Eye rolling and slamming doors...

I have a teenage daughter... and she's only eleven. I knew it was coming, I have been warned, and I've been there myself. However, I thought I had at least a couple more years, but tonight as Rosanna huffed and puffed and stomped off to bed (slamming the door on the way there) unhappy about the conversation we had just had, I realized, it has arrived. Don't get me wrong, she is the most awesomely wonderful smart, generous, funny, and beautiful daughter I could ever ask for. Everyday I'm thankful that she turned out the way she did in spite of having ill-prepared and too-young parents. I'm convinced she is partially responsible for parenting herself. Unfortunately, whatever gets into the heads of young girls and convinces them that their mothers have no idea what they are talking about has finally crawled in and infested Rosanna's brain.

Now, I'm going to address this paragraph to my mom, because I know she is reading this and I already know exactly what she is going to say: "She's just like you..." "Now you know what I went through..." and so on. Yeah I get it, I was a total monster as a teenager. I openly admit it. I should probably have gone through some kind of twelve step program for it. I'm sure my being blessed with parenting two girls is a direct result of my behavior as a teenager.

Luckily I have two secret weapons. First, I remember exactly what it was like when I was that age and I will do my best to keep that in mind when we both get irrational. Second, an amazing supportive husband that has a special connection with Rosanna that only they understand. I'm not really sure what he even says to her when they have their serious conversations, but they work. I also know that one day she will grow out of it and realize that her mom is a pretty great person and might even want to hang out with her sometimes, you know, just like I did. Love you mom!

Thankful for groceries!

As some of you already know, I have started clipping coupons to help with the cost of groceries for my family. Before you get the wrong impression, I am not one of those people who can go to the store and get $1000 worth of groceries for $10. However, I have been able to get some very good deals, and also work up a stockpile of a few things such as Macaroni and Cheese, pasta, cereal, toothpaste, Ziploc bags, and laundry detergent.

I get five Sunday papers and spend a couple of hours each week browsing through them and seeing which coupons I will actually use. I also have a binder. I was hesitant to buy one at first because it seems like there is somewhat of a stigma associated with "The Binder" that I wanted to stay away from. Now I could care less if anyone sees me with the binder, because you know what? I am saving money!

I also use an app on my iPhone called Ibotta. It's pretty cool because you just pick which products you are going to buy from the ones offered and they pay you a cash amount depending on the product. For instance, today I bought two different types of Capri Sun drinks for about $2 each. Ibotta paid me $1 for each box. Then I just collect the money and deposit it into my Paypal account. THEN I use my Paypal account to buy fancy homemade soap that is my new splurge item!

Today at the store I got free Chapstick, $0.18 bags of cough drops, and $0.28 jars of peanut butter. While I still spent over $100 dollars, I saved at least $30-40 on the stuff I bought so I am one happy momma!

Even though it is sometimes a lot of work and it takes a big chunk out of my day, I am so thankful that I am able to go to the grocery store and buy the things we need. I know I am blessed because of that and I don't take it for granted at all!

P.S. If you are super inspired and want to start using Ibotta, I get $1 for each person I refer so click on the link on my Facebook page!

Here we go again...

Soooooo.... I've decided that maybe I might start blogging again. I'm not sure why other than somedays I have a lot on my mind and nothing to do with it. If you have looked around my blog then you might notice that my old posts are really old. I also noticed when I logged back in that all of the blogs I follow are equally old. We all must have gone through a fad together!

Anywho, I updated the layout and pictures and thought I'd give you all a rundown of what has been going on lately.

I am in school to be an Occupational Therapy Assistant. I know I said I never wanted to go back to school once I finished at ISU, but apparently I can't seem to stay away from the joys of taking tests and writing papers (you may assume that I am being sarcastic here). My reasons for wanting to become an OTA are varied, but basically I will get to do something awesome and be able to contribute financially to my family. Only 11 months left!

Rob has also decided to go back to school for his Master's degree in Educational Technology (I probably messed up the exact title, but it's something like that). He will be taking classes online from BSU while keeping up with his full time job educating young Surgical Technologist wannabes. Long story short, if you ever wonder where either of us are on any given night, it's probably at home, in front of a laptop, working on homework!

Rosanna is in her last few months of elementary school and busy trying to read every book ever written. I am so proud of her love of reading! She has become very independent over the last year and is quickly transitioning into a young lady. She loves playing soccer, and loves it even more now that she can play indoors! This spring Rob is going to teach her how to golf, which they are both looking forward to.

Layla is busy being Layla! It sounds funny, but those of you who know how she is know that the only way to describe her is "Layla." She has her own unique style and loves putting together her own outfits and hairstyles. This morning she had to wear velvet to school because, can you believe it, none of her classmates knew what velvet was! She loves to sing and has recently started playing soccer at the same indoor place Rosanna goes to.

I know that most of you who might be reading this already know all of this stuff because of our interactions on Facebook. However, as I looked back on my old blog posts I realized that this has become something of a personal journal for me. So I'm going to do my best to keep it up for myself and if I get some followers along the way then that would be great too!

Fell free to leave a comment or be inspired to update your own blog (you know who you are!).