Dominos Pizza is in the Dog House

I have found some AMAZING deals using Groupon, CityDeals, and livingSocial, among other sites. A company wanting to get more business and find new customers uses these sites to offer a steep discount for their product, bringing in a great deal of business, and allowing people to try something new, expecting they'll also get return business from these new customers. I have been buying their deals to reduce the cost of date nights for my hubby and I!

One of the deals that was advertised on Groupon was "any large pizza for $8 up to a $20 value," with the stipulation that you could only buy three coupons, and they expired about six weeks later. Okay, that's a great deal! We enjoy a good meat lovers pizza and it's nice to have the option of pizza already paid for!

For starters, Dominos made it very difficult to order. First you had to start on a specific website (not bad), and put in your coupon code, which was a mile long, and then put in your passcode and email address. Then Dominos would email you the real coupon code that would need to be used before paying for your online order, after which you also had to enter a gift certificate number. UGH!

The first time it took me awhile to figure out the process. I finally got it ordered and sent Matt to pick it up, but expected some questions upon arrival. As I suspected, they wanted to use our coupon as "credit" towards our purchase, then owing approximately $12 on the pizza. I sent two pictures to Matt's phone, one showing the original deal, the other showing the coupon code that was sent to my email. They gave him heck and finally let him go with our dinner while they figure out how to enter the other $12 worth of "free" pizza into their computer. Grrr, argh. A couple weeks later, I pulled out the next coupon to try it again. This time, after going through the whole process AND filling in what type of pizza we wanted, upon entering the coupon code, the Dominos website gave me a message, "This store is not accepting this coupon code at this time." Oh you've got to be kidding me.

So, instead of calling the main office and figuring out how to deal with the Groupon code number, they simply found a way to block the code. Needless to say, I am not happy with Dominos. They will not be getting business from us for a VERY long time. I am grateful to Groupon, who is willing to refund my money on the coupons not used because of lack of customer service on the part of the advertising business. Now to find Groupon's phone number. Wish me luck!

Other deals I have found are 50-75% off restaurant coupons, 50+% off hotel stays, and even 50% off movie tickets! We have several coupons waiting to be used, including tickets for the family to go to Clark Planetarium! A couple of the sites will give you credit on your account for referring a friend. One site gives you your purchase free if three other friends buys the same deal. Another site gives you $10 credit when a friend opens an account with them. SO awesome. I ended up with a $10 credit on CityDeals. Here's how I used it. They ran a one day promotion for 15% off all their restaurants, which made the Thai Basil (not far from us) $6 for $20 worth of food! So cool. I decided to buy two coupons, making my total after the discount code $13.60. Then I applied the $10 credit towards my purchase and paid $3.60 for $40 worth of food at the Thai Basil!!! I am very excited about this! The fine print says I can only use one coupon at a time unless I take a party of five or more. Cool beans. I'm good with that.

In the meantime, Dominos Pizza is in the Dog House.

What Little Boys Are Made Of

"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of." My boys are pretty typical. They don't come home with frogs in their pockets, which quite frankly surprises me considering we live on Critters Cove. But they do come home from the school library with books about snakes, sharks, and spiders. I'm grateful they're not afraid of spiders considering we have so many around the house. You'd think we kept them as pets with as many as we find.

Anyway, Joshua came home from the library with a book on how to make slime. He begged to make slime practically everyday. It was a crazy week and we didn't get around to it. I know, I'm a bad mom. BUT, I decided I needed to put forth the effort and quickly wrote down the recipe. Without the book around, Joshua forgot about it and quit asking. I figured we'd find the paper I wrote on and make the slime eventually.

Wishful thinking, huh? Joshua has an awesome teacher this year. Apparently several of the other kids wanted to check out the book since it was about slime, so the teacher wrote down the recipe with instructions and sent it home with everyone! Hurray! *heavy sigh* The begging begins again. Once again I told Joshua, "When your chores and your homework are done, we can make the slime." This time he actually followed through and asked again before bedtime. Oh the joy! And...we even had enough corn starch to make it so I finally said yes.

