Dairy Milk Cookie Dough Bar

Seriously, try it. You'll totally get why I'm grateful for it!

Moisturizer

My apologies .. I know the whole purpose of my blog is to be grateful for one thing every day, and I haven't been posting daily. I'm working crazy hours this weekend, and trying to pack and clean and prepare for our move in between shifts (six days to go!!!!). My posts probably won't be every single day this week, but I'll definitely try!

Today I'm grateful for moisturizer. My skin can get suuuuuper dry, especially in the winter time (like, alligator-skin dry!) .. So I'm thankful for this stuff for giving life to my skin and for protecting it. My face always feels better once I've gotten creamed! :)

Test-Driving Tubs

Decided to stretch out in my dream tub after I finished cleaning it today at the new house. Realized that I need to get a bath pillow but hot damn, was it ever comfy in there! Just over a week to go before it's officially "mine!"

Grateful for this trial run .. I'm so thankful for where I'm coming from and where I'm going! 

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers

I had a story behind this post, but after all the heavy-duty cleaning and packing (and injuries inquired because of said heavy-duty-ness) today, I'm exhausted and will make this short but sweet.

I am so grateful for these magic erasers, as they made a very difficult job today just a little bit easier. Total lifesavers. I have always loved them in the past, but never as much as I did today.

Thank you, little miracle sponges!

Ikea

I went to the new ikea this weekend (well, new to me, but it really was only considered "new" when it renovated and opened what, two years ago?).

I can't get over how many cool and affordable decor options they have there. Like, mind = blown. I'd been stressing for a whole about the kinds of things I'd want at the new house to make it "us"! And I found a lot of answers there. Slowly but surely, we'll get one piece at a time to make our house look terrific.

Our first purchase was a new play table for our kids, since the one we have is falling apart and getting too tiny for them! We didn't get the one pictured above (but we did get them to try it out!). I'll be assembling it in the new house as a

Special treat for the kids .. I can't wait to see them play at it.

Thanks, ikea .. You got my inner interior decorator a-blazin and my newly frugalness all excited :)

Insoles

I am required by Home Depot to wear steel toe shoes when I work. Now, when I first got the job, I hadn't been working for four months and had little money to spare on shoes, so I got the cheapest pair I could find.

Hubby warned me to get a better pair of shoes. I didn't listen.

Hubby warned me to get a good set of insoles. I didn't listen.

I can be incredibly stupid in my life where I need to learn things the hard way.

A couple of months into my new job, my legs started to get crampy towards the end of my shifts. Nothing horribly painful, but definitely uncomfortable. I pushed my way through it and kept doing yoga stretches through my shifts.

Then a couple of months later, the leg cramps were intensifying and my lower back was starting to get achy. Significantly so.

Fast forward to this week. My leg cramping and lower back pains had escalated to the point where I was almost paralyzed with pain at the end of every shift. I could barely walk (but as all hard workers and mamas do, I pushed my way through it). 

This time, I listened to hubby when he (rightfully) gave me poop and told me to buy insoles.

I didn't know what the heck I was looking for, but I knew Dr Scholls was a good brand so I targeted them in the store and made my pick. Clearance for $11.47. Score.

I've only worn them for one shift and let me tell you .. Did they ever help. Like, in a holy cow kinda way. 

I can't even tell you how incredible it was to be able to walk comfortably out of the store at the end of my shift without pain. Heaven!

Thank you, dear insoles .. I am grateful for your shock-absorbing goodness that protects my bones from the concrete floors of the warehouse. My body is grateful. 

Dollarama

Derek and I really want to set the kids' rooms up nicely in the new home in hopes that the transition is made a bit easier for them. We want to fill their rooms with posters and decor of things they love, like princesses and purple and hockey and superheroes! 

I'd been stressing a bit about this because as we can all figure out, decor can be quite costly. 

Well, I had to go to Dollarama the other day for envelopes and a new notebook, and I walked through the store to kill time while waiting for M&M Meats to open, and I came across a whole bunch of affordable decor for the kids! I was able to pick up a hockey flag and some superhero and princess foam stickers for their walls. It wasn't much but it'll mean the world to them when they see them up in their rooms!

So today I'm grateful to Dollarama for giving me affordable decor that'll give me priceless smiles when the kids see them! 

March Break

Today (and every day this week!) I'm grateful for March break. We got to sleep in every day (NO ALARMS!), spent lots of quality time together, and had all-around cheerful kids. It's also extremely rare that all four of us are together for even one day in a month - this week, we got three days together!! It was amazing.

So I'm incredibly grateful for this March break. I got to see my son SO much and we all got to spend lots of time together as a family. It's been wonderful! :)

Packing = Learning

We were packing (seems that's all we do these days, lol!) and decided to turn it into a learning lesson.

What better way to label boxes than with the ABC's! Learning opportunities are everywhere :)

Grateful for these little moments!

Wish Chips

.. Cuz everyone knows these chips are way better than the plain circle ones :)

I ate a bunch of these growing up (didn't we all!) and always made a wish on them .. The wishes didn't usually come true, but they were still fun to eat! 

Rainbow Cinemas

Today I went to Rainbow Cinemas with my little man to watch the movie The Nut Job. It was a cute movie .. And a great "date" with my favorite son! And it only cost us $2.50 each to get in!

Loved being able to spend time with my Austin and do something fun for super cheap! :)

Grateful for affordable dates! 

My Aunt Diane

That picture makes me laugh!! :)

My aunt Diane is the sweetest, most giving and caring person that I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I really lucked out, getting to be in the same family as her!

