6 is a number that makes mom cry!

6. That is how old my "baby" turned this week.

6 YEARS OLD.

You see this baby with the cake all over his itty bitty wittle face? That was yesterday in my mind and then I just had to blink and now he is the big below with the mario cake. sigh.

See... I thought 5 was hard. Starting kindergarten and no longer being a toodler and all.

NOPE... That was a mean mama mind game. 6 is MUCH harder.

He is going to first grade. He informed me today that he did not need me to tuck him in.... or wash his hair. He got a big boy bike for his birthday with NO training wheels. He told me Happy Easter today (Oh crap! That is another blog post.)

He is getting bigger and this mama does not like it! I don't like it at all.

BUT... I am sooo proud of the little man he is becoming. I am proud that he is learning right from wrong. I am proud he already embodies humility, kindness and love. I am proud that he is MY 6 year old.

Now I am going to go in there and "tuck him in", I can care less if he is already asleep!

*~* Sad Mama Pearl *~*

On My Mind.

You know something that really chaps my ass?

When people who have NO right put their two cents in on someone's happiness.

A friend of mine told me something personal the other day (no, I am not going into details so don't ask) that something was going on with her and that is why she is not blogging. I was completely understanding, as I had been in the same position in life before, but then she told me that her parents are making her feel bad because of the decision she is making.

So I have something to say.

I have not been on my blogger lately, well because I have a life and life has been hella busy and blogging (unfortunately) has not been a priority but I got on tonight because the above information CHAPS MY ASS, in case you are not in the know, that means it makes me VERY VERY angry. Maybe chaps my ass is more a southern thang... who know. Not the point.

It bothers me that this person is an AMAZING mom, she cares for 3 kids and makes it look simple. She has been through SOOOOOO EFFIN much this year and who the HELL do her parent think they are to tell her she should put her happiness second to anyone. She will do what is best for her and her children, her parents should know that. GRRR...

I am here to tell you blog bff that YOU DESERVE TO BE HAPPY. Your parent CAN NOT run your life, only you can do that and you know what is best for you.

You have been on my mind and I am here anytime, any day.

Tell you parents to shove it and live your life... period.

PS. I had planned to start blogging again this week but guess what. I have kidney stones and currently feel like my kidney is ripping through my back.

So until I feel better or I run out of Percocet!

*~* Chapped Pearl ~*~

That's just the way it is....

People neva stay the saaaammmmeee.

Yes, I just went old school TuPac on ya... on a Monday, from a white girl, wearing polo.

I keep it gangsta like that.

ANYWHO... I quoted my dawg TuPac bc the name of that song is changes, which pretty much classifies the Pearl household.

I know that I mentioned that I have a new job... a new job that I LOVE.
I get to get up every morning and go to work with my best friends!
Who could ask for more than that??

I actually look forward to going to work... I know, you can be jealous.
I actually want you to :)

I also just returned from a cruise... you may also be jealous of that :)

We cruised to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. It was a flippin' blast.
There will be several post this week recapping that.
It has a lot to do with a boat, sun, dirty mexicans, and gazelles.

Yes, I said Gazelles.
Wait for it.
I swear you will laugh, and if you don't you are probably raciest toward Gazelles which is just wrong and my friend H Soj is surely going to have a problem with it.

ANYWHO

Dood has 3 more days of kindergarten left.
THREE...
If someone sees my baby please bring him back, I will trade you this almost first grader that talks back and talks too much.
K Thanks Bye.
I will post more about that this week too.

SO basically I just posted this totally random blog to tell you that I will be blogging more now that life is down a bit...

... and I wanted to quote TuPac.

*Gangsta Pearl*

Field Day- Southern Style

What theme do you choose for field day in the south when it is March and already 80 degrees?
Frozen tundra snow day theme, of course!
What do you do in the south when field day is rained out???
Do it indoors.

Best Friends ready for field day!

You have a snow ball fight where snowballs = rolls of toilet paper...
No joke...

Look at the intensity of dood's face.
Hard Core.

You imitate pushing each other on a sled by pushing each other in a P.E. equipment bin...

You pass dog (sled) bones in a line and try to fill up the dog bowl first...

Love that smile!!

You try to race with an ice cream cone and not drop the ice cream...
(bc I sure that what people in a frozen tundra want most is ice cream.)

You search for marbles in a cooler full of ice...
(Still trying to wrap my head around this one.)

You race to see how fast you can put on winter clothes...
(Which consist of gloves, scarf and hat...
bc that is all a person in the frozen tundra need to stay warm)

You pull each other around like a dog sled team on one of those
things men use to roll under their cars with...

Is it just me or was this field day bunked up??
What happened to tug of war? What happened to 3 legged races?
What happen to the athleticism of field day?
I mean I know it was raining by for real???

At least the kids (and teachers) had fun.

*Frozenly confused Pearl*

MMMM.... Meaty (TWSS)

DISCLAIMER: If you are a vegetarian or do not like the sight of raw meat...

leave now.

