Isn't this sweet?

I received not one, but two emails from family members today regarding the same subject.

To say I am a Husker fan is an understatement. To say my husband is a Husker fan is the understatement of the century! My husband can spend hours a day reading about football and following recruiting. He is a little crazy about it - but it is cute. Husker football is his thing.

Anyway, I am just copying this but I thought it was so cool! I am proud to say I am from Nebraska and I hope we are always known for our hospitality and kindness.






----- This says it all......Go BIG Red!!!!

jaywalker blog by Jay Walker

This is my 18th season covering Cajuns' football. And, for eight years before that, I had the opportunity to broadcast selected games on TV as well.
I've been to nine SEC stadiums. (I'll go to a 10th next season at Georgia). I've seen the Grove at Ole Miss, experienced the Gator Chomp, the Mississippi State cowbells, been a part of Alabama football in both Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. I've been called "Tigerbait" in Baton Rouge and experienced some pretty good hospitality in South Carolina.
I've said hello to the folks at Illinois and Minnesota. Felt September heat in Tempe, Arizona.
Been to Manhattan, Lubbock, Austin, Stillwater and College Station. College Station was probably the best. Folks say "Howdy" when they see you. And they say "welcome."
Haven't been to the Horseshoe, the Big House or Happy Valley. Nor have I seen Touchdown Jesus.
But I've been to College Football Nirvana.
It's located in Lincoln, Nebraska.
From the time we touched down ("Welcome to Lincoln," the police officers doing the escort said) to the time we left the stadium ("Thanks so much for coming. Have a safe trip home. We hope you'll come back again"), every Cajun fan felt like a guest.
That's right. A guest. Not the opposition ... not the enemy ... a guest.
Check into the Cornhusker Marriott, not far from campus. Fans of Big Red Nation are already there. Smiles, handshakes ... Welcome to Lincoln. Good luck tomorrow.
Board the bus for dinner. Arrive at Misty's, Lincoln's famous steakhouse (I mean, you gotta eat a steak, right?). There were about 25 in our party. We had to wait about 20 minutes for them to get everything ready. No problem. As soon as the patrons saw the Cajun gear, they wanted to talk ... introduce themselves ...welcome to Lincoln ... thanks so much for coming. Hope you enjoy the game ...
Is this for real??
And, it continued throughout the evening and into the night. We made lots of friends. We Cajun people make friends pretty easily, but it's even easier when folks want to be friends.
In Lincoln, they all want to be your friend.
Game day is different in Lincoln. They tailgate, sure, but it's tougher because, well, there's just not a lot of tailgaiting spots. But they do open the soccer field next to the stadium. Families can let the kids roam free. Nebraska radio does a pregame show there. And, a band plays during the commercial breaks.
I did an interview at the soccer field wi th the Nebraska radio folks. And then, had a pretty good trek to the media entrance. At each gate, the sight was the same. Hundreds lined up, waiting for the gates to open so they could get into the stadium and watch their team warm up.
By the time Nebraska came out, about 45 minutes before kickoff, the stadium was about 65 percent full. There was no "hey, let's stay outside and pound a few more beers."
Because it was game day. And they came to see football.
By the time the band was ready to come out, 86,000 strong were in their seats. They stood and clapped along when the Cornhusker Band played "Fight on Cajuns" to honor their guests. And when the band played "There is no Place Like Nebraska," I knew that the statement was true.
For the first time ever in my years covering the Cajuns, I did not hear a single boo when the Cajuns came out of their tunnel onto their sidelines; in fact, I heard a smattering of applause.
During the game, 86,000 cheered as Nebraska rolled. They didn't leave at halftime to go out and start drinking (and remember it was 34-0 at the half). Some were outside, but they had passes to get back in, and by the time the second half was ready to kick off, they were all back in their seats.
In the fourth quarter there were STILL over 80,000 in the stands. Security keeps an eye out for the sign of alcohol in the stands, which is20how trouble starts. If they see alcohol they don't turn a blind eye. After all, college football is about a FAMILY atmosphere.
And when it ended, the fans stayed for another Cornhusker tradition. They applauded the Cajuns as they left the field.
Now you might say, sure, it's easy to clap for someone when you just beat them, 55-0. But they do that when their team LOSES. The newspaper on Saturday morning reprinted a handwritten letter from Florida State coach Bobby Bowden after the Seminoles got a hard-fought 18-14 win years ago. Yep, the Nebraska fans cheered them as they left.
More of the same post-game. There was a young man in a wheelchair where the Cajun players were getting their postgame meal. As each player came out, the young man thanked them for coming and wished them safe travels home. Many of the players stopped to chat for a minute.
Then it was over. And, as the buses left for the airport, the fans that were still there waved and applauded. No one-finger salutes. No "you suck" chants. Simply, safe travels, my friends.
If the two teams should play again in the future, plan ahead, Cajun Fans. Make the long drive or the relatively short flight. Come in Friday. Leave Sunday. And, you will learn what REAL college football atmosphere is about.
Because, trust me ... there is no place like Nebraska.

Hilarious!

