Saturday Successes: It's a Girl!

It's a girl!

No, I'm not pregnant. Nor was I ever pregnant. My husband and I are (human) childless by choice. Today's Saturday Success is about my family welcoming a different kind of child - our newest daughter, Charlotte Rue.

As a volunteer at the Seekonk Animal Shelter, one possible duty is fostering animals that don't thrive in the shelter's environment. Three weeks ago, the ACO, Sharon, asked that I bring home a tiny little grey kitten who wouldn't eat much in her cage at the shelter. She was unnamed, super teeny and extremely timid and skittish.

Let me tell you, my husband's rage when I walked through the door with a cat carrier in hand was unparalleled. But it didn't take long before Charlotte melted his angry heart.

It took a week of hand feeding her before she finally ate by herself. It also took a week before she'd come out from her towel-fort without me dragging her out.

But now she's a purring monster revving up the second I walk into the room.

We're so glad to be able to call her ours!

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes & Ozeri Digital Pedometer Review

A few months ago, I posted about my weight loss journey. My journey continues, but I'm excited to say that I'm ringing in the new year 22 pounds lighter than in 2014! I've still got a ways to go which is why I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to review the Ozeri 4x3 Motion Digital Pedometer.

Here are my general likes and dislikes about the product:

Pros:

• This pedometer is equipped with sleep mode to save battery life. If it doesn't detect movement for 30 seconds or longer, it goes "to sleep." Also great is it comes with its own battery upon purchase along with a tiny screwdriver that you can use when you do have to replace the battery. 
• You can wear this pedometer around your neck, carry it in a pocket or put it in a bag or purse. I've tried all 3 methods and I've had similar results regardless of how I carry the pedometer.
• It tracks 7 days worth of data so you can compare your "couch potato" days to your more energetic, athletic days.
• Comes with a 1 year warranty against manufacturer defects.
• It keeps track of the date and time so it doubles as a watch!

Cons:

• The buttons (Set, Mode, Up and Down) protrude from the shell and are subject to being accidentally pressed, which can reset the pedometer and lose all of your stored data.
• Unless you are diligent about accurately measuring your typical stride, the pedometer will not accurately measure your steps, calories burned and mileage. 
• Initial set up is the mental equivalent of planning a NASA rocket launch, despite very detailed instructions that included screen shots.

The Ozeri pedometer is really small and thin so it can fit easily in almost any size pocket. It also comes with a lanyard that you can use to wear it around your neck. Upon opening the box, this pedometer is ready to go since a lithium ion battery is included (what a plus!).

However, despite having fairly detailed instructions outlining how to set up your pedometer, I feel like you need a degree in nuclear physics to set it up on the first try. Whatever you do, do not lose the instructions in case you reset your pedometer like I did! If you decide you DO want to reset your data, there is a recessed button "RESET" available for this purpose.

One really great feature is that you can set up the pedometer to measure in American units (lb, in, etc.) or metric units (kg, cm, etc.). This makes it easy to use no matter what country you're from. While hula hooping (yes, I hula hoop with a weighted hula hoop for exercise!), I accidentally changed units from American to metric by pressing the MODE button for too long. This also caused me to lose all of my stored data. I was a few days into using the pedometer at this point and was near tears at my loss.

All in all, I really do enjoy using this pedometer. I haven't yet checked the accuracy of the mileage tracker but I like that I can use the step tracker to compare what I've done from one day to the next.

It's fairly inexpensive compared to the more high-tech options like the Jawbone and the Fitbit. If you simply want to track your steps per day, I'd say the Ozeri pedometer is worth the nominal investment.



Disclaimer: The good folks at Ozeri provided me with a free pedometer to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes: O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

If you're a longtime Coupon Mama Massachusetts reader, you  may already know I have a vintage Pyrex addiction. I've been collecting for a little over a year and easily have nearly a hundred pieces. I try to use them as frequently as I can so I can justify my large collection to my husband.

But in general I really just love old stuff. I love the smell of old stuff. I love the qualify of most old stuff. I love the kitschy-ness of old stuff. I tend to have a natural hoarding tendency so I do have to be careful about what I acquire. But this holiday season I really, really, really wanted a vintage ceramic Christmas tree. You know, like the one your grandmother made back in the day.

So I finally mustered up the courage to ask my mother in law about the ceramic tree she had hanging around in a box of other random decorations that never left the side of the couch during Christmas. Be still my beating heart - she was planning on shipping it off to Salvation Army.

This beautiful ceramic tree, made in 1986 (my birth year - it was meant to be), is now proudly MINE! Success! :-)

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes: I'm a Rugged Maniac!

It's been quite awhile since I've posted under Saturday Successes, but this success for me is important enough to stop my life in the wee hours of a Saturday morning to post about it.

Last year, maybe in November or even December, I saw someone post on Facebook about a muddy, obstacle-course ridden 5k they were interested in. That particular race was either too far away or the date was too close, I can't remember at this point because it was so long ago - in any regard, that particular race just wasn't going to work for me. I hadn't been running really or going to the gym at all. But it got me thinking and so off to google I went in search of a similar race that I could set a goal for running.

