Friday we got up and moving and headed over to Uncle K and Aunt S’s house to help out with some preparations for the wedding. Big Monkey, Amy, Little Monkette and I all headed over and Little Monkey was there waiting to see us. Big Monkey helped his Mom put together an arbor/archway that was for the wedding. It was an interesting project and it was coming along rather well. After everyone had worked on the arbor a little bit, we decided to split up and go work on some other stuff.
Big Monkey went with his Dad to get a new watch battery and get ready for going out with the boys. Amy, Little Monkette, Little Monkey and I headed over to my mom’s school to introduce Little Monkette to her fellow teachers who had been asking to see her since she was born! After visiting at the school, we headed back to Mom and Dad’s house to drop off the kids with Mom and then ran a couple of errands. We brought dinner back to the house and then got ready to go out for the evening. Friday night was Aunt K’s lingerie shower and bachelorette party. Amy and I went for the lingerie shower but then headed back to the house and hotel. The lingerie shower was fun and everyone had a good time I think. I came back to the hotel and spent some time online while Big Monkey was still out with the boys.
The Girls
Saturday was another day filled with activities. Big Monkey was headed out for breakfast and golf with the boys. The girls were all going out for pedicures, a luncheon and making bouquets. I started out the day a bit rough and sad. Big Monkey offered to spend the day with me instead of going golfing but I didn’t want to keep him from it and I had my sister to go hang out with. I got moving and headed over to Mom and Dad’s house to spend some time with Amy. Thankfully when I got there Mom, Dad, Little Monkey and Little Monkette had already left to go to my grandparent’s house for part of the day. We did a little shopping, looking for hair barrettes and ribbon. We also checked out the new H&M store in the Sanford Mall. Before I left for the bridal luncheon, my Mom, Dad, Little Monkey and Little Monkette came back to the house. I wasn’t quite prepared for them to be there but it was okay. I left very shortly after they got there.
The bridal luncheon was nice. It was at the Hart Sisters Tea Room in Sanford. I had never been there before. We had a quiant room and all got to wear fun hats. We had a nice meal with scones, fruit, sandwiches and lots of dessert. We also had some tea. It was nice to spend time with everyone and just relax but it was still hard to try and be “normal.” After the luncheon, the bridesmaids were going to go make our bouquets for the wedding. I decided not to go along but instead went back to my Mom and Dad’s house. Amy and I worked on learning to make some barrettes. The first ones were okay, but when we tried our hand at a ladybug, she didn’t turn out so well. A little bit of practice should help out. I also finally got my nails done. Saturday night we had a big dinner at Red Lobster with lots of people that were involved in the wedding or who were in from out of town. After dinner we headed back to our hotel and watched some tv for a little bit before going to bed.
This past Monday I had to go to the dentist for my regular cleaning. After I was done, Big Monkey suggested that I go to the mall and walk around (hoping that would help to induce labor…obviously it did not). I wasn’t going to go because I was tired but decided that I would. I walked around some but only bought stuff at JCPenney’s. I generally don’t shop there too much because I don’t tend to find many good deals but this trip was different. As I was wondering through the baby section I was about to leave until I noticed a Final Clearance $1.97 sign on a rack with a TON of stuff. I could have probably easily bought like 30 things! I refrained though for a few reasons. 1. How many clothes does she REALLY need? 2. I didn’t want to spend too much money even though it was a great deal.
Thankfully I had some gift cards still from a Publix promotion a long time ago. I wasn’t sure how much was left on them, but knew that it was somewhere between $10-$20. Sure enough I had $12 on my cards. After picking out a bunch of stuff, I narrowed down my choices and ended up with nine items. I took some pictures for you (because seriously some of it is just too cute!) and listed out the prices.
The tops in 7 and 8 can both be worn with the pants in 5 and 9. Can you even believe that 1 was originally $36?!?! It is VERY cute but it is so NOT $36 cute. I can hardly believe that the shirts were regularly $15.99 and the pants $19.99. Who pays that? Certainly not me of course, but at $1.97 a piece I could hardly resist!