I recently changed the name of my blog. I originally thought 'a day in the life' was clever, cute and fitting for me. Then I realized there was as least one or two other blogs with the same name. I realize there are probably millions of blogs out there so I shouldn't have been so surprised when I realized this.

So tonight, I am looking around at other blogs and I found at least 3 more with the same name or almost the same name - crazy!

So if you really care, here a few more blogs with the same name (they have the same name, I changed mine). They say great minds think alike right......?

http://journalingjules.blogspot.com/

http://www.the-life-of-lisa.com/

http://rxbambi.blogspot.com/

http://sarahpuglisi.blogspot.com/

http://sorenson.blogspot.com/

http://krgreenlee.blogspot.com/

There you have it. A lot of people thought the same thing I did about the name (although they had the idea earlier than me I fear). I am still trying to come up with a better name for mine. Ideas?

Fun stuff.

ahhh, memories

I was walking on the treadmill today and I was listening to 'Eye of the Tiger' and it brought back one vivid and powerful memory for me.

You see, back in the day I was a swimmer. A terrible one, but still. I was a swimmer off and on for about 7 years. I started when I was 8 and quit after my sophomore year of high school. I actually quit just because I wasn't very good, but I would have had to quit anyway because I ended up getting mono my junior year.

I have some fond memories of swimming - even though I was probably one of the worst on the team. I still liked the people I swam with and made some friends.

So anyway, the memory is of the song - the boys team would always listen to that song in their locker room before the swim meets started. We could always hear it echoing out into the pool area and it was a bit comical. I thought it was silly at the time and I don't know how seriously the guys took themselves, but it seemed it was pretty serious. The girls didn't have a song like the boys but we did have a few of our own rituals.

This post isn't really about that song either, even though I just talked about. This is about my coach. I had a few things I would have liked to say to him if I would have had the chance. When you are an awkward high school student, it is harder to say the things you want to say and also you get smarter as you get older and know what to say better than you would have in the past. So here is what I would say to him - I guess I will phrase it like a letter.

Dear Coach Fleming,

I wanted to say thank you for being a great coach when I swam for you in high school. You were an awesome coach because you were level headed (most of the time) and fair. You didn't treat me like crap because I wasn't a great swimmer. You still tried to help me get better even though you knew deep down, there wasn't much hope for me to ever be very good.

You made swimming fun for us and let us have our time to joke around while still making sure we got our practices done and done well. You didn't put up with a lot of crap but you weren't mean either. When we had get togethers out side of the pool, you were fun to be around. I was proud to say you were my coach. The cool thing was, you were also cool outside of the swimming realm. You were an administrator at our school and I always enjoyed seeing you in the halls and your presence was calming and encouraging. You didn't smile a whole lot but when you did, we knew you were really happy.

I have great memories of swimming and though I never went down in school history for breaking any records, I can still look back with fond memories and a smile on my face, not feeling like swimming was a bad experience for me.

Thanks for everything you did.

Me

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time....

-I was skinny!

-I wore a size 4/6!

-I wasn't embarrassed of my size every time I walked out the door.

-I worked out 6 days a week.

-I did cardio for an hour at a time.

-I did a full weight workout after each cardio session.

-I wore fitted clothes when I went to the gym and looked pretty good in them.

-I had so many choices of what to wear since everything looked pretty good on me.

-I was skinny but still thought I was fat then - I had no idea.

-My sister told me while I was wearing a bikini that I had nothing to be embarrassed about (since I was insecure wearing it).

-I ate very carefully and didn't indulge very often.

-I actually was at a weight some people might have been jealous of.

-I was called 'hot' by more than one guy. I know I shouldn't have cared about this then and still shouldn't now, but it was flattering.



Gone are those days. But oh, how I wish they were back. There are many things about my life at the time that I wouldn't want back, but the skinny body is something I would take. All I want is to feel good about myself - there hasn't been one day in the last 2-3 years that I looked in the mirror and liked everything I saw. Every once in a while, I will think my hair looks ok or my outfit is ok, but never the whole package.

Anyway, it is up to me to change how I look - no one else can do it for me. I have been doing good off and on with eating right and exercising, but I haven't been consistent since about June. My goals are as follows:
Lose 10 lbs by my birthday, 20 by Xander's birthday and 30 by Christmas. I guess if I even get to half of the 30 by Christmas I will be happy but I want to get all the way there. If I am going to get there, I had better get going!

Ode to 5 years

I cannot believe my husband and I have been married for 5 years! We celebrated our 5th anniversary on Friday, September 18th. We were able to celebrate on our actual anniversary which was nice.

We went to dinner and a movie. For dinner, we went to our favorite restaurant - Lazlo's. We have gone there since we were dating. The funny thing is, when we met, we lived in Lincoln and that is where we went to eat. When we moved to Omaha a month after getting married, we would have to drive to Lincoln to eat at Lazlo's. They opened one here in Omaha 2 years ago so now, we can go to eat at our favorite restaurant here in town! That is awesome for us!

We went and saw the movie "The Hangover". It was pretty funny. We don't go to movies hardly at all so it was fun to get to one. In fact, this is only the second movie we have been to since our son was born - partially to save money and partially for convenience sake.

