Budgets and coupons and savings, oh my!

So, hubby and I have decided to get serious about saving money. He's making much better money at his new job than he was at his last, but that doesn't mean that we can't try and be frugal. Right now my frugal habits are just to quickly browse the grocery store flyers that we get in the mail, sometimes remember to bring it with me when we go to Walmart, and price match one or two items. Yeah, I'll save a quarter here and there, but I know I could be doing more. 


I've been reading through different blogs and forums about the best ways to save money. Some suggestions are great, some not so much (for our family anyway). Some of the tips we already do, like cut the kid's sugary juice with water. Other tips, like cut milk in half with water (??) I don't see working for our family. But to each their own. 


My girlfriend Angie is one of those people who has a billion things in her basement stockpile. Things like shampoo, soap, razors, toilet paper, etc, all bought for pennies on the dollar and most of the stuff she got for free after coupons, register rewards, gift cards, etc. She's talked to me before how to do this, but I've never really given it much thought. I figured I didn't have time for it, it would take forever to figure out, etc. But I found a few cool forums, and they make it sound so simple. Plus, they give you the prices, links to the coupons (or tell you where to find them in the Sunday paper and what date), what rewards you'll be getting back, etc.


Another tip I read was to buy bulk shredded cheese at Costco, divide it out and freeze it. I never knew that they sold shredded cheese at Costco, we always get the huge bags at Walmart for $9. We go through to much cheese in a week, and one of those big Walmart bags lasts us about a week and a half. So I bought it at Costco (so much cheaper) and splurged on name brand freezer bags (purchased with coupon!) and froze it in bags. We've also been making our own laundry detergent for a while, which has lasted us FOREVER. 


I also bought a Sunday paper this past week. And holy crap, it takes forever to cut out all the coupons! I only got through one insert before I stopped. But I don't think I'm going to cut them out in the future. On the different blogs/forums, it'll tell you what insert/date the coupon you need is, and I figure it'll be easier for me to have the inserts whole, instead of digging through hundreds of coupons in a box. 


I'm going to be starting with CVS. Looks like a lot of people either start with CVS or Walgreens. I've made my shopping list, collected my coupons, and I'll be headed over there tomorrow. I don't see the point of buying a hundred jars of mustard or anything that I'll never use, just the stuff I'd be buying anyway, like make up, body wash, dish soap, etc. Is it weird that I'm excited? 


I did have my first official "savings" trip yesterday. Well, hubby did anyway, since he had the car, but I still consider it my success. I gave him a list of what to get (and even took a pic on his cell phone of what to look for), and got all the coupons together. And my score?

I know, I know, not as impressive as the people who get a billion bottles of shampoo for 61 cents, but I was still pretty happy. Especially since it's stuff that we'd buy anyway. Total spent? $1.32. 


The body was was originally $1.97 at Target, on sale for $1.79. I used a $1/2 Target coupon, and two $0.75/1 manufacturers coupons. So those were $0.54 a piece. 


The toothbrush was originally $2.39, but rang up $1.39. I used a $0.75 off Target coupon, and a $0.50 off manufacturer's coupon. Total cost? $0.14. I thought it was going to be more, but I guess hubby found one on sale that I didn't know about? Or the lady didn't know how to ring up coupons, I dunno. At first, she refused one of the coupons since it didn't specifically say "Suave Kids" but hubby pointed out that the coupon did say that all Suave products were included. Good job, baby. 


Are there any tips that you can give? Is couponing something you already do, want to do, or have no interest in? 

So, I'm pretty sure that makes me a "real" blogger now

So, I've been blogging for a year and a half now. And I'm always looking for ways to improve. But when you read through different blog posts about how to make your blog posts better, the main thing you see over and over and over is that you need "great pictures". 

Well, my iPhone 4 and my little point and shoot just weren't cutting it. I haven't used my point and shoot in auto mode in forever, but even so, the pics weren't bright and crisp. And no amount of photoshop was going to make them much better. 

