Figuring out the coupon game

Hi all! I am going to start this blog thing again....
I am sorry it has been so long. This past year was just horrible. I don't even remember most of it. I am just glad that it is a new year. I am looking forward to what is in store for 2011. So far the boys have been sick with sinus, broncitis and Mr. B even picked up pink-eye somewhere. I have been told that once he enters first grade it will get better.

One of my goals for this new years is to cut our grocery bill in 1/2. Also to try to plan meals ahead of time. At least a week in advance, to start with. Then to eventually get it to where we have them planned a month in advance. It's a lot of work, but I gave myself till the end of the year to get it accomplished.
So far it has been going pretty well. We take advantage of the super coupons from safeway and I just stumbled upon Winco. The hard part about Winco is they don't have ad's. They have amazing prices, but you usually just have to go there to figure out what is on sale. Next I need to start collecting the coupons from the sunday papers again. We don't get the paper anymore so I will have to hit my mom and father-n-law for them.

As for my diet, well I have narrowed a few other ingredients down that I seem to react to. Garlic and Onions. I was doing some reading on allergy related triggers, and I read that if you are allergic to Lily's, then I might want to double check against garlic and onions. Which I have cut out of my diet now for a few weeks and I have noticed a major difference. Still don't know exactly which gluten products affect me, but I have a hunch that it is the "wheat" products. The white flour stuff doesn't seem to bother me as much...I think it is pretty strange. But oh well...as for milk, that is a hit and miss. It mainly seems to be milk, butter, cheese. Yogurt doesn't seem to bother me as much. :)

Well I better get back to making out my grocery list...the little man and I am off to pick up a few items. It's taco night at our house tonight.

Sorry its been so long...

So lets see, I think I have offically failed at keeping this updated. It's not an easy task to do. I have to very active young boys and then there are just the regular everyday tasks. There are days when I want to write, but I just can't get my words out. They seem all jumbled up in this mass in my head. It gets so frusterating. Just having a conversation sometimes is difficult, and tiring. I did have a good day yesterday. The boys and I and the dog went down to the river with my cousin. It was a lot of fun. I was a little nervous at first. In my mind I imagined a roaring river and then you add my two boys. Bradley is a lot more cautious then his brother. Which is only 2. But it was great. It was really low where we went, a little swim area for the kids, rocks and sand to play in. There was also a big log that they could jump off. Bradley didn't actually want to jump off it until some other kids came. Then he got up the courage to jump if Uncle JJ would catch him. But as he was getting ready to jump, River ran right by him and knocked him off. That did not turn out to well. It took Brad a few minutes to get over that. Uncle JJ convinced him to go back out and try it again. The second time was a sucess. Next time I don't thing he will be as hesitant. We didn't stay much longer after that. Since it wasn't more than about 75 degrees we decided to pack it in. The kids were cold. Duke had lost his tennis ball to the river, maybe another dog will find it and enjoy it as much as he did for the short time he had it. Duke our loveable mutt. He has blacklab, hound and something else in him. He is the best dog ever. My husband found him at Paws. He loves to fetch balls, he is actually very nerotic about it. Anyways....off track a little. The point of my little rant is, it was nice to be outside in the fresh air. The boys were able to be boys and get dirty and sandy. I hope to take them back more this summer

Removing the Garbage from our family life is not going to be easy!

Hello, I am a stay at home mom of two very active boys. Nathan is 2 1/2 and Bradley is going to be 5 in a couple of days. I am currently seeing a few doctors to try and figure out what is wrong with me. At first I was diagnosed with Rhuematoid arthritis. Then Psoriatic arthritis, now its something else, and my doctor wants to start on a very harsh chemotherapy drug. Just because she thinks I might have this other auto immune disease. I am now in the process of collecting all my records to pass on to the UW.  It's time for a second opinion. 
And so now I get to the point about living a "whole" life. Going forward I will be removing all the nasty toxins from my familys life. This is going to be a long battle, but a positive outcome. I know good will triumph over evil. This is the path that we have needed for a long time.  We have taken a few others along the way. But now it is time....I vow as a warrior for good to bring in to the household only healthy items no matter what it is! It is the only way we will be able to survive in this battle of life and win.  I know that by removing all the toxins and "bad" from my life, it will help in the process of finding a diagnosis and cure for my illness.