A Moveable Feast SWAP... info!

Like to eat?

Want a fun new swap idea?

Head over to Connie's blog... CREATIVE BUBBLES to sign up for her "A Moveable Feast Swap"!

Here are some details...

Here are the Rules of the Swap:

Your package should contain food-themed items, meaning anything from recipe cards, candles that are food smells, homemade mixes, and small items for the kitchen to food themed craft supplies and felt foods. You can send an apron, tea towels with food on them, vintage recipe books, or even things to make eating food more fun like Bento supplies or chopsticks.

The contents should not exceed $25 before shipping and should be packaged as beautifully as the contents within. You should tailor the package to fit your partner's likes and will get the same in return. There is no limit to the number of items so be as creative as possible!!!

If you want to Join In:

1. Email the following information to me (mrs.conniekrebs@gmail.com):

    * Name

    * Mailing Address

    * Blog Address (if you have one)

    * Some information about yourself to make matching you with a partner easier

    * Food allergy info

    * Let me know if you are willing to ship internationally

2. I will send you an email back to confirm that you are in the Swap Pool. 

3. You have until August 7th to enter the Swap and will get your swap partner's information by August 10th. It is up to you to email your partner and find out more about them to create a package that will delight the senses! 

4. Packages MUST be postmarked by August 31st and it would be preferable to let your partner know when the package was mailed out. 

5. When you receive your package take some pics, post about the swap on your blog, and let me know how things turned out!!

*** PLEASE: If you sign up for the swap and find out that you can't commit please let me know asap. I would hate for someone to not get their package after putting lots of time and effort into their part. I would love to make this Swap a huge success so please spread the word, blog, Facebook about it and let's have some foodie fun!

Free 'N Frugal Fridays: Birthday FREEBIES!!

Welcome to my FIRST Official Free 'N Frugal Fridays post:)

 Who doesn't love to be spoiled on their Birthday!?

Check out these sites for free coupons and/or perks for your BIRTHDAY!!

RED ROBIN restaurant...

Join the Red Robin E-Club and receive a FREE burger on your birthday!

www.redrobin.com

MOE'S SOUTHWEST GRILL...

Score a birthday burrito on the house when you sign up at Moe's e-world

moes.fbmta.com

BASKIN ROBBINS...

Join the Birthday Club to receive a FREE scoop along with a discount on a birthday ice cream cake, as well as other dollar off offers throughout the year!

www.baskinrobbins.com 

COLD STONE CREAMERY...

Join their birthday club to endulge in a free sweet treat!

www.coldstonecreamery.com

SEPHORA (makeup)...

Sign up for the beauty insider at sephora.com and stop in on your birthday for a pampering present!

Another tip...

Many museums, zoos and amusement parks and cinemas offer birthday specials too!

Calling ahead can pay off with free admission of concession stand treats!

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I hope you enjoyed this FIRST installment of FREE 'N Frugal Fridays!

Come back again soon:)

Noelle ♥

I GOT IT!!!

I got it!! 

I got the J-O-B!!!

Whew, I waited since last Wednesday to hear back from my NOW Boss... I'm not very patient with these things but IT WAS WORTH IT!!

In a little under 2 weeks I will begin curriculum training for my new job as an Early Head Start teacher!!

I will be working with babies up to age 3 in a classroom setting and also with their teen moms; I am responsible for visits to their home to educate the parent/s as well!

I'm soooo excited!

The hours are 8-4 Mon-Fri; benefits too!!
 

My prayers have been answered!!!

Thanks for all your support:)

Noelle ♥

Crazy Boy!

Will this WILD Indian Boy of mine ever let me do a blog post again??

He crawls ALL over the computer chair pestering me!!

He's becoming quite the momma's boy, tells me "mommy I wuv you!" many times a day ♥

Love him to pieces though:)

This is all I managed to post today... LOL!!

Guess I have to go back to staying up SUPER late to blog?

Have a GREAT weekend!

Noelle ♥

Recent CUTE finds

Last week I had some time to myself and did a (little) bit of shopping:)

I had taken a bunch of stuff to the consignment shop and made $45!!

Woo hoo! 

So I allowed myself $20 in PLAY money!!

Here's what I found...

Pretty Paris picture frame at Michaels at 80% off!!

I got it for $1.99!!

I love it ♥

Gonna put a black and white wedding photo in it:)

Oops I take that back, it was $1.49- even better!!!!!

They also had a bunch of these foam paint brushes in a bundle for 7 cents each, it totaled $1!!

They had scrapbook paper 5 for $1.00 also- regular 59 cents per sheet, got a few pieces for the boys albums...

Love the monkeying around paper!!

Found these cute cardboard cutouts of ice cream YUMMYS!

