't know he could boogie, did ya? He's got some smooth moves.


Dad and Munchkin showing off some of their amazing acrobat talents.

Day in the Mountains:




Hanging with family:





Going to the park a lot!




Thank heavens for family,free fun and food storage, eh? I don't know how we would have survived without each other. And here's the good news...it's AUGUST!!! Yay!:-)

You know you're getting old when....

Kiddyland at Lagoon makes you sick. Me and Munchkin went to Lagoon on Friday. I was able to sneak her on the roller coaster(she was only 1/4 inch to short), and then to the Tidal Wave, and then all the kiddy rides. After two hours of rides I couldn't do another one or else I was going to throw-up.




Then when we came home she was the family's entertainment. ~Dad

Savoring Sunday

I wasn't feeling so hot yesterday, so I stayed home from church with a sleeping Buddy Boy. The kid is so cute. He'll just curl up anywhere and sleep, without any warning at times!

Anywho, after church, we went to have dinner with Dad's family. Stayed there awhile (the kids both behaved beautifully), and decided on the way home we needed to do something fun as a family.


What better place than the overpass on 4700 south? I'm such a wimp...the thought "what if an earthquake happened at this very instant?" got me in a hurry to get down, but I did manage to take 2 pictures.

On the other side of the overpass is a school, which means a playground. The kids had a blast on it, and Dad actively took pictures while I actively played monster.




We played for about an hour and came home. I discovered that when I'm not feeling hot, playing monster is NOT a way to make myself feel better. But other than that, it was a great day! Dad and I decided we're the funnest parents ever. Well, okay, that's what we told Munchkin, and we're hoping she believes us, so mum's the word!

Last Week

Our last cat (Smokey) ran away about 2 years ago and Munchkin was devastated. So this week we gave in, and went to get her a kitten. Somehow we ended up getting a puppy (Allie), and a kitten (Honey). From what we hear pets are great for kids with Autism, because the Autistic kids are able to relate to animals better than people.



On Thursday we went to the Taylorsville carnival. Munchkin loved it. Buddy Boy was happy just watching Munchkin enjoy the rides. He was not to happy when the ride stopped. I was tempted to put him in a ride, but I was too worried about half way into the ride him having an anxiety attack. So maybe next year.



Saturday morning we went to the parade. I haven't been to the parade in years, and me and Buddy Boy were not impressed. A half hour into it we left, and an hour into it Mom and Munchkin left. But at least we got to see the Taylorsville football team!! Munchkin enjoyed taking most of the pictures.





Saturday night we stayed up and watched the fireworks from our front yard. There is one spot where we can get a pretty good view. Buddy Boy loved every minute of the firework show. I was worried that he wouldn't like the noise, but he didn't seem to mind it at all. ~Dad

Couponing discoveries

I usually post about this on my personal self-reliant/frugal blog, but I just wanted to share here quickly too, because I know these are tough economic times for everyone.

I have learned a few couponing "tricks", so to speak, and have been able to build up our shorter term food storage significantly this last month! I've been taking advantage of Albertson's offer to double a limited amount of coupons each week, and then combining the coupons and double coupons with sale items. Here are some things we've bought this last month to give you some ideas:

1st trip: 1 box Ritz crackers, 6 large packages jello/pudding mix, 2 bottles Hunts BBQ sauce. With the sales, the total was $10.50 before tax. After instant rebates and coupons, I paid $1.60 WITH tax!

2nd trip: 1 box Wheat Thins, 2 canisters Crystal Light, 1 pkg pre-shredded Kraft cheese. Regular total (at Albertson's) $18.26, my cost, $2.32 with tax.

3rd trip: 6 boxes General Mills cereal, 1 24-oz bottle ketchup, 1 Wishbone spritzer,
1 bottle Best Foods Mayo, 2 jars Ragu pasta, 2 boxes Suddenly Salad, 1 box brownie mix, 2 pkgs hot dogs. Regular price $52.27, my cost $18.09

4th trip: 11 boxes cereal (3 General Mills, 8 Kelloggs), 2 pkg Taco Bell taco shells, 1 candy bar. Regular cost $52.43, my cost $5.46

Total spent for the month on our short term food storage: $27.47. Pretty sweet huh! Anywho, you can check out my personal blog for specific details on it, but I wanted to share here too, like I said. (My personal blog is "Dedeland", you can find it on our bloglist to the right). Yay for saving $$$!

Buddy Boy the Organizer

Those who know Buddy Boy know that, well, he's a little organizer. He LOVES lining up my spices, and rather than actually rolling his balls or driving his cars, he lines them up and then admires then. So I really shouldn't have been surprised to see this the other day on the couch:



















Here he is admiring his handy work. Notice his diaper is still on. He just managed to get the little balls of poop out:



It's rare to get a picture of him when he's not screaming...I really think this made his day!



EEEEWWWW!!!Ha ha!