Employment and Coupons

I had almost eleven months between jobs.  Well, jobs where I was employed by someone other than myself, that is.  Of course I still had my Zazzle stores, but they weren't bringing in enough to pay the bills.  Feel free to take pity on me, visit that link and order something awesome.

I am finally re-employed again though...and back at the University of Washington again to boot!  Hooray!  They have awesome benefits and the pay isn't actually that bad compared to what I could have been paid now that I know what else is out there.  I'll have my first almost full week starting on 5/31.  They told me I get paid for the holiday too.  How radical a start to work is that!?

Anyway, I actually wanted to get out of the department I was working in for a few years prior to my layoff so it was a bit of a blessing in disguise.  And a pretty good lesson on how to live frugally too.  I've had that lesson a few times in my life, but never while living on my own and supporting three of my kids at the same time.

It's been tough, but I've managed.  I could have been a bit more frugal by using more coupons.  I've been watching my best friend, Cynthia cut back on her family budget and she's learning all about clipping coupons, and saving big time.  And she's just an awesome person to know in general.  That link you see there goes to her facebook business page.  Check her out, she's pretty amazing!

Speaking of coupons, there is now an Extreme Couponing show on television where people save between 80% and 100% on their shopping trips.  It totally fascinates me and I wish I could do that in this lovely city of Seattle.  Of course, they can use more than one coupon for a single item and can double their coupons too.  Not something that the stores in Seattle allow, unfortunately.  The coupons I get say "do not double" and "not valid with any other offers". (insert sad face)

Please, do tell me if I'm wrong - I'd absolutely love to hear that - and hear where to get doubling coupons for this area too if they exist!

So, I actually wrote all of the above last night and then today, I've done a ton of research and (re) discovered The Krazy Coupon Lady.  I actually knew about this website for at least the last four years now, but for some reason, I've never really read it.  I guess I just got discouraged because so many people told me that it is so hard to coupon in Seattle and that it takes hours upon hours of planning and I just did not have the motivation to do it.

Well, I do now!  There is a specific reason that I will read through The Krazy Coupon Lady website: it has a beginners section where they have a ten day program to teach you how to get started.  Frakking cool!  Not only that, but they say that they really don't spend the hours I thought I needed to do this ... maybe two hours a week is what Joanie said she spends.  And, she was featured on that Extreme Couponing show too.

So, I'll be starting that as of today...I'll just fit it in between all the other things I have on my to-do list for today.  I'll actually probably read through day one tonight after the kids are in bed.

And now I'm off to get "breakfast" done.  I put that in quotations because we've all actually eaten something but I promised the kids my homemade waffles with homemade strawberry syrup so we will be eating that for lunch I guess.  But I'm still calling it breakfast.  (grin)

Until Next Time,
JessicaInSeattle

Home With Sniffles

My daughter woke up at three a.m. the other morning reporting that her forehead hurt. Unfortunately, she also felt warm to the touch. Not a good sign! When she was still warm as we were getting her older brother ready for school, I took her temperature. Yep, she had a low grade fever. A call was made to her daycare to let them know that she would be spending the day with Mom.

We dropped big brother off at school and headed home where we snuggled and watched Miracle On 34th Street on streaming Netflix. Gotta love Netflix (and the new downloadable channel for it on our Wii)!

After the movie, she was feeling warmer again so I put her in the bath with her five rubber duckies and some bubbles. Did you ever hear that song about the five little ducks? You should check it out...it's pretty cute! While she was in the bath, we read several of Aesop's Fables. I still try to teach my kids about life's lessons even while they are sick with the sniffles playing with rubber ducks in a bubble bath!

We rinsed off the bubbles, dried her off and I fed her some chicken and mashed potatoes (her pick) while she was tucked into bed. I think all kids who stay home for the day should get to be fed lunch in bed. Makes not feeling good feel a little bit better.