Looking back, I can't really remember what we did for each anniversary except for our third. I got a crazy idea a few months before our anniversary that year that we should take a trip. I started researching ideas and we ended up taking a trip to San Francisco/Napa Valley. Now, I haven't been a whole ton of places in my life, but that was by far my favorite vacation! We had so much fun and loved Napa so much!

I would say the best thing to happen to us in the last 5 years (besides just being married to each other) is having our little boy, Xander! We cannot imagine life without him and love him so much!

Here is a picture of us on our anniversary! Here's to many, many more! Or, as my husband put it in his card to me - "Happy 5th Anniversary! Let's go for 50!" I couldn't agree more! :)

No way!!!!

Has this ever happened to you?

Here is the story - I have been looking for a Halloween costume for Xander for a couple of months now. It's not because I love Halloween so much like some people but because this is his first Halloween, he will be 11 months old and I thought it would be fun to dress him up! I don't even know if we will go trick or treating but we are probably going to get together with the neighbors so I can at least take him over in his costume and take lots of pictures! Anyway, I have been trying to decide what to do, going back and forth from wanting to do a monkey to not really caring what we do. The monkey is the only idea I really had and I have seen other things I liked, but really only had the monkey in mind at first. So the one I liked the most is the Old Navy monkey costume. A close second would be a Curious George monkey costume.

So....today I am cleaning out Xander's closet, thinking that I have to make more room for the clothes we just got from my sister-in-law. I started with the hanging stuff - I took out some stuff that is too small and found a few things that he will fit in soon to wash. I remember my sister-in-law, Amy, had given us a couple of costumes and I just wanted to look at them again to see what they were. So I open the bag and there is this cute little dog/dalmatian costume that says it fits size 2-4. Cute, but a little too big for this year!

No, the story doesn't end there. I look at the other costume and realize it is the OLD NAVY MONKEY COSTUME! In a size 12-24 months! I cannot believe the monkey costume that I wanted was right in Xander's closet! That is so weird and I am so excited! My only concern is that it might be a little big, but I looked at it and I think we can make it work! Yay for us! No spending money - that is one of the best parts! I am so thankful for hand-me-downs and that we don't have to step foot outside our house or spend a penny to have a costume for Xander!

No cable and some other things.

- We haven't had cable for several months now. I think we get enough programs on the basic channels that we get for free. Recently, our NBC station hasn't been coming through. We tried everything, switching the channels on the antenna, switching out antennas with the one in the basement and trying to add metal objects near the antenna to see if it would help with reception. We did finally get it working again and I am so pleased! I thought I was going to die without NBC (not really)! Even if we suddenly had a lot more money, I am not sure we would get cable again right away as I kind of like not having 500 options for what to watch - it just confuses things!

- Xander is getting so good at standing and pulling himself up to his knees. I expect him to pull himself to standing any day now - although it could still be weeks, but it seems like he is so close!

- I have applied for jobs off and on for the last few months, but never got a phone call on any of them. The weird thing is, all of a sudden, I heard from 4 jobs at once! I already went in for some testing and a preliminary interview for one job and I am in the process of setting up an interview for the second job. I don't want to get a job, but feel like I have to at this point and at least I finally have something in the works.

- I did my first hour long walk on the treadmill on Tuesday and am going to do another one today. Even though it seems to go on forever, it is a lot easier for me and I am able to burn a lot of calories since I can stick with it for so long!

- I chopped off my hair recently. Did I already mention that? I had let it grow quite a bit and it was getting pretty damaged on the ends and I knew I needed a cut but didn't know if I wanted to trim it or just chop it off. I have had mostly short hair for the last 7 years or so and was trying to grow my hair out. The problem was, because I am a mom, I didn't care too much about doing my hair and I ended up pulling it back everyday. Now that it is short again, I have to do it more and I think it looks pretty cute! I am happy with my cut and also, I started going to a new girl and I love the way she cut my hair!

- Some people have way too much time on their hands. That was my facebook status update recently and it is so true. The way some people live their lives just amazes me. Have you ever noticed that some people will do or say anything to get attention or sympathy? What is wrong with these people? Why do they feel so attention starved? What happened to them as children? Were they neglected? I just don't get it. Don't get me wrong, from time to time I want attention or don't mind when people make me feel better about what is going on with my life, but I don't constantly seek out attention.

- My kiddo has become even more mobile recently (though he doesn't walk yet) and he is now finding it fun to get stuck in ridiculous places. We have our printer under our end table in our family room (don't ask) and he thinks it is fun to crawl back there and get stuck. He has actually started to crawl over the printer and has gotten stuck on his belly on it. It is like he 'bottoms out' like a car getting stuck on something under the middle of it. It is comical to see but he usually ends up screaming to get help to get out of his predicament! Ah, the joys of a mobile child!

