Coupon Kelsie...

So my new obsession is couponing. That Sunday paper arrives on our doorstep and I can hardly wait to rip off the rubber band and savor the coupons to see what kind of wonderful deals I can get. I watched "Extreme Couponing" on TLC and it was totally inspiring. I don't see the need to stock up on a bazillion items that I won't use, but I see the need to watch my budget and save money for my family (especially since being a mom pays in smiles and love instead of $$$). Last week I bought 3 bottles of barbeque sauce for 37 cents. Total. Thats like 12 cents a bottle. YAHTZEE! I've learned some lessons in my short coupon career:
1) Cut out all the coupons, if its anything you might need, and save them.
2) Get a jump on really really good deals at stores. Like 50 cent brownie mix, and free after catalinas. Catalinas are the coupons that stores print out with the receipts to use on your next shopping trip. A few weeks ago I waited until Saturday to get my "free" contact solution and it was all gone. The pharmacy stores will give you catalinas that are useful for your next purchase. Or you could use them to purchase a boatload of the same product for your stockpile.
3) Utilize double coupons. Albertson's puts double coupon coupons in their Sunday insert, which will double any coupon up to a dollar. Thats how I got my 12 cent BBQ sauce.
4) Start paying attention to sales and prices so you know what a good deal is.

Have fun clipping!!!

Funny Kelsie story

So a month or so ago we were given a special friends & family 20% off everything coupon from Old Navy, which we used for some baby stuff - mostly cute colorful socks that could be for a boy or girl. Ive been washing clothes as I get them, socks included. Anyways, last time I did laundry, I ended up with one lone red sock and one lone orange sock. Their mates hadn't surfaced in subsequent laundry sessions...until today. I was walking around at church during Christmas service practice and all of the sudden felt something lumpy in my shirt. I was like what the heck? I lifted up my shirt (away from people, obviously, but by now the lump had slid downward) and what do you know? An orange baby sock. RANDOM!! Keep in mind I've been wearing the shirt all afternoon and hadn't noticed anything strange. Obviously I hadn't worn the shirt in a while.

So, if you see me walking around with a lump in my clothes, or a bit of red sticking out where it shouldn't belong, let me know....its probably the missing red sock.

Big Changes!

Guess what?! I am gainfully employed. woo hoo! The massage thing wasn't working out based on the fact that a) the economy downturn means more people are giving up the leisure activities such as massage, and b) arthritis does not allow me to comfortably and without pain do the amount of massages needed to make money. So now I am working as a temp-to-hire receptionist/admin asst. at Parker Integrated Sealing Systems (parker.com) I'm definitely over qualified, but its a job, with a steady paycheck, and the promise of benefits upon hire. yay! What more could a girl ask for? Today is day 3. And a little slow. But thats okay.

The weather in Virginia has been very Montana-like. We've had three big snow storms, plus its been cold. When there is snow they close down schools and government and churches and Luke and I just laugh. I don't ever remember a snow day growing up, and these kids got all of last week off of school because it snowed on the weekends and a country road may not be plowed for a bus to get down it, so they close the schools. Its craziness. Plus, luke's school has had a 2 hour delay the past two days because of the promise of snow. Not even blizzarding, just snow. But, I will say, the snow days have allowed me to get a lot of quilting in! I spent most of Friday and Saturday sewing and watching Gilmore Girls on dvd. It was pretty much awesome!

Spontaneous Update...

I know I know I know, I've been slacking. I feel like I don't really have anything exciting to talk about, so I figure why waste our time. Here's an update for now:

Im looking for a job! In order to make a living doing massage, I need to be able to do 4-5 massages/day. Lupus/arthritis does not allow me to do more than about 3 without feeling completely crappy the next day. Plus, I just don't have the clientele here and lets face it, the economy being in the toilet doesn't help things. So I started applying for jobs before Thanksgiving. I've really hit it hard in the past few weeks and have 2.5 job interviews this week. Tomorrow I'm interviewing for an Admissions Rep position at Miller-Motte college, Thursday I'm interviewing for a receptionist position through a local staffing agency which I am extremely over-qualified for and will be underpaid as well. Tomorrow I also am scheduled to go and fill out an application for an office manager position. I don't know if it was just taking a long time for places to start looking at applications, or what. This week has been encouraging though. We can't afford much more unemployment. The massage business is pretty much a money pit.

In other news, Luke started his new job AND his LAST SEMESTER of grad school. I'm so proud of him. He's taking 2 classes online during the first 8 weeks of the semester, 2 more online during the second 8 weeks, plus one class on campus during the entire semester. In addition to working 20+ hours per week at the Church. And doing homework. And spending time with his wife. :) And did I mention he spent the first week in January at school doing an intensive? Its going to be a crazy semester, but what a relief when May 15 comes and Luke's done with school!

In other exciting news, I got into a rheumatologist at UVA. They have some doctors that specialize in lupus research, so I think it will be a great place to be. My appointment is on March 15.

