Living on Half as Much???

I was watching the Today Show this morning and when I heard the segment coming up called "Living on Half as Much", it peaked my interest...I mean who doesn't want to save money right now? Well, if you have a few minutes click on the link to check out this 7 minute segment.

I had the urge to scream at this lady as she told how they lived on half as much for an entire week! You really have to feel for this family as sadly enough she was not able to get her weekly pedicure (although she made sure to fit in an appointment the night before the "test" began). I'm not sure how this is "giving up" a pedicure since they only did the test for a week...oooh! She probably ended up going an entire 8 days without getting her feet rubbed! The pain of cutting back continued as she had to actually open the microwave and make her kids fish sticks for lunch and not go out! Oh, and then trading babysitting with a neighbor for a day--I really felt for her at this point. And then, heaven forbid, they actually washed the car as a family--this saved them $25 for not going to the carwash!! (Are there $25 carwashes?) I really felt bad as in the midst of all this frugal living they couldn't have the house professionally cleaned. Life hit an all time low for this family as they had to find something to do at home so they broke out the slip 'n slide for the kids and had friends over for a pot luck--how embarrassing! I think my favorite part of the interview was seeing the husband try to start the lawnmower that looked like he hadn't used it in years because they pay someone to do it.

Next time I think I'll call the Today Show and do the "Living on Half as Much" test...we'll be eating AT the neighbors house, selling our furniture, and I'll be setting up my own road-side "Manicures for $20" stand to pay the bills! For now, though, we'll all be feeling sorry for the hard week this family had to endure.

Kaitlyn's ABC Puzzle

Here is a video of Kaitlyn working on one of her favorite puzzles...the ABC's. Video taken on 6/29/08.

Beauty and the Beast

Thursday night Kaitlyn and I went to Kaysville City's production of Beauty and the Beast. Kaitlyn sat quietly and watched the entire 2 1/2 hour production. Thanks for letting us use your extra ticket, Allison. At intermission Kaitlyn said, "I wanna do that again." At the end of the show she walked out crying because it was over.

This morning I took Kaitlyn and four of my nieces: Emily, Madison, Melanie, and Mikell, to a Beauty and the Beast "character meet and greet" party. Belle and the Prince were there along with Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and some of the plates, spoons, and forks.

They got to take their picture with Belle and the Prince.

They met some of the other characters.

And tried to blow out Lumiere's candles.

They ate refreshments and colored pictures.

Emily was so nice and gave Kaitlyn all her princess dress ups! Thanks so much Emily!!

I just had to get some pics of Kaitlyn all dressed up...these are taken in our front yard.

Let Freedom Ring!

This 4th of July started off with me running in the Kaysville 5K race. My neighbors Joni and Jesse ran it with me. Joni and I ran all the way together and I finished in 26:23! It was my goal to finish under 27 minutes so I was pretty excited. They give you a little card after the finish telling you how fast you ran and what place you came in. My pace was 8:29 min/mile, and I finished 30th place of 237 women and 5th of 44 women in my age group. I was pretty excited to see any number in the top ten!!

We followed the race by going to breakfast at Grannie Annies. Their scones are SO amazing...and that honey butter--mmm!! I'm thinking this might need to become a 4th of July tradition.

This was our first year going to the Kaysville Parade. I think it was the longest parade I've ever been to, and we didn't even stay the entire time. The marching band started off the parade and everyone stood up and put their hand over their heart when they saw the flag. Then out of no where four jets flew overhead in formation. I don't know what it is, but EVERY time I see jets flying in formation at parades, football games, wherever...it just makes me cry! I LOVE IT!! We even got Kaitlyn to put her hand(s) over her heart.

I guess at the end of the parade it just turns into one huge water fight. In fact we saw entire truck beds filled with water, coolers filled with water balloons, and massive squirt guns. We brought our spray bottles (severely unsufficient I'm sure), but after over an hour of parading we decided to go home.

OH! I think the funniest part of the parade was when a float went by and literally at least 75 rice crispy treats got dumped on Michael's head! He totally started crying! He was sitting in his stroller with rice crispy treats all around him! They must've thrown an entire box or something. After all the kids around us were finished scrambling for treats, we still made it home with about 20 rice crispy treats!

The festivities continued on with eating dinner at Allison's house followed by "Jackson Street of Fire". This year they poured gas in the shape of the Olympic Rings on the street and then lit it on fire. All the fireworks everyone brought were lit off at the same time. When we got home, Steve and I watched Lagoon, Kaysville, and Layton fireworks from our backyard.

I'm so thankful to live in a country where we can enjoy our freedom!

Kaitlyn's Puzzle Talent

Kaitlyn is now 2 1/2 years old! She LOVES to do puzzles. She got this ABC puzzle from her aunt Lori for her 2nd birthday, and she's actually really good at it. She can do the entire puzzle in about 2 1/2 minutes! I'll hand her a letter piece upside down and turned around so she can't even see the front of the letter and she still knows right where to put it! It's pretty crazy to watch her do it!

