Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Momfession: I am a crazy coupon lady

Wait, wait, wait, before you judge, allow me to explain.  
1.  I do not have a garage full of stockpiled items.
2.  I only have 2 containers of mustard in my fridge and they are different kinds.
3.  I don't feed my family processed TGI Friday's anytizers I got for free.  Ever.

My favorite place to coupon is CVS, because it's like a puzzle or game.  There are many blog posts on the internets that explain how the system works, so I won't get into that here.  The only thing I will say is that CVS has an ECB (extra care bucks) program.  Certain items give you in-store credit (called ECBs) and when you buy them, you get ECBs back.  My two rules for CVS are:
1.  only buy items I need 
 2. only buy items that give me ECBs or that are on a really good sale

Here is a recap of my best CVS trips:

1.  The time I got 3 shampoos, 1 conditioner, and a jumbo pack of baby wipes for $3.50
2.  The time I got contact solution and Necco wafers for $1.00
3.  The time I got toilet paper, overnight diapers, and 2 toothpastes for $10.00

There.  Aren't you impressed?  You wanna be me.

And, AND today.  Today I got this from CVS:

Labels
Oral B toothbrush replacement heads, ginger ale, tissues, and necco wafers.  You could probably tell that by looking.
For $1.73.  Here's how it went down:
The Oral B toothbrush replacement heads were on sale for $5.99, and you got 2 ECBs back with purchase.  The tissues were 99 cents, the ginger ale was 99 cents, and the Necco wafers were probably around a dollar or so.

I had a coupon from the Sunday paper for $3.00 off the toothbrush heads, which I combined with a CVS coupon (from their coupon center) for $1.50 off a dental care item.  I had a 25 cent off coupon for the tissue (from the paper), and 30 cent coupon for the ginger ale that also printed out at the coupon center.  Then, I had $3.00 in ECBs left from a previous trip.  HOWEVER, my total was less than $3.00 so I was forced to buy the candy in order to use my ECBs, which brought my total to $1.73.

I can't believe I just blogged about coupons.  Where is my life going?

Monday, July 29, 2013

How to Sell your House: Part II, How to Choose an Agent

Upon completion of step one (see below), you may now proceed to step two:

How to Choose a Real Estate Agent


In order to find an agent, follow these simple steps:

1.  Notice signs around you...who are people using?  Is he/she selling houses?  For us this was easy, since we lived in a small neighborhood and 99.9% of the people used one person.  I will withhold her name here. 

"I want no part in this nonsense."--Team Frowow's agent

However, if you contact me I will tell you because we highly recommend her.  To be honest, Andres was a little nervous about using her because of the monopoly she appeared to have in our neighborhood.  He developed quite a few theories to account for this, none of which were ethical or wholesome.  I am happy and relieved to report that none of his theories were true.

We do have a friend who is a real estate agent (who we also recommend), but personally we didn't really feel comfortable with a friend up in our financial grill.  And if for some reason we were unhappy, things could've gotten awkward.  And what if our children ended up falling in love and getting married?  Oh Lawdy.  

 
  Team Frowow does not stand in the way of true love.

2.  Call the agent and book an appointment
He/she will ask you questions that you probably don't know the answer to because your husband doesn't know you're actually calling to make an appointment.  Flub your way through in an effort to sound completely legit.  It's also best to do this in a quiet environment, i.e., not in the bathroom at work while pumping.  Whatevs, man.

Just so you are prepared, your agent will probably ask what model of home you own.  There is a better answer to this than "the small one with the curvy arch thingy between the dining area and kitchen," but I don't know what it is.

He or she will probably also ask what upgrades you've done.  I think I mumbled something about how we painted 2 whole rooms, and maybe I possibly mentioned that our toilets were super clean and we've never worn shoes on the carpet, do we get points for that?

3.  Meet the agent
When your agent arrives at your door, try not to look surprised. He or she will most likely look nothing like their sign.  I thought our agent was about 50 and Andres thought she would be 17.  (She is neither, but if you average those numbers together Team Frowow earns points).  You may want to practice looking calm in the mirror.
As a result of looking nothing like her photo, I thought we were letting a complete stranger into our house and scanned the room for objects I could use as a weapon, if needed.  I settled on the fireplace poker and invited her inside.

