Prom

If the prom committee had a suggestion box, I'd suggest they didn't have prom in January. It's like Halloween, once you've put together a magnificent ensemble, you're not really interested in putting your winter coat on over it. Nonetheless it was prom Saturday night and my son and daughter went. Not together, mind you, different groups all together.

The bonus of having two kids go to prom, besides the money you get to spend on a dress, tux, shoes, accessories, boutonnieres and corsages, is the fact that one can report on the other. Like, for example, I can find out how close they were dancing with their dates. I like to hear that there was plenty of daylight between them.

And speaking of daylight, did you know that kids these days go on a day date the day of prom? Well they do. They spend the whole day together, then come home and get gussied up before going to dinner and the dance. I'm glad this wasn't protocol for my high school years. My prom date was a classy guy, and I had a great time, but I'm not sure I would have been thrilled about negotiating a 12-hour date. In fact, I left my lipstick in the car of my prom date and when he called the next day and asked it he could bring it to me, I didn't feel much like hanging out with him again so I told him he was welcome to drop it in my mailbox anytime.

I'm glad my kids had a chance to go to the prom. I guess it's a rite of passage. They're already talking about preference that's coming up. My preference would be to keep the money in the bank, but in the long run I suppose it's better to have my kids sail smoothly down the road of life than it is for me to sail smoothly down I-15.

T.G.I.F.

No time to post today. I'm off to the temple. Tune in Monday for my post on the Prom!

Fruits and Veggies

My husband was busy recruiting last weekend. If your husband is a football coach, he was busy recruiting last weekend too because it's that time of year. So we wives left husbandless because of a pigskin decided to get together and do some recruiting of our own. Recruiting delicious Mexican food to get in my belly!

As we were dining on rice and beans, and me turning down cans of Coke-a-Cola because I haven't had one for 10 days now thank-you-very-much, my dear friend told me about Bountiful Baskets. It seems she had just picked up a basket, that's right a laundry basket (not currently holding laundry of course) of fresh fruits and veggies from this co-op.

One can sign up with the co-op, pay around $15 for your purchase, and pick up a whole basket of super, great, healthy (organic is an option too) fruits and veggies. They even have bread as well as herbs and spices. Seeing as negotiating ways to eat healthier is on my to-do list these days, I'm definitely going to take advantage of this. In fact, I tried to do it this very week but alas, it filled up before I had the chance. Next week for sure.

If you live in Arizona, Utah, Idaho or Washington you're in luck. These are the states where the co-op is available. Check it out at www.bountifulbaskets.org.

Coupon-ing

Coupon is a noun. I looked it up. But the women in my neighborhood (and one man I know) coupon in a very verbish sort of way. To coupon means you take several Sunday papers, the idea is one for every member of your family, strictly so you can get the coupon inserts. If you happen to read the comics I guess that's just a bonus. Then you go to a website, www.grocerysmarts.com to be exact, where you see what's on sale at your local stores and have opportunity to print even more coupons. The idea is you're buying what's on sale and you're using a coupon as well. You're also buying several of each sale item, because you're saving so much money, which is why you need several coupons. Now if that's not a negotiation process I'm not sure what is.

I resisted the urge to coupon for months. I didn't want the Sunday papers piling up in my driveway, nor did I want to pay for them. But after hearing about the amount of saving that was going on, I broke down and said I'd give it the old college try. Still hesitant, I only ordered 3 papers instead of the 6 that was recommended.

Now it's almost 6 months later and I'm hooked. It's true there's a lot of savings to be had. I shop at Walmart and just this past weekend I saved almost $20! Admittedly I'm a little nervous about handing my stack of coupons to the cashier because I hate to hold up the line. Recently the man behind me was either rolling his eyes at me or seriously trying to avoid looking at the impulse items to purchase near the check out. But when I my savings totaled up I smiled contentedly and headed to my favorite smoothie shop where I bought the whole family smoothies with my savings. :0)

p.s. If you'd like to check out grocerysmarts.com you'll need a passport. Utah's code is: g84cjg. It looks like other states have other codes listed in the top left corner. I also think you can get some good coupon savings strictly from the website and think I'll not renew my newspaper subscriptions when they run out. Good luck and happy saving! I'm happy to answer questions about the process if you'd like to get on board.