- The second child debate is still ongoing for us. I am still not sure I want another child and my child is almost 10 months old. My sister and sister in law both knew they wanted another baby by the time their kid was 10 months and in fact, I think they both started trying around then. HA! I can't even IMAGINE trying for another kid right now! I think one of the major reasons is that we are feeling pretty poor right now. We still have to pay off the hospital bills from our first kid (which will be pretty soon) before I would even consider having a second baby. Also, I think even if we did have another baby, we would end up spacing them a little farther apart anyway. If everything in life goes the way we want, I imagine the soonest we would try to have another baby is around Xander's second birthday, possibly a little later. We will just have to see what the future brings.

- Tomorrow is our 5th anniversary! Has it really been 5 years already? I think that is crazy but am excited for our date tomorrow night! I love my hubby! :)

Executive decision made.

So today I made the decision to stop my couch to 5k workouts. No, I am not really quitting in the normal sense of the word. I have come to a few conclusions with following this whole plan and here is what I figured out:

- When I run, I get really sore and need to take the next day off from working out. This doesn't really fit with my plan to lose weight because I feel like I need to work out at least 5 days a week to really have it make enough difference to lose weight.
- I burn out a lot faster in my workouts if I run than if I walk. I know with most walking workouts, you would have to walk a lot longer to get the same benefits as running and also to burn as many calories. I like to do my walks at a really steep incline on the treadmill and also at a fast pace to burn a lot more calories than regular walking.
- I want to add in more weights to my workouts and I wanted to start doing some leg exercises but I always felt like my legs were so sore after my runs that I couldn't do the weights the next day. If I did a weight workout when my legs were already sore, I would be so sore the next day that I would probably be able to run about 2 minutes and then have to stop!

Based on the above findings, I decided to temporarily halt my running. I think I would be able to do this program so much better if I was about 30 pounds lighter and that is exactly what I intend to be - lighter and thinner than I am now. It will take a little while, but I know my body will have to work less hard to run when I am lighter and I really do feel like I would be able to run longer and faster then. So for now, I am giving up the running in favor of walking and more frequent workouts, including weights. I hope this doesn't sound crazy. In some ways, I feel like a failure but I am proud of myself that I got through 6 out of 9 weeks of the program. I want to lose weight and in a way I feel like this program is holding me back. Todd and I have talked about changing our habits including diet and exercise and we are starting to make changes. By Christmas, my goal is be down 25-30 pounds from where I am now. I know I can do it!

4/5 success 1/5 failure.....sorta

- My workout today was ok, not great, not terrible. I was supposed to do 25 minutes of running without stopping. As the title of my post suggests, I was able to 20 of the 25 and then I just had to stop. I ran for 20, walked for 2 then decided to do a couple of sprints. I ran at a much faster speed than normal for 1 minute, walked for 1 minute, ran for 45 seconds, walked for 1 minute and 15 seconds then ran again for 1 minute and 15 seconds then I did a cool down. I feel good that I ran 20 minutes, but bad that I couldn't do all 25. Hopefully I will get there someday!

- Xander's third tooth is just about to come in and the funny thing is, it is the other top tooth, not the other bottom tooth! I have a feeling this kid is always going to do things different than other kids. His first tooth was the top one! His second was on the bottom and now the third will be on the top! Silly boy!

- We got Xander's pictures taken on Wednesday night and I think they are going to turn out great! He looks so much different than the 3 and 6 month pictures (of course) but it still amazes me how fast he is changing. This first year of his life is going way too fast!

- Yesterday, I woke up earlier than normal and had this strange urge to start cleaning. I put away all the laundry in our room, cleaned the clothes up off the floor and the dresser in our room, did dishes, cleaned up Xander's room and a few other things. I am not sure why but somehow I lost my motivation midway through the day and haven't done much since. I mean I ran today and gave X a bath, but there really are some other cleaning things I need to get done. I guess there is always something to be done. Bleh.

- I have been applying for more jobs again so I am starting to think about what it would be like to go back to work. I am just so unsure what to expect when it comes to daycare! I don't know what a good price is, if they should charge by day or hour or week and if it matters where in town it is. Do you provide diapers and food or do they? Do you bring extra clothes for the kiddo in case they get dirty? What all do you have to send with your kid each day? What do they do all day? Do the kids have set nap times? Do they get one on one attention? So many questions. I guess if I find a job, I can find all of this stuff out then.

- I need to paint my toenails. That is such a dumb thing to comment on but I have only painted them once this summer and I feel a lot more girly when I do. Maybe tomorrow.

- I decided to start adding weights to my workouts - I want to do weights on the days I don't run. We have quite a bit of weights and a weight bench in our basement so I have all of the equipment, I just need to get started on it. Waaaaaayyyy back in the day when I used to work out 6 days a week, I did weights and cardio almost every day. I was super strong and loved the way it felt to have muscles. I don't have much muscle anymore so I would like to get some again. More than anything, I just like feeling stronger and I want to feel like I can continue to lift my son as he gets bigger without it being a huge struggle!

