Coupons Coupons, where to begin?

I have been trying to become more coupon/deal savvy. Let's just say...it's not going as well as it could. I have my little organizer, I clip the coupons I get in the local paper's circular (and by local I mean small town paper that you don't have to pay for a subscription, it only comes once a week or so), and I try to remember that I have them. Sometimes (OK, most of the time) I don't remember I have them until the coupon has expired. Oops.

So, I signed up for www.couponmom.com. If you don't know what this is, check it out. It's pretty cool. It tells you what's on sale/what you can use a coupon for in your state/store, how much the item is before and after the coupon (or in-store savings) and what % you save after all discounts/coupons. Nice, right? Yeah, but the thing is you HAVE to buy a Sunday paper to get the good circulars...and we're talking, a bigger Sunday paper. So, of course, here it is MONDAY, and I have no idea where to buy a Sunday paper on a SUNDAY, let alone today. So, Ben and I have a new project: find out where on EARTH to buy a Sunday paper around here...on Sunday or any other day! We will be checking: grocery stores, convenience stores, dollar stores, drugstores, and bookstores. Other than that, it's going to be a wild goose chase. Hopefully after today we will know where to get them and won't have to do this again...hopefully. Wish us luck!

Not so good news from the last appointment...

So, while all looks pretty good with Monkey as far as organs, heart rate, and movement go, he's really small. Like, 1/2 pound smaller than he *should* be. He weighed 2lbs yesterday, and they want him to be at about 2.5lbs. So I've been told to take 2 protein drinks a day, completely ignore how much weight I'm gaining, and stay off my feet as much as possible. With all of our family here for Thanksgiving, that's not easy. For a person like me, who likes things a certain way and feels that I am the only one to be able to do them that way, it's a struggle, especially when I'm not technically on bed rest...yet.  Ben keeps trying to slow me down and make me take it easy, but I'm hosting Thanksgiving for crying out loud! I appreciate the moms helping out, but I don't want to sit there like a bump on a log while they do everything (including cleaning and putting away dishes, which I appreciate, but they aren't ever put away where they belong...ugh).

Ben is really worried. He thinks that it's partially his fault that Monkey is small, because ever since he has been home he has been wanting to go go go doing things and wanting me to cook more, etc. He swears he'll help more, but I'll believe that when it happens. It's no one's fault, it just is what it is. There was no reason to think this would be happening, so there's no blame to be placed. Hopefully these protein drinks help (oh, and staying off my feet if I can get myself to do it).

I guess I'll have a lot more time to focus on crochet and cross-stitch!

Here's the next project on the list (besides the blanket, which is SLOW to progress)

My e-mail got hacked =( Oh, and Thanksgiving's practically here!

Well, it finally happened. The hotmail account that I have had since I got married has been hacked...and the nice hacker who used it sent a pornographic video clip to my contact list. Great. Because this was the second hotmail account I have had hacked in the past month or so, I decided that I'm done with hotmail. New account created, contacts/messages imported, forwarding enabled, and everything I could think of switched over to the new account. I guess I'll just forward my e-mails to the new account for, oh, about 2 months, and then delete the old account completely. I also changed the password on the old account, so hopefully it will be protected until I close it. Ugh.

On the upside...I love GMail. The multiple sign in is AWESOME, but I'm still working with filters. I want my e-mails to go to their respected boxes without being read and without hitting my main inbox...I'll have to figure that out. But I really do love that multiple sign in =).

Now on to Thanksgiving. My family is getting here tomorrow, B's is getting in on Monday...and then chaos ensues. Between having to go grocery shopping, making sure everyone gets what they want for the big dinner, going on a little trip with everyone (just for the day) the moms wanting to go shopping and having a prenatal appointment to go to, I'm going to be exhausted by the time everyone goes home. The nice thing is that the moms have basically forbidden me from cooking Thanksgiving dinner...in my own home. That's good because while I am capable, all the bending and lifting etc gets to me after a while, and I get tired and uncomfortable. I know I'll end up helping some, but it's nice to know I don't have to do it all! If I don't post again before T-day...Have a great time with friends and family!

On to every 2 weeks

Well, it's happened. I've reached the point in my pregnancy where I have to be at the Dr's every two weeks. It's not really that big of a deal, except for the fact that my next appointment is the week of Thanksgiving...when all of our family will be in town. That's a little inconvenient. "Hi family, great to see you, we have to leave for a few hours so...entertain yourselves." The really hard thing? It's landing on my MIL's birthday. Because the nature of this next appointment is a bit, well, personal, I don't want anyone but B with me. It just isn't appropriate. So, either he will go with me or I will go by myself.

Other than that, Monkey is doing great, and next time we will get a growth estimate--length, weight, etc. I also find out exactly when I have to start going in twice weekly for monitoring, so they can see if/how often I'm contracting. I haven't felt any thus far, and here's hoping that it continues that way.  Ben was super surprised last appointment to see Monkey's foot up by his face...he didn't know babies were that flexible!

Amy Butler Modern Diaper Bag!!! (And a couple of other things!)

Well, I did it! It's finished! I'm so proud of myself...it took me 4 days, a few machine needles, and more than a few choice words, but it's done! I completed the modern diaper bag, the changing pad that goes with it, and a diaper "clutch" for those times when I don't need the whole big bag with me. I will say that had I kept the dimensions as listed in "Little Stitches for Little Ones" it would have been WAY too big for me. Also, the changing pad does call for 2 layers of batting, but if you buy the thick batting you only need one. I used 2 layers of 3/4" batting and it's too bulky...I had to lengthen the strap on the changing pad to make it work (but that could also be because I don't like just rolling it into a tube, I tri-fold one way and then another). I used the instructions from The Ogden's Modern Diaper Bag Post to cut down the size of the bag to about 75%, which works perfectly for me.

I had some difficulty turning the bag from inside-out to right side-out, until I realized that I had attached the straps wrong (way to go pregnancy brain and exhaustion) but once I fixed that there wasn't really a problem at all. I also intended the clutch to be smaller, but I was guessing at dimensions and it turned out too big. That's OK, now I just have a small diaper bag (aka clutch) to take with me when the full sized bag would be too much. Is anyone else surprised/impressed that  Ben helped pick out the fabric? He says that it was so that he could get out of the fabric store faster, but I'm still happy. It would have taken me FOREVER to choose if he hadn't stepped up!

He also got to feel Monkey really MOVE the other day. He had his hand resting on my belly, and baby full on KICKED his hand...so hard that  Ben jumped away because it surprised him so much!