Friday, April 30, 2010

I love free stuff!!!!

I am trying to get my ducks in a row for summer this year.  Emily will not be going to camp (too expensive) so I am trying to find free and low cost things to do.  So far we have bought a membership for the zoo/aquarium/botanical gardens and will be buying a pool pass.  The great thing about the pool is that it is indoors so we can use all year which for $600 we better be able to use it all year!!!!!  And that it wears kids out!  So hopefully some good sleep!!!! 

So far I found this great deal for 2 free games of bowling every day for kids all summer (heck it is valid NOW) and free movies at our local theater on tuesdays and wednesdays.  I am so stoked to find these things as all I ever here is "I am bored"!  The bowling deal let's you buy a family pass for those that aren't free for $25 for 2 free games for up to 4 adults daily.  That is a great deal! 

Now to start writing all these dates down so we don't forget them!  So much to do I hope the summer just flies by!  Emily will be in the 7th grade and hopefully (fingers crossed) Madison gets into the preschool (it is a lottery drawing) she has been wanting to go to.  Won't it be nice to be down to ony one child!  Woo Hoo!!!!
I am already signed up for my summer classes and we are waiting to see if Emily gets into the summer academy to help her with math.  Hopefully summer is fun and flies by! 

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Giveaway reminder!!!!

Don't forget to enter for the Coupon Magic organizer giveaway!  It is my first review and giveaway and would love to make it a great one!  Please share with your friends!!!  I love this organizer!  I went to Albertson's today and saw that they were doubling coupons so  pulled out my binder and away I went!  Much better than pulling out my envelope full of coupons and missing great deals.  Love it! 


http://dostart4plus1.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-first-review-and-giveaway.html

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

What to do....

I am so frustrated and need some input.  At Emily's school, the asst principal was arrested for drunk driving this past Sunday, over 2 x's the legal limit.  I am tired of this school to begin with and this just put the nail in the coffin for me.  I wish I had the patience to homeschool her but I don't so I am looking to transfer her to another middle school.  If I do that I have to take her to and from school daily.  Not a big deal especially if Maddie gets into the preschool down the road from the school. 

Am I overreacting?  There have so many problems with this school, with administrtors and teachers, that I am just tired of it.  Kids are jumped every day, bathrooms locked so kids can't use them and on and on.  I guess I just need to hear from others that I am not just an overprotectve Mom!  I have been praying about it just nothing really making sense yet.  Thanks guys for listening!  Now off to finish laundry.....

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

What a day....

Explain to me why children will sleep all weekend long but as soon as the week starts (and when you have classes) they wake up and want to stay up for hours?  Ugh...I love ya Zach but there are days....

Wednesday was Zachary's 1st birthday and sunday was his party.  Nothing fancy just some friends over eating and watching Zach rub cupcake all over himself and then eat it all!  I can not believe he is one...it just flew by!  Pictures will floow as soon as I get my laptop to download them.  Things are running so slow....

Hope you all sign up for my giveaway....it is a great one!  I am also working on a couple more to share. 

My first review and giveaway!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited to share this with you all.  It has been a long time coming but here it is!


Review of Coupon Magic Organizer and Giveaway!!!!!!



I am newish to couponing and got really excited when I saw the Coupon Magic Organizer system.  My old system consisted of one envelope with coupons I knew I was going to use and one with all the other coupons.  Not very efficient when shopping with 2 kiddos and not alot of time!  The Coupon Magic Organizer makes it so easy to keep all your coupons at your fingertips while shopping and not miss using any cause you couldn't find them, as was my problem always! 

When I saw this sytem I contacted Tania Mings, the brainchild behind this system, and asked her if I could review the Coupon Magic Organizer and she said yes! I was sent the Gold edition and jumped right in to reading all the tips she gives and stuffing my coupons in! I will admit in the beginning it did take some time to get it all organized and took me a little bit getting used to carrying it with me but it has been well worth it!  If I can do this with a teenager asking for everything, a 4yr old tugging on me and a 1 yr old trying to play with the binder, anyone can! 



The Coupon Magic System consists of (in my words):




 Color-Coded Dividers- these I use with my store pockets

 20 pages of 9-slot coupon pages (will hold 180 coupons)- love these cause I can see my coupons!

 3 Store Pockets- I use these to keep my coupons organized for the stores I go to

 3 pages of 3-slot coupon pages- I put my coupons that I know I am using and will expire soon in here

 Price Book (5 pages)- this helps me to keep up with prices so I know when I am getting a good deal

 Coupon Magic Organizer Meal Planner (12 pages)- as anyone who knows me knows I am terrible at this but I am working on it! 

 Coupon Magic Organizer Shopping List (12 pages)-  Love it! 

 Fourteen Page Instructional and Savings Guide-  there are so many helpful tips in here that I would have never thought of! 

2010 Coupon Insert schedule- a must have!



As I said earlier there are 2 editions the Silver (with everything included above) for $26.99 and the Gold (which comes with a binder) for $38.99 and that binder is a nice heavy duty one.  if you don't want all the bells and whistles but would like all her tips to making the most of your couponing, you can purchase the instructional manual download for $10.  In my opinion, all of the systems are worth every penny!   

All in all I love the system.  I may move it to a smaller binder so I can carry it with me all the time (even though it is in the van for all my shopping trips).  Other than that I LOVE it and it has saved me quite a bit of time and money which is what we all want!    

Now on to the good stuff!  Tania has graciously allowed me to give away a Silver edition organizer to one of my followers (just like Gold but without binder)! Trust me you won't know how you kept up with your shopping and coupons before this!  The contest will run from April 19th to May 4th.  Good luck!!!     

To enter you can do one or all of these for extra entries!

1.  Become a fan of my page

2.  Follow Coupon Magic Organizer on facebook

3.  Tell me about your current way of coupon organizing

4.  Blog about my giveaway

5.  Follow me on facebook


Disclosure: I was not compensated by Coupon Magic Organizer in any way, but I was given a Coupon Magic Organizer for review and 1 Coupon Magic Systems for The Photo Life of the Dostart's readers. All opinions expressed are my own and should not be substituted for your opinion.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my little man's 1st birthday.  I can not believe he is one!  Where did this year go??  We will have his party on Sunday (weather permitting) with a few friends as family is not living close by.  Now I can officially say I no longer have any babies even though my kiddos will always be my babies! 

I am hoping to have my 1st giveaway posted tomorrow and it is a great one!  Stay tuned!