- I have been really into buying stuff for X secondhand. Maybe that sounds terrible to buy your kid a bunch of used stuff, but especially with clothes, they go through them so fast that it almost seems silly to buy him brand new stuff and spend all that money for him to wear it three times and then outgrow it. With toys, as long as it's not broken or really dirty, he will never know the difference! I'm just not into buying stuff secondhand like car seats that expire or could have been in an accident without you knowing. Anyway, I have found some great footed sleepers, some nice winter clothes and a few pairs of shoes for X. The shoes are in great shape and cost about 1/4 or less of what you would pay brand new. I found a few cute sweaters for $2 or less, a few long sleeved shirts for $1 each and a winter coat for $5! I also found some snow bibs for $3!!! Yay! He will use them like 10 times maybe so I would much rather pay $3 than $15 or more! I am so excited about my secondhand finds for him - plus I am able to buy more for him with buying used than I would be able to buying new.

- Todd and I will have been married 5 years a week from today - can you belive that? It has gone so fast in some ways and slow in others. Mostly fast. We are going to go out to dinner and maybe to a movie. Todd's mom is going to babysit for us so that is great! I guess I should think of buying the hubs something, but I have no idea what to get him! Also, it's not like we have a lot of money right now so it will have to be something small.

- I better finish up here and make a to do list for tomorrow. I always tend to get more done when I make a to do list. I think I forget about so many things otherwise. Good night!

Family Picture

I never post pictures of myself, mostly because I think I am one of the least photogenic people ever. Anyway, this is a picture from last Saturday when we went to Todd's parents' house to watch the Nebraska football game. A rare picture of all of us together!

NEW BLOG TITLE

I decided to change the name of my blog because I found another blog with the same name. If you want, you can read that blog here. It is called a day in the life and that is what I named my blog. I know two blogs can have the same name but I would prefer to have a name no one else has. The problem is, I haven't checked to see if the new title is taken either so I may be changing it again - haha!

Oh and one other note. The weirdest part of having the same blog name as someone else is the fact that her name is Sarah too. No joke.

Monthly check up

Ok, so I am a little late (or a lot late if you want to say that) on this post.

My previous post here stated that I wanted to make goals each month, try to achieve them and then post about them after the month is over. I am just now getting around to my check up for the previous month and I also am late on posting my goals for this month.

Ok let's start with the previous goals. I will post the goals and the results first.

1. Lose 5 pounds. I have lost about 12 and need to lose a lot more but 5 is possible. I didn't lose 5, more like 1-2. I didn't weigh myself a ton the last month, but overall, I am down about 1-2 consistently. Not goal, but better than nothing, right?

2. Be to week 5 of couch to 5k by the end of the month. This shouldn't be too hard if I just stick with it. Made it! Yay! I am currently in week 6 - the last workout of week 6 is tomorrow.

3. Organize the hall closet. Sheets and blankets and pillowcases - oh my! So much stuff and so unorganized! Oh YEAH!!!! I totally did this too! The reason I needed to do this so bad is because due to my coupon obsession, we have a huge stockpile of razors, shampoo, toothpaste, shampoo shaving cream, etc. It looks great!

4. Apply for jobs. It is looking like I HAVE to get one so I need to work on this now. I have applied for more jobs but not as many as I should have. I applied for 6 last night and plan on applying for more soon.

5. Get Xander's 9 month pictures taken. Whew! Just got in under the wire on this one. We got these taken just a few days ago. Not in August, but they are done so that is good.

6. Start planning X's birthday party - it may seem like a ways off, but it will come SO fast! Oh, gosh. I haven't gotten very far yet. I have lots of thoughts and ideas swirling around in my head and I know for the most part what I am going to do but need to start writing down some ideas and ordering a few items online (since I can't get them locally).


Ok, now onto my goals for this month!

1. Lose 8 pounds. Lofty I know but I really need to lose more and Todd and I both want to work on this more so if we do it together, we will be more likely to succeed.

2. Find a job. Full time, part time, doesn't matter at this point. I just need one!

3. Organize the family room once and for all. It is always a mess and there are many things sitting around that I need to find a permanent home for. It won't always be perfectly clean because we have all of Xander's toys there but it could be a lot cleaner around the edges.

4. Run 25 minutes in a row without stopping at least 5 times. I am in week 6 of couch to 5k and tomorrow I am supposed to do my first 25 minute run. After that, every workout is pretty much a minimum of 25 minutes of running (in a row with no stopping). I don't know how well I will do with this but I sure am going to try!

5. Order some stuff for Xander's birthday party. I think I am going to order napkins and a few other decorations. We are going to do a Curious George theme so I am going to get a few items from the collection of party supplies.

6. Make a practice cake. I am going to try and make a very complicated cake for X's party and I need to buy some cake and frosting to make a practice cake. I am doing this so I can figure out what works and what doesn't so I don't mess it all up the day before his party.

7. Scrapbook more. I am SOOOOO far behind right now on X's scrapbook - I am not even done with month 5 yet and he is in his 10th month right now! Yikes! I need to order pictures to catch up. I would like to be to month 8 by the end of this month.

8. Have a rough layout for our Christmas card. I want to make our own Christmas cards this year. We are going to get a family picture taken for X's 1 year pictures (some family and some of just him) and we are going to order enough of the 4.5x5 pictures so I can use them for a Christmas card. I have a few ideas for this already but I want to get a better idea.

Another great Target trip!