As she took her nap a couple hours later, I got a chance to finally work on a new product available on Zazzle. Necklaces!!! They are so much fun to work on! In a matter of two days, I have now made over 50 necklaces between my two sites!

Anyway, back to Sniffles McSnuggly who I had to wake up from her nap in order to go pick up her brother from school in time.

She konked back out in the car on the way to the school and stayed asleep on my shoulder while I talked to my sons teachers and we visited his librarian. She got very heavy after a little bit!

We headed back home with Sniffles and her big brother. She's feeling a bit better now...especially after eating a chocolate a day from her advent calendar. I think the Harry Potter series may have it right...chocolate does have healing properties!

Until next time,

Jessica In Seattle

Exhaustion

Once in a while I get insomnia and get about three hours of sleep. Okay, well maybe it's more than once in a while. It just might be more like two or three times a week. But I seem to function well that way so I've not decided to try taking anything for it yet. Except for once. I tried melatonin once, and I still couldn't fall asleep so I haven't tried it again, yet.

Sunday night was one of those nights for me. It was three o'clock in the morning, and I was still awake. Three thirty rolled by and I thought, I'd really better fall asleep soon since I need to get up at six thirty. I looked at the clock again. It was three thirty-five. I felt myself finally beginning to drift off. Before actually falling asleep, I heard my son call to me from his bed. I looked at the clock again. Two minutes before four.

Thinking maybe he was just talking in his sleep, I lay my head back on the pillow. He called again. I tossed the blanket off and went to his bed to see him propped up on one elbow. He told me his ear was hurting really bad. I got him a decongestant and a dose of acetaminophen and had him come snuggle up with me thinking that if he was in the crook of my arm, he might settle better and get some rest.

I was wrong. Four thirty. Five thirty. My toddler walked to my bedside with three of her blankets, her dolly and a book. She snuggled into the crook of my other arm.

Six o'clock in the morning. My alarm goes off at six thirty but I don't hear it. I have finally fallen asleep. I have a different alarm that goes off at seven. I hear that one and wake extremely groggy after having only slept about an hour all night.

Shockingly, I was running only twenty minutes late. I get into work, get a few things taken care of and go talk to a coworker about how to take care of some special handling orders while another coworker is out of the office.

I get back to my desk and take care of a few more things. An email pops up and it carries the heavy news that my friend and coworker has passed away. The same coworker who I had just spoken about being out of the office.

I blogged about my experience with that yesterday.

This morning I felt numb. Now I don't know what I feel. Sad I guess. And I'm hungry and about to go get my coworker and go out for a lunch time drink. We both need it.

Sigh...

Not much has happened lately that was really worth blogging. I know, that rings loudly of a rather boring life, does it not! Albeit, life isn't monotonous presently despite the lack of postings. I have been feeling markedly occupied with my friends, family and work. All three of those have been pulling for more time and energy from me and at the same time hence leaving little time for posting.

Work pulls at me double time since I work both outside the home and am also self employed. The fact that I struggle to keep my head above water financially takes time in the evenings after kids have fallen asleep so work hours have grown far beyond the typical 40 and it is not unheard of that I knock off well past midnight with the laptop atop my lap whilst amidst product production on my gallery.

I have now been a single mom for nearly a year and I share custody of my two youngest children with their dad. That sentence can stand alone as an explanation for fatigue.

I signed up on facebook a few months back and have re-established many old friendships as well as made many new friends in the past year. My social life is always packed and I have begun needing to plan things out over a month in advance.

Just because I am a glutton for an overactive schedule and I have a teenage daughter at home with me full time, I decided to take on organizing events for single parents with teens about four months ago. I do at least one event per month and have quickly discovered that I have to consult my daughter to find out what teenagers like to do in the city. Since I spent my teen years in a small coastal town where hanging out in the dunes was the epitome of excitement, I appreciate my daughter's assistance in planning the events.

And now I've come to a point in the evening where I need to get something on the table, and get ready to move on to being creative for my gallery.