Goodwill, good grief!

My pal Lauren and I met at the Goodwill Outlet today for some "thrifting." I can't remember if I've blogged about this store, I probably have, but let me just say shopping there is the craziest experience. It's a bit like dumpster diving because all of the items are thrown into gigantic bins and everything you buy is sold by weight. Last time I went my brother was in town and we found a collectable game worth $60 that we paid less than a dollar for. There are always tons of people there pushing around overloaded shopping carts, but today it was especially crowded. It was actually a bit scary at times. People were surrounding bins as they were brought out to the floor and on command, snatching and shoveling as much as they could into their own carts. The best I can think to describe it is that it was like dumping fish food into a fish tank but the fish were people and the food was just a bunch of junk. I can't figure out why people buy that stuff by the cartful. Me, I only purchased a couple essential items: vintage hat and hat box, gymnastics foam wedge, dishwasher bottle holder, rubber ball, and last but not least, a tent for Etta.

Baby Stock Pile

The Similac coupons arrived Monday. After hitting up 6 grocery stores, by Tuesday afternoon we had 20 large tubs of formula, 170 jars of baby food, and 4 boxes of rice/oatmeal cereal. Total savings, $240. Total times a manager was called to the check out stand, 4. Monthly formula budget went from about $100/month to about $35/month. So it was coupon success. Next project, saving on diapers!

I'm also including a pic of Etta's $0.02 sleeper, made from a Wal-Mart, Miley Cyrus jean shirt that was on clearance for $1 but rang up for $0.02. Oh, the savings!

Coupons?

Ok, so I ordered 20 - $5 off Similac coupons from an online coupon clipper. I'm not really a "couponer" but formula cost is currently sucking up a good portion of our budget. So I'm planning on using at least some of them in combination with Similac checks that I already have, and a store promotion to take $5 off of a $25 qualifing baby purchase. Theoretically I would save $15 per $25 transaction. I've been stressed and nervous ever since I had the idea, imagining having a confrontation about coupons at the check-out stand with a long line of shoppers behind me, all glaring at me with their hands on their hips. That's why I'm not a couponer. I'll let you know how it goes.

Rainy day - sort of

The skies have been threatening rain all day so Etta is spending some time reading...

I haven't blogged in forever so I thought, what the heck, might as well think of something to say to the world. Being a mom is all-consuming. I don't have time to be very creative or inventive unless it involves bells, rattles, bottles, or diapers bags. Also, the portion of my "thinking time" that used to be devoted to coming up with thoughts and ideas to impress and enlighten the world has been reallocated to pondering whether four months is too old for a swaddle and whether homemade formula is worth the effort. Yes, there is such a thing as homemade formula and it's not just a classy way of saying "nursing." Who knew right?

For now I'll stick to just giving a brief update about our life here in Colorado.

1. Etta is almost four months old - she's laughing, smiling, rolling over, and doing all of the other typical baby things.

2. Thomas' job is going well, although he's way over-qualified to be in his position and should be doing his boss's boss's job... or so I think anyway ;)

3. Colorado is beautiful, still a little chilly but we've had some 70 degree days lately so I can't complain. The BOB stroller was hands down the best baby purchase we made.

4. Church/Friends/Community here are awesome. We've made some great friends already and feel pretty connected. Etta has a bunch of baby friends too, which makes me happy, seems like a good headstart to life.

So there's a little bit about how things are. We had a scary incident last month where my brother was in a snowboarding accident and shattered his femur, and along with that shattered the hope that one day we'd convince our families to move up here. My mom now hates Denver and my brother is too much of a Texan to want to move. Still holding out a tiny bit of hope for my sister and brother-in-law though, and maybe Thomas' sisters :)

Guess that's about it, I'm going to attach a couple more pictures, one is of a hike we did last weekend in Boulder, and the other is of the Easter bunny, who might be crawling in a few weeks but probably wont be hopping for a while.

Smiley

Here's my best attempt at getting Etta to smile on camera.
She's been smiling alot lately but it's hard to catch on video!

New Year's Resolutions, at last

It's almost a month into 2011 and I've finally nailed down my new year's resolutions.

1. Drink more water
2. Be less judgemental
3. Wear more sunscreen
4. Be more honest*

I don't do any of these four nearly enough, so any improvement would be wonderful!

*That means if I'm trying to use an expired coupon and it gets handed back to me, I need to admit that I knew it was expired instead of pretending I had no idea. Or better yet, not try to use the coupon in the first place.