So in November or December of last year, I convinced my unknowing husband to run a "5k" with me - I don't think I really gave him many details, other than the fact it was almost a year away and we'd have plenty of time to "train."

I can't say my husband and I put our best foot forward into our training. We're both really bad at consistency and it's something I know I need to work on. BUT.... nearly a year, multiple various injuries, 25+ ridiculous obstacles and approximately 5 pounds of mud in our underwear later, my husband and I are RUGGED MANIACS!

Race: Rugged Maniac
Location: Motocross 338 Southwick, MA
Date: September 28, 2013
Our Time: 1:00:02

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes: Day Late & Dollar Short, but Still Did It!

So today's not exactly Saturday, but I'm too excited about my success to wait until next Saturday to post about it!

Now, feel free to comment.... like most of my students, I thrive on positive reinforcement!

So, you may already know I've been, once again, battling with my weight. I feel sorta like a broken record saying it. It seems to be a recurring theme in my life. Nevertheless, I've been really trying, despite my aching arthritic back and my inability to get to my doctor-recommended PT because my health insurance doesn't cover it.

So after an obnoxiously fattening summer where I basically babysat and sat on my ever-enlargening hiney, I decided that with the start of a new school year, I'd start to find a "new me." On September 3rd, I weighed in at a whopping 138.4 lbs. That might not seem like a lot, but I've got a tiny 4'11 frame. I'm a bitty person, so my weight so be somewhat comparable.

So I got on the scale this morning, less than 2 months later, and I'm down to 129.8! WOOHOO!!

And I've done it all by dieting and making better eating choices. I haven't really been exercising beyond running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but I do that on the daily anyway.


Now I'm not a distributor of Herbalife, but I'm definitely someone who can say it seems to be working! I've been switching out 2 meals a day with an Herbalife shake. You're supposed to use soy milk with it, but I've been using skim cow's milk because I'm too cheap frugal to buy the expensive soy stuff. But even with my skim milk, the shakes still seem to be helping me to lose weight.

So I usually switch out breakfast and lunch with a shake. And then I can have 2 snacks a day - typically a cheese stick and an apple. I eat a normal supper with my husband. By normal, I mean whatever he'll eat, so definitely not diet food!

I've been using the pina colada shake mix and the cookies n' cream shake mix. The pina colada tasted wicked raunchy at first, but I've gotten used to it. I don't mix in any fruits or other stuff into it, I just blend it with my milk and call it a day. The cookes n' cream tastes way better, but if it takes you too long to drink it, it coagulates in the cup and gets wicked thick and gross.

So F for taste,  but A for functionality!

If you're intersted in trying Herbalife, I can send you an invite from the distributor I use. She doesn't charge tax, her rates are the cheapest I've found anywhere. I pay around $26 for a cannister of shake mix, whereas most of the other places charge over $30. And if you spend at least $35 you can get free shipping.

If you want an invite, and you sign up through the invite, you'll actually get a coupon for $5 off your purchase.

Want a link? Either comment with your email address or shoot me a message a cindi_lach@juno.com





Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes: Raising the Flag for Pennies!

My husband is a die-hard project lover. He is also overly ambitious. He'll run me into the ground doing project after project after project if I let him. At one point he got sick of my plethora of shoes all over the floor in two of our three closets and decided he was going to build a set of customized shelves. Apparently this will help me better organize my shoe collection. I personally just think it may cause me to buy more shoes since I know they'll all look so beautiful in a nifty shoe shelf, rather than piled on the floor!

Needless to say, another project meant another trip to Lowes. My husband and I frequent both Lowes and Home Depot, however, we do prefer Lowes simply because we can get 5% off our purchase if we charge it to our Lowes credit card. Since most of the time we were planning on buying the item and have the cash in hand, we'll just charge it, then pay it off in full at the end of the month with the money had we had set aside - this way we save that extra 5%!

My mom gave me a coupon for $10 off of $10 purchase that she got for signing up for a My Lowes tracking card. That was even more incentive for us to go shopping!

And look what I found!

 

The really cute religious flag will be perfect for Easter! And it cost $.22, plus the price went down a few pennies due to the $10 off of $10 coupon! The other two flags cost a whopping $.32 a piece, plus an additional couple penny discount.

 

Unfortunately the cashier didn't tell us that we couldn't use both the $10 off of $10 coupon plus the 5% discount with the charge card, otherwise we would have broke up our purchase into two transactions. Oh well, lesson learned.

 

I still saved a boatload of money and got these three adorable flags for under $1 total!

 

Happy Couponing!

-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes: Chewing is Apparently Optional

So I started my Herbalife diet back on September 3rd. I am a yoyo dieter. I lost 11 pounds the year before my wedding in August 2011. Then on my honeymoon, I gained every single pound back and then some. Damned all inclusives!! I had the mentality that I had to make the cost of the all inclusive worth it... well... needless to say, no matter how much I ate during that week, all this aggravation later is simply not worth it!

So I'm trying Herbalife. Why? Because all my friends were doing it. And I crumble under peer pressure. And I do want to lose weight and prior to that I had only lost weight when I was doing 6 hours of cardio a week and severely limiting my food intake.... I was tired, hungry and had no time to myself.

