The Facts of Life

It is sometimes amazing to me how difficult it can be to explain things to children. It doesn't even have to be a difficult topic. Many times, it is just defining something that we just know. Sweetpea and Wildman have had more than their fair share of facing the facts of life this past month. Particularly, dealing with death.

During the past month we have been to two funerals for family members. Sweetpea is too young, of course, to really understand what is going on. She has been a real trooper with the long drives and flights that we have taken. Wildman, on the other hand, is at the age of questions. Prior to this month, Wildman had been to a military memorial service at 2 months of age and then a funeral for a different grandmother at 2 years of age. At the funeral, there was an open casket and we made sure not to use the words "sleeping" or she got "sick" so that he wouldn't get confused. The difficulty with the most recent funeral experiences was the differences between the services.

The first service we went to at the beginning of June was for my Great-Grandmother, so Wildman and Sweetpeas' Great-Great-Grandmother. She was 4 months shy of her 100th birthday. Her visitation and funeral involved an open casket. We had also visited her a month beforehand, so it was easier for Wildman to relate the person he had visited with the person in the casket. He was able to see her and see that she was not moving.

The difficulty was with the second service. Exactly a month after my Great-Grandmother died, my paternal Grandfather died. He had been ready to go. He wanted to be with my Grandmother, who had died 3 years ago. My grandparents had decided they would be cremated so they could be buried together at the veteran's cemetery. This is where the explanation gets difficult. At the end of the service, everyone had their chance to go up to the front and say their goodbyes to both Grandparents. Wildman was confused about the "box" being so small. At that moment, I told him that both Great Grandparents were in there and we were saying goodbye. I said I would explain when we got to the car.

As we were heading to the car, I was trying to decide how to explain cremation to a 3 year old. I explained that, when a person's body stops working and they die, some people choose to have their body buried, while others choose to have their body turned into ashes. I reminded him that your brain and body no longer works. I explained that Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma wanted to be together and decided to have their bodies turned into ash to be buried. I left it at that and he seemed content with that answer. He didn't ask about how bodies are turned into ash, so I didn't feel the need to mention fire. We are also not really religious, so there was no need to mention afterlife or anything along those lines. I feel good about my response. It seemed to help Wildman and he seemed content with the answer.

Have you had to explain death to your kids? If so, how did you explain it? If not, are you waiting for them to ask you or do you have an age that you plan on discussing it with them?

On a lighter note, but still dealing with the facts of life. Wildman was in the tub the other night and he was discussing how, when he has a baby, he will feed it with his boobs ;-) I then had to explain to him how boys can't have babies. He wanted to know why. Now, he does know about the differences between boys and girls, so I just had to expand on our previous discussions. Needless to say, he didn't seem to think it was fair that he wouldn't be feeding any future babies!

Target, 7/5/11 and CVS 7/4/11

CVS was an OK trip. Total product worth was$18.47 and I paid $5.18 for the first transaction and $0.54 for the second transaction, a 69% savings. The first transaction was the Oral-B Pulsar and the 2 Oral-B Crossaction toothbrushes and the Hershey's Bar. I had a CVS coupon for a free Hersheys candy bar (it was actually for a different one, but they didn't have it so the cashier let me pick another one). I would have gotten 2 of the Pulsar toothbrushes, but they only had one left.

Transaction #1
Oral-b Pulsar $5.99 - $3/1 = $2.99 + $3 in Extra Bucks
Oral-b Crossaction (2) $3.00 - $2/1 - $3/1 = $1.00 + $2 in Extra Bucks
Hershey's Bar $1.19 - $1.19 cpn = Free
Total: $5.18 and $5 in Extra Bucks

Transaction #2
Dean's milk $2.79
Starburst $2.50 - $2/1 (CVS cpn from the machine) = $0.50
Total: $0.54 and $2.00 in Extra Bucks

I then used the $3 in Extra Bucks from the first transaction. Now, if you wanted to, you could have done three transactions. The Crossaction toothbrushes could have been first, then the second could have been the Pulsar and you could have used the $2 Extra Bucks towards that. Just an idea for someone else.


I am really proud of todays Target trip. The only downside was I wasn't aware of an item my step-daughter needed until we were already in the store and the coupon was outside. Oh well. Overall, I think we did pretty well. We got $33.25 worth of product for $8.58, a 75% savings.

KC Masterpiece $0.99 - $1/1 mfr cpn = FREE
Oretega taco seasoning (6) $0.59 - (3) $1/2 mfr cpn = $0.54 or $0.09 ea
Uncle Bens rice (2) $1.29 - (2) $0.75/1 = $0.54 ea
Honey Nut Cheerios (2) $2.50 - (2) $0.50 = $2 ea
Vitamin Water (3) $1 - B2G1 = $2 or $0.67 ea
PaperMate Ballpoint pens 10 pk (2) $1.02 - (2) $1/1 = $0.02 ea
Bic Easy Glide Ballpoint pens 9 pk (4) $0.99 - (2) $1/2 = $1.96 or $0.49 ea
Scotch Magic tape (4) $1 - (2) $1/1 - (2) $0.50/1 = $1 or $0.25 ea

I also needed 2 shower curtains ($2.34 ea) and a soap dish for the new ducky creamsicle scented soap I got from Good Bath Company ($0.99).

Not pictured
Notebook $0.50
Skintimate shave gel $1.97 (I had a coupon in the car for $0.55 off)
Ponds make-up remover $4.39 - $1.50 cpn = $2.89

I then had a $5 Gift Card from the last trip, along with 2 $3 coupons from customer service.

Proof for any doubters ;-) This is just Targets receipt. I think the CVS one may be in my wallet, which is somewhere!

