Mommin' It Up!

May 12, 2014May 11, 2014

There Are Some Things We Just. Must. Have.

This Shoppin’ It Up series is sponsored by CVS Extra Care. The content is 100% originally my own, as is my big love for all things CVS.

Let’s talk about our households for a minute. Each household is v-e-r-y unique and has specific needs corresponding to the specific needs of each unique member within that household. And of course, these needs change as we and our kids and spouses grow and age…so basically, we are in constant need of different stuff all the ding-dong time.

What are those items your household has to have to function? For many of you, it’s diapers. If you have a food allergy family like mine, it might be a specific food item or items (dairy-free yogurt, coconut milk, and gluten-free cereal for Jonah keep me running to a “special” grocery store each week. Ugh.) When it comes to health, it might be a certain vitamin, allergy medicine, or brand of diapers. Whatever it is, we all have THOSE THINGS.

Of course, in my family, THOSE THINGS just happen to be expensive. And that is why whenever I can, I get THOSE THINGS at CVS, using the ExtraCare program, coupons and ExtraCare Bucks to be able to afford them. THOSE THINGS used to be diapers, which is why in the past you have seen me joyfully posting pictures of giant stacks of diapers for which I paid less that $4 a pack for. But now that Jonah only uses diapers at night, I watch my CVS ad carefully for when they have their CVS brand diapers on sale – often they will be $6.99 with a $2 or $3 ExtraCare buck deal in return! Still a great price when I only need one pack at a time, and I love CVS diapers.

Now for us, there are a few things we canNOT survive without, and I rely on CVS and ExtraCare to help me afford them. THING 1: these guys:

TWO of my three kids (I’m not gonna mention any names, but…)

As I was saying, TWO of my three kids need to take these probiotics EVERY DAY to survive. (And by survive, I mean poop. This is how I keep these kids pooping. Because let’s face it, pooping = life, right?) They can’t DO without it, and a box of 30 of these? COSTS $30. That’s right, $1 a pop. And that’s not the CVS price, that’s the EVERYWHERE price. Two little Rapsons who need this every day = a $60 a month payment on probiotics. But thankfully, and I do mean thankfully, CVS has recently had AWESOME ExtraCare Bucks deals on these, with limits of 2 or 3 per household. The first time they were just $10 with $10 ExtraCare Bucks back (that’s FREE, people!) and the second time they were $22.99 with $5 ExtraCare Bucks back – still a great deal. Both times I had manufacturer’s coupons to use so I got an even better deal, and stocked up. So within about 4 to 6 weeks time, I had enough Culturelle to last my kids three or four months and I paid probably only about 30% of what it would have normally cost me. These are the deals I get down on my knees and thank God for, I am not even kidding you! These ExtraCare deals from CVS are a HUGE blessing to our health and budget.

The next must-have (THING 2!) in the Rapson house is for me and my terrible sleeping self. A few months ago I discovered this sleeping medication and it helps me fall asleep SO much better at night than I have for years. I take this every night, and can’t live without it, so I carefully watch for sales on it as well. Last week I was thrilled to see a good one:

I bought four boxes, paid $29.96 minus a $1 off coupon I got from the magic coupon printer, and got back $10 ExtraCare Bucks, making it just $18.96 or $4.74 a box for my much needed-meds (over 40% off!)- plus I am stocked up for awhile now, which is awesome, because if Mama doesn’t sleep well, EVERYONE in the house feels it! And of course I can use that $10 ExtraCare Bucks on my next purchase just like cash.

The third and final must-have (THING 3!) for our household this season is allergy medicine. Joshua’s eyes blow up like two pink balloons and he sneezes and sniffles like a banshee every spring without his Claritin. We also love the CVS brand equivalent, but I happened to catch a good deal on these Claritin chewables last week, which Joshua prefers, so I went for it!