4. Listen to the spiel
Our agent came armed with a binder full of information and statistics.  Andres was all:




because the man loves nothing if not a good spreadsheet.  The writing was on the wall.

To be honest, her two hour spiel could've been 1 hour and 55 minutes shorter, but I'm not most people and it actually is GOOD that she had plenty to say.  Beware of those who don't.

4. Ask questions
I will divide this section into two parts.
Part One:  Questions to ask in your head
This one is vitally important:
Can I see my husband and I arguing in front of this person?

Because you will, my dear.  You will.

and

Can I see us giggling on the phone at 11 pm trying to do square footage math?

 Because you will do that too. 

Part Two:  Questions to ask with your mouth

Do you have a boyfriend?
Pertinent informationNot only did she answer without skipping a beat, she gave enough romantic background information to let me know she wasn't going to be "all professional, all the time."  Because selling a house is emotional, you don't want to go through it with someone who's all:  

 
 You want the experience to be more like this:
I'm the one on the right.

One more piece of advice:  if the agent reminds you of any HGTV agent in the slightest way just say no.
So, there you have it.  My comprehensive guide to choosing an agent.  Armed with this information, you can go forward with confidence. 







Next up is Part III:  How to put an offer on a four houses.  But not at the same time.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Sweetbottoms Bin Sale!

On Friday morning, Max and I headed down to Cary to shop the bin sale at Sweetbottoms Baby Boutique.

 If you are lucky enough  to live in the triangle area, I highly recommend checking them out.  They have a wide variety of cloth diaper brands and types.  They also carry amber teething necklaces, baby carriers, and a hodge podge of other items.  If I was pregnant, it would be a dangerous place for sure! 
 If you are not able to visit their brick and mortar store, you can still join the fun (not the bin sale fun, unfortunately, but the general fun) by visiting their website..  When I began cloth diapering (a mere 3 months ago!) I price-compared several sites and Sweetbottoms had the best deals—so I ordered my fluff online.  It arrived within a matter of days and they included a personal note and a free sample of  goat’s milk soap.  At the time I didn’t even realize that I lived within driving distance of their actual store—but it doesn’t matter, because they do free shipping on all US orders, so I didn’t end up paying extra!  And Team Frowow loves nothing if not a good deal!  Which is why I had been looking forward to the bin sale for weeks.  I picked up this fluff:
2 kawaii pocket diapers, 1 large Planet Wise wet bag, 1 kissaluvs cover, and 1 Blissful Booty all-in-one
I paid around $30 total, which I think is great.
The bin sale runs through Sunday and you should definitely check it out!  A few notes about the sale:
  • ·        All sales are final (duh)
  • ·        If you are a GIRL MOM, this is WELL WORTH your time.  As usual, girl-patterned diapers, ribbons, bows, baby legs, the whole happy meal—were plentiful.
  • ·        Boy moms can score too—but most boy items were limited to wet bags, Kawaii minky covers, plain white econobum covers, Basix Blueberry all-in-ones, and lots of swim gear.   Worth your time mainly if you have a little guy, under one year

With my gear from this sale, I think we are all set with cloth diapers!  Our collection consists of:
  • 12 grovia prefolds
  • 1 kissaluvs cover
  • 4 grovia snap-in soaker pads
  • 5 grovia shells
  • 3 flip prefolds
  • 4 Kawaii pocket diapers (my FAVORITES)
  • 1 bumkins AIO
  • 1 Blissful Booty AIO
  • 2 thirsties covers

I bought most of these on sale (another local store, Smart Momma, was going out of business) and at Sweetbottoms.  I believe my total cost is around $225.  Even though I didn’t start cloth diapering until Max was 15 months old, that is still saving money!  And, let’s be real, the big appeal of cloth diapering is a cutely padded tush:
 
Max in his bumkins all-in-one

A Year and a Half

How did this happen?  How did my sweet little boy grow from this:



Photo Credit:  Becca Robinson Photography

To this:






How did that happen?  