I've been talking to hubby for a long time about wanting a new camera. In the past couple of weeks though, we've really been discussing it. Not only the price, but what I want. I put a post on FB (I have a lot of photographer friends), asking their opinion on Canon vs Nikon, what to look for, etc. The general consensus was to just head up to Best Buy and hold a few of them, see what felt "right". 

I ended up liking the Nikons better than the Canons, and narrowed it down between two that I wanted, the D3200 or the D5100. After doing a lot of research, I decided on the D5100. 

The prices online were better than in the store which they price matched (gotta love the 18 months no interest financing), and we went with the bundle package. The camera body with the 18-55mm lens, a 55-300mm lens, a memory card and a bag.

Holy crap, I love it, although it is totally making me feel STOOPID. I don't want to just use it in auto mode, so I've been trying to learn the manual modes, but hot dang. Fancy = complicated. 

So I'm hoping to start having some better pics for ya on this blog. If I can ever figure it out and the "hey dummy" question mark stops flashing at me on the screen. :) 

Not a baby shower, but a baby sprinkle!

I had the privilege of being the guest of honor at a Baby Sprinkle yesterday. 

Oh, you haven't heard of a Baby Sprinkle before? It's basically a baby shower for a mom who has had a kid before. Ya know, where you already have all the big stuff like the stroller, the crib, etc. It's usually smaller and more intimate, just close friends and family. Cause every baby deserves to be celebrated, not just the first one. :)

One of my very best friends, Candace, offered to throw it for me. She kept it simple. Carnations in milk glass vases, strawberry lemonade in mason jars, doilies as clouds with paint chip sprinkles coming down. It was so simple, but pretty. 

 A few friends showed up (my mom was sick and had to miss it, which was a bummer), and every one brought something to eat. Sandwiches, pasta salad, cup cakes, chips and dip. It was really nice to have everyone over and just have some girl time. 

After eating, we did presents. Remember the wood cut out alphabet wall I showed you in my birthday wish list? A few of the ladies chipped in and bought it for me. 

You can't fake this excitement :) I was freaking THRILLED when I opened the box. How awesome was it of Candace to remember a post that I made forever ago about some letters that I'd like, and then make it happen? Love her!

Besides much needed diapers, some soft toys and a Target gift card, bloggy buddy Julie personalized some stuff for Alli with her heat press. Love the numbered monthly onesies! But now I'm whining to hubby that I need a better camera to be able to do the onesies on Alli justice. Hubby says I'm not allowed to be friends with Julie anymore if it's going to cost him hundreds of dollars in new toys that I now "need". :)

Another part of the main gift? Decorating supplies! Stickers, buttons, scrapbook paper, paint, and ribbon. And a couple of other ladies brought their art supplies too. Each guest painted a letter for Alli. It was so funny, fielding all of the questions from my non-crafty friends. "Do you prefer this blue or this green? Which buttons do you like better?" I just answered "yes" to all questions so they'd have to make all of the crafting decisions on their own. I'm mean like that. :) 

And I'm pretty sure that Alli knew that the party was for her. She spent the whole time doing barrel rolls and back flips in my tummy.

And yes, even my beautiful friend Candace was able to feel Alli rolling around and practicing her kung-fu in my belly.














And the letters my amazing friends made? I love them! I just have 21 more to go (yes, I know the alphabet is 26 letters, but there is also an ampersand to paint)

Thank you to my amazing friend Candace for throwing me a sprinkle, and to my sweet friends who were able to make it. Love you all!

Before and After projects

So, my oldest two girls have been at their dad's for the past two weeks, which means I have been busting my butt to get stuff done before they get back on Saturday night. None of these projects really needed a whole blog post to themselves. I mean, you know how I feel about bloggers who post "Look! I changed my mantle candles from white ones to red ones! Here are 47 bazillion pics to show you what it now looks like, and a tutorial to show you how I lifted out the white one from the candle holder and placed in the red one!". Not my style. But here's a brief run through. 

I made some shelves loosely based on some that I saw on Just A Girl.  Mine are slightly different though. She used 1x6, 1x4 and 1x2 wood. I hit up my cull bin at Home Depot and found a bunch of nice 1x4 pieces of wood for 51 cents a piece. So mine are 1x4 wood (cut into 2 foot lengths) on the bottom and back, and a piece of wood trim I found for $3.88. Total spent on this project (considering I already had paint, glue, caulk, screws and nails)? Under $6. Woot. 


