Hmmm... Over a year later...

 

 

My oh my, it's been a long time since I have been on this blogger thing. I didn't even recognize how to do anything on it! I don't blog much because, well, I have facebook. I can tell everyone the important things in a more instant satisfactory way... Not to mention instagram and PINTEREST! (Obsessed)

So I guess what I need to do is figure out what I want this blog to be

Well to catch up, even though the only one who ever looks at this is my sister...
Troy and I will be celebrating 4 years married in 3 days! It seems like it should be much longer than that. ha ha. Troy is still working at the pipe plant and I started work at a salon/barber shop 6 months ago. My first steady job in 4 years. I love it! Since all the kids are in full day school there is no reason to stay home anymore. I just work about 15 hrs a week while the kids are in school and some saturdays. It has been like a breath of fresh air being back in the industry I love. I am so grateful that my manager was able to work with my home schedule. I am also grateful that my husband supports me in my decision to work. I know he would rather me be at home especailly on those Saturdays but he recognizes my need to contribute financailly and get out of the house.

I still do my couponing, I don't think I will ever stop. I just can't see paying those insane prices especailly for a family our size! i don't do it nearly as much as I used to. Instead of twice a week or more I go twice a month, one store. I do have to make a couple quick trips here or there in between but I just don't have the time to devote to it extreeme anymore. But I do save at least $100 on my bi-monthly trips so It is still worth it!

Liz has turned 17 and will hopefully graduate highschool this May. One year early. She has been working so hard I know she can do it. She is also on her high school dance team, she does so well I would have never known her talent if it werent for her deciding to try out. She also enjoys her photography classes. She is growing up to be one amazing lady.


Nate is 11 and just begun the Jr. Rifle club with Liz here in our town. He is very excited about this and can't wait for the days that he goes. He still struggles in school but has made some improvements and I can't wait to see what else he can accomplish. He loves basketball, asking a zillion questions.


Trevor is 8 and is still just a small little mini-Troy. He is enjoying going to Scouts and is just a little comedian. He and Ry live with their mom during the week (They moved back in state!!) and spend alot of time with us at our house. They love coming over and we love to have them here. We just wish it was full-time. He loves playing with Legos and has quite the creative imagination.


Aiden is also 8 and was baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last month. This was a very amazing experience for him and all of his family to witness. His Great Grandpa Sly baptised him and this was beyond specail. Aiden also loves going to Scouts with Trevor. Him and the youngest three are either best of friends or worst of enemies. I just love to watch them play! He is excelling in school and is also obsessed with Legos


Ryleigh is 7 and is constantly attached at my hip! She always wants to help me with dinner and stands there and watches everything I do. When I get ready for the day she is right there with me watching me put on make up asking if she can wear some (sometimes she can) Even when I read a book and sip tea, she reads and sips along with me. I can't believe the time that has gone by! She was practically a baby when I met her, well, she was 3 but this sweet girl is growing too fast!

 

Couponing, a lifestyle

Hey everyone, or ok the 4 people who follow me.

I thought I would write a little about my new lifestyle.

My name is Britteny and I am an extreme couponer.

I will not buy anything anymore unless it has a coupon, is on sale or is just super cheap.

I have found some very thrifty ways of living! I will tell you it has greatly improved our lifestyle.

I no longer worry about if the amount of food, soap, laundry detergent and toothpaste will last until next payday.

I can stress a little less about financail set backs when I know my family will still be well fed and clean.

Don't worry, my frugal ways do NOT end with coupons. You know the little instructions for, let's say, laundry detergent. DON'T use as much as they tell you! (They want you to use more and buy more) I found an interesting article that, long story short, stated you don't even need it, just water. I'm not comfotable with going without so I use half of what they suggest. Guess what happens, My clothes are clean, stains come out and they smell just as fresh! $avings!

I use the bare minimus of what I need to get the job done, prolonging the life of my products.

Another place I really save big is I send my kids to a school where they have to wear uniforms. Not only is the school amazing as far as academics and individual needs but the uniforms save me so much when it comes to back to school shopping. They have used uniform sales where I can get items for $2 each, or i search consignment and thrift stores, even yard sales and get perfectly good clothes for my growing kids and my boys who are rough on the knees. What is also nice, we don't have to buy a whole new wardrobe all at once! No need to keep up with the hot styles or Brands! Because they can't wear them anyway! (Even though i get those for cheap too!)

