Frugal Friday Tip - Pregnancy stuff

Today I'll feature my Friday Frugal Tip with pregnancy stuff. I'm sorry for this boring subject for most of you, especially men, but hey it's my blog and I can do what I want. :) You can't tell what's on my mind huh? (I hope this is my last Friday being pregnant this time around, we'll see.)

Belly Band - There are many companies coming out with "belly bands" or "belly socks." They were called "unit belts" in the 80's. :) I re-invented them by just taking an old shirt (tight baby-tee) and cutting the top off with pinking shears. The bottom is still good to be seen and there is no reason that I have to hem the top since it's always covered with another shirt. I've been able to extend the use of my normal jeans & pants by unzipping and just covering up with the belly band. It's also a good trick for those shirts that are too short. I use it later for nursing to cover up my after-pregnancy blubber while my shirt is raised to breastfeed.

Rubber-band trick - Before you start using even the belly band, the rubber band trick is good for those first few times you start realizing that you middle is expanding. Simply tie/loop a rubber band onto the top button hole of your jeans and then fasten onto the button. It gives you that extra inch that you need. I googled a picture here.

Midwife - I chose to use a midwife for these last two pregnancies. Our insurance covers her just the same as an OB/GYN. She could techinically cost the same as just the doctor's bill, but often times she asks me before she performs any tests. If something is not necessary for me, then we don't do the test, and it ends up not costing me. A doctor would probably just do the routine tests anyway. Because I'm not planning on using medical interventions, using a midwife should be cheaper. We won't have to pay an anethesiologist fee, or even a facility fee for this planned home birth. I also feel that in this case, cheaper is better. A midwife gives you quality time for non-complicated births.

Cravings - I am fortunate to not have crazy pregnancy cravings. There have been a few times that I've wanted something that could classify as a pregnancy craving though. Instead of quickly jetting to the store or restaurant, I try to make something else at home that's hopefully cheaper and healthier. I wanted a Wendy's Frostie and instead I got a frozen banana and blended it with homemade yogurt. It was tasty and satisfying! Also, drink water! If you have a craving, drink a tall glass of water first and then see if you're still hungry. (P.S. - For those pregnant ladies who crave dirt, eat a potato!)

Clothes - I've gotten most of my maternity clothes for free or very cheap.

• I'm grateful that my mom purchased some of them and my sister and I have shared the clothes between our 5 pregnancies. Some are getting quite worn out though.
• I've gotten a couple bags of maternity clothes from freecycle. Many people give away their old maternity clothes, and if you can find the right size for you, it's a great deal to get the whole bag of free clothes.
• Kid-to-Kid has a section for maternity clothes. I've gotten a few clothes there. I actually ended up taking some of the free clothes I got from freecycle that I couldn't wear (like the short shorts and tank tops) and trading them for maternity clothes more modest. They paid me for the clothes I donated and gave me a little extra if I used it as in-store credit.
• I've gotten a few maternity clothes at thrift stores, particularly Thrift Town. They do 50% off for certain colored tags each day and there are often $3 off $10 coupons out there from ValPak. I got some cute maternity jeans and a basic white shirt for $3!
  

Update - Q&A style

Here are some recent questions or comments that I've had in the last 24 hours.

Person: "Are you still here?"
Me: "Yep, I'm still here."

Person: "Wow, look at you! The baby has dropped."
Me: "Yeah, he's low and I'm ready."

Person: "When are you due?"
Me: "In about a week and half, so anytime is good with me!"

Person: "No offense, but you can't get any bigger!"
Me: "Yeah, I'm pretty big, it's quite a shelf."

Person: "Now when exactly are you due?"
Person: "In about 2 weeks, March 6th, 3-6-9."

Person: "Wow, you're here and all in one piece!"
Me: "Yes I'm here and wish I was in two pieces."

Person: "How do you feel?"
Me: "Tired."

Person: "What are you doing still here?"
Me: "Well, we went for a walk to try to jump start things but so far nothing."

After our walk yesterday I was not feeling well. I don't think I'll "try" to help things along since it wore me out. If I would have started labor I would have been too tired to endure much of anything. Darrell asked:
Darrell: "What are you ailments?"
Me: "I'm emotional and it hurts all right here." (Pointing to my waist, back & lower abdomen.)

Okay, there you go, that's my update. Any other questions or comments? Bring it on.