So here is Ava's book storage before and after. She was so excited to see her books, I think she had forgotten about most of them with them being stuck in a basket.

Another project? I hit up Ikea and bought the Expedit shelf for $60, and 5 baskets for $13 a piece. Turned it on it's side, shoved all of her toys in there and voila! So much nicer. I'm ordering some yellow and white chevron fabric to make a seat out of the top. I'm just being lazy and haven't ordered it yet. The baskets are 13x13, which surprisingly hold quite a bit. It was pretty for about 14 seconds before Ava pulled everything out, but what can you do.

I bought these tables off of Craigslist for $60. It came with one coffee table and two end tables. Before these, we had some slate and metal ones that I was so over. Hubby despised these ones, and kept saying I was bringing trash into his house, but finally relented and we went and picked them up. Originally, my plan was to stain the top a dark walnut and paint/distress the legs white. But even after stripping/sanding/conditioning/staining the wood, it would never get much darker than it was originally. So I painted the top white too. I have more plans for it, I just need to stuff I ordered to get here. And yes, hubby likes them now.

I got this ottoman off of Craigslist a billion years ago for $10. Completely hideous, but just the right size and price. It sat uncovered for over a year. I don't have a good picture of it before (probably because it was old lady fabric with frayed torn corners) but this is the best I could find. I bought two yards of dark teal suede feeling fabric on clearance and recovered it. I didn't make a skirt for it like it originally had, and it feels so much lighter now. 

We are due with Alli in September, so the two older girls are going to have to share a room. My oldest isn't excited about it, so I'm redoing all of the kids bedrooms to make it new and fun. Ava (my 22 month old) will be moving into Jasmin's old bedroom (Arielle has the largest room so Jasmin will move in there). Jasmin's room was pink and green, but Ava's will be pink/gray/black. Before I bought new curtains, I wanted to see if I could make the ones I already made for Jasmin work. So I cut out a stencil, and painted gray over the green. Hubby looked at me like I was crazy when I said I was painting the curtains, but he likes how they turned out. The finished picture is horrible, I apologize, but it's hard to take a pic in front of a window without blowing everything out.

Reason 47 of why I love having crafty friends. My friend Megan had a stencil that she used in her dining room that she was nice enough to let me borrow. So I painted Ava's walls white (which ended up looking like a light gray) and painted the stencil. The pink is tutti fruitti by Behr, and the gray is a shimmer color by Martha Stewart called thundercloud. 

 
I also painted our toilet room (is there a better name for that??) This one was out of necessity. I had really bad morning sickness with this pregnancy, and one time it was particularly violent and I missed the toilet :( And you all know how easily flat builder's paint stains, right? I planned on doing 12 inch stripes, but ended up doing I think 10 inches? If I did 12 inches, the top stripe would have stopped right where the doorway top is, and I thought it would look weird. If I was a good crafter, I would have measured out the wall, figured out how many stripes I wanted, divided my original number so all the stripes were the same size, blah blah blah. But I didn't.

I also had time to do a couple of other projects for people I love. One is a maternity belt that my friend Meghan asked me to make. I haven't met her in person, but this girl has had such an impact on my life. Her son, Avery, was born with gastroschisis (the same birth defect that my Ava was born with). After her son passed away due to complications from gastroschisis, she started Avery's Angels, a non-profit organization to help parents dealing with gastroschisis. She saw that there wasn't much information or support out there for parents, and her efforts have really filled that gap. She is having a baby soon, and asked me if I could make her a maternity belt for her maternity pictures (the ones the liked on Etsy were running $80 a piece, ouch). She sent me a couple of reference photos, told me that she'd love corals and blues, and this is what I came up with.

I also made a sign for myself, just like the one I made for my sister who just got married, based on one she saw on pinterest. This is one of her wedding sneak peek photos with the sign I made for her. I made it just how I made hubby's dad's fathers day sign.