When I was a kid I wouldn't have been caught dead in a thrift store, well times change and when you are holding the checkbook you realize that, maybe your parents didn't actually hate you when they made you wear hand-me-downs. LOL

I get the biggest high when I find Lucky jeans for my teenage step-daughter for $10! And lucky for us she doesn't care about brands and the lastest fashions, when our 6 yr old daughter gets older I feel we will have this problem. lol.

I have learned to stock-pile everything from canned goods to backpacks. I have one little boy who is rough on his. And thanks to combining sales and coupons I shouldn't have to buy band-aids, ketchup, toothpaste, deoderant, razors, mustard or dish soap for a very long time!

Shopping is my guilty pleasure, hobby, past-time, whatever. I went a long time without it! Now that I have found a way to get my retail high in a way that benefits my family I am in Heaven! I used to only love the shopping that gave me somthing new to wear. (I still love it but now I do feel guilty buying myself anything) But now I can get that instant gratification from buying Milk and granola bars! Even school supplies!

Walgreen's is my favorite store for couponing and where I get most of my savings. I get so much for free or next to nothing, mostly on hygiene items. But you can get really lucky and get food sales too! We were able to out-fit the kids with all their school needs and donations for the teachers for pennies on the dollar! When I compare that to last year, I spent $60 on ONE child, just supplies! Now that was highway robbery! I doubt I spent half that much this year on 3 kids!

The only thing that set us back a bit was new shoes, because I refuse to buy used. YUCK! But even those where a savings of at least 50% for name brands like Sketchers and Nike.

I have alot more to learn in the ways of frugality but we have done so good. I can't wait to see what else we can do. I know alot of people do gardens, I don't know if that is for us but I think the savings in other areas makes the produce aisle hurt a little less!

Ok so my sister just told me that I need to update, even thought she is the only one who looks at this.
So here goes a quick up date in a nut shell:
Well we got to keep Ryleigh and Trevor with the other kids for the whole year. When the school year is out then they will all visit their mom for the summer.
Ryleigh just turned six, so at the moment we have 3 six year olds! Nathan will turn 10 in about a week and Trevor will be 7 two weeks after that! He is about the size of a 4yr old so its hard to wrap your head around the fact he will be that big!
I'm still busy as ever! There is so much work to do around the house, so much homework and everything that goes along with having a family.
Well my weight loss goal is slow going, I have only lost about 53 lbs since May. Troy and I both got gym passes, so we have been trying very hard to find the time to go get good work outs. Some days it is definately not easy.

But that is about it for now.

So far this summer...

This would be the prize jars....explained below...

Well let's see, about June 18th we went to Indiana to get the kiddos. I have been moving 90 mph ever since, I can't believe I have found a minute to blog! Something I rarely do. Cause let's face it what is the point? No one is even seeing this.

But anyway...Some of the things going on in our busy lives are well, normal day to day Cleaning, cleaning, laundry, cooking, cleaning, cooking, laundry, vacuum, cooking, dusting, cleaning... I'm sorry does that seem repetitive to anyone besides me?

Also, I have begun a new reward system, thanks to my sister in law Mindy and her good idea. We fill up a jar with cotton balls every time they do something good the kids get a cotton ball, bad: it gets taken away. When it is full they get to go get a prize!

Poor Trevor's jar was half full, then he threw a ball threw the window and broke it. So his jar was emptied. =(

We try to do what I call centers everyday. It lets them do different activities by themselves and not have to worry about sharing or having someone in their way. Also they get one on one time. (cuts down on the fighting! Big plus for mommy)

Center #1: Sensory (play dough, moon sand etc.)

Center #2: Arts/Crafts (projects of the like)

Center #3: Brain Builder (reading, writing, flashcards, etc.)
Center #4: Bonus Reward Chore (some sort of chore, and when they are done they get to roll a dice and receive that many cotton balls in their jar)

Liz has been a great help with these centers, she usually gets stuck over-seeing the chores so I can help with "brain building". She doesn't have a jar though, her "jar" is a cell phone we got her when she came. Its great in the way of incentives. Though she is awesome anyway! She hardly needs to be reprimanded for anything.

We just got some Family pictures done they are really good my friend Lacey Banks Larsen did them. It was so sunny and hot when we did them but all the kids did really well and we got it done pretty fast. Except we only got one of Nathan smiling. He just can't fake a smile. LOL.

