all aboard the coupon train

I think I do coupons all wrong. I'm part of a coupon train with some friends, and after my first shopping trip I decided I am horrible at using them. I saved a total of around $17, which would have been great, except for the fact that I never buy any of the stuff I used a coupon for. For example, I saved $1 on two boxes of granola bars. They both cost close to $3. So for the $1 I saved, I spent about $5 that I normally wouldn't have. I saved 75 cents on a $5 box of frozen pizza. I never buy frozen pizza either. I save so much more money when I don't use coupons!

There were also things that I do buy, but using the coupon for them didn't necessarily save me any money. For example, I needed peanut butter. The brand of peanut butter that the coupon was for was more expensive than the brands I usually buy. And the peanut butter is awful, so I feel like it was an even bigger waste.

I think I might give up on coupons :(

Do you know what today is?

Today is our 4 year anniversary. Which means that all day long I will have this song stuck in my head:



I am so madly in love with my husband, and our babies, and just my life in general. I'm pretty lucky.

pants on the ground

Cloudy with a chance of...Raney! (or: I have way too much time on my hands)

So, I definitely did change my url. Now it's jackiraneydays.blogspot.com. I made an awesome new header (which I am quite proud of!), and thought I'd make a cheesy url to go with it. Tell all your friends.

Lefou, I'm afraid I've been thinking

I should probably rename my URL "jackieverynowandthen.blogspot.com" I don't think I will ever be a daily blogger.

Well, I am a single mom for the next week and a half or so. You know what that means...

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner! (on paper plates!)

I so miss my other half whenever he leaves. But, let's face it: he's only gone for a short time, not in any real immediate threat of danger, and I absolutely love it when I can get away with not using dishes I have to wash. I had planned on using this time to test healthy recipes he might like, but for at least this weekend I decided to just take it easy.

7pm is now family movie time. After dinner, I put Leo to sleep and Bella and I get ready for bed. Then cuddle with popcorn and a Disney movie. Last night was Lilo and Stitch. There has been a request for Sleeping Beauty tonight, but we'll see if she changes her mind after her nap.

I'm sort of on a facebook hiatus. Sort of. I'm still stopping by, but I'm definitely giving Farmville a break. It's my one horrible addiction. I thought of just blocking it, you know, quit cold turkey. But, well come on now. I've put an awful lot of work into that fake farm of mine and I'd hate to just let it go. But I do need a new hobby or two.

Tomorrow I'm venturing off base in search of fabric and cheap frames. I've got a ton of project ideas that could keep me busy without clicking a mouse for farm coins and xp, not to mention help with my March resolution. And my walls are in desperate need of art. We have our family photos framed and hung up, but they are from before Leo so I plan on replacing them (our living room is like a shrine to Bella, and I think that's a bit unfair).

Still unsure of paint at this time. A question to my readers (the few of you there are): If you were living in a home for three whole years and had the option to paint the walls, would you do it, keeping in mind that you would eventually have to paint the walls back to their original color? Right-Now-Me wants to go for it, but I can just hear Future-Me griping about the decision since she will probably already have a lot on her plate at that time.

And if I ignore Future-Me, what colors should I go for? Neutrals...a shade of beige or yellow maybe? Should I just do an accent wall to make it easier on her, but in a bold color like red to make it pretty for Right-Now-Me?

Then there is the room-sharing decision. Bella has her own room right now, while Leo sleeps in his pack-n-play by my bed. We have a 3 bedroom home. Bella's room is HUGE. I'm pretty sure it is bigger than the master suite. She has two closets (right now I use one for her clothes and one for her toys). There is more than enough room for two kids.

Our third bedroom is basically just storage right now. No matter what, the closet in that room is just going to be for storage because there isn't enough storage space in the rest of the house. But the plans are either to make that room Leo's so the kids can have their own spaces (I shared a room for almost my whole entire life and never wanted my kids to have to share at any moment in theirs. At least not until they leave for college and have to room with someone, or get married, or any other situation I have very little to do with), or the kids will share a room and we will make the third bedroom a hobby/guest room. I've got a lot to think about.

