Something for Nothing

With all the hoopla about crazy gas prices and economic doom and gloom, I've decided to take some action. I've always been a worried shopper. It's like that "best price" log is somehow embedded in my brain against my will. I'll run into Albertson's to grab some Mayonnaise and think "It's on sale for $4.49? That's ridiculous! It was only $2.36 at Wal-Mart when I bought it there like 8 months ago." Then it's literally painful for me to purchase it, and odds are I won't, and we'll have no mayo for a week until I can get to Wal-Mart and fight my way up to a checkout stand with two whining kids. So I'm not taking it any more. I'm ready for something to go my way, and for 5 months now I've been cutting coupons. But before you jump to any rash conclusions about what this means about me personally or even philosophically, let me explain.

My friend's neighbor runs one of those coupon websites, and 6 months ago she took me down to her basement to see her personal grocery store. I say store because she has aisles down there. You can walk up and down them. Whenever she wants, she can traipse downstairs and pick out just about anything you would ever need to sustain life or keep it clean.

The first thing she said when we walked in was, "Pick anything in here, and I'll tell you how much I paid for it." And so began my interrogation:

"How much for these Lucky Charms?"
"50 cents."
"And the Herbal Essence?"
"Free."
"Oatmeal?"
"20 cents."
"What about the Pasta Roni?"
"ten cents."
"Are you insane?"

I really think that's the first thing crossing anyone's mind when they come across a couponer. Seriously, "Are you obsessed? OCD?" Or worse: "Are you...cheap?" My new coupon friend passed her legacy of irritated cashiers on to me, and now I'm the one walking out of Albertson's with 6 boxes of Dora Band-aids for free. Just experiment upon the word my friends. And the cashiers get over it. They're happy if you're happy and don't yell at them when the computer doesn't scan correctly (which is every time).

Ty's favorite sale was the Powerade deal where I bought 6 Powerades and Wal-Mart gave methree dollars to take them out of the store. He liked it because he got to drink Powerade at home for once. I liked it because it was free.

Now I can walk through my own cold storage and tell you exactly how much every single thing in there cost. It's like a game to see how low you can really go. It turns out that coupons are fun to me and that my "best price" log is useful for once. I'll even get up early if I have to, which is a really big surprise to everyone.

Judgment Day

We met at the base of the temple, where more and more family members slowly joined our group that finally congregated under the "New Missionaries Enter Here" sign, like Nephi meeting Lehi under the branches of the Tree of Life. We quietly filed into a large room: grandparents, mothers, fathers, children, and missionaries, all united in one purpose as we sat and wept together, reminiscing over the "good old days" and the changes to come. Then Ryan went in one door, and we filed out another. It was like Judgment Day, except that I'm not sure which door led to freedom.


Nevertheless, we're so excited to have two missionaries serving in our family right now. Mimi, in the Washington DC mission, and Ryan heading to Melbourne Australia in October to teach the gospel in Mandarin.

Friends

July 21, 2008: The day Alli and Maddie started playing together.

It started out innocently enough. Alli was bugging Maddie like she's prone to do, poking her, hitting her over the head with stuff, blocking her way so she can't get by. The usual. But this time it was different. Maybe it was the amazing three hour nap Maddie had just taken, or maybe it was nothing more than the planets in alignment, but this time there was a subtle difference that changed everything: she laughed. Alli poked her again and there it was, as fresh as the diaper wrapped haphazardly around her skinny little bum: another giggle. As far as I can tell, that did it, and now they are bosom buddies. (As a side-bar, I so cannot wait for Alli to read Anne of Green Gables and start using phrases like bosom friends.)




There is a law irrevocably decreed that when it is hot and you are in the company of your very best sister, as Alli now saw she was, you must find water. I was actually on my way outside to drain the kiddie pool from earlier in the day, when Alli discovered this glorious boon. Before I knew what was happening, Alli was down to her underwear, clothes strewn across the lawn in a haphazard trail, with Maddie fast on her heels. Even though she can't talk, Maddie made it very clear that she wanted in that pool, and so I did the only thing I could. I stripped her down as well and put her in the pool where her diaper soon ballooned to the bursting point. There was no time to go in and get the swim diaper, you see. Then I did the next most obvious thing. I took pictures.

The rest of the week has been the same story. They play, they laugh, and I relax. Life is good.

Alli has been so tired from all the play, that she falls asleep on cue. I took this picture at around 11:00 pm earlier this week. Her teddy bear Veronica is holding Alli's sippy cup, two things she can't go to bed without, and there are two additions. The barbie dolls are lined up next to her head in a neat lineup, and all are sleeping peacefully. I don't know how she fell asleep like that.

to the temple

My parents live across the street from the new draper temple that is under construction. On Tuesday, we went up to watch the workers hoist the angel Moroni up to his post atop the steeple. On the ground, that guy is huge! There were a couple hundred onlookers, and it was like waiting in line at the Eiffel Tower for your photo op. We managed to sneak in and take this photo. The crane lifted him up with a bunch of cords attached to the bottom, and then some men in a cherry picker pulled the cords until he was positioned over the pole on the steeple. They spent about ten minutes turning him this way and that once he was secured, I'm guessing with a compass in hand, so he pointed East. The whole thing took about 15 minutes once they got started.

Games

I was inspired by my friend Ashley's blog and got a little creative with summer downtime last week. I am shamelessly copying her post, but we tend to do that. Cut our hair the same, have our ovaries removed while pregnant... that sort of thing. Hopefully she won't mind. The game started out innocently enough as a "let's make pretty colors," quick sale, but I tend to overdo things sometimes,and eventually I created the "let's make a color wheel game." First we guessed what would happen if we put two colors in the same cup, and then I arranged them in a color wheel to show Alli the color progression from primary to secondary colors. Looking back, I guess it got a little out of hand...



Another game we like to play is tea party. Finding a cute adult sized tea set is actually on my want list. In the meantime, I make do with Alli's. It's really hard to get enough food on those little plates, although we've tried everything from brownies to pretzels to the timeless childhood standby-- grapes. In the teapot? Lemonade, of course.

Words Alli's Say

Ever since Alli was first learning to talk, she's had fun with made up words. I think it's from her Dad because he does it as well. For example, there are three made up friends that Alli talks about from time to time. The leader of these little guys is Chonchy, and Alli mentions him the most. The other two are Side-Joe and Leurkler. Ty went through a phase after watching the movie Sahara where he wanted to have a funny side-kick, and this may have influenced Alli on this issue. Otherwise, don't ask me where she comes up with this stuff. One day Ty was listening to Alli talk to herself- she does that as well, but I'm thinking that's normal.

Anyway, she said, "Dear Chonchy. I don't like you. Signed Leurkler." Poor Leurkler. He always get the short end of it. Whenever Alli asks another one of her endless questions, Ty will say "I don't know. Why don't you ask Leurkler."

In Richmond, while we were having lunch with my friend Keely, Alli said to her: "You're a silly ho-ho." Luckily for me, Keely isn't actually from Virginia (see my last post), so she wasn't offended but amused. Later Alli explained to me very patiently that Ho-ho is the name of the monkey on Ni Hao Kai Lan, a show about a little Chinese girl. Oh, it's all coming back to me now.

Lately Madie has been getting in on the fun as well. She doesn't say many words, but she has two all purpose sounds. The first is "dis" she repeats it over and over until you get what she wants. The other sound she makes is "burf," which means: "I"m really mad at you." When she says "burf" or "buf" in sequence she's downright ticked. It comes underscored with a whine, so it's not hard to understand.

The language of childhood is the mother of invention, and I hope they never lose the creativity they have right now.