I am amazed at some of the deals I can get at Target. I know they can be picky about some of the coupons they will accept, but if I keep my eyes peeled and my coupons at the ready, I am almost always able to come away from Target with some amazing deals! Here is my most recent trip - I am so excited since I love Fiber One cereal! Overall, I paid $8.87 oop and got back a $5 gift card!





Here is the breakdown of what I got:

5 boxes of Fiber One cereal
2 boxes of Cheerios
1 box of Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal
2 Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers (I already ate one - yum!)
3 bags of dog treats
3 boxes of Cinnabon bars (I took them all out of the box and just put a few in the pic)
7 Glade candle refills (4 candles in each pack)
7 Glade candle tins

I had a coupon for a free box of Kashi cereal, 2 $1/1 Cheerios coupons, 3 $2/1 dog treat coupons, 7 free candle refill coupons when you buy the tin, 7 $1.50/1 candle tin coupons, 3 $1/1 Cinnabon bar coupons, 2 $2/1 Healthy Choice coupons and 5 $0.75/1 Fiber One coupons. I then combined those with a bunch of Target coupons to get some amazing deals.


Here is the receipt that shows my savings! I didn't really have any coupons beep or not work. I left all of the coupons that the cashier had to enter a price for until the end so they were all together. She allowed me to use a bunch of the Target coupons together so that made all the difference in my total.

Worst experience ever

Just a little note - I am mad about my experience tonight and wanted to let it out. Just fair warning if you don't want to read all of my complaining. Although, I think it is justified.

We went to a certain fast food place in a certain mall tonight (both shall remain nameless for now) and wanted to get dinner. I had a coupon for this place as well as a gift certificate. The coupon was for a buy 1 get 1 free food item. The gift certificate was for $5. I show the coupon to the guy working at the counter just to make sure we could use it. He looks at it and says sure, we can use it. So, we order our food, make small talk and go to pay. The guy tries to tell me that we can't use both the coupon and gift certificate. When he said that, I just said "Well, the coupon is a coupon, the gift certificate is like me handing you cash - it is a form of payment". He still refused and I tried again to explain to him the difference and there is no reason he should not be able to accept both. He kept refusing so I asked if I could speak to a manager. He said he was the manager. I asked if he was the owner and he said no. Instead of calling the owner, he gave me her phone number and made me call. That was pretty rude. Anyway, he kept arguing with me and finally asked if I wanted my food or not. I said, not until there is a resolution. My husband was waiting at a table with our baby so he didn't really know what was going on other than the fact that we weren't getting dinner. In the mean time, I had to call the owner, and of course, she didn't answer. I asked for a corporate phone number and he told me he didn't have one. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? You don't have a corporate phone number? That is a joke. He was just being very rude at that point and was clearly on a power trip. He then tells me he will try to call the manager - goes in the back and comes out and claims he called her and now, not only do they not take the gift certificate, but they won't take the coupon either. WHAT???? This is clearly out of hand now. I asked if I could speak to her so she could tell me that and he said he was already off the phone with her and I thought - oh, how convenient. She tells you what you are telling me but I can't hear it from her. Who doesn't take gift certificates to their own store???? Ahhhhhhh!!!!! So annoying. Anyway, he took the tray of our food away and wouldn't help me anymore. That. Was. The. Worst. Customer. Experience. Of. My. Life.

As I walked away, I said 'thanks for the free drinks'. He had given us the cups for our drinks already and we both had filled them already. I am actually glad they had to waste the food - it hurts their bottom line and if they are going to hire ridiculous rude people like that then they deserve that. I can't even explain how upset I am over this. It literally made me cry because he was so, so rude. I have never been treated so rudely in my life. Also, I was sure at the beginning of the conversation to be kind about it and talk normally as to not be rude to the guy. I am not going to say I was sweet as pie towards the end, but he was absolutely the jerk in this situation. Let's review why you don't do this to customers.

- Customers are how you make money - duh!
- Alienate customers and they won't come back.
- Alienate customers and they will tell other people about how bad their experience was.
- Make a customer mad and they will complain to corporate and get a lot more from them than the stupid coupon would have cost you.
- It is not worth alienating a customer over $5! Is it really that big of a deal to just take care of a customer? No way!


So anyway, I did leave a message for the owner and she called me back and left me a message so we will have to see how this is all resolved tomorrow. I wish that guy would just be fired - that is just not acceptable and I cannot believe an owner would put up with an employee like that. I know that I don't have the power to make sure the guy is fired, but I sure wish I did. Ok, I am done, sorry for the rant. I just needed to get if off my chest. Hope everyone else's day was better!

From the desk of Sarah.....

- No, there is no big news. Just a few boring things in my life that I will share.

- We had a fun weekend! We went to Schuyler on Saturday to Todd's parents' house to watch the Nebraska game. It was awesome, mostly because Nebraska won! We then went to Lincoln on Sunday for a 'family reunion' with my mom's side of the family. It was very nice to see everyone and it has been too long.

- I have decided that it is high time I lose some more weight for real this time. I have had good intentions for a while now and though I did lose about 12 pounds 2 months ago, that is not making me feel better now and I need to lose much, much more.

