Yummy freebies!

I recently joined an on-line community called Kraft First Taste and was pleasantly surprised to find coupons for free items in my mailbox.  They send these free offers for new products to get feedback from consumers.  After trying them, I just had to fill out a short survey saying if I liked it and would recommend it.  Here's my verdict on the freebies:
Ritz Crackerfuls - We tried the four cheese variety.  The kids loved them.  In fact, I didn't even get to try one!  They are individually wrapped and large.  Think granola bar size.  They were perfect for our car trip up north to visit family.  I definitely recommend these.
Kool-aid Fun Fizz Drink Drops - The concept is pretty cool, you just drop this little alka selzer type tablet in water and watch it fizz into a drink.  Give a quick stir or shake and you're set.  My kids love watching and hearing the tablets dissolve, but are not fans of the taste.  I tried the lemon version (they are only 5 cals) and was unimpressed. I'll stick to my Crystal Light for flavored water drinks.
Kraft 100 Calorie Cheese Bites - We love our cheese. Seriously, if I let him, Ben would eat a pound in a sitting!  Thus, I was very excited to try this product.  Individually wrapped packages of cubed cheese.  What could be easier?  Great idea, but maybe 100 cals is not enough.  The kids and I found it unsatisfying. The cheese itself is good, but you need 1 1/2 packages minimum for a nice snack.  And for the price, they are just not a good deal.
Kraft Homestyle Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese Kit - The idea behind this is that you can have a "quick" mac and cheese that tastes homemade.  Debatable.  It took a lot of effort on my part to make this. As far as convenient, I'd rather start from scratch.  The taste was okay, but not quite my cup of tea.  The kids hated it.  It looks nice and smells good, but is a lot of work for little reward.
DiGiorno Deep Dish Pizza - Wow.  This one was adored by the kids.  So far, they only come in individual sized packs :( and take about 15 minutes to bake in the oven (there is a microwave option, but with only one free coupon, we chose the oven).  The crust was flaky and thicker than most pizzas, the sauce had a great taste to it and the cheese was your standard pizza cheese.  I cut it into tiny wedges for the kids and they thought it was the best snack ever.
Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Shaved Meats - This is your typical sandwich meat.  We chose one of the ham varieties (sorry folks, I'm preggos so this was all for my hubby and I don't remember which one we bought). According to Husband, this was great sandwich meat.

I highly recommend this program.  The enrollment process will take a few minutes because there are some surveys to complete, but getting all of the above for free was pretty awesome.  They are also affiliated with House Party, to which I also belong and will be hosting my first party in a few weeks!
I'll let you know how it goes...

BOGO Bad experiences!

Wow.  Tonight we decided to go out to dinner as a family.  Should be great, right?  Well, if the places you selected were Legends or Granite City Brewery your evening may be doomed.
Let's start with Legends... we did.  We had purchased a $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com to go here.  They no longer honor these gift certificates.  So, we wasted time and money and left.
Next stop, Granite City Brewery.  After having told the kids we were going all out tonight we felt we should find a replacement "new" restaurant to try.  I pulled out my trusty Bucky Book and found Granite City.  We were seated relatively quickly, which was a pleasant surprise on a Friday evening.  This should have been our first clue.  The menu looked good and we ordered two bacon cheese burgers, the happy hour special of pretzels and Dan ordered a beer.  We had every intention of purchasing dessert, but by the time we got that far, we just wanted out.
The burgers were a drop and run.  Quite literally, she delivered them and left.  No "did you need anything else?" or even extra plates, hello, we have 3 kiddos with us!  Oh, and no ketchup.  Seriously, what kind of place serves a burger and fries without ketchup.  Then we discovered that our burgers were baconless to boot.  But our waitress?  Gone, gone, gone.  Eventually, the pretzels came out with frigid cheese sauce (a new waitress this time, who advised us to be careful as the cheese sauce tends to be warm).  Funny.   Still not a chance to request ketchup, plates or bacon.  Finally, by the time our burgers and fries were cooling, she returned.  Only about a 5 minute wait for plates, but the ketchup was forgotten.  We asked again.  This time took longer, but she finally returned with bacon and a small dish of ketchup.  Again, really???  Two huge burgers and plates of fries.  Whatever, we just wanted to finish up and go at this point.  We did not see her again until we were nearly finished when she finally came back to check on us (drinks desperately needed attention... I am preggos after all.)
Then the check.  Really, what else could go wrong at this point?  Incorrect pricing, that's what.  But, she disappeared, so we had to wait again.  At this point our kids were getting  a little stir crazy and Char was asking why we didn't just go to the Outback Steakhouse (good question, kid!).  She returned, was annoyed at having to fix the bill and was gone again.  When we finally were able to leave, we had to chuckle at the poor souls waiting for a table.  We would have gladly given ours up.  So so food + horrible inaccurate service = never again.
Buyer Beware.

