yesterday i put up a new category of items on blueskyrocket.com - Wall Graphics.  These decals are SO colorful and cute. There’s something for babies’ nursery, children’s rooms, tweens and even teens designs.  My personal fave is the cherry blossom tree wall decal - this would really brighten up a little girl’s nursery or look amazing in a minimal/zen-like bedroom.

I am still putting up designs, so look now, but don’t forget to look again later! Here are a few of my faves, plus an example of how most of the designs come in different colors:

I have ALWAYS loved saving money. I will cut coupons and use them, but until I started reading about people using coupons and store sales + manufacturers rebates to get things for free, I hadn’t fully appreciated their true worth. Thanks to blogs like Stretching A Buck and Money Saving Mom I learned to wait to use coupons until stores had sales.

This past weekend Walgreens had a sale that basically gave me a few free things and MAJOR $ off others. Here’s what I got yesterday for $7.11:

I used store coupons, manufacturers coupons plus a $3.00 Register Reward walgreens gave me last week when I purchased 4 12 pks of diet coke.

This trip would have cost ~$30! I loved getting 4 things of tissue paper for $1.00 (in the Walgreens store flyer) - otherwise they were priced at $.99/each. Also, I got the razors for free ($8.99 value) & the toothpaste for free as well. Paid a fraction of the price for the tomato sauce (which i really didn’t need but they were $.30/ea w/ the coupons, so why not. I am addicted!

This type of work takes time to organize before going shopping, and I do have moments where I feel like a complete nutjob for handing the checkout guy 15 coupons for 8 items, but it WORKS and why wouldn’t you do it if you have the time?

To make this process easier, I signed up for an account over at thegrocerygame.com. This site makes it foolproof to shop this way. I just save my coupons from each paper and when the grocery game tells me to use one, i go back in my folder to that specific week’s coupon and clip it then. The ggame also tells you whats on sale at each store - they give you your final total for each item after applying any & all coupons to the price. There are SEVERAL things to be had for FREE all the time.

So, while we are not depending on my cheapskate shopping skillz to make it, it’s still a nice feeling when you slash your grocery budget in half month after month just by taking a little time to do some research before heading out the door.

this, right now, is a prime example of how i mismanage my extrememly limited ‘work time’. {’work time’ is when my mother has my toddler or he is at mother’s day out.} i am presently writing a blog post when i have Quickbooks running in the background. today is my own imposed deadline for getting my books in order so they can be taken to the CPA for taxes. Well, the deadline was imposed mostly by my husband (who has been very patient up until this week…)

so, how does everyone do it? how do you get yourself motivated to do EXACTLY what you have on your ‘to do list’? am i the only one that sits down at my computer each day with good intentions only to to check off one of the 10 items on my t-d-list by the end of the day?

to clarify -most of the time, what i am doing is several things at once: all work related - tweaking code on my shop’s page, uploading products that i’ve been needing to upload for days, etc. however, sometimes… sometimes every-other-day-ish… i get sucked into the void that is facebook.

UH! why why why must it be so addicting. no, i haven’t seen this person since nam, but i’m going to chit chat away the minutes that i have been given to work & do the things that put shoes on my kids feet! while i’m at it, hey, i think i’ll look up the girl i used to cheer with in highschool’s pictures and comment on them - thats brilliant - then when 5 oclock rolls around and i’ve gotten a mere fraction of the workload off of my desk - i’ll feel quite accomplished for having reached out to said friend.

no, this has to stop. short of deleting (if thats possible) my account, i need to go on a self-imposed hiatus from FB for at least 2 wks. it starts now, peeps. it starts now.

Over the weekend we had a birthday party for our (suddenly) 2 year old son. It was a small event - quite a contrast from my 8 year old’s parties. My little guy loves Yo Gabba Gabba, so we had a Brobee theme. Brobee cake (see below), green balloons, etc. We didn’t go over the top with matchy matchy decorations & we didn’t force the adults to force their young kids to participate in any baby games. It was nice.

The cake is traditionally made by myself and my mother the day before the boys’ birthdays. Each year we have pulled off some nice looking cakes (for a couple of rookies).  Here’s a look back at the boy’s birthday cakes from Dec. & March:

And in non-cake news: I am so happy to read Mallory from Miss Malaprop’s article on BlueSkyRocket.com today! She highlighted some of her faves and did a nice feature on the shop. Thank you Mallory

Over the weekend I was emailed by Kristen over at coolmompicks.com. She informed me that one of our products was chosen for their 2009 Ultimate Baby Shower Gift Guide! It will remain up on their site for a year! The product they chose?

Morning Glory Baby Comforter

There’s alot going on in the shop this week. First of all, our ad over on CoolMomPicks.com (which ends today) has brought in many extra shoppers. Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to sign up for the Newsletter!

We are still updating the new clothes, paper goods & newest personalized lunchbox designs, so bookmark us on whatever social bookmarking site you use!

OH!  I’ve marked down some things - you can find them in the SALE section.

Here’s a few pics of new items available for sale now: