Brenna-Boo

Ro-ro sleeping in the car

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I noticed yesterday (in between sammy making and reading emails on the ‘berry) that we’re very low on sandwich bags. Usually, no big deal. But let’s go back to the first sentence. I’m trying not to spend more money than we absolutely have to. That means a trip to the grocery store can be disastrous! Even for me, the coupon-clipping, saving-money-mom (because if I don’t, the kids will never go to college and leave my house!) can screw things up and over buy. On food that is on sale and NOT GOOD FOR YOU! Like those Freihoffer cookies that are on sale for Buy 1 Get 2 free every other week. Yep, gotta have those. I even justify it: “They freeze well”. So, I am trying to avoid the grocery stores. I can get our milk at the gas station down the road, but can you imagine what they would charge for sandwich bags if they even carry them at all? Yeah, I don’t even want to know. I casually ask Matt to start saving his bags and he went off on me in the style of “you’re a crazy bitch and you’ve taken this too far”. And honestly, it’s not like I asked him to stop watching re-runs of Buffy because that’s just so 90’s and he needs to grow up. Nope, I just asked for a simple action to be done so my budget on food doesn’t go down the sink. Maybe I took it a little far, but it was, for sure, for the benefit of our wallet.

And now he thinks I’m the crazy lady who saves my sandwich bags. And he’s absolutely correct to think this way. I don’t blame him. I’ve been eyeing some reusable “snack” and “sandwich” bags on Etsy. They go for around $5 each. They are great for the earth and your wallet. And I’ll bet Matt will LOVE that pink one that I plan on buying him!

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What is up with the back to school sales so soon?  My goodness, the kids just got out last month!  This is the first year I have noticed it so early, but it’s the second year for Brenna in school.  She will be a big first grader this Fall!  And she needs two, count them, TWO composition notebooks!  For what?  I know she can write, but two composition notebooks worth?  She needs to perfect her p’s and q’s before she tackles that bad boy!  Oh, and by the way, the composition notebooks are/were on sale at Walmart for a quarter.

So here’s my wacked out reading from last week.  Enjoy!

How to Spend Less on Your Pets (Moolanomy Personal Finance)

How to Use a Food Dehydrator to Preserve Your Harvest (Get Rich Slowly)

How to have a completely peaceful car ride with three small kids (Simple Mom) Side Note: I doubt this can be achieved without cramming them all in the trunk!

Lifestyle Deflation? (Fabulously Broke in the City)

Five “To-Do List Managers” Everyone Should Know About (Ms. Career Girl)

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So, each Tuesday, I will let you in on what I’ve been reading and looking at on the ‘net.  Some may bore you, but I’m sure our interests aren’t the same, because, well, that would be boring!  Kind of like Brenna telling me that the sky is Rainbow in her own little world, aptly dubbed “Brennaland”.  We all can’t be the same y’all!

The Ultimate Guide to Gmail- A Handy Resource (Blogging with Amy)

4 Immediate and Simple Steps to Personal Debt Reduction (Moolanomy Personal Finance)

Time Wasters and Their Solutions (Everyday Minimalist)

2010 Federal Income Tax Brackets & IRS Tax Rates (My Two Dollars)

Calendar Chalkboard Vinyl Decals (Etsy)

Yelloware Tumblers, Set of 4 (Etsy)

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It took Brenna about 2 minutes this morning to realize what day it was.  She was just so excited, but when you’re 5 and a half, a trip to the bathroom is exciting, an adventure because you never know what may happen in THAT room.  Matt left yesterday to go to Maryland to the Greater Washington Saint Bernard Club’s Specialty show, so it’s just me, the girls, 4 dogs and 1 cat.  Rowan is just too young and too into herself to realize what a birthday actually is, yet I remember hers explicity, especially the pain I endured on that particular day.  So, I was off to a great start.  I had the morning off from work, I had to go buy cupcakes for myself, and the sun was shining. 

My coworkers brought in all the goodies to make brownie sundaes, which were so yummy, I must say.  Everyone wished me a happy birthday.  And 3 phone conversations later with Matt, still no mention of my birthday.  I even told him I was going out to buy CUPCAKES!!  Clueless!  Yes, because we have frickin’ cupcakes every single night here in the house…..NO!  I finally just came out and said, “Is there anything else you need to say to me today?”  And he paused.  PAUSED!!  Like he had no frickin’ clue.  And then he finally said it.  And he had some lame excuse that went like this:  “I was gonna tell you later.”  Later?  Like, tomorrow?  Next year?  When he got around to it? 

So when one of my lovely coworkers asked me what I was doing tonight, I told her I was going to clean the bathroom and call it a night.  And I think I’m going to forget that tomorrow is our anniversary and cook macaroni and cheese! 

