Moo. Maybe she'll get me a free Chick-fila sandwich.

Pouty Punkinhead

Punkinhead Verbage

The more her ability to string a sentence together grows, the funnier the Punkinhead gets!

She's learning when to use contractions like can't, won't, don't - she's a toddler and different ways to say no are important to her. She has not learned when to use them in quite the correct context; mixing up don't and can't most often. The following quote is a good example.

(Watching the new Nick Jr. show The Fresh Beat Band) "I can't like this show." Although Buzzkill and HotMommy also feel mentally incapable of watching this show, we believe she meant to say "I don't like this show."

Punkinhead is officially enamoured with her daddy. "Mommy, look at Daddy. He's so beautiful!"

She's gotten very good at listening to the things adults say and adapting the language for her toddler world. Apparently I often sigh and say how I really need something (nap, sleep, margarita) because upon biting into a Halloween cookie the other day, we got this gem: "(Sigh) I needed this good cookie so much!"

I'm also having to deal with those moments where she says something that is just wrong but all I'm trying to do is not bust out laughing before I give her an attitude adjustment. Today when I asked her to give me a flashlight she was carrying around, she replied, "No, I don't share." And I'm really sure she got the "don't" applied to the sentence correctly this time.

A little late, but "getting real" just the same.

I hope that most have you have read Amy's blog The Lawsons Did Dallas linked under the blogs I read. If you haven't yet, pop over to one of her latest hilarious posts. It's a challenge to us mom-types (dads not excluded I'm sure) to "get real" about how our houses look on a day to day basis. Not to embarrass ourselves, but to let go of that self-condemnation that we're the only ones that have dirty dishes, laundry that needs folding, toys on the floor, unmade beds, and general clutter.

So here's my "confession." Our Achilles heel is toys. I pick them up during nap and before bed, but they're everywhere. I WANT A PLAYROOM for the toys!

The first photo shows what happened after I went to Target for an hour. The toys were under control before I left Buzzkill and Punkinhead to play.



The next photo is just funny; it actually looks a little neater than the night before, but I think is a better illustration of the general chaos that can and does occur an a daily basis.

Sweetums is a month old already?

Some of the mommies of Punkinhead's friends did this creative idea on their blogs, but I was too far along to track Punkinhead's growth this way. The idea is to pose your kiddo with the same stuffed animal every month so that their growth is obvious next to said stuffed animal. Of course, Buzzkill pick from his collection of penguins.

I've decided to use the idea for Sweetums - a special thing for her on the blog and in her scrapbook. Officially, she is 8 lbs, 13 1/2 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long.

I can hardly believe she's a month and I also feel like I don't remember our family without her.

Introducing Sweetums

Joining the Punkinhead, HotMommy, Buzzkill, and Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert....

Sweetums!!!!

She was born last Friday in the early morning. A precious 6 lbs, 9 oz. and 18 inches long.

Super easy c-section delivery (thanks Dr. K) and we went home Sunday night.

Once HotMommy is off the pain meds and has regained her full brain capacity, she'll fill you in on all the details with lots of pictures.

But am I TV ready?

For those of y'all interested in seeing HotMommy on tv making a grocery list and grocery shopping - and I know my fans having been dying for it - I'll be on CBS 11 tomorrow night during the 10 pm news in a Survive In 09 segment. The segment will also be online about an hour later on their website.

I'm not sure how I'm going to look - I was VERY aware of the camera the entire time, but it's not like Buzzkill and I were planning on providing for our fam through reality shows, so I think it'll be okay even if I look like a deer in headlights.

Ready and waiting.

During the last few months of pregnancy I've had all these milestones I felt I needed to get past before I felt ready for the new baby to arrive. Punkinhead's birthday party, Vacation Bible School week, a local news station's video shoot, the beginning of July so my push present is a ruby, my haircut today.....(I missed an appointment when the Punkinhead came early and I've never like how I looked in all the photos the month following her birth.)

And I realized this afternoon, she can come whenever she wants now. I feel ready. And my back hurts and it's too hot to be preggo in Texas anymore. Sure my folks have plane tickets for the Wednesday before her due date and my MIL is scheduled to be in Houston next week. And I know I should say, well, Friday is 36 weeks and it's really not safe for her to come before that, but in all honesty, I'm really ready. And she weighs over 6 lbs. I even packed my hospital bag this afternoon and made sure the fridge is full, and the dishes and laundry are done.