Max Says
hello, hi, papa, mama, neh (this refers to all animals), ball, bye bye, milk, mas, agua, book, blue, car, go, uh-oh, bubble

Max Signs
more, milk, please, thank you

Max Identifies
his belly, eyes, ears, shoulders, nose, mouth, head, arms, and boogers (courtesy of Andres)

Max Loves
bathtime, Papi's guitar, all animals, stuffed animals, electrical outlets and anything with a cord, light switches, planes, giving kisses, milk, smoothies, the dust mop, the vacuum cleaner, helping with laundry, and his grandparents
My sweet Maxo is the one who taught me what it means to truly love someone.  He taught me what it means to be unselfish, grateful, and exhausted.  Max has absolutely made my life and made our marriage sweeter than I ever imagined.
Happy Year and a half birthday, Maxo.

 


Photo Credit:  Bart Copeland Photography

Photo Credit:  Bart Copeland Photography





Thursday, July 25, 2013

How to Sell Your House, Part 1

This conversation is taking place in homes all over America:

Wife--I want to sell our house.  But I can't.  Not without Heather Frowow.
Husband--We need Heather Frowow and her mom blog to show us the way.

I hear.  I answer.

Step one in selling your house is to clean your digs.  There are two vitally important points to remember when completing this step.  You must:


1.  Be Type A
2.  Be a complete neat freak

I cannot overemphasize these two points.  Allow me to elaborate...



You should clean your house top to bottom at least once per week.  There are several ways to do this.  I have tried cleaning by floors--upstairs one day, downstairs the next.  This was annoying as I needed every cleaning supply every time I cleaned--the vacuum, dust cloth, furniture polish, all the bathroom gear---the works.  I have found that cleaning by category works best.  For example, Monday's are currently my dust and bathroom day and Tuesday's are my floor day.  It really helps to take the cleaning supplies necessary for one task and go room to room.  No switching, no having to stop to put certain things away and get other items out.  The point is to develop a good cleaning routine BEFORE people start gallivanting all over your floors in their muddy shoes.  You want to be a well-oiled machine so you don't waste hours of your day cleaning, only to do it all over again tomorrow. Aim to clean no more than 30 minutes per day...and that takes practice.

Point Two:  Be  Complete Neat Freak


The best way to be quick at cleaning is to spend your time actually CLEANING, not putting your crap away.  It is so important that there is a place for everything and everything is in it's place.  The little things you do to tidy up make a huge difference.  When you put on your makeup in the morning, make sure to put your makeup back in your bag and put your bag in the drawer as soon as you are finished.  Don't wait until later.  By then, it won't be just your makeup bag, it will be your straightener, the mail, the peanut butter jar, the dinner dishes, etc.  You get the point.  

Moving on....

If you google, "how to get your house ready to sell" you will find a complete list of random crap to do.  Don't do it.   For example, I fixated on something that said "closet hangers should be the same color, face the same way, and group like-colored clothing together."  I did this and nearly killed myself doing it.  (And because I'm a sick, twisted Type A Neat Freak I enjoyed it).  Let me set the scene for all the good it did me:

Our agent came over to our house for the first time and we gave her the "tour."  She poked her nose all over our IMMACULATE house and I'm all "Just let me know if I need to pick up or clean more.  I've hardly done a thing."  Meanwhile, Andres had worked from home that day and I may or may not have called him every hour to politely encourage him to:



 Sadly, this is an accurate depiction of me while cleaning.  I'm not even lying.

 Anyways, our agent is walking all over our house with her shoes on.  I'm cringing with every step she takes, but manage to hide my crazy and smile through the pain.  We arrive at our master closet which I have painstakingly (and fun-ly) organized by clothing color, using only white hangers facing the same direction.  This is it.  My moment.  She opens the closet doors and my heart goes like this:


And her face goes like this:



 Wah-wah.
Talk about ruining the moment.
I'm still getting over it.  Obviously.

In summary, these should be your take-aways:
1.  don't be a slob 
2.  don't believe everything you read on google

So, there you have it!  Part one!  Stay tuned for part two:  How to choose your agent.  It's riveting.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

5 Favorites

It's my first link-up!  I hope I don't break any link-up rules.  I probably won't because as you can see from my blog design I am really, really good on computers and the internets and web design.  It's sort of my thing.  

This week Grace, of Camp Patton is hosting, but usually it's someone else.

Here are 5 things I'm currently loving:

UNO


This was the last read aloud I did with my class.  I love it.  It gives me chills.  "He isn't a tame lion."  Ahhhh!  Clive Staples, how do you write like that?!?