{On a side note, Greta got 2nd in her class both shows.}

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Now on to see if I can fix the sidebars…..if not, it’ll have to wait for the weekend!

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Tonight was the night that I convinced Matt to hook up the hose out to the kennels. He wanted me to go out to clean and rinse buckets for him. On the way out to the kennel, we made the decision to let Sinatra run tonight. He’s getting senile and likes to go trotting through the woods time to time, but it’s been quite often as of late. Well…..we made the wrong decision tonight!

The hose nozzle is a little beat up (we go through many of these) and leaks, so after I got done hosing buckets and dishes down, I started towards the house to shut the water off and, I figured, get Sinatra out of the driveway. As I’m getting closer to the house with Greta jumping on me the whole way with Polly on her heals, I realize there’s a car in my driveway with which I am not familiar with. Greta quickly sees it and starts going off with her “I’ll-protect-you-mom-but-I’m-really-freakin’-out-right-now” bark which gets her mother (who taught her very well, I might add) to participate in the bark-fest. I go out to the driveway while my 2 “scaredy cat” Saints quickly retreat back to the kennel. Nice, huh? Save yourselves, it’s ok, don’t worry about me or anything! So, this nice gentleman steps out of his car and it dawns on me that Sinatra has been going in the road lately and I believe I paled and just blurted out, “Did you hit him?”. Oddly enough, he had a little Sentra and I was quite worried about the damage that dog would do to the car! He said, “No, but he’s way down there, and he’s still going in the wrong direction”, as he points down the road. Sure enough, I can barely see him (granted I did not have my glasses on). I thanked him and ran out to the kennel to see if the rest of the dogs were put away. Once they were secured, the foot race begun!

I had to stop at the house to get a leash, dodge Ruby (that’s a whole different story) and block out the crying of my kids. I start running down the road in my bright, hot pink rain boots, black pants and Patriots jacket. I must of looked real cute! I can see him real close to the bend in the road up ahead and I’m not even to my neighbor’s driveway. I contemplate going back to get my truck to get him, but he is absolutely filthy (to the point where I’m devastated that he’s out IN PUBLIC looking like that!) and I don’t need smelly filth in my truck. So I keep on trucking. And I’m huffing and puffing and really thinking that Matt should be doing this crap, not me! I see Sinatra take a left into the driveway past Remley Lane. A little bit of relief comes over me since these people are dog people. I get in their driveway and I can’t find him. WTF? So I go up to the door and knock. I can hear their little dog yipping and the man answers the door and out comes this little black dog who’s so cute! I tell him that I’m chasing my old, senile dog that I think he’s behind their house. “Oh, that’s what he’s been barking at!”. Yeah, that wet thing out there that looks like a bear cub with a wash out coat? You’re lucky he’s not peeing on your floor, I thought!
He was very kind and understanding, nonetheless. As I turned to go, Sinatra surfaced on the lawn (which is a big puddle) on the side of their house. So I call his name. I get no response. I’m walking up to him and he just picks his head up and looks at me as if to say, “Where’d you come from?”. I got the leash on him and he happily strolls along with me all the way home. Seriously losing it, that dog! It’s sad, but I’m sure he’s a happy dog tonight!

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Brenna bugged us from the time I got home to the time she went to bed to “just plug that thing in” so I can play it. I told her she would have to wait until Sunday, that daddy would hook it up after she went to bed. She wasn’t happy with us, but oh well. Matt hooked it up and boy did Mama and Daddy have fun! We bowled, we played Tennis, Matt boxed! It was such a blast! I’m not a big Tennis fan, bowling is more my style.

Sunday was Brenna’s turn. I bought her a cheap game called “Cooking with Mama”. It was kind of difficult to learn at first for her. Basically, you have to go through the steps of making dishes, like mixing batter, seasoning food and grilling. It’s cute. The best part is when you screw up flipping something and the dog goes for it. You basically have to outrun the dog! That wouldn’t happen in my house, the dog would always win! Who in the heck will argue with a St. Bernard over a hamburger? Yeah, well, not ME! And then at the end of each dish, they score “Mama” based on her teaching skills. It’s usually a low score and “Mama” gets all upset!

Then Matt taught her how to bowl. It turns out that our little Brenna is quite the bowler! She has broken 100 on many occasions and even knows to move the line to the right. And the speed on her ball is not what we expected. The ball flies down the lane!

The only other game we have is Mario, but not the cart one. Matt and I played with that last night for awhile. It’s fun having 2 players, on the same course at the same time….except when I was pushing him off the cliffs or jumping on him or pushing turtles into him! It’s a big clusterf*#$ on the screen at moments! The part that amused me the most were the turtles dancing to the music! I laughed so hard that one killed me, but it was so worth it!

So, do you have a Wii and what games would you recommend? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

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