At first I was tired and hungry, but Herbalife really doesn't affect my time. In fact, it makes life easier because I don't have to shop for groceries for myself for 2 meals a day. And now I'm less hungry and only work and stress make me tired. I do, however, really really really miss chewing! When you drink 2 meals a day, you really start to realize how enjoyable chewing can really be!

But I have lost weight. Not a crazy crazy amount of weight, but then again I only have 30 lbs to lose anyway!

My goal weight: 110
My weight as of September 3: 138.4
My current weight as of September 15: 134.0

Weight Lost: 4.4 lbs   :-)

Now if only I could celebrate with some cake.... or a cocktail... or anything I could actually chew!

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes: Zzzzzzz despite the obstacles

My husband, Jon, and I have been blissfully married for a little over a year. We've been together for five years and have lived together for four and a half of those.

During much of that time, my sleep has suffered greatly. Our couch also has suffered. In our previous house, space was a commodity. There was only one bedroom. It didn't have a door. And aside from the basement, which was only latered renovated to be living space, there was really no where to "escape" from any sort of annoyances when needed.

99% of the time, these annoyances were my husband and his absolutely horrendous snoring. I don't mean a mere two or three minute stretch of light snoring. I'm talking snoring so loudly that it can be heard several rooms away and sometimes even in the basement. Snoring so deep and heavy that no amount of poking, prodding, kicking, slapping, pinching or any other slightly violent verb could stifle.

Just listen! I was in the next room when taping this.

As a result, there have been many a night I spent on the couch. Sometimes I didn't even bother to try get him to stop snoring before leaving bed to sleep on the couch. It wasn't worth it because it only meant I was wider awake.

But after five years of being together, four and a half of which we've lived together, and a little over a year of which we've been blissfully married, I've managed to develop a strategy for sleeping with a chronic snorer. And no, BreathRite strips simply don't work. Smothering might, but I haven't tried it :-)

I simply go to bed before him and try to fall asleep as quickly as I can. So I make sure each night right before bed that he's glued to the TV and halfway through his TV show, I close up the house, feed our fuzzy children, kiss him goodnight and sneak off into the bedroom to fall asleep without the snoring.

And each morning, I revel in my success as I drink a few less cups of coffee than I needed before I discovered this trick!

Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes: Black Thumb Turned Green!

This year is the second in a row I've attempted gardening. I'm not so sure I have a green thumb. Last year I managed to grow some summer squash, zucchini, sad-looking green beans and a few tomatoes. Unfortunately my soil was hard as rock and lacking all the good stuff that veggies need to grow. Also unfortunate is the fact my pockets were lacking the cash flow to put the good stuff in the soil that veggies need to grow.

This year, I made a bit more of a better attempt to turn my black thumb into a green one. I invested in a few packages of manure towards mid-spring and tilled this into my garden soil. I also remembered the water on a more frequent basis and despite the horrid heat waves in our area this summer, it seems to have helped.

Here's to my Saturday Success, my first zucchini bounty from my garden.

So I've already harvesteda few tomatoes, some green bell peppers and a couple of hot peppers. I did try to grow radishes and lettuce in containers, but my mom said I let the radishes grow too long and they were "woody" tasting. The lettuce was just gross - way too bitter - but it may have been the type of lettuce I planted. I bought the cheap seeds that just say "lettuce."

In fact, my cheapness is part of my problem. And my inexperience with gardening. My goal is to formally plan out on paper my garden for next year along with a timeline of things that need to be done and when.

But in the meantime, I'm going to bask in the glory of the veggies that are growing in my current garden.

I can't wait to make these yummy zucchini muffins!


Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts

Saturday Successes: Step in the Right Direction

I've battled my weight on and off for most of my life. I used to be one of the tallest girls in the class until about 5th grade and then I pretty much stopped growing. Literally. At only 4'11, its hard to hide any sort of weight gain because there isn't a heck of a lot of places for it to go. I'm the kinda girl whose got a lotta "junk in her trunk" and for the most part, I've been okay with my bodaciously curvy body.



Look at my tiny little waist!

But there have been times when I've stepped on the scale and looked in the mirror and realized I simply let myself go. I lost 10 lbs before my wedding in 2011 by dieting and doing Zumba 1 hour a day, 6 days a week... That's not an easy regimen to keep up long term!

But immediately after the wedding, in fact, I want to blame it on the honeymoon, I gained it all right back. In fact, as of last week, I had gained 13 lbs since my wedding only a year ago. That's simply frightening!

                                                         My not so tiny waist anymore!

So my success for now is that I finally took the plunge and ordered Herbalife. By no means am I endorsing Herbalife! It's simply a product I'd like to try to help me get back on the right track. I coughed up the cash, of course I found a promo code to discount it, along with free shipping and a nifty shake-cup that came as a freebie, to get in on Herbalife's weight-loss shakes.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my next success is that I can actually stick to the shakes....I suppose it'll make breakfasts and lunches a lot easier to "plan" for now!


Happy Couponing!
-Coupon Mama Massachusetts