Politics...

On Tuesday we had a lot of fun going to our caucus. Both Ken and I are actively involved in our local Republican party and so Ken especially had helped to get everything ready for the caucus. I don't think a lot of people realize it but the caucuses and things like that are run by volunteers and funded by the money from local people.

Tuesday night there was a great turnout which was very exciting but it also caused a fair amount of chaos. Many people had no idea what ward or township they were in and then we had around 20 different ones in one place so it took quite a while to get everybody to their right tables. Then we didn't have enough ballets made up as we had not expected that many people so we ended up having to just tear up scraps of paper which they could then just write the name they wanted on.

It was fun to see people get interested in talking about resolutions and then deciding to be delegates to the county convention. Both Ken and I signed up to be delegates there and then we are hoping to go on to state. I think it is very important that people get involved if we want to keep our country on the right track. If we always leave the decision making up to others, they aren't neccasarily going to make the choices that we like.

I was quite disapointed to learn today that Mitt Romney was getting out of the race. That is who we had after much thinking decided to support. But even though I think McCain has some problems I think that he has it much more together concerning the issues that I find important than the opposition does.

What are your thoughts on all of this? Ar you involved? Do you even care? Or do you sit on the sidelines and complain?

Some good deals

I just happened to find this website with a coupon for Free Flat Earth Crisps. I have never tried them but they look relatively healthy and it would be fun to get some free for a snack.

Also Walgreens is offering some free photo prints. You can get a Family Value Pack for free by entering the coupon code VALENTINE. A Family Value Pack includes one 8x10, two 5x7s and four 4x6s. All of them are of the same picture. This deal is good today through Saturday Feb. 9. You have to upload your photo in that time period, you don't have to pick it up then.

Our grocery budget for January

At the beginning of this year I had posted a list of goals that I had. One of them being to spend less on groceries. I had said that I would post how much that I spent each month. I am quite excited to announce that I spent only $202.60 on groceries last month. I really don't think we will be able to do that well every month but I am going to try my best. Ken said that we spent a lot less in some other areas as well.
If you have any great hints for lowering my grocery bill more I would love to hear them.

Easy and pretty gloves

I have been meaning to share this with you but have kept forgetting. This was Jonathan's Christmas present to Mara. I had bought a couple of pairs of the cheap stretchy gloves on clearance last year. He took one pair and then cut out flowers and leaves from felt and then sewed them on the gloves with little beads in the middle of the flower. They turned out quite cute, were pretty easy to make (a six year old managed pretty well) and are a useful gift that Mara likes very much.

A fun way to go grocery shopping

This past week I had a pretty long list of things that I needed at Walmart. I try to do a lot of shopping at local grocery stores but there are somethings that are a lot cheaper at Walmart. I find it very hard to get in and out of Walmart very fast so I have decided I will only go once a month. I actually didn't go at all in January but then I ended up going on Feb. 1.

Anyway the day that I decided to go my sister Keren was with us for the day and we came up with this idea to divide into two teams and split the list up and have a race. Keren, Mara and Jonathan went together and the younger 2 were with me. I wrote out two lists (mine was slightly longer because I needed to have everything that needed thinking about but I figured I had the advantage of knowing where the groceries were better). We raced through the store with I am sure many people looking at us a little strangely (okay, we weren't actually running). For the most part we didn't see the other team but 2 times they came and surrounded me and grabbed onto my cart demanding that I tell them where the raisens were. The 2nd time I did break down and give them a clue.

Keren and crew won, but we weren't too far behind. We got our shopping done (not counting checking out which took a while as we had a perfectionist bagger to check us out.) in less than 1/2 hour.

So if you struggle with long shopping trips in Walmart and would like to make it a little more exciting I would recommend a race. Hopefully you have a sister, friend, spouse or older child to do it with. It is really quite fun!