We dont live here anymore

But you can find us here instead! Change your reader links, readers.

I'm a Moron

That's not new information.

This is a lesson in why you should never, EVER do anything when you're tired with compromised vision.

(Because when I'm tired I can't see as well).

I spent about an hour exporting and importing my blog last night to the new URL, only to discover this morning when I attempted to follow it that what I created last night was not bumblethrift.blogspot.com ... it was bumbletrift.blogspot.com .... no "h" in "thrift."

Copy editing was never my strong point.

So we'll be staying around here for another few days giving you all a chance to get the memo. I can't create the real URL like I was going to because blogger considers it already "taken" by this account (which is separate from the account all my other blogs are set up under ... a major fail on my part a few years ago that I can't fix now). My plan was to consolidate everything, but my stupidity last night made that, well, not possible.

We'll go ahead and say this is because I'm a full blown moron.

Unfortunately now when I switch URLs amyjbushatz.blogspot.com will come up as absolutely nothing. It will not redirect you. It will not do anything. You will be lost. And until I switch it over, bumblethrift cannot have anything on it. Another blogger system fail (combined with Major Amy Fail).

Sorry about that *cough* Abigail *cough*.

I'm going to go and try to not be a moron and convince myself that the hour I spent last night working on NOTHING was not a complete waste of time (and sleep).

Morale of the story (yes, Hyla, THIS is a morale): when in doubt, sleep first.

New URL -- See you there!

Just kidding -- I'm going to make you move now. Read the previous post to figure out why.

The new url is: http://bumbletrift.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to follow me at the new location (and unfollow me here if you like).

Everything Changes - including where you go to read this

I am going to change blogger URLs.

I realize this is a dangerous move in that I am likely to drop all sorts of readers. That's why I'm going to leave this post up on the top for a week so you all can have a chance to let it sink in. 

Today I purchased my own domain name as I get ready to start my fellowship and dive head first into freelancing and actually, you know, working. I'd rather potential publishers not be confused between my work site with all my important and impressive information and this site. It's not that I'm embarrassed about this blog -- it's just a distraction. If it's read, that's more than fine. But I'd rather it not be the first thing they find. With the current URL that is a definite possibility. 

And so, after brainstorming possible titles while driving in the rain as I delivered food to a friend in need who lives waaaaaaaaaay too far away (like, an hour into the middle of nowhere) I came up with "Bumble Thrift" as my new handle.

I've picked this because more often than not this blog is about my attempts at thrifty and frugal living ... or, frequently, my bumbling failures. I do post personal stuff fairly frequently, but I'm slowly making it have something to do with frugality on some level.

I also changed the background here to distinguish it from the coming soon other Web site. I'm no Web site building whiz so it'll be pretty simple ... exactly like this one was before I changed it this evening.

(Can I just say how much work it was to find a blog background that was not overly cute? Tons.)

And so early next week the blog site you will want to go to will be: www.bumblethrift.blogspot.com


See you there!

No Love

My Dear Readers,

My visit ticker says you come and see what I have to say, but you leave no other evidence. I post cute baby photos, videos, pictures of me looking terrible, interesting information on couponing and budgeting, rants against airlines and all sort of other things in an attempt to entice you -- but I only get a comment here and there. No comments on the cute video. Only one on the picture of me looking bad.

What gives?

If you do, indeed, exist -- you should show me some love once in a while.

There are things I won't do to get comments. I won't stop posting on the things I find interesting and important. I won't start being overly cute. I won't give you money. (I know, sad for you).

But seriously ... a little love. Anyone? Anyone??

Training Update

I thought I was being awesome this week with the training schedule until it turned out ... I wasn't. Dave was sick Wednesday and .. um .. I can't remember what happened with Thursday, but exercising didn't go down. I had planned to swim AND bike on Wednesday, but no dice. And Thursday I had planned a run, but again ... didn't happen.

So what I DID do: 15 miles of running, 3 miles of swimming and 17 miles of biking Saturday to Saturday. That's not really that much, but it's better than nothing. So I'm counting it a "win."

This week was also majorly awesome for the information side of things. Friday night we got to meet with a personal trainer and running couch at the Run to Remember dinner. She was awesome and gave lots of pointers for food before and after workouts/races and stretching advice that I've already started implementing. One word: yoga.

I had planned all week to make today a big day gear wise. With low 60-degree temperatures in the lake we'll be swimming at, I need to have a triathlon wetsuit. But of course no one down where we are sells them (stupid) and so a trip to Seattle was in order.

I made some phone calls yesterday to find a shop that had multiple brands (even though I was pretty sure which kind I would want/need). As it turned out one of these shops was holding a demo day and swim clinic TODAY. Excellent!

So we trotted up to Lake Washington this morning (even though it was FREEZING COLD, around 50 degrees with a stiff breeze outside) so I could try on and then swim in a triathlon wetsuit.

And thus:

Now, let's talk about how bad I look.

I figure, hey, people are going to see me in this so I might as well just come out of the closet now. But if there was ever a time that I was certain that "oh yes, I AM pear shaped." Meh.

But this sucker is AMAZING, folks. Even though the 57 degree water was so cold that as soon as I put my face in the water I got a full on brain freeze, I could tell that this thing is going to make a HUGE difference in my speed. And while I didn't swim long in it (CAN YOU BLAME ME?!), they tell me you don't even really have to kick your legs while doing tri swim because the suit makes you float so much! It's like it SWIMS FOR YOU. Bonus!

And here is really the most exciting part about this. This is the suit I got. It's listed here on sale for $224. And that really is about the cheapest I've seen for this sort of thing. But today we got it for $150.

Woohoo!!! And you know how much I loooooove a bargain.

Now here are some more pictures of me freezing my tail end off. Seriously, it was So. Cold. I couldn't feel my chin.

At the moment this photo was taken I was thinking "wow. I can't feel my ears."

And here I'm thinking "I want to die. Someone come warm me." Also, please note how much skinnier I look in this photo. That's because of all the weight I lost keeping myself warm for five minutes.

Sovereign God

Either God is completely sovereign, or He is not. Either He is completely in control, or He isn't.

I don't want to get into a theological battle over whether or not there are things that God allows us to make up our own minds about. For example, the debate of freewill v. predestination centers around the question of whether or not you are predestined to salvation or whether God gives you the option to choose or reject. That's not about whether or not He can intervene in your decision making process. That's about whether you do or not have the choice to resist. Even those who believe staunchly in freewill salvation believe that God can intervene and change hearts.

But to think that there are certain areas in which He simply DOES NOT intervene ever -- areas that seem arbitrary, at best, in their selection -- is absolute nonsense. Either He can intervene in everything, or He cannot. The thought that He leaves us absolutely to our devises and self made chaos without the ability to intervene is ridiculous. It also is terrifying.

God is sovereign, or He isn't. I cannot live in a world where I think that God cannot save me from myself.

Fail: Bad Mommy Moments

In my pursuit of frugal time and, well, everything else I fill my day with I worry that I am neglecting what I claim is one of my top priorities -- Dave.

For example, I really *want* to read to him everyday. And I *want* to make that a priority. But it doesn't really happen. Sure, we read. But not consistently. Not every day. And the sad thing is he LOVES to read with us. Why can't I just make it happen?