So I love meat.... twss. Sorry I am a 14 yr old.

I also love to save mullah! I found a link online for Food Lion $3 off $8 meat department purchase.

See, I usually only go to Food Lion for meat. If you go last in the evening they mark everything with the next days sell by date WAY down, so I go and stock up, go home and freeze it and essentially save lots of mullah doing so.

See that little orange tag, kind of because my picture taking skills suck... well that is what to look for. That little orange tag means the meat has been marked down.

That little orange tag says take me home, freeze me, and save some money.

SOOOOO I received this coupon and jumped for joy... well not really but I was excited UNTIL I saw the coupon instructions. ONE coupon per customer PER day.

I had to work around this but lucky for me, I have 3 Food Lions within 7 miles of me so that made for easy savings. So on Saturday I drug (dragged?) the Dad with me and we hit 4 Food Lions with 1 coupon each and got lots o' meat!

On Sunday, I went by myself to 2 Food Lions and last night we hit up two more.

We were meat buying fools!!

So here is how it breaks down...

Also, please remember I am not a flipping mathematician so my numbers are off a tad.

Saturday and Sundays Meat

Ground Chuck- I separated this into 2 portions.

2.46 lbs for $8.01 (3.26lb)/ After coupon= $5.01 ($2.04 lb)

Boneless Pork Chops- There was enough in this package for 2 meals for my small family.

$5.43 for 8 pork chops (.69 cents per chop)/ After Coupon= $3.83 (.48 cents per chop)

Cube Steak- This was enough for 2 meals, too.

I found this recipe on thepioneerwoman.com that I want to try with one portion.

Here is the link if you are interested.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/the-mm-sandwich-pw-style/

$5.46 package 1 for 4 Steaks ($1.37 per Steak) and $3.13 package 2 for 3 steaks ($1.04 per steak)/

After Coupon= $5.59 for 7 steaks (.80 cents per steak)

Steaks for Stir-Frying- That's what it says on the label but I use them for Stir-fry, Steak Tacos or Quesadillas, Sandwiches, all sorts of things. They are great!

Again I separated them into enough for 2 meals.

(Note: I did not buy these together, as they do not equal $8 so my math may be a little off)

Package 1- $2.29 for 3 Steaks (.76 cents per steak) and

package 2- $5.42 for 4 steaks ($1.36 per steak)/

After Coupon= $5.02 for 7 steaks (.71 cents per steak or something close)

Roast- Ok so I have to admit. I have never made a roast from scratch, I generally buy this easy cheesy lemon squeezy roast kit made by Tyson. It is $10.00 bucks, comes with the meat, vegetables, and seasoning. All you need is the crock pot.

BUT I want to try this recipe from thepioneerwoman.com http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/beef-stew-with-beer-and-paprika/

so I bought this roast.

$4.12 for 3lb roughly roast (1.37lb)/ After coupon= $2.86 for 3 lb roughly roast (.95lb)

Ok... Confession time. Being the broke wife of a firefighter, I have often bought and used the big bags of frozen chicken breast. I recently have read a lot about fresh vs. frozen and decided to try fresh since I had this coupon. PLEASE do not get me wrong, if I am in a crunch financially I will more than willingly pick up the frozen bag. I am far from a food snob.

ANYWHO

Chicken- 2 Packages of Boneless Breast and One Package of Tenderloins-

All the chicken equaled approx $10.00/ After Coupon $6.26 for all the Chicken

Yesterday's Meat Purchases

More Ground Chuck- This 3 lbs so I separated it into 3-1lb sections.

$8.64 for 3 lbs (2.88lb)/ After Coupon- $5.64 (1.88 lb)

Turkey Lemon Pepper Roast- I have never tried this, we shall see how it goes.

$5.59 for 2.5 lbs (2.24lb)/ After Coupon- $3.99 (1.60lb)

Bone in Pork Chops- I separated these into 4 and 3.

I froze the 4 and I am going to use the 3 tonight for dinner bc it is just me and The Dad.

Dood is at his Gi Gi's for spring break which is another blog all together. I missssssssss him.

$4.93 for 7 chops (.70 per chop)/ After Coupon= $3.81 (.54 per chop)

This is a whole dang chicken.

I have NEVER EVER bought a whole dang chicken before but this bad boy was only $3.43 so after the coupon he was only a little over $2.00.

I plan on making this meal, another from thepioneerwoman.com

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/02/creamy-chicken-spaghetti-casserole/

for Grits and Southern Fried soon for girls night. See Grits hubby wubby hates mushrooms , so the poor gal doesn't get mushrooms often.

If you can not tell I have been on a thepioneerwoman.com recipe kick.

I love them and I love how she shows you step by step so you know you are doing it right.

ANYWHO... Did you see the part where I got a whole dang chicken for approx. $2.50??

Lastely, MORE STEAK. The Dad really really loves my Steak stir fry (which I am putting the recipe up on here later this week) so I made sure I had A LOT more.

