You get what you get...

I saw this sign the other day on my new favorite website, Pinterest. Have you been there? It is FABULOUS! Tons of great ideas all in one place!

Anyhow, back to the sign. My kids know this quote! They hear it a lot! But this sign doesn't look like a kids sign to me. SO that got me thinking.

A lot of us have LIFE happening to us and everyday we can make a choice how we are going to react to it. I can whine, cry, and complain but it's not going to change what's going on right now. And your mess doesn't look like my mess, but it's still a mess that I have to work through. So if I ever want my little ones to follow this I think it's time I start following it.

A little about me

 I'm a worrier, I worry about everything, it's who I am.

So six years ago I got married. We knew we wanted little ones right away and 3 months later I was pregnant! We also decided to move from Wyoming in hopes of more. Isn't that what it is always about, more?

Ryan got a job with Union Pacific Railroad. Everyone told us how lucky we were, and what a great job it would be, and how the money would be so nice. Yes, there would be long hours, but we could sacrifice a little to get our feet on the ground and get us off to a solid start. This wonderful job would also allow me to stay home and be a Mom! It was a dream come true! ha! Oh how little we knew!

I also think the ideas we had were not of a typical younger, newly married, expecting a child, just starting out kind of dreams. We were older, life had happened to us, we had found our way and somehow we expected more for our new adventure.

Well, life has a way of humbling you. My hubby has been furloughed more times than I can count, he busted his knee at work twice and now his shoulder. We have gone through 3 surgeries, months of physical therapy, and time off work, PLUS we added two more babies to our family. And the list of should haves, could haves is long.

But we have been blessed also. The new town, one car, no friends made it easy with just one car because really we had no where to go anyways! Dad was able to be home and see so many of those precious baby milestones such as the first  step or  word. There was no place, and no one, to run away to when things got bumpy, so what didn't kill us made us stronger as a couple.

I sometimes think of our first five years here in Oregon like we were in a cocoon. Our little family all wrapped up tight and together.

Recently though it feels as if the shell is breaking, and not in a bad way. Our wings are opening up and stretching. I feel as if there is some light at the end of the tunnel. We have met some friends here. Friends who will NEVER replace the friends back home, but friends all the same.

I still get to be a stay at home Mama, but now I sell Scentsy. And while I'm not breaking any records in the sales department it does give this Mama a brief time out to talk about something other than babies which is nice, and it pays a bill or two, so I feel like I do my little part to help out our family. It also gave me something to focus on. It's replaced some of the worry and given me a partial solution.

It's also nice to have some new dreams. It seems we were focused on survival for so long, which is a little extreme, but true. Now I feel like I can look up, and look out. I can grow my business, my team, myself,  and continue to grow my family (and I don't mean literally!!! at least not yet!) lol!

SO while the struggles aren't over because life isn't over. I am letting go a little more, enjoying a little more, I just have a feeling like it might be our time to fly. And that feels good!

Hope you had a wonderful Easter! and some deals, recipes and more!

Did you have a good Easter? We sure did!

My plan was for the Easter Bunny to leave a note on the door saying he hopped on by while we were at church and left some clues to find the hidden Easter baskets BUT... Miss Allie Grace found the hidden Easter baskets about 10 minutes before we were to walk out the door! So, we took a mini break from our Sunday morning mad scramble routine to check out the baskets before I whisked them away so we could maybe make it to church before Sunday School was over! WoW! total run on sentence, sorry. Anyhow, I love days we get to spend together with family and friends, good food, and chocolate :) I hope your day was just as wonderful!

Now onto the deals:

I have a TON of pictures I need to get developed so I have been watching out for the photo deals. Here are two I saw this morning from Couponing to Disney.

Target has a printable coupon for $2 off the purchase of 20 prints. Prints are 10 cents each so 20 pics for FREE!

The next one is 365 prints from Snapfish for $15.00 SHIPPED! Use the code SPRING365 at check out to get this deal. If you are new to Snapfish you also get 50 FREE prints. That is just $.04 a picture! You only have until Tuesday night to do this deal though so hurry!

I found an email from Disney in my box this morning for their beach towels. They are on sale for $12 this week with FREE personalization. I'm thinking my babies might need these :)

You can get a FREE DVD today only from Blockbuster with the code MONDAYDVD.

Frugal Living NW shared a deal about 2 tickets for Big Surf at Clackamas Aquatic Park for just $5.

She also shared a post about a FREE 8x10 photo canvas from the Canvas People. You just have to pay shipping. This would be great for Mother's day!