Yesterday, Little Monkey, Amy and I went to do some shoppping. (I needed to get my shoes for my sister-in-law’s upcoming wedding.) We were also looking for inspiration for more things for Little Monkette’s room. I was hoping to find a nice rug for her room too.
We found some at Target that we liked but they were quite expensive and more money than I really want to spend. We went over to Tuesday Morning and found a cute rug for just $19.99! We decided to go ahead and get it (after we checked the return policy) and see what we think. Here is a picture of the rug in her room:
Rug for her room
What do you think? I figured we’d put it in there for a bit and see how we feel about it. I think it goes well and adds some other colors into her room.
I thought that Little Girl (We still need a blog name for her folks!) should have a gift for Little Monkey when he comes to meet her at the hospital. I just couldn’t decide what. Today while shopping at Target (after reading about it online) I decided what to get him.
Target currently has the Leapfrog Tag Reader System on clearance for $12.48 (at our store they were still marked $49.99 and the ones with the Dr. Suess book are $49.99). At the store I was at, someone had left a $5 off Target coupon for the system, which I used (Thanks whoever you were!) because I forgot my $10 off coupon at home. Yes you read that right. You can go here and print out a $10 off coupon for the Tag Reader system. So it will only cost you $2.48 plus tax. (Talk about an AWESOME gift…think ahead, birthdays, Christmas, etc.) They are not discontinuing these yet are currently there are at least 25 books you can get to go with the system. I plan to go back and get another one with the $10 off coupon and return the one I got today to save the extra $5. Hopefully there will still be more whenever I get back there. (I imagine there will be because they are marked at $49.99.) If there aren’t, it is still a great deal at $7.48. Hopefully Little Monkey will love his new book reader once he gets it.
You probably already saw this post: Celebrating 100 Etsy Sales but I wanted to let you know that the sale is going to continue only through Monday August 31st. This is a great time to stock up on gifts for family, friends, teachers, babysitters, you get the idea!
Head over to the shop and take a look around. If you don’t see what you are looking for, or are hoping for multiples of something you only see one of, just let us know. We actually have plenty of more stock that hasn’t been photographed and put in the shop. (This includes holiday coffee cozies-Halloween, Christmas, 4th of July.)
While we were getting groceries at Publix last night, we were given a flyer for Blockbuster Express. This store had just recently gotten a new machine. The flyer was for one night’s free rental from the Blockbuster Express machine. The code is good until 9/30/09 but is only good once per customer. We haven’t tried to use it yet, but I imagine it is probably once per credit card or email address.
Also included on the flyer was a phone number for customer service. This may help some of you who have been having issues with various Blockbuster Express machines. 1-877-300-2181.
Promo code for one free night’s rental: PTPX9X9 expires 9/30/09.
I have to say that I think this is very true. I would say that it is true with Big Monkey and myself. You can probably guess which of us is which. I also believe this to be true with my mom and dad and also my brother-in-law and his wife.
So, in your relationship, do one of you represent the Big Spender and the other the Big Saver?
Yesterday I had to run a couple errands and one included a quick stop into Publix to get some items that were on sale. I was surprised to find a movie rental box inside the store.
Blockbuster Express or Redbox
I was very surprised to see that it was a Blockbuster Express. This is the first one I have ever seen, although I had read that Blockbuster would be testing them out previously. What is even more interesting to me is that there is an actual Blockbuster Video retail store about 100 feet from this “Express” box that is located inside Publix. The movies are some of the same that you can get from the retail store but for only $1 a night. I decided to pick up a movie that Big Monkey had asked for before, Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
The rental process was very similar to renting from Redbox, except that I did not get a confirmation email when I got home saying what I had rented. I also do not have all the details on the Blockbuster Express rental policies. I know it was $1 per day. But I honestly don’t know if that means 24 hours from when I rented it or if it is back by X time the next day (like Redbox is 9pm). I probably should have looked into that better but oh well. I tried to do some looking around online for information but I have been striking out! If I get some more information, I will be glad to let you know! I’m excited about the ability to rent movies for $1 at Publix because it is closer to us than the closest Redbox.