- Regarding losing weight, I figure I have about 2 1/2 months until X's birthday and I want to be down 15 more pounds by then at least. 20 would be much better and I want to be down 30 by Christmas. I am sick of the way I look in pictures and I want to start feeling good about how I look. And if not good, just better than now.

- X's 9 month pictures are on Wednesday - those are always fun! We are about 2 weeks late but this is one of the first chances we have had since Todd has been working so much and he likes to come along. We are going to put him in a Husker outfit since we love the Huskers and it fits the fall/football season theme since he turned 9 months just before the season started.

- I am thinking more and more every day that I need to get some kind of job. I have mentioned it before in about a dozen posts, but it is becoming clearer by the day and every time I look at our checking account. Yikes! I did talk with my Aunt this weekend and she works at a company that does hire work at home employees and she said if I reminded her about it, she would see if she could make a few calls to try and help me out with getting a job. A work at home job would be perfect so I could stay at him with the X-man!

- Even though I think it would be fun to move for Todd's job, I am dreading the day he tells me we are going to move because that means my full time job will be housework until we are gone. Our house isn't the dirtiest you have ever seen, but it is not the cleanest either. We have a lot of deep cleaning to do as well as a ton of de-cluttering! We need to get rid of so much junk and I swear I could clean for a month straight before the house would sparkle.

- Xander is getting better at standing every day and it is so fun to watch him! We try to help him take steps to the side when he stands, but he is still too unsure of his footing. He is getting closer to pulling himself up on things. He can't pull himself to stand yet, but he can pull himself up to his knees a little bit when he is holding onto something a little lower. He also started getting more interested in pulling himself to his knees in his crib. I swear he is a little 'behind' on this stuff but who really cares!

- Xander had no teeth at all until 9 months, then he literally got 2 of them in two days! He got the top left tooth first (how weird) and then the bottom right. His top right is just about through the skin but I see no signs of the bottom left. It is fun to see the teeth, but toothless, grinning babies are the cutest and I will miss the gums!

- My run today was late and terrible. I should have done the workout I did today on Saturday, but we were out of town Saturday and then again Sunday so I decided to just keep going where I left off. I was supposed to run 10 minutes, walk 3 then run 10 again. I did the first half just fine. When I got to the second 10 minutes, I definitely failed. I ran about 5 minutes, saw a huge spider crawl across the floor, screamed to my husband to come kill it and slowed down to walk since it startled me and made my breathing heavier and my heart rate go up (yes, I hate spiders that much). So I started running again for less than a minute after he killed the spider and stopped again. I walked for 2 minutes then ran 3 more, but overall of the second 10 minutes, I only ran 8 which sucks. I was able to run 20 in a row before - why was this so hard? To make up for the crappy job I did, I decided to walk for another 20 minutes after my running was over. I jumped the incline on the treadmill way up and walked at a steady pace for the rest of the workout. I did just over 50 minutes total so at least it was a long workout that burned a lot of calories. I am going to repeat my week 6, day 2 workout on Wednesday and hope it goes better than today!

- Todd was off Saturday, Sunday and today and has tomorrow and Wednesday off as well. It is like a mini vacation for him and I really appreciate having him home. He has been helping me with feeding Xander his bottles and even though you wouldn't think so, it has been a nice break for me. Don't get me wrong - I love caring for my son. But there are days where the routine and monotony gets old. I like to have Todd help me out with Xander because, despite what my husband sometimes thinks, caring for a child is hard work! I just need a break sometimes, just like he needs a break from his work!

- That is all for now. I have many, many more thoughts running through my head as usual, but I only have so much time and 8 a.m. will be here before I know it. Off to sleep!

And another photo hunt!

I found a new website for a photo contest for September. This one isn't really a contest but just a photo scavenger hunt. I think the list looks fun and here it is!

1.) Something in flight
2.) A gas pump
3.) Graffiti ... or street art
4.) Soap or soapy
5.) An herb
6.) something vinyl
7.) A bottle of perfume/cologne
8.) Snazzy Shoes
9.) A worm
10.) A city bus
11.) something curly
12.) A key
13.) Something cold
14.) Sports Memorabilia
15.) A feather/feathers
16.) Something twisted
17.) a hole
18.) a leprechaun
19.) Something lacy
20.) something nutty
21.) sheet music
22.) A splash
23.) an apple/apples/apple something
24.) a shovel
25.) Something empty.
26.) a triangle
27.) something purple
28.) Juicy
29.) Noisy
30.) Something sad

I am already a few days behind so I better get going!

A few randoms...

- I had a horrible run yesterday! I did my 20 minute run on Tuesday and yesterday was a 5/8/5 run with walking in between each run. I thought it would be easy compared to the 20 minute run. Ha! It was harder I swear! Although I do think that the reason it was so hard is because I did it at a 0.5 incline. That may not seem like much but for how out of shape I am, that was tough. Plus, the first 5 minute run I did, I went .3 mph faster than I had been running most of the time. Those two things were too much I think when combined. Anyway, when I got to my 8 minute run, I thought I was going to barf half way through. I did the whole workout without any cheating but still, it was tough and pretty pathetic.