Another example: I want to teach him baby sign. Yeah, that hasn't happened either.

Now they tell me there was no way to know about this, and I did the right thing ... but yesterday morning we ended up going to the doctor because he was SO sick and SO cranky that I thought "surely this isn't just teething." And sure enough, it wasn't. His eardrum had ruptured and the other ear was infection. They say that the drum can rupture not long after the infection has started, and just because that has happened doesn't mean the infection was raging for days. So that's some comfort. But why didn't it occur to me before Tuesday evening when he was running a 100.3 fever that perhaps teething wasn't the only explanation? Is that I just wasn't paying enough attention to him? Was it that I was just thinking only of my needs and my priorities?

When you look at people (and yes, this includes your own kids) as projects, not as living, growing, breathing people, that is what happens. You miss their needs and focus only on what you think they need next in your little project checklist. There's no room for individuality in a people-project, just what you believe should be next on the list.

Note to self: while Dave is a priority, he is a priority person, not a priority project.

Fellowship It Up

I don't think I've really talked about my journalism fellowship on here as of yet. I figured before I post pictures from it (which is what I was just about to do) I should probably explain why the heck Luke and I were hanging out with "Don" Rumfeld.

Back in 2007 I was a major overachiever. This is probably not a surprise to anyone. I knew a multitude of people who had entered for and won substantial sized journalism fellowships with the Phillips Foundation for the purpose of reporting out a single story for a year while simultaneously getting mad hook-ups with the publishing industry and other newspapers that could significantly advance their careers. I wanted in on that action.

But I just didn't have time.

When the drama with my father rolled around last year I felt like I really, really needed to do something to give the family a hand financially -- something more than we could do with Luke's salary. As much as I was enjoying being a full-time mommy/kept woman, I could hear a job calling my name.

But I didn't want to put Dave in full time childcare. I'm not against not seeing him every second of every day, but day care? No thank you.

The fellowship seemed like the perfect solution. If I could land a part time one I could either work with Dave at home or with him in care very part time.

And so I entered. I knew enough people who had won in the past (5 total) and enough about their projects to not only know in what sort of thing the foundation would be interested, but how to write a proposal that wouldn't be ignored. These fabulous people also helped edit my work and prepare it for submission. (Thanks!)

And yes, I won. I'm told about 50 applications were seriously considered, 15 people were flown out for interviews, and 10 people won (two won full time fellowships, seven won part time like me, and one won a smaller prize). Competitive, yes. Impossible odds, no.

My project is titled "Deployed: The Silent Sacrifice for Freedom and the Destruction of the Military Family." Through it I will examine both the reasons behind an ever increasing divorce rate in the military and the effectiveness of military funded programs aimed at stemming the tide.

But I need help. First and foremost, I need people to talk to you. If you or anyone you know has struggled with marriage problems during their military career, no matter why, please consider talking to me or passing on my name. You can remain anonymous. The goal of this project is not to pass judgement on divorce, but to instead explore prevention and ways to keep others in the military from experiencing that pain. I am interested in talking to both current and former military families who have struggled and patched things up and those who have ended their marriages.

Now, back to the fun stuff -- pictures from the dinner.

Dave's First Word

Dave's first word is "bye." Does this mean we leave him too much? Regardless, it's adorable.

Frugal Time: Long Term Goals

As I mentioned before I have been thinking more and more about priorities. Very simple question here: what the heck are they? I mean, I know in theory they are things like "God," "Luke," "David."

But I feel like somewhere on my list of everyday stuff there has to be room for achieving goals, and not just David or Luke or God related goals (although I will say those do have goals within them, too). I think there has to be room in life for actual accomplishments.

The Bible (which, in case you didn't know and are new here, is my guide book for how to do things) is full of examples of people who have and achieve goals or participate in pursuits both "holy" (example: Solomon building the temple) and pretty average (example: David as a master harpist). I figure if they can do it, so can I.

I also believe that goals can test your faith. As long as what you are doing is not against God in that it is evil or something like that, attempting something that stretches you as a person and as a Christian isn't a good stretch of your faith. God can pull you through all sorts of crazy adventures, from missions work to actual employment.

Back, oh, four years ago an example was given in a sermon of some guy who had some crazy list of goals, all of which he managed to accomplish in his life. I'm not entirely sure anymore what this sermon was about, by the way. Probably something to do with faith.

What's important is that during said sermon I made a list of goals. I should've thought the list through more. If I had done that it would have actual goals on it and not things that are so cool that I would love to do someday but are pretty much never going to happen unless I take a drastic lifestyle change -- like landing in a fighter jet on a aircraft carrier (yes, that is on the list).

Other things on the list:

Learn Spanish

Sky dive

White water raft

Learn Sign Language

Build a Web site

Play a Mozart Sonata

Learn to tap dance

Knit a blanket

Make Thanksgiving dinner

Travel on every continent

Own a car

Embed

Swim competitively

And the list goes on. I wrote it July 3, 2005 and I've only really accomplished four or five or the things on the list.

Maybe I need to make a new list.

When I do that "Complete a Triathlon" will DEFINITELY be on the list. Along with a bunch of other things that have nothing to do with learning Chinese (on the first list and is Never Going to Happen because I suck big time at learning languages).

And this brings me to the real point of this post. (I know, it took me way too long to get here). I am doing a triathlon. Or rather, three triathlons. And I feel crazy. CRAZY. Today as I was swimming I thought "wow, Amy, you really are crazy." See? Like that. But the truth of the matter is that this has been a goal of mine for a long, long time. And I cannot quit now, even though it seems like a super good idea. I cannot quit because this is the whole reason of having goals -- that when it gets hard and not so much fun, you can say "OK, God, I had this goal and now that I have no more strength left, I need you.

Oh snap! That's an analogy to the Christian life. Didn't see that coming, did you?

I competed in and completely my first race Saturday. It was a 5k "down and dirty mud run." That is exactly what it sounds like. Running. And mud. Because you don't believe me, here are some pictures.

Rant: Travel

I'm going to go on a little, fairly pointless, rant now. It will probably make me seem self absorbed, egocentric and inappropriately entitled ... but at least I know it.

The subject of my rant: travel.

Act 1 - The big stall in the bathroom: an open letter

Dear Big Stall Users,

All stalls are empty, but when you go into an airport public restroom you bee-line to the handicap stall. I know why. It's because you have a giant bag that, in a few minutes, you will try to stuff into the overhead bin on the plane before the attendant makes you check it. You know I'm right.

Now, your bags would fit in the smaller stalls, but it would be a tight squeeze and not as comfortable. But while you are inappropriately in the only big stall, which, incidentally, also contains the only baby changing table, there are pretty good odds that there are people waiting for you to leave. People in wheelchairs. People with strollers and babies with very stinky diapers. People with very small periods of time in between right that moment and the time that their plane is going to take off.

Think about this while you are taking for-ev-er. Think about this after you are finished (I know you are) and you are simply taking this time to take everything out of your carry on and put it back in a futile effort to make it fit in that plane compartment. And I'll think about it as I change my baby on the bathroom floor, thanks to you.

Sincerely,

Bitter Mommy

Act 2 -- The Miracle of the iPod and the Day I lost It

I bought my video iPod in 2007. It was good day ... a pricey day, but a good day.

