Happy Birthday Jack~

As you may have surmised from the title, today is Jack's birthday. So in honor of that I will dish a little. (I am sure that is all he really wants for his birthday - for me to talk about him to all my blog readers. Just in case though, I also got him a Keurig) With that said, here are ten random, fairly non-intrusive, fun things about Jack and/or us.

1. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a little boy and my parents refused to humor me. So Jack is the one who taught me how to throw a football.

2. Jack is the best listener I have ever met. Which is great because I am pretty awesome at talking.

3. Jack likes to dance when he drinks.

4. I think Jack is sexiest when he is doing ordinary things like laundry or putting the kids to bed.....or breathing.

5. We have still not had a real fight over anything.

6. Next to me and his kids, the thing he loves most is pulled pork sandwiches. Ok, maybe not exactly in that order.

7. Jack is an awesome cook, with an especially good method for cooking steaks - and six out of seven nights he makes us dinner. The seventh night we eat out.

8. He knows someone every place we go. Literally. And half of them still call him by a nickname he had in school, probably thinking it is his actual name. It always makes me smile.

9. He apparently knows how to fillet and cook squirrel. I told him that is a skill I don't need to witness firsthand.

10. He makes me the very best version of myself and more happy than I have ever been. Unless I mess up and eat his leftovers, I see us very happy for a very long time.

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It's A Privilege~

I try hard not to be judgemental. Which, I admit, is hard for me because I am a typical first born child that mostly believes I know all. Therefore, there are many opportunities for me to see people that DON'T know all. I say this tongue-in-cheek....but there is some truth in there. So when I find myself thinking negatively about somebody's ass-backwards...uh, different...ideas or behaviors I try and remind myself that I don't know their story or their background and that I shouldn't judge. However, there are exceptions.

Here's a big one - bad moms. Now I don't mean those who spank their kids or feed them cookies for dinner because they don't want to hear whining after a long day or ones that hit that last nerve and scream 'QUIET!' at the top of their lungs after the fifteenth '...but, MOM..' whine. I mean the women that should never have been allowed to have kids. They are out there. There is no excuse, no background, no story that makes it acceptable to demean, neglect, or mess with your child's head. And there is nothing that makes me sicker than a woman that has blessed with a child and thinks that child is a tool for getting her way or a meal ticket or a weapon to use for power or attention. As a society we should just stitch them all up in uncomfortable places - with blunt instruments and without anesthesia- and give those kids to people that appreciate them for the blessings that they are.

Being able to raise children is a privilege. Even if you didn't expect to be a mom or think you aren't ready to be a mom - if that day comes then you grow the hell up, put your big girl panties on, and get your priorities in order. I think I am sensitive to this issue just because I don't have kids yet at thirty two and I have always wanted them. So it just makes my blood boil that there are these selfish, spoiled, bitchy women that take their kids completely for granted - or worse, use them for their own gain. It feels like the most unfair thing in the world that children aren't always paired with people that love them or treat them the way that they should be. And it sucks that there is so little legally that we can do to change that. How awful is it that one of these moms needs to do something truly atrocious before they lose their rights? Basically, we need them to hurt or endanger a child BEFORE we can step in - instead of stepping in and preventing that hurt. I could vent for days about this topic, but I will spare you all my inner angst and just conclude with....the system sucks and those moms suck...and that is this woman's view~

Coupon Queen~

It would be fair to say that in life thus far I have not been smart with money. I have never starved or slept without a roof (involuntarily) or gone without any real needs. But sometimes....every once in a while...I have been unable to buy a cute new handbag. Tragic.

Anyway, back when I was young and dumb I thought I was better than coupons. I would look at all the people in the grocery store and think arrogantly of how sad it was that they were chained to that little pile of paper in their hands - while I was free to buy anything in the store regardless of coupon or price....I was ruler of the grocery store. Want it, buy it, self-satisfied smirk out the door. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Even after I grew up (a little) and began to be (somewhat) responsible with my money, I still thought coupons were more hassle than they were worth - for some reason my brain refused to convert coupons to money in my head while rationalizing it through. However, one of my book club members seduced me with stories of free razors and lots of savings and just like that....hooked.

Did you know that a dollar coupon means I get to keep a whole dollar in my purse AND STILL get what I want?? Except at Kroger, it means I get to keep TWO whole dollars! (God loves us, so he gave us double coupons.) And if I collect ten of those coupons I can keep ten, or maybe even twenty, dollars in my purse....to later go spend on something more fun than groceries, like summer handbags or cheesy bread or more organizational tools than any one woman needs.

So now I have a coupon binder, which is the most perfect combination of my new coupon craziness and my old organizational issues. It is like my own little neurotic heaven. And I can't explain the satisfaction I found on my first foray into the grocery stores on a Super Saturday. Three hours, sixty dollars in savings, and a free tube of toothpaste later....I was a tired, but satisfied shopper. I told everyone I knew about my super buys, including under a dollar shampoo and conditioner and rug cleaner. And I immediately began plotting my next attack on the grocery stores. Now it is like a game to see if I can beat my best deal.

The only down side I can see to this is that I am starting to collect things. I used to laugh at my ex-mother-in-law because she literally had a pantry in the basement and anytime she was out of something there was usually one down there. And now it is happening to me. I probably have sixty pounds of dog food, three bags of cat food (my pets are never going to go hungry), and I recently grabbed up four bottles of dish soap at seventy nine cents each. And that isn't even going into my own cupboards yet. I need to be on guard or soon I will end up with random things because they were such a good deal. In the middle of a coupon haze I will be overcome with giddiness that I can save five bucks on a carton of corndogs. When that day comes (and it will) ....I promise to take pictures.