I Was Just Browsing A Magazine

And I came across this ad. . .

. . .which is going to give me nightmares for sure.

Being Frugal Is Fabulous

After a LOT of prodding from my mom (just kidding mom, thanks for all of the support and for pushing me), I have finally started another blog. At Being Frugal Is Fabulous, I will be talking about what I have learned about getting the best deals, clipping coupons and getting things for free, without getting too overwhelmed. Check it out here or click on the little button over to the right.

Kicking It Up A Notch

This post is mostly for my mom. She has been asking me to post about my latest hobby for quite some time.

I have always been what I would call frugal and what my sisters call cheap. When I was eight years old I saved up all of my money and bought myself a whole bedding set, that I bought on sale. Over the next few years I furnished my room all with my own money. I bought two wicker headboards and a matching wicker chair. Seriously, what 8 year old does this?

I used to drive my sisters crazy because I was such a freeloader . As soon as we would get our allowance, they would splurge on treats for themselves. Not me, I would save every penny of it. Then when they were eating their treats I would beg for them to share with me. When we went to the mall they would buy themselves something to drink, not me, I knew where every drinking fountain was.

Well, I think my sister Katie (it is safe to say that she is the one who is most irked by my cheapness) will be especially excited to hear that I have taken it to the next level. That's right, I've become a coupon clipper. Not just one of those casual coupon clippers either. For instance, this is my new coupon holder.



Yep, that is a photo organizer that is made to hold 180 photos, and it it completely full. I now carry this with me wherever I go. Now before you start mocking me and my coupon binder. Check out all of the stuff I got for FREE last week using various coupons and rebates.

(4 boxes of tampons, 2-8 packs of bottled water, 5 bottles of John Frieda shampoo, 1 bottle of Organix shampoo, 1 Herbal Essenses conditioner, 1 powered razor, 4 packages of Thermacare heat wraps, 1 package of floss and 2 powered toothbrushes)

If I had paid full price for all of these things, it would have cost me about $85. I think this is the best hobby ever! Nick says he has never seen me this excited. I have also taught my mom the tricks of the trade and we call each other to share our latest deal scenarios and to compare prices. If you are interested in learning more, this blog is the place that helped me on my journey to being the cheapest person on the planet.

Flashback Friday

I am toying with making this a regular post, because, well I think it is fun to look at other people's old pictures and thought it might be fun. I have been meaning to post this picture for a while now because I have told this story to a couple of people and they requested a picture.

I didn't do much dating in high school. In fact, I was only ever asked out on two dates. One, was by a guy in my home ward that I made up an excuse as to why I couldn't go that day because he/his family freaked me out a bit. I feel really bad when I look back because now it is obvious to me that he could see right through my excuse and he never asked me out again. And really I am sure it wouldn't have been that bad to just go on the date.

The second date that I was asked on was to my high school's Homecoming dance. I went with Cary Pusey.


Cary has down syndrome and he was in my choir class. He became a bit infatuated with me. He would always come up to me and give me hugs. One day in class, he came up to me and handed me a gift bag. Inside was two tickets to the haunted house that his family owned and a note that said:

Nicole,
I promise not to haunt
you, if you will go to the
Homecoming with me.

It was so sweet and he was so excited. He had a bunch of friends that came with us, and all of the boys fixed dinner for us and then we went to the dance. His group of friends were all so nice and supportive of him, making sure that everything was taken care of for him and we had a great time.

The Dollar Tree Adventures

Wacky (a.k.a Nick's mom, I am not being disrespectful, this is a name she chose) came over to see the kids yesterday. They have a little ritual that they do every time she comes for a visit. They go to the Dollar Tree and pick out whatever they want and then they go get ice cream. Yesterday at the Dollar Tree Hayden picked out a headband that had matching pony tail holders. Here is how she has been wearing them:

Happy Father's Day

(This is a picture of my dad sporting his new do. It is significant in the fact that he shaved his head in support of one of his fellow firefighters who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor.)


Happy Father's Day, dad! You are a great guy and a great example to me. You have so many wonderful qualities: your thirst for knowledge, your sense of humor, your integrity, your sense of duty and hard work, your incredible patience (have I ever mentioned that I have 4 sisters and NO brothers, talk about out numbered), and, you could pretty much have a conversation about any topic from the latest motorcycle news, to the latest on Jessica Simpson, to the latest in politics and EVERYTHING in between, and hold your own. You are a great dad and someone who people admire and respect, including me. I love you, Happy Father's Day!

(Grandpa with all of the grandkids.)


(I guess every post that I do about Nick is going to have to include this picture, as it seems this is the ONLY picture of Nick by himself. And who took this picture? He did. Um, note to self: take more pictures of Nick.)

I must also honor Nick on this day. He is such a great dad. He is such a fun dad! He sticks up for the kids when I am getting too serious or being too cheap (which, I am embarrassed to say, happens way too often). He gets down on the floor and wrestles with the kids and takes them for bike rides. He often goes out of his way to swing by the house to spend time with us in the middle of the day, or to take one of the kids to run errands with him. He eats breakfast with them every morning and gets Hallie ready for school and takes her to school so that I can sleep a little longer. What can I say? He is one heck of a guy! Have a great Father's Day!

My Birthday

I am sure you are all dying to know what I got for my birthday on Sunday. I was not able to post yesterday because I was without a computer all day. Yesterday morning Hayden poured water all over our cook top, which caused it to short out. So the pilot light was just clicking and clicking trying to light. I pulled all of the burners off and tried to get them to stop clicking, but they just shocked me and continued to try and light. I ended up just having to turn off the breaker and it just so happened to be the same breaker that the computer was hooked to. Oh, that girl just never ceases to amaze me with the things that she does. There is never a dull moment with her!

So Sunday morning my grandparents stopped by. Then we went to church. Hayden gave me the best possible birthday gift. She fell asleep on the way to church and slept all through Sacrament Meeting. My lesson in Relief Society went very well. Nick made a delicious dinner and then burned his had so badly that he was pretty out of it for the rest of the evening. My carrot cake I made was SO good. Then the girls gave me their presents.

It turns out the present was not a hug as I had guessed. Hallie had kind of spilled the beans on Saturday night when she asked me if it was okay to do hip-hop dancing on Sunday. I said no. She looked super disappointed and told me that they were each planing a dance for me for my present. So, we bent the rules, and here are their fabulous dances.



That was Hayden's interpretation of the oh so wonderful Hannah Montanna song, "Everyone Makes Mistakes."

Avery was supposed to do a hula dance, but she chickened out and I am not quite sure what kind of dance this is.



Now for the grand finale. Hallie pulled out all the stops. I don't know where she picks this stuff up. She has some pretty awesome moves!



All in all it was a pretty great birthday, and I think I got the funniest most creative gifts a mom could ask for.

Funny Girls

It is my birthday on Sunday (hint, hint). Today in the car, the girls were talking about my birthday and asking me what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday. I told them carrot cake, to which they all went, "ugh" (poor me, I am the only member of my family who loves carrot cake). Then they asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, and I told them that my birthday is on a Sunday, so we won't be doing much besides going to church (on the bright side, I get to teach Relief Society, yay!).

Then I asked them what they were getting me for my birthday. Hallie replied, "I can't tell you, it is a secret, plus we haven't gotten you anything." Avery said, "I can't tell you, but it is from my body." I surely hope she is talking about a hug!