And it was only through a miracle from God that it lasted until now. I am notorious -- NOTORIOUS - for loosing my stuff. But not this.

One time it broke, and Apple replaced it because they rock like that. I bought an indestructable rubber case. And that was my secret.

Last night I lost it in the airport. It's gone. Gone and gone for good, in the hands of someone else with oodles and oodles of Lord knows what on it for their listening pleasure. Enjoy the bands I'm not even willing to admit are on their.

And now I'm out several hundred $$$. :::sad::::

Act 3 -- Baggage Policies: a Second Open Letter

Dear US Airways,

When you delayed my flight last night more than two hours, getting us to Seattle well after midnight local time (and after 3 a.m. D.C. time) I was a little ... tired. Not mad, just tired. And when my baby screamed for a good hour plus of that time, I was still not mad, just tired. Mind you, he would've been fine and gone right to sleep if he had gotten on the plane even an hour later than we should've -- but not two hours. So really the screaming was mostly your fault. But I still wasn't mad.

But when I got up this morning after a mere 5 hours of sleep (your fault) and noticed that my stroller clip was busted and a big hole was torn in my duffle bag I was a little mad.

But the clincher was when I looked at your damaged baggage policy. All claims must be made within four hours of the flight. And at the airport.

Are you kidding me? So I land in the middle of the night with a very upset infant and you expect me to stand there and take stock of everything so I can file a claim then and there? No room for noticing breaks and tares later?

Please make this right.

Sincerely,

Me.

Everyday Savings: Energy Recap and Wow!

So remember when I was all "we're going to see how much money we save by being more careful with our electricity" and "I'll let you know ..." ...

Well! Today is that day.

Last month's bill: $71.95

This month's bill: $44.11

!!

We saved that money by simply turning off our surge protectors (and the stuff plugged into them like the modem) at night, making sure we didnt use lights when we didnt need to and turned off lights when we left the room, unplugged cell phone chargers during the day and lowered the temp on our water heater.

Effortless, really.

And almost $30 richer because of it.

Frugal Time

I have been taking a break from the frugal blogging world as I try to prepare myself for an upcoming year of working from home, at least part time.

It's gotten me thinking about how frugality must be something applied to not just money, but also to time (and everyone said "time is money!"). I must be careful about how I allot and spend my time so that, at the end of the day, I have enough left to get/finish everything I need.

Compared to time frugality, money frugality is a piece of cake.

Just like with money, being frugal with your time comes down to priorities and wants/nice to haves/needs. There are things that I WANT to spend my time doing -- watching endless episodes of Friends and drinking lattes, for example. There are things that are NICE to spend my time on and if I tried really hard I could say "well that's a NEED!" -- like training for my triathlon and staying up with the bargain blogs so I can get the most out of my grocery trips. And there are things that are definite NEEDS, like spending time with God, Luke and David (in that order) and working.

But for some reason managing my time is so much more difficult than managing my money. How I use both reflects what I value most - my personal idols, you might say. I was reading I Kings this morning and came across this verse:

"No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord's sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel. His worst outrage was worshiping idols just as the Amorites had done -- the people whom the Lord had driven out from the land ahead of the Israelites." (I Kings 21:25-26).

Ahab was one bad dude (I was going to say "bada$$ but that didn't seem appropriate, haha). He killed people. He stole stuff. He oppressed the poor. All sorts of things I would say were way, way, WAY worse than ignoring God. .. I mean killing people is bad!

But God considered the idol worship to be THE WORST THING EVER. ... and if I am spending my assets (time and money) to do things that do not put God first I am doing the Exact Same Thing.

Uncool, Amy. Very, very uncool.

And so I have to stop and ask myself, first and foremost, as I organize my life and budget my time -- is God the thing that gets top billing? Is He -- and is His will -- my top priority? Do I consider Him before making major decisions?

My little junket (OK, major junket) back into journalism is going to cost me a major time commitment and is causing me to make some major priority decisions. I have to decide how to care for Dave during this and what (if any) childcare to use. These are hard, hard decisions.

Sigh.

Be a Levite

I've recently joined National Community Church in their From Garden to City plan, reading through the Bible in a year.

I am the first to admit that not all of the Bible is particularly exciting. For example: Leviticus. Whoa are there a lot of details on rashes in that book. But obviously God let them be in the Bible that we read today for a reason, so I try to stay awake as best I can.

Since I jumped on the Garden to City band wagon a bit late I'm still catching up and haven't had the - ahem - joy of reading through Numbers just yet (which they did a few weeks ago ... and by the way, they aren't reading through in order, so don't get confused here). I'm sure that will be thrilling, just as it has been in the past. Not.

Nevertheless I am DETERMINED to get something out of it. So I did a little "get something out of it" boot camp this morning while trudging through the land allotment section of Joshua. Overall Joshua = good reading, what with the crumbling city, harlot rescuing the holy people of God types and tons-o-battles (including one where God full on STOPS THE SUN. Exciting stuff). But the land allotments? Not the highlight for me.

Pastor Heather pointed out via twitter the other day that while she finds the whole "you get this city, and you get this land" bit a snore, it was THE most exciting part to the Israelites. Hello, inheritance time! What's not to love? I figured, hey, if they can get into this, so can I. So I asked God to show me something interesting in aaaaaaaaall the boringness.

And He totally delivered.

Two things -- one I need to investigate further -- jumped out at me. The most significant one, which I'll share with you, was this:

"But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them." (Joshua 13:33)

All this land being handed out and they get ... nothing? Not to say they were sleeping on their cousins' doorsteps or anything -- they were given cities in which to live. But no large tracts of land. Nothing on which to build an in-ground pool. No roads to pave with billboards to sell for advertising. Nada.

Instead their gift, a reward for getting all those people out of the land and sticking with God, was a relationship with God himself.

Now if I was a Levite, I would not be down. It's super hard to watch everyone else get way cool stuff and ... land ... (I'd take that over a Wii) while you get nothing tangible. But the Levites (at least at this point) understood that the privilege of a relationship with God was to be valued over any real estate. It was the thing of highest value in the world.

So I ask myself: do I recognize that truth? Do I value ... stuff ... and the tangibles of the world over a relationship with God? On what do I place priority? And what am I willing to give up to maintain the thing of highest worth?

Be a Levite.

Frugal Fail: Busted Budget

We all know where good intentions lead.

... in this case, to a frugal failure.

It isn't so much that I totally blew our grocery budget, clothes budget, craft budget or any other money restrictions out of the water. It's more that I completely lost track. Hopelessly so.

It happened like this: one day, after the commissary, I did not write down in my Excel ledger how much I spent. The next day, after I shopped somewhere else, I did the same thing.

And so on and so forth, until I realized I was so hopelessly behind that spending time catching up would be worth more in time than any amount of money I've saved at the store.

There's always next month, right?

To make things easier I finally sat down and figured out how to use the Mac version of Excel, Numbers. I am ashamed to admit that it took me, oh, a year, to get around to that and yet it was not hard. Or really any different than Excel. I'm just that much of a procrastinator.

But what this means is that now I can use my mac for both my lists, shopping and account keeping. Previously I'd open the PC, open the Mac and put them beside each other. I'd then open Excel on the PC, the bank account on the Mac and worked it that way. ... but the PC is slow. S-l-o-w. On it's best day. And so this becomes a time consuming process. But who likes to go to the trouble of getting out a second computer?