And the last thing is a recipe I saw over at Our Best Bites for a Tortellini Spinach Bake. This looks good and with a couple changes my little ones just might eat it :)

Okay friends I have some pictures to download so have a great Monday!

HELLO...out there

is anyone still listening?

I want a reason to blog, a purpose. I share most everything on my personal facebook page, sometimes my Moose to Men facebook page, sometimes my Scents of the Northwest facebook page. I share, and share, and share...do I really need to share here too? Or maybe my facebook friends wish I would share here so they didn't get bombarded with so much from me on a daily basis :)

I think I tried to do too much, be too much. I also think I wanted to keep everything separate. So my Scentsy friends didn't have to hear about my children, or my mom friends didn't have to hear about my business. But you know what, this is me. This is who I am right now. If I offend you or drive you crazy with too many pictures of my children, recipes of food I dream about eating, or the yummy smells coming from my warmers I'm sorry. I'll still love you if you don't come back or if you hide me from your facebook :)

Usually what brings me here to blogland is I want to share. I mean really, why else are we here? So this is what I read today, Mommy On Fire. I've had it on my screen all day. It's just a short post. I think I realized though how important it could be. Plus I wanted to read it, I mean really read it, with out interruptions from the little ones. So, unsure of what to do, I just left it up all day. I wanted to make sure I would remember it. I starred it as a favorite, but have you seen my favorites list! I thought about posting it on facebook, but I posted a lot over there tonight. So here I am.

I want to do this. I want my children to have this. Can you just see what a gift this could be? I don't know a lot about the Bible. I hope my children grow up to know more. This gift will teach them about God, but also about ME. They will see my heart, my struggles, my praises. And when the day comes I can't be right there for them, to help them through something, my heart will whisper over the words of God and I hope they know how much I loved them and cared for them.

There are so many things we give and can give our children, but how many of those things are going to mean something to them next week, next month, next year, in thirty years?


***Okay so I can't sleep. I don't know who is going to read this or if anyone is going to read this, but the idea behind the post is WONDERFUL!!! So, you don't want to do the Bible, pick your favorite book and write in the margins why it touches your soul. Watch your favorite movie and write a letter to your son or daughter and give it to them on an appropriate birthday or when they move out. Maybe there's a cookbook that you use over and over, start adding post- its to why you make a certain dish, what you change, who's favorite is it?  This would work for a brother or a sister or a child. We lose so much in the hustle and bustle. Life is flying by us right now and we're not going to remember the details so write them down!

Taste of Home Cookbooks $5.00

Happy Tuesday!  This one is for my sister in law Lindy, we'll see if she reads my blog :)

Taste of Home is clearing out stock and offering up their cookbooks for $5.00 a piece! Cookbooks are one of my favorite things. I dream of having a little nook in my kitchen someday full of all of my cookbooks. Right now they are in a huge box in the garage.

They are also giving FREE shipping and 20% off when your order total is over $20 (AFTER the discount). So, go pick out 5 cookbooks, apply the code, and spend $20. The code is LST26.

Thanks Hip 2 Save!

20% off at Hamilton Beach on their Brew Stations

The code save20 will save you 20% off on BrewStations over at Hamilton Beach. The coffee makers range in price from $30- $80.

Okay friends here are a few deals I found this morning:

Amazon has this Melissa and Doug Jungle Safari floor puzzle on sale for just $3.88. I love their puzzles because they are so much thicker than regular puzzles and seem to stand up better to the little ones. Shipping is $1.99.

Thanks Hip2Save!

Groupon in Kansas City, Missouri is $50 worth of Kansas City steaks for just $25. I have heard people rave about their food. I had it once in college but that was too long ago to recall. If you are new to Groupon, they are a daily deal site. You sign up and can get the deals in your area. BUT, the great thing is that you can get the deals in any area! So go through and search around a little and you might be surprised what you can find. It looks like this deal has free shipping too!

Thanks Who Said Nothing in Life is Free?!

Totsy is another daily deal site. This one has stuff for the little ones. They always have a lot to choose from. Right now I am deciding on this book package. It is the Good Night, Mr. Night book and comes with a doll that has glow in the dark stars on him. The set is $9.60. They have some cute socks with pull handles for only $2.99, and some Kettler toys. I would love one of the sit on tractors or diggers for the boys!

What a busy Monday!

There is so much to share I thought I would put it all here instead of a bunch of mini Facebook posts.

First off Good morning and Happy Monday!

