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Sometime back in April, we bought Catie a big-girl bed. She was really getting too big for her crib; she hadn’t attempted climbing out, but she easily could have if she’d tried. Mainly it was just becoming obvious that she was uncomfortable. She’d roll over and bump into the rails, she’d get her feet stuck through the slats, etc. Most of the time it would lead to her waking up in the middle of the night and demanding to come sleep in our bed, and Mommy was more than a little tired of that particular routine. So I found a mattress store that had a good sale going, picked out a cute girly headboard to go with the twin mattress set, and figured it was done. The sales guy told me we’d have the bed in two to three weeks.

In May, I called to find out where our bed was; by that point, it had been over a month since we bought it. The guy on the phone said, oh, I don’t know why he told you 2-3 weeks, that headboard was a custom order (WTF? I just picked it out of their catalog, maybe everything that’s not a floor model is a “custom order”?), so it’s actually more like 4-6 weeks. I was annoyed, but ok. What can you do?

Now it’s June and still we had no bed. So I called them after a very bad night’s sleep for Catie (and hence us too) and asked them where the eff my bed was. The guy said there was a problem with the headboard, and it’d take at least another 3 weeks. I basically went ballistic and he offered to go ahead & bring out the bed itself without the headboard, and then they’ll deliver the headboard when it arrives. FINE.

So, we got the bed. And Catie? Freaking. Loves. It.

First she had to give it a bounce test.

Then we told her, no jumping on the bed. And I got this look.

But seriously? I think she’s sold on the whole big-girl bed thing.

Even her little fleece baby blankets, that she has slept with since she was itty-bitty because she likes to soothe herself to sleep by sticking her finger through the washing instructions tag? Yeah, she is officially shunning her baby blankets now, because she adores her bright-colored bedspread with the butterflies and flowers all over it.

So far she’s had two bedtimes and one nap in the new bed, and she’s going down without a fight. (And last night she slept through the night for the first time in, um, a while. So YAY for that!) She even seems excited to go to bed. I know this will pass, the novelty of the new bed will wear off. But hot damn, this is awesome, and I’m planning to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

P.S. Don’t shop at Mattress Warehouse. For real. Gah.

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With the economy being the way it is – or rather, the way the media is portraying it every time I turn on the news – I’ve been thinking about ways to scrimp and save here and there. We’re pretty good about not spending money on frivolous things. We usually rent movies rather than go to the theater, we very rarely eat out, Dave and I haven’t bought clothes for ourselves in ages, etc. The main monthly expense that might have some wiggle room is food. I honestly couldn’t tell you how much we spend on groceries a month. It seems like I’m at the supermarket every few days, so I’d have to gather all of my receipts and add them up, because I really have no clue. But I know it’s a lot.

So, I’m trying to figure out ways that we can save money on our monthly grocery bill. There are a few things that I won’t compromise on:
* Milk – I have to drink the lactose-free milk, which is expensive. And for Catie’s milk, I will only buy her the organic stuff with no hormones or antibiotics. Call me crazy, but I’d like to do everything I can to prevent her from hitting puberty at 9 years old, or having an increased risk of breast cancer (or any other type of cancer).
* Cheese. I buy the store-brand generic stuff, and it’s still pricey. But you know, I like cheese, and I’m not switching to Velveeta just because it’s cheaper.
* A few other things that I’m very brand-specific about: Diet Coke, my specific type of whole-wheat bread, Pampers for Catie, etc. There’s not very many things that I feel that strongly about, but for those few things, I’m stubborn and have absolutely no wiggle room.

As for the things I’m already doing to save money:
* That stuff I just mentioned that I’m brand-specific about? I wait for it to go on sale and then I stock up and buy tons of it, so I think that helps.
* Buying the cheaper/store brand versions of everything else.
* Choosing canned/frozen fruits and veggies instead of fresh. I’m sure it probably loses a bit of its nutritional value in the process, but it does save quite a bit of money.
* Cheap lunches. Dave works from home, and Catie & I are here too, so I usually have to come up with something for all of us to eat for lunch every day. Lately, soup has been very popular in our house. (I have the weirdest toddler in the world, she loves both split pea and vegetable beef soup. I KNOW!) Two cans of Campbell’s soup for 88 cents? Why yes, thank you. I think we can budget that.

