Money in my pocket

Today I went to the grocery store to get supplies for tacos. I decided I would do a little coupon shopping. I saved a total of 15.16. My bill was a little under 60 dollars. The best deal I got was on cereal. We eat alot of cereal in this house. I am talking boxes a week.

Here is how it broke down:

Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Apple jacks were buy one get one free. One was 2.14 and the other was 2.15. They ring up both and cut the price in half. This means you can use two coupons. Each of my coupons was 1.50 off. So one box was .65 cents and the other was .64. you can not even get generic cereal for that. I forgot to meantion that they were the bog boxes that were normally like 4.69 each or something close to that.

I am so into this, and Brian could not be happier with my new money saving thing. I will keep you all up to date on how I do. DO not worry I will not post all the deals. I hope to inspire some of you to save money. I will be glad to share any ideas I find.

Well I am off to PTA.

A whole new underworld

A friend of mine has opened my eyes to couponing. She clips coupons and saves a ton of money. So, I have decided to join the madness. I am sure up for saving money, especially now that the kids are eating A LOT more. I love the idea of saving money on groceries and being able to spend it elsewhere, like on my new obsession with kitchen gadgets from Williams-Sonoma.

I have spent all day clipping coupons, organizing my coupon holder, and getting ready to head to the store. I hope I will be ready to shop by Wednesday. There are people who walk into the store and walk out with groceries and money from the cashier. They did not have to pay for anything. This takes practice I guess, so I am going to hopefully get there.

So here's to saving money and spending it somewhere else.

New Year's Resolution

This pic has nothing to do with what I wrote about, but I love it and you can see how cute our bullie is. We love you Patton !!!

I am tired of the same ole resolutions. This year I am not vowing to lose weight ( even though I want to) or exercise (even though that is the plan). I am going for some fun resolutions. Here goes...

1. Learn to make homemade biscuits and gravy just like Granny did. I have no idea how this will turn out. I called my wonderful Aunt Annetta and asked for a tutorial (hers are almost as good as Granny's) :) I think there will be a lot of trial and error.

2. I need a hobby. My hobby is grading papers and frankly it is boring, and really not a hobby because it is not fun. So Lyci and I am going to take scrapbook classes and card making classes together. We will see how this goes, but I feel good about it. At least I can try and do this in the off season of football. Football season does not allow for any Destine or Brian time.

3. Next is to stop eating out so much. Now that the kids are practically grown, our out to eat bill is never under 40 dollars. So, I am going to stop the madness and we are eating at home. The way I look at it is that yes I have to cook, but on the up side that is more money to put towards my new hobby.:)

4. Last, but not least, is to finally hire that cleaning lady that Brian has been offering. I have this idea in my head, that I should be able to work and keep up with the housework, but it is too much. If my job did not require so much HOMEWORK(wait aren't I suppose to assign homework, not have it myself, I need to look into this) then I think I would be ok. But I choose the wrong profession for not having work at home, I need help and since it is against the law to hire someone to help as a teacher, I can for sure hire someone to help me as a housekeeper.

Well there they are. I hope I can conquer all of these resolutions. I had the kids think of some also, so we have a lot to work on this year. I hope your New Year has started off as great as mine has.

Christmas...

Christmas was great this year. We really had just the best time together. It was a small Christmas, the only person missing was Grandpa. The kids were spoiled rotten as usual. All got IPODs!!

The next day we were going to the store and the car was silent. As I looked back into the back of the car, there were all three of the kiddos, listening to their own music. Time changes so quick, not too long ago, there was screaming and crying, now just smiles. I do not believe I am thinking this, but I kind of miss those days. Time with them all is so precious.

Ok... back to Christmas. These are just various pics of the kids and the dogs. I love the picture of Christian and Patton. Patton is so cute in his antlers. The grey dog, is Jay. We rescued him to play with Patton, but my mom loves him so much, he is going to go live with her.

Isn't it funny how much time we spend preparing for Christmas and it goes by so fast. I hope you all had a great holiday. Happy New Year.

A Dream Come True

During our trip to Dallas, we were able to tour the Cowboys stadium. It was awesome to see Brian throwing passes to all three of the kids and them catching them and running into the end zone. They kids were able to run down the hall and through the giant helmet just like the players do. This was a day we will never forget.

Second Opinions

I have never had to get a second opinion before, but we are getting one next week. Riain hurt his knee during practice and I have one doctor say it is broken and another say it is not. I am irritated because the specialist did not even look at the xrays very carefully.

It is fuuny because we take doctor's word for gold. But Riain is in pain and I am no doctor, but I know my son. I pray his knee is not broken.

He is so upset, because he is out for at least a few weeks. If it is broken, then maybe the season. He is honorary team captain until he can play again. But it is no fun on the sidelines.

So keep your fingers crossed, say a prayer, and maybe the next doctor will look a little closer.

Forever and a Day

So I know it has been forever since I have blogged, but I rarely have time to breathe. I thought I might check in and give everyone a little update of what's going on in the Nelson house. Where to begin...

School is going good for everyone. Riain is doing well in third grade. Alycia has adjusted nicely to middle school. She has been very responsible with everything. Christian could be better. It is always a struggle with that boy, but we are trying to work through it. As for me, my class is great. I am lucky, I have a good class. They can get a little talkative, but so can I. I have been very busy, there is so much more then just teaching. I think things are starting to level off. I hope so at least.

Ok, let's move on to sports. Christian is playing 7th grade football. His team is 2-0, so that is cool. He has had a few plays, but he is loving it and that is all that matters for now. Riain's team is 2-2. We won our game yesterday. So that was awesome. Riain had a sack, it was so exciting. He was so happy. Alycia is in training for cheerleading tryouts. We have her in a cheerleading class and she is going to get private lessons. I want to make sure she is ready for tryouts in the spring. She has been working on her roundoff back hand spring and I think will have it down in a month. The private lessons will help her get her jumps and all the other things that will help her make the squad. It is harder then it used to be and way more competitive.

Well I guess that is all the news for now. I will post a few football pics next time. Hope you all are doing well. Until next time...