My Son's Endoscopy

My son has an endoscopy scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8:30am at Children's Hospital. We have to check in at 7:00am. The typical drive there is about 40 minutes, and of course it's supposed to rain hard tonight and tomorrow, so we're leaving at 6:00am. My husband commutes that way everyday and says that will be plenty of time. I hope he's right because if we're late, they might re-schedule us and we definitely don't want that. So, yesterday I called the doctor's office and asked for the day surgery phone number in case we're running late, I can call them and beg them to keep his appointment. What an early start to our April Fool's morning! My son says he hopes the doctor doesn't say, "Oh, you have stomach cancer - April Fools!" I told them he wouldn't do that because that would result in a huge lawsuit. So then he said, maybe the doctors and nurses will just joke like that during the procedure. Well, thank goodness my son will be asleep during the whole thing!

So anyway, we sure hope this will be the last test he needs and it will give us some answers/solutions to his sickness. Please keep him in your prayers - and me too because I get so nervous and I need to remain strong for him. Thanks!

First Dance Competition of the Year

I mentioned yesterday that today I would tell you about my daughter's dance competition this past weekend. It was Friday night and Saturday; we were the lucky ones because other dancers had to compete Thursday through Sunday - if she was tired after just 2 days, those other kids must be exhausted. In the first picture above, my daughter is on the bottom right, kneeling down, wearing glasses. In the second picture, my daughter is the one in the middle. She is a clown.

Friday night's competition went well. It was a production number(the one in the picture) and the song was "Circus" by Brittany Spears. The kids in the group range from 10 years old to 18 years old. The older kids are really nice and help take care of the younger ones. It was a little hectic when we first showed up because we had just received the costume earlier in the week, and there were many adjustments that had to be made. The socks had to be cut, so that they could wear their lyrical shoes over their toes, the skirts had to be pinned to the leotards so that they would stay in the right place as they danced, and my daughter's also had to be pinned to her tutu because her skirt was too big. We all worked together and got it done - one teenager cut the socks for everyone, another mom helped me pin her skirt to her tutu, and I helped pin everyone's skirt to their leotard.

Saturday's competition was a jazz number, "Life of the Party," and the kids ranged from 5 years old to 14 years old. We also had to adjust the costumes by pinning skirts to shorts, but thankfully we got it done in time. The awards weren't until 5 hours after she danced, so that wasn't very fun. We went back to the hotel and ate lunch, but we had to check out 2 hours before the awards. We just hung out in the lobby and played some travel games, until it was time to go back for the awards.

Both of the groups did very well. They received Platinum(the highest award), first place overall, and the "Circus" group also received a showmanship award. It must be for their costumes(see above picture).

Friday Savings and Monday Savings

I'm sorry I have to combine both savings today, but my daughter had a dance competition this weekend(I'll write about that tomorrow). At Walmart I spent $67.32 because it was the end of the month and I wanted to use some of my coupons that will expire on the 31st, so I bought a little more than I normally would - at a good price, though.

At Vons I spent $13.33 and saved 46%. Kraft spiral mac & cheese is on sale for $.75, Quaker granola bars for $1.88 + a coupon for $1, Chef Boyardee for $.75, Lucerne American cheese slices for $1.99, Fresh Express salad for $.99 +$.55 coupon, which they almost doubled for an additional $.44 making the salad free, and a free Vons canvas shopping bag with a coupon from the internet.

Ralphs didn't really have any good sales for me this week, so I didn't shop there.

At Smart & Final, 2 lb. of their pasta for $1.49, General Mills Cereal for $1.99, and Gogurt for $1.99 + $.40 coupon.

At Albertsons I spent $15.30 and saved $9.17. Their chicken is $.67/pound, Dryers ice cream $2.39, Drumsticks $1.99, sliced olives $1, Poptarts $1.75, and Welches juice for $2.19 + $.75 coupon + Albertsons doubled it.