Pwetty Sunday

The Punkinhead loved wearing her new outfit from her great aunt and uncle to church this weekend. She kept saying, "I pwetty Mommy!" Love her self-confidence and am praying she never loses a bit of it.

With this math, it's no wonder the newspapers are shutting down...

I was recently really bummed to discover that the double edition of the Sunday paper I buy every Saturday night (so that I can get 2 of each of the coupon inserts)has gone up in price from $3 to $5. A monthly budget difference of $8. So, I figured I'd give the subscription department of the Dallas Morning News a call to see if they could offer me home delivery of 2 Sunday papers for an amount somewhere between $12 and $20.

I checked online first, but they only offered a single Sunday edition for delivery at $2.91 a week. So, I called the Customer Service number to negotiate with a live person. Here is a brief run down of the craziness that followed....

HotMommy: Hi, I wanted to speak to someone about subscribing to the Sunday paper?

DMN Person: Yes?

HotMommy: Well, I currently buy the double edition at the grocery store and I was wondering what the closest price to $3 a week you can give me for delivery of 2 papers?

DMN Person: I can offer you 2 Sunday papers delivered for $28 a month.

HotMommy: (pausing to mentally process this.....$7 a week...)You want me to pay 9 cents more per paper than I'd pay for the single edition if I subscribed to it twice and $2 a week more than I pay for the double edition at the grocery store?

DMN Person: Well, you're paying for the convenience of delivery and it's more difficult to deliver 2 papers than to deliver just one.

HotMommy: (again pausing to mentally process) So, you're not willing to negotiate at ALL to gain another subscriber to the paper? It really isn't more convenient for ME to have to wait until Sunday morning to get the 2 editions I buy easily on Saturday night.

DMN Person: Ma'am, $28 per month is the best price I can offer you.

HotMommy: Well, I'm going to stick to buying it at the grocery store then. Thanks for the info!


So, no wonder no one wants to subscribe anymore. What a horrible sales strategy! I'm bummed that I still have to pay $8 more a month than I use to, but there is no amount of "convenience" that would make me want to pay $16 more than I used to!!!!!

On the Precipice

I'm 31 weeks and 1 day pregnant today. I know for most folks that still feels like there is a hefty chunk of time to go, but this was the day in the Punkinhead's pregnancy that she was born so to me it feels like time has flown by. Tomorrow I will be pregnant longer than ever previously. I'm very much looking forward to having the next 48 days go by uneventfully.

Posting Easter Pictures Late

This pregnancy is kicking my butt - 10 weeks to go, though. So that's the reason it's taken me so long to post anything. Buzzkill, HotMommy, and Punkinhead started a new tradition this year of going to the Arboretum on Good Friday. The flowers were beautiful and the weather glorious. The Punkinhead loved running around the grounds in her pretty Easter dress and white patent leather shoes. She did manage to destroy her tights with her excessive climbing. Awesome family day!

Follow up to the key flushing

Remember how Buzzkill couldn't find his spare set during Friday's key flushing incident?

Well, they just turned up in the Punkinhead's sock drawer. Really.

Punkinhead’s Challenge of the Day

We had an appointment this morning at Sweet & Sassy for the Punkinhead to get some swoopy side bangs; they’ll hopefully prevent the horrendous knots we’ve been battling every day.

Before her haircut, she needed a diaper change so we darted into the restroom to take care of business. Punkinhead had grabbed my keys – standard practice and no big deal, but today....she flushed them down the toilet while I was getting a diaper out of her backpack!

That’s right. They went right down the drain. I don’t have a big “janitor’s” ring of keys, so the heavy duty public flusher sucked them down super fast. I tried for about 10 minutes to plunge them out but no luck. They were gone, baby gone.

Buzzkill was called at work and asked to grab his spare set to the minivan at home and bring them to the hair salon ASAP.

Unfortunately, Buzzkill was unable to locate the spare set, so he called the dealership and was told if he had the VIN number, they could cut him a new key in about 10 minutes to pick up.

