Just Gabbing

I have spent the last half hour or so looking through my blog archives. That is an interesting endeavor. I realize how much I have really been slacking during this pregnancy! I know that there is a season for everything, but I hope and pray that I am able to overcome my tendency for laziness after this baby is born! That is something that I will really have to work on.

Even though I am not running at anything near full force, I thought that I would post what we did today and what I have on my list for tomorrow.

Today
went to church services
fixed lunch (leftover pork chops, cornbread stuffing, sweet potatoes)
walked in the Halloween parade at a neighboring town with our taekwondo school
Home to REST
Trick or Treating to Grandma's, Great Grandma's, Aunt Marge's and Uncle Buck's. Norman will take them into town on Wednesday night for the big event.
Reading blogs and email

Tomorrow
up/showered/dressed
pay bills
fix lunch (don't have any idea what)
work on laundry (mom may do it for me, but I will still need to put it away)
change sheets on my bed so I come home to clean sheets
double check baby's bag and my bag
help the boys pack their bags to stay at friend's house

I think that is it. I am hoping to be in bed early Monday evening cause we have to be at the hospital by 5:45 a.m. so we will be getting up very early (probably 4 a.m. for me). I have no idea why I need to be there so early......I wonder if there are even doctor's or office staff there that early??? Oh well, I am hoping that maybe after they hook me up to everything that I can go back to sleep for at least a little while.

All of your prayers are appreciated. I will post when we get home!
Blessings,
Carie

Teach Magazine Reviews

I have been asked about how I got started doing reviews for Teach Magazine. I answered an ad on an email group I was a part of several years ago. Not very helpful for the rest of you, since I am no longer a part of that group......I don't even know if it exists anymore, I just didn't have time to participate anymore. I would assume that you could contact someone from their website (see sidebar for correct link) and submit an application from there if they are looking for new reviewers.

Baby update

******Sing along to the tune of We are Going To the Chapel******

We are going to the hospital and we're gonna have a baby.......We're going to the hospital and we're gonna have a baaaabbyyyy........

Anyway, sorry, I have been wanting to do that for 9 months so I decided that now was as good a time as any :) My doctor's appt. went well. Little guy looked fabulous on the ultrasound. He weighs 7lbs 5 ozs. My amniotic fluid went from 28 (something - I don't know the unit of measurement) to 32. My doctor says that's still ok.....but regardless, with too much fluid and a bigger baby there isn't any room in there for him to grow. So I am scheduled for an induction at 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday Oct. 30. I was 50% effaced and dialated to 1.5 centimeters so I could go before then.....but that is d-day if I don't.

I know that I should be frantically nesting, but I am not. I am tired and I am resting. We have a busy weekend and fall has hit with a vengence here, so all I really want to do it huddle under the covers and drink cocoa.....so that's probably what I am going to do.

I will probably be online some this weekend, and I will need to post my Walgreens deals tomorrow. Rest assured that I will post baby's birth announcement as soon as we get home. I appreciate all the prayers that have been answered even before I got pregnant this time. All of my blogland friends are very, very precious to me.

With that said, I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!
Blessings,
Carie

Supplemental Income

As a stay-at-home wife and homeschooling mother, I am always on the lookout for ways to supplement my husband's income. Most of the time the money that I make is used for "extras", ie. dinners out, treats for the kids or me, or gifts for dh. Crystal at Money Saving Moms has encouraged us to post about the things that we do, or have done in the past, to earn some money from home.

Here are my ideas:
babysitting

ebay (I tend to sell school books and the money goes back into the school fund)

handmade knitted items (For a while I was selling knitted shawls on a group that I was a part of. I am no longer part of that group, however they could be easily sold on ebay if I had the extra time to knit right now! I also do specialty knitting for family and friends. Word of mouth is a great way to get this started!)

cleaning homes (I will admit that I don't do this. I can barely keep up with my own house. I have a friend that does this and is able to make money to help her family financially. If you clean offices - like a family member of mine - you can do that late at night when your dh is home to care for the kids. Like I said, I don't do this, but it is an option for those of you who are cleaners!)

product reviews (I do homeschool product reviews for TEACH magazine. I don't get paid, persay, but I do receive for free the item that they would like for me to review. After the review is completed I am free to resell that item if I wish. Most of the stuff I keep, because I really like them, but it is an option and a wonderful way to try out all that great new stuff out there!)

That is all for now. I hope that this might encourage some of you to think outside the box in terms of supplemental income.

Fall

I am soooo enjoying fall this year. My body temp is all messed up with this baby and I am HOT all the time! So the cooler weather has been a relief for me.....while most people are in jackets, I am in shirt-sleeves!

Yesterday I finished working on the baby bib. It is really cute. My grandma made the baby blanket. It is really cute.