So now I can do it all on Mr. Mac.*

The other thing that has thrown a catch in my whole budget-bank account-syncing is my trip to D.C. and our upcoming one in two weeks. While the foundation paid for it all, it was more like they are GOING to pay via reimbursement. Meanwhile my credit card bill is looming, waaaaay higher than normal, awaiting that lovely check.

And as for the budget, like I said above, there is always next month for keeping track accurately. I do know that we have been spending less. I do know that we have been saving more. I'm just not clear on how much more or less there is.

*In other news, related only because it is also by Mr. Mac, I discovered that Magic Eraser really IS magic! It gets rid of those ugly, black palm marks my hands leave next to the touch pad. So exciting.

Hiatus

Sorry for my absence from here for the last week.. I'm a bad blogger.

My time in D.C. was WONDERFUL. Whoever said it was going to be hard to be away from David for the first time for that many days was WRONG. It was awesome! I did feel a tiny bit guilty for not feeling particularly guilty on his first birthday, but whatever. He didn't even know it was his birthday anyway.

What I want to D.C. for in the first place (no: it was not only to eat delicious food, although that worked out too) was a complete success. I am a winner of one of this year's part time Phillips Foundation journalism fellowships to study (and eventually write about) the divorce rate in the military and the effort to help military marriages. It's going to be a LOT of work and it's stressing me out big time right now even thinking about fitting that in with my current life. Things are busy as it is ... and now I have a part time (but who are we kidding ... I'm not going to stop at 20 hours a week) job on top of that all? And one that requires I work from home and talk on the phone WITHOUT a baby crying in the background. How to do this with Dave is beyond me.

Fortunately I know God is going to make it all work out. But still. Stressin'.

I'll be posting in the next few days on my most recent frugal fail as well as a triathlon training update (because I know you all care So. Much.) ... that, however, will feature an extremely unflattering photo of me wearing a tri-suit, by far the most unflattering piece of clothing on the planet. Think unitard meets bike shorts. ... not cool, folks. Not cool at all.

But I know you'll come back for it.

I also have words to say regarding my Personal Spiritual Mecca and the amazing things God reminded me of during a Saturday night service at Ebz.

Meanwhile, lentil casserole for dinner. (Potentially) More yummy than you think.

Up in the Air

I haven't written in a week as we've been busy with crazy amounts of birthday party planning, birthday party executing and packing and preparing for my solo trip to D.C.

I am writing to you from the plane.

Delta is a genius. Yes, I like to keep the money spending as low as possible. But I also love the internets. And so here I am, paying for it on the plane. Look how entertained I am! Rad.

This is my first trip without Dave ... ever. His birthday is Thursday and so I am celebrating one year of having a baby by ... not having a baby. If you think about it for a sec I promise it makes sense.

I am headed to D.C. for an interview tomorrow morning for a journalism fellowship which will require me to do a lot of work for a year, starting in September, should I win. I'm not entirely sure I want to win. On the one hand, I love winning. On the other hand, I don't love doing a lot of work. You understand.

Beyond the interview and possible post interview meetings, which should take a minimum of 15 minutes and a max of 3 hours tomorrow, my plans are to enjoy my most favorite place in the world until Sunday. This includes a few runs (with the goal of working up to 7.5 miles by the end of the week) possible swim in my favorite un-favorite pool (I just spent 1/2 hour trying to find a column I wrote about this for a D.C. weekly but can't, so tough for you. It's funny, though), sitting in Ebs journaling and reading my Bible, attending church Saturday, eating food that is not healthy with people who I love, spending time with those same people and maybe getting a few more hours of sleep than I normally do.

.... And I am hoping to find God during this trip more than I have in a long time. I let myself get so busy, so distracted. But D.C. is like my mecca, my place of spiritual enlightenment. So much growth happened there before. I want to see it happen again.

Everyday Savings: Coupons!

A year ago February, while Luke was out playing Army for a month (OK he calls it "training") I stumbled one day upon the Web site of a friend's sister ... and the wonderful world of couponing. At the time I had very little interest in coupons or money savings at all.

Sure, I liked getting things on sale (who doesn't?) I enjoyed having extra cash in my pocket (again, who doesn't?) but ... going to the trouble of plotting my shopping like it was some sort of war against prices?

But all of that has changed. Simply put -- I love coupons. I love them for all of the money they save me and the wonderful, stick-it-to-the-man feeling that I get when I get products I need (or, let's be honest, want) for next to free or much less than the store is trying to trick me into paying.

I am far from a coupon expert, but in the last year I have developed a system that works for me and figured out how to get the most for my buck and time.

To make this as straight forward as possible, I'm going to take a question and answer approach.

Q: Where do you get your coupons?

A: Three places. First, the Sunday paper. I find my subscription is more than paid for by the amount I save with the coupons that are in it. Second, online. Using a list of blogs I subscribe to on my google reader (which I'll list below) I keep track of any new coupons that are available via sites like coupons.com, facebook or manufacturer's sites and consumer clubs. Third, in the mail. Using those same sites I sign up for product freebies and samples which often come with high value coupons or direct mail coupon booklets, which also have high valued coupons I would never find in the paper. As a bonus getting these only costs the time it takes me to type in my address on an internet form.

Another great facet of the blogs is that they do a lot of my work for me. These blogs post hot food deals based on coupons that have come out in the last several weeks matched to sales. For example, each week a list of really cheap items is posted at Safeway. If you still have the coupon on hand and a Safeway near by, you can scoot on over there and score four boxes of cake mix for $.50 like I did several months ago.

Q: What are those blogs?

A: My favorites are listed on the right side of this page. Here they are again with some details on why:

-- Abundant Food Savings. This is an awesome blog of primarily food related coupons, sales tips, and coupon to sales match ups.

-- Money Saving Mom and Mommies with Cents. These are similar blogs with slightly different coupon match ups and freebie alerts. I like them both.

-- Freebies 4 Mom. This is a fantastic run down of all the mail freebies out there. I rely on this blog to point me to places to sign up for all those fabulous free samples I receive.

-- Frugal Living Northwest. This is the blog that started it all for me but not necessarily the best for everyone to follow. Many of their deals are region specific (they are based in Oregon) and these ladies are VERY ambitious. Talk about inspiration. They know how to land the free goods at Walgreens through couponing that can only be described as vicious. The problem with this is that it takes very careful planning, incredible organization, regularly standing up to sales clerks who don't understand how coupons or their store's coupon system works and want to make your life as difficult as possible and being willing to say "no," and walk away from all that stuff you just spent tons of time collecting because some manager isn't going to give you the deal the ladies of that blog said would work. .... Not always my cup of tea. But it's fun every now and then.

Q. So I'm getting the paper like you said ... now what? Should I cut them all out? Should I cut out only the ones I'm going to use?