Were looking forward to visits from family and friends this year! The Youngs will be here sometime in February, the Leonards are coming in March, and Luke's dad is planning a trip out here as well. Vicki and Barry are even talking about coming for graduation. Let us know if you'd like to visit! We love to have company! Especially since we miss you all very much!

Quilting UFOs are now FO's

Remember like eons ago when I was working on a quilt for baby Caleb? Well, I finally finished sewing on the borders (took my like .2 minutes - I am such a slacker). Here are two pics - the total quilt shot and the closeup shot.



I used my phone camera, which is why it is fuzzy. I'll take a real picture with a real camera when its finished.
Im going to have it professionally quilted so that it actually looks nice. I strongly dislike doing the quilting by myself. Its kind of hard and takes forever and I am not patient enough to do anything but "stitch in the ditch." Anyways, I got my inspiration from here: . I heart quilting blogs!!

Blogs are Sew Fun!!

I've been on a total sewing kick lately. I think because a) we ditched the cable to save money, and b) I keep finding sewing blogs. I love it! Its so inspiring to see what other people are doing, whether its quilts or bags or whatever. I keep downloading free bag & purse patterns. I have a binder that I put all my downloaded patterns into. I downloaded one last week and two this week already. Maybe one of these days I'll actually sew some and maybe I'll open an etsy account and sell my stuff. Etsy is a website where people can post their handmade objects for sale - i.e. purses, hats, jewelry, etc etc. I want to post some of my earrings. Maybe I can make some money off my hobbies.

This weekend for "quilting for orphans" we went on a field trip instead of quilting. We went downtown to the fabric store and picked out 26 different fabrics for quilts. There was some super cute stuff! I love fabric. Its really a disease.

I also made a skirt this weekend. Sewing clothes for myself is not always a success. I bought the pattern a few weeks ago and was using fabric that I've had for eons. I measured myself and chose the size based on the back of the pattern...After I finished the skirt I tried it on and it was horrible!! It was too big and hung down too long which made me look awkward since I'm so short. So now I am going to basically take it apart and start over. We decided the pockets weren't cute so I'll axe those and just take in the seams on the skirt panels. I'll have to fix the waistband too, and redo the zipper. yuck. I despise sewing zippers. I'd much rather do snaps. You get to hammer! Anyways, I'll post a picture of the skirt now and then after I finish it. Sigh.

Best Birthday EVER!!!!

My birthday started on Friday afternoon when luke and I headed off on an adventure. I didn't know where we were going and he had the GPS unit set up so that I couldn't see it. But first, when we got in the car there was a little zales box waiting for me. What? Yes. My husband bought me BEAUTIFUL chocolate pearl earrings. They are soo gorgous. Very brownish-auburnish-fallish colored. I of course put them on immediately. We ended up in Red Lodge. We drove through Columbus and Absarokee, which is the most beautiful drive ever. I wish I would have had the camera. It was gorgeous. So many beautiful changing trees everywhere. Once we got to Red Lodge we checked into the Chateau Rouge and got a condo. The check-in lady mentioned that there woudl be 5 of us, so I knew something was up. Then Luke and I drove back downtown and walked along main street and checked out the stores. They had a really cute book store adn a fun toy store. And we got some bad coffee at a coffee shop. When we had just about finished checking things out the first guest arrived. It was.........LIZZIE! It was sooo good to see her. I miss lizzie so much. So we showed her the condo and then our second guests arrived....Christel & Kevin!!! yay! They had quite the adventure getting to Red Lodge. First, they took a little "shortcut" from Reed Point that brought them to...Columbus! and then along the shortcut they ran over a multi-tool and got a flat tire. But I was so excited to see them too! I hung out with Christel on Thursday and she gave no indication that they were coming. So sneaky! We had dinner at the Carbon County Steakhouse, which was delish! I had salmon with dill and lemon. We walked down to the Red Lodge grocery store to get ice cream, but alas, they close at 8 o'clock. what? Even the grocery store in T Falls stays open until 10. Then it was back to the condo for swimming, birthday cake, and hanging out. And presents. I have such amazing friends. Then the next morning we went to breakfast at the Red Lodge Cafe, tried to hit up the quilting shop (closed) and meandered back home. Luke did homework and watched a movie and made me dinner and I made two pies for the church pie auction. Yesterday was my actual birthday. It was wonderful too. Luke gave me a diamond tennis bracelet to match my diamond necklace that he got me for our first christmas together. Also, lots of cards, lunch with Chuck and Kathy, dinner with Okey and Bob, time with Luke....Such a wonderful day! Bob got me 4 chairs to match our "heritage" dining room table that his dad and Vicki's dad made for them when they got married. The chairs are beautiful. I love them. I want to get the table stained the same color as the chairs. Now we can put away the old table and just use the new one. Things are good! My husband is amazing. And I have wonderful friends and family. What more could a girl ask for?