Slacking...

I have been slacking badly in the blog department.  Not good.  It leads to slacking everywhere.  It's still new, and I know there aren't any readers (yet?), but somehow, I am kept accountable here.  I don't have anything silly, or funny, or even financial to share today.  Just some of 'ME".  It's been a crazy month so far...I had a sick little girl who I was getting seriously worried about.  This child can talk the ear off an elephant even while she is hovered over a barf bucket, but not this time.  She refused to speak, eat, drink, nothing.  Poor baby slept for 3 days...in between the hovering, of course...and then, mean Mama that I am, I tried to send her to school on that Friday.  Really, she needed to go.  We were going to be away Monday and Tuesday of the next week, so she had to go!  And she did, without argument...but we got the call soon after she left.  Grandma went to her rescue and she slept the rest of the day.  Now I was really worried.  I was also selfishly worried that this would ruin the little get away we planned as a surprise for our babies!  But, alas, by Friday evening this child was chattering away again!  All she needed was some toast and Gatorade!  Phew!
And so, we were off!  We took our lovelies to The Great Wolf Lodge.  You need to go there!  We had such a blast!  I'm already going over the budget to figure out where I can make cuts so we can get there again real soon!  We went, just the plain ol' four of us, and we had so much fun!  There is PLENTY for our 2 1/2 year old to do, and more than plenty to keep our 6 year old thrill seeking child, who we swear is part fish, happy too!  Brief description...there is a "toddler" area that has 3 short slides, and two longer, but slower, windy slides.  There are fountains coming out of the floor all over the place!  There's a wave pool, and a regular pool.  Hot tubs...there are a bunch of slides for the bigger kids, and the even bigger "kids", a lazy river, and another pool that has lily pads and logs to hop across!  My description does nothing to give this place justice.  That's just the water area...there's an arcade, a cute show and story time for the kids...I want to go back NOW!  (No, GWL is in no way compensating me for this post, they have no idea I even like them this much!)
Some things I will do differently next time...We will stay for 2 nights.  We were able to stay and enjoy the entire facility all day our second day, but since check out is at 11 am, that was hard.  We have two still little ones.  After a couple of hours, they needed a break.  There are locker rooms, but if you have little ones, you know that trying to corral and change them in a locker room, and then trying to find something for them to do without breaking the bank, is hard when you don't have the room to go back to!  I will also pack a full cooler of food.  The rooms have a fridge and microwave!   (Yeah, I knew it, but I couldn't believe that food would be quite as costly as it was!)  I did bring some food and snacks, but next time, we will bring meals as well.  Don't worry about the day you check out either...use the ice machine and fill your cooler, then you can stick sandwiches in there!  Yay!
Can you tell how excited I am about the vacation we just had?  And that was only two days!  The rest of the time was spent just hanging around at home.  Without a budget.  No budget and me are not a good combo.  We should have saved a ton of money because we were home...we ate out a ton, and shopped aimlessly.  Well, that won't happen again!  Next vacation will be done with the envelope system!  And the envelope has been started! 
On that financial note, I am still couponing, and still shopping for the lowest prices.  Right now, I am over the fevered rush.  I've slowed down a bit, and I am trying to take my time, only get the things we will use, and focus on the things we need the most.  We seem to go through paper towels and TP at an alarming rate!  Unfortunately for me, those things aren't the cheapest because I'm kinda picky about my TP!  Of course, I am TRYING to get over it.  So hard!  And I have started sharing the coupons that I know I won't use.  I am not in the place yet where I can give you lists and prices, and right now, I can't even manage to clear off my table enough to show any pictures!  It will come!  Just like Spring!  I hope...I need Spring!  I feel that itch to get organized and clean out. 
Clearly this is the longest post I have ever written...so I think I should be stopping now...maybe I will be inspired to write again tomorrow!
Until then!