SO...as a good mother should, I pulled out my phone and took a couple pictures of the boys playing with the slime. The memory is captured! And hopefully we won't have to make it again any time soon! But, knowing that so many of you are awesome moms that do cool projects with your kids all the time, so here's the recipe:

SLIME

large bowl

1/2 cup water

add a few drops food coloring

slowly add 1 cup corn starch, stirring well

slime should break when stirred when it's "done"

if it doesn't, add one TBSP at a time to make thick enough to break

Gorilla Feet: The Results of Research

I've been having issues with threats of shin splints when I run, as well as my foot going to sleep towards the end of my half an hour of jogging and walking. NOT COOL. But, my awesome husband loves to research. So he reads up on how to prevent shin splints, and what causes them. Shin splints are caused by an incorrect stride, meaning how your foot hits the ground. In other words, I'm running wrong. I'm still on week two of the Couch to 5K program, so it's not like I'm running much, but I definitely need to prevent shin splints or I won't be going at all.

In the process of Matt's research, he found a new theory with plenty of evidence demonstrating that running barefoot is best for correct stride, and removing joint and muscle issues. You're not going to find me running barefoot. First of all I'm a woos. I don't want to step on anything that might poke my feet. Second, it's against the rules at the gym, which solves my first problem! SO...there's a brand of shoes called Vibram Five Fingers that fit like a foot glove, with a bit of rubber on the bottom. Wearing them is basically the same as running barefoot! They have several different styles in order to fit your kind of feet. I was very excited they had a pair that fit me, as I have particularly wide feet.

After Matt's extensive research, including reading a whole book about barefoot running, we decided to buy each of us a pair as our birthday present. (Both of our birthdays are at the end of the month. It's very convenient right after tax returns!) We found out that Vibrams can't be found just anywhere. Here in the Salt Lake Valley, one can find them at REI or at Salt Lake Running Co.

There is a catch. Someone who is an avid runner should not buy a pair of these and continue their usual running routine. A person's stride needs to be correct, otherwise the feet begin to hurt and can be seriously damaged. Lucky for me, I'm just getting back into my fitness routine and am not yet running a lot. Even with switching to a new stride, the calf muscles are not used to the new angle of work and become very sore. So my calf muscles are being strengthened! For now I'm just wearing them around the house to get used to walking correctly. Tomorrow I may attempt to run my C25K routine in them to begin my gradual switch to "barefoot running."

Matt has already found a great reduction in pain from wearing his for one day! He's been having knee and hip pain the past few weeks. At this point, when he's on his feet, he's not in pain! Just because his stance is better with the barefoot adjustments. Now if only he could work on his computer standing up!

Today is day two for me. In a few weeks I'll let you know how they're treating me.

Vibrom's regular price is about $100 a pair. YIKES! I know. But if you normally buy running shoes, you know that you'd spend that much anyway. They say to replace your running shoes every 500 miles. The good news is some long distance runners are reporting 5000+ miles on their Vibrom's! That's nine pairs of shoes I won't have to buy (should I decide these work for me), then saving me approximately $900 dollars! I look for good deals and use coupons, so realistically it's saving me $450.

Anyway, at the Barnson's we're all about the weirdness, the geekiness, and all that jazz. This particular health kick involves what I call Gorilla shoes! It's weird having my toes individually wrapped, like toe socks. Meanwhile, I have some running habits to change. Wish me luck!

4:30 am kicks my butt!

The Herriman Rec Center has finally opened. Hurray! It's about a mile and a quarter from our house and I have been anxiously awaiting a membership. Matt signed us up right away and then managed to talk me into getting to the gym when it opens at 5am. In order to actually do this and make it a habit, we decided every day is necessary. 4:30...am? Seriously? I said yes to what? For those of you who don't know me well, I'm a night owl. I love to burn my candle at the end of the day, during the hours when the children are asleep. Oh, sleep is so precious.

Once upon a time I used to run on a regular basis. In fact, when Elijah was an infant, he would wake up about 4:15 am to nurse. After I fed and changed him, I'd hit the road with Verlene to run every morning. Then of course I'd go home and take a nap! This past year and three months Matt and I have been getting up at 6am to cook breakfast for the kids every weekday and I felt like that was uber early. Now 6am feels like sleeping in!

It's been about a year and a half since Matt and I were going to the gym down in South Jordan. Needless to say, I'm SO out of shape. Eat right and exercise is the name of the game. We downloaded a "Couch to 5K" program onto our ipods to help us build up some running stamina. It's pretty cool. I turn on the music on my ipod, then start the App and the guy tells me to walk and run. There's a five minute warm up, then I run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds for the next 20 minutes, finally a 5 minute cool down. I'm so excited to be running again...one minute at a time! LOL! During the last two running sessions I'm basically draggin' my wagon around the track, but I'm feeling SO much better!