A. Pick your poison. After several months of cutting out every single coupon just in case I came upon a sale making makeup I have no intention of ever wearing free, I got tired of the giant pile of coupons and cut back (... pun intended). Now I only clip the coupons I either know I will use (example: coupon for the yougurt I eat for breakfast), will likely use (example: laundry detergent. I'm not picky ... I buy the one that is the cheapest. Keeping all laundry detergent coupons means I can make that happen) or would make it work if on sale (example: hillshire farms sausage. I dont regularly make meals with sausage, but if it's on sale for $2.00 a package and a I have a $1.00 coupon, I will FIND sausage recipes and we will eat sausage Every. Single. Day. for as long as it takes to get rid of it. Plus, sausage is delicious).

Q. Ok. Now I have a giant pile of coupons. Do you organize them at all?

A. Ummm.... confession. No. I mean, I have intentions of organizing them and I have a system of organizing them, but it never happens. They remain in a giant pile which I sift through once a week looking for the ones I need or could use at the store. Confession photo evidence:

Notice underneath that pile is a filing system of envelopes labeled by type. It is kept in this nice little plastic box with my giant pile on top of it. Also in this box: David's ultrasound photos. I don't know why.

But you SHOULD organize them. It would make my life easier if they were separated into categorizes. How about you come over and organize them for me?

Q. Do you base your shopping list off your coupons?

A. Yes. Very, very yes. Doing this takes being willing to change what brand you use based on what coupons you have. There are some things I am brand loyal to. (Example: wheat thins). There are some things that I prefer to be brand loyal to but will get the cheaper thing any (Example: salsa). And there are some things I just don't care about. (Example: flour. Seriously. Who cares?). I'm not going to buy some sub-par cracker just because I have a coupon. I will, however, buy El Paso salsa instead of Picante. It's not as delicious, but I'll do it

I also take into account the weekly sales using those Web sites I linked earlier. My meals for the week depend on what major (or minor ingredients ... if black beans are on sale, count me in!) ingredients are on sale that week.

Q. You mentioned something in your last post about working the checker. What's up with that?

A. Some checkers are mean. Some checkers are mean AND old. Some checkers are just not very smart and don't know their company's coupon policy. Some don't understand that by using a coupon you are not committing a crime. And that you are allowed to use as many coupons as you want.

My advice in the checker realm is as follows:

-- Know your own coupons. Make sure you have the rights ones out and that you hand them to the checker before they start scanning your stuff. This way if they are extra mean, old or stupid (or all three!) they can look through them and question you before hand.

-- Defend your coupons. You are allowed to use coupons -- both those from the paper and those printed from the computer. And as long as they haven't expired and you are buying the correct product, there is no reason you shouldn't. If the checker insists that you can't use a coupon, ask to speak to the manager. Seriously. Stick up for coupon users everywhere!

-- Defend your price. If you are using a coupon on something and it is on sale, chances are you have already figured out how much it should cost. Pay attention and if it doesn't ring up right, say something. And if the checker wants to fight about it, ask for the manager. Seriously.

-- Pick a nice checker to start with. After a few times using a big stack of coupons at a particular store, you are going to become familiar with the people who work there. Pick one that is not mean, mean and old or not very smart. Pick a nice one. You'll be happier.

And those are my tips. Did I miss anything?

Everyday Savings: Have a Plan

The most important way we save money each week is through planning before hitting the grocery store. Without this I would simply wander through the store, pick a few things that look like we would use them for dinner, spend way more than I need to and then go back again several more times during the week because of all the things I forgot It'd be crazy! And expensive.

Instead I follow this careful planning process.

On Sunday afternoon I go through our local paper for coupons, cutting out the ones that I think I may possibly use. Even if it's something I might buy but don't normally buy, I keep it ... if I find the item on a really good sale I WILL buy it and make it work in a upcoming meal.

Next I look over the sales list on commissaries.com. Since we are military we shop at the commissary. Instead of having weekly ads, they run two-week sales and post all sales items, the price and percentage off on that Web site. Largely based on that list and any coupons I have that match up to make things even cheaper, I decide what we will eat the upcoming week. For example, this week Zatarains rice is on sale as is Hillshire smoked sausage. Since I had a coupon for both I found a recipe for jambalaya.

I don't plan lunches (Luke takes a sandwich to work and I eat some fruit, hummus and wheat thins and maybe cheese each day) or breakfast (I eat yogurt every day and Luke sometimes eats cereal which I stock up on when it's on sale) so I only have to worry about dinner.

If what Im cooking with isn't based on that list it is based off coupons or what is in my pantry or freezer. Another example: blocks of cheese were on sale a few weeks ago, plus I had some great coupons. I bought about 10 or 12 blocks and put them in the freezer so we are well set in that area. I also had a coupon for hormel pepperonis ... and thus we are eating homemade calzones! Delicious. Last week I had $32 in coupons. That's $32 more I would've spent whether that day or another day on this we need for our home and meals.

Now bring on the list. I could be far more organized about this step, putting things into narrow categories. Instead I break it down into "dry," "meat," "dairy," and "veggies." The problem with this method is that it lumps an incredibly large number of things in "dry" in no particular order so they are easy to overlook. But let's not dwell on that, OK?

My list consists of things we need for the week (including cleaning supplies and hygiene products) and things that are on a great sale but we will use in a future week. I've learned recently the dangers of stocking up TOO much, but there are some things I know we use regularly enough to buy multiples of when on discount. Examples: cereal, black beans and cheese.

In the store itself I start at the one end and go to the other, using a pen to cross things off my list (so I don't forget anything).

Towards the end, before I hit the checkout, I go through my coupons to make sure I have the ones I plan to use separated out and ready to give to the checker.

The art of the coupon is a story for another post, but let me just say here as far as in the store is concerned -- Know Thy Checker. I don't care if it's the next one available -- let someone else deal with the Crazy Mean Coupon Checkers. Pick one that looks nice, young and like they don't care and regardless always hand them the coupons first. This will save you the trouble of dealing with someone who insists on going back through your groceries to find the 6 yogurts required for the $1 off 6 coupon. It is absolutely beyond me why some of these checkers care SO MUCH about your coupons. The coupon means the manufacturer is giving money back to the store for giving me a discount ... meaning there's no skin off the store's nose for giving me money off. And I KNOW they saw a bunch of yogurts go by because they JUST SCANNED THEM ... what gives?!

But like I said -- a discussions for later. And believe me, I will discuss it. You can count on it.

Training Update

We've had some (off and on) beautiful weather, or just beautiful enough to allow me to run outside with Dave on an almost daily basis. I've been working up my mileage and am up to 5.5 and totally feeling like I can do more. Considering that it wasn't that low ago that I wasn't sure I could even WALK after a two mile run, this is pretty great.

Today I did a brick, biking 5.5 miles and then running just under four immediately after. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. This is fortunate as in the race I have to ride 14 and then four. Scary.

... did I mention that I am absolutely exhausted now? So much so that I can't even form the words to write about how I put together my grocery list. I guess I'll do that tomorrow.

Birthday Planning Aholics

Dave's birthday party is one week from today. Against the advice of the lovely Alisha (who thinks I should hold everyone is suspense regarding our plans and general craftiness surrounding the day), here is the run down of all the little things we are doing/making for the party. ... so you can see just how crazy this has gotten:

First, this is the happy birthday sign Alisha and I made.

We also made a sign for his high chair yesterday, but it's in the car and Luke took the car so I can't take a photo of it.

Here is the super cool party hat, modeled by a very wiggly David. I need to add some elastic to keep it on his head.

