Perfect Fall Day

Yesterday was a perfect Fall day. 

 

12:30PM - 77 degrees:  Scarlett and I started the day off at Cornucopia @ Eugene Field Park with our new friends Andrea, JJ & baby Keaton.  The weather could not have been better.  The air was crisp and clear and the leaves were falling with every burst of wind.  There is no other word to describe it.....perfect.

 

2:00PM - 80 degrees:  Scarlett and I went downtown to eat lunch with my honey-bunny at his new Jason's deli.  His new job is in the center of downtown Chicago so while I was driving around looking for parking I came across this.....

....an anti-war protest marching down State St.  I don't understand the point of protesting.  Three hundred people marching down the street with a blow horn and a piece of finger painted cardboard doesn't change anything.  I am all about making a difference but anything less than 100,000 people is not enough.  Anyway....It was good to see my hubby.  He worked 108 hours this week at work.  I miss him so much.

3:00PM - 80 degrees:  We headed down to Oz park for another meetup.  This meed up was mostly for couples but since honey was still working I me up with my "day-wife/Chicago bestie" Megan and her husband and my other fun mammas.

Being a mamma in Chicago is a full time job :)

Chicago Moms Network

Today was a PERFECT fall day!!  It was a crisp 75 degrees out side with a cool breeze, ideal for an outdoors play date under a shade tree on a picnic blanket.  When I moved to Chicago I didn't know anybody.  Thank GOD for Meetup.com!!  It has introduced me to some amazing moms.  These moms, like me, are not from the area so we are leaning on each other for the support we are missing from our family and friends back home.  Just a month ago I was itching to go back home to Alabama but after a day like today with my new friends and this perfect mid-west fall weather....I feel like this could be home.  :)

If you live in a metro area (like Chicago) check out meetup.com....you might meet your new best friend. :)

I am in the diaper selling business...

Being a stay at home mom and wife I have made it my job to save money any way possible.
I am an avid couponer and bargain shopper, but lately I have also been a diaper deal hunter and seller.

Here is what I do....

After I find my super deal of $3 per pack or less I purchase the diapers and sell them on craigslist.com for $5 each.  So far I have made over $100 profit selling diapers and have amassed at diaper stockpile of my own up until size 3!!!  More than half the diapers that I have sold I got for free using coupons.  It feels so good to be able to earn a little extra doing my favorite things...shopping and saving!!

Huggies diapers are on sale at CVS for 2 for $18....doesn't sound like a deal?

Let me tell you how it is done....

Buy 3 packs at $9 each = $27
Use 3 $3 off coupons from last weeks Smart Source insert = $18
Use a CVS $3 off $15 or more on baby care coupon = $15
I used $9.79 in ECB from a previous purchase = $5.21 + tax
AND
Get $10 ECB on purchace of $25 or more on baby products.

So when I sell them for $5 each on craigslist.com I am making a profit of almost $10 that I get to use on other fun stuff!!!

Rant: Evil, Stupid, Ignorant Chicago Bus Drivers/Riders

As a driver in Chicago I have been annoyed with the aggressiveness of bus drivers and now that I am a rider I am annoyed with their attitudes even more.

I have a newborn.
She is 3 months old
So when I go out into the city I have a lot I need to take with me.
Not to mention that she has to ride in a car seat in the stroller because she is too little to sit up.
So I am sorry if my baby is in your way....but that is just too freaking bad!
GO AROUND! 
Would you get all pissy with a person in a wheel chair because their wheels are too big....no....why not....because they can't walk....well guess freaking what....NEITHER CAN MY BABY!!!!
And I don't know if you want to walk all over Chicago with a baby in your arms, a diaper bag and any shopping bags you may end up with but I DON'T!
I will be bringing my over sized stroller ON THE BUS and you can just get over it....AND NO, I will NOT be folding it up.
WHY you ask...let me tell you why...because holding the baby, diaper bag, shopping bags, lunch bag, and carrier she is in will take up more room and take twice as much time putting back together then it is worth.
...SO FYI...
I am doing you a freaking favor by NOT folding it up! 

IN YOUR FACE EVIL BUS DRIVER and STUPID RIDERS!!!!!!

CVS Free-Bee of the day!

Free! Free! Free!

I have been obsessed with coupons lately, especially CVS.  I live right down the street from CVS and I have made it my personal goal to walk to CVS everyday and today was no exception.  The first thing I do when I walk in the door is scan my CVS card in the red box.  Last week everyday I went I got a $1 off a pack of Orbit gum.  I didn't spend any of these until today.

Here was my deal:

Orbit gum is buy 1 get 1 free at $1.37
--I bought 8 packs of gum and used 5 $1 off coupons = .48 subtotal

Hearshy candy bar is $.99
--I bought 1 bar and used a $.79 CVS red box coupon (even though it said "FREE") = $.20

Big Chill bottled water $1.49 + $.05 bottle tax
--I bought 1 bottle and used $.50 CVS red box coupon = $.99

It looks like my cashier scanned the $.50 coupon twice which was an error but thanks.....

Subtotal: $1.22
Saved : $12.48

Not a bad trip :)

No College Football????? WHAT?!?!?

I grew up in the south, mainly Alabama, where college football is a way of life.  Everything is about football.  So when I moved to Chicago I was unprepared for what was going to be my new reality.....

NO SEC FOOTBALL!

Not only is Saturday in the Fall just another day up here, to make it worse, Alabama (the #2 ranked team in the nation) was not showing on TV!  Sitting at home donned in my Alabama gear....ALONE....I felt so disconnected from my normal life.  So out of touch with what I felt was my reality.