We are going to another cook-out tonight. This one is local so we won't have to drive far. And it is mostly people that I only see once or twice a year. So that should be fun.

Laundry is on the line........fleece sheets are on the bed - they are so soft!

Baby has his little butt up against my rib cage. I have to sit almost straight up to keep from being uncomfortable....there isn't any room to lean over at all. I guess that maybe my posture will improve. LOL

All in all, things are good here. We are just waiting in anticipation for baby's arrival. We can't wait to hold him and kiss him and love him :)

Have a good weekend!
Blessings,
Carie

Walgreens Savings This Week

I did this transaction on Monday but laziness struck and I apologize for not posting it sooner. Due to faulty technology on my end I can't post pictures so I will itemize what I purchased. It wasn't the best that I have ever done, but it wasn't bad and we got stuff that we needed.

Tylenol Quick Release (100 count) $7.50
Motrin IB (100 count) $7.50
Tylenol PM (100 count) $7.50
(for this purchase I had a $2 coupon and 2 $1 coupons - plus it made me eligible for RR)

Joy Dish Soap $0.89 (I got 2)

Pantene Conditioner
Pantene Shampoo
Infusion Conditioner (2 of these)
The sale was 3/$20 (I paid $4.99 for the smaller conditioner) plus I had coupons - $1 off 2 Pantene and $1.50 off 2 Infusion. This also qualified me for $10 RR

Vicks Hand Sanitizer (2 of these)
Vicks DayQuill Liquid
These were 3/$15 plus 3 $1 off coupons. This also qualified for a $5 RR

Trident Splash Gum - I had a store coupon making it $0.59 and a $0.50 coupon making the gum $.09

My total after sales and coupons was $49.91 but I got $25 in register rewards for next time so my total out of pocket was $24.91. I will be glad when I start getting my rebate rewards back.....should be sometime in November for the first one. Then I can completely stop spending out of pocket at Walgreens....that is the hope anyway! But I have register rewards for next week. Hopefully the sales are good!

Blessings,
Carie

36 Week Appointment

Hello everyone!

It is time for my weekly doctor's appt. update. I think that it is sad that this is the only thing of note I have to write about. I guess you now know how very pathetic and boring my life really is LOL.

Anywho......the doctor's appt. went well. Baby looked good. Amniotic fluid was at the same level as last week which I guess is good (if it would have gotten higher that would have been bad). They didn't take measurements of the baby this week, that will be done again next week.

Doctor said that if I didn't go into labor on my own in the next couple of weeks that he would induce 1-1.5 weeks before my due date to try to avoid a HUGE baby. I really appreciate that! I hope and pray that I go into labor on my own before then though.

I have another appt. next Wednesday so as long as nothing exciting happens around here before then, I will update after the appt.

Blessings to All!

35 Week Appointment

Off we went to the doctor this morning for my 35 week ultrasound and doctor's appointment. The ultrasound went well. Baby weighs approximately 6lbs. 12ozs (that is way above the 5.5lb average). He has an above average sized head and stomach and below average size femur bones. What that means is that he is short and chubby LOL The other problem that they found was that I have way too much amniotic fluid. Apparently, this poses no problem for the baby or me, but it could cause me to go into labor early. At this point I don't think that it would hurt anything, but they are going to monitor me more closely. Therefore, I will have another ultrasound at my appointment next week. The 3-D pictures that we received of little guy are so cute!!!!! He is adorable! I know that I am biased, but I can't wait to meet this handsome little fellow.

My mil found use a crib mattress so now we have the crib all set up, sheets on, and ready to go. She also found us a high chair. Hopefully we will pick up the rest of the "must haves" after payday on Monday. My mom gave me a Walmart gift card which we will use to get the rubbermaid dresser for little guys clothes. Soon enough we will be all set!

Blessings,
Carie

Just Another Day

Today, I have accomplished:

2 loads of laundry (on the line)
made my bed
school (morning only)
picked up the kitchen
made lunch (steak, mac and cheese)
swept the kitchen
mopped most of it :)

I still need to bring in and fold my laundry and then I am going to try to finish cross stitching the baby bib that I started 6 months ago.....I shouldn't be such a dawdler :)

I hope that you all have a fantastic day!

What I Accomplished Today

Here is what I have gotten done today:
laundry (4 loads washed and hung on the line - getting ready to fold)
school (morning and afternoon)
lunch (tacos)
changed the sheets on my bed
ran the dishwasher
Grandma came to visit (she made me a cute maternity top and brought it down)

All that I have left to do is fold laundry, feed the boys supper and take the trash to town on the way to taekwondo. I am sure that I will be exhausted when we get home tonight cause I haven't been sleeping well, but that is ok, it will all be worth it in the end.

Thanks to Mrs. Brigham for reminding me that it is always better to look at what got done rather than what still needs to be done!