Stuff I still need to work on:
* Coupons. I should clip coupons. I know I should. The problem is, every time I’ve done it, I’ve forgotten that the coupons were in my purse when I was checking out. So I need some sort of system that will prevent me from having a total brain fart when I go to pay for my stuff. If any of you have suggestions, let me have them.
* Making a list. I think this would keep me from wandering the store trying to remember all the things I needed, which usually leads me to picking up a few things that we really don’t need.
* For the fruits and veggies that I do buy fresh, I need to try to restrict myself to buying things that are local and in season. Kind of hard to do when your child is demanding grapes, and you can’t buy canned grapes (can you? I’ve never seen them, other than in fruit cocktail), and she isn’t going to wait until grape season rolls around.
* Choosing cheaper meats. It’s not like I’m buying us filet mignon every day or anything like that; we eat chicken more than anything else, really. But for example, when we want seafood, I could maybe make a tuna casserole instead of grilled salmon, and it would be an awful lot cheaper.

Is there anything I’m forgetting? Are you doing anything special to try to save money these days?

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You want to see the shirt, right? Well, here you go:

This is the not the most flattering angle, it looks better in person. Also, please ignore the fact that I look slightly panicked and crazy. I am working on a SERIOUS case of nerves, since I’m leaving for my girls’ night in about five minutes.

More pics tomorrow, I’m sure.

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Tomorrow I’m going to be meeting up with three girls who I’ve known since somewhere around the second grade. I mentioned it a while back, but the last time I saw any of them was sometime in 1993 or ’94. So, about 15 years ago? The whole thing is very weird, and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t wigging out just a teensy little bit about our get-together tomorrow night.

So, besides the new haircut that I got last week, yesterday and today I’ve gone shopping during Catie’s naptime. (My parents were here, it’s not like I abandoned her.) Everything in my wardrobe is pretty casual, to put it mildly. I own way more hoodies than anyone should, and during the summer I often wear Dave’s old t-shirts with a pair of jeans and consider myself good to go. I very rarely go shopping for myself, and when I do, it’s usually to scour the out-of-season clearance racks. (Two of my favorite long-sleeved shirts I found at Kohl’s last spring for $2 each. Score!)

Anyway, since I’m a neurotic weirdo who feels like I need to prove that I’m not the same boring fat nerd that I was in high school, I’ve been looking for something that screams fabulous. (Or fierce. Where’s Christian Siriano when I need him?) I found a couple of cute tops, and one unbelievably fabulous shirt that does everything I could want it to do: it’s a bright print (I only wore dark solids in high school, the better to conceal my weight), it hides the tummy area without making me look pregnant, and it gives the illusion of boobs. It’s perfect. I would daresay that I look pretty smokin’ hot in it. Problem is, it cost $72. I haven’t spent that much on one article of clothing for myself… um, ever? (Well, there was my wedding dress, of course. But generally, I’m a $20-and-under type girl.) Oh, and it’s hand-wash only, which is totally impractical with my current life.

I took a deep breath and bought the shirt anyway, figuring that I’d try it on again when I got back to my parents’ house, and I’d find some huge flaw that would allow me to return it and never think about it again. Instead, what happened was that I tried it on, I modeled it in front of my parents, and my dad told my mom to write me a check to cover the cost of the shirt. So I think I’m keeping it.

I’ll take pictures before I go out tomorrow so y’all can see what I mean. Now I just have to find some fancy occasions so I can hopefully wear this shirt more than once. I’m thinking Dave and I might have to have a Date Night when we get back to North Carolina.

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When we lived out in the boonies, we never put decorations on the outside of our house during the holidays. What would be the point? We lived on a remote, dead-end street. Barely anyone would’ve ever seen it other than us. So we never bothered.

Halloween was our first holiday in the suburbs, and our first experience seeing just how nuts the people around here go with their decorations. I was a little embarassed that we didn’t do anything. Well, ok, I put a pumpkin on the front stoop as sort of an autumn-type decoration, but I didn’t carve it or even draw on a jack o’lantern face with a Sharpie, because I suck horribly at all things that require even a teeny-tiny bit of artistic talent.

So, we’ve come to the conclusion that we’re going to have to step things up quite a bit for Christmas. A couple of our neighbors have informed me that everyone puts their Christmas lights up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Um, ok? Seems a bit ridiculous to me since it’s going to be up for a month, but sure, whatever.