So there you go. I didn't get everything knocked off of my to do list, but I'm happy with what I did do. What have you been up to lately?

Umm, yeah. Brakes on a car are kinda important

So, I feel a bit silly blogging about this, but since it's still bothering me, I might as well, right? 

On Monday, my mom came over to help me unpack from our vacation, and we went to Dallas so she could go to the Korean grocery store. My favorite thrift store is right by there, so I went in there afterwards. No luck with any finds though, which rarely happens. 

I was driving, like I always do when we're together. My mom was in the passenger seat, and Ava (22 months) was in the backseat. Her car is a 1999 Toyota 4-Runner. Nothing fancy, and it's older and huge. I was driving about 40 mph in the right lane and coming up to a bunch of cars waiting at a red light. I tap the brakes, and nothing. Brake pedal to the floor, still going 40ish. I always give myself plenty of time to stop, and actually had time to think "Am I hitting the gas?" and looked at my foot, and yup, it was on the brake. Still, nothing. 

So, rather than rear end a bunch of cars, I turned the wheel to the right and jumped the curb. Not thinking about it, just instinct I guess. Ever jump a curb at 40? It's a pretty big jump. The brakes still weren't working at this point, but the curb jump slowed us down enough that I was finally able to coast to a stop. 

My mom didn't know what was going on at this point, she thought I had swerved to avoid another car. I was a bit shaken up at this point, and called hubby. I explained to him what happened, and he immediately left work to come get us (we were about 40 minutes from the house, and he made it there in 25). I then called Triple A and they sent out a tow truck. 

We went next door to Taco Cabana to get Ava out of the heat and wait for Jake. I was doing okay until I saw him walk in, and though I had been shaking the whole time, that's when the tears started. He just gave me a big hug.

The tow company towed my mom's truck back to her house. I don't know if there is any damage to the truck from the jump, but I know it's a lot less than there would have been if I rear ended someone. I showed Jake the curb that I jumped, and he said he wouldn't be surprised if I bent a tire, it was a pretty big curb to hit.

My mom said she was glad that I was driving, and that she wouldn't have thought to jump the curb. She would have just panicked and kept driving straight. 

I had nightmares about it that night. In my dreams, I didn't jump the curb and just rear ended all of those cars. And now, 3 days later, my heart still races when I'm driving my van and I go to hit the brake. I can feel my body tense up until I'm 100% sure that I'm slowing down. 

I feel so silly to still be freaked out by it. I mean, technically nothing bad happened. Brakes went out, I jumped the curb, no one got hurt. So why am I still so spazzy about it? Jake said it could have ended much differently. I mean, I'm barely 24 weeks pregnant, Alli isn't big enough to be on her own. Jake said I probably saved my kid's lives. I dunno. I mean, so many things had to have been just right for us to be unharmed and not hit anything. I happened to be in the right lane with no one beside us. There wasn't a light pole on the exact spot that I jumped the curb. There were no cars in the parking lot where we ended up. No one was walking on the sidewalk. Somebody was looking out for us that day.

I coincidentally had an OB appt soon after, and Alli is fine. Measuring right on, still kicking me in the ribs constantly. All is well. Now if I can just stop being such a weirdo about it all, I'd feel much better. 

I survived the busiest weekend EVER

So, I had the busiest weekend I've had in a long time. And I can now say that I survived. Barely. I still feel like I need 14 more hours of sleep. 

Started it off with hubby bringing home some gorgeous flowers! Day lillies and gerbera daisies are my favorite flowers. And this kind of lily is the exact one we had as our wedding flower. 

Then Arielle had a softball game. They won 7-6. I was worried there for a second, but they won in the end (thankfully due to an error by the other team). 

On Saturday, Jake coached his last game for Jasmin's team, her season is over for the year. I love seeing him coach, it's important to him to be involved with the girls. He coached Arielle's team last year. He then dropped me off at a baby sprinkle on the way home, and picked me up when it was done.

Arielle and Jasmin got their flower girl dresses in. My mom still needs to tailor them, but they're going to be so pretty!

Arielle had her birthday slumber party on Saturday night. I can't believe she's about to be nine. 

