Cheapest of the Cheap

Here's the story in the Tennessean today, and here's the part with my tip and picture.

Don't forget to vote for me (see reader poll) as your favorite tip. I'm in it to win it (like HC).

What we've been up to lately...

• Before and after pictures of the new countertops
• Handing out free groceries at the Sudanese Center
• Going to the Zoo

April/Zoo

so far today....

Daniel has told me he is a dinosaur.

Daniel has dropped his pants, taken off his diaper and announced he wanted to go potty (we are not even trying to potty train him yet).

Daniel went outside and tried to dig up all the seeds we planted in an egg carton on Monday.

After I stopped the seed expedition, Daniel brought the seed egg cartons inside and put them on a shelf (I just noticed and moved them back outside).

I think we are going on a walk now....

Bible Stories

I realized recently that we did not have a good toddler book about Bible stories. So, we found a recommended book and we are now doing at least one story at night with Daniel before bed. We have discovered several things:

1- Daniel thinks "the cow" made the world. Last night was better- "God made the World".
2- Donkeys live at church (where he first heard about them).
3- Noah looks like "Santa Claus".

We have start from somewhere...

Hello Internet

Is anyone else's internet slow today? I was going to blame it on Comcast or the IRS, but then I saw the news about the Va Tech tragedy. Uh oh. Not good.

We've discovered that what works for baby # 1 does not neccessarily hold the attention of baby #2, so this lifesaving device is on its way to us. It cannot get here fast enough. I was going to borrow it from a friend but once Wesley tried it, we realized it would be worth the immediate investment.

We are ready to announce that I am a finalist in the Ms.Cheap Annual Cheapest of the Cheap Tips contest. Dave and I will be attending the awards dinner this weekend and the story will be in the paper May 6. I can't wait to meet Ms.Cheap!! I won't tell you any more so you'll check out the story. Next year my cheap tip will be to enter the contest to win a free date at Maggianos for you and your husband.

We've watched some interesting movies lately. The World's Fastest Indian, The Illusionist, and Diego and the the Dinosaur Rescue are some of our favorites. Daniel is really into Diego right now*. We finally finished 24 Season 1 (don't even get me started on how long it took to track down disc 5) and Dave picked up episodes 5-8 of Season 2 last night. We haven't watched episodes 1-4 yet so I'm not sure what that was about.

*Diego note: The Vanderbilt study Daniel participated in a few months ago involved responses to videos such as Dora, Diego, etc. that ask questions or ask for responses from the audience. For some reason, children younger than 2-1/2 do not respond to the videos, but those older do. Daniel at less than 30 months failed the test but shortly thereafter started responding to the videos. Very interesting....

Tomorrow I will be delivering several free meals to the brentwood area. If you have just had a baby or had major surgery, let me know before noon tomorrow and I can try and get one to you also...

Happy Easter!!

Easter

Click on the album to see our pictures!

Updates

Sorry I haven't had too much time for blogging lately, it's tax time you know. I've picked up quite a few new clients this year and I'm sure there will be a few more at the last minute. So far I'm on track to break even for the year.

We have been busy getting ready for Easter. I've been trying to teach Daniel how to hunt for eggs. He still walks right by them when they are in plain view. We've got a few more days to practice before the big hunt at Grammy and PaPa's house. Tomorrow I am going to make an Easter Bunny cake- if it turns out well I'll post a picture.

My favorite new magazine is Everyday Food, which I just started getting today for free from a rebate offer. We haven't had time to catch the show on PBS lately but it's hard for me to follow and remember cooking shows sometimes. I'd rather see recipes in print.

Daniel's new favorite book is Tails, followed by Excuse Me. His favorite song right now is the theme song from VeggieTales. He walks around singing "broccoli, celery..."

We are finally moving forward with replacing our kitchen countertops with granite. We are so excited about it! I'll post pictures soon of before and after. We're going to try and attempt the tile backsplash ourselves. Keep your fingers crossed because this could lead to all other types of tile projects...

I finally got new contacts today. My eye doctor has the coolest laser machine that takes a picture of your retina so you don't have to dilate your eyes. I would rather take a shot than dilate my eyes, so I was so excited and even willing to pay extra for it. The office staff had fun babysitting Wesley while I had this done.

Tomorrow night is my girls night out- we are going to PF Changs and then to scrapbook. Dave the world's greatest husband is going to babysit. And maybe he'll even get to play a little Xbox while he's at it...

The Prodigal DVD

Today I discovered in our mailbox the DVD that went missing 3 weeks ago. It was there before the mail came. It had been opened and obviously watched- it was put back into the envelope the wrong way. One guess who did that.

I did find out from our other (nice) next door neighbor that the head postmaster of all of Franklin lives on the corner. That explains why they aren't blocking his mailbox...