To be honest, I’m a little excited at the idea of getting the outside of the house all spiffed up for Christmas, because my parents never did that. My mom would hang up a wreath on the front door, and since our front porch had white columns on it, she’d take a wide red ribbon and spiral it up the columns to make them look like candy canes. But we never had lights outside or anything. I’d really like to get in the habit of decorating the house for Christmas, I think Cate will really get into it as she gets older.

Today, Cate and I met up with Cat, Tony, e-baby, and Tony’s sister Diana to do a little pre-Christmas shopping. We hit a couple of stores to check out their selection of Christmas decorations. I didn’t buy anything today, I was just trying to get some ideas. Lowe’s hardware store has some great stuff – Cate and e-baby both loved all of the animatronic dancing, singing toys – but let’s get real, I’m not going to drop $200 on a giant inflatable Santa and stable (with a stall for each reindeer, labeled Donner, Blitzen, etc.). We also went to Big Lots (or as Cat calls it, Poverty Barn), and they had tons of stuff, which was pretty cheap, so I’ll probably end up heading back there to pick up some stuff. And I noticed that the dollar store near our house has Christmas decorations, so I think I’ll definitely be able to find sufficient supplies for the house that won’t hurt our bank account too much. I haven’t decided how extensive we’re going to get with the decor, though. I’ll have to balance my ambition with my hatred of working in the yard when it’s cold outside.

What about y’all? Anyone else go crazy with Christmas decorations, do you boycott them altogether, or do you find a happy medium?

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First of all, if you haven’t been following the comments on this post, go read them. That Google is a funny thing. Although I’m slightly mortified that I dissed a cartoon in passing and then the show’s creator left me a comment. Eek!

Today has been crazy errand-running day. After dropping Cate off at daycare, I:
* Made the rounds at Costco and stocked up on formula and other essentials.

* Got a haircut. (It’s been over three months since my last one – I was due.)

* Hit a health food store for protein and vitamin supplies (end results of my gastric bypass). While I was there, I ran into a former friend who I haven’t spoken to since before Dave and I got married. That was awkward, but I decided to be the bigger person and say hi. It wasn’t so bad.

WARNING TO MY DAD: No reading below this point!! (Not that I’m worried, I don’t think he ever reads this site.)

* Went to the Microsoft store to buy my dad’s Christmas present. This required me to be kind of sneaky and subversive, since I haven’t worked there for a year, so technically I’m not allowed to shop there anymore. I tried using my old badge to unlock the door, which of course didn’t work, so I asked the security guard if he’d let me in, and he did without even giving my badge a second glance. The thing is, my badge showed that I was a contractor, so it’s not like I would’ve gotten any cool employee discounts anyway, it was just gaining admission to the Sacred World of Things with Microsoft Logos on Them.

(I got my dad a golf shirt. He loves them. He likes bragging to his golf buddies about how his daughter works there. Or used to. Technically, my paycheck still comes from them in a very indirect way, but that’s a long story.)

(Oh, and I got Cate a “Microsoft Kid” t-shirt since she’s outgrown her Microsoft onesie. Hee! Dave says she isn’t allowed to leave the house wearing it. Whatever. We’ll just see about that.)

And now, it’s off to give the baby a bath and head off to bed. I feel like I haven’t stopped moving all day. So tired.

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Under normal circumstances, I avoid shopping the first few days after Thanksgiving like the plague. I usually feel like the bargains aren’t worth the pain of dealing with the hordes of people, and trying to manage it with a baby in tow? Ugh, no thanks.

In spite of that, today Cate and I headed off to Target, because we had reached crisis levels of formula. I normally stock up on Similac at Costco to save money (it’s one of the few products that you can really save a ton of money on by buying in bulk), but not this time. I don’t know if this applies to all Costco locations, but the parking lot at ours is a nightmare on any weekend, nevermind this particular weekend. So I opted for the lesser of two evils and went to Target.

And it was not so bad. I was pleasantly surprised. I found a parking spot easily enough, retrieved a cart, and the checkout was not nearly as crazy as I was expecting. I got more Christmas presents, stocked up on various baby and household items that we needed, got a few things we didn’t need (hello, York peppermint patties! I’ve missed you all year), and just generally had a nice time getting out of the house for a while. We’ve had kind of a lazy holiday thus far, so this was a very welcome little outing.

Sorry this is boring. Just keeping up with the whole NaBloPoMo thing. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

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