Not bad for a week's worth of shopping. Although I just got back from my Easter basket shopping at Walmart and spent $85! It's hard to save there - I only had one coupon for $2 off candy. Not much goes on sale for the holidays, unfortunately.

Shouldn't Have Said Anything

Yesterday, my blog was about my son's sickness. Well, of course today, I get a call from the school nurse telling me my son was in her office. It was only an hour until school was out, but he didn't feel good and felt he couldn't make it, so I had to go pick him up. He doesn't think he's getting an "abdominal migraine," he thinks it's just related to his cold. I sure hope so, and I hope he gets better very soon because he can't have the endoscopy if he's sick; and the dr. only does the procedure once a month, and the insurance is only authorized until April 9, so if it doesn't get done next week, who knows when it will be done. If any of you would be willing to, would you please pray he gets better very soon and can have the test done next week, and we will have a solution. Thanks!

My Son's Sickness

O.k., so I told you before in my Wed. Mar. 17 blog post that I would tell you about my son's sickness, so here I go. My 13 year old son has had a mysterious sickness for almost 3 years now. The first year, at the end of 5th grade and beginning of 6th, he got sick quite a bit. Last year, in 7th grade, he still got sick, but not as much. This year, in 8th grade, he's been sick a lot, almost once a month, and has missed 16 days of school(which got us a nasty note from the school threatening legal action).

So, at the beginning of the school year the doctors finally decided to send him to Children's Hospital while having one of his episodes, so he could have the right tests done. When my son has an episode, he gets extremely nauseous and lethargic. He can't eat and barely drinks anything for 3 - 5 days. He stays in one position on the couch from morning until night, and can't do anything. The doctors did all kinds of tests, and really didn't find anything. They are labeling it as "abdominal migraines," for now until we are done with all the other tests they couldn't do in the hospital. He had a CT scan two weeks ago which was normal, and next Thursday, he's having an endoscopy.

There is nothing really connecting any of the episodes: food, stress, nothing. The only one sometimes("sometimes," because he does get sick other times too) common event is after visiting my in-laws(no, this is not a joke) in Northern CA, which is a 9 hour drive, he's always sick when he gets home. The doctor said that's because if it is abdominal migraines, that tends to give kids extreme car sickness.

So, until they finish the tests, the treatment for now is a nausea medicine used for treating cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and to try to get him to drink something. Not drinking makes the nausea worse because of the chemical effect of dehydration on the body, but the nausea he's already experiencing, makes drinking something almost impossible. Sometimes the nausea medicine helps some, enough for him to take a few sips of something, but it's still a long process until it goes away completely.

Have any of you every heard of anthing like this? We can use any advice, experiences, knowledge, that any of you have. I'm so tired of seing my poor son so sick, and he is tired of being sick.

Monday Savings and Cute 3 year old Logic

Today at Smart & Final I spent $7.23 which I was disappointed with(I will explain in a minute). I bought Trix yogurt for $1.99 + .80 coupon, 2 one pound bag of carrots for $.33 each, and 16 oz. white mushrooms for $1.99. Now, if you're checking my addition, it doesn't add up to $7.23 yet because(now here's my disappointment) I also bought Gogurt for $3.39. Now, that wasn't on sale, and I didn't realize it until I checked my reciept in the parking lot. I headed back in to the store with my 3 year old son to buy the correct on sale product, but the line was huge with only one checker, so I just left(gasp - such a bad example for a frugal shopper). The whole way to Albertson's I was saying how bad I felt about not buying the right product, so my son finally said, "Katarina(my daughter - who the Gogurt is for), likes iCarly and that's on the Gogurt. She also knows how to eat Gogurt the right way and not make a mess with it, like me. So, it's o.k., Mommy you bought the right one!" Now, how can you argue with that logic! :)

Today at Albertsons, I spent $28.42 and saved $21.91! I bought oranges for $.49/pound, Dryers cones for $1.99, Post Cereal for $1.69 + $1 coupon, 16 oz. shredded cheese for $2.99, celery for $.99, Michelinas Lean Gourmet for $.95, can corn for $.69, Teddy Grahams for $1.99 +$1 coupon, and M&Ms for $2.50 + $1 coupon. That was pretty good, except when I picked up the CVS flier for this week, I saw that tomorrow they have M&Ms on sale for $1.99. Oh well, you try your best, and can't always win every week with every deal.