Punkinhead and I moved on to Stride Rite to pick out some white dress shoes for Easter.

Buzzkill called to let me know it was going to be a little bit longer than he thought because the dealership forgot to tell him to bring the minivan’s title, so they’d have to look it up for him before they could cut the key.

Punkinhead and HotMommy next visited Gymboree where the Punkinhead watched TV and HotMommy spent a little more money.

Cut to Buzzkill’s next update call. With the downpour of rain, the highways were taking him longer than he anticipated.

Punkinhead and HotMommy decided to stop in to Build-A-Bear to get a birthday gift for one of our friends. Punkinhead also managed to “borrow” a Sharpie from the front counter and drew a goatee on her chin. Well, at least it wasn’t a Hitler mustache .

So, two hours after the initial flushing incident, Buzzkill makes it to the shopping center and we’re able to gain access to the minivan. Punkinhead dismisses her daddy with a “bye-bye, close peas.” (Translation: See ya, close the door now.) She promptly falls into a deep slumber and HotMommy gratefully drives home.

I think Buzzkill and I met her challenge handily. Mission accomplished!

Girl Scout Cookie Time and how we now know Punkinhead isn't allergic to coconut

Before you read this next Punkinhead story, please keep in mind that (1) HotMommy has a massive sinus infection and (2) is 17 weeks pregnant. So I fall asleep ALL the time. Can't be helped.

Yesterday our large cookie order was delivered (refer to (2) above) and we opened up a box of Samoas. Samoas are the Girl Scout cookies at the top of our eating priority pyramid. We're big on coconut here. After a half box "sampling, " I closed up the box and left it on the coffee table.

Fast forward to this afternoon following Punkinhead's naptime. I stretched out on the sofa to nod off a little bit while Punkinhead played around me in the great room (or The Great Playpen since it's enclosed by baby gates).

I woke up to the sound of plastic rustling and sat up to discover the Punkinhead sitting on top of the coffee table, an open box of Samoas with two remaining in the tray, one cookie in each little sweaty hand, an entire cookie in her mouth, and chocolate smeared over her entire lower face. She had clearly consumed quite a few cookies before I woke up too. She looked at me with a look of total joy and said (after swallowing a whole cookie) simply, "MMMMmmmm!"

Yup, that says everything you need to say about Girl Scout cookie time.

Cadillacs aren't just driven by J.R. Ewing here in Texas

Buzzkill had to get the emissions test done on the Altima this past week and was waiting in line to pay behind a 60-something lady. She was complaining about how expensive repairs on her Cadillac were to the early twenties dude that had worked on her car.

The dude responded, "Well, it's like my buddy says...pimpin' ain't easy."

Buzzkill wasn't sure if he laughed because the car dude assumed the Caddy's owner would understand or because she actually was nodding as though she understood.

Trader Tuesday

Another trader mentioned mac and cheese on FB today, which led to me wanting to make my "Queso" shells and cheese. You know that ol' Velveeta queso dip recipe with Rotel? This is an adaption of that.

Queso Shells

2 cans Rotel (20 oz total), undrained
1 cup water
2 cups of small pasta shells (or elbows, the do just as well)
8 oz. Velveeta, cut up in little squares

Bring the Rotel and water to a boil in a pot, pan, whatever you boil your pasta in. Once boiling, add the shells. Reduce the heat to med.-low and simmer for 15 minutes. 13 minutes if you like firmer pasta. Add the squares of Velveeta and stir often until the cheese is melted. I like to let it sit for 5 minutes to congeal a bit before I serve it.

New vehicle!!! Well, new to me anyway....

After 2 months of being a one car family, we finally found a used minivan that fit our needs at a price we were THRILLED at! Woot woot that we're also still a zero car payment family. It really eases the stress of a new baby on the way that we didn't need to take on a car payment to get a vehicle that works for us perfectly.

It's not my first choice in color, but during negotiations, every time the price dropped, I found that my attraction to the color increased. Interesting....I think Buzzkill was proud that a fuller wallet was more important to HotMommy than the color of the car. I also thought I wanted the 3 seat bench in the back row which this minivan didn't have. It has 2 individual seats, so instead of seating 7, it seats 6. But the more I think about it, the more I think this will work out to my benefit. Since the 2 seats need to be removed individually, I'll be able to lift them out myself, rather than need Buzzkill to lift a giant, heavy bench seat.