Our craft was making ruffle fabric sandals. Kept them entertained for half an hour, which works for me. I went to bed at 10, hubby came to bed at midnight after telling them it was lights out and time to settle down. I got woken up at 1am (since no kid knows how to turn a door handle and just slams it shut) and I couldn't fall back to sleep until almost 4am. Ugh. 

  

I woke up at 6:30, and found that apparently "Light out" means turn a movie back on and then fall asleep to it at full blast. Ding dongs. 

  

Then I went to my mom's house to work on pillow orders and pick up Ava and the dogs, and we went to Burger King for lunch. 

Then after a nap, we took Jasmin to get a hair cut. She asked us for one on Saturday, and said she wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love. My baby had 11 inches cut off. She looks so grown up!

Then we went to Target so the girls could spend their birthday/allowance money. Followed by dinner at Panda Express, since I was in no mood to cook.










I'm not going to lie, I haven't been this tired in a long time, but it was such an awesome weekend. Plus, both Arielle and Jasmin were able to feel Alli kicking, so they were super excited about that. 

I'm off to work on pillow orders, happy Monday!

Tornadoes, hail, rain? Thanking God today.

So, unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you heard about the crazy weather in Dallas/Fort Worth yesterday. So, if you stalk me properly, then you know I live just outside of Dallas, right?

Yesterday was a normal day, I played with Ava and worked on pillow orders. I didn't even know that anything was going on until my friend Ryan texted me to ask if I was okay. Okay about what? So I went on FB (am I the only one who gets my news from FB?) and I saw people posting about the weather coming our way. 

We're a one car family, and hubby had the car yesterday, so I was worried about the two older girls getting home from school. So I texted my friend Christy at 2pm (who always drives the girls when it's raining) and asked if she would get Arielle and Jasmin when she picked up her kids. Turns out, she had just picked up her kids (they don't get out of school until 3pm), so she went back inside to get mine. I asked "Are you the only crazy mom up there?" and she said no, the office was packed with parents. The girls were home 5 minutes later. I was so thankful, since the schools went on lock down soon after and they wouldn't release any kids due to the weather. 

So, me, the girl who never turns on the news (it tends to be too depressing), and on every channel was the weather news. 

I mean, seriously, does it not look like someone just threw a bunch of paint on the map? I live between Rockwall and Royse City, which is just to the right of the center of the map. Everything was moving northeast, so we were keeping an eye on the stuff below Dallas.

Hubby had been evacuated to the first floor at his work (he works on the 3rd floor). They were going to hold them there until it was all over. But during a break in the weather, he left and drove the 7 miles home. I was never so thankful than when I heard the garage door open. 

And then the reports of tornadoes started coming in. Two simultaneous tornadoes on the ground. One east of Fort Worth in Arlington, and one south of Dallas in Lancaster. The one in Dallas so was strong that it was picking up ten ton trucks and throwing them hundreds of feet into the air.




So, while that was scary, it was still 45 minutes from us. At that point, we were just getting some bad hail and rain. 



And then this popped up on the news. A tornado touched down in Forney, expected to move northeast towards Rockwall/Fate/Royse City. WHERE I LIVE. The two circles to the left never amounted to anything, thank you God, since that's where my parents live.

So I already had the bathroom stocked with blankets, snacks, drinks, etc. The girls were just hanging out in the bathroom, eating all of the snacks. I kept up with it on Facebook, and thank you God we never got any tornado action. 

So after a bit, it cleared up, I made dinner, the girls played on the Wii. The sky was the weirdest shade of yellow.

On the news and FB this morning, people are posting pics of the damage in Forney. Homes destroyed, but somehow, no deaths. Just minor injuries.

I mean, that's just twenty miles from us. Twenty miles. THIS was twenty miles from us. 

So, this morning, I'm thankful. Thankful that my family went unscathed. Our house went untouched. All of our friends are okay. My parents are okay. 

So no worries, folks. Your super favorite blogger is still around to post mindless dribble for ya. :) 

Thanking God today. 