Friday Savings

Today at Walmart my bill was $45.17, after coupons it was $42.46, and after my $10 gift card earned from mypoints.com, I paid $32.46! My favorite buy was for my charity box, and it was Suave deoderant on sale for $.97, with a coupon for $.75, making it only $.22!

At Von's today I was a little disappointed. I was only able to find 2 things in the weekly flier that was a good buy for me this week.. I bought broccoli for $.99/pound and thin pork chops for $3.49/pound. I wanted to buy pork tenderloin for $1.91/pound, which is a huge discounted price, but the only ones for sale were huge! They took up a whole section in the meat department - I wouldn't have had enough room in my freezer for all that meat. So, I only saved 10% today.

At Ralph's today, I did better, I saved $25.40! Their Deluxe ice cream was on sale for $1.49, Motts apple juice for $.99, S&W diced tomatoes for $.49, American Beauty pasta for $.69, and Pop Secret popcorn for $1.99.

My Son's Church Trumpet Concert

My son will be so happy when he gets home from school! I can't wait! He was invited in Feb. to play his trumpet with a brass group that would accompany the church choir. Well, he unfortunately got sick(I will give more details about his sickness in another blog), and wasn't able to go to the last practice, so he couldn't perform. Well, he just received another invitation to play with the brass group and the choir for Good Friday. Of course, April 1(the last practice before Good Friday) he is having an endoscopy done at Children's Hospital, so he would have to miss the last practice again. So, I decided to ask the choir director if he would allow my son to go to all the other practices and just miss the last practice. Well, he just e-mailed me back and said, "Yes!" My son will be so happy. This sickness has really interfered with his life, so for once, he won't have to be disappointed. Yeah!

Easter Bunny Lollipop Holder

I just posted 2 out of 6 of these lollipop holders(each one has a slightly different color design on the bowtie) on my Etsy shop. I will try to post a new one everyday. Please stop by my shop and take a look and see if you're interested in them, or anything else I have for sale for Easter, or any other occasion.

These lollipop holders are fun and quick to make. Only one time did I run into a frustrating problem, but amazingly, my husband helped me out! When I was done stitching the front and back together, and I was trying to thread the yarn through to tie it off, I pulled too hard and ripped the back plastic canvas piece! I was so upset after having stitched the whole thing and the back ripped! Well, luckily it was only the unstitched back and not the front, so my kind husband said he would unstitch the 2 pieces while I cut a new piece! His kindness made the whole situation instantly better. Don't you love it when your husband is unexpectedly kind to you?

Monday Savings

Today at Albertsons $23.57 and saved $34.86! I love it when the receipt shows the amount or percentage of savings. Campbell's cream of chicken and mushroom soups are on sale for $.75 + I had a $.25 coupon. Pepperidge Farms cookies are $1.99. Kelloggs Cereal is $1.88 + 2 - $1.00 coupons. Poptarts are $1.88. Nutrigrain bars are $1.88 + $1.00 coupon. Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies are $1.88 + 2 - $.55 coupons.

At Smart and Final I only spent $5.34! Brown onions are on sale for $.39/pound. Their brand vegetable oil is $1.99. I bought 10 Dannon yogurts on sale for $.39 + $1.00 off.

Friday Savings

Well, today at Walmart, I only spent $43 and I only had to pay $33 because we had a rebate card for $10! I tried to plan my meals for the week around the meat I already had bought on sale previous weeks and the vegetables around what's on sale this week. It actually worked out pretty good.

At Vons I only spent $2.35. Minute Maid orange juice is on sale for $2 and because of St. Patrick's Day, cabbage is on sale for only $.19/lb. I saved 57%!