Okay, the important stuff first. If you are looking for something to do as an individual, family, group, or church for the holidays and beyond please look into The Mercy House. I have been following Kristen over at We are THAT Family for quite some time now. I love her crazy posts about life and kids and all the crazy things that happen to them. I love that she's a Christian doing some amazing things for people in this country and in Africa. I just love her and if she lived here in Oregon I would have to stalk her and make her my new friend :) (okay just kidding on that last part, a little)

Anyhow she has a list of things that they are collecting for The Mercy House and the women they will be helping over in Africa. They are simple things and if you are a coupon-er like me you probably get them free anyways. So I will ask you, if it's in your heart to take on a project this year, please consider The Mercy House. Thank you so much for listening!

Bigfoot Moods

Bigfoot Moods: "Enter The Bigfoot Moods Sweepstakes for your chance to win a Bigfoot the Monster toy."

Local, female, and looking for something to do???

The Portland Women's Show is going on this weekend, October8-10. Hours are Saturday 10-6pm and Sunday 10-5pm. Admission is $9.00 and children under 10 are FREE.

It looks like Sunday at 1pm you can meet Ricky Paull Goldin, Dr. Jake Martin from All My Children on the main stage.

Saturday there is a fashion show at 3pm, I'll let you go look at the site for the details on that one ;)

They will also have exhibitors and shopping, workshops and seminars, an authors corner, plus stage events. You can head on over to the website for more information.

Beg, borrow, print, and Save!

Go through your stash and find you coupons for Huggies diapers now. If you don't have any go over to coupons.com and print the one that's available for $3.00 off the big box. You will need this coupon starting October 17th. Not for the ad starting tomorrow, for the one after that.

The deal will be at Rite Aid and they will have their big box of Huggies on sale for $19.99. Which really is not a sale because that's the price they always are at my store for the box. The big news is you will use your $3.00 off Huggies coupon, buy a few more things so you can get to $25.00, and use the $5 off $25 Rite Aid coupon too. The box of Huggies will trigger a $4+Up Reward.

Frugal Living NW has some more ideas on how to get the most for your money over at her site!

Coupons for Toys!

Have you seen all of the great coupons for toys lately? Last month there were some in the Sunday paper and now there are some available online.

Last year, if I remember right, we were able to score some pretty cheap toys right after Thanksgiving with these coupons.

So head on over to coupons.com and you can narrow your search down by clicking toys and games in the links on the left. All of the coupons are for Hasbro brand toys and include coupons for Mr. Potato Head, Weebles, Weebles Treehouse, Chuck and Friends, Sit n Spin, Easy Bake and more.Let me know if you find any good deals to use with these coupons.

It looks like if you go through the Hasbro site to get coupons there are even more! It still takes you to coupons.com, but now there are 3 pages of coupons include ones for Spiderman and Ironman. Now those are some coupons I can use!

Thanks Coupon Geek!

Do you havw a Wii?

I know a lot of my friends have the Wii so this deal is for you.

Office Depot has a bunch of Wii games discounted to $7.99.

There is a code to take an additional 14% off and get FREE shipping,  making your games just $6.87 plus whatever tax you have of course.

This is a great deal and is going to knock some more names off my Christmas list. The code to use is 82632163.

Thanks Coupon Geek!

Looking for a dinner deal this weekend? Try Chevy's!

Chevy's has some new coupons available to make eating out this weekend a little more affordable. There is a 20% off any entree and a Buy 1 combo get 1 combo for $2.99.

We use the 20% off one when it comes available on the big fajita platter and then we share. It is more than enough food for both of us with some to take home. These coupons are good through November 6, 2010.

I'll look around for some more deals on eating out and ad those later!

Thanks Thrifty Northwest Mom!

Amazing price on this Food Saver!

We have one of these and I love it! It really does help cut down on freezer burn on my food. I use it most when I buy my meat in bulk on sale. Then I come home and package it into sizes we will use. I want to try it with my sauces and broths but I'm not sure how to do that yet.

So Newegg has the FoodSaver V2040 home vacuum packaging system on sale for $74.95 ( I hate to admit I payed a lot more than that for mine). The good news is there is a code to take an additional 35% off and FREE shipping! The code is EMCZYYW53. Bringing your total down to $39.95 shipped!

This would be a super incredible gift for a newlywed, new parents, most anyone, but especially all of us who are working on saving money. The code is good until October 14, 2010. Who knows how long this deal will last though.

Amazon has this same system listed for $74.95 also, just no awesome coupon code for there.

Thanks Coupon Gal!