Our backyard feathered residents

We have more than one family living at our address. A lovely family of quail lives in our backyard!

We've had them for the past few years. They started out as 2 quail, then they had 9 babies! Last year all 11 of them were walking around and we were able to watch them grow into adults. Now there are 15 quail so a few have been "married" into the family. I wonder what will happen this spring and summer.

They live under our bridal wreath shrub and come out to eat the raisins on the ground from our plethora of grape vines. It's fun to see their foot tracks in the snow.

Our neighbor happened to come to our backyard last month and was so excited to find the quail. He has always wanted to have quail but hasn't ever had any because they're too expensive to buy. (He has chickens in his backyard, and loves raising birds.) Later he told Darrell that he "secretly covets" our backyard. We wondered what he meant and then he told us the reason is because we have that family of quail. What makes our yard so cool that a family of quail resides there? (Maybe it's the raisins or the little alcove that was created from the woodchips under the bridal wreath shrub, who knows.) I now appreciate this little family more now and I hope they stick around to bring joy to our lives.

Here they are on our garage roof as babies in August 2007.

This was taken last week, I zoomed up with my camera so I wouldn't scare them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had some fun with photoshop...
Have a Happy Valentine's Day! :)



We are having a primary activity today and will be going Valentine caroling, singing the following songs. You should sing these to someone you love today...they may be cheesy but I bet they'd still bring a smile to his/her face!

1. If you love me and you know it
Sung to: "If you’re happy and you know it"
If you love me and you know it, Clap your hands.
If you love me and you know it, Clap your hands.
If you love me and you know it,
Then your face will surely show it.
If you love me and you know it, Clap your hands.
_____________________________________

2. Love your Friends
Sung to: "Row, Row, Row, your boat"
Love, Love, Love your Friends,
Love them all year long.
Especially on Valentine's Day,
As we sing this song!
_________________________________

3. The Primary Brings a Valentine
Sung to: "Mulberry Bush or Pop Goes the Weasel"
The primary brings a Valentine,
a Valentine, a Valentine.
The primary brings a Valentine,
It says we love you!
_____________________________________

4. You are my Valentine
Sung to: "You are my Sunshine"
You are my Valentine, My special Valentine,
And I do love you, oh yes I do.
You are my Valentine, My Special Valentine,
And please say you love me, too!
_____________________________________

5. Do you know my Valentine?
Sung to: "The Muffin Man"
Do you know my Valentine,
My valentine, my valentine?
Do you know my Valentine?
His/her name is _____________.
_____________________________________

6. Be my Valentine
Sung to: "London Bridges"
Will you be my Valentine, Valentine, Valentine?
Will you be my Valentine, Be a friend of mine.
_________________________________

7. Valentine for you
Sung to: "Farmer in the dell"
A valentine for you
A valentine for you.
A valentine, a valentine
A valentine for you.
__________________________________

8. 10 Little Hearts
Sung to: "One little, two little, three little Indians"
One little, two little, three little hearts,
Four little, five little, six little hearts,
Seven little, eight little, nine little hearts,
Bring love on Valentine's Day.
_____________________________________

9. We Wish You a Happy Valentines
Sung to: "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"
We wish you a Happy Valentines
We wish you a Happy Valentines
We wish you a Happy Valentines
and a smile your way!
_____________________________________

10. Hello, Hello
Sung to: "Hello, Hello" (Primary Song)
Hello, Hello! Hello Hello!
Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hello, Hello! Hello Hello!
We’re glad to smile your way!
_____________________________________

Happiness is...Volume 2 Part 1

I haven't done a happiness post in a while. That must mean I'm miserable! :) Although these pregnancy hormones make me happy, sad, or miserable within seconds I still have things to be happy about.

(Some of these I wrote a while ago, so they may be Christmas related.)

