Giving Challenge: January's Final Round-Up

Here is the final picture of the stuff that will be going to the Ronald McDonald House next week.  Just to recap, I am budgeting $25 a month and buying as much as I can with that money by using sales and coupons.  Each month I will donate to a different charity/cause.  This months haul:

-14 boxes of cereal =$1 a box or less (I don't normally pay over $1 for cereal)
-4 cans of soup=$0.50 each
-3 boxes of pop-tarts=$1.16 each
-2 boxes of cereal bars=$0.50 each
-2 bottles of detergent=$1.99 each
-box of microwavable noodles=FREE
-3 packs of popcorn=$0.21 each

I used the packs of popcorn to fill the gap to the $25.  This actually goes a few cents over $25, but I got a few cents overage on some of the other items so it all equals out.  I'm not counting tax cause, well, I'm just not=)

With this donation I will be taking in a coffee can full of pop-tops.  We don't always drink pop, unless it's on sale.  When we do, I save the cans for our neighbor (minus the pop-tops) and he takes off all the tops of his cans and gives them to us.  It's a pretty good trade. 

I'm not sure what who will be the recipient of February's donation.  I have several places on my list.  We shall see what sales we have, what coupons we have, and that will make determine who's next. 

Remember to leave me feedback if you are participating!  Y'all have a good night!

I have an idea....

I decided at the end of 2012 that I was going to get back into my money saving and deal finding ways.  2012 was a busy year, especially the second half when M was hospitalized for 6 weeks and had spinal fusion.  I decided to make a fun charity goal and it goes a little something like this...

I have made a list of organizations and places I want to donate to.  First up on my list is the Ronald McDonald House.  I am designating $25 per organization.  I take a look at the their wish list, and use coupons, sales, and my deal finding-hound dog-spidey sense to get those items.  So I buy as much as I can for the $25 I've designated. 

I'd love to encourage anyone who wants to take this challenge with me to join in!  I've had about 2 weeks of deal finding so far and I do have some items that I won't specify in this post but I will share today's finds. 

I spent $31.50 on 17 toys that the original price was $98.  My favorite buy was the Xia-Xia village and pets.  The pets retail normally for $10.98 each, but were marked down to $3 each and the village was regularly $19.98 and it was marked down to less then $4. There's a child that will love that this Christmas! 





So although my goal is $25 per organization, that is hard to stick to every month, especially when you come across some great deals and know that they are not on this months charity choice.  Just participate at your comfort level.  If $25 is not in your budget, try $20, $15, or $10.  If you think you can go higher, by all means GO FOR IT!  You might also find that you need to switch the charity you choice for this month for a different one on your list, depending on the types of items you are able to get a good deal on.  Here is a list of my picks:

• The Ronald McDonald House
• Animal Shelter
• Crisis Pregnancy Center
• Food Bank
• Children's Hospital
• Local ministry that helps the homeless
• School supplies for Back to School time
• Shoe Boxes for Operation Christmas Child
• Angel Tree at Christmas

I am leaving some room on my list for if I come across a person that has fallen on hard times or if there is a natural disaster, I am prepared to donate supplies.  I am waiting for God to lead me to the needs of other organizations so I can help.   

Another great deal I happened upon was at Best Buy after Christmas.  They had a $20 coffee pot on sale for $4.99 and a $20 blender on sale for $7.99.  I had a $10 rewards certificate so I was able to purchase both for $2.99.  If I don't know of anyone getting married in the near future, this will make a great donation to a ministry that helps people recover from house fires.

Along with my list, I plan on making 4 Blessing Bags for the homeless, two to keep in my car and two to keep in my husband's car. 

So who is with me?  I'm not all high tech-fancy with my blog yet, so I don't have a linky thing, but will work on getting one.  In the mean time, leave your comments and link to your site if you want to participate.  If you don't have a site, no problem!  But I'd still love to hear from YOU!  What organization did you help for the month, what was your budget, and what were you able to purchase with that amount? 

