Browngirl Speaks

4/4/09 Update:  This giveaway is now closed.  Thanx to all the coupon queens who entered.  If you didn’t get a chance to enter, you can always purchase one from The Frugal Tee.

I’ve recently begun a new endeavor with a line of tees related to couponing.  So far, there’s only one shirt, but one awesome shirt it is.  Others to come very soon. 

So, TWO hip, happening frugal fanatics will each win one of my tees.  

What do you have to do to enter?  Simply post a comment–something cute and relative– on this post by 11:59 pm, Wednesday, March 4. The winners will announced and contacted by email on Thursday, March 5.  I will use a random number generator to pick the winners.

Feel free to stop by my website: The Frugal Tee.

I cut up @ Kroger today.  My bill started @ almost $80 and after coupons was about $34.  I got lots of freebies, several were the usual though.  Here, our Krogers sale Cottonelle tissue for $0.99 and there’s a $0.50 off coupon on the Cottonelle website.  It doubles and voila!–free tissue.

Funny thing about the rice: I had a BOGO coupon for Riceland rice, it’s been on sale for $1.99 (reg. $3.09).  So, I got my two bags of brown rice thinking I’m gonna pay 2 bucks for them both, right?  Um how about the cashier entered the value as $3.09!  I got them both for $0.89!

My Colgate Total toothpaste wasn’t supposed to be free either but I forgot that I had a $1 coupon form Cellfire on my loyalty card.  The TP was on closeout for $1.37 and I also had a $0.75 manufacturer coupon.  Woohoo!

The best part was the young cashier staring at my t-shirt about coupons when I handed her my stack. More on the shirt to come very soon. 

C’mon, say it with me: "My baby!"

It was an almost teary moment while Zion and I played mancala.  We’ve played many times before but today I could tell that he really got it.  He still doesn’t know how to strategize but he understands this game.  As a "gamer", I couln’t be more proud.

I had a real crabby manager today regarding some $2 off Excedrin coupons from the internet, but I did well elsewhere.  I found a Secret flawless deodorant on clearance for $2.59 and had a $2 coupon. 
Here’s a breakdown:

2 Rolaids 3pks. clearance 1.29(2) -1.00 MQ(2)= .29 each
2 Rolaids 3pks. clearance 1.29(2) -2.58 MQ = FREE (MQ for up to $4 off 2–I know I should’ve tried to get 3 with this one Q, but it’s WAGS we’re dealing with here)
1 One a Day women’s 9.79 -6.00 in ad Q -1.00 IP= 2.79
2 L’Oreal HIP eyeshadow 7.79 BOGO -2.00 MQ(2)= 3.79
1 Secret Flawless w/ Olay unscented clearance 2.59 -2.00MQ= 0.59
1 potting soil 0.99 w/ in ad Q
1 rubbing alcohol 0.99 w/ in ad Q
2 Reynolds foil 0.89 w/ in ad Q -1.00(2) MQ= FREE

Total OOP= $11.65
Total savings= $37.37 

A "happy accident" has led me to teach my son the Trivium. It all started with a Google search for a curriculum form. I needed to find a form that had some sort of breakdown by subject or… something that would let me just "plug in" the materials I want to use. Well, I came across Tanglewood curriculum. This is a curriculum that combines Charlotte Mason and Classical education.

Side note: A Classical education is the Trivium–three stages of learning: Grammar(focuses on absorbing facts) , Logic(focuses on analyzing facts), Rhetoric (focuses on written and verbal conclusions of facts). Charlotte Mason is a famous educator whose approach was centered around "living books". This is a literature based approach as opposed to textbooks.

Well, after a year of researching homeschool and about three months into our Kindergarten year, I have come across both CM and Classical education quite a few times. I finally took this moment to see what it was all about and discovered that this could be the way we need to go. Tanglewood’s CYOC form sealed the deal. I LOVE the format and for those familiar with Charlotte Mason, this unique approach is more flexible. I needed to incorporate more multicultural literature than a strict CM program calls for and I didn’t want to follow any one curriculum to the letter. I’m incorporating some elements I never imagined like nature studies. I’m not a nature person but it’s definitely going to be a special addition to our curriculum to observe and sketch the world around us.

So here’s our first grade curriculum plan:

Bible/ Character Building: God’s Wisdom for Little Boys: Character-Building Fun from Proverbs

History spine: The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World History(We will study Ancient history and I haven’t picked all the readers yet)

Science: I have to choose a few topics and so far I’ve chosen butterflies along with the requisite birds. For birds, we’ll use The Burgess Bird Book for Children. More topics to come–primarily on the human body and plants. I’ve got my eye on potting soil and seed packets that’s to go on sale @ Walgreens soon. Our nature notebook will also fall in this area.

Literature: These are books I read aloud to Zion from several genres and include: The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, Cool Melons - Turn To Frogs!: The Life And Poems Of Issa, Amigo, Charlotte’s Web, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Richard Wright and the Library Card.

Grammar: I’m using some free materials online creating spelling lists myself on spellingcity. And I just now discovered the free resource I was planning to use for grammar is **GASP** gone! Back to the drawing board there.