- I am a little concerned about my run tomorrow because my knee hurts. Not due to running, no, no, that would be too normal and simple. It is because I fell pretty hard yesterday. Not while running. Here is how it happened - I was in the upstairs bathroom getting ready to go out and run errands last night and my kiddo was in the high chair down in the kitchen. He was just eating a few of those cereal puffs so I figured he would be fine. I always listen for coughing just in case he would choke. All of a sudden I hear him start crying super loud! This is not a normal whimpering cry like 'I am lonely' or 'I need some juice' or 'I have a dirty diaper' cry. This was a 'I am hurt bad, come get me now' cry! I freaked out, jumped up, caught my foot in the hair dryer cord and fell super hard on my knee and wrists. I am surprised I didn't either rip the cord on the dryer or rip the plug out of the socket. Needless to say, he was fine - there was nothing wrong at all! I was kinda mad, but super relieved. I actually started crying a little bit when I went down and he was fine because I was hurt, but mostly because my mind started going thinking what I was going to find when I got down to him and it was a relief that nothing was wrong. I am not normally clumsy but I think it was because I was trying to hurry so much.

- We got some awesome books for Xander from our neighbors for free! I was going to ask for some books for him for his birthday or Christmas but now we don't need any! There are some awesome books and there are least 30! Most of them are in super great shape. I am so excited and so thankful for their generosity! I think they are cleaning out their house and basement because they are going to put their house up for sale and we are happy to take anything they don't want off of their hands!

- Xander is getting better about standing. I can now stand him at his play table and back completely away or walk away and he will stand there for a few minutes. It is fun to see him change!

- Regarding the previous statement, in some ways, it is sad to see my kiddo grow up so fast. We ordered this cool car seat for him since he would need a new one pretty soon and this one was an amazing deal. It was originally $280 or so and we got it for $132 shipped! I am very happy about it since it is a good brand - Recaro. I had asked this lovely lady, Sharon, about her Britax and what she thought about it. She recommended it and I was thinking about getting one, but we couldn't get it quite as cheap as the Recaro and the Recaro did get great reviews also so we went ahead and got this one. We are probably going to ask for money for the seat for X's birthday from my parents and Todd's parents. Anyway, it is fun to see him sit in a big boy seat but kind of sad that he is already old enough for a bigger car seat. Here is a picture of the seat we got - we love it so far!

My photos - a little late.

Here are my photos for the most recent photo hunt. I am just now getting around to loading the pictures onto the computer so I have no idea if I will even be considered for the challenge, but I might as well try! I know they aren't very good - I think I did better with the last photo challenge I did. I just didn't have any super creative ideas this time. I think for the next one, I am going to spend more time trying to come up with some cool photos.

Here they are!


1. A fountain. This is one in my parents' back yard.

2. A road or pathway. This is the path up to our house.





3. A fence. This is actually in our back yard!




4. A symbol.

5. A black and white picture.

6. A clunker car.

7. A cool car.

8. A portrait. Our wedding picture.

9. Amusement.

10. Back to school.

11. Urban/city.

12. Suburban.

13. Country/rural.

14. Something domestic. Our dog.

15. Something wild.

16. Something silver. My wedding ring.

17. Something gold. Our deadbolt.

18. Something shiny. Todd's baseball card collection stickers.

19. Something miniature. Big and little tomatos.

20. Something delicious. Home grown cherry tomatos.

Should I change the name of my blog?

My title asks that question because it seems like all I have been writing about recently is my running (or jogging - whatever you want to call it). I am so into this whole Couch to 5k thing and I am excited about my progress so I feel like it is all I talk about. I mean, it's not the only thing I talk about when I have normal conversations with people but on here, it is easy to write about.

My life is pretty boring so when I do something other than play with my son all day, I want to write about it! I am just loving the way I feel now that I am running. I am super excited that I have made it as far as I have! Too bad I haven't lost any weight from it yet.

Today I ran 20 minutes straight with no stopping! I was sure towards the very end that I was going to die, but I made it! The first 10 minutes were not too bad but I didn't feel as good as I did the other day when I did two 8 minute runs. Anyway, towards about 14-15 minutes I was seriously wishing it was over with but I held on. I kept a steady speed all the way until the last 3 minutes when I slowed down a little. I was definitely just jogging at the very end and slowly at that, but I still did it! I was just amazed that my body was able to make it through! 20 minutes is more than double what I did before (8 was the longest I had gone) and I had only done the 8 minutes once!

The cool thing is, the next workout I do goes back to a combo of running and walking but the running periods are longer than they were before (but not longer than the 20 minutes). I am glad to have a little easier of a workout again. During the next two workouts, I am going to work on bumping up my speed since the runs will each be shorter. After 20 minutes, everything else will seem like cake I bet!

Here are my next 3 workouts:

Workout 1 of week 6 -

Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

Workout 2 of week 6 -

Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)

Workout 3 of week 6 -

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 25 minutes) with no walking.

25 minutes in a week? I don't know, 20 about killed me. But I think if I just keep going with the workouts, I will be able to do it.