When I arrived at CVS, the Magic Coupon Machine printed me off a $2 off $10 allergy purchase coupon, and I already had a $3 Claritin manufacturer’s coupon, so I paid $14.99 and got 3 ExtraCare Bucks back, making my purchase over 40% off – plus since I paid in part with ExtraCare Bucks I already had, my actual out-of-pocket was just a couple of dollars. THAT’s the way to buy your must-haves, my friends!

One last thing that I LOVE about the ExtraCare program that is *new and fabulous*: you can now send ExtraCare offers (like those cool emails with $5/$30 purchase coupons and things like that) directly to your card! No more printing coupons off of your email! You can send them to your card directly from the email, or by viewing your available offers in the ExtraCare section of MyWeeklyAd on CVS.com (sadly I didn’t have any offers available this week, but if I did, you would see them here.)

I love this because it’s eco-friendly AND it’s great that I have less coupons to keep organized, less paper to tote around. This is an awesome ExtraCare feature, and just another great way I know I am going to be able to save on ALL THE THINGS we can’t live without at CVS.

What are the THINGS your household can’t live without, and what ways do you find of making them affordable? I’d love to hear in the comments!

May 7, 2014May 7, 2014

What Would We Do, Baby, Without Us?

Seriously you guys, the photobooth countdown was COMPLICATED!

First things first: if you don’t get the title of this post because you’re too young to remember “Family Ties”, then I HATE YOU. I don’t know how you young ingrates with no morals or education SLEEP AT NIGHT! Go Google Alex P. Keaton and be educated or NEVER RETURN HERE AGAIN.

*Ahem*. Anyway.

As you should know (because really YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO US!!), Emily and I just returned from our very favorite blog conference, the Mom 2.0 Summit. As usual we had a great time, but NOT as usual, we were also IN THE PROGRAM as speakers.

Seriously, you guys, someone actually thought it was a good idea to put us up in front of people and have us act like we know things. Shocking, no? Even though I had filled out an application to speak, I seriously about hit the floor when the email came that said we were indeed two of the chosen ones.

mom2program — Proof. And, I shall save this program forever. Just as soon as I remember where I put it after I took this photo.

Now, I should mention, that when I applied for Emily and me to speak, I also thought that (as is typical at these conferences) we’d probably be on a panel with a couple other people in a 45-minute session. So, imagine my shock when I learned the plan was that it would be JUST Emily and me leading a NINETY-MINUTE workshop. I immediately, and I am not even kind of exaggerating, broke out into the sickest cold sweat ever. My stomach lurched. Ninety minutes? As soon as I could form a thought, the thought that I formed was: “EMILY IS GOING TO KILL ME!” and her response predictably was, “WHAT HAVE YOU GOTTEN US INTO?”

*Gulp*

What had I gotten us into? Could we do this? I mean sure, we have lots of blogging experience and have worked with tons of great brands, and neither of us is a stranger to public speaking, but…ninety minutes? It seemed rather daunting. Also, there were eight other sessions on the schedule occurring at the SAME TIME as ours – eight! And by Saturday afternoon at 2, a lot of conference attendees are burned out. So we were pretty sure we would have about two people attend our workshop. Fingers crossed for four.

So we met, and we planned, and we made slides, and a spreadsheet, and collected quotes and anecdotes, and even threw in a graphic of our family tree that does not branch (speaking to a crowd? Open with a joke, especially if you’re the butt of it!) for funzies.

And by the time T-minus one day until departure rolled around, we were feeling, for the most part, really good about our presentation.

Until the last-minute jitters set in. And Emily texted me expressing some nerves. And in what I can only describe as an epiphany launched into my brain and I texted her back:

Here’s the thing that sets us apart from everyone else: if we screw up, embarrass ourselves, and are run out of the blogosphere – who cares? I love our blog but without it we still have each other, great families, houses, jobs. It is not our sole income and it is not our life. If we never go to another blog conference or see any of those people again? Our lives are still more than complete. I don’t think a lot of the other people there can say that.