DOS

My new pants from Francesca's.  They are indigo with a thin, floral pattern.  For the price of $10, I feel like I stole them.  I can't find them on the website and I don't have a picture of myself in them, so you'll have to trust me.  They are awesome.

TRES


My new dust mop from Target.  I love using it and Max loves using it.   If it wasn't for the minutes of entertainment brought to you by the grand dust mop, I couldn't cook dinner.

CUATRO

Maggiano's stuffed mushrooms.  Andres and I went out to Maggiano's to celebrate my birthday just so I could have the stuffed mushrooms.  (Ok, and I wanted a cocktail).  They are smack your mama good.

Also, when you go to Maggiano's to try the stuffed mushrooms for yourself, I highly recommend sitting at the bar and making nice with the bartender.  It's a great way to get free aperitivo-sized cocktails.  Or maybe they thought, "Well, if her mouth is drinking, it's not talking.  Fill this cray cray up."  We'll never know.

CINCO




Max's new-to-him Melissa and Doug tool set.  It is pictured above drying from it's thorough disinfecting as I thrifted it for a mere $7.00.  It's provided him with countless minutes of entertainment and all the tools fit inside the box and it folds up for easy clean-up and transport.  What's not to love?  

So, there are my five favorites.  Now I'm off to figure out how to link this thing up.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

My First Day as a SAHM

Teacher workdays started yesterday, so I am counting it as my first official day as a stay-at-home-mom.  I am going to give a recap of how we spent our day.  Not because I think anyone cares, but because this blog is going to turn into Max's baby/childhood book.  And, and, and because I am I forward-thinking mom and when Max is older and needs therapy because his mom is a cray cray, this blog will save him HUNDREDS on therapy.  Instead of sitting on a couch, rehashing everything, he can be like "read the blog" and then him and his therapist can just get straight to the point.  See?

Anyways, here is our day:

7:00:  Wake up.  Andres goes to get Max and we lie in bed for while while Max drinks his morning cup of milk.  At some point Andres took Max downstairs for breakfast and I got ready for the day.  Monday's are my cleaning day so I skipped showering.  However, I always ALWAYS wear makeup out of respect for my fellow man.

9:00:  By this point Andres left for work and so Max followed me around my room and his room as I dusted the furniture.  Then, I got Max dressed, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair.  That sounds simple, but it was sort of like alligator wrestling and took a whole 30 minutes.
I also realized that we were completely out of baby wipes.

9:30  Put Max down for his morning nap.  Clean the upstairs bathrooms and dust the family room furniture.

10:10  Max is clearly not going to take his morning nap so I get him up, change him, and we go to WalMart and the thrift store because we keep things classy in this house.

11:45  Arrive home with:  a picture from the thrift store that your grandma called and wants back, but I sort of love it, baby wipes, throw rugs, a towel bar, hangers, and bubbles.

12:00 Max eats lunch and I unpack our thrift store and WalMart gear.  Then I eat lunch.  Danish to be specific.  Don't judge.

12:30  Attempt to put Max down for a nap.  Doesn't work, but I do get the other two bathrooms cleaned while he tries to settle down.

1:00  Decide to be the best mom ever and we go outside to play with bubbles!  Max is all like, "Ooohhh, look, mommy has an orange klean kanteen.  Bubbles suck."

So we go inside and I attempt to interest Max in his actual toys, or singing songs, or books, but he's cranky and is mad that I'm not allowing him to play with the electrical outlets.

1:30  Put him down for a nap and decide that I'm not going back in.  He finally falls asleep around 2.

2:00:  Play on the internets while Max is napping.  Eat chocolate covered coffee beans.  Melt a bunch by sitting on them.  Wipe the melted chocolate off our bed and pray for it to come clean.  It does.

3:00:  Max wakes up and we have a snack and play with toys.  (He's finally interested). I notice I have melted chocolate on the rear of my black yoga pants.  Oh well.

4:00:  I start thinking about dinner, and decide to cook pasta.  I give Max the dust mop and let him run around.  When he is bored with that, I put on the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  We listen to "I'm Amazed" about 3 times and letmetellyou we spent the next 10 minutes as Pentecostals.  Praise dance and all.