THANK YOU!

A big THANK YOU to C Jane for sending some new blogging friends my way!

Nice to meet you. Thanks for stopping by.


And a reminder to C Jane that Jamison is faithfully checking the mailbox for his $30.

Gray

Here's the thing. I'm going gray. It doesn't really bother me. Honest. I've always embraced the aging process. When I turned 30, I was thrilled. I'll turn 40 this summer and I can't wait. I appreciate the life experience and maturity that comes with age. In fact, I'm looking forward to retirement when I'll wake early, have lunch at Chuck-A-Rama at 11, nap, dinner at Golden Corral at 4, then bed. But I digress.

I don't want to color my hair. I don't want to keep up a color every six weeks. And like I said, I don't mind the gray. But here's the deal, I can't stop plucking out the gray hairs. Have you ever met a gray hair? They're like wire. My gray hairs stick straight out of my curly hair in a very porcupineish sort of way.

Every time I pass a mirror, I'll yank a few grays. Thing is, as soon as I start yanking, 10 more come into view. I can't stop. Pretty soon I've got my tweezers and I'm going to town with them. I find myself late for work, unable to pull myself away from the plucking. It's not an easy task either. Negotiating a gray hair in the mirror is tough. I'll often pull out several healthy brown hairs before I get the culprit I'm looking for, but I'll save my sob story regarding my thin hair for another day.

So I broke down and purchased a Nice N Easy color. Natural, medium, cool brown to be exact. It was the cheapest one I could find at WalMart. My girls helped me pick it out as I held my hair up to each box for a match. It promises me "layers of rich tones and contouring highlights with 100% long-lasting gray coverage." If this is true, and have you ever known an advertiser to lie, I'll be free of my plucking addiction for six weeks. If only I could free myself of my soda addiction with a four dollar magic box from WalMart.

Sweet 16 and A Single Parent

On December 30th at 1:06 AM, my oldest daughter officially turned 16. She had a swanky party that night with a cute collection of friends at SPARK while we were visiting Provo for the Christmas break.

On January 4th, at 6:00 AM, she started driver's education. We had to wake at 4:45 to get to the other side of the next town over where her classes were conveniently located.

On January 8th, at 6:00 AM, she got asked out on her first date by an invitation to the Jr. Prom. The gentleman scattered chocolate kisses across the dance room floor where she dances every other morning at six and said, "Since we've already kissed, will you go to Prom with me?"

On January 8th, at 4:00 PM, she got asked out for the second time by another invitation to the Jr. Prom. The gentleman left a pinata on the doorstep which my son was only too happy to take his baseball bat to. When the candy spilled out his name was on a box of Nerds, though I'm sure he's not one. Unfortunately this kind boy had to be turned down. Even though we live in a town highly populated with polygamists, we feel two dates to the Jr. Prom is probably in poor taste.

On January 16th, at 4:30 PM, she found a Prom dress she liked, and since it was only moderately pricey, and very modest and darling, we bought it. It is a classy, short sleeve, black, silk dress with a choice of a black or white sash. We're still deciding.

On January 21st, at 3:00 PM, she became a single mother. Her child development teacher introduced her to her new daughter she named "Ellie." She cries regularly and has to be soothed by an electronic key inserted into her lower back. She woke up ten times in the night to be soothed. Welcome to parenthood.

On January 21st, at 5:30 PM, she got her official drivers license and doesn't like her picture (even though it is beautiful). She is dying for a pink, 1973, Cadillac Deville that is for sale for $800 on a side street near her school. We are trying to get her to reconsider.

On January 22nd, at 5:45 AM, she is waiting for me to take her to dance since she doesn't yet have a pink Cadillac of her own.