Homeschooling fun this fall

Great Wolf Lodge has just announced a new homeschool program!  I have yet to stay at this waterpark resort, but it is on our list for the fall.  The price is right and I have heard great things about this resort. I'd love to hear first hand experiences if anyone is willing to share!

Reversing Civility

Today I caved.  I've been craving a slice of duo silk pie from Hubbard Ave Diner for about a week now.  If you haven't had, it is a must!!!  Imagine a heavenly combination of creamy french silk and peanut butter silk pie.   Yum.  Now, this treat is usually savored over a few hours of mommy only conversation.  You know the kind, where you can talk with abandon, give and receive advice and laugh at the ridiculous events that have happened since your last meeting.  Today was different.
After surveying my mood and the rain outside, we decided to high tail it to Middleton public library for storytime.  (conveniently sharing a parking lot with Hubbard Ave Diner)  We walked with an extra spring in our steps to get our pie and french fries (waffle fries that are wonderful).  I had not counted on the lunch hour rush, however.
Add a busy, noisy diner to 3 hungry children, who drooled with anticipation over the pies at the entrance and you have a recipe for disaster.  Still we proceeded, sat down and ordered.  This took ages today (or maybe any amount of time would have seemed endless with my crew).  The pie came first.  We managed to pray before picking up our weapons, but just barely.  Then all sense of civility dissolved and the forks were flying.  Watch out!  My ahhh inspiring tradition rapidly became migraine producing in nature.  In less than 5 minutes (literally), the children had completely destroyed the pie, were covered with silk cream and asking where the fries were.  The fries were a little more civilly eaten, but still resulted in one ketchup stained boy who looked at me with big innocent eyes and said "i want more pie mom."
Bottom line, the pie was amazing, as always, and we will be going back.  Or at least I will be going back with my mom group or to pick up a pie to bring home.  For an extra $5, we can forgo the fries and mayhem and each have our very own piece of pie at home.  Perhaps I could even enjoy mine with a cup of tea, savoring each bite while my children peacefully munch and regal me with stories of why I am the greatest mom ever...  a girl can dream.

Magic Mommy Hands

It is not uncommon now for one of my kids to run up to me, put their hand on my belly and cover it with one of my hands.  They are fascinated with feeling their baby sister kick.  And at such an early age, they have realized that they need a little help to feel her...
There are those rare moments when baby will surprise them with a kick when they hug me or rest their head on my belly.  And even rarer, when one of them will exclaim "mom, your belly just jumped!"  More often, though, they seek out the contact and try to will their sister to comply.
A few nights ago, my daughter wanted that bonding moment and asked me to place my hand over hers.  When I asked her why she needed my hand she replied that everyone knows mommies have magic hands and babies can tell when it's mom or someone else.  Apparently, baby won't respond unless my hands are present.  After all, I do have magic mommy hands.

oh for the love, here we go again...

I hate having our credit reports pulled.  I hate, hate, hate it!  About 8 years ago now, someone stole my checkbook and wrote out checks (ironically, the account had been closed because no one would accept a check from me after I married - maiden name didn't match new license.)  I immediately contacted my bank, the police (and signed numerous affidavits) and put a fraud alert on my credit reports.  It didn't matter.  It still went on my credit report, I still received phone calls, despite mailing copies of the police report, etc.  Last year, we were finally able to have it removed by an amazing service our bank offers to 1 case per branch.  Our mortgage loan officer got us in.  Fantastic.  Received my report today and, it's back....
I suppose I should be happy that at least I know what is lowering my score, poor Dan has no clue.  At first, there were the tax liens, the mortgage (opened before his birth and we still had to argue with them to get it removed), the accidents (his brother's) and the mysterious medical bill.  After a ridiculous amount of time and energy on our part, we were able to get all removed except the medical bill.  Again, the wonderful bank had that removed.  It's also back.  Anyone have medical expenses around $166 in 2004?  The credit report has no phone number or company listed, just that it is in collection.  I seem to remember that way back when it had included a number, but they wouldn't give Dan info because of patient confidentiality and he is not a patient.  Go figure.
We live in the dread that any time we need to apply for a loan there will be a new delinquency on our report that we will have to investigate and battle.  Unfortunately, even when we do succeed in proving it is not us, it takes years for our scores to rebound.  The system is flawed.  I suppose the moral is, name your children as uniquely as possible to avoid this mess.  Perhaps Sunflower Adelia Butz would work out... at least I don't think there is another one of those out there.  Makes me feel sorry for those poor John Smiths of the world.
Meanwhile if anyone has dealt with credit issues successfully, I'd love to hear how.  We are at our wits end at the moment.