Can you see that tag on the bottom?? That is two steaks for $1.94, which I got for cheaper with the coupon, but I am tired of doing math.

So here are the total calculations.

(Approximately... my brain just started smoking)

11 Transactions= Totaling approx $88.00 dollars (Had to be $8 meat department purchases)

11 Coupons= $33.00 dollars off

11 Debit Card Swipes= $55.00 for a hella lot o' meat (TWSS)

Well fried pork chops, rice, gravy and green beans WERE on the menu for tonight but The Dad just called, while I was writing this here blog and said he has training for the FD tonight soooo I am thinking I will just make some soup out of the can and catch up on Secret Life of the American Teenager, Make It or Break It, and Dancing with the Stars from last night.

(Again, I am 14 years old)

*Meat Eater Pearl*

Secret

I love teenage dramas....

ie.

Secret Life of the American Teenager

Make it or Break it

Greek

Pretty Little Liars

I also love horrible realty tv

ie.

Toddlers in Tiaras

My Strange Addiction

AND Don't laugh...

I SUPER DUPER DUPER LOVE ANTIQUE ROADSHOW.

There those are my secrets for the day.

*Wierdo TV Watcher Pearl*

Weekend Wrap Up

First of all I have to announce that I HAVE A NEW JOB!!!!
I found out Friday afternoon, that I was being offered the Marketing Assistance position at a local realty group. I am so stinkin' excited. Not only will I get to do more graphic design but I will also get to work with some really great people.
It is a big company, so the chance for grown is much higher.

Big THANK YOU to that person, you know who you are. You are pretty awesome.

So ANYWHO.

Friday night we went over to Grits house to let Doodle and EJ ride 4 wheelers and play.
There may or may not have been a couple glasses of wine for their Mamas.

This was Dood's first time on a 4 wheeler and HE LOVED IT!
He had so much fun. He wants one now. This is one of the problems living down south. Your children want 4 wheelers at 5 years old... scratch that.
It is not a problem, I love that he wants a 4 wheeler at 5 years old!

EJ Showing off her 4 wheeler riding skills!

Playing Chicken.

Saturday was planned to be jam packed with Dood's school carnival, t ball practice and a birthday party. We made it to the carnival but that was it. It started storming pretty bad so t
ball practice was canceled and we did not make it to the birthday party.

Dood, loving the slide.

He was ridiculous.
He would jump and twist coming down the slide. He gave me several minor heart attacks.
I am still recovering.

He smoked the "big kid" he was going against! GO DOOD!

Another slide. Another heart attack.

He loves some Chik-fil-A

Ok, you see the girl in the above picture??? That is Dood's "girlfriend". She is in 4th grade. He got her a valentines gift. He is in love. She helps him cross the street when I pick him up from school. My son likes older women.
I am not sure how I feel about this.

Bahahahahaha.
I can not look at the photo without cracking up. He asked for Spiderman.
I did not have the heart to tell him he looked like a sad clown.
I think he knew :)

I said Cotton candy and he perked right up!

This is Dood with red hair. He looks even more like a clown but he thought he looked just like Spiderman. I let him believe it. He is only small once.

He played a lot of games! It was so much fun. My baby's first school carnival.
SO this had my motherly menstruating hormones already out of whack... just wait til you see what my husband did to me today...

BUT before that I have to tell you about heart attack #423 for the weekend. See that red hair spray???? BRIGHT FRIKIN' RED hair spray??? Yep, about 2.8 seconds after he took that chunk out of the cotton candy, he laid down.... on my cream carpet.

I scrubbed it 6 times and it was still red. BUT I have to tell you guys. Grits told me to try scrubbing bubbles (I know it sounds crazy) but it worked.
Got all the red out of the carpet in 1 try.

We are never getting our hair sprayed again.... pssshhhh who am I kidding. If the boy wants to spray his hair for 2 tickets, he will get to, and I will scrub the floor....
Speaking of hair... wait til you hear what The Dad did to me today.

So this is pretty much how the boys were all day today.
It was rainy and cold and Mom was busting her butt to clean the house and this is what the boys did. Video Games.... all day. Ugh.

Like Father....
Hello??? Anyone home???? Mom, here. I made lunch!!!

Like Son..
Hello???? Mom talking!! I carried you for 9 months. Do you know I exist right now??


Give it up lady.

So now onto what The Dad did to me today. See him and Dood have been campaigning for me to let them buzz Doods hair. With t ball and summer coming, The Dad said it would be much cooler.

I said over my dead body.
No one is going to touch my sweet, precious, innocent baby's golden locks.
The same locks that make my baby still look like baby.
NO FRIKIN' WAY. OVER MY DEAD BODY.

Well, I am here to inform you that my dead body is typing this. They won.
My heart is broken and Mom is in the corner crying and looking at baby pictures and rocking back and forth, repeating... he is never growing up, he is never growing up,
he is NEVER growing up.

The Dad then told me to get a grip and proclaimed them twins and kings of the household.

I am still holding his baby blanket crying.

*Sobbing Hormonal Mess Pearl*