Sneak-or-Treat

We had a fun Saturday! It started with Sport’s team winning their last league football team. Now they are off to the playoffs as the number one seed. Yeah, we think it’s cool too. Then my little army got busy and cleared both gardens and cleaned up the backyard. After that we figured it was time to party. My sweetie made us an amazing dinner and we watched Halloween movies and Bossy made a cool 3D Haunted House.

When they put in The Nightmare Before Christmas, my sweetie and I slipped out to go to JC Penneys. I had a good coupon and I managed to get Scout a new shirt and Baby Doll a cute jacket for a grand total of 49 cents! It was a good trip. But somewhere during that timeframe, we had a little discord at home. By the time we got back, Bossy had packed up her family and hit the road.

After a bit of discussion, it turns out that Bossy and the Prima Donna had words and the Dog Walker just had to throw his 2-cents in. Anyway, some apologies were in order. Unfortunately, Bossy was mad enough that she was not answering her phone. That’s when I devised my brilliant beyond brilliant plan. If you read the post about the Dog Walker’s corn maze, you know that Bossy’s family is trying to win their apartment building’s Halloween Lights and Display Contest. The prize is reduced rent for the next month, wouldn’t that be nice?!




When they cleared that garden today, the Dog Walker brought around all the rest of the cornstalks. Bossy had hoped to take some home for her display, but before she got the chance, Dog Walker had tied them all up in the front yard. It seemed to me that the best way to apologize was to have Prima Donna and Dog Walker sneak over to Bossy’s apartment and leave a bundle of cornstalks on her doorstep.

So we loaded up the van with the nicest bundle we could find and three pumpkins (one personally carved by the Prima Donna) and a letter of apology in a Halloween cup. We drove the ten minutes to her apartment, arriving at about 11:30 PM. We snuck around to her front door, hoping that her lights were still on. They were. Honestly, it was difficult to decide where to put the cornstalks, because they already had such a fun display, but we managed. I snapped a few pics so you could see her amazing job. I’d give her the prize!

Then we tip-toed around to her back door and doorbell-ditched the ceramic mug with the letter and some treats. You should have seen us run for the van! We peeled off just as their door opened. The kids thought it was way fun to “Sneak-or-Treat” someone. Maybe we should just start a new tradition. But next time not something as messy as cornstalks.

Friday Freebies: JCP Clearance

If you stopped by my blog last week, you know I had a fantastic mail day. I don’t want to brag or anything, but Bossy, Teach, Baby Doll and I took a bunch of those coupons and headed over to JC Penney. Ok, maybe I do want to brag…we took my $25.00 worth of coupons, plus the coupons in the ad, and I headed out the door with two huge bags full of clothes! Here are the final results:

Baby Doll – yellow t-shirt, green jacket, flowered stretch pants, yellow/pink sleeper
Curly – blue printed t-shirt
Scout – four pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pink leggings, 1 pair of pink yoga pants, 2 printed t-shirts
Sport – 5 printed t-shirts
Crafty – 2 black pairs of yoga pants, a pair of jeans, a pair of stretch pants
Prima Donna – 4 printed t-shirts, black ruffled skirt
Princess – 1 pair of pink sweats, 1 pair of blue yoga pants and 1 pair of black yoga pants
I also bought Taco 2 printed t-shirts for his birthday.

I walked out the door with all of this stuff for about $65.00. I love shopping clearance deals and we pick up things now for back-to-school in the fall. I know we might be a bit behind the trends this way, but most styles don’t change that much and we just look for basic things like tees and jeans that are always classics. Most stores are clearancing right now; preparing for the summer looks. That means you can buy coats and jackets, long-sleeved shirts, and warmer things for practically nothing (at JCP they are 80% off).

A couple of weeks ago we bought a half dozen beautiful Dockers sweaters for my sweetie at 90% off. They cost me less than $4.00 each. I even bought my Baby Doll a swimsuit at Target for $5.00. It was last season’s style, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t care. Maybe I should ask her…

Gratitude

My little two-year-old Curly is the sweetest thing! This morning I was pulling some bargains out of yet another Kohl’s bag. This time they were pretty much all for 5-year-old Scout; some Princess jammies, a fuzzy pink jacket with fuzzy pink gloves, black and gray leggings. She was happy but not nearly as grateful as I wanted to see her be. 

Meanwhile, Curly stood by my leg and bouncing up and down shouted, "Is there anything for me? Is there anything for me?" I had to keep telling him, "No, this time they are all for Sissy." He was sad, but hung around anyway. Just as he was about ready to head dejectedly down the stairs, I spotted a small navy blue pair of unremarkable sweats that I had pulled out of a bag yesterday and left laying on the tub for him. 

"Hey, Curly, I do have something for you!" He raced back to my bedroom. I felt almost guilty as I held up this one little pair of $2.00 JC Penney sweats. He ran to me, "Are those for me?" he breathed. "Yup! As soon as you go to the potty we’ll put them on." I took his little hand in mine as he half-skipped to the potty. I lifted him up and his small face turned upward to mine. "I’m so excited!" he said. I smiled above his blonde curls. In my heart I promised, "Next time the whole bag will be for you."