They were $1 each, I wanted to make a banner out of them for my Dove Chocolates "Ice Cream Social" parties this month, need to get cracking on it!

Some more red white and blue goodness for 70% off!!

These are the cute ribbons I want to use for the banner, 49 cents each roll!!

I hit up at GW that day and found this cute glass jar for $1.50!

I'm gonna fill it with colorful candy for each holiday:)

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Have you found any great deals lately?

Noelle ♥

New Hair, New NEWS!!

Hey gals!

Man, I've been SO busy; just with little things and at the end of the day when I used to Blog, I just crash in bed now!

Who doesn't love a new hair do?

I got my hair cut the other day and colored!!

Here's my BEFORE above...

Here's my AFTER...

Pretty much the same style in the front, a little "choppier" but the back is SUPER short and kinda spikey, little freaked about it now- didn't really want it AS SHORT as it is, but it will grown out!

Loooove the color though!

Soooooo... COOL NEWS here!

Got  home yesterday and I had a PHONE CALL for a JOB INTERVIEW... woot woot!

Its not the one with the school I mentioned a week or so ago... its with HEAD START!

Omg, I've been applying and applying for a teaching job with Head Start for over a year now!

The interview was today, I felt it went really well!

If I'm hired I will be an Early Head Start Teacher, which means I get to work with babies up to age 3 and their moms who are teen moms in the high schools around us...

WHAT A COOL J-O-B!!

In the summer we will do Home Visits with the families as well, to show things to do with the children in their home environment.

Its pretty much a year round job, with a couple week break in the summer, but PAID TIME OFF during the year, health insurance and retirement plan!

Oh and the hours are 8am-4pm Monday-Friday- so not TOO crazy of a day.

I will know if I snagged this job no later than Friday!!

Oooooh I'm hoping for a call tomorrow!!!

Say a little pray for me :)

~Noelle ♥

Happy 9th Birthday to my Son ♥

Holy Moly, its been a BUSY week!

And HOLY MOLY my oldest baby turned 9 yesterday, sniff sniff!

Man, the time has FLOWN by since he was born:(

Here's my "through the years" birthday tribute post for him...

July 16, 2001 a beautiful baby boy was born... FINALLY!!

My original due was July 7th, then they changed it to the 14th...

it was in the 90's when I had Gavin and I was SO hot and miserable!

I gained almost 65lbs that pregnancy and whoa was that rough!

I "faked" major contractions on the phone to my midwife, in hopes that she's hear my pain, tell me to come to the hospital and then break my water! LOL

I got there at 2 am and the labor was SO SLOW!

Eventually in the afternoon, Gavin decided he "may" come out but wasn't turning- he was trying to enter the world shoulders straight across!!!

OUCHHHH!

I was 22 years old, nieve as hell and IN PAIN!

I OFFICIALLY lost all modesty that day in labor!

At 4:13 pm, my lil angel was born!!

Red as can be, dark dark hair... weighing 9 lbs 0 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long!

And btw, I did it ALL NATURAL... GO ME!!!

Proud Parents!!

Man, we looked SO YOUNG!!!!

My first couple months with my new baby boy were tough!

Daddy worked sometimes 12 hr. days, leaving me home with a colicky baby:(

Breastfeeding wasn't going so well, I felt SO fat and soon fell into some bad post-partum depression!

Thank goodness I got some help and things felt better. 

Gavin never slept through the night till he was 18 months old, yikes!!

Lots and lots of sleepless nights!

But he was a happy and fun little toddler, not much of the "terrible two's"

He even took two naps a day and still went to bed early at night.

I remember he seemed to be a late "talker", was almost 18 months before many many words came out!

Then it was NON STOP after that:)

He gets his chattyness from his mom, lol!!

He loved Blues Clues and the Wiggles; loved to dance and do crafts with mommy!

So silly! Loved to play dress up and be goofy!

You were SUCH a GOOD eater too!!

Unlike your brother now, ha!

You loved to be read to and snuggled!

At age 3 you started preschool and soon won the hearts of your teachers with your big brown eyes and love for learning!

In the summers you got SO tan and loved to be in the water!

At age 4, you got kinda sassy (late terrible 2's maybe?)

When you were 5, we finally were able to give you a baby brother, who you loved so much (at first!)

You guys had a blast together!

Once he turned two though, he got on your nerves, lol!

But after many many long talks about "he's your lil brother, he looks up to you...", you'd remember you HAD to be nice to him!

You went to Kindergarten at age 6 and loved school!

In fact, you were reading before kindergarten!!

The past couple years have been filled with so much PRIDE in what a wonderful young boy you are son...