Life as we know it

I've been trying to find a second to blog for the past month and a half, and finally, here I am, sitting at the computer, still in my pjs, with a half eaten banana on the table next to me, dirty diapers spilling out of the trash can, and little Etta on the couch making grunting noises in her sleep.
Today marks six weeks since she was born and the further I can get from that date, the better. I knew it was going to be a tough experience but I didn't expect getting hit by the truck of emotions that followed - I won't go into that right now but I will say I am back to feeling like myself again.
For now, here's the update from Knickerbocker home:
Etta is adorable, church is good, the episode of the office last night was hilarious, and sometimes you just have to be ok with doing your best even when it seems you should be able to do better.

Feedback

Derek Webb has a new album out that's based on The Lord's Prayer. It's called Feedback. I like it already. For more info, check out http://www.derekwebb.com/

Feedback [2.1] from Scott Brignac on Vimeo.

Julius Judy

Ok, I feel horrible about posting this. I stole the picture from my brother-in-law's facebook page and I've been patiently waiting all day for him to post photos/announcement on his blog. But I can't hold out any longer. The thing is, today was a huge day for our family because Heidi, Jason, Ethan, and Adelaide (and the rest of us) welcomed the newest member, Julius Wilson Judy. I wished I could be there so bad. So bad that for the last few days I've told Thomas about a hundred times that we need to move back to Texas, which is really saying somthing because Colorado is beautiful right now. But Julius is awesome, for real. So even though we can't be there to celebrate, I'd like to pass on this message via the blogosphere.
Julius, thank you for your happiness which is so sweetly evident in the photo, it makes the world better.
Aunt Katie and Uncle Thomas love you dearly.
*Pictured above, Julius with Papa Hester and mom (Heidi) in the background. Didn't want to post one of their family photos because I figure they'll be up on Jason's blog soon!

Blue Suitcase

Happy Birthday to my brother who is celebrating halfway across the world today! It's technically tomorrow morning there if I've calculated correctly. Here's a vintage suitcase from Thomas and I that will hopefully take you on all of your many adventures to come. We're keeping it here in Colorado so that you have to come see us to get it (and so that you don't have to mess with sending it back to the states in a few months). Hopefully you'll appreciate that I reupholstered the interior in corrugated brown rather than the original baby blue ruffled satin. Yes, it has working locks and a key, and yes, the awesome sweater vest is included. Hope you have a wonderful day! You are loved (and missed).

Towel update...

This is how I hung my towel this morning (it's the white one). I had to use duct tape to get it to stay that way. I'm going wild anticipating Thomas coming home and noticing it. I keep going in there to look at it and make sure it's still as funny as it was fifteen minutes ago!

I guess it wasn't that funny

You know how sometimes things happen and they're really only funny to you? And when you think about them, they're really not funny at all, but they still make you laugh?
When I was little I used to love eating raw carrots. My mom would peel a whole carrot and I would walk around gnawing on it like bugs bunny. I was probably 4 or 5 years old on this one particular occasion and I walked into the living room with my carrot and my dad said "What a big carrot!" I thought it was so funny I nearly peed in my pants and for years, anytime I wanted to make myself laugh I would think of that experience. I still remember when I was in fourth grade and it dawned on me that the "what a big carrot" story wasn't actually funny. It was a sad day.
So I had three more not-so-funny things happen in the last few days and I want to write them down so that I'll be able to look back, laugh, and role my eyes at how silly I once was.

1. I walked into the bathroom after Thomas had taken a shower and his towel was folded over the rack by only one or two inches with the other end almost touching the floor. I laughed histerically for probably 5 minutes because I couldn't understand how it was staying on like that and I couldn't believe he put his towel up that way.
2. We passed a Waffle House and I said "Waffle Hou-ooooohs" like I was a dog howling. And then I thought I was really funny.
3. I was making spaghetti sauce and when I tasted it I all of the sudden heard the song "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's amore" playing in my head. I started laughing out loud and Thomas, from the other room, asked me what was so funny.

Swim Lessons

This afternoon I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies just because I wanted to. What a life. But Thomas and I have been on a healthy eating kick so now I'm trying to decide if I should hide them before he comes home from work.
We got free three-month memberships to the gym so we've both been on our own little exercise routines, mine consisting solely of swimming laps in the indoor pool. I have to stop after every lap to catch my breath so it's a little embarrassing. The other day the lady in the lane next to me stopped to tell me that I was swimming wrong. I, of course, exaggerated and claimed I was eight months pregnant even though I wasn't quite that far along. She still told me I need to force my head down and my butt up so I tried it. I was already on my last lap so she gave me the advice and then I swam to the other end, got out, and left :)
Yesterday I went in the afternoon right when these dark rain clouds had come out. The pool was totally empty and the place looked really eerie. I swam three laps and then got spooked and left. I don't like being alone in water. My imagination goes crazy with scenarios of snakes, sharks, and alligators being accidentally transported into random three lane lap pools across the country. Probably the next terrorist plot. Anyway I took an extra long shower in the locker room so that the people at the front desk wouldn't look at me weird for leaving after only 10 minutes.