I'm ready to start week 2 on the Couch to 5K program. That means I'll be running for 90 seconds and then walking for 2 minutes. Woohoo! I know it's pathetic, but, at least I'm finally working on getting my butt into a nicer shape. Hopefully my belly will lose it's shape all together. In the meantime, I'm no longer a night owl. 9:30 pm rolls around and I am beat. Anything left will just have to wait for tomorrow morning. 4:30 am comes awfully fast.

Cinnamon bears? YUCK!

With six of us in the house (I really should count Nanna, our gargantuan dog, in that head count since she gets into anything she pleases), it is hard to keep treats around the house. They get devoured pretty quickly. I won a gift basket for Valentine's Day that included a small bag of cinnamon gummy bears. I was trying to cut back on sugar and my kids don't care for them, so I shared them with my Sunday School class. Sara broke down and ate one to discover that she really likes them! After church she claimed the rest of the bag and finished them off.

Sara and I soon realized that it was rather exciting to have found a treat that the boys in the house despise. They turn up their noses and run, while Sara and I enjoy a few now and then. Not that I buy them very often, but I do like to spoil my only girl with treats once in awhile. We tried a cheap brand to discover they weren't all that great. I'd left them in the car, in a drawer where I typically keep granola bars for emergency sustenance. Zack discovered them after church last month and decided to try one since he was so hungry and there were no "good" granola bars. He went for another, and yet another. I was shocked. I put my hand to his forehead and asked if we should head to the ER to see what could possibly be wrong to make him like cinnamon bears! (I enjoy teasing my kids now and then.)

We have found that buying cinnamon bears in most of the grocery stores costs too much. Harmons charges about $8 a lb. That's crazy! I did find a small bag of cinnamon bunnies in the Easter candy section at Walmart for a couple bucks, but Sara wasn't as keen on them. So tonight, I dropped my teenagers off at the library and took the little boys to Peterson's to buy some meats on sale. Elijah and Joshua wanted to spend part of their allowance on a treat. While they were deciding, I figured I'd check to see if they had any cinnamon bears. I found a 5 lb. bag for $8. AND, it's the brand we like, SWEET, no really, that's the name of the brand. Anyway, 5 lbs! Luckily this is not like chocolate where anybody wants to binge, it'll actually last us a good long time. Only three of us will be slowly working through that great big package. Cinnamon bears, YUM!

Project Popcorn

We had JUST finished Zack's science fair project, when Elijah brought home the paperwork for his first science fair project. UGH. Ok, let me clarify. I didn't help with Zack's project, just constant prodding for nearly two months. And the JUST part was actually something like Friday to Monday. Zack turned his in on a Friday, Elijah brought home the paperwork for his on Monday. You've got to be kidding me! The good news is that Elijah's teacher gave us a list of ideas for age appropriate projects. Hallelujah! At least I was thrilled until Elijah started reading them to me...ALL FOUR PAGES. Holy Cow! We ruled out anything that had to do with plants or bugs. I don't have a green thumb, and we already have enough critters around here. We put a star next to anything that sounded remotely fun.

There were several popcorn ideas. Elijah decided on the one testing different brands of kernels to see which brand pops the best. With Matt's influence, we also decided to do this on the stove, the old fashioned way. YUM! We bought four types of popcorn: Orville Redenbacher's, Pop Secret, Jiffy Pop, and the generic brand. A friend added some Amish popcorn to the group and we figured that was plenty to keep us eating popcorn for many nights to come!

In order to have a control group, we chose a random brand, timed it and popped it 'til it quit popping, then popped the rest for the same period of time. We used 1/2 cup popcorn to 3 Tbsp. oil, turned on the heat and put the lid on. One batch a night was plenty for us to eat what we were testing! Then after we ate the popcorn we set aside the kernels that didn't pop to be counted.

We started eating popcorn all the time without keeping track for Elijah's project. Next thing I know, we're running out of popcorn! Elijah was burned out from taking notes on each batch of popcorn and so the days turned into weeks and next thing I know, it's the day before the project is due. Luckily I had purchased a project board. So...Sunday between conference we started popping popcorn to do round 2, which was to pop the kernels until they stopped on their own. I think the kids ate one batch, and the other three batches went to waste, but we kept all the kernels.

