A telling morning

Instead of preparing for our child by taking a five week childbirth class, covering all things baby, John and I opted for the Saturday morning "express" session. The word 'express' was much more enticing than five weeks long.

I feel like being mormon gives you a one up on everyone else preparing for a kid. Maybe that's the naive in me, but I've been around plenty of babies, and I feel like I have some sort of idea of what I'm getting myself into. Of course, when reality hits me and I have a child in my arms, I'm sure I'll realize I know next to nothing. But as for now, I like to pretend I have some sort of clue when it comes to taking care of a child.

And please, hold the, "just you wait" responses. I get it, I haven't a clue. But I like to defy the odds, that was made very apparent today...multiple times.

That's beside the point, and truthfully, I'm glad we went because I felt like I learned a thing or two. However, the highlight of the morning happened to occur while on the hospital tour. John was seemingly pretty optimistic about the whole labor thing, feeling pretty great about it all. That was, until we were on our way back to the classroom and suddenly John stopped, dead in his tracks, to what we thought was the sound of a child crying, until we suddenly realized, it was no baby, it was the sound of a woman in room 2204 screaming at the top of her lungs to "GET THIS THING OUT OF ME!" followed by loud moans and groans and gnashing of teeth. He was pretty quite about it all after that.

I on the other hand couldn't help but laugh as this all panned out. Not that she was in pain, because let me tell you, it sounded AWFUL, awful, awful, awful, but more so how real it all seemed after that. And I've since decided, when it comes to going into labor, I have a feeling I'll be the one calming John down, breathing in and out with him, while holding his hand as he sits in the passengers seat as I drive us to the hospital.

Won't that be a story to tell.

Glimpse

Over the weekend John said to me, "I can't wait until you're a mom and can stay home and do this all day..." 'Do this' referring to saving money, the extreme way. See, once upon a time, I used to be semi into couponing. I'd take my coupons to work, cut them out, plan my attack, and off to the store I'd go to try my darndest to score some mega deals...or just any deal in general. Not like the extreme couponing way, but extreme enough that I'd walk out of the store calling everyone else sucka's for paying full price for things. And well, then I got pregnant, and the mere thought of couponing, let alone grocery shopping, made me ill. Like sick to my stomach ill, and I never even wanted to look at coupons again. Period.

Somewhere in the week of 20's of pregnancy, I decided it was time to have at it again. Nothing extreme, just on simple things here and there to save a buck or two. Ok, more than that, but nothing too out of control. I wasn't ready for that just yet. Plus, I'm just not that good at couponing, plain and simple.

But then this weekend rolled around, and something in me snapped and I realize, dang, saving money feel's good. And I mean real good. Like so good that I woke up for three days straight, far earlier than I ever do for work, just so I could go stand in line at a grand opening of JoAnn's to get free money. Saving money doesn't stop at the grocery store, I save it anywhere and everywhere I can.
I walked out of there on Saturday morning with six yards of fabric in tow, only having spent $1.59!

And that's on top of leaving the grocery store this week with all of this, having only spent $2.90. It would sound even more impressive if I told you, minus the M&M's and Quaker Oats, I only spent $1.11! Yes, you read that correctly, all of that only cost me $1.11!

And really, just to see receipts like this, where it tells me I saved 100% or more on my groceries, feels kinda good. 

Not to mention, at one point the cash register was saying it owed me money. But, I assured them their store doesn't do that, gave them a few pennies, and walked out, head held high, thinking, it's good to be back in business.

McAlester

 Sometimes it's nice to get out of Oklahoma City, even if it's just for a night, and even if it means I have to put my high maintenance (only when it comes to hotels) on hold.

The images can speak for themselves, but I will say, I thought we stepped back in time when we arrived at the hotel. All I could do was laugh and be grateful I took a long sleeved t-shirt, pants, and socks to sleep in. Oh, and that we were staying here for free. I'm pretty sure if John told me we were going to have to fork over some mulah to stay here, I would have opted out and slept in the car instead. Oh, and did I mention I was sharing the room with not only my husband, but two other guys as well. 

My life is always an adventure. 

In case you're wondering, no, we didn't just drive two hours south to hang out in this "totally rad" hotel for the night, just for kicks. Believe you me, there was a purpose behind this excursion. 

A few of the larger dental organizations, here in Oklahoma, put on a free dental clinic once a year for people to come and get free dental work done. It's kind of awesome, and I'm all about helping out at events like this. So, I tagged along to shuffle patients from one station to the next to get their dental work on. 

Highlight this year: Hanging out with a bunch of inmates that the county was nice enough to shuffle in to get their teeth checked out. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of them in their bright orange get-up glory! How did I let such a photo op pass me up?!