February is for Princesses

My mom was very sweet & sent Bree a Valentines Day card with $20 in it. Perfect timing as we were checking the mail as we drove off to Target. Bree FINALLY got the Barbie/Horse princess combo toy that she saw months ago but I didn't want to buy because it really cost too much and I wanted her to work and save for it, but lately she's been a bit lazy about doing chores and I'll admit I've been a bit lazy about enforcing the rules about doing chores. While at the Target store that day I was trying to find a cute outfit for her to have her school pictures taken in and came across the most beautiful pale pink princess dress ever (see picture), for only $20?! Seemed a good price to me, impulse buy. I said I wasn't going to do that anymore....

Needless to say February has not been my best month spending wise. I really did great in January but this month I've bought stuff I don't really need and have gone over on my grocery budget every week this month. So this week I'm on a spending fast. Haven't spent a dime. Yep. That's right. Trying to make up for the first half of the month's budget failures.

Did you know that Pueblo has this really adorable children's museum? We went down there end of January? or maybe it was the first weekend in February, can't remember. Adults are a measley $4 admission and kid's are like $3 to get in. We had fun.

After we were done we hit up the Cracker Barrel restaurant for some "home cookin'" and of course got trapped in their "store". Not fun with a kid. I want I want I want. And mommy is a sucker. Then she wants a sucker. I love that store!

It was really warm yesterday and today it snowed. I'm thinking this is one of our spring storms. Hey, it's almost March!! Come on spring.

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Ireland 2012

My wonderful husband found us a steal on plane tickets to Ireland in May. They were a steal because there are two connections there and back, but that's ok, we'll deal with it, at least we don't have to go through Heathrow. Have you ever heard of a site called Vayama? That is the site he used and he got us tickets INCLUDING all the taxes and fees for $570 EACH! The last time we paid that little for a ticket to Ireland was in the year 2001 when we went back and the tourist industry took a BIG hit due to the Hoof and Mouth disease that was fairly widespread around the country.

This time around we are going to stay in a hotel in Dun Laoghaire for the first 4 or 5 nights we are in Dublin and then mid week we are going to venture out (possibly to the Galway area) and stay in a castle for a few nights before heading back to Dublin. I'm really excited for this trip and excited to show Bree Ireland and have her meet all of Jon's family! Now, we need to find a castle to stay in!

When we were there in 2006 I came back pregnant. Going to try to make sure that doesn't happen this time around!! I'm not drinking the water.

Ireland 2001

Ireland 2006

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The Winter Funk Random Thoughts

Some call it the winter blues. That's not it necessarily. For me, I'm sort of bored. Tired of the same old routine. Don't get outside enough (my fault, I'm super lazy in the winter), blah blah blah. Even though we've had a mild winter it still gets old! Everything is brown, dry. Ugh. I know that spring is around the corner, I just need to make it through February.

I am increasingly becoming tired of working full time. There has been a shift in my way of thinking. In a few years our house will be paid off and instead of going into more debt to buy bigger and better we plan to stay put for awhile. We are both thinking about cutting our hours at work (to the best of our ability). I mean if you think about it, if you have no mortgage, no car payments, and only your basic bills (and we'll only be 40 or 41 years old), how many people can say they have no debt, including a mortgage? Not many. When the house is paid off I could easily reduce my hours and start to enjoy a little time to myself and with my family. I've been working since I was 17 years old, it's about time I give myself that.

We did the "choice in" for Bree to start Kindergarten in the fall and we were "accepted" into Stratton. I think we'll be really happy there, overall it's an excellent school, and as long as they challenge her and meet her needs we'll be happy. We at first were excited about our little neighborhood school but after hearing some pretty bad things about it and reading up on the test scores, etc. and after I visited the school I just didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling. Plus it's SMALL, which can be good or can be bad. We will have Bree in full day kindergarten which means they get out at 2:30. In my heart I've always wanted to be able to pick up my daughter from school, come home, get snacks, start getting dinner ready, etc. I'm not a stay at home mom so I really don't know what it's like to "start getting dinner ready" at a certain time. As soon as I get home from work I rush to start dinner so that we can eat by 6pm! I think it's important to eat meals at home and I cook 4-5 nights a week. Yeh, not all working mom's feed their family fast food, MYTH. Booyah.

On the subject of work and being able to pick up my daughter from school it looks like in the fall I will change my work schedule to get off at 2:30! I fully believe if you put your request out there to the Universe and it's something you need you'll always get it.

I was so DISAPPOINTED with the closing of the indoor swimming pool at Memorial Park. Sad. We finally found a pool we liked and they close it. I started adding it up in my head, for the three of us to go swimming for ONE day it was like $21! So this weekend, as a Valentine's day treat to ourselves (we include our daughter in our valentines day) we are going to book a hotel last minute with an indoor pool. Seriously, you can get one anywhere from $30-40 (by the airport is the best deal, hotels are newer and not as full)! So, you get a room, pool, hot tub, complimentary breakfast, free coffee in the lobby all day, HBO, LOL! It's such a great deal and we can swim 2-3 times easy. Food for thought.

Happy Valentine's Day all!!

Oh yeh, here is a picture of Bree's slide bed. It's all set up in her room and it's pretty awesome.

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And then she was ONE

It seems like just yesterday my beautiful niece Brielle was born.

Yesterday she turned one year old!

I can't wait to see her this summer!

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Miscellany

I have been meaning to sell some of Bree's old stuff, toys, etc. on Craigslist but I really "hate" doing it because people have to come over to the house to look at it, I have to be available and being that I work all day that means they have to come look in the evenings. Anyways, I'm finally doing it.

We (I should say I) because my husband could care less about these things,
bought Bree a new loft bed with a slide because there was a fantastic deal on a loft bed on Walmart.com that I could not pass up. I have been looking for this type of bed for awhile but I have a limit as to what I will pay. Not to mention there hasn't been anything on Craigslist used. As I was coming home from work the other evening my husband and daughter were across the street talking with my neighbor Mandy and I pulled up and had a chat. She had to mention :) that she was going to IKEA and she started talking about loft beds and this is how Bree's new bed came to be. I blame Mandy. LOL!

My original plan this month was really not to spend ANY money on frivolous things as I'm working on getting my financial house in order for future plans, however I'm a sucker and bought a bed. But, we have lots of stuff that can be sold and so I will make the money back in other ways! Here are two items I just put up on Craigslist.

Little girl's princess potty $10

Leapfrog musical table $20

I just listed them on Craigslist today.

And this is the bed we got Bree. She's stoked. She's been wanting one ever since we visited my brother last year. Her cousin Jordan has a slide bed and I will admit it's pretty cool.

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The big ONE

Every year little girl gets one "big" gift for Christmas. This year Jon and I couldn't think what to get her then I had a bright idea. A Dollhouse! She is at that age now and a dollhouse will last her for years and years of playing. I knew eventually that she would get into Barbies (yeh, I know, those darn stereotypical dolls, but whatever) so I wanted to get her a house that fit Barbies but not one that was a cheapy plastic Barbie house that is super overpriced. Well we found her one.
This is what she asked Santa for and was she surprised to see this on Christmas morning! :)

Here's to being a little girl and having your very own dollhouse.

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