Next, I made this bib for when he eats cake.

We've also been working on the food list ... Alisha will be making him a gorgeous cake, so that's taken care of. The rest of the food ...

-- Chocolate covered bananas!

-- Veggie tray/ dip

-- Meat and cheese tray (made by me because buying one is waaaaaay pricey, unlike the veggie tray which Ill be buying from Costc0)

-- Punch

-- Monkey mochas (made by me ... basically a coconut/chocolate latte)

-- Some other sort of snacky/salty thing. Chex mix? Pretzels? Unclear.

-- Paper products from the dollar store

Now I know you are asking "Ms. Budget lady -- what about your budget???" ... well, we DO have a budget for the party. So far I am under it, and the above food should be around $30. Our budget for the shindig is $100 (you only turn 1 once!).

So, stay tuned (next Saturday!) for the party details and photos and ... fun. All sorts of fun.

Frugal Fail: the dinner version

In the land of envelope living where there's a set budget each week for eating out, we try to stretch our little dollars in every way possible. We LOVE eating out and so it's really important to make sure we get to do it as much as possible.

To do this we frequent Restaurant.com and their monthly 80 percent off sales. We are able to buy $25 off coupons for local restaurants for $2. Every now and then I buy 10 or 12 of these for different places (and always via ebates.com for money back) -- some we've tried and some we've not -- and put them in the car. When we're out and feel like going to dinner, we have them on hand.

Today was one of those days.

We decided to try a new restaurant in Tacoma for which we bought a certificate several months ago -- El Guadalajara. Sounded nice enough and with a minimum purchase requirement of $35 (which I doubted we would exceed) and a $25 certificate we would have ourselves a cheap and delicious meal.

We wandered around in the car for a while burning gas -- but no worries! We were in for a cheap meal. We finally found the place, parked, got a (very excited and hungry) Dave out of the car and walked up ....

And it was closed. Not just closed but empty and completely and totally gone.

Sigh.

So we put a (very unhappy and hungry) Dave back in the car and drove to another certificate location -- Joseppis. It was delicious, but it was more expensive (it has a $50 minimum instead of $35).

And so here is some frugal math for you to determine whether or not we broke even:

Buying certificate for cheap meal: +1

Driving around looking for the place: -1

Finding place closed and wasting money on certificate: -1

Eating delicious italian food instead: +1

Spending more money than planned: -1

Total: -1 = frugal fail.

Meh.

(meanwhile I'm trying to contact the web site and get my money back)

Everyday Savings: The Electric Bill Challenge

I have a terrible habit: I hate turning off lights.

It isn't that I like having the lights on, either -- it's that I don't like going to the trouble of hitting the switch. I'm just that lazy.

Laziness, at least in this circumstance, costs money.

And so my personal challenge for the month of April is dropping our electric bill drastically. I chose to wait until this month so that I would have a full month of drying cloth diapers reflected before I worked to lower things. And wow did that make a difference ... our dryer/washer (apartment owned) is not energy efficient. It just SUCKS MONEY.

Unfortunately stupid power company did not get my comparison memo and they have decided to raise the rates this month. So to do this for you I'm going to have to do MATH. ... MATH! for you. That's how much I love you.

Since we can't avoid using our dryer every other day for diapers (since that in itself is cost cutting), I'm going to have to find other ways to do this. Examples:

-- Turning off our surge protectors (and everything plugged into them) at night. We don't need our modem and wireless on while we're sleeping, let's be honest.

-- Unplugging our cell phone chargers during the day ... no reason to suck power when they aren't charging anything

-- Turning off the computer when not in use

-- Turning off lights when we leave the house or a room. We live in a small apartment so I don't bother turning them off each time I go out of the room ... and when I'm about to go out the door with my hands full of David and three million other things and I notice that I left I light on ... it stays on. We are going to change that.

-- Running the dishwasher less. I frequently run it just to clean bottles and nothing else. There's no reason I can't take five minutes to wash them by hand.

-- Washing clothes less. I typically do loads of clothing laundry, wearing the same shirts and jeans over and over again just because those are the ones I like best. It's not like I don't have any others. I've decided to abide by a clothes/towels/sheets cleaning schedule with the hopes that it will cut down on the number of partial loads (and thus loads total) I do each week.

We'll let you know how it goes.

The Take

We returned from Ohio Tuesday mid-day ... and I say mid-day meaning mid-the-longest-day-ever.

That trip is just BRUTAL. To start with, his parents live a solid 1.5 hours from the airport. Add that to gaining three hours on the way home and the fact that our flight is always at o'dark thirty (in this instance -- 7:15 a.m.) and you get one very, very long day.

Now I'm catching back up on life.

One of the joys of coming home is getting several days of mail at once. I LOVE that! And Tuesday's take did not disappoint. Check out all the free stuff that came while I was gone! And note that this photo is missing a full sized bottle of panteen that was waiting at the leasing office when I took the picture. There are also several high valued coupons pictured here that resulted in free stuff from the grocery store ...

So far this is our stockpile of mailed freebies ... minus the things that I've used.

Yesterday I took my giant pile of free stuff and high value coupons to the commissary. My lofty goal was having $40 in coupons. I missed it, but not by a ton: the final tally was $31.43. Had I used all of my free stuff coupons I would've made it, but they didn't have the exact product I wanted so I decided to save it for later.

Here's the free stuff I ended up with yesterday ... not pictured is a bottle of vitamin water I drank on the way home:

You know how much I looooove saving money. Love, love, love, love, love.

Everyday Savings: Just Say "No."

It's a new month! It's a new day! It's a new blog post series!

(Lucky you).

(And fine, it's a mostly new month ... I've been out of town. Give me a break).

This month I'm going to focus now and then on how I've been accomplishing every day savings in my home. Hopefully this will give you some good ideas ... or make you think "wow you're a moron I can't believe you didn't think of that before now." Let's just not share that little tidbit with me when it happens, mmmk?

I started thinking about this series in early March, gathering ideas for this. As I took stock of all the little things I've started doing and learning the number one thing that has helped me save money is this: saying "no" to stuff I don't need.

I know, that's mind blowing.

But stick with me here. Think about how many times you are walking through the grocery store and buy that bag of cookies because you are hungry and it looks delicious and hey, it's only $2 and on sale.

Just say "no," folks. Just. Say. No.

Think about how many times you wandered into that mall store *cough* ann taylor *cough* and fingered through the clearence items ... and ended up walking out with that $15 super cute sweater that was $75 to start with! and on sale.

I hate to break it to you -- but even if you get it on sale, but you actually don't need it -- it's just money spent and money wasted on something unnecessary and, frequently, unbudgeted.

I'm not saying there is no room in life for the simple pleasures of a gallon of delicious ice cream (which made its way home from the commissary in my bag). But it should be planned. It's the impulsiveness that gets you in trouble. Just say "no."

Coming soon: actual practical tips with evidence ... or something of that nature.

The Stomach Virus Diet

Since writing last week I have:

-- Contracted Dave's stomach bug

-- Got Luke back from D.C.

