My Shutterfly Shopping Cart Tango

I realize this obsession may be mine alone.  In the past few years I've become hooked on creating Shutterfly photo books, and I'm well into the double digits on the 8x8 hard cover books.  The quality is pretty good, and I love the idea of scrapbooking without having to clean up the mess.  And the price can be an absolute bargain--IF enough strategy is applied.

Here's what I'm talking about.

I received a free book code with the awesome camera Jeff bought me a few months ago.  I also had a gift card from Target.  I decided to stack them and get two books.  I got busy creating, and quickly had two books in my cart.  But, because Shutterfly changed its policy on using the free shipping code, I realized I now needed to add $15 in merchandise to avoid shipping fees.

And this is where our little dance began.

With the 40% off code I had from FB, I realized I could get another book for $17.  Game on.  Third Shutterfly book in 4 days?  Done.  Added to cart. 

And then I found another code for a free book.  I applied it to book #3.  Uh oh.  Shipping charges came back.  And they were even bigger, since I had three books now instead of two. 

To get rid of the shipping charges, I realized I needed to add another book.  WHAT?  Yep, I hate paying for shipping that much. 

To make a long story short, I just placed my order for FIVE Shutterfly photo books.  And the total bill was $37.  Considering the market price for one book is $29 plus $8 shipping, I feel like such a winner.

What were the subjects of the books, you ask?  Well, I didn't tackle all the books I had planned for Luke, which makes me sad.  But I finally finished the ABC book of his that I've been working on for over a year.  And I archived our Mexican vacation from May.  And the time Jeff and I lived in Boston in 2001.  And our trip to Alaska from 2009.  And the Maui trip, from 2007. 

I'm very tired now, but I'm looking forward to the arrival of the books.  :)

Here's the link to my share site, if you're interested... http://schwertnerland.shutterfly.com/pictures

Ohhh, Mexico!

I just got a fabulous new camera, and we just took a wonderful trip down to Mexico.  Thought I'd post my favorite screensaver pic, just because I love it so much.  This is from Playa del Carmen.  Enjoy!

Vacation Blues, Revisited

I was on the UNT campus this morning, and apparently it's been a WHILE, because the old building they were tearing down the last time I was there--the one whose demise I lamented because the 10 or so metered parking spots right across the street from the education building were going with it--has been replaced with a beautiful parking garage (Who says windows don't open when doors shut!?). 

The campus was looking as lovely as ever, but I wasn't even there for academic purposes.  I was there to pick up a Little Tikes toy for Luke that I was buying from another mother on Craigslist, while Luke was at MDO.  (That realization made me feel just awful, because, as I'm sure you all know, I'm still smack-dab in the middle of my doctoral degree program.)

While I drove around campus alone, and then followed up that with a shopping trip at a nearby outlet store, I found myself feeling a bit like an undergrad.  It was the middle of the day, and I didn't have any responsibilities (I never said I made that good of an undergraduate student...).  It was delightful.

And now, the question...

Do I turn this post (on this long-forgotten blog) into a dissertation update (of which there's nothing to update), or do I take a turn to splurge a moment on the joys of being a SAHM and the fact that there's no rest for the weary?  (It's the last day of MDO, and I'm tired just thinking about the summer!)

Let's just say life is absolutely wonderful.  There are things I could complain about, but there are many more things to be thankful for. 

I hope life is wonderful for you, too!



Advent Book Stack

As the last of the holiday decorations goes up into the attic, this year we will also be sending a box of books--holiday/Christmas books, that is. Because I'm an overzealous book collector--and because the Freakonomics guys say that school success is in part determined not so much by how much parents read to their kids, but by how many books are actually in the home--it seems like a logical explanation to banish relocate the books for the year. Plus, won't they be more special if we only get to see them at Christmastime? 
Anyway, Luke turned 2 this year, and I think by next year my big idea will fall upon the graces of perfect timing. And what is my big idea?!? Why, it's an Advent book stack!

I've seen some cute little advent wreath-type ideas going around Pinterest, but I haven't seen the book idea. Only it's such a great idea that I know I didn't just suddenly come upon it myself. I'm sure parents have been doing this for years. But here's my plan.

This year I made an extra special effort to collect at least 24 Christmas/holiday books that are 1)Luke's favorites now, 2)will be age appropriate next year, and/or 3)will become part of our family's holiday reading tradition.

I scoured the collection of books we already had, hit up Half Price Books' after Christmas markdowns, had my mom bring me the books I didn't remember collecting in high school when I so desperately wanted to grow up to teach elementary school, and asked for books for gifts. I ended up with about 30 or so books.

I wrapped the books (some--the ones I think might not be as exciting for Luke next year--got doubled up), placed a number (1-24) label on each book/package of books, added the ribbons I rescued from the Christmas trash at my parents' house, and voila.

Now Luke will have a "present" to open every day next December; it didn't cost me that much, and it will feed his brain and not his horrible sweet tooth habit. I wrapped his favorite two books from this year together as #1 so that he'll be extra excited to get started next year. And of course, we'll add and remove books from our stack as the years continue, which will hopefully create a wonderfully lasting tradition in our family.

Happy New Year, everyone!