Extreme Couponing, Houston Frugal Living Blog
In the middle of trying to pack for our camping trip I realized I had almost forgot it was MEGA DEAL WEEK at Kroger! What was I thinking??? The SALE ends Tuesday at midnight and it was Monday evening, I must drag evenyone to the store and NOW!
So the deal is when you buy 10 select items you get $5 back, you can do this three times in a transaction for a total of 30 items, each time through the checkout… (are you still following me??) I had so many coupons that matched up with the sale that I had (OK I didn’t have to, but to get the deal I had to) to go through 3 times = 90 items. …Can someone put this into an equation for me??
Now imagine doing this with 5 kids, one who was flailing violently in the little magic car grocery cart due to being woken up from two naps earlier that day. Since Rush is only 14mo. I cut him some slack and opened every box I had in the cart of snacks he MIGHT like. Tucker was lucky enough to be at a friends house so he missed the fiasco.
This picture is of Storie, who wanted to be included in the first two pictures but wasn’t. Heart breaking, isn’t it!
I know I promised photos of my dog after his haircut. I just have not been able to do it. It is too humiliating… He looks like an idiot. And I know he looks stupid because everyone who sees him says the same thing, kind like when you get a bad haircut, “well, at least he won’t be hot in the heat this summer.” Or ” It’ll grow.” My poor proud dog reduced to looking like a poodle. Now the best part is the groomer telling us to not laugh at him and to tell him how beautiful he looks.
My washing machine is probably in the top 2 most important appliances in my house. The refrigerator being #1. I can do without the stove (we get to go out to eat!) the microwave, vacuum, TV’s, etc. But could you imagine hauling 8 peoples laundry to a laundry mat?? I don’t think so. A few summers ago my washer died, while waiting for our new one I had to do just that. Mind you we “only” had 5 kids at the time but it still took me 5 hours and about $35 to get it done. Anyway, lately mine has been flashing a SUD and F 02 every time I do a load. I have to wait about an hour restart the machine and it will finish. Soooo, I did what any frugal Mom would do, I looked it up on the internet. Google came through again! We just had to remove the front panel and clean out a filter. Funny none of this was in the manual. But one of the most important questions in the universe was answered… The washing machine eats the socks not the dryer!
Everyone likes to get free stuff. Especially me-I am always legally robbing CVS and the grocery store and getting lots of nifty free things. So today I thought I would do a give away in honor of my 20th posting. 
Saturday was opening day for both Little League and for Softball. Paul and I spent the day running from one side of the park to the other catching both Tuckers mini tournament games, Emma’s game and team pictures. 8:15am to 2:45pm we drug little kids all over filling them with healthy foods like chicken on a stick, cupcakes and $5 a bag kettle-corn. At one point Paige handed someone her cupcake said, “I can’t finish it, it’s too much sugar!” 
But the highlight of the day was Emma getting her batting helmet spray painted! The boys are jealous because it is against rules in LL to have anything on your helmet. 
The man who did the decorating was quite the character! He was a lot of fun. He did whisper that he prefers decorating motorcycles to little girls softball helmets-but I don’t believe him. I think he prefers the purple unicorns…
Avery is a very, very talented girl. When my sister got married a year and a half ago Avery was only four. I was cutting ribbons a certain length for the favors and of course, “Can I help?” So I let Avery help.
Avery can catch flies. With her bare hands. While I would never choose to do this, I’m very proud of her. She came up to me the other day with this little guy buzzing in her fingers. “I caught him! They have to be next to the window, that’s how I catch them easy.” She has to chase them “around and around around round a round round a round” with her fingers for a while before she can get them, but get them she does!
We (the kids and I) love Miller, despite his horse-like legs and bowling ball qualities of mowing the children over constantly. Yesterday I was looking at the dog and thinking, “Wow. Since when did he start looking like shag carpet from my Grandma’s basement?” Being a licensed barber I thought I’d whip my clippers out and fix him up a little bit. Anna and Jeff volunteered to help. We drug the dog outside, grabbed the clippers and decided to start somewhere that wouldn’t be very visible. Within 2 seconds my clippers were stuck. His fur was so thick and tangled I couldn’t get through it. “Bummer!” Anna said. “But since you have the clippers and stuff out, can you cut mine and Jeff’s hair?”
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..