5:30:  Max is finally eating dinner and Andres arrives home.  
6:00:  Andres gives Max a bath while I vacuum the dining room, family room, and kitchen.  

6:30  I start to get ready for Girls Night.  (We watch the Bachelorette).  This means I brush my teeth (don't worry, I brushed in the morning too) and wiped the melted chocolate off my pants.

7:00 Drive to girls night, which is right near our old neighborhood so I took a swing around our old haunts to reminisce.  Remembered the time I had to park by the pool and took out a bunch of my students' math assessments and began walking to MY OWN HOME THAT I PAY FOR BY WAY OF MY HUSBAND, and some idiots at the pool began calling after me, "Hey, B----!  No soliciting!"  WTH???  I should've left a few math assessments on their doors, if I knew who the heck they were.  My blood really started to boil so I zoomed out of there pretty quick.  Ugh.  I am SO glad we are gone from that cray cray place.  I could tell some stories.

7:15  I arrive at girls night and we talk and watch the Bachelorette.  Kellie is moving to Dallas (we've all got the sadz) and auctioned off some of her clothes.  I ended up with a few things plus some lightbulbs, and ALMOST ended up with a pair of jeans until Kellie was all like "those make you look liked you pooped" so thank the Lord for honest friends.

Last night was the Men Tell All and can I just say I am team Juan Pablo for life?!?  Is anyone with me?  I know Chris Harrison is.  Anyone who watched last night--Chris Harrison was all like "i want to make out with Juan Pablo" only he didn't say those exact words, he said it with his whole aura, amiright?

Also, isn't Kasey annoying?  If I was Des, instead of trying to tell off James, I would've told Kasey to STOP TALKING and asked why he cared so much.

And that was my day.  And here is Juan Pablo.  I hope he's the next Bachelor.  I would watch the crap out of that.


Hello, Juan Pablo.  Come to my house.  I cook you pasta.  We play with bubbles.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

The day I don't want to forget

Yesterday was exactly the kind of day I don't want to forget.  We recently moved to a larger house, to have room to grow in and to be able to have friends over without being too cramped.  

Well, yesterday evening my friends' husbands, Mark and Jon, were over staining our deck.  (Because Team Frowow is all about "do it someone else").  I texted Jon's wife, Jessica, and she came over for an impromptu playdate.  Then, Mark's wife, Melissa and their daughter, Amelia, showed up to join in the fun!

I wish I had pictures of Max, Levi, and Amelia running around our empty dining room yelling at the top of their lungs to hear themselves echo.  I wish I could explain how it felt to have 3 crazy kids running around our basement all wanting the same toy.  My heart was so full.

Then, to make matters even better, Jon surprised us by ordering pizza so we sat the kids down and had a pizza party for dinner!  I was so thankful for a kitchen full of friends and a house full of screaming, laughing children!

PLUS ALSO, I completed a craft yesterday afternoon during Max's nap.  I'll have to post a picture soon, which means I'll actually need to take a picture.  I hear blogs are crappy if they don't have pictures.  So here's a random picture that has nothing to do with this post:
 ACK.  Would you just look at those two boys??!?  They're mine.  :)

Friday, July 19, 2013

I have a mom blog


Now that I'm a SAHM, I should probably start a blog.  I mean, what else do SAHMs do all day, amiright?  Seriously, several people have told me I should start a blog because apparently my status's on facebook are hilarious.  I don't know.  If they are, rest assured I can only be funny for two or three sentences.  This blog will probably be boring, but it's a record of my new life as a mommy at home.  I'm so excited about my new job title, I totally consider it a promotion.  I was a second grade teacher for ten years, and the title of this blog actually comes from those experiences.  My last name must be hard to spell because I've gotten some interesting variations over the years.  Mrs. Frowow was my favorite.  "See, you're Mrs. Frowow.  Because when I think of you I think 'oh wow!'"  

So here's my blog about our family:  we are Team Frowow because when you see us you'll think "oh wow!"  This is a record of our life because Lord knows I don't have time to write in my child's baby book.  I'm too busy on the internets.

Enjoy!  

 OMG, this is so sad!  This is the most recent family photo we have, taken 4 months ago!  My poor boy is going to have basically no visual record of his childhood.  Must improve.