the simple things

Yesterday was a crazy house remodeling day.  That basically means that Dan was working his butt off on the house and I was attempting to keep the house tidy and the kids sane and away from him.  It was hit or miss.
To end the day, though, we decided to have a family movie pizza night.  This is a rarity.  Movies come and go, but I don't remember the last time we made pizza as a family.  The dough took over  2 hours and the preparation of toppings took much longer than the placing of toppings, etc.  We each have our own pizza tastes. The kids loved it.  Char chose pineapple (as in the whole little can!); Ben had about 3 slices of black olives and lots of cheese; Gabe was a pepperoni and cheese guy (and a few black olives that Ben helped him with); Dan was a double pepperoni and cheese pan pizza and I was a black olive, red onion, artichoke heart and feta cheese pizza.  Yum.
There is something special about having your own little round of dough and choosing what you want on it.  Even my picky, pizza hating (as of late) daughter loved her pizza and said the recipe was a keeper, as long as she got to top her own.  The boys ate well and there was only mild arguing over Ben "helping" to top Gabe's pizza.  All in all a success.  Even the movie was well attended.  We lost the males at the end, but Char and I stuck it out.
After all of our preparations to have fun family dates, it took a crazed day and a bit of dough to remind us how much fun the simple things can be.  And this time, we even have yummy leftovers!

Sentry goodies once more!

This is a big weekend for sales all around, but Sentry has some fun double coupon deals:
Free:
Krunchers Chips - coupons were in sunday smart source, a few weeks ago
Grande Chips - ditto
Del Monte Fruit Chillers - some were in insertss, some were on-line.  If i find a new valid link, i'll post it
Kiloman Teriyaki Sauce - coupons.com
Tabasco Sauce (well, this is 3 cents a bottle) - red plum insert
Nexcare ice packs - 9 cents after coupon from coupons.com (Sentry was out today)

Cheap:
Betty Crocker Suddenly Salads 50 cents each after coupon - coupons.com and smartsource.com
Snyders Pretzels - $1/bag after coupon - was in Sunday insert a few weeks ago
Chex Mix - 40 cents after coupon - coupons.com
Texas Toast (a luxury, but Dan loves it) - $1.20 after coupon - Sunday insert next to tabasco sauce coupon
Country Time Lemonade - $1 each after Sentry ad coupon and $1 off 2 coupon that was in the aisle earlier this week (may want to keep your eyes open at other stores for these coupon pads)
Kraft Mini Marshmallows - 50 cents a bag after coupon - these coupons are on the cardboard display by the dairy section
Ritz crackers - $1/box after Sentry ad coupon and smartsource insert coupon
Kraft Dressing - 36 cents after coupons.com coupon


My List:
6 bags marshamallows
6 bags Snyders pretzels
2 bags chex mix
1 texas toast
2 boxes ritz crackers
2 bottles kraft dressing
4 suddenly salads
2 fruit chillers
2 perrier waters (had $1 off 2 coupon - then sentry's catalina machine printed one for next time too!  = .87 each)
3 tabasco sauce
2 kraft cheese (in ad, equals $3/lb)
1 voila bird's eye meal ($2 after coupon found a while back on-line)
2 oscar meyer weiners - Sentry ad coupon
2 Kraft American Singles - Sentry ad coupon
2 Country time lemonade mixes
1 terriyaki sauce
Bakery - 79 cents (i'm preggos)
1.79lbs cherries $3.56
less 40 cents for my own bags
Grand total of $33.04
coupon savings of $34.57

the flight attendants are right...

It's funny  how I cringe internally when hearing the safety procedures while flying.  Remember to look for your exits, your nearest exit may be behind you, put the oxygen mask on yourself before others and don't panic, even if it doesn't appear to be filling, your mask is providing oxygen...  It seems wrong for me to put myself first.  After all, mother nature designed us to mask our children first, then worry about ourselves.
It occurred to me today that the flight attendants are right after all.  I tend to keep going and serving my family until I am battered and broken down.  Then I allow myself enough time to duct tape together and start all over again.
This pattern of self neglect, dare I say abuse, is dangerous.  You can survive for a time, but in the long run, everyone suffers.  So, moms (and dads), sometimes you have to take care of yourself first in order to take care of others.  After all, your car won't run without fuel and neither will you.  Don't feel guilty about taking an hour here or there for yourself (truly for yourself, no errands, cleaning etc...).  You deserve it and you need it.  In the long run, your family will benefit and thank you for it.  Don't worry, even if you feel as though you "wasted" that hour by not "accomplishing" anything, have faith that you are being refueled and refreshed.
Oh, and always know where your nearest exit is.  Remember, it may be behind you...