Thank GOD for Houndstooth Saloon, the local Alumni Saloon that televises every game (including basketball and baseball games)!

 

HUGE sigh of relief.

Scarlett and I caught the bus and met up with my fellow southerners in Wriglyville where we cheered Alabama and enjoyed Dreamland BBQ sauce.  Inside those saloon walls, where the wallpaper is houndstooth and the ceiling is crimson, we are surrounded by Southern tradition and best of all the spirit of football!  

On my way home all the mid-western Chicago-ites were wearing their Cubs gear and all I was thinking was....."I sure do miss home!"

What's Cookin, Chicago?

Yesterday I went with my best friend to a Chicago Moms Network "Tye-Dye Party". 

 We had such a BLAST!!

The idea is we bring whatever you want to dye (mostly onsies, bibs or other baby item) and just enjoy the company of other Chicago moms.

What a great idea and it was so great to have some grown up conversions!!

Here is the product of my tye-dye attempt.....

HOW COOL!

Well today was also filled with excitement.  At the meetup yesterday I was invited to another meet up with a group called What's Cookin, Chicago? 

This meet up was a potluck picnic. 

Blake and I brought his yummy chicken and potatoes & I made my famous peach cobbler.

The best part of the day was watching my husband mingle with people who love food and cooking as much as he does.  He has not had any time to meet new people in the city so this was a special treat.  So not only did we eat great food but I also believe that we have made new friends that we will keep for as long as we live in Chicago!

PRAISE GOD! :)

Good news....I am learning to walk :)

Last week Blake and I downsized from 2 cars to 1.  So far so good but we were planning on my honey getting transferred to downtown Chicago and him taking the El train to work....but his transfer has been pushed back to November, which is a big bummer, and I have no car....

Good news.....I am learning to walk. 

Living in Chicago we have so many shops near our home and walking is exactly what I should be doing anyway to lose this baby weight.  Plus it is nice to have something to do every day.  So my daily routine is to walk to CVS , then to Walgreens , and finally to the produce store to pick up fresh fruits, veggies and meat.

Today, I actually did my hair and make-up!!  It is just amazing how good you feel when you look good too.  On our walk a man honked and made a "cat call"...before I would have called him a vulgar perv, but now think of as that nice man who made my day.  lol.  So, since becoming a SAHM I am finding that if I have a purpose, like a daily walk, I actually feel like part of the world and not trapped in a box.

A day on the town

I love Chicago and can't wait for spring to be here in full force.  There are so many free options to fill the days with.  Not that this 7 months prego ever gets out of her PJ's.....BUT since the sun is shining and the temp is finally over the 60 mark the only way to celebrate is get out and smell the lake breeze.  Last week we went to The Nature Museum on my hubby's day off, this week we went to The Lincoln Park Zoo which is free everyday

Let me tell you what....Lincoln Park was the place to be!!  The park was packed with nannies and mommies with their kiddos at the play ground, joggers pushing babies and people just lounging.  It was already starting out to be the PERFECT DAY!!  :)

The first thing I wanted to do was see the big cats to snap a picture of a lion.  I was looking forward to using the new camera my dad got me for my birthday.  When we got to the leopard cage I tried to take a pic with my "new" camera I couldn't get the thing to take a picture quick enough to capture anything more than the tail as she was pacing her cage.  Frustrated, I left the big cat house without any pictures at all...but the monkey house was a riot!  The chimp was picking and eating his boogers and the gorilla was eating a cardboard box.

 

 

After the zoo, Blake and I went to Andersonville for some Turkish Cuisine.  A few weeks ago Anthony Bourdain from the Travel Channels No Reservations went to Turkey and had our mouths watering for some Eastern European goodness.  We had a dish called lahmacun.  Lahmacun is a flat turkish pizza topped with ground lamb.  YUMMMY!!!  It is a must try and to top it off, ITS CHEAP.  At Turkish Cuisine on N. Clark it is $3.50!

 Blake and I walked up and down N. Clark in Andersonville and decided if we move again it will be to Andersonville.  It is beautiful.  The people are nice and the shops are out of this world!!!!

 The last and best choice of the night was a stop at a corner cafe, Taste of Heaven, where I had the best hot coco of my life only made better with the peanut butter cheesecake.  I dipped each bite, one by delicious bite, in the hot coco where the chocolate pie crust filled with coco and the filling warmed melting into my mouth and fulfilling every craving this pregnancy has ever gave me.

Thrifting in Chicago

I made some awesome finds today!  I planned on hitting up 4 thrift stores but when I got to Unique Thrift Store on N. Elston in Irving Park I stayed for 2 hours!  They had an amazing selection of designer jeans from Guess to 7 for All Mankind (if only my big belly wasn't in the way) starting at $7.99 with loads of them half off or even buy one get one free (today it was pink tickets). 

I ended up spending less than $35 and walked away with 5 sweaters and 2 pair of jeans:

The Jeans are Refuge (not maternity but with my belly band they will work....couldn't pass them up for $7.99.

Calvin Klein Jeans Sweater: Free (this was the get one free of the buy one :)

 Express: $5.99 (this one is my husbands favorite :)

Motherhood Maternity: $3.89 - 25% off = $2.92

Gap Maternity:  $3.99 - 25% off = $2.99

Unknown brand but oh so cute for $4.99 - 25% off = $3.75

The other pair of jeans I didn't get a pic of (cause I am lazy :) but they were Motherhood Maternity for $5.99.

All together I spent $32.59!!!  I had a great day.

On a side note I am 25w. prego today.  Yay!