At Ralph's I spent $13.25. A box of 4 Nestle Drumsticks are on sale for $2.50, Fritos and Cheetos were on sale and had a store coupon making them $.99, celery is $.99, cauliflower is $.99/lb. and Gogurt and Trix yogurt are on sale for $2.00 and I had a $.80 coupon. I saved 50%! Also, a nice new feature at Ralph's is on the receipt they now print any food you've previously bought that's been recalled. I recently told you about the Pringles recall, and that was on the bottom of my receipt - that was great!

Pringles Recall

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm203957.htmA couple of weeks ago I signed up for e-mail about govenment recalls. The one I received today is for the Pringles I recently bought at Ralphs on sale for $1.25. I thought I would post the link to the recall information in case any of you have these Pringles at your home. If you do, make sure to contact Pringles(the number is on the bottom of the link) before you discard your can. They'll want the info. from the bottom of the can to verify it's been recalled, and if it has, they'll send you 2 coupons for free Pringles.

Store Savings Coupons

In one of my previous posts, I told you about online store coupons that showed up on my receipt, so I thought I'd tell you more about that. You can register your store savings cards online and then you can select coupons to link to your card. Whenever you buy an item that you have an online coupon for, it's automatically deducted on your receipt! It's great because most of the time I even forget I have the online coupons, and I'm pleasantly surprised when I see even more savings on my receipt. So, here's the website: www.shortcuts.com.

Monday Savings

Since in my Friday Savings I always mention that I'll shop at Albertson's and other stores, I thought I'd share those savings with you too. So, today at Albertson's, I bought their Shopper's Value 1.75 quarts(not 1.5 quarts like most ice cream sizes) for $1.99! My favorite deal was Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks, 10 in a pack, for $1.00, plus I had $.50 off 2, and Albertson's had a coupon for double your manufacturer's coupon, so I got 4 boxes of Fruit Snacks for only $2.00!

This past month, I've also started shopping Smart n' Final's fliers. This week I bought broccoli crowns for $.69 a pound, and Hot Pockets for only $1.50!

Friday Savings

Today at Walmart I spent $62. My favorite savings item was Sure deoderant on sale for $1.96 + $1 coupon, so I only paid $.96. I added it to my give away items.

At Von's I saved 53%. Sargento sliced and shredded cheese is on sale for $1.49, gogurt and Trix are only $2.00(I only paid $.20 for 1 of them because I had an $.80 e-coupon, and an
$.80 manufacturer coupon which doubled for an additional $.20 off ),Gerber Graduates $1.00(also added to give away items), and my favorite is Pop Tarts on sale + store coupon $1.00 - unfortunately the limit was 2.

At Ralph's(Kroger's) I saved $22. A whole chicken is on sale for only $.67/pound! Chex mix for $2, Pringles Super Stack for $1.25, and I received my rain check grapes for $.79/pound.

Easter Bunny and Chick Bookmark

I'm so excited because I just figured out how to add pictures to my post and I can't believe it actually worked! Usually I have to wait until my husband gets home and ask him to help me(he's a software engineer, so he can always solve my computer user problems), but this time I thought I would try it myself and I did it!

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you one of my latest posts on my Etsy shop, since I mentioned in my last blog that I would be posting some new Easter things. On a side note, this bookmark was very popular at my daughter's dance studio. While I was making it, every adult and child that walked by stopped to look at it and commented on how cute it was! It's always nice to hear that people appreciate your work.

St Patrick's Day and Easter

In the past couple of weeks I've added several new St. Patrick's Day and Easter items to my Etsy shop(see pictures on right). Please visit my shop and see if there's anything you like. I have St. Patrick's Day buttons, so you won't get pinched, and magnets for decorating your home. I also have several Easter buttons and magnets that make great teacher gifts or decorations for your home. Tomorrow I will be adding some cross bookmarks. Right now I'm working on a couple of Easter and Spring towels.