{I know this next part may sound like I’m backtracking, but the above was said to Emily, and she knows my heart, so she knows what I meant and what I didn’t mean. Not all of you who read this will know me that well, so let me make sure you understand my intent.}

Now Em and I certainly don’t think we are bett-ah than anyone else. We are just…grounded. And I want to say that we love and value our friendships we’ve made via blogging. We have some that are long-standing and important to us, but they don’t supercede what we have here at home. And of course, I don’t mean to imply that there’s anything wrong with full-time, professional blogging. There are a lot of people who do that and do it well and – hootie hoo! – good for them!

But that’s not us. At the beginning of the day, and the end of the day, we are two first cousins, who are also fifth cousins, who like to write about our families and our neuroses and hopefully at least once in awhile, crack each other and YOU up. Or tell you you’re not alone, or give you strength through a struggle, or show off our ginormous tongues (ok, only Emily’s is ginormous!)

And if I am going to succeed at a blogging presentation, or if I am going to fall down flat on my (perfectly made-up) face and get run off the internetz, there’s no one I’d rather do it with than with my cousin Emily.

presenting 2 — This is what the lucky people who attended our presentation got to see. Jealous?

So that’s the way it is, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

(We totally rocked it by the way. And like, THIRTEEN whole people came!)

Thanks Mom 2.0, truly, for taking a chance on us. We loved every minute!

(Sha la la laaaaa!)

May 5, 2014

Injury to Insult

Emily and I just returned late yesterday morning from Mom 2.0 Summit in Atlanta. We had an awesome time, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it – which we will do after we recover from racing around all weekend attending (and leading!!!) sessions, meeting sponsors, and of course, going to fab parties bedecked in Lands’ End clothing. There’s nothing like an intense conference with a jam-packed schedule to wear one out.

When I arrived on my own doorstep about 11:30 Sunday morning, I was very excited to see my family. Three days is a long time to be away! As I pulled in, I saw that Jonah was waiting for me at our front door, which is glass. I waved excitedly to him and I could see his lips forming the words “Hi Mommy!” SO sweet. I couldn’t wait to squeeze him!

When I opened the door, I crouched down low and went in for a hug. Jonah gave me a big smile…and then a SCOWL, and then…took a swipe at me!! I’ve heard pets can be mean to their owners after they’ve been away, to make sure they know they didn’t like being left…apparently Jonah has the same policy. Sheesh! After a minute or two, I finally got a hug, but he remained grumpy for awhile. Happily, Joshua and Sophie were appropriately excited to see me, or else I might’ve been plunged into a depression, sheesh!

A few hours later, we were getting ready to leave for house church so I carefully applied my makeup (even I did not apply makeup that morning since we got up at 5:30 to catch a flight and slept very little the night before.) and then sat down in our recliner for a few minutes. Jonah soon climbed up on my lap and asked to look at pictures on my phone (he has a particular favorite of my foster-niece that he likes to see), and so we did that for a couple minutes. When I said it was time to be done, he fussed a bit, so I reiterated that we were ALL done, and he…THREW HIS HEAD BACK in protest and CRUSHED my nose.

I heard a loud CRACK – let me tell you hearing your bones crack inside your head is terrifying – and I started screaming because it hurt SO bad, and threw my hands up to my nose because I was sure it was going to start gushing blood.

Bobby grabbed Jonah and set him down, the big kids came running, and I sobbed hysterically -it was pretty terrible pain. Bobby finally got me to take my hands away – it was only trickling blood, not gushing – and got me some ice. My carefully applied makeup was all over my face. Sophie said, “Her tears have makeup in them!” So glad I had just done that…

Anyways, lots of ice packs and tissues later, I finally calmed down. Poor Jonah kept saying he was sorry.

The family finally left for house church and left me at home with my ice packs. I iced it for over an hour, and kept the swelling to a minimum.

At the moment, it looks almost normal but it still hurts like a MOTHER! But I guess I’ll take it…we all know how much I LOVE my face, right? I’m just glad it’s not crooked!

And yeah, WELCOME HOME MOM! My kid broke my face.

Have you got any great stories of mom abuse? Let’s commiserate?