Updates and Going-ons

I swear, when this year started, I had all sorts of plans to blog more often. And I've been crafting and keeping busy (when I'm not zonked out on the couch) but just haven't had the time to post. 

I'm 6 weeks and some odd days pregnant today (7 weeks on Monday), and I already have a good sized bump. What the heck? I know they say that you show earlier with each pregnancy, but what the heck. The baby is the size of a chocolate sprinkle, and here I am, looking 3-4 months pregnant.


Although I can't complain completely. I wish I ate the way I am now when I'm not pregnant. Soda makes me sick. So does sweet tea. And I can't even look at my treasured sea salt and vinegar Lays. I've been drinking a crap ton of water. And I've been craving fruit and veggies. My new favorite thing just might be lemonade from Chic-Fil-A. 

I have been feeling better than in the past couple of weeks. The all day nausea is finally starting to subside, and I'm able to stay up until 8:30 instead of falling asleep at the dinner table at 6. But with feeling better, always comes those nagging feelings of worry. Why am I feeling better? Is everything okay?  I think with being a mom, it always comes with a side of worry. Is this pregnancy okay? Is the baby growing? Is my toddler eating enough? Is my kid doing okay in school? Is she picking the right crowd to hang out with? 


We have our first OB appt on Feb 21st, and those appointments are always exciting, mixed with fear. The dr that we're using this time comes highly recommended by our personal friends, and by the NICU staff at the hospital that Ava was at for those billion days. She does a sono at every appointment, which I'm excited about. But it's so scary, cause I haven't had the best luck with first sono appointments. I was previously married a bajillion years ago and had three miscarriages, right in a row. But my body never gave me any signs of it, it wasn't until I went in for my first appointment, they can't find the heartbeat, they whip out the sono machine, and oh so sorry, bad news. 


But I'm just keeping busy, and trying not to worry so much, even though that's part of being pregnant. 


I've been pinning a billion things for my sister's wedding. It's been nice to have a distraction. She loved one of the flower girl dresses that I pinned and said it's another thing checked off of her list, so that's a good feeling to know I helped. 


I've started taking a Mom's study up at the church on Wednesday mornings. It's supposed to help you be a better mom with help of the Bible, scripture, etc. So far I'm kind of whatever, but we are just two classes in, so I'm staying positive. One of my good friends invited me to the class, and another two ladies that I really like are in the class, so that's been fun. 


Hubby started a blog, but I'm not going to link to it for now. It's about fitness and working out. Manly stuff like that. He joined some magazine fitness competition, and the winner gets a year of free supplements. So while he doesn't expect to win, it's been fun to read. Plus he brags on what an awesome wife he has, so that's been fun to read too. :) 


So I think that's it.

Leg warmers and neon and spandex, oh my!

So, I mentioned that I threw a "Totally 80's" party this past weekend, right? 

It started off with this invitation that Lover designed. It was girls only, cause, hey, well all need a night away from husbands and kids. 

I made Pac Man cookies. I did see a Pac Man cookie cutter, but who wants to spend $7 on a cookie cutter that I'll never use again? So I just bought a round one for $5 that I know I'll use again, rolled out my dough, cut out the circle, and then used a knife to cut out a wedge for the mouth. The cookie recipe I used was this one, and I used this technique for the icing. It was definitely easier and faster to use this recipe for the icing, but it wasn't as perfect as doing it the other way (with thicker royal icing for the outline, and thinner icing to flood the cookies). But I think it's definitely a technique thing. My last ones were so much prettier than my first ones.

I asked everyone to bring a little something to share. Some brought wine, some brought 2 liters of soda, others brought veggies and fruit platters, others brought chips. My friend Jenny surprised me with the soundtrack to Pretty in Pink. On VINYL. 

I made white sangria. I used one bottle of Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc, half of a 2 liter of Fresca, and chopped up apples, grapes and strawberries. I made the fruit/wine mixture the night before, and then added the Fresca right before the party. I didn't get to partake in any (ya know, the whole pregnant thang) but I heard it was yummy.  

The two gorgeous ladies in this pic, I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Megan is on the left (and won Best Costume!) and blogs over at Miss Madison's Charmed Life. And Julie (on the right) blogs at It's Sew Stinkin' Cute.