As we're matching the leftovers kernels round 1 with round 2, I discover that we haven't done round 2 for Pop Secret. AND there's no more Pop Secret in the pantry. Oh boy! Being Sunday and coming up on the next conference soon, I was determined to get this project finished. We decided to include Pop Secret without round 2 results, but a side note saying this was apparently a family favorite since it all got eaten, and was particularly fun since it pops larger kernels! In the end, the generic popcorn popped the most leaving very few kernels, with Pop Secret close behind. Elijah had hypothesized that Orville Redenbacher would pop the most kernels.

Elijah did nearly all the typing in order to post his information on the project board. I typed up the column "Other Observations" which wasn't a required part of the project anyway. We put the information on popcorn colored paper, and also taped the results of leftover kernels in baggies onto the board as well as samples of what Amish popcorn looks like popped and unpopped, and generic popcorn popped since it was the winner! The board was awesome! When we showed the board to Sara, she commented, "Wow! None of my science project boards ever looked that good." My response was, "You never let me help." "Yup," was her response. Crazy kid.

Each student in Elijah's class had to get up in front of the class to tell about their project. Elijah's took the longest at about 10 minutes. Apparently he did a very thorough job...with the help of his detail oriented mother! Sadly, we will never know if Pop Secret would leave fewer kernels unpopped than the generic brand in round 2. Makes me want to search the stores to buy another container just to see! That's the yummiest homework we've had around here in years!

Skunk Tailes

Last night I was ready to hit the hay and began my usual bedtime routine. I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and realized I needed to take my pills first, when I smelled THE SMELL. Oh no. This can't be! It was the smell of a skunk and not just the usual wafty stinkiness. It was the smell of a skunk that had just sprayed right outside my bathroom window. YUCK! Ooh, gross. In case you've never been this close to a skunk that has just sprayed, it smells like burnt rubber, that's still burning. The smell is so strong that it can make you heave and possibly puke.

In case this realization isn't enough, I also realized that I had just sent Nanna outside to potty for the last time before bed and putting two and two together means that Nanna was the reason the skunk sprayed; therefore, Nanna had been sprayed by the skunk. UGH. It's 11:00 at night and Matt and I are realizing this has to be dealt with immediately. Nanna is an indoor dog and when I forget that she's outside to potty once I'm in bed, she starts to bark and won't stop 'til I let her in. Bringing her into the house stinky is not an option.

First we tried to find Nanna and couldn't, so I went to the side window which is in the TV room and looked out. I found her all right, skunk in mouth shaking it for all she's worth. I'm betting she was pretty mad at the creature. It is in her bread to kill, so it didn't surprise me. The search began for the ingredients to getting rid of such strong smells: 1 quart hydrogen peroxide, 1 cup baking soda, 1 teaspoon dish soap, 1 gallon water, all mixed into 1 bucket. I was relieved to find a quart of hydrogen peroxide in our food storage, otherwise I would have had to go back to Wal-mart. Then the search began for clothes for Matt and I that we could possibly throw away, depending on how bad it is while we're outside scrubbing Nanna.

Matt went out to evaluate and discovered, no, the skunk is not dead, just badly wounded. So target practice ensued. He pulled out the .22 rifle and took aim. In the dark, looking for a black creature through a scope that has not been sited in in quite some time, the shots began. The first one startled the neighbors horses away. It also startled Nanna. Luckily she didn't go to see what was going on. Several shots later, the skunk was dead. Finally. Still stinky. Matt drug it into the light by the side of the house to take a picture. Proof in case someone tried to make a formal complaint about us using a gun within city limits. Just in case they couldn't smell it.

I put the leash on Nanna and the scrubbing ensued. It was 40 degrees outside, so we were using hot water as not to get the dog too cold or us too cold. As I began I found that the skunk had cut Nanna's nose. Thank goodness her shots are up to date. It's not deep enough to need stitches and should heal quickly. After scrubbing, rinsing and drying, we decided it was time to be done. If only! Then Matt and I had to bathe. Matt decided that second hand skunk smell is just as bad or worse for you than second hand smoke. YUCK! A load of laundry was started immediately with extra vinegar and baking soda in hopes to remove the stench. By the time I was done it was nearly 1 am. Oh the joy.

As I knelt to pray at the close of my day I realized that my lot in life is not so hard. I have many friends going through serious difficulties and dealing with a skunk and some residual smell for a couple days is a drop in the bucket compared to what other people are going through. I am grateful that skunk won't be tromping through our yard all summer. I am grateful Nanna is okay. I am grateful for my sweet husband who helps me through difficult projects like killing a half dead skunk and scrubbing my beautiful dog. When all is said and done, I am richly blessed.