You were the BEST Ring Bearer ever at our wedding, you even agreed to do a reading in 

church for mommy ♥

You looked SO handsome in your tux!

You love to be outside still, winter fun is your fave!

You continue to SHINE in school, making lots of friends and being so helpful to your teachers:)

You LOVE Bakugan with all your heart!

You enjoy reading and write wonderful stories!!

You made your First Holy Communion this year, you made me so proud!

Your innocence on that day was SO sweet ♥

Just always know son that I love you more than you can imagine!

I am so proud to call you my son ♥

You were my first born and it was just us for so many years, we had SO much fun together!

I know its harder now that we have 2 kids to give you one on one time like you want so much, and know that I am trying harder and harder each day to GIVE you that special time with me and with dad. Things have been tough lately, but your bright smile and big brown eyes  when you give me a lil wink, make my day all better ♥

Happy 9th Birthday my lil stud muffin!!

Love,

Mom ♥

Sunday Randoms...

Hope you are all having a GREAT weekend!?

Mine's been pretty good. 

My oldest son has been sick off and on since Wednesday with the flu, fever, chills, headaches and a rash that looks like hives. I'll be taking him to the dr. tomorrow, not sure what is going on:(

I waitressed last night for my hubby and made some good tips, yahoo!

Bummer its to pay bills, not really any play money there.

I'm working on getting a bunch of kids stuff together today to take to the consignment shop, that will be our play money:)

Possible exciting news...

A week ago I "ran" into the wife of the assistant principal at my son's school; she is a principal at another local Catholic school. We were kinda chatting and something kept telling me to ask her if she had any teachers aide positions open this year... well, she told me that she may have a part time aide open, and a teaching position with her preschool class... 4 years olds- one of my FAVE age groups!

So I proceeded to "sell" myself to her, lol!

I told  her about my Early Childhood degree, that I'm working on my BA in Elementary Education, how I've taught preschool and volunteered for a couple years at my son's school... she told me "Send me something"... I WAS ECSTATIC!

So I churned out my resume, a cover letter and had 2 FAB letters of recommendation and popped them in the mail last Friday, I AM PRAYING to hear from her!!

I've realized that in the past couple months that its time for me to GO BACK TO WORK. 

The small 8 hrs of week that I work in the home daycare isn't cutting it, I am actually done working there the end of this month, I'll have been there a year. It was pretty easy money but I don't feel that its what I'm "meant" to be doing at this time. I think the older I get, I work better with older kids- I've loved being with the school age kids at my son's school!! I did write in my cover letter that I am ready to commit to a school LONG term; if I started out part time while I finished my classes, that would be great. If I were able to stay there till I graduate and possibly land a full time teaching position that would ROCK!

I'd know the kids and parents, and already have relationships established with the teachers:)

Please please please pray for me girls ♥

So along with thinking of "Back to School" there comes thoughts of CUTE Fall decor!!

I did some "online window shopping" this morning and here's some cuties I found from THE LAKESIDE COLLECTION...

I love these chubby pumpkin stakes!!

LOOOVE this star!!!

Isn't this a cute bathroom?

I always thought it would be fun to have a spare bathroom to decorate for each season!

This six piece bath set is only $19.95!

I looove this book for kids, its SO cute!

Spookley the Square Pumpkin... makes me think of all the fun fall activities I could do with my own preschool class!

Cute towels and cookie cutters!

With going back to work...

to me there are a lot of perks!

A steady paycheck,

time away to miss my family some (sounds strange but when you are away a bit each day, it makes you long to be around your loved ones more, don't you agree?)

A chance to play fun trips with the family and a little weekend getaway with my hubs for our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary this November 14, 2010...

Awww, I miss this day SO much!!

It was such a perfect day ♥

I will be honest and say, our first year of marriage has been SO hard...

there have been many times I didn't think we'd "make it".

Financially things have been TOUGH, I've chosen to spend money to help me feel better instead of helping with bills at times, I've battled sadness and anxiety over losing my dad, I've not been the best wife or mom at times because I've let sadness overcome my priorities, its just been one HELL OF A YEAR!

I am glad to say that I'm taking a step in the right direction NOW, better late than never...

Tuesday I begin my first session of Grief Counseling; the therapist has been seeing my oldest son for a couple sessions now and I think its really starting to help him too. She is a wonderful woman; I spoke with her a few moments the other day and it already helped me feel better!

I've suppressed so many feelings regarding my dads death, and now I think its all surfacing and I can't handle all the emotions I'm feeling- sadness, anger, hurt, loss, loneliness, etc.

I feel bad for the whirlwind of emotions I've been putting my family through:(

Who wants to be miserable? No one...

I've tried to just keep a happy face on lately, to look for the things that make me happy.

