Dollar Tree Love

Against everything I've been pre-programmed to believe, I have fallen in love with the dollar store.  I always believed it was dirty, cheap and overall a waist of time and money.  But with Josh's paycut last fall and a new baby and just trying to cut costs wherever possible, we've started shopping at the Dollar Tree.

Yes, there are some really cheap items there.  And we know those and stay away from those.  But some things are just as good as at the grocery store.  Candy, soda, etc.  Those are awesome at the dollar store.  We've also started to get dumb toys and trinkets for Audrey there.  The best find of all, though, has to be Dishwasher detergent.  We started getting it there when we were desperate and low on funds.  And we love it.  The dollar store Sun Sations dishwasher detergent actually works BETTER than the Safeway generic Cascade stuff.  Maybe even better than Cascade.  

We've found that most things are of the same quality, just lower volume/smaller packages.  So if we don't need a whole bunch at once, it's a great place to get something.  For instance, oxy clean.  WE don't use much, so getting it at the Dollar store really does save us money when we need to buy it.  In fact, it's even cheaper per oz than the name brand at Safeway.   Frozen fruit.  $1/bag.  I get 3 bags.  It lasts me 2 weeks usually for smoothies.  Same quality fruit as at Safeway and like 1/3 the price.  

I often will get ziplock bags and lunch bags at the Dollar store.  Buy shopping for these items at Dollar Tree, we've probably cut $20/week out of our grocery budget.  (We don't buy those items every week, but a combination of all our items probably is that much.)

However, not all things are as good at the Dollar store.  I bought a couple oven mitts there.  I figured a cheap oven mitt was better than our holey mitts we had at home.  I brought them home and pulled dinner out of the oven and burned my hand.   Ok.  Lesson learned.  I'll buy those at Target next time.

Yoga - good for the soul, body, and lost items

We all know the benefits of yoga on stress.  We know it's benefits on weight loss.  And we all agree that yoga is great for toning and stretching the muscles.

But today I discovered a new benefit of yoga.  Finding things that the toddler lost.  Today, while doing my yoga, and lying on the floor, I glanced under the bookcase and found Josh's Road ID dogtag that Audrey lost.

My husband loves me

I know that my husband loves me. I see proof of that every day.

One example.....

I have a horrible sense of direction, but I think I know where I'm going. My husband freely admits he doesn't always know, so he asks me. I tell him where to go and he faithfully follows my directions, almost always resulting in us going the wrong way.

He never yells at me for being wrong, just irritated. Every time he says, "why do I listen to you?" But will inevitably listen the next time.

When I asked him why he still listens he responded, "because you might be right." He has faith that I will be right the next time and trusts me every time. I don't trust myself anymore, but he still does. :)

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Diaper Parties By Christine (Bay Area) March Giveaway

Facebook does not allow giveaways without their consent, so instead of going through the red tape to host the giveaway on my facebook page, I'm doing it here on my blog.  

The month of March, I will be giving away a pair of Imse Vimse Organic Training Pants.  Entering into the giveaway is easy.  All you have to do is enter into the Everything Birth weekly giveaways and then comment here in my blog with a link to your entry.  That's it.  Super easy.  No spamming your friends, no facebook pages to like, no tweets to send.  

There are 5 Everything Birth giveaways in the month of March, so that means you have 5 possible entries into my giveaway.  I will draw a random winner on April 2 (no April Fool's drawings here ....).  

I will say, however, that I would love more followers on my FB page, so feel free to follow and get updates on brands or Everything Birth changes and giveaways and coupons and whatnot.  

http://www.facebook.com/BayAreaDiaperParties

Curse You Diego...

I go around the house doing random cleaning or I sit at my desk playing on the computer and out of the blue Audrey asks for a banana. I give her one. Then I realize she wants a banana because Diego or Dora are eating one. This happens with almost every episode. If not a banana than ice cream or an apple or something.

And I don't mind her eating a banana as a snack. They're healthy. But I don't buy enough of them for her to eat one every time she watches TV. There aren't enough left for me and my smoothies. And if I buy extras then she'll go on a banana strike.

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i heart faces - camera phone

at the park @PhotoWonder
Originally uploaded by Christsstar

This weeks challenge at iheartfaces was all about the camera phone. I have an LG Ally, running Android OS 2.2. It's an OK camera, I think. GREAT at outdoor photos, OK at indoor photos. It has a really low response time, though, so I never get the shot I want when it comes to my daughters.

Yesterday Audrey and I went to the park and she enjoyed some time on the slides while I snapped some photos with her. I did a little mild editing with the photowonder app, but thought this one was pretty good SOTC.

For more camera phone photos, head on over to iheartfaces.

Audrey's first prayer

Dear God,

Thank you (for) Mommy.
Thank you (for) Daddy.

Amen.

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Runners Up ...

Other photos I liked, but not my favorite, for the iheartfaces challenge this week.

I heart faces - hearts

It's been awhile since I've entered an iheartfaces challenge.

I had lots of ideas, but just not enough time this week.  This week's theme is hearts.

This is a photo of my older daughter giving her baby sister a kiss.  They just love each other.

See more hearts over at <center><a href="http://www.iheartfaces.com" mce_href="http://www.iheartfaces.com"><img src="http://www.iheartfaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/I_Heart_Faces_noborder_125x100.jpg" mce_src="http://www.iheartfaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/I_Heart_Faces_noborder_125x100.jpg"/></a></center>

Two different girls...

I could tell that my girls would be different when I was pregnant with Annie.

Audrey always reacted to music, Annie rarely did. Conversely Annie reacted to food all the time and Audrey rareoy did.

Now that Annie is 2 months old, I'm seeing other differences. Audrey would sleep anywhere and anytime. She could sleep sitting up or lying down. Belly, back or side.

Annie will only sleep on her back and usually only in her crib.

Audrey would crash and we could move and transfer her easily to a bed. If we get lucky enough to rock Annie to sleep, its hard to transfer her.

Audrey could sleep through any amount of noise.
Annie has a hard time with noises, especially sudden ones.

They both were spit uppy babies, but Annie's seems more predictable and under control.

Audrey almost always had to be rocked to sleep, Annie seems to do better at going to sleep on her own.

It's fascinating to me how different they are even at this young age.  I am excited to see who they will become as they both grow older.

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