Fall is in the Air!

I went outside on the porch this morning to clean up some dog stuff and dare I say it, it almost felt...cool!  What a very pleasant feeling.  It's been a good five months since I felt anything like that down here.  Reminds me of one of my friends who recently posted on FB that her son wasn't happy with the clothes that she had put on him so he told her, "I don't like these long shorts you put on me."  And she said, "Honey, those are called pants."  We're just not used to those around here!  At any rate, the weather has really been spectacular and if I wan't missing the colors up north, I would be very happy with the climate here right now.  We took advantage of it on Monday by going to the playground and I didn't even sweat.  Part of the enjoyment of going to the playground is meeting other kids and their moms.  One of the moms, who was actually a grandmother, was chit chatting to me about her three daughters (long grown) and how they didn't walk until 18 months and the youngest two, until 22 months.  I told her I sure was glad I didn't run into her six weeks ago or I would have been mighty depressed.

Yesterday found us at McAbee Vet with Marlee.  But before I get to that, let me take the long way there.  Last week, I was making some vegeburgers on the griddle and in the blink of an eye, Calleigh had wandered in, muttered "What's this?" and put two fingers on it.  After a couple of yelps, she was comforted by some cold water and then Duncan wrapped up some ice to put on them which greatly helped.  Fast forward a few days to Monday and we're out walking the dogs.  Marlee had been limping for a few days and after careful inspection by Duncan, he concluded that she had done something to the pads on her feet...maybe burned them on hot cement or something.  As we're walking the dogs, Marlee is moving very slowly and I decided we needed to put her back in the house.  Calleigh gets all concerned and says "It's okay, Marlee.  You'll feel better in heaven."  And then after a few seconds of apparent deep thought she added "We could put some ice on it if you want."  I thought it was really sweet.  But since Marlee was still limping on Tuesday morning, we decided it was time to visit Dr. McAbee.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, that guy is one of the nicest persons I've ever met.  He acted like he had all the time in the world to talk to me.  He looked at the paws and thought they would probably be fine.  He didn't think it was any kind of infection because she wasn't crying or yelping or anything and if it was infected she would be in a lot of pain.  That was good news.  But they weighed her and we discovered that she had gone from 12 pounds to 10 pounds since May which is not a good sign.  She's been eating normally but I have noticed she does look thinner.  He decided we should do some blood work just to see if something is going on.  And now we are in waiting mode, most likely until tomorrow, to see if Marlee's got some major problem.

Today we went to Yolanda and Emma's house for some play time and lunch.  Yolanda served me up some lentil stew she had made and it was wonderful.  In turn, I brought over some chocolate chip pumpkin bread which is SO delicious.  Props to Kathleen for the recipe if she is reading this.  Hopefully it will be a winner at Pumpkin Fest this year.  Because of the wonderful weather, the girls were able to play outside on the swing set and once again, I felt myself feeling a little jealous about the beautiful backyard they have.  On the other hand, we don't have to do any yard work so I guess there are pluses and minuses!

So I have a new hobby.  Thanks to my friend with the son who doesn't like pants, I'm now into couponing!  It's come a long way since I used to do it.  And certainly a long way from when I was a kid.  Back in those days, I would clip coupons (my mother wouldn't for whatever reason) and if my mother bought that product, she would give me the money she saved from the coupon.  It was a nice way to earn a few extra shekels when you're eleven.  Now it's all on-line although the coupons from the Sunday paper are still important.  There are a couple great websites, southernsavers.com and myfrugaladventures.com that tell you all the good deals out there and link you to coupons.  Southern Savers is really, really good.  The first thing it tells you about saving money on groceries is that people are in the wrong mindset about grocery shopping.  You make a list of everything for the week and that's what you buy.  However, grocery stores do their sales (like buy one, get one free) in cycles - - 6 week cycles in the south and 10 week cycles in the north.  If you combine those sales with coupons, you can get stuff for really cheap.  For example, I got Kraft cheese (8 oz shredded and 8 oz blocks) for $1.  When these sales happen, you shouldn't be buying what you need for the week but what you need for the next six weeks until the stuff goes on sale again.  In that regard, I bought 20 packages of cheese.  But it's not just the grocery stores where you get good deals.  The website posts all the deals at CVS and Walgreens too.  Little did I know about all the stuff you can get for free.  Both stores will have deals where if you buy a product, you get coupons that will print out after the purchase for the amount of the purchase.  For example, in the last few days, I've gotten two razors (retail price of $9.99 each), bottle of saline ($7.99), two lip balms ($3 each), and a lip gloss ($3) for $19 out of my pocket.  But here's the kicker...I got $19 back of coupons (in essence, gift certificates) from that purchase.  Now when there are more sales, I can go back in, use those coupons on other stuff that will give me coupons and I never have to spend money out of my pocket again.  It's quite exciting actually!  My goal is that I won't have to buy a single stocking stuffer this year!  But also, some of the stuff will obviously be things I legitimately need (like the saline and razors).   Clearly it takes a little to find the deals and get the coupons (although it can all be done through the one website) but it's something I'm enjoying doing.  And we're saving money in the process so it's a win win.  If anyone wants more info on how it all works, let me know.

My loot for today from Publix...$12.83.  You can't beat that with a stick!  I had my drug sniffing dog make sure it was all on the up and up.

Calleigh rarely wants her picture taken but then she wants it taken the most random places.  Like hugging a pole outside of Walgreens (after we got loot).

 As I've mentioned, we're doing the letter books before bed each night and Calleigh is really getting into the letters.  She now knows the sounds that go with each letter (I quizzed her this morning) - - at least up through "t" which is what we are up to - - and she's been asking the last few days how to spell all these different words.  I'm pretty excited about her interest and I asked her this morning if she wanted to learn how to read.  That was met with a resounding "yes" but she wanted to know if she would have to go to school to learn.  I assured her she could learn at home and I think she was relieved!

I'll end with a couple other Calleigh comments.  Dewey is the opposite of Marlee in that he follows us from room to room all over the house.  He always wants to be with us.  And he's always trying to snuggle up under your chin or lying across your lap or whatever.  The girls had just woken up from their naps and we were sitting on the futon while I nursed Aubree.  Calleigh was sitting right next to me and as usual, Dewey tries to get as close to me as possible so he tries to lie on Calleigh's lap.  At this point, Calleigh shouts out "Dewey, your penis is on my leg!"  Seriously, how do you NOT laugh??  Then yesterday, I was having the blessing (Calleigh was taking a break apparently) and when I finished, Calleigh excitedly told me "I had my eyes on the whole time!"  I guess that meant they were open!

Both girls studying their lessons.

We must have worn Aubree out at Busch Gardens because since then, she's back to sleeping the whole night.

Calleigh's Photography.  She took the above picture of Aubree too.