And we did a couple of games. Pin the bow on Ms Pac Man (we went on the honor system, no blindfold to mess up our make up and hair), and a music trivia.

The best part? I set up a photobooth, and Julie brought her nice camera and we took pics. It was even more fun when we figured out how to use the remote. 

We took some goofy pics.... 

And some nice group pics...

Even my dog Titan insisted on photo bombing the pics....

The photobooth was so easy to make. 8 pieces of black poster board (2/$1 at Dollar tree) taped together, with neon paint drizzled all over it. If I had to do it over again, I'd do 3 rows of 4, instead of 2 rows of 4. I had to rebuild the sides in photoshop, which took a while.

It was definitely a lot of fun, and I can't wait to do another theme party. Next party's theme? Tacky Prom!

Homeless Home Owners

So, here is a little story about my friends Erin and Ryan. I don't mean "friends" like "Oh, I've met them once or twice." We've been friends for 8 years. They've been there for me when I've needed them. They gave me a place for me and my two young girls to stay when Lover and I broke up temporarily and I moved out. Ryan has been there for me with answers to countless questions about my car. Erin is always there for me with a no holds barred, tell it like it is opinion, and I love that. Just good people that you hate to see anything happen to.

We've partied together. 

When Jake and I go up to visit St Louis, they always plan a get together with all of our friends. We always do Dave and Busters, since our kids and all the adults can have fun. 

Ryan surprised Erin for Christmas 2009 with a plane ticket to Dallas. 

I drove up to St Louis to go to their wedding. 

And they drove the long 10 hours to Dallas to come to ours. 

And we've had countless BBQ's and parties at their house. 

See that house in the background in the last pic? That's what this little story is about.

Back in October 2009, they came home and found a horrible smell in their lower level (they live in a bi-level home). They found that the drain pipe for the house's main plumbing had detached from the floor. They had a plumber come out, and the plumber found that the reason the pipe detached from the house is that the ground under the house was MISSING. 

Erin and Ryan contacted the City of Arnold, MO, and the city came out and did their own investigation. The city determined that it "wasn't their problem" and the city's insurance denied the claim. Ryan and Erin then contacted their home owner insurance, who also denied the claim, since it doesn't cover "earth movement or erosion". The mortgage company also does not want to get involved until the Egleston's go into default/foreclosure. 


They have contacted Erin Brockovich, Ellen, Oprah, and two of the TV stations in St Louis. They have also contacted their congressman, state reps and attorney general. They were told it's a local level issue and to start there. None of the city council aldermen will help, due to litigation. The Eglestons did have a short story on the St Louis news back in Feb 2010.

They also have a video on YouTube, showing the things they're dealing with. In the video, they also show a clip of them going to a City Council meeting to speak with the mayor. To me, the mayor seems very unsympathetic, and honestly, comes across like a jerk. 

In the video, it's revealed that the house was built on a human waste lagoon on a pier, and over time, the land has washed away. The city administrator says in the video that there were 29 lagoons in Arnold at one time, and since there are no lagoons now, obviously they were all built on. It's been suggested to Ryan that he find out where the other lagoons are, and to go and talk to those residents to see if they are having the same issues, but somehow, all those records are unavailable, and they cannot find the location of the other lagoons. That should be public record, yet no one can find it? 


So, since October 2009, two and a half long years, the Eglestons have been paying a mortgage on a house that is unfit to live in, and they've been living with family members. They finally have a court date set for September 2012, almost three long years after this all started.

There are a couple of other issues on their street, but the city says the problems are completely separate.

The street is literally caving away, since there is nothing under the asphalt. The city says it's not related.

The city also says that flooding isn't an issue on their street, and again, is not related. 

The blue car is Erin's, and that pic was taken from their front porch. It would be impossible to get out of your driveway with that amount of water in the street. You can't even see the curb, and that area in the distance in the trees is even worse. 

I don't expect anyone to have the magic answer. But a prayer, a word of encouragement or a suggestion would be appreciated.

Love you, Erin and Ry.