Friday Follow Topic: To Coupon or Not To Coupon

When I go to grocery store shopping, I notice two distinct groups of people: those who use coupons and those who do not.

For a long time, I was one of those people who never gave a second thought to using coupons.

Now, I RARELY go shopping without them.

FYI...coupons=money!

Let me share my reason why I have to have those little pieces of papers:

Ok, so Harris Teeter is a fairly large grocery store chain in NC (and VA, I think).  This week, they are having this huge triple coupon event, where they triple the face value of coupons up to $0.99. So essentially you can save up to $2.97 with a coupon, although I never seen a $0.99 coupon. Anyway, this means you can rack up on a lot of free and cheap stuff.  Check out Southern Savers for an extensive list of free and cheap products you can get with coupons.

So I made my third trip to Harris Teeter today (because they only triple up to 20 coupons per day) and got some 2 packages of butter, mustard, relish, 4-pack of Dannon yogurt, 4 packs of rice, barbeque sauce, and two packs of gum. My total would have been around $25 before coupons. After my coupons were scanned, the receipt showed that Harris Teeter owed me $0.12! HA HA.

This was a first and the cashier and I looked at each other with confused looks. She did not know what to do but I knew that I could not get cash back. The manager had to come over and override something and told me to have a nice day after giving me my receipt. I didn't think my total would come out to be free. I thought I at least had to pay taxes. I am still confused how this played out but of course, I am not complaining.

I walked right on out with my free items.

I heart coupons. So much better than monopoly money! :)

If you want to hop on the couponing bandwagon, check out deals around your area at Hot Coupon World. You will be amazed how much money you are spending on your favorite items when you really do not need to do so.

Zakiah got her first balloon today. Harris Teeter gives away free balloons for the children.  She had a good time playing with it.

So my question is do you use coupons or not?

If you do, what influenced you to start using them?

If you do not, why not?

Do you think it is worth the time and effort of clipping and sorting and being called the crazy coupon lady by the long line of customers behind you waiting for the cashier to scan your pile of coupons? LOL

Happy Friday Follow!

Z and Her First Balloon!

It was such a nice day today! Too bad tomorrow will be cooler and rainy.  Zakiah was such a good sport while we went grocery shopping today.

Don't you love her new shoes? These are her first pair ever bought by her grandpa (my dad).  She wore them for the first time this past Saturday. Before then, she never wore a pair of shoes because we didn't think they were necessary.

With all the cute sandals coming out for the spring and summer, we could not wait any longer to put her in some shoes especially since she is really trying to walk. We got a silver pair too to go with her plethora of spring and summer dresses. Cannot wait to dress her up!

Fun, Fun! 

Wordless Wednesday

The first picture is from Zakiah's first pediatrician visit. She basically slept during the entire appointment. Can't believe we were able to wrap her in a receiving blanket.

9 months later and 13 pounds heavier, she was alert, active, and playful as ever at her appointment yesterday. No shots this time but the doc said the next set of shots will probably be a doozy.

Until then though, we are all smiles!

Oh, and her receiving blankets turned into burp cloths to wash cloths to clean up cloths.  I guess they serve their purpose of receiving a lot of "stuff".

It is Looking Funky in Here!

I am redesigning my blog for the Spring. Please bear with me for a few days until I figure out what I want to do. Thanks!

Oh, Zakiah had her 9th month check up today. All is well and she is a healthy 19lbs and 4oz. She is 27.50 inches so she is about average height. So glad no shots were administered today.  Yay for no tears!

Today Was Good BUT Tomorrow WILL Be Better

I am talking about the weather.
It was NICE today.
And guess what?
Mid to Upper 70s tomorrow.
And guess what else?
My 'rents are coming up tomorrow (supposedly) lol
Can't wait!
Spring is here!
(finally)
Still no computer access so hopefully tomorrow I will do a real post and follow back my new followers (that sounded a little off, oh well).
Have a great weekend and first of spring!

Friday Follow Topic: To Spank or NOT to Spank--What's your take?

I was trying to figure out what post I can write up to submit for tomorrow's Friday Follow visitors.  One of the topics on my mind is whether to spank or not to spank.  Josh and I have been discussing how we will go about disciplining Zakiah when she misbehaves.  There are so many conflicting views on the matter.  My questions to my readers are:

Do (will) you spank you child? Why or why not?