Right now I'm off to think about whether we should have cereal or quesadillas for dinner. Oh, and uh...I just found out they turned 10 Things I Hate About You into a tv series. Yea....

"I re-DO"

I always wanted to be a wife and a mom. When I was younger, I had my invisible husband "David" and our 20 stuffed animal children. But "David" and I never had a wedding. He was just my husband, and I was his wife, and we had our gigantic family, and everything was perfect.

Most little girls play in their best dresses and toilet paper veils as they dream of their big day.

I'm sure I donned a toilet paper veil or two back in the day, but I never imagined what song I'd dance to, what flowers I'd hold as I walked down the isle, or what my dress looked like. All I cared about was "David" (who of course bore an awfully similar resemblance to Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and the kids.

I think it's the upcoming anniversary with my real husband that has me contemplating weddings now, and how badly I want a redo. Like, sometimes I think we should just get a divorce so we could get remarried and do it our way (or, my way since I don't think he cares either way). Joking of course. But I don't want to wait for a vowel renewal in like 20 years. Would 5 be too early?

In true lame-kid fashion, I wear my tiara and veil around the house sometimes when Brian is at work (my wedding dress is in California, or you bet your bottom I'd prance around in that too). Another reason to add to my list of why having a daughter is awesome: I can use "dress-up time" as an excuse to do this.


Next week will be four years since I married my real life husband, Brian (I let "David" down gently. No seriously, I did. I used "David" as a symbol of my youth, and I said goodbye to it and him on my wedding day as I was putting my mascara on. I told you, I'm a lame kid). Our original plan was to get married in Reno. We had plans of a "real" wedding for later on, but if that had never happened, we still would have been happy. It was my mom that wanted the real wedding right away, and I figured it was the least I could do for her. And so I planned a wedding in two weeks, with invitations being sent out via myspace bulletin. Yeah...

It was a nice little wedding. I was late, and there was no back entrance, so I had to run past the already seated crowd in my pajama pants and veil as my sister and mom tried to shield me using my garment bag as a barrier. My best friend wasn't there to stand in as a bridesmaid, and his wasn't there to be best man. We had a Justice of the Peace (my mom works with judges and he was an old friend, and the only person I could get on such short notice) instead of a minister, so it took me longer to run to the dressing room than it did to actually get married. And our reception was catered by Brian's family, and held at the clubhouse and pool of my mom's apartment complex. Yeeah...

I had a big poofy princess dress that I absolutely loved, and Jaimie did my hair extensions so I could wear it down in big spiral curls like I had wanted then. But if I could do it over now, I would opt for a pretty updo and a simple but elegant dress with lace detail.

My bridesmaids would include my sister Tara, and Jaimie (who were in my real wedding), and also Coralyn and Jessica Knieriem (who should have been in my wedding). Although I hadn't really ever dreamed of my wedding day, I always thought Jessica would have been a bridesmaid. But for whatever reason I didn't ask her, and that still bothers me to this day.The wedding and reception would have taken place at the Granite Bay Golf Club like I had originally planned.


An orchestra would play a rendition of our song (Brand New Colony by The Postal Service), which would make it suitable for our first dance (because really Brand New Colony as The Postal Service does it doesn't make it very easy to dance to).

We would have had gallery quality photographs that we could display on the walls of our home(s), and perfect memories of a perfect day.

Aah...a girl can dream. Or maybe I should become a wedding planner. At least I got one part of that day right.

I couldn't have asked for a better groom =)

Sidewalk Chalk

"Mommy, draw hopscotch!" I think Bella learned about hopscotch from watching Max & Ruby. I never really knew the right way to play. I always just hopped along, 1 foot-2 feet-1 foot-1 foot-2 feet-and back. But Bella picks up on everything. After I drew her hopscotch with the giant sidewalk chalk she got for her birthday, she asked "mommy, where's my rock?" No rock in sight, I handed her a piece of chalk that had broken off. She threw it on the hopscotch board and hopped around, giggling the whole time.

