St. Patrick's Day Offers

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Let's celebrate with some free offers and discounts.

Wear Green and receive a Free Burrito with the Purchase of a large beverage at Baja Fresh.

Purchase any food or drink item at Chick-fil-A on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) and keep your receipt. You can go back to Chick-fil-A anytime before the end of the month, show them your receipt and get everything you ordered on St. Patrick’s day again for FREE! (call ahead to make sure that your Chick-fil-A is participating.) Search here for locations.

Become a Facebook fan of Redbox on St. Patrick’s Day and get a free rental, details here.

Free St. Patrick's Crafts and Recipe eBook download here.

Extra 25% off all green tag clearance merchandise at Kirkland's. Also there is a $10 off $50 purchase coupon here.

Save up to 15% off for St Patrick’s Day at Lenovo! Use coupon code: USPSTPATRICKSDAY

Save $15 off your purchase of $75 or more at PetCareRX.com. Coupon Code: GREEN2010 (3/15 and 3/16)

30% off at Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic

It’s time for Gap’s Give and Get event, just print this coupon and you will be able to get 30% off your purchase at Gap, Old Navy or Banana Republic. Factory stores are included. Coupon is valid March 18-21.

Princess and the Frog is scheduled to be released today. If you are planning on purchasing it, print your $10 coupon here before heading out.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

We went to see Phantom of the Opera last night. The last time I saw this musical was over 15 years ago. I was still in high school at the time. I spent my weekends volunteering at the theater in order to see free musicals. I must have seen Phantom 3 or 4 times in high school. Since I was a volunteer, I had to stand to watch the musical, but I didn't care. It was the first musical that I had seen and I loved it. It opened my eyes to the theater and I have been going ever since.

When you are in high school, you are often asked, "where do you see yourself in ten years...in fifteen years." As I was sitting in the fourth row, I thought to myself, I have come a long way. Over fifteen years ago, I stood in the back of the farthest section of the balcony in the theater and now, I am only four rows away from touching the stage.

I don't think that I could have imagine how fortunate I am today. I have a home. I have wonderful kids. I have a career. I would have to thank my parents for it all. They came to the states over three decades ago with the shirts on their back and only a hundred dollars in their pocket, but through hard work and perseverance, they basically turned nothing into something.

If you were to ask me today where I see myself in another 10 to 15 years. I guess I would have to say, I hope to see myself basically where I am today. I would be content growing old in our house that we have built, watching my kids grow up and hoping one day they will build a life of their own that brings them just as much happiness as mine brings me.

The pool takes its shape

This week, short plumbing, electrical and gunite all went into the pool. This process has been astonishingly quick.

The rain did delay the plumbing, but as soon as we had a clear day, they were out laying pipes.


These are the jets for our spa.
Now shaping the pool is gunite. Workers spray the gunite over the steel . Once it is in place, another person shapes the pool with a trowel. Gunite is sprayed dry and as it comes out of the hose, it is mixed with water.

Four hours later, you have the pool's shape. It will take 2 weeks to cure. During that time, we are to water and keep it moist. While the gunite is curing, pool equipment and tile selection will take place.
The steps into the pool.There will be a little water fountain in our tanning ledge.I decided to go with a very simple water spill from our spa to emulate the grotto that will occur on the other side.The finished product of gunite.Our next big step in a couple of weeks will be tile and stone. Afterward, we will add the pool finish and it will be done!

What Kids Can Say

For Christmas, I received a "Kid's Favorite Sayings" Book from a good friend of mine. It's just a blank book where I can write down the silliest and most memorable things that my kids say. I had never really thought of keeping note of it, but I think it is a fantastic idea. Here are some of my favorites.

We had cupcakes one evening. Before E takes a bite into his cupcake, he looks up at me and says, "Mom, eating cupcakes goes straight to your stomach and right to your thighs!" When I asked him where he heard that, he said, "that's what I learned in school today." I couldn't help, but chuckle. Out of all the things he learns in school, he remembers that.

I rarely do anything other than put on a simple hairpin. I decided that I would curl my hair one evening. I walked around the house with curlers in my hair. I had strands coming out and I looked horrible. Out of no where, R says, "Mommy, you simply look gorgeous." I had never heard him say that before. When I asked him why he thought that, he replied, "because you just do...I love you hair up." I suppose he thought the curlers in my hair was a hairstyle. When my sister asked him if he thought she looked gorgeous, his response..."umm..." That's my baby.

I was having a bad evening once and discovered that my husband left a drink by the nightstand. A sees the drink and decides that he wants some, but ends up spilling it everywhere all over the bed. I had just changed the linens and so I was a little upset at Dad for not following the "no food and drinks anywhere, but the kitchen" rule. The next morning, R goes up to his father and says, "Mommy was really mad last night." Mr. N says, "really, R?" R says, "Yeah, she kept saying, freakin daddy...freakin..." It sounds funnier when he uses his kid friendly voice. I guess I should watch what I say to myself from now on...