Happiness is...
* Oaklen closing the door for me to use the bathroom and saying "You need your priva-seat?" (privacy.
* Coming up with silly names for the baby with my boys.
* Watching Frosty the Snowman with the fam for the first time.
* Oaklen yelling "Happy-yeah!" when we tell him something exciting.
* Teaching Salem what a commercial is (at 5 yrs old!)
* Getting Christmas cards from good friends.
* Knowing that I am a child of God.
* Feeling the Christmas spirit, all year long.
* Listening to Oaklen roll-play and pretend with his little people and toys.
* Watching our quail family in our backyard.
* Oaklen telling Darrell that he belongs at the man-village. (From the Jungle Book)
* The boys having fun with moonsand.
* Oaklen recounting or "reading" the book A Fish Out of Water.
* Picking Salem up from school every day and asking me "Do you have a surprise for me?"
* Oaklen then telling Salem "I don't have a surprise for you, Salem."
* Watching the garbage trucks with Oaklen on Thursday mornings.
* Oaklen realizing the difference between feel-good food and junk food.
* Salem making good choices with his eating.
* Salem making his own breakfast. He prepares ane egg from start to finish, and even puts his dish away.
* Oaklen looking at my hangnails and saying "I'm sorry!"
* Brother hugs and baby brother hugs.
* Giving 20 kisses to each boy before bed then singing the goodnight song.
* My boys giving me comfort when I start to cry. They come to hug me and give me a tissue.
* Oaklen wearing his pajamas and looking like Uncle Fester.
* Naked bums...then me saying "who has a naked bum?"
* Oaklen saying "Jesus Christ has wounds?" loud and clear during the sacrament ordinance at church. Then later saying "Is it time to go?"
* Salem finding joy in such simple things and projects for "mom & me" time.
* Staying up later and talking with Darrell.
* Salem wanting to reserve the same books at the library instead of spending money and buying the books from the school book order.
* Oaklen coming in my room early in the morning and saying "Mom, can I snuggle with you?"
* Having an eternal family.

Friday Frugal Tip - Saving at Costco

You may be wondering if I have a membership to Costco or the like. For a few years I enjoyed a Costco membership as a yearly Christmas gift from my step-father. I didn't pay for it and was grateful for the generous gift. I had never gone before and was impressed with the quality of products. Later our Christmas gift idea changed so I had to decide if I wanted to pay for a membership or not. At that time, there were only two or three of us in our family so I felt that paying for a membership was not as cost effective for me. Plus I was ramping up on coupon shopping and wanted to see where that would take me.

After my membership ended, we learned that you can still shop at Costco without being a member. How? Costco cash cards! I used to pay my mom to buy a cash card for me and then I would be able to shop there for the few things that I felt that the price and quality could only be attained at Costco. Using the cash card kept me on a budget since I only had a set amount of money on the card, I had to think of everything I was buying and how much it would add up to at the register. (Later I learned that you can use your debit card if your purchase goes over the cash card amount. I knew that you could probably do that for members but I didn't know you could do that for non-members.)

This cash card system worked for me for about 2 years. The only downfall with this system is that you can't use the many Costco services like the tire center, photo center, or shopping online. (Although you could still use the pharmacy since legally you don't have to be a member to use the pharmacy.)

Now that my family has almost 5 members, I have now decided to bite the bullet and buy a membership. I was able to get a "discount" membership through my step-father's business so it's not as expensive as it could have been. Since I'm attached to the business membership, he renews each year at his own will.

If I had gotten a membership on my own I have an idea on how to extend the membership one more month (someone please tell me if this works). Memberships renew the moment you pay for the next year. So if you're membership renews in January and you pay for another year on January 1st, then anyone that did not renew with you on January 1st is kicked off the membership. (I learned that the hard way when my step-father renewed and I thought I had until the end of the month to use my membership. After a few phone calls and finagling, I was able to stay on the membership for my last shopping trip that was at the end of the month.) Okay so here's my idea: Buy the initial membership in January (or whatever month) then go shopping on the last day of the month so you're stocked up for a while. The next time you need to go to Costco, renew your membership at that time. Now your membership expires in February (or whatever month you end up going back in.) I'm not sure if this idea works but it's worth a try. You might have to get a new membership number since you let your membership lapse, or Costco might just retroactively renew your membership from the renewal month. Someone try it and let me know! UPDATE: From the comment that Emily gave, looks like my idea to extend your membership a month or more won't work. Darn!

One more idea...
Costco stores only let you use your debit card or Amex. I seriously considered going to Sam's Club instead since they let you use a Discover card. I always use Discover card to build up the cashback bonus award and track my spending. What was I going to do? Well...Costco.com lets you use a Discover card. :) Now I use my membership to buy Costco cash cards online (with free shipping) using my Discover. I build up my cash back bonus award and still get to shop at Costco. Also, since I use the cash card, I still have the budget mentality that I only have a certain amount on the cash card. It works for me and it can work for you. How many times have you been able to get out of Costco under $100? Try the cash card system and you'll see.