-- Ran 4 miles

-- Worked on Dave's birthday hat

-- Went on a Daveless date with Luke

-- Contracted someone else's stomach bug

-- Shared it with Luke

-- Recovered

-- Swam 2 miles

-- Worked on hat some more

And that pretty much covers it. When the hat is done I'll post a little tutorial as long as you PROMISE to prefect the process if you do it yourself. And by "you" I mean "the readers I assume I have" since SO FEW OF YOU EVER COMMENT.

Ahem.

~~~~~~~~~~

Having a stomach virus is an excellent way to loose weight -- but I'm not sure it has a lot of staying power. After one week and two diseases I now weigh less than I have in YEARS. ... now if it would only stick. Sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

New favorite Gilmore Girl quote:

"I thought it was 'Cafe O'Le!' as in 'Coffee -- ALRIGHT!'"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We leave for Ohio on Thursday for a little Easter vacation. I am excited to announce that it is actually going to be WARM while we're there! An excellent improvement to what it was this past weekend ... SNOWING. Not cool.

Back here in Washington State land it has been absolutely pouring rain. I know, I know "but it always rains there." And that is true -- however not like this. It blew. It poured and poured and poured. And then it stopped and got sunny and I thought "hmm ... let's go on a run!" ... but then I undecided and THANK GOODNESS because it quickly got VERY cloudy again and started pouring more than before. I'm going to need a kayak just to get to the grocery store. ... oh! And I'll carry Dave in a papoose! So convenient.

Rescue Me!

Dave has a stomach flu. It's a gorgeous 70 degrees outside. Someone, please, rescue me!

Since no one heard my silent plea, we spent the day primarily trapped inside with Sicky McSickerton. Praise GOD I have yet to get what he has because that would absolutely suck. I mean, being stuck with him like this is torture enough.

And he is SO SAD. Where is my happy, smiley baby? He left and got replaced by a sullen, crying one who just wants to snuggle (and that is the only plus here. I love snuggling! So, bonus for me) and can't eat food (I guess we are saving money ... hm ... yeah, not worth it).

So, while Dave took five (rather short) naps, I played with my sewing machine. It's amazing the effect sleep can have on your ability to figure out confusing conundrums involving things falling off and I was able to fix it this morning within two minutes of sitting down. Awesome.

So I tackled the rest of the baby wipes (read: things on which to practice straight stitching) and took on a burp cloth. Finished one without toooo much drama (yeah I only wound one bobbin and then had to PULL THE ENTIRE THING APART because it didn't wind right. But I'm cool with wasting stuff and spending money unnecessarily, right? Bah) and started on the next one.

And that, my friends, is where it ended. Because, like a moron, I didn't know that you aren't supposed to sew over pins. And I did. And the needle broke.

Darn it.

After escaping for a tiny bit to the on post thrift store with the lovely Alisha (I have a story to tell about her in a second that I forgot to tell before but seriously ... hilarious) to get some air ... I decided it would be good for air, thrift stores of course not having any sort of weird smell and being sparkling clean All The Time ... we logged more time Trapped Inside and then headed to Joanns for new needles.

I am now on a first name basis with every single helper person in that store. That is how much helped I needed.

I couldn't figure out where ANYTHING was ... needles, chalk, glue gun, whatever. It was terrible. And then .. and this is the clincher, folks ... I caught myself TALKING OUT LOUD to MYSELF about FABRIC choices when I realized that is exactly what my mother does. And so I said out loud "holy crap I am becoming my mother" (out loud seemed appropriate all things considered).

Not cool. Not cool at all.

My mother, of course, is a perfectly awesome person who is very crafty and made my wedding dress in like two days ... but NO ONE wants to become their mother. Especially when it involves picking up the weird talking-to-yourself-while-shopping-at-craft-stores habit. THAT is just TOO MUCH.

I did end up buying supplies to make Dave the CUTEST first birthday hat ever (inspired by something like this ... except mine will not have chenille because that stuff is PRICEY) and a bib to go with it. It's going to be awesome. And leave ... oh ... about $20 for me to buy food for the party. So we'll be eating light. But Dave is going to look AWESOME.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, the very crafty Alisha (who is in the process of refinishing a $1.50 chair found at the thrift store today. ... keep an eye on her blog for updates because it's going to be awesome). I promised her I was going to post this because it was THAT funny.

I picked her up from the airport Saturday (after rescuing my Mac from yet ANOTHER trip to the Mac Doctor and eating a so-so subway sandwich) and on our way home she informed that on the plane she had sat next to someone who was very likely a terrorist.

Her basis for this assessment? A combination of slight racial profiling, arm rest hogging, incredibly bad body odor and -- wait for it -- the wearing of a fanny pack.

And there you have it, folks. Fanny pack = suspicious person. Make a note.

(I love you, Alisha).

Taking on the Sewing Machine

I bought the machine. I checked out "Sewing for Dummies" from the library. I visited the fabric store. I decided that I should sew some reusable baby wipes and some decorative burp cloths.

And then I started.

And it was beautiful and fun ... I read the instructional manuel and practiced sewing straight stitches on the wipes and it was great! But then, suddenly and without any apparent reason, the thingy that holds the foot on the machine FELL OFF -- right in the middle of the stitch! And so help me, but I canNOT figure out how to get it back on.

So we'll get someone to help me with it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here are some photos of my decorative burp cloths ... there are six in all with three separate prints.

Crafty

I've been feeling crafty. As in sewing crafty.

I think it's a problem created by a combination of things. First of all, I've been watching a LOT of Gilmore Girls. And the illustrious Lorelai sews all of the time. She makes awesome, crafty stuff all of the time and every lives happily ever after. It's WONDERFUL.

The second part of this is my increasing frugality. Every frugal super hero uses a sewing machine to make wonderful, low cost gifts and things for their home, right -- right?!

That's what I thought.

And so tomorrow I am planning on buying a sewing machine. I know, I know -- you didn't know I know how to sew. Well, I do. I used to sew a lot Back In the (13-year-old) Day, but I never really had the patience for it.

My shiny new toy has been in use for several years by an old lady who bought it 0n the Air Force Base for the purpose of making quilts. I more than likely will NOT be making quilts.

What I DO hope to make are super hero capes for Dave, decorative burp clothes for friends with new babies, curtains for our next house ... sounds easy enough, doesn't it?

We'll see about that.

Flip: Cloth Part IV

Seeing him is a total bonus to reading my blog.

We got our first Flip diaper in the mail Saturday and tried it as soon as we prewashed the insert several times to make sure it does what it's supposed to do.

You'll recall that this is the diaper that I'm hoping to use full time. But of course we want to test drive it first.

I'm happy to report that we've yet to experience any trouble with it as yet. We are to receive more inserts for it today, so starting tomorrow we'll use it full time! We'll see how that goes.

Flip pros (thus far): It's snaps. Velcro can wear out, but the snaps aren't likely to tear.

Unlike some of the other diapers I've tried, it's trim. This was my main complaint about the pre-folds -- bulkiness! This doesn't seem to be a problem with this one.

It is supposed to grow with the baby. After I've collected a pile of these I'll never have to buy any again. Score!

It doesn't seem to be gapping in the leg. I don't like gapping.

Flip cons: The insert moves. Because it fits under these handy little flaps (which make changing a breeze) but doesnt snap to anything it can move during changing, especially with a kid as squirmy as Dave. I suspect this is just going to take practice and will be fine later, but you never know.