Driving home from school, R just blurts out, "Mommy, I love you so much." I look up at him and ask, "so much?" He responds, "Yes, I love you 100 times!" (that's the highest number he can count to). "How much do you love Daddy?", I ask R says, "Umm...4 times. I love Dad 4 times."

On E's birthday one year, we took him to the toy store to buy whatever he wanted. His response when I asked him to go pick something out, "Mommy, I don't need anything, I have enough." E was four years old at the time, but he never ceases to amaze me at what he says and does.

I had a bad day at work and was crying one evening. I tried to hide it from my kids, but E sees me with tears in my eyes. He asks me what is wrong and says, "Mommy, I don't ever want you to hurt," and then starts to get teary-eyed. I looked up at him and asked him why he was crying, and he tells me, "I get sad when I see you sad." He is just the most empathetic person I have ever met that his words made me get even more teary-eyed.

..and my all time favorite...just a year ago, E comes up to me and says out of the blue, "I love you Mommy forever and ever.." He always says that, but this time he ended it with .."no matter what.." Ever since then, we always say to each other, "I love you forever and ever, no matter what." There is never a reason to say it, we just say it whenever we feel like it. I am so appreciative of the love my kids have for me that I am lucky to hear those words numerous times in a day for no other reason, but because they feel it. They remind me that although kids are much younger than us, they do listen to what we say, they can feel what we feel, and they can definitely show us the love we give them. When was the last time you said, I love you to someone?

Baskin Robbins Family Night

Work has been quite busy and I have been coming home later than usual. To compensate a little, I decided I would take my kids to get their favorite ice cream. Its been a while since I have heard them scream so loudly. They were so ecstatic. The favorite in our house is mint chocolate chip. What was even better was that every Tuesday night after 5:00PM are family nights at Baskin Robbins and they offer $1 Kids scoops and $1.50 Adult scoops.

I know, ice cream before dinner? It didn't matter to me. Watching them enjoy their treat was worth it. They promised me they would eat their dinner and they did so that is all that matters, right? Who cares if dessert came first? On our way home, I had to also promise them we would go play at Old Mac Donald's (mc donald's) on Friday. They have me wrapped around their little fingers and they know it.

Free Coffee from Dunkin Donuts

Dunkin Donuts offering free freshly brewed medium hot or iced coffee every Monday in the Month of March. You just have to become a member of of their membership program called Perks.

Building a Bed

Work has been incredibly stressful lately. I am not the type of person that relaxes by sitting still. Doing nothing drives me crazy. I just can't sit and do absolutely nothing. I grew up with the mentality that there is always something you can be doing. There are two ways for me to relax and de-stress. The first is finding a great bargain and the second is to make something, anything.

My son A will soon be out of his toddler bed, but his room has challenges with windows all along one wall and doors all along the opposite wall. The only kind of bed that would make sense in the space is a daybed. I like Pottery Barn's Thomas collection. I have many Thomas pieces in my home already so it would fit just nicely.
I love the paneling on the head board and side boards and I love the details on the trundle as well. The only problem is, it is not a daybed so I decided that I would make my own version of this bed (minus the finials), but I would make it into the daybed I need.

I needed to de-stress so what better way then to create what I envision. Here is just a sneak peak.
Here's the head board
and the foot board. Can you see it as a daybed yet? I plan on duplicating the detailing on the the foot board with the side rails. The trundle will have the same paneling as well. I have stained the head board a rich espresso color, but you will have to wait for those pictures. Watch for the how-to posting of this bed. I have to finish it first!

Next came Steel

After the big dig, came the steel. They came over yesterday to reinforce the pool with rebar. It was quite interesting to see them bend and mold the steel around the pool, creating different levels, including all the seating.

Here is the finished product.

This is a pic of our soon to be raised spa.

Can you see the seating? The rebar has been molding to create the seating inside the spa.

Here is the other side of the pool which will house the grotto water slide. There will be a seat under the grotto. It will be like sitting underneath a waterfall. The seat is located near the shovel on the left.
They dug deep holes to provide the reinforcement needed to hold up all the rock boulders that will be used to create our 4 foot grotto.

Let's recap. First there was just a playset (or two).

Then came the big dig:To which steel came next:

Followed by plumbing which will occur tomorrow if it stops raining. We have already been delayed a week because of the rain. I am hoping that there isn't much more. Keep your fingers crossed! I'll post pictures when it occurs.

$10 Off Coupons for Disney Movies

Disney has $10 Off coupons for Blu-Ray versions of Ponyo and Old Dogs. Coupons can be found here. Ponyo coupon expires March 7th while Old Dogs expires March 16th. Both Target and Walmart have Ponyo on sale for 24.98. Apply the coupon and buy it for only 14.98.
Old Dogs will be available to purchase on March 9th. Usually Target has sales on their new releases. Use the same link in a couple of weeks for future Disney movies including the Princess and the Frog scheduled to be released on March 16th and Toy Story, scheduled to be released on March 23rd.


Speaking of Toy Story. Target has a $5.00 off coupon for the Toy Story Woody and Buzz Rescue LEGO set, making this set only $14.98.