So, in conclusion, totally happy to be a suburban, minivan mom!

CVS and Wal-Mart runs this week

Days like Wednesday make me giddy to use coupons. I hosted the neighborhood playgroup on Monday and was "morning sick" all day Tuesday, so I was (and still am!) running behind on shopping deals this week. I still have a Walgreens run for diapers and a Kroger run for milk and toilet paper, but I managed to knock out biggies this week - CVS and Wal-Mart. And I did it with the Punkinhead in tow!

CVS was first. Here's the run down.
Transaction #1
I swung by the "magic" coupon printing machine and got $1.50 in ECBS instantly.

2 Golden Emblem (CVS brand) Cheese Crackers 9oz @ 1.97 ea. (Punkinhead digs these)
Received $2 in ECBs

4 3-packs of Kleenex tissues with lotion @ $3.69 ea. (good stockpile built now)
4 $0.50 off coupons on Kleenex 3-packs
Received $4 in ECBs

$15.41 Total after tax with $6 in ECBs to spend.

Transaction #2
3 12-packs of Caffeine-Free Diet Coke on sale for $11
Used the $6 in ECBs, so the total after tax was $5.41.


Wal-Mart had awesome deals.
8 Beech-Nut Let's Grow Microwaveable Meals $1.06-$1.16 (Totally a convenience item for when I need to throw a portable meal in the diaper bag.)
8 $1 off coupon on any Let's Grow product

3 No More Tangles Spray @ 2.72 ea.
$3 Off 3 coupon on Johnson's products

2 Johnson's Buddies soaps @ $0.97 ea.
1 No More Tangles Shampoo & Conditioner @ $3.52 (my receipt has gone missing so this amount may be slightly off)
$3 Off 3 coupon on Johnson's products

4 Green Giant Steamers on sale @ $1.50 ea.
4 $0.50 off 1 Green Giant Steamers coupons

1 Healthy Choice Frozen Dinner on sale @ $2.00 (Kept me from buying fast food for lunch!)
1 $1 Off coupon for any Healthy Choice Frozen item

Without coupons, this trip would have cost me $35.58. With coupons....$14.19!!!! That's over 60% off.

Victoria's Secret Coat Deal (the deal's not a secret)

Victoria's Secret has a bunch of coats on sale right now. Plus use the Offer Code Pick50 and get an additional 50% off! I got a white puffer coat. It'll be perfect for next winter 'cause by the time it's delivered it's not going to fit over this preggie belly!

Apparently, this code also works for sweaters too.

Frugality the Walgreens way

I had a really great trip to Walgreens this week. It involved stockpiling Buzzkill's and HotMommy's favorite cereals, getting dish washing soap practically free, and getting much needed concealer better than BOGO.

Here's how it went:
Kellogg's Special K Strawberry 2 boxes @ $2.50 (my fav)
Coupon for $1 off when you buy 2 box of any Special K cereals
Raisin Bran 2 boxes @ $2.50 (Buzzkill's fav)
Register Reward of $3 earned by buying 4 boxes of cereals

Electrosol Dishwashing pods 20 count 2 boxes @ $3.49
2 Coupons for $2.50 off 20 count boxes
Walgreens Easysaver rebate of $1.50 earned this month

L'Oreal Concealers BOGO - bought 2 for $8.99
Coupon for $3 off any L'Oreal foundation, concealer, powder or blush

So, after coupons my subtotal was $16.97 plus $0.66 tax for a total of $17.63. On top of that I earned a total of $4.50 in RR and Easysaver rebates. That's a total savings of $33.49.

Thanks Walgreens!

Want to see more Drugstore Savings? Visit the "Cent"sible Sawyer's Drugstore Divas!

Scenes from from an out of town Christmas Eve and Day

HotMommy, Great-Mamaw, and The Punkinhead before church on Christmas Eve.


The Punkinhead's Papaw is also known as the Tickle Master!


Are you peaking for Santa, Punkinhead?


Caught her mid "oh."


Little Mommy testing her baby's bottle.