P.S. - An obvious way to save money while shopping at Costco is to shop during their food sampling hours. Fill yourself up with appetizers so you won't eat so much at home!

02/02/09...Are we already starting the 7-year itch?

What were you doing 7 years ago today? If you knew me and Darrell at that time I hope you were attending our wedding festivities! It was (of course) a great day. People tell me that it was such a cold day but I don't even remember the coldness, my heart was warm and my head was in the clouds.

Happy Anniversary Darrell! I love you more than words can say.

7 1/2 years ago I made a website for the wedding. The website has long since been removed but I still have some of the content. Here is a clip of what I wrote:

Our Story

Heather's Version
I met him when I was in High School. He's two years older than me in school. I was a junior and he had already graduated. We had a mutual friend named Christian. Christian kept telling me about this "rad guitar player" named Darrell. So I had heard a lot about him. We finally met on February 22, 1997 at a small party that my friend Marie was having. Christian brought him along, he introduced him to all of my friends. We said "so this is the Darrell we've heard so much about!" Later we were all thinking "Christian didn't tell us he was cute!"

We got to be good friends. We would hang out all the time. We never dated or did anything of that sort since he was preparing for a mission, and I was having fun in High School. He left for his mission to Catania Italy on November 5, 1997. I went to go see him off at the MTC, and that was the first time he hugged me.

The next two years I wrote to him, the first year every once in a while, then for the second year, about every week. I wasn't "the girl he left behind" but if he had one, then I would be it. I still stayed in contact with his family, I'd hang out with some of his siblings, and friends.

He served his two years came home on November 18, 1999. I saw him the day after he came home, and the minute he saw me he ran up and hugged me. I only stayed at his house for 1/2 an hour, since I already had plans for the evening. The next day was the U of U vs. BYU football game. I went down to Provo with the Crimson Line, to watch, and perform at the game. The game was so awesome, that I lost my voice. I was cheering so loud for the U of U, and WE WON!!! The whole bus ride home, my friends were asking me how it went with my "missionary." I talked my voice to death, and the next day I had no voice. The next day happened to be Sunday, his Homecoming. I just smiled most of the day, since I couldn't talk. Everyone was at his house to welcome him home, but he told me later, the only person he wanted to be with was me.

Four days from he being home, the day after his Homecoming, he told me he loved me. I didn't know what to say, I guess I was scared. I was so confused about him and everything else. I had never told any boy that I loved him, so I wasn't going say that phrase lightly. He wanted to date right away, but I told him that he was still "weird" from being on his mission, so after he got settled into his own life, we could talk about ours.

We stayed friends for November and December. I was confused, and he thought I had rejected him. Finally on January 5, 2000, I invited him to go to lunch with me. We went to my house afterwards and had our "DTR" (Define the Relationship.) I was ready to date him now, to pursue a relationship. Our courtship was bliss. My mom told us that we should write a book about "How to Be Romantic." Darrell and I were always giving each other little notes and compliments.

On July 24, 2000, we had our first big talk about marriage. We both knew we wanted to marry each other, but just didn't know when. On October 17, 2000, we decided on February 2, 2002. We prayed about it, and knew it was the right date.

He gave me the ring and proposed officially on December 2, 2000, to find out how he proposed, go to The proposal [Pasted below]. We were engaged for 14 months. Everyone thought we were crazy for waiting so long, but we knew we could do it! Before we were engaged everyone kept asking us when we were going to get married, so instead of dating for two years, and making everyone wonder, we dated for a while, and were engaged for over a year so we could tell people our date!

Darrell is such a wonderful man. He is the most spiritual and romantic person I know. I'm so in love!

The proposal

It was Saturday December 2, 2000. Darrell and Heather had just gotten home to Heather's house from a Grizzlies game. Heather went downstairs to change the laundry while Darrell was still upstairs. She came up into the living room wrapped in a table cloth that she had just taken out of the dryer since she was cold.

Darrell had piece of paper in his hand. He wanted Heather to sit with him on the couch so he could read her a poem. Heather not thinking anything was going on since Darrell always does cute stuff like that.

Darrell told Heather to put her hand on his heart. She did so and it was pounding like crazy. He read Heather the wonderful poem and then got down on the floor and reached under the couch and pulled out a box. Darrell knelt down and opened up the box, inside was the ring and he said "Heather will you marry me?" Heather of course said "YES!"