If you don't spank, how do you discipline your child?

What age do you think is appropriate to start disciplining your child?

I will start with these three questions. Hope to get a good input from you readers.

Much appreciated from both seasoned and unseasoned parents.

 Please feel free to check out these:

My Labor and Delivery of Zakiah Camille (Video)

Watch the Zakiah's grand entrance into this world!

Visit my Uniquely Chic Bowtique

Find beautifully handmade hair bows for your baby girl

Followers get 10% off their first order

Is This Going to Be My Life Everyday?

Is 9 months too early to explaining the importance of picking up your toys???

Just kidding (kind of)

But just an update on Zakiah. She is doing fine. The swelling and redness has gone down a lot just like we prayed for last night.

God is good! I cannot deny that!

I appreciate all the wonderful comments you ladies left me in the previous posts. You know how to make a mommy feel better!

“You are STILL a Really Good Mom”

Those were Josh's words as he consoled me after putting Zakiah to bed.

Ok, let's rewind.

When Josh got to apartment from work, Zakiah was so happy to see him! It is like she knows by now when the door opens around 5ish, she knows daddy is back. She almost always crawl toward him and forget about me. So cute.

Such a daddy's little girl. I would know.

So daddy saw the boo boo and picked up his little girl to hug her and get a closer look. I felt bad and irresponsible because one of the last things you want to come back from a long day of work is seeing your baby got hurt (see the previous post). He took her by his job (works at a medical center) and was able to get one of his coworkers to get Zakiah all cleaned up and bandaged. Josh said that Z was a good sport while she was getting fixed up.

Hence the picture.

So when they got back, Zakiah was still being Zakiah as usual (which is of course a great thing). When I called her pediatrician shortly after the accident, the advice nurse told me to monitor her behavior to see if she starts to act differently. Not something I want to see but know it is something important to catch especially after a head injury. Like I said, all was normal all the way up to the time I put her to bed thank goodness!

Still cannot help to be a little paranoid though.

After I got her to bed, I was still SO upset at myself that I asked Josh if we can just pray right then for Zakiah. I had so many thoughts running through my head from Zakiah's accident that I needed comfort. As we prayed, tears just started to flow down. I just hope all will be ok.

Josh wiped my tears away (aw moment) and assured me it will be because God is looking over Z. Then a little while later, he told me I am a really good mom.

I love this guy so much!

He checked on Zakiah before he left for the night and said everything looks fine. He will come back in the morning to change her bandage and check up on her before going to work.

Hopefully the swelling will be down in the morning. I will keep you posted.

Pray for her please and pray for me.

Thanks!

A Sad Wordless Wednesday

This is my first ever wordless Wednesday so I am not going to say much. Just that Z bumped her head on the corner of the coffee table today and got a bad little gash on her forehead. She cried for a few minutes and was back to normal. I still feel horrible.

Bad mommy moment.

Sorry, I Just HAD to Post This Video!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Zakiah is getting much stronger in her legs. She can support her weight on her legs very well and is getting better with her walking coordination when assisted. Sorry if you got dizzy watching the video. We were kind of going in circles. :)

Zakiah Update!

Attention folks!

Madame Z has discovered a new skill.

She has learned how to open up cabinet doors AND pull stuff out.

She is really learning things at an alarming rate.  She can walk really well assisted and cruise like a pro. 

She is fast and fearless.

I see really fun times ahead of us around the corner!

Oh, and she is really interacting with her toys now.  Not just banging on them or watching them light up.  She is actually focusing on pushing buttons to see what reaction/effect will come up from her action.

She is so bright...not saying that because she is my child but because she just is.  Others notice that about her too.

I love this girl so much.  God, you gave me a great blessing!  Thanks over and over again!

::tears:: Please Pray for Layla Grace's Family...