Sometimes it just works better to "vent" and be true!

I love you all who talk to me on my blog posts, email and chat on facebook; you are such wonderful friends!

When I feel like I have no one right around me to turn to, I know I have some FAB bloggy friends to help me through ♥

Thanks for reading this looong post today...

Noelle ♥

Again...

Apologies...

Apparently I have "ADD of blog layouts" lately!

I just can't seem to find one I like, lol!!

Just know I love to re-decorate and re-arrange, so the same thing will happen on my blog:)

... Noelle...

Free, fruity and FRUGAL!

Hey gals...

I wanted to share some free, fruity and frugal finds of mine lately.

I've had to MAJORLY begin buckle down on spending...

its sucks cause I LOVE TO SHOP!

Hubby's business is WAY down at his job, so we are starting to cut corners.

I want us to cut out our cable and cell phones but hubby's NOT on board with that; the DUMB part of that is we'd save a couple hundred dollars a month!

WHY is it that WOMEN can give up things they LOVE for the sake of making it financially but MEN can NOT do that?

I don't get my hair done as often as I used to, don't really buy the clothes (or I buy only on sale).

I guess I was spoiled for a really long time and its hard to get out of that routine.

So in this wonderful world of blogland, I've come across some GREAT sites, blogs and TERRIFIC blog friends who have helped me to start to be more thrifty and FRUGAL.

Here's my Frugal, FREE and Fruity Finds this week...

I LOVE a good smelling shower gel/cream but can't afford the $9 a bottle shower gels from Bath and Body Works anymore:( So I've tried the Suave Body Washes and they are GREAT!

This week they are on sale at Target for $1.50!! WOO HOO

I LOOOOVE the Coconut one!

 And just got this one today...

Yummy and FRUITY!

..................................

I got a coupon for a FREE one of these...

A Wild Berry fruit Smoothie from McDonalds- super fresh, fruity and only 180 calories- not too bad.

The small is $2.39 I believe...?

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As I mentioned before I ♥ MAGAZINES but those can get pricey too!

My #1 fave is .... ALL YOU!

You can buy this one at Walmart for under $2.75!
Its full of craft and decor ideas, recipes, fashion tips, at least $70 worth of COUPONS in each magazine!
It literally PAYS for ITSELF!

Here's a LINK to get 2 FREE TRIAL magazines... click HERE.

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Do you have any free or frugal finds this week to share?

Would you like me to do a post each week, say "FREE & FRUGAL Fridays", where I share great finds that week? I think it would be FUN!!!!

Hugs,
Noelle ♥

ROCKIN' Red White and Blue GOODIES!

Mamarazzi's is one of my FAVE swap hostesses!

She really takes the time to pair you up with a Fan-FREAKIN-ta-bulous partner!

This year for the Red White and Blue swap I was paired with Shawnee, a sweetie from Utah!

Bless her heart, she intended for my goods to get here by the 4th but the DARN Usps had other plans for me:(

But, its all good and REALLY it IS cause my FABULOUS box arrived today and I still can barely contain the EXCITEMENT I had when I opened it...

A fun looking box so far!!

Such a friggin' cute polka dot plate... eeeeek!

Love red for the kitchen too ♥

OMGoodness... a BUNTING!!!!

Shawnee you read my mind!

I've always dreamed of having a CUTE bunting under my picture window!

Ahhhhh, a super cute star table runner!!

Can you see how THRILLED I am?!

Shut-Up!!!

How fun is this?
A Blind WINE tasting kit!

I've never seen one of these!!

Sounds like a FUN Girls Nite In :)

Cool... never seen one of these!

Always wonder if my eggs are really done? Haha!

A quick fix sewing kit!

Handy to have!!

2 cute kitchen towels:)

I love wooden wreaths and signs!

The surfboard one will go great in my bathroom; its beach and nautical themed:)

Red battery powered lanterns; fun for outside!

Some rockin' country tunes!

Here's the wreath on the door, cute!!!

All my swappy goodnes!!! ♥

She also sent me some scrapbook papers;

I mentioned I'd LOVE some red white blue scrappy supplies too!

Shawnee cracks me up, she forgot to put them in the box so these came in a big ol' envelope a few days BEFORE my box arrived but it got me SUPER excited about what what yet to come!

The fireworks paper on the left is so glittery and AWESOME!!

Love these too!

Here's the letter that she put in for me to read last...

What a doll!!

I love  how she themed it for a party night!!

Thumbs up Shawnee on a freakin' awesome swap package :)

........................................

Here's what I sent her...

oodles and oodles of RED WHITE and some BLUE goodness!!!

Thanks for visiting me today!

Check out Mamarazzi's site for more RWB stuff!