She also has her "Elmo Puzzle", which is a 24 piece puzzle that doesn't have a back, it's just free floating pieces. She worked diligently on it for about 20 minutes tonight without even saying, "I can't do it"! She completed the puzzle all on her own. Good job Kaitlyn!

The Horror of an Oil Change...

So I've probably told just about everyone I know this story, but here it is in its complete form. Last Saturday I was out running errands with only Michael (Kaitlyn was at a cousin's house playing). I happened to drive past a famous national company that changes oil. I won't name any names, but it rhymes with "Biffy Gube". Anyway, one of their employees was out waving the "Open Bay" sign, so I thought I'd do the unthinkable and go in and get the oil changed.
I parked my car in the bay and an employee, who I will refer to as "Doofus", leads me into the waiting room where he proceeds to ask me which type of oil change I would like. He tells me about three different types, ranging up to $70--for an oil change!! I simply say, "I just want the cheapest oil change you have."
Then Doofus proceeds to ask me questions like:

"Would you like your engine flushed?"

"Ford recommends that you have your transmission fluid replaced every 30,000 miles...Would you like that done today for $169.00?"

"Would you like us to change your radiator fluid for $64.99?

"Your fuel filter should be replaced ever 15,000 miles, would you like us to do that for $49.99 today?"

"Would you like your tires rotated?"

(Now think of at least 25 more services that they could offer me and he asked all those questions, too.)

Seriously, I was already annoyed after being asked 30 questions of how they could take my money, when all I wanted was an OIL CHANGE! I sat back down in the waiting room, and after another 5 minutes Doofus walks back in. I'm thinking to myself--Wow! That was pretty fast! Until he smiles and says, "We've had a little problem". He walks me out to my car to show me that they have somehow cracked the part in my Ford Explorer where they put the oil nozzle in. Doofus then walks me back into the waiting room and tells me that they will reimburse me for fixing it. Yeah, they better!! I'm thinking that they'll just fix it there, but he then tells me that I will have to take it to a Ford Dealership where they'll have to order the part!! He tells me that I'll just need to bring the receipt back in and they'll reimburse me for fixing the broken part.

I waited another 5 minutes while they finished the "oil change" and then he brought me up to the computer to pay! He said he would give me $7 off (which I'm sure he does for everyone since that's one of their summer promotions). I say to him, "You can't charge me any less when I'm going to have to take this to the Ford Dealership to get it fixed?" Doofus replied, "Well, all I can do is give you another $5 off. So I still paid $24.99 for an oil change!! Yes, I know at this point I should've refused to pay, but it was just one of those situations where I was in "stunned" mode and didn't even know what to do. Oh, and then he tells me that I should probably get the thing that they broke fixed as soon as possible because oil will be leaking out, even though they tried to tape it. I did have Doofus write down that they would pay me back and sign his name.

Monday morning Steve took the Explorer to the Ford Dealership. He pointed to the part that had been broken and asked them to fix it. Tuesday night (so we were out of a car for two full days), we went to pick up the Explorer. Do you want to know how much the bill was? $551.00!

Wednesday Steve called the manager of the oil changing company to tell him how much the bill was that we would need to be reimbursed for. When Steve said, "Five fifty-one", the manager replied back with hope in his voice, "Five DOLLARS and fifty-one cents?" Anyway, the manager said that he didn't have that much cash in the store, but to bring the receipt in that night. Steve went in and the manager said he'd have to talk to corporate and would get back with us.

So the next day Steve calls the manager to see if anything is being done to get this $551.00 off of our credit card. The manager then claimed that Ford had something extra fixed that didn't need to be fixed. I wasn't there, but Steve was not a happy camper at this point and demanded that they figure it out and pay us back. The manager kept saying that they would only be able to pay for part of it and that the rest was our problem. It would've never been a problem if they didn't change the oil in our car!!!

So yesterday we finally got a phone call from the manager saying that Ford actually did everything right, and that they would pay us back the full amount. Now we just need to get that check in our hands!!

Needless to say I'm going to be very careful where I get my oil changed from now on, and it won't be there!!

Kaitlyn's Swimming Lessons

Kaitlyn finished swimming lessons today! They lasted a week, for 20 minutes a day. Her teacher's name was Megan, and they were one-on-one lessons to mostly learn survival skills. She's so close to being able to float on her own, but she needs to put her knees down. Kaitlyn cried, "Mommy, I want my mommy" the entire time her teacher was helping her float. One day amongst the crying for mommy Kaitlyn even said, "Oh my gosh! I want my mommy!" She also pleaded with her teacher saying, "I need a towel", "I'm done", and "Ouch".

It was cool watching Kaitlyn swim under water to the stairs with her eyes open. Then her teacher would have her swim back to her again, and then with her hand the teacher would help Kaitlyn flip over onto her back into a float. Now we just need to keep practicing!