Staples and Target, 6/30/11

I went ahead and took advantage of the Staples toilet paper deal. The shelf said the price was $7.99, but it rang up $4.99. Plus I had the 15% coupon so it was only $4.56 for 16 rolls.

I then headed to Target. We don't have a Super Target, but they do have a decent amount of food items. I got 5 Edy's ice creams ($2.99 ea - $1 cpn), 3 bags of frozen chicken breasts ($5.99 ea - $2.50 cpns), 2 bags Starburst ($2.50 ea - $2 cpns), 3 Ritz Crackerfuls ($2.40 ea - $3 cpns), a free box of Fig Newton thin cookies ($3 - $1 cpn - free for buying 3 Ritz Crackers), nail polish ($2.49 - $2 cpns), and Hefty one-zip bags ($2.04 - $1.15 cpns). I got $67.20 worth of product for $38.95, plus a $5 Gift Card, plus $6 in "Our apologies" gift cards.

I should explain the "Our apologies" gift cards. I had an issue a few weeks ago with a cashier who chose not to scan all my coupons but still deposited them all. She made this big fuss about having to deal with coupons. Now, I didn't realize not all of the coupons had made it on until I was looking over my receipt. By that time, I had two cranky kids and was done for the day. I called back, once I got home and everyone settled, and I spoke with a manager regarding my concerns. Well, I unfortunately got the same girl again. There were only two lanes open and they didn't open anymore until I had everything out of the cart. Same issue again. Plus, she wouldn't give me the discount for bringing my own bags because she said they weren't allowed to unless they were Target bags. Well, this time the kiddos were doing really well, so we headed over to Customer Service to speak with a manager. He was so apologetic, especially about the fact that I felt I needed to avoid a cashier. He gave me the $6 gift cards and would have taken the bag discount off, but it wasn't worth trying to get $0.15 added back to my card. Long story short, don't let a store employee guilt you when you are in the right. Like I told the manager, they don't loose money with coupons, they actually make money. He actually agreed and he felt the coupon programs were some of the best things they had.

Walgreens 6/29/11

So, today was just a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (how many of you remember that book?). I did get in a trip to Walgreens this evening after taking Wildman to the hospital for some lab work. We did pretty well. I paid $8.19 out of pocket for a total of $18.18 in product. For some reason, I had let me stock of deodorant for my husband run out (so of course I don't find out about this until the dreaded "Honey, do you know where any more deodorant is?"). This lead to me not being able to get it on sale. I was able to use a BOGO coupon and a $1 off coupon, so instead of paying $4.99 each, I paid $3.99 for both. I also paid only $2.50 for the paper towels, after a $2.50 coupon. The bandaids were on clearance for $0.99 and I had a $0.50 coupon. All in all, not a bad trip for a last minute one.

Rock-a-Bye-Booty

I am all about helping other SAHM/WAHM. I think they have some of the best items, but I also hope to get the same support once I start selling more things. Rock-a-Bye Booty is currently doing a giveaway for a blogger to receive some of her items for a review and giveaway of their own. She has some awesome items and she will be doing the drawing once she reaches 1400 likers. So, go like her page and let her know I sent you.

Stress

So, lately I have just felt utterly STRESSED OUT! Since I feel stressed, I then feel tired, which means I am not getting everything done that I need to which then leads to ... more stress! Why is it that, as moms or women, we seem to think we must do it all. I have multiple things that have been leading to my stress. Some of them I have brought upon myself (certain standards of cleanliness in the house, feeling like the only one who can do certain things with the kids) and others are the bottled up kind of things. Those things that you don't want to worry other people with, so you keep it inside. I keep telling myself I just need to let it out, alas, I just can't. The worst part of it is I find myself being more short with Wildman and Sweetpea, which isn't fair to them.

Today I finally started to take a stand. I started by not worrying about upsetting some people and I extended our outing this morning. I took Wildman and Sweetpea to the park to let Wildman play. Then, this afternoon, I put my foot down and started enforcing some rules in the house that weren't being enforced (my stepdaughter is here). I just need to keep making the baby steps. I don't want to worry my husband with some of these things because he is already super stressed at work. I am also not a huge fan of confrontation, so that makes things a more stressful when it comes to parenting my stepdaughter.

I am sure all of you have some stresses. What are some things that you do to relieve that stress? Is there anything you feel the need to vent about? Vent on moms, dads, anyone!

CVS trip 6/22/11 and Target trip 6/23/11

Well, I have to say that the definite draw back to where I live is that they don't tend to carry most of the advertised deals I hear about online.  I ended up calling the three CVS stores around me to see if they carried the Hawaiian Tropic chapstick, that would have given me $10 RR to use towards the Coca-Cola, but alas, none of them did.  I ended up spending $13 total in two transactions.  I bought the Hershey's Bliss first for $5.99, then used the $5.99 RR I got towards the coke, which was 5/$13.

Target went a little better, but not by much.  They had a deal where if you buy 4 Q-tips, you got a $5 gift card.  I bought 4 at $1.82 each.  The Nivea men's body wash was only $0.04 after stacking a $2/1 man cpn with a $1/1 Target cpn.  The Kids Clif Bars were only $1.54 each after stacking (2) $1/1 man cpn with (2) $1/1 Target cpn.  The Sally Hanson nail polish (Wildman picked out for my stepdaughters birthday) was $1 after using a $1/1 Target cpn.  The Kraft dressing was $0.69 each after using a Target cpn of buy 2 get one free and another Target cpn of buy 2 get $1 off order.  The shirt was FREE!  It was on clearance for $2 and I had a mobile Target cpn for $2 off any top.  The shin guards were something my son needed for soccer.  They were still cheaper than any place else.  If I had been thinking, I would have done this order has 2 separate transactions and used the $5 gift card towards the shin guards.  In total, I spent $23.13 and saved 56.95%.