I'm grateful for her for countless reasons (one of which is being a role model for me - I want to be just like her!!) .. But today I'll focus on more recent events. She works right beside my current home and is a five-minute walk to my new home (awesome, right?!). Not only has she provided all of our moving boxes for us, but she has now offered to take our new home keys (whenever we get them!) to bring boxes to the new place after her work day is done, and then return the keys to us next morning.

How generous is that?! So immensely grateful. 

Amazing Friends

I've been so blessed in my life with my friends. I don't have very many, but the ones I do have, I hold dear to my heart ... As cheesy as that sounds! They mean the world to me.

I'm grateful for these people for being my shoulder to cry on, my source of encouragement and support, love and laughter. 

My Kids #2

Because moments like this:

Are just priceless, amazing moments. I hope my kids have this same goofy, silly friendship forever! :) 

Scanning Code of Practice

The scanning code of practice states that if an item is scanned in at a higher price than the sticker price on the shelf, you get ten dollars off the sticker price, on the first item.

This has helped me twice in the last couple of weeks!

As we are moving into a house with a gas range, we have needed to replace our current frying pans with ones meant for a gas range. And let me tell you, pans designed for a gas range? Not cheap. So we have been buying them one at a time, here and there, whenever we find a good price. 

Two weeks ago, I saw a small pan on clearance for 12.97. I thought that was a wicked good price .. Almost too good to be true .. So I scanned it at the price check thing and what do you know, it was scanned in at 29.97. I smiled and grabbed two pans and headed to the checkout. I exercised the scanning code of practice and got the first pan for 2.97 and the second for the stickered12.97 price! Score!

Same thing happened again today with the above-pictured frying pans. I only got one this time .. But what a great deal, getting a medium-sized frying pan for a gas range for 9.97!!

I'm grateful for this practice because it can really benefit the consumer - and it has helped us get our pans for our new home, at an outstanding price :)

reebee

I'm so grateful for the reebee app. 

Every week when my flyers come in, I search through the pile for these specific stores: Walmart, Freshco, Giant Tiger, No Frills, Food Basics and Rexall, because they are the ones who always have the best deals on items I need. Well this week, to my dismay, Giant Tiger wasn't included in my flyers. Wahhhh! 

Reebee has all the flyers in my local area (and some in my not-too-local area, score!) so if one is missing in my weekly flyers, I can still access it here. It's so simple to use and it's HD so I don't have to squint to read blurred words when I focus in on a page. 

So thank you reebee, because I'd have missed out this week - Giant Tiger has a great flyer!! :)

Tea Parties!

With all the craziness of packing and organizing for the move, working more than usual and then the everyday household chores, I've been feeling like I haven't been spending much quality time with my kids. 

So yesterday, when Austin was at school, I forced move preparation to the bottom of my priority list and had a ladies morning with Leanna. We watched cartoons of her choice, had a long, fun bubble bath (bubble fight!!), and a special tea party (her hair is wet in the photo because we just got out of our bubble bath).

Leanna really loves tea parties. Her favorite thing is to pour the tea (water) into our cups .. Then back into the pot .. Then into the cups ..

I'd made us jam on toast and a petite cracker platter and we had a great time! 

I'm grateful for this tea party because I got to have a lovely conversation with my little lady and had a great morning spending quality time with her :)

Now I'm anxious for tomorrow, where I can have quality time with my boy!

PB & J Toast

I was running behind this morning (read: I hit snooze about six times too many) and had to whip up a very quick breakfast .. So I made this today for myself and the kids (though Austin doesn't like PB so he just had the J). I just love it because it is so delicious and takes about three minutes to make! It's one of those feel-good tastes that can be very nostalgic for me. 

So today I'm grateful for "on the fly" breakfasts that are yummy!

Sunny Winter Days

Don't get me wrong here - I never have been (nor will I ever be) winter's biggest fan. It's cold, dark and dreary. Now, I'm definitely not one of those people who think that as soon as we flip the calendar to March, the snow should insta-melt (I seriously felt like ranting about this since on the first of March, pretty well anyone with a Facebook account was whining about the winter weather). I am, though, just as tired of winter as anyone else and am anxious for it to pass. I'm just realistic about it .. Winter is *usually* behind us come April.

Anyhow. I'm grateful for sunny winter days. Even though they are still very uncomfortably cold, the sun is heart-warming, pleasant, and cheerful. It makes me feel good. And it reminds me that even though winter isn't over just yet, Spring is indeed on it's way. 

I appreciate these days .. They could be freezing cold, yes, but I'll take a freezing cold yet sunny day, over a freezing cold and dark, gray day, any day! :)

Hand-Downs

This week has been nuts - it seems every second of spare time we get goes into packing and organizing for the move, as well as tackling our regular day-to-day things, such as playing with the kids, maintaining the house work, working, and running errands. I've been running on empty! 

I'd been a bit stressed because I tend to look ahead at the schedule to see what upcoming things we need to prepare for - and aside from the obvious MOVE, spring is coming .. Which means I need to ensure the kids have rain boots, rain jackets, and splash pants .. Which I didn't work into the budget. At all. 

Enter: stressed mommy.

While packing in Austin's room, I came across a box of hand-down clothing that was passed onto us that was too big for my kids at the time .. And found a rain coat that fit Leanna perfectly! Relief! I still need to get boots and splash pants and all that but finding this one piece put me as ease - we will be okay! We can get one item at a time, squeezed into the budget, and we will be fine. Easy does it.

So I'm grateful for this handed-down jacket for giving me a much-needed reality check and sigh of relief!