Yesterday I ran a few errands and one of my stops was to go to Kohl’s. My mom had sent over a $10 off $10 or more purchase. I figured I would be able to find something for close to $10. I was right!
There was LOTS of stuff on 60, 70, 80 and even 90% off! I ended up getting three tank tops for myself (they aren’t maternity, but they do fit). They were $1.60 each (90% off!). I also got a nice dress shirt for Big Monkey. It was $3.80 (90% off!). And I found a cute Carter’s brand pink sweater for the baby. It was $1.80 (90% off!). After all was said and done, I handed in my $10 off coupon and ended up paying just $0.43 for all five items! What a great deal! I would not have bought anybody any clothing right now without that. Not that we NEED clothes, but it is nice to get something new every once in awhile and you certainly can’t pass up nearly free!
Monday I got up early and headed over to Once Upon A Child to try and sell them some of Little Monkey’s old clothes and shoes. I had been warned to get there early and I am SO glad that I did. I got to the store ten minutes before it opened and there were two people ahead of me!
When they opened the doors, we all went in and filled out our form to sell our items. I was told it would be about an hour and a half before they would be done going through my items (about 50 pieces of clothing and some shoes). I looked around for a few minutes and then headed out to waste some time. I went to TJMaxx and found lots of stuff on clearance. I ended up buying just one item for $2! I think it is going to be the inspiration for our little girl’s room. I love the colors…now to find other stuff to make her room work!
$2 Mirror!!
After TJMaxx, I walked around Target and managed to not buy anything. I headed down the road a bit to go check out the Aldi down there to see if they had any of the Yogos for 50cents. They did have Yogos but sadly they were not 50cents. Oh well. I also wandered around another discount store (like TJ Maxx) but didn’t find anything. When I was leaving there, Once Upon a Child called and my stuff was ready (exactly 1.5 hours later like they said). I headed back to see what they decided to give me.
They ended up buying all but one pair of shoes (which I figured they would because they were in great shape and lots of name brands) and some of the clothes. I was surprised at some of the items they sent back home with me but oh well. They offered me $51.xx for all the items they took. I ended up looking around and got a few things for our little girl and ended up with a check for $43.xx! Not too bad. I got a 4 pack of Carter’s onesies (two for sure haven’t been worn…and I doubt the other two have been). And I got these other two onesies. They had some other cute stuff but I decided to take the money instead. I’m sure our little girl will be spoiled with plenty of clothing!
When I was leaving with my check, new clothes and old clothes…the wait to have items looked at and purchased was 6-8 hours!! Oh my! I’m so glad that I went first thing in the morning! As I headed back towards home, I stopped at the mall but once again didn’t buy anything. I was starting to wear out from all the walking around, so I headed home for a nap (which I don’t think I ever even fell asleep but at least I rested.) I would recommend Once Upon a Child to others for both buying and selling. Just make sure you have your stuff in great condition, follow the guidelines on their website and get there by opening so you don’t have to spend your entire day waiting on it!
I came back to the hotel and spent some time online while Big Monkey was still out with the boys.
Posted by sunshinekmp 
Posted by sunshinekmp 
Posted by sunshinekmp 
Target currently has the Leapfrog Tag Reader System on clearance for $12.48 (at our store they were still marked $49.99 and the ones with the Dr. Suess book are $49.99). At the store I was at, someone had left a $5 off Target coupon for the system, which I used (Thanks whoever you were!) because I forgot my $10 off coupon at home. Yes you read that right. You can go 
Head over to the 
While we were getting groceries at Publix last night, we were given a flyer for Blockbuster Express. This store had just recently gotten a new machine. The flyer was for one night’s free rental from the Blockbuster Express machine. The code is good until 9/30/09 but is only good once per customer. We haven’t tried to use it yet, but I imagine it is probably once per credit card or email address.
I have to say that I think this is very true. I would say that it is true with Big Monkey and myself. You can probably guess which of us is which. I also believe this to be true with my mom and dad and also my brother-in-law and his wife.
