You might be a photgrapher when

You make a reference about how your new sunglasses are like going from 5 megapixels to 15.

I have my very first pair of prescription sunglasses! So stoked I can't even tell you! I had a different pair picked out but the hubs saw the 'Oakley' sign and couldn't help himself:) Who says women are the only brand mongers.

I'm still waiting on my regular glasses, but it's ok. Nothing wrong with wearing shades in the rain...

Right?

Get what you pay for

Our move up here has called us into a plan of action. That action is getting the most bang for our buck. But this comes into question with deciding whether to buy generic or name brand. I am not a "brand whore" as some like to call it. I used to be...and I feel that ugly head rise once in a while but for the most part I've got it under control. 

While saving money is always awesome...the question that pops into my mind is "at what cost of sanity is  this going to be"? Now I haven't always thought that...until recently. Since prices are pretty outrageous here we have found that Costco is our best friend when it comes to cost effectiveness. The milk is cheaper, the hamburger, the peanut butter, and the paper towels. Oh the paper towels.

The paper towels that we chose to purchase are the Nature's choice-100% recycled select a size. I love select a size. The little quarter sheet does me perfectly to use at lunch and for most other things...which makes the roll last a lot longer.And since they were 3-4 dollars cheaper...it was a win-win right?

I hate these paper towels.

I have never in my life wanted to throw something away so badly. Every time I rip my little quarter sheet....it splits. It either splits right away, or in the middle, or right at the end when I think I have out smarted it! It doesn't usually matter how I rip it...it still splits. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is...to just want a nice clean ripped sheet of paper towel...and all your hopes and dreams come crashing down when that doesn't happen? Yea, me neither. But it does irritate me to no end. 

Quick. Simple. That's how it should be.

But since I am not wasting things...I will wait as patiently and as calmly as I can for these to be gone. And then when I go to buy more...I'll let my "brand whore" monster make an appearance so that I can save the sanity that is too expensive to replace:)

So please tell me....are there things that you have found that require a "brand" purchase over the off brand?

Dare I admit....

As it turns out...I was wrong. I know, I know...Meggan is never wrong;) BUt this wrongness in particular is slightly disturbing. It starts with this:

eaten like this:

And within three days looks like this:

(I'm not even sure it was a whole 3 days)

But we had some help from this:

and this:

their total help equaled this:

And by the end of documenting where our container of Nutella was at...we now have this:

Someone please help me from buying the much larger two-pack from Costco...

Bananas

We've got a new snack in our house. OK, it's not really new as in we thought it up but it's not something we have always eaten. It's bananas and peanut butter. It's so delicious! So needless to say we have been eating a lot of bananas. That's mostly ok for me being on weight watchers...the fruit is free! I haven't been over loading but I've been enjoying myself:)

But I bet you didn't know what else bananas are good for? Surprises! Especially for Dads when they go to put on their shoes and the big toe smooshes into a banana that has been hidden! Yes, our sly daughter, at some point in the day, shoved the rest of her half-eaten banana in Matt's shoe. hahahahahaha! How nasty! HE stuck his foot in and made this like weird noise and I thought he had squished a bug or something and then he pulls out this slimy, piece of banana. It made my night. :)

I picked up Nutella. From listening for a long time about all these people rave and hoo-yah about it, I thought I better try it. I think it actually did the opposite. I tasted it. It was ok. I guess I will try it on a banana. And that's what I have to say about that.

-insert exasperated sigh-

The brain is a piece of work. It never ceases to amaze me how it can trick you into thinking things that are clearly so far from reality that it makes you wonder who could have possibly thought those things. An example of this would be having a baby and within the next three months having that "urge" for another one. No...I am not baby hungry. I learned my lesson 13 months ago on that!

But what I am referring to today is shopping. I love when the weekends get here and we can do things as a family. We got our tax return this past week, even though 97% of it has been spent on catching up and savings, so I have wanted to go out with everyone and get some of the things we have had on our need/want list. All week I have been tricking myself into thinking that it was going to be a fun outing. That the kids will behave and we will be able to think clearly what our goals are.

We went out today.

I am not tarnishing or expanding the truth when I tell you I would have rather have been eaten. By.A.Grizzly.Bear!

The eldest deemed it necessary to tell me every time I did something he didn't like how awful I was. Our dear sweet daughter tried to jump out of the cart every two seconds while the baby babbled and got testy after he filled his britches. Let's not forget the biggest child in the family running around playing swords with the second oldest in a packed store, with people looking at us like we were the freaking Waltons, with our herd of kids! It's three people! Just three! (four if you count Matt)

Can I learn now? Will my brain please stop telling me that this "family time" is really code for giving myself an ulcer! I still have grocery shopping to finish.

I'm going alone.

It's raining money...or not

It's a few months into the new year. What does this mean? It means...my fellow bloggers...TAX TIME! It's like Christmas. Except instead of spending all of your money on presents, you get to make back some of the money you spent on presents! For my little family this means a few purchases are in order. What kinds you ask?

Let me tell you.

Let's start with the biggest one...a kitchen table! Yes...you read right. We still have yet to find ourselves a free table set. What have we found? See this post. We did find ourselves a used FREE ottoman that we use as a table and we picked up Miss C another chair that attaches to a big persons chair. We have her set up on the kitchen floor at meal times so we can avoid staining the carpets at all costs. She's 18 months. And a mess. I need not say more. So the table is high priority. And I will still search craigslist for a less expensive one when our bank account swells:)

Second. A bed. For B. The poor kid is still on an air mattress which, really in reality, is ok. Except that we live in Alaska. On the bottom floor of our apartment building and the floors get cold. Air mattresses soak up the cold through the floor. We have layered it the best we can so he doesn't freeze every night. It has done ok, but his sleeping isn't quite what I know it to be. You pair that with him sharing a room with the lightest sleeper in the house...baby C isn't the only one waking up in the night:/

For the adults in the house....sneakers. I know personally that having a pair of sneakers that have gone through a pregnancy...just about kills any cushion they had. And since I am officially a rugby player now...I need some comfy shoes so that at least my feet aren't dying by the end of the workout! Plus....our fam is doing the biggest loser...so any excuse I can make for not exercising needs to be banished. And since some extra cash can fix this excuse..I'm doin' it! 

BILLS

Hospital, credit card, dentist, misc, you name it we have it.Matt has one credit card that absolutely refuses to go down and I absolutely refuse to continue paying it. So this year...it's gone!!! I will be shouting from the roof tops when this ______(<---insert expletive here) credit card no longer can send me a bill!!!

What about you? Big plans for the money the government grudgingly has to give back to you? :)