For handwriting, we’re using Draw Write Now which will coincide with art.

Reading: Z will continue with some Level 1 readers and begin some Level 2–haven’t picked any yet; it’ll be whatever I find on BookMooch most likely.

Math: Modern Curriculum Press Level A (first grade)

The Arts: Along with Draw Write Now for applied art, we will continue to visit museums,read about and view the work of a different artist each month, and read about and listen to music of jazz musicians and classical composers.

Foreign language: Still at a loss because this is probably the most expensive subject to cover. Zion loves languages–he’s figured out how to watch his dvd’s in french and insists that it not be changed. He’s also shown interest in Spanish (he already has a good vocabulary there) and sign language. All the programs and software available are pricey. So just say a prayer over this one.

It looks like 9 boxes when I’m buying!

WARNING: This is going to be pretty dull!

So, here goes and in no certain order:

1. i was a thumb sucker

2. my husband and i have been a couple for 8 years and married for almost 3 years. there was a 6 month “trial separation” during the pre-marriage days and, well, these things just often don’t work out and we don’t count that.

3. my husband, son and i were all born on a friday

4. my son and i share the same birth weight and height–i hope that this does not spell his doom to be only 5′1″ like me (let us pray).

5. the first funeral i ever attended, my great great aunt’s, really sparked my interest in my family’s genealogy. At 12, the dates from the tombstones of other relatives was really fascinating and i wanted to know who these people were, from whence i came (i love that phrase, i’m a dork)

6. my best friend and i grew up in the same church from age 9 but didn’t become BFF’s until college–it’s amazing how people change and grow

7. i am a true bibliophile– from the way books smell to learning a new word while reading to having favorite authors and genres

8. i am a true audiophile– the only thing that compares to my love for books is music. it is my oxygen. i sing it, i write it, i dream it…

9. i have quite a few recessive traits– cleft chin, widow’s peak, flat feet(flat as the floor flat), freckles (even one on my eyeball), bowed legs, turned out feet(which makes my bowed legs unnoticeable)

10. freshman year of college i got stuck with the top bunk in my dorm room and it wasn’t long before i fell out of said bunk and tore all the skin from my shin. i mean it was crumpled and hanging from the dresser below my bunk.

11. i was burning incense in my dorm room sophomore year when the door closed and locked behind me. the incense fell into my wastebasket and it began to smoke. i had to get my suitemate to call campus security to let me in but when she told them my “wastebasket was smoking” they called the fire dept. and told them my “room was on fire”. then, not one, not two but THREE firetrucks showed up and the fireman i spoke with said that they got a call from [schoolname] campus security saying that “the girls’ dorm was on fire”. and this isn’t even what got me kicked out! fortunately, there was no damage other than smoke confined to my room–my clothes smelled like BBQ. needless to say, i was mortified!!!

12. i love Degrassi–all three series rock!

13. i was a smoker– like lots of kids, it started with a stressful exam or something in college and became a habit.

14. i did inhale. a number of times (sorry ma)

15. i still remember the first two phone numbers i ever had to memorize when i was 4 yrs.–my mom’s work and my house phone numbers

16. i learned how to cross my eyes when i started wearing glasses @ 12 years old.

17. when i was 11 a salesman @ sears thought i was 6 or 7–that’s how small i was! you know my little “pre-teen” feelings were crushed.

18. the first death i experienced was @ about 8 or 9 when my friend angel died from a brain tumor. she was the SWEETEST person i have ever known and had the most beautiful hair and one day she showed up @ my door with a freshly shaven head. i tried to put on brave fronts for her but it was tearing me up. she was so brave and at peace with what was happening. her mother came over after she had passed to share their family photo album with me and my mom. angel was buried in colorado, her home state. i still think of her so often and it still hurts that my friend had to die so young. but, i believe she’s one of those angels that had to go back to heaven to look out for me. i know that sounds cheesy, but i really do feel that way…

19. growing up, i swore that i would change my first name as soon as i turned 16…i never did.

20. when my mom was teaching me to say “excuse me” when i passed gas, she says that i would say “excuuuuse me pootie”.

21. i started walking @ 7 months old. my mom said she was in the kitchen and she saw me walk past the doorway—sideways!

22. i looooove couponing. it’s an addiction. i love when i get free stuff from my efforts especially.

23. the scariest day of my life was when i brought my son home from the hospital. it was the immediate fear of getting him home safely and the more enduring fear of “what the hell have i gotten myself into?”…

24. i used to have a re-occurring nightmare as a child that a lake of fire was in the hallway b/w my room and my parents’ room. there were live gargoyles and other scary creatures semi attached to the roof of my house and would swipe at me as i would run outside. and there was always one that would jump down and chase me. and i would always manage to run so fast and will myself to take flight and never be caught. and every time i was about to come back down, i would wake up.

25. my realistic career goal is to be a bookstore owner
my dream job is to be a writer–poet, novelist, songwriter, screenwriter
my fantasy job is to be a backup singer for Jill Scott