...for the loss of their precious 2 year old girl. I happened to see a post about her and spent the last hour reading about her story on her blog, reading through the heart wrenching tweets from the past week leading up to her passing away, and browsing through 165 pictures that captured her beauty and strength. She had stage 4 cancer and passed away on Tuesday. So sad.  Her family needs prayers. I can't even imagine how hard this is for them.  It is heart ripping when babies suffer.  ::tears::

So glad you are safe in heaven with God, Layla. May you rest in peace!

http://laylagrace.org/

Today Has Been A Great Day!

I got a load of clothes washed.

I got a few more hair bows posted on my Etsy shop.

I got my first sale today thanks to Erin @ The Bailey Family!

I won several auctions over at ebay for some more ribbon at really great prices (and free shipping).

I completed my upper body circuit training, which I have started on this Monday. I am alternating between upper body training (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and lower body training (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). I guess I am getting stronger...lol. I get sore the day after so I am assuming I am doing something right).

I ate a delicious healthy dinner prepared by Josh. Praise God he knows how to cook and ENJOYS cooking. Praise God AGAIN! LOL

I found someone to watch Zakiah for 6 hours tomorrow so I can have a break...woohoo! LOL

I got a few new followers from Follow Friday! I will follow you all back tomorrow if I haven't already. I am blogged out right now.

And on that note, I am signing off. My bedtime for some reason is around 10ish. Every night, I just shut down around that time (which is right now). I guess Zakiah getting up at 6ish in the morning kind of shifted my sleeping schedule a bit. Hopefully day light savings time will put things kind of in order BUT I am not sure how to deal with the fact that it will be straight daylight when I put Z to bed. We are not used to that so this may be interesting. Hopefully she can still go to sleep with a little light outside for an hour or two before it gets dark.

Here is a slide show of some pictures from the past two weeks. Enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank Goodness It Is Friday!

It has been a long week! I have been working on my Etsy website and is baffled on how much work it takes to set the whole thing up! It took me a whole day just to figure out what my shop policies are. Geez! Maybe it is just me and the fact that this is my first store and I want everything to go right.

Then it is taking good quality pictures of my bows that is taking forever because I had to play with the camera and lighting to attempt to get the best shots and angles of each bow without too much shadow in the picture.

Next it is editing each picture to put my Etsy name on it to help reduce the chance of someone copying and pasting my pictures somewhere else.

Then it is listing each item on the website which seems to take 30 minutes per item because you have to list so much info on the item you are selling before publishing live on your site.

Not to mention I have a wild silly girl tugging at my leg and pulling at every cord from the laptop.

I got a few items posted and hopefully will get the rest posted by the end of today.

Here is my unfinished shop web address:

www.uniquelychicbowtique.etsy.com

Things are subject to change around until I get everything posted and finalized. I will post again when all is done!

Hope everyone had a great week. It is FINALLY getting warmer, yay!

I will catch up on your blogs soon.

Oh, Zakiah learned how to clap as of last Thursday and knows to clap either when I say 'clap clap' or when I start to sing patty cake. It is so awesome. She also knows how to wave bye bye by flapping her left hand up and down. She is so cute!

Will do a better Zakiah update later. It is late.

Finally It Is March!

Meaning Spring starts this month and we spring forward an hour for daylight savings time. I am not sure how that will affect Zakiah's sleeping pattern when the days get longer since she sleeps almost 12 hours straight at night. I don't know. I will tackle that when it comes.

I forgot to mention that Zakiah ate some small pieces of turkey sausage on Saturday evening. She loved it but boy did her diaper smell horrible from it! She likes blueberry pancakes just like her daddy!

I am typing from my blackberry so it is boy really that convenient for me to update my post about the bows right now. Hopefully I will get to it tomorrow. Thanks Erin for your compliment on my bows and your support! I will definitely let you know when I get everything set up on Etsy! Happy 6 months to your precious Clint! His eyes are gorgeous!

Happy 6 months to Gemma! You are doing a great job Kacie! I can tell she is a very active baby!

Well I am pooped so I am signing off. Some friends from Church hosted a Breakfast for Dinner feast and I am nice and full from all that yummy food! I didn't get Zakiah to bed til nine but she didn't fuss too much at bathtime. She was active and rough as usual. LOL.

Any tips on how to teach Zakiah to hold her head back while drinking from her sippy cup? I decided to tackle this again and be more persistent this time. She never held a bottle so she hasn't got the concept of holding her own drink.