I gotta get this out there.

I've been kinda MIA on my blog and Facebook. Its because of this:

I aaam addicted. to.

to.


to.

ONLINE BARGAINS AND FREEBIES.
*exhales loudly*

I'm sure you've seen my posts on facebook. Free sample here, Free Swiffer 360 there, Free bottle of fabric softener, free jamberry nails, free teeth whitening pen... see? I can't stop.

I've been wanting to post this for a while. I feel obligated to share things with friends, because I spend a lot of hours each week looking for free stuff and bargains...I want to benefit more than myself. I always think "Oh, everyone should get this pack of 40 batteries for $8...to have in their food storage stuff for flashlights" or something like that. So I'm just gunna post what I've found to be helpful.

Read it or ignore it.

I'm just going to purge it and then it wont be bugging me.

I check thedealyo.com and freebies2deals.com each day a few times each. I also follow them on facebook and sometimes they'll tell me about something urgent that I GOTTA have.

I take online surveys for $$, or test out products for either free, cheap, or THEY pay ME. For example, at Vindale.com They had an offer for mineral makeup, you pay $10 for the trial, but they put $15 in your account. -$10+$15=+$5 !

They paid ME to try their makeup. Then after you try it, you fill out a survey on how you liked the product/ordering process. They usually credit your account on Vindale very quickly.

For months I always thought "What the heck is Swagbucks, and why do so many of my friends post about it??
I'll sum it up.
Do you use GOOGLE, YAHOO, or BING search engines? Well, Swagbucks is the same thing, only you get points for using their website to search (its random, like every 8th search or so you get points). Then with your points, you can get giftcards. I find the most popular one to get is the $5 amazon giftcard. I've only been on there 4 months or so, and I've earned 2 Amazon giftcards. There are MANY other ways of earning 'Bucks (surveys, special offers like netflix, etc) But I choose not to, out of laziness.

Ok. There ya go. I'll only blog about awesome family stuff now :)

PHOTOSHOPPED??

I mean, COME ON. If you're gunna do it, do it well.

Xena Warrior Princess

4/8/1998 (11 years old)

Xena was out one day and it started to rain Zombies and Xena slit their throats! So all the people moved to different places like: Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Jamaica, Greece, Iceland and Greenland. It only took a minute, by foot!
And it got worse and worse, and I got sad and I cried and then I got even more sad I cried apples and shared them with my friends.


[Where the crap did I come up with this stuff?]

"I'm Living in a Shoe!"

Carly O. English Class Journal Entry [short story, I'm guessing was that days assignment]

10/21/1997 (that would be....4th grade? I was 10.)

Hello, I'm the girl that lives in a shoe, people think my house is Bigfoot's owners shoe that got lost a long time ago, but it is not. You people probably think I'm a hermit! I'm not that either, and guess how I do it, everyday (really early) I go to Taco Bell, that's where I work and eat there every night, and if you think that I live in a nasty stinky sneaker! You are wrong. I live in a wonderful boot it is so fancy and big because it is a giants shoe (to other people) So now you know my secret so you better shut up about it.

[None of the grammar or punctuation has been changed.]

I just found this on my husband's desk. He got it from my Mom, I'm guessing.

I think I'm paranoid.

I don't know how many times this weekend I asked in a panic "Where's Kaius??!" and someone says, "Right over there." while thinking, "Ya crazy phsyco...".

I have an overwhelming fear that something bad will happen to my child. Drown, run in front of a car, get kidnapped. It all happens too often. You hear about it all the time.

Last night I had a dream we were driving in Hawaii in a UPS type truck (which doesn't have a door on one side) and Kaius jumped out when we weren't looking, and I saw him cross the street in the sideview mirror. Josh didn't believe me so he didn't stop (dumb dream) so I jumped out and rolled. I ran uphill to find him and he was walking out of someones house. I was relieved, then noticed he only had one of his Vans on. So I went in to talk to the owners and ask if they had it/thank them or whatever. Long story short, the Hawaiian dude wouldn't give the shoe back and said to 'tell my little man if he ever came back, he'd take the other shoe too' and then said "Alright come on the 17th and you can have his shoe and his stuff back" what the freak?? his stuff? I looked at Kaius, he was wearing old tattered T-shirt and sweats. And a different diaper. "You CHANGED my son's diaper?!??"
I was about to go ape, but Josh woke me up. I groaned, "Worst dream ever."

Am I crazy? Or smart?

Here is a typical interaction of Kaius & Monroe, just for kicks :)

Patient Beware.

Honestly, in the last 2 years, I have had every. single. medical bill overcharge me.
Every single one (ok, every single doctor office/hospital)! (this is more of a vent than an informative post)

• Pregnant with Kaius, doc office billed some random insurance, instead of the insurance I GAVE THEM. I got 4 full bills from like Aetna or something for hundreds of dollars and they took forever to correct it. I blogged about it a long time ago cuz I was pregnant and cranky and if I didn't vent I was going to go down there and shove the Aetna bill down the billing girl's throat.
• Kaius Hospital stay; Remember the whole "no one in the universe told us we needed to call to add our baby to our policy" thing? Well, not the doctor office's fault...
• Pregnant with Monroe, moved away and got a new doctor...old doctor sends me a bill for the full amount of prenatal care. I called them and they were like "Oh thats weird, (add nonsense about whoever billed this messed up) we didn't bill your insurance at all...sorry! disregard your bill."
  
• ER trip for the chicken bone in my throat. They billed my insurance and then sent me the bill for the remainder. I called my insurance and just asked them to look at it. The lady offered to call the hospital. She put me on hold, called them, then came back and said "They didn't bill us for the full amount, so go ahead and disregard your bill"
  
• Monroe Hospital stay, I get a rather large bill for. I call my insurance and they tell me the hospital is overcharging me, that they paid all but a couple hundred for my portion. So I call hospital...and what do I get told?? "Oh, thats weird, how does billing you for that much make sense (add nonsense about whoever billed this messed up) diregard your bill, I'll get it taken care of."

So, people, never just accept that a bill is correct. They make mistakes ALL THE TIME. and in my case, it LITERALLY IS ALL THE TIME. Can you tell I'm a bit angry? I could have just paid them and gone about my business...and I'm sure most people just do.

Sorry for the boring rant, here's a cute picture

Motherhood Lately

I've really enjoyed being a mom lately, more than ever. Kaius has been pretty good lately. He is so loving and he always wants to help us out. He even is listening to me a little bit when I say "Please don't do that". But, he has started planting a fat kiss on me whenever he's being a little naughty. Or he'll just do it randomly. When he gets an owee, he wants me to kiss it better.

He was helping Josh wash the car.



Playing with a cousin :)



Uncle Ryan :)


Monroe is getting to be more "social" as the babycenter emails say. She smiles at us and my favorite is when she lets out a loud *sigh*. She's so dainty and lovely. And a great napper and sleeps well most nights. So, she's my best friend.



A couple weeks ago we went to Memory Grove. It was so fun! And beautiful.

This picture looks so much like me as a toddler. I'll find a pic of me and post it someday.




...bones.



They are so cute. I mean handsome and stud muffinish.


Oh, and since I've watched Nemo a bajillion times, I've really realized what a HUGE jErK Marlin (Nemo's Dad) is! I mean, I get that he's stressed trying to find his son and all, but man he is rude. And Katie, from Horton Hears a Who, is psychoooo.