It has been a full week since we started on this clothing diapering journey and I have learned a few things and been surprised by a few things.

First and foremost surprise: I actually like pre-folds equally or more than any of the other diapers. I haven't gotten one on Dave yet when he's being REALLY wiggly, but other than that they are just as great others. And cheaper.

I do NOT like the gro-baby diapers. They leak. I thought for sure this would be my favorite type, but just kidding, it's not.

I don't really have pros or cons about the fuzzi bunz or the bum genius diapers. Someone pointed out to me yesterday that you really are only supposed to use a cover one time (which makes the whole thing even stupider ... why would you use something you have to have a bajillion covers for? What's the point of it having an insert if you cant use the cover for several changes? dumb). So that's a con but other than that: whatever.

Now we have a new question: to use disposable or reusable wipes? We'll discuss later.

Laundry: Cloth Part III

We've been on cloth diapers for four days now, and I think it's safe to say that I'm sold.

That being said, the last few bloggless days have not been without their challenges and important cloth diaper lessons. Lessons like, guess what? The gro-baby diapers that I thought were so super cool are not so great on Dave and leak all over his pants. Same story with the thirsties fitted diaper. Therefore today we had TWO clothing changes and ended up with this outfit. Isn't he cute? At least that never changes.

(Note the Ohio University socks. They won today in a super cool at the buzzer basket incident which incited incredibly loud shouting and stomping and jumping and clapping. Dave and I were not involved in the jumping, etc. but were excited for the jumper nonetheless).

All of this wetting obviously means that we have been doing a lot of laundry. While the super fun diaper trial pack we got has a good selection, it does not have enough diapers for more than one day. We've been doing diaper laundry every night as a result.

You'll recall that laundry was one of my primary concerns about this adventure. Do diapers really get clean in the wash? What about BEFORE they get washed ... do they smell really bad? And how about this nasty washer/dryer I have? Is it really going to work?

Answer: so far, so good.

To start with, I've been storing Dave's dirty diapers in a trash can purchased at Target for about $4. I planned to sew my own liners (using Alisha's sewing machine ... yes, I CAN sew, and I know the thought of me doing it is shocking. But how hard can making a laundry sack be? Not hard. I think. Who knows). Instead Luke dug out several Army issue laundry bags that we have to have but he never uses. Add an air freshener (.99 for two at the commissary) as recommended by a few bloggers, a shake of baking soda and we're set. So far this has been keeping the smell down.

Night one of washing the diapers I started (as recommended here) with a cold prewash, followed by a downy ball of vinegar in a hot, normal wash. That worked great ... except that at some point during the next day I remembered that I had failed to put in any soap whatsoever. Interesting, since the diapers smelled just fine after they were dried and before I realized the lack of soap. Oh well!

Don't worry, I remembered the soap the next night. I don't have any of the recommended normal Tide powder soap on hand (I'll be buying some Monday during my weekly grocery trip) so I've been using the All free and clear (which is NOT recommended and apparently is not as "free and clear" as it claims. Sneaky!).

Bottom line thus far: cloth diapers are no more or less gross (in smell or care) than disposable diapers and still cost waaaaaaay less. The every-other-day load of laundry is not that big of a deal. We still have disposables on hand for things like Luke's trip to Portland tomorrow to visit with my Mom and Dave in the airport during her layover (I'm not going thanks to lingering discomfort from Wednesday's super cool surgery).

And, bonus!, Luvs are on sale at the commissary this week (plus I have a coupon!), so we'll be stocking up on the next size up.

Carpet Mover

We'll return to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow (Oh wait, we don't have that here. Never mind), but for now check out how Dave feels like it's super fun to move our throw rugs around. I guess low crawling on your stomach means that you end up ... underneath stuff.

Confusing. But here's the evidence:

The Adventure Continues: Cloth Part II

Day one of cloth diapering is behind us. There were highs. There were lows. There was the first cloth diaper poop incident. There was one cute baby.

The day started out with me determined to conquer the pre-fold system. So help me! To start with I tri-folded a pre fold and stuck it in the thirsties cover. That's easy enough.

... but REALLY bulky. I'm not sure you can appreciate the bulk from these photos, but at least enjoy the happy baby, ok?

I ended up putting him into a onesie suite with baby legs for the day so I didn't have to worry about putting pants on him. ... because it was THAT bulky! I honestly dont think most of his pants would've gone over it. Crazy.

Enjoy the cute baby some more ...

Meanwhile, we waited for the next diaper change. I have never been so anxious to change diapers before. That's some sort of crazy.

The bulkiness, for the record, did not seem to inhibit his movements or bother him in any way, shape or form. But the fact that we would have to buy him new pants to be able to have him wear these like this makes them a complete no-go in my book. He has too many pants as it is. For serious.

Several hours later, we were on to diaper change number two. I set up the pre-fold so that I could put it on him with the snappi. He was in a non-wiggly mood again which NEVER happens, and so I managed to get this on him like so:

... while this method didn't result in any leaking or other uncool craziness, I didn't like the way it gapped on his leg. I mean, if some sort of crazy messiness was going to happen, I am CERTAIN it would not stay in there. And you do NOT want to be involved in cleaning that up, do you? I don't.

But there IS a good side to doing it this way ... no bulk! Hopefully you can see that in this photo, compared to the one above. And look? Dave was still happy!

Unfortunately all of this was about to change. The next diaper change, when I was going to conquer the pre-fold AGAIN, presented us with a wiggling, crying, tired Baby Dave who was NOT interested in being strapped into a piece of cloth. And so we ended up with the following ...

That would be Dave, crying. Conclusion: pre folds are not for people who have wiggly children or those with tight pants.

I decided to try the bum genius instead. It looks good, seems to wear well and has had no leaks. Also a LOT less bulky.

What I do not like about this is that you have to stuff the insert underneath a piece of fabric in the diaper cover. When it's time to change the baby you replace the insert and use the cover again. Does that seem gross to anyone else? The piece of fabric the insert goes under is dirty ... or is it? Unclear. Still seems gross to me.

(I know what you're thinking: grosser than washing diapers full of pee in your washing machine? ... well I don't know. That's what this experiment is all about).

A three hour nap later ... we did not get a chance to see what happens when you put a new insert in an "old" cover because it was in this particular selection that he decided to be poopy. (This is the moment you've all been waiting for). Now that I've dealt with our first poopy cloth diaper I can say -- it wasn't that bad. Of course it's not like he exploded or anything but still ... this is life, and it wasn't as disgusting as I feared. Lucky you, no pictures.

Instead we'll move on. .. to Fuzi Bunz! Which appear to be basically the same thing as the Bum Genius. So here's a photo of that (it's not very good but he wouldn't sit still so this is what you get).

Our next change will be for night time and we'll be using a disposable (given aforementioned nighttime challenges).

Also, I went ahead and ordered a few packs of Flips from Diapers.com ... they will arrive sometime next week. Flips, which were not included in our sample pack, are similar to the gro-baby diapers, but don't have a snap insert. I have a friend who uses them and LOVES them. So far the gro-babies are my favorites, but the Flips are cheaper.

And that is Cloth Diapering Part II. I'll be washing tonight (under normal circumstances I plan to wash every two days). We won't be using cloth tomorrow because we'll be out all day and Dave will be with a friend.