So have fun and give cheerfully!  "Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver." - 2 Corinthians 9:7

Our Crazy Life

Life has been quite interesting lately.  On Oct. 8, Makayla was admitted at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for halo traction.  She is currently up to 13 lbs and the goal is 15 lbs.  She is scheduled for spinal fusion on Nov. 12.  I hope to document this excursion a bit more extensively over the next few weeks.  Please bare with me. 

When antibiotics fail...

Photo Credit

Makayla started showing symptoms of illness on Sunday.  On Monday she got worse.  We visited the ER three times in four days.  Today she went back to the doctor to have her ears checked.  Four days of oral antibiotics and one day of an antibiotic injection didn't phase her infected ear.  She has apparently grown a resistence to these meds.  So therefore she has been admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics.  Will this happen again when she gets her next ear infection?  Shew...I hope not.  But we definatly need to consult with the ENT to discuss the next steps.

A new opportunit​y, with some much needed accountabi​lity

I'm excited about a new opportunity. For a year or two I've been following Lisa's blog over at Warrior MAMA. Lisa has since taken on another blog Organize 365. Lisa is the mother of two children with special needs, runs a home based business, is a professional organizer, and writes these two blogs. Obviously, she has her plate full...so she has offered me the wonderful opportunity to work with her on Warrior MAMA.

All posts will be her original work.  I will be helping her sort through all the technical stuff, make it look all pretty, and schedule the post. I'm hoping this will help me to post more here.

I still want to keep this blog about motherhood, special needs, life, and faith, but I would also like to throw in a mix of home management ideas to help make life run smoothly.

-Felicia

Visit to Shriner's

We've known for quite a while that Makayla has scoliosis. After regularly visiting one orthopedist who just kept telling us we would follow it and monitor it, we had to go to another doctor. He was local, but not a peds specialist. He scared me to death. He referred us to Shriner's and we went last week.

We found out Makayla's back has gone from 80 degrees in August to 105 now.  It began to drastically increase after open heart surgery in August 2010.

The option is to put an extension rod in her back. She will have to have outpatient surgery every 6 months to extend it for the next 10 years or so, until she stops growing. The doctor also wants her to wear a halo for a month or two prior to the surgery. He would like her to be hospitalized the entire time:/

It can't be done at that Shriner's because she needs a Cardiologist and Pulminologist available, which they do not have at that facility. We would have to go to Shriner's in St. Louis or we can go to Vanderbilt since it is in our state. Still yet, that is 4 hours away. We are hoping the doctor will approve Home Health to monitor her at home instead. If not, we hope she can be transferred to the local Children's hospital until time for the procedure. Our last option, but not last resort is to move to the Nashville area (something we had already been considering before learning all of this information).

For now, we will wait to return to Shriner's next month. I will be working on getting the house market ready, "just in case." Some things on my to do list is:

•  Repaint every room except the girls room and the laundry room.
• Back splash in kitchen
• Handles on cabinets
• Finish roof (not me of course;)
• Clear out large lot behind the house (currently in progress by someone we hired)
• Paint the deck
• Paint iron screen doors
• Putting cabinets up in laundry room
• Put up door up in laundry room

I'm hoping these changes will help sell the house quickly and for a great price if we put it on the market. 

**Update-I might have the hubs convinced to stay, but we will still prepare just in case. 

Frugal Fall Decoration

I tried to post this a couple weeks ago, but my computer just was not cooperating...

Confession time here...

I have no fall decorations in the house.  None.  So I wanted something festive.  JD has been outside hoarding, stealing, borrowing acorns form the squirrels.  So the light bulb went off.  Here's what I did...

I made a trip to the dollar tree looking for a long oval or rectangular dish but found this instead...

Even better, and it was $1!

Then I went to the kitchen drawer and found this box of candles that were a gift...

Here's an up close look at the "leafy" detail...

So then I added the candles to the dish, filled it with acorns and here is the finished product...

Total Cost: $1 for the dish.