Summer has gone by way too fast! in one month we will be taking Trevor and Ryleigh to their mom. I'm so sad to see them go. But such as life.

Aiden will turn 6 in 6 days! Were did my baby go? Soon it will be time for school and he'll be a 1st grader in school all day! What am I going to do with myself? Probably cry!

Also I have lost a total of 21 lbs since I started my "lifestyle change" I wish it was more, and probably could have been but I have just been so busy their has been no time to exercise. I wish i looked like I lost that much too, but looking at our recent pictures I told Troy I would have hated to see what I looked like 3 months ago! I still have a long way to go to get to my goal but I'm going in the right direction and hopefully I can stay on track.

Troy has been working so much 5, 12 hour days... Its been hard, especially since I was used to having him for 3 days a week and not 2. But, the paychecks are a big help. But we miss him when he is at work. I'm so thankful for him. He makes it possible for me to be home most of the time to care for our children. And so I don't have to miss out on anything. He is an amazing man. And for all the ladies that had him and lost him, sucks to be you! I don't think anyone, anywhere at anytime has loved each other like we do. Its wonderful to have your perfect match and best friend to spend your life with. LOVE YOU HONEY!

So my sister said I should continue blogging, I told her no one looks at it and she said that probably more people look at it than I think. So I decided that I'll just put stuff on when I feel the desire. So here is some of the recent events of the Parry family.

Well, in the last few months I started a new job. The first of April. I'm just an on-call receptionist at a treatment center. I'm starting to catch on. But its still a little hard, everything is done in a patucular way. But its getting easier. I really like it. Time flies by because you are pretty busy with tasks...I just wish I felt confidant about my reception skills. LOL.

Here in one month We will be heading out to Indiana to get Liz, Nate, Trevor and Ryleigh from their mom for the Summer. Elizabeth and Nathan will stay for the school year and Trev and Ry will go back to their mom in August. We are hoping that their mom will let them stay but its looking like thats not going to happen.

Aiden is doing really well in Kindergarten, I'm really Impressed with his school. At the beginning of the year I couldn't get him to do anything, he would hardly try. But now he is reading and doing Math at a first grade level! He is so smart! Its amazing and one of the best things in the world to hear him read me a story.

Troy has taken up golf, we go almost every weekend. Its fun to watch and just hang out. I get to drive the cart which is the funnest part. Aiden has come a few times and he loves it. The last time we went out and he pretended that one of his toys was a video camera and he was making a golf movie. Then when the guys were taking back the carts when we were done Aiden decided to ride with our good friend Gregg, they turned sharply and Aiden wasn't holding on and he fell out of the cart getting some pretty yucky scrapes from falling in the gravel. He was a tough guy after a few tears and the stinging poroxide! He had to tell everyone about it and show off his bandages. But Troy is getting better at golf! I can tell because it doesn't take as long anymore to be done with the 9 holes, that we only have time for.

I have started a Lifestyle change, or improvement if you will. I don't like to call it a diet because people always fail when they diet. I have started doing Pilates with the rubber band thing about 5 days a week. (for some reason I can't get to it on the weekends) I usually try to step it up a notch and add in some walking a cople times a week. I have already started to see improvements in my abilities in the last 2 weeks. I can do more than I could before and I have lost 6 lbs. I just have about a million more to go! I watch more closely to the food I put in my mouth and drink water like crazy! I'm feeling optimistic and can't wait to see some real changes.
I did start taking phentramine to help give me a jumpstart, and REVVNRG helps too. (energy+appitite suppressant drink) It kinda makes me feel like I'm cheating the hard work but oh well its working.

Well this is about all I have to add today. Please post any comments. So I at least know I'm not just journaling to myself. ha ha.

WOW, one month later............

Ok so the last post was a month ago, and my sister is the only one who responded to the last one. And she did that yesterday. So whenever i get in the mood to sit around and wait for pictures to be uploaded and whatnot i will update this thing. But it you just can't wait, find me on facebook.

Let me know if I should bother

Hey everyone. Or no one. ha ha.
Ok so I haven't posted anything on here forever.
So what I need you to do is let me know if I should even bother.
If you even look at this. ever.
I hate to spend forever on this if no one is even looking at it.
Because my computer is slow and so it takes forever and a day
to download one picture.
So let me know if you stumble upon this once in a while and if you
want to see new stuff.