Next she wanted to draw shapes and numbers: "Mommy, draw number three. Draw a circle, mommy!" I draw everything she wants, and then ask her what number I'm pointing at, or what shape I just drew. She knows all her shapes, and most of her numbers. She is so smart. Then I ask her to draw for me. She has some trouble, and I want to help her badly- I want to just do it for her. But I always step back and just watch. I want her to learn and be able to do it on her own. I want her to be independent and never have to rely on anybody. Maybe it's a deep thought for a day of drawing with sidewalk chalk, but this is where she learns.

Leo watches us from his walker in the living room. Soon it will be the two of them out here drawing shapes and numbers while I sit and watch.



I love seeing my kids grow up. Babies are cute, but I'm not much of a fan of the first couple of months. I love when the personality begins to develop. I love when they figure things out. I love the milestones.


I fed Leo rice cereal while Bella played outside without me. She's a big girl now, and doesn't need me out there with her. She knows the boundaries and stays within them. She periodically comes in to check on me and laugh at her brother. She runs and picks the dandelions and blows the seeds away like I showed her. She picks little flowers and gives them to me as a gift "here you go mommy, pretty flower!" She plays "he loves me, he loves me not" and then sprinkles all the petals in her hair.


She swings on the trees, and runs in the grass, and gets dirt under her fingernails and doesn't care that she's a mess because it's fun. I make a mental note to myself that messy=fun, and think about rolling around in the dirt with her. But my shorts are white, so I keep watching instead.

When it's time to make lunch, she drags a chair to the kitchen counters and uses it as a step stool so she can watch everything. Learn everything.

"Mommy, what you doing? You making dinner?"

"Lunch."
"You making lunch?"
"Yep baby, I'm making lunch."
"Mommy, I do it."

She wants to do everything like me, and I so desperately want to be like her. To laugh at everything. To fall in love with everything. To be satisfied by peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and sidewalk chalk.

Make a Wish

We were standing outside in the cold waiting for Miley to do her business when I spotted a lone dandelion. I don't know why they create such a strong sense of nostalgia, but at the sight of one I am innocent once again. I remember my mom blowing them with me, and the excitement as all the feathery seeds floated away. Something possibly small and insignificant, but so very important for whatever reason.

"Bella, blow!" I showed her first, and she laughed hysterically. How wonderful to be a child. How wonderful to find the greatest joy in the smallest things in life. I'm always reminded of the scene in Knocked Up when Paul Rudd's character is brooding over the fact that he wishes he loved anything as much as his kids loved bubbles. Why do we allow ourselves to be so unhappy when we grow older?

"Mommy, make a wish?" She asks, still relating "blow" to birthdays. Knowing her birthday is soon makes it even more relevant. I go with it. "Yep baby, make a wish." And as we watch the seeds fly away with the breeze, I make a wish to make every moment a "bubble moment" so I can hold on to the elation from times like this forever.

Farmville

Home, Sweet Home...Wherever That may Be

We have moved from Hawaii to Japan, and are now spending time back home in lovely California. And for quite a bit of time we were without internet which would explain my lack of blogs. Now I am just having too much fun here so you will have to wait for more elaborate updates. But some highlights of this trip so far have been:

-SanFran/Alcatraz trip with the Petersons
-Eating at Togo's, BJ's, Red Robin, In n Out, more to come...
-Togo's reunion
-Christmas with all sides of the family
-Christmas light viewing in Rocklin with Bella and her cousins
-Kings vs Nuggets (Kings won. Awesome.)

We are still deciding on what to do for New Years (downtown Sac or SanFran maybe?), and have decided to scratch our Disneyland trip. Brian thinks it's too cold so instead we'll be doing Disneyland in Tokyo at some point.

Speaking of Tokyo, Japan is awesome so far. We have already made a few friends and our house is great! We left Japan only a month after getting there and right as soon as our household goods were delivered. So we